Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-03-13
CHAPTER \.
\ SCEI!t!&ED ENGLISiIIAS

"Ei say! l.!lo. the ousc
 Would you be kind enough to hac comiuodatc us with 8 nights hentcr- talnmcnt?"
 John Parsons WAS resting in his arm chair, with Lucy and .Ioiinny near Lv upon the porc,,, when hs ears were thus salutcI. There was something i:, the tone of voice Ii which the word, were uttered, or in tA" presence of tie speaker as he turned and saw him, which on the instant prompted n thought of denying the reeucss, Per- haps it was that he was n5; in hls usual cheerful mood.
 For some time after h;s return from San Francisco, where he Lad Ecar,i the ystem of hydraulic mining described, and accidentally lcarncl that arrange ments were being made by n company to begin work somewhere in the ad. joining county above him. there had been days when he had been gravely silent, if not moody; but as several weeks passed and he heard nothino more regarding it, this feeling had woru off, and he had resumed his usual iovial look and bearing. But only tha! morning, while at tho Landing, he had learned that the supplies for the min were being sent up, and that the tluml
 
 ready under way, and at onco all hi: mOOdincss returned, and all that after noon hc had been silent and thought, ful: not even Jchnny, who was his con, .>tant companion when about the ranch being able to draw him into conversa- ton or bring a smile to his face.
 hc company which owned the mine, so he had been told, was composed, in ra.t 1t least, of Englishmeu; and :l- though he had no prejudice against the English, and had once in his own mining days worked in partnership with an Englishman, and had now nc reason to suppose thag tho owner oi the voice which he heard asking fer a nights lo;!g ng had any connection with the company upon whose mining operations he was medtating so gloom fly, yet the two facts, that Englishmen were interested in the enterprise and that tho party addressing him was an Englishman, somehow formed a con, n"ction in his mind and tempted him to do what he never yet had donc-re. fuse to extend the Inequalities of his house to strangers in need of q nights lodging.
 As quickly as it came however this thought was dismissed, and he ad vanceu to meet and welcome the stran, gers:
 II reckon you kin stay, strangers; an welcome to such as We have. May be it isn as good as ye have seen, but then agin you may see wus if you arc goin' fur up into the mountains. Jest ride yer animals round the back way and they'll be socd to-" and he opened the front gate before which the stran- gers were sitting upon their horses and 1.lI hr tn in tN he barn lot
 Light down." he said, "an' come in
 Thcro were three men in the party, the one who had acted as spokesman being, as his speech indicated, an En glishman, and one of the capitalists who were interested Ill the hydraulic mining operations uf which Mr. Parsons had re- gently heard. He had come out from England to sec for himself and his En- glish partners if things were being properly m.uaced, and 10 get q better knowledge of tie actual value of the claims held by the company.
 He had stopped in New York to con- suit with those who wore furnishing the other half of the capital; and the son of one Of tlcse capitals had como on with him, not exactly as representa- tINC Ol UitN teoiI.'E Ct tHc SlOChiOiilC[S there. for they already iad one of their number in charge at t,le mines, hut for the purpose of seeing tho world and Iearn .ng somAthing of business. His nam3 was James Annelscy.
 The third member Of the little party w,,S Silas Ensign, q workman in the em- ploy of the Hydraulic Mining Company. who had been sent down to Sacramento to obtain some bit of machinery needed, or to carry an order for supplies, and who had chanced to meet with and was now guiding his companions to the mines.