Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-02-20

hlnts tor the guidance of those less we'll
placed in the running.
'Oh. dog women he said. THEY'RE
well enough; but don't lets bother about
EN- now. want some of Won fellows
just TO tell me how this man Anthony
got his start.
The miner picked up his cards and.
looked them over deliberately. Then he
winked across at his partner to call his
wandering attention to the fact that
Jack was on top TO be PLAYED for
When this matter had been settled to his
satisfaction he turned back to the Texan
and gave the desired information in two
words, Prairie dogs"
A deep abstraction fell upon the man
OF kline and his pipe went out uunoticed.
He had been hearing of the wonderful
Prairie Dog mine for the last four wears.
Even down in the cattle country the
mine was known and talked about. Its
phenomenal richness. the queer story of
Its discovery, the unprecedented luck of
everything and everybody connected
with it, hal made exciting variety in the
COW" conversation around the root fire
in many a ranchman's INT. and Tony
Ned" the hero Of the ind. was regarded
with respectful admiration which is a
coucomitant Of success.
Was there any truth in the leper
story" he reused himself to inquire: 'or
was it just a newspaper canard:
We'll" de.iberated the miner. craft
lily saving his partners ten and low
for himself at the same stroke, Il guess
there was a grain or two of truth IN the
dirt the papers PANIED at so damnation
hard some years back. Nobody amt in
innate with that story. nor got the run
of the back door on details. except one
man, and that's Tony Ned. as he was
called before he made his lump. Ned
amt likely to crafty the morbid han
keTlnG after sensation that a-ltates the
journalistic breast any more than suits
him neither" He paused to murmur to
his companions, Hear that: Good words,
them -ablebOdiei fellows" and then
Proceedei: No, Ned don't give himself
away much. Most of them stories were
written up in the offices by the men that
know all about it, as usual Still, they
couldn't miss getting a grain or so of
metal out Of all that grit"
And those were suggested the
( Texan eagerly.
That Tony Ned (high 10 me. if you
please Went prospecting in the Sierra
| Madre country five OF six years back
and CHANGED on the biggest find any fell
| low has made since I've been diggin; a
laundering find, as good as the Com
stock any day The way the story runs.
as the miners tell 1t. Is Just this. and
| reckon its as true bill as any, because
Ned never contradictS it. The miner.
I having secured the pot, laid aside his
hand and turned to face the room:
/ Ned was prospecting down there dway.
I and be had a run of bad luck at first.
/ black enough to set the devil swearing
After digging around for month or
I so, and getting nothing for it but pain
/ in the back. Ned saddled up his broncho
/ and came down out of the Mill, swearing
/ he was going to quit sending his bucket
down dry well. He pulled right and
I he pulled left for awhile before he could
/ get himself to agree all round to quit
/ ting. for Tony Ned has as good grip in
the jaw as most bulldogs going, and he
/ mor5ally hates to leave hold of thing
/ he's once set his teeth in. He had a
sorter feeling, too, that there was ore
| about if only he could strike it. How
ever, he quit, and took ont across the
| plains into Arizona, and the more he
| went forward the more he haukered
after going back, and the more sure he
was that the Madres had a secret they
were hiding from him. AT last he left
the thing to chance, a they say miners
and sailors are fond Of doing
1t was the morning Of the second day.
and good square sixty miles lay behind
him. He was cooking his rasher and
coffee and cursiUg his luck. and his
broncho. having eaten up all the grass
in his lariat circle. was looking on and
listening. Two little prairie dogs sat on
a mound close by enjoying the early sun
shine, bat the rest of the village We're
asleep. Presently the little beggars fell
ont about something and set TO for a
regular rough and tumble One was
bigger than the other. and queer notion
struck Ned as he sat and watched EN-
He named the big dog Sense and the
little one he called Instinct If Sense
whips, he said to himself, III push on
and try my lnck in Arizona But if In
stinct wins I'm going back to the Ma
dres. He eyed EN- close. and presently
he got up and walked over to his saddle;
the little dog had got the big dog down
and fairly rolled him down the mound =
The Nirginian removed his arms from
the back of the chair and seated him
self in it. The story probably interested
him as much as it did the other men
The initial steps of success are always
interesting when success has been
achieved: it IS only the chronicle of
failure that Is tedious.
When he got back to the hills" pro-
ceeded the narrator, ''he went on a good
bit farther north before striking into
them again. He nosed around for all
he was worth; but for about week bad
luck held on like burr. then the tide
turned. He WIS driving the broncho up
steep. ugly looking spur. on a track