Page:On the border with Crook - Bourke - 1892.djvu/421

 expected, rather crude in outline and construction, but the furniture was remarkably good, and the table decidedly better than one had a right to look for, all circumstances considered. Owing to the largeness of our party, the escort and packers were divided off between the "I. X. L." and the "Centennial" hotels, while the horses and mules found good accommodations awaiting them in Clarke's livery stable. I suppose that much of this will be Greek to the boy or girl growing up in Deadwood, who may also be surprised to hear that very many of the habitations were of canvas, others of unbarked logs, and some few "dug-outs" in the clay banks. By the law of the community, a gold placer or ledge could be followed anywhere, regardless of other property rights; in consequence of this, the office of The Pioneer was on stilts, being kept in countenance by a Chinese laundryman whose establishment was in the same predicament. Miners were at work under them, and it looked as if it would be more economical to establish one's self in a balloon in the first place.

That night, after supper, the hills were red with the flare and flame of bonfires, and in front of the hotel had assembled a large crowd, eager to have a talk with General Crook; this soon came, and the main part of the General's remarks was devoted to an expression of his desire to protect the new settlements from threatened danger, while the citizens, on their side, recited the various atrocities and perils which had combined to make the early history of the settlements, and presented a petition, signed by seven hundred and thirteen full-grown white citizens, asking for military protection. Then followed a reception in the "Deadwood Theatre and Academy of Music," built one-half of boards and the other half of canvas. After the reception, there was a performance by "Miller's Grand Combination Troupe, with the Following Array of Stars." It was the usual variety show of the mining towns and villages, but much of it was quite good; one of the saddest interpolations was the vocalization by Miss Viola de Montmorency, the Queen of Song, prior to her departure for Europe to sing before the crowned heads. Miss Viola was all right, but her voice might have had several stitches in it, and been none the worse; if she never comes back from the other side of the Atlantic until I send for her, she will be considerably older than she was that night when a half-drunken