Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1926-01-21
THE
TRADE RAT
MINE
By EUsTAcE v. BRAY
Oa BY short story pub. Co,

TO wander fOf Wnlle along
well-defined trail on the banks of a
brawling branch of the Feather river,
he Is pretty sure to come upon a
weather-beaten cabin, and to be sur
prised by the singular object under
a glass case that may be seen through
its only window. Sometimes the Curl
Gus traveller also gets glimpse of
the occupant of this lonely abode, a
gaunt. bent old man. with hair and
beard and shaggy brows of silvery
whiteness
But there Is kindly CLEAN In the
honest blue eyes beneath those shaggy
brows, undimmed even yet by the
long years that have frosted the thin
hair and patriarchal beard, and, at
tracted by the strange personality of
the recluse and the romance of his
surroundings, visitors have from time
to time won his confidence sufficient
ly TO draw from him the particulars
that have become sublimated into the
crystal of this strange story.
Horace Robb, though accustomed
from boyhood to live and look out for
himself, was by no means always a
hermit, stunning his kind. He came
to California In the early fifties-not
a pioneer but follower in the track
of the earliest searchers for gold.
Youth, enthusiasm, restless energy and
determination to win a fortune for
her whom he had left behind were his
incentives to untiring effort but they
did not bring success. The greater
the endeavor, 1t seemed to him. the
smaller the result. Now and again he
found a color or two. just enough to
keep him on the move.
Finally, tired, for the time, of roam
Ing, he relocated an abandoned placer
claim on this foaming branch of the
Feather river, inheriting with it a de-
serted cabin and its meager plenish-
ing of rude table, stool and bunk, and
rusty pots and pans He Strengthened
up the riekety door, cleared out the
spring and installed his stock of ba-
con- beans and potatoes. Then he
settled down to days of weary tramp
ing with pick and pan and nights of
deep and dreamless sleep.
From the second day OF his sojourn
Robb had found sticks, pebbles and
other trash among his beans and at
tributed the adulteration to dishon-
est trader, but as the weeks went by
the stock of beans diminished with
alarming rapidity, while the refuse in
creased ia proportion. Next the potato
sack seemed filling up with rubbish
also, and the potatoes went faster than
he ate them.
One day, returning suddenly to the
cabin for a forgotten implement, he
surprised great rat In the act of
dragging a candle into hole which
Robb had supposed to be securely
stopped, and the cause of the disap-
pearance of his supplies became APP
parent. But the steady increase of
sticks and stones was still puzzle to
him, until he recalled some of the
queer tales told to him by miners of
the trade rats that are said to be born
with a sense of justice, and cannot
help trying to do the square thing"
Without stopping to theorize, he de-
termined to put the matter to prac-
tical proof, and when he went to bis
next days work he placed a tempting
piece of bacon rind on the stump that
served him as sideboard, leaving the
rathole still unstopped When he
came at night the bacon was gone
and in its place was q stone. Day
after day he repeated tie experiment,
until it became habit with him to
put a remnant of griddle cake or d
bit of bacon or potato skin upon this
stump, and invariably he found at
night chip or twig or pebble in place
of the vanished scrap of food 1t was
a sort of barter in which the balance
always showed on the wrong side of
the ledger but, by keeping his pro-
visions in crude, tin-lined locker of
his own construction, and allowing the
rathole to remain open, he not only
his own rat.ons from moles-
tation but inspired the trade rat with
such a sense of dependence and i'm
munity that the big rodent made a
practice Of coming out of his hole in
the quiet hours of candle light for a
supplementary evening luncheon. Sit
ting on his launches he would wink
his bright eyes and wiggle his whis-
kers till the patient miner brought
him a bit of food.
Things went on this way for months
and the trade rat now almost tame,
was Robb's only companion and dis
traction in many lonely hour All
this time he was getting no gold to
speak of his supplies were nearly
gone, and the prospects were decided
ly discouraging.
One morning. clear. crisp Cali
fornia morning-Horace Robb put in
the customary place on the stump
small fragment from his fast-emptying
larder and started out in search of
his fortune just once more. He
went to different place. but re-