The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-03-06
"Gold.' he said again, huskily,; in

Cold he said again, huskily, in
credulously. ~.
So he had found gold at last. He
stood up holding the nuggets in his
open hand-the dream Of fabulous
wealth enthralled him. His very soul
gloated on his riches. So dazed was
he that his mind failed to grasp the
significance of something that his
eyes rested upon. Then what at first
seemed to a huge moss-covered boul-
der resolved itself into a hut-small
dilapidated, but a human habitation
with the door ajar.
For a moment Copeland's heart
stood still. The significance of it came
to him. Someone else had prior claim
the gold was not his. A chaos Of
thoughts hurried through his mind. He
had obeyed a dream, he reasoned, he
thing for him here and he accepted the
message; the find must be for him. An
evil mood came upon the man, a fierce
hatred for anything, that threatened
his possession. Stealthily he ap-
preached the shack, not knowing ex-
actly what he intended to do He
paused at the door and listened. There
was no sound. Then he stepped swift
ly in.
In the center of the small, low chair
and half lying across table was {
human skeleton.
Copeland heard himself laugh aloud
So this was his rival! Dust lay thicl
and unmarked upon everything. Thru
small window the sunlight entered
the room, throwing a broad, white
shaft across the table, the floor, anf
the time stained walls; the little par
ticles in the dust shOne with brides
cent light But the heap of bones la!
untouched by the sunlight glory.
Something of pity stirred in Cope
lands heart The echoes of his laugl
rang in his ears unpleasantly. He wen
over to the table and stood looking
down at the figure. The arms were
thrown out across the table, and unde
the bony fingers of one hand was /;
little heap of nuggets.
AS he leaned closer Copeland acc;
ientally pushed the table, Earring tn
skeleton. There was rattle, ant
something fell to the floor. He re
;oiled for a moment then stopped ant
picked up a knife. The blade was
usted and discolored, almost to the
handle.
The meaning of it came to Cope
and with shock. The man had bee1
murdered. Swiftly his mind recon
structed the probable scene: the MAJ
lad had a partner; perhaps, after tho
discovery of the gold they had qual
'eled, or perhaps this man had bee,
the original discoverer; perhaps h
had sat here glOating over the mug
gets; an interloper had appeared am
determined to stake the claim himself
Copeland's mind pictured the new
conner stealthily entering the house t.
spring upon his victim!
And then new thought came t
him. The knife dropped from hi
ingers as the horror of this though
filed him. For he saw himself
the interloper-saw himself as, will
fierce resentment in his heart, he ha'
;tealthily approached the house i.
which he had supposed living person
to be. What would he have done h
questioned, if a living man had sat a
the table there Turning, he wen
softly out of the hut, and sat dowl
upon the crumbling doorstep to think
What was the message that thu
little tree had whispered in his dream
Tor it seemed to him that he under
stood what it was that he was to find
here where the pine had pointed. HI
saw that a sort of madness had fallel
upon him, which might have led hin
to do a terrible thing. He saw tina
the greed for gold was working evi
| IN his SOUL and that his better natur
was being gradually buried under tn
| selfishness of his quest.
The morning sunlight was over tn
| hills, giving radiance to wavin
grass and the white stone piles, tn
| stream that came out of the rock
| dubbed and murmured pleasantly
| Where it dubbed lay grains of golc
| telling of some UNEMPLOYED vein of tn
| precious metal. Copeland sat think
| inc. At his feet, the grey-green gras
| was dotted with hill flowers, Oddl
| reminiscent of children he had playe
with in his childhood days. He smi
ed to himself as he examined shat
Of tiny blue bells; he and Sylvestr
had gathered just such flowers on tn
knobs at home; he had not though
of Sylvestre for years. A little pin
flower reminded him of another Ion
forgotten playmate.
The voice of the bubbling sprin
seemed to grow louder, whispering 81
ductively of the great things tina
might be done with gold, of the tr
umph of returning as the great ma
of the village. But Copeland was wal
dering just then in a COOL dim forest
a little girl in blue-checked apron ha
taken his hand and whispered, ha
frightened, that maybe they were lost
then, just as their hearts began
beat fast, they had found little Gov
path; he could hear himself sayin
eagerly:
This is the path we started o,
on
i Copeland could feel the joy and COZ
tent that welled up in his heart {
with his companion he had run fa