Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1905-02-17
,Joe's Nugget.

~ shirt Camp when the thing
! happened which l am gong 10 tea
pu Of. ,, nod op1v middling
!" vora If the party had made
n.' ,+riya in the way Of finding mug
w. still we had nothing to complain
bs Wa we're making fair wages, and
w. ,,4 in the long run, is better than
'n" 'rrr big haul at one time, and
n., Iovfnr off and running through
Ils ..boIa Of it in less than a months
tmp as I have known plenty OF fell
lows to DO
oro dgv the camp was all astir like
biro Of bees which somebody had
.,.,r,n 2 rock into. One of our chaps,
y follow by the name Of Joe Garland,
S,d made ten-strike. He had hit
rnop the biggest nugget Of gold that
taa oyer been found in the region Of
Toor-Sbirt. 1t was a good one, worth
conle of thousand at least, and the
bors al gathered about it with greedy
sres They envied Joe his good luck;
stI they were all glad that he had
cor r. 4 more delighted fellow than
Ip WAS YOU never saw. He Rugged
tbe chunk and petted 1t, and it seemed
that he would never tire of feasting
bis eyes upon it.
After the first excitement was over
Joe was left to his treasure, and the
boys turned to digging again, each one
hOping that he might soon be as fortu-
nate as Joe had been.
Joe had half a mind to set off for
Frisco with his treasure at once. The
express only ran once week, and it
lacked three days Of the time of going
again. He was afraid that in some
way he might lose the nugget before
It was got to a place of safety. Still,
don't think that there was in the
camp person Of whom he was sus-
pcOus 1t would have been hard to
have picked out q fellow who was not
called all right.
Joe carried his nugget to the camp,
but he would not stow it away with
the rest of the treasure. He would
hide it for himself. If the rest was
stolen while he was away at work, he
was going to save his.
Two or three times a day Joe would
leave his work and go and see that
tie nugget was safe. We used to tease
him about it, and tell him he was los
ng flesh at the rate of ten pounds a
dag, and that if the treasure was not
sent away soon, there would be moth
Ing left OF him but skin and bones.
The third day after the finding Of
the treasure, about the middle of the
forenoon, Joe made one of these Wis
its to the camp. He was gone but a
little time, and when he came back a
laore frightened and woe-begone look
Ing countenance than his you never
saw in your life.
What is tt:' we all cried, in chorus,
as he came dashing in among us.
Its gOne.' was all the poor fellow
Gould manage to say.
What is gomez" we repeated,
though on the mind Of each flashed the
thought Of the treasure.
The nugget he gasped.
We dropped spade and pick, and
started for the camp. All Of us were
interested. If the nugget was stolen,
most likely all the dust we had gath
cred had gone with it.
We piled into the camp, and went
lOF the spot where the general treas
uLe was kept. Each drew a breath
" Tehef when we found that it had
'C' oeen tempered with. The robber,
Whoever he was, had contented him
F'I with Joe's nugget.
Alter we had satisfied ourselves
WIN look in the place where Joe
"Su Kept It, and thus convinced our
%'eS that it was really gone, we all
,1'neu to, 10 try and find a clew to
The robbor
Dul Try as we would, not the slight
W tIeW could we find. Not a track
,UuN We discover about the camp ex-
,'P' those which we felt sure our
V"h leet had made.
=, 'ne fellow who did the cooking was
s,v only one who had been about the
.ump since We had left In the morn
ny ana nobody, much less Joe, sus-
S,y'eu hIm' for he was Joe's brother.
d, 1t mad been his custom to do ND
~, ,+s WORK in the morning, and spend
{, ,'s rest Of the forenoon with us until
was time for dinner.
~, ne mad not been at the diggings
moa, tUah an hour before Joe had
tba ,ue discovery of his loss, so that
Place. 00lu nave just taken
,r All that day we spent in searching
qysr ria' but getting no cIew. Who
bis Tue robber was, he had covered
MS [ trail too we'll for us. W
Sears Sn' obliged us to give over the
last 49,, ana the lost nugget was the
anotIa. '"s IN our thoughts as one after
bo5 we dropped off to sleep.