Show the rpm Cu culasa laSt lilg whisper ad by jackson gregory by charles scribner a sons service SYNOPSIS in the california sierra mark king prospector ro gees sees andy parker killed by E swen wen brodle brodle parker parkers outlaw compan ion on both known to king he la is on his way to the home of hi his friend ben gaynor king xing and gaynor share with brodle brodie and his crowd knowledge of a 81 vast store of hidden sold gold king meets mrs gaynor and Is to impressed by her daughter gloria glorias s youthful beauty he instinctively dislikes a house visitor named gratton with gloria kins king rides to the village of coloma intending to sound honeycutt he finds brodle brodie with the old prospector and animosity flares CHAPTER II 11 continued 4 there a 8 that box on the table bald said king maybe you 11 want to put it away before he makes yon you another visit I 1 honeycutt hastily set his gun down leaning it against the wall with both hammers still back end and shambled to the table he ile caught the box up and hugged it to his thin old breast breath ing hard went to his tumbled bunk in a corner sat down on it thrusting the box out of sight under the untidy heap of dirty bedding he glanced at his gun you git too I 1 king felt that he could not have selected a more inopportune moment for his visit and already began to tear fear that he be would have no success today but it began to look as though it were a question of now or never brodle brodie would return despite the shotgun and brodle brodie might now be looked to for rough roughshod shod methods so to catch an interest which he know was always readily awakened he said brodle brodie and parker were ere on look out ridge day before yesterday brodle brodie shoved parker over at lookout ridge honeycutt ile stressed the words significantly while keenly watch ing for the gleam of interest in the faded eyes it came honeycutt jerked his head up 1 I wish I 1 d of shot him he be walled 1 I wish id I 1 d of his ugly head off it might have saved trouble ad bitted king coolly also it might have been the job to hang you honey cutt better leave well enough alone but listen to me brodle brodie told you and he meant it that it was going to lie be brodle brodie or king who got away with this deal he lied I 1 like you ue he I 1 here was honeycutt probed in his kenderest ten derest spot I 1 it itu 11 be mel me I 1 me I 1 tell you think I 1 im in old do yon you rm feelen right peart this spring by summer III be strong as a young feller again I 1 by summer will be too late don t I 1 tell you that already brodie has gone as far as lookout ridge that means he hes s getting hot on the trail of it doesn doean t it As hot as I 1 am then what are you comin pe me for if it you know where it Is 1 I don t know I 1 honeycutt cackled and rubbed his hands at the admission but I 1 im in going to find out so ably Is brodle brodie now look here honey cutt I 1 am for making yoa you a straight business proposition if yon you know anything I 1 stand ready to buy your knowledge in cold hard cash no man aint ain t got the money monet not enough not any morgan or rock feller king began opening the parcel he had brought from the post office As he be cut the heavy cord with his pocket knife honeycutt looked on curiously king stepped to the table standing so that out of the corners of his eyes he commanded both doors and stripped off of the wrapping paper look sharp honeycutt he corn com banded heres money enough to last you as long as you live all yours if you can tell me what I 1 want to know A golden twenty dollar coin coln rolled free shone with its virgin newness and lay on the tabletop table top gleaming its lure into the covetous old eyes an other followed it and another king began counting I 1 there s one thousand dollars right in the pile he said one thousand dollars I 1 one thousand dollars an some of it gold new lookin aln aint t it mark let me have the feel of one of them twenties king tossed it it fell upon the bed ding and honeycutt s fingers dived after it and held it tight he began rubbing it caressing it king went on counting I 1 one more thousand in this pile he said that s two thousand honey cutt I 1 two thousand I 1 repeated honey cutt nodding he ile got up and shambled on his cane close to the table lean ing ipg against it 14 thrusting his peering eyes down king counted out the last crisp note three thousand dollars I 1 he stepped back a pace three thousand dollars I 1 that it a might of money mark three thou sand dollars all on my table his thin voice was a hushed whisper now t 1 I never seen that much money not all at once and spread out I 1 it its s likely that you 11 U never see that much again unless you and I 1 do business I 1 it s a sight of money mark honey cutt whispered again its it s a sight of money king held his silence hie his whole argument was on the table he went to the door standing in the sunshine filling his lungs with the out side air the sight of the gloating miser sickened him more than that it sickened his fancies so that for a minute he asked himself what he and brodie were doing 1 the lure of gold the thing had hypnotized him be he wished that he were out in the moun bains riding among the pines and cedars listening to the voice of the wilderness it was clean out there but the emotion like a vertigo passed as swiftly as it had come for he knew that though he had traveled on many a golden trail it was clean beart heartedly edly that it was the game itself that counted ever with him and no such poisonous emotions as grew with in the wretched breast of loony honeycutt he turned turne d back to the room honey cutt was near the bunk groping tor for his shotgun he started guiltily veiled his eyes and returned empty handed to the table I 1 if it was all in gold now I 1 said honeycutt hurriedly king made no reference to honey cutt s murderous intent that paper Is the same as gold he said I 1 the government backs it up I 1 know I 1 know but what a a gove movement go ment they go busted don dont t MAN W his whole argument was on the table they sometimes same as folks gold dont go busted there aint like gold if that was all in twenty dollar gold pieces now III get a car here said king well we 11 drive down to auburn and take a train to san francisco and there I 1 U undertake to get you the whole thing in gold one hundred and fifty twenty dollar pieces but old honeycutt shook his head I 1 couldn coulden t leave here an you know it I 1 I 1 got things here he said with alook a look of great cunning I 1 wouldn t go away from with the world full of robbers that would be after me like ube hounds running down a rabbit I 1 won t go you cain t make me no man cain t king s patience deserted him 1 I am not going to make you do anything further I 1 am not going to put in any more time on you I 1 have offered to pay you three thousand dot dol lars for what you know and there Is the very strong likelihood that you don t know a bit more than I 1 do dont knowl shrieked honeycutt wasn gasn t 11 I 1 a boy grown when the ayin deler lous man stumbled in on the camp I 1 hear bear him talk an dlan t I 1 see what he had in his fist wasn gasn t I 1 setting right side by side with gus ingle when that happened t I 1 of been one to go if it hadn haan t of been that I 1 had a big knife cut in my side you could of shoved a cat in give to me by a slant eyed cuss name of baldy winch t I 1 watch em go the whole seven of cm ent baldy winch rot him deerin at me an me shearin I 1 id d get him yet him an gus ingle an preacher ellson an the first brodie an jimmy kelp an manny howard an the italian wasn gasn t 11 I 1 there if I 1 don it t know bothin what re yon you askin me for king had learned little that he did not already know he came back to the table and began gathering up the money walt wait a minute mark pleaded the old man restless as he understood that the glittering coins were to be taken away lets let s talk a while awhile you an me aint had a good chat like this for a year I 1 im in going retorted king I 1 but make you one last proposition he thrust into his pocket everything excepting five twenty dollar gold pieces these he left standing in a little pile III give you just exactly one hundred dollars for a look at what Is in that box of yours in sudden alarm the old man sham bled back to his bunk his hands on the bedding over the box you d grab it an run he clacked you d rob me you re worse than brodie I 1 you know better than that king told him sternly if I 1 wanted to rob you I 1 d do it without all this monkey y business in his suspicious old heart honey cutt knew that go you I 1 he said abruptly stand back an give me the money first king gave him the money and drew back some three or four paced honey cutt drew out the box and poured out the contents what king saw three articles only were these an old leather pooch pouch bulging probably with coins a par eel and a burnished gold nugget the parcel since it was enwrapped in a piece of cloth might have been any an y thing it was shaped like a flat box honeycutt leered I 1 if swen brodle brodie had of knowel what he had right in his hands he gloated bed never of let gol go I 1 not even for or a shotgun at his head I 1 I 1 brodie gone far hell come back you have your last chance to talk business with me honeycutt brodle brodie will get it next time I 1 ho hoi I 1 will he not where rin goin to hide it hark mark king I 1 got gotan N an other place a better place a p place lace the old hell himself couldn t find I 1 king left him gloating and placing his treasures back in hia his box in his heart he knew that brodle brodie would come again soon it began to look as though brodle brodie had the bulge on the situation for that which mark king could not come at by fair means brodle brodie meant to have by foul for be he had little faith in the new didin place but on a near by knoll where she sat with her back to a tree was gloria he ile turned toward her she waved he saw that brodle brodie and two men with him were looking out a window he heard one of them laughing they were looking at gloria king quickened his step to come to her his blood ruffled by a new anger which he did not stop to reason over he could imagine the look in swen brodle brodie s evil little eyes CHAPTER III gloria was genuinely glad to see king returning to her I 1 it seemed that you were gone hours she said 1 I never saw such a dreary lonesome place as this sleepy little town it gives me the fidgets she concluded laughingly these old mining camps have at mo spheres all their own he admitted understandingly A dead town turns into a ghost town it gets on your nerves she nodded soberly As side by side they went along through the sunshine king noted how brodie and a couple of men came out to look after them he heard the low sullen bass of the unforgettable able voice saw that brodle brodie had left his corn coul and was going straight to old honeycutt s shanty klag king frowned and tor for an instant hung on his heel drawing gloria a curious look I 1 tou you dont don t like that big man with the big voice said gloria no he said tersely it Is swen brodle brodie tes yes but how do you know oh I 1 know lots of things people dont don t think I 1 knowl know I 1 all girls do girls are rather knowing creatures I 1 wonder if you realize that 1 I don t know much about girls he smiled at her she pondered the matter for a dozen steps swinging her hat at her side and looking across the housetops to the mountains she did not know any other man who would have said that in just that way archie and teddy any of her boy friends in town they knew all about girls I 1 or thought that they did mr gratton with his smooth way ay he led her to suppose that he be had been giving girls a great deal of studious thought for many years and that only after this thorough investigation n did he feel in a position to declare herself to be the most wonderful of her sex dont you like girish girls she asked for once she gasn wasn t fishing she as wanted to know I 1 of course I 1 do he told her heartily As well as a man can under the circumstances 0 you mean not knowing them better b et when he be nodded she looked up at him again hesitated and then demanded 6 tou you like me don it you 9 she had never asked a man that before she was not accustomed to cm ein cloying either that direct method or matter matte of fact tone just now there was no hint of the coquette in her she was just a very grave eyed girl as serious in her tete a tete with an in te resting male as she could have hav e been were she sixty years old I 1 of course I 1 do he said heartily a little surprised by the abruptness of the question and yet without hes tion very much she flushed prettily she gloria gaynor flushed up because mark king said in blunt unvarnished fashion 1 6 I 1 like you very much the grave sobriety went out of her eyes they shone happily through the long shadows of evening they rode back to the log bouse house gratton grafton looked at them sharply and suspiciously king with a nod to the various guests and a few words with mrs gaynor entirely given to warm praise of her daughter drew ben aside for a discussion of conditions as he had bad found them and left them today he was dead sure that brodle brodie had gone back to honeycutt had gotten what he wanted and was off in a beeline to put to the proof the old man mans s tale gloria was off to bed early saying good night everybody rather absent ly she climbed up the stairs wearily when her mother slipped away from the others she found gloria ready to for bed but standing before her window looking out at the first stars gloria usually had so many bright gushing things to say after a day of pleasure but tonight she appeared oddly preoccupied tto TO BS BM CONTINUED 1 |