The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1886-10-30
HANK AND JACK,
How They Struck
It Rich.
CHAPTER .
IN THE HILLS.

IN THE HILLS
had been a ranger of the Rockies for !
i've years; nomad. as 1t were. but with !
ont tending other cattle than the horses | |
purchased during that period, and to such |
cattle, IN the guise of deer, elk, antelope, |
etc. as my commissary department yearned |
or called for Primarily, l was there hunt !
ing for gold; secondarily, to look up an |
odd stick" of a brother, four years my /
Junior, who had disappeared from home |
seven years before | struck the Hills on this /!
double layout.
Five years after he disappeared received |
a missive from him, month or two later |
than date, reading as follows:
IL THE ROCKIES, Jan. l, 49,.
DEAR HARRY am living Hope you
all are. NED"
l received three more of these laconic
epistles, one year, and one, the fifth year,
more yOlumlnous, as follows:
BROTHER HARRY When the year
comes that brings no letters from me, some
thing has happened. Should you ever come
to the Hills, and the Blackfoot country.
keep a sharp look out and you may find the
key of the writing below. NED"
Here followed an irregular right section
OF n writing of which nothing could be
lnade, the key being the left section, evi-
IDENTITY, and written on another sheet.
' ne NOIuS III THESE ulSJOlnlou lines were
entire, and read as follows:
towards North Pole, look for
direction opposite the one
of blaze; ride north
color, your eyes
out by first mule.
This was the last of Neds epistes; and
neither he was dead or had tired of such
frequent and voluminous epistolatory cor
respondCnce, | knew not
Ell. r
as the perambulating member of syndi-
cate Of ten men of about nay own age and
means, the object being, as l have stated,
gold For three years | prospected in the
rock-Iibbed hills finding gold here and
there, more than sufficient to pay all eX-
penses; and could water have been brought
to bear on the gravel, in one or two in
stances, should have found enough, per-
haps. / was no tenderfoot in the Hills. |
had been there before, and didn't go wild
ut the sight of color" When seen, |
looked for water. No water. | moved on.
During this period of three years, | in
CURED IN every mining camp came across,
OF every nomad of the Hills, every tramp,
rs / called them all, myself included, and
with justification, for, though anchored in
camps or detached cabins, it was only for
the present, every mothers son being
ready at moments notice, as il We're to
break camp and tramp on the mere rumor
of newly discovered diggings-inquired
concerning Ned Wayne, my very peculiarly
constituted brother No one had ever
heard the name, and, as | could give no
description of him except as an eighteen
year. old beardless boy, the name was all
that | could give, and he might have taken
on another. Had he done this, and l I'M
able to identify him after lapse of twelve
years, in the change from a smooth faced
boy of eighteen to bronzed and probably
bearded man of thirty, the chances of my
ever getting on his trail were rather re-
mote-about as much so as getting on the
trail of the needle in the proverbial hay
stack But the hunt for him was side
issue, and stuck to my main object-the
hunt for gold.
The fourth year was well along, with no
result worth naming in the way of gold
and none at all in the way of hearing of
Ned. One morning, in turning out of my
blankets after a nights refreshing sleep
on a mattress of pine needles IN the tim
bered edge of a small park, pretty as a
picture" | was surprised to fnd another
horse picketed not far from mine; as q
consequence / was not surprised to find on
looking about, that the Hotel de Park con-
tanned another ledger, whose arrival must
have been at later hour than mine, and
whose sleep was yetunbroken. Paying no
cooked coffee and antelope outlets for two,
and, when ready, called him to breakfast
He came as matter of course and ate
with me as he would have eaten of his own
meat and cooking as | with him had the
conditions been reversed
Not TO dwell on that meeting and the out
come let me say that Jack Ford-the name
as he gave it-and | rode over and along
the Hills that day by tacit agreement said
agreement holding for months. With queer
ways, he was not an Objectionable COM
panion; had better knowledge of the
Hills than |, from ten years experience
therein, and could shoot better; although,
as | could shoot meat enough for the larder
and as well. probably, as the average noun
tain tramp, his superior skill went for
nothing Pretty well mated, we rode and
camped. hunted and prospeoted as one;
house undivided against itself we were, and
if we ever disagreed, If was a quiet and not
dlsagreeable disagreement. it is needless
to say, perhaps, that he had never heard of
Ned Wayne. | learning this from him the
first time of our acquaintance, and telling
the story of the wanderer
old Time had reeled off four months of
the fifth year of my tramp in the domain
of desolation, and still Jack Ford and |
turned our horses heads in one direction.
We had harvested no inconsiderabe num-
Der of ounces of the yellow dust" of price,
considering 1t was doue by placer mining,
with little or no water, but it had not fallen
to us TO strike it rich" where water was
plenty-not to a degree of richness that
would warrant my sending greeting TO the
syndicate, of which Jack was now mem
Der, having been admitted for the luck that
odd numbers might bring the inspiriting
caballsuc Eureka" with the command
supplementary, Get read the tools"
Still that richness might be found with
Jack making the syndicate number odd.
One day when l and my pard were toll
ing up high divide, we discovered minia-
ture lake nestled under a high overhanging
clh. 1t was springfield little body. and
We searched for the outlet, beginning the
search without delay, Jack somewhat IT.
reYerently declaring that so pretty little
pan OF water had no business there, unless
the dust was lying round loose somewhere
below II. We found the outlet shortly in
a Wild ravine, deep and wooded; but night
was upon US before we found the outlet of
the ravine, or the inlet
We were there with the daylight how
ever, finding a fair stream of water, and
knowing that more could be brought down
from the lake above if circumstances made
il needful Breakfasting on steaks from a
black tail, We turned to and PANIED some
of the gravel from the stream. The result
was so promising that we kept on panning
for three hours or more, when We set to
work to improvise a rocker, our success
warranting the outlay of time and labor
We worked that rocker for all our time and
energy were worth until nightfsll, when my
pard suddenly CALCULATED:
Hank"