The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-06-06
A Deathbed
Promise
By r. A. Mitchell

klnS0n. 10 HHu pdy1uS uiAl lOH gou
before pegging out, but 1t is denied me.
II / could have left you rich | would
not now mind handing in my chips.
But remember this, my little girl, II
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 In
hole he was sinking and would strike
paying handsomely but hundred feet
away. When death came he had not
reached the goal and left his child with
but small bag OF dust, not worth $50.
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 a few days after her ia
Their had been laid to rest, and they
lived together in the abode the bride
had occupied ever since her father had
been seized with his last infatua-
ton.
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 1t difficult to
make ends meet One, Aight 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
| II 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 a sound like
earth thrown from a shovel.
go 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 It and thinking she
would trouble him by calling his atten.
ton to what he seemed to consider q
crick in her brain, she did not wake
him. But she listened herself. She
would hear the sound, apparently moi
far from the house, of shovelful OF
earth thrown on the ground. Then
all was silent. In a few minutes she
would hear another shovelful tossed
1t seemed to her, from below, as
though some one were digging in @
trench. Once or twice she thought she
heard a pick strike a stone, but Of this
she was not sure. She could not 10
cate the sounds, but 1t seemed to hei
that they came from a corner Of the
lot in rear of the cabin.
She was tempted the next morning
to tell her husband that she had heard
the sounds repeated, but refrained
realizing that he would think some
thing had gone wrong with her. Al
soon as he had departed for the store
she went out to the rear of what wal
four acre lot, half expecting to fin(
that some claim Jumper had been dig
ging for gold. No sign of earth thrown
up appeared.
There was thick underground sep
arating her from where she had seem
ed to hear the sounds, and passing
through It she came to the extrem'
corner Of the lot The ground wa
Just as 1t had always been. The sur
face was uneven. and ledge of re'
stone a few feet high furnished con
venient seat She sat down on 1t an'
idly picked up a loose piece Of tn
stone. Examining 1t, she noticed tina
| it presented rather singular appear
ance. Her father had often shown he
, such pieces Of ore, which, he said
J were very rich in gold.
Ellen took the fragment to the cabu
+ and put it In her bureau drawer; then
! taking her fathers pick and shovel
} she went back to the spot from whicl
( she had taken the stone and began t
| dig,
I Since the place was concealed b.
underground, Mark did not notice tn
!, excavation. Ellen. who had had lon
/ experience In the appearance OF ore
8 dug on till she came to something tina
: looked worth examination. Takin
specimens. the next day, instead Of dis
0 cling, she carried them to an assayer.
: One evening when Mark came HON
q from work looking distressed on AZ
|. count of the dullness Of trade, whic
foreboded his discharge. Ellen thre'
s her arms around his neck, exciaiming'
], Mark, we are rich!'
q what do you meanT
Come and see."
n She took him to the hole she had du
d and. picking up piece of ore. tol
le him that she had had a specimen frol
Ie the place assayed and Il had show
5000 to the ton.
n How came you" he asked, Ito d
,e here"
Bowling her head reyerently, she to
(. him that her father had guided he
b. and when he asked how she remind
10 him of the dying promise and u
sounds she had heard at night