Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1891-05-15

cept the tattered Clothes he wore.
| Now, that after all the fuss he found
himself still alive, the boys courage
came back sufficiently for him to get
very angry over his loss. As q
relief to his feelings he cooked his
/ rifle and sighted it at different MEM
/ hers Of the group, thinking as he
dallied with the trigger what a pleas
ure Ii would give him tOsend a bullet
lamOng them as sauce to their meal.
/ For a youth Of JOe's capacity for doing
the wrong thing this fooling with the
/ trigger was most unWise, as was shown
! presently when he pulled Just trifle
/ too hard; the hammer fell, and the
heavy army piece pointing into the
midst OF the Indian group went off
with a louder bang and a more empha-
tic rebOunded-sO it seemed to Joe
than ever before.
The vicious kicking Of the gun
| against hi, shoulder, the noise and
smOA OF ITS explosions and the feeling
Iof establishment at its unexpected
performance, occupied JOe's thoughts
| for an insta 1T. Before he had time to
be frightned at what he had done, he
was Jared and shaken as if the noun
tains were rocking, and was stunned
| by deafening roar that rent the air.
| Loose rocks went rolling down the
slopes, trees were rushing to the earth
and Joe saw, as I'm fantastic dream
the top of giant pine that had over
lhung the mine high aloft and still 60
ing upward as if it never would STOP
Everything in the canyon seemed TO
be in the air flying away from the spot
where the camp had been. After the
dust had somewhat settled Joe, look
ing down upon the site Of the shack,
could see there only great hole i'm the
ground, while heap of earth bad
taken the place OF the Great Cinch
tunnel. The shot fired by mistake
had missed every Indian and pumped
straight into the box of dynamite.
At the time when Joe's shot was
fired, Peg Leg Crawford, riding a
burro and driving his pack animals be-
fore him on his way back to the camp,
had reached the mouth of the canyon.
Another turn in the path would bring
him in sight Of his mine. He was
Spcculating as to how things had gone
on his absence.
81 wonder what that fool boy Joe's
been a dOin' while I've been gone" hs
soliloquized. "He's done no work ter
speak Of, that's dead sure, an it's
great o. mercy if he hain't been up ter
mischief IfShe should get ter fUo,in'
with that dynamite-"
At this point i'm his reflections Craw-
ford found his burrO's footing un-
steady, owing to an uneXplainable tre-
NOR OF the earth. There was a com
motion in the air as if several cyclones
were lighting for the rright of way
through the canyon, and great roar
came to his ears as if the thundeTs of
a whole rainy season were combined
in one peal. The next thing he realiZ-
ed was that he and his burros were on
the ground together In a heap, where
by unanimous consent they waited un-
til the elements subsidized.
When things had Quilted down the
old prOspectOr, who was not very nim-
bic on his pins, pulled himself out of
the tangle of burrOs, got his animals
on their feet and stumped up the can
yOn to find out what had happened.
He expected to find the body or some
part OF the body Of Joe at distance
more or less remote from the place
where the camp had stood.
When he reached the scene of the
explosion he looked for some sign of
mis- assistant.
"Joe's gone with the rest, reckon"
he said with a touch of regret. "I'll
have a Whit o. my pipe n then take a
look roun' for the body m give it a
Christian burial 4 thar's enough left
ter put in a mole. HullO! What that?
Hain't the stutf got through falllin'
yet?n
There was rattlng down the noun
tain side, and Looking up to learn the
the cause, he saw Joseph DObbs slid
ing on his back down a sloping face
Of rock. In making his way TO the
canyons bottom to investigate matters
the boy had missed his footing, in his
excitement, and was coming down by
the run much faster than he liked.
He landed at the foot of the cliff torn
as to clothing and scratched as to skin
but was regardless of all injuries in
his wonder and pride at his unexpect-
achievement. He was delighted to
see Crawford, for he was bursting to
brag OF his eXp0lOit.
"Didnt fix up that trap fur 'em
slick?" he said, with the air of one who
had carried out carefully planned
purpose.
BY good luck the picks and shoyels
lay where they had escaped injury.
So the work Of developing the Great
Cinch mine went forward with no
more extra trouble than the rebuild
ing of the shack and the remoyeng of
the aarth hlaussi Into tuBnel To be
sure, they had no dynamite for blast
ing, but Crawford felt that his explos-
i've had been put to good use.
So high was Joe raised in the old
prOspectoTs estimation that before
they set to work next day he formally
adopted him as his ''pard," )" and there
after that youth dawdled over the
pick and shovel with a sense of inn
portance beftting the half-proprietor
of the true lead, dips, spurs, angles,
and prospective profits Of the Great
Clnch mine.
Since it is now a well-establshed fact
that catarrh is blood disease, med
ical men are quite generally prescrib-
ing Ayers Sarsaparilla for that most
complaint, and the result, in
nearly every instance, proves the wis
dom OF their advice.
A Ray Of Hope
For all who are held by the chains of |