The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1894-09-21
A LONE FISHERMAN.
Tranquil Fishing, Donkoybaok. His
Years OF Adventure Round.

Tho picture of o man sitting on
burro in mid-stream, 10 the heart of
the southern Sierras, miles from any
where, has nothing remarkable In it."
said the naturalist; "out when you con-
slider the burro rs asleep, and the rider
holding fishing line with one hand
and a well-thumbed copy of Gdipus
with the other, which no Is reading
through clouds Of smoke from o we'll
filled pipe, the scene takes on another
phase
such a man I met one day in the
great river of verdure known as the
Arroyo Seco, that winds away from
Los Angeles up through the San Gabriel
valley, entering the Sierras at Pasadena
and for miles passing through a region
OF varied delights
"'Senor - began
Sebastian he replied, without
looking up
"'Senor Sebastian continued, I
regret in these solitudee, 10 be obliged
to inform you that You are infringing
patent right of mine
"'How soP' retorted Senior Sebastian,
glancing up from the book, which he
now dropped into the pocket Of his cor
duroy eoet
"'1n this: l was the originator of
fShing on horseback
"'Ahr said the senior, 'you may be
Che inventor, but I am the improver,
seer And for the first time noticed
that the line was fastened to hole in
hn ", ~ 1s,r hax
ever Observed said the fisherman, the
habits Of the burro, or we will say his
head, you will have noticed that the
ears are always moving back and forth
It's just the motion want IN fishing,
so adopted it aud SEQ
"As he spoke the line stiffened out,
the burro's cor, or, TO be exact, his
right ear, bent forward suddenly, and
the burro himself awoke with start
"'Watch him. said the fisherman.
The burro's eye had first settled on me
in an inquiring way, then realizing
that something was tuGging at his ear,
be drew the member up 70 the hori-
sontal, at which the trout for such II
was, left the water with bound, and
in Its return drew the eer down again.
The burro now seemed TO concentrate
all his energies in the contest, aud the
ear gravitated between the upright and
the horizontal 'fou see, remarked
Senor Sebastian again, the burro plays
the fish, and L. suiting the action to
the word, pull him in And, with the
air Of the philosopher hs was, the
speaker unlocked the trout dropped il
into a pocket OF his coat, and having
i;npalod a fresh worm and cost the line,
the fisherman feat for his Q2dipus, and
the burro fell asleep.
II deem 1t, oon tinued the senor,
after rslighting his pipe, the privilege,
II not the duty, of man to take life at
the normal angle, OF as near it as pos.
sible; in other words, take solid com
fort l have seen the hard side of 1t
right in sight Of these mountains
came here forty years ago when tho
whole country was sheep ranch
walked across the Mojave desert in Au-
gust, and see now they find men dead
who have tried it Yes, / was after
gold nnd adventure, and got both.
1T came about in this way and the
senior, getting no further bites, rolled
up his line and joined me on the trail
up the arroyo Il wss living in Santa
Fe ia the 6fties trading mostly, and
one night man rushed into the saloon
where l was and said man was dying
and wanted TO see priest was a
Catholic and the next best thing, so
went along. You know where tn c old
palace IL to-day in Santa Fer Well, he
took me down q street back of that,
and in an old adobe found man,
half breed, with death in his faoo. He
had been tabbed in a brawl an hour
before, and was so near gone that
didn't have the heart TO tell him was
not q priest He sent the others out
of the room, then bade mo lock the
door, and with his mouth to my ear
told me to remember what he said He
had been n bad man, had killed sew
eral men, and wanted TO do something
to ezpiate his crime, SO told his secret
to the church. He told me to pull off
his belt, which did, and in it was
row OF some of the biggest chunks
OF gold | ever sew in this coun-
try. In another part was An old piec 9
Of sheepslsin, md on II a map, rude,
but good enough, Of these very noun
taina He said that he and two others
had discovered a valuable placer in the
mouth of canyon where you could
pick up pieces like those, and confessed
that he han killed his partners To get
control Of II all Tho murder was
done on the doscrt at Coyote Springs,
aad after he had covered the bodies 10
the sand he started bach to the placer.
He got there at night Said he; 4
don't know how it happened, but the
next knew found myself In herd