Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-05-07

eumclent eaTIns IN 1le progress to the out
let of the cave to make an opening large
enough to allow me to crawl through Il?
Even ii only succeeded IN making an
air-hole, il would enable me at least to ex-
ist until my partners could come to my
rescue. z
Carefully examining the course of the
water. / succeeded in finding tile spot
where it entered the cave, and, to nv
reat joy, ascertained that / could easily
direct it by buttlng . channel out Of the
sides Of my prison TO the mass of earth
that blocked. up the entrance to the tun-
mel. .: :.. s5 !.
The air at this time was quite hot and
sitting, and I became aware whatever
! was done must be done quickly, or I
should perish for want OF oxygen.
After cutting channel for the water
to flow toward the entrance, I enlarged
the opening BY which the stream entered
the cave, and reioiced to see that it flow
ed with redoubled yigor. Taking my;
shovel, pushed l. through the moisten-
ed earth as far as was able, and then
waited for turtle action Of the water.
In . few minutes.I could push it further,
till at lastit was out Of my reach. Then
| p lacing the pick handle against it. i.
pushed both as far as possible. With.
what eagerness did watch to see the
first opening made by the water, kutwas
soon gratifed by observing that 1t flowed
III a steady stream in the directien in
which I had pushed the pick and shovel.
In few minutes discovered faint
glimmering in the distance, which might
be an opening or the effect of an excited
imagination, I scarcely knew which. But
the doubt soon dissolved into certainty,
and an opening some five inches in di-
ameter speedily disclosed itself. =
Larger and larger the opening grew;
lump after lump of earth was washed
away by the stream, till the channel be-.
came large enough to place my head in
and call loudly for assistance. f'=
Just as was throwing m 7 head back
! caught sight of buckskin bag. Hast
lily Selling it, found it was the one we
were In search OF, and which but for the
accident I never would have found.
Wishing to surprise my companions, l
concealed it, and redou1led my cries. In
few minutes they came running up the
hill, and soon liberated me from my un-
pleasant position. - .. =.
"Wen Ned, seid Jack, as he shook my
hand, ~ am glad to see you're safe, old
fellow, the more so as Bill and I am de-
ceiving you little. You know we have
been trying al! summer tn get you into a
tunnelling -opere lion, and you have only
laughed at u.s."
eyes" said.
"Wel, when you got that letter we
made up our minds that we would 90 in
to the job with you; not with the hope of
finding any bag, but because we knew
you'd work twice as hard with such an
intending meanwhile to
wash the excavated dirt. This we have
done; and, my boy, we have not made
less than $500 any day since we began.
"Then you think the bag a humbug,
do, you2" I asked.
"Of course" said he.
swell, I don't, and intend going on
looking for it, said I.
"Now. wha5 is the use of being fool
ish2' quoth Bill Jennings. 1--WE have
got as much DIRT as we can wash for
some lime, and it pays. can't zee the
use Of continuing such wild goose
chase as the hunt for that bag"
"Be that as it may" said /, II intend
to follow Ii up"
"Well, Ned, we may as we'll tell you
first as last. I wrote that letter in order
to get you to go into tunneling.'
"And the 'blazed tree,' " said I, chow
about that2 The blaze is certainly two
years DID,"
Jack hesltated.
"Why, you see," said he, 1--WE found
that tree, and wrote that letter to suit il"
''Then what do you think of this?" I
asked, showing him the bag found in
the cave.
Jack was nonplussed. On opening the
bag we found about $4,000 worth of gold.
Jack would never confess, but always
insisted that the variance between the
statement in the letter and the amount
in the bag was proof enough there was
no connection between the two. I don't
think so, however, and I believe that
Jacks assertion of having written the let
ter was untrue. We could never ascer-
tain anything about Mr.. Forrest, so we
lsu;Iol %1o