, 1898-08-02
that tree. Might "a been !, dream.

o. thai tree. Might "a been !, dream.
Ask Bill
Course you can bet your life that
old canyon was p~rospected pretty well
after that, but nothin was found. The
specimen was sold and the money divid-
Ell tctween Bill Wilkins and Nuggets
daughter, who had to take care O. him.
Wilkins went over into Calaveras soon
after that and fell down a shaft about
500 feet deep.
We'll, time went by, and the law
stopped hydrauleeking, and purity much
every n left the town that could git
out O. it, and it amt been worth a d-n
sence.
Nuggets daughter she married Bob
Hittel, who was a teamster and didn't
have much O. it to do either. They was
pore, but they managed to make a liv-
in and keep old Nuggets besides.
Course you know the old man couldn't
do nothin but sit around and talk those
words 1 told you of.
every was kind to him, except,
perhaps, Jake Openheimer, who kept
the principal store then. He youster rifle
him a good deal and josh him and ask
him when he was goin to open her up,
but l reckon he didn't mean a great
deal o. harm.
"Every now and her Nuggets nd
wander over into Rattlesnake canyon
and spend nigh on to day there. When
he'd conn back, he'd be worse TUX than
ever and go moonin around and sayiu
those words: Changed all the trees III
the Northumberland 'em and mixed
'em all up. Might a-been a dream, but
l don't think So
Bout this time his little grandson
a CROWN up, and Nuggets began for
to take him along with him in his trips
to the canyon. Mrs. Hittel, she objected
at first, but when she seen the boy liked
to go and her father was dead set on
havin him with him she didn't make no
more objections. The boy used to say
that while they was in the canyon Mug
gets spent most O. his time huntin for
something he couldn't find.
zone evenin in the summer time,
bout ten years ago-I was here then
myself-Nuggets and the boy KEN into
town and gave it a surprise that it amt
got over sence. You can believe it or
not as you want to, but he'd got back
his mind all right and talked as sensibly
as I'm talkin now. Don't believe he
ever was crazy myself-just think he'd
got his mind set on one thing and
couldn't get it off.
but he was purity near crazy with
happiness. He'd an old rusty knife in
his hand, and he kept sayin to US all
the time, ''Twarn't no dream after all,
'twarn't no DREAM Seems when they
was i'll the canyon the boy got to plavin
around and crawled under a big tree
that 'ad been blown down and found
the knife stickin in it underneath.
Course you know what that meant.
well, Nuggets is all right now. So
was his claim. He sold it for n purity
nice sun to a couple o. big mining men
down below. See those slnokcstacks in
the trees over in the canyon: Well,
there's a IA stamp mill on the spot
where that knife was found.
bob Hittel runs this store we're
a-sittin in front of, and Bob's wife owns
her own house. Nuggets has Il mort
gage on about everything Jake Open
heimer's got loft, and the boy-tho
gran'son, you know-he's down below
in business for himself.
"That's about the story old Nuggets
II tell you when you meet him. Some
O. it's true | know myself for fact. and
l reckon, mebbe, somc o. it's-well, you
know, Nuggets is.a Missourian and a
purity good liar himself"
The stranger arose, stretched himself,
and, striding up the street, encountered
the one legged druggist standing in the
doorway of his store.
Great story l just heard. said the
stranger.
"Been talking to the old pioneer?'
Pioneer? Why he's not a forty
miner"
"No, but he's a forty-oighter."
"Who is he, anyhow"
Him? Oh, that's Nuggets. "-Wil-
liam A. Taatfe in Argonaut.