The eagle's wing: A story of the ColoradoBower, B. M.
General
The eagle's wing: A story of the Colorado
Bower, B. M.
Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico) -- Fiction; Gold mines and mining -- Fiction; Western stories
“You’re a King, thank God. I’ve watched you grow. Six feet and over, and no
water in _your_ blood, by the looks. You’re like I was at your age. Johnny
knows. He can remember how I looked when I had two legs. Here. You take
these--they’re yours, and all the good you can get out of them. Read ’em both.
Read ’em till you get the good that’s in ’em. If you’re a King, you’ll do it.”
He held out two worn little books. Rawley took them, eyeing them queerly. One
was a Bible, the old-fashioned, leather-bound pocket size edition, with a
metal clasp. The other book was smaller; a diary, evidently, with a leather
band going around, the end slipping under a flap to hold it secure.
“I will--you bet!” Rawley made his voice as hearty as his puzzlement would
permit. “Thanks, Grandfather.”
“I meant ’em for your father--but he wasn’t the man to get anything out of ’em
worth while. A milksop--wore spectacles before he wore pants! His idea of
success was to shove money out to other people through a grated window. Paugh!
When he told me that was his ambition, I came near burning the books. Johnny
could tell you. He stopped me--only time in his life he ever stuck his foot
through the wheel of my chair and anchored me out of reach of the fire. Out of
reach of my guns, too, or I’d have killed him maybe! Johnny said, ‘You wait.
Maybe more Kings come--like Grandfather.’
“So I did wait, and after a while I could watch you grow--all King. I could
tell by the set of your shoulders and the tone of your voice and the way you
went straight at anything you wanted. So there’s your legacy, boy, from King,
of the Mounted. Ask any of the old veterans who King, of the Mounted, was! You
read those books.” He lifted a bony finger and pointed. “There’s a lot in that
Bible--if you read it careful.”
“You bet, Grandfather!” Rawley undid the clasp and opened the book politely.
The old man twisted his lips into a sardonic smile. His eyes gleamed, indigo
blue, under his shaggy black brows. Then, as if reminded of something
forgotten, he dipped into the box, fumbled a bit and held out his hand to
Rawley.
“You’re a mining expert; maybe you can tell me where I picked them up.” His
eyes bored into Rawley’s face.
Rawley bent his head over the three nuggets of gold. He weighed them in his
hand, turned them to the light of the lamp which Johnny Buffalo had lifted
from the table and held close.
“Greenhorns think that gold is gold,” Rawley grinned at last. “And so it
is--but you left a little rock sticking to this one, Grandfather. So I’ll
guess Nevada.”
“Hunh!” The old man’s eyes sparkled. “What part?”
Rawley glanced up at him with the endearing King smile. “Say, I’m liable to
fall down on that! But I reckon King, of the Mounted, will put me flat against
the wall before he quits, anyway. So--well, how about Searchlight?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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