Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1925-05-29

and there was considerably less
than two thousand pounds of him.
T IKE diamond dust the snow gilt
tered on the solid river. Like
II great emeralds the stars hung
quivering through the dead at
mOsphere. The long tongues of the
aurora Kissed in the silence, and II
was ten miles to Kellys.
Every time Chardes right hand and
left knee plunged down into the snow,
| Charde lurched ahead twenty-One
inches. Every time Charde's left hand
and right knee plunged down into the
snow, Charde lurched ahead twenty
inches. He made twenty-six lurches a
minute. SO Oharde made a mile every
two hours. And behind him on to-
boggan rode the Prod.
No matter what our urge may be, or
Prod we have always with us, squirting
us on.
1t was the Prod that got Charde.
Born In the smudge Of a California
gold-rush dancehall, spawn of Il
frowsy doxy and mule-muscled fiat
head Charde was patiently a mistake.
Principally beef, he inherited from his
mother the cunning Of necessity; from
his father, the sullenness and ferocity
Of a starving wolf; and from both, the
hellish viclousness Of primitive brains
a-crawl with stampede whisky. To the
lean and bitter years Of a wasted
youth he added other corruptions; till
at thirty-three remained but the mas
sive frame and the virus Of the Kl0n-
dixie gold strike.
He didn't possess stimulus-only
the shadow. His was the mere love Of
gold because 1t was gold. Like Midas,
he loved the greasy feel Of 1t, the yell
low CLINT of 1t, the dead weight Of it !;
but there, Midaslike again, his love
came to full and self-satlsfying stop.
He was too low in the intellectual Or
der to realize that the love for gold is
but a means to an end. SO he lived
to gather gold; to feel Of 1t, glare at
1t, weigh it In his filthy paws; then,
after he had gloated his fll, to con-
vert it into a liquid hell to pour down
hIs roaring throat.
Charde was known at Kelly's as the
Bull. Every time he came into Kelly's
to prop his awkward bulk against the
bar and roar for whisky, the regulars
would hitch up their gun-belts and
turn their backs to him. Always on the
raw edge of murderous explosion
when drunk, his little red eyes warned
even the most fuddled Of the danger
Of the smallest spark Of annoyance in
the vicinity of that magazine of intoxl.
Gated rage. And he drank alone. Not
that any of Kelly's regulars would
have refused to drink with him, with
whisky at a dollar, but because he
never extended an invitation. Charde
travelled alone, worked alone, drank
alOne-and nobody grieved And the
last time he packed his canoe al
Kelly's and went up the river the
Prod got him.
The last time Charde went up river
he turned into a new tributary. A
half mile up that creek, Allan MacFar
lane and his wife were cleaning up fiv,
thousand a week; everybody knew
that. Furthermore, their neares
nelghbor was fifteen miles away. Blu
Charde didn't do anything rash. Whe
he reached MarFarlane's cabin he PAD
died across to the opposite side of tn
stream and for a full hour sat benin
clump of alders, eating tobacco
curslng other mems good luck an,
twlrllng the cylinder of his forty-Ave
Then he padded on. Though all tn
other claims on the creek had plnche,
out and been abandoned, scarcely
summers day passed but some on
rode the current-and 1t was Just tel
miles to Kelly's.
When the winter came, when tn
creek and the river were dead, and tn
few who were forced to travel cut OF
two miles by the other pass farthe
down then Charde looked NOR
brute than human when he left Mac
Farlanes cabin behind.
Perchance It was the idea in hi
mind that blurred his vision; or mayb
his luck had deserted him; or We
again, Providence may have had
hand in 1t. Be that as 1t may, whe
Charde started back to MacFarlane'
cabin in December, his poke was a
fiat as his stomach; also both fee
were frosted.
When he awoke from drunke
stupor beside an extinct fire, an
round both feet dead, an empty mate
box and his flask dry, he rolled owe
on his Knees and started down strean
Two miles below was MacFarlane'
nDin. Just around the next bend O
the creek were food and Il fire. and
warm bunk to lie in till his feet wer
again fit for travel. And there was tn
gold-goldl Charde crawled throug
the snow, his wits driven by necessity
striving to formulate plan OF prC
cCdure
He would keep ont in the open an
crawl straight for the cabin. And theI
when MacFarlane came out to hel
him Charde halted and hi
hand went back to the revolver in hi
belt
Then when he got around agair
when he was fit for long, hard traI
again, he would leave Mrs. MacFai
lane that Vas--and start for Kelly,
Yes he would start for Kelly's, bu
lac wouldn't stop at Kelly's. In fact
4
1t Takes Two II,
Make A Bargain