The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1886-05-08
CHAPTER VIII.

tbMIAiI.
"But why" | asked, "do you trust me,
almost n stranger to You, with your secret
For this reason, replied Broencr First,
because | believe can trust you; secondly |
have long wanted companion and assistant
in one and the same person. The honest ones
among the Bull Bar crowd will get drunk,
and whisky reveals more secrets than women
though, for that matter, | think quite as
many goSsips are running around in pnnta-
looms as in petticoats. need You TO keep up
show of work on my bogus claim while
am in San Francisco There | must go from
time 10 time TO get my quartz gold sInelted
and assayed. Miners law requires one days
work in thirty on every claim in order TO
keep possession of it. ! want you 10 potter
around and keep up show OF work on
the bank in front of the cabin In the
miners estimation hereabouts you are
10 be my partner in that claim !
don't want to seem mysterious, and II
don't keep up a chatter Of work about here
! shall be, through leaving so often and
letting the bank stand idle Then | want
You to slide up from time to time to our
real claim on the mountain and see that
its all right. And while ! think, of it mind
YOU break no regular path going up and
down It's very natural for men pros
pecting about in strange places ON finding
any sort of trail 10 follow it, ] think
It's the cattle instinct i'll man-the same
that makes sheep and COWS follow each
other. Men who succeed notice gen
orally go out of beaten paths. So mind in
your travclings up and down from the
Bank TO keep your footsteps us much as
YOU can out of the same tracks. We must
keep shady and lie low It's not so much
the fellows about here now that | fear
But new men are arriving all the time
restless, pryins, searching know
inc and reasoning as ! have doue on this
matter and if their eyes fall on hit Of
that white rock on the mountain side or at
It's bottom they'll be clambering up hunting
for il. Should they do so in my absence and
find no one in POSSESSION il would he all NJ
with me, for there's no law now TO regulate
that description Of claims-eXCcpt the law o'
mi,ht. Now do YOU SEQ how much | need
Won: You're quiet, shy and not laxative.
Those qualities are all helps to me talk.
atiye man. with this secret inside of bim,
,5uIdnt help in some way letting it ont He'd
kin himself at last with hints and knowing
crimapes The best way TO keep a secret is
10 forget it yourscl-tiIl it's wanted Whats
always on the mind is very apt to write itself
ON the face Make people suspect you know
something they don't and you start em ON
the hunt to ind it ont. But what in thunder
am doing. Preaching and philosophlainS.
Let's 60 home and start IA new brood OF flap.
iuyks Tor supper
Hrorner filed sack with M much Of the
quartz rs he could conveniently carry, and
We took our way homcward. Ascending far
cat of sight aud sound of the busy crowd, be.
low the eye fell on peak after peak, far and
rcar. their sides covered with the dari, green
carpet Of chnppaln which ia places a,
thrown in shadows was almost black Tiers
,,.aUo sight nor sound of living thing. \
shadow hoatcd along on the red earth
inokra up. II wa, huge turkey hullaId
wheeling through the air Us uoisclcss a. tn,
shadows he cast.
There was something weird and gloomy in
n all The land did not seem made for hu
u.u hahitation. 1t seemed new, unfinished
~. of recent date from some tremendous vol
cauic upheayal
This impression quickly vanished on reach
inc, Brorners cabin, now cast into grateful
and cooling shade by the afternoon sun. tn,
T.np shadows of the hills on our bank of the
-..am were rapidly stealing NJ the sides o
those ON the other The direct and oppressive
agrpaur of noon heat was over, and now, pas
Ill. middle of the afternoon there seemed {,
COME 10 men, animals aud vegetation new
food of vitality.
Eroeuer had allowed the man2anita bush
50, durl, mahogany stem contrasting so strong
rs with it's dark green leaves, torcmain mcu
all about his cabin
1t screens me from observation said he
"aud find it advantageous not 70 be seer
in all my coming- and goings
After supper lac proposed trip 10 the Bul
Bar store COR trading post as many ralle,
H.. about two mile. down, the river Thithe
we went.
To go to the store after supper is tn,
regulation with five-siXths Of the Bull Bar
itas.n ,aid Broener They would conside
their day incomplete without such visit
IL was store, boarding house, bar, post an,
express Office cOmbined-full of miners il
their working clothes Every barrel hea,
was used as seat; 50 were boxes, tables an,
the doorsill As we entered, the proprietor
a small energetic, bustling man, was scold
ing IA giant in comparison with himself
s'Big Dick"--for sitting on the counter.
Il want you 10 know said he, that thi
counter is 10 sell goods on and not to sit on
II YOU want to retail yourself, get n counte
Of your own. You come up here every nigh
and plank yourself on my counter as If ha
tujlf it for an arm chair II you want TO b
sold III lay you on the shelf with the oths