The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-03-30

about for u better. After awhile be
came upon what looked to be an old
trail. and he followed 1t down into the
canyon. where he found the broncho
with his baggage smashed up, but other
wise all right. Tough little beasts
bronchos.
Half way Of the canyon there was an
open space, with trees like little park
pines and redwoods, and near the cen
ter there was deep. snow fed pool
Against the wall Of the cliff at one side
was rough cabin built OF redwood
slabs. and inside Of it, ut the back, was
the mouth Of the Prairie Dog mine
The speaker paused and filed his pipe
rs though he had nothing more to say
on the subject. A silence fell. during
which the sounds of the street stole into
the room. the roll of vehicles. the stiI
and hustle of traffic and the voices OF
the street gamins quarreling in the gut.
ter.
What became Of the leperg It was
the Texans voice that put the question.
There the story grows misty. Nobody
knew anything about the leper until af.
ter the find, except a few trappers and
Indians Some said he was an Apache
and others that he was Mexican priest.
Nobody knows for certain what he was,
except perhaps Ned Anthony, and he
won't talk about it. The leper was
dead, he told them all, and buried under
redwood tree close by the pool. He'd
made the grave himself. and put the
poor wretch in it: uncommon kind OF
Ned, say, for whether leprosy is catch
ing or not, it's damned unpleasant
thing to handle. Some fellows that
wanted to upset Ned's claim to the find
started the cry Of foul play, in hopes
that the boys would take it up and
lynch him. but Ned soon snuffed that
ont. He just marched the whole gang
ont to the grave and laid his hand on 1t
and swore by the Lord that made him
that the leper had had nothing but kind
ness at his hands. and then he told the
fellows that If they doubted his word
they could open the grave and satisfy
themselves.
Ibid they?"
Lord love you. mol" cried the miner
in surprise. ''Of course they didn't!
Who do you reckon was going to monkey
with corpse--and such corpsel Why.
they set fire to the hut and burned 1t to
the ground before they'd been in the
canyon two days. They didn't banker
after going in and out to their work
through it all day long: the thought Of
the leper sorter got away with the stout
est of 'em whenever the sun quit the
gulch: twasn't comforting to their in
nards. Nobody cared damn about the
poor devil anyway, beyond wiping all
sign of him off the face Of the earth.
The mine was there, and the ore was
there rich, too. and in good bulk. That
was the big interest. Ned made a lump
ing good thing out Of that prairie dog
hole Of his'n. He panned out in the
millions. !"
This appeared to exhaust the subject
for most of the listeners, who began
moving away and talking of other mat
tiers. Not SO the Texan: he had emptied
the vessel of its contents, and now he
proceeded to inspect the label for the
makers name. He wished to discover
what country, state or territory stood in
loco PARENTS to this man of gold.
Here the virginian took up the testi-
mony. You'll hardly believe it." he
said amusedly; Il didn't myself at first,
although the fellow that told me had it
from Anthony's own lips. The Old
Dominion claims him; he is Virginian.
This kind of offsets the Comstock story,
doesn't it? We don't always trade off a
big find for barrel of whisky and a
mule. You western fellows don't have
such good times with us now since we
have started the eyetooth business"
The miner whistled. "A regular Old
Dominion swell, is he? quoth he. well,
! never should have guessed 1t. He amt
got the trade marks of an F. F. ""
HE isn't one, remarked the Virgin
ian quietly. "Mr. Anthony is as much
a self made man as"- .sany of us" he
was going to say. but the memory Of
a long line of white handed forbears
peacefully asleep, among the blue Vir-
ginia hills rose and checked him, so he
changed his sentence-''as any of our
mining plutocrats. His father was an
oyerseer on a big tobacco plantation in
the James River valley in the old days.
Anthony started from the ground, if
that's any advantage. and mind You,
I'm not denying that it may be. All the
purple and fine linen of his career will
be of his own providing
SO thought" responded the miner,
land it's all right for him anyhow II
he bankers after that sort Of thing and
stops out here or goes north, he can set
up patent on being a Virginian, and il
he goes back there, he can start three
letters Of his own and break down the
old monopoly. p. d. NJ makes as good
q show as IF. F. " any day, and it's got
more solid back to IT."
The Virginian made no comment.