The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1917-04-18

+ 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 by this
| time the Union Pacific railroad was I'M
! der construction and had been complet-
! ed as far west as Laramie. The trav-
! eler went by rail to that point and the
rest of the way by coach.
He stopped in the region where the
two men had disappeared long enough
! to make inquiries; but, nearly two dec
| AIDES having passed since the disap-
| pearance, he did not get even as much
! information as Jenkins had obtained.
| He went on, hoping for better luck in
the matter of the mining property.
Should this prove to be 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 it adjOined 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 IT
! belonged He offered to take the own
ers of the property into his company.
| giving them a block of stock I'm pay
ment, provided the heirs could convey
/ it, giving a clear title.
But it was evident that the heirs
could not give a 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
I TO convey the property.
! Fleetwood was much chagrined to
see a 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 and
report what would be extremely tan
TALKING. 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
/ changed from coach to car.
While making the change be learn
ed that the railroad under construction
had struck a quicksand.
Now, quicksand is not good foun-
dation for railroad. A gang of men
was set to work to get the sand out
of the way, that a solid bottom might
| be obtained. The space occupied by
| the sand was quite deep They had
gone down a few feet when they came
to a mans hat. A little farther down
| they took out a mans body. The next
| thing they came to was a wagon. and
! before the wagon was a pair Of horses
harnessed to it. 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
| engulfed 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 exhumed had
been taken and on going there found
! what had so long been missing. In a
| pocket of the clothing On Winston was
| found leather wallet, in which were
! papers identifying him, together with
a deed for the property he had been
going west to develop when engulfed.
On arriving at home Fleetwood called
together the Winston and Hunter fam
| lilies and made his report. He was
empowered to return to California.
| stop on the way to make proper dispo-
| SitiOn of the eXhumed property and
! the bodies and on arriving at his desti-
| nation accept the offer to add the prop
erty to the adjoining mine. He re-
| turned at once, completed both tasks
and brought home with him certificates
| of stock that yielded an ample income
| for all concerned.
| After the finding of the lost wagons
| how the loss had occurred was made
| somewhat clearer. The wagons for
some unexplained reason had become
| separated. Night had come on when
| the first wagon struck the quicksand.
and if the man driving it had time to
cry out the other, being some distance
| behind, did not hear him. When the
| hinder man came up, his partner being
engulfed, there was nothing to warn
| him.
Alice Winstons share of the property
was larger than Fleetwood seniors
! fortune Consequently there was no
objection on the part of the Fleetwood
! family to a marriage between young
Fleetwood and Alice.
Music.