The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1895-11-30

and pyrites; about Himmelsfurst and
Veta Grande, and Neta Madre; about
limestone, and f1uxes, and rubbish, what
had been done and what might be done
and what ought to be done, till Ellen
declared herself disguised. She would
not be left out in the cold, she said. She
opened Mrs Odonto's card table, and
made them, willy-nilly, give up their
beloved assays and reductions. She
produced new pack of cards, and
taught them all to play ombre,
which was the game of the Rape of the
Locke. Ombre is whist as whist would
be under a despOt Whist is ombre
where the despot has had his head cut
off, and peasants, merchants, priests,
and soldiers, or clubs. diamonds, hearts,
and spades, are equal in their rights
before the law. But Ellen made them
play ombre. Most women, in their
heart of hearts, incline for depotism in
government.
CHAPTER III-PROSPECTING.
And this is all that can be told Of that
gay little picnic dinner party. What
grew out of it all seemed simple enough
at the time. When Fergus found that
Mr.. Pugh had spent all his early life
in the various grades of smelling works
in Swansea, he told him that New
Padua was no place for him, which,
alas poor Pugh knew well enough
already. Fergus told Pugh that he
ought to be in Arizona. He showed him,
in the college library, in Allegro and
Venegas, the evidence that there was
a time when the chief fountain of Span
ish wealth flowed in silver from far-off
Arizona. The attic of the Two-Good
House was no place for him, while sui
phurets and carbonates were waiting
for him to torture them under a sky so
delicious. In Sonora, just over the bor-
der, was found the largest nugget of
silver ever seen, preserved perhaps to
this hour in some museum in Spain.
That did not weigh quite 5000 pounds
and probably was not worth $4,000.
But you shall find a bigger one" said
Fergus. You shall send next Thanks
giving one $4,000 nugget to Ellen and
another to Miss Minna here and we will
drink your health in a cup of Mrs.
Odontos best black coffee
Poor Mr.. Pugh knew this, of course,
we'll nigh as well as Fergus; only the
sinews of war failed him. Here Fergus
talk with Pugh, and learned his whole
story. Pugh had broken down in
Swansea and was cleaned out" there,
as the carnal say. What was the break
down l do not know Only it was dis
honesty and it was not gambling. Prob
ably it was liquor, which at the bottom
of so large a proportion of the wretched-
ness Of our times that, when you know
nothing to the contrary, you may take
this for granted Whatever it was,
Fergus knew l do not. Fergus had
confidence enough in his man to believe
him man of honor; and, after consult
ing with Ellen and with her full con-
sent, Fergus borrowed at the First
National bank $500 on the
pledge Of bonds to that amount, and
boldly lent the money to Mr.. Pugh to
go to Arizona, to try his fortune. He got
letters for him to General Fremont, to
Mrs. Fremont, to Mr.. Weber, and be-
fore Christmas Mr. Pugh was on his
way.
And this adventure went much fur
Their than they supposed. Letters came
from Mr.. Pugh every week. Sometimes
he was up; sometimes he was down.
But on May morning, just after Fergus
had hung a basket of arbutuS, of liver
wort, and anemone on the handle of
Ellens door, he walked down to the
village for his mail, and in the mail was
the critical letter from San Xavier del
Bac, on which hinges the end of this
story.
Mr. Pugh had obtained control of just
the property he wanted. Capital was
needed, of course; but capital would
come, could one be sure of brains,
scientific knowledge, and business
faculty AS for the sinking of shafts.
the development Of the mine, and the
other general work of bringing the
one to be fit for anything, Mr.. Pugh had
no fear for his own ability. But as for
the smelling, he was wholly dissatisfied
with all he saw-as well as with the old
Mexican traditions as with the new
hand-to-mouth California makeshifts,
as he cody called them. And the letter,
therefore. ended with these pregnant
sentences: I'm short. my dear sir, you
have seen my drift already. If you
could come out here to live-of course
with your wife-I believe we could have
the best mine here and the best smelt-
ing mills. And, observe, the last is vast
~ the more important of the two. A
mine may or may not play out; or there
may be a thousand better mines. Quier
Sabe? But there can not be better
smelling than you and I ought to be
able to establish here. Then let there
be a thousand and one mines, why, sc
much the better for you and me.
could not Miss Ville-Fosse send fol
| one of those brothers of hers from
! Freiberg? 1 do not want to under rate
your chemistry, nor my own, of course
but l observe that the German gentle
men here are reticent, and that some