The Arizona sentinel., 1886-03-27
, GAIN AND LOSS.
The, Burial Place of Jake Holt's Little Girl.

Myfrst night at Hustletown promised to be dull enough. The Metropolitan Hotel, at which am stopping, was al- together barren of metropolitan at fractions. A hard rainstorm had set in about dark, and the heavy drops clat- tered against the window panes and ran down them in shining streams. I strolled into the bar and billiard room, in which at western hotels there IS usually abundant life and animation. The only inmate was the bartender, who, seated on a low stool and leaning against the beer refrigerator, was read ing an illustrated paper. The single billiard table, covered with what looked like faded old bed quilt, wore very distressed and woe-begone look, as if at that moment it might be suffering from a nightmare consisting of all the ex- ecrable shots to which during its life time it had been made an unwilling party. Several rows of shining pool balls in the rack against the wall Wip Ked in the dim light of the dingy keyosene lamps, Eight or ten cues, stained with the grasp of many dirty palm S., stood up stiff and prim in line in ts.ne cue-rack. and.at the end of the bar stood a large boxspittoon, the fresh .sawdust in which showed the effects cJf a recent center shot.
 | shook my head at the barkeeper, who had raisedhi.S eyes inquiringly, to signi- " that l.wanted no bar-room refresh nlenfs; then glancing out the dripping wlncdow and seeing bright light across Ghe street, I turned down the brim of my slouch hat, buttoned my coat around my throat and scurried over to the little sa- loon which is, as had learned during the day, the favorite retreat of the vil- lage tipplers. Arough-looking man sat at 9, table slipping gin and water, and sipping it, too, with deliberation indi- eating either an absence of ardent thirst or desire to make the most of the drink
 ''Gineral, ,"-said to him one of the three or four ike-looking men gathered around the stove, ''this a howlin' bad night
 The 'sgineral' whether so-called in spirit of compliment for military serv- ices, perhaps duly recorded somewhere in the war annals of his country, or in the way of a facetious allusion to his marked propensity for gin and water, I shall not attempt to say-poised his spoon long enough in the air midway from his glass to his lips to reply that it
 
 wus and wus.'' And as if to corrobor- ate this unfavorable opinion of the weather, the rain beat against the door and windows with increased fury, the wind tore headlong through the street hitting the swinging signs blow that made them shriek with pain and rage, and the rising creek roared in the gu1ch below,
 That boomin' creek down there," resumed ''the gineral," after a little pause, makes me think of the terrible night when old Jake Holt's little gal was carried away in the big spring rise It was nineteen years ago the comin' spring. Yes, it started in just like this, a-rainin' and blowin' and the creek howlin' itself hoarse What an awful night it was, and what deal of bad luck and what deal O good it brought to old Jake Holt. Jake, ye see, was allus just the poorest, seediest, good-for- nothinest cuss anywhere round here. But he was rich man almost from the fust hour that big storm burst over the holler, ''Yes, sir, sure's you're born, ef it hadn't been for the drownin' of of that booty little gal down in the run there Jake might O been yet the poor, shihess coot he was them days, instead O the richest man in these parts, which he is now"
 ''Well, I don't mind tellin' ye the story, stranger, though it's an old un to folks hereabouts.
 ; 1.-The weather all that spring was just a little the wust you ever sec The snow melted and ran down the moun- tains, leavin' their brown sides bare fore. The drizzlin' rain never missed day. It rained just all the time, some times slow and sometimes harder. The sun, didn't shine, and for days and days together we didn't see a patch O blue sky. Great banks O mist went sailin' slowly along the sides of the mountains, hidin' 'em from the sight of everybody on this side the run 4 shower of rain drops fell out O the pines with every breath of the wind. Rain, rain, rain. The snow kep' meltin' and the mountains was checkered with cuts in the red clay down which streamed the rain and melted snow. Everything was damp and drizzling, everybody felt blue enough to take pizen.
 ''All this time the run had kep' creep in: up the banks From little stream that you almost could stand and Lump across in dry times, it got before long to rushin' and ragin' like the old Missouri river on a bender.
 Jake lived in little shantY half way up the bluff on t'other side O the creek. It was. a mean, tumble-down sort O place, for Jake, just as said, was no- account feller-a shiftless kind O cuss, who never had the knack O gettin' along like other folks. If he ever tried to do anything it never banned out as it would dorie for anybody else. Hard luck was allus at his heels. He took up more D dozen different claims hereabouts, but they never amounted to nothin', while felJers all round him were making