St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1895-05-11

Inc sun Sinks SLOWLY pGHIuu EdEIc
mountain, the twilight gathers, and
Barton's camp is left in wintry dark
ness. Light shines in the fifty cabins,
saloons, stores and gambling houses,
but they are soon e1tinghished, save In
one lone shanty, and the inha bitants
of the camp can be seen vending their
way to that particular habitation.
It is an occasion of unusual inpor-
tance. The only girl in the camp, Cas-
tella, daughter of Cap Woods, is
going to be married to Jim Douglas,
| and the miners have declared their In
tention to celebrate theevent proper"
The parson from Eagle City has been
engaged to tie the knot, and the only
| fiddler within round hundred miles
is to furnish the melody for the we'd
| ding dance. True, he possesses poor
instrument and discourses poorer
music, but then he is the only ssmusi-
clan" available, and they must have
music. There are plenty of spirits on
tap and everything looks promising
for a high old time
Promptly at seven o'clock the alleged
violinist draws his bow across the
strings and the festivities commence.
The largest room in the shanty has
been reserved for dance hall, and as
the notes of an old-fashioned polka fill
the apartment and set the feet of the
festive miners going tap, tap against
the floor, keeping time to the tune,
castella and Jim begin to whirl around
the room, followed by four miner
couples, that being all the limits of the
room will allow. There being only
one woman present, the miners, to use
their own expression, have to stag it.
except when their turn comes to dance
with the prospective bride.
Castella is handsome, well-built,
large-eyed girl of eighteen, and there
is not miner in the company, even
among those who have left spouses in
the far east, who does not envy Jim
his good luck in winning the pride Of
the camp. Her father is an ex-captain
of New Bedford whaler, who, some
how, won the heart of a Boston lady
Of extreme education and culture.
When the hardy captain brought his
wife and little girl to the wild west,
she of the Puritan descent had her
rigid ideas of decornm so often shocked
by the dreadful" miners that she
finally gave up trying to live in such
region and peacefully died. Castella
does not take after her mother. She
likes the rough but kindly miners, and
has even taken on their uncouth speech.
She loves the crude-looking town.
Every shanty and every foot of ground
that goes to make up Barton's camp is
part and parcel of her existence. She
vows she will never leave the place,
and so she is marrying man who ex-
poets TO iinger and grow rich along
with the camp. 1t is her second love
affair, but the first was nearly year
ago and has almost faded from her
memory. This one is serious.
The time flies swiftly. Nine o'clock,
the hoursof the ceremony, is at hand.
The miners range themselves on either
side of the room. The parsontakes his
appointed place, the happy couple join
hands and the process of making two
one begins The preliminaries GO off
smoothly. The voice of the divine Is
loud and clear:
'sDo you, James Douglas, take this
woman to be your lawfully welded p
He does not finish the sentence. The
door opens and large swarthy-look
ing individual steps hurriedly into the
room The complexion and straight
black hair of the intruder betray part
Indian ancestry. His stern set face be-
tokens that his errand involves impor-
tant business, but the greeting he re-
ceives is not warm. Clearly he is not
an invited guest.
cheyenne Joe! Well, I'll be darned.n .
The outburst comes from Ned Belden.
He always expresses himself inele-
gantly,
'Yes, it's Cheyenne Joe. I've come
here clar from Hecia Canyon, and beat
the record fer fast travelin.' Thar's
dead horse outside. / rid him to death,
but hopes it was in a good cause. =
He stops speaking and the gruff voice
of Cap Woods is heard:
Look har, Cheyenne, you was told
to make yourself scarce about these
diggin's not more'n year ago, If /
Nco1lects right, and guess I does.
What brings you har now? This
shanty has open doors for honest men
only"
Cheyenne calmly folds his arms,
leans back against the door and looks
defantly at his interrogation as he an
swers:
.sYou speaks of the time when the
committee of safety of this har camp
give me two hours to git. They claimed
that I wuz concerned in the stage rob-
berry at Indian Gulch They brings no
proofs, but they runs me out just the
same. Them's the plain facts of the
case, but thet's got nothin' to do with
my bein' har. The explanation yer
hankerin' fer is this: When | was har
before and known as a squar' man I
made love to that gal standin' thar
clingin' to Jim Douglas. She was
sweet on me, and swore thet as long
lis she lived she would never forgit me-
When you drove me from the camp
told her wuz innocent, and some day
when I could prove it would come
back and marry her. She promised to
wait, and I believes she tried to keep
her word. When. way Of ii Hee1a
Canyon, good hundred miles to the
south. hears that my Gastella wuzH
goln' to marry another man, / sen to
myself, ms enemies are forcin' her to
he faithIess So takes my horse,
rides nigh and day. and har i am. ''
He stops q moment, but as no one
speaks he continues. His voice rises as
he proceeds: