The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-06-09
darling now? You'll cut In afore bet
fer man again. will you?"


ter man again, will your"
Yes, il | hye!" he says, stout Ike
90 az / couldn't help liking the grit he
showed. "That's right" he says ;
pitch me over, and then go and tell
little Jael what you've done. she H. be
fine, and proud Of yer then Abinauao
Scales -
lie said that az I'd got him hanging
over the rocks, and he looked me tull
in the face, full Of grit, though ne was
as helpless az baby, but ] didn't see
his face then. for what I seen was the
face of JaeI, wild and passionate like,
asking me what I'd done with her love,
and nv heart swelled 80 that | gave a
| sob Ikea woman, as | swung Hez round
into safety, and taking his place like,
'Shove me over" | says, land put me
out OF my misery
| Poor old Hpzi / hated him like by
aon but he wasn't that sort. Stead of
sending over. now he had the chance,
he claps his hand on my shoulder, an !
ne says, saws he. Dad, old man, he
says, give it a name, and let's GO and
! nave a drink on this. We can't all find
| The big nuggets. old boss and If I'm in
luck, dom be hard on yer mate"
Then he held out his fist, but |
! couldn't. but turning off, ] ran hard
| down among the rocks till dropped,
bruised and bleeding, and didn't go
| back TO nv tent that night.
| got a bit wilder arter that. Hez and
| Jael were spliced up, and | allus KEEP
| away. When | wanted an ounce OF two
Of gold ! worked, and when 10 got 1t !
used to drink-drink, because | wanted
| to drown all recOllectiOns Of the past.
| Hey used to come to me, but warned
| him off. Last time he came across me,
| ;oI FrinnIO 90 IEp -
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 go !
! went and pitched at the lower end of the
Guloh, and they lived at t'other
Times and times I've felt az II I'd GO
and plug Hez on the quiet, but | never
did, though got to hate him more and
more, and never half 80 much as | did
| two years arter, when | came upon him
one day sudden, with his wife, Jael,
I looking potter than ever. with a little
| white haired squealer on her arm. An
| it riled me above a bit to see him So
blood shot, drinking, ravir g savage,
that half the Gulch was feared on, and
! t'other half darent face.
| had been drinking hard fiery BOur-
| bon. YOU bet for about a week, when
early one morning as lay in my ragged
| bit of tent, ] woke up sudden-llke to q
roaring noise like thunder; then there
came q whirl and rush, and l was
| swimming for life, half ChOked with the
water that had carried me off. Now II
! was hitting my head, playful like, agen
! the hardest corners OF the rock it could
| end 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 wink the hull settlement
! In Yaller Gulch was swept away.
| wall" | says, getting hold Of a
! branch and drawing myself out, "some
on 'em wanted good wash, aud this II
give it 'em :" for you see water had been
skeerce lately, and what there was had
all been used for cleaning the gold.
sot on bit O rock, wringing that
water out o my -leastwise. no; it
! was some one else like who sot there,
! chaps ! knowed, you see, and there was
| the water rushing down twenty or thirty
feet deep, with everything swept be
! fore it-mules. and tents, and shanties.
and stores, and dead bodies by the
| dozen.
"UnIucky for Them / says; and just
| then | hears wild sOrter shrek. and,
| looking down, | sec a chap half-swim
ming, half-swept along by the torrent,
! trying hard to get at a tree that stood
t'other side.
"Why. it's you, is it, Hez?" | says to
myself, as | looked at his wild eyes and
strained face, on which the sun shone
! full. You're a gone coon, Hez, lad SO
YOU NAV lust as well fold yer arms, say
| amen, and go down like man. How
! | could pot you now, lad, IL I'd got a
like. You'll drown. lad"
He made a dash. and tried for a
| branch hanging down, but missed it
and got swept against the rocks. where
| he showed his arm between two big bits
! but the water gave him wrench. the
! bone went crack, and as | sat still there
| | see him swept down lower and lower
! till he clutched at a bush with his left
! hand, and hung on like grim death to a
dead niger.
"Sarve you right" / says, cooily
"Why shouldn't you die like the rest?
| II I'd he'd any go in me ] should have
! plugged you long ago"
| "HuIlOai f. | cried then, giving q
start. 1T ain't-'tis- ii
can t bel"
But it was.
| There, on t'other side, fifty yards
| lower down, was bit of shelf Of earth
that kept crumbling away as the water
washed it. was Jael. kneeling down
| with her young 'un; and, as | looked
something seemed TO give my heart q
jgg. just as if some coon had pulled {
string.
"Well, he's bout gone" says; "anc
they can't hold bout three minutes
then they'll all drown together, and she
van take old Hcz his last babby to Duss
cuss 'eml I'm safe enough, What's i
got to do with me? / shan'C move"
| took out my wet cake OF 'bacca, anC
Whitfield Of a bit, showed it in my cheek
shut my knife with click, and sot thai
watchin' Of 'em father and mother ant
BARN.
you've been happy, you have
says, out loud; not rs they could heal
it. for the noise Of the waters. Nov
you'll be sorry for other people Drown
darn YER stock and lock and barrel
I'm safe"