Nogales international., 1937-01-23
Final Instalment

there commenced per1OQ OF SlccP-
less anxiety. He moved her into
his cabin and tried to. force her to
take some rest, but as for him he
did not remove his clothes and
scarcely closed his eyes for nearly
a week.
Then Mr.. Morris died. He had
muttered almost constantly; the last
words they heard him whisper were
those of his favorite prophecy.
"Some day I'll land in the pay"
There followed the customary
melancholy preparation and formal1-
ties. There were still few women
left on the creeks near by and these
did what they could for Rose.
1t was Rose who selected burial
place, upon the north rim" OF the
creek-a high bench that paralleled
the bottom and that looked out
across the tundra towards the open
sea. 1t was a spot that in winter
was sheltered from the icy blasts;
in summer it was brilliant with Wild
flowers, lush with tender grasses,
and fragrant with blooms-a pleas
ant place for a gentle, broken old
man to sleep. Other hands were
ready to dig the grave, but this was
a labor that Jim Rowan reserved
& for his own.
In due time he began it. For
tunately, the rim was we'll drained
and, once he had picked through
the thin crust of autumn frost, the
gravel was dry and he made good
progress. He had finished his mel
ancholy task and was about to climb
out of the pit, when he noticed a
peculiar reddish tinge to the gravel
beneath his feet. He took heaping
shovelful of it and, descending to
the creek, he stamped hole through
the ice and idly "panned" it on the
shovel blade.
He was engaged thus when young
Hayward and two of his men ap-
preached. Jim rose and leaned
upon his shovel handle. He sup
posed these were the first arrivals
for the funeral, but Hayward ex-
planned
81 came up early to have word
with you, Rowan"
81 thought you said about every.
thing, the other night" Jim tolc
him. I'm not in any humor to"
"Oh, / was drunk l made fool
of myself. Now that l know who
you are, I've come prepared"
Jim stared incredulously at the
speaker; harshly he inquired: "You
don't mean to say you intend to
start something t0-dGy~
Certainly not l came up to serve
notice on you. I've learned how you
met Mr.. Morris and came out here,
and / understand sVhy you came. But
Rose doesn't understand. She doesn't
know you're The Michigan Kid; she
thinks you're just the old friend of the
family, her little playmate from the
home town. She doesn't know it was
you that offered forty thousand dol
lars for this claim"
Right She doesn't know any of
those things. I suppose you intend to
tell her"
Il do. Unless you have enough
decency left to behave like a man."
"How do you figure a man would
behave?" Jim asked. "Of course it's
all hearsay with you, but I'm curious
to know"
Hayward flushed. Never mind that
line of talk. / came to give you a
quiet word of warning but if you want
to get nasty, why, just write your
own ticket. I'm ready to take you on
now, or later"
Il see. That's why you brought
help"
The speakers color deepened
Listen, Rowanl l know what hap
Qened to that Englishman, Thompson
He didn't have any friends with him
the witnesses were all your friends
I've heard about lot of your other
fights, too-if you can call 'em that
and I've had dozen warnings to Lay
off of you, so I provided my own
witnesses. Now here's what I've got
to say-after the ceremony, you
duckW
"And what will happen to Rose1"
"I'll attend to that. She has friends
enough to see her through"
eff / don't duck, suppose you'll
tell her I'm gambler and that ]
offered to buy her fathers claim for
ten times what it's worth. That'll
certainly shock her"
ooh, you had a reason for that offer
more of your '"Michigan's" luck,
probably! l understand you did most
Of the panning. Funny about that luck
of yours, isn't it? Funny how every
body loses when they play you. Yor
were crooked in Dawson and yor
couldn't even play straight with Rose
and her father. It's perfectly obvious
why you came out here in the first
place. He'll Men like you ought tc
be shot for looking at girl like her r
well, Hayward, I'm not going
until l get ready"
1t was a dismal travesty of Z
funeral that occurred late that
afternoon. A clergyman and hal
dozen of Mr.. Morris's acquaintance
had driven out from town, but ever
including them, there were moi
&wenty people who followed the pine