Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-09-25


other reason why he bad wished to get
away from home and friends and country
He had most dearly loved the daughter of
a brokendown old friend of his father
Jerusha was twenty-five years and a
faith was a miserable old man who.
had impoverished himself to all his
frien,.s. and now lived with his
daughter upon a pittance Of $500 II
year, which he could not waste. He cor
daily gave his consent to the engagement
between the young people, so long as his
prospective son-in-law's affairs were pros
perous, but no sooner had the crash come
than he straightway called upon the young
man, and, with much politeness and APP
pearance of regret, informed him that his
daughter had carefully searched her heart
and decided that her engagement should be
at once terminated. Ben bowed his head in
agony. but it never occurred to him to doubt
the truth of the matter. So he contented
himself with writing a very sarcastic and
mournful letter to the young lady and then
left the country.
So we find him now, tramping up and
down the gloomy course of the barranca,
trying streams, blasting rocks and assay
ing ore. One day it occurred to him to
check the course of a small stream of lava
which fed huge bowl of the molten sub
stance near the great lake In pursuance
of this plan he rolled ruge rocks int the
burning food where its channel was mar
rowest and followed them with blue clay,
and finally, rocks covered with asbestos
which he found ready for him in the can
yon. There, with infinite patience and
incredible toll, he managed to drain the
pool completely The delays and inter
ruptions, occasioned by his trip out for
game and fish. made the task very slow,
and 1t was over a month before the drain
age was complete. Then he set to work to
dig through the coating of the hardened
lava which encrusted the sides and bottom
of the basin. After two days work he
found gold, and further search convinced
him that the molten metal which had flow
ed into the basin with the lava's tide, was
sufficient to give him enormous wealth.
Day after day he worked cheerfully
bringing up each day a fair recompense
for years of toll, but always DESTROYS for
further riches; and he concluded that the
only way in which he could limit his ava
rice was to make an oath, that in week S
time, if his body did not fail him, he
would leave the barranca.
Two days after this, as he was coming
down the side of the barranca, he saw a
man at the foot, looking eagerly at his
hut and surrounding implements. The
demon of greed seized upon him at the
sight and. mechanically, he raised his gun
to bis shoulder and fired The stranger
reeled and fell to the ground
Horrifed at his own brutality Jerusha
Ben ran hastily down the descent to aid
his victim, if it were possible. Unhappi-
ly, haste in descending the side of bar
ranca is perilous to an eminent degree, and
Jerusha Ben had not gone more than a
dozen steps when he slipped and fell for
ward and, ia an instant, had rolled over
the brow of the cliff. Instinctively, his
tossing arms had sought support to the de-
cisive moment, and the fingers on the left
hand clurohed in rift of the rock at the
very brow of the cliff and he hung sus-
pended in mid ali. Jerusha Ben shudder-
ed and gasped at his peril His late foe
and sin and remorse were nothing to him
now. for below him two hundred feet he
saw the ragged rocks, which waited TO re-
ceive his fall The cliff receded from him
and offered no support. He made at
tempts, again and again, to draw himself
back to safety; but his strength was insult
ficient although the agony of his position
nerved him to frenzied efforts. The
abrupt edge to which he chung cut deeply
into his clenehed fingers and his arm SEEM
" tearing from its socket With an awful
terror he realized that the tension of his
fingers was involuntarily and surely re-
lapsing. His despair warned him of his
doom, and he tried to turn his troubled
thoughts to the last prayer.
sudden shout made him look down,
and he saw the stranger, whom he would
have slaughtered, running toward the
side of the barranca. Rapidly and easily
he mounted the lodges until Jerusha Ben
could see him no longer and soon after
wards he heard his steps, rapidly advanc-
ing along the brow of low cliff from which
he hung The anxiety which Jerusna b en-
now endured was something frightful
Did this man come to kill or did he come
to save. Jerusha Ben forgot the tearing
of his arm and wondered whether the man
approaching would uncinch his fingers to
make him drop into the abyss or whether
he would merely draw his hunting knife
and cut off his arm at the wrist.
Juni tDtl It iitdtli IuttiN NOISt dDOFt
him call out:
Raise your right hand, partner.
Jerusha Ben raised his right hand and
Immediately it was clasped by two warm
ones. while the voice continued:
Now, heave, no, partner for your life,
remember
All. it was fearful contest those two
men striving against the death which
threatened: but at last they were success
fall for men gain strength, at such mo-
ments, and Jerusha Ben lay speeches.
and altogether exhausted upon the ledge,
while handsome, black bearded man, not
much in statute or years, knelt beside
him with wonderful solicitors expression
on the cheerful features, and chafed his
hands and comforted him.
By and by Jerusha Ben was able to
manage the descent, with the assistance of
the stranger, and when they were safely
inside his hut Jerusha Ben rolled away a
small stone from one side of the hut and
dragged forth a dozen boxes, which he
hastily opened before the stranger could
ask his meaning, and then he explained
This is what | shot you for. Take it
all and forgive me.