The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1922-03-03

and was beyond redemption and the
cornmeal was the same. In view Of
the results | wondered if Fullerton
hadn't shrewdly calculated upon wash
ing our commiSsary u of existence
when he planned his overgrown lawn
sprinkler. But maybe that was giving
him credit for more ingenuity than he
really had.
Through what remained Of the after
noon the rifle firing continued, coming
sometimes from one angle and some
times from another, but always can
nily from a safe distance and always
under cover of the surrounding forest.
Daddy Hiram, grimly optimistic, eX-
tracted Il swallow or o Of encourage
ment out of the persistent pot-shoot-
ing.
Dunno as you've ever noticed 1t,
Stannie, but if you'll only let Il hog
alone long enough he'll shove himself
under the bob-Wir> fence far enough
TO get caught" he said. Charley Bull
lerton, now; he's plum forgot that
'Tropia'S less n five miles away and
that sound carries mighty long dis
tances in these mountains in clear
weather."
what differen2 does that makew
! asked.
1T may make a heap O difference.
Looks 10 me like somebody-Buddy
Fuller, r jim Haggerty, the section
boss, r some Of EN- down yonder ID
begin a~-wonderin', after a spell, what
in ~tarnation all this here blastin' and
ritle-poppin' up on old Cinnabar is a
p'intin' at and come and see"
"DO you think the racket will carry
that far?"
1T sure will. One night afore 'TrO-
pia had gone as dead as she is now, a
bunch o c%owpunch's got into an argy-
ment at Blue-nose Bits place and we
here-Jeanie and me-like it was just
over yonder in G"easer gulch."
"Wcll?" said |. "if your nephew or
any Of the others hear it, what them
AS | asked the question one of the
lOw-aimed shots tore through the side
VI liz Dull'illS, StluNh liz htl lldlliC
Of the hoist, fattened itself and
dropped into the old mans lap. Pick
ing up the hot bit of lead to dandle
it from hand TO hand he vent on much
as if picking up bullets that were fired
at him had beer his daily recreation.
Curiosity killed the cat. Stanine,
son. You let some n o the folks
down yonder in 'Tropia say, by COL
l wonder what all that shoOtin's forY
and the next thing you know, some
bOdyll be mOggin' up here TO find out"
Along about dusk some member of
the besieging party tried TO make a re-
connaissance. happened to be keeping
the lookout on the cabin side of our
fortress and saw a man lodging among
the pines back of the house. When |
reported TO Daddy he took Il snap shot
at the place | pointed out to him and
there was a wild yell and a stir in the
young pines as though a hog were gal
Looping through them.
Just to let 'em know that we're
still alive and kickin'," said the old
man, with another Of his quavery
chuckles. Il reckon maybe that's
what they was Amin to find out"
Possibly it was. At all events, the
rifle fire stopped with the coming Of
darkness, and as we faced our second
night Of defense we had plenty Of time
TO sit around and think and speculate
upon what the outcome was going to
be.
Taking it all in all, it was the fan
tastic humOr of the thing that hit me
hardest. Six short weeks earlier peO-
pie at home had been calling me all
the hard that fall to the lot Of
the idle n~e'er-do-well; a young chap
with enough inheritance money to keep
him in ties and shoes and shirts and
to buy gas for his car-thOugh that
last asked for a good bit on the rising
cost of gasoline-and not enough to
make life, or anythiag connected there
with, very much worth while.
Also these same people were saying
behind my back, of course, but there
were always plenty of them to repeat
the saying to my face-that l was
good stock one to seed, would never
amount to a hill Of beans in anything
that asked for initiative or resource
~fulness, o primitive rough stuff of any
sort that l was due TO 90 on dolling
myself up and playing skittles TO the
end of the chapter-which would prob
abby stage itself in an asylum for tn;
feeble-minded. Also, again, at that
same time, which was six weeks-Or
six thousand years-ago, | was en-
gagged to Lisette; with mighty little
prospect of marrying her, to be sure,
but with no thought of marrying any
body else.
And now / looked around at
the shadowy walls of the grim old Gin
nabar shaft-house, looming darkly and
still dripping, tick, tack, from their
early-afternoon mud bath felt my soy
gy clothes; stared across at Daddy
Hiram sitting backed up against the