St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1921-12-31

shed, as / have described it, entirely
indefensible If the raiders should CON-
clude to rush It.
In the fulness Of time the period Of
suspense came to an end, and we were
given audible proof that Fullerton had
finally made his dispositions" as an
army man would say. The announce
ment came in the form Of rifle bullet
ripping through the roof Of the shaft
house as If the stout iron roofing had
been so much paper.
"The fun's a-beginnin'," said Daddy;
and the words were hardly out Of his
mouth before another bullet came, this
time from the opposite direction, and
1t, also. tore through the roof.
Got us surrounded" Daddy grim
aced when third shot came from still
another point Of the compass; and
within the next fifteen minutes Butler
tons demonstration was made COM
plete. The shots, fred one at time,
and at intervals of minute or SO,
came from all three Of the exposed
sides Of the building, and the time
elapsing between the ripping crashes
on the roof and the crack Of the guns
told us that the marksmen were all
well beyond the range of our Win
chesters, even If we could have seen
them-which we couldn't. -
Fullerton had evidently given his
men orders to aim at the roof, for it
was only stray bullet now and then
that came through the walls. After
time the purpose of the bombardment
became obvious. Fullerton seemed to
have absorbed the idea that he could
break our nerve-Wear us out. After
the first fusillade the shots came at
intervals of maybe five minutes; just
and don't mind admitting that the
object was handsomely gained. can't
speak for Daddy Hiram or the dog,
but at the end Of the first hour was
little better thar bunch Of raw
nerves. ass
AS all days must, this wearisome
first day came to an end at last, and
with the coming of dusk the lombard
ment stopped-with our roof looking
like sieve. 55v
But after darkness had settled down
we were made to feel in another way
how acutely helpless we were We
could see nothing, hear nothing.
Though we knew we were surrounded,
the silence and solitude were unbroken,
and the strain was greater than that
Of a pitched battle. If we were to get
any sleep at all, night watch could
be maintained by only one Of us at
time; and with our utmost vigilance
a surprise attack would be the easiest
thing In the world for Fullerton to pull
off.
There are no night noises In the high
attitudes, unless the wind happens to
be blowing; no frogs or tree-toads, no
insects; and the silence was fairly
deafening-and maddening. .. -
Not wishing to strike match to de-
terrnine the exact end Of my watch
period, stuck it out, meaning to give
must have been somewhere around ten
o'clock when the collie woke with a
start, jumped up, took the kinks out OF
his back with a little whining yawn,
and trotted to the door-the one open
ing toward the cabin across the dump
head. Screwing an eye to one of Dad
dy's auger-bored loopholes, tried to
fathom the outer darkness, which was
only a degree or so less Egyptian than
that of the shaft-house interior.
Though could see nothing suspi-
cious it was very evident that the dog
could hear something. He had his nose
to the crack under the door and was
growing. I quoted him and listened
Something was going on, either inside
Of the cabin or back OF It; in the dead
silence could distinguish low muir
muir of voices and, moment later, q
sound like that which would be made
by the cautious opening of one of the
sliding windows While still had my
eye to the peep-hole a jet of flame
spurted from the dark Duk OF Tie cal.
in, an,! simultaneously bullet f'2rt
through the shaft-house roof. The
raiders had capt.red our outworks.
The report and the bullet clatter
aroused Daddy Hiram, and when I
turned he was at n: elbow.
"Done crope up OIL us, have they,
son?' he said in his usual unruffled
manner. Then: Maybe this is just a
sort O. false notion over here. S'pose
you try and get squint at things over
on the blacksmith-shop side, Stannie."
l stumbled across to the other door,
taking the collie with-me. ! could see
nothing in that direction; less than
nothing, since the lean-to shop build
ing cut off what little light the stars
gave. But the black darkness didn't
hamper Barney's ears or his nose, and
his eagerness to get back to the real
battle front was a good proof that
there was as yet nothing stirring on
our side Of things.
Cropping my way back to Daddy l
found that he had one Of the Winches-
tiers and semed to be trying to fit q
ramrod to the barrel. When finally
made out what he was doing found
that he had thrust piece Of heavy
wire into the gun-barrel and was Inn
paling one of the dynamite cartridges
on Its projecting end.
i,v Slkvrnnlrot y ho tchurklod. then