Evening journal., 1899-06-23
~. " ~. ~. 81. ~. ~ ". So; ". - ~. :
His Last Prospect.
BY stewart E. white.
slS''S' S'siS''lS SS'iSS' AZ N S'SlS''S


liked to find ledges Of red-brown rock
which became pyriies after he had gone
down "a way. and then pure white
uuartz. He liked TO follow out the
probable dip of the lead. partly by eN-
perience. mostly by instinct. he liked
10 dig those rabbit burrows Of an eN-
perimental nature. running strsight
down or straight In. called pros
pector's shafts" Thus he would
get 10 know the cross-section OF
a hill as you know the interior OF the
apple YOU have just cut in two. Thus
far Peter succeeded as well, even bet
ter. than the best. Then he lost il all.
he either sold out TO parties insolsent.
or on insufficient security, or illegally.
He never seemed 10 learn how. Other
men reaped where he had sowed, while
he moved on TO plow up new and vir-
gin country.
The worst OF II was that Peter. in a
patient way, was trying TO gain a COM
potency. Back in Vermont there was a
farm with more stones than even these
stony hills could show, and with less
gold in its harvests than even In Peters
negative gleanings-for here Peter at
least kept out of debt. But near the
snake-fence stood n little peak-roofed
and clapboarded house, with blinds Of
emerald green. Over the house rioted
Virginia creepers. Near the ancient
well swayed lilacs. broad and low. In
the old-fashioned front yard was the
chirp Of criclSets and hordes of white
butterflies with spots of sulphur-yel-
low. The house was empty and the
yard overgrown; yet TO the vacant
rooms Of one, or 10 the choked-out flow
ers of the other, Peters gentle thoughts
ever swarmed. like homing bees. He
saw it bathed in the sunshine Of pros
perity. In his vision the yard was or
derly, we'll kept; the house was popu-
! lous with the affection of loving hearts
For in that Vermont country, these
many years, a girl had waited-grow-
/ ing older, and quieter, and more re-
} signed-for Peter and the fortune be
was TO bring.
II Peter had had more self-assertion
he might have retained some of th'
, property he had so patiently relin
. quished. If Peter had had less faith. h'
might have been in more haste to re
s turn. And somewhere the qualities o
meelSness and faith are eXtolled above
I all else. So Peter came into gulch on'
4 afternoon, when the birds were singing
al alone. In his slow way he built
) shack. made himself comfortable, an'
I started in.
+ First he made a general survey Of tn
country. lie went up every littl
gulch, even to the shallow top Of
), filed with loose stones; he followed on
a the skyline of every ridge; he seize
d frequent opportunities of taking lon
4 diagonal down the slopes. In this h
proceeded rapidly, but carefully. Non
Of the broad indications escaped hin
lie noted accurately the various likes
the general "dip" Of the country, tn
o general direction of the parallel ledge
of strata, the numerous cross-ledge
and irregularities of structure. The
he carried with him a hand-pick, on
q end pointed, the other forming blum
II hammer, and a number of canvas bag
n he knocked off chunks of the rocl
e which he broke into fine pieces an
Is mixed thoroughly on an old hal
d blanket. After that he raised the OF
e posiie edges of the blanket. about th
d center in such n manner as to divid
ID the crushed rock into two equal part
b, One of these parts he threw away. III
other be mixed again as carefully as q
IS first. BY a repetition of the process. h
r. at last obtained an "avernge." whie
le he slowed in one of the little canvt
ar bags.
ie At the end Of the day, he dumped a
h average" into heavy iron morts
le over which pestle was suspended fro
" a springy sapling. BY alternately pul
n ing down and letting up on the saplinl
,k the pestle was made 10 crush the quar-
n fragments into fine red and white SAN
This. Peter poured and scraped into
e flaring-sided iron pan, into which }
Of LET a quantity Of water. He the
al whirled the pan in a peculiar manne
IS pansing 10 rock IL back and forth ever
IN few minutes Much Of the sand th'
nr flowed over the sides. After the fir
water wns all gone. he poured In son
more. Thus he panned the waste on
until. at last. nothing was left In Il
angle but some heavy black grain
OF These were the concentrates. By ade
rocking in one direction they we
made 10 string out in long. fan-shap'
mass. at the apex Of which was the fiji
DE yellow gold-that is. where there W
ca any.
~ In this way Peter slowly go, on i'd
us of the country. Some ledges whi
OF seemed to him promising, and yetwhi
did not show free gold at the top.
On exploited still further. With n char
IN OF so Of powder he penetrated to Ia
sh er below the surface. Or. perhaps
lB' spent several hard months making
20 irregular deep hole like well. frc
rs which he carried the debris in bag
ey climbing up a notehed tree. Then
ng selected more samples. This is ha
work. When he bad learned the cot
en try pretty thoroughly, Peter staked @
Ied his claims. There were four OF the
on Then he commenced sinking on
ncp ! ,l,ro ho could mn