Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1907-08-29

| judge and the entire mechanism of Jus
tice. They had fought with the fury
of men who battle for life and had
grown to hate the lines of Stillman's
yacillating face, the buster of the dis.
trict attorney and the Sinking conf
dence Of the clerks, for 1t seemed that
they all worked mechanically, like
toys. at the dictates of Alec McNa-
mara At last when they had ceased
beaten and exhausted, they were too
confused with technical phrases to
grasp anything except the fact that
relief was denied them, that their
claims were to be worked by the re.
ceiver and, as crowning defeat, they
learned that the judge would move his
court to st. Michael's and hear no
cases until he returned, month later
Meanwhile, Mcnamara hired every
idle man he could lay hand upon and
ripped the placers open with double
shifts. Every day a stream of yellow
dust poured into the bank and was
locked In his vaults, while those mine
owners who attempted to witness the
cleanups were elected from their
claims. The politician had worked
with incredible swiftness and system,
and fortnight after landing he had
made good his boast to Struve and
was in charge of every good claim in
the district, the owners were ousted.
their appeals argued and denied and
the court gone for thirty days, leav-
ing him clear field for his operations.
He felt contempt for most of his VIC
tins, who We're slow witted Swedes.
grasping neither the purport nor the
magnitude Of his operation, and 10
those litigants who were discerning
enough to see its enormity he trusted
to his organization to thwart them.
The two partners had come to feel
that they We're beating against a wall
and had also come squarely to face the
proposition that they were without
funds wherewfth to continue their bat
tie. It was maddening for them to
think of the daily robbery that they
suffered, for the Midas turned out
many ounces of gold at every shift,
and more maddening to realize the re-
ceiver's shrewdness in crippling them
by his theft of the gold IN their safe.
That had been his browning stroke
I'VE must get money quick" said
Gienister. DO you think we can bor-
row.
"Borrow?' shifted Dextry. Folks
don't lend money in Alaska"
They relapsed into moody silence.
II met a Teller this mornin' that's
workin' on the Midas" the old man
resumed. HE came in town fer a
pair of gum boots, an he says they've
run into awful rich ground-so rich
that they have to clean up every morn
in when the night shift goes off cause
the rifles clog with goid.''
think of itr' Glenister growled. IF
we had even a part Of one of those
cleanups we could send Wheaton out
side
In the midst of his bitterness a
thought struck him. He made as
though to speak, then closed his mouth.
But his partners eyes were on him,
filed with a suppressed bet growing
fire. Dextry lowered his voice cau-
tiously:
"There'lI be $4,000 in them sluices
tonight at midnight.
Glenister stared back, while his pulse
pounded at something that lay in the
others words.
1T belongs to u.s. the young man
said There wouldn't be anything
wrong about if. would there y
Dextry sneered. Wrong. Right
Them is fine an soundin' titles in d
mess like this What do they mean?
/ tell you at midnight tonight Alec
Mcnamara will have $4,000 of our
money
"Godl What would happen if they
caught us?' whispered the younger,
following out his thought They'd
never let us get off the claim alive. He
couldn't find a better excuse to shoot
us down and get rid of us. If we came
up before this Judge for trial, we'd go
to sitka for twenty years"
"Surei But it's our only chance. I'd
ruther die on the Midas in fair fight
than set here bitin' my hangnails. I'm
CROWN old, an I won't never make
another strike. AS to bein' caught
them's our chances. won't be took
alive, I promise you that, and before l
go I'll get my satisfy. Castin' things
up, that's about all man gets in this
vale Of tears, jest satisfaction Of one
kind or another. It'll be fight in the
open, under the stars, with the clean,
wet moss to lie down on, and not a
scrappin' match of freak phrases and
law books inside of stinkin' court
room. The cards is shuff1ed and in the
box. pardner. and the game is started.
If we're due to win. we'll win. II
we're due to lose, we'll lose. These
things is all fggered out thousand
years back. Come on, boyl Are you
gamer
@Am / gamer Glenister's nosfrils
dilated, and his voice rose a tone.
sam / game? I'm with you till the