The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-02-06
An Ingenious
Mark
By EDITH '. ROSS

Nathan Hartwell. fifty years ago q
prospector in the gold regions Of Colo
! RADIO, entered a tavern n evening at
! b. in u very excited state. A couple
Of men standing at the bar noticed
him and heard him ask the landlord
for writing materials. These he took to
q table aud sat down to write a letter.
do you know what's the matter
with himy' asked n Of his observers.
mo. l don't"
Hes struck u bonanza. There's
nOthin' else In this here country to
affect q man like that. I've Seen men
In that tix before aud know the symp-
tOMs."
"Well:"
"weII. I think there's somepin in it
for Ill.,"
"HowY"
I'VE can keep an eye on him. zee
where his claim Is located and jump
It,"
At that moment one Of the conspira.
tors noticed a man reading n newspa.
per by a window and put his finger OH
his lip. The two emptied their glasses
and went Out. Az soOn as they had
done 80 the man reading the newspa-
per arose aud. going to HurtwelI, said:
My friend. | overheard those two
men talking about you. and | wish to
warn yOu.' Then he told Hartweil
what hp had heard. Hartwell appear
ed to be very much affected by the in-
formation. He thanked the stranger.
hut said nothing about the truth Or
fulsity Ut the conspiratOrs' surmise.
Hurtwell had struck Il 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
mel laid claim to the place where hp
WAS supposed to le digging. hut. find
ing nothing. they Don abandoned it.
Mabel HHrtwpli had been posted by
her father nv to his fears Of losing
his property. and he had given her
some idea AZ 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.
Az suol az she had been informed Of
her fathers death she determined to
~ wpst with u view to claiming his
mine.
When she reached the Scene of her
! fathers efforts she first made inquiries
for the conspirator~. hut they had left
and no One knew where they had
gone. Mabel had the good sense to
realize that It would liz difficult tn
| find and punish them. and even IL she
did it wound not bring her father
hack to life. She knew that he had
been very DESTROYS that she should
have the property he had discovered
aud set about to find 1t.
Alone she visited the lUratiOn that
he had given her. She found 1t IN Il
canyOn shut in on either side by high
mountains. There was Il house at the
mouth Of the canyon. where she Oh
tninpd 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 1t. Neverthe-
less. not ,Ong before his death Hart
we'll had written her that he was
trying t. find some mark hy which In
case anything should happen tn him
be- might show her and her alone the
xac spit under which lny the rich
vein 1T ore he had discovered. for h.
had Obliterated all trace Of his mine.
Mabel hoped that her father had hir
upon some mark that only she would
understn nd. l,lt had been stopped from
communicating It IT, her ny his sudden
taking away. Her experience had
made her suspicious Ut every one. and
she dare not take any person with her.
Fortunately 1t was summer. ami the
weather IA line. She made daily
sta r.hes in the canyon. which. though
hut Il mile In length. was very rugged
and hard to get over.
One day sie came to y rN.k on which
she was much, astonished to fnd her
own name. "Mabel." carved In rude
letters. Beneath wns an arrow and
beneath the arrow u dute-July II.
There was no year given. only the
month and day of the month. Nat.
uraily Mnl,el turned her glance IN the
direction the arrow pointed. The first
object in line vas u perpendicular
rOck. very thin. itx Untline i,eing like
a sugar loaf. Indeed. one side Ut 1t
WIZ an edge like Mn M. Oln parts of
which were not over 4 foot Thick.
Mabel fell to thinking ~ the prob
lem. The arruY appeared to le In
tended tn direct her attention to tie
thin Hide Ut the RICK. which wis d.
rpctiy In line with II. What did the
date mean: The dizzy Mabel found the
sign wis the M:Nth Ut June. Her IN.
ther had lpen dead nearly \ year. nav
ing hepu murdered On the 18th Ut
July. thrp. days after the carved date.
Mnl,pl examined the thin rsm.k careful.
~ and found thnt u hole half IN Inch
In diameter had lsppn drilled through
its thinnesst part. Mnlxl ut once infer
rod that his hole had something tO dO