The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-12-30
A SWIFT VENGEANCE.

Searching for siinile you would In
oil probability liken tho lumber iume TO
. centipede-a giant centipede-a mon
strous centipede winding its way down
the mountain. twisting around point
here and twinKling its thousands OF long
pine legs In the sunlight as 1t leaped
across u canyon there. crawling for pro-
lection at times under the overhanRing
shelf Of rock and again pausinR ut the
crest Of n sharply inclined hin before
plunging over and down into the valley
Fellow whore the mill and the box factory
and the railroad trains waited. Some
times Us legs were long and stiltlike In
npD' az .nce ana that was when IL sDanned
the canyon with the river and ths stage
track at its bottom and sometimes those
legs were mere stubs and accomplished
no oCher purpose than to brace the
trough in proper position ms Ii burrowed
along al sxcavated shelf of the mountain
working Its wr thing way down, down,
down. Here and there smaller trough
fed it with water stolen from the creek,
the stream boiDg tapped half a mile above
so that despite spillage ana leakage anc
other subtraction there should always be
enough OF the liquid lubricant running
In tho tiume To make the passage OF
lum ber easy and expeditions
Sandy I" was midway OF the climb.
"Sandy's" was little white ranchhouse
built alongside the stage road. The front
door opened directly upon tho road and
there was no back door, for the other end
OF the houee was good 81 feet above
the dipping side OF the hill. Ii was five
miles to the top OF the mountain whore
Sandy himself supervised the logging
work, and SO his daughter Becky was
alone In the rsnchhouse for long terms
''for week at stretch, as she would
express It, Sandy seldom stretched 10 be
yond a week, for he had some notion OF
the dreary lODesoweness of life In that
isolated house and rads it his pleasant
duty to come down every Saturday night
with Sam Harkins. the stage driver. ana
accompany him up tho hills on Mondays.
And through the week he made frequent
trips down the almost vertical sids of the
hill and cliin bed laboriously back again
after having brightened for time not
only the life OF the 13year old girl, but
also his own. In winter when there was
no possibility OF using the nume because
OF the fabulous depths of snow the fore
man and his little daughter mt down
To tho CITY where the railroad and the mill
and the box factory were, 20 hibernate
and to enable becky to 60 TO school.
sandy induced the company to cut into
the house the telephone when ran down
tho mountain ms a consort TO the Hume.
so that after considering oil things
Becky was provided for with decent com
fort and managed the neaRerly patron
lied nostotlice and telephoned to the
headquarters OF the company the hour of
sam HarkiDs' arrival and Of his depart
ure and made dinner for the stage driver
and performed the other functions pecu-
liar to a handy halfway house.
Mr. ChoI Y Go kwse's common desig
nation was Bad Jim and the appellation
fitted him To Hicety on seven days of
the week. He was a husky villain who
could get more muscle into the work OF
iugginR timber than any three other
Cninamen at the top Of the mountain,
but he possessed the mystery OF evolving
Cninese gin apparently OF .nothingness,
like a wizard. and OF drinking himself
into fierce moods which mean trouble TO
whomsoaver should cross his path. sandy
discharged Chong several times but WAS
obliged to re-engaR0 hiiD because tho
other men OF his sun kissed race were
afraid To work while be, nursing sore
heart wns abroad In the mountains.
Besides. although they kept that a secret,
they were not above quiet love for his
Chinese gin Of secret creation.
Tbs tuesday morning, without which
this history would ba quite unnecessary,
opened bright and clear with Fad Jim
very drunk and anxious to find that man
who had said, according to .)im's own
disturbed dreams, that he could whip
him. Instead. he found SANDY. who was
liz enough 10 throw him off one Of the
cars on which lum ber was brought from
the Lake. and promptly did 80. sandy,
VINO had refraiDed rom physical contact
with this had Chinaman. losing all
patience, descen led from the car end
whipped him with extreme vigor. lie
returned to the car. but the other China
men wer" too ba lly scared 10 work with
any effect. and inaly wEtn tie boss began
TO criticise them In mis- usual picturesque
phrasaulo1y, one, known as Little Boy,
1un IN "a
sort OF supsrstitJus drsai OF working
with a corpse.
Where's your corpse'" Sandy asked,
with SONS lurid adJectives and nouns
scrom panyipg tho inquiry. Little Bob
said that 90, Sandy, was that c1ruse;
that Bad Jia would surely Kill him;
that he was as guod as dead now, and it
was an uncanuy thing for live Cbinamen
To work aloD Rside OF y dead white man
or ut Is direction. They would, there
fore, withdraw. And the whole lot of
the cattle bgoke or the lake. Sandy
went into h& little office building and
tslephoned tie headqusrters Of the com
pany. asking for lot OF new men.
"1hese yellow ours have struck Tor some
fool reason. re said. They pretend
II ia be ause of n row j had with Bad
.iim. who seems u have made them
think he's going to kill ms for shocking
him Oft cur. but l oon't think he Will,
for he went oft into the timber with two
as beautiful black eyes as"
He uld not shy any more, for a cant
hook came down upon mis- head and he
fell to the floor Chong Go kwee mai
come cut Of the timber
Tbs curl osity winch Il descended from
Eve had eau ssd Becky. away down the
mountain SIDE, to rush 10 the telephone
as the bell rang. she knew by the signal
rin ginR that the call was for the com
pany, bat IL had been n lonesome time
shat morning and she was delighted 10