The record-union., 1892-11-16

were being literally patronized at the
time OF my advent.
Il was not drinking man in those
days, but cold and cheerlessness, con-
nected with the creeping memory of the
cadaver back on the track, overcame my
scruples and l laid away a gill of neat
brandy without turning an eyebrow, and
then proc eded to edge my way to the
stove, where for the next half-hour | al
ternately burned and froze the two sides
OF my anatomy.
The lower floor of the building had
been laid, as was about half that of the
upper. The landlord was a busting,
corpuIent man, minus an eye, and who
wore habltually, | atterward ascertained,
his head rolled in a huge wooden COM
1orter. l approached him with a Pitts
Durg smile and dollar in silver, and civ
lily asked for a bed. His eye travelled
from my face to my feet and back again,
as though | were an escaped curiosity,
before he informed me, in a cautious
whisper, that there was not bed in town.
/ suggested that l might be SO fortunate
as TO rent blanket, but was told in that
conudentlaI whisper, which was also con-
Stltutloual with him, as | learned later on,
that couldn't rent the half of a blanket
Tor forty dollars. l stated that sleeping
room on the upper floor would be accept
aOIe, IN reply to which the landlord
whispered that | could easily satisfy my
curiosity by trying, but that he doubted
II there was standing room, not to speak
OF sleeping. He further stated, in an eX-
ceeding small voice, that he could not
vouch for his lodgers.
y Notwithstanding his caution, l as
cended the rickety ladder and peered
over Men lay there packed away like
sardines i'll box, while one seedy citi-
zen, whom sleep had not yet courted,
Saiuted me with a curse 50 dire that in
n Tar nj a I th1- 'l,a
landlord, who had been witness to my
retreat, sidIed up and cautiously invited
me to take something hot. at the same time
informing me that / might stand by the
stove all night il [ thought | could keep
warm. Making virtue of necessity, /
concluded to accept this rendered hospi-
tality.
las the night wore away the business
of the bar visibly increased, the services
of two bartenders besides the landlord
being required to dispense vile draughtS
to shivering humanity. Among those
who patroniZed the bar was one of those
persons distinguished from all others by
being called bad and as such he was
either stunned or deferred to by those
more peaceably inclined. While swal-
loving coplous draughtS of Nevada bug
Juice his tongue kept up a continual wag-
ging, his sole aim in life appearing to be
10 make every man i'll the room under
oIdllNA DGNOllu SI4dOON Vi lu6 ldlnlGSD
doubt that he was an exceedingly hard
character from the vicinity OF Bitter
| Creek; that he was extremely wild and
Woouy-Whlch no one who saw could
doubt; that he was possessed of 1leas in
Vulnerable, Of great age and sagacity,
which might be readily believed, and
that he did not allow lnortals of common
clay to scratch him below his boot-tops
Having made it clear to all present that
he was nearly related to the Khan of
Persia, the King of the AlOmbottoms or
some other fierce and ferocious monarch
of decided lighting prOclivities; having
repeatedly stated that during infancy he
had been nourished upon condensed
dynamite, and that there was great dam
! ger from an explosion when he was
around, he concluded by saying that his
hrat, best, dearest wish in life was to as
sist some son of calamity and hard times
over the range by injecting an immoder-
ale allowance OF cold lead into his sys-
| tenn.
| He finally turned his attention and re-
! marks to one of the two bartenderS al
ready mentioned, possibly because he
| conceived The Idea that that particular bar
could not flourish We're his custom with
drawn, and possibly because the bar
! tender in question was an understood
man, whom he deemed an easy victim
upon which to exhibit his prowess, and
the person least liable to take ot1ense at
| any OF his original and far from compli-
mentary observations. But, alas for his
! calculations, and alas for the reputation
| he had reared as bad man; the bad man
! met his Waterloo, as many other bad men
| have done, and was flung bodily out of
| the building by the undersized bartender
who WAS not likely to take ofanse, and
who admonished him by the kobnail toe
/ of a number five boot to seek other quar-
| ters in which to vaunt his valor and boast
of his private cemeteries, throwing in as
sauce tor the kick that he had best know
his dog before he jumped him for fight
| Later the crush subsided, and the
! quiet was broken only by a hurrying
customer who had been aroused from his
| lodging-no one knew whereby the
intense cold, and sought liquid consola-
ton as means OF bringing his be-
numbed body up to or above the normal.
or by the crack of pistol in one of the
nearby tents where two players deter
mined which held the winning hand, or
| by the screams of one of the drunken.
| painted creatures, whose countepart was
| to be found in every camp in the mount
| aims. Loud SnoreS and mumbled curses
| came from the loft above, and one lodger
! complained that some fellow in misery
| had, by mistake, got his hand into the
| wrong pocket. He appeared quite angry
| but few moments later grew facetious.
and stated that it made not the least mar
| ticle of difference as the prospector
would find nothing but warmth and not
much of that, and that if he expected to
| locate anything of more substantial
nature he had better move on to the next
| regular lodger.
| about this time the undersiZed bar
| tender suggested that | get from range of
| the lights and the windows, as some one
! might take pop at me for no other
reason than that l happened to make
| a RI pnnalrHad
| that to be shot was preferable to freezing
! to death, and remained. | had lust
! turned around to toast the other side.
when voice from the door beloved
| Look outn
~ looked out, accordingly, and there.
standing in the doorway. with a revolver
| leveled at the underSiZed bartender but
| dangerously near my direction, was the
| untamable individual from Bitter Creek
| while at each of the holes serving as win
! dows stood pal with outstretched arm.
at the end of which frowned an old-time
navy Glancing toward the bar | dis
| covered that the bad man and party had
not secured the drop by any means, for
each of the three compounders had a gun
| leveled, all apparently in my direction.
| \ man acts quickly in such situations.
and reproducing my Pittsburg smile, /
| said:
''Just one moment, gentlemen, if you
please, and l will give you a fair field and
no favors,' and without more ado |
clambered onto the top of the huge stack
of express packages on one side of the
room, and ensconsed myself behind a
trunk of desirable thickness and solidity,
after which l informed them | was Sc
cure, and, so tar as l was concerned. thev
might open hostilities whenever they
| saw tit.
u then subsidized and laid low, expect
ing tusillade, but none came. l could
] hear the flames crackla in the sinye and q