Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1886-06-17

rock that shines in the sunlight like il
IS streaked with silver. with here aud
there a cluster III beautiful ferns and
MOSES and Tiny cascade triekiin.
down il sides, Ribbon Cascade. Mr.
Monk calls it. CT course the treasure
is there And @, how he does want III
Not so much for himself as for
Aunt Tina-Aunt Tina whom be
loves so dearly in spite of tbs
thought taat sometimes she i.
a little too hard on him. But
at Others. low she does pet and hu
NOR him. And o. they are so happy
together Happier still. perhaps, be
cause in all the world they have only
each other. AMI there is Aunt Tina's
book How hard she has worked on
1t. day and tight. and how much sla
does want 1t published! But the hard
hearted publishers, to whom many
pages of the snowy manuscript have
been submitted, have declared they
can touch it til a part. at least, oil
the money Is Forthcoming. to pay for
some sort of plates. Swain wonders
what kind OF plates they ran be, aud
what III the world dishes have TO do
with printing. lie has ventured TO
ask Aunt Tina once, but, being alb.
sorbed in her work, she has only an
swered briefly, stereotype plates,
aud SO he is as much in the lark as
ever.
II he could only get that money for
Aunt Tina; which she had never yet
been able to get herself. Tor Aunt Tina
is only poor teacher with meager
salary
At o'clock this same afternoon.
when every guest OF the house is enjoy
ing his or her siesta, shut in the Sc
slusion of their rooms. a slight figure
clad in flannel Knickerbocker, with
sailor waist OF the same, issues, stick
in hand, from side entrance.
Ten minutes later the same figure
makes its way along the railroad
track to where small foot path turns
off to the left with a stunted pinenear
at hand labeled ITO Turner's Point.
1T doesn't look SO very awfuli"
exclaims Swain, as the path followed;
he stands at length besides clump of
dwarfed pines, and LOOKS down upon
the river. much more peaceful here
than hundred yards above, where
its fury seems to have been finally ex-
pended in the last of the greatcascade
But in spite of this peace and quiet
the scene formed by the stupendous
masses OF granite upheaved on every
side, with their bare and frowning
lodges and the sheer PERCEPTIONS fall of
their rocky sides for nearly l,000feet,
it is enough to inspire even the boldest
with fear
A strange feeling of awe and dread
steals for a moment INTO the child's
heart, and he partly turns as though
he would 90 back. The next appar-
emily ashamed of even this faint show
of cowardice, he grasps his stick firm
and begins to climb downward.
There is no regular path, but he
catches sight here aud there of a trod-
den tuft of grass and the shredded
twigs of ash and laurel, that show
where the foot and hand of the daring
climber have left their prints.
Very cautiously Swain picks his way
at first, then, as he finds it easier
than he has thought, lie grows boiler.
Finally, when about 800 feet down, a
projecting ledge stops his furthur
progress. Kneeling down, he crawls
to the edge and looks over.
"The very place" be or es excitedly,
''and Just know it is down therev'
But the down there" is fully
hundred and fifty feet beneath him,
and is another projecting ledge, but
much larger, and thickly covered with
ferns and MOSES. over which a thread
like cascade trickles.
As he leans further over, tiny
something that glitters in the suns
rays catches his eye.
1t is embedded IN the soil of the
ledge foot or so beneath him.
Reaching down he quickly grasps it,
and then, with an exultant little cry,
springs to his feet. But the next mo-
ment the cry of exultation is changed
to one of supplication and terror, for
in the sudden spring his feet have come
in contact with treacherous tuft
that is barely hanging to the cliffs
edges. Is they press against 1t itgiyes
way and the next moment he goes
headlong over the LEDGE
Up at the hotel all is confusion and
excitement, for he has been missed,
and the mother-aunt, IN her agony OF
terror, is beseeching landlord, clerk,
guide, walters, all to go in search OF
her darling boy.
Only too we'll she surmises that in
his usual fearlessness, and alive with
the desire to hunt out things for him.
self, heis straying along the dizzy edges
of the dangerous chasm.
1t is twenty four hours before they
find him, and at least a fourth as
many more ere by the aid ofropes and
ladders he is rescued.
He is conscious and able to tell his
story, though when he is first lifted he
cries out with pain in spite of himself.
One arm lies doubled mp under him
and shattered, yet with this exception
there is no other outward sign ofhurt.
His descent has been broken by the
various elumps of verdure, and final
" when he has reached the ledge be-
low it is to fall on bed of ferns and
MOSES. For q time the shock has
completely stunned him. When
he returns to consciousness it is to
find that he is unable to move his
body. But he manages to reach his
handkerchief, which he dips from time
to time IN the cascade near, and thus
shakes his thirst, and also with its
damp folds protects his lace from the
suns rays. 1t is the chill of the long
dark night that strikes the greater
terror to his heart and a deathlike
numbness to his cramped limbs.
This is the story he tells to those
who rescue him, but he says naught OF
these dreadful things, when passionate
~ clasped against the throbbing heart,
that all day and all night long has
watched and waited in an agony OF
mingled hope and fear on the yerandah
of the hotel.
There, in the presence of all, yet
seemingly unmindful, overcome at
last by the sight of the agitated loving
face, with its passionate eyes, raining
hot tears down upon his own, he sobs
out the whole stery OF his hopes and
longings for her, the ardent desires
that cling so fondly about the dear.
dear book.
Clutched tightly in the palm of his UNI
injured hand he still holds the precious
sparkling thing which, now that he is
safe within her sheltering arms, he dis
closes to the view of all.
Not till the next day, however, when
the brave, loyal fellow is struggling in
the delirium OF fever, is the value oil
his find discovered. 1t is an emerald
unusually large and clear.
81 will give him 81 900 for it, uncut
as it is.' declares young ieweler
from New Orleans, who, to do him
credit, is much more touched by the
athletic story sobbed out on the
mother aunt's bosom than he is taken
by the probable value. or the ex-
quisite beauty of the gem.
81 lost just two hundred and fifty
dollars. hard cash. by the invest.