Connecticut western news., 1918-02-28

"Oh, Bill" She came and leaned
her head against him contritely. 'Our
poor ponies! And it was all my care
leSSness."
"Never mind, hon." he comforted.
And We'll make it like a charm. Be
game-it'll soon be spring"
By April the twentieth the abdica-
ton of Jack Frost was complete. A
kindlier despot ruled the land, and Bill
Wagstaff began to talk of gold.
=. that precious yellow metal sought
In regions desoIate.
Breeder Of discord. wars. and murder
Gus hate;
The victor's spoil
So Hazel .uoted, leaning over her
husbands shoulder. In the bottom of
his pan, shining among film of black
sand, lay half q dozen bright specks,
varying from pin-point size to the big
ness of q grain of wheat.
THAT'S the stuff" Bill murmured
at looks as If we'd struck it pretty
fair. It's time, too-the June rise will
hit us like a whirlwind one of these
days"
about what is the value of those
little pieces?" Hazel asked.
sob, fifty or sixty cents" he an,
swered. "Not much by itself. But it.
seems to be uniform over the bar
i and I can wash a good many pans in
days work"
ST should think sou she remarked.
sit didn't take you ten minutes to do
that one"
"Whitcy Lewis and I took out over!
two hundred dollars day on that
other creek last spring-no, year last
spring, 1t was" he observed reminis-
Gently. "This isn't as good, but It's not
to be sneezed at, either. I think I'll
make me a rocker
81 can help, can't II" she said ca
gerly.
"Sure." he smi,"1. "You help a lot,
little person, Just sitting around and
keeping me company"
"But / want to work." she declared.
"rve sat around now till I'm getting
;he fidgets."
"An right; I'll give you a job" he
returned good-naturedly. Meantime,
let's eat that lunch you packed up
here"
In a branch of the creek which
flowed down through the basin, Bill
had found plentiful colors as soon as
the first big run-off of water had fallen.
He had followed upstream painstak-
lngly, panning colors always, and now
and then a few grains of coarse gold
to encourage him in the quest. The
loss of their horses precluded ranging
far afield to that other glacial stream
which he had worked with Whitley
Lewis when he was a free lance in the
North. He was close to his base OF
supI lies, and he had made wages
with always the prospector's lure OF
q rich strike on the next bar.
"In the morning" said he, wher
lunch was over, ''Pll bring along the a.
and some nails and a shovel, and ge
busy
That night they trudged down to thu
cabin in high spirits Bill had washed
out enough during the afternoon t.
make a respectable showing on Hazel
outspread handkerchief. And Haze
was in "a gleeful mood over the fac
that she had unearthed big nugge
by herself. Beginners luck, Bill sail
teasingly, but that did net Diminish
her citation.
. AS the days passed there seemed n
, question of their complete success
Bill Fabricated his rocker, a primitive
j. boxfike device with a blanket scree
: and transverse Stats below. 1t wa
y faster than the pan, even rude as Il
: Was, and 1T caught all but the fine
: particles of gold. T 7r- e. .. g.
: "A queer twist OF luck put the car
i 'sheaf, on their undertaking. Hazel ra
: "a splinter of wood into her hand, thu
r putting a seop to her activities wit
- Shovel and pail. Untii the woun
r lssf Its soreness she was forced to b
y id&e. So she rambled along the cree
> one afternoon, armed with hook an
, line ON a plant willow in search Q
: sport
, The trout were hungry, and struc
beTceIy at tne DdIl. Ole soou ud
:; plenty for supper and breakfas
; Wherefore she abandoned that diver
siaR and took to prying tentativel
3 In the lee of certain boulders o
= edge of the creek-prospecting on he
= own initiative, as 1t were. She had n
: pan, and only one hand to work witt
: but che knew gold when she saw it
< and, after all, it was but an idl
r method of killing time.
L In this search she came upon
t large, rusty pebble, Struggled on tn
downstream side of an overhangin
2 rock right at the waters edge. 1t al
> tracted her first by its Symmetrical
} form, a perfect oval; then, when sh
: lifted it, by it's astonishing weight
!, She continued her search for the pink