Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-01-19
Copyright, 1908, by
Harper q Brothers.
All Rights Reserved

anu lLtIt dAu nan uONCAl AhSh wv
been up to the head of that stream,
much less over the divide, so 1 don't
allow there's any use to fret ourselves.
They went on their way, travelling
leisurely until late evening, when they
camped at the mouth of the valley up
which the miners cabin lay. They chose
a long gravel bar, that curved like
scimitar, and made down upon its outer
tip where the breeze tended to thin the
plague of insects. They were all old
stagers in the ways of camplife, so there
was no lost motion or pickering as TO
their respective duties. Their prepare
lions were simple. First they built cir
Gle of smudges out of wet driftwood,
and inside this Lee kindled a campfire
Of dry sticks, upon which he cooked,
protected by the smoke of the others,
while Gale went back to the edge of the
forest and felled a dozen small frs, the
branches of which he clipped. These
Poleon and Runnion bore down to the
end of the spit for bedding, while Stark
chopped a pile of dry wood for the night.
Gale noted that the new man swung an
axe with the free dexterity of one to
whom it's feel was familiar, also that he
never made a slip nor dulled it on the
gravel of the bar, displaying an all
round completeness and a knack Of doing
things efficiently that won reluctant ap-
proval from the trader despite the I'M
reasoning dislike he had taken to him.
Lee was ready for them by the time
they had finished their tasks, and, famed
by the breeze that sucked up the stream
and lulled by the waters, they ate their
scanty supper. Their one-eyed guide had
lived so long among mosquitoes and had
become so inoculated with their poison
that he was in a measure impervious t.
their sting, hence the insects gathered on
his wrinkled, hair-grown hide only to give
up in melancholy digust and fly to other
and fuller-blooded feeding grounds. Camp
had been made early, at Gales sugges-
ton, instead of pushing on a few miles
further, as Lee had intended; and now,
when the cool evening fell and the
draught quickened, it became possible to
lay off gloves and headgear; so~they set
about the fire, talking, smoking, and rub
bling their tired feet.
1t is at such hours and in the smoke
of such fires that men bark backward and
bring forth the sacred time-worn men,
cries they have treasured to turn them
over fondly by the glow of dying embers.
1t is at such times that mems garrulity
asserts itself, for the barriers of caution
are let down, as are the gates of remem-
brance, and it is then that friends and
enemies are made, for there are those
who cannot listen and others who cannot
understand.
mo Creek" Lee, the one-eyed miner
who had made this lucky strike, told in
simple words of his long and solitary
quest, when i'll luck had risen with him
at the dawn and misfortune had stalked
beside him as he drifted and drank from
camp to camp, while the gloom of a set
tied pessimism soured him, and men be-
gan to shun him because of the evil that
seemed to follow in his steps.
1--WE been rainbow-chasin' forty years"
he said, "aod never caught nothin but
cramps and apidemics and infiammations.
I'm the only miner in Alaska that never
made a discovery of gold and never had
a creek named after him."
us that howeyou got your name?' ask
ed Runnion. 1Ir - s.....
1T is. never was no good to myself
nor nobody olse. l. just occupied space.
I've been the vernlifuge appendix of the
body polite; yes, worse mt that-Pve been
an appendix with SEED in It L made
myself sore, ana everybody around me,
but I'm at the bat now, and don't you
never let that fact escape you"
How are you going to spend your
money!" inquired Stark.
I'm goin to eat 1t upi I've fed on
dried and desiccated and other disastrous
and Unsatisfactory diets till I'm all shriv
eled up inside like a dead puff-ball; now
It's me for the big feed and the long
drink. I'm goin' to Frisco and get full of
wasteful and exorbitant grub, of one kind
and another, like tomatters and French
vicious water"
Poleon Doret laughed with the others;
he was bubbling with the spirits of
bow whose life is clean, for whom there
are no eyes in the black dark that lies
beyond a camp fire, and for whom there
are no unforgettable faces in it's smoke.
When Lee fell silent the trader and
Stark resumed their talk, which was
mainly of California, it seemed to the
Frenchman, who also noted that 1t was
his friend who subtly shaped the topics.
In time their stories revived his memory
of the conversation In the birch grove
! that morning, and when there occurred
lapse in the talk he said:
Say. John, wat happen to dat gal
we was takin' bout dis mornin'?''
Gale shook his head and turned again
to his companion, but the young mans
mind was bent on it's quest, and he con-
| tinued:
Dat was strange tale, for sure"
what was it?'' questioned Runnion.
John was tell bout Teller he knowed
wat marry a good gal JUS to max her
bad lax hesef."
"How's that" inquired Stark, turning
| curiously upon the old man; but Gale
knocked the ashes from his pipe and re-
| Piled
"Oh, it's long story-happened when 1
| was in Washington State"
| Poleon was about to correct hint was
| California, he had said-when Gale arose,
remarking sleepily that it was time to
| turn in if they wished to get any rest
+ before the mosquitoes got bad again, then
J sauntered away from the fire and spread
| his blanket. The rest followed and made
down their beds; then, drawing on gloves
and hat-nets, and rolling themselves up
in their coverings, fell to snoring. All
! except the trader, who lay for hours on
| his back staring up at the stars, as If
! trying to solve some riddle that baffled
! him.
! They awoke early, and in half an hour
! had eaten, remade their packs and were
I ready to resume their march, AS they
were about to start, Gale said:
! II reckon we'd better settle right now
/ who has the choice of locations when
we get up yonder. I've been on STAN
pedes where it saved heap of hard feel
| ing"
I'm agreeable. said Stark. '"Then
there won't be any misunderstood
| ing"
The others, being likewise old at the
game, acquiesced. They knew that in