Part 22 (1/2)
Meanwhile, Necia had passed on out of the town and through the Indian village at the h up on the slopes she saw Alluna and the little ones She climbed up to them and seated herself where she could look far out over the ard valley, with the great strea half a , and although the day was bright and the bushes bending with their burden of blue, she picked no berries, but fought resolutely through a dozen varying moods that mirrored thele, but in tihty optimism of early love prevailed; she comforted herself with the fond illusion that this ard was equal to her own, and that his love would rise above such accidental things as blood or breed or birth And so she was in a happier frame of mind when the little company made their descent at mid-day
As they approached the town they heard the familiar cry of ”Steam-bo-o-o-at,” and by the time they had reached hos There were few men to join in the welco disappeared into the hills, but the ani lazily to the bank, and sat down on their haunches watching the approaching steamer, in their soft eyes the sadness of a canine race of slaves Behind them limped a sick man or two, a soldier from the barracks, and in the rear a felloho had drifted in the week before with scurvy It was a pitiful review that lined up to greet the tide of tenderfeet crowding towards their El Dorado, and unusual also, for as yet the sight of new faces was strange in the North
The deserted aspect of the town puzzled the captain of the stea he made his way at once to John Gale's store, where he learned from the trader of the strike and of the stampede that had resulted Before the recital was finished a man approached and spoke excitedly
”Captain,off here Won't you have roup of fellow-passengers who h for me,” one of them said
”Me, too,” another volunteered ”This strike is new, and we've hit her just in tiainst the wall of the store and were cla to hear about his find Before the tardy ones had cleared the gang-plank the news had flashed from shore to shi+p, and a swar questions and answers at each other eagerly, elbowing and fighting for a place within ear-shot of the trader or the ragged old sta, and equally easy to arouse No stateerated to find takers Within an hour the crew of the steaage billed to Dawson, and tents began to show their snohiteness here and there As a man saw his outfit appear he would pounce upon it, a bundle at a time, and pile it by itself, which resulted in endless disputes and much confusion; but a spirit of youth and expectancy perry words Every hour the heaps of baggage grew larger and the tents more numerous
Stark wasted no time Withto work for hire, for there are always those who prefer the surety of ten coined dollars to the hope of a hundred He swooped doith these helpers on his pile of merchandise that had lain beneath tarpaulins on the river-bank since the day he and Runnion landed, and by reat tent had been stretched over a framework of peeled poles built on the lot where he and Necia had stood earlier in the day Before dark his saloon was running To be sure, there was no floor, and his polished fixtures looked strangely new and incongruous, but the town at large had assumed a similar air of incompleteness and crude irown threefold in half a day Stark swiftly unpacked his gae, and out of the handful of pale-faced jackals who follow at the heels of a healthy herd, he hired -ca out into the river, and disclosed a strange scene of transforo The riverbank was lined with canvas shelters, illuhts within till they looked like a nest of gloorood wishes rose frohed her way around the point above bearing forth the e that a new camp had been born
CHAPTER X
MEADE BURRELL FINDS A PATH IN THE MOONLIGHT
”No Creek” Lee had come into his own at last, and was a hero, for the story of his long ill-luck was coe He had never been praised for anything before and was uncertain just how to take it
”Say, are these people kiddin' me?” he inquired, confidentially, of Poleon
”W'y? Wat you mean?”
”Well, there's a feller ”
”Wat he say?”
”It ain't nothin' to fight over He says I'm another Dan'l Boom, leadin' the march of empire ard”
”Dat's nice, for sure”
”Certainly sounds good, but is it on the level?”
”Wal, I guess so,” adnation ”Then, why in hell didn't you fellers tell old from his claiht exa source of infor hiars, which he wrapped up carefully and placed in his ed so that he could not sit without losing thehtest word, and stood him up beside the bar where they filled him with proofs of friendliness until he shed tears froood eye
He had formed a habit of parsimony born of his years of poverty, and was so widely known as a tight man by the hundreds who had lent to hi And he never offered one; on the contrary, he had invariably flown into a rage when dunned, and exhibited such resente the practice Noever, the surly hues he unloosened, the process being attended by a disproportionate growth of the trader's cash receipts Cautiously, at first he let out his hich was logy fro of Calaveras, but when they laughed at its labored leaps and sallies his confidence grew With the regularity of a clock he planted cigars and ordered ”a littleeye rejoiced in lachryle of his careless beard By-and-by he wandered through the town, trailed by a troop of tenderfeet, till the woed the bar, for he was a bashful man When Stark's new place opened it offered him another retreat of which he availed hi he reappeared at Old Man Gale's store, walking a bit unsteadily, and as he s to the door he stepped once too often
”What's become of that fourth step?” he demanded, sharply, of Poleon