The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-06-21

LAFoND MAKES A FRIEND.

LAFOND MAKES A FRIEND.
Michael Lafond made much less of a
| stir in the life of the camp than had
his ward. He fitted in quietly.
Behind the Little Nugget was room
! and a shed Lafond took possession
of the room and relegated Frosty to
the shed. His position as proprietor Of
the saloon sufficiently explained his
| idleness, if anybody's idleness ever
| needed explanation in a mining camp.
! He seemed to do nothing, merely be-
cause he was to be seen almost any
hour of the day either smoking con-
| templatiVe pipes near his place or Bill
| Martins, or wandering with every Gp-
pearance of leisure from claim to claim
in the Hills, or disappearing in the
| direction of Durands cabin in the low
| er gulch. That was a mistake. He
really did a great deal.
For instance, he made himself agree
able in a cool, drawing fashion to any
body who cared to talk to him. He
| kept his eyes wide open. no matter
where he went. He puffed as many
! speculations into his brain as he did
| smoke-clouds into the air. That was
not much, perhaps; yet. by the time
the Chicago men came to Copper Greek,
the half-breed knew just about every
body's business in that camp. The
!
| blunt questions.
He soon discovered that his first sur
mise as to Billy's peouliarities was cor
! rect. The man was above all things
| spectacular. He liked to fill the. stage.
If Lafond could strip him of his prop
| erty-the Great Snake-his prestige as
! promoter of the camp would be gone
| Black Mike could imagine nothing more
CALLING to one of Knapp's temperament
He soon discovered that it would be
no easy matter to do this, however. He
had felt sure that he would have no
difficulty in taking advantage of the
| proverbial carelessness of Western ars
! in general and Billy Knapp in partic-
ular, as to some of the finer points Of
| mining law. There are many techni-
| calities to be observed before a claim
belongs Individually and for all time to
| the man who occupies it. A "discov-
| cry" of certain specification must be
| made; the measurements and stakes
must conform to definite regulations;
the development work must be carried
! on and reported according, to the letter
of the law; and so in a dozen other
| trivialities which the miner is like to
| honor only in the most general fashion.
But Billys requirements were all full
! filled. The claims were undoubtedly
! his in the fullest sense of the word. At
| present he could not be deprived of
! d
| Lafonds scheme to allow Billy even
the smallest comfort of self-pity when
! his humiliation came. he did not care
/ even to consider the possibilities of Chi
| canery.
The only glimmer of light he could
discern lay in the chance that some
| thing might offer at the time of the
transference of the property from Billy
to the Eastern capitalists. This was
the inspiration that had occurred to
| him in Durand's cabin. He had come
| to know Billy's sanguine temperament
his enthusiastic prediction for seeing
things rose-hued, and he thought it
very possible that the Westerner's rep
! reservations to the capitalists might
not bear too searching analysis. Over
praise of property might easily be con-
| strued as false representation. Too
| graphic a description of natural adj
vantages might easily be twisted into
| an attempt to obtain money under
false pretenses. A skillful man might
be able to discredit Billy so far that
| the transaction would fall through;
and with the failure of this sale, on
which the hopes of Billy's companions
were built, the promoters prestige
would collapse entirely
With this sketch of a plan in mind.
Lafond applied himself diligently to ac-
quiring a thorough knowledge of the
/
ficult. All he had to do was to go to
Billy, and say, Look here, Knapp, they
tell me you've got quite an outfit here.
Show me around. won't your" The
Westerner was only too glad of the
opportunity to expatiate. He took La
fond down every prospect shaft, over
| every surface indication. He explained
them all infinitely. When he had lin
ished, he gave Lafond carefully select
ed samples from all of the vein I'LL
ings. The half-breed told him he want
ed them for the purposes of exhibition.
! II got a first class shelf down in
the Nugget he said; IAN I think if
we'd jest put line of samples along
it from all the claims, and label EN-,
it would be pretty good 'ad,' don't
your"
Billy did So the two Sampled" as
| carefully as for an assay test in the
School of Mines at Rapid About half
of the result Lafond exhibited as lie
! had suggested, but the rest he pre-
served carefully for assay tests of his
own.
To be sure, Billy had quite freely
shown him his own official tests made
at the School of Mines, but Lafond
wanted his information more direct
He could not doubt the accuracy Of
the reports. But there was always a
| possibility that the samplng had not
been fairly done. He was sure of these
other averages for he had helped
| take them. He liked to have things
under his own eye, and it was for
this reason he had first suggested to
Durand that he would like to take les
| sons in the art of assaying.
| At first he had intended to use the
old entomologist merely as a convent
| ence, but later, as he became more in
innate with the man through his work,
| he actually began to entertain for him
a friendship-his first in over fifteen
years. With all men he had been
| friendly; with none had he been friends.
Here he proved a really generous emo
| ton, opening his heart to the soft in
| fiuences of affection and memory, al
lowing himself in this one instance an
intimacy absolutely without Interior
motive 1t all dated from the first
day, when a chance question of Du
rand's touched the springs of the half
breeds youth
They had adjourned that afternoon
to the workshop where Durand built
a charcoal fire in little furnace and
gathered about him a choice assert
ment of curious implements After the
furnace was we'll heated. he roasted
the ore Lafond had brought with him,
heating it through and through. until
finally the fumes of sulphur. anthony
and arsenic ceased to rise from the
chalk-ined iron basin. While the pro-
cess was going forward Durand ex-
planned pleasantly the various steps of
the chemical change, interspersing
much extraneous information-as. for
Instance how Winkler, Tcheffkin and