The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-02-02

given audible proof that Fullerton had
finally made his dispositions" as an
army man would say. The
ment came In the form Of a rifle bullet
ripping through the roof OF the shaft
house as If the stout Iron roofing had
been so much paper.
"The fun's a-beginnin'," said Daddy;
and the words were hardly out of his
mouth before another bullet came, this
time from the opposite direction, and
1t, also, tore through the roof.
SCOT us surrounded" Daddy grim
aced, when a third shot came from still
another point Of the compass; and
within the next fifteen minutes Butler
tons demonstration was made COM
plete. The shots, fred one at a time,
and at intervals of a minute or so,
came from all three Of the exposed
sides Of the building, and the time
elapsing between the ripping crashes
on the roof and the crack of the guns
told us that the marksmen were all
well beyond the range of our Win
chesters, ever If we could have seen
nem-Wnl we couldn't.
Fullerton had evidently given his
men orders to aim at the roof, for it
was only a stray bullet now and then
that came through the walls. After q
time the purpose of the bOmbardment
became obvious. Fullerton seemed to
have absorbed the idea that he could
break our nerve-Wear us out. After
the first fusiIlade the shots came at
intervals of maybe five minutes; just
often enough to keep us on the strain
object was handsomely gained. | can't
speak for Daddy Hiram or the dog,
but at the end Of the first hour | was
little better than a bunch Of raw
nerves.
AS all days must, this wearlsome
first day came to an end at last, and
with the coming of dusk the lombard
ment stopped-with our roof looking
like q sieve.
But after darkness had settled down
we were made to feel in another way
how acutely helpless we were. We
IL NtNNAhu Z iIolkiltlS. utdl IlplltlllS,
Though we NEW we were surrounded,
the silence and solitude were u%nbroken,
and the strain was greater than that
Of n pitched battle, If we were to get
any sleep at all, a night watch could
be maintained by only one of us at a
, time; and with our utmost vigilance
n surprise ag;eck would be the easiest
thing In the world for Fullerton to pull
off.
There are no night noises In the high
attitudes, unless the wind happens to
be blowing no frogs or tree-toads, no
insects; and the silence was fairly
deafening-and maddening.
Not wishing to strike a match to de-
termine the N end of my watch
period, l stuck it out, meaning to give
Daddy good measure. SO l think it
must have been somewhere around ten
O'Clock when the collie woke with a
: start, jumped up, took the kinks out Of
: his back with a little whining yawn,
and trottGd to the door-the one open
, ing toward the cabin across the dump
head. Screwing an eye to one of Dad
dy's auger-bc:ed loopholes, / tried to
, fathom the outer darkness, which was
only n degree or SO less Egyptian than
that OF the s~haft-house interior.
Though | could see nothing suspi-
clous it was very evident that the dog
could hear something. He had his nose
to the crack under the doOr and was
growing. l quieted him and listened
Something was going on, either inside
of the cabin or back of 1t in the dead
silence | could distinguish a low muir
muir Of voices and, a moment later, a
souno like that which would be made
! by the cautious opening Of one of the
sliding windows. While / still had my
eye to the peep-hole q jet OF flame
spurted from the dark bulk of the cab
} III, and simultaneously a bullet tore
through the shaft-house root. The
raiders had captured our outworks.
The report and the bullet clatter
aroused Daddy Hiram, and when ]
turned he was at my elbow.
Done crope up on us, have they
sonT' he said in his usual unruffled
manner. Then: "Maybe this is just a
sort o. false notion over here. S'pose
? you try and get a squint at things over
on the blacksmith-shop side, Stannie."
/ stumbled across to the other door,
taking the collie with me. l could see
nothing in that direction; less than
nothing, since the lean-to shop build.
Ing cut off what little light the stars
gave. But the black darkness didn't
hamper Barney's ears or his nose, and
his eagerness to get back to the real
battle front was a good proof that
there was as vet nothing stirring or
our side of things.
Cropping my way back to Daddy ]
found that he had one Of the Winches-
ters and seemed to be trying to fit a
ramrod to the barrel. When / finally
made out what he was doing / found
that he had thrust a piece of heavy
wire into the gun-barrel and was i'm
paling one Of the dynamite cartridges
on It's DroiQcfing and