Show the prospector and his bur burro ra I 1 by will C higgins it is a well known fact said the prospector to his burro that a mule or a burro is as helpless as a tenderfoot in a foot upraise if they happen to get water in their ears and a man takes a long chance if lie he attempts to cross a deep stream or swollen river with either of them and anyone who is not acquainted with the characteristics of the species would be astonished to learn how low quickly they give up and drown if they once get their heads under water why one time when I 1 was crossing the rio virgin river at flood time my burro got an marfull of water and I 1 came very near losing her and also the pack on her back and I 1 dont believe she had more than a tea spoonfuls spoon full of moisture in her head adornments at that which all goes to show that we ve must always be on the lookout for me weak spots in our outfit and equipment when making ready for a long prospecting jaunt out into tile the hills you say continued the prospector that the burro is next of kin to the desert rat and that he is not expected to be overly fond of an excess of aqua pura that by instinct lie he is a democrat and should be respected as such even if his favo beverage assumes the mild form of so greatly favored by the well known and ardent advocate of peace at any price which sentiment by tile the way is heartily echoed in your gentle breast this sentiment on your part is commendable and looks well in print but cannot well be put into practice during the rainy time we have just experienced and does not apply when the floodgates flood gates of heaven are opened and the whole country assumes the condition prevailing at the beginning when tile the whole earth was without form and vold void t and when tjien every dry arroya has been transformed into a rushing raging torrent a season when every democrat and every burro should get under cover it is a good season for tile the prospector however for when tile alie floods have subsided and after the tops of tile the pinion pine eme emerge rge from tile water and dry land appears along the canyon sid sides eshe he will find that nature has done for him what would have taken years for an army of men to accomplish for the torrents and rushing waters cutting new channels and changing the course of streams and dry gulches have very often exposed hidden ledges and fissures where mineral wealth was least suspected of course this does not always happen after a big storm and yet I 1 can well remember an experience of mine when I 1 found a goodly fortune after a big storm such as we have just experienced and as I 1 have just finished my supper and you have absorbed your usual handfuls hand full of barley I 1 will tell you about it at tile the time I 1 speak of your mother and I 1 were camped near the crest of the phantom range the weather was mild and murky when I 1 turned in for the night and your mother seemed in a most comfortable frame of mind as she wandered around camp sampling the sagebrush and taking an occasional sip of water from the little spring which bubbled from a crevice in a great mass of rock which towered above us and all was as peaceful and happy as were adam and eve after their first attack of bashfulness had given way so that they could look at each other without blushing As a matter of fact I 1 was so pleased and contented that I 1 did not notice the gathering clouds and soon fell asleep how long I 1 was a sojourner in the land of nod I 1 do not well remember but I 1 do know that I 1 was rudely awakened by a rush of water down my neck and was startled by a tusi fusi lade of rock all around me at first I 1 could hardly realize what had happened for all was as dark as the bottom of a thousand foot shaft with the cage going down A flash of lightning however disclosed the true condition of things and this was augmented by a great wave of water that came pouring down upon us from the top of the cliff and I 1 saw at once that I 1 must make my getaway get away in a hurry or meet with my finish when the great flood came and I 1 went without staying to argue the matter or even getting any of my camp belongings I 1 even think of my burro but I 1 caught up with her a thousand yards or more down the mountainside although she was covering the ground at a pace that would make a racetrack pony turn green with envy we were on the trail however and I 1 hoped that soon we would be out of the course of the flood and on safe ground I 1 was leading your mother and the water now reached only our knees and we both felt that we would soon be out of danger when suddenly the earth seemed to give way beneath us and before we could recover ourselves we were both plunged into a pool of water that was about four feet deep I 1 did not mind it much but your mother had gone down head first and when she caneup came up her ears cars were full of water this was worse to her than a solar plexus would be to a prize ring pug and S she lie gave up tile the battle right then and there I 1 did not like the idea t of losing her no none whatever and so I 1 managed after hard work to hold her head above water arid and so there we stood I 1 with my arms around her neck as if she were my dearest Mar guerette for three everlasting hours or until daylight came to show us our true position arid and condition and I 1 was glad that no kodak fiend was there to perpetuate the ridiculous picture we presented and which I 1 know would have convulsed entire nations arid and that no moving picture man was at hand to get a screamer for his screen for I 1 was too tired arid and forlorn to enjoy a good laugh even if it was at my own expense by this time the water had almost entirely subsided and as the light of day increased I 1 was enabled to take a survey of our surroundings and much to my surprise I 1 found that the great flood had cut out a new course down the mountainside and that in so doing it had cut through the bed of an ancient river channel and that the gravel of this channel were gold bearing with a shout and a hurrah I 1 unwound my arms from your mothers neck regardless of the fact that she staggered around like a chicken with its head cut off and was soon engaged in sampling with my bare hands the gravel of my newfound new found gold diggings taking my 6 hat which had fortunately remained on my head I 1 panned my samples of gold bearing material and was delighted to find that the whole bank would go about to the cubic yard by this time your mother had scrambled to dry ground and was drying herself as best she could for she looked like a drowned jackrabbit jack rabbit before noon however we had rested sufficiently to make our way to the little town at the mouth of the canyon where I 1 got together a new camp outfit as speedily as possible and inside of two days was back again to the scene of my new discovery for a week I 1 was busy making locations and in putting in some crude sluice boxes and by fall I 1 had taken out at least in the wall street metal the next spring I 1 was at it again and was getting in shape to pay off the national debt when a field man for jackling came along and offered me such a princely sum for my discovery that I 1 closed with him at once for I 1 love prospecting more than I 1 do the drudgery of actual mining and then too I 1 had enough to keep me in comfortable circumstances for years so why make a dago of myself just to keep on piling up heaps and heaps of gold that I 1 could never use 1 I want to tell you old long ears concluded the prospector it is poor policy to find fault with the failings of others forgetting entirely that you may have some weakness of your own for had it not been jor for the fact that your mother was ready to succumb when she got a little water in her ears I 1 would have failed entirely to find the great golconda gold diggings now so famous the world over and there you are and then some |