David Lannarck, Midget | Page 8

I do have a shack that is very
comfortable. It has a fireplace and a stove. I have plenty of blankets and
wood and grub. But what about sickness--home-sickness! What about
the terrors of loneliness that sometimes drive people mad! The wide
open spaces have their handicaps, as I well know. For a year or more I
have had just that experience. I have suffered, along with the joys of
being wholly alone. Truly, I went into it with a bigger aversion to

human society than you have, and I have not escaped.
"Yes, I have a shack, a good one, and a few score acres, but it's not a
ranch. It's not stocked, has no barn or stables, and no crop but the
native grass. It was a dreamer's plaything and I bought it with scant
savings that should have been spent on another project. But it looked
like I just had to own it in order to carry on."
"What's your other project?" asked Davy, curious to know why a man
with a ranch would not be ranching.
"Mining," replied Welborn. "Placer mining back in a canyon or gulch
that never felt a human footfall before I stumbled into it. It's a limited
thing--limited to this ravine that is not more than fifty feet wide and a
half a mile long. It was probably the old stream bed back before the
Tertiary ages, but when the troubled mountain took another surge, it
was left high and dry, twenty feet above water. I was working it this
summer but the little bear cubs took most of my time. It takes a full day
to lug enough water up to the canyon levels to wash out a pan of gravel.
It takes the big part of the day to lower a sack of gravel down to the
water, but at that, I have made wages. Now, I have an old rocker that
was abandoned in the stream bed, but I need a pump so I can use the
rocker right on the gravel bar. As it is a one-man job, it should be a
force pump with a gasoline engine. All this costs money and it takes a
long time to pan out enough dust to pay the bill. Really I had the money,
but I just had to spend it in buying the cabin and land that was the only
entrance to the placer bed. I just couldn't work the one without owning
the other. Then too, I will have to blast a hole in the rock wall to get the
pump located, after that, one year is all I want. One year's work will
clean up all that one man ought to have. Of course I have practically
lost this summer on account of the bear cub capers, and winter is at
hand, but the outlook is better, thanks to your diplomacy and aid. With
the money, I can live this winter and accomplish many things. By
spring, I should be under full production."
"But you wouldn't stay up there in that solitude with no person around
but an old grouch that probably would not have a word to say for days
at a time?"

"Yes I think I would," said Davy slowly but firmly. "I think I can risk
my case as to care and friendship with a man who is considerate to little
bears."
Some of the circus people had finished the meal and were filing out of
the tent, but Davy stayed, grimly determined to win his point. "About
what would be the cost of this proposed mine equipment, and could I
do some ranching around there while this was going on?"
"I figure it will take three hundred dollars to buy the pump, pump-jack
and engine; these, with a few lengths of hose and some dynamite, are
all that's required. Of course there will be some labor costs in getting
the pump installed, but three hundred will pay all bills."
"Is that all? Why we can get that amount from Lew up at the ticket
wagon. He will cash my check for that amount and be glad to do it.
Holdups, you know, pass up checks. Therefore, Lew likes checks.
When do you want it? Let's get it now while there is a lull in business,
and you can take the pump and pipe and other gadgets right back with
you in the truck."
"Do you mean that you will go with me--now--on the truck? It's more
than a hundred miles to Carter's filling station and fully twenty miles
more over the roughest roads--or rather no roads--to the Gillis place
and then two miles more. Why, it's an all-night trip if we were to start
right now!"
"No, I am to stick with the show to