Year: 1871

pokeu them IN heap with stick. Then he


threw on a little light wood and settled down in


the easy chair again


lie filled and lighted his pipe, and smoked for


some time in silence. Meanwhile, the conyic-
ton of appr roaching danger grew stronger upon
him and was not to be shaken off,


"Whotin thunder ails me, he muttered again,
" has that confounded dream had such an effect
on me as this2 1t seems strange that the Gulch
don make any more noise it was roaring like
a cataract when went to Sleep The storm has
stopped but the streams hadn't ought to run
down SO quick rs this.


Io hastily put on his slippers, (made of o
pair of old boots which had been cut Off at the
instcp,) and throwing his coat over his shoulders
took the candle and stepped ont Of doors. There
was well beaten path to the Gulch over which
he had carried the water for household use for
years few steps brought him to the gulch's
bed, and he held up his hands in wonder at tho
sight. Where had been u foaming torrent a few
! hours before, he could now cross by stepping
from stone to stone, without wcttng his slippered
feet. Jake comprehcudcd the situation at once.


" There's been a slide up in the canyon, ," he
soliloquized, "ond IL big one, too, or it never
would have shut the water of so dry. must
travel out Of this at once"


As he came up on the Hat again, he cast an
involuntary glance up the canyon he had spo-
ken Of Instead Of the gap which had marked
the spot before, it looked like mountain-wall
all the way across. 1t had been the roar of this
earth avalanche which had reused him from his
dream.


Entering the cabin, he hastily made up a coup
lie Of bundles of things most valuable and use
ful to him, and swinging them on the old shov-
cl, Chinamon-mshion- he issued forth lie was
not Il moment too soon, for at the first glance
he saw, in the dim grey light Of the dawniug
day, that the pcnt up waters from above were al
ready breaking through their barrier, and that
in few minutes the whole vast mass would
move upon the spot where he was standing
Selling his bundles, he climbed the mountain
side to II safe place, and sat down to await the
result


And now the whole mass was in motion
creeping slowly, bodily down the gulch A mo-
mcnt more, as the wet earth settled down, the
waters began to pour over the summit and tear
channel down through the center As the
volume Of water increased and the channel deep
enod, great trees fell in from either side, snap
ping off like pipe-stems, whilo huge powders
were caught up by the roaring waters and swept
away like bunches of foam. While the top of
the slide was thus being torn to pieces the
whole, pressed on by the weight of the lake
above, moved down the gulch with increasing
speed The cabin wihstood its force for mo-
ment-and for a moment only, then its logs were
torn asunder and it moved on with the rest 1t
was grand sight, yet terrible in its grandeur.


For an hour Jake sat and watched the scene,
by which time the waters had spent their force
Then he shoudercd his bundles and made his
way down the guleh to whero there were some
old cabins, in one Of which he left his load and
thence made his way to town. 70 say that
Jake felt down-hcartel at this sudden turn in
his affairs would not fully describe his feelings.
To borrow his own language, be " felt worse at
being driven out Of lumbug in this manner
than he did when he first left home You see"
added Jake exploiniugly, "whcn left home to
come here, was young, and buoyant with
health and hope had the world before me and
it seemed impossible that should fail of sue
cess. Now, I've been there on tho Guch SO long
that it seems more like home to me than any
whore else that I've the means to go to-" There
is more than one MINER that we know Of, Jake,
that could talk exactly as you do.


There no lack Of sympathy for him among
his brothcr-miuers, when it became known that
his cabin had been swept away by the slide
1t took a substantial form, too, for he had doz-
en- offers Of a chance to camp with one and au-
other, until he saw an opportunity to do better.
one Of these Offers he gladly accepted, and went
over to get the things he had left in The deserted
cabin, and take last look at his old home.


lie hardly knew the Once familiar place.
Where the waters Of the gulch had on the
night when he stood in his slippers and looked
down on its empty bed, was now piled many
feet deep with the red mountain earth, while the
stream itself, turned from its original course,
had cut IA new channel through the little fiat on
which the cabin and garden patch had stood
Jake could not bear to look look upon his desola-
ted home, and FASTENED away.


The little good fortune he had while on Hum
bug, seemed to have deser'H him ia his new
locality, aud it was not long N fore the thoughts
of that " lost lead " on IL bbug became too
strong to be resisted. How prone old miners
are to wander perhaps many miles away from
some scene Of their earlier experiences, be gone,
perchance for years, and then return to work
some spot which they had had in their minds
eye through all their wandering5. Thus it was
with Jake who, with the return Of Spring, wend-
ed his way back to lIumbug. But he was more
fortunate than his class in general, for under the
site of his former house. in the channel of
the gulch he found not the lost lead of llumbug,
but fair paying claim from which, by sum-
mers work and the practice of a better economy
than that to which he had been used, he laid by
enough to keep the promise he had made in his
dream, and return to the old homestead before
another New Years Eve.


Whether Mr.. Morton, after his return found
some fair one to take that place in his heart
once held by the peridious Emily, this Legend
sayeth not but from the opinion which enter
tain of man in general, am inclined to believe
he did. | am confirmed in this view of the case
by the fact that, for awhile he kept writing about
coming back, but in his last letter to a Shutdown
cbum. he tells him that if he'll go to lIumbug,