The Elk Mountain pilot., 1917-10-04

lliuHleu Hllll, no nGlluCln0tlOn now, ne
could swear. He had never expected
to see 1t again. 1t burned itself upon
his eyeballs, that vision of the flaming
eyes and the two dead-white hands
beneath them.
One of the hands raised itself and
traced the letters Of a word upon the
air in luminous letters that fiickered
wavered and disappeared.
Confess !" was written there.
With n groan Sebastian dropped into
chair and put his hands across his
face.
When at last he looked up, the vision
had vanished.
There were quite n few things that
Mr.. Louis Lamb knew. He knew his
name, and also his nickname. zone
Lamp Louie" which had followed him
to Whites Village, Western Canada, in
the way that nicknames do. He knew
that he was prospecting for gold, and
that he was one of an assorted mining
population drawn to that place by the
uncovering of gold deposits following
upon an earthquake. He knew that he
had properly staked out claim, and
that he lived in little shack near by,
remote from the village.
He knew that n scar ran along the
top of his head, and he surmised that
he must have got it in some accident
or brawl. But beyond these elemen-
tary facts his mind was extremely hazy
about his past.
The simple cause of his forgetfulness
was not absence of mind, in its ordi-
nary aspect, but the fact that he had
been struck across the head by fall
ing beam in the cabaret fire.
How Mr.. Lamb had made his way to
Western Canada and engaged in the
prospecting profession, how he had
managed to build up some sort of CO.
herent personality out of the remnants
that We're left uninjured is n matter
for neurologists to explain. Suffice it
that at n certain moment he found him
self staring with unusual interest into
the debris of II pan of earth and
pebbles, which he had washed with
water from mountain stream.
In the bottom of this. in place of the
few cannry-colored flakes that he had
expected to find were three nuggets
.she size of lima beans, lying in little
mound of gold dust.
Louis Lamb emptied them into the
little bag of dust which he wore about
his body. Then he scooped up another
painful of debris and started to wash
it too. But no washing was needed.
Nuggets OF several shapes and sizes
were lying in 1t. And nuggets of va
rious shapes and sizes lay in the gravel
at his feet.
There was no possibility of mistak-
ing what had happened. The recent
seismic disturbances had uncovered an
alluvial deposit washed down through
the course of ages by the streams from
the great lode somewhere in the noun
tain side.
Louie had staked on this angle Of
the river bed, just where the torrent.
sweeping past, had deposited its
wealth, the heavier gold. leaving the
pebbles to strew themselves anywhere
along the rivers further course.
After the first shock of the discov-
cry had passed. he looked cautiously
about him. Nobody was near. Nobody
wanted to spy upon his claim, which
was supposed to be worthless.
He worked with intense secrecy for
weeks, always increasing his store of
gold. which he concealed in hole dug
in the ground beneath the plank floor
of his cabin. Then, somehow, the Sc
cret became common property.
1t was impossible for Louie to keep
it in such place as Whites Village.
Besides. other strikes had been made.
The whole side of the disrupted noun
tain teemed with gold.
Red Finn was interested in the
hermit's mysterious journeys to and
fro between his hut and his claim.
Red had felt" the presence of mon
ey in Whites Village. He had gone to
investigate, and after satisfying him
self that the bees We're gathering in a
store for him, he summoned two or
three of his colleagues at present hid
ing in various remote villages from the
inQuisitivencss of the Northwest
mounted police.
When they arrived, RED" pointed
out Louie's shack and Indicated that
there was probably fortune inside IT.
The hoard had increased to veri-
table fortune when one evening Louie
decided to go downtown. He had his
provisions to purchase; but the in
stinct which had sent him there tool,
him to the railroad depot instead of
to the store. On the platform, waiting
for the train to come in, stood n tall,
well-dresscd, athletic man. with gray
ish hair and n strange look of mystery
upon his face.
"Well, Mr.. Lamb, this is pleasure
said Ravengar.
Louie looked ut him. Il don't know
you; l never saw you before he
growled suspiciously, his mind revert
irarr f..l LII Il