The times., 1897-05-23

1 wei, mister, a man can t build churches
and endow colleges without its getting
| cut somehow 1 suppose they told her
| at the party"
| And did they tell her how he works the
men under him at starvation wages, and
| how he owns the shanty that stands Ike Il
| greedy, ternptin' devil at the mouth OF each
| shaft, so that ne can get hack the woGta
of his wages in drink? Did they tell her
| about the hopeless lives huddled together
up the mountain sides, and OF the souls ne
has driven 20 Iawlessness by his cursed
| love of gain"
| 1t is such long time back that forget
| it word for word, but DO know thatin the
| telling the fair reputation Of the King Of
the Inca Noun rtaiI fell from him IKE tho
royal Tobes fell fIom that other false king
in the fairy tale, and that standing there
with the twilight Changing from lovely
green TO q dismal gray. l became conscious
that hypocrisy was something more than
a hard word to spell IL was ny tifst
| lesson in life.
80 the folks down the valley are afraid
| OF being Killed. Good Who does the kill
| ing?'
L wasso tired and hungry, and did want
| to get home so badIy-but he dida't { show
Il guess you know more about IL than
/ do, living in the middle OfitaH Mr.. Parker
keeps Cloud Top says the Mollies used
| TO be dreadful all through the mountains,
| but they were caUghtand hanged yearsago.
/ and that there is only one gang left up on
Mount Pisesh-we never go up there, even
| in parties-and that when the new de-
tective who came last night to find out
| about the killing of the superintendent OF
d mine up there gets TO work. there wont
/ be one left TO tell the tale
In the darkeniDg shadows I saw his
forehead wrinkle into deep lines between
his eyes, and he reached out one biz paw
OF u hand and gripped me by my dress
No, WASH t fraid In the bright lexicon
of my youth there was no such word as
suspicion-I had seen miners in plenty Just
like him, on the roads around the hotel,
, nd they were always friendly when L
| asked them questions. To my callOw Un-
dersta ndine the detective OF too little
account To talk about,in thatheate pie with
knife; but never did enjoy sa ying hurt
| ful things bout people, so desCTIbed him
! in the politest words 1 could think of
| had not caught his name
so he's comm 20 take d hand, is he2
| It's dangerous sport, young 'un, traczin'
desperate men to death. Look at this fine,
| big hole"
Still grabbing me by the gathers, he
| stepped To the ledge OF the chasm, and
| necessarily 1 went along II was too fine
| and big for my use it made my back creepy
| and my bead swim.
There's more than one man tumbiel
| down here TO his death in my time he
said. and there was a complacency mixed
| up with my preserver's brngue that I
Couldn't conscientiousIy approve OF.
Have they, though? Poor thingsi'
why don't they keep off, then? They
| come prowlin' up here as helpless lookin as
| ye be, an they say they are lost, the same
| ds ye do; but they were always infCrmcrS-
| always. an they always had their pals hid
| in the bushes, the sane as if ye had been
| sent by the red-headed man with the big
/ ears. An so be, if ye were to Stumble.
down ye would go, an down an down;
| an there ye would lie until there wes
nothin left Of you but some white rags
an pile Of dusty bones"
Ragsl Bonesl
! No young woman of fourteen, with a cor
rect appreciation of her own Hiceness, likes
| 20 think Of such unbeconing results The
/ bare suggestion sent me d step backward
/ it would have been two steps, only he .et
| goOf my dress and Ciinched my arminStead-
All, la" ne chuckIed; scared Ike the
rest, are ye-"
I'm not half as scared as CaliSta is"
| I blurted out with sudden tesrfuIness-
| Here I've been gone all day Ind ] know
! she's raving distracted
But suppoSin','' he persisted sup
| posin soruethin' Were to happen to ye an
| We never got back?"
| That struck NE as very pathetic
Il was thinking that same thing, mister.
! when you came along There's no telling
what would have become of ne if you
| hadn't heard me holIer-and poor CaIista
would Just have laid down and died"
| / was thankful had put that in about
Calisfa for he straightway pulled me back
from the pit and let go Of my arm
ITS time ye were gettin' home It's
| a tough way. even in the daytime-now,
then, gimme your hand"
And it was a tough way all Iuts and
sticks and darkness, and the hotel lights
were shining between the trees when
| we came to the last clump OF scTubby pines
/ that hid us from the valley, where said
| gOod-by to my friend.
| No, he wasn't much of a friend to look
| at. just an oldish man, with black, black
hair that had frost of gray on it, and sort
| OF homesick eyes. For the rest, l think
| he was all blue flannel and boots, and his
J hands were as black as Sin-morJal sin
| Being a miner, of course he couldn't help
| It.
He seemed not to want to shake hands.
| but made him, and when he had turned
| and was almost swallowed in the shadows
| Pc slipped back and said, in his queer,
roughish way. such very rousldsh way:
! Say young un. have We heard tell yet
| of one Black Mccarthy"
Il should say So He's the leader OF the
Mount Pisgah gang OF course I've heard
| Of Black Mccarthy"
Perhaps he's not so black as he's paint
ed: perhaps again, he's worse, for his
hands are stained with blood and his
heart is burnin' with hate for them who
| have made him what heis- However, that's
| nothin': only when the folks down at the
hotel ask We who found ye lost In the
mountain and brought We safely home We
| may give my compliments To the red
headed man an tell him it was black
Mccarthy"
And it was And though they put rope
around his neck at last, he was my friend.
MY honored friend, and / don't care who
| knows it.
| When his soul was swung from The legal
| Justice of this world to the divine justice
of the other do believe that Some ore
remembered that day up Inca Mountain