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4 hurriedly penciled his hotel address on a can! and handed it to Gale, ■■("all on mo there at ten o'clock to-morrow morning," he said. "I want t<> have a talk with you." Gale said he would; but the next morning he did not appear, and since then neither dale nor John has into Hammond's life. Down in South Africa THE career of John Hays Hammond so far has fallen into three period-,— his first years of work, which he spent in this country, Mexico. Central America, and South America; his work in South Africa from 1893 to 1900; and the time thai has elapsed since his return to the United States in 1900. Incidentally, he has this to say: "The United States is the best place on earth, and I'm going to spend the rest of my life in it." It was in South Africa that Cecil Rhodes sent him out with another man to take a look at the fabled mines of King Solomon and to report whether it was advisable to run a railroad up the coast through the section of the country now called Rhodesia. Hammond and his fel low got lost in the African desert and had to walk two hundred miles amid such privations and torturing heat and thirst that the experience killed the other man. Hammond, however, reached the mines, explored the country, and made a report which led to the building of the railroad. His experiences in connection with the Jameson raid in South Africa when, his friends say. without having been guilty of any wrongdoing or breaking any law, he was sentenced by the Boers to be hanged, are too well known to he dwelt on here; but, without reading Mrs. Hammond's book, which describes the suffering he en dured during that period, no one can form an accurate estimate of the heroism he displayed. His prison priva tion-, were such that physicians thought he would die. and the Boers let him go to his home on parole to re cuperate. It throws more light on his character to know THE LITTLE BULL OF THE BARRENS THROUGH the thick drive of the- snowflakes — small . hard, hitter flake-, borne <>n the lonj,' \vin<l of the terrible copper mine barrens— the man uivl tiielieast stood star ing at each other, motionless. In the 1 least's eye- was heavy wonder, mixed with curio ity and dread. Never before !ia<l he seen any being like this erect, slim shape, veiled and vague and dark in the whirl ing drift. He felt it to l>e dangerous; but he was loath to tear himself away from the scrutiny of it. The man, on the other hand, had neither wonder, curiosity, nor dread in his Raze. He knew that the black and massive apparition before him was a musk ox. His first impulse had been to snatch up his rifle and shoot, before the beast coul 1 fade off into the white confu ion of the storm; but his practised eye had to!(] him that the animal was an old bull. Hi^ necessity was not fierce enough to drive him to the eating of such flesh, — tough, and reeking to nausea with musk. H< wanted a young cow, whose meat would be tender an. sweet as caribou. He was content to wait, knowing that the hen! must 1-- near and would not leave feeding grounds unless frightened. At this season th< Mark bull, then staring at him heavily through th« drift, would not be solitary. The nan was a trapper, who was making his wa> down the river to the Hud on Bay Company's po I .< the mouth. Through failure of the caribou to come In way, according to their cv torn, his supplies had rui short, and he was seeking fie post in good time, l>efon tin- pinch of hunger should lix it self upon him. I'.ut !,< had had bad luck. The failure of the caribou had hit others besides himself. The wolves had uttered by it Perhaps, in their shrewd and savage spirit ;, they 1 >■ blamed the man for the absence of their aceu tomei quarry. Some weeks before his start they had craftilj picked off his dogs, a rea onable and ati fying retalia tion. And now the Mian wa i hauling the ledge him elf In a moment' lift of the itorm the man had noted . little valley, a depre ion in the vast, wind wepl leve barren . 1 fing but a couple ol U >n< ' I hrow from the ban!: of the river thai wa hi guide, f { . km a thai there he would find a den • f th< stunted firs that spring up when ver the\ can find ;hel ter from the wind. There, he knew, he would find dn stuff in plenty for his fire. Then- he would take cover till the storm should X" down and suffer him to trai the mv k ox herd. After ej ing the black bull steadilj for ome minute 1 ftly turned away, and without ha te made fi Valley of th<- Little Fir., dragging the lad< n ',• I ■. !• hind him. The black bull snorted thickly and took everal I ■■ ird. Tin- strange figure fading ilentlv SIIMISAY MAGAZINE FOR OCTOCER 9. l^lO that, when the time came for him to return to prison, the grizzled Boer- who had done guard duty in hi- sickroom and patr Jed his yai tears in their eyes as they drank to him a farewell I Sizing Up Men and Mines HAMMOND has a rare gift for nidging human t: and >izing up men at their true worth. C with his courage, this trait I I him in] During the Coeur d'AJene mining strikes and riot was one of the busiest men on I - • trying t \ serve order. < >ne morning he received .i letter from the strikers saying that, if he dared to leave the company's offices and go down into the town of drur d'Afen would be shot on sight. He did not -top to look over the re- of his mail. Putting on his cap. he sauntered leisurely down hill and traversed the entire length of the main street, taking the right hand sidewalk. Then, still in leisurely fashion, he returned on the other side, finding it neces sary to elbow into the roadway several of the strikers who male a hint! of obstructing hi • ge. They glowered at him and muttered threats; hut r.' • made a move to hurt him. He had figured the thing out a moment the letter that carried the threat, ami had decide I not one of the striker- would have the nerve to shoot if he went among them and met them face to face. Hammond has put in a lot of time going out and I ing over mines to find out whether they were of any real value, and in the course of this work ha- detected several clever attempts to "salt" properties. "Salting" eon-i-ts of hiding gold in scattered quantities in a rrinc that has just been opened, so that the prospt purchaser, on finding the metal, will come to the n.n clusion that the property is extremely valua! !e. On one occasi n he went on; to Sail Pram i CO to look at a mine that a number of wealthy men of that city thought of buying. The man who wanted to sell had devised an ingenious method of salting. He i: through the drift evidentl) fean ! ; ■■■. \■' was surely to be followed; but that lor crawling at the stranger"- heels, thai tool and very my -teri> <v ~. The ! head, snorted again more loudly, ant] ill few paces he had advanced. IVrhap it was hi I not to !><■ t. so bold in in!< I After a irw moments of hesitation he \\ ! -. lifted hi i mas live and ■ Flaggy hi listened intently, and withdrew to rvmin th, lit which was lying down and contcntedl) i all indifferent to the drive of the pd ■ • The Mack bull of the barren .. a the resting herd contemplatively, howti] .■•■.,!! in up- but extraordinarily massive in build. A feet in length from muzzle to tail, and not ov< - I feel high at the houlder, he wa i moil l< ,!. n on lines that lor power a mammoth might have rnvktl. Hi, quart frame was clothed with long blackish hair ing almo t to the fetloi ks. Hi p.'nd. n maned and ■ hag jy, wa •id er\ i. ■ '.'c t battl A c trried it swunj; low, muzzle in and front u< M fon alwav ■ n a Ij t- >rde( n v v ■.mi >t the i ■ herd numbered some dozen oi fifteen >"U . 1 and powerful like their mat . and p ihap i a dozen ] calves. At one moment, as the fierce drift lackvmil, would all be more or le ■ \ i ible, dark with contemplative eyes, peacefully ru meni more and they would vani a ;ain do < 1 down about them. TT A.t the old bull alone • ■ ■. be t'-or 1 oifjhlv on the alert. Hither and thither, with a iin slow vigilance, he moved through the- herd. By Charles G. D. Roberts Ponderously They Shouldered Their Wav Toward the Northwest. Mr. Hammond to go down into the various leads and select his own samples. Then he ran the samples • t "ore" through the crusher and a-ked Hammond watch the stuff as it came out. This Hammond did and found that the samples contained gold in rich quan tities; but he also discovered that the old man. as I put the samples into the crusher, threw in with '.: the gold that apparently was coming out of the ore. This seemed too good a joke to Harr.rr.'>nd to pa over. He gathered up all the stuff that had gofl :: t, got fresh samples from the mines, and started back San Francisco with his burden, telling the old man lh.\ he would assay it carefully and let him know the resi of the investigation. Then he had the importe I g melted intoa solid bar. which he presented as a souvenir of the salted property t>> the men who had though* <■' buying it. Saved by a Mule AS must necessarily be the case with a man who :: •**■ had so much travel ant? adventure. Hammond '.' enjoyed great strokes of luck. Soon after he first we? i to work, he was coming out of Mexico into this cotmtl with some gold he had found in a >rr.all claim. He h: to ford a river to get across the frontier, and when ht reached there it was the middle oi night, with rai: falling in torrents. He was driving a double tear:: consisting of a horse and a mule. He noticed that t'.\ river was high; but thought he could get across without danger. When he tried to drive the team into the water the mole balked. By neither kind words nor blows ci the whip could he get that mute to budge. Then fct thought that, by turning the team and rushing then down the river bank, he could get them so far into th stream that they would have to keep on to the othei side. He tried this three times; but each time, whili the horse was willing to go forward, the mule stoppe at the water's edge. He had resigned himself to spending the night in th- Cottinaed en p^^e I? All at onco he lifted his head sharply and questioned the air with dilating nostrils, white his eyes gleamed with anger and anxiety. The next instant he stamped his foot ant] ga\e -i loud, abrupt call, halt bleat, halt bellow. Plainly. it was a signal will understood. In a second the whole herd was «>n its feet. In another, with light ning provision, it had formed itself intoa compact circle. u-ing the watchful leader as the basic point of its forma tion. The calves, butted unceremoniously into the cen ter, hustled one up«>n the other, with uplifted muzzles over the others* shoulders and mill! eyes staring with startled fright. The outer rim of the circle became a fringe of sullen lowering foreheads, angry eyes, and keen horns hitting formidably from snow powdered mar.es ot dark hair. Not .i number of the musk ox herd. t^> the youngest calf, but knew very well against what enemy the old bull had so suddenly marshaled them into t';g!:tiii.^ pha lanx. Tor some moments, however, — long, tense, vig il, mt moments, — nothing appeared. Then, at last, through the driving flakes, they caught sight of several gaunt, leaping forms, gray and shadowy, which swept down upon them in silence out of the storm. With terrible suddenness and speed they came, these leaping forms, as if they would hurl themselves blindly upon the massed herd. But the line of lowered bona never flinched or wavered." and with a short snar! from their leader the wolves swerved, iust in time to escape a savage thrust from the old bull. They swerved, strung out into line, and went loping round the circle. their narrowed, greenish, merciless eyes glaring intotne obstinate ones of the musk oxen. Again and ugain tnej circled the rampart of horns, again and again they drew «>;T and swept up furiously to the assault, hoping to ?'■ some weak point in the defenses, — some timorous 3 oung