The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1908-01-30

LENlS1Eh SabeO Out over
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-fne," he murmured,
"and 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" warnSd
Dextry. "l've 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 averting 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
hour Of meditation with rhapsodies on
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 filed him,
They were lou4sing upon the DOCK
while before tkSn lay the Sauta
Maria ready for her midnight sailing.
Behind slept Unalaska. quaint. an
tique and Russian, resting amid the
fogs of Bering sea. Where week
before mild eyed natives had dried
their cod among the old bronze can
non now a frenzied horda of gold
seekers paused in their rush TO the
new El Dorado. They had come Ike
q 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 Il 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 plague had gripped the
land. but what Of that? Gold slittered
In the sands, so said the survivors.
Therefore men came in armies. Glen
lister and DextIy had left Nome the
autumn previous. tie 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 cites turn savage.
/ feel the old primitive passions, the
fret for fighting
"Mebbe you'll have a chance"
"How so:"
"well, it's this way. l met Mexico
Mullins this morrin'. You mind old
Mexico, don't you-the feller that re-
located Discovery claim on Anvil
creek last summer
"You don't mean that Unborn the
boys were going to lynch for claim
jumping?
identical! Remember me tellin' you
about a good turn l done him once
DOWN GuaQaiupS way
"Greaser shooting scrape, wasn't it?'
yep. Well, noticed first OF that
he's gettin' fat-high liyin' fat, too. all
in one spot, Ike he was playin' both
ends agin the center. Also he wore
ni'mon's fit to handle with Ice tongs.
Says I, lookin' at his side elevation.
What's accented your middle syllable
20 strong, Mexico?
Prosperity, politics an the Wal
dorf-Astorier.' says be. 1t seems Mex
hadn't forgot old days. He claws me
into a corner an says Bill I'm goin'
10 pay you back for that Moralez deal
"Tt amt comm to me- says i.
'That's bysone.'
"Listen here says he, an. seein' he
was In earnest, let him run on.
"How much do you value that claim
! . yourn at?
; ".Hard 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
"'Bfl.' says he, there's hell a-pop-
pin', an you've got to watch that
ground like you'd watch rattlesnake