The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1921-01-12

arrival and asked certain directions.
He wanted to know the name OF some
mountain rancher where possibly he
might find board and room for the re-
mainder of the summer and the fall.
men, he wrote. the greater would be
his pleasure And he signed the wire
with his full name Dan Failing with
Henry in the middle. and TIT nj
the end.
He usually didn't sign his name in
quite this manner. The people of
Gitcheapolis did not have particular
ly vivid memories of Dams GRANDPA
Their But Ii might he that legend
of the gray. straight frontiersman who
was his ancestor had still survived In
these remote Oregon wilds. The use
of the full name would do no harm.
Instead of hurting. II was a positive
inspiration. The Chamber OF Com
merce of the busy little Oregon city
was not usually exceptionally inter-
ested in stray hunters that wanted q
boarding place for the summer. Its
business was finding country homes
for orchardists In the pleasant river
valleys. But il happened that the re-
cipient of the wire was one OF the old
est residents, frontiersman himself.
and IL was one of the traditions of the
Old West that friendships were not
soon forgotten Dan Failing | had
been a legend IN the old trapping and
II. Il. .sI.n N {
young So IL came about that when
Dams train stopped at Cheyenne. he
found telegram waiting him:
"Any relation to Dan Failing of the
Umpqua dividef"
Dan had never heard of the imp
qua divide. but he couldn't doubt but
that the sender Of the wire referred
10 his grandfather He wired In the
affirmative. The head Of the Chamber
If Commerce received the wire, read
II. thrust il into his desk, and in the
face of u really important piece Of
business proceeded 10 forget all about
II. Thus il came about that except
for one thing. Dan Failing would have
probably stepped off the train at his
destination wholly unheralded and I'M
met. The one thing that changed his
destiny was that at a meeting Of n
certain widely known fraternal order
the next night. the Chamber of Com
merce crossed trails with the Frontier
In the person of another old resident
who had his home in the farthest
reaches of the Umpqua divide. The
latter asked the former TO come up
for few days shooting-the deer be-
ing fatter and more numerous than
any previous season since the days OF
the grizzlies.
TOO busy. I'm afraid" the Cham
Der of Commerce had replied. But
Lennox-that reminds me. Do you
remember old Dan Failing?"
Lennox probed back into the years
for a single instant. Strengthened out
all the kinks of his memory in less
time than the wind straightens out
the folds of flag. and turned a most
interested face Remember him. he
exclaimed II should say do The
. middIe-aged man half-closed his pierre
Ing, gray eyes
| Listen. Steele he said, IL saw Dan
Failing make bet once / was just
KID but j wake up in my sleep to
| marvel at IL, We had full long
| glimpse of a black-tail bounding UP a
long slope. II was just spike-buck.
| and Dan Failing said he could take
the left-hand spike Off with one shot
from his old Sharpe's. Three of us
bet him-the whole thing In less than
two seconds. With the next shot,
he'd get the deer. He won the bet.
ard now II ! ever forget Dan Failing.
want to die"
you're just the man I'm looking
for. then. You're not going out till the
day after tomorrow"
"No."
ION the limited. hitting here tomor-
row morning. there's a grandson of
Dan Failing. His name Is Dan Fail
ing, too. and he wants to go up to your
place to hunt. Stay all summer and
pay board"
Lemons eyes said that he couldn't
believe II was true. After while HIS
| touEut cIOkt, tOos 0oou A0EOs u8
said. Il used to folIer Dan around
like old Shag. before ne died. followed
Snowbird. or course ne can come.
But he can't pay board"
1t was rather Characteristic Of the
: mountain men--that the grandson of
Dan Failing couldn't possibly pay
board. But Steele knew the ways Of
cities and OF men. and he only smiled.
~He won't come. then" he explained
Anyway, have that out with him 81
the end of his stay. He wants FISH,
ing, and you've got that in the North
fork. Moreover. you're a thousand
miles back"
"Only one hundred, II you must
know. But steele--do you suppose
he's the man his grandfather was be'
fore him-that all the Failings have
been since the first days Of the Ore
ron frail7 n No fs-Well nv hots1