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diff --git a/old/55463-0.txt b/old/55463-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 49d3c18..0000000 --- a/old/55463-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5267 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Owen Clancy's Run of Luck, by Burt L. Standish - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Owen Clancy's Run of Luck - or, The Motor Wizard in the Garage - -Author: Burt L. Standish - -Release Date: August 31, 2017 [EBook #55463] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OWEN CLANCY'S RUN OF LUCK *** - - - - -Produced by Demian Katz, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net -(Northern Illinois University Digital Library at -http://digital.lib.niu.edu/) - - - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes: - -Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_), and text -enclosed by equal signs is in bold (=bold=). - -Additional Transcriber’s Notes are at the end. - - * * * * * - -NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY - -An Ideal Publication For The American Youth - -_Issued Weekly. Entered as Second-class Matter at the New York Post -Office, according to an act of Congress, March 3, 1879. Published by_ -STREET & SMITH, _79-89 Seventh Ave., New York. Copyright, 1914, by_ -STREET & SMITH. _O. G. Smith and G. C. Smith, Proprietors._ - -Terms to NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY Mail Subscribers. - -(_Postage Free._) - -Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each. - - 3 months 65c. - 4 months 85c. - 6 months $1.25 - One year 2.50 - 2 copies one year 4.00 - 1 copy two years 4.00 - -=How to Send Money=--By post-office or express money order, registered -letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent by -currency, coin, or postage stamps in ordinary letter. - -=Receipts=--Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper change -of number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly -credited, and should let us know at once. - -No. 77. NEW YORK, January 17, 1914. Price Five Cents. - - - - -OWEN CLANCY’S RUN OF LUCK; Or, THE MOTOR WIZARD IN THE GARAGE. - - -By BURT L. STANDISH. - - - - -CHAPTER I. OVER THE RIM ROCK. - - -Honk, h-o-n-k! - -“Look out there! Jump--jump!” - -High above these sounds there broke a startled yell. Owen Clancy, who -was tramping along the road with his coat over his arm, not only heard -the yell, but caught one tragic glimpse of a figure soaring through the -cloud of dust, dropping in a sprawl on the rocks, and then rolling over -the edge of the cliff. - -“Great jumping horn toads!” gulped the red-headed chap, coming to an -astounded halt, every nerve in a quiver. “Right over the precipice, by -thunder! That fellow’s done for, and no mistake. The man behind that -steering wheel ought to be pinched! He didn’t give the fellow in the -trail any chance at all--just ran him down and made him jump over the -edge of the cliff. Now the driver of that car hasn’t the common decency -to come back and see how much harm has been done!” - -The scene of this reckless automobile driving was a trail -leading toward the city of Phoenix, Arizona. It was one of those -mountain-and-desert trails which lead for miles over thirsty, -sun-scorched plains, and occasionally climb to dizzy heights by narrow, -hair-raising spirals clipped from the mountainside. - -Clancy, at the high point of the trail, had been crossing a rugged, -bowlder-covered uplift. At his left was a blank wall, a hundred feet -high; under his feet was a shelf, barely wide enough for the road; and, -on his right, was a precipice. - -Those heights overlooked a dusty stretch of flat desert, at whose -farther edge could be seen the rooftops and spires of Phoenix peeping -out of the green treetops. The city, from that distance, presented a -most enchanting view, and Clancy had paused to look and to admire. - -“Wonder what sort of luck I’m going to have in that town?” he had asked -himself. “I’ve got a notion it is going to make or break me. Well,” and -he frowned resolutely, “if it breaks me, I’ll make good somewhere else. -I’m the head of the family now, and it is up to me to show the folks -back East just what sort of a little, red-headed breadwinner I am. -I’ll----” - -He broke off his reflections abruptly. From behind him, and altogether -too close for comfort, came the toot of a motor horn. Accompanying the -sound there burst forth the loud run of a motor. - -Clancy, always quick to act in an emergency, gave one leap for the -blank wall at the trailside, and flattened against it. Not an instant -too soon did he accomplish this, for, ere he could draw a full breath, -a big, black car lurched past, the mud guards almost brushing his knees. - -It was a six-cylinder machine, built to carry seven passengers, but -there was only the driver aboard. Lightly ballasted, the huge machine -jumped and swayed on that dangerous path in a manner to make the heart -jump. - -But there was something else that made Clancy’s heart jump. He suddenly -became aware of another pedestrian in the road, a fellow he had not -seen before. - -In the instant of time allowed him for making observation, Clancy saw -only that the other foot traveler was a youngish chap, and that he was -loitering along unconscious of the speeding car behind him. - -The driver of the machine did not slacken gait in the least, but -contented himself with merely sounding the horn. Wildly Clancy cried -out for the stranger to jump. The stranger, casting one frightened -glance over his shoulder, jumped without delay--but in the wrong -direction. - -Alighting on the edge of the cliff, he fell and rolled--over the edge. -The car raced on and vanished behind a shoulder of rock, leaving a -cloud of dust to mark its passage. Clancy ran forward, badly shaken by -what he firmly believed would turn out to be a tragedy. - -The dust was flicked away by the wind, and, as the air cleared, Clancy -fell to his knees on the cliff’s edge. - -“Hello!” he called, in a voice husky with apprehension. - -There was no answer, and the gruesome fears of the red-headed fellow -increased. Some of the dust was rolling below the brink of the wall and -he could not see clearly. Straining his eyes downward, he shouted again. - -This time he was electrified by hearing an answering shout. It came up -through the thinning fog of dust and was strong and, apparently, from -near at hand. The fellow who had rolled over the edge had not fallen to -the bottom of the cliff, after all. - -“Where are you?” demanded Clancy. - -“I’m where I’m glad to be, but where I wish I wasn’t,” was the rather -queer response. “Feller that’s born to be hung or drowned, howsomever, -ain’t goin’ to be put out of business by a chug wagon and a bit of -up-and-down wall. Pard, do somethin’ for me. I don’t reckon I can do a -thing for myself, and the position I’m in is right juberous.” - -By then, the dust had entirely cleared away below and a strange -spectacle presented itself to the eyes of the lad on the brink. - -Ten or fifteen feet down, the steep, smooth wall was broken by a -shelf. The shelf was no more than a foot and a half in width, and a -stunted bush was growing at its edge. The stranger’s body had met the -obstruction in its fall, and was now lying on the shelf, wedged in -between the bush and the face of the cliff. - -The stranger lay quietly in his perilous berth, half on his back with -face upturned. He could not have been more than seventeen or eighteen -years of age, and he wore a faded shirt of blue flannel, corduroy -trousers, and tight, high-heeled boots. - -Those cowboy boots, constructed for riding rather than for walking, had -undoubtedly got him into his dangerous predicament. They had given him -no firm foothold in alighting from his sudden jump, and he had fallen -and rolled from the edge of the cliff. - -“Get up on your feet!” called Clancy, “I’ll lower myself as far as I -can and try to take your hand and pull you up.” - -“Nary, pard,” came the answer. “I reckon as how I’d better imitate -a piece of bloomin’ brick-a-braw on a mantel-shelf. If I get to -squirmin’, that bit of brush pulls out and lets me down. See how it is? -Throw down a rope.” - -“I haven’t a rope.” - -“Then, by glory, I opine I was born to be busted in fraggyments at the -foot of this here clift. Why ever ain’t you got a rope?” - -The stranger seemed composed enough, and certainly he took a very -peculiar view of the situation. He wasn’t frightened--at least not so -Clancy could notice it. - -“You’ve got to up end yourself somehow!” declared Clancy. “Straighten -yourself upright along the wall and reach as high as you can. Maybe our -hands will meet.” - -“Bush is givin’ ’way,” was the answer. “I can feel it pullin’ out. One -thing I want you should do for me, friend.” - -“What’s that?” - -“Find out who that cimiroon was that was drivin’ that gas cart; then -scalp him, and say you done it for James Montague Fortune, which is me. -Adios, pard. That blamed bush can’t stand the strain much longer.” - -“Oh, take a brace, can’t you?” Clancy answered sharply. “If you’ve got -to drop anyhow, you might as well do it while trying to save yourself. -Here, look!” - -With his left arm around a bowlder at the cliff’s edge, Clancy, flat on -the ground, was reaching his right hand downward. - -“See if you can’t get hold of my hand,” he went on. “Do that, Fortune, -and I’ll pull you up. Come on, now. You can make it if you try.” - -“You’re the most persistenest person I ever seen!” grumbled James -Montague Fortune. “You can’t even let a feller fall down a cliff in -peace! Well, if you’re set on it, I’ll make a stagger to get up, but -I’m a-tellin’ you it’s a powerful small piece o’ standin’ ground I got, -and it tips the wrong way and is smooth, like it was greased. Here’s -where I caper. Reckon I might as well shoot off into the dizzy void -as to go rollin’ down the face of them rocks with a measly handful of -chaparral.” - -Slowly, and while Clancy held his breath and waited, Fortune began -twisting himself into a sitting posture. The bush gave a sudden heave, -and its top bent until it was sticking straight out at right angles to -the cliff wall. Clancy whooped in an agony of fear. The other looked up -at him calmly. - -“Told you!” he called. “Couldn’t even hang a persimmum on that clump -o’ brush without givin’ it the wiggle-waggles, and here I’m tryin’ -to balance a hundred and forty pounds on it. Don’t take no head for -’rithmatec to figger out what’s goin’ to happen. I’m givin’ myself a -minute and a half. How much do you give me?” - -“I’d like to give you a punch,” howled Clancy, “for wasting time when -you haven’t an instant to spare! Get up! Reach for my hand! Quick!” - -“Ain’t you the funny whopper, though! Here’s where I get up and fall -off.” - -With a quick, wiry contortion, Fortune hoisted himself erect and hugged -the smooth, steep wall with both arms. A bushel of rock and débris went -bounding downward from the shelf, booming and echoing into the depths. -The bush went, too, and Fortune, in his absurd boots, was balanced on a -slippery foothold, with a gulf below and a glassy wall overhead. - -“Darned if I can savvy this!” he murmured. “I’m here yet, ain’t I?” - -“Take my hand!” shouted Clancy. - -This was something Fortune could not do. One reached down and the other -reached up, but a foot gap separated their groping fingers. - -“Splice out that arm about a foot, pard,” said Fortune, “and we’ll make -it.” - -“I’ll do it!” declared Clancy. “Hang on a minute longer!” - -He drew back from the edge, hastily unbuckled the belt about his waist, -removed it, buckled it once more, and then, clinging tightly to the -leather loop, lowered it over the cliff. - -The maneuver was successful. Fortune gripped the band of stout leather -and Clancy, exerting a surprising amount of strength, dragged the chap -below back over the brink and to safety. - -“Blamed if you didn’t make it!” exclaimed Fortune, in a tone of -surprise, as he squatted on the edge of the precipice. “Wouldn’t ’a’ -believed it possible nohow. What’s your handle, pard?” - -Clancy gave him the “handle,” and the two shook hands. - -“Now that you’ve pulled me out o’ that diffukilty,” remarked James -Montague Fortune, “what do you opine to do with me, huh?” - - - - -CHAPTER II. JIMMIE FORTUNE. - - -Fortune had the sort of good-natured face that reflects an easy-going -disposition. He was about as handsome as Owen Clancy, which is the same -as saying that he would never be hung for his good looks, but his face -was attractive for all that. His nose was a “snub,” and his eyes were -narrow, and crinkled all around where a perennial smile had puckered -them and left its marks. - -Handsome is as handsome does, always, and it was safe to say that James -Montague Fortune, while a peculiar chap in some respects, possessed a -cheerful soul and a nature most companionable. - -“What am I going to do with you?” repeated Clancy, studying Fortune -with humorous eyes. “That’s not my business, is it? This is a free -country, and you’re your own boss.” - -“Sure,” was the reply, “but I’m tired of bein’ my own boss. It’s too -big a job and I ain’t able to swing it. I’m right smart of a feller, -Clancy, and husky and able more’n I can tell, but I’ll be dad-binged if -I’m much of a success. How’d you like to sign me on for my board and -keep and, say, fifty plunks a month? Huh?” - -Clancy threw back his red head and burst into a laugh. - -“Where’s the joke?” asked Fortune. - -“What use have I got for a chap like you?” Clancy returned. “Why, I’m -looking for a job myself. That’s why I’m going to Phoenix, Fortune. And -I’m walking to save stage fare from Mesa.” - -“Didn’t know but you might be a Vandefeller, or a Rockybilt in -disguise,” grinned Fortune. “I’ve worked for purty nigh everybody in -southern Arizona, and I jest wanted to add you to my list of employers. -I don’t seem able to hold a job long. Shortest time I was ever hired -and fired was fifteen minutes, and the longest time was two days. -Fortune! That’s a bully name, ain’t it? Never done me no good, though. -If you can’t hire me, mebby you’d like me for a pard? I’ll be your -compadre jest for my board and keep. How about it?” - -Clancy shook his head. - -“I’m going to have all I can do to corral my own board and keep, -Jimmie,” he answered. - -“H’m,” mused Fortune, rubbing his chin. “You’re the blamedest feller! -While I was on that ledge, down there, you said somethin’ about -punchin’ my head. Reckon you could get away with it?” - -“I don’t know,” said the surprised Clancy. “If you’re as good as you -look I’d probably have a handful.” - -Fortune got his feet under him, stepped into the road, and put up his -hands. - -“Come on!” he called. - -“What do you mean?” - -“Can’t you tell what I mean jest by lookin’?” was the cheerful -response. “Take holt o’ me and slam me down. Bet you can’t.” - -“You want to fight?” - -“One or t’other of us goes on his back in about two minutes.” Fortune -began hopping around in his high-heeled boots. “Hit me in the eye!” he -begged, sawing the air with his fists. - -For a few moments Clancy was astounded. Fortune’s grin was wide and -inviting--in fact, he was about the pleasantest slugger Clancy had ever -seen. - -“Cut out the foolishness,” said Owen. “What reason have I got to fight -with you?” - -“Shucks! You got to have a reason for every blame’ thing? Climb my -neck--if you got the sand! Ain’t I beggin’ hard enough?” - -Abruptly Clancy made up his mind to enter heartily into the spirit of -the affair. So he sprang erect and sailed into Jimmie Fortune, whom he -had just saved from being dashed to pieces at the bottom of the cliff. - -Thump, thump, thump! - -The sodden fall of fists was heard during a sharp give-and-take. -Clancy, who had forgotten more of the “science” than Fortune ever knew, -had all the best of it. Fortune clinched; and then Clancy, with a -fine exemplification of the old reliable “double grapevine,” laid his -antagonist on his back in the middle of the road. - -Fortune got up with a joyous laugh, caressing a bruise on his chin with -one hand, and, with the other, wiping the dust out of his eyes. - -“I reckon you’ll do,” said he. “You’re as good as you look, Clancy, and -then some. Let’s be pards, huh? We’ll travel together, and I’ll look -after my own board and keep. I’m for Phoenix to find a livin’, same as -you. Why not make a stab at the old burg in double harness? I could -jest love a feller that slammed me down like that!” - -Fortune was so delighted that his mirth was infectious. Clancy saw no -occasion for all that abandon of happiness, and yet it was impossible -not to join in his companion’s rollicking mirth. - -“All right, Jimmie,” said he, “we’ll be pards, and we’ll go on -together. Suppose we travel?” - -“I allow we’ll have to travel if we ever reach Phoenix. Pasear it is, -Reddy!” - -Side by side they continued on along the treacherous trail. - -“I got to uncork,” remarked Fortune, “and tell you more about myself. -Some folks calls me a desert rat, but that there’s a libel. I’m jest a -rollin’ stone, but I’d stop rollin’ blame’ quick if anybody ’u’d hire -me and keep me hired.” - -“Why don’t you stay hired?” - -“Mainly because I do the wrong thing while ketchin’ onto a new line o’ -work. An assayer gave me a chanst in Prescott, and set me to grindin’ -at a muller board. I tipped over the table and busted a carboy o’ -sulphuric acid, and got run out o’ the place. That’s where I lasted -fifteen minutes. ’Nother time I took a throw at a general store in -Tempe, and believe me, I was busy-izzy for one hull day. Store was -crowded and I had to be in about six places to oncet. The boss reckoned -he had a prize, from the way I flew around; but he changed his mind -when he diskivered I’d left the spigot o’ the molasses bar’l open. The -floor o’ the back room was ankle deep in sweet stuff, and the old man -made a pass at me with his foot. I dodged the foot and he slipped and -went down in the black strap. He rolled over and over, and when he -chased me through the front door of the ‘Emporium’ he had gathered up -purty nigh everythin’ in the store like a piece o’ fly paper. A bolt -o’ calico, a couple o’ feather dusters, fifteen or twenty pounds o’ -crackers--oh, I can’t begin to tell all the stuff that was stickin’ to -him. The damage was right considerable, and I ain’t had the nerve to go -back to Tempe since.” - -Clancy enjoyed Fortune’s reminiscences. There was no doubt that the -wanderer drew heavily on his imagination, but that merely made his -recital the more interesting. - -“It’s been a year since I tackled Phoenix,” went on Jimmie. “I worked -that bunch of adobes up and down and across, but maybe some of ’em have -kind of forgot me, and I’ll get another show. What field of industry -are you aimin’ to hit, Brick Top?” - -“Want to get a job in a garage,” said Owen. - -The other looked at him with quickened interest. - -“You bug on the motors?” - -“Well, you might call it that,” laughed Owen. - -“Never tried ’em myself. Looks like a promisin’ field. Wonder if we -couldn’t get jobs in the same garage?” - -“Maybe we could; and then, again, maybe there isn’t a garage in Phoenix -that has a place for us. I have a note for a thousand dollars that I -want to collect from the proprietor of a garage in---- What’s the matter -with you?” demanded Clancy, breaking off suddenly. - -Fortune had come to a dead stop in the trail. He stared at his new -“pard,” then craned his head forward and put a hand behind his ear. - -“Otra vez!” he murmured. “Come again with that, Red. A note for--how -much?” - -“Thousand dollars.” - -“Gee-wollops! I didn’t know there was that much dinero in the world. -And here you tune up and allow you couldn’t hire me at fifty plunks a -month!” - -“The note doesn’t belong to me,” Clancy explained, “but to my father. -The folks need the money--and I may have a hard time collecting it. You -say you have been in Phoenix, Jimmie?” - -“I was there good and plenty for six months.” - -“Ever hear of a man named Rockwell--Silas Rockwell?” - -Jimmie gave a startled jump. “Wow!” he yelled. - -“Know Rockwell?” continued Clancy. - -“He’s my Uncle Si, but he never had no use for any the rest of the -fambly. Sort of an even thing, Red, ’cause none of the rest of the -fambly ever had much use for him. He runs the Red Star Garage, on First -Avenue, and he was never knowed to pay a cent if he could dodge or run -away. If he owes your folks money, then you better forget it. You can -get blood out of a turnip quicker’n you can get cold cash out of Uncle -Si. My people knows him by the lovin’ name of ‘Old Rocks,’ and----” - -Fortune’s voice trailed off into silence. He and Clancy were standing -on the slope of the mountain, near the place where the trail left the -uplift and straightened out across the flat desert. Fortune’s eyes were -fixed on something at the foot of the descent--something which seemed -to hold him spellbound. - -Clancy, his wonder aroused by his companion’s behavior, dropped his -gaze to the foot of the slope. What he saw there surprised him. - -The big automobile, which had so recklessly swept past him and Fortune -on the heights, was at a halt at the edge of the brown, dusty plain. A -smaller car, facing the other way, was drawn up beside the six-cylinder -machine. - -Two men had got out of the small car. One of them was stoutly built, -well dressed, and of middle age. This man’s panama hat was pushed back -on his head and he seemed to be violently agitated. The driver of the -large machine was on the ground, and to him the stout gentleman was -addressing himself. The other man hovered around in the background. - -This third member of the party at the foot of the slope was tall and -thin, and wore a linen duster, a cap, and had a pair of goggles pushed -up on his forehead. - -“Great jumpin’ tarantulas!” gasped Fortune. “Talk of the Old Nick and -you hear him a-snorin’. Red, that man in the duster, down there, is -Uncle Si! Wouldn’t this rattle your spurs?” - -“Who’s the other man, Jimmie?” queried Owen. - -“I’m by; but the feller that other chap’s talkin’ to is the one that -drove me over the cliff! Whoop-ya! Right here’s where I get even. Watch -my smoke!” - -With that, Fortune rushed down the sloping trail at top speed. Clancy -followed him swiftly, calling out as he went: - -“Don’t do anything reckless, Jimmie! Look out, or you’ll get yourself -into trouble.” - -“Somebody’s goin’ to get into trouble, all right,” Fortune flung back, -over his shoulder, and raced on. - - - - -CHAPTER III. THE MOTOR WIZARD. - - -As Clancy drew nearer the group at the foot of the slope, it became -apparent that the stout gentleman was “laying down the law” to the -driver of the big car. Rockwell continued to hang discreetly in the -background. - -Into this group Fortune plunged like a whirlwind. In half a minute he -had laid violent hands on the chauffeur, and the two fell to struggling -with might and main. - -The chauffeur was older than Fortune, although about the same size, and -he protected himself with a good deal of vigor. In spite of his utmost -efforts, however, the wanderer threw him and dropped on his chest with -both knees; then, as he drew back his fist to strike, the stout man -grabbed his arm. - -“What do you mean, you young savage?” the man cried. “Here, Rockwell! -Help me get these two apart.” - -Rockwell helped, and so did Clancy. In a little time the two -antagonists were dragged away from each other and held firmly at a -distance. Their glances crossed angrily. - -“If it’s a fight you want,” snarled the chauffeur, “I’m willing to -accommodate. No one can jump me like that without takin’ his medicine, -by gorry!” - -“Y’ought to have your face pounded in!” shouted Fortune. “You run me -down on the narrer trail, up the mountain, and I had to roll over the -edge o’ the clift to get away from you. What d’you mean by whalin’ -along a road like that, without ever givin’ a feller who’s hoofin’ it a -chanst for himself?” - -“Look here, Dirk Hibbard,” called the stout man, fastening a stern -glance on the chauffeur, “is that what you did?” - -“You can’t believe that whelp, judge,” answered Hibbard. “You know I’m -a careful driver. He’s making up that yarn out of whole cloth. I slowed -up and sounded the Gabriel--and he knows it!” - -“Slowed up!” jeered Fortune. “You tore past me at forty miles an hour. -Ain’t that so, pard?” and he appealed to Clancy. - -“Yes,” said Clancy, “it’s so. He sounded the horn, but never slackened -speed at all. I had to be quick to get out of his way.” - -The judge favored Clancy with a keen look. Evidently he was impressed -by the youth’s appearance and truthfulness. - -“Well,” remarked the judge, “maybe Hibbard deserves a licking--but -he’ll get worse than that before I’m done with him. You keep hands -off,” he added to Fortune; “I’ll not stand for any rough-house.” - -He pushed Fortune away and nodded to Clancy to take charge of him and -restrain his hostile ardor. Clancy at once passed to the side of his -friend and caught his arm restrainingly. Rockwell, who did not seem to -recognize Fortune as a relative, got off into the background once more. - -“So,” went on the judge, in scathing tones, again giving attention -to Dirk Hibbard, “you take my car out without permission and go over -mountain trails with it at forty miles an hour! What have you to say -for yourself?” - -“Judge Pembroke,” answered Hibbard, “these two hoboes are pullin’ the -wool over your eyes. I don’t see why you are taking their word against -mine. You know me, and they’re strangers. Is that right?” - -“Did I, or did I not, tell you never to take that machine out of the -garage without permission?” flared the judge. - -“Why, yes, but----” - -“You knew my wishes. To-day you thought I was going to Prescott, and -you deliberately disobeyed instructions. I changed my mind about going -north and telephoned the garage for the car. Rockwell told me you had -taken the car and gone north by this road. He and I followed you, and -found you at the foot of the mountain, with the car disabled. Where -have you been, Hibbard?” - -The chauffeur wore a guilty look, but he made a show of defending -himself. - -“The motor wasn’t workin’ well, judge,” said he, “and I took the car -over the trail to get it in shape.” - -“Oh, you did!” answered the judge. “You took it over the mountain trail -at forty miles an hour--just to get the motor in shape! Likely yarn! -You seem to have got it in excellent condition, for the car is disabled -and can’t turn a wheel. Why don’t you fix it?” - -“I’m trying to,” answered Hibbard, “but it promises to be a long job. I -don’t know just where the difficulty is.” - -The judge whirled on Rockwell. - -“Can you locate the trouble?” he asked. “I want to take this car back -to the garage--I’m not going away and leave it here.” - -The garage proprietor came up to the machine. Both sides of the -hood had been lifted, and he stooped down and looked the motor over -critically. - -“Engine seems all right,” said he. “Maybe there’s no gasoline in the -tank.” - -“Tank’s half full,” returned Hibbard, with a scowl. - -“Then maybe the carburetor----” - -“Carburetor’s in apple-pie order,” averred the chauffeur. - -“All that being the case,” went on Rockwell reflectively, “I reckon we -better hitch a rope to the machine and haul it back to the garage for -an overhauling.” - -Clancy’s keen eyes had been going over the motor. At a glance he had -located the difficulty, and he was amazed to hear the garage owner and -the chauffeur assert their ignorance of it. - -“The trouble’s plain enough,” he blurted out. “I can locate it from -here.” - -Instantly the red-headed fellow captured the complete attention of the -judge, Rockwell, and Hibbard. - -“You must be a wonder!” sneered Hibbard. “I’ve been drivin’ a car for -four years, but maybe you know a heap more’n I do. You act like one of -these chaps that know it all!” - -“Are you a mechanic?” inquired Rockwell. - -“Mechanic!” jeered Hibbard. “He’s an expert. Can’t you tell that by -lookin’ at him? Regular red-headed fix it. You don’t know what’s wrong, -Rocks, and I don’t. Let’s see if he can go ahead and make good.” - -Clancy, under this fire of ill-natured talk, kept his temper well in -hand. Fortune grew restive, and was plainly eager to give Hibbard as -good as he sent, but his “pard” checked him with a look. - -“It doesn’t take an expert, nor much of a mechanic, to tell what is -wrong with that engine,” said he. “If the rest of the car is in order, -I can settle the difficulty in thirty seconds.” - -“Wow!” cried Hibbard, with an ugly laugh. “He’s a wizard, a regular -motor wizard. He rolls up out of the desert, and----” - -“That will do!” cut in the judge sharply. “What is your name, young -man?” he asked, turning to Clancy. - -Clancy told him. Rockwell, when he heard the name, gave a start and -looked at the lad more closely. - -“You say,” continued the judge, pulling a gold timepiece from his vest, -“that you can make my car ready for the road in thirty seconds. Go -ahead and make good. I’ll time you.” - -Clancy smiled as he stepped forward. - -“All right,” said he. - -He bent down and manipulated a couple of wires leading from the magneto -to the spark plug. Then he straightened up. - -“That’s all,” he remarked. - -“You’ve got fifteen seconds more,” said the judge. “Go on.” - -“It’s all over, judge. The wires were crossed, that’s all. Easy enough -to see and easy enough to fix.” - -Rockwell and Hibbard exchanged a quick glance. It was a significant -glance and did not escape either Clancy or Fortune, although it was -entirely lost upon the judge. - -“You mean to say the trouble is remedied?” inquired Judge Pembroke -incredulously. - -“I think so,” Clancy answered, “providing the rest of the car is in -condition. The crossing of wires from magneto to spark plugs will -disable any car.” - -“See if you can crank the machine.” - -Clancy lowered the sides of the hood, fastened them in place, and then -walked back and adjusted the spark. One spin of the crank set the -engine to humming. - -“Well, by George!” exclaimed the judge; “and neither Rockwell nor -Hibbard could tell what was wrong! What do you know about that?” he -asked, turning to the garage proprietor. - -Rockwell merely grunted and began cranking his own machine preparatory -to a return to town. Hibbard’s face was like a thundercloud. The -animosity he had previously shown toward Fortune had seemingly shifted -to Clancy. Like Rockwell, however, Hibbard had nothing to say. - -“I suppose you can drive a car, Clancy?” the judge asked. - -“Certainly,” was the reply. - -“Then I’d like to have you drive me back to town.” - -“I don’t want to take the place of your chauffeur, judge,” said Clancy, -“and, besides, I’ve a little business with Mr. Rockwell and would like -to ride with him. We can transact the business very nicely on the way -to town.” - -Rockwell, who was behind the wheel of the other machine, shot another -quick glance at Clancy. - -“I reckon I’ll take the rumble seat o’ the other car, and ride with -you, pard,” spoke up Fortune. - -“I reckon you won’t,” snapped Rockwell. “You’ll either ride with the -judge, young man, or else you’ll walk.” - -Judge Pembroke seemed surprised at this ugly show of temper. - -“You’re welcome to ride in my car,” said he to Fortune. - -“Wait for me at the garage, Jimmie,” said Clancy, “providing you get -there before we do. If we get there first, I’ll wait.” - -“Correct,” returned Fortune, and climbed into the tonneau of the -judge’s machine. - -The judge, with no very good grace, motioned Hibbard to climb to the -driver’s seat, and then followed and took the seat beside him. - -“I’ll see you again, Clancy,” called the judge, as the big car started -off. “I want to have a talk with you.” - -Clancy got in with Rockwell, and the smaller machine got under way. For -several minutes Rockwell sat bowed over the steering wheel and did not -speak. At last he thawed out enough to remark: - -“I wouldn’t have had that happen for a hundred dollars! What business -have you butting into my affairs? If it comes to that, what’s your -business with me, anyway? Come across with it.” - - - - -CHAPTER IV. CLANCY GETS A JOB. - - -There was nothing friendly in Rockwell’s voice. In fact, his very words -showed an enmity for which Clancy was at a loss to account. - -“I was helping out the judge,” said he. “I didn’t know I was butting -into your affairs.” - -“You made Pembroke think I didn’t know what was wrong with his car!” - -“Well, you didn’t, did you?” - -“Think I’m a fool? Think I----” Rockwell broke off suddenly, as though -realizing he was going too far. “Pembroke is one of my best customers,” -he went on. “He keeps two cars at my garage--that big one and an -electric for his wife. You’ve made him think I don’t know my business, -and I’m liable to lose his trade. That’s why I’m sore about your -butting in.” - -There was something here which Clancy could not understand. If -Rockwell knew what was wrong with the judge’s car--and it was foolish -to think that a man who ran a garage could not locate so simple a -difficulty--then why hadn’t he fixed the motor instead of offering to -tow the car in for an overhauling? - -Clancy, who was quick-witted, fell to wondering if Hibbard and Rockwell -might not be in “cahoots” to secure money from the judge for “repairs” -that were not needed. The chauffeur had shown that he was not to be -trusted, and Clancy had heard stories of Rockwell which were far from -being a credit to him. - -All this, however, was merely guesswork. Knowing nothing absolutely, -Clancy reserved judgment. - -“I’m sorry if I did you a bad turn, Mr. Rockwell,” said he, “but it -seems queer that Hibbard would misrepresent things to the judge, -and----” - -“Never mind that,” cut in Rockwell. “You made a show of Hibbard and me -before the judge, but that’s done with now, and I’ll see if I can’t -smooth things over. Pembroke seems to have taken a fancy for you, and -you can help me--and maybe Hibbard, too--by keeping away from him. -What’s your business?” - -“I like to work with motors and I want a place in a garage. I was going -to Phoenix to see you about it. Have you a place for me?” - -A look of relief crossed Rockwell’s face and his voice took on a more -friendly tone as he answered: - -“I’d like to give you a job, but hanged if I see how I can. Got more -men now than I know what to do with. Is that all?” - -“No,” said Clancy, “there’s something else.” - -Rockwell grew uneasy again and his former gruffness came back with a -rush. - -“What else?” he grunted. - -“You know a man named John Clancy, don’t you?” - -“Yes.” - -“Well, I’m John Clancy’s son. Owen Clancy is my name.” - -“Your father was killed in Mexico, wasn’t he?” - -“No. He went down there to save some of his investments and just -managed to escape with his life. He’s sick, and in bad shape, and I’ve -sent him back East to recover his health.” - -“I see. What about his Mexican investments?” - -“He lost everything he had, down below the line. The revolutionists -cleaned him out.” - -“Too bad, too bad!” murmured Rockwell. “John Clancy was well off, and a -good sort of a man. But what’s all this to do with me?” - -“The way things are now, Mr. Rockwell,” pursued Clancy, “the governor -needs all the money he can get hold of. He let you have a thousand -dollars and you gave him a note for it. The note is long past due, and -I’m here to collect the money.” - -Rockwell’s brows wrinkled in a hard frown. - -“Where’s that note?” he demanded. - -Clancy drew an old black wallet from the breast of his shirt, opened -it, and removed an oblong slip of paper. - -“Here,” said he, pushing the paper over the steering wheel and under -the eyes of Rockwell. - -The latter pushed up his goggles, stared at the note for a moment, and -then pulled the goggles down over his eyes again. - -“That’s the paper, all right,” he observed. “Why wasn’t it presented -when due? I had the money to pay it, then, but I’m pretty badly crowded -just now.” - -“You’ll pay it?” asked Clancy hopefully. - -“Always pay my obligations, if I’m given time enough. But I can’t do it -right off, Clancy. You’ll have to give me a week or two to round up the -money.” - -Clancy returned the note to the wallet and the wallet to the breast of -his shirt. - -“I want to close the matter up as quickly as possible, Mr. Rockwell,” -he answered. “You see, I’ve got to find a job right away, and get busy. -I haven’t any money to waste loafing around. If there is no garage in -Phoenix that can find a place for me, I’ll have to go to some other -town.” - -Rockwell remained thoughtful for several minutes. - -“Ever work in a garage?” he asked. - -“No,” was the answer. “Up to now I haven’t had to work. Dad has had -plenty of money, and I was attending an academy and getting ready for -college. When the crash came, I had to quit school and look for work. -The care of the family now falls on me, and--and I’ve got to make good.” - -“Now that I know you’re John Clancy’s son,” said Rockwell slowly, -“I’m inclined to do more than ordinary to make a place for you. That -thousand I got from your father on my plain note helped me over a -mighty tight pinch, and that’s mainly the reason I’d like to be of some -use to you.” - -Clancy was surprised and delighted at the expression of these -sentiments. From what he had heard regarding Rockwell, he expected to -find in the man a cunning, unscrupulous person who would be exceedingly -hard to deal with. Yet here Rockwell was showing a grateful disposition -which did not tally with the reports of his character which had come to -Clancy. - -If Clancy could have seen the guileful light in Rockwell’s eyes, it is -safe to say he would not have been so pleased. But the goggles hid the -garage owner’s eyes, and the youth was left in the dark as to what was -passing in the man’s mind. - -“I’ll appreciate anything you can do for me,” said Clancy, with feeling. - -“Are you willing to do what I tell you to, and to keep your mouth -shut?” asked Rockwell. - -“I’ll obey orders, of course, and do the best I can. As for talking, -I’ll close up like a clam about everything that concerns you and your -business.” - -It was an honest, straightforward answer, but it failed to make the -proper impression on Rockwell somehow. - -“The garage business is peculiar,” remarked Rockwell. “To make anything -at all, the proprietor of a garage has to pull a lot of wires. Now, -Judge Pembroke just wallows in money, and he wants his cars in the -best condition always. I’ve been at him for a long time to get that -big machine overhauled, but as long as it runs fairly well he seems to -be satisfied. That’s the way with car owners,” and a complaining note -entered the man’s voice. “I know, a heap better than the judge, what’s -best for his car, and if I don’t do some tinkering with it before long -he’ll have a bad spill on the road. Can’t make him see that, though. In -order to get that machine and put it in A-1 order, I had to resort to -tact. Get me?” - -“Tact?” echoed Clancy. - -“That’s the word. I was doing it all for the judge. I knew those wires -were crossed, and so did Hibbard. What I was after was to tow the big -car back to Phoenix and put it in apple-pie order. Hibbard and I were -working together. Of course, I had to give Hibbard a bonus; but then, -all chauffeurs draw down a commission on about everything--they expect -it, and if a garage proprietor don’t pony up, they’ll work it so the -car finally lands in some other garage. When things like that happen, -Clancy, I want you to keep your own counsel. If you do that, maybe I -can find a place for you. If you can’t be--er--diplomatic, there isn’t -much that I can do for John Clancy’s son. What about it?” - -Rockwell was plausible, but he was not plausible enough to fool Clancy. -The red-headed chap was badly disappointed. Rockwell was crafty, if not -downright dishonest. - -“I guess you don’t want me, Mr. Rockwell,” said Clancy. “I haven’t been -brought up to stand for that sort of thing.” - -“Bosh! You’re too thin-skinned. Business is business, young fellow, -and nowadays a man has to be mighty shrewd if he makes good. It’s -principally the rich men who keep cars in garages, and it’s necessary -to keep their machines in trim--even if you have to use tact, once in a -while, to get permission to overhaul a car. As for the driver’s end of -it--well, maybe that’s plain graft, but it’s legitimate so far as the -garage owner is concerned. If he keeps his customers he has to pay the -driver his bit.” - -“I need work,” said Clancy, “but I’m going to be square. If I can’t -make good without stealing, then I won’t make good, that’s all.” - -Silence settled down between the two. The car rolled into Washington -Street and along it to First Avenue. As it turned into the avenue, the -front of the garage was brought plainly into sight. A big red star hung -over the door. Above the star were the words, “Red Star Garage,” and, -below it, the attractive legend, “Free Air.” - -The garage was an adobe structure, but it looked rather imposing and -prosperous. A man in greasy overclothes was out in front, filling a -radiator. Another car, spick and span from recent grooming, was just -sliding through the broad doorway into the street. - -In front of the building, on a bench, sat Judge Pembroke and Jimmie -Fortune. Evidently they were waiting for Clancy to arrive. Rockwell -muttered something under his breath. - -“I’ll give you a job as mechanic’s helper at fifty a month to start,” -said he, “and I’ll trust you to do the right thing by me. Is it a go?” - -“Yes,” Clancy answered. “When am I to begin?” - -“To-morrow morning.” - -As Clancy got out of the car in the garage, he turned to find Judge -Pembroke at his elbow. - -“I’ve just discharged Hibbard,” said he, “and I want another driver. -I’ll give you seventy-five a month to work for me, Clancy. Will you -take the place?” - -Clancy, for a moment, was “stumped.” - -“I’m sorry, sir,” he answered, “but I’ve just hired out to Mr. -Rockwell.” - -“You’re not half as sorry as I am,” said the judge, turning away. “If -you don’t like it here, come and see me.” - -Rockwell, just getting out of the car, chuckled, under his breath. - - - - -CHAPTER V. HIBBARD SHOWS HIS TEETH. - - -It was hard for Clancy to understand Rockwell. At first, he had no -place open for Clancy at all; after he saw the thousand-dollar note, he -suddenly discovered that he could put him on the pay roll, providing he -could do his work and keep his own counsel; and finally, when Clancy -declined the position if he must turn his back an his principles, -Rockwell “took him on,” anyway. - -It did not occur to Clancy that Rockwell might have a design in -these shifty tactics, and that the design underwent changes as Clancy -developed his aims and intentions. - -As the judge walked off, leaving Clancy poorer by twenty-five dollars a -month because of his promise to Rockwell, Fortune saw a chance and took -quick advantage of it. - -“Hold your bronks a minute, judge,” he called, hurrying after Pembroke. -“I’m big for my size and old for my age, and I reckon I could pull down -that seventy-five allee same Clancy. What do you say?” - -The judge paused and cast a reflective eye over Jimmie. - -“Can you drive a car?” he inquired. - -“Me? Gee-wollops! Say, I invented cars. If the diaphragm gets crossways -of the razmataz so that the needle valve back fires, I can fix it in -ten seconds with my eyes done up in a cloth.” - -“Bosh!” interfered Rockwell. “You don’t want a thing to do with that -good-for-nothing, judge. I happen to know him. He can’t tell a radiator -from a bale of hay.” - -“I don’t think you’ll do,” said the judge to Fortune, and walked off -down the street. - -“You’re a fine uncle for a wanderin’ boy that’s tryin’ to get a -foothold!” cried Fortune, turning on the garage owner. “Out with a -hammer and knockin’ the rest o’ the fambly as per usual. If I had a -disposition like yourn, blamed if I wouldn’t go down where the boats -come in, and jump off!” - -“You get out o’ here!” shouted Rockwell. - -“When I get good and ready. I ain’t in your old chug-wagon corral, but -out in front. You don’t own the street, I reckon. If you don’t like my -comp’ny, start your feet and change locations. Whoosh! Say, if I was as -mean, and back bitin’, and as full o’ low-down schemes as you, I’d be -glad to bob up in straight and honest sassiety oncet in a while jest to -ketch a breath o’ good air. I’d----” - -Rockwell, red with rage and muttering to himself, did not pause to hear -any more, but dived through the front door of the garage. He looked out -again to call to his new employee: - -“I’ll expect you to sleep here nights, Clancy. If you go away, get back -by eight o’clock.” - -“All right, sir,” Clancy answered. - -Rockwell disappeared, and Fortune dropped down on the bench and drew -Clancy down beside him. - -“You locoed, pard?” Fortune demanded. - -“I hope not,” was the reply. “Why?” - -“What’s Old Rocks payin’ you?” - -“Fifty a month.” - -“Why didn’t you jump at the judge’s seventy-five?” - -“Because I had already agreed to work for Rockwell.” - -“Why didn’t you turn Rocks down?” - -“When I give a promise I try to stand by it.” - -“Who’s goin’ to pin a rose on you for that? Old Rocks? Fergit it! He’s -workin’ a scheme, and already you’re beginnin’ to get the worst of it. -What did he say about that note?” - -“Said he’d pay me the money in a week or two.” - -“He never will, and all he’s doin’ is playin’ for time. You and me -can’t trot in double harness if you stay here, Red. I was sort o’ -bankin’ on takin’ your little hand in mine and goin’ out for a look at -the universe. And here you’ve cut yourself off from Jimmie and Jonah -first clatter out o’ the box.” - -“We’ll keep track of each other,” laughed Clancy, “and maybe I’ll be -able to help you to a job before long. How are you fixed for money, -Jimmie?” - -“Money?” gasped Fortune. “What’s that? I ain’t on speakin’ terms with a -soo markee.” - -Clancy took two silver dollars from his pocket and pressed them into -his friend’s hand. - -“That’s not much, Jimmie,” said he, “but it’s the best I can do for the -present. That ought to keep you going for a short time. I don’t think -I’m going to like it at this garage,” he went on, dropping his voice, -“but I’ve got to stay here till I collect the money on that note. Drop -around occasionally and let me know where you are.” - -Fortune looked at the two pieces of silver reflectively. - -“You are the clear quill, Red,” he finally observed. “This here’s a -grubstake, and that means you got a half interest in any vein o’ pay -rock I’m able to unkiver. Maybe I ain’t named Fortune for nothin’, -after all, and we go snooks on whatever grows up from these two plunks -after I’ve planted ’em. Hoop-a-la!” - -The queer chap got up from the bench with a wide smile, jingling the -money in his trousers pocket. Just as he started away, Dirk Hibbard -darted around the corner of the garage and rushed up to Clancy. The -fellow’s manner was distinctly hostile, and, in a flash, Clancy was on -his feet. - -“I reckon you’re plumb satisfied now!” exclaimed Hibbard, bitterly -resentful. - -Fortune, on his way toward Washington Street, halted and faced around. - -“Well, yes,” drawled Clancy, looking the discharged chauffeur squarely -in the eyes, “I’ve got a job and I suppose I ought to be satisfied!” - -“You laid your plans to get old Pembroke to fire me!” - -“It’s nothing to me whether the judge keeps you or fires you, and -I didn’t lay any plans. I’m working for Rockwell and not for Judge -Pembroke.” - -“You wanted to get my job for that muttonhead friend of yours!” -breathed Hibbard, through his teeth. - -“Who’s the muttonhead?” demanded Fortune, stepping forward truculently. -“Me?” - -“Keep off, Jimmie!” said Clancy. “Hibbard’s business is with me, not -with you. I don’t care a rap about you, one way or the other,” he went -on to Hibbard, “but it’s my private opinion that the judge did a good -piece of work when he pulled the pin on you. I’ve an idea that you have -been double crossing him right along, and that he has just begun to -find it out.” - -“Mean to say I’m a thief?” asked the other hotly. - -“Any fellow who will disable a car just to get a commission for having -it overhauled isn’t giving much attention to the interests of his -employer; what’s more----” - -Hibbard’s face was full of wrath. With a muttered oath, he struck at -Clancy with his fist. - -The red-headed chap was not taken by surprise. He had kept his eyes -on the chauffeur’s face, and he knew that blow was coming an instant -before it was launched. - -Clancy side-stepped with the swiftness of lightning, and the clenched -hand found only space. Before Hibbard could recover his balance, Clancy -had struck him and sent him to his knees. - -“Gle-ory to snakes, and all sashay!” piped Fortune jubilantly. “Pard, -you found him! That little surprise party was somethin’ of a jolt. The -cimiroon went gunnin’ for more’n he expected.” - -With a bellow of rage, Hibbard regained his feet and plunged into the -garage. The next moment a monkey wrench came sailing through the door, -but Clancy saw it in time to dodge. Hibbard followed the monkey wrench -in person, armed with a hammer. His face was working convulsively, and -he seemed absolutely beside himself. - -“I’ll kill you!” he cried huskily. - -Fortune leaped to take a hand in the set-to, but Clancy ordered him -back. - -“Leave Hibbard to me,” he said; “I can handle him.” - -Fortune, his eyes wide with apprehension for his “pard,” retreated -slowly, and watched. - -What he saw was something of a revelation to him in the art of -self-defense. The red-headed chap gave a pretty demonstration of -coolness and skill as opposed to brute strength and unreasoning rage. - -Whirling the hammer in short, vicious circles, Hibbard executed a -furious attack. Clancy stood his ground until the fellow was close, -then he sprang high into the air. His feet shot out, and the toe of one -shoe landed on the wrist of the hand that held the hammer. The heavy -weapon went clattering to the cement walk. - -Then, while the driver stood disarmed, Clancy sailed into him with -vigor and determination. In almost less time than it takes to tell of -it, Hibbard was tripped, flung from his feet, and cast against the -adobe wall. - -The force of his fall dazed him, and he sat in a quivering heap, his -back to the adobe and his eyes blinking up at Clancy. - -“What’s this?” called the sharp voice of Rockwell, who came hurrying -through the door. - -“Hibbard picked a quarrel with me,” answered Clancy calmly. “His fists -weren’t good enough, and he went after a monkey wrench and a hammer.” - -The garage owner looked down on the driver. - -“Haven’t you got any sense at all?” he asked sternly. “Do you think -you’re helping yourself any by this kind of work?” - -Hibbard shook his head, as though to clear the fog from his brain, and -got up slowly. - -“That red-headed skunk has euchered me out of a job,” he growled. “I’ll -get even with him, by thunder! If I can’t get him one way, I will -another.” - -“My advice to you, Hibbard, is to sing small,” said Rockwell. “Don’t -want to get yourself in the lockup, do you?” - -“I don’t care a whoop where I get myself, if I can saw off even with -that dub!” - -He made another pass at Clancy with his fist, but Rockwell grabbed the -doubled arm and pulled the baffled chauffeur off along the walk toward -the main street. The two presently turned the corner and were lost to -sight. - -“Hibbard’s no match for you, Reddy,” said Fortune, “but you look out -for him, jest the same. He’s the sort that’ll hit from behind, and -strike in the dark. Mind that!” - -Clancy laughed lightly. - -“Hibbard can’t scare me,” he answered. “He’s sore because he lost his -job--and he’s blaming everybody but himself.” - -“While you’re watchin’ him, pard,” said Fortune, “keep a weather eye -out for old Rocks. He allers has a few tricks up his wide and flowin’ -sleeve, and I don’t like the looks o’ things around these diggin’s. -That’s honest.” - - - - -CHAPTER VI. ROCKWELL’S SCHEME. - - -Hibbard sputtered wrathfully while Rockwell led him across the street -and to a bench in the city hall plaza. The bench was partly screened -from passers-by by a clump of tall oleanders. - -“Sit down, Hibbard,” said Rockwell. “I want to talk a little sense into -that foolish brain of yours, if I can.” - -“I don’t want to do any chinning,” protested Hibbard. “I lost a good -job, and I want to get even with the chap that stole it away from me. -Pembroke paid me seventy-five a month, but the ’coms’ and--er--other -things brought me in a hundred and fifty, and sometimes two hundred. -I ain’t a-going to be pried loose from that snap without makin’ that -red-headed robber smart for it!” - -“Oh, hush!” returned the garage owner impatiently. “You’re talking at -the top of your voice, and it would be easy for some one to overhear -you. That wouldn’t do, Hibbard; you know pesky well it might get you -into trouble.” - -“Me?” was the grim response. “I allow there are some others that would -get into trouble, too.” He peered at Rockwell significantly. “Eh?” - -“Never mind about that,” was the uneasy response. “Just cool off, will -you, so we can talk sensibly.” - -Hibbard seemed to get himself better in hand. His voice dropped, his -manner changed, and he sank down on the bench. - -“Did you give that red-headed buttinsky a job?” he asked resentfully. - -“Yes.” - -“If you’ve got any jobs to throw around you might toss one my way. Why -in blazes did you want to hire that other yap?” - -“I hired him to keep him away from Pembroke. The judge was waiting when -we got back to the garage. But he was too late. I had already taken -Clancy into my employ at fifty dollars a month.” - -“Didn’t the judge offer him what I was getting?” - -“Yes,” chuckled Rockwell, “but the fellow has got peculiar ideas about -business. He wouldn’t accept the judge’s offer of seventy-five a month -when he had hired out to me for fifty.” - -“I thought he was a fool!” grunted Hibbard. - -“He’s easy. He wants to be straight and square, he says, and----” - -“And work for you!” struck in the other significantly. - -“No comments, Dirk. I do as legitimate a garage business as I can, but, -with the commissions demanded by you drivers, I have to figure close -and use tact in order to make a living. If chauffeurs would play fair, -garage keepers wouldn’t have to scheme so confounded hard to make both -ends meet.” - -“Piffle!” sneered Hibbard. “Everybody knows you’re a skinner, Rocks, -and if the drivers didn’t make you whack up with them you’d stuff all -the ‘velvet’ into your own pocket.” - -“That’s your way of looking at it,” Rockwell answered patiently, “but -you’re wrong. That has nothing to do with this case, though.” - -“That red-headed chump beat me out of a big commission on overhauling -the judge’s machine, didn’t he? I was to get twenty-five per cent of -the bill you ran up on the judge, in addition to ten and five on extra -parts for repairs. Whose scheme was that, eh? You hatched it up and -asked me to work it out for you. Your new employee got next to the -crossed wires. Now I’m out of a job, and the judge don’t even suspect -that you had a hand in putting the car out of commission! Is that -right? You ought to find a place for me, Rockwell.” - -The garage owner did not reply at once. He appeared to be turning -something over in his mind. - -“Why didn’t you let Pembroke take him on?” continued Hibbard. “Then I -could have had this place you’ve given him.” - -“I had to give Clancy a job,” Rockwell answered. - -“Why?” - -Rockwell peered around cautiously. There was no one on the graveled -walks of the plaza, in their vicinity. - -“There’s something you can do for me, Hibbard,” he proceeded. “I’ll -give you a couple of hundred if you pull it off. If you have a grouch -against young Clancy, you can wipe it out at the same time.” - -Hibbard was profoundly interested on the instant. - -“Tell me about it,” said he. “I’d do anything to play even with Clancy.” - -Rockwell’s face grew stern and uncompromising as he went on: - -“If I let you in on this, and you betray my confidence in any way, -you’ll get yourself into a peck of trouble, Hibbard.” - -The chauffeur looked at him curiously. - -“When it comes to handing out trouble, Rocks,” he returned grimly, “I -allow two can play at that game. We know too much about each other to -do any double-crossing. Play square with me and I’ll do the same with -you.” - -“You’ve got such a blooming temper,” the garage man hesitated, “that -I don’t know whether it would be wise to trust you. The minute you -lose the whiphand of yourself, you fly all to pieces, and blurt out -everything you know.” - -“Don’t you believe it! I never blurt out anything that’s liable to get -me into hot water. But why did you bring this matter up, if you think I -can’t be trusted?” - -“Well, I’m going to take a chance. You’re about the only one that fills -the bill for this particular piece of work, and circumstances have -shaped themselves so that you are the logical man. I’ll have to explain -a few details so that you’ll get the matter straight. This Owen Clancy, -the fellow I have just hired, is the son of a man named John Clancy. -John Clancy hired cars from the garage a good many times, and we got -to know each other pretty well. He’s a mining engineer, and picked -up a pot of money. I understand, though, that he has lost most of it -in Mexico, and that he has now gone back to his home in the East, a -physical and mental wreck. Young Clancy is taking care of the family.” - -“What has all that to do with my work?” - -“It has a bearing on it. Several months ago I was pretty hard pressed, -and needed a thousand dollars to see me through. I got the money of -John Clancy, giving him my plain, unendorsed note. The note became due, -but was not presented for payment. I heard Clancy had been killed by -Mexican revolutionists, and I naturally believed I never would have to -pay that note. Now,” and the sharp lines gathered in Rockwell’s face, -“young Clancy turns up with the paper, and wants the money.” - -Hibbard laughed softly. - -“And you don’t want to cough up, eh?” he asked. - -“Not just at present. What’s more, Hibbard, I don’t want any trouble on -account of that note.” - -“You’ll not have any trouble. Everybody knows that all your property is -in your wife’s name. She didn’t sign the note with you, did she?” - -“No.” - -“Then let Clancy whistle.” - -“I can’t do that. If young Clancy sues and tries to collect, the -publicity would be a bad thing for the business.” - -“Why didn’t Clancy’s father deposit the note in the bank before he went -to Mexico?” - -“I don’t know. The thing that concerns me is that young Clancy is here -with the note, and demands payment. I have told him that I would try -and give him the money in a couple of weeks.” - -“So,” remarked Hibbard, “in order to keep him quiet and comfortable, -you have given him a job. Is that the way of it?” - -“That is partly the way of it. So long as he has the note, he possesses -a weapon which he can use against me at any time. Frankly, Hibbard, I -don’t see how I can get the money together in a couple of weeks.” - -“Borrow it of Mrs. Rockwell.” - -The garage owner winked. - -“That is out of the question,” he answered. “I borrowed the money of -Clancy to pay a gambling debt, and I want to keep the whole thing -quiet.” - -“Where do I come in? What do you want me to do?” - -“Here’s the way of it,” returned Rockwell. “If I had that note in -my possession--if I could get hold of it without young Clancy’s -knowledge--I could----” - -“You could tear it up, and save yourself a thousand dollars, plus the -interest,” said Hibbard, with an evil grin. “I get you, old Rocks!” - -The other frowned. - -“No, you don’t get me,” he growled. “You’re too ready to think me -crooked. If I had the note in my own hands, and if it got to me without -young Clancy’s knowledge, I could hold it until I was ready to pay over -the money. And, while I was getting ready, Clancy couldn’t make me any -trouble at all. He’d simply think he lost the note, see? I’d be white -with him, too. While I was getting the money together to take up the -note, I’ll let him work for me at fifty a month.” - -“Then, coming down to cases,” observed Hibbard, “you want me to steal -that note from young Clancy, turn it over to you, and get a couple of -hundred for my trouble.” - -“I’m not interested particularly in how you secure the paper from -Clancy. The moment you put it into my hands I will give you two hundred -dollars. It will be worth that to me to have two or three months’ -extension of time on the obligation.” - -“Does Clancy carry the note around with him?” asked Hibbard, already -beginning to figure on ways and means for his rascally exploit. - -“Yes. It is in a black wallet in the breast of his flannel shirt.” - -“Where does he hang out nights?” - -“He’ll be in the little room back of the garage,” was the significant -rejoinder. “I’m having him sleep there to help out the night man in -case there is a rush of work. You know all about the garage, Hibbard. -The trick ought to come easy for you. All I want is a little more time -on that note--and this is about the only way I can get it.” - -Hibbard, knowing Rockwell so well, felt positive in his own mind that -the note, once in the signer’s hands, would be destroyed. The garage -man had a way of giving a plausible touch to his rascally undertakings -that fooled very few of those who understood his character. - -“Are you going to help me, or aren’t you?” demanded Rockwell. - -“I’m going to earn that two hundred, and get even with Clancy, -providing----” - -Hibbard paused, looking at Rockwell out of the tails of his eyes. - -“Providing what?” the other asked. - -“Providing you give me young Clancy’s job, or another where the -chance of a rake-off is as good, after the thing is over. I’ve got -to live--and where, in this burg, can I get another job as chauffeur -without a recommendation from Pembroke?” - -“I’ll take care of you, Hibbard,” said Rockwell. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. IN THE RED STAR GARAGE. - - -As soon as Rockwell and Hibbard had disappeared, Jimmie Fortune took -rather an abrupt leave of Owen. He walked rapidly in the direction -taken by the garage man and the chauffeur, jingling his silver dollars -as he went. - -“I’ll bet something handsome he’s going to keep an eye on Rockwell and -Hibbard,” muttered Clancy. “Those two fellows trouble him a lot more -than they do me. Jimmie’s a pretty good sort of a chap, though, if I’m -any hand at reading character.” - -Truth to tell, Owen had taken a great liking to the irresponsible, -happy-go-lucky Jimmie. The wanderer had shown no great capacity for -anything but celerity in losing the various jobs which he managed to -secure, and yet his oddness and good nature made him likable and a good -companion. - -Clancy went into the garage and looked around with considerable -interest. One corner of the huge room was partitioned off for an -office. A couple of young fellows, who looked as though they might -be chauffeurs, sat at a table in the office, smoking cigarettes and -playing cards. - -The interior walls of the garage were painted white, and marked off -with perpendicular black lines, six or seven feet apart. Cars of many -different makes were berthed between these lines. Other cars were drawn -out toward the middle of the floor and workmen were tinkering with them. - -In an “L” opening off the rear end of the big room machines were being -washed. In another L on the opposite side a sandy-whiskered man was -vulcanizing a tire. His face was smudged with oil and grease, but the -flame, striking his features sharply, revealed eyes that captured -Owen’s confidence. - -“You’re the mechanic here?” the new employee asked, approaching the -bench where the man was at work. - -“You’ve hit it, son,” was the reply. - -“I’m going to begin work here to-morrow, and I’m sort of looking around -to get an idea of the place.” - -The man leaned back against the side of the bench, picked up a pipe, -lighted it, and surveyed Clancy thoughtfully through wreaths of smoke. - -“Don’t do it,” said he, shaking his head. “I don’t know why in blazes -Rockwell is hiring more help, but that’s his business. I suppose it’s -none of my business, either, where you work or what you do, but you -look to be as square as a die. If that’s the case, then the Red Star -Garage is no place for you.” - -Clancy was surprised at this bit of advice coming from one of -Rockwell’s men. He must have shown how he felt, for the other went on -quickly: - -“Of course, I’m not yellin’ my advice to you in Rockwell’s ears. What -I’m saying to you is strictly on the q. t. If you’ve got a job here, -chuck it!” - -“But Mr. Rockwell made me an offer, and I accepted it,” returned Clancy. - -“Did he say anything to you about ‘tact,’ and all that?” - -“Yes.” - -“Then you’re going into the game with your eyes open. I guess I didn’t -read you right.” - -“I guess you did,” said Owen. “I won’t stand for the kind of ‘tact’ -Rockwell mentioned, and I told him so.” - -“Sufferin’ snakes! And then he hired you after that?” - -“Yes.” - -“I’m by! You must have some kind of a hold on him, I reckon. This -garage is a good place for a young fellow to start on the down grade. -If you can work here and keep square you’re entitled to a medal. My -name is Barton, Andy Barton. In case you bump into anything here where -you think a little advice would help, call on me.” - -“Much obliged, Andy. My name’s Owen Clancy, and I guess I’m to take -hold as one of your helpers.” - -“Ever worked with cars any?” - -“Not in a garage. This is my first job.” - -Andy Barton shook his head gruesomely. - -“I reckon I hadn’t better talk to you much, just now,” said he. “The -boss will want to do that. There he comes,” and Barton went back to his -work. - -Clancy looked around, and saw Rockwell just coming into the shop wing -of the building. - -“Getting the lay of the land, Clancy?” the garage man asked, pleasantly -enough. - -“Yes,” was the reply. “This looks like a pretty good-sized -establishment.” - -“There are bigger ones in town, but I don’t think you’ll find any -much better. You’ve met Barton? Good! He’ll tell you what to do when -you show up for work in the morning. Of course,” he added, as Owen -strolled away with him, “there are a lot of cars stored here that are -looked after by the owners themselves. We get six dollars a month for -space between two of those black lines. The rent, along with the sale -of gasoline and oil, is about all the revenue we get from that class -of customers. It’s the big bugs, like Judge Pembroke, who make the -business worth while.” - -He opened a door at the rear of the big room and ushered Owen into a -small apartment equipped with a bunk, washstand, and chair, and having -a single window for light and air. - -“My night man’s name is Pruitt,” continued Rockwell. “He takes care of -the business during the off hours. Occasionally--not very often--he is -rushed, and needs help. That’s why I want you to sleep in this room, -Clancy, and I wish you’d sleep here to-night.” - -“If Pruitt has much for me to do,” said Owen, “I can see where I’m not -going to be of much help to Barton.” - -“You may never be routed out during the night, but I want some one -around in case Pruitt has to leave the garage with a car. You’ll show -up here this evening?” - -“Yes.” - -“All right, I’ll depend on you. I’ll tell the helper, who has been -sleeping here, that he can begin berthing at home. Give me faithful -service, Clancy, and I’ll see that your wages are raised from time to -time. I reckon that will be all. You’d better go and hunt your supper. -Where’s your baggage?” - -“I’ve got a grip coming over from Tempe on the stage.” - -“Why didn’t you bring it with you?” - -“Because I walked to save stage fare.” - -Rockwell stared, and whistled. - -“Your old man must be pretty badly crimped, if you had to do that,” he -remarked. “Show up here at eight o’clock. You’ll not be on duty, you -understand, except in case you’re needed. You can turn in at eight, or -light up and read, or spend your time in the office--please yourself -about that. Report to Barton in the morning.” - -Clancy went away to find a place where he could get his supper. As he -went, he wondered a little why it was necessary for the proprietor of -such a prosperous establishment to take so much time getting together a -thousand dollars. - -“I guess Rockwell’s a bandit, all right,” he muttered, “but I’m going -to be on my guard and see that he doesn’t get the better of me. That -note is a thing he can’t dodge, and I’m going to keep it right in my -hands until he takes it up.” - -Clancy found a modest restaurant in Washington Street where the food -was good and prices reasonable. Although it was still early in the -evening, the electric lights were sparkling up and down the business -thoroughfare as he came out of the short-order place. - -He felt like a stranger in a strange land, and would have given a good -deal for the companionship of Jimmie Fortune just then. Never before -had he been so impressed with the responsibilities that had been heaped -upon his shoulders, and he was hungry for a little friendly talk--and -Fortune was his only friend in that big town. - -In better and happier times, the money represented by that note of -Rockwell’s would have had small bearing on the fortunes of the Clancys. -But now, with his father sick and his financial affairs gone to wreck -and ruin, a thousand dollars was a lot of money. Clancy had been told -that collecting the amount of that note from Rockwell was a hopeless -undertaking, that the garage man would exercise every resource of an -unscrupulous nature to get out of paying. So he had been surprised and -pleased when promised the money in a week or two. - -Perhaps--he told himself--Rockwell wasn’t so bad, after all. He -appeared to want to do the square thing, and maybe he was not so -prosperous as he seemed, and would have to hustle a little to get the -money to take up his note. - -“I’ll wait on him,” murmured Clancy, “and while I’m waiting I’ll be -earning something and getting a start in this garage business. The -Clancys are about due for a run of luck, and maybe this is where it -starts.” - -The big clock on the courthouse in the plaza was booming the hour of -eight as Clancy got back to the Red Star Garage. At that time there -was not much doing about the place, and Clancy passed through the wide -doors and made his way to the rear room. A man--Pruitt, no doubt--was -smoking a pipe in the office. Clancy did not stop to speak with him, -but went directly to his own quarters. - -He had bought a “jumper,” a pair of overalls, and a pair of gloves. -These he took out of the paper in which they were wrapped, and laid -them to one side. - -“In the morning,” he thought whimsically, “I’ll get into them and begin -rooting for the family. I’m going to make good, too, although I wish I -was starting out with any other fellow than Rockwell.” - -For a long time he sat in that dingy little room, thinking over the -past, and trying to forecast the future. There was a man’s work ahead -of Owen Clancy, but he faced it with an indomitable spirit. Collecting -that note was only the beginning. After that had been accomplished, -bigger things lay ahead. - -An hour or two passed while he sat in the little room wrapped up in -his reflections. Then, suddenly, he heard a sound that caused him to -start bolt upright in his chair. Some one was tapping on the window. He -turned to look, and saw a face pressed against the glass. It was the -face of Jimmie Fortune, and Jimmie had a warning finger laid against -his lips. - -Clancy got to his feet and slowly approached the window. Fortune -motioned upward with his hands, and Clancy carefully raised the sash. - -“Somethin’ doin’, pard!” said Fortune, in a husky whisper. “I got to -come in and tell you about it. Lock the door over there. I don’t want -nobody buttin’ in on us. Make everythin’ tight, and then I’ll crawl in -and bat the hull propersition up to you.” - -Clancy secured the door, sliding the bolt softly. Meanwhile, Fortune -had been climbing into the room. As soon as he was inside, he lowered -the sash noiselessly and pulled down the shade. - -“What’s the matter, Jimmie?” Owen inquired excitedly. - -“I don’t know jest what’s the matter, compadre,” was the guarded -response, “but I allow I’ve got the tail end of a whalin’ big mystery. -I’ve come to you for help in figgerin’ it out.” - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. FORTUNE’S MYSTERY. - - -Jimmie walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. - -“I’m all in a takin’ over what I’ve found out,” he remarked, “but in -spite o’ that, I could slop down on this bunk and sleep to beat four of -a kind. Er-wow!” and he threw up his arms and yawned. “Ain’t it orful,” -he went on, “to be so chock full of agitatin’ things and yet feel like -layin’ right down on ’em and poundin’ your ear?” - -“If you’ve got anything in your system, Jimmie,” said Owen, “now is -your chance to get it out. When you’ve done that, you can crawl in -between those blankets and sleep as long as you please.” - -“Mebby I won’t have no chanst to sleep. It all depends on how you -figger out my diskiveries. Fust off, pard, I’ve found where Dirk -Hibbard went when he hiked off with the jedge’s car. It wasn’t no joy -ride, you can gamble, and he wasn’t jest tryin’ out the machine to see -what was wrong with it. He was acrost the mountain palaverin’ with Tom -Long, who’s got a past like a bandit.” - -“Tom Long? Never heard of him.” - -“That cimiroon has been keepin’ purty quiet for some sort of a while, -and I opine he’s about due to break out. If there’s a train robbery -or any other kind of a hold-up anywheres on this part o’ the range, -fust thing the sher’ff does is to go inquirin’ for Tom Long, otherwise -Chantay Seeche Tom. That’s the sort of a maverick he is. Whyever d’you -suppose Hibbard went acrost the mountain to talk to a feller like that?” - -“Give it up.” - -“That ain’t all. Mebby I’ve got somethin’ that’ll help us git a twist -on this little game o’ muggins. But I sort o’ begun my yarnin’ wrong -end to. I ort to have commenced at the start, ’stead o’ goin’ along -down toward where you write finish. When your trail and mine forked, a -spell ago, I had a notion I’d keep track o’ Uncle Si and the shuffer. I -seen ’em on a bench in the plaza, thick as two thieves, but I couldn’t -get nigh enough to catch the run o’ their conversation. I’ll bet it was -crooked palaver, though, ’cause old Rocks ain’t no better than Hibbard, -and you and me sabe what Hibbard is. - -“I didn’t linger long around the plaza when them two got up and hiked. -Two silver dollars was burnin’ a hole in my pocket, so I moseyed over -to the Palace and played ’em on the red----” - -“You gambled with that money?” Owen demanded sharply. - -“I didn’t think it was gamblin’, pard--I reckoned it was a cinch. You’d -saved my scalp on the cliftside, hadn’t you? And you and me was pards, -wasn’t we? And that thatch o’ yours is carmine! Figgerin’ from all -that, I allowed I’d drop two cases on the red and pull out four, then -I’d stake the four on red to win and corral eight, leave the eight on -the same color and grab sixteen. I was plannin’ to keep this up till I -had dinero sufficient to buy a garage for you and a private yacht and a -few other things for myself, but--dog-gone it! red didn’t win that fust -time, and the croupier juggled my little two bones into the till. Ain’t -it scandalous?” - -“I should say so!” muttered Clancy. “I didn’t give you that money to -use in gambling, Fortune, but to keep you going till you landed a job. -Now your money’s gone, and you haven’t a thing to show for it!” - -“Easy, pard! Sure I’ve got somethin’ to show for it. If I hadn’t gone -to the Palace I wouldn’t ’a’ met Slim Simmons, would I?” - -“Who is Slim Simmons?” - -“Desert rat. I’ve seen him a heap o’ times, and we sabe each other a -hull lot. He come over the same trail we did, but he was ahead of us. I -got to palaverin’ with Slim, and refers incidental to Hibbard and the -way he forked me over the cliffs. Simmons allows Hibbard was the same -juniper he’d seen gassin’ with Long Tom, otherwise Tom Long. You see, -Slim stopped at Chantay Seeche’s for a drink, and he glimpsed Hibbard -and Long powwowin’ cautious and careful by the ranch corral. Slim asked -Hibbard for a ride into town, and Hibbard wouldn’t have it. Hibbard -must have stayed at Tom Long’s quite a while, for Slim was able to get -pretty well over the trail afore Hibbard came along and passed you -and me. That’s how I diskivered where Hibbard had been. There’s more, -though. While Slim and me was gassin’ in one corner o’ the Palace, who -rolls into the place but Chantay Seeche himself?” - -“This Long Tom came to the gambling house?” - -“Surest thing you know. He walked in, big as life, and twicet as -ornery, and dropped down at a table behind the pianner. I allowed I’d -walk over to him, pass the time o’ day, and inquire as to what Hibbard -was doin’ at his ranch. That was my idee, and jest as I was goin’ to -carry it out, in comes Hibbard and sits down at the same table with -Long. Neither of ’em saw me, so I jest hung back and watched. - -“They got real confidential, them two. Bymby, Hibbard takes a pencil -and paper from his pocket and makes a diagram. Chantay Seeche considers -it. There’s more talk, a little drinkin’, then the two shakes hands and -separates. They leave the table together, and they fergit to take the -diagram. I ain’t more’n a minute freezin’ to that paper and lookin’ it -over. - -“I haven’t got savvy enough to make head or tail to it, but I thinks -of my red-headed pard, and hikes for here. Not bein’ what they call -persona gratter to the front of the establishment, I sneak up to your -room from the rear. So here I am, gappin’ like Rip Van Winkle gettin’ -ready for thirty years o’ sleep; and here’s the paper, and you’re -welcome to tell me what it’s about--if you can.” - -Jimmie handed over the paper. It was a small sheet, and seemed to have -been torn from a memorandum book. It was marked with lines in the form -of a rough, oblong square. This square was crossed and recrossed with -other lines, and there were subdivisions indicated here and there. -Clancy studied the diagram closely. - -“Looks like a chink puzzle, eh?” said Fortune. “Can you make anythin’ -of it, Red?” - -“Seems to be the ground plan of a house,” Clancy answered thoughtfully. - -“Well, now!” murmured the other. “Blamed if I’d thought o’ that! It -might be the ground plan of a house, or the picter of tracks in a -chicken yard. What makes you think it’s a diagram of a ’dobe?” - -“The plan is divided into rooms, and there are little marks in the -outside walls that may indicate doors and windows. But the best proof -that this is a diagram of a house is given by the only written words -on the paper. Along one side is the word ‘second,’ and along the other -side we find the two words, ‘Cerro Gordo.’ Is there a street in this -town called Cerro Gordo Street, Jimmie?” - -“By glory!” gulped Fortune. “You’ve hit it right between the eyes! Sure -there’s a street called Cerro Gordo, and it’s the best residence street -in town. Corner of Cerro Gordo and Second Av’noo is right in the middle -of Magnateville and Upper-tendom! You’ve cracked the shell of the -mystery, Red!” - -Clancy smiled, and shook his head. - -“We’re a good way yet from cracking the shell of the mystery,” said he. -“If this is really the ground plan of a house at the corner of Second -and Cerro Gordo, why did Hibbard draw it and show it to Chantay Seeche? -That’s the mystery, Jimmie, and we haven’t begun to solve it.” - -Fortune’s face went blank. - -“That’s you! I missed the p’int, and no mistake. But Hibbard and -Chantay wasn’t considerin’ that plan for any good purpose, believe me. -There’s a hen on, and trouble’s hatchin’. How we goin’ to find out -what’s in the wind?” - -“I believe I’ll go over on Washington Street, and see if I can find -out anything. You stay here, Jimmie. Get in bed and go to sleep, if you -want to.” - -“Don’t go out by the front, pard,” begged Fortune. - -“I’ll go out the way you came in.” - -“Suppose somebody wants you for somethin’ while you’re gone? I -might help out, but, not bein’ on good terms with the boss o’ this -establishment, I reckon I hadn’t better try.” - -“No,” said Clancy, “don’t try. We’ll take chances, and hope the night -man won’t call on me for anything. Anyhow, I’ll not be gone long. Crawl -into the blankets and go to sleep. The bed’s big enough for two, and -I’ll make use of my half of it when I get back.” - -Fortune had already kicked off his boots and removed his flannel shirt. -He was out of his trousers in a jiffy and had rolled up head and ears -in a blanket. - -“Buenas noches, pard!” came in muffled tones from the depths of the -blanket. - -Clancy turned off the light, passed to the window, raised the shade, -and then the sash, and softly climbed through and dropped to the -ground. By a roundabout course he gained First Avenue, went by the -front of the garage on the opposite side of the street, and so came -into the main thoroughfare of the town. - -Clancy did not intend to be gone long for he believed that he could -discover all he wanted to know in a very few minutes. He was longer in -his quest, however, than he had supposed he would be. - -He went into a hotel across from the courthouse plaza, and approached -the desk in the lobby. Eleven o’clock was just chiming from the -courthouse bell. - -The night clerk, after surveying Clancy rather uncertainly, pushed the -register around and handed him a pen. - -“No,” said the youth, “I’m not going to put up here. All I want is a -little information.” - -“Fire away,” said the clerk. - -“Can you tell me who lives at the corner of Second Avenue and Cerro -Gordo Street?” - -“Hanged if I can! I haven’t been here long, and don’t know this town -very well. Why don’t you go to the place and find out?” - -Clancy didn’t care to do that, and carried his search farther. Place -after place was visited fruitlessly, until it seemed that the only -way for him to learn what he wanted to know was by really going to -the house and making his inquiries on the spot. At last, however, he -found himself in the same restaurant where he had taken supper, and the -cashier gave him the required information. - -“Cerro Gordo and Second?” repeated the cashier. “That’s easy. Judge -Pembroke lives there and---- What’s the matter with you?” - -A sudden whiteness had flashed into Clancy’s face, and he had drawn a -quick, rasping breath. - -“Nothing,” he answered, turning away, “nothing at all. Much obliged.” - -He ran out of the restaurant and started back to the Red Star Garage, -greatly excited. Twelve o’clock came booming from the courthouse plaza -as he turned into First Avenue from Washington Street. - -“It has taken me an hour to find out what I wanted to know,” he -murmured. “If there is lawlessness going on, I wonder if we’re too late -to stop it? Maybe here’s a chance for Fortune and me to do something -for the judge! My guesses may be all wrong, but if they’re right Jimmie -and I will have to do some quick work.” - - - - -CHAPTER IX. A WEIRD STATE OF AFFAIRS. - - -Clancy regained the rear of the garage by the same devious course he -had taken in leaving it. All was dark and silent within the little room. - -“Jimmie!” he whispered, thrusting his head through the window. - -There was no answer, and he repeated the call as loudly as he dared. -Still there was no response from Fortune. - -“He’s sleeping like a log,” thought Clancy. “I’ll have to get in and -give him a shaking.” - -With great care, he climbed through the window, groped his way through -the dark to the bed, and laid both hands on the blanketed form. - -“Jimmie!” he muttered, and shook the form briskly. - -A stifled gurgle came from Jimmie, but no words which Owen could -understand. In some alarm, the red-headed chap whirled to the window, -drew the shade, and snapped on the light. What he saw startled him. - -Jimmie’s trousers lay on the floor. Beside them lay his shirt, fairly -torn to ribbons. The door leading into the garage was unbolted and -swinging open by a couple of inches. - -Jimmie, entirely swathed in a blanket, lay on the bed. He was wrapped, -outside the blanket, with coil on coil of stout rope, and looked more -like a mummy than anything else. The blanket covered his head and -face, so that it was impossible for him to talk, and it must have been -almost impossible for him to breathe. Jimmie, in his helplessness, was -twisting and writhing about on the bed. - -Clancy, astounded by all this, hurried to Jimmie and began removing the -rope. First he freed his friend’s head, pulled back the blanket, and -Jimmie began gasping like a stranded fish. While he was pumping the -fresh, cool air into his lungs, Clancy removed the rest of the rope and -pulled the blanket away entirely. - -Fortune lay on his back, looking up at his pard with astonished eyes. - -“What the deuce has been going on here?” demanded Owen. - -Jimmie sat up on the edge of the bed and rubbed his arms. - -“Whoosh!” he answered. “Here’s a fine kittle o’ fish, I must say! A -couple o’ plug-uglies was here and raisin’ Cain, pard. They thought I -was you, and they was after that note.” - -“After the note?” - -“Ain’t I tellin’ you? Gee-wollops, but this is fierce! I took all that -was comin’ to you, that trip. You see, I was all kivered up with the -blanket, and them junipers couldn’t tell the diff’rence between Jimmie, -the Jonah, and Red Owen--so they handed it to me proper.” He chuckled. -“But they got fooled,” he added. - -“When did this happen, Jimmie?” asked Owen, trying to keep down his -excitement. - -“No sabe, pard. I was sleepin’ like old Rip Van when I felt some un -ropin’ me. The blanket was twisted about my head and tied close to my -neck, and I couldn’t talk and couldn’t hardly breathe. Then my hands -was lashed to my sides and my feet tied at the ankles, and there wasn’t -a thing I could do.” Again he chuckled, rubbing his throat tenderly. -“But they sure got fooled plumb out of their eye teeth!” he finished. - -“They thought you were me, and they were trying to get that -thousand-dollar note?” - -“I wasn’t so badly wrapped up that I couldn’t hear a little o’ what -went on,” proceeded Fortune. “The feller that was tyin’ me says to some -un else, ‘Get that note out o’ the wallet in his shirt,’ he says. - -“‘It ain’t here,’ the other comes back. - -“‘Look in his pants,’ says Number One. - -“‘Not there, nuther,’ says Number Two. ‘See if he ain’t got it under -his piller.’ - -“Then Number One throws me around and looks under the piller, and he -don’t find a thing. I heerd somebody swear good and hearty. - -“‘Ask him what he’s done with it,’ says Number Two. ‘Blow his head off -for him, if he don’t tell.’ - -“Somethin’ hard was poked ag’inst my head, and I allow it was the -muzzle of a six-gun, although, o’ course, I ain’t able to see a thing. - -“‘Where’s that note?’ says Number One, real cross. ‘Speak out, or I’ll -start you for Kingdom Come.’ - -“‘You don’t get it,’ I says, pantin’ for air. ‘I put it in the bank.’ - -“They couldn’t tell, pard, that it wasn’t you talkin’, the blanket -gagged me so, and my voice was low and husky. After that there was more -piratical langwidge, then them fellers went at somethin’ else. - -“‘Now’s our chance,’ says Number One, ‘to carry out the other scheme. -If we can’t make good at this game we will at that one.’ - -“‘We got to have a car,’ says Number Two, ‘and we got to get it from -this garage.’ - -“‘How’ll we work it?’ asked the juniper who stands clost to me. - -“‘You go out to a telephone,’ says the other, ‘and call up this place. -Pruitt’ll answer. Tell him you got to have a car for a night trip -some’r’s and that you’ll furnish your own driver. Say it’s Job Arnold, -or Colonel Chiswick, or any o’ them big bugs, talkin’. Pruitt’ll bite. -As soon as he leaves, I’ll steal a car and pick you up on First Av’noo, -cornder Hackberry. That’s clost, and you can get there easy.’ - -“‘I’m off,’ says Number One, and I hear him crossin’ the room and -gettin’ through the winder. Bymby--seemed like a year to me, fighting -for air in that blanket--some un pounds on the door leadin’ into the -garage. - -“‘Hey, you helper!’ calls a voice. - -“Number Two answers, right off, ‘What’s wanted?’ - -“‘I’ve got a call to take a car to Mr. Arnold’s,’ says Pruitt, ‘and I -want you to keep an eye on the garage till I get back. I won’t be gone -more’n twenty minutes.’ - -“‘All right,’ says Number Two. - -“Right after that I hear a car hummin’ and glidin’ away. The machine -was hardly out o’ the garage afore the bolt on that door was shoved -back. Then another car began to hum, and that slipped away, too. By -then, I was wide awake, you better believe, and right excited. I tried -to yell, but the best I could make of it was a gasp and a gurgle. Tried -to get up, too, but it was no go. Right after that, pard, you got here. -What d’you suppose is goin’ on?” - -“Those two men are going to commit a crime of some sort,” answered -Clancy. - -“I wouldn’t put it past ’em none. I reckernized their voices, pard.” - -“You did? Who were they?” - -“One was Hibbard--Number Two--and t’other--Number One, the feller that -done the telephonin’--was Chantay Seeche Tom. They’re a fine pair to -turn loose at the dead o’ night in a stolen automobile! Somebody’s due -for a holdup.” - -“Yes,” said Clancy, “and that somebody is Judge Pembroke!” - -“It never ain’t!” - -“He lives at the corner of Second Avenue and Cerro Gordo Street. As -soon as I discovered that, I came right back to the garage. Can’t you -see what is going on, Jimmie?” - -Clancy paced the floor of the little room nervously while he talked. - -“I know somethin’ of what’s goin’ on, pard,” returned Fortune, “because -I was right in the middle o’ the excitement. I can’t see ahead very -far, though, and that’s allers been the trouble with me. How does the -business stack up to you?” - -“Why, Hibbard was the judge’s driver. He must have known a good deal -about the judge’s affairs, and probably could have traveled all around -his residence blindfolded. Hibbard has some reason for wanting to be at -the judge’s house to-night. What it is we don’t know, but the business -looks black. The fact that Hibbard got this rascal, Long Tom, to help -him, gives the whole thing a criminal appearance.” - -“Who put Hibbard up to get that note away from you?” - -“Never mind that, now. We----” - -“It was old Rocks, and I’ll bet a bushel of pesos. That must have been -what them two was chinnin’ about in the plaza. But Hibbard didn’t get -the note,” and Fortune laughed gleefully, “because I was here in place -o’ you! By glory, them fellows got hocused good!” - -“We’ve got to do something to help the judge, Jimmie, and time is -limited. Long Tom and Hibbard have stolen a car and gone to Second -Avenue and Cerro Gordo Street. How long since Hibbard left with the -machine?” - -“Not such a blamed long while, pard. Not many minutes passed since he -left and you got here and took the lashings off me.” - -Clancy pulled the door wide and stepped out into the garage. - -“I can’t see anything of Pruitt,” he reported. - -“’Cause why,” returned Fortune. “’Cause he’s waitin’ at Arnold’s for -some un to come out and take the car off’n his hands. He’ll keep -waitin’ and honkin’ the horn till somebody shows up and tells him -there’s nothin’ doin’. Reckon we ort to put the police wise to this, -eh?” - -“By the time we got the police on the trail, Hibbard and Long Tom might -be able to do their work and rush for the hills in that stolen car. Do -you know how to get to Second and Cerro Gordo?” - -“If I don’t, pard, nobody does. Didn’t I tell you I worked for people -here? I can take you right to the place by the shortest cut.” - -“Then let’s be moving. The quicker we reach the judge and tell him what -is going on, the better.” - -Fortune pulled on his boots and trousers. There was no use trying to -put on the flannel shirt, for it was literally torn in pieces. He -slipped into his coat, however, and buttoned it up. - -“All ready, compadre,” he announced. - -They went out through the front of the garage. Clancy hated to leave -the place alone, but he reflected that Pruitt would soon be back, and -that this was a case of facing circumstances as they were, and not as -he would like to have them. He took the precaution of closing the big -garage doors. - -“I don’t like to start till Pruitt comes back,” remarked Clancy, “but -there’s no help for it.” - -“Don’t you care,” said Fortune. “Jest think what old Rocks tried to do -to you to-night, pard! You don’t owe that old schemer nothin’. Anyway, -I don’t reckon anybody will run away with the old shebang.” - -Fortune turned out of First Avenue into a cross street that ran -parallel with the main business thoroughfare. A block brought them into -Second Avenue, and they started along it in the direction of Cerro -Gordo Street. - -Very soon pretentious houses showed themselves on either hand, and, -after a time, Fortune slowed his pace and dropped a hand on Clancy’s -arm. - -“That’s Cerro Gordo Street jest ahead,” he whispered, “and the judge’s -house must be on the cornder. I never knowed where he lived, but if -your information is kerect we’re clost to the place.” - - - - -CHAPTER X. HELPING THE JUDGE. - - -Cerro Gordo Street was a wide, paved thoroughfare, with date palms -bordering it on both sides between walk and curb. There were four -corners, of course, to the intersection of the two streets, and the two -youths halted in the shadow of a palm to decide which corner was the -one that ought to claim their attention. - -“How we goin’ to know which casa is the judge’s?” murmured Fortune -blankly. - -“According to that diagram of Hibbard’s,” Owen returned, “there’s an -addition jutting out from the Pembroke house toward Cerro Gordo Street. -Maybe that will give us a clew.” - -“Look for the automobile. That’ll be a clew.” - -“I don’t think so, Jimmie. They’d be foolish to leave the machine -too close to the house. You stay here while I do a little quiet -investigating.” - -“If you need me, yell. I’ll come hotfoot.” - -Leaving Fortune in the black shadow of the palm, Clancy moved off -cautiously along Cerro Gordo Street, toward the right. In that -direction he failed to find the house that seemed to tally with -Hibbard’s roughly drawn plan. - -Returning on the opposite side of the street, creeping like a wraith -from the shadow of one palm to the shadow of another, he crossed Second -Avenue and reconnoitered in another direction. - -Here he had better success. On the other side of Cerro Gordo Street -was a house with a glass conservatory jutting out. The yard was a mass -of dark shrubbery which the faint glow from the electric light on the -corner could not penetrate. - -“That must be the place,” thought Clancy. “I’ll go down a little -farther and cross over. If I’m careful, I may find out what Hibbard and -Long Tom are doing.” - -From palm to palm he skulked along Cerro Gordo Street, and then, -suddenly, came to a halt. Ahead of him, at the curb, stood a motor car. -It did not show a light. - -“There’s the machine Hibbard took from the garage,” thought Clancy, -“and it proves we’re on the right trail.” - -He investigated the car and found that it was Pembroke’s big -six-cylinder machine, the one that had figured in events earlier in -the day. There was no one around the car, and this proved that both -plotters were giving their attention to the house. - -“Here’s nerve!” muttered Clancy. “Hibbard is using the judge’s car for -his night’s work, and will run away with it when he gets through at the -house, unless---- Well, I’ll fix the machine so he won’t run away with -it.” - -Getting up on the running board, Clancy reached over to the dash and -removed the switch plug. After that he sped lightly to the opposite -side of the street and returned along the side of the judge’s premises. - -Getting down on his knees under the lee of an iron fence, he crawled -past the house, listening sharply as he proceeded. He could hear -nothing. Not a sound reached his ears that would indicate that anything -unusual was taking place around the house or inside it. - -At the corner, Clancy arose to his feet. A few seconds later he was -with his comrade again. - -“Find out what you wanted to know?” queried Fortune eagerly. - -“I’ve spotted the house,” Clancy answered, “and the car. Fixed the car -so it can’t be used. If those chaps try to get away in it, they’ll have -their trouble for their pains.” - -“That’s you! Where’s the house?” - -Clancy faced Fortune in the right direction, and pointed. - -“Are them coyotes around the place?” asked Fortune. - -“I came past the yard but couldn’t hear or see anything of them. We’ll -have to get over the iron fence and prowl through the shrubbery, -Jimmie. Of course, they’re there--they must be. And it’s up to us to -find them and block their game, whatever it is.” - -“Wisht I had a gun,” said Fortune. “Both them fellers are heeled, and -I’ll bet my spurs! What’ll we do if they poke a muzzle in our faces, -huh?” - -“Dodge,” answered Clancy shortly. “Come on!” - -Clancy led the way to the Cerro Gordo Street side of the Pembroke -property, and he and Fortune crouched under the iron fence and listened -intently. Still there was not a sound to be heard. - -“Mebby we’ve made a mistake, pard,” whispered Fortune. “Like enough -it’s another house. Wisht I knowed more about the jedge and the wigwam -where he camps. What if we’re wrong? While we’re loafin’ here, Hibbard -and Chantay Seeche may be doin’ their work on one of the other three -cornders.” - -“I don’t think we’re wrong,” returned Clancy, in a tense undertone. -“This is our best bet, anyway. We’ve got to get over the fence and look -around, Jimmie. Make as little noise as you can, and keep close to me.” - -“It ’u’d take a hull lot to pry me loose from you at this stage o’ the -game, Red,” answered Fortune. “Two’s comp’ny, jest about now, and I’m -right hongry for comp’ny.” - -Laying hands on top of the iron fence, Clancy bounded lightly over and -into the yard. Fortune tried to vault, but his boots handicapped him. -The toe of one of them caught on an iron picket and he came down among -the bushes in a sprawl. He started to sputter, but Clancy laid a quick -hand over his lips. - -“Sh-h-h!” hissed Clancy warningly. - -So far as they could discover, Fortune’s floundering had not aroused -any one. After a few moments, they began crawling toward the side wall -of the house. - -They reached the wall about midway of the length of the house. There -they paused and continued to listen and peer around them. - -“Wrong trail, pard,” murmured Fortune. - -“Let’s make sure of it before we leave,” returned Clancy. “You crawl -toward the front and I’ll go toward the rear. If you hear or see -anything suspicious, don’t try to let me know. I’ll join you before -long, and then you can tell me.” - -Clancy’s maneuvers brought him point-blank against the glass side -of the conservatory. He had found not the least sign of intruders. -Half convinced that he and Fortune were really on the wrong trail, -he crawled forward along the wall to get his friend and carry -investigations elsewhere. - -Fortune, however, had made a discovery which caused Clancy to change -his plans for leaving the premises. - -“I’m next to somethin’, Red,” Jimmie whispered. - -“What is it?” - -“Open winder--right over my head. See for yourself.” - -Clancy arose to his knees. Fortune was right. There was a window, -there, with the lower sash raised. - -“By Jove!” murmured Clancy, in his companion’s ear. “It’s a case of -robbery, and both those fellows are inside!” - -“We’ll wait till they come out, pard,” said Fortune excitedly, “and nab -’em one at a time, as they drap. They won’t be able to shoot, if we’re -quick.” - -“But suppose they leave by a door and don’t come through the window?” - -“That’s me and my fool headwork, ag’in!” grunted Fortune. “You boss -this job, Red, and I’ll foller orders. What’s the next move?” - -“I’m going inside.” - -“Don’t you! Mebby the winder’s only open fer air, and you’ll be grabbed -for a thief yourself. I wouldn’t go inside that _estakazol_ for a farm!” - -“If the window was opened for air, Jimmie, the screen wouldn’t have -been taken off, would it?” - -“I don’t reckon it would.” - -“Hibbard and Long Tom are inside, and I’m going to make sure they don’t -get out through a door with any boodle.” - -“What’ll I do?” - -“Stay here and wait for something to happen.” - -“S’pose more happens than I can take care of? What then?” - -“Do the best you can, that’s all.” - -“Gee-wollops! I’m so narvous I feel as though I wanted to yell. But go -on. I’ll stay here.” - -Clancy had been pulling off his shoes. Fortune did not have to tell -him what disagreeable consequences would follow if he crawled into -Judge Pembroke’s house and failed to find Hibbard and Long Tom there. -Clancy’s imagination was good enough to picture his plight in such a -condition of affairs. But, nevertheless, he was determined to go in. - -Carefully he placed his hands on the sill, drew himself upward and -wriggled through into the darkness of the room beyond. Fortune had many -tremors as he watched his pard vanish. - -“By glory,” said Jimmie to himself, as he crouched downward and made -himself as small as possible, “Red has got a heap more nerve than me. I -don’t allow I could do a thing like that, noways.” - -As for Owen, whenever he made up his mind that it was necessary to do -a thing, he banked on his judgment and did it. He might be wrong. If he -was, he could explain to the judge. - -Once inside the room with the open window, Clancy found himself in -surroundings totally unfamiliar. And he dared not strike a light for -fear of betraying himself--not only to Hibbard and Long Tom, but also -to the judge’s household. Either might spell disaster for him. - -As he stood in the gloom, he recalled as distinctly as possible, the -diagram which Hibbard had drawn for Chantay Seeche Long. He wished, -then, that he had paid more attention to that rude drawing. - -As near as he could remember, this room had two doors, one in the front -wall and another in the rear. If he was right, through which of those -doors had Hibbard and Long Tom passed? - -He reflected that they would not go toward the front of the house, -providing they could get what they were after by keeping more to the -rear of the building. - -“I’ll chance the rear door,” thought Clancy, and groped his way in that -direction. - -He went slowly, avoiding chairs, and passing around a table. At the -wall, he ran his hands carefully over the blank surface until they came -to a swinging curtain. He pulled the curtain aside and reached out. His -hand encountered only space beyond, and his eyes stared into pitchy -darkness. - -“I’m headed right,” he said to himself. “Those fellows went this way -and left the door open. Now I’ll----” - -His thoughts suddenly left him. Out of the blank gloom two arms -stretched themselves, enfolded him in a viselike embrace, and wrenched -his feet out from under him. He fell soddenly on a thick carpet, with a -knee on his chest and pinning him down. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. CAUGHT RED-HANDED. - - -That sudden attack was a big surprise to Clancy. Sure that Hibbard and -Long Tom had turned the tables on him, he tried to yell and arouse the -house and convey a warning to Fortune. A hand was clapped over his -mouth, however, and outcry was impossible. - -“Stop your struggling!” a voice hissed in Clancy’s ear. “And don’t try -to call out. It will be the worse for you, if you do. I am holding a -revolver to your breast, and, if I have to, I will use it.” - -Here was another surprise for Clancy. A refined voice, although with a -crisp, businesslike ring, had done the talking. Certainly it was not -Hibbard’s voice, and it could not possibly be Chantay Seeche Tom’s. -Whose, then, was it? - -The hand was withdrawn from Clancy’s lips. - -“Who are you?” he whispered. - -“That’s none of your affair,” came the sharp answer. “How many of your -pals are in this house? I heard them, a while ago, and came downstairs. -What are you after, anyhow?” - -The man, whoever it was, evidently belonged in the place. - -“I’m not one of the thieves,” protested Clancy. “I----” - -“That’s a likely story! What are you doing in here if you don’t belong -to the gang?” - -“I came here to do what I could to prevent the villains from robbing -the judge. Judge Pembroke knows me. A friend of mine and I blundered -upon a tip that something was going to happen here to-night. There -wasn’t time to call the police, and we came to see what we could do for -the judge.” - -Clancy’s captor was a cool one. He gave a low, incredulous laugh. - -“You can’t expect me to believe any such stuff as that,” he answered. -“How many, besides yourself, are in this house?” - -“Two--Dirk Hibbard and a fellow called Tom Long, Chantay Seeche Tom.” - -“Hibbard! He knew about that Prescott money, and he’s probably trying -to get hands on it. We’ll give them a jolt, I guess. Don’t move--stay -right where you are!” - -The man reached away from Clancy and half arose. Snap! An electric -switch was pressed and a glow of light flooded the room. - -For a second, Clancy was blinded, and could see little. As his vision -cleared, he discovered that the man who had made a prisoner of him was -a young fellow, who bore a striking facial resemblance to the judge. He -wore a blanket robe and slippers, and held a small, automatic pistol in -his right hand. - -“Jove!” murmured the chap with the gun. “You don’t look much like a -tough, and that’s a fact. But circumstances are against you, my lad. -See that door yonder?” - -They were in what was evidently the dining room. As the young man -spoke, he nodded toward a door on the other side of the apartment. - -“I see it,” Clancy answered. - -“That door leads into a hall, and the hall leads to the governor’s -study. There is a safe in the study, and the Prescott money is in the -safe. Your pals are there, I presume. Walk ahead of me. I’m going to -pay them a visit and use you as a screen against any bullets they send -in my direction. Start!” - -Clancy got up from the floor. - -“Hibbard has no love for me,” said he, “and he’ll probably be glad to -shoot when he sees who I am. There are two of them, and they must be -armed. You don’t want them to get away, do you?” - -“I don’t want them to get away with the money. I guess I’ll be able to -save that. Stir yourself--we can’t lose any more time.” - -The curtain of the doorway through which Clancy had just come was -pushed back. The bright glow in the dining room shone out through the -doorway and into the room with the open window. - -Clancy, shifting his eyes toward the drawn curtain, whirled like -lightning. In a flash he had knocked aside the pistol in his captor’s -hand and had overthrown him. As the young man dropped, fire streamed -through the curtained doorway. A revolver roared in the other room and -a bullet crashed into a piece of china on the sideboard and then broke -the heavy French mirror behind it into a thousand fragments. - -If Clancy had not been quick, that bullet would have struck the young -fellow with the gun, for it traversed a line that crossed the exact -point where he had been standing. - -The young fellow was quick-witted, and, while at first he may have -misunderstood Clancy’s action, the crash of the bullet gave him -knowledge of the true state of affairs. - -“There they go!” cried Clancy. - -“Keep back, if you’re not armed!” shouted the other, bounding erect and -dashing through the door. - -Clancy was ahead of him, but, swift as they were, they were too late. -The prowlers had flung themselves through the window, and wild yells -were coming from the yard, where Fortune, single-handed, was having all -and more than he could attend to. - -There was excitement in other parts of the great house. Voices were -calling, doors were opening and closing, and feet could be heard -running down the stairs and over hardwood floors. - -The young fellow stood in the window with the automatic revolver in his -hand. - -“I’ll give one of them his gruel, anyway,” he muttered. - -Before he could shoot, Clancy grabbed his arm. - -“Don’t fire!” he exclaimed. “A friend of mine is out there--you might -hit him. Are you the judge’s son?” - -“Yes,” was the answer, “and I want to get this over with before the -governor presents himself. He might get hurt. Are you game to follow -those fellows?” - -“Of course!” - -“Come on, then!” - -There was the flutter of a bath robe in the open window, then the space -cleared for Clancy. He landed on the ground beside Pembroke. - -“They’ve skipped,” said Pembroke. “Even your friend isn’t here! Which -way do you think the scoundrels went?” - -“I know--they’ve got a car waiting for them. This way!” - -Clancy darted for the fence and cleared the iron pickets at a bound. -Young Pembroke was tight at his heels. - -“If they’ve got a car,” he panted, “they’re bound to get away from us.” - -“I’ve fixed the car so they can’t use it.” - -Pembroke laughed choppily as he followed Clancy down the street. - -“You’re a wonder, old man!” he cried. “And I thought, when I nailed -you, that I had one of the thieves!” - -Two dark figures could be seen rushing across the street toward the -dark bulk of the car. - -“There they go!” exclaimed Clancy. “They’ve got a surprise in store for -themselves! Look, they’re trying to crank the engine.” - -One of the forms could be seen working at the front of the car. He -started up with a frantic oath. - -“Take to your heels, Chantay! They’ve tampered with the car! Run!” - -A figure jumped from the tonneau of the machine and flung off through -the night. Hibbard, who had been pulling the crank, ran back along the -line of palm trees. - -Clancy took after him, and, for a minute, there was an exciting chase. -Clancy, however, was far and away the better sprinter. As he came close -to Hibbard, the latter turned and brandished a revolver. - -“Keep off,” he yelled, “or I’ll drop you!” - -Clancy ducked, lurched forward, and came up under the extended arm -whose hand gripped the revolver. There was a bit of a struggle, and -then Hibbard fell, the red-headed chap on top of him. - -“Have you got one of them?” asked Pembroke, coming up. - -“Yes--Hibbard,” said Clancy. - -“Has he got a canvas bag?” - -“No.” - -“Then the other scoundrel has the money. I couldn’t find it in the car. -Dash it! We’ll have to call in the police--and maybe it’s too late. -We’ll take Hibbard to the house, where we can use the telephone. Let -him up, old chap.” - -Clancy drew away from Hibbard, while Pembroke caught his arm and -leveled the “automatic.” - -“You’re a nice sort of a chap, aren’t you?” sneered Pembroke. “Robbing -the man for whom you used to work! Get up!” - -Hibbard got sulkily erect. - -“Pick up that revolver,” said Pembroke to Clancy. - -The latter stooped and gathered in the weapon, which had fallen from -the chauffeur’s hand when he fell. - -“Come on to the house, Hibbard,” said young Pembroke. “We’ll let the -governor talk with you.” - -“I don’t want to talk with the judge,” growled Hibbard. “Take me to -jail, if that’s what you’re plannin’ to do.” - -“Not much! You’ll face the governor. Step lively, and don’t try to get -away. If you make a move to run, the bullets will chase you!” - -Between Clancy and Pembroke the rascally chauffeur was led back toward -the house. - -“You’re responsible for this, Clancy!” snarled Hibbard. - -“I don’t know whether I am or not,” Clancy answered. “I guess Mr. -Pembroke was next to what you were doing before we reached the house.” - -“You’d better jug me,” said Hibbard to Clancy, through his teeth, “or -I’ll camp on your trail and settle for you. You’re running up a pretty -big score.” - -“Your name Clancy?” queried Pembroke. - -“Yes,” Owen answered. - -“Then you’re the fellow who repaired the governor’s car, out on the -trail. He told us about you. Sorry I mistook you for a burglar, Clancy!” - -“I hardly see how you could help it,” Clancy returned. “Wonder where -the deuce Fortune is?” he added, as he and Pembroke and Hibbard mounted -the front steps of the house. - -“He was in this, too, eh?” growled Hibbard. - -The front door of the house was open, and the judge, in shirt, -trousers, and slippers, stood in the entrance. - -“What in the world is the matter, Larry?” the judge queried, staring at -his son. “Has there been a robbery?” - -“That’s the size of it, dad,” answered young Pembroke. “Your Prescott -money has gone to Ballyhack, I reckon. There were two of the -scoundrels, and the other fellow gave us the slip. He must have had the -canvas bag.” - -“Never mind the money,” said the judge, “if you’re not hurt. Who’s that -you have there?” - -“One of them is young Clancy, the chap who repaired your car out in the -hills. He came here to prevent the robbery, if he could. The other is -Hibbard. He knew about that Prescott money, and came here after it.” - -The judge led the way into the drawing-room. A number of the women -members of the household were clustered there, shivering with fright. -The judge reassured them, and sent them upstairs. After they were gone, -he turned to his son, Clancy, and the prisoner. - -“I can’t understand this,” said he. “Hibbard, did you come to this -house to rob me?” - -“I don’t look as though I was here of my own free will, do I?” the -chauffeur replied, with an ugly leer. - -“I heard some one in the house,” explained Larry, “and went down to the -dining room. Some one was just coming through the window, and I waited -for him at the door leading from the den into the dining room. When I -grabbed him, he proved to be Clancy, there.” - -“Clancy!” exclaimed the judge. “Is it possible that----” - -“No, dad, it isn’t possible that he’s one of the thieves. He came to -warn us about the robbery, but got to the house a little too late. He -saved me from getting nipped by a bullet--upset me just as one of the -robbers pulled a trigger; after that, he joined in the chase and downed -Hibbard single-handed. Clancy has proved a good friend of ours this -night.” - -“Who was the fellow that got away with the money?” inquired the judge. - -“Tom Long,” spoke up Clancy, “the fellow they call Chantay Seeche Tom.” - -“He’s equal to a thing like this! I can easily believe that he had a -hand in it. I’m out five thousand dollars, but----” - -“Jedge, you ain’t out a cent! I happened to grab the bag in the yard, -and I ran off with it like a streak o’ greased lightnin’. James -Montague Fortune has done somethin’, at last, that didn’t have a bobble -in it! Whoop!” - -All eyes turned toward the broad doorway that led from the drawing-room -into the hall. Fortune stood there, striking an attitude, and holding -high a small canvas bag. His face wore a broad and complacent grin. - -“Well, here’s luck!” exclaimed Larry Pembroke. “Clancy and his friend -have saved the day for us, after all!” - - - - -CHAPTER XII. HIBBARD WEAKENS. - - -Clancy was mightily relieved to know that Fortune had not only kept -himself from being injured, but had also covered himself with glory by -saving the five thousand dollars. - -“Good for you, Jimmie!” Clancy exclaimed. “How did you ever manage to -get away with that bag of money?” - -“Plumb easy!” returned Fortune, swaggering into the room. “I was -waitin’ under the open winder, where you left me, Clancy, and I was -all of a shake on account o’ hearin’ that revolver shot. While I was -still in a quiver, them cimiroons drapped the money out and started -to foller it. I jumped for the bag. While I was pickin’ it up, one of -the junipers fell on me. We had a mix, but I tore loose and sloped for -the iron fence. Say, I got over that fence with about six feet in the -clear. Then I ran till I was clean winded. By then, I allowed it was -safe to turn around and come back. I was in sight when some o’ you -came in the front door--so I trailed along. Jedge,” and he turned to -Pembroke, “allow me to fork over the missin’ dinero!” With that, he -placed the bag in the judge’s hand. - -“Explain this to me,” said the judge. “With so many of you concerned -in what happened it is a little difficult to follow the sequence of -events. Clancy, how did you and Fortune come to learn that my house was -to be robbed?” - -Clancy explained, and in that explanation he did his friend full -credit. Fortune, however, put in a few words to the effect that -Clancy’s brains in following up the clew, helped out more than any work -of his own. - -“I stumble onto a heap o’ things,” observed Jimmie, grinning, “but I -ain’t got the sabe to figger ’em out. My red-headed pard is the feller -who does that.” - -During Clancy’s recital the fact had developed that Fortune was -occupying Clancy’s bed at the rear of the garage when Hibbard and Tom -Long came hunting for the note. This was a revelation which Hibbard -listened to with wide eyes. - -“Thunder!” he exclaimed disgustedly. “I deserve all that’s comin’ to me -for makin’ that bobble!” - -“Hibbard,” said the judge, sternly facing the chauffeur, “this is -pretty bad business for you. I suppose you know what this means to you?” - -“I’m not doing any sobbing,” snarled Hibbard. “Put on the screws--I -reckon I can stand it.” - -“Give him the limit, dad,” urged Larry. “He deserves it--treating you -like this after the way you’ve treated him for the past six months.” - -The judge frowned at his son. - -“You knew, did you, Hibbard,” he went on to the chauffeur, “that I was -expecting to get this five thousand from Prescott for the sale of a -ranch there?” - -“Sure, I knew it!” - -“You thought I’d gone to Prescott after the money, but you did not know -that the purchaser of the ranch brought it to Phoenix to me, and that I -received it after banking hours?” - -“I didn’t know that, but I figgered that you couldn’t return from -Prescott till after the bank had closed, and would have to keep the -money in the study safe,” answered Hibbard. “The only difference your -not goin’ to Prescott made, was that you caught me out with the car.” - -“You slipped off to tell Chantay Seeche Tom about the money and to get -his help in robbing me?” - -“I’m not goin’ to talk.” - -“Hibbard,” said the judge, “I don’t want to be hard on you. Make a -clean breast of everything, and I’ll let you go. You’ve got a father -and mother in Mesa, and they’re good friends of mine. I don’t want -to do anything to bring disgrace upon them. But,” and the judge’s -face grew stern, “I’ll put you through for this if you don’t tell me -everything about the affair.” - -A gleam of hope flickered in the chauffeur’s eyes. - -“Do you mean that, judge?” he asked. - -“I’m not in the habit of saying things I don’t mean,” was the quiet -reply. - -“Then ask your questions, and I’ll come across with straight answers.” - -“You sneaked out of town to get Chantay Seeche Tom to help you rob me?” - -“Yes. Tom was to come in to Phoenix and meet me at the Palace. After -that, we were to get the note from Clancy and make a grab for your five -thousand.” - -“Why were you going to get the note from Clancy?” - -“Because Rockwell offered me two hundred dollars for it.” - -“Rockwell?” burst from Clancy. “Do you mean to say that Rockwell hired -you to steal that note from me?” - -“That’s what I mean to say,” said Hibbard. - -“Why?” asked the judge. “What was his reason?” - -“He don’t want to pay the note. If Clancy hasn’t got it, how can he -collect on it?” - -“Oh, he’s a shark, Uncle Si is,” struck in Fortune. “That’s what I told -Red. Maybe he’ll believe me, now.” - -The judge turned to Clancy. - -“It was an unindorsed note?” he asked. - -“Yes,” said Clancy, “it was a note for a thousand dollars, given to my -father. I came to Phoenix to collect it. Rockwell said the note was all -right, and that he would get the money together, in a week or two, and -take it up. Meanwhile, I was to work in his garage at fifty dollars a -month.” - -“That was just a scheme,” put in Hibbard, “to get Clancy in a place -where it would be easy to take the note away from him.” - -“And you and Chantay Seeche Tom,” said Larry, with a laugh, “tied up -the wrong fellow, and couldn’t find the note!” - -“That’s where they got fooled!” chuckled Fortune. “I was all wrapped -up in a blanket, and they didn’t know the difference between me and my -pard. Funniest thing that ever happened; only it wasn’t so blame’ funny -for me while it was happenin’.” - -“Clancy,” said the judge, “you had better let me take that note and -keep it for you. To-morrow I’ll see that you get justice from this -scoundrel, Rockwell. I owe you that, and more.” - -Clancy had made a powerful friend. He realized that, and was quick to -take the note from the wallet and put it in the hands of Judge Pembroke. - -“I’m sorry,” went on the judge, “that you agreed to work for Rockwell -and turned down my offer. I hired a driver an hour after I left you----” - -Jimmie gave a hollow groan. - -“And here was me, bankin’ on gettin’ that job!” he wailed. “Oh, jedge, -this here is what I call blame’ tough!” - -“Maybe I can do something for you,” said the judge, smiling, “or do -something for Clancy so he can help you. I’ll come to the Red Star -Garage to-morrow morning, at ten. Meet me there, Clancy, and we’ll see -what can be done.” - -“I’ll be there, judge,” answered Clancy, “and I’ll be mighty grateful -for anything you can do that will help me.” - -“I’ll wring that thousand dollars out of Rockwell, you may be sure of -that.” The judge once more turned to Hibbard. “How did you and Long Tom -get into the safe? You didn’t blow it open.” - -“Worked the combination. You had the combination changed, a spell ago, -and I stole the paper from your pocketbook, one day, when I had you -out in the car. After I copied the number, I put the paper back in the -pocketbook, and got the leather into your pocket again without your -knowin’.” - -“Hibbard,” observed the judge, more in sorrow than in anger, “you’re a -bad one! You’ve gone down grade pretty fast since you went to work for -me and had dealings with Rockwell.” - -“Any one will hit the toboggan that gets mixed up with Rockwell,” -declared Hibbard. “Anything else you want to know, judge?” - -“No, Hibbard; you can go. For the sake of your people, I hope you will -live a different life from now on.” - -He pointed to the door, and Dirk Hibbard, with head bowed, passed -through it and out of the house. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. THE JUDGE TAKES A HAND. - - -Clancy did not return to the Red Star Garage that night. He went to -a hotel with Jimmie Fortune, and the two of them slept late the next -morning, had breakfast at a restaurant at nine o’clock, and, when ten -strokes boomed from the courthouse clock, made their way to the garage. - -The judge and Rockwell were alone in the office when the two youths -entered the place. - -“Get out of here, both of you!” shouted Rockwell. “I know that young -scalawag, Fortune, and I don’t want him around, on general principles. -As for you, Clancy, I have no use for a fellow who can’t be trusted. -You didn’t stay in the back room last night, and you didn’t show up -here in time for work this morning. That’s what lets you out.” - -“Just a minute,” interposed the judge, taking a long wallet from his -pocket. “Before Clancy leaves this place, Rockwell, you’d better settle -your account with him.” He took the note from the wallet and laid it -down on the desk in front of the garage owner. “Give him a check for a -thousand dollars,” finished the judge, “and no words about it.” - -Rockwell appeared astounded. His startled eyes traveled to the judge -and then returned to the note. - -“I--I told Clancy I’d take this up in a week or two,” he muttered -shiftily. - -“You’re going to take it up now,” said Judge Pembroke. “I know you have -the money in the bank, and that note is long past due. Be sure and add -the interest when you make out the check.” - -“You don’t know about this note, judge,” continued Rockwell. “I don’t -reckon I owe the money or----” - -“Why did you just say you had told Clancy you’d pay it in a week or -two, if you questioned the validity of the note?” - -“Well, I--I----” - -“Don’t hem and haw and side-step with me,” said the judge sternly. “You -have been trying to beat young Clancy out of the money. Do you want me -to tell your customers how you hired Hibbard to steal that note from -Clancy so you could get out of paying it? Would that sound well?” - -Rockwell fell back in his chair, limp and dumfounded. His lips moved, -but no sound came from them. - -“You see,” pursued the judge relentlessly, “that I know what I am -talking about. I’ll publish your contemptible methods far and wide if -you don’t instantly settle this debt. I’m not here to waste words on -you. Write that check!” - -With his face ashen and his hands trembling, Rockwell, thoroughly -cowed, bent over his desk. Fishing a check book out of a pigeonhole, -he opened it, picked up a pen, and did a little figuring on a scratch -block. When he wrote the check, it was for one thousand one hundred and -twenty dollars. - -“There, Clancy,” said the judge, handing the check to Owen. “Now you -are square with Rockwell, and need have nothing more to do with him. -There is a young fellow in this town who has recently opened a garage. -He is square as a die, and I happen to know that you can buy a half -interest in his place for that money. Of course,” and the judge smiled, -“it isn’t a big place like this, but the business is growing. I’d -advise you to buy in with Lafe Wynn.” - -“Wynn?” murmured Rockwell. “He’s one of my competitors. I didn’t think, -judge, that you’d do anything to help Lafe Wynn.” - -“I’ll do everything to help Lafe Wynn,” said Judge Pembroke, getting up -from his chair. “Clancy will buy a half interest, give a job to his -friend, Jimmie Fortune, and it won’t be many months, Rockwell, until -Clancy & Wynn run you out of business. They’ll treat their patrons on -the square--and that’s a principle that will help them to grow. Don’t -think for a minute,” he added, “that I don’t know how I have been -robbed here. I’ve suspected what was going on, and now I’m no longer -in doubt. My two cars are going over to the Square-deal Garage--and I -guess I know a few more cars that will follow them.” - -“You might be easy with me,” whimpered Rockwell, “now that I’ve given -Clancy that money.” - -“Easy with you for paying an honest debt?” returned the judge -contemptuously. “Why, man, if you had your deserts you would be in -jail.” He moved toward the door. “Come on, Clancy,” said he, “you and -Fortune. We’re through here.” - -The judge left the place, Clancy and Fortune trailing along behind him. -The two pards were smiling happily, and Fortune was hanging to Clancy’s -hand and working his arm up and down like a pump handle. - -Rockwell watched them through the dingy window of his office. - -“We’ll see about this,” he muttered, between his teeth, shaking his -fist. “I’ll break that new firm of Clancy & Wynn. You’re a keen one, -Pembroke, but you’ll find that I can go you one better. I--I reckon I -shouldn’t have trusted that fellow, Hibbard, after all,” he added, as -he turned heavily away from the window. - -THE END. - - * * * * * - -Continuing to follow the fortunes of Owen Clancy, Burt L. Standish has -written a cracking good story, which you will find in the next issue of -this weekly. It is entitled “Owen Clancy’s Square Deal; or, The Motor -Wizard and the Black Thunderbolt.” Owen buys a half interest in Lafe -Wynn’s garage and settles down to make good. The _Black Thunderbolt_ -is an automobile, and it is “some car.” There are some mighty exciting -doings in it, too. The issue in which this story will be found will be -out next week, on January 24th. It is No. 78. - - - - -HALL OF SHELLS. - - -An English traveler who has recently returned from Berlin gives an -interesting account in one of the local papers of his visit to the new -palace of the kaiser, at Potsdam. - -There are many things which make the palace interesting to the -privileged visitor, not the least among which is the kitchen, which -stands in a separate building. Frederick the Great hated the smells of -the kitchen and he had that most necessary adjunct to every house moved -away from the palace. The eatables were conveyed to the royal dining -hall by an underground passage. Emperor William still keeps up the -custom of his predecessor. - -The dining hall of the palace is small, as palace dining rooms go, and -contains some very valuable paintings, but for formal events and even -for family affairs, now that the kaiser’s family is getting to be so -large, the great marble hall upstairs is used. Three hundred can dine -at one time in this hall. Here have gathered nearly all the sovereigns -of Europe, and on those occasions huge candles are used for lighting -instead of the more modern electric light. - -Other rooms of interest are the kaiser’s smoking room, to which some -wonderful vases have recently been added, the gift of a visiting -Chinese prince. The private palace of the theater holds about 350 -persons and the stage is arranged to produce all the latest scenic -effects. The kaiser prefers light comedy, and this is the kind of -entertainment he gives his guests. - -The most interesting apartment in the entire palace, however, is -undoubtedly the hall of shells. The room is most beautiful, its walls -adorned with thousands of shells of all kinds. They have been arranged -deftly in charming patterns, while other shells in grottoes give a -wonderful effect when lighted by electricity. It was in this room that -Colonel Roosevelt, when ex-president, was entertained by the kaiser. -The famous Imperial Christmas tree is set up in this room. - -The kaiser has his own railway station at Wildpark, which is only a -short distance from the palace. - - - - -The Wonderful Adventures of Cap’n Wiley. - - -Written by Himself. Edited by Burt L. Standish. - - -INTRODUCTORY. - -I was sitting in my den desperately seeking the germ thought for a -story when Cap’n Wiley blew in and appropriated the easy-chair. - -“Ah, there, old top,” said he. “So I’ve caught you red-handed in your -little sanctum sanctotum. What meaneth the distraught look which -corregateth thy dome of thought?” - -“Cap’n,” said I, “you jar me. I’m thinking.” - -“Don’t do it,” he entreated. “You’re taking a frightful chance when you -put such a strain on your impoverished gray matter. You don’t have to -think to write the sort of souperific stuff you slosh out.” - -“Don’t I!” I cried, exasperated. “Well, now, perhaps you think you -could write it yourself?” - -“No,” he answered cheerfully, “nothing quite as distressing. Now, if -I was going to write, I’d hand the yearning public some real littery -litterchewer, just for a change. I say, Burt, old sport, I think I’ll -try one of your Havana imperfectos, if you have one inconvenient at -hand.” - -I brought out a box of cigars, and he helped himself to a handful. -Then he “borrowed” a match, fired up, and settled back, with a sigh of -satisfaction, on the easy-chair. - -“Yes,” he murmured, “I think I could do it. I come from an immoderately -cultured family. Why, my sister was educated in a female cemetery.” - -“You mean a female seminary?” - -“No, I don’t; I mean a female cemetery. Why, where else would a young -lady learn the dead languages?” - -I had no reply to make. - -“But,” pursued the marine marvel, “it really wouldn’t be necessary -for me to consort to fiction; if I were to write a truthful verbatem -history of my own career from the cradle to the Hall of Fame, it would -prove so fascinating that the reading public would gobble it up with -humidity.” - -I slipped him the skeptical smile, which seemed to arouse him to a -point of high resentment. - -“Say, you give me a cramp!” he exclaimed resentfully. “You think I -can’t deliver the goods, hey? Well, I’ll show you, some. You’ve been -grafting off me for some time by plaguerizing such little mementos -of my chilling adventures as I have chanced to let drop in casual -conversation with you, and I’m highly distended over it. - -“Now, take it from me, Burt, from this mementous hour you cease to -yearn your bread and butter by parisiting on little Walter. I’m going -to write my own naughty biography, and I’ll do a job at it that -will put your style of bunkoing the reading public strictly on the -blink. I have only one fear: what if, on publication of my personal -reminoosances, some one should be unfeeling and thoughtless enough to -doubt my absolute voracity? That would break my tender heart. - -“Nevertheless, I’ll take a chance, remembering, as the poet puts it, -that truth must rise triumphant, even though it may seem to be getting -walloped groggy. Farewell, Burt. Bide a wee. You’ll gaze on my beaming -counterpane no more until I have completed the colossal task I have -vowed to undertake. I observe by the beautiful hand-painted culendar -above your rosewood desk that it is now the conclusive day of the month -of March. I shall begin my labors upon the morrow.” - -He was at the door when I laughingly called: - -“Don’t forget that to-morrow is the first day of April, cap’n.” - -He seared me with a look of scorn, and vanished. - -I did not set eyes upon him again for more than two months, but, as -he frequently absented himself for more or less protracted periods, I -thought nothing of it. When he did turn up again I had quite forgotten -about his threat to write his autobiography, and I don’t think I -ever mentioned it to him. Some months later he met with that sad and -terrible accident which brought his really adventurous life to a tragic -termination. - -Recently, in looking through a trunk in which were stowed some of the -cap’n’s effects, a relative discovered a huge bundle of foolscap paper -carefully tied up with ribbons made of cigar bands taken from my own -cigars on various visits of Walter to my den. The paper was covered -with writing, almost undecipherable in its hasty scrawl, which told -that the penman had dashed off every line at fever heat. It proved to -be the autobiography, and was given into my hands. - -I have edited it with some pains, being at times compelled to use -the blue pencil freely, and to tone down in many places the cap’n’s -flamboyant style. - - BURT L. STANDISH. - - -CHAPTER I. ITCHING FOR ADVENTURE. - -I was a beautiful baby, even though, like most babies, I was born -without any hair or teeth to speak of; and if I had had them I probably -wouldn’t have spoken of them at the time, which I offer as absolute -proof of my natural modesty. I was also a most precocious baby, -absolutely remarkable, in evidence of which I will state that at the -age of six months I was distinctly heard to say “boo” and “oog.” - -On hearing these pearls of intelligence and wisdom fall from my rosebud -lips my mother became quite convinced that I was doomed to a wonderful -career as a statesman, a diplomap, or a street-car conductor. -Chauffeurs were not in vogue at the time. - -It may be well to skim over the days of my childhood and early youth, -and plunge at once into the seething vortext of adventures which -befell me when, at the tender age of sweet sixteen, I fared forth with -an eager heart, and a father’s good riddance, to face the world and -grapple with fortune. Perhaps it is not strictly accurate to say that I -fared forth, as, not having the necessary wampum with which to pay my -fare by rail, I locomoted per Shank’s mare. - -It was at the witching hour of midnight that I bade the ancestral -rooftree so long, sincerely hoping that it would be so long before I -beheld it again that I might forget to remember what it looked like. -The discerning reader will divine by this naïve confession of my -feelings at the time, that my life up to that date had not exactly been -one grand, sweet song. - -When I crept down the back stairs and let myself out of the Wiley tepee -by the kitchen door, I took with me a more or less elaborate cuisine -of extra clothing tied up in a bandanna handkerchief. I was followed -by little Fido, my faithful dog. Little Fido was a cross between a -Skioodle and an Angostora goat, and he weighed about three pounds and -seven ounces, when trained down to fighting condition. I’ve seen him -chaw up a forty-pound bulldog quicker than a woodchuck could whip a -bear. - -Between little Fido and myself there existed an affection that was deep -and tender and touching. He was an animal of high intelligence, and -I was perfectly convinced by the stealthy and syruptitious manner in -which he slunk from the house at my heels that he was fully aware of -the fact that I was running away, and he was determined to flee with me. - -You understand, it is not difficult for a dog to flea with any one, -and we had slept together many a night. Is it any wonder that I had an -itching for adventure? When the time came to set forth in quest of that -for which I itched I certainly came up to the scratch. - -And so, behold me, gentle reader, on that dark and gloomy midnight, -making my get-away with faithful little Fido gamboling at my heels. -Dark it was, indeed--so dark that a load of coal that had been dumped -outside the back door of the Wiley domicile looked like a snowdrift. -Nevertheless, also, and likewise, I knew the lay of the land, and the -points of the compass, and, having reached the highway, I hastened to -hie away. - -It must not be thought for a single fleeting zodiac of time that I was -taking this nocturnal departure from home without feeling as much as a -transient emotion of regret, for I have a naturally tender and touching -nature, in proof of which I might call upon hundreds of persons whom I -have touched on various occasions. - -I shed tears at the thought of all I was leaving behind me--tears of -sincere regret; for there were about ten or a dozen persons in that -town whom I had sworn to thrash within an inch of their lives, and I -was saddened by the thought that I was leaving the work unaccomplished. - -Blinded by these tears, as well as the intense darkness, I came near -meeting with a frightful disaster while taking a short cut across a -back yard; for I fell about twenty-five feet into an old well, and -landed in water that was at least umsteen feet deep. Perhaps it is not -precisely accurate to say that I _landed_ in that water; suffice it to -say that I dropped into it casually up to my pompadore, and found it -extremely wet. - -“Ah-ha!” I exclaimed, coughing up about a gallon of _aqua pura_ which I -had thoughtlessly swallowed. “I’m in a hole now.” - -I began to feel of the wet and slippery rocks around me, and I must -assert that, in spite of my unpleasant predicament, I was feeling -well. In vain I tried to fasten my flippers on those slippery rocks; -they were smoother than a con man. I couldn’t obtain a sustaining hold -anywhere, and I was compelled to tread water to keep my head above the -surface. - -Now, treading water in a well about twenty-five feet below the level of -_terra firma_ is an occupation that becomes monotonous in the course -of time. If you don’t believe me, just try it once. It will make you -tired. It did me. I sought to brace my hands and feet against opposite -sides of the well, and to crawl upward in that manner, but every time I -attempted it I slipped down. If I could only have slipped up I should -have been very happy indeed. - -I could hear little Fido howling dolefully and despairingly above -me. The intelligent beast knew, beyond doubt, the full extent of my -frightful peril. - -Gradually I was growing benumbed by the icy chill of the water and -exhausted by my efforts, and I realized that unless I could soon find -some method of extricating myself from that well my bath was going to -disagree with me very extensively. So, while still treading water, I -put my colossal intellect at work upon the problem. - -It seemed a terrible thing to have the career of adventure upon which -I had set forth cut short at such an early date. The prospect was far -from pleasing. - -“Water death to die!” I groaned, in anguish. - -Luckily for me, no one heard the remark, for if any one had he might -have been tempted to drop a brick upon my head. - -No one heard me except little Fido, and he howled worse than ever. - -At last I was struck by a bright idea--an idea that made me chortle -with glee and wonder why it had not occurred to me before. It was so -simple! - -I will explain for the edification of the unsuspecting reader that -I have always been a great athlete, and the possessor of scandalous -strength. I once lifted a horse and buggy. I had quite a time over it, -I acknowledge; the judge gave me three months. - -When the happy thought came over me I was almost overcome. As soon as -I could find my breath I proceeded to put it into execution. More than -one person has lost his breath by putting it into execution, but what’s -the use of being hanged if you can help it? While treading water I -reached down with both hands, secured a good, firm grip on the later -portion of my trowserloons, took a long breath, and lifted with all my -enormous strength. - -The result justified my agreeable expectations. I felt myself rising! -I kept on rising faster and faster, straining every nerve in the -tremendous effort. In this manner I lifted myself clean out of that -twenty-five-foot well, and fell, panting and exhausted, upon the solid -earth, my strength failing me just as I was fully and fairly above -ground. - -If the skeptical reader doesn’t believe this I can show him the well. - - -CHAPTER II. FIDO TO THE RESCUE. - -Despite my narrow escape from a watery grave, my larder for adventure -was not dampened in the least, and so, with my little dog percolating -at my heels, I tramped onward throughout the remainder of that night, -with my face set toward Boston. - -Morning came at last. I was far from home when dawn broke across the -wold. (I use the word “wold” instead of world because it sounds more -poetic, and I am naturally of a highly poetic extinction.) Little birds -began to carol in the wayside thickets, crickets cricked in the grass, -in a near-by marsh frogs were celebrating morning mass in a masterly -manner, and eventually the sun rose into a sky as blue as a poker -player who has bet his last blooming chip on four kings and found that -some other crook at the table holds four aces. - -It was a beautiful morning, but, having been born with a decided -_penchant_ for food, without which I have unfortunately, up to the -present date, found it quite difficult to subsist, I had no eye for the -beauties of the universe scattered around me. My stomach was hollow. - -I knew that little Fido must also be hungry, although he had bravely -refrained from saying so. - -I knocked at the door of a house, and a kind lady came out and asked me -what I wanted. I told her I was that flemished that I knew I could find -nutriment even in the hole of a doughnut, which I would demonstrate to -her satisfaction if she had a few doughnut holes to spare. - -At first the lady was somewhat suspicious. She asked me for my -name and pedigree. I told her my name was Johnny Jones, but that I -had carelessly mislaid my pedigree, and lost the blame thing. In -order to allay her suspicions, I related a pathetic tale about a -great-grandmother who was dying in Boston, and whose bedside I hoped to -reach before the doctors could finish her. - -She was touched. She told me she was a widow, and I congratulated her -on the spur of the moment. She promised refreshments for me and my dog -if I would perform some slight manual labor by sawing a cord of wood or -so for her. The wood was in the woodshed. I inspected it with a sad and -regretful eye. It never did agree with me to saw wood, and I offered to -shovel the sunshine off the widow’s front walk. - -But she was impervious to my argument, and so, peeling off my coat, I -seized the bucksaw and went at it. The saw needed honing, and I must -admit that I was greatly discouraged by the time I had amputated the -first stick or two. I knew I’d never last to finish the job on an empty -stomach, and this led me to set my colossal intellect at work on the -problem. - -The widow had gone into the house to get breakfast. I paused and -pondered. A scheme came to me. I made an effort and found that by -zizzing my breath through my teeth and lips I could produce an -excellent imitation of a dull bucksaw cutting through a stick of wood. -For the next half hour or more I sat on the chopping block zizzing with -consummate industry, lifting and dropping a stick of wood at regular -intervals, so that it would fall with a thud loud enough to be heard in -the kitchen. - -As soon as I dared, I put on my coat and strolled into the kitchen, -pretending to wipe beads of perspiration from my alabaster brow, and -betraying every skymptom of excessive exhaustion. - -“Goodness!” exclaimed the widow, in surprise. “Did you saw the whole of -that wood as soon as this?” - -“Yes, madam,” I answered, “I saw the whole of that wood.” - -Then she regaled me with a sumptuous breakfast of ham and beans and -corn bread and coffee, and by the time little Fido and I were eternally -satiated the table looked as if it had been keeping a date with a -Kansas cyclone. - -“You were indeed hungry,” said the kind widow. “You are very young -to be walking all the way to Boston to reach the bedside of a dying -great-grandmother. Now, your parents----” - -“Are both dead,” I sighed. - -“Oh,” said she, “you’re an orphan. Have you been so----” - -“Not often,” I answered. “I believe I may truthfully say this is my -first offense.” - -“Your great-grandmother--is she very old?” - -“That is the sad part of it,” I moaned, bursting into tears. “It is -terrible for one to die so young. She is only thirty-five.” - -The widow seemed surprised. - -“Only thirty-five!” she exclaimed; “and your great-grandmother? You -are at least sixteen or seventeen. It is impossible for you to have a -great-grandmother who is only thirty-five!” - -I perceived the necessity of side-stepping at once. - -“Pardon me, madam,” I said. “The lady is my grandmother, but she weighs -at least two hundred and ninety pounds, so I call her my _great_ -grandmother.” - -And I got away with it. She was so relieved to find me strictly -truthful that she did not question the possibility of my having a -grandmother of that age. Had she done so, I should have explained -that doubtless in my haste I got the figures reversed, and that -my grandmother was fifty-three instead of thirty-five. Not being -particularly strong in mathematics, I sometimes make these little _fox -paws_ with figures. - -“Your poor father and mother,” murmured the widow; “were they people of -a spiritual turn?” - -“My father was,” I replied; “decidedly so. I have known him to go out -with the parson for spiritual stimulation. They would go into a back -room somewhere and sit down at an ordinary round table, and it would -not be long before spirits appeared before them. When those spirits -departed my father used to rap on the table, and more spirits would -come. After a prolonged séance of this kind my father usually saw -things.” - -“Dear me!” said the widow. “How unfortunate to lose such a father. How -old was he when he passed away?” - -“He was only fifty-nine,” I answered, with criminal carelessness. - -Immediately, if not sooner than that, I perceived that it was time for -me to be wending my way onward, and I proceeded to wend, overloading -her with such a burden of gratitude that she didn’t have time to get -her breath before I was half a mile down the road. - -Near noon I approached the hoop skirts of a large city. As I -approached, I perceived posted on fences and the sides of old barns -many carnivorous posters advertising a circus which was to appear in -that town on that very date. - -Entering the town, I lemonaded slowly down the principal street. Ere -long my ears were saluted by a sound resembling a base libel on music, -and soon the circus band at the head of a long procession made its -appearance. - -Both sides of the street were lined with gaping multitudes. It seemed -that everybody in town and for miles around had assembled to witness -that parade. Lawyers, doctors, storekeepers, clerks, stenographers, -street laborers, everybody, in fact, had gathered upon the sidewalks to -see the procession pass, and for the time being business in that town -was placed _horse de tomcat_. - -The music assassinators of the band were dressed in bright-red suits, -and rode in a gilded chariot. Next in line, a short distance behind the -band chariot, came the biggest elephant I have ever seen; certainly the -creature must have weighed twelve or fourteen tons, more or less. - -In the center of the city there was a wooden bridge spanning a deep, -dark river. Unfortunately, this bridge was not of sufficient strength -to sustain the weight of that huge elephant. Just as the monster -reached the middle span of the structure there was a sudden cracking of -timbers, and the bridge gave way, precipitating the immense creature -into the water. - -The excitement immediately became intense. Women shrieked, men shouted, -and, to the relief of everybody, the circus band stopped firing. The -splash of the elephant striking the surface of the river resembled -a clap of thunder, and water was flung over the top of a five-story -building near at hand. - -Crowding to the nearest bank of the river, I perceived the poor -beast floundering distressingly in the middle of the stream. Almost -immediately I became aware that the creature could not swim, and was, -therefore, doomed to be drowned unless some one could devise a means -of its rescue. Right before the eyes of those helpless and horrified -spectators the beast sank and rose and sank again. - -The manager of the circus, who was likewise the owner, came tearing -through the crowd, frothing at the mouth, and shrieking that he would -pay a reward of five hundred dollars to any one who would rescue the -elephant. - -I saw my opportunity, and grappled with it. - -“Clam yourself, sir,” said I. “I will relieve you of that five hundred. -Your priceless treasure shall not perish.” - -Then I called my faithful dog. - -“Fido,” I cried, pointing toward the drowning mammal, “it’s up to you -to get busy. We need the mazuma. Go fetch, Fido.” - -Instantly my noble dog plunged into the river and swam swiftly toward -the elephant. Just as the great beast was sinking for the third time, -Fido seized it by one ear, and, holding the elephant’s head above the -surface, turned and struck out for the nearest shore. - -It was a fearful struggle. For a time the issue hung in the balance, -or words to that effect. Once Fido, elephant, and all disappeared from -view, and the crowd shouted in a high key. That is, most of the crowd; -but, judging by the smell of the man’s breath next to me, the key -he shouted in was whisky. I touched him gently on the shoulder, and -admonished him to keep up his spirits. Hiccuping slightly, he assured -me that it was frequently far more difficult for him to keep them down. - -With folded arms, I serenely waited until little Fido reached the bank -and dragged the elephant, limp and nearly drowned, but still alive, out -upon dry ground. - -The spectators cheered wildly, and the proprietor of the circus made a -dastardly attempt to fall on my neck and kiss me, but I held him off. - -“My dear boy,” he cried, “I owe you a thousand thanks.” - -“No,” I answered; “you owe me five hundred dollars, and I’ll take it in -frigid cash. Even a certified check will be scrutinized with suspicion.” - - -CHAPTER III. THE CAPTAIN MEETS A RASCAL. - -The proprietor of the circus was most profuse in his gratitude. He -was a gent who, without exaggeration, could be called effulgent. He -certainly had a rush of words to the mouth, but I declined to let the -flow of gas overcome me, rigidly insisting on my rights, and demanding -that he should make good and cough up. Seeing that I could not be -bluffed, he finally extended an invitation for me to accompany him to -his headquarters at the circus grounds, where he could renumerate me -according to his promise. - -“I want you to understand,” he said, “that I am a man of my word. I am -Samuel P. Slick, proprietor and owner of Slick’s Mammoth Circus and -Colossal Aggregation of Wild Beasts.” - -“Glad to know you, Mr. Slick,” said I. “I am highly flavored. Lead on, -and I will stick to you closer than a porous plaster to a rheumatic -shoulder blade.” - -Visions of that five hundred percolated through my cerebellum. In fancy -I was already fingering various long, green certificates with pictures -of presidents upon them. Why, I had that money spent before we even -hove in sight of the circus grounds. - -Mr. Slick led me to a small tent abaft the main tent. Little Fido -followed us cheerfully. As soon as we were inside the small tent, and -thus shielded from prying eyes, Mr. Slick sunk his grappling hooks into -his trowsers pocket and dragged up a solitary greasy five-dollar bill, -which he beamingly offered me. - -“Take it, son--take it!” he urged magnanimously. “You deserve it, for -that dog of yours is really a wonder.” - -“I beg your hasty pudding,” said I, refraining from cleaving unto the -fiver; “but haven’t you made a slight mistake?” - -“Eh?” said he quickly. “Why, I thought I said five. Is it possible that -I said one? Oh, well, never mind; we’ll call it five, just the same, -for it certainly was worth it. It’s yours!” - -“What under the canister of heaven do you take me for?” I cried warmly. -“You said five hundred. Get busy, Mr. Slick, and add about ninety-nine -duplicates to that lonesome William.” - -Immediately Mr. Slick blew up. He turned purple in the face, and looked -like a toad with the colic. - -“Why, you young scoundrel,” he roared, “are you trying to bluff me out -of a lot of real money? I said I’d give any one five dollars to save my -elephant, and I meant it. Under the circumstances, I’m not obliged to -pay you a cent, for you didn’t pull the elephant out; it was that there -dog that did it. But I can’t give money to a dog, and so----” - -He started to put the bill back into his pocket. - -I reached right out and secured it. - -“I can take money from one,” I remarked, “and that’s just about what -you are--and then a few. Unfortunately the United States slanguage does -not furnish adjectives suitable to fit your particular case, and, as it -happens that I can’t speak French a great deal better than I can speak -it, I’ll refrain from attempting the impossible task of telling you -just what I think of you. It chances that I’m busted; otherwise I would -spurn your filthy lucifer with ignominy.” - -I left him in high dudgeon, and went right away from there. I’ll admit -that I was extensively sore; but five bones would purchase a beefsteak -and trimmings, and I was again languishing with hunger. - -We dined, Fido and I, and we went the limit, from _beef a la mud_ to -_demi tassles_. When I had tipped the waiter munificently I found that -only twenty cents of the late-lamented fiver remained in the exchequer. -With that I purchased a flagrant Havana cigar, and again set forth upon -my weary tramp toward my predestination. - -I think I had left the city about a mile astern, and was slowly oozing -along, buried in deep thought, when the sudden consummate blast of an -automobubble horn gave me such a start that I jumped about ten feet -straight up into the ambient atmosphere. - -Now, it happened that the gasoline jaunting car was approaching from -behind with considerable acceleration. I am sure the buzz wagon could -not have been more than ten rods behind me when the cheffonier blew -that blast on his horn, and the blasted thing made me jump. - -And the machine was moving with such expedience that when I came down I -alighted fairly on the cushioned seat in the tonneau. - -By the time I got my breath and quieted the spasmatic beatings of my -heart, I realized that I was comfortably languishing in a strictly -first-class, up-to-date naughty-mobile that was taking me toward Boston -a great deal faster than I could walk. - -Besides yours truly, the only other person in the car was the driver, -who was so preoccupied with his job of taking the road turns at about -seventy miles an hour, that he had not even seemed casually to notice -the unceremonious manner in which I had dropped in on him. - -The old gocart was a good one. On looking it over with the eye of a -cricket, I perceived at once that in the way of such machines it might -be called the _ne plus ulster_. - -I congratulated myself with impunity. What could be more satisfactory -than to make a portion of my journey in this manner? With a sigh of -contentment, I settled back, murmuring in dulcet tones: - -“Let her rip, old boy! As long as you don’t try to hurdle a stone wall -or climb a tree, you can’t feaze little Walter.” - -Then came a sudden horrifying thought: My dog--my poor little dog Fido! -What had become of him? - -I turned to cast my eyes backward, but, fearing I might not recover -them if I did so, I refrained, and simply looked. - -That is, I tried to look, but the course astern was simply blotted out -by a cloud of dust. There was so much dust in the air that it seemed to -crowd itself for room. I felt sure we were tearing up the solid earth -at such a rate that where the road had been there would remain nothing -but a long, deep ditch after we had passed over it. - -Poor little Fido! Would I ever again behold my faithful little quinine -companion? I feared not. - -In a short time, however, we struck a long strip of macadamized -bullyvard, and, again looking round, I pereevered that we were no -longer distributing the highway over the adjacent country. - -Imagine my unbounded amazement and joy on discovering my little dog a -few rods abeam, coming like the wind, his eyes protruding like glass -doorknobs, and something like a yard and a half of his tongue hanging -from his mouth. He was simply making tremendous endeavors to keep up -with that car, which now seemed to be only occasionally connecting -slightly with the extremely remote elevations--and he was practically -doing it. - -But I realized that this could not last long. Speedy as he surely was, -Fido could not continue to hit it up at something better than a mile a -minute for more than forty or fifty miles without eventually becoming -weary and discouraged. - -On the spur of the momentum I decided that something must be done. - -Then I called to little Fido, making at the same time an encouraging -genuflexion with my lily-white hand. He responded at once with a -tremendous burst of speed and a flying leap that brought him sailing -over the back of the machine into the tonneau beside me. - -TO BE CONTINUED. - - - - -A DIVER’S GREATEST DANGER. - - -The greatest enemy of the diver is paralysis, and this, strangely -enough, is not caused by sending him into the sea, but in carelessly -taking him out of it. In bringing a diver to the surface from any great -depth, as much as half an hour is spent in what is known as “staging” -him. He is brought up to a certain depth from the surface and there -held, while he fights vigorously with arms and legs to quicken the -circulation temporarily, and so to assist in sweeping the excess of -nitrogen out of the tissues of the body. This excess of nitrogen, -forced into the blood under pressure of air and water, is the cause of -diver’s paralysis. At various depths before reaching the surface, the -good diver, who understands what causes paralysis, will “stage” and -prepare himself to leave the water. Once on the deck of the lugger, he -will rest and recover himself for another descent, and so throughout -the day. - - - - -PRESENCE OF MIND. - - -A passenger on a transatlantic liner had been sick for five days in -succession. One evening he felt somewhat better, and promenaded the -saloon for some time. About ten o’clock he thought of retiring to his -stateroom, which was on the upper deck. Before leaving the saloon he -sought the steward and said: - -“I want you to send me some hot water for shaving at half past six in -the morning. Will you remember it?” - -The steward promised, and the passenger started up the saloon -companionway. The steps were brass-covered and very slippery. He -reached the first landing all right, but slipped on the first step of -the second and came rattling all the way down again. He was picked up -rather battered, but not a bit disconcerted. - -“Steward,” he said gravely, “I just came back to tell you not to forget -that hot water at half past six in the morning.” - - - - -NEWS ITEMS OF INTEREST. - - -Declares He Fasted for Fifty-one Days. - -Charles B. Champion, grain man, of Fort Worth, Texas, is boasting about -a fasting feat which he believes surpasses all long-distance records in -the abstinence line. But he did not go out to win any “noneats” record -primarily. - -His health was poor. He had read that the stomach was frequently abused -by the callous and indifferent manner in which it is burdened with more -or less indigestible substances, and decided to give it a rest. - -He concluded a little trip “back to nature” would produce desirable -results. He took his family with him to the mountains of Pennsylvania -and there emulated the mendicant who has “had nothing to eat for three -days.” But he went the average street-corner solicitor of alms one -better. Also, he vied with a certain brand of medical wizards who had -gone without food longer than the ordinary man cares to. - -For fifty-one days he took no food, and drank only water. At the end -of his fasting period, although he had lost thirty-nine pounds in -weight, he was declared physically sound by physicians. During his fast -he experienced no discomfort, and spent enjoyable days whipping the -streams near his camp for trout, and in long tramps over the country. - - -Governor Doused When Gun Kicks. - -While on a shooting expedition along the St. Francis River, in -Missouri, with Governor Hays, of Arkansas, Governor Major, of Missouri, -got a cold bath. The two governors were crossing a bayou in a canoe. -Governor Hays fired at a duck and missed. Governor Major dropped his -paddle, and, standing half erect, blazed away. The kick of the gun -knocked him into the water. The Arkansas governor managed to reach him -and draw him back in the canoe. Each killed a deer before leaving the -canebrakes. - - -Beachey Loops the Loop. - -Lincoln Beachey, the aviator, looped the loop twice in the air above -North Island, California, recently. Starting at a height of 2,500 feet, -he dropped straight downward into the first loop and immediately turned -over again into the second, landing afterward. At no time, seemingly, -was there any loss of control. Beachey said he would repeat the -performance. - -Beachey’s feat of looping the loop with a biplane fitted with an -upright motor upset the theory of experts, who had asserted that -nothing but a revolving motor, such as the Frenchman Pegoud used, could -carry an aëroplane over the top of the loop. Beachey said the loop was -much easier of achievement than flying upside down. He made several -upside-down flights at North Island. - - -Little Pig by Parcel Post. - -Under the protecting wing of Uncle Sam and in care of the employees -of the mail department, a little white Chester pig, four weeks old, -celebrated his birthday recently by visiting Montpelier, Vt., for -the first time, arriving on the afternoon mail train by parcel post, -in what was probably one of the “softest” journeys ever taken by a -“piggie,” at least in that part of the country, at any rate it was -the first of the “pig nationality” to ever arrive in that city in this -manner. - -A very much surprised man was Frank Muzzy, janitor at the C. V. -station, who carries the mail to the post office, when a small crate -was passed out of the car, containing a little white “grunter,” and as -long as a precedent has been established on animals, Frank is wondering -whether or not he may get a box of snakes by the same route some day. - -Passengers and people waiting at the station flocked around the crate, -which was piled high upon the mail bags, showing great interest in the -strange parcel, which was at once taken to the post office, and within -an hour or so, a government employee had delivered the strange shipment -to William I. Brown. The little animal was shipped from Robinson, Vt., -by Joseph King. - -The postage on the little traveler amounted to 43 cents. - - -Polonium as Medicine. - -Sir William Ramsay, of England, discussing the properties of radium at -a meeting of the British Radium Corporation recently, said there were -other substances in the radium ores which had not so far been exploited -from a therapeutic point of view. He hoped that polonium, which was -perhaps the most easily produced, might prove to possess therapeutic -qualities for the treatment of diseases which had hitherto not been -treated. - -Polonium, said Sir William, was somewhat analogous to selenium and -tellurium, and also to bismuth, the therapeutic qualities of which -had been tested. Those three elements remained in the system for -some length of time, and then were excreted, but had practically no -therapeutical qualities. Polonium differed from them entirely in that -it gave off alpha rays, just the same as radium did, and he could not -help believing that the potency of radium for therapeutic purposes -depended upon the alpha rays. - -Radium could not be administered as medicine to human beings, as it was -too expensive, and probably too dangerous, but the three substances he -had mentioned were eliminated in about three months, and his impression -was that polonium might produce its effects for about that time and -then be eliminated. - - -Bill Dahlen Out. - -Bill Dahlen, manager of the Brooklyn National Baseball Club, has been -given his unconditional release. Dahlen had held the place for four -years. He was famous as a shortstop. - - -Lost Hand in Experiment. - -With a book on “Experimental Science” at his call, Godfrey Meier, -junior, fifteen years old, tried an experiment in the back yard of -his home in New York, after school one day recently. Just what his -experiment consisted of the police could not learn, but the result was -an explosion, which blew off the fingers of the boy’s right hand and so -lacerated the hand that it was amputated in Flower Hospital. - -When his mother asked him what caused the accident he said he was -playing with a magneto. The police think, however, that he had got -hold of a fulminating cap or something of the kind. At the time of the -accident a four-year-old nephew of Godfrey was standing only a few feet -away. The child was knocked down, but was not injured. - - -Wireless News to Train. - -For the first time on record, news bulletins taken by wireless were -displayed on a moving train recently. Passengers on No. 3 on the -Lackawanna Railroad were astonished to see the latest foreign and home -dispatches spread before their eyes as they were being whirled along at -sixty miles an hour between Scranton and Binghamton, Pa. - -The Scranton _Times_ sent 250 words from the Lackawanna wireless -station to the moving train. One was on the battle in Mexico, another -regarding the strike in Schenectady, another relating to the dilemma in -Washington with respect to landing marines in Mexico. - -When the train left Hoboken the wireless apparatus was somewhat -disabled, as a generator had burned out. The operator, however, was -able to take dispatches and give the passengers a news service unique -in history. - -“To think we didn’t have it for the world’s series!” mourned an excited -Chicago man. - - -He Prefers the Family Nag. - -Wabash County, Indiana, has at least one resident who has never ridden -on a railroad train, street car, or automobile, and whose fastest rate -of travel is limited to the speed of his horse. This man is Jonathan -Beal, who has lived in New Holland, a village in the eastern part of -the county, for the last sixty years, having moved there with his -parents when about fifteen years old. Mr. Beal is of the opinion that -his family nag can go fast enough for all practical purposes. - -Mr. Beal travels little, and his journeys during the last threescore -years have been confined almost wholly to trips to Wabash, the county -seat, eleven miles from his home. In making the trip he always uses his -horse, and has refused many invitations to ride in a machine. - -Though motor cars hourly pass his home, he never sees a train, only -when in Wabash, as no railroad touches New Holland. - - -Operate on Human Heart. - -Probably the most daring chapter in modern surgery is that which treats -of operations on the heart, says the _World’s Work_. “The road to the -heart is only two or three inches long, but it has taken surgery nearly -2,600 years to traverse it,” is one writer’s striking remark. How -recent this work is, is made plain from the fact that a book published -by Stephen Paget, in 1895, contained a chapter on “Surgery of the -Heart,” the words being contemptuously inclosed in quotation marks. - -The scientist, as well as the layman, looked upon the heart with an -almost superstitious awe. Any injury necessarily implied death; any -interference with such an injury could only hasten the end. Yet many -shrewd observers in the course of the ages had noted that all heart -wounds did not result in instantaneous death. - -It was not until ten or fifteen years ago that surgeons began to -act upon this knowledge. In exceptional cases death did not result -immediately from a heart wound; there were intervals of a few days or -a few weeks. Why not utilize the interval in an attempt to sew up the -wound? Medical history now reports many successful operations of this -kind. - -An especially noteworthy one, performed upon an Alabama negro boy in -1902, illustrates the resources of modern heart surgery. This boy -had been the victim of an especially nasty stab wound. The knife had -penetrated the apex of the heart and passed into the left ventricle, -making a wound nearly half an inch long. When the boy was placed upon -the operating table, in the little negro cabin, the signs of death had -already appeared. His feet were cold and his face showed signs of the -utmost distress. The surgeon made a little, windowlike opening just -above the heart. Through this they could readily see the injured organ, -the blood spurting from the wound at each pulsation. One surgeon put in -his hand, pulled the heart upward, and held it while another sewed the -wound with catgut. - -The operation--performed without an anæsthetic--lasted fifty-five -minutes; on the sixteenth day the boy was sitting up; in a short time -his heart was as good as ever. - - -Fear Rube Waddell is Dying. - -In spite of his belief that he was suffering only from a slight attack -of bronchitis, “Rube” Waddell, once a great baseball pitcher, has left -Minneapolis to begin a battle with tuberculosis, at his sister’s home -in San Antonio, Texas. - -A short time ago a story was current that he had fallen a victim to the -white plague, but he scoffed at the idea, and said he was suffering -from a severe cold. - -Since then he has been growing steadily weaker, and has been in bed for -several days. His physicians fear that Waddell’s chances for recovery -are slight. - - -Ruse of Girl Who Desired to Marry. - -When Martha J. Mayers, sixteen, applied for a marriage license at Fort -Collins, Colo., she told the clerk that she was over eighteen. She -insisted in court the next day that she was telling the truth. - -She explained to County Judge Fred W. Stover that before going for -the license she had placed a piece of paper with the figures eighteen -written on it in her shoe so that she could truthfully say she was over -eighteen. - -The girl declared that her grandmother had told her of the scheme. - -Bert B. Cain, who was arrested for perjury following the marriage to -the sixteen-year-old girl, was held under bond. - - -Man Wanders Fifty Hours. - -Fifty hours without food or sleep, Harry L. Sommerville, manager of the -Savoy Hotel, at North Yakima, Wash., wandered into the store in the -Nile, in the headwaters of the Tieton basin, and later arrived in North -Yakima. With W. W. Stratton, Roy Gilbert, and a man named Mulligan, -Sommerville went hunting near Bumping Lake. He started from the camp to -meet another of the party. He crossed a ridge and missed the other man. -When the hour of the appointment passed Sommerville found that his worn -tennis shoes with rubber soles were so slippery that he could not mount -the side of the ridge again over the wet logs and pine needles. - -“I had no feeling of fear at any time. I did not dare to go to sleep -at night because of the cold in the mountains, but kept pushing on -slowly. It seemed to me that I traveled a thousand miles, but it -appears on the map to be only about thirty.” - - -Indian Wins Cotton Prize. - -Jack Postoak, a full-blooded Mississippi Choctaw Indian, living -in Carter County, Okla., won the sweepstake prize for cotton over -competition of all the world at the International Dry Farming Congress, -at Tulsa. He also won over all competitors at the New State Fair, at -Muskogee. The contest required a showing in six different stages of -cotton growing--seed, seed cotton, hulls, stalks, bolls, and lint -cotton. - -Three years ago Postoak had sold or leased the four allotments in his -family, and was preparing to go back to Mississippi because he could -not make a living on 1,400 acres of land in Oklahoma. A government -agricultural agent induced Postoak to try once more under government -supervision. He did, on a little fifty-acre tract of land near Ardmore. -In three years Postoak developed from the starving Indian class to a -great cotton grower. - - -Gives Rules for Good Health. - -Walk six miles a day. - -Live in the fresh air. - -Get out in the open in the winter. - -Eat proper food. - -Keep your body clean. - -Sleep well. - -If a person follows these rules he will always be healthy, according -to Governor W. N. Ferris, who addressed the delegates attending the -annual convention of the Michigan Association for the Prevention of -Tuberculosis. - - -Bees Acquire Opium Habit. - -The honey bees near Fostoria, Ohio, have contracted the opium habit. -Like the Chinese, they get theirs from the poppy. Many residents of -Fostoria grow Oriental poppies. The bees have found this out, and of -late they are leaving acres of clover blossoms to hunt out the poppy -beds. - -They work vigorously for an hour or so, and then fall to the ground, -apparently as stupefied as are Chinese opium smokers after “hitting the -pipe.” - -It is said if the bees could only be kept sober, there would doubtless -be a great demand for the honey. - - -The Kaiser Held Up? - -A report in circulation at Berlin, Germany, apparently originating -in Vienna, is to the effect that the kaiser is about to sell the old -Monbijou Palace, now the Hohenzollern Museum. It is asserted that the -sale is due to the fact that the recent increase of the emperor’s civil -list is insufficient. - -There was a similar report some weeks ago regarding the alleged -projected sale of a castle in the Rhineland. - -Confirmation of the report is not obtainable. - - -A Family of White Squirrels. - -A family of white squirrels, pure white from tip to tip, is making its -home in a locust tree near the gate of Captain Wyman X. Folsom’s place, -opposite Interstate Park, Taylor’s Falls, Minn. - -How they came to be white, Nature, wise old friend of the woodland -folk, only knows. But probably they are albino members of the red -squirrel race. The freaks were discovered six weeks ago, and now are -so tame it is possible to approach within three or four feet of them -before there’s a gleam of white dashing up the nearest tree. - -George Hazzard, park commissioner, and members of the Folsom household, -have been taking particularly good care that nothing happens to them, -and perhaps Interstate Park eventually will have a whole race of white -squirrels. Anyway, that’s the idea behind the careful care which -surrounds the curiosities. - -Already, however, unkind fate in the form of a mean old cat has evaded -the guardians, and one young squirrel’s life has been forfeited. - -“He was one of the nicest of the five,” declared Martin Tangen, -druggist and friend of Nature’s children. Now the two old squirrels are -doing their best to keep their two remaining children from other harm. - -Houses have been built for the white denizens, and they are to have an -easy time this winter, according to the plans of Commissioner Hazzard, -for proper food will be available, no matter how hard the earth freezes -at the base of their locust tree. - - -Back-pension Pay Good as Fortune. - -Frank Ferris, seventy-nine, of Atchison, Kan., who served during the -Civil War in the Third Regiment of Missouri Infantry, applied for a -pension in 1890, but because he could not produce his discharge he was -denied one. He kept on in his efforts to prove that he was a soldier, -and some time ago secured the help of United States Senator Thompson. - -Recently the adjutant general of Missouri, in going through the records -that were kept in that office during the war days, discovered the dates -of both the mustering in and discharge of Ferris, and on the strength -of this the pension will be allowed. - -He will receive $30 a month and back pay for twenty-three years at the -rate of $12 a month, or more than $3,000 in all. - -Ferris is a carpenter, and a poor man. His wife is nearly eighty years -old. There is general rejoicing. - - -Reception Room for Warship Crew. - -Secretary Daniels, of the navy, approved plans for a reception and -reading room for enlisted men on the new battleship _New York_. -Mr. Daniels said the provision was a new departure, and has been -inaugurated to increase the comfort of the crew and add to the -attractiveness of the ship for enlisted men and their visitors when in -port. Similar changes probably will be inaugurated on other vessels. - - -Calf Has no Tail. - -A valuable Holstein cow, belonging to F. L. Sweet, of North Adams, -Mass., has given birth to a handsome calf which, strange to say, has no -tail. Sweet prizes the calf very highly, and jokingly remarked that he -might have it “retailed.” - - -Fewer Free Seeds? Statesmen Angry. - -Secretary Houston, of the department of agriculture, is “in bad” with -numerous members of Congress because he has recommended that the -distribution of ordinary vegetable and flower seeds be discontinued. -Carloads and carloads of these seeds have been distributed free -under postal franks of congressmen and senators, the cost being about -$300,000 a year. Secretary Houston wants to devote part of the money -to the distribution of new and valuable seeds and plants, on a smaller -scale. - - -Walking Hencoop Arrested. - -A policeman in the outskirts of St. Louis, Mo., saw a man whose form -was anything but a perfect thirty-six. His coat looked as if some -tailor had settled an old grudge in the general fit, and he fidgeted -along like a person who is harboring a bee. - -Suspicious, the officer pursued the man and lifted his coat. Three -fowls cackled gratefully to the ground. The officer asked for an -explanation, and the portable hencoop informed him that the chickens -flew into his coat to get warm. - -The police regulations prohibit the belief of anything as rough as -that, and the man was arrested. - - -Shot Found in Her Appendix. - -Surgeons of the Harrisburg, Pa., Hospital removed from the appendix of -Mrs. Reuben Ulrich, of Seline Grove, Pa., two grains of the shot with -which her husband killed a rabbit last week. Mrs. Ulrich ate a part of -the rabbit. - - -Passes Dog Off as Baby to Take it on a Train. - -Because it would cost $1 fare for her dog, while babies could ride -free, a Mrs. Welchel, of near Lead Hill, Ark., recently “put one over -on the railroad company” by dressing her pet dog in baby clothes. - -When Mrs. Welchel, with the “baby,” climbed aboard the hack to Lead -Hill, Fido let loose a series of barks. “Her hand exposed,” Mrs. -Welchel turned back a veil, and from the bundle of supposed humanity -there appeared the head of a fice. - -Conductor Clyde Miller, when told of the success of the ruse, merely -remarked: “It takes a woman to beat the road.” - - -Leg Buried With His Body. - -Valentine Weisenberger’s right leg, which was amputated twelve years -ago, was brought from the undertaker’s dead room and placed in -Weisenberger’s coffin to be buried with the rest of the body at Fort -Wayne, Ind., recently. - -When Weisenberger’s leg was amputated he ordered it delivered to an -undertaker with instructions for the latter to embalm it and keep it -for the complete burial. His orders were followed. - - -Smallest High-school Boy. - -George Fielding, a freshman in the Brazil, Ind., High School, is the -smallest pupil who ever entered the school. He is 2 feet 10 inches -high. He stands well in his studies. His home is at Carbon. - - -“Some Punkins.” - -There are 500 pumpkins on one vine which covers an eighth of an acre on -Doctor R. G. Sloan’s farm, at Little River, S. C. One of the pumpkins -weighs 100 pounds. - - -No Reason for Egg Famine. - -Although the country faces something like an egg famine to-day, the -number of eggs produced in this country has increased more rapidly than -the population, according to the census bureau. Between 1899 and 1909 -the population increased 11 per cent, but the egg production grew 23 -per cent. - -This estimate does not include the large number of eggs produced by -amateur poultrymen in the suburbs of cities. It shows merely the farm -product. - -The price of eggs paid to the farmers in that period advanced an -average of about 11 cents to an average of 19 cents. - -Illinois enjoyed the cheapest egg supply. The price there in 1912 -varied from 22 to 28 cents a dozen. In New York it was 29 cents to 41 -cents. - -The estimated production of eggs for 1913 is 1,734,529,000 dozen, an -average of 17.7 dozen per capita. In 1909 the production was only -1,591,311,000 dozen. - - -Curley, the Crow, Still Living. - -“Curley, the Crow,” the only survivor of the Custer massacre, a -half-blood Sioux scout, is in his seventy-second year. He declares that -the famous painting, “Custer’s Last Stand,” does not truly represent -the scene, since it shows scalped and mutilated American soldiers on -the field of battle at Little Horn, where, on June 24, 1876, Custer and -practically all of his command perished. “There was no scalping and no -mutilation,” says Curley. “Four hundred and seventy-three soldiers were -killed, and not a mark was found on them that was not made by bullets. -I was General Custer’s scout, and he had sent me for re-enforcements -the night before the battle. I was returning with Captain Bentline and -his command. While I was still a long way off my horse was shot from -under me, and I got down and ran until I came into the thick of the -fighting. As I got there, I saw the soldiers were lying dead right and -left. Those four hundred and seventy-three had been surrounded by six -thousand Sioux. I saw Custer fighting with his saber, and I thought -he was the last man alive there, but I soon saw that his brother, -Lieutenant Tom Custer, was fighting beside him. He fell, and General -Custer then stood alone. The Indians could easily have killed him -before that, but the purpose was to take him alive. Fourteen Indians -whom he had slashed and gashed with his saber lay near him, most of -them dead or dying. I called to General Custer, meaning to tell him of -General Reno’s refusal to come, and he said, ‘You here, Curley? We’ll -fight to the end.’ Those were his last words. A big Sioux seized his -arm, and Custer turned on him and dealt a terrible saber stroke that -half cut his head off. As he did this, the son of the Sioux fired -his rifle at Custer, and the bullet went through his heart. I pushed -through toward Custer as he fell. I held his head as he sank back dead.” - - -Changes in Water-polo and Swimming-race Rules. - -Radical changes in the rules that came up for consideration were passed -upon favorably at the annual meeting of the Intercollegiate Swimming -Association held at the New York Athletic Club a few days ago. Most -of them affected water polo, and all were proposed by the graduate -advisory board, a committee created last winter, when the managers and -captains of the various college teams, after encountering all sorts of -trouble with the rules in vogue, decided the matter ought to be placed -in the hands of competent and experienced veterans of the sport. - -The work of this committee, judging from the report, was thorough. -Water polo came in for most of their attention, they asserted, because -it was that division that had created most dissatisfaction. With an eye -toward making the contests less one-sided than heretofore, the board -ruled that in future the ball be given to the team scored against after -each goal. - -A second change was the substitution of three periods for two in every -game, to alleviate the tax on the strength and stamina of the players, -and another was an amendment permitting a player to return to the game -after he had once been withdrawn. The object of the latter ruling is -to decrease the size of the visiting squad and thereby reduce their -traveling expenses. The value of this change cannot be overestimated, -for the matter of expenses has been the bugbear that has retarded the -development of the sport among the colleges. - -The elimination of the one and a half Flying Dutchman from the list of -legal dives was another important amendment. The dive was considered -too dangerous for collegians, several serious accidents having resulted -at dual meets within the last few years. - -There was one subject, however, over which the advisory board and the -college representatives failed to agree, and that was the question of -eliminating the plunge from the list of events to make room for the -back stroke. The board favored the change on the ground that the plunge -was not an interesting event from a spectator’s standpoint, that it -did not develop swimmers, and that it had been stricken off national -and Olympic programs. The back stroke was one style of swimming at -which Americans had been beaten easily at the last Olympic meet. The -delegates, however, voted to refuse the change principally because most -of the colleges had first-class plungers on their squads--men capable -of winning points. - -No other colleges having requested admission into the association, -the championship tournament will again be limited to Yale, Princeton, -Pennsylvania, Columbia, and the College of the City of New York. To -interest other universities in the sport it was agreed to add a special -fifty-yard event for all colleges outside of the association in the -championship meet. - - -From Force of Habit. - -T. R. Staley, of Brighton, Mich., has a horse of a religious turn of -mind. Mr. Staley has many horses, in fact, but each one is assigned -to a different duty. The one in question has always been used to -convey the family to church, and when not busy on Wednesday or Sunday -evenings, is turned into pasture. Saturday, however, Mr. Staley smashed -a precedent by hitching the animal up for a drive to the Farmers’ Club. -The farm helper drove the animal to the front door and there allowed it -to stand, untied. An unusual delay within the Staley abode kept Dobbin -standing past the appointed time for departure, and after a few anxious -glances, he ambled off in the direction of the Presbyterian Church, -where members of the family found him waiting at the regular hour to -take them home. - - -Weakling Dies at 102. - -Believed to have such a slender hold on life that he was christened -when two days old, Philip Carlyon lived to be the oldest clergyman in -the kingdom. He died at Pennance House, Falmouth, England, within six -weeks of his 102d birthday. He was ordained in 1836 and retired at the -age of 70. - -Mr. Carlyon possessed remarkable vitality until within a short period -of his death, taking long walks and attending church regularly. He -remembered his father lighting a bonfire on receipt of the news of -the battle of Waterloo, and was terribly frightened when an effigy of -Bonaparte was thrown into the flames, thinking it was a real man. - -Mr. Carylon’s youngest brother died at the age of 92. - - -Cow in Chinese Restaurant. - -Consternation was created among patrons of a Chinese restaurant, at -Ogden, Utah, when a cow which had been nibbling the grass growing -between the cobblestones of the street-car tracks, spied in the window -of the restaurant a quantity of green vegetables, and started in after -them. Frantic efforts to frighten away the cow proved futile, and Wong -Ching, the proprietor, telephoned the police. Patrolman John Russell -arrived later and drove the cow to the city pound. - - -Pays for Stolen Tobacco. - -A. A. Bouch, who, twenty-four years ago, conducted a grocery store in -Manorville, Ford City, Pa., received the following letter from Edward -Cunningham, whose boyhood was passed in Manorville, and who now resides -in Pittsburgh: - -“All is well with my soul. I have found salvation, and am born again. -When I found Jesus He told me to do His will, and to do right by any -man I have wronged. I asked Him to forgive me for stealing tobacco. I -inclose ten cents for two packages of tobacco which I took from your -store twenty-five years ago.” - - -Facts You May Not Know. - -The great mass of steel in the buildings of lower New York is said to -affect the compasses of the ships approaching the city. - -There are sixteen cables across the north Atlantic Ocean. - -It is probable that the Nile contains a greater variety of fish than -any other river in the world. An expedition sent by the British Museum -brought back 8,000 specimens. - -The target on the ground to test the accuracy of aëroplane bomb -throwers is sixty feet in diameter. The fifteen-pound bombs are dropped -at an elevation of 656 feet. - -There are 20,000 kinds of butterflies in the world. - -The custom of throwing rice at weddings originated in China. - -A patient Englishman has carved the king’s monogram and similar devices -on an eggshell. - -By the end of 1916 the Chinese army expects to have 1,000 aëroplanes, -this year’s budget calling for the purchase of 250. - -Boys in a fresh-air school in Buffalo, N. Y., prune the orchard trees -on the school grounds, grow catalpa trees for future transplanting, -study bird whistles and notes as they hear them in the orchard, and -incidentally acquire a valuable insight into the main principles of -forestry. - - -A Clever Football Play. - -“I would have given one thousand dollars if that play had gone for a -touchdown!” exclaimed Coach F. H. (“Hurry-Up”) Yost, after Quarter Back -Tommy Hughitt crossed the Penn’s goal on a fake-kick formation. - -Hughitt was called back by Referee Eckersall, and Michigan was -penalized for holding in the line--a Michigan man slipped in the mud -and grabbed a Penn forward to save himself, and the referee called it -holding. - -The play was Yost’s masterpiece--the crowning achievement of a career -unequaled in football. Never has the Wolverine Wizard conceived a -cleverer coup, and never had he taught his men to execute one with more -deadly precision. - -Football men at the game united in declaring that the fake was the -cleverest thing they ever saw on a gridiron. It takes a higher place -than Yost’s marvelous triple forward pass, which dazed Penn a year ago. - -The play came in the third quarter of the Michigan-Pennsylvania game -November 15. Michigan worked the ball to Penn’s thirty-yard line and -Captain Paterson was called back for a place kick. - -In the Cornell game, a week previous, Paterson kicked goal under -identical conditions, and the Penn scouts had reported it. - -Quarter Back Hughitt dropped upon one knee, with hands outstretched to -receive the ball and place it for Paterson’s educated toe. - -Hughitt called the signal and the oval sailed through the air. But -the hearts of twenty thousand fluttered when it was seen that Hughitt -couldn’t place the ball properly. Paterson stepped forward to kick. - -The Pennsylvania forwards were oozing through the line; the secondary -defense was closing in; there wasn’t a second to lose as Paterson’s -foot swung forward, missing the ball! - -But as he missed Hughitt hugged the oval to his jersey, and, jumping -to his feet, swept around the Quaker line like a jack rabbit, to plant -the ball between the Quaker goal posts, while the Pennsylvania forwards -fought desperately to get back through the line they had been purposely -permitted to penetrate. - -Such was the perfection of plan and execution that thousands did not -realize until the next day that it was a Yost coup, and not an accident. - - -Knife Gives Girl Sight. - -Vera Critchfield, five years old, of Barberton, Ohio, blind from -birth, to-day is able to see. Her case is only one example of what -the State blind commission is doing for the blind children of Ohio. -The commission has proved that all children blind from birth are not -helplessly blind. One surgical operation removed the film from Vera’s -eyes. One or two others will fully restore her sight. - - -Dream Saves Her Farm. - -A dream in which Miss Helen Lochlin, of Bennett, Ill., had a vision of -her dead brother directing her where to find a will he executed in 1897 -saved her home to her when she was preparing to leave it because of an -administrator’s sale. - -The will was found by Miss Lochlin, who is more than fifty years old, -where the vision told her it was hidden. - -Miss Lochlin and her brother Frank lived on the small farm for many -years. Frank died in the spring of 1910, and shortly after a partition -suit was instituted by another sister, who lives in Denver. With no -funds to buy in the share of the estate awarded to the sister by the -court, Miss Lochlin was preparing to leave the home. - -This will was proved authentic by the witnesses, and, as Miss Lochlin -was named executrix by her brother, the estate will not go under the -hammer, and she will remain on the farm. - - -Man Lives Long in Kitchen. - -When C. B. Wright, an old soldier and bachelor, sold his home at -Argyle, Wis., the other day, to move to Florida, it was discovered that -since the death of his mother, fifteen years ago, he had spent his -life in the little kitchen of the cottage. Wright said that, in memory -of his mother, he had avoided disturbing the other part of the house, -not even a pin having been moved. Everything in the rooms had been -preserved just as she left it. - - * * * * * - -Just Out! - -“Inlay Enamel” Monograms - -Adjusted to the Second - -19 Jewels - -25 Year Guaranteed Gold Strata Case - -[Illustration] - -_You can have your own monogram in handsome enamel design (many colors -to choose from), inlaid in the superb gold strata case. The latest idea -in watch cases now offered direct to you._ - -Our Special Offer - -You may get one of these superb timepieces--The Genuine Burlington -Special--a watch of the very latest model, the popular new, -thin design, adjusted to the second, positions, temperature and -isochronism--19 jewels--at the rock-bottom price--=the same price even -the wholesaler must pay=. - -Your Choice of Scores of Cases - -Open face or hunting cases, ladies’ or men’s sizes. These can be had in -the newest ideas: =Block and Ribbon Monograms=, =Diamond Set=, =Lodge=, -=French Art and Dragon Designs=, =Inlay Enamel Monograms=. - -=$2.50 a Month at the Rock-Bottom Price= $2.50 a month for this superb -timepiece! The easiest payments at rock-bottom price. - -=Sent on Approval= - -We ship the watch on approval, =prepaid=. You risk nothing--absolutely -nothing--you pay nothing--not one cent, unless you want the offer after -seeing and thoroughly inspecting the watch. - -Write for FREE Catalog - -Send for the free book. It will tell the inside facts about watch -prices, and explains the many superior points of the Burlington over -double-priced products. Just send the free coupon NOW. - - Burlington Watch Company - 19th Street and Marshall Boulevard - Dept. 4971 - CHICAGO - -FREE BOOK COUPON - - Burlington Watch Company - 19th St. & Marshall Blvd. - Dept. 4971 CHICAGO - -Please send me, without obligation and prepaid, your free book on -watches, including your enamel monogram cases, with full explanation of -your cash or $2.50 a month offer on the Burlington Special. - - Name........................... - - Address........................ - - ............................... - - * * * * * - -SOME OF THE BACK NUMBERS OF =NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY= THAT CAN BE SUPPLIED - - 700--Frank Merriwell’s Lively Lads. - 701--Frank Merriwell as Instructor. - 702--Dick Merriwell’s Cayuse. - 703--Dick Merriwell’s Quirt. - 704--Dick Merriwell’s Freshman Friend. - 705--Dick Merriwell’s Best Form. - 706--Dick Merriwell’s Prank. - 707--Dick Merriwell’s Gambol. - 708--Dick Merriwell’s Gun. - 709--Dick Merriwell at His Best. - 710--Dick Merriwell’s Master Mind. - 711--Dick Merriwell’s Dander. - 712--Dick Merriwell’s Hope. - 713--Dick Merriwell’s Standard. - 714--Dick Merriwell’s Sympathy. - 715--Dick Merriwell in Lumber Land. - 716--Frank Merriwell’s Fairness. - 717--Frank Merriwell’s Pledge. - 718--Frank Merriwell, the Man of Grit. - 719--Frank Merriwell’s Return Blow. - 720--Frank Merriwell’s Quest. - 721--Frank Merriwell’s Ingots. - 722--Frank Merriwell’s Assistance. - 723--Frank Merriwell at the Throttle. - 724--Frank Merriwell, the Always Ready. - 725--Frank Merriwell in Diamond Land. - 726--Frank Merriwell’s Desperate Chance. - 727--Frank Merriwell’s Black Terror. - 728--Frank Merriwell Again on the Slab. - 729--Frank Merriwell’s Hard Game. - 730--Frank Merriwell’s Six-in-hand. - 731--Frank Merriwell’s Duplicate. - 732--Frank Merriwell on Rattlesnake Ranch. - 733--Frank Merriwell’s Sure Hand. - 734--Frank Merriwell’s Treasure Map. - 735--Frank Merriwell, Prince of the Rope. - 736--Dick Merriwell, Captain of the Varsity. - 737--Dick Merriwell’s Control. - 738--Dick Merriwell’s Back Stop. - 739--Dick Merriwell’s Masked Enemy. - 740--Dick Merriwell’s Motor Car. - 741--Dick Merriwell’s Hot Pursuit. - 742--Dick Merriwell at Forest Lake. - 743--Dick Merriwell in Court. - 744--Dick Merriwell’s Silence. - 745--Dick Merriwell’s Dog. - 746--Dick Merriwell’s Subterfuge. - 747--Dick Merriwell’s Enigma. - 748--Dick Merriwell Defeated. - 749--Dick Merriwell’s “Wing.” - 750--Dick Merriwell’s Sky Chase. - 751--Dick Merriwell’s Pick-ups. - 752--Dick Merriwell on the Rocking R. - 753--Dick Merriwell’s Penetration. - 754--Dick Merriwell’s Intuition. - 755--Dick Merriwell’s Vantage. - 756--Dick Merriwell’s Advice. - 757--Dick Merriwell’s Rescue. - 758--Dick Merriwell, American. - 759--Dick Merriwell’s Understanding. - 760--Dick Merriwell, Tutor. - 761--Dick Merriwell’s Quandary. - 762--Dick Merriwell on the Boards. - 763--Dick Merriwell, Peacemaker. - 764--Frank Merriwell’s Sway. - 765--Frank Merriwell’s Comprehension. - 766--Frank Merriwell’s Young Acrobat. - 767--Frank Merriwell’s Tact. - 768--Frank Merriwell’s Unknown. - 769--Frank Merriwell’s Acuteness. - 770--Frank Merriwell’s Young Canadian. - 771--Frank Merriwell’s Coward. - 772--Frank Merriwell’s Perplexity. - 773--Frank Merriwell’s Intervention. - 774--Frank Merriwell’s Daring Deed. - 775--Frank Merriwell’s Succor. - 776--Frank Merriwell’s Wit. - 777--Frank Merriwell’s Loyalty. - 778--Frank Merriwell’s Bold Play. - 779--Frank Merriwell’s Insight. - 780--Frank Merriwell’s Guile. - 781--Frank Merriwell’s Campaign. - 782--Frank Merriwell in the National Forest. - 783--Frank Merriwell’s Tenacity. - 784--Dick Merriwell’s Self-sacrifice. - 785--Dick Merriwell’s Close Shave. - 786--Dick Merriwell’s Perception. - 787--Dick Merriwell’s Mysterious Disappearance. - 788--Dick Merriwell’s Detective Work. - 789--Dick Merriwell’s Proof. - 790--Dick Merriwell’s Brain Work. - 791--Dick Merriwell’s Queer Case. - 792--Dick Merriwell, Navigator. - 793--Dick Merriwell’s Good Fellowship. - 794--Dick Merriwell’s Fun. - 795--Dick Merriwell’s Commencement. - 796--Dick Merriwell at Montauk Point. - 797--Dick Merriwell, Mediator. - 798--Dick Merriwell’s Decision. - 799--Dick Merriwell on the Great Lakes. - 800--Dick Merriwell Caught Napping. - 801--Dick Merriwell in the Copper Country. - 802--Dick Merriwell Strapped. - 803--Dick Merriwell’s Coolness. - 804--Dick Merriwell’s Reliance. - 805--Dick Merriwell’s College Mate. - 806--Dick Merriwell’s Young Pitcher. - 807--Dick Merriwell’s Prodding. - 808--Frank Merriwell’s Boy. - 809--Frank Merriwell’s Interference. - 810--Frank Merriwell’s Young Warriors. - 811--Frank Merriwell’s Appraisal. - 812--Frank Merriwell’s Forgiveness. - 813--Frank Merriwell’s Lads. - 814--Frank Merriwell’s Young Aviators. - 815--Frank Merriwell’s Hot-head. - 816--Dick Merriwell, Diplomat. - 817--Dick Merriwell in Panama. - 818--Dick Merriwell’s Perseverance. - 819--Dick Merriwell Triumphant. - 820--Dick Merriwell’s Betrayal. - 821--Dick Merriwell, Revolutionist. - 822--Dick Merriwell’s Fortitude. - 823--Dick Merriwell’s Undoing. - 824--Dick Merriwell, Universal Coach. - 825--Dick Merriwell’s Snare. - 826--Dick Merriwell’s Star Pupil. - 827--Dick Merriwell’s Astuteness. - 828--Dick Merriwell’s Responsibility. - 829--Dick Merriwell’s Plan. - 830--Dick Merriwell’s Warning. - 831--Dick Merriwell’s Counsel. - 832--Dick Merriwell’s Champions. - 833--Dick Merriwell’s Marksmen. - 834--Dick Merriwell’s Enthusiasm. - 835--Dick Merriwell’s Solution. - 836--Dick Merriwell’s Foreign Foe. - 837--Dick Merriwell and the Carlisle Warriors. - 838--Dick Merriwell’s Battle for the Blue. - 839--Dick Merriwell’s Evidence. - 840--Dick Merriwell’s Device. - 841--Dick Merriwell’s Princeton Opponents. - 842--Dick Merriwell’s Sixth Sense. - 843--Dick Merriwell’s Strange Clew. - 844--Dick Merriwell Comes Back. - 845--Dick Merriwell’s Heroic Crew. - 846--Dick Merriwell Looks Ahead. - 847--Dick Merriwell at the Olympics. - 848--Dick Merriwell in Stockholm. - 849--Dick Merriwell in the Swedish Stadium. - 850--Dick Merriwell’s Marathon. - -NEW SERIES. - -New Tip Top Weekly - - 1--Frank Merriwell, Jr. - 2--Frank Merriwell, Jr., in the Box. - 3--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Struggle. - 4--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Skill. - 5--Frank Merriwell, Jr., in Idaho. - 6--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Close Shave. - 7--Frank Merriwell, Jr., on Waiting Orders. - 8--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Danger. - 9--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Relay Marathon. - 10--Frank Merriwell, Jr., at the Bar Z Ranch. - 11--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Golden Trail. - 12--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Competitor. - 13--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Guidance. - 14--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Scrimmage. - 15--Frank Merriwell, Jr., Misjudged. - 16--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Star Play. - 17--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Blind Chase. - 18--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Discretion. - 19--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Substitute. - 20--Frank Merriwell, Jr., Justified. - 21--Frank Merriwell, Jr., Incog. - 22--Frank Merriwell, Jr., Meets the Issue. - 23--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Xmas Eve. - 24--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Fearless Risk. - 25--Frank Merriwell, Jr., on Skis. - 26--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ice-boat Chase. - 27--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ambushed Foes. - 28--Frank Merriwell, Jr., and the Totem. - 29--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Hockey Game. - 30--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Clew. - 31--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Adversary. - 32--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Timely Aid. - 33--Frank Merriwell, Jr., in the Desert. - 34--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Grueling Test. - 35--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Special Mission. - 36--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Red Bowman. - 37--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Task. - 38--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Cross-Country Race. - 39--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Four Miles. - 40--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Umpire. - 41--Frank Merriwell, Jr., Sidetracked. - 42--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Teamwork. - 43--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Step-Over. - 44--Frank Merriwell, Jr., in Monterey. - 45--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Athletes. - 46--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Outfielder. - 47--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, “Hundred.” - 48--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Hobo Twirler. - 49--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Canceled Game. - 50--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Weird Adventure. - 51--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Double Header. - 52--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Peck of Trouble. - 53--Frank Merriwell, Jr., and the Spook Doctor. - 54--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Sportsmanship. - 55--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ten-Innings. - 56--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ordeal. - 57--Frank Merriwell, Jr., on the Wing. - 58--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Cross-Fire. - 59--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Lost Team-mate. - 60--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Daring Flight. - 61--Frank Merriwell, Jr., at Fardale. - 62--Frank Merriwell, Jr., Plebe. - 63--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Quarter-Back. - 64--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Touchdown. - 65--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Night Off. - 66--Frank Merriwell, Jr., and the Little Black Box. - 67--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Classmates. - 68--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Repentant Enemy. - 69--Frank Merriwell, Jr., and the “Spell.” - 70--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Gridiron Honors. - 71--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Winning Run. - 72--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Jujutsu. - Dated December 20th. - 73--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Christmas Vacation. - Dated December 27th. - 74--Frank Merriwell, Jr., and the Nine Wolves. - Dated January 3d 1914. - 75--Frank Merriwell, Jr., on the Border. - Dated January 10th, 1914. - 76--Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Desert Race. - -=PRICE, FIVE CENTS PER COPY.= If you want any back numbers of our -weeklies and cannot procure them from your news dealer, they can be -obtained direct from this office. 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