Putnam patriot., 1910-08-19

euS employing hest or mea so .~ meye the earth from the old road. a part of which was now covered with water. But be couls teil Elizabeth of his find and assure her If his belief that the wagon train had been buried under the landslide.
 He argued that if those connected With the train had seen the mountain side coming they would run to get out Of Its way If they were nearer the upper side Of it they would run for ward: if nearer the lower side they would run backward The upper side now being a iHke. f could not he ex- amined- AierrYweather rode down to where the old road striking tue dam. was defiected. to climb il by a gradual Incline nismoaating. he tied his horse to a sapling and began to look about him.
 He searched good while. bending down close te the earth that he might the better see anything unusual. His search was fruitless. Mounting. he rode to the nearest house to remain all night and in the morning bring something 10 dig with. That night it rained and the next day and the next till it seemed that an ocean was being precipitated- Then it cleared. and Merryweather. taking a pick and a shovel. went back to continue his hunt.
 He found that the rain had washed away portions of fhe dam. and its side was covered with little gullies. some of them quite deep. He examined a num- Der of these gullies. but found nothing. At the point where the road made the turn to ascend the dam he put in his thing that gave out the ring of metal. Inserting the pick again. he threw out sarseshoe
 iough eiated with his find. he did nol consider + by any means impor- tant. but it stimulated him to dig on. root or something harder than the earth under where the horseshoe had been found next attracted his atten- tion. He dug around it and exposed horses hoof and in few more strokes the bones of leg to which the hoof
 
 belonged
 "Eurekar' he exclaimed "rhe mys- tery of the lost wagon train is solvedr'
 He worked all day unearthing the metal parts of harness. gun barrels. bones of human beings and horses. At last he struck the wheel of a wagon. Then he went away to announce his find.
 The news that the lost wagon train had been found spread Merryweather hired half a dezeu men to excavate. but SD great was the interest among the people that many of them dug on their own account. some doubtless hoping to frd articles of value. It was apparenr that the train had been turned suddenly and headed down the canyon. Some of the wagons had not been completely reversed before they were buried.
 Among the articles recovered was an iron box Merryweather took pos session of it. opened it and found that 1t belonged to Edward Earle. 1t con tained several hundred dollars In gold and number of papers.
 Some of the papers were deeds to property in the region to which the caravan was gning-a region where gold had then been recently diseov- cred Merryweather. after the ex- cavafions were concluded. rode on to what had been the destination Of The train. The unearthed papers all belonged te Elizabeth Earle. and ii was his purpose to transact for her any business that might be necessary. He found conditions that he was sure would make great change in the girl he loved
 One evening Elizabeth heard foot step in the hal and a moment later she was elasped i'll the strong arms of Henry Merry weather.
 .The mystery K solved. sweet heart,r he exclaimed
 He led her to a sofa and gave her an account of his efforts and their outcome And now" he continued. there is news intrinsically of far greater importance to you than the solving of the mystery. You are very rich. Your father before starting on his last earthly journey made a will leaving you all he possessed. It was of no value then. but now on a DOT ton of fl is one of the largest mines in the west You are the real owner. and I have brought you proposition from its wrongful owners to transfer to you one-third of the stock of the cornpany. This alone will give you splendid income"
 As the lover had expected. tue un- raveling of the mystery and the changes it led 10 in Elizabeth's life relieved her of her unhealthy current of thought ard gave her new mental ,Arcupation. Not the least of the re suits was a husband. to whom she was indebted for bringing her good fortune.
 As the mysterious disappearance Of the wagon train was for years fruitful source of discussion among those who knew of it, so since Merry weather unraveled it both chapters of the story are still told to interested listeners in the region where 1t oc- curred The location. too. Is one of the points os interest to tourists.