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

might 90 under the same sore trial"
ifs CHAPTER VIII
COMPACT
'But why" asked, do you trust RE,
almost a stranger to you, with your secretr
''For this reason, replied Broener. First,
because believe can trust you; secondly, !
have long wanted a companion and assistant
In one and the same person The honest ones
among the Bull Bar crowd win get drunk,
and whisky reveals more secrets than women
though, for that matter, think quite as
many goSips are running around In panta-
looms as in petticoats. need you to keep up
a show OF work on my bogus claim while ]
am In San Francisco. There must go from
time to time to get my quartz gold smelted
and assayed Miners law requires one days
work in thirty on every claim In order to
keep possession Of 1t Iwant you to potter
around and keep up show Of work ON
the bank In front Of the cabin. In the
miners estimation hereabouts you are
to be my partner In that claim
don't want to seem mysterious and il j
don't keep up q clatter of work about here
l shall be, through leaving so often and
letting the bank stand idle Then want
you to slide up from time to time to our
real claim on the mountain and see that
it's all right. And while think, OF it gmind
you break no regular path going up and
down. It's very natural for men pros
pecting about in strange places on finding
any sort of trail to follow It. think
it's the cattle instinct in mantle same
that makes sheep and cows follow each
other. Men who succeed / notice gem
orally 60 out Of beaten paths. So mind in
your travelings up and down from the
Bank to keep your footsteps as much as
you can out of the same tracks. We must
keep shady and lie low. It's not so much
the fellows about here now that / fear.
But new men are arriving all the time
restless, prying, searching maybe know
ing and reasoning as have done on this
matter, and IL their eyes fall on bit Of
that white rock on the mountain side or at
its bottom they'll be clambering up hunting
for it Should they do so in my absence and
find no one in possession it would be all up
| with me, for there's no law now to regulate
that description of claims-except the law OF
might Now do you see how much need
youl You're quiet, shy and not talkative.
Those qualities are all helps to me- A talk
alive man, with this secret inside of him,
couldn't help in some way letting it out He'd
kill himself at last with hints and knowing
grimaces. The best way to keep secret is
to forget it yourself-till it's wanted. What's
always ON the mind is very apt to write itself
on the face. Make people suspect you know
something they don't and you start 'em on
the hunt to find it out But what in thunder
am doing2 Preaching and philosophizing
| Tatfo -fa 1.t hrar. ~ AaYN
jacks for supper
Broener filled sack with as much of the
quartz as he could conveniently carry and
we took our way homeward Ascending far
out of sight and sound of the busy crowds be-
| low the eye fell ON peak after peak, far and
near, their sides covered with the dark green
carpet Of chapparal, which in places, as
thrown in shadows, was almost black. There
was no sight nor sound of living thing A
shadow hoated along on the red earth. ]
looked up. 1t was huge turkey buzzarl
wheeling through the air as noiseless as the
shadows he cast
There was something weird and gloomy in
it ALL The land did not seem made for hui
man habitation 1t seemed new, unfinished,
as of recent date from some tremendous vol
canic upheaval
This impression quickly vanished on reach
ing Broenel's cabin now cast into grateful
and cooling shade by the afternoon sun. The
long shadows of the hills on our bank of the
stream were rapidly stealing up the sides OF
those on the other. The direct and oppressive
outpour of noon heat was over, and now, past
the middle of the afternoon, there seemed to
come to mon, animals and vegetation new
food of vitality
Broener had allowed the manZanita bush
its dark mahogany stem contrasting so strong
ly with its dark green leaves, to remain uncut
all about his cabin.
at screens me from observation" said he
''and find it advantageous not to be seer
in all my comings and goings."
After supper he proposed trip to the Bull
Bar store tor trading post as many calleC
it,, about two miles down the river Thithel
we went
$40 60 to the store after supper Is tn
regulation with five-sixths of the Bull Bar
itss,n said Broener. ''They would conside
their day incomplete without such visit. +"
1t was store boarding house. bar, post an,
express office combined-full Of miners il
their working clothes. Every barrel heat
was used as seat; so were boxes, tables AM
the doorsilL As we entered, the proprietor
! a small energetic, bustling man, was scold
! ing giant in comparison with himself
, aBig Dickn-for sitting on the counter.
/ II want You 20 know" said he, shat tai
! | count,r isto sell goods on, and not to sit on
! II you want to retail yourself, get counbe
Of your own You come up hers every nigh
| and plank yourself on my counter Is Il la
built Is for sn arm chair. II you want to b
! sold III la ron on the shAf with the oths