The new age. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1902-190?, 1902-11-15
y SSSSS@SSN
The GUARDIANS q
OF DEATH y
BY Charles Lee Taylor n
Copyright, 1901, by a. s. Richardson y
BY Charles Lee Taylor


II was a fOrlorn looking house, long
since forsaken of human tenantry, one
,,-t,ttla have said Scurrxing lizards did
sentry duty upon its porch, and the
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
aualms of guilt, for it was evident that
the owner had moved out years be-
fore While the cook built a fire and
prepared dinner in the main room we
proceeded to explore, not without eau
ton. for the old shack looked like a
promising resort for snakes. | had
lust dispatched couple that were
keeping house i'm side room when
shout from Darrell summoned me to
the second story.
Here's a queer thing to turn up in
an abandoned house." he called.
He was bending over small box
bound i'm horsehide, the lid of which
he had pried open. 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 a number of family records, all
dated many years before, but all in 4
good state of preservation. What In
terested me most, however, was
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 Q
spring at the foot of an INDICATED hill
in the foothills of the San Luis range
and run a line up a ravine 800 feet
Then he had run 125 feet up n cross
ravine, turning to the left, and had
marked cross on the face of wall
rising sheer ninety feet. His marks
showed the elevation of this cross to
be thirty-two feet above the bed of the
ravine. Here was food for speculation
Darrell" said l to my companion,
"the man that drew that map didn't
do it for fun"
81 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 a cliff in this country?"
"Oh. seer 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 l.
Luck was with us in the matter. 1t
wasn't a week later when one of our
surveyors came in with a tale of hav-
ing located fine spring at the foot of
a 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 l think of
that bargain, have a chill even to this
day.
1t took us nearly a 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 l 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, a sheer cut
through the solid rock, the work OF
centuries of fierce torrents.
1t took us a 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 a stout rope, and
near the edge of the cliff. which we
mounted after long detour, we found
convenient tree. For one of us to
lower the other would be an easy mat
ter. Both of us were eager to go.
Which should it be? The good old
American method of a 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.
"Yes, there's a cave here all right
but it's walled up. Lower me down
that. biologists hammer of yours, and
l can break the tlimsy thing in"
l sent the hammer down on a 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.
"Phew! That's bad airl Don't dare
go In there for a bit"
''Throw in a lighted match, and II
1t burns the air is pure enough"
called excitedly. for l was in a hurry
to know what was In that cave.
'There she gees" said Darrell min.
ute later; burns all right. oh, great
Casarr
ssNVhat'c fho notfor2 What iS N o.,