Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-03-11

a done for anybody else. Hard luck
was allus at his heels. He took up more
n a dozen different claims hereahouts,
but they never amounted to nothin,
while fellers all round him were making
big money right along. Jake was q
Jonah for every poker game, and every
body allus hated to set in with him.
They lived poor enough in the little
what they'd done if it hadn't been for
Jake's wife, tearin' smart woman.
who took in washin' and did little
SEWN and mendin' for the neighbors,
while Jake was spendin' what money he
got agin the Golden Gate bar.
They had a little gal. rs pooty a lit
tie thing rs ever You see. with eyes as
blue rs {: pool on the top of the noun
tains, and hair that shone like streaks
of bri ght gold in the rock. Her name
it was Maggie, and at the time I'm
tellin' about she must bin seven
or eight years old. She was Just as
cute, and pretty and smart as they ever
make EN-, and Jake was mighty proud
of her. as well he might be- Why,
I've seen her come down to the Golden
Gate and take Jake home up the noun
tain when it was so late the stars was be-
ginnin' TO fade out o sight before the
sunrise.
Zone night lot of us was over to the
Golden Gate. l was playin' poker with
a Sacramento chap and another Teller l
didn't know, but who seemed to be
friend o his'n. The creek had riz
about three feet that day. and it
looked mighty scary for every
thing in its reach. Cy Parker. who
owned the saw-mill little above, had
been pokin' round with long pole
pretty much all day to see how high
she was, and how fast she was risin',
and he looked mighty solem. l tell
YOU. Folks Twin in the houses along
the banks had moved out, and just be-
fore dark everybody in town had been
watchn' the bridge, fearin' every in
slant to see it carried away. 1t was
still rainin', and the wind and the
waters were tryin' to see which could
made the most noise. We KEEP on a
playin', me and the Sacramento man
and the other Teller, not carin' for the
flood nor any thing else but the game.
Jake and the other boys, who had got
tired watchin', was snOoZing around
the hot stove. 'Maginc my feelin's
if you can, when / got Il hand on the
Sacramento chaps deal with four kings
in it. backed her for all had. Just rs
yoa'd done, stranger, and the Sacra-
mento chap stayed! But fill me with
buckshOt if he didn't show over me
with four pesky aces and scoop in the
pot That wound up the game for me.
l sat down in a comfortable place by the
stove with nlght-cap of my regular
gin and water. Daylight was stealth
in through the the drippin' winders. 1t
WAS still rainin' and the wind was still
howlin' just about rs it is now. All at
once | heard somebody calm. What l
had imagined before was wild. scared
voice some time was now sartin about.
| woke up the boys and we went ont to
see what was the matter. 1t was hard to
believe your eyes. The mill was gone.
the bridge was gone. Every house that
stood anywhere near the banks had been
carried away. Trees that We're high and
dry before were bcndin' their boughS be-
fore the ragin' waters, and the boilin',
tumblin fOamin creek was tearin'
along full of logs. lumber, drift-wood,
| wrecks of houses. and every thing you
could think of. But we didn't stop to
look round much. For there on the
other side O the creek down to the
waters edge was Jake'S wife. stand
in in the gray mOrnin' with
her hands at her chin. clutchin'
and old. faded shawl around her head.
and her dress soakin' wet and switchin'
in the wind. Jake, she called, in a
scared, wild voice. is Maggie over
there?' Jake Civ sudden start. turned
pale rs 4 ghost, reeled Us if stunned, and
answered back. No rs it was the hard
est word he ever spoke in all his life
III never forget. if lives to be hun
drrd, the shrek of that poor woman rs
| she fell in Il heap to the ground.
"Ye see, she'd sent Maggie down to
the Golden Gate to get Jake. fearin' he
mi CHIT fall into the run if he tried to 90
home alone while full. Every body
| thought she must a-ben on the bridge
when it went down the creek Jake
took on awful. We got up 4 party of
us and went sarchin' down both banks
for the poor little girls body. We
ul'tn ma IL LOT purity nlSn Il week.
The rain had stopped. the sun was
shinin' brighter II ever and the creek
had gone down agin to where it be-
longed. 1t allus seemed to me as if
that tree down there was ciaspn' that
poor little dead gal in its arms in a kind
o savin' like way. For. tangled in the
branches of big fallen tree about
mile down the stream, and partly Xiv
cred up with leaves we found her. 1t
was purity place. There was little
clearin near by in the shade of some
big trees that the first birds o
spring was chipperin' round in.
Below was the creek. Il
murmurn' as if sorry for what he had
done. On the other side was the noun
tains, bristlin' with pine trees that shone
in the sun as if they had been vanished.
There wasn't no graveyard here then,
and Jake. who didn t believe in churches
and regular funerals and such things.
allowed he d brry her right there in the
little clearin'. One of us went back for
Jake's wife. and to tell the folks who
b,.l,>'. h,,,l .l,.'.l l>,.,, f>,,ul Thor,