Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-05-13

1 n G M an OF
The Mountain
It was fine afternoon in early May
Ellis King, Walter Brown and Lin
coin Heart were trudging along E
rough road in the foothills that lay
as sentinels about the base of Mount
Hero. In the valley formed by these
foothills nestled a pretty up to date
town in its infancy. The families tC
which the three aforementioned boys
belonged had only come to that par
of the world few months prior to the
time Of this story and therefore the
country thereabouts was new to them
Every Saturday since the opening OF
spring the three boys, Ellis, Walter
and Lincoln, had gone on long expedi
tons into the foothills, even the very
mountains themselves, which lay three
or four miles farther removed from
the town than did the hills. They
loved the days outing and always re-
turned home at night with their minds
full Of the new scenes and places dis
covered, and many valuable specimens
gathered during their tramping. On
the afternoon Of which l write, how
ever, the boys were not specimen
hunting, nor were they looking for I'M
discovered places. They were trudg-
ing along the rough mountain road,
bent on adventure.
There was story told by the oldest
inhabitants of the town-aged and
weather-beaten miners-of an old man
who lived in the mountains, in fact,
the mysterious old man was said to
have a cabin on the steepest side OF
old Mount Hero. No one had ever
spoken to this old man, or heard him
speak. He was never seen, save at
night, and then for only moment,
when he would seem to sink into the
earth or rise into the sky, SO sudden
ly would he disappear. And he, so
the story went, had been seen in that
same place, on the side Of Mount Hero
by the first white man to put foot
there and it was thought that he
guarded the entrance to cave filed
with gold
Many, many times had the boys.
Walter, Lincoln and Ellis, stopped at
q little assay office kept by the son OF
OH d6cu u1luC4 " AOOl ONOA CsAAA wa
the story of the old man Of the noun
tains told by the a-5ayer's father. The
story ran something like this (making
allowances for the miners own lang
uage):
when first come to these parts, by
golly, SEE to old Pattem-he'd reach
ed here before me-is there any one
up on that mounting?-meanin' Mount
Hero. An he SEE, SEE he, Yep, there's
a ghost man there. Some folks calls
him q miner; others call him a spook
O. the mounting So sez to myself,
I'll go call on the old gezer. He may
have gold mine, an want a pardner.'
So goes up the steepest side of Mount
Hero, an when about half way up,
lawsy! there raises up befront Of me a
tall, gray old man, lookin' like the
mounting itself. l spoke to him, but
he waved his arm, and said nary a
word. starts to go to him, and by
golly, he goes plum out O. sight. But
I never seen him raise up or stoop
down, nor run away. He was there
and then he wasn't there"
Then the narrator stopped to watch
the effect of his words on his interest
ed young listeners.
Then some one would ask the old
fellow how long since that mysterious
thing had happened. And he would
say. "Perzactly ten year"
And that story was the cause Of our
young friends, Ellis, Walter and Lin
coin, making up their minds to go in
search of the old man Of tho mountain.
And that was their object on the bright
May afternoon of which this story
deals. So they trudged along the noun
tain road, climbing over boulders, los
ing on the sides Of deep precipes and
ing on the sides Of deep precipes and,
at last, losing their path altogether.
simply because the path which had led
from the road, gave out"
eve must be about half way up the
now" said Lincoln, after the
party had climbed till exhausted and
stopped to rest beside little spring
which dubbed out from beneath a
ledge Of rock.
eyes, we can see the town far, far
below, and we are looking at about the
same angle toward the town that we
look from the town to the halfway
point on Mount Hero. Guess we're half
way W luS wy OIL A1Sut. Nv oPoNS
Walter. ...e 4
Then having rested a bit, they start
ed on their way again. They had come
to spend half the night on the
if necessary, wearing heavy
sweaters and carrying their KNAPP
sacks, we'll filled with food, over their
shoulders. Each boy had a good rifle,
thinking to be ready to meet unexpect-
eddy any beast of prey.
The decided they had gone high
enough up the side Of old Mt. Hero
and that the person-or spook- they
sought must be hidden somewhere
about They began their search. polk
ing in and about every crevice in the
rocks and behind boulders and in small
cave mouths. 1t was growing late, the,
sun having dropped behind old Mount
Hero. and the evening shadows we're
deepening in the valley. Mist and
shadow hid the town from the boys