Evening star., 1897-04-03

1t: our luck brings no misfortune to Others
The gold was put there ages ago, for any
body 70 find, we found it. 1t hasn't been
tarnished by mans touch before / don
! know Eow ii strikes You, boys, but it seems
TO me that of all gifts that are going it is
the straightest. For whether we deserved
II or not, 1t comes to us first-hand-from
Godr'
The two men glanced quickly at the
speaker. whose face flushed and then smiled
eInbarra ssedly as II ashamed of the en-
lhusiasm into which he had been betrayed.
But Demorest did not smile, and Stacy's
eyes shone in the freight as ne said lam
suidly: i never heard that prospecting
was a religious occupation before. But /
boy. So lets liquor up
Nevertheless lie did not move nor did .he
others The fire leaped higher bringing out
the rude rafters and sternly economic de-
tails of the rough cabin. and making the
occupants in their seats before the fire look
gigantic by contrast.
Who shut the door?" said Demorest,
u did said Barker. 'T reckoned it was
getting cold"
Better open it again. now that the fires
blazing 1t will light the way if any of
the men from below want to drop in this
evening
Stacy stared at his companion Il thought
that 1t was understood that We were giving
them that dinner at Eoomville tomorrow
night, SO that We might have the last even
ing here by ourselves in peace and quiet
ness.
Yes, but if any one did want to come it
would seem churlish TO shut him OUT" said
Demorest.
Il reckon you're feeling very much as 1
am, said Stacy; that this good fortune Is
rather crowding to US three alone. For my
sell L know, he continued, with a back
ward glance toward a blanketed covered
pile in the corner of the cabin, that 1 feel
kinder oppressed by-by-its specific grav-
ity. l kalkilate-and sorter crampy and
n he y 7 yoh lita
and dc something, and yet it holds me here.
All the same, l doubt if anybody will come
up-except from curiosity. Our luck has
MADE them rather sore down the hill, for
all they're coming to the dinner tomorrow"
That's only human nature" said Demo-
rest.
s'But." sad Barker. eagerly what does
mean? Why. only this afternoon, when
1 was passing the Old Kentuck' tunnel
where those Marshals have been grubbng
along for four years without making a sin
gle strike, l felt ashamed to look at them;
and as they barely nodded to me, l slnked
by as If had done them an injury. / don't
Understand it
1T somehow does not seem to square
with this Gift o God idea of yours. does
it?' said Stacy. But well open the door
and give them Show.
AS he did so, it seemed as If the night
were their only guest and had been wait
ing on the threshold 10 now enter bodily
and parvade all things with its presence
w lln tilaI cool. fragrant lnIoW or air thfy
hreathed freely. The red edge had gone
from Black Spur but it was even more
clearly defined against the sky in its tow
erirg blackness. The sky itself had grown
lighter. although the stars still seemed
mere reflections of the solitary pin-points
of light sc altered along the corcave valley
below Minglng with the cooler restfui
air of the summit, yet pEnetratingly distant
from 1t. arose the stimulating breath of the
piEes below. still hot and painting from the
oayiong SUM- The silence was intense. The
far-off barking of a dog the invisible
river bar nearly a mile beneath them came
to them like sound in dream. They had
risen, and, standing in the doorway by
common consent turned their faces to the
east. 1t was the frequent attitude of the
home-remembering miner, and it gave him
the crowniDg glory Of the view. For be-
yond the pine-he2rsed SUBMITS rarely seen
excepl against the evening sky, lay a thin
white cloud like a dropped portion of the
milky way. Faint with an Understandable
Itself above and beyond all surrounding OBJ
1ects. II was always there. 1t was the
ST ow line of the Sierras
They turned away, and silently reseated
themselves-tEe same thought in the minds
OF each. Here was something they could
rot take away-something to be left for
ever and irretrievably behind-left with the
healthy life they had been leading, the
cheerful endeavor, the undying mop eful-
ness which 1t had fostered and blessed
was what they were taking away worth ii?
And oddly enough, frank ana outspoken as
they had always been to each other that
common thought remained unuttered! Even
Barker was silent; perhaps he was also
thinking of Kitty
Suddenly two figures appeared In the very
doorway of the cabin. The effect was