Wichita eagle., 1888-03-16
MY MOUNTAIN OF GOLD.

While was in Europe, nearly twenty years
ago, teaching the world that there was some
thing else than grizzly bears and centipedes il
California, and inducing English travellers
TO make the circuit Of the globe by way Of
our lines instead of going to and from Aus
tralla direct-I say while engaged in this nc
Light task, and with what success let the land
testify, some enterprising newspapers diScov.
cred that the secret Of my life on Mount
Shasta among the savages was not for the
lofty purposes Of writing poetry from ma
ture, but for the purpose of robbery and
plumber.
And | did not deny it. So far from that
took the facts, as furnished me by the news
papers of the time. and wrote out a full and
elaborate confession. But l stopped short of
the secret source of my wealth: the vast
wealth which paved my way to the first steps
OF the thrones of Europe. And now again
these same enterprising historians of my
deeds are pushing their inquiries as to the
source of my present great fourtune For
how indeed can a man build castle and be
the lord of so many acres in the suburbs Of q
great city without mountain of gold, or at
least canyons of buried treasure at his back
Besides that another delegation of old miners
and mountaineers, who got all their facts
from the same source, have come down from
their snowy heights to gaze on the secrets of
''The Lost Cabin ''The Buried Treasure. "
"The Mountain of Gold"
Well, | am growing old; and remembering
the time and money that has been spent in
searching for the lost treasure of Capt Kidd
and his companions, | have resolved at last
to take up the narrative where / left off in
my book, and give The Golden Era the story
of the discovery of my mountain of gold and
every incident connected herewith I'D to the
last moment | beheld it. And in return for
this secret l only ask that you who under
take the perusal of this narrative will read it
to the end. For all the point, all the pur-
pose, all the real secret and solid truth and
moral Of the matter lies in the last para
graph, if not in the last line In fact | feel
quite certain that if we could only get ut the
true deathbed confessions Of some of our
greatest men-aS the world estimates great
ness to-day-we would find something not
very widely different from this | have here
set down.
But i know you are eager to hear of the
gold, and proceed at once In my nara
tive heretofore published, after the escape
from the old adobe prison, record tho fact
that We rode and rode night and day and day
and night, and were now near to the borders
Of the river in the dear old mountains Tho
Indian girl had brought the best mon of her
tribe, also her father and her three brothers.
to aid in the escape and fight. Be patient
/ pass hurredly on over the bloody event
that left me entirely alone | must | see,
come at once TO the mountain of gold.
We met the soldiers who had been set to
watch for us at the steep and wooded cross
ing of deep, wide river. We did not at
tempt TO turn back on our weary and half
dead horses; but, dashing TO one side, we
leaped, desperate and reckless, down the pre-
cipitouS bank and struck out bravely for the
steep basatic precipice that frowned to the
very clouds on the other side
And OH the rain of deadly lead that fol-
lowed and that fell from the soldiers rs they
stood on the high bluff above and fired down
upon our heads.
Weary, SO weary! Slow, so slow! The
deep and the dark and the cold blue waters
from the eternal mountain of waters before
us were SO cherries and so chill. The rain
of lead from above, the steep and in2cCcSsi-
BILE bluff before, the deep, dark waters below,
were a tomb to many now. 4 shot would
strike a horse III the spine, the back of the
head, anywhere, and he would then drift
Silently uOWn, lne not DlOOu pursuing from
the nostrs and reddening the blue waters
far around. A shot would strike an Indian IL
the back, on the head. He would slip from tbs
saddle silently, and down, down and away:
the great boughS of the mighty pines and frs
and cedar and tamarack leaning darkly over
And down, down, down, one after another
under that rain of deadly lead, till only l
and the Indian girl, as if we had been too
for iaatb to find tbprp in ha Ior.-
deep waters-we alone survived Us we neared
the steep and snow crowned bluff before us.
Another. a last farewell, shot from the
soldiers on the bank behind us, and l climbed
out on the reedy, grassy, deSolape and lonely
bank alone!
How / wanted to die! To die and float
away in the great watery tomb with those
who had silently died for me. | arose at last
and went to the water, and there saw two
little hands clinging TO the grass roots, two
brown bare arms reaching up from out the
water, too weak TO climb up, too weak to
cling longer, just letting go, the warm blood
making the waters red around her!
caught up and with all my strength
bore her back and up against the steep bluff
that was warm with sunshine gone away
/ implOred her to speak. But she could
only look al me, her lips QuivcrinC, her little
brown hands clutching, her life blood trick
ling down on the grasses. Be patient; l
come to the gold scene soon!
At length the curious moon came out from
the lofty tree tops on the other side, and
looked down at this child of the woods in
pitying wonder. And then the stars. larger
than tiger lilies, they too came down to see.
For the girl was dead. laid her down on
the dry reeds, pine cones and drift wood, and
stood there alone, so alone!
And nv desolate life widened and widened
there, widened away till it touched and took
in the shores of death, and | was even then
as an old man. Patience; come to the gold
soon!
But where now! What next? We had
drifted down. down, after having been forced
TO take to the river. far below the crossing:
and here stood face front TO steep and
stupendous precipice, whore no human feet
had ever trod.
Only little spot Of sand and stone, with
its drift of washed and whitened wood, the
nine cones the kelp, the weeds, the thousand
curious bits of bark and leaf and cast away I
nv wants and got nv meals regularly, I sell
dom INQUIRED where she went or how long
she stayed
"Who are your gasped.
No reply.
"Let me gorn / shrieked. 81 shall alarm
the neighbors.
Not sound but the echo of my own voice
among the rafters
Help! Help" l screamed.
I'll. .--;- ~ rs-. -sih.;-, .:~h.-.,>I O--