Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1874-04-04
RETIRING FROM BUSINESS.
BY BRET HARTE.

BA BhEI HAKIE,
What the colonel's business was nc.
body knew, nor did any one care par
ticularly. He purchased for cash only,
and he never grumbled ut the price OF
anything that he wanted who could
ask more than that?
Curious people occasionally wondered
how, when il had been fully two years
since the colonel, with eyey one else,
abandoned Duck creek to the Chinese,
he managed to spend money freely, and
to lose considerable at cards and horse
races. In fact, the keeper of that one
Of the two Challenge Hill saloons
which the colonel did not patronize was
heard to absent-mindedIy wonder
whether the colonel hadn't a money
mill somewhere where he turned out
double eagles and "slugs" (tho coast
name for fifty dollar gold pieces.
When SO important a parsonage as a
bar-keeper indulged publicly i'll an idea,
the inhabitants Of Challenge Hill, like
good Oalifornians everywhere, consid-
cred themselves in duty bound to give
it grave consideration, so for a few days
certain industrious professional gentle
men, who won money of the colonel,
carefully weighed some Of the bright
est pieces and tested them with acids,
and tasted them and sawed them in
two, and retired them and melted them
up and had the Jumps assayed.
The result was a complete vindica-
tion OF the colonel, and a loss of con
siderable custom to the indiscreet bar
keeper.
Thecolonel was as good.natured man
az had ever been known at Challenge
Hill, but, being mortal, the colonel had
his occasional times of dependency,
and one of them occurred after series
Of races in which he had staked his all
on lis own bay mare Tipsie, and had
lost.
Looking repronchfully at his beloved
animal failed to heal the aching void of
his pockets, and drinking deeply, swear
ing eloquently, and glaring defantly al
all mankind were equally unproductiye
of coin.
The boys at the saloon sympathized
most feelingly with the colonel !; they
we're unceasing in their invitations to
drink, and they even exhibited consid-
cradle christian forbearance when the
colonel savagely dissented with every
one who advanced any proposition, no
matter how incontrovertable.
But unappreciated sympathy grows
decidedly tiresome to the given, and it
was with feeling of relief that the
boys saw the colonel stride out of the
saloon, mount Yipsie, and gallop furi,
ously away.
Riding on horseback has always been
considered an excellent sort of exercise,
and fast riding is universally admitted
to be one of the most healthful and
delightful means of exhilaration IN the
world.
But when man is so absorbed in his
exercise that he will not stop to speak
to friend, and when his exhilaration is
so complete that he turns his eyes from
well-meaning thumbs pointing signif-
cantly into doorways through which a
man has often passed while seeking
bracing influences, it is but natural that
people should express some wonder
The colonel was well known at Teddy
Flat, Gone Hand, Blazers, Murdeler's
Bar, and several other villages through
which he passed, and as no one had
been seen to precede him, betting men
were seen Offering odds that the colonel
was running away from somebody.
Strictly speaking they were wrong,
but they won all the money that had
been staked against them, for within
half an hours time there passed over
the same road an anxious-looking in.
dividual, who reined up in front of the
principal saloon of each place, and
asked if the colonel had passed.
Had the gallant colonel known that
he was followed, and by whom, there
would have been an extra election held
at the latter place very shortly after,
for the pursuer was the constable OF
Challenge Hill, and for constables and
all officers of the law the colonel pos
sessed hatred,of unspeakable intensity.
On galloped the colonel, following
the stage road, which threaded the old
mining g-camps on Duck creek but sud
denly he turned abruptly out of the
road, and urged his horse through the
young pines and bushes, which grew
thickly by the road, while the constable
galloped rapidly ON to the next camp.
There seemed to be no path through
the thicket into which the colonel had
turned, but Tipsie walked between the
trees and bushes as if they were the
familiar objects of her own stable. e.yard.
Suddenly, voice from the bushes
shouted: "What's up?"
z" Business-that's what, replied the
colonel.
"Its time, replied the voice, and its
owner-a bearded six-footer-emerged
from the bushes, and stroked Tipsie's
nose with the freedom of an old ac-
quaintance. "We amt had nip since
t'ssnight, an thar amt crscker or a
handful of flour in the shanty. The
old gal go back on yer p
" Yes, replied the colonel, ruefully,
"lost ey'ry Blasted race. 'Twasnt her
fault, bless her-she done her level
bes'. Ey'rybody to home?'
" You bet, said the man. Cali ben
n prayin' Tor yer ter turn up with the