The evening world. Newspaper, May 6, 1916, Page 9

An Outdoors Author of “Me Lippincott Co.) SYNOPSIS OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS. Boyce Burt hse discovered gold fo Bitter Roots Pie Ab dim od pa'aai and peli 40 Helen Dunbar, “whom Bruce wishes (0 aid, i rh for some one, toyfinance his min pital ‘he two men quarrel before a Ee AG oat ee eee Sia, ht to reapect, like, eanh other. CHAPTER XV. (Continned.) The Clean-Up. HE perspiration was trickling from his hair and through his thick eyebrows when he reached the boat landing where ordinarily they @rossed. He brushed it out of his @yes with the back of his sleeve and etared at the place where usually the oat rode, It was gone! Smalts had taken it instead of the overhead tram in which he always crossed. He kept on running along the river wntil he came to the steps of the Platform, where the heavy iron cage, suspended from a cable, was tied to a tree, Bruce bounded up the steps two eat a time and loosened the rope, It was not until then that he saw that the chain and sprocket, which made the crossing easy, were missing. This, too, was strange. There was no time for speculation. Could cross in it hand over hand? For answer he put his knee on the edge and kioked off. The impetus sent it well over the Then it struck the slack in the cable and slowed up. Bruce set Me} Spal and went at it hand over and, ‘When he reached the platform on the other side he was just able to throw an arm around the tree and crawl out, while the ponderous tron e @queaking on the rusty cable, led back to the middle of the river, where it ewung to and fro. Bruce stepped up on the wooden easing which covered the pipes and Bozzles inside the power house. Down below, Banule had thrown eut the switch and the machinery was running away, A rim of fire encircled the commutators, For a moment the amazing, unex- peoted sight deprived Bruce of the power to move. Then he jumped for the lever and shut down. Smaltz stood his ground as Bruce e@dvanced. “Why didn’t you answer that tele- phone, Smaltz?” “I declare—the receiver's dropped off the hook “Why didn’t you shut down?” “How should I know? The bell ldn’t ring—Banule hadn't told me -* Bruce turned to the telephone and rang the bell hard. : “Mello—helio—beilo!” came the fran- tle reply. “Can you swim, Banule?” “Yes,” “Then take it where the cable crosses the river, Come quick.” He put the receiver back on its hook and stepped to the lever, Smaltz's eyes opened wide as Bruce shoved it hard. He stared as though he thought Bruce had gone out of his mind. Then the dyna: be to pick up. . “What you goin’ to do?" shouted Bmaltz above the screech of the belt- ing and the hot bearings, “I'm going to kill you! Do you hear?” His eyes were bloodshot, «more than ever he looked like some ') battle-crazed grizzly seeing his vic- } tim through a blur of rage and pain, j “If I can—throw you—across those commutators—before the fireworks atop—I'm goin’ to give you fifteen came in Smaltz's eyes, he begged, I'll tell, “Let me up! “I'm all in. action of a@ second Bruce Smaltz's scared — fact into r “You wero paid,” he repeated slowly, ¥ stared "Who" and then the word came as had the thought— “Sprudell!"" “He told me to see that you didn’t start. He left the rest to me.” With sullen satisfaction: “And it's cost him enty—you bet"—- You turned the boat 8 loose in recked it on that rock”—— “You fouled the mercury in the “and Toy!" Smaltz whispered—he could barely “Pm tellin’ the truth—it was an aceldent. He jumped me—I threw him oft and he fell in the slulce-box rd—I tried to save him—I "3 straight.” a , Bruce took his knee from his chest and got up, Smalts pulled himself to his feet and stood un- } I suppose it’s jail.” There was sullen resignation in his voice. “LT want you to write what you told me—exactly—word for word. Write it in duplicate and sign your name,” He was still writing when Banule wame, breathing hard and still drip- Sing from his frigid swim, Smaltz handed Bruce the paper when he had finished and signed his name. Neither the writing nor com- position was that of an_ illiterate man. Bruce read {t carefully and handed it to Ranule: “Read this and witness tt” Ranule did as he was toht Now copy. it," said Bruce, sinaltz obeyed. a te stepped to the double dodrs nd slid the bolt. ONphore's your tratl—now hit it!” He motioned into the wilderness as he threw the doors wide. Smaltz wheeled and turned sharply to Bruce. “You know even @ Har sometimes | tells the truth and I'm goin’ to give it and to you straight now I've nothin to win machinery never will t was a fallure before And.” he nodded con- Hanule, “nobody knew that du or run ite sh he's Hed and bluffed, { us yet to put up his plant. Look up his f you think it ain't the truth, e eyes of the law I'm guilty rin’ thia a Battle for Fortune. .By CAROLINE LOCKHART Romance of Smith,” Ete. only put on the fintshin’ touches, I'vo shortened your mfsery, Burt, I've saved you money, for otherwise you'd have gone tryin’ to tinker it up, Don't do it. Take it from me, it isn’t worth ing it. From start to finish you've been ec. stung.” CHAPTER XVI. MALTZ was a Mar, as he S } sata, but Bruco knew that GB) carding Banule's work. He confirmed the pictons mind for months. Therefore, when he sald quietly to Banule, “You'd better voice and eyes which made that per- fon take his departure with only a taken his, At last everything was done and day or #0 to help, was walting for Bruce to finish his letter to Helen hill. There was nothing for it but the wrote: Sprudell boasted that he would incompetency and carelessness have been too strong a combina- I've failed. I'm broke. I've spent $40,000 and have nothing to Plant of an obsolete type, You are the beginning and end hopes, my ambitions, my life it- self have come to centre tn you. you that kept me going when I have been s0 tired doing two drag one foot after the other, Tt made me take risks I might oth- It kept mo plodding on when one failure after another smashed me not see for the blackness, I never dreamed that love was —such an incentive—or that It could add so to the bitterness of I see now that I have loved you from the time T saw you with from the time T shook your plo- ture out of that old envelope, pletely; I am sure there will never any one else for me. If write to me sometimes? for your letters will mean so much In the When he had finished Bruce gave Jim the letter and patd him off with balance in the bank, When Helen read the letter she mechanically drawing little designs upon a blotter, Wild {mpulses, im- {n quick succession, They crystal- lized finally into a definite resolve, tlon, It was not such a difficult matter investors a thirty days’ option upon their stock. In tho first place they by her request; und, in the second, while Sprudell had succeeded in shak- not inspired any liking for himself. Besides, he had not been able to con- his offer would keep, When it was secure and she had fice, Helen felt that the hardest part of the task she had assigned herself with Sprudell's plot and enlist him on Bruce's side seemed altogether the Therefore on the monotonous jour- ney west her nerves relaxed and with rehearsed her case as she meant to present it, which was to conclude But she was reckoning without John Burt, Reasoning that would not at all fit Bruce’s father, Helen had the sensation of having run at Burt came toward her slowly, leading his saddle horse through one of the house, which she had reached after a long drive, character in her swift appralsement. Briefly, she told her story. The man’s “Oh, he's in trouble.” Tis votes had an acid edge, “He wants me to “He has had such odds to fight!" she faltered. “And"— I'd just as soon put my money in the stove as put it in a mining scheme. lady, and that's speculate and go on people's notes.” shan't inflict you any me Please remember that Bruce knew nothing responsibility, But his success meant 60 much to him—to me that I-—I"— ly. Sho dared not even say goodby. John Burt had @ queer feoling of of him, something hard and cold giv- ing way around his heart, He could Failure. he had told the truth re- and fears that had been in Bruce's 60 up the hilllf’ there was that jn his Uttle less celerity than Smaltz had Porcupine Jim, who had stayed on a Dunbar, so he could take it up the Diunt truth to tell Helen, so Bruce down me, and he has. Villainy, tion for my experience to beat. ow for it but @ burned-out of everything with me. All my It was the thought that it was for men's work that I could scarcely erwise never have dared to take. in the face so f that I could Ike this—that !t was such a spur fatlure, For I do love you, Helen; Sprudell—further back than that, I love you, Helen, truly, com. only for this reason, won't you days that are ahead of me. the check that took the last of his sat at her desk for a long time, practical pla followed each other and her lips set in a line of determina- as Helen had thought to get from the were frankly amused and interested ing their confidence in Bruce he had ceal his eagerness and they felt that obtained leave of absence from the of- was done. To acquaint Bruce's father easiest part of her plan, a comfortable feeling of security she with an eloquent plea for help, apply to nearly any other man did full speed against a stone wall when corrals near the unpretentious ranch- Helen grasped something of his only Immediate reply w help him out."" “I don’t care what he's had to fight. There's two things I never do, young “I'm sorry if I've bored you, and [ of my coming. T came upon my own She choked and turned away abrupt- something wilting, crumbling inside not have explained tt, It was not his way to try, but he took an impulsive step toward her and called out “Wait a minute! Go in the house till T put up my horse, In hear what you havo to CHAPTER XVII. Unele Bill Is Ostracized. NCLF BILL GRISWOLD sat by the window in the office f of the Hinds House where he could watch the sta road, and, as usual winter, he was sitting by himself. Ik was thus that Ore ¢ punished reti+ cence. Uncle Bill was suspected of know ing something-—of having of his own—and keeping it to hin ¢. plant, but in fact} In the early spring the old man had this § ‘You Are BoTH How Sweer You LOOKING ADORABLE | HOW STUNNING 1 NEVER SAW You LOOK So CHARMING GOOD Bye DEARS Grood Bye DEAgs, \ DON'T LET ANY Bol STEALNOU. ‘You Bo Loot. VERY RETCHING DEARS Sou Two MAKE A BEAUTIFUL PICTURE How AwFut THEY LOOK |! PERFECTLY TERRIBLE ! disappeared into the mountain with “Ss-sh!" Mr, Dili hissed, not in re- He tried his utmost to put her out was like walking by @ graveyard sentment but in alarm as he glanced ’ of his mind, yet as he plodded on bis where some ono was sleeping that he powder, Grills and a three cua over his suoulder. “That's Burt's snowshoes, along his fifteen-mile trap loved, grub-stake, He had told no one ot 9Y¢r, From the corner of bis line, either actively or subconsciously — It was from such a trip that Bruce his destination, and when he had re- turned the most he would say was mou think he's got money.” Porcupine Jim walked over to his thoughts were of her. He could no longer imagine himself feeling any- came back to his cabin after two days’ absence more than ordinarily c skin’ Hel thing more than a mild interest In heavy hearted, If that were possible, OE eas een Pek b 50818) WOES Stee hard stage ride, ma‘am;" any other woman. He loved her with though his luck had been unusually si fond he sai erentially, “Them jolts 18 the same concentration of affection good. He ar, one lynx and So things stood one day when the enough to tear the linin’ out of a lady. that he had loved his mothor. six dark 1 ‘ounting the Stat sage drew near, The stage wad ‘phe oes me up and I'm quite “Bryce had formed the habit of won- bounty on the cougar, the green skins ming—with passengers! It was al- dering what she would think of this he brought back represented clone to most in; the Hinds House loungers it is rather bumpy but I enjoyed |), 1 Pgh of imagining how she would @ Hundred dollars, At that rate be id hear the driver's "Git ep, tt. Tho mountains are wonderful, and jy) thar? sho would’say and wo ail 800n could go “outside.” et i eb NIB! ron on’ be. tie ain, and everybody in #0 kind: it through the summer she bad been But to-night the thought did not git ep! There was luggage on be- @ w world to me and | love it all! 7 1 with k. He had elite him, What wae thero for hin hind and—Yankee Sam's voice broke — ‘The shadow of a xrin fitted across “sociated with the work. He had eli anywhere? As ho had trudged along the trail through the broken snow, the gloom of the canyon had weighed upon him neONEy but it was the chill silence in the bare cabin when he anticipa the time when he should be showing her tho rapids, with the moonlight shining on the foam, the pink and amber sunsets behind the umbrolla tree, and when the wind as though it were changing when he announced it—a female and two men, Was this Uncle Bill's secret? Ha he known? They could learn nothing from his face and his mouth was shut John Burt's fuce, for he sometimes saw and heard more than was gen- erally believed. “By the wa wold 1s here?” I wonder if Mr. Gris- she asked, fo tight tt looked as if he had the “Uncle Bill came forward wonder- blew among tho pincs of listening Opened the door that put tho faint. ea with her to the sounds that were like [0K touches Upon tee re hig heart. Speculation ended abruptly. A Hawallan music in the distance. Or eiaatats ware in & Mound IA sharp intake of breath—a wtartled Helen put out a friendly hand: Now, try as he would, he could not the bunk; ho had been too disheart- he oned before ho left even to sweep the floor; the ashes overflowed the atove hearth and there was no wood split. Rasp ran through the tense group as =“ @ pair of nimble, yellow legs flashe from beneath the robes and the cit- ‘ou don't know me, of course, but ye heard a great deal about you." nm not afraid to ask what it ts, rid himself of the habit, and « pushed his way among the dark u derbrush of creeks he was alwa izens of Ore City saw the smiling ma’ for and stealin’ Is the thinking that she, too, would lo’ ¥ dishes ked with hard- face of Wilbur Dill! ‘They turned to only crimes I denies.” that woo ol; that she, too, ened greases made him. gick. The each other for confirmation lest their {it telly an EL know yon bet- Would “nod donnie Fone Snel grease, made Him ale, i would find delight in the frozen waterfalls and the awesome atilliness of tho snow-laden pines. But just so often as he allowed his imagination rein, just so often he came back to earth doubly heavy hearted, for the chance t she would ever share pleasure In chimney of the lamp he lighted wis black with smoke, It was the last word in cheerlessnesa, and there was no reason to think, Bruce told him- self, that It would not be in such sur- pundings that he would end his day: hungry; his vitality and spirits were at a low ebb, He warmed over @ pan of bisculta and cold bacon and threw @ handful of coffes in the dismal looking coffee own eyes decety. Mr. Dill stamped the snow from hig w feet, flung open the door and beamed @round impartially, wouldn't never look for any trouble Well, boys"—ho threw off his opu- between you and me, ma’am, Shake.” . fur-lined coat—"Its good to be Ho added with a smile: “I ain't got any friends that I kin afford to one down.” . You'll have enough of them short- Helen smiled, “L know the w: well to be sure of that n laughed, “because I hope ‘re going to be good friends.” He Jooked keenly into her face, “IL For the apace of a second Ore City stood uncertainly, ‘Then Pa Snow disentangled his feet from the quilt and stepped forth briskly. his these things seemed to grow more ‘4 remote as the days went by. Bruce had built himself a shelter suftictently . * he pady ped pill looked about inquiringly, 1 hope I'm the first to congratulate 4t the end of his trap-line that con- ae 4 Barner Bree ereerd Ah-h! Mr. Griswold.” He ‘strode you on your ood fortune, Mr, Dill sisted merely of poles and pine } yed the food f . aartes the ar, cero lo str y feiee, Carey (ys own, He eyed the food for a mo. roae Ene , ware you? 1s told me something of your luck, boughs leaned against @ rir * ment—the ever-present bacon, the re City's hand flew to its heart, to says you're going to be the savior Under this poor protection, wr sticky can of condensed milk, tho figuratively speaking, and clutched it, of the camp.” In & Blanket, with his feet toward back coffee in the tin cup, the bix- No man ever called another “Mister” “"«t' heen crucified a-plenty,” Uncle the fire at the entrance and his back Citts covered with protuberances that in that tone unless he had something wil] replied, with a significant look at @gainst the wall, he spent many @ jyade them. look Like a panful. of ® wanted. And no man ever an- Ore City sitting with Its mouth agape, Wretched night, Sometimes he dozed horned toads, Ho reallzed suddenly peered tolable” with Uncle Bill's “put modestly, “I wouldn't hardly a little, but mostly wide-eyed, ho that, hunery aa ho had thought hime serenity unless he knew he had some- jie to go us far as to call myself counted the endless hours waiting for get he could not eat. thing the other fellow wanted, that.” the dawn. ' + ‘With a sweeping, vehement gesture Had he really got hold of some- he pushed it all from him, During the summer when things thing on his prospecting trip this CHAPTER XVIII. had continually gone wrong Bruce eyp upset and a small GN we summer? Had he sold? Was he Fy ” had found some comfort in recount- coffee splashed upon the floor, the selling? this account for Dill's «Annie's Boy. ing the difficulties which his hero of can of condensed milk rolled acrous Presence and not the options? The TEN Rruce was left alone the Caluinet and Hecla had gone the table and fell off, but he did not chill at thelr hearts shot to their feet, ahr re giles through In the initial stages of the pick it up. Instead, he folded. his Mr. Dill tapped his pocket and low- In the gloomy canyon, where development of that great mine, Rut arms upon the vilcloth in the apace ered his yolce—a futile precaution, the winter sun at {ts best that time had pasxed, for, while Alex- he had made, and dropping hia fore. for at the moment Ore City could did not shine more than ander Agassiz had had his struggles, head upon his ragged shirt @lecve, he have heard a “thousand logger" walk three hours in the twenty- Truce told himsele, with @ shadowy cried. Bruce had hit bottom, Across tho floor, ‘I've mot the pane vonde! “ smile, he never bad been up agains’ Older, wiser, brave here." he maid, “all ready to be signed fu" ho had wondered whether the 4 deat like this! there was no record Peyon have erled ia Aik etal up if everything's us represented.” Gays or nights would be the hardest that ho ever had had to lie out under eheie lives, ‘Tears are. no ‘alon OF Ore City went limp, but not too to endure. It was now well into De- 4 rim-rock when tha thermometer weakness, And they did not come mp to strain thelr ears for Uncle camber, and still he did not know, *00d twenty and twenty-five below. now because he was quitting -be- Rill's reply, . In the long, soundless nis that They were equally intolerable. cause he did not mean to struggle on “Yes, he drawled, “yo! ir We had the cold stillness of infinite apace, somehow or because there wae ones take particular care that aintecithe “Sim” had brought @ collection of Hruce always had the sensation of thing or gnybody et orem as wey you, Give ple of time to your traps down the river from Meadows, being the only person in the universe. afraid, It was only that. he was examination. 7 no Krent sweat; and Hruco had sot these out. So far He felt alone upon the planet, acts lonely, heartatck, humiliated, weary T wouldn't sign my name to an aps he hud been rathor lucky and the pile Pcctme hazy myths, trutha merely of ¢ brutsed with defeat Neation for a fish license that you . hallucinations, nothing seemed r These teu were d fferent from the APS UnHITUA han aT enen nee. 6 19 corner Was BroWing— actual, except that if ho slept too peady A yer look it over first, As I promised ar, marten, mink—but it long and the fire went out he would from ¢ freeze to death under the rim-rock One day three deer came ty f of him and sta I suppose,” he muse wondering what I am with savage cynicism, ing that myself," Whatever small portion of his spirits ho had recovered by exercise and success at his traps always d you when you wrote me to open up that ledge, I'll give you the first shot it, but don't try any funny bual- I know now what I got, and n't need you to help me handle tt, never made {t no secret, Wilbur, that I wouldn't trust you with @ red- hot sto "I don't see why you should talk to me like this,” Dill declared in an tn- i was not high enough, It was Lis thoughts of Helen that always gave lis misery its crowning Sie pitied him, no doubt, be- ause sho was kind, but in her heart he felt he must despise him for a ling—a braggart who could not ke good his boasts, She needed within moved but he made no sound, A little way from the cabin where “I'm wonder- the steep trail from Ore City dropped off the mountain to the sudden flat- ness of the river bar, some dead branches crac! and a horse fell 1 to- touch, n log, upsetting the Jured tone, “You can't point to a him, too--he was sure of {t—and lack “ppeared again on his return down and taking nele thing T've done # helpless to aid Hi To pase the head with n hurried to I t got fir es ng a Jail & vo him an aeute er nr ' one \' in the night, 4 trestle which elt "ly mind began running along this line © nd awout was down in s could no longer stay in his bunk; | \ r died re. betwe 1 , but many t he got t © nA querulous whisper as he 4 0) wlea p @ dressed and) w s t ed the floundering horse up, done last winter—goin’ stumbling around in the bruah, over passed the power house, “why don't you notice where you're t deliberate to jump Bruce the rocks—anything to change bis with its nailed windows and doors, ho goin'? Here you come down the Burt's claim a thot ani anonnenttnaeeg Surned hig head the other way. Jt mountain Uke you had fur on your lutely new type erest reader cannot is to be solved. mystery It is ae this story’s mystery. But you won't be able to. feet, and the minute I gite you where { wante you to be quiet you make more noise nor cow-elk goin’ through the brush, How you feelin’, ma'am?" to Helen, “I expect you're about beat.” “Sorry to disappoint you, Uncle Bill, but I'm not. You tried go hard to keep me from coming I don’t think Ud tell you tf I wai “You wouldn't have to—I reckon I'll find !t out before we'd gone far. I've noticed that when @ lady ts tired or hungry she gits powerful cross.” “Where did you learn so much about women?” “I've picked up considerable knowl- edge of the female disposition from wranglin’ dudes. A bald-face bear with cubs is a regilar streak of sun- shine compared to @ lady-dude T had out campin’ once—when she got tired or hungry, or otherwise on the peck. Her and mo got feelin’ pretty hos-tle toward each other ‘fore we quit. “L didn't so much mind packin’ warm water mornin’s for her to wash her face, or buttonin’ her waist up the back, or changin’ her stirrups every fow miles or gettin’ off to seo if It was a@ fly on her horso's stummick that made him switch his tall, but [ got #0 weak I couldn't hardly set In the sad- die from answerin’ questions and try- in’ to laugh at her jokes. “ ‘Say,’ says she, ‘ain't you got no sense of humor? atter I'd let somethin’ between @ groan and @ squeal, ‘I had,’ I says, ‘till | was shot in the head” ‘Shot in the head! Why didn't it kill you?” "The bullet, struck @ bolt, ma‘am, and glanced off.’ We rode seven hours that day without speakin’ an’ ‘twere the only enjoyable time | had. Dudin' wouldn't be a bad business,” Uncle Bill added judicially, “if it weren't for answerin’ question and listenin’ to hand Generally they're smart peo- n they're on thelr home range metines they turns out good friends.” “Like Spurdell,” Helen suggested fairly Jumped at the sound of “I ain't blood- thirsty and I never bore the reputa- tion, but If I had knowed as much about that feller I know now he'd slept in that there snow-bank unt spring. “You know, ma‘am,” Uncle Bill went on solemnly while he cast an eye back up the trail for Burt, who blazed @ new ambition in me, BE had fallen behind, “when a feller's drunk or lonesome he’s allus got some am that he dreams of what he got rich. Sometimes it rin’ to travel, or bo State banann| té onct. I knowed an old feller that died pinin’ for @ briled lobster with his last breath. Since I read that piece about sobbin' out my gratitude on Sprudell'’s broad chest it's woke @ ry time I wits about three fingers of “cyanide” from the Bucket 0’ Blood under my t I sees pictures of myself gittin’ money enough together to go back to Bartlesville, Indianny, and lick him every day, reg-'lar, or Jest as often as I kin pay my fine, git washed up, and locate hi in” Uncle Bill added reflective! “If this deal with Dill goes through without any hitch I'd ort to be able to start about the first of the month.” “When you get through with him,” Helen laughed, “I'll review the book he's publishing at his own expense. Here comes Mr, Burt; he looks fug- ged out.” "These plains fellers are nev good on foot,” Uncle Bill comm as Burt caught up. “Now,” to Burt and Helen, “I'll Jest hold this war- horse back while you two go on ahead, Down there's his light.” There was eagerness in Burt's voice as he sald: “Yeu, I'd like to have a look at him before he knows we're here, I'm curious to seo how he lives—what he does to pass tho tine.” “I hope as how you won't ketch him in the middle of a wild rannicaboo of wine, women and song.” Uncle Bill auggested dryly. “Bachin’ in the winter twenty miles from a neighbor is about the most dissipatin’ Ife I know. There must be somethin’ goin’ on this evenin’ or he wouldn't be set- tin’ up after it's dark under the table.” “I'm so excited I'm shaking,” Helen declared, “My teeth are almost chat- tering, I'm so afraid he'll hear wu That will spol! the surprise, But Bruce had not heard, In eom- plete abandonment to hia wretched- ness he was still sitting at the table with his head upon his arm, Bo tt was t his father saw him after fifteen years. When he had thought of Bruce tt was always as he had seen him that day through the window of the prairie ranch house-—hia head thrown back in stubborn defiance, his black eyes full of the tears of childish anger and hurt pride, running barefooted and bareheaded down the dusty road running, ag he realized afterward, o of his life, ¢ He had Mtterly tmagined that his pon was prospering somewhere, with a wife and ren of his own, too indifferent in his contentment’ and success to bother with his old Dad; and the picture had hardened his own life had been no hed of Toses—no pionerr's Was—and he, too, had known loneliness, hardsht never anything like this, His shrewd face, deep seamed and weather beaten by the suns and snows of many years, worked. Then he straightened his shoulders, stooped from years of riding, and the black eyes ‘under their thick eyebrows flashed o this was that Sprudoll fellow's work, was It? Ho was trying to freeze Bruc it, down him = because he thought he had no backing--breale him on the rack!" His teeth shut hard and the fingers inside his mittens elonched ro were people in the world who thought they could treat Bruce like that~and get away with it? Annie's boy—his son! Not yet, by God, not while steers were bringing the doo” mine-sizty ©: Here is the story you'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 your skill as an amateur detective in working out tale, wherein the very cley- it is only fair to warn you Burt strode around the corner and threw the door back wide. “Bruce! Brace! You musn't feet so dad!” Excitement made his voloe sound harsh, but there was no mis taking the sympathy intended or the yearning in his face Bruce jumped, startled, to his feet and stared, his vision dimmed by the smarting tears. Was it a ghost—was he, too, getting “queer?” “Haven't you anything to say to me, Bruce There was an odd timidity in his father’s voice, but it was real enough; {t was no hallucination. Simultaneous with the relief the thought flashed through Bruce's mind that his father had seen him through the window in his moment of weakness and despair. His features stiffened and with a shamed movement he brushed his ey with the back of his hand while bis eyes flashed pride and resentment "1 said all I had to say fifteen years ago when you refused me the chance to make something of myself. If I'd had an education nobody could have made 4 fool of me tke this.” His voice vibrated with min; bitterness and mortification you've heard all about tt I'm down ané@ out.” In Bruce's voice Burt recog- nized his own harsh tones. “You've got nothing that I want now; you might as well go back.” His black eyes were relentiess—hard. “Won't you shake hands with me, Bruce?” There waa p! ing in hi volce as he took a step toward his son. Bruce did not atir, and Burt added with an effort: “It ain't ao easy ¥ you might think for me to beg lika seed, too, but it didn’t do any come twenty miles—on foot— to tell you that I'm sorry. I'm not young any more, Bruce. I'm an old man—and you're all I've got in the world,’ An old man! The words startled Bruce—shocked him. He never had thought of his father as old, or lone- ly, but always as tircless, self-cen- tred, self-sufficient, absorbed heart and soul in getting rich, He seemed suddenly to see the bent shoulders, the graying hair and eyebrows, the furrows and deep, drooping lines about the mouth that had not been engraved by happiness. There was @omething forlorn, pathetic about him as he stood there with his hand ut asking for forgiveness. And he ad plodded through the snow—twen- ty milea—on foot to see him! The blood that is thicker than water atirred, and the tugging at his heart strings grew too hard to with- stand. He unfolded his arms and etretched out a hand impulsively— “Father!” Then both—"Dadl” he cried, “My boy!" There was @ catch tn the old man’s voice, misty eyes looked into misty eyes and fifteen years of bitterness vanished as father and son clasped hands, When Burt could speak he looked at Bruce quizaically and said, “I thought you'd be married by this time, Bruce.” “Married! What right has @ Failur to get married?” “That's no way to talk. What's one ailp-up, or two, or three? Nobody's a failure till he's dead. Confidence comes from success, but, let me tell you, boy, practical knowledge comes from folts.” “Dog-gone! I ought to be awful Bruce’ answered sobering. * I'm not Hable to make the same mistake twice.” He added ruefully: “Nor, by the same token, am I like! the chance, I suppose I've got the reputation of being something mid- way between an idiot and @ thle! Burt seemed to consider, “Well, now, I can’t recall that the person who engineered this trip for me used any such names as that. Asnear as I could make out sho was somewhat prejudiced on your side,” Bruce stared, “she? Not ‘Ma’ Snow!" Burt's eyes twinkled as he shook his head. She's “No,” dryly, “not ‘Ma’ Snow. @n esumable lady, but I doubt if she could talk me into comin’ on @ tour Uke this in winter.” A wonderful light dawned euddenly in Bruce's eyes, “You mean——"* —Heleu, I'm feelin’ well enough @cquainted with her now to call her Helen, Whatever else we disagree on, Bruce, tt looks as though we had the saine taste when It “You KNOW he Bruce’ Was a9 incredulous as his face, Burt answered with a wry emile: “Aitor you've ridden on the back seat of that Beaver Creek stage with “ person and bumped heads every lifteen feet for a hundred miles, you're not apt to feel like strangers when You got In.” tone “She's in “She was. Isruce fell back into hts old attitude at the table, but his father stepped quickly to the door and an tnstant later threw it open. At his ade was Helen—with outstretched arms and face aglow, her eyes shining happily, Kivruce had not known that great and sudden Joy could make @ person dizey, but the walls, the floor, every- thing, seemed to waver as he leaped to his feet. “L was sure you wouldn’ own partner out of doors!” Her Ups parted in the smile that he loved and though he could not speak he went toward her with outstretched arms. Passing the window, Uncle Bill wtopped and stood for @ second look- o the Hight. "Lord!" ho muttered — gruffly; “seems like sometimes in this world things h as they ort.” And then, Ore (o the contrary, he demonstrated that he had both pres- enco of mind and tact, for he shouted to Burt {n @ volce that would have carried a mile on a still night—"Hi! Old Man! Come out and help me with this horse, Sound down agin and chokin’ The! H } {