Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1903-05-09
Stairs Of
Sar1d....

w AAA~Al SAA-
tered the glade. In deep talk they did
not notice him at first, but, when their
eyes fell on him, one uttered an excla-
nation and seized his companion by the
arm and dragged him into the pushes.
The object Of their alarm, noticing
the action, simply laughed, and, turn
ing on his heel, went down q path to
the right, with a good-humored smile
on his face.
AS he made his way along, he paused
once and again to listen. He held the
pick he had borrowed with both hands,
as II preparing to use 1t in case Of q
necessity.
To make sure that TO n was follow
Ing, he withdrew into the bushes at one
side OF the road and waited. He was In
q position to command the path, and
see any one coming or going.
1t was not long before a cracking
Of dried branches warned him that his
suspicious were correct. Presently q
tall young man, with dark. unshaven
face, and very ragged clothes, skunk
into view. He drew nearer, looking
about with frightened eyes. AS he
came abreast of where the other was
hidden, he paused to listen. 1t was
only for a moment that he stood there,
for the man with the pick leaped out
In the road, With the weapon uplifted
-" S'NA OOh VII Ills IdCe lIldl
the other, with a howl, turned and ran
up h path, his grotesque tatters fiut-
tering in the wind, and disappeared in a
twinkling at a turn in the way.
"A fine new recruit that" muttered
the man with the pick, looking after
him. But what Of It? The most of
the breed are towards"
Then he shouldered his implement
and went on down the path until he
came to a small ravine, through which
a brook was flowing. Swinging himself
down over he bank he dropped on the
edge OF the stream, and, for a moment,
stood looking around him carefully at
the rocks on either hand. Then one
particular shaped stone seemed to at
tract his attention, and he nodded, and
at once began to throw up the earth
at the foot Of the rock. His face wore
an anxious expression now, and was
full Of tense emotion. He worked fu-
riously, as If his very life depended on
his energy. Not once did he pause, ex-
cept to s%traighten his back, wipe the
sweat from his forehead or cast a look
around the little ravine to see If any
prying eyes were fixed on him.
1t was half an hour before the pick
struck something that gave out a me-
tallic sound. He was trembling with
eagerness now, as he dropped down,
stretched himself at full length over the
edge Of the hole and felt among the
loose dirt at the bottom with his fingers.
Then a deep sigh of relief escaped him,
as he drew out a long metal cylinder
that seemed to be made Of copper now
discolored with contact with the earth.
He arose to his feet, and, taking the
pick in hand, with a blow smote one
n Of the cylinder and the top flew
off like the cover to q box.
tCnfA A-A,A -fAA. ~ -
tered, in a delighted voice. as he drew
out Of the tube a roll Of yellow parch-
ment, and, unrolling II, glanced over
the close-written and faded writing.
Folding the scroll, he placed 1t carefully
In an inner pocket, and then,
picking up the copper cylinder, sent 1t
flying into the bushes at the foot of the
ravine.
"A good days work." he said, rub
Blessed old nature is a better
guardian than man: in human hands
l should never have found It again in
this wicked world"
He stood and washed his hands in
the feebly-fowing brook and bathed
his heated face. Whatever the paper
1t must have been Of great
and lasting Importance to him. For,
when he was sure 1t was unframed and
in his possession, his face seemed to
lose It's anxious lines, and he became,
as If by some subtle metamorphosis, a
much younger man.
He rose from his ablutions, and,
with surprising agility for a man of
his years, took the bank with q flying
leap and clambered up onto the path
above.
One moment he cast a look back at
the hole from which he had extricated
the precious paper.
THE curious will find little there to
them" he said to himself,
with a smile. And now I am prepared
to visit Ellison and find out what can
be done for the young man. He shall
90 his part Or" He drew his lips
together, n his great, knotted
hands clinched. "Oh, there is no fear
but he will do all, and even more, than
l want him to-" And, in order to avoid
passing the strange habitatton and its
inmates, he plunged into the thicket
and so made his way safely to the high
thai led to the town.