The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-11-11
DIAMONDS AND GOLD.
A Tale of The Far
West.

Iea1y alHDuSLl, Dut uOb creature was Ill |
sight. The footstep could have existed
only in imagination. At the rate at
which. since leaving that waysde house.
he had progressed, il was hardly likely !
that any one could have caught him up. !
Unless again in mind he reverted to |
Seth w. Jones.
How he hated that murderous-looking
fellow, and how much those broad hints
he used to drop about Macpherson's |
hoard seemed as though he knew all |
about the matter. Could it be that Seth
was tracking him down? On the whole,
it would be safer, Hugh decided, to keep
for a while in the bush. Snakes and
grizzlies were Objectionable enough, but
Seth was simply odious.
The forest here was not very dense; he
would keep in the vicinity of the road
if possible, where he could still get an
occasional glimpse at it.
Much easier said or thought than done.
When he had tried an hour or SO slower
mode of progression-for oftentimcs
denser thicket had to be traversed or
avoided-he found that he no longer at
intervals caught sight of the highway;
and when, fearful Of losing it altogether
and getting bushed, he attempted to walk
straight in the direction in which he felt
sure it ought to lie, he only entangled
himself further and further into the gi-
gantic maze. He stopped; he listened
with all his might hoping he should hear
the.distant murmur of the bawling, rapid
Fraser, which he fancied, could not be
far off; but instead caught only the beat
ing of his own dismayed heart.
There is something awfully silent in
those dense pine forests; the soft songs
and lively twitterings Of tiny song birds
which make gay our own brighter-foli-
aged English woods are rarely enough
heard there, and the twilight gloom cast
by the closely-growing trees, whose tops
are often two hundred feet above the
ground, is singularly depressing. Hugh
gazed in every direction, striving in vain
to find an old trail or blazed trees some
where. He looked upward to see if he
could catch any tiny Aecks of travelling
sunlight, so that by watching which way
they went he might make out the bear
ings; but the monarch of day" was now
low in the horizon, and the tiny sunfecks
would travel no more till the morrow.
Then he grew terribly frightened, and a
wild cry for help burst from his pale
lips Then he had recourse to his brandy
flask, sole relic of that liquor which had
been saved from the burning "Eldorado;"
and, next, being woefully hungry again,
he consumed the greater part of the food
he had secreted in the morning. BY the
time his hasty meal was ended, he
saw that darkness WAS coming on apace,
and he knew he must find nocturnal
quarters.
He scaled a convenient tree, and, tying
himself securely into a fork of it, slept
soundly, spite Of all his terrors. Perhaps
the bodily fatigue he had 50 long gendured
overpowered him; perhaps the strong
dose of brandy he had taken was work
ing on his brain.
When he awoke, the sun (although he
saw it not) was high; he remembered
the terrible strait he was in, and remem
bered also with sort Of incredulous
wonder-it seemed SO long ago-that but
two days before he and Sandie Macpher
son had been trudging side by side. The
good nights rest he had had caused hii
spirits to revive; if he was indeed bushed
he had at least escaped his skulking foe
Seth Jones must BIZ far away. So Hugh
consumed the rest of his food; what mat
tered exhausting the scanty supply? ht
should certainly regain the lost road to
dav; and then he would put on bolc
front, and repenish his stomach and hi
pocket too at the first wayside house hi
came to. .... t---... I'D.
All, would he? When he had wan
dered helplessly, distractedly, at time
delirously for two days longer, he asket
himself in despair should he ever see tina
road again, ever look more into the face
Of his fellow men?
On that day, the third day since enter
ing the bush, he sat, oh, how famished
how desperate, and wondered what tn
end would be. Here, with an ample for
tune girt around his body he was slowl
starving to death. Not all the diamond
in a mass could avail to purchase hin
even one little crust of bread. In rags
barefoot, he sat and shivered; barefoot
in rags, and with a zone Of costly gem
about bis waist
All, the horrible ending to all his hopes
Should he wander on in that huge, silent
twilight wilderness, wander till madnes
overlook him, wander till he died? Lif
lust now so sweet, so well worth keeping
life which, for the first time in all hi
chequered existence, meant future Q
wealth and ease, meant, in word, tn
diamonds! Was he going mad already
And did the gloomy pines, erewhile !
still, wave their long arms to him mocl
ingly; or was it but trick of his disc
dered fancy?
"Oh, help, help, helpv shrieked Hpgl
In his agony; and there was none
help, nor echo even to answer his cry (
desolation.
Great Heavens! What was that obje,
lying there--there, barely hidden by IL
undergrowth, not half-a-dozen ste]
away? A pair Of boots, heap of mould
looking ragged clothes, and within IL