The evening world. Newspaper, May 5, 1916, Page 21

An Outdoors (Com right, 1915, by J. B, Lippincott Co.) SYNOPSIS OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS. ‘entrt ee for dhe inttee, “Berk they have talked tet have ‘ey beaio to frwiset, then to Tike, aut other, ralbecks Rrure’s miuing. de rea ina restau to apmek toh mediate liking, Dut falla to love with her, Goi Work at the Beary th Nat is carpenter threatens t CHAPTER X1I. (Continued, ) Toy! UST what in particular fa the matter?” Bruce asked, as the carpenter paused, not for ‘want of verbal ammunition, but because he was out of breath. “Matter!” panted Woode, “he's got @ strainin’ our life out puttin’ up them green four-by-eights when they’s no need. They'd carry a ocean cable, them cross-arms would. Four-by- fives is big enough for all the wire that'll be strung here. John Johnson + feet fell out'n a tree a liftin’ and like to broke a tung.” “Do you feel sure that four-by-fives are strong enough?” “Try it—that's all I ask.” “You'd better come back to work.” ‘The carpenter hesita' “I don't like to quit when you need me, dut,” he waved the rip-saw in @ significant gesture, “if that Ore- gonian gives me any more back talk T atms to cut him up in chunks.” It was the first time Bruce had countermanded one of Jennings's or- ders, but now he backed Woods up. He had shared the carpenter's opinion that four-by-fives were strong enough, but he had sald nothing, supposing that Jennings was follow- ing precedent and knew what he was about. Woods, too, had voiced a suspicion which kept rising in his mind as to whether Jenninge did know how to put up the machines. Waa it possible that the unimportant detail work which Jennings insisted upon doing personally in order that it might be exactly right was only a subterfuge to put off as long as possible the day when the showdown must com Was it in his mind to draw his generous wages jong as he safely might, then invent some plausible excuse to quit? Bruce was not a fool, but neither was he apt to be suspicious of a person he had no good reason to mis- trust. He had made every allowance for Jennings’s slowness, but his bank account was idly reaching a stage where, even if he would, he could no lor humor Jenninge’s mania for solffity. Something had to move, and, taking Jennings aside, Bruce told him so. ; The look which darkened Jennings's face when his instructions to Woode swere countermanded surprised Bruce. It was more than chagrin, tt was— ugly. It prejudiced Bruce against fn as all his puttering had failed to ‘The correctness or incorrectness of him contention concerning the cross-arm seemed of less importance Bruces interfer- ence had impaired his dignit; Httled him in the eyes of the crew. “Am I the constructin’ ingineer, or ain't I? If I am, I'm entitled to somo respect.” More than ever Jennings looked like @ bear pouting in a trap. , “What's your dignity got to do i with it? Bruce demanded. “I'm ‘General Manager, when it comes to ‘king cros: no tim to talk about what's due you—get results. This pay roll can't go on forever, Jennings. There's an end. At thie rate it'll come quick. You know what the success of this propo- sition means me—my first, and, I beg of you don't putter any more; get busy*and put up those machines. You say that 50 horse-power motor has got to be rewound’—— bs. can't work on that alone,” Jennings interrupted in a surly tone. “I can't do anything on i¢ until that other electrician comes fi Get Smaltz to help you.” “Bmalts! What does he know? Him holding out for them four-by-five cro rms shows what ho knows.” “Sometimes I think he knows a good deal more than he lets on.” “Don't you think it,” Jenni wmeered. “He don’t know half as much as he lets on. Jest one of the rovin’ windjammers pickin’ up a little smatterin’ here and there. Run a power-house in the Coeur d’Alenes. Huh--what's that! This here feller that I got comin’ is a ‘lectrical gentus. He's worked with mo on drudgers, and T know.” Glaring at the victorious carpenter who, being human, sent back a grin, Jennings went to’ the 1 mumbling to the last that fives” would never hold “I think I go now T think.” “Toy!” The old Chinaman elbow was dressed for travelling in a cleat at his but unironed shirt; and his shoes had been newly hobbed. His round, black hat was pulled down purposefully as far as his ears would permit. All his possessions were stuffed into his best overalls with the legs tied around his waist and the pair of attached suspenders worn over his shoulders, so that at first glance he presented the startling appearance of carrying a headless corpse pick-a-back, Bruce looked at him In astonish- ment. He would as soon have thought of thus suddenly losing his right arm. The Chinaman’s yellow face was im- passive, his snuff-brown eves quite Diank. “She kick on mel" he hissed, “She say I no can cook!” it Bruce understood, Jen- je had been guilty of the nings’s ond one unforgivable offense, eyes flashed. “Tell her to keep out of the kitchen,” Toy shook his head. “I no likee her; I no stay.” him too well to argue, could see only one @. and that loomed colossal. He ‘been insulted; his dignity would a Battle for Fortune ROLINE LOCKHART} Author of ‘Me, Smith,” Ete. The Evening World Daily Magazine, Friday, May 5, Romance of not permit him even to breathe under the same roof with a woman who said he could not cook. Heavy-hearted Bruce watched him go. If Toy had forgotten that he owed him for his life he woukl not remind him, but he had thought that the Chinaman’s gratitude was deeper than this, although, it was true, he never had thanked him or indicated in any way that he realized or appreciated what Bruce had done. CHAPTER XI. The General Manager. JENNINGS and Woods were sworn enemies and the stringing of the wires be- came a matter of intense interest, as this was the teat which would prove the truth or fallacy of Jenningw’s cantankerous harping that the cross-arms were too Nght. When Bruce crossed to the work the next morning, the ‘“come-along” Was clamped to the transmission wire and hooked to the block-and-tackle, Naturally Jennings had charge of the stretching of the wire and he selected Smaltz his assistant. All the crew, intensely interested in the test, stood around as Jennings, taciturn and sour and addressing no one but Smalts, puttered about his preparations. Finally he cried: “Ready-O'.” The wire tightened and the slack Gisappeared under Smalts’ ly i. The carpenter and the hed the oross-arm anxiously a: strain came upon it under the Their faces brightened as we the taut wire. it held. — looked at Jennings quizsi- More?" “You ain't heard me tell you yet to stop,” was the snarling answer. “Here go then.” Smalt: face wore an expressive grin as he put his strength on the rope of the block-and-/ tackle, which gave him the pull of a four-horse team. Bruce heard the cross-arm splinter aa he cathe up the trail through the brush. Jennings offensively. “Old as you are, I gu you somethin’ y ‘The carpenter's face had turned white. With a gesture Bruce stopped his belligerent adv ‘Try the next one, Jenning: sald quietly. Once more the slack was taken up and the wire grew taut—so taut it| would have twanged like a fiddie-, string if it bad been struck. Jen- nings did not give Smaltz the sign to stop even when the cr rm cracked. Without a word of protest Bruce turned to Woods and sald | I kin learn | he watched the stout four-by-five splint- er and drop off. “There—you see—I told you ao! 1 knowed Jennings looked triumph- antly at the carpenter as he spoke. ‘Then, turning to the crew: “Knock ‘em off—every one. Now I'll do it right!" Not @ man moved and for an in- stant Bruce dared not trust himself to speak. When he did speak it was in a tone that made Jennings look up startled: "You'll come across the river and wet your time.” His surprise was genuine as Bruce went on: “Do you he asked savagely, trying y his voice, “that I haven't intelligence enough to know that you've got to allow for the swaying of the trees in the wind, for the con- traction and expansion of heat and cold, for the weight of snow and sleet? Do you think I haven't brains jough to see when you're deliber- ately destroying another man’s work? I've been trying to make myself be- lieve in you-—belleve that in spite of your faults you were honest. Now I know that you've been drawing pay for months for work you don't know how to do. I can't see any difference between you and any common thief who takes what doesn’t belong to him. Right here you quit! Vamoose! Bruce made a sweeping gesture. “You go up that hill as quick as the Lord will let you.” Chapter XIII. “Good Enough LF" BANULE, the elec- $4 trical genius for whom Jennings had sent to help him rewind an armature and who there- fore had taken Jenning’s place constructing engineer, had the dis- tinction of being the only person Bruce had ever eeen who could re move his socks without taking off his shoes, He acoomplished the feat with ease for the reason that there were never any toes in the aforesaid shoes. As be himself said, he would have been a tall man if there had not been 80 much of him turned up at the end, He was the direct anthithesis of Jennings, harnessed lightning ip clothea, working early and late, He flew at the maohinery like a mad- man, yelling for wrenches, and rivets and bolts, chiselling and soldering, oiling, until the fly-wheel was on its shaft in the power-house, and the dynamos, dragged at top speed from the river bank, no longer looked like a pile of junk, The switchboard went up, and the pressure gauge, and the wiring for the power house light. But for all Bruce's relief at seeing things moving, h jl They filled Bruce with vague fore- bodings, misgivings, and he came to feel a flash of irritation each time the wenius said airly: “Oh, that's good enough.” Bruce warned him often—"Don't slight your work—do it right if it takes twice as long.” Banule always made the same cheer- ing answer: “Don't worry, everything ia going fine; tn lees than @ month we'll be generating ‘juice’, And Bruce tried to find comfort in the surance. Important as the power-house w: it was only a small portion of the whole. There was still the ten-inch pump-house with its 75-horge power motor and the donkey e with the 50-horse power motor to get to Mosquitoes ORKING ON THE Puauc MusT HAVE A LICENSE LICENSE WILL BE REFUSED TO Mosquitoes, IN BAD HEALTH LICENSE OUR MOsQuiTOES ARE working right, not to mention the flume and sluice-boxes, variety of riffles and every pra cable device for trapping the elu- sive fine gold. And not the least of Bruce's increasing anxieti “alt” Ranule with his constant enough.” it was well toward the end of October and Bruce, hurrying over the trail with sheets of mica for Banule, who was worki: on the submerged motor, which id to~be rewound, noticed that the willows were turning black. What a lot had happened since he had noticed the willows turn- ing black I ar! A lifetime of hopes and fears, and new experiences had been crowded into twelve flying months, His mind straying for a moment from the work and its many prob- lems, fell to thinking of Helen Dunbar and her last letter. When ho Was not thinking of under-currents or expanded metal riffies or wonder- ing anxiously if the ten-inch and eight-inch pumps were going to raise sufficient water, or if the foundation built on piling, instead of cement, was “good enough,” Bruce was think- ing of the girl he loved. She had written in her last letter— Bruce knew them all by heart— I had a visitor yesterday. You will be as surprised, when I tell you who it was, as I was to see him, Have you guessed? I'm sure you haven't. None other than our friend Sprudell—very apologetic —very humble and contrite, and with an explanation to offer for his behavior that was really most ingenious, There's no denying he has cleverness of a kind—craft, perhaps, is a better word. His humility was touching but 80 unlike him that | should have been alarmed if he had not been #0 obviousiy sincere. Nevertheless his visit haa upset. m © been worried ever since, Eomege you'll only laugh at me when il you that it is because Lam afraid for you, Truly I am! I don't know that I can explain exactly so you'll understand but there was ‘something disturbing which I felt when he spoke quite casually of you, It was alinost too intangible to put. into words. but it was like a gloating secret satin- faction, as though he had the best of you in some way, the whip- hand, It may be just @ silly notion, one of those fears that pop into one's head in the most inexplic able way and stick, refusing to be driven out by any amonnt of logic. Tell me, is there anything that he can do to vou? Any way that he can harm you? I am nervous—anxious-—-and I cannot help it. She was anxious about him! That fact was paramount. Somebody in the world was worrying over him. He stopped short in the tratl with fresh wonder of it. Every time he thought of It, it gave him a thrill, His face, that had been get in tired, harsh lines of late, softened with a smile of happiness. And he did so lon, substantial evidence his gratitude. If that machinery ever started—if the scrapere ever got to hauling dirt —her reward, hie reward, would come quick. That was one of the com- Pensating features of mining; if the returns came at all they came quick. Bruce started on, hastening his foot- steps until he almost ran. he electrical genius was driving to give her @ nail with a epirit-level when Rruce best Teached the pump-house end Bruce flared up tn quick wrath, 1AM _A SPECIAL DETECTIVE LOOKING FOR A Mosquito THAT STABBED A WOMAN IN THE BActe wittouT & ARE NOT WORKING , THEY OK _A STRIKE AND WE DON'T TRY To SETTLE IT MLLG@eT You! | HAVE Your Numeer ALL RIGHT No Bites on SUNDAY Sunday Law “Stop that, Banule! ant there « hammer on this place?” “Didn't see one handy,” Banule re- plied cheerfully; “took the first thing I could reach.” “It just about keeps one pack-train on the trail supplying you with tools.” “Guess I am @ little careless.” Banule seemed unruffled by the re- proach—because he had heard it so many times before, no doubt. “Yes, you're careless,” Bruce an- swered vigorously, “and I'm telling you straight it worrles me; I can't help wondering if your carelessness extends to your work. There, you know, you've got me, for I can't tell. I must trust you absolutely.” Banule shrugged a shoulder— “This ain't the first plant I've put up, you know.” He added—"T'll guar~ antes that inside two weeks we'll be throwin’ dirt, Wh, Smaltz? Ain't T right?” Saltz, who was stooping over, did not immediately look up. ce saw an odd expression cross his face—an expression that wag something like derision, When he felt Bruce looking at him it vanished instantly and he straightened up. “Why, yes,” grin, “looks start.” with his customary like we orter make a The peculiar emphasis did not es- cape Bruce and he was still thinking of the look he had caught on Smaltz's face as he asked Banule: this mica right? Is it the kind you need?” Smaltz looked at Banule from the corner of his eye. “Tain't exactly what I ought to Banule responded cheerfully. “T forgot to specify when I ordered, but I guess I can make it do—it's good enough.” It: seamed to Bruce that his over- strained nerves snapped all at once, He did not recognize the sound of his voice when he turned on Banule: “s'help me, I'm goin’ to break every bone in your body if you don't eut out that ‘good enough’! How many hun- dred times have I got to tell you that nothing's good enough on this plant until it's right?” “I didn't mean anything,” mumbled, temporartly cowed Bruce heard Smualtz snicker as he walked away ‘The sluice boxes upon which Bruc was putting the finishing touches were his particular pride, They were four feet wide and nearly a quarter of a mile in length, The eight per cent. grade was sieeep enough to carry off houlders twice, three times, the size of a man's head when there was a force of water behind them. The last box was well over the river at a point where it was sufficiently swift to take off the “tailings” and keep it frea, The top earth, which had to be removed to uncover the eand-bank, wae full of jagged rocks that had come down in snowslides from the mountain and below this top earth was a strata of small, smooth boulders—"river wash.” This troublecome — “overburden” necessitated the use of iron instead of wooden riffles, as the bumping and grinding of the boulders would soon have worn the latter down to nothing. So, for many weary trips, @ etring of footeore pack-horses h: picked their way down the dangerous trail from Ore City, loaded to their Mmit with plerced iron strips, rode, heavy sacks of nutes and bolte. It had been laborious, nerve-racking work and every trip had had its ac- cident, culminating in the loss of the pack-horee in the string, the horse having elipped off the trail, ecattering the pack, as Smalts an- Ranule Mosquitoes Beware! Mosquito CATCHER THAT MosQuiTo LICENSE To : “Tne fuane™ 4 fl PY a MT nounced it, “from hell to breakfast.” But the fron strips and rods were faction as he stood by the boxes looking down the long grade. It was his work and he knew that he had done it well. He had spared no labor to have it right—nothing had been just “good enough.” There was cocoa matting under the riffles of the first ix boxes. Halt- way the length of the eluice-boxes the finest gavel, yellow and black sand, dropped through perforated sheet-iron grizzlies into the “under- currents” while the rocks and bould- ers rushed on through the sluice. boxes to the river, At the end of the undercurrents there was a wide table having a slight grade, and this table was cov- ered with canton flannel over which was placed more riffles of expanded metal, And, as a final precaution, lest some infinitesimal amount of gold escape, there was a mercury trap be- low the table, While Bruce was ex- Peoting to catch the greater part it in the first #ix pluice-boxes he wi not taking @ single chance ‘Now, ag he stood by the sluice-boxes looking their length, he allowed him- self to dream for a moment of the days when the mercury, turned to amalgam, should be lying thick with gold behind the riffles; to anticipate the unspeakable happiness of tele- graphing his success to Helen Dunbar, Even with the tangible evidence before his eyes it was hard to realize that after all the struggle he was #0 near his goal. The ceaseless strain and anxiety had left their marks upon. his face. He looked older by years than when he had stood by the river dipping water into his old-fashioned cradle and watching “Slim” scramble among the rocks. But it would be worth it all—all and more—he told himself exultingly, if he succeeded—as he must. His eyes shone with enthusiasm and he tingled with his joy aa he thought what euc- cen meant. A sound behind him brought him back to earth. He turned to see Toy picking his way gingerly over the rocks. old rascal!" he erted foyfully, ‘Dose I'm gland to sea you, though vou don't deserve It." ac “the Chinaman Ke No #o way no more I think CHAPTER XIV. The Midnight Visitor. OY ralsed his head sharply from his little flat pillow where he lay in his tent, pitched for convenience be- side the kitchen, and lis- tened. A sound like the cautious scraping of the sagging storehouse door on the other aide of the kitchen had awakened him, He was not sure that he had not dreamed it or that it was not merely renewed activities on the part of his enemies, the pack rats, between whom and himself there waged constant war, There was & possibility that some prowling ant- mal might push in the door, but, am the month was now November and the nights were as cold as winter, he was not too anxious to crawl from hia warm nest and investigate until he w sure Hearing nothing more. back on his pillow sie fresh vengeance on the p at that moment no doubt were carry- ing off rice and rolled cate, Sud- rS i ye tuz2te Nosauitees ? wees? PF een vam ore 1916 t Here is the story lutely new type of mystery erest reader cannot MOSQUITOES i WORKiNGh mT “OST is to be solved. It is CITY Must Have | [OF Living: A STING LICENSE | }IS SOARING A Bu22 Licease A STAB Li iA ane licence AKO A PRoBe } | License $ ~~ you won't be able to. dence of the nearness of winter Por- cupine Jim, who considered himself something of @ naturaliat, declared that the grasshoppers had lost their hind. e/ je the time aped Bruce realized that he must abandon his dream of taking out enough gold to begin to re pay the stockholders. The most could hope for now was a few days’ ron, “If only L could get into the pay- streak! If 1 can jost get enough out of the clean-up to show them that tt's here; that it's no wiki-cat; that I've told them the truth!” Over and over he satd these things monotonously to himself until they became a refrain to every other thought. In the middie of the summer had been forced to ask for more . He was days nerving him- make the call; but there was no alternative—it was elther that or shut down, He had written the stockholders that it would surely be the last, and his relief and gratitu had been great at their good-natured response. Now the sparking of the motors, which unexpectedly prolonged the work, had once more exhausted his funds. It took all Bruce's courage to write again. It seemed to him that it was the hardest thing he had ever done, but he accomplished it as best he could. He was peremptorily refused His sensations when he read the letter are not easy to describe. There was more than mere business curt- ness in the denial. There was actual unfriendiiness. Furthermore, it con- tained an ultimatum to the effect that if the season's work was unsuc- y would accept an offer had had for their stock. NISHMENT For MOSQUITOE: fuer BREAK Tre LAW al Qs whi y With Helen's warning still fresh his mind, Bruce understood the alt h the: ation in one illuminating flash. Un- der the circumstances no one but Sprudell would want to buy the stock. Obviously, Sprudell had got in touch | with the stockholders and managed | somehow to polaon thetr minds. This | waa the way, then, that be intended taking his revenge! Harrah's secretary had written | Bruce in response to bis last appeal |that Harrah had been badly burt in an aeroplane accident in France, \and that it would not be possible to |communticate with him for months perhaps. This was @ blow, for Bruce counted him his only friend. Bruce had neither the time nor money to go East and to undo the harm Sprudell had done, and, analy. meres came ae sound, very furthermore, little che for the task istinct in ness, some: of setting himself right with people ike the wide of @ Dig tin DUIBINE 9 ready to believe. where it had been dented. To eas¢ ‘There was just one thing thet re- his mind rather than because he ¢x- mained for Bruce to do. He could pected to find anything Toy slipped ise the amount he had eaved from his feet into his thick-soled Chinese hig small ry as general manager slippers and shuffled out into the and continue the work as long as night. the money Iasted. When thie was The faintest gleam of light wa8 gone he was done. In any event it coming through the opening in the meant that he must face the winter storehouse door, which Toy himself there alone. If the machinery was had carefully closed. It was all of gti! not 4n working order when he 11 o'clock and the men, Toy knew. came to the end of his resources it had been in bed for hours. He stepped Meant that he was stranded, flat nolselessly inside and stared with all broke, unable even to go outside and his eyes oe ete Seanite wan avert etrugele, Oo ea ee Cree Scar In bis desperation he sometimes had been shielding with his cost. |... thought of appealing to his father. ‘What you do? What you gittee?) en int he required was inaig- Smalts whirled swiftly at the shrill nificant compared to what he knew demand with a startled look on his ifcen’ company income must be. ieapudent Soe He doubted if even Harrah's fortune “Oh—hello,” he said uncertainly. was larger than the one represented “Why you come? What you want?” by his father's land and herds; but “Why—er—I wanted to eee if they just as often as he thought of this was any more of them eight-penny way out just so often he realized that naila left, I'll need some to-morrow there were some things he could not nd bein’ awake frettin’ and stewin’ do—not even for Helen Dunbar—not over my work I thought I'd come Up even to put his proposition through. and take a look. Hesides,” with his ‘That humiliation would be too mocking arin, ‘the evenin's resly too much. To go back begging after all lovely to ai vd e eare—no, no, he could not do y in bed. th “You lle, think.” ‘Toy'a teeth were jt to save hie life! He would meet chattering with cold and excitement, the pay-roll with hie own checks so Why you come? What you want?” jong as he had 4 cent, and hope for “You oughtn’t to say thoae rude, the best until he knew there was no harsh things. They're apt to hurt the pest. foclin's of @ sensitive felior like m ‘The end of his rope was painfully “What you steal?” Toy pointed ® close the day Banule announced, after trembling finger at the inside pocket frequent testings, that they might t where it bulged. otart. “You wrong m 14 During short intervals of pumpin rowfully in mock reproach. "That's Bruce had been able by ground slulc my Bible, Chink.” ing to work off a considerable area of After Smalts had gone Toy lighted top soil, and now that the machinery a candle and pores among the boxes, waa declared to be ready for a steady cans, and sacks. He knew almost to run he could set the scrapers at once a nd how much suger, flour, rice, in the red gravel streak that con- cot beans, and other visions ha tained the “pay. ’ had, but nothing, that he could dis- The final preparation before start- cover, had been disturbed. The nail ing was to pour the mercury behind kegs and reserve tools in the cor- the riffies in the sluice boxes. When ner, wedges, axe handles and blades, it lay quivering and shining behind files and extra shovels all were there. each block and har Bruce felt that his It was @ riddle Toy could not solve gereonen bread crumb had been vet he knew that &maltz had not told dragged almort to th 4 the truth well, too, he told him ‘A white man who was as loyal to seribable relief, for not Bruce as Toy would ¢ told him money, but his courage, his nerves, immediately of Smalta's mysterious were well-nigh gone. midnight visit to the storemoume, but Bruce would trust no one but him- thag was not the yellow man's way. self to pour the mercury tn the boxes. Instead he watched Smalts like @ malts went to the pump-house hawk, eying him furitively, appearing end telephoned. unexpectedly at his elbow Ne he When Banule anewered his ring he worked. From that night on, instead shouted: b of one shadow Smalts found himnelf “Lat her go tn about two minutes with two. —two minutes—d'ye hear? The Toy never had liked &mattz from the telephone re fay he came. Those whd knew the Smaltz’s hand and he was breathing Chinaman could tell it by the xerupi. hard. lous politeness with which he treated ,, "Yes," Banule answered irritably, him. He was elaborately exact and ‘oye Sen's yell 90 i BAe OATS ine fair, but he never ppoke to him uniens ramets aivesdy had slammed it Wa necessary. Toy yelled at an i bullied those he liked, but a mandarin Swift movant Aioi4 & ee could not have surpassed him in dig- Fat OG fom the high platform nity when he addressed Bmalts and fell among the rocks some ten Bruce surmised that the Chinaman fect helow.. Instantly he scrambled to nust share his own instinctive dis- his feet and, crouching, dodging rust, yet Smaltz, with his versatility, among the boulders that strewed the had proved himself more and more fiver bank. he ran at top epeed until valuable as the work progressed. he reached the sluice boxes, The car- Ranule's. sanguine propheey that penter came out from his shop to take they would be “throwin’ dirt” within 4 leimwrely survey of the world end two weeks had failed of fulfilment be- smattz threw himeelf flat until he hed cause the pump motors had sparked turned inside again. when tried out. So smail a matter Then, atill crouching, looking this had not disturbed the cheerful opti- way and that, watching the trafl, he mism of the genius, who declared bh ok a bottle from his pocket and, could remedy it with a little further pulling the cork with his teeth, poured work. Days, weeks. a month went by the contents over the cury almost and still he tinkered, while Bruce. to the upper end of the first box, He watching the sky anxiously, wondered how much longer the would hold off. As & convincing evi- want as far as he dared without being bad weather sean by Bruce inside ¥ He wae thrusting vack ‘ou've been looking for—the abso- guess in advance how the problem The House of the Purple Stairs By Jeannette I. Helm Next Week's Complete Novel in The Evening World Try your skill as an amateur detective in working out this story’s mystery. But it is only fair to warn you tale, wherein the very cley- in his pocket, hie tense expres laxed, when he turned his head sharply at the sound of a crashing in the brush. “Toy Smaits startled— looked avvy you, Smaite! 1 savvy you!" shrill squawk. “I savvy you!” Hie fingers with their long, sharp naile were opening and shutting like claws. He flew at Smaltz's face like @ wild-cat, clawing, acratching, digging in his nails and screaming with every breath: “I savvy you! [ savvy you!” Then Smaltz struck him. Toy fell among the rocks, He got to'b and once more Smaltz knocked him down. A third time he returned. “You're harder to kill nor a eat,” Smaltz grinned without malice, but he threw him violently againet ¢he sluice-box. Toy lost his balance, toppled, en@ went over backward, reaching out wildly to save himself as he fell. it w with eyes on Smalta's scared face while his frefi, old body acted as wedge for the racing water and the rocks. Thea he let go and turned over and over, tumbling grotesquely in the wide sluice-box while the rocks pounded ‘ and ground him, beat him into ineen- wibility. He shot over the tail-race into the river, limp and unresisting, like a dead fish. i CHAPTER Xv. The Clean-Up. BOY'S disappearance was mye terious and complete. There was not a single clue to show which way he had one thing seemed certain and that was that his departure was unpre- meditated. ‘Smalts was now in che power-house doing at last the specified work ter which he had been bired. To eff Bruce's questions, he replied that te machinery there was “doing , Down below, the pump-house moters were far from satisfactory, sparking and heating in a way that Bruce, who did not know th b, ca of electric- ity, could see was not right. While the pumps and scrapers were working Banule dared not leave the motors alone. In epite of the time lost the eut was deepening and the side walle etood up so that every scraper that emptied into the sluice boxes from the pay streak. Bruce ly chat he in ) te Syeceaaes for the sam- Bea Roped for, and more that it wae aii he If only the riffles were saving 1 and the tables catching the fine gold! So the work kept on intermittently until an incredibly late date tm N. vember. By this time Bruce had a fresh worry. It kept him awake hour after goue, or how, or why. Only & of i £2 int H ite i ea pty Bs : i i = Hs iy. \¢ quicksilver came thro ekin in a shower of mots al the ball of amalgam which it contained Banule stared at it, open-mounted. “Whai the matter? Where's it gone? And out of all that dirt Bruce shook hia head; his voice was yt arely aud! “T don't know.” The sagging clouds were not heavier than his heart as “T wish L did.” Bruce had spent all of $40,000 and he doubted if he would take from the entire clean-up as it now looked. How could he break the news to Helen Dunbar? courage to tell the unfriendly stock~ holders the exact truth? It wee a foregone conclusion that they would conelder him a fakir and a crook, It had to be done. Ag, in his imag. ination, he faced the ordeal he unson- eciously straightened up. ! Burt! come quick!" Banule was ing his arms frantically from the platform of the pump-house. Be- fore Bruce reached the house he walked away beard Banule shout: “Somethin's happened tn the Douse' [I cant ring Smaits! He must have gota ! Until Tknow what's wrong, | don’t dare shut down for fear I'll burn everything out up there!” “Keep her going!’ Bruce bounded through the door and dropped from © the platform, runaing like mad. Be Be Continued.) The Chinaman’s voice was @ — a t Where would he find the =