The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-01-19

ItDI, 81 la 40 H.
was concerned. Inside of five minutes,
Daddy, working like a man demented,
had dug the entire cavern away, and
there was nothing to show for the
frantic s~iioveling-less than nothing.
Again, | don't know how Daddy felt,
but I'm sure / was able to breathe
better, the Improvement dating from
the moment when it became apparent
that the earth heap had grown too
small under the shovel stabs to pos
sibly conceal a human body.
The collie had followed us and
Daddy Hiram scowled down at him.
"If that dog could only be like old
Gran'paw Bahamas donkey for a min
ute or So" he unused. "He saw her
go in there and saw her come out:
likewise and the same, he must we
seen what she did after she come out.
Looks as if he wanted to talk and tell
MS, don't he?"
Barney was certainly giving a good
imitation of that, or some other anx-
iety. He was frisking about and bark
ing, leaping up now and then to snap
at an imaginary fly in the air. Daddy
caught him by his lower jaw and held
him immovable. "Go find her, Bar
ney :" he commanded good dOg-gO
find her!"
The instant he was released the col
lie acted as If he understood perfectly
what was wanted Of him. Springing
aside, he began to circle again, nose
to the ground, and within half a min
ute he was off, this time heading into
Il dim trail that led away diagOnally
,lown the mountain, not In the direc-
t.On of Atropia, but rather IN the 9TH
or leg of a triangle, one side of which
might be the desert edge, one the trail
we lad followed from the Atropia
road, and the third the route we we're
now taking to the eastward.
1t must have been within an hour
or so 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
" "a" Al tAO Clolt W hCCD UP Will
him. In the starlight l made out the
line OF telegraph poles as we ran, and
pretty soon our dog leader swung off
to the right and we found ourselves
trotting on a line parallel to the rail-
road track and only a little way from
1t.
Pretty o o the dog disappeared;
and then we heard him barking at a
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
a new channel. In a 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 and was backing and
tugging and apparently trying to pull
the pony along,
swell, I'll be ding-jiggeredI" said
Daddy; but l couldn't unload quite
that easily. For me the riderless pony
meant an accident of some sort.
"Heavens!" l gasped; "do you sup
pose she's been thrown, a~nd-maybe
crippled?"
"Who-Jeanie? Why, bless your
heart, Stannle, son, she can ride EN-
wild! And that calico wouldn't buck
a baby off. No, boy; don't you go to
frettin' about nothin' like that. When
she got out O. that saddle, 1t was cause
she was good and ready and wanted
to-"
when she got off to take the train,
she tried to make Barney lead the pony
home," l suggested. "WOuld she be
likely to do that?"
Daddy Hiram slapped his leg.
you've hit it exactly, son! Don't
know why l didn't think o. that at first.
It's an old trick that she taught the
collie when he was a liz pup. And
Barney, he tried, ard when he couldn't
make the pinto leave off grain, he
come for us. Sure that was the
way of it. What say If we go back to
the edge O. the timber and camp down?
/ reckon there amt nOthin' to be
gained by hittin' the trail afore we've
had a lir rest-up spell, is there?'
l had no objection to offer, you may
be sure; and after we had found a
camping spot, and had picketed the
pony with the light rope that jeanne
always carried tied to the cantle of her
saddle, we made a good fire to serve
I'm lieu of the blankets that we didn't
have and stretched ourselves out to
sleep the sleep Of the tagged and leg
weary.
The next thing l knew-and it SEEM
ed to be just about a minute after I
had closed my eyes-Daddy was shak.
ing me awake.
'Time to be moggin' along, If we
aim to get home for breakfast, sonny"
he announced. At the break of day we
we're coming into the Cinnabar-Atro-
pia road at precisely the point at
which we left 1t the evening before.
The sur vas just beginning to gild
the upper heights Of Old Cinnebar
when we trailed over the broad plateau
bench below the mine and headed for