The Wilmington daily Republican., 1902-01-13
! = FINDERS, KEEPERS. "
BY ROBERT \. GRANT.


Drowned hills. In the little gopher.hole
tunneb up in the dark end, All Sing be-
to his work, his brown leather face, wi
the black pig-tal coiled above it, as motto
less as the rock he was boring. Only Il
eyes showed life, cleaning like the cart
demons he resembled. Near the mouth
the tunnel lay shovel and pick, and sc
| eral cans. In one of these was powder al
| in another "A coil OF fuse.
An Sing was stripped almost naked, +,
1t was a warm summers day, and he viii
mat..s work was warm work. All Sing kne
the white mans trade almost as well as ii
best OF them lie was tired of cooking an
had gone prospecting on his own accoun
Figuring that an old hole was just as goo
as a new one, and IA near prospect as good {
one distant, he had pumped himself dow
on an old claim that had been Sawhors
Jules, and was hammering away with tn
industry Of his race. A few rods down til
s!oping hill stood the little shack which wa
his new home.
Click! click!' The hole was nearl
deep enough. A few more strokes, an e,
ANIMATION, and then the drill was witt
drawn, and the hole cleaned out W'ithou
wasting time in stretching and heavin
slghs Of relief, All proceeded to put in tn
charge and attach the fuse. Soon he ha,
all plugged up securely and the slow end o
the fuse burning, and then he withdrew t.
the outer air to await results.
Somewhere in that hill, maybe. there wa
gold,( glittering yellow gold, which woul,
furnish wings TO far of t'hinSl and luxur,
there for life. Perhaps il was destined fo
him, had been kept from the greedy eyes o
the white pig for that purpose All SIM
watched and waited waited until his LITTLE
strong friend, the powder, should do ts
work for him.
minute passed. and then ,1me mufFed
explosion, shaking the arth under AT
Sing feet. He waited and the smoke came
curling slowly out.
Several minutes later All Sing knelt in
the back end OF the tunnel among the shat.
tered fragments OF rock. The air was heavy
with the smell Of powder and still clouded
with smoke. But All !sag minded not these
lie was gazing through the smoke, his
whole soul cleaning out through his bulg-
ing eyes, and Il trembling fascination upon
him that held him motonless.
Before him, in the shattered rock, lay the
yellow gold, torn from its hiding place
where il hao rested for ages unseen by the
many who had tramped above and around
1t; by Old julie, who had dug and ,wore and
left the place in diseust-now to be found
by Kim, son OF the sacred realm There
were hnndreds-thousands of dollars
wealth untold. in that wall Of rock ahead of
A Ia II
put forth his hand tremblingy, scarcely
during to breathe, as some one who fears to
make il sound. The very walls seemed to
have eyes and ears, and the stiffness seemed
peopIed with restless spirits in hiding
Lifting lump OF the goId-laden quartz, Ali
Sing looked icarfully around.
There are eyes which can glow with the
evil Of the tiend, and there are moments
when humans forget tha, they are humans.
In the mouth OF the tunnel was the eye and
the moment was at hand. Never was the
lust tor gold more fully pe'roniiied than in
the face Of The man who stood looking into
the tunnel al the gold in from, of All Sing.
He was a tall. g"zzled prosper,or. with IA
pack on his back, one OF the Struggling fail
lres OF the mounlains. Mixed with the
greed cleaning in his eye was ghoulsl
gleam rt triumph. Al last he had made bis
ind.
Even as the eyes Of the two met they
eSined . understand ca"n o, her, and All
sing ms, S,Nel! c.utchel the drill that
~ besjt} Nm. The move opened the con.
Iitt. ;fstlng down his pack, the miner
Irew IA 'S|olver and a knife, and advanced
lowly upon his prey. His prey was easy: ;
he thinaman was only Of medium height {
nd slender. lie would kill him vita the =,
niIe il he could. and no noise would be
made. II ne could not. he had The revolver.
Several seconds oi Siealthl approach and
he shaking thinaman waited, a fly al the {
iercy OF the SPIDER, hi, eyes diiatng and
is lips apart in terror. The spider crept
y; there was pause and tine ulliited :,
rlli shook in the thinAmaus unneIS ed -
and$. Then came the lnge svii, and '.
ldden, and the Cinnamon counter u
roltc. A. the drill shu, ont IN the Iatter's '
ands, braMny arm knocked it aside and Il
lo her blawn\ arm buried the knife deer Il
the thlnanan breast. A shrek echoed i.
trough and out OF the little tunnel-a >.
rick wild and terrible. seeming as the T. T.
nj departing from the quivetng form that ), ;,
\ stretched on the ground. Bu, vengeance
as al hand. Even as the snrck ended came
e report oI the revolver, exploded b, the Of
lmnier catching on a rock. and tie assassin bs
Il forward on thc body o! hi, victim dad HI
he bullet had passed through his heart The SO
Inaman siIll struggled. pulling at the ~
lie, and partly wrench.d it out. The Al
bod epllHed forth and in few minutes :.
a'h came, s,illIns lhe shaking form and y
'2Ing the eyes. ia
Oul beyond the mouth Of tine tunnel the w
n sanl; slowly to rest throwing long >nau. tn
5 and bars Of light over hills and valleye. lal
e birds fitted lithrr and tnilner, twit. No
ing and scodiug as they hunted places
: the night, Down by the brook the lit
log house waited lonely and still. Then
ne the moon, casting is pale light into HI
hole III the hill. over the boot Of the CT
He'd form nearest the mouth, and then -,
ng On lis way. -
he sun came again, and poured It's heat 49,, 49,,
o the hole; again the moon pceled with iiel
le-eycd wondering al the boot, and Is
scd on. Rc
Us the sun rose on the third day dog and ma
nan came walking down the hill above ur!
hole. The man was old and carried bu
X. The dog no,ed the ground. mo
1t the hole the dog stopped and looked po
hin. Then be grOwled, shifting the air.
: man stopped. =,
What !, it. jack" he said. Ao' '
he dog looked at him, then looked into
hole and growled again, taking step a
her ~. Tine man came and looked. lhr
Jack, said the man, as he came out Of Ma
mole few minutes later Il think this bro
&c Is 10 le'' ! 'h'nk we u move in. and
ck said nothing. but shifted solcmnly at
air again. Then the man took pr.cau-
5, and marched down to the little ,
u.