The Argosy, November 1908 — page 59: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AN ELUSIVE LEGACY, soon discovered, to his satisfaction, that they consisted chiefly of a scratched shoulder and a badly torn pair of trou- sers. Even the camera had emerged undam- aged, for he had not relinquished his hold upon it as he fell; and since he had landed upon his back and side, sliding rather than rolling down the bank, it had almost, as by a miracle, escaped wreckage. So much being settled, the next ques- tion was: What now to do? The possibility that the train-robbers might return and vent their spite upon him did naturally suggest itself, but only for a moment. He knew that gentry of that sort usually have their rendezvous a considerable distance away from the scene of their operations, and he was satisfied that this particular band, from the way they had swarmed out of the cut, were now hastening to cover with all speed. They would have descended upon him at once, if they had seen him fall; and since they had not done so, it was con- sequently clear that they had failed to witness his misadventure and, in all ‘probability, were no longer in the neigh- borhood. No; to his reawakening mind his most distinct cause for disquietude lay in a very different direction. He could not fail to foresee that through Daffodil’s in- sistence, if from no other motive, the railroad company would immediately send out a party to his relief; and he had no desire for the prominence which such an entry into Verdee must neces- sarily entail upon him. Obliged to tell his story and all about himself to a host of inquisitive officials, he would be a marked man, and it would then be as hopeless for him to prosecute the investigation which had brought him westward as if he should advertise his purpose in letters a foot long. “Oh,” he groaned in his chagrin, ‘what a mess I have made of it! What an infernal mess! And all because I couldn’t resist the temptation to snap- shot a few miserable road-agents! ” Suddenly, however, a brilliant inspira- tion came to him. He remembered that he had in his pocket a detailed map of the region thereabout, employed for ad- vertising purposes by Colonel Jones in 4A 625 connection with his stock-selling oper- ations. Dick had clipped this from a news- paper the night before he left Ravens- wood, with the idea that it might possibly be of use to him in his examination of the mine, but now an entirely different way struck him for turning it to account. Might it not be, he questioned, that with this aid he could puzzle out some other plan of reaching Verdee than in the undesired clutches of a rescue party? Spreading out the chart upon his knee, and with the aid of a dozen or so matches, he managed at last to make out where he was; and then he could hardly restrain the shout of triumph which sprang to his lips. For, although the railroad curved in a wide circuit of nearly forty miles around the mountain in order to reach Verdee, his map showed him that as the crow flies he was not more than twelve miles distant, and that, moreover, a short climb up from the cut and back through the woods would bring him to a bridle-trail leading directly to the town. Almost instantly he was up on his feet and ready to start. But first, he re- flected, he must arrange some plan to allay Miss Prentice’s anxiety and set her mind at rest. Tearing a leaf from his note-book, ac- cordingly, he hastily scribbled : To THE OFFICIALS OF THE RAILROAD CoMPANY: Have had enough of the wild and woolly West, and am _ starting back afoot for Red Dog, where I shall take the first train East. Please express my grip and other personal belongings on the car to St. Paul. BEHAVE. ‘“’ There,” he muttered, as he thrust the communication into the cleft of a forked stick and propped it up beside the track, ‘that will be enough to assure her that I have suffered no great hurt, and will also throw the railroad people and au- thorities off the track sufficiently long for me to get in my innings.” Then, without further delay, he gath- ered up his camera, and, clambering out of the cut, struck off through the woods. His progress at first was slow and cau- tious, for he had no wish to get lost in this unknown country; and then, too, he comicloooks.conrn