Page:Allan Dunn--Dead Man's Gold.djvu/95

Rh myself. They's bin Injuns caught in sumideros, plenty of times, 'sides hawsses an' sheep an' cows. On'y knowed one man to ever git clear. He was a Mexican. Hawss fell in an' chucked him out of the saddle. He grabbed the edge, got a foot on the horn of the saddle as the hawss went down, an' scrambled out. All luck. If a sumidero's fixed for ye, it'll git ye. Same way with a snake, though that ain't goin' to stop me buildin' a cactus hedge round my blanket nights when I'm sleepin' in the Basin, an' can git the cactus."

That night Harvey got talking about his diamonds once again.

"After I git through with you folks," he said, "I'm off again to my di'mond prospect. I ain't tellin' where that is though it wouldn't make no' difference, becoz they all think I'm crazy. But listen. They's di'monds bin found an' recorded, reg'lar an' authentic, all over these United States. Georgy, North an' South Caroliny, Kentuck, Virginny, Tennessee, Indianny, Oregon, Wisconsin, Califomy, Arkansaw, Michigan, an' Ohio. Twelve year ago they found blue-whites at Murfreesboro, Pike County, Arkansaw. In 'eighty-six they find one in Wisconsin weighin' twenty-one an' a quarter carats. Way back in 'fifty-five, they pick one up in Virginny which weighs twenty-four. Them that's bin found is mostly in gold-bearin', alluvial deposits, along with garnets and olivines. In volcanic country. It takes heat to make a di'mond, which is pure carbon. Don't it stand to reason that a volcanic country like