The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-12-17
The Girla
Horse and
a Dog
FRANCIS LYNDE


Though could see nothing suspi-
cious 1t was very evident that the dog
could hear something He had bis nose
70 the crack under the door and was
growing. / qlaleted him and listened
Something waa going on, either inside
Of the cabin on back Of 1t; in the dead
silence / could distinguish low muir
muir Of voices and, a moment later, a
sound ike thar which would be made
by the cautious opening of one of the
sliding windows. While still had my
eye to the peep-hoIe a jet Of flame
sUurted from the dark bulk Of the cab
Ia. and simultaneously a bullet tore
through the lshaff-house roof. The
raiders had captured our outworks.
The report and the bullet cIatter
aroused Daddy Hiram, and when /
turned he was ut my elbow.
''Done crope up on rs. have they.
sonT he said In his usual unrufled
manner. Then Maybe this is just a
sort o. false notion over here. S'pose
yon try and get a squint at things over
on the bIacksmith-shop side, Stannie."
stumbled across 70 the other door,
taking the collie nifh me. / could see
nothing In that direction; less than
nothing, since The Iean-to shop build
Ing cut of what little light the stars
gave. But the black darkness didn't
hamper Barneyis ears or his nose. and
his eagerness to get back to the real
battle front wins good proof that
there was as YET nothing stirring on
our side Of things
Cropping my way back TO Daddy I
found that he had one Of the Winches-
ters~ and seemed to be trying to fit
ramrod to the tiarreI When / finally
made out what he was doingI found
that he had thrust piece of heavy
wire into the glln-barreI and was Inn
paling one of the dynamite cartridges
on its projecting end
LIT skyrOcket,h he chuckIed ; then,
with quaint huinor "You stand by
with a match. sstannie, and let's see
what-all's goin' TO happen. When ]
say the word, you stick your match to
the fuse"
htdfCuSt uldylJe 4 itlh ENJOY II u6-
Iightful little spasm as / got a fash
light mental picture of that old man
fumbling around with lighted cart
ridge at the muzzle of his gun, trying
to poke cartridge and gun-barrel
through hole In the door that couldn't
possibly have bf.en over two and a
half inches in diameter-and in the
dark, at that What If he shouldn't be
able to find the hole in time? Or IL he
should succeed In finding it and the
rife bullet should jam on the wire?
Or any one Of dozen ifs that might
fail to rid us of the deadly thing be-
fore 1t should 60 off and blow US to
kingdom come?
But there was no time to haggle
about 1t, and the whang of another
high-powered bullet on the iron roof
over our heads speeded things up.
"Do your do, Daddy muttered; and
I struck a match sheltered the tiny
fame In my followed hands until it
got going good, and then, with a silent
prayer that Daddy might not miss the
hole, stuck the blaze to the frayed end
OF the powder string.
Coming all three together as 1t
seemed to me, there were spittings like
those of an angry cat, puff of chok-
ing powder smoke. and the crack Of
the rifle. For just about three seconds
nothing further happened; but at the
fourth second or thereabouts-oh boy
The cabin was stoutly and solidly
built of logs. as may have mentioned,