Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1919-10-23

Toms words suddenly flashed over
me. and ! could feel my hair literally
beginning to rise. ''There never was q
buried treasure yet that didn't claim
Its victim" Great God land was to
he the ghost, and keep guard in this
terrible tomb till the next dead man
came along to relieve me of My sentry
duty!
Fruntically turned up the wick OF
my lantern at the thought-but 1t was
no use; 1t wassplainly going out. 4
examined my match box; had still a
dozen or so matches left. And then
my eye fell on that shattered chest.
There were those boards. too. At all
events / could build fire and make
torches Of slivers of wood, so long as
the wood lasted. "
And then l had an idea. Why not
make the fire against the door ut the
end of the gallery, and SO burn my way
through. Bravo! My spirits rose at
the thought. and set to at once-split-
ting some small klndling with my
knife. In n few minutes had quite a
sprightly little fire going Mt the bot.
tom of the door: but | saw that l
should have to be extravagant with
my wood ifthe fire was to be effective.
However, 1t was neck Or nothing; so
l piled on beams and boards till my
fire roared like furnace, and present.
~ l had the Joy of seeing it begin to
take hold Of the door-which, after a
short time, began to crackle and splut-
ter In very cheering fashion.
Whatever lay beyond. it was evil
dent that should soon be able to
break my way through the obstacle,
and, indeed, so 1t proved; for. present
Iy, l used one of the boards as a bat
tering ram. and. to my inexpressible
Joy, 1t went crashing through, with a
shower of sparks. and it was but the
work of few more minutes before the
whole door fell flaming down, and
was able to leap through the doorway
into the darkness on rhe other side.
AS l stood there, peering ahead, and
holding aloft burning stick-which
proved, however, poor substitute for
my lantern-a wonderful sound smote
my ears. / could not believe it, and
my knees shook beneath me. 1t was
the sound of the sea.
Yes, 1t was no illusion. 1t was the
sound that the sea makes singing and
echolng through hollow caves-the
sound heard that night rs stood ut
the moonlit door of Calypso's cavern,
and saw that vision which my heart
nearly broke to remember. Calypso
Oh Calypso! where was she at this
moment? Pray God that she was in.
deed safe, as her father had said. But
had to will her from my mind, to
keep from going mad.
And my poor torch had gone out,
having, however, given me light
enough to see that the door which
had just burnt through let out onto a
narrow platform on the Side of rock
that went slanting down into a chasm
of blackness. through which, as in a
great shell, doomed that murlnuring of
the sen. 1t had perilous ugly look,
and 1t was plain that it would be fool
hardy to attempt 1t ut the moment
without a light; and my fire was
dying down. Besides, l was beginning
to feel light-headed and worn out, part
ly from lack Of food, no doubt.
AS there was no food to be had, 1
recalled the old French proverb, HE
eats who sleeps"-or something to
that effect-and determined to hus-
band my strength once more with a
brief rest. However, as turned to
throw some more wood on my fire
preparing to indulge myself with u
little campfire cheerfulness as l dozed
off-my eyes fell once more. on. that
grim line of locked doors; and my
curiosity, and an idea. made me wake.
full again., I had burned down Zone
door-why not another? Why not, in
deed?
So l raked over my fire to the fam.
lily vault nearest to me, and presently
had it roaring and licking against the
stout door. 1t was. apparently, not SO
solid as the gallery door had been. At
all events, 1t kindled more easily, and
it was not long before l had the Salts
faction of batterlng that down too.
AS l did SO, caught sight of some.
thing in the interior that made me
laugh aloud and behave generally like
mailman. OF course, didn't believe
my eyes-but they persisted in, de.
claring. nevertheless. that there in
front of me was great iron.bound
oaken chest, to begin with. Ii might
not, of course, contain anything but
bones-but 1t might! The thing was
too absurd. must have fallen asleeu
must be already dreaming! But MOI
l was laboring with all my strength ia
open 1t with one Of those rusty cut.
lasses. 1t was u tough job, but nv
strength was as the strength of ten
for the old treasure-hunting :ust was