d been aroused
and he was ignoring all 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.