Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-10-17

".t'J HHu o'tce ufktu nef 70 leave
him and come home, bat they never VEN
tured TO suggest 1t again. Old miners
passing by looked at the claim and said
there was no gold left Mon who had
had thousands OF dollars from her bus-
band, and owed their entire fortunes h
him, at last refused to give him credit
Tor sack OF -four Or a side OF bacon.
You stick by the mine, Wash: Phi
stick by You" was all that Jennie said.
She never told her husband that She
had gone to her brother, who was rich.
and asked him for a little money "a
carry them through the winter. .sNot
for that spendthrift Missourian to
waste" was his answer. He can clerk
In my store II he will give up his fool
ishness. "
Somehow the camp was down on
Wash He had given away loads Of
money, but always after fashion OF his
own. When old Doc Selby was knocked
out by the Leading saloon keeper, and
nearly died in the snow, Wash took him
up, learned his history, and sent enough
money to his family East to educate his
children. That was we'll enough, but
he told the saloon-kceper that he sought
ter be hung" and in the present crisis
the old fellow was not idle in advising
people to let that fool Missourian alone.
There had been some who would have
stood by Wash in different fashion,
and "seen him through to their last
dollar or last drop OF blood. But none
OF them were left in the old camp; they
were scattered over the Pacific Coast
from Panamint to Cassiar; sorse of them
lay silent under pine-tree slabs on the
hills west Of the river.
Wash's hair grew gray and thin. He
stopped lower and lower Deep lines
were craven in his face, and his eyes be-
came fierce and terrible. Men met him
In the gulches trapping game, or down
In the streams with his fsh-nets, and
passed him by without a word. Pros
pectors, climbing over the hills, heard
the sound of his pick as he toiled in his
tunnel, and laughed him to scorn. ssBe-
cause he found few pockets, he is Dor
ing right into the granite. Crazy as a
loon, and his wife as bad. Her relations
have done every thing to help them
offered them farm and the best kind
OF show down in the valley"
1t was an afternoon in October. The
saloon-keeper sat on the bench by his
door reading newspaper. He heard a
noise at the head of the street; the vii
lage boys were shouting: Here comes
the crazy Missourian MINER Wash,
ragged and miserable, came into sight,
| and, after moments hesitation, spoke
to him:
Evening, Mr.. Riley"
81 can't do any thing for YOU
"Mr. Riley, listen to me- ha.n't a
cent in the world. We've sold all our
goods and worked in the mine together
this month. Jennie's held the drill
while druv it. can't get pound OF
powder, but the holes are all set in the
face. ready. Something tells me that
this time it will touch gold. can feel
1T just ahead. I've felt it all along;
but now it's right thar, within reach OF
one more blast. tell you, Riley, /
know it's thar"
You're crazy, Wash"
| RILEY, you've got money. Give me
one key of powder. an I'll make you a
rich man. Fll1ye you half we take out.
You don't know how I've worked this
year. I've hammered from daylight to
dark, gone hungry and slept cold, an
fell down in dead faint time and time
over. Put your hand thar!' He siezed
the saloon keepers hand and held it on
his breast. The man felt Wash's heart
sway several inches, as If it had torn
loose from its place, and it's wild, loud
throbbing was like the beating of q
mighty engine. THAR" said Wash
"you see I amt for long. That mines
for my wife. She's stayed with it ano
with me- ought to have dropped il
and put my pride down long ago, bu
now it's too late. Riley, will you let me-
have the POWDER"
sNo."
Wash looked at his old enemy ant
turned away. He had already triec
others, the store-keeper, the hotel
owner and every miner he could find
They thought it was foolishness ant
worse. There had been many thing
said about that crazy Wash who mar
ried a young woman and made he
work like slave in his worthless claim
and some of them were flung out at hin
that afternoon.
81 tell you, WASH" said one, ''the in
sane asylum is the place for you, an
the boys will have to get you there anC
send your wife home"
So far astray does the judgment G
men and of communities sometime
wander! No one in all that camp ur
derstood the proud, unyielding soul tina
had set itself to wrestle with Natur
and her secret The afternoon wore o
into night, and night into morning, an
morning, noon and afternoon built u
another day Wash did not come bacl
Some boys climbed the hill and wer
into the tunnel. There lay Wash, dead
at the further end of the drift, his pic
in his hand. He had gone back to brea
his own way into the treasure-house, bu
his heart had burst in the midst of
giant stroke, and he had fallen acros
his own weapon. There his wife ha
found him, and she, too, weak and sic
and heart broken, lay in faint over h
body.
Ophir Camp woke with start to som
dim sense of its crime. Tender hand
carried Wash ard his wife out OF til
tunnel, and did all that could be dor
for the poor woman.
A dozen men went back into the tut
mel from which they had taken the dea
man, and looked at the place where b
last falteriug shock had glanced on IL