The San Francisco call., 1906-05-27

you and me-" said Jack, Twill have to
come into the game"
They formulated plan and, while it
was still fresh and attractive, carried it
down to the parsons study.
.sParson." drawled Jack as soon as they
were seated, 'me and Mat have decided
that we wanter take a chance in your
hanky-panky business, here"
THE church?' asked Vaughan. who
was not as slow in "tumbling to it, as be-
fore the occurrences of the past few
weeks. I'm very glad to hear you ex
press an interest" He awaited further
explanation
We wanter ketch hold,'' pursued Jack,
while Mats round. good -narlred face as
sumed an expression of genial sympathy.
There amt much doin at present, that
we can figger on" Jack continued. but
a sociable always hits 'em fust-ra~ ~e.
What dye think of havin' sociable, par
son?r
1T might be very good idea" said the
parson.
What we propose is this" concluded
the speaker. Wen have a sociable- You
and your hailky y-panky crowd take 1t and
run 1t till. say, nine.thirty, then you and
your shift turn it over to the night shift
that's Mat and me. Next morning We'll
stana for two hundred apiece. Amt that
right. Matg
That's right" agreed Mat.
But why should ! retire with my
'shift'?" inquired the parson. Would
you-danee?"
why. yes," said Jack.
And drink"
Well. there'd have to be lemonade with
a stick in It. You couldn't ask the boys
in am, not give EN- something for their
money"
Dancing and drinking deliberated
Vaughan, ito help me run my church,
when my church is here to oppose dane
ing and drinkiIfg No, gentlemen, thank
you for your good intentions, but can't
accept. See here, how much respect
thing as that? ! can't afford to lose your
respect for four hundred dollars.
well, now. who'd a thought of putting
it that way" exclaimed Mat.
He's got usr' cried Jack, slapping his
knee. But look k-a-here. l don't like TO
fall off the dock this way. Id made UP
my mind to come into the game. What
dye say, Mat. suppose we ante, anyhow
He drew a ten-dollar gold piece from his
pocket and laid 1t on the desk. I'm good
for that once a month" he said.
I'm with ye.'' said Mat producing
saltbag and from it Iaboriously extracting
five silver dollars and a five-dollar gold
piece. He spread them in row beside
Jacks offering. then looked inquiringiy at
Jack.
I'm not goin' yet" said Jack. I've
got a little fault to find with last sun
days sermon. I've noticed that the nrst
thing you do when you start in to be
pillar of the church is to begin to kick!
There was a HUMOROUS twinkle in JACKS
steel-gray eyes which endured until Mat
x~atx
peared when he found himself alone with
the parson Cool and clear to their
depths and full of the purpose of man
in the habit of seeing things through
were those strange, quiet eyes When ne
SPOKE however, it was in his customary
drawi.
''Parson," he began. I've fallered you
pretty close since you come TO this camp.
I've watched ye in an out, an up an
down. and 1 guess, on the whole, you're
pretty level-headed. But sometimes I'm
inclined to think you fool yourself"
Possibly" granted Vaughan, wonder
ing what was coming next Probably.
Most of US do fool ourselves"
81 don't" said Jack quickly. 'I can't.
amt educated. 1 amt got religion. But
one thing was given me at the start. to
see clear. / can't tell what 1 see, al
ways, not the whole of it."
We can't any of us do that" returned
Vaughan.
That's just why I'm going to ask your
a few questions" said Jack. You prob
'ly don't tell the whole of what you saw,
and l wanter hear the rest of it. Do YOU
remember what you preached about?'
Special providences," returned the
preacher to whom every sermon was
dtstinct, definite extraordinary product.
That's it," said Jack. Special in
reference on the part of the Old Gentle
man above The respectful tone in which
he bestowed upon the Deity this title and
the deprecating upward movement of his
hands took from it any SAVIOR of irrever-
ence. 1t recalled to the hearer old en-
cravings he had seen representing the
First Person of the Godhead sitting on
cloudy throne, an ancient patriarchal fig
ure, with flowing. grizZled beard and q
general expression of benevolence and
wisdom. he therefore made no attempt
to correct the impression or change the
phraseology. Indeed, Jacks was not
nature to invite correction in a matter of
this sort
You made out that the Old Gentleman
had his favorites, continued Jack, "and
1 don't say but what he has. You told
about that preaching boss being saved in
the car wreck-do you recolleet? You
told some other pretty tall yarns about
this one and that who was perfected, But
1 could match 'em.
II could give just as many arguments
on the other side. For instance, there
was that cave-in, up there at Virginia
City, in one of the mines. Some of the
miners were killed, some wasn't. Among
them that WASN'T was a religious cuss
named Luke. He and all the rest of the
church members had regular rejoicin',
whooped her up good because a special
providence took care of Luke.
But damn it. when there was another
cavern and another church member come
up dead, the same gang had to go and
howl anu wonder at the awful dispensa-
ton.
Take another case. Three. times this
towns been swep' by fire. The wind has
blown the flames down the canyon and
cleaned out everything except my saloon,
and that's the oldest rattlety-bang of the
lot All your hanny-panky establish
ments, put up specially for the worship
of the Old Gentleman, were gutted. Does
that prove I'm a favorite. because I've
tried to run a decent kind of a place
How about your gospel mills? What
made him clean those out?
Look here, too" Jack unbuttoned his
shirt and displayed his great, hairy chest,