Show THE prospector AND BURRO A V by will C higgins at our last fireside chat said the prospector to his burro 1 I told you how we had been victorious in the battle with the hostile indians in our attempt to hold the lost spanish mine we had bad been hunting for during a period of several months and how bravely lueta the indian maid had bad met the loss of her brother in the fray being grateful that some sacrifice had been made in return for what jim and I 1 had been able to do him when assistance was most needed I 1 was deeply grieved for the chiefs son was not the only redskin who had lost his life in our defense our first duty was to bury the dead and it was quite a task but we interred the enemy dead as well as our own selecting an old but deep open cut for this purpose the common grave being surmounted with the cut stone taken from the bulkhead jim had discovered in the tunnel it was nearly dark by the time we had completed our sorrowful task and we were all glad when our own injuries could be attended to for nearly every one of us had been hurt by the missiles of our antagonists no one had sustained serious injury however and we were a weary and tired bunch when we at last found our blankets and we slept without any interruption until morning when we held a general powwow pow wow at the mouth of the tunnel ten of the friendly indians had survived the battle lueta being among the number and it was decided by them that they would now return to their camp at the northern end of the range while jim and I 1 would remain at the old mine for the purpose of further examining its workings before the departure of our friends however we all went back into the tunnel to the treasure vault jim had discovered where we made a distribution of its contents to the indian bucks we gave beautiful blankets and some of the jewelry after first letting lueta make her choice from the great abundance of rich and costly garments she quickly availed herself of the opportunity and selected some of the gold woven cloth and exquisite raiment several rare blankets and pieces of 0 f jewelry and ornaments of such splendor that even a queen might envy her they all were given bars and nuggets of gold and we did not forget to make a very choice selection which we sent as a present to the chief and his squaw our parting was both pathetic and joyful and I 1 felt a pain somewhere in the region of my heart when I 1 bid farewell to lueta and I 1 might have kissed her had this been an indian custom As it was I 1 was more than grate grateful tul and our departing friends promised to visit us within a month and from a high point on the trail along the ridge of the mountain they turned to wave us a last farewell you can imagine our fe feelings elings when we at last were alone by ourselves continued the prospector and we certainly felt more isolated than at any time since we had started out on our trip we had accomplished our purpose but our success seemed more like a dream than a reality for we had not expected so much trouble and opposition however we realized that it was up to us to make good now that we had really found the lost mine and we were more determined than ever before to take advantage of our great opportunity for we already had wealth galore in the gold bars and ingots ingols we had found in the store room off from the tunnel level to say nothing of the great value of the blankets raiment jewelry and precious stones which the spaniards had left behind them all of which was now I 1 ours and the first thing we did was to close the opening to the vault so that nothing might happen to the treasure we were sadly in need of rest and so we soldiered on the job the next two or three days jim went out after deer and brought in a fine buck while I 1 angled in the waters of the stream flowing below the old dumps and succeeded in landing several speckled beauties weighing from two to four pounds each and that night we had a smoking hot supper of delicious fish and venison after which we went to bed feeling like kings and we slept until the morning sun warned us that it was time to get down to real business the first thing we did after breakfast was to make a careful examination of the old the framework of which was a wreck after so many years but the old stone crushers with their iron rings almost rusted apart were still in evidence and in the bed of the there was some ten pounds of amalgam still holding captive its yellow metal as the old owners of the mine had eviden evidently tl departed in such haste that they could not stay to make a final cleanup by the side of the there were several tons of quartz all of which was greatly but when we broke some of the larger pieces we found them full of gold and the gold was as bright and sparkling as if just from the mint this gave us some idea as to the value and character of the ore to be found in the mine and we were determined to find more of it if the ledge had not become exhausted in one of the stone cabins we found an old and rather crude retort and also a furnace and the moulds in which the gold bricks and ingots ingols had been cast we also found several flasks flacks of quicksilver which had been brought from spain so you can see that we were well provided with the means of gold recovery providing more of the ore was to be found in the mine for we could easily rebuild the and we could use your mother and her companion in generating power at the sweep in a corner of the cabin we came across the skull of a white man and the flint arrowhead still imbedded bedded im in it fully explained the cause of his death this rather flustered us at first but we arrived at the conclusion that the whole mine force had been slaughtered so that no man ever reached home to tell about the mine or of the indian attack that caused its desertion ser tion the next morning we decided to make an examination of the old workings of the mine we intended making an allday all day job of it and so took with us plenty ofa of acan candles some rope water and a small quantity of provisions we went into the main tunnel first going by our treasure vault we could not help but tarry there for a minute or so recalling the stirring events that led up to its recovery the tunnel was in a remarkable state of preservation and the ventilation was perfect indicating an opening further on through which fresh air circulated most freely we were glad of this for we had feared gas and poisonous fumes so deadly in old and abandoned mines for nearly a quarter of a mile we made our way in the tunnel before observing any indication of a vein of ore at that distance from its mouth however we found where a ledge had crosscut cross cut the course of the workings and we judged that it must have been all of five feet in width here and there some ore had been left in place and it was as rich in its gold content as was the quartz we had found down by the old drifts had been run on the vein in both directions and the ore taken out in an upraise that extended so far above us that we could not even judge of its heigh heights th dut but we concluded it must have nearly reached the surface as at one point we could see a little glare of daylight which opening we were sure accounted for the excellent ventilation from here on we were obliged to move cautiously for dinzes had been sunk at intervals along the floor of the tunnel the largest of which we finally decided to investigate at the top of this an ancient windlass still stood intact it was war built of cedar and was seemingly in good condition and able to stand the strain of my weight for I 1 had to go down and see what decided was at na the torn tom so we fastened the bot rope we brought to the drum of the arct ha hoist and wound it up then I 1 fastens fasten 4 other end around my body under ray my a arm and swung out into the collar of the jim was chief engineer and handled crank and so I 1 felt perfectly secure i must have been down about thirty feet an getting along nicely when all of a budde I 1 felt myself falling rapidly and knew that nat something had happened with the rope or windlass it was only for a brief moment however that I 1 had time to think for the first think I 1 knew I 1 found myself dumped at the bottom of the and before I 1 could even guess guess if I 1 had been hurt jim jh came piling down on top of me we deboa na were stunned and badly shiken shaken up and my neck was so twisted I 1 could hardly turn ii after recovering our breath and finding that tat no bones had been broken jim explain to me that the handle of the crank tai bad broken in his hands causing him to loss IV his balance resulting in his falling into ge As he fell he had grasped the roy ro but this however did not stay his fall te for the windlass went spinning around likel hie t buzz saw until the end of the rope TO reached and before it was jerked from ka fo fastenings on the drum his descent iri id been checked somewhat so that I 1 did not get the full violence of his fall wem we w mighty sore however and it was sev severi hours before we could could stir around any tha we found that the rope had come down downman 0 jim and that our chance of escape up tk had been cut off it was fortuna for us that jim had the grub bag and tb canteen of water strapped to his beltow belt aa this came in mighty hai handy idy as we W were thirsty and hungry by this time eating we fell asleep and must have beg te in dreamland for hours for when we ON avo at last it was quite a while before we e jve ir wet ta zed what had happened to us both sore and stiff and had no idea 1100 how were to escape from our bk we wished we were safely in the of odthe the to stone cabin near the mouth dl just how we escaped or W were ere rescue i for I 1 I 1 tell you in our next conversation tired turning in time now and I 1 am sleepy 1 I want to tell you old L long on gEars ea eluded the prospector chiny my experience eapen e less the old windless taught me I a ever since then I 1 have never judged ju before thing by external appearance 2 3 f even eve bouncing noun cing it safe and sound or lor looking apple may be rotten it at the and there you are and then some |