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Show j TOJS - By Courtney I 1 CROSS-CUT -J l Irrrtrr tiih iihimi"i mil nm"i,.H""ni'ii iriVrriiW-rrrifVrnTTn I !IIH HMI ll'H II' H l':l ll:n r. II I TTTPTTTTlt M;'l ll'U MIUI'il )l H H I! )I'U fliU ;i!H I nl:ill'WJ!I.U'l'AA':V'l'VJ'LVi'ij sound of a single Jack hammering am the end of a drill could be heard. Fair-1 child called and went forward, to find Harry, grimy and sweating, pounding away at a narrow streak of black formation for-mation which centered In th top ef the stope. "It's the rein" he announced, after he had greeted Falrchlld, "and It don't look like lf going to amount to much V "Nor Harry withdrew the drill from the hole he wns making and mopped his forehead. "It ain't a world-benter," came disconsolately. dis-consolately. "I doubt whether It'll run raore'n twenty dollars to the ton, the wye ' smelting prices 'uve gone up 1 And there ain't much money In that What 'appened In Denver?" "Another frame-up by the Rodalnes to get the mine away from us. It was a lawyer. He stalled that the offer had been made to us by Miss Richmond." Rich-mond." "How muchf ""Two hundred thousnnd dollars and us to get out of all the troubles we are In." "And you took It, of courser "I did not!" "No? Harry mopped his forehead again. "Well, maybe you're right Maybe you're wrong. Put whatever you did well, that's Just the thing I would 'ave done. Only-" and Harry was staring lugubriously at the . vein above him, "it's going to take us a long time to get two hundred thousand thou-sand dollars out of things the wye they stand now." "But we're going to keep at It, Harry, sink or swim." "You know it 1" "The Rodalnes have hit maybe we can have some good luck too." "The RodalneB?" Harry stared. "It whatr "Two hundred dollar a ton ore!" A long whistle. Then Harry, who had been balancing a single jack, pre- 1 " . "$200,0001" TNOP8IS At Thornton Fair-child's Fair-child's deatfc hia aon Robert learna therw hoM been a dark period In hla father's Ufa Which tar almost thirty thir-ty years has caused him lufFertng. The secret Is hinted at In do.u-nwnt do.u-nwnt left by ths elder Falrchlld, which alao Informs Robert hs Is now owner of a mining claim In Colorado, and alvUiln htm to cee Henry Oearalah, a lawyer. Beamish tells Robert bla claim, a silver miae. la at Ohadi, thirty-eight tiles from Denver. He also warns him against a certain man, "Squint" Rodalne. his father's enemy. en-emy. On the road to Ohail from Denver Falrchlld assists girl, apparently ap-parently In a trensy of haste, to chanfro a tire on her auto. When she hns left, the sheriff and a posse appear, in puruelt ' of a bandit. Faii-chlld bewildored. mislead them as to the direction the girl had taken. At Ohadt Falrchlld U warm. Ir greeted by "Mother" Howard, : boardlng-hoUHe keeper, for hla fath er's sake. From Mother Howard, Falrchlld learns something of the mystery connected with the dlsnp-pearance dlsnp-pearance of "fflnale" Larben, hla father's co-worker In the mine. lie meots the girl he had aaalvted, but the denies ber Identity. &he la Anita Richmond. Judge Richmond's daughter. Vlaltlng his claim Falrchlld Falr-chlld Is shadowed by man he rccognlnea from descriptions as "fijufttt" Rodalne. Back In Ohadl, his father's old friend, Harry Har-kins, Har-kins, a Cornlahman, summoned from England by Doamlsh to htlp I'alrchlld, halls him with joy. The pair find the mine flooded and have not sufHclont funds to have It pumped dry. Utter In the flay "Squint" Kodulne announces that he practically aaw Harklns fall Into the flooded mine, and evidently Is drowQod. Harklns being a general favorite, the entire population turns out to cloar the flooded mine, When the work Is practically done, Harry . appears, apparently surprised at . the turmoil. It had been a shrewd trick on his part to get the mine pumped out without cost to himself him-self or Fhlrchlld, and the men take It as a good Joke. Falrchlld learns that Judge Richmond is dying, and that he and Anita are In the power of the Rodalnes. They begin, as 1 partnera, to work the mine. In their hoarts both fear Larson wan killed by Thornton Falrchlld and his body buried bv a cave-In which destroyed the mine. At the "Old Times Ball" Falrchlld dances with Anita, to the discomfiture of Minifies Minif-ies Rodalne, son of "Squint," supposed sup-posed to be engaged to the Klrt.' A bandit holds up the dan re and shoots a merrymaker. Maurice Ro-dalno Ro-dalno claims ha recognized the bandit as Harklns. The litter Is , arrested. Falrchlld Interferes to save Anita from the bullylnn of the two Rodalnes, and Is mystified at Anita's apparent Ingratitude. Falrchlld puts up the claim as bond, and secures Harry's release from Jill, They are offered V-0.t for the claim, by an unknown party, but agree to dtaregard It. Clearing the mine, they come to where they fear to find Lrsen's remains. A skeleton. In a miner's costume, which Harklns Identities as Larsen, Is there, and there seems little doubt that Thornton Falrchlld was a murderer. Falrchlld Falr-chlld Informs the coroner of the discovery of the skeleton. At the Inquest "I'raty Iura." rastoff wife of "PqtHnt" Ttndiilne, and an ac-knowtorirrd ac-knowtorirrd Imbecile, gives damai-lng damai-lng testimony aara'nst Thornton FaJrcMld. The lury returns a verdict ver-dict thnt Tarsen m to his denth at Thornton Falchlld's hands. Anita's engagement to Maurice Rodalne Ro-dalne la announced. FalrcMII li summoned to IVnver to receive "Important Information" about his mine. of the kind. In your mine which, If you will remember, brought about a very disagreeable situation. And through her very good, connections In another way, she Is able to relieve you of ell your financial embarrassment embarrass-ment and procure for you from a certain cer-tain Knstern syndicate, the members of which I am not at liberty to name, an offer of $200,000 for your mine. All that Is necessary for vou to do Is to say the word." . " Falrchlld leaned forward. . "And of course," he said caustically, "the name of this mysterious feminine friend must be a secret?" "Certainly. No mention of this transaction must be made to her directly, di-rectly, or indirectly. Those are my specific Instructions." "Do you want my answer now?" . "At any. time when you have given the matter sufficient thought." "That's been accompllfihed already. And there's no need of waiting. I want to thank you exceedingly for your offer, of-fer, and to tell you that you can go straight to It 11 1" And without looking back to see the result of his ultimatum, Falrchlld rose, strode to the door, unlocked It, and stamped down the hall. He had taken snap Judgment, but In his heart, he felt that he was right. What was more, he was as sure as he wns sure of life Itself that Anita Richmond had not arranged the Interview and did not even know of It. One streak-Inn streak-Inn name was flitting through Fair-child's Fair-child's brain and causing It to seethe with anj?er. Cleverly concealed though the plan might have been, nicely arranged ar-ranged and carefully planted, to Robert Rob-ert Falrchlld It all stood out plainly and clearly the Rodalnes 1 And yet why? Thnt one little word halted Falrchlld as he left the elevator. eleva-tor. Why? What did they know about the Blue Poppy mine, when neither he nor Hnrry had any Idea of what the future might hold for them there? That day In court Rodalne had said that the Illue Poppy mine was a good property and that It was worth every cent of the value which hnd been placed on It. How did he know? And why? Suppose that It had been Anita Richmond after all who hod arranged this? It was loglcul In a way. Maurice Hodalne was the one man who could give direct evidence against Harry as the man who had held up the Old Times dance, and Antta now wits engaged en-gaged to marry him. Judge Richmond hnd been n friend of Thornton Fair-child; Fair-child; could It have been possible thnt this friendship might have entailed the telling of secrets which had not been related to anyone else? . The matter of the finding of the skeleton could be handled easily, Falrchlld saw, through Maurice Rodalne. One word from hltn to his father could change the story of Crazy I.nura and make It, on the second telllnj:. only the maundering tnle of an Inline, herb-gatherlne womiin. An'ta could have arranged It, and Anita might have arranged It. Yet. why should she have gone through this procedure to reach him? Why had she not gone to Fnrrell with the proposition to a man whom she knew Falrchlld trusted. trust-ed. Instead of to a greasy, hnnd-rub-hlng shyster? And besides Hut the question was past answer-Imr answer-Imr now. Falrchlld bad made his decision, de-cision, anil he hurt told the lawyer Falrchlld blinked In .surprise at this and sank back Into his chair. Finally he laughed uneasily and puffed again on the dubious cigar. "I'd say," came finally, "that there Isn't any such animal." "But there Is. 8he has" Then he stopped, as though to cover the slip. Falrchlld leaned forward. "She?" Mr. Barnham gave the appearance of a very flustered man. "My tongue got away , from me; I shouldn't have said It. I really shouldn't have said it If she ever finds It out, It will mean trouble for me. IStit truly," and he beamed, "you are such a tough customer to deal with and so suspicious no offense meant, of course that I really was forced to It. I feel sure she will forgive me." "Whom do you mean by she'?" Mr, Barnham smiled In a knowing manner. . "You and I both know," came his cryptic answer. "She Is your one great, good friend. She thinks a" great deal of you, and you have done several things to cause that admiration. Now, Mr. Fulrchlld, coming . to the point, suppose she should point a way out of your troubles? In the first place, you , and your , partner are In very great" difficulties." "Are we?" Falrchlld said It sarcastically. sarcas-tically. "Indeed you are, and there is no need of attempting to conceal the fact. Your friend, whpse name must remain a secret, does not love you don't ever think that but " Then he." hesitated as though to watch the effect on Falrchlld's face. There was none; Robert had masked It In time the words went on: "But she does think enough of you to want to make. you happy. She has recently done a thing which gives her a great deal of power in one direction. In another, an-other, she has connections who possess pos-sess vast money powers and who are looking for an opening here In the West. Now " he .made a church Rteeple out of his fingers and leaned hack In his chair, staring vacuously at the celling,- "If you will soy the word and do a thing which will relieve her of a great deal of emharrasstnent, I am . sure that she can so arrange things that life will be very easy for you henceforth." "I'm becoming Interested." "In the first place, she Is engaged to he married to a very fine young man. You, of course, may say differently, and I do not know I am only taking her word for It. But If I understand It, your presence In Ohadl has caused a few disagreements between them and well, you know how willful and headstrong girls will be. I believe she has committed a few er Indiscretions Indiscre-tions with you." "Thftffc a lie!" Fuirchlld's temper got awny from hltn and his fist banged on the table. "That's a lie and you know It!" "Pardon me er pardon me! I made use of a word that can have many meanings, and I am sure that In using It, I didn't place the same construction con-struction that you did In hearing It. But let that pass. I apologize. Whut I should have said was that, if you will pardon me. she used you. as young women will do. as a foil against her fiance In a time of petty quarreling quarrel-ing between them. Is that plainer?" It was too plain to Falrchlld. It hurt. But be nodded his head and the other man went on. gauged train took htm again through Clear Creek canon and back to Ohadi. The station was strangely deserted. Only the bawling bus man for the hotel, the station agent wrestling with a trunk or two that was all. Falrchlld Falr-chlld looked about hlra In surprise, then approached the agent - "What's happened?" "A lot. From what I hear It's a strike that's going to put Ohadl on th map again." "Who made It?" " ' . "Don't know. Some fellow enme running down here an hour or so ago and said there'd been a tremendous strike made on the hill, and everybody bent It up there." Falrchlld went on, to turn Into a deserted de-serted street, street where the doors of the stores had been left open and the owners gone. Everywhere It was the same; It was as If Ohadl suddenly sud-denly had been struck by some catastrophe catas-trophe which had wiped out the whole population. Only now and then a hn-mnn hn-mnn being appeared, a few persons left behind at the banks, but that was about all. Then from far away, up the street leading from Kentucky gulch, ettme the sound of cheering and shouting. shout-ing. Soon a crowd appeared, 'led by gesticulating, vociferous men, who veered suddenly Into the Ohadl bank at the corner, leaving the multitude without for a moment, only to return, their hands full of gold certificates, which they stuck Into their hats, punched through their buttonholes, stuffed Into their pockets, allowing them to hang half out, and even Jammed down the collars of their rough shirts, making outstanding decorations dec-orations of currency about their i necks. " On they came, 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 sliver strike they had Just made, four men whose names were gall and wormwood to Robert Falrchlld. Bllndeye Bozeman and Taylor Bill were two of them. The others were Squint and Maurice Rodalne 1 CHAPTER XIV Had It been any one else, Falrchlld would have shouted for happiness and -Joined the parade. As It was, he stood far to one side, a silent, grim figure, watching the miners and townspeople towns-people passing before him, leaping nbout In their happiness, calling to him the news that he did not want to hear; The Silver Queen hnd "hit". The faith of Squint Rodalne, maintained through the years, had shown his perspicacity. It was there; he always al-ways had said It was there, and now the strike had been made at last, lead-silver lead-silver ore, running as high as two hundred hun-dred dollars a ton. It meant everything every-thing for Ohndl ; It meant thnt mining would boom now, thnt soon the hills would be clustered with prospectors, and that the little town would blossom as a result of possessing one of the rich silver mines of the slate. Falrchlld felt cheap. He felt defeated. de-feated. He felt small and menn not to be able to Join the celebration. Squint and Maurice Rodalne possessed the Silver Queen; thut they, of all lersons, should be the fortunate ones wns bitter and hard to accept. Why should they, of every one In Ohadl, be the lucky men to find a silver bonanza, that they might flaunt It before hltn, thut they might Increase their standing stand-ing In the community, that they might raise themselves to a pedestal In the eyes of every one and thereby rally about them the whole town In any difficulty which might arise In the future? fu-ture? It hurt Falrchlld. It sickened him. lie saw now that his enemies ; were more powerful than ever. And for n moment he almost wished that j he hnd yielded down there In Denver, that he had not given the ultimatum to !He g;eny H:rr.hG.Ti. thnt he had accepted ac-cepted the offer made hltn nnd gone on, out of the fight forever. Anita I What would it mean to her? Already engaged, already having given her answer to Maur'ee Kodulne. this now would he an added Incentive for her to follow her promise. It would mean a possibility of further argument with her father, already too weak from Illness to find the means of evading the Insidious pleas of the two men who had taken his money nnd made him virtually their slave. The future looked black for Robert Fn!r-chlld. Fn!r-chlld. Slowly he walked past the happy, shouting crowd and turned up Kentucky gul.h toward the Ill-fated Blue Poppy. The tunnel opening looked more forlorn for-lorn than ever when he sighted It, a bleak, staring, single rye whirl wined lo brood over Its own misfor nines, a dead, hopeless thing which never had brought anything hut disappointment disap-pointment A choking mine Into Fnlr-cJiilil's Fnlr-cJiilil's throat He entered the tunnel slowly, ploddingly; with lagging mus-( mus-( Irs he htniled up the hu ket which told of Hurry's pre. oc? below, then slowly lowered himself Into the re. cesses of the i-liiift ami to tlie drift leading to the slope, where only n few !ajl Icf.iie the? ;,. r,,im, tmt :tnmt. whitened, htiuiitiiig thing winch ''ad I'i'.iii-ht y, :Mi It n new irii'.fi.nutje. A light gMiiiitKI ahead, tn.d tha "I Did Not." pnratory to going back to his work, threw It aside and began to roll down his sleeves. -" "We're going to 'ave a look at It" "A look? What good would It V "A cat can look at a king." said Harry. "They can't arrest us for going go-ing up there like everybody else." "But to go there nnd ask them to look at tnelr riches " "There ain't no law against It I He reached for his carbide lamp, hooked to a small chink of the banging bang-ing wall, nnd then pulled his hat over his bulging forehead. Carefully he attempted to smooth his straying mustache, mus-tache, and fulling, as always, gave up the Job. "I'd be 'appy, Just to look at It," be announced. "Come on. Let's forget 'oo they are and Just be lookers-on." Falrchlld agreed against his will. Out of the shaft they went and on up the bill to where the townspeople again were gathering about the opening open-ing of the Silver Queen. A few were gotng In. Falrchlld and 'Arry Joined them. A long walk, stooping most of the way, us the progress was made through the narrow, low-roofed tunnel tun-nel ; then a slight rulse which traveled for a fair distance at an easy grade at last to stop; and there before them, Jammed between the rock, was the strike, a great, heavy streaking vein, nearly six feet wide, In which the ore Much forth In tremendous chunks, embedded In a black background. Harry eyed It studiously. "You can see the silver sticking out!" he announced nt last. 'It's wonderfuleven won-derfuleven If the Kodaines did do It. Come on, Hoy, let's us get out of "ere. I'll be getting the blind staggers If I stay much longer." Falrchlld accompanied him wordlessly. word-lessly. It was as though Fate had played a deliberate trick, that It might laugh at hltn. And ns he walked along, he wondered more than ever about the mysterious telegram and the mysterious conversation of the greasy Ilnrnham In Denver. "Harry, this vein doesn't look like much, but If you're game, I'm gsme." (TO HE CONTIXULD.) I Fj iilflS ; CHAPTER XII Continued. 10 "I was hoping thut I had more than thsf "Ah, perhaps so. But I 8eak only . from what I know. There Is one person per-son who Is very anxious about your welfare." "So?" "Well. Isn't there?" Falrchlld squured away from the table. ta-ble. "Mr. Barnham," enme coldly; the Inherent In-herent distrust for the greasy, unln-vlt'ng unln-vlt'ng Individual hiving swerved to the surface. "You wired me thut you had some very Important news for me. Now that I'm here, your mission seetiiH to be wholly taken up In drawing draw-ing frotn me any Information that I happen to possess about my .self. Plainly Plain-ly and frankly, I don't like It, and I don't like you and' unless you can produce a great deal more than you have alrendy, I'll have to chalk up the expense to a piece of bad Judgment snd go on about my business." He Htarted to rise, and Hurnham scrambled to his feet "Pleaso don't," be begge'd, Jhrustlng forth a fat hand; ''please, please don't TIUs is a very Important matter, fine me Ims to be careful In going about a thing as Important lis this Is. Hie iorson is In a very pecullur position." posi-tion." "Hut I'm tired of the way you bent h round the bush. As I told you before, I (hint like It and I'm just about at Hie point where I don't (are what In- formation you have!" ' i'-ut Just he patient a moment I'm mining t it. rtuppnso " then he ru'?''d bunds and mured hard nt rtie ceiling, ASuppoxc timt I told yon lliflt there was some one who wns willing will-ing to sew you through, all your trou-hl.iH, trou-hl.iH, lw hnd ai'raitg'-i'l everything ftir y1l, 14 is nil you b'ul to do would be to My Im. inl IC) find yourself In the r ' 1 ' ! nnd rlflU's?" "Now the thing has progressed to a place where you may be well what one might call the thorn In Ihe side of their happiness. You are the 'other man.' as it were, to cause quarrels quar-rels and that sort of thing. And she feels that she has not done rightly by you, and, 'through her friendship nnd u desire to see peace all around. In lleves she can arrange mutters to suit all concerned. To be plain and blunt Mr. Falrchlld, you are not In r.n nv'Ml!? jvMdt'on. I f.Ud that I had information for you. and I'm going go-ing to give It. You are trying to work a mine. Thnt demands capital. You haven't got It and there Is no way for you to procure It Your partner now Is accused of four crimes and will go to trial on them In the fall. It Is al-iiic.t al-iiic.t certain that he will be convicted on at least one of the charges. That would mean that the deeds to the mine must remain In Jurisdiction of the court In lieu of a cash bond while the case goes to the Supreme court. Otherwise, you must yield over your partner to go to Jail. In either event, the result would not he satlsfuctury For yourself, I dare say that a person whose father is supposed to have commuted com-muted a murder not that I say he did It, understand hardly could establish es-tablish sufficient standing to borrow the money to proceed op 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, "please take 1 1 1 s ns only coming from a spokesman: spokes-man: My client Is hi a posltcm to use her good ofliccs to change the viewpoint of the nnin who Is the chief witness against, your j Miner, ihe also Is hi a position to use thos.i Kim.; good ol'iees in another direction, mi that there might re.r ! a sr.,,d jury Im ir: :r.'tion if :io. !!.,: i :' ; e ! !i : ri '''';," ( r 'i i ej n, i :,.! i. Barnham. where to go. But one thing wim certain: cer-tain: the I'.lue Poppy mine was worth money. Once before an offer hint come, and now thut he thought of It, Falrchlld felt almost certain that It had been from the same source. That was for fifty thousand dollars. Why fchould ttie viilue have now Jumped to four times lis original figures? It was more than the adventurer could efi --!n; a: o ; he sought to dismiss It all. i went to a phture show, then trudged b.iek to Ids hotel nnd to sleep. The not day foimfl him sMll striving striv-ing to puf the problem awny fn-m him s he w c;it f.botit the vnri-u i rraiu!-I rraiu!-I i !,,. 1 : '-, .1! ft v. A li.'i.v af'er ( i t' ; ;!!:' g. Men i. ,ri..w |