The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1878-04-12

4
clusion, and the Sunday that the Trixes
attended church in the school house on
the hill, the triumph of the Trix party was
rnitigated by the fact that the. Downeys
were not in their accustomed pew. You
bet that Daddy and Nanny is lying low
jest to keteh them old mummies yet" ex-
planned Downeyite. For by this time
schism and division had erept into the
camp the younger and later members OF
the settlement adhering to the TriXes,
while the older pioneers stood not only
loyal to their own favorites, but even, in
the true spirit of partisanship, began to
seek for principle underlying their per-
sonal feelings. Il tell ye what, boys.
/ observed Sweetwatsr Jos, :. If If this this yof
camp is goin' to be run by greenhorns, and
old pioneers. like Daddy aad . the rest q 7;
1 grated and showed out, and TUX Daddy
with US. Why, they re talkin' of rotation
in ofhss, and of putting that skeleton that
Ma,am Decker puts up at the table to take
her bOarders' appetites away-into the
postofice in pla. Q o Daddy And iadeed,
there were some fears of of such a conclu-
sion the newer men of Rough-and- Ready
were in the majority and welded a more
than equal influence and outside enter
prise. "Frisco," as Downeylte bitterly
remarked, "already owned halt the town"
The old friends that rallied around Daddy
| and Nanny were, like most loyal friends
in adversely, in bad case themselves, and
were beginning to look and act, it was OBJ
served, not unlike their old favorites.
At this juncture Nanny died.
The sudden blow for few days seemed
to reunite discovered Rough-and- Ready.
Both factions hastened to the bereaved
Daddy with condolements and offers of aid
and assistance. But the old man received
them sternly. A change had come over
the weak aud yielding octogenarlan. These
|swho expected to find him maudlin, help
less, disconsolate, shrank from the cold
hard eyes and truculenJ voice that babe
them begone " and "leave him with his
dead" Even his own friends failed to
make him respond to their sympathy, and
were faiu to content themselves with his
cold intimation that both the wishes of his
dead wife and his own instincts were
against any display, or the reception OF
any favor from the camp that might tend
to keep up the divisions they had innocent
ly created. The refusal of Daddy to ac-
cept any service offered was 30 unlike him
as to have but one dreadful meaning. The
sudden shock had turned his brain Yet
SO impressed were they with his resolution
that they permitted him to perform the
last sad offices himself, and only select
few of his nearer neighbors assisted him
in carrying the plain deal coffin from his
lonely cabin in the woods to the still lone
lier cemetery on the hilltop. When the
shallow grave Was filed, he dismissed
even these curtly, s hut himself up in his
cabin, and for days remained unseen 1t
was evident that he was no longer in his
right mind.
His harmless alteration was accepted
and treated with degree of intelligent
delicacy hardly to be believed of so rough
a community. During his wife's sudden
ana severe illness, the safe containing the
funds entrusted to his care by the various
benevolent associations was broken into |
and robbed, and although the act was
clearly attributable to his carelessness aud |
preoccu patton, all allusion to the fact was |
isa@aos~s n fl ;o+;or
When be appeared again before ttIe camp,
and the circumstances were considerably
explained to him with the remark that the
boys had made it all right, the vacant,
hopeless, unintelligent eye that he turned
he had forgotten all about it. "Don't
trouble the old man," said Whisky Dick,
with burst of honest poetry. "Don't ye
see his memory's dead and lying there in
the coffin with Nanny" Perhaps the
speaker was nearer right than he imag-
ned. a Z, s...,s
Failing IN religious consolation, they took
7arious means of diverting his mind with
worldly amusements, and one was visit to
travelling variety troupe then performing
IL the town. The result of the visit was
briefly told by Whisky Dick. "Well, sir,
We went in, an sot the old man down in
frent seat, and kinder prepped him up
With some other of the fellers around him,
md there he sot as silent and awful ez the
,rave. And then that fancy dancer, Miss
trace Somerset, comes in, and dern my
kin, if the old man didn't git to trembling I
nd tidgeting all over, as she cut them
,idgin wings. / tell ye what, boys, men
S men, way down TO their boots-whether ,
hey're crazy or not Well, he took on
o-that Pm blamed if at last that girl her ,
elf didn't notice him !-an' she ups sud-
enly and blows him kiss-so, with her Z
ngers
Whether this narration were exaggerated s
r not, it is certain that old man Downey
very succeeding night of the performance
vas spectator. That he may have aspired ,
o be more than that was suggested day {
r two later in the following incident. a
lumber of the boys were sitting around :
tove in the Magnolia saloon, listening to i
he onset of a winter storm against the | /
windows, when Whisky Dick, tremulous,
xcited and bristling with rain drops and
formation, broke in upon them
Well, boys, I've got just the biggest
hing out. Eff hadn't seed it myself,
7ouldn't hev believed it," 5
"It amt thet ghost ag'in," growled Rob
ason, from the depths of his armchair ,
thet ghosts about played" .
.Wot ghost ?' asked a newcomer.
"Why, ole Mammy's ghost, that every q
sller about yer sees when he's half full an r
Ut late O nights
Where?'
"Whereq Why. where should ghost \
@? Meanderin' round her grave on the 9
Ill, yander, Of course" s
It's suthin bigger nor thet, pard," said q
lick confidently; "no ghost kin rake down q
ne pot ag'in the keerds I've got here. This l
int no bluff r.
"Well, go on p said dozen excited a
oices.
Dick paused moment, difidently, with
le hesitation of an artistic rGcontear.
+" Well" he said, with affected delibera- Q
on, "let's see! It's nigh onto an hour
90 ez was down thar at the variety show.
Then the curtain was down 'twixt the AK,
looks round fer Daddy. No Daddy thar! b
goes out and ask some o. the boys. Dad q
= soas there a minnit ago. they say; must K
sv gone home Bein' kinder responsible il
II the old man, hangs around, and goes
ut into the hall and sees passage leadin' z
ehind the scenes. Now the queer thing q
bout this, boys, ez that suthin in my bones
lis me the old man is thar. pushes in,
nd, sure as q gun, hears his voice. a
Under pathetic, kinder pleadin', kinder 81
-n 4 a
Love-makin'f' broke in the impatient d
obinson. KH Il
/" You've hit it, pard-yon'ye rung the a
,ll every time But she says, i wants T
let money down. or PHI and here I n
,uldn't get to hear the rest. And then he
inder coaxes, and she says, sorter sassy,
1t listenin' all the time,--womer like, ye
now, Eve and the sarpint land she says,
I'll see tomorrow And he says, You
ont blow on me p and gets excited and ,
seps in, and may be teetolly burned eff / n