THE POCKET HUNTER 



a labor that drove him to the use of pack 

 animals to whom thorns were a relish. 



I suppose no man becomes a pocket 

 hunter by first intention. He must be born 

 with the faculty, and along comes the occa- 

 sion, like the tap on the test tube that in- 

 duces crystallization. My friend had been 

 several things of no moment until he struck 

 a thousand-dollar pocket in the Lee District 

 and came into his vocation. A pocket, you 

 must know, is a small body of rich ore oc- 

 curring by itself, or in a vein of poorer stuff. 

 Nearly every mineral ledge contains such, 

 if only one has the luck to hit upon them 

 without too much labor. The sensible 

 thing for a man to do who has found a good 

 pocket is to buy himself into business and 

 keep away from the hills. The logical thing 

 is to set out looking for another one. My 

 friend the Pocket Hunter had been looking 

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