Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1891-10-09
e THE GREAT CINCH.

The scene, a box canyon in southern
Arizona, was lonely enough. The rocky
walls shut out the morning sun rays, and
the only trees in sight were somber ever
greens and thickets of cbaparaL The
aspect of the rugged landscape was sug
gestive of their primitive inhabitants-the
apache Indian and the grizzly bear.
Yet in this secluded spot there were
signs of human life and activity in the
shape of rude miners "shack," open in
front, with three sides formed of upright
poles chinked with mud and roof Of
overlapping splints. It stood near large
freshly dug hole in the canyon side.
Picketed by rope tied to his foreleg ar
aged burro was feeding on the dry heritage
Of the canyons bottom. In the excavation
in the mountain side raw looking youth
was working very moderately, using alter
nateIy pick and shovel. A shock of tow
hair ran wild beneath his hat brim, and g
stray tuft like tassel appeared through 6
hole in the crown. This young fellow was
Joe Dobbs, late of Missouri, and the object
of his labors was to develop Peg Leg
Crawford's newly located mine, Great
Cinch, in Bueno canyon in the Chiricahua
range.
This mine was at present in the stage Of
a hole in the ground with prospects ahead,
but the Indications of mineral were good
and had grown better as the digging went
on. A good face had been cleared against
the rock, and when the proprietor-now or
a trip to town for supplies return
blasting was to begin. Joe was not tc
share in the profits of the mines develop
ment. He was merely shiftless boy
picked up "dead broke" at Camp Bowie
and taken along by Crawford for the sake
Of his work and company at the price Of
his grub and a shadowy promise Of
wages If the mine turned out we'll. The
decrepit burro had been turned out to die
by his Mexican owner, and Joe had driven
him to camp, ''as starter for herd" be
said.
The shadows of the beetling cliff on the
southeast, which during the first half oil
the day lay across the canyons bottom
slowly shifted eastward until blaze OF
bright sunshine in the mouth of the tunnel
informed Joe Dobbs that moon o'clock, u
as he termed it, was approaching. The boy
was not fond of labor, and it did not re-
quire many minutes endurance of the hot
suns rays to convince him that it was time
to stop work and get something to eat
There is little doubt that he arrived at this
decision fully an hour in advance of the
time it would have been reached had Mr..
Crawford been with him instead of pre-
sumably somewhere on the San Simon
plain coming back with his burros and
supplies. Having repaired to the shade OF
the ''shack," he cut some slices from the
small piece Of bacon for his use and raked
together the embers of the camp fire.
There was no wood cut and before set
ting out to get some Joe sat down to rest.
His eye fell on the large valise that Peg
Leg Crawford always kept carefully locked
and out of the way of harm. In the hurry
of departure the miner had left the key in
the lock, and it occurred to the boy that it
would be good time to see what was In
side.
Joe turned the key and opened the sacred
valise. It contained two pairs of cotton
socks, some specimens of ore, and bulky
package wrapped in a scrap of army
blanket.
Joe united the cord that fastened the
parcel and unrolled the covering from a
wooden box that once had held Malaga
raisins. Frying off the top of the box with
his knife, he saw that it contained about
two dozen of what looked like long, thick
candles Had the youth been more thought
full, and known more of letters he would
have spelled out the words, "dinumite
dangeruss," written in blue chalk on the
cover, but as it was, that inscription passed
unheeded with all the warning of risk that
it conveyed He had heard vaguely of dy-
Mantle, but knew nothing of how it ap-
peared or should be handled. The cylin-
drical objects before him he half thought
might be some form of candy.
''I don't see why ole Peg Leg should be
so mighty perticklar bout this outfit o.
stuff" he said to himself. as, picking up a
fake of the substance that had scaled
from one of the pieces, he put it in his
mouth and tried it with his tongue. 1t
had sweetish taste, and he set his teeth
into it.
If Joe had applied his grinders with the
force and enthusiasm that he would have
shown in cracking a hickory nut, there
might have been q premature explosion
and my story never have been told; but he
quickly discovered a caustic property in
the substance, and, not liking the flavor,
spit it out. He put the box on fat rock
that served as a table, convinced that he
wanted nothing of it's contents.
CHANGING to glance up the mountain
side, be saw the boughs shaking in scrub
oak. At the back of the camp leaned one
of those old style army rifles, chiefly for
midable to the one who fires them, known
as the "Long Tom" With more ANNA
ton than he had shown at any former
time in the day. Joe seized the frearm
and exclaimed
u sees yer, and yer my meat; here goes
fur Drilled squirt fur dinner" and started
up the mountain to secure the game.
The path which he must take to reach
the place where he had seen the squirrel
was steep and roundabout. When, after
hard scramb bling over rocks, he came near
the place where he had seen the squirrel,
that eyasive rodent was not to be found.
But, climbing higher and looking beyond
the summit of the ridge into LITTLE noun
tain park, Joe spied Jack rabbit feeding
in an open space. AS he crept toward the
creature, following it's upstartings, short
runs and upsittings, in the effort to get a
chance for sure shot, he saw to the wind
ward among the pine trees acposs the val
ley red deer, which caused him to ahap-
don the rabbit at once.
Gifts great mornin fur critters astir," "
said Joe to himself in high glee. who'd
a thunk that trif1in squirt I'D a led up ter
8 deer. N thar may be somethin heap
bigger n one deer a waitin fur me-"
There was something, "a heap bigger a
waitin." Crack, crack, crack, came the
sharp report of several rifles off on his
right; there was singing of bullets about
him, so close that one passed through bis
hat; and there arose hideons yelling out
cry, which made his flesh creep and for a
moment weakened him so much that he
nearly tumbled from fright.
The symptoms of returning courage and
presence of mind manifested themselves
first in Joe's legs, and with no loss of time
be ran away as fast as he could, making
down the valley toward the foothills. A
shot or two more whistled by his ears as
some Indians, a half dozen or so in num-
Der, leaped up and started after him as
feet as deer.
If Joe had kept on straight down the
valley the Indians would soon have over
taken and killed him. Fortunately, he
had good startof them. and was lunkiar