Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1911-04-21
Ry ROY NORTON
Copyright by r. L. Nelson

me SaTru1OuS KIM, SO Cn6ro WASH
much said. They watched the stars
come out, heard the men in the mess
house in roaring chorus sing the same
old songs of the border that they
themselves had sung fifty years be-
fore, and smoked.
Its gittin' real late, Hugh" said
Abner, knocking a golden shower
from the end of the bench.
Eyes" piped Ezra's voice in the
same high treble, it's gittin' real
late"
Mccarthy wanted them to stay
longer. Said he wanted company, but,
as no one had said anything for an
hour, his ideas of companionship
must have been Of the quiet sort.
mo, Hugh same Abner's voice in
answer. "It's most nine o'clock, and
we're just workin' men now"
Eyes, just workin' men now" came
the echo.
They all arose and turned toward
the cabin door. 1t was quite dark,
and they couldn't see each other very
plainly, so it was less embarrassing
to say things from the heart. That is
probably the reason why Abner, in
his fine old way, said TREMENDOUSLY, as
if offering thanks was very hard
work:
Hugh, me and Ezry is gittin'
trifie old, p'haps, to do as much work
as some men. We're mighty thank
full to the Lord and you, and feel
we must do our share. We decided to-
day you'd better call us an hour
earlier than the others, because them
that can't work as fast as some must
work longer"
Eyes, must work longer" repeated
Ezra.
And we want to tell you, Hugh,
that we think you're mighty good to
US to try to make us feel at home,
because it's hard to get used to the
new things when you think so much
Of the old"
That was the time when Ezra didn't
answer, but Hugh heard big gulp in
the darkness, and knew that these
two old chaps were wiping their eyes
when they went inside, all because
they were homesick as two boys, and
bubbling over with gratitude for what,
after all, was only little kindness
and understanding. Maybe Hugh had
kind of clutch in his own throat, SO
couldn't say anything, but just kept
quiet.
So they went to work earlier than
the other men. This caused a fellow
one of those big, hulking chaps-to
poke fun at them. There aren't many
ever saw Mccarthy angry, because he
knows how to keep his temper, but
this fellow had a chance. Hugh had
come along unobserved. There were
little forks of fire in his eyes when
he seized the joker by the throat and
shook him as if he were six inches
instead of six feet high.
They'll hold their jobs longer than
you," he said, as he dropped the
man in a heap. You're fred Now
hike!"
There were no more jokes at the
partners expense, and the man wasn't
fired, after all, because Abner and
Ezra talked Hugh out of it. And
pretty soon no one wanted to hurt the
partners feelings, because to know
them was to love them.
Now, the real secret of their work
ing at all was that Hugh was finding
a way to help them out without ma
king them feel bad. He owned a
claim above, and without any one
knowing what it was for, built on it
the finest cabin that ever went up on
the Mariposa. It's there yet.
It had four rooms, and fine floors,
and window in each room. Great
est of all, it had real, beautiful store
furniture, brought in with a heap of
trouble from the nearest railway sta
ton. But Hugh didn't mind. He
never did things by halves. He even
went so far as to have fiowers-the
old-style kind-planted around the
doorway, and was as happy as a boy
while watching the work.
One afternoon he took Ezra and
Abner up there. They stood around
awkwardly, and admired all this mag
nificence, and kept repeating: IT'S a
mighty fine place, mighty fine place,
and must of cost pile of dust"
Boys Hugh said-they were al
ways boys" together-"Boys, here's a
deed for this claim and cabin. It's all
yours. Now we're neighbors again,
just as we used to be on the Ahpalino;
SO We'll call this claim The Grand
Reunion"
Abner and Ezra didn't want to take
it, but Hugh explained that probably
the claim wouldn't pay more than day
wages, and therefore the house was
really the only present he was Civ
ing them. Then they all had supper
together, and that ended the partners
lob"
AS they watched Hugh go down the
trail that night he was so happy he
tried to sing, but he couldn't sing
much. Hugh was an awful bad