The Dolores star. [volume] (Dolores, Montezuma County, Colo.) 1901-current, 1918-12-13

| putting stop to her activities with
shovel and pail. Until the wound
lost Its soreness she was forced to be
idle. So she rambled along the creek
| one afternoon, armed with hook and
line on 4 plant willow In search Of
sport.
The trout were hungry. and struck
fiercely at the bait. She soon had
plenty for supper and breakfast.
| Wherefore she abandoned that diver
sion and took to prying tentatively
In the lee of certain boulders on
edge of the creek-prospecting on her
| own Initiative, as It were. She had no
pan. and only one hand to work with,
but she knew gold when she saw tt
| and, after all, 1t WAS but an idle
method of killing time.
In this search she came upon a
large. rusty pebble. snuggled on the
downstream side Of an overhanging
| rock right at the waters edge. 1t at
tracted her first by its symmetrical
form, perfect oval; then. when she
lifted 1t, by its astonishing weight.
She continued her search for the p TX
ish-red stones. carrying the rusty
| pebble along. Presently she worked
her way back to where Roaring Bill
labored prodigiously.
Look at these pretty stones
found" she said. what are they,
Bil?"
"Those?" He looked at her out
stretched palm. "Garnets."
"Garnets7 They must be valuable
then" she observed.
"Yes. II you can ind any Of any
size. WHAT'S the other rockr he In
CURED casually. You making q col
lection Of specimens"
That's just funny stone found"
she returned. ut must be iron CT
something. It's terribly heavy for its
size"
"Eh? Let me see It," he said.
She handed it over.
He weighed 1t in his palm, scruti-
nized It closely, turning It over and
over. Then he took out his knife and
scratched the rusty surface vigorously
for few minutes.
"Huh!" he grunted. "Look at your
funny stone"
He held 1t out for her inspection.
The blade of the knife had left dull
yellow scar.
"Oh!" she sasped. "why-it's
goldr"
| ut is, woman" he detained, with
mock solemnity. "Gold glittering
goldl
Say. where did you find thisf" he
asked when Hazel stared at the mug
get. dumb in the face of this unex-
pected stroke of fortune.
Just around the second bend" she
cried. ooh, Bill. do you suppose
thervs any more therer
"L:ad me to 1t with my trusty pan
and shovel. and we'll see" Bill smiled.
Forthwith they set out The over
hanging boulder was q scant ten min
utes' walk up the creek.
Within five minutes his fingers
brought to light second lump, double
the size of her find. Close upon that
he winnowed a third. Hazel leaned
over him, breathless. At last he
reached bottom. The boulder thrust
out below In a natural shelf. From
this Bill carefully scraped the accumu-
lation OF black sand and gravel, CLEAN
| Ing as result Of his labor a bakers
dozen Of assorted chunks one giant
that must have weighed three pounds.
He sat back on his launches, and
looked at his wife, speeches..
'Is that truly all gold, BInf" she
whispered incredulously.
ut certainly is-as good gold as ever
went into the mint" he assured. "AIl
laid in nice little nest on this shelf
of rock. That's real, honest pocket.
And well-lIned one. If you ask me-"
MY goodness" she murmured.
There might be wagonloads Of 1t in
| this creek"
There might, but 1t isn't likely"
Bill shook his head. "This Is q simon.
pure pocket, and 1t would keep a grad
uate mineralogist guessing to say how
1t got here, because it's different
proposition from the wash gold in the
creek bed. It's rich placer ground,
at that-but this pockets almost I'M
believable. Must be forty pounds of
gold there. And you found 1t. You're
the original mascot. little person."
I lie bestowed bearllke hug upon
her.
Now what7" she asked. at hardly
seems real to pick up several thou
sand dollars in half an hour or SO like
this. What will we do"
DO? Why, bless your denr soul"
he laughed. "We'll just consider our.
selves extra lucky, and keep right on
with the game till the high water
makes US quit"
Which was n contingency nearer at
hand than even Bill, with first.hand
knowledge of the North's vngaries in
the way of food. quite anticipated.
Three days after the finding of the
pocket the whole floor of the creek
was nwash. His rocker went down.
stream overnight. When Bill saw
that he rolled himself cigarette, and,
putting one long arm across his wffe's