Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-11-06

rget him ~ the iceberg. An educated
an, but no q peannt; book learned, but
u boolklsh orr book laxative; alive TO the
lst, but as mafh II not moro fully 10 TO tho
'esent, and especially keen In seeing and
ore In making others see the points" In the
aried array OF human nature on Bull Bar.
II Is true rnucHof his conversation was in
rlarded with th3slang and common phrase
ogy OF the day
81 like he said, 1.-THE luxury at times OF
king en- deshabille. It's hard work to feel
5liged continually. to express oneself in q
nner dress Of nounb verbs and propositions
OBVIOUSLY arranged for you by some old
sdant. Why couldn1 there be a compromise
Iade between book English and every day
nglishi Tw0uld make life easier. There's
good deal Of slang, too, born Of necessity.
Zines, eras, circumstances develop expressions
'hich can only bslong to that time and era.
aeople must have their every day words as
ley have their every day clothes"
Il In letter from home it was casually mem
5oned that blanche Seton had left East
ort and was living, they believed, in New
FORK. She had become, It was added, moro
Mysterious than ever, and had quite sun
cred herself from Passport people From
Blanche herself heard nothing. One Of her
emarks ON the evening we parted was that
he would write II she had anything TO
yrite,n aud would like me to do the same.
the dislilked, she said, to have letters ex-
|7,ected of her at regular intervals by any
ne 1t was TOO much like correspondents
5y machinery. ga
s About fortnight after Broener left a
Granger came sauntering along the bank
md stopped at the hole from which ! was
aking and washing gravel ] was some-
What excited that day from having come on
deposit Of hard, heavy gravel lying on the
edge and in deep crevice. II was yielding
ichly and without aid of any OF Broeners
'salting.n When q man knows that every
oucket he dumps into his "head seiven Is to
wash out fifteen or twenty dollars work be-
comes more like play. Occasionally would
pick bit OF shot or coarse gold from the
iirt, and dirt must be very rich to show gold
pn the surface. Usually that metal is about
be last thing TO be seen, 80 marked is its ten
iency to sink underneath the lighter gravel
The stranger watched me some minutes in
silence. Ho was man OF middle age, peaked
Ia feature, and without further describing
his appearance will say only that he made
me feel disagreeable The air felt meddle-
ssome about him. felt from the moment
his look was flxed on me danger-and nc
small one.
My apprehensions were increased on seeing
that he carried hammer--a mineralogist's
hammer, shaped expressly for breaking uT
small pieces OF rock. knew by this be wai
one of the new men" Broener had feared
who would so soon come here to hunt quartz.
"How's't payin'p asked the stranger =
'Middling, / replied, curtly E
Been here longr VI L.
"No," said.
"Any ground open here to new comersr
~ don't know" M
"Ground claimed next TO your
"You must try for yourself. Take up 4
claim, and II anybody holds it they'll b
around quick enough" II
The stranger came close to the edge Of tn,
hole, peered into it, and then, without further
ceremony, jumped therein as l was on my
3 way to the rocker. heard the clatter h
made in so doing, and immediately cam
back without putting my bucket Of dir
through the rocker. He was kneeling down
looking worry closely ct the face of the gravel
near the ledge and had just pulled there
from bit OF quartz about as large as one
fist Holding it up to the light he exclaimed
"Quartz gold, by thunderp It was ''speci
AMEN, n and I could see gold on its sides
"And you win please let the gold an
everything else in this claim alone!" said
jumping down and snatching the rock iron
his hands.
''Oh, don't be alarmed, young man.
don't want your gold. / s'pose man ca
look at it, can't he" said he.
"He can look where he has right to-" wa
my reply. but you have no more bushes
on my ground here than In my house, an
you ought to know It."
He clambered out of the hole, taking a
my peace of mind with him as hewent. 1
his discovery of that bit of white rocl
n fiecked with tho yellow metal | saw no en-
4 of future trouble. 1t was giving the houn
the true SCENT and l felt that this ma
would never cease his efforts till he had ru
the game to earth.
a All this came to me in a moment. TIL
brightness OF the day had gone. Before,
Mad been singing in a jolly fashion to mysel
and living in bits OF air castles, as fancy bull
them-among which my speedy return
Eastport, as comparative nabob, was nc
the smallest or least glittering
Bad came to worse. That very afternoo
= Mr. Jedediah Pratt located thirty-thre
feet claim adjoining ours and commenced th
y building of his cabin on it. That his prir
cipal object was to hunt quartz in the neigl
borhoOd was certain. That he had, will
out knowing it, placed himself in the bes
position for spying our movements was ais
certain.
Next day came more cause for apprchel
sion Pratt was joined by a partner, thicl
set, black-bearded, coarse-loolSing man. Hel
were two near neighbors, and both enemie
War was fully declared between us, thong
mo high words passed. 1t was the silen
secret war of intent ON one side to find, O
the other to conceal.
OF course, Pratt and his companion woul
remark my frequent absence from my CLAIM
!, They would be hunting quartz up and dow
the mountain, and would be certain to int
y cept me in my daily trips to and from IL
tsBankn Then l remembered with disma
that the mountain side was strewn with hi
of quartz, its milky whiteness bringing it OF
in strong contrast with the red soil, aud tina
in small and large fragments, it was especial
thick near the claim. Now, these before III
considered masses of rock seemed to me as
many finger posts pointing out to all OF
treasure. l passed the whole night in
fever, and suffered q dozen realities
imagination concerning my coming troubl