Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1900 — OUR STORY TELLER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OUR STORY TELLER

HOW BESS AND BRANDY ' SAVED THE FRUIT.

HT seems most as big as 11 a real river,” said Bess, who was sitting on top of the henped-up earth beside the big, new Irrigating ditch, hug glng her kuees tailor fashion. ‘‘lf the water only didn't roll so awful fast we eooid most ride a canoe in It, eh, Teddy?” Teddy was not at nil handsome. His hair was red and his nose turned up, and he was much freeking. But there was a great deal of sympathy in his greenish eyes as he looked up at his alster. "You do miss Canada and the lake and boating and everything, don’t ye, Bess?” he said. "I was such a little feller when the folks came west, au’ 1 can't remember much about It. But, gee! It must uv boon Jolly fun swimnin’ In a reel big lake. Au' pa said lie would take us all back wlieu the fruit trees bore.” . “Yea,” said Bess, staring thoughtfully at the yellow, rolling water. “But It teems au awful long time to wait, somehow. Last venr it was frost, and year before worths, and year before that the blight, and it does seem as tbo’ pa would lose most everything he had before the ranch paid. And to think one good bearing would make us rich! Itlch, Ted! Just think!” Teddy crawled up to the top of the hank of earth and looked far down the valley. lie saw' loug rows of trees,

hardly twice as tall as himself, and he wa» only a 10-year-old boy. But the ■lender little branches of the trees were covered thickly with little green bunches, and these bunches meant thousands of bushels of luscious fruit. Bess could remember when she first •aw the trees. They were then only long line* of little Imre sticks In the *andy and dry-looking earth, aud she could remember how her mother broke down and cried because she wa**bome*dck for the big shady trees aud green grass and bushes at “home.” Idaho did not seem like home. They Mved there six years, and the sixth year was the "bearing year” for Western fruit ranches. But, ns Bess said, the frost and the worms and tlie blight had kept the fruit back, and three years longer they had waited. And the father had grown to look old and anxious and tlie little mother more and more wistful. And they now watched the green promise of fruit with anxious eyes. Would anything happen this year? Or would the rich promise at last not disappoint them?

“The new ditch helped mightily this year,” said Bess. “The trees never Ixire so heavily. And nil the fruit is perfect —the prunes and peaches and cherries ami everything. Oh, Teddy, 1 believe we will really see Canada next year!” She sprung to her feet nnd threw her anus around the neck of a little brontdio that had been nosing at the back of her head while she talked to Teddy. She kissed the horse’s shaggy head and hugged him lovingly. Then she put her foot in the stirrup and swung herself lightly Into the saddle. “Home, Teddy!” she cried. “Catch Soda!” Soda, another sturdy little broncho, capered gleefully around her mate, Brandy, a few moments, then |H*nnltted Teddy to mount, and soon the 11 veJy little hoofs were beating a quick rattat tat down the white alkali path toward the ranch home, far down the raJley. The sun was bright and the •ky cloudless, as It had been for all the long summer months. The clouds would sail towards the mountalu tops, - but there they would stop and dissolve ever the peaks, where the snow gleamed white almost till fall. And no rain fell In the valley. The alkali dust lay thick In the alfnlfa, the rich grass that grew so strangely greeu out of the bard, dry earth, and the dust lay thick to the trees and on the prickly cacti and gray sagebrush that grew on the loucly foothills. “Father will Irrigate to-morrow, I reckon,” said Bess, as the bronchos loped along side by side. “The ground Is awfully dry and cracking badly.” “I dunno— It’s gettln’ perty late,” replied Teddy. “I beard pa talkin' to the foreman, and they wu* sayln' that there wuz signs of frost. The fruit la ripenin’ bully, but there may come a sdppcr, an’ es they Irrigated It—well. It grould mean another year, that’s alL*

Bess looked soberly at the bakedlooking earth. It looked so thirsty, and the great ditch rolling along beside them seemed anxious to turn its rich torrent Into the little ditches that ran like veins up and down between the tree*. "Well, I suppose It would be risky,” she said. “But, my! the trees do w r ant a drink!” Supper was waiting for them, and their father called gayly to them as they galloped up to the door. “I met Jessie Wright at the store doing some trading for her mother, and she wants you to go down the valley to morrow and spend the day with her,” he said, as they sat down to supper. "Oh, may I go, mother?” cried Bess, They were great friends —“Jess and Bess,” as they were called by tbe ranch and village people—and the fruit farm wound down the valley very close to the sheep ranch' of Jessie’s father. "Why, yes, you may,” said Mrs. Hnrrl«, Bessie’s mother. "Did /essie want her to stay all night, John?” “Of course as usual,” replied Mr. Harris. "But I guess you can spare her that long, eb, mother?” “No, I need you, dearie. But you can have a loug day together and come home in the evening,” said Mrs. Harris. So next morning Bess shouted a gay good-by as Brandy danced around the mounting block, and she whirled the long thongs of her quirt merrily around his fiank, ‘which Brandy promptly resented hr bringing Tiis four little hoofs together, rising in the air and coming down on his sturdy little.legs with a jar that nearly sent Bess out of the saddle, “Oh, you’ll buck, will you?” she cried, while the rest cheered Brandy. "Walt till you want some sugar.” Brandy repented and stretched himself Into a swinging, rocking.chalr lope that carried him swiftly down the trail. The air was sharp and clear and tingled through Bessie’s veins, while the cold turned her cheeks rosy. "Frost to-night, Brandy,” she cried to the broncho, whose ears twitched back at the sound of her voice. And the frost came. The girls had a loug, merry- day, and as the moon rose In a clear purple sky Bess turned Brandy’s willing nose homeward. She turned up the collar of her heavy little cost and pulled on her buckskin gloves, for the cold was already growing sharp. And, calling cheerily to Brandy, she flew along the trail toward home. It was cold and clear and still, and she rode along a little sleepily, while Brandy's hoofs made the only sound that broke the stillness. But soon another sound startled her Into wakefulness. She had reached the water gate on the big ditch, and through the stillness came a low tinkling and gurgling that sounded like fairy music. But the fairy music sent all the color out of the girl's cheeks, and with a frightened cry to Brandy she slipped out of the saddle and rau to the ditch.

Brandy meandered along after her with lazy curiosity and found her kneeling beside the gate with her arms plunged down Into the cold water. And when she stood up her pretty bright fate had grown still whiter. For she had found a small “cave-in” near the gate, and the water was trickling through lu a steady little stream that was steadily and quickly growing larger as the earth broke Hiid crumbled and gave way around it. In a very short time that cave-in would send a volume of water rushing and leaping ak>ug all the ditches through the ranch, aud by morning—what 7 “Oh, the fruit, the fruit. Brandy!” Bess sobbed, wildly. “It will be killed, and mother's heart will break!” f She wrung her hands as she looked dowu the long road gleaming white aud lonely lu the moonlight. Too late for that. Before site could go a mile toward help the ranch would lx* flooded aud the ruin complete. Again she plunged her arm Into the water. If she could only stop up that hole! She looked ou all sides helplessly, aud Braudy moved closer with a sympathetic nnd Inquiring whinny. She looked ut him despairingly, then suddenly sprung forward. In a moment she was tenriug wildly at buckles and straps, nnd then, tu Brandy's profound surprise, she dragged the heavy pigskin saddle from his back nnd rushed with it to the ditch. There she wcut down on her knees aud plunged the saddle beneath the water. She fumbled with it a minute or so, then listened breathlessly. The water gurgled and tinkled uncertainly, then slowly, very slowly. It grew fainter. And soon there was only a faint whisper and drip from one or two tiny waterfalls that slipped and slid down the hauk. The weight of the water had sucked the saddle closely against the earth and the hole was stopped. So much. But the night was cold—-

’her arm* already ached and pained cruelly, and she did not dare leave the saddle lest It sMp. Would they search for her? Or would they think she had Btayed all night with Jees? If she could only get word home. Again she looked at Brandy. Then she called him to her, slipped the loop of her quirt from the pommel of the saddle, and, raising her arm out of the water, she turned Brandy toward home and then brought down the lashes with stinging force on his Sank. “Home, Brandy!” s|ie called. And Brandy, outraged and Indignant, kicked up his heels, bucked three times, then tore down the trail toward home, resolved to tell Soda that his young mistress had gone crazy. Fainter and fainter sounded the hoof-beats along the trail. And sqon she could hear them no longer. Hex arms ached cruelly, and sharp pains began to shoot through her body from the cold. Now and then she would take her arms out of the water and swing them and beat her hands together till they stung; bnt only for a moment, then the saddle had to be held in place. The time seemed horribly long, but at last far down the trail there sounded alow, thudding noise that quickly grew louder, and she sprung to her feet with a gasping little cheer as horses galloped madly to the ditch gate, and all In a minute four men had dragged her up from the water, torn off her wet jacket and asked twenty questions. Brandy had reached home riderless and was now galloping back with Teddy, white and frightened, clinging to his bare back. Tbe fruit was saved, thanks to Bess and Brandy. The frost did very little damage that night, and at last the yield was rich and plentiful. And the following summer, in far-off Canada, Teddy and Bess splashed In the waves to their hearts’ content, while “mother” looked on happily and Mr. Harris told old friends all about fruit ranching “out West ” “It was a close call,” he would say, "but Bess and Brandy saved the fruit. If the ditch had burst through that night and flooded the roots it would have meant ruin.” And Bess, fully recovered from the heavy cold that followed her little adventure, was surprised to find herself a heroine.—Chicago Record.

SHE FOUND A SMALL “CAVE-IN.”