A Frontier Doctor Page: 38

A FRONTIER DOCTOR

declared it to be very richly mineralized, asserting that if
we could find its source our quest was over.
It was getting late, so we stripped the bark from one of
the pines, wrote our location notice on its surface, and
named it the 'Rainbow Mine.'
The next day that piece of float was assayed in Dead-
wood and it ran about fifteen thousand dollars to the ton
in silver. In mining terms it was called almost pure horn
silver.
The find leaked from the assay office and we were
shadowed by quite a mob of miners for some time, but by
a little strategy we sidetracked them and for the next few
weeks we concentrated on this basin. While from the top
of Custer's Peak it seemed very symmetrical, it was really
rugged and very much broken and hard to prospect. We
carefully scouted over its entire surface and rim without
discovering the slightest trace of the origin of our wonder-
ful sample of float. There is no question in my mind but
that there is a remarkably rich lode of silver in that
vicinity and some time it may be discovered. Perhaps it
has already been found.
By this time I was tired of prospecting and, being
seized with an attack of wanderlust, I began to plan to
work my way toward South America. I severed my
partnership with Bailey and returned to Deadwood, now
a wild and woolly town. Seldom a day or night passed
without a brawl or shooting affair. Gambling dens, dance
halls, and sporting houses were wide open in every di-
rection.
Miners came in in droves on Saturday nights, and
surely made the dust fly. One night I heard a commotion
and down the street came a woman on a horse at full
gallop. She had a Colt's forty-five in each hand, and both
were in action, the bullets flying in every direction, while
the rider emitted a good imitation of an Indian war-

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