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diff --git a/old/55463-h/55463-h.htm b/old/55463-h/55463-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index aff98e7..0000000 --- a/old/55463-h/55463-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6333 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Owen Clancy's Run of Luck; or, The Motor Wizard in the Garage, by Burt L. 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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/) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 570px;"> -<img id="coverpage" src="images/cover.jpg" width="570" height="850" alt="Cover." /> -</div> - -<div style="padding-top:2em"> - -<div class="transnote"> -<h2 style="margin-top: 0em">Transcriber’s Notes:</h2> - -<p>The Table of Contents was created by the transcriber and placed in -the public domain.</p> - -<p><a href="#TN_end">Additional Transcriber’s Notes</a> are at the -end.</p> -</div></div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="boxit"> -<p class="center xlargefont boldfont">TABLE OF CONTENTS</p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_I_OVER_THE_RIM_ROCK">CHAPTER I. OVER THE RIM ROCK.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_II_JIMMIE_FORTUNE">CHAPTER II. JIMMIE FORTUNE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_III_THE_MOTOR_WIZARD">CHAPTER III. THE MOTOR WIZARD.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV_CLANCY_GETS_A_JOB">CHAPTER IV. CLANCY GETS A JOB.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_V_HIBBARD_SHOWS_HIS_TEETH">CHAPTER V. HIBBARD SHOWS HIS TEETH.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI_ROCKWELLS_SCHEME">CHAPTER VI. ROCKWELL’S SCHEME.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII_IN_THE_RED_STAR_GARAGE">CHAPTER VII. IN THE RED STAR GARAGE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII_FORTUNES_MYSTERY">CHAPTER VIII. FORTUNE’S MYSTERY.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX_A_WEIRD_STATE_OF_AFFAIRS">CHAPTER IX. A WEIRD STATE OF AFFAIRS.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_X_HELPING_THE_JUDGE">CHAPTER X. HELPING THE JUDGE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI_CAUGHT_RED-HANDED">CHAPTER XI. CAUGHT RED-HANDED.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII_HIBBARD_WEAKENS">CHAPTER XII. HIBBARD WEAKENS.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII_THE_JUDGE_TAKES_A_HAND">CHAPTER XIII. THE JUDGE TAKES A HAND.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#HALL_OF_SHELLS">HALL OF SHELLS.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#The_Wonderful_Adventures_of_Capn_Wiley">The Wonderful Adventures of Cap’n Wiley.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#A_DIVERS_GREATEST_DANGER">A DIVER’S GREATEST DANGER.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#PRESENCE_OF_MIND">PRESENCE OF MIND.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#NEWS_ITEMS_OF_INTEREST">NEWS ITEMS OF INTEREST.</a></p> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i1.jpg" width="600" height="170" alt="Banner" /> -</div> - -<div class="center"> -<div class="boxitheader1"> -<p class="center boldfont"><span class="xlargefont">NEW</span><br /> -<span class="smcap" style="font-size:200%">Tip Top Weekly</span><br /> -<span class="boldfont xlargefont">An Ideal Publication For The American Youth</span></p> -</div></div> - -<div class="boxitheader" style="margin-top:-1em"> -<p><em>Issued Weekly. Entered as Second-class Matter at the New York Post Office, according to an act of Congress, March 3, 1879. Published by</em> -<span class="smcap">Street & Smith</span>, <em>79-89 Seventh Ave., New York. Copyright, 1914, by</em> <span class="smcap">Street & Smith</span>. <em>O. G. Smith and G. C. Smith, Proprietors.</em></p> - -<div class="boxitheader2"> -<p class="boldfont center">Terms to NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY Mail Subscribers.</p> - -<p class="center">(<em>Postage Free.</em>)</p> - -<p class="boldfont center">Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each.</p> - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> -<tr><td class="sub">3 months</td><td class="cost">65c.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="sub">4 months</td><td class="cost">85c.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="sub">6 months</td><td class="cost">$1.25</td></tr> -<tr><td class="sub">One year</td><td class="cost">2.50</td></tr> -<tr><td class="sub">2 copies one year</td><td class="cost">4.00</td></tr> -<tr><td class="sub">1 copy two years</td><td class="cost">4.00</td></tr> -</table></div> - -<p><b>How to Send Money</b>—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.</p> - -<p><b>Receipts</b>—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.</p> -</div> -<div class="boxitheader3"> -<p class="center">No. 77. <span style="padding-left:5em; padding-right:5em">NEW YORK, January 17, 1914.</span> Price Five Cents.</p> -</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h1>OWEN CLANCY’S RUN OF LUCK;<br /> -<span class="xlargefont">Or, THE MOTOR WIZARD IN THE GARAGE.</span></h1> - - -<p class="center no-break largefont boldfont">By BURT L. STANDISH.</p> - - - - -<h2 class="no-break"><a name="CHAPTER_I_OVER_THE_RIM_ROCK" id="CHAPTER_I_OVER_THE_RIM_ROCK"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /> -<span class="cheaderfont">OVER THE RIM ROCK.</span></h2> - - -<p>Honk, h-o-n-k!</p> - -<p>“Look out there! Jump—jump!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The dust was flicked away by the wind, and, as the air -cleared, Clancy fell to his knees on the cliff’s edge.</p> - -<p>“Hello!” he called, in a voice husky with apprehension.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Where are you?” demanded Clancy.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>By then, the dust had entirely cleared away below and -a strange spectacle presented itself to the eyes of the lad -on the brink.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“I haven’t a rope.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Bush is givin’ ’way,” was the answer. “I can feel it -pullin’ out. One thing I want you should do for me, -friend.”</p> - -<p>“What’s that?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>With his left arm around a bowlder at the cliff’s edge, -Clancy, flat on the ground, was reaching his right hand -downward.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“Ain’t you the funny whopper, though! Here’s where -I get up and fall off.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Darned if I can savvy this!” he murmured. “I’m here -yet, ain’t I?”</p> - -<p>“Take my hand!” shouted Clancy.</p> - -<p>This was something Fortune could not do. One reached -down and the other reached up, but a foot gap separated -their groping fingers.</p> - -<p>“Splice out that arm about a foot, pard,” said Fortune, -“and we’ll make it.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll do it!” declared Clancy. “Hang on a minute -longer!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Blamed if you didn’t make it!” exclaimed Fortune, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> -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?”</p> - -<p>Clancy gave him the “handle,” and the two shook hands.</p> - -<p>“Now that you’ve pulled me out o’ that diffukilty,” remarked -James Montague Fortune, “what do you opine to -do with me, huh?”</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II_JIMMIE_FORTUNE" id="CHAPTER_II_JIMMIE_FORTUNE"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /> -<span class="cheaderfont">JIMMIE FORTUNE.</span></h2> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Clancy threw back his red head and burst into a laugh.</p> - -<p>“Where’s the joke?” asked Fortune.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Clancy shook his head.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to have all I can do to corral my own board -and keep, Jimmie,” he answered.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” said the surprised Clancy. “If you’re -as good as you look I’d probably have a handful.”</p> - -<p>Fortune got his feet under him, stepped into the road, -and put up his hands.</p> - -<p>“Come on!” he called.</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“You want to fight?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Cut out the foolishness,” said Owen. “What reason -have I got to fight with you?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Thump, thump, thump!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“All right, Jimmie,” said he, “we’ll be pards, and we’ll -go on together. Suppose we travel?”</p> - -<p>“I allow we’ll have to travel if we ever reach Phoenix. -Pasear it is, Reddy!”</p> - -<p>Side by side they continued on along the treacherous -trail.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Why don’t you stay hired?”</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Want to get a job in a garage,” said Owen.</p> - -<p>The other looked at him with quickened interest.</p> - -<p>“You bug on the motors?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you might call it that,” laughed Owen.</p> - -<p>“Never tried ’em myself. Looks like a promisin’ field. -Wonder if we couldn’t get jobs in the same garage?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Otra vez!” he murmured. “Come again with that, -Red. A note for—how much?”</p> - -<p>“Thousand dollars.”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“I was there good and plenty for six months.”</p> - -<p>“Ever hear of a man named Rockwell—Silas Rockwell?”</p> - -<p>Jimmie gave a startled jump. “Wow!” he yelled.</p> - -<p>“Know Rockwell?” continued Clancy.</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Clancy, his wonder aroused by his companion’s behavior, -dropped his gaze to the foot of the slope. What he saw -there surprised him.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Who’s the other man, Jimmie?” queried Owen.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>With that, Fortune rushed down the sloping trail at -top speed. Clancy followed him swiftly, calling out as -he went:</p> - -<p>“Don’t do anything reckless, Jimmie! Look out, or -you’ll get yourself into trouble.”</p> - -<p>“Somebody’s goin’ to get into trouble, all right,” Fortune -flung back, over his shoulder, and raced on.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III_THE_MOTOR_WIZARD" id="CHAPTER_III_THE_MOTOR_WIZARD"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /> -<span class="cheaderfont">THE MOTOR WIZARD.</span></h2> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“What do you mean, you young savage?” the man cried. -“Here, Rockwell! Help me get these two apart.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Look here, Dirk Hibbard,” called the stout man, fastening -a stern glance on the chauffeur, “is that what you -did?”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“Slowed up!” jeered Fortune. “You tore past me at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> -forty miles an hour. Ain’t that so, pard?” and he appealed -to Clancy.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>The judge favored Clancy with a keen look. Evidently -he was impressed by the youth’s appearance and truthfulness.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Did I, or did I not, tell you never to take that machine -out of the garage without permission?” flared the judge.</p> - -<p>“Why, yes, but——”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>The chauffeur wore a guilty look, but he made a show -of defending himself.</p> - -<p>“The motor wasn’t workin’ well, judge,” said he, “and -I took the car over the trail to get it in shape.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“I’m trying to,” answered Hibbard, “but it promises to -be a long job. I don’t know just where the difficulty is.”</p> - -<p>The judge whirled on Rockwell.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Engine seems all right,” said he. “Maybe there’s no -gasoline in the tank.”</p> - -<p>“Tank’s half full,” returned Hibbard, with a scowl.</p> - -<p>“Then maybe the carburetor——”</p> - -<p>“Carburetor’s in apple-pie order,” averred the chauffeur.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“The trouble’s plain enough,” he blurted out. “I can -locate it from here.”</p> - -<p>Instantly the red-headed fellow captured the complete attention -of the judge, Rockwell, and Hibbard.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“Are you a mechanic?” inquired Rockwell.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Wow!” cried Hibbard, with an ugly laugh. “He’s a -wizard, a regular motor wizard. He rolls up out of the -desert, and——”</p> - -<p>“That will do!” cut in the judge sharply. “What is -your name, young man?” he asked, turning to Clancy.</p> - -<p>Clancy told him. Rockwell, when he heard the name, -gave a start and looked at the lad more closely.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Clancy smiled as he stepped forward.</p> - -<p>“All right,” said he.</p> - -<p>He bent down and manipulated a couple of wires leading -from the magneto to the spark plug. Then he straightened -up.</p> - -<p>“That’s all,” he remarked.</p> - -<p>“You’ve got fifteen seconds more,” said the judge. -“Go on.”</p> - -<p>“It’s all over, judge. The wires were crossed, that’s -all. Easy enough to see and easy enough to fix.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“You mean to say the trouble is remedied?” inquired -Judge Pembroke incredulously.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“See if you can crank the machine.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> -Clancy. Like Rockwell, however, Hibbard had nothing -to say.</p> - -<p>“I suppose you can drive a car, Clancy?” the judge -asked.</p> - -<p>“Certainly,” was the reply.</p> - -<p>“Then I’d like to have you drive me back to town.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Rockwell, who was behind the wheel of the other machine, -shot another quick glance at Clancy.</p> - -<p>“I reckon I’ll take the rumble seat o’ the other car, and -ride with you, pard,” spoke up Fortune.</p> - -<p>“I reckon you won’t,” snapped Rockwell. “You’ll either -ride with the judge, young man, or else you’ll walk.”</p> - -<p>Judge Pembroke seemed surprised at this ugly show -of temper.</p> - -<p>“You’re welcome to ride in my car,” said he to Fortune.</p> - -<p>“Wait for me at the garage, Jimmie,” said Clancy, “providing -you get there before we do. If we get there first, -I’ll wait.”</p> - -<p>“Correct,” returned Fortune, and climbed into the tonneau -of the judge’s machine.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I’ll see you again, Clancy,” called the judge, as the -big car started off. “I want to have a talk with you.”</p> - -<p>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:</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV_CLANCY_GETS_A_JOB" id="CHAPTER_IV_CLANCY_GETS_A_JOB"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /> -<span class="cheaderfont">CLANCY GETS A JOB.</span></h2> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I was helping out the judge,” said he. “I didn’t know -I was butting into your affairs.”</p> - -<p>“You made Pembroke think I didn’t know what was -wrong with his car!”</p> - -<p>“Well, you didn’t, did you?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>All this, however, was merely guesswork. Knowing -nothing absolutely, Clancy reserved judgment.</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>A look of relief crossed Rockwell’s face and his voice -took on a more friendly tone as he answered:</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Clancy, “there’s something else.”</p> - -<p>Rockwell grew uneasy again and his former gruffness -came back with a rush.</p> - -<p>“What else?” he grunted.</p> - -<p>“You know a man named John Clancy, don’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m John Clancy’s son. Owen Clancy is my -name.”</p> - -<p>“Your father was killed in Mexico, wasn’t he?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“I see. What about his Mexican investments?”</p> - -<p>“He lost everything he had, down below the line. The -revolutionists cleaned him out.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Rockwell’s brows wrinkled in a hard frown.</p> - -<p>“Where’s that note?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>Clancy drew an old black wallet from the breast of his -shirt, opened it, and removed an oblong slip of paper.</p> - -<p>“Here,” said he, pushing the paper over the steering -wheel and under the eyes of Rockwell.</p> - -<p>The latter pushed up his goggles, stared at the note for -a moment, and then pulled the goggles down over his -eyes again.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll pay it?” asked Clancy hopefully.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Clancy returned the note to the wallet and the wallet -to the breast of his shirt.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Rockwell remained thoughtful for several minutes.</p> - -<p>“Ever work in a garage?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I’ll appreciate anything you can do for me,” said Clancy, -with feeling.</p> - -<p>“Are you willing to do what I tell you to, and to keep -your mouth shut?” asked Rockwell.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>It was an honest, straightforward answer, but it failed -to make the proper impression on Rockwell somehow.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Tact?” echoed Clancy.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I guess you don’t want me, Mr. Rockwell,” said Clancy. -“I haven’t been brought up to stand for that sort of thing.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” Clancy answered. “When am I to begin?”</p> - -<p>“To-morrow morning.”</p> - -<p>As Clancy got out of the car in the garage, he turned -to find Judge Pembroke at his elbow.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Clancy, for a moment, was “stumped.”</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry, sir,” he answered, “but I’ve just hired out -to Mr. Rockwell.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Rockwell, just getting out of the car, chuckled, under -his breath.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V_HIBBARD_SHOWS_HIS_TEETH" id="CHAPTER_V_HIBBARD_SHOWS_HIS_TEETH"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /> -<span class="cheaderfont">HIBBARD SHOWS HIS TEETH.</span></h2> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>It did not occur to Clancy that Rockwell might have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> -a design in these shifty tactics, and that the design underwent -changes as Clancy developed his aims and intentions.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>The judge paused and cast a reflective eye over Jimmie.</p> - -<p>“Can you drive a car?” he inquired.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think you’ll do,” said the judge to Fortune, and -walked off down the street.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“You get out o’ here!” shouted Rockwell.</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>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:</p> - -<p>“I’ll expect you to sleep here nights, Clancy. If you -go away, get back by eight o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“All right, sir,” Clancy answered.</p> - -<p>Rockwell disappeared, and Fortune dropped down on -the bench and drew Clancy down beside him.</p> - -<p>“You locoed, pard?” Fortune demanded.</p> - -<p>“I hope not,” was the reply. “Why?”</p> - -<p>“What’s Old Rocks payin’ you?”</p> - -<p>“Fifty a month.”</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t you jump at the judge’s seventy-five?”</p> - -<p>“Because I had already agreed to work for Rockwell.”</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t you turn Rocks down?”</p> - -<p>“When I give a promise I try to stand by it.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Said he’d pay me the money in a week or two.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Money?” gasped Fortune. “What’s that? I ain’t on -speakin’ terms with a soo markee.”</p> - -<p>Clancy took two silver dollars from his pocket and -pressed them into his friend’s hand.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Fortune looked at the two pieces of silver reflectively.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I reckon you’re plumb satisfied now!” exclaimed Hibbard, -bitterly resentful.</p> - -<p>Fortune, on his way toward Washington Street, halted -and faced around.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“You laid your plans to get old Pembroke to fire me!”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“You wanted to get my job for that muttonhead friend -of yours!” breathed Hibbard, through his teeth.</p> - -<p>“Who’s the muttonhead?” demanded Fortune, stepping -forward truculently. “Me?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Mean to say I’m a thief?” asked the other hotly.</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>Hibbard’s face was full of wrath. With a muttered -oath, he struck at Clancy with his fist.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Gle-ory to snakes, and all sashay!” piped Fortune jubilantly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> -“Pard, you found him! That little surprise party -was somethin’ of a jolt. The cimiroon went gunnin’ for -more’n he expected.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I’ll kill you!” he cried huskily.</p> - -<p>Fortune leaped to take a hand in the set-to, but Clancy -ordered him back.</p> - -<p>“Leave Hibbard to me,” he said; “I can handle him.”</p> - -<p>Fortune, his eyes wide with apprehension for his “pard,” -retreated slowly, and watched.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“What’s this?” called the sharp voice of Rockwell, who -came hurrying through the door.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>The garage owner looked down on the driver.</p> - -<p>“Haven’t you got any sense at all?” he asked sternly. -“Do you think you’re helping yourself any by this kind -of work?”</p> - -<p>Hibbard shook his head, as though to clear the fog -from his brain, and got up slowly.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“<a id="Ref_9"></a>My advice to you, Hibbard, is to sing small,” said -Rockwell. “Don’t want to get yourself in the lockup, do -you?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t care a whoop where I get myself, if I can saw -off even with that dub!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>Clancy laughed lightly.</p> - -<p>“Hibbard can’t scare me,” he answered. “He’s sore because -he lost his job—and he’s blaming everybody but -himself.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI_ROCKWELLS_SCHEME" id="CHAPTER_VI_ROCKWELLS_SCHEME"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /> -<span class="cheaderfont">ROCKWELL’S SCHEME.</span></h2> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Sit down, Hibbard,” said Rockwell. “I want to talk -a little sense into that foolish brain of yours, if I can.”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Me?” was the grim response. “I allow there are some -others that would get into trouble, too.” He peered at -Rockwell significantly. “Eh?”</p> - -<p>“Never mind about that,” was the uneasy response. -“Just cool off, will you, so we can talk sensibly.”</p> - -<p>Hibbard seemed to get himself better in hand. His -voice dropped, his manner changed, and he sank down -on the bench.</p> - -<p>“Did you give that red-headed buttinsky a job?” he -asked resentfully.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Didn’t the judge offer him what I was getting?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“I thought he was a fool!” grunted Hibbard.</p> - -<p>“He’s easy. He wants to be straight and square, he says, -and——”</p> - -<p>“And work for you!” struck in the other significantly.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“That’s your way of looking at it,” Rockwell answered -patiently, “but you’re wrong. That has nothing to do with -this case, though.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>The garage owner did not reply at once. He appeared -to be turning something over in his mind.</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t you let Pembroke take him on?” continued -Hibbard. “Then I could have had this place you’ve given -him.”</p> - -<p>“I had to give Clancy a job,” Rockwell answered.</p> - -<p>“Why?”</p> - -<p>Rockwell peered around cautiously. There was no one -on the graveled walks of the plaza, in their vicinity.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Hibbard was profoundly interested on the instant.</p> - -<p>“Tell me about it,” said he. “I’d do anything to play -even with Clancy.”</p> - -<p>Rockwell’s face grew stern and uncompromising as he -went on:</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>The chauffeur looked at him curiously.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“What has all that to do with my work?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Hibbard laughed softly.</p> - -<p>“And you don’t want to cough up, eh?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Not just at present. What’s more, Hibbard, I don’t -want any trouble on account of that note.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“Then let Clancy whistle.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t do that. If young Clancy sues and tries to -collect, the publicity would be a bad thing for the business.”</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t Clancy’s father deposit the note in the bank -before he went to Mexico?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“So,” remarked Hibbard, “in order to keep him quiet -and comfortable, you have given him a job. Is that the -way of it?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Borrow it of Mrs. Rockwell.”</p> - -<p>The garage owner winked.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Where do I come in? What do you want me to do?”</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>The other frowned.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Does Clancy carry the note around with him?” asked -Hibbard, already beginning to figure on ways and means -for his rascally exploit.</p> - -<p>“Yes. It is in a black wallet in the breast of his flannel -shirt.”</p> - -<p>“Where does he hang out nights?”</p> - -<p>“He’ll be in the little room back of the garage,” was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Are you going to help me, or aren’t you?” demanded -Rockwell.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to earn that two hundred, and get even with -Clancy, providing——”</p> - -<p>Hibbard paused, looking at Rockwell out of the tails -of his eyes.</p> - -<p>“Providing what?” the other asked.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll take care of you, Hibbard,” said Rockwell.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII_IN_THE_RED_STAR_GARAGE" id="CHAPTER_VII_IN_THE_RED_STAR_GARAGE"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /> -<span class="cheaderfont">IN THE RED STAR GARAGE.</span></h2> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“You’re the mechanic here?” the new employee asked, -approaching the bench where the man was at work.</p> - -<p>“You’ve hit it, son,” was the reply.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to begin work here to-morrow, and I’m sort -of looking around to get an idea of the place.”</p> - -<p>The man leaned back against the side of the bench, -picked up a pipe, lighted it, and surveyed Clancy thoughtfully -through wreaths of smoke.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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:</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“But Mr. Rockwell made me an offer, and I accepted -it,” returned Clancy.</p> - -<p>“Did he say anything to you about ‘tact,’ and all that?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Then you’re going into the game with your eyes open. -I guess I didn’t read you right.”</p> - -<p>“I guess you did,” said Owen. “I won’t stand for the -kind of ‘tact’ Rockwell mentioned, and I told him so.”</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ snakes! And then he hired you after that?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Much obliged, Andy. My name’s Owen Clancy, and I -guess I’m to take hold as one of your helpers.”</p> - -<p>“Ever worked with cars any?”</p> - -<p>“Not in a garage. This is my first job.”</p> - -<p>Andy Barton shook his head gruesomely.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Clancy looked around, and saw Rockwell just coming -into the shop wing of the building.</p> - -<p>“Getting the lay of the land, Clancy?” the garage man -asked, pleasantly enough.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” was the reply. “This looks like a pretty good-sized -establishment.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve got a grip coming over from Tempe on the -stage.”</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t you bring it with you?”</p> - -<p>“Because I walked to save stage fare.”</p> - -<p>Rockwell stared, and whistled.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Clancy got to his feet and slowly approached the window. -Fortune motioned upward with his hands, and -Clancy carefully raised the sash.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter, Jimmie?” Owen inquired excitedly.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII_FORTUNES_MYSTERY" id="CHAPTER_VIII_FORTUNES_MYSTERY"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /> -<span class="cheaderfont">FORTUNE’S MYSTERY.</span></h2> - - -<p>Jimmie walked over and sat down on the edge of the -bed.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Tom Long? Never heard of him.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Give it up.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>“You gambled with that money?” Owen demanded -sharply.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Who is Slim Simmons?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“This Long Tom came to the gambling house?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Looks like a chink puzzle, eh?” said Fortune. “Can -you make anythin’ of it, Red?”</p> - -<p>“Seems to be the ground plan of a house,” Clancy answered -thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>Clancy smiled, and shook his head.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Fortune’s face went blank.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“I believe I’ll go over on Washington Street, and see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> -if I can find out anything. You stay here, Jimmie. Get -in bed and go to sleep, if you want to.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t go out by the front, pard,” begged Fortune.</p> - -<p>“I’ll go out the way you came in.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Buenas noches, pard!” came in muffled tones from the -depths of the blanket.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The night clerk, after surveying Clancy rather uncertainly, -pushed the register around and handed him a pen.</p> - -<p>“No,” said the youth, “I’m not going to put up here. All -I want is a little information.”</p> - -<p>“Fire away,” said the clerk.</p> - -<p>“Can you tell me who lives at the corner of Second -Avenue and Cerro Gordo Street?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Cerro Gordo and Second?” repeated the cashier. -“That’s easy. Judge Pembroke lives there and—— What’s -the matter with you?”</p> - -<p>A sudden whiteness had flashed into Clancy’s face, and -he had drawn a quick, rasping breath.</p> - -<p>“Nothing,” he answered, turning away, “nothing at all. -Much obliged.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX_A_WEIRD_STATE_OF_AFFAIRS" id="CHAPTER_IX_A_WEIRD_STATE_OF_AFFAIRS"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /> -<span class="cheaderfont">A WEIRD STATE OF AFFAIRS.</span></h2> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Jimmie!” he whispered, thrusting his head through the -window.</p> - -<p>There was no answer, and he repeated the call as loudly -as he dared. Still there was no response from Fortune.</p> - -<p>“He’s sleeping like a log,” thought Clancy. “I’ll have -to get in and give him a shaking.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Jimmie!” he muttered, and shook the form briskly.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Fortune lay on his back, looking up at his pard with -astonished eyes.</p> - -<p>“What the deuce has been going on here?” demanded -Owen.</p> - -<p>Jimmie sat up on the edge of the bed and rubbed his -arms.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“After the note?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“When did this happen, Jimmie?” asked Owen, trying -to keep down his excitement.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> - -<p>“They thought you were me, and they were trying to -get that thousand-dollar note?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“‘It ain’t here,’ the other comes back.</p> - -<p>“‘Look in his pants,’ says Number One.</p> - -<p>“‘Not there, nuther,’ says Number Two. ‘See if he -ain’t got it under his piller.’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“‘Ask him what he’s done with it,’ says Number Two. -‘Blow his head off for him, if he don’t tell.’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“‘Where’s that note?’ says Number One, real cross. -‘Speak out, or I’ll start you for Kingdom Come.’</p> - -<p>“‘You don’t get it,’ I says, pantin’ for air. ‘I put it in -the bank.’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“‘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.’</p> - -<p>“‘We got to have a car,’ says Number Two, ‘and we -got to get it from this garage.’</p> - -<p>“‘How’ll we work it?’ asked the juniper who stands clost -to me.</p> - -<p>“‘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.’</p> - -<p>“‘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.</p> - -<p>“‘Hey, you helper!’ calls a voice.</p> - -<p>“Number Two answers, right off, ‘What’s wanted?’</p> - -<p>“‘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.’</p> - -<p>“‘All right,’ says Number Two.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Those two men are going to commit a crime of some -sort,” answered Clancy.</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t put it past ’em none. I reckernized their -voices, pard.”</p> - -<p>“You did? Who were they?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Clancy, “and that somebody is Judge Pembroke!”</p> - -<p>“It never ain’t!”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Clancy paced the floor of the little room nervously while -he talked.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Who put Hibbard up to get that note away from you?”</p> - -<p>“Never mind that, now. We——”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Not such a blamed long while, pard. Not many minutes -passed since he left and you got here and took the -lashings off me.”</p> - -<p>Clancy pulled the door wide and stepped out into the -garage.</p> - -<p>“I can’t see anything of Pruitt,” he reported.</p> - -<p>“’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?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Then let’s be moving. The quicker we reach the judge -and tell him what is going on, the better.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“All ready, compadre,” he announced.</p> - -<p>They went out through the front of the garage. Clancy -hated to leave the place alone, but he reflected that Pruitt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>“I don’t like to start till Pruitt comes back,” remarked -Clancy, “but there’s no help for it.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X_HELPING_THE_JUDGE" id="CHAPTER_X_HELPING_THE_JUDGE"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /> -<span class="cheaderfont">HELPING THE JUDGE.</span></h2> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“How we goin’ to know which casa is the judge’s?” -murmured Fortune blankly.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Look for the automobile. That’ll be a clew.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“If you need me, yell. I’ll come hotfoot.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“There’s the machine Hibbard took from the garage,” -thought Clancy, “and it proves we’re on the right trail.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>At the corner, Clancy arose to his feet. A few seconds -later he was with his comrade again.</p> - -<p>“Find out what you wanted to know?” queried Fortune -eagerly.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“That’s you! Where’s the house?”</p> - -<p>Clancy faced Fortune in the right direction, and pointed.</p> - -<p>“Are them coyotes around the place?” asked Fortune.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Dodge,” answered Clancy shortly. “Come on!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Sh-h-h!” hissed Clancy warningly.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>They reached the wall about midway of the length of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> -the house. There they paused and continued to listen -and peer around them.</p> - -<p>“Wrong trail, pard,” murmured Fortune.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Fortune, however, had made a discovery which caused -Clancy to change his plans for leaving the premises.</p> - -<p>“I’m next to somethin’, Red,” Jimmie whispered.</p> - -<p>“What is it?”</p> - -<p>“Open winder—right over my head. See for yourself.”</p> - -<p>Clancy arose to his knees. Fortune was right. There -was a window, there, with the lower sash raised.</p> - -<p>“By Jove!” murmured Clancy, in his companion’s ear. -“It’s a case of robbery, and both those fellows are -inside!”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“But suppose they leave by a door and don’t come -through the window?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“I’m going inside.”</p> - -<p>“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 <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">estakazol</i> for a farm!”</p> - -<p>“If the window was opened for air, Jimmie, the screen -wouldn’t have been taken off, would it?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t reckon it would.”</p> - -<p>“Hibbard and Long Tom are inside, and I’m going to -make sure they don’t get out through a door with any -boodle.”</p> - -<p>“What’ll I do?”</p> - -<p>“Stay here and wait for something to happen.”</p> - -<p>“S’pose more happens than I can take care of? What -then?”</p> - -<p>“Do the best you can, that’s all.”</p> - -<p>“Gee-wollops! I’m so narvous I feel as though I wanted -to yell. But go on. I’ll stay here.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I’ll chance the rear door,” thought Clancy, and groped -his way in that direction.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I’m headed right,” he said to himself. “Those fellows -went this way and left the door open. Now I’ll——”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI_CAUGHT_RED-HANDED" id="CHAPTER_XI_CAUGHT_RED-HANDED"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br /> -<span class="cheaderfont">CAUGHT RED-HANDED.</span></h2> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>The hand was withdrawn from Clancy’s lips.</p> - -<p>“Who are you?” he whispered.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>The man, whoever it was, evidently belonged in the -place.</p> - -<p>“I’m not one of the thieves,” protested Clancy. “I——”</p> - -<p>“That’s a likely story! What are you doing in here if -you don’t belong to the gang?”</p> - -<p>“I came here to do what I could to prevent the villains -from robbing the judge. Judge Pembroke knows me. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>Clancy’s captor was a cool one. He gave a low, incredulous -laugh.</p> - -<p>“You can’t expect me to believe any such stuff as that,” -he answered. “How many, besides yourself, are in this -house?”</p> - -<p>“Two—Dirk Hibbard and a fellow called Tom Long, -Chantay Seeche Tom.”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>The man reached away from Clancy and half arose. -Snap! An electric switch was pressed and a glow of light -flooded the room.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I see it,” Clancy answered.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>Clancy got up from the floor.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“There they go!” cried Clancy.</p> - -<p>“Keep back, if you’re not armed!” shouted the other, -bounding erect and dashing through the door.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The young fellow stood in the window with the automatic -revolver in his hand.</p> - -<p>“I’ll give one of them his gruel, anyway,” he muttered.</p> - -<p>Before he could shoot, Clancy grabbed his arm.</p> - -<p>“Don’t fire!” he exclaimed. “A friend of mine is out -there—you might hit him. Are you the judge’s son?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Of course!”</p> - -<p>“Come on, then!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“They’ve skipped,” said Pembroke. “Even your friend -isn’t here! Which way do you think the scoundrels -went?”</p> - -<p>“I know—they’ve got a car waiting for them. This -way!”</p> - -<p>Clancy darted for the fence and cleared the iron pickets -at a bound. Young Pembroke was tight at his heels.</p> - -<p>“If they’ve got a car,” he panted, “they’re bound to get -away from us.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve fixed the car so they can’t use it.”</p> - -<p>Pembroke laughed choppily as he followed Clancy down -the street.</p> - -<p>“You’re a wonder, old man!” he cried. “And I thought, -when I nailed you, that I had one of the thieves!”</p> - -<p>Two dark figures could be seen rushing across the street -toward the dark bulk of the car.</p> - -<p>“There they go!” exclaimed Clancy. “They’ve got a surprise -in store for themselves! Look, they’re trying to -crank the engine.”</p> - -<p>One of the forms could be seen working at the front of -the car. He started up with a frantic oath.</p> - -<p>“Take to your heels, Chantay! They’ve tampered with -the car! Run!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Keep off,” he yelled, “or I’ll drop you!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Have you got one of them?” asked Pembroke, coming -up.</p> - -<p>“Yes—Hibbard,” said Clancy.</p> - -<p>“Has he got a canvas bag?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Clancy drew away from Hibbard, while Pembroke -caught his arm and leveled the “automatic.”</p> - -<p>“You’re a nice sort of a chap, aren’t you?” sneered Pembroke. -“Robbing the man for whom you used to work! -Get up!”</p> - -<p>Hibbard got sulkily erect.</p> - -<p>“Pick up that revolver,” said <a id="Ref_19"></a>Pembroke to Clancy.</p> - -<p>The latter stooped and gathered in the weapon, which -had fallen from the chauffeur’s hand when he fell.</p> - -<p>“Come on to the house, Hibbard,” said young Pembroke. -“We’ll let the governor talk with you.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to talk with the judge,” growled Hibbard. -“Take me to jail, if that’s what you’re plannin’ to do.”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>Between Clancy and Pembroke the rascally chauffeur -was led back toward the house.</p> - -<p>“You’re responsible for this, Clancy!” snarled Hibbard.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Your name Clancy?” queried Pembroke.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” Owen answered.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“He was in this, too, eh?” growled Hibbard.</p> - -<p>The front door of the house was open, and the judge, in -shirt, trousers, and slippers, stood in the entrance.</p> - -<p>“What in the world is the matter, Larry?” the judge -queried, staring at his son. “Has there been a robbery?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Never mind the money,” said the judge, “if you’re not -hurt. Who’s that you have there?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I can’t understand this,” said he. “Hibbard, did you -come to this house to rob me?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t look as though I was here of my own free -will, do I?” the chauffeur replied, with an ugly leer.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Clancy!” exclaimed the judge. “Is it possible that——”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Who was the fellow that got away with the money?” -inquired the judge.</p> - -<p>“Tom Long,” spoke up Clancy, “the fellow they call -Chantay Seeche Tom.”</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Well, here’s luck!” exclaimed Larry Pembroke. -“Clancy and his friend have saved the day for us, after -all!”</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII_HIBBARD_WEAKENS" id="CHAPTER_XII_HIBBARD_WEAKENS"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br /> -<span class="cheaderfont">HIBBARD WEAKENS.</span></h2> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Good for you, Jimmie!” Clancy exclaimed. “How did -you ever manage to get away with that bag of money?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Thunder!” he exclaimed disgustedly. “I deserve all -that’s comin’ to me for makin’ that bobble!”</p> - -<p>“Hibbard,” said the judge, sternly facing the chauffeur, -“this is pretty bad business for you. I suppose you know -what this means to you?”</p> - -<p>“I’m not doing any sobbing,” snarled Hibbard. “Put on -the screws—I reckon I can stand it.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>The judge frowned at his son.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Sure, I knew it!”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“You slipped off to tell Chantay Seeche Tom about the -money and to get his help in robbing me?”</p> - -<p>“I’m not goin’ to talk.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>A gleam of hope flickered in the chauffeur’s eyes.</p> - -<p>“Do you mean that, judge?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“I’m not in the habit of saying things I don’t mean,” was -the quiet reply.</p> - -<p>“Then ask your questions, and I’ll come across with -straight answers.”</p> - -<p>“You sneaked out of town to get Chantay Seeche Tom -to help you rob me?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Why were you going to get the note from Clancy?”</p> - -<p>“Because Rockwell offered me two hundred dollars for -it.”</p> - -<p>“Rockwell?” burst from Clancy. “Do you mean to say -that Rockwell hired you to steal that note from me?”</p> - -<p>“That’s what I mean to say,” said Hibbard.</p> - -<p>“Why?” asked the judge. “What was his reason?”</p> - -<p>“He don’t want to pay the note. If Clancy hasn’t got -it, how can he collect on it?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, he’s a shark, Uncle Si is,” struck in Fortune. -“That’s what I told Red. Maybe he’ll believe me, now.”</p> - -<p>The judge turned to Clancy.</p> - -<p>“It was an unindorsed note?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“And you and Chantay Seeche Tom,” said Larry, with a -laugh, “tied up the wrong fellow, and couldn’t find the -note!”</p> - -<p>“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’.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>Jimmie gave a hollow groan.</p> - -<p>“And here was me, bankin’ on gettin’ that job!” he -wailed. “Oh, jedge, this here is what I call blame’ tough!”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll be there, judge,” answered Clancy, “and I’ll be -mighty grateful for anything you can do that will help -me.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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’.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Any one will hit the toboggan that gets mixed up with -Rockwell,” declared Hibbard. “Anything else you want -to know, judge?”</p> - -<p>“No, Hibbard; you can go. For the sake of your people, -I hope you will live a different life from now on.”</p> - -<p>He pointed to the door, and Dirk Hibbard, with head -bowed, passed through it and out of the house.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII_THE_JUDGE_TAKES_A_HAND" id="CHAPTER_XIII_THE_JUDGE_TAKES_A_HAND"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br /> -<span class="cheaderfont">THE JUDGE TAKES A HAND.</span></h2> - - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> -restaurant at nine o’clock, and, when ten strokes boomed -from the courthouse clock, made their way to the garage.</p> - -<p>The judge and Rockwell were alone in the office when -the two youths entered the place.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Rockwell appeared astounded. His startled eyes traveled -to the judge and then returned to the note.</p> - -<p>“I—I told Clancy I’d take this up in a week or two,” he -muttered shiftily.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t know about this note, judge,” continued -Rockwell. “I don’t reckon I owe the money or——”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I—I——”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Rockwell fell back in his chair, limp and dumfounded. -His lips moved, but no sound came from them.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Wynn?” murmured Rockwell. “He’s one of my competitors. -I didn’t think, judge, that you’d do anything to -help Lafe Wynn.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“You might be easy with me,” whimpered Rockwell, -“now that I’ve given Clancy that money.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Rockwell watched them through the dingy window of -his office.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p class="center smallfont">THE END.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>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 -<em>Black Thunderbolt</em> 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.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="HALL_OF_SHELLS" id="HALL_OF_SHELLS"></a>HALL OF SHELLS.</h2> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> -are used for lighting instead of the more modern electric -light.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The kaiser has his own railway station at Wildpark, -which is only a short distance from the palace.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="The_Wonderful_Adventures_of_Capn_Wiley" id="The_Wonderful_Adventures_of_Capn_Wiley"></a>The Wonderful Adventures of Cap’n Wiley.</h2> - -<p class="center boldfont" style="margin-top:-1em">Written by Himself. Edited by Burt L. Standish.</p> - - -<h3>INTRODUCTORY.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Cap’n,” said I, “you jar me. I’m thinking.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t I!” I cried, exasperated. “Well, now, perhaps -you think you could write it yourself?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“You mean a female seminary?”</p> - -<p>“No, I don’t; I mean a female cemetery. Why, where -else would a young lady learn the dead languages?”</p> - -<p>I had no reply to make.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>I slipped him the skeptical smile, which seemed to -arouse him to a point of high resentment.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>He was at the door when I laughingly called:</p> - -<p>“Don’t forget that to-morrow is the first day of April, -cap’n.”</p> - -<p>He seared me with a look of scorn, and vanished.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="marginrightindent"><span class="smcap">Burt L. Standish.</span></p> - - -<h3>CHAPTER I.<br /> -<span class="clheaderfont">ITCHING FOR ADVENTURE.</span></h3> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> -a diplomap, or a street-car conductor. Chauffeurs were -not in vogue at the time.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>landed</em> in that water; suffice it to -say that I dropped into it casually up to my pompadore, -and found it extremely wet.</p> - -<p>“Ah-ha!” I exclaimed, coughing up about a gallon of -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">aqua pura</i> which I had thoughtlessly swallowed. “I’m in a -hole now.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Now, treading water in a well about twenty-five feet -below the level of <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">terra firma</i> 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.</p> - -<p>I could hear little Fido howling dolefully and despairingly -above me. The intelligent beast knew, beyond doubt, -the full extent of my frightful peril.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Water death to die!” I groaned, in anguish.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>No one heard me except little Fido, and he howled worse -than ever.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>If the skeptical reader doesn’t believe this I can show -him the well.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> - - -<h3>CHAPTER II.<br /> -<span class="clheaderfont">FIDO TO THE RESCUE.</span></h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>It was a beautiful morning, but, having been born with -a decided <em>penchant</em> 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.</p> - -<p>I knew that little Fido must also be hungry, although he -had bravely refrained from saying so.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Goodness!” exclaimed the widow, in surprise. “Did -you saw the whole of that wood as soon as this?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, madam,” I answered, “I saw the whole of that -wood.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>“Are both dead,” I sighed.</p> - -<p>“Oh,” said she, “you’re an orphan. Have you been -so——”</p> - -<p>“Not often,” I answered. “I believe I may truthfully -say this is my first offense.”</p> - -<p>“Your great-grandmother—is she very old?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>The widow seemed surprised.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>I perceived the necessity of side-stepping at once.</p> - -<p>“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 <em>great</em> grandmother.”</p> - -<p>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 <em>fox -paws</em> with figures.</p> - -<p>“Your poor father and mother,” murmured the widow; -“were they people of a spiritual turn?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Dear me!” said the widow. “How unfortunate to lose -such a father. How old was he when he passed away?”</p> - -<p>“He was only fifty-nine,” I answered, with criminal -carelessness.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>horse de tomcat</em>.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>I saw my opportunity, and grappled with it.</p> - -<p>“Clam yourself, sir,” said I. “I will relieve you of -that five hundred. Your priceless treasure shall not -perish.”</p> - -<p>Then I called my faithful dog.</p> - -<p>“Fido,” I cried, pointing toward the drowning mammal, -“it’s up to you to get busy. We need the mazuma. Go -fetch, Fido.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“My dear boy,” he cried, “I owe you a thousand -thanks.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - -<h3>CHAPTER III.<br /> -<span class="clheaderfont">THE CAPTAIN MEETS A RASCAL.</span></h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Take it, son—take it!” he urged magnanimously. “You -deserve it, for that dog of yours is really a wonder.”</p> - -<p>“I beg your hasty pudding,” said I, refraining from -cleaving unto the fiver; “but haven’t you made a slight -mistake?”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Immediately Mr. Slick blew up. He turned purple in -the face, and looked like a toad with the colic.</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>He started to put the bill back into his pocket.</p> - -<p>I reached right out and secured it.</p> - -<p>“I can take money from one,” I remarked, “and that’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>We dined, Fido and I, and we went the limit, from <em>beef -a la mud</em> to <em>demi tassles</em>. 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>And the machine was moving with such expedience that -when I came down I alighted fairly on the cushioned seat -in the tonneau.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <em>ne plus ulster</em>.</p> - -<p>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:</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Then came a sudden horrifying thought: My dog—my -poor little dog Fido! What had become of him?</p> - -<p>I turned to cast my eyes backward, but, fearing I might -not recover them if I did so, I refrained, and simply looked.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Poor little Fido! Would I ever again behold my -faithful little quinine companion? I feared not.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>On the spur of the momentum I decided that something -must be done.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p class="center smallfont">TO BE CONTINUED.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="A_DIVERS_GREATEST_DANGER" id="A_DIVERS_GREATEST_DANGER"></a>A DIVER’S GREATEST DANGER.</h2> - - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="PRESENCE_OF_MIND" id="PRESENCE_OF_MIND"></a>PRESENCE OF MIND.</h2> - - -<p>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:</p> - -<p>“I want you to send me some hot water for shaving -at half past six in the morning. Will you remember it?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Steward,” he said gravely, “I just came back to tell -you not to forget that hot water at half past six in the -morning.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="NEWS_ITEMS_OF_INTEREST" id="NEWS_ITEMS_OF_INTEREST"></a>NEWS ITEMS OF INTEREST.</h2> - - -<h3>Declares He Fasted for Fifty-one Days.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Governor Doused When Gun Kicks.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Beachey Loops the Loop.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Little Pig by Parcel Post.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The postage on the little traveler amounted to 43 cents.</p> - - -<h3>Polonium as Medicine.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Bill Dahlen Out.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Lost Hand in Experiment.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>When his mother asked him what caused the accident<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> -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.</p> - - -<h3>Wireless News to Train.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The Scranton <cite>Times</cite> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“To think we didn’t have it for the world’s series!” -mourned an excited Chicago man.</p> - - -<h3>He Prefers the Family Nag.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Though motor cars hourly pass his home, he never sees -a train, only when in Wabash, as no railroad touches New -Holland.</p> - - -<h3>Operate on Human Heart.</h3> - -<p>Probably the most daring chapter in modern surgery is -that which treats of operations on the heart, says the -<cite>World’s Work</cite>. “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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Fear Rube Waddell is Dying.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Ruse of Girl Who Desired to Marry.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The girl declared that her grandmother had told her of -the scheme.</p> - -<p>Bert B. Cain, who was arrested for perjury following -the marriage to the sixteen-year-old girl, was held under -bond.</p> - - -<h3>Man Wanders Fifty Hours.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> -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.”</p> - - -<h3>Indian Wins Cotton Prize.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Gives Rules for Good Health.</h3> - -<p>Walk six miles a day.</p> - -<p>Live in the fresh air.</p> - -<p>Get out in the open in the winter.</p> - -<p>Eat proper food.</p> - -<p>Keep your body clean.</p> - -<p>Sleep well.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Bees Acquire Opium Habit.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>It is said if the bees could only be kept sober, there -would doubtless be a great demand for the honey.</p> - - -<h3>The Kaiser Held Up?</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>There was a similar report some weeks ago regarding -the alleged projected sale of a castle in the Rhineland.</p> - -<p>Confirmation of the report is not obtainable.</p> - - -<h3>A Family of White Squirrels.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Back-pension Pay Good as Fortune.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Ferris is a carpenter, and a poor man. His wife is -nearly eighty years old. There is general rejoicing.</p> - - -<h3>Reception Room for Warship Crew.</h3> - -<p>Secretary Daniels, of the navy, approved plans for a -reception and reading room for enlisted men on the new -battleship <em>New York</em>. 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.</p> - - -<h3>Calf Has no Tail.</h3> - -<p>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.”</p> - - -<h3>Fewer Free Seeds? Statesmen Angry.</h3> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> -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.</p> - - -<h3>Walking Hencoop Arrested.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The police regulations prohibit the belief of anything -as rough as that, and the man was arrested.</p> - - -<h3>Shot Found in Her Appendix.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Passes Dog Off as Baby to Take it on a Train.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Conductor Clyde Miller, when told of the success of the -ruse, merely remarked: “It takes a woman to beat the -road.”</p> - - -<h3>Leg Buried With His Body.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Smallest High-school Boy.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>“Some Punkins.”</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>No Reason for Egg Famine.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The price of eggs paid to the farmers in that period -advanced an average of about 11 cents to an average of -19 cents.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Curley, the Crow, Still Living.</h3> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - -<h3>Changes in Water-polo and Swimming-race Rules.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The work of this committee, judging from the report, -was thorough. Water polo came in for most of their attention,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>From Force of Habit.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Weakling Dies at 102.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Mr. Carylon’s youngest brother died at the age of 92.</p> - - -<h3>Cow in Chinese Restaurant.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Pays for Stolen Tobacco.</h3> - -<p>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:</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - -<h3>Facts You May Not Know.</h3> - -<p>The great mass of steel in the buildings of lower New -York is said to affect the compasses of the ships approaching -the city.</p> - -<p>There are sixteen cables across the north Atlantic -Ocean.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>There are 20,000 kinds of butterflies in the world.</p> - -<p>The custom of throwing rice at weddings originated in -China.</p> - -<p>A patient Englishman has carved the king’s monogram -and similar devices on an eggshell.</p> - -<p>By the end of 1916 the Chinese army expects to have -1,000 aëroplanes, this year’s budget calling for the purchase -of 250.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>A Clever Football Play.</h3> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Hughitt was called back by Referee Eckersall, and Michigan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>In the Cornell game, a week previous, Paterson kicked -goal under identical conditions, and the Penn scouts had -reported it.</p> - -<p>Quarter Back Hughitt dropped upon one knee, with -hands outstretched to receive the ball and place it for -Paterson’s educated toe.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Knife Gives Girl Sight.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Dream Saves Her Farm.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The will was found by Miss Lochlin, who is more than -fifty years old, where the vision told her it was hidden.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<h3>Man Lives Long in Kitchen.</h3> - -<p>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.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 209px;"> -<img src="images/i2a.jpg" width="209" height="650" alt="Ad" /> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="boxitad center"> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p class="center xxlargefont boldfont">Just Out!</p> - -<p class="center xlargefont boldfont" style="margin-top:-0.75em;vertical-align:top">“Inlay Enamel” Monograms</p> - -<p class="center displayinline" style="margin-right:4em;vertical-align:top">Adjusted to<br />the Second<br /> -19 Jewels</p> - -<p class="center displayinline" style="margin-left:4em">25 Year<br /> -Guaranteed<br /> -Gold Strata<br /> -Case</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i2.jpg" width="200" height="282" alt="Watch" /> -</div> - -<p><em>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.</em></p> - -<p class="center xlargefont boldfont">Our Special Offer</p> - -<p>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—<b>the same -price even the wholesaler must pay</b>.</p> - -<p class="center largefont boldfont">Your Choice of Scores of Cases</p> - -<p style="margin-top:-0.6em">Open face or hunting cases, ladies’ or men’s sizes. -These can be had in the newest ideas: <b>Block and -Ribbon Monograms</b>, <b>Diamond Set</b>, <b>Lodge</b>, -<b>French Art and Dragon Designs</b>, <b>Inlay Enamel -Monograms</b>.</p> - -<p class="center"><b><span class="xlargefont">$2.50</span> a Month at the Rock-Bottom Price</b></p> - -<p style="margin-top:-0.6em">$2.50 a month for this superb timepiece! -The easiest payments at rock-bottom price.</p> - -<p class="center largefont"><b>Sent on Approval</b></p> - -<p style="margin-top:-0.6em">We ship the watch on approval, -<b>prepaid</b>. -You risk nothing—absolutely nothing—you -pay nothing—not one cent, unless -you want the offer after seeing and -thoroughly inspecting the watch.</p> - -<p class="center largefont boldfont">Write for FREE Catalog</p> - -<p style="margin-top:-0.6em">Send for the free book. 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class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="center"> - -<p class="displayinline center u" style="line-height:1.3">SOME OF THE<br /> -BACK<br /> -NUMBERS OF </p> - -<p class="displayinline center xxlargefont" style="margin-left:0.75em; margin-right:0.75em"><b>NEW TIP TOP<br /> -WEEKLY</b></p> - -<p class="displayinline center u" style="line-height:1.3">THAT CAN<br /> -BE<br /> -SUPPLIED</p> - -</div> - -<div class="boxitlist center"> - -<p class="numberitem3">700—Frank Merriwell’s Lively Lads.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">701—Frank Merriwell as Instructor.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">702—Dick Merriwell’s Cayuse.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">703—Dick Merriwell’s Quirt.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">704—Dick Merriwell’s Freshman Friend.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">705—Dick Merriwell’s Best Form.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">706—Dick Merriwell’s Prank.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">707—Dick Merriwell’s Gambol.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">708—Dick Merriwell’s Gun.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">709—Dick Merriwell at His Best.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">710—Dick Merriwell’s Master Mind.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">711—Dick Merriwell’s Dander.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">712—Dick Merriwell’s Hope.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">713—Dick Merriwell’s Standard.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">714—Dick Merriwell’s Sympathy.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">715—Dick Merriwell in Lumber Land.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">716—Frank Merriwell’s Fairness.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">717—Frank Merriwell’s Pledge.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">718—Frank Merriwell, the Man of Grit.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">719—Frank Merriwell’s Return Blow.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">720—Frank Merriwell’s Quest.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">721—Frank Merriwell’s Ingots.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">722—Frank Merriwell’s Assistance.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">723—Frank Merriwell at the Throttle.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">724—Frank Merriwell, the Always Ready.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">725—Frank Merriwell in Diamond Land.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">726—Frank Merriwell’s Desperate Chance.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">727—Frank Merriwell’s Black Terror.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">728—Frank Merriwell Again on the Slab.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">729—Frank Merriwell’s Hard Game.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">730—Frank Merriwell’s Six-in-hand.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">731—Frank Merriwell’s Duplicate.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">732—Frank Merriwell on Rattlesnake Ranch.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">733—Frank Merriwell’s Sure Hand.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">734—Frank Merriwell’s Treasure Map.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">735—Frank Merriwell, Prince of the Rope.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">736—Dick Merriwell, Captain of the Varsity.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">737—Dick Merriwell’s Control.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">738—Dick Merriwell’s Back Stop.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">739—Dick Merriwell’s Masked Enemy.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">740—Dick Merriwell’s Motor Car.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">741—Dick Merriwell’s Hot Pursuit.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">742—Dick Merriwell at Forest Lake.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">743—Dick Merriwell in Court.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">744—Dick Merriwell’s Silence.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">745—Dick Merriwell’s Dog.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">746—Dick Merriwell’s Subterfuge.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">747—Dick Merriwell’s Enigma.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">748—Dick Merriwell Defeated.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">749—Dick Merriwell’s “Wing.”</p> -<p class="numberitem3">750—Dick Merriwell’s Sky Chase.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">751—Dick Merriwell’s Pick-ups.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">752—Dick Merriwell on the Rocking R.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">753—Dick Merriwell’s Penetration.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">754—Dick Merriwell’s Intuition.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">755—Dick Merriwell’s Vantage.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">756—Dick Merriwell’s Advice.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">757—Dick Merriwell’s Rescue.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">758—Dick Merriwell, American.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">759—Dick Merriwell’s Understanding.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">760—Dick Merriwell, Tutor.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">761—Dick Merriwell’s Quandary.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">762—Dick Merriwell on the Boards.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">763—Dick Merriwell, Peacemaker.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">764—Frank Merriwell’s Sway.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">765—Frank Merriwell’s Comprehension.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">766—Frank Merriwell’s Young Acrobat.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">767—Frank Merriwell’s Tact.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">768—Frank Merriwell’s Unknown.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">769—Frank Merriwell’s Acuteness.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">770—Frank Merriwell’s Young Canadian.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">771—Frank Merriwell’s Coward.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">772—Frank Merriwell’s Perplexity.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">773—Frank Merriwell’s Intervention.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">774—Frank Merriwell’s Daring Deed.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">775—Frank Merriwell’s Succor.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">776—Frank Merriwell’s Wit.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">777—Frank Merriwell’s Loyalty.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">778—Frank Merriwell’s Bold Play.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">779—Frank Merriwell’s Insight.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">780—Frank Merriwell’s Guile.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">781—Frank Merriwell’s Campaign.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">782—Frank Merriwell in the National Forest.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">783—Frank Merriwell’s Tenacity.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">784—Dick Merriwell’s Self-sacrifice.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">785—Dick Merriwell’s Close Shave.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">786—Dick Merriwell’s Perception.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">787—Dick Merriwell’s Mysterious Disappearance.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">788—Dick Merriwell’s Detective Work.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">789—Dick Merriwell’s Proof.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">790—Dick Merriwell’s Brain Work.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">791—Dick Merriwell’s Queer Case.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">792—Dick Merriwell, Navigator.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">793—Dick Merriwell’s Good Fellowship.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">794—Dick Merriwell’s Fun.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">795—Dick Merriwell’s Commencement.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">796—Dick Merriwell at Montauk Point.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">797—Dick Merriwell, Mediator.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">798—Dick Merriwell’s Decision.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">799—Dick Merriwell on the Great Lakes.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">800—Dick Merriwell Caught Napping.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">801—Dick Merriwell in the Copper Country.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">802—Dick Merriwell Strapped.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">803—Dick Merriwell’s Coolness.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">804—Dick Merriwell’s Reliance.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">805—Dick Merriwell’s College Mate.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">806—Dick Merriwell’s Young Pitcher.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">807—Dick Merriwell’s Prodding.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">808—Frank Merriwell’s Boy.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">809—Frank Merriwell’s Interference.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">810—Frank Merriwell’s Young Warriors.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">811—Frank Merriwell’s Appraisal.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">812—Frank Merriwell’s Forgiveness.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">813—Frank Merriwell’s Lads.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">814—Frank Merriwell’s Young Aviators.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">815—Frank Merriwell’s Hot-head.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">816—Dick Merriwell, Diplomat.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">817—Dick Merriwell in Panama.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">818—Dick Merriwell’s Perseverance.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">819—Dick Merriwell Triumphant.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">820—Dick Merriwell’s Betrayal.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">821—Dick Merriwell, Revolutionist.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">822—Dick Merriwell’s Fortitude.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">823—Dick Merriwell’s Undoing.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">824—Dick Merriwell, Universal Coach.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">825—Dick Merriwell’s Snare.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">826—Dick Merriwell’s Star Pupil.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">827—Dick Merriwell’s Astuteness.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">828—Dick Merriwell’s Responsibility.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">829—Dick Merriwell’s Plan.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">830—Dick Merriwell’s Warning.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">831—Dick Merriwell’s Counsel.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">832—Dick Merriwell’s Champions.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">833—Dick Merriwell’s Marksmen.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">834—Dick Merriwell’s Enthusiasm.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">835—Dick Merriwell’s Solution.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">836—Dick Merriwell’s Foreign Foe.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">837—Dick Merriwell and the Carlisle Warriors.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">838—Dick Merriwell’s Battle for the Blue.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">839—Dick Merriwell’s Evidence.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">840—Dick Merriwell’s Device.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">841—Dick Merriwell’s Princeton Opponents.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">842—Dick Merriwell’s Sixth Sense.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">843—Dick Merriwell’s Strange Clew.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">844—Dick Merriwell Comes Back.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">845—Dick Merriwell’s Heroic Crew.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">846—Dick Merriwell Looks Ahead.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">847—Dick Merriwell at the Olympics.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">848—Dick Merriwell in Stockholm.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">849—Dick Merriwell in the Swedish Stadium.</p> -<p class="numberitem3">850—Dick Merriwell’s Marathon.</p> -</div> - -<p class="center" style="margin-top:1.5em">NEW SERIES.</p> - -<p class="center boldfont">New Tip Top Weekly</p> - -<div class="boxitlist center"> - -<p class="numberitem1">1—Frank Merriwell, Jr.</p> -<p class="numberitem1">2—Frank Merriwell, Jr., in the Box.</p> -<p class="numberitem1">3—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Struggle.</p> -<p class="numberitem1">4—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Skill.</p> -<p class="numberitem1">5—Frank Merriwell, Jr., in Idaho.</p> -<p class="numberitem1">6—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Close Shave.</p> -<p class="numberitem1">7—Frank Merriwell, Jr., on Waiting Orders.</p> -<p class="numberitem1">8—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Danger.</p> -<p class="numberitem1">9—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Relay Marathon.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">10—Frank Merriwell, Jr., at the Bar Z Ranch.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">11—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Golden Trail.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">12—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Competitor.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">13—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Guidance.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">14—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Scrimmage.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">15—Frank Merriwell, Jr., Misjudged.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">16—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Star Play.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">17—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Blind Chase.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">18—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Discretion.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">19—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Substitute.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">20—Frank Merriwell, Jr., Justified.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">21—Frank Merriwell, Jr., Incog.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">22—Frank Merriwell, Jr., Meets the Issue.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">23—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Xmas Eve.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">24—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Fearless Risk.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">25—Frank Merriwell, Jr., on Skis.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">26—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ice-boat Chase.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">27—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ambushed Foes.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">28—Frank Merriwell, Jr., and the Totem.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">29—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Hockey Game.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">30—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Clew.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">31—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Adversary.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">32—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Timely Aid.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">33—Frank Merriwell, Jr., in the Desert.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">34—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Grueling Test.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">35—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Special Mission.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">36—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Red Bowman.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">37—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Task.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">38—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Cross-Country Race.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">39—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Four Miles.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">40—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Umpire.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">41—Frank Merriwell, Jr., Sidetracked.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">42—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Teamwork.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">43—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Step-Over.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">44—Frank Merriwell, Jr., in Monterey.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">45—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Athletes.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">46—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Outfielder.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">47—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, “Hundred.”</p> -<p class="numberitem2">48—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Hobo Twirler.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">49—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Canceled Game.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">50—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Weird Adventure.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">51—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Double Header.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">52—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Peck of Trouble.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">53—Frank Merriwell, Jr., and the Spook Doctor.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">54—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Sportsmanship.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">55—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ten-Innings.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">56—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ordeal.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">57—Frank Merriwell, Jr., on the Wing.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">58—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Cross-Fire.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">59—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Lost Team-mate.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">60—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Daring Flight.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">61—Frank Merriwell, Jr., at Fardale.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">62—Frank Merriwell, Jr., Plebe.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">63—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Quarter-Back.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">64—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Touchdown.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">65—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Night Off.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">66—Frank Merriwell, Jr., and the Little Black Box.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">67—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Classmates.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">68—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Repentant Enemy.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">69—Frank Merriwell, Jr., and the “Spell.”</p> -<p class="numberitem2">70—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Gridiron Honors.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">71—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Winning Run.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">72—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Jujutsu.</p> -<p class="numberitem2" style="text-indent:1em; margin-top:0.5em">Dated December 20th.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">73—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Christmas Vacation.</p> -<p class="numberitem2" style="text-indent:1em; margin-top:0.5em">Dated December 27th.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">74—Frank Merriwell, Jr., and the Nine Wolves.</p> -<p class="numberitem2" style="text-indent:1em; margin-top:0.5em">Dated January 3d 1914.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">75—Frank Merriwell, Jr., on the Border.</p> -<p class="numberitem2" style="text-indent:1em; margin-top:0.5em">Dated January 10th, 1914.</p> -<p class="numberitem2">76—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Desert Race.</p> - -</div> - -<p class="center"><b>PRICE, FIVE CENTS PER COPY.</b> 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. Postage stamps taken the same as money.</p> - -<p class="center xlargefont boldfont">Street & Smith, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Ave., New York City</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="transnote"> -<h2 id="TN_end" style="margin-top: 0em">Transcriber’s Notes:</h2> - -<p>Illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks near where they are -mentioned.</p> - -<p>Punctuation has been made consistent.</p> - -<p>Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in -the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors -have been corrected.</p> - -<p>The following changes were made:</p> - -<p><a href="#Ref_9">p. 9</a>: “My added (”My advice to)</p> - -<p><a href="#Ref_19">p. 19</a>: Hibbard changed to Pembroke (said Pembroke to)</p> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Owen Clancy's Run of Luck, by Burt L. 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