The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1896-03-05

utensils. soon made himself at home.
The rest of the camp. now thoroughly
aroused, made d point of leaving
their work in the bitches whenever
they could, to stroll carelessly around
Bulger's tenement in the vague hope
of satisfying curiousity that had be
come tormenting. Bnt they could
not find that he was doing anything
Of suspicious character-except per-
haps from the fact that if was not out
wardly suspicious, which / grieve to
say did uot lull them to security. He
seemed to be either fixing up his cabin
or smoking in his doorway On the
second day he checked this itinerant
curiosity by taking the initiative him
self, and quietly walking from claim
to claim and from cabin to cabin with
a pacific, but by no means satisfying
interest. The shadow Of his tall figure
carrying his inseparable gun which
had not apparently stood in the cor
ner,' falling upon an excavated bank,
beside the delving miners, gave him
sense of uneasiness they could not eX
plain; a few characteristic yells OF
boisterous hilarity from theis noon-
tide gathering under d cottonwood
somehow ceased when Mr.. Bulger
was seen gravely approaching, and
his casual stopping before a poker
party in the gulch actually caused one
of the most reckless chambers to
weakly recede from "a bluff and al
low his adversary to sweep the board.
After this it was felt that matters
were becoming serious. There was
no subsequent patrolling of the camp
before the strangers cabin, Their
curiosity was singularly abated A
general feeling of repulsion kept with
in bounds partly by the absence of any
over act from Bulger. and,partly by an
inconsistent overconsciOusness of his
shotgun took its place. But an unex
pected occurrence revived it.
One evening as the usual social
| circle were drawn around Mosby's
stove, the lazy silence was broken by
the familiar sounds Of pistol shots and
series Of more familiar shrieks and
yells from the rocky hill road. The
circle quickly recognized the voices Of
their old friends the rOysterers, and
gamblers from Sawyer's Dam; they as
as quickly recognized the returning
shouts here and there from their new
companions who were retaining them.
grieve to say that in spite of their
previous attitude Of reformation a
smile of gratitied expectancy lit up
the faces of the younger members, and
even the older ones glanced obviously
at Briggs. Mosby made no attempt
to conceal sigh of relief as he care
fully laid out an extra supply of glass
es in his bar. Suddenly the oncoming
yells ceased, the wild gallop of hoofs
slackened into a trot and finally halt
ed, and even the responsive shouts of
the camp stopped also. We all look
ed vacantly at each other; Mosby leap,
ed over his counter and went to the
door, Briggs followed with the rest of
us. The night was dark and it was a
few minutes before we could distin
guish struggling, vague. but silent
procession moving through the most
heavy air on the hill But to our sur
prise it was moving away from us
absolutely leaving the camp. We
We're still staring in expectancy, when
ont of the darkness slowly emerged a
figure which we recognized at once a.
Capt. Jim-one of the most reckless
members of our camp. Pushing Us
back into the grocery he entered with
out word, closed the door behind
him, and threw himself vacantly into
q chair. We at once pressed around
| him. He looked mp at rs dazedly
drew long breath, and said slowly
Its no use, gentlemen. Sutbin's
got to be done with that Bulger, And
mighty quick"
What's the matter2" We asked
eagerly