Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1892-03-04
way and Niokerson what kind Of man h.

/
neither depraved nor vicious, he had been
simply combination of over.hopeful-
ness and laziness; confronted waiter for
''something to turn up"
1t had been this sanguine trust in luck
which had caused him to take up q
homestead claim away out on tho prairie,
almost out of sight of human habitation,
not with the earnest intention of making
oil 1t valuable farm by hard work, but
as speculation. A railroad would be
sure to be run through that region on
Its way to the Southwest, he thought; a
town would spring up, and he would be
rich.
In the meantime, he farmcd the home.
stead in balf-heartcd fashion, which
brought scarcely enough to live miscr.
ably upon.
Tho years passed on, but the railroad
never came. When tho claim became
his own, Bascom mortgagcd it and drib.
bled away the proceeds.
BY and by he died, leaving a broken.
down, heartsick woman, and half-hclp.
less children.
Tho future held but little promise for
them. Before long the mortgage on the
homestead would fall due, and they
knew from the first that they would not
be able to satisfy it. The home would
have to go.
Mrs. Bascom had longcd to return to
the old home State. at first hopefully,
then doubtfully, and at last in drcary
hopclessncss. The longing at last be-
came almost monomania with the poor
woman.
When ones heart is full of beloved
subject, one must talk OF it, and tho
mother told the children of it till they
longcd to go almost rs ardently rs she
did.
Though she had hoped long, her cour-
age and strength gave way slowly as her
health declined.
81 have wanted to go for so long"
she said, concluding the story. "But
now" she ended with sigh.
Tho two strangers understood how
much OF real hcroism there was IN that
simple recital, and were silent when it
was done.
The rain had subsidized to n gentle
drizzle. The men sat silent. The older
children hooked miserable anu detected.
The little Jackson woke up, and be-
gan to examine again the wond erful
knife with great interest. To divert
the thoughts of the others rs much as
possible, Nickerson displayed and cx-
planned the mechanism of the knife, cx-
posing the corkscrcw, opening out tho
hook for removing stones from horses
hoofs, revealing the twcezcrs, the saw
blade, the file and the scrcwdrivcr.
Jackson alternately whoopcd with de-
light and stared in mute amazcment.
Then he suddenly held out the gourd
bank to Nickcrson, and reached for the
knife.
"Me'll trade wild you'll" he said.
Trade his bank and its trcasurc-al-
most sufficient in his eyes to take them to
lndiana-for the wonderful knife which
he wanted so badly! Poor little fellow /
"I-wait till mornin', Jackson" said
Nickcrson. "Wc'll see about it then. ~
When Jackson was packed away in his
little trundlc-bcd the knife went with
him.
After the men had retired to the pal-
let that Lyddy spread on the floor, they
talked In tones so low that the occupants
of the other room did not hear them.
"Shc won't live long unless she goes, "
said Conway
Nobody thar'll know us or keer any,
thing about u.s." said Nckcrson.
They said but few words more. They
lay very still for long time, and the
other occupants of the little house did
not hear them when they arose, Just be-
fore the east was turning gray. They
donned their garments and then, in the
dimness of the room, Nickerson handed
Conway something which he had taken
out of his pocket, and passed out of the
house as noisclcssiy as possible.
Conway took something from his own
pocket, and tiptoeing and feeling his way
to the table, wrote in the darkness few
words with stub of pencil on n scrap of
paper. Then he made his way to the
clocks shelf, and fumblcd for moment
with the gourd bank.
Then he stepped softly to the door
and passed out into the drizzle and
through the bar-way, beyond which
Nickerson was holding their horses.
They mounted and rode away in the
dreary rain-back to the westward, in
the direction from which they had
come.
"Nobody'd know us thar, anyhow n
said Conway, after a while IN gruh
way.
"Nor keer about us" returned Nick.
erson.
When morning dawned, the light
shining in through the little window oil
the wcather-beaten house fell upon little
Jackson sleeping in the trundlc- bed witt
Nickorson's wonderful knife still clutchcC
in his hand, and in the other room the
light revealed n corner of green paper
sticking out through the slit in the
gourd bank.
The Rascoms discovered it before
long, and looked into the bank.
The little Sourd was carclcssly stuffed
with greenbacks and national bank
notes.-the money which jim Conway
and Nick Nickerson had boarded to talk
them back to Indiana.
AS the money was pulled out, scrap