St. Landry democrat., 1884-02-09
AN UNKNOWN FRIEND.

Half-Moon was q new mining camp
in a deep canyon at the head waters of
the Gunnison. One of that adventurous
class known as s'prospectorsn had, in
the fall of 1881, wandered through that
country, following burro whieh bore
upon its back all his worldly wealth,
and had brought into winter quarters
in the valley Of the Arkansas such
promising specimens Of brittle and ruby
silver that many. seeing them, were in
duced to go in the spring to spy out
the land. And so it happened, on a
March night in 1882, that dozen
camp-fres were brightly burning, a
dozen tents were din1ly outlined in the
shadows and openings of the stunted
pines, and forty or fifty men. in groups
of from three to six. were gathered
around the fires smoking their evening
pipes and relating their experiences and
wonderful finds OF the year before.
Among fifty men brought together
from every part of the world, in wild
tent at least, of selfshness and greed,
some are likely to be found in whom
brutishness predominates. There were
several such in the camp at Half-Moon.
The poets say that communion with
nature refines and elevates the soul, and
leads men onward and upward toward
natures God. The poets are somewhat
wrong. The kindly spirit born and
reared amid the best influences of a
city home, where all the surroundings
are of a refining character, will become
kindlier and better as the years 90 on;
while the dull man will become duller,
and the mean man meaner, in the very
presence and hush Of nature. At least
it is sometimes SO; and it was 80 with
Bill Lewis.
He had seen nature in all her majesty,
moods and aspects for more than thirty
years; had trayersed the country from
the Missouri to the Pacific shore.
lunched on the highest SUBMITS and
.camped in the deepest gorges. And
yet his depravity was immense! He
had been convicted Of a dozen crimes,
and committed an hundred others with
out conviction. Each succeeding fall
had found him worse in every way than
the preceding spring, and those who
knew him best frequently remarked upon
the new and ever-increasing capabilities
for sin which he was constantly unfold
ing.
But he was not wholly bad. Perhaps
no man ever was. There was q rumor
among the miners. credited by a few,
that once or twice during his career his
rough voice had become gentler, and
the light in his fierce eye softer, when
he had been surprised into speaking of
his mother. Where he had come from,
'.what made him leave, where his moth
,er lived, Or whether she lived at all, no
one knew or had the hardihood to ask.
There was another manor rather
boy-in that camp; but he could not be
seen that evening around any of the
fires. He had come into the gulch in a
crowd of seven who had been on the
trail some twenty days together, and
Bill Lewis was another of the seven.
His name was Zeno Brown. His COM
rades had failed to catch or eompre
head his first name, and he had come to
be called Little john
He would have been remarked any
where in a mining region as one wholly |
out of place. He was light, delicate |
and fragile-though seemingly in good /
health before coming to the gulch and /
was lily fitted to meet the Yicissitudes
of mountain life. He might have /
been born Tor an artist or poet, or both; /
he certainly was never intended for d |
miner Everybody except Bill Lewis
liked and pit!ed him. Bill apparently |
did not hate him; but he despised him
for his soft. tender nature; was in the
habit Of calling him susie and Mel
lie, and other feminine diminutives,
and never let pass an opportunity to hui
initiate and wound him
IN coming into the gulch the party
had an unusually serious trip. The I
trail was lily defined; the snow was