The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1886-12-29

down as ! think II VIII, you'll have as much
more coming to you. Are you satisfedF'
Satisfied! Less than year from home and
the possessor of what in Eastport was deemed
a ''small fortune" In the well-worn phrase,
wanted to pour forth my thanks"
l said: 81 wish l could fifty express my
feeling and gratitude to you"
''I'm glad you can't, said Broener, inter
rupting me. Its 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. l 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
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 go and see the show
You need a change from the CHASTITY buz-
zard spying and body hunting business. Get
Rankin's horse, rll take mine, and we'll
gallop over there"
On applying, Mr.. Rankin said he would
added, was vicious, SHE'D at his own shadow,
''bucked7 frequently and had been the death
of two men. As we were leaving he called
out to Broener: 1.-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
rk,-, k,,, 81,
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 a "horseman" Distance at night
seems unnoticed. 1t is more like a 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 l, regarding those
myriad shining wonders of all ages-the
stars.
"Lots Of 'em, aren't thereFn said he
1.-THE starsl Yes"
"Small potatoes we are under them.
Smaller than ants in comparison, and moving
about on this planet for these shining atoms
we call gold. l wonder, now, of what i'm
portance poor Pratt, if he had his senses,
would consider that biggest star alongside of
pan full of dust. Pratt would trade Venus
for quartz claim
"Stars, speculation, immortality, ETC." said
Il, ~.
go together; or, at all events, stars always
start one on those topics l wonder what we
are, anyway-who we are, where we came
from, and all the rest. l am certain amount
of life and intelligence in a body Body's
only a garment wrap, a machine Hit a
a part of the body hard enough just one
blow, and in one second nfe's all gone, and
with it the gumption' I've been storing I'D
for years. Hit it not quite as hard, like the
crack poor Pratt gave himself, and the intel
hgence stays but goes to fiinders-all hurly-
burly. Problem: when you bore hole with
a bullet through a mans head, does all his
intellect go out through that hole and, if so,
where does it go to? 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 3ej all the
fun we can out of it-body, soul, l..i-ld, spirit,
and any other little addition the tneologians,
philosophers and metaphysicians can tack on
u.s."
We rode into the 'camp." In the language
of the time it was ''bilin'" The theatre
company had brought in miners from far and
near. 1t was a single straight street. From
every door and window on either side poured
a food Of light, for every house on the street,
Of wood or cloth, was either store, So
loon, gambling tent or some place of public
resort Sidewalk, street and houses were
alike full of men. The ''fandango" was
already in full blast. Here, alone, were
seen women-dark-skinned senoritas In white
dresses, some having their waists encircled
by broad bands OF pure gold Riders were
momentarilv coming in, some urging their
horses at a breakneck pace through the street
The air was filled with a medley of sounds
music, shouts, laughter, the hum of several
hundred voices gathered in SO small an area,
the clink of glasses and an occasional yell
from some miner giving vent in this way to
the emotions within him developed by whisky.
''Come," said Broener. Lets take look
at the fandango Everybody goes there
either to dance or look on. It's not the low
dance house of an old city You will find
there the leading merchants of the place.
the banker, the lawyer, the judge, and all
the other present pillars of society, in this
new world of adventures. Society here,
you see, is in a state of effervescence, and
everybody's at the top. Hence there's now
no bottom. Nor are these Mexican and Chill
eanean girls like the abandoned of our
American or English cities They don't get
drunk, won't pick your pocket, and
though morality sits lightly on them, still
they have a certain respect for themselves
which keeps them out of CUTTERS"
We went in Broener was soon whirling
one of these tawny beauties about in a waltz
/ followed his example The dance overi we