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

not bookish or book laxative; alive to the
past, but as much If not more fully so to the
present, and especially keen in seeing and
more in making others see the points" in the
varied array of human nature on Bull bar,
1t Is true much of his conversation was in
terlarded with the slang and common phrase
ology OF the day
| II like" he said "the luxury at times OF
talking en- deshabille. It's hard work TO feel
obliged continually to express oneself in a
dinner dress Of nouns, verbs and propositions
previously arranged for you by some old
pedant. Why couldn't there be a compromise
made between book English and every day
English. Twould make life easier. There's
good deal Of slang, too born of necessity.
Times, eras, circumstances develop expressions
which can only belong to that time and era.
People must have their every day words as
they have their every day clothes"
In letter from home it was casually men,
toned that Blanche Seton had left East
port and was living, they believed, in New
York She had become, it was added, more
mysterious than ever, and had quite sun
dered herself from PASSPORT people. From
Blanche herself heard nothing. One of her
remarks on the evening we parted was that
. sue Noulu NTluS IL sue lilHS W
write and would like me to do the same.
She disliked, she said to have letters ex-
pected of her at regular intervals by any
one. IL was too much like correspondence
| by machinery.
| About a fortnight after Broener left, a
stranger came sauntering along the bank
and stopped at the hole from which | was
taking and washing gravel. | was some
what excited that day from having come on
a deposit of hard, heavy gravel lying ON the
! ledge and in deep crevice 1t was yielding
richly and without aid of any of Broener $
Sailing When u man knows that every
bucket he dumps into his head seive' Is to
wash out fifteen or twenty dollars, work be-
, comes more like play. Occasionally | would
/ pick a bit of "shot' or coarse gold from the
dirt, and dirt must be very rich to show gold
on the surface Usually that metal Is about
the last thing TO bc seen. 50 marked is its ten
dcncy to sink underneath the lighter gravel
The stranger watched me some minutes in
silence He was man Of middle age peaked
in feature, and without further describing
I his appearance | will say only that he made
me feel di,agrceable Tho air felt meddle-
some about him | felt from the moment
his look was fixed on Inc danger-and no
: small one.
| My apprehensions were increased on seeing
that he carried hammer-a mineraIoglSts
hammer, shaped expressly for breaking up
small pieces of rock. knew by this he was
one of the new men, Broener had feared,
who would so soon come here to hunt quartz
"How'st PAYNE asked the stranger.
"Mddling,' | replied, curtly
Been here longP
"No," | said.
amy ground open here to new corners"
~ don't know"
"Ground claimed next to you"
"You must try for yourself Take up a
claim, and if anybody holds it they'll be
around quick enough"
The stranger came close to the edge of the
hole. peered into it, and then, without further
ceremony, jumped therein as | was on my
way to the rocker heard the clatter he
made in so doing and Immediately came
back without putting my bucket of dirt
through the rocker He was knecling down,
looking very closely at the face of the gravel
near the ledge, and had just pulled there
IRON bit of quartz about rs large rs ones
fist Holding it up to the light he exclaimed
Quart gold by thunder 1t was ''speci
men. anu tDuliI stu StD'i va llN 0i''N
and You will please let the gold anC
everything else in this claim alone" | said
jumping down and snatchiDs the rock from
his hands
ooh, don't be alarmed, young man.
don't want your gold. | s'pose man car
look at it, can't he:' said he.
He can look where he has right to-" wa
my reply But you have no more business
on my ground here than i'll my house, anC
You ought TO know it,
lie clambered ont of the hole taking al
my peace of mind with him as he went, Ii
his discovery of that bit Of white rock
hecl;ed with the yellow metal, | saw no enc
of future trouble 1t was giving the hounC
the true scent and | felt that this MAI
would never cease his efforts till ho had run
the game to earth.
All this came to me in a moment The
brightness OF the day hal gone. Before,
had been singing in a jolly fashion to myself
and living in bits of air castles, as fancy built
thcm-among which my speedy return tc
PASSPORT II, a comparative nabob was moi
the smallest or least glittering.
Bad came to worse. That very afternoon
Mr. Jedcdiah Pratt located "a thirty-three
feet claim adjoining ours and commenced the
Ibuildug of his cabin on it, That his prln'
Icipal object was to hunt quartz in the neigh
Ihorhool was certain. That he had, with
out knowing it, placed himself in the best
position Tor spying oar movements was alNo
certain
Next dav came moro cause for approhen
sion. Pratt was joined 10y a partner, thick
set black-hcardcd, coarse looking man. Her.
were two near unighbors, and both enemies
WAR was fully declared between us, though
Inc high words passed. 1t was the silent
secret war of intent on one side to find, OF
the other to conceal
OF course. Pratt and his companion would
remark NV frequent absence from my claim
They would bee hunting quartz up and down
the mountain. and would be certain tn inter
cept me in my daily trips TO and from the
I"Bauk.' Then | remembered with dismay
lthat the mountain side was strewu with bit
lof quart it, milky whitonc,' bringing 1t ou
lin strong contrast with the red soil, and that
in small and large fragments, was especially
thick near the claim Now, these before un
ron,idarcd masses OF rock seemed to me as SC
:. many finger posts pointing out to all oul
Treasure | passed the whole night III d
fever and suffered dozen realities IL
Imagination concerning my coming trouble,
with Pratt n Co.
Twrute Immediately to Broener, informing
! ..., g 81, fr,,1r',1, Rut in those DAYS com