Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-09-26

and went TO sleep-al but one eye.
Dawn came with duh beacon fires On the
near hill tops, and, far in the east, roses over
the Sierran snow. Birds twittering in the
alder fringes a mile below, and tho creaking
Of wagon wheels-the wagon itself a mere
cloud of dust in the distant road-were heard
distinctly. Then the melting pot was SOL
EMMY broken by Don jose, and the glowing
incandescent mass turned into the road to
cool.
And then the metallurgist clipped q small
fragment from the mass and pounded it, and
Clipped another smaller piece and pounded
that, and then subjected it to acid, and then
treated it to a salt bath which became at
once milky-and at last produced a white
something-mirabile dictul-two cents worth
Of silveri
Concho shouted with joy; the rest gazed at
each other doubtingly and distrustfully; COM
panions in poverty, they began to diverge
and suspect each other in prosperity. Wiles'
left eye glanced ironically from the one to
the other.
GHere is the 500, Don Jose" said Pedro,
handing the gold to Wiles with a decidedly
brusaue intimation that the services and
presence of a stranger were no longer re-
quired.
Wiles took the money with a gracious
smile and a wink that sent Pedro's heart into
his boots, and was turning away when a cry
from Manuel stopped him:
1.-THE pot-the pot-it has leakedl looki be-
holdl seeI7
He had been cleaning way the crumbled
| fragments Of the furnace to get ready for
breakfast, and had disclosed a shining pool Of
quicksilver
Wiles started, cast a rapid glance around
the group, saw in a fash that the metal was
unknown to them, and then said, quietly:
= at is not silver.
pardon, senior, it is, and still molten"
Wiles stopped and ran his fingers through
the shining metal.
GMother of God-what is it, then?-magicf
mo, only base metal" But here, Concho,
emboldened by Wiles' experiment, attempted
to seize a handful of the glistening mass that
instantly broke through his fingers in a thou
sand tiny spherules, and even sent q few
globules up his shirt sleeves, until he danced
around in mingled fear and childish pleasure.
@And it is not worth the takingf" queried
Pedro of Wiles.
Wiles' right eye and bland face were
turned toward the speaker, but his malevo-
lent left was glancing at the dull, red-brown
rock ON the hillside.
aNoI" and turning abruptly away he pro-
ceeded to saddle his mule.
Manuel, Miguel and Pedro, left to them
selves, began talking earnestly together,
while Concho, now mindful of his crippled
mule, made his way back to the trail where
he had left her. But she was no longer there.
Constant to her master through beatings and
u llyings, she could not stand incivility and
inattention. There are certain qualities Of
the sex that belong to all minated nature.
Inconsolable, footSore and remorseful, Con-
cho returned to the camp and furnace, three
miles across the rocky ridge. But what was
his establishment on arriving to find the place
deserted of man, mule and camp cquipage.
Concho called aloud. Only the echoing rocks
grfmly answered him. Was it q trickl Con-
cho tried to laugh. Ah-yes-a good one-a
ioke-no-no-they had deserted himl And
then poor Concho bowed his head to the
ground, and falling on his face, cried us if his
honest heart would break.
The tempest passed in a moment; it was not
Concho's nature to suffer long nor to brood
over IN injury. As he raised his head again
his eye caught the simmer of the quick
silver-that pool Of merry antic metal that
had so delighted him an hour before. In a
few nomsnts Concho was again disportins
with it; chasing it here and there, rolling it
in his palms and laughing with ooy1lKe gIce
at its elusive freaks and fancies. "Ah,
syrightly one-skipjack-thero thou goest-
come here. This way-now | have thee, lit
tie one-come, muchacha-come and kiss
me- until he had quita forgotten the dcfec'
ton of his companions. And even when he
shouldered his sorry pack, no was fain to
carry his playmate away with him in his
empty leathern flask.
And yet | fancy the sun looked kindly on
him as he strobe cheerily down the black
mountain side, and his step was none the less
free nor light that he carried with him
neither the brilliant prospectS nor the crime
of his late comrades.