Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1892-08-19

career that he made the acquaintance of
Ned Anthony. 1t was in saloon in q
little mining town in one of the terrific
ries kept by an Irish bully named o Hara.
A party of roughs were drinking and at
a small table in one corner four men
playing poker. Dan noticed one of the
players particularly, because of his being
a stranger In the place and because of a
certain rough grace in the poses of his
splendid athletic figure, the beauty of
his silky brown beard, and a trick he
had of lowering his lids and looking out
through half shut eyes. He was won
dering who the man could be, when
there arose a cry of foul play in the cor
ner, and he saw the brown bearded man
quick as fash pin the hand of one of
his opponents to the table with a long,
keen, double edged knife which he had
whipped out of the breast of his hunting
shirt.
In less than a minute, a scene of the
widest confusion was inaugurated
blows were struck, shots fired, and the
air surcharged with threats and pro-
family. Dan, whose every instinct was
to espouse the weaker side, forced his
way to where Ned Anthony stood with
his back to the wall, fighting with cool
ness and science, but at terrible dis
advantage, because of having emp
tied the only loaded chamber of his
revolver in the beginning of the ARRAY
1t would have gone hard with the
pair in very short time, for the roughs
were heavily armed and growing dan
derous, but for the interference of the
Irish proprietor, who with Donnybrook
foiT foS 70 Enhf n
regard for his own possessions. In lam
guage that reeked of birthstone he pro-
claimed that the personal welfare of the
combatants was matter of utter indif-
ference to him, but that he objected to
having his furniture smashed or his
saloon turned into a slaughter pen with
any of their foolishness, and rushed into
the melee, followed by his bartender.
With the aid of this reinforcement our
two friends did such effective work that
in a comparatively short space of time
the roughs found themselves thrust in
gloriously into the street.
The acquaintance, from this stormy
beginning, developed into queer kind
of friendship and some intimacy. The
men had little in common, save physical
courage and high animal spirits, unless
love of adventure and of the solitude
of nature and q mutual taste for sport
be taken into account.
In character and intellect they were
| totally dissimilar, although both were
strong men. The causes of their attrac-
| ton for each other might have repaid
investigation had either man been given
to analysis or interested in psychological
subtleties. Unfortunately, the oppor-
tunity was thrown away; for Ned's &C
quaintance with the word analysis"
was confined to its appearance in the
columns of the dictionary and its appli-
cation to minerals, and Dams mind was
without the twist which leads to morbid
research and subtle investigation. HUI
man emotion thrilled and interested him,
but he had no promptings to examine it
under pocket lens.
Perhaps this was as we'll for poor hui
manity, for Dams nature was so sympa-
thetic, his interest so warm and his tact
SO perfect, that had his tastes directed
him to emotional dissection he would
never havo been without a subject.
Men, women and children confded in
him copiously; to know him was not
merely to love him, but to lay bare the
mental and moral anatomy to him also.
| Given II pipe, q camp fire in q lonely
canyon and Dan Stewart for q compan-
ion, and the most reserved man on earth
would forget his caution and turn him
self inside out, like a glove drawn from
hand too largo for it.
1t is not surprising, therefore, that
during their lonely mountain expeditions
Ned Anthony's heart should open to his
companions sunny influence, and that
all of his history should pass into Dams
| possession, even to the tiny vein of pure,
true gold that enriched the rugged quartz
and grit.
The discovery of the existence of this
vein was delightful to Dan, who had all
d clean natured mans reverence for ro-
nance. 1t gave his companion deeper,
more individual interest for him, and
drew closer the bond between them.
Tho cherishing of an emotion so tender
and fragrant touched him, from its
sharp contrast to the rest of Anthony s
character; it was like finding a pale,
sweet arbutus flower in the clefts of a
granite cliff.
"You must make lot of money,
Ned, and go home and marry the young
lady," he said, trimming over with en-
IA1loAetS1LAs ASb 1I1O 6G0I III 3 ulUS0L
years since you came away-or say four
teen and Ealf, to be strictly accurate.
Why, Ned, she's grown young woman
long agol You must hurry up, old fell
low, or somebody will step in and spoil
the romance. couldn't stand that, you
know; it's flat and disconcerting. No;
you must marry little Mary yourself.
1 can't possibly play any other way.
The curtain must fall upon this idyl tc
the music of the wedding march,"
Anthony had laughed aloud, and pre-
tended to think this scheme utterly Wis
ionary and his friend wild enthusiast
but the idea pleased him immensely. He
would recur to it again an again, and
all the purposes and ambitions held in
solution in his mind began to crystalline
Once he essayed to set before Dan pic
ture of the caste prejudice SO strong
| mn nv,l 70 1os, -