The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-17
The SIGN OF THE ARROW.


about the embers of the crossword camp
fire. silently enjoying after-supper pipe.
A owl booted from the rocks near by.
..Megascops Asia Bendirel. 232. Bryant's
schedule, S." remarked the naturalist. who
viewed nature from purely commercial
standpoint an aggregate of catalogued
specimens of more or less value In the
scientific market. He was a subcollector
for the Johnsonian.
by the way. tomorrow I'll show you
a blue print of the-what was the name
of the bird you got this morning. in
quired the amateur photographer.
"Harporrhyncus Sscontci. Bryant. 4l3
ST. replied the naturalist
Eyes. I'd forgotten. That's IT, / dare
say. There was a curious thing about
that picture. When / took the plate from
the bath. l noticed line down the birds
breast which l 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 thin. semi-bald streak through the
feathers. 1t was SO distinctly marked l
wondered that / hadn't seen it before. 1t
merely goes to show how much more ac-
curate in matter of detail cameras eye
is than ones own.
Il seen that illustrated once in a strikin'
kind of way said the hitherto silent
Calkins, slowly tapping the upturned toes
of his boots with his empty pipe bowl.
while he gazed into the fire in absent
minded way, "and I'd have made my ever
lastin' stake out of the business I'm speak
in of if only my fool nature hadn't been
too confidin'."
Calkins paused and sighed deeply at this
Renaissance of an injudicious trustfulness.
1cr.f afcy1,
to twenty years ago. he resumed in re-
Spouse to our request for the story. zone
time when I'd been out prospectin' round
about San Felipe, and was on my way
for more grub and powder and new out
fit of tools. 1t was a sizzlin' hot September
afternoon, and / was takin it kind of easy,
havin' nothin' much to hurry me, and was
joggin' my mule just fast enough to
keep my pack burro movin' ahead of
THE sand was heavy and the bore
down like a hot weight You could just
see the heat vibratin up from the sand
and rocks all about in quivery, dancin
lines. an way off. toward where the des-
ert. and the sky come, together, was the
little patches of rock held up in the air
by the mirage. The trail | was travelin
run along the base of some steep. dirty
crumblin from the weather, and dry
and bare as ash heap. They caught. all
over at you until you near gaspin
II was gain up in the air, shadin my
the sun had dropped since I'd looked last,
when see. way up above the trail, half
a mile ahead, what at first sght-with my
cloud, Then, next minute, when see it
sailin round in circle, and each time it
knew it want no cloud, but bird. just
one of them big California vultureS, nine
feet from tip to tip of his wings If he was
Really. now" interrupted the naturalist,
with with the deepest interest Int Pseudodgry-
rare no price quoted"
Maybe said Calkins in tone of in
ths gas ne snbf the to in
/ can tell you. sailin' round up there like
ne owned things In general and was out in
slowly droppin', each time he swung round
and each circle he made was morrow n the
on there was somethin' dead lying about on
the line of the trail ahead of me. Then all
to once the pack burro ,pricked her ears
out forward, snorted and crowded round
back on the trail, an my mule got to
trenholm and come to a dead stop. L hol-
she was stampedin' back the way we'd
come, and when I'd got her cornered in
mule short up to a bowIder and walked
back to see what had scared 'em.
r Il didn't wonder they were ratified when
out on his back across the trait. shot
through the head, was man with his face
blue. and drawn back from what teeth he
had, and his eyes all glazed and startin.
of nm t ana the osnef
in clutch, like hawks claw. He must
have been lynn there and dryin' up in the
desert
Il see just in a minute who the man was
lynn there, he havin been pretty well
known in them parts, and havin' a Scared,
scowlin' kind of face. which you didn't need
t, to see more'n once e. to recollect it. Him and
up in among the pinon timber, way back
on the upper slope of the same range of
hills. alongside. of which ! was travelin,
and there want but few men between the
Colorado and White water as could speak
through. though they didn't care much to
NEEDLE with EN- really, bein' mostly just
good long distance takers. One. brotherd
sort of fresh at Indian fiesta, and now
here was the other one laid out, too.
about them two brothers, but more
specially about the four or FIVE men who'd
and snde n ap been afterward heard from.
Then, too, there'd been considerable con-
jecturin' as to them brothers bein the
many express boxes and mail sacks from
the desert stage, lines, and if they was,
to what they'd ever done with the coin
and bullion they, must have collected.
They never was known to spend nothin',
and SO it was generally allowed they must
s.Havin' all these ideas runnin' through
my head, and bein', though you mightn't
think it, naturally curious minded and
willin' to take no end of trouble to find
out about things matter how tri1in',
which 1 didn't know and took interest in,
so I stood there with the shadow of the
vulture movin' like a little cloud over the
sand-he not seemin' half so much scared
at me bein' there as I'd been expectin' and
sort of wished he had-I got to ponderin'
and plannin
why not says I to myself, go up
to the cabin among the pinons and ex-
anime into things up there, now there's
nobody to hinder?
..The trail to the cabin joined the one I
was travelin,' not more'n mile beyond,
and from there on it want more'n five
miles more up into the pinons; pretty
steep. rough climbin' to be sure-so I'd
heard tell-but an easy trail to keep, and
a sure thing for fair feed and water
enough for stock when you'd got TO the
cabin.
didn't waste no time in startin, and, by
hustlin' along pretty lively, ]. managed to
round up at the cabin a little after sun
down 1t seemed a gloomy kind of place
to stop at. lookin a long ways dismaller
than the bare hot sand and rocks of the
desert down below. Nothing all around