The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1888-11-09

even watched old Jim q ought to nave
been struck dead for that, lest lie should
make away with the treasure.
THAT night i was wakeful, knowing
that the whole camp was aware OF our
great luck and fearful that some OF tho
more lawless crowd might attempt rob
berry during the darkness.
'Some time along in the morning
awoke with the cold Perspiration ooziuR
from every pore. felt, rather than
knew, that something was wrong. +
reached over to where Jim slept, and
found his blankets-eTDpty, next TO where
the treasure was buried. My hands could
hardly perform their Office as l tore up
the earth. It was gone.
~ rushed out into the faint moonlight.
Not a soul was IN sight. hurried back,
got revolver, slipped on boots and
troasers and ran toward the nearest
cabin, intending to give the alarm, but
just as passed a little thicket sitw Jim
kneefing over what / knew instiDctively
was the stolen gotd.
Slipping softly ap over the grass car
peted ground / cJstched my heavy re
volver by the barrel and raised it 10
strike.
''At that instant and rs the blow,
aimed wish all my strength, descended,
there was 4 rush be saad me, an oath, a
shot, and knew no more.
"When / swoke Jim slifeless body was
lying near Ise covered vith a rough blan-
ket. y group Of stern-fssced miners stood
about me, aL1I a / arose was seized and
pinioned.
When 1 collected my scattered wits
enough to ask what it srll meant the
answer was merely 10 pointto the pistol
still grasped in nay hand and TO the ugly
wound that showed where heavy blow
had crushed in ,fim's head.
Suffice n TO say that the peculiar cir
cunistances OF tbs affair were such as to
make my gaiit doubtful, and that
found no difficulty in burrowing my way
out of the shanty where was confined
over night. For days and weeks, sup
pose, roamed the hills. living on wild
berries and sleepisg in the underbrush
until ] WAS fairly INSANE with grief and
privatior.
II had killed Jim, the man who had
given me my life, the man to whom had
owed more than / ever could have repaid.
Was his robbing meany justification OF
the crimey No. L would gladly have
given him ten times as much if / could
have brought him back to life.
81 think it must have been six months
or more afterward that Invent back to the
scene OF my crime. l had gone back to
San Francisco and tried to start over
again, but it was no use. Nightly lived
over again the horrors of that one night,
and woke trembling so. that my teeth
fairly chartered. So / went back
ut WAS evening when l reached the
place and walked into the saloon where
everybody used TO congregatc after the
days work was done.
when told who was and said that
/ was ready to be punished rs might
seem most fitting, there was a silence of a
minute or two, and then some one stepped
up beside me, and looking curiously into
my face, burst into = loud gufYaw, and
calculated:
"'Whv, you darn fool, the chap who
killed old Jim Willis was found next day
layin' ia the bushes, not q rod from where
hc did it, with his head cut open. He
only lived long enough TO say that he
done it,
And it was true.
= had not killed Jim; L wasn't a rrlur-
oerer. after all.
The way OF it was this: Jim had zone
out quietly through the night. and dur
ing his absence the real thief had stolen
into the cabin. dug up the gold and the
nugger and stolen away with them. Jim
had met him and beea killed in the
struggle, and II was has murderer whom
1 struck aud fatally wounded An ac-
complicel who had been on the watch, Lad
tumbled me over.
80 that's why hunted up the nugget.
aud have Kept il, as you see. The story
Is queer, perhaps, but it has the merit OF
Oelng absolutely true, every word Of it"