American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1878-07-20
RETIRING FROM BUSINESS
By BRET HARrE.

What the Colonel's business was no.
body knew,n nor did any body care, par
ticularly- He purchased for cash only,
and he never grumbled at the price of
any thing he wanted; who could ask
more than that? Curious people occa-
sionally wonder how, when it had been
fully two years since the Colonel, with
every one else, abandoned Dutch Greek
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 whether the Colonel
hadn't money mill somewhere where
he turned out double eagles and ssslugs"
(the coast name for fifty-dollar gold
pieces).
When so important parsonage as a
barkeeper INDUCED publicly in an idea,
the inhabitants of Challege Hill, like
good Californians everywhere, consid-
cred themselves in duty bound to give it
grave consideration, so for a 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 melted them up, and
had the Jumps assayed. The result was
. complete vindication of the Colonel,
and q loss of considerable custom to the
indiscreet barkeeper.
The Colonel was as good-natured a
man as has ever been known on Chal-
lenge Hill, but, being moral, the Col
onel had his occasional times of de-
spondency, and one of them occurred
after q series of races in which he had
staked his all on his own bay mare Tip
sic, and had lost. Looking reproach-
fully at his beloved animal he failed to
heal the aching void of his pockets, and,
drinking deeply, swearing eloquently,
and giaring defiantly at all mankind,
were equally unproductive of coin.
The boys at the saloon sympathized
most feelingly with the Colonel; they
were unceasing in their invitations to
drink, and they even exhibited consid-
erable Christian forbearance, when the
Colonel savagely dissented with every
one who advanced any proposition, no
matter how incontrovertible. But I'M
appreciated sympathy grows decidedly
tiresome to the giver, and it was with a
feeling Of relief that the boys saw the
Colonel stride out of the 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 be one of the most healthful and de-
ightful means of exhilaration in the
world. But when man is so absorb
ed in his exercise that he will not stop
to speak to friend, and when his ex-
hilaration is so complete that he turns
his eyes from well-meaning thumbs
pointing significantly into doorways
through which man has often passed
while seeking bracing Influences it is but
natural that that people should express
some wonder.
The Colonel was well known at To-day
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 were
soon offering odds that the Colonel was
running away from somebody. Strictly
speaking, they were wrong, but they
won all the money that had been staked
against them, for within half an hours
time there passed over the same road an
anxious-looking individual who reined
up in front Of the principal saloon of
each place, and asked ifthe Colonel had
passed. Had the gallant Colonel known
that he was followed, and by whom,
there would have been an extra election
held at the latter place very shortly after,
for the pursuer was the Constable OF
Chan nge Hill, and for constables and