The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-03-27

tNAhtAt on Ills father and that father
lofplddins match for his son with
poor girl. the prospect before the low
ers was not encouraging.
Horace Fleetwood knew the story of
Aliee's fathers disappearance and
learned that certain property supposed
to contain gold had been inherited by
the Winston and Hunter families.
Allce still chung TO the theory that the
father might return some dav 10 the
enid he had never seen, and il trou-
Died her. Horace. in order to settle her
suspense, conceived the idea of going
to California to kill two birds with one
stone. He would look up the mining
property of Winston X Hunter and on
the way would try TO find out some
thing about their disappearance.
Naturally the heirs Of the partners
Favored the idea. Fleetwood. without
informing his father of his real object.
gained his consent TO the trip and was
furnished with means for his expenses.
Taking papers giving the location of
the property he was To- investigate. he
set out over the same route the part
nerS had taken some seventeen or
eighteen years before. But hy this
time the Union Pacific railroad was I'M
der construction and had been comHct-
ed rs far west as Laramie The tray
cler went 10y rail 10 that point and the
rest of the way 10y coach
IIa stapt,.1 IL, ia, ,.,.si.,,. ,,.t.,,., Al,
two men had disappeared long enough
10 make inquiries; hut. nearly two dec
AIDES having passed since the diSap
pearance, he did not get even us much
information as Jenkins had obtained
He went on, hoping for better luck in
the matter of the mining property.
Should this prove TO I've worth some
thing he proposed to stop on his way
back and make "A strenuous effort to
learn the fate of the father of the girl
he loved.
ON reaching San Francisco Fleet
wood learned where the property was
located and proceeded to its inspection
He found that ii adloined one OF the
most productive mines in California.
The vein this company worked led
into the Winston & Hunter property.
which made the prospective value of
the latter very considerable. Fleet
wood called upon the president OF the
adjoining mine and learned that they
had been DESTROYS for years to buy
the Winston and Hunter property, but
had not been able to find to whom II
belonged. He offered to take the own
ers of the property into his company.
giving them a block of stock In pay
ment. provided the heirs could convey
It, giving clear title.
But II was evident that the heirs
could not give n clear title Not only
had the deed disappeared with the
original owners. but it was not known
If they were dead If they lived they
and not their heirs were the persons
TO convey the property.
Fleetwood was much ehagrined to
see fortune in which the girl he loved
had sufficient interest TO make her rich
kept from its rightful owners. He
could do nothing but return home ana
report what would he extremely tan
talizing. Leaving California. he cross
ed the mountains and proceeded over
the plains by coach SO far as the rail
road had been finished. There he
from coach to car.
While making the change he learn
ed that the railroad under construction
had struck IA quicksand
Now, quckSand is not a good foun-
dation for railroad. \ gang of men
was set TO work To get the sand out
of the way. that solid bottom might
be obtained. The space occupied by
the sand was quite deep. They had
gone down n few feet when they came
to a mans hat. \ little farther down
they took out n mans body. The next
thing they came TO was "A wagon. and
before the wagon was "a pair OF horses
harnessed TO IL. Beneath the horses
were another man and a wagon and In
front of the wagon another pair OF
horses.
Fleetwood at once accepted this as
the true solution Of the mystery The
two men. with their outfit. had been
eusulicd in the quicksand. and. since
the top of "A quickSand gives no more
clew than water as to what Is be
meath. the discovery of what had be-
come Of the men was impossible. Had
the location Of the railroad not been
straight across the burial place the
mystery would never have been solved
Fleetwood at once learned where
that which had been exhumcd had
been taken and on going there found
what had So long been missing In
pocket Of the clothing on Winston was
found heather wallet. in which were
papers identifying him. together with
"a deed for the property he had been
going west to develop when cngufed.
ON arriving AT home Fleetwood called
together the Winston and Hunter fam
lilies and made his report He was
empowered 10 return TO California.
stop on the way TO make proper dispo-
sitiou Of the cXbumcd PROPERTY and