The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1921-04-29
Old Moddington's
Mine
ght.)
By WILL LIsENBEE

ILIJllCIIIG JOC udd sltl uiIip1h - -
drowsiness induced by the tropical
warmth ditfused by the fire of quak-
ing ash that blazeu in the fireplace,
and was snoring audibiy. Jim SUI
livan and Big Abe were playing a
game of pitch. and Arizona Al, who
had just lighted his second pipe since
supper and taken Il drink Of melted
snow from the bucket in the corner,
wiped his mouth with a sigh Of salts
faction.
1.-THE man that crosses Death Valley
once can never turn down water for
any other drink" he remarked, "and
you eau gamble on that. I never told
you OF my search for Old Modding-
tons mine out in the desert, did !?
you didn't know Old Moddington,
Of course Al went on but that don't
matter, for you're a good many drinks
ahead, He had a far average thirst,
and he was pretty near always en-
gagged in lodging anything that resem-
bled work, the boys didn't pay much
attention to his talk about there being
a mine out in the desert.
"About a week later Moddington dis
appeared, and we didn't see anything
of him for Il month. That he went
into Death Valley was pretty well
known, and when he dropped into the
Desert Fountain saloon one day, with
three or four heavy bags of gold mug
untS and fhrnuy thnn1 on TIM floor op1
ordered drinks for every one in the
house, it was very plain that he had
found the mine he had been talking
about.
"AGive every Teller what he wants.
was his order. and bring me four
glasses Of ice water
He took a nugget as big as the end
of your thumb from one O the sacks
and tossed 1t to the barkeeper.
"'You can just let the boys work
through that he said. Then he Went
0ver to the hank and deposited $15, 900
worth Of the stuff.
He had the secret 0f the mine, he
said. and intended to keep it. He got
AAAtA q ~ suit dIIu Il w III
togs to rhyme with it, and he hit. the
road for his old home in the East.
Abb Dingley, an old-timer who had
crossed the desert In search Of a mine,
was in favor Of going ON an expedition
to find MN%ldington's treasure. He had
discovered. he said. that an Indian.
Perrigo. the Navajo, had accompanied
Moddingt0n on his trip.
1.-THE most important bit Of informa-
ton he could give us was that he had
seen MOddington writing something
on a rock.
I'VE ali agreed that this undoubted-
" had something to do with the lOca-
ton of the mine, and w were all In
3 hurry to- bes0A. Before, NE had got
'Ia1f-w6y u the DEVILS Cup the moist
ure had evaporated out OF our bodies
like water through a sieve.
there's 4 little spring at the DEVILS
Cup. and We just fell into IT and siz-
zled like lime a Stacking.
"As soon rs WI had daylight Perrfgo
led us t the big rock on which he had
seen Moddingt0n writing, and Abb ut
tered a regular Comanche yell when
he saw the markings on the rock.
IT'S 4 cipher, boys he Says. 'bus
Il won't be hard to make It out i
1T was simply . lot Of figures cur
In = soft rock with the blade Of n
knife.
well, Abb took what Moddington
had written On tho r0ek and tried q
key, and It worked like = charm. But
It didn't help us to find the mine none,
and we hit the trail bsck homo the
next dry.
"When we got back We found our
that Noddington never. got his gold
In the dessert, but that It HID been left
him by an uncle who had struck q big.
mine IN Alaska and died o. board the
vessel thst was bringing him to Sc
attic with his fortune In geld nuggets.
"So Msddington had worked us,
after al, end the more. we thought
about 4 tn madden we got"
Here the narrator paused and again,
took 4 Tong pull at the melted snow.
"But what was 1t that MOddington
wrote On the rockr" asked Jim Sui.
llvan.
He laid down q greasy, worn card
with the following roughly printed
thereon:
Its = long time between drinks"