The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-07

''I have had this mule story up my sleeve for six months" said the Texan who has been associating with the Mon tana oldtimer club nf Butte for years, but 1 have refrained from springing 1t, because l was afraid 1t would bring down a storm of rebuke from you. fou know I can tell a story, too, and so l will give you this mule story, and 1t must be understood all around that It Is the gospel truth and not a lie.
 "I had been working on the Texas ranges for a few years, and one day got tired of the job and went over to a ranch and asked the boss if he would give me something easy, and he set me to herding a drove of razor-back hogs. He gave me a mule to ride. and when started out to bring the mule into the corral to saddle him I found hard prop osition. The mule was wild as coyote, and il appears that the boss had tried him on a dozen or more men, with the result that all of them quit their jobs before they began. But was determined to make a stick of the job, so l stayed with the mule until I got him tanned so that 1 could ride him and drive him. He got so tame that after awhile he would come to me when I called to him.
 But he wouldn't let any other man get
 within 100 feet of him. One night a gang of rustlers came along and stole 100 head of horses and mules, and my mule was among the number. l had named him
 Pete. The band was driven up here to Montana and the British possessions and disposed of
 ''I knocked about Texas and Montana for several years and I struck out for Butte, intending to learn the mining bus mess. Instead of going to work at once 1 laid around and got acquainted with the lay of the land and made friends with some of the miners, all of whom were cracking good fellows. They urged me to become a miner. but I hesitated and tried my hand at other jobs. Fin ally I asked one of the boys how they managed to get to work in mine, and one of them said to go up to the mine and rustic. The word rustic made me shiver, for in Texas the man who rustleS usually goes with mob to the nearest tree and gives a correct imitation or man being hanged. But in Butte they say a man is rustling when he asks for job
 "I went up to the mine and asked the foreman for a job and he looked at me the same as if had been rustling sure enough, but he told me to come on ana he would put me to work.
 'The foreman asked me if could drive mules, and told him had been mule skinner for many years, and he then took me down the shaft to the 1,2OO level He led the way into drift for about 1000 feet, till we came to an upraise from the 1900. He said: You go down to the bottom of this hole, and you will find mule-I guess I started down, and when within twenty-five feet of the bottom I heard a snort that made my hair stand on end. and the place was full Of mule heels and other men upon the other level laughing and shouting with delight at something.
 ''The mules eyes were shining like two balls of fire and sparks were flying from the top of the drift where his heels were striking. Altogether it was a wild sight, and no doubt would have frightened me had I not known the nature of the mule family From force of habit. l sang out: Whoa, Pete" and the mule quit kicking. He recognized my voice. and seemed glad to see me. I went down to the level and began to talk to him. and he put his head over my shoulder and cried. Yes, sir. tears as large as hickory nuts ran down his cheeks for half an hour He knew me. It was my lolg-'ost old Mex ican Pete. I felt like crying. too was so glad to sec him. Had he not recog- | nized me l would never have known him looked at his front feet. and sure enough there were the initials. T. E. | NOtn nOOIS, WHICH Hdu tNN ii 'h'iN l with my jackknife more than thirty | years before But such a change in a | mule never saw. His hair was more than two feet lorg and it was IS green | as the greenest grass I ever saw. ana | his shoes were turned into solid copper and there was a heavy coating of copper on his teeth. This was caused from drink | ing copper water.
 q went up to the 200 again and asked the boss where the harness was. Never mind said he. don't bother with the harness today. but get shovel and go down and clean out the stable; 1t has not been cleaned out for quite a while, and guess 1t will take you all day to straiehten things out down there l went down again and began to explore the level There were thousands Of feet or drifts and crosscuts and not STICK or timber in any of them. and there were big caves in e great many places anu rocks falling all around It didn't look safe for me and I went back and told the hoss about it. He asked me if the timbers were broken down, and I told him there was no timber on the level, and he said I was crazy and that the level was all timber. He gave me a rope and told me to go down and tie the mule up and let him know when l got him tied. I went down and tied old Pete to rock and then shouted to the boss to come on. He came down and l never saw such a surprised look on mans face when he saw there was not stick of timber on the level He said: This takes the cake I know this place was all timbered for [ timhered it myself. know what's the matter, now. That russed mule has eaten the timber all up. Then he told me fhat the mule had been