The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-07-11
dscayIng; they looked as Il they might

decaylng; Jney looked as IL they might
give way at any minnie. ..,a...a..,-.,.
He must have wandered into one OF
the old mines; perhaps the very one In
which his father had, been killed,
thought Johnny with. a thFin Of fear.
But tthat could not be, because there
were tracks all RbOnt. thereWere great
many In the mud near the vail. As
Johnny looked about him In wonder,
trying to find some explanation of the
mystery, he suddenly caught sight of
s0mething which looked out OF place in
a mine. It was q seal-skin coat, and It
seemed to bu thrown over a heap Of
something on dry grOundnear the wall.
Johnny lifted it, and disclosed heap of
tools, small and large, Very queer look
ing tools they were, and IL it had not
been for a RUG of skeleton keys among
them Johnny might not have guessed at
once, as he did, that they were burglars
tools. There was tin box too, which
he tried to open, but found 1t securely
locked. He HeTemembered that when the
burglars stole the money and valuable
papers from the Iron COmpany's. Office
they had also stolen q seal-skin coat be-
longing to Mr.. Bingham, the superin-
tendent. .t.s.,f..,. IN ~
He had stumbled upon the hiding
place of the burglaTs' stolen treasures.
1t was one Of the old mines, probably
the COnoshawen, the most t1dahgerOus,
where they Thought nobody wOnld dare
to come. All the stolen money might
be in that tin box a.auisDfi ysil,.,- !,
The blood went dancing Through
JOhnny's veins, and his heart beat so
loud that he could almost hear 1t.
Keen detectives had, been for a long
time In pursuit Of those burglars and
the stolen property, and had not found
clew. 1t had been left for him, little
nine ne-year-Old Johnny Pringle, whom
nobody thought good for much of any
thing, and whom the doctor called Hop
V-my-thnmb. And the reward offered
was Thousand dollarsl ....
Johnny scrambled back through the
chink faster than ne had come. He
wanted to take that tin box with him,
but 1t was too large. 1t is doubtful
whether boy ever ran faster since the
world began than Johnny ran out of
that mine. He couldn't spend time to
walk on the rails now; he went splash
ing through the mud and water, falling
now and then, and picking himself up
without stopping to think whether he
was hurt or not. Hhl
But at last he found himself in the
open air, all safe and sound. The pail
with Jim's dinner in It was still hang
ing on his arm, but he could not stop to
attend to that. iii.
de ran down Hump0ack H1lI across
three fields where the snOw-drifts reach
ed to his waist, then down the railroad
track to the village, and burst into the
Iron COmpany's office with only enough
breath left to gasp out: ln..,..
= "BuFglars' tOOlsl seal-skin c0atl-tin
bOxl-Old miner But you may be sure
it did not take the gentlemen in the office
long to put those detached remarks to-
gether, and an expedition was si4stantly
formed, with Johnny as guide, to the old
mine. FHH
In the tin box they found intact all
the money and papers that had been
stolen from the Iron Company. And
watch was set, and the very next
night the burglars were caught in the
mine. Hr d. l,
Johnny was the hero of the hour, and
what was of much more account, he re-
ceived the thousand dollars reward.
Jim said 1t was the first time he ever
knew It to be lucky for a fellow not to
get his dinner. N .r..
But in spite of the thousand dDllars-
which, indeed, she wasn't quite able to
believe in all at Once-JOhnny's mother
cOdldn't quite get over being nervous
because Johnny had been in that dread
full old COnOshawen mine, where every
body said the least jar was likely to
bring disaster.
She hugged and kissed him, and cried
over him, and felt of his limbs to be
sure they were sound, and even in the
night she kept going into his room to
be sure that he was safe under the bed
clothes.
Jim doesn't work in the mines now;
thousand dollars, and live lin clover"
.. L.. :. !. u ! Z .