The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1904-11-09


season had begun in earnest, and you
could hardly see the stock you were
driving for the dust they raised. This
was too much for Archie. He was not
going to injure his precious eyes for
any mere business consideration.
After that saw very little of him.
His time was divided between shoot
ing, fishing and other pursuits of a less
reputable nature, and his appearances
at the ranch were just sufficiently fire.
quent to fulfill the conditions which
held his interest in the property
1t was towards the end of July that
Clark Fenton arrived in the town in
which we got our supplies. Evidently
belonging to the better class of work.
ing men, he was short, extremely pow
erful and spoke pronouncedly through
his nose. His conversation was chiefly
remarkable from it's contrast to the
vigorous and high-havored language
used by the natives. He never swore.
Apparently he had plenty of money,
and at first when questioned as to his
intentions, replied that he had earned
enough for a holiday, and was going
to look around a bit before settling on
a line of work. He was jack of many
trades, he said, and could make a
good living as soon as he decided. He
picked up number of acquaintance,
displayed a great interest in the re-
sources and prospects of the surround
ing country and early in August an
nounced that he had determined to try
his luck for a season as professional
hunter and trapper.
In this capacity he met with sue
cess from the start He was a bril-
liant shot, and though the country was
new to him, he seemed to have natu-
raj instinct as to the whereabouts of
game. Several short trips were ar
ranged by the local magnates, with
Fenton as pilot, and in each case
they returned spoil-laden.
Naturally, Archie fell in with him,
and naturally they had much enthusi-
astic talk in common, but their several
engagements prevented them from ar
ranging an expedition together till the
middle of October.
About this time there were large
and destructive forest fires in the
Rockies, and the smoke hung a heavy
pail over all the land The sun rose
and set blood-red, and men could hard
ly quench their thirst. Much game
was driven out, and, crossing the in
tervening 40 miles of plain, deer and
elk took up their abode on our range
in the south part of the Black Hills.
Other visitors arrived, not so welcome.
A mountain lion was seen by one of
our cowboys feasting on calf, and the
next night, ten miles away, he robbed
the henroOSt of fence-rider.
To harbor the beast meant certain
loss of thousand dollars year, and
turned his pursuit and destruction
over to Archie, who took to the idea
with great eagerness. He at once en-
gagged Clark Fenton to accompany
him, and on the 18th of October the
pair started with a teAm and spring
wagon belonging to the ranch, loaded
with guns, rifles and all the parapher-
MALTA required for a two-weeks' camp
in the hills.
From that day to this, no man, so
far as is known, has ever set eyes on
either of them.
A fortnight went by, but as Archie
was supposed to be hunting within our
fence Gan enclosure, by the way, Of
about three-quarters of a million
acres) and was at work for the benefit
of the ranch, I made no report of his
absence to his father. But during the
third week the weather became very
bitter and stormy-too rough, I should
have supposed, for my partner-and
when, on the 7th of November, found
that none of the cowboys had seen
their camp at all, became alarmed,
and telegraphed to Mr.. Sparks.
Promptly came back the reply:
"Spend up to fifty thousand in in
quiries. Draw on me-"
The number of riders we put out to
cover the ground, and, the number of
detectives we employed would hardly
be believed, if l gave them; but up to
June, '9S, the only things we recov-
cred were the wagon and horses. A
Mexican in Arizona was working old
Blue, and missionary on the Grow
reservation in Montana had Buck and
the wagon, but they had passed
through SO many hands that it was i'm
possible to trace them back to any one
resembling either Clark Fenton OF
Archie Sparks.
Poor Mr. Sparks took the disappear
ance of his son very deeply to heart
and his efforts in the search were re-
doubled, but were entirely fruitless.
In June, '98, 1 had occasion to ride
over part of the range about ten
miles distant from the home ranch
The nature of the country was rather
curious. The soil was heavy, orange
colored sand, growing a fairly good
stand of pasture grass, and spanglcd
at this season with wild flowers OF
every hue. At frequent intervals there
rose red sandstone rocks, some of great
size, and carved by weather into the
most fantastic shapes. Here would be
table, many hundred tons in weight
set on three slender legs; there a thin