The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1893-08-02

life? And who nowadays can tolerate
low life in print unless it be redeemed by
a rustic environment and labored ex-
preston of clodhopper English and prim-
tive expletives? Low life outside of a
dialect story and a dreary village :?
Never
Mrs- Blake and the child lived in
fair degree of comfort upon the mothers
wages, but often the mother shuddered
at thought of what might happen should
she ever lose her situation at the photo
grapher's.
Consumption had its hold on Busted
Blake when he arrived in the mining
town called Get-there City, in Kansas,
one evening. Get-there City had not
gotten there beyond a single struggling
street of shanties, but it had acquired a
saloon, although liquor selling had
already been forbidden in Kansas.
Busted" Blake, with ten cents in his
clothes, entered the saloon and asked in
an asthmatic voice for as much whisky
as that sum was good for.
While awaiting a response his eyes
turned toward the only ot4er persons in
the salOon-three burly, bearded miners,
of the conventional. .big-hatted, big-boot-
ed and big-voiced type. Above their
heads and against the wall was the sign,
lettered roughly with charcoal under a
erudely drawn deaths head
Five thousand dollars will be paid
by the undersigned to the widow OF the
sneaking hound that informs on this sa-
loon. This is no mere bluff.
P. GIBBs."
Blake, after brief coughing fit looked
up al the man behind the bar, great,
thick-necked fellow, with mie1 of au-
thority and yet with certain bluff hon
esty expressed about his eyes and lips.
This man, whose air Of proprietorship
convinced Blake that ne could be none
other than P. Gibbs, had first looked
sneeringly at the ten cents, but had shown
some small sign of pity upon hearing the
ominous cough Of the attenuated vagrant.
He set forth bottle and glass,
Help yerself," said p. Gibbs. While
Blake was doing so, Mr.. Gibbs went on
bad cough O yourn. Y mightn't guess
it, but that same cough runs in my fami-
ly. 1t took of brother, but it skipped
me-"
Here was bond Of sympathy between
the big law-defying saloon-keeper and
the frail topper from the east. Busted
Blake drained his glass and presently
coughed again. p Gibbs again set forth
the bottle and this time he drank with
Blake. Before long, oy dint of repeated
hts Of coughing, on the part of Blake, the
sympathy OF P: Gibbs was worked upon
that he invited the three miners in the
saloon to join MIN and the stranger.
Blake slept in a corner OF the saloon
that night He LEFT there the next
morning, curious expression Of resolu-
ton on his face.
During the next three weeks he was
now and then alluded to in p Gibbs
saloon as the coughing stranger
In the middle of the third week at
nine O'Clock in the evening. when the
lamps in Z. Gibbs saloon were exerting
their smallest degree of dImness, the door
opened and in staggered Busted Blake.
His staggering on this occasion was mani
festly not due to drink His face had
the hideous concayities of a starved man,
and the uncertainty Of MS gait was the
token Of mortal feebleness. His. .emacia-
ton was painful to behold. His eyes
glowed ike huge gems.
The crowd OF miners looked at him
with surprise as he entered.
The coughing stranger :" cried one.
"rhe colin stranger, You mean" said
another.
Busted" Blake hurried over to the
bar. His eyes met those Of P. Gibbs on
the other side, and the latter reached for
q whlskey bottle.
Blake fumbled in his pocket and
brought forth piece Of soiled paper,
which he laid on the bar under the
glance of p. Gibbs.
keep thatw said Blake in husky
voice, whose service he compelled with
much effort. And keep your word, too.
That's where you'll find her"
?. Gibbs picked up the paper.
What do you mean? ," he asked.
That womanis name therei Its name
of my widow; the addr,sss, too, of a pho
man who will tel you where she
is. Get ali the money 10 ner quick, be-
fore the governor comes down on you
with the troops to close you up. And
don't let her know how II comes about.
Pick out a man TO take it TO her, let him
pay his expenses out OF it-a man you
can trust-and make him tell her ] made
il somehow, mining or something, so
she'll take it. You know
z. Gibbs, vino had liste ned with in
creasing amazement opened wide his eyes
and drew his revolver. H spoke in =
low, repressed voice:
Stranger, do you mean to say"
"Yes, that's IT," shriekt,d Busted
Blake, turning toward the crowd Of in
tensely interested on-loCkers. And l
call on all of you here to witness, and to
hold him to his word. That's no mere
bluff, he says, in his nosiee there, and
Pm the sneaking hound that informed
My widows entitled to his five thousand
dollars. did it in Topek |, and for proof
see this newspaper"
p. Gibbs fired shot from MS revolver
through the newspaper that Blake pail
ed from beneath his shirt Then the
brought his weapon on
level with Biake's fac :.
Its good your lsoOts is on| said p.
Gibbs, ironically.
But he did not fire. Bake stood per-
fectly still, awaiting the shot, and feebl =
laughlng-
So the two remain led for some moments
until Blake sudde- ally sank 10 the floor,
quite exhausted He died within half
hour, on the saloon floor, his head rest
ing in the palm Of P. Gibbs, who knelt
by his side and tried to revive him
At the next dawn, man whom they