Show F the pro prospector lip sector and his burro by will G higgins 1 I notice said the prospector to his burro that you have a very poor opinion of a dog who ghys away from a cat that thatis is making a meal of the gopher it has caught and the courage to take it away from the feline felina even though the dog is five times the sizes of the cat but I 1 observe that you keep at a safe e distance when a cat humps its back and spits a few lines of cat language at you for you dont fancy having your face scratched and gobs of hair torn out of your noble breast any more than does the vanquished dog that we saw a moment ago slinking away into the underbrush der brush with his tall tail between his legs and I 1 have noticed also that you are content to nibble at the sagebrush rather than forage in that thicket of cats paw near our camp although you know that within its environments there are patches of luxuriant grass that are very attractive to you and in this respect both you and the dog very much resemble many prospectors I 1 know who like easy picking but who shy around localities that should make good prospecting just because the way is rough or there is probability that they may get their faces and hands scratched and torn in trying to invade the fortresses of jungle undergrowth and briars which almost defy penetration and which off times conceal great ledges of bf precious preciou metal bearing rock f from rom prying eyes you say that you fail to see what connection this talk about cats and dogs underbrush der brush and patches of grass has with legitimate mining and your point appears to be well taken considering your waterbury intellect but if you will wait a minute until I 1 put a chip on the 00 in the green to win jl I will tell you how I 1 happen to know that a man will often succeed in the mining game if ll 11 he is willing to endure a few scratches and put up with unpleasant experiences experienc eg in order to chase a bonanza to its lair some f few years ago continued tile the prospector prospect oi 1 I wa was out in the mulberry range and had made my camp by the side of a peaceful mountain stream that fed a little meadow below that was a source of great satisfaction to your mother who wanted me to prospect in that section for a month but I 1 was merely passing through the country to a practically unexplored region over beyond the next divide for I 1 knew that the section I 1 was in had been run over by prospectors for the last twenty years and therefore it could not contain anything of value or they would have found it years ago and then too the ground for miles around had been overgrown with thick underbrush der brush in which were great thickets of cats paw to penetrate which was almost as perilous as to fall into the jaws of an ore crusher that was in active commission so I 1 just loafed around my camp during the evening and thought nothing more about the mineral possibilities of the country I 1 was in in the morning however as I 1 was getting breakfast preparatory to resuming my journey I 1 chanced to pick up a piece of float near my campfire camp fire it was fine looking rock and when I 1 examined it closely I 1 discovered it was gold bearing indeed flecks of the yellow metal were scattered through and through it and it was evident that it had not traveled far from the ledge which had thrown it off I 1 knew it must come from higher ground and so I 1 began prospecting towards the cats paw thicket a hundred yards above my camp and was successful in finding several more blossoms up to its very edge which seemingly presented an almost impossible barrier to further advance I 1 was not daunted however but taking my axe I 1 began cutting a path through the jungle for three days I 1 worked on this heartrending job and at night was as bloody as a butcher boy from the scratches and bruises I 1 had received from the thorns and briars but on the fourth day almost in the center of the dense thicket I 1 found a great out cropping ledge that was about six feet in width that was fairly lousy with the precious metal it is not necessary to go into the details of how I 1 managed to make several locations or how I 1 opened my find into a regular producer of how I 1 shipped to the nearest smelter until I 1 had a bank account that looked the very essence of prosperity or how I 1 finally sold my bonanza to an experienced perien ced mining man who was not afraid of a good thing when he saw it but I 1 do want to say that if I 1 had been afraid of a few scratches like you are I 1 never would have made this fortunate discovery 1 I want to tell you old long ears concluded the prospector it is all right for burros the timid the delicate and the cowardly to shy off and keep the main road when confronted with briars thorns and difficulties but the rugged stouthearted stout hearted prospector in f following lowing ol his vocation should investigate every hidden place penetrate every thicket and explore every precipice if lie he would find the secret treasure valets of dame nature and there you are and then some |