Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1900-02-15
XVIII.


L We been IN the snow business, on auu
on, for a good many years and In most
parts Of the world, I've often had a try
at other things by way VI a change,
sometimes from choice, sometimes be-
cause / couldn't help it. Just about
this time last year, for instance, the
boss of a circus l was travelling with
vent S~tOne-broke. and left the lot of
us stranded at Queensland, Australia.
There wasn't a cent to pay salaries,
and the boss himself sloped, and ev-
cry one did the best he could for him.
self. AS for me, / ccllared one Of the
horses and started off gOld-hunting.
At first / had some luck, but that
didn't last, and | was going TO give the
game up for good, when / CHANGED
across an old German named Schnci-
der. in CoOktown. I'm a Dutchman
by birth myself Though l reckon my
self English now. and, as l know Ger
man pretty well, / became rather
chummy with the old fellow. Well,
sir, he fell ill.,, and, feeling his end
near, he told me OF a rich claim he
had discovered in the back country,
and described its position. so thatI felt
sure l could find II. But, although |
tried, time after time. I never could
hit it off, and was ~half-inclined to be-
lieyc old Schneider had lied to me. l
soon had reason, though, to alter this
opinion, and to satisfy myself that the
old Germans claim had been tracked
out by some smarter chap than me. I
waited and watched for a chance to
follow this fellow when he should
come to town for tucker, and one
evening | spotted him in an inn. /
was not quite sure about him at first;
but the savage. sulky way he rounded
on me when I spoke about the old
Germans claim satisfied me I was on
the right track. So that night l re-
moved one of his horses shoes, cut a
bit off with q chisel, and replaced II.
OF course. If he should not happen to
notice the dodge, his horses tracks
COULD be easily followed on anything
like soft ground, and there had recent
~ been heavy rains.
II saw him next morning just as he
was mounting his horse. I again
chaffed him about Schneider, and he
made a brute lash at me so that my
brains escaped but a few inches. A
right-down vicious brute, and 10 mis-
take, was Nat Rainsforth.
~ traced him to a store, where he
had ordered a lot of supplies to be sent
to a place called the Forty-Mile. I
then saddled up the old circus horse
and started after him. / did not ex-
pect to oyertake him, but I hoped to
be able to track his horse from the
Forty-Mile onward. And SO l was,
with occasional checks on patches of
hard ground, for about five miles.
Then the country became too broken
ard stony for any n but a black
tracker; and although I had a full
o to help me, l lost all traces Of
hoof-marks, / was within half n mile,
too, of Black Horse Gully, somewhere
in the vicinity of which I knew that
the claim sought was located. and |
felt real wild at being brought to a
stand-still.
FINALLY, I resolved to hobble my
horse and examine n mile or two of
that part of the gully on foot. 1t was,
of course, mere guess-work, done rath-
er for the sake of doing something
than with any real hope of success;
and, indeed, my chief care was to take
careful note of the place where / had
left my horse.
II presently struck what bore some
faint resemblance TO a path leading
down the side of the ravine, and after
following it some distance, I perceived
the familiar monnd and windlass
which slrmounts a mine-shaft. This
meant little or nothing, because the
district had been prospected for years
past, and abandoned shafts were CON-
mon enough. But, upon closer inspec-
ton, this particular mine gave evil
dence OF being in actual work, or. at
all events, OF very recent work, indeed.
The footprints in the soft mullock
were quite fresh, and I thought l
could detect an outline al the top
showing where someone had sat or
lain down. The windlass and rope al
so showed signs Of having been lately
i'm use. Clearly, I had struck an active
claim. and the wner were probably
not very far off.
Nov, ~prospectors. in out-of-the-way
places, bitterly resent anything like
spying upon their work. and it's sell
dom wise 10 make oneself known too
abruptly. Let them, rather, find out
that someone is providing around in
the neighborhood. and the chances are
df the ground Is really good they'll
try to come to terms TO keep it dark.
Fol aught | knew, the claim I had
stumbled across might be the very one
old Schneider had found so rich, and
which Rainsforth had, as / believed,
re-discovered. 1t was clearly no new
claim, at all events, Judging from the
size OF the mullock heap. And If so,
1t was certainly not safe for me to be
caught inspecting 1t in broad MOON
light. / could easily return next day
and observe the owners at work, be-
fore allowing my presence to be sus-
pected.
l was just about to descend from my
exposed position ut the windlass.
when / heard what struck me as the
most awful, b~lood-curdling, moaning
cry ever uttered outside the walls of a
hospital. / can tell you, sir, It made
me fairly Jump, and IL I hadn't made
a grab Mt n of the uprights, I'd have
come near tumbling down the shaft,
whence the sound proceeded. But I'm
not a nervous man. when / take a mo-
ment to steady myself. and 1 very soon
had the rope, bucket and all, down
the hole. The rope was n new one,
and the timber strong enough for any
thing: and so, having taken a few ex-
tra turns around tha ronor xrt4h xnuX