Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1878-08-02
RETIRING FROM BUSINESS.

What the colonel's business was no
body knew, nor did anybody care par
ticularly. He purchased for cash only,
and he never grumbed at the price Of
anything he wanted who could ask
more than that?
Curious people occasionally wondered
how, when it had been fully two years
since the colonel, with everyone else,
abandoned Dutch 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 once
heard to absent mindedly wonder wheth-
er the colonel hadn't a money mill some
where, where he turned out double
eagles, and "slugs' the coast name for
fifty-dollar gold pieces.
When so important parsonage as "
bar-keeper INDUCED publicly inan idea,
the inhabitants of Challenge Hill, like
good Californians everywhere, consider
ed themselves III duty bound to give it
grave consideration, SO for few days
certain industrious professional gentle
men, who won money Of the colonel,
carefully weighed some of the brightest
pieces and tested them with acids, and
tasted them, and sawed them two, and
retired them, and melted them up and
had the Jumps assayed.
The result was complete vindiCat0n
Of the colonel, and loss ofconsidcrablc
custom to the indiscreet bar-keeper.
The colonel was rs good natured 4 man
as had ever been known ut Challenge
Hill, but being mortal, the colonel had
his occasional times of dependency,
and one of them occurred after Il series
of races in which he had staked his all
on his own bay mare Tipsie, and had
lost.
Looking reproachfuliy ut his beloved
animal he failed to feel the aching void
of his pockets, and drinking deeply,
swearing eloquently and gArmg def
antlv ut all mankind, were equally I'M
productive of coin.
The boys ut the saloon sympathlzed
most feelingly with the colonel they
were unceas'ng in their invitations to
drink, and they even exhibited consld-
cradle Christian forbearance, when the
colonel savagely dissented with every
one who advanced any proposition, no
matter how incontroyertible.
But unappreciated sympathy grows
decidedly tresome to the giver, and it
was with feeling Of relief that the boys
saw the colonel stride out ofthc saloon,
mount Tipsie, and gallop furiously
away.
Riding on horseback has always been
considered an excellent sort of exercise.
and fast riding is universally admitted
to lie one Of the most healthiul and de-
lightful means of exhilaration in the
world
But when il man il So absorbed in his
exercise that he viii not stop to speak
TO friend, and when his exhlaration is
So complete that he turns his eyes from
wcll-meaning thumbs pointing signiti-
cantly into doorways through which u
man has often passed while seeking
bracing influences, il is bnt natural that
people should express some wonder.
The colonel was we'll known at Toddy
Flat, Come Hand, Blazers, Murderer's
Bar, and several other villages through
which he passed. As no one had been
seen to precede him, betting men We're
soon offering odds that the colonel was
running away from somebody.
Strictly speaking, they were wrong,
but they Won al the money that had
been staked against them, for within
half an hours time there passed over
the same road an misunderstanding in-
dividual, who reined up in front Of the
principal saloon Of each place, and ask
cd if the colonel had passed,
Had the gallant colonel known that
he was followed, and by whom, there
would have been an extra elestion held
Al the place very shortly after for the
pursuer was the constable Of Challenge
HUI. and for constables and all officers
ofthe law the colonel possessed hatred
Of unspeakahe intensity.
On galloped the colonel, following the
stage road, which threaded the old min
ing camps III Duck Greek; but suddenly
he turned abruptly ont Of the road and
urged bis horse through the Young pines
and bushes, which grew thlekiy ~ the
road. while tile constable galloped rap
iIly on 10 the next camp.
There seemed u be no path through
the thicket into which the colonel had
turned, but Iipsie walked between ne
trees ana shrubs i. if they were tbs