The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-03-01

sailor. unmindful of purpose other than
providing the requisite cache, shovel;ng
and delVing with the energy peculiar
TO all his actions, suddenly struck q
deep vein of almost virgin gold.
To facilitate the disposal ar dis
lance of the disturbed debris, he threw
each shovelful onto a canvas sheet,
which he subsequently dragged among
| the trees in order to dislodga its con-
tents. After doing this four. times he
noticed certain metallic specks in the
fifth load which recalled the presence
of anthony. But the appearance of
the sixth cargo was so .ennarka BILE
when brought out into The sunlight
| that it invited closer inspection.
Though his knowledge of geology was
slight--the half-forgotten 9leanings of
a brief course at Eton-he was forced
to believe that the specimens he han
| died so obviously contained Eeither
copper nor iron pyrites, but glittering
I yellow gold. Their weight. the distri-
button of the metal through quartz III
a transition state between an oxide
and telluride, compelled recognition.
Somewhat excited, yet half skeptical,
he returned to the excavation and
scooped out yet another collection. This
| time there could be no mistake. i. Ma
lures own alchemy had fashioned a
veritable ingot. There were small
Jumps in the ore which would not ne ed
alloy at the mint before they could be
issued as sovereigns, SO free from dross
were they.
Iris had gone to Venus bath, and
would be absent for some time. JenBs
sat down on a tree-stump. He held in
his hand a small bit of ore worth per-
haps twenty pounds sterling. Slowly
the conjectures already pieced togeth-
er in his mind during early days on the
island came back to him.
The skeleton of an Englishman lying
there among the bushes near the well;
the GOlgotha of the poison-filled hollow
the mining tools, both Chinese and Eu-
ropean; the plan on the piece of tin
ah, the piece of TIM Mechanically the
sailor produced it from the breast
pocket of his jersey. AT last the mys-
ferrous sign "32-1'' revealed its signifi-
| canoe. Measure thirty-two feet from
the mouth of the tunnel, dig one foot
in depth, and you came upon the moth
er lode of this gold-bearing rock. This,
| then, was the secret of the cave.
The Chinese knew the richness of the
deposit, and exploited its treasures by
quarrying from the other side of the
hill. But their Grass ignorance of mod
ern science led to their undoing. The
accumulation of liberated carbonic acid
gas In the workings killed them in
scores. They probably fought this I'M
seen demon with the tenacity of their
race, until the place became accused
and banned of all living things Yet
had they dug a little ditch, and permit
ted the invisible terror to flow ,Iuiet-
iy downwards until its potency was
dissipated by sea and air, they might
have mined the whole cliff with i'm
punity.
The unfortunate unknown ]. She
of the Whitened bones-might have
done this thing too. But he only pos
sessed the half-knowledge of the work
ing miner, and whilst stunning the
plague-stricken quarry, adopted the
more laborious method of making an
adit to strike the deposit. He sue
ceeded, to perish miserably in the hour
when he saw himself a millionaire.
Was this a portent of the fate about
to overtake the latest corners? jerks.
Of course, stood I'D. He always stood