Weekly journal-miner., 1919-12-24
O'DULIN'S DUFF; A STORY OF CHRISTMAS TIME IN
 ARIzONA'S EARLY DAYS

"'Tis tn duff, shurew stammercd ODulin meakly.
 "Duffw Twenty mouths were open with the word, and twenty pairs of eyes followed Joe as he lifted his hunting knife, doing brief duty as carver and gingerly prodded the mess.
 It did not yield readily to investi- gation. Over the top was stretched a leathery, lead-colored covering that resembled nothing so much as d piece of long-soaked rawhide. Joe speared the knife through one cor ner and turned it back. Within sim mered an odorous conglomeration; chunks of corned beef, scraps of bacon, dried apples, steamed to the consistency of India rubber, big raisins like nothing so much as huge black beetles; some small onions for luck" and more of the adamantine dough.
 Joe strengthened up, laid the knife on the table and hitched his six shooter around to the front of his belt
 "O'Dulin," he said in a voice of portentous calm, do you see that pick an shovel in the corner? Pick em' up an foller me. I'd shoot ye right here, only don't want no bother with yer carcass"
 Do ye know what we've done? We've shamed me afore this whole layout We've shamed this camp afore the whole country-askin' folks to a Christmas dinner a coyote couldn't eat. What'd ye say ye could cook fer anyway, I'd like to know?"
 Its starvin' 1 was" whimpered the frightened man. Be tn holy saints l didn't mane no harrum! Ye wouldn't take a man in tn mine not lnowin' one end O tn pick from tn other"
 Well, yell learn no younger; some on. You hit the trail right over to that hill, there where Hanks ole mule fell in the prospect hole. They ain't never bin no plantin's here an that's the best l kin do fer ye in the way uv a graveyard"
 NON NOu plNh Oul AOul O"l' choice, an if ye don't want the coyotes to be chawin' that headpiece o'yourn ye'd better dig. I'll give ye till the sun gets behind them pinons an then I'll shoot. Now you workl'
 The long, sloping hillside was covered with a huge red porphyry dike--a great sprawling backbone like the skeleton of some monster lizard. Here and there few pieces of float had been turned over and some shallow prospect holes dug in the deepest of which Hanks faith ful pack mule had met its untimely end
 O'Dulin picked out a hole as far from the asinine sharer of his last resting-place as possible, and went to work, urged on by all the Christ mas party, who had gathered to ap- pease their empty stomaehs by { watching the suffering cause. Joe sat grimly on a boulder commanding the hole where the lucllesS O'Dulin picked and dug as if he would hide himself in an unrcachable tunnel The sun was swinging down under the topmost pinons when he sCram- bled up to the edge of the hole and called to Joe: Well yer honor blaze 10 be comin' here wan secont? Ye can shoot me aisier av ye do, and i I'd rist better knowin' what's be- meath me ould bones"
 He was holding up some chunks of white-streaked rock as he spoke | The sun, burst through a rift in the trees, turned them dappled yellow in gleaming points as Joe stopped to ] look
 Pay rock" he shouted, "O'Dulin's struck it rich! That'll go thous- and to the ton if it's a cent"
 They crowded around measuring i the bits of quartz with practiced eyes, their faces aglow with excite ment. Its another Vulture, "cried one. That rocks just lousey with gold. Them chunks right therell give d hundred dollars. I'm goin' to monument"
 Joe pushed them back and jumped up on the boulder. Boys, you kin all see O'Dulin struck it. That there hole is hisn, an the first man that kicks I'll plant him with the mule. You jist sail in an put his monu- ments up an then we'll lay off the rest so every man gifts share. If 1 hadn't a-invited ye here ye wouldn't a-had no chance at all, an ii he'd a cooked yc a dinner ye could eat i you'd a-bin right over there stuitin yit Hurry up, now, an we'll go back to the house an I'll cook ye shore huff Christmas dinner while you prospect that rock"
 O'Dulin was still little pale, but the old dudheen smoked joyously. Gimme tn stuff" he said, as Hank began to mix the after-supper toddy, "an' we'll toast tn President an tn ! Duane, God bless her! in the finest cocktail that ever wet yer lip O'Dulin's latent powers had become active; There was no doubting the bent of his genius.
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