The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1874-12-10

labor upon other and less pleasant
days, Is was no cause for surprise thai
they should be idle now.
At full length upon the mOssy rOcE
Juno and his partner lay, enjoying tC
the fullest extent the ease of idienes:
and consuming the only nOurishmen
nature offers free of effort-the soft
clear air. do not know how long
they had lain thus, but am quite
confident it had been since morning
; for both were early risers, and as they
. must of necessity have known that II
) was going to be a snltry day. Ger.
tainly nothing had baen done on theiI
claim.
The sun looked down as generously
upon these two idlers as he did upoI
the perspiring crowd below, where
they were digging their fortunes from
, the graVelly earth. The breeze a
softly famed their faces with its gen.
tie zephyrs, and think they were as
contented as man and animal could
be. Juno had lain his black, hairy
head in his masters lap, who sat Dol.
stored against a tree, gazing thought
fully at a distant hill until the sur
had slowly drawn his hot face across
the blue sky and prepared TO sink be-
hind the western nils. The Partner
awoke from his lethargy, aud, Ia
king JunO's head affectiOnately be-
tween his calloused hands, began q
sOlilOquy to the dog, who listened in
tently.
"Juno, my love-" he said, "you
shouldn't orter been a dog. You or
ter come to sutbin' better than bein'
an inhabitant of Goodwin's Bar. They
says as how a dorg don't know moth
in, but You amt in any sich fix as
that, Juno you knows great deal,
eff do say 1t, an I Like ter find odt
who has so much chance of observa-
tion, an is so capable OF judging yer
attainments as me? En-, boy, who
has ? In course, nobody has Ter right
ter dispute me on sieh a subject Ju-
40, It hez ailus been thorn in my
karksss that ye war an animiIe. Ever
senee l he'd the pleasure of yer ac-
lquaintanee 1 knowed We war intsnded
fer suthin' better nor dOrg. In my
opinion it wuz mean slip o. nature
that put yer head on dorg's body.
Juno, it air a blamed, all-fired shame
We wuZ dorgw
Juno raised his large, soft eyes to
those Of the Partner at the conclusion
of this speech, and uttered 8 low
whine as if he participated in the re-
gret expressed by the words. The
Partner still continued to mutteT in
audibly, while Juno gave his indiyid-
ual attention to the inarticulate words.
The man finally ceased his soliloquy,
and again thoughtfully contemplated
/ the distant hill. A small bird alight-
ed upon q branch near the compan-
ions, and broke suddenly out In his
glad, shrill song. The Partner pulled
revolver from bis pocket, and TAX
| ing quick aim st the little songster,
! fired. The innocent, unsuspicious
creature fell from the limb, interrupt
ed thus sadly in his cheerful notes,
and Juno quickly brought the body
to his master. The bullet had clever
1 ly severed the tufted head from his
trunk, and the Partner turned the lit
tie carcass over and over refiectively
in his hand, while he resumed his So
liloquy.
mo, boy, yea orter been a mana
man, Juno, a mani How many fell
lers down there, boy; down there del
vim in mud fer suthin' they know
amt in it,-how many o. them fellers
do We s'poss knows as much as you
do? Materially. Juno, ye can't an
swer, but. 1 can tell yer-there amt
one, not one, boy, as knows halfwhat
you do. Old feller, yer are a man,
an any one as says yer amt I'd tear
him up like I would this bird" ejacu-
lated Tue Partner as he tore the body
into fragments and cast them on the
rocks. "In course,n he resumed saw
agely, "them fellers kin ride over an
insult me now, but seen the time,
boy, when they dRssent do it. Now
there's old Bentley for an instance, he
got full of gin at the Red Lion last
mite, am put on me shameful an /
had half mind to 'mand salts faction
from him an blow the cuss's brains
out, hut, Juno" added Tho Partner in
a low voice, as he stroked the black
head affeetionately, "I thOrt as how
ef | wuz killed what'd a. come o. you.
Let them cusses have yer? I'd cut
your throat fust myself"
Juno looked intently into his mas
ter's face, while the old fellow was de-
livering his passionate grafton, and
then discovering it was completed,
he laid his head once more in the
mans lap and went to sleep.
"Becase we don't want ter slave our
lives out digging for gold where there
amt any," continued The Partner,
"the blame scsllawags say we amt
of no account on the bar. But there
was a time when me an Juno wasn't
such brace of lazy vagabonds but
that was a devil of long time ago."
There was actually tear glistening in
The Partners hard grey eye as he
mournfully uttered these words, and
his bent, withered form trembled with
emotion. He gradually recovered
from his sorrow, and relapsed into a
brown study, while his little gray eyes
twinkled and winked socially at the
distant hill. Tr
The hot face of Old Sol slowly crept
across the heavens, his fiery eye
sparkling and glittering patronizingly
at our small planet, and he seemed to
recolIect how insignificant we were
beside his own mOnstrOus proportions,
and looked down upon us with father
ly care. The wind freshened and blew
his soft Zephyrs teEderly against the
trees and rocks and cabins, breaking
out occasionally in little whistle as
it went through the branches of the
redWOods. A hawk Circled over Juno
and his partner a moment, making
his graceful curves with the eye of an
accomplished and matured draughts-
man. He espied the companions ly-
ing upon the mossy rock, and drew
further away, still continuing his beau
tiful gyrations. 1t was but his vanity
that caused the bird to utter a shrill
scream, for probably he desired the
men on the slope to witness his per-
formance. The scream awoke Juno
and his master to sense Of material
objects. The Partner drew a revolver
from his pocket again, and took aim
at the bird flying above him. In a
second he fired, bringing the hawk
from his circling to the earth. A fran
tic effort OF the bird carried him be-
yond the rock, and he fell into the ri
yer.
"Go, fetch him, boy 81 cried The
Partner, running to the edge of the
cliff.
Juno sprang to his feet, and with
one bound reached the side of his mas
ter and went whirling far out in the
air. The poor fellow miscalculated
his leap, and struck with terrific
force upon 3 sharp reef below. With
low cryof distress he recovered him.
self, and struck out for the fiuttering
bird. Hearing the report and seeing
the hawk, the miners had run to the
river bank. Had every man fallen
himself upon the reef they could not
have felt more pain then they did at
witnessing Juno's leap. Efforts were
made to call him back, but it was
Intellectual. He reached the bird and
turned about to return. Three times
he sank out of sight in the space of
rod, and the blood of the entire crowd
of miners, gathered below, stopped
still, as they saw the Partner leap
from the brow of Devlin's Cliff into
the river. No one expected to see
him arise, but in moment the little,
bent shrunken body appeared, and
made for Juno. The men on the
bank uttered shout OF joy when The
Partner reached Juno's body and
grasped him around the ueck. 1t was
a matter of surprise to the men that
the old fellow could swim 50 well, for
in an instant he was upon the sandy
shore with the faithful dog in his
arms. Sadly The Partner carried the
-. - L. n.