The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-01-18
FIVE.

Ibc par was no~risnng just then; men
were drifting rapidly into Tuolomn :, attract
ed by the report OF rich diggings, and there
was hardly square inch on the bar that wa
not staked off with claim. The one street
ed town wa. busting, the cloth houses
stores and saloons, with the usual loafers
were drawn up in dress parade along thA
thoroughiare in which pack-trains meander
ell to aud rom the out world. The hall
doors Of the "Bella Union" and the "Blu'
Wing" continually swung open, as the y
went in an on for their hourly. comiorts.
The dcvotess OF the gaming table revellee
over the cloths, an empty pouches ana THIS
ing heads were the morning bulletins. e
Our cabin stood little Withdrawn ron
the main street, the home OF five OF Us ,u
many months. Those days are passeu an
gone, when Jack used to toss ms eI'' an a.nS
slapjack up the chimney and deluy catch
them on the outsde-those DAYS OF almost
u,yarving p,rk and beans, with very semi
occasional touch oftresh beet
We knew quite well each others history.
a. far as general points entail save that o.
Five, wnl was an enigma. OF him the on'y
tangible and discoverable. mark was a blue
.'5- wo ked between his thumb an fore
fnger-and so he earned his title A spare
nervou, little man, with black sweep ng
moustaehe, are-2orn countenancc and rest
less eye, The force that draws men togethe.
n pioneer timas is nexplicable ''Sim' had
been minister; had slipped from grace, and
fJat to tn gold country. ''John Bunyau
was a broken down merchant from Troy,
fond Of his tippl and a master hand at
story. Brannan had last come from Calcut-
ia, where he had been missionary, he said;
but re thumbed Jack too well for that
This was before the era Of genteel clergyman.
r We and /, a runaway from home; made up
our household.
five, we used at first to ply with questions.
b 1t gaining nothing by our trouble, gave it
up. His only companion was his dog, a
bindled sulky, snappish brute, with stumpy
tail. His faithfuln@ss and love, Withdrawn
from every one else, conferred in his master.
Five's chief solace was his violin.
When others sought saloons, he took his
violin and whiled away the hours with touch
ing melodies, soft. dreamy airs of home, or
an IN, wild, wailing strains that thrilled the
soul. Maly a time have I seen rough fell
lows hanging around cabin at evening, lis
tening to the music as the quiet air bore it
Swiftly to Them and thus Fives violin was a
minister of comfort to many lonely man.
He would rarely play when asked, and then
only some ditty like the "Wreckers Daugh-
ter" or 'sFom Ligbee's SNAKE" which would
put fits into fellows heels--reserving for his
communion the strains that were so benefit
ing to all. And in this aay he und COM
panonship tina, compensated him for lack
of friends. He was commonly set down as
a musical Portugee. but the sequelwill show
that the conjecture was far from right.
Hotl hot! terrible hot were the summer
DAYS, and unused to hard work, .opped
my shovel one burning afternoon and went
up to the shanty tired out and disguised. |
was surprised to fin Five at the house and
IN his bunk, for he had gone out with the
rest. and wa, always steady worker.
'.Sck, old MANI
eyes. lad, very sick, dead sick. Bruce lie
ewnp'
For the dog at his head growled viciously as
put my hand on Five's forehead and found
it mo blistered with fever.
''Not SO bad as that, old man, you're good
for many day vet Have drink?'
81 don't understanding COOL"
fetched him pan Of water, and be drank
"What are you do ng here at this hour of
the day?''
Ppm ruckered out, Five, and had to give it
up
'sWell am obliged to you." and he sank
back into his blankets, and Tell into deep
Eumber.
the next morning he was right again, but
atler he recovered he seemed to open his
heart to me, and often in the dim, uncertain
hours we talked of men and tn ngs.
/ heard his soliloquy, as said befo:e, and
not long after, tired OF the cards, went out to
him.
swell, old man, what are you mourning
about now?"
Il Can hardly say, lad, but mostly of
home.
''Then you have home?''
''To be sure
''Well, we always have our doubts about
II don't know how much of home it is
now, but bad a wife aud two children and
a mother-in-Iaw, which last was p'isoned,
and hope b bolted into another and bet
ter world. You see it's hard navigatin in
shoal place; and mother-in-law is the shoal-
est thing I've struck. Have you been mar
ried?
NO.
s'Don't yon ever marry any one but an or
phan, then
''Why so?s
I'll tell yer my experience I came from
Rhode Island, and ancently was captain,
and have sailed the purtiest creature that ever
skinned the water. l got on well till met
little blue-eyed girl, from Maine, and thought
she would do to cast anchor with, which l
did, and we were as happy as two barnaclrs
on sunny log, till her mother C tme to live
with us; arter that the compass had a contin-
ual variation, and things got to be no better
in short metre. That ar mother .n-law, she |
tried to be steward, and bO's'n, and first |
mate, and had her eye on the captains cabin, |
and We had mutiny all the time. told the |
wife would pension off the old hulk and |
drag her into safe harbor, and then she and |
me and the babies, which were two of 'em,
would 90 off soundings and try blue water II
Alone But my wife wouldn't. l am told
that winner think they can allus get hus
bant,s, but they never can have but one moth
er-so they sticks to her Blessed if see
what the, wants ofany mother after they gifts
a man to fill the b.ead-locker and buy EN-
ca (
with my savings, and put 'em all in, and |
when the gold news came, | came out here. |
I tell yer ifthere's cranky mo her-in-law on |
the quarterback the ship won't keep her |
course. Everything goes souson by moth, as
the devi, steered the windlass, and the cap
tain is like monkey on the lee back stay. / |
gave 'em everything but my fiddle and dog,
my pile I'll go back again and veer around the
folks. There's little Maggie, my purity little
one, she never turned agin her father, though |
thy father did. And if can only see her,
and take her little hand, and walk out among
the birds and flowers, and hear her talk, /
think can happy again. And it she will on
ly call me father once, want nothing
and the old man brushed tway tear
with his 81 seve.
This was Five's story, sad to him, and
when the fellows were disposed to jeer at him
for his oddities, and told them that his
heart was al most broken by troubles at home,
an unconscious pity was felt for him forever
after.
The mines did not tempt me to remain
long there The road to fortune was rugged
ana steep,and it was not long after that babe
Hdeu 70 Naiitornia and returned to civiliza-
tion, 70 teil wondering auditors the stories of
the distant land. Five was the last to say
p ','ye, and even Bruae came and licked nv
hand. 'io 'uu ii'Nee ny
Senty years a lite time to nav . ro.rv
waste to some. Where one a few sc !" ue {
houses stood find friday thrvinSsc a a,.'
wealthy people Forests of shins Guy. a I
wharves, and white sails flu ter over i th , the
where once the occasional steamer nlor, pty '
her busting way. The broad acres r' whOs
rauqueros drove their herds and caI,ad !.
waste-land, the hard-fisted sons of toll bare ~ {
dotted with thriving farms, and the railroads
Join their forces as leverage in aid of pro. I
gress. The Colonel and had been ranging
up and down the San Joaquin Valley, rnn-
ming out the lands, and worn with struggling
through quicksands and sloughs, had sought
the shelter gladly from a pelting rain that set
in at nightfall. A wond rfu vaey-this San
IoanrIint Three hundred level miles by sew