Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1886-04-10
work. rnatYu keep up the reputation OF

something mere. II l SQlCeu IL WIFI Auouliuuo
river dust or dust from the dry diggings, the
trader would detect it. That would excite
their curiosity, and That's what we want of
all things to ward off"
II want to make as quick work as posi-
BILE, The continued, "of the Bank upthe noun
tain. Idon't think it's q vein thatnl hold out
ledge is the anne On both sides-granite-and
that's not a good holding ledge for gold. A
quartz vein to hold out should lie between two
different kinds of rock-say, granite and
slate. How this gold-bearing quartz gets
poured in between them. as it is apt to lie, the
Lord only knows. 1 think ours is a short
lived deposit-mighty rich so long as it lasts,
but when it gives out it will peter all ut once
like some peoples goodness when the temp
tation becomes too strong"
1t was about the first of March when
Broener made this trip to San Francisco. On
leaving, he said to me:
Watch the Bank very carefully, but don't
touch it. l want to do all the work on it
myself. Go to it every day, and keep an
eye on all %stragglers, prospectors aud stran-
gers, and the more ragged and mo account a
man looks, the more you van to look out
for him"
I was left alone. But six months had
elapsed since I left Eastport. l had now
time and solitude to think things and myself
over. seemed to have lived ten years in as
many weeks. Eastport and my Eastport
self seemed Of some remote period. l was
part and parcel Of a new life, amid new sur
roundings and new men-not q mere locker
on, but a watcher vitality interested in every
movement about me, because it might deeply
affect my W fortunes.
Above and beyond all in my reflections
stood out this mar Broener. In one sense, l
was his follower, absorbed by him, led by
him. He was entire master Of the situation.
I looked up to him and admired his keenness
of Judgment, his ease and ~adaptability to men
and circumstances, his outside appearance of
recklessness, which scented but a cloak for
the caution underneath.
Yet I did not feel wholly to like Broener.
One reason was, he repealed anything like a
warm expression of friendship.
"Don't try to thank me for what you say
I've done for you" he remarked one evening,
when in certain set and to some extent pre-
viously-composed phraseology, I attempted to
do so. 'You owe me nothing. You are as
useful to me as l am to you. We suit and fit
into each other for the time being. Some
power fashioned us to do so. Thank that,
whatever it is, not me. When things shape
themselves for us to part, we part-according
to the same law-for our mutual advantage.
We may part friends, perhaps enemies. We
can't tell what we shall grow into or what
may grow into us that'll make us friendly,
Indifferent or hostile to each other. That's
my doctrine. In plain, old-fashioned words,
its every man for himself in reality and the
Old Scratch take the hindmost. You don't
III. "a ,oo Va, I,o1;oxr, :o f,:o,l,G:, b.
the last and clinging to whatever you like
YOU with its poison. You believe in hanging
on to a friend while he, maybe, out of pure
ignorance or selfishness, is, through his weak
ness, dragging you to ruin along with him.
I don't. l like strong people, so long as they
are strong. I pity them if they become
weak. l cut from Il cripple when he leans
on me too heavily"
"And how with women!' l asked.
'.That,s somewhat another affair. an as
to women a tyrant in this way. l, or rather
the nature inside of me, exacts Of q
who attracts my admiration-or compels it,
| rather-that she shall continue to do so. Ii
| she DOESN'T, l cut, the same as with men. To
| remain true as it is called, isfor me to re-
main a hypocrite and pretend a sentiment
which is not felt"
Broener seemed to ME an iceberg, glitter.
ing in the sunlight and rejecting that light
from q thousand pinnacles, but cold to the
touch; full Of power, too, Tut unpleasant tc
near approach; pleasing only SO long a. Ont
maintained the proper distance.
Yet socially, liz vas ever to me most fas-
c~inating, and when he chose could make one
forget him as the iceberg. An educated
man, but not q pedant; book learned, hut
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 ell deshabille. It's hard work to fee
obliged continually to express oneself in {
dinner dress of nouns, verbs and proposition
previously arranged for you by some ole
pedant. Why couldn't there be a compromis
made between book English aud every da,
Englishs 'TVould make life easier. There
a good deal OF slang, too, born of necessity
Times, eras, circumstances develop expression
which can only belong to that time and era
People must have their every day words a
they have their every day Clothes"
In a letter from home it was casually men
toned that Blanche Seton had left East
port and was living, they believed, in Ney
York. She had become, it was added, NOR
mysterious than ever, and had quite sun
dered herself from Eastport people. From
Blanche herself I heard nothing. One Of he
remarks on tue evening we parted was tina
she would ''write if she had anything t
write" and would like me to do the same
She disliked, she said, to have letters ez
pected Of her at regular intervals by an
ono. 1t wa too much like correspondent
by machinery.
About q fortnight after Broener left,
stranger came sauntering along the ban
and stopped at the hole from which / wa
taking and washing gravel. l was SOM
what excited that day from having come O
a deposit of hard, heavy gravel lying on til
ledge and in a deep crevice. It was yieldin
richly and without aid Of any of Broener
Sailing" When a man knows that ever
bucketnhe dumps into his 'shead seive" is
wash out fifteen Or twenty dollars, work b
comes more like play. Occasionally l woul
pick a bit of 'shot'' or coarse gold from Il
dirt, and dirt must be very rich to show col
on the surface Usually that metal is abol
tne iast thing 70 be seen, SO marked Is It's tel
dency to sink underneath the lighter gravel
The stranger watched me some minutes
silence. He was a man Of middle age, peake
in feature, and without further describin
his appearance l will say only that he mac
me feel disagreeable. The air felt meddl
some about him. l felt from the momer
his look was fixed Oh me a danger-and i
small one.
My apprehensions were increased on seeir
that he carried a hammer m%ineralogist
hammer, shaped expressly for breaking I
small pieces of rock. l knew by this he WI