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Show pB"--- - VI I " " -gaggga ' Copyrirht hy Will Irwin I JIB- CHAPTER IX 11 HndTown Mnrstuil McOrnth nssmilt-,i nssmilt-,i Marcus llnmly on a ilivy when the tnmp was booming along at Us accustomed accus-tomed pace. t1"" politics of Cottonwood ml-lit at once have rushed forward to , climax. I speculate yet on this, won-derins won-derins K It all would have turned out more 'happily, In that event, for Mar-tils Mar-tils Handy and me. More and more the "business element" and the hot-le'r hot-le'r men who lived by Industry which meant of course most of us -wore bo-(luulr.g bo-(luulr.g to see a change must eonie. But also, more nnd more had the amblers, the dispensers of vice nnd the actual criminals grown lnsdout ,nd overbearing through Immunity. To meet this situation head-on would have taken all a man's course with both property and life. If the citizenry citizen-ry of Cottonwood boasted In common my virtue. It was course, lint things irere going very well for most of us; decent, public opinion In general, ithlle deploring our civic condition, Inclined to let well enough iilone. It needed a dramatic Incident to erys-tjllize erys-tjllize the western spirit of fair play, to translate sentiment Into action. This unfair nnd brutal assault by n nvorn oflicer of the law might have . lerved that purpose but for the discovery dis-covery on Uayden hill. The ebullient joy Inspired by that event left no room In the public bosom for any ether emotion. I'.y afternoon aft-ernoon the camp had become a mail-bouse; mail-bouse; by night, a Joyous chaos. It was settled now, said the public opinion opin-ion of the bar-rails. Cottonwood was I "permanent camp." Permanent ! She was tiie greatest camp ever discovered dis-covered in the Rocitles in the world In the universe ! Kven Marcus Handy, nursing his physical and moral Injuries, was caught up In the universal wave of optimism and enthusiasm. He bad better reason than most of the rest. Before I had finished staunching his wounds, I had broken the news In one confused burst: and hastened to Inform In-form him that he was to be my partner. part-ner. Marcus balked fl little tit that. "I'm afraid you're letting your generosity gen-erosity get nway with you, boy!" he I said. "But it's the way I'd expect you to act," he added shyly. "Someone's got to stake me, or I can't develop that claim." said I, "and It had better be you than anyone I know." The man's quaint habit of secrecy about his most vital affaire had infected me, and I had never told him about my background In the East. "AM right; I guess I'll tube a whirl with you," announced Marcus nt last. "If I can keep any of my money out of the maw of that d n paper company com-pany !" So was born the partnership which developed nnd operator the Upper f'nse claim on Huyden hill, which was the name given the location. In honor of Ruck. For of course, wdien we came t" name It, we used a printing term. 1 me tell here, once for all, the s,ory of the Upper Case, simple but 'H'lcal. Uayden -hill was "spoiled." Hie ore, as many learned bv hard experience, ex-perience, lay In pockets, great and s'nll, and not the most experienced P'olngists .could prophesy their lay ,r"m the surface conformation. The Harden and Croly tunnel tapped one : ' these pockets nearly the greatest. ur shaft was only fifly yards nway. Jet never, from the morning when we tinned the first shovelful of earth tin-the tin-the night when Its month was hoarded up as a dangerous pinsreot 'e, did It turn up an ounce of paying pay-ing ore. After we had sunk to a depth Mow which carbonates had never yet "Mn discovered on Havden hill, we andnned it as bad job. Then a or,upany with a theory that a deep ''Unhide formation underlay Ihe whole hiH made offers for some of the unproductive un-productive or worked-out claims. We Wld for Just enoiiL'h money to pav sarcus back what he had sunk In It. Plus a block of stock. I am keeping stnck yet as a souvenir, out Marcus, when we had patched 'rc up with court-plaster from the '"B store, displayed a nobler emotion mn greed of gold r hate of man. iSIe's the biggest storv that - ever "me out In this camp!" he said. ;f?e got to spread ourselves! er making history, boy. When ottonwood Is capital of 'the state, " Issue of the Courier will be 'famed In the statehouse for a "uvenir! Yu know the st01.y. write " fnr all you're worth." . y story finished, Marcus sent me rtn to get an Interview with liuok. omitting the probabilities, I ro-pared ro-pared straight to Huffaker's. My "dginent hud led me aright. Already, 'ie first story of the hotel was fin-rjed fin-rjed and occupied ; and the dining- '""n and bur, as I approached, rad-ght, rad-ght, babble and song. I pushed Ruck, still In his red llannel ' rt, his overalls tucked into his mud-,y mud-,y boot!. as dining In state. Hend- K " long table heaped with food, "marled Tlth champagne bot-,,e bot-,,e '"id seated Jim HuITukcr r nls right, Isidore Cohen at his left, n'' (,"'npaiiy was pieced out with " n''ig men," brokers, even Taylor ; banker the financial aristocracy ,ue earun. I bad scarcelj stepped through the door when Ituck saw me and rose to his feet, roaring bolster otis welcome. "Cents!" ,,e crle(, nipimi f()r Qr dor with the butt of an empty bottle "1 here's the mascot ! There's the tenderfoot, ten-derfoot, that brought me luck I Step up. kid, and let 'em see vou. lie's go-i"g go-i"g to he rich too! .1 i in. s ,v credit still good? All right, wine again!" So I was surrounded, congratulated welcomed prematurely to Hie financial aristocracy. While the false light of adulation tickled my vanity as well as my sense of humor, I had no desire to sit win, ihe mighty that, evening; lire had moved so fust since Buck's messenger woke me as to yield no opportunity op-portunity for Boeing Constance. On ihe dea of urgent business necessity, 1 got lluck away from Ihe table, dragged him past the clutching, congratulating con-gratulating hands, shut him up In a back room of 1 lulTaker's bar, and Interviewed In-terviewed him. "Well. Illicit," I s.,1,1, "now that you're rich, what are yon going to do? Co I'ast ami settle down?" "Last, h 1!" exclaimed Buck. "These here Koekles Is good enough for me !" "Here In Coti nwond?" I asked. "Sure! Cert! What's the use of movin' to New York or Frisco when we're going to have New York right here?" "Buck," I warned from the depths of my Yankee camion, "it's certain you have a very rich mine. There may be a million dollars down there, enough at any rate so that you might invest It and " "Sure I'm going to Invest It !" said Biuk. "Pon't think I'm going to Mow it all in, do you? Jn mines. I'll own this here camp before I'm through " "But mines are a matter of luck," J 'nterrupted. "Cert. And my luck has turned," replied Buck simply. I had no time for further argument, because a' new-delegation new-delegation of prominent citizens was pounding at the door; nnd Buck, lapped In such jobs as he had never before known, was In no mood for introspection. I hastened to Mrs. Barnaby's late. Glancing through the door, I saw that the place at the head of the table was cleared; Constance had supped and departed. I went round to the sleeping sleep-ing tent and called. At the sound of my voice she came running forth Into the twilight, both hands outstretched. "1 hear that you have struck it," she said, "and oh, I'm glad!" I went ull a-tremble; except for memory of that afternoon In the gulch, I should have lost my self-control again. She seemed to perceive my emotion; for she said quickly: "We musn't talk here by night this way people gossip I've had to make It a rule not to see men callers In the evening. Good night, Robert; I hope your claim makes a million !" and was gone through the tent-flap. Had I yielded to my impulses, I should have torn the canvas Into shreds. Heading ' page-proofs that night, I glanced up at Marcus, who was locking lock-ing a form. "Aren't you going to refer to the the McGrath episode?" I asked. "Nope!" said Marcus cheerfully. "Crowded out to make room" for more interesting matter. By the way, boy don't you go taking this matter up with Marshal McGratli. Next time he'll shoot, and I don't want to lose my best and only reporter. Just keep out of his way. We're going to get Ihe criminal news for the Courier from others than the appointed authorities." au-thorities." "Is the campaign for municipal government gov-ernment abandoned then?" I asked, and held my breath for the answer. 1 esteemed Marcus, and did not like to ihinl; that he lacked nerve. "No," he replied. "But when I cut my wolf loose again, old boss, he's going go-ing to bile!" To which cryptic utterance utter-ance lie put a period with a resounding resound-ing blow of his maul on the block. The days passed, bringing the advance-guard of a new rush to Cottonwood Cotton-wood camp. Again we were crowded beyond all possibility of accommodating accommodat-ing our pilgrims and strangers. At about this time Mike, the day bartender of the Silver Dollar saloon, began to loom up from the hasv mists of my general acquaintance. Kor some weeks now he had held a loose connection connec-tion with the Courier as a solicitor of printing Jobs on commission tmd a gatherer of small news Items. The Silver Sil-ver Dollar which stood Just where the glories of Main street encountered Ihe cheap, open brothels of l'earl street, had a hard name in camp. Humor called It headquarters for the thug element. ele-ment. As for Mike-I never knew his other name-he was a small, hatchet-f:u-ed man with a dead. Inscrutable eve and the appearance- in his street clothes of a respectable and somewhat some-what self-effacing mechanic. He said Uttle at any time, and that little In a v0U-e which sucked the words In brough a set of narrow teeth slanted "ackward like an anaconda's. He used r , br'rg 1 Information as rough tes wrttte., In a business hand ,10S; gpence.lan flourishes con ras -ed oddly with Its grammatical un ties Only by a process of painful frwrwmninrMiii n lniiM?rin-jmiMiitfwLMqro cross-examination could I extract the human lights which made the story. When we severed relations with the marshal's olhVe, Mike became at once invaluable. Our necessary criminal news we got from his reports; and. we never missed an essential Item. Twice, afler I had drawn from him his budget "f Information, he stepped over to Marcus, spoke a quiet word; they retired re-tired I lion to the space behind the printing -press Ihe only private place in our oilice nnd talked In whispers. IOxeept for the uncomfortable feeling of being on the outside and a touch of amusement at my editor's mania for dramalic secrecy,' 1 gave little thought to these conferences. One night Marcus did not come back from dinner. Mike, reporting at eight o'clock as was his habit, laid down his budget of miles and gave his usual iinillumlnating explanations. He had only two unimportant hold-ups and n case of assault and battery; I put aside his notes to "work up" when I had finished the "telegraph" news. But Mike did not -at once depart. Kor fifteen minutes he stood around the oilice, shifting from one foot to the other and asking faintly at Intervals when I expected the boss to come back. "Say," be said at last, "I got business busi-ness that won't wait. Give this note Nfef Euck Strodo From the Big Bonanza Chewing an Unllghted Cigar. to the boss as soon as he comes In, will you? It's Important." I took the piece of folded copy-paper, slipped it Into my pocket. A minute later, In fear that 1 might forget for-get it, I laid It on the desk before me. I was working furiously that night. The telegraph matter finished, I turned to Hike's items. Absently, I unfolded the note with the rest, read It over at one glance of the eye before I realized what I was doing. 'Troved that somebody In town Informs In-forms wdien they is monney shipments," ship-ments," It read. "Regular slstem. ... May have enterestlng facts tomorrow." to-morrow." I folded the note quickly, put it back Into my pocket. When Marcus arrived half an hour later I gave It I "ata-7atat.st.m.:.t.m.m.m-m-m-: to him, wondering If Ihe honorable and discreet thing was to admit my mistake or to keep silence. I decided on silence. Of course, I would keep his secret; and to let him know that I knew would only disturb him. A little guiltily, however, I watched him read It. lie whistled, caught up his hat and hurried through the door to be gone for another half-hour. The loose ends of this affair began to knot themselves together in my mind. Mike, of course, was a detective, admirably placed In the Silver Dollar, admirably concealed by the device of giving him desultory employment on the Courier. But was he Marcus Ilandy's man alone or whose? The next day brought another tiny, significant incident like a jet of steam from a verdant nnd blossoming earth, which indicates the volcano awakening to eruption underneath. But whereas my deductions from Mike's notes revealed to me part at least of the hidden truth, the meaning of this at the time escaped me. Through a still summer afternoon, with the great mountain above seeming seem-ing very near, I had ridden out to Hay-den Hay-den hill. Ostensibly, I made this journey jour-ney in order to report progress on our development work to Marcus; In reality I went to gloat. That piece of earth was mine not a gift or inheritance, in-heritance, like the fruits of life I had enjoyed hitherto, but already discounting discount-ing my stroke of luck, attributing my good fortune to my native acumen. Across the site of our placer diggings dig-gings stretched now a bridge of unseasoned un-seasoned logs, the needles still green on their roughly trimmed stumps of branches. The rather large cabin on the. next claim down-stream had passed from a private residence to a public institution. A shrewd saloonkeeper, saloon-keeper, newly arrived, had seen his chance for business with the owners, the prospectors and the mere sightseers sight-seers crowding to Uayden hill, had rented the cabin at rates which returned re-turned Its owners much greater reve; nue than their dwindling placer claim, had opened the Big Bonanza saloon. At the door of the Big Bonanza saloon stood hitched a team of matched coal-black Morgan horses, the silver mountings of their harness reflected re-flected In the r'ossy polish of their hides. The carriage behind them seemed, from the glint of Its varnish, the unspotted newness of Its yellow trimmings, to be out on Its maiden journey. As I pulled up to admire this equipage, Its owner strode from the Big Bonanza, chewing an unlighted cigar. He unhitched and mounted to the seat. He wore checked trousers as new as the paint of his carriage, as tight as the hides of his team, a black "diagonal" coat with binding an inch wide, a low, loud waistcoat revealing re-vealing a white, hard and glossy shirt-front, shirt-front, wherein gleamed two diamond studs. Above that were a round felt hat, a set of whiskers evidently but that morning trimmed by a too expert barber, and the countenance of Buck ' I was forced to look twice before 1 made sure of that and hailed him. "Hello !" he cried as I approached ; and then, somewhat sheepishly : "What think of the new shell?" "It's great. It's swell," I said, suppressing sup-pressing my smiles. "You must be cashing In !" "Nope!" replied Ruck. "Not til! next week. First shipment started to Denver yesterday. Don't have to pay. Evciybody gives me tick." Then, re- .TATAT.'.TiTATAT.'.T.VTAT.'.TATATA verting a little shyly to tha fascinating fascinat-ing subject of his clothes: "Since the boys elected rne president of the Uayden Hill Mine Owners' association as-sociation I kinder feel I ought to dog up a little I" He withdrew the unllghted un-llghted cigar from his mouth, spat a loose piece of wrapper from his lips. "Tryln' to break myself of chnwln' I" he remarked. "Jim Huffaker said a dry cigar was the best way. But it ain't very satlsfyln'." We drifted Into the gossip of the day. Buck's claim was developing beyond be-yond all expectations. Still the ore body seemed to widen out ; and still It grew richer. One sack which had gone down to Denver assayed eight hundred dollars to the ton. Shorty had been shirking his share of the work. "Drunk a heap," said Buck. "And then there's that girl from Red Nell's house. . . ." Two of the other claims had already reached "signs." "You'll break Into It yourself your-self any day, now," pronounced Buck. Hadn't been any symptoms of claim-jumping claim-jumping yet. Probably because the crooks in town knew what kind of men had located on Hayden hill. "That was Just blind luck," he commented. "The right kind of men got locations here. Had a mine owners' association associa-tion before they'd scratched ground. Anil we'll stand together, too. Anybody Any-body that tries anything funny up here Is moniceyin' with a buzzsaw. I guess the camp's next In order." He paused a moment. "Sacramento diggings," he added In a low, evsn tone. "What?" I asked. Buck was seldom cryptic. "Guess you ain't a member of our lodge," laughed Buck; and nt once changed the subject to the shortage of mine hardware. If I thought nt all of this curious phrase, it was to reflect with amusement amuse-ment that Buck had probably Joined by now every secret order represented In Cottonwood. I looked up to realize that If I kept straight on, I must pass round the county Jail. I had taken that course from the suburbs, where I had gone to look for a freighter with a bear story, in pure nbsentmlndedness born of a troubled mind. The dazzling Interest of my dual job as reporter for the Courier and owner of the Upper Case mine had saved me, all this time, from that sickness of the spirit which afflicts af-flicts unhappy lovers. But sometimes when I was alone as tonight the hopeless misery of my situation and the uncertainty of the path I was following fol-lowing came over me In a wave of, black, tormenting misery. I hesitated just a moment. Not since the day when he beat up Marcus Handy had I encountered Marshal McGrath Mc-Grath face to face. Subconsciously, I had been dreading the meeting. Of course, I should look through lilm, as though he were not there. Then, probably, the marshal would taunt me or Marcus, which would come to the same thing. If I answered him In kind, he would probably shoot. I had no Illusions as to my chance In a pistol pis-tol match with the marshal. Moreover, More-over, Marcus had again and again implored im-plored me not to hunt trouble In that quarter. On the other hand, if I failed to answer In kind I should lose all standing; should be known simply as a tenderfoot that backed down. And by now my growing position in camp had become sweet, so young wns I. In the shadow of a cabin which blocked the approaches from the hillside hill-side to the jail, I hesitated, my pride disputing with my prudence. I glanced at the Jail. Brilliant light flooding through its front window illuminated il-luminated Marshal McGrath's rocking chair. I noted, on the hazy edge of the belt of light, two male figures standing close together as though In conversation, and the outlines of a horse. But neither was the marshal. All this in the mere pause of an interrupted in-terrupted step. I was about to advance, certain that the chance of meeting my enemy was remote, when the two men stepped out into the belt of light. One. though j his face lay In shadow. 1 recognized as the talkative Charlie Meek. The light shone full on the face of the other. It was a comely countenance; my first, photographic glimpse record-id record-id a brow running almost without break into a straight regular nose.; from beneath his black slouch hut, now lushed back on bis head, emerged a tuft of curling blond hair. Then he turned from profile to full face, and smiled at some remark of Charlie Meek. And I saw that a loose moutV marred his comeliness. I had lifted my foot to step forth and boldly to pass the Jail, wdien he stooped, picked up the reins, led his horse's head and foreshoulders Into ihe belt of light. The motion stirred ; In me n faint memory which held me, searching my brain, to the spot. The face was new. Yet that motion reminded re-minded me of something significant, dramatic, buried perplexingly in the depths of memory. Charlie, talking In low tones over his shoulder, thrust his key Into the lock of the Jail. A forward for-ward motion of the horse blotted out his figure. Tle stranger mounted; the horse swung round backward and sideward side-ward as an independent steed will. On his buckskin flank lay a while mark- I Ing shaped like the uppev f.ilf of a pear, the head and shouloers of a j veiled woman. j That was the horse 1 hail seen In the bushes after the robbery of the Cottonwood Cot-tonwood stage! And the rider . . when I saw him hefcrc. he. was masked. But that motion, that figure were the same. As certainly as though he had confessed It, 1 r.uew that this was the man whom I had seen lying along the rock covering the stage pa sengers, whom I had seen mounting that same horse with the pear-suapeo marking. (TO BE CONTlNVlOO,) |