The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1879-11-27

again. -..-.
! 10, yes; we know all 'beout that!
sez Zeph. Now, what is itp' 81
Melican man sellee claim two hun
der dollars? sec the fat-headed chop
and all the others nodded their heads
! "Win we sell you this claim TO
S2O0P" seq Zeph.
"They all nodded till you'd ha
thought their heads ID come off.
"'Cutr sez Zeph, catching hold o
the fat 'un by his tail and kickin' him
"Yew mayn't believe, gents, bu
them same chaps came back twice be
fore it was dark, and made fresh offers
advancin' hundred dollars each time
and we swore at 'em, and said W.
wouldn't sell, and if they warn't up tc
time in the mornin' to see about the
water, they shouldn't be allowed tc
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 I 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 900.
". Take it, we said, as they came
this last time. r.-s =-r--e
"'They'n give $4,000, tell you.
I'm sure they will,' sez Zeph.
".But 81, 900 is enough to chisel the
beggars out Of sez I. - ,y
=" Yes,' seq Tom Paggins; and it'll
take till this time tomorrow sure to
get up to the two thousand
"Ef warn't so 'tarnal hungry, I'd
hold out sez Zeph, hesitatin'; and
then, turnin' to the six Chinese as was
wairin' fur our answer: Look hyar,
you cheatin' cusses,' he sez, takin' up
a shovelful of earth, in which the dust
were a-sparklin' in the sun, this
claims worth $2O,OOOr
".No; only worth thousand dollar
said fatty, shakin' his head,
"Shall we let 'em have it, boys?'
sez Zeph, turnin' to us.
eyes, let 'em have it, 1 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 a thousand dollars worth o. dust
and nuggets was weighed out into a
bag; Zeph put his mark to kind o.
dockyment in Chinee; and half an hour
after, we went back to camp, leavin'
the smilin' Cinnamon to their purchase.
".Its darned shame to chea. the
poor innercent boobies like that / sez.
'"Not itr sez Zeph. Its only like
playin' poker with 'em, and winuin'.
Let's go and liquor
1--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 go
to some other gulch.
"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 workin'
away like a swarm o. bees.
"That night as we were sittin' smok-
in at Bill's store, some chaps strolls in,
and one of 'em says, in bit of a tenn
per: -t
"'Call this here free countryP
g. Yes, stranger, 1 dew,' sez Zeph,
rattling some nuggets in his pockets;
who sez it ain't?'
"'l do seq the newcomer. "Here
are we, workin' like slaves for a few
dollars worth o. dust, aud pack O.
heather cusses comes and settles down,
anu &TaDS HI ID6 DeSG on 1GI
"'Dew theyP' sez Zeph, winkin' at
US.
"Yes,' he sez, 'they dew. There's
that pack O. Chinese moved up higher
in the gulch, and they've hit on big
pocket. They got two-pound nugget
out on it this very afternoon
"Whatr roared Zeph, with his eyes
starin' out of his head like lobster's.
9" A two-pound nugget and the stuff's
panning out awful. l say it's a shame
and Government ought to stop it
"'Soldr groaned Zeph.
"Next day it was the talk o. the
place. The Chimes were panning out
claim and drivin' the heathens away,
but the party of order was too strong
and they know'd if the rowdies was al
lowed to get the upper hand here they'd
be just as likely to seize anybody else's
with the heather and try to buy the
claim.
"They were 200 strong up there; and
when we went up to see the place
which we did in q kind o. desperate
feelin'-the fat chap smiled and clspped
his hands and gave Zeph little round
nugget as big as pea.
A meetin' was held and we con-
cluded to make company an buy back
the claim. Twenty thousand was the
most as was to be offered.
"Twenty thousand dollarsr groaned
Zeph. %, boys, what fools we was!
But did want to hold out fur 2,OOOr'
It's no use to growl,' sez Tom.
How much ha' we got now?'
7
". Wal, then,' sez Tom, lets 60 in
for shares as far as our money goes
1.-The money was nearly all SUBJ
scribed; but we got on for $500. and
could ha' sold our shares the next hour
for 81, 900.
-" Next mornin' the party settled to
do the business went up to the Chinees'
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.
"This made the gulch worse than
ever, and shares changed hands at q
fine rate, men sellin' theirs and then
gittin' SO excited that they bought back
again. "
g. shall never forgive myself, boys
sez Zeph the next mornin', as we sat
over some fried bacon and biscuit; Il
away a fortuner
Halo! What's the row?' sez l,
jumpin' up.
"There was suthin' afioat outside,
for there was heap of excitement, but
no one kinder seemed to know what it
was.
"Arter a while we got to know that
there wasn't single Chinee left in the
gulch; they'd gone off, no one knew
where. in the night.
They're darned artful,' sez Zeph;
and he was right, for we soon knowed
just what had happened. ----
1--WE six had cheated the Chimes re-
tail; they'd cheated us by wholesale,
for there wasn't, and never had been q
grain o. GOLD in that claim that wasn't