Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1899-11-02

ewes beamed with such steady, gentle
kindness.
Time slips by rapidly in the hills.
You get up at daylight and cook break
fast; you carry water sp to your shaft;
you spend all the morning mahing a
little hole in the rock with drill; at
noon a blast in the afternoon Sau haul
bucketfuls of broken rock out with
windlass. The night has come. You
count the days by what you have ac-
complished and it is little. You meas
ure time by your trips to camp. and
they are few. One morning Peter. IN
looking into his little square mirror,
caught sight of a gray hair. He looked
| closer. There were many OF them
With a sudden great pang ne realized
that he was getting 10 be an old man. ne
took from the table the miniature OF a
girl with great gray eyes. lie Won
dered if she was getting 10 be an "la
woman. At the thought, Happy Petei
became another man, lie rode 70 town
that very day-oyer the mountains
through the gorges-and showed them
what he had found. Then he returned
The morning after men came into tn
nnely gulch In an hour the side-hli.
were covered with them. Between ia,
rees figures glanced to and fro, as
catches of red or flashes of light ~
lected from polished metal. Whit
elaim-stakes sprang, mushroom-like, o..
thick punches of four In the canyo
was the CLEAN of fires, the smell al
wood-smoke and of bacon broiling wa,
in the mir: vhitc la0u-tos shone among
the bure bushes aHd sapliEgs. Horses
were feeding eagerly ON She halt-iroNgh
grasses and the browse of trees, ruis-
iug their heads as the creak Of wheels
further down the draw told of stillneW-
corners.
Peter looked with excited satistac-
ton. This meant prosperity. This
meant that on the morrow new town
would deserve a place on the map. This
meant, above all, that Peters claims
would have value, that he could sell
them out at a price and that he could
grow old happily in country itself as
old as his distant youth. He wandered
restlessly from one of his four claims
to the other. He told himself that this
time he would make careful bargain.
The need was imminent IN the light Of
this discovery of gray hairs 1t had
never seemed so before. He began 10
forestall difficulties in his mind. II
should be spot cash, nothing else. Peter
knew just what his claims were worth,
and he knew what he would get foI
them. The sale should be by deed le-
gally, this for that Then he would go
east at once.
He cast in review the technicalities
Of mining law. lie had staked the
claims correctly; he had done the prop
er assessment work on each. Perhaps !
ii would have been better If he had |
had them recorded. At once he made |
a tour Of his property to see II ali the
notices were in place. II had never |
occurred 10 him before that some one
might Jump" him. Peter began 10
think il might have been wiser to have |
brought the purchaser in here quietly |
without agitating a boom. Perplexed !
and tortured with doubts and anNieties.
he spent the remainder Of the day II
going from claim to claim.
His accustomed aspect OF gentle i'm
passiyity had left him. His eye became
shifty and suspicious. His hands /
worked nervously. In his breast Their, /
fermented an excitement which woult
not let him rest even for an instan
For Peter realized that this was n, |
last chance. Heretofore he had haC !
the consciousness of youth to encour-
age him. Failure had meant only de- |
lay. Now 1t meant finality. There |
was left to him no more time. He saw |
that before he could again dig his shafts |
and blast his tunnels, old age would |
have banished his dreams and his hopes /
together.
lie passed in feverish review the three
occasions wherein he mad been swim
died. The San Francisco man had
given him worthless paper, and had re-
sold at once. The Denver sharpers had |
merely taken possession, and had re-
fused to pay. The St. Louis man had |
pretended that the property was not |
as represented, and had compromised |
at a ridiculously low figure. Peter
might have fought the thing success
fully. but in his great difiidence Of mind /
he had been too easily persuaded OF the |
justice OF the others' position. IL |
would never be caught so again; bu; |
these men bewildered and puzzled him /
always, and he confessed 10 himself a /
great fear Of their unknown wiles. Al /
he thought that they might cheat him /
N some new way he went into panic /
BE made another tour Of the claims /
il was now dark. At dawn he went 1
over the ground again. lie had not
slept al night, and had eaten nothing /
since the noon Of the preceding DAY.
On returning to his cabin. he placed i
the miniature and the square mirror
side by side on the table. arG looked al
them intently for long tine. Then
be kicked bis chair over backward. and 1
went ont to his claims once more. The
drst corners Of the stampeders had 4
finished efa1siw0 ou- .,H So.