The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1922-03-02

, Looks as IL he wanted to talk and tell
us, don't hep"
Barney was certainly giving a good
imitation of that. or some other anx-
/ iety. He wns frisking about and bark
ing. leaNing up now and then to snap
at nm imaginary fly in the air. Daddy
caught him by his lower Jaw and held
hinI inihorable. "G0 find her. Bar
ney" lie commanded; good dog-go
find hor."
t." instant he was released the col
lie ctcd as II he understood perfectly
what WAS wanted of him. Springing
aside. he began to circle again, nose
tn the ground, and within half q min.
ute he was off, this time heading into
dim trail that led away diugonaIIy
down the mountain, not I'm ine direc.
tion df AtTopia, but rather OH the 9th.
er leg :; triangle, one side of whicl
might he the desert edge nne Tho trni
we had followed from the Atroulp
road and the third the route VIZ were
Cow taxing to the eastward
1t must have been within ar hour
or so OF midnight when we left tho
mountain forests behind and g,t into
the region of barren foothills. Here
the collie seemed much surer of his
ground, and we had our work cut out
Tor us In the effort to keep up with
MIN. In the starlight I made out the
line or telegraph poles as we ran, and
pretty soon our dog leader swung off
to the right and we found ourselves
nT, I'm
road truck and only little way from
it.
Pretty soon the dog disappeared
ana then we heard him barking at a
little distance to the left Of the paral-
lei tracks. When We went to see what
ne had found, the mystery suddenly
took another tack and veercd off into
u new channel. In u small grassy hol.
low between two of the hills we came
upon the dog and the calico pony. The
bride reins had slipped over the bron-
cos head, and Barney had them be-
tween his teeth and was backing and
tugging and apparently trying to pull
the pony along
well, I'll be ding-jggered said
Daddy; but / couldn't unload quite
that easily. For me the riderless pony
meant al accident of some sort.
"Heavens" l gasged; edo you sup
pose she's been thrown, and-maybe
crippled?"
"Who-Jeanie2 Why, bless your
heart, Stannie. son, she can ride 'em
wild. And that calico wouldn't buck
baby off. No, boy; don't you go to
frettin about nothin like that. When
she got out o that saddle, it was cause
she was good and ready and wanted
to-"
when she got off to take the train.
she tried to make Barney lead the pony
home" l suggested "Would she be
likely to do that?"
Daddy Hiram slapped his leg
you've hit it exactly, son! Don't
know why 1 didn't think o. that at first.
It's an old trick that she taught the
collie when he was a ii'r pup. And
Barney, he tried, and when he couldn't
make the pinto leave off graZih', he
come for us. Sure THAT was the
way of 1t. What say if we go back to
the edge q the timber and camp down?
l reckon there amt nothin' to he
gained by hittin' the trail! afore we've
had ll'r rest-up spell, Is there?"
l had no objection to offer, you may
be sure; and after we had found
camping spot, and had picketed the
pony with the light rope that Jeanie
always carried tied to the cuntle of her
saddle, we made good fire to serve
In lieu of the blankets that we didn't
have and stretched ourselves out to
sleep the sleep Of the tagged and leg
weary.
The next thing I knew-and it SEEM
ed to be just about a minute after I
had closed my eyes-Daddy was shak-
Ing me awake.
Iime to be moggin' along, If we
aim to get home for breakfast, sonny"
he announced. At the break Of day we
were coming into the Cinnabar-A Afro
pia rond at precisely the point at
which we left 1t the evening before
The sun was just beginning to gild
the upper heights Of Old Cinnebar
when we trailed over the broad plateau
bench below the mine and headed for
the slope that led up to the dump head.
AS we topped this last hill there was
an amazing surprise awaiting us-a
surprise and shock. On the level
spot which served as a dooryard for
the Twombly cabin stood horse, sad
died and bridled, its dropped ears and
hanging head showing that 1t had been
ridden far and hard. And on the cabin
doorstep, sitting at ease and calmly
chewing half-burned cigar was-
Bullerton
(To be continued next week)