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Show L-l J, lQHJijijKt I A Cory of ona.nzy Day in, II BY GrHALDIN2 EONNE3. I I7eTS.Ia. and Ca.ii Xranclscov II (Copyright . by Bobbs-Merrlll Co.) I - "( CTTAPTEB n i : 1 TL Grace Soy. Tha smell of wooA . smoke and supptr In the air -as the Colonel rode down th main street ot Foleys. Under the projecting roof that 'Jutted from the sec-en sec-en 1-story windows and made a apecles of ru,) arcde men wera sitting In the neg-1 neg-1 of shir ib Ive vt 9, smoking and spit-ti..g spit-ti..g In th cool of lha evening. They haued tha newcomer with- a word of 'greeting or a hand raised In salute to . he sid of a head where a hat-brim .liquid hava been. The Colonel returned tha salutations, a i i aa Kit Caraon paced through the ;r. 1 dust to where the drooping fringe of Jot 1st trees' hid the facade of the hotel, l'V curiously about him, noticing a ht stir of life, an appearance of re-vu.ng re-vu.ng vitality In the once moribund rump. Foleys Was not as dead as It had bctn four yeara ago. Fewer of the shop doors were boarded up; there were even new stores open. . . lie was speculating on this when he threw himself-off hia horse In front of the hotel. The loungers on the piaSsa, dustered and shirt-sleeved men, let their tilted 'chairs' drop, to the front legs, and roe to greet hfm to a man. Anybody Waa an acquisition at Foleys, but Col. Jim fairish, with the rumor of brlnging a lawsuit Into their midst, was welcomed as tha harbinger of a new era. They were all around him shaking hands when Forsythe, the proprietor, armed with a large feather duater, emerged from tha front door. Ha cut the new arrival out from their midst and drew htm Into the hall. Here, dusting him Rigorously, he shouted to Mrs. Forsythe For-sythe to prepare a room, and between sweeps of I the duster, inquired of him on the burning question of the squatter. "Corfie to fire old man Allen, eht" be querld. "Got your work cut out for you svith him." , If ll find he", barked Up the Wrong tttxy this time." said th Colonel grimly. -Stringing m up from San Francisco on jT such a fool's errand." "It's about the aralliest proposition I've ever heard. But he's that kind drtiqk a lot 'of th. time, and the rest of It tellln' the btv. 'round here what a great man he uy to be. He was glad enough to f et 1-5 la month holdln' down a small job n the asnav ofllca." At , irTiionient a floor to th right or ,, ,.. yielding a glimpse of a large, bare fln!ng-room set forth with neatly laid t Ibles and decorated with hanging strand 4 of colored paper. " 'Bay.v. paid a female voice, "ain't that Col. Jim Parrieh that Just come down the. atreet?" VTbafa just Who It Is." answered the Colonel, fand Isn't that Mltty Bruce' s. voice?" ' This question called to the doorway a female vision in brilliant pink calico. It waa a buxom, high-colored country girl of some 21 fears, coarse featured but not uncomely, her face almost as pink as her dress, her figure of the mature proportions- of the early-ripening Califor-niart. Califor-niart. . ' . "Well. .well, let this Mltty?" said the newcomer, holding out his hand. "You have to come up to the foothill, to see a handsome girl. I'd never have known you. you're grown up so and got so good-looking." good-looking." .1 Mltty .Idled tip. giggling, and placed a big, red paw In his. "Oh. get out!" sh. said. "Ain't you Just awful 7" .. ? '; . ' - . ... - f"J'I won't get out and I'm. hot a bit 'awful. You've got to take cere of me at supper and tell me everything that's happened in Foleys since I was here ... .. 11 thing's ready1 for you." . Then as be obeyed she pushed hira In, saying over his shoulder: "It's real nice to see you again. Colonel. It seems awful long since you waa her. last." The Colonel looked up at her with an eye of twinkling friendliness. She wa. gazing at. him with childish pleasure and aftectlon. He had known Mltty since her tenth year when Forsythe and his wife had adopted her, the only child of a dying dy-ing woman whose husband bad been killed In a mine. . . . "Good girl, Mlt." he bald. "Have you got all the gossip of tha last four years, saved up for me?" x ' "I guess I can tell you as much as most, she answered, not -without pride, and then flourished off to the hole In the dining-room which' communicated with the kitchen, . ' , - - ' When she had set hla-supper before him she sat down opposite, her elbows on the table, comfortably- settled for the gossip the traveler had requested. "Foleys seems to be livening up," he said. ' I noticed several new' stores. What's happening r "Foleys!" exclaimed Mltty, with the California's loyalty to his native berg, "Foley. Is tha liveliest town along tha mother lode. There ain't nothing the matter With Foleys 1 If. the Uraeey boys' strike up at the Buckeye Bells mine that', whooping things up." "Oh, that's it, of course, ' said the Colonel. Colo-nel. "They say .14 Oracey boys have really struck it this time. I heard some talk of ft before i came up. The report down below was that It was a pretty good thing." "You bet,' .aid the young woman with a knowing air. "Nearly a year ago one of the gentlemen connected with it said to me, 'We've got a mine there; bed-rock's Sltchln' and there's two bits to the pan.' o I wasn't Surprised when I heard they'd struck it. They're goin' to build a twenty-stamp twenty-stamp mill next thing you know." "Good for them!" said the Colonel. "The Oracey boy. have been mining for years all over this country and In Mexlcd and Nevada, and this is the first good thing they've got. How far is it from here?" "About twelve miles up . in that direction" direc-tion" she gave a Jerk of her hand to the right "up on' the other side of the South Fork. They have to come her. for everything. Barney Sullivan, the-superintendent, doe. most of their buying." Bhe looked at tha Colonel with a wide-eyed, wide-eyed, stolid gase a. she gave this Insignificant Insig-nificant pleoe of information. The look suggested to her vls-a-vls that the information infor-mation was not Insignificant to her. "Barney Sullivan." he said. "I remember remem-ber him. He's been with them for some years, was in Virginia City when they were there. He', a good-looking fellow with red hair.' "Oood-lookin', did you say?" exclaimed Mltty, In a high key of scornful disbelief. "Well. -that's more'n I can see. Just a red-headed Irish tarrier, with the freckles on him as big as dimes. It's a good thine all the world don't Ilk. the same kind of face." Her scorn was tinctured wf the complacence com-placence of one who knows nerself exempt ex-empt from similar charges.. Mltty, secure In tha knowledge that her own patronymic patro-nymic waa Bruce, affected a high disdain of the-Irish. Bhe also possessed a natural pride on the score of her Christian name, which lrt Its unique unabbreviated completeness, com-pleteness, . waa Summit, In commemoration of tha fact that upon that lofty elevation of the Sierra she had first seen the light. "You'll be able to see all the Buckeye Belle crowd tonight," eha continued; "they'll be in now any time. There's going go-ing to be a party here." . The Colonel looked up from hi. plate With the thrust-out Hps and raised brows of inquiring astonishment. "The devil you say!" he ejaculated. "I arrived Just at the right moment, . didn't. IT I uppdsa I'll hsve to stand round looking at the 4nea knifing -eaoH other for a chance to dance wltlf Mlsa Mltty Bruce." . , , "Let her aldne t6 do that," said forsythe. for-sythe. "There ain't anything that goea on In - Eldorado and Amador counties that Mltty don't know. She's the best newspaper news-paper we got 'round here." Mrs. Forsythe . here put hef head over the-stalr-rall and Informed the Colonel that his room wa ready.- He ran upstairs up-stairs to "wash up," while the other two repaired to th dining-room. A few minutes later he reappeared shd entered the low-celllnged room that sraelled of fresh paint and cooking. it was past the supper hour at Foleys and only a few. men llngerVd over the end of their meal. By a table at the Window, cle&nlv spread and Mltfv ws sending. send-ing. When ane saw him she pulled out a chair and. w th Its back resting against fcer waist pointed to th.sest. ;Set right down here." she .aid, "every- Mltty wriggled with delight and grew as pink ss her dress. "Well, not quite, bad as that." she said with bridling modesty, "but 1 can hava my pick." Her friend had finished the first part of his supper, and placing his knife and fork together, leaned back, looking at her and smiling to himself. She saw the empty plate, and rising,- bent across the table and swept It and the other dishes on to her tray with an air of professional ex-pertness. ex-pertness. As she came back with the dessert des-sert the last diner thumped serosa the wooden floor In noisy exit. The plate that she set before the Colonel Colo-nel displayed a large slab of pie. A breakfast break-fast cup of coffee went with It. He looked at them with an undismayed eye, remarking: remark-ing: "Who's coming to the party? I'll bet a new hat Barney Sullivan will be here the first man on deck, and the last to quit the pumps. But I don't suppose the Oracey boys will show up," "Yes. they will both of 'em." "What, Black Dan? Black Dan Oracey doesn't go to parties." "WeM, he don't generally. But he', goin to this one. His daughter, Mercedes, Is here, that sort er spidery Spanish ' girl, and he's goin' for her." Mltty, having seen that her guest had all that In Foleys made up the last course of a complete and satisfactory supper, went round and took her seat at tha opposite oppo-site side of tha table. A. ahe spoke ha noticed a change In her voice. Now. as he saw her face, he noticed a change in it, too. There was a withdrawal of Joy and sparkle. She looked sullen, almost mournful. "Black Dan Oracey'. daughter here?" he queried. "'What', she doing so far afield f Th. last I heard of her she wa. In school In San Francisco." "So sh. wa. until two day. aao. Then some kind er sickness broke out In the school, and her paw went down to bring her up here. She was so precious .he couldn't come up from Ban Francisco alone. She had to b brung all the way like she was made of gold and people was tryln' to steal her. They stopped here for dinner on their way up. I seen her." "She promises to be very pretty said the Colonel absently. "They say Oracey worships her.',' "Pretty!" echoed Mltty in a very flat voice. "I don't Me what make, her so dreadful pretty. Little black thing! And anybody'd be pretty all togged up that way. She'd diamond ear-rings on, 'real ones, big diamonds Ilka that." She held out the tip of her little finger, nipped between her third and thumb. "I guess that makes a difference," She said emphatically, looking at him with a pair of eyes which tried to be defiant, but were really full of forlorn appeal. "Of Course it makes a difference," aatd the Colonel cheerlngly, without knowing in tha least what he meant, "a great difference." dif-ference." "They was all staring at her here at dinner. There wa. four men in the kitchen kitch-en trying to get a .quint through the door, until the Chinaman threw 'em out. And she knew Jest as well as any one, and liked It. But you oughter hava seen her pretend she didn i notice It. Jest eat her dinner sort er slow and careless as If they was no one round more important than a yaller dog. Only now and then she'd throw back her head so's her curls 'ud fall back and the diamond ear-rings 'ud show. I said to paw flat-footed, 'Go and wait on her yourself, since you think she's so dreadful handsome. I don't do no waiting on that stuck-up thing.' " Mltty turned away to the window. Her recital of the sensation created by the proud Miss Oracey seemed to affect her. There was a tremulous undemote in her voice; her bosom, under its tight-drawn pin calico covering, heaved as if she were about to ween. The Colonel noted with surprise these signs of storm, snd was wondering what would be best to say to divert the conversation conver-sation Into less disturbing channels, when Mltty, looking out of the window, craned her neck and evidently followed with her eyes a passing firure. "There goes June Allen," ah. .aid; "don't she look shabbyT" 'Continued Tomorrow.) |