Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-08-14
CHAPTER xiv.

CHAPTER XIV.
It is a great sensation-striking 1t
rich-one of the greatest in the world.
Some men punch a burro over the
desert all their lives in the hope of
achieving it once; Bud and Phil had
taken a chance, and the prize now lay
within their grasp. Only a little while
nova month, maybe, If the officials
were slow-and the title would be
theirs.
The Mexican miners. blinded by
their ignorance, went their way. well
sontented to get their money. Nobody
knew. There was nothing to do but
to wait. But to wait, as some people
know, is the hardest work in the
world.
For the first few days they fingered
about the mine, gloating over 1t in
secret, laughing back and forth. sing
ing gay songs-then, as the ecstasy
passed and the WEAKNESS of waiting
set in, they went two ways. Some
fascination, unexplained to Bud, drew
De Lancey to the town. He left In the
Hooker stayed at the mine.
Day and night, weekdays and Sun
days, he watched it jealously, lest
someone should slip in and surprise
their secret-and for company he had
his pet horse, Copper Bottom, and the
Yaqui Indian, Amigo.
Ignacio was the Indians real name.
for the Yaquis are all good Catholics
and named uniformly after the saints;
but Bud had started to call him Amigo,
or friend, and Ignacio had conferred
the same name on him.
Poor Ignacioi His four-dollar-a-day
job had gone glimmering in half a
day. but when the Mexican laborers
departed he fingered around the camp.
doing odd jobs. until he won a place
for himself.
At night he slept up in the rocks,
where no treachery could take him
unaware. but at the first peep of dawn
it was always Amigo who arose and
lit the fire.
Then, If no one got up, he cooked a
breakfast after his own ideas, boiling
the coffee until 1t was as strong as
I've, broiling meat on sticks, and went
to turn out the horses.
With the memory of many envious
g~lances cast at Copper Bottom, Hooker
had built a stout corral, where he kept
the horses up at night, allowing them
to Craze close-hobbled in the daytime.
A Mexican insurrecto on foot is a
contradiction of terms, If there are
any horses or mules in the country,
and several bands of examiners from
Fortuna had gone through their camp
in hat condition, with new rifles in
their hands. But if they had any de-
signs on the Eagle Tail live stock they
speedily gave them UP; for, while he
would feed them and even listen to
their false tales of patriotism, Bud
had nc respect for numbers when it
came to admiring his horse.
Even with the Yaqui, much as he
trusted him, he had reservations about
Copper Bottom; and once, when he
found him petting him and stroking
his nose, he shook mis- head forbid
dinghy. And from that day on, though
he watered Copper Bottom and cared
for his wants, Amigo was careful
never to caress him.
But in all other matters, even to
lending him his gun, Bud trusted the
Yaqui absolutely. 1t was about a week
after he came to camp that Amigo
sighted a deer, and when Bud loaned
him his rifle he killed it with a single
shot.
Soon afterward he came Looping back
from a scouting trip and made signs
for the gun again, and this time he
brought in a young peccary. which he
roasted in a pit, Indian style. After
that, when the meat was low, Bud sent
him out to hunt, and each time he
brought back a wild hog or a deer for
every cartridge.
The one cross under which the
Yaqui suffered was the apparent fail
ure of the mine. and, after slipping up
into the cut a few times, he finally
came back radiant.
"Mira!" he said, holding out a piece
OF rock and when Hooker gazed at
the chunk of quartz he pointed to the
specks of gold and grunted, "0roi"
"Seguro!" answered Bud. and going
down into his pocket, he produced an