Newspapers / The Caucasian (Clinton, N.C.) / Oct. 19, 1911, edition 1 / Page 2
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Copyrtfct. IJ10. by the (Copynjht. IS 10, by ifce PART I. CHAPTER I. It waa a Quiet alght la the Tlrotl. At the bar, which ranged along one !de of the large chlnked-log room, leaned half a dozea men. two of whom were dlacuaalng the relative merits of spruce tea and lime Juice as reme dies for scurry. They argued with an air of deprestlon and with Intervals of morose silence. The other men scarcely heeded them. In a row, gainst the opposite wall, were the gambling games. The crap table was deserted. One lone man was playing at the faro table. The roulette was not even spinning, and the gamekeep er stood by the roaring, red-hot stove, talking with a young, dark-eyed worn- an, comely of face and figure, who waa known from Juneau to Fort Tukon aa the Virgin. Three men sat in at stud poker, but they played with small chips and without enthusiasm, while there were no onlookers. On the floor of the dancing room, which opened out at the rear, three couples were waltz ing drearily to the strains of a violin and a piano. Circle City waa not deserted, nor was money tight. The miners were In from Moosehead creek and the other diggings to the west, the summer washlag had been good, and the men's pouches were heavy with dust and nug gets. The Klondike had not yet been discovered, nor had the miners of the Tukon learned the possibilities of deep digging and wood-firing. No work was done In the winter, and they made a camps like Circle City during the long Arctic night. Time was heavy on their hands, their pouches were well filled and the only social diversion to be found was in the saloons. Yet the Ti voll was practically deserted, and the Virgin, standing by the stove, yawned with uncovered mouth and said to Charley Bates: "If something don't happen soon, Tm goin to bed. What's the matter with the camp, anyway? Everybody dead?" Bates did not even trouble to reply, but went on moodily rolling a ciga rette. Dan MacDonald, pioneer sa loonman and gambler on the upper Yukon, owner and proprietor of the Tivoll and all Its games, wandered for lornly across the great vacant space of floor and Joined the two at the stove. "Anybody dead?" the Virgin asked him. "Looks like It," was the answer. "Then it must be the whole camp," she said with an air of finality and with another yawn. MacDonald grinned and nodded, and opened his mouth to speak, when the front door swung open and a man ap peared In the light He would have appeared a large man had not a huge French-Canadian stepped up to him from the bar and gripped his hand. "Hello, Daylight r was bis greeting. "By Oar, you good for sore eyes I " "Hello, Louis, when did you-all blow In?" returned the newcomer. "Come up and have a drink and tell us all bout Bone creek. Why, dog-gone you-all, shake again. Where's that pardner of yours? I'm looking for him." Another huge man detached himself from the bar to shake hands. Olaf Henderson and French Louis, partners together on Bone creek, were the two largest men In the country, and though they were but half a head taller than the newcomer, between them he was dwarfed completely. "Hello, Olaf," said the one called Daylight "Tomorrow's my birthday. And you, too, Louis. Come up and drink, and 111 tell you-all about it". The arrival of the newcomer seemed to send a flood of warmth through the place. "It's Burning Daylight" the Virgin cried, the first to recognise him as he came Into the light Charley Bates' Ught features relaxed at the eight, and MacDonald went over and Joined the three at the bar. With the advent of Burning Daylight the whole place suddenly became brighter and cheerier. The barkeepers were acttre. Voices were raised. Somebody laughed. And when the fiddler, peer ing Into the front room, remarked to the pianist: Tfa Burning Daylight" the waltz time perceptibly quickened, and the dancers, catching the conta gion, began to whirl about aa If they really enjoyed it It waa known to them of old-time that nothing lan guished when Burning Daylight was around. He turned from the bar and saw the woman by the stove and the eager took of welcome the extended him. "Hello. Virgin, old glrf he called. "Hello, Charley. What's the matter with yon-all? Why wear, faces like that when coffins only cost three ounces? Come up, yon-all, and drink. Come up, you unburied dead, an' name your poison. Come up, everybody. This Is my night and I'm going to ride It To-morrow Tm thirty, and then Fll be an old man. It's' the last Ailing of youth. Are you-all with me? Surge along, then. Sur.r along The waltz In th kck room being liliM it linUfnii i BYofACKlONDON AuTfto? Of "The Call OrTttzVLix Illustdations By DcAODonNHoyni New Tor !Ural4 Compear.) uac&uuaa troTopaar. Bnlsbed. the three couples, followed j by the fiddler and the planiit and j heading for the bar, caught Daylight's j eye. 'Surge along, you-all!" he cried. "Surge along and name It. This is my j night, and it ain't a night that comes frequent. Surge up. you Slwsthes and It's my night. I tell j Salmon-eaters you-all - "A blamed mangy night." Charley Bates Interpolated. "You're right, my son." Burning Day light went on, gayly. "A many night, but It's my night, you see. I'm the mangy old he-wolf. Listen to me howl." And howl he did, like a lone gray timber wolf, till the Virgin thrust her pretty fingers In her eara and shiv ered. A minute later she waa whirled away In his arms to the dancing floor. where, along with three other women and their partners, a rollicking Vir ginia reel was soon in progress. Few men knew El am Harnish by any other name than Burning Daylight, the name which had been given him in the early days In the land because of his habit of routing his comrades out of their blankets with the complaint that 4 daylight was burning. Of the pioneers in that far Arctic wilderness, where all men were pioneers, he was reck oned among the oldest Men like Al Mayo and Jack McQuestion antedated him; but they had entered the land by crossing the Rockies from the Hudson Bay country to the east He, however, had been the pioneer over the Chilcoot and Chilcat passes. In the spring of 1&83, twelve years before, a stripling of eighteen, he had crossed over the Chilcoot with five comrades. In the fall he had crossed back with one. Four had perished by mischance In the bleak, uncharted vastness. And for twelve years Elam Harnish had con tinued to grope for gold among the shadows - of the Circle. Heroes are seldom given to hero-worship, but among those of that land, young as he was, he was accounted an elder hero. In point of time he was before them. In point of deed he was beyond them. He waa a striking figure of a man, of all the men in the Tivoll. Soft tanned moccasins of moose-hide, bead ed in Indian designs, covered his feet His trousers were ordinary overalls, his coat was made from a blanket Long-gauntletted leather mittens, lined with wool, hung by his side. They were connected, In the Yukon fashion by a leather thong passed around the 'Surge Along, YouhAllI" He Cried. "Surge Along and 'Name It neck and across the shoulders. On his head waa a fur can. the Aar-flnn raiu ana the tylng-cords dangling. His face, 1 slightly long, with the sugges- tlon of hollows under the cheek bones, seemed almost Indian. The burnt skin ud keen dark eyM contributed to this effect though the bronae of the. akin and the eyes themselves were essen tlally those of a white man. He looked older than thirty, . and yet smooth- shaven and without wrinkles, he was j almost ooyisn. . The Impression of age was based on no tangible evidence. It came from the abstracter facts of the man, from what he had endured and survived, which was far beyond that of ordinary men. He had lived naked and tensely, and something of all this smoldered In his eyes, vibrated in his voice and seemed forever a whisper on his lips. Into the discards. It was two in the morning when the ) ' The next moment the hundred and lancers, bent on getting something to odd pairs of eyes shifted to Camp eat adjourned the dancing for half an belL hour. And it was at this moment that I "I won't hump- you. Jack," he said. Jack Kearna suggested poker. Jack, contenting himself with calling the Kearns waa a big, bluff-featured man, : wno, along with Bettles, - had made the disastrous attempt to found a post on the head-reaches of the Koyokuk. far Inside the Arctic circle. ' After that Kearns had fallen back on his posts at Forty Mile and Sixty Mile and changed the direction of his ventures by send Ing out' to the states for a small aa mill and a river steamer. Jack Kearn suggested poker. French Louis, Dai. MacDonald and Hal Campbell (who, had rsade a strike ca afoeathld), all three of feea rot daactfig i casse lb ere were sot girls tas,gh to go &TCS&4, ladlscd to the raceettiaa. They were loohirg for a fcfth aaa when Bcrning Daylight ezserged frca the rear room, the Virgin ca h!s tm. the train of dascers ta hit wake. Ia raaposa to the bail of the poker-pUf- ere, he came over to their table ta the I corner. "Want to alt la.' said CasjslxlL I "Hot your luckf I 1 tore got It tonight," Bursisg Day- j Ught answered vita enthusiasm. ! and at the iia time felt the Vlrgia : prets his ana waralagly. She wasted him for the dasdng. 1 ture got ay lack with me. bat Fd sooner dance. ! I aial bankerin to take the money j away from yoti-alL Nobody urged. They took his ra- fuial aa final, and the Virgin waa preaslng his ana 10 tarn mm away la pursuit of the supper-seekers, when he experienced a change of Lean. It was not that he did not want to dance. nor that he wanted to hurt her: but that insistent pressure cn ma ana pui his free man-nature In revolt. The thought in bis mind was that he did not want any woman running mm. Himself a favorite with women, never theless they did not bulk big with him. They were toys, playthings, part of the relaxation from the bigger game of life. He met women along with the whisky and gambling, and from obser vation he had found that It was far easier to break away from the drink and the cards than from a woman once the man waa property entangled. He resisted the pull on his arm by the mere negative mass of him, and said: "I sort of feel a hankering to give yon-all a flutter." Tact and sympathy strove with him, and he smiled with his eyes into the Virgin's eyes as he said: "You-all go and get some grub. I ain't hungry. And well dance some more by and by. The night's young yet Go It, old girl. He released his arm and thrust her playfully on the shoulder, at the earn time turning to the poker players. "Take off the limit and I'll go you all." "Limit's the roof " said Jack Kearna. Once started, It was a quiet game, with little or no conversation, though all about the players the place waa a-roar. Elam Harnish had Ignited the spark. More and more miners dropped In to the Tlvoli and remained. When Burning Daylight went on the tear, no man cared to miss it The dancing floor was full. The luck at the table varied monotonously, no big hands be ing out. As a result high play went on with small hands, though no play lasted long. But at three In the morn ing the big combination of hands ar rived. It was the moment of moments that men wait weeks for in a poker game. The news of it tingled over the Tivoll. The onlookers became quiet The men farther away ceased talking -and moved over to the table. The players deserted the other games, and the dancing-floor was forsaken, so that all stood at last, fivescore and more in a compact and silent group, around the poker table. The high betting went on, with the draw not in sight Kearns had dealt and French Louis had opened the pot with one marker in his case one hundred dollars. Campbell had merely "seen" It but Elam Harnish, coming next, ' had tossed In five hundred dollars, with the remark to MacDonald that he was letting him in easy. MacDonald glancing again at his hand, put in a thousand in markers. Kearns, de bating a long time over his hand, finally "saw." It then cost French Louis nine hundred to remain in the game, which he contributed after a similar debate. It cost Campbell like wise nine hundred to remain and draw cards, but to the surprise of all he saw the nine hundred and raised an other thousand. "You-all are on the grade at last" Harnish remarked, aa he saw the fif teen hundred and raised a thousand in turn. "Helen Breakfast's sure on top this divide, and you-all had best look out for bustin' harness." "Me for that same lady," accom panied MacDonald'a markers for two thousand and for an additional thousand-dollar raise. "I ain't got no more markers," Kearns remarked plaintively. "We'd best begin I. O. U.'s." "Glad you're going to stay," waa MacDonald's cordial response. "I ain't stayed yet I've got a thou sand In already. How's it stand now?" 'It'll cost you three thousand for a look In, but nobody will stop you from raising." "Raise hL You must think I got a pat like yourself." Kearns looked at his hand., "But IU tell you what 11? do, Mac. I've got a hunch, and I'll Just see that three thousand." - He wrote the sum on a slip of pa per, signed his name, and consigned it to the center of the table. " v - French Louis became the focus of all eyes. He fingered his cards nerv ously for a pace. Then, with a "By Gar! Ah got not one leetle beet , hunch," he regretfully tossed hia hand requisite two thousand. The eyes shifted to Harnish, who scribbled on a piece of paper, and shoved it forward. , 4T11 Just let you-all know this ain't no Sunday school society of philan- thropy," he said. "I see you. Jack, and I raiseyou a thousand. Here's where you-all get action on your pat Mac." V a ; v I ''Action's what 1 fatten on, and I lift another thousand," was MacDon- 1 sirs r jem4r. -St3 get tlal tsscX Jack?" . 1 sua get that hxsch." Ktfar&J firgared his cards a keg Use. Aa4 tH play it, fcsf you've gsi to fcsaw how I ata&d. There's tsy suaocr. & B!!a worth twenty tosaasd If abet worth an sac. There's Sixty-Kile with five thoisaaad ia stock oa the sh!vea. And yea know 1 get a taw mill ecslcg in. ire at Usdcrmaa now, and the scow Is traUdlng. aa I goodr "Dig la; you're sure gocd," was Daylight's answer. "And while we're about ft I may mestioa casual that I got twenty thousand ta Mac's safe, there, and there's twenty thousand more in the ground on Mooeehlde. You know the ground. CampbelL Is they that-all la the dlrtr There sure is. Daylight" . How much does It coat nowf Kearns asked. Two thousand to see." "Well sure hemp you if you-all cotae In." Daylight warned him. "It's an almighty good hunch," Kearns said, adding hia slip to the growing heap. "I can feel her crawl in' up and down my back " "We'll Dance Some More By and Dy. The Nighfa Young Yet" "I ain't got a hunch, but I got a tol erable good hand," Campbell an nounced, as he slid In his slip; "but if s mot a raising hand." "Mine is," Daylight paused and wrote. "I see that thousand and raise her the same old thousand." The Virgin, standing behind him, then did what a man's best friend was not privileged to do. Reaching over Daylight's shoulder, she picked up his hand and read it at the same time shielding the faces of the cards close to hia chest What she saw were three queens and a pair of eights, but nobobdy guessed what she saw. Every player's eyes were on her face aa she scanned the cards, but no sign did she give. She laid the hand face down again on the table and slowly the lingering eyes withdrew from her, having learned nothing. MacDonald smiled benevolently. '1 see you, Daylight and I hump this time for two thousand. How's that hunch, Jack?" "Still a-crawllng, Mac You got me now, but that hunch is a rip-snorter persuadln' sort of a critter, and It's my plain duty to ride it I call for three thousand. And I got another hunch; Daylight's going to call, too." "He sure Is," Daylight agreed, after Campbell had thrown up his hand. "He knows when he's up against It and he plays accordln'. I see that two thousand, and then 111 see the draw." In a dead silence, save for the low voices of the three players, the draw was made. Thirty-four thousand dol lars were already in the pot, and the play possibly not half over. To the Virgin's amazement. Daylight held up hia three queens, discarding his eights and calling for two cards. And this time not even she dared look at what he had drawn. She knew her limit of control. Nor did he look. The two new cards lay face down on the table where they had been dealt to him. "Got enough," was the reply. "You can draw if you want to, you know," Kearns warned him. . "Nope; thlsll do me." Kearns himself drew two cards, but did not look at them. Still Harnish let his cards lie. "I never bet in the teeth of a pat hand," he said alowry, looking at the saloon keeper. "You-all start her roll ing, Mac" MacDonald counted his cards care fully, to make doubly sure it was not & foul hand, wrote a sum on a paper slip, and slid it Into the pot with the simple utterance:. "Five thousand." Kearna, with every eye upon him, looked at hia two-card draw, counted the other three to dispel any doubt of holding more than five cards, and wrote on a betting slip. "I see you, Mac," he said, "and I raise her a little thousand Just so aa to keep Daylight out" The concentrated gaze shifted . to Daylight He likewise examined hia draw and counted his five cards. "I see that six thousand, and I raise ! her five thousand . . . just to try and keep you out Jack." "And I raise you five thousand Just to lend a hand at keeping Jack out," MacDonald said in turn. t His voice was slightly husky and strained, and a nervous twitch in the corner of his mouth followed speech. Kearns was pale, and those who looked on noted that his hand trem bled as he wrote his slip. But his voice was unchanged. "I lift her along for five thou sand" he said. Daylight wa3 now in the center. The hmts Uss$ tssg tights ftoxa the rath cf sweat 3 fcii forehead The hrestxe cf a cheeka ms darktscJ by U:e atctaaksa cl od- ifij tUck g2tterd aa4 S.U trils were lti&2c4 aad eager. They wrre targe nostrUs. tekenlsg Om drtceat fro a savage asceatact mtQ tad 3TTte4-6r vtrtse of dee? ;tirg and rtrros air-paaage. f el. usUke MacDoaald. hit voice waa Irra ard raitcssary. and. unlike .Crarsa hia hasd did cot trrtahle wha he wrote. 1 call, for tea thousand." he said. -Net that rta afraid cf yoaH. liac !ts that hunch of Jack," "1 hump hli hscch for five thssaa4 -jal the same." said MacDonald. 1 had the best hand before the draw, and I itill guess I got It" "Mtbbe this Is a case where a bacch after the draw ta better the hunch before," Kearns remarked; wherefore duty says, T-L'l her. Jack, lift her and so I lift her anoth er five th cct aid." Daylight leaned back la his chair and gaied up at the kerosene lamps while he 'computed aloud: "I was tn nine thousand before the draw, and I saw and raised eleven thousand that makes thirty. Im only good for ten more." He leaned for ward and looked at Kearna. "So I call er five thousand." , "You can raise If yon want Reams answered. "Your dogs are good for five thousald In this game." "Nary dawg. You-alL can win 137 dust and dirt but nary one of xay dawga. I just calL" The saloon keeper finally spoke: "If anybody else wins, they'll have to take a mortgage on the TivolL" The two other players nodded. "So I call, too." MacDonald added hia slip for fire thousand. Not one of them claimed the pot end not one of them called the size of his hand. Simultaneously and In silence they faced their cards on the table, while a general tiptoe ing and craning of necks took place among the onlookers. Daylight showed four queens and an ace; Mao Donald four Jacks and as ace, and Kearns four kings and a trey. Kearna reached forward with an encircling movement of his arm and drew the pot in to him, hia arm shaking as he did so. Daylight picked the ace from his hand and tossed it over alongside MacDonald's ace, saying: "That's what cheered me along. Mac. I knowed It was only kings that could beat me, and he had them. "What did you-all have?" he asked, all Interest turning to Campbell. "Straight flush of four, open at both ends a good drawing hand." "You bet! You could a made a straight a straight flush or a flush out of it." "That's what I thought," Campbell said, sadly. "It cost me six thousand before I quit" "I wlsht you-all'd drawn," Daylight laughed. "Then I wouldn't a caught that fourth queen. Now I've got to take Billy Rawlins mail contract and mush for Dyea. What's the sixe of the killing, Jack?" Kearns attempted to count the pot but was too excited. Daylight drew It across to him, with firm fingers sep arating and stacking the markers and I. O. U.'s and with clear brain adding the sum. "One hundred and twenty-seven thousand," he announced. "You-all can sell out now. Jack, and head for home." The winner smiled and nodded, but seemed incapable of speech. "Name your snake-Juice, you-all the winner pays!" Daylight called out loudly to all about him, at the same time rising from his chair and catch ing the Virgin by the arm. "Come on for a reel, you-all dancers. The night's young yet, and it's Helen Breakfast and the mail contract for me in the morning. Here, you-all Rawlins, you I hereby do take over that same contract and I start for salt water at nine a. m. aavvee? Come on, you-all! Where's that fiddler (TO BE CONTINUED.) Midnight in the Ozarka and yet sleepless, Hiram Scranton, of Clay City, 111., coughed and coughed. 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OUR TERMS ARE CASH OR OlED.1 128-130 L Martin St, RALBGUC SEABOARD AIR LINE Schedule Effective April 19! t Trains Leave Ralrif b Direct line with Doable Dallr terrtetKat Wert through Atlanta, Blrml&t&ta Alemphla. i roa TBI soctb. No 81 2 69 a.m. . No. Ar .. 10 am. No 41 4 OR n m roa tbi avirt. No. M Uia No. lUa No .... No. 1 for Weoa No. 43 a 00 Pwm. For rates, aefcedalea, time uKe ether Information deal red apply w J f- SS ell, Paaaenfer and Ticket Artel TfS No. 117. NoTxoa. Above schedule putHfce45 information, and are not raaracped. H S. LEARD. Division Past. No. 4 W. Martin St.. TwlwrBalid Opp. North Entrance PostSa RALtica. f t Raleigh & Southpoit Rj.& TIME TABLE 6OUTBB0CX3- DA&T. STATIONS. Lv ralei Lv Cat ale Lv UcCoUera Lw Willow Sprtruri . Lt Variaa.. Li9 Faqoay Spriaaa LvCfcalrbeatt L Kiptfor .Cape Fear 800 8 10 88S Sit 04 t 14 813 40 ta 10 00 10 08 10 1J 10 28 10 84 ion 11 10 lit ia ia if 808 ta tm 80 tt 88 8 81 IN 818 818 880 If L Harnett iv tstmierei. Undea- it is A raretteriUe 400 aan.x STATIONS. ! i ! L Fvyetterffle. U9 cjgeamp i LvTne, . .. LvLlDdfli.. L Boalerel .... LrV Harnett .. LeLUltartoa Le Cape Fear x stpllna L Chabrbeete-...-. l.v rocaay Sprtara. juv vartna .... Lt WiSow Pprins LvCaraleia ... rEaleish Tretral!lBtop ea airsal te cbarte paatet era at fOiewtaa VZi tn a abeve tfme tebie; 8jlraLfr7 - a erfc i a- rvtaT 8 Oidcnae, Bavla, Carke. A. II He.88 TIT a no 1 CO ZZ. 888 g f fi 848 Jg i 8 g eel IM Zm 88 IS 8. mil I J I a xeaay
The Caucasian (Clinton, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 19, 1911, edition 1
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