The San Francisco call., 1905-04-30

" IL the summer long old Gilbert
was faithful TO his store at
Gold Run, where the sun beat
fercely upon the ridge with its
shimmering curves Of track;
but when the fall came. and the first
showers washed the last taint of the
forest fires from the atmosphere, he
would take an occasional holiday. Os-
tensibly he went hunting with his gun
en- his shoulder, but il was rarely he
shot anything. What he really did was
70 return TO the old haunts of his youth.
he went down TO the river in the great
csEyons where once hundreds OF men
had passed daily along the now desert
'ed trails: he revisited long worked out
claims and the ravine where he him.
self had mined for many years. Often
be passed by the cabin in which he had
lived with his partner, Brand Its last
tepants had been a couple of China
men, content TO CLEAN in the abandoned
. helos OF the white men, and he had not
. set foot across the threshold for near
y forty years. When he was younger
he had always hastened by as though
the sight OF it evoked unpleasant
lnemories, but now he would glance at
II with some pride as a good house he
had once helped TO build himself. no.
grown in front of il. and that the gac-
den fence was still intact. one day he
opened the gate and went IN al the
door which the wind had forced ajar,
ard is il was chilly outside, sat down
on the old bedstead 10 eat his lunch.
In The warm sunshine pouring through
abe still glazed windows the place was
a kindly shelter. and he determined to
cone again with q hammer and nails
that he might prevent some Of the de-
BE- cay that threatened IL.
After that he never passed it with
out going in. and as he worked there
the old house cast a spell upon him.
His middle life, his marriage. his wild
over days, his. long service in his store
at Gold Run-all would be forgotten.
He was young again. The Indian
paint brush famed along the trails;
the dark pools Of the canyon at which
he slaked his thirst made him think Of
the deep eyes Of a woman, shadowed
by her hair. In the dust Of the table he
world trace ever again the plan of a
house he had never built for a woman
he had never welded. he would think
of her as though she were still living in
her uncle's home in the leafy garden
at Grass Nalley-the Grass Valley Of
the sixties He would recall as though
II had been yesternight, how he had
tod his partner that he was going to
marry Juanita, the niece of old Mar
tinez. Thar Brand had never said a
word had rather pleased than troubled
him, for he was too reserved TO care for
comments or congratulations Again
he would live with the old happiness
that followed on the promise of his love
20 be his wife He would lose himself in
his ancient dream; then start and look
at the dusty window, remembering how
a trick Of sunlight had revealed the
himself, but by the hand Of his part
ner; his partner so strangely silent, as
ft now seemed TO him, the night before.
Suspicious would flare IN his breast;
the memory of the grief of his life
would shake him. The charm would
be broken. and he would rise and go
out of the cabin-an old man-not into
the blazing summer weather OF these
days. but into the pearly. softened
lights Of the afternoon in fall
With the coming of the first rains
Gilbert's excursions ceased and the
cabin was once again completely de-
serted. But one night in December
the door opened furtiVely and admit
ted a man who when he had listened
10 make sure the place was empty lit
q candle from his pack and with a
sigh Of deep relief watched it shine
on the once familiar walls. The man
had got of the train at Gold Run.
striking out with confidence TO the
west of the railroad. but as he trav-
eled in the moonlight he was seized
with beWilderment- Trails once well
marked were almost obliterated; ole
landmarks had disappeared; houses
were razed 10 the ground; even the
course Of the wagon road had changed
as he approached Gilbert's claim. and
he had trembled with the fear of
shelterless age lest the cabin should
be gone like the rest But when he
had made a fire in the old fireplace he
grew cheerful The scene OF his la
bors had not altered and he would
work and grow rich just as he had
done before. He looked out at the