The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1921-12-15

Hiram and to ask a lot Of Indifferent
questions about the drowned mine.
"Haln't heard nothin' firm yer own.
ers yit, have ye, Hiram?' he wanted
to know, after-as 1t seemed to me-
the subject had been pretty thoroughly
talked to death.
l heard Daddy's reply, made as to
one with whom the matter he'd beer
canvassed before.
"Nothin' but that clippin' from some
newspaper back East. tellln' about Mr..
Dudley's passln' out"
kinda curious somebody don't tell
We somethin', amt It'll" the marshal
put In. Looks like the heirs d be
either ishin' r cuttin' bait on this
here Cinnabar layout-not as it'd do
'em any good If they did. Didn't any
letter come with the newspaper piece?"
"Nary a pen-scratch."
"Whereabout was tie envelope
postedT
"Washin'ton."
"Aha - said 1 to myself, II have you,
Cousin Percy! For some reason best
known to yourself you didn't want
Daddy Hiram to get hold Of Grand
father Jasper's proper address"
His pipe smoked out, the marshal
prepared to take horse. Daddy went
with him to the far side Of the dump
and the murmur Of their voices came
to me in diminishing cadences. After
a bit Daddy came back and called up
to me in the sing-song Of the miners
after the final blast has been fired:
"A-a-l-l over, Stannie. I reckon We
can come down now and get you some
breakfast"
jeanne served me In silence when
I took my place at table and the good
old man stood In the doorway, keeping
watch, as 1 made no doubt, against
a possible second-thought return Of
Friend Isaac, the bristle-bearded.
Throughout the working day which
followed he lever made the slightest
reference to the episode Of the morn
ing and, truly, l think the whole Incl.
dent would have been buried In obliv-
Ion by those two supplemented souls
II hadn't first spoken Of 1t myself.
This l did in the evening Of the
same day, when Daddy had gone to
make his entirely useless night round
OF the mine property. AS on most
evenings, Jeanne sat at her corner of
the hearth, knitting, and I was filling
a bedtime pipe.
"Jeanie." l broke out, II wish you'd
tell me why you and your father are
so good to me. How do you know that
I'm not the crazy criminal that other
people believe me to be? I did steal
he car and get 1t smashed, you know"
you are not a criminal and I am
sure you didn't mean to get the car
smashed. Besides, you had taken
shelter under our roof"
You are true B%edouins," I laughed.
rs h a the code in the West?-your
codeF-to defend anybody who has eat.
en- salt. with your"
u should think II would be any,
body's CODE"
"You and your father were expecting
this man Beasley to come here look
Ing for mel"
Daddy thought he might just hap
pen along. We are only four miles
from Atropia, you know"
And was that the reason Won nut
the old transit at the window?-so
you might watch for him?"
"Of course"
by Jove! Another woman, any 9th.
er woman In the world, I thought.
would have let some little shred of
sentiment show; she couldn't have
helped 1t. But this one didn't. A
boy couldn't have looked me in the
Eyes any more frankly and squarely
than she did when she said "Of
course" Since / had eaten their bread.
l was, for so long as I chose to stay,
a member of the clan.
1t was near the end of the fortnight.
and Daddy Hiram and I had secured
and rubbed and scraped and reas-
sembled the engine and pumps, and
were finishing the cleaning Of the boil
ers. These were pretty badly rusted
and scaled. and to do the job properly,
we had taken the manhole heads out
OF the holes left to give access to the
Interior Of the shells, and had had a
good-natured squabble as to which Of
us should crawl inside to do the scrap
ing; Daddy insisting upon doing 1t. be-
as he pointed out, he was the
smaller man, and I arguing that I
should because l was the younger and
stronger.
To settle 1t finally we Tipped q coin
-on Of those inch-wide copper pen.
siies that Daddy carried for q pocket.
piece-and / won the toss. The lob
wasn't exactly a picnic. but 1 got along
all right until we came to the last Of
the battery. / found that the repair.
ers had at some past time inserted a
couple Of extra stay-rods, so that there
was little enough room left In the old
steel shell for a professional boiler.
monkey to wriggle about In, to say
nothing Of a husky young chap who
tipped the beam at around a hundred
and seventy pounds, stripped.
Just the same. I made shift to knock
the worst Of the scale on and rattle
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