The MASCOT of 
 

 O 
 
THE MASCOT OF SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 

 
 I 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 By 
 
 HENRY WALLACE PHILLIPS 
 
 Author of Red Saunders 
 
 Plain Mary Smith 
 
 etc. 
 
 With Illustrations by 
 
 F. GRAHAM COOTES 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 GROSSET & DUNLAP 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
COPYRIGHT 1908 
 
 T BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 
 
 OCTOBER 
 
Bancroft LSbxet? 
 
 THE MASCOT OF SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
THE MASCOT OF SWEET 
 BRIAR GULCH 
 
 THE gulch ran in a trough of 
 beauty to the foot of Jones's 
 Hill, which rose in a sweeping curve 
 into the clouds. 
 
 Wild flowers, trees in profuse leaf, 
 and mats of vines covered the scarred 
 earth, and the sky was as limpid as 
 spring water; the air carried a weight 
 of heart-stirring odors, yet Jim Felton, 
 sitting on the door-step of his cabin in 
 the brilliant sunshine, was not a happy 
 man. 
 
 i 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 He looked at the hollow of the gulch 
 and cursed it manfully and bitterly. 
 The gold should be there Jim had 
 figured it all out. The old wash cut at 
 right angles to the creek, and at the 
 turn was where its freight of yellow 
 metal should have been deposited, but 
 when you got down to the bed-rock, the 
 blasted stuff was either slanted so noth- 
 ing could stay on it, or was rotten 
 crumbling in your fingers, and that 
 kind of bed will hold nothing. 
 
 Therefore Jim had sunk about fifty 
 prospect holes; got colors under the 
 grass-roots, as evidence that pay should 
 be there and nothing but ashy wash 
 beneath it. 
 
 2 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 When a man is alone, and thinks 
 things are wrong, optimism cornea 
 down on the rup, the shades of pessi- 
 mism gather fast and furious more 
 especially if a man does his own cook- 
 ing, and the raw material is limited, at 
 that. 
 
 The sun had not moved the shadows 
 three inches before Jim had reached 
 the conclusion that this world was all 
 a practical joke, of so low an order that 
 no sensible man would even laugh at it, 
 and he drew a letter from his pocket 
 in proof thereof. It was a thin letter, 
 written on delicate paper in a delicate 
 hand, and it showed much wear. He 
 read for the thousandth time : 
 
 3 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 DEAREST JIM And again I must 
 say "no." Of course you will not un- 
 derstand, for which foolish reason I 
 like you all the better, but you must try 
 to take my point of view. You say that 
 we can be married on nothing and take 
 our chances. 
 
 So we can, old simple-heart but 
 aren't those chances all against us? 
 Would you like to be forced to work in 
 some office for just enough to live on? 
 You know you would not, and you 
 know how you would suffer in such 
 slavery. 
 
 Nevertheless we can not live on air, 
 and I doubt if I would stand transplant- 
 ing to the wild life you love, better than 
 4 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 you to a clerk's desk. You have that 
 fancy which gilds the tin cans in the 
 back yard ; I have that unfortunate eye 
 which would multiply their number by 
 three, and their unsightliness by ten. 
 I don't want riches, dear; I only want 
 a modest assurance that I can have 
 enough to live on. 
 
 Really, is your way of doing a guar- 
 antee of even bread and butter? In the 
 Garden of Eden you would be the most 
 delightful of companions, but in this 
 world as it is, you will not fight for your 
 own. You would risk your life to save 
 a dog, but you couldn't stay at a con- 
 tinued grind I mean it would kill 
 you, actually, physically, dead, dead 
 
 5 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 to save all of us. At first I thought that 
 a fault in you, but now, being older, 
 having compared you to other men, I 
 see it is merely a missing faculty. 
 
 I could stick to the desk, and would 
 gladly, if you would let me, yet I could 
 not even fancy behaving as you did at 
 the factory fire, which is still the sym- 
 bol in the town for manly courage and 
 presence of mind. 
 
 They talk now of the way you 
 laughed and joked with those poor 
 frightened girls (who had such good 
 cause to be frightened) and brought 
 them back to sanity with a jest. I feel 
 that if I had the least atom of heroism 
 in me I would marry you for that feat 
 6 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 alone, and let cold facts go hang; but, 
 ah, Jim! magnificent as you are on the 
 grand occasions, they come but seldom, 
 and in the meantime, Jim I'll leave 
 that to your own honesty. 
 
 I'm plebeian, Jim, and you're a 
 nobleman, with a beautiful but embar- 
 rassing disregard for vulgar necessi- 
 ties. 
 
 However, I can say this for myself 
 for surely I may brag a little to my 
 lover I can try to match your splen- 
 did physical bravery by my own moral 
 courage. 
 
 You may rest your soul in peace on 
 one point. If I am not for you, I'm for 
 no man, no, not so much as a half- 
 
 7 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 glance of the eye. I wouldn't hold my- 
 self a bit more straitly if I were your 
 wife. 
 
 You'll be angry at this letter. Well, 
 I'll stand your anger. I have caused it, 
 and I'll bear the blame. I know that 
 we could not be happy without some 
 visible means of support, yet I do not 
 blame you in the least for thinking 
 otherwise. 
 
 Be as kind to me as you can, Jim, 
 for I love you very much in my com- 
 monplace way. I'll admit, too, that I 
 had rather have your fire than my re- 
 frigerator oh, if you could only make 
 some money not a great deal, but 
 enough for a little house of our own, 
 8 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 and enough in the bank to buy gro- 
 ceries ! 
 
 With my best love, and an aching 
 lump in my throat, 
 
 Your mother, sister, and sweetheart, 
 
 ANNE. 
 
 Jim dropped the letter, and his lips 
 trembled a little. Parts of it touched 
 him deeply, and he was the more en- 
 raged and hurt at the rest because of 
 that. 
 
 He could not call her mercenary. 
 He knew better. More than one very 
 comfortable income was at her dis- 
 posal. 
 
 Poor fellow I He could only grind 
 9 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 his teeth and curse Sweet Briar gulch 
 from the deepest pot-hole in the bed- 
 rock to the top of its loftiest pine. 
 He drew out her photograph, and ob- 
 tained much sweet consolation by 
 thinking how happy they tw r o would 
 be in Sweet Briar gulch together, even 
 if there wasn't a cent of pay in the 
 gravel. 
 
 Sick of this ingenious torture, he 
 lit his pipe and drew savagely upon 
 it. With a mocking gurgle, about a 
 dram of "slumgullion" passed into 
 his mouth. It was the last touch. He 
 spat out the biting, nauseating stuff, 
 hurled the pipe upon the rocks and 
 danced on it. 
 
 10 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 And yet the colors frolicked in the 
 gulch; the pines toned the air with 
 healthy breath. 
 
 From afar came the th-r-r-up! 
 th-r-r-up! th-r-r-up of a galloping 
 horse. It was Bud, the mail-carrier, 
 coming, modestly and quietly, at a de- 
 cent gait, down a trail where most 
 would prefer to walk, and to "hang on" 
 to something at that. 
 
 At first Jim felt irritated by the in- 
 terruption. He wanted to luxuriate in 
 misery : still he was a vigorous, healthy 
 man, and the cheery good-fellowship 
 of Bud soon made away with that feel- 
 ing. 
 
 "Well, how they coming, Jimmy?" 
 ir 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 queried the young giant. "Hit her 
 yet?" 
 
 "Hit well, much caloric," re- 
 plied Jim. "I've begun to believe there 
 ain't a durned thing here." 
 
 "You're looking kind of owly, old 
 man what's up? Don't you feel 
 well?" 
 
 "Oh, Bud! I'm sick of everything 
 this day I don't believe in the consti- 
 tution of the United States, including 
 the thirteenth amendment, nor the ten 
 commandments, nor the attraction of 
 gravitation, nor anything else it's all 
 a damned lie." 
 
 "No wonder you get like that, mous- 
 ing around here without a chance to 
 12 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 yappi with a feller critter. 'Nough to 
 make you locoed. 
 
 "Jump it for a spell. Go up town. 
 Get loaded. Get horribly loaded. 
 Break somebody's window, and tell the 
 folks you're a Sweet Briar zephyr come 
 to blow out their lights. Go ahead and 
 (do it. When your hair stops pulling 
 you'll feel like a new man." 
 
 Jim thought the advice sound, yet a 
 strange feeling had developed in him, 
 in his isolation ; it was that the eye of 
 Anne was always on him. He had 
 fallen into a habit, which becomes a su- 
 perstition when a man is alone, of act- 
 ing as though she were there in person. 
 
 However, he didn't feel called upon 
 
 13 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 to offer Bud that explanation of his re- 
 fusal. He conveyed the idea in one 
 brief word. 
 
 "Busted," said he. 
 
 "Busted?" retorted Bud warmly. 
 "Busted? Not much, you ain't busted 
 whilst that little package is there, bet 
 cher life ! You call for what you want, 
 and the cashier will make good." 
 
 "Ah, Bud! How'll I ever pay you 
 back? Keep it, man, keep it," replied 
 Jim in a disheartened voice. 
 
 "Say, you ain't got no call to worry 
 about that part of it there's where my 
 troubles begin," returned Bud. "Now, 
 you take these two bucks and jab 'em in 
 your jeans Go on, now! Do as I tell 
 
 4 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 you, or damned if I don't lick you and 
 make you take 'em! What's the good 
 of money if it ain't to help a friend out 
 with? I don't care who gets drunk on 
 it, just so long as they have a good time. 
 
 "Boy, you'll be sailing up the track 
 regardless of orders, with your boiler 
 full of suds, if you don't get out in the 
 scramble for a while." 
 
 "Lord! I'd like to see a railroad 
 train! Haven't heard a whistle for two 
 years ! How far is it to the nearest sta- 
 tion, Bud?" 
 
 "Plattsburg fifty mile due 
 south." 
 
 "Christmas! Little far to walk." 
 
 "Say, you take this horse, Jim, go 
 
 15 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 ahead! I can walk just as well as not, 
 I'm getting too fat, anyhow. Go on, 
 you take the horse and have a ride to 
 Plattsburg!" 
 
 "Yes, take the shirt off your back, 
 and never mind if a bit of the skin goes 
 with it. I'll see you far away first. Tell 
 you what you could do for me, Buddy; 
 the herd of burros is around now, if 
 you'd round up one of them for me?" 
 
 "Sure thing! You sit on the mail 
 sack till I come back. There's a heap 
 of registered stuff in it this trip. Oh 
 say! What do you think? I was held 
 up t'other side of the Bulldog. Bang! 
 Zipp! says a little popper from the 
 bushes. I climbed for them bushes, and 
 16 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 out goes a beggar like a rabbit. I was 
 after him like a coyote, bet cher life. 
 Who do you suppose it was, Jim?" 
 
 "Hang it, how should I know?" 
 
 "That little down-east cuss with the 
 crook in his back. He begged hard. 
 Poor devil, he was up against the sand- 
 paper side, all right. He heard from 
 the postmaster that there was a lot of 
 valuable mail going out, so he thought 
 he'd make a try for it. Then what do 
 you think he had the cold, cold nerve 
 to do?" 
 
 "Pass it up 'most anything, I 
 reckon." 
 
 "Worse'n that. Struck me for fifty!" 
 
 "And got it." 
 
 17 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 "Got it? No, not much he didn't, 
 sonny! He drew just ten, and he was 
 lucky to get that. I've done a favor or 
 two for that feller, first and last, and 
 to have him shoot at me made me sore 
 although he missed me by several lo- 
 cations, I'll say that for him so I gave 
 him the ten and told him I'd kick the 
 hump on his back so high up on his 
 shoulders he could wear it for a hat, 
 if he ever shoved into my daylight 
 again. And you never in your life saw 
 a humpback make better time than he 
 did. 
 
 "Well here's for your jack-ass 
 which way's the herd?" 
 
 "Right up over the hill." 
 18 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 Jim sat patiently on the sack until 
 Bud returned with the burro. 
 
 "Here's your thoroughbred!" hol- 
 loed Bud. "Get ap, there, Mary. Look 
 at the knowing ears of him, will you? 
 You bet cher life, you've got an animile 
 there that'll go when he gets ready, and 
 as fast as he pretty well damn pleases 
 nail him!" 
 
 Jim tied a gunny sack on his noble 
 mount, and the two rode on together to 
 the fork in the trail. Jim tried to thank 
 his friend, who knocked his hat over 
 his eyes, and said, "Aw, write it down 
 when you've got more time. Never see 
 a feller in my life I cottoned to more'n 
 you, Jim. First I thought you was too 
 19 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 smooth for my kind of traveling, but 
 later, I see it was only the grain of the 
 wood. I believe in my friends, I do. 
 Here we go hopping around this little 
 world for a small time, and then that's 
 done. S'pose you ain't got any real 
 friends for the trip? Rotten, I say. 
 You go ahead and rip Plattsburg up 
 the back. Wisht I could be there with 
 you. Don't you mind consequences. So 
 long, old man! Hike! You beggar!" 
 The buckskin pony was off with a snort 
 and a splashing of gravel as the irons 
 touched his sides, and Bud vanished 
 down the road without a look behind 
 him. 
 
 The next day Jim was in Plattsburg. 
 20 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 One does not know what an alluring 
 quality, what a hazy enchantment can 
 linger around even a small town, until 
 an absence in a real wilderness has 
 given man's work a new flavor. 
 
 The people coming and going, the 
 traffic of the stores, the dwellings with 
 small cultivated plots around them 
 warmed Jim like a fire. He had been 
 very lonely, without knowing it. In the 
 afternoon he went down to the depot to 
 see the eastern train come in. 
 
 'Here again absence played a part, 
 and restored the locomotive to its 
 proper proportions of a miracle. 
 
 As the engine glided in, shaking the 
 ground beneath it, it seemed impossible 
 21 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 to Jim that man really made it. What! 
 Bend those mighty rods of steel to his 
 will? Twist and shape those others? 
 Cast those great drivers? And after, 
 to drive the monster with a hand? 
 
 He drew back as the buzzing engine 
 passed him, with something like awe. 
 Then the moving village came to a stop 
 and the passengers sallied forth to test 
 their legs, wearied with long sitting. 
 
 There was humanity of all shades, 
 from the haughty aristocrat of the 
 Pullman, to the peasant of the immi- 
 grant car. 
 
 Jim had a sense of pleasure in be- 
 holding well-dressed folk again; yet it 
 was merely an aesthetic pleasure, for 
 22 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 he found, when he began to speculate 
 on the possibilities of the throng be- 
 fore him, that he was more interested 
 in those whose all was staked on the 
 trip, than in those to whom it was only 
 an excursion. 
 
 People of widely differing nationali- 
 ties occupied the immigrant car. Jim 
 wondered whether they would ever be- 
 come Americans, according to his 
 ideas of Americans, a people in which 
 he had great pride and delight; and 
 he shook his head doubtfully as he took 
 them in. 
 
 Suddenly a small boy darted out of 
 a car; an exceedingly small boy, thin to 
 emaciation, who made his way through 
 23 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 the crowd with that sprawling, active, 
 dancing manner peculiar to thin small 
 boys and spiders. 
 
 Jim half laughed at the little chap 
 until he saw his face ; then he realized 
 at a glance that the matter was no 
 laughing one for the boy. 
 
 At the same time he saw the shocking 
 thinness of the little face, made into a 
 wolfs face by hunger; the mingled 
 horror and desperation of the eyes ; the 
 big man would not have believed a 
 child's face could express emotions of 
 such magnitude. He was wonder- 
 stricken at the sight, and felt an in- 
 stinctive sympathy for the fugitive. 
 
 It is a strange thing how fortune will 
 24 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 sometimes guide with certainty, when 
 reason shows no path. 
 
 The boy came unerringly toward 
 Jim; Jim had a sort of prophetic in- 
 sight that he would. Back behind him 
 the urchin ran. "Don't cher give me 
 away, Mister!" he pleaded. Jim 
 flapped a hand in answer. 
 
 At the time he was leaning against 
 a corner of the station ; a little back of 
 him was a small lean-to shed where 
 various truck was stored. 
 
 Out of the car came a burly brute of 
 a man, who stared about him rapidly. 
 
 "Dat's der oP man," whispered the 
 boy. "If he gits holt of me, there won't 
 be a hull bone left in me body." 
 
 25 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 The man walked up to the conductor 
 and spoke to him. 
 
 "Aggh!" said the boy. "Now dey'll 
 get me sure der jig is up dey'll have 
 der hull gang ertop o' me!" the voice 
 trailed off into a strangled sob, and 
 then continued in a fierce whisper: 
 "Aggh! If I had me growth, I'd show 
 'em! I'd show 'em!" and then a burst 
 of hair-raising profanity. 
 
 The argument was growing loud be- 
 tween the man, who was urging some- 
 thing, and the conductor, who was de- 
 clining; others were walking toward 
 the moderate excitement. 
 
 Jim wheeled and caught the boy in 
 his arms. "Up you go!" he said, and 
 26 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 tossed him on top of the shed. "Lie 
 low behind the wood there, and you are 
 all right." 
 
 Then came the conductor's voice: 
 "Say, my friend, if you think I'm going 
 to hold my train while you hunt up a 
 lost kid, there's something in you that 
 don't work right! Why didn't you take 
 care of him while you had him? Now 
 you've got just four minutes by the 
 watch ; either hustle around and hunt, 
 or drop off the train and hunt what's 
 that? Now don't you give me any 
 slack, you black-muzzled tarrier, or 
 I'll have the fear of God thrown into 
 you too quick. Get out of here nowl 
 Get out of my way I" 
 27 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 The man slouched off, and made a 
 hasty search around the station. A! 
 woman's face scarcely an improve- 
 ment on the man's leaned out of the 
 car window and jeered at the hunter, 
 who cursed her back savagely. 
 
 The man walked up to Jim. "Say, 
 did yer see a kid go by here, Mister?" 
 
 With a shrug of his shoulders, Jim 
 asked him that question in Mr. Ollen- 
 dorf's French method, about the pink- 
 and-green overcoat of the shoemaker's 
 wife's sister. 
 
 The man showered low abuse on 
 what he supposed was a foreigner, until 
 Jim's ribs rose with the desire to kill 
 him. 
 
 28 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 "Ayr, wot are yer wastin' time wid 
 th' Dago fur?" called the woman. 
 "Th' kid's on the roof!" Jim's heart 
 almost stopped, so thoroughly had he 
 identified himself with this quarrel. 
 He made up his mind to fight for the 
 boy, right or wrong. 
 
 But he was saved the trouble. It was 
 only a jest of the woman's, for she sud- 
 denly called, so earnestly that even Jim 
 was fooled. "No he ain't neither; I 
 see him! I see him! There he is." It 
 was the perfection of acting, voice and 
 gesture. 
 
 The man ran out to see where she was 
 pointing. "Where is he?" he asked, 
 looking wildly around. 
 29 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 "On top der flag-pole, like er mon- 
 key! You're it!" she cried, with a 
 shriek of laughter at the black brows of 
 her dupe. 
 
 "I'll show yer der joke, when I git 
 in dere!" he threatened. 
 
 The woman leaned her chin on her 
 hands and smiled. Jim never forgot 
 the utter undauntedness, impudence 
 and malice of that face. "Yer allus 
 goin' to do sumpin', Pete!" she retorted. 
 "Yer'll be a man yet." 
 
 A more amiable man than "Pete" 
 might have been provoked by such con- 
 duct. He strode forward with white- 
 knuckled fists and a very unpleasant 
 expression on his face. Several men 
 30 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 started to interfere, but it wasn't neces- 
 sary. 
 
 The woman quietly looked at her 
 bully, chewing a straw with the utmost 
 nonchalance. "Give us a kiss," said she. 
 The man's crest dropped. He said 
 something in an undertone, and got on 
 the car. 
 
 Jim needed no further knowledge of 
 this delightful couple to be thoroughly 
 on the boy's side. It seemed to him that 
 the man was quite capable of keeping 
 a small animal at hand, for the fun of 
 torturing it, and as for the woman 
 well, if there was her like in hell, Jim 
 determined to be good for the rest of 
 his days. 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 "All aboard!" cried the conductor, 
 and with a few mighty breaths the iron 
 giant whisked its load out in the open 
 again. 
 
 "Stay where you are, son, till I see 
 whether that fellow is playing a trick," 
 said Jim, and not until he had looked 
 under the platform, up and down the 
 track, and in the waiting rooms, did he 
 give the command, "Come down!" 
 
II 
 
 THE passenger agent saw the per- 
 formance with astonishment. 
 "So you had the boy tucked away all 
 the time?" said he. "Just what kind of 
 a game is this?" 
 
 "Dunno," returned Jim. "Let the 
 boy speak for himself. Now, young 
 man, what's the matter?" 
 
 The urchin stood before them, tak- 
 ing them in thoroughly with his sharp 
 little eyes. More big men strolled up. 
 33 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 As a particularly fine foil to the boy's 
 diminutive form, Benny, the baggage 
 smasher, whose overhanging shoulders 
 testified whence came the power that 
 had reduced many a proud Saratoga to 
 elemental conditions, and "Happy 
 Jack," the mammoth, soot-black, loose- 
 jointed negro porter, placed them- 
 selves on either side of him. They 
 made the boy look more like an insect 
 than ever. 
 
 "Wot's de matter?" he cried in a 
 voice at once hoarse and shrill, with a 
 cursing note in it, and accompanying 
 the words with an extravagant, dra- 
 matic gesture of his skinny claw. "I'll 
 tell yer wot's der matter dey beat me 
 
 34 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 dey beat me bad. I don't ast youse 
 to take me word fur it look at me 
 back dat's all I ast yer jes' look at 
 r dat!" 
 
 He ripped the shirt from his shoul- 
 ders. An angry growl went up from 
 all those big-bearded men when they 
 saw the horrible stripes and welts 
 raw, blue and swollen on the poor 
 little back. 
 
 Happy Jack threw up both his 
 gorilla arms. "Lord Jesus! Who done 
 you like dat, boy?" he cried. " 'F I got 
 m' hookers on him, cuss me 'f I wud- 
 Hen' put bumps on him bigger'n yer 
 hull body." 
 
 "Now yer talkin'," shrieked the boy. 
 35 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 He raised himself to the tips of his toes, 
 bared his teeth to the gum, and with 
 clutching talons, gripping at the air, 
 yelled: "Aggh! If I had me growth 1 
 I'd bite his heart out! I'd tear his neck 
 for'iml" 
 
 The men looked astounded on this 
 mighty fury, pent in so small and mis- 
 erable a cage. The voice had a pe- 
 culiar alarming call to it, like the note 
 of a fire-gong. 
 
 Suddenly the boy's head dropped on 
 the crook of his arm. "Treated me 
 wuss'n a dog," he sobbed out. "Done 
 me so it makes even dat nigger holler 
 when he sees it." 
 
 Happy Jack was taken aback. The 
 
 36 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 other men smoothed down their faces 
 forcibly. 
 
 "Say, HP boy, you think dat's a p'lite 
 way to talk to people?" inquired Jack. 
 
 The boy wiped his eyes on his sleeve 
 and went over to him. "Say, don't yer 
 holt nothin' ag'in me fur der word," 
 said he. "DeyVe got me looney dat's 
 wot yer've used me liker fren'; and 
 if it hoits yer, yer can kick me pants fur 
 me, and I won't say nuthinV 
 
 "Well, there's two-pound-and-a-half 
 of dead game sport for you, all right!" 
 cried Benny. "Good eye, kid!" 
 
 Happy Jack smiled a mollified smile 
 eight inches wide. "You is all right, 
 beau," said he. "An' as fur as my bein' 
 37 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 a nigger's concerned, I'll admit my 
 kerplection ain't light." He slapped 
 his ham and brought down a foot on 
 the platform. "Hyah, hyah!" he 
 roared, "you bet dere ain't no dam' 
 blond 'bout me!" 
 
 The infectious darky laugh started 
 the others off, and brought matters to a 
 common-sense footing. 
 
 The passenger agent took up the in- 
 terrogation. Was the man the boy's 
 real father? Answer: "How'd I know? 
 Dat's der song he guv me." Were 
 there any relatives? Friends? Answer: 
 "Naw!" Well, what did the boy pro- 
 pose to do? Answer, digging his toes 
 into the boards: "Didn't know any- 
 
 38 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 t'ing!" What was his name? "Jim." 
 Jim what? "Didn't know. Sometimes 
 der gun callt himself 'Darragh,' an 7 
 sometimes 'Mullen,' an' sometimes 
 'Smit.' Aggh! He callt himself the 
 foist t'ing dat come to his tongue he 
 didn't have no real name." 
 
 The agent talked to him a bit more, 
 winding up by saying kindly: "You've 
 had a pretty rough time of it, Jimmy, 
 and we'd all like to give you a lift 
 now, just say what you'd like to do, 
 and maybe we can fix it." 
 
 "I'd like to go along wid dat feller, 
 'f he'll take me," replied the boy, toss- 
 ing a thumb toward Jim Felton. There 
 was a becoming access of shyness in his 
 39 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 manner; moreover, Felton had an in- 
 creased interest in him when he knew 
 they bore the same name a sort of 
 kinship, as it were. 
 
 "Well, it's up to you, Mister " said 
 the passenger agent, with a smile. 
 
 "Felton," said Jim. "I'm in. I'll 
 take the boy. Hard rustling down my 
 way, but I guess we can make out some- 
 how. Sure you want to go, kid?" 
 
 "Yessir!" very heartily. 
 
 "Done, then!" 
 
 Happy Jack snatched off his uniform 
 cap, spat on a bill, and flapped it into 
 the bottom thereof. 
 
 "Good-by, fren'l" said he. He shook 
 the cap in front of the others. "Here's 
 40 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 fur the lil' rooster; step up to the cap- 
 en's office an' settle, gents!" he called. 
 " 'Member what de Bible says, Tool 
 an' his money soon parted.' Come up! 
 Come up!" 
 
 They came up generously. 
 
 "Stick a five in there for me, Biil, n 
 said Benny to the passenger agent. 
 "I'm strapped." 
 
 "How much you got, boy?" asked 
 the agent, as Happy counted the 
 money. 
 
 "Fo'ty dollars, even money, Misto' 
 Breckenridge." The agent was a bach- 
 elor with a fat salary. "Here, that 
 makes it fifty," said he. He turned to 
 Felton. "Now, what do you say if we 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 go across the street and er discuss 
 this matter a little further?" 
 
 "Go you," replied Felton. 
 
 "Now, Jimmy, you sit here for a mo- 
 ment. We're going on some business." 
 
 The boy glanced at them sharply. 
 "Youse fellers is goin' to get a drink," 
 said he. 
 
 Those big men put their hands on 
 their sides and roared. 
 
 "You'll find that kid worse than a 
 wife, Felton!" said the agent. 
 
 "No use of our being hypocrites to 
 the little chap. I reckon he's seen 
 worse things than the inside of a saloon. 
 Come along, laddybuck." 
 
 They lined up and partook. The 
 42 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 pgent told the story of the waif. "And 
 we started him off with fifty, Mac," he 
 said to the saloon-keeper. "Suppose 
 you break away from some of your ill- 
 gotten gains in the good cause." 
 
 The saloon-keeper opened his cash 
 'drawer without words and slid over a 
 five-dollar bill. He seemed very glad 
 to part with it. 
 
 "Confound it! Now we're upsticks 
 again," said the agent. "Tell you what 
 let's do. Here's ten of us. Each man 
 put up a two, and we'll shake the dice 
 to see who gives it to the kid winner 
 to set 'em up. That'll make seventy- 
 five a very respectable figure." 
 
 They played a new interesting dice- 
 
 43 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 game, in which the figure of a pig 
 drawn in chalk upon the bar furnished 
 the "lay-out." It is a game which in- 
 creases in interest to the last throw. 
 They stuck the saloon-keeper, and were 
 gleeful. 
 
 "We ought to name the boy," said 
 Felton, under the inspiration of the sec- 
 ond refreshment. "My name's Jim, 
 and I want something else to call him 
 by. I'll make him a present of my last 
 
 name." 
 
 "Gad, that's so!" replied the agent. 
 
 "Call him Chescheela Jim," put in a 
 cow-man. "That's Injun for 'little 
 Jim.' 'Ches' ain't a bad nickname." 
 
 "Mac, hand over one of those toy 
 44 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 sample bottles of California fizz," said 
 the agent. "We'll put this craft down 
 the ways in shape." 
 
 Felton broke the neck off the bottle 
 with a tack-hammer and poured the 
 wine on the boy's head. "I christen 
 thee Chescheela James Felton may 
 you become a good seaworthy craft, 
 and not fill your skin with this stuff 
 when you grow up," said he dramat- 
 ically. 
 
 The small boy squinted up his eyes 
 to keep the wine out ; then he shook the 
 liquid from his hair, looked up and 
 grinned. 
 
 "Youse fellers is reg'lar kids," said 
 he. 
 
 45 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 "Lord, that's a great boy!" said the 
 agent. "He's the oldest man in the 
 crowd. Say, let's give him a white 
 man's start, beginning with a bath." 
 
 The whole party went to the barber- 
 shop and made the darky proprietor 
 dispense a bath and a hair-cut for noth- 
 ing. 
 
 "Shave, sir?" asked the latter, when 
 the hair had been properly trimmed. 
 
 "No," replied the youth. "I t'ink 
 I'll let me whiskers grow. Dere's enuff 
 wind in dis country ter keep der moths 
 outen 'em." 
 
 Then they raided the clothing store, 
 and abused the Hebrew owner until he 
 reduced the price. "Oof der lodt 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 everyding, shennelmun! Sigsdy ber 
 zent. Dere's no broffit left it doaned 
 bay fur the freight." 
 
 "Look here. Sol! Will you swear 
 that on a piece of pork?" demanded the 
 agent. The Hebrew moaned. 
 
 "Doaned dalk to me!" he cried. "My 
 heardt iss prooken!" 
 
 Clean, trimmed and clothed, Ches- 
 cheela James Felton was a different 
 looking boy. Months only could take 
 those animal lines out of his face, and 
 fresh air and wholesome food fill out 
 the hollows of the cheeks, but, all in 
 all, he was not a bad-looking youngster. 
 
 Jim Felton bought some supplies for 
 his camp, and prepared to start for 
 47 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 home that afternoon, as they could yet 
 make fifteen miles before dark. 
 
 The new friends of the morning saw 
 them off with hearty good-bys. The 
 boy quite unexpectedly thanked them 
 for their treatment and the money. The 
 poor little soul had heard few words of 
 gratitude, and had less chance to em- 
 ploy them. 
 
 His speech was curious, but the gen- 
 erous big men saw behind the words, 
 and felt really touched by the old- 
 child's attempt to express himself. 
 
 The two Jims soon pushed on, 
 through the rolling foot-hills near the 
 town, into the broken country. The 
 boy kept watching, watching, but said 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 little, until at last they came to the stu- 
 pendous cliffs of Paha-Sahpedon, over- 
 hanging the trail with dark majesty. 
 Jim happened to glance at the boy, and 
 saw him looking up, mouth and eyes 
 wide open. 
 
 "Say, Mister!" gasped Ches. "Who 
 built them!" 
 
 "Built?" repeated Jim, puzzled. 
 Then he understood. "The hand of 
 God, my boy," he replied. 
 
 The urchin shivered. "I feel 's if 
 dey was comin' ertop o' me," he gasped. 
 "Let's hook it outer here." 
 
 Jim spanked the burro, and they flew 
 out of the Paha-Sahpedon at a canter. 
 
 They camped that night in the 
 
 49 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 spruces of Silver Creek, in one of the 
 prettiest little places that ever lay out 
 of doors. As they prepared the supper 
 and ate it, sharing plate, cup and spoon, 
 the boy was fairly ecstatic. 
 
 "Dis is der bulliest ol 1 time dat ever I 
 had," said he. "I didn't know dere 
 was places like dis 'tall, 'cept Cintral 
 Park. Yer can run aroun' here all yer 
 like, can't yer, Mister? Nobuddy'll 
 stop yer?" 
 
 "Not if you ran a thousand miles, 
 Ches. This is the free land, boy. You 
 can do what you like." Jim spoke with 
 warmth, for, although he felt that the 
 child could not understand, yet the love 
 of the country swelled in him so hot 
 50 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 that he could never speak of it care- 
 lessly. 
 
 "Dat's prutty damn good," respond- 
 ed Ches. 
 
 "It is," replied Jim. "Now, Ches, 
 will you do something to oblige me?" 
 
 "Sure!" 
 
 "Well, then, don't swear. I don't 
 like to hear boys swear." 
 
 "I won't cuss another cuss, if I kin 
 help it. Dey'll come out too quick for 
 me sometimes, but I'll try to do dat, 
 
 now." 
 
 "Thank you. Now, let's get the stuff 
 cleared up and roll in." 
 
 In the middle of the night Jim heard 
 a strange noise, a puzzling sound he 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 could not trace. Becoming wider 
 awake, it resolved itself into a stifled 
 weeping. 
 
 "Hello there, Ches! What's the mat- 
 ter?" he cried. 
 
 The boy flung himself into Jim's 
 arms with a cry. "Ar, I'm scart to 
 f deat'," said he. "Take holt uf me, Mis- 
 ter ! Take holt uf me ! Dere ain't any- 
 t'ing but you and me here 'tall !" 
 
 Jim gathered up the trembling 
 figure. "Nothing will hurt you, Ches," 
 he said. "You're safe here." 
 
 "I wasn't t'inkin' of gettin' hurted," 
 retorted the boy, with shaky indigna- 
 tion. "Did youse t'ink I'd weaken fur 
 Hat? Yer don't know me, den. Dat 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 ain't bodderin' me I've been hurted 
 plenty. I'm just scart, dat's wat's der 
 matter." 
 
 "Well, now, you cuddle right up in 
 my arms, like a little puppy dog, and 
 you'll feel all right." 
 
 "Say, you're prutty good stuff, Mis- 
 ter Felton," whimpered the little voice. 
 "Dis is der bulliest time I ever had, 
 even if I am scart." 
 
 "I think you're a brave boy, Ches. 
 Now go to sleep." 
 
 A small hand reached timidly 
 around until it found the man's and 
 gave it an affectionate squeeze. "Good 
 night, sir," said Ches. 
 
 Jim lay awake, thinking dreamily, 
 
 53 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 long after the boy's regular breathing 
 showed that he was at peace again. 
 The man felt a tenderness for the waif 
 so abruptly put in his care that only a 
 lonely man can feel. He speculated 
 about the boy's future; he wondered 
 what kind of a man he would make. 
 Surely, with a foundation of such cour- 
 age, the better part could be brought 
 out. 
 
 Then he wondered what Anne 
 would say to the adoption, or rather 
 what advice she would give, for he felt 
 entirely sure of her broad humanity, 
 outside of their one difference. He felt 
 the need of her practical sense. Soon he 
 had drifted into thinking of Anne en- 
 
 54 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 tirely. Not bitterly now, but with a 
 steady longing. The gray light of the 
 waning moon, sifting through the 
 boughs, was the true lumina for reverie. 
 Why had he not answered her letter? 
 Perhaps by this time 
 
 What was that moving in the grass? 
 He had noticed a sort of something 
 before. He threw up his right hand in 
 a threatening gesture, to frighten the 
 intruder away. 
 
 Instantly he got his answer, and an 
 icy wind seemed to ruff his hair that 
 insistent, dry, shrilling sound that will 
 make a man's blood turn cold if any- 
 thing will the whirring defiance of a 
 rattlesnake! 
 
 55 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 Jim thought quick and hard, with 
 chills and fever coursing over him ad 
 libitum. He did not want to waken 
 and frighten the boy. He managed to 
 slip his arm out without disturbing the 
 sleeper. But now! There wasn't a 
 club around except the short sticks of 
 the fire. A two-foot stick is not the 
 proper equipment for rattler hunting, 
 except to those born with nerves so 
 strong that they do not hesitate to catch 
 Mr. Crotalus by the tail and snap his 
 head off. 
 
 Jim thought of the rope he had used 
 for a cinch, and made for it with his 
 eye on the snake, lest the latter should 
 approach closer to the boy. 
 
 56 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 With a deep thankfulness for the 
 heft of the rope, he returned and struck 
 with all the strength of his big body, 
 and pounded away in a sort of crazy 
 rage, although the first stroke had done 
 the business. 
 
 He snapped the sweat from his brow 
 as he looked down at the still writhing 
 reptile. 
 
 "My God! What might have hap- 
 pened if the boy hadn't waked me?" he 
 thought. The superstition of the miner 
 rose in him rampant. "I believe that 
 kid's going to bring me good luck," he 
 said. "Darned if I don't. Well, I 
 could stand some." 
 
 He took up the body of the rattler 
 57 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 on a stick and heaved it far away, then 
 lit his pipe. 
 
 "I don't think I care for any more 
 sleep to-night," he laughed. "Like 
 Ches, it ain't that anything will hurt 
 me out here, but I'm everlastingly 
 scared." 
 
 He watched the night out, revelling 
 in his enjoyment of the mystery of the 
 coming morning, that phase of the day 
 which never ceases to be unreal, and 
 which calls out of the watcher senti- 
 ments and emotions he is a stranger to 
 for the rest of the day. 
 
 The sun hung on the sharp point 
 of Old Dog-Tooth like a portent, be- 
 fore he woke the boy. 
 
 58 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 Ches was all amazement for a sec- 
 ond ; then he gave a glad cry. 
 
 "Gee! Yer still here, ain't yer? No 
 pipe in dis." He looked all around 
 him. "Say! Dis is a reg'lar teeayter 
 uf er place, ain't it?" he remarked. 
 "Dis is der scene where der villun al- 
 most gits der gent wid der sword, if der 
 stage mannecher didn't send sumun 
 ter help 'im out." 
 
 Jim laughed at the sophisticated in- 
 fant. "You don't believe in the theater 
 much, then, Ches?" 
 
 "Aggh!" replied Ches. "If it ain't 
 seven it's 'leven on der stage but it's 
 mostly craps in der street." 
 
 "Well, son, there are such points on 
 
 59 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 the 'dice," admitted Jim. "But let's 
 have something to eat and we'll feel 
 better." 
 
 Ches rustled around after sticks in 
 his funny, angularly active style, sing- 
 ing a song the while from the gladness 
 of his heart. It was a merry song, about 
 mother slowly going down the hectic 
 path of phthisis pulmonalis, and sister, 
 who has one is led to believe taken 
 to small bottles, small hours and unde- 
 sirable companions, refusing to come 
 home and lift the mortgage which is 
 shortly to be foreclosed all in the nar- 
 row confines of twenty-five verses. 
 
 Jim listened to the inspiriting ditty 
 in astonishment. 
 
 60 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 " 'Bird of the wilderness, blithesome 
 
 and cumberless, 
 Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and 
 
 lea!'" 
 
 he quoted. "For Heaven's sake, child," 
 he continued, in some irritation, 
 "where did you learn that echo of the 
 morgue?" 
 
 "Don't you like 'er?" asked Ches, in 
 his turn astonished at such a lack of 
 taste. "W'y, dat's er gig in der city 
 everybuddy an' der ginnies wid der or- 
 gans is givin' dat out all day long." 
 
 "Well, let 'em," commanded Jim. 
 "Don't introduce it to this part of the 
 country. As you render it, through the 
 61 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 nose, and with the wail at the end, it is 
 a thing to make a strong man lie down 
 and give up the ghost in sheer disgust. 
 Ches, does it really make you feel good 
 to sing it?" 
 
 "Yessir kinder," replied Ches hesi- 
 tatingly. 
 
 "Lord !" thought Jim. "What a life, 
 to make a song like that a recreation!" 
 Then aloud : "It's bad luck to sing be- 
 fore breakfast, Ches. I'll teach you a 
 livelier song than that when we hit the 
 trail again." 
 
 So it came to pass that during the 
 
 first miles of their day's journey the 
 
 way was enlivened by the notes of The 
 
 Arkansas Traveler, Garry Owen, 
 
 62 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 Where's My Linda-Cinda Gone? 
 Baltimore Girls, and other songs of a 
 lively character. 
 
 Ches approved of these in modera- 
 tion. Then Jim tried an experiment. 
 With a serious face, but half an eye on 
 the boy, he howled, moaned and grunt- 
 ed The Cow-boy's Lament, which 
 still presents the insoluble problem of 
 whether the words or the music are 
 drearier. "OooooOOO ! ! ! Pla-a-ay 
 your fifes l-o-o-w y -l-y, a-a-nd beee-eat 
 your drums sl-o-o-o-wly, and play the 
 dead m-a-arch as you carry me o-o-o- 
 on!" mourned Jim. Ches was all at- 
 tention. "For I'm o-o-o-nly a p-o-o-o-r 
 cow-boy, and I know I've done w-r-o- 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 o-o-o-o-ng!" wailed the singer, in con- 
 clusion. "How'd you like that, Ches?" 
 
 "Say, dat's a ringer!" cried the boy 
 enthusiastically. 
 
 Jim sat him down by the roadside 
 and laughed his fill. "I think you're 
 hopeless," he gasped. 
 
 The boy was hurt in a way he could 
 not understand. Something pained 
 him a new sensation, of not being up 
 to the requirements of another's view. 
 His forced acute intelligence made a 
 bull's-eye shot. 
 
 "P'r'aps w'en I've got er chist and 
 t'umpers on me like you, I'll like der 
 udder kin' er song," he said. 
 
 Jim looked at the pathetic little fig- 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 ure on the burro, and his conscience 
 smote him. "That's right, boy," he re- 
 plied very kindly. "I was only joking 
 ought not to be any ill feeling be- 
 tween friends over a joke, you know. 
 Now, you sing ahead all you plenty 
 please." 
 
 "Don't say nuttin' more about it," re- 
 plied Ches. "It's all square." 
 
 A little farther on Jim noticed a 
 piece of quartz outcrop with a metal 
 stain on it. Now, a miner can no more 
 pass such a thing than some others 
 could refuse to pick up the pin shining 
 at their feet, so he took a stone and 
 hammered off a specimen for future 
 reference. In the meantime Ches, on 
 
 65 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 the burro, got around the turn of the 
 trail. 
 
 Suddenly the boy set up a shout of 
 excitement. "Oh, Mister!" he yelled, 
 with a string of profanity, his promise 
 forgotten in his heat. "Come quick, 
 an' look at der cat! Come quick, quick, 
 quick! What a cat! You never see 
 sich a cat!" 
 
 Jim dashed forward. "Well, I 
 should say cat!" he remarked, as he 
 took in the situation. On a ledge about 
 fifty feet above the road crouched a 
 full-grown mountain lion, ears back, 
 eyes furtively glimpsing every avenue 
 of escape, yaggering at the intruders 
 savagely. 
 
 66 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 The small boy in Jim Felton rose on 
 the instant. "Pelt him, Ches! Pelt 
 him I" he cried, and let fly the rock in 
 his hand by way of illustration. A wild 
 animal seems to have little idea of a 
 missile. 
 
 The lion held his ground and let 
 the stone strike him in the side. 
 Then, with a screech like the vital 
 principle of forty thousand tom-cat 
 fights a screech that left a sediment in 
 the ear-drums of the listeners for the 
 balance of the morning he fairly flew 
 up the straight side of the cliff, fol- 
 lowed by a rain of projectiles. 
 
 "Ches, we oughtn't to have done 
 that," said Jim soberly. "If that fellow 
 67 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 had been of another mind, he'd have 
 made this the warmest day of our 
 lives." 
 
 "W'y! Will dey fight?" asked Ches, 
 his eyes wide open. 
 
 "They will that, son, sometimes," re- 
 plied Jim. Then he launched into the 
 tales of wild beast hunts, drifted from 
 that to the romance of the gold field, 
 the riches coming in a day the whole 
 glamour of it. 
 
 Never did narrator have more at- 
 tentive listener. There was a sort of 
 white joy in the boy's face. 
 
 "Oh, ain't I glad to git in dis!" he 
 cried. "Here's just wot I been lookin' 
 fur." Suddenly he struck Jim on the 
 68 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 shoulder with a tightly clenched fist. 
 "I made fur youse der first t'ing 
 didn't yer see me? I know me man all 
 right. Der secont I put me peeps on 
 yer I ses ter meself, *Dat feller won't 
 t'row yer down, Chimmy' ain't I 
 right, hey? Ain't I right, Mister?' 7 
 
 Jim patted him on the back. "I 
 think you're right, old man," he said. 
 "I'll do anything I can for you." 
 
 "Yer don't hafter tell me dat I 
 know it," replied the boy. A sudden 
 sob gathered in his throat and choked 
 him. "Yer don't know wot I been 
 t'rough, Mister it 'ud laid out many 
 er big stiff ten times me size. I'd don't 
 youse laugh at me now, becus I'm only 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 a kid I'd give me heart's blood fur 
 youse, s' help me, I would, now!" 
 
 "Shake hands, pardner," said Jim, 
 his own voice a trifle hoarse. "We'll 
 do fine together I know we will." 
 
 70 
 
Ill 
 
 THEY crested the last sharp rise, 
 and looked down upon the little 
 cabin huddling in the spruces an 
 island of humanity in the beautiful sea 
 of the wilderness. 
 
 It seemed to Jim as if the small house 
 brightened in appearance at the return 
 of its soul ; his heart in turn rose with 
 a home feeling; his belief in the treas- 
 ure which lay where the new channel 
 cut across the old wash that treasure 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 which would make the world so differ- 
 ent came back to him like a renewed 
 love. His hands ached for a grip on 
 pick and shovel. His strong muscles 
 twitched with eagerness to be at work 
 again. 
 
 Suddenly a ponderous and gross 
 sound, out of all proportion to the size 
 of its source, smashed the mountain 
 silence into slivers. It was the burro's 
 greeting to his companions, and the 
 echoes fluttered it from cliff to cliff 
 until it faded into the merest tint. 
 
 "Kerissmus! How many of dem is 
 dere?" asked Ches, astonished at the 
 demonstration. At that instant the herd 
 welcomed the returned one. 
 72 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 The canon was full of brays ; collid- 
 ing, rising, falling and swelling in a 
 tumult of noise against which the 
 dreadful shouting of the gods at the 
 fall of Troy would have seemed as the 
 wail of a kitten. 
 
 "Say, I don't like dat!" said Ches. 
 "What's loose?" 
 
 Jim had watched the growing aston- 
 ishment of the boy's face with sup- 
 pressed emotion, but now he hugged 
 himself and uproariously laughed his 
 laugh out. 
 
 "That, Ches," he replied, "is a mat- 
 ter of fifteen or twenty donkeys and an 
 echo did you think it was the end of 
 the world?" 
 
 73 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 "I t'ought it was gittin' on well past 
 der middle, all right," retorted Ches. 
 "What 'ud yer expeck of a man dat 
 never heerd der like before?" 
 
 "I knew what to expect. I never 
 heard them either till I came out here. 
 I was digging a hole up the side of that 
 hill yonder, and had begun to feel that 
 there was something behind me, and 
 that it was almost time to go home, 
 when old Jack, who has the voice of his 
 family, poured out his soul about 
 twenty rods away. I was half way 
 home, Ches, before I got sand enough 
 to go back and investigate. But now 
 listen, and you'll hear something pret- 
 tier than that" 
 
 74 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 He put his fingers to his lips and 
 whistled a bugle call. 
 
 "I can't get 'em up, 
 I can't get 'em up, 
 I can't get 'em up in the morning," 
 
 sounded Jim. And back came the 
 pretty reveille in a fabric of music, in- 
 describably interwoven; sharp and 
 staccato from the neighboring walls; 
 the lightest of whispers from the dis- 
 tance, turning and twisting upon itself 
 and starting afresh when all seemed 
 still. 
 
 "Say, dat is prutty!" said Ches en- 
 thusiastically. "Hit her again!" 
 
 75 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 "Young man, you can come up here 
 whenever you feel like it in the future, 
 but as for now, I'm for home and 
 grub." 
 
 "Dat ain't so bad, neither. Der ani- 
 mile's jumped me up an' down till I 
 cud hold more'n a man. Dis spook's 
 hang-out business won't quit, will it?" 
 
 "No, sir; that's a fixture. Hang on 
 tight now, and I'll race you to the cabin 
 one, two, three!" and away sprinted 
 Jim down the hill trail, the burro lum- 
 bering after. 
 
 "No fair! No fair!" yelled Ches. 
 "Yer've got me skate doped! T'row 
 us a tow!" 
 
 Jim wheeled at the doorway and 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 took in the excited, happy little figure 
 bumping on the burro's back. For once 
 in his life he had the satisfaction of an 
 indisputable proof that he had done 
 well. With a sudden access of affec- 
 tion he caught the boy in his arms and 
 stood him on the ground. "Well, here's 
 our home, Ches," he said. 
 
 Home! The street Arab filled his 
 puny chest, took a long, devouring look 
 about him, and sought a definition of 
 the word to make sound the lift of 
 pride and hope that rose within him. 
 
 "Yer mean nobuddy kin chase us 
 out of dis?" 
 
 "Nobody." 
 
 "It's our'n!" the boy went on with 
 77 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 curious vehemence. "Like dis here," 
 snatching an old knife from his pocket 
 and shaking it in his tight fist, "ter 
 t'row away, ter sell, er ter keep, and no- 
 buddy got nuttin' ter say about it?" 
 
 "Just that, laddybuck. That and 
 nothing else." 
 
 "No more slinkin' an' snoopin' 
 aroun' dodgin' der coppers; no more 
 stallin' fer der push; no more dirt of no 
 kind say, I can't git dat jus' in a min- 
 ute." 
 
 He stood grappling with the new 
 idea. In the search an old one came to 
 the top. His face changed rapidly. 
 The furtive, hunted look returned. In 
 a tone, the odd quiet of which contrast- 
 
 78 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 ed with the former heat, he spoke 
 again. "Yer for me, now, ain't yer, 
 Jim? If if der Gun should happen 
 ter come here, yer wouldn't t'row me 
 r down at dis stage of der game?" 
 
 The big man answered him with an 
 equal soberness. He thrust a hand be- 
 fore the boy's eyes a splendid hand, 
 massive and corded at the base, running 
 out to long, shapely, intelligent fingers, 
 and every line in it spoke of power. 
 
 "Do you see that hand, Ches?" 
 
 "Yessir." 
 
 "If the 'Gun* shows his face where 
 
 that hand can get a grip on him, it will 
 
 do the business for him in one squeeze, 
 
 and if the hand can't reach, there's a 
 
 79 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 rifle inside that can. Now get that out 
 of your mind once for all." 
 
 "Well " said the boy, "well aw,, 
 I'll be damned, dat's all I kin say, Jim," 
 and rushed into the house. 
 
 The miner leaned back and laughed, 
 and blew his nose; and laughed again 
 and blew his nose again ; then he wiped 
 the dust out of his eyes, swore a few 
 words himself, and followed the boy 
 within. 
 
 The next day Jim started on his work 
 in earnest. Before, he had sunk a hole 
 here or there in the broad smooth sur- 
 face of the bar of gravel that he felt 
 certain hid his bonanza. 
 
 Now, he determined to begin at 
 80 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 the creek bank and drift straight across 
 the bar. That meant six hundred feet 
 of tunnel at the best, unless fortune was 
 much kinder than she had hinted at be- 
 fore quite an undertaking for one 
 man, considering the timbering and all. 
 It must have been a miner who 
 wrote, that hope springs eternal in the 
 human breast. Surely in no place other 
 than the mines is the fact so manifest. 
 There was once a man seventy-three 
 years old who was sinking through a 
 cap of cement two hundred feet thick. 
 The stuff was just this side of powder- 
 work, barely to be loosened with a 
 pick. The old man had to climb down 
 sixty feet of ladder, fill his bucket, 
 81 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 climb up again and dump it, and so 
 on and so on and so on. Besides, he had 
 to walk thirty miles and back again 
 with his load, whenever he ran out of 
 provisions. It had taken him a year to 
 put his shaft down the sixty feet. There 
 was one hundred and forty more to 
 go, each foot getting harder, the 
 Lord only knew what would be at 
 the bottom when he got there; yet to 
 sit in that old man's cabin for an hour 
 was to obtain a complete exposition of 
 the theory and practice of optimism. 
 It is an unbelievable story and would 
 be senseless, were it not entirely true. 
 Beside that effort, Jim's task took on 
 the tint of an avocation, but the man 
 82 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 who runs six hundred feet of tunnel 
 single-handed earns whatever may be 
 at the end of it. 
 
 The tunnel was the one thing that 
 Ches abhorred in his new surroundings. 
 Whether it was that it reminded him of 
 the dingy holes of his city life, or 
 whether it was a natural antipathy, 
 Ches was one of those who can never 
 enter a confined space without the sen- 
 sation of smothering at any rate, 
 neither argument nor coaxing could 
 get him to put a foot within its dark 
 mouth. 
 
 An old miner would have sharecf 
 his feelings in this instance, for Jim, so 
 thorough in some things, was a careless 
 
 83 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 workman. Your old miner would have 
 shaken his head at the weak caps and 
 recklessly driven lagging; frames out 
 of plumb and made of any stick that 
 came to hand more especially as they 
 were to support loose dirt of the most 
 treacherous sort. 
 
 Ches worked outside, dumping the 
 car that Jim had made of four tree sec- 
 tions for wheels, and sluice-box boards 
 for sides. Jim, the ingenious, had 
 rigged up a pulley system, whereby 
 Ches could run the car out and in with- 
 out interrupting the work on the face. 
 
 It was hard labor for Ches at first, 
 but he gritted his teeth and stuck it out 
 manfully. 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 "Bime-by," he would say to himself, 
 "I'll have er muscle on me like Jim, 
 an' den I'll yank dis cussed ol' car 
 right out in der middle of der crik," 
 and he examined the small bunch on 
 his arm critically a dozen times every 
 day. 
 
 Meanwhile, his hero and idol was 
 outdoing the human in his exertions. 
 The effort he put forth would have 
 killed an ordinary man. He fought the 
 stubborn earth as though it were an en- 
 emy. Stripped to the waist, bent over in 
 the low tunnel, hour after hour Jim 
 plied the pick and shovel with the reg- 
 ularity and power of a machine. There 
 was at once something fascinating and 
 
 85 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 heroic in the rippling glide of the mus- 
 cles over his broad back, and in the 
 supple swing that sent the pick to join 
 the packed dirt. 
 
 It all looked so easy. It was as if 
 the dirt were very soft, and not the 
 striker very strong. Nevertheless, four- 
 teen hours a day of this, varied occa- 
 sionally by cutting timbers and carrying 
 them by hand to the tunnel some 
 of them a weight enough for a horse, 
 others not adequate, "just as they came" 
 being careless Jim's motto told even 
 on his engines. 
 
 They had a certain mark on the 
 sanon side a wild-cat's hole it was 
 and when the sun threw the shadow of 
 86 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 the western wall upon the mark, the 
 day's work was finished. 
 
 Ches used to watch this with atten- 
 tion. "Yer move along all right till 
 yer gits half way up, den yer jus' 
 crawls, yer ol' beggar!" was his stand- 
 ing remark on the progress of the shad- 
 ow. Still, he always gave good meas- 
 urement. 
 
 Toward the last of the month Jim 
 grew an interest in their clock. 
 
 "Where's the blame thing now, 
 Ches?" would come hollowly out of the 
 tunnel. 
 
 "Three more cars away, Jim, jus' 
 tippin' the white rock." 
 
 Then the cheery shout of "All over!" 
 
 87 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 and the worker stepping out into the 
 fresh air, soft and cool in the twilight, 
 hooking the sweat from his forehead, 
 and wishing that supper would cook it- 
 self. Sometimes the wild-cat looked 
 down upon them from his eyrie. 
 
 "Ches," said weary Jim, "if that lad 
 thinks at all, he must think we're awful 
 fools." 
 
 "He wouldn't be so tur'ble off his 
 guess, neider," replied the equally 
 weary Ches. 
 
 After supper, however, the world 
 seemed different. There was Jones's 
 Hill (a man of large ideas, was Jones, 
 to call that mass of rock a hill) shin- 
 ing red-hot in the last light against a 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 topaz or turquoise sky, and the gulch 
 that ran up to it in a mystery of dark 
 green gloom offering up an evening 
 prayer of indescribable odors those 
 appeals to a life in former spheres 
 which no other sense remembers; the 
 ceaseless roar of the wind in the pines, 
 so steady that it formed a background 
 for other sounds almost as good as si- 
 lence itself; the evening pipe, and the 
 talk of what had been done and what 
 was to be done all these made amends. 
 And then the sleeping such sleep- 
 ing! And waking up in the morning in 
 the exact attitude one went to sleep the 
 night before ! Sleep that washed out all 
 the former day's fatigue, and started 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 them as eager as hounds for that of the 
 new day. That is, within limits, for, 
 when a man overworks as continually 
 as Jim had done, no paradise sleep nor 
 balsam air can turn him right perpetu- 
 ally. 
 
 And for that reason the claim de- 
 clared a holiday, consisting of a hunt- 
 ing trip. It was a curious hunting trip. 
 Not one "bang!" went the clean and 
 polished rifle. They stalked four deer, 
 crawling on their bellies, quivering 
 with the chase, rounding behind rocks. 
 Then when the game was within range, 
 up went the rifle, Jim squinted along 
 the sights then dropped it. 
 
 "What's der matter?" whispered 
 90 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 Ches. He had been waiting for a long 
 time to hear the gun go off. 
 
 "They seem to be having a pretty 
 good time by themselves there, Ches." 
 
 "Yes dat's so but I've heard deer- 
 meat was good." Ches was disap- 
 pointed at this manner of hunting. 
 
 "So it is," replied Jim, "probably 
 nobody has that notion stronger than 
 the deer." He followed the four pretty 
 animals below them with tense eyes. 
 He loved to hunt but he hated to kill. 
 
 "See here, boy," he said, sitting down 
 and pulling off his boots, "I think I can 
 show you some fun do you notice 
 they're feeding up to that nose of rock? 
 Well I used to be rather quick on my 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 feet once, and I think if I can slip down 
 behind there without their winding me, 
 if one gets close enough I can catch him 
 with my hands which is a trick I'd 
 like muchly to accomplish. Now you 
 sit here and watch, and for your life, 
 don't make a move or sound! By 
 Jiminy ! if I could do that!" He trotted 
 light-footed down the slope out of 
 sight. 
 
 The boy soon saw him reappear be- 
 hind the sharp rock-wall that jutted 
 out into the valley, rubbing crushed 
 pine-needles upon himself with the 
 idea of overpowering the human odor, 
 although, whether effective in its pur- 
 pose or not, it was not necessary a 
 92 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 strong up-wind from deer to man mak- 
 ing it impossible that they could scent 
 him. 
 
 They waited and they waited, a big 
 man crouched like a tiger below, and a 
 highly excited small boy above, while 
 the deer did every exasperating thing 
 that animals could do. 
 
 They started straight for the rock, 
 grazing along, and then for no reason 
 in the world beat back on their tracks, 
 or turned to right or left. They even 
 went so far as to lie down, chewing 
 most contentedly. 
 
 One hour went by two when sud- 
 denly the buck rose and walked straight 
 up the canon in a course that would 
 
 93 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 take him within twenty feet of the rock. 
 Jim heard him snort and prepared for 
 action, laying hold of a corner of stone 
 to get a spring from all-fours. 
 
 The deer's shadow floated black on 
 the grass before him, and Jim leaped 
 to the biggest surprise of his life, for 
 instead of making the least effort to es- 
 cape, the buck charged, and that with 
 such sudden fury it was all the man 
 could do to lay hold of him anywhere 
 as they came to dirt together. 
 
 The next ten seconds was delirium, 
 each combatant doing something as 
 quick as he could without any definite 
 aim. Jim received a painful rake 
 across the chest from the antlers, and 
 94 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 a jab in the leg from the sharp hoofs, 
 while the deer was the worse for sev- 
 eral bangs over the head and an ear 
 nearly pulled off, as they rolled over 
 together. 
 
 It came over Jim with the force of 
 a revelation that he had got into a very 
 different business from that which he 
 had intended. Instead of the "timid 
 deer" whose capture was the difficulty, 
 he found himself engaged with a 
 horned and hoofed demon, and the 
 problem was how to get away. 
 
 Meanwhile, Ches had legged it down 
 the hillside at his best speed, enthusi- 
 astically cheering what he supposed 
 was a prearranged performance. Jim 
 
 95 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 had promised him fun, and that whirl- 
 ing heap below supplied plenty of it. 
 
 "Hooray!" yelled Ches. "Hooray! 
 Hold him dere, Jim, till I get down!" 
 
 Jim heard the shrill voice, as he suc- 
 ceeded, after a desperate effort, in get- 
 ting an arm around the deer's neck, so 
 that he could do something in the chok- 
 ing line, and he smiled grimly in the 
 heat of battle. "All right, Ches!" he 
 gasped. "Don't hurry!" 
 
 "Keep out of this!" he yelled a mo- 
 ment later as Ches burst out from the 
 bushes. "You'll get killed!" 
 
 But Ches was not to be denied. He 
 danced around the pushing, tugging, 
 straining storm-center, and the moment 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 opportunity offered, slipped in and 
 seized the buck by a hind leg. 
 
 If he had touched an electric battery, 
 the effect could not have been more in- 
 stant. The deer fanned that muscular 
 hind leg, with its boy attachment, at the 
 rate of seven hundred strokes to the 
 minute. Poor Ches' head was nearly 
 snapped off his shoulders, and the 
 breath was literally jerked out of his 
 body, but he hung on, with all the 
 strength that pulling the car had given 
 him. 
 
 It was not much help, but it was a 
 'diversion. Jim gulped a lungful of 
 air, gathered his powers and came 
 down with all his might. Slowly the 
 
 97 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 stubborn neck, bent so slowly that Jim 
 feared he would give out before gain- 
 ing the mastery. As it yielded, his lev- 
 erage increased, and at last, exerting 
 every ounce of strength that was in 
 him, he downed the foe and held him 
 there, his leg over the front legs whose 
 armament he had felt before, and was 
 not desirous of feeling again. 
 
 But the deer gave up the struggle, 
 and lay quiet, looking up with great 
 pleading eyes. 
 
 "Yes, you devil!" cried Jim, "you 
 look meek enough now, but if you 
 weren't a handful of hard luck ten sec- 
 onds ago I never ran across one. You 
 hurt, Ches?" 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 "I got a lovely t'ump on me smeller, 
 but I'm in it yet do I let go or don't 
 I?" 
 
 "Not on your life wait a moment 1" 
 He worked his weight over on the 
 'deer's body. "Now!" he said. "Quick! 
 Jump loose!" Again the deer glanced 
 up reproachfully, as though to say, 
 "How suspicious you are!" 
 
 The instant Ches jumped clear, so 
 did Jim. They watched their late an- 
 tagonist, who sprang to his feet and 
 went off with frisky leaps, apparently 
 as fresh as ever. 
 
 Then they looked at each other. Ches 
 was rubbing his stomach with his left 
 hand, while he wiped the blood from 
 99 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 his nose with the right. Jim's coat and 
 trousers were torn; he had a deep 
 scratch across his chest, a gouge in his 
 leg, and he trembled from the exertion. 
 
 "Well Ches!" he panted, "we've 
 had a nice rest haven't we?" 
 
 "Wouldn't it 'a' been tur'ble if yer 
 hadn't caught him?" replied Ches. 
 And then they simply whooped. 
 
 'A good incident is an opal among 
 gems in a lonely life. You can turn it 
 over and over and always get new col- 
 ors. 
 
 On the home trip, as Nimrod Jim 
 
 stalked along with his follower trotting 
 
 beside, they rehearsed every detail 
 
 of the unexpected encounter. Jim 
 
 TOO 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 crouched and leaped again, giving his 
 sensations when the buck did likewise. 
 Then he waited while Ches ran down 
 a side hill and threw himself upon a 
 sapling, which for the time was a deer's 
 hind leg. 
 
 They were just of an age any one 
 would have said so, on seeing them ap- 
 proach the cabin, arms flying, tongues 
 wagging, bruised, tired and happy. 
 
 "Jim," said a very sleepy little boy 
 after supper, gorged like an anaconda, 
 "yer don't see t'ings like dat in N'york 
 not much yer don't. If dat racket 
 had come off in der Bowery, dere'd be 
 head-lines 'dlines on der extries - 
 more'n a mile " 
 
 101 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 Jim picked him up and tucked him 
 Into his bunk. "More'n a mile long g' 
 nigh'," sighed Ches. 
 
 Jim lit his pipe and went out for an 
 evening smoke. It was some little time 
 the next morning before he could real- 
 ize what he was doing out there under 
 the tree. 
 
 He had been in some w r ays a graver 
 man of late. What he had undertaken 
 as an experiment, a generous impulse, 
 had been turned into a lasting responsi- 
 bility. 
 
 102 
 
IV 
 
 ON the second day after Ches' ar- 
 rival, Bud had come through 
 with the mail, and before leaving, drew 
 Jim aside, out of the boy's hearing. 
 
 "The little feller's yours agin all 
 comers now, Jim," he said. 
 
 "What's that?" asked Jim, surprised 
 by the meaning in the tone. 
 
 "He's yours," repeated Bud. "That 
 sweet-scented blossom that called him- 
 self the boy's dad, filled his skin with 
 103 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 red-eye farther up the line and settled 
 the fuss he had with his dame." 
 
 "Hurt her?" 
 
 "Man!" said Bud slowly, "he used 
 a knife a foot long gave it to her a 
 dozen times as hard as he could drive 
 what's your opinion?" 
 
 "Lord Almighty! Did he get away? 
 But no, of course he couldn't, being on 
 the train " 
 
 "He didn't get away. The Con. 
 wired the news to Kimballs. What was 
 he to do when a small army of punchers 
 boarded the train and took the pris- 
 oner? He couldn't do nothing, and he 
 never loved that black-muzzled whelp 
 from the time he sassed him in the 
 104 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 depot. The punchers took our friend 
 out and tried him." 
 
 "Tried him?" 
 
 "With a rope. In three minutes by 
 the watch he was found wanting your 
 boy now, Jim, as I was telling you. 
 Going to say anything to him about it?" 
 
 "Why," said Jim, bewildered, "why, 
 I don't know, Bud guess not, just yet, 
 on general principles. What do you 
 think?" 
 
 "Think you're right," said Bud. 
 "The poor little rooster couldn't help 
 but feel glad to hear the news, but it 
 would sound kind of awful to hear a 
 kid like that say he was glad two 
 people were killed. Better wait till he's 
 105 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 been with you a while, Jim, and learned 
 something different." 
 
 Jim flushed at the implied compli- 
 ment. "You're right, Bud, I will." 
 
 "Great little papoose, ain't he?" 
 said Bud, turning in his saddle before 
 his starting rush. "Makings of a man 
 there, all right. The boys in town are 
 'dead stuck on him. I'll have to give a 
 complete history when I get back. I 
 must get a gait on, or I'll have Uncle 
 Sammy on my neck again inspector 
 started out with me this morning." 
 
 "The devil he did!" cried Jim indig- 
 nantly, well knowing the hardships and 
 dangers of the big rider's route. 
 
 "Oh, it's all right!" replied Bud with 
 106 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 a wave of his hand. "Come out fine. 
 When the lad first told me he'd been 
 sent out to see why the mails was so late 
 on this line, I told him I'd show him 
 right on the spot, but he said there was 
 no use getting hot about it, as he was 
 only doing his duty, so I quieted down. 
 
 "He was a decent sort of feller. I 
 thought to myself before we got under 
 way, 'Now, there won't nothing hap- 
 pen this day everything'll go as 
 smooth and slick as grease, and this 
 feller will report that I'm sojering,' 
 that's the way it usually works, you 
 know. But this time I played in luck. 
 
 "Two miles out of town we ran into 
 a wild-eyed gang from somewhere, 
 107 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 who was going to make us dance. We 
 didn't dance, and I'll say for that in- 
 spector that he stood by me like a man, 
 but he was awful sick at his stomach 
 later on from the excitement. 
 
 "Next thing, the bridge was down 'at 
 Squaw Creek, and we swum her. He'd 
 have gone down the flume, if I hadn't 
 got hold of his bridle. 'Nice mail route, 
 this,' says he, as he got ashore. 'Oh, 
 you'd like it,' says I, 'if you got used to 
 it.' I'd begun to wonder what was next 
 myself. Ain't many people swimming 
 Squaw Creek, as you perhaps know. 
 
 "Well, next was about ten mile along, 
 just before you come to the old Tin-cup 
 Camp. We was passing the bluff there, 
 108 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 and all of a sudden, rip, thump, biff! 
 Down comes what looked like the 
 whole side a-top of us. It weren't 
 though. It was only a cinnamon had 
 lost his balance, leaning over too far to 
 see what we was. That bear landed 
 right agin brother inspector's horse, 
 and brother inspector's horse tried to 
 climb a tree. Inspector himself fell 
 a-top of the bear. I dassent shoot, for 
 the devil himself couldn't have told 
 which was inspector and which bear. 
 Finally bear shakes himself loose and 
 telescopes himself up the canon, the 
 worst scared animile in the country. 
 'If you'll ketch my horse, I'll amble 
 back again,' says the inspector. Tve in- 
 109 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 vestigated this route pretty thorough, 
 and find it's just as you say. Lamp- 
 posts'll do me all right for a while.' 
 Come out fine, didn't it? 
 
 "Whish there! Untie yourself, you 
 yaller bone-heap!" And the mail was 
 a quarter of a mile up the trail. 
 
 Jim pondered the information con- 
 cerning Ches carefully, only to adhere 
 to his original determination. He 
 could not see any way in which the boy 
 would be benefited by hearing the news. 
 Still, the miner hated anything that 
 savored of concealment or deception. 
 
 "I wish Anne was here to help me," 
 he thought; "she'd know what to do." 
 
 'He sat long, looking down, his hands 
 no 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 clasped about his knees, drinking with 
 old Tantalus. But the reverie ended 
 as it always did in action. There was 
 nothing for it but the claim. Success 
 there meant success everywhere. 
 
 It was the knowledge that Anne, the 
 boy, and all he wished to do for both 
 depended on the pay-streak which had 
 urged him to such a fury of effort. 
 
 His carelessness of his own life, that 
 led him to slap his timbering up any 
 way, was born of that same fury. And 
 the consequences came like most conse- 
 quences, without a moment's warning. 
 
 It was a still and beautiful noon. 
 Ches had pulled out the last car before 
 dinner, and started for the cabin, 
 in 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 f A curious groaning and snapping 
 from the tunnel halted him. It was the 
 giving of the tortured timbers. On the 
 heels of that came a dull, crushing roar. 
 A blast of dust shot from the tunnel- 
 mouth, like smoke from a cannon, pre- 
 ceded by a shock that nearly threw the 
 boy off his feet 
 
 Then all was still again. The sun 
 shone as brilliantly as before, blazing 
 down upon the ghastly face of a little 
 boy, who, after one heart-broken cry of 
 "Jim! Oh, Jim's killed!" sank down 
 upon the ground, chewing the fingers 
 thrust in his mouth, that the pain might 
 make the black wave keep its distance. 
 
 For Ches knew that he was alone; 
 
 112 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 that there was no human being within 
 miles to help the man caught in the 
 hand of that mischance but himself, so 
 frantically willing, but so impotent. 
 
 "I must git me wits tergedder I 
 must!" and down came the teeth with 
 all the strength of the boy's jaw. "Oh, 
 what will I do? What will I do?" The 
 little head waved from side to side in 
 its agony, and a sudden sob struck him 
 in the throat. 
 
 After that one small weakness rose 
 Ches Felton, hero. To the mouth of the 
 tunnel he went. Above the tumbled 
 pile of dirt and timber ran a sort of 
 passage, between it and the roof. 
 
 A way along which a boy might 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 crawl and find out if all the frames 
 were down to which the silence of the 
 tunnel gave a bitter assent or if 
 by some most lucky chance one or 
 two had held, and Jim be safe within. 
 
 Ches climbed to the top and thrust 
 his head into the gloom. "Jim!" he 
 called, "Jim!" No answer. 
 
 Before him lay the ruin of his pard- 
 ner's work. It was over this that his 
 path lay, as deadly dangerous a path as 
 could be found. The slightest disturb- 
 ing of the roof above might bring down 
 a thousand tons of dirt upon the one 
 who ventured, slowly and hideously to 
 crush his life out, there in the dark, be- 
 yond sight and sound of the cheerful 
 114 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 world without. With this knowledge 
 before him, and his inborn fear of the 
 dark hole, as daunting as the hand of 
 death itself, he took his soul in his 
 gripe, and wormed his way within. 
 
 Sometimes his back grazed a stone 
 in the roof, and the touch of white-hot 
 iron could not have been so terrible; 
 sometimes a falling stone near him 
 would make his heart leap and stop as 
 he waited for the hill above to follow. 
 Foot by foot he made it, twisting 
 around the end of a post, scooping out 
 the dirt most cautiously where the hole 
 was too small for even his slight body. 
 
 Once the sharp end of a broken piece 
 of lagging caught in his clothes, and he 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 could go neither forward nor back. 
 There, for a second, he broke down. 
 Bracing up again, he managed some- 
 how to get the old knife out of his 
 pocket and cut himself free. 
 
 He could see little. 
 
 A gray spectral light filtered in here 
 and there that defined nothing, even 
 when his eyes grew accustomed to the 
 darkness. 
 
 It was an endless journey. In places 
 where the dirt closed in he would be 
 a full minute progressing a foot, and a 
 minute of such mortal terror as seldom 
 falls to the lot of man of peace or sol- 
 dier. 
 
 But it ended. 
 
 116 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 Suddenly the boy's outstretched 
 hand encountered only emptiness be- 
 low. That frame had held. He dove 
 into the space head first, and landed on 
 something soft and warm the body of 
 his pardner. 
 
 He had found him. In a paroxysm 
 of joy, he flung himself upon the mo- 
 tionless figure and cried his heart out. 
 This, too, he soon conquered. Jim had 
 just so much show any delay might 
 wipe it out. He searched the man's 
 pockets until he found a match. By its 
 light he saw the candle stuck into the 
 post, and lit it. Then he knelt beside his 
 pardner again. 
 
 It was a curious picture within that 
 117 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 gloomy chamber underground. The 
 miner lying stark, stretched to his full 
 great length, appearing enormous in 
 the flickering candle-light, and the 
 child, white-faced, big-eyed, but steady 
 as a veteran, wiping the blood from the 
 ragged cut in the man's head. 
 
 Ches realized what had happened 
 the instant before the calamity. Jim, 
 startled by the noise of the yielding tim- 
 bers, had made a rush, only to be struck 
 down by the rock, that now lay within 
 an inch of him; yet struck into safety 
 for all that. Had he gone a yard far- 
 ther, the life would have been smashed 
 out of him instantly. 
 
 But now, what? The flowing blood 
 118 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 sent a sickening chill through the boy. 
 Had he done this much only to be able 
 to see his pardner die? He drove his 
 teeth into his hand again at the thought. 
 What was that? Was it a trick of the 
 tunnel, his heart sounding in his own 
 ears, or a rhythmic beat from outside? 
 Hollow and dull fell that "clatter- 
 clum-clatter-clum." 
 
 "Bud!" screamed Ches, "Tank God, 
 dat's Bud!" 
 
 After half a dozen efforts he climbed 
 the dirt pile and went back through the 
 treacherous holes. The rider came so 
 fast! "Oh!" groaned the boy, "I'll 
 never make it! Bud'll t'ink we're off 
 somewheres an' pull on! Bud! BUD!" 
 119 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 he called at the top of his lungs; 
 but the tunnel swallowed the little 
 voice. 
 
 Desperation made him entirely reck- 
 less. It was any way to get out be- 
 fore the mail-man was beyond call. 
 Glairy with sweat, he pulled, tugged, 
 squirmed and wriggled along, until a 
 dirty, small bundle rolled down almost 
 under the mail-rider's feet. 
 
 "Whoa!" shouted Bud with an as- 
 tonished oath. "What's the why boy, 
 what's the matter? Damn it! how you 
 scart me!" 
 
 One look at him froze the man; he 
 said no more, but waited, watching the 
 working face of the child, who was 
 1 20 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 mastering himself once more, in order 
 to tell a quick, straight story, that no 
 time might be lost. 
 
 "Der tunnel's fell in, Bud; Jim's in 
 Here where der frame's held. He's liv- 
 in' yet, but he's got a tur'ble cut in his 
 head." 
 
 The mail-rider 'drew out paper and 
 tobacco, and rolled a cigarette. It was 
 his method of biting his hand. He 
 loved the man inside that dark blotch 
 on the hill-side with an affection only 
 known where men are few and strong. 
 And because he loved him, Bud was 
 going to keep his head cool and clear, 
 to find the right thing to do and do it 
 the right way. 
 
 121 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 For all his calm outer man the 
 mind within was whirling. He turned 
 to the tense little face before him for 
 help, and with an admiration that 
 knew no bounds. 
 
 "How far back?" he asked. 
 
 "T'ree frames was held dere was 
 seven, ten foot apart how much is 
 flat?" 
 
 "Forty feet ten foot apart! No 
 wonder! Oh, Jim! How could you 
 have been so careless?" 
 
 The boy's shoulders shook once. "He 
 worked like er horse now it's all gone 
 an' he's in dere " The face was con- 
 torted out of all humanity, but he held 
 the tears back. 
 
 122 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 Bud leaped from his horse. "Never 
 you mind, Chessy lad!" he cried, hug- 
 ging up the little figure, "we'll get him 
 out of that, by God! Could we haul 
 him out the way you went?" 
 
 "No, dere ain't room an' if you 
 touch dat roof hard " he shuddered. 
 
 Bud sucked in his breath. "If you 
 weren't the sandy little man to try it!" 
 he said. He stood a moment in silence 
 going over it all. 
 
 "Ches," he said, "there ain't any 
 time to lose. If Jim's cut like that he 
 may bleed to death in there when we 
 could save him all right if we had him 
 outside. 
 
 "There's a party of miners down the 
 123 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 road eight mile. They was having their 
 grub as I went by. Chances are they'll 
 be there yet. They've got four men 
 and a team. I could ride back, but I 
 ought to be here working. Do you 
 think you could stick on old Buck and 
 ride there?" 
 
 "I kin." 
 
 "By God! I hate to do it but there 
 ain't any other way!" The big man 
 ground his teeth together. "I hate to 
 do it damned if I'll do it!" 
 
 Ches caught his hand. "I kin make 
 it, Bud," he pleaded; ."I cuddent do 
 nothin' if I stayed here, an' you could 
 do a heap. Put me up and let me try." 
 
 "All right," said Bud. "The good 
 124 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 Lord kept you from getting hurt in the 
 tunnel, perhaps He'll see you through 
 again. Shut your eyes and hold on tight 
 when you strike the high places, and 
 don't touch a rein leave it all to old 
 Buck." 
 
 He stepped forward and caught the 
 horse by the bit. 
 
 "Buck!" he said, as though talking 
 to a human being, "you and me have 
 been through a heap together don't 
 fall down on me, now! Take the kid 
 safe, old boy!" He caught Ches up 
 and threw him across the saddle. 
 "You'll only have to tell 'em what's 
 happened the Lord! send nothing 
 happens to you! Good-by, you brave 
 125 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 little devil we'll win out yet. Go it, 
 Buck!" 
 
 And while one of Jim's friends plied 
 pick and shovel like a mad man, the 
 other was swaying on top of a gallop- 
 ing horse, gripping the pommel of the 
 saddle with all the strength he had, and 
 shutting his eyes when he came to the 
 high places. 
 
 Captain Hanrahan's party were min- 
 ers of substance. They were working 
 their way out to a new country to suit 
 their inclinations. It had just been 
 suggested that it was perhaps time to 
 hit the trail again when the captain saw 
 a figure on a horse flying athwart the 
 mountain side the regular road was 
 126 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 bad enough, but Bud had short cuts of 
 his own, and Buck followed his usual 
 way. 
 
 "Huh!" said the captain, "that man's 
 drunk or crazy?" 
 
 "Holy sufferin'!" gasped the man 
 next him, as the yellow horse slipped 
 on a turn and sent a shower of gravel a 
 thousand feet below. "That was a near 
 touch," as the horse caught himself and 
 swept on. 
 
 "Looks to me like a case of trouble, 
 Cap," said a third speaker. "That ain't 
 no man, anyhow it's only a boy." 
 
 "Horse running away with him, 
 probably his folks ought to be 
 clubbed for letting him out on such an 
 127 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 animal. Well, spread out, boys, and 
 we'll catch him." 
 
 But Buck stopped in two jumps, at 
 Ches' command of "Whoa!" 
 
 "Fren's!" cried the boy, "me pard- 
 ner's caught in a tunnel dat caved in on 
 him. Kin yer help us out? Three mile 
 above Jones's Hill." 
 
 He had not finished the sentence be- 
 fore two men sprang for the horses. 
 The rest grabbed picks and shovels and 
 hurled them into the wagon. 
 
 "We'll be there, hell-a-whooping," 
 said Captain Hanrahan. 
 
 "T'anks!" replied Ches weakly, and 
 then the world went out. The captain 
 caught him as he fell. 
 128 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 "Poor little cuss! He rid hard to 
 help his pardner!" said the captain. 
 "Hump yourselves, boys all ready! 
 Got the whisky, Pete? Picks enough? 
 Stick the axes where they won't jump 
 loose and cut a leg off some of us. Tie 
 the horse behind good animal, that. 
 BUI right, let 'em go!" 
 
 They went. Over stones and gulleys, 
 the tools clanging and banging fit to 
 leap from the wagon, the men clinging 
 to the side-boards for dear life. 
 
 Down hill-sides like the slant of a 
 roof, the horses keeping out of the way 
 of the wagon; up the other side with 
 the reeking animals straining every 
 fiber; over bridges that bent fearfully 
 129 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 beneath the shock of their onset; sway- 
 ing around curves with the wheels slu- 
 ing and sparks flying, and over the 
 level as though the devil himself were 
 behind them. 
 
 It was the record trip for eight 
 miles in a wagon in that country. The 
 driver stood up, a foot braced on either 
 side, the reins thrown loose, the whip 
 plied hard, and every urging that voice 
 could give shrieked out by his powerful 
 lungs. 
 
 It was like the rush of a fire-engine, 
 plus twice the speed, and twenty times 
 the danger. Above the pounding of 
 hoofs, the din of rattling metal, the 
 crash, smash and roar of the wheels 
 130 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 and the yells of the driver could be 
 heard the man Pete, ex-cowpuncher,, 
 cheerfully singing, 
 
 "Roll your tails, and roll 'em high, 
 We'll all be angels by-and-by." 
 
 Braced in the back corner sat Cap- 
 tain Hanrahan, his leg keeping some 
 of the tools from going overboard, 
 holding Ches in his arms. 
 
 "Curse it all, Billy!" he screamed ta 
 the driver, "miss some of them bumps, 
 will you? I've got on a new pair of 
 pants." 
 
 "I'll take 'em clean off you the next 
 time, Cap!" retorted the driver. 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 They joked, which may seem heart- 
 less; but they risked their necks a hun- 
 dred times, and that isn't very heart- 
 less. 
 
 "That's the place, I reckon, Cap!" 
 said the driver, pointing. "Somebody 
 working there now!" 
 
 "Give 'em a hoot!" replied the cap- 
 tain. 
 
 Bud stepped out and held up his 
 hand in answer to the yell. The wave 
 of thanksgiving at the sight of this 
 most efficient help took all the stiffness 
 out of the knees of the mail-rider. The 
 tears rolled down his face unnoticed. 
 
 "You're welcome, boys," he cried, 
 as the 'driver sawed the frenzied team 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 to a standstill and the men sprang out. 
 
 "Reckon we are," said the captain. 
 "Now what's up?" 
 
 "Is the boy hurt? Good God! He 
 ain't hurt himself, has he?" 
 
 "Naw; pore little cuss is used up, 
 that's all. He'll be around all right in 
 a minute. Now tell me, what's loose." 
 
 Bud answered briefly, but com- 
 pletely. 
 
 "Pete and Billy, get to cutting wood 
 the rest of you come here," com- 
 manded the captain. 
 
 "You ain't going to stop to timber, 
 are you?" asked Bud in an agony of 
 haste. 
 
 "I sure am," replied the captain. 
 133 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 this trouble's come of carelessness. 
 Now you just keep your clothes on, and 
 let me run this thing. 
 
 "We'll have your friend out in no 
 time, and there won't be no more men 
 stuck in there with a hill a-top of 'em 
 in the doing of it. What you've done 
 there is a help all right, but it might 
 easy have meant that we'd had two men 
 instead of one to hunt for." 
 
 "You're dead right," said Bud. 
 "Tell me what I'm to do." 
 
 The captain took hold as only a man 
 can who has the genius for it. He knew 
 by long practice what size of a relief 
 tunnel meant real speed of progress 
 the least dirt to be removed to make it 
 134 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 possible that men could work to ad- 
 vantage. And his tunnel, safely rough- 
 ceiled, went in at the rate of a foot a 
 minute. 
 
 When at last they pulled the in- 
 sensible man out into the light of day, 
 and found that while his wound, 
 though severe, and if neglected mortal, 
 was not likely to be dangerous with 
 good attention, the captain said that he 
 must be getting about his business. 
 
 "Oh, stay a little longer, fellers, till 
 he comes to," remonstrated Bud. "He'd 
 like to have a chance to say 'Thank 
 you.' " 
 
 "Bugs!" replied the captain. "You 
 tell him he owes us a drink, and as a 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 particular favor to me, please not to 
 put his frames over four foot apart in 
 that ground. 
 
 "We're likely to be back here shortly, 
 anyhow, because I think your friend 
 has got hold of the right idea from 
 what you tell me of his plans; but it'll 
 take more'n one man to really prospect 
 it. If we don't hit it where we're go- 
 ing, we'll sure come back." 
 
 "Well, boys, / can thank you and 
 I'm going to," said Bud. "That man is 
 my friend, and if you hadn't come as 
 you did " 
 
 "Say, let go," interrupted the cap- 
 tain. "You'd have done the same thing 
 if you'd been us, wouldn't you?" 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 "Yes," admitted Bud reluctantly. 
 
 "And you wouldn't want to be 
 thanked for it a white chip more'n we 
 do," concluded the captain. "If there's 
 any thanks coming it is to that little 
 two-foot chunk of man yonder. Snak- 
 ing over that fall was a thing to put a 
 crimp in anybody. You was bound to 
 help your pardner, wasn't you, son?" 
 
 The boy looked up into the captain's 
 eagle face. "I'd 'er got to Jim," he an- 
 swered simply, " 'f I'd had ter chew 
 me way in like a rat." 
 
 The captain stepped back and 
 looked at him. 
 
 "By the Lord!" he said slowly, "I be- 
 lieve you would!" A change came over 
 137 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 the thin, arrogant face. He stooped 
 suddenly, raised the boy and kissed 
 him. "Now, get out o' this !" he roared 
 at the driver, as he leaped into the 
 wagon. 
 
 They waved their hands as long as 
 the miners were in sight, and stood 
 staring until Pete's statement that 
 they'd all be angels by-and-by was lost 
 in the distance. 
 
 "Pretty good folks when you're in 
 trouble, ain't they, Ches?" said Bud. 
 
 "What 'ud we have done, if dey 
 hadn't come? Ain't it 'mos' time Jim 
 was moving, Bud?" 
 
 "I'll give him another spoonful of 
 whisky, but you can't expect him to 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 start right up and hop around. He got 
 an awful crack, boy." 
 
 For all that, as the dose of strong 
 liquor went down Jim's throat, he 
 opened his eyes. 
 
 "Hello, Bud! Hello, Ches!" he said 
 wonderingly. "Have I been asleep? 
 iWhy, what the devil's the matter with 
 my head?" he raised his hand to the 
 spruce-gum bandage. "Phew! But I 
 feel weak!" he sighed as his hand 
 dropped. "Something's happened 
 what is it?" 
 
 There, with a friend on each side 
 holding a hand, they told him the story. 
 It was a sacred reunion. 
 
 The gratitude of the man saved, and 
 139 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 the protestations of the others that they 
 would have done all they did a thou- 
 sand times again would only seem 
 childish in repetition. They cried, 
 too, which is excusable in a child, but 
 not in two big men. Men don't cry. It 
 is the monopoly of women. Neverthe- 
 less, Bud and Jim and Ches cried and 
 swore, and shook hands and cried again 
 until it was a pitiful thing to see. 
 
 "Well," said Bud at last, "this 
 makes you feel better, but it won't get 
 the work done. I've got to go out and 
 fix old Buck and get in some fire- 
 wood." 
 
 "Oh, I'll do that!" cried Jim, raising 
 himself on his elbow. 
 140 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 "You?" jeered Bud. "You look like 
 it! Now, you lie right down there and 
 get well that's your play. It would 
 make us feel as if we'd wasted our time 
 if we had to turn to and bury you after 
 all the trouble we've had. You're good 
 for two weeks in that bunk, old horse." 
 
 "Two weeks! I can't, Bud; I can't! 
 I must get up before that!" 
 
 "You lie down there hear me?" 
 
 "But I'll have to see to things around 
 you can't stay." 
 
 "I stay right here till you're well." 
 
 "But the mail?" 
 
 "The devil take the mail or any- 
 body else that wants the job. Uncle 
 Sammy won't hop on to my collar but- 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 ton, because of the fine send-off my 
 friend the inspector'!! give. And some- 
 body will get orry-eyed up in town, and 
 come down to find what's loose. He'll 
 take the bags then. It's all settled." 
 
 "But there are other things " 
 
 "Let 'em rest. Now I'm off to do the 
 chores oh, say, speaking of mail, 
 here's a letter for you I forgot all about 
 in the excitement here you go. Come 
 along, Ches, and help me carry wood." 
 
 The miner looked at the letter in his 
 hand, and a tinge of blood crept into 
 his white cheeks, then ebbed, leaving 
 them whiter than before. 
 
 Suppose there were other men who 
 wanted her; men with money, learn- 
 142 
 
SWEET 3RIAR GULCH 
 
 ing, wit and influence. Was this bit- 
 terest of blows to fall upon him when 
 he was already down? He looked at 
 his hands, green from loss of blood.'"! 
 tried," he muttered, "I tried." 
 
 Still the very touch of the paper 
 seemed to have something warm and 
 heartening in it. It was from her, any- 
 how. With sudden strength he tore it 
 open and read : 
 
 DEAREST, DEAREST JIM I yield the 
 whole case. You are right. 
 
 It is to my shame that clear-sighted- 
 ness came from no source within me, 
 but from a brave example set. 
 
 My little cousin married the man 
 
 H3 
 
THE MASCOT OF 
 
 she loved last week, and, of course, 
 Miss Anne was a high functionary. 
 
 Oh, what a stirring there was in me, 
 Jim, watching them and thinking ofi 
 you! 
 
 They will be as poor as church mice, 
 but they do not care, and theirs is the 
 wise economy. 
 
 Life is too short to waste, Jim, I see 
 it now. I put it all in your hands, dear- 
 est; if you can not come to me, I shall 
 come to you. 
 
 I believe I'm only lukewarm by 
 habit, not by nature. 
 
 I wish I could tell you how sorry I 
 am for the time I have squandered. 
 
 I'll show you, that will be better. 
 144 
 
SWEET BRIAR GULCH 
 
 Any time, or any place and no condi- 
 tions now, Jim. That's all, my dear 
 brave lover. Good night. 
 
 Your own, ANNE. 
 
 He was sitting bolt upright. Once 
 more he devoured the letter. Then he 
 sank back and closed his eyes. 
 
 "Thank you, my darling, I can rest 
 
 \ 
 
 now," he said. 
 
 The golden sunset light played in 
 riotous joyousness on the cabin walls; 
 the little creek laughed out loud ; so did 
 Ches and Bud, approaching the cabin. 
 It was a beautiful and happy world. 
 
 THE END