Licking Valley courier., 1922-01-19

= |
Ths ess Man Flung tiimssif Madly |
upsn the Dirt Pie. i
Daddy Hiram scowled down at him.
IF that dog could only be like old
Gran'paw Balaam's donkey for q mln-
ute or so.' he mused. "He saw her
90 in there and saw her come cut;
likewise and the same, he must We
seen what she did after she come cut.
Looks as II he wanted to talk and tell
~, don't he?"
Barney was certainly giving good
imitation Of that. or some other anx-
iety. He was frisking about and bark
1ng, leaping up now and then to snap
at an imaginary ny In the air. Daddy
caught him by his lower jaw and held
him immovable. "Go find her, Bar
neyr he commanded; good dog-so
ind her!"
The instant he was released the col
lie acted as II he understood perfectly
What was wanted Of him. Springing
aside, he began to circle again, nose
to the ground, and within half min
ute he was OF. this time heading into
q dim trail that led away diagonally
dewn the mountain, not In the direc-
tion Of Atropia, but rather on the 9th.
sr leg Of triangle, one side Of which
might be the desert edge, >oae the trail
ve had followed from the Atropia
road. and the third the route we were
now taking to the eastward. e
1t must have been within an hour
or 20 Of midnight when we left the
mountain forests behind and got into
the region Of barren foothills. Here
the collie seemed much surer Of his
ground. and we had our work cut out
for rs In the effort to keep up with
him, In the starlight made out the
line Of telegraph poles az we ran, and
pretty soon our dog leader swung on
to the right and we found ourselves
trotflng on line parallel to the rail-
road track and only little way from
N. ~
Pretty soon the dog disappeared;
and then we, heard him barking at
little distance to the left Of the paral-
lei tracks. When we went to see what
he had found, the mystery suddenly
took another tack and veered Off into
. new channel. In small grassy hol-
low between two of the hills we came
upon the dog and the calico pony. The
bride reins had slipped over the bron-
co.'s head. and Barney had them be-
tween his teeth aud was backing and
tugging and apparently trying to pull
the pony along. -. ..
swell, I'll be ding-jlggered" said
Daddy; but / couldn't unload quite
that easily. For me the riderless pony
meant an accident Of some sort.
"Heavensr' ! gasped; "de you sup.
| pose she's been thrown, and-msybe
crippledY
"who-Jeanie2 Why, bless ysur
heart, Stannie, son. she can ride 'ez
| wild And that calico wouldn't buck
q baby OF. No. boy; don't you 90 e
frettin' about nothin' like that When
abe got out o that saddle. II was 'causs
she was good and ready add wanted
/ TO-" 81 Igt
"when she got or 70 take the train
she tried to make Barney lead the pony
home" suggested. would she b,
likely to do thatY'
Daddy Hiram slapped his leg.
You've hit Il exactly, sonl DOM
know why didn't think o. that at first
It's an old trick that she taught th,
csille when he was q M pup. Ans
Barney. he tried. and when be couldnN
make the pinto leave OF grazln', b
come for US. Sure!-that was The
way of.it. What say II we 20 back Il
the edEee the timber and camp down
III reckon there aln't nothin' TO- b,
gained by hittin' the trail afore we'y.
bad M rest-up spell. Is therer
Ihad no objection 70 effer, you ma,
be sure; and after we had found |
camping spot, and had plcketed tn
pony with the light rope that Jeani'
always carried tied to the cantle of he
saddle. we made a good fire to serv'
In lieu Of the blankets that we didn'
have and stretched ourselves cut 4
sleep the sleep Of the tagged and leg
weary.
The next thing knew-and It seem
ed to be just about a minute after
had closed my eyes-Daddy was shak
Ing me awake.
'Time to be moggin' along, II W
aim to get home for breakfast, sonny,
he announced. At the break OF day W
were coming into the Cinnahar-AtrC
pia road at precisely the point a
which we left II the evening before,
The sun was just beginning to gil
the upper heights OF Old Cinneba
when We trailed over the broad platea
bench below the mine and headed 70
the slope that led up to the dump heat
A. we topped this last hill there wa
an amazing surprise awaiting US
surprise and shock. On the lev'
spot which served as a dooryard IA
the rwombly cabin stood q horse, sac
died and bridled. Its dropped ears An
hanging head showing that 1t had bee
ridden far and hard. And on the csbi
doof.elep, sitting at ease and calml