Omaha daily bee., 1895-08-18

toward the crumbling wall of outcrop. which
during the conflagration must have felt the
full force of the fiery blast that had swept
through the hollow and spent its fury upon 1t.
1t bore evidence of the intense heat In cracked
frames and the crumbling debris that lay at
its feet. Key picked up some of the still
warm fragments. and was not surprised that
they easily broke in gritty graylsh powder
| in his hands. In spite or his preoccupaton
with the human interest. the instinct Of the
prospector was still strong upon him, and he
almost mechanically put some of the pieces
in his pockets. Then after another careful
survey CT the locality for any further record
of its vanished tenants, he returned to his
| horse. Here he took from his saddle bags,
/ half listlessly, precious phial encased in
! wood, and opening 1t. poured into another
| thick glass vessel a part of smoking fluid.
| He then crumbled some OF the calcined frag
| ments into the glass and watched the ebuli-
| tion that followed with perfunctory gravity.
When IL had almost ceased he drained off the
contents into another glass which he set
| down, and then proceeded to pour some water
| from his drinking flask into the ordinary tin
cup which formed part Of his culinary
| travelling kit Into this he put three four
pinches OF salt from his provision store. Then
dipping his fingers into the salt and water
he allowed a drop to fall into the glass.
A white cloud instantly gathered in the color
less fluid, and then fell in fine film tc the
bottom of the glass. Keys eyes concentrated
suddenly, the listless look left his face His
fingers trembed slightly as he again let the
salt water fall into the solution with exactly
| the same result Again and again he
| peated 1t, until the bottom Of the glass was
quite gray with the fallen precipitate. And
| his own face grew gray.
His hand trembled longer as he care
fully poured off the solution as to not
| disturb the precipitats at the bottom. Then
he drew out his knife, scooped little of
the gray sediment upon its point. and emp
tying his tin cup turned 1t upside down upon
| his knee, placed the sediment upon it and
began to spread 1t over the dull surface of
its bottom with his knife. He had intended
to rub it brisky with his knife blade. But
in the very action of spreading it, the first
stroke Of his knife left upon the sediment
and the cup luminous streak of FURNISHED
silver. e.
He got up and drew a long breath to still
the beating Of his heart. Then he rapidly
| climbed the rock again, and passed over the
ruins again. this time kicking aside the
charred heaps without a thought of what,
| they had contained. Key was not an unfeei-
ing man. he was not an unrefned one; he
was a gentleman by instinct and had an
intuitive sympathy for others, but in that
instant his whole mind was concentrated
upon the calcined outcrop! And his first i'm
pulse was to If 1t bore any evidence
| Of previous examination, prospecting or
working by its suddenly evicted neighbors
and owners. There was none; they had
| evidently not known it. Nor there any
reason to suppose that they would ever re-
| turn to their hidden home now devastated
and laid bare to the open sunlight and open
trail. They were already far away; their
| guilty personal secret would keep them from
| revisiting 1t. An immense feeling Of relief
came over the soul Of this moral romancer;
a momentary recognition OF the Most High
in this poetical retributon. He back
! quickly to his saddlebags, drew out one or
two carefully written, formal notices of pre-
emption and claim, which he and his former
companions had carried in their brief part
nership. erased their signatures and left only
| his own name, with another grateful sense
| Of divine interference as he thought of them
speeding far away in the distance, and re-
turned to the ruins. With unconscious irony
| he selected charred post from the embers,
stuck it in the ground fe~ feet from the
| debris Of outcrop, and finally affixed his
| Notice" Then. with a conscientiousness born
Of his new religious convictions he dslodgeG
with his pickaxe enough of the brittle out
crop to constitute the presumption of "actual
work. upon the claim legally required for
its maintenance, and returned to his horse.
In replacing his things in his saddlebags he
came upon the slipper. and for an instant,
so complete was his preoccupation in his
| later discovery that he was about to throw
1t away as useless impediment until it oc-
| Cured to him vaguely that 1t might be
| of service to him in its connection with that
discovery-in the way Of refutng possible
| false claimants, He was not aware of any
| faithlessness to his momentary romance, any
| more than he was conscious of any disloy-
ATTY TO MS Ola companions Ill HIS PTdtinCd-
tion that his good fortune had come to him
alone This singular selection was a con-
| scous experience Of prospecting. And there
was something about the magnitude of his
discovery that seemed to point to an indi-
vdual achievement He had made rough
calculation Of the richness of the lode from
the quantity Of precipitate in his rude ea
pertinent; he had estimated its length,
| breadth, and thickness from his slight
knowledge of geology and the theories thus
rife and the yield would be colossal! or
course he would require capital to work 1t;
he would have to ''let in others to his
| scheme and his prosperity. but the control
Of 1t would always be his own.
Then he suddenly started as he had never
in his life before started at the fists OF
man, for there was football in the charred
brush, and not twenty yards from him stood
Collinson, who had just dismounted from
mule. The blood rushed to Keys pale face.
"Prospectin' agin?" said the proprietor of
the mill. with his weary smile.
NO" said Key quickly. 'only straighten-
ing my pack" The blood deepened in his
cheek at his instructive lie. Had he care
fully thought 1t out before he would have
welcomed Collinson and told him all. But
now quick, uneasy suspicion flashed upon
him. Perhaps his late host had lied and
knew Of the existence of the hidden house.
Perhaps he had spoken Of some ''silvery
rock the night before-he even knew some
thing of the lode itself. He turned upon
him with an aggressive face. But Collinson's
|
"Im glad / found ye. anyhow" he said
"Ye see, arter you left saw ye turn off the
trail and make for the burning woods instead
o. goin' round. l sez to myself, that feller
is making straight for SINNERS. He's
sorter worried about me and that empty
} pork bar'l. l hadn't ougkter spoke that way
afore you boys anyhow. and he's takin. risks
to help me- So | reckoned I'd throw my
leg over Jimmy here and look arter ye, and
go over to Skinners myself and vote"
; Certainly" said Key with cheerful
alacrity and the one thought of getting
Collnson away. 'well go together and Wen
see that that pork barrel is filed" He
glowed quite honestly with this sudden idea
of remembering Collinson through his good
fortune. Lets get on quickly. for we may
find the fire between us on the outer trail /"
r He hastily mounted his horse.
"Then you didn't take this as a short
! cut?" said Collinson. with dull perseverance
in his idea. why not? 1t looks all clear
ahead"
"Yes" said Key hurriedly. but it's been
orly leap of the fire; it's still raging round
the bend We must go back to the cross
trail" His face was still flushing with his
, very equivocating and his anxiety to get his
companion away. Only few steps further