The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-12-14
TheGirla
Horse and
a Dog
By
FRANCIS LYNDE
CHAPTER XII.
Around Robin Hoods Barn.


better than bride path through the
forest. and which. for the time, kept
It's level on the slope, neither ascend
ing nor descending.
How about IL, Daddy?' / asked.
Where does this trailAgoT'
Give it time enough. it comes out
at the old Haversack, on Greaser
mountain
ENDS there you meanT
You said 1t; far as know. it ends
there" !.
What is the Haversack?"
at amt nothin', now. Used to be
gold prospect eight r ten year ago.
Never got far enough along to be
mine, they tell me-"
II was certainly singular that the
dog should be leading us to an aban-
doned mining project, but Barney
seemed to know perfectly well where
he was going.
In one of the guIch headings there
was a patch Of wash sand in what was,
in wet weather, a runway for water,
/ but which was now only streamless
| 'rayine with a few damp spots in it.
Here Daddy called a halt, and while
the dog sat down and yawned at US
! and otherwise manifested his impa-
thence at the delay, the old man gath
sered a few pine-cones and twigs,
struck a match and lighted fire, eau
fioning me meanwhile not to walk on
the damp sand patch.
/ hadn't the slightest idea of what
he was driving at, and he didn't ex-
plain; but after the fire had blazed
up enough TO light the surroundings a
bit, he went down upon his hands and
knees and began to give an imitation
of a man hunting for a dropped piece
of money. Its sort o. queer. Jeanie's
been here, and the dogs been back and
across a couple o. times, as you .can
see. But Fullerton hasn't crossed here.
There's only the one set o. tracks"
We made wider search, with a
dead pine branch for a torch but
| found no other tracks; in fac, the
gulch was quilted so deeply above and
below that there was no other prac-
tieable crossing-place for a horse. If
f Jeanne had headed for the gulch--ann
me hoof prints in the sand, and
Daddy's identification of them seemed
/ to prove this past any question OF
| doubt-she had headed it alone. But
why had she been riding alone into
the depths of this uninhabited noun
tain wilderness?
Calm and self-contained as he usual
| " was. could see, or rather feel, that
Daddy Hiram was growing increasing
/ " nervous as we pushed on. / didn't
| blame him so far from it, | was shar
ing the nervousness in full measure.
| What were we going to find at the
| end of the trail?
1t must have been at least two miles
| beyond the damp sand patch that the
/ dim trail we had been Following ended
/ abruptly at the abandoned mining
claim spoken of by Daddy Hiram-the
Haversack. The starlight was bright
enough to show us what there was to
be seen. which wasn't much; couple
/ of tulnbIe-down shaeks, a shed that
/ had probably been the prospectors'
blacksmith shop, and tunnel mouth
| that had once been securely boarded
up, but from which the bulkheading
was now partly fallen away
Once more Daddy hunted for a dead
pine branch and lighted a torch. The
| shacks were empty, of course, and
while we did not go into the tunnel,
we could see, through the broken bulk
heading, that IL was half filed with
| caved-in earth and broken stone. Tn
derfoot there was only the coarse
troop of cavalry might have passed
over 1t without leaving any visible
| trail. Worse than all, Barney, the pie
faced collie, appeared now TO be COM
i pletely at fault. He was running
| around In circles with his nose 70 the
ground; pretty plain indication thar
he had lost the trail.
"Pll be bat-clawed and owl-hooted
/ If l know what-a1l to do next" Daddy
puzzled
/ He hadn't any the best of me there,
and 1t was precisely at this point that
the split-faced dog took it into his
head TO add another snarl TO the knot
ted tangle. After galloping around all
over the place half a dozen times,
shifting at everything in sight he had
finally come to a stand with his nose
at crack In the tunnel boarding. The
next instant he had leaped through
the hole where the planks had fallen
away, and presently we heard him
whining and scratching behind the
bulkhead.
| don't know about Daddy Hirams
heart but / do know that mine was
doing f1ip-fiaps and hack somersaults
when we ran up To see what the dog
had found in the tunnel. For half
second after Daddy thrust his torch
through the hole I was afraid to look
scared stiff at the thought of what