The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1921-02-05
MYSTERY OF
CLAY BALLS
By MARY R. RINEHAKi
(Copyrig ht.)

ttNts''
- the Indian woman had
"a ant of the room for the last
s -. and the remains of the wretched-
pu. sored meal had been cleared away
e VT nm and walked around the
ARE board table. c,r.r
:. ,.ct is, guess I'm dazed at the
W You. But I'm glad-glad to
;. you, old man $50, .,,nnoa rho
mans shoulder affectionately.
4 M nothing else to do" he SAID
-, "The hospital Is always light
no summer, and l thought Ia ike
: - .rnlore something beside abdom-
w. arsare we're three letters In that
,.,ch brought from the post ONCE
w. \, addressed In the same feminine
I.,swriting. | think you'd better go
mack to that girl" .. NAM,
,sssw no asked. Don't you know
wss educated with the one purpose
: doing something with this MINER
n have heard some things, Cart
-.,sbt avoided the other mans eyes,
"a hacked his pipe carefully.
srome into the air" said Ellis sud
-. Tts n queer story, and 1t gets
NV nerves in the house. l some
.'mes think I'm going crazy"
cartwright looked ut the tense lines
.,ound the young engineers mouth,
"a mentally decided to take him
some As they left the hut-it was
.,srcolv something clattered
,rbtly at their feet. Ellis stopped
hastily and, picking up small OBJ
set dropped il into his pocket with
:. assumption of carelessness. Then
n nulled II out again, holding 1t on
4, open palm for his companions In
pection. =,
aWhnt do you make of that| he
MD.
Cartwright looked at the object.
IT looks like ball Of clay. What
aitT'
EIlls silently took the ball, and,
Sacing II on the ground, ramped on
Il As the clay fell apart, he stopped
and picked up something.
there's a piece of silver ore like
Al IN every one Of these balls, and
think this makes the two hundredth.
SuanRe as II may seem, these little
slls are the things which have prac-
rcally nut the mine out of operation,
md | firmly believe IL / don't solve
| he mystery soon. either the Indians
rll XIII me or I'll go crazy. That ore,
you Gee, is unlike any we've found in
! The mine
Cartwright whistled. And the In
dams are superstitious?"
@worse. They are in fear Of their
kes The mines history is bad. Com
uencing with my father. there have
leen dozens of mysterious disappear
,uccg and violent deaths In the last
twenty years.
and every now and then a native
teels ball like this whistle past him
b the workings. If 1t hits his lamp,
VI done for. II 1t misses, the entire
lanch clear for home and pray for a
week. for 1t mostly means another
d0th. ] told them I'd strange the
Ext man who brought me one, SO
they've taken to throwing them at me
ltef dark. Cheerful. isn't it?"
Down over the edge of the cliff.
vhefe the tiny Indian huts were clust-
ssd, shadowy forms were fitting
ueund the fires and sort Of weird
6Aat rose to their ears.
Come In" said Cartwright. This
nhleu ID too eerie for dark night.
W gct some good whisky, and well
"a take drink before we turn In.
ut before we drop the subject, how
y your father ever come to own a
nlne ID this out-of-the-way cornerT
He was doing sorpe work for the
Ngnphical commission, and while he
ns n these mountains some Of the
Indians In the party told him Of this
ma II was partly worked then. but
y vein had disappeared.
He put all his money into II, and
- beginning to get some return.
IN Oh At once his letters stopped.
Iva baby then, and my mother was
eneot frantic. She persuaded one Of
- Mothers to come down here and
a y ind out what had happened
~ - learned was that father had
here one day and was
- The next. Ny uncle stayed two
- managing the mine. which had
80 70 come In pretty well. and try
y md out from the copper-col-
~ devils around what kind Of foul
~ ~ father had met with. Then
~ my uncle's body was found
70 skull crushed In. and beside It
"a piece Of this strange ore.
1here have been three overseers
We here In the last fifteen years,
mere Indians than / have any &C.
s Of. And In every case there was
~ u nendish ore near the body.
~ you, Carly, I'm going slowly
nv"