OCR Text |
Show Legend of the Lost Mine ... I; By JAMES BLACK $ (O, 1914, WaaUrn Newspaper Union.) CLOWLT the tired burros paced across the sand-blown track. The desert marches had brought them to the end of their resources, but they plodded on, conscious, like Hnynes, that evening would see them at the beginnings be-ginnings of cultivation. That traversing of the sandy waste had been the worst thing In Ilaynes' prospecting experience. He had come clear across El Inferno, well named and something that he bad been told could not be done. Rut It was the legend of the lost mine attracted him. And he hod not found It. It was a myth of the Imagination. Imag-ination. Well, at least he knew that now. He had paid for his experience. experi-ence. Suddenly his eye caught something lying In the snnd some distance away. A dead coyote no, a man I He ran townrd him. To his astonishment aston-ishment It was an old man, nenrlng eighty, Hnynes would have adjudged, a prospector, as was evidenced from his pack beside him. The sagging trail In the sand showed that he, too, had crossed the desert, from a point some distant away from that which Haynes had selected se-lected for his own starting point. Haynes had only enough water to take him to his destination, but he poured a half down the old man's throat. Presently the prospector opened his eyes. He began to talk, although al-though he seemed not to know where he was. Ilaynes listened he was speaking of Lost Mme. "I found her," he was babbling. "It was ma found what they call Lost Mine. You'll hear rumors of her everywhere In all the mining comps, but It was me brought back the word. Gold, the richest ever dug from the bowels of the earth rich, red gold for the taking. "I was a young man this was long years ago. I hit on her by chance. I'd been prospectin' and I got lost In the desert, and all my water wos gone. Mad with thirst and delirious I must have been, and I wandered on and on without knowln' where I was goin'. "Then I woke with the taste of water wa-ter on my tongue, and a woman's face bendin over me. And there wns trees around, and flowers, and ripe fruits hangln' down. "It was an oasis In the middle of the howlln' desert, and when I come to Peplta told me about It. It appears ap-pears her grandfather and grandmother grand-mother had found the place when they was travelln west, and they had been fleeln' from the Indians who then scoured the plains. They liked It and they stayed. They never wanted to leave It. They was happy In each other's company. "There Peplta was born, and there her mother and father died. And she'd lived there alone, an never seen an other human beln'. "And she nursed me and tended mi and showed me the gold In the rocks, and for a long time I lived with her happy and content. What was the gold to me? "But then I began to hanker after the world without, and wanted to tuke Peplta away with me. And she cried and begged me to let her stay, because be-cause she'd heard the world wus hard, and cruel people In It. "But me I was dreamln' of gettin' the gold out of the rocks, and takln' Peplta somewhere where we could live In comfort and elegance. And I missed seeln' other folks. "And one mornln', while Feplta was asleep, I stole away. Somehow 1 don't know how I crossed the desert. But I never found my way back to Lost mine." Tears burst from under the shriveled shriv-eled eyelids of the old man. "All my days since I been tryln' to strike Lost mine, hopln to find Peplta God, If ever I found It I'd never leave again. And I can see It now, as well as ever before, with the fruits and flowers, and my gel a-walt'.n' for me" Suddenly a marked change came over the old man's face. He nit up and extended his arms. "Peplta !" he shouted. "Look, thnr she stands, stranger. I found her Jest as I told you and she ain't grown old I I'm comln. Peplta I" Haynes folded the blanket over the dead face. |