, 1898-11-11

'fH ~
like objects at the rear of the cave. He
approached them with a mingled feel
ing of curiosity ard distrust. He was
not impressionable, but when his first
near view assured him that one was IL
tumbled roll of blankets and the other
a partially clothed skeleton of a man
tie damp chill Of the cave seemed. to
penetrate 10 his very marrow.
Stung by the fame of the match,
which, u%nuoticed in. his excitement,
had burned to his finger tips, he drop
ped it and was left in darkness. 1t was
but a second before he lighted another,
and then for the first time he noticed
that close to the blankets lay a pair of
leathern saddlehaGs. He stopped to lift
them and was surprised at their weight.
They were unstrapped. and his curiosity
now overmastering all other feelings he
threw back the flap Of one and holding
a freshly lighted match close to the
opening was SPECIFICS with amazemeut
at what he saw. The bag was half fill
ed with coined gold.
For the second time, III his excite
ment, he had nearly allowed his match
to burn out. His stock was now reduced
to four, and, realizing that he must
make haste to leave the cave, he seized
the leather neck connecting the two
bags and dragged them to the opening.
In another moment he was again
standing in the sunlight and threw the
remains of his last match among the
rocks outside. 1t was all so strange and
passed SO quickly that it seemed to him
almost that he had been dreaming and
still dreamed, but when he opened the
mouth Of the saddlebags and plunged
his hands into the jingling, shining
yellow coin which both contained there
was an end to all his doubts. This
beats dry washing or striking a ledge"
he exclaimed aloud. "lf Boly don't
think I'm eligible now, I'll give up
beat"
On the side of each of the heavy calf.
skin bags in sprawling, pen printed let
tiers, was the name III. Meeks'' and n
date some ~ years back. That's the
name of the Teller that robbed old man
Bascom, and it was down in this Mud
Spring country that the old man lost
the trail. While l am out ~discoverin
things, l seem to be workin up the
whole job to once" said the now exult-
ant Morgan to himself. "Old Columbus
amt in it with me"
When he reached Mud Springs late
in the afternoon, he was discreetly
silent about his discovery in the cave.
He cached his saddlebags a mile or
,,p-n InoIy on ~. ,rnil upl HE y,arn-
rations for an immediate and impressive
return to the Belshazzar camp We're I'M
dertaken at once. These consisted in va
rious purchases. From the proprietor
of the Magnolia saloon he obtained u
black mule. with n silver mounted sad
die and bride and a pair of deep rowel-
ed spurs, with little, iingliug chains.
These had been left for sale by some
newcomer from Sonora with bad luck
and eXtravagant tastes. He also obtain
ed at the same place 4 diamond of large
size, but of doubtful purity, which he
pinned in his blue flannel shirt front.
He added to this a guitar for Boly, Sc
cured at III eXorbitant price from an
~impecunious Mexican, and. having babe
his friends goodby, started III his tri-
umphal homeward march just as the
full moon was rising over the eastern
ridges.
He reduced the four days time of his
outward trip to less than three Oh his
return, and an hour before sunset was
riding up the last heavy grade on the
trail into the Belshazzar camp. He
hardly expected to find Boly so late at
the arastra. but still on the chance he
gathered himself together for an i'm
pressive ertree. His new mule, laden
with the precious bags, trotted in ad-
vance He followed with the guitar
swung by its bright ribbon about his
neck and held in place before him, his
questionable diamond flashing resplen-
IDENTIFY, his spurs Jingling and his SOM
brero well back on his head.
AS be nenred the camp his spirits
sank for the m as he recognized
the loud voice of old Bascom raised
to ever "A higher pitch than usual. He
hurried his animals, and in another mo
ment was i'll camp. Boly's pony, Gyp,
was in harness in the araStra. III her
self was sitting despOndently OH a fiat
rock near by with her face buried in
her hands and sobbing at short inter
walls, while old Bascom was veciferously
%upbraidiug her for the i%nfatuation
which had led her to deceive her father
and clandestinely operate the arastra in
her penniless lovers absence. The stu
alton, however, was soon changed to
one of glad excitement and friendly
greeting and coDgratulatiou when Nor
gan appeared and, briefly recounting
his adventures, astonished them with
the sight of the coin in the saddlebags.
"Two-thirds of that there coin mater
ally belongs to me, shouted old man
Bascom, and %one-third of it" (mean-
ing Meeks' part ''of course goes to yuu.
but l won't stand on that. THIS is my
day for Eein lib'ral, and I'm goin to
allow you half of the whole pot and
throw in BuIy as an extra, alow'n, Of
course, as she's agreeable to the arrange
ment."
II amt got no objections as | knows
Of" said Boly, with a laugh, rs she
looked down and shuffied one foot in
the dry tailings.
"And all this comes,' said Morgan
to Boly, with glad impressiveuess, ''of
my just follerin your advice and rustlin
round and gettin eligible. Edmund
Stuart Roche in Argonaut.