Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-07-24
JAKE MURPHl"S RETENGE.

Black Jake Murphy was the bigger, but
it did not take longer than five minutes to
determine who was the better man. Even
Mike Hudok, the big Poander saw it. He
was viewing the fray from an upturned
beer keg i'm front OF Yankee Pete's saloon.
"Jim lick 'um, dam quick, he eiaculat-
ed, and his words were prophetic. In less
than ten minutes Black Jake was thorough
~ and scientifically clicked and he knew
it. He would have fallen on his face again
as he staggered up after the last knock
down blow if some one had not given him
an arm to lean on. Through the blood
that blinded him he saw the crowd in red
haze. But his reeing sight looked for
but one object, and his whole brain and
soul were filled with a fierce and devilish
hatred for the man who stood near with
bruised face and barred arms-his conquer
or
Slocum's Patch had no sympathy for
Black Jake Murphy. As a rule, the Patch
displayed no excessive taStidiousneSs as to
the component parts of its select society.
1t had even got beyond Directing to the
Polander and Hungarian. But with Jake
Murphy and his father it refused to assO-
Ciate on any terms more friendly than
those involved in imbibing Yankee Pete's
whiskey at their expense. 1t could not be
asserted that either father or son were at
all dscomposed by this partial ostracism.
1t rather seemed to suit their sullen and
morose dispositions. They did not seek
the allurements of Slocum Patch society
except on the rather rare occasions when
together they sat down for a drinking bout
at Yankee Pete's. Then all who chose
could drink at their expense, and then for
., Il.
were more popular. Yankee Pete did a
land Office business and could well af-
ford the broken chairs and windows which
usually ornamented his groggery the next
morning.
Black Jake said no word as he turned
from the fray beaten man and staggered
off toward his home. 1t was a rough cab
in of battered hemlock boards. The two
men had built it themselves on a strip of
company land up on the hillside above the
Patch. They lived there alone, and from
one years end to another no one else
crossed its threshold. Around it, in sum
mer, the soft breeze murmured among the
scraggy hemlOCkS and oaks. The wild vi
olet and hOneysuckle gave out their fra
GRANGE. From its door the great Wyom-
ing valley stretched away as in panOra-
ma. Pitville's many spires rose not four
miles away, and on a still Sunday morning
the distant chime of its bells was borne to
the ear. Half a mile distant rose the mas
sive timbers that marked the opening of
the new WoOdford shaft, the biggest and
deepest in all that region; where twelve
hundred feet below the sinkers had Just
struck the red ash vein and were finishing
their contract
The old man smoking his pipe on his
doorstep made no comment as his son
washed the blood from his face in the lit
tie spring near the door. At last he said !:
''Who've yer been lickin' now?"
NO one" growled his son; course him,
he licked me-"
The old man gave a grunt.
''Who was it?'' he asked.
''Jim Carroll
'Sarve yer right. told yer ter quit
foolin' round his gal. Easy huff ter see
she thought more o his little finger than
O. yer whole carcass
Good strike me dead eff l don't have his
life"
1t was bitter threat that Black Jake
made, and the deadly hate that filled his
heart made it no idle one,
1t was midnight, but down in the shaft
midnight and midday were the same Look
ing up, a faint speck of white could be
seen in the daytime, but no trace of light
penetrated that awful depth. Three men
stood there waiting for their turn to 90 up.
The smoky lamps stuck in their oilskin
caps threw dull and Pickering light over
their faces and figures, wrapped to the chin
in waterproofs They stood in water al
most to the knee and the ceaseless splash
and patter Of the falling drops told where
it came from. Thirty feet above them. on
a platform protected by heavy timbers, a
powerful pump made the confined air throb
with the heavy PUNK, plunk of its stroke
The pump runner sat there motionless,
smoking, 1t was old Murphy, Black Jake's
father, Jake himself stood below, and one
of the two with him was Jim Carroll.
There was a fierce and evil look in Black
Jake's eyes as they stood silently waiting
for the bucket to descend. That look had
never left him since the day jim Carroll
clicked him for being too attentive to his
sweetheart. Black Jake was not the man
to forgive or forget and the bitterness of
defeat was made still more bitter by disap-
pointed love: He was a rough and sullen
man, but years ago he had set his heart up
on that girl, before Jim Carroll ever knew
her. But She was young and he not over
confident. He had waited and waited too
long, for Jim Carroll stepped in, and now
they were to be married. Black Jake set
his teeth and breathed hard when he heard
it. He said nothing, but his old father
watching him knew that CAROLS life was
in danger. Considered from an abstract
point of view, the old man had no particu-
lar objection to his son putting Carroll out
of the way, but some strange and deep
hidden bond held these two men together
Had such possibility ever arisen, old
Murphy would readily have laid down his
own life to save that of his son. He
watched him then lest he should do that
which might necessitate his departure from
this world at the hands of the sheriff. Hi.
watching brought him great uneasiness
Black Jake was changed. He did not seek
an opportunity to revenge his defeat in
open fight. Rather he avoided Carroll, and
when they were together, and, working il
the same shaft, they could not keep apart
he was quiet and fair-spoken. This was