The Adair County news. [volume] (Columbia, Ky.) 1897-1987, 1922-01-10
wounded the fellow who had been

wrestling with the woodpile had made
his exit and there was nobody In
sight. Shortly afterward a bullet,
fired from somewhere in the forest
background, whanged upon our roof,
and there were several to follow; but
aside from punching a few more holes
In the iron they did no harm.
Looks like the Hercules is the one
thing they're most skeered Of" said
Daddy, with his queer little suffering
chuckle. Now maybe they'll leave US
have time to get ourselves dried out
a mite"
TOtting up the results Of the shower
bath we'd had, bread famine prom
ised to be the worst of them. The few
cans of beans, tomatoes and peaches
the campers stAndbys-were I'M
hurt, Of course, and the muddied bacon
could be washed with water drawn
from the flooded shaft. But the flour
in its sack was merely blob of paste
and was beyond redemption and the
cOrnmeal was the same. In view of
the results 1 wondered if Fullerton
hadn't shrewdly calculated upon wash
ing our commissary out of existence
when he planned his OvergrOwn lawn
sprinkler. But maybe that was giving
him credit for more ingenuity than he
really had.
Through what remained of the after
noon the rifle firing continued, coming
sometimes from one angle and some
times from another, but always can
nily from a safe distance and always
under cover of the surrounding forest.
Daddy Hiram, grimly optimistic, ex-
tracted a swallow or so of encourage
ment out of the persistent pOt-shOOt-
ing.
Dunno as you've ever noticed 1t,
Stannie, but If you'll only let a hog
alone long enough he'll shove himself
under the bob-wire fence far enough
to get caught" he said. Charley Bull
lertOn. now; he's plum forgot that
Tropia's less n five miles away and
that sound carries mighty long dis
tances in these mountains In clear
weather."
what difference does that maker
I asked.
ut may make a heap O. difference.
Looks to me like sOmebOdy-Buddy
Fuller, r Jim Haggerty, the section
boss, r some of 'em down yonder d
begin a-wonderin', after spell, what
in tarnatiOn all this here blastin' and
rifle-pOppin' up on old Cinnabar Is a
pintin' at and come and see"
do you think the racket will carry
that far?"
at sure will. One night afore Trio
pia had gone as dead as she is now, a
bunch o. cowpunch's got into an argy-
ment at Blue-nose Bills place and we
heard the crackin' and pOppin' up
here-Jeanie and me-like it was just
over yonder in Greaser gulch."
"Well?" said I, eff your nephew or
any of the others hear it, what then?'
AS asked the question one of the
low-aimed shots tore through the side
Of the building, struck the iron frame
of the hoist, flattened itself and
dropped into the old mans lap. Pick
ing up the hot bit of lead to dandle
it from hand to hand he went on much
as If picking up bullets that were fired
at him had been his daily recreation.
Curiosity killed the cat. Stanine,
son. You let some one O. the folks
down yonder In 'TrOpia say, BY COL
I wonder what all that shOotin's fOrT
and the next thing you know, some
bOdyll be mOggln' up here to find out. !"
Along about dusk some member of
the besieging party tried to make a re-
-connaissance. happened to be keeping
the lookout on the cabin side of our
fortress and saw a man lodging among
the pines back of the house. When
reported to Daddy he took snap shot
at the place 1 pointed out to him and
there was wild yell and a stir in the
young pines as though a. hog were gal
Looping through them.
"Just to let 'em know that we're
still alive and kickin'," said the old
man, with another of his qnavery
L ISChOH UC lAdl
what they was amin to find OUT"
Possibly it was. At all events, the
rifle fire stopped with the coming OF
! darkness, and as we faced our second
night of defense We had plenty of time
to sit around and think and speculate
upon what the outcome was going tC
be.
Taking it all in all, it was the fan
tastic humOr of the thing that hit me
hardest. Six short weeks earlier PEG
pie at home had been calling me al
the hard names that fall to the lot Of
/ the idle ne'er-dO-well a young chal
with enough Inheritance money to keel
him in ties and shoes and shirts ant
to buy gas for his car-thOugh tina
last asked for good bit on the rising
cost of gasoline not enough Il
make life, or anything connected there
with, very much worth while.
To BE CONTINUED