The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-04-12
III S DRY OF A MAMMOTH NUGGET 7.
THE ArgonRaLl


| hands"
Pancho Gonzalez made this remark to
me as he and / were sitting alone at our
camp fire IN one of the lonely canons of
| the Gaudeloupe mountains in western
Texas. We had been out several days and
nights on a fruitless search for bunch of
cattle that had s,rayed from their range
on the Pecos, and camped for the night
| among the rocks and powders OF this
rough mountain gorge. Our talk had
naturally drifted around to mining and
| gold-hunting.
Joking was not one of Pancho's charac-
teristics. he was rather sober and tact
turn, and not given to speaking often I'M
| less spoken to. Consequently, when he
made the remark with which this story
| opens. l glanced at him in surprise. and
prepared myself to hear OF something OF
! interest. For three years l had known
! Ffanclsco-or Pancho, az he was called
! Tor Shorthand during that time we had
come to be pretty good friends He was
8 handsome. brigandsh-looking fellow,
spoke English well, and bore traces of
what was probably considered in his coun-
! try good bringing up He was skillul
and daring in handling stock. and, as We
/ were both in the employe of large cattle
/ company. we were much of the time to-
/ getheT, and knew, bv many actual expert
| ences, that we could RELY on one another
/ in the frequent trying and dangerous sit
| ualOns that constantly beset the trail Of
/ the cattlemen on the frontier. lie had
/ always been reticant as to his past but
had many theories of my own in regard
| TO his former occupation Ia his native
! land.
Yes" he answered, as l urged him to
90 on with the story, 81 will tell YOU all
about it. l never told any one else, be-
cause 1t is dangerous; but | can trust YOU
not TO tell another. Ii was five years ago
| in Mexico. that | saw that piece of gold
| and IL Is there vet, for no one knows OF il
but me. il weighs over four hundred
pounds, and will bring death to any one
who discovers II. That is WHY | have left
1t there all these years, whore / saw it
buried and helped bury il. There were
eight of US banded together then-Mexi-
cans all. We called ourselves foresters,
but | believe the soldiers called US brig
ands. My cousin was captain. and I was
his lieutenant lie was man rash and
daring, and ell OF us were afraid of him
even |, his lieutenant and cousin.
There was rich gold mine in the
Sierra nadre. worked by big English
company who employed about twenty
white men and several hundred MexIcans
and Indiana The mine was far in the
mountains. over $50 miles from tho rail-
road but the company. at great expense.
| had built a wagon-road to II 10 get the
machinery there for the big mill. We
had a friend or two among the MeXicans
| there, and, though our mountain strong
hold was about three leagues from the
mine in the direction OF the railroad, we
always knew when any treasure was 10 be
shipped. and frequently profted by it.
! Finally the company took TO shipping
their bullion under n strong escort Of
twenty men, aud this baked us for a
while But this, il sosms, proved too
! troublesome and expensive, and the SUI
perintendont at last bit upon another plan
that he thought equally safe. He had the
bullion output for the entire month
melted into one lump. As this amounted
| 10 nearly 100000 pesOs its weight was over
100 pounds, and in it's transportation by
wagon would need only n nominal escort,
as n piece OF gold too heavy to handle or
to dispose of safely would DO of no use to
US men OF the road
"Of course we were duly notified of this
new plan by our friends at camp, and we,
| very unwiliingy. allowed the bullion to
reach the railroad in safety. Meanwhile,
the captain. who hated to be thwarted,
| worried over IL day and night until ne
finally invented a echeme that proved sue
cessiul. 60 Ter az getting the gold Was con,
cerned, though it never did any OF Us any
good. He told us his plan ono night. and
ordered mo 10 90 to the mine myself and
wait around until l could find out the day
when ths next shipment OF bullion was TO
be made. The next day | proceeded to
the mine and easily got lob OF shovel
ing tailIngs near the mill. In lees than a
week they hung up tho stamps to make
clean no, and the next day the fur
naces were in full blast retorting the
amalgam and melting down the gold. BY
lORhng around the CORA, aud Ia king to
the tesmster. ! found out that the team
WAS ordered out for the railroad the next
morning That night | caught nv horse.
and, returning TO camp, reported TO the
captain, who Immediately ordered us TO
saddle up aud follow him, and before mid.
night we drew bride in some heavy pine
timber, 100 yards from the wRgon.road,
where we un added and went into camp.
AT daylight lookout was posted on
the road, and the rest OF us whilsd away
the time doing and playing monte. until
we were brought to the alert by a signal
from the lookout. Leaving our horses
secured in the timber, we followed the
captain and ambushed ourselves. four on
either eide of the road, among the rocks
ana underbrush Here. keeping we'll un-
der cover. we could zee UP and down the
road for nearly two miles in either direc-
ton. for our captain bad chosen place
where the road. after climbing a steep hill
by tortuous grade was level for only a
few yards at the summit before plunging
downward into q deep canon.
Far down, in the direction of the mine,
though, OF course. the mine itself was not
visible. being over two leagues distant. we
could see the team approaching IL was
drawn by four animals and. as it came
nearer, We noted that the animals were
mules. and that the wagon held four men
besides the driver. Nearer yet, and we
knew that the four men sitting behind
were white and the driver was n Mexican.
was sorry for the latter, for l had met
him and been quite friendly with him al
the mine the day before. But the cap
tain's orders we're strict We we're to kill
everv one, as only by so doing could We
hope 70 succeed in our plan for keeping
the gold after we had obtained il. | fell
glad. however, that was not 10 be among
the fret to shoot. Five were to shoot first
at given signal, each picking bis man,
while the captain. myself, and another
were to reserve our fire in case the iiTs
volley should not be fatal to ali of the vic