Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1911-04-28


the Lord knows what other sneskin'
sort OF a crime III be committtn'
next"
There were three sleepless ones on
Mariposa Creek that night, and all
because they wanted to find way to
make it easier for each other.
Mccarthy found the way. Bright
and early next morning he was at
their door They were washing the
dishes, Ezra doing the drying with an
old salt sack, while Abner, with
piece OF rubber blanket tied round
him for an apron, was loudly splash
ing the soap and water, and both
were smoking industriously.
well, boys" said Mccarthy, care
fully letting his bulk settle down on
a spindly-legged. yellow-plush covered
chair which he dragged into the
kitchen with him. Il guess you're
right. This is a mighty rich claim,
and no mistake"
He wadded some freshly cut tobac-
co in the palm of his hand, while
both the partners said: Yes, Hugh,
it's mighty rich"
Now, we all got to be fair and hon
est with each other. amt we? Well,
| thought it war no good till you
| proved it up. If you went away I'd
| have the cabin left. and I've come to
buy you out. I'll give you three thou
sand for The Grand Reunion back,
! and you keep the last cleanup"
That was "a powerful sight" of
money, and Hugh had to fairly bully
them into taking 1t. They didn't
| htv.ly
fair although it was enough to make
them independent. with what little
they could take from the AhpalinC
and what they had saved. for the resi-
| of their lives.
And so the Mariposa knew them no
more, but the partners don't know to
this day that The Grand Reunion has
never been considered worth working,
and that the cabin built with such
care is sealed with cobwebs.
The partners made two little packs
of the things brought with them when
they came, shook hands with and
babe a courteous good-by to every
man on Hugh's claim. and laboriously
climbed the other side of the gulch to
the crest of the divide, where twenty
men below spied them, and gave a
cheer that sounded out its farewell
above the roar of the waters. They
waved their hands and Disappeared.
1t was night when they came to
that other little cabin, which from its
loneliness and desertion greeted them
in unchanged LONELINESS. Save fol
the dust and the creaking voice of Its
stiffened hinges. it was all the same
The time-worn stools with their shiny
faces. the hunks with their mats Of
fir boughs, and the wheezy little stove
with it's long-dead ashes. They gropec
for the kindling stick, which wa:
where they had left it those many
months ago; found the candles on tht
shelf as of old, and prepared thei
evening meal.
Then, when the moon came vi
through the same gap in the hills IL
where for SO many years they ha'
watched it come before, and staret
at them with a smile OF welcome, the!
climbed the hill Climbed up Il
where the flowers were now running
in unkempt wildness. and with trem
bling hands patted the weather-beateI
cross above the grave of the onl.
woman they had ever claimed as thei
own.
They looked out across the grea
gulch, with its splendid sentinel tree
silhouetted against the glory of tn
night. over the singing stream whicI
threw silver sparks at the moon. an
then at the homely little cabin, wit
its shaft of light streaming throug
a long-unused window.
With a great sigh of untold thanh
fulness and content they murmured t
each other, and to the night: 1T a.
looks jest like it ulster. Yes, jest lik
1t uster."
They were back with their hill.
their cabin, their flowers, and thei
cross, where the God they knee
seemed a little closer than anywher
else in all the wide, wide world.