The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1922-02-23
BY

FRANCIS EYNDE-


along" he .hald. ..Thought ina ybe
,yol'dsltke to mog over with me and
take a look at her."
Of course, L said. ia be delighted {;
Asotwe made a detour around the Gin
nabar. keeping out Of sight from the
cabin and shaft-house, and pushing on
around the western slope for maybe
half mile uneil we came to the gulch
In which the abandoned claim lay.
Working entirely alone, Daddy hast
driven tunnel possibly hundred feet
deep straighkinto the solid rock of the
mountain side. following the thin vein
and hoping that 1t would widen into
a "pay-streak." After he had led me
Few yards into the tunnel, he waved
me to seat On pile Of broken rock,
and took one himself with his back
against the opposite wall.
I'm gettin' just naturally so | bnte
gosh-dumned croXdr he remarked.
switching suddens Hfm his talk of the
abandoned claim "Feel sometimes ns
II Ia like to swap skins with a con-
dummed gopheF ianh' duck plumb into
a hole"
SWELL" said /, erln1ing-,at..him,
"yeu've tfucked, For once In way, and
so have |. What about it?"
Charley Bullerton," he spat out,
without further preface. '"rhat slick
tongued word artist sure does get onto
NY nerves. What-all's he tryin' to do
to you, anyway. Stannie2"
TNflY,t
SHOULDN'T. know, so told him all of
1t, from start to finish, offers, bully
ings,. and threats, but, of course. moth
Ing, about the Jeaiie factor.
Great Moses t. he calculated, at the
end of the sorry tale. "Why. gosh-to-.
Methusa!eh its u .hold-,ip! Do you
a.esksp, pr kin rnaaAshe cinnabar9"
"Surest thing in the worla..,,, SO
,sqpH yssr, or |. ifssI had the, fh6ney
'spa SFivs.ta long diHfh&ge tunnel from
the lower slope" ~. .-:!'
: la1shr man smoked along In
/. .thsughtfil' snefce fors a few minutes.
Then he snidi,.
"Bout that; there tunnel job; some
thin like two .hppai thousand. we
fugerd thatdQst with no bad luck.
"Ands Hfse .'off Charley Fullerton
waSwillIM 10 give you fifty thousand
for your rights-tlough now you say
l<4s shaved II down to forty. That'd
sllleaHsaH investment OF at least two
hundred and fifty thousand; all a-goin'
out apd nothin' a-comin' In. Let's see
where that's fetchin us to. l don't
know what your gran'paw paid for the
mine, but Ii was less'n half million,
/. and reckon he paid ever dollar 1t
was worth, don't your
."DOubtless he did," admitted.
o,there's where we land" he went
on speculatively. 1.-TWO hundred and
fifty thousand tackled onto half mil
lion gives her u capital of three quar-
ters of million sunk In her, first and
last. Question is:' Is she worth it7"
was beginning to get his idea at
last. He was wondering If a mine
that had once sold at a top-notch
price Of. half million could stand
the invest&ent Of a quarter Of a mil
lion additional and still hope to be-
a paying proposition.
''YOu mean that Bullerton Is fgur-
Ing upon spending a quarter Of mil
lion more on itY' queried.
"NOpe; reckon l.can't. There's too
nigger In the wOOdplle, somewheres,
Stannie, as sure Hs-yOu're born"
"Can you carry.it any further7"
"Nope; reckon can't. There's too
many darned things a-puzzlin', me.
One Of .'em Is where In Sam Hin did
Charley Bullerton get all the money
that he's fiashin' around so peacOcky2"
II don't know where he got 1t, but
he has 1t, all right; carries 1t with
him." said sourly.
"Yes; but see here, Stannie, son,
I'll bet fee dog worth hundred dol
lars that 1t amt bis money"
What makes you say thatT'
well, for one thing. because know
Charley Bullerton; been KNOWN, him
since Adam was a little boy in knee
breeches. He can't keep any money
OF his own; just naturally amt buff
tfiat-away."
.1IGambles itf' / suggested. Is
big CANDLES, yes; stocks. and that
sort D. truck. No stree; theseeyeller-
backs he's a-fashiR around ain't his'n,
not. by long chalk, ,.ssn1 rdfbet on il.
Somebody else is"settfn,, .er2 up; and
if that's so. stannie. there's o, reason
for It." -;
IA Sure" conceded. Then: pCould
you make long. high. running Jump
and guess at the reason, Dad1yT.s
'"Not so s it'd hold sogetheE, I
reckon" he replied dnbIoGsly,. "BIt
there's a few little notions at I've
picked. APP from folks tnars 6idss in
this neck O. woods tkznaf aih-&6een
here longer. The old Cinnabar never
was what you'd cali bonanza Plen-
ty Of. ore, to be sure, butt mostly low
grade, 'certing them rich little pockets
now and then"
"ThOse rich pockets" put In. "A
strike of one of them would be about
tkQ RIGHT ffma IN coll yjnuI1Y,it ttH,