The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1897-10-15

stirred up by II, and Notwithstanding
the old mans awful reputanu2 as a
liar, the circumstances of his trium-
plant expression when he first caught
sight of the grave as well as his earn
estness of manner and the circumstan-
tial detail of his story-all this had
more effect even on some OF the OIL
GERS than they cared to admit, and
more than one wistful eye went sneak
ing back to the lonely grave when the
order was given and the command re-
sumed its march.
won't deny that I was good deal
interested myself, and when we camp
ed that night, few miles further on,
/ kept sharp eye on Joe's movements.
i fully believed he would take the first
chance to sneak off to that grave. l
didn't know whether he had noticed
my watching him and had given up
trying to slip away from me or not,
but pretty soon he gave me a wink
and in few minutes we were out OF
sight, talking together.
Look here, Bill" he said as soon
as we were alone, do you want to see
some fun?"
"Of course I do" l replied.
"Well. then, you come along with
me; we can make a sneak right now"
said Joe.
But" replied. don't we need any
thing? Don't we need pick Or
Joe looked at me with grave, al
| oil nj r eli mn
ment before he replied. Then he said
| slowly:
"N-no. l guess we can get along
without any pick"
He led the way and / followed. He
started in the opposite direction froE
the grave, but, as l thought would bs
the case, he gradually began to circle
around, until finally we were amont
some boulders overlooking the spo:
where the dust of the dead mar vas
Wondering away among his bEied
treasure 1t was a starlight night AM
we could see the CLEAN of the gray
stones on the grave quite clearly.
was beginning to get quite in fever
to begin the resurrection business e.
once.
Now" said Joe, "you jest squat
yourself behind that there boulder fer
awhile and you'll see more durn fun
than you ever seen in your life be-
fore"
But" I said, WHAT
'"What?" broke in Joe. what
Why, in less than an hour you'll see
half that camp come prowlin' around
here with picks and shovels and jack
knives rippip' up the ground around
that stone leap like a pack of PAWN
buffalo balls"
Eyes. but why don't we cut in now"
I urged, land get out the gold ahead
OF tnem?"
Gold be burned" said Joe, con-
temptuously. 81 never set eyes on that
cussed grave afore this mornin'."
Well, Joe was right. Before we had
! been there half an hour shadowy forms
| began stealing in and out OF the gloom.
They came singly, they came in pairs
and they came in groups of three and
four, and such Gathering of picks
| and tossing of dirt as they made!
They dug up about half an acre Of
earth before one after another Wheel
ing and blowing with the work, knock
ed off and melted away in the dark
ness, out of which they had emerged.
leaving a sulphurous trail OF Ian
guage devoted to old Joe behind them.
And how the old man did laugh
holding his sides and grinding his face
into the ground to stifle the noise.
AS for me, 1t was not altogether
such fun as it was for Joe. / couldn't
help thinking as 1 watched the luna
tics antics that 1t was only an acct
dent that was not conspicuous star
among them.
Yet would have had good company.
There were officers among them as well
as privates.
Joe died with his boots on. Some
body shot and killed him at the Red
Cloud agency in 1874.
PERSONAL.