Part 12 (1/2)

”Then right there is where you ought to have stayed,” said Mr Parsons, throwing y into his tones than he usually did ”I hope you're not going to be sick of your bargain, but I'm afraid you are Here coe that fellow?”

The bronco which came up at that moment, with Stanley's lariat fastened about his neck, was like any other horse, only he seemed to be tired

When they stopped him, he lowered his head and drew up one of his hind feet, and closed his eyes as if he were fast asleep But Toh to know that the word caot his name from his persistent efforts to keep wild cowboys off his back He couldn't be ridden, that was the matter with him; but he would carry a pack-saddle all day, and never had been known to leave a ht he could e him, and patted him all over; but the horse never opened his eyes to look at hi Toht, and by the tiht out which looked as though it had been through two or three wars, and the cook, following the instructions of hisno heed to Tom to ask him whether the supplies he furnished suited him or not He had provided sothat would do for one would do for another

With darkness came three more cowboys, who listened to what Mr Parsons had to say, and then greeted Tom very cordially, and wished hiet One man, especially, was particularly interested in To wherever he saw a landslide, and if he happened to hit upon the right place he would strike it sure The spot where the man hid it was obliterated, but that wouldn't hinder the proper person fro where it was

”I have looked for that nugget a goodthat has keptwhere it was,” said the ret ”I know it is somewhere in thefor it?”

Morning came at last, and after Tom had eaten a hasty breakfast he saw the pack strapped on his bronco; and the whole thing was done so easily, with two experienced cowboys at work, that he regarded it as the least difficult part of his undertaking He had been told repeatedly to get the pack on right, and not to unhitch his horse until he did it, or the bronco would knock him and his burden into thehim to follow after as best he could But Toood-by to the cowboys who had assembled to see him off, and a hasty slap on the bronco's flank to help hiayly for the ain, he hoped to have the eight thousand dollar nugget stoay in his pack-saddle

The first day's work Tom could not co his head fro first into one canyon and then into another, and did not think it necessary to stop for anything to eat until hebreath as he stopped under the shade, and looked around at To hiainst a log and took his pack off very easily, and the horse i his supper Then Tom picked up his rifle and looked about him

”I declare! I believe the whole canyon is full of landslides,” said he, as he gazed at one pile of rubbish after another filled with logs, rocks, and brush which nature had thrown into the valley, so the e upon them ”Hold on Isn't that the mark of a spade over there?”

Tom walked over and looked at it It was the ing where the landslide ended, and had thrown out just earth enough to prove that he had been there, and that was all There were other openings of like character, until Toe mass above him, and made an estimate that it would take an army of men, each armed with a spade and pick, to work it all away These were probably thethe cowboys, who told hiet was because he didn't dig in the right place To, and sat down

”I really believe I have been duped,” said he disconsolately ”If the landslides are all like that, I a to work to throw theht thousand dollars Besides, what use will it be to o on a little further”

If Toround which could be throay in half a day's tiht of a _real_ landslide hat took his breath away He didn't eat a very hearty supper after that, for the thought that was uppermost in his mind was that the ht to expect soard to Ela him that there wasn't any show at all of his success, they had fitted him out and sent hi about it: he would not go back until every mouthful in the pack-saddle had been eaten That much he was determined on

”I had an idea that cowboys were above suspicion, but now I know they are not,” said Torub as well as anybody, and I won't put a spade in the ground until I see some prospects of success”

At the end of a week Toh he saw e him It was landslides everywhere, and the mark of a man's spade was on every one; so it showed that the bronco had been over that saetting deeper and deeper into the mountains, and somehow Tom felt very disconsolate A deep silence brooded over everything--a silence so utterly ladly he would have welcomed Jerry Lamar and listened to news from home and from the uncle he had deserted Another week and Tom found himself hopelessly in a pocket Turn which way he would, there was no chance for hiet out The one into all the places and thrown out just earth enough to prove that he had been there, but not enough to accoh to let To there

Toiven him a ravenous appetite; his bronco was hitched so that he could not take to his heels and leave his master to find his oay ho his attention between his cup of coffee, hard-tack, and bacon, he thought seriously of going back to headquarters This was undoubtedly the remotest point reached by the htened out by a few shovelfuls of earth, or scared at finding hiht himself entitled to follow his lead It had taken hied to keep close run of the days); it would probably take hi to return, and so he would fill Mr Parsons' contract anyway And so it was settled that he was to go ho and doing it He finished his coffee and bacon, led the horse down to the spring, froive hio to sleep with his ready rifle safe beside hi he slept he did not know, but he akened about ht by a sound he had never heard before It cah: it was the sound of fear, and made the cold chills creep all over him He started up with his rifle in his hand, but did not have tiet off the blanket Another shriek, which sounded like soony, caround and struggling in the grasp of so which Tom could not re neck, long legs, and a wonderfully high body which was increasedin its grasp, and the struggle took place not over ten feet fro

”Great Moses!” was Tom's mental ejaculation

He sat for an instant as if spellbound, and then his rifle arose to his face He was sure he had a good shot at it and expected to see it drop; but instead of that it gave another shriek, tossed the horse away fro like thread the lariat hich he was confined, and with a single jump disappeared in the bushes To froot upon his feet and turned his attention to the wounded horse He was past the doctor's aid, for he was dead

”Well, that beatsit up, so that he could see what sort of wounds the beast had ood many boys would have been startled pretty near to death by the sudden appearance of an apparition like that It must be possessed of tremendous power to toss the broncho about as it did, and break the lariat hich he was fastened No ghost could do that, and neither could a ghost have made that wide and fearful rent that Toht it best to build up a bright blaze, for he did not kno long it would be before the animal would come back to finish its work He loaded the rifle carefully and placed the revolver where he could get his hands upon it at a rizzly bears, but had never heard of thele bullet

”It couldn't have been a panther or a bear, unlessas the horse,” said To the speciht more than a minute, and yet the horse was as dead as a door-nail ”Heelse that I know of could haveto find htened at first, he was doubly so now He was so confused he couldn't think From that hour he sat there on his blanket, and by the tiuish objects near hi to do He would take everything out of the pack-saddle that he could carry on his back, and make his way out of the pocket the sah of his skill in woodcraft to turn and take a survey of his back track, so that it would not appear odd to hiain, and he had no doubt that he would be able to find it

More than that, the bronco had left the prints of his hoofs and had continually browsed on the way, and, taking all these things together, Tooing to be a tight squawk,” he soliloquized, ”but I am not lost yet I only wish I knehat that ani load off my shoulders if I did”

To his bundle, for there were sos about the pocket that he did not care to see He wanted to get out of sight of every thing that reht He put all his bacon, hard-tack, and coffee into his blanket, strapped his pot to his belt behind, set his pick, spade, and pack-saddle up where they could be easily found, shouldered his rifle, and, with a farewell glance at the bronco, which had carried his pack so faithfully for hied into the bushes and left the pocket behind