162 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



June 



aer, tns'i xwni (jrner t-upplitis on crenc. 

 It became evident that he must h;u'B 

 money, or he would be obliged to stop 

 ■work on the bowlder. 



In this strait he went up into the 

 town of Dowuieville and explained the 

 situation to a number of friends. All 

 knew Mike's claim, and all had faith in 

 it, for the old channel with the big rock 

 in its mouth had been the talk of all 

 the Slug canyon miners long before 

 Mike set his stakes there. Therefore he 

 found it a less difficult business than he 

 had anticipated to raise money with 

 which to proceed. Half a dozen friends 

 became his backers, telling him to go 

 ahead and call upon them as often as he 

 needed money. They would take the 

 chances of his finding enough gold to 

 make thejn all right once the big bowl- 

 der bad been conquered. 



Again Mike set to work in high spir- 

 its He told his backers that in two or 

 three months more he would have utter- 

 ly demolished the big rock, but when 

 that time had passed the work seemed 

 only fairly begun. After Mike had been 

 at work for about a year and a half the 

 men who were "putting up" for him 

 began to grow tired of the whole busi- 

 ness and did not come out with their 

 coin so cheerfully as at first, and they 

 asked rather anxiously in regard to the 

 progress being made. 



In order to cheer them up Mike would 

 say: "Byes, I do be knockin the ould 

 rock to smithereens! I've got her so 

 wakened n:;w that she shakes wid ivery 

 blasht!" 



Finally the men tired of hearing this 

 storv wlien Mike came round to collect 

 money and he then begsa to say, "One 

 more blasht, byes, and I've got her!" 

 This went on so long that it became ;i 

 byword in Dowuieville. Everywhere it 

 was, "One more blasht, byes, and I've 

 got her!" Mike's backers laughed with 

 the others and put up the money he 

 asked for. 



All thii]gs have an end, however, and 

 when Mike's "lasht blasht" shattered 

 the huge slab, constituting the sole rem- 

 nant of the once enormous bowlder, he 

 went to the base of the mass and began 

 working under it with his pick. On a 

 sudden the big block began to topple 

 over. Mike dropped his pick and re- 

 treated with the rock following him on 

 a steep dowp..,'.'rade. The situation was 



such that in ortier to escape being cru^-h- 

 ed to death Mike was obliged to leap in- 

 to the canyon. 



Owing to a spring freshet, the canyon 

 was at tlie time a roaring torrent. There- 

 fore his leap was almost as that prover- 

 bial one from the frying pan. He was 

 swept down the canyon about 200 yards 

 t.il almost at the verge of avarticalfall 

 of some 80 feet, when he had the good 

 fortune to grasp tho top of an overhang- 

 ing bush and drag himself ashore. 



Mike escaped with a few slight cuts 

 and bruises and the loss of his hat. 

 These, however, were matters that did 

 not trouble him. All his thoughts were 

 of the spot whence had just tumbled 

 down the steep tho last fragment of the 

 big bo >vldcr. Thither his njind ran faster 

 than his legs were able to travel, though 

 tho hitt r soon landed him at the spot 

 where he hiid so long and faithfully 

 lalxired. 



Looking down into the bed of that 

 last huge slab of granite which had 

 seemed to Lay forth and chase him into 

 the canyon, Mike beheld a large disk of 

 pure and glittering gold. It was a piece 

 of the precious metal about the size and 

 shape of a dinner plate. He waited to 

 see no more. Leaping down into the 

 hole, he grasped the golden prize, which 

 looked to him as big as the face of the 

 full moon, and then at once made a 

 break tor Dowuieville to find his back- 

 ers, sho"^ them the gold and tell them 

 the greut news of the final annihilation 

 of tho big rock. 



Mike was wild as a hawk. In his 

 hands he held a mass of gold that 

 weighed nearly 20 pounds, and as he 

 dashed down Slug canyon with his prize 

 he shouted at every jump: "That lasht 

 blasht fetched her! That lasht bla.^ht 

 fetched her!" Thus shouting as he tore 

 down the canyon, he passed several 

 claims where miners were at work, but 

 he halted at none of these for a singlo 

 moment. 



"Mike Maroney has gone crazy about 

 his big bowlder!" cried the miners on 

 seeing him running bareheaded down 

 tho canyon trail. At some of the claims 

 he passed men threw down their tools, 

 and scrambling up the bank of the 

 stream to the trail called out after him, 

 but the only answer they received was, 

 "That lasht blasht fetched her!" 



When Mike reached Downievillo and 



