St. Landry democrat., 1891-11-28
TAKING NO CHANCES.

loot square; ana III 1t She had place,
gold in quantities that few men ever se
+ and fewer still possess.
Dull-colored yellow. 1t was lust Al
Nature, the great alchemist, had made it
For centuries it had lain and glistened il
the burning sun, FURNISHED only by the
SAND sweeping over it in windy revels
1t had never known the darkness of long
years OF boarding in strong boxes, MOI
had it ever chung like the kisses of pas.
slonate men to the throat and arms and
breasts OF women beautiful as the day.
No mans blood had been shed for it, no
woman Or child had eaten bread in sad
ness and tears because of it. Yet it was
gold.
Amid the sand and in the crevices of
the rocky Lodges that made the apex of
the mountain novice ght have assed
by it unheedingly. But when Jack
Swilling and his comrades saw it thew
knew that they were rich.
Attracted by the discovery of rich
gold--diggings at Weaver, in the then re-
Gently organized territory of Arizona the
little party had left Tucson and travelled
northward until they had arrived at the
placers. On their arrival at the mines,
tney found that already a good many
thousands of dollars had been taken out
principally by Mexicans, and they had no
dtllfflculty in locating ground that paid
them well. For nearl y month they had
continued mining, meeting with no more
than usual success, until one of their
party, while hunting, had assembled one
OF the surrounding mountains. On reach
ing the summit, he had paused for an in
slant to let his eye sweep the mesas and
mountains that stretched away for miles
on either side, and, while doing so. he
had discovered that the little basin in
which he stood was almost paved with gold
Ticking up, few of the larger pieces,
ne returned to camp and informed his
comrades of his discovery. The story
he told to his companions was one so in
credible that, had it not been for the
nuggets OF gold which he had brought
with him, they would not have believed
him. Early the next morning the entire
party assembled the mountain, and what
they saw proved that the richness of the
tlnd had not been exaggerated, but that
Its true value had been, if anything,
underestimated
Abandoning their old location, the
party encamped on their newly discovered
treasure ground and began to gather its
riches: At first every loose nugget was
carefully picked up and stored away;
after that the sand, which was found to
be heavy with fine gold, was gathered
together, preparatory to washing" it
out with the waters Of the stream below.
This done, they began with their bowie
knives ''to cut and gouge" out of the
crevices and cracks Of the rock the gold ;
that they contained Never did men
work so hard. The feverish hunger and
thirst tor gold was upon them. As long
as the light Of day lasted they continued
to work. Each day saw the pile Of yir- t
gin gold grow larger and larger, until it i
became impossible to conceal it. i
me Mexicans who had been their 4
neighbors in the old diggings would come t
into their camp and look with greedy i
eyes at the Americans at work. At first L
they sought everywhere to discover an c
other such pocket, but in vain. Outside
Of the little piece of ground where the k
hrst party had Struck it, )" the mountain
side was as barren of gold as macada- l
nized road. Then they ceased to pros VI
oect, and spent their time sullenly watch "
ng the taking or, The riches in which
hey Wero> TO have no share. G.
10 them the spot was like the vortex of W
he maelstrom. Every morning they 1
we're there, standing ON the side of the P
lain, and, during the long, hot Q
lours of the day, they sat, re- CT
:ardless of the burning glare of Sc
he sun, watching, watching, trem- OF
ling with excitement when nugget h
anger than the ordinary was taken out. g
was only when dusk grew into dark 10
ess and the blue sky glistened with it's al
lyriad of stars that they returned to g.
heir own camp, to toss restlessly through
ne night, feverishly anxious to see what &C
ew riches the morrow would bring to los SO
The gold their own work OF
ad taken from the banks of the stream. tn
18th which they were once SO satisfied,
semed SO little and insignificant, when co
with what their neighbors had :
ken from the mountain-top, that they tn
. longer thought or spoke Of it. Once tn
had seemed to them fortune, now il II
as hardly worth having. an
Day after day the Americans worked, tn
atched by the Mexicans. From dollars thu
e value Of their gold grew into hun WI
eds and then into thousands. They on
uld not tell how much they had. for they
I'd no means Of weighing it. They had arr
ore than all Of them together could
ry. The strongest man among them, tai
lck Swilling, six feet and over, could br,
It change the gold from one place to clio
lother without making FIVE separate mo
ads OF it. A strong mans load in gold the
not much when valued in dollars0at the
utmost, perhaps, forty thousand dol To
rs-but, valued with the value men lik
ace on it, it cannot be estimated. sell
AT first, the gold was stored in the
mmon buckskin purses that the little loo
rty, in its m, st enthusiastic moments, frs
d never dreamed Of being able to fill the
tn the metal, and then it was packed in the
lghly made bags Of cloth. 7
As the store Of gold grew, the friend 9th
lp that had once existed between the and
nericans and the Mexicans became asL
aker and weaker. Soon they were sire
emies, watching one another with. {
Ered that none attempted to disguise. we
Q Americans no longer slept together orr
! little group, as had been their custom. !.
stead, each took his blanket and went add
alone, yet not SO far but that he was anv
II the gold. While at work during the !.