Part 6

MINER'S LUCK.--One of the most profitable mines in South America is the Penny mine in Bolivia. Penny was a run-away Scotchman from a man-o'-war who had nothing and hoped for nothing but to keep away from service on the sea. He did odd jobs about the country for awhile and was brought low with fever. He was faithfully nursed through the disease by a native woman who could not speak a word of English. Out of gratitude he married her and treated her well. She rewarded him by taking him into the mountains and showing him an old Spanish mine that had been hidden for years. He began working it and became a millionaire. With a fellow-workman by the name of Mackenzie he brought the mine into a good state of productiveness, and then left for the old country. Mackenzie was made superintendent of his mine, and Mackenzie's son went with Mr. and Mrs. Penny to Scotland. He arrayed his Indian wife in the most costly attire, and made his visit to Scotland memorable by his many acts of generosity. He adopted a nephew and insisted that both young men should take his name and become his heirs. He suddenly died and left his wealth all to his wife, with directions that the two sons should be amply provided for. Complications followed, and the Indian mother died under suspicious circumstances, while the boys contended for possession of the mines. With all the good fortune and excellent intentions of the father the two boys proved to be bad Pennies. They sold out their interests for $500,000 each and are now killing themselves with drink.

+----------------------------------------------------------------- + | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. | | | | Other correction: De-Quincy changed to De Quincey (page 133). | | | | Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant | | form was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. | | | | Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. | | | | Mid-paragraph illustrations have been moved between paragraphs | | and some illustrations have been moved closer to the text that | | references them. | | | | Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters, | | _like this_. | | | | The Contents table was added by the transcriber. | +------------------------------------------------------------------+