Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-16
Copyright, 1929

| old man leaped toward it, and tore 1t open
| greedily. A number of uneven glittering
/ yellow Jumps rolled on the board.
whats this?" yelled the old man.
"What in the name of God is this?"
Its gold, Daddy Hays, gold!' was the
| even-toned reply.
The old frontiersman raised his bony arms
! heavenward.
sT sent yew an the others to fetch food,
! an yew bring me stones. My poor gell is
| dyin' in thar. Thar's bin no food in this
house nigh on a week now I've billed the
bark of the cottonwoods an eaten it, as if 1
wos hoss Day an day, an night an
night I've waited, an said to myself,
Panther Harry will live through it all
! Panther Harry will bring me meat for my
gell, acos he loves her. Panther Harry
| will save my Nellie, if he'll reach my door
| step to die on it, An yew've come back
! alone, an yew've left even yewr rifle on
the road, and yew bring me this filthy gold.
Can yew eat gold? Can yew eat it? Speak,
if vew're not dumb Take it out of my
sight. Away with it!'
He grasped a fee BILE handful of the shin
ing fragments and flung them into the fire
where they rang against the hard baked
clav of the chimney. Then he sat down and
buried his face in his hands, and his low
means filled the room as with calls of gaunt
death.
The young man stood there, with his
dark, pain-stretched face clouded by the
old mans accusation. With slow and
difident step he stole toward him, and laid
his blood-stained hands gently on his
shoulder.
"Don't speak so hard, Daddy Hays" he
said, with heart-breaking quiet "We
found nuthen that We could bring on our
hut, hnc cba1
whar' this comes from, and when the wind
slows down it'll pay fetchin.' 1 didn't
think I'd live through 1t, an I'm nigh dead
myself, but the instant minnit can use my
limbs, I'll take that rifle and start out
agin. cayn't go out with these things on.
I'd die on the road, an thar'n be pieces of
my skin comm away with 'em as it is. But
cheer up, Daddy, Nellie won't die, if
Panther Harry kin save her, an 1 will
save her still. -
The old man remained dumb in his grief
and doubt, while Harry, with agonized
efforts, stripped off his ice-covered clothing
In the corner by the fireside hung striped
Navajo blanket and couple of noun
Harry strapped the blanket around his
waist, and tied strips of fresh rag around
his wounded and bleeding limbs Then he
sat down by the fire, facing Hays.
can Nellie?" he asked at last. "Whar'
is she?''
Daddy Hays looked up
'In thar" he replied "Dead NAV be.
amt had the courage TO look this hour
past"
''She amt had nuthen' to eat-for how
long now?" inquired the young man,
feverish determination cleaning in his eye.
''She amt touched food for more than
eight-and-fo forty hours now.''
MAY 60 an look at her?"
''Gor'
The young man strapped the blanket a
little more tightly and wiped the dripping
moisture from his dark hair and beard In
the ftful Rembrandtesque light thrown by
the hearth fire, his wiry form, all brawny
muscle and snew, flashed now ard then
like polished bronze, He might have been
a model for Tubal Cain as he stood there,
naked to the waist ard bare-tooted, with
his blanket reaching the ground like a
workman's gown of NEUROLOGICAL DAYS, and
with his long, dark beard streaming around
his manly face.
With slow and muffled football he stepped
to the dark blue blanket which served as a
hanging between the two rooms The Chin
neys of the two compartments of the hut
were built back to back, and cherry wood
dropped the hanging blanket and paused
for moment in the half gloom, Harry
could barely distinguish his surroundings
by the aid of the smeary, yellow, Pickering
flames of the logs At the further end
stood rough low couch, covered with buff
falo skins, and upon its rich, deep brown
shone the white face of a woman who had
been beautiful before the agony of hunger
had dragged the rounded cheeks into lined
and angular forms, and had sucked the
blood from the cherry-red lips The big,
grey-blue eyes looked nearly black in the
dih light, and they stared yacantly. The
fingers, white and worn to the bone, lay
upon the bearskin which covered her, like
wax models of dead hands
The young man approached the bed as |
repentant pilgrim of old might have drawn
nigh to the shrine of the enskied saint |
whose intercession he craved. He looked |
at her, and his brawny limbs trembled and |
shook as in palsy while he pict lred 20
himself the lovely, loving and lovable girl |
whom he had hoped to call his own, and |
whom the hand of heaven had thus sorely |
stricken. She moved not on her couch, nor |
a word, nor drew breath-but |
for the slight movement of the bosom, and |
for the barely perceptible tremor of the lips |
she might have been dead already. The big |
eyes stared, aud Harry thought they stared |
at him and chided him softly, not harshlv. |
q red-hot dagger, and he rushed from the |
room. /
'She is dyin'," he cried in his agony. |
''Ain't thar nuthen at all to eat in the place |
.nuthen-nor drink O. whisky-nuthen-
His searching glance travelled around the |
room unavailinglv. The shelves were bare |
Thar amt morsel, nor a drop, and thar
hasn't bin these two days." answered the |
old man. with a choking voice.
can she'll die" Harry cried, 'if she'll |
get no food?"
Eyes, die," echoed the pioneer. 'tDie,
like Joe and Bill and Dick, aud yew and |
will follow her"
The young man flew at the cupboard and |
flung the dishes and plates and bottles and |
cups and jugs it contained on the floor in |
confusion. He dived into every |
nook, he ransacked every corner, he swept |
The boards for possible crumbs, and turned |
the bottles for any nourishing drops they |
might contain. Not mite, not an atom of |
food, not drop of liquor was there.
Then he took down the rife which hung
on peg on the wall, and, half-naked as he
was, he opened the door and walked out |
into the slush and the snow. The wind,
even in its weakened forces, was icy and cut |
him like thousand whips He walked all
round the house, but no living thing, no
bird or game of any kind, was to be seen.
n Nothing anywhere but the great white pail !
Of snow and the dark brown of the rocks
and trees below and the endless gray sky
above.
Shivering and trembling, he returned to
he hut and closed the door against the
: glacial blast.
at amt no use," he said, bitterly. 81
knowed it warn't no use, but thought I'd