Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1911-04-28
THE GRAND REUNION
By ROY NORTON
Copyright by =. L. Nelson

AuCn 5dlu. Iney 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 mad sung fisty years be-
fore, and smoked.
Its gittin' real late, Hugh" said
Abner, knocking a golden shower
from the end of the bench.
YES" 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.
No, Hugh" same Abner's voice in
answer. Its 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 1t 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 a
trifle 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"
Yes, 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 a 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 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 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 II he were six inches
instead of six feet high.
They'll hold their jobs longer thar
you," he said, as he dropped the
man In a heap. You're fired! Now
hike!"
There were no more jokes at the
partners expense, and the man WASH
fired, after all, because Abner anC
Ezra talked Hugh out OF it. AND
pretty soon no one wanted to hurt thu
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
way to help them out without ma
king them feel bad. He owned
claim above, and without any on,
knowing what it was for, built on
the finest cabin that ever went up OIL
the Mariposa. It's there yet.
II had four rooms, and fine floors
. and window in each room. Great
est of all, it had real, beautiful stor
! furniture, brought in with heap @
/ trouble from the nearest railway sta
} ton. But Hugh didn't mind. H
J never did things by halves. He eve
, went SO far as to have flowers-th
old-style kind-planted around tn
! doorway, and was as happy as DO
! while watching the work.
+ One afternoon he took Ezra an
!, Abner up there. They stood aroun
awkwardly, and admired all this mas
, nificence, and kept repeating It's
8 mighty fine place, mighty fine plac'
? and must of cost a pile of dust"
4 Boys" Hugh said-they were a
r ways boys" together-"Boys, here's
D deed for this claim and cabin. It's a
: yours. Now we're neighbors agaii
just as we used to be on the Ahpalino
9 SO we'll call this claim The Gran
z Reunion"
+ Abner and Ezra didn't want to TAX
s 1t, but Hugh explained that probabl
: the claim wouldn't pay more than da
o wages, and therefore the house wa
e really the only present he was gi
:, ing them. Then they all had suppg
together, and that ended the partner
s lob"
e AS they watched Hugh go down II
e trail that night he was SO happy /
r, tried to sing, but he couldn't sir
e much. Hugh was an awful ba
n singer!
d Then they took their boots off on
1. side, for fear OF spelling the carpe
g and gingerly went in.
!, Well, the partners went to work c
IF their new ground cut their trenche
1, and turned the water through Il
z new pipes and giant which Hugh ha
"loaned" them. And they lived
n their new house with all it's stoi