Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1891-11-21

But beautiful faces were no more than
episodes in the life aud thoughts Of Der
went Just now After a youth of re-
markable freedom from that form Of
care which is the most universal and
harassing of all known to the sons of
men-the care that springs from money
or its lack. in one form or another-he
had by the death Of his father been sud
denly brought face to face with financial
difficulties which threatened more than
the loss Of luxury and ease. The loss of
honor was involved A fortune held in
trust had been risked and greatly inn
paired. if not wholly lost. Derwent felt
as if he had passed at one step from
youth TO age when he found himself con-
fronted by this terrible discovery. To
replace what had been lost-even If by
the sacrifice of all his fathers property
it conld be accomplished-would reduce
his mother and himself to absolute pow
erty. To do him justice. he did not
think of himself at all: but such in idea
connected with his mother-the most
luxurious. delicate, fastidious of beings,
accustomed from her infancy to wealth
--wrung his heart He asked himself
what he could do 10 avert calamity SO
great that he cond not foresee the end
To replace what had been lost by ordi-
nary methods of business. and within
very limited space of time, would have
been difficult for any one; to HIM. with
out business training or experience, 1t
was simply impossible Speculation re-
manned. but speculation is IA fire that
scorches, often fatally those most ia
miliar with it No. gambling in any Of
the seductive forms known to the Stock
exchange would not answer "lf | ven
ture to speculate" he said to himself
"it must be in something with u solid
value.
Vaguely he thought of the great mines
Of the west, but if the desert hills of Ne
vada held any more Comstock lodes he
knew that they Were not for men of
moderate fortune And then came the
recollection of days that he had spent as
q boy with an uncle in western Louisiana
CT visits to Texas, of the old Spanish
town of San Antonio and of stories told
there of Mexican tonanzas-of ranges OF
mountains rich in silver ore. Of flooded
mines where the water had grown too
strong for the primitive native methods
of draining, and men had stood 10y and
watched with tears the great veins, SHIN
ing with native silver. hidden from their
sight. of mines only IA hundred or two
feet deep that had already yielded mil
lions and were To be purchased for little
or nothing in consequence of the refrac-
tory character of the deeper ores. All
of these stories. with many OF the ro-
mantle histories connected with famous
Mexican mines. the boy had drunk IN
and locked wistfully toward the southern
border. where lay that wonderful land
which had already yielded wealth
greater than that of the Indies and which
now awaited new race of fconquiStadores
--inen armed with the mechanical in
ventlons of the Nineteenth ceutury-to
wrest its still hidden treasures from the
grasp of nature,
When the memory of these things
came to him. he said. II will go to Mex
leo. And tins resolution WAS confirmed
by the fact that he had acquired.
through sheer love of nature, one branch
of scientific knowledge which would
prove of value to him there. From his
school days he had liked geology, studied
it with interest. and become almost I'M
consciously good mineralogist. He had
never been near a mine without examin-
ing it: and tour through the west had
derived Its chief interest for him from
this source. The idea of utilizing the
knowledge so acquired had never occur
red to him until the present time, but
now he felt sure that he would not need
the services of any expert to determine
the value of mineral property. he was
certain that he would know u good mine
whan he saw IL And unless things