Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1924-01-18

weather over the snow
gave no milk but had vicious dispo.
sition. He had paid two prices for a
oair of locoed horses that did their
pulling backward. He had made him.
elf laughing stock to the entire
country and seemed destined to play
he clown somehow whenever Helene
Spenceley was in the vicinity. His
ears grew red to the rims as he
thought of it.
But she had resented Canby's dis
honesty for him-that was something,
md Wallie was in mood to be
grateful for anything.
Suddenly he sat up on his patent
.ir mattress and shook his fist at the
universe:
"Canby nor anybody else shall down
ne! I'm going to make good somehow
s,r fertilize Wyoming as old Appel told
le. I'll show 'em!"
Wallie shivered in his sleep and
pulled the slogans higher. The act
exposed his feet instead of his shout
lers, SO it did not add to his comfort.
He felt sleepily for the flour sack
which he wore on his head as protec-
ion against the dust that blew in
through the crack in the logs and his
myers sank into a small snow bank
that had accumulated on his pillow.
The day was Christmas and there
was no reason to believe that it would
De merry one.
Wallie lay for a time considering
the prospect and comparing it with
other Christmases. He had kettle
of bailed beans, cold soda biscuit, COT
fee, and two prairie-dogs which he in
tended cooking as an experiment, for
his Christmas dinner.
Growing more and more frugal as
his bank account shrank with alarm
ing rapidity, Wallie reasoned that if
he could eat prairie-dog it would serve
a double purpose: While Kidding his
land of the pests it would save him
much in such high-priced commodi
ties as ham and bacon. Prairie-dog
might not be a delicacy sought after
by epicures, yet he never had heard
directly against them, which
made them undesirable tenants. He
reasoned that since they subsisted
upon roots mainly, they were of clean
ly habits and quite as apt to be nour-
ishing and appetizing, if properly
cooked, as rabbit.
Having the courage of his convic-
tions, Wallie skinned and dressed the
prairie-dogs he had caught out of
their holes one sunshiny morning, and
meant to eat them for his Christmas
dinner if it was humanity possible.
The subject of food occupied a large
part of Wallie's time and attention
since he was not yet sufficiently prac-
ticed to make cooking easy. He had
found that the recipes impaired by
Tex McGonnigle, who had built his
log cabin for him, were
far more practical. Under his tuition
Wallie had learned to make Sweat
pads" "dough-gods," "mulligan," and
other dishes with names deemed un-
suitable for publication.
After considering his dinner menu
for time, Wallie drew his knees to
his chin, which enabled him to get his
entire body under the soogan, and
contrasted his present surroundings
with those Of the previous Christmas.
In the spacious Florida hotel last
year he had only to touch button to
bring uniformed mental who served
him coffee and lighted CRATE fire
for him, while the furnishings of his
room and bath were quite as luxur-
ious as those of The Colonial.
Now, as the light strengthened,
Wallie could see his third-handed
stove purchased from the secondhand
man, Tucker, standing in the corner
with its list to starboard. The wind
blowing through the baling wire
which anchored the stovepipe to the
wall sounded like an aeolian harp
played by maniac. His patent camp
chair had long since given way be-
meath him, and when he had found at
the Prouty Emporium two starch box
es of the right height, he had been as
elated when they were given to him
as if he had been the recipient of a
valuable present. They now served
as chairs on either side of his plank
table.
His pneumatic mattress had col
lapsed from punctures, and Wallie's
bones were uncomfortably close to
the boards in the bottom of the bunk
McGonnigle had built against one end
Of the cabin. His pillow was a flour