At last, like a highway
robber, I cornered Hanson, and bade him stand and deliver his
business. Thereupon he gravely rose, as though to hint that this
was not a proper place, nor the subject one suitable for squaws,
and I, following his example, led him up the plank into our
barrack. There he bestowed himself on a box, and unrolled his
papers with fastidious deliberation. There were two sheets of
note-paper, and an old mining notice, dated May 30th, 1879, part
print, part manuscript, and the latter much obliterated by the
rains. It was by this identical piece of paper that the mine had
been held last year. For thirteen months it had endured the
weather and the change of seasons on a cairn behind the shoulder of
the canyon; and it was now my business, spreading it before me on
the table, and sitting on a valise, to copy its terms, with some
necessary changes, twice over on the two sheets of note-paper. One
was then to be placed on the same cairn--a "mound of rocks" the
notice put it; and the other to be lodged for registration.
Rufe watched me, silently smoking, till I came to the place for the
locator's name at the end of the first copy; and when I proposed
that he should sign, I thought I saw a scare in his eye. "I don't
think that'll be necessary," he said slowly; "just you write it
down." Perhaps this mighty hunter, who was the most active member
of the local school board, could not write.
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