Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-02-09
DAILY SHORT STORY
At the Bottom of His Luck.
rOriginal.1

tree reaUlDS a IeJlSr- Ills ciOlHeS were
in tatters. his shoes were minus the
principal part of their sOles, and OF
his felt hat there was little left but
the brim. He had thrown off his hav-
ersack and laid it on the grass beside
him. 1t contained no food, for he had
eaten the last morsel that morning for
breakfast But it did contain all the
prOspector possessed in the wOrld-ten
pounds of gunpOwder and magnify
ing glass The former he kept TO turn
up ground, wherein he hoped gold might
be hidden, the latter to examine Speci-
mems of ore.
This was the letter lie read:
Dear Ted have had no word from you
since your letter a month ago. which was
full of dependency. L hope you have
done nothing rash You say Colorado is
full of sink holes concentrating blighted
hopes. You must remember that there are
a few holes commemorative of the realiza
ton OF wild dreams. There is an old say
ing. When you have put your hand to
the pillow never look back" i am sorry
that you felt constrained to undertake
line of work with great element of
luck in it; but, since you have. stick to
what you have undertaken. Don't de-
spair till you have hunted all over the
few. The commonplace goes TO the many.
l have agreed to cast my lot with you,
consequently L partake of your condition.
1 may not have been wise in doing so. but
I have put my hand to the pillow, and
I'll never look back" Your loving
LUCY.
The young man folded the letter and
put it in his pocket. The mistake
was in the beginning" he unused. The
oil u-nnl6n'f consent n
gagement on my going to work in the
regular way because, lie said, | would
slave all my life and if success came
1t would not come for many years.
Meanwhile his daughter would be
growing old resolved to stake all in
trying 10 make money in a hurry. and
have lost. But what a splendid indi-
cation of character there is in her let
teri / have no right to keep her tied
down TO my hard luck till her beauty
is gone and men, after all, are attract
ed by beauty and sentiment. There is
good stuff in Lucy, and she will make
some man Il treasure of wife. Be
cause | can't have her shall | deny her
To another? Shall 1 be dog i'll Il
Manager? No. l have resolved what TO
do. and I'll do it. My clothes shall be
found by the river bank. Then, when
she gets the news. she'll think of some
one else, and there's plenty of them
wanting her"
His eye lighting on a bit of earth
which looked as~if il might contain
gold. he took his magnifying glass from
his haverSack and mechanically exam
ined the specimen, meeting with the
usual disappointment. 1t contained
gold. but not i'll paying quantity. With
a sigh lie hooked the handle of his
magnifying glass on 10 a twig that lay
without the shade TO watch. as lie had
often done before. the concentrated
rays of the sun move slowly along the
surface of the ground The strong
light ilumined the soil, revealing small
particles of gold. The sun moved slow
". and the prospector was tired and
discourag ed. He fell asleep.
He was awakened by the smell of
burning cloth His first act was To
clap his hand to his pocket. thinking
that he might have placed his pipe,
lighted. i'll it. The pipe was there. but
cold Next. he looked about him. On
his haversack was a round spot of
bright light cast from the sun through
the magnifying glass. and a thin film
of smoke indicated that the haversack
was burning. Then he remembered the
gunpowder
Several things passed rapidly through
the prospector's mind-irst and fore
most, that he would be blown to atoms:
secondly, that u bona fide death would
render "a sham one necessary; thirdly.
that if he escaped being killed Il gun
powder sham death would sound more
probable than n drowning one: at any
rate il would be more original. These
three transitions of thought occupied
one second-a second of inactiou-the
next he was on his feet and in two or
three more some distance from his
haversack kneeling behind big stone.
He was none too soon. There was an
explosion that threw him on his back,
and he lay for awhile stunned Then
he stood up and viewed a great hole
where the explosion had taken place.
Now" he said lugubriously, I've
got to the bottom of my luck. Ten
pounds of good blasting powder. n rag
ged haversack and first rate magni-
flying glass gone up in smoke. Well,
it's better TO he at the bottom than the
top; at the top you're sure to fall, at
the bottom you can only rise"
The force of habit led him TO examine
the hole. Taking UP a piece of quartz
that had been blown out OF it he looked
ii over. 1t was mixture of pure gold
and rock in proportions OF about half
and half. The moment he saw what it
was a light of gladneSs sbone in his
face He was TRANSFORMED Then he
began to kick dirt and dry leaves into
the hole. not stopping till he had COW
cred il. After this he went TO the tree
under which he bad lain and carved
his initials. looking carefully about him
and taking note of his surroundings.
His next move was 10 wrap his nugget
in his ragged coat. and. having taken
care of everything. he set off to a town