The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-01-16
A BELLE OF CANADA CITY.
By BRET HARTE.
Copyright, 1899, by Bret Hlrte.)
PART II.

The excitement over the failure of
Montagu Trixit's bank did not burn
itself out until midnight. BY that time.
however, it was pretty well known that
the amount of the defalcations had been
exaggerated; that it mad been preceded
by the suspension OF the Excelsior
bank of San Francisco-o which
Trixft was also a managing director
occasiOned by the discovery of the with
drawal of securities for use in the
branch bank at Canada C~ity;~that he
had fled the state eastward across the
Sierras, yet that. owing to the vigil
ance of the police on the frontier. he
had failed to escape, and was IN hiding.
But there were adverse reports OF a
more sinister nature. 1t was SAID that
others were implicated; that they dare
not bring him to justice: 1t was pointed
out that there was more concern among
many who were not openly connected
with the bank than among its unfortu-
nate depositors. Besides the inevitable
downfall of those who had invested
their fortunes in it, there was distrust
or suspicion everywhere. Even Trixits
enemies were forced to admit the say
ing that Canada City was the bank,
and the bank was Trixit.'
Perhaps this had something to do
with an excited meeting Of the dlrec-
tors Of the new mill, to whose discus
sions Dick Masterton, the engineer,
had been hurriedly summoned. When
the president told him that he had
been selected to undertake the difficult
and delicate mission of discovering the
whereabouts. of Montagu Trixit, and, if
possible, procure an interview with
hin, ho n-,c amazed What ha6 tho
new mill, which had always kept Itself
aloof from the bank and its methods,
to do with the disgraced manager? He
vas still more astonished when the
president added bluntly:
'""Trixit holds securities of ours for
money advanced to the mill by himself
privately. They do not appear on the
books, but if he chooses to declare
them as assets of the bank, its a bad
thing for us. If he is bold enough to
keep them, he may be willing to make
some arrangement with us to carry
them on. If he has got away, or COM
mitted suicide, as some say, it's for
you to find the whereabouts Of the
securities and get them. He is said to
have been last seen near the summit.
You understand our position:'
Masterton did, with suppressed dis
gust. But he was young, and there was
the thrill Of adventure in this. Il will
60" he said quietly.
1--WE thought you would. You must
take the up stage tonight. Come again
and get your final instructions. By the
way, you might get some information
at Trixit's house. You-er-er-are ac-
quainted with his daughter, / think?'
(Which makes it quite impossible for
me to seek her for such a purpose said
Masterton coldly.
A few hours later he was On the coach.
As they cleared the outskirts Of the
town they passed two Cinnamon plod-
ding sturdily along in the dust of the
highway.
Mr.. Masterton started from n slight
doze in the heavy numbering mountain
wagon" which had taken the place Of
the smart concord coach that he had left
at the last station. The scenery, too,
had changed; the four horses threaded
their way through rocky defles of
stunted larches and hardy ''brush,"
with here and there open patches Of
shrunken snow. Yet at the edge of de
~clivities he could still see through the
rolled-up leather curtains the valley
below bathed in autumn the glistening
rivers half-spent with the long summer
drought, and the green slopes rolling up
wards into crest after crest of ascending
pines. AT times a drifting haze. always
lmperceptible from below, yelled the
view; a chill wind blew through the We
hicle and made the steel sledge runners
that hung beneath the wagon ready to
be shipped under the useless wheels an
ominous provision. A few rude "sta-
TONS" half blacksmith shops, half gro
Gerry, marked the deserted but well-worn
road; a long, narrow packers wagon or
Il tortuous file of Cinnamon carrying
mysterious bundles depending from
bamboo poles, was their rare and only
company. The rough sheepskin jackets
which these men wore over their charac-
~teristic blue blousers and their heavy
leggingS Were~a new revelation to Mas
terton, accustomed to the thinly clad
coolie of the mines. They seemed Il dis
tinct race.
Il never knew those chaps get so high
cold" he remarked.
The driver looked up and calculated
his disgust and his tobacco juice at the
same market.
Il reckon they're everywhar in Cali
10AAy ha " ""iI thl LIN NIil "
don't; you take my word for it, afore
long Californy Will hev to reckon that
she ginerally don't want 'em eff a white
man has to live here. With a race tied
up together in a language We can't I'm
derstand, ways that no Teller knows
from their praying to devils, swappin'
their wives, and havin' their bones
sent back to Chiny-wot are We goin' to
do, and where are ye? What are ye
goln' to make outer men that look so
much alike ye can't tell them apart;
that think alike, and never in ways that
ye kin catch onto. Fellers knotted to-
gether III some underhand secret way
o communicative with each other, so That
if ye kick q Chinaman up here on the
Summit, another Chinaman will squeal
in the valley! And the way they do it
just gets me. Look yer. I'll tell We
somethin' that happened, that's gospel
truth. Some of the boys that rcckoned
TO hev some fun with the Chinee sang
over at Cedar Camp, started out one
afternoon to raid 'em. They CROPPED
along through the woods whar nobody
could see 'em; kalkilatiin to come down
with a rush on tho camn over two miles