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

there let him stay; / would stay in the yell
lowstone paradise. And | stayed-unul
September, when | was across the border,
in Montana. en- route for -keddy's Tomb:
Nv curiosity had got the better of me. 1T
was piqued beyond bearing, and must
solve the mystery, If possible.
1t was close on to October when reached
the southern foothills of the Bear Noun
tains, spurs of the Rockies on the east
The hunt for "Reddys Tomb was sue
cessful as hunt, for 1t was all hunt with
out results. | put III twenty days on this
hunt, and then made up my mind that
was the victim of huge sell, worked by
that strange brother of mine and my
whilom pard, Jack Ford. the two having
been cahoots at some period or other IN the
past. Later | decided that II was very un-
likely. Later still decided that the whole
affair was too queer to be anything else but
a SELL Still later l was in a state OF doubt;
and later vet | decided to put in three days
more at the hunt. and, If nothing turned
up, to take the back trail for the Yellow
stone.
The weather had been fine, but ON the
second day of the last three | would put IN
on the hunt the air became biting IN the
afternoon, and | felt that snow would be
WASH agreeable TO think of. | turned my
thoughts upon a cabin, deserted or other
Sc, and wished for one to turn up before
night. Not so few and far between in the
Hills as angels visits to the sons or man,
vet 1t was rare that one turned up at the
moment most desired: one did in this IN
stance, however.
Dusk was on, and so was the snow, when
| suddenly found myself on the edge of a
park of some ten or twelve acres. l swept
it with my eyes and saw, on the edge OF the
timber opposite, something south of my
/ position, a middling- sized log hut-just
about the thing | had wished for, with snow
/ coming on. pushed on for 1t at once, but
the nearer got TO 1t the DINNER 1t grew to
/ sight, for the snow was now whlrllng fu-
| riously across the park. driven by the north
wind, and the range was TO take on Its first
autumnal coat of ermine, and a heavy one,
| | Judged. | was half way across the park,
! but the cabin, as far as sight of it was con-
! cerned might as we'll have been on the
| Staled Plains of Texas.
| But | could ride straight to it, felt con-
! tident, the distance not being great, and /
! did, the nose of my horse nearly touching
! the door when he stopped. Dismounting,
! 1 tried the door. 1t was fastened. l ham
III red on it with my fist. No response.
/ There were two windows with closed shut
| tiers. The shutters were fastened. The
wish for the cabin had not been in vain,
| and | didn't mean the finding of it should
| be. A small AK that l carried under the
straps of my pack was soon at work Oh that
door, The door opening outward, opened
very shortly. A close, rank, musty smell
greeted my nostrils-the smell peculiar to
places tightly closed for any length of time.
~Whew perhaps this is Reddy's Tomb, .
| said, and laughed as | stepped into the
cabin to ascertain by the light of a match
! if man and beast could be quartered there
| for the storm. But my beast, to whom a
| night in cabin was no new thing, waited
not for the inspection, but followed at my
| heels at once.
The fitful flashing of a match in that
| place of CimmeriaE darkness showed that
| it was bare of everything except could
not tell what, for gust from the open door
| extinguished the light. | closed the door
| and lighted another match, another with
| that, and, holding the two so as to get the
most good out of the.n-saw that which
| failed to make out before-the form of a
man fiat on his back on a large pine log,
! hewn fiat On top, and lying in the center of
| the cabin-what | verify believed to be, in
the uncertain and fickering match-lght,
the body of dead mani
! ] soon had nv horse denuded of saddle
and traps, and a candle from my pack
! lighted. BY candle-light | could see dis
| tinctly enough. My conclusions in regard
to what l had seen by match-hght were
correct. That huge pine log was a bier, on
which lay dead man. Dead for dUcat
or Gucal crown. The deadest man | ever
saw, for | had never seen one more than
three days dead, and this one had been
dead for months, if not years A mummi-
fed specimen of the genus it was. A skin
covered skeleton merely, the skin dried to
the bones of the face and hands, which
were without caring wrinkled and brown
as leather. 1t looked more like leather than
anything else, and felt like leather, hard
and dry, for 1 touched the cuticle, cured as
completely as the buckskin that enshrouded
it. The man had wasted away with disease
of some sort, and dried up after death,
there being nothing for decomposition to
feed upon. The dessicated specimen had
brown hair, and long red beard, bright as
in life, probably; if not, it must have been
fame by day and bright glow by night,
for it was the most fiery hair [ ever saw.
"Reddy!" l Involuntary CALCULATED.
That 1 was in "Reddy's Tomb"-the tomb
a log cabin, with "Reddy" before me on his
log bier-there was no doubt Strange
mausoleum, strange sculpture. A mo-
mentary look now at the dried cadaver,
and proceeded to examine its features
None could have guessed at what age the
living man bad ceased to be, or discerneC
in the features of the cadaver the slightest
likeness of the features of any human be-
ing that ever lived-the beard might have
been recognized by any one who had evel
seen it IN life, for it was one remarkable fol
its fiery hue, luxuriance, and length.
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