The Labor enquirer., 1883-01-13


series of ineoherent oaths, which are
'tenderly interrupted by the boy:
Let me wash 'em for you, please
tYou?" said Nut Crackers, savagely,
/ IN an effort to vent some of his irritation
/ on the new conner.
Y es, as soon as wash my hands.
81 You'd better drink your coffee and
get some colorFin your face first"
Il will. But, sir, want to wash the
dishes for you. know how. always
washed the dishes for mother at home,
when she was sick" .....-., II r. =
Nut Crackers stopped swearing.
Pretty soon became up to the boy, who
was washing his hands and face in the
little stream that slid through the camp,
and Swapping his fingers, that were as
red as boiled crawish,. said: -
kid, have you got mother, and do
/ you? Bah, bah, you wash 'em. It's
not mans place to wash dishes. Wash
'em and clean up about camp. Got no
money to pay you we're all on the
=. verge. But you clean up around. here,
and stay round for grub; time enough to
go down to the Flat and get beans.'
Z And with this he unrolled his sleeves
and hobbled off down to the mine,
leaving the boy in charge of the few
blankets, brush-beds, camp kettles, pans
and old boots which made up the tan
gible fortune Of the Sacramento Wing
dam company"
When the ten tired men came up to
dinner that day they found such
change for the better that they persuad
ed the boy to stay. True, they had no
money for themselves, but when they
had struck it-and strike it they must
tbe very next week-he should be paid,
and paid we'll And with this under
standing they went back to their work
that afternoon, leaving behind them a
boy with lighter heart than he had
borne for half year.
The men worked like beavers now.
The summer had slipped away and win
ter had taken possession of the SUBMITS
of the mountains and set them with
snowy castles. The river was rising
every day inch by inch. They must cut
quite across the river bed and strike the
vein before the river broke over the
wing dam, or all their labor would be
lost. They had already, even in the
midsumm4 4pierced the center of the
river bed, and thrown the stormy stream
behind them. They were now on the
farther side and were cutting straight
for the bed rock bank that cropped out
not twenty feet away. They had begun
with the bed rock bank on the other
side. and had followed the bed rock
across the entire bed of the river. The
gold must be somewhere ahead of them
somewhere within the next twenty
feet. It was now only question Of days,
of hours This, be it remembered, was
in the early days, when all men obstin-
ately believed that gold must lie in veins
and stratas.
How full of hope, of heart were these
men, who had been shut up there in a
gaping crevice Of earth all summer. Not
one doubted they would strike it-a
little yellow vein deep in the bed of this
stormy river, where the finger Of God
had placed it in the dawn Of creation.
Banks might fail, ships founder at sea-
but this gold, it was there. 1t had to be
there. \ little yellow river of virgin
gold.
These ten men did the work of forty.
They could hardly wait for dawn, and
they worked at night, while the stars
stood sentinel at the castles of snow
above them. They scarcely ate their
food. theywere so eager. However, there
was but little to eat. They did not wear
much clothing, although the winter was
in the air. One man had not even the
fragments of sleeves to his only remain
ing shirt. This was the man called Samp-
son. He had arms like a giant, and
would show the knots of muscles on
them by the freight and boast Of his
strength by the hour He had a theory
that the. arms should always be entirely
naked. j He said he had torn off and
thrown away his spendid sleeves IN or
der to give the muscles of his arms full
play, and he advised all the boys to do
the same. But it so happened that one