The Long Dim TrailHooker, Forrestine C. (Forrestine Cooper)
General
The Long Dim Trail
Hooker, Forrestine C. (Forrestine Cooper)
Arizona -- Fiction; Cowboys -- Fiction; Ranch life -- Fiction; Western stories
"When Hasayampa was ridin' Black Devil that day he busted him, the horse
seemed to favour one hind foot--acted like he'd sprained it. When
Hasayampa started doctorin' it, he pretty near died with suprise, for
thar was a nice little nugget of gold smashed on the bottom of Devil's
foot, just like a corn. Well Hasayampa didn't lose no time humpin' up to
the placed he'd noticed Devil limpin', and he posted his location notice
on the Buckin' Bronco Mine. The lead was thar just in plain sight, he
said. We all had been campin' on a regular mint of gold an' never knowed
it. Leastways, that is what Hasayampa told us.
"Well, he took Black Devil down to the blacksmith at Dos Cabezas and
hed some shoes made for him. He had quite an argument with the
blacksmith to get him to make the shoes the way Hasayampa wanted 'em. He
said that after they got through, the blacksmith did what Hasayampa told
him."
Limber paused to light his cigarette, and philosophize, "It don't pay to
argue, if you kin help it. Hurts the other party's feelin's when you get
the best of him, an', Hasayampa had fists on him like cannon balls when
he warmed up in a argument. All the same, you can't blame the blacksmith
for callin' Hasayampa a 'locoed ijit' when you knowed the sort of
hoss-shoes he ordered made."
"They was half-hollow, as if you dug a slot in 'em with a jack-knife.
After Devil was shod, Hasayampa got some chamois skin, quick-silver and
a small retort and went back to his claim.
"Now, here's what Hasayampa tol' us all for gospel truth, Doc. He put
the quick-silver in the slots of them hoss-shoes, then jumped on Black
Devil and let him buck up an' down that air claim. Hasayampa said it
beat any four-stamp mill he ever seed. Then he got down and scraped the
silver outen the hoofs, squoze it in the chamois bag and fired it in his
retort to separate the gold. Hasayampa cleaned up a hundred dollars'
wuth the fust day.
"It didn't take Black Devil long to understand his job o.k. That hoss
would just wait for his shoes to be silvered, then go hisself and buck
around, only stoppin' to come and git his shoes scraped and re-filled.
Meanwhile Hasayampa, seem' Black Devil was handlin' his end of the
partnership, put in all his own time runnin' the other end of the
business, squozin' the quick-silver, firin' the gold and mouldin' it
inter bricks.
"Hasayampa figured out jest how long it would take to make him a
billionaire, and he'd a done it if it hadn't been for the earthquake in
May '91. It did everlastingly shake up the country around here, and lots
of permanent springs went plumb dry and never run again.
"Hasayampa had gone to Willcox to ship some bricks to the 'Frisco Mint,
when he felt that earthquake, and he begun to worry about Devil, for he
had turned him loose for a vacation. He humped back to the claim, and
when he got thar he said he seen a white horse standin' with his head
hangin' down like he was asleep; but never a sign of Black Devil nowhar.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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