Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1907-10-18
CHAPTER I

Out ONSh
the harbor agleam with the
lights of anchored ships,
~ then up at the crenelated
mountains, black against the sky. He
drank the cool air burdened with its
taints Of the sea, while the blood of
his boyhood leaped within him.
"Oh, it's fine-tine," he murmured,
land this is my country-my country,
after all, Dex. It's in my veins, this
hunger for the north. grow. ex
pand."
Careful you don't bust" warned
Dextry. 1--WE seen men get plumb
drunk on mountain air. Don't expand
too strong in one spot" He went
back abruptly to his pipe, its villain
Gus fumes promptly avertlng any
danger of the airs too tonic quality.
"Gad, what smudge!" shifted the
younger man. "You ought to be in
quarantine"
I'D ruther smell like a man than
talk like a kid. You desecrate the
nature when your aesthetics amt
honed up to the beauties of good to-
bacco."
The other laughed, initiating his deep
chest. In the gloom he stretched his
muscles restlessly, as though an ex-
cess of vigor filled him.
They were lounging upon the dock,
while before them lay the Santa
Maria ready for her midnight sailing.
Behind slept Unalaska, quaint, an
tique and Russian, resting amid the
fogs OF Boring sea. Where week
before mild eyed natives had dried
their cod among the old bronze can
non now frenzied horde of gold
seekers paused in their rush to the
new Ell Dorado. They had come like
locust cloud. thousands strong, set
Ting on the edge of the Smoky sea,
waiting the going of the ice that
barred them from their golden fleece
from Nome the new, where men
found fortune in night.
The messy hills back of the village
were ridged with graves OF those who
had died on the out trip the fall be-
fore, when a plague had gripped the
land, but what of that? Gold glittered
in the sands, SO said the survivors.
Therefore men came in armies. Glen
lister and Dextry had left Nome the
autumn previous, the young man raw
ing with fever. Now they returned to
their own land.
"This air whets every animal instinct
in me-" Glenister broke out again
Away from the cities turn savage
I feel the old primitive passions. the
fret for fighting"
"A1ebbe you'll have a chance"
"How 500"
"Well. it's this way. met Mexico
Mullins this mornin'. You mind old
Mexico, don't you-the Teller that re-
located Discovery claim on Anvil
creek last summer?"
you don't mean that 'tinhorn' the
boys were going to lynch for claim
5umping?"
Identical! Remember me tellin' you
about good turn 1 done him once
down Guadalupe way?"
"Greaser shooting scrnpe. wasn't tt?''
"Yep. Well. I noticed first off that
he's gettin' fat-high livin' fat. too. all
in one spot, like he was playin' both
ends agin the center. Also he wore
drmon's fit to handle with ice tongs.
"Says I. lookin' at his side elevation,
What's accented your middle syllable
SO strong. MexicoT
Prosperity. politics an the Wal.
dorf-Astorier.' says he. 1t seems Mex
hadn't forgot old days. He claws me
into corner an says, Bill, I'm goin'
to pay you back for that Moralez deal
| "'It amt comm to me- says /
''That's bygone.'
Listen here says he. an, SEEM he
was In earnest, I let him run on.
How much do you value that claim
o. yourn at?'
lizard tellin',' says I. If she holds
out like she run last fall, there'd ought
to be a million clear in her.
"'How much II you clean up this
summer?'
"'Bout four hundred thousand, with
luck
"'Bill.' says he. there's hell a-pop
pin. an you've got to watch that
ground like you'd watch a rattlesnake
Don't never leave em get grip on II
or you're down an out
"He was so plumb in earnest II
scared me up, cause Mexico amt q
gabby man.
"'What do you meanT says I.
L can't tell you nothin' more. I'm
putin IL string on my own neck sayin
this much. You're square man, Bill
an I'm gambler. but you saved my
(! life oncet, an wouldn't steer YOU
wrong. For Gods sake, don't let 'en
jump your ground, that's ALL
"'Let who jump it? Congress la:
give us judges an courts an mar
shnls'-- begins.
"That's jusiAt. How you goin' t.
buck that hnr:.1 rhem's the best cardl
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