Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Albany register. (Albany, Or.) 1868-18?? | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 1880)
-I ALBANY, OREGON! AUGUST 6, 1880. NO. 45, VOLUME XII. -4 From the California!!. SAND. by J. "w. ga;.. (Continued from eek.) The western slope of tin Sierra Nevada, from the seas to the summits. J a l"g undulation of land, down through which the rains and snows meander to the great salt water ot the world, winding among green woods and a various vegetation ; the eastern slope is n "jtimpofr' into the corrugated basin of the desert, where all the streams are swallowed by the earth, mid from whose summit the easfward guzing grizzly lear. chained by the sun beam, lift hi fl-xihle nostrils to sniff ilu odor of the arid waste, then slowly tarns about and prowls to westward. Two worlds seem here 10 meet ; vegetable and nnimal life have no communion across the line ; on one side there is abundant rain, now. tog. and moisture ;v i'e other side tire wide wasies of gray pastures in the drought, cold, and dust. To tlie eastward ot this line, in a qtiartz inining camp, where the object is precious metal, there are no gardens shade-trees, lawns, front-yards, hotne flowers, or ornamental enclosures of any sort. After Such a camp becomes a town or city, with a far-fetched costly supply of water, the green and growing luxuries appear in tiny garden-spots, large windows, anil in trees which are irrigated at the root by underground troughs and wooden spouts trees which are, in tact, brought up by hand. But the newer town, which is still a mining camp, knows nothing of planted greenness ; and it It is situated in the great empire ot Artemisia, where silver and gold are married in the volcanic chambers of the awful past, there is no spontaneous greenness fresher than a random, bristling nut-pine, or a sprawl ing arid juniper. The general tone ot the whole landscape is gray, inclining to drub; and yet here and there are sporadic hills breaking out from the general coir ring, which present tints shading and blending into each other in a way so ielie.it-tli.it. no painter yet dares put them on canvas, because the public can not understand what the public has not seen the like of. and tor which the public can tint! no use. Nevertheless, the mining region is a country of beautiful natural surprises. Nowliere. not even in the vaunted blowzy flora of the tropics, doe .Nature paint with a touch so 'delicate or a spi-it so masterful. There is. so to -peak, a charm ing dramatic stage effect in the scenery of this va-t land. The clear, dry. dewles air offers no screen to kill the shadows painted by the sun, the moon, or the stars. Nisrht or day, the stray, Infrequent cloud, which floats before the skyward breeze or sleep lazily along the blue, easts us counterpart in a dark, moving slridnw UK)n the gray valley or among the pulse less concourse of the hills. The tliir-ty and tar-wandering "prospector. "' seeking, among the pyiamids ot granite, the spires of purpl') ry, the slopes of slate, the uast'es of lime, the coliimtis ot basalt, tor one sweet spring ot living water, finds instead a mountain of rock-salt, glittciiua like a glass dome among the steriie hills, to tantalize his parching tongue and mock lii in with a ma jety of art he has neither the time nor the patience to enjoy. Under font, the world is dry, gray, silent. Ovei liead, during the long, cloud Jess day. it is pale-blue, dry. silent. All abroad, it is grny.or dark w ith mountains distant, and it is silent. Silence is every where. No tide ot restless, seas rolls throbbing to the shore-lines on the rocks the seas are dead and gone. No roar of fai -off torrent tumbling down the hills to jar the night air underneath the stars the stars still are. hut all the torrents have de paned. In this land the valleys have been seas the canons have been torrent-bed, tlie slopes hive been the dwelling-place of men who dealt with fire, stone-headed arrows earthen Hts, and shell-wrought vatdties ; Out at. some lost period, back ward of all dates, the Great High Sheriff of the universe, in open court, has cried Silence !" and has been obeyed. Across these gray valleys, under these silent shadow, and among these curious hills, winds the long, dra'i-colored ribbon ol the wagon-road on its way 10 the town. It. too, i silent, save far forward in the dusty distance, where the nxteam in a piebald picture answers Aith straining neck the profane shout that urges it a.'onjr : or far backwaid, where the lines of !entr by ear mark time to mulish feet to crepitating leather, and to clanking .chains, and all that makes a mule-team mu-inl to the ears ot the silent an who sits upon his laboring beast, jogging from left to right, from right to lett. the whole dav lone; o" between these teams, or before or behind them, the croaking bisr black raven may strut and croak in answer to some far-oil woit upon a low lull, howl ing at the plain. AH is silent. No house along that way. No haying watch-dog sitting at a gate. iNo children home hound. book in trend, from school. No crowing cocks, no lowing herds, no bleating lambs no any thing. but Mlence and the shadows and tlie gray. Through such a land, on smh a road, young Mr. Maydole mad- his way toward the treeless sunbunrt mining town, lie found it in one of these deserted torreni Teds which the American man of the Occident calls a ca-jon. Two feeble lines of houses, with a stony street Instweeii ; two rocky lines ot ragged hills from whose rough faces, like numerous "JH'S noes. jutted the half built, hr.lt dug-out miners' cabins, and one large. noiy build ing in tlie town, lrom whose high cliirur.eys ome clouds of smoke and putts of steam. When tlie two-horse spring wagon, which tlie proprietor thereof called a stage. pulled tip in front of the office building pertaining to the larger structure, our hero alighted. Unheralded. unattended. ' unacquainted, ami miwelcoined. His few personal effects were rapidly piled out alter him upon the tep ot th j 'ofllce. ud the 4 age drove way. leaving him an entire stranger "in the cold world." With his usual directness of purpose, he presented himself' to tiie person behind the desk, and. finding that person to be the . jwirty to whom his credentials were ad dressed, he immediately served the same upon him. ' I am glad to meet yon, Mr. Myd!e. and if it suit you as well to get in here as It does ine to get out, we are both iiapt.y." To this remark Norman simply bowed poJitely, and then said : If you will be good enough to sliow me over the place, and introduce me to tlie foreman, ho-I such other persons as I may have uto.t business with, I shall be glad at any time to return tlie favor, if in tuy power to do so." Certainly, certainly ! Blethers is down in the mine at present, tuit I will introduce you to the amalgamator, the store-keeper, tlie postmaster, ami and the boys generally." , "And the matter of lodgings M Nor man was beginning to sav. - You take tuy room, I suppose ; right here in the office building." Here he ppenfid tlie door leading to an adjoining loom, aud while exhibiting it to Norman, he added : "It is not very tine, but it is as good as any in camp." Good enough," said Norman. 'Well, it is a good enough room, but it should be fixed up should htvve been done long ago but. I don't get on very well with Hlethers. and have not expected to remain here, or I should have had it in better fix." Mr. Blethers is the foreman, is he not ?" 'Well. yes. He is foreman, superinten dent and Vveithing else in authority, ex cept bookkeeper."' and the retiring clerk looked upon No-man's mode-st young face in a way which said plainer than any words : -I pity you, my boy."- 'lf it i not disagreeable to you. I would like to have you tell me. briefly, in what style Mr. Blethers wields his au thority.'"' In this way. among other things. He runs the camp about, as he pleases. He has a lot of men in iiere. some of whom the most of them, in f.nwifl do just what he says; and the few men who di tier with him find it to their best interest to keep mum. If yon kt-ep luniks and make out accounts to suit him. you're all right if yon don't you're all wrong. That's ntuiut the size of it !" and the clerk ieered into Norman" eyes to see how be took a statement so iilarming ; but Norman looked as innocent as a lamb, and gave no further evidcce d alarm than to ask it he could not put his small amount of luggage into the cleik's room. Why. of course." aid the clerk. "Go in and "take MV'ession. The whole thing belongs to tlit company, except a few tricks have in then-, and I will s'lve yon most of them if yon will receive them. I"il get right out of yotu- way." "No, no," said Norman. "I am in no hurry to g.-t you out-take your leisure. I will find a room in the town somewhere for a time.' I see you dnu'i understand this coun try. About the only way to get a good, dean, quiet sleeping apartment in this camp is to build one and fumih it. Yon may get a bed in a lodging house, divided from other beds by cheap muslin and paper partitions, next, door to a disoiderly drunk on one side of you. and a husky bull-whacker, w ho snores" worse than a fog ho-n, on the other side but I'd advi-e yon not to." -What can not be cured must be en dured." Well, if I was boss of. the much any more I would prooe that you sleep with me; but yon have just let me out. you Sec." "Oh. I see. Bill I beg you to continue to boss the ranch, in that regard, as long as you desire." In that, case." answered the clerk, smiling, "we are all ri .flit. I take pleas ure in offering von halt my bed, Mr. May dole anil that is the highest point of hospi tality reached among business men in these mountains ; the s;orls and bar-keepers have been known to go further, but then they have m.imiers peculiar to themselves." Norman put bis personal belongings in to the room, and then the clerk proceeded to show him about, the place and introdli.'e him to the men nr. as ihev are commonly called, "the boys." After seeing the mill and the town lie asked about the mine, and the clerk answered : "The mine is further I've never been there bur runs that to suit himself, thoiitv for oiiT down up the canon, once. Blethers I have no au into it. aud no tas.e for going underground it I had the authority. You'll hive to get Blethers to take you round, awl it he don't invite you down into tlie mine I guess you'll not go down." "No?"' responded Norman, interroga tively. .Inst here, as they passed along the mid dle of the dry. hard street, they met a stal wart, broad-shouldered man, with his hands rammed half-way down under the waistband of his pantaloons, aui arms akimlMt. walking heavily, yet jauntily, down the canon. To this rather lofty personage the clerk said : Mr. Blethers, Mr. Maydole the new clerk. Mr. Blethers took his heavy right hand out of his waistband and shook hands with Mr. Maydole. saying he wasgiiul to meet him. and then asked it he would not come in and "take a driiiK." No. thai.k you" Mr. Maydole did not drink. Well, come and take a smoke, then." "Much fbliged" Mr. Maydole seldom smoked. Well. then, come and see me take a drink," said Mr. Blethers, with a laugh that, seeuied to say lie was doing a very humorous thing. "Very good.'" said Norman. "I will go in and see how you do it ill ..this part of the country." x "Are you a temperance man ?" asked Blethers, as they entered the saloon. "If you spe'l with a big T, I am not. "I'm not mud. on the "pell. Do you belong to the Teinoiars or the Sous ?" "No, I do not." "Well, then, take a drink." he said as they approached the bar where the glasses were being set up. "No." said Norman. "I never drink unless I absolutely nec.J it." Bleth"rs then i-illid upon the f-w loung ers in the hoitse to come, up, which ihey promptly did. and ali except Norm in. swallowed their diam leaving him. ill the eyes of that pariicueir crowd, a rather contemptible' minority. Then Blethers, the clerk, and Nornian adjourned across the street to the nil ice. Here Ble'hers drew from Ids breast pocket certain papers which he threw upon the desk in a grand sort of way, telling the clerk what record to make of ihein. after which he turned to Norman and cat echi-ed him re garding his kuowleduecf mines aud mining, and this c-'techising eliciting nothing very satisfactory to him. be said : "I knowed there was a new mnti n-tmni-ing. but 1 reckoned yoii knowed something about the business. I don't see wh it in hell the company means by changing clerks on me so often." "There need be no anxiety about that in this case. I think." said Norman, in his quiete-t manner ; "I'd keep the books straight enough." Blethers looked at him in his Joftv way which seemed to sy. " I'll see about that." a. il then he went out. Norman got on very wei! with tlie clerk. In fact, he soon began to iike th it person, and that person became rapidly attach"'! to him. ami aided him in evui-y way he Could to mi understanding ot tlie po-itioti aud the people. They were thrown to gether day and night for several days and Norman bad thereby a better opportunity than he had expected to find out. without going out of his way, how matters etood in t- e town, and wlm was who. "Blethers is going In put things up on you in this can p." said the clerk, in one ot the many talks he had with Norman. Why do you think so ?" .-' "I know he is by the looks ot him. lie began it the other day when he asked you to drink you didn't then he called up the stove-herders. That's his "game. He wants to throw the boys against you on the start." : "Tlie chances cr.n not all be good in one tlitcctlou. I wiii take niipe op svme other tack that Is, it I have need to take any chances." "Well. I'm soon going to leave you to your fate. I've passed over everything in tlie office, and have told you all I know. Now I'm going out to fire the old loads out of my pistol and get it ready for the road." "Wait a moment." said Nornian, "my own pistol needs blowing out and reload ing," and he passed tnto the bed-room: then, quickly returning, he and the clerk walked a few steps up the canon beyond the houses, chalked a white target-mark upon a cliff of rocks and prepared to Are at it. Go ahead." said the clerk. "After you," said Norman. While the clerk was firing, there came Blethers and two of the men on their way up to the mine, and as pistol practice, at the animate or inanimate target, is Rn in teresting theme in the mountains, they paused to see the shooting. Tiie clerk was rot a bud shot, as shooters com oonly go. When he had emptied his revolver, and all had examined his hits, he rechalkcd the target and said : "Now, Mr. Maydole." Norman took his position with his pis tol in his liiy-pocket He stood there .Jor a mmn-n: ; then, drawing and commencing to tire in the same instant, he flattened rapidly, one after the other, the six balls against the chalked rock, and left the lead en imprint of all of them inside of a space w hich could be could be covered by a sil ver dollar. The shooting bei..g done with. Norman and the clerk turned away toward the of fice, while Blethers and the men with him proi-eeded up the canon. That young feller is a shooter for base." said the taller ot the workmen, aiming his remark at Blethers. "Uuiph !" grunted Blethers, "shootin' gillery frills. Nothiu in it !" "Aye !" said the other man, with a broad. English accent, "it's no' his slmotiu' as I wonders at tinhhut t' woiy ee pulls t 'pistol fro' hi britchis he'ind. It's wot yo' Americans calls t' lira w,' be'nt it?" Yes." answered the taller workman, "if he can draw and shoot that way when he means business, he's got the drop on a big majority ot all the shooters ever I saw." "Ho "" said Blethers, as the three trudg ed along, crunching over the loose stones in the road. "Fancy practice ! Notion' in it ! Nothin in it !" But his compan ions, though they dropped the subject, did init show by their looks that they agreed with him. as they passed out of sight around a bend in the canon road. That was a good job." said the clerk to Norman, as they two. on their return from the target, entered the office. "Ye-," responded Norman, "it Is al ways best to keep a pistol fresh aud clean." "I don't mean the cleaning of the pistols I mean your shooting." Oh. I am an old hau l at t irgf prac tice." saiil Norman in his easy, quiet way. "I should say you were ; but that is not the point I'm driving at." "Is knot? Then I do not catch your meaning." "My meaning is," s-iid the clerk, with a gr. titied sparkle in his eyes " That old bully Bk'tliers sot a bug in his wool. He claims to be a fighting chief, and thinks be can draw quicker and shoot deader than any man in tlie ntounta'ns ; but you've laid him over, and he won't forget it." Well, yes If a pistol is a gixnl one. 5n goid order, ami well loaded, in a close tiht most any kind ot shooting will do It is the nerve and draw which win." " "All right! Yon keep your eye on Blethers, because that lit re shooting will be all over this camp before morning, and Blethers won't 'ike that a bit. Those two men who were with him don't like him. lie don't like thrm. But they are A No.l miners, and bandy anyhow or anywhere, in a mine or about it. No mine can get aloiiLt without such men. They are never drunk, never off. and they don't talk out side. I know them. They understand things. They will soon understand you. if I'm not mistaken, and it won't do vu any harm to let them know you are on the square with them." "If they can not find th.it out by my general conduct. I do not see how else I should get them to knw it." That's all right. I'm not asking you to blow your own horn, but just to give the boys a point now and then. People sometime don't see without a hint or two." What do yon call these men ?" " The tall one's an American Irish-American Charley fitzgibbon ; went inio the war at seventeen years old. in the first call for "three inonths"-men," and never left the servi-je a day until he was honor ably di-charged after the tall of Kiclimond. The other is Cussin" Jack. a west-country Englishman gold miner from Ge'irgia who fought under the stars and bars all over the South. They live together, sleep together, work together sort of social Siamese Twins." Why is the Briton called 'Cussin' Jack" is lie o profane ?" "No o." said the clerk, laughing ; that is miners humor. He never was known to use profanity. He is a sort of Cornish Puritan preacher, it you know what that is. Originally he was 'Cousin Jack. but the miners liave tw isKl It to suit them selves. On the books he is John Cadwa!." During the time of these conversations and of may others which to.ik place in the office between the same parties day and night the mighty measured tread of the ore-stamps in the mill adjacent kept up its roar, making he atoms of gravel creep aud nestle among the larger stones which lay about the staring while board-on-end building in which tiie office was. To a stranger's ear this ceaseless rhythmic roar in the otherwise silent land becomes at first a sort ot gra id. loud, yet muffled harmony ; then a painful, thundering dis cord ; etill later a bearable monotony ; and. finally, the agreeable pulsating music ot prosperity. So agreeable does this music become that, its cessation is an alarm ; aud when it dies out altogether, aud the long rows of great iron stamps are "hung up" to rust between the massive posts which hold them, five in a nlaee from post to post, the "camp" takes up its line of march in a "go-as-roti-please" stampede to richer realms ; and then a silence falls into the canon more dreary and oppressive than that which existed before man disturbed the "ancient, solitary region" of the speechless spirit of the desert. There is no picture more sugges tive of desolation, more full of enforced silence, than a rusting, idle quartzinill among the steri' hills of the Rilver land. The battle-field where daring industry has been forced by the shadowy, gliding giant ol want to lay down his r.rms and inarch empty-handed away, is a sad appeal to the truly artistic more pathetic than half the battle-grounds ot contending empires. But as long as the roar of the stamps re verberates along the rock-walled canon the reader need not apprehend any increase of desolation about ihe office where young Mr. Maydole U now fully installed being left to his fate by his genial predecessor. Steadily and. politely, under the jarring muic of the now to him unnoticed stamps he attends promptly to ids business. The men come on the monthly pay-day to find s their accounts in exit ' -tier, and the checks for the money ..,o them ready for delivery. One by or.,.- they sign the p-sy-rolls, each opposite to his name, date of payment, and amount. Some f igii with a heavy, wavering, horhy-hauded signa ture ; others ask the new clerk to sign for them, while they, like tlie barons of old, add the chivairic sign of the cross; now and again one wields his pen with a rapid and easy grace, and leaves behind him an autograph ancestrally know in science, commerce, and letters. As they sign their names each takes his .eheck, glances it over, tucks it away in his pocket, and walks heavily oit. The great stamps go on and on, roaring and jarring. The men are paid up for the month. They have gone, and left the clerk to his books his spider like solitude, aud the long, rolling monotone of the mill. Day after day. often into the nitdit. the new clerk, amid the continual noise, pur sues his silent tak. No and again he locks his ofllce doors pfT?s lino the mill aud around among its bewildering move ments, asking questions ot and speaking to the men. concerning their various em ployments. At first ( they answer him coldly, even -morosely ; then, by and by, more cheerfully ; and. after a time, more or less cordia'ly. Little at a time be picks up the meaning of things, till gradually there awakes within him the latent me chanical lore ot his race ; then, like a, yisiou, the whole business dawns upon I i:ti. Every wheel and crank, journal and boxing, pullev aud belt, cog-wheel aud lever, tub, settler, battery, engine, furnace an 1 retort, becomes his intimate friend. He knows them all. Outside the mill he knows each driver and each mule byname the capacity and present con dition of every wagon. Nothing of tlie business is unknown to him save the cause of it all the deep, dark delving of the mine over which, thus lar, Blethers is king. Several time our hero has gone to the mouth of the mine, inside of the building called the hoisting works, and has watch ed the hoisting machinery bringing up refuse rocks and precious ore watched the coming up and going down cf the men as they changed the gangs, or shifts ; but at no time has he asked to be taken down into the mine, or in any way seemed to manifest any undue curiosity as to what, might be going on below the earth's sur face. Tints mouths passed away. He be gan to be looked upon as a very neat, cleanly, orderly, harmless young fellow, and polite, good clerk. The men looked pleasantly upon him on the pay-days in the office, and saluted him cheerily when ever tie met them ; even Blethers seemed to abate some ot his loftiness in his pres ence. One day. shortly alter the latest pay-day. when the weight of the preceding month's business was well ofl'his hands, he locked his ottice doors and strolled leisurely up to tha mine, where he found "Cussin' Jack" out of doors engaged in hewing heavy timlers. He sat do-vn upon the hewn surlace of the lojj. and fell into conversa tion with the hewer. "Be yo' getten' to feel whoam-loike up 'ere i' th' moines ?" "Yes. I like ;t first-rate." "Well ! T' boy be comiii' to loike yo' a bit." Well. I like the boys." Yo' dew ?" "Yes.'' "Why dost tha nivver cnam out an' tak' a dram wi" Vm ; or smouk a poipe F" 'I do not drink." "Nor smoak ?" asked Jack, as he still hewed to the black line be had struck upon the log. "I can smoke, but I do not fancy tobacco " "Tha'rt a rare uu. T' hovs think tha'rt a bit stiff an' 'igb tony i' thy ways." T d not mean to be siilfand hlgh-toiiv. I work for my wages the sune as they do we are all in tho same boat " 'Weil 7-aid. lad. well zaid." and lie stopped hewing, put the po'ut of his broad-axe on the log. anil, crossing his arms, leaned upon the end of the handle, while he put one foot upon the timlser. and asked : "ll' vo' waant to know 'ow io put feither i' thy cap wi' t' boys I' this ere camp ?" "Yes," said Ncrman, "I would like to help the boys." - Aye, 1 believe tha ;" then he looked all about him. dropped his axe on the tiuitier. lined his black leather belt with one hand, and with the other hand fished tint ol bis foh-ocket his last month's check, handed it to Norman, aud, resum ing his axe. went on hewing. "This check is all right, it not ?" said Norman, when he had it unfolded. " There's uowt amiss wi' t' check. There oe'ent no better check az I knows on." "What is the matter, then ?" 'Well, it yo'k loike to gi' vo'rsen a lift wi' boys, stop pavin' checks an' gi' s t' cash." Is not the check as good as cash ?" "Naw, it be'eut ; not 'ere. T' store keeiaper sdiaives ir, ivverabody shaives it ; but t' cash, lad, gi tis t' cash. I be'ent a gossip talker. Go thv ways : but doant Inrgi-ifeii as I've telled tha to put a feither i' thj cap." "I will remember it," said Norman, handing ins check back to bun. "Ho thy ways. An' tha gettest I' trouble i' the cash bissens ir.oind I tell tha, tha hast freinds i" the house o' Pharaoh.' Norman bade the hewer good-day, strolled about tlie mine-mouth aud ore house a short time, aud then went back to his office, where he wrote a letter to his patron, from which the following Is an extract : "I think I am beginning to grasp the situation. I have delayed any examina tion of the mine. Have not yet made any demand tor it. because I have wished to see my way in broad daylight first, be fore frying the darkness. " The men Mill coinplhiu that the'T checks are shaved un mercifully by all to whom they present them, but most severely by the store, which the men call the 'company store. They also complain that they are called upon, wtK'ii working by contract, to re ceipt for more money than they receive, etc., etc. These latter matters (which I will report more at large by and by) can not now be afifected by my present iower ; hut if you will enable me to pay the men in cash coin or gold -notes altogether in cash, or half cash aud half checks, it will distribute the wages of the men into more hands make tlie men feel more indepen dent, and therefore slightly weaken the hold which tlie present management tuts upon this people." The letter had It effect. When the men came in to sign he pty-rolls of the succeeding mouth, they took their half cash with pleasant chaff ami merry good humor. The outside 6tore-keeper and other dealers did a better iying business than they hud done for a long time. Even the gamblers and visiting priests and preachers were better off. All tlie outgo was no longer re-absorbed by the mine management aud the pet barnacles attach ed thereto.' The men's checks were not now shaved to the bone. Gradually tlie wink passed, from man to man. as they privately gave the new clerk credit for the improved financial condition. The new clei k attended to all his busi ness promptly and pleasantly. He treated the lofty Blethers with perfect respect. He also attended thoroughly to any rea sonable demands made, upon him by Blethers' pets the store-keeper, the keeper of the boarding-house, the saloon man. the lodging-house person, aud in fact all the pets who love to cluster about the management of a working mine. Not withstanding his fairness, his civility, his attention to these persons, they were not happy ; thev did not like him, yet they could find no stable ground on which io assault hi position. Before the next pay-day drew nigh Iip wrote, in his regular monthly letter, to Colonel Holteu as follows : 'The half-cash idea wo'-ks well. The men are pleased with it. It yon can make It all cash it will be sti'f' better. I am aware of the expanse and risk in sending large sums of money, but I fully Iielieve that it is hetter to do so, even If we should be robbed twice per year. As affairs now stand you virtually lose te money any way. But I do not admit that we shall be robbed. If yon express the money (after notifying me in the manner I have here tofore pointed out) as far as the express box comes, I think I can see it sate the remainder of the way." This letter was also effectual. On pay day the men were entirely satisfied. The trade was distributed throughout the camp, and that satisfied a majority ot the people but the Blethers crowd Were not content ed. On a pleasant winter sunny Sunday, af ter pay day, Norman carfully locked up his office and betook himself to the road for a little exercise afoot. In his rambles he met many of the men. who now accost ed him with very kindly chceriness as they passed to and from their work for there is neither night, nor day, Sunday nor holi day, on a working mine. As he walked on. outside the village, he heard heavy steps at some distance behind him and gaining on his gait, till at last he was over taken by two workmen, both Iaise but one taller than the other, the shorter of whom, as he overtook Norman, said: "Gi ns thy hand. lad. That's getten it done. an' the feither Is l' thy cap," and he shook hands heartily with Norman. "This is my pa rdner. Charley Fifzkibbin. 'E's a mini as it's wuth thy whiles to know, lad. tho'ff I zay it to 'is faice." Nornian shook hands with Fitzgibbon. and they tlncb went forward in the road together. Why don't yon come down into the mine and take a look around ?'' asked Charley. "I hare not yet been invited," said Nor man. "The damned hog !" 'What !" exclaimed Norman, sharply. "I don't mean von." "'Ee ts a 'og is Blethers." "The boys down in the mine will he glad to see you. Yon come down and see ns some time. We'll show you around and let you see some things yon ought to know." "Yon are very good," said Norman, "and I will be glad to be down in the mine as soon as business is so arranged that I can. In the memtime. If I have any friends down there, give them my best respects." You bet your ribs you've got friends down there"," said Charley, wUh an em phatic tw it of his bead. 'Ee 'ave that ; an' top o' t 'ground lolkewoise." 'How is the mine looking ?" asked Nor nian. "It looks well enough tor the way it is treated ; vou'll see how it is when 3ou come down." "I t--e'nt no wise shy o' tellin' wot I thinks o t' moine to them as 'ave business wi' it. Blether be 'oggiu on It for a treeze-hont. That's wot t' fact is. I knows a moln as well as 'ee do. This 'ere be a good little moine In honest 'auds." Well, gcirlemen, I want verv much to know all about the mine, and to thor oughly understand it ; and I shall feel un der obligation to von and to all who assist me to understand not that I can hope t do more than to express the obligation. I have only my wages as you all have." "We understand that." said Charley ; "and we know "that things is happenin round here." "Ave !"added Jack, "things do 'appen "raand Vre." And then both the men turned away into a branch road, laughing and shaking their broad shoulders as they went ; leaving Norman lo pursue his walk and return to his starting point, where the noise ot the mill furnished him with music, while it reminded him con stantly of the unfinished task he had in hand. He begau to feel that he was not alone in his struggle tor "a fair deal." As he sat on that Sunday evening in the office, reading one of the Tew choice hooks he had brought with him, he could hear tlie men In tlie saloons across the way. singing and laughing over their beer, but he could not hear cite conversation at one of the tables in the saloon, where he was. in part at least, the subject under discus sion. Thi new clerk is making himself damn ed fresh around here." "I duniiot see but 'ee keeps bissen to hissen well's yo' do." Oh, Well, Jack, we won't fight about that ; onl; old Ble:hers's just billn'." "Jet un bile. 'Twean't hurt un to bile. It daan't spile bad ejrgs to cook tin." But when he biles over he'll just kick the stuffin all out o' that fancy young duck from 'Frisco." Don't you tool yerself about fancy young duck from 'Frisi.-o. Ben Blethers jist better let that job out by contract." This latter remark was made by a John ny come lately to the camp. "Dost tha' know t' lad ?" 'No. I hain't no acquaintance with him, hut I know who be is." 'Oo is 'ee ?" "He's the rooster that killed -Cocho Plzan,' and cleaned out the stage robbers." "Ego-h !" exclaimed Cussin' Jack." striking the under side ol his heavy fist u Don the table, "I smells a raat. Gi us anoother beer aw round. EgoshI Itbow t 'ee was no common chap fust toime J zeed un. . Whenwoz it 'ee plugged t' staige robber?" "L.st spring, some time May or June, I think." "Eirosh ! I read un In uooze paiper. 'Ee' t' b'y is 'ee " Here the beer being served all round tlie table. Jack grasped his glass mug by the handle, rapped on the board, then raising the foam capped, brown liquor toward his Hps said : 'Ere's to the lad as pays t' cash to a workiu' man I" tlien, having swallowed his draught, he set down his hall emptied mug and said : '.-, "Summnns getten. sense at the 'ead o' this inolnlu company.'' - :. "That's all right. Jack." said the speak er who had opened - this dialogue ; "but that won't save the boy from takiu a dev il of a wlialiu' when Blethers gets despe rate. He may le a good man of his size, but blathers is too heavy for him." ' "It be 'lit bij uns as wins siy the flgbts, them ns sent un here knows un. 'Ee be' ent combd up 'ere tor nowt. : Yo' talk o' kiekin' stuffin' out o' tin I tell tha wot. them as kicks stuffin out ' yon lad has getten it ro kick out o' moar than im. Stuffin will oe cheap i' this camp. Them's the soothin remarks o' owd John Cadwal." Thus ami tbuswise the men spent their Sunday evening, and many another even ing, while the great stamps in - the mill thundered and roared, and the clerk, most ly alone in his office, day and night, ro. mained quietly at his post, the least ob trusive man in the camp. But the storm was gathering about him. Tlie day drew near wIipii he must either bow to others or have them bow to him." During one day ot the week following the drinking bout, as above related. Bleth ers came across from the store to the office with a tew papers in tils hand, and. walk ing into the office, where Norman sat be hind the counter at his desk, he tossed the papers over to the desk, saying : -Contracts. I want them looked over, ami I wntit j-oti to dnrw checks for the amount due on them, and ask the men to indorse the checks and then you hold them till I call for them. Understamme ?" "Yes I understand you," said Norman, gently, as be took up the papers. Blethers turned on his heel and went out of the of fie. While Norman was carefully look ing oyer the contracts the second cook of the boarding house one Ah Quong came softly in with a bucket of water, a scrubb ing brush, a hatchet, etc.. and proceeded to take out the sash and clean the windows as lie had. been previously directed to do by Norman. After reading the contracts, the clerk put them ,iu the drawer of his desk, then said : ' "Quong." "What !" " "Sabe 'Long Johnson?" "Yes too nuichee." "Go tell hitn come see me." "AH Hah'." and Quong came down off his step-ladder ami went out. Presently the Asiatic returned, followed by a lengthy lathy Missourian. Mr. Johnson." said the clerk, "you are one of the parties to this : contract, are you not ?" Johnson, standing ontside the counter, took the paper, looked it over hastily, and said : "Ye. Wnlspy and me done that work." and passed the papers back to the clerk. How do you want your pay cash or checks ?" Well, I don't keer ; I 'spose I niout's well hev the caish ef you've got it." "Suit yourself." 'Caih it is, then." 'All. right ; go and bring Woolsey here, and we'll settle up." The Missourian left the room, the China man washed at the window, the stamps In the mill rose and fell and thundered, the clerk sat at his desk and wrote, when Blethers re entered, and, walking up to the clerk's counter, asked : Johnson been here ?" "Yes, sir." "What'n hell'd ft want ?" "W ants to settle up and get his money on Ins contracts. "What'd yon tell him ?' "Told him to bring Wolsey. and I would settle with tbeui and nav them their mon ey." They've got their money, by ' 'Not from the company, I think." 'I tell ye. they've got their money. Understaninie ?" 1 think otherwise." "I don't care a damn what yon think! Understamme ?" "Yes. I understand you quite well." 'Well. then, see't you do what I order ed. Understamme ?" Norman made no reply to this last in quiry about "iiiiderstannne" but went on figuring at his books. Blethers leaned against the counter as it waiting for a re ply, but he got none. "Are you going to get me them checks?"' asked Blethers rather fiercely. 'No. sir," and Norman got down from his stool at the desk. and. coining up to the inside of the counter opposite to Bleth ers, he added : "This is a very simple matter of business. Mr. Blether. Get a written order from t';e contractors, or. failing in that, serve me with a writ ot attachment otherwise I shall pay the men their money. I am not here to act as general collector of other people's debts nor am I a constable." "You're sneakin' . Understamme ?" roard Bleth ers. You arc a bully, anrf I think you are a coward." said -Norman, folding his arms and looking in the flushed face of the now furious Blethers. He did no! have long to look. Blethers reached across the counter fiercely, aiming to catch Norman by the throat. In his eager wrath he reached a little too far. and before tie could recover Ids overreach, he had cause to imagine that the stainps'in the mill next door were thundering about his jaws aud ears. In the next minute, the Chinaman, glancing down trotn his step-ladder, beheld him prostrate on the office floor, which thtit amiable Asiatic no sooner saw than, clattering down his ladder, he grasped his hatchet and was about to finish him. 'Stop. Quong !" shouted Norman. "Me likee on no likee him," and again he made at the prostrate man with the hatchet. By this time Nornian was by his side, and, taking hiiu by the cue, held him back, saying : "Let him alone, Quong." "All ligh' ! Me likee you no likee him. Bi-m-bi him fiend kiliee you me sabe." said the Asiatic, as he replaced his uaicnet on me wiuuow-siit and recliuied his ladder to resume his work. Johnson had been gone a very short time, yet now, when Iio returned accom panied by Woolsey, it was evident thai a revolution had taken place since he had last been in the room. He paused just inside the door ; Woolsey paused in the doorway behind him, and rather to one side of liiui ; both men looked at Blethers who by this time was sitting on the floor with ids legs stretched out in front of him, propping himself with one baud, while witli the other he felt about his eyes and face tor some confused clue to his surround ing, while Norman leaned with his back aud elbows against the office-counter, surveying the field. Presently, Blethers, in the dim return of consciousness with the instinct ol habit.' took his hand from Ids face, and halt feebly fumbled aroui il the region of his pistol-pocket, but the shining occupant of that pocket lay on the floor behind him, where it had fallen when the owner tell. Johnson said nothing; Woolsey made no remark ; Norman looked silently on ; the Chinaman washed away at bis win dow as it he had never seen, beard, . read, or dreamed of anything unusual, and the great stamps in the mill thundered and crushed without ceasing. "Please take -him to his room." said Norman, pointing to his foe, who was now numbly gathering himself to his feet ; "then come back, and I will pay yon what is due yon." and there was a cold, metallic ring to his usually soft voice. The two men, without a word spoken Ktwcen thera, took the defeated man by his arms and were moving out of tbe ofllce, when Norman stepped forward, and pick ing up the pistol, said . -Here, take this with you. It telonijr to him." : . t : Then, whetVjhe men had con wy with Blethers. Norman entered - hfe-dsrn room, washed his hands adjusted hU outer man, and came back to his desk. Johnson and Woolsey did not return' immediately- nor at all", that day. They were in demand after they tooc Bletheiji to his own place. They were called tipoa to recount what thev had seen In the officr and every time they told it tliey wereaskeU Dy some listener : . "Who done it ?" "Can't prove it by tne," tlwy each invariably answered. .-. ' "Ye don't s'pose that little feller put a head on big Ben Blethers, do you t". "I tell ye, ye can't prove uothiog by me." said Johnson. "And there wasn't nobody there bat Blethers an hitu an' the Chinaman "Them's all I seed thar." ' "I didn't see no one elae tber, aald ttw reticent WooJaey. Then It must' a' been the little falter done it." "Oh. no ! It wasn't him." aald tb bar-keeper, who was ambitious of being a wag ; "it was the Chinaman." : "Mebbeold Blethers had a fit." "Damn clse fit, too," said the bar- keeper, as he stood polishing his tumbler. "Hez lie got much of a head on hitn "Yes," said the bar-keeper, "beV eot double mumps, ink-bottle eyes, and Humboldt spud between 'em.'" "Wellibedain," said each listener, re flectively. The news of Blethers's defeat flew up and down the canon, from mouth to month, trotn cabin to cabin into the mill, where it was shouted from lips to ears through the din ot the roaring stamps from team to team, as the drivers met in the road aud down into the mine, where, by low, deep voices, it was retailed in the glare of the dim lights, which burned with br less silence. -V ; t Men desiring to see the battle-field made excuse to call at the office" and inquire for Blethers. "Not in at present," was the clerk'a polite and brief reply to each inquirer, while he sat at his desk apparently absorb ed in his duties. The men, after the fashion of the mountains (and perhaps the fashion is not confined to the mountains?. nuuiu nave iiheo. Gorman to coiue mwm them, to talk with them about the affair, and be patted on the back while he drank , with them ; but he was not that kind ot a tighter. He had not sailed around the world. Wlien the Chinaman came out, bucket in hand, ladder on shoulder, after finishing his task, the idlers in camp, interrogated him. "John 'd you see that fight ?" "No see flghteo." "The hell you didn't!" "No see 'to nodding uo sabe flghtee." "Well what's the matter with Blethers then ?" , "Think so lilm yelle sick no com' ta suppa." "Ther'H be war -in this camp' when Blether? gets on his pins again," said ore workman to another, whom be met on tbe- street. "Who'll make the war?" asked tbe party addressed. Blethers and bis friends." ' "Hain't got no friends but bis pets, and they ain't got sand enough to stand up to a red-eyed gander." "Well, they talk war." "Let "em talk It's cheap but they'd! better. hunt a change of climate. This air is too thin for 'em that's what tbe boy say.' "All right ! It suit your Uncle Reu ben. I like the little clerk fust-rate." "So do I ; and he ain't so little, either. wnen you stand up to liim." During this general-and" -scattering dis cussion. Norman Maydole Jr.i" was attend ing to his duties and reflecting. As be came aeross the street to his supper, with bis left baud wrapjied up iffra handkerchief, the men. of whom there is always at least one gang ("shift tliey call ty off duty in a mining camp, looked at him, saluted him politely, but asked him no questions When he went back to his oflice, afttr supjier, he wrote" to Colonel Uolten, in. part, us follows : "Herewith I send you statements in detail of last month's business. I hope you will not fail to note a slight improve ment an increase of yield, a decrease of cost, and I think uo increase ot wear and tear, or neglect of supplies. This improve-, ment is not directly, but perhaps is in, directly, attributable to my presence bere Since they find that they are to be fairly treated, the nieu do more and better work. The management has for certain reasons, been more careful and less lavish of ex penditure. It yon think best, you way tell the Ktock-h-jlders erenerallv that thev shall, from this time forward, have every cent the mine can be made to earn a long as I remain here. I can never be able to explain to you how I have arrived at so confident a conclusion. I can not explain it to myself, but well. In tact I have grasped tlie situation, and shall bold it., I had a personal encounter to-day with. Mr. Blethers, the foreman, because be used vile language to me and attempted. to assault me. I am satisfied with tlie result, and I hope that Tie is.- Next mouth, tf nothing disastrous happens. I expect to report a general improvement." This portion ot the letter was thoroughly understood and appreciated at the homo office in San Francisco. TO BE CONTrNT; ED. Don't quarrel. People talk of lovers" quarrels as rather pleasant episodes prob ably because they are not quarrels at all.. She pouts ; be kisses. He frowns ; slie coaxes. It is halt play, aud they know it,. Matrimonial quarrels are a different thing I doubt se riously if married people-ever truly forgive each other after the first fall-, ing out. They gloss it over ; they ; kiss, and make up; tlie wound apparently beat, but only, s some of those horrible wound, given In battle do, to break out again at some unexpected moment. The man who ? lias sneered and said cruet things to a Kens', tire woman never has her whole heart again -Tiie WMHagwbobaa: uttered ce---proaches to a man can never be taken ta his bosom with tbe same tenderness as be fore those words were spoken. Tbe two people who roust never quarrel are hus band' and wife. One may fall out - with kinsman, and make up, and be Mends again. The tie ol blood is a strong cna, and affection may return after It has flown away ; but love, once banished, is a dead and buried thing. The heart may ache, but it is with hopelessness, -ft may be 1 as possible to love any one else, but it it ' more impossible to restore tiie old idol to itt empty niche,