The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1930-04-04

munition. No doubt they had e
discussing this hardship, for little
4 Franz came to me with a bril-
liant proposal of his own.
~Papa," said he, why should
not we begin TO plant some pow.
der and shot Immediately? II
would be so much more useful
than bare grain for the fowls"
His brothers burst into a roar
of laughter, and l must confess
| found it no easy matter to keep
my countenance.
Come, Ernest" said /; now
we have had our amusement, tell
the little fellow what gunpowder
really is"
at is not seed at all, Franz"
Ernest explained. "Gunpowder is
made of charcoal, sulphur, and
saltpeter, mixed cleverly together;
so you see it cannot be sown like
corn, any more than shot can be
planted like peas and beans"
My carpentering meantime went
on apace. In order to have my
sledge with ends properly turned
up in front, / had chosen wood
which had been part of the bow
of the vessel, and was carved in
the necessary way for my pur-
pose. Two pieces, perfectly sim
liar, formed the sides of my
sleigh, or sledge, and / simply
united these strongly by fixing
short bars across them. Then,
when the ropes of the donkey's
harness were attached to the
raised points in front, the equip
ment was complete and ready for
use.
My attention had been for some
time wholly ~engrossed by my
work, and l now observed that
the mother and her little boys
had been busily plucking above
two dozen of the wild birds, and
were preparing to roast them,
spitted in a row on a long, mar
row sword blade, belonging to
one of our ships officers.
1t seemed somewhat wasteful
to cook so many at once; but
my wife explained that she was
getting them ready for the butter
cask l was going to fetch for her
On the new sledge, as I had ad-
gised her to preserve them half
cooked, and packed in butter.
Amused at her promptitude, 1 i
could do nothing less than prom
Sc to go for her cask directly Z
after dinner. For her part, she J
resolved in our absence to have .
grand wash of linen and other :
and she advised me to
orange regular baths for all the
Joys in future.
Early in the afternoon Ernest /
nd I were ready to be off, equip q
ed as usual. Fritz presented us
ach with a neat case of margay
kin to hang at our girdles. L
We harnessed both COW and
SIS to the sledge, and. accom-
by Juno, cheerfully took
'ur departure, choosing the way
~ the sands, and reaching Tent
Iolm without accident or adven-
ure.
There embarrassing the animals,
re began at once to load the
ledge, not only with the butter
ask, but with a powder chest, 7
barrel of cheese, and a variety :
f other articles-ball, shot, tools, T
nd Turks armor, which had been r
1T behind on our last visit. 7
Our work had SO closely en- 7
aged our attention, that when I
were ready to leave it and go r
search of a good bathing place, r
discovered that our two ami
lals had wandered quite out of
ght, having crossed the bridge
reach good pasture beyond
lie river, I
I sent Ernest after them, and :
ent alone to the extremity of y
lie bay. 1t terminated in bold u
Id precipitous cliffs, which ex-
nded into the deep water, and u
,se abruptly, so as to form an L
accessible wall of rock and
'ag. Swampy ground, overgrown
it'll large canes, interviewed be-
me and these cliffs. l cut
large bundle of the reeds, and
turned to Ernest. It was some
me before l found him, comfort
,ly extended full length on the
'ound near the tent. and sleep
e as sound as a top, while the
w and the ass grazing at will,
ere again making for the bridge.
Get up, Ernest, you lazy fell
WI" exclaimed l, much annoyed; .
Why don't you mind your bust
,ss? Look at the animals! They
Ill be over the river againi" N
mo fear of that, father" re-
he, with the utmost COM
sure. 81 have taken a couple
boards off the bridge. They
ont pass the gap"
l could not help laughing at the
genious device by which the boy
d spared himself all trouble;
the same time l observed that
was wrong to waste the pre-
1us moments in sleep when du-
has to be performed. / then
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