Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-09-01

me seemed 10 excite MS Draln 10 actlOu, duu
set in motion the thoughts, scenes and emo
tions common to the occurrence at the claim
They ran dangerously near, but did not 40
tually reveal me as participator.
''No tools! no notices." he cried "Pretty
way to hold claim"
"What claim, Pratt?" said Setter.
The sick mans eye fell on Setter with
eleam of cunning. "No claim" he said.
"Were after rattlesnake OIL Hunting snakes
in the chapparal. There's one now-on the
lead If yer not off while I count ten, Ill
put ball through ye. One-two-three--
OH" and he shrieked as if with pain.
Hillyear spoke:
He-must-be kept-quiet. Its the-doc-
ter's-orders. The-doctor-says-his-sary
-brullum-is-somet neutrality-suspicious.
Queer business queer business" was Sef-,
ter's remark, as we left the house together.
II think he's had shootin' scrape with come
body"
BToener returned. I felt that could now
shift part Of the business to other shoul-
ders.
He heard my story. At its conclusion
he settled back and laughed.
Regular dime novel, isn't it!" said ne.
''Write it, print it, sell it. Well, young man,
you're improving rapidly. congratulate
YOU couldn't have wished you anything
better than the experience you've gone
through You needed it. You're the kind
that must be put in very hot water to draw
anything out of YOU"
"But won't this put all Bull Bar on tho
scent Of the 'Bank'F' asked.
''First, let's compound some whisky with
sugar, lemons and nutmeg. Before we talk
business let's fix things so as to make busl-
ness pleasure, not by pouring the stuff
down raw as the fools do at the store yonder,
but dress up the fluid decently and taste
fully before we put it down. There would
be far less drunkards if every man was conf
PEELED by law to dress up and trim up his
drinks in this way before he swallowed
them" He continued as he slipped his punch:
make yourself easy, Holder, about the
claim You have fixed that all right, or the
Fates have for you. Pratt won't 60 up
there for a while, now that his wits are
knocked out of his head, which for our pur-
pose is better far than knocking them out OF
his body. Because I'm fool enough to be-
lieve that if his wits were out of his body
they'd be in much better shape to
come back and reveal our secret
than as they now are chained to
cracked skull, and therefore in bad work
ing order Hillyear, from what you say, IS.
judge, only an appendage of Pratts, and
not able to do anything without him. At all
events, I'll ipd out soon. AS for the Bank
think I've got the cream out of it already.
It's only feeder to some bigger vein in the
mountain. That can lay for awhile. I've
got four or five caches Of quartz up there
that I haven't shown you Wen get it all
down this week and hush up things for the
present. There's, think, your fair share Of
divvy, so far as we've gone" and he put in
my hands a mint certificate of deposit for
$4,000 "If the rock that's mined out gives
down as I think it will, you'll have as much
more coming to you. Are you satisfied"
Satisfied! Less than a year from home and
the posscssor of what in Eastport was deemed
"small fortune" In the well-worn phrase,
wanted to "pour forth my thanks"
l said: II wish I could fltly express my
feeling and gratitude to you"
rupting me. ''It's a good thing for you
that you can't. hate effusiveness You
may in part thank your reticence and un-
demonstrativeness for what you call your
luck I don't want any gushers about me.
Besides, you've earned what you got-every
cent of it. Fate put you and ME together,
and with that put it in your way. There's
no thanks nor gratitude in the matter. I
hate people always overwhelmed with graft
tude. They're the sort who, if ever they
do you what's called favor, never forget it,
and, in effect, want to be paid for it forever
afterward Let's change the subject There's
a travelling theatre company at Chinese
Camp tonight. Let's 60 and see the show.
You need change from the CHASTITY buz-
zard spying and body hunting business. Get
Rankin's horse, I'll take mine, and we'll
gallop over there"
On applying, Mr.. Rankin said he would
gladly hire me his horse. The ANIMAL he
added, was vicious, SHE'D at his own shadow,
''bucked' frequently and had been the death
Of two men. As we were leaving he called
out to Broener: "The coroner lives at one
end of the camp and is lightenin' on an in
quest when sober. The undertaken lives at
the other You'd better take the cloth for
the young mans shroud along with you.
They know that horse up there and always
put an extra ten cents yard on white linen
when they see him comin'."
1t seemed another world in that land when
riding by night. The suns hot glare was
gone The air after nightfall was always
cool and refreshing, for it came off the snow
banks on the Sierra SUBMITS. Our horses
were full of life and apparently as glad to
make the trip as ourselves. The life of the
horse seems to add life to the rider, provid-
ing he is "horseman." Distance at night
seems unnoticed. 1t is more like dream
One travels forward without so much Of that
mental straining to reach one point after
another as do so often our unhappily consti-
tuted hurrying minds in the day time.
So galloped Broener and I, regarding those
myriad shining wonders of all ages-the
stars.
"Lot's of 'enl, aren't therep said he
"The stars! Yes"
Smaller than ants in comparison, and moving
about on this planet for these shining atoms
we call gold. I wonder, now, of what i'm.
portance poor Pratt, if he had his senses,
would consider that biggest star alongside Of
O pan full of dust. Pratt would trade Venus
for quartz claim"
''Stars, speculation, immortality, etc., said
Broener, as we rode on. 'The three seem to
20 together; or, at all events, stars always
start one on those topics wonder what we
are, anyway-who we are, where we came
from, and all the rest. I am certain amount
of life and intelligence in a body. Body's
only a garment, wrap, machine. Hit a
a part of the body hard enough, just one
blow, and in one second lfes all gone, and
with it the 'gumption' I've been storing up
for years Hit it not quite as hard, like the
crack poor Pratt gave himself, and the intel.
igence stays but goes to flinders-all hurly.
burly Problem: when you bore hole with
a bullet through mans head, does all his
intellect 60 out through that hole, and, if so,
where does it 60 tos and might there not be
some way of putting bucket or basin under
such a mans head when he's dying, and
collecting his intelligence, his quien sabe
for ones own use, just as they tap
trees for maple sugar! Well, one things
certain; we're here, anyway, and l put
it up that the best plan is to get all the
fun we can out of it-body, soul, mind, spirit,
and any other little addition the theologians,
philosophers and metaphysicians can tack on
u.s.
We rode into the Scamp" In the language
of the time, it was 'bilin'." The theatre
company had brought in miners from far and
near. 1t was single straight street. From
every door and window on either side poured
flood of light, for every house Oh the street,
of wood or cloth, was either store, sa-
loon, gambling tent or some place of public
resort. Sidewalk, street and houses were
alike full Of men. The 'fandango" was
,1..,.l,, - f,,n b1ocf Hara alone were