The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1916-08-29
BY
Harold Bindloss
Copyright 1914
~ .. a stokes GO
1.-THE Secret of the Reef"
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without u ticket Clay waa also en-.
gaged IN beating bis passage. and !
found him enjoying long drink
from the locomotive tank We were
confronted with the Aproblem Of
how To cross n hundred miles Of
arid desert on n Joint capital OF
two dollars. Clay got over the first
difficulty by making waterbaR out
OF some railroad rubber shooting
which he borrowed while went
around the Fettioment In search OF
proYiHions. | got some, and nj aid.
night We hid beside the track. wait.
ing for freight train 10 pull out.
The brakeman had trick Of look
Ing round the cars before they
made a start a man almost tod
on us as he ran along the line. but
Just afterward the engine bell rang.
and Clay stood up 10 push back one
OF the big sliding doors while I
held the food and water The run.
nern were stuff. the train began 10
move, when ho opened the door
a few inches had % tfot: and by
the time he could crawl thru. Il
was too late for me 10 get up
Then. with a haxy recollection tina,
he had long way 10 20, | threw
the food and water into the car "
That was Just like you" Ruth
exclaimed with a flush Of pride.
y Imagine IL was largely due TO
absence OF mind. felt sorry for
myself when ! stood bet tween the
ties and watched the train vanish
into the dark what made Il worse
was that Of the Joint two dollars
only nifty cents was his"
When did you meet him again ?"
Several years afterward IN San
Francisco. He seemed 10 be pros
pering. and my luck had not been
good. Thru him I entered the ser.
vice Of the Alaska Commercial com.
pany. That. OF course. was before
the klondyke rush. and the A. c. c.
ruled the frozen North"
1T was in Alaska that you were
first fortunate. wasn't it, You have
never told me much about the
mine you found"
Osborne looked as II the reeol.
lection was unpleasant. but he sas
that she Was Interested. and he
generally INDUCED her
We'll" he said. ~ was an un.
lucky mine from the beginning
and ! was not the first TO find II.
bad been some years In the com.
pany'H service when I was sent a.
agent 10 one OF their factories. II
was situated on lonely coast. and
the climate was severe.
a small bark came up once or
twice year. and my business was
io trade with the Indians for furs.
Even ia those days. IL Vas inspect.
"a that there was gold in Alaska.
lot the A. &. G. did not encourage
prospecting. and the roughness Of
the country made II almost impos.
siblc for a stranger 10 traverse
Still. a few proapectors somehow
made their way into II. and prob
ably died. for they were seldom
seen after their first appearance.
n, was late In the fall when one
arrived with two Aleut Indians In
a akin canoe. never learned
whers he came from. nor how he
got so far. but he told us he meant
to locate a miro he had heard
about He went off. and that was
the last we saw of him until the
following summer.
Then I made a journey inland
to visit a tribe which had brought
in no furs. and one night We made
camp among r patch Of ALLOWS.
'. hon ve were gathering wood !
saw that the larger bushes had
been hacked down. and thought II
lad been done by a white man.
The next morning we found bits
oI charred sticks whore a fire had
cen lighted. That led Us TO follow
up the creek We had camped by.
snd presently we found the man
Va no had made the fire"
Desdi" Ruth exclaimed.
lie had been dead for months
All that WAS left was clean
picked skeleton bleached BY the
snow. and few rags OF clothes
Tbe significant thing was that the