Beadle's Dime Novels, No. 91: The Lost Cache — page 60: what you’re looking at

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

82 THE LOST CACHR. Jed into the main cafion, and found the declivity not a very difficult one, as it had been fashioned by nature in rude imi- | tation of a flight of steps. When they reached the bottom, they saw that the chasm was not as deep as they had sup- posed it to be, though fully as precipitous, and that a clear and cool little stream flowed through a bed of sand and rocks. “It must be into this place that our spring empties,” sug- gested the surveyor. “Yes; I knew it had a sink somewhere. Sam Myers— look !—what’s that?” . Harry grasped his companion’s arm, and stared wildly, as he pointed to an object that lay on the sand near the water. | The two friends stepped forward, and examined the object. It proved to be the body of a young man, dressed in corduroy EE — coat and pants, and hickory shirt. Lying by his side, with | his right hand clenched on the handle, was a wooden pail He had been dead for some time, as the body was quite cold and stiff. There was a stab in the back, the throat was cut, — the scalp had been torn from the head, and there was a small cross, cut with a sharp instrument, on the forehead. ok “This is something beyond my comprehension,” said Myers, “and we must fall back on Ben Farrar. We must tell him of this, if he keeps us at work on the fortifications for o week. Come, Harty.” | : The young gentlemen hastened. back-to the camp, and told the old hunter of all they had heard, done and seen. He listened attentively, shook his head dubiously, and silently and solemnly accompanied Harry’ to the caiion, leaving Myers in charge of the.camp and Pete Green. When he examined the body, and saw the cross that had been scored on the forehead, he shook his head more profoundly than ever. , “I don’t want to know nothin’ more,” said-he.. “ The fel- ler’s ha’r has been raised, and thar’ is Burt Adams’ mark. We will bury him here, and git back to camp.” __ | A shallow graye was dug, and the sand was heaped over the = body, and Farrar silently led the way to. the camp, where | Myers asked him what he thought of the matter. “ Thar’s no tellin’,” he answered, “ ’ceptin’ that Burt Adams has been around and left his mark. It puzzles me to. guess ; Who the dead feller was. From, his looks and his. clothes I ‘ connicloooks. conn