Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1879-11-20

every mans pocket--six on usl'
"' But what means dyer wantP'
sez.
"'One handful O. dust, sez Zeph.
J "' And where are we to get itP' sez
Tom Paggins.
"'This how says Zeph. Morrow
mornin, every man hyar's got to &c
round the camp and cadge. Tell the
boys we're hard up, but we've got a
good thing on. They'll subscribe a lit
tie all reOund. Yew see if they don't.
Well, we'll try sez we; and we
went to sleep hungry and got up rave
nous.
"There was nothin' for it but to 90
to work, and off we went, getting back
to our tent about eleven O'clock, when
five out of the six had got little gold
dust l was the unlucky one, being a
bad beggar, and had got none.
"' Now thenp sez Tom Paggins, as
soon as the dust was all put together
about big spoonful of glitterin' stuff;
let's go up to the store and get q
drink
"'T That you jest WON'T sez Zeph,
grinnin'. Pm kinder gwine to throw
all this here dust away-pm gwine to
SOW it, boys, for crop to come up
We all grumbled, for we were al
mighty hungry; but we all had kind
of trust in Zeph, and gave way.
"' Lookee hyar lads he sez; it's
jest twelve o'clock now, so let's go
round and git mouthful where we
cam
"'Let's go up to Billy BoIly's store,
and ask him to give us a square meal,
and stick it up, Isez. He'll trust us.
"'Think he would?' sez Zeph.
"' Sartain, 1 sez, if you show him
that gold, and tell him there's some
thin good on
"And so it was; Bill, on seeing that
gold and hearing as we'd got somethin'
good on, gave US a right square meal,
and taste round o. Bourbon, endin'
with the cheerful remark: 9 l shall take
it out O. some O. you if this here amt
squared up
THAT didn't make a nice dessert,
for Bill was a wonderful clever fellow,
and would think nuthin' O. pluggin' a
man; so we kinder sneaked outer that
store, feelin' uncomfortable.
CO. It's all right sez Zeph, laughing.
Come on, boys, and get yewr tools
"We took our tools then and went
off up the gulch to where strong COM
pany of Chinese was at work, and they
watched us curiously as we began pros
pectin' about, washin' bit O. dirt here
and a bit there, and always goin' off
discontented and sour like, till we came
to one place close up to the rocks,
where it ran sheer up 400 or 500 feet;
and after working with our picks bit,
we begun to wash the soil in pan,
gatherin' round it afterwards an know
in all the time that one or other Of the
teapots had an eye on us.
"Then we washed bit more earth
.gravelly, quartzy stuff it was-and
collected again; and then we grew ex-
cited, and began to dig faster, and to
wash more, and examine what we had
done each time arter pickin' over the
pan, throwin' out the rubbish; and
when this fell, yew could see few
specks O. gold dust glitterin' in the sun,
while whatw got went into a leather
bag as Tom Paggins held.
"'We marks out this here claim as
Our'n!' sez Zeph out loud; and, takin'
. shovel, he chops out bit of a rough
trench, just to show the extent we
meant to hev; and as he did so first one
oigtail and then another comes up to
watch us, and saw them look at the
jpecks O. gold in amongst the refuses
We had thrown ever the side beyond
)ur claim.
"' No goodee, washee washee, Nell
IAN mani sez one round-faced, smilin'
,usS. No golee, no goleeP
"'O, no; none at all, Mister Teapot
ez Zeph. Jest yewkeep bit further
,f, Or
"He touched his six-shooter, and the
Cinnamon scurried back a little ways,
While one of us fetched some water,
md we began to wash another shovel
ul of earth.
"'It pans out finer sez Tom Paggins
'ut loud, as we all gathered round
nee more, and the top refuse, with
pecks O. gold in, was thrown away
gain.
"We kept on at that for two hours,
nd with Zeph to manage, we washed !
ut that little lot O. gold we had bor-
owed about four times, but it was a =
.ood deal less at the last than when we
tarted, for some on it was sprinkled 9
4 each O. the holes we made, and half a l
O. dust was lyin' to waste 8
q the refuse.
can this time the Chinees were l
omin' up from their bit of camp,
bout hundred yards away. Zeph T
7as awfully jealous, an KEEP driVin'
em away-not as we were skeart of
9m for they're quiet sheepish lot, but I
D keep up the play.
"Then half on us went down below, q
nd got our tents and odds and ends, i
nd set up as if we meant to stay; h
yhile the others went on washin' and :
ickin' steadily, gettin' four Chimes to
stch water and to do few rough jobs :,
1 movin' quartz blocks outer the way.
"Somehow or other, there were a Il
,w specks O. gold under each o. those il
locks that the Chinese carried off; and D
hen that was done, Zeph gave the Q
nilin' chaps bit O. gold each, and