The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-10-12
NY FRIEND JARDIN.


The first day 7 entered the country
school house where the children OF
some fifteen farmers were gathered to-
acther i met Jardin. We were school
children together, and continued 50
for several years. We boarded at the
same house for two years. We were as
intimate as brothers. In fact, many
people supposed we were brothers
fought his battles and he fought mine.
Whatever one had divided with the
other. Occasionally we had boyish
quarrel, but it was soon made up and
forgotten. We went to college to-
gether and shared a common purse,
and our trials and triumphs brought
US still more closely together
My friend Jardin and I had been to
gether nine years when we separated
he to go west with an uncle, and to
enter d law Office at home. We wrote
each other weekly for three years, and
were as faithful as lovers. Up to this
time we had both been poor, depend
ing on ourselves more than on our
fathers; but now a relative died and
left me $4,000 in cash. My first letter
to Jardin after receiving the news was
to offer him a present Of $1,000
He replied that he was doing we'll in
the mining business, and did not need
and would not accept the money, but
if I wanted to double it in six months
he would q, SHOW me now and take a
share of the profits. After some further
correspondent re started for the west
with my legacy IN my pocket.
I found Jardin serving as assistant
superintendent In a gold mine, and we
greeted each other as two old friends
made a great find. The story he told
me would have been taken for ex-
aggeratfon coming from any one else.
but Jardin had never told me a lie IN
his life. L believed him as I believed
my Bible.
It was a week before we were or to
the mountains where his find was To-
Gated. and where my money would be
needed to make wagon roads, purchase
machinery and bring in a staff of Ia
borers. We went alone with our picks
and shovels and camp outfit, and we
took our departure secretly and al
night. It was to be a four days jour
ney over a wild and rugged country,
and at that time the Indians were hos
tile and had to he lodged. On the fore
noon of the second day our packhorse
met with a fall and was famed and we
decided to lay by for day to give him
a chance 10 recover We made camp in
a little F'4de on the side of the noun
tain, and had nothing to do but smoke,
talk and watch out that we were not
come upon by the Indians.
At three O'clock in the afternoon Jar
din started out to scout around the
camp and over the trail we were to
follow next day, and I spread a blan-
ket over the pine needless and lay down
for a nap. It was a still, quiet day,
and I was doing, when the thought
suddenly flashed over me that Jardin
meant me i'll, and I found myself sit
ting up before knew it. I laughed
aloud at the thought. You get an
anonymous letter and you throw it
away in disgust and vow that the
writer IS a cur and you won't believe a
word of his statement. Five minutes
1t again, and in the course of an hour
you are fairly Convinced that there is
truth in It.
I laughed the Jardin idea to seorn.
If my own mother hsd been there and
told me that he meant me i'll 1 would
not have believed IT. I lay down again
and then it struck me that he had acted
rather queer and constrained since
starting. He had written me to bring
gold from Denver He mad made sure
that I brought $3s, 600. He had almost
hidden me away IN the mining village,
and he had insisted that I take another
name and conceal my home address.
His excuses at the time seemed more
than enough, but now when I began to
argue things point by point was
stunned. Taking the case wholesale,
as you might say, I believed in him
as in no other man. Taking 1t point
by point I had to conclude that he had
some evil scheme on hand.
Jardin was absent for two hours,
and then returned to report ali quiet
began to watch him now, and knowing
him as well a I did I soon saw that he
was III at ease. He no longer looked
me in the eyes as of old. He was nerv-
Gus and furtive I found a dozen rea-
sons for suspecting him. It was a
staggering blow to me that such a
thought had entered my mind, and I
tried my best to drive 1t out and con-
vince myself that [ was mistaken.
To the west OF our camp the side Of
the mountain rose sharply, and there
were several great powders almost
towering over US. If 1t had been the
rainy season should have feared that
some Of them might have become
loosened and fallen down on us. After
supper we smoked, talked Of old times
and cared for the horses, and about 9
o'clock Jardin suggested that we turn
in so as to get an early start in the
morning We had pitched our small
tent and gathered pine needles for a
bed, and the night was one for sleep
Jardin seemed to fail asleep almost at