Show the prospector and his burro it was a soggy disagreeable day like this five years ago said the prospector to his burro that an old desert hermit came to my camp he was ragged and almost barefoot and had ev evidently denthy tra traveled veed a long distance for he was as hungry as a hawk and almost all in he was a very quiet man and did not seem much inclined to conversation but I 1 could see that he had something on his mind which I 1 would have to wait until the impulse seized him before he would be ready to take me into nis confidence indeed he was as unfathomable as a burro that is grouchy and so I 1 let him alone for two or three days during which time he eat slept and smoked at last however he became communicative and told me a story that was a thrill thriller br to say the least and one that goes to prove that a lone prospector now and then meets with an adventure equal in interest to the stories told by jules verne iverne you want to know who jules verne is well you are as bad as an eight year o old d kid but I 1 cannot answer all of your questions if you want me to go on with my story so do not cot interrupt me any more let me see oh yes I 1 was talking about the old hermit when you broke into my narrative this man had lived for years in one of the most inaccessible portions of the desert range he had a little gold mine from which he secured a pittance chent for his meager wants and wa s contented to live all alone by himself him sef year after year of course there were a few who knew of his presence in the country but the greater portion of these were shiftless indians who camped one summer in one canyon and the next summer in another one but the these were always on the go and the most secret and hidden places were spied out by them sooner or later and it is often the case that the greatest gold discoveries of the day are made by the red skins well one of these indians continued the prospector prospect ort came to the camp of the hermit one day and showed him some pieces of quartz which were literally lousy with gold and offered to show the white man the locality of the find if he would make an even break with him and divide whatever was the outcome of the venture to this the hermit agreed and the next morning they both set out for the new eldorado which the indian said was two days distant and near the head of a most precipitous and rugged canyon locally known as mountain goat gap the way was rough and almost unapproachable but the two managed after two days of toil in reaching the mouth of the canyon here they camped for a day as they sadly needed rest during the day the herma skirmished around some and was astonished at the quantities of rich gold float he found on every hand but this did not interest the indian to any extent none whatever for he said the rock to be found above was much richer the next day another nother i start stait was made and by noon a shelving ledge was encountered over which it was necessary to crawl on hands and knees before further progress could be made surmounting this difficulty the two followed the course of the mountain stream through walls so 0 high as to give one the impression of passing through a cut in the rocks further up the canyon widened and leaving the stream a detour was made until the two arrived at a blowout blow out which seemed to overhang the canyon through which they had but recently passed it was now neary nearly dark and so a camp was made for the night during wh ch a fire was kept alive continually in order to keep away the mountain lions which were prowling around you want to know if the lions were fierce well they woud aou d have made short work with an over inquisitive burro and you would have had no show there not on your fife life and you will not get the rest of this story if you keep butting in in the morning the hermit began looking around and he soon became so bewildered at the sight of so much gold that he could do nothing for awhile but stare about him like a crazy man in one place above the blowout blow ou out t there was a big crevice in the rock the s des of which were completely covered with native gold going into this cavern the hermit and the indian spent several hours in exploring various eaves caves and winding pa sages for the hermit had taken candles with him on every hand the walls were studded with quartz in which pure gold sparkled like diamonds and in places between walls there were bodies of solid ore which carried at 1 least east to the ton in the yellow metal from morning until night the two remained in the crevice and cave and it was not until hunger urged them on that they started to return to the outside what was their terror and horror however to find that the entrance to the crevice was guarded by two of the most ferocious lions they had ever seen not being armed as their rifles had been left in camp they were corn com belied to remain all night in the cave the next day the situation was no better and a second night of enforced imprisonment found them in a nearly perishing condition from hunger and thirst on the second day an examination was made of the crevice to see if there was no other way of exit finally a break was found which led upward the passage was so small that great ditcu ty was experienced in getting through but finally after hours of the hardest kind of work the surface was reached at least a mile away from where they had first entered the crevice both were so weak they could hardly travel the hermit in pass passing ing over a fissure lost his footing and fell for a distance of fifty or seven ty five feet fortunately his fall was broken by a heavy growth of mountain cedar near the toot foot of which a little litte stream of water trickled scratched bleeding and torn he camped by this water until far into the next day then he began to wander A pine hen with a broken wing he succeeded in capturing and this with mountain berries helped out his bill of fare he had been separated from his companion and had lost his bearings completely in a word he was lost and it was only by accident that he stumbled into my camp more than ten days after his remarkable experience As a mesut of this conversation with the hermit I 1 had decided to join him in the effort to rediscover this wonderful find and we were to start out within two days in the meanwhile however the hermit went stark raging mad and ever since has been an inmate of the asylum for the insane in one of the inter mounta mounia n institutions of this character and I 1 am only waiting until he comes out cured in order to take up the search for this banana proposition 1 I want to tell you old long ears concluded the prospector all of the great mines of this country have not been found as yet the mountains are full of them we pass them by almost every day because we are too lazy and trifling to look into the almost inaccessible places too many of us do our min ng n 0 in the barroom bar room and are too willing to do our prospecting with a field glass the roulette wheel is more alluring to us than the mountain trail the deep canyons and the mountain tops for this reason hundreds of splendid prospects remain to be discovered and there you are and then some |