Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-10-25

either the convenience or the rights Of
anyone else when they seemed to inter
fere with his own plans. He rarely
quarreled outright with his neighbors,
being of cowardly nature. but he was
too selfish to be a favorite in camp.
Indeed, some people said that Bannot
would not hesitate to do very mean
things, or worse. to gain his point.
His dislike for Bob seemed all the
stronger because it was not shared by
anyone else.
Theory Bob wandered about the hills
near Camp Hard Up without ever
doing any work steadily in one place
until his friends began joking him
over his lack of application. They
told him that if he wanted to find min
eral he'd have to dig for it, and not
just keep on walking about;
but he always answered that
he had his theories about the
geological formation in that locality.
and when he found the right place he d
sink hole and show them something
that would surprise them. One even
ing, therefore, Bob announced to a
group that had gathered together after
supper the news of his having dis
covered the indications of large min
eral body, and that he had began
sinking shaft to open it up. He
described the position of the shaft
and explained the theory upon which
he rested his belief in the existence of
mineral at that point All this was
listened to in silence, and at the end
various comments were offered, mostly
unfavorable. Other men had pros
pected in the same place and found
nothing; it was barren ground. Bob
would not believe this, and returned to
work next morning.
There was one man who had heard
Bob's story when he told it before the
crowd, and put faith in it. That man
was Jim Bannot. Jim made up his
mind to profit by the result of Bob's
study, and secure for himself the vein
of mineral that Bob was sinking a
shaft to find. He determined to drive
Bob away from his work with threats,
and then take possession of the
ground. He argued to himself that
the intended victim of this scheme was
too easy-going to fight, and would sur
render his rights rather than have
trouble. That is where Bannot was
wrong. Every muscle in Bob's body
stiffened with stubbornness when any
one tried to impose upon him. He
was working away with pick and
shovel when Bannot approached to
carry out his rascally plan. but paused
to return the "Mornin', pardner that
caused him to look up.
Bannot made some general observa-
lions by way of beginning the CONVEX
sation, and then said, abruptly: ''Bob.
1 don't think YOU'RE doin' the square
thing a-locatin' here"
Bob was standing in a hole about
four feet deep, and he looked up Curl
ously at the man above him on hear
ing these words, and asked: How
sop
why, l think mighty well O. this
ground myself" Jim went on, in ex-
PLANTATION, land l claim it,
81 don't see how you can claim it,
rejoined Bob. '.You haven't done any
work here, or even put up stakes.
You've got no right to it that l can
see."
"rll show you that l hev got right
to il" answered Jim. mo tenderfoot
has got right to take ground from an
old MINER"
.'Old miner be hanged"' retorted
Bob. angri!y. IAN old miner has no
more rights than any body else. If
you wanted to hold this ground, you
ought to have gone to work on it. Now
you may 60 to thunder"
Bob resumed work, and Jim stormed
around for awhile, threatening all
sorts of things, to see what the effect
would be. As there was no percep-
tible effect whatever, the bully's vio-
lence increased, and at last he declared
he would stone Bob out of the hole. At
this Bob leaped to the surface. pick in
hand, and said, in a tone that was not
to be mistaken: Jim BannOt, you
may be in earnest, or you may be
crazy; but either way it is. want you
to get away from here and quit bother
ing me. If you don't, I'll drive this
pick from the top of your skull clear
down to your waist
Jim saw then that the bulldozing
scheme would not work, and he de-
parted, declaring that he would run
the Jumper" off yet Bob returned
to his digging. and made such good
progress through that day and the
next that the bottom of the shaft was
lowered fully ten feet below the sur
face. Then big rock got in his way,
and as it could not be removed by dig
ging, he knocked off to 60 for blasting
materials. These were at his cabin in
camp. as they had not been needed yet
in his work