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Show fj! ROBEEr W CHAMBERS ' ' 01002 GEOftGE H.DOUAJJ COMUAjry.' BEGIN HFKE TODAY. Murder, tinged With h diabolical iron-, appeared MRain in the history of the Fiamlncr Jewel, that priceless gem first otobn from the COUNTESS OP KS'iilONLA by the great, inti-rnatloual thief, QUINT ANA, and later stolen from Qulntana by MIKE CLINCH. In his cabin in the Adirondack. Clinch was guarding the J.-wei against tho open enmity of "nr.. Utna and the srrt motive of JAMES DARRAGH. who. out of love! for tho counties, had sworn to restore re-store tho gem. Darragh Is at Clinch's camp under tho name of1 Hat, SMITH, when Qulntana cap-l turcs I E i: STRAYER, Clinch's beautiful Step-d.iughter. Eve escapes from Qulntana after, risking her life guarding a packet which sho thought contained th" Plaining Jewel. but which held nothing but two bars of chocolate This false packet was seized by, Qulntana from KARL L.EYERETTE. a trap-thlcf. and Qulntana in turn was robbed by Hal Smith. Clinch and his mn have gone out to wipe out Quln-j tana's gang. t;o On With the Story EPISODE s Tho J' , i ti i mc, CM 1TER I Mike Clinch and his men "drove" Star Peak, and drew a blanket covert. cov-ert. J There was a new shanty :itop. . enmp debris, pb-nty of afgna of re-, cont occupation everywhere toot i embers In which offal still smoul- ! dorSd'i bottles odorous ol larSl dregB, and an aluminum culinary outfit, unwashed; as though wuin-tana wuin-tana and his nun had departed In haste. For In tho still valley below, Mik Clinch squatted beside thj runway! he had chosen, a cocked rifle across his k nees. And, as fllneh squatted -there, i murderously intent, ever tho tlxed obsession burned In his fever brain.1 stirring his thin Hps to Incessant mutt. -rings a sort of soundless invocation, invo-cation, part chronlele, part prayer: "O God A'mlghty. in your big.! swell mansjon up there, all his went contrary with me sense you let that there damn millionaire, Harrod, corao Into this here forest. . . He" went and built unto hlsself an hahi-l tailon, and he put up a wall of law' all around me where I was earnin' a lawful llvln' in Thy nice, clean! wilderness. . . And now comes this ben Qulntana and robs my girlie. I promised her mother I'd mako a lady of her little Eve. ... I loved I my wife. O Ird. . . . Once sh" showed me a pieoe In tho Ulble I Hin t nevef found It sense hut it Bald "And tho woman she fled into the wlldernesa where there was a' place prepared for her of God' . . . Thai s what you wrote into vour own Bible, O God! You can't go back on lt. I seen It "And now I want to ask. What placi did you prepare for my Bve7 What spot have you reference to'1' You didn't mean my Dump, did' v.m Why. Lord, that ain't no place for nu lady . And now Qulntana haS went and robbed me of what I'd sav.d up for Eve . . Poes that go with Thee. O Ixrd? No, lt don't. And it don't go with nie, neither.! I'm a-goln' to git Qulntana. Tl n I'm a-goln' to git them two fSlnks that robbed my girlie I ami . ! .Jake Kioon. he done It in ahootS with Earl leverett; and Qulntana set 'em on. i' A far crash in the forest stilled his twitching lips and stiffened every i Iron muscle Aa he lifted hl.s rifle. Sid Mono came Into the glade. lnnoo lanoo' he railed. Where be you, Mike?" Clinch slowly ros... (rrasplnfr his rifle, his small. gray eyes ablaze. "Where's Qulntana?" he demanded. de-manded. "Hain't you seen nobodv?" "No." Ono by one the men. who had iri.n Star Peak lounged up In the red sunset light. nathering around 'llneh and wiping the sweat from sun-reddened faces. "Well," Inquired Jim Hastings finally. "do we m Mike, or do stll-hunt In Drowned Valley?" "Not me, at night," romarked Blommers drily "Not amongst them sink-boles" added Hone. Suddenly Clinch turned and stared at him. Then the deadly light from his little eyes shone on the others one by one. "Boys," he said. "I gotta get Qulntana. Quln-tana. I can't never sleep another wink till I get that man Come on. Act Up liko gents all. Lot's go." The Hastings boys, young and rash, shuffled into tho trail Blommers hesitated, hes-itated, glanced askance at Clinch, and ' Instantly made up his mind to take a 1 chance with the sink-holes rather than ! with Clinch. J I "God A'mlghty, Mike, what be you almlnrr' to do?" faltered Harvey. "I'm nimln to stop tho inlet and outlet out-let to Drowned Valley, Hurve." replied re-plied Clinch In his pleasant voice. "God Is a-goln' to deliver Qulntana Into my hands." "All right. What next?" "Then," continue. l Clinch. "I cal-lato cal-lato to set down and wait. "How long?" "Ask God. boys. I don't know All I I know Is that whatever Is llvln' in iDrowned Valley nt this hour has ):otta live ami die there For it can't m , i ir. e i" i ome outen tho' there morals WSlkln' onto two logs like a real man' CHAPTER II Clln. h l.a.l in. i Liken a dozen strides before Hal Smith loomed up ahead In the rosy dusk, driving In Leverett before be-fore him. An exclamation of fierce exultation burst from Clinch's thin lips as he flung out one arm, Indicating Smith and his slinking prisoner: "Wha was that gol-cllngcd catamount thst biisplcloned Hal . I wasn't worried wor-ried Done, n Ithor. Hal's a gent. Meb-be Meb-be he sticks up folks, too. but he's a gent And gent Is honest or they ain't gents." Smith came up at his easy, tireless gait, hustling Leverett along with procj-i from a gun-butt or muz2lc, aa cams handiest. Tho prisoner, turned a ghastly visage vis-age on Clinch, who Ignored htm. "Got my packet, Hal ."' he demanded. demand-ed. Mnith poked Leverett with his rl-flo: rl-flo: Tunc up." ho said, "tell Clinch your siory." lake done It," muttered Leverett, ttit. kly. "Done what?" "Stole that there packet o' yourn Whatever there was Into It" "Who put him up to It?" A fella called Qulntana." "What was there in lt for Jake " inquired in-quired Clinch pb-asantly. "Ten thousand." "How about you'" '1 told 'em I wouldn't touch It. Then they pulled their guns on me. and l was scared to squeal " . " So that was tho way "' asked Clinch In his even, reas.-urlng voioe, Lsvorett'a eyes traveled stealthily B nd the circle of men, then revert- I to Clinch. "I dassn't touch it." he said, "but I daSSn't squeal ... I was hunt-In" hunt-In" onto Drowned Valley when Jake, meets up with me" 'I trot i he packet he sez, 'und I'm a-goln' to double criss-cross Qulntana, 1 am. and beat It. Don't you wish you was whacks with me?' " 'No.' sez r, 'honesty Is my policy, no matter what they tell about me. S'help me God. I ain't never robbed no trap and I ain't no slcln thief, whatever what-ever lies folks tell. All 1 ever done was run a little hootch, same's everybody every-body ' " He licked his lips furtively, his cold, bright eyes fastened on Clinch. "O'wan Earl." nodded the latter, "heave her up." "That's all. 1 sec, Good-bye. Jake. An' If you hoed my warnin.' ill-gotten pains ain't u-goln" to prosper no-bpdy.' no-bpdy.' That's what I said to Jake Kloon. the last solemn words I spoke to that there man now III his bloody grave " ' I b-yv" demanded Clinch. 'That's Where Jake is." repeated Leverett. "Why, so help me, 1 wa'nt gone ten yards when, bang goes a gun and I see this here Qulntana come outen the bush. I do. and walk up to Jake and frisk him. and Jake still a-klckln' the moss to silvers. Yesslr, that's what I seen " "O'wan." "Yesslr . . 'N'then Qulntana, lie snoveu jane inio a sini-uoie. iThas wot I seen with my two eyes. Ifesslr '.N'then Qulntana he run off. 'n'l ont set down In the trail. I did. n'then Hal conm up and acted like I had stole your packet." The dusk In the forest had deep-jened deep-jened so that the men's faces had be-COme be-COme mere blotches of gray. Smith said to Clinch , "That's his story. Mike. But I preferred he should tell lt to you himself, so I I brought him along . . Did you 'drive Star Peak?" "There wa'nt nothing onto It," said I Clinch very' softly. Then, of a sud-, sud-, den, his shadowy visage became contorted con-torted and he Jerked up his rifle and threw a cartridge into the magazine. "You dirty louse:" he roared at Leverett, "you was Into this, too, a-robbln' a-robbln' my little Eve " "Run!" yelled somebody, giving Leverett a violent shove Into thr wroods. In the darkness and confusion. Clinch shouldered his way out of the circle and flrod at tho crackling noise thai marked Leverott's course fired again, lower, and again as a distant crash revealed the frenzied flight of 'the trap-robber. After ho had fired a fourth shot, somcbodv struck his I 'rifle. "Mir" said Jim Hastings, "that ain't no uroo'd. You act up like a kid. Mlks Tain't so far to Ghost Lake n then Troopers might hear you " After a silence. clinch spoke his voice heavy with reaction "Into th.it h re pnTket 1 my little girl's dower. It's all I got to give her. It's all sho's got to make her a lady. I'll kill any man that robs her or that helps rob her. 'N'thcse fellas are a-'goln' a-'goln' with me. 'N" I want you should go back to m Dump and look after m girlie while I'm cone " "All right." said Smith, briefly. He added: 'Look out for sink-holes. Mike." Clinch tossed his heavy rifle to bis shoulder: "Let's gr." he said In his ple.-ixnnt. misleading way, " and III shoot the guts onta any fella that don t show up at roll calL (Continued In our t Issue) ii-i |