New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1921-08-06
CHAPTER I.
The Au-in-One.

...-.- CHAPTER /.
The AH-in-One.
Down through Bad Lands the Little
white, from distance, as a frozen
river between the ash-gray hills. Rain
comes to that land but seldom in the
summer days; in winter the wind
sweeps the snow into rocky canons.
To Jeremiah Lambert it seemed the
land of hopelessness, the last bound
! over the uneven road at the end OF
a blistering summer day, trundling
his bicycle at his side. There was a
| suitcase strapped to the handle-ba
of the bicycle, and in that receptacle
were the wares which this guileless
peddler had come into that land to
sell. But housekeepers were not
pining for the combination potato
parer, apple-corer, can-opener, tack
puller.
This country was becoming more
and more sparsely settled. Lambert
had passed the last house before
| noon, when his 65-pound bicycle had
suffered a punctured tire.
Since then he had trudged a dozen
| miles. Nothing that looked like a
house was in sight and it was COM
ing on dusk.
He labored on, bent in spirit, sore
of foot. From the rise of a hill, when
| it had fallen so dark that he was
in doubt of the road, he heard an
aggravated tenor voice singing. And
this was the manner Of the song:
| Oh, bet my money on bob-tailed
boss,
An, hoo-dah, an a hoo-dah;
| I bet my money on a bob-tailed boss,
An a hoo-dah bet on the bay.
Lambert went down the hill. Pres
emily the shape of trees began to form
out of the valley. Then Whit OF
coffee, and the noise of the man
| breaking dry sticks, as with his foot
Now the light, with the legs of the
man in it, showing a cow-camp.
| Beyond the fire men were unsad-
ding their horses and turning them
| into the corral. Lambert trundled
his bicycle into the freight, hailing
the cook with a cheerful word.
"Oh, agent, are your" said the cook
mo hungry man don't have to dig
up his money to eat in this camp
The cook, whom they called later
leg, was a different type of man from
the others, and seemed to have been
pitched into the game like the last
pawn of desperate player. He was
a short man, thick in the body, heavy
in the shoulders, so bow-legged that
he weaved from side to side like q
sailor.
Nobody asked Lambert where he
came from, what his business was, OF
whittier he was bound, until the last
fplate was pitched into the box, the
last cup drained OF it's black, scaldine
coffee. It was the elder of the bunch
a man designated by the name OF
Siwash. who took it UP then.
Lambert told them, in reply to
kindly, polite questioning from 81.
! wash, how he was lately graduated
from the Kansas Agricultural college
at Manhattan, and how he had taker
the road with a grip full Of hard
ware to get enough ballast in hi:
LEANS to keep the winter wind from
blowing him away. He produced ons
lof the little implements, explained i'll
points, and it passed from. hand tt
Inland, with comments which woule
have been worth gold to the genera
lagent.
Its a toothpick and a tater-peele
Iput together" said Siwash, when i
came back to his hand. The younl
fellow with the black, sleek hair, VIII
kept his gun on, reached for it, ben
over it in the light, examining it will
interest.
"You can trim your toenails witt
it and half-sole your boots" he said
You can shave with it and saw wood
pull teeth and brand mavericks; yo1
; can open bottle or bank with il
and you can open the hired gal
teyes with it in the mornin'. It's goo
for the old and the young, for tn
: crippled and the insane; it'll hea
iyour house and hoe your garden, an
lput the children to bed at night. AM
Its made and sold and Distribute
; lby Mr-Mr.-by the Duke-is then
three links of sausage. Siwash?"
Siwash looked at the triangle unde
the name.
mo, that's Indian writin'; it mean
, a mountain he said.
"Sure, Of course, I might a
knowed'' the young man said wit
ldeep self-scorn. That's butte
that's old Chimney Butte, as plall
as smoke. Made and sold and dis
rtributed in the Bad Lands by tn
Duke of Chimney Butte. Duke,
lsaid he so1emnly, rising and offerin
his hand, I'm proud to know you.
AS gravely as the cowboy ha
risen, as solemnly as he held hi
:countenance in mock seriousness:
Lambert rose and shook hands wit
him.
THE pleasure is mostly mine.'' sal
he, not flush of embarrassment o
resentment in his face, not a quiVe
of the eyeHd as he looked the othe