The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-11-27

! II
''' Poor Chinamani sez the fat chap
again.
50 oh, yes; we know all 'beout that!
/ sez Zeph. Now, what is itP
/ "' Melicanman sellee claim two hun
der dOllarsP' sez the fat-headed chap,
and al the others nodded their heads.
F' VIII we sell you this claim for two
hundred dollars? sez Zeph.
''They all nodded till you'd ha'
/ thought their heads ID come off.
''' Cuti sez Zeph, catching hold
of the fat 'un by his tail and kiclin'
/ him.
q Yew mayn't believe, gents, but them
same chaps came back twice before it
was dark, and made fresh offers, ad-
Vancin' a hundred dollars each time,
and we swore at 'em, and said we
wouldn't sell, and if they warn't uD to
time in the mOrnin' to see about the
water, they shouldn't be allowed to
wash the dirt.
. FuSt thing next mornin' them six
fellers were up again, just as we had
got good painful o. stuff in course o.
wOrkin', and l saw their eyes twinkle as
they caught sight o. the gold.
" Then they offered $500, and we said
we'd shoot 'em if they'd come agen
but come they did, and offered 5000,
and as the mOrnin' went on, seven, eight,
nine-a 81 900.
Take it, we said, as they came
this last time.
"' They'll give $4,000. I tell yew.
I'm sure they will, sez Zeph.
''' But 1000 is enough to chisel the
beggars out of, sez l.
80 Yes,' sez Tom Paggins, 'and it'll
take till this time tomorrow sure to oct
up to the two thousand
''t Ef l warn't so 'tarnal hungry, I'd
hold OUT sez Zeph, hesitatin'; and
then, turnin' to the six Chinese as was
waitin' fur our Tanswer: Look hyar,
you cheatin' eusses,' he sez, takin' up a
| shovelful of earth, in which the dust
were a-sparklin' in the sun, this claims
worth twenty thousand dollarsl'
No; only worth tousand dollar
said fatty, shakin' his head.
" Shall we let 'em have it, boys?" sez
Zeph, turnin' to US.
''' Yes, let 'em have it, I sez. we
| can find plenty more
''' Come on, then,' sez Zeph; and he
| and two more went back with the dep
pytation to the tent o. their head man,
and thousand dollars worth o. dust
and nuggets was weighed out into
bag; Zeph put his mark to a kind O.
y
hour after, we went back to camp, leav-
in the smilin' Cinnamon to their pur-
chase.
." It's darned shame to cheat the
poor innercent babbies like that, sez.
''' Not it!'' sez Zeph. Its only like
playin' poker with 'em, and winnin'.
Let's 90 and liquor
. We didn't expeck any row, for them
Chinese had to keep very quiet for
fear o. bein' sent off; and Zeph sed
| they'd put up with their loss, clear out,
| and 90 to some other gulch.
g But they didn't; for the next day
Tom, who went up to see what they was
a doin', sed they'd moved their camp
up round the hole, and were working
away like a swarm o. bees.
That night, as we were sittin' smok-
in at Bills store, some chaps strolls in,
| and one of 'em says, in bit of a tenn
per:
"'Cal this here a free country?'
"'Yes, stranger, 1 dew sez Zeph,
rafting some nuggets in his pocket
'who sez it ain'tP'
Il do sez the newcomer. Here
are we, workin' like slaves for few
dollars worth o dust, and a pack o.
heather cusses comes and settles down,
and grabs all the best on it,
"'Dew they?' sez Zeph, winkin' at us.
% Yes, he sez, they dew. There's
that pack o. Chimes moved up higher
in the gulch, and they've hit on big
pocket. They got a two-pound nugget
out on it this very afternoon
'''What!' roared Zeph, with his eyes
starin' out of his head ike a Holsters.
GA two-pound nugget and the stuff's
panning out awful. | say it's a shame
! to cf, :
'''Sold!' grOaned Zeph.
Z" Next day it was the talk o. the place
The Chimes were pannin' out gold at a
tremendous rate from the claim and
drivin' the heathens away, but the party
| of order was too strong and they know d
if the rowdies was allowed to get the
upper hand here they'd be just as likely
to seize any body else's claim; so it was
decided to tempOrize with the heather
and try to buy the claim.
''They were 200 strongup there; and
when we went up to see the place
which we did in kind O. desperate
feelin'-the fat chap smiled and clapped
his hands and gave Zeph little round
nugget as big as pea.
"a meetin' was held and we conclud-
ed to make company an buy back the
claim. Twenty thousand was the most
as was to be offered.
''' Twenty thousand dollars!' groaned
Zeph. Oh, boys, what fools we was
But did want to hold out fur S2,OO0!'
''' It's no use to growl,' sez Tom.
How much ha' we gOtazeYp'
GO BeOut 5000 l guess, ~ Zeph.
"' Wal, then, sez Tom, let's 90 in
for shares as far as our money goes
The money was nearly all sub
scribed; but we got on for $500, and
could ha' sold our shares the next hour
for $1,000.
"Next mornin' the party settled to do
the business went up to the Chimes
camp, but they wouldn t take the money.
They said they'd begun work, and
meant to have the proceeds of the day
but the boys looked dangerous, so the
! heather finally said they'd settle up
that night, take the money, and give
possession.
: g This made the gulch worse thar
: ever, and shares changed hands at Z
fine rate, men sellin' theirs and ther
gittin' so excited that they bought back
? again.
2 ''' [ shall never forgive myself, boys,
sez Zeph the next mornin', as we sai
over some fried bacon and biscuit; q
z throwed away a fortune!'
&C. Halloi What's the row?' sez
I jumpin' up.
, "There was suthin' ahoat outside
for there was a heap of excitement, bu
r no one kinder seemed to know what i
was.
r " Arter a while we got to know tha
there wasn't a single Chinee left in tn
t gulch; they'd gone off, no one kney
where, in the night.
. '''They're darned artful, sez Zeph
and he was right, for we soon knowe,
| l,,1