Argosy and Railroad Man's Magazine — page 146: what you’re looking at

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

488 ARGOSY AND RAILROAD MAN’S MAGAZINE. stubborn to own up to it,” growled Mandy Swatt. With that the miners hoisted Tiny Tim to their shoulders: and _perspiringly bore him in triumph to the B. Burns, where the whole party had a “ night-cap ”’—or several, The next morning John Truscott calmly received the news of- their verdict, and de- parted for San Francisco, with the promise that he would make immediate arrange- ments to have the work begun. V. CurLEY Q. was the first to espy the cara- van of mule-teams rolling across the desert toward Dry Gulch several weeks later, and heralded its approach by a whoop that brought every miner scuttling up the cliffs. Before nightfall there had sprung up a camp of rough shacks and canvas, with drills and other machinery unloaded and in process of setting up, and a swarm of huskies getting swiftly down to operations. Truscott acted as director general, but the actual supervision of the men was delegated to his assistant, Farrel, a thick-set, beetling- browed, domineering person, who was everywhere, bawling orders and seeing that they were obeyed. The professor’s hope that Truscott and his work would act as a wholesome diver- sion in the community now seemed in a fair way toward realization. The Dry - Gulchers actually did forsake the casino. Then gravel rich in gold was uncovered near the mouth of the drift.. This news came as a tonic to the Dry Gulchers who, with river-bed claims daily lessening in yield, had been on the raw edge of worri- ment. Temptation to celebrate this good fortune was-irresistible. And the only ap- propriate place for a celebration was the B. Burns. Macdonald had-no reason to complain of his receipts these days. Suddenly everything went wrong. There was a break in the gold-bearing gravel-bed. Truscott determined to tunnel straight ahead; but, day after day, virtually no gold assayed from the gravel uncovered. Final- ly he gave orders to extend the drift no farther: instead, to proceed from the break and start new tunnels off at various angeles. Adding to the Dry Gulchers’ misfortunes was the exhaustion of their river-bed claims — to a point where, as the Doc put it, “ You had to work like a sand-hog to make a bare living,”’ Fagged out each day, and utterly dis- couraged, they naturally resorted to the B. Burns for stimulant. In this condition of lowered physical and mental vitality, it was but a step from “cheering up” to recklessness—and thence to the gambling- tables. The stakes now were pitifully small. Still the urbane Jenks always was there’ with comforting predictions for -a speedy change of luck, He went so far as to ad- vance moderate loans on their 1.0.U.’s. Their “jinx” already ‘was matched against_them—wearing them down—spar- ring for the opportunity to land the final blows to their ambitions. The blows fell soon and swiftly. Until recently the miners always had peid Foley promptly for everything. Late- ly, with luck dead against them, they had been running up little bills. Foley had been happy to accommodate them. But this Saturday, when their gold dust weighed at the General Store proved insufficient for their needs, the little Irishman seemed frankly distressed. “Tm sorry, boys,” at last he blurted out, “ but I can’t extend any more credit. Truth is, ve only got money enough to keep my business going and pay for the regular supplies. You know where my profits go—”’ pointing significantly toward the B. Burns. “Guess we're all in the same pickle,” he sighed ruefully. Foley had turned them down! They felt stunned—bewildered. They drifted over to B. Burns. One glance at Jenks’s glum face warned them of another blow impending. It fell. “Gentlemen,” murmured Jenks, “ I’m sorry to say my principa? has instructed me to sell drinks only for spot cash, and to close the casino. As it is, I’ve got in bad with the boss, I s’pose. He wires me to report at San Francisco and leave Darrow here in temporary charge.” Nothing seemed to matter after that. They received with callous indifference Farrel’s peremptory invitation for them to meet him at the B. Burns on Monday. Ld \e comicbooks-com