The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1908-03-18
CHARM OF
Rn THE DESERT!

by Satan, who was standing on his
face, with claws inserted into his two
weeks growth Of whiskers, bis back
arched, and splitting his fear and hat.
red at something In the darkness just
beyond the little circle Of light which
still sbonc from the embers Of the
camp fire. Pages awakening
thought was that Indians were try.
ing 10 scalp him.
Here. here, you dcvill' he mut,er-
cd, when he found out that II was
Satan, Lets go my face. will your
Ouch, you're pulling all my whiskers
out, you bioomin' fooll What ails you
anyway
As soon as he could get the cat dis
entangled from his beard, Page reach
cd for his pistol, at the same time
noting everything around him. Patti
enee standing trembling by the little
fire, and Satan by his side still spit
ting his fury at the darkness. All
this told him that Il was an animal he
must deal with. probably coyote.
lie turned on his side and searched
the darkness with his eyes. Two
eyes from the black void met his own,
two yellow balls Of fire. There was
no light to shoot by. but he did not
hesitate, Raising Prudence, he fired
without attempting to aim, and as
the report echoed along the noun.
tainside, there came an awful scream
mingling with the echoes, that made
Page have queer feelings IN the reg
ion Of his stomach, and that made his
hair feel starchy. No coyote could
have made that noise. Then long,
dark body shot into the air high
above him, streak OF white showing
on It's breast, and again Prudence
roared out, and streak OF fame split
the darkness. This time Page fred
At the splotch Of white, and the ami
NAL clawed the air In convulsion
movements, stuck against an over
hanging ledge, hung for an instant in
the void, then came tumbing down at
Pages feet. bringing with il a shower
Of earth and stones.
Satan, who had been watching all
this paralyzed with fear, leaped TO
one side as the dark form came down
almost on top OF him, and with
frightened "meowl" sprang lightly
to the equally-terriicd Patience's
back, where he clawed hair out OF the
little burro by the pawsful
Page threw some wood on the fire
and examined the animal, keeping d
wary eye on il the while. II was a
huge mountain lion, and stone dead,
with bullet hole between its eyes
and one in the white spot on its
breast He dragged the body to one
side, quieted the cat and burro, and
throwing some more wood on the fire,
rolled himself in his blankets again,
The next morning he arose, as us
ual, with the sun, He ate his break.
fast and started into the mountains
alone, with the intention OF prospect
ing some leads he had seen there be-
fore and returning to camp in the
evening, He swung his pick over his
shoulder and started to ascend the
mountain, On the first ledge above
his camp he stopped and stared,
specchless with amazement, at some
thing on the ground.
II was the place where the noun
tain lion had struck the night before,
and il had broken off the end of the
ledge, revealing a vein of glttering
yellow gold, With cry OF joy Page
bent over to examine It. He picked
up some loose particles and crumpled
them between his fingers. Then, ris-
ing to his feet, he drove his pick deep
into the ledge, sending the bright yel-
low particles flying in every direction.
He bent excitedly over it again, his
hands trembling nervously and his
breath coming fast. As far as the
pick had entered the gold still showed
and the vein grew perceptibly larger,
Its the beginning Of a good one"
he cried exultantly to the mountains
above him, Then he bent over the
side Of the ledge and scanned its base.
"If it holds out" he said aloud, II
ought to find it again down at the
bottom" and dragging his pick after
him, he slid down and dug frantically |
at the base OF the ledge, where 1t join
ed the mountain side. Soon he un-
covered the vein again, still wider
than at the top, He threw his pick,
and his exultant cry echoed along the
side AT last the fortune
was found he told hinnself over and |