Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1917 — GOLD [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GOLD

By STEWART EDWARD WHITE

SYNOPSIS Talbot Ward’s challenge to Frank Munroe to a personal encounter to determine whether Munroe is fit to make'a trip to California in search of gold Is accepted. Munroe gets ,4 hammerlock on Ward and wins the bout. Arriving at Chagres, Talbot Ward’s knowledge of Spanish and his firm treatment of the native boatmen help wonderfully. The party enters a tropical forest. They reach, Gatun, and, after passing through several villages —where-Ward always diplomatically handles the natives, they arrive in Panama. Johnny and his express messenger friends arrest two of the Hounds who are tried for robbery. The lawless element controls the trial and the Hounds are freed. Robberies gxj>w more frequent as the lawless element holds sway. McNally and Buck Barry are murdered after the element gets control of the city. Danny Randall organizes a vigilance committee. It is decided to publicly hang the leaders of the lawless element. The camp buzzes with excitement. Outbursts of trie friends of the doomed men are checked by the determined attitude of Danny Randall and his committee. — t CHAPTER XXVI. Community No Longer Afraid. A SPECIES of uneasy consternation rippled over the crowd. Men glanced meaningly at each other, murmuring together. Some of the countenances expressed loathing; but more exhibited a surprised contempt. For a confused moment no one seemed to know quite what to do or what answer to make to so bestial a dying request Danny broke the silence incisively. ■ “I promised them their requests would be carefully heeded,” he said. “Give him the liquor.” t Somebody passed up a flask. Char- ■ ley raised It as high as he could, but was prevented by the rope from getting it quite to his lips. —- “You he yelled at the man who

held the rope, “slack off that rope and let a man take a parting drink, can’t you?” * Amid a dead silence the rope was slacked away. Charley took a long drink, then hurled the half emptied flask, far out into the crowd. . To a question Crawford shook his head. “I hope. God Almighty will strike every one of you with forked lightning and that I shall meetryou all in the lowest pit of hell!” he snarled. Morton kept a stubborn and rather dignified silence. Catlin alternately

“Men," Danny's voles rang out, clear and menacing, “do your duty!" pleaded and wept. Jules answered Danny’s question:’ “Sure thing! Pull off my boots for me. I don’t want It to get back to my old mother that I died with my boots on.” In silence and gravely this ridiculous request was Compiled with. The crowd, very attentive, heaved and stirred. The desperadoes, shouldering their way here and there, were finding each other out, were gathering in little groups. “They’ll try a rescue!” whispered the man next to me. “Men,” Danny’s voice rang out, clear and menacing, “do your duty!*’ . At the words across the silence the

ciick or gunlocks, was heard as the . vigilantes leveled iheir weapons at the crowd. From my position ne.ar the condemned men I could see the shrifting components of the mob freeze to immobility before the menace of those barrels. At the same instant f-he man ■who had been appointed executioner jerked the box from beneath Catlin’s feet. “There goes one!” muttered Charley. “I hope forked lightning will strike every strangling”— yelled Crawford. His speech Was abruptly cut short as the box spun from under his feet. “Kick away, old fellow!” said 'Scarface Charley. “Me next! I’ll be with you In a minute! Every man for his principles! Hurrah for crime! Let her rip!” And without waiting for the executioner he himself kicked the support away. Morton died without a sign. Catlin at the last suddenly calmed and met his fate bravely. Before the lull resulting from the execution and the threat of the presented weapons could break Danny Randall spoke up. “Gentlemen.” he called clearly, “the roster of the vigilantes is open ! Such of you as please to join the association for the preservation of decency, law and order in this camp can now do so!” The guard lowered their arms and moved to one side. The crowd swept forward. In the cabin the applicants were admitted a few at a time. Before noon we had 400 men oh our rolls. Some of the bolder roughs ventured a few threats, but were speedily overawed. The community had found Itself and was no longer afraid. No sooner had this radical cleanup, of the body politic been consummated than the rains began. ' That means little to any but a Californian. To him it means everything. We were quite new to the climate and the conditions, so that the whole thing was a great surprise. For four days it rained steadily. The morning of the fifth day broke dazzllngiy clear. The sky looked burnished as a blue jewel; the sunlight glittered like shimmering metal; distant objects stood out plain cut, Without atmosphere. For the first time we felt encouraged to dare that awful mud and so slopped over to town. We found the place fairly drowned out- -No one In his first year thought of building for the weather. Barnes’ hotel, the Empire and the Bella Union had come through without shipping a drop,, for they had been erected by men with experience in the California climate, but almost everybody else had been leaked upon a-plenty. And the deep dust of the travel worn overland road had .turned Into a morass beyond belief or description. ±

Our first intimation of a definite sea sonal change eame fromi our friend Danny Randall,; who hailed us at once when he. saw us picking our way gin--go: ~ along the edge of the street. In answer to his summons we entered the. Bella Union,?. “I hope you boys weren’t quite drowned out,” he greeted us. “You don’t look particularly careworn.” We exchanged the appropriate comments; then Danny came at once tc business.“Now I’m going to pay qff you three •boys,” he told the express messengers, “and I want to know'what you want. I can give you the dust, or 1 can give you an order on a San Francisco firm, just as you choose.” “Express business busted?” asked Johnny. “It’s quit for the season,” Danny Randall told him, “like everything else. In two weeks at most there won’t be a score of men left in Italian Bar.*’ He observed our astonished incredulity, smiled and continued: “You boys came from the east, where it rains and gets over it. But out here it doesn’t get over it. Haye you been down to look at the river? No? Well, you’d better take a look. There’ll be no more bar mining done there for awhile. And what’s a mining camp without mining? do talk to the men of ’4B. They’ll tell you. The season is over, boys, until next spring, and you may just as well make up your minds to hike out now as later. What are you laughing at?” he asked Johnny. “I was just thinking of our big vigilante organization.” he chuckled. “I suppose .it’s t?ud that mighty few of the same lot will ever get back to Italian Bar,” agreed Danny, “but it’s a good thing for whatever community they may hit next year,” Johnny and Old elected to take their wages in dust. Cal decided on the order against the San Francisco firm. Then we’wandered down to where we could overlook the bar itself. The entire bed of the river was filled from rim to rim with a rolling brown flood. The bars, sand spits, gravel banks had all disappeared. Whole trees bobbed and sank and raised skeleton arms or tangled roots as they were swept along by the current or caught back by the eddies, and Underneath the roar of the waters we heard the dull rumbling and -crunching of bowlders rolled beneath the-flood. A crowd of men was watching in idle curiosity. We learned that all the cradles and most of the tools had been lost and heard rumors of cabins or camps located too low having been swept away. • . 1 That evening we held* a very serious discussion of odr prospects and plans. Yank announced himself as fit to trav-

el and ready to do so, provided he could have a horse. The -express messengers were but of .a job. 1 had lost nil my tools and was heartily tired of gold washing, even had conditions permitted me to continue. Beside which we were all feeling quite rich and prosperous. We had not made enormous fortunes, as we b§td confidently anticipated when we left New York, but we were all possessed of good sums of money. Yank had the least, owing to the fact that he had been robbed of his Porcupine river product and had been compelled for nearly three months to lie idle, but even he could count on a thousand dollars or so sent out from Hangman’s Gulch. I had the most, for my digging had paid me better than had Johnny’s express riding. But much of my share belonged of right to Talbot Ward. Having once made up our minds to leave, we could not go too soon. A revulsion seized us. In two days the high winds that immediately sprang up from the west had dried the surface moisture. We said goodby to all our friends—Danny Randall, Dr. Rankin, Barnes and the few miners with whom we had become intimate. Danny was even then himself preparing to return’ to Sonoma as soon as the road should be open to wagons. Dr. Rankin intended to Accompany him, ostensibly because he saw a fine professional opening at Sonoma, in reality because in his shy, hidden fashion he loved Danny. We made our way out of the hills without adventure Worth noting. The road was muddy and a good "deal washed —in fact, we had occasionally to do considerable maneuvering to find a way at all around the landslides from the hills above. .One afternoon we turned.off on a trail known to Old and rode a few miles to where the Pine family had made its farm. We found the old man and his tall sons inhabiting a large two roomed cabin situated on a flat. They had already surrounded a field with a fence made of split nickots .nnd rails and were working away with the tireless energy of the born axmen at inclosing still more. Their horses had been turned into plowing, and from Somewhere or other they had procured a cock and a dozen hens. For a brief period Yank and I quite envied the lot of these pioneers who .hail a settled stake in the country. “I wish I could go in for this sort of thing,” said Yank. “Why don’t you?” urged old man Pine. “There’s a flat just above us.” “How did you get hold of this land?" I inquired curiously. “Just took it.” "Doesn’t It belong to anybody T* “It’s part of one of these big Greaser ranchos,” said Pine impatiently. “I

made a 'good try to git to the bottom of it. OmTTellar says he owns it and will, sell; then comes another that says he owns it suid and so on. They don’t nojiow use this country, except a few cattle comes through once in awhile. I got tired of monkeying with them, and I came out here and squatted. If I owe anybody anything they got to show me who It is. I don’t believe none of them knows themselves who it really belongs to.” “I’d hate to put a lot of work into a place and then have to move out,” said I doubtfully. “I’d like to’see anybody move me out!” observed old man Pine grimly. (To be continued.)