Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1922-03-02
Around Robin floods Barn,

SASASs /
''What is the Haversack?" si
ut amt nothin', now. Used to be a
gold prospect eight r ten year ago.
Never got far enough along to be 4
mine. they tell me-" &.
1t 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. a.
In one Of the gulch headings there
was q patch Of wash sand in what was,
in wet weather, a runway for water,
but which was now only streamless
ravine with few damp spots In 1t.
Here Daddy called halt, and while
the dog sat down and yawned at US
and otherwise manifested his impa-
thence at the delay, the old nan gath
cred q few pine-cones and twigs,
struck "a match and lighted fire. eau
tioning me meanwhile not to walk on
the damp sand patch.
I 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 q
bit, he went down upon his hands and
knees and began to give an imitation
Of q man hunting for q dropped piece
Of money. Its sort o queer. Jeanie's
been here, and the dogs been back and
across couple o times, as you can
see. But BNllertOn hasn't crossed here.
There's only the one set o tracks"
We made . wider search, with q
dead pine branch for q torch, but
found no other tracks; in fact, the
gnlch was quilted 80 deeply a&ove and
below that there was no other prac-
ticable crossing place for q horse. Il
Jealje had headed for the gulch-and
the hoef prints In the sand, and
Daddy's Identification Of them seemed
to prove this past any question Of
doubt-she had headed 1t alone. But
why had she been riding alone into
the depths Of this uninhabited noun
tain wilderness?
Calm and self contained as he usual.
ly was, ! could see, o. rather feel, that
Daddy Hiram was growing increasing
~ nervous as we pushed on. didn't
blame him; so far from 1t, / was shar-
ing the nervousness IN full measure.
What were we going to find at the
end Of the traflf
It must have been ut least two miles
beyond the damp sand patch that the
dim trail we had been following ended
abruptly 1t 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 tulnb!e~down shacks, a shed that
had probably been the prospectors'
blacksmith shop. and tunnel mouth
that had once been securely boarded
up, hut from which the bulkheading
was now partly fallen away. 7,
once mere h,addy hunted for a dead
pine branch and lighted . torch. The
shacks were empty, Of course, and
while We did not 60 into the tunnel,
we could, see, through the broken bulk
heading, that it was half filled with
caved-in earth and broken stone. I'M
derfoet there was only the coarse
gravel Of the tunnel spoil, and full
troop Of cavalry might have passed
over it without leaving any visible
trail. Worse than. all, Barney, the pie
faced collie, appeared now to be COM
pletely at fault. He was running
around in circles with his nose TO the
ground; pretty plain indication that
he had lost the trail.
I'LL be bat-clawed and owl-hooted
IL know what-all 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 sharl to the knot
ted tangle. After galloping around all
over the place half dozen times,
shifting ut 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 Hiram's
heart. but do know that mine was
doing flip-flaps and back somersaults
when we ran up to see what the dog
had found in the tunnel. For q half.
second after Daddy thrust his torch
through the, hole was afraid to look
scared stiff ut the thought of what
might see. When l did look, ] saw the
dog digging frantically at the heap Of
cayed-in earth, and, of course to my
disordered Imagination, the hole In
which he Mas burrowing transformed
itself at once into: a newly made grave
.'Good God!"ifI gasped; and then;
Look, Daady-right under your
i torch /" 4 !
He looked and staggered back, and
would have dropped the blazing pine
branch If hadn't caught it from his
hand. For what he saw. and what j
had seen, was the unmistakable print
- il| = TX