Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1904-04-15
he partnership was formed.

the partnership was formed.
Barclay did not know of copper
prospect which seemed large enough
to meet the ideas of the young Mis-
sourian, to say nothing of his own
hopes, now modified by experience. He
knew where a streak as of half worn
off red paint ran through ravine and
over hilltop, back from Copley, with
in rifeshot of the great Balaklala.
This red gossan meant more than an
iron cropping, of that he was certain.
On the Fourth of July, when every
miner of the section had gone to Red
ding for the celebration, he had i'm
proved the unmatched opportunity to
pick into the vein where the hill
sloughed away, and he had found cop
per sulphurets. The obstacle which
prevented Barclay from taking up the
two claims which the red streak
crossed was that they already bore the
location notices of Henry Flatfoot,
half-breed, drunkard and fighter. The
half-breed had been keen enough to
see that there was value there, but too
lazy to get down to 1t, or even to do
his assessment work, required by law
Pete Barclay had waited this oppor-
tunity. In another night the year
would expire, and with it the location
notices of the half-breed. The first
man upon the spot after the hour Of
midnight could relocate those two
valuable claims. The surest way was
for a man to be on each Of the claims
exactly at IL o'clock to tear down Flat
foot's notices and post new ones OF
their own. This was what Pete Bar
clay had in mind in taking partner.
An old miner and young one
dropped from the caboose of the after
noon freight train at Copley, and slung
down their packs while they went in
to patronize the bar, which constituted
half the town. The older miner was
careful to explain to the dispenser of
refreshments and the loungers in the
place that he and his companion were
going to the Balaklala to work. See
ing you've got jobs, it amt worth men,
tioning," said the proprietor, but In
jun Flatfoot, who's a-gam bling in the
back room now, says he's willing to
with him tonight and keep some old
claim or other from being jumped"
The remark was not lost upon Jo-
siah Godbolt, and as he toiled after
Barclay along the trail, winding up
hillsides and around little peaks, some
times under trees and usually through
dense chemise, he asked: will this
Flatfoot party try to interfere with us
tonight, do you reckon?"
YOU'D better save your wind to get
up these hills, instead of wasting II
asking questions" answered old Pete;
"and besides, pine-tree, such as you
be, with six-shooter handy, ought to
be able to bluff off a half-breed, any
way"
1t was while they were cooking sup
per In secluded spot in the ravine
just below the first Of the claims they
had come to operate upon that night
that Josiah learned more of Henry
Flatfoot. 1t would seem that he must
be the boss bad citizen of Shasta coun-
ty. Barclay told Josiah that the half
breed had shot at many men in va
rious fights, had stabbed one or two
and bore the record of his encounters
in scars over his body and long knife
mark across his left cheek. HE served
term in San Quentin" went on Bar
clay, Eliminating. 1T was after he
tried to hold up the Bieber stage, uI
yon way, and was shot in the shoulder
They chased him for five days. He
was so near petered out that he even
threw away his gun, or some of them
wouldn't have been so hot to overtake
him. At last they caught him in a
deep cave on the McCloud, and how dc
you s'pose they knew he was back in
the dark hole? II was by the shine OF
his eyes; they were just like an ami
malls. People say it's due to the fact
that wildcat crawled into his
mothers cabin one night not long be.
fore he was born"
II was worry dark In the hills at nine
o'clock. At that hour. Pete Barclay
stationed Josiah Godbolt beside the
scrub-oak upon which Henry Flatfoot'i
location Of the claim was posted. with
the instruction that when he could fee
both hands Of his big silver watch
from which the crystal had been TO
moved. pointing straight upward. hs
was 70 tear down the haif-bTesds no