774 WEST SHORE.
beautiful eyes that Bhe, too, retained some remcm- than one old frontiersman shook his head and sagely
brance of our first meeting. admonished me that, sooner or later, if I were not
" That was the beginning. What the ending was, more careful, my scalp lock would adorn the saddle
three months later, you can conjecture when I tell you bow of some Snake, Shoshone or Piute brave. But I
that I telegraphed the Boston firnr), one morning in only thought, bitterly: ' Ah, well, who will care when
May, to send out a man to take my place in the store it does? ' and went on my way.
, for an indefinite period, and, as the sun arose above " Finally, in the autumn of 1873, I strayed be
the low-lying eastern hills, I mounted a horse and yond the boundary lines of Idaho and found myself in
galloped out of Leavenworth, in so hopeless and des- Wyoming Territory, in the Wind river country, which
perato a frame of mind that I cared not what became for more than a decade past, had been the Mecca of
of mo. My horse's head was turned to the west, and many an adventurous prospector's hopes, and, per
after three days of merciless driving I came up with a chance, a bleaching place for his bones as well,
party of emigrants encamped on the banks of the " One afternoon, late in November, I struck a trib
NeoHho river. They were bound for the far-off land utary of Wind river, at that time new and strange to
of the setting sun, and I joined them with the wild me, and exceedingly wild and rugged in its surround
hope of being able to leave memory behind me some- ings. J at once resolved to follow it upward toward its
where on the rugged trail. Bource, for it was a mountain stream, and to my imag
I had yet to learn that though a man may leave inative ear the dash and murmur of Its waters were
hope, courage and ambition behind-may chill the voices calling to me to 'come on, come on ' and lay
warm veins of love and sully the fair face of honor- bare the golden veins that were hidden in its rock
no can not put memory behind him, nor erase a single ribbed sides.
burning line from her tablets. Leading my horse and rffl j fol
wn. v .? i ? u"! tranBC0ntinental railroftd lowed stream for hours, pausing at intervals to
b eanToTom " a P7
slow ive tcu aiTh00ner ' and the cleft8 been the huge rocky crags that formed the
Sou To d 1 Zll 7kS' 7 neCC88ari,y PreCipH0U8 and mr deePeninS bank on either side,
tedious and ong drawn out. We were five months on So engrossed did I become in my researches and mv
u2&to,dr uT the incU thTghts that 1 took n XS ft
w n r of iso ) 70 n r V1 th and failed to reckon di8ta until, at las' a peal o
ng pr thunder over the mountains and down the
first prospSl haPartyfminer80nmy grg?' Wakin the baring echoes and recalling
" But, though mv first it . i . j me ,abnW to a sense of time and surroundings.
zslz ! t r : ; . the bou; " 1 s M fid th"
mt indignant typo, and prosncctc! with III v dr8wing to " clo86 the 8un kin8
W judgment 1 haLs ota ll J'f Mj 'W !" "nd '8t dP' in " '
rienced Light, of th. pick 8 " ""Y "1Ut P" coming .torrn.
" For thrco years I wandered rcihmU .1.. ',. ' llly W 1 8aid 10 m7 Pfcnt and
pU f Place until it Jt ZfZl'Z 3" t ' " ,, " " '
reel, a ,oulain peak in Idaho that n,v advcntT ri here "
oua feet had not pressed. During all that tim H n T
ono letter reached mo from the cast Itcamn f, r u" 1 8pole 1 8enM of wM Ion
Huston Imsinoss friend anxious to know what I IT? ' l ,p0t ca,M "Pon " a-litUe chill of
come of me ,d whether I iZuVl fTT F" Ww 1 wM h th 8ta" -
I angered it in . diapalch of ten words! " S
on its turbulent course, but
Alive ,nd well w f , !i y 806 U Soing close to the edge of the
Uvandwell. Look for me when you see me. perpendicular banks, which, at thh point,
After that I was troubled with no more letters w , u be drawn toward each other by the law of
It any were Bent they never reached me. As tim Tiw action' and to commune together by means
!? gre:V.mr and litary in my habits 1 1?? f nodded and touched at
iito i naa sought the company of fellow , 8 lh0 eorge
nnners and prosectors, I now desired only to be lone l ilt T f in &
and no mountain fastness was too wild or dense fn , K and 1 looked to
to venture IBtol , th lhcr 1 ' ' the stem that was close at hand,
that of tough httlo raslJg .d Bv ri(.P jj . . the pack from Pedro's back, I fastened
wmt at the head-stall, and then glanced ahout fur