The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1880-08-06
ALBANY. OREGON
l have need to take any

| i
the office. and have told you all know.
1 Now I'm going ont to fire the old loads
ont of my pistol and get it ready for the
| road;
.'Wait a mnment.' said Norman, 9tmy
! own pistol needs blowing out and reload
ing, and he passed into fhe bed-ronm !:
| then, quickly returning. he and the clerk
| walked a few steps mp the canon beyond
! the houses. chalked white target-mark
upon cliff of rocks, and prepared to fire
at it.
go ahead - said the Clerk
ssAfter vou,' said Norman.
While the clerk was firing, there came
/ Blethers and two of the men on their way
| up to the mine and as pistol practice, at
the animate or inanimate target. is an in
teresting theme in the mountains, they
! psuSetl to see the shooting
| Ine clerk was rot bad shot. as shooters
| com aonly go. When he haI enptit+,l his
revolver. and all had examined his hits, he
rechalked the target and said:
Now. MIR. Mlydole.''
Norman took his position with his piS-
tol in his ho-pocilet He stood there tor Il
| momen: then, drawing and commencing
to fire in the same Instant he flatteneGi
rapidly. one after the other. the six balls
against The clillked rock. and left the Lead
Ell imprint of all of them inside of "A space
| which could be could be covered by a sill
yer dollar.
! and the clerk turned away toward tie of
! flee willie Blethers and the men with him
/ proceeded mp the canon.
That young feller is shooter for base, -
! said the taller of the workmen, aiming his
remark at Blethers.
''Umph - grunfed Blethers, ''shootin'
gallery frills. Nothin' in it -
AYE :" said the other man, with a
broad, English accent. Its no his Sh,otin'
as | wonders at-nohtut t woiy ee pulls
| r'piStol fro his britchis be'ind. It's wot
yoe Americans calls t. draw be'nt il -
Yes" answered the taller workman.
| IF he can draw and shoot that way when
he means business. he's got the drop a
big majority OF all the shooters ever saw. -
.'Ho :" said Bletlers. the three trudg-
| in the road- Fancy practice Nothin'
III il Nothin' in it - But his compan-
ions, though they dropped the subject did
not show by their looks thlt they agreed
with him, as they passed out OF sight
around Il bend i'll the canon road.
That was a good job" said the clerk
! to Norman, as they TWO. on their return
| from the target. entered. the office.
'.Te-," responded Norman. lit is al
ways best to keep Il pistol fresh and clean. -
Il don't mean the cleaning of the pistols
Il mean your shooting"
! 'Oh. | am an oil hand At tlront prac-
tire, said Norman in his easy, quiet way.
II should say you were but that is not
the point I'm driving at -
lis itnot !? Then do not catch your
neauuL.''
/ My meaning is,'' said the clerk. with a
/ or titled sparkle in his eyes. That Old
! bully Bicthers cot bug i'll his wool lie
! claims TO he a fighting chief. and thinks
/ he eau draw quicker and shoot deader than
/ any nan in the mountains but You We
/ laid him over, and he won't forget it.
J ''Well, yes If pistol is a good one.
! IN good order. and we'll loaded. in a close
| fight most any kind ot shooting will do
! 1t is the nerve and draw which VIM
''All right You keep your eye on
! BIetierS because that lite shootfnp will
be all over this camp hefOr: morning, and
! Blethers won't ike that bit. Those two
men who were with him don't like him
lie don: like them. But they are A MOL
miners and handy anyhow or anywhere.
! III a mine or about it, No mine can get
| along without such men. They are never
drunk, never off, and they don't talk out
| Siie. I know them. They understand
things. They will soon understand sou.
if I'm not mistaken, and it won't do you
any harm to let them know you are OH the
| square with them.
IF they can NOT find that out by my
general cordnct, do not see how else I
! shond get them to knew it,.
| That's all right. I'm not asking you
to blow your own horn. but just to give
| the boys point now and then. People
two"
''What do you call these men ?''
The tall ones an Amrrican-IriSh-A AM
ericau-Cmrley Fitzgibbon !; went into
tie war ut seventeen years old. in the first
call for three months men, and never
left the service day until he was honor
ably discharged after the fall of Richmond.
The OF her is 'CusSin' Jack. a west country
EngliShmarI-gnid miner from Georgia
who fought under the stars and bars all
over the South. They live together. sleep
together, work together-sort of social
"Why is the Briton called 'Cussiu'
jack lie so p"nftne 20
No o. said the clerk. laughing s.tliat
is miners humor. He never was known
to Use profanity. He is a sort of Cornish
! Puritan preacher. if you know what that
| is. Originally he was Cousin Jack. but
the miners have twisted it To suit them
selves. On The hooks he is John Cadwa:. ~
During the time of these conversations
and of may others which took place in
the office between the same part;es-dav
and night the mighty measured tread of
the Ore-stamps in the mill adjacent kept
| up its roar, making the atoms of gravel
creep and nestle among the larger stones
| which lay about the staring white board
on-end buitling i'll which the office was
| To stranger s ear this ceaseless rhythmic
roar in the otherwise silent land becomes at
|
harmony then a painful. laundering dis
cord ; still later a bearable monotony !;
and. finally. the agreeable puISating music
of prosperity. So agreeable does this
music become that its cessation is an
alarm and when it dies out altogether,
and the long rows of great iron stamps are
| ''hung up'' to rust between the massive
posts which hold them. five in place
| from post to post. the camp takes up
its line of maref: in a ''go-as-y on -pIease''
stampede to richer realms aud then a
silence falls into the canon more dreary
ami oppressive than that which existed
before man disturbed the ..ancient, solitary
region of the SPECIFICS spirit of the
desert. There is no picture more sugoes-
tive OF desolation, more full of enforced
silence. than rnsting. idle quartzmili
among the steri; hills of the silver land.
The battle field where daring Industry has
been f',rcea by the shadowy. gliding giant
OF want 10 lay down his arms and march
empty-banded away, is a sad appeal to
the truly artistic-more pathetic than ta If
the battle-grountls of contendiug empires.
But as long as the roar of the stamps re-
verherates along the rock-wailetl canon the
reader need not apprehend any increase of