Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-08-08

a foot, when, ali, it struck a hard
substance, What, could it be the lid of
the vessel containing the gold? Shovel
and pick few through he air like Iightn-
ing Neither of us spoke. and we hardly
dared to breathe. So intent did we become
that We thought no more of the cause of
the breaking weed until il WIS upon us.
Suddenly with fearful cry such as never
heard before, and such as / hope never to
hear again, the terrified negro, whose
mead was almost on a level with the surface
of the ground, beheld immediately before
hlm two eyes of burning FIRE flashing from
the head of a weird, mysterious being. this
neither looked like man nor beast.
The screams of the poor niger caused
the supernatural beiog TO retreat some dis
lance; hut it never took its ewes off of him
for an instant.
"Oh Godl said he. MIR Dalton. ask
1t what il wants Then, not without
some trembling in my voice, asked as
boldly as 1 could "What do you want ~
/ The only answer was a brighter CLEAN
from the flashing eyes Peter had half
fallen over from terror and exhaustion
but managed to whisper to me that it
was an evil spirit come in that form to
prevent Us from getting the gold | tried
to reassure him and myself both that sucX
was not the case, and That it would DO
nothing of the kind. Peter whispered To
me to ask it III the name of the Lord what
IL wanted, and in solemn tones put the
quetion
"What in the name Of the Lord, do you
want?' but received no reply further than
the flashing of fiery eyes.
Then Peter told me to ask it, in the
name of the Father in Heaven, what it
was there for, and again with "A solemnity
behtting the occasion, asked:
What, in the name Of the Father in
Heaven, do you wantY'
Again no reply was made, but the strane
being started towards us. With plerc-
ing cry Peter threw up lis hands ana fell
back in dead faint, and as he did so the
bottom of the hole we had been dlding and
in which he still lay sunk down, seeming
y, a distance of two feet. Nearly dead
with terror myself, | resolved to make a
last stand, and when the strange subject,
which seemed to be there for the purpose
of seeing that we did not get the money,
was within few yards of me | put my
whole remaining strength into ansattempt
to check its approach by a blow from the
heavy shovel, and without waiting to Sc e
the result of my reckless trihing with a
supernatural being, turded my attention
to poor Cri2e.
2y long and strenuous exertion | got
his limp body out OF the hole ana sue
ceeded in restoring him TO consciousness,
but he was so weak that | had to half
carry him to his room Then ! went back
to the scene of the terrible adventure,
gathered up the tools, cleaned and put
them in the store and got to bed shortly
before daylight The next morning poor
Cride was tossing with a raging fever
which held him on his back for ten long
weeks As sool as he was able to travel
he left c.. | was in bed three days with
malaria, the real cause of which no one
knew but the old storekeeper, and he kept
his secret we'll; so that to this day it is a
mystery at C asylum as to WHO killed
the cook $ big cat or who dug the myste-
rious hole into the big sewer on that dark
March night
Ny grey hairs and discretion date from
that terrible night, and the only gold |
searched for since Is that which ! can earn
10y my daily toll.