Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-08-28

,,horo ovor;co oar, feast its eves unon H.
s,i,,ned ;,to tho Rolf willing hand of man
~, ,ro,,,an e. is difrorent Then BARRIERS
fade awav that a lifetime has built man
hood sin,s and takes with If what was
noblest and most meyer tn return. and men
nonchalantIv mink thoughts that. free
fnn,,, tha faso;,,otior of ,to1d tbev would
have evecratod Nth horror
60 ~ ,ras IN ,bis car,n Ar first the cold
,vas ne stored in tL ,, common hncl<skiu nurses
tbat tbe ittia 1ortv In ire most ontbusias.
lie momants had never dreamed of bepp
ahIa to 3ll vim the metal. and then il was
nocl,ed in ror,,bIv made bars of cloth
As the etora If cold grew the friendship
that had oncn existed between the Ameri-
cans and tbe Nexicans becane weaker and
,,aoler Sou tbev wore enen,ies yvatch.
| inc ono anotber with hatred that none at
temned to disguise The Americans no
iontter slent together IN a little rroup. as
| had beer their custom Instead. each took
his blanlet and went off alone. vet not so
far bnt that he was near the cold While
at work durinu the dav tbey made it a
noint never 70 aronp together Even when
a nugget larger than the rest was picked
nm they no longer iovouslv called to each
other that they might gather together to
admire il They were always on their
guard. Day and night one of their party
watched the Mexicans. If they were to be
| killed and robbed of the gold they had dis
covered by keeping thus separate some
might escape if they were attacked.
Yet the Meyicans had said or done moth
ing to Justify the suspicion that they would
descend to murder and robbery to secure
the gold They did nothing but watch,
watch, watch. day after day, as the store
of gold increased But, as the days went
by and the pile of gold grew, a new look
came into their faces, another light into
their eyes. The lips were drawn little
tighter, the forehead was less open. There
were no longer laughing efforts made
to tell jokes half in Spanish, half in
English, to amuse one another. The old
camaraderie was gone. Yet, less than a
month before, these men had found pleas
ure in sharing their scanty stores with one
another. Now they merely watched each
other and the pile Of gold with hatred so
intense as to be unspeakable
The pile of gold, though. continued to
grow, But at last it ceased. In the crev-
ices and cracks and sand there was nc
longer to tie found single glitter of vel
low Only the scars remained, where the
knives had cut and gouged out the riches
of the rock
The Mexicans smiled with pleasure as
they saw the Americans vaiulv eIdeavo,
to find more of the metal, and in return
the latter grew hot with anger though in
their hearts they felt relieved to know that
they had exhausted the lead Already they
had as much as they could care for Had
there been more to mine though, they
would have taken it out rather than see
any one else possess it. 1t had grown tC
be pleasure to have it, if only to know
that it was theirs, even if they could no
use it.
When the rocket was mined out tb,
Mexicans no longer came IN daily t,
watch the Americans. Instead they stait
in their camp at the foot of the mountain
They did no work. WHY should they
What would the few ounces they coul,
take from their claims amount to com
pared with what the Americans had oh
tainedp
Now that there was no longer any col,
to mine, the Americans began to devils
means to remove the gold they had t.
: where they could dispose of it
at must be nearly quarter of mil
lion, boys" said Jack Swilling. All locke
to him as to their chieftain I'VE vii
!, have to get it out of here"
How to do it was question they wer
always discussing, as tney gathered on un
mountain crest in little group in orde
to be able to watch the Mexican cam
below.
1--WE can't carry all Of it, but we Nigh
take part and hide the rest until we coul'
return for it," suggested one
YES, and what we would leave behin
: the Mexicans would get before we were on
: of sight. Damn them, why don't they &c
up and go! This is white mans country
= anyway" said another.
!, "No, we can't do that" said Jack. "W
will have to send to Wickenburg for
y pack train, and two of you will have to Z
: for it. You can leave tonight, and I'll
: three of us who stay will look out for IL
J gold Now. who will 60? is the question
e No one answered Instead, each locke
at the other, as if wishing that his neigl
|. Dor would volunteer
i There's no danger What's the matte
n with you? Are you afraid to trust eac
other with the gold." asked Jack.
No one replied, yet each knew that
u did not want to 90 and leave the gold n