Argosy, Vol. 1 (1882) — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

ON THE TRAIL of the wild, mountainous region of Eastern Kentucky. CHAPTER II. TOM AUCKLAND, MOUNTAINEER. MANAGING EpItoR’ FORsYTHE'S plain words had done me a world of good, and on my way to the mountain- ous region of Kentucky, I had put ina big lot of thinking. That I was “fresh,” when I entered the sanctum of The Pioneer 1 am free to admit—but there was precious little of that feeling left, when, liberally pro- vided with funds, I left the office and, as soon as I could complete my brief preparations, set out for my perilous held of operations. I will not be accused of a lack of’ modesty when I repeat what I had said to the editor. I was a good horseman, and pistol and rifle shot, and the fact that I played a leading position on the football eleven for two seasons is proof that I ranked well as an athlete. But a man can be all these and incur the fate of being incontinently snuffed out by some treacherous mountaineer, who is in the last stages of consump- tion and physically afraid to meet a boy in a fair fight. The question which I turned over in my mind hundreds of times while speeding toward Kentucky on the trains was as to the best method of earning my salary and making myself “solid” with The Pioneer. When fin- ally I left the cars at McVeyville, and hiring a tough, wiry pony, by paying his full value in advance, headed into the mountains, the question was still unanswercd and the problem unsolved. About the only thing I had settled upon was that I must under no circum- stances admit I was a newspaper cor- respondent, for such men were as un- popular in that section as internal reve- nue officers. I had thought of assuming any one f a dozen different characters, such as OF A MYSTERY. 5 drummer, lightning rod agent, land prospector, hunter, traveler, but there was objection to each of them. I finally fixed upon that of a representative of a Chicago syndicate which had reason to believe the mountains in that sectian of Kentucky contained valuable coal and iron deposits, with a suspicion of zinc and lead. This belief on the part of the capitalists had led them to send me into the country to prospect and make an investigation. The attractive feature of this charac- ter was that it ought to awaken hopes among the people of selling their mis- erable lands for five or ten times the value at which they had _ been held. Reasoning along this line to the end, they should treat me with the greatest consideration, and make sure even that the wind did not blow too unkindly upon me. The unattractive feature of the char- acter was the probability that not a sin- gie person would believe a word I said. I carried only a meager supply of paper and pencils—not enough to con- demn me as a newspaper correspond- ent, for they are not the only persons who take stationery with them on their travels. My traveling bag contained a few indispensable articles, and my re- volver was at my hip, where it could be drawn at an instant’s need. Of course, it was my only firearm, for it would have been not only absurd but a “ dead give away” for me to display a Win- chester. Thus accoutered, I rode my pony over one of the roughest mountain roads I have ever seen. It was up and down but gradually ascending, broken by gullies, hollows and washouts until it seemed impossible that any wheeled vehicle could make its way over it. Anc yet it had been done, for the tracks were too plain to be mistaken. The afternoon was cloudy and over- cast, and the air chilly with the promise of a cold storm. I had ridden fully ten miles and had not seen a single bupan habitation or a solitary per on. Vhe