San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-02-13

81 shall be better able to call IL mine
when have paid up the capital invested
in it. As you know, had no money ol
my own. / 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 go to
bed late, and get up airly, and be thank,
full ef you kin sleep sound in betwixt
reckon it'll take you pretty consider.
able long time afore you feel you don't
know what to do with yourself"
"a long while!" said, gravely.
How longT" asked Lola, quickly, I'M
der her breath.
"oh, many, many years, perhaps"
replied.
She did not attempt to conceal her sat.
isfaction.
gave the girl wiry little horse; she
sat it for the first time with the grace
and mastery of a trained horsewoman.
Every morning rode round the plan
tation; sometimes business took me to the
city-she never failed to be by my side
on these occasions. But when l had
work to do, it was another thing. She
hated work, and dreaded tranquility:
she found an escape from both in a wild
gallop among the foothills. She became
coquettish with regard to her appear
ance. When she could coax a dollar
out of her father, she would gallop off to
San Diego to buy some trihe for the
adornment of her pretty little person. II
by my ma inner she fancied Iapproved the
new addition, she wore it till she could
replace it with something else; but if
failed to notice it, or she thought it 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 for some time she
seemed neither to remember the past nor
to think of the future.
Under these conditions. all trace of ill
ness disappeared, and with health re-
turned something of her old mutinous
independence; paternal authority once
more sunk into insignificance.
Brace quickly found occupation, and
after a time rendered me invaluable as.
sistance in the management of the bust.
ness. One day, as we were returning
from the packing-sheds, he said:
"Tve looked round this consarn p retty
careful, and l see, sir, that you're goin'
to do a great big thing here. You've
found out Jest where the real grit O. this
country lays, and you're goin' to work il
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.
duberous every day whether we shall
ever get the Great Hesper. For, fustly,
when the frost breaks up, the great hole
fl,a hn. L.
swept out as clean as a gun-baril by the
torrent of melted 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, second
ly, the Kid may change her mind. She
may back out of the promise she gave us
when she was sick. Reflect her mother
was greaser, 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 in mind also, sir, as she warn't her
self when she made the promise, and
that she's been gettin' more herself since,
Her Obs'nacy and deviltry's comm back
more and more every day, and she's now
almost the obs nate, contrary little cuSs
she was. Keep on bearin' in mind that
she stole the diamond purpOsely to separ.
ate you from Miss Lascelles, and to bring
you down to rnary workin man again.
! see her game the dnv we lost the dia-
mond; see it clearer an ever when we
got up to Petersville-she wus that an
gry 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 soon as
/ hit ON the idea of what's she to git by
givin' up the diamond-a little wuss than
nothin'. Which is why rejice in the
prospect Of your maxim a big thing of
this ere orange CROWN. Still, sir, we
amt goin' to lose that diamond, if we
can help it, and we're 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 slush and rock comes
tumblin' down, and we're got to make
the Kid believe as things down here is so
Jolly flourishin' as we don't kere two
straws whether we find the thing or not.
You'll leave that to me. I'll pitch it in
strong to herp
And he kept his word, Every day he
exhausted his stock of adiectives in glor-
flying the estate and dilating upon the
results to be obtained from
fruit culture, and occasionally he referred
to the Great Hesper with such contempt
that one would have thought it was
hardly worth stretching out ones hand
to take.
This had the effect that Brace desired.
l,ol igfA in Gil nd Of
l had turned the subject, she would sit
with her chin in her hands, her elbows
on her knees, and her great sad eyes 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.
81 reckon we shall have to show off
our good pints, my gel, before the squire
and his daughter come here, or we shall
look pretty mean by comparison, and
Gentleman Thorne will sorter feel sick,
seein' us hangin' round. He'll say to
hisself, nat'ral like, well, here's this
squire and his daughter, as I've never
done nothin' in particular for, has set me
up in business as is goin' to make me the
most eternal ALFRED millionaire that
ever lived; and, on the other hand, here's
this derned old Judge, as skercely earns
his salt, and the Kid, as I've nussed and
saved twice from dying right out, and all
they've ever done for me is to rob me of
all he'd, and do their level best to clean
me out and ruin me-"
He might have continued, being of a
persevering sort, but that Lola ran away
to her room, slammed the door, and burst
into fit of crying, that could be heard
where / sat on the terrace.
CHAPTER XVIII.
1 had written few hurried lines from