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Show I I Webster Man's Man 11 ' By PETER B. KYNB IM Author of "Cappy Ricks' "The Valley of the Giants' Etc. Hi! Copyright fcy a Kyna HP 1IH I WMMSBPMBBaMWMiaiMaaWSaWaaaMaMiMaMailiiiiWWal " ' " flli CHAPTER XI Continued. win 12 !ff Dolores' voice broke in upon his cun- 1 flj sing reflection!, "nut Billy tells tne 191 you already hare a fortune sufficient 11 for the needs of a caliph without a I H court Why risk your precious life to Sin acqulro moroT Money Isn't everything II la life." fj f -No, but the game la," Hill "Whatgamo? Mlnlngr II if "Tho game of life." ( J Mnat this la the gamo of death." yj I, "Which makes llfo all Uie sweeter 1 I If I can beat the game. Perhaps I can Sal better Illustrate my point of view with In An a story. Borne years ago I was sent j te Arizona to examine a mining prop- t erty and report upon It; If I advised V Li Its purchase, my principals wero pro- D pared to buy at my valuation. Well, III when I arrived, I found a miserable Hnl shanty close to a shaft and dump, and Rnl te the shanty I found a weather-beat-Bll ea couple. The woman was probably pttB forty but looked fifty. The man had IIH Bcrcr been any tiling but a hard-rock gR miner $4 a day had been the limit ol If Mr tils earnings In any one day until he Rl v. 'Med on somo flout, traced It up, It in J located the claims I was there to H9 exnraluo and try to buy. RtB "tils wlfo had been a miner's dough- f H tcr, knowing nothing but drudgory and nysJI poverty and continuing that existence ijll after marriage. For 20 years sho had IJJf been darning her husband's socks, H washing his clothes, and cooking his jRj meals. Even after they uncovered the II UB ledge, It wasn't worth any more than TIB the country rock to them unless thej Hpj could sell It, becauso tlio man had H neither the money nor the ability to ! develop It himself. He even lacked IB the ability to sell It, becauso It re IB quires real ability to unload any klni BB of a mlno for $1,000,000, and rcn 'B, iwrvc uu mo pan ui uio mnu wiiu IB buys. I cxumlncd tho mine, decided BB It was cheap nt $1,000,000, and so re- II ported to my principals. Tboy wired J me to close, nud so I took a 00-day MM option In order to verify tho title. Mi "Well, tlmo passed, and one bright BB day 1 rode up to that shanty with a HU deed and a ccrtlfled check for $1,000,-BB $1,000,-BB 000 In my iockct; whereupon I dls-BB dls-BB covered tho woman had had a chnngo SB of heart and bucked over tho traces. Bjmj No, slrcol Sho would not sign thet BM thero deed and Inasmuch as tho claim Ml was community property, her slgnn-B slgnn-B turo was vitally necessary. Sho asked flf tno so many questions, however, as to If tho slzo of tho stamp mill wo would II Install and how many miners would II be employed on tho Job, that finally I BH saw tho light and tried a shot In tho H dark. "My dear Mrs. Skaggs," I said, raj "If you'll sign this deed and savo us BB all a lot of litigation over this option BB you and your husband havo given me, Bj I'll do something handsome. I will BB, on my word of honor I'll glvo you tho BB excluslvo boarding houso prlvllego at BJHJ this mine." BB "And what did sho say, Caliph?" HBj "Sho snld: 'Olvo mo tho pen, Mr. HO Webster, and please excuse my hand- BB writing; I'm that nervous business BB matters." BB Dolores' silvery laughter rippled BB through the room. "Out I M't see BB the point." sho protested. Bfl "We will como to It presently. I BBB was Merely explaining one person's BB point ef view. You would not, of BflJ course, expect mo to havo tho somo BflJ point of view as Mrs. Skaggs of Art- BBjf aona." BBl "Certainly not." BBJ "All right I Listen to this I In 1007, BE at tho height of tho boom times In B Goldfleld, Nov., I was worth 21,000,000. Be, On the first day of October I could BB havo cashed In my mining stocks for Bfl 51,000,000 and I had a lot of cash In HB; bank, too. Hut I'd always worked so Br hard and been poor so long thnt my BH wealth didn't mean anything to mo. Hjli I wanted tho excluslvo prlvllego of Bl! ftoro slavery, and so I staked a copper Ml prospect, which later I discovered to HS consist of uncounted acres of country Bflt8: rock and about $23 worth of copper BB jrtaln. In order to save 9100 I did my Bfl own assessment work, drovo a pick ItBjL rnto my foot, dovclope blood poison, Hfjfa rcnt to the hospital, and was nice and VBI helpless when the panic enmo along PI. the mlddlo of the month. The bank KB.) went bust, and my ready cash went BBj-1 with It: I couldn't give my mining ABj I stocks away. Kverybody know I was PHL pauper everybody but tho doctor. ISai He persisted tn regarding me as a mil- BBF; Ilonalro and sent mo a bill for $5,000," n?- "now perfectly outrageous! Why, Vj- ' Caliph, I would have let htm sue me." BB-' "I would have, too but I didn't. 1 BB induced him to settle for $100,000 BB shares of stock In my copper prospect. Bjf The par value was $1 a share, and I Bjf was going to sell a block at 10 cents, B tmt In view of his high professional BR standing I let him havo It for n nickel BS a share. I imagine ho still has It. I IB bought back later all tha "flier stock Bjf 1 sold; because tho property was ST, worthless, nud tn order to be a sport Bj I offered him $300 for bis' block, but Br he thought r was trying to swindle Bj'' Mm and askeir $3,000.'' Ill' "Oh. Caliph 1" IBL "Wnnderftri game, Isn't It this nBjl sump of life So sweet when n fcl- IHf low' nklng chances I Now that I am I Vm ft" 'inperoiis agnln. tho only thing lU! "' -enilv matter Ic the un- I certainty ns to whether, when finally I do leave Sobrante, I shall rldo to the steamship landing In a hack or a hearse." "But you could go b t hnck this morning and avoid that uncertainty." "Tho millionaire drudge I told you of could havo gone to live In a pretty villa on tho IUvlera, but she choso a miner's boarding house." "Then why," she persisted, "did you leave tho United States with the firm Intention of remaining In Sobrante indefinitely, in-definitely, change your mind before you were here eight beurs, and cable this Neddy Jerome person you would return In 00 or 80 days and the following fol-lowing morning decide to remain, after aft-er all I" I "My dear young lady, If I changed my clothes as often at I chango my mind, the what-you-may-call-'era chaps that manufacture a certain brand of clothes couldn't keep me dressed." "nut why?" "That," ho answered gravely, "la a secret." "Women delight to pry Into men's socrejts." "I know It Had a friend once-married. once-married. Every night after dinner ho used to sit and stare into tho Are and his wife used to ask him what ho was thinking about lie would look up at her owllshly and tell her It was something some-thing he couldn't explntn to her, bo-causo bo-causo she'd novcr understand It and that was all ho would tell her, although al-though right frequently, I daro say, he felt llko telling her somo things sho could understand? She brooded over his secret until she couldn't stand It any moro, and ono day she packed her duds and flow homo to mother. ' Ho let her stay there threo months, I and finally ono day ho sent her a blue I print of what ho'd bech thinking "What was It?" "An Internal-combustion engine. You see, until sho left him, he'd never been nblo to get set to flguro out something In connection with tho Inlot valves " "Stop right there, Caliph. I'm rebuked. re-buked. I'll let you get set to think " "I didn't mean that. You lot me get set yesterday and I figured It all out then and Inst night and a mln-utu mln-utu ago. I don't caro to do any more thinking today. Dense talk to me." "And you rcfuso to tell mo why you cabled your friend, Jerome?" "You will nover know. I told you It's a secret." "lJct you I find out" "How much? That $10,000 you expect ex-pect to mako from tho Hour-gold In your black-sand claim? And, by the way, $10, please. I wpn It for guessing guess-ing you wero Interested In a mining proposition." Sho returned to him the bill sho had won from him tho day before. "Ten thousand dollars suits inc. Of course, I haven't cot the money just now, and tills Is what Billy calls a finger bet but It I loso, I guarantco to par. Are we betting even money? I think that Is scarcely fair. Under tho circumstances circum-stances I should be entitled to odds." "Nothing doing! No odds on a bet of this nature to a secrcsa who has already al-ready jarred mo from soul to vermiform vermi-form appendix by making good I You know too blamed much already, and how you discovered It is a problem that may drlvo mo crazy yet." After breakfast they repaired to tho veranda to await tho result of Webster's Web-ster's experiment with Don Juan Cafe-tcro. Cafe-tcro. Suro enough, tho wreck had again returned, ho was seatod on tho edge of thn veranda waiting for them; as they, approached, ho held up a grimy, quivering quiv-ering hand, In tho palm of which lay n five-dollar gold piece. "What?" Mr. Webster said, amazed. "Still unchanged I" HI thried to chango It at half a dozen cantlnaa," Dou Juan wheezed, "but dlvil a bit av aystlm did any av thlin havo. Wan offered this tn splggoty money an' the other offered that, an', euro if I'd taken tho best that was offered me In exchange, ye might have fought I'd tuk more nor wou dhrlnk." "Bravo! Thrco long, loud, raucous cheers for Don Juan Cafeterot'' Dolores Do-lores cried. "Was it a terrlblo task to come back without a drink, Don Juan?" Ho shivered. "A shky-blue kangaroo wit,' a pink tall an' green ears chased mo into tills patio, ma'am." "You're very brave, Cafferty. How docs it feci o win back your self-respect?" self-respect?" Webster asked him. "Beggtn' tno young (eddy's pardon It feels like hell, sor." "Caliph, don't bo cruel," Dolores pleaded. "Call a waiter and give Don Juan what you promised him." So Webster went Into tho hotel bar and returned presently with a bottle or brandy and a glass, which bo filled and held out toward Don Juan. "Ono of the paradoxes of existence, Don Juan," ho observed, "lies In the fact that so many of Ui "Mng8 In llfo that are good for us a r us. This jolt will disperse rlu and quiet your nerves, i eless It Is a nail In your cotu Webster, accompanU v ' protege, pro-tege, st rolled uptown i nplng tour. Here ho outflttw "ian neatly but not gaudily ant! uuded to his own persona! effects two high-nower high-nower urortluB rifles, t?iroo large-ail- Ibcr automatic pistols, and a plentiful plen-tiful supply of ammunition after which he returned to the hotel, first having conducted Don Juan to a barber bar-ber shop and given him Instructions to report for orders and his mid-day drink the Instant he should have acquired ac-quired the outward evidences of respectability. re-spectability. At the hotel Webster found two messages awaiting htm. One was from Billy Geary, up at 3an Miguel do Padua, Pad-ua, advising him that everything was In readiness for a trip to tho mine; the other was a note from IMcardo Ruey, but signed with bis alias of Andrew Bowers. Webster read: "Dear Friend: "A certain hlghcr-up has been convinced con-vinced that it would be extremely inadvisable in-advisable to ellmlnato you now. It has been pointed out to this person tlmt you are a prom, clt up in your neck of the woods and dangerous to monkey with personally and because such monkeying may lead to unpleasant unpleas-ant complications with your paternal government A far more artistic and effective way of raising hell with you has been suggested to this higher-up Individual, and he has accepted It Indeed, In-deed, the plan pleased him so much that he laughed quite heartily. Really, Real-ly, it is quite diabolical, but remember, remem-ber, tio who laughs last laughs best and I'm tho villain In this sketch. "Barring accidents, my dear Webster, Web-ster, you aro good for at least six weeks of existence. Beyond that I dare not guarantee you. "Thine, "ANDREW BOWER8." "That makes if nice," tho recipient of this comforting communication soliloquized. so-liloquized. Ho went up to his room, packed a dufflo bag with such belongings belong-ings as ho would find necessary during dur-ing a prolonged stay In tho mountains, and at luncheon was fortunate enough to find Dolores In tho dining room tvlimi ha AnlnrAil "I'm going up to Ban Miguel de Padua Pad-ua this afternoon," he announced as ho took his seat. A look of extreme anxiety clouded her lovely face, and ho noticed It "Oh, there's no risk," he hastened to assure her. "That scamp of a brother of yours, through his friends In high places, has managed man-aged to get mo a reprieve." He" handed hand-ed her Rlcardo'a letter, Sho looked up, much relieved, from her perusal. "And how long do you ' expect to bo gone, Caliph?" "Quite n while. I'll bo busy around that dratted concession for a couplo of weeks, surveying and assaying and what-all; then, whllo watting for our machinery and supplies to arrive from the United States, I shall dovoto my spare time to hunting and flshtifg and reforming Don Juan Cafetcro. Tho cool hills for mine." "What a selfish, unsociable program pro-gram I" sho reflected. "I wonder If -it will occur to him to come down here once In n whllo and take me for a drlvo on the Malecon and talk to me to keep mo from dying of ennui before I meet Rlcardo. I'll wait and see If he suggests It" Uawevci, for reasons best known to himself and tho reader, Mr. Webster made no such Interesting suggestion; so she decided that while he was tremendously tre-mendously nice, he was, nevertheless, a very queer man and thoroughly exasperating. ex-asperating. Just before the train pulled out John Stuart Webster took Dolores' hand. "Oood-by, Secress," he said very soberly. "Tho trail forks hero for the first time possibly the last although I'll try to bo on hand to mako good on my promise to present you to your brother tho day ho occupies oc-cupies the palaco. However, If I shouldn't be In town that day, just go up and Introduco yourself to him. Jt's been wonderful to havo met you and known you, even for such a brief period. I shall nover forget you and the remarkable 24 hours Juit passed." "I shall not soon forget them ray-self. ray-self. Caliph nor you," she added. "Haven't you been a busy little cup of tea, Caliph I Within 24 hours after landing, you havo changed your mind throe times, lost tho best job In tho world, had your fortune told, been marked for slaughter, acquired a now-found now-found friend and commenced actively and with extraordinarily pood results the work of reforming him, soused a gentleman In tho fountain, spurned another with the tip of your boot, rode with me around the Malecon and listened to tho band concert, bundled poor Billy off to 8an Miguel do Padua, Pad-ua, discovered ray brother presumed to bo dead, and received a reprlevo from your enemies, while they perfect per-fect new plans for destroying you. Really, you aro qulto a caliph." "Oh, there's a dash of speed In the old horso yet, Mls Ruey," he ensured her laughingly. "Now listen; don't tell anybody about your brother, and don't tell Billy about my adventures since he left for San Miguel de Padu ,." "But I'm not liable to see Illl'vJ "Yes, you ai e extremely llaW. t'nj gtilng to send him back to you as soon as I can spare him, because I know you'll be lonespme and bored to death In this lonesome town, and nil! Is bully good company. And I don't want you to .tell him about the mess Pm In, because It would only worry hlm he can't aid mo, aad the knowledge that I was In any danger, real or fancied, would be sufficient to cause him to rebel against my plans for his honeym-for his vacation. Ho'd Insist In-sist on sticking around to protect me. He looked down at her little hand where It rested In his, so big and brown and hard; with his frco hand ho patted her hand paternally. "Oood-by, "Oood-by, Secress," he said again; and turning turn-ing to the steps, he leaped aboard joit as the train started to move out of the stotloo. "Goo-good-by Callpb," she called mournfully. Then to herself: "Bless his heart, he did remember I'd be terribly lonely, after all. Ho Isn't a bit queer, but oh, dear, ho Is so exasperating. ex-asperating. I could bump his kind old head against a wall I" Sho turned ber back on the train, fearful that from whore he clung on Uie steps he could, even at that distance, see the sadden rush of tears that bllndod her. However, Don Juan Cafetero, with his rubicund nose to the window of the last coach, did see them saw her grope toward the carriage waiting to tako her back to the hotel. "Why, Bhure, Uie poor darllnfs cry-In'," cry-In'," ho reflected. "Be the Great Gun an Athlono! Shure I fought all along 'twas Billy Geary she had her eye on God love blml An' bo the same token, didn't she tell mo I waa to shtoy sober an' tako care av Mlshter Webster. Hah-haho-al Weill I'll say nothln' an' I'll be neuthral, but but but " From which It may be Inferred that romance was not yet burned out of Don Junn's Gaelic soul. Ho would bo "neuthral," but but but ho reserved re-served the right to butt tn! CHAPTER XII Arrived at San Miguel do Padua about midnight Webster found the climate temperate, In fact decidedly cool. Billy was waiting for them and was properly amazed, but not scandalized scan-dalized when Don Juan Cafetero, abusing tho station hands In a horrible horri-ble hodgepodge of English and Spanish, Span-ish, superintended tho landing of Uie bnggago on the platform. "I had to bring him with me," Webster Web-ster explained. "I'm going to wean him, and after that baby quits crying cry-ing for his bottlo, believe mo, BUI, wo'll havo the prlnco of a foreman for our mine. Quito a character. Is Don Juan, when you dig down Into him." "Dig far enough Into that ruin and you'll find Arc crackers," Billy admitted. admit-ted. "However, John, I'm afraid ho won't explode. .The powder's damp. How did you leave Dolores?" "Fit as a fiddle, Bill." "How does she stack up on better acquaintance, Jolinn)?" "She's a tkookum lass. Sho sent her love and I promised to send you back to her P. D. Q. So don't bother mo with talk about her. You'll see her again In a week or ten days, I hojio." "No? Is that so. Johnny? Bully for you, you old wampus cat Tell Don Juan to steer you over to the Globo de Oro. He knows tho place. I'vo got to go and hire a mule or somo other quadruped for Don Juan If wo'ro to avoid a late start In tho morning. Good night old fellow." They were up nt daybreak, and witli throe heavily laden pack mules In charge of two scml-nakcd mozos, whllo tho cook Jogged comfortably along on his big splay feet In tho rear, they set out for Billy's concession. For 30 miles Uioy followed tho highway, high-way, and then debouched to the southwest south-west along a neglected road Just wldo enough to nccommodate tho clumsy ox carts of tho peons. Tho country was sparsely settled and evidently given giv-en over to stock raising. Darkness had descended on the volley vol-ley by tho time they had pitched camp at the claim. They wero up at dawn the following morning, however, and Immediately after breakfast Jack Webster went to his dufflo bag and-brought and-brought forth a dozen little canvas sacks and a prospector's hammer. "Now then, William, my son," he an- nounced, "light the lantern and we'll seo If you'vo forgotten all I taught you about mining." They clambered up tho dump to a point where two light steel rails projected pro-jected over Uio edge. On top of tho dump, lying besldo the rolls, were two small, rusty, steel oro cars; the rails led from tho edge of tho dump to tho mouth of a tunnel In tho hlllsldo and disappeared therein, Webster stood a moment, looking around him. "How did you happen to ocato this ledge?" ho demanded. Was It grass root stuff, with an out-cropping out-cropping hero at tho foot of the hill? No, of course, It wasn't. You haven't enough ore on tho dump. What the devil were you driving atr "Only a small portion of that dnmp Is mine, Juck, and I didn't locate tho Tund Originally. I came Into this v ('ley from the suith, and as J worked up ho range, I found a bald spot closo to the top of the bill, and a gal-lows gal-lows frame over an abandoned shaft. Naturally, 1 went down tho Rhaft to see why It had been nbandonel To my surprise, I found a 12-foot vein of free-milling ore. on n comnrt be-tween be-tween nndeslte and SHur'n, ,,. ,, , ,. Tkt leilgo stood irtahi LJ. and .i.,'M which snd to trine cwnt deptk-"Somebody deptk-"Somebody had found nn outcrop, plog on tep of that hUl," Webster declared de-clared with conviction, "and mink a shaft on Uio vein to open it np and determine de-termine Its width and direction. And what did you do, Bill?" "I got my transit and ran a line from tho shaft on the hill, following the direction in which the ledge was running, and marked out the exact point toward the base of tho hill where I would start ray tunnel to cut the ledge. To my surprise, I discovered my predecessor had selected that Identical spot So I verified my calculations cal-culations and then sat down to UiInK It over. I remembered that frequent and violent earthquakes occur in this country, and It seemed to me a reasonable rea-sonable hypothesis to blame some ancient an-cient and particularly violent seismic disturbance, which had faulted Uie vein and set it over a considerable distance. According to my calculation, calcula-tion, that other man ahonld have cat the vein at 83 feet yet he had gone on 102 before quItUng. So I got half a dozen peons and drove ahead 10 feet on the other fellow's tunnel; and by Heck, Johnny, I cut Uio vein!" "Bully boy! And then?" "I drifted ten feet on Uie vein, aud the ore ouddcnly gavo out It ntopped Just like that proving Td come to the upper end of the vein where It had faulted; bo I Just worked up and around, stopolng end sinking a winze here and there, unUl just about the time my cash reserve was getting pretty pret-ty low I picked up Uie true vein and, opened It up for the full width. Como in, and 111 show you." They entorcd Uie tunnel, to Uie signal sig-nal dismay of dozens of largo bata. When they reached Uio vein, Webster broke oft samples of Uie ore ovcry three or four feet, crawled after Billy up Uirough tho stopo and back to tho true vein, from Uie face of which ho also took numerous samples; then' he crawled out Into Uie sunshine again, hot, dirty, and perspiring. "Billy, you'll be a real miner yet; ace If yon won't" was nil tho praise "Billy, You'll Be a Real Miner Yet" ho tendered hla youthful partner, standing besldo him In anticipation ot a compliment, as Webster got out hU portable assay outfit For threo days Webster worked, determining tho values of each sample, sam-ple, only to find that his assays confirmed con-firmed Billy's. "You were right son," ho finally announced. "This mine is a humdinger and no mistake; If you and I llvo ten years wo'll bo worth $10,000,000 between us maybe more." Billy's Jaundiced eyes glowed hungrily. hun-grily. "We'll put In a hundred, stamps " "Well, we'll try ten for a starter," Webster Interrupted dryly, "and add moro as tho mlno pays Its way. It's the sweetest mining proposition on earth only, llko all high-class goods, It has one flaw when you" examine It closely." "You'ro crazy," Billy challenged. "Namo tho flaw I" (TO DE CONTINUED.) |