Year: 1871

ing place on the face OF the earth. on
can hunt there year after year, and not
find anything. You can find mountain
sheep. but You cannot get near them.


You can see plenty of them with q spy
glass. But that is the only game l saw


that was worth speaking of when l


was there, except 'seven-up. For the
sake of convenience we omit the


laughter, only stating that it was


Observation-Disclosures. Twill here re-


mark that the mountain sheep is our


American Chamois-French pronun-


citation He is the same kind they


make the chamios leather of in other
countries. We would here if we could
catch him. He has enormous horns,
and is a pretty large animal too. He


is 30 shy, 80 very shy, that it's almost
impossible TO get within rife shot Of
him. He inhabits the rockiest fast.


nessess of the mountains.


sHovELING SAND.


81 had to 20 to work in a quartz
mill at $40 a week. A nice place,
truly, for the proprietor Of q hundred
silyer mines! But / was glad to get


that berth. But l could not keep it.
They did not want me. / didnt know


why. l was the most careful work.
man they had ever had. They said
90. l took more pains with my work.
l was shoveling sand. The technical
term is failing. The silver rock is
ground over once or twice, and they
clean it up and work it over again.
Whenever had q lot of that sand to
shovel I was 30 particular that l would
sit down for an hour and half and
think about the best way to shovel that
sand And if l could not cipher it out
in my mind just so, 1 would not 60
shoveling it around needless. / would
leave it alone until next day.


MANY q time when l would be
carrying a bucket full of sand from one
pile 10 another, thirty or forty feet off,
right in the middle, suddenly. a new
idea would strike me, and | would carry
that sand back, and sit down and think
about it, andlike enoug b get so wrought
up and absorbed in it, that | would 60
to sleep. Why, always knew there
must be some tip top, frst.rate way to
move that sand. AZ last discovered
it. | went to the boss and told him that
| had got just the thing, the very best
and quickest way to get that sand
from one pile TO the other. And be
says, L am awful glad 10 hear it. You
never saw man 30 uplifted as he was.
1t appeared to take load off mis- breast
"a load OF sand, suppose. And
said. What you want now is cast
iron pipe about thirteen or fourteen feet
in diameter, and, say forty-two feet long.
And you want to prop one end Of that
pipe up about thirty-five or forty feet off
the ground. And you want revolving
belt--just work it with the waste steam
from the engine--a revolving chair to
it. | am to sit in that chair, and have
q Chairman down there to fill up the
bucket with sand, and pass it up as
come around illustrates with gesturesI,
and l am just to soar up there and
tilt it into that pipe, and there you are
1t is as easy as rolling offa log.


"You never saw man 30 overcome
with admiration-so overwhelmed.
Before he knew what he was about he
me-"


THE CODE DUELLo.


From Esmeralda, the scene OF his |
mining exploits, Mark went to Virginia
City. Here he held a reportorial posi-
ton on one of..the papers for three
years. After deserting the mining
speculation and the collapse that fol-
lowed it he said THAT was singular
town. They had some OF the strangest
OF the most curious
customs. When finished reporting on
that paper, they made me chief editor.
1t lasted just a week. I edited that
paper six days, and then ! had five duels
on my hands. l wouldn't have minded
that il it had been the custom for those
other people to challenge me. Then |
would have simply declined with
But it was not 90. II you
abused man in that paper, il you
called him names-they had no rights
there such aswe have here-if the man
didn't like it you had to challenge him
and shoot. Ofcourse, l didn't want to
do this, but the publisher said it was
the custom and society must be pro-
tected. III could not do the duties Of
NV position he would have to hire
somebody else.


"I didn't mind the first three or four
men; but the other mani was after
him. He didn't want to fight, 30 was
going 10 make all the reputation out Of
him / could. he got touched at some
thing said OF him-I don't know what
it was now-I called him a thief, perhaps.
He fought very shy Of me at first, and
30 | piled him with bloodtbirsty chal-
lenges all the more. At last he began
to take an interest in this thing. 1t
seemed as thoug b he really was going
to enter into it at last. All our boys
were delighted at the prospect; but
was not. This was not turn | was
in things.


IL had taken for my second fiery.
peppery little fellow named Steve, full
Of fight, and anxious to have this thing
fixed up right away. He took me over
into a little ravine beyond the town to
practice. 1t was the custom to fight
with Colts navy revolvers at FIVE steps.
We borrowed stable door for mark
from a gentleman who was absent. We
set up that stable door, and then we
propped q fence rail up against the
middle OF it to represent my antagonist,
and put a squash on top Of it to repre-
sent his head. He was very light, thin
man, very thin-the poorest kind OF
material for q duel-you could not ex-.
meet 10 do ANYTHING with q scattering |