Arizona republican., 1901-09-27
TRAvELED WITH MIKE RICE
An Arizona Story Which Had Its End
 in Phoenix.

Walter A. WycIzom in "A Burro
 Punchsr'' in Scribner's for September,
 tells an interesting story of an over
 land trip from Creede (Coio.) to Phoe-
 nix. The principal character in the
 story Is Mike Price" by whom is
 meant Mike Rice. the error being the
 publishers. A rsporter for The
 Repu5sican remembers very well the
 arrival in town one night of Mike Rice
 and Wyckoff after that interesting
 journey He also heard Mir. Rice de-
 scribe the journEy. and say that Wyck-
 off, though tenderfoot and university
 man. was the most agreeable com
 panion he ever hal.
 This sentiment is reciprocated by MT
 Wyckoff in '"The Burro Puncher," for
 he says that though Mike started ou- as his guide. hs became also his philos
 opher and friend. They had good opportunity to either love or hate ea,i ether, for that trip occupied six w eks.
 Wyckoff says of Rice3 With the instinctive gentiemanlike reserve of r. he western frontiersman he never questioned me about myself: he was far more interested in what knowledge I might have gathered which he could add to his own. Oid,y enough 1t was the little reading I had done in philos- Ophy that attracted him the most. Many a nigti- when it was mild enough to sleep with our heads uncovered we lay side by side 'overarched by gor- geous night gazing into the starry Armament and I would tell him what I could of the theories of the universe from Thals.s to Herbert Spencer. feel ing all the while the tension of his mind as he reached out eagerly for these guesses a', the mystery of things. It happened that I had been resdinC 'Coningsby' at Recde. and Rice slipped the copy into his pocket ss we left camp. He devoured it by cur camp fires at night. The story held him, but most of all he was spellbouni by it's Literary charm and he added a quaint reason for his liking, in the remark You know he said 10 me. Lord Braconsheld was always square with the Irish
 His national partisanship was of the staunchest. and he had always given to the Irish fund when he could; but the outcome of the fight in Com mittee Room No. 15 had been too much for him, and he would stoutly main tain that never again, so long as the traitors who had turned against Par nell were in the ascendent. would he in. crest himself in Home Rule-threads of vital connection. which were a Iitt.e : ti lHO15IiN. DelNttH s' widely seveTr1 as St. Stephens and the deserts of Arizona
 The journey across the country was made by the most direct route possi- ble, and one of the worst in Arizona. All of which is faithfully described. as well as the entry. iTs.o Phoenix late at night. and the minSling with polite ians in the saloons where Mike took him. Tt waz-' he says. precisely as though Rice had invited me to his club"
 The night sc-ne was.depicted by MT Wyckoff with the accuracy of pho tcgrapheT. There were the MeXicans. rhinamen, prospectors and cow-punch- 1 ITS, and also politicians high in terri | orial office, all of whom knew Rice . md hailed I'm cordially
 Wyckof and Rice went to supper With a business man. and then to q ,orTal where they slept Of the effect | If that six w-eks upon him and the hings he saw in Phoenix, Wyckon says: When I found the next morn ng letters urging my return 70 the . saSs l was conscious of an indifference o the idea, which was wholly new to ny experience.'