Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1932-12-15

his rifle shifting in his hands, 1eaped
after him. Grafton was down on his
hands and knees, scratching among
the loose stones like a dog digging for
a buried bone. Brodie put a heavy
hand on his shoulder and jerked him
back. hurting him to one side. Thus
it vas Brodie who found the bag and
dragged 1t forward to the fire, dump
Ing Its contents on the ground All
rushed forward and snatched up bits
of the ore that had rolled from the
sack n Of them shouted In wonder ;
another seized the nugget from his
hands; they all talked at once.
Gloria had stood p0werless to move
Now she saw that In their flush of ex-
element no n was looking toward
her. She began slowly. silently, edg-
ing toward the side of the ave, tssrnrd
the way OUT Her one thought was
to dart out and hurry up the cliff to
come to the hiding place OF which
Mark King had told her.
Il lever see such gold. and me an
old-timer In the mines" 1t WAS Steve
Jarrold muttering. This was broke
Off the mother lode Oh, my Gawdl !"
Gloria made another quiet step-and
another. Still no one saw her. An
other step: she went quicker, their
backs were toward her. And still no
n saw. Yes, Grafton alone had een
He watched her with bulging eyes
She could read his thought SO plainly .
he was screwing up his courage to
make a dash for the open himself
His eyes followed her step by step.
Oh, If only he would look In some
other direction! II any one of them
saw Gratton's telltale face
Then Grafton began a slow with
drawal from the others; he meant to
do as he saw her doing.
Gloria tasted the clean fresh out
side air she WIS within three PAGES
OF the line OF snow. Then there waa
a sudden noise; Grafton, inching on
backward, had stumbled over I dead
stick. The men by the nre wsFe
startled out Of their oblivion She
made a dash for the exit. In two great
strides Jarreld was upon her and had
caught her by the shoulders, dragging
her back. And Grafton stood again.
his feet glued tt the ground.
Trying to make a sneak for Nf~
doomed Brodie. I'll show you
mot yet. Brodie. you biz fooiI@
yelled Benny. This Is only = sackful.
He's got to show us where this come
from"
Grafton pointed to Toria with shak-
Ing finger.
king found 1t first She vas with
him. / made her show me the sack of
gold / was going to 70 back to your
camp, to tell you"
4Cut It" commanded Brodie- Leave
out the lies and talk straight and fast.
Where Ia the rest of it7 Where did this
come from?"
I'm trying to tell you." said Graf
ton hurriedly. "There-there's another
cave; up above. That's where King
had his camp: that's where / got the
sack It's up there"
mo wonder she wanted to skip
out" jeered Steve Jarrold. where's
King all this timer" he demanded. ZIP
In the other cave, maybe7"
NO Gloria said dlsmally. seeking
to jerk away from his evil glance and
whisky-laden breath He has gone"
That's good; LEI him 70. We don't
care, do wet Eth. girlie7 But gone
where?"
I'VE were short OF food-he il hunt
ing-maybe he has gone for help"
And you showed Grafton where he
hid his gold7 That's 4 nice little she
trick, amt It'll Well, while the show
ing's good. lead m to the rest Of It."
Grafton, grown nimble. darted ahead
with Brodie always close 1t bis heels.
Gloria. forced on BY Jarroid. came
next, and after them the others. They
made the climb safely and fastened
into the upper cave eagerly.
ITS somewhere back there said
Grafton.
more fire.1 shouted RrodIe. He
tossed on an armful OF dry wood: the
flames caught and roared: shadows
Qnivered and danced Already Benny
was at the far end of the cave; the
others ran after him. Even Jnrrold
~relinquished Glorfa's arm, eager to be
In at the finding But he called to
her as he vent
"You stick where you are. I'm not
forgetting you this time
Fascinated, she watched them. They
ran like blood ~lusting dogs that had
briefly lost their quarry, that were
seeking everywhere. in every Granny.
with slavering jaws They turned
aside into sIde-pockets OF the main
cavern; they got torches and looked
high and low: they went back and
forth, up and down; they stumbled
against one another and cursed an
grily; they caught up bits OF stone,
ran back to the fire to see IL the frag-
ments were shot with gold cursed and
hurled the useless things from them,
and a back again. to jostle and seek
and be first; they were not no much
like dogs now as human hogs. fighting
to get first into the trough
But they did not forget Grafton, and