The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-05-24
ADeathbed
Promise
BY F. A. Mitchell

Il had hoped my child. SAID Al II
kinson. ito find paying dirt for you
before pegging out, but it is denied me-
If could have left you rich ! would
not now mind handing il my chips
But remember this, my little girl, if
there's any such thing as the dead
helping the living I'll help you.
These were the last words spoken by !
Tom Atkinson to his daughter. Ellen.
He passed into Inconsistencies and
died the same night Ellen had been
with him in the gold fields for years
and had suffered with him one diSap- |
pointment after another till to her they |
were no longer disappointments, but |
expected happenings. But till the very |
last he had expected TO strike 1t rich !
and when he was taken down with his |
last illness believed that he would get |
/ well enough to dig little lower III a |
! hole he was sinking and would strike |
! the continuation of a lead that was
paying handsomely but hundred feet
away. When death came he had not !
! reached the goal and left his child with
| but a small bag of dust, not worth So.
However, Ellen possessed something
she valued more than gold-the heart
! of an honest. energetic young man.
| who was clerking in store not far
from the property on which her father
had done his last digging and where
he had built the cabin in which he and
his daughter lived. Mark HoSmer
married Ellen few days after her ia
I,,1 Ia,t1 -. md fhnV
lived together in the abode the bride
had occupied ever since her father had
been seized with his last mfatua
tion.
Hosmer was willing to work, but the
district was not producing the gold
that had been expected, and sales in
the store were running down. His sal
airy had been reduced and had reached
point where they found it difficult to
make ends meet. One 0ight when
Mark came home from work he told
his wife that he feared his employer
was about to discharge him and do all
the work himself. since the business
would not warrant an assistant.
At 2 o'clock the next morning Ellen
awakened her husband and asked him
If he heard anything unusual. After
listening he said that he did not and
asked her why she had asked the
question She replied that every now
and again she had heard sound like
earth thrown from shovel.
$50 to sleep, my dear" he replied
"You lived so many years In the sound
of dirt thrown out of holes In the
ground that it has got on your nerves"
The next night Ellen fancied she
heard the same sound. but. since Mark
had not heard 1t and thinking she
would trouble him by calling his atten-
, ton to what he seemed to consider a
crick in her brain, she did not wake
him. But she listened herself. She
would hear the sound, apparently not
far from the house, of shovelful of
earth thrown on 1.-THE ground. Then
all was silent. In few minutes she
y would hear another shovelful tossed
q it seemed to her, from below, as
T. though some one were digging in a
trench. Once or twice she thought she
{, heard pick strike stone, but of this
she was not sure. She could not 10
cate the sounds. but 1t seemed to hei
y that they came from corner of the
a lot In rear of the cabin.
:. She was tempted the next morning
h to tell her husband that she had heart
). the sounds repeated, but refrained
,, realizing that he would think some
thing had gone wrong with her. Al
n soon as he had departed for the store
Il she went out to the rear of what wa
p n four acre lot, half expecting TO fine
n that some claim Jumper had been dig
d ging for gold. No sign of earth thrown
,r up appeared
\ There was n thick underground sep
N arating her from where she had seem
d ed to hear the sounds, and passini
" through 1t she came to the extrem
:. corner Of the lot. The ground wa
s. lust as it had always been. The SUI
face was uneven, and n ledge of re-
stone a few feet high furnished cor
Dr yenient seat. She sat down on 1t an
idly picked up loose piece of tn
ly stone, Examining 1t, she noticed tina
n. it presented rather singular appear
r. | ance. Her father had often shown he
lie | SuCl pieces ol oIt' "hiNh' HS SUN
d. were very rich in gold.
D Ellen took the fragment TO the cabl
ne and put it in her bureau drawer; theT
al taking her fathers pick and shove
10 she went back to the spot from whic
she had taken the stone and began
1T dig.
no Since the place was concealed b
as underground. Mark did not notice tn
lis exc ration. Ellen. who had had Ion
a exI once in the appearance OF or
dug OF '0 she came to something th'
Mt looked 1rth examination. Takiu
no specimens. the next day, instead of di
ging, she carried them to an assayer.
One evening when Mark came hon
nd from work looking distressed on a
Dr. count of the dullness of trade, whiC
foreboded his discharge. Ellen thre
he her arms around his neck, exclaiming
he Mark we are rich!
ge What do you meanT
a Come and see"
nd She took him to the hole she had d.
Tvs and. picking up piece of ore. to
100 him that she had had a specimen fro
ad the place assayed and it had SHOW
5000 to the ton.
a How came you" he asked. Ito d
,st- here?"
re- Bowling her head reverently, she tc
,ys him tina. per father had guided b
,or, ami when he asked how she remind
the him of tive dying promise and
sounds she had heard at night.