The suburban citizen., 1901-10-19
THE APOLOGY OF ROBERTS
By Philip verrlI rIIgheIs.



ing his weight on the handle of the
tool, pried as with lever.
Suddenly chunk of porphyry
bulged forth, the pick burst out, and
a cleaning cascade Of gold came pour
ing from the oriIice.
"Yoww cried the miner in unre-
strainable delight. and, falling on his
knees, he gathered up the glinting
metal in both his roughened hands.
"Oh, nor he roared, wasn't it worth
coming back to claim the poor old
tunnel? Wasn't it worth a new loca-
tlon? Amt we fixed?' And clutch
ing up his pick again, he slashed and
tore at the pocket OF precious metal in
a frenzy.
"Oh. say lie went on, stopping
again TO gather up the golden store,
wont We roll 'em now? Hey. who's
there"
He stood up and peered outward,
vainly. in the blackness Of the mine.
A pattcr of feet broke the stiffness,
Drawing Il pistol and feeling his way,
the miner gave pursuit. The sounds
diminished and were gone. He went
on out and looked from the tunnels
mouth.
The darkness of night had descend
ed, Clouds were massed up hugely;
keen blast was blowing. Here and
there a fake Of snow shot downward
| TO the earth.
Heb, heh, heh-w0w-ow-Ow,' sound
ed weirdly from the brush.
Coyote" said the miner. Satisfied
| as to the nature Of his visitor, he re-
placed his pistol in his belt and re-
| turned to his treasure
Creeping away from the spot where
| the coyote-howl had been sounded, q
supple figure arose and glided down
the slope.
Roberts, in his cabin, was cooking
his dinner when this figure knocked at
his door
Come in" he called,
With a grin, the man outside entered
ana closed the door. The light revealed
an Indian face and head, on an In
dian body; yet the fellows skin was
nearly as fair as that of the white
man.
"Hullo, SllnE." said the miner. "The
kid won't come tonight, / reckon. l
told him 10 wait If the snow came on
-' Then he grumbled, That's
nothing to you, though and added
sullenly; what DO you want?'
"Nuthn'," said the Indian, eyeing
the food hungrily.
You lie, half breed" said the other,
Take a bite if you want"
The creature jerked a sizzling chop
from the skillet, tossed it about to
cool, and soon was gulping it down.
Then he licked his fingers, with look
of greed in his eyes.
"Well," said Roberts knowing his
man. what have you got to say?'
Heap gold" said the Indian abrupt
ly.
Gold? Where" a.
"Sturgis mine. Heap gold"
"Injun, you're q liar. You're up tC
doing some dirt TO Sturgis again, III
bet, There amt been n man in thai
tunnel for over a year-not since Stur
gis left the diggin's, cuss him"
"Sturgls, he's heap there" replied
the half-brced. "SlInk, he's heap Sc,
'um gold"
Did you. sure? He's back then
is he? reckon he came TO locate til,
claim over To-morrow's New Year
and that's his game. l knowed h,
, hadn't done his assessment work-an!
man could have jumped that claim to
morrow You said he mas strucl
gold"
! Heap gold; Stink, he sees 'un
!, heap repeated the creature, eycin,
, Roberts narrowly
+ Cold In that old tunnel, and min
$ had TO cave. I've got as good righ
, as him TO jump her tonight and 10
+ cate the whole works He amt don
4 assessment work by two hundred dol
lars"
F., Plenty gold" remarked the Sayag
# insiduously.
Gold, gold gold' Well hang inc
II III jump that claim tonight. II
q amt got no rights; hc ain't stage
q here and worked like me; and he don
me up before. I'll jump her. surt
p. Here Injun take the meat. Now yo
n gltG
it With The meat in his fingers The II
dian glided out. his eyes aiire wit
d CLEANS Of cunning. lie had an oil
L. score against Sturgis himself.
@. In his tunnel Strgis worked Ill
10 gently, breaking out the metal m
T. heaping it up with caressful haud
His candle buried down TO lump &
grease and gave up the ghost III
man groped his way to the outsid
entrance, where he found half do
b. en- talloW dips The hill by this tin
n was covered with snow, which Wa
Dr. coming down in II binding swirl.
~ NASTY night" be muttered, looliu
or forth on the blenkness Of the seen
Mt and was turning back when a feeb
.l- cry came clearly on the wind "Hu
at lO" said he Whats up?"
he "Pa-Daw came the shril accent