The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-04-04
SIGN OF THE ARROW.
Calkins' Tale Of Buried Ire assure
and Strange Photographer.

our DlankeUS ABOUT the emDerS or the
grease-wood campfire, silently enjoy
ing an after-supper pipe. An owl
hooted from the rocks near by.
'MegGScops Astc Bendiret. 232. Bry-
ants schedule. Three dollars" re-
marked the naturalist, who viewed
nature from purely commercial stand
point as an aggregate of catalogued
specimens of more or less value in the
scientific market. He was a sub-col-
1ector for the "Johnsonian."
''Bv the way, tomorrow I'll show
you a blue print of the-what was the
name Of the bird you got this morn
ing? inquired the amateur pho
tographer
Hd7p0rrAymeus Seeontei Bryant. Alb.
Two dollars" replied the naturalist
Yes, I'd forgotten. That's it, dare
say. There was curious thing about
that picture. When l took the plate
from the bath, l noticed a line
down the birds breast which | did not
remember to have seen in the original
when l propped him in position. At
first ] thought it must be some defect
in the film, but there really was the
line, plain enough, caused by sort of
semi bald streak through the feathers
1t was so distinctly marked, wondered
that ! hadn't seen it before. 1t merely
goes TO show how much more accurate
in matter of detail cameras eye is
than ones own"
Il seen that illustrated once in q
strikin' kind Of way" said the hitherto
silent Calllins, slowly tapping the up
turned toes of his boots with his empty
pipe bowl, while he gazed into the fire
in an absent-minded way, land I'd
have made my everlastin' stake out of
the business I'm speakin' of if only my
fool nature hadn't been too confidin'."
Calkins paused, and sighed deeply ut
this "Reminiscences Of an injudicious
trustfulness.
1.-The beginnin' of it happened nigh on
to twenty years ago." he resumed, i'll
response TO our request for the story,
zone time when I'd been out prospect
in round about San Felipe, and
was on my way in for more grub and
powder and new outfit of tools. 1t
was a sizzlin' not Septe mber afternoon.
and was takin' it kind of easy, hayin'
nothin much to hurry me, and was
jogging along on my mule just fast
enough to keep my pack-burro movin'
on ahead of me. The sand was heavy
and the sun bore down like a hot
weight. You could just see the heat
vibratin' up fIom the sand and rocks
all about in quivery, dancin' lines, and
way off, toward where the desert and
the sky come together, was little
patches Of rock held up in the air by
the mire-age. The trail | was travelin
ruu along the base ofSome steep, dirty
white limestone hills, all broke up and
crumblin' from the weather, and as
dry and bare as an ash-heap. They
caught all the heat there was goiu'.
and damned it over at you till you was
near gaspin'.
Il was gain up III the air, shadin'
my eyes the best | could. to find how
much the sun had dropped since I'd
looked last, when | see, way up above
the trail, half a mile ahead. what at
first sight-with my eyes bein' daz-
zled--I took for little floatiu' cloud.
Then, next minute when see it keen
sailin' round in circle and each time
it made round droppin' little lower.
! knew it want no cloud, but a bird,
Just one of them big California vui-
lures, nine feet from tip to tip of his
wings, if he was an inch"
Really, now" interrupted the nat
uralist with the deepest interest,
"Pscsdogryphas CaHtor~taaus. 324
Belchers schedule - rare no price
quoted"
Maybe" said Calkins, in a tone of
Indulgence, though scarcely needing
the interruption. He was fine sight
10 see, can tell you, sailin' round up
there like he owned things in general
AND was out inspectin' his property.
As I've said, he kept SLOWLY droppin'
each time he swung 'rFand and each
circle he made was narrowcr'n the last
one. knew from the way he carried
on there was somethin' dead living
about on the line of the trail nhead OF
me. Then all to once the pack burro
prielsed her ears out forward, snorted
ana crowded round back on the trail,
and my mule got to tremblin' and
come TO a dead stop. l hullered to the
jenny and headed her Off as she was
stampedin' back the way we'd come,
and when I'd got her cornered in
among some rocks, | hitched her and
the mule short up to bowldcr and
walked back to see what had scared
'em.
II didn't wonder they was ratified
wh2n seen what it was. There. lying
sprswled out on his back across the
trail, shot through the head, was a
man with his face turned up to the
sun, his lips all turned blue, and drawn
back from what teeth he had, and his
eyes all glazed and starin'. One arm
was bent under him, and the other
stretched out straight, with the fingers
bent in clutch like hawks claw
He must have been lynn there stone
dead for week, just shrinhin' and
dryin' up in the sun, like all dead
things do, out on the desert.
~ see just in minute who the man
was lynn there, he havin' been pretty
well known in them parts. and havin'
o SCARED, scowlin' kind of face, which
yon didn't need to see more'n once to
recollect it. Him and his brother'd lived
&c., -. z...-AG L