The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1874-11-12
How Bill was Mistaken.

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How Bill was Mistaken.
Two crazy men live upthere. GC
on, Sanch Where'r goin'?" said mJ
prospecting pard"-the first words t
me, the remainder to the pack-mulC
las we journeyed, skirting along tht
base of a range OF rough rock-peaks
which peaks, like ourselves, were, and
still are, in that vast area of sage
brush called Nevada.
1.-TWO crazy men ~ repeated I, and
ADDED, "Where?"
"Why, up thereI-to the right
hand, at the end of that sort of a road
We jist crOssed-where the mule wan
ted to turn off, you know and, turn
ing in his saddle, he pointed. you
Sc that high, dark-looking peak,
with the round, white spot of snow
on the norrh face, near the top; it's
the biggest peak Of the lot, and kinder
behind the rest. Do you see it ?p
81 think I do" said I, shading my
eyes with a heavy buckskln glove.
| lnClO 70 oOnCbnink llho - c4udQ vi
white-pine trees just below the snow
spot"
"Yes; that's 1t. The white-piners
are little below, and and little to
the right of, the snow"
nodded my head.
"SanchI Go oni Git! Just be-
low them pines lives the two eraziest
meu in this State"
"Why craZy-what have they
done ?"
"Done! why, they amt done moth
in,-but work away up there, winter
and summer, on little bit of a razor
blade siiver-lead, that is0it wuth hill
o, beans. Been a-workin, there jist
that away for three or four years
sinkin, and sinkin,' and driftin, on
nOthin'."
"How do they live ?u
son, the little streak is rich enough
what there is oft. They just dig and
dig aud blast sand gad-bustin' fell
lows to work you bet land they save
every ounce of it. Then you'd jist
hev to laugh to see 'em. They've got
8 sort of Spanish raster, and an old
blue mOuse-colOred big mule, with q
club-fout, and rope harness land with
such fixins they grind out bullion
enough 10 keep body and soul tOgeth-
er. The raster is right alongside the
shaft of the mine-jIst side the dump
and one of the feliers works on the
dump and bists out, while the other
feller and an Injin works below. The
chap on the dump hists out, sorts ore,
and shies piece of waste rock at cid
| II. or,A I,s,
That old mule-his club foot is mighty
plgeOntOed, and they work him with
that foot on the inside of the track,
so be jist don't walk, but sort o'leans
round and round, all day-that old
mule had been KEEP gCin' one way on
circular work so long that when he's
turned out to feed they nsver miss
his tracks, cause he always grazes in
circuIes.n
"Who are these crazy men 2'
Two brothers, they say, name Of
Rocks aw."
"Where are they from-xhat race +?
Dutch. Irish, French ar English ?'
"More'n knew. Never heard any
body say they pretended to know
much about 'em. Ones older'n
t'other; he never talks-jist works
ahead, with yes, sir No, sir Can't
say, SIR Perhaps SO, SIR and sieh
like, mighty short, but kind o. per-
lite and quiet. The other one-the
young one-is aways smilin'; and his
eyes are as blue as the sky in spring
tIme-little eyes, away into his head,
and nearly kivered up with long
sandy eyebrows, like hairy rat ter
rier d0g's-aBd they twinkle like
specks of ice among dry grass in a
sunshiny winter morning. And that
young feller he never says nOthin' to
speak of mOre'n the old one; but
hell look at you Like two brand-new
gimlets while you're talkin'; and
he'll stand all nervey-like, with smiles
twitchin' round bis mouth, a-waitin'
I for somethin' to laugh atn
81 don't see anything out of the
way in what you tell me about these
men"
"You don't? Well, you have MT
seen 'em yet. Why, told the young
one that old story about the broken
winder, and thought first he'd bust,
and then wear himself out a-iaugh-
| in'.n
t'I don't remember any story about
broken window. What was it ?n
s'DJn't you know about the man
who was ridin' along the road, passin'
5 log-cabin where was six-pane win
dersash with all the glass broken out,
and the old woman and four children
| loOkin' out of five frames in the sash,
and the man said to the old woman !:
tHow de do, mann? I? Have you had u
funeral in your family lately p 'NO,
sir. Why do you AK p says the old
woman and then the man said {: 4
see one sash-frame's got no head in it
and thought pOther head might be
dead = But that man was on a go1d
horse and saved his skelp."
"ro laugh at that sort of q story is
not good evidence of insanity" / To
my ''pard," as We spurrsd off into a
short lope.
make note here of fact-namely,
after joke on horseback, an accelera-
ton of gait follows. I do not, how
ever, wish to infer that the animals
enter into the enjoyment. In riding
through the ssge the horses are COM
| pelled by the bunehes of brush To per-
form a continual ZigZag journey,
which interfeIes with any pace be-
yoAd walk or jog-trOt so tnat we
were soon forced togive up our gayety
of motion and resume the slower pro-
gress, which seemed also to call for B
resumption of coversation
From what You tell me, Bill,
aoout those queer fellows, feel in
cIined to ride back and see the men
and the mine. What do you say ?'
"Not bit o. use. They won't let
you down into the mine-ashamed oil
1t reckor-and you won't think OF
stayin' there all night"
"Why can't we stay there all nigbtG
We've got our own grub and bed.'f
ION, well, you cIuli stay up there /;
but you wouldn't"
81 don't see why"
"YOu don'twan to be eat up with
m'skeeters, if yo1 sleep out of doors,
and you can't sleep in them fellersi
cabin-there amt room. They live
in a hole in the hillside, and the hole
is so small that one of 'em has to GO
to bed or go out while t'other puts on
his coat or pulls on his boots. Pve
been up there. Them little popple.
wood groves is fuller o. m'skeeters
than a Mississippi swamp bottom
and, in July, Nevada mountain
m'skeeter cuts like lancet and sucks
like q leech."
'tWeli, well, William, If you've
been there, of course I'If not insist
but If we live to come back this way
I'Il ride up to see the boys.n
"All right pm on il, If you are In
airnest about wantin' to go now,n
said Bill, riding forward to turn the
Dack- mule
mo, no; never mind. Come back,
Bill Letthe mule 30 ahead as ht
is" said I.
"Well," said Bill, dropping into
line again, ',jist as you like. Pm none
of yer GROWERS that wants it all his
own way, and can't humor . pard'E
curiosity. That's not me. 1 car
give aud take, and allus doom 9
trip Ike this.n
Hereupon William proceeded to tel
me, as we rode along, of the variou:
prospecting trips he had been on in
the sage-brush ; inteIjeeting his mar.
rative with estimates Of human char
acter worked up from quiet observa'
ton of men in wnst he called "clOse