St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-06-03


into the habit of,saying every morning. as we
ate breakfast by the light of the camp fire:
"Another days work for Susie, boys p
Althoughsth strongest of the three, Frank
was not used to this sort of rough life, and
soon sawit began to tell On him and wanted
him to let up, but the brave fellow stuck to it,
working in the ice 2coldei water till he was
taken down with chills, followed by burn
ing fever.
We had some quinine and few simple
remedies for cuts and bruises along, and
with these and the skill that came of long
years in the wilds, we did the best we could
for our partner. as
Now comes the remarkable part of my
story. I've seen men down with the fever,
when they got SO wild they had to be tied,
but while Frank was clear out of his head,
he kept Just as peaceful as ever, only that
he insisted that up the creek were great
caves full Of gold, and that the specks we
had been picking out of the gulch came from
there.
He wanted us to start up there, saying we
could get all the gold in day we wanted
for lifetime.
OF course, Ned Copley and I humored
Frank, and told him we'd go if he'd hurry
= up and get well, but he swore that instead of
being sick he was as strong as giant.
The third night after Frank was taken
down, he seemed to be resting quietly, so
Ned and l. who had been taking turns
watching, thought it would be safe to drop
off to sleep-a kind of ightly-and we
did so. :. ..-..a..-(.,-
When we woke up in the early morning,
and saw that Frank Edgerton's cot was
empty, and his clothes and pick and revolver
gone, you may try to imagine, but you can
never realize just how. we felt.
We cooked hasty breakfast, then picking
up enough provisions from our little store to
last three days, we hid the rest, left the mule
hid in a little valley where there was lots of
grass, and then started off to find our insane
friend.
Remembering his rawlings about 'sthe gold
caves" up near the snow line, we determined
to follow the creek. We could read trail as
well as an Indian, but the rocks were too
hard to retain the impression of a human
foot; yet, now and then we saw signs to en-
courage US.
The creek branched into dozen streams
further up, and it was only after long con-
situations that we decided which to take,
and then for no reason that would not
have applied quite as well to the other
stream.
It was a rough, hard road, and now
and then as we went on, we stopped to
shout Franks name, or to discharge our
rifles, but only the echoes came back for
reply. Lii 80
That night, thoroughly tagged out, we
halted close to the snow line; indeed, there
were white patches all about u.s. and not
sign of a shrub to make fire. With little
alcohol lamp We made some coffee, and lay
down under our blankets, spoon fashion, to
keep warm.
We were up by daylight, and started off
again, this time without coffee, for we
only about a gill of alcohol for the lamp
and we reasoned that poor Frank would
want something warm, if we found him
alive.
Another terrible day and another awful
night, and still no sign OF Frank Edgerton.
We gave him up, and with sad hearts were
returning, when Ned, who had eyes like tele-
scopes, said he saw something moving near
the snow line across the valley.
There had been an immense snow slide
down the valley, not an hour before, but we
got across, and there under ledge of rocks,
with a great pile of loose giittering stones
about hinas LAY Frank Edgerton, looking like
q dead man.
While Ned made some coffee, I rubbed
Frank with snow till his skin felt warm, then
we forced coffee between his teeth, and wrap
ping one blanket about him, we made
stretcher out of the other and our two rifles,
SO as to- carry him down to camp, no easy job,
I can tell you.
Just as we were about to start of, Ned
noticed the piles of stones-Frank's pockets
were full of them-and those lying about had
evidently been brought there by him. But
they were fully one-half solid gold.
Frank Edgerton had discovered the caves of
his fevered dreams.
We got him back to camp, and we took
turns nursing him and carrying down the
gold SO mysteriously found with him under
that ledge, and the source of which had been
concealed by the snow slide.
'"To make a long story short" as we used
to say when I was a boy, Frank got well.
When he was able to travel we started back
10 laoS, carrying WIFI US ABOUT one nunureQ
and thirty pounds of solid gold.
We made second and third trip to find
s'the gold caves" of which Frank remenl-
bered nothing, and others have often tried it
since, but they were lost quite as mysteriously
as they were found.
Frank Edgerton had, however, for his
share, enough money to return to Kentucky
and marry the fair Susie Burns. That they
are as happy as the day is long can vouch
for, for visited them less than a year ago,
and was highly flattered to find that his
oldest son was named after me.