Arizona republican., 1901-02-11

Here We had pitched our tent, and from here We had made expedition af- ter expedition searching and pryinlg everywhere for the metal we so much coveted. In vain We broke off pieces of rock and strained our eyes to discover even the tiniest speck of yellow In vain we wielded our hammer, pounding and crushing the rock into powder. In vain we horned; the mornings all were fruitless. And then. when we were completely discouraged and had deter mined to vamosa' if nothing was found on the succeeding day, We discovered four small bits of clayey looking rock, and, with ascendant hope. the. pros pect1r's ingus fatuus. carried it to the spring and horne3' a portion. and found in the bottom of the horn almost an ounce of the precious gold
 "All that night we sat and talked. de- spis!ng sleep. Ne'er had love-sick mai den's dream a rosier hue than the fan cies painted by our feverlsh imagina- | tions. All was light and love. Excite men,, like half-restrained gas, sparkled and bubbled and rioted in jest and wit and dance. I know not how many new and strange figures we invented that night, but they were numerous enough and fascinating enough to cause any little German dancing master to turn green with envy. We were not miseriy with our newly acquired wealth, O,,no. We lavished it ,n friends and foes alike. We endowed colleges and creat- ed any number of chairs; We built li- brarios and public baths and orphans homes and homes for the aged and the Lord only knows how many other char
 tes. This sad old world Is a great loser by our i'll fortune
 Long ere the sun had kissed the "Old Womans" care-creased cheek We were seeking for more evidence of the hidden ledge. Beginning at he base, we mounted steadily higher until We could almost tickle the chin of the "Old Wo- | man" herself, Every day for a week We carefully scanned and pried, return ing each night wearler and more dis couraged. At the end of the week We again decided to leave.
 The next morning we left the camp, but before getting put of sight We turn ed and bade the "Old Woman rev. erential adeu, and as we gazed the old grave face actually seemed to soften, and the ghost of a smile light up the | motherly features.
 "I could not bear to go to the old camp again, so I guided the party over the range of hills and around to the | Oposite side of the mountain. I pilot ! ed them to small spring l knew of and there we camped."
 We'll, the leader calculated after a long look. "If that ain't the sorrowful- lest ol mug lever see you kin eat my or hat. Pears like she got sumthin or her conscience. If we was in Jericho now I'd bet two to one that was old rard Lots wife"
 | ""rhe old Woman seemed to fascin- ate us all. As We sat around the camp fire after supper we could talk of noth- ing else.
 "Thc moon came out and lighted up the old face and gave a corpse like hue to the grizzly countenance. She seemed ! ta..er and statefier in the moonlight | and the hump on her shoulders was not | noticeable. Every move of the moon as it rose in its orbit caused a change like l lHts bl i pltlulE Jll uH tdStl. Tt was long ere I clO1ed my eyes in I sleep, and when I slept I dreamed. thought I heard a voice that shook the earth, and yet was as low and soothing as the cooing of Q dove. And the Voice called me by name and a vague wonder | filled me and l trembled sore afraid And again the Voice spoke, not so loud as before, but with a deeper, more pen etrating volume If sound. And my muscles twitched nerovusly and I rub bed my eyes, but they would not open Still was not asleep any more. and seemed to see more clearly than in all the years that were past. The voice said Come" and something seemed tC | leave my body. and the Something was Us light as air. l needed no guide, fol knew just where to go and what was going for. did not walk or fly
 but gllded along through the air as easily and smoothly as the passing oi time.
 "The journey lasted but a few seconds when I stopped and peered into the | side of the mountain. It's whole forma. ton was as distinct as though charted | In bright and different colors. Here | just beneath me, started a vein of gold quartz: the quartz was white though slightly tinged wh;h gray, and literally honey-ccmbed with virgin gold. l fol lowed 1t down its dev,1us way for hundreds of feet It drop. ped almost psrpendicularly fol nearly one hundred feet, ant then. breaking off abruptly. it reap peared to the right some fifty feet dis tance, and then zigzagged ,lik. light ming on a storm-swept night, down into
 the bowels of the earth. as far as
 could see-it seemed to have no end
 I remember saying to myself that thu
 vein. with it's abrupt break, would foo anybody without the knowledge I pos
 sessed. and cause thousands to b, squandered, perhaps hundreds of thous
 ands, trying to find it again. I looked
 up at the old face, but it was a. peaceful and inscrutable as a Madonna
 l awoke with start, and the sleel
 thus startled vanished and visited m
 no more that night.
 | What should I do? I was as positiv,
 the gold was there as though I held i
 in my. hands. Should l give the sscre
 away? There seemed no alternative
 If l could not show these fellows gol,
 they were quite capable of committn,
 any crime. They could swear my lif | tl. t@, ,1.