Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-08-18
A DEATH VENTURE.

TluerS, Uno auJhOr OF the I0liOWlng story
fell at Santiago in the forefront of battle
In the Apache Indian reservation il
| Arizona were mines from which the In
dians in the old days obtained silver from
which they nodded bullets At that tim,
| four men went to prospect for these mines
OF these four men, one was Harry Bar
rett He was young and had, as man,
young men have and as all young mel
should have, a girl with whom he wa
| very much in love and to whom he wa
engaged to be married 1t was probably
this more than anything else that made
| him so desirous of growing suddenly ricl
| by finding the treasure mines Of the
| Apaches, for when young man is truly
in love his greatest regret is that he doe
not own the wealth of the Indies and pos
sess the power of the car to augment hi
| Importance in the eyes of the woman il
whom he is SO deeply Interested Wher
the day came for the party to start out OF
their search, he was the most light hearted
| of all, especially when he Jagged behind tt
kiss his hand to the girl for whose sake ht
| desired wealth and who stood at the dool
| of her fathers house watching him, while
| she saw in vision the beautiful things thai
! the future had in store for them both
The wealth that Harry might discover was
not necessary to make her pictures of the
| future bright Ii she only could have
Harry, that was sufficient, and when ht
had passed from her sight she turned
away, humming the song he most like6
while thinking of the pleasures that await
cd his return
For months there had been no rumor:
of Indian disturbances There had beer
peace on the reservation so long that meI
had ceased to give its dangers a thought
as men who live in the shadows of volca
noes live day after day unthinking of the
hour that will find them buried beneath
its lava. To the undertaken nothing is sc
commonplace as death, while the heads
man in time secs nothing notable in an
execution save whether or not the ak finds
its way through one neck easier thar
through another. And so it is with dan
ger, 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 await
ing his return might have occasionally
thought of the risks that the little party
ran the men never felt any anxiety. or il
they did subdued it without openly ex
pressing it,
For the first few days. they found indi
cations of rich silver dcposits-indication
that were so rich that they made per.
manent camp, intending to examine the
lodges that crisscrossed tho country thor
oughly. 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
foIlc,rnd lNtyc of .+l
jeff Bramlett dropped the tin plato 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 noon
day meal
The three remaining men sprang to
their feet unharmed and rushed to seek
cover behind trees and bowlders, picking
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 Goals 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 bowlder he glanced in the dircc
tion from which the shots had come, but
could see nothing AS he watched there
would occasionally rise puffs of white
smoke, followed by the report of rifle,
and he would fire in return Through the
whole afternoon never once did he see an
Indian S face or form After the first sur
prise the three had called to one another
and were rejoiced to know that none was
hit The oldest had taken the direction
of affairs
Hold your ammunition and wait until
tonight, and then we will break back for
the canyon and try to reach the settle
ments 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 Goals left by the fire,
they would still glow, as if in lnockery OF
the quick death that had overtaken the
outstrctched form beside them
When darkness had come the three men
gradually crept back, keeping as closely
together as possible, in the direction OF
the canyon behind them Occasionally,
out of the darkness, would come u 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 pos
kible retreated to the canyon No one
spoke, but each knew that the faces of his
comrades were, like his own, glowing with
that feeling of gratitude that comes only
when u man has escaped almost certain
death They would never see the man
they had left behind again; but. after all,
be was old and alone in the world, while
they-well, with them life was sweeter
and dcarcr than it could possibly have
been to him To Harry, at least, it seem,
ed So What would the girl have done
had he instead been killed and lying back
there by the deserted campfire to be mu.
tilated beyond recognition when his body
should pass into the hands of the Apachesi
By morning they would be within a few
miles of the settlements. and they would
be safe. 1t was So dark that they had to
use both hands and feet in feeling for a
footway down through the canyon Still
they were making good progress 1t was
hardly midnight. and they must have left
their camp at least a dozen miles behind
They could not be over 30 or 40 miles
from the settlements, and, ence out of the
canyon, they would soon travel that dis
tance The moon would soon be high in
the heavens, and that would help them,
but it would also bring aid to the pur-
suers. raging at their escape Its light
was already beginning TO iii the mountaln
sides and canyons with strange and un-
! couth shadows
The three men kept closely together, as
If relying on one another for assistance.
AS they climbed down through the canyon
they remained on its darkest side, in order
to avoid any possible discovery, although
it made their narrow footway still more
dangerous. Far behind them they could
see on the mountain side blaze of light,
and they knew that it was signal of their
escape. 1t made them push forward with
still greater exertion, for now they knew
that the pursuit was close behind, and
that it would be only with the greatest
effort they could escape, as the Indians
had probably discovered the direction In
which they were going and would endeav
or to intercept them AS they pushed for
ward with renewed haste the man in the
rear suddenly slipped and fell, carrying
with Rim his two comrades The fall was
but slight one The little. pebbles it had
started had hardly ceased rolling before
two of the men were again on their feet,
picking up their arms Harry tried to join
them and rose to his feet but only to fall
anafr