The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1883-09-13

g Aha!' cried Nathan, as soon as Joe
was out of hearing-'I know what s
o. clock. It's plain enough now what
he was fumblin' round the old crab
stump for. He's struck gooId, that's
1Chdt he's struck! He's a old Californy
miner, an was always reckoned a lucky
finder, I've hearn say, but not good at
keepin'. 1 wOuldn' wonder, now, eff
there was goold enough in that side-hill
to pay the national debt They do say
it's most found in jest sech or nary
lookin' spots"
Joe went straight over to Tubal Tul-
kins's, where an altogether similar dia-
lOgue was gone over-Only there Joe
said it was Nat Sinch he suspected of
being ready to snap the thing up.
In the course Of half-an-hour Joe
trudged across to TObit Cluke's cabin,
which Nathan Sinch had entered not a
minute before.
This is what I call blamed meann'
said Joe, with a whitening look at
Nathan, who had hardly finished bid
ding TObit the time of day-''it's what
| call blamed mean, so it is, sneakin' in
this way to get ahead of a neighbour
I'm a square man, lobe Cluke, " he
continued, IAN don't want to take no
advantage of nobody. VIII YOU take a
thousand dollars for that ere hillside
'crOst the gulch yOnder, Secured by
NOR gidge on the primises? Yes or
no?''
''PU give a thousan' cash down."
cried Nathan Sinch, before Tobit's as
constituent would suffer him to speak.
'I'll 90 a couple o. hundred bettern'
shouted Tubal Tulkins, bustling in out
of breath, just in time to catch Nathan
Sinch's words.
80, thunder! there's no use O. me
buckin' agin two sech bloated Diveses
as you chaps" said Joe, sitting down
despondently.
The bidding between Nathan and Tu-
bal went on briskly. Each felt that it
was a sort of pig-in-a-pOke business, but
neither could bear the thought of letting
the other bear off a prize possibly worth
millions. At last Nathan bluffed Tubal
with a bid of five thousand dollars, and
came in winner. TQbit Cluke had re-
say ''done,' when the Squire was sent
for, and the deed made, and a check
given for the money on the spot.
eve been climbin' over that bit o.
ground a good ZEAL" said Nathan
Sinch, dropping in on Joe Jawtry in a
neighborly way a couple of days after
wards.
'Ehe hillside you mean" replied
Joe, unconcernedly.
Yes; you see thought might find
somethin'."
Find somethinP-what did you ex-
pect to find?- goold, for enstance?"
Nathan admitted, sheepishly, that
such result would not have astonished
him.
The laugh that Joe gave rang I'M
pleasantly in Nathan's ears.
''Gooldr' cried Joe, between his
outlaws; ''why, eff you sarch ev'ry atom
o. that hillside with a mickeryscOpe o.
forty thousan' Horsepower you'd never
find as much gOold as ID make gnat's
earringn'
what was you loOkin' at, then, up
thar by the crab stump" gasped Ma
than, trembling and turning pale.
'I'm bit of a nat ralist, you see,"
said Joe, ''an' was watchin' a emmy
grant train o. lean-lookin' red ants cut
tin away to escape starvation.
''What did you mean, kerfummiX
YOU! by that COMPOUNDED gas bout
givin' a thousan' dollars for the drotted
placer beloved Nathan, in rage.
4 said l thought of maxim Tobit
Cluke an ofcr,' answered Joe, calmly;
I never said meant to buy, did ]?
Fact is, wanted to see somebody git
bargain, for wunst, off you or Tube
Tulkins, an l guess Old Tobe's dOno
itn'-N 7. Ledger.