The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1905-09-29

planes at his command. The top of
the rock sloped slightly toward the
west, and nothing short Of dynamite
or regular quarrying operations would
render 1t untenable by hostile marks.
men.
During the day his rifles at ninety
yards range might be trusted to keep
the place clear Of intruders. But at
night that was the difficulty. He
partially solved it by fixing two rests
on the ledge to support a rife in exact
line with the center Of the enemy's
supposed position, and as a variant on
the outer rest he marked lines which
correspondent with other sections of
the entire front available to the foe.
Even then he was not satisfied. When
time permitted, he made many expert
ments with ropes reeved through the
pulley and attached to a rifle action.
He might have succeeded in his main
object had not his thoughts taken q
new line. His aim was to achieve
some method of opening and closing
the breech block by means Of two
ropes. The difficulty was to secure the
preliminary and final lateral movement
Of the lever bolt, but it suddenly oc-
CURED to him that if he could manage
to convey the impression that Iris and
he had left the island the Dyaks would
go away after a fruitless search. The
existence of ropes along the face of the
rock-an essential to his mechanical
scheme would betray their where
abouts or at any rate excite dangerous
curiosity. So he reluctantly abandoned
his original design, though not wholly,
as will be seen in due course.
In pursuance of his latest idea he
sedulously removed from the foot Of
the cliff all traces Of the clearance
effected on the ledge, and, although he
provided supports for the t%arpaulin
covering, he did not adjust it. Iris and
lie might lie perdu there for days with
out their retreat being found out. This
development suggested the necessity of
hiding their surplus stores inc am
munition, and what spot could be more
suitable than the cave?
So jerks began to dig once more In
the interior, laboring manfully with
pick and shovel in the locality Of the
fault with its vein Of antimony.
Rainbow island had given him the
n thing a man prizes above all else
a pure yet passionate love for a woman
beautiful alike in body and mind. And
now it was to endow him with riches
that might stir the pulse Of even a
South African magnate, for the sail
or, unmindful Of purpose other than
providing the requisite cache, shovel
ing and delving with the energy pecul-
lar to all his actions, suddenly struck a
deep vein of almost virgin gold.
To facilitate the disposal at a dis
lance of the disturbed debris he threw
each Shovelful on to 4 canvas sheet,
which he subsequently dragged among
the trees in order to dislodge it's con-
tents. After doing this four times he
noticed certain metallic specks in the
fifth load which recalled the presence
of the anthony. But the appearance
of the sixth cargo was so remarkable
when brought out into the sunlight
that it invited closer inspection.
Though his knowledge Of geology was
slight, he was forced to believe that
the specimens he handled so obviously
contained neither copper nor iron
pyrites, but glittering yellow gold
Their weight, the distribution Of the
metal through quartz in a transition
state between an oxide and q telluride,
compelled recognition.
Somewhat excited. yet half skeptical,
he returned to the excavation and
scooped out yet another collection.
This time there could be no mistake.
Natures own alchemy had fashioned
a veritable ingot. There were small
Jumps in the ore which would only
need alloy at the mint before they
could be issuYl as sovereigns, so free
from dross ware they.
Iris had gone to Venus bath and
would be absent for some time. jerks
sat down on a tree stump. He held in
his hand a small bit Of ore worth per-
haps EGO. Slowly the conjectures al
ready pieced together in his mind dur
back to him.
The skeleton of an Englishman ly-
ing there among the bushes near the
well, the Golgotha Of the poison filed
hollow, the mining tools, both Chinese
and European; the plan on the piece
Of tin-ah, the piece Of tin! Mechan-
ically the sailor produced it from the
breast pocket of his jersey. At last
the mysterious sign '32 divided by l"
revealed it's significance. Measure thir-
ty-two feet from the mouth Of the tun-
mel, dig Il foot in depth, and you
came upon the mother lode of this gold
bearing rock. This, then, was the Sc
cret Of the ave.
The Chinese knew the richness Of the
deposit and exploited its treasures by
q%uarrying from the outer side Of the
hill. But their Grass ignorance of mod
ern science led to their undoing. The
accumulation of liberated carbonic acid
gas in the workings killed them in
scores. They probably fought this I'M
seen demon with the tenacity of their
race until the place became accused