was reassured when subsequently I
saw him draw the stopper and fill a bottle labelled "Old Crow" from it.
They advised me to go prospecting and gave me much valuable information
and kindly offered to sell me a prospecting outfit, "for cash," at
their stores.

As we were chatting, I became aware of a delicious, pungent odor, like
the perfume of orange blossoms. "Is it possible," said I, astonished,
"that there are orange groves in bloom in this vicinity?" The old
gentlemen said they did not smell anything wrong, but the clerk jumped
to his feet and sniffed the air in the direction of Prescott. "Why,
gentlemen," said he, "of course, you cannot smell any further than the
blossoms on the tips of your noses, but the young man has a sharp
proboscis, he scents the girls. Here comes Dan bound for the Silver
Bell Mine with his blooming show." We heard the clatter of hoofs and
wheels and saw a large coach pass by, crowded with passengers, mostly
ladies. The clerk said that the genial owner of the Silver Bell Mine,
who was also the proprietor of a popular resort in town, was going out
to pay his miners their monthly wage. "That is it," said one of the
merchants, "and to keep the boys from leaving the mine in order to
spend their money at his resort in town, he takes his variety show out
there. He cannot afford to have his mine shut down just now, as they
have struck horn silver, and that is the kind of tin he needs in his
business."

These kind old gentlemen cautioned me to keep away from a dark-looking,
broken mountain, looming to the north. "That country is no good," they
said; "there is nothing but copper there, even the water is poisoned
with it." Those were the black hills where there is now the prosperous
town of Jerome and one of the great mines of the earth, the famous
United Verde Mine, the property of Senator William Clark.

The following day, about noon, we rounded a sharp bend of the road and
Fort Whipple and the town of Prescott came into view. A pretty and
gratifying sight truly, but imagine my astonishment! Here to the right
was the identical mysterious hill which I had seen in that memorable
night from the height of the Mogollon mesa and behind it was the black
range, the Sierra Prieta, which had formed a part of the encircling
horseshoe.

Never in my lifetime have I come to a town where the people were as
hospitable and kindly disposed toward strangers as here. It is no
wonder that I got no farther, for here