Enter a name, company, place or keywords to search across this item. Then click "Search" (or hit Enter).
Go to the Archive Home
Go to Thumbnail View of this Item
Go to Single Page View of this Item
Download the Page Image
Copy the Page Text to the Clipboard
Don't highlight the search terms on the Image
Show the Page Image
Show the Image Page Text
Reset View and Center Image
Zoom Out
Zoom In
Rotate Left
Rotate Right
Toggle Full Page View
Flip Image Horizontally
More Information About this Image
Get a Citation for Page or Image - Copy to the Clipboard
Go to the Previous Page (or Left Arrow key)
Go to the Next Page (or Right Arrow key)
Page: of 12
ne 3 TER oe TTT
ty of Six’.
thoughts wandered to his late investments, he wondered if he
were not going up against a deal where the cards might not run
in his favor, However, but'a small part of his fortune was staked
on the venture and there was just enough element of chance to in-.
terest him in the play.
The little porch fronting the Wakefield dwelling became
his afternoon lounging-place. There was not much in common
to talk about, for he shrank from delving into his own past and
he did not grow over-confidential in his confidences, Enough
that he had been born and bred a gentleman, and that his pride
of family and descent remained, He delicately hinted that his
profession had not been so much a matter of his own choosing, .
having been forced upon him by circumstances beyond his control; and had he not abandoned it when most prosperous? He
carefully concealed the fact that his capital still backed the faro
games over at Moore's Flat and Alleghany, and that he was in
receipt of substantial dividends from these speculative ventures,
and Mrs. Wakefield regarded him as a brand plucked from the
burning, a sinner who had yielded to temptation and then turned
back tothe straight and narrow path, Poor woman, her experiences
had been so limited and her life so humdrum, that a distinction
between a real and a sham reform was beyond her judgment.
In truth she had no desire to play the judge. She felt herself outside of the currents of the camp, Her husband treated her as a
stranger; with an inward resentment she understood that her
daughter had usurped her place inhis affections, not comprehending that her invalidism had prevented her from taking active steps
to interfere, so that Dot had unselfishly assumed the burden. The
mine and its outpouring of wealth was most unattractive; in fact,
she almost hated it, for with feminine inconsistency, to it she
ascribed the misfortune that clouded her husband's brain.
The monotonous days had passed almost -without notice as
to external impressions, The inimitable mountains, the deep
gorges, the wonderful atmosphere, with their soothing that had
brought back health and should have renewed the joy of living,
gave her no pleasure. Her soul was filled with discontent, and
she became possessed with a desire to get away from it all.
Even Ruth jarred on her nerves; Ruth, who in her new awakening
was blooming like a fresh if somewhat natured rose, and could
not understand why in this to her well-ordered world one should
give way to the "hypos." There had been a time when she had
taken a gloomy view of life, but that was before Tex had loomed
up large on her horizon, Now she realized that the ways of
Providence were strange and past finding out,-yet worked for the
good of those who trusted and bore up. So she gave well-meant
advice to the wife to "chipper up," for things would come out
$$ TT = ae : —— a ca a
all right if she only had patience to wait.
Brant took much the same view, although he contrived to
extend his sympathies a little more delicately. He could enter
into her feelings with a more perfect understanding for was he
not a lonely spectator, craving friendship denied him, and forced
to endure an isolation which he had not contemplated when
leaving his old life behind him? Insensibly the two grew closer
together and he became her confidant and a sympathizing listener
to her fancied troubles, So it came about that his afternoons
were passed upon the little porch, and a bond of intimacy was
established, innocent enough in its conception, and yet more ©
dangerous than either one anticipated. The woman, deprived of
the affection of her mate by a cruel stroke of fate, and craving
a sympathetic pity, found those who should have given it following
their own devices, and it was not strange that she gave to Brant
a glimpse of this longing for consolation inher troubles; nor was it
more strange that he, at first without any thought of disloyalty
or treachery, found in her attitude and weakness a response
to his own mental state. =
The summer days began to shorten; the big pines threw
longer shadows on the mountainside; the air grew chill; the frost
touched the foliage of the alder trees, and they blazed into yellow;
the oak leaves, detached from the branches, sailed through the
air and heaped up in the hollows, or scurried in battalions down
the slopes. A sharp shower came from the south; the blue haze
and smoke that overhung the range disappeared; the dust; stirred
up from the drown dry earth by every vagrant wind, turning every
twig and blade cf grass to a dirty drab, was washed away, and
Nature woke up and put on a clean face. For five long months the
sun had blazed fiercely, burning all vegetation to a crisp, and
then came the first rain. The City of Six welcomed the change,
although it meant the near approach of the storms and tempests
of winter, the snowfall that would blanket the earth and close in
the little hamlet for a long dreary season. Still, it would not be
the complete isolation of the previous winter. A half-dozen
prosperous camps had sprung up over the ridge and, by aid ofsnowshoes, could be reached. Besides, the little hamlet had
become sufficient to itself, A hundred workers could find resources in the way of amusements that would break the monotony.
The town now boasted™a post office and a mail rider who was
confident of keeping communication open; and for those who
craved more excitement than the sober little camp furnished,
the county seat onthe river below them was accessible. With
its five thousand inhabitants and all the accessories of a lively,
wideopen, prosperous town gambling houses, hotels, and even a
theatre at Downieville, The City of Six would not be cut off
from the world. The miners were an exceptionally steady lot,
“earning handsome wages, and, barring a’ few who elected to
return to the lower foothills and valley, had agreed to stay with
the camp.
(To be continued)
PAL
Mm