The Tupelo journal., 1908-10-02
THE OLD
PROSPECTOR
ie Queered an Ailuring
Proposition.

~ I'm bAS
thrown back and his eagle nose in the
air, as grizzled an old ~prospector as
ever struck Broadway. And SO that
you may know a griZzled old prospec-
tor the e time you see n | will
unfold my plans and specifications.
In the first place, he must be suffi-
GENTLY old so that his face is covered
with a labyrinth of little criss-cross
lines, for a smooth-faced old prospec-
tor couldn't do business on Broadway
for two consecutive minutes. In the
second place, he must have a skin like
leather-tanned, sir, by the summer
heat and the winter cold. He must
be innocent of beard and other facial
trimmings, thus distinguishing himself
from the miner who, of course, is
bearded like a pirate. And he must
have an irritable, querulous look like
a man who is not to be trifed with.
For the rest of it he carries a long tin
cylinder filled with blue prints, he has
q wallet full of documents, wears boots
outside of his trousers, and if you
stood him on his head and shook him
smartly enough ore would fall out of
his pockets to start a mine. Such is
the grizzled old p%rospector when pros
pecting down Broadway.
You" he said, ARE the proprietor"
Which ! modestly admitted.
That's easily seen, sir" he said.
very easily seen. Now, / have here
the best proposition you ever listened
to-a proposition that will pay you 100
per cent. every day you live"
Whereupon l insisted upon shaking
hands with him, and he kept my hand
in his while he gave my features a
long and careful scrutiny, as though
making up his mind as to whether or
not | was worthy to be his "pard."
You'll do" he said at last.
And suddenly ~galvanizing into life,
he snapped the top off his tin cylinder.
slapped his package of documents on
his knee, and delicately taking a sam
pie of ore between his thumb and fin
ger he held it steadfastly about two
inches from my highly gratified nose
This" said he, lis the ore"
"O-ho." said l.. This is the ore;
is it,
The mine is there; the ore is there;
and the miners are there" said he.
They're all ready to work for you
without wages and you don't have to
buy them any equipment, either. What
spades and picks and tools they'll need
they'll buy from you! What do you
think of that"
| let him see from my manner what
| thought of it, looking at him over
the sample of ore in breathless ad-
miration.
Indians" he whispered, and he
winked N eye.
And as for me, l winked one eye
again.
Il see what you're thinking said
he. You're thinking: Why do these
Indians sell gold for $40 an ounce
when they can get SIS and $40 for it at
the stores?'"
Distance he whispered. Three
hundred miles to the nearest stores.
Three hundred miles back. That's 600.
Six hundred miles on burros, sir, across
the Great American desert, sir, in a
blazing hot sun That's what they do
now. On the other hand, set up a
store right on their mines, well stocked
and capably managed-why, you could
get all the gold you want for $40 an
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES - lower-as-
And bringing both his elbows 10
rest upon the desk he said, in a
soothing voice: Look closely at this
ore and see the gold" And making a
little pass with his other hand, the
while he set me with his eye, he wan
dered on.
"Yaquis. Yes, sir. Look closely at
it. They know me and they're very
fond of me, too. These yellow specks
are gold. I've adopted one of the little
shavers. Two years old, sir. AS hand
some a child as you would wish to see.
sir. Killed his father, his mother and
two uncles. They wanted my burro,
sir. And l wanted it, too"
And as l blinked my eyes, he made
another eager little pass and said:
Eighteen hundred dollars. That
buys a half interest in this enterprise,
and there's a fortune in it, sir.
Eighteen hundred dollars. Is that wa
ter in that inkwell? No? Wait. |
have a few photographs I'd like to
show you"
And between his desire to keep his
y fixed and his desire to find the
necessary photographs, he dropped a
great double handful of documents,
and l helped him pick them up.
There" he said at last. That's
all, 1 guess"
mo-" | said, heres this"
Why" he said, "whatever's that?"
PROF. Borem's Vest Pocket Edition
on Hypnotism,'" read from the title.
Why. MOI" he said. That's not
mine. l didn't drop that"
And as for me, l winked n eye
again.
Business good?" | asked.
Rotten" he said.
And placing Prof. Borem's little
treatise in his pocket he further peck
eted his nugget and slung his tin cylin-
der ove his shoulder.
Sir" he said, Il bid you good
day" And stopping at the door he
looked over his shoulder and sheep
ishly asked:
Say, did o feel any thrills when
l was holding the rock in front of
yOur nose and making them funpv III