St. Tammany farmer., 1921-12-24

men came on, leaving their guns be-
hind. There was climb Of about
thirty feet, maybe, coming up, from
the bench to the ledge upon which the
ly good look at the peace party before
it came within talking distance. Bull
lerton still had aeslight touch of the
wry-neck, and the devil-may-care
jauntiness which had been his chief
characteristic as guest of the Twom-
blys had been wiped from his face and
manner like a picture from a black
board.
AS the three Of them topped the rise
in the ore road | reached behind me
and got one of the Winchesters.
That's near enough p l called out.
'.Do your talking from there, if you've
anything to say
The delegation halted and BullertoD
took, a paper from his pocket.
I'm serving legal notice upon you,
Broughton," he said, waving the paper
at me, "and have two witnesses here,
as the law requires. l represent the
Cinnabar Mining company of Cripple
Creek. You are trespassing on our
property and I am making a formal
demand for possession
so that's the new wrinkle, is it?" I
laughed. Il was hoping you might
spring something little more original.
How are you going to prove owner
ship?'
''The burden of proof isn't on us !;
it's on you'll" he ripped out. .'You
haven't a shadow Of claim to this
mine. Eve got your so-called deed
right here'-and he shook that at us.
"It's forgery; clumsy, childish
forgery that wouldn't impose upon
blind man We can send you to the
rock pile on the strength of it$if we
want toW
Since he had stolen the deed out of
my pocket, 1 thought, of course, that
he was just blutfinS about its being a
forgery. He must have known per-
fectly well that it wasn't. But Daddy
was whispering in my ear as he sat
behind lne. Something like this
"Gosh-aIl-Friday, Stannie, he's got you
goin'! He's made copy O the deed
and throWed the 'riginal away-burnt
it up, 4 somethin' ~
''You have it all your own way, Bull
lerton--or you think you have told
him; and If didn't get all of the self
confidence into the words that I tried
to, am persuaded that he didn't know
the difference. Il might even concede
that you have everything but the mine
itself. II YOU want that, you may
come and take it; but you'll permit me
to say that when you break into this
shaft-house there will be fewer people
alive on Cinnabar mountain than there
are at the present moment. l shall
quite possibly be one of the dead ones,
but before l 90 out shall do my best
to make you another
"All right" he snapped back;
you're speaking for yourself, and
that's your privilege. But how about
you, Twombly? This is no quarrel of
yours. Suppose you go over yonder to
your cabin and stay out Of the fight.
Nobody wants to hurt you.''
That put it pretty squarely up to
me, too, so turned to the old man at
my side.
''It's good advice, Daddy" I said:
"and this isn't your quarrel. You'd
better duck while you can"
Daddy Hiram made no reply at all
to me; didn't pay any attention to me.
Instead, he stood up on the door-sill
and shook his fist at Bullerton.
4 been loolSin' for you ana your
kind Of crowd for a year back,
Charley Fullerton, and drawjn' pay
for dnin' itl' he shrilled. .Stannie.
here, says if you want this mine You
can come and take 1t, and, by gum
mics, | say them same identical
words T.
All right" said Fullerton again.
But its only fair to say that we out
1umber you six to one, and we've got
he law, and q few deputy sheriffs, on