The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-04-29

that something had been found should
be aroused. but he judged he had sew
eral thousand dollars. How much the
possession of all this meant to him
he had scarcely realized, his mind be-
ing busted in devising ways and means
Of keeping the find from coming to the
knowledge of anyone.
by the time he had covered the
ground so that ne thought there was
nothing to attract the attention of the
most observant he found that he was in
a profuse perspiration and trembling
like an aspen leaf
He went slowly up through the
woods and out into road. and here,
in the shadow of some sunflOwers; he
sat down to rest and think. And
then he began to realize that a few
thousand. even a very few, would
make a big change in his life.
HE pulled a coin out of his coat
pocket. 1t was a twenty of 1855. He
took one from his trousers pocket. 1t
was ten of 1S49; another was a TWEEN
ty of 1854. One at a time, he drew out
a number and found them all to be as
old as 1855, which seemed to show that
they were buried, or at least gathered
together not long after that time, so
he decided that he need give no
thought to the rightful owner, that is,
lllG IIdl OhLel VI tlIC JAS LAAcll liz
and any one who knew of the burying
were probably beyond the need of gold,
or it would not have been permitted to
remain there all these years, but the
owner of the land on which he had
found it might have a legal title TO
it. and might endeaVOr to enforce
it, should the finding come to his
knowledge; and he could not prove that
it did not belong to any one who might
claim to have buried it. So the only
thing was to keep quiet as to the whole
business. and get the coin into circula-
ton in some way that would not excite
suspicion.
1.-The sun was getting low, and it was
several miles TO an Omaha street car,
so. after he had rested a short time,
he crossed the road to a walnut treet
and picked up enough nuts to fill the
tops of his outside pockets, and thus
account for their bulgineSs, and then
started homeward his heavy pockets
pounding against him on the outside
and his heart pounding against him on
the inside for fear some one would
hear the click Of his coins and guess
what he was carrying.
He took a bObtailed car at the north
edge OF town, that was before there
were any electric cars, and, of course,
imagined every one in it was cycling
him suspiciOusly, but he reached down
town without any ones speaking TO
him and went to the Office where he
worked.
After locking the door he went to
the desk farthest from the window and
took out and counted his treasure.
There were five thousand and five dol
lars, and no coin dated later than 1855,
He weighed one twenty on the letter
scale and figured out the weight Of
the whole to be a trifie over eighteen
pounds.
Putting a few of the smaller pieces
in his pocket he did the rest up in
packages, which he put in the office
safe, behind the books, so if by chance
morning they would not see It. You
may be sure he was certain the safe
was locked before he left the Office
He went to a newsroom and bought
a magazine, paying for it with a five
dollar gold piece, and he paid his check
at the restaurant where he got supper
with another, putting the change he re-
ceived and money from his purse to
make up the amount spent, with the
other gold in separate pocket.
Then he went. to his room, a little
hall bedroom. but all the home he had,
went to bed and lay until after the
High School clock struck one. think
ing about his future and planning how
he should invest his little fortune
He must change his manner of liv-
ing gradually; it wouldn't do to leave
his position at once; people must get
used to his having money by degrees,
he felt. There was a boom on then in
Omaha, and South Omaha was lust
rising out of the prairie and he knew
he could very soon double his dollars,
and double those by judicious manage
ment.
He thought of the office ne would
have, his own office, where it would
be for him to command instead of to
obey, where he would not have TO swal
low as much as he had been doing, but
could talk back; of the long vacation
he would take after a few more years
Of hard work; of the green lanes of
England and the sandy wastes of
Egypt; Of the fjords of Norway and
midas coral strand: of the Louvre
and the Vatican; of foreign railway
carriages and P. & o. steamers. And
In ali his thoughts there was mixed
up pair of gray eyes, in which he
had read LIES meaning some wears
ago, but had not dared confess ii. be-
cause ne couldn't see his way clear To
ask them to leave the village acad-
envy and brighten a home for him.
. a.