OLeH OL By Hugh MISERY RY I Continued from yesterday Gilbert had no heart for talk Mountains of or gold could not compensate compensate com corn him for being a nameless wanderer He had jumped off the earth carth He Ho could only say You ve been very kind to me Ive I've been a 0 n nuisance to you Everything I ever planned to do is ended Youre the only one I care to travel with Ill I'll try to learn mountain wa ways s so 50 as not to be too much of a bother On On- the crest of the Sierra Gilbert had been een p permitted to stand stand at un- un rIse and gaze on two worlds For Fora For Fora a little time he forgot his pigmy I affairs in wondering at the imI immensity immensity im- im I II I of the panorama From the north nort paraded the bewildering procession of peaks In the west I I beyond the timbered foot hills were the shadowy plains of the Sacramento Sacra- Sacra mento Ahead of them already I I gilded by y the promise of a new day stretched for forest st and lakes and barren barren bar bar- ren was wastes es Old Misery eagerly bar j I pointed toward the Humboldt mountains mountains mountains moun moun- and insisted that his com- com could see a faint blue line Unel I I I but Gilbert only saw the dazzling light of the rising sun They took their time In following down the eastern slopes They camped in wood valleys The mountain man shot deer and they pent the he day smoking and drying drying dry- dry ing t meat this to save their stapie staple sta- sta pie supplies Gilbert became accustomed accustOmed accustomed tomed to the shadowy forms of wolves furtively acc accompanying them and learned to give them thern no heed One day Old Misery shot a a. cougar from a tre tree Gilbert supposing supposing supposing sup sup- posing he had fired at a bird was much the tawny body crashed to to the ground Old Misery's spirits were those ofa of ofa ofa a boy boy boyas as they reached the lower valleys val val- val val- leys Gilbert Gilber now convinced he Uld not rearrange his fate felt a leaden weight Jn n his heart but was spared sp the he of uncertainty California and committees were in in- in infinitEly finitEly removed Fear could no longer dog him He endeavored to tobe tobe tobe be a good traveling companion I The second day after leaving leaving- the I Truckee the mountain man an announced an announced High time to hunt a 3 Mormon station station station sta sta- I tion and buy a a. mule and some sup sup- plies Two horses if we can git em ern Two seasons ago there was wag a alog alog alog 1 log trading station five miles from here May r. r y not be kept up or the trader may be gone as Its It's too early for the immigrant trade to come in Youre You're gitting to be a a. good shot shot shot- at game you can try your hand on a e. m moving ving target target If your sed by never try otry to hide P In i bushes or woods They'll sneak in and have your har afore yo you know It Break for open country Id wait for em to come up the best mans man's nerve torun to torun torun run away Halt throw your hoss and tie tie him or shoot him Lacking a hoss boss throw up a a. little ridge of dirt with your knife Even five or six inches makes you feel fee better Never git excited when you see em come piling down Never hur hur- ry Make your first shot count They'll try to scare hell out of you by howling and yowling Just howl back at em You'll find a So big band of em will ride round you for hours whooping a-whooping but not caring to rush rushin in so long as your guns gun's loaded Th They y dont don't li like e to tackle mountain men They've larned they have to pay too high a price and they know they wont won't git mi ml much h truck What they hanker for most is fat wagon tr trains ins filled with greenhorns greenhorns green green- horns horng and store goods Always re remember remember remember re- re member the Injun thinks different than white men Let a dozen white men go into a bloody fight and they I will all know some of their number will be rubbed out but t each ach man I i I I thinks hes he's the one coming I through alive Injun thinks just way Each one thinks his names name's on every bullet Aim your yourI rifle at a line of fifty and I every buck will go over the side of his pony thinking hes he's your our m meat mett t if he dont don't duck Still theres there's lots of Id I'd tie to I would I most white men Im afraid they'd find me easy game sighed G Gilbert t. Not after youve you've had one had one or two smart fusses with em Now the Utes aint any on the plains but In their mountains they're all aU devils Meb e well we'll have hove a fracas fracas' with em going east and you can oon I hand n. n have a chance cnance to git your But it would be better to break you youIa j in Ia on open ground Still we cant can't have everything everything's as we want it Gilbert said Nothing lothing He was filled with gruesome forebodings Old Misery took out the buckskin bag bag- and stared thoughtfully at the manganese discolorations The Thee re resemblance resemblance re- re semblance to the pine-clad pine ridge north of Grass Hollow was Very strong For some minutes he stared and stroked ed his beard thoughtfully What do you see see asked Gilbert trying to simulate interest To him one piece of rock was like any other piece of rock the Stone Slone God is trying to tell teU me something Reckon Ive I've got it Yep That must be it or there wouldn't be any need for the medicine to speak It If says we will be in for a fuss but will I come out of it all right That I good nough for me any time Wouldn't Tom Tobin like to be here Damn little runt Said I II bit him I I Their course next led through broken country that was vas less heavily fly ily timbered than the California slopes There was wag the suggestion of sterility farther east Gilbert I could not discover an any trace of path or trail but Old Misery proceeded proceeded proceeded pro pro- with the confidence of one walking a 0 New England highway He came to a halt In a shallow valley that was hemmed about with ragged evergreens Near by was a al alOw alow l low w building of ot logs which Gilbert le learned as the trading house Empty No one to home mused the mountain man Wall Vill camp here tonight and start hunting for fol fora fola I a Mormon station Scattered around th the as abundant testimony o of ot pre preceding eding seasons' seasons activities in the shape of wheels axletrees broken harness picks and shovels This debris extended in a D. melancholy windrow to the foot of the first slope Gilbert could only liken it to a seacoast strewn with Wreckage after a northeast gale the n trains bei g the ships and this first slope the reef or rocky shore on onS I S 5 i I- I 5 l I I I I I which they had foundered what surprised him were seve undamaged wagons jA jAAs As if guessing his thoughts Misery explained explained- I. I Wed see the same thing i w crossed from the head of the i to the head hood of ot the Walk Sonora traders have a a. Immigrants find their thE wagons too heavy when they come Us th s a I f for or their stock is played o 0 oThey They shift shirt to lighter wago or use use pack animals rt Tt strike into the plains with a 11 aji I outfit and begin to leave things 1 hind afore they make Great S Lake From Salt Lake on they ke kc throwing stuff away I Ive I've ve see sl at chuck full of grub and go goo goe that's been picked up greenhorns had to toss em as asi Sometimes Sometimes they have to dumm dum small hills hills hills' of flour and then py rcy mighty big price for it when th hit these foothills What the h hd to sell aint worth nothing Ii b when they want to buy from a a st tion Uon its it's worth its weight in dust A train will pull in here FYi vi I only half the stock needed to t let t tIt it over the ridge or with iI i bosses hosse n cattle played out ou Trad Tra buys at his own price sells I own price And so it goes wh folks robbing white folks in tr trac tracA c cA A Injun wont won't do dp that to t other I jun If hes he's at war he hell he'll II ku al a but hut he wont won't charge hi d lar bar a a. pound for poor flour ju cause caus Injun's got the dt dc lar and is starving fi If theres there's any stores left in th place Ill I'll take what we wan aJ a leave leae nough to pay h well we'll hunt for a Mormon static foller loller the Carson to the Sin as hit the Humboldt road and pa north of Great Salt Lake f We can save couple miles mlles miles if we was in a hurry to anywhere in by by t takis kil the Hastings cutoff Somehow always think of the Donner par when hen I travel that road They XOE coa out that way and got lost edh-e edh up or or something and nd reached Sierra too late Snow held em bar bac Starved The camp where here Ish Sh the panther Reno was where t waited four days for two of the men to fetch grub over the the dg from Sutter's rancho TV Wagons sea over several miles r rout ur urI I Truckee lake and trapped feet of snow Some folks caRl calli Donner lake since then I went Wit I. I the third relief party hell hen of ot a gitting to what was left alive em j John Stark a a. giant of ot a a. m ma was u He carried two out starved immigrants on ms rus time His father was in m when old Boone Boone- was raising gaj with the Tamsen Donn' Donn was one orie of the pluckiest women ever see She sent her but wouldn't leave her dying l Hut b band nd M After he cashed In she tried trie lt af ot and made seven miles at J pegging out Arid Aid only forty was tween that outfit and wax wax-mand warm and grub grubl I Marys was n nam nain after Mary Murphy one of ernt fetched through over the married Charles Fir called New Mecklenburg post of two dobe houses Th called then the name now has This recital did not tend to tofe e vate Gilberts Gilbert's spirits He was fillip in terrible details as his compa I talked He was glad he had a known he be was camping where Donners had camped He wonder what tragedies the shallow vaIl vill had to relate J U It was very quiet He Ha wo wot have welcomed the howl of a aas w wn wa as n in Irs silence il they advanced to tott tolt n trading house The place v wa v 1 d and there was a lock on onil t door Th The last did not impress Gi bert as being unusual Men lock di their stores tores in the East M Old i Misery walked around t tl buil building and eV even n strolled to to- toTt m tl edge of the growth behind it Hf found found where a number of hors horst had grazed Hoss Hosse s been here not long ago aso he mused JH Gilbert attached no significant to this statement The t man fumbled his beard and swe se his gaze slowly over the j ing circle of evergreens and tl I I back to the empty house and s- s sui su his friend by deriding H Well strike out for the Carso But not tonight said sald GUb Gilbert Gilber r its too 00 oo near sunset We Ve can c can here Perhaps Perhaps the storekeeper iw return We Ve must get some even if we cant can't get a a. mule HI Old Misery produced the bag and peered and peered inside at the m medi medicine med medcin d cin cine rock and studied it though fully 41 Im lm reeling feeling he muttered Id never neer inch if I 1 was vas alone Trouble t younker I cant can't if my me mecine medi cine covers both ot or us or just justn nn That's the hell hen of it If you wa at Tobin and even if you wasn't c coy ered Id I'd say stick and have hay so fun JM This was unintelligible to GilI Gilbert Gilbe GilbertHe rt He knew only his companion TO wa given to superstitious vagaries JH- JH knew that his legs were tired an that here was the companionship at l least st of a white wite mans man's hosE housa ou I and the sun would soon be sUp pi pid d down wn the the wes western ern slopes of bI t ti tl Sierra I INo No sense in walking in m the dark he urged Ill build a fire in Ire fro of the cabin Maybe you can b some small game If you cant can't have plenty of provisions A fuss with me coming i it all right mumbled the mount l man scowling at the log hOU hous Must mean both of us Would be all right for me if it S Sa St Sta a red mediCine medic can be slipper slippery hell like a Dakota peace pipe J Jt i ido do just as it says but sorn som times you'll youl be fooled in reading reading- Take a pipe that's rigged out peace pipe and you Lan can sweat swear ill will stick by it if it its it's s all an re reD res lar And they will Continued tomorrow