Show I 1 youth rides west 1 1 by will irwin EE ea WV service copyright ty by will irwin E EE THE STORY SO FAR on their way to the th now new cot cowood gold cold diggings in colorado in the seventies nobert gilson easterner who tells the story and buck hayden a veteran vetera era n m miner aner his partner secretly wit wl waltene tene en ese th the e holdup hold up ot of a stagecoach among amone the holdup hold up victim it me are a mrs deane and her e elderly derly female companion the bandl bandits have ave been frightened oft off to h a after gettin lne g away with an express box boil both parties continue their separate parate ae ways CHAPTER II 11 continued 3 A lorle lone traveler stood gazing re ne was wai a small man clad in an enveloping frieze ulster and a battered black hat he turned on me as I 1 approached pro ached a bright gray eye the nose under it was strong at the root and yet sharp A long thick mustache drooped between spare cheeks shaven only that morning a detail worthy of comment in those surroundings where roost most men wore boards beards varying in age from four days to thirty years hello lie remarked well what do you think of our west at which I 1 bristled within I 1 ha been nearly a year in the mans country I 1 had just brought a jack train alive and in good order up ludlowe Lud lows pass I 1 wondered how much longer I 1 was to suffer the reproach of 0 tender feet but I 1 managed to answer with what good nature I 1 could summon considerable country lie ile laughed pleasantly college bred too im betting he commented somehow his friendly manner seemed to strip tile the offense from this dreadful insinuation how did you penetrate behind my mask ot ignorance and vulgarity rl I 1 asked falling into the spirit of the occasion its my business said the stranger piercing and penetrating the masks and disguises of the human soul sounds to me like gambling said galil 1 I matching his big impudence with impertinence of my own your line three card monte or the little pea under the little shell 1 I almost hate bate to tell you yon said the stranger tt ranger lest you shrink from me its the greatest gamble of hil bd and tile the most squalid aud and soul destroying that peaceful village yonder and he be waved his hand to the smoke stain amid the whiteness to tile the north illas has hitherto proceeded on its simple rustic way hiding and concealing from prying eyes its microscopic peccadilloes loes such sach as murder highway robbery brace faro fare boxes and claim jumping I 1 come to destroy that golden age in you lumbering wain repose the sinister tools of my craft two fonts of nonpareil and seven boxes of assorted job type casting your eyes farther to the eastward you perceive an individual dINI dual bearing all the marks and characteristics of a tramp printer temporarily pora rily sober hes convoying a secondhand second hand flatbed flat bed press warranted not to to in any climate what you behold beli old young but sapient sir Is the embryo of that great algut bearer the cottonwood courier AS suddenly as be had begun it he dropped our old western game of chaft chaff and rhetoric held out oat his hand my lly names marcus handy be said bald ive pulled up my newspaper by the roots from quaker creek which Is played out as a camp and im locating in cottonwood if I 1 get there I 1 introduced myself youre toure mining I 1 suppose asked marcus randy haddy this ceremony ony over n t know he added hastily zut but you were starting some und kind of a business and might want to advertise ive picked up a few ads along our primrose dotted wayside As we talked we had turned our backs to a shrill new wind blowing up from the immense depths below an and were facing the contusion confusion nt at the summit of the pass the crowd was growing none so unimaginative ns as to grudge ten minutes for a look at the valley of fortune but the fe earlier car ler arrivals were now dow e giving chiv ne the last trim trial to loads or pa parks and nd disappearing downward around i 4 shoulder of rock and its as they from rota lew bew ma blarcum handy who wh had been busily gathering items for its ficht tin number described them all with a short phrase or two it seemed to no ane that he be knew our impermanent caravan a ravan as aa one knows the town where ere he be has dwelt nil all his life now outfit s which we had passed men before we reached the stage stae sta e siai tion on had attained the summit X always lite passengers dismounted and labored ia arward forward for view of the th prom aged land then come came bucks volee voice calling I 1 ano w tbt he had arranged the pack to lt his own T T satisfaction action and chrit tl it tile 1 inal final da dash b to cottonwood had lun l un sparing time only to wolf two sandwiches Fand of crimp bread and frizzled frilled ii acon we rouno rou 1 l the tach rock below us a tie the roal with many coiny a hairpin hair pir turn down the mountain bide As AI we ve rounded the shoulder of the ILA IL A ahe hi view burt burst on us again I 1 burned arn l 1 in my saddle addle toward that dig pirt lt rp ray mist wo tell was cottonwood il ali and my imagination flashed a picture of the town ridiculously at variance with cottonwood n no it was it long persisted even after I 1 saw tile the reality la in the foreground regarding the sights eights of that rough mining camp with superior but understanding eyes walked mrs deane tile hie lady of the holdup episode then my mind shifting from imagination to speculation I 1 wondered what she really was doing she had joined abusland waiting tor for her in cottonwood doubtless did lie he know that I 1 had bad ju jut just t lived through the elie pure magnificent experience of that view across the valley as she must have lived through it two days before did she know that I 1 had safely passed the summit and was coming down the long path of adventure I 1 suddenly pulled myself up lip cursed myself for a sentimental egotistical young fool and slapped to action a lagging burro CHAPTER III 1 I told you too much folks I 1 grunt grant ed buck ns as he loosened the cinches of ills his weary horse I 1 paid no attention buck had bad been repeating that phrase like the response of a litany ever since we crossed the path and threaded thread Pd the hie more intensive traffic rushing into cottonwood ton wood As I 1 rubbed down my little ronn roan with the dry part of a gunny sack which buck had rescued from the mud I 1 asked humbly the program git a regular supper of ham an eggs from a sure enough restaurant said buck guess its comin to us ua an find the lay of the land dont look good too much folks what are we going to do about the outfit I 1 asked leave it here said buck unguarded I 1 inquired sure said buck lynch a man quicker fur sn sneak eakin ln things out of a public corral than fur ste stealing alink a horse in a new camp like this he said bald when we had bad watered at the pool of an unpolluted brook when we had judiciously distributed the last of our oats among the whole train when we had blanketed our horses with tarpaulins from the pack my impatient young feet were free to follow bucks down the full flowing street it quivered with excitement chatter good humor A two story building swung its doors wide open to the street it revealed a rough room the walls covered with newspapers along the whole farther side ran a bar it took a moment of inspection to tell that the first glimpse showed only a long row of men leaning on their elbows thair stalwart backs hunched their sit bli ached coattails coat tails revealing their scabbard ed sidearms glde arms nearer stood three tables fringed with card players plied piled with gold pieces and buckskin sacks sacka about the players watched a silent intent standing border of spectators over all shone the brilliant light of one big ke kerosene lamp backed by a reflector and the soft uncertain twinkling of candles set row on row into boards A crowd was incessantly climbing and descending the rough stairs to one side of the room and from above I 1 caught a voice bawling place your bets gents I 1 find and the unmistakable whirr of a roulette wheel A long low shack next door emitted the tinkle of two guitars and a violin a little hazy on their tune but sure of their cadences its two windows emitted an exceptional blaze of light within ladles ladies in very short skirts were whirling clumping partners in a waltz arid and men were dancing in palis pairs the door of this establishment also opened as I 1 passed I 1 glimpsed a lady of whom my first impression was a knel knee high yellow skirt and a pair of red stockings my second that slie she wore many frizzes friezes and no makeup she was holding the lapels of a tat man who rolled a little uncertainly on his feet and I 1 caught her words just one IN gold watch for the slamming of the hie door cut out the rest in a narrow alley running darkly up tile the hill were indications of een lower diversions A very modest shack in the light of blazing windows across the street bore the sign assay office the building next most pretentious to the two story building which we had find passed on our first entry to the street turned out to be a general store it was open and doing a brisk business F farther arther down ane street a lantern swung from a pole before a tent illuminating mina ting the GOLDEN EAGLE restaurant MEALS AT ALL HOURS As we edged through the crowd toward tills this objective buck being very hungry and low la in spirits voiced ills his pessimism Start tio ln for a gold camp six months after the full discovery an a good month after the spring rush begun he said was you tile the fool or was I 1 I 1 had been feeling much the same baltic thing though with a less poignant disappoint disappointment lien t ever since we came out loto into main street professedly the rush across the peaks was for gold unless all the claims had been staked 11 II the possibilities exhausted why were ivere people running shops dives con cert halls gambling dens I 1 had bad yet to learn the law ot of mining crimps camps and gold rushes which Is also the law of life your tour advance on a strike was like an old fashioned army with a fringe of camp followers greater than the army itself along with king natures came caine slave natures even at the first lush flush of discovery there were always men willing to sell their services for plain digging at four or five dollars a day where they got the imagination to come at all I 1 never could see there were others again who really had the gold fever who failed at the first rush and who immediately med lately settled back to their predestined des tined places in society I 1 have lived lon long enough to see the end of most careers which sprouted at cottonwood those who took fortunes out of the earth in the days when the suddenly blossomed with new camps where are they now one died in his middle age in alaska a common on the klondike trail one to in a cottage in the east support el ei by the relatives who had lived hectically on its his bounty in the days of ills his strike one in the denver poorhouse those descendants in the second generation of mining camp fortunes who in this day struggle for the illusions of social position as their V 16 I 1 turned in my saddle toward that distant gray mist which was cottonwood camp I 1 grandfathers struggled for realities derive from men who cattle came across the peaks not with rocker and shovel but with merchandise one fortune that I 1 know of sprang from a livery stable one from a hardware store one aroi from a pawnshop and one had its true beginning in a troy tray of cheap jewelry and varnished watches carried into cottonwood by a wandering and adventurous young jew andrew carnegie I 1 have heard said pioneering dont pay it does not in any coin which car negle would have recognized 0 a Is As 0 however buck and I 1 are in a big log cabin the fresh mountain alra airs blowing through a chink of the mud daubed into the cracks buck with a woof of animal satisfaction settled down to the bench beach and addressed the waiter wha I 1 want 1 is eggs he said 1111 ant and eggs the waiter balanced his bla string airing of tin plates along alone his bis arm why how de do commodore van he said bald rl pleased eased to ebe you t transfer your valuable loable ra patronage from the astor housel house 1 having delivered himself in falsetto of this sarcasm he be dropped his big voice to its natural note the last egg in this here camp said bald he be was et at six bits apiece yesterday what git li Is lengson steak canned corn and coffee the waiter stopped to collect from the lie rest of the guests now finished and going then assembled our tin plates of venison along hta big arm hooked the handles of two tin coffee cups into the fingers of his big spare hand and returned with an expert professional swing lie he slammed our provender before us picked up half a loaf of bread from the debris at the other end of the table struck it once or twice on the edge by way of dusting it off and deposited it uncut between our plates 1 I kin give you a dob of nice snowwhite snow white butter blitter tor for two bits extra he said that floal final luxury laid out he settled himself beside buck his elbows on the table and when he resumed regained conversation lie he clove by accident near to the heart of the matter funny to see the way the boys was gettin rid of gold claims a day or two ago lie he said ground that was Si yield eldin ln forty dollars a day to partners let alone a chance at pockets was coin for a song did you git in on that asked buck indifferently would a it if id had anybody to dig replied the waiter this heres a hotter better proposition pioneer restaurant of the camp was as a waiter in the palmer house in denver when I 1 saw the chance suppose gold claims Is coln up by now inquired buck casually yep tep but still to be got feller was in here today said hed sell out for a wagon outfit or lack jacks or any anything thin to git up to the frozen river country iles hes got some sort of notion about that country 1 I know a teller fetter that might do bustness with him said buck he was looking down at his plate carving mightily at his steak I 1 saw the waiters eye fix itself upon buck for a moment before he asked mennon Men Ble anin an signifying signify in yourself mayber maybe buck looked up met his eye coolly and became utterly frank Mea an signifying signify in me an my partner here he said we come for gold I 1 dont say I 1 want your claim an I 1 dont siy say I 1 dont I 1 want to see the dirt first 1 suppose youre the party that owns it youre smarter n a whip old hoss boss but you got it wrong this time replied the proprietor 1 I aint the party that owns it but im his agent sort of the conversation drifted oil oft to a debate about terms I 1 let my attention wander t to the glimpses of the crowd surging past our door to the muffled roar of a thousand cheerful conversations to the spurts of distant music when I 1 returned my attention to business buck and the waiter had evidently reached some kind of agre agreement e our host was donning his ca canvas 1 I 1 coat was calling to the coo cook k keep her goin till I 1 git back johnnie and buck was wag making his preliminary il move toward any positive action lie was biting off the corner from a black piece of plug tobacco I 1 followed an unconsidered party to the bargain out into the mushy crowded road which served cottonwood for a main street and as we walked the proprietor of the golden eagle expanded grew grev confidential about his big business ills his name was huffaker Hul he said jim huffaker Hul Taker shell be Huff akers hotel the lumber comes down he added 1 I made the stake last winter I 1 hears bears how a party from Is conlin up with babkin for a new hotel I 1 aint losin any sleep the camps coln to stand two hotels an with the th tart start ive got but ill have bays to hustle jest |