The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-06-01
ONCE 4 GENTLEMAN.

A dozen men sat around a campfire
alongside the trail which led from
Hope Valley TO Woona-Wall The
trail was 800 miles long and ran up
hill and down over plain and through
scrub, and now and then crossed a
! river or climbed a mountain. The
/ feet of 5000 Australian gold hunters,
accompanied for half the distance by
! wagons and pack horses. had left
such a plain road behind that the
/ next 5000 could not go astray. At no
point on the trail could a dozen worse
men have been picked out than the
/ twelve who sat around Jim Agnew's
campfire. They had banded together
4 because they were bad. Had they
/ Travelled singly they would have Jared
badly at the hands of the crowd. At
O'Clock at night, with every man
ripe for mischief with the liquor he
had imhibed, the camp had call
two OF them. man turned in from
the trail and passed the fire and halt
ed in the midst of the quarreling gang
and dropped burden from his back
It was a little girl Z or s years old,
and sound asleep. He pulled a blanket
to make q bed for the child and he
tucked her up with tender hand be-
fore he Strengthened up and looked
about him and said:
q carried her ON my back from
Sydney to Hone Valley, and finding
the rush on I'm bound for Woona.
Walla."
"And who may YOU be?" queried
Jim Agnew of the stranger.
"A gentleman, sir. or the wreck of
a gentleman" was the reply. "You
can call me Scott
And is this your Child?"
NO. sir. Daughter of my ex-part-
ner Joe Taylor He was another
wreck of a gentleman. She was
moth erless, and when he died a few
weeks ago he left her in my charge.
Couldn't refuse to take her. sir-nO
gentleman could. Very interesting
young person: bound to make a lady
if properly reared and educated.
She'll be waking up directly and then
Wen thank you for a bite to eat
1t was boarding the lion in his den.
After two or three minutes the men
recovered from their feeling of aston.
ishment, and then there was resent
ment. at the cool and nervy way their
camp had been invaded The man
before them was ragged and unkempt,
and dissipation was to he read in
every line of his face but yet instinct
told them he was not of their ilk. No
matter what he was now he had one
day been a gentleman. There We're
mutterings and threats, and presently
Jim Agnew said:
Say, I've heard of you. You are
Scott, the gambler You used to hang
out at Red Hills"
your information is correct, sir.
I used to be a gentleman. Then
was Scott, the gambler At present |
am Scott, the wreck of a gentleman,
and guardian of that child. Quite
correct, sir"
Hang your gentleman business!"
shouted Jim, as his temper began to
boil up. Say. boys, let's chip in and
buy the kid. Mebbe she'll bring more
luck than a humpback."
"Yes, let's buy the kid" shouted
half dozen men in chorus.
Gentlemen" said the gambler, as
he waved his hand toward the girl
who had been awakened by the
shouts, permit me to introduce Miss
Ethel Taylor of Sydney, daughter of
Joseph Taylor, deceased, ex-convict,
gambler, sharper and bad 'un gener-
ally In dying he left her in charge
Of his partner, the wreck of a gentle
man who has now been a day and a
half without food, but who wouldn't
sell out his trust for all the gold in
Australia"
you'd better take a walk" ex.
claimed Agnew, after long look at
the gambler.
"After the girl has eaten, sir" was
the quiet reply.
"The girl stays here"
Not unless / am deadi"
The man Agnew backed off few
feet and pulled revolver from his
belt and raised his arm until the
nnuzzle was on line with the gam
bler's right eye. The arm rested there,
and as his fingers curled around the
trigger he said:
'Gll give you till l count five"
my dear Ethel, goodnight and
good.bye!" said Scott, as he half turn.
ed and lifted his ragged cap to the
girl
She did not rise up nor call out.
Agnew meant to kill the man before
him if he did not move off, but after
his words to the girl his arm slowly
fell. There was silence for minute
and then the boss of the gang said:
you've got nerve! Sit down with
the. gal and fill up"
It was accounted a strange thing
with the "rushers" to see little girl
among that band of bad 'uns," each
taking turn and turn about to carry
her on his back, and both guardian
and ward found themselves among
friends. Indeed, before the new dig
gins We're reached Jim Agnew and
Scott were accounted partners
It was stranger yet that little Ethel
had a liking for Jim. He stood next
to her guardian. At Woona-W alla the
child shared the tent or shanty with
the two men. Child though she was,
Scott treated her with almost as
much formality as II she had been
girl of 20. Agnew treated her as
child, and though his ways were
rough and his speech shocked her at
times, he won her heart more than
the other.
Disappointment awaited hundreds
Of the rushers to Woona- Walla One
night, tired and discouraged, the two
men sat smoking their pipes in sill
ence fer an hour, while the child play
about or watched them and wondered
If they had quarreled. BY and by
Scott looked up and said:
Jim, we are downed here"
"For sure" was the reply.
Lets move on"