Year: 1872

som bre solitude what road To fortune!


We were generously armed, and had
no great fear of personal danger, for the
fierce tribes that had formerly hung upon
the footsteps of the hunter and gold-dig-
ger here, and had disputed the encroach-
ments of civilization in the bright valleys
far to our right, had "ceased from trou-
bling" long since, and We're agriculturally
"at rest" upon government reserves.


We knew, however, that few unman-
ageable bands had refused to accept the
arbitrament of Christian rifles, and were
still abroad somewhere, in their native
haunts-from Klamath to the sea-com-
mitting theft, arson, and an occasional
murder.


But our hearts were fired by the sac
cursed lust for gold" and we were not to
be deferred by idle fears. We were pos
sessed of a spirit that toll could not exor-
else, nor peril quell


Weary weeks had elapsed, when, one
day, we reached the base of n precpitous
chain of mountains trending westward,
and directly in our course. A few miles
to our left we found an accessible pass
but, surveying the range with our glass
a great distance on either side, could see
no other depression in its clear-cut line.
This, then, was the only gateway to
the southeastern country beyond, and
through it the Wilson party must have
passed. without n doubt. At the entrance
of the pass we found the dim vestiges of
campfire, and began to hope that we
were right. Further on we found where
knew that we were in the footsteps of
White Men. Was it the Wilson trail /?


James Wilson, in his letters to Harper,
had spoken of a lofty rock, bearing rude
resemblance to an hour-glass, at the base
of which was mineral spring. 1t was
mineral spring. 1t was there that the
separation had occurred, and the main
party turned back. Tho western peaks
were crowned with sunset gold, and our
days march was nearly done, when, un-
expcctedly, we halted before n lofty
bowlder, shaped like an hour-glass and,
at its base, staining the rock over which
it flowed, we found II spring-bitter with
mineral constituents.


BY that token the battle was half won,
and dismounting, we unpacked our tired
and dispirited horses, and went into camp
for two days, in order to gather strength
for the final struggle. Then we We're
again in the saddle, with our faces still to
the southeast, and toiling on. The seem
cry grew wilder and more rugged. We
were in the region Of volcanic agonies-of
fierce upheavals and lava floods. Inter
minabe difficulties rose before US but
| they were met with heroic resolution, and
finally overcome. Harper became moody
and abstracted and the stress of sustained
anxiety had SO worn upon my spirit that
even in slumber the troubles of the day
were repeated. The boundary between
my sleeping and waking thoughts ceased
to be clearly defined, l think, and this
abnormal condition of the mind may ac-
count for what is otherwise inexplicable
in what | am about to relate.


We had encamped for the night, and
it was near sunset. Harper, overcome
by fatigue, lay asleep, with his head upon
a roll Of blankets. For the hundredth
time had drawn the unfinished letter
from my pocket, and sat with my back
against tree, perusing it tdreamily-with
lead-penci., which had fallen out in
getting the letter, also in my hand. |
remember wishing that some sprit-hand
would seze the pencil and complete the
letter, when, to my infinite surprise, n
shadow, like that of sudden twilight fell
on all things around. | was somehow
conscious OF a preternatural presence,
and, looking up, beheld, immediately in
front of me, man, or the shadow Of a
man, tall and muscular, with a brown
face and bushy beard. He wore min
er's gray flannel shirt-without cont
and had revolver belted TO his side.
seemed to be utterly without the power
of speech or motion, and looked into the
sad and sympathetic eyes he turned upon
me, with sense of awful fascination. /
could sec Harper dimly through the semi
darkness, but the quiet Of slumber still
laid upon his weary face. Then night
seemed to close down, and ! awoke with
a start, to find that the evening had ad-
vanced, and that my companion was
kindling fire. | turned to look for the
paper, and found it at the foot Of the tree
against which / had reclned but what
did | see ? In the blank space below the
ink-blot, to which have referred, was a
rude drawing in pencil 1t seemed to
represent two ranges of mountains, inter
secting each other at right-angles. In
the center of the rectangular space on
the lower side was a small diagram, re-
sembling the large one in shape. | took
it to the fire. ght for a closer examination
it was the representation Of miners pick.


Who had done this, and what could it
mean ? Was it the idle and unmeaning
tracery of my unconscious hand, or was
it the effort of some superior power to
direct us in our search for the Lost Cab
in? AT all events, could make nothing
of the mysterious symbolism before me-
pregnant though it might be with pre-
cious reveations-and thought best not
to mention the circumstance to Harper.


In the afternoon of the next day we
we're at the foot Of another mountain-wall,
spiked with the gray shafts of fire -scathed