Puck — December 10, 1879 — page 11: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

: PUCK. ARCHIE -ASCOYNE : A ROMANCE OF SKYE. WRITTEN EXPRESSLY FOR PUCK, BY JOHN FRASER, AUTHOR OF “Effie: A Tale uf Two Worlds;” “Essays from the Westminster;” Duncan Fenwick’s Daughter ;" “Fair Fragoletta;” “Scottish Chapbooks;” “A Dream of Life; “Legends of Lor ete, (Continued.) When the Colonel, after putting out of sight a prodigious quantity of bacon and beans, washed down by a modest hornful of Rye—for the Colonel albeit mighty fond of an occasional buster, was ordinarily moderate enough in his cups—had taken his leave, Archie proceeded to prospect the land. It being early in the evening there were not many customers round the bar—only some three or four. ‘To them the Colonel, who evi- dently knew them all, had introduced Archie as, ‘‘My friend, mates, General Gastube,”— that being the nearest approach he could make to Gascoyne. As tothe General,” that, ex- plained the Colonel to Archie, had been thrown in for effect's sake. “This is an almighty Re-public,” he would say, ‘this is, and no mistake, but we de-w like a title—we de-w. We er nuts on titles, we er —so long,” he would add after a pause—'as they er ov the tre-ue Re-publican stamp. They must be military, or, though the other's not much to reckon on, lee-gall. Them's the only handles worthy of a free and glo-ri-ous Repub- lic.” And Archie for harmony’s sake added, “That's so,” and allowed himself to be “ gen- eralled” with as much composure and dignity as if he had been one all his life. “ Been in these parts before, Gineral?” en- quired one of his new acquaintances during a brief pause in the conversation, while the Boss was replenishing the tumblers in honor of the new arrival. “No,” replied Archie, “I hev not.” “A-ah! From the village mebbe?’-—the village, of course, being Silver City. “So.” “Things pretty lively there ne-ow?” “Yes, things er lively down there.” “A-ahh! I allus said as how that’s the all- firedest lively town in the U-nit-ed States. Ain't that so, boss?” “That's so, Bill”—‘Grizzly Bill’ they called him, ‘that’s s0; but here’s your drinks, gen- tlemen; better take them while they’re ’ot.”” And they did take them—'ot. It was then Archie knew that his host was an Englishman, and he took some little comfort at the fact. When they had emptied their tumblers Ar- chie remarked that Duyville seemed rather a bleak spot; not a single tree to be seen around. “T guess, now,” he added, “ the climate’s too cold here for trees to grow?”” “You bet it is,” responded Grizzly Bill, wiping his mouth with his shirt sleeve. “Nary a tree ever growed here.” “What'll you bet on that, Billy?” quickly chimed in another of the party. “Bet? there ain't no bettin’ on it!" was the contemptuous reply. “But I tell you there is; ain’t there, boss?” “1 think not,” responded mine host. “There hain’t no tree as I ave hever seen or ’eerd hof twenty miles or more hof Duyville Ranch.” “But I say there is,” persisted the other. ‘I say there is, an’ I’ll bet drinks round with any one in the comp’ny that I'll find you a tree no further from here than Pocka Pass.” The ac- * «Lone Glengartney,” 1 tte, ete. tual name was Chatopooka, but the natives called it Pooka, “ for short.” bi “Done on that, Jim,” cried Grizzly, while Archie, for reasons of his own, added, “ And I'll go another on the same, just for the fun’s sake, gentlemen.” The bets were booked amid general acclama- tion, the prospect of a little excitement and free drinks being welcome on all hands. So after some further talking Grizzly Bill, Jim Honklin—the man who had offered to bet— and our hero were deputed as a deputation to settle the point. That, however, took some- what longer to do than Archie had anticipated. Jim’s three miles, what he rated the distance at, turned out to be considerably more than that, but he won his bet all the same; for when they got to the entrance of the Pass, there, sure enough, was a tree, though Grizzly Bill grumbled a good deal at the impropriety of calling a ‘‘ stump like that" a tree,and wanted to back out of his bet. But in this he was un- supported by Archie, and on their return to the saloon, it was unanimously voted that Jim had won the bet “ fair and square.” So the drinks were ordered and drank, and many more rounds followed, and in the confusion at- tendant on the drinking, and the cards that immediately followed, Archie slipped out and returned to the much debated tree, * * * And indeed friend Grizzly had not been far wrong when he protested against such a stump being called a tree. It was more like the rem- nant of an obese telegraph-pole that had been struck by lightning; but to Archie it was wel- come as the tallest and leafiest chestnut that ever flowered, He had no doubt about it. There to the right was the very rock—in shape exactly like a seal—marked on the chart; and there to the left, hardly scen for the snow, the ruins of the old shanty. Fortunately it was now dark—the moon would not rise for two hours yet—that is, at 12:17—and the place was so lonely and out of the way that there was little fear of interruption. So, after again consulting his chart by aid of a small dark-lantern he had taken with him, Archie proceeded to business. From his knap- sack he took a small pick-axe and spade, the handles of which were made in telescope fash- ion, so as to go inté’small bulk; and with these he proceeded to work. We have no wish to keep our readers in sus- pense. He had not long to work or deep to dig. It was exactly as poor Jim had said; the treasure was there, clasped round a mass of bones, in a thick leather belt. Hastily Archie clutched the prize and hid it in his knapsack; hastily he returned the dug-up soil to its old place and covered it with snow. It had been the work of not more than half an hour, and now he was the possessor of —/hat he could’ not yet say—but of sufficient, almost certainly, to relieve his father of a large por- tion of his remorse and sorrow. * * . 653 On his return to Duyville he found his friend anxiously awaiting his arrival. The Colonel it turned out—for his friendly host, ‘‘ English Tommy,” as the natives called him, informed Archie of the fact privately that same night— had been making many and curious inquiries after him, Now, as we have hinted, the Colonel was pretty well known in these , and better nown than liked. “Plug Ugly,” indeed, could hardly be called a popular man, but there were few bold enough to tell him so. When down on his luck he could live, or at least drink free, at almost any bar in the county, Not because his credit was good—for it wasn’t; but his aim was, and his temper was nasty. So when English Tommy saw Archie in the Colonel's company, and heard the latter in- quiring after him in a somewhat strange and excited fashion, he began, as vulgar parlance has it, to “smell a rat.” He could see, too, that Archie was, to put it mildly, “fresh,” not to say “green,” and Archie himself had told him of his nationality. So honest Tommy gave his young country- man the hint—a hint which, as we shall see, the latter was not slow to profit by. On his return, then, to the saloon, he found the Colonel waiting for him, and he prepared himself for one of the Colonel’s most searching cross-examinations, Nor were his fears un- founded, The Colonel lost no time in pro- ceeding to business. “ Hullo, General,” exclaimed that worthy as our hero entered, knapsack on back, “ thought you had gi’en me the slip a second time. Where in the tarnal hev you been? Seein’ that friend o' yourn, mebbe?"—this, as poor Artemus used to have it, ‘‘ spoke sarkastik.”” “ Just so; seeing that friend of mine.” ‘That friend o' yourn must live a darned long way off, and his shanty can’t amount to much in the way ov clean furniture. You're all over clay.” And so he was; yellow soil that smeared his boots, pants and sleeves, and which in his ex- citement he had forgotten to wipe off. “Ah, yes—the road is mighty nasty.” But the Colonel was not to be thus easily put off. Archie had by this time got up to the bar and was proceeding to unburden himself of his knapsack. But the Colonel was much too polite a gen- tleman not to offer his assistance, so with, “Low me to help ye, mate,” he had his hands on the knapsack before Archie could even say a word, As it struck the counter something chinked. The Colonel knew the chink of gold—none better, and his little eyes glistened. “What in thunder ’s in the bag now?” he exclaimed. ‘Blamed if you ain’t gone and robbed a chee-urch,” “Some few things of no account I got from my friend,” said Archie, as he rather roughly snatched the bag from the other's itching palms. «Q-oh!"" was all the Colonel said, and then he called for drinks; but Archie would have none and went straight up to his room. As he turned to go, however, the clay-smeared point of the little pickaxe, for which he could find no room in his knapsack after sowing the belt there, obtruded from his pocket and flashed for a moment in the gaslight. ‘The quick eyes of Plug Ugly saw the flash and he started. . * “Grizzly,” shouted the Colonel across the room, “ hev a drink?” “Don’t mind if I dew.” «* Whiskey ?” “ Yes, whiskey straight.” And as they were drinking their tipple the Colonel said, in an off-hand sort of way: * comicbooks.com