|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 58
The proprietor of this building, Colonel Swinger, had been looked
upon by the community as a person quite as remote, old-fashioned,
and inconsistent with present progress as the house itself. He was
an old Virginian, who had emigrated from his decaying plantation on
the James River only to find the slaves, which he had brought with
him, freed men when they touched Californian soil; to be driven by
Northern progress and "smartness" out of the larger cities into the
mountains, to fix himself at last, with the hopeless fatuity of his
race, upon an already impoverished settlement; to sink his scant
capital in hopeless shafts and ledges, and finally to take over the
decaying hostelry of Buena Vista, with its desultory custom and
few, lingering, impecunious guests. Here, too, his old Virginian
ideas of hospitality were against his financial success; he could
not dun nor turn from his door those unfortunate prospectors whom
the ebbing fortunes of Buena Vista had left stranded by his side.
Colonel Swinger was sitting in a wicker-work rocking-chair on the
veranda of his hotel--sipping a mint julep which he held in his
hand, while he gazed into the dusty distance. Nothing could have
convinced him that he was not performing a serious part of his duty
as hotel-keeper in this attitude, even though there were no
travelers expected, and the road at this hour of the day was
deserted. On a bench at his side Larry Hawkins stretched his lazy
length,--one foot dropped on the veranda, and one arm occasionally
groping under the bench for his own tumbler of refreshment. Apart
from this community of occupation, there was apparently no
interchange of sentiment between the pair. The silence had
continued for some moments, when the colonel put down his glass and
gazed earnestly into the distance.
"Seein' anything?" remarked the man on the bench, who had sleepily
regarded him.
"No," said the colonel, "that is--it's only Dick Ruggles crossin'
the road."
"Thought you looked a little startled, ez if you'd seen that ar
wanderin' stranger."
"When I see that wandering stranger, sah," said the colonel
decisively, "I won't be sittin' long in this yer chyar. I'll let
him know in about ten seconds that I don't harbor any vagrants
prowlin' about like poor whites or free niggers on my propahty,
sah!"
"All the same, I kinder wish ye did see him, for you'd be settled
in YOUR mind and I'd be easier in MINE, ef you found out what he
was doin' round yer, or ye had to admit that it wasn't no LIVIN'
man."
"What do you mean?" said the colonel, testily facing around in his
chair.
His companion also altered his attitude by dropping his other foot
to the floor, sitting up, and leaning lazily forward with his hands
clasped.
"Look yer, colonel. When you took this place, I felt I didn't have
no call to tell ye all I know about it, nor to pizen yer mind by
any darned fool yarns I mout hev heard. Ye know it was one o' them
old Spanish haciendas?"
"I know," said the colonel loftily, "that it was held by a grant
from Charles the Fifth of Spain, just as my propahty on the James
River was given to my people by King James of England, sah!"
"That ez as may be," returned his companion, in lazy indifference;
"though I reckon that Charles the Fifth of Spain and King James of
England ain't got much to do with what I'm goin' to tell ye. Ye
see, I was here long afore YOUR time, or any of the boys that hev
now cleared out; and at that time the hacienda belonged to a man
named Juan Sobriente. He was that kind o' fool that he took no
stock in mining. When the boys were whoopin' up the place and
finding the color everywhere, and there was a hundred men working
down there in the gulch, he was either ridin' round lookin' up the
wild horses he owned, or sittin' with two or three lazy peons and
Injins that was fed and looked arter by the priests. Gosh! now I
think of it, it was mighty like YOU when you first kem here with
your niggers. That's curious, too, ain't it?"
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|