The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-07-13
BY SLIDE
Written for the MINER.l
concluded from last Week.)

i ease than any of lis, for he finally breaks the
silence by observing in a general way, "That
settles it."
: "Settles what ~ growled Bill.
r "My sheer i'll this business. No human
ever yelled that away replied Tex, 81
alters healn tibet this bottom was haunted. l
amt tharfore a-goin' to tackle nuthin' dead,
i Or no spirits, nuther,'' he finally added, with
= q fearful expression lowering about his
!, swarthy face.
ii will go in that house, BILL said Jack,
Il in a low, determined voice. "Somebody is
either dying in there or badly hurt. All of
you stay here until | return; which | will do
q as soon as | can. Don't move away, and
n watch for a signal, as | may want you there.
\ If anything runs on me, you can do me more
;. good out here, maybe, than you would with
:" me, that is" said he, turning to Tex aud my
self, "if z and Tex shoots straight"
:, "Don't be a-feared of me hittin' you" eX-
! claimed Tex indignantly.
: "That's all right" continued Jack, "you
D. follows just use your Sharp's, if "a fight starts
q up, for your and rs damned navies take
!, more range in than a Gatling gun
With this parting injunction our brave
leader opened the willows and crowded
Il through into the clearing.
{ 81 wish l hedn't put your Winchester in
the pack agin, Bill" said Tex, whispering to
his companion.
81 would rather have my Sharp's,' vas the
u reply;
. eyes," responded Bill.
u Lying fat on the ground, we watched our
Z eomrade glide over the intervening space and
i and at last disappear through the door. Not
4 a word is spoken by any OF us now.
" Time passes slowly away.
9 With a muttered execratiOn of impotence,
B Bill gets en- his feet and parts the willows to
!, look at the house a few moments more and
looks down at us eXclaiming: =
"Do you see that in the door"
c Springing up, Tex and myself looked
through the cleaning at the sOmbre house
!, ander the shaLowv ~coltonwoods. We could
4 trace with our straining eyes the dim outline
! Of a human form within the doorway. A
! shostly arm seems to beckon us onward.
!. "It may be a limb hanging down from the
\ giant tree beside the door, / quietly observed.
!, at may be jack replied Bill, moving
: quickly through the brush.
\ ""Well find out by gittin' thar muttered
Tex, following. l had no desire to stay
alone.
z Crawling ON hands and knees, the inter-
i vening space was rapidly crossed. Over the
threshold, and once again we stood beside our
companion. No ray of light penetrated the
} profound gloom of the interior. A low, Sob
! hing sound of intense pain seemed to spring
cut of the floor on my right as | stood grasp
! fng my rifle. A deadly, indescribable feeling
Of horror crept over me. l seemed to stand
} within the invisible presence of death. [
/ sould feel the Winchester slip through my
: nerveless fingers, hear it strike the floor. The
: loud detonation of all exploded cartridge
7 pierced the now still quiet night, and rolled
e in waves of echo dow the narrow valley and
4 along the beetling crags.
. ] quickly stopped to recover my unlucky
! weapon. A hand srasped my own as | arose,
and 1 heard a fierce voice whisper in my ear :
D "Did you shoot or not"
, 1t was Jack. eyes, replied, Accident
|. ally"
"Be careful" l heard him nutter in re-
Spouse, Enough lay dead in here without
7 eur adding to the number"
The forms of Tex and Bill fit by Inc. |
: tarn, and we all stand together by the door.
"We can do no good here now" saiG Jack,
! "eeme back to the woods"
d In silence we retraced our steps under the
willows and on the edge of the trail we stop
ped again.
/ turned to Jack and inquired if his visit to
the cabin had furnished him anv explanation
!, of the scream we had heard. Dropping his
voice to a whisper, he rrliel:-
o Eyes, there are two men in the cabin-ont
dead on some bushes in the corner, the Othel
e still living, but f~eartully cut UP, laying about
a the middle of the floor. Look at my hands,
: and holding them up so that the moonlight
. aould play on them, we could see that they
6 were covered with blood. 81 got that or
. rhem,' he resumed, feeling over the one OF
lt the floor. He is just breathing, and l know
j he is dead by this time. There may be more
. but l could not find them if they are in there
though | crawled, ] thought, about all over
, the house."
!, He they been scalped ?" said Tex.
n "Yes, both of them; and | think bOtl
have their throats cut. There is a id hot
trail leading off from that house, DON'T 20,
forget it, and anybody can find it tonight
/ who feels anyways anxious to tight
al wonder if either is a woman" SAT-
b Tex.
d :sNo: only men. If a woman was Their,
}, Sod help her, and damn me if we won't tr,
a to see if she has left any sign replied Jack
in a sad but determined voice:
. sWhat are we going to DO now?" IN
0 CURED.
!, swell, we'll go over and dig a hole in tn
floor TO put them in. / think that's about al
y we can do. Might fix the door up SO tina
( wolves and koyotes can't get i'll.
4 aGoOdnuff Jack" whispered Tex.
What time Will we start" said Bill get
ting OH his feet, Now"
! mo" replied Jack; we'll wait till morn
! ing. Better scont the bottom first from tn
i bluffs to see if the war party are still around
ground fast enough. If many lodges are be
9 Ecw, we strike across for the Little Porch
4 pine OF move up to the Crazy mountains;
4 nave too many horses to hang around here
for these fellows are bad; so just move t
the packs"
Saying this, Jack stood up, and getting on
6 ON the trail we started at a brisk pace up th
river. Reaching camp, We found everythin
about as we left IL. A few mouthfuls {
dried meat was hastily eaten, and after tishI
ening the halter straps Of our saddle horse
{ we got ont our robes and laid down-m
,eornpanions to sleep, and l to await a repet
tion Of that mournful. horrible scream.