The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1886-10-30
Jack" l responded.

We've struck ii rich!"
Il think so, said /, whereupon, without
any more words, We left the ravine for the
spot where our horses were tethered, there
cooking n supper OF black tail" and cof
fee, smoking and chatting an hour there
after on our promising prospects, AID then
turning into our blankets for the night, the
following days prospecting to determine
whether | would set out for the nearest
point of communication with the home
guard contingent of our syndicate or not
line of golden dreams. dreams whose
golden glories an Aladdins lamp, rubbed
never so hard, conid equal, We're suecee led
/ by dream of sound and fury and earth
| quake. | avoke to find myself bolt up
| right in a sitting posture, and my COM
panIon IN n like position. Awoke amid "A
mighty rolr and violent sinking OF the
earth, laundering detonations and startling
crashes b.ended-awoke to an earthquake
lterll from one Of dreamhnd
! Eaukl'
XXI"
ing more, but start, as if with one
| impuIs-. for the horses. We found them
| tugGing at the tether and trembling vio-
/ lent!y. few words and caresses soolhed
! the animals somewhat; and, the tumultuous
| fury of the happening subsiding moment
I
quiet. The plunging and crashing of fall
ing pines, the bounding and bursting of
| powders, thrown from their beds of ages,
| still came 10 our ears, but as distinct and
| separate noises at intervals of seconds and
not as a medley of jUmbled sounds and
! shocks, confusing the senses. Sixty sec
onds ana the silence of desolation reigned
in the Hills, with nothing to remind one OF
natures late spasm save the very percepti-
bic odor of newly upturned earth.
HANK
| Well"
"Do you know what l think?"
| No"
That overhanging cliff up yonder has
effec ed q change of base, and our lake has
retired from business.
| Great Scott"
Lets turn in for the rest of our sleep
| It's only two o'clock. He had lighted {
match and consulted his silver bulfs-eye
We went TO our blankets and rolled our.
| selves up therein, and went to sleep a:
though nothing had happened. Lifein The
Hills, of ,engthy duration, seems TO bring
one TO q condition sure TO entail quiet anC
abso ute submission TO the DEGREES of fate.
| without any kic5ing against the prlcks
I Ths my not be true-blue Christian resig.
nation, but stands in about the same rela-
ton to L, perhaps, as oleomargarne TO le-
climate d.iry butter of good repute. Ger
tain it 5 that two Hill men went to sleep o.
the heels Of a catastrophe fatal to their pros.
pec;s as believed by one and dreaded by
the other, and slept the sleep of the men
tally undsturbed.
d wight confirmed Jacks belief and re-
allied my fears. The overhanging cliff o.
the previous day had disappeared, the
| for E1rt hal
inspection showed that the little lake haG
surely retired from business, as Jack hac
expressed it, and in and over the place
where it had nestled lay thousands of toni
of earth and powders, supplied by ths
falling cliff, with tangled chevau1- de-frist
of fallen and broken pines, giant wrecks OF
mountain monarchs. rearing their crown!
to the skies a few hours before. An all
days inspection in every direction below
the site of the overslaughed lake, 70 dis
cover, If possible, water vent, failed o.
re-u IS. Not trickle of the wished-fo
c!eGent could We find. The lake springs
had been completely choked up. or found
an underground passage. Our mine WAS al
ya!u-less TO us as mine IN the mountains
of the mool. That fact stared us in tn,
face with ali the stoniness in the eyes o
fate exorabte. Even our paintings of tbs
day before had been snatched from US, TO
the rayine that was, yesterday, was not, to
dav. being completely filled up.
When we ate our supper that night minu
coffee because minus water, a strange
dropping in would never have surmised tina
we had lost an untold fortune iii prospec
tive. from our looks or talk, for we talket
not of the catastrophe, but of good luci
yet to come What we're Jacks thoughts
know not and what were mine he knew
not, and neither guessed, perhaps don
remember now that / did.