El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-04-03
The Little Black Miner
The Herald's Daily
Short Story

face. the mole close on its tail II
had nearly run into the jaws OF an
other mole, working from the oppo-
site direction. Both moles followed
it almost perpe ndicularly. but neither
knew of the others presence, al
though but two inches apart
Now, a shrew. one Of those long
nOsed, fierce little beasts which many
people and cats mistake for mice
though they have an abominabIe
scent, and cats viii not eat them.
was sitting in the sun on the surface,
and was considerably astOn1shed when
a worm, without any warning at all,
suddenly came up out Of the ground
right under his nose
But that was not all for the shreW
to marvel at.
Behind the worm, and following it
with such dash that they literally
seemed to have been fired from
springs. hurtled two moles each from
a different hole. who leaped some
inches in the air, and came down IN
q heap, where they fought and IOugnI,
and fought like fiends. In fact. they
fought. as is the custom Of male mOles
when they meet till one was killed,
and the cOnQuerOr would have stayed
indeed TO eat the VanQuiShed had not
his quick ears caught the derislVe
squeak Of the shreW vanishing down
one OF the mOleruns with the cap
tured worm Then he gave chase, and
that shreW had the time Of his life,
till he dropped the worm and fled on
wards. only just in time TO save his
own skin.
After that our mole went to drink.
Now any other beast or bird would
have been hard put to il to findt
drink Of water in all those fields
There had been a hard frost some
days before. and no rain for a week.
nor were there any ponds. The
mOles have their own way Of finding
water, however When men discovered
name. calling 1t sinking an artesian
well. The mole drove a shaft, and
burrOwed down and down, and down
into the earth.
Now. you are bound to find water
anywhere il you 90 deep enough.
The mole knew that, too. And sure
enough, very sOoE the earth In the
tunnel he was making began to moist
en-, and the mole instead Of going
further, drew back.
Very soon the tunnel began to fill
with water from below. and the mole
drank, and hurried home to his fort
ress" to snatch the short sleep his
ever present hunger was likely to al
low him The fortress" was cham
Der full Of soft mOss-bedding, situat-
in a natural hammock of earth. Two
galleries ran completely round this
chamber, entering IL at four spots
and connecting beyond with q net
work Of side runs and small tunnels
Thus 60 would be hard for an enemy
TO corner the mole asleep.
And in this instance the enemy
came. The mole heard him-for sound
carried far down tunQel-as you
knOw-When he had slept but an hour
There was the hollow pattering OF
approaching feet in a hurry. The
first footballs he knew. They be-
lOnged to a mole. Nevertheless he
was cOnsiderabl bly, startled when a pure
white young lady mole burst upon the
scene. The second footballs he knew
to- but did not wait for. They were
the footsteps OF the 1.-THE, snaky
weasel. his worst foe
He led his new found lady love up
a side passage to the surface. ran
some way along the hedge, and sank
again, dlgging mo the solid earth
as easily as a man sinks in water
The weasel followed them hard In
fact. il followed them too hard, for
after diving into the fresh-made tun-
mel which Joined presently a main
tunnel It did not wait to follow
slight detour Of six inches which the
retreating moles had made round some
obstacle not apparent 1t ran straight
on. and was suddenly held on the iron
Jaws Of q mOle-trap. which the old
mole-catcher had set in the main tun-
mel The cunning old mole had scented
the trap with his wonderful snOut,
and had burrOWed around II, his new
found partner following al his heels.
Many times has the old mole-catch-
er seen those two mOles together
since. Indeed. he found their nest
in a hedge-b bank only last August
where they had reared their family,
but try as he will he has never been
able to catch the white mole, although
he would much like to do so, as he
skin would fetch a tidy sum il sold
He says the old mole. her mate. is
too cunning to allow her to be caught
IN any trap, and she is never likely
to have another mate he thinks, be-
cause the old mole kills all rivals
and spOils the mOle-catcher's trade in
so doing. May he long prosper and
tunnel, that plucky little miner IN
yOu2