Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-04-01

with quick. feminine gesture Of sympathy she
bent her 1.-the figure over Boss Morgan's pros
trate figure.
Why. it's Abe burton and his partner" said
the driver Of the buggy. coming forward and
disclosing the grizzled features Of Mr.. Joshua
sinclair, the assayer to the mines. Il don't
know how to thank you, boys The internal
brute got the bit between his teeth and 1 should
nave had to throw Carrie out and chance it in
another minute. That's right" he continued.
as Morgan staggered to his feet. mot much
hurt, hope"
Il can get up to the hut now, /" said the young
man, steadying himself upon his partners
shoulder. "How are you going to get Miss
Sinclair homer"
'Oh, we can walk" said that young lady,
shaking OF the effects Of her fright with all the
elasticity Of youth.
'we can drive and take the road round the
bank SO as to avoid the ford,' said her father
1.-The horse seems cowed enough now; you need
not be afraid OF 1t. Carrie. hope We shall see
you at the house, both of you. Neither Of us
can easily forget this nights work.
Miss Carrie said nothing, but she managed to
shoot a little demure glance Of gratitude from
under her long lashes, to have won which
honest Abe felt that he would have cheerfully
undertaken to stop a runaway locomotive.
There was a cheerv shout Of "good night" Q
crack of the whip and the buggy ratified away
in the darkness
"You told me the men were rough and nasty,
pa" said Miss Carrie Sinclair, after long
silence, when the two lark shadows had died
away in the distance and the carriage was speed
ing along by the turbulent stream. II don't
think SO. l think they are very NICE" And
Carrie was unusually quiet for the remainder
OF her journey aad seemed more reconciled to
the hardship Of leaving her dear friend Amelia
in the far-off boarding school at Melbourne.
That did not prevent her from writing a full,
true and particular account of their little ad:
venture to the same young lady upon that very
night.
''Thev stopped the horse, darling and one
poor fellow was hurt. And oh, Amy. if you
had seen the other one in red shirt. with
pistol at his waist. couldn't help thinking of
you, dear. He was just your idea. You re-
member. a yellow mustache and great blue eyes.
And how he did stare at poor me. You never
see such men in Burke street, Amy" and so on.
for four pages of pretty feminine gossip.
In the meantime poor Boss, badly shaken.
had been helped up the hill by his partner and
regained the shelter of the shanty. Abe doc
tored him out Of the rude pharmacopeia of the
camp, and bandaged up his strained arm.
H.
casual visitor would have noticed a remark
able change in the conversation of this COM
munity. Somehow, when a certain dainty little
bonnet, with a sweet, girlish figure beneath it.
was seen in the distance among the disused
shafts and mounds of red earth which dis
figured the sides of the valley, there a warn
ing murmur and general clearing of of the
cloud Of blasphemy, which was, regre. to
state an habituai characteristic Of the working
population of Harvey's Sluice.
Abe had formerly been considered one of the
most experienced valuators of an ore in the set
Element. 1t had been commonly supposed that
he was able to estimate the amount of gold in
fragment of quartz with remarkable exactness.
This. however, was evidently mistake. other
wise he would never have incurred the useless
expense OF having worthless speci-
mems assayed as he now did. Mr.. Joshua Sin
clair found himself inundated with such flood
OF fragments of mica and Jumps Of rock con-
tanning decimal percentages Of the precious
metals that he began to form a very low opin-
ion OF the young mans mining capabilities.
1t is certain that, what with professional bust
ness in the morning and social visits at night
the tall figure of the miner was familiar OBJ
ject in the little drawing room Of Azaiea Villa,
as the new house of the assayer had been mag
niloquently named There one cloud on
Bones horizon, and that was the periodical ap-
pearance of Black Tom Ferguson of Rochdale
Ferry. This clever young scamp had managed
to ingratiate himself with old Joshua and was
a constant visitor at the villa. There were evil
rumors abroad about Black Tom. He was
known to be gambler and shrewdly suspected
to be worse. Harveys Sluice was not censori-
GUS. and yet there was q general feeling that
Ferguson was a man to be avoided. Miss Car
RE seemed to hail his appearance as a relief and
Chartered away for hours about books and
music and the gayeties Of -Mslbourne.-It was
would sink into the very lowest depths Of
dependency and either slink away sit glar-
ing at his rival with an earnest malignancy
which seemed to cause that gentleman no small
amusement.
The miner made no secret to his partner of
the admiration which he entertained for Miss
Sinclair.
That loafer from Rochdale," he said. she
seems to reel it off kinder nat'ral, while for the
life Of me can't say word. Tell me, Boss,
what would you say to girl like that?"
Why, talk about what would interest her"
said his companion.
"Ah. that's where it lies"
Talk about the customs Of the place and the
country" said the Boss, pulling meditatvely at
his pipe. Tell her stories of what you have
seen In the mines and that sort of thing"
"Eh? You'd do that, would your" responded
his comrade more hopefully. If that's the
hang Of it am right. I'll 60 up now and tell
her about Chicago Bill, an how he put them
two bullets in the man from the bend the night
of the dance"
Boss Morgan laughed.
That's hardly the thing" he said. "You'd
brighten her if you told her that. Tell her
something lighter, you know; something to
amuse her. something funny"
Funny! said the anxious lover, with less
confidence in his voice. .'How Won and me
made Mat Houlahan drunk and put him in the
pulpit OF the Baptist Church, and he wouldn't
let the preacher in in the morning. How
would that do. eh?'
For heavens sake. don't say anything of the
sort, said his mentor in great conservation
''She' d never speak to either of us again. No,
what mean is that you should tell about the
habits of the mines; how men live and work
and die there. If she is q sensible girl that
ought to interest her.
"How they live at the mines? Pard, YOU are
good to me. How they live? There's a thing
l can talk of as glib Black Tom or any man.
I'll try it on her when l see her."
by the way said his partner listlessly,
'just keep an eye on that man Ferguson.
Watch what ne does"
II will, said his companion.
And he did. He watched him that very
night-watched him stride out Of the house of
the assayer with anger and bafied pride on
every feature of his handsome swarthy face;
watched him clear the garden palng at a bound.
pass in long rapid strides down the side of the
valley, gesticulating wildly with his hands, and
vanish into the husband beyond. All this Abe
burton watched. and with a thoughtful look
upon his face he relit his pipe and strolled
slowly backward to the hut upon the hill
March was drawing to a close in Harvey's
Sluice. and the glare and heat of the antipodean
summer had toned down into the rich mellow
hues Of autumn.
On that particular morning the stream looked
pretty as it meandered down the valley;
pretty, too, was the long rising upland be-
hind, with its luxuriant green covering, and
nv inst nf all