Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1896-09-04
2z1!'||'|||g(S||g} 8
CHAPTER VII.
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light than dark, and Gospel truth than
vain imaginings. Down with shovel and
bar and pick; down with spade and bas-
ket, lads and lasses, and give thanks, old
and young. for the plenteous harvest of
this day. For harvest it is, full meas
ure, and heaped up, and ready to be gar
nered, that lies ready to your hand"
1t was Obadiah Jedson who spoke, and
picturesque figure did the aged captain
of jet hunters present. as he suddenly ap-
peared standing on hat-topped rock, the
highest of rugged reef of storm-beaten
stones, at the foot of which some fifteen
members of his company were busy at
their usual toll on the sea beach. Be
side him stood Don. The jet seekers,
some struggling, others collected in a
group with upturned faces, looked toward
their captain. as if waiting to hear more.
what is it. captainy' asked one of
the elder men, after pause. "Aught of
good luck would he welcome here
Lads and lasscs, ye remember my
dream-the dream that on Thursday last
told you of?''
I'VE do!" 1--WE dor "Yes, captain!'
Yes, Obadiah!" "Well we mind it!'
Such We're the eager replies.
IA blnck tree, was it not, of which l
told you?' demanded Obadiah, looking
around him frowningly, as if to challenge
skcptic. ''Ay, black as the Black Rood
of Jeddart, or as the swart timbers of
the Maiden of Halifax. that grim engine
of earthly punishment, beneath the gleam-
ing sword blade of which many an out
lawed head has fallen in our forefathers'
time. Yes, black tree. But fowls roost-
ed in its branches. and bees hunmed
pleasantly among the flowers that encir-
cled its trunk, and corn and wine and
oil We're stacked in plenty Mt its foot. The
black tree was the type of abundance.
And 10! the dream is fulfilled. Last night,
two miles from here, in Dutchman's Bay,
there was a landslip, which has laid bare
black traces that boys inexperienced
eye might read us pointing to a mine-a
jet pocket, where lies a buried tree not
seen by mortal eye since England was n
kingdom. The dream has come true.
Quick to gather the fruits of itv'
"Hurrah!' The cheering broke out ir-
rcpressibly, the shrill voices of the women
and girls blending with the deeper shout
of the men. And then tools and baskets
We're snatched up in hurry, and there
was prompt movement in the direction
of Dutchman's Bay.
Seldom, indeed, did the opening up of a
new vein Of the precious fossil promise SO
well. There was general rush, and
many chips and some Jumps of the fresh
| ly exposed jet were picked up, while there
was babble of voices. "It's wonderful!'
Its Obadiah's dream, indeedy' We'll
all be rich, rich US Jews" 81 wouldn't
take fifty gold sovereigns for my share,
know" "What go this is!'' Nobody
like our captain!" Such were some of
the exclamations of the sanguine and ad-
| miring. Obadiah himself was mute. He
was more experienced jet seeker and a
more educated man than any there, and
he had seen from the first that the lie of
the tree. some buried pine of untold ages
ago. was toward the cliff. The frag-
ments that peeped from the rubbish heaps
or sparkled on the beach were but broken
bits of the fossil confer, laid to rest in
some remote geological epoch beneath the
sand and mari of the shifting coast line.
He looked ON. then. indulgently as the
| younger members of his band scrambled
excitcdly for black flakes and nodules
amid the debris of the landslip, and wait
ed to commence serious operations until
Don and the party of volunteers under
his orders should arrive with the ashen
props, without which it would be suicidal
rashness to attack the main fortress of
the cliff wall. Presently Don and his par
| ty arrived, laden with the short, tough
pillars of tenacious wood which Obadiah
Jedson's prudence had provided, and the
assault on Natures fortress was COM
menced with will. Gradually the ru-
NOR spread to cottage and farmstead and
fishers hut along the sea shore that the
jet hunters had hit upon an extraordinary
mine. or, technically, pocket" of the val
liable material for which they passed
their lives in searching, and that such a
yield was forthcoming as. in the memory
of man. the Yorkshire sea coast had never
known. By and by exaggerated rumors
were current as to the success of the ex-
piorcrs. They had cleaned five hundred
pounds worth. it was reported, before
dinner time-the early dinner hour of
country bred toilers. They were picking
UP jet in Jumps like those of Newcastle
coal. and at rate that would cheapen the
value of it in Whitby and Scarborough,
for twenty years to come. The higher the
social rank the more slow1y does GOSSIP,
permeate toward the possessor of it. Ev-
cry hind or fisherman in or near Beckdalu
had heard Of the exceeding good fortune
of Obadiah Jedson's rowing company
hours before the news was conveyed "a
WOedburn Parsonage. And it was lats. l.,
the afternoon when the rector himself. i..s
wife, his children, and his beautiful W. ".
Violet Mowbray, appeared on the I'd.
firm sea sand of the upper end of Dr.. ~
mans Bay, where crowd had eqlle,. ...l
and where two coast guardsmen were y
their lieutenant's orders. present to s.,,-
fensa. order.
One thing there was from which the
spectators appeared to derive much salts
faction; Rufus Crouch was not one of the
busy band of jet winners now engaged in
driving their burrows, like SO many rab-
bits in human shape, deep into the cliff.
Rufus Crouch was absent. 1t must be
presumed that the returned Australian
gold digger had not conciliated the opin-
ion Of the neighborhood, SO hearty was the
chuckling and so sincere ;l- delight of
the crowd, as the probable disappoint-
ment Of the travelled jet hunter was the
subject OF discussion.
l. aSNy