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Show " g3S3BSSBBSaBBBaBBT WJKfM Courtney cHArrin i. It wss over. The raatbllag house, with Its rickety, old-fashioned rami-"lr-i He memories was aow deserted, de-serted, except for Robert Halrchlld, aad he was deserted within It, was-etlag was-etlag from room to room staring at familiar objects with the unfamiliar ease of oae whose vision suddenly has been warped by the vlsltejlpn. of death and the sense of leaetlness that It brings. Loneliness, rather than grief, for It had been Robert Falrchlld's promise that be would not suffer In heart for one who had longed to go Into a peace for which he had waited, seemingly la vain. Year after year, Thornton Fair-child Fair-child had sat In the big armchair by the windows, watching the daya grew old aad fade Into night, studying sunset sun-set after sunset, voicing the vain hope that the gloaming might bring the twilight twi-light ef hla own existence silent man except for this, rarely speaking of the past, never'glvlng to the son who worked for him, cared for him, worshiped wor-shiped him, the slightest Inkling of what might have happened In the dim daya of the long ago to transform him Into a beaten thing, longing for the final surcease. And when tho end came. It found him In readiness, waiting wait-ing la the big armchair' by the windows. win-dows. Even now, a book lay on the frayed carpeting of the old .room, where It had fatten from relaxing fingers. fin-gers. Robert Falrchltd picked 1 up, aad with a sigh restored It to the grim, fumed oak case. Hla 'days of petty sacrifices that his father might while away the weary hoars with rsadtatf wars ever. What had beea the past? Why the silencer, Why the patient, yet Impatient Impa-tient wait fen death? The sob did not know. la all his memories was only oaer.iatat picture, patated years he-fore he-fore la babyhood: Ute-return of hla father from some place, he. knew not where, a long conference with his mother behind closed doers, while he, ta ebUdllke cariosity, waited without, seeking In vain to catch some expln-Batten. expln-Batten. Then a sad-faced woman who cried at night whea the house was still, who faded aad who died. That waa all. The picture carried no explanation. ex-planation. And aow Robert Fatrchlld stood oa the threshold of something he almost feared to learn. Once, on a black, stormy night, they had sat together, father and son before the fire, silent tor hours. Then the head of the white-haired man had reached outward out-ward and rested for a moment on the young man's knee. 1 wrote something to you. Boy, s day or so' ago," he had said. That little Illness I had prompted me to 5? J-sLULPMlt 11 waa only "fair to job. After Tn fone, ,100k La the safe. You'll find the combination on a piece of paper hidden In a Unit cut lB ISM. 1(l4ropeajlilstory n. tu.j bookcase. I have your piomlse, I know ths,t you'll not do It until after Pm gone." i; Now Thornton FnlrVlilld was gone. But n mcNsiiKC hud remained behind; one which the patient lips evidently had feared to utter during life. The heart of the son began to pound, slow and hard, as, with the memory of that conversation, he turned toward the bookcase and unlatched the paneled door. A moment more and the hollowed hol-lowed history had riven ud Ita trust. a bit of paper scratched with numbers. Robert Fatrchlld turned toward the stairs und the smnfl room on the second sec-ond floor which had served aa hla father's fa-ther's bedroom. There lie hesitated before the little Iron safe In tho corner, summoning the courage to unlock the doors of a dead ninn'fl past. The safe had not been opened In yearn; that was evident from tho creaking of the plungers as they fell, the gummy r'IMnnoo of the knob us Folrchlld turned It In accordance with the directions on the pnper. Finally, a great wrench, and the bolt was drawn grudgingly back; a strong pull, and the safo opened. Fatrchlld crouched for a moment, stnrlnc before he reached for the thinner of two envelppes which lay boforo him. A moment later he strnlKlitened und turned toward the llcb-t. A crinkling of putw. g qjUcki drawn sign between ciencnea xeetn; It wns a letter: his Strang, quiet, hunted-appearlng father Was talking to him through the medium of Ink. aad paper, after death. He read: "My Bon: "Before I begin thla letter to you 1 must ask that you take ao actlea whatever until you have seen my attorney at-torney lie wm be yours from now oa. I have never mentioned him to you before; It was aot aecessary and would only have brought you curiosity which I could not have satisfied. Rut now, I am afraid, the doors must be unlocked. I am Kune. You are young, you have been a faithful aosT aad yea are deserving of every good fsrtwa that may possibly come to you. I am praytag that the years have mass a dlsTsrsace. aad that Fortune may smile apon you as she frowned oa me. Certainly, she can Injure roe ao loafer,, My nee Is run; I am beyond earthly fortaaee. Therefore, when you have finished with this, fake the deeds inclosed la the larger envelope Sad go ts It Louis. There.'look up Henry T. Ream-lah, Ream-lah, attorney-at-lHw, la the Prlaessa bulldlac. He will explain them ts yeu. "Beyond 'this, I fear, there Is little that can aid you. I cannot find the strength, now that I face It, tc tell you what you may find If you follow the lure that the other envelope hold.-forth hold.-forth to you. " There fa always the hope that For-taas For-taas may be klnrj to me at last, aad smile apon my memory by never letting let-ting you know why I have, beea the sort of man you havs kaowaV sad aot the Jovial, genial cemaaalea that a. father should be. Rat there are ear-taut ear-taut things, my son, which defeat a waa. Therefore la It aet beUatvtatt It' reemeia behUd a elstsi aattt atea time as Fortune may reveal It' sad & Ttahjftr sErn-rX lul "IbM Hr sJtT RT sffsffsfssVaat W whea yoa read taw, I abaU a sjsaw; .but fee yea, that yea may aet he ham-dlcasped ham-dlcasped by the knowledge ef the thing which 'whitened .my, .hair aad aged me, long before my time. "If he lives, and I am sure be doss, there Is oae who wlB harry to year aid aa soon aa he kaewa yoa need him. Accept bis couaeela, laugh at his little i eccentricities If you will, but follow bis Judgment Implicitly. Above all, ' ask him no questions that he does not care to answer there are things that tie may not deem wise to tell. It ts , only fair that he be given the right to rrhoose his disclosures. I There Is little more to say. Beamish Beam-ish will attend to everything for you ! If you care io go. Set! everything r that Is hefpj Hie bouse.' the"farnltare. the belongings, It Is my wish, ana you will need the capital If yoa go. And if circumstances should arise to sjCbu before yea the ftew jef .that which has caused me so muen dark-aees, dark-aees, I have nothing ts ssy la self. "I Made One Mistake That of Fear." extenuation. I made ono mistake-that mistake-that of fear and In committing ono error, I shouldered every blnmo. It makes little difference now, I am ' dead ond free, "My Io to you, my son. I hopo that wealth and happiness await you. Wood of my blood Hows In your veins and strange though It may sound to ou It Is the blood of an adventurer. They soy. onro In tho blood. It never dies. My wish Is that you succeed where I fulledand God be with you I "YOUR FATHER." For u long moment Robert Falrchlld stpod storlnK at the. letter, his heart pounding with excitement, his hands rnspliig tho foolscap paper as though with a deslro to lour through the shield which the written words hud formed nbout a mjHterlous post und disclose that which was so effectively hidden. So much luid tho letter told? WsamBBmBsmBBstrw' taaam JujmmTr' mm yet vi nniei narx nao oeea rw n,,lt" "f e mysterious. Intangible Hung ureni mougli la Its horror aad Its f.ir riMiMng oi sequences to cause death for one who had known of It and n living panic for him who had perpetrated It. In that super-calm-nexs which accompanies great agitation. agita-tion. Kalnhlld folded the paper, placed tt In Its envelope, then slipped It Into an Innldn pocket. A few steps and he was before lire safe once men and reaching for the second envelope. ' Heavy nnd bulky wns this, IHsd wRh tnx recolpts, t.tth plats aad btas rlats nnd the reierta of surveyesa. ere was an assay slip, bearing Bguree and notations which Robert Falrchlld wold not understand, then a legal doc-ummt. doc-ummt. sealed nnd stamped, aad bear-kH bear-kH the words: Oeunty of Clear Creek, 1 fltats of Colorado, f-1KKI) f-1KKI) I'ATMNT. ?! AlA MICN THE8R rtKBENTH: That oa tats day of our Urd, February 22, IKtt, Thornton W. Fsirchlld. having presented the ace-ary ace-ary affidavits and statements of as-Mssinents as-Mssinents accomplished ta accordance wRh-. rua It trailed In endless legal phrase-etegy, phrase-etegy, telling In muddled, attorney-like fusge, the fart that the law had sen fulfilled In Its requirements, sad JJmt the claim for which Thorntoa Falrchlld had worked was rightfully MS, foreer, Falrchlld reached for Ue age-yelluwed envelope to return the papers to their resting place. But he'1 checked his motion Involuntarily and for a moment held the envelope before him. staring nt It with wide eyes. Then, as though to free by the stroiuer light of the window the .haunting thing which faced him, he .rose and hurried across the room, to 'better light, only to find It hud not been Imagination; the ords still were before hlui, a sentence .written la faint, faded Ink proclaiming the .contents to be "Copers Relating to the Mho Poppy Mine." and written across thl a word In the holder, harsher wrot.es of o mail under stress of emotion, emo-tion, a word which held the eyes of Itiibeit Kulrclilld fixed nnd staring, a word nhleli spelled books of the piut and eWI thrrnlti of the future, the single, omlnoUH word: "AfCIMtSKUl" CHAPTER II, ,In spite or all that omens could foretell. In spite of the dull, gloomy life which had done Its best to fash-tea fash-tea a matter of.fact bruin for Robert Fatrchlld, one sentence In that letter had found nn eiho, hud started n pulsating pul-sating Mimetliiiig within him that he never before had known: It Is the blood of nn adventurer." And II Keemnl that -Robert Fair child needed mi more tluin the knowl-aire knowl-aire re feel the ttaale ef tti kJVs eta hakse suddenly became stuffy aad prleonllUt.Niulie wundered through It Again nnd ngalu pounded through his head "the fact that only a night of tiael Intervened between Indianapolis Indianapo-lis and ift. Louis; within twelve hours he cduld be In tho offlce of Henry lleamlah. And then A .'hurried resolution. A hasty pack-Ing pack-Ing of a traveling bag and the cashing of n check nt the cigar store down on the corner. A wakeful night while the train clattered along upon Its Journey. At last: "I'm Robert Fulrchlld." he said, nn he faced a whlte-halrcd, Cupld-fnced man In the rather dingy olllccs In the Princess building. A slow smile spread over the pudgy features of the gcnlal-appearlng attorney, and . he wared a fat hand toward the offlco's extra chair. . "ik' (fovvn, Son," came casually. "Nssdn't have announced yourself. IJdhave known you Just like your fn-Qjsr. fn-Qjsr. Roy How Is hel" Then tils face fcddenly sobered. "I'm afraid your ffeseace Is the answer, Am I rtaaJTl.-'l- . ;" flaTttlld "ouil"1 gravely. The old noaC starwl 6Tt M tne window to ths grimy roof and slgnbourds of the next building. ' , "PsrhapH It'a belter so," he said at Pjd hu get any ctun-rler beforehe be-forehe Went J""" " - fsjjfj-ff' "No. Afraid of overj' step on the ver3Si iS every knock at the door." Again the attorney stared out of the window. "And you? Are you iifrold?" "Of what?" The lawyer smiled. "I don't know. Only" and he leaned forwnrd "it's Just as though I were living my jounger days over again this morning. It doesn't seem any time' nt all slnco your father was sitting Just about where you nro now, and gad, Boy, how much you look llko he looked tlmt morning I Tim same gray-blue eyes, tho sumo dark hair, tho same strong shoulders, mid good, manly chin, the same build and look of determination nbout him, The cnll of adventure wns In his blood, and he sat there ull enthusiastic, telling mo what ho Intended iloini.' arid nsV. Ing my advice although he wouldn't have followed It If I had given It. Rack home wns n huby uud the woman ho loved, nnd out West was sudden wealth, waiting for tho right man to come along and find It. dad!" White-haired White-haired old Beamish chuckled with the memory of It, "Then four years later," tho tono chunged suddenly, "he came back." , "What then?" Fulrchlld was on tho edgo of his chair. Rut Beamish only spread his hands. "Truthfully. Roy. I don't krtoW. 1 have guessed but I won't toll you what. All I know Is that your futher found whut he was looking for und was on thii point of uchlovlng Ids every ev-ery dream, when something happened. Then three men simply disappeared froni the mining cumn. announcing rbiif they had failed nnd were going to hunt new diggings. That was all. 'mi' of them vras jour father " "U-- vou bald that lio'd found-' 4 "Sllv'cr, running twenty ounces the ton on an elglit-lnch vela which gave evidences of being only the beginning be-ginning of a bonansnl I know, because be-cause he had written roe that, a month before." "And he abandoned itr "He'd forgotten what he had written writ-ten when 1 saw him again. 1 didn't' question him. He went home then, after giving me enough money to pay JaaLeVV t,e nlM 'or ""' nnt jHmXf fun, simply as his attorney. and' wlthodt divulging hla whereabouts. where-abouts. I did It. Klght years or so later I saw him In Indianapolis. Be gave me more money enough for eleven or twelve years " "And that waa ten years ago!" Robert Rob-ert Falrchlld's eyes were reminiscent. "1 remember I was only a kid. He sold off everything he hnd, except the house." Henry lieamlsh walked to his safe und fumbled there a moment, to return re-turn nt last with a few slips of paper. "Here's the answer," he said quietly, qui-etly, "the tuxes ure paid until 1922." Robert Falrchlld studied the re-relpts re-relpts carefully futlley. They told him nothing. The lawjer stood looking look-ing down upon him; at last he latd a baud on his shoulder, "Doy," come quickly, "I know Just sbout what you're thinking, l'ye spent it few hours at the same kind of a Job myself, nnd I've called old. Henry IleamUh more kinds of a foo) tjijn you can think ofjfor not cotnjng right uut flat-fonTed and making Thornton tell me the whule story. Rut some way when yd look Into Oyse'eyej wui"jne tire nil ileud and ashen within then!, nnd see the lines of an old"miin p Hi joung face. 1 Jii'mI couldndo ltl" "gp you can tell nie notiitngp - "-'w '"Id that's triicln one way', ii. another I'm u fund of Information, Tonight you and ? will go to Indian-npolls Indian-npolls unit probate the will It's simple enough; I've hnd'lt In my safe for ten veurs. After that, jou become the owner of the Illue poppy mine, o do with as jou cIioohc." "Rut" "Don't ask my advice, Roy. I luiMMi't any. Your fujher told me what to do If ou decided to try your luck and silver's at 1.2w. It means a lot of money for anybody who can produce pay ore unless what he said about the minis pinching out was true." Again the thrill of a new thing went through Robert Fnlrchlld's veins, something he never hnd felt until twelve hours before; again the urge for strange pluces, new scenes, the fire of the hunt after the hidden wealth of silver-seamed hills. Robert Falrchlld's life 'hod been u plodding tiling of hooks and accounts, of high desks which as et had fulled to stoop his shoulders, of stuffy oMces which had been thwarted so far In their grip ut his lung power; tho long walk In the morning and the tired trudgo homeward at night Rut the recoil had not exerted Itself ugalnst an ofllco-cramped ofllco-cramped bruin, a dusty ledger-filled life that suddenly felt Itself crying out for the free, open country, without hardly knowing whut the term meant. Old Remnlsli caught the light In the eyes, the quick contraction of the hands, and smiled. "You don't need to tell me, Son," ho said slowly, "I can see tho symji-toms. symji-toms. You'vo got the fever you're going back to work that mine. Per-haps," Per-haps," und he shrugged his shoulders, "It's Just us well. Rut tbere ure certain cer-tain things to remember." "Name them." (Continued next week) |