South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-07-29
The Raeburn Luck r..b. gT Eros.

Nick Raeburn had come out 90
Nevada before the Goldneld rush.
All through that period OF excite
ment when fortunes were made and
lost overnight. Nick went along his
J leisurely way driving the stage TO
the Mahonk mines over from sta
ton beiow the big Rayolite con
struction plant. And the days when
he had work TO do his son drove the
stage.
! Little Nick, they called him, al
though he was a foot taller than big
Nick, his father. Overgrown and
easy hammered. he was the butt OF
all the newcomers TO the mines.
But Lord Harry. you can't rat
tie him." Nick would say happily.
He was born in the sunshine. that
/ boy. Prettiest mother you ever saw
used TO run the pancake counter
at Daniels's cafe down at Chaffee
Junction. Don't you know where that
is Up in the Panhandle. She ran
away when Nick was about two and
half, and got divorce in Reno.
1 never blamed here a mite. l used
to drink like a fish those days and
never earned a whole weeks pay IN
my life. It sort of pulled me up the
morning l came in and found her
gone and little Nick waiting for me
10 button up his buds for him and
wash his face. Does a man a pile
of good TO have responsibility forced
on him that way. But 1 wish she
hadn't been so final. 1 sure did like
that girl"
When the last strike happened UP
at the Mahonk the news OF II reach
ed the outer world and the rush be-
gan about a week later. 1t was up
in the mountains. following the bed
OF the old Ramazan river, and folk
had a hard time getting to IT, Nick
knew the best way up and made
trips steadily. One morning as he
took the blankets off the bay mares
a woman came toward him from the
little hotel that was part OF the
mushroom growth of RayOnte. She
was about 80, but slender and as
pretty as a girl. and trim as a clip
per in her dark blue suit and white
felt hat.
rs this the stage to the Mahonk
mines7" she asked Nick turned his
head to answer in his usual way,
foreseeing a prospective traveller,
when he recognized her Yet over
him her gaze swept without a CLEAN
Of memory. There was nothing
about old Nick-shrunken, stoop
shouldered. weatherbeaten. with his
face twisted habitually into a one
sided grin-to bring back any recOl- !
lection of the early romance that
had happened I'm Daniels's cafe. |
Chaffee Junction. Nick answered |
with some inward embarrassment. |
Fan had suffered too little from |
times ravages for him 10 affect un-
concern. Yet all the way up to the |
mines she hardly looked at him. and !
he watched her leave the stage with |
surging emotions. Even If she had
run away from him there had not
been any other man. so far as he
knew. 1t was just as she had said
in her farewell letter. There had
been too much for any woman 10
stand and she wanted TO get out and
earn her own living.
See that woman in blue that !
came up with you ?" asked Dabney |
when he sauntered out OF the hotel |
after Nick had eaten. She's rep
resenting the Munson-Lane interests. !
they say. Nice, quiet little party |
with more nerve and punch up her |
sleeve than any man here. heard |
the fellows saying she was always |
sent on ahead to scout a bit and find |
out how things we're going before |
they sent on any buyers. She's been |
asking what properties hereabOut |
have been undeveloped."
Nick nodded. He had a bunch |
OF worthless claims up on the side |
Of old Ramazan mountain that had |
cost him assessment work each year
and hung around his neck like a /
milestone. They lay just beyond |
the river bed drift OF ore II was
pretty hard TO get the work done |
this year especially. Little Nick /
had made a shift at IL. but couldn't I
swing IT alone. Anyhow, II didn't |
matter much. He forgot claims /
thinking Of Fan anG her nerve in /
taking up any such line as this and |
making good at It. Yet wasn't she /
the sort to make good at anything |
mines or fap1acks? Perhaps II |
she'd only put her mind 70 II, she /
might even have made a success Of !