Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1921-04-22
CHAPTER XII.


Arrived at San Miguel de Padua
about midnight Webster found the
climate temperate, in fact decidedly
cool. Billy was waiting for them and
was properly amazed, but not scan
dalized when Don Juan CafeterO,
abusing the station hands in a hOrri-
bile hodgepodge of English and Span
ish, superintendent the landing of the
baggage on the platform.
81 had to bring him with me-" Web
ster explained. I'm going to wean
him, and after that baby quits cry
ing for his bottle, believe me, Bill,
we'll have the prince of a foreman for
our mine. Quite a character is Don
Juan, when you dig down into him"
dig far enough into that ruin and
you'll find fire crackers" Billy admit
ted However John, I'm afraid he
won't explode The powders damp.
How did you leave Dolores?'
"Fit as a fiddle, Bill"
"How does she stack up on better
acquaintance, Johnny"
She's a skOokum lass. She sent
her love and l promised to send you
back to her p. d. Q. so don't bother
me with talk about her. You'll see
her again in week or ten days,
hope
"No2 Is that so, Johnny? Bully
Nr you. you old wampus cat. Tell
Don Juan to steer you over to the
Globo de Orc. He knows the place.
I've got to go and hire a mule or
some other quadruped for Don Juan
if we're to avoid late start in the
morning. Good night, old fellow"
They were up at daybreak, and
with three heavily laden pack mules
in charge of two semi-naked mozos,
while the cook logged comfortably
along on his big splay feet in the rear
they set out for Billy's concession.
For 80 miles they followed the high
way, and then debOuched to the south
west along a neglected road just wide
enough to accommodate the clumsy
OK carts of the poems The country
was sparsely settled and evidently Civ
en- over to stock raising.
Darkness had descended on the val
ley by the time they had pitched camp
at the claim. They were up at
dawn the following morning, however
and Immediately after breakfast Jack
Webster went to his duffle bag and
brought forth a dozen little canvas
sacks and a prospector's hammer.
"'Now then, William, my son." he an
nounced. light the lantern and We'll
see if you've forgotten all l taught
you about mining"
They clambered up the dump to a
point where two light steel rails pro-
jected over the edge. On top of the
dump, lying beside the rails, were two
small, rusty, steel ore cars; the rails
led from the edge of the dump to the
mouth of tunnel in the hillside and
disappeared therein.
Webster stood moment, looking
around him. How did you happen to
locate this ledger" he demanded.
"Was 1t grass root stuff, with an out
cropping here at the foot of the hill?
No, of course, it wasn't. You haven't
enough ore on the dump. What the
devil were you driving at?"
"OnIy a small portion OF that dump
is mine, Jack, and didn't locate the
ground originally. l came into this
valley from the south, and as worked
up the range, found a bald spot
close to the top of the hill, and gal
lows frame over an abandoned shaft.
Naturally, l went down the shaft to
see why it had been abandoned. To
my surprise, 1 found a 12-fOot vein
Of freemilling ore, on a contact be-
tween andesite and Silurian limestone.
The ledge stood straight up and down,
which seemed to argue great depth"
Somebody had found an OutcrOp-
ping on top of that HILL" Webster de-
clared with conviction, land sunk
shaft on the vein to open it up and de-
termlne its width and direction. And
what did you do, Blll2"
81 got my transit and ran a line
from the shaft on the hill, following
the direction in which the ledge was
running, and marked out the exact
point toward the base of the hill where
l would start my tunnel to cut the
ledge. To my surprise, l discovered
my predecessor had selected thar
identical spot. So l verified my cal
culatlons and then sat down to think
It over. l remembered that frequent
and violent earthquakes occur In this
country, and 1t seemed to me rea-
sonable hypothesis to blame some an
cIent and particularly violent seismic
disturbance, which had faulted the