Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-11-05
HOW BILL WAS MISTAKEN.

Il
1.-TWO crazy men live up there. Go
on, Sanch. Where'r goin'?" said my
prospecting pard'-the first words to
me, the remainder to the paCk-mule-as
we journeyed, skirting along the base of
a range of rough rock-peaks, which
peaks, like ourselves, We're and still are,
in that vast area of sage-brush called
Nevada
Two crazy men," repeated ], and
added, 4" Where? p
Why, Up thereto the right hand, at
the end Of that sort of road we list
crossed-where the mule wanted to turn
Oft you know" and, turning in his sad
die, he pointed You see that high,
darklooking peak, with the round, white
spot Of snow on the north face, near the
top; it's the biggest peak of the lot, and
kinder behind the rest Do you see it,"
& | think l do, said I, shading my eyes
with heavy bGckskin glove. There
is something like squad of white-pine
trees just below the snow-spot."
Yes; that's it. Tie white-piners are
little below, and little to the right of,
the snow
l nodded my head
"Sanch! Go on! Git! Just below
them pines lives the two craziest men in
this State"
Why crazy-what have they done?"
Done! why, they amt done nothin'-
but work away mp there, winter and sum-
mer, on 4 little bit Of a blade silver
lead that isn't with q hill o beans Been
a-workin' there iist that away for three
or four years-sinkin' and sinkin', and
driftin' on-nOthin"
g How do they Iive?n
Oh, the little streak is rich enough,
what there is of it. They iist dig and
dig and blast and gad-bustin' fellows to
work, you bet!-and they save every
ounce of it. Then you'd list hev to laugh
to see EN- They've got a sort of SDan-
ish raster, and an old blue mOuse-colored
big mule, with clubfoot, and rope har-
ness; and with such tiXins they grind out
bullion enough to keep body and soul
together. The raster is right alongside
the shaft of the mine-iist side the dump
and one Of the fellers works on the
dump and hists out, while the other fell
Ter and an lniin works below The chap
on the dump hlsts out, sorts ore, and
SHES piece of waste rock at old muley
now and then to wake him up. That old
mule-his club foot IS mighty pigeon
toed, and they work him with that foot
n,
walk, but sort O. leans round and round,
all day-that old mule has been KEEP
goin' one way on circular work SO long
that when he's turned out to feed they
never miss his tracks, cause he always
graZes in circles"
Who are these crazy menu
Two brothers, they say, name of
Rocksaw"
Where are they from-what race?
Dutch, Irish, French or English?"
More'n | know 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 SIGH like, mighty short, but
kind o perlite and quiet. The other one
the young One-is always smilin'; and
his eyes are as blue as the sky in spring
time-little eyes, away into his head, and
nearly kiyered up with long sandy eve
browS, like hairy rat-terrier dog's-and
they twinkle like specks of ice among
dry grass in a sunShiny winter morning
And that young Teller he never says
nothin' to speak of more'n the old one
but he'll look ut you like two brand-new
gimlets while you're talkin'; and he'll
stand all nerFey-like, with smiles witch
in round his mouth, a-waitin' for some
thin to laugh at
II don't see anything out of the way in
what you tell me about these men"
You don't? Well, YOU haven't seen
EN- 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-laughin'"
don't remember any story about
broken window What was it,"
Don't you know about the man who
was ridin' along the road, passin' a log
cabin where was q SiX-pane winder-SaSh
with all the glass broke out, and the old
woman and four children loolin' out of
five frames in the sash, and the man said
TO the old woman: How de do, mann?
Have you had a funeral in your family
lately?' No, sir Why do you AK
says the old woman: and then the man
said: | see one Sash-frame's got no
head in it, and | thought t'Other head
might be deadn But that man was on
good horse and saved his skelp."
To laugh ut that sort of a story is not
good evidence Of insanity" said | to my
"pard,' as we Spurred off into a short
lope.
| make note here of fact-nameIy,
after a Joke on horseback IN aCcelera-
Sion of gait follows. do not, however,
wish to infer that the animals enter into
the enjoyment. In riding through the
sage the horses are compelled by the
punches of brush to perform continual
zigZag journey, which interferes with
any pace beyond a walk or jog-trot; so
that we were soon forced to give up our
gayety OF motion and resume the slower
progress which seemed also to call for a
resumption of conversation:
From what you tell me. Bill, about
those queer fellows, | feel inclined 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 of it. |
reckon-and you won't think of stayin'
there all night"
why can't we stay there all night:
We've got our own grub and bed"
'Oh, well, you could stay up there; but
you wouldn't"
4 don't see why"
"You don't want to be eat up with
m'skeeters, if you sleep out of doors, and
YOU can't sleep in them fellers' 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 one puts on his coat, OF
pulls on his boots. I've been up there
Them little popplewood groves is fuller
Of m'skeeters than Mississippi swamp