The Dillon tribune., 1886-12-10


T., his hewi]dern,ent Thatcher had over
,oolul a letter lying on his table. IL was
from his Washington lawyer The conclude
ing paragraph caught his eyc-"fernaps IL
would be we'll if you came hero yourself
Rost,,nmon is here: and they say there is a
niece Of Garcia's, lately appeared, VINO IS
likely to ret ND a strong social sympathy for
t,,o o,d Mexican. don't know that they expect
to prove anything by her; but Tn told sue Is
attractive and clover, and has enlisted inc
s,,,nat,,ios Of the delegation" Thatcher laid
the letter down a little Indignantly. otro''s
me-, 81, cat, as liable as weak women arc
IN ,,.,,,,, Inconsistencies on any question they
WV. ,,.,yc j., common. What right had this
,oc,, ,.,t., ,, he had chcrisl,etl-he was quito
n., {; I, ,,c,y that he had cherished her, and
,.,,..,. lad suffered from her abscnce-wnat
r;~,,t lid s!,, to suddenly blossom III tho sun
sLi:c Of power to be, perhaps, p'uckea an"
worn by one Of his enemies. Tic dMt NOT agfeo
with his lawyer that she was In any way con-
ncctcsl with his enemies; he trusted to hcr
masculine loyalty that far. But hero was
something vaguely dangerous to the FEMININE
mind-position, fattery, power. He was al
most as firmly satisfied now that he had been
wrongcd and neglected as be had bee" posi-
tive few moments before that he had been
ren,iss in his attention. Tho irritation, al
though n,omentary, was enough to decide this
strong man. He telegraphed to San fron-
cisco; and, having missed the steamer, Sc
cured an overland passage to Washington;
thought better of it, and partly chasgco MS
mind an hour after the ticket was purchased;
but. n,anlil:e, once having made a practical
step in a wrong direction, he kept ON rather
than admit an inconsistency to himself. Yet
he was not entirely satisfied that his journey
WINS business one. Tho impulsive, weak lit
tie Mistress Carmen had pradcntly scored
one against the strong man.
Only a small part of the present great
transcontineatal railway at this time had
bce,, built. and was but piers at either cnd OF
a dcsolotc and wild expanse as yet unorldged.
When the overland traveller left tho rail at
Reno. he left, as it were, civilization with 1t;
and, until he reached tho Nebraska frontier
the resi- of bis road was only the old cmigrant
trail Travelled by coaches of tho Overland
company. Excepting part of "Devils Can-
von," the way was unpicturesQue and Hat;
and the passage Of the Rocky mountains, lar
from suggesting the alleged poetry OF that
region, was only reminder of those sterile
distances of level New England landscape.
The Journey was IA dreary monotony that
was scarcely enlivened by its disconforts,
never amounting to actual accident or Incl
dent. but utterly destructive to all nervous
tissue. Insanity often s''pcrvened. I'm tue
third day OUT" said Hank Monk, driver,
speaking casually but charitably OF flare"
-"on the third day out, after axing no end
of questions and getting no answers, he took
to chewing straws that he picked outer
the cushion, and kussin' to hisself. From
that very day knew it was all over with
him, and handed him over to his friends Mt
shy Ann, strapped the back seat, and
ravin' and cussin' at Ben Holiday, the gen.
tlemanly proprietor" It is presumed that
the unfortunate tourists indignation was OK
cited at the late Mr.. Benjamin Holiday, then
the PROPRIETOR of the lne-an evidence OF his
insanity that no one who knew that large
hearted, fastidious and clegantly-cultured
Californian, since allied to foreign nobility,
will for a moment doubt.
Mr.. Royal Thatcher was too old and expe-
rienced a nlountaineer to do aught but accept
patiently and cynically his brother Califor-
mans method of increasing his profits. AS it
was generally understood that any one who
came from California by that route had some
dark design, the victim received little SYM
pathy. Thatcher's equable temperament and
indomitablc will stood him in good stead, and
helped him checrfully in this emergency. lie
ate his scant meals, and otherwise took care Of
the functions of his weak human nature, when
and where he could, without grumbling, and
at times earned even tho praise Of his driver
by his ability to trough it," Which trough
ing it," by the way, meant the ability OF tho
passengers to accept the incompetency Of tho
company. 1t is true there were times when he
regretted that he had not taken the steamer;
but then he reflected that he was one OF a
vigilance committee, sworn to hang that ad-
mira!lc man. the late Commodore Cornelius
vanderbi t, for certain practices and cruelties
done upo;, the bodies of certain Storage pas
sengcrs by his line, and for divers irregular;-
ties in their transportation. l mention this
fact merely to show how SO practical and
stout a voyascr as Thatcher might have coli.
founded the perplexities attending the admin
istration OF a great steamship company with
selfish greed and brutality; and that he, with
other Califcrnians. may not have known the
fact, since recorded by the ccmmodores fam.
lily clergyman, that the great millionaire was
always true to tho hymns of his childhood.
Nevertheless, Thatcher found time tn l~