JOHN SUTCLIFFE. 161 



pany, of which he would own the controlling interest or 

 at least half ; and at last this was arranged by some 

 expert mining company organizer, who agreed to pay 

 $50,000 for a half interest, if the mine turned out as the 

 old man stated, upon being examined by a mining expert 

 who would accompany the old man to the claim, from 

 New York, and report on the property. 



So the innocent old man and the smart young mining 

 expert went together to visit the shaft, where every- 

 thing was found exactly as had been described by the 

 old man. Small pieces of vein material and of the ore 

 itself could be seen mixed in the debris lying about the 

 mouth of the shaft, but owing to the water in the shaft 

 it was necessary to get some miners to hoist it out to 

 enable the expert to see the vein itself in its natural 

 state. This would require a few days work, so a couple 

 of miners are found and hired ; of course the old man 

 didn't know them nor did they know the old man, but 

 they knew their business as miners. They rig up the old 

 windlass and with an old rope and couple of buckets 

 commence hoisting out the water. This is a slow job, 

 but it cannot be helped, so the expert feels inclined to 

 look about the country and amuse himself by hunting or 

 prospecting until the shaft is clear, which will be in the 

 course of two or three days. All is ready for the 

 expert's inspection — in fact the miners are at work drilL 

 ing and blasting out some of the vein material when the 

 expert comes to see the bottom of the shaft, and some 

 of the newly removed vein material is hoisted up with 

 the poor looking arrangement of rope and windlass, and 

 all looks very well, only the expert does not like the idea 

 of trusting his life to the poor old rope, which he will 

 have to do in being lowered into and hoisted up from 

 the deep shaft. The old man won't venture himself 

 anyway, and the men won't continue work with 

 such a dangerous rope, and it will take a 



117 



