Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-01-28
CHAPTER II.


Use you right now, Skinny, that if you
do you'll never get sober, for intend to
have you shot while yer happy"
Nobody replied to this. The man ad-
dressed only glanced across the table,
and then, dropping his eyes, brushed
the ashes from his cigar with the tip Of
his little finger The man at the speak
er's right smiled quietly over at his
vis-a-vis, and then there was silence for
moment.
The freighter and the prospector,
leaning on the bar, paid no attention to
the four men who sat and smoked by
the little pine table i'll dark corner of
the log saloon. The Lone Spruce, as the
place was called, had done rushing
business in the boom days, but Ruby
Camp was dying, even as Silver Cliff,
Gunnison and dozens of other camps
have died since-as Creole is dying to-
day-and business was slow. A drunken
Ute reeled i'll and wanted to play poker,
shake dice or shoot with any dog of a
white man i'll the place. When all the
rest had put him aside coldly, he came
over to the corner, and the dark man,
being deep i'll thought and not wishing
to be disturbed, arose, and picking his
way between the two guns which dan
gled from the hips of the noble red man
kicked him along down the room and
out into the night.
Having done his duty in removing the
red nuisance-for he hated a drunkard
the dark man babe the barkeeper good
night and passed out by the back door.
The three men at the pine table followed
him.
All this occurred in the last half Of
the closing hour of the week. Thirty
minutes later, when the four mountain
GERS rode away from the Black Bear
carrel, it was Sunday, but the people of
Ruby Camp took no note Of time When
the sun came up ON that beautiful sun
day morning, it found the dark man
and his companions at the top of the
range overlooking the wet mountain
valley. BEFORE they had reached the
foothills tn sun caught the two threads
of steel that stretched away across the
park and disappeared at the entrance of
the canyon at the foot of the vale. All
night they had ridden single file, but
now as they entered the broad valley
they punched their horses and conversed
as they went along. The dark man kept
his eyes upon barren peak that stood
at the foot of the valley, where the rail
road track, gliding smoothly over the
mesa seemed to tumble into the canyon
as swift Niagara tumbles over the falls
At that point the little party expected
to dismount and take the train for the
Cliff. The leader, who was able to read
both print and writing, had noticed "a
paragraph in the Denver Tribune to the
effect that the new Custer County bank
would open for business at Silver Cliff
July 10. He had been assured by his
own banker at Gunnison that the new
institution W uld be perfectly reliable
backed, as it was, by the First National
of Denver. Being a man of good judg-
ment, he reasoned that the necessary
funds for the new bank would in all
probability leave Denver Saturday night
and go up from the junction by the one
daily train ON Sunday. That was why
he wished to take the train.
When they had crossed the valley and
entered the wilderness Of pine and ce-
dar, they began to search for side can
| yon which would lead them down to
the main gulch. Having found proper
ravine they watered and grassed their
horses and had breakfast.
1t was not yet noon, and the train, the
dark man made out from the figures upon
time card which he carried, would
not leave the junction until p. H. 1t
| would probably be 3 or 3:15 when it
passed the mouth of the little rill upon
which they were encamped.
Having breakfasted and smoked, the
men stretched themselves upon the
| ground, all save the dark man, and
slept like tired children.
The leader, leaning against a moss
covered spruce tree, watched black
J storm that was brewing in the hills to
the north. Presently he heard a sharp
| clap of thunder. In few minutes there
came the roaring sound Of waterfall,
and the dark man knew that a cloud
had given way, but as the main gulch
was between him and the storm he
gave the matter no serious thought.
At last the hour arrived. The four
men, leaving their horses, descended to
the main gulch only to find that there
was no railroad there. Skinny, still
smarting from the effect of the rather
severe temperance lectures he had re-
ceived the evening before, looked at the
leader and started to laugh, but the
dark man scowled and crushed him.
He knew the country and knew that
the road had been there, but was now
washed away. A little way up the can
yon they came to the torn end of the
track and knew for a surety that nc
train would come up the gulch that day.
The silent leader made no show OF
disappointment, but quietly dismissed
his men and watched them ride away
toward the sunset, with their broad
hats tipped sidewise and their ever
ready rifles resting across their saddles.
For himself he would have no rifle.
"Only coward or bungler," he used to
say, twill carry a cannon to do the
work of a 40"
When the others had passed out OF
sight, the dark man refined his own
horse down the canyon, intending,
since he was so near, to visit his wife
at the junction. The recent washout
had left the bed Of the gulch almost i'm.
passable, and it was not until after
midnight that the lone traveller came tc
t,o;,, ILL., a, L.,