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Show HOW MARK TWAIN MISSED MISS-ED A FORTUNE An amusing story of Mark Twain's mining days in Nevada is told in the April Instalment of Albert Bigelow Palno's "Boys' Life of Mark Twain," which is running serially In St Nicho-as. Nicho-as. "The mining was rather hopeless hope-less work," sajs Mr Paino. "The constant and heavy rains were disheartening. dis-heartening. Clemens hated it and even when one afternon traces of a pocket began to appear, he rebelled as the usual chill downpour set in. " Jim,' he said, 'let's go home we'll freeze here ' "GUIs, as usual, was washing, and Clemens carrying the water. Gillis, seeing the gold 'color' improving with every pan, wanted to go on washing, and climing toward the precious pocket, regardess of wet and cold. Clemens, shivering and disgusted, vowed that each pail of water would be his last His teeth were chattering and he was wet through. Finally he said: " 'Jim, I won't carry any moro water. This work Is too disagreeable' "Gillis had just tiken out a panful of dirt. " 'Bring ono more pail, Sam,' he begged. " 'Jim, I won't do it I'm freezing.' '"Just one more pail, Sam!' Jim pleaded. " 'No, sir, not a drop not if I knew there was a million dollars in that pan!' "Gillis tore out a page of his notebook note-book and hastily posted a thirtv-day claim-notice by the pan of dirt. Then they set out for Angel's Camp, never to return. It kept on raining, and a letter came from Steve Gillis, saying he had settled all tho trouble in San Francisco. Clemens decided to return, and the miners left Angel's without visiting their claim again. "Meantime the rain had washed away the top of the pan of dirt tney ad left standing on tho hillside, exposing ex-posing a handful of nuggets, pure goldi Two strangers, Austrlans, happening along, gathered it up, and, seeing the1 claim-notice posted by Jim Gillis, sat ' down to wait until it expired. They did not mind the rain not under the circumstances and, the moment the thirty dayB were up, they followed the lead a few pans further and took out f some ten, some say twenty, thousand 1 dollars. In either caso it was a good pocket that Mark Twain missed by one pail of water." |