Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1902-12-13
THE CHIEF ENGINEER
ny FRANK II. SWEET.

ment himself with two and perhaps even
three, merely because they happened to
have been given or bequeathed, be was
sternly thrust back to the reproach Of
Soap or Bars Grease" or Comb an
Brush" or something else equally appro-
pirate and distasteful. As among the In
dams, there was a custom OF using any
thing convenient until a man had earned
the right to something distinctive and hon.
orable. That was how tenderfoot Cub"
Of six months before, was veteran Pistol
Bill Of to-day, and why pink-faced, swear
ing Bobby had become Blue-Blazes.
Dead Level was attractive TO strangers.
Pay dirt had been struck by the first com
ers, and pay dirt bad been the rule ever
since. Two ounces a day was a fair aver
age for a river bottom man, but three
ounces was better.
1t was high-preposterous-of course;
but the mine owners did not complain, for
every jar of their machinery turned three
figures into their pockets. A day meant
a competence, a week a fortune, and a
month was something that made even the
widest visionary gasp for breath.
So the unskilled dago, and the Chinaman,
and the wandering tramp, alike received
their two ounces a day, while a moderately
| 6hilttu ldBDitI WAS III QtijduQ at bNltt anu
even thrice that sum. Occasionally a man
came who was thoroughly %conversant with
mining machinery, or with Analysing or
prospecting, and he was a Croesus who
could command his own rules and his "
reward. And yet the miners on the HID
side were always short Of help. Newcom-
ers preferred the possibility of three ounces
a day to the certainty Of two, and the skill
full were generally visionary enough to their
dream of vast wealth which every turn Of
the spade might disclose.
Among the arrivals one day was a blue
eyed, flaxen-haired German, who lowered
head and shoulders above his companions,
and whose first act on alighting was to
snatch a pail from the drivers seat and go
IN search of water for the horses.
"Dey vass tirsty," he remarked, senten-
tiously, as he went from one to another,
watching them carefully and giving water
only as he thought ]udieious, and not
as the painting animals craved. In de
German army we our horses vass look
after"
Then he stood back and gazed about
curiously, his shoulders square and his
right arm bent slightly at the elbow, as
though the hand were resting upon the
hilt of a sword. One of the mine owners
| paused on the opposite sidewalk and re-
| garded him attentively. He, too, had a
habit Of carrying his arm in that position,
and besides, there were other things which
carried him back to certain years OF his own
in the German army.
An hour later the stranger was installed
as the chief engineer OF the Gold Bug, with
a salary Of $50 a day, and with the under
standing that he was TO have oversight of
other mines, with a corresponding increase
of salary. The blue eyes of the German
had grown big with wonder at the muniti-
cence of the salary; but the mine owners
had only narrowed and frightened. He
knew that another man with this scientific
giants requirements would have asked a
hundred, and been given it without ques-
tion.
In the books he was entered as Hans,
because of the clerks inability to under
stand the long, un-pronounceable name he
gave; but down in camp he was simply
Cause while the burly teamster he one
day tMsed twenty feet into the river for
beating a horse, became Effect.
Mails were of uncertain arrival at Dead
Level Bar. Sometimes they came in twice
a month; sometimes only once in two
months, and sometimes the appearance of
road agents prevented them from coming
at all. Hans had been there six weeks be-
fore a mail came, and then it was another
week before the clerk connected the letter
whose address he could not deeipher with
the engineer whose name he could not pro-
nounce.
When the letter was brought to him,
Hans was sitting on a boulder outside the
mine, his blue eyes fixed upon a distant
~-t-A s. +La b,rs,or NTH - awDrr-r,aa
of wistfulness and regret. Five minutes
later he was in the superintendent office.
Il gif my notice" he cried, his face glow
ing and his blue eyes radiant. q take de
stage in 20 minutes"
"Take-what in 20 minutes? Oh, you
want more salary The superintendent
threw mis- feet into another chair and looked
at him expectantly. well, how much?
VIII 50 per cent. increase dor"
Il tell you | take de stage, Hans reiter-
ated, Il gift my notice"
His earnestuess was too evident to be
mistaken, and the superintendent rose has
tily to his feet.
Come, come, Hans" he expostulated;
"think better Of it. Wen pay YOU more
than anybody else"
1T is not de pay" eagerly. You no
understand. You been goot to me, and l
stay nit you longer as anybody. But now
1 vass go home--to Katrina. You see, as
a slight smile appeared on the youthful face
of the superintendent, "iSs like dis. Dere
vass things tell about me, and Katrina near
about dem, and she say to me Co Den
l hear anodder man vass seek her, and !
com to America TO forget. When ! come
70 de mountains | see Katrina everywhere,
and l hear her voice init de trees and when
/ dream. Now dis" holding the letter up
and regarding it fondly, tells me dat
Katrina is waiting, and it says de lies NIT
me are all discover and dat de odder man
is punish"
81 am glad to hear it, Hans" said the
superintendent, heartily, "but still l think
you ought to remain with us. Why, Just
think of it! Six months of this work and
you can go back and build a castle for
Katrina"
But Hans raised himself to his full height
and looked down compassionately. you
is young man" he said, and do not under