Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-10-25

same range You're q blasted chump, ] he roars ill a tone of voice that woul, have carried forty mile. Did you hea that, Red?' he asks very innocent.
 was so hot at the drivers saSs-th,
 Cussed low dOwnness of doing a felle
 q favor and then heaving it at him
 that you could have lit a match on mt
 anywheres, but to save me I couldn'
 help laughing-Ag had the comicaleS
 way!
 At that the driver begins to larruI the horses. I ain't the kind to fee
 faint when a cayuSe gets what's com
 ing to him for raising the devil, but
 to see that lad whale his team because
 there wasn't nothing else he dared hit
 got mo on my hind legs. I nestled
 one hand in his hair and twisted his
 ugly mug back.
 "'Quit that" says I.
 "'You let me bel ain't hurting you, he holIcrs.
 That ain't to say I won't be hurt ing you sOon, says I. You put the
 bud on them horses again, and I'll boot i the spine of your back up through the top of your head till it stands out like flagstaff. Just one more touch and you get it" says I.
 He didn't open his mouth again till
 we come to the river. Then he pulled
 up, This is about as far as I care to carry you two gents for nothin',' he says. Of course you're two to one. and I cant do nothing if you see fit to bull the thing through. But I'll say this, if either one or both of you roost- CTS has got the least smell of gentle man about him%he won't have to be told his company ain't wanted twice.
 Now, mind you, Az and me didn't have the first cussed thing-not grub nor blankets nor gun nor nothing, and this the feller well knew.
 Red says Aggy. what do you say to pulling this thing apart and seeing what makes it act SOP
 "NO,' says I, don't touch it-it might be catching. Now, you whelp.' says l to the driver, you tell us if there's place where we can get any thing to eat around here? We'd ex- pected to go hungry until we hit the camp some forty miles further on, where we knew therc'd be plenty for anybody that wanted it.
 Yes says he. There's a man run ming shack two mile up the river
 "'All right says I. Drive on. You've played us as dirty a trick as one man can play another. If we ever get cinch on you, you can expect we'll pull hor till the latigoes snap
 "He kept shut till he got across the river. where he felt safe.
 Its all right about that cinchr be hollers back, grinning, Only wait till you get it, yer suckers! Sponges! Beats! Deadheads. Yahr
 Well, man can't catch a team of horses, and that's all there is about it, but l want to tell you he was on the anxious seat for a quarter of a mile. We tried hard.
 When we got back to where we started and could breathe again, we held council of war
 "'Now, Aggy,' says I, we're dumped What shall we do?"
 He sat there awhile looking around him, snapping pebbles with his thumb.
 Tell you what it Is, Red.' he says at last, we might as well go mining right here. This is likely gravel and there's river. If that bar in front of you had been further in the mountains It would have been punched full of holes. It's only because it's on the road that nObody's taken the trouble ! To see what was in it. This road was { made by cattle ranchers that didn't know nothing about mining. and every miner that's gone over the trail had his mouth set to get further along as quick as possible-just like us. Do ron see that little hollow running Town tO the river? Well. you try . TOUT luck there give you that place. IS It's the most probable. and you as enderfOOt in the business will have all he luck. I'll make a stab where am Well, sir. it sounds queer to tell ii. il md it seems qucerer still to think of he doing of 1t, hut I hadn't dug two eet before I come to bcd rock. and here was some heavy black chunks. " 'Aggy.' says I. what's these thinCs% hrowing one over to him. He caught and stared at it.
 " Where did you get that? says he ! almost q whisper. " Why. out of the hole. of course" avs I. laughing. Come take q look" "Aggy wasn't inc kind of man to D Off the handle over trifics. hut when ? looked into that hole he turned per '"tly green. His knees give out from 1der him. and he sat on the ground kp a man m a trance. wiping the zeat of his face with motion like machine
 " What the devil ais you? says I. B 't"nishrI I thought maylpc I'd done 'methinr I hadn't ought 10 do a trough ignorance of the rules and .gt'ations of mining.
 '- Red says he. dead solemn. I've 'nei for twenty year and from old f eyiro to Alaska. Int I never saw lvihin- that was ace high tn that fore GosI laying bose in chunks E top of the led rock is too much 2 z me wish Iy cnHId sec this '' Gold says T. What yau talking E sgIt: What have th1ze black hunks do with =old"
 The oI'y answer he made was to g ? tbe one aad thrown % him ol % ? of a ro~k and hit her a erark with