The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-02-23
BY
FRANCIS LYNDE

characteristic as 8 guest OF the IWOm
hlys had been wipea from his face ant
manner like a picture from a black
board. .1r.- -
AS the three of them topped the rise
in the ore road 1 reached behind me
and got n of the W%inchesters.
THAT'S near enough" I called out
do your talking from there, if you've
anything TO say"
The delegation halted and Fullerton
took a paper from his pocket.
"I'm serving legal notice upon you,
Broughton,' he said. waving the paper
at me, land l have two witnesses here,
as the law requires. l represent the
Cinnabar Mining company of Cripple
Creek. You are trespassing on our
property and l am making a formal
demand for possession"
$50 that's the new wrinkle. Is lit"
laughed. II was hoping you might
spring something a little more original.
How are you going to prove owner
'hip?"
The burden of proof isn't on us ;
it's on you!" he ripped out. you
haven't a shadow of claim to this
mine. I've got your so-called deed
right here"-and he shook that at us.
It's q forgery: a clumsy, childish
forgery that wouldn't impose upon "a
blind man! We can send you to the
rock pile ON the strength Of it If we
want to-"
Since ne had stolen the deed out of
my pocket, l thought, of course. that
he was just bluffing about its being a
forgery. He must have known per-
fectly we'll that it wasn't. But daddy
was whispering in my ear as he sat
behind me. Something like this:
"Gosh-alI-Friday, Stannie, he's got you
goin'. He's made a cory O the deed
and throwed the 'riginal away-burnt
it up, r scmethin'!"
You have il all your own way. Bull
lerton-Or you think you have" | told
him and if l didn't get all of the self
confidence into the words that | tried
TO, | am persuaded that he didn't know
the difference. Il might even "cncede
that you have everything but III" niue
itself. If you ant that. YOU may
come and take it but you'll permit me
to say that when you break into this
shaft-house there will be fewer people
alive on Cinnabar mountain than there
are at the present moment. ! shall
quite possibly be n of the dead ones,
but before l go out 1 shall do my best
to make you another"
"All right" he snapped back
you're speaking for yourself, and
that's your privilege. But how about
you. Twombly? This is no quarrel of
yours. Suppose you go owe yonder ia
your cabin and stay out of the fight,
Nobody wants to hurt you.'
That put it pretty squarely up to
me, too, so / turned to the old man at
my side.
ats good advice, Daddy" 1 said
land this isn't your quarrel. You'd
better duck while you can"
Daddy Hiram made no reply at all
to me; didn't pay any attention to me
Instead, he stood up on the door-sill
and shook his fist at Fullerton.
II been lookin' for you and your
kind of a crowd for a year back
Charley Fullerton, and DRAWN pay
for dom it," he shrilled. "Stannie
here. says if you want this mine you
can come and take it, and, by gum
mics, l say them same Identical
words -
"All right" said Fullerton again
But it's only fair to say that we out
number you six to one, and we've got
the law, and a few deputy sheriffs, or
our side. You two haven't as much
show as a cat in hell without claws
and when the circus is over, you'll
both go to Jail, If there's enough lef
of you to stand the trip" Then, as h
was turning to go he tipped the deco
into the air so that it fell at our feet
you may have that" he sneered
WED like nothing better than to hav,
you produce it In court"
1t didn't seem just fitting to let hin
have the last word, SO I pitched
small ultfmatum Of my own after hin
as he herded his two scoundrelly look
ing witnesses" into the downwar,
road.
Zone thing more, Bullerton." I Gale,
out. "Your flag Of truce holds onl,
until you get back to your army. I
you or any of your men are In sight O
Cinnabar property ten minutes afte
you reach your camp, we open fire."
Since the truce was thus definitei
ended. we retired into our fortress an,
put up the bars. As we were elosin
the doors and making everything snu
l asked Daddy what kind of human
timber Fullerton "a likely to hav
in his army, and If there were an
3 chance that his boast about havin
deputy sheriffs In the crowd was to b
taken at its face value.
There's nothin' to the deputy bras
Ike Beasley Is the chief deputy 70
this end O. the county, and he'd b
here himself If that was a posse CON
mytaters down yonder. As for what h
has got, there's no teIlin'. Most iikeI
he's picked up a tistfui O. toughs an,
out-o.works down in Angels. There
always plenty o. drift o. that kin
hangin' round q mimi camp"
"Fighters?" I queried.
|. "oh, yes; l reckon so-if fghtir
comes easier than workin'."
II With the doors shut and barred
climbed Up on our breastwork to brin
my eyes on a level with n Of the hIgI
window holes. The ten-minute ultima