The guardian. [volume] (Boston, Mass.) 1901-1960, 1940-02-24
Partners
By WILL RYAN
Mcclure Syndicate-WNU Service.)

| :, --S@o5ShlS ca4OIiS IilG SluS
OF the gulch. Shutting his eyes tight,
Sierra Pete argued with himself.
"Nope!" he growled. ''It amt
there. The suns got me at last. 1t
amt gold. It's nothin' but a my
ridge"
But when he opened his eyes the
yellow streak was still there. Pick
ing up a loose stone, he Clipped off
a fragment of the yellow outcrop-
ping.
"Gold!" he quavered. millions
In that vein. Pecos Sam and me is
rich. We can ride in our own linn
myzlne and eat alligator pears ev-
cry day of our lives. We can-oh,
Gosh, what can't we do? And ten
minutes ago we was jest a pair of
lean old desert rats with nothin' but
a Jackass and a grubstake between
u.s."
/ He paused, overcome for the mo-
ment. Something wet trickled down
his wrinkled cheeks. He brushed
it away wrathfully.
"Bawlin'!" he calculated. "a
great time to bawl now, with all that
gold in sight. You'd orter be kickin'
up your heels like a yearlin' colt"
But his hobnailed boots performed
no erratlc capers, as he trudged
back to camp, where Pecos Sam
was frying flapjacks over a mes
quite fire. At his elbow, Music, the
burro, waited hopefully. When
Pecos Sam passed him a spoonful
of the dough, he Tapped it up like a
dog.
Cit out now!" admonished Pecos
Sam. go and rustic your supper"
Where Sierra Pete was long and
lank with vertical wrinkles, Pecos
Sam was squat and bowlegged with
wrinkles of the horizontal variety,
and now, as he saw Pete returning
to camp, the wrinkles crumbled in
a welcoming grin.
"Jumpin' horn toads!" he ex-
claimed. Where you been, Pete?
You look like you'd seen a ghost"
GO look in that gulch jest below
the mesa, and you'll see the same
ghost" said Sierra Pete. "I'n tend
to the fapjacks."
When Pecos Sam returned, he was
wiping the perspiration from his
forehead with grimy bandana, and
his eyes held strange dazed look.
Looks like it was the end of the
trail for us, Pete" he observed.
Pears that way" replied Sierra
Pete, with equal gravity.
"Reckon the street lights will be
as bright as them stars and that
moon?" Pecos Sam asked.
Sierra Pete scowled. "Ask me
suthin' easy" he grumbled. 81 amt
stayed overnight in town for twen-
! ty years"
81 can beat that" Pecos Pete was
frankly triumphant cts twenty
five years since I slept anywhere
but under the stars"
And fifteen of them years we've
been together" remarked Sierra
Pete. Fifteen! They amt been so
bad have they, Pard?"
"Nope," returned Pecos Sam
thoughtfully. They've been purity
toll able"
'Thar's some things gold can't
buy" unused Sierra Pete.
"a few" agreed Pecos Sam.
"Reckon I'd better draw a map of
this here place" he added. "That
gulch is ter BILE hard place to find"
Rummaging out the stub of a lead
pencil and piece of paper that had
somehow escaped destruction, Pecos
Sam drew map that satisfied
himself. Folding it up, he placed
it in the inside pocket of his coat.
Reckon that'll do" he decided.
The next morning the partners
staked out their claim. They talked
little on their way to town to record
it. Pecos Sam was grimly silent
and Sierra Pete was snappish. One
on either side of Music, they plod-
ded along.
On the third day a sandstone held
them up. There was nothing to
do but camp, and when at last the
partners aWoke to find the sky glori-
ously blue and the sun shining, their
grouchy mood had passed, and they
joked and laughed like boys.
Pecos Sam was getting breakfast,
when he gave a sudden yell. "Pete!
Come here quick. The maps gone!
he roared. Il jest left my coat on
the ground q minute and that derned
Music nosed out the map. Pete,
he's chewed up our gold mine, sure
as blazes. tn mebbe take years
to find that gulch ag'in, now the
storm has covered our tracks"
Sierra Pete glared at Music. He
had his own private opinion as to
how Music had found that map.
"The pie-eyed son of mountain
jackass!" he snorted. "You hadn't
orter left your coat on the ground
that way. You might have knowed
the critter couldn't tell map of a
gold mine from a pickle recipe. Now
we got to start all over ag'in to
look up our gold mine. But if we
found it once, we can find it ag in.
Anyhow, we got all the rest of
our lives to look for it, said Pecos