The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1897-12-16
WHALEN'S LUCK.

Whalens luck was copious, and it
became proverbiaI The facts here re-
corded are but specimen pages from the
book of his experience
When the Consolidated Canal COM
pany went into insolvency, its assets
consisted Of a mortgaged right Of way
through the sagebrush and several COM
pleted but detached sections Of a big
ditch
Mr. Brick Whalen, the contractor on
section 8. had finished the heavy work
there and was preparing to move camp to
section & when the company went
broke 1t was, in fact, upon the very
day the suspension was posted that
Whalen. having had his contract work
inspected. took the engineers certificate
up to headquarters to get his check. He
received instead a statement that the
company was in temporary difficulties
and an assurance that it would soon re-
sumo
Whalen had before this worked for
shaky corporations He knew better and
lost no time in acting OIL his knowledge
No good howlin over broken pipe
or tryin to save the pieces, he told
himself To his gang of 20 men he
said: "B' Us. the company's broke and
SO am 1. can t pay ye and can't feed
ye, You got to rustic. -
What's the matter with as taking
the mules? said one
Them mules and scrapers don't be-
long to me. as I've often told ye, said
Whalen. whose custom 1t was to refer
TO legendary hacker This ditching
outfit is the property OF Martin of San
Francisco, and any man that NEEDLES
with 1t will get the sheriff after him. ;"
II II take one, just the same," said
Shorty. and tell Martin he can have
him again when my wages is paid.
That about fair
A few others took the same visw of
the equities involved and took mules,
to which Whalen made only wordy
resistance Most of the men were in:
duced to accept orders on the defunct
company for the amount due them,
payable with large interest. AID If
you don t get it very soon the interest
will double your money, said Whalen.
When the last man had gone, Whalen
went out to the corral and counted the
mules. Forty one head That was a
pretty close call, said he.
1t was late in the season to find an
other Job of scraping, but the mules
could not live on sagebrush and were
at once started for the railroad On a
small stream where camp was made
one night band of trail sheep was
also camped Whalen eyed them dis
dalnfully
1 see the beggars eat sage. : said he
why, certainly, replied the sheep
man THAT the finest kind of feed for
sheep
j wish work mules would do that,
said Brick II never was so near q
sheep III my life, he continued. 1.-The
smell of EN- mile away is enough for
me Funny little fellows. and they look
some like mules with ears and tails cut
off What do you do with themy'
Double our money OH them every / 9
months. was the reply
No extended description of sheep
farming would have impressed the
fancy of the veteran mule skinner, but
double your money was hissown IA
miliar phrase for describing any hope
full venture and on that evening he
smoked many pipes of black plug over
it A brute that can thrive on a brush
diet and double your money every year
is an interesting creature
At day break Whalen was in the sheep
camp negotiating a trade of sheep fol
mules on a basis of 80 to and pre-
pared TO accept much less Three days
later he sat in the door Of the shack
which had long done duty as mess
house on section 3 of the canal. al
many an evening before he had sal
watching the mules come III from
water Tonight there was never a mule
IN sight. Down the breeze came 9
pungent odor and a tinkling of little
bells over the crest of an adjacent hill
appeared the flock. browsing on the
rank sage.
They do look some like mules, BE-
sollIOquized. and I'll bet I'm the only
irishman III America ever owned 8
herd OF sheep
Winter came and passed, and the only
freshman prospered BY roofing in cut
with brush he had commodious sheds,
and cross sections of poles divided the
broad ditch into as many corrals as hC
chose The sheep were fat and carried
heavy ieeces
Whalen had for help two boys WHIT
had wandered there and asked for work
He had proposed to hire one of them
but the boys protested that they hal
never been separated. and that if the,
got jobs at different ranches 1.-THE othe
: one wouldn't know where the othe
one was, !" contingency which the,
. could not abide So Whalen offered &
take the two at the price of one, and Oh
that basis they shared with him th
shack, herded the flock and cooked tn
grub They soon knew as much or a
little about sheep as Brick himself
and the proprietor found opportunit
to break the monotony of camp life b.
occasional trips to the railroad an
once to San Francisco
I'm going to see my friend MAJ
tin, . he told the boys Now, tend t
business and don t let any get away
And the boys gave their word that nc
one should escape.
During Whalen's absence in the cit
, he went out of the sheep business eve
more abruptly than he went into it th
/ previous autumn The instruction to th
. bows was fulfilled TO the letter Not an
got away.
1t happened on a hot day in Jun
when, contrary to the usual custom. th
boys brought the flock to camp and th
shade Of sheds at noontime. II neve