Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1921-11-03

SIOUX COUN
OF ground, outlined at Intervals VIZ
small stones"
At the head Of the grave lay q large
Smoothly rounded stone. / knelt ant
brushed away some obstinate vine
tendrils, and the letters "B. H." re
vealed themselves, cut deeply and ir
regularly into the slipping face Of the
stone. Below was the half-intelligi
BILE symbol Of the crossed bones.
There was something In the utter
loneliness Of the place TINT caught
my breath sharply. At once had the
FEELING Of q marauder. Here slept the
guardian Of the treasure-and yet In
defiance of him / meant to have IT.
So. too, had Peter-and I didn't know
yet what he had managed to do to
Peter.
With an impatient shiver I got up
quickly from my knees. I whistled to
Crusoe, who was trotting busily about
on mysterious intelligence conveyed to
him by his nose. He ran to me Joy
fully, and I stopped and patted his
warm vigorous body.
Let Bill walk, Crusoe," remarked,
'let him! He needn't be dog In the
manager about the treasure, anyhow
Now came the moment which I hal
been trying not to think about. had
to find the entrance to the cave, and
then go into 1t or part with my own
esteem forever. went and peered
over the cliff. The ledge was there
not an inviting ledge, nor one on
which the unacrobatlcally inclined
would have any impulse to saunter,
but perfectly good ledge, on which
I had not the slightest excuse for de-
Ginning to venture.
There was truly nothing dangerous
about the ledge. It was nearly three
feet wide, and<ha an easy downward
trend. Yet You heard the hungry roar
Of the surf below, and try as you
would not to. caught glimpses Of the
white swirl Of 1t. I moved cautious
", keeping close to the face Of the
Cliff. Crus0e, to my annoyance, sprang
down upon the ledge after me. I had
a feeling that he must certainly trip
me as I picked my way gingerly along.
An angle in the r6ckTa low dark
entrance-way-it was all as Peter had
described 1t. peered in-nothing but
impenetrable blackness. took a hes.
itating step. The passage veered
sharply, as the diary had recorded.
Once around the corner, there would
be nothing but darkness anywhere
Suddenly portentous and overwhelm-
ing, there rose before me the unan.
swered question Of what had become
Of Peter on that last visit to the cave.
Unanswered-and unanswerable ex.
cept in one way: by going in to sec,
Whereas ! had SO far thought prin-
cipally Of the treasure, now began
to think with intensity of Peter. what
,ironic stroke Of fate had cut him down
In the very moment Of his triumph
Had he ever reached the cave to bring
away the last Of the doubloons7 Were
they still waiting there unclaimed1
Had a storm come up on that last
night, and the weakened cable parted.
and the Island Queen gone on the
rocks, drowning Peter in the cabin
with his gold. Then how had Crusoe
got away, Crusoe, who feared the
waves SO, and would bark at them
and then turn tail and rum IN
Speaking Of Crusoe, where was he
q realized that moment ago he had
plunged into. the passage. heard the
patter Of his feet--::a pause. A queer,
dismal little whine echoed along the
passage. heard Crusoe returning
but before his nose appeared around
the angle Of the tunnel his mistress
had reached the top Of the cliff at q.
bound and was vanishing at brisk
pace into the woods.
y With bitterness, as /; pursued my.
way to camp, realized that / was
not a heroine. Here was a mystery
It was the business OF heroine to
solve It. Now that I was safely away
from the cave, began to feel the itch
OF q torturing curiosity. How, with
out going into the terrifying place
alone, should flnd out what was
there? Should I pretend to have ac-
cidentally discovered the grave, lead
the party to 1t. and ther, gain acct
dentally discover the tunnel? This
plan had Its merits but Idiscaried It,
Tor fear that something would be-
found in the cave to- direct attention
to the Island Queen. Then I reflect
ed that very likely the 81 explorers
would work round the island far,
enough to find the sea-montt Of the
gave. This would take matters en-;
4irely out Of my hands. / should per;
1aps be enlightened as to the fate Of
Peter and the last remaining bags Of
dSubloons, but might also have to-
share a. the secret Of the derelict with
the rest. And then all my dreams Of
playing fairy godmother and shower
ing down on certain heads like Goals
Of IRE torrents IS beautiful COLDER
d4ubloons would be over. y