Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, August 18, 1895, Page 10

BLA (Copyright, 1595, by Tiret Harte) CHAPTER 11 But Key's attention was presently directed to something more important to his present purpose. The keen wind which he had faced 12 mounting the Grade had changed and “was now blowing at his back. His experieace of forest fires bad already. taught him that this was too often only the cold air rushing in to fili the vacuum made by the conflagration, and it needed not his sensation of an acrid mnarting in his eyes, and an unaccountable dryness in the air which he was now facing, to convince him that the fire was approach- ing him. It had evidently traveled faster than he had expected, or had diverged from its course. He was disappointed, not because it would oblige him to take another course to Skinner's, as Collinson had suggested, but for a very different reason. Ever since his vision of the preceding night he had re- solved to revisit the hollow and discover the mystery. He had kept his purpose a secret, partly because he wished to avold the jesting remarks of his companions, but particularly because he wished to go aione, from a very sivgular feeling that while they had wit- nessed the incident it was something vaguely personal to himself. To this was also added the uneasy Impression he had experienced doring the night, that this mysterious habita- tion and its occupants were in the track of the conflagration. e had not dared to dwell upon it on account of Uncle Dick's evident responsibility for the origin of the firc and the reflection that the fnmates of the dwelling would have had ample warning in time to escape. But he and his companions might have helped them, and then—but here he stopped. Preble Key had not passed the age of romance, but, like other romancists, he thought he had evaded it by treating it practically. He had reached a point where the trail diverged to the right, and he must take that directicn if he wished to make a detour of the burning woods to reach Skinner's. His momentary indecision communicated itself to the horse, who halted. Recalled to himself he looked down mechanically, when his at- tention was attracted by an un‘amiliar object Iying in the dust of the trail. It was a small slipper—so small that it must havo be- lorged to some child. He dismounted and pleked it up. It was worn and shaped to the foot. It could not nave lain there long, for it was not filled or covered with the wind- blown dust of the trail, as all other adjacent objects were. If it was dropped by a passing traveler that traveler must have passed Collinson’s going or coming within the last twelve hours. It was scarcely possible that the shoe could have dropped from the foot without the wearer's knowing it, and it must have been dropped in an urgent flight or it would have been recovered. Thus practically Key treated his romance. And having done s0 he instantly wheeled his horse and plunged Into the road in the direc- tion of the fire. - But ho was surprised after twenty minutes wriding to find that the course of the fire had evidently changad. It was growing clearer before him; the dry heat seemed to come more from the right, in the direction of the detour he should have taken to Skinner's. This seemedsalmost providential, and in keep- ing with his practical treatment of his ro- mance, as was also the fact that in all prob- ability the fire had not visited the little hol- Tow that he intended to explore. He knew ,E. wag nearing it now; ‘the locality had been Kgp*d upon” him even in the T previous evering. He ‘had ,Y the roeky ledge; his horse’s hoofs no onger rang out clearly; slowly and percept- ibly they became deadened and lost In the Apringy mosses and finally the netted grasses and tangled vines that Indicated the vicinity ‘ot the demsely wooded hollow. Here, too, were aiready some of the wider spaced van- guards of that wood—but here a peculiar cir- cumstance struck him. He was already de- scending the slight declivity, but the distance, instead of deepening in ieafy shadow, was actually growing lighter. Here were the outskirting sentinels of the wood, but the wood itselt was gone. He spurred his horse through the tall gums between the opened columns and pulled up in amazement, The wood indeed was gone, and the whole Rollow filled with the already black and dead stumps of the utterly consumed forest! More then that, from the indications before him the catastrophe must have almost immediately followed their retreat from the hollow on the preceding night. It was evident that the fire had leaped the intervening shoulder of the spur in one of those unaccountable but by no means rare phenomena of this form of dis- aster. The circling helghts around were yot untouched; only the hollow and the ledge of rock beside it, ugalnst which they had blun- dered with thelr horses when they were seek- ing the mysterious window in the darkness of the evening before, were calcined and de- stroyed. He dismounted and climbed the ledge, still warm with the spent fire. A large mass of grayish outcrop had evidently been the focus of the furnace blast of heat that must have raged in this spot. He was skirting its crumbling debris when he started suddenly at a discovery which made every- thing fade into utter insignificance. Before nim, in a slight depression formed by a fault or lapse in the upheaved strata, lay the charred and calcined remains of a dwelling house, levelled to the earth! Originally half hidden by a natural abatis of growing myrtle and ceanothus that covered this counterscarp of rock towa.d the trail, it must have_stood within 100 fect of them during their halt. Even in its utter and complete obliteration by the furious furnace blast that must have vept across it the evening before, there was still to be seen the unmistakable ground plan and outline of a four-roomed house. While everything that was combustibie had suc- cumbed to that Intense heat, there was still encugh hal’-fused and warped metal, fractured iron plate, and twisted and broken bars fo indicate the Kitchen and tool shed. Very little had evidently been taken away; the house and its contents were consumed where it stood. With a feeling of horror and despera- tion Key at last ventured to disturb two or three cf the blackened heaps that lay befcre him. But there were only vestiges of cloth- ing, bedding, and crockery—there was no hu- man trace that he could detect. Nor was there any suggestion of the or'ginal condition and quality of the house, except its size; whether the usual unsightly cabin of frontier “partners” or a sylvan cottage—there was nothing left but the usual Ignoble and un- savory ruins of burned-out human habitation. And yet its very existence was a mystery. Tt had been unknown to Collinson's, its near- est nelghbor, and it was presumable that it was oqually unknown to Skinner's. Nelther ha nor his companions had detected it in their fivst journey by day through the hollow, and only the telltale window at night had been a hint of what was even then so successfully convealed that they could not discover even when they had blundered against its rock foundations, For concealel it certainly was. aud intentionally s0. But for what purpose? He gave his romance full play for a few minutes with this question. A recluse, pre- ferring the absolute simplicity of nature, or perhaps wearied with the artificialities of soclety, had secluded himself here with the company of his only dauguter. Proficient as a path finder, he had easily discovered some other way of provisioning his house from the settlements than by the ordinary tralls past Collinson's or Skinner's. But recluses are not usually accompanied by young daughter: whose relations with the world not being as antagonistic wou'd make them uncertain companions, ~ Why not a wife? His pre- sumption of the extreme youth of the face he had seen at the window was after all only based upon the slippér he had found. And it a wife, whose absolute acceptance of such conflued seclusion might be equally uncertain, why not somebody else's wife? Here was a reason for concealment, and the end of an episode, not unknown even In the wildern And here was the Nemesis who had overtaken them In their guilty contentment! The story, © -even to its moral, was complete. And yi It did not entirely satisty him, so superio the absolutely unknown to the most elaborate theory, His atteution hud been once or twiee drawn toward the erumbling wall of outcrop, which during the conflagration must have felt the full force of the flery blast that had swept through the hollow and spent its fury upon it. It bore evidence of the Intense heat in cracked frames and the crumbling debris that lay at its feet. Key picked up some of the still warm fragments, and was not surprised that they easily broke in a gritty grayish powder in his hands. In spite of his preoccupation with the human interest, the Instinct of the prospector was still strong upon him, and he almost mechanically put some of the pleces in his pockets. Then, after another careful survey of the locality for any further record of its vanished tenants, he returned to his horse. Here he took from his saddle bags, half listlessly, a precious phial encased in wood, and opening it, poured into another thick glass vessel a part of a smoking fluid, He then crumbled some of the calcined frag- ments into the glass and watched the ebuli- tion that followed with perfunctory gravity. When it had almost ceased he drained off the contents into another glass which he set down, and then proceeded to pour some water from his drinking flask into the ordinary tin cup which formed a part of his culinary traveling kit. Into this he put three or four pinches of salt from his provision store. Then dipping his fingers into the salt and wacer he allowed a drop to fall into the glass. A white cloud instantly gathered in the color- less fluid, and then fell in a fine film to the bottom of the glas:. Key's eyes concentrated suddenly, the listless look left his face. His fingers trembled slightly as he again let the salt water fall into the solution, with exactly the same result Again and again he re- peated it, until the bottom of the glass was quite gray with the fallen precipitate, And his own face grew as gray. His hand trembled no longer as he care- fully poured off the golution so as to not disturb the precipitats at the bottom. Then he drev: out his knife, scoopsd a little of the gray sediment upon its point, and emp- tying his tin cup turned it upside down upon his knee, placed the sediment upon it and began to spread it over th> dull surface of its bottom with his knife. He had intended to rub it briskly with his knife blade. But in the very action of spreading it, the first stroke of his knife left upon the sediment and the cup a luminous streak of burnished silver, He got up and drew a long breath to stil the beating of his heart. Then he rapldly climbed the rock again, and passed over the ruins again, this time Kkicking aside the charred heaps without a thought of what they had contained. Key was not an unfeei- ing man, he was not an unrefined one; he was a gentleman by instinct, and had au intuitive sympathy for others, but in that instant his whole mind was concentrated upon the caleined outerop! And his first im- pulse was to see if it bore any evidence of previous examination, prospecting, or working by its suddenly evicted neighbors and owners. There was none; they had evidently not known it. Nor was there any reason to suppose that they would ever re- turn to their hidden home, now devastated and lald bare to the open sunlight and open trail. They were already far away; their guilty personal secret would keep them from revisiting it. An immense feeling of relief came over the soul of this wnoral romancer; a momentary recognition of the Most High in this poetical retribution. He ran baek quickly to his saddlebags, drew out one or two carefully written, formal notices of pre- emption and claim, which he and his former companions had carried in their brief part- nership, erased their signatures and left only his own name, with another grateful sense of divine Interference, as he thought of them speeding far away in the distance, and re- turned to the ruins. With unconscious irony he selected a charred post from the embe stuck it In the ground a few feet from the debris of outcrop, and- finally affixed his “Notice.” Then, with a conscientiousness born of his new religlous convictions, he dislodged with his pickaxe enough of the brittle out- crop to constitute the presumption of “actual work' upon the claim legully required for its maintenance, and returned to his horse. In replacing his things in his saddlebags he came upon the slipper, and for an instant, s0 complete was his preoccupation in his later discovery that he was about to throw it away as a useless impediment until it oc- curred to him vaguely that it might he of service to him In its connection with that discovery—in the way of refuling possible false claimants. He was not aware of any faithlessness to his momentary romance, any more than he was conscious of any disloy- alty to his old companions in his gratifica- tion that his good fortune had come to him alone. This singular selection was a con- scious experience of prospecting. And there was something about the magnitude of his discovery that seemed to point to an indi- vidual achievement. He had made a rough calculation of the richness of the lode from the quantity of precipitate in his rude ex- periment; he had estimated its length breadth, and thickness from his light knowledge of geology and the theories thus rife and the yield would be colossal! Of course he would require capital to work it; ho would have to *let in" others to his scheme and his prosperity, but the control of it would always be his own. Then he suddenly started as he had never in his life before started at the fists of man, for there was a footfall in the charred brush, and not twenty yards from him stood Collinson, who had just dismounted from a mule. The blood rushed to Key's pale face, “Prospectin’ agin?" sald the proprietor of the mill, with-his weary smile. “No,” sald Key quickly, “only straighten- ing my pack.” The blood deepened in his cheek at his instinctive lie. Had he care- fully thought it out before he would have welcomed Collinson and told him all. But now a quick, uneasy suspicion flashed upon him. Perhaps his late host had lled and knew of the existence of the hidden house. Perhaps he had spoken of some ‘‘silvery rock” the night before—he even knew some- thing of the lode itself. He turned upon him with an aggressive face. But Collinson's next words dissipated the thought. “I'm glad I found ye, anyhow.” he said. “Ye see, arter you left, I ssw ye turn off the trall and make for the burning woods instead o' goin' 'round. I sez to myself, that feller is making stralght for Skinner's. He's sorter worrled about me ‘and that empty pork bar'l. 1 hadn't oughter spoke that way afore you boys anyhow, and he's takin’ risks to heip me. So T reckoned I'd throw my leg over Jimmy here and look arter ye, and g0 over to Skinner's myself and vote.” “Certainly,” sald Key with cheertul alacrity, and the one thought of getting Collinson away, “‘we'll go together and we'll see that that pork barrel is filled.” He glowed quite honestly. with this sudden idea of remembering Collinson through his good fortune. “‘Let's get on quickly, for we may find the fire between us on the outer trall. He hastily mounted his horse. “Then you didn't take this as a short cut?” said Collinson, with dull perseverance in his fdea. “Why not? It looks all clear ahead." “Yes," sald Key hurriedly, “but it's been only a leap of the fire; it's still raging ‘round the bend. We must go back to the cross trall.” His face was still flushing with his very equivocating and his anxlety to get his conipanion away. Only a few steps further would bring Collinson before the ruins and the “notice,” and that discovery must not be made by him until Key's plans were perfected. A sudden aversion to the man he had a moment before wished to reward began to take possession of him. ‘‘Come on!" he added almost roughly. But to his surprise Collinson ylelded with his usual grim patience, and even a slight 1ook of sympathy with his friend's annoysnce. “I reckon you're right, and mebbee you're in a hurry to get to Skinner's all along o' my business. I oughtn't hev told you boys what I did.” As they rode rapidly away he took oc- casion o add when Key bad reined In slightly with a feeling of relief at being out of the hol- low. ““I was thinkin', tco, of what you'd asked about any one livin' here unbeknownst to me." “Well!"" said Key with nervous impatience. “Wel 1 only had an idea o' proposin’ that you and me just took a look around that holler whar you thought you saw suthin'!" sald Col- linson tentatively. 43 “Nonsen: sald Key hurriedly. “We othing—it was all a fancy, and Uncle Dick was joking me because I said I .| evening’s scandalous gossip, he said sarcas- thought I saw a woman's face,” he added with & forced laugh. Collinson glanced at him half sadiy. “‘Oh! you were only funnint, then! I oughter guessed that. I oughter have knowed it was Uncle Dick's talk!"" They rode for some mo- ments in sllence; Key precccupled and fever- ish, and eager only to reach Skinner's. Skin- ner was not only postmaster, but “‘registrar” of the district, and the new discoverer did not feel entirely safe until he had put hi formal notifications and clalms “on record. This was no publication of his actual secret, not any Indication of success, but was only a record that would in all probability remain unnoticed and unchalienged amidst the many other hopeful dreams of sanguine prospectors. But he was suddenly startled from his pre- occupation. “Ye sald ye war straightenin' up yer pack | Just now,” said Collinson slowly. Yes!" sail Key, almost angrily, was, Ye didn’t stop to straighten it up down at the forks of the trail, did ye? “I may have,” said Key, nervously. *‘But why 7" | Ye won't mind my axin' yve another ques- tion, will ye? Ye ain't carryin’ round with | ye no woman's shoe?" Key felt the blood drop from his cheeks. ““What do you mean?" he stammered, scarcely | daring to lift his conscious eyelids to his com- panion’s face. But when he did £0 ke was amazed to find that Collinson's face was al- | most as much disturbed as his own. “I know It ain't the square thng to ask ye, but this is how it is,”" said Collinson hesitat- ingly. “Ye see, just down by the fork of the trail where you came I picked up a woman’s shoe. It sorter git me. For I sez to my!l-ll_i “and 1 “Thar ain’t no one bin by my shanty, comin’ or goin’, for weeks but you boys, and that shoe, from the looks of it, ain’t bin there | as many hours’ I knew there wasn't any | wimin hereabouts, T reckoned it couldn’t hev | been dropped by Uncle Dick, or that other man, for you would have sean it on the road. | So I allowed it might have been you. And ! glve them toiyow on Parker's draft. You mean that bit o' paper that chap left? sald Gellinson gravely. “Yes" 1) “I tore ft.wp," “You tore it up?" ejaculated Key. “You hear me—yes!” said Collinson. Key stared at, him. Surely it was again providential that he had not intrusted his se- cret to this utterly Ignorant and prejudiced man! The slighf twinges of conscience that his lie about the slippers had caused him dis- appeared at ofice, He could not have trusted him even in u.s:; it would have been like this stupid fanatic to have prevented Key's pre-emption of that claim until Collinson had satisfled himeelt’of the whereabouts of the missing praprietdrs. Was he quite sure that Collinson wondd ' not revisit the spot when he had gone? But he was equal to the emer- gency. He had intended to leave his horse witf Skinner as security for Collinson’s provisions, but Skinner's liberality had made this une necessary, and he offered it to Collinson to use and keep for him until called for. This would enable his. companion to ‘“‘pack’ his goods on the mule, and oblige him to return to the mill by the wagon road and “outside trail,” as more commodious for the two ani- mals. “Ye ain't afered o' the road gents?”’ sug- gested a bystander; “‘they swarm on Gallop ridge, and they ‘held up’ the down stage only last week." “They're not so lively since the deputy sheriff's got a new idea about them, and hav been lying low in the brush near Bald Top, returned Skinner. “Anyhow, they don't stop teams nor ‘packs,’ unless there's a chince of their getting some fancy horseflesh by it, and I reckon thar ain’t much to tempt them thar,” he added with a satirical side glance at his customer's cattle. But Key was already standing in the express wagon glving a fare- well shake to his patient companion’s hand, and the inquiries pleasantly passed unnoticad. Nevertheless, as the express wagon rolled away his active fancy caught at and disposed il o Wy Wi Hmfll\ ,UU” il ' e 1 i NOT TWENTY YARDS FROM HIM S"(’Y;Ul) COLLINSON. yer it is.” He slowly drew from his pocket— what Key was fully prepared to see—the mate of the slipper Key had in his saddlebag! The fair fugitive had evidently lost them both. But Key was better prepared now—perhaps the sort of dissimulation is progressive—and quickly alive to the necessity of throwing Collinson off this unexpected scent. And his companion’s own suggestion was right to his bhand—and again—almost providential! ~ He laughed, with a quick color, which, however, seemed to help his lie, as he replied half hysterically, “‘You're right, .old man; I own up, it's mine! It's silly, I know, but then we're all fools where women are concerned, and I wouldn't have lost that slipper for a mint of money.” He held out his hand gayly, but Collinson retained the slipper while he gravely ex- amined it. ““You wouldn’t mind telling me where you mout hev got that?" he said meditatively. 0t course I should,” said Key, with a well affected mingling of mirth and indignation. “What are you thinking of, you old villain? What do you take me for?" But Collinson did not laugh. *“You wouldn't mind givin' me the size and shape and gen- eral heft of her as wore that shoe?" “Most decidedly T should do nothing of the kind!" said Key half impatiently. ‘Enough that it was given to me by a very pretty girl. That's all you will know.” “Given to you?" said Coll eyes. “Yes,” returned Key audaciously. Collinson handed him the slipper gravely. “I only asked you,” he sald slowly, but with a certaln quiet dignity which Key had never before seen in his face, “because thar was suthin’ about the size and shape and fittin’ out o' that shoe that kinder reminded me of of some’'un. But that some'un—her as mout hev’ stood up in that shoe ain’t o' that kind as would ever stand In the shoes of her as you know at all.”” The rebuke—if such were intended—lay more In the utter ignoring of Key's alry gallantry and levity than in any consclous slur upon’ the falr fame of his invented Dulcinea. Yet Key oddly felt a strong Inclination to resent the aspersion as well as Collinson’s gratuitous morality, and with a mean recollection of Uncle Dick’s last on, lifting his tically, “And, of course, that some one you were thinking of was your lawful wife."” “It was,” said Collinson gravely. Perhaps it was something in Collinson’s manner or his own preoccupation, but he did not peruse the subject, and the conversation lagged. They were nearing, too, the outer wood of the pressnt conflagration, and the smoke, lying low in the unburnt woods or creeping like an actual exhalation from the soil, blinded them so that at times they lost the trail completely. At other times, from the intense heat, it seemed as if they were being caught in a closing circle. It was remark- able that with his sudden accession to for- tune Key seemed to lose his usual frank fear- lessness, and impatiently questioned his com- panion’s woodcraft. There were Intervals when he regretted his haste to reach Skin- ner's by this shorter cut, and began to bit- terly attribute it to his desire to serve Col- linson. Ah, yes, it would be fine, indeed, e were about to clutch the prize be sacrificed through the Ignorance and stupidity of this heavy-handed moralist at his side! But it was not until, through the moralist’s guldance, they climbed a steep ac- clivity to a second ridge and were compara- tively safe that he began to feel ashamed of his surly silence or surlier interruptions. And Collinson, elither through his unconquerable patienca, or, possibly, in a fit of his usual uxorions abstraction, appeared to take no no- tice of it. A sloping tab'e land of weather-beaten boul ders now effectually separated them from the fire In the lower ridge. They presently be- gan to descend on the further side of the crest, and at last dropped upon a wagon road and the first track of wheels that Key had seen for a fortnight. Rude as it was it seemed to him the high to fortune. For he knew that it passed Skinner's, and then jolned the great stage road to Marysville, his ultimate destination. A few rods further on they came in view of Skinner's, lying like a dingy, forgotten winter snow drift on the rocky shelt. It contained a postoffice, tavern, hlack- smith's shop, “general store,”” and express office, scarcely a dozen buildings In all, but all differing from Collinson’s Mill in some vague suggestion of vitality, as it the dally regular pulse of civilization beat, albeit languidly, In that remote extremity. There were expectation and accomplishment twice & day, and as Key and Collinson rode up to the express office, the express wagon was standing before the door ready to start to meet the stage coach at the cross roads three miles away. This again seemed a special providence to Key. He had a brief official communication with Skinner as register and revealed his claim; he had a hasty and con- fidential aside with Skinner as general store keeper, and such was the unconscious mi netism developed by this embyro millionaire that Skinner extended necessary credit to Collinson on Key's word alone. That done he rejoined Collinson in hi; n.‘fmu with the news, adding cheerfully: “‘And I dare say if e of this newsdunger that iight threiten the hidden wealth of his claim.” But he reflected that for a time, at least; only the crude ore would be taken out ang:shipped to Marysvlle in a shape that offered no profit to the high- waymen. 1 it been 2 gold mine! But here again was the Interposition cf Providence! In five days Preble Key returned to Skin- ner's with a foreman and ten men and an un- Jimited credit to draw upon at Marysvilie. Expeditions.of this kind created no surprise at Skinner’s. They had before this entered the wilderness gayly, none knew where or what for; the sedate and silent works had kept their secret while there; they had evap- orated, none knew when or where—often, alas! with an unpaid account at Skinne In a week a rambling shed of pine logs-tccu: pled the site of the mysterious ruins and con- tained the party; in two weeks excavations i had been made and the whole face of the out- crop was exposed. In three weeks every ves- tige of former tenancy which the fire had not consumed was trampled out by the aliefi fee: of the tollers of the “Sylvan Silver Hollow company.” None of Key's former companions would have reccgnized the hollow in its blark- ened leveling and rocky foundation. Even Collinson would not have remembered this stripped rock and the heaps of debris as the place where he had overtaken Key. And Key himself had forgotten in his triumph every- thing but the chance experiment that led to his success. . Perhaps it was well, therefore, night, when the darkness had fallen upon the scene of sylvan desolat'on, and more incongruous and unsavory human restoration, and the low murmur of the pines occaslonally swelled up from the still un- scathed mountain side, a loud shout and the trampling of horses' feet awoke the dwellers in the shanty. Springing to their feet they hurriedly seized their weapons and rushed out, only to be confrented by a dark, motion- less ring of horsemen, two flaming torches of pine knots, and a low but distinct voice of authority. Even in thelr excitement, half- wakened suspcion, and confusicn it had a singular note of calm preparation and con- sclous power. Drop those guns. Hold We've got you cornered!"” Key was no coward; the men, though flus- tered, were not cravens, but they obeyed “Trot out your leader! Let him stand oft there clear, beside that forch!" One of the flaming pine knots disengaged itself from the dark circle and.moved to the center as Preble Key, cool and confident, stepped beside it. “That will do,” said the voice, unemotion- ally. “Now we want Joaquin Raymon, Syd- ney Jack, French Pete, and One-eyed Char- ley.’ A vivid reminiscence of the former night scene in the hollow of his own and h's com- panions’ voices, and the “flash’* in the dark- ness flashed across Key. With an instine- tive premonition, he said quietly: “Who wants them “The state of California," sald the voice. “The state of California must look further,” sald Key in his old pleasant voice. *There are no such names among my party.” “Who are you?” “The presideat of the Sylvan Silver Hollow company, and ithese are my workmen.” There was a mx}v-'nu‘nl and sound of whis- that one merc!fully up your hands. pering In the fjitherto dark and silent circle, Then the volfe fose again. “You have the papers to prove it “And—in thg tabin. And you?" “I've the warraht of the sheriff of Sierra.” There was a pause, and the voice continued: “How long have you been here?" “Three weeHs.'? 1 came here the day of the fire and todl Up this claim. ““There was’hé #ther house here?" “There weré tlins. You can see them still. It may' bave been a burned-up cabin.” The voice Af¥engaged Itself froni the vague background and chme slowly forward. “It was & dén of thieves! It was. the hiding place of’fofquin Raymon and his gang of road agents. ; i've been hunting this spot for three weeks. ! And now it's all up." There was & (laugh from Key's men, but it was checked as the owner of the volce slowly ranged up beside the burning torch and they saw his face. It was drawn and grim with the defeat of a brave man. “Wou't you come in and take something?" sald Key kindly. I'm sorry to have disturbed ye as But 1 suppose it's all in the day’ Good night. Forward thers, get! danced forward, with the tracing of vague shadows in dim procession; there was a clatter over the rocks and they were gone, And as Key gazed after them he felt that with them had passed the only shadow that lay upon his great future. With the last, tenant of the hollow a proscribed outlaw and fugitive, he was henceforth for- ever safe in his clalm and his discovery. And yet, oddly enough at that moment, for the first time in three weeks, there passed before his fancy with a stirring of reproach a vision of the face that he had seen at the window. (To be Continued.) . (Copyright, 1805, by W. J. Henderson.) The wind was brisk and from the south- east. ran brimming in long, foam-topped ridges to the bright horizon, where the pale clouds fled like frightened ghosts before the breeze. In the foreground, near the spot where Marblehead Rock reared its brown pyramid above the restless lashing of the milk-white foam, a fleet of yachts was scurrying about, like a flock of great gulls swooping hither and thither over the vexed | bosom of the sea. It was a race day in the Corinthian Yacht club of Marblehead the crack fi of Salem and Lynn and a dozen other seaport towns were maneuvering for adva 1s positions at the start. At length the gun sent them all away upon their course and as the swirling tangle of sails straightened itself out on the first long reach of the course twenty helmsmen breathed more freely. 1 had made fast th Rosalie’s jib sheet, which was my especi care that day, and had stretched mysel: across the deck, when! Burbage said We were in ghastly close quarters there one time. I thought we were in for a collision like the big one at Brenton's Reef. “What was that?” I inquired. “Do you mean to say you didn’t read about it at the time?” demanded Burbage. “Of course, he didn't,” said Bton, the owner of the yacht, “‘and that's why you are ®OINg to tell us all about it. You'll just have time to do it before we have to luff around the first mark.” BURBAGE'S STORY. Burbage heaved a sigh, rolled up his eye and said: “Well, I suppose I'm in for i This collislon was which I had an ve personal interest, and I am free to mit that I don’t care about another ex- perience of the sort. It just goes to show that in maneuvering for position at the start you are liable to all sorts of trouble. This particular start took place on one the cruises of the New York Yacht club. The runs from port to port had been rather slow and all hands were wishing for a little ex- citement, and they got it. The citizens of Newport had offered several handsome cups to be raced for off that place. All the fast yachts in the fleet were entered for the contests, and when the day openad with. a brisk wind from the southeast all hands were happy. 1 was a guest aboard the fitty-foot sloop Florina, which was entered fo: the cup offered for her class. There was also a cup for the big single-stickers, one for b'g schooners, another for schooners of eighty feet, and still another for forty-six-faot sloops. There were thirty-seven en'ri in all the classes, and every one of them p out by Fort Adams with her racing num up. The steam yacht Magnetic, the flagship the fleet, with Commodore Perry and the atta committee aboard, anchored abreast of Brenton's Reef light ship and signals which informed the racers that rse would be fifteen miles ¢ to wnd ard and return. Now if there was any- thing in the world that suited the Florin that was it, She was one of the smar boats In going to windward that was ever turned out, and she wasn't designed by Bur- s or Herreshoff, either, but by a2 captain, who laid down her lin what he called the rule of thumb and a nose for salt water. A LIVELY START. “We made up our minds that there was ®oing to be too much wind to make a club topso!l comfortable, s0 we set our working topsa We were glad afterward that we did, because it gave us just that much less hamper aloft and probably sayed us from an upset. The ninety-foot sloops had their balloon canvass aloft, however, and from the way they went ripoing through the water on the way out of the harbor 1 made up my mind that it wouldn’t be healthy to be in the way of any one of them at the start. The schooners, “too, had a lively move on, and altogether it was a pretty brisk morning. “The start was made in the usual way. A preparatory gun was fired and ten min- utes later the starting gun, after which all of s by good yachts have five minutes in which to cross | the line. It was stupid to start all classes at once, and after that day they never did it again, The Megnetic was to the west- ward of the lightship, and of course we all maneuvered for position off to the west- ward of the flagship, so as to come down to the line with the wind nearly abeam, luff under the stern of the Magnetic and hau: by the wind on the starboard tack. You may easily understand that with a fresh southeasterly breeze we were bound to.come around the Magnetic's stern at a pretty lively pace. The Florina was in a bezutiful position when the skipper started her for the iine. Only two yachts were to windward ot us and they reached the line almost in the smoke of the gun thirty seconds behind them, and we rushed down to the line with our lee rail unde: water and our sloping deck adrip with the flying spray. The big schooner Maybird was on our weather quarter, and before we reached the line she established a lap on us, so that we had to keep away, and let her cross the line a little nearer to the flagship than we were. Just before we crossed I looked “I HEARD SHOUTS AND YELLS EVERY DIRECTION astern and saw_the ninety-foot sloop Se flower coming down like an express train right astern of us. I tell you, boys, she looked like a great iceberg running amuck, and I wished we were well out of her way. But we were at the line, and 1 had to jump to my station. The skipper luffed the Flor- ina up and let her shoot ahead with her can. vas shaking.” THE COLLISION, “INow, then,’ he shouted, ‘get all sheets down flat “We bent our backs to the ropes and got the canvas flat as boards before he had to let her off again in order to keep all draw- ing. The Maybird's big bowsprit was just even with our forestaysail as she tore through the water fifty yards to windward of us. I looked astern again and saw the Seaflower come bolling past the flagship and luff sharp up In an endeavor to squeeze out to wind- ward of the Maybird. The big sloop was going at a terrific pace, and now came the trouble Her bowsprit end sprung up to windward in_answer to the movement of her helm. But she was golng so fast that she forereached on the Maybird alarmingly. Before her owner, who was at the belm, knew what was the matter, the ex- trome tip of her bowsprit caught under the lee of the extereme end of the Maybird's heavy main boom. The Seaflower's bowsprit forced that heavy boom up to windward and carried the whole stern of the big sohooner up with it. A second or two later the boom The blue waters of Massachusetts bay | hurrying | and | up | the | We were not more than { (el © o slipped clear of the bowsprit and with a tor- rific jerk. But before that happened the fore ing of the Maybird's stern up to windward causod her bow to swing around so that it polnted Fight straight at us. Hung up on the Seafower’s bowsprit, the schooner was abso- Intely helpless, and when she did go clear. before her helm could control her, she shot forward directly toward our side. Of course all these things happened far more quickly than 1 can describe them. Our captain shouted a warning at the men torward, and whirled the spokes of the wheel around in a vain attempt to Keep away, “Crash! ““The Maybird's bowsprit went through our weather rigging, smashing things right left, £0 that our topmast and went tumbling down to leaward, taking our bowdprit off short. The Maybird's bow pushed ageinst our weather side with such force that the Florina was thrown on her | beam ends, the water rising to the compan way and pouring into the cabin, “The next instant I went over backward and found myself some ten fect under water, I paddled gently, not knowing whether 1 was going to come up under a capsized sloop or | have her sink on top of me. But I came to | the surface and found myselt twenty yards Off the side of the Maybird. 1 heard shouts and yells in every direction. Men on the schooner’s deck were making a hurried at- tempt to launch a little dingy. Her captain with a sailor's dy wit hove the slack of the mainsheet overboard and swimming hard | T caught the bight of it as it tratled over her stern and was towed along for 100 yards. Two other men from the Florina were in the | water and were picked up half exhausted by | the Magnetic's life boat, which was promptly ent out. “Meanwhile the Seaflower had luffed up so sherply that she just missed striking a big cat boat with eral women aboard, and thelr screams added to the confuslon. As foer myself I was in a pretty ticklish p n Maybird stopped going ahead. Then her crew hauled in the mainsheet and [ climbed aboard her. An hour of hard work &0t her clear from the Florina, and then we | of the sloop's company found that we were aboard of a wreck. Our topmast and bow- sprit were gone, our standing rigging all in a snarl, and our yacht with two feet of water in her. We put back to Newport astern of a tug; and that's the story of a pretty lively collision at the start of a yacht race, 3 “MOR MOLASS A New and Nove e for Boys There were at least a dozen children play- {Ing upon the front lawn and they were having such a good time that I could not rofrain from asking the name of the game that afforded so much fun “Moreleans Molasses,” came the response horus “What!" superiority. in exclaimed “You mean with Brown-up New | Orleans 0, they replied again in chorus, “More- | leans "Molasses,” and they smiled at my pretending to know the name of a game 1 never had played. And I wondered myself t my own presumption. Then I determined to watch them and learn the rource of the name, but, though I have not found that out yet, I found so good a game that 1 decided to give it a wider circle of friends, for I have reason to believe that it originated with one of those children on_the lawn. Their first step was to choose sides; then the two rows were formed wupon opposite ends of the lawn. Side No. 1 then proceeded to select some act of work or play which would be carried on in pantomime and de- scribed in two or three words, such as swinging a hammock, nailing a-shoe, pulling weeds or stirring a cake. Their work selected they then marched back across the lawn, stopped before the opposite line and announc. ing the letters, began the accompanying motlon. When, for instance, they decided upon “pulling ’weeds” they said as they stopped, “P. W.," and then stooping down made the motlon of pulling weeds. The | others began to guess, any one announcing whatever guess he made aloud. When the | Fight guess was made -the line “‘took (heir | heels” “and the opposide line followed, fry- ing to “tag” as many of the pursued possible, Those ‘“‘tagged" their opponents, | _The lines were then | the play was repeated. The game combines exercise for both mina and muscles and its author is a success fn her line, even if she could not do the family marketing—when it came to buying molasses PRAT YOoUNG as had to Join the line of formed again ana IRS, “Well, what do you want, sonny?" asked the grocer. “I 'most forget what mamma | sent me for,” replied the perplexed little boy on the outside of the counter, “but I think it'’s a can of condemned milk.” Little Dick—Miss Mamie fs awfully shy, Isn't she? Little Dot—Why? Little Dick—~ She has most of her clothes made just like men's, so men won't get in love with her, Mother (to twins)—Why are you naughty today, Jack? Jack—'Coz it's Tommy was naughty yesterday. mma, why can't I have all the coffes I want?" ‘Because it Isn't good for you, Willie.” oes the Lord know it isn't good have no doubt he does.” (After thoughtful pause)—Then, what does he make it taste so good for? Robbie (in a sober mood)—Oh, mamma, T wish T only had all the money I've spent for sweets. Mamma (proudly)—My boy would put it in his savings bank, wouldn't he? Robbie (deliberately)—No, mamma; 1I'd buy more sweets. The little girl had amputated her doll's head, le, and feet, scattered their sawdust and otherwise reduced them to a condition of primitive chaos. She was discovered in the act of trying to reconstruct them. ‘“What are you doing, Katie?" asked her mother. “I am playin' the first chapter of Genesls,” she_replied. “Tommie, 80 my your spelling report bad,” said Mr. Hicks to his boy. “That's all ‘right, papa,” said Tommie. “When I grow up I'm going to dictate all my letters, like you do. It's the typewriter that'll have to know spelling, not me." I think it's awful “What 157" “You know beat any of us boys swimming.” 2" “Well, he das'n't brag about it at home, his daddy’d lick 'im for goin’.” “Johnny,” sald the school teacher, ‘‘what is the meaning of a compromise?”" “‘Well," said Johnny, “a compromise Is what a hoy tries to make when he has a pocket full of apples, and a good deal bigger boy comes along, and tells him that it he doesn’t give up those apples he will get his face pushed in.” is_very funny about Yes?' VVVVVVVVIVVIR NP SWEET——SAVORY—— SATISFYING SWIFT'S PREMIUM .-.-).—.-.DWK. e Think of the thousands of hams and bacon that go out from South Omaha daily! e select but the best ones for the brand, “SWIFT'S PREMIUM.” Smoked lightly— trimmed nicely—extra mild—not salty. No man could make them better. For Sale by all First-Class Dealers. WIFT AND COMPANY SOUTH OMAHA, NEB, S :mm“iQWQ WILCOX COMPOUND T anSYeFilis Safeand SURE, Always relisble. Take and | was carried away | THE DOCTOR'S E. L D, Kansas City,—[ feel languid and tired all the time. No energy, and very nervouss Have pimples on my face. What shall I take? Take Cebrine, extract of the brain, in fives drop doses, three times dally. Twice a week take a dose of Nathrolithic Salts. Alex. ., New York.—~What Is a good remedy for gout? Febriclde; one pill three times daily. A dose of Nathrolithic Salts twice a week. Mrs, H. B., Phila—For the nervous de« bility take Cerebrine, extract of the brain, in five-drop doses, on the tongue, threo times' daily. For the catarrh, use Witch Hazel ointment snuffed up the nose; also take a teas spoonful of Nathrolithic Salts in a half tums bler of hot water, a half hour before breaks fast, twice a week. 8. P., New York.—For your trouble take Ovarine, in four-drop doses, twice daily, on the tongue. A dose of Nathrolithic Salts, twice a week would be advisable. C. L. H, Fort Worth mend for asthma? Take Thyrodine, gland, in the tongue. H. C. M. Y. Detroit.—Give the patien ine, in five-drop doses, on the tongue, three times dadly.Every morning he should take u cold sponge baihi. Keep the bowels | regular with Natarolithic Salts. | James Doty, New York | teaspoonnful three times a da W. T. PAR Med. Dept., Col. Chem. Co. THE ANIMAL EXTRACTS REDIRINE, OLUMN. What can you recome extract three-drop d of the thyrold es, twice dally, on Gastrine, ona after meals, IR, M. D. . Two Drachms, RINE, medy for Dyspepsia, $1.25% oy g FE 1« . N HEADACHE ) centu, 1ot HIC SALTS, nstipation, Torpor of the 1 inaction of the Live: | At $12% ¥ FOR MALARIAL A LGIA, AND SiCK | Bowels 5 conta, Druggists, A CHEMICAL i | d for Liternture. Washington, D.O, For xale by KUHN & CO., 15th and Dougl: or from LOOD A SPECIALT Y cuiiy2ifea tlary Syphilis permanently cured In 15 to 35 dase. You can bo treated at home f th ame price undersare gUArAnty. fl youprefer to come here we wik contrack = %0 pay raiirond fare and hotel bills, and no oharge,If wa fail to cure. If you have taken mers cury, Jodide potush, and still have ach nins, Mucous Patches in mouth, Sore Th “loples, Coppor Colored Spots, Ulcers on Any part of the body, Malr or lfl{mlnrowl fallin, aut, it s this Syphilitic BLOOD POISON th \ve guarantee to cure. We solicit the m by snte cises and challenge the world for CAKO We cannot cu s diseaso has al baffled the skill of the most eminent p clunw. B500,000 cnpital bohind our un lnmllnlnnb‘. Absolute proofs sent sesled on application Adgress COOR KE 00 807 in Temole, CLICA Sl DY 0. RS PATRONIZE HOME INDUSTRIES By purchasing goods made at the following Nebraska factorles. If you can not find what communicate with the to what dealers handle their goods. e = you want manuface turers a; BAGS, BURLAP AND TWINF. BEMIS OMAHA BAG CO. Manufacturers of all kinds of colton and bure Iap bags, cotton flour sacks and twine a spece lalty. 614-616-618 8. 11th-St. BREWERLES. OMAHA BREWING ASSOCIATION, Ca: load shipments made In our own refriges rator cars. Blue Ribbon, Elite Export, Vienna Export, and Family Export, delivered to all parts of city, —_— BAKING PUWDER. CONSOLIDATED COFFEE Ci, Coffee Roasters, Spice Grinders, Manufacture ers German Baking Powder and German Dry Omaha, Neb DRUMMOND CARRIAGE CO. put rubber tires and ball bearing axles on thelr own make vehicles, and seil a top buggy for $50.00 besides. Write them. 15th-and Harney, — = - = FLOUR. S. F. CILNAY, Manufacturer of Gold Medal Flour. C. E. Black, Manaj Omaha, FURNITURKE FACTORIES, OMAHA. UPHOLSTERING CO. Manufacturers of Parlor Furniture, Lounges, Dining Tables and Folding Beds. 25th ave, Boyd to Shaler Bts. . ICE AND COAL. SOUTH OMAHA ICE AND CDALCD. Domestio and_ St Coal. We have the best, Oflice 1601 Farnam-st. Telephone: Office 373, yard, 1708, J. A. Doe. General Manager. WORKS, INDUSTRIAL 1RON WORKS. Monufacturing and Repalring of all kinds of machinery, engines, puraps, elevators, printing preses, hangers, shafting and couplings 10§ and 1405 Howard-st., Omaha. PAXTON & VIERLING IRON WORKS. Manufacturers of Architectural Iron Work, General Foundr Machine and Blacksmith Work. ] rs and Contractors for KFire Proof Bulldings. Oflice and works: U, P. Ry. and o, 1Tih Street, Omahar MALTRE L. G DOUP. Manufacturer Mattresses, Spring athers and Pillows. N, Omaha. MANUFACTURING CHEMINTS, THE MERCER CAEMICAL COMPANY. Manufacturers of Fluld Extract Syrups and Wines, compressed tritui dermic tablets, pilis and scientific medical nove elties. Omaha. SEN, COTS, URIBS. Beds; Jobbes 14th and Nicholas == MEDESSA MINERAL WATER €0, 200 So. 11th st, Tel. 264 Medessa Mineral Water, Carbonated, unequalled. Plain for table use unsurpsnsed. NIYHT WATCH, FIKE SERVICE, nERICAN DISTRICT TELEGRAPH. fect protection to property, Exame t thing on earth.| Reduces insurs 1304 Dougla == it. B ance ratos. OVERALL FACTORIES. KATZNEVINS €0, cturers of Men's and Bo Bhirts and Overalls.|202-212 Manut Pants, Clothing, 12th PAPER BOXES “THE OMAHA PAPER BOX CO. of all kinds of Py Mailing posubstituie. Forsale by alidruggists §2.00. Send 4. for Woman' d. wlfl!ol SPECIFIC ©0.'1 BOUTH EIGITI 8., PHILADA ) PA. EBRASKA SHIR 1 CO. Eaclusive oustom shirt tallors,