Evening star., 1923-09-17

AS AC dPp1OdIhS0 a hnLlOW 0NlAiCt
hanked on one side by roaring ice
burdened waters and by sheer walls
j on the other, leaving barely passage
space for the trail, a sudden idea
struck him. He increased his speed,
and hurried over the narrow shelf.
Almost Immediately the defile wfdened
out into its natural size-~juSt as Pete
had hoped. Selecting the projecting
point of large bowlder for a. seat,
he quickly jumped from the trail and
watched the narrow pass behind. For
fully five minutes ne waited--and
watched. His feet were beginning to
! freeze from lack of exercise and
chill worse than any of the after
Moons. attacked him. Yet no one had
! appeared on the trail. and not sound
could be heard above the roaring of
the waters. Somewhat relieved, he
prepared to continue the journey,
! when two creeping forms. at first
moonlight rounded the point of rock.
Pete sprang to his feet, gun in hand,
and with what voice he could summon
shouted, Stand up-who'S there?
For answer the shadows assumed
the forms of two great black cats
that stood. seemingly astonished, di-
rectly on the path before him. Shak-
ing with fright Pete pulled at the
the noise sounding woefully weak and
ineffective against the roar of the
waters. What effect the shots had he
could not determine. The forms be-.
fore him disappeared, however, and
although he waited several minutes
for their return, they had vanished.
Once more on the trail, though, their
presence was harshly impressed upon
stream on the right, and then as
though answering from the jagged
walls on the left, sounded even above
the roaring waters.
Pete was completely unnerved by
the experience, although he had no
positive fear of attack. There was
something uncanny about the journey
that worked on his nerves and seemed
to exact as much from his strength
as the hard physical going along the
snow-covered trail itself.
He had no idea of the time of night,
but he knew by the progress of the
moon that he must have been travel
ing for at least four hours. He tried
to guess how far it might be to the
Dead Horse mine, and realized, after
all, how little he knew, even of where
he was going.
The gorge gradually widened as he
progressed into it, the trail becom-
ing fairly broad, and we'll defined Oc-
casionally he passed what seemed to
be intersecting trails, and he expert
enced some curiosity as to where they
led. AS the gulch widened he noticed
the stream seemed to flow more
evenly, and knew before long he must
be passing over the stretch of placer
ground of which he had heard. SO
much.
This, then, was the ground for
which men had rfsked their lives
wrangled. fought and died! The yell
low curse" he had heard it called by
those who lost. "A Same-fft only
for men," he had heard the winners
boast. In spite of his weariness-and.
at times it seemed to overwhelm him
his thought dwelt long on the sig
nihcance of the frozen gravel beneath
him. His pulse quickened as he re-
called the history of strong men-gold
mad-who here fought out between
them the right of possession. Then
wave of resent ment, a flash of deep
rooted hatred raced through his brain
as he thought of the present miners
winners of the old oays-being ruth
1esSly cheated and beaten by the very
law they themselves had created to
end injustice and outlawry. His vision
swept beyond the immediate score or
so of men affected by the new war
fare, and he pictured in his mind the
innocent housandS-scattered over all
the countrywide would sink money.
some of them their all. in the hope of
gaining riches from this same ground.
Only this time they pinned their hopes
on the magic of the Salmon River
Gold Co., Inc.
to rude and sudden conclusion by
the piercing wall of a panther, this
time in front of him. He had been
listening to them for hours, but now
in the comparative quiet of the night
with the roar of the stream lost in
the gorge far below him-the blood
curdling shrek. like a woman scream
ing in agony, sent an involuntary
shudder through him. No sooner had
the echoes of the first long cry faded
out than louder, and closer one,
answered from the trail behind
Pete. shivering and cold. continued his
plodding gait. feeling lonely as he had
never felt before, yet conscious of the
opportunity to use his gun afforded by
the broadening expanse of moonlit
ground about him. Three times the
panthers screamed and with the last
rending peal, Pete became suddenly
aware of a light showing through the
window of a small shack directly in
front of him. Except for the light, he
would have passed the place as huge
misplaced boulder covered with snow
He hesitated a moment and waited
for some sign of activity to follow the
appearance of the light At last con-
WINGED that there would be none. he
urged his weary body on as brisky as
possible and boldly approached the low
door of the shack. on which he knocked
loudly-calling out at the same time
IL any one were in.
Almost instantly the door opened, and
Pete found himself confronted by al
weazened old woman, apparently an
Indian, who held lamp high in one
hand while she used the other to shade
her Sunken eyes.
frame, coming SO suddenly out of the
darkness OF midnight, seemed to
frighten the little old woman The
lamp visibly shook in her hands.
Please don't be frightened-Fm only
a miner, making the trail at the wrong
time" Pete apologized. retreating a
step or TWO in the hope that such a
maneuver would help calm the shaking
figure in the doorway.
Mfner-walk up Gulch-night time
bad
1t seemed to Pete he could hear the
parchment like skin on the old woman's
neck creak as she shook her head slowly
from one side to the other
The Banshee vail Come init is
the spirit! Ugh. In--miner." For some
reason this strange woman of the noun
tains seemed more afraid of the pam
ther cries than she did of the stranger.
AS she spoke she lowered her hand
from her eyes and made to shut the
door.
Pete. seeing her anxiety to shut out
as much of the terrifying cry as pos
siDle; hurried through the door. and
stood, pack still on his back, in the
center of the room. The old woman re-
placed the lamp on the wide sill of the
square window. AS she did so Pete
observed the room. In the center stood
low table, scarcely large enough TO
accommodate more than three people
comfortably. He noted the absence of
cloth, but observed the -whiteness
of the boards from much scrubbing In
the center of the table a large NOT. evil
IDENTIFY containing remnants of the eve-
ming meal, still remained, surrounded
by numerous dishes and cans The
room was permeated with a peculiarly
fragrant odor-emanating from nu-
merous bundles of dried herbs, spices
and grass that hung suspended from
rafters above or from long woodap