Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1882-05-10
Bob Dayton's Mine,


The familiar sight Of two young asses
or Jacks, as the miners call them,
loaded with mining tools and provi'-
ions, and driven along by two miners
who walked behind them, would have
attracted but little attention ancug the
loungers in front of the Grand Hotel at
Cedar Gulch, had it not been for two or
three peculiar circumstances which
Col Brown proceeded to narrate to
tho hystanders.
Since coming to Colorado three years
before, the colonel had succeeded, with
out any visible means Of support, in
maintaining an existence as free from
toll as that of the lilies. and by bis
abundant leisure, his skillful disposal
of tobacco juice and lis success at the
faro liable had fairly won bis title. The
talker and his audience leaned against
the rough logs of the onc-storied Gran d
Hotel. Aiming a brownish flood at a
dusty stone some feet away, the colonel
began:
Queer pards, those. There's Bob
Bayton-he amt much more than a
tenderfoot, but he's q white man right
through. But as for Sandy Joe, ]
wouldn't trust him as far as | could
see.. If be didn't jump that claim OF
Cap. Perly's last winter, Pm Coyote.
How Dayton ever happened to strike
in with Joe, can't see, except that
Bob's rather fresh in the country. You
ought to have heard him last night
tell me in confidence all bout his girl
out in Ohio, Lizzie, think, be called
her. He wac poor, and she was poor;
and he didn't see much hope of getting
married unless they wanted to live on
little less than nothing. So he came
out here 10 find his fortune. Hope
! he'll get it. He deserves to, anyway
going out prospecting on the mountains
in Colorado in October. Like as no
tbers may be three feet of snow on
The mountains tomorrow. Joe ought t(
know better, at any rate; but he's reck
less enough 10 do anything. BY th'
way, Bill, what about that roam hors'
that Powers lost upon Mount Shavano:
Hasn't found 1t yet, eh2 He better be
looking around lively, il be expects to
get it down before the snow comes"
And then the conversation OF the
group in front Of the hotel at Cedar
Gulch drlfted off on to other topics
lille the two men of whom the colone
had spoken proceeded on up the gulch
and turning to the right struck tie tral
leading up the sides OF Mount Shavano
A great contrast was apparent in the
looks and manners of the two met
working together in the close compan
ionsbjp which is implied in minns
: regions by the term partners
Robert Day ton was tall, fair haire'
Young man with frank, open counte
nance that made him friends eve
3 among the rough class Of men anon
whom his lot was cast in a Colorad
miping camp. He had been we'll edu
Gated by father who had left him onl
his education as an inheritance. II
ihad become engaged to apretty an
rich girl, but her father lost in graf
speculation most of the wealth that h
had acquired, and Robert was unwillln
to urge her 10 a speedy marriage ur
It less he could provide fer her a HON
with at least some Of the comforts t
which she had been accustomed. AZ
cordlngly he had sought the silver Ian
of the West, in the hope Of there oh
laining more speedily sufficient mean
to justify him in making her whom h
lloyed his own. But his sanguine e1
nectations had been disappointed, an
for severol months he had wandere'
lfrom one mining camp to another, til
at last he arryed at Cedar Gulch, wear
and disheartcned. He was just in th
mood 10 listen to reckless proros'
which he heard made in the hotel on
> day by Sandy Joe, to go on prospect
ing tour 10 spite OF the Gear approach Q
snow. Robert did not know, and d
not care much, who his partner was
he could have another chance to lab
for the treasure which he was seeking
No one knew the real name OF Sane
Joe. az he was called, with the freaue'
iuappropriateness of Western nic'
names. He was short, dark'con
plexioned, and dark-haired, man, VII
at an uuenyiable notoriety for quarre
someness. This i'll assorted coup
proceeded on their expedition witho'
7 much iucident the first day, drivir
their Jacks up the stony tsail towa
Or the summit Of Mount Shavano, tn
towers high above the surroundiI
- mountains.
.. On the second day Of their iourne
- 49, had MT vet reached q