Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-21

that gulch yonder."
=, kirk was as weary and felt the pangs of
lnlrst quite as much as did his cousin, and
Nheh the favine was finally gained he threw
| himself on the ground. desiring nothing 50
mqeh as chance to rest
lis example was quickly followed by Part
and Dory, and all three were soon asleep
rol TWO hours each one remained in al
n,nlosI the same position he had assumed when
Lne matt was first made, and then Kirk could
ke quiet no longer.
lie got up and walked down the ravine I'M
.lI III when near the bottom of the gulch, the
Vegetation appeared more luxuriant
me ground is damp down there. and |
m m1ight md some water by digging" he said
Bart was asleep, or he might have objected
70 MIX leaving such palpable evidences of
Chelr presence there as the upturned sods
Mould be, and the young gold hunter with no
thought OF precious metals in his mind Just
Ineh' ,,e' aug with his knife down into the ground
with feverish haste.
me earth was damp, but by no means w5t.
and IN the hope of finding some chance to
queneh his thirst, Kirk dug on until he had
n'uue quite an excavation nearly three feet
deep, and then the blade Of his knife grated
hGIshly on gravel
There was no hope Of finding water there,
aEu ne was about to turn away, when a.
thought came to him which, for the moment,
drove all idea Of thirst from his mind. He
had struck what might be pay grayell Why
was 1t not possible to find gold there IN as
great abundance as at the place Bart had
discovered?
lie commenced to dig again, and then stop
peg quite as suddenly as he had begun.
-, What if there is plenty of dust here?
out" o.
he had already turned over some of the
gravel, and, as he was about to leave the
place where he had been disappointed twice,
Un affr taI H., L., aola {
What he had at first thought were simply
pebbles.
Reaching down. he took out a handful and
locked at them as if he almost doubted the
evidence OF his own eyes.
He had fifteen or sixteen of the supposed
pebbles, and more than two-thirds of them
were gold nuggets-pure Jumps of the dull,
yellow metal.
All thought Of danger, all desire for water
mad been crowded aside by the wonderful dis
enemy, might be close upon them, he shouted:
Gold! gold! gold in lumpsl"
That cry aroused Bart and Dory quite as
much as the sight of the metal had Kirk, and
IN IN another instant they were by the side of
their companion, who had drawn up second
handful of the precious nuggets
Never before had the boys seen BAIT as
excited as he was then. He examined in
nervous manner not only the nuggets, bu. the
gravel, and then dashed at full speed up the
ravine.
Kirk and Dory were too greatly elated by
this newly found wealth to pay very much at
tantion to the movements of their guide. They
alternately dug with their knives and took
out the yellow nuggets, until, in hardly more
than five minutes, they had at least ten
ounces of virgin gold.
Bart came down the ravine A look or
anxiety had replaced the flush of joy on his
face and already had he begun to feel the
care which great wealth brings with it,
lhe VEN crODS out lust above where thn,a
can be no doubt but that the quartz is gold
bearing. 1ou have found the nuggets herr,
and further up is ledge that is as rich as
anything that was ever discovered in Central.
Here, he added, as he took up some worth
ess-iooking pieces Of quartz from the excava-
ton Kirk had made, "are blossom rocks, or
foat-ore, that has been detached from the
main vein, showing that there is an unusually
rich deposit here, by the side of which our
placer doesn't amount to anything"
But how can We work it?" asked Kirk,
stopping his labor OF picking I'D the nuggets
for. the first time. There's no water near
"We are not so sure of that, because we
haven't hunted very. much; but lead like
that IS worth bringing water a good wayg
We must hide all traces of our having been
here, and send word to your father"
But he wouldn't come out hunting gold"
said Kirk, quickly.
began to put the, earth back into the hole
carefully. "Well, let me tell you that there's
more money in this spot than there is in half
the mines in Colorado put together and he
won't waste much time in getting here after
And to think that we have been trying to
lead those rascals from that little no count
mine up there to this one that's worth a thou
sand of it! We must get out of here as quick
ly as we can"
If Bart could have replaced the earth mar
ticle by particle. he would have done so in
his eagerness to destroy every trace of their