The Adair County news., 1922-01-10

and thrOwed the rfgfnar away-Durnr
it up, r somethin' I'
"You have it all your own way, Bull
lertOn-or you think you have" told
him; and If didn't get all of the self
confidence into the words that l tried
to, am persuaded that he didn't know
the difference. 81 might even concede
that you have everything but the mine
itself. If you want 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 one of the dead ones,
but before l go out I shall do my best
to make you another"
Gall 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 over yonder to
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.
'It's 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.
81 been lOOkin' for you and your
kind of a crowd for a year back,
Charley Fullerton, and DRAWN pay.
for doin' itl' he shrilled. "Stannie,
mere, says you want LAIs 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 few deputy sheriffs, on
our side. You two haven't as much
show as cat in hell without claws,
and when the circus is over, you'll
both go to Jail, if there's enough left
of you to stand the trip" Then, as he
was turning to go he tipped the deed
into the air so that it fell at our feet.
"YOu may have that" he sneered.
"We'd like nothing better than to have
you produce it in court"
1t didn't seem just fitting to let him
have the last word so l pitched a
small ultimatum of my own after him
as he herded his two scoundrelly look
ing witnesses" into the downward
road.
Zone thing more, Bullerton," 1 called
out. 'Your flag of truce holds only
until you get back to your army. If
you or any of your men are in sight of
Cinnabar property ten minutes after
you reach your camp, we open fire."
Since the truce was thus definitely
ended, we retired into our fortress and
put up the bars. AS we were closing
the doors and making everything snug
1 asked Daddy what kind of human
timber Fullerton was likely to have
in his army, and if there were any
chance that his boast about having
deputy sheriffs in the crowd was to be
taken at its face value.
There's nOthin' to the deputy brag.
Ike Beasley is the chief deputy for
this end O. the county, and he'd be
here himself if that was a posse COM
mytaters down yOnder AS for what he
has got, there's no tellin'. Most likely
he's picked up fistful o. toughs and
out-O'works down in Angels. There's
always plenty o drift O. that kind
hangin' round a mimi camp"
"Fighters?' 1 queried.
"Oh, yes; l reckon Soft fightin'
comes easier than wOrkin'."
With the doors shut and barred I
climbed up on our breastwork to bring
my eyes on level with one of the high
window holes. The ten-minute ultima
tum interval had come to an end, but
the raiders were making no move to
vacate the premises. On the contrary,
their cooking fire was now burning
briskly and they were apparently MAX
ing leisurely preparations to eat. 1t
fairly made me schoolboy furious to
see those fellows calmly getting their
noon meal ready and ignoring my
warning.
"Hand me up one of those dynamite
!" 1 barked at Daddy Hi
RAM and when he complied, 1 lighted
a match and stuck it to the split end
of the fuse. There was a fizz. a cloud
of acrid smoke to make me turn my
face away and cough, and then a !
frenZied yell from the old man.
Throw it - good gosh-to- Friday -
throw it,"
1 cOntrived to get it out through the
window opening in some way, and lost
my balance on the earth bags doing it,