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Show THE GOPHER TUNNEL GHOST. ' f tTTiat lmprefoed the miners of Rose , inlch a uhusual about' Martin Efferts was a striet sobriety, a certain morose-nes morose-nes cf temperament, and two long, Slender hand3 very narrow, with cu-rlouBly cu-rlouBly -taperlne fingers, and on the right a maimed, shortened thumb which no amount of hard work in the- tunnels could broaden or mar. His cabin mate, Jerry Ryan, who swore and drank like a pirate, and seemed to worship Efferts, passed ofr the lusty, reckless brute that h was. Only Efterts and Ryan knew why such an ill-assorted pair as they were should live and work together, for only they knew of the vow Efferts had made, years before! to the mother of "Little : Jerry," as she closed her tired eyes on the. world in a cheerless San Francisco boarding-house. '"I will stick to Jerry," the older boy had promised, "as long as he sticks to me." So. as he had promised, he bad done. ' From mining camp to mining camp they bad drifted, the devil of drink driving Jerry always farther from the restraining restrain-ing memory of a good mother. At Rose gulch the silent partner had met Trix Bollen. a pretty half-French girl.' And because they were different from the men and women about them, they fell in love promptly. Jerry marveled mar-veled at his companion when he saw the two walking under the stars on a night when the New Mexico mountain air was warmed to a delicious balmlness by the desert draughts blowing up from the Chama plain. The girl marveled at herself that she could have lived so long without love the real love that Efferts gave; and the silent man took the girl's devotion as a thing God-sent and inexplicable. inex-plicable. "I think you ' have the curious hands, mon chef' Trix said once, as Efferts held her fingers as he talked. "How long and facile, mats fort, so strong! I think you might crush witK them, like the the prand serpent, no?' I "No, no, Trix, with you they" . "An, no, no, indeed! C'eet vral me they- only caress; so!" She drew hla -hands to her cheek and kissed the long, tapering fingers, blushing prettily. One night in the late summer, Jerry; Ryan, stumbling home drunk, as usual,' was passing the mouth of the aban- , doned Gopher tunnel, when he saw a gray form rise up from beside a great boulder and scuttle Into the' tunnel's . end. The starlight was too dint to re- I veal the shape of it, but to the heated - . imagination of the miner it seemed half human, half beast, with a laugh like . ; that of a crazy, savage coyote. He ' ; rushed, trembling, back to . the Rose Bower saloon. A big red-ehlrted miner " i at the bar turned and asked the gaplng . ( man: . ' ! ".Have you seen a ghost, Jerry?" The i crowd laughed uproariously at the j scared face. Jerry replied, gripping the J edge of the bar and speaking in a yoice preternaturally eobert j "I ain't so drunk as that, gentlemen. I ain't drunk, but I did see it- I did see I it, and it was hellish! 'Twas in the oil'.. j Gopher tunnel, an it was gray, andtt j hopped an' it laughed it laughed fcl.V Ian. gentlemen! It was awfull"' Tt men jeered his tale. One said: I ', "Jerry's got 'em again." In a lKtlV, i while the seer of ghosts was asleep afV j the end of the bar, oblivious of every- ' ! thing; and no one remembered hie wild ' . i story. i Next morning, beside the boulder that ! lay in front of the old Gopher tunnel,' ' the body of Trix Bollen was found. On j her throat were the red, staring marks ; of slender fingers. ' ' '.' Martin Efferts, the girl's lover, was' . summoned to the hastily organised inquest in-quest at the Rose Bower, and Jerry Ry an appeared, too. Efferts came, saw ' the face of the girl he had loved contort ed in pain and b looped to close the staring star-ing eyes. As his long, deft fingers, stroked the dead face, "Old Man" Daly sprang to his side. SeUing . Efferts' ' shoulder roughly, he cried: , .- "Here, put your hand there on the throat, man! Can't ye all see!" He had , forced Efferts fingers Into the deep red cars on the girl's neck and they fitted perfectly, even to the short, deep scar made by the maimed thumb. . In a . minute they had him bound. The evidence evi-dence was' conclusive. Daly explained briefly: "They quarreled. I reckon, and this bad-tempered devil strangled her." Jerry Ryan saw his partner bound,' , knew what mining' camp justice demandedretaliation, de-mandedretaliation, swift and sure . and remembered the apparition he bad seen the night before. He rose to speak for Efferts: .... ' "Gentlemen, ' you're wrong terrible wrong. My partner was at home, an' he waa asleep. . Gentlemen, the one that done it 1 saw It was the ghost that went into the old Gopher tunnel.". , "How. do. you know that Efferts was at home in bed?" questioned Daly.!, "Didn't ye come here last night aft" . t seeln' yer ghost, an lay drunk tul in t.,W raorntn'?" .-' To Be Continued Tomorrow. ! i |