Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-10-09

ing with excitement when 's, .remo-
n larger than the ordinary was taaan
!! H into u was only when dusk GREW
tan ro aark .1 and the blue skv Ollie.
.ened with its myriad of stars t fms
tney returned to their own camn ~
Joss restlessly through the n nj, ~
leverlshly anxious to SEQ wha+ $50 so..
lIrr,es tne morrow would bring to los
. nmericanos. The gold their own
s "oah llad taken from the banks Of tho
so ea4 with which they were once
so satlsfied, seemed so little and in
s,enlncant when compared with what
lnelr neighbors had taken from thu t,o
t nhtoun.taln-top that they no longer
.nougnt or spoke of it. Once it had
seemed to them like fortune now
II was hardly worth having.
Day after day the America nc
worked, watched by the Mexicans
FROM dollars the value of their GOLD
grew into hundreds and then into
thousands. They could not ten how
nuch they had, for they had no means
ol weighing it. They had more than
an OF them together could carry
lhe strongest man among them. Jack
| oWllllng, six feet and over. could not
change the gold from one place to an.
othef without making five separate
loads of it. A strong mans load in
gold IS not much when valued in dol
iars-at the utmost, perhaps, $40. 900
-put valued with the value men
pace on it, it can not be estimated.
Put into sack and thrown over the
shoulder it is only heavy burden.
wearlsome with its weight. Stamped
with the stamp that makes it money,
piled in shining piles where avarice
can feast its eyes upon it.
slipped into the half-willing hand Of
man or woman, it is different. Then
barriers fade away that lifetime has
built, manhood sinks and takes with
IT what was noblest and best, never
to return, and men nonchantly think
thoughts that, free from the fascina-
tlon of gold, they would have exc
Grated with horror.
So it was in this camp. At first
the gold was stored in the common
buckskin purses that the little party,
IN its most enthusiastic moments,
had never dreamed of being able to
I'LL with the metal, and then it was
packed in roughly made bags Of cloth.
AS the store of gold grew, the
friendship that had once existed be-
tween the Americans and Mexicans
became weaker and weaker. Soon
they were enemies, watching one an
other with hatred that none attempts
ed to disguise. The Americans no
longer slept together in little
group, as has been their custom. In
stead, each took his blanket and went
off alone, yet not so far but that he
was near the gold. While at work
during the day they made it point
never to group together. Even when
a nugget larger than the rest was
picked up they no longer joyously
called to each other that they might
gather to admire it. They were al.
ways on their guard. Day and night
one of their party watched the Mexi-
cans. If they were to be killed and
robbed of the gold they had discov
cred, by keeping thus separate some
might escape if they were attacked
| Yet the Mexicans had said or don,
nothing to justify suspicion that the!
would descend to murder and robbery
to secure the gold. They did moth
ing but watch, watch, watch, day
after day, as the stores of gold in
creased. But as the days went by
and the pile of gold grew new lool
came into their faces another light
into their eyes. The lips were drawn
little tighter, the forehead was les!
open. There was no longer laughing
efforts made to tell jokes, half in
Spanish, half in English, to amuse
one another. The old comraderie wa.
gone. Yet less than month before
these men had found pleasure in shar
ing their scanty stores with one an
othor. Now they merely watched
each other and the pile of gold will
hatred so intense as to be unspeak
able.
| The pile of gold, though, continued
to grow. But at last it ceased. Ii
the crevices and cracks and sand Jher'
was no longer to be found single
glitter of yellow. Only the scars re
manned where the knives had cut an(
gouged out the riches of the rock.
The Mexicans smiled with pleasure
as they saw the Americans vainly en-
, deavor to find more of the metal
and in return the latter grew no
with anger, though in their heart
they felt relieved to know that the
had exhausted the land. Alread
they had as much as they could car
for. Had there been more to mine
they would have taken it on rathe
than see any one else possess it. l
had grown to be a pleasure to have 1T
if only to know it was theirs, even i
they could not use it.
When the pocket was mined out
the Mexicans no longer came up dali
to watch the Americans. Instead
, they stayed in their camp at the foo
, of the mountains. Theydid no work
r WHY should they? What would tn
, few ounces they could take from thel
HAft