The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-02-01

because 1t belongs 10 me! l 4eSA
you! I theenk you come thees
way vance more, you proud one,
and never again, no more"
joey was still up and smoking
lonely pipe in the doorway OF
his cabin when familiar whis-
tie call came to him. A few mo-
ments later Lee swung off his
horse in front of him.
Hello, Joey, I have some news
for you"
"Well, it's time you're back, we
irresponsible young nuisance!
All Joey's anxious loneliness
showed in those scolding words.
A strong brown hand came down
on his shoulder in an affectionate
grip.
you're a good scout, Joey.
Don't you get any notion that
I'd sneak off without you. We're
partners, and we're going to stick
together. I've found out some
thing. The company that bought
in the Rancho Ceballos is merely
a holding company for Milt Bra
dish. He bought it under cover of
another name and he's holding it
that way, probably until he gets
the Circle V. Now you see why
Mats grazing privileges on the
Rancho CebalIos were with
drawn"
"Milt Bradish ownin' the Ran
cho Ceblaaos!" Joey commented
wonderingly. It's enough to make
old Don Luis set up in his grave.
"Do you suppose Bradish real
I lv did cheat him, Joey? Lee
asked.
"Well, not accordin' to law,
Lee. All Bradish did was to sell
him his part of the Bonanza
they was two separate claims, We
knew-and Don Luis didn't have
no better judgment than to buy
It offhand. Matt fell in with Bra
dish when Bradish was down on
his luck, and Matt took him IN
and divided his grubstake with
him. They drifted down here and
| staked claims out there in the
gulch. They was separate claims,
side by side, but they agreed to
help each other work 'em, the
first man to strike pay rock was
to share even with the other"
"They shore worked. They 60
phered into the hills for many
months, with nary sign Of color
an both of 'em plumb Disguised
an ready to quit. An then Matt
druv his pick into somethin' soft.
and yelled for Bradish to come.
"Well, We know what happened.
It looked like vein Of pretty
near virgin gold, but it was only
pocket, although they worked
like crazy men for weeks, hun
tin for the other end of a faulted
lode. But the pocket assayed
high, an they divided fifty thou
sand between 'em. By that time
the news had leaked out an the
gulch was full of men diggin' an
blastin' and sweatin' for gold, but
nobody ever found anything else
that was with mimi.
ct reckon Bradish was the first
man to wake up. He was smart.
He sold out his claim to Don
Luis, who was all excited over
the rush an thought this was his
big chance to wipe out the old
mortgages and bring the Rancho
Ceballos back to what it used to
be. So he clapped on another
mortgage an had a grand time
| with the money. He dug an bias
ted an tunneled an cross-tun-
neled, Dustin clean through inta
Mats claim a couple O times,
until one day a blast that went
off too soon caught him there, an
when they pulled him out they
found he'd never walk again. By
that time he knowed that there
wasn't any gold on that claim.
They say he never mentioned
Bradish's name again, but for the
rest of his life he set there in
the rollin' chair Matt gave him,
in the patio of that crumblin' old
house an sometimes at the bus
ted gate, with the gun across his
knees. Waitin', folks said, for
Bradish to come back.
"But Bradish never came. Matt
was prosperous then, an, he got
Don Luis to. sell Bradish's claim
to him He said it bottled up his
land, or some such foolishness.
Lee was leaning back against
the cabin, meditative and quiet.
He had purposely started the
flow of Joey's Renaissance and
had listened. Slanty Gano had
boosted drunkenly that certain
big man would give him anything
he wanted, because S1anty had