Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1911-04-14

81 habit, and, like drinking
AZ Is or smoking, SO they say,
a1ssI9 it's hard to break off. It
10 was pretty well fixed on
III A Jim Upton when first he
SI came to the Sierra Madres
k<AG along with Badly and three
w or four other pack-mules;
hnt Baldy was his intimate friend, and
The others didn't count.
T. was when Holcomb Valley, away
nm in the tops of the hills, was real
oomn where every one was busy get
ting gold, or sure he was going to get
n and it was nobody's business who
ANYBODY else was or where he came
from Curiosity starts lots of GENE
tories so it didn't pay to want to
,,now too much. All that any one
over really cared about was whether
the other fellow was on the square,
and Jim Upton was all Of that, So
was Badly. When Jim gave his word
n was a certainty, whether he was
on1v TO bring in a sack of -four or take
mule-load of gold out, it would be
dona on time And there isn't much
of ANYTHING finer than always keeping
YOUR word and making good.
lin had been civilian teamster
and packer with the army when
things were lively along the desert, at
g time in which man didn't make
any heavy bets, when he rolled in his
blankets, that he would get up in the
morning with his scalp. When the
noble red man, as a reward for hav-
IDg tortured and murdered all he
could, was finally pensioned into fat
and lazy peace, Jim naturally drifted
into packing, and the drifting and the
packing brought him to Holcomb.
That's all any one knew Of him, and
more than anybody cared. But be-
fore long every one was glad he was
there because packing wasn't thing
that most men tackled, particularly
when the trail ran away off into the
high-back hills, through passes, along
shelves by waterfalls, and over places
where the ledge tried to lose itself in
the face of the cliffs. 1t was no pyg-
my's job.
Even for a packer, Jim wasn't hand
some, being that kind Of man that
the desert makes, or makes the des-
ert-taIl, lean, and leathery, sunburn-
ed to a red, and with little wrinkles
around his eyes from much peering
over not sands. He was more liberal
with everything than talk, of which
he was misery, perhaps through lack
Of practise But the Lord Almighty 8
too busy to measure men by words.
It's what they do. Be sure Of that!
So most men believe Jim stood pretty
well with him, and others don't mat
ter.
Badly was wise old chap, who had
lived with Jim long time. In fact,
they must have become acquainted
somewhere out on the desert before
they came to the new camp. Badly
was rather a benevolent-looking burro,
having a white face and Whiskers and
a pair of philanthrop1c ears much big
ger around than any of his trim little
legs, which a hand could girdle. He
seemed to think he had right to go
into any cabin where Jim was welcom-
ed, and, come to think Of 1t, most
everybody else thought so. He was
just like a good-natured dog that's al
ways hanging around a table or a
campfire and looking so long1ngly for
a little attention or scrap of some
thing to eat that no one can refuse
out of mere politeness. Badly was
real polite, too, because he never
took anything without asking for it in
his way. Jim said Badly got his hon
esty from a preacher who raised him,
but the boys thought it was really
from associating with Jim himself.
Life with them was just about the
same one day as another. Break
camp in the morning, swing the pack
trees on, get the loads up and throw
the bitches and plod away over the
trail, Baldy's bell calling "Tink-tank;
tiDk-tank" as he led the way. Soft
spots in the trail would stop the ring
ing until Jim came front and fixed it
up. 1t was the same way with a
bridge. Badly would go up on 1t and
tap 1t with his feet before putting his
weight down until he got clear across,
while the whole train would watch
him go over, feeling sure Of his judg-
ment And so every day they did the
same, life beginning and ending with
the trail. Always the trail.
Along about the time when the
'amp had settled into an ry-day
basis and was used to Jim and Badly,
Bill Pape came into the valley with
his little girl. He wasn't strong
enough to work in the hills, so made
one of the first land entries in that
country. 1t was almost the last thing
any one else would have thought OF,
but the place was pretty enough. be-
Ing little valley through which a
stream rambled along until 1t came to
an edge where 1t fell off into canon
and made it's bed out to the sage
brush fats, many miles below. Bill
hYyJlr I. y to-