The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1880-02-12

there, over the various trails, a blue
shirted miner, with pick and drill
across his shoulder, came stridins
home. The sun sinking behind the
Wasatch Mountains, one hundred and
sixty-five miles distant, cast great lons
shadows across the surrounding peaks
and veiled the ravines and gulches in
deepening darkness.
Nellie sat on the groupings of weir
of quartz and lay stretched out at hel
feet, watching her pretty, tender eye:
rs they wandered about the horizon
drinking in the beauty and grandeur o.
the scene. She had some light, heecy
arrangement "a nubia, believe it l.
called-wrapped loosely about her heaG
and shoulders, and her hair, in whose
meshes the sunbeams seemed to have
caught, peeped from beneath, helping
to frame face stamped with innocence
and purity. Young people always gel
sentimental in the evening, when sur
rounded by quiet, and was no excep.
tion to the rule, and almost before
knew it / was toying with the little
hand, so white and soft, lying carelessly
on the flinty quartz.
Nellie" , said, after a few mo-
ments, "don't you ever long to leave
this rough place and go back to the
Eastp" ~ = -E,z
"Not now" she said, slowly,
"though might under some circum.
stances" --- s.,'A .rts.e.f
"Why not nowp'
90, because-because- don't want
to leave papa" VA f. s." '
"Is that the real reasonP" asked,
her shyness and evident avoidance OF
my eyes giving me hopes that set my
heart beating with quicker pulsations.
"Let US 60 down." she said, quickly,
as she arose.
"No, not until you answer me-" and
/ caught again the little hand.
She drew it from my grasp, and, with
q saucy Come" started down the
trail, and fastened to follow. Imade
several attempts to renew the CONVEX
sation on the way, but Nellie always
turned it of from the subject nearest
m J heart; and yet when left her at
her fathers door she shyly extended
her hand, and thought l detected a
soft pressure as l took it in mine. A
moment, and she had vanished, and
noticed a rosy flush on her pretty
cheeks and an unusual light in the ten
oCA Cy Go. WChs 01Sh " NY AlttlC
cabin with q strange admixture of GER
tainty and doubt in my feelings, and a
quickening of my pulses that made me
oblivious to my rough surroundings.
After supper lit my pipe and sat
upon my roughly-hewn door step. The
sun had gone down, but yet there was
light enough for me to see her cabin
and notice her father standing in the
doorway chatting with Mineral Bob,
the best prospector in camp and the
third owner with Stacy and myself in
the Ajax. turned my head and
saw. the lights in the shafthouse of the
Big Giant mine on Red Mountain gleam-
ing away in the distance; l heard the
blows of the blacksmith at his
forge, as he sharpened the tools for the
work, and the deep boom of
the blast in the Little Emily mine came
floating through the still night air.
Then my eyes wandered back to the
cabin which held Nellie. Bob was still
there, his tall figure and broad shoul-
ders contrasting greatly with the little
old man in the doorway. What was he
doing there so long thought, and 1
puffed my pipe viciously as 1 saw Nell
lie a moment later join the two. The
night settled down, and the cabins
faded from view, their presence only
revealed by the lights shining through
the little square windows, or the sparks
out of the stone and mud
1t was getting cool, too,.
and knocked the ashes out of my pipe
and re-entered my little home and
stirred up the smouldering embers on
the hearth. An hour went by and the
moon sent its beams across my little
table, with its tin plates and cups;
across my earthen and rocky floor,
lightly my books on shelf al
the head of my bed and resting softly
on the rolled-up coat that served me
for pillow. turned on my stool and
glanced out of the window. The tops
of the surrounding timber were silvered
by the moonlight, and the cabins stood
out against the dark background of the
tall spruces. The sound of singing
came up from the saloon and the wind
sighed fitfully now and then. And so
/ fell into a-som Sre reverie, and Nellie
was the center about which all my
thoughts revolved. Presently there was
a knocking at my door, and at my in
Mineral Bob entered.
Hello! Philadelphia" he said, az
kinder thought you wasn't in"
WhyP" I asked, rather sorry of the
though Bob was good COM
pany, and no one could look into his
merry blue eyes and pleasant face, COW
cred all over with luxuriant, rich
brown beard, without feeling better and
less out of spirits. ~
80, sort of calculated you'd be
around the girl. How's
your chances, partnerp- Good, ehp'
"Come, come, Bob, and stop your
nonsense. Here, fill your pipe and sit
down." - '"t-5- "AN ~.
Bob laughed good-humoredly, and,
pulling up stool, sat down near the
fire. and, as he filled his pipe, said:
"rve dropped in on little business
about the Sunshine, you know" al
luding to mine Of his and one. Of the
best in the camp. s.You know, rm
obliged to sink-ain't got no chance to
tunneI and the SURFACE water is getting
the best of me. Must have q pump If I
want,to do enything-this bailing water
out by the bucketful when she's coming
in nearly as fast is of no account. You
know that?" a.
InOdded assent. 81
swell, then, Philadelphia" as he
lighted his pipe and gave two or three
vigorous puts, al want to see what
kind of dicker can make with you
about running the mine. I amt got
the money to get an engine and pump,
though l guess I could borrow it, and
besides I've got to go East on business
inside of . week, and l don't want to
leave the Sunshine idle-I can't afford
it, "-
Stacy" said. "He's got some ready
cash."
"But he's going out shortly and
wants to sell his own mines"
"Going out-StacyP" 1 demanded,
wondering why Nellie had never al
luded to it. = ar...-.ae"
.Yes, going to take that gal of his
back to the States. This amt no fit
place for pretty little thing like she