The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-19

An exclamation of chagrin escape, | his lips, for the rider was but a shab bily-clad prospector, migrating |,
 more promising diggings and tn, pack-mule's burden was naught but al Incomplete mining kit. l Overcome by disappointment tn,
 man fell back and buried his face fl
 his hands. Ten minutes later de
 lirious shout fioated up from the gulch where the old miner was still at work | The man in the chaparral listlessly raised his head and glanced down into the gulch. What he beheld acted a. an electric shock upon his nerves. The old man was dancing about in 2 | transport of delight. hugging to his breast an object which the watchers | imagination invested with the yellow glint of gold. Harlow had made his lucky strike at last! For a moment the watcher grew sick and faint as he cursed the fatal mistake he had made in abandoning the claim.
 This feeling was succeeded by one of intense hatred for the old man why had stumbled upon the good fortune which had escaped his hands. Curse him" he growled. He shall not enjoy that which should have been | mine. He is only an old man, friend. less and unloved! Nobody will miss him. and if they do, he will be thought to have left for other diggings. He shall never leave this spot alive" With this murderous thought upper. most in his mind. the man lay quiet and waited.
 The shadows were reaching vest ward and the sunset was glorifying the arid slpoes with hues of red and gold. hfrds twi l,,t. labies to their fiedglings in wooded re- cesses, and the chorus of strange, awesome sounds that belong to the western night were attuning them selves for the advent of darkness, when old man Harlow started up the trail, staggering under the weight of an object wrapped in a piece of dirty canvass. Something like regret smote the mans heart as he noted the elas- ticity in the step and the joy in the eye of the old miner.
 the laughing boy In her arms rose be- fore his minds eye and seemed to re- proach him.
 He stifled the importunities of con science with an effort.
 For Jennie's sakew he muttered. Tt will take me back to her and the kid"
 Onward staggered the ola man.
 The concealed man raised his re- volver and his finger sought the trig- ger; but the hand that held the weapon trembled.
 He steadied his shaking nerves with an effort.
 The muzzle of the weapon covered the old mans heart, but the trigger was never pressed. Between the miner and the would-be assassin there ap- peared the mental vision of a saintly- looking woman, whose face and eyes held reproach and whose hands were raised as if to gainsay his murderous deed
 The revolver dropped from his erasp. struck bramble and exploded.
 The bullet ploughed up the dirt of the trail at the miners feet.
 The startled man flew like a deer up the trail, an abrupt curve hid him from view and only the settling dust remained to show that he had been here at all.
 Ten minutes later a man knelt be side the trail. The warm glow of the waning sunset bathed him in soft enulgence but 1t shone with no more glory than did his weather-beaten face, as, with prayer of thankssiving yelling up in his throat. he gazed with dimming eyes at the track the bullet had made in the mountain side, where In gleamed and scintillated myriads of little specks of virgin gold that opened to him the gates of earthly paradise.