Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-09-11

shared with him the shack, herded th'
flock aud cooked the grub. They soor
knew as much, or as little, about
sheep as Brick himself; and the pro
prietor found opportunity to break the
monotony OF camp life by occasional
trips to the railroad and once to San
Francisco.
"I'm going to see my friend Martin, u
he told the boys. "Now tend to bust
ness and don't let any get away" And
the boys gave their word that not one
should escape.
During Whalen's absence in the city
he went out of the sheep business even
more abruptly than he went into it the
previous autumn. The instruction to
the boys was fulfilled to the letter.
rot any got away.
1t happened on hot day in June,
when, contrary to usual custom, the
boys brought the flock to camp and
the shade of sheds at noontime. 1t
navar raino ia that aria region, but
sometimes pours. This was one OF
those times. Charged with ice and
water great black cloud came drift
ing down the wind and emptied out its
load upon the camp and the hillside
above it. The canal, curving around
it's base, formed an eave-trough for
the whole mountain and poured several
thousand inches of water into
Whalen's improvised sheep sheds.
The flood very soon subsidized, but
when the cloud had passed and the
sun again shone forth, there were no
living sheep. Not many minutes are
required to drown q rat in hole.
Meanwhile the boys, greatly
frightened by the sudden storm, and
with no thought for the safety of the
flock, were in the shack. The hail
pounded and the wind shookit. Water
covered the floor.
"Pray, Billy" said the one on the
barrel.
"No, you do it," he answered from
the tabletop.
The shack had no window, and,
with the door closed, it was pretty
dark in there. When Whalen reached
home two hours later, the floor was
still wet, and the boys were yet roost-
ing on table and barrel, but outside,
in the bright sunlight, the ground
appeared already almost dry. A
solitary goat stood upon the shed
roof; he had been among the sheep in
the pen.
"You can't keep q good man down
any more than you can a goat" was
Bricks comment on the catastrophe
While Whalen was working the boys
double time at pulling the wool from
the dead sheep, he had the happy
thought of stocking his ranch with
bees. Having money enough for the
proceeds of his wool sale to buy
hundred stands, he promptly carried
the thought into effect.
Again he sat down in the door Of his
shack to "double his money"
'"This is better than sheep" said
he; "for they herds themselves. And
they are like mules in one thing-you
are liable to get hurt if you fool with
EN-"
This wave OF prosperity broke up as
soon as former ones had done, for he
had imported bad case of foul brood,
and within year the hundred
swarms had petered out. When we
went down there last summer in the
interest of new company which has
taken up the work of completing the
canal, Whalen gathered the bones out
of the old shed in the cut and hauled
them to the railroad, where he sold
them for fertilizer, realizing enough
to buy two more mules. With his
four-mule team he is at work in the
ditch for days wages. Somewhat
grizzled now, and not so brick k-red of
hair and whisker as formerly, he is
happy as ever, and sanguine that he
will double his money.
"Here's hoping" that he may
Argonaut.