The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1914-06-20
XIII.

For sixty days and more, while the
weather had been turning from cold
10 warm and they had been laborng
feebly 20 clear away the great slide
Il loose rock that covered uD the
ledge. the Eagle TAN mine had 70
NAMED a mystery.
Whether. like the old Eagle Tan Of
frontier fable. Il was so rich that only
the eagles head was needed to turn
the chunks Into twenty-doliar gold
pieces; or whether. like many ether
frontier mines. Il was nothing but a
hole In the ground. was q matter still
to be settled. And Bud. for one. was
determined 10 settle Il quickly.
Come on" he said. ~ Phil hest
tated to open up the way TO the lead;
I'VE got a month, maybe less, TO get TO
the bottom Of this; and then the hills
viii be lousy with rebels. II theyIs
nothing here. we want 10 find out
about II quick and skip-and II We
strike H. by grab. they amt enough
~red'haggers in Sonora TO pry me
loose from II. So chow these hOmbres
where TO work and wen be up against
rock BY the end OF the week"
The original Eagle Tail tunnel had
been driven into the side Of a steep
hill: 30 steep, In fact that the loose
ishale stretched In long shoots from
h base OF the frowning porphyry
dikes that crowned the tops OF the
hills 70 the bottom OF the canyon. On
either side CT the discovery gulch
sharp ridges. perforated by the gopher.
lholes OF the Moyicans and the ancient
workings OF the spaniards, ran d.
irertly up the hill 20 meet .he contact.
lBLt Il vas against the face OF the big
ridge itself that Kruger had driven
mis- drift and exploded his giant blast
lof dynamite, and the whole slope had
been altered and covered with a slide
OF rock.
Against this slide. IN The days when
they we're marking time. Bud and his
'pardner had directed their energies,
throwing he loose stones aside. build.
Ing up walls against the slip. and
clearing the way 10 the solid schist
There. somewhere beneath the tumble
OF pcwderriyen rock. lay the ledge
which. N they found Il. you'd make
then rich; and no with s~lngle.jack
and drill. they attacked the last huge
fragments. blasting them into pieces
and groveling deeper until they could
strike the contact. where the schia,
and p%orphyry met and the gold spray
had spewed up between.
II was slow work. slower than thay
had thought. and the gang OF kla1i
cans that they had hired for muekers
were maryels OF ineptituds. left 70
themselves, they accomplished moth.
ing, since each problem they oncoun.
tered seemed to present 10 them some
element OF insuporable dihculty. TO
solve which they either went into eau.
Gus or waited for the bose. Mean.
whtle they kept themselves awake BY
smoking cigarettes and telling stories
about bernardo Bravo.
To the MeXicanB Of Sonora Bernardo
Bravo was the generalization OF all
the m~aleyolont qualities-he being q
bandit chief Who had turned FIRST gen
enl and then rebel under Madero-
and the fact that he had az last been
driven out OF Chihuahua and therefore
over into sonora, made his mRieyo
llence all the more imminent
Undoubtedly, somewhere over 10 the
east, where the Sierras towoned like a
blue wall. Bernardo and bis outlaw
followers were gathering for a raid
and the raid would bring death TO SO
nora.
He was a bad man. this bernardo
Bravo, and II half % the current stO
ireH we're true, he killed men when.
ever they failed 10 give elm money,
and was never too hurried 20 take q
fair daughter Of the country up behind
him. provided she took his fancy.
Yes, surely he vas a bad man--bui
that did not clear away the rock.
For the first week Phil took charge
Of he gang. urging. directing aud ca.
Jnling them. and the work went mer.
nly on, though rather slowly. The
Nexicans liked 10 work for Don Felipe,
h. was 50 polite and spoke such good
Spanish, bat az the end OF the week
~ developed that bud could get more
results out Of them.
Every time Phil started 10 explain
anything 10 one Mexican all the 9th
Ds gtopDed 70 listen % him anA thss