The Go Ahead Boys and Simons Mine | Page 9

the signs and motions that were given
him from every side.
"Wasn't there anything besides the bones?" inquired the visitor.
"They had been picked clean. Zeke here thought that the coyotes and
buzzards had been at work."
"Probably had. You didn't find any clothes?"
"I believe we did get a coat and a pair of shoes."
"Would you mind letting me look at them?"
John turned to the guide and said, "Let them see that coat, Zeke.
There's no harm in that," he said loudly as he turned to his companions.
Reluctantly the guide displayed the coat which he had dug from the
sand and eagerly both visitors inspected it.
For a moment no one spoke and then the man with the scar said
abruptly, "I'm sure that's old Sime Moultrie's coat."
Again there was a brief silence before the man continued, "He was a
strange duffer. I have seen him off an' on the last fifteen year. He never
gave up his search for a mine and I guess he never found one. Strange
how a man will keep on as if he was all possessed when he has once

got started prospecting."
"What do you suppose happened to him?" inquired Fred.
"There's no tellin' as long as I didn't see the skeleton. Zeke here ought
to know."
"I don't know anything 'bout it," said Zeke gruffly.
"Well, the possibilities are," said the man with the scar, "that he took
sick an' died. He must have been all alone and nobody can tell how
long he may have been sick. As I rec'lect, he used to come in about
ev'ry Spring and Fall for fresh supplies. He wouldn't 'low any one to go
with him and he didn't have much to say to any one when he came in to
the town."
"Did you find any papers in the coat?" inquired the second stranger,
who up to this time had seldom spoken.
"Not very much. We couldn't find anything with his name on it,"
explained Zeke, "so we couldn't be sure whose bones they were."
"You didn't find any papers at all?" again inquired the man.
"We didn't find anything that showed who he was," said Zeke slowly,
"same as I told you."
"The coat then is the only thing you have got to identify him with?"
"We found a pick-axe and spade and hammer," explained Zeke.
"Have you got them here?"
"Yes, they're somewhere about the camp. I don't know just where we
did put them."
"Better let us have a look at them."
"It's too dark to see them now. Wait 'till mornin'."

"We aren't going to wait until morning," laughed the man with the scar.
"We've got a long hike and we thought we would make part of it before
sun-up. It's a good deal cooler travelin' at night, and especially when
there's a good moon, than it is to crawl across those tablelands when the
thermometer is about a hundred and ten in the shade; and there isn't any
shade."
"Better wait until mornin'," said Zeke abruptly.
"No, we're goin' now. Come on, Jim," the man added, as he turned to
his companion. "It's time for us to be movin'."
Without further words the two strange visitors departed from the camp
and soon disappeared along the winding way that lead to the summit.
"That's a nice thing you did, Jack!" exclaimed Fred angrily as soon as
the two men were gone.
"What's the harm?" retorted John. "I didn't tell them anything about any
lost mine."
"You didn't have to," retorted Fred, "after what they said. They had
heard about a man dying, though how they ever knew beats me. And
they believed that he was the man who was reported to have found a
great lead."
"What of it?"
"A good deal of it," joined in Grant. "You have given them an idea and
they won't forget it."
"What good is an idea?" demanded John. "They haven't any paper and
they can't find the place without it."
"All the same," said Fred, "I'm sorry you said anything about Simon
Moultrie."
"But I didn't say anything about him," protested John. "They were the
ones that did most of the talking. I thought if I told them about the

bones we found this afternoon that perhaps they would talk some more
and say something that would help us."
"Great! Great!" laughed George scornfully. "You 'done noble,' Jack. If
those men don't find the place, you may rest easy that they will keep
track of us for a while."
"Why will they?"
"Because they'll want to see if we found anything in the pocket of
Simon Moultrie's coat that would give us any clue to the place where
he had made his great discovery. They'll watch us for a while anyway