The true northerner., 1897-07-14
TIE OLD SILVER TRAIL
BY MARY {. STlCKNEY.
lCopyrght 1896. by J. D. LIppincott Col
CHAPTER V.

Harvey Neil rode over to Tomtown
tAe next morning pursuing his way
thence to Orodelphia, the county seat,
and the one town of considerable inn
portance in that part of the country,
where he betook himself TO his attor-
ney, Donald Bartels.
brigham has gone back on us" was
his abrupt announcement, as he sank
wearily into the chair the lawyer had
Hospitality pushed forward.
"No!" said Bartels, looking very grave.
"What are your reasons for thinking
SOP
"Col Meredith rode over to see him
yesterday. l found that out by acci-
dent, and of course my suspicious were
aroused at once. To-day rode over to
Tomtown myself, and the first look at
the fellows face told me that l was
right"
did you put the question to him
straight?"
NO; where would have been the
use? He was prepared to deny it, nat
urally. / thought it more to the pur-
pose to raise my own bid-and did not
raise it high enough. l saw that in his
face, too, although he was cannily nom
committal. Either he is intending to
skip out before the trial or"
"We can have subpoena issued for
him." put in Bartels, thoughtfully.
''But if he has gone over to the other
side he would be of mighty little use
t. us. l believe you will have to raise
your bid again, Neil. What did you
offer him."
"a thousand dollars if we win, and
his expenses from the time / got him
here. l paid him good wages as long
Us he was working in the Grubstake,
you know
'Yes; but you will have to make the
figure a good deal more than that,
imagine, if the colonel is in the market
against you. We want him, if it is q
possible thing"
"Yes; but the question is, what is
he worth to us?'
"Well, with the average jury, he
would be worth good deal. He not
only worked the Grubstake long enough
TO have the lay of the land and all his
figures down pat, but he had that COLI
versation with McCready which is
worth more to US than all the rest. If
we can bring him to swear that Nc
Cready told him he didn't care if they
were on Mascot ground-that he owed
you one, anyway, and he'd see that
the ground was stripped so clean that
there would be mighty little left for
I, 40 hn rt onnl1 81 n
him-that might be mighty good testi-
mony for us. In fact, Brigham is our
principal witness, of course, and we've
got to hold on to him if it is within the
range of possibility. You'd better see
him and have perfectly clear under
standing at once. Find out what the
colonels figure was, and go him one
better"
"And next thing the ecolonelwill.be out
bidding me again, and / shall be facing
the same proposition with an added
Afipher, l suppose" Neil gloomily re-
z \pined. THE poor old Mascot seems to
Nave been hoodooed from the first to
last"
l"Oh, don't know. / am not particu-
larly concerned about the results in this
case, l can tell you. The decision of the
United States supreme court in the
Amy-Silversmith case has put stop
Ito all controversy in respect to an
owners right to follow his lode in its
downward course beyond his side lines.
The ruling is clear beyond question that
the owner of claim, where the apex
of his vein crosses the side lines and not
its end lines, has no eXtra-lateral rights
at all; that is, he cannot go outside his
>]HT upon any preteXt whatever. The
fthat the Grubstake was the prior
location cuts no figure. AS was held in
the case of the Iron Silver versus the
Elgiu Mining company, if the original
locator of claim cannot or does not
make the explorations necessary TO as
certain the true trend of his vein and
draws his end lines ignorantly he must
take the consequences. The claim of
the Grubstal1e that its vein makes a
turn at the point where it crosses the
Mascot, assuming that it would hold
water, effectually disposes of any extra
lateral rights by virtually conceding
that the apex of the vein crosses the
side line. 1t only remains for us TO
prove the continuance of the Mascot
= vein, which, with the developments you
have been making, should be easy
enough. oh, no; il we only get the
right kind OF jury, have no appre-
tensions as TO the verdict"
"But what possible chance have we
20 get the right kind of a jury?" re.
turned the young man, dejectedly. re.