41 Lure O Gold 1904

"
"
The Lure o 9
Gold
was about to be taken away from before their very eyes.
In their wild, distorted view of the matter, half
choked with the bad air, and with their brains a-buzzing,
it must have seemed to them that they were about
to be robbed; and so they pressed aft down the alley, a
fierce, hot mass of half-naked, maniacal men, fired to
the last drop
of their blood with the relentless lust of
gold.
it !
"Keep him off keep him off! Don t let him get
cried several of the mob.
"Where is the gold? Let s see it let s see it!
shouted hysterical voices.
"
"
Stand back !
yelled Fishley.
"
The ain t no gold
here. He s fakin . Th
ain t no gold
!
I saw Trust s evil face near mine. He was pawing
at the canvas which I had replaced upon the buckskin
bags. I kicked his arm away, clapped the piece of
planking back in its place and lay heavily upon it.
Two men of the swaying, struggling mass fell near me,
suffocated by the foul air and the steam of the hot,
reeking bodies that were fighting their way aft.
I saw
Fishley on his knees near me, and in his hand was a
shining something
bent over me with uplifted hand.
that must have been a knife. He
[232]
I struck at his face