Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-16
WAS CHARGED WITH DYNAMITE.
How a Mule Turned n Mine Into n
Geyser.

How Mule Turned n Mine Into n
Geyser.
From the Chicago Record.
The pack mule is quite as much an insti-
tuition as the team mule, and Is absolutely
indispensable in the mountains. Mule pack
ing is fine art, and with wel-trained
animal and a skillful packer you can safely
transport anything from piano to bag of
oats. When the packer has finished his job
in an artistic manner the animal may buck
or back, kick or rear, or roll but he can
not rid himself of his burden, and he finally
gives it up in despair. After two or three
experiences he will submit to his destiny
and fall into line with the rest of the train
every morning to receive his load from the
packer. A well-broken pack mule is al
ways proud of his load, and If by any
means 1t gets loose he will step quietly
out of line and wait until the packmaster
comes along to tighten it.
The most serious objection to the mule,
which you sometimes find in human beings
also, is the delusion that he can sing. One
who has never heard a mule solo cannot
appreciate the extent of his mistake; but
like everything else about a mule, his song
Is strictly original 1t belongs to no other
animal. No one can describe and no one
can initiate it.
"Speakin' O. mules" said an old Santa
F'e teamster. as he tipped back in his chair
d
lad once with a critter. Me and Mexican
Mose-mebbe you knew him? They called
him so because he was mimi in Mexico
for quite a spe,l-me and Mexican Nose
was prospectin' up in the Bill Williams
mountains one winter when our mule ct up
all our dynamite cartridges. There we was
loo miles from nowhere, and no way of
gettin' more'
II reckon I know how we felt" said an
old Californian, who sat in the corner
smoking. I've been fixed that way when
the Ticker gave out. It's a distressin' sit
uation."
I'VE dassent try to ride the mule to the
nearest settlement continued the team
ster, without noticing the interruption, fer
neither of US want quite ready for king
dom come-neither me nor Nose. But Nose
he was the most ingenious cuss that ever
handled a pick. He was alters inventin'
some sort O labor-savin' contraption but
was terrible unlucky. Nose set a-thinking
Ter awhile over the stooation, and then he
looked up at me kind o. pleased with him
self an observed as solemn as a preacher:
Jake do you happen to know anything
O dynamics?' .
No says I; not durn thing
WAL says he, its the science of ex-
plodin'. AMI 1 low it'll work here. That
miserable critter has had the fun o. eatin
them cartridges, and now he's got to do the
blastin'. So he tied up a passle o. stones
In the oats and fed EN- into the mule His
idee was that when the digestin' machinery
SUI " "oih!IT II WOULD Ietcn the stones
into contact with the fulminatin' end of
the cartridges, and they'd be a-hoistin' of
dirt. So we backed the mule down into
the shaft and crept benin a big rock to
wait for things to begin to commence Well,
swar! In about fifteen minutes there was
the biggest kind of Fourth Of July ceJe-
bration you ever heerd tell on 1t was bout
noon when the proceedins opened, and
when the first cartridge went off the air
was full of dirt and mule meat fer miles
round, and me and Nose had all we could
tend to dodgin' the big powders that come
out o the shaft. In fifteen minutes the
shaft was 200 feet deep. and the dirt scat
tered all over the country. In ten minutes
more that burned mule had struck one o.
them mysterious underground streams YOU
find In the desert and the hole was full of
water, SO there warn't any more mimi fer
u.s.
THAT was tough" said the Californian
alphabetically. You Jest natchelly over
done it. didn't YEP
We'll. reckon we did: but we come out
even after all. That is, me and Nose didn't
lose no money"
'How's that?
Why, we sold the shaft to tenderfoot
that happened to come along jest that min
nit. He thought 1t was a geyser, and Nose
and me skinned out before the mule quit
firm"