Show 6 j 77 rl t- t IF FW I 11 UPHAM By FREDERICK ADAMS I. I Author of The Kidnapped Millionaires Colonel Monroe Monroes Doctrine Etc CoPYRIGHT 1902 BY AU All rights CoPYRIGHT 1803 1005 BY BT I ADAMS reserved A. A J. J Da DI DIDDLE m CHAPTER XII Continued i l' l Two hundred feet from the house the dog paused and sniffed the air Then with a yelp he plunged to the right made for a rock which showed dim through the snow and burrowed frantically Into a drift on Its Its' leeward r side In the white mass Slake Blake saw a adark adark adark dark object and as he reached the rock it moved The next instant a bearded face appeared from the folds of a heavy fur overcoat and a man struggled unsteadily to his feet x Can you walk wak shouted Blake Bake grasping him by the arm V I think so said th the stranger as ashe x he grasped the rope How far is isit isit it u Not far replied Blake Bake Pull on the rope It will help you Once in the cabin the stranger seated himself near the stove while f Blake Bake produced a flask and heaped fuel on the fire Keep your hands and feet away from the stove if they are frozen cautioned Blake Im not frost frost bItten bitten was the strangers stranger's reply as h he clapped his hands vigorously and pinched his hIs' ears I was completely done for If 1 you hadn't found me when you did he said with much feeling as he extended extended ex ex- tended eded his h hand nd I should never have lert lett there alive aUve At the sound of the mans man's voI voice e James Blake started and gazed intently intently in at him When the bearded beards stranger raised his eyes and offered offers his hand the recognition was complete com com- com com- John Burt or I Im I'm m a ghost Dont Don't you know me John Jim Blake Bake The New Englander Is not demonstrative demonstrative demon demon- In his emotions or affections but the Joy which danced in the eyes eye of these reunited friends as the they t shook hands and slapped each other otheron on the back was more moe eloquent than words I i This seems too good good to be true Jim exclaimed John his hand on Jims Jim's shoulder But for you old F chum my California experience would have been ended How small the world Is that we should meet here of all p places laces on earth Take off your clothes and get Into intoe e bed John directed Blake as he pushed John into a chair and tugged at his frozen boots Do as I tell you and you'll be all right Lie quiet and andrest rest rest Dont Don't talk but keep leep awake Several times during the next two hours John fell feIl into a drowse but by force of will he roused himself The reaction after the awful struggle in the drifts was severe but he mastered mastered mastered mas mas- it and was himself again Blake exhausted the resources of his larder In a dinner which Jo John n enjoyed as never before In his life lIte and Dog did not go hungry Then pipes were produced and seated near the red red hot hot stove the two friends recounted some of the events which had marked marled their lives Jives during the preceding six years It seemed ages to both of them The striplings r of seventeen were now stalwart men men- Blake listened eagerly to his friends friend's recital of the ev events leading up to the quarrel with Arthur Morris Jim clenched his hands and leaned excitedly excitedly ex ex- forward when John told of the struggle with Morris in the tavern I have sometimes thought said John that I should b have ve remained and faced the charge of f murder which might have been made ag against me That was my first Impulse I did not kill Morris and It is only by chance that he did not kill me The revolver 2 was still In his hand when he be fell feIl though I had bent his wrist so that he could not turn It against me It was one of those new self self cocking cocking I L J u. u L G weapons and Morris shot himself BuI But Bu ButI t I had no witnesses and Grandfather Burt and and and-and and others advised me t to o put myself beyond the reach of oa a prosecution in which all the money and influence would have been against t. t me But tell teIl me of yourself Jim What have you done in California and what has the Golden Goden State donfor done don e for you you It would take me a week John t to o tell my experiences of the last five oe e years said Jim Blake Blae tossing another another another an an- other log Into the fire Most of them the m would not Interest you some might t amuse amuse you and others would make mak e you mad mad Ive I've been been- rich three times John and In love twice twIce twice-no no three times How rich and how badly in love My Iy strokes of f fortune and my love affairs are all Jumbled together together- explained explained ex ex- paIned Blake laughing heartily have a bad opinion of me John but Ive I've reformed and andam am going to lead a belter better life lIte I made my first firs t strike on the Little Calaveras Tal Talk k about luck That was a funny thing I broke my neck and discovered a agold agold gold mine and a sweetheart in doing g it it Broke your neck Surely youre you're Jesting Its a fact Just the same as as- J Tt l' l r. r 7 leather snap as the horse went over the precipice If it had been a first first- r class saddle I wouldn't be here t to o tell the tale I was hanging down over the cliff It was eighteen hundred hundred hundred hun hun- dred feet deep to the first stopping r place and I saw that horse all I I out turn over and over i ithe In Inthe n the air I closed my eyes yes so as not notto no noto t to see him strike Then I crawled I I back a few feet and sat down behind behin behina d a rock That's the last thing I remember remember remember re re- member until I woke up In bed An Anold Anold A n old do doctor tor whose breath smelled o of f fd liquor was bending over me a an and d near him was one of the prettiest pretties t girls I ever saw She and her father were approaching me when I 1 started to slide down the mountain Her He r name was Jenny Rogers Rogers Jim sighed and paused This Is growing romantic but ho how w about the broken neck asked John It was broken or or dislocated which h hd Is about the same thing continued continue d Blake Jennys father knew of a an anold anold n old Spanish doctor about forty miles mile away and went for him He was a as wonder o on bones He e was black a aan as asan asan s an Indian and uglier than sin H He He felt feIt around my neck swore softly i In n Spanish rolled me over on my fa face e climbed on my bar back k J jabbed his knees knee s into my shoulder blades and grabbed grabbe d me by the Jaws He gave my head a a. quick wrench I saw a thousand skyrockets skyrockets sky sly rockets something cracked and I became became became be be- came senseless When I awoke h he e had my neck in splints and was jabberIng jabbering jab jab- berIng Spanish to Rogers He said he was the only white man in the th e world who could set a broken neck and I guess he was He had learned learns d the trick from an Indian medicine man He charged me twenty twenty five five doar dollars dollars dol dol- lars ar and told me to lie quiet for a 1 11 1 I Q ELc Ee r FAG r F 17 7 cu 4 f 4 A Ok sorted Blake thoughtfully rubbing the back of his neck which showed n ns no no s signs gns of fracture I was a greenhorn then and my prospecting expeditions were the Joke of the old stagers I bought a horse and a Mexican saddle and prowled through a all l the mountaIns mountains mountains moun moun- and foothills back of the Little Calaveras One afternoon I was followIng following following fol fol- lowing a trail that skirted along the side of a mountain Theres There's a lot of woodchucks In those hills and In inbur- inbur bur burrowing rowing around one of them loosened a rock which c came came me rolling down In my direction My horse saw and heard It ft and shied off the trail He slid about twenty feet and then te fell and as he went my right foot went through the stirrup He rolled over me and we started down dOVin the slope Sometimes I was on top and sometimes sometimes some some- times he was on top Four or five fi hundred feet below I Isawa saw sawa a a thin row of trees and I knew they marked the edge of a cliff For some reason theres there's most always a frInge of trees at these Jumping off oft places We were going like lightning Just as we neared the edge edg the horse rolled over we again As I came on top I saw that we were going to pass between two small smaIl trees A big rock slewed the horse around and he went down head first I grabbed at a tree and by the merest chance threw m my free leg around it I r held like grim death death to a coon caon and heard the I 71 i W week Jenny Rogers nursed me and of course course I fell In love with her I 1 Iwas Iwas was in their cabin and near by Mr Rogers had located some valuable claims Here is the most remarkable part of this story Blake went on When I was able to dress I picked up that I cursed Mexican stirrup to see how the leather happened to bl bilak al It was a steel affair and I lit i some bright yellow spots In the cre ices Blamed If it wasn't gold I didn't say a word but when I was strong enough I went bac back and cI climbed slowly d down wn the place where my horse fell feIl It was easy to follow it ft Near the edge of the cliff I found an outcropping of ot gold gOld bearing bearing ore and the mark of where the metal meta part of my stirrup had scratched It ft I staked out a claim and sold it to Jennys Jenny's father for fora a hundred and twenty twenty five five thousand nd dollars Hes He's made two millions out of it it I made love to Jen Jenny y and I think she would have had me but I went to San Francisco and dropped the hundred and twenty twenty five five thousand on the mining exchange I went back and asked Jenny to wait until I made another fortune She said shed she'd think about it ft I guess she did A year ar later she married a man who Is now a United States Senator So I broke my neck lost my fortune and my sweetheart all in less than a year And what have you now i tf I r 1 This mountain chateau replied Blake with a lordly sweep of his arm armand and a hole In the ground back of it Then I have a fine view of the valley a good appetite a slumbering consCience conscience con con- conscience science and and and-and and Dog here who never upbraids me for being seven seve seven kinds of a fool John told the st story ry of the dying sailor and his map and read an extract extract ex ex- tr tract ct from Peter Burts Burt's letter Then he produced the map and and they spread it out ut on the table and examined it by the by the light of the lantern I followed the trail all right ex en explained John John until the storm set In and nd then I had to feel my way Before Before Before Be Be- fore I lost my bearings I was abOut two miles miles' from the point where this sailor claims t to have found gold I 1 1 kept near the edge of the cliff until I could go no further and then curled up b behind hind that rock In the hope that the storm would cease cease Blake studied the map with gow- gow Ing interest and excitement With a splinter from a log as a marker ha traced the trail I know every foot of It IU he exclaimed exclaimed exclaimed ex ex- claimed resting the point of the splinter on a round spot on the map Here Is Fishers Fisher's Lake You came that far by stage Here Is the creek which you follow fonow for seven miles untIl until until un un- til you come to the old Wormley trail You take that to th the cliffs and go along the cliffs until you cross four b brooks and come to the fifth one You were within a hundred yards of that fifth stream John Now lets let's see the key to to this thing John handed him the letter From the the east east face of the square rock on the north bank of the brook at the edge of the cliff read reah Blake I know w the rock well weIl Lets Let's seeThe see The Thence c east along the bank of the brooK in a straight line tour lour hundred and twenty two twenty two feet arid and then north at right angles anglee- sixty sixty seven seven fe feet t to the base of the tallest pine in the neighborhood neigh Blake rushed to the door forgetful of the storm to verify his suspicions He pushed it ft open an inch but a a solid bank of snow blocked the way Where do you suppose the base of that pine tree Is he demanded Without waiting waiting- for a reply he found a hatchet and tapped the clay floor until he located a spot which gave a deadened sound Then he chopped away a few inches of packed dirt and sank the blade into a solid soUd substance Theres the base of the big pine pinetree pine pinetree tree described by your dead sailor and Ill I'll bet my life on it he shouted And here are sections of the tree he continued pointing to the logs which formed the foundation of the cabin Im Pm dead sure of it ft John Its It's about a hundred and forty yards from here hereto to the edge of the cliff I know for forI I measured it And its about twenty yards to the brooks brook What is more conclusive this was by far the largest tree anywhere around That's why I located the cabin here Lets Let's see what comes next His eyes glistened glis with excitement The Instructions were to measure three hundred and eighteen feet north from the base of the tree and thence east to a carefully described rock which Blake remembered This was the base of the incline Within a hundred hundred hundred hun hun- dred yards of this rock the key located located lo- lo three gold gold bearing bearing quartz ledges edges To be continued |