Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-08-09

fever seized upon me as strong as
fever. One of the gentlemen I knew
as a sharp, shrewd speculator, thor.
oughly well versed in the prospects
of every "lead" in the country, and
felt that unless he was' convinced
"there was millions in it" he would
not touch it. lie did not recognize
me as yet, and l listened and heard
them talking Of leaving in day or
two for Placerville to look at the
claim, As they were about to sepa-
rate, approached the gentleman /
referred to, and making myself
known, he was both delighted and
lastonished to see me. After telling
him about my life since l left, and
why came back, and what my plans
were, I ,broached the subject Of the
late conversation I had overheard and
told him if he thought it would "pan
put" I wanted. to 60 into it. After
Iome further conversation, it was ar
ranged t,at I should 60 with them to
look at the "bearings." The day
came and we started, leaving the city
far behiid us, and. SOON lost sight of
the blue Pacific. Arriving in Sacra-
mento, We purchased pack mules and
supplies for the miners who were
with us and horses for ourselves, and
then we took up our line of march,
for wedid not want to go by coach
or let lthers know our destination.
We had gone but twenty miles from
ASacran ento when another party
Icro$h our trail just ahead, and see
ling Jus, waited for us to come up.
NyAnc4siness and modification may
| Pe Imagined when / recognized with
the party the Spaniard, Dartois,
whom | had congratulated myself up
on being rid of, and would see no
mere. We could not we'll refuse
th.ir company, and although Dartois
dill not seem to recognize me. felt
vey uneasy to be in his company.
al,o felt sure he knew me, although
ht paid no attention to me, and new
erattempted to ride with me or en-
gtge me in conversation. The new
party being fresh arrivals from the
States, and having plenty of money,
al arrangement was made to take
item in for good round sum. Ar
rEing at the scene of our new-old
"ead," an examination of the rocky
plecipices and the nature Of the sur
fare diggings, to scientific eye, gave
psomisc Of a great yield. So we
picked out pleasant camping ground
inthe vicinity, and all the party ex-
cept couple of the Frisco gents,
went to work.
F'Very early one morning, l resolv-
Ell to take look around for myself,
|si l set off for a patch of woods
about a mile distant. at length
struck stream that dashed down the
mountain side in narrow gorge,
having worn for itself channel Nl
the hard rock. / followed up tie
stream for a short time, and came 70
a place where the turbid waters wde'
quite placid, there being formetikr
large pool into which they had ce4
lected preparatory to another gratkd
plunge down the mountains side.
l sat down and resting upon the bank,
looked around me. Directly in front
was steep precipice, and beyond
the scenery was magnificent. After
remaining for some time lost in re-
Election, and indulging in day dreams
and building castles in the air for the
future, l arose, and was about to re-
trace my steps back to the camp, when
my eyes encountered the form of the
Spaniard stealing noiselessly up to
me. In a moment / knew he was aft
er the gold in my belt. That he
meant evil / knew by the look with
which he regarded me. He did not
do so long, for he suddenly raised his
rifle, and an instant after felt diz-
ziness come over me, followed by
sharp pain in my right breast, and l
fell to the ground within a few feet
of the water. The dizziness soon
passed of, but lay still, feeling un-
able to do anything, but l was con-
scious that the Spaniard was search
ing my person. The chink of gold
told me he had been successful, and l
heard him mntter as he moved to-
wards the gorge, "Now you'll go
over yon cliff for the eagles to pick,
for it would not be nice for me if you
are found here" and he broke off with
some words in Spanish which I did
not understand.
'My own immediate danger arous-
ed me to action, and with an effort l
opened my eyes, and saw him gazing
with demoniacal grin at the gold in
my belt. I knew that he would de-
liberately throw me over the cliff to
cover up his crime, and my comrades
not finding me, would suppose that /
had got lost or had "backed OUT and
taken French leave. In such time,
/ tell you, Phil, the mind acts quickly,
and although mine was racked with
painful throbbings, my love of life
gave me almost superhuman control
of myself. grasped revolver /
held in my belt, and which he had
lelt until he could complete his crime
so eager was he for the gold. Noise
lessly l drew it forth, and knowing l
had right to my life, concentrated
my faculties into drawing bead up
on him.
ri fired.
"When the faint curl of smoke had
cleared awav, l saw the Spaniard "
ing upon the ground, while GRIM
son thread from the bank was redden-
ing the stream. l drew near the wa
ter and bathed my head and with but
little difficulty regained the camp,
where related all that had occurred
and the party seemed quite satisfied
that character like Dartois had
been put out of the way before he did
more harm. l tell you, that was an
other of my "close calls" On exam
ination, my wound showed that the
ball had passed through my pocket
book, which was filed with papers,
and merely entered the fiesh,-scarce
a sixteenth Of an inch. That pocket
book saved my life, and for the sec
ond time in my checkered career,
found that Ga miss was as good As a
miie.'
We filed up our G glasses, lit fresh
Havana, and talked about our army
experience.
CHIPS.