Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-06-02
The GREAT HESPER.
BIZ PRANK

~" 80 . = &Aait nv Ilpllt "
my own. have borrowed heaN ~, .sss
until the loan is paid
shrugged my shoulders.
Until it's paid" said Brace, continu
lng my sentence. you've got to go tc
bed late, and get up airly, and be thank.
fui ef YOU kin sleep sound in betwixt
reckon It'll take you q pretty consider
able long time afore you feel YOU don
know what TO do with Yourself"
"A long while," | said. giayelv.
"liow long" asked Lola, quickly, I'M
dcr her breath.
"Oh. many, many years, perhaps !
replied.
Sire did not attempt 20 conceal her sat
isfact!on.
gave the girl n wiry little horrc; she
s0t IL for the first time with the grace
G@,l mastery of a trained hOrScwornnn.
Every morning / rode r0and the plan
tation; sometimes business took me 10 the
citT-she never failed TO be by my side
on these occasions. But when | had
work 10 do, it was another thing. Sl,e
hated work, anl dreaded tranquility;
she found an ESCAPE from both in a wild
gallop among tle foothills. She became
~coquertish with regard to her appear
aGce When she could COAX n dollar
ont of her father, she would gallop off to
san Diego Ia buy some trine for the
adornment OF her Pretty little person. If
by my anne she fancied I~approvelthe
new addition. she wore il till she could
replace il with something else: but if ]
failed to notice IT. or she thought il was,
not to my taste, she would fling it away
before it was a day old. She abandoned
herself to the enjoyment of the new life
that came TO her, and Cor some time she
seemed neither TO remember the past nor
10 think Of the future.
Under these conditions. all trace of ILL
ness disappeared, and with health re-
turned something of her old mutinous
Independence; paternai authority once
more sunk into insigpiiicance.
Brace quickly found occupation. and
after a time rendered me Invaluable as
s~istance in The management Of the bust
ness. One day, rs we were returning
from the packing-sheds, he said:
I've looked round this consarn p retty
careful, and ] see. sir, that you're goin'
To do IA great big thing here. You've
found out jest where the real grit o. this
country lays, and you're goin' to work it
UP into an almighty pile. That's what
you're goin' 10 do, and I'm everlastin'
SiNt' va ~ ~ - 'I'oil hilk1 tllt.
And one reason il this-I'm gettin' more
duberous every day whether we shall
ever get the Great ~liesper. For, fustly,
when the frost breaks up, the great hole
where the Ce! hes hid The stone, may he
swept out ~ clean as a gun s.ril by the
torrent OF melted snow, or ii may be
blocked up FOR cvcrlastin' by the mast of
rock that comes rollin' doWH frOiu the
mountain Sides every SprlnE. 3Hd, second
~, h kld may change ner mind. She
may back out OF the promise she gave MS
when she was sick. I~tecloct her mother
was q grcaSer, II consequently it's nat
raj to her to tell lies when thoy'l serve
her purpose; and bear in mind it would
scrgc her purpose to make ont the dia-
Mond amt 10 longer where she uut il.
Bear in mind also. sir. as she warn't her
self when She made the promise, and
that she's been gcttln' more herself since.
Her obsnacy and dcviltry's comin' back
more and moro every day, and she's now
almost tho obs nate, contrary little cuss'
she was. Keep on bcarin' in mind hat
she stole the diamond purposcly to scpar-
ate you from Miss Lasceiles. and to bring
you down to aor'nary workin'nan again.
l see her game the day we lost the dia-
mond; I sec it clearer an aver when we
got up to Petersville-she WIS hat an
CRY when | told her there was no good
to be lone mimi in the Urinary way-so
eager for me to write and tell YOU there
was a going for the stuff down the big
hole. Now, fortune to be made soon as,l
| hit on the idea Of whats she to Git By
givin' up the diamond-a little wuss than
nothin'. Which is why | reiicc III the
prospect of your maxim Il big thing of
this ere orange CROWN. Still. sir. we
amt goin' to lose that diamond. il we
can help it, and were got two things to
do. We're got to keep our eye on the
snow, and get down The great hole afore
the worst Of the siush and rock comes
tulnblin down, and we're got 10 make
the Kid belicve as things down here is 50
jolly hourishin' as we don't kerr two
straws whether WI find the thing or not.
You'll leave that to ne. I'll pitch il in
strong Ia herr
And he kept his word, Every day he
exhausted his stock Of al ~jectives in glOr-
flying the estate and dilating upCn the
marvellous results to be obtained from
fruit culture, and occasionally he referred
TO the Great Hesper with such contempt
that n would have thought it was
hardly worth stretching out ones hand
to take.
lhlS had ~ effect shat Brace desired.
She listened IN moody silence, and after
l had turned the subject, she would sit
with her chin in her hands, her elbows
on her knees. and Der great - deyes fixed
upon some distant object, wrapped in
dreamy meditation. But Brace was not
content with this.
One day ! overheard him speaking TO
Lola when they were alone.
IL reckon wa shall have to- show off
II good pints, my gel, before the squire
md his daughter come here, or we shall
look pretty mean by comparison, and
Gentleman Thorne will sorter feel sick,
seein MS hangin' round. He'll say to
hisself, nat'ral like, we'll, here's this
squire and his daughter, as I've never
done no:hin' in particular for, has set me
up in business as j. goin' 10 make me the
most eternal ALFRED millionaire that
ever lived: AMI, or the other hand. hore's
Il dcrncd old Judge. as akorce'y earns
his SAT-, and the hid. as I've nuasei &nt.
saved tw ice from dying right ont. and al
They've ever done for lac is to rob me of
all | he'd, and DO their level best to clean
me out and ruin me.
lie TigEt have continued. ln;ns Oc a
perscvornG sort, bat that Lola ran away
10 her room, slammed the door. and burst
INTO p 1T Of crying. that could be heard