The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1914-02-05
An ingenious
Mark
By EDITH V. ROSS

him and heard him ask the lahcIoru
FOR writing materials. These he TOOK 10
a table and sat down to write letter.
.Do YOU know what's the matter
with him." asked one of his observers.
NO, | don't
Hes struck bonanza. Ihere
nothin' else in this here country 10
affect a man like that I've seen men
in that fix before and know the symp-
toms
"Well:"
well. I think there's somepin in it
for us
How
1--WE can keep An eye on him. see
where his claim is located and jump
it,"
At that moment one of the consplra-
tors noticed a man reading a newspa-
per by window and put his finger on
his lin, The two emptied their glasses
and went out. As soon as they hau
done so the man reading the newspa-
per arose and, going to Hartwell, said:
MY friend. l overheard those two
men talking about you. and ! wish 10
warn YOU" Then he told Hartwel
what he had heard. Hartwell appear
ed to be very much affected by the In
formation. He thanked the stranger.
but said nothing about the truth or
falsity of the conspiratOrs' surmise.
Hartwel had struck a rich vein OF
ore and was writing TO his daughter,
Mabel. in the east to announce the
fact
One day Hartwell was found dead
near the hole he was pretending to
work. Not long after his death two
men laid claim to the place where he
was supposed to be digging. but, find
ing nothing. they soon abandoned 1t.
Mabel Hartwell had been posted by
her father as to his fears of losing
his property, and he had given her
some idea as to the location. But the
exact spot was unknown to her, her
father not daring to state it. fearing
that his letter might be interrupted.
As soon as she had been informed of
her fathers death she determined to
go west with a view to claiming his
mine.
When she reached the scene Of her
fathers efforts she first made inquiries
for the conspirators, but they had left
and no one knew where they had
gone. Mabel had the good sense to
realize that it would be difficult TO
find and punish them, and even if she
did it would not bring her father
back to life. She knew that he had
have the property he had discovered
and set about to lind it.
Alone she visited the location that
he had given her. She found it in
canyon shut in on either side by high
mountains. There was house at the
mouth OF the canyon, where she OBJ
tanned lodgings and set out to try
to discover the mine. But she had
little hope. for, knowing that her ia
Their had been watched. she inferred
that he would not mark ii. Neverthe
less. not long before his death Hart
well had written her that he was
trying to find some mark by which in
case anything should happen to him
he might show her and her alone the
exact spot under which lay the rich
vein Of ore he had discovered, for he
had obliterated all trace of his mine.
Mabel hoped that her father had hit
upon some mark that only she would
understand, but had been stopped from
communicating ii to her by his sudden
COL
made her suspicious of every one. and
she dare not take any person with her.
Fortunately it was summer, and the
weather was fine. She made daily
searches in the canyon, which, though
but a mile in length, was very rugged
and hard to get over.
One day she came to a rock on which
she was much astOnished to find her
own name, Mabel" carved in rude
letters. Beneath was an arrow and
beneath the arrow a date-July 10.
There was no year given. only the
month and day Of the month. Nat
urally Mabel turned her glance in the
direction the arrow pointed. The first
object in line was a perpendicular
rock. very thin, its outline being like
sugar loaf. Indeed. one side Of 1t
was an edge like an ak, some parts Of
which were not over a foot thick.
Mabel fell to thinking on the prob
lem. The arrow appeared to be in
tended to direct her attention to the
thin side of the rock, which was di-
rectly in line with II. What did the
date mean? The day Mabel found the
sign was the Goth of June. Her ia
ther had been dead nearly a year, hav-
ing been murdered On the 18th Of
July, three days after the carved date.
Mabel examined the thin rock careful
ly and found that q hole half an inch
in diameter had been drilled through
its thinnest part Mabel at once infer
red that this hole had something to do
with the date inscribed with the arrow
and her name
The date carved on the rock would
come around in two weeks, and Mabel
resolved to wait and look through the
drilled hole on the day mentioned. She
did not need to look through 1t, for on
that day the sun sent it's light through
1t, making a spot on the ground some
thirty feet distant. Mabel, hopeful.
marked thp snot wont awav apd how