Adventure, June 1911 — page 98: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

284 white ladies might take a leaf out of Ma- hat-mi’s book—else I have been a sorry observer. The gold is piling up rapidly, skunks are none, snakes are few, and the Winter weather is ideal. pe peon was found down on the beach by one of, the women. He has a great, livid wound in his head and is in the ‘last stages of emaciation from hunger and thirst. We went down to see him, then had the Indians bring him up to camp, where we fed him broth every two Dec. ro—A ragged, starved Mexican hours. Tomas was displeased at our ac- tion. ‘‘Better kill this Mexican,” said he. -“These people are like snakes — if }?? you warm them, they bite you!”’ All the village got into a great discussion at this; finally I went out and said to them, “TI will not have this man slain. When he is well, we will bind his eyes so that he can not see the trail, and send him away to Encinal.”’ As usual, they deferred to me. Dec. t12—The Mexican is much better and stronger. He says that his name is Pedro Castafieda and that he is a pearl-fisher from La Paz. Last September he and four others sailed from La Paz in an open yawl, to poach for pearls. ‘They had poor luck until a month ago, when they-struck a phenome- nally rich bank from which they took two hundred pearls in ten days, some of them worth great sums. Running short of water, they landed just south of Cape Final to search for a spring they had been told was there. He and one of his comrades had gone inland to look for the spring, and when they returned to the beach, the men, pearls and boat were gone, leaving them marooned to a dreadful death. His comrade had be- come violently insane with fear and had assaulted him with a club, inflicting a great gash in his head. Luckily he had his knife——! “Where did you kill this man?”’ I asked. ‘““On the beach, some five hundred meters south of the Point, ” he replied. The Indians heard him in silence, but I could see disbelief plainly written in their faces. They have suffered much harm in the past from Mexicans, hence do not love them. ‘Tomas says he will send two young men down there to read the tracks. Dec. 13—The two sign-readers are back. They say that the Mexican is a liar. It is true that a boat has recently landed behind Adventure the point, that five mem landed from the boat; true that one dead Mexican lies on the beach. The rest of the Mexican’s story is false, since the tracks show plainly that all five men were in the struggle. Tomas be- lieves that Castafieda and the dead Greaser tried to sneak away with the boat and pearls while the others slept. He thinks that they were discovered and set upon at the water’s edge, where one was slain and our friend. Castafieda knocked senseless and abandoned. Charlie and I concur with him. We will send this man away so soon as he can stand the four days’ walk. In the meantime we will keep silent about the dry-washer, not wishing to bring a horde of Greaser gdld- seekers down on our Simangito friends or on ourselves. Dec. 15—Castafieda has been sent bay: He bitterly objected to the blindfold, but. submitted sullenly when he saw that re- sistance. was ‘useless. To-day Ma-hat-mi found a nugget weighing six ounces! * She had gone up a “little red canyon” to dig. edible roots for dinner. She fotind .one: of. the plants she sought, growing in the very’ bed of the wash. Digging déwh for: the root, she struck bed-rock and this beautiful nugget. Ahté and I are going back with her to-morrow, taking a shovel, a, ee and a gold-pan. Dec. 17—Talk about luck! Mrs. Charlie is a brown replica of the goddess “hérself! ! The gulch is rich, rich beyond our fondest” hopes—rich as ! We move the dry- washer over in the morning. When Charlie saw our Cleanup (five pans), he said, “‘ Jack, if dat Greaser know what we do here, we get all de yellow cut-troat from other side.”’ “That is unfortunately true, Charlie,” said I, ‘‘but I couldn’t have him killed like a beef, thief and liar though he be.”’ Seeing the wrinkles of apprehension on Charlie’s brow, Ma-hat-mi rose silently, filled his pipe and brought it to him, a live coal neatly balanced on top of the tobacco. She has most white ladies looking like thirty cents—and even her smallpox marks become her of late. Dec. 19—We have taken out 37 pounds of gold in the last three days! $192 per pound, multiplied by 37=$7,104—just think of it! We are searching for the ledge it eroded. from; although most old miners claim that coarse placer seldom or never comes from a - vein. Inthis instance they seem to be borne Go DOOKS ECO ANUC