The Aberdeen weekly., 1922-04-21
CHAPTER XIlI.-Continued.

I passed through the cabin to the
out-ktchen and while I was kindling
a fire in the stove 1 saw Daddy with
an armful of hay and a peck measure
Of oats, tOlling the little horse down
the path back TO the cabin to disap-
pear with it in the direction of the
gulch where the abandoned Little
Jeanie" claim lay. I had the coffee
made and the bacon fried by the time
he got back, and after we had eaten
he blossomed out in an entirely new
role-that of commander in chief.
This is movin' day, Stannie," he
announced briefly. If you'll dig up
all the chuck and canned stuff you
can find and tote it over to the shaft
house. III fetch the blankets and the
cookin' tins"
1 obeyed blindly, and entirely with
out prejudice to a lively curiosity as
TO what this new move might mean.
While 1 was emptying the kitchen and
pantry the old man unearthed another
rifle from the closet under the loft lad
der, and with it a box of ammunition:
and I observed that this second gun,
like the one he had carried on our
pilgrimage of the night, looked as if.
il had been freshly oiled and rubbed
up every day since it had left the fac
tory.
You'll have lot of talking to do
presently l warned him. you seem
TO forget that you haven't yet told me
what's biting you"
Maybe there amt nothin' bitin' me:
1pR-hn Tfvra inst tn - ~ =
skeery. But it's this-away, Stannie,
son: Ever since your gran'paw gave
me this here watchin' job, and since 1
heard tell how them Cripple Creek
short-card artists socked it to him on
this Cinnabar deal, 1 been lookin' for
trouble. haint been easy about them
Cripple Greek holdups nary a day
since your gran'paw told me to stay
here and hold the fort for him"
"YOu thought perhaps the original
owners might try to grab the property
by force?"
Daddy looked up at me from under
his bushy eyebrows.
Pears TO me like you've got a
mighty short memory, seme way, STAN
ME. Have you done forgot that bunch
- AAShANH VIC saw NuAAIDAu out III AIlIS-
lOpe gulch as we come along by there
at daybreak this mornin'? didn't like
the looks o that camp much at the
time; and I liked 1t a whole lot less
after we got here and found Charley
BullertOn sunnin' himself on the door
step. Made me sort o. perk up my
ears"
But. see here, Daddy" 1 thrust in.
IF he's got my deed, or has destroyed
it, why"
"Why, he has as good a right to the
Cinnabar as the next one that comes
along. is what you're goin' to say.
amt disputin' you for a minute But
afore he can have ii, he's got to take
it, hain't he? And we've got two Nigh
ty good li1' pieces of artillery that saws
he's goin' to have one joyful old time
a-takin' 1t; that is, if you're of the
same mind that / am"
BY Jove! 1 wanted TO put my arms
around the old Spartan and hug him
AS I've said, there were ten or dozen
men in that bunch we'd seen in the
gulch, and he was calmly proposing to
stand up to them, as confidently as if
it were all in the days work.
II get you now, Daddy" said, "and
If there's a fight coming to US, your
mind is mine. Wen give them the best
we've got"
] thought the two old-fashioned guns
and Jeanie's pistol promised poor
chance for an effective defense; but
Daddy Hiram proceeded TO show me
that we had at least one other re-
source. In the mine stores left behind
by the former operating company were
two boxes of sixty-per-cent dynamite,
with fuse and caps, and Daddy pointed