The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-04-07


 and small stones, was not easy for an inexperienced miner to move. And though George Elmair swung the pick, bringing it's point down in bet ter position each day; though, with his hands unused to labor, he left the mark of his blood on the hard wooden handles, and worked the small rockets until the gold was caught in the ruff fles, and his flesh scared with many a deep cut the water leaves as it's com pliments; he could not pay the high prices for meals at the restaurants" :" nor the lodging house charge for a very hard bed.
 If he had had companion to share his hardship he could have made light of them; but he was alone, and a lonely laugh brought forth fearful echos from the hole in the rocks.
 The contempt the miners felt for his "edication and handsome face" he re- turned for their "roughness, gambling and drinking"; and though his letters to his mother were fnll of cheerfulness, he loathed openly committed sins of the mountain camp, feeling with a shudder that from under velvet cov- ering his mother had rescued him.
 So he withdrew more and more into himself, found an unused ''dugout" in the mountains for cabin, and, buying 8 sack of flour and side of bacon with his last silver, bravely started "cabin- ing" for himself.
 Mother! It was the thought of her that kept him from despair, kept him from tossing his young life, as a worthless gift, back to his Creator. What brave letters she wrote! How she believed in himl He must repay her So he struggled on, against want and disappointment, until that cold evening, shivering in his "dugout," he had gone to the store, had seen the red rock and resolved to find the ledge.
 Georges pluck in hitting Ned had delighted him more than the great fellow himself.
 "Here, lad, here's luck Drink wi'us ter yer findin' the red ledge," had called out several voices. And even though the lad refused, the miners had all drunk to him, wiping their mouths with the back of their hands, and calling him "derned plucky."
 He was plucky, starting out the next morning, walking up the gulch, keeping his eyes earthward, picking up bits of the red quartz, which in mining parlance is called "float." These "foats" persistently stopped at the foot of one great bald peak, whose only ornament was a dead cedar, which had gained for it the sobriquet of "Injun's Arrow" For it's tall, sharp spire stuck out against the sky like a giants sharpened weapon. Nothing had ever been found on this bald peak; not even powder broke it's smooth surface. nor wild flowers which, during spring and early sum- mer, cover these mountains. Alone, with it's "Injun's Arrow" the head stood for centuries.
 "It is nothing but country earth, the wash of some waves millions of years ago, when these valleys were great seas," said George to himself, adding the miners beliefs to his own theories
 So he passed the bold peak, search ing still farther up the gulch for the bits of red float.
 None could be found.
 "Well, Pll try here, for it's nowhere else," he said, and began the ascent to- wards "Injun's Arrow"
 He had walked good distance, slipping, falling and pulling himself up, before bit of red rock greeted his eyes, when suddenly, after back ward look where the valley hung with the mornings mist, seemed the land of plenty and not 8 sandy waste, he started forward again, and just at his feet great piece of the rock he was searching for lay before him.
 He picked it up with a cry of joy. He had not felt SO glad since, as "stroke," his crew had won the college race.
 For he was on the right track. He knew it, and he would persevere.
 He kept his resolution, though day after day he would spend hours in searching, and then, after "packing"- the western term for carrying-whole stacks of rock down to the spring, only tiny bits of red quartz would re- ward his labor.
 His money was gone, his food was scarce, his strength failed fast; yet, panting, exhausted, on he toiled. The whole camp grew interested in him. The men betted on him; some even speculated whether it would "jest be neighbor-like ter offer him loan, 5 but his proud bearing and reserve made them "kinder 'shamed." One day the maddest desire for liquor came to him. He felt if he had but one drink te warm him he would