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

tilslt came fHrOughs b eSMAllS. After u
time the purpose of the bombardment
became obyious. Fullerton seemed ia
have absorbed the Idea that NE could
break our Ilerve--wear us out. After
the first fusillade the shots came at
intervals ri maybe I'VE minutes; Just
often enough to keep,us % the strain
and don't mind admitting that the
object was handsomely gained. /. caI't
speak for Daddy Hiram or the dog,
but at tile end OF the first hour / was
little better than q bunch of raw
nerves. Il
As all days must, this wearisome
hrst day came to an end at last and
with the coming Of dusk the lombard
ment stopped-with our roof looking
like q sieve. sas
But after darkness had settled down
we were made to feel In another way
now acutely helpless we were. we
could see nothing, hear nothing.
Though we knew we were surrounded.
the silence and solitude were unbroken,
n strain was greater than thai
OF a pitched battle. If we were to ref
any sleep at all, a night watch could
be maintained by only n of us at a
time; and with our utmost vigilance
u surprise attack would be the easiest
thing In the world for Fullerton to pun
off. y
There are no night noises In the high
attitudes, unless the wind happens to
De blowing; no frogs or ~tree-toads. no
insects; and the silence was fairly
deafening-and m~addening.
Not wishing to strike a match to de-
terinine the exact end of my watch
period, L stuck 1t out, meaning to give
Daddy good measure. So I think IL
must have been somewhere around ten
O'Clock when the collie woke with a
start, Jumped up, took the kinks out of
his back with a little whining yawn
n trotted to the door-the one e
ing toward the cabin across the dunn
head. Screwing an eye to n Of Dad
dys auger-bored loopho!es. | tried TO
ramon the outer darkness, which was
only d degree or so less Egyptian than
h a of the shaft-house interior. "&>
Though | could see nothing suspi-
cious it was very evident that the dog
could hear something. He had his nose
10 the crack under the door and was
growing. | quieted him and listened
something was going on, either inside
OF the cabin or back of it in the dead
silence could distinguish a low MUIR
nur OF voices and, a moment later, a
sound like that which would be made
by the cautious opening of one of the
sliding windows. While / still had nv
eye to the peep-hole a jet Of fame
spurted from the dark bulk of the cab
In, and simultaneously a bullet tore
through the shaft-house root. The
raiders had captured our outworks.
The report and the bullet clatter
aroused Daddy Hiram, and when /
turned he was at my elbow.
done crope up on US. have. they,
son?' he said in his usual unruffled
manner. Then: Maybe this is Just a
sort o. false notion over here S'pose
you try and get a squint at things over
on the blacksmith-shop side. Stannie."
I stumbled across to the other door,
taking the collie with me. LIQUID see
nothing in that direction; less than
nothing. since the lean-to shop build
ing cut off what little light the stars
gave. But the black darkness didn't
hamper Barney's ears or his nose, and
his eagerness to get back to the real
battle front was a good proof that
there was as yet nothing stirring OF
our side Of things.
Cropping my way back to Daddy I
found that he had one of the Winches-
tiers and seemed to be trying to fit a
ramrod to the barrel. When | finally
made out what he was doing l found
that he had thrust a piece of heavy
wire into the g%un-barrel and was i'm
paling n of the dynamite cartridges
on its projecting end.
"LiT' skyrocket," he c%huckled; then,
with quaint humor: "You stand by
with a match, Stannie, and let's see
what-ali's goin' to happen. When I
say the word, you stick your match to
the 1uSe.
Heavens! maybe 1 didn't enjoy a de-
lightful little spasm as / got a fash
light mental picture Of that old man
fumbling around with q lighted cart
ridge at the muzzle of his gun, trying
to poke cartridge and. gun-barrel
through a hole in the door that couldn't
possibly have been yer two and a
half inches In diameter-and in the
dark, at that. What IL he shouldn't be
able to find the hole in time? Or If he
should succeed in finding it and the
rifle bullet should jam on the wire?
Or any one Of a dozen Ifs that might
fail to rid us Of the deadly thing be-
fore it should 60 off and blow us to
kingdom come? .
But there was no time to haggle
about 1t, and the whang Of another