Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-01-07
AROUND THE BEND

neferlnelessIa line 1OOk1ug pair or span
iards. When we appeared on deck the mex
morning, with the help OF Mr.. Browns con
trlbutions, Mary Roche was an Indian prin
cess, and as pretty as a picture, of course
and Oscar and | were Spaniards. There Wa
a pair of trick boots for me, and a tabar,
sort or garment, and a wig, a REASONABLE
enough COSTUME for Captain de Cana
pilot. And for Oscar there was q funn,
hat with a feather, and a striped coat, an
baggy knee breeches with ribbons--end
trumpet. Yes, Oscar was to be q trumpeter
Oscar did not want to be a trumepter, an,
he looked extremely idiotic in his i'll as
sorted get up, but the fates had decreet
that oscar must be a trumpeter. l triet
to explain all this to him.
"Yoost you watt he promised darkly
"foost you wait"
At nine o'clock we were all ready. w,
were beyond any doubt, a Spanish carni
val. There were aboard-besides Mrs
Roche, who was hiding In the now enclosed
cockpit-0scar, the trumpcter, standing IL
the bow; myself at the wheel, fairly incon,
spicuous as the pilot; Mary Roche, clink.
ing with innumerable beads, doing a rather
Scandinavian looking Seminole queen will
her auburn braids; Mr.. Brown, as Herman.
DEE de Cana, with his banner and sword
and perspiring freely in his breast plate
and helmet; four or five young bucks
dressed as Spanish soldiers, all making
eyes at Mary Roche as ! daresay their
originals had done at the local Pocahontas
and a half dozen extremely self conscious
Seminole Indians, among whom | recog-
nized the engaging Mr.. Sam Skinner.
"A11 setf" ! asked Mr.. Brown.
Il reckon we are" he announced. "Now
you boys pay attention-we got to do this
right, like 1t says in the story"
All right, sheriff-let's GO"
We were off.
With a somewhat crablik motion, how
ever, as on account of Old Eds humps
and all 1t was rather difficult, | found, to
steer the Goldfish-or the Infanta Isabelle
properly.
"she don't steer so good, does she ~
Captain de Cana complained.
Its the SAIL" ! explained. 0 course,
you realize we're going smack against the
wind!
But we moved along, and presently we
went skidding around the bend, and there,
q little way up, was Crocus waiting to be
discovered and making a tremendous rum
pus over 1t. They even fired a cannon
which can hardly have been. like it says in
the story"
That's the American Legion" Captain
that"
But then l do not suppose the Infanta's
pilot swung his ship in a complete circle
amidstream the way | suddenly found my
self doing when the wind caught me. We
drifted sideways In toward the port and
threw out our anchor. There should have
been trumpetings, but Oscar was too busy
making fast.
~Lha thth II sea bt6du. 4 tdnt VI
course, only describe the more salient fea-
lures Of 1t as / saw them, while Mary
Roche poked me In the back and implored
me to look at this and look at that, and
become aware Of the fat woman in the
donkey cart, and the village cutup dancing
the hochee koochee Oh the dock, and heaven
knows what all.
There was a general commotion of Semi
mole Indians on the beach, a dashing back
and forth of giggling spectators, a consid-
cradle shouting for 20, Sam r.
and then a tremendously befeathered and
extremely lanky gentleman on a white
horse detached himself from the crowd and
advanced to the waters edge to greet us.
That's the postmaster" Captain de
Cana informed us. HE amt any business
on that white horse; it amt In the story
The postmaster held up his hand.
"You tell 'em, Fred y the crowd laughed.
20, palefaced stranger he began to de-
claim, "whither-T mean whence do you
come to-.to-where in Sam Hill did you
get that boat, Joe Brown?r
Never you mind, Fred" Mr.. Brown told
him. II am Hernar 1.ez de Cana, the Span
ish admiral, and WAC are your"
II am Tuscarora, the king of the Semi
And what place is this, 0 Tuscarora-
you didn't think I'd get a boat, did you,
Fred 7"
This is Crocus, Florida mean this
is-shucks! I've forgot that Indian name
go on to the next. joe"
you amt much good, Fred. Won and
your ~horse-then, in the name of the King
and Queen of Spain, my masters, | claim
this place, and ] promise to build a fort
upon this point and land supplies and men
TO make a settlement; let us pray-no. that
comes later-to make a settlement. | guess
we go ashore now, don't WEI"
Yea, sheriff. the crowd yelled, but the
climax or this scene came from the rear
rank of spectators.
sfTo hoII with cpair ~ nr;oT -. -,
there. was much laughter for a while all up
and down Crocus.
While they were still laughing we got
ourselves ashore In the dinghy, Mary Roche
ana captain de Cana and The insisted
on my coming-and Sam Skinner and the
others brought the cargo off and dumped 1t
TO one side In the sand, amid considerable
hilarity from all concerned. And then the
second part Of the pageant began. With his
sword in his left hand and the banner held
aloft in his right, Captain de Cana took
three steps up the beach.
Here, o, Tuscarora," said he, "you
amt any business on that horse, Fred you
ought to be standing in front Of me-here,
And now plant this banner In the
ground"-he did so-"and do proclaim that
from henceforth-"
1t was probably a fine speech, but we
never heard the rest of 1t. No, the Crocus
pageant unfortunately broke up at that |
point. 1t was Oscars fault. AS a matter of
fact, from a certain cryptical expression |
on her face afterwards, think that prob |
ably 1t was really Mrs. Roche's fault. but
the immediate responsibility rests on Oscar. |
For some unknown reason he decided to |
blow his trumpet. Now, Oscar is a good
butler, a good valet, a good cook, even I'm
a pinch a good engineer, but he is not a
good trumpeter, and nothing will ever make
him a good trumpeter. But he decided to |
blow his trumpet.
"Wah-hoop-tee-crack p he blared sud |
denly-and Tuscarora's white horse bolted.
In fact, / personally never saw Tuscarora
again. ! saw Captain de CANA sitting on
his launches in the sand where the horse
had sent him flying; | saw people all
around me staggering with laughter; ] saw
Mary Roche weeping tears Of pure delight
on the neck Of a total stranger; | saw Sam
skinner quietly loading the bales and
things we had brought ashore into a truck
near the dock to clear the space for the
indian dance; l saw all that, but | never
saw Tuscarora again.
I'm awfuny sorry" / managed to say
20 Mr.. Brown. THAT fool Swede-you're
not hurt, are your"
Mr.: Brown was not hurt, except that he
had laughed too much.
Don't say a word" he begged me. III
have missed 1t for anything-thatI
Fred and his horse-serves him right
hadn't any business on the durn horse"
We got away, finally, In the early after
loon. They had the Indian dance, and then
We all had lunch, and then Old Ed ripped
Up his humps and canvas sides, and we
rot the Goldfish all shipshape and sailed.
cheers from the assembled multitudes
lin which, however, / looked in vain for
skinner. Cheers, and a whole grateful