The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1922-03-09

NSAoSAy thoe ihpOSc UPON
blind man We can send You to the
rock pile on the strength Of 1t II we
want TOP
Since he had stolen the deed out Of
my pocket, 1 thought. of course, that
he was just bluffipg about It's being a
forgery. He must have known per
fectly well that 1t wasn't. But Daddy
was whispering In my ear as he sat
behind me. Something like this ::
.Gosh-all-Friday, Stannie, he's got you
goin'! He's made a copy O. the deed
and throwed the 'riginal away-burnt
1t up, r somethin'!"
"You have 1t 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 tried
to, am persuaded that he didn't know
the difference. II 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 / go out shall do my best
to make YOU another"
"Al 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 goi over yonder to
your cabin and stay out Of the fight.
Nobody wants to hurt you"
That put 1t pretty squarely up to
me. too, 80 tnrued to the old man at
my side. ~
ITS good advice, Daddy" / said :;
and this isp'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 mp on the door-sin
and shook his fist at Bullerton.
Il been lookin' for you and your
kind ~ crowd for a year back.
Charley Bullerton, and drawin' pay
foE dOin' i'll" he shrilled. "Stannia.
here. says II you want this mine you
can come and take 1t, and, by gum
miles, ] say them same identical
wordsr"
"All right" said Bullerton again.
But it's only fair to say that we out
number you six to one, and we've got
the law, and a 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, II there's enough left
OF you to stand the trip" Then, as he
was turning to 60 he flipped the deed
into the air so that 1t fell at our feet.
you may have that" he sneered.
WED like nothing better than to have
you produce 1t in court"
1t didn't seem just fitting to let him
have the last word, 80 I pitched q
small ultimatum of my own after him
as he herded his two scoundrelly look.
Ing witnesses" into the downward
road.
zone thing more, Bullerton," called
out. Your flag Of truce holds only
until you get back to your army. II
ycu 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
:Ae doors end making everything snug
1 asked Daddy what kind of human
timber Bullerton 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 It's 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 q 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 minin' camp"
"Fighters" I queried.
"Oh, yes; reckon so-f fghtin'
comes easier than workin'."
With the doors shut and barred I
climbed up on our hreastwork to bring
my eyes on q 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. It
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
cartridges" I bsrked at Daddy HI
ram; and when he complied, I lighted
match and stuck It to the split end
OF the fuse. There was q fizz, q cloud
OF acrid smoke to make me turn my
face away and cough. and then q
frenzied yell from the old man.
Throw it good -gosh.to- Friday -
throw It'll"
contrived to get 1t out through the
window opening in some way, and lost
NV balance on tho on rth ho uo d.tor, ~