The San Francisco call., 1910-10-09
oNRMEL FIELDP -AND H1LN5O

egade Indians, who refused to let HIM
come on shore, driving him away with
hostile gestures. He turned his boat
back whence he came, and Just before
departing he stood up and held out his
hand and said, Because you have done
this thing, Monterey shall never show
her fairest face TO her visitors" And
to this day, say the old. old men and
women, whenever big event is going
on and strangers fill the town the wind
blows or the fog comes in or 1t rains
Monterey never shows her fairest face
to her visitors. 1 smiled inwardly as
heard this, but I remembered the day
that the battleship fleet came In. when
the wind blew as not before in 40 years.
breaking one of the great ships loose
from her moorings, and the sea was so
rough that 5000 men on shore leave
had to sleep in the town that night be-
cause they could not get back to their
boats. Many other instances the ven
erable narrator recalled to me, and
ended with the conclusive statement
that as in these cases, so in the other
nothing can prevail over the will of
heaven. The mine is lost and lost IL
shall remain. Quien sabe?
Yet another story will they tell you,
a most curious one. If you do not yet
believe. The plot of this is as old as
the most ancient literature known. be-
ing amoug the NEUROLOGICAL tales found
in India. 1t is an apt illustration OF
that clever saying of Solomon to the
effect that there is nothing new under
the sun, for it has been used re-
peatedly since. One meets with 1t in
Chaucer. and later in the folklore of
the Magyars and the Celts and the
Slavs. Even in modern times 1T crops
up frequently, Kipling with his story
of Ivory Anlxus and Jack London IN
'-Just Meat" being the latest exponents
of this theme. 1t is the story Of men
and treasure and death. death being
ever victor in the end; two men, some
times three, having by some means,
usually dishonest. gained great wealth.
become seized with fear lest one OF
them get more than his share. or else
each of them secretly wishes to possess
all of the riches. So they plot to kill
each other, and finally succeed in do
ing this, and the treasure is the cause
of their undoing.
To bring the tale home to Monterey.
it is said that all the Indians who
knew the way to the mine were dead
save two. and the padres having long
since departed from California, these
two were the sole poSsesSorS of the
precious secret. Unfortunately. they
were not friends, but, on the contrary,
the bitterest of enemies. Here the story
varies bit from the others OF similar
plot. for they were in the beginning at
feud not because of greed, but because
long before, in their youth, they had
quarreled for the love of GIRL who
In the end did not marry either of them
Their deadly hatred for each other en-
dured and when the time came that
they alone were left of all who had
known the location OF the mine, 1t was
chiefly greed which famed the i'll
feeling.
Each of them made threats. spoken
openly, with intention to reveal to the
Americans, for large consideration,
the secret, merely to anger his old time
rival. Their friends industriously car
ried to each the words the other had
said, and day by day their hatred grew.
Finally, one of them, exasperated be-
yond endurance over something said by
his foe. really did make up his mind
to show an American prospector the
way to the treasure for large sum.
Indians are lazy. and they dislike to
work for anything which may be OBJ
tanned without trouble; the way to the
mine was long and the silver heavy
to carry-it would be far better. he
thought TO have in his possession
large amount of cash.
He did not dare to go openly with the
gringO TO the place. lest he be seen,
so he promised to proceed thither alone
on a certain night, mark the trail un-
mistakably. and then give the Ameri-
can explicit directions as to which can
yon to seek He smiled TO himself in
grim enjoyment as he thought OF the
discontinue of his ancient enemy.
All went as he had planned-he
marked the way plainly one night, and
the prospector was to follow up thu
signs early the next morning, uncon-
scious that his foe had learned of his
nefarious plan, had followed him up
and destroyed the signs he had left
and was even now hot on his footsteps.
TO settle with him their long score. He
came up to the informer some miles
out in the hills. purposely waiting till
he had gotten well away from tho
mine. And then they shot each other
TO death. where they were found later
1t was after this happening, you will
be told. that the mouth of the mine
was sealed by heaven. And ii will be
long before the spell is removed. say
the old. old men and women OF Monte
rey.