Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-05-13
From the Old and New Magazine.
MOONLIGHT.
BY II. A. BENTON.

It was certainly a very interesting
little difficulty. Neither the squire,
who has been at home a deacon and a
Justice of the peace, nor Hoxford, the
English ex-collegian, held either knife
or pistol; yet Briar, the most accom-
plished rufian among the miners at
Pitt Gulch, stopped work, leaned on his
pick, stared admiringly at the contest
ants, and wished that uncomfortable
consequences might eternally afiict his
immortal part if it wasn't the gamiest
fight he had ever witnessed. Men who
always left the store or the bar on the
slightest indication of a difficulty, now
remained, while those to whom fight
was the most delightful of stimulants,
crowded near with eager eyes. These
gentlemen did not understand either of
the disputants when he spoke, and the
subject of disagreement was one in
which they took no interest whatever
but they knew a fighting eye'when they
saw it and so excited were they that
many larger bets would have been
made, had those who desiredS to risk
money felt any confidence in their own
ability to determine when the fight
ended and who was winner.
For Hoxford and the squire were
talking theology. The discussion was
provoked, innocently enough, by Peel,
the Philadelphia baker. Peel had an.
nounced his intention of trying to get
an ex-preacher from somewhere up the
hold service. Farmer Blake. Doctor
Cults, and Struggs, the bankrupt con
tractor from the east, thought it would
be good thing to do; Hoxford said he
would be glad to see some respeet.paid
the day ; and the squire said he should
nightly like to hear the preacher, if
he was sound. Then Eoxford, with
the ghost of a sheer, echoed the single
word "sound!" at which the squire,
rightly considering himself challenged,
opened upon Hoxford heavy and we'll
directed fire of texts, to which the col
legian promptly replied with ammuni-
ton similar to the squire's own. Both
disputants were held in high esteem in
the camp the squire had more than
once given up his whole dinner to hun
CRY stragglers from elsewhere, and at
the risk Of his own life he had stopped
two or three serious fights, of which
whisky was the only cause while Hox-
ford, besides possessing generosity and
pluck equal to the squ1res, could COM
pound an exceptionally glorious punch,
despite the limited resources of the
camp. But every Pitts Gulchite knew
that the squire loved an argument as
dearly as he did gold dust, and that
Hoxford, who had been wrangler at
the university whose name had been
cockneyized and applied to him, did
not intend that his talent should rust so
long as he could find some one on whom
to brighten it. All other disputatious
persons in camp had been successfully
conquered and silenced by either Hox-
ford or the squire, SO that discussions
between these two gentlemen were re-
garded with the attention due Ito use
the terse expression of Briar) to ''tus-
sells for the heavy jaw championship.
On this secession the doughty warriors
had fought each other over almost
every strategic point on the field thew
had chosen and each one of them had
occupied, in succession, positions which
they fondly deemed impregnable, but
from which they were beaten with great
loss, or from which they safely retreated
only by the display of marvellous dex-
terity Finally, when the squire an
nounced his belief in the infeMbility of
divine Justice, it was with the air of a
soldier who was not only in his last
ditch, but was fully aware of the fact,
and who felt himself inspired with
strength equal to host. His hat had
fallen off, and his iron grey locks had
blown away from his face; his strong
decided features seemed each little
sharperin outline than ever before, his
steel-blue eyes, though entirely devoid
OF ferocity, cleaned very brightly,
while the defiant pose of his Whole
frame, as he leaned lightly on his long
handled shovel, so strongly affected
Gamboge, the unsuccessful artist, that
the latter hastily drew forth stumpy
pencil and an old letter, and scrawled a
study for christian MARTYR"
"pm IN dead earnest about this"
said the squire, succeeding himself.
after the moment or two of silence
which had followed his last argument
'"cos there's lots of men calm them
selves ministers of the word that are