September 22, 1971 (12 pages)

= eso See ows Vw Yes Ee eS elUrO touches in the way of upholstery and adornment, such as snow=white counterpane and ruffled pillowcases on thebed, a cushion in the one rocking chair thoughtfullY provided for the ‘invalid, and a doormat which she insisted should be used before the slovenly and careless male was granted admittance, Mike pronounced it fit for an Irish king andeven Rance was impressed by the unwonted luxury and felt that in his mode of living he was sacrificing to his pagan love: of nature's beauties the real comforts of life. ' PART XVI Perhaps it was this sense of loss that, when there came another letter from Wakefield announcing the exact date of his departure, it not only reconciled but made him eager for a journey to San Francisco to meet and welcome back his partner and family; and while a month would elapse before their arrival he felt that meanwhile he deserved and could enjoy the distractions and dissipations of a visit to the city. ncidentally, during the time occupied in the building of the new house, he had ridden over to Moore's Flat, renewed his acquaintance with his sporting friend, and induced that busy man to abandon for a day or more his avocation (there were trusted Ieutenants who could be depended upon for carrying _ on the games) and accept the hospitalities of The City of Six, Brant enjoyed more than he cared to tell this surcease from his predatory occupation, Here was a spot where the dissipated miner, the camp loafer, and the unsexed women were not, an ideal retreat from which was absent the glaring vulgarity and flaunting barbarism of the ridge towns, a little community that was singular in‘its orderliness, ~ He) Git 9 Mike, who was an absolute dictator inhisrealm, had resisted an invasion of the whiskeyseller and the followers in his wake, had discouraged and weeded out the drunken and improvident worker, and by reason of high wages and good fare had gathered around him a superior force of temperate men, They were by no means saints, but they wére-dbove the average, and after a time came to have an honest pride in their little hamlet, a pride that when the restraints became a trifle irksome and they sought relaxation and yielded to temptation when visiting near-by camps, led them to boasting of the superiority of their abidingplace, This so jarred on the feelings of their neighbors that the visitors were often compelled to uphold their vauntings by force of arms, and many a rough and tumble encounter resulted, It, , however, was the proper local pride as well as the taste of a strenuous pleasure denied them in their own community, Rance as host exhausted the resources of the place in entertaining his guest, and Ruth outdid herself in seconding his efforts, This stranger appealed to her forcibly. Here was a man who wore’a "biled shirt" and did not murmur at what the rest regarded as a stiff and starched horror, a yoke of misery and —— : i il discomfort; a person whose neat apparel was unwrinkled, who shaved daily and flecked the dust from polished boots to preserve their tidiness, and even wiped his feet voluntarily on the doormat, Careless Tex was so exhorted to take pattern after this immaculate example that the preaching became a weariness to his soul. ; Rance and Brant became fairly friendly, It was possibly the attractivness of the unlike that linked them in friendship, Brant was the elder by several years, reserved, taciturn, and not. given to companionship or confidences; on the contrary, Rance wore his heart on his sleeve and to a friend confided his. hopes, disappointments, ambitions, and failures freely and ' without much reserve, Brant was cold, calculating, and of a manner and carriage that invited no intimacies, In his profession he walked apart from his fellows, disdained their comradeship, despised their vices, and stood aloof from the shady side of their lives, "There runs ice water in his veins," was the current comment on his attitude, and to some extent the criticism was just, so far as the exterior he presented to the undiscriminating. After all, it was a mask cleverly worn, deliberately assumed and used as a valuable asset, He was a Marylander by birth, the scion of a prominent family which at one time had owned broad and fair acres, although when Brant became of age the sheriff had transferred the title to aliens and his patrimony dwindled to nothing, His father had, in old Washinton society of "before the war," dissipated his lands and fortune in an instinctive and uncontrollable passion for gambling; and on the race course, in the social games of the southern element, and at the fascinating faro banks had seen his last dollar disappear, Then, rather than become a hanger-on, he wisely ended his career by a bullet through his brain, leaving Brant, his only child, to. make his own way as best he might, Luckily, hehad given the boy the advantage of tutor: and college. If Brant inherited the taint and the gambling passion was in his blood, he had no means of gratifying it, as he was penniless; and the disgrace of his father's taking off and his * known impecunious condition alienated his few friends, Ostracized and desperate he deliberately resolved to adopt the career that had proved his father's ruin, with the difference that he would prey instead of being preyed upon. He studied closely all games of chance the mathematical odds in favor of the bank, the invariable law of percentages to count on, and in social games he practised that close observation of human nature that notes and takes advantage of temperamental ‘betrayal of emotions, The study became so absorbing and so successful that from the subordinate place of dealer he had in a few years become a capitalist and proprietor. In the pursuit he had had the satisfaction of plucking many of those who fleeced his father, buthis pride was hurt, As a gentleman's son he had held his head as high as the best; as a professional gambler he was an outcast, and although showing no outward signs, he suffered deeply in spirit. It was this feeling that impelled him when the discovery of gold in California opened a new field, todesert his old haunts and with ample capital start anew in a country where people were too busy or too indifferent to bother themselves about his past,' Deep in his breast he had cherished the plan of at some future day redeeming the old acres from strangers’ hands, and in his own right taking the place among the gentry that his father's weakness had deprived him of. He had prospered beyond his most sanguine hopes, was rich as riches ‘counted in that era, although at a cost, His contact with the baser sort had bred in ‘him a contempt for humanity, he doubted the existence of good men, and the existence of good women had faded from his memory. Rance's intervention in favor of the persecuted dog was. the first decent action that had come under his observation: for years; its disinterestedness, when it meant peril to the intervener, forced admiration; and when in the ensuing lounge on the porch of the hotel Rance confidingly laid bare his history, his heart yearned for such a friend, By birth and education they were equal, Rance confessed how near, when deserted by his slaves, he had come to adopting a like career; this and the strength of character that had enabled him to brave ridicule in his occupation as cook appealed to the cynic and led-him to welcome the tentative advances of his would-be comrade, In fact, as the companionship grew closer, he felt that Rance was on a plane above . him, There was dignity in his position as mine-owner and stockholder in a prosperous corporation, the abundant riches in which he shared came from the earth, its accumulation did no man wrong, and while Brant rejoiced in his friend's prosperity, he envied its. source and grew more and more dissatisfied with his own position and associations, — (Continued next week) * © The Nevada County Nugget, tee e babe gttees ‘Sept. 22, 1971 7

= eso See ows Vw Yes Ee eS elUrO touches in the way of upholstery and adornment, such as snow=white counterpane and ruffled pillowcases on thebed, a cushion in the one rocking chair thoughtfullY provided for the ‘invalid, and a doormat which she insisted should be used before the slovenly and careless male was granted admittance, Mike pronounced it fit for an Irish king andeven Rance was impressed by the unwonted luxury and felt that in his mode of living he was sacrificing to his pagan love: of nature's beauties the real comforts of life. ' PART XVI Perhaps it was this sense of loss that, when there came another letter from Wakefield announcing the exact date of his departure, it not only reconciled but made him eager for a journey to San Francisco to meet and welcome back his partner and family; and while a month would elapse before their arrival he felt that meanwhile he deserved and could enjoy the distractions and dissipations of a visit to the city. ncidentally, during the time occupied in the building of the new house, he had ridden over to Moore's Flat, renewed his acquaintance with his sporting friend, and induced that busy man to abandon for a day or more his avocation (there were trusted Ieutenants who could be depended upon for carrying _ on the games) and accept the hospitalities of The City of Six, Brant enjoyed more than he cared to tell this surcease from his predatory occupation, Here was a spot where the dissipated miner, the camp loafer, and the unsexed women were not, an ideal retreat from which was absent the glaring vulgarity and flaunting barbarism of the ridge towns, a little community that was singular in‘its orderliness, ~ He) Git 9 Mike, who was an absolute dictator inhisrealm, had resisted an invasion of the whiskeyseller and the followers in his wake, had discouraged and weeded out the drunken and improvident worker, and by reason of high wages and good fare had gathered around him a superior force of temperate men, They were by no means saints, but they wére-dbove the average, and after a time came to have an honest pride in their little hamlet, a pride that when the restraints became a trifle irksome and they sought relaxation and yielded to temptation when visiting near-by camps, led them to boasting of the superiority of their abidingplace, This so jarred on the feelings of their neighbors that the visitors were often compelled to uphold their vauntings by force of arms, and many a rough and tumble encounter resulted, It, , however, was the proper local pride as well as the taste of a strenuous pleasure denied them in their own community, Rance as host exhausted the resources of the place in entertaining his guest, and Ruth outdid herself in seconding his efforts, This stranger appealed to her forcibly. Here was a man who wore’a "biled shirt" and did not murmur at what the rest regarded as a stiff and starched horror, a yoke of misery and —— : i il discomfort; a person whose neat apparel was unwrinkled, who shaved daily and flecked the dust from polished boots to preserve their tidiness, and even wiped his feet voluntarily on the doormat, Careless Tex was so exhorted to take pattern after this immaculate example that the preaching became a weariness to his soul. ; Rance and Brant became fairly friendly, It was possibly the attractivness of the unlike that linked them in friendship, Brant was the elder by several years, reserved, taciturn, and not. given to companionship or confidences; on the contrary, Rance wore his heart on his sleeve and to a friend confided his. hopes, disappointments, ambitions, and failures freely and ' without much reserve, Brant was cold, calculating, and of a manner and carriage that invited no intimacies, In his profession he walked apart from his fellows, disdained their comradeship, despised their vices, and stood aloof from the shady side of their lives, "There runs ice water in his veins," was the current comment on his attitude, and to some extent the criticism was just, so far as the exterior he presented to the undiscriminating.

After all, it was a mask cleverly worn, deliberately assumed and used as a valuable asset, He was a Marylander by birth, the scion of a prominent family which at one time had owned broad and fair acres, although when Brant became of age the sheriff had transferred the title to aliens and his patrimony dwindled to nothing, His father had, in old Washinton society of "before the war," dissipated his lands and fortune in an instinctive and uncontrollable passion for gambling; and on the race course, in the social games of the southern element, and at the fascinating faro banks had seen his last dollar disappear, Then, rather than become a hanger-on, he wisely ended his career by a bullet through his brain, leaving Brant, his only child, to. make his own way as best he might, Luckily, hehad given the boy the advantage of tutor: and college. If Brant inherited the taint and the gambling passion was in his blood, he had no means of gratifying it, as he was penniless; and the disgrace of his father's taking off and his * known impecunious condition alienated his few friends, Ostracized and desperate he deliberately resolved to adopt the career that had proved his father's ruin, with the difference that he would prey instead of being preyed upon. He studied closely all games of chance the mathematical odds in favor of the bank, the invariable law of percentages to count on, and in social games he practised that close observation of human nature that notes and takes advantage of temperamental ‘betrayal of emotions, The study became so absorbing and so successful that from the subordinate place of dealer he had in a few years become a capitalist and proprietor. In the pursuit he had had the satisfaction of plucking many of those who fleeced his father, buthis pride was hurt, As a gentleman's son he had held his head as high as the best; as a professional gambler he was an outcast, and although showing no outward signs, he suffered deeply in spirit. It was this feeling that impelled him when the discovery of gold in California opened a new field, todesert his old haunts and with ample capital start anew in a country where people were too busy or too indifferent to bother themselves about his past,' Deep in his breast he had cherished the plan of at some future day redeeming the old acres from strangers’ hands, and in his own right taking the place among the gentry that his father's weakness had deprived him of. He had prospered beyond his most sanguine hopes, was rich as riches ‘counted in that era, although at a cost, His contact with the baser sort had bred in ‘him a contempt for humanity, he doubted the existence of good men, and the existence of good women had faded from his memory. Rance's intervention in favor of the persecuted dog was. the first decent action that had come under his observation: for years; its disinterestedness, when it meant peril to the intervener, forced admiration; and when in the ensuing lounge on the porch of the hotel Rance confidingly laid bare his history, his heart yearned for such a friend, By birth and education they were equal, Rance confessed how near, when deserted by his slaves, he had come to adopting a like career; this and the strength of character that had enabled him to brave ridicule in his occupation as cook appealed to the cynic and led-him to welcome the tentative advances of his would-be comrade, In fact, as the companionship grew closer, he felt that Rance was on a plane above . him, There was dignity in his position as mine-owner and stockholder in a prosperous corporation, the abundant riches in which he shared came from the earth, its accumulation did no man wrong, and while Brant rejoiced in his friend's prosperity, he envied its. source and grew more and more dissatisfied with his own position and associations, — (Continued next week) * © The Nevada County Nugget, tee e babe gttees ‘Sept. 22, 1971 7