The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1922-01-13
CHAPTER XII.
Around Robin Hoods Barn.

r
After we had covered possibly two
OF the four miles between the CHINA
bar and the railroad station, the dog
branched or to the left along the
mountain on q road that was little
better than bride path through the
forest, and which, for the time, kept
Its lsvel on the slope, neither ascend
ing nor descending.
How about II. DaddyTs asked.
"Where does this trail go7~
"Give 1t time enough, II comes out
at the old Haversack, on Greaser
mountain"
'sEnds there, you meanf'
''You said It far as know, II ends
there
.What Is the Haversack7"
ut amt nothin', now. Used 10 be q
gold prospect eight r ten year ago.
Never got far enough along to be a
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.
In one of the gulch headings there
was patch Of wash sand in what was,
In wet weather, runway for water,
but which was now only q streamiess
ravine 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-
tience at the delay, the old man gath
cred a few pine-cones and twiss,
struck match and lighted o 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 en-.
plain; but after the fire had bia7ed
up enough to light the surroundings Q
bit. be went Down upon his hands and
knees and began 20 give an imitation
Of man hunting for dropped piees
OF money. sIsss sort O. queer. Jeanie's
been here, and the dogs been back and
across couple q times, as you car
see. But Bullerten hasn't crossed here
There's only the one set q tracks,n
We made wider search, with Q
| dead pima branch for torch. bui
| found no other tracks; In fact, the
gulch was quilted 90 deeply oboye ane
| below that there was no other prae
ticabis crossing place for horse Il
Jeanie had headed for the gulch--ant
the hoof prints In the sand, ant
Daddy's Identification OF them seemed
to prove this past any question o
| tioubt--she had headed 1t alone. Blu
why had she been riding alone Int
the depths OF this uninhabited noun
/ tain wlldernessf
| Calm and self-contained as he usual
" was, l could see. or rather feel, tina
Daddy Hiram was growing increasing
iy nervous as we pushed on. iidn'
blame him so far from 1t, was shar
ing the nervousness In fan measure
What were we going to find at tn
end of the trailf
1t must have been at least two mile
beyond the damp sand patch that tn
dim trail we had been following ende,
abruptly at the abandoned minini
claim spoken Of by Daddy Hiram III
Haversack. The starlight was brigh
enough to show us what there was /
be seen. which want much; coupl
OF tuinb.e-down shacks. a shed tina
had probably been the prospeetor.
blacksmith shop. and tunnel mout
that had once been securely boarde
up, but from which the bulkheadin
was now partly fallen away.
II Once more Daddy hunted for dea
pine branch and lighted torch. Th
shacks were empty. of course, an
while we did not 80 into the tunne
, we could see, through the broken bull
/ heading, that II was half filed wit
caved-in earth and broken stone. Ul
] derfoot there waa only the eoars