The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-11-04

the patterns out of trc5-', BRUSSELS car
pet; they were so soft and fine and spil'
itual They had such delicate, fresl
tinted little stems, and the new blue
blossoms were as blue as the eyes of z
baby. But they went to sleep, closed
their eyes forever, almost as soon as
pulled them up out of the warm brown
carpet-they were so new and tender.
l heard a wild shout, and springing
up saw two arms tossed in the air and
a little bare, black head thrown back
till the face looked straight mp TO the
center of the blue tent of heaven. The
big little man walked toward ME ma
jestically down the mountain side, tip
toeing, on eggsl All. bit he was tall!
We-he had struck it.
Going back with him we found the
water clear here, flashing down over a
curiously green and brown and white
floor of bare bedrock, and here, right
through this, where his pick had struck.
cleaned and shot and flashed a glitter
ing seam of solid metal.
If you could have seen those swinging,
sweeping arms! That windmill that
overthrow Don Quixote was nothing in
its velocity and persistence. l was
made to comprehend that the vein ran
here and that it ran there; was bound
less and was bottomless; that the noun
tain was in fact one sClid mass of virgin
goldl Yet he said not a word-only
those arms.
We got piece of it out, more than a
pound, and almost pure. l battered off
a piece of crag, rods up the hill, and
that, too, was heavy, almost solid.
We sat late by the fire that night after
supper, and it was later still VIXEN he
spoke for the first time, and then he
spoke almost spasmodically: "To buy
California first, all California, includ-
ing this mountain of solid gold. That's
it, you see, before they find out that
gold is so plenty; then buy Oregon, on
time; then come and get the gold; buy
Ireland, poor Irelandl By gosh! Then
buy England; go right to Queen Victoria
and buy her crown and her throne on
contract; good lawyer, so she can't back
out; then come back and get the gold"
He was silent for a time and then
with his face lifted far above me as if
searching for the north star, he said half
savagely:
"Say, straight over the mountains to
Yreka tonight on the crust, Flanagan
not to know word, nor Campbell;
straight to Yreka; got enough already
to bind contracts, buy California and
morrow nighty' Another pause, then
suddenly again, ''Say, look here; Knight
kill you and keep the whole thing. 1t
is all my find anyhow"
And bless me if he didn't look as if he
might. Anyhow the campfire was smok-
ing on my side and got up and leaned
against post. Then he got up, too, and
said, Come on, let's CO."
1 followed the desperate little rascal,
keeping behind him all the way to
Yreka, where we arrived just as Great
house g Slicer opened their bank.
Breathless, and with face still lifted far
above me, the boy who was going to buy
Queen VictOria's throne and crown and
have her throw in Ireland, strobe up to
where Charley Slicer, now in Oakland,
was buying dust and laid the nuggets
before his eyes. pure stuff"
Young Slicer turned it over and over,
took up glass, looked at it carelessly
and then, handing it back as he turned to
attend to some one else, said, soto voce,
Yes, pretty pure-cOpper.
got job as cook on Greenhorn
next day, and poor Hi, after getting
himself into pccks of trouble and mix
ing himself up with me and my affairs,
died at Red Bluff, with his face still
lifted to the stars, L am told.-Joaquin
Miller in Elmira Telegram.