The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-12-17

H. o eotb carried our catablcs to
Perky s place
Porkv's place used 10 he grocery
STORE before Hard Up had eatou The
;n.ides ont OF it. The shelves and
drawers and barrels were empty now,
but Perky bobbcd mp behind the coun'
ter es cheerful rs ever. r,,,
Put 'em down anywhere. Iisdal,
h. said .or
tool, a half sack Of potatoes, ten
mounds of flour and a little dob OF
lard, everything in The wide world we
had 10 eat AT our tent, anh ralStp rs,
them 10 the counter. Smith ana WI
bur had deposited their pnnI 'ofnln's, M
sarics near the samc place. ne tnrcc
of ne stood and locked AT each other
grimly. , !.
niece of side meat and some flour. HIS
Good patured face quiVercd a little
and he hurried out. lie hal bigger
family than any of the rest OF rs.
Old man Calgary came last re
bedu t been able to get out The ntehI
before. aud he came in TO learn luIIS;
what Perky q scheme was. perkS toiu
him.
ats no use waiting for Brnndage
io come back be began. - dc S been
conc ten days nov and We mlgbt as
we'll make up our minds mat ne mas
skinned and left rs TO hold the sack
But there ain { auy use staDd'ue
around aud CRYING about IT, Nlinnr 5
ooino 10 start for the station rlght
awaT. He'll bring the provisions back
on q burro ii he can get one Tor notn-
inc. aud he expects 10 he back In lnrce
days, Meanwhile We re pooling, tne
eafs-moTe economical. saves wood, you
kuow-and since Brundaee has sklPPeo
OUT with the team wood is an item,
for we can very well carry II mere
bv arm,oads across five miles oil sand.
We'll need to run only one cook stove,
TisdaI's. aud Tillv Is going 10 boss
The sonp house. 1t S plain case OF
united We cat a little bit, divided
we starvc.' So bring your eats.
Al that moment my wife appeared
with Tillv Durham ard some OF the
other women, al loaded with dishes
and things,
.'If YOU men Will hustle tho stove
over we II soon have things IN shape
said Tillv She was handsome. bux-
ON girl who had worked for the Bruu-
dapes before their abandonment of us.
We set the stove and then started
across the sands toward the separator,
living like a great red catoTpiller M
the edge Of the mesa, and | wondered
as we approached it why 1t had looked
so good to me the first time l had
ever seen il. -, N
That was when II lay tumbled AL
about under the big eucalyptus Tree i'll
Rrnndaye's back yard at Los GAtos,
BrundaSc was talking about the CON
trivapce-hc was cternally talking
about il. what it could do when it came
TO sitting microscopic partic les OF gold
dust out OF desert sand and gathering
them in a neat little canvas sack that
hung from the tail end of IT.
He talked TO us, the six of US. count.
ing Perky, till VIC felt the weight OF
the dust sitting heavily down into our
own pockets lie wanted TO get a
hundred or more people in the scheme,
but we. the donkeys. persuaded hlIn
that six were enough to start on. ana
10 mitigate his disappointment We SUB
scribed ali we had.
By the time we had set the concern
out IN the Mohave desert and got II
going we were in q position TO christeu
our little hamlet appropriately without
snv great stretch Of our imagination
Lord knows. times were hard enough
even then. but we kept hoping, hop
ing.
Perhy's enthusiasm outlasted every
body else s. if Brundage said this or
that was the matter, that n pully was
too big or Il shaft too long. or made
one OF the thousand excuses he was ac-
customed TO when explaining why the
thing didn' q work, it was Perky who
always tried 10 laugh or Joke our dis
appointment away.
His enthusiasm had led him to think
that at no distant date our tiny camp
that was before il was aamed-would ID
become the metropolis Of the arid south u
west and the man who had started the
pioneer mercantile business therein
would be millionaire from that source
alone. Tina; S how he came TO be in
tho grocery business on the side.
The pendergast Mercantile company,
Ltd. found It's home in deserted
shack, the last trace outside the geo
2raphies OF the government surveyors
who had wintcred in il. Perky optim-
ism saw good omen IN the finding of
II. and we pitched our tents about il
with certain feeling Of security which
was TO prove the only thing that was
not misplaced
The Pendergast company was Perky.
and it soon became limited only in the
worst sense. And the thousands who
swarmed only in Perky s mind
Meanwhile We had 10 live. | believe
we all paid cash as long as ne bad il
/ know | did. Then we mortgaged our
stock 70 Perky When il began to
trickle through our iunermosi mental
recesses that the stock was worthless
we asked for credit and got it. Al
last we sueaked into tho store feeling
little better than thieves. ] don I think
Perky even took the trouble to mark
down our purchases.
Aud the funny thing about it was
that we still hoped! Standing around
the machine that morning every sucker
of us declared VIC ID work little longer
with it. Before we knew il Perky had
lolied and joked us back to half
decent frame Of mind,
But il he cheered lis up YOU should
have seen what he did for the children!
They were Bob s six, Smith IS four. vii
bur s torr and my three. They ranged
from Bob s least, babe in arms. 10
Smith g Minnie. who was twelve.
There's not much diversion. even foI
children. III level world Of alkaIi sand
where eighteen hours out Of the twenty.
four tho heat and dust roll before YOU
in waves as ccaseless as the sea E. Anc
when night came the poor tots We're toe
tired to take any interest in life--tbai
is, till Perky got them all about him.
I don Y think there was IL game undel