The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-04-29
THE SECOND CHAPTER.
ASOry Of Hidden Treasure, by Frederick j. Burnett
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prove it, it gave him the blues.
He didn't want money for the mere
sake Of having it, but for what he could
do with it; he wanted to try his hand
at manipulating some, feeling sure he
could double it az rapidly as most men,
and he also wanted enough to enable
him to see the world before his eyes
became too dim to see it,
One Sunday afternoon this man
tramped from Omaha TO Florence, a
little town just north, and was ram
bling about among the hills that sur
round 1t. Walking was his principal
recreation; it was cheap and he en-
Joyed it. He had wandered away from
roads and paths into a wood that was
tangled with vines and underbruSh. It
was September, and warm, and when
ne came out into the open, being hot
and tired, he threw himself down I'M
der walnut tree to rest.
Before him was a little glade which
the woods bordered on all sides; part
of it was covered with a ragged growth
Of Indian corn and part was planted
with millet; besides this there was
nothing to show that a human being
had been there before. The ragged,
poorly tended corn suggested to him
an aboriginal maize field, and it seemed
TO him as if the spirits of Mondamin
and Hiawatha brOoded over that peace
full little valley. Some OF the stalks
had been cut and gathered into shocks
that looked like Indian tepees, and by
half closing his eyes the tassels of the
more distant corn were transformed
into eagle feathers. nOdding and bow
ing as if their savage wea~ erS were
engaged in some sort Of q ghost
dance.
AS he lay there thinking of the red
men and maidens who used to dwell
among the hills over which he had
just been wandering. and who perhaps
had planted maize in that very spot.
from up in the woods behind him
came the tap, tap tap of woodpecker.
which was answered by another tap.
tap, tap from the woods on the other
side There was a lull in the wind Just
then and the eagle feathers stood still,
as if listening. He knew the taps to
be Woodpecker rappings, but it seemed
as If they were Indian signals 1 told
you he was a dreamer
Presently a walnut fell from the
tree above him and rolled into a little
gully that the water coming down the
hill behind him had washed nearby.
He followed it with his eyes, and.
where it stopped, noticed what looked
like a bit of dirty canvas sticking out
VI Tit ~ OUllu -NOL q lllllG @CIdDr Out
apparently part Of something that was
buried. 1t was beyond the reach of
his walking stick, but a dead branch
lay at hand, and with this he Doked
at it in an idle sort of way. There
seemed to be something harder than
earth under it. and he poked it again
with a little more Vigor, whereuDOn it
tore. and three yellow discs about the
size of silver dollars rolled out.
In en- instant he had cast aside the
branch and was on his knees over the
canvas gathering gold eagles and half
eagles and double eagles into his peck
cts with a feverish haste that would
hardly have seemed possible in the
idle dreamer of a few moments ago.
He moved as if his life depended upon
getting them out of sight as soon as
possible
He paused for a moment and blew
some smoke wreaths toward the CELL
ing.
There" said the man by the win
dow, "is where such stories usually
end, with the first chapter"
This one doesn't end there: it has a
second chapter.
When the bag. for such the canvas
was, had been emDtied, he dug with
his pOcketknife as well as he could all
around it to see if there might be an
other. but could find no more. He then
proceeded to cover uD all signs of dis
turbance. making the ground look as
nearly like that about it as possible.
and dragging some fallen branches and
dead leaves over it, looking about him
now and then to see if anyone was in
sight. Not that he felt for a moment
that he was stealing; the coin appeared
to have been buried for long time,
and he believed a finders title to be
good; but he didn't care to discuss the
matter with any inquisitive farmer or
tramp who might happen along.
He had stuffed it into his pockets
hastily, without counting il, feeling it
to be OF the greatest Importance to
get away from the scene as soon as
possible, before anyone's suspicion