Gilpin observer., 1915-10-07
! lay perfectly still but alert. And

j lay perfectly Still but alert. And
presently l saw the black man, out
of the corner of my eye, lay fiat on
his back, and very soon he snored.
Good! The black man was disposed
of. Now what would the white man
do?
THE other specimen tainted in the
same way" heard the scientist MUIR
mur. Soon he will recover-and we
shall have to feed him well-oh, very
well-provided he lives"
! watched him, still playing pos
sum. He arose, took good look at
me so as to make sure that l was
really unconscious. Then he crept
away-away through an aperture in
the grass wall that served as doorway
to the adjoining room. He crept
into that adjoining apartment with
such stealthiness as to arouse my Gu
riosity. What was he doing there? 1
determined to see what that old in
sane rascal was up to.
Cautiously l crept to the aperture
and peered in. l saw the old man lift
heavy, fiat stone, which served, l
could see, as covering for hole
III the ground. From this hole in the
ground he took an old-fashioned earth
en- pot. He dipped his hand into the
vessel, but before drawing the hand
out again with whatever contents the
pot contained he looked all round, as
if in terrible fear of being spied upon
at his stealthy task. / quickly with
drew from the aperture and waited.
Presently l again peered into the ad-
joining room and saw that the pot
contained gold. Yes, nuggets galore
were pouring through the hands Of the
scientist. He viewed the golden Jumps
gloatingly. And it dawned upon me
that here was not only mad scientist,
but also very insane miser.
The nuggets convinced me. however,
that, surely enough, as l and my
friends had guessed, the mountain
roundabout contained gold-and free
gold at that. For surely the madman
did not mine" for this treasure in
the exact sense of mining. He prob
ably found the gold free" in the rock,
in the form of the nuggets he now dis
played. 1t was further evident that
he alone possessed the secret of the
gold. The black man was in ignorance
of the source of the wealth and of this
boarded wealth itself Otherwise, why
should the madman seize upon the mo-
ment when the negro slept to examine
his secret treasure and gloat over 1t?
But now another thought came to
me. Why did l waste this precious
time spying on the old man, when GER
tainly an avenue of escape was open
escape not only for me, but for the
beautiful young woman in the cage.
With extreme caution now l turned
from the aperture and crossed the
room, passing around the sleeping me-
gro. and out into the clearing. Like
the wind / sped to the cages and to
the girl.
Quick" cried. Help me. Now
! is our chance for freedom" And l
strained like very Hercules at the
bars of her cage.
Get a strong club" she said. You
can't do it with your hands. The bars
are very tough"
l found big stick which l could
use as a lever. and forthwith l pried
apart the bars Of the girls cage.
She stepped forth in all her lowell
| ness and ran into my arms as into the
embrace of long-lost brother
Save me, oh, save mel" she plead
ed Let us fly before they discover
our escape"
Into the forest we darted, and on
and on, till at last she stepped on a
thorn and cried from the hurt of it.
Her feet we're bare, while was we'll
shod. thought OF offering her my
boots. But realizing that they would
be so big for her as to be cumbersome
and thus impede her progress. shed
my coat, tore 1t in half and made it
into two bags for her feet, holding
the bags on by tying them with strips
OF cloth torn from the coat sleeves.
Then on we sped. till suddenly she
cried:
| "I isteni They are comiDpi"