Show sama apo ago tile the writer was ans stopping for the 1 light at the house of an acquaintance R c quain tance an old rancher who lived it alone 1 one on the pruno bruno ae ac wo we mat before tile the sag brush lice on the hearth before going t to 0 bod bell the iho conversation con ion drifted into an argument between us its concerning the goodness of mark man or ills li main coial I 1 ity I 1 was mas op malling the theory ot it intuitive moi allty baring bari riff my mainly upon it a lather faint of lookeb lockes emy and ina ilia ble calmen cili nef practiced in various 0 counti teB and at various lines without e ven even enduring the 5 slightest lightest remorse rc but on the he contrary t honor and distinction and lie he maintaining as a ls ig porously tho the contrary draw drai tug tile hit tra thins front from his own intimate knowledge of various indian tribes and tit of men ahnin lie he bad khoan but not nit in reality da old of that hat inner monitor called conscience he said ald he had novel never gnoun a man however low in the scale ot of humanity who ali had not noc a congo lenra clearly tile dlo betseen and v as untiringly as aa tho the most or at moral race to maintain his aide of the th tit he related tia following owing it la 10 lit bl to give his exact but I 1 hare endeavored to preserve 0 the to narrative ns As lie told it as ail nearly hourly as posit ble ainone tile first emigrants aho vho i ila made tile the ov nV viland elland nip flip from the states to C after ill the e dl f comerf of I 1 sold fad in 49 wai wa as i an old gentleman rent leman ir from A ni missouri named sharon with ills his wn wife ito and a son aon named tom sh sharon 1 I ran lived 11 v ell on 14 arck in the ilie central pait isit of tile tho state was a farmer nn an indest ln hist iio AOIS ia cageful anti and successful cultivator tit nt the I 1 tell bottom lands landa along that cerk I 1 anit 1 t he had no ila boit or of use for slavery ho 4 was in a tit of shu slave o owners nany many of at them wealthy its wealth wont went in cholle days daya and proud oc at the pleat number of their blavis thit that Is ia an ail instance in ill favor of your side of tile but theold thi hotd farmer did not like his tor for the very air afta as burdened with doctrines op voiced to human liberty lie was not as 05 well or off as aa most of his hi u and lie was wait anxious to better hla his lit iii no other state stale was wait the rumor rumo r 0 of tile hit gold cold in california more or attentively to then than in this state which wits was lite hr homo home of tho the pioneer and lint of the buffalo and the indian nor I 1 is it t suri ouri firl sing that that state along rent out t diio lie greater pall pail of tile the population that tool tonic ro posies session a on of till til the pacific slope from california to the british chions and lias has ninde mado states of f the lle first importance out of tills this vast ford to tat y so that thai n I 1 said bald about the file fiat company that set out from Tn depend edep for the trip servos across tho phalna ln ili clouded tilts man talk sharon hl hb wife and you yen ilo ile had sold out hla his pr properly 0 perty on an deaths heaths reek reck and ami received r ronit ome in fil cash 1 besides lie he had ills his outfit 0 of f v wagons afons and oon the best beat in the to company tom 1 pany ills iiii son pon tom was abut 12 years of age aee oft ing to some mysterious cause calls perhaps tile noll near relationship of box hl ourenis tile the lad wits afta one of thome it ro who ulio could not hs be called f instine n nor yet idiotic Ill otle but bill though physically 1 sound found ills hia wr wc so 0 o weak oak that he be constant and extraordinary ardin ary elite caie sharon had employed employ dl two men to a drive pis ils cuttle cattle and assist generally AT on the llie trip joint john hawkens anti and jeonard leomard As ao these persons re long on since rance doad dad it will do tin no harm to dpn linn don their title names they were both bolh men and belonged to lo it class of 0 s that thai inhabit abot biale alai and speak it a langu language ago and have auh tonn tam of their oun on they lived on tile the hill bm lanak and amot amongst igat the tin an oaks A and A I 1 I 1 think 11 I 1 nit were of tile the ballio class they call Crup kers dom down n south although thy they were never 0 so o called lit in missouri Misso url john aa vias a crom bondu gambler a stor lean alsager follow fellow little to lo nav and a jiin sI In of ever bad body lie te neither lei 1 pr it knew n 0 W how to read nor nor write tree trask on alic b c other hand way was or if open and fruik frank and obliging behavior quick to lend a helping hand it ii road workman wor kinan u great talker and hearly laugher A numerous nume roii liala left independence that it 11 is now jonir pines foi gotten liy by tile biml burO von vors of that trip the many anany hirl dents that tended to enliven uvan tile or the journea Jour nev but bul ono one does not nol forget the th wide file plains that seem to touch the sky tit nt all points f the ilie hoilen ho ilyn like the sea aoa the ficat glumpe of tho the rallied famed but irocky mountains mount alny which appear to th eyes that behold them for the time ablie with a never okien ex lerlen perlen ced those immense deserts of oc this the great ilasin populous op ulous walh fill catli S and biases lit in mirage the ghosts or oc de patted laces and their habitations no line tile ilio welcome first i lew of tho the snows sierras when they ibey had arrived at these theae mountains a halt was waa called to rest krysl 1110 voya voyagers gels and recuperate the worn morn out cattle here they a tew day tho the men award and tile g fateful aliide of the trees that fringed the mount mountain aln stream whole hey were encamped here sharon fell fa ack lck of a fever since known its as the mountain fever arver but quite little unknown in its nature lit in those days and hla his family were compelled to remain with wilh him blin as were also tile tho two men trask and john while the ih rest of the company pressed on oil to scale the mountain hairier that alone se them from the golden streams fit and lovely climate or at california trask trank nas ns assiduous in his bla attention alten llon to the et family v while bile john would have prof preferred erred to po go on oil anti and leale them to their fate when tile the fever that had seized sharon was at its mince nince when knib fortunes conff they COMP not ringle aples but in battal battalions lorn his eife and tom were seized kith the same fame malady and being without medical aid it waa not long ere era the father and other mother paid the debt to nature mr sharon told the men who aho were with him of the money ho he hid had which was concealed in one of his wagons fona and having made no w lie he summoned trask trank and john to lit lil bol slOe and gave them directions for the disposal or of his pio property perty he regus requested sted them that they their should hould as stion poon as pos possible bible vee see that his son was waa taken buck back to tile the states that a guardian su ardlan be appointed for him awil and that all U the money and al 1 d other property properly be used towards his h la sonia education he and ills his wife died the same day and tho ilia two men promised od truthfully to pet torra tho the confided to them two gravest with heavy stones piled over them now somewhat sunken beneath tho ilia surface mark the spot where they awalt the resurrection tom rapidly r covered from hla big attack a ot fever and trask and john now gathered fathered the cattle together and set act out to climb the range fol follow loving inta tho the way maikel out by tile tracks of those who had gone on heroic thorn thom in due urne and without fut liter accident they arrived at tho the place now occupied occupy e d by the flourishing city of sacramento then at small camping place overrun by spirits from the four fall r quarters of the alobe cesily all their f fellow ellow travelers across the lad scattered to the various mining camps camph and the men and boy found themselves surrounded by strangers As all ednd of f cattle were sl at a pi ice simply to the Missour missourians ians they eoon sold all the re enabling property pio perty ot of sharon which netted them with the money ho he had left some more money than either cither ever dreamed ot of seeing they were not disposed to look for any hont hon t employment the gamb ling drinking fighting for human life anti and tur all thin e ble where beld ellred the of beach combers of 0 gen L T a 0 the phala and minions of the moon milan frum from evory clime the chilean robber tho the austral lan ex cx the chinese coolie and that great spawn of at criminals ld in thu the clunis flums of ondon london t had met upon ia a comloson and held high car I 1 throughout tile the land no wand wonder r then that thai aney mude made he b impress upon the I 1 pliable I 1 I 1 a b to character of the two countrymen from the hills of claths creek what wages thele were to bo be mado made tit at the commonest work yet how flow man many will fill remain idle waiting nr for something greater escaler when allen that which Is IB nathin their heir resell reach la Is veil neil worth their dortort I 1 to 0 cb la in trask and lit hi friend john were not lint proof against till the attractions and dissipations ot the ing camp they re quentel the gambling places and with fortune remained at the place several weeks meanwhile it beeam known to several that hint jle II 11 rattle cattle and other property they lind had suld gold bel belonged onfred to tho the tiny liny toni tom and that the men h had ad g Is a con eld crable surn sum of 0 me money how much I 1 was wag not known that was tile property properly ot or the lite bo nov and tho the a of 0 lit fathers death and the tha ti it list confided to frnk and john the boy lound found men nho ho took his part and instated insisted upon his accounting tor tat the money in their one night thoy they met mat together to consider the of their affairs it it 14 getting pretty hot here h re trask tra ik said john ani aid it seems to me its IB age time we were doing s something 1 I know that lol trask but what can call vie e do I 1 have ll ovied inconsiderable sid erable 0 if the moncy mone yand and you ion too there lii its not a day out but I 1 hair hea them taking about us lia no not doing whet whal the old aid nian told us its to lo do I 1 arn aan gotting tired of it yo youl youve 0 got while left ilon how much do dom it amount 40 0 o vvhs now it amounts to some lif fir coall alion I 1 counted it today to day th that t anat winning ot of yut put ua its about anut tv even ell if f we ne want avant to put in our money to malic make ui u i ev even C it I 1 thought wo we were behind well ha va to keep ua lux from getting bellane Bell lne that v noney money it aint to reason that it will never r do this ber boy any good lie ile tj 1 na As veil oell orr air without money fig as alth fill it tho the only way isee I 1 bee Is 1 to get shot shet of tile the boy Ss is I 1 here any way to do that without arr an abbody body knola oln lt it so that not even one of on u could be a il inoes tho the other 1 I think there Is 18 replied trask task 1 I have heard or of a way avay to in do la that they then talked over ti ill plan thit ehst trask proposed and john eagerly agreed to it considering it a sc scheme liento fur far b avord aorl the inac invention mon of i tho the ordinary criminal 0 toni tom was vas an n orphan in the new on the only real friend lie had was waa alil dog don a 1 men ell found tand land that had followed him blin across the plains and became hla his inseparable companion thus 1 it happened that when tr draek isk and tom pushed off irom from the bank of cf the sacramento one coudy night torn tom believing they wore going down the river thence to san am and ail the fret first vessel back to the states ft that there VR was with them in the boat toms tomb ds ron don tho the sky vis b ark ic and the th silent liver bore theng aln ni on ail ila IB with no I 1 other sound than the light of the file onra oars in the water no a one knew of if theira departure rind and iw few rard eared doyn down the lite river they gilded gl el with ferr worda between their thein having left forever the turbulent mining bil behind still disappeared in ill the dirk neKi that bung over the river ace ll 11 ce a pall pal an hour after ond and about midnight 11 second boat loft left the shone near the santa ilace following in their wake the oars oara were muffled I 1 alago aln cocu pant baitt was lowing tho the boat lodurell acl birely elv as if ili no haste irace to lo overtake them thein john peered into the darkness dar kneas ahead ot of hs file boal lie he felt the first pain of ut a guilty intent conceived slid and now about to he be executed it was prearranged that ho he should leave about nn an hour after that lie he should como down to the th upper point of the island faland n litch lav about milt alt allea below in the middle or of the aher there WIK wair W IK a spit of saud sand running out front from the head or of the wand upstream up stream upon thin there then would await him a gunny gunnysack sack with a body in ili atthe body andy of a alerson ix dmn lie he was waa to pike this body in his hia b boat oat it with a rock rack heavy enough to ank pink it anti and kev keep it sunk lit in the waters of the sacramento and then join trask who wits was to awalt await him on the th nith uh all the money belonging to their wa ward rd in ili pursuance of this agreement john was now approaching the island what hat bough ts the iho guilty pulley bretch had when lie ho fit at last landed at the polut of at ili the asand Is and resolved to early carry out his part were known only to ia him and the on ono aho who vho seel al our actions the moon camo out for n nn ni i insi int front from the drifting clouds cloud as he h lanned land cil find and in tile the stillness silliness of the light he reat frit a natural al horror as lie he the iho of 0 lila his search lying upon the lite sand but the hope hone of the preat great reward at stake urged him on oil to the commission or of the derd deed approaching Approach lne the ithe large larce sack bicki which enveloped the rh i toily batty he seized it 11 by the end and pulled the weight into the host boat without IL hout once touching the br body ly then hastily shoving the boat tiff ho he rowed silently ta to the deo fiest put of 0 the stream lie he had already provided did himself ith heavy rocks alth ropes fastened to them so securely that there va waa a no chance of their over ever coming loose these lie be tied to the frack at head lieal and foot and having reached A part of the lite river suited bulled to his purpose in the darkness of the night lie he dropped the rocks over oer the boats side ado and with his oar he tried the yielding inert ilia mass of his victim over the side and saw it disappear forever beneath the silent water r here was a pretty 1 murder accomplished complis lied indeed but the deed coca lone clone the mans senses seem at once to leave him then to the island again to meet lili bli partner and share in the rich prize the deed was done and no eyo eye saw untold ages would roll by and yta yat the only ev Idone of 0 ilia his guilt lay liters tat at the rivers ti bottom ottom food ter lor nines under m nun 4 A fathoms ot of water felt FL a bellef as 03 lie rowed away from the place it required but little effort for or him to regain the island was long lone and li narrow arrow and covered with timber lie landed at the lower loner end and fastening his BUH to a convenient buth he be wont went ashore there were no trails thy by ho be could avold avoid the dense wood end and brush so 0 o be kept along the |