Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1905-02-22
L0e's Nugget.


ear-shirt camp "heh tue thlhg
happeneu which ! am gong 70 tel
you OF.
All OF us hnd had only mlddihg
LUCK. none OF the party nad MADE
= o'e strlke IN the way OF hhdihs mug
sets' sun we haa hotnlhg 10 complain
Z VI. we were making ialr wages ana
ltnat, IN the long run, Is better than
.Ak'ns Dig maui AT one time, ana
.neh laying on ana running through
Tue whoie OF II IN less than months
.'me' AZ nave known plenty OF TEL
lows 10 40.
one Jay the camp was oil astir ike
hiSe OF pees which somebody mad
tnrown rock INTO. one OF our chaps,
: ieiiow Dy the name OF Joe Garland.
haa maze ten-str1ke. he had nit
upon the biggest nugget OF gold that
nad ever been found In the region OF
u ear-shirt. IL was good one, worth
couple OF Thousand at least, ana the
: ooys MI Rathered ABOUT II Win greedy
eyes. Ihey envied Joe MS good luck;
sun tney were All giad that ne had
so1 II. a more deiighted ieiiow than
uc was you never saw. ne hugged
.ne cnuhk ana petted IT. ana II seemed
uiae ne "ouid never tire OF ieasting
uis eyes upon IL.
Alter Tue nrst eAcitemeht was over
zoe was leit 10 us treasure ana the
ooys turned 10 digging again. each one
nop'hs tna' ne misht soon oe as tortu-
ns.e as Joe nad Deen.
Joe haa nan mind 10 set ON TOT
risco win MS treasure al once. Inc
EXPRESS only ran once Week. ana II
s"ckeu tnree days OF the time OF going
again. ne was AFRAID that Ill some
way ne might lose the nugget before
u was got to a place OF safety. Still,
don't think that there was In the
camp person OF whom he was sus-
picious. IT weuld have been hard to
nave picked out fellow who was not
called all right.
Joe carried his nugget to the camp.
put ne would not stow 1t away with
the rest Of the treasure. He would
hide 1t for himself. II the rest was
stolen while he was away ut work, he
was going to save his.
Two or three times day Joe would
leave his work and so and see that
the nugget was safe. We used to tease
MIN about II, and tell him he was los
ahS nesh ut the rate OF ten pounds
day. and that II the treasure was not
sent away soon. there would be moth
lug left OF him but skin and bones.
Inc third Day AFTER the fnding OF
the treasure. about the middle OF the
forenoon. Joe made one Of these Wis
Its to the camp. He was gone but
little time, and when he came back
more frightened and woe-begone look
Inf countenance than his you never
saw IN your Ire.
what Is NY we all cried, IN chorus,
40 ne came dashing III among US.
It's gone! was all the poor fellow
could manage TO say.
What Is gone" we repeated,
though on the mind OF each flashed the
Thought OF the treasure.
The nugget" ne gasped.
We dropped spade and pick. and
started Tor the camp. All OF US were
interested. II the nugget was stolen.
most likely all the dust we had gath
cred had gone with 1t.
We piled into the camp and went
for the spot where the general treas
ure was Kept. Each drew a breath
Of relief when we found that 1t had
mot been tempered with. The robber.
whoever he was. had contented him
self with Joe's nugget.
After we had satisfied ourselves
with a look In the place where Joe
had kept 1t, and thus convinced our
selves that it was really gone. we all
turned to. to try and find clew to
the robber.
But, try as we would, not the slight
est clew could we find. Not track
could we discover about the camp ex-
ccpt those which we felt sure our
own feet had made.
The fellow who did the cooking was
the only one who had been about the
camp since we had left in the MORN
ing. and nobody. much less Joe. sus-
pected him, for he was IIoe's brother.
1t had been his custom to do up
the work in the morning, and spend
the rest OF the forenoon with us until
1t was time for dinner.
He had not been at the diggings
more than an hour before Joe had
made the discovery Of his loss. SO that
the robbery could have just taken
place.
All that day we spent in searching