Wichita eagle., 1888-05-11
BIG BEN AND THE WAIF.
We're we afraid of Big Ben?

silver country, and Big Ben was boss of
the ranch for several reasons. First and
foremost, he was too much for any one of
as single handed, and, secondly, he had
many good points about him. While he
was overbearing and brutal at times, he
was the best miner in the party, and no
bad luck could discourage him. With
any one else as boss we should have scat
tered at once, for the winter was coming
on and we had been down on our luck all
the fall
''Break upi Hunt for luckp' sneered
Rig Ben whenever anything was said
Fooot abandoning our claim '"WeD. You
Fare lot of coyotes--a cussed bad lot.
Gou haven't got the pluck OF sick woE.
4 I'd like TO ses some of You try to walk OF
and leave me in the lurch-yes, would.
d your eyes, but I'll turn to and lick
the hull crowd out of your boots if hear
another growl.''
Big Ben insulted us dozen times q
day, and on three or four occasions he
Laid hands on US in violent way, but
somehow we stuck there. As told You,
he was practical miner, the hardest
worker in the lot, and we leaned on him
In spite of the fact that we hated him. We
could have shot him down in some of the
quarrels, and the verdict would have
been, ''served him right" but we knew
that he had a good heart down in his
bosom, and the hand which clutched
knife or pistol was always restrained.
One afternoon, while | was minding the
cabin, and the other men were at work in
| the tunnel or shaft, stranger entered.
He had come up from the Forks, three
miles away FTe was a boy of Is or there
abouts, with girls voice and shyness,
and he was hungry and in rags 1t was
bitter cold, anil yet his clothing was of
the thinnest kind, and he had hungered
SO long that he was hardly more than
shadow. / welcomed and fed and warmed
him, and then he told me that his name
was Charley Bland, and that he had wan
dered out there to look for his brother
James, from whom he had received no
word for two or three years. They were
- phsns, and both had been bound to
Warmers in Illinois. Both had been i'll
used, and Charley finally followed James
example in running away. This boy had
been knocking around the silver camps
for six months, sometimes meeting friends
and sometimes treated like dog, and hs
had found no trace of his brother. Some
pne down at the gulch-it was a cruel
thing to do-had told him that James
was ct our camp, and be had perlled his
life TO come I'D the4te ana see On that
day, as shall never forget, there was
Foot of snow On the ground, a blizzard
raging, and the thermometer marked 10
degs below zero.
The boy was asleep when the men re-
turned from the shaft. Big Ben was out
of sorts at the way things had been going,
and no sooner did he hear and see the lad
than he called out:
ftHe can't stay here another hour. We
don't run a poor house and we let no
baby faced swindler eat or hard earned
provisions"
'1'u work. III work as hard as ever L
ean," protested the boy with sob in his
throat.
''Yhere's no work for yoFI- You've got
10 move on to the camp above
The four Of Us protested IN chorus, and
eve took such a firm stand that deadly
weapons were drawn, and would have
been used but for tho action OF the boy.
He was terribly frightened ovel' the row
he had been the innocent cause of, and as
the four of us had four pistols .leveled at
Big Ben and meant TO shoot if he moved
~ foot, the boy opered rho cabin door and
eIided out into the dark and batter night
with the silence and Swiftness OF a
shadow.
"You are his murderer" we said to
Big Ben as we lowered our WEAPONS, and
he growled:
''D-n himl If We took in every stray
gler we should be crowded out OF house
and home before New Years. VIVA is it
to us whether he lives or diesg'
think be felt conscience strh ken
withia the hour, however, as he went TO
the door and acted as if he hoped TO see
the lad standing outside. The boy had
been gone half an hour before we ihAly
realized what his going meant, and then
Two of us went out with the lantern sud
searched and called for him. The sn ow
was being whirled about in furio Us
manner, and the wind was rising TO a.
gale, and the bitter cold drove us back
after quarter Of an hour. It was true
that we had little enough to eat, and that
we were crarped IN our cabin, bur the
idea Of driving that pale faced orphan boy
out TO freeze was something we corld not
get over II was Just the thing needed TO
set us up in rebellion against our boss,
and that night we threw off the yoke and
gave fl to Big Ben right and left. We had
two or three rows before bedtime, and all
turned in sulky and indignant.
q Whew! But what night that wasl
split, and the wind roared until our cabin
threatened to topple over at every blast.
At midnight Big Ben crept carefully out
of his bed and opesed the door, and then
[ almost forgave him Tor his brutality.
Conscience had been At work, and his
heart was touched. lie hoped 10 find the
bow crouched on the threshold, and |
heard him sigh and mutter To himself Is
he shut the door and returned to his
blankets. The strongest man In our party.
clad as we were for the winter, could not
have stood against TINT blizzard half an
hour. and fell aslecp To dream OF finding
moor Charleys frozen corpse on the trail
leading down 10 the Forks, and OF his big
blue eyes being wide open and staring at
me in reproachful way.
For breakfast next morning we had
sorne canned meat-opened n new can
from our skim store. We thawed II out,
and all ate our full shares, and were on
the point of starting out to search for the
boy when one of toe men was taken Ill.
Inside of half an hour all OF us were taken
down with pains and cramps, and il was
evident that we had been POISONED by the
neat We had no aptidote of any sort.
and one after another went to bed to SUI
fer the most agoniZiny pains and TO lose
consciousness. Big Ben was the hardest
hit Of all, while I, perhaps, suffered the
Least That is, while all the others rayed
and shouted and lost their senses, L was
!. II the time dinlly conscious OF everything
sooi1,g on. The blizzard was still raging,
Snd the thermometer was marking stln
lower degree when the door opened 2nd
<r.,rIav uoIlad IN saw him. but L