New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1902-09-03
By Charles Lee Taylor.
Copyright, 1901, BIZ a. S. Richardson
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would have said. Scurrying lizards did
sentry duty upon its porch, and the
r predacious ants had eaten into its.
woodwork. But to a civil engineer in
the unsettled center Of Mexico any
shelter is a matter Of gratitude. Oar
rel and / took possession without any
qualms of guilt, for it was evident that
the owner had moved out years be-
fore. While the cook built fire and
prepared dinner in the main room we
proceeded to explore, not without eau
promising resort for snakes. I had
just dispatched couple that were
keeping house in a side room when a
shout from Darrell summoned me to
the second story.
'Here's queer thing to turn up in
an abandoned house." he called
He was bending over small box.
bound in horsehide, the lid of which
he had pried open..s Together we car
ried it downstairs and went through
the contents. They were surprising
enough; at least it was surprising that
the tenants should have left such pa
pers behind them, for here were deeds
to property, leases, some mortgage pa
pers and other valuable documents, be-
sides number Of family records, all
dated many years before, but all in a
good state of preservation. What in
terested me most, however, was a
small map drawn on prepared paper,
the work Of an amateur. whoever
drew it knew something about survey
ing, for he had his ranges and scales
fairly correct. He had started at a
spring at the foot of an INDICATED hill
in the foothills of the San Luis range
and run a line up a ravine $40 feet.
Then he had run 125 feet up cross
ravine, turning to the left, and had
marked a cross on the face Of wall
rising sheer ninety feet. His marks
be thirty-two feet above the bed Of the
iravine. Here was food for speculation.
Darrell" said to my companion,
''the man that drew that map. didn't
do it for fun
Il guess that's right" replied OAR
rel. '"There's something behind the
place marked by that cross, but what
is it,"
whats the most likely thing to be
in the side Of cliff in this country?'
"Oh, I seev said he. "A cave, you
mean. But what's in the cave, then?''
THAT'S what We'll find out if we
can locate the cave" said I.
~,
wasn't a week later when one of our
surveyors came in with tale of hav-
ing located fine spring at the foot Of
hill and near one Of the widest ra-
vines that he had ever set eyes on.
Neither Darrell nor I rested easy until
we were on the way to the spot with
the little map tucked under my belt
We were to split even on whatever we
found. Poor Darrell! When 1 think Of
that bargain, have chill even to this
day.
1t took us nearly day on muleback
to reach our destination. There were
the spring, the hill and the ravine run
ming back just as in the map. 1t was
one Of the widest spots ever saw in
a wild country; one couldn't help feel
ing a bit put out with its loneliness.
Up the big ravine we trudged until we
reached the cross gulch, sheer cut
through the solid rock, the work, of
centuries of fierce torrents. -
1t took us long time to make out
the cross, as the cliff was in semidark-
ness and patches of moss were grow
ing over the surface, but we located it
at last and saw that the only way to
reach it was from the top of the cliff
Having foreseen this contingency,
we had brought along stout rope, and
near the edge Of the cliff, which we
mounted after long detour, we found
a convenient tree. For one of us to
lower the other would be an easy mat
ter. Both of us were eager to 60
Which should it be? The good old
American method Of tipped coin was
the arbiter, and Darrell won Present
ly he was sitting in the blight of the
rope before the spot where the cross
was marked and calling up his reports
to me. d, z
Eyes, there's a cave here all right,
but it's walled up. Lower me down
that biologists hammer of yours, and
can break the fimsy thing in
l sent the hammer down on string,
and for five minutes Darrell hammered
and painted, and the sound Of crum-
bling masonry told me that he was
making Roadway. Presently there
came sort of gasp from him. -
J.. "Phew! That's bad air! Don't dare
go in there for bit''
'"Throw in lighted match, and If
it burns the air is pure enough"
called excitedly, for I was In a hurry
to know what was in that cave
"There she goes,'' said Darrell min.
ute later; ''burns all right. Oh, great
Casarw - s:a
! whats the matter? What is it?''
II cried, dancing on the edge Of the
cliff. .s
Its gold, that's what it lisa big
bracelet of it right near the entrance
There's something that looks like bones
So noar r. - 5E5a=$}2&