Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, January 19, 1884, Page 7

| 3 % & i ! THE DAILY BEE-- ATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 1884, VAN BRUNT, THOMPSON & COUNCIL BLUFFS, - AGRICULTURAL The N. C. Thompson, &6 The Tongueless Gultiva}.or” This toagueless Lultivator is a new implement, thoroughly tested and bound to succeed. N.C. THOMPSOIN Iron Beam Spring Cultivator Will be about the same a3 last year, and everybody knows that it is as near perfection as any- IM COMPANY, IOWA. EXIEIECIEE WIE AJFRTE AG-AIJIN. N. C. ffi%mpson GOODS ARE STILL IN THE LEAD, AND BOUND TO STAY THERE. THEY ARE THE BEST IN THE MARKET. It don’t make any difference what our competitors say, for thing ever put on the market. You Should Have This Cultivator. Your Trade NeedsIt. WE N.C. THOMPSON'S SULKY AND COMBINED CULTIVATORS. =% “ N. C. Thompson Double Row St HAVE A FULL LINE OF our customers know the N. C. Thompson goods are ahead of anything 1n their line, VAT - S iy ‘.&. IT IS THE LATES we will not enlarge. " We would like to Show Cuts of all Our Goods, but space will not permit. If you VAN BRUNT, LEPT OUT ON LONE STAR HOUNTALN BY BRET HARTE, [Conclusion. ] The men looked at each other; the di- version was complete; alanguid discussion of the probabilities of its being an earth- quake or a blast followed, in the midst of which the Right Bower, who was work- ing a little 1 advance of the others, uttered a warning cry and leaped from the race, His companions had barely time to follow before a sudden and inex- plicable rise in the waters of the creek sent a swift irruption of the flood through the race. In an instant its choked and impeded channel was cleared, the race was froe, and the scattered debris of logs and timber floated upon its easy current. Quick to take advantage of this labor- saving phenomenon, the Lone Star part- ners sprang into the water, and, by dis- entangliog and directing the eddying fragments, completed their work.” “The Old Man oughter been here to see this,” said the Left Bower; “‘it's just one o’ them climaxes of poetic justice he's always huntin’ up. 1¢'s easy to see what’s happened. One o them high- toned shrimps over in the Exelsior claim has put a blast in too near the creek, He’s tumbled the bank into the creek and sent the back-water down here just to wash out our race, That's what I call poetical retribution.” “And who was it advised us to dam the creek below the race, and make it do the same thing?” asked the Right Bower; moodily. “That was one of the Old Man's ideas, I reckon,” said the Left Bower, dubiously. ‘“‘And you remember,” broke in the Judge with animation, *I allus said: “Go slow, go slow. You just hold on and suthin’ will happen.’ And,” he added, triumphantly, *‘you see suthin’ has hap- pened. Idon't want to take credit to myself but I reckoned on them Excel- sior boys bein’ fools, and took the chances,” “And what if 1 happen to know that the Excelsior boys ain't blastin’ to-day?” said the Right Bower, sarcastically. As the Judge had evidently based his hypothesis on the alleged fact of a blast, he deftly evaded the point. ‘I ain't saying the Old Man’s head ain't level on some things; he wants a little more sabe of the world, He's improved a good deal in euchra lately, and in poker—well! he's got that sorter dreamy, listenin’-to-the- angels kind o' way that you can't exactly tell whether he's bluftin’ or has got a tull hand. Haen't he!” he asked, appealing to Union Mills, But that gentleman, who had been watching the dark face of the Right Bower, preferred to take what he believ- ed to be his cue from him. “That ain’t the question,” he said virtuously; *‘we ain't takin’ this step to make a card sharp out of him. We're not doin’ Chinamen’s work in this race to-day for that. No, sir! We're teachin’ him to paddle his """ Not finding the sywupathe- own canoe. tic respense he looked for in the Right Bower face, he turned to the lLeft ““I reckon we were teachin' him our canoe was too full,” was the Left Bower's “f“?:‘!?“w‘l reply. ‘‘That’s about the size of it. The Right Bower shot a rapid glance under his brows at his brother. The latter, with his hands in his pockets, stared unconsciously at the rushing water and then quietly turned away. The Right Bower followed him. *‘Are you goin’ back on us!” he asked. “‘Are you?” responded the other. ¢No!"” “No, then it is,” returned the Left Bower quietly. The elder brother hesit- ated in half-angry embarrassment, “Then what did you mean by saysng we reconed our canoe was too full?” “‘Wasn’t that our idea?” returned the Left Bower, indifferently. Confounded by this practical expression of his own un- formulated good intentions, the Right Bower was staggered. ‘‘Speaking of the Old Man,” broke in the Judge, with characteristic infelicity, ““I reckon he’ll sort o’ miss us, times like these. We were allers runnin’ him and bedevilin’ him after work, just to get him excited and amusin’, and he'll kinder miss that sorter stimulatin. I reckon we'll miss it, too—somewhat. Don’t you remember, boys, the night we put that little sell on him and made him believe we'd struck it rich in the bank of the creek, and got him so fconceited he wanted to right off and settls our debts at at once?” “*And how I came bustin’ into the cabin with a pan full of iron pyrites and black sand,” chuckled Union Mills, con- tinuing the reminiscences, “‘and how them big gray eyes of his nearly bulged out of hishead, Well, its some satisfac- tion to know we did our duty by the {mmg fellaw even in those little things.” He turned for confirnation of their gen- eral disinterestness to the Right Bower, but he was already striding away, uneasi- lg conscious of the lazy following of the eft Bower, like a laggard conscience at his back. This movement again threw Union Mills and the Judge into feeble complicity in the rear, as the procession slowly straggled homeward from the creek. Night had fallen. Their way through the shadow of the Lone Star mountain, duufu.-nud here and there by the slight bosky ridgos that, starting from its base, crept acroes the plain like vast roots of swelling truok. The shadows were grow- ing blacker as the moon began to assert itself over the rest of the valley, when the Right Bower halted suddenly on one of these ridges. The Left Bower lounged up to him, and stopped also, while the two others came up and completed the group. “‘There's no light in the shanty, said the Right Bower in a low voice, half to himself and half in answer to their in- quiring attitude. The men followed the direction of his finger, lu the distance the outline of the Lone Star cabin stood out distinctly in the illumined space, There was the blank, sightless, external glitter of the moonlight on its two win- dows, that seemed to reflact its dim va- cancy—empty alike of light and warmth and motion, *“That's sing'lar,” said the Judge, in an awed whisper. The Left Bower, by simply altering the position of his hands in his trousers pock- ets, managed to suggest that he finew L.L-rm y the meaning of it—had always nown it—but that being now, so to need a HA'Y 'TBEiB)E)RIER, The N. C. Thompson is the one you Want. WE WILL STILL CONTINUE TO HANDLE TTETER RETCEITURN W AG-OIN. WE ARE HEADQUARTERS FOR ANYTHING yOU WANT : Garriages, Buogies, Spring Wagons, Harcows, Pumps, Shellers, REAPERS, MOWERS, PLOWS, CULTIVATORS, ETC. Don’'t Forget ! COME AND SEE US. THOMPSON speak, in the hands of fate, he was cal- lous to it. This much, at least, the elder brother read in his attitude. But anxi- ety at that momont was the controlling impulse of the Right Bower, as to a cer- tain superstitious remorse was the in- stinct of the two others, and without heeding the cynic the three started at a rapid pace for the cabin, They reached it silently, as the moon, now riding high in the heavens, scemed to touch it with the tender grace and hushed repose of a tomb. It was with something of this feeling that the Right Bower softly pushed open the door; it was with something of this dread that the two others lingered on the threshold, until the Right Bower, after vainly try- ing to stir the dead embers on the hearth into life with his foot, struck a match and lit their solitary candle. Its flicker- ing light revealed the familiar interior unchanged in aught but one thing. The bunk that the Old Man had occupied was stripped of its blankets; the few cheap ornaments and photographs were gone; the rude poverty of the baro boards and scant pallet looked up at them unrelieved by the bright face and gracious youth that had once made them tolerable. In the grim irony of that ex- posure their own penury was doubly conscions. The little knapsack, the tea- cup and coffeepot that had hung near his bed were gone also. The most in- dignant protest, the most pathetic of the letters ho had composed and rejected, whose torn fragments littered the floor, could never have spoken with the elo- quence of this empty space. The men exchanged no words; the solitude of the cabin, instead of drawing them together, seemed toisolate each one in selfish dis- trust of the others, Even the unthink- ing garrulity of Union Mills and the Judge was checked. A moment later, when the Left Bower entered the cabin, the.presence was scarcely noticed. The silence was broken by a joyous ex- clamation from the Judge. He had dig- covered the Old Man's rifle in the corner, where it had been at first overlooked. ‘‘He ain't gone yet, gentlemen, for yer's his rifle,” he broke in, with a feverish return of volubility and a high, excited falsctto. ““He wouldn't have left this behind, No! Iknowed it from the first. He's just outside a bit, foraging for wood and water, No, sir! Coming along here 1 said to Union Mills, didn't 17 ‘Betyour life the Old Man's not far off, even if he ain't in the cabin.’ Why, the moment I stepped foot——"" ‘*And I said coming along, " interrupted on Mills, with equally reviving men- dacity, ** ‘like as not he's hangin’ round yer and lyin' low just to give us a sur’ prise.’ He! ho!” ‘‘He's gone for good, and he left that rifle here on purpose,” said the Left Bower in a low voice, taking the weapon almost tenderly in his hands, *‘Drop it then!" said the Right Bower. The voice was that of his brother, but suddenly changed with passion. The two other partners instinctively drew back in alarm, “T'll not leave it there for the first comer," said the Left Bower,calmly, “‘be- cause we've been fools and he too, It's o good & weapon for that.” *Drop it, I say?” eaid the Right Bower, with a savage stride toward him, The younger brother brought the rifle & C 0 [ Nos. 12 to 22 ) Warehouse Near to a half charge with a white face but a steady eye. “Stop where you are!” he said col- lectively. *‘Don’t row with me, be- cause you haven't either the grit to stick to your ideas or the heart to confess them wrong. We've followed your lead, and —here we are! The camp's broken up— the Old Man's gone—and we'ro going. And as for the d——d riflo—" “Drop it,do you hear!” shouted the Right Bower, clinging to that one idea with the blind pertinacity of rage and a losing cause. **Drop it!” The Left Bower drew back, but his brother had scized the barrel with both hand, There was a momentary strugglo, a flash through the half-lichted cabin, and a shattering report. The two men fell back from each other; the rifle dropped on the tloor between them. The whole thing was over so quickly that the other two partners had not time to obey their common impulse to separate them, and consequently even now could scarcely understand what had passed. 1t was over so quickly thut the two actors themselves walked back to their places, scarcely realizing their own act. A dead silence followed. The Judge and Union Mills looked at each other in dazed astonishment, and _then nervously sot about their former habits, apparently in that fatuous belief common to such na- tures, that they were ignoring a puinful situation, The Judge drew the barrel toward him, picked up the cards, and be- gan mechantcally *‘to make a patience,” on which Union Mills gazed with osten- tatious interest, but with eyes furtively conscious of the rigid figure of the Right Bower by the chimney and the abstracted face of the Left Bower at the door. Ten minutes had passed in this occupation, | © the Judge and Union Mills conversing in the furtive whispers of children unavoid- ably but fascinatedly present at a family quarrel, when alight step was heard upon the crackling brushwood outside, and the bright panting face of the Old Man ap- peared upon the threshold, There was a shout of joy. In another moment he was half buried in the bosom of the Right Bower's shirt, half dragged into the lup of the Judge, upsetting the barrel, and completely encompassed by the Left Jower and Union Mills. With the en- thusiastic utterance of his name the spell was broken, Happily unconscious of the previous excitewent that had provoked this spon- taneous unanimity of greeting, the Old Man, equally relieved, at once broke into a feverish announcement of his dis- covery, He painted the details with, 1 fear, a slight exaggeration of coloring, due partly to his own excitement and partly to justify their own, But he was strangely conscious that these bankrupt men appeared less elated with their per- sonal luterest in their stroke of fortune than with his own success. *‘I told you he'd do it,"” said the Judge, with a reck- less unscrupulousness of statement that carried everybody with it him! the game little pup.” “0 no! ing that was wholly delicious. 1t was not without difficulty that he could at last prevail upon them to return with him to the We have the N. C. Thompson Hay Rake. IT WILL DO YOU GOOD. o JOomnoll Bigfin, Jowg Fourth Street. C. & N. W. De of his discovery, or even then restrain them from attempting to carry him thither on their shoulders, on the plea of his previously prolonged exertions. Once only there was a momentary em- barrasment. *‘Then you fired that shot to bring me back”’ said the Old Man, gratefully. In the awkward silence that followed the hands of the two brothers sought and grasped each other penitently, “Yes,” interposed the suge, with deli- cato tact; ‘‘yo seo tho Right and Left Bower almost quarreled to see which should be the first to fire for ye. I dis- remember which did.” I never touched the trigger,” said the Left Bower, hastily. With a hurried backward kick the Judge resumed: *‘It went off sorter sponta- neous,” The difference in the sentiment of the procession that once moreissued from the Lone Star cabin did not fail to sk in each individual partner rding to his temperament. The subtle tact of Union Mills, however, in expressing awakened respect for their fortunate partner by addressing him, as if unco sciously, us “Mr. Ford” was at first di composing, but even this was forgotten in their breathless excitement as they neared the base of the mountamn. When they had crossed the creek the Right Bower stopped reflectively. “You say you heard the down before you left the cabin! turning to the Old Man, ““Yes; but I did not know then what it was, It was about an hour and a half after you loft,” was the reply. “Then look here boys,” continued the Right Bower, with superstitious exulta- tion, “it was the slide that tumbled into the creck, overflowed it and helped us ar of the race.” 1t seemed o clearly that Providence had taken the partuers of the Lone Star directly in hand that they faced the toil- some ascent of the mountain with the as- ide come he said, “Look at he ain't the right breed—is hel” echoed Union Mills with arch irony, while the Right and; left Bower, grasping either hand, pressed a proud but silent greet- scene | when they had re surance of conquerors. They paused only on the summit to allow the Old Man to lead the way to the slope that held their treasure, He advanced cautiously to tho edge of the crumbling chif, stopped, looked bewildered, advanced again, and then remained white and immovable. In an instant the Right Bower was at his side. “*Is anything the matter? Don't-—look 80, Old Man, for God's sake!” The Old Man pointed to the dull, smoothe, biack side of the mountain, without & crag, break or protuberance, and said with ashen lips: “1ts gone!” And it was gone! A second slide had taken place, stripping the flank of the mount: and burying the treasure and weak implement that had marked its side deep under a chaos of rock and de- bris at its base. j ““Thank God!” The blank faces of his companions turned quickly to the Right Bower. *“Thank God!” be repeated, with his arm round the neck of the Old Man, “Had ho stayed behind he would have been buried too.” He paused, énd, point- ing solomnly to the depths below, said: may yet labor for it in hope and patience like honest men.” The men silently bowed their heads ded the mountain, But hed the plain one of and slowly desc And thank God forshowing us where we *The N. C. Thompson -cha.in-Gea.i' Mov?;;.” This Mower we will sell together with the Mower we have sold heretofore. run by a Chain & Sprocker wheel, muaking it the Liohiest Rummo Mower Ever Made ! 'HING OUT, AND WILL TAKE THE PLACE OF OTHER GEAR MOWERS, This Mower is wa ano‘; A COT OF The N. €. Thompson Double Row Stalk Cuter, We have the Single Row Cutter, but as everybody knows the success of these Stalk Cutters, “Tho Oelebrated Retohum Wagon.” them called out to the others to watch a star that seemed to be rising and moving toward them overthe hushed and sleeping valley. “It's only the stage coach, boys,” said the Left Bower, smiling; ‘‘the coach that was to take us away.” In the security of their new-found fra- ternity they resolved to wait and see it pass. As it swept by with flash of light, beat of hoofs, and jingle of harness, the only real presence in the dreamy land- acape, the driver shouted a hoarse greet- ing to the phantom partners,audible only to the Judge, who was nearest the ve- hicle, “Did you hear—did you hear what he said, boys?’ he gasped, turning to his companions. “*No! Shake hands all around, boys! (iod bless you all, boys! To think we didn,t know it all this while!” “Know what?"” “Merry Christmas!” Brer HArTE, If you have a S B. H. 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