Petaluma High School - Trojans Yearbook (Petaluma, CA)

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HIGH SCHOOL ENTERPRISE ’OG. . fur- ught cav- ured poss- when to it Loved em to iter’s le up r had on to cions F., OG t and then ;ain a ■n the ibled. t waft ushes r and that was the little grey snake which lay coiled up under a rock watch¬ ing him with staring glassy eyes. It was a watte-r moccasin, one of the most poisonous snakes in the territory. It did not strike on account of the motionlessness cf its prey wlho was so intently watching the slo wly approaching ducks that he was entirely unmindful of his immediate and terrible peril. The foremost duck caught s ' ght of the fish and disappeared head first beneath the water leaving only a ripple to mark his position. At last it came up carrying a feebly struggling fish in its bill. Now it crossed the danger line. The Indian drew the arrow, which had already been fitted, to the string, back to its head, and sent it with unerring aim straight at the unconscious duck wiiich was busily devouring its breakfast. Struck directly in the body it rolled over on its back dead, while the snake, seeing that the Indian was indeed alive, drew its body up into a tighter ceil and the twang cf the bow-string was followed closely by the snake’s darting upon the boy and burying its fangs in his brown shoulder. He leaped to his feet with a, half inarticulate cry, shook the snake off, and then, his desire for revenge asserting itself, he trampled the snake into the dust. He then turned to his wound but seeing that he could net suck the poison out on account of its position, he, with a few quick steps and 1 a leap hurled himself free from the cliff and fell far below upon the heavy branches of a tree and then into the water where he sank, leaving only a train of bubbles, for an Indian w r ould much rather die by his own hand than be killed by an evil spirit, for such they consider the snake. Joshua’s Love Experier)ce As Joshua Van Burskuk came into the village store, he was greeted by one of the wags on a cracker box with “Well Josh, what do you think of investing money in Missouri. The latest reports say that a fellow can get all kinds of returns inside cf two weeks.” Now Joshua was net so much like his namesake in Bible times, as he was like another patriarch, Moses, who, it is said, had an “impedi¬ ment” in his speech, and if telling you his name would likely say J-J- Jo-Josh.” It was difficult for him to carry on conversation under ordinary circumstances, but when riled he always spoke at great length ' whether he got more than one sentence out or not. So this timie after handing his list to the grccer he began warmly; “S-S-S-So I har ba-have heard. I-I-I-I have s-s-ssi-sixty dollars invested already, and expect the f-f-f-first returns in a f f-f-few da-days.” Chas. Duffin, ’o7 By this time the packages were all wrapped up, and with a relieved look, he made his way to the dcor as rapidly as his slow slouching movement would permit. “ Missouri” was Josh’s one sore point, and now it was to him the land of “Misery,” indeed. He lived just out cf town on a high hill which overlooked the town ard the fertile valley in which it was located. From the summit could be seen three little towns, pretty in the distance, lying by the side of the Columbia, which at this place was a swift river of over a mile in width. Away to the east and south are the mountains, the great round foothills rising perpendicularly from the river, and back of them the snow white peaks, five of which can be seen on a clear day. The hill,

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HIGH SCHOOL E troops, from the fort, out cn a reconnoitering expedition, and he knew he would have a chance of saving the lives of his comrades and himself. The Indians as soon as they discovered the trappers, began a hot pursuit. Pierre kept the lead for a mile and a half, but the Indians were slowly gaining. In another half mile, there were only fifty pur¬ suers, as the weaks of travel had wearied their ponies considerably, while Pierre’s were fresh and strong. As the trappers urged their heav¬ ily laden horses up the mouth of the ravine, there were about twenty Indians, in a compact body, about a half a mile behind, while others were strung out for two miles or more. Here Pierre dropped a dozen vi the new pelts, a little farther cn he dropped a few more, always dropping them where they could easily be seen, but making it neces¬ sary for a rider to dismount in order to obtain them. He used all there were in one roll of blankets before he passed through the ravine. The pursuers who were constantly dwindling in numbers, passed the first pelts at the mouth of the ravine, but the thought of others Hidden The May sun beat down with hot defiance on the blue water of the little river which slowly wound between steep brown hills on its way to the ocean. At a sharp turn in the river the bank rose straight up in a smooth rock face, at the foot of which was one of the deepest holes in the river. Down in this hole, lazily swimming-about under the shade of the clump of willows which secured a scanty existence between the water and the rock, was a school of young bass which continued dart¬ ing about after insects and other small animals in the dark water ut- TERPRISE ’OG. getting the pelts, made them hurriedly dismount and throw them fur¬ ther into the brush, so that they could not be seen. They never thought of giving up the chase but wanted to make a double catch. When the trappers passed through the ravine, they beheld no cav¬ alry but a swollen river. This was as good to Pierre as to be tortured by the Indians. He row spurred cn with all the energy his horses poss¬ essed, and camle to the bank of the river. Hie was about to ride in when he spied a boat a short way down the bank. When he came up to it he saw to his inward joy another. The pelts were hurriedly removed from the horses and put in the boats. Pierre motioned to the men to shove the boats off the bank and then he led the horses to the water’s edge and drove them in. He quickly entered the boat and came up behind the horses to force them across the river. A half a dozen redskins suddenly sprang into view but they had lost the chance. Their expressions changed from fierce exultation to a fiery anger and hatred. Their greed had cost them many a precious moment and now they had lost scalps, horses and furs. —M. D. F., OG Death. Weslev Corliss. ’07 terly unconscious of the threatened danger from a fleet of black and white ducks which came swimming slowly along, each now and then disappearing under the surface of the water only to reappear again a little nearer the patient Indian hunter who lay at full length upon the very top cliff beside a small boulder which he very much resembled. Even a close observer could have seen nothing unusual unless it waft a pair of jet black eyes piercing out at him from the scanty bushes which served as shelter for the Indian lad. He had one observer and

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HIGH SCHOOL ENTERPRISE ’0 6. itself, was not only excellent orchard land, but was a pretty place, and a desireable place for a home, even if it were for the view alone. But in spite of this, all the farms were taken up by bachelors who, although all wildly endeavoring to land a wife, were up to a short time before the incident in the store unsuccessful in their efforts. For this reason the hill was appropriately named. “Bachelor Hill.” But a month or so before, the spell which had seemed to be over the hill had been broken and two of the more fortunate “batches” had advertised in a matrimonial paper, and now were living happily with their wives in¬ stalled in their kitchens, trying to dig out some of the spare dirt. The other fellows cn the hill, when spoken to of the good fortune of their comrades, all said by words that they wouldn’t have a wife scrubbing around, but by looks and actions showed they were all green with envy. The most of them at once addressed letters to several matrimonial papers in the east, although they resented very deeply being charged with such a “weak” thing. One lucky fellow joined the Grange Lodge, and by means of the social standing he thus received, was enabled to pick him out a wife from amongst the women, who were likely there for the same purpose he was. Wfaen this fact became known on “Bachelor Hill,” the Grange Lodge suddenly had quite an addition to its list of male members. Josh had joined with the rest, but hadi had no success, so he staked all his fortune on the matrimonial papers. He came regularly for his mail, even after the excitement created by the unusual events on the hill had subsided. At last his patience was rewarded, for he received an answer from a girl in Missouri. Now Josh’s labors for the week were redoubled, for besides his regular chores, he had to wr te a letter at least once a week to the lady in Missouri, and letter writing was even more difficult for Josh than was talking. After a few weeks of torture he got up courage enough to ask in a postscript if she wouldn’t like to try a change of climate. She quickly answered him that she would be glad to come out and that if he would send her sixty dollars for her fare, she would be out within two weeks. Josh had hopefully borrowed the money, sent it enclosed in a very brief note, and had boasted loudly, if slowly that his wife was on her way out to him. Near the end of the time alloted her, John went down to the city and spent the whole of the next week down at the depot, to be sure that no train came in, which he did not meet. For now, that she was coming, he could not bear to think of losing her, and so ending his happy dreams. He had some fears that she arrived before expected, and was now looking around for him, but as there was no sign of her name on any of the hotel registers, and no one answered his ad. in the paper, he had to give up that idea. His money gave out, so after leaving word at the police station for them to look out for her, he returned home. He ' made several trips down to see if anything had been heard of her, but learned nothing. He could not bring himself to think that his venture had failed, until over a month had passed, and she had neither written nor appeared. Not only had he lost his sixty dollars, and the money for a new white shirt without a collar, in which he had gone to the city, but now the town gossips had wind of his predicament, and poor Josh thought he never would hear the end cf it. When asked about it, he usually said, “Y ye-yes I did s-sen-send her si-sixty dol¬ lars, and s--s-she just kept the money and st-sta stayed home. B B- Blame the wo-w- ' w-women anyway. I-I-I won’t ha-have anything more to do w-w-with them.” And Josh kept his word, arid, today is as sour an old bach as there- is on the hill. — 26 —