The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1905-03-31

until. after three hours painful toll,
they came upon a bend In the stream
called the Klondyke, where, on pass
ing around a spur of the cliff, all of a
sudden the full glare of torches and
fire light fell upon them. 1t was a
strange and unexpected sight that met
their view. A great fire was blazing,
to which was added the light of pine
knot torches stuck in the ground.
Two men were at work with picks,
shovels and pans. Late as it was,
dark as it was and tired and hungry
as they were, they toiled on and on.
Crack LASH" Gid gasped In a
hoarse whisper, its Lucky George
and the squaw man, Lattimer."
Yes
What are they doin'?"
Digging! Great heaven, look at
the shining ore! See! the buckets
and pans are full of nuggets and dust.
Oh. Gid. Gid! It's a bonanza"
Hush, they will hear YOU"
Il am going to make myself known
to them"
And be ShOt!'
Why should they shoot me when
we are friends? If they are like saw
age dogs owe a bone, then we can
shoot first"
Gid consented to go to them, and,
advancing to within a hundred PAGES,
they called to the diggers. At first
they were a little confused, but
Lucky George, who was a shrewd fell
low, saw it was best to admit to the
discovery.
Come down, boys: come down." he
cried, c%heerfully. Il tell you we have
made the greatest strike in the world.
Look at the work of a few hours"
George, are there more = good
claims?"
Plenty of them. Let us all set to
work, stake out the best and get the
very req before the world finds it
out. Lattimer here put me onto this;
he got it from the Indians"
This was the discovery of the great
gold fields in the Klondyke. Lucky
George got the tip from Lattimer, the
white man with an Indian wife, and
had determined to wOrk it alone if he
could do so, but now that his friends
had found him, he decided to make
the most of it and divide.
The others were sen for, and
claims for all staked out.
Next morning with the dawn Of
day Paul began to work his claim.
From the first shoverful of earth, he
began TO take out gold. His PICK
seemed attracted to the largest mug
gets, and his pan was always rich in
ore. He washed out a thousand dol
lars worth Of dust and nuggets to
the pan. He forgot breakfast, lunch
or dinner, but toiled on. The small
moose-skin bags were quickly filled.
and hen he poured the renewed accu-
mutation into a water bucket. His
eyes cleaned with the fire of the in
sane, and in his mind he saw only
the faces Of sweetheart and mother
and took no thought of rest, health
or the danger which his accumula-
ton brought him.
There was danger lowering over the
happy yOull. his CldIIl was some
distance up the stream from the
others, and one day, as he was toll
ing. and heaping up the golden treas
ure, two pairs of fierce, avaricious
eyes glared at him from the dense
foliage Of pines. They watched him
a long time as he toiled, and then
exchanged knowing looks, winks and
smiles, which said:
Let the fool toll on. When he has
taken his thousands from the earth
We will have it."
After the first few days he stopped
long enough to eat and sleep a few
hours at a time, dreaming of home
and of making loved ones there happy.
Little did he dream that a storm
cloud was gathering over the loved
one at home and another over his
own head. threatening to ruin him
self and all most dear to his heart.
(To be continued.)