Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1892-05-12
A NIGHTS LODGING

ON his back, no friendly boarding house
where his credit is good, no fortune
favored comrade to lend him a helping
hand and IS. 1t carries no suggestion OF
dissipation, wild oats, or extravagance,
and implies nothing worse than run Of
bad luck. So / may say without shame
that in the fall OF 80 was broke. Sta
tistics show that one out Of every $50
prospectors strike "it." i occupied a
prominent position among the 749. Like
many better man, my claims had
panned out badly, and my assays never
climbed above two figures. ! had pur-
sued the silver ignls fatuus all over the
Red Cliff district Until my shoes were
dropping of, and acquired nothing ex-
cept stone bruiae OH each heel.
Any one who has ever lSood by a
gambling table rscollects the man who
first loses quarter, more in Jest than
anything elsc then dollar, then fiushes
and ncrvonsly pulls out bill: then sits
down and loses everything in desperate
effort TO get even. That is the prospector
on small scale. He plays at the faro
table of fate and loses health, home,
years, strength-everything except hope,
and allthe while smiling at his dreams,
until death takes the chips out of his
fingers and closes up the game. had
made pretty fair progress on this road.
had with me a veteran miner, one of the
best fellows in the world, who shared my
enthusiasm and thoroughly participated
In my bad luck. His name was Joe
Dixon.
A gentleman in Golden had grub
staked' us-giving US enough provisions
to last for three months-with the un-
derstanding that he was to have third
Of any discoveries. We discovered
nothing, and devoured the provisions
down to the last bean in tho last can.
Our elbows were sticking out of our
sleeves, a quarter Of a years beard bris-
tied on our ch''t., "a We had not q five
cent piece b, .ween U.s. Thii vas exactly
the state Of our affairs when we came in
sight of Leadville ON our return.
We approached the camp from the
southwest, and it was evening when we
paused on the foothills, a mile or SO
away. looked down on the glimmering
lights and held council Of war. Neither
Of us was acquainted in the place, and,
although we had some hopes of finding
friends in the daytime, the prospects OF
spending tho night in strange town
were unpleasant. We were not exactly
tramps, but it would have taken an ex-
pert to have told the difference. The
spot where we stopped was a desolate
looking slope, strewn with bowlders, and
bare Of vegetation, and presently Dixon
called my attention to large, square
house that stood some little distance
away. quite by itself, and seemed, from
its darkencd windows. to be untenanted.
"If it's empty" he said, suppose we
sleep all night there, and in tho morning
we can 60 into camp and rustic"
We acted upon the suggestion, and
proceeded to reconnoiter the premises.
The house was two story frame, well
put together. in good repair, but appar-
emily as empty rs drum. No response
came to our knocks, so finally we pushed
open the door and walked in. Dixon
struck match, and we looked around
and found ourselves in a large apart
ment, which, with another Of the same
size, occupied the whole lower floor.
Bosn were furnished sparsely but well.
The front room had n number Of chairs,
a table, and several little conveniences
in it, and the rear contained n couple OF
beds and washstand. On the table
were lamp, number Of papers and
periodicals. all of them dated several
months back, and large inks;and in
which the writing fluid had caked from
disusc. The air was rather sitting. from
all the windows being down, and the
dust on the sills indicated that they had
not been raised for some time.
We lit the lamp, and to make sure
that there had been no recent occupancy
of the place, went up stairs. Here were
two bedrooms and sitting room. all
well furnished, and in one Of the bed
rooms hung a quantity OF excellent
clothing. The windows of this floor
were also down, and everything was as
silent and lonesome as the grave.
Wewent back to the front room, opened
up tho doors and windows, and proceeded
to make ourselves at home, little puz-
zled, but satisfied that we had stumbled
into clover. To show that we were en-
tirely open and honest in the matter we
sat in the front door and smoked, and
while we were thus occupied man
drove by on the road. about u couple of
hundred yards away. When opposite he
pulled up slightly, and we both called
out Good evening"" He made no re-
sponse, but looked very hard at US, and
whippcd IN his horse.
This incident did not disturb us and
presently we turned in, rolling in our
blankets on the floor. But ! did not
sleep. As lay there in the stiffness and
dark, the sense OF s.rangeness In this
empty house, the unnatural circum-
stance Of II standing there untenanted.
oppressed me. and began To fancy queer
things knew that dwellings were at
premium in Leadville. and this was far
better than the average. Why should il
be left at the mercy OF the first prowling
vagabond? There must bc some reason
some history connected with it. felt
a creeping in my veins. and then ] re-
mcmbered. with shock. that there was
no lock ON the door. Then recollccted
the clothing up stairs Was 1t possible
that any sane man would leave his prop
crty unprotected in such fashion?
Perhaps the house was haunted. had
laughed at such things, but the idea ap-
palled me now. Then by "a natural tran