TWO TONS AND A POUND OF GOLD!Poling upriver with their scow load of supplies, Black John Smith and the men from Halfaday camped one evening on the river bank just below the mouth of Ladue Creek. In the morning, as they were breaking camp, a canoe was sighted drifting toward them from upriver. Apparently empty, it floated broadside to the current.
“That’s a Ladue Crick canoe,” said Black John, surveying the craft through eyes shaded by a hand. “Go fetch her in, an’ we’ll tie her up at the mouth of the crick. It belongs to old Nootlakwatl’s outfit.”
As the current carried the canoe close to shore, one of the men retrieved her, and the next moment all stood staring down into the little craft on the bottom of which lay the body of a young white man. The body lay on its back, decently compose
