The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-02-23

ho VIZ - 'Ntt
old fighter.
"Tm hanging on to the little hope
like a dog to a root, Daddy" ! con-
fessed. IF l can only keep on believ-
Ing that they're not married, l can put
up a better fight, or be snuffed outfit
l have to be-with a good few less
heartburnings."
But at this the old man, who, no
longer ago than the yesterday, had
seemed to lean definitely toward the
no-marriage hypothesis, suddenly
changed front.
Don't you go to bankin' OF any
thing like that, Stannie, son." he said
In a tone of deep encouragement.
"Charley Bullerton's a liar, from the
place where they make liars for q
Twin, and faint gOin' to be no trick
a-tah for him to make Jeanne, and q
lot O other folks, b1ieve that we
bowed ourselves up with our own
dynamite. No, sir; don't you 60 to
bankin' on that"
"Then you do believe that Jeanie
went with BullertOn?"
Looks like there amt nothing else
left to believe" he asserted dolefully.
look at 1t for yourself, son: she's
been gone three whole days. If she
hadn't gone with him-and the good
Lord only knows where else she could
have gone-don't you reckon she'd we
been back here long afore this? No,
Stannie; we been lettin' the wish II
was run away with the had to be- |
reckon we just got to grit our teeth,
son, and tough 1t out the best we can"
During this waiting interval, which
seemed like hours and was probably
only a few minutes, we were mOmen-
tarily expecting another crash. 1t did
not come; but In due course of time
we heard a stir outside and her
voices, and one of the voices, which
was not Bullerton's said: "Tll bet
that cartridge smoked EN- out good an
plenty, cap'n. Gimme tn ak, Tom, till
we bust open the door an have q
squint at EN-"
Just at that moment a submerging
wave of depression surged over me
and showed me down so deep that l
think possibly If Fullerton had called
out and demanded our surrender l
should have been tempted to tell him
that / was no so much of a hog as
not to know when l had enough. But
the old man squeezed in beside me I'M
der the arched boiler plate was made
Of better fiber; he was game to the
last hair in his beard. With a wild
Indian YELL he hunched his Winchester
into position and fired once, twice,
thrice, at the door, as rapidly as he
could pump the reloading lever.
A scattering fusiilade was the reply
to this, but the aim was bad and the
only result was to set the air of our
prison fortress to buzzing as If a
swarm of angry bees had been turned
loose on us. After this, the raiders
withdrew. SO we judged; at all events,
the silence of the dark hour before
d%aybreak shut down upon us again,
and once more we had space In which
to gather our minds" as Daddy put
1t.
1t may be a d~astardly confession Of
weakness to admit 1t, but l am free to
sag that the prolonged struggle was
gradually undermining my nerve. If
Fullerton had made up his mind to
write off the loss of the mine buildings
and machinery, 1t was a battle lost for
us. 1t could be only a question of q
little time, and enough daylight to en-
able the bOmbers to throw straight,
until we should he buried In the wreck
of the shafthouse and hoist-and with
out the privilege of dying in a good,
old-fashioned. stand-up fight.
All of this l hastily pointed out to
Daddy Hiram, adding that, for Jeanie's
sake, If for no better reason, he ought
to take his chance of staying upon
earth. As long as l live / shall
always have a high respect for the
wrath of a mild-mannered man. The
ole prospector was fairly Berserk,
mad, foaming at the mouth, and short
of dragging him out by main strength
there was no way Of making him Yet
go.
mo, sir; l done promised your
gran'paw at I'd stand By for him, and
he paid me money for doin' 1t. When
them hellions get this here mine,
they're goin' to dig a hole somewheres
and bury me afterward," was all /
could get out Of him.
We were not given very much more
time for discussion, or for anything
else. The first faint grazing dawn was
coming, and with the partial tighten
ing of the inner gloom, we craned our
n~ecks-like a double-headed turtle
peering out Of its shetland got q
glimpse OF the damage done by the iu-
itial thunderbolt. We saw It without
any trouble: q great hole torn in the
sheetiron roof directly over the hoist
and shaft mouth. Knowing the use
and effect Of explosives pretty well,
Daddy said that the bomb had gone OF