Show GOING AFTER THE GOLD 4 by HOMER B D KING 01 1914 western newspaper Nw union nm n f m ends our partnership pitcher n and theres your copy 1 of ot the agreement said thomas leigh and resting bis folded lianda hands on tile tho table watched the small bony faced pole pale eyed old naan opposite crease the paper before placing it in his worn wallet you understand dont you he went on that lint I 1 have released to you my interest in till nil property you have located during our partnership yem yea I 1 understand pitcher replied but I 1 wisht keep your half of the claim cluse cil luse somehow BOine how I 1 cant git it outer my head hut but what shell make a leighs harsh laugh interrupted youve setd that about a dozen doxen latino claims weve had in the last five henrs and ive lost moro more than five thousand dollars backing your loot fool dreams dream im through and im no quitter cither I 1 youre a lind bad luck bet hob bob yes yea I 1 guess I 1 aint int much account pitcher replied smiling pathetically guess ill bo be coln no use kayin im sorry lacause cause not a betl bit I 1 leigh brusquely interposed postmortems are not in my line they dont pet get you anywhere lood flood by heres your assay certificate drop in some ao me time A phone rang and muttering goodby pitcher shuffled to the door as leigh colled called hello then lie heard mm him shout this aly byg G d dl I 1 you dont mean the door closed and lie ho heard no more near noon eight days daya later inter pitcher plodding wearily behind its his pack ant mal climbed to a level spot formed by a waste dump froni from the homebuilder hul lder tunnel ills pack mule con linued on to Ns Ms leanto lean icon to shack abick built against the steep steel mountain pitcher looked apathetically about at the tunnel mouth the pile of ore the wheelbarrow and on to his cabin far below a wisp of curling skyward told him old jack Ir angway the only settler within miles was waa at home lie ile moved on to tile the shack anti and pushed open the door but turned back to the ho mule ills dull eyes drooped mouth and listless movements all bespoke a man mail who had readied reached the end of its his tether therrill Th there ercill 1 lie he said letting the pack slide elide to the ground git the lost last do for old tom tola pick you up I 1 guess onaway theys lots of gross grass maybe mabe id better J lie ile stopped plucking irresolutely nt lit his up lip yes he aalde nodding yell jackal take lafin maybo everything olt lie ho go on oil I 1 dont want you hangin round watch ln what im doln olt git and lie slapped litin him away taking from ills his pack a package wrapped in newspaper lie ho wandered toward tho the tunnel stopping beside t the to pile of ore Ill huh I 1 lie mumbled balancing a chunk four dollars and I 1 yond run fortyl forty I 1 just mother another of my fool dreams like lie ho funny I 1 siever never thought of leiai cm that wily way tw fool dreams 1 all my life ive been davial lein em and all the time ive been makin somebody body else pay for em cm just a plain ornery robber thata what ive ic V been I 1 says lie he spent uve five thousand on an my fool dr dreams enins jim kirk sam gain hanks dad moore and old john burke spent a lot on lem cm never got no kind of a run elther either euthin but dreams and sk a lot of holes in the ground they till all quit just like leigh just went to the end of their string where ive got to end of my string still talking lie wandered into the tunnel mouth and squatting down untied the package end of my iny string too bad to quit a failure yeh too bad I 1 kinda tunny tinny f diggin this hole Is pectin ln to fand gold nult to buy me a home and well twill be a n home a gravel grave 1 a home ionic bout as good a one as a feller yes yea a dream liomel home I 1 wonder what I 1 dons done with my knife fuse la Is too long dont want to wait and hear the blame thing hissin dont matter though wonder what old jack Tang wayll think when lie he conies canies up ter fer a even evenings trigs smoke and got gab and finds me gone and the tunnel up during this time he I 1 had ad tamped camped four sticks of giant into a hole lie dug next the outer set of timbers it took three matches before the fuse hissel hissed its warning take bout two minutes lie mu muttered t 11 Tw tint kint be just goin ifil atilo no dream this time im the feller doln doin the and lie ile stared down nt at the news newspaper what the lie he said sharply grasp ing alf it the fuse use spat and spluttered splutter ed while he read smoke filled the tunnel mouth month II uhl I 1 he shouted lifes talice ile i A voice called ills naine and springing to his feet he clawed frantically nt at the burning fuse it broke ln in his tend and yelling yell lne look out jackl ack I 1 gift gol golna lill ile ho plunged the lie thick smoke in tim elmp to see ills I 1 lon lotie i begged friend over tho the dump and heard tilla lilia yell atun lun mr olgh leigh I run I 1 i then the shots roared face down s some time after he be heard my may he aint gut no bones broke but he h looks like a been clawen him what in thunder you spose the ol 01 old coot wui wag doln dohi hello hob bob how you hat ant up staring dazedly up into tile the two an dous faces about hlin him slowly slow ly ills film ebee cleared and lie lifted hla his linnit hand to hn hh aching head lie id the paper lie ho still retained caught lila ills eye und and for it 11 few moments lie mat but looking itt t it then began to laugh hysterically crazy I 1 tun awny exclaimed ilum loony I 1 knocked aluni 11 olt out I 1 pitcher sputtered roth both of you git whilst I 1 rend read this paper nob its me leigh tom leigh 1 11 hanff it dont I 1 know it lit git away awny whilst I 1 rand about you git gift I 1 ten minutes after lie called to help hell him film to the caithin und and half an hour later washed und and bandaged b ind lie ho for tile first time spoke to leigh who was leonine lef infill on oil the file table staring out the door ills his face white and drawn him fear flailed well leigh you and tile me sorter loot look mussed up but were still in fit the ring what you doln here 1 leigh agh shot allot it a look up fit at gangways Tang waya ways elongated form dont mind jack pitcher said whatever we got to say ray lie ho ann anit hell hear wid ill guarantee hell keep keel quiet if what you want A much different tron man from the tha young fellow who a few days before had so summarily dismissed pitcher front from hla office leigh swallowed hard im ruined bob lie whispered im broke failed owe thousands after me ino and hod god kob bob it might mean prison if ile ho paused burying ills his stricken face yoh yeb pitcher dryly replied 1 I been read lii til bout it interesting Interest Inte ln road lit you failed then run leavan yore partner ner to stand the gaff thought you said you want no quitter nut but bob you dont understand it was not my fault lie ile played the market and 1 I 1 cut the post pitcher interposed ter posed they dont get us lis nowhere tho the facts are you quit like a dog leavan them poro pore devils to suffer what did you come here for Il lecause Ite causo 11 leigh paused to draw front from ills his pocket a letter which ho he passed across the table the reason pitcher read find and laid it down then ills cackling laugh broke out so lie he sillo said the he assayer sent the wrong certificate instead of four dollars the old goes sixty eight well what difference ance does that make to you you no assigned signed yore interest to me 1 I know kob bob but I 1 thought that under the circumstances let you back in pitcher interrupted well I 1 wont I 1 hut but hob bob 1 Lf listen elfsten sten 11 the old man sternly interposed you and me tire are quitters yel yal ter to the backbone good mien men as aa long us its things come our way but as soon its as lifts wo we run ran like scored scared coyotes we aint got the guts to stand the gaff your qu quintin ittin is hurtin other folks my qu quintin IttIn was gilill to hurt only mo inc and but lie ile lot let me theys gold lit in this claim lots of it anuff to pay every livin teller feller you and me owe but tint that golds hedged round with ith work I 1 and that only liemen henien lie he nien men fellers with innards that hint can play the game square can do now heres my proposition if you want to play the part of a man and dig dig like h 1 1 not only in tile the ground for gold but into yourself for the real man well develop the property and sell it for enough to pay up everybody put ourselves where we can do like that other teller feller did look every man in the eye tin and tell era em to go to hut but you go to work and no moneys ino ours oura till ov ev cryb odys paid if you dont want to do it git out and take your medicine now talk leigh sprang to ills his feet reaching across tile table and eye to eye they aliey gripped |