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Show H II I I - . -.. I! II .III! I !! I I ! - I..-. - II ! I .II I-..- III III. I...- !! ! I I I I . . I , ! II H VaV BMBBsMBHBBSHHKSK3fiM3BESEMtam!5o2 i H j ". --- -- - i -, , B . j- r a. - -. t f -. f . .. . .. . 1 - - M I I (THE By Courtney 1 I I rTJO T TIP cJoplr I I 6 V JL., J Jf W. fcjB Wb JL. Oopyrtgbt by Little. Brown A Co. j r flfl " i i i ' I i i ....ii. i i i i i .. .- m i. ! i .ii, i ! - .i M1 ... ...... ,.. Ml BBj r B "$200,0001" 0rNOI'flI9-At Thornton Fatr- H child's death his son Ilobert leurna 1 there Iim been a dark porlod In his H father's llfo which for almost thlr- B ly yoara has caused him sufTcrlUK, H Tho secret Is hlntod at In a cloru- H tnent loft by the older Kalrchlld, H which also Informs Robert he Is H now owner of a mining claim In H Colorado, and advlalnir hltn to soo H Honry Deamlsh, a lawyer. Doatnlsh H telln Robert lili claim, a silver H .mine. lq At Ohadl. thirty-eight H- v tnllen from I)onvcr"lIo also warns H him agalnnt a certain man, H "flqulnt" Rodalno, his father's en- H Out. On tho road to Ohadl from H Denver Falrchlld assists a Rlrl, ap- H p&renlly In a frenzy of tmsto, to H change a tiro on her auto. When H alio has left, tho aherliT and a porse H appear, In puruHlt of a bandit. H Falrohlld bewildered, mlslonds them H as to tho direction tho girl had H taken. At Ohadl Fnlrelilld li warm. H ly grcetod by "Mother" Howard. H boardlngbotiso keeper, for his fath H . cr's sake. From Mother Howard, H Falrohlld loarna somothlng of tho H mystery connected Vlth tho dlsnp H pcarnnco of "Blssle" Iaruon, his H father's co-worker In tho mhto. He H ineotn tho girl ho .had asalstod, hut H sho donlos hor Identity. etio Is H Anita Illchmond, Judge Richmond's H daughter. Visiting his claim Fatr- H child Is shadowed by a man he H recognises from descriptions as H- "fiaulnt" Rodaine. Rack In Ohndl, H his fathor's old friend, Harry liar- H Iclns, a Cornlshman, summoned H from England by noamlsh to help M Falrchlld', halls him with Joy. The H pair find the mine flooded and havo H not suOlclcnt funds to have It H pumped dry. Lator In t ho day H "gqulnt" Rodnlne announcos that ho Hr-"'- practically saw Harking fajt? Into . H the flooded mine, and evidently Is M t drowned, Harklns bolng a general M favorite, the entlro population turns B out to clear the flooded mlno. Whan M the work Is practically done, Harry 1 appears, apparantly surprised ' nt M the turmoil. It had boon a shrewd M trick on his part to got tho mtno H pumped out without cost to lilm- m self or Ifnlrchlld, and tho men take HH- It as a good Joko. Fnlrchltd learns H that Judgo Richmond Is dying, and H that ho and Anita aro In tho power H of tho Rodalnes. Thoy bogln, as partners, to work tho mlno. In v tholr hearts both fear Larson was hilled by Thornton Fatrchlld and l his body burled by a .avo-ln which, B v destroyed Uis mlno. At tho "Old" v Times Rail" Falrohlld dances with 1 v Anita, to the dlECOhifitiiro Of Muut- f - 1 1 Itodalne, son t "Saulnt," sup- B t Ksed to be engaged to tho girl. A bandit holds up tho dance and Kki bhools a merrymaker. Mauflce IV) - . ; daluo claims ho recognized tho Hry, tiandlt as Harklns. The latter Is ft" ' arrontod. Fatrchlld Interferes to B aavo Anita from the bullying of St tho two Rodalnoa, and Is mystified L. ! at Anita's appnront Ingratitude, fl lialrchlld puts up the claim as bnd, and socures Harry's roleuse s from jail, Thoy aro orttrcd ISO.000 for tho claim, by an unknown parly, but ngroo to disregard It Clearing tho mine, thoy como to wtisro they fenr to find Larson's remains. A skeleton. In a miner's costume, which Harklns Identlflos as Iairflon, Is there, and there heems llltls doubt that Thornton Fnlrchltd was a murderer. Fnlr IB clilld Informs tho coroner of tho dlscovory of tho skeleton. At the Inquest "Crazy Tviura," rastorf wife M of "Hqutnt" Rodalno; and an ao- fl y knowledgod Imbecile, gives damag- ilng testimony ftgalnst Thornton Falrchlld. Tfho Jury returns a vcr- diet that I-araen or,me to his death at Thornton Falrchlld's hands. J Anita's engagement to Maurice Ho- H dalno Is announced. Falrchlld Is summonod to Denver to rccolve "Important Information" about his J mine. H H. CHAPTER XlU-Contlnued. H io m ul was hoping that I lind more thnn ' tixM" M "All, pcrlmpa ao. Hut I sponk only H Crontv'it I know. There la ono per- aon who la Very anxtuun about your H welfare." ' H "ao?" H "Well, Isn't there?" H lralrclilld squared nwny from, tlto ta H ''Mr, nnrnlmm," entne colttly ; tho In- H liOfcut lUstrtiHt: for t,ho Rrensy, uiiln- M vUluK li)dlvltlinl ImvltiK uwerved to H Om ourfaco. "Vou wired ;uh that you H tutd some very linporlimt news for me, H Mow Hint I'm here, your mission H HCcms to bo wholly tuK'cn up In draw- H hift from mo any Informnllou that I H liappcn to po.saeH.s aliout myself, riuln- H ly and frankly, I don't lllco It, nud I H don't lllco you and unless you can B iwoduco a brent deal more than you H Imvo hI ready, I'll havo to chalk up the H exiiciiRO to a piece of bad judgment H mid ro on about my bu.Hlnc.ss.'1 K, , Mo fit fir ted to rise, and Ilarulmm H Hcramblcd to his foot. H "I'ksuHo don't," ho begged, thrusting H forth a fat hand", "please, please don't. H Tills Is n very Importnnt matter. One H' ono has to bo careful In Rolny H Uliout a thlti(( as Importnnt as this Is. H llM) person Is In a very peculiar posl- H "Itut I'm tired of tho way you beat H around llio bush. As I told you before, H ) ddu't lllco It and I'm Just about at H llic ptint wbero I don't care what In- H formation you buvot" H "Hut Just bo patient a moment I'm Hj romUicr (a IL HuppoRo " then lie BH I'.Mpped Ida hands and stared bard at H the celUug, "Suppnno that I told you j thii't (hero was some ono who way will- H fiog to HCb you through nil your trou- H bleu, v1io find arrnnged everything for H y, and all you had to do would be to H my (he word In And yourself In the H tti'ri-j' "''i't nnd. rlclies?" I ' Falrchlld blinked In surprise nt this and Rank back Into his chair. Finally ho laughed uneasily and puffed again on tho dubious clgnr. "I'd say," enmo llnnlly, "that there Isn't nny such nnlnml." "Hut thcro Is. Sho has Then he stopped, as though to cover tho blip. Falrchlld leaned forward. "She?" Mr. Ilnrnlmm gave tho nppenrnnce of a very flustered man. "My tongue got away from me; I shouldn't havo said It. I really shouldn't havo -said It. . If she over finds iF out, It will mean troublo for tne. Hut truly," and ho beamed, "you aro such n tough customer to deal with nnd so suspicious no offenso meant, of course thut I really was forced to It. I feel sure sho will forgive me." "Whom do you mean by 'sho'?" Mr. Oarnhntn smiled In a knowing manner. "You and I both know," enmo bis cryptic answer. "Sho Is your one groat, good friend. 8ho tbltlks a grent deal of you, nnd you hover tlono several things to causo that admiration. Now, Mr. Falrchlld, coming to tho point, suppose sho should point n way out of your troubles? In tho first place, you and your pnrtner aro In very great dlfllcultles." "Arc we?" Falrchlld Bald It sarcastically. sarcas-tically. "Indeed you nro, nnd thoro la no need of attempting to conceal tho fact. Your friend, whoso tinmo must romnln n secret, docs not lovo you don't ever think that hut " Then ho hesitated ns though ,to watch tho effect on Falrchlld's face. There was none; Robert hnd masked It. In time the words went on: "Hut sho docs think enough of you to want to make you happy. She hns recently done u thing which gives her n great deal of power In one direction. In another, an-other, sho has-.connections who possess pos-sess vast money powers nnd who nrc looking for an opening hero In the West, Now " ho mnde n church steeplo out of his lingers nnd leaned back In his chair, staring vacuously nt tho celling, "If you will sny tho word nnd do a thing which will relievo her vof a grent deal of "embnrrassnient, I rim sure 'that sho can so arrange things tbnt life will bo very easy for you henceforth." "I'm becoming Interested." "In tho first plnco, sho Is engaged to bo married to a vory flno young man. You, of course, may sny differently, nnd I do not know I am only taking her word for It. But If I understand It, your presence- In Obudl has caused a few disagreements between them and well, you know how willful and headstrong girls will he. I bellevo she lms committed n fow er Indiscretions Indiscre-tions with you." "That's n llol" Falrchlld's temper got away from him nnd his list bnnged on tho tnble. "That's a llo and you know It I" "Pardon mo er pardon mo I I mado uso of a word that can have many meanings, ai)d I am stiro tbnt In using It, I didn't plnco tho snmo construction con-struction that you did in hearing It. Hut let that pass. I npologlzo. What I should havo snld was that, If you will pardon me, sho used you, ns young women will do, ns a foil against her ilnnco In n tlmo of petty quarreling quarrel-ing between them. Is that plainer?" It wns too plnln to Falrchlld. It hurt. Hut ho uodded his head and tho other man went on. "Now the thing bus progressed to n place where you may be well what one might call tho thorn In the side of their happiness. You nre tho 'other man,' as It were, to cause quarrels quar-rels and that sort of thing. And sho feels that sho has not done rightly by you, nnd, through her friendship and n desire to sec peace all around, bo lleves she can arrange matters to suit all concerned. To be plain and blunt, Mr. Falrchlld, you nre not In an enviable position. I snld tbnt I bad Information for you, and I'm going go-ing to give It. You are trying to work n mine. That demands capital. You haven't got It nnd there Is no way for you to procure It. Your partner now Is nccused of four crimes und will go to trial on them In the fall. It Is almost al-most certuln that ho will be convicted on at leant ono of the charges. That would mean that) tho deeds to the mine must remain In Jurisdiction of tho court In lieu of a cash bond wbllo the cuso goes to the Supremo court. Otherwise, you must yield over your pnrtner to go to Jail. In either event, tho result would not be satisfactory For yourself, I dure say that a person whose father Is supposed to havo committed com-mitted a murder not that I say ho did It, understand hardly could es-tnbllsh es-tnbllsh sulllclent standing to borrow the money to proceed on an undertaking undertak-ing which requires capital. Therefore, There-fore, I should say that yon were In somewhat of a predicament. Now" n long wait and then, "pleaso take this as only coming from a spokesman: spokes-man: My client Is In n position to uso her good olllces to chango the viewpoint of the raun who is tho chief witness against your partner. Sho also la In a position to use those snniQ good olllces In another direction, so that there might never bo a grand Jury Investigation of the finding of a cerlnln body or skeleton, or something of tho kind, In your mlno which, If you will remember, brought nbout a very disagreeable situation. And through her very good connections In another way, sho Is nhle to relievo you of all your flnnnclal embarrassment embarrass-ment nnd procure for you from n certain cer-tain Eastern syndicate, tho members of which I am not nt liberty to nnme. an offer of $200,000 for your mine. All that Is necessary for you to do ta to say tho word." Falrchlld leaned forward. "And of course," he snld caustically, "the name of this mysterious feminine 'friend must he n secret?" "Certainly. No mention of this transaction must be mailer to her directly, di-rectly, or Indirectly. Those nro my specific Instructions." "Do you wnnt my answer now?" "At nny time when you hnvo given tho matter sufficient thought." "That's been accomplished nlrcndy. And thero's no need of waiting. I wnnt to thank you exceedingly for your offer, of-fer, nnd to tell you that you can go strnlght to h II.!" And without looking bnck to see tho result of his ultimatum, Falrchlld rose, strode to the door, unlocked It, nnd stamped down tho hall. He hnd taken snap Judgment, but In his heart, ho felt that ho wns right. What was more, he was ns sure ns ho wns sure of llfo Itself tbnt Anita Richmond hnd not nrrnnged tho Interview and did not even know of It. Ono streaking streak-ing name wns flitting through Fnlr-chlld's Fnlr-chlld's brain nnd causing It to seethe with nngor. Cleverly concenled though tho plnn might hnvo been, nicely arranged ar-ranged nnd cnrefully planted, to Robert Rob-ert Falrchlld It all stood out plainly nnd clenrly tho Rodnlncs! And yet why? That ono little word halted Falrchlld us ho left tho elevator. eleva-tor. Why7 What did they know about tho Hluo Poppy mine, when neither ho nor Harry had nny Idea of what the future might hold for them there? Tbnt day In court Rodaine had said that the Hluo Poppy mine wns n good property nnd that It was worth every cent of the vnluo which hnd been placed on It. How did lie know? And why? Suppose that It hod been Anita Richmond after all who had arrnnged this? It was logical In n way. Maurice Rodalno was tho ono man who could glvo direct evidence ngnlnst Hnrry ns tho man who hnd held up tho Old Times dnnco, and Anita now wns en-gnged en-gnged to marry him, Judgo Richmond hud been n friend of Thornton Fnlr-clilld; Fnlr-clilld; could It have been possible that this friendship might hnvo entailed tho telling of secrets which hnd not been related to nnyono else? The matter of the finding of the skeleton could be handled easily, Falrchlld snw, through Maurice Rodaine. One word from him to his fnther could change the story of Crazy Laura and make It, on the second telling, only tho mnundcrlng tnlc of an Insane, berb-gntherlng woman. Anltn could havo arranged It, nnd Anltn might hnve arranged It. Yet, why should she hnve gone through this procedure to reach him? Why hud she not gone to Fnrrell with the proposition to a man whom she knew Fnlrchild trusted, trust-ed, Instead of to a greasy, hand-rub-blng sbybter7 And besides Rut the question was past answering answer-ing now. Falrchlld had mnde his decision, de-cision, and he hnd told the lawyer Darnham. whero to go. Hut ono thing was certuln: cer-tuln: the Hluo Poppy mlno was worth money. Onco before nn offer hnd come, nnd now thut ho thought of It, Falrchlld felt almost certain that It had been from the same source. That was for fifty thousand dollars. Why should the value have now jumped to four times Its original figures? It was more than tho adventurer could en (iupass; he sought to dismiss It nil, went to a picture show, then trudged bark to his hotel and to sleep. Tho next day found him still striving striv-ing to put the problem away from him nn he went about tho various errands outlined by Harry. A rlny nfter that, then the pufllng, snorting, narrow- gauged train took him again through Clear Creek canon and back to Ohadl. The station was strangely deserted. Only the bawling bus man for the hotel, the station agent wrestling with n trunk or two that was nil. Falrchlld Falr-chlld looked nbout him In surprise, then approached the agent. "Whut's happened?" "A lot. From whnt I hear It's n strike that's going to put Ohadl on tli? mop ngnln." "Who mnde It?" "Don't know. Some fellow came running down here nn hour or so ago nnd said thcre'd been a tremendous strike mnde on the hill, and everybody beat It up there." Falrchlld went on, to turn Into a deserted de-serted street, n street where the doors of the stores had been left open nnd the owners gone. Everywhere It wns the entne; It wns as If Ohndl suddenly sud-denly hnd been struck by sumo catns-trophc catns-trophc which hnd wiped out the whole population. Only now nnd then n hu-tnnn hu-tnnn being appeared, n few persons left behind nt the banks, but that was nbout nil. Then from far away, up the street lending from Kentucky gulch, came the sound of cheering nnd shouting. shout-ing. Soon a crowd nppenrcd, led' by gesticulating, vociferous men, who veered suddenly into the Ohndl bank nt the corner, leaving tho multitude without for a moment, only to return, their bands full of gold certificates, which they stuck Into their hats, punched through their buttonholes, stuffed Into their pockets, allowing them to hang half out, nnd even Jammed down tho collars of their rough shirts", making outstanding decorations dec-orations of currency nbout their necks. .On they enmo, closer closer, nnd then Falrchlld gritted his teeth. There were four of them leading- the parade, displaying the wealth that stood for the bonanza of the silver strike they hnd Just made,- four men, whose names were gall and wormwood to Robert Falrchlld. Hllndeye Bozeman nnd Taylor Hill were two of them. The others were Squint and Maurice Roduluol CHAPTER XIV Hod It been any ono else, Fnlrchild would have shouted for. happiness nnd Joined the parade. As It was, ho stood far to one side, n silent, grim flgurcf wntehlng the miners nnd townspeople towns-people passing before him, leaping nbout In their happiness, calling to him the news that he did not want to henr: Tho Silver Queen hnd "hit." The faith of Squint Rodnlne, maintained through tho years, hnd shown his perspicacity. It was there; he always al-ways had snld It was there, and now tho strike hnd been mnde nt last, lead-silver lead-silver ore. running ns lilgh as two hundred hun-dred dollars n ton. It meant everything every-thing for Ohndl ; It meant that mining would boom now, that soon the hills would be clustered with prospectors, nnd tbnt the little town would blossom ns a result of possessing one of the rich silver mines of the stnte. Fnlrchild felt chenp. He felt de-fented. de-fented. He felt smnll nnd mean not to be nhle. to Join the celebration. Squint nnd Maurice Rodaine possessed the Silver Queen; thnt they, of nil persons, should lie the fortunate ones wns hitter nnd hnrd to nccept. Why should they, of every one In Ohadl, be the lucky men to find a silver bonnuza, that they might Haunt It before him, thut they might Increase their standing stand-ing In the community, thnt they might raise themselves to n pedestnl In the eyes of every ono nnd thereby rally aliout them the whole town In any dlfllculty which might nriso ln-tho future? fu-ture? It hurt Fnlrchild. It sickened him. He saw now that his enemies were more powerful thnn ever. And for n moment ho almost wished that lie bad yielded down there In Denver, thut he had not given the ultimatum to the greasy Hariiham, that he hud accepted ac-cepted tho offer mnde him nud gone nn, out of the fight forever. Anita I What would It mean to her? Already engaged, already having given her answer to Maurice Rodnlne, this now would be an added Incentive for her to follow her promise. It would menn ir possibility of further argument with her father, alrendy too weak from Illness to find the means of evading the Insidious plens of the two men who hnd taken his money and mnde him virtually their slave. The future looked black for Robert Falrchlld. Falr-chlld. Slowly he walked past the happy, shouting crowd und turned up Kentucky gulch toward the Ill-fated Hluo Poppy. Tho tunnel opening looked more forlorn for-lorn thnn ever when lie sighted it, a bleak, stnrlng, single eye wlilcl reemed to brood over Its own mlsfor nines, n deud, hopeless thing which never had brought anything but disappointment. disap-pointment. A choking enmo Into Fair-child's Fair-child's throat. He entered the tunnel slowly, ploddingly; with lugging muscles mus-cles he hauled up the bucket which told of Harry's presence below, then slowly lowered himself Into the" re-cesses re-cesses of the shaft and to the drift leading to the slope, where only a few days before they nsd found that gaunt, whitened, haunting thing which hnd brought with It a new misfortune. A light gleamed uheail. and the sound of h single Jack hammering o the end of a drill could be heard. Falrchlld Falr-chlld caltcd and went forward, to And Harry, grimy nnd sweating, pounding away at a narrow streak of black formation for-mation which centered In the top of the stope. "It's the vein," bo nnnouncd, after he had greeted Falrchlld, "and It don't look Itko It's going to nmount to much V "No?" Harry withdrew tho drill from the hole he was making nnd mopped his forehead. "It nln'ty a world-beater," camo disconsolately, dis-consolately, "i doubt 'whctherit'll run" more'n twenty dollars to tho ton, the wyo smelting prices 'uve gono up I And there ain't much money In that What 'nppencd In Denver?" "Another frame-up by tho Rodnlncs to get tho mine nwny from us. It wns a lawyer. Ho stalled that tho offer had been mado to us by Miss Richmond." Rich-mond." "How much?" "Two hundred thousand dollars nnd us to get out of all tho troubles we nre In." "And you took It, of course?" "I did not I" "No?" Hnrry mopped his forehead agnln. "Well, mnybe you're right Maybe you're wrong. Hot whatever you did well, that's Just tho thing I would 'ave done. Only" and Harry was staring lugubriously at the vein above him, "it's going to tnko us a long time to get two hundred thousand thou-sand dollars out of things tho wyo they stand now." "Hut wao going to keep at It, Hnrry, sink or swim." "You know It!" "Tho Rodnlncs hnvo hit maybo we can have some good luck too." "Tho Rodalnes?" Harry stared. '"It what?" "Two hundred dollar a ton orel" A long whistle. Then Hnrry, who had been balancing a single Jack, pre- VVLJk JLV9J'bhKV'sBBBBpaS w "I Did Not" pnratory to going bnck to his work, threw It nslde nnd begnn to roll down his sleeves. "We're going to 'nvo n look nt It." "A look? What good would It?" "A cot can look nt a king," said Harry. "They enn't nrrest us for going go-ing up there like everybody else." "Hut to go there nnd nsk them to look nt tnclr riches " "There ain't no law ngnlnst It I" He renched for his carbide lamp, hooked to a small chink of the hanging hang-ing wall, and then pulled his hat over bis bulging forehend. Carefully ho attempted to smooth ills straying mustache, mus-tache, nnd falling, ns ulwnys, gave up the Job. "I'd be 'appy, Just to look at It," ho announced. "Como on. Let's forget 'oo they nre and Just bo lookers-on." Falrchlld agreed against his will. Out of the shaft they went und on up tho hill to whero the townspeople ngnln were gntbering nbout the opening open-ing of the Silver Queen. A few were going In. Falrchlld and 'Arry Joined them. A long wnlk, stooping most of tho wny, ns tho progross wns mnde through tho nnrrow, low-roofed tunnel tun-nel ; then a slight raise which traveled for a fair distance nt nn easy grade nt last to stop; and there before them, Jammed between the rock, wns tho strike, u great, heavy strenklng vein, nearly six feet wide, In which the ore stuck forth In tremendous chunks, embedded In a black background. Hnrry eyed It studiously. "You can see the silver sticking out I" be announced ut hint. 'It's wonderfuleven won-derfuleven If the Rodalnes did do It. Como on, Hoy, let's us get out of 'ere. I'll bo getting the blind staggers if I stny much longer." Falrchlld accompanied him wordlessly. word-lessly. It wns as though Fato had played a deliberate trick, that It might liiugh nt him. And ns ho walked along, be wondered more than ever about the mysterious telegram and tht mysterious conversation of tho greasy Harnhnm In Denver. "Harry, this vein doesn't look like much, but If you're game, I'm name." tTO RE CONTINUED.) Maanlfled Trifles. Trifles that amount to little nro ton frequently magnified nnd thoso whlcn really should recclvo ottoutlon nre Ignored. Ig-nored. Th.s Is beeaiiKo too many men and women lack ability properly to es tlmnte tho value of things. Ability ! nppralso lu at u pnjinU;n i winluys, s |