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Show kC Francis Ltjnde v-i fly JMw v seem to be anything down there to burn." "No ; but I haven't curiosity enough to make me climb down there to find out what It is. I don't know how you feel, but I'm about dead for sleep. Let's go." Due to a blowout which hit them shortly after passing the gulch of the mysterious fire, and which imposed a rather tedious job of casing changing, chang-ing, the early summer dawn was breaking as they skirted Lake Topaz. A little later they came to a group of mine buildings, one of which bore the legend: "LITTLE ALICE MINING COMPANY "MAXWELL & STARBUCK." "By George!" Markham exclaimed, as he read the sign. "I never knew before be-fore just where that mine was." "What about It?" Landis asked. "Why nothing much, except that I own a few shares of stock in it ; one of the Items In the little legacy my mother left me. She was distantly related re-lated to Starbuck ; or rather to Mrs. Starbuck's family. I've never taken the trouble to look up the location of the mine. I dimly remember the Starbucks. Star-bucks. They stopped over in Carthage with us on their wedding trip when I was a kid. If. they live in Brewster, we'll look them up." A few miles farther they found themselves looking down on a little city bestriding Timanyoni river. A little later they stopped In front of a mod- 1 1 chance, Mr. William Starbuck, a partner part-ner in the Little Alice mine? The bronzed-faced man smiled. "There's only one of me. I guess." "Urn. You've Just shaken bands with a faraway cousin bi marriage, Mr. Starbuck ; also, with a very small fractional owner in your mine. My mother was a Fairbairn on her mother's moth-er's side; and once I think It was on your wedding trip you stopped off for a short time with us in Carthage. But, excuse me; you shook hands with me won't you repeat the operation with my friend, Owen Landis?" "SL.-e! And he's as welcome to the Timanyoni as you are, Walter," "Gosh I" said Markham. "You don't mean to say you remember my name!" "Sure I do; now that you've told me who you are. I recollect you as a fat-faced little chap, but, of course, I wouldn't have known you from Adam now. What are you and Mr. Landis doing?" "No plans whatever; Just driving about to see how far we can go on so many gallons of gas." The mine owner nodded. "I see. You may not believe it, to look at me now, but I was young once, myself and I sure had a restless foot. I'm sorry Mrs. Starbuck and the girls are on a trip east. If they were here, we'd have you both out of this dump, pronto ; not that it Isn't a pretty fair sort of posada, at that.'1 "I'll say it is," said Markham. "Wouldn't you, Owen?" Landis agreed. "The Carthage Banner Ban-ner would run double-leaded editorials about It for a week, if we had a hotel as good as this at home." "Speaking of Carthage reminds me," Starbuck put In. "There are three other people from your town In the hotel ; got in this morning. Maybe you know 'em or know about 'em?" "We know two of them rather better bet-ter than well. Professor Lawson used to make a mamma's pet of Owen, here, at the same time that he was doing his level best to flunk me In Physics Four." Starbuck smiled. "I took an eyeshot eye-shot at the professor and at the daughter. I take It you'll both agree with me If I say that Miss Lawson Is pretty enough to start a stopped clock?" "Ask Owen," said Markham with a grin ; and Starbuck switched to the third member of the party. "This Canby person, who writes himself down as from Carthage: do you know him, too?" Markham answered for both. "Reasonably "Rea-sonably well ; though we haven't known him very long. He is a comparatively com-paratively newcomer in our town." Starbuck's smile was grim. "Using the word you just now tacked onto your friends, the Lawsons, we know him a heap better than well, out here." "Is it tellable?" Markham asked. "Oh, sure. He was here all last summer booming a bauxite mining and reduction scheme ; sold a good chunk of stock." "And afterward?" Wally prompted. "There wasn't any afterward, not so you could notice it. The boomed mine was well you might say it wasn't exactly a straight fake, because be-cause there was, and Is, a small deposit de-posit of the mineral In it, but not enough to make it a commercial proposition." prop-osition." "All of which Is mighty Interesting to listen to," Markham commented. "The more so, because just now he Is trying to float a factory-and-addltlon scheme In our town. I'm wondering what brings him out here, right In the thick of his Carthage promotion." "I might be able to tip you off as to that," said the mine owner. "Canby .made a barrel of easy money out of us here and then got his" own feet wet. About half a mile above the Little Alice there Is a mine that Is older than anything else in this neck o' the woods. Some think it dates back to the time when all this region was a part of the Spanish possessions; posses-sions; anyway, It wus here and worked out and abandoned long before be-fore any of the American prospectors came In. When Lake Topaz began to be a summer resort the old Quavapal, as It's called, became a sort of show place for tourists, like the Mammoth cave. About two years ago a bunch of tinhorn freezeouts from Tonopah came over here and reloaded the Quavupai; claimed they'd explored It and found new mineral In It. We never have known the real Inside, but It's the general belief that they were salting the mine and fixing to stick somebody with It. Anyhow that's how It turned out. They sold the Quavapal Quava-pal to Canny; took his money and faded away." "The biter bit, eh?" suld Markham with a laugh. "Does he still own It?" "Owns It and operates It. He has kept a small gang In It ever since ho bought It; sending good money after had, you'd say, because there has never yet been a pound of ore shipped from It. Just lately he 1ms doubled his force; Imported a lot of Mexicans from down Santa Fe way. Just what's at the bottom of nil this, nobody knows. The place Is guarded as If It were a diamond mine." Starbuck glanced at his watch and pushed his chair back. "Sorry, but I've got to chop It off," he said. "I'm dne at the bank for a meeting. You'll be stopping over for a while, won't you?" "Yes; ho far as we know now," Markhnm said. "That's the talk! I want to know you both bettor." Then to Markham. "Just take ine In as one of the family and make such use of mo as you can. As the Spaniards say, 'You r In your own house while you are with me I' " (TO BUI CONTINUED1 SYNOPSIS Owen Landis, young- Inventor, has developed an extraordinary "silencer," which is stolen from a ate In his laboratory. Landis tells Wally Markham, his chum, the only person, beside himself, knowing know-ing the combination of the safe. Is Betty Lawson, with whom the inventor in-ventor is in love. Markham takes a plaster cast of a woman's footprint, foot-print, found beneath the window of the laboratory, and takes an opportunity op-portunity to fit it to one of Betty's shoes. They are identical. Betty tells Markham Herbert Canby, a stranger, posing as a "promoter," had driven her home the previous night, and that she had dozed In the car. Markham does not tell Landis of his discovery. The safe in the bank at Perthdale is blown open and looted, the noise of the explosion being unheard. Satisfied that his "black box" is in the hands of crooks, Landis, Vith Markham, goes to Perthdale. Three strangers, claiming to be business men of Louisville, are the only possible suspects. sus-pects. Markham and Landis decide to follow them, although advices from Louisville seems to guarantee guaran-tee the standing of the three. At St. Joseph Markham learns Canby Is driving west, with Betty Lawson and her father as his guests in the car. While he and Landis are sleeping, sleep-ing, Markham's car is stolen and wrecked. He buys another, and they go on. At a hotel in Copah they meet Betty. She Is surprised at their presence in the West, and explains ex-plains the reason for her and her father's Journey. Markham overhears a conversation between Canby and the three Louisville men which convinces con-vinces him he Is on the right track. CHAPTER VII Continued 9 After a time the sleepy storekeeper came shuffling down, and a search was made for gas. It finally proved successful to the extent of unearthing three of the familiar five gallon cans, but the storekeeper had only a small funnel, and it had been carefully mislaid. mis-laid. After It had been found the clock on the roadster's dash had measured off the better part of another hour. "We're out of the fight, so far as keeping cases on the Fleetwing is concerned," con-cerned," Markham grumbled, as the car stormed the grade. They had surmounted the first long grade, of possibly five miles, when a sudden turn In the road brought a group of mine buildings Into view, the scene partly lighted by the red glow of a conflagration at the roadside. Markham let the car roll slowly up. When he stopped, Broughton put a foot on the running board. "Well, Red got us, after all. Blew the safe and the commissary all to h 1 and set the wreck afire." Landis saw two blanket-covered figures fig-ures lying under a tree and said, "Casualties?" "Yes; murder. My day foreman and the watchman. There was a gun battle; bat-tle; both of the foreman's guns were empty when we found them. But what's running us all ragged is the fact that nobody in the whole camp heard a sound while all this was going on; wouldn't have known about It till morning, I suppose, if a miner's girl in one of the cabins hadn't happened to wake up and see the light of the fire. Isn't it h 1?" "What's that?" Landis cut in. "You say nobody heard the explosion? But perhaps there wasn't any explosion." "Oh, yes there was; safe looks as If It had been hit by an H. E. shell. Besides, Be-sides, there was gun fire." Just here one of his men drew Broughton away. "Not much doubt as to who has your black box now, Is there?'' Markham Mark-ham asked Landis. "Not very much. The circumstantial evidence Is piling In too thick and fast to leave much room for doubt." "I don't want to believe that these men are the criminals," said Landis. "Why not?" "Don't you see ! If they are, Herbert Her-bert Canby Is the fourth." "Well, what if he Is?" "He Is going to marry r.etty." "Ump! That's up to you, Isn't It?" "Not now. It has gone too far." Markham made no comment upon this until after they had passed the point where the shorter road by way of Red Horse pass came In. Then he said, "You have only yourself to blame, Owen. It's Just as I told you the night you showed me your Invention ; a girl can't wait forever. I don't suppose sup-pose you have ever asked Hetty to marry you." "No, I haven't," was the straightforward straight-forward confession. "It's this way. Betty has always had a small time of It as her father's daughter, The 'U' doesn't pay It's faculty members enough to warrant any other kind of time for their families. And she deserves de-serves something better." "So you've been waiting until you could Invent something that you could sell for enough money to let her wear diamonds? You don't know Betty Lawson half as well ns I do, even If you are her lover! I hello what's that?" In the bottom of the gulch, some distance below the road, a tire, too large to figure as a cnmpflre, was burning. Mnrkhnm stopped the cur. "Queer," auld Landis. "Doesn't "Canby Made a Barrel of Easy Money Out of Us Here and Then Got His Own Feet Wet." ern hotel. Turning the roadster over to the uniformed "hostler" they went in to register. "Night driving?" queried the clerk. "Yes; from Copah," Markham answered. an-swered. "Then you won't want to wait for the regular breakfast before you turn in. We can give you quick service In the grill. Or, If you like, I'll have It sent up to your suite." "That will be better. Have you had anybody else In from the east this morning?" "Yes; a party of three came In a couple of hours ago. A Doctor Law-son Law-son and his daughter, and Mr. Canby." "Nobody else?" Markham pressed. "No. Wore you expecting to met friends here?" "These three gentlemen from Louisville," Louis-ville," said Markham, producing his memorandum of the three names. The clerk read the names and smiled. "You've got your schedules mixed, some way," he suggested. "We have reservations made for these gentlemen gen-tlemen for the twenty-eighth. You've bent them to It by a week or more." "So?" said Markham. "That's n bit odd. They've boon Just ahead of us all the way across from Indiana, and they drove out of Copnh last night a very short time before we did." "Well," said the clerk, "they'll have to take what they can get, If they turn up now. Their date Is the twenty-eighth. twenty-eighth. You say they left Copah ahead of you? Then you must have passed them somewhere on the rond." "Maybe we did," Markham ottered ; nnd with that they followed tho boy to the elevator, somewhat mystified. They were up In tlmn to make the dining room for a lnte luncheon. At a table opposite sat an elderly man of a type which Is fast disappearing, even In the farther West; the pioneer who had made good, nnd Is at last able to take his ease In a civilization for which he was once one of the pathfinders. path-finders. Never hampered by the formalities, Markham passed his card across tho table and got precisely the reaction the elderly man's appearance presaged. "That's neighborly. Glad to know you, Mr. Miirklmni. My name Is Star-buck," Star-buck," and he reached across the table and shook hands. "Thnnkn.' said Wally, with his good-natured good-natured grin. Then, "Not, by any |