Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-06-02

were soon digging more eagerly than
before.
.'Ah. at last!' whispered Andy. ex-
citedly.
He dropped the spade and seized with
both hands a dull, white object that
had just been thrown to the surface.
What is it?'' asked.
"A piece of bone" he replied. ''It
we dig carefully we may find all the rest.
An Indian skeleton. complete, would
be a rich prize. Come, now, get to
work. Under the bones we'll find
and all the articles that used to be
buried with the Indians"
1t needed no stimulus from Andy to
urge me on, and pick and spade were
soon making the dirt fly in concert.
We turned up bones in abundance,
large and small, and, strange to say,
they were in an admirable state OF
preservation. We did not take time 70
examine them, but tossed them to-
gether in a pile that grew constantly
larger.
Finally we struck vein of a differ
ent kind, and deep stroke of my pick
earthenware. and the lower half of a
bowl in good condition.
Neither Andy nor had seen Indian
pottery of this kind before. 1t was
brown in color and smoothly glazed.
nor did it have the usual criss-cross
lines and queer Communications.
That's rare find" assured Andy.
Don't lose any of the pieces Per
haps they all fit together"
laid them carefully aside and went
on digging. During the next five min
utes nothing rewarded our search but a
few more fragments of pottery, and
finally we dropped our implements with
one accord and wiped the drops OF
perspiration from our faces.
This is hot work" said Andy. Sup
pose we stop for awhile now, and be-
gin again when we are rested. Let's
take the bones and the crockery down
to the boat. and bring the lunch baskets
up here. I'm hungry as a bear, and
must have something to eat before / re-
sumo digging. We may have to go
pretty deep, too, before we strike the
more valua bic things"
Andy's suggestion was a good one,
and we speedily carried it out. The
heap of bones and pottery was safely
deposited in the front locker of the
boat, and we returned to the orchard
with the lunch-baskets. When we had
devoured what little supply of food
there was, Andy proposed taking d
peep at the house.
I reluctantly consented, and we eau
=. Il,
ing under rickety grape arbOr.
Andy mounted the one step and sud
denly drew back the lantern-slfle,
shedding flood of light on the cracked,
painless old door.
Hold on / whispered, catching
hold of his shoulder. I'm sure |
heard something move inside just now. -
Nonsense" replied Andy. Only
imagination"
He boldly threw open the door and
entered, and / followed timidly at his
heels.
Hardly had we crossed the threshold
when the lantern was dashed from An
dy's grasp by an invisible hand, and
then Andy himself was thrown with
stunning force to the floor.
A blow over the head sent me Keeling
on top of him, and, as lay there stupid
with fright, heard hoarse exclama-
ton and scurrying footsteps, followed
by the loud banging of the door. Then
all was still.
Fortunately our unknown assailants
had given the door such jerk that it
few open ON the recoil, and when we
staggered to our feet, little stunned
and dizzy, we caught sight of the dusky
gray streak.
We nearly fell over each other in. our
haste to get outside. We were under
the impression that more enemies were
concealed in the dark room.
Just as we put foot upon the brick
walk that led under the grape arbor a
light flashed through the trees a short
distance away, and a loud voice called:
Here they are. Come this way"
Then we heard men calling in eager
tones, and the hurrying tread of feet
tramping down stubble and dry bushes.
We stood stock still for a moment,
too frightened to move. The men came
rapidly nearer, and the lanterns they
were carrying threw glimmers of light
alrsost to our feet.
into the house, quick whispered
Andy, huskily. It's too late to reach
the boat
We turned and darted through the
open door. Andy closed it noiselessly,
and pulled me across the floor. He
struck a match so that we could find
the way into another part of the house,
and. just as the little blaze fiared up,
there came rush of footsteps and a
tremendous crash
The door few open and in rushed a
dozen men, every one armed in some
way. They dragged us roughly out
from the corner where we had taken
refuge, and for 4 moment or two !
thought our lives were in danger.
One young fellow. wearing a flannel
shirt and corduroy trousers, made re-
peated attempts to strike US with a
heavy club.
Let me get at them," he cried-''let
me get at them
The others had to drag him away by
main force and disarm him.
We were quite at a loss to know what
this demonstration meant, for Squire
McMaSters was nowhere visible. But
we were soon undcceived.
One of the men picked up a battered
tin box from the floor. and shook it tri-
umphantly before our eyes.
Where's the money. you young
scoundrels?" he demanded. fiercely
Hand it over quick, and don't try to
deny the crime. We've been on your
track all this afternoon, and if we
hadn't seen Your light we'd a gone right