Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1891-10-15
THE SAD FATE OF A FoRrY-NlNEe,
Might BE "A bonanza King II He Hadn't
Converted His Mule Into "A Calliope,

Might BE "A bonanza King II He Hadn't
Converted His Mule Into Calliopc.
A party of prospectors had located their
dry camp on the headwaters of the Meadov
and were having rather Indifferent luck.
1t Is broken mp country, and its redeem
ing feature is the abundance of game of
all kinds While it may be termed hunt
er's paradise, it is certainly miner's
sheol. Flour and bacon and beans had run
low, aud the boys had begun to "cuss'' the
country.
They were sitting around the fire cne
night smoking when a visitor, a stranger
with about as little ceremony as Poc's
Raven, made his way into the circle and
perched, not on Il bust Of Pallas, but on a
busted aparahoe For about two minutes
the remarks were about as extended and
interesting as were those of the famous
Forty-niner. Finally he was induced to
chew, and then he gave an account of him.
self. He was us near nobob as pros
pector can ever become; that is, he was
making no attempt to better his condition.
making his way afoot from one prospect
or's or trapper's camp to another He was
an old man, bowed and wrinkled. 1t was
evident that the end Of the rocky trail of
hfe that he WAS travelling was not far Oft.
In. the course Of the evening one of the
boys happened to speak of the old mans
condition. The old fellow Strengthened
up. adjusted one moccasincd foot under
him, "lnjupn fashion, and remarked: at
may seem little tough to you fellers to
see me knockin' round this way when l
ought I" he n respectable member of sas-
siety, holdin my own with Mackay, Flood.
Hearst and Lucky Baldwin. l used to
train with them fellers. I'm '4aer, am,
and might now be a millynair if it wasn't
fer piece Of hard luck | struck way back
in the SOS
u struck out one spring mornin' in Cal
iforny with mule packed with plenty of
grub, and good prospecting outfit.
had two dogs cross between bull and shep-
herd, along for company. | packed with
me tin horn that l called 'em up with
when they got too far away.
II was maxim for the Mokcleunne hill
district, which hadn't been prospected
hardly any yet. ! made burned good time,
considern' all things, TILL on the second
week that gosh blamed mule got sick. The
sun of gun begun to swell He got down
and rolled. Well. he kept swelln' and
rollin' and groanin', and Thought every
minute he'd bust.''
The sweat stood out on the old mans
brow as he related this. He paused n while,
reflected, and continued:
''The way figgercd it out was that he
had collie ! couldn't think of anything to
give him but the soda used to cook with.
I'd heard it was good for the stomach, so l
fixed up a drench Of soda and water, stuck
the dinner horn inter his throat, and com.
menced pouring the stuff inter him. 1t
skeart him. He sneezed and snorted all at
wunst. and spit out the drench. And when
he snorted he blowed that 'ere horn. He
seemed snrprised to find that he wuE y mu-
sician. His ears riz, and he prnnced round
an footed that derned horn. The does
heerd the tootin', and, true to their trainin'.
they come along head an tail up. That
derned mule KEEP u tootin' that 'ere horn.
all the time a-tootin' the wind off'n his
stomach. and all ut once, by gum, he struck
out u tootin' that horn, an the dogs fol.
lerin'
II wuz left thar 300 miles from nowhar,
with no grub, mule, dogs nor notl.in'. /
wandered back to the nearest camp. and
sence then I've been wanderer, with no
aim in life but TO find my mules an dogs.
For forty years I've been chasin' the cussed
varmints. I've seen lots of mules, but none
uvm he'd cr tin dinner horn in his mouth,
nor two brindle dogs follerin' him. Have
any of you felers seen stray mule around
here!"
The old mans story created profound
impression. The boys unanimously elected
him grand patriarch an.j assistant cook
for as long as he cared t., lay off from his
wild and thrilling chase ss-Spokane Falls
Spokesman.