The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-01-10

and all 'acause of that little smooth
brown pullet, that looks on so quie
and gentle, as if wondering who mad,
the row. Now, that's what was th,
matter with US; for WHO should come
into the Guleh one day but an old store
keeper sort of fellow, with as pretty {
daughter as ever stepped, and from thai
moment 1t was all over between He7
and me-
He'd got way with him, you see, q:
4 hadn't, and they always made him
welkim at thar store, when it was only
GLOW do you do?'' and GOOD morn.
ing" TO me. / don't know what love
is, strangers; but if Jael Burn had told
me to 60 and cut one of my hands off tc
please her, I'd ha' done il. I'd ha' gone
through fires and water for her, God
bless heri and if she's tied one of her
long, yailer hairs round my neck, she
might have led me about like a bear,
rough as am. ff4A's kFE
But it wouldn't do. soon see which
way the wind blew She was the only
/ woman in camp, and could have have
the pick, and she picked Hez.
/ was bout staf4in' mad first time /
met them two togetheF--she hanging
on his arm, and looking up in his face,
worshiping him ike some of them wom-
en- can worship a great, big, strong he T;
i and as soon as they war got by | swore
a big oath as Hezshould never have her,
and | plugged my six-shooter, gi9e my
bowie a whettiHg, and lay in wait for
him coming back.
/ 1t was a nice time that, as sot there,
seeing in fancy him kissin' her sweet lit
I tie face, and she hanging on him. If /
was most mad afore, | was ten times
worse now; and when / heered Hez
comm, / stood there on shelf of rock,
where the track came along, meaning to
put half a dozen plugs in him, and then
pitch him over into the Gulch. But |
was that mad that when he came up
CHEEKY and singing, / forgot all about
my shooting-iron and bowie, and went
at him like bar, hugging and wrastling
him, till we fell together close to the
edge of the Guleh, and ! had only to
give him shove and down he'd ha'
gone kelch on the hard rocks ninety feet
below. "a
Snow, Hex,'' I2sayy, show about
your darling nowp~ You'll cut in afore
a better man again, will your"
Yes, if | livei'' he says, stout-like,
so as l couldn't help liking the grit he
showed. "That's right" ne says;
"pitch me over, and then 90 and tell
little Jael what you've done. She'll be
fine and proud of yer then, Abinadab
Scales!''
He said that as I'd got, him hanging
over the rocks, and he looked me full in
the face, full-of grit, though he was as
helpless as baby; but didn { see his
face then, for what seen was the face
Of Jael, wild and passionate like, ask
ing me what I'd done with her love, and
my heart swelled go that | gave sob
like woman, as l swung Hez round
into safety, and taking his place like,
Shove me over" / says, g and put me
out of my misery"
Poor old Hezt / hated him like py-
son; but he WASH that sort. Stead of
sending meover, now he had the chance,
be claps his hand on my shoulder, and
he says, says he, s'Dab, old man, be
says, {" give it a name, and let's 60 and
have drink on this. We can't all find
the big nuggets, old boss; and if I'm in
luck, don't be hard on yer mate"
b. Then he held out his fist, but couldn't
take it, but turning of, | ran hard down
among the rocks till dropped, bruised
and bleeding, and didn't 60 back to my
tent that night g a. All
got bit wilder arter that. Hez and
Jael were spliced up, and l allus kept
away. When 1 wanted an ounce or two
of gold [ worked, and when I'd got it
used to drink-drink, because l wanted
to drown all recollections of the past.
Hez used to come to me, but | warned
him off. Last time he came across me,
and tried to make friends, Her,"
says, "keep away. I'm desprit, and |
won't say shan't plug yer! ]" ~
Then Jael came, and she began to talk
to me about forgiving him; but only
made me more mad nor ever, and so
went and pitched at the lower end of the
Gulch, and they lived at t'other.
Times and times I've felt as if I'd go
and plug Hez on the quiet, but | never
did, though [ got to hate him more and
more, and never half so much as l did
two years arter, when | came upon him
one day sudden, with his wife, Jael,
looking potter than ever, with a little
white haired squealer on her arm. An
it riled me above bit to see him 50
smiling and happy, and me turned into
a blood-shot, drinking, raving savage,
that half the Gulch was feared on, and
t'other half daren't face. -
| had been drinking hard-fery Bour-
bon, you beti for about week, when
early one morning as [ lay in my ragged
bit of tent, | woke up sudden-like to a
roaring noise like thunder; then there
came a whirl and rush, and | was
swimming for life, half choked with the
water that had carried me off. Now it
was hitting my head, playful like, agen
the hardest corners of the rock it could
find in the Gulch; then it was hitting
me in the back, or pounding me in the
front, with trunks of trees swept down
from the mountains, for something had
bust-a lake, or something high up.
and in about a wink the hull settlement
in Yaller Gulch was swept away.
d % WALL" L says, getting hold of a
branch, and drawing myself out, "some
on 'em wanted a good wash, and this'll
give it emf for YOU see water had
been skeerce lately, and what there was
had all been used for cleaning the gold.
l sot on bit o. rock, wringing that
water out o,my. hsir-leastwise, no; it
was some one else like who sot there,
chaps knoWed, you see; and therewas
the water rushing down SO or 40 feet
deep, with every thing swept before it
mules, and tents, and shanties, and
stores, and dead bodies by the dozen.
"Unlucky for them,n L says; and just
then l hears wild sorter shrek, and,
looking down, see chap half-swim-
ming, half-swept along by the torrent,
trying hard to get at tree that stood
tother side. II
"Why, it's you, is it, Hep" says to
myself, as l looked at his wild eyes and