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Show arm, heavy of Jowl; a deep-chested, broad-shouldered Individual whose head, cropped close, tapering in a rounded con from his bushy eyebrows, eye-brows, helped largely to give him the aspect of a professional wrestler, or a heavyweight prire-flghter. He carried car-ried a big blued Colt revolver, and the way he spun the weapon on the trigger guard showed familiarity with the gun. ' "Mining engineer!" roared the bully. bul-ly. "Smart, ain't he, for a curly-headed curly-headed kid I Engineer? Peanut butcher 'ud suit better. Looks like a movie pitcher actor, dont he? Mebbe convincing. The bully obeyed hiw, standing at the door In the place of the assayer, who Btepped aside, feeling feel-ing a little sick at the stomach, Sam bracing him to friendly fashion by one elbow. "I won't shoot yore knuckles oft," said Sandy, "pervldln" you keep yore fingers wide apalit, an' don't wiggle em. Spread em out against the wood, bully man!" His face whitening from the ebb of blood to his cowardly heart, Roarln' Russell opened his fingers wide, Judging Judg-ing Implicit obedience his greatest safety. Sandy did not move position, he hardly seemed to move wrist or finger as his guns spat fire, left and right, eight shots blending, eight bullets bul-lets swashing their way through the door fcetween the "Vs" of the bully's flnget while the crowd held their breath for the exhibition. Sandy quickly reloaded, quickly but without obvious haste. He did not return the guns to their holsters and he paid no attention to the admiring comments of the crowd. "You-all interfered with a friend of 1 mine," said Sandy. "It ain't a healthy trick. An' you ain't apologized to the lady. I don't know how Westlake feels about it, but you've sure got to apologize to the lady." Russell's eyes rolled from side to side toward his still elevated hands. "You can lower 'em If you can't talk with 'era up," said Sandy. "I'm waltln' fo that apology, but I'm In a bit of hurry." "I didn't see no woman," mumbled the bully, crest-fallen. "I told you there was one," said Sandy. "I don't lie. even to strangers. You're sorry you swore, ain't you?" "You're qulcker'n I am on the draw with yore two guns," retorted the goaded Russell. "I c'ud lick you one-handed one-handed 'thout guns or any man In this crowd," he blustered In an attempt at-tempt to halt his departing prestige. "You-all had a gun In yore hand when we stahted In," said Sandy equably. "You're sorry you swore ain't your The repeated words, backed by the cold gaze, the ready guns, were merciless merci-less as probes. "I apologizes to the lady," growled Russell. "Now, that's fine," said Sandy. "Fine I Westlake, will you come erlong with me fo' a spell T He made his way through the opening open-ing group. Sam followed with the assayer as-sayer who now began to realize that Sandy's Interference had established a friendship that would continue protective. protec-tive. Tliey met Mormon, almost purple pur-ple In the face from suppressed feelings. feel-ings. Toting Ed Rnlley eyed Sandy with awe and new respect. Miranda Pnlley's attempt to learn exactly what had happened was thwarted by Sandy's presentation of Westlake. During the Introduction Mormon slipped away. CHAPTER XII Whits Gold. "It was mighty decent of you to take me under your protection," said the young engineer to Sandy. He made hard going of the last word but shot It out with a snap that left his Jaw advanced. ad-vanced. Sandy told himself that he liked the clean-cut, well-set-up West-lake. West-lake. "Shucks," he answered, "I reckon you w'udn't have much truhhle pro-tectln' pro-tectln' yo'self, provldin' terras was any Boulder and Teller counties, Colorado. They call it graphic gold, sometimes, beause the crystals are very frequently frequent-ly set up In twins and branch off so that they look like written characters. The crystals are monocllnlc and occur In porphyry almost exclusively. It Is a mixture of gold and silver tellurlde and It's also called tellurium." Tm much obliged," said Sandy. "I've learned a heap." Westlake looked at him suspiciously, suspicious-ly, but Sandy's face was grave as that of the sphinx. "The porphyry dykes here are In syncllne," the engineer went on. "They dip toward each other from both sides of the valley and form loops or folds. If you Imagine an onion sliced in half you catch the Idea. Call every other layer porphyry, with rock and other dirt between. The bottom of a loop may be deep down or it may be missing miss-ing altogether, ground away when the valley was gouged out by a glacier. There may be other loops beneath It. Some portions of the loops come to the surface on the hillside and you can guess at their dip. But the gamble lies In this : The ones that are exposed may or may not carry the gold-bearing veins. This Casey, who made the original strike, did he take out much?" "As I understand It," replied Sandy, "he hits the porphyry where it's shal-ler, shal-ler, or worn off, like you said. An' be finds rich pay stun! right away, enough to start the camp. Quite a few works on that outcrop an' then it peters out. Casey sabed a bit about syncllnes, I reckon, fo' he kept faith In the camp, on'y he realized It ud take a heap of money to develop, meanln' to dlff through the porphyry. I suppose. Now they've found some mo' of that float ore that the first crowd overlooked. Reckon that'll peter out too, after a while. But capital may come In on this second staht. Some Eastern folk were lookln' over the place a while back." ' Westlake halted and took a small steel hammer from his pocket with which he struck off a fragment of rock protruding from the ground. The cleaveage showed purple. He walked slowly along for some fifty feet, kicking kick-ing the soil with his foot, breaking off other samples to which he put his tongue. "Taste good?" asked Sam. "Not bad, If you're looking for mineral. min-eral. They've got a distinct flavor all their own, but I wetted them to show the color up more plainly. Here Is the out-crop of the syncllne reef. It may carry gold and It may not, but It's wide enough, It's near the surface and It's as good a place as any." Randy, glancing across the valley te where the engineer pointed, nodded his head. "Your Judgment goes with Casey's," he said. "Right across from here Is where he located his claims, I take It How about It, Mormon? Fits the description to a T." "Sure does," assented Mormon. "If you locate here, marm," he said to Miranda, Mi-randa, "an' we-all make a strike, we'll be on the same vein, I reckon." "It's all Greek to me," said the spinster. spin-ster. "How do we locate? I've come this far, an' I'll see the thing through to some sort of finish. How many claims can we take up an' what's the size of "era, Mr. Westlake?" The three partners left Miranda and the engineer measuring off and setting up their monuments at the corners of the claim. They started directly down the slde-hlll, making for the valley, In "BACK UP1" . 8YNOP8IS.-T th Thraa-Bar ranch, Arizona, owned Jointly by Sandy Bourks, "Mormon" Patera and "Soda-Water gam" Manning, a fine collie makea It way. Bourka and Bam mount and let the dog lead them. The two And a dying man, Patrick Caaey, pinned tinder an overturned wagon. Kneeling bealde the wagon la bis young daughter, Molly, fifteen. They extricate ex-tricate the old proapector, who dlea repeating "Molly-mlneal" "I'll look out for that, pardnar," aaya Bandy. It la agreed that Molly ataya aa maacot of the ranch, aha and the "Three Musketeers" becoming be-coming partnera In the mines. .Jim Pllmaoll gambler, vtalllng the ranch, Inaults Molly. He claims he grubstaked Caaey, which made him th old man's partner. Mormon drives him off. BUrtlng with a gold eagle, Molly's luck piece, Sandy, with Sam, plsya faro at PUmsoll's place, winning 110,000. It la arranged that Molly ahali go East to be "eddlcated." A neigh, bor, Miranda Bailey, warns the ranchera that Jim Pllmaoll, aa Patrick Casey's "partner," claims guardlanHhlp of Molly, and th au thorltles stand In with him. Bandy determines to take the girl to New Mexico, to an old friend, Barbara Redding, for advice. The three men, with the girl, aet out Pursued Pur-sued by the sheriff and Pllmsoll, the ranchera separate, Mormon and Bam returning, and Bandy and Molly going on. The two are caught In a pans by a cloudburst, during which Sandy saves Molly's life. Sandy returns, announcing that Molly haa been aent East to arhool. A party of riders headed by a man named Brandon visits the Three-Rar, announcing their sua-plrlons sua-plrlons of Jim Pllmaoll'a conduct of his horse ranch. Gold Is atruck at Dynamite, where Molly' claim Is located. Pllmsoll clalma the Caney mine. Sandy and his two friends, with Miranda Bailey, pro-ceed pro-ceed to Dynamite. They rtnd Pllmsoll Pllm-soll conducting a gambling place. CHAPTER XI Continued. 9 "This mun riluisoll alms to make him a fortune. He's got a gang of bullies with hlrn who're stakln' out the best claims an' jumpln' others. He's ruimln' a game wild. He's here to clenn up. I tell you, Sundy, the sheriff ought to be on the Job on the start of a rush like this. I) n dern few of this irowd'll ever stop to run shaft or tunnel. Though this young assay-n' assay-n' feller talks big about folds an' uplifts, up-lifts, syncllnes an' anticlines. Claims the po'phyry la syncllne. You got to catch It where the fold Is shaller or else dig half way to China. You still 'n the cow business, Sandy?" So he chatted until fresh customers "Show Us a Few Steps, You Powder-Faced Powder-Faced DoodI" he's a vodevllle performer. Til bet he Is, at that What's yore speshulty, kid? Slngln or dandn'. Or both?" He flung a shot from the gun Into the ground between the young man's i feet. "Show us a few steps, you powder-faced powder-faced dood I Mebbe we'll let you stay In camp If you amuse us." Sandy and Sam had elbowed their way lightly through the ring and the former turned to the man beside whom he happened to stand. "What's the idea?" he asked. The young 'un good as told Roarln' Russell he didn't know what he was talkln' about. Chap asked the kid's opinion on a bit of ore an' he give It. It didn't suit Russell." "It didn't, eh? Now, that's too bad," drawled Sandy. The other looked at hlra curiously. Sandy's drawl was often provocative, Russell's gun barked again. "Dance, d n ye I An' sing at the same time; blast you for a buttln' In tenderfoot I Won't, eh?" The victim, game but despairing, flung a look of appeal about him. To give In meant to become the laughingstock laughing-stock of the camp, to have Its ribaldry follow htm, to be laughed out of the camp, branded as a coward. Yet to way nigh even. That Roarln' Russell throwed down on yo, flggerln' you packed no gun, seeln' there was none In sight. How'd your fuss come to staht?" "A man was showing Russell and some others a piece of quartz picked up round here. It had nothing In It but some mica and galena, but Russell Rus-sell had given It as his opinion that It was the gold-bearing rock of the region. re-gion. I told them I thought they would find that In the porphyry and Russell asked me what the h 1 I knew about ?nme lu and claimed his skill and sienks. Miranda Ralley and her com-i:inlons com-i:inlons finished the meal and started ut. The Casey claims were on the east dde of the creek, Sandy knew. The old prospector's lore, or Instinct, had been unfailing. It remained to see If bis marks and monuments had been respected. Molly had Said that the assessment work had been done, and she had so described the place In a narrow terrace of the hill that Sandy felt sure of finding them without trouble. He pointed out a sign over the door of a shack ahead, white lettered on black oil cloth : CLAY WESTLAKB. ASSAYER SURVEYOR AND MINlXa ENGINEER. A knot of men were milling about the pi uce. "Lhiln' a trade already," suld Sam. "Must have brung that sign erlong with him. Smart, fo' a youngster. Simpson said he wus a kid. How "bout seeln' him befo' Miss Ihiiley an' Ed here stuke tlielr claims? I'm ainiin' to mark out one fo' nie, sume time." "Also me," nnld Mormon. Guffaws suddenly rose from the little lit-tle crowd by the assayer's sign. A deep voice boomed out In bullying t"ne, followed by silence, then more laughs. Sundy leaned to Mormon. "Von keep her an young Ed back," he s; Id. "Trouble here, I Agger." Mormon nodded, stopping nliead, blocking Miranda's progrexs in apparently appar-ently aimless and clumsy fuslilnn wlille Sandy, bis bunds dropping to ids gun butts, lifting the weapons slightly and. releasing them Into tlie holsters on.-e ! ugaln, lengthened his stride, walking j cat-footed on the soles of bis feet, as he always did when he scented tnui-I tnui-I ble. Sum, easing Ids own gun, lightly ' touched Ids lips with the tip of his ' tongue and followed Sundy with eyes I that widened anil brightened, i 'T.ullyin' the kid. I reckon," lie sold ' to Sandy as they went. Sundy did not need to aod before tliey reached the bslf ring that had formed about a young cl.sp In khaki shirt, riding breech ee end puttves, whose fair ; htir was curly shove a face tanned, i ana1 "esolute enough. Yet he was I e'early nervous at the Jihes of the J crowd and the actions of the man who ' laced bliu. h-avv of body, long of silence, like men with business ahead of them that called for action rather than words. "Here's the situation, as I sabe It," said Sandy, "rilmsoil met up with Pat Casey from time to time. Molly said so. There's other witnesses to that I'llmsoiril ure some of them to swear that he grubstaked Casey. They'll be some of his own crowd. No doubt rilmsoil got the location of the claims from the old records an' these buckaroo pals of his, who are roostln' on said location, knew Jest where to go an' stahted out well In front with their outfit. I don't reckon we'll find MImsoll up there, though we ain't seen him so far this mo'nln. but I'll bet our best bull ag'In a chunk of dog-meat dog-meat that they're on his pay roll." "Shucks, It don't make no difference whose pay roll they're on," said Mormon. Mor-mon. "They're claim-Jumpers an', like you said, Sandy, a Jump can be made two ways. Let's go look 'era over." The tent was pitched on the hlllsld where the grade was too step to per mit of level ground enough for more than the actual floor space. The tent flaps were open and showt.d cots on which blankets and clothing were roughly spread. On two of these beds men sprawled asleep. Five others were Rented on boxes about a boulder that looked like porphyry outcrop. Its surface was flat enough to serve as a table. The five were playing poker. They were not a preposseslng lot, playing play-ing their game In silence, looking up with a scowl and movements toward gun butts at the visitors. "I've Reen that tent afore," whispered whis-pered Sam to Sandy. The latter nodded. '('ampin' out, gents?" he asked amiably. "No, we ain't. These clnlms are preempted. pre-empted. Trespassers ain't welcome. You're Invited to move on." "That's a new name fo' It," said Sandy pleasantly. "New to me. Preempted." Pre-empted." "What In h 1 are you driving at?" asked the other. "This Is private property." prop-erty." "Property of Jim prlmsoli?" "None of your d d business." ."Jim Plimsotl, I'm glvln' you, till sun-up termorrer to g!t plumb out of camp!" (TO UB CONTlffUtDj resist was a challenge to death. The bully had been drinking, the gleam In his eyes was that of the killer, a man half Insane from alcohol. "Up with yore hands I Up with 'em, or I'll shoot the knuckles off of "em I I'll make a Jumpin-Jack of you or Til shoot yore . . ." The first syllable of the Intended volley of foulness was barely out when Sandy, stepping forward, touched the bully on the shoulder. Russell whirled as a bear whirls, gun lifting. "Lady back here In the crowd," said Sandy quietly. For a second Hnssell gasped and stared and, as he stared, the cold hard look In Sandy's eyes told him the manner of ninn who had Interrupted him. Rut this man's guns were In the holsters, Itussell's weapon was In hand though Its muzzle was tilted skyward. sky-ward. The crowd, thickening, waited his next move. He had been stopped In his halting. He saw no woman back of the big bulk of Mormon, keo-Ing keo-Ing Miranda well away, not seeing what was going forward. "To h I with the lady!" shouted Russell. At Ids back was only the unarmed assayer. This lean cold-eyed interferer was a hardy fool who need, ed n lesson. lie swept down Ids gun, thumb to hammer.' Two guns grew like magic in Sandy's hands. Iluss. il rend a message In Sandy's glance, ho heard the gasp of the crowd. With Ids own gun tlrst in the open the stranger had beaten him to the drop and lire. He felt the fan of the wing of dentil on his brow. Ills gun flew out of Ids fingers, wrenched away by the force of Impact from Sandy's bid-let bid-let on Its nH7.le, low down, near the cylinder. Dazed, he watched It spinning spin-ning awny, his hand nutnh. "I'.iick lip to that door, you! Hack up!" Sandy's voice was almost conversational con-versational l.ut It wus profoundly Sandy Told Himself That He Liked the Clean Cut, Well Set-Up West-lake. West-lake. It? That's bow It started. I don't know how It would have finished If you hadn't taken a hand and said I was a friend of yours. Io yon know any. thing about mining, Mr. Roiirke?" "Sandy Is my name to my friends. A cowman with a mister to the front of his name seems to me like a hawss with an extry bridle. No, sir, I don't. I'o you?" Sandy's eyes twinkled as he put the quiz. Westlake laughed, "1 hope so. I think so. Experience counts a lot, of course, but I do know something about sylvanlte. ftr white gold I've seen lu big field over In |