Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1886-04-24
"Rratt, are you alive.n

"Rratt, are you alive."
The words came from him in a feeble
whining tone:
"No, no! not that way. The leads higher
up-mighty rich, tool"
1 managed to yet him off the shelf. Fur
Their I could not. The only accessible route !
home wound in places about projections Of
the mountain several hundred feet perpen- \
dicular above the foaming river, where . 4
sound man needed all his strength and nerve 4
to keep a sure footing.
"Them mint fellows are sharp. Jack Hill
year, mind you bake your next batch OF
bread clean through. Run q straw through
dough sticks IL faint done; don't put pork
in till beans be boiled 80 you can squash
'em--else, hard as rocks"
So he rambled ". His words concerning
the mint people suggested to me Broener's
remark as to their curiosity regarding his
quartz assays and their whereabouts. Pratt
was evidently delirious. I thought to utilize
this wit wandering and said:
ibid the mint people send you up herem
Put fresh salt on a birds tail, an you'll
catch a weasel asleep" was his reply. Then
his mind seemed to leap into the old channel
tits r~ich-mighty rich-and they can't hold
it all"
The thing to be done was to get Pratt to
his cabin. Evidently his brain was affected
bv the wound. I left him and hurried to
Hillycar.
Their cabin was built as thousands were in
those days--an envelope Of cotton drilling
about a light wooden frame. There was no
wooden door to knock against, or any other
method to rouse the inmates save by calling.
Call I did, but Hillyear seemed sleeping the
sleep Of the just. At last, out of patience, I
pitched q rock into the frail structure. It
tore through the cloth. Hillyear's reply was
q shot, which was not to be wondered at.
me. I've found Pratt. He's hurt badly,"I
cried.
"Whos me!' asked Hillyear, after one Of
his periods of silence.
heard him cooking his pistol. "It's l.
Holder. Come and help mi get Pratt down
off the mountain. He's lying there with a
cash In his head"
Mr.. Hilyear now relapsed into silence. l
knew not whether he was trying to frame an
idea into a sentence or peerfng out to get an
aim at me.
"Ain't you comingT' I cried at last care
you going to help me get Pratt down. He'll
die before we get to him"
"How-did-you-come It o-And-himF'
came at length from Mr.. Hillyear's lips,
with a sort Of clownish judicial gravity.
"Good heavens" I said. 'Wil you stay
there all night and ask questions, while your
partner is bleeding to deatha Do you sup
pose I'd get out Of my bed to stand and cal!
here like a fool for nothingY'
whats the muss?' cried a voice In the
darkness 1t was Bill Setter, who lived
about an eighth of a mile distant. He had
come, reused by the shot and the sound Of
voices.
"rve found Pratt badly hurt on Scrub
mountain, and am trying to get Hillyear to
help me down with him. Hillyear won't be-
1ieve me, and that's what's the matter"
"Hillyear, get up! Don't be a FOOL" said
Setter.
Hillyear finally replied: "An-right! I'm
comm n with an expression as If he had
news, and had but momentarily heard of 1t. :
Our party reached Pratt, where I had left
him. With great difficulty we managed to
carry him down the mountain. His utter
ances on the way down all bore vaguely on
quartz hunting and the last scene of which
he had been conscious while in his right
mind. To Setter, they were q puzzle. To
Hillyear, I knew not how much or how little
meaning they conveyed. To myself they
were q source Of great uneasiness. They
bore first on the secret Of our claim. Next,
they might confirm Q suspicion, which, if moi
already developed, I knew was likely to be,
through the singulsr circumstances attend.
ing my finding Pratt so far up Scrub noun.
tain in the dead Of night It needed but a
word of his delirious utterance to make
known that we had quarreled.
We left Pratt in his cabin. Setter, whose
curiosity was evidently much aroused, said K
me, just what ! expected he would:
SLOW did you come to find Pratt away NJ
there7'
I told Setter that I heard Pratt's voice il
the night up the mountain, which was true
but not III the sense I left Setter to infer
/ held that evasion was justiaable under tn,
circumstances It's not so much what ",
tell that may damage us as the construction
placed on it by those it may % told to. Thu
only way I know Of when certain question
evasion or untruthfulness, is to say tits non
of your business" That, as society Is nov
constituted and complicated, would be quit
impossible.
II wonder who shot limf' continue,
Setter.
"Shot himself, maybe" replied.
"Queer business, anyway" was Setter
final remark, as he trudged of home.
saw by his that he was full Q
curiosity, and being full! of curiosity woul
be soon full of theories as to the cause O
Pratt's hurt, and that as curiosity an
theories are contagious, he would In q shor
time inoculate all Bull Bar with them.
Next day ! visited Pratt. His head ha
been hurt both by the ball and th0 TALL. tn
bullet had gashed the temple-not very deeply