The herald., 1894-12-25


stumbled-I picked it up because it gave
a hollow sound. and saw that it was q
broken cantesn. That night | dreamed
OF nothing but canteons. One OF my
dreams conveyed me back to the scene
in the arroyo. and heard again the
voice of the dying American saying to
me, Look for the busted canteen; il
you can find that, you will be - Will
te what? Will be which | dreamed
on. and suddenly voice cried to me !:
Rich That is what you will bep
II did not wake up with start, nor
anything OF the kind. but the next
morning the dream came back to me
ae vivid as life. 1t haunted me all day.
At night my mind was made up. l
fould hunt that busted csntsen or
uust myself in the attempt. As soon
as / could complete arrangements
l started off with half-witted Next.
can boy who had been an Apache
prisoner for many years. two horses for
ourselves and O packmule.
"My plan was to 90 back to the
| place in the arroyo where the Ameri-
can lay buried; then from the spot
where he had fallen retrace his steps
until found his camp or his canteen.
Crazy expedition, do you say? Well
yes, to certain extent, but l had
nothing to lose, and there was some.
thing more than chimera in the thing,
at least that was the feeling | had.
1--WE followed out my idea. AS soon
as the Americans last resting place
was reached, we scramb mbled up the bluff
! through q barranca. and made for the
mountain across the mesa. OF course
there was no trail, but we found a
rusty rife and o couple OF other OBJ
| jects which evidently had belonged to
the gringo; and my mozo was a won
derful being, in whom instinct had
superseded intellect in a remarkable
degree. When we reached the foot OF
the mountain we aecended in a place
which afforded natural road, going
upward by an easy slope. l thought
that 1 saw indications of mining
around me, but | WAS sure that what
ever had been done there must have
been very long ago.
'After travelling upwards, may be for
half an hour. we reached cailon We
had to cross to proceed onward. As we
were nearing the farther side my at
tention was attracted by small mound
OF rocks and stones. Something was
sticking out of this mound aud 1 got
off my horse to see what it was. 1t
turned out to be board with som0
words on it, apparently cut out with
knife. | sat down on the heap OF stones
and after some very hard study man
aged to decipher the words Aqui yacer,
los restos de d. Gregorio Cervantes. le
dieron muerta los salvejes A. d. 1904.
II felt sorry for poor Don Gregorio
and replanted his hesdboard where |
had found it, and in so doing bsheld
battered canteen lying behind the
mound. 1t was one of those fat half
gallon miners cantsens. bus the blanket
covering had rotted off. and number
of rustholcs were discernibe upon tbs
eide that was uppermost. | wondered
whether that was the busted canteen or
not, and if it was where that fortune
lay which was to make me rich. Pick
ing it up found that it weighed con-
sidersbly more than a busted canteen
had right to, and giving it a shake |
heard something rattle in it. Taking
the stopper out OF the neck l upturned
it and out fell lot OF gold nuggets, wire
gold and small pieces OF quartz which
were for the, most part pure metal.
There was at leaet twenty pounds of the
stuff. tef
"4After the intense excitement at my
good fortune had somewhat abated, |
made up my mind to camp on the spot
and investigate the ground for posi-
BILE ledge. My mszo mad paid no atten-
tion to me all this time. but after taking
the traps from our animals and turning
them loose, hobbled, he had proceeded
to nose about. as was his wont.
"The nose OF a pick striking upon
rocks caused me to turn round to see
what he was doing, and l found that he
was in pursuit OF badger whose hole
was at the bottom of Don Gregorio's
mound. He was laboring away with
feverish haste. | tried to stop him in
mis- work of desecration, but it was use
less. He told me he was bound to get
that aejon. And the rocks flew hither
and yon while he dug away. was
watching him with some amusement,
when all OF once he stopped. went on
his knees and started to tug ct some.
thing which would not give way. He
called me to help him. saying that he
had found q GAIA, a box. And sure
enough there was an iron box imbsdded
In the mound of stones, which our
united efforts failed to dislodge. There
was nothing for it but to shovel away
all the rocks on top of it, and this we
did.
ITO make long story short, when I
at last managed to break off the lid OF
the box with pick found it filled
nearly to the top with rough gold ingots.
| WAS rich
"Next day we loaded the precious car.
go upon our animals and started homes
ward. My mozo had no more idea Of
what we we're carrying back than the
man in the moon, and cannot yet con
meet our freight with the fact that he
daily gets all the friioles' and chile con-
carne he can eat. and has not got to
work for it. but can lie in the sun from
morning to night, sleeping or playing
'burro' with his greasy deck of cards.
"At Mulatos tha ingots were computed
to be worth $4,000. and the gold
gold in the busted Cantesn $4,000.
What do you think of that for luck for
YOUR truly? 1t didn't take me long
after that to get the consent of Don
Ygnacis Monteverde to let me become
the husband of nv beautiful Mercedes
aud three weeks after the juez local and
the padre made US one.
II was sure that there must be plenty
OF rich ore in the mountain where had
found the 'restos' of Don Gregorio Ger
vantes. | therefore returned there coon
after our honeymoon and discovered
very rich mine which had been aban-
doned by the Spaniards early in the
century, probably on account OF Apache
depredations. l am now going to San
Francisco to buy machinery.
II shall leave you In the morning,
I'D ho I if