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Show I Wxp UBMtt I ' cape mw CopyrlsM. !. b Tha Hhartaliirf 1Mb. Co. (All rm hl reserved.) 1 There In It 1 1 las taililt'rnilet'a sbnp on fourth avenue which la a curious pluce. It la very dimly and very full of strange fowl, tucked In. one Im'IiIihI the other, on shelves thai rover all of one alilr erf (he nana. Anil nn (ha oilier a wlinnad Utile olil nmi nlia All day limn ImaMe a pile of moat asv II-smelllna: II-smelllna: skins and Dispenses wonla of nlmlmii (o whoevf.'r carca (u listen. (inn day whan Marriott ran Into tha simp b'-fore dinner ho found the old man In ecaiaclea ovnr a mw blnlakln dial ha Just been broiliilil In. It " i Isrire and dirty and em-willimly uuly ' and It had a parilrularly evil amnll; but It waa rare, and Marriott looked It over reaped fully. "When did you any thla bird rani fiom?" ha asked. ' Tho old man stopped a aniline; the ' blrd'a legs and licKan lo recount Ma hlalnry. Tho akin had been hroiu;lit to hlrn by a su-f-aptalri, be anlrl - ( ai-I ai-I tain TourJi'C. of tha Mnry Ann Haltura " from Koiilh Aiiiirrlca. Yea. ho waa j amo ha waa allll In town; would Mr. Marriott Ilka hla aililreaaf Mr. Marriott, Mar-riott, It AiM'1'aro.t. would llk It very ' rnurh Indeed. Ho took It down care fully, wrapped thn tump of dirt In hla bamlkerrhlef and walked swiftly away down tho street, leavlnic the llltlo tax-hfermtat tax-hfermtat staring after him with wondering won-dering cyea. :. lli'Klnald Krneat Marriott, not lona; slnrn araitunted aa a mlntuK enRlnenr ; from tha Colli'K" of Applied Brlenro, Ibad hla own way to maka In tha I woild and noihluK to maka It with 'but Itra'tia. It la Irtio that h( came '"" m irrniTinenT tnnurr wtroac namw tian aurvlveit lis prnnperlly, and that this (ouiioctlon let him Into as much New ' Yu-k society aa was Riaid for him; but nolMidy felt called iiihui to anal.i i t blra In any mora practical way than by InvltltiK him to dinner, and thla, ' an It bappeneil, waa a very aertoua matter, for there waa a woman In tho rani). It was K.llth Whynrd. the only ditUKtiter of Mr. 0. C. Whynrd, ' who lived on Madlxon avenue and had an office on llroH'lwny and was reports ed to bn a niiiltl-mtllloualre. Thouith Do one aeetund to know exactly the ' source of hla IntHimo, bis style of II v- Inc bore out the asaortlon, and on 4he strenalh of It Mrs. Whyard was makltiR an attark uiain tho portals of society. Naturally, when It became. . . i ' Japparent lo bur maternal ye that 1 jher dauxhter was allnwlna her affec- ,11011a to drift In that unprofitable direction, di-rection, aha looked with extreme disapprobation dis-approbation upon youm Marriott, and ber husband had for hi in tha profound pro-found contempt of tha practical man ir the man of achoola and theories. Matters were) In this state when ,the young man paid hla visit lo the taaldermlat'a ahop and saw the bird 'with the muddy feet. That nlxht be worked hard In tho small laboratory be bad fitted up In hla room, wrote a letter to Kdith. packed hla posacaetone N and paid hla bills, and the next morn- , lu at daybi.k be sailed out of Now .York harbor In a eolith bound steamer, steam-er, with hope In bla heart, a wlap of 'blonde hair In hla watch rasa and a ump of black mud In hla coat pocket. II waa a year after this and tha ! areas waa urocn axnln on Madlaon ; aquare before news waa beard of blm. : fflf "Where did you say thla bird came from T" 1 rTbeu. one April uiurniiia:. he pretient- i 1 lilinnt-lf nt Mr. Whyard a ollUn oa ,j llrnadway. ( Marriott usk.d nf'.-r Mra. Whyard. TAlld MILS K.lltll?' l.e n.il.l en;crly. 4 "You reiiieniber. Mr. Wl;)unl, that I j love her. that I I to marry l.er j fnlnf day. f ti- I us poor, put l( now I ran support her aa you would desire. I have property worth elcht hundred thouaand dollars," he added, inodeatly, "and I have a practical certainty cer-tainty of more than ten tlmea as murh." WMard wheeled his swivel chair uud looked the youne; man In the face with very evident amazement. "Ten tlmea elKtit hun,',''d thousand ilollarn!" he crlcil, I111 reditlnualy. "What Is thla pmin-rty of yours?" "I'llllllium." anld Xlnrrlotl. "You aen, air," hi went on (juicily, "I ran arroaa a arnple of dual from Month AiixtIca Inat winter; notnaly elae knew ntiou: It. so I went dowu at once and ill icoverrd the place. I only Untight up a few ttiouHnlid ilollnrs' Kiuili, but I have half a ton In dust and nuiKels all p-ndy down there, and the rivers are full of II. Hut what a thn mailer, lr?" Whyard had turned pale, and annk hack In hla chair. He muaed ti I in-aclf, in-aclf, howver. nnd iiueatloued the younK man quietly enough. "In what part of Houth America la thai?" said be "Kouthcrn Pnlaitoula, not fur from Maitcllau Htralta and near the count. Wheeled In his swivel chair and looked look-ed tha young man In tha face. Hut will It be all rich! about Edith, sir?" "Well, I gucaa I rnlxht aa well give In, Mr. Marriott," be said. "As you aay. Ihlnxa have chaiiiiod. Call oa Killth If you Ilka. Aa soon aa you show your mine la aa rich aa you aay It la, aha can do aa she likes about marrying you, but not before." He held out hla hand and Marriott grasped It gratefully. The three weeks he waa ohllKed to spend turning bis pounds of platinum Into ready money and negotiating for a coasting atcatiier for the return to Ms treasure pawed like a pleasant dream. He spent part of every day with tha Whvanla. and although he aaw no more of the father, who, he waa told, had boon suddenly called away froni town, he alwaya saw Kdltu, and be waa more than content. When, after tha three weekn were over, he sailed away again In (he tramp steam-I steam-I er Montevideo, which he bad char tered and manned esiH-clally for tha voyage, ha waa already counting the tlaya before he could return for ber. He carried a picked crew of twenty men, and In view of the wild region to which they were bound and the valuable valu-able return cargo, shipped a few Winchester Win-chester rifles and plenty of ammunition. ammuni-tion. Aa the Inner bay came In sight there was a cry of surprise, for thnre, anchored clove lushore. lay a amall, gray-painted ateamvr. Marriott examined exam-ined her carefully through a power ful bluocular. Iler decks seemed de-ncrtcd. de-ncrtcd. but natives could be seen swarming around the veaael, canvas tents pitched on the beach and men moving about among the rocky hillocks hil-locks where the ptutliiuin waa concealed. con-cealed. If not nlready dlecovcred. It waa In great danger. Marriott stood on the bridge, anxious anx-ious but determined. There waa evidently evi-dently a good d al of hurry and hustle on shore, bill 'he straiiKer deck remained re-mained enipty and the Montevideo's H.iluie remained unanswered. Apparently Appar-ently she bad been left at anchor and I t r crew dlHeiuharked for work on 1 hore. Marriott ihouKht be had best (Muulre tliit on hoard for some one In iiutliorlry, and he had a boat lowered ::d minified. Ah It approached the -'i unite atcainer f fno appeared at a ' ward tort le. "Throw in n line!" cried Marriott, i. n; a i '1 u ' rr "ntlv thrown from I tho deck, by means of whlc im ymng man arramhlcd aboard, Itaving the Kailors In tha boat with rsadr riflua. There waa no one vlslhla Im the maa who had throws the line, and te aa inquiry for lha captain he rrp!!ed ky Jerking hla thumb toward1 the after deck home. Marriott knocked on tha rluaed d'-or, and then puahtrl It open. Two ru' n were seated at the canlo table. (Jr. was evidently the captain; cap-tain; the other waa Mr. 0 C. Whyard Why-ard of New York! "What does thla mean, young maa, boarding a peaceable ahlp In sn armed boat? Ha an act of plrarti" roared the captain. Then Whyard stopped hUn. "Thli fcnili man's all right, captain If yon don't mind I'd like to talk with him few minutes." And tha sfl pmav'or sulkily retired. "Well, my boy." he returned at length. In aa parental a manner aa ha loiild command. "I didn't lok for you iilin so aoon. Perhaps I niutrit to have told you at once In Hew York that I am Ihn American representative representa-tive of a combination that practically control's the world's supply of platinum. plati-num. The tons of It you talkgd of pus ting on the market would ruin the price, yon ace." "Thanks for tha hint," replied Marriott, Mar-riott, dryly, 'it really hadn't occurred lo I think you need not fear that your own stock will oepreciata that Is, not very much. Hut I shall have to trouble yon to see that your men do not load my property Into tha wrong vessel." When Marriott waa married to Kdlth. some three months later, ha waa president of the Magellan Platinum Plati-num Mining company, and tha bride, as her f.ither beamed upon thnro. won ilcred that his dislike for the groom hnd been so quickly overtime, but he will never know anything of the little drama, so Intimately concerning her. played In that lonely Patagonlao bay. |