The Adair County news. [volume] (Columbia, Ky.) 1897-1987, 1922-01-03
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"I'm gettin' just naturally so ! haze
a gosh-dummed crowd" he remarked,
switching suddenly from his talk of the
abandoned claim. Feel sometimes as
If I'd like to swap skins with a con-
dummed gopher and duck plumb into
a hole"
SWELL" said /, grinning at him,
you've ducked, for once in a way. and
so have /. What about it?"
Charley Fullerton" he spat out,
without further preface. ''That slick
tOngued word artist sure does get onto
my nerves. What-all's he tryin' to do
to you, anyway, Stannie?"
! didn't see any reason why he
shouldn't know, so / told him all of
it, from start to finish, offers, bully
ings, and threats, but, of course, moth
ing about the Jeanne factor.
Great Moses !" he calculated, at the
end of the sorry tale. "Why, gOsh-to-
Methusaleh Its a hold-upi Do you
reckon he kin unwater the CinnabarP
"Surest thing in the world. So
could you or l, if we had the money
to drive a long drainage tunnel from
the lower slope"
The old man smoked along in
thoughtful silence for a few minutes.
Then he said:
"'BOut that there tunnel job; some
thin like two hundred thousand, we
fugerd that'd cost, with no bad luck,
didn't we, Stannie?"
THAT was the figure"
"And, first off, Charley Fullerton
was willin' to give you fifty thousand
for your rights-though now you say
he's shaved it down to forty. That'd
mean an investment of at least two
hundred and fifty thousand; all a-goin'
out and nOthin' a-comin' In. Let's see
where that's fetchin' US to. / don't
know what your gran'paw paid for the
mine, but it was less'n half million,
and l reckon he paid ever dollar 1t
was worth, don't your"
Doubtless he did," admitted.
$50 there's where we land" he went
on speculatively 1.-Two hundred and
fifty thousand tackled onto half mil
lion gives her a capital of three-quar-
tiers of a million sunk in her, first and
last. Question is: Is she worth it?"
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 a million could stand
the investment Of a quarter Of mil
lion additional and still hope to be
a paying proposition.
you mean that. Fullerton is fgur-
ing upon spending a quarter Of mil
lion more on it?' l queried.
"Nope; l reckon can't. There's too
niger in the wOOdpile, sOmewheres,
Stannie, as sure s you're born"
"Can you carry it any furtherW
Nope; l reckon 1 can't. There's too
many darned things a-puzzlin' me.
One Of 'em is where in Sam Hill did
Charley Fullerton get all the money
that he's fiashin' around so peacocky?"
81 don't know where he got it, but
he has it, all right; carries it with
him." | said sourly.
"Yes; but see here, Stannie, son;
I'll bet flee dog worth hundred dol
lars that it amt his money"
what makes you say that?"
''Well, for one thing, because know
Charley Fullerton; been KNOWN him
since Adam was little boy in knee
breaches. He can't keep any money
of his own; just naturally amt built
hathaway"
CANDLES lit" 1 suggested.
Zig CANDLES, yes; stocks and that
sort o truck. No stree; these yeller-
backs he's a-fiashin' around amt his'n
not by a long chalk, and I'd bet on it,
Somebody else is settin' EN- up; and
if that's so, Stannie, there's a reason
for it."
Sure ] conceded. Then: Gould
you make a long, high, running jump
and guess at the reason, DaddyT
mot so s it'd hold together,
reckon" he replied obviously. "But
there's a few little notions at I've
picked up from folks that's older il
this neck o. woods than 1 AMBER
here longer. The old Cinnabar never
was what you'd call 'bonanza.' Plen
ty of ore, to be sure, but mostly low
grade, 'cepting them rich little pockets
now and then"
"Those rich pockets" put in. "a
strike of one of them would be abOu
the right time to sell, wouldn't it?"
He nodded.
You're shoutin', now. / reckon
that's about how they caught you
gran'paw. But Buddy Fuller-he's tn,
'TrOpia telegraph operator and a sor
o. halfway nephew o. mine-sayi
there's more to it than that. Lon;
back couple o. years r so there wa
q copper strike made in Little Cinnaba
gulch, about four mile west o. here
and fOllerin' it there was a heap q
talk about the railroad runnin'
branch to it, That there branch, if /
was built-'r when it's built, for it
goin' to be, some day, to open then
copper mines-that there branch III 2
right along our bench within a hun
dred yards Of the old Cinnabar; S
close you could slighty near dunn
from the ore sheds into the cars"
/ began to see more crOokings il
the sacrificial road over which Grand
father Jasper had been led; man
more and more devious ones.
IN 80 -