Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-06-08

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they had as yet but found the tall o.
the pocket. Returning to the vein
they dug a sample from a new place
and were about to carry it down the
ravine and test it, when the rain be-
gan to pour down heavily, and Mark.
with chatteriDg teeth, declared he
would remain no longer.
He said there was no sense in freez'
ing to death, as in a day or two, when
it was bright and warm, they could
return and pursue their investigation
in comfort. Yielding to Marks en-
treaties, backed as they were by his
blue nose, bumped back and generally
miserable and detected appearance,
Jim emptied the sack ofdirt upon the
ground, first having written and post
ed up a notice of their claim to a GER
tain number of feet on the vein,
which notice would be good for thirty
days. Angels camp being at no great
distance, while their cabin was some
miles away, Mark and jim struck out
for that place. The only hotel in the
little mining camp was kept by Coon
DraytOn, an old Mississippi river pilot,
and at his house the half-drowned
pocket miners found shelter. Mark
having for some years followed the
BUSINESS Of pilot en- the Mississippi, he
and Coon were soon good friends, and
snapped scores of yarns. 1t contiu-
ued to rain for three days, and until
the weather cleared up Mark aud Jim
remained at Coon's hotel.
Among the yarns told Mark by
Coon was that Of the jumping Frog, :
and it struck him as being so comlcal
that he determined to write it up in
good shape; and when he returned to
the ellis cabin Mark set to work
upon it. He also wrote some sketches
OF life in the mines for the San Fran
cisco Morning Call. Mark did not
think as much Of the frog story as he
did when he first heard it. He gave
some other sketches the preference,
and sent them to the Call and other
papers. Steve ellis, however. de.
olared it was the best thing he had
written, aud advised him to save and
publish it in a book Of sketches that
was talked Of. A literary turn having
thus been given to the thoughts Of the
inmates Of the ellis cabin. a month
passed without a return to the busi'
ness of pocket mining.
While the days were passed by
Mark and his friends in discussing
the merits of the jumping Frog"
other p~rospectors were not idle. A
trio of Austrian miners who were out
in search of gold bearing quartz hap
pened upon the spot where Mark aud
Jim had dug into their ledge. 1t was
but a few days after they had retreated
from the spot in the pouring rain. The
Austrian p%rospectorS were not a little
astonished at seeing the ground liter
ally glittering with gold. Where the
dirt emptied from the sack had been
dissolved and washed away by the rain
lay some three ounces Of bright quartz
gold. The Austrians were not long
in gathering this, but the speedy dis
covery of the notice forbade their
delving into the deposit whence it
came.
They could only wait and watch and
pray in the hope that the parties who
put up the notice would not return
while it still held good. The sun that
rose on the morning Of the day aftcr the
Twain. Gillis notice expired saw the
A4strians in possession of the ground,
with a notice Of their own conspicu-
ously and defantly posted. The new
corners cleaned out the pocket, obtain.
ing a little over $500 in a few days.
Had Mark Twain's backbone held
out a little longer the sack of dirt
would have been washed and tie
grand discovery made. He you'd
not then have gone to Angels Camp,
and would never have heard or writ
ten up the story Of jumping Frog
the story which gave him his first
boost" in the literary world. He
would never have given up the chase,
and to this day,when gray as a badger,
he would have been pounding quartz
as Jim ellis "pard" in the Sierra
Nevada mountains.