Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-10-20


account Of Wyndham's disastrous fall
ure.
There came a day when Bill no long
er went to the mine, but tossed about
In the delirium of fever. The young
doctor told Dick that sit was just
drink. Constitution wrecked by liquor.
He won't last very long,"
Dick nursed him as carefully as be
could. One hot night Dick was sitting
by the bedside of old Bill, who was ~
ing in a stupor. He was reading let
ter from Frances, which had been sur
reptitiously written and dispatched.
Suddenly Bill woke up and turning
painfully, gazed at Dick.
"Dick, old pardner, I'm off on the
last trail It's time for me to pull
stakes, y see. I'VE been a good pal,
Dick, all right and I'm sorry to leave
yer. But fore 1 go, I'll tell yer to
watch the north end of the mine. And
In the old box, yer'll find packet
dressed to the old mother in Wiscon-
sim" He paused for breath as Dick
supported his head and wet his lips
with the medicine. "Ill surely send II
on to her." said Dick.
Thanks, pardner, yer were always
a good pal. So long-pard- watch the
north end. The vein may run"
The rest of the sentence was lost in
a mutter as old Bill crossed the great
divide.
Bills mate in the mine all attended
the simple funeral and erected rough
cross at the head of the grave.
The days passed into weeks and Dick
worked on in the Carstirs mine. The
machinery on the Wyndham property
still lay idle, monument to hasty
Judgment. The whole story of the fail
ure was now known. The original
owners of the claim had followed the
assayer's clerk who was carrying SAM
pies Of ore to the assay office. Finding
him asleep, with the ore in a leathern
bag under his pillow, they forced the
sharpened point Of a syringe through
the leather and sprayed the samples Of
ore with chloride of gold.
Toward the end of August Dick was
working in the north Of the Carstairs
mine. He was feeling particularly de-
spondent, and was considering leaving
the mine, drawing the few thousand he
had left in the bank at Chicago and
again going back to the humdrum of a
Wall street cIerkship. He was welding
his pick almost automatically, scarcely
needing where he struck.
A new deep vein of gold ore had been
laid bare for some minutes before he
was aware of the fact. Then he drop
ped his pick and cropping on hands and
knees he carefully examined the vein.
A few more strokes of his pick and he
had grasped the situation.
Carefully covering ur the vein again
he worked hard for few minutes
breaking up worthless rock with his
pick and carrying it over to the new
vein. Piling rock painstakingly upon
it he worked away till the bell rang
for the end of the eight-hour shift. The
cage seemed to Dick to be crawling up
to the top, and when it had deposited
it's load on the surface he hurried to
his tent. Dressing himself in the raj
ment of former days he hired "buck-
board and drove off to the town.
Reckon young Dick must be going
to see a gal over to Charville," remark
ed an astonished spectator.
"Naw, he don't go anything on gals"
commented 81, the saloonkeeper. Hes
more likely goin' over after some books
or magerzeens. He's a queer cuss, is
Dick"
Dick further astonished the mining
community by quitting work at the
mine.
"Allers thought yer'd quit" senten-
tiously remarked ST. Eyer amt the pick
and shovel sort. But it's been good ex-
perience for yer. Better come into the
s'loon, need a new hand and yer'd be
husky enough to keep the boys
straight"
Dick reported that he needed rest
and change and was going away in a
few days.
But it was many days before he left.
For the next day the management Of
the Carstairs mine discovered that
their latest and richest vein ran
straight through into the abandoned
Wyndham property. "Old John" made
haste to buy, but was informed that
the deeds of the land were in the pos
session of one Richard Leigh Of New
York, who had bought the abandoned
machinery a few days previously for
some thousand dollars and had had the
deeds of the property thrown in.
"Old john was wise and as yet
scarcely any one had been allowed to
hear of the new vein. His agents ap-
preached Dick and offered him an ex-
ira thousand for the machinery and
land. Dick dismissed them with the
information that he would speak to
Old John himself. That elderly mine
owner was much surprised that Dick
had inside information as to the vein
and that Dick was further prnDarnd tO