Mohave County miner. [volume] (Mineral Park, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1882-1918, 1890-05-10


keeper ia the m6untalf cabin IN
Califcrnitt always fndS to do.
Almost always the weather per.
mittsd HIN 10 play ont Of doors. 20 that
be wAs lar happier. ~ well ~ fax
healthier, than II he were shut up In
the house. And "a he never thought OF
running away. this was all very salts
factory 10 the mother. Sometimes she
did not have to look after him from
noon until supper time.
This afternoon was one cf these Tor
tunate times All thrvpgk the long,
pleasant time of sunshine the careful
housewife was left usdisturbed 10 work
and 10 think. She thought moss u her
own child. Of course. Mt she thought q
good deal Atcat Pete Peters child
alsA Perhaps people were little too
hard on Rilly, after all. Perhaps II the
neighbor women would only take q
little more friendly interest In her she
would not be such rude little rufiian.
Really she never knew ,,f the child do
Ing anything actually wicked. But she
was such fowdy.
AT length she noticed that the sun
shine had grown dinr. Evening was
coming and Jerry's father would soon
b Nome and she must bring the little
FELLOW In and make him neat, As she
always did for the fathers home COM
Ing,
| She went to the door, but Jerry was
not where she had lei. him. She looked
| quickly about, but her child was nd.
where Ia sight. She called; NO answer
came. IN d panic she ran all about the
house and up ard down the road. call
ing as she went; neither sight nor sound
Of her child could she gain. Little
Jerry was lost!
That grill That dreadful girli'' Mrs.
Fromer moaned as she realised that her
baby was gone. But then ] would
have heard her n she had come about. :"
Desperate and heartbr,ken she con-
tinaed her fruitless search. growing
inors and more excited with every min
ute. When Mr.. Fromer came home he
found bis wife so nearly frantic that be
could hardly learn from her what had
1twas . terrible thing when he did
learn and realize it. There was no
knowing how long the child had been
gone, but with darkness coming swift
~ on he would have time before he
could be found 10 get hopelassly lost in
the forest that was not very far away.
He might be wandering there even
row, and it was no safe place for q
child to wander. To say nothing Of
the dangers Of starvation or exhaustion,
wild beasts were not unknown there.
More than once or twice mountain
lions had been seen or heard not very
far from the little scattered settlement.
Very quickly Mr.. Fromer satisfied
himself that his child was indeed gone,
and be was about starting away to
summon the neighbors to help him in
the search. when Pete Pelter appeared.
] There was trouble In his face and
anxiety in his voice.
WAS Rilly here ag'in after l left YEP
he asked Of Mrs. Fromer.
1 mo"
She amt to hum. an I amt been
able fur to find her, an I'm Uneasy
bout her II must be lowed"
Have You lost your child. too?n
Mr.. Fromer exclaimed in astonishment.
Il was just coming 10 ask you to help
find ours He's gone, God knows
where!''
He stopped speaking with that break
In his voice which ii is always SO hard
| to listen to. Even in his own grief and
trouble Peter Pelter felt keen sympathy
with this other bereaved man, and was
about 70 say so. but an exclamation
from Mrs. fromer checked him.
That girl!n Jerry's mother cried
out. And it was easy to know from her
tone what she was thinking of.
Her husband laid his hand on her
shoulder and stopped her from saying
more. Pete Pelter heard the words
and noted the movement but he only
said:
I'm help ye to hunt fur yer child. I
kin hunt for mine later. Or mebbe wen
find 'em together. ! reckon that's most
likely"
All night long these two men, with
the help Of all the men in tho settle
ment, searched the forest with torches
for their lost children and found no
trace OF either Of them. One little bit
of information was given by man who
came to join the searching party.
In the afternoon, while on shoulder
Of the mountain near the settlement,
he had stopped to look down NJ the
houses and the road. He saw little
child going along the road toward the
forest. He thought that was not safe,
10 he started down the slope to capture
the little rover. He was good while
getting to the road. and when he got
there be saw only Rilly Pelter and her
dog. He asked her about the child he
had seen. but she only looked at him
and started of toward her fathers
house. Thinking he had been fright
ened without reason, the man bad gone
his way without giving any alarm.
What time might that ha' been?"
asked Peter Pelter.
"Bout 5 o'clock. Ireckon."
II war home Jest afore that. Left
right afterwards"
All the next day the search was kept
| up, and without success. At night the
/ men were exhausted and had 70 rest.
But the second day the search was re-
newed with more vigor than ever.
The two fathers kept together through
kind Of sympathetic understanding
They were widely separated from the
other searchers when they came upon
the tracks made by little feet.
A moment later they found larger
footprints and those Of dog close to
them. The men looked at each other
with tears OF foy running down their