The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1921-12-30
The Girl, a Horse and a DOG
By FRANCIS LunDE

down through that hole fixes us a
plenty. Sufferin' Methusalebl what
oil is the folks down yonder at 'Tro
pia a-dreamin' about, to let all this
bangin' and whangin' go on up here
without comm up to find out what's
maxim itT'
The Atropia that l remembered was
so nearly moribund that / didn't won
der 1t wasn't making any stir In our
behalf; so, when a few pattering rifle
shots which seemed to originate on
the great bench below began to sift
in among the bomb echoes. | took it
that Fullerton had divided his force
and was trying to rattle us two ways
at once. AS for that, however, the
bigger bombardment kept US from
specializing very ~curiously upon any
thing else. Two more of the giant
crackers had fallen to the right of us,
N of them into the wreck of the
blacksmith shop, to send up a spout
ing volcano Of scrap which fell a sec
ond or so later in a thunderous rain
and then.
For a fitting instant ii seemed as If
1t must drop squarely in front Of the
iron shield under which we were
jammed-in which case ever the I'M
dertaker wouldn't have been needed
not any whatsoever, as Daddy Hiram
would have said. But at the critical
point in its flight the hurtling thing
licked" the top of the hoist frame
and its downward course was defect
ed the needed hair's-breadth, causing
1t to come down beyond the machln-
cry, and not on our side of things.
Nevertheless, we were covering in an
ticlpation Of a blast which would most
likely heave the entire machinery ag-
gregation ver bodily upon us when
the explosion came.
We saw the belching column of
the machinery barrier, taking a full
half of the roof with It, as If the blast
had come from the mouth of q gigan-
tic cannon. We were dazed and deaf
ened by the shock, and half choked
by the fumes, but neither of us was
so far gone as not to hear distinctly a
prolonged and rumbling crash like the
thunder of a small Niagara, coming
after the smash
"The shaft !" shrilled Daddy Hiram,
in a thin, choked voice sit went off
down In the shaft! And, sayl-
what-all's that we're a-listenin' to
now"
If there had been a dozen Of the
bombs raining down 1 don't believe
the threat of them would have kept
us from bursting out of our dodge-hole
to go and see what had happened In
the mine shaft. But before we could
determine anything more than that
the mouth of the shaft was complete
ly hidden under a mass of wreckage,
and that the mysterious Niagara roar.
dwindled somewhat, but yet holloway
audible, was still going on under the
c~oncealing mass Of broken timbers
and sheet-iron, there was a masterful
Shots, yells. shoutings
md hot curses told us that q fierce
of some kind was staging itself
Just outside Of our wrecked fortress;
.vhereupon Daddy Hiram began paw
his way to the door, yelling like a
nan suddenly gone dotty.
THAT there's old Ike Beasley-
lad-blame his old hide !" he chittered.
There amt nary mother man In the
nmanyonis at ear cuss like that. 8
les come with a posse, and they're )
nyin' out Charley Bullerton's crowd !" q
There was a fine little tableau q
preadlng itself out for us when we =
dd clambered over the wreckage and \