LUCIA DI ROCK CREEK.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11684, 13 July 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

LUCIA DI ROCK CREEK.

(By Emerson Hough.)

"Sometimes, when I have a grouch the morning ai'tsr," said Curfr, reaching in his shirt, pocket for his fine" cud as he rode, "It!rink I'd like to have a rieiv' little tiii'worklall o', my.own,,and completed the making- of his cigarette as \v« • trotted oh lip the yalley, and at length went on with his p'hilosopjiising. . - "An' then again, when I look around the way tiling is fixed, nice morning like this/ and iiot no morning after,. 1 can't help allowin' she might -<bo . a wors? world than what she is, the ay she's fixed right how." lie waved a hand t-oward the gray hills and:- upward at the blue sky of Wyoming. Franks Peak rose whitetopped far to the west. The notch cut into the Rockies by the Grey Bull lav directly-, ahead of us, and the valley of liock Creek came down on the right. It was a beautiful 'and, cojrifortable landscape, this morning. TVhat man would not enjoy.it, with a trout rod arid-.a rifle scabbard; under his leg; a well-stocked fly book in one pocket and -plenty of tobacco in another? ; ■ '-Take n bright day "Hike this,'.' mused Curly, "when it's warm ahddry, vlith plenty of wind, the gits •to- movin' around .right'lively- arid the wind blows-thenvoir ;the .water. That's when old Mr .Trout gets busy. Ain't no better business man than, Sir Trout —he always hustles when things; are eomin' his way easy. "We'll: catch plenty of fish to-day sure." . \Ye were .riding now apart fr6m the main trail, turning up Rock Creek Valley, and as wo advanced there was noticeable on a- little knoll to the left a tall white picket fence', making -.a. small inclosure, very noticeable ih that country where wire. and rawhide are more abundant than white-washed- palings. Curly saw. this -as plainly taS; I, but-when I inquired about it he turned: his gaze ahead musingly and made no answer beyond reasserting that no d'eubi; we would get plenty of trout that day. . - ■ -.

•His pr ; opliecy was correct. Thepe~'itliarly tat and delectable; troiit' in . this little river were unusually, obliging, and while.mir horses grazed about, the- reins hanging down over their heads, we. soon caught all we wished. "Com& on," said Curly, "what's the use patchm' atiy more o' these little fellers? Let's go .'an' lay down m the sun an' take a. rest." " - We huntfkl out a spot where the.sun, was bright and the wind afresh, and so rested for ,ai long time, just,being glad iva were aHye, .as . Curly r phrasfed . it. Meantime I swept- the mountains audi the nearer valley with my, field glasses, turning them sit last- oti" the little picket fence which we'had left far.below its in the" valley. Once more I spoke to Curly about this singular phenomenon,, and once more lie seemed) to avoid the subject; but- at length lie 'replied: "Yes v it's:a fence," an' a picket fence; dn-ly • one in the valley an? the only one in Wyoming, far as I know; an' it's white —the Z Bar boys paint her ev.frv spring. I helped to build her myself." , . "Seems like a little garden, fence, Curly," said I, focussing the glasses. moro carefully. _ ; ~ . 1 "Well, it- ain't just .exactly, -said Curly ; reluctantly. "Fact- is, it's a. grave, with .a* little fence around it. Didn't you ever hear -about-that I .never . had, and, seeing now the reason for Curly's reticence, said 110 more. It was some time - before-, ho spoke again. . "It'll seem right funny to you, bir Algernon," said lie, "when I. tell you there's a Englishman: .buried there, an' that he's got the only picket fence around Jiis.-gra-v<2 ever ivas xix sucli -enso made an' pervided; in -this whole valley. I reckon lie couldn't bein' 1 a Englishman, an' lie tried to live it down out here for twenty years. Best proof ho did is that fence the boys.-built around him. I e\ T £n almost- liked him. myself. His name was Sandy Ha mil-' ton." - v.: ■ "How came he to die?"

Curly piused for ar time, -after ' putting down his cigarette and stamping;; ■ the end with his boot heel. "The. real fact is, Hamilton was the one that could best tell you .about that, an' he's dead —it's his fence. Besides, it was strictly his own funeral,: in .every; sens© o' the word. . "You see, it was" this way. Sandy ' Hamilton may or ma,y not of been his name; we didn't carc.«There not bein' any land over in England, but just'only money, he comes over ..here an' - trades money for land copious. There v,-as pidnty o': I .'people out hero in the old times that reaped where , they didn't- sow-none. Gradual, Sandy Haihilton rea-ches a. time when he lias - more land than money, an' then a time when lie ain't got much o' neither. "Hamilton, he didn't talk much, an when his brand run.: out,, he wont in as foreman at one <)' the ranches below. He was game a.h' decent, could ride 'a • little' an' drink a lot. _ Wesays to him, 'Welcome, little friend, in our midst'; ail' we let it go at that. --He dropped, in an' made good, an' never said ianything about goin' anywheres else to live. "Now, you see, Jinglish folks is built "different "from 11s over here. In England a family is roadeup of poppa,an momma an'tlie oldest, son, with all the others .tnailiii'*, - .an'' them three., first-, ridin' point. In our country we don't bar the youngest son in the bunch it he can.lick all the.others/; But if you got to be borned- in always be -careful on' be borned., first. If: yon ain't, you'd just as well .not be borned at all nohow, for like enough; you--got to rustle and see your listle brother—■who like enough has - got white hair an' no eyebrows to mention —a-spoj-tin' around in the ancestral halls while you're runnin' sheep.. m Australia or cows in Wyoming;; ' in whi e'h 1 atter case . you would -.probably make »a. firm endeavor to soil lip all the firewater they is. _ ' 'Judged on that there last basis. Sandv Hamilton must of been about two or three youngest sons. Not even Merteetse likkor could jar him so he didn't know which way was home. We tried not to let such things affect our. judo-nient about cow hands out : here. Anyliow, the Z Bar said he was goods enough for foreman. On that job he did as'well'as anybody, brandiii' a few hundred calves each, spring an' not losin' more'n v his share by wolyes, an nllowin' vtlio. owner of the raiicli about as much a.s: we all -thought was money enough-for him to have.* Sandy could eat a man's vittals, all right, an' once in-a while he'd' go out liuntin'-or fishm , an' sometimes us : boys'd blow.inaiv we'd all have a* game, of cards now anthen. It's a- man's life," an I don t see what kind <>' life anywhere in the wide world would be better for either n. oklcst- son- or a youngest son: An y.et," said Curly—turning sidewise and looking at the "little white fence down the valley—"that wasn't good; enough for Sawlv Hamilton- -. - . , ."There was lack of woman s nursm and a dearth of woman's tears in the Grey Bull them days. It wasn't hard to keep-from gettin' married , when a feller used Any kind of ordinary' dal]- . (Tgirjf*© - Such h oases as they-was up ah down the valley was mostly occ-umed "by a- headache an' a. cookstove. I dunno's the calico-o' Meet-eet.se an' other seaports .around here .was just the kvnoi that marrips into the lojah family of England. Like enough- maj be girls is. plentier over there too. But Sandy Hamilton he never showed no sign o goin" back to England. Like a man startin' to; bwld a. fixe, he just takes such.sticks as. is handy. - • • "This Lucy Hays = girl,; up Hock' Creek yonder, was a . goodrlooker, an - for me. I'm willin' to let it go . at that an' not- get-■ too 1 blamed 1 . descriptive. - She couldn't do-hpr an' be near■;as bad: as you an.' me. Sir Algernon. I Now, -she was ponv-like -built, with dirk eyes hung right. Jcof-e—the sort that-to'mv.mmd is about a,s dangerous as anv- The wav Sandy liapoened. to meet her wa= wlienh° wnstakm' a "beef cut, up to Codv. This Lucy girl was ridin', a American horse.that.had-never-seen that miany covis,- an', hp.-begun to go mean -whe-n-r thev crowded him into a wire- fence that some-n ester had, put up. -as a. last praver. to Providence. .'Sandv. rides a an. nn' kills i a couple of g-ood-bee£ <sows: with. his • six-«lioot*r,. an' then - observes" tins girl with, loose eyes a Ivfctlp closer After'which thev.ne.Talv fa.lEofF'nthei-r horsss, leanin' » toward e'eh oilier-instinctive Ypn_ see, SandV was six feet an' a Tider, an'' she's-five'feet an ? human. I dmijio's-I". •: need ast no questions since Sandy didn't-

—they was married riglit soon, before a J .P. in Cody, an' for some days there: a fter there is spontaneous celebrations' all up ail' down the> Grey Bull Valley. You can't tell by lookin' at a mail's : face what he's thinkin' -about. I don't Itiiow what -Sandy .was thinkin' about or if he compared them matters to .what»might.-.]ia',',.been • back, liome. . was a square man, whether lie was a oldest or - a youngest-son, an' I think some gentleman, too. He ne.ver said a word to her about who he was ocr «-here he "came irom, an' he was -as kind to her "as a man can be to a woman. . • . . "Did he really marry her because ho loved her, or •berJtuse somethin' else? Now you're askin', questions? _ What I'm sayin'' is that lie was as kind an' square'with her as a man ever was with '.i woman. Maybe this Lucy person appreciated that, an' Treated torn so that he begaiU:to git in love with her- more'n more.. -He'd tell me—anwhy should-ho talk in earnest that way to' -a, puncher with, 'red hair an' freckles .argue: to "me. what a good woman Lucy was, an' how any man in the world couldn't help but plumb worship such- a -good woman like her. 'Think of me!' lie'd say once in a. while —an' lie'd shake his head like his likkeir wasn't agreeing with him. .1 knew better —it was only because, lie was gettin' worse- gone on- his wife..- . now, ini a case'like that, thpLquieter everybody kin keep the better for everyone concerned. We. all knowe'd about Lucy. In them days .it fljsag always allowed that gettin'; married wiped the slate fer all parties- concexned." ' - Curly stopped, musing, liir..smaU blue eves sweeping the wide gray country which lav out before 113 'and around, us, as though lie saw tho passing figures of another. day..."'.tA.ftev all, it was Ins ' own business," whether, lie talked. 1 urtlifcr or not, and 1-did not interrupt him. When at length ho Tesumed was-on quite a different-line: _• , . "You know the : tiine when old. man Wright an' me goes to Chicago with -them twenty-five cars of Galloway s •that topped tho Chicago market —about six years ago is was?" I nodded.

"Sir Algernon, them was tho liappy days fer liotlo Curly ! -When-wo got .to Chicago, old man Wright puts ; m ahout a week tryin'-to solve- a gi:eat industrial problem, which is, how many - highballs a'st-rons man really, can hold 111 twelve hours? I don't believe in highballs.myself fer ilio water takes up too niucli i-oom : which might be used for good lilcker. But that was tho way old man ■Wright was figgerin' it that trip, such bein' the habits of -his city friend that was'showing him "the sights of the metropolis, the way he always-does when old man Wright comes;to town. It wa.<s them habits of old-manWrights mend that got my boy Bob married to the manicure—over on tho San J - ou know Meantime,- old man W right invites mo to go to Ihp opery continuous, until ho gits his problem solved prope/.. Seemed like this, grandest kind ° + . giand opeia was in toun right about tuen. 'I don't mean, no ■concert,, now,, Our.i> : , savs he,-'but real opery, the kind thi.tr.. costs five dollars-a throw to git in, «in a quarter to check your hat, an. ten dollafs tfer- tlie carriage, an' twenty ier the SV '" P 'At them rates, Colonel,' says I, 'I mio-ht go pare way for fifteen minutes. - " !lt don't cost you a. cent, said old . mail Wright.. 'Hero's jour-ticket, fer to-niglit, an' here's the key to, my room 0 ver toth eh ox el. You go 1.11, oh ere: an : you'll-find my spike-paiL coat. 111 there on a chair, el.it ain't under the bed, an the rest of the outfit, around there somewhere: Them -clothes .may be ;v lit vlo wide in places, but: the .hell hop 11 git you into 'em somehow, and -.cinch up the slack,: so that-you'll do..'- . - ." 'Why can't I go right the wa. v i iim now':" says I. ■ , ... " .'None: it ain't legal,' says old man Wright. '■Nfevpr- shall it_ be said that any cow hand o' mine set in a citj game without as good .. cards . as VW};Here's a month s salary extra s-hat you haven't earned—you havent earned any of 'cm fer that matter,: probably, but we'll let.that"pass,' says lie. Now vou go 011. away, an' givo as good a imitation as you can oi a city swelli. - but don't you let me seo: you looicm that: away. Git! I'm busy. "Sir Algernon, you .remember the first time you ever shot a grizzy; Like enough ho only stood up an peeped over a log au'. said '.Boo!' at you, but t? vou he looked over .twenty feet high. Well, that's the way I l'elt about this here onery game an' them clothes. -But 1 gits in to old man-W'right's room an Icalls a bell lion, an' give him-.a dollar, an'savs I: 'lie good man lieyc is where vou gifawful busy.' Well, ur, beUeen him an' me, wo got- mo blindrolded backed into them clothes somelipw, an when I happened to. look in. the glass after that I givfethe bell hop -another dollar instinctive. -.I asked him .was all hooked uo the back all right, an ho caid I was: I busted tw o pairs of old : man Wright's white gloves trym to git 'era oil, bur. he had plenty more on the bureau, so I didn't, care. Bell hop he goes in tho, pantry an digs up a hat which folds up like a canvas nuunow pail. T wanted one o' these .little glasses voir screw in your eye, but old man Wright lie didn't have none such. .He drawed the line somewhere. Still, 1 •was gettin' more dignified every minute. I give tho bell hop another dollar tliau I found on the bureau, an' says: -Uo good man. have me carriage at says I, an' says lie: 'Very good, sir. The drum maior at the front door sa J s he: 'Where to, sir?' an' says 1 '• *he grand ■opery—tho. main show. When in doubt in a city, give, a quarter or a half 'or- a wliolo dollar to the hrst "man vou meet: , Thataway, even /the dvjim maior'll touch his hat to you an not notice red - hair and freckles which don't usual git, much reverence no otner WSl "Well when I como to, Sir Algernon, there I was settin' down plump in the middle of a herd of gazelles that had more d'i'monds than I knowed was ever made : ran' don't- ; you ever tell me that erenm 5 dotlics ;ain 5 t beco-min.'. to ladies, because tliev shore are. I was right in : the middle of a little pen on tho - parlor floor upstairs in - the , theatre. Them people sort />' sized me. up, but I stood pat an' didn't, say a word except jo move: my chair back - aw' -letWl lady git nearer to the rail. AH around was rows an' rows of folks,, mostly women, risi-n' up out V, the valley several hundred feet, I reckon, plumb up to the rim rock" where the gallery was. Tliev was their field glasses readin' brands. "Now, when ymi- are scared, best thing vou can do. is not to let on, ef you can help it, fer maybe the other fellow's scared) too. Seemed to me like everybody in that- whole opery house knowed I liad red' hair that .curled, -an' freckles that don't come off in the wash, but at. last I taken a look around an' I sort o' grinned to myself.' 'Pshaw, Curly,' says I, / 'such hair as it is, you got a. heap .more of it than, most o' these fellers here.' . - "All at Once I near ..iiimped; out of my chair, an- the girl nerxt to me laffed. I didn't know, the band was loaded, thataway, - an' when thev all • turned loose at once, I was some startled. After a while the band Quieted; down an' they begun to play:"fiiusio so that you could feel it in your hair like—soft an' easy. "The name of this here piece to-night is 'Lucy do Lammermoor': Scotch, I\ reckon—maybe you seeen it yourself. Now, here's .a,, nice, kind, ■ good young man, little Edgar, in love a-plenty, but playin' in hard luck. : -vAn' -here's another -feller ca'lled Henry, which -is lord) o' the works. . Henry, : he's got a sister —this; Lucy de 1 Lammermoor—a n' I lie- wants. Lucy to -marry ■a-, mam by the name-o' Arthur. • hut- Lucy -don ? t like I Arthur's hair an' eves an' baulks onthe proposition. ■ About now - a feller name o' Norman breaks in: an'" warbles, a-few, : tellin'-how . bad Lucy- is stuck on Edgar. " 'Why, look here,'.says he to Henry, singin' te.nor, 'just the .other.day, Lucy was out- in-t-he park,- en': she got mir up a. tree by that moan Jersey bull you keep out there, -an': ef- it wouldn't of been for Edgar comin' along fight thW- an' .killin', the - byll. ,with hisi six- ■,! shooter.; Luev'd- be up -the tree yet.': - "Now you begin to. see. rSin Algei;- i non. that things, is 'a good ' deal v alikfv: in- Lammermoor -ran'. in W'yoming. I thou gbt of Sandy, a n'- Lu c v right - away. ■ "Now comes _Lucy. She has _ on plenty- o' r :\vhite- clothes .a.Ti'- all - kinds o' pearls- and di'monds.-. Sh.a ain't no nea-clrto;look nt, but, .God-forbid.* how. that .woman kin- sing! * J've 'heard, several ladies at Butte an- Cody an', Cheyenne that drawed maybe .twenty er • thirty ■ a : week „ singin', ' but "they. didn't -have ; voieSG o.t .all talongside o' thjs party. -When she was-done."folks

clappdU their hands "an 1 hollered — tho men in. the. band. did. "Little Edgar, like all them people, was dressed in short pantif with lace liangin' 011. the edges, an wide -boots suc.li -as no." cow-punch ? could wear. I couldn't see what Lu<« could find about" this feller, to lotj •very- mnch. -^Besides,-,lie..don't, show c n sort o' judgment. Instead o' marryij the girl aai'- takin' her along, he off to France alone. To me he didn' look .like lie iiadf enough sense to ru a delicatessen:store. '•W;ell, when they., raise the curtai again, they pull' Ji falee letter 011 Luc now, which says little Edgar lias bea false to lier. lt ; looted to me- like the was shore play.in.? "it low-down on \ woman, but Lucy ■ she allows Edgj has went back on her, so what, kin do? -She says-she'll marry anybody t be obligin',-so she-signs her name to . [ paper to marry Arthur. Little I'-dgai i he takes the fast freight back to Franj I once more; after, cussin' out. the whol I Lamraermoor family. ! "Right soon after, this they show place where they are all eelcbratin Lucy's weddin' —same as we done ho op the"Grey Bull, everybody lightin' u for fair. Little Arthur, he thinks, lie' the whole picture show. Well, fchey'i all singin' the best they can when i comes Liicv, .an' she's plumb battv She explains that, bein' plumb sore 0 her ' new husband, .Arthur, she ha gathered'u" a butcher knife an' lit int him an' done him up. At first the dou't believe it, but Lucy she tlirofli down the carver riglit there an' saj she: 'I done it. I'm strong.fer Eij gar,' says she: 'As.fer Arthur, you'! find him in: the parlor, or somewhet, around, all ready to be laid out.' ' 'Everybody can' see now that Lucy i plumb locoed. This was the plan where Lucy an' the.flute>run a race Thev was neck an' neck together all tli way" up an' then all .the: way down, hip pety hoppety, hippety-hippety, ali-hip ah-hop, a-hop a-ha, a-hee-er, ah-liah !- you-know how it goes. It beat am thing I ever heard. ; "It seems like Lucy,, bbing loco, stij thinks she's goin' to anarr.y Edgar jus| the - same, an', .not little , Artlnir wjtij the yellow curls and lace panties, ij last "they taken lier .off >to. the bughoust, an' I shore was sorry for her,. ] "Now here's ..where ..we come rigbj closo agaiii; to Lucy Hays- an' Saudi Hamilton —Sir Algernon. The last aci of thie show.is in the graveyard, not fa; "from" the place Avhere Lucy de Lammetmoor was brought up- Here's a fiie white: tombstone with a- white pickc; fence around it, an! a moon comin up —same as it- does sometimes ore Frank Peak there.-as you know, soft ai easy. An', here's little/ Edgar conn back from France. He,'s .learned tlu Lucy's ill the bughouse, and, eyen he killin' Arthur doiPt square it fer him He sings-about the lonesomest song y« ever heard, leans up: against the fence an' fififshes liisself off with what the "call in the book a 'poneyard,' liii .liavin' pawned, his gun- at Whiteinan'i I reckori.-.-fer car fare back from Frana There-not bein' nothing else much to d after tli at, everybody' went home.": ; Curly sat looking off across the va 1 ley lor some time, "so thoughtful tlji the cigarette paper in, his hand huii idle". "Well;. you see liow .it was," said 1 after a time, "i dnnno's the opet is just exactly like .this Rock Cree Lucy story, but as. .old, man Wrigl says when lie sees' a doctored, brand,] -lias some, points-o' resemblance. "The -other man in the Wyomiii operv was Bert Williams, Sandy Hami toil's iTiend an' once his partner. ] would" 'a' suited? 11s better if Sandy ha gathered his-gun an' go;ne after "Wi liams. • But lie-didn't. When he se? how things was runniii'- —an' it wasn hard to see after the first two yea: he was married—hewwent back to tl States an' got- his- lite insured for U thousand dollare—allowin', I suppos that everything was fair 'in dealin' wil a life insurance company. "Bert Williams hung around the bar a good deal, but-Sandy didn't ma! any kind .0'- break. Here's where allowed these two Lucy stories was d ferent. It was Lucy de. Lammerrao that, had her 'heart .broke i:i -Soothm but here m: Wyoming it was San< Hamilton that- had his broke.- V

Jiggered it out often, up an' down tin creek, an.' we allowed that. Sandy hn been, lonesome fer maybe fifteen a twenty years,, a n' ; he wanted to lor something ; an' . beiji' kind o' set in hi ways, he loved- this hero Lucy Hay oncH-' he. had begun, ain' loved her s hard he wanted her to be happy an way- she doped) it out. It was hii that got loco, am ? -.not the .girl. 1 don't make much difference the wa; things come out. Most .men prefer ; bone <yard to a bughouse. "You; can see the cottonwoods o'-tl ranch do.wji-below- there, beyond ft picket, fence, can't , you:—just the too of one of the log houses? Well, a lo of us fellers was, in that house or< afternoon, -plavin'■ a few cards. Hanil ton, lie came im. an- sat down at tl side o' the table, an' looked on. H was cold soberj j but pleasant, an' 1 ast a. few questions o' the fellers tin v'as pla.vin'v Some one asts if he <l(iii' want- to take a. hand, an' lie says li don't mind.' so he ssrts in after a whik buvin.' a few. chips like everybody else. O'l was in that' pime, an' I saw Sand; all the time, ;am,' I'm savin' to voi now, Sir Algernon, that you can't tei whiat's in a. man's heart by look.in' a his, face.. Sandy played a few hands with mixed luck, an' after a. while the; dealt him" a hand—an' it had seven hearts in. it, ■as we seen later". Alia! once he sets: up . a: little straighter 'an tosses the, -cards down on the tablf 'Pshaw, boys,' says he, 'I haven't as; luck .at all.' Just at-the same minnii he reaches around an' pulls his fort; five. Everybody ducks under the table But- he didn't havei it in foT anybodi but hisself. He niado a clean she through his iread. an' he fell dead right acrost the table where he was al a-settin'. Which ended hLs trouhlesso far as we know. "If we hadn't liked Sandy Hani J ton: a good deal,-J. don't suppose we'i 'a' bothered to put -a picket fcn« around him wn' paint it. every spris? fer several years er so. ; But none of.® understood Sandy, I reckon. Nono o: ua' knows to this day who he was back Vthe Old Country, er why he came ova hero to Wyoming. But no man livin ever heard' him . kick—nob on tb weather, er the grub, er the whisky. 8 the pay,: or-even ■on the deal he g® from Luc v. We all- knowed' he wasn't | afraid o' BeT-t Williams. Maybe it hurt him more, Bert bein' his partner anc friend. Not bei.ii.-' "just, able to figger on! how God A'mighty..runs the world' o:ijhow, why, Sandy he done-what in ha way of- iiggerin' came -the clos' test tc bein' right all araund'. . , j ' "Result was 15ert Williams marnw S Lucy after-a white they went ha« to Kansas, an' they're livini' there in,': ! liiitle townwhere I reckon there, don ' anybody know anything about the Ore? Bull as anywhere else.in the world. S' we picked him out that nice little knot there, where-you can see up an' doff! the valley, where the sunshine's cjca«. and where the wind.can come free eithe' way, up the Grey Bull or down Creek, an' we put a picket fence arouw him-because o' the plains and simple he looked at things. Now, whether to was -loco, or Lucy was loco, or Be'; Williams- was loco, you got your gu<& ! like.tho. rest of. us. Anyhow that's ta' explanation:of: the picket fence. I don;' never- ex-actty like to talk about " - • 5 „ 'Bow comes the fence to. be white. Curiy's .face ,grew,- if • anything, a tn| ! redder under- the • dan. ..-"lti that « S J scene in'the■opery. where' Edgar com s ; in, ■I- ndiiced.' -the - fence was white a®, that the moon,'came up behind it. o^ a t-o old mail; Wright's .business merits. I'm the-only one of■ the boys" the-valley vtliat ever, seen grand opsrs- - was meftha.t thoiUght the fence to'be: white. I've: seen,the moon coffup- behiiid sit many ia time.

"I've -. often -wondered 1 who Saiiij Hamalton. was, :an'-wheither. if it hadn, 1 ; been for this Lucy Girl he'd' ever go? a ] -hack to any-rsort o*'. ancestral halls Soc(;land, er England, er anvwhcr<j -IVteetin' -Lucy;, he-,didn't.. It all goes W. prove.-tbati : you-<A'n't:.always tell what ' girl-'•■niam^ l . - Lucy-brror one that ain;. ■named-L-ucj'—will do in Scotland or 111 Wyoming or anywhere else. Or a m a " either S ::.ferithati matter. "Gome on';" said Curly, "we've g°'j enough: o?:these<l'i , t'tle fellers fer j Th-ere's- a trail back of -us over the vide : beTe-.whete .we won't have to riv c i :by: Sandy's "goin' home. Let him I g-ueSs it suits him .all right."