I(j4 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEKFKR. 



June 



doctors sair! U'.s uiLiilal di ran,ii''nifi;i 

 was of a nature so mild a!\d 1ku'ii]1<'!-:s 

 that he initiht safely bfi aJlowed to ro- 

 niaiu iu his cabin. Indeed, at times Iig 

 seemed for a moment or two to get back 

 bis senses. One of his friends happen- 

 ing to speak of bis mother and his peo- 

 ple in Ireland, he at once broke out 

 with: "Eves, I don't care so much me- 

 self for the trouble and whorlin in mo 

 haid, but I do be thinkln of the poor 

 ould mother back across the wather. 

 "What will become of her and of them 

 all, widout the money I promised to 

 gind?" 



It was in vain they spoke of the big 

 nugget he had found, telling him he 

 should have it and do with it what ne 

 pleased. Ho would hear of nothing of 

 the kind. That belonged to the men who 

 had put up their money for him. His 

 gold was still under the big bowlder, 

 where he had fired his last blast. He 

 had seen it once, and he would see it 

 again and get it. 



The men who had backed Mike — half 

 a dozen in number — ascertained the 

 address of his widowed mother from 

 men who had known him at home, and 

 selling the big nugget, which proved to 

 be worth $3, 600, sent her a check for 

 the amount. 



Mike shut himself up in his cabin 

 and was seldom si'en outside of it dur- 

 ing the daylight hours. Men mining on 

 the canyon, however, reported that he 

 was in the habit of prowling about of 

 nights. They said they had frequently 

 seen a light up at his claim very late 

 at night just at the spot where he had 

 demolished the big bowlder. Upon in- 

 vestigation by a friend, it was found 

 that Mike had got into his head that 

 the pile of gold he had seen had been 

 sunk deep into the ground by an evil 

 spirit. However, he would yet get it, as 

 one night each month at midnight — he 

 did not know what night — all the big 

 nuggets came up to their old nest under 

 the bowlder. All he had to do to beat 

 the goblin that had lived under the big 

 rock was to be on the watch and shout 

 when the gold appeared, "Mine, in the 

 name of the Blessed Virgin." 



Though he wanted nothing to do with 

 any one, yet he was always peering out 

 at the chinks of his cabin, watching 

 those who pa.ssed by. When any one 

 came along th.o trail, he would nop his 



head out at his door aii^ utter his iiew 

 warcry of "Mine, in the name of the 

 Blessed Virgin. " Seeing that the life 

 he was leading was making him worse, 

 his friends on the canyon tried to get 

 him out of his cabin, offering him big 

 wages to work in their claims. All was 

 useless, however, until one day a man 

 happened to say he had a big bowlder 

 in his diggings he wanted blasted out. 

 Instantly Mike pricked up his ears and 

 was all attention. He was ready to set 

 to work upon the bowlder at once. 



Being given a trial, it was found that 

 he was able to work as well and intel- 

 ligently as ever at drilling and blasting. 

 While engaged in that work he seemed 

 quite sane, but he could not be induced 

 to do anything in the mines except blast 

 bowlders. For that business he seemed 

 to have a perfect mania and could ac- 

 complish nearly as much in a day as 

 two ordinary men. Battling with the 

 bowlders was seen to brighten him up 

 wonderfully, and he was given all the 

 work he could do in his favorite line 

 by the friendly miners up and down 

 Slug canyon. 



* * * * * * 



One day after Mike had been for some 

 months waging a war of extermination 

 against the bowlders of Slug canyon his 

 friends up in Downievillehad a big sur- 

 prise. All uuberalded and unexpected, 

 the "Widdy Maroney, " with a raft of 

 tall and buxom daughters, landed in 

 their midst, fresh from the "ould sod." 

 They had come to make their home in 

 America "and look afther poor Moik. " 

 Marriageable girls being at that time iu 

 great demand, the family were heartily 

 welcomed and well provided for at 

 once. It was then so contrived that 

 Mike was suddenly brought into the 

 midst of the whole crowd without a hint 

 being given him beforehand that his 

 mother and sisters were iu the country. 

 The surprise so shook him up mentally 

 that the balance wheel in his head at 

 once started up and moved along as 

 smoothly and regularly as ever. 



Soon the family were comfortably set- 

 tled at Downieville, and Mike with 

 them. His last blast had not been so 

 very disastrous after all. It had not 

 only fetched the big bowlder, but had 

 also fetched all his people out to Amer- 

 ica to a good home, and the raft of 

 bouncing girls to where they all soon 



