The Savannah morning news., 1902-12-28

rather bites the stem in the corner of
his mouth, for he is so in earnest
over the work that he has fairly let
the pipe go OUT and it is almost upside
down.
" Look out" you say, you ashes are
falling out
on. well, the tobacco is out any,
way he says, and goes steadily on
with the work. you meanwhile watch
ing eagerly and covetOusly for the
shining particles and dust to CLEAN
from the black sand at the bottom.
All. there they are at last!
You draw a deep breath of relief
and delight, while the benevolent old
man looks up with kindly smile and
says, shaking his head: Wal, L de-
clare, that shows up heap sight bet
ter even than 1 figured on. I'm sort
of sorry 1 named that price to you on
this ere claim. Looks like as if you
had a bonanza
- But you gave me your word, > you
blurt out impetuously, and you can't
go back on it
'' No, young Teller. that's right. I'll
stick to what 1 said. But gosh! had
no idea she'd pan out like this"
with trembling hands you scoop up
the sand and gold from the pan and
dash away to the assayer's office. You
can feel your hair turn gray while he
is weighing it out.
s. 'Sixty-two dollars he announces.
''Whew! You almost drop in a dead
faint with delight. You'll have a for
tune in a week at that rate. This is in
deed the country of gold!
You rush after the old man and put
the transfer papers through in a jiffy
pa ying out every dollar that you pos
sess in the world for the claim. You
are full of gratitude to the old man.
who stuck by his word of honor. re-
CARELESS of loss. You did not know
that in mining camps moral standards
We're so high.
But the next morning comes a
change. After a couple of hours of back
breaking banning out you have prac-
tically nothing for your pains-a few
dollars perhaps-hardly more than fifty
cents pan. A horrible suspicion en-
ters your mind that there is something
wrong.
why continue the suspense? The
mining expert, whom you summon in
and whose reputation is known for
miles around, looks over the ground.
and then asks you a few questions
about the former owner who sold you
the claim. Positively no chance for
Sailing" the testpan, you assert.
The expert mods assent. Was he
smoking? he asks.
Let me think You meditate-"Ah,
yes, smoking an old clay pipe
Bowl upside DOWN. asks the ex-
pert pleasantly.
Why yes, I guess it was; in fact
" I know interrupts the expert The
pipe was out, a big bunch of gold dust
was mixed with the ashes, and they all
sifted from the bowl into the pam
"A sudden light dawns upon your
mind.
80 Oh, just one of the old ways of
Sailing" gold mine says the ex-
pert consolingly. I hope he didn't hit
you hard. The claim isn't worth
shucks.'
No, not hard you say slowly, and
turn away to look for a job, for now a
job is the only thing between you and
starvation.
Well" said Mr.. Forty-niner, that's
one way to salt a gold mine. There
are others, Suppose you are interest
ing yourself in a mine where tunnell-
ing is the method of getting out the
precious metal. Let me see. it's fifty
years ago that I got stuck in a prop
osition of that kind. The affable owner
OF the mine, who really didn't want to
SELL but felt that he must return
East at my request led me promptly
through the tunnellings of the property
Just beginning to be developed. A cou-
pie of his men in one of the tunnels
were filling UP big canvas bags with
quartz and pay dirt that had evidently
been mined out only a few hours be-
fore.
Il felt that was an old hand at min
lng' and SO 1 walked up promptly to
one of the bags that had just been filed
and said: I want this one taken tight
ly sewn together, so l knew that il
could not be tempered with.
The owner looked somewhat panied
at my abrupt methods, and was fair
~ gleeful over my acuteness and
promptness.
We'll, to my delight, that bag as
sayed away up-almost to the limit, 1t
was as rich ore as had ever been found
IN the camp. Within twentv-foIIr
hours the mine belonged to me. and.
though it cost me about all I had.
was walking on air
But the atmosphere forms a very
thin sort of promenade, and is likely
TO let you tall through suddenly. So it
was with me. The mine was simply
N. G.. I worked it a month, with no
results, and then quit in disgust.
Il told my story to an old miner.
'Salted!' was his brief comment, sailed
to the limit
But how? I asked. He looked at
me pityingly.
OOhS man, ne Sclu, you re ten
der at this business. OF course that
chap had scattered a handful of gold
dust in each of those few bags. He
knew you'd pounce on one and I'll bet
he could hardly keep from yelling
when he saw you walk right into the
trap"
The Forty-niner shook his head sad
ly. 1T is melancholy, even fifty wears
after, to recall the occasions when one
has been tried and found an easy
mark" said he.
Sailing a mine with a blow pipe
isn't an uncommon way to do the
trick, unused the narrator of old Cal
ifornia days. That method requires
considerable skill. Suppose a crooked
owner of half-developed set of tun-
nellings decides to unload. He goes
through the tunnels, notes carefully all
the knobs or chunks that project prom
inently from the sides or roof, and
with an ingenious sort of a blower. he
forces fine gold dust into the cracks
and crevices of these outcropping
knobs. Then he takes the would-he
purchaser through the mine.
This time the prospective buyer is
an old hand-not a raw youth. to he
caught by such tricks as fooled me
He doesn't intend to. be taken in bv
salted bags of ore. He will do a ut-
tie actual mining on his own account
He takes pick and hacks away et a
few knobs of the hard quartz that are
Embedded in the sides of the tunnel.