Richland beacon., 1880-02-07
RAYvIILE, LOUISIANA. SATURDAY. FEBRUARY !. $780,

~ an! seZ Zepn, tney re DOut ez
deep ez a two-cent plate. Give me the
means and I'll sell the lot and put q
GOOD pOcKetfui O. dollars or dust In
every mans pOcket-six O US"
"But what means dyer want% sez.
I "One handful O. dust sez Zeph.
And where are we to get it% sez
Tom Paggins.
"This how sez Zeph. Morrow
mOrnin' every man hyar's to 60 round
the camp and cadge. Tell the boys
we're hard up, but we got good thing
on. They'll subscribe a little all reourd.
Yew see if they don't
"Well, we'll try sez We; and we
went to sleep hungry and got up raw.
enous.
"There was nothin' for it but to 60 to
work, and of we went, gittin' back to
our tent about eleven o'clock, when five
out of the six had got little good dust.
/ was the unlucky one, bein' bad beg
gar, and had got none.
"Now, them SEE. Tom Paggins, as
soon as the dust was all put together
about big spoonful of all glitterin'
stuff; let's 60 up to the store and get a
drink"
"'That yew jes' won't sez Zeph,
GRIMM. 'I'm kinder gwine TO throw
all this here dust away-Pm gwine to
SOW it, boys, for q crop to come up
"We all grumbled, for we were
almighty hungry: but we all had q
kind of trust in Zeph, and gave way.
Lookiee hear, lads he sez, it jest
twelve o'clock now, so let's go round
and git mouthful where We can.
"Let's 60 up to Billy Bolly's store and
ask him to give us a square meal, and
stick it up sez, he'll trust u.s.
"Think he would%' sez Zeph.
Sartin,' l ssz, if you show him
that gold, and tell him there's somethin'
good on
"And so it was; Bill, ON seeing that
/ gold, and hearing as we'd had some
thing good on, gave us a right square
meal, and taste round of Bourbon,
endin' with the cheerful remark; Il
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' man ;
30 We kinder sneeked outer that store,
feelin' uncomfortable.
"'It's all right SEE Zeph, laughing.
Come on boys and get yewr tools
ave took our tools then and went of
up the gulch to where a strong party of
Chinese was at work, and they watched
us curiously as we began prOspectin'
about, washin' a bit O. dirt here and a
bit there, and always goin' of discon.
tented 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 began
to wash the soil in a pan, gatherin.
round it afterward, and knowin' all the
time that one or the other of the teapOts
had an eye on us.
"Then washed q bit more earth
gravely, quartzy stuff it was-and col
lected again, and then we grew excited
and began to dig faster, and to wash
more and to examine what we had done
each time after pickin' over the pan.
throwih' out the rubbish; and when
this fell yew could see few specks O.
gold dust in the sun, while what We got
went into leather bag what Tom Pag-
gins held.
We marks out this claim as our'np
sez Zeph out loud; and takin' shovel
he chops out a bit of rough trench, just
to show the extent We meant to hev;
and, as he did so, first one pigtail and
then another comes up to watch Us, and
l saw them to look at the specks O gold
in amons the refuses we had thrown
over the side beyond our claim.
"'No goodee, washee washee, Melican
man!' SEE one round faced smilin' cuss.
No golee, no goleep
"'Oh, no; none at all, Mr.. Teapot
sez Zeph. Just yew keep bit fertilizer
off. Or
"He touched his six-shooter, and the
Chinaman scurried back little ways,
while one of us fetched some water,
and We began to wash another shovelful
of earth.
"It pans out inep sez Tom Pag-
gins out loud, as We all gathered round
once more, and the top refuse, with
specks O. gold in, was thrown away
again.
1--WE kept on at that for two hours,
and with Zeph to manage, We washed
out that little lot O. gold We had bor-
rowed about four times; but it was .
good deal less at tho last than when We
started, for some Oh it was sprinkled in
each O. the holes We made, and half .
teaspoonful o dust was lyin to waste in
the refuse.
"All this time the Chinese were COM
in up from their bit of camp, about
hundred yards away. Zeph was awfully
jealous, an KEEP drivin' 'em away-not
as We were skeered of 'em, for they're
Q quiet, sheepish lot, but to keep up the
play.
"tThen half on us went down below
and got our tents and odds and ends,
and set 'em up as We meant to stay,
while. the others went on washin' and
pick kim steadily, getting four Chinese
70 fetch water and do a few rough jobs
in movin' quartz blocks outer the way.
:" Somehow or other there were few
specks O gold under each O. these blocks
that the Chinese carried of; and when
that was done Zeph gave the smilin'
chaps . bit O gold each, and sent one
of 'em with some dust to buy tobacco.
"It's . .workin',' sez Zeph to me.
."Think sOw I sez