The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-11-09

same range You're a blasted chump!'
he roars in a tone of voice that would
have carried forty miles. Did you hear
that, Red?" he asks. very innocent i
| was so hot ut the drivers sass-the
! cussed low downness of doing Teller 4
favor and then heaying 1t at him-that
| you could have lit match on mo any
where's, bat to save me | couldn't help
! laughing-Ag had the comicallest way.
At that the driver begins to lGrrup the
horses. / amt the kind to feel faint
when cayuse gets what's coming TO him
for raising the devil, but 10 sec that lad
whale his team because there wasn't
nothing else ne dared hit, got me on my
hind legs. l nestled one hand in his
hair and twisted his ugly mug back
Quit that" says l.
You let me bel amt hurtin' you,
he hollers.
That amt 10 say | won't be hurting
you soon" saysI. You put the bud ON
them horses again and III boot the spine
| of your hack up through the top of your
head TIL II stands out like q flagstaff
Just one more touch and you get it,
saws /.
He didn't open his mouth again till
This is about as far as | care to carrv
you two gerts for nOthin," he saws. "Of
course, you're two to one and / can't
do nothing if you 500 fl to bull the thing
through. But I'll say this: If either one
or both of YOU ROSTERS has got TIC la: ct
smell of gentleman about him. h"
won't have to be told his company amt
wanted twice"
Now, mind you, Ag and me didn't have
the first Cussed thing-not grub. nor
blankets, nor gun. nor nothing; and this
the Teller we'll knew.
Rcd" saws Aggy, what do you say TO
pulling this thing apart and seeing what
makes It act so?"
No" says l. don't touch it; it might
be catching. Now you whelp. says
TO the driver, you tell us ii there's
place whore We can get anything to eat
around here" We'd expected to go
hungry until we hit the camp, some forty
miles further on, where we knew therc'd
be plenty for anybody that wanted it.
Yes" says he. There's a man run
ming 4 shack two miles up the river.
"All right says !. Drive on. You've
played us as dirty a trick as one man can
you, you can expect wen pull her till
the latigoes snap"
He kept shut till he got across the
river, where he felt safe.
TITS all right about Sat cinch!" he
hollers back, grinning. only wait till
you get it, yer suckers, SpOnges. Beats!
Deadheads, YAH"
Well. man can't catch team OF
horses and that's all there is about it.
but l want TO tell you he was on the
anxious scat for a quarter of a mile. We
tried hard
When we got back to where we started
and could breathe again, we held a
cooncil of war
Now Aggy" says l. we're dumped
what shall We do"
lie sat there while looking around
him, swapping pebbles with his thumb
Tell you what il is, Red" he says at
last, we might as well go mining right
here. This is likely gravel. and there's a
river. Ii that bar in front OF you had
been further in the mountains it would
have been punched full OF holes. It's only
because it's Gu the road that nobody'3
taken the trouble to see what was in il
This read was made by cattle ranchers.
that didn't know nothing about mining,
ard every miner that's gone over the
trail had his mouth set to get further
along as quick as possible-just like US.
DO you see that little hollow running
down the river? Well, you try your luck
there. / give you that place and it's the
most probable, and you as a tenderfoot III
the business Will have all the luck I'll
make a stab where | am
Well, sir. ii sounds queer TO tell it, AMI
it seems queerer still 10 think OF the do
ing Of it. but hadn't dug two feet he
fore | came TO bed rock, and there was
some heavy black chunks.
"Aggy," says |, whats these tlings?''
throwing one over to him, He caught it
and stared at it,
Where did you get that?" says he, in
almost a whisper
why. out Of the hole. of course says
|. laughing. Come, take q LOOK"
Aggy wasn't the kind of a man to go
off the handle over trifles, but when ne
looked into that hole he turned perfectly
green. His knees gave out from under
him ard he sat on the ground like a
nan in a trance, wiping the sweat OFF his
face with motion like a machine.
What the devil ais your" says !, as
tonished. | thought maybe I'd done
something ! hadn't ought to do. through
ignorance of the rules and regulations OF
mining.
Red" SAYS ho. dead solemn, I've
mined FOR twenty year. and from Old
Mexico to Alaska. but | never saw any
thing .tbat was ace-high to that before.
Gold having loose in chunks on top OF the
bed rock is too much for mel wish Hy
could see this.
Cold" saws I. What YOU talking
about? Whot have those black hunks to
do With gold?''
The only answer he made was TO Law
the one l had thrown to him on COP OF
rock and hit her a crack with a pick.
Then he handed it to me. Sure enough
There under the black was the yaller. 90
course. if I'd known more about the
business I could have told it bv tn"
weight hut ia never seen 2 piece OF
gold fresh off the farm before in my
life. | hadn't the slightest idea what it
looked like. and | learned afterward it
all lool-s different. Some of it shines no
yaller in the start some Of it's rcd. and
some ie like Ours coated black with iron