River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1892-06-09


those old shutters" said Andy. scoru-
fully. what pair of towards we arer'
The sound was not repeated, and we
were soon digging more eagerly than
before.
"Ah. at last" whispered Andy, ex-
eitedly.
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 IF
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
other things-beads and tomahawks,
and all the articles that used to be
buried with the Indians"
II 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 to
examine them, but tossed them to-
gether in a pile that grew constantly
larger.
Finally we struck a vein of differ
ent kind, and deep stroke of my pick
brought up some curious fragments of
earthenware. and the lower half of a
bowl in good condition.
Neither Andy nor | had seen Indian
pottery of this kind before. It was
brown in color and smoothly glazed,
nor did il have the usual criss-cross
lines and queer Communications.
That's a 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 i 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 crocleTy 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 valuable things"
Andy's suggestion was a goO,i one,
and we speedily carried it out. The
heap IF bones and pottery was safely
deposited in the front locker of the
I 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 a
peep at the house.
/ reluctantly consented, and we eau
tiously approached the rear door, pass
ing under a rickety grape arbOr.
Andy mounted the one step and sud-
denly drew back the lantern-slide.
shedding food 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. I"
Nonsense replied Andy. Only
imagination.
/ lie 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.
/ \ blow over the head sent me reeling
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
~ was still.
/ Fortunately our unknown aSsailants
I had given the door such jerk that it
/ flew open on the recoil, and when we
/ staggered 10 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 u on the brick
walk that led under the gtape 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.
I We stood stock still for a moment,
| too frightened To move. The men came
/ rapidly searer, and the lanterns they
/ were carrying threw glimmers of light
/ almost to our feet.
Into the house, quick" whispered
/ Andy. huskily. Its too late to reach
the boat.
/ We turned and darted through the
\ open door. Andy closed il 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 a rush of footsteps and
| tremendous crash
/ The door flew open and in rushed a
I dozen men, every one armed in some
way. They dragged us roughly oht
/ from the corner where we had taken
/ refuge. and for 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.
i we were quite at "A AOoS W lsnoN NhdN
this demonstrat on meant, for Squire
/ McMasters was nowhere visible. But
I we were soon undeceived.
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
I past the island"
Before Andy or could reply to this
| tirade another man entered the house
in a state of great excitement.
They've been digging down here in
the orchard, he cried. II found pick
and shovel, hut there's no sign of the
money"
Then where is it?" retorted the first
speaker. Here's the tin box-empty."
BY this time the situation had begun
to dawn upon both of us.
Look here. YOU men are making n
big mistake" said Andy. quickly, and
while You are losing time here, the
real culprits are getting away as fast
as they can. We don't know anything
/ about that box, but we'll confess to
diggisy open that Indian grave. We
] a 1ssFfa xx-hila and