The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-16
A DEATH VENTURE.

SA NhAS AoA'C'' ing story, fell at Santiago in the fore front of battle:
 In the Apache Indian reservation in Arizona were mines from which the In- dians in the old days obtained silver from which they molded bullets At that time four men went to prospect for these mines.
 Of these four men, one was Harry Barrett. He was young and had, as many young men have and as all young men should have a girl with whom he was very much in love and to whom he was engaged to be married. It was probably this more than anything else that made him so desirous of growing suddenly rich by finding the treasure mines of the Apaches, for when a young man is truly in love his greatest regret is that he does not own the wealth of the Indies and possess the power of the cZar to augment his importance in the eyes of the woman in whom he is so deeply interested When the day came for the party to start out on their search, he was the most light hearted of all, especially when he Jagged be- hind to kiss his hand to the girl for whose sake he desired wealth and who stood at the door of her fathers house watching him, while she saw in vision the beautiful things that the future had in store for them both The wealth that Harry might discover was not ne- cessary to make her pictures of the fu ture bright. If she only could have Harry, that was sufficient, and when he had passed from her sight she turned +I, !, while thinking of the pleasures that awaited his return.
 For months there had been no rumors of Indian disturbances. There had been peace on the reservation so long that. men had ceased to give it's dan gers thought, as men who live in the shadows Of volcanoes live day after day minimizing of the hour that will find them buried beneath it's lava. To the undertaken nothing is so common place as death, while the headsman in time sees nothing notable in an execu tion, save whether or not the axe finds it's way through one neck easier than through another. And so it is with danger, for when it is ever present. men grow callous to it, no matter how great it may be- So it was with Harry Barrett and his comrades. While the girl who was awaiting his return might occasionally thought of the risks that the little party ran, the men never felt any anxiety, or if they did subdued it without openly expressing it.
 For the first few days they found in- dications of rich silver deposits-indi- cations that were so rich that they made a permanent camp, intending to examine the lodges that criss-crossed the country thoroughly. They had seen no Indians and expected none. One day, though, as they sat at dinner a shot came from out of the pines, and before the echo had died away it was followed by score of others. Old Jeff Bramlett dropped the tin plate from which he was eating on the ground, not abruptly but so gently that it hardly made sound, and as it fell he apparently made an effort to rise to his feet, only to fall face forward into the fire, where still simmered the uneaten portion of the noondap meal
 The three remaining men sprang to their feet unharmed and rushed to seek cover behind trees and powders, pick ing up their arms that came nearest to their hands. As Barrett passed the fire he drew from it the body of the old man. The face was covered with ashes and blood, while the long hair and open shirt were smoking from the contact with the coals. The limp body and relaxed jaw told how suddenly death had come.
 As the young man threw the body to one side from the fire and sank under the cover of a powder he glanced in the direction from which the shots had come, but could see nothing. As he watched there would occasionally rise puffs of white smoke, followed by the reports of a rifle, and he would fire in return. Through the whole afternoon never once did he see an Indians face or form. After the first surprise the three had called to one another and were rejoiced to know that none was hit. The oldest had taken the direc- tion of affairs.
 Hold your ammunition and wait un- til tonight, and then we will break back for the canyon and try to reach the settlements. There are too many of them for us to stand off," he said, and so through the long afternoon they waited The fire they had kindled burned out, and the body of the dead man beside it grew cold and rigid. The blood no longer flowed from the wound. When the wind would blow the ashes from the coals left by the fire, they would still glow, as if in mockery of the quick death that had overtaken the outstretched form beside them.
 When darkness had come, the three men gradually crept back, keeping as closely together as possible, in the di- rection of the canyon behind them. Occasionally, out of the darkness, would come a flash of light from a rifle fired in their direction. To these at first they replied, but when they had got some distance from the camp where the dead man lay they rose to their feet and as rapidly and noiselessly as possi- ble retreated to the canyon. No one spoke, but each knew that the faces of his comardes were, like his own. glow ing with that feeling of gratitude that comes only when a man has escaped all most certain death. They would never see the man they had left behind again; but, after all, he was old and alone in the world, while they-well, with them life was sweeter and dearer than it could possibly have been to him. To Harry, at least it seemed so. What ,,-o,,ld tba girI have done had he in