The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1909-12-16
HIS GUN MISSED FIRE.
The Way the Old Miner Accounted For
the Lucky Event.

the Lucky Event.
The eastern man had asked the
old prospector a thousand questions,
minus
"Do you believe in luck" he
queried when the prospector spoke
of the venturous character of pros
pecting.
The gold hunter must have been
a Yankee, for he parried with an
other question.
"Well, pardner," he said, Sup
pose you had a gun that you had
fired maybe a thousand times, a gun
that had never missed fire, never
failed you at no place in the road,
and one day you aimed point blank
at the head of your best friend, be-
cause she ate too much, and pulled
the trigger, and the gun missed fire;
the next second, the friend you had
intended to kill saved your own life
in a funny way. What would you
call that?"
"Well, I'll be hanged" exclaimed
the eastern man. "You don't look
like the man who would kill his best
friend"
The old fellow chuckled shrewd-
ly as he strobe over to a chair. A
fine old female dog followed him
and lay down at his feet. Then the
e~asterner seated himself near by
and offered the miner a cigar. "Tell
it straight" he admonished.
81 was doing a little prospect
ing" said the old fellow, ''in the
toughest country | ever saw and
had taken my dog with me. The
frost vas just going out of the
ground. and there was some snow
in patches.
81 got to a place where the cliffs
looked good to me and started to
climb, but somehow l stuck my foot
into a narrow c~revice between two
rocks and could not get it free any
way | tried. The ground vas thaw-
ing, and | suppose | loosened the
rocks so that they slipped together.
81 had n small sandwich with
me, and | could reach a patch of
snow. so when | was exhausted I
got out my lunch and began to eat.
''The dog crept to my side and
begged so piteously that l started
to divide with her, and then the
thought struck me that l might be
imprisoned there for days before
any relief CHANGED that way. | di-
vided the little sandwich in eight
parts, and | ate one and gave one
to the dog. 1t soon began to snow
the big, wet flakes you see in the
early spring-and the dog came to
me and cuddled down by my side,
looking as sympathetic as a woman.
She was trained to carry messages,
and | had some paper and a pencil
with me-. 1t began to turn cold. |
shivered and thought of how the
dog had saved a little girls life
once when she was lost, and | grew
so sorry-and tried to look it-that
l gave her the remainder of the
lunch. A dog starves harder than
a human.
"After awhile | raised my gun
to put her out of her misery and
pulled the trigger, but the gun
didn't go off, and at the next in
slant the dog began barking furi-
ously, and l presently heard men
coming to my rescue. They had
been passing in the distance and
would not have seen me but for the
barking of the dog. Do you believe
in luck9"
"But why didn't you send your
faithful friend home with a mes
sage2 How do you account for the
failure of the gum"
"Well, you see, l was posing in
front of a motion picture camera,
and that plot was old-the dog
messenger. And the gun wasn't
loaded. The cartridge was blank"
Then the eastern man looked like
the cartridge. - Chicago Record