St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1901-03-30

out hunting this morning, SOS no
body'd ever suspect its being there,
and here this bloomin beasts broke
in and swolIered the whole business;
what the dickens we're goin' t do
about it,
"Cut him open and pan his stom-
arh, ! guess is the only way to get
il back" replied one of the camp, as
he lowered his end Of the pole and lei
the deer fall to the ground.
Not on your life replied the
junior partner. 'sCut up $40 bur
row to pan out a measleY $50 worth
Of dust! Well, / guess not. What
you fellows thinking about:"
Well, how the Sam Hill you goin'
to get it, them" reioined the mucter.
That's what I'd like to know,
too, s&id the senior member. as he
eyed his partner 1nquiringly
why, that's dead easy; make him
cough it up, and you and jim stand
there with a bucket and catch it,
whileI do the doctoring."
Great head you've got; but what
you goin' to give him to make him
cough it ups'
That's all right. I'na the doctor
in this business. You and Jim just
tie Nick up so he can't loss his head
too much, and then you two get on
your base with your bucket and catch
that gold dust when it comes your
way
Without more ado Nick was tied
hard and fast to a stout young pine,
while the mucker rustled up an old
fiye-gallon oil can, with the top cut
out
Meantime the junior partners
brain was busy
( As if aware Of the designs against
his digestive organs, Nick opened his
capacious mouth and beloved as if
imploring help from some sympa-
thetic friend. His mournful cries
were wasted on the mountain air, and
the ears Of his only listeners.
Il reckon you'll cough up that dust
now, old boy" cried the mucker as
he came out Of the cabin carrying
a stick Of dynamite in his hand.
1ou amt goin' to tamp him with
dynamite, are you?" asked Steve.
Maybe we'd better try hot water and
mustard first; | remember mother
used it to get penny out of me that
Ed swollered one day when I was
kid. It didn't take long either.
Maybe that d be better n dynamite
for Nick, dynamite might kill him,
and we can't afford to lose old Nick
at this stage of the game"
Il amt goin' to tamp him with it,
you crazy; I'm goin' to crumble some
and burn it under his nose. Get on
your base with that can, you fellows,
and play ball!'
Crumbling quarter of a stickin an
old fire shovel, the mucker touched a
match to it.
Tied as he was hard and fast to the
stout pine sapling, Nick couldn't get
his head away from the fire shovel and
that villainous smell. Up. rose the
sickening fumes into his palpitating
nostrils and passed on down to his
lungs. Oh, how vile it was. How
cruel to treat poor, faithful, hard
working Nlckodemus so!
"What had he done to deserve it;
would they ever take that internal
shovel away and let him smell the
sweet mountain air again? O, for one
more day among his delicious deer
brush before he died. Even years
more with the ore panniers and the
six trips every day and the tired back
and CALLED withers would be better
than this slow and inhuman torture.
Would it ever cease" :"
And then dizzy sickness came
over Nickodemus and as through
mist he saw two men who jammed
something over his mouth and tied
it there a long, long time while con-
yulsions seized his Intervals and as
the searWhen it gives up its dead so
he felt as he retched up that $50
worth Of gold dust and the remains
of a 4S-pound -four sack,
For a half hour afterward Nick
lay exhausted and grunting under the
pine tree where he had lately been
tied. The arastra didn't run for
two whole days, and there was no
ore brought down the steep little trail
during that time, but Nick was in
his deer brush on the evening of the
third day, for dynamite sickness for
iunately isn't often fatal. Boston
Globe.
Abandoned Farms