Motion Picture Story Magazine (Feb-Jul 1913)

26 TEE MOTION PICTURE STORY MAGAZINE at her pipe a second or so, and then waved an emphatic hand. "Dont know what I'm a-sayin'?" she asked, as tho she had been contradicted. "Aint I a livin' relic o' what this here world does to a person? You dont see me ridin' around in no gold chariots, an' me a-workin' my fool head off these forty-five years. You dont see me — " She stopped short and gripped her pipe hard in her mouth. She stared. She rubbed her hands, uneasily, up and down the sides of her ridingskirt. A man was before her, young, smiling and handsome. He was proffering a document of some kind, replete in seals and stamps. "I guess you know who I am," he said, with a little laugh. "No? My name's Williams. I'm with the White Eagle. I wish you'd read that." Calamity grinned uneasily. Schooling had not been her greatest work in youth. But, doggedly, she took the paper and, one by one, spelt out the words: Calamity — You was good to me once. I'm croakin', and here's my will. I give and bequeath the Black Hole Mine to you. Goodby and good luck, Wall-eyed Jake. A sudden whirling of boots, skirts and pipe. A hat went into the air. Calamity Anne, pessimist, was doing a double pigeonwing and a combination flip-flop, all at the same time. She sent one hand sweeping thru the air. 1 1 Ye-e-e-e-e-e — u-u-u-u-u-u-up-p-pP-P-P-P • ' ' sne yelled, then settled herself all in a lump. Her eyes squinted. "This aint no foolishness?" she asked, quickly. "No," Williams replied; "Walleyed Jake is dead, and you are the owner of his mine. I have been authorized by the company to give you a check for fifty thousand dollars for it. Will you take the money?" Calamity opened her mouth to speak, and held it there, voiceless. The plumping forms of two girls had descended upon her and grasped her tightly. "Calamity! Fifty thousand dollars— goodness ! ' ' There was a moment of breathless hugging, even of kisses, something Calamity could not remember ever having experienced before. The world seemed to have tipped up on edge and gracefully turned over. At last, gasping, trying to laugh, cry and talk at the same time, Calamity jumped high in the air, cracked her feet and once more waved her arms. " 01 ' Calamity 's rich ! " she shouted. "Hear me? 01' Calamity Anne's rich ! Rich aint no name for it. I 'm a-rollin' in wealth. I'm a-wallowin' in it. I'm a pesky jool-box, I am. I'm a walkin' dollar-sign. Yes, I am!" Suddenly she turned and looked hard at young Mr. Williams, of the White Eagle. "You're one o' them money-sharks," she said, shortly. ' ' I aint goin ' to take nothin ' from you but this here will. That's enough. Go on back with your old pieces of paper. Like's not taint no good, anyhow. Me 'n' th' girls is goin' to handle that mine ourselves. Savvy?" Whereupon, dragging the girls with her, talking, laughing, gripping the piece of paper tight in her hand, Calamity Anne hurried toward the little shed and saddled her one possession of locomotion — Rosie. "Now, come on, th' whole pack an' kittle of you," she ordered, as she climbed on the burro's back. The girls hung back. "We cant all ride Rosie," Lola said, half-anxiously. "I dont know whether " "What's the matter you cant?" Calamity Anne asked, excitedly. "Rosie aint no pampered pet; climb on. I guess if she can make a meal offen pine-cones, she can carry us to the Black Hole. Seen her do it yestiddy. Come 'long, you. Giddap ! ' ' And Roger Williams, mining-agent, laughed to himself as he watched a much overburdened burro start awkwardly over the trail toward the mine that had made Wall-eyed Jake rich. Then he pocketed his open check-book and laughed again.