The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1888-06-08
THE GREAT HESPER,
IL FRANK

81 shall he better able to cal. It mine
when | have paid up the capital invested
IN it. AS you kfo ", / had no money of
my own. I have borrowed heavily, and
until the loan is paid"
shrugged my shoulders.
Until it's paid" said Brace. continu-
ing my sentence. you've got to 90 to
bed late, and get up airly, and be thank
full eff you kin sleep sound in betwixt
reckon It'll take you a pretty Consider
able long time afore yon feel you don't
know what to do with yourself"
"a long while!' l said, gravely.
How long, asked Lola, quickly, TN
der her breath.
"oh, many, many years, perhaps" i
She did not attempt to conceal her sat-
nfaction.
.
l gave the girl a wiry little horse: she
sat it for the first time with the grace
and mastery ef a trained horsewoman.
Every morning l rode round the plan
tatfon; sometimes business took me to the
city-she never failed to be by my side
on these occasions. But when I had
work to do, it was anetbee thing. She
hated work, and dreaded tranquility:
she found All escape from both in a wild
ga4aoP among the foothills. She became
eoquettish with regard to her eppear-
ance. When she could coax 4 dellar
out of her father, she would galtop off to
San Diego to buy some trihe for the
adornment OF her pretty little person. If
by my manner she fancied Improved the
new addition, she wore it till she could
replace it with something else; but if l
failed to lfotice it, or she thought It was
not to my taste, she would fling II away
before it was a day old. She abandoned
herself to the enjoyment of the new life
chat came to her, and for some time she
seemed neither to remember the past nor
to think of the future
Under thesa conditions. all trace of ILL
Ress disappeared, and with health re-
turned something of her old mutinous
independence; paternal authority once
more sunk into ipsigriftance.
Brace quickly found occupation, and
after n time rendered me invaluable as
slstance in the management of the bust
ness. One day, as wo were returning
from the packing-sheds, he aaid:
ave looked rccnd this consarn pretty
careful, and I see, sir, that you're goin'
70 do a great big thing here. You've
foundo out jest where the real grit O. this
country lays, and you're goin' to work 1t
up into an almighty pile, That's what
you're goin' to do, and I'm everlastin'
glad OF it, for more reasons than one.
And one reason is this-I'm gnttiM' more
duberous every day whether we shall
ever get the Great Hesper. For, Justly,
when the frost breaks up, the great hole
where the gel hes hid the stone, may be
swept out as clean ae d gun-baril by the
torrent of meited snow, or it may be
blocked up for everlastin' by the mast of
rock that comes rollin' down from the
mountain sides every spring; and, secrnd-
ly, h Kid may change her mind. She
may back out Of tho promise she gave us
when she wac sick. Reflect her mother
was a Efcaser, and consequently it's nat
raj to her to tell lies when they'll serve
her purpose; and bear in mind it would
serve her purpose to make out the dia-
mond amt no longer where she put it.
Bear III mind also, sir, as she warn't her
seif when she made the promise, and
that shea been gettin' more herself since.
Her obs'nacy and deviltry's comm back
o me more every day, and she's now
almost the obstinate, contrary little cuss
she was. Keep on benrin' in mind that
she stole the diamond purposely to sonar.
ate you from Miss tascelles, and to bring
you down to aor'nary Workman again.
see her game the day we lost the dia-
mond; I see it clearer AN ever when we
got up to Petersyille-~she wus that an
CRY when [ told her there was no good
to be done 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 soot as
l hit on the idea of what's she to git bv
givin' up the diamond-a little wuss than
nothin'. Which is why l rejice in the
Prospect of your maxim a big thing of
this ere orange CROWN. Still, sir, we
amt goin' to lose that diamond, Il we
can help it, md we're gpttwo things to
do. We're got to keep our eye on the
snow, aud get down the great hole afore
THE worst of the slush and rock m
tnmblin' down, and we're got to make
the Kid believe as things down here is so
Jolly fourishin' as we don't kere two
straws whether we find the thing or not.
You'll leave that to mo. III pitch it in
strong to herl'
And he kept his word, Every day he
exhausted his stock of adiectivesih glor-
flying the estate and dilatin2a6pon the
marvellous results to be>s1kained from
fruit culture. and occas aly he referred
to the Great HesperI6 nth such contempt
that n would have thought it wa
hardly worthstretching out ones hand
to take.
Nh