Year: 1874

And he said, sit is Gods own harmony


This wind that sings in the chimney"





JunO's Partner.


Immediately below GO0dwin's Bar,
not more than q hundred yards, the
miniature promoDtory called Devlin'5
Cliff projected sharply into the Yuba's
eeaseless stream. The dark-brown,
weather-wOrn rocks with the sharp
point sticking up toward the sky, re-
sembled a monster ship about to ride
over the Bar. The summit was level
as the sandy plain below, and was
thickly overgrown by small trees. For
the amount of nourishment they re-
ceIved, growing thus almost from the
solid rock, they were singularly pro-
life, for the branches hung thick with
leaves and effectually shaded the mos
sy level. 1t was to this little grove
that Juno and his partner had fled
upon the advent of old SOi's heated
face In the sky. No one could inn
peach their taste IN the position they
had selected and still reposed, for it
was alike comfortable and convenient.
A small spring gushed out of the
rock three feet from where they lay,
and ran merrily down the pebbly
crevice and mingled its clear water
with that of the river. Juno and his
partner were q strange pair. don't
think the man was ever known by
any other appellation than "The
Partner" in Goodwin's Bar. When
he came to the camp one evening with
a large Newfoundland dog close at his
heels, by a peculiar combination of
circumstances he was i'm ediately set
down by the not very charitable popu-
lation of the settlement as a man of
no account whatever. Imbecility was
considered his only prominent char
acteristic. And the Bar was not far
from wrong, for he merited their
judgment completely. When Irish
Pete shot Bill Goodwin through the
head for fancied insult one day, The
Partner never so much as made
hostile remark when Pete escaped,
Notwithstanding he was the only
spectator of the deed. And when
Jim Ryan's claim in the side of the
hill caYed in on him TIE Partner nev-
er warned the miner, although he
tconfessed afterward that he knew it
was going to cave half an hour before
the catastrophe happened. An effort
was made to indict and hang him
after that event, for all were disgusted
with him, but human pity prevailed,
and The Partner was not mOlested. L
state bus the facts when | say that the
little old fellow was very unpopular.
He did not seem to be conscious that
all disliked him, and obstinately paid
no attention to the ominous hints that
his presence was no longer desired in
the camp. The Partner was pretty
old, and his form was bent and with
cred. His face was wrinkled, that
part of it which was visible, while the
lower portion was covered with a
rough, scraggy, brindle heard. Two
little hard, steel-like gray eyes peeped
from beneath his bat-brim, and close
ly scanned each object he saw. His
voice was harsh and unpleasant, and
he was a man whom it would not re-
quire person very long to learn to
detest. Upon his accession TO citizen
ship at the Bar he had been asked the
name of his dog, and on replying that
il was Juno, he had been Immediately
christened "Juno's Partner" and no
amount of rechristening could eyer
change it. He had protested against
this familiarity at first, but as he had
no apparent success he had desisted,
and bore the name with his aceustom-
ed uonchalance.


II The Partner, by his many dis
agreeable traits of character became
unpopular, Juno, by his numerous
lcommendable qualities became cor
respondingly elevated in the public
esteem. He was universally loved
and respected by all. No dog had so
many truly laudable grains in his
composition as had Juno in the esti-
nation of Goodwin's Bar. No libels
upon his character were ever enter
tanned a moment by any one ever so
distantly connected with the camp,
for he was considered incapable of a
bad or unlawful action. Juno's hon
est, black face, long, silky ears, and
large, soft. expressive human eyes
were sufficient 20 insure him square
mealn or a nights lodging in any
camp upon the Three Forks Of the
Yuba and, as Pete Singleton aver
ed, "would kerry Jim unsupported
through any butcher-shop in the Yoo-
nited States.n Juno's Partner was
the envy of many, Notwithstanding
the dog was considered public proper
| ty, for Juno was indefatigable in his
| devotion to the old man. Had the
animal been able to speak-and it was
Ia mystery to several that he did not
probably strenuous efforts would have
been made to prejudice him against
his master bus, inasmuch as he
could not converse in English, though
you could have found many who
would swear he could understand, no
action was taken in that direction.
The Partner had frequently been Of
| fered ten or fifteen LOUNGES" for pos
session of Juno, but even his extreme
poverty had not yet caused him to
suecumb and part With his pet.


Juno and his master worked claim
on the Bar, but they barely washed
out enough in day to pay for the
provisions they consumed, and so the
venture can be fitly characterized as a
failure. 81 tell yer, boys" remarked
one of the men in the saloon one
evening, when the pair came in wet
and hungry from q profitless days
work, ''if the derg had charge of the
dust, them pardners would make more
money" From this remark it may
be considered that Juno was cOnsid-
cred a sagacious. careful, and discreet
miner, and the Partner, by the same
authority, was condemned as 3 reck-
less, whisky-drinking spendthrift. !
don't give an opinion myself, but il L
should 1 can say that Juno hal at
least one quality which his master
had not, and that was industry I; for,
in all his residence at the Bar, cover
ing a period of several months, The
Partner was never known to demean
himself with manual labor when he
could prevent himself and Juno from
starving by any other method (; and,
although among the miners of Good
wins Bar there was not one who
would have permitted Juno to want
for food, there were very many who
could have looked upon The Partners
deeease with anything but regret.
But the dogs brain was never trOub-
led with any plans for the future, his


master was all in all to him, and MOTH
ing bat position by the mans side
ever made him happy. And, in re-


turn, I verify believe The Partner
would not have hesitated q moment


in sacrificing his life for the preserva-


ton of his dog, and many times he


has been known to wrap Juno secure
ly in his blanket and sleep without q
covering himself, when the cold rain