Fame And Fortune Weekly (no. 1047) (1925 10 23)

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OCTOBER 23, 1925, Price 8 Cents ONEY. TREASURE OF THE LE UW, Jack lifted t e ‘first Ox. | cs bind him,

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FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY WADA FN - } Tesued weekly—Subscription price, $4.00 per year! Canada, $4.50; Foreign, $5.00. Harry WH. Wolff, Publisher, «nc., 164 "Went 23d Street. ork NOY. Ente Me 19 Street, New York, N tered as Second-Class Matter, October 4, 11, at the Post-Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. No. 1047 NEW YORK, OCTOBER 23, 1925 ~ Price 8 Cents. A GOLDEN STAKE — OR, THE TREASURE OF THE INDIES By A SELF-MADE MAN CHAPTER I.—Jim Crowe, A. B. “Hello, sonny!” ft Jack Dalton, a stalwart, good looking boy of seventeen years, who, with his back to the coun- ter, was sorting over a score of letters he had just taken from the mail pouch, preliminary to distributing them in the pigeon-holes lettered from A to Y, turned around and looked at the person who had addressed’ him. ; He had not heard any one enter the store, which was a general one, kept by Josiah Norris, a retired sea captain, on Main Street, in the vil- lage of Blueville,.Long Island. As he faced the visitor Jack saw that he was a perfect stranger in the village. Anybody could see with half an eye that he was a sailor, though he was dressed in a new suit of shore-goihg togs, and not a — prepossessing looking on’, either. There was an evil glint in his shifty eye that the boy did not like. If he wasn’t a rascal at heart then his face . belied him. At any rate, that’s the way Jack sized him up as they looked at each other across the counter. ; “Well, sonny,” said the mariner, with a wicked sort of chuckle, which seemed to come from his boots, his voice was so hoarse, “when ye have got -. through takin’ a sight at me I'll like to ask ye a _ ** question or two. : : --—-- *What do you want to know?” asked Jack, not over politely, for he distrusted the man. — - “P1] allow this store is kept by Josiah Norris, a his name is on the sign over the door, but T’d like to know if he’s known as Cap’n Josiah Norris,” and the sailor put a strong accent on ‘the word “captain.” : “Yes, he is,” replied Jack. ae i _» “Thank ye, sonny,” replied the visitor, with a satisfied grin, “I’m glad: to hear it. The cap’n and me is old friends.” P ; - “Old friends!” exclaimed the boy, somewhat ‘surprised. ; _ “That’s- right, sonny. I sailed with the cap’n a number of v’y’ges in his old hooker, the Mary af as I’ve been huntin’ for him this ten vear back.” — “What's your name?” “My name is Jim Crowe, A. B.” ‘A. B.?. What does that mean?” = = ~ » yg eth peg es fog. Here’s a qua “That means able bodied, sonny. I’m a. sailor from keel to truck, and I’m that pickled with brine that ye kin smell the salt in my breath.” Jack was of the opinion that the fellow’s breath smelt of something stronger even that sea brine, but didn’t consider it necessary to say so. “Well, what can I do for you, Mr. Crowe?” he asked. “IT want the cap’n. As soon’ as I ran foul of a clue to his bein’ in this here port I made all plain sail from New York and here [ am. It’s a satisfaction to knoW that I hit it all right.” “You want to see Captain Josiah Norris?” “That’s what I said, sonny. I want to see the cap’n, and I want to see him bad.” “Well, he’s out. just at present.” “Then, with your permission, sonny, I'll wait.” “J think you’d better come back later on,” said Jack, who did not relish the idea of having the hard-looking sailor hanging around the place. “Sorry, sonny, but I ain’t no place to go.’ That chair by the stove looks like a snug anchor- . age and I’ll take possesshun of it. P’r’aps ye wouldn’t mind handin’ me out a hunk of cheese and some crackers. I ain’t had nothin’ to eat since I left the metropolis, and I feel kind of empty *tweendecks.” “I s’pose you’ve got the price?” said Jack, without moving. ‘ “T reckon I have, sonny, but the cap’n would not charge me nothin’ if he was here.” “As I don’t know you I’ll have to ask you to come up. If you’re an old friend of Captain Norris he’ll probably return you the money.” “What’s the damage?” ‘ “The crackers and cheese will be ten cents, If you want a mug of cider, too, that will cost you another nickel.” ae : “Haven't you got somethin’ stronger’n cider, sonny ?” _ “No. If you want anything in the line of spir- its you'll have to go to the tavern in the next block.” “That's a pity. I reckon I’ll have to put up with the cider, though it’s a poor thing to swab a chap’s throat out after swallerin’ a cargo of rter. Ye kin give me a dime change.” = j a

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a A GOLDEN STAKE : er Jim Crowe, A. B., took possession of the arm- - chair in front of the stove, where he proceeded to make himself at home with the cheese, crack- ers and cider that Jack placed before him. The boy resumed the sorting of the letters and then he placed them in boxes,. after which he fol- lowed the same course with the dozen odd pa- pers that the pouch contained, during which op- eration he cast several furtive glanees at the strange sailor, wondering what he had called to see Captain Norris for, and whether the captain would be glad to see him after so many years. Jack was an orphan, and to his knowledge had not a relative in the world. When his.mother died, eight years since, he had come to live and tend store for the captain, who a short time be- fore that had retired from active service as skipper of the brig Mary Ellen, which was in the West Indian trade, and had come to Blue- ville and invested a portion of his savings in the general store. While Captain Norris had relatives with whom he occasionally correspond- ed, he was not troubled with visits from them, and lived with Jack as-his only companion in three rooms above the store. He was very fond of Jack, treating the boy as if he were his son, and Jack thought a whole lot of him in con- ~ sequence. The captain was now about sixty-five ~ years of age, with bushy gray whiskers and a thick head of hair of the same tinge: His com- plexion was tanned to the color-of mahogany by the sun and winds of the tropics, and he was as hale and hearty as any man could be at his age. When Jim Crowe had finished his frugal luncit he picked up a-copv of the village paper he found at hand and, planting his muddy boots against the grate of the stove, for the sprine day=was - chilly, he proceeded to read the local and other ’ intelligence. Customers dyppned in- occasionally and were waited on by Jack. All of them noticed the sailor, because he was a stranger and they asked the boy who he was, and what he was doing in the store. Jack’s an- ‘swer to-all was that the man’s name was Jim ‘Crowe, and that he had ealled “to see Captain Norris, who. was out. Among the visitors to the store were Tom Trimble and. Mat Mulford, two particular friends of Jack’s. Tom came in to get a ‘package of tobacco for his father, and Mat arrived almost immediately afterward to get something that his mother wanted. “Who’s the chap over by the stove?”- asked Nom. “He looks like-a sailor.” “He is a sailor,” replied Jack. tim Crowe.” . a, “He seems to be taking things easy for a B stranger.” * Jack explained why the sailor was there. At that point Mat entered the store and the first - thing he noticed was the maritime visitor. Jack had to tell him whogthe sailor was and the ob- ; — of his call. -- *T don’t like his looks,” said Mat. “Neither do I,” chimed in Tom. © “He’s got a bad eye,” said Jack. “I don’t fancy the way he sized me up when he came in the ystore. I wish the captain would come and send him. about his business.” While the boys were talking Gomether the ca tom , and approached them. He looked at over oe then said to Jack; . “His name is _ Stranger with no little interest and euriosi “Well, sonny, it’s "bout time the cap’n hove ~~ in sight, ain’t it?” ie “Captain Norris usually takes his time when he goes anywhere,” replied Jack. Five “Jest so,” grinned the sailor. “I s’pose you’ re skipper here when he’s away. os ain’t his son, — re are ye?” é “pry? aps you’re his nephew? 2 “No. Tm) no relation of his.” “Jest so,” chuckled Crowe. “No,” replied Jack. “D’ye s’pose the cap’n has a enere room for an old shipmate?” ae Jack shook his head. : PE “There’s only three rooms. upstairs. Captain is Norris occupies the front one, I use the small one next to it, and the back room is kitchen and ee room combined. We’ve no room for visi- ors *" At that moment the door opened and Captain Norris entered the store. © : “There’s Captain Norris now,” said Jack. The sailor turned, and then with a grin ad- sehen toward the storekeeper, holding out his and “T reckon I’ve found ye at last, and I’m mighty glad.to see ye ag’in after ten lone years that: ye managed to put between us. Ye ain’t changed —— much in that time, and I don’t reckon that have, either. I’m the same’ old shellback, and ii ought to put ye in mind of old times to see me onee more.” Captain Norris didn’t look as if he was ov! joyed at seeing one of his old hands again. In fact, the unexpected appearance of Jim Crowe, A. B., seemed to give him a chill. He started. to say something but. the words died away in his throat. Evidently if Jim Crowe had expected royal reception with a fatted calf in the bac ground, he was disappbdinted. SS “Cap'n married? ee CHAPTER IL—‘“I Want the Chart and Ae : Goin’ to Have Tt or Your Life.” ate “Ain't ye got a word of weliche ee your shipmate, cap’n?” grinned the sailor, sard cally, as he fixed the retired skipper with his wicked eyes. “Maybe ye thought I was dead and buried years ago, and ye are so overj’yed at see- in’ me alive that: ye can’t speak.” “So it’s really you, Jim Crowe,” said the ca tain at last, in a hollow kind of voice that. did séem natural to Jack or the other boys, who re garded the meeting of Captain. Norris + ' “Right ye are, cap’n; it’s me, sure enou told ye there warn’t’no use of ye tryin’ to sh me. I ain’t to be shook, leastways not so long’ ye hold on to that there chart which——” “Hush!” said the captain. “Come: this, and V’ll talk to you.” Captain Norris led the way to the ‘ac of the. store, # _“T don’t know how you: managed to Brit me id Crowe. but since you have we'll | talk busin righ t from the start.” = ; ats” what I aes to shear, cap eD

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? “It won’t do you no good to hang around this _ village keeping your eye on me, Crowe. You won't gain anything by it. I haven’t used the ‘chart, and I don’t ‘expect to now.” “Ye couldn’t find the island, I reckon. Ye can’t tell me that ye didn’t look for it, for I know ye i “iat “rn allow I hunted for it, but I patents find i j . “Then ye are willin’ to give up the docky- ment, are ye?” “No, I’m not,” replied the storekeeper, firmly. “There’s a fortune in it for som@ one younger than me, and I’ve picked out the party who’s to enj’y it.” “And where do I come in? Half os that there gold belongs. to me.” “No,” replied the captain, Apnily. “you never had any right to that chart at all. If you had I would have seen that you had a fair show along with me to realize on the strength of it.” “T never had no right to it, eh?” gritted the sailor. “Not the slightest. You as zoba as murdered _ the man who owned it. He gave it to me in gra- ’ titude for what I did for him when he lay ‘dying at the hospital in Rio. He gave it to me also on , the condition that- I would keep it from you. I swore to do so, and I’ve kept my oath. “Jest so,” sneered @powe. “Well, it ain’t done ye no good, has it?” » “Not a particles’ - “Then V’d adwise ye to give it to me and=save __ trouble.” “T doubt if you could find the island either.” “Ye \needn’t. worry ‘bout that. If I don’t find the island there’s no harm done. If I do find it ‘Yll_send ye a portion of the gold, though I don’t ‘reckon that I owe ye much arter the way ye’ve treated me. However, I figure that there’s more gold on that there island than I kin spend, and : Ball allow ye are entitled to what I don’t want.” “Vil make no deal of .that kind with you, Crowe. I’m going to ‘will that paper to somebody 2 I think the world of. As I expect to live some Geb d yet the chart is safe enough till the Lord calls on me to go.” eA GOLDEN: STAKE.“ . eae made not the slightest resistance to the captain's attack, although his muscular frame showed that he was well able to defend himself if necessary. “Why don’t ye say what’s in your mind?” “You’re an infernal rascal!” “Jest so,” replied Crowe coolly. “Keep on. My feelin’s is that hardened I kin stand it. I'll allow when we sailed together ye could lay the law down to us chaps from the break of the poop as strong as any cap’n I ever knowed. Ye warn’t no milk-and-water skipper. Ye warn’t afraid of no man ’board the hooker. But it’s diff’rent now. It’s been “different these ten years back. Ye are afraid of me.” “Afraid, of you!” “Ye have shown it;in a dozen ways. What has changed ye? That there chart, and ye know it. Ye know I intend to have it—if I have to take your life,” the sailor hissed. “So what’s the use of tryin’ to hold me off? Ye are takin’ chances holdin’ out ag’in me. When a‘chap has waited ten year for somethin’ he’s determined to git he ain’t in no humor for triflin’.” “Tm willing to give you $500 cash, Crowe,if you'll agree to quit the village and not retur he said. i “What’s $500 in cash when “maybe there’s a million in gold hidden away on that there one island?” “A pird in the hand is worth two in the bush. There’s no certainty about the treasure being on the island even if the chart eventually leads to the island.” “You hand over the chart and I’ll take all the chances of findin’ the island and the gold, too,” replied the sailor. . “You-refuse my offer, then?” bk wouldn’t look at it. I want the chart, ta I’m goin’ to have ait or your life!” gritted the sailor. “Then you'll have to take my life, for the chart you'll never get while I’m. alive.” “J’l] give you another chance. Fit out a schoon- er, take me with ye and we'll hunt for the island and gold together. If we find the treasure we’ll divide even. Then ye can go your way and J’ll “Ye may live as long as ye think ye will, and “ go mine. Is it a bargain?” 4 then ag’in,” with a wicked leer, “ye may die sudden like. If I was a insurance comp’ny I --wouldn’t take no risk on ye as long as ye: ‘hold on _ to that there chart.” “You're a conscienceless scoundrel, Tt Crowe. = ak have no doubt you wouldn’t hesitate to take. my life if you saw your way clear to that chart; put ‘you'll never find it, mark you. It’s hidden where you nor no one else can find it till I die a ‘natural death.” __. The sailor seemed considerably taken aback by the penta’ 's words. Jest so,” he muttered. “Ye’ve hidden it. Ye’ve an this to’ prevent me from gettin’ my rights. Petenatttra sy ‘worth somethin’? Do ye want to run the risk _of bein’ cut off sudden like, and leavin’ that there - dockyment as a extra hazardous risk to someone you think the world of?” “You villain!” roared Captain Norris, seizing = sailor with both hands. “I’ve half a mind to eal ‘oO aati? ile aan ye poe it?” replied Crowe, who Well s’pose ye have hidden it, ain’t your life’ The speaker’s eyes snapped as he uttered “the ; | words. “[’ll think it over. Call here in the morning and you shall have my answer, one way or the other,” said Captain Norris. Crowe fixed the captain with his wicked eyes, and seemed to be debating in his mind whether to give the old man time or not. “Tll let you think it overt,” he said finally, with a treacherous twinkle that ought to haye warned the skipper that the sailor was not to be trusted. “Tl be around for your answer in the momnin’. “See that it’s yes, or it will be wuss for ye. D’ye understand?” and Crowe turned sharp around and walked out of the store with, that peculiar rolling gait which characterizes an old Sailor. | Captain — s heaved a sich of relief as he watched him disappear, and then slowly walked upstairs with bent head and shaky step. “The crisis has come at last, after all these years,” he whispered to himself. “I feared it in spite of the lapse of time, It was my hope that. ‘ _ the rascal was dead. I knew that as lonz as he —

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a . -* - pa Be pt ‘Tived he never would cease looking for me. He swore that he would track me if he spent his whole life doing it, and~he has kept his word. Wellwhfs perseverance shall do him no good as far as the chart is concerned. My oath must be * kept at the cost of my life. For me the treasure of the Indies has no further significance, but the chart shall be my legacy to Jack. He is young, and plucky, and stalwart. He may be able to locate the island some time, and if the treasure - is there it shall be his.” 2 : ; The captain entered his room and shut the door behind him. te ee — CHAPTER Ill.—The Captain’s Story. ~* The three boys had watched the interview be- tween Captain Norris and the unsavory-looking sailor in a furtive way, Tom and Mat wholly for- Mere: the errands that had brought them to the _ Shere. E = “That sailor seems to be laying the law down Re foapttin Norris,” said Tom Trimble, ina low one. ; ; : _ Jack could not help agreeing with him, and he wondered that the captain did not throw the ras- eal out of the store. The captain made no at- ' » tempt to do so, however, though when his pas- sion momentarily got the better of him, affd he - laid his hands menacingly on the sailor, the boys looked to ste a scrap, but it didn’t materialize. .- Norfis went upstairs. . “Well, I must be going,” said Tom, recollecting ~ what had brought him to the store. . “I want two spools: No. 60 black, and one ‘spol No. 70 i white, Clark’s thread.” , ; : fue “AN right;” replied Jack. “I'll get them for ~~ you. : _ (-He stepped across to a cabinet behind the *‘eounter on the opposite side of the store, picked out the spools, wrapped them up and handed them to Tom.- : “Anything else?” he inquired. a e : Ln No, that’s all. So long,” and Trimble left -.» ‘the store. ; aot : “T want a package of Old Crow tobacco,” said Mat. . Jack handed it to him. : “That's all,” said Mat, putting it in his pocket. - “Will you be down to the club to-night?” _ “JT pyiess so,” answered Jack, picking up the -» galesbook and entering the two purchases in it. While he was doing it Mat said good-by and went away. . Just then @wo men came in to ‘see if any mail had come for them. There’ was a- - papér for one of them, and the other treated to cigars. Then’a girl came in with a jug and ri, 3 A GOLDEN STAKE _and I seized him up as a rascal when he first Finally Jim Crowe left the store and Captain - i “very sacred one, I entered into eleven years | _ probably ‘astonish- you. gold, buried on a certains island in the Caribb -ended their criminal careers, as a rule, at th 94 ’ s Oe Ny ae easiness. It wasn’t at all like Captain Norris ~ to.act in such=an odd way. Jack, as he started to light the lamps, was satisfied there was some- thing out of the common the matter with the old man. Whatever it was, it evidently arose ; from the visit of Jim Crowe. At length Captam Norris raised his head and called Jack over to the stove. ae “Jack,” he said, solemnly, “I’ve got something ™ to-tell you.” Fs st <i “What is it, captain?” : “You saw that sailor who was here a while ago?” pete “Yes.” ks “He’s the greatest scoundrel unhung.” phase “T pelievé you, captain.. He’s got a bad eye, came in the Store and asked for you.” peace “He has threatened to kill me, Jack.” Pe hey “What for?” asked ‘the boy, greatly startled. ' “Because I haye something in my poSsession that he“covets.” ~~ : Femetersy, “Why don’t you send have him: arrested ?” for the constable and 4 2 i “T’yé been thinking of doing that,.Jack; bt in Rio de Janeiro, I cannot comply with hi scheme, even if I felt disposed td do so, | consequently I carnot say to what extremes th villain will go when he receives my ultima Owing to this crisis in my affdirs I have de that it is necessary to take you into my dence. I‘am going to tell you a story that will It is the story of pirate Sea.” ae gh " oo ee “Pipate gold!” ejaculated Jack, in surpri “Yes. You remember that I have. told you many tales of the pirates of the Spanish Main, and of the West Indian waters.” _ ee we _ Jack nodded and waited with great inte the old. skipper to go on. ~ “T told you how those rascals originate under different leaders they —flouris re how they plundered richly-freighted. ga most of which. in those days flew the flag Spain, and how they spent the bulk of their gotten spoils in riotous living, and eventu: You remember all this, Jack?

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' *When I was at Rio twelve years ago,” went on Captain Norris, “I was one night traversing an obscugg street close to the water side when ‘I heard.a cry of ‘murder!’ A man ran out. of - @ narrow alley, closely pursued by another. with a knife in his hand. As the first man stumbled blindly toward me, repeating his. thrilling ery, the second man closed upon him and raised his knife to finish his bloody work. I had paused in _ the shadow of one of the buildings and was un- ’ noticed by either. Seeing that murder was about to be committed I sprang out just in time to ar- ~ rest the impending blow that would no doubt have finished the fleeing man. As I seized the uplifted arm of the would-be murderer, he turned + furiously upon me and it was then that I recog- -- nized him as a. member of my crew—ar able seaman named Jim Crowe.” * “Jim Crowe!” ejaculated Jack. “The man Ro called here this afternoon?” “The identical man. He was rather staggered when he recognized me aS his captain, and as I always was a man who stood no nonsense from ‘my men, and they knew me, he made no further effort to attack me, but dropped his knife and ‘stood in sullen silence until I released his arm, - when he immediately took to his heels and dis- ~ appeared into the alley whence he and the other man had just issued. I then looked for the ob- ject of his murderous assault and saw his lying huddled all in a, heap _a dozen feet away. He was unconscious, and I discovered that he* was bleeding from an ugly wound in his breast. At that moment a police patrol came upon the scene and J had the victim of Jim Crowe carried to the _ hospital. ~~ “Next day I visited him. He was a sailor, stranded in the port, and taking pity on him, I left orders that everything possible be done for him. I went to some small expense to see that he got nourishing food and sundry delicacies, for J felt that I owed him a duty since his assailant - ‘was a member of my crew. The poor fellow seemed to be grateful for the attention I gave ~ him, and when he learned from the surgeon that » he could not live over twelve hours he sent for me. Then I discovered that the possession of ‘ an old chart, disclosing the hiding place of a large store of pirate gold, was the cause of his plight. He had made the casual acquaintance ‘of Jim Crowe at a low drinking house, and when Somewhat under the influence of liquor had told Crowe about the chart; and the latter evidently — stermined to geb possession of it by foul means. He attacked the man in the alley as he was. leav- ing the house, stabbed him, and was following up his evil wotk when, as I have told you, I hap- pened upon the’ scene and defeated his purpose. “o make a long story short, the dying sailor i re me the chart which had cost him his life, . nd at the same time, on learning that Crowe be- toi nged d to my ship, made me swear that if the rascal found out I had the chart, undew no con- sideration should he benefit even to the extent of a dollar in. the buried Areasure. Next day the sailor was. dead. — ; “Crowe had not returned to the ship and I Rave his description to the police. As I had to “sail in a day or two I made a desposition of the affair befor e. a-notary and left it in the hands~ es Bertie 3 Hardly were we in blue. A GOLDEN STAKE 5 waters when Jim Crowe made his appearance from the hold, where he had been hiding with . the connivance of several of the crew. I called him up, told him that he was a murderer, and that I considered it to be my duty to hand him over to the authorities of Havana, whither we were bound. He gave me an ugly look, but said nothing. Next day while I was examining the chart in the-eabin I happened to glance up at the open skylight and detected the rascal looking” down at me. “From that moment his shadow has always been upon me. I soon discovered that I had cause to fear the same fate that had befallen the stranded sailor at Rio. He. disappeared the night we reached Havana, but turned up again as soon as we put to sed. He had the nerve to propose that we make’a joint search for the treasure. I refused and then he threatened me. I had him put in irons, and intended to turn him over to . the police in New York, but the day we arrived he escaped with the assistance of two sailors who were ehummy with him. “Detectives hunted for’ him in vain, but I felt that I might expect him to’ turn up: when I-least expected it. “On my next trip to the tropics I made a hur- ried search for the island where the treasure is, but could not locate it. “On my return voyage I repeated the quest, but without result. When I returned to New York I found that I was con- stantly shadowed by the villain or somebody in his interest. I had several narrow escapes for my life, and at length the strain proved too much for me. I resigned. my command and determined. to bury myself somewhere in the country. selected this retired village, bought this store, and have lived here undisturbed for ten years.. “As time’ passed-I believed that I had effectual- ly thrown the villain off my track. A month ago I had an ugly dream, I thought the rascal had found me at last. Since them I’ve lived in cone stant fear that my dream might be realize: Today it was. The scoundrel has discovered me, and once more I’m at his mercy. But he shall — not get the chart, though he kill me. Long ago I decided that the treasure on that Carribbean island should be yours, Jack, if in the course of — time you were so fortunate as torfind the place described in the chart.” “Mine!” eried the astonished boy. “Yes. many years before you. The chart shall be yours to do with as you choose. Is is hidden——” At that moment the sound of cat-like steps in the room above their heads—the captain’s room —reached their ears. CHAPTER IV.—The Chart. “Hark! - What’s that?” exclaimed the captain. They listened intently. Presently they heard the cautious tread of footsteps again, followed by the fall of some small article on the floor. “There’s some one in my room,” cried the old skipper, springing to his feet and starting fox the stairs at the back part of the store. Sack © was about to follow him when a small boy en- tered and handed him an order for sundry sua plies eat his mother enacers ; You are young, with the-probability of . = ; ee & ie

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. room for the chart. 8 A GOLDEN STAKE - “Vil attend to it, Billv,” said Jack, after glanc- ing over the list. He handed the lad a few candies, placed the order on a file,-and as the door closed behind the bov, he started for the stairs to listen at the foot, or ascend to the floor above if he thought his presence was neces- sary there. He had hardly taken his stand there when he heard muffled sounds of a struggle on the floor above. The boy started up the stairs, two steps at a time. As he struck the corridor he heard a ery from the captain followed by the words: “Villain, you have stabbed me!” * Jack’s blood ran cold, and for an instant he paused aghast. Then he recovered his nerve and dashed for the old skipper’s room. The door stood open, a gleam of light shining into the cor- ridor, and when he resiched it a dreadful sight met. him eyes. Captain Norris lay se NORTE upon the floor, like a dead man, and standing over him was Jim Crowe, knife in hand, looking down at his terrible work. With a cry of grief and rage Jack sprang upon the rascal. The fellow, taken by surprise, started back, tripped over the captain’s body and, losing his balance, fell backward. His head struck the corner of the chimney and he rolled over stunned, the knife falling from his grasp. Jack. paid no further attention to him, but de- voted his energies to Captain Norris, who seemed ta be recovering his faculties. The boy tore open the old man’s vest and shirt and saw that he - was bleeding profusely from a wound in his side. . Taking the handkerchief from his pocket he tried to stanch the flow of blood, The captain opened. his eyes and looked at him. “Jack,” he said, feebly, “I fear I’m done for. That villain played a march on me. He came back on the sly, and I caught him searching my I grabbed him, and in the struggle that took placesbetween us he knifed me. I am growing weaker every moment. I believe -I am dying, Jack. But before I go I must see that you get the chart. It is hidden in the chim- ney. .Put your hand up the flue. You will! feel a loose brick at the back. Remove it, and you will find the chart in the back of the hole. Se- eure it at once. Do as I tell you, Jack: I want or sa you have it in your possession before e.” “T can find the chart any time, captain,” sob- bed the lad, for he loved the old man and the prospect of his death, in such a sudden and tragic manner, was a terrible shock ‘to him. “The chart, the chart!” cried the skipper, with a frentic kind of eagerness. Jack saw that it would be necessary to humor him, so he jumped up, stepped over to the chim- ney, inserted his hand up the flue, removed the - loose brick, felt around the aperture until his fingers _ touched something like a small packet, which he drew forth. , The wounded man watched his movements with feverish interest. “That’s it, Jack,” he said in a voice hans above a whisper. “That’s it. Hide it, quick! . Hide——” His head dropped back and the next word died in his throat. Jack thrust the packet into his tau d aired quickly to the ecaptain’s side, cious that ae sailor had wecowered, his ae he a senses and had heard.a portion of the wounded man’s words, a “He is dead! He is dead!” moaned the boy, noting the pallor on the old man’s face and see- ing how still and deathlike! he lay. . Half frantic with grief he- felt for the skipper’s heart. To his great joy he noticed that it was still beating, though faintly. “T,must get a doctor at once,” he cried. “There isn’t‘a moment to be lost.” Without thinking of the motionless ruffian near the chimney, he dashed out of the room, down the stairs and into the store, where he found — Tom Trimble standing with his back against one of the,counters waiting for somebody to turn up. He was much startled by the excited appearance? of @ack Dalton. “What’s the matter, Jack? What’s happened?” “Murder is the matter,” palpitated Jack. “Murder!” gasped Tom, turning pale. “Yes. That sailor came back and has stabbed the captain. I’m going for a doctor as quick as I can. Mind the store. will you, till I get back?” There were two doctors in the village, and the nearest one lived about a quarter of a mile from the store. Jack made for his house as fast as he could run. The doctor was in and the boy hur-— riedly acquainted him with the facts of the ease. The physician agreed with the lad that there was no time to be lost. He got his emergency bag and accompanied Jack back to the store. Tom was doing his best to wait on two cus- tomers who had come in, and without stopping Jack led the doctor up to Captain Norris’s room. The old skipper lay just as the boy had left him, and Jack was afraid he was past all help. Jim — Crowe was gone. The physician examined the wound and pronounced it dangerous, but not necessarily fatal. He washed it with an antisep- — tie preparation and then carefully bandaged i Though the old skipper had lost a good-deal of — blood, the physician hoped that his rugged con- __ stitution would pull him through. With Jack’s — assistance he was put to bed, and this had hardly been accomplished when the captain came to his’ senses. He asked the doctor if there was any hope. of his pulling through, and the physician told him that he thought he had a good chance of doing so. It was arranged that the doctor should send a nurse to attend to Captain Norris, — since Jack would have his hands futl joa z ter the store all by himself. After the physician had departed Jack | went fe downstairs and sent Tom for the constable. When that official arrived, which he didin a hurry when __ Tom told him ‘what had happened at the store, Jack put him in possession of all the particulars of the case. - ” “Describe him, please.” : Jack did so, and Tom corroborated the de- es scription. ae SE the atte is in a critical ondabien I bids : better fetch the justice here and have his ante-- mortem statement taken.” ; “Dr. Harper said that he thought he’d, pt through owing to his strong constitution.” “Well, Dr. Harper ought to be a good jude of the man’s condition. Still, it’s well to be o the safe side. I think his statement qught to be oa taken, anyway. Can I go up and seehim?” Jack said he could, an ‘accompanied the cone A

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stable to Captain Norvis’s bedside. As the old ‘skipper was not in condition to answer questions - without weakening himself, the officer concluded to postpone getting his statement for the pres- ent. He went away to start an immediate search for the rascally sailor. In a short time the nurse - eame to attend the captain. When Jack came downstairs again he found Mat Mulford in the store with Tom. te Jack locked up the place and the three boys sat around the stove and talked about the advent of Jim Crowe in the village, and the well-nigh ~ fatal attempt he had made on the captain’s life. » Although Jack, having heard the old_skipper’s story, knew the reason that prompted the vil- Jain’s desperate act, he did not consider that he ought to explain matters to his companions, though they were his particular friends. In fact, he could not have made matters clear without telling the story of the chart, and’that he did not _ propose to do. baa I Tom and Mat were hoth satisfied that the - ‘sailor had a strong grudge against Captain Nor- ~ Sis to cause him to make a murderous assault on the old man. , They hazarded a dozen reasons to aceount for Jim Crowe’s animosity against his former commander, but not one came anywhere “near hitting the truth. In the end they went home as much in the dark as ever. When Jack went to-his roons after looking in on the ‘captain and — Jearning from the nurse that the skipper was resting easily, he lighted his lamp and then, full of boyish curiosity, he took the packet that had caused at least one murder and nearly two,.out of ‘his pocket and started to examine it. Unwrap- ‘ping an outer covering of. several folds of an , Jack found a piece of stout paper - old newspaper, - folded twice. Opening it out with care, it proved to be about six inches one way by four the other, per- fectly regular in its oblong shape, as though it had been especially prepared for Some purpose. The paper was firm, ; like a kind of vellum. In one or two places it’ “was discolored, and some parts. of the writing had faded, as we know that ink will fade in time, yet all the words were so plain that Jack ‘could read t without any study or hesitation. ““Why, this isn’t a chart,” he said, in some ‘surprise. “It’s merely a bit_ of writing. Let me ' see what it says.” , / He held the paper up close to the lamp and. -read the following, - “LUCAYOS._ Little Key abt 4 Leagues N E Grand Caicos. L. abt 71—16. L. abt 21—30. Big “mound close to W end of island. -Entrance fac- ing E abt midway N—S. Dig 1 F, N. W.” in large, legible handwriting: ».That was all, and*to tell the truth it was not ery intelligible to Jack. It was impossible for him to go to the captain now and ask for an explanation. Jack, however, was curious to learn ‘the meaning of the writing as soon as he could, and he thought he would try and see if he could study it out for himself. He first tackled the vord “Lucayos.” ary i “That must be the name of the island,” he gued. “It’s a little key, or island, about four ues, that is twelve miles, northeast of Grand re! A GOLDEN STAKE thick and whole, and seemed. Caicos. That’s easy enough to read, but what is Grand C#ios?” He had never heard of such a place as Grand Caicos before, and was inclined to believe that it was a town on some island in the Caribbean Sea. As Jack believed in doing things methodically, before proceeding further he got his geography, which had a very good map.of the West Indies, and opened it up at the proper place. Starting with the Bahama Islands where they began off the Southeastern coast of Florida, he took each one “in turn and studied every name printed on oa the map. He met with no encouragement till he © drew near the end of the group, at a point di-. rectly north of Hayti, then his heart gave a great thump when he saw the name N. Caicos attached to a small island, and then right near it a larger island labeled Grand Caicos. “Why, it’s an island!” he exclaimed, with a. thrill of satisfaction. “The little key where the treasure is buried is twelve miles northeast of ~ this place.” He studied the location with no little curiosity.- There was no little island marked on the scnool “map. all right. Probably it’s too insignificant to find a place on such a map as this. Now, if it was down on ‘a shin’s chart of these waters how is it~ that Captain Norris failed to find it in two at- tempts?” ‘ ee That was a puzzler for Jack. While he was studying the map before him he noticed a wor in small type, enclosed in parentheses, directly under the words “Bahama Island8.” He looked at it closely and saw that_it spelled “Lacayos.” p “I dare say it’s down on a regular snip’s chart, - ‘Then he understood that Lucayos was the for- ~ mer or original name of the. Bahama Islands. Having mastered the first part of the writing to his satisfaction, he took-.up the next sentence, which was a short one, “L. abt 71—16.” te It took him about fifteen minutes to translate this into “Longitude, 71. degrees, 16 minutes,” west, of course. Then naturally the next sentence meant “Lati- tude, 21 degrees, 30 minutes” north. _ The next was easy: “Big mound close west end of the island.” id The next was also simple: ‘to the “Entrance to the South.” Dig one foot northwest,” but still it didn’t seem »-mound faced to the east, about midway north,and | The last read ea¥ily to his way of thinking: to be quite clear as a definite direction. Jack de- cided to the original he would have a copy that would answer fully as well for all practical purposes. So he got a clean piece of notepaper and made the following copy: , ae _“Lueayos, or Bahama Islands. The little key (island) about twelve -miles northeast of Grand Caicos Island. Longitude about 71 deg. 16 min.. Latitude about 21 deg. 80 min. Big mound close to west end of island, entrance to which faces — east about midway north and south, Dig one foot, northwest.” { ite the whole thing down on another piece of paper, so that if by any chance he lost “There,” said Jack, with a feeling of satisfac-

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a Vex 4 Y % 8 tion, “I guess I’ve got it down all right. I'll show it to the captain when he gets better. Per- “haps hell be able to make the last sentence clearer to me.” With those words Jack folded up the copy and placed it in his vest pocket. At that moment he thought he heard a noise at the window. Turn- ing his head quickly he saw something that made his heart almost stop beating. It was the face of Jim Crowe pressed against the glass of one of the lower panes, his baleful eyes glaring full at the boy. % CHAPTER V.—The Holdup at the Bridge. For a moment the two stared at each other without moving, Jack fascinated by the basilisk gaze of the murderous rascal, then Jim Crowe lifted his arms to the sash, threw up the win- dow, and proceeded to crawl into the room. “Stop!” eried Jack. ; ; Jack looked around for a weapon with which to defend himself, but saw nothing that seemed available for the purpose. After favoring the poy with a deep scowl] Crowe’s features relaxed into an ugly kind of grin. - “P]] trouble ye, sonny, for that dockyment ye have in your hand. Hand: it over and I won't hurt ye. I came all the way from New York to get it from my old cap’n who wanted to defraud me of it. If he’d acted squarely with his old shipmate he wouldn’t have got hurt.” “What do you’ want with it?” asked Jack, to gain time to think. “That’s my business, sonny. That there docky- ‘ment belongs to me. The cap’n hadn’t no right to keep me out of it. I’ve been huntin’ for him ten years to get it back, Now he thought to fool me by givin’ it to you. But I-was too sharp for him. P’haps ye don’t know the danger -of holdin’ on|to that there chart. Then I’ll tell ye. What happened to the cap’n happened to an- other man twelve years ago, and it’s likely to happen to ye if ye don’t turn it over to me. Pos- sesshun may be nine p’ints of the law, but the pint of a knife is.a more powerful argyment than all the law in“the world. So hand it over if ye would save your skin.” “Never!” cried Jack desperately. — “Then I’m sorry for ye, sonny,” replied Crowe, with an evil grin. “I ain’t got nothin” ag’in ye *cept your objecshun to part with that chart. Since I’ve made up my mind to get it, no matter what the risk, I’m thinkin’ ye’ll have to give it _up_whether ye have a mind to or not.” ' With the agility of a cat, he made a sudden leap into the room. As he did so, Jack snatched - the lamp from the bracket and threw it full at him. It struck hint square in the chest. The chimney broke into a score of pieces, the flames the wiek flared up, igniting his flannel shirt a cof L 2 Sion, which was spattered with oil, and in an- other moment his chest was a mass of flame. The sailor staggered back and fell out of - the window. He would probably have broken his neck by the: but for the fact that his body Janded upon the ladder by which he had ascended, and one of his arms passing through an upper “rung arrested his downward progress enough to ‘breakfast for himself and the heen: ‘that the wound was not as bad as he had at first A GOLDEN STAKE save him. After hanging for a moment in mid- ~ air he slid to the ground, landing in a heap at the foot and rolling over on his face. The grass extinguished the fire and he lay for some min- utes thoroughly dazed. Jack snatched up the lamp and held the flame above his head, looking down at him, until he felt a hand on his shoulder, and turning around - saw the nurse looking at him with a startled face. “What’s the matter?” the old woman asked. “The rascal who stabbed the captain was in this room. I threw the lamp at him and he tumbled out of the window. There he is now at the foot of the ladder. We must secure him before he can recover and get away.” me Thrusting the chart, which he had held in his left hand all the time, into his pocket, he rushed from the room, down the stairs and into the — store. Reaching for several pieces of short line that hung from a hook on the wall, he opened the back door and sprang outside, But when he ran _@round the corner of the building he was only in time to see the figure of the sailor vanishing ~~ into the gloom. | : “Too late!” he muttered in a tone of disap- pointment. “I thought I had him.” % | Satisfied that it was dangerous as well as use- less to pursue Jim Crowe, he carried the ladder into the store, made the door fast again, and re- turned upstairs. . : fey The nurse, who had not followed him, evidently wanted an explanation, and Jack told her as . much as he thought necessary. ~ ~ When she retired he got a hammer and some nails and secured his window so that it could not be opened again. Then, confident that the rascal would hardly pay him another visit that night, — he undressed himself and went to bed. He was up as usual with the sun, which rose about a quarter to six, and his first thought was of Jim Crowe, and next of the precious chart. ey After making his toilet, the boy went in to- see how the captain was getting on, and was pleased to learn that he was no worse, and per- — haps a trifle better. Then he went into the kit- chen, lit the fire in the stove and started to get . While thus’. engaged his thoughts were busy with the chart. After thinking of several places to hide the chart for the time being, Jack, loath to let it out - of his reach, finally decided to stow it between the sole of his stocking and his foot. So, wrap- ping it up in a piece of brown paper, he soon — had it out of sight. ‘ : After a hasty breakfast he opened the store ~ and made a fresh fire in the stove. Customers began to drop in and ask about Captain Norris, and by and by the doctor came to visit the cap- tain. When he came downstairs he told Jack supposed it to be, and that Captain Norris, with proper care, would recover. Jack was very glad. to hear this good report, and he began to feel light-hearted once more, in spite of the fact that Jim Crowe was secreted somewhere in. the neigh- borhood. : : Bas After school Tom Trimble dropped into the store to see Jack and find out how the captain was. PGE eR rene ys oS “If you hayen’t anything better to do, Tom,

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Sol . & I wish you’d go with mé@ for the mail by and ,” said Jack. : Mt right,” replied Tom, “I’m with you. How about the store?” Sore ; ~ “Pm going to lock up while I’m away. When the time came for Jack to go to the station for the mail he left Tom to look after the store while: he went to the barn to ch up the light wagon. He found Mat’ Mulford io _ the store when he drove around in front. Mat "wanted to go to the station, too. _ “You can go, but there isn’t room on the seat - for three,” said Jack. : 38 “What’s the matter with putting a box in and Yl sit behind you?” said Mat. — There was no objection to this arrangement, and it was carried out. About half-way to the - station the road led through a wood where a --natrow stream, connecting with the Great South Bay, was crossed by a bridge. ; ; “Hello!” exclaimed Tom, when they reached the bridge, pointing at a rusty-looking sloop lying half hidden among the rushes, whose eraft is that, and where did it come from? “Give it up,” skagen wae : bind it there terday afternoon when I passed here.” 23 veyron aut ponpote that it belongs to that sailor, do you?” said Tom. eeWell, it might,” replied Jack, as he started = are into a trot. ; brat py we’d better put the constable on to it _ when we get back,” said Mat. . _ They reached the station a few minutes before the train was due and hitched the horse to a tree _ while they all went on the platform. _ _ “Hello, Jack,” said the station agent. You'll have some time to wait for your mail-pouch. “Flow is that?” asked the boy in surprise. _ “The train will be late. There’s been a washout ~ down near Carlinville and traffic both ways is He: 4] f ? : : 3 held se something over two hours before the -* t ‘outgoing: pouch aboard the mail car and received - tumbled it into the wagon, as his companions got E Pa Mat taking Tom’s place on the seat for the ‘return trip. Sj} : ee Unhitehing the mare, Jack climbed up and ‘started for the village. He whipped up the horse, as he was anxious to get back to the store. It was dark before they reached the wood, and Jack kept his eyes skinned when they entered it. ‘They struck the bridge at a good clip and were dashing across it when the mare fetched up as if she had hit a stone wall. A stout rope stretch- ed across the further end of the bridge was the cause of her sudden stoppage. The shock toppled Mat and Jack backward off the seat, and sent - Tom and the box floundering in the bottom of tie wagon. A stalwart figure darted out of the -bushes, climbed into the wagon, and _ singling ee dazed as he was, and dragged him away. \ ee : ; noe - a CHAPTER VI.—In the Hands of Jim Crowe. “It didn’t take Jack galing a8 fepeo ties e was in the clutches of a powe man, an rough ha couldn’t see the fellow’s face in the fie Bigs te ie shay 4 ap ca seek a A GOLDEN STAKE 9 darkness he knew that it must be Jim Crowe who had trapped him. He had a strangle-hold,on the boy, and Jack, seeing that the scoundrel had him dead to rights, began shouting for help, hoping that Tom and Mat would come to his rescue. Jim Crowe crashed down through the bushes toward the stream, dragging the boy with him. He was aiming for the rusty black sloop, moored to the stump of a tree by a slip-khot, such as sailors know how to make. In the meantime Tom and Mat pulled themselves together and stood up in the stalled wagon. “What the dickens did we run against?” asked Mat, rubbing a lump on the back of his head. “One would think we’d struck a fence from the . Way we fetched up. The road seems clear enough \ Jack out, yanked him from the vehicle, half-. as far as I can see.” Ask me something easier, Mat,” replied Tom, with a rueful grimace, not apparent in the gloom. “Blamed if I know what we struck, though I'll swear I hit the bottom of the wagon hard enough to put a hole through it.” “Help! Tom! Mat! Help!” came the voice of Jack at that moment. ; “Hello!” said Mat. “There’s Jack’s voice. He's in some trouble and is shouting for us. Come on, let’s see what’s the trouble.” r Both boys leaped from the wagon, slipped past ~ the horse and then fetched up against the rope which had stopped the mare. It took them both across their necks, and they went down like a couple of tenpins. ’ “Great Scott!” gasped Mat. “What was that?” “That’s what I want to know,” gurgled Tom. “Something hit me across the throat. I won't be able to swallow for a week.” The two boys got up carefully and then saw what had upset them. “Why, it’s a rope stretched across the end of the bridge!” said Mat, in some astonishment. “That’s what stopped the horse and played the deuce with all of us. Who’ could have put it there, and what for?” + “Mat! Tom! Help!” came again from Jack. The boys said nothing more, but made all haste to reach their hapless companion. They struggled through the bushes in the darkness, half afraid that they might find themselves in the mire and water before they knew where they were. - “Help! Help!” shouted Jack, not far away. ; “Shut up, yé infernal young scylpin, or ll choke the wind out of ye!” came a second and decidedly hoarse voice to their ears. Tom and Mat recognized the tones as belonging to Jim Crowe, the murderous sailor, and they both came to a sudden halt. “What shall we do?” palpitated Tom, who had, a terrified vision of a knife coming his way in. ee darkness, if he and his companion went too’ ‘ar. ‘ “Do!” cried Mat, who was full of spunk, — “We've got to help Jack out. ‘We can’t desert him when he’s in trouble.” ‘ ae a, “But, suppose——” * st : “Suppose nothing! and he dashed — forward. bie es Tom followed, ashamed to hold back: The two lads reached the edge of the, creek where the sloop lay just as Crowe had thrust Jack into the cabin, and shut the door on him. He was hasten- — ; ing to slip the moorings when Mat, followed by Come

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hg “10 - fastened and en ing lantern pa - showed the figur the floor with his - complain if - \ Tom, came piling over the bows of the craft. They both had seized stout sticks which they had picked up beside the road. “Wj, there, you rascal, what are you doing with Jack Dalton?” demanded Mat, advancing aft with his stick in his hand. Jim Crowe was a bit staggered by their unex- « pected appearance. . He hurled an imprecation at them, and ordered them off the sloop. “We don’t go without Jack.” replied Mat, reso- lutely. “What have vou done with him?” “None -of your blamed business, ye young monkey. Get ashore, both of ye!” He rushed at the boys. If he had his knife about him he disdained to use it on the lads, whom he expected to crush with his ponderous, hairy fists, which were like a couple of sledge _ hammers. Mat aimed a blow at his head. The sailor saw the stick coming, and throwing up his arm grab- bed it as it descended. With a jerk he yanked the brave boy toward him, struck him in the face, and tumbled him down the short stairway lead- ing to the cabin. Then he sprang at Tom, snatched the stick from his grasp, and grabbing him bodi- }v. threw him on top of Mat. The two boys were thus placed hors de combat in no time at all. Jimi Crowe slipped his mooring rope, hoisted the jib and then the mainsail, made the sheets fast, and went to the helm as the sloop gathered way and pointed her nose down the creek in the direc- tion of Great South Bay. The sailor secured the tiller so that the sloop would hold her course steadily down the creek, and then, with a couple of pieces of rope in his hand, he went forward to where Tom and Mat were just recoverine from the effects of their encounter with him. He reached down, and seiz- ine Tom, hauled him up on the deck, where, in spite of his struggles, he bound his hands behind his back. Mat was not so easv a victim, and Crowe had to* handle him pretty roughly before ‘he could render him as harmless as his com- ‘panion. Bits : _ “Now, ye pair of sculpins, see what ye get by buttin’ in where ye ain’t got. no business. Lay there, both of ye, till I make up my mind whether - [ll feed ye to the fishes or put ye ashore some- where along the Sound.” Havine said his say, Jim Crowe returned to the tiller and proceeded to guide’ the sloop down the oe to the point where it connected with the ay. Ping ~ CHAPTER VII.—The Secret of the Chart. ‘In the course of twenty minutes the little vessel. . was in Great South: Bay, with her head to the west. Crowe once more secured the helm, and then went to the door of the cabin, which he un- A dim light from a swing- dispelled the gloom,” and Jack Dalton stretched out on ‘ hands and feet bound. “Now; you son of a sea cook, I’m goin’ to ’tend to your case,” said the sailor, with an evil leer. “Ye nearly done me up last night, so ye can't I fix ye for keeps now that I have First of all, ’'m goin’ to see if, Ay be a é ax atae | t ; 2 in my power. ee tay Beta oa 5 Mote RP at res Suge ges A GOLDEN STAKE | : '“Well) ye kin have it back. didn’t suspect the real hiding*place of the chart, — ‘make ye warble afore-I get through with ye.” to your bare skin’ll make ye tell bi * El. Le oe ye have that chart about ye. If so, p’raps Tl — let up on ye.” : 3 a He began a close search of Jack’s clothes. From his vest pocket he drew forth the copy the boy had made of the vellum document. The ras- — cal took down the lantern and examined it. “So that’s what I saw ye doin’ last night— copyin’ the chart,” he said, with.a sarcastic grin. + It’s no good to me, no more’n the chart was to my old cap’n, The — man who gave it to him didn’t tell him the real secret of the paper. So he.followed the writin’ — and went on_a wild goose chase. Ye kin do — the same if ye ever get the chance. I know how ~ to get the real meanin’ out of that there docky-' — ment. The chap told me while he was three sheets in the wind, and but for my old cap’n but- | tin’ in I’d have been livin’ in clover these twelve years; However, I reckon it ain’t too late yet, — pervided I get the chart, and I mean to get it if I have to go back to the village and s’arch the | cap’n’s house from cellar to roof. Ye’ve either — got it about ye or ye’ve hidden it. If ye haven't it in your clothes ye’ll tell me where ye’ve hidden it or it’ll be wuss for ye.” rare While Jim Crowe was talking he was search- — ing Jack’s garments, and feeling every inch of the cloth of his jacket and his vest to see if he’d sewed it into the lining. Jack maintained a dog- ged silence, hoping that the rascal would not — think of searching his right stocking. Peis As he met with nothing “but disappointment ~ the fellow’s temper grew steadily worse. Finally he pulled off Jack’s shoes and looked into both of them. The boy’s heart jumped into his mouth, for he expected nothing else but that his. stock ings would come off next, and then the chart would come to light. As cunning as the rascal was he_ much to Jack’s relief. e sailor made a second and more careful search, of his. prisoner’s g: r ments, and as he didn’t find what’ he was he gave up the quest, fully satisfied that the boy had hidden the paper somewhere about the cap tain’s house. ; Tare Pay “T see, ye haven’t got it,” he said, with BS ugly scowl. “Well, ye’ll tell me where ye’ve hid is “You won’t find out from me,” replied Jack firmly. ra ne “Won't 1? I'M ste if I won't. When! a bird won’t sing he must be made to. I reckon I kin Crowe got a piece of rope and tied Jack’s right _ leg. to one of the legs of the small stationary ~ table. Then he took down the lantern, opened it d took out the lamp. , eae. _*Now, sonny, ye gave me a tasté of fire last night, and ye knocked me out of the winder on Re top of it,” he said, with a’villanious scowl. “I’m ee goin’ to let ye taste of fire to-night, jest to : a how ye'll Tike! it <yourself.” 2 9-0 oor yt un ee “You scoundrel!” groaned Jack, who reali what the sailor was up to. Sees): “That’s right, sonny. Spit it out,” chutkle i me all the names that ye kin think of if. do ye any good. I reckon this here applic hid the chart, ‘than ye ve seen stubborner chaps =i Secs a ee

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‘come to the scratch when fire was brought ag’in the soles of their feet.” 3 ‘With another crafty chuckle he began pulling Jack’s stocking off. j .. “fHfello, sonny What have ye, got in your -stoekin’?? Blamed if I don’t believe it’s the chart,” he added, shaking the little packet out in his hand. 6 ‘It took him but fifteen seconds to assure. him- self that such was the fact. “Ye are more clever than I took ye to be,” he said, with a satisfied chuckle. “And I never thought that it was in your stockin’. That saves ye from a-scorchin’, sonny. I reckon ye have got off easy. This here chart wouldn’t have done ye no more good than it did the cap’n. He hunted for that there key accérdin’ to direeshuns, and he didn’t find it, though the latitude and longi- tude is writ down here as plain as daylight, till it would seem jest like plain sailin’ to go to that there island. Ye’ve got a copy of it in your pocket, which ye kin keep, and go huntin’ for it ~ on your own hook some day if ye’ve a mind to. But ye might sail around that there Grand Caicos till ye was gray-headed and ye wouldn’t find no ’ little key, leastaway not the little key where) the ‘old is buried. P’raps ye don’t believe me?” Vil jest show ye. Ye kin, go back to the cap’n then ~~ and tell him how he “failed to find the island. - This here writin’ ain’t the keyrect. direcshun._ It ' was_put there to fool any one at hadn’t no right to the chart. The chap that give it to my old cap’n forgot, or didn’t want to give the secret away to him. But he gave it-away to me “-whep his brains was thick with licker. look"at the back of that there chart. Ye see no writin’ on it, do ye?” he grinned. The ‘rascal held the vellum against the hot glass of the lantern chimney for a few minutes. _- j}*There ye are. ,There’s the keyrect latitude and longitude, which ain’t near Grand Caicos at es \ all, but near another island 250 miles or more - from it. Now ye understand why the cap’n could- n't find. the little key. He was huntin’ in the wrong place for it. When ye see him ag’in ye ‘kin tell him all about it, Ye see now that that there copy ye made ain’t worth the paper it’s writ on, so ye’re welcomé to keep it. Ye made the marks out mighty well, considerin’ ye. ain’t no sailor. The only mistake ye made was ye writ - down ‘dig one foot northwest.’ That there ‘EF’ | don’t stand for feet, but for fathom, which is six .» feet. Since ye’ll never see the mound on the treasure key I don’t mind givin’ ye that piece of informashun. It might do ye some good if ye ever should find another treasure chart with that there letter in it.” 2 The last sentence he spoke ironically, for he knew. there wasn’t much chance of Jack ever ‘getting hold of another chart like the one he ‘held in his hand. Jim Crowe folded up the chart from which the characters traced in sympathetic ink on the back of it had already faded away, and put it carefully in his pocket. Then he re- leased the boy’s leg from the table leg, re- med the lantern to the hook where it had >. Shae before and went on deck. Jack lay still and don’t > thought over what had just happened. He was __ staggered by the strange -revelation of the real ‘secret of the chart. No wonder Captain Norris had failed to discover the little island where the ote : Ss a s A GOLDEN STAKE Now; 11: . treasure was buried, for the chart had to be heat- ed in order to bring out the writing in sympathe- tic ink. CHAPTER VIIL.—Lost in the Fog. For an hour or so longer the sloop sailed along and then Jim Corwe ran her close in to a smali island just north of Fire Island, which forms part of the narrow strip of shore marking the southern boundary of Great South Bay. A short distance away was a channel connecting the bay with the great ocean outside. It ran between Oak Island and Fire Island, and at the extreme point of the former flashed the Oak Light. The sailor stepped ashore and secured the sloop to a large stone. Then he returned on board. “Now, you young shavers,” he said to Tom, Timble and Mat Mulford, “I’m goin’ to let ye go, and your friend with ye. So get up and jump on to the beach while I fetch t’other chap out of the Femme “Aren't -you going to cut our arms loose?” asked Mat. ‘ \ rae “Your friend Jack’ kin do that for ye. Now, vamose!” Tom and Mat obeyed the order, and lined up on the shore waiting for Jack to join them.. Presently Jack walked out of the cabin followed by the sailor. Without a word he stepped on the beach. As soon as he did so, Crowe slipped the mooring rope, and the sloop drifted of till the wind filled her sails, and then the sailor headed her for the channel. ; “Good-by, sonnv,” he said in great good hu- ‘mor. “I’m obleeged to ye for bringin’ me that there chart. Maybe I’ll remember ye in my last will and testyment. Tell my, old cap’n that I’m sorry I did him up, but, I reckon he’s too tough’ a knot to turn up his toes easily. Tell him that me and the gold will soon be on good terms.” _ The rascal took off his hat, waved it ironically, and was soon lost in the loom of the night. The boys looked after the receding sloop as long as it remained a blot on the water, and then they looked at’each other: : “Cut us loose, Jack,” said Mat. \ ; “All right,” replied Dalton, whipping out his. knife and beginning on Mat’s bonds. “I didn’t know you fellows were aboard until that’ scoun- ° drel released me from the cabin. How did it hap- pen that he carried you and Tom off?” Mat explained how it came about. : _ “Well, ’m much obliged to you both for try- ing to help me, but Jim Crowe is a mighty tough proposition, and I don’t wonder that he did the two of you up,” said Jack, cutting Tom free of hig» fetters. “How are we going to get back home? We can-— not walk across the bay.” mE ere was no doubt about that fact, and the three boys gazed blankly at each other, © I wouldn’t care so much if. it wasn’t that the. horse and wagon with the mail-pouch was left standing on the bridge,” said Jack. “Then the ~ captain being under the weather, too, with the nurse waiting for me to get back, is rather _ tough.” ha _ The boys started to walk slowly eastward while ‘they canvassed the situation. In about fifteen a

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minutes they arrived near the end of the island. Suddenly Tom gave a shout and rushed down to the water’s edge. - “Here’s a boat, fellows,” he cried, joyfully. “There's a pair of oars in her. We can row back to the north shore, and then we'll be able to walk to the village.” Jack struck ‘a match and examined the little craft. The first thing he saw was a fine shotgun lying. across the seats. Then there was a ham- ; per forward which looked as if it contained pro- 4" ‘visions. - “This craft belongs to some sportsman who was out shooting. It must have slipped its moorings and floated away, leaving him marooned some- where along .shore. One person’s misfortune is often another person’s good luck,” said Jack. “Let’s see what’s in the hamper,” said Mat. “Looks to me as if it was grub. If it is it’s mighty welcome, for I’m so hungry I could chew a ten- penny: nail.” They examined the hamper and fourid it stuf- peg wth sandwiches, a whole pie and a quart of mi “Oh, my!” eried Tom. “Do we have» supper ‘Or don’t we?” “Tl put it to a vote,” grinned Jack. favor of eating this grub will say ‘aye. Mat and Tom yelled “Aye” at once. “The motion is carried unanimously. We'll pro- ceed to eat, and then we'll row across the bay, each of us taking his turn at the oars.’ While they were eating, a for had been slowly caming in from the ocean. When they pushed off for the north shore of the bay Jack remarked that it looked misty. “Those in 79 They kept on rowing. by turns, unconscious that the outgoing tide had gradually worked the head .of the boat around and that they were being car- ried both by the tide and the action of their oars toward the channel at the eastern end of Fire rae’ Island. Believing that they were still heading for - the northern shore, while in point of fact they worked’ hard to get across the bie bay. “I wonder how close we are to the shore?” said Mat, at last. “I’m about played out,” _ * “[’m done up too,” said Tom, though he hadn’t -sebeen working the oars for half an hour. : “T’ll ‘relieve you, Mat,” said Jack, ~~. other was glad to let him do it. . Jack rowed steadily for about twenty minutes, ~ and then stopped to. rest. “We ought to be nearly across,” he said. We’ve a rowing for more than two hours, I should judge.” ‘ “Tl bet we’ve towed ‘all of’ five miles; " said ~ “Tom, } “We've rowed enough to be over, ‘asserted Mat... -To tell the truth, they had, for at that moment the boat was already three miles out in the At- lantic. south of Long Island. Had the boys dreamed of the seriousness of. their situation they probably would have had a a, et eee > : spear lem and the - moment to hit the shore. But though he worked his bestin order to bring their trip. to a speedy” jand. were proceeding in the opposite direction, they Vl swear,” fit. Jack resumed his rowing, expecting every ia they met with nothing in the shape* gon can keep on a while Rr A replied Jack. ; A GOLDEN STAKE - its freight of three sleeping boys, two of whom _ direction. he gazed. ‘o'clock a big steamer hove in sight. She ie Se “Tf we don’t strike shore in fifteen iets we may know that we’re off our course.” Tom reluctantly took the oars,- but he worked like a person who had little heart in the job. His - arms were tired and sore, and he was feeling decidedly glum. bee “What’s the use?” he said after ten minutes’ efercise. “We're in for it, so we might just as well float till we can see where -we are.” : Accordingly the oars were taken in and no more rowing was done. At that moment they were nearly five miles south of Long Island, and getting further out to sea every minute, They talked together for an hour longer and then they __ began to grow sleepy. Tom dropped off first, then Mat followed his example, and finally Jack, — having no-one to speak to, commenced to doze. — And while. they slept the boat continued to increase her distancé from the shores of their ~ native country, the fog gradually drifted away; and the wind began to blow a geritle breeze. Under a clear; star-lit sky, the flatboat floated softly upon the bosom of the mighty deep with were probably dreaming 6f home at that moment while Jack’s ‘slumber. was disturbed ‘with dis- — geting visions in which Jim” Crowe: largely. fig- urec BS om PR ere ae * CHAPTER IX. = Shipwrecked, Whew the, first rays of the rising sun seuss Jack in the face he awoke with as ‘start,’ rv bed his eyes and looked around him. He saw nothing but an unlimited stretch of water in. whatever “Where in thunder have we: got 02” ha asked himself, thoroughly bewildered by ‘the situatio: At that. moment Mat awoke, and in stirring his legs he kicked Tom, and he awéke also. They, too, looked around and saw the i picture Jack was surveying. “Great jawbones! What does this mean? 19” gasped. Mat. “Suffering sixpence! Where are we?” palpi ated Tom : BY that time Jak k had realized their terr: plight, : : Tom. : Ba os ‘i “T give it up,” spentied Jack, feeling 7 be hue. acne you see the Long Island coast 2” asked at. ; “No, I can’t see anything put water ¢ “Gee! But we're in a fine fix BO sai “With nothing to eat or drink we'll death pretty soon.” oF. There were three sandwiches left in the ham per, and the boys each ate one. They had nothin to wash them down with, and as z y apace they became quite~ ‘thirsty. They saw se eral sails pass in the distance, and about eleve come near enough to observe the little floating like a speck on the surface of the ocean So time passed away, afternoon came _ boys became. ‘ravenously hungry. They

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‘couraged, too, and lolled about the boat as if they didn’t care whether school kept or. not. + to go adrift. After the lapse of an hour Jack sat up and looked» around. He gave a shout that attracted the attention. of his companions. A large schoon- er was bearing down upon them. In about half an hour the schooner was close to them and they “were sighted as they rowed toward her. They “were received aboard and the, boat’ was allowed : Jack, acting as spokesman, told ‘their story of how they got lost in the fog on Great South Bay the previous night, and how - they found themselves at sea that morning, with 55 Cuba. ohly three sandwiches between them and starva- tion. They learned that the schooner was a fruiterer, bound from New York to Santiago de The “captain said he’d have to carry them to Cuba, and if they would make themselves use- ful in helping to load the vessel at Santiago he. would be willing to bring them back to. New- York City, whence they could easily reach Blue- ville in a couple of hours. The cook got a meal - for them, and it tasted better than anything _ they’d ever eaten before—at least they. said it did. They boys turned in that night feeling like ‘fighting cocks, but as the weather changed for the worse during the night they awoke in the ‘morning dreadfully seasick. | _° They remained under ‘hatches several days as “miserable as three mortals could well be, for a ~ terrific gale was blowing, and the vessel pitched = ‘and rolled-in the’ heavy seas in a way that was very trying to them. On the sixth day the wea- ~ ther was, if anything, worse than ever, and they ey clanging noise on A didn’t show their-noses on deck, nor evince any interest whatever in life. They heard a strange, : deck, which went on for a time. - Finally a sailor came down into the contracted - forecastle where they were huddled together and ordered them on deck to help work the pump, as the schooner was leaking badly. They didn’t - feel much like doing this in their condition, but ‘there was no help for it, and on deck they had to go. The exercise hadfone advantage—it cured them of their illness, and they soon forgot that they had been seasick. They passed a tough night, about two-thirds of their-time being spent at the pump. The schooner only carried five ands, and three of these. were swept overboard y a giant wave before aylight, and so were Jost. Just at daylight, when the gale appeared to be breaking, a long, low island was discovered right ahead. At that critical moment the rudder was rendered useless by a heavy wave, and the schooner drifted on to the land. ~ Ten minutes later the vessel struck on a sub- ‘merged rock a short distance from the island, and all hands found themselves in the water fighting for their lives. The three boys seemed ‘to have the least “chance of escaping the swirling sea, and yet, as the sequel proved, they were the only ones that reached the shore alive. _ They were cast upon the beach, one by one, rolled over and over like pebbles, and finally left by the receding watér. There they lay un- onscious for some time, in the midst of the wreckage of the fruiterer. The clouds broke up ‘and fled before the beams of Mp montae sun, vhoge rays in time warmed the boys. back to He sat up in the sand and looked around him in “whose 3 me warmed t rs. be a igeege was the first to recover consciousness. } tatty A GOLDEN STAKE made for the grove. SS a ee te NY ge SA Bae She Er at On 13 ” a dazed way. Behind him,.and as far as he could see in either direction, was a dense mass of trop- ical vegetation, with heré and there groves of plantains, and many-single palms. In front of him was the surf lined shore, the tumultuous ocean, and the rising sun. On his right was the mo- tionless form of Tom Trimble, while on his left Mat Mulford lay. with face almost buried in the sand. Jack crawled to Mat and turned him over on his back. His first impression was that Mul- ford was dead, but he soon saw that he was not. Mat made several convulsive movements with his hands and feet, as though he thought he was in the water and was making an effort to swim, then he opened, his eyes. He stared up at Jack, recognized him and sat up. “Hello! Where are we, anyway?” “Washed ashore,” replied Jack. ~ . “Where’s Tom?” : E = “Yonder; but I don’t know whether he’s alive or dead. I’m going to see.” : As Jack spoke Tom moved, rolled over on his face, then on his back again, and finally scram- bled_on_ his feet. “Hi, Tom!” said Jack. “I see you're still in the land of living. Come over here.” ~~ : Tom walked over to his two friends. “Where’s’ the schooner?” he asked, across the agitated waves. ¥ eo “Gone to the bottom,” replied Jack. “There’s a spar belonging»to her coming ashore yonder.”. — “Where is the captain and the two men?” * “I'm afraid they’re gone, too.” “Are we the only ones who escaped?” “Looks very like it.” “Where do you Suppose we are?” “On some islond.” Fae ic “T hope it’s. inhabited,” said Tom, “so that we ean get something to eat. We haven’t had a » aboard the schooner.” “Let’s start ahead, then, and see if we-can find any of the inhabitants. We'll walk up on that ridge- where those palms are growing. Perhaps. we'll be able to see something from there—a house, maybe.” « : Jack’s suggestion was adopted and the’ boys started for the ridge. It was a short walk and looking -square meal-since the afternoon we were takem they were soon standing among the scattered palms. The view they obtained was not particu- larly: enncouraging. They saw a sloping stretch of tropical vegetation running down to on the other side of the island. At the most the land was only about a quarter of a mile wide at that point. There wasn’t the least sign of human habitation anywhere within range of their — eyes. The island. seemed to be long and narrow, pointing east .and west. Dense foliage cut off_ their view westward, and a‘gfove of trees inter-- cepted theiMiision in the opposite direction. “Looks to me as if the island were not inhabit- ed,” said Jack; “but, still, you can’t tell. There might be a village on the other side of that prove for all we know.” PG e ocean is 3 -“Then we'd better push through the grove,” * said Mat. “No good standing here. I hope we — find somebody, for it would be: fierce to be all — alone on this island.” —_. oo et ys Jack and Tom agreedswith him, and the party > fi e she ee pueNant e Oe he ay “They were within a few Ai i Ag

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x 14 yards of it when suddenly a young and pretty white girl came out from among the trees and faced them. CHAPTER X.—Companions in Misfortune. The meeting was clearly a surprise to both parties, particularly to the girl. She uttered an exclamation of astonishment and seemed about to retreat when Jack spoke: “Don’t run away, miss,” he said. “We’ve hast been shipwrecked on this island, and are about half-starved. Is there a village near by?” “Shipwrecked!” exclaimed the, girl, regarding hem now with great interest. “Yes, The schooner we were aboard was caught in a big storm and struck on some rocks out yonder this. morning before sunrise. We’re the only ones that! escaped.” “How unfortunate!” cried the girl, regarding the stalwart, good-looking Jack with some ad- miration. “Well, come with me. I'll take you to our dwelling ‘place where my father is. We’re the only ones on this island.” “The only ones—you and your father?” ejac- ulated Jack. “Yes. Our sloop-yacht was driven gabdae here in a terrible gale about three ménths ago, and we've been living here ever since.” “You don’t say. And you hayen’t been able to away? “No, We've only seen a few vessels in that time, and they were too far away for us to signal.” “How have you managed to live?” asked Jack, curiously. “By the most wonderful luck our vessel was driven high and dry on the sandy shore and did not go to pieces. We're living aboard of her, and’ have provisions enough to last us some time. Besides, we find plenty of shellfish among the rocks. Father also has no difficulty catching fish from the end of a reef of rocks. Then there’s lots of plantains, cocdanuts\and_ some bananas on the island, as well as a spring’ of fresh water. There is no danger of any one starving in this place. We could have managed to get along even ‘without our own provisions.” “I’m glad to hear that,” interjected Mat. “We haven’t bad but one decent meal in three days. We were seasick till yesterday afternoon, when we were made to go on deck and work the pump because the schooner was leaking. Now I’m so hungry I believe I could eat a raw fish, and I guess Tom and Jack here feel the same way.” “You can bet your lifé I do,” said Tom. “I could eat anything.” # “You shall breakfast with us,” aid the girl. “Father was making the fire in Whe cookstove when I came over to the spring in this grove for a pail of water. I was on my way to the banana grove at the other €nd of the island when I saw you boys. I was so surprised I didn’t know what to-do. We won’t mind the bananas now, for we have plenty of . other food weatbot them. Here is the spring.” “She took up the pail to dip it in the bubbling hae when Jaek interposed. | “Allow me, miss. Vil carry the water for you,” A GOLDEN STAKE eS “Thank you,” she replied, with a smile. “But, dear me, you haven’t told me your names.” “My name is Jack Dalton. This is my friend, Mat Mulford, and this is Tom Trimble. Now will you tell us your name, miss?” “Hva White. You three don’t look at all like sailors.” " “We're not. We belong in the village of Blue-- ville, Long Tsland. It was all owing to a fog that caught us in a boat on Great South Bay,’ several nights ago, that we’re in our present un- — fortunate pickle. I’ll tell you our story after we | have had something to eat.” “Father and I will be glad to hear it, Since it was your fate to be wrecked, I’m glad you came ashore on this island, for you'll be company for us until we’re all taken off. You don’t know how lonely we have been—just our two seri So F we were wrecked here.” e “We're mig glad to find somebody on the island, too,” said Jack. “But what became of the. crew of the yacht? Were they lost?” F “Yes. We had,a sailing-master, a cook i one | sailor. They were on deck when our yacht struck the beach. Father and I were in the cabin. Fa- se ther went on deck after the yacht came ashore, and then there wasn’t a soul aboard but he and I. He told me that they must have been washed off by a big wave and: drowned.” te They now emerged on the other side of the . grove. Right before them, well up on the beach, ty _ with her bowsprit and bows jammed between two stout cocoanut trees, which held her on an even a keel with a vise-like grip, was a graceful lookin c sloop-yacht, about thirty-five feet long. She ha *a good-sized trunk cabin, a cook-room, AB ede held two bunks, besides a stove, forward,.and q@ standing-room, or cockpit, aft. A short stove-— pipe projected from the roof of the cookroom, and at this moment smoke was issuing from it. “Father,” cried the girl, as she stepped on the © deck, after “ascending a; rude four-runged ladder with the boys behind her, “I’ve brought some : visitors.” ; "ess Almost instantly the head of a fine-looking man, evidently a gentleman, popped up through — the entrance to the cook-room, and he gazed baits astonishment at the three boys. “Why, where did they come from? Is there a vessel]. anchored off the island?” he added eag' oe ; for he would haye gladly welcomed the’ prospec of release from the island prison. “They were wrecked on‘the northern shore of cate the island this morning,” replied his daughter. =aeiel “Indeed,” replied the cee surveying, them with interest. # “ “They ware the only survivors of a. schooner io from the United States, This is Jack Dalton,” she added, laying her hand on Jack’s arm. * — “Happy to make your acquaintance, young man,” said Mr. White, stepping up the two stairs that led down into the galley and extending his — hand, which: Jack took. Jack then introduced hig; companions. “T will have preakfast ‘for you right away,” % said Eva White, taking up the pail of water Jae’ 7 had deposited on deck and disappearing with i ms into the cook-room. eee “We are companions in misfortune,” said. Mr. White, smiling. “This yacht of mine was driven ashore here ‘three months FRO. a me sin 1 ze

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A GOLDEN STAKE my daughter and myself have been living aboard of her like a pair of hermits. We are very thank- - ful to have fared as well as we have under the circumstances. Had the yacht struck on the reef “pieces, and we would have ‘shared the fate of -our sailing master and the. two hands. As it is, she selécted a very sung berth to beach herself, and was so good as to jam herself into an up- - right position, as you see. I believe if she could * be hauled off she’d be as good as eyer, for she’s “a stout boat, and there are four airtight com- partments in her hold that would prevent her from sinking even if she capsized at sea. What — ‘was the name of your schooner, and where @ere you bound?” “The: schooner was called the Ellen Lane, sir,” feplied Jack“ “She was a fruiterer hailing from ~ New York and bound for Santiago de Cuba.” “And you boys are the only survivors?” “Yes, sir.” . “You hardly look like young sailors. Perhaps = you were passengers?” , “We were, sir, but against our wills.” . “Passengers against your wills?” ejaculated -- Mr. White, in some surprise. “Yes, sir. We were carried out of Great South . Bay, Long Island, in a small boat several nights ago in a fog. Next morning we found ourselves t sea out of sight of land. We were picked up yy the schooner in the afternoon. That night a “storm came on which lasted two days and three nights, and it finished the vessel this morning off this island.” : - "You’ve been the victims of «quite a chapter of accidents. Where do you belong?” “fp the village of Blueville, Long Island.” - “You were out sailboating on the bay, I pre- sume 5 ae ° road between Blueville and the railroad station -by a rascally. sailor.” ; “Carried off by a rascally sailor!” Mr. White astonished. “At least 1 was carried off by the sailor, who had a grudge against me. My chums here tried exclaimed ‘on board his sloop. He carried us across the pay, landed us on an island near the south 3 hore, and left us marooned there. We found a - boat along the beach, took possession of it and _ started to row. across to the north shore. We ad hardly started when the fog set in around us and we lost our bearings. We rowed for several jours, and not fetching the shore gave it up till the fog should lift. We fell asleep-in the boat, and when we awoke we were out in the Atlantic, is I have already told you.” ¢ te ~ “Upon my word, you lads have had a. most ‘remarkable series of adventures. I’m afraid the Joss of your schooner was the worst of all, for ‘you are now ashore on an island that-I fear is seldom visited. We are all likely to remain here % te not likely to suffer for food and water while we are fated to stay here. That, at least. is some consolation. In the meantime, the worst fe ture in your case is that your parents will rey will hunt’ for you In vain, and in the end, eae F ‘younder she would undoubtedly have gone to’ “No, sir. We were carried off from the county, to save me and were knocked out by the rascal . me time. Perhaps for months. Fortunately, we — eat ala no idea where you~ boys. have vanished to. -your stay is prolonged, will give you up for 15 dead. However, it will all come out right by and by. You will, of course, remain my guests dur- ing our stay here, and when we shall have been rescued I will see that you get back to your own homes.” “We are very much obliged to you, Mr. White,” said Jack, “and shall appreciate your hospitality. You are the owner of this yacht, I think?” “Yes, My daughter and myself, with a sailing master and two hands, haye been cruising among’ the Bahama Islands all winter. We had just started for New York, where our home is, when this misfortune happened to us.” , — Mr. White said that Jack could occupy - the sailing” master’s stateroom in the cabin, while Tom and Mat-would no doubt be’ contented to berth in the galley where there were two bunks. . Any arrangement at all was satisfactory to the boys, and as Mr. White was about to show them into the cabin, Miss Eva appeared up the galley steps with a smoking dish of fish in one ~ hand, and another of fried potatoes in the other. The appetizing smell of the food made the boys’ mouths water. 2 ; ; “Will one of you boys_go into the galley and bring the coffee pot?” asked the girl as she passed them on her way to the cabin, where the > table was already set for two. “T'll get it, Miss Eva,” said Jack, with alacrity. He disappeared into the cook room in two bounds. Mr. White piloted Tom and Mat into the cabin, where Eva was placing three more plates around the board, with the requisite number of knives, forks, spoons, cups, and saucers. She cut up a loaf of bread she had made herself, and supplemented it with a dish of soda crackers and some plantains. By the time she had things to rights, Jack ‘appeared with the hot coffee. The yacht owner helped the boys to liberal supplies of fish and potatoes, while Eva poured the coffee. “Pm sorry to say that we haven’t any butter,” said Mr. White, as he passed the bread around. “We had a good supply aboard when we were / wrecked, but it only lasted us three weeks, al- though we managed to keep it fresh by sinking it in the spring of the grove.” “We can get along without butter,” said Jack, who sat next to Eva, with his mouth full of fish. “This breakfast is a regular feast. I never tasted anything so good in all my life. Isn’t that a fact, ' Mat?” : vik \ . “Bet your life it is,” mmumbied Mat, who was filling up at a great rate in common with his associates. ; : é Eva had cooked a liberal supply, knowing that the b6ys were famished, so there was enough for all, though there was nothing left. but the benes when the meal was finished. The boys in- sisted on making themselves useful to the ‘ex- ‘tent of clearing off the table"and washing. up the dishes, under the supervision of Miss Eva, who laughingly declared that it was quite a treat to have three such active assistants at her disposal. CHAPTER XI—Was This the Treasure Key? _ After everyihing was cleared up Jack proposed ‘that the four of them take a walk around the iS island, ; ae See eS: = 5 ce ae

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16 | “You'll need hats,” said Miss Eva. “There’s a couple in the cooking room that belonged to the cook and the seaman. I'll see if I can get another from the’ cabin. - She got a soft hat that formerly belonged to the sailing master, and it fitted Jack exactly. The other two were white canvas covered ones, similar to those worn by the naval reserves, and by putting strips of paper in the lining they were made to fit the heads of Tom and Mat. The party then set out for their walk: The boys soon found that the sun was un- commonly hot in that region, and it wasn’t long before they were glad to suggest a temporary retirement under the trees. While they were sit- ting down in the shade Jack told Eva the story of their adventure from the moment they were waylaid by Jim Crowe at the bridge on _ their way to, the village from the railroad station to the wreck of the schooner off the island that morning. “You boys have had an exciting time of it,” said the girl. “You can gamble on it we have,” said Mat, in . @ vigorous way. “If anybody. had told\me last Tuesday that in less than a week I’d be down on an island in the Caribbean Sea, I’d have thought he was crazy. Yet here I am down here several days later.” “And likely to stay here for a while to come,” grinned Jack. “That’s the fiercest part of it,” admitted Mat. _ “Tf vessels never put in here how are we going to _ get away at all?” “We must keep a sharp lookout for any craft that approaches near enough to see a signal and then build a fire, and by covering it with wet leaves send up a column: of smoke to attract at- tention,” said Jack. “Those aboard might not mo any attention to such a signal,” interjected T “We'll have to take our, sativeinds on it.” “What’s the matter with our trying to get the yacht afloat again?” suggested Mat, as though he thought he had originated a brilliant idea. “It would be fine if we could do it, but there’s no way of getting around it’that I can see,” re- plied Jack. “It would take considerable power to dislodge her from her present position and then push or haul- her into the water. If we -ean’t: get ‘away..%ithout floating her, we'll stay here till our hair turns gray. Come, let’s go on. It will be pleasanter to keep in the shade of the grove as far as it goes.” / They continued their walk westward’ across the island. They took another rest in the banana grove, and ate some of the luscious fruit, When they left this grove they saw the end of the is- land and the oceanga short distance away. There were several large rocks between them and the beach. There was one in particular that attracted Jack’s notice, for it looked like a huge~mound. He walked around the three sides that were not obstructed by the rocks, and studied it with + so much care that Tom and Mat’ asked him what there was about it that interested him. “It puts me in mind of something,” replied ' Jack, thinking of the mound on the treasure island as recorded on the chart taken from him iby Jim Crowe. “This island runs due east and | west, judging from the course of the sun.” ena A GOLDEN STAKE ¢ fe That’s what it does,” replied Mat. “Do you think this island is one of the Baha-~ ~ mas, Miss Bva;” said Jack, turning to the girl — “Yes. It’s what father calls a little ke 8 “Little key, eh?” said Jack reflectively. > “Ts ey there any big island not far away?” ete “Oh, yes. Watling’s Island is about ten or — fifteen miles to the south. We put in there for a few hours on the afternoon of the day we ss went ashore here. We left there about sundown and stood north. This key is not down on our chart. Probably that’s the reason our sailing master did not give it a wide berth as he would. hav done, I am sure, if se knew it was in our path. , When they returned to! the yacht jack asked Mr. White if he had a chart of the- Mai Sea aboard. rt “Certainly. We wouldn’t think of sailing around aH among the islands without it.” ; “May I see it?” 3 “Of course. Come into the cabin and T’ll spread it out on the table.” : “Where is Watling’s Island?” asked Jack, as soon as the chart was before him. . Mr. White pointed at it and then said: On “The island we’re on is right here,” and he_ ‘ pointed to a small pencil mark on the chart. “How can you tell that it’s here?” said sacle “Your daughter told me that it was not down on this chart, and that was the reason why the sail- ing master did not give it a wide enough berth, because he didn’t know it was in the way.” “It was not down on the chart until I put | that little mark there to designate its presence,” . plied Mr. White, “and my daughter was ‘sieht in saying that Mr. Jay, our sailing master, did not know that there was an island about twelve miles northeast,of Watling’s. Now I will ere ca your question as to how I know the island is 7 where I placed it. Mr. Jay showed me how to find ES the position of the yacht any day at noon when the sun was shining by taking a sight with the - quadrant, and making the proper calculations af- terward. Well, a few days after we were wreck oe on this key it occurred to me to locate its’ Om * sition just as if it was the yacht. I took my hear ings at noon, made my calculations, and diseov- ered that this island was practically in longitude | 74 degrees, 16 minutes west, and latitude degrees, 30 minutes north. You see I have ate it on the chart. That makes " it just about 12 miles northeast of Watling’s.” \ i Jack took the copy he had made of the chart on the night Captain Norris was murderously — assaulted py Jim ‘Crow&from his pocket and — examined it. He found that while there was a difference of three degrees in the longitude and é one degree in the latitude, the minutes f sponded in both cases with the figures. he had had taken down from the chart ; «“What~-would be the distarica in miles between Be; longitude 71 and: 74, Mr. White?” asked Jack. “About 200.” ; “That would be in a horizontal line, 4 course? Pts course.” were z ae ae é ow, suppose the line was at an bi ‘say from Grand Caicos to. Watling’s. Island, W would be the distance miles?” ~ “You want A the. distance in a

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A GOLDEN STAKE line from Grand Caicos to Watling’s, is that it?” “Yes, sir.” ‘ ; Mr. White made sundry calculations; and then Said: “About 250. miles.” “About 250 miles,” repeated the boy, his heart beginning to beat quickly. : Jim Crowe had remarked, when he pointed to the faint outlines of writing which the applica- tion of heat had produced on the blank side of the chart, that the treasure island was not near Grand Caicos at all, but near another island 250 miles or so from it. What if he and his com- panions had actually been wrecked on the trea- sure island? © ; 5 A Everything seemed to jibe with the writing on the chart except the important facts of the latitude and longitude, and the reference to the jsland of Grand Caicos. Suppose Grand Caicos ‘wag to be read Watling’s? The more he thought about it the more certain he became that this was the Little Key referred to in the chart. The jsland lay east and west as it should according to the chart. The mound was at the extreme western end as the chart indicated. Everything seemed to point to the conclusion that the boy might be now said to have arrived at. Jack look- | ed up and saw that Mr. White’s gaze rested on ‘his face inquiringly. He was evidently wonder- ing why the lad had asked the questions about * distances, and what reference they had to the paper in his hand. ; - “Tl may want to have a little talk with you, : sir, after dinner,” said Jack, as they walked on ' deck together. “It is connected with a story which J will relate—a story that directly concerns the old sea captain with whom I lived in Blueville, ~ and incidentally with myself.” 5 a “fT am at your service at any time, Dalton, replied Mr. White. “I shall be glad to listen to anything you may have to say to me.” “Thank you, sir. I think this is a very impor- ‘tant matter, and one that will rather astonish you. I must think it over well before I see you about it.” ‘ 2 ‘Miss Eva was just starting to prepare dinner, } with the assistance ef Mat Mulford and Tom Trimble. x . Jack, however, did not volunteer, as he would , eagerly have done under other circumstances, _-put left the yacht and entered the grove to con- ~~ sider without danger of interruption all the facts _ of the piratical treasure that he was now almost fully persuaded was concealed in the mound on the western end of that very island. r we a Treasure K ‘When dinner was on the table Mat and Tom looked around for Jack. “Where the dickens did he go?” asked Mat. “Blessed if I know,” replied Tom. Mat went to the stern of the yacht and yelled cout: * ey. _ He repeated the hail several times, and then e two boys saw their comrade coming toward e stranded vessel = fain grove. ay Nyse vine pig Wipes ate ape aay ae a ~ ‘oy fo CHAPTER XII—Jack Tells His Story of the ae it: oS . “Helloa, Jack!” Xs 17 \ “Where have you been, old man?” asked Mat. “Come aboard—dinner is ready.” ¥ ; Jack didn’t say where he had been. He came aboard and followed Mat and Tom into the ca-_ bin, where they found Eva and her father wait- . ing for them. When the.meal was finished Jack _ said he had a story to tell and there was no / reason why everyb present should not hear the particulars. After a moment or two Jack began: “Captain Norris possessed a chart, which he got from a dying sailor in Rio de Janeiro twelve years ago, which ‘purported to reveal the hiding place of a pirate treasure. Jim Crowe, the sailor who called at the store on the afternoon you two were there and saw the interview between him and the captain, knew that he had this chart, and it was to get it away from Captain Norris that he turned up in the village, called at the store and made his demand for it. The captain re- fused to give it up and Crowe went away, as you know. He returned later, as you know, climbed into Captain Norris’s bedroom from the outside and started to hunt for the chart. The captain and I were in the store at the time and we heard a suspicious noise upstairs. The cap- tain rushed up and I followed him. I reached his room after he was stabbed by the sailor. I . jumped. at the rascal, he tripped over the cap- tain’s body, fell up against the corner of the chimney, and rolled over unconscious.” “He did!” exclaimed Mat. “Why didn’t you secure him when you had such a fine chance to do it?” “Because I thought about nothing but the cap- tain. I tried to stanch the blood that was flowing from the wound in his side, and partially suc- ceeded. When Captain Norris regained his con- sciousness he made me get the chart, which he- had concealed in the chimney, because he said he wanted to know that it was in my hands before he died. As soon as I, got hold of the chart, the captain fajnted, and 1 started off at once™for — the doctor. You remember I found you alone in © the store, Tom, and you asked me why I was. so excited,” said Jack. ; “That’s right,” nodded Tom. “I asked you what was the matter, and you replied‘that murder was Lo matter, and your answer kind of knocked me silly. ‘ “Well,” went on Jack, “the sailor returned that night after you and Mat left the store.” “So you told me,” said Tom. “After you twe left I went up to my room, took the chart out of my pocket and began to study it out. I succeeded all right after a time, \and finally I made a free copy of, it. nas “At that moment I heard a noise at the win- dow. I looked and saw the face of Jim Crowe at one of the panes. He had been long enough there. to discover that the chart was in my possession, * and he’ determined to get it away from me.” _Jack then went on to tell what occurred imme- _ diately after, and how the affair terminated in the discomfiture of their sailor. : ‘ He proceeded, to tell without further interrup- tion how the sailor had evidently seen them 9o- ing to the station for the mail-pouch, and how — he laid his plans to get him (Jack) in his power — when they returned along the road. ea ; a a Vive: * ~ IF ot Rr

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18 ae “It is doubtful whether he would have succeed- ed, with you two to help me, if we hadn’t been delayed so long at the station ‘that it was dark when we reached the bridge near which he had his sloop moored. We couldn’t see the rope, which you told me was stretched across the end of ; the bridge. and so we bumped against it, and in the confusion that ensued the rascal got me into his clutches and carried me aboard his vessel. You fellows, hearing my cries for help, followed and got into troubles As you know we were car- ried across the bay, and left on that island, while Crowe sailed off to part unknown. You don’t know, however, what. took place in the cabin ‘between the villain and myself,” and Jack told all the particulars. When he explained how the visible writing on the chart was misleading in its most. important point, that the true Jatitude and longitude of the treasure key was inscribed on the reverse side in invisible ink, which could be brought out only by the application of heat, his hearers were, astonished, “Then the copy you made-was no good,” said Tom. “ “Not on its face, but I think it will turn up a _ winner after all.” ~ *“How?” dsked Mat. “Because by the most astonishing good luck _ Iam satisfied that this little key on which we were wrecked is the treasure island.” 3 Tom and Mat gasped again. “Before I go any further I will read you the copy I made of the chart,” said Jack. ; He took it from his pocket and read it, altering we the last sentence to “dig one fathom, northward,” instead of one foot. “The Jatitude and longitude as given here _-ywould no doubt be correct for an island twelve ' miles northeast of Grand Caicos, which is 250. miles southeast of this key,” said Jaek. “ The treasure key is not there, however. The writing ‘was made purposely misleading by the man who -wrote it, who put the true directions intsympa- ‘thetic ink on the reverse side. Captain Norris made two vain attempts to find the island. in the neighborhood of Grand Caicos. Had it been there he would. no doubt have loeated it.” ~~ tion to the fact of a large mound being on this ‘key, he believed this to be the treasure island. - * &T move that we start for the west end of the ’ island right away and investigate that mound,” ‘suggested Tom ~ “Second the. motion, ” cried Mat with alacrity. “Pm in favor of it,” said Jack, ‘If Mr. White ean supply us with implements with which to break into the mound. “J ean furnish you with a spade fad: a pickaxe,” - replied the yacht owner, “The latter will prob- ably. be the most servicable for making an im- i" pression on the mound. Did you notice what it “was made of? “Tt appeared to be like the rocks that were near it, very hard, six.” - “You didn’t see any sign of an entrance to it, I should judge, or you would have been sa- ‘isfied beyond all doubt that it was the mound eferred to in the chart. you spoke of.”” as A GOLDEN STAKE Jack then proceeded to explain why, in addi-~ “No sir; there is no sign whatever of a door.” : > © “If the entrance really faces east, about mid- way of the mound, you will, of course, direct your energies at.that point?” Ves; sire The entire party adjourned to the deck. Mr: White told Jack where he would find the shovel and pickaxe, and the boy got them. CHAPTER XIH.—A Gallant Rescue. The young people were so excited over the prospect of a genuine pirate treasure hunt that they would have overheated themselves in their eagerness to reach the mound if Mr. White chad) not curbed their impatience. fe. “J hope we'll be able to pet this treasure be- _ fore Jim Crowe comes here,” said Jack. “He will no doubt bring one or more companions with , him, and there is liable to be trouble ‘if he catches us on the ground.” as “There'll be trouble anyway,” said Mat. “If ~ he comes too late and finds the mound broken — into, and the treasure gone, he’ll be in a mighty humor. He’s sure to discover us on board the — stranded. yacht, and the moment he pipes you off, Jack, he’ll know where to look for the gold. Then there’ll be something doing, I’m afraid.” “T have two excellent rifles and a brace of re- _Yolvers on board,” said Mr. White. “I dare say *we'll be able to give them a warm, reception rs they seek to molest us.” - “That’s fine,” replied Jack. might be up against a good deal of trouble trying to defend the treasure if we found it. Since you ~ have such a supply of weapons I guess we'll be _able to take care of ourselves.” In due time they reached the western end of the island and the mound was before them. = “I took that simply for an unusually large-— sized rock,” said Mr. White. “I noticed it when I first made, ithe round of the island. So that’s - your mound?” “IT am in hopes that it is,” replied Jack. “fhis is about where we ought to begin operations,” and he pointed at what appeared to be the cen- ter of the eastern face of the mound. “Give me Mfg the pickaxe, Tom. _ I'll start the ball rolling.” — The point of the pickaxe rebounded as— from ARERR solid rock. Jack worked away for five minutes, “T was afraid we when he desistéd with the perspiration down his cheeks. Mat then took a turn and after him Tom had his innings. The sum total of their united _ efforts seemed to indicate that the mound was? merely a big rock after all. They dug into the rock over a space a yard square and nothing came of it. Mat ‘then declared he had had plen-_ ty for that day at least, and Tom said ditto. es Jack reluctantily agreed to knock off. operations | its until the following morning. They left their tools on the groundeand returned to the yacht. The © evening. was spent on deck in general GonYSrar tion, under a brilliant sky. About nine the moon rose above the watery, ho- rizon presenting a lovely picture. When Mr. — » White suggested that it was time to retire Dva ’ declared that she did not feel the least bit sleepy and suggested to the boys a walk. She seized Jack’s arm, as if he were her. special pro’ <3 and got went off together, mi and | Tom ft Pa eae

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A GOLDEN STAKE lowing behind. The sea was comparatively calm, but the water ebbed and flowed about the reef, which ran out for quite a distance from the east- ern end of the island near where the yacht was ’ strarfded. It was not easy walking across these rocks, and some of them were slippery from the ' slime and seaweed, but for all that Eva in- sisted on going out on them, and took the lead at that. Jack followed close behind her, admir- ing the graceful way she sprang from rock to rock where the water flowed between. Finally they reached the extreme end and stood there for some time in a group admiring the beauties _of the night and the glorious moon kissed sea. While they were there the tide was rising and when they started to return they found some of the rocks covered that had been bare before. This fact would not have seriously embarrassed them if Eva had been a little less gay and looked where she was going. “Yll race you boys back,” she said, with a saucy toss of her head. “No, Miss Eva,” objected Jack, “I wouldn’t ds vise you to try. it. It’s too dangerous fun for a. you.” -~ “Gatch me,” she cried suddenly, darting for- ward like a fawn. “Hold on!” shouted Jack, starting after her. “You're liable to slip!” _ She stepped on a slimy rock, and the moment her weight rested on that foot she slid like a shot into the sea and was borne off by the undertow. ie uttered a shriek as she went down. - “Great Scott!” exclaimed Jack, seeing her dis- appear like a stage demon through a4 trap, and - he prepared to spring after her. She came up _. yards away, -and a swirl of the incoming tide bore her out from the reef. Jack threw off his hat and jacket and springing into the sea struck - out vigorously for the imperilled girl. Her fa- - ther who was not yet. asleep, heard her shriek, and sprang from his berth and rushed on deck. Not seing his daughter, and observing that two of the boys stood midway off the reef much ex- _ cited, while the third was swimming out to sea, _ Mr. White divined at one that his child was in “grave peril, and he rushed anxiously ‘toward the reef. ‘When Eva camé up again Jack was not far from her. She made no outery this time, for ‘she was partly unconscious. As she started to ‘sink for the third time, Jack, by an extra effort, i ‘succeeded in gtasping her so that she couldn’t - seize ‘him in the frantic struggle she immediately ; made. He let her exhaust herself, acid then spoke to her yeassuringly as he supported her head well above the water. In this way. he succeeded in ~_ealming: her. “Thats right, don’t struggle, I'll save you if you giye'me the chance to do so.” ‘s She didn’t make another struggle after that, but let her head rest against his. He struck out for the bench, touching bottom within a dozen yards of the shore and leading the dripping girl ine yest of the way. Her father, with Mat and Tom, were on hand when they arrived. The two boys had already epletied to Mr. White how the accident occurred. T girl to his breast and kissed her. - She > his ony Sete ioe wife was dead, considerable industry for an hour he yacht owner pressed the © 19 so he did not think of » chiding her for her foolishness but was only jtoo glad to have her restored to him unharmed: Grasping Jack’s hand she pressed it to her lips. “T shall never forget _how good you were to come to my rescue,” she said earnestly. “I shall be grateful to you as long as I live.” “That’s all right,” replied Jack. “You don’t suppose that I was going to let you drown when I can swim like a duck.” Mr. White then thanked the boy in feeling terms, and assured him that he would make it all right with him some day. The party then went aboard for the night. / CHAPTER XIV. _Finding the Treasure and an. Unpleasant Surprise Eva ‘turned out next morning as: bright and chipper as if nothing had happened to her thé night before. After breakfast was over and the things cleared up, Eva and the three boys started for the western end of the island to resume their treasure hunt. This time Jack carried the yaght’s compass. When they reached the mound he placed it on the ground and looked to see how east point- ed with reference to the rock. The result’ of his, inspection caused him to take the pick and begin” at a new spot, not far from where their first efforts were directed. ‘The boys worked with before they achieved any encouraging result. Then Jack op- ened up a crack with the pick and following it along it presently developed that a stone slab had been inserted in the rock. “That settles it,” said Jack joyously. “This is the mound all: right.” _ They worked away with renewed industry, and in the course of half an hour, in spite of the a under Be they sweltered, they ‘succeeded in dislodging the slab, which they ‘moved to one side, disclosing an opening, like the porthole of a ship, on a level with the ground. Looking inside the boys saw that the interior of the mound was about four feet lower than the ground outside The honor of being the first to enter the treasure hole was accorded to Jack, as he was the head and front of the enterprise. Tom followed him. “The directions are to dig one fathom, or six feet, northwest from the entrance,” said Jack. He asked- Eva, who was standing at the en- trance looking i in, to pass him the compass. With the instrument in his arms he measured off six feet at a rough guess, which brought, him close, to the back of the mound. Then he called for the shovel and began to dig, Tom and Mat getting outside in order to give him room to work. After going down three feet he struck something hard that rang under the blow of the shovel. Clearing, away the loose earth Jack saw that the obstruc- tion was a brass-bound box. “That’s the treasure,” he muttered, excitedly. “This~is where Jim Crowe gets left. Once we manage to transport it aboard of the yacht} Ill wager he’ll have a mighty slim chance of ‘ever = seeing any of it.” ~ ; He told Mat.to hand him the hammer and the cold chisel. As soon as he got them he started in to pica open the cover of the brass-bound Does sd a a st oF

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ingly down at the tray of money. 20. In the meantime a surprise was under way for the young treasure hunters. nnoticed by them a small sloop had been approaching the island and was now close in shore. There were two men aboard of her—one sitting at the helm, the other standing on the deck with one hand around the mast.- The mound and rocks hid the boys and what was going on from them. It took Jack about a quarter of an hour to break open the cover of the chest. When he threw it up his eyes awere dazzled by the sight of the stacks of gold - money which the top tray of the chest contained. - He lifted this tray up. after considerable effort, by the aid of its two handles, and saw that there waS a Sim#r one underneath equally well filled with gold. ‘As Jack lifted the first box of coin out of the opening, two forms suddenly appeared over the rocks behind him. Tom and Mat recognized the piratical-looking Jim Crowe in the lead, and sprang forward to defend the treasure. The sailor Crowe was clearly staggered, and he paused on the top of the rock, glaring down at the boys as though he couldn’t believe his eyes. He sprang - down and reached for the tray of gold. Mat swung the flat side of the pick around and struck him-a blow on the head that laid him out senseless on the ground. : . The ‘villain’s companion held back undecided “what to do under the circumstances. The resolute attitude of the boys, especially as Jack had reached out and drawn. Crowe’s revolver from his belt, deterred him from taking the offensive. ‘At that moment, too, Mr. White and Eva ap- peared on the scene, Astonished spectators of the incident, “Tie that raseal’s hands, fellows,” said Jack. “T_ won’t do to let him go now that we've got him in our power.” = : “What'll we tie-him with?” asked Mat. _ “Use your handkerchiefs for the present. When we get him to the yacht we'll substitute rope.” Tom and Mat quickly followed® out Jack’s di- rections, and they took care to make the knots good and fast. ; “J say, what do you mean by treatin’ my com- panion that way for?” objected the sailor’s as- sociate. Jack sprang out of the mound and covered the fellow with the revolver. ; “Tf you don’t want the same-kind of treatment — just skip out the way you came. Do you under- -stand?” replied the boy in a determined tone, “No, I don’t,” answered the man, doggedly. “Crowe and me came all the way from New York - to get that treasure. It belongs to us, for “Crowe has the chart to it.” “4 “Crowe stole that chart from me. I got it from ‘a man who came into possession of it honestly - years ago. Consequently I am the rightful owner of this treasure, and neither you nor Jim Crowe ‘are entitled to a cent of this money.” —< ' The man made no reply, but cast his eyes long- - _*You’ve got a raft of gold there,” he said. “You might give a chap a small share. You'd -never miss it.” a Yes” “Where is the vessel?” —~ eae ’ you came here in a sloop?” fe ® “Pm not going to argué the matter with you, Ee ' A GOLDEN STAKE “Yonder,” replied the fellow, waving his arm back of him. pt et “Close to the shore?” : “About fifty feet out. We rowed to the beach in a small boat.” r t Hee “Well, come down here,” said Jack: = ARE “Are you goin’ to make me a prisoner like you did him?” asked the man,’ suspiciously. “Come down off that rock, do you hear?” The fellow hesitated. rire “T’ve got no time to fool with you. If you — don’t want to try and dodge a bullet you'll do as - I say, and be mighty spry_ about it.” j x Jack spoke in a tone that showed he meant business, so the man reluctantly obeyed. ~~ “Here’s my handkerchief, Mat,” said Jack, ~ tossing the article to him. “Tie that fellows « hands behind him.” ~ : ee The man submitted to the operation with very bad grace. es “Now sit down under that tree yonder,” Said — Jack. ule. Pais: . The prisoner walked.to'the spot indicated and, sat down. Se _“Tom, you and Mat haul Jim Crowe over be- side His friend.” eh This was done. ; egrets “Tom, take this revolver and stand guard over that pair of: rascals.” eS Tom took the weapon and proceeded out his instructions. Ps a Ee _ “Now, Mr. White, will you please come with me? You can come, too, Eva.” BSL _ The three walked down to the beach and around the mound till they came in sight of the sloop, — which was anchored a short distance off shore. Now, Mr. White, you are something of a navigator, I think. Don’t you think ‘you can fetch - Watling’s Island, twelve miles to thé southwest, in that sloop?” : : Se a A seg ee Sounhet oe SORT a, hs ery good. You have no objection to leaving the island, I guess?”* 2 ee s erage _ “My daughter and I will be glad to do so.” -“That’s what I thought. And the three of us will be glad to get back to the United States as soon aS we can. We'll load the treasure aboard~ of the sloop, take whatever me may need for the trip to Watling’s Island, and leave these two men here marooned till they can be sent for by the authorities at Watling’s, where I propose to mak a charge against Jim Crowe. How does that pla: suit you?” ; as Bee tes “It is what I would have proposed elf replied Mr. White, ie ee i mayeeter “You can engage a steamer to come over here and drag your yacht off the island. Whatever repairs she may stand in need of no doubt can be made at Watling’s Island. Then I dare say you'll be able to engage a sailing-master there Tom, Mat and myself will with your permissio act as your crew. Though we aré not “sailors, we can make ourselves useful under any one who is competent to navigate the yacht ‘to. the: United. States. Have you any objection to th arrangément, sir?” Nagai es rates = a: “None whatever. I may say it is exactly White. — Ria we Sir to carry Ww. Cite eee

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A GOLDEN Sake wom - gest then that Eva returns to the yacht and gets : dinner ready for us while we are getting the ‘yest of the treasure out of the mound and con- .a Then we'll be-able to leave the island soon after we have veyine our find on board the sloop. had our meal.” 2 Eva said. she would go at once and get the dinner readv. and the three then-returned to the _ent¥ance of the mound, where they found Mat trying to estimate the value of the gold in the ~ tray. if Conclusion. - Mr. White examined the coins and pronounced ‘them Spanish money over 100 years old. ~“Fheré’s a whole lot more in a chest in the | “We'll take this lot aboard Mat, you go baek to the yacht ' with Miss Eva, and bring some line to tie those “White,” “rascals with so they won’t break loose and give In fact, Tom had better go with you, “and help you bring those empty boxes I saw in _ the pantry, Dont forget to fetch a pocketful of. - mound,” said Jack. the: sloop first. _ us trouble. A nails, too.” watched over the prisoners.. : rope and the boxes. _to back against the cocoanut tree, he was fifrious. of considerable value selves. easily be considered worth half a million. yacht owner congratul fea. achieved. a You’ re a rich hoy. » he said, with a smile. > “J don’t know about that, sir,” tain Norris. ; titled to half of it.” ~ “Nonsense!” answered Mr. White. nd ion ae you" ‘6: Mase ee ogee ae ee CHAPTER XV.—The Treasure of the Indies— While the boys were away Jack and Mr. White ae dim Crowe remained -insensible until Tom and Mat got back with the Both men were lashed back “When Crowe _ recovered his senses and found himself helpless, Now that several boxes were at hand, Jack decided to bring all the treasure out béfore-removing any of it aboard the sloop. ‘Thére proved to be four trays of ¢oin all told, and Mr. White roughly estimated its yalue at over $100, 000. The bottom of the chest, however, contained a collection of jeweled watches, rings beauty, diamond and other jeweled ornaments once worn by ladies of wealth, necklaces, gold snuff and tobacco boxes, and other articles of more or less intrinsig worth, whose combined value, Mr. White said, might be anywhere from a quarter to half a million, for many of the diamonds and- rubies were of large . size, and worth thousands of ‘dollars apiece them- At any rate, the whole treasure sie oie e ted Jack on the results he replied Jack. I think this treasure by rights belongs to Cap- Or, at least, he ought to be en-. “The chart ‘the yacht. to this treasure, according to your own statement, uns given to you by the eaptain with the under- standing that you were to benefit by it if you fever were so fortunate as to be able to locate the _ island to which it referred. Now, as things turned Providence, about’ 250 miles:to the west, in ordev AY “out, that chart was’ whglly useless.as a guide, yecause the information legible to the eye was misleading. Therefore, it was useless to the cap- abe or any one not aware»that the true direc- . tions. were inscribed in sympathetic ink_on its * back. Pure accident brought you to this ‘sland, White immediately boarded her and hada con- an own sagacity in making the correct de- J : 21 “That’s fue: sir; but if it adult ace for the chart I would not have suspected that there was a treasure on this island. While the chart didnt put me in the way of finding the island, it en- abled me to get on the scent of the treasure after I got here. In my opinion the captain is en= titled to a square half of the find after I have de- ducted a liberal allowance for Tom and Mat.’ “Well, Jack, vou are the arbiter in the matter. Tf you feel that you ought to divide with Cap- tain Norris, no one has any’ right to object to your doing so. As the ease stands the treasure is yours to do with as you choose.” “AN right, sir. Let’s box up as much of it as we can and stow it aboard of the sloop. I guess the balance can remain in the chest, which we can easily move: now.” Accordingly the four boxes were filled, nailed ‘up and removed to the sloop. Pet think we’d better get the anchor up at: sail around to the other end of the island, Mr. said Jack, after everything was on board. . “YT agree with you. I think, however, that the two raseals had better be put in the mound and — left there till we are ready to leave the island.” » The boys went ashore, dragged their prisoners into the mound and left them there after placing the slab partly over the entrance. They then re- turned aboard the sloop, hoisted the mainsail, and the little vessel carried them around to the other end of the island, where they anchored “and went ashore to eat dinner which Eva had ready by thisetime. “T don’t like the idea of leaving those two ras- eals at large atter we leave the island,” said Mr. White; “but as several days might elapse before we can return properly epeipuce to get the yacht sheath it would hardly. be right to leave them ie “Couldn't we place a week’s supply of pro- visions in the mound, release them and fix the »— * entrance so they couldn’t get out?” asked Jack. “We might do that,” replied the yacht owner, refiectively. Jack’s suggestion was finally adopted. Leaving Eva on the yacht the others carried — a good supply of the vessel’s stores, including a small-keg which they filled with, cool water at the spring, across the island. ‘They gathered Some plantain fruit and a big bunch of ripe ban- ~ anas also. The food was introduced into the mound and the two men released from their fet- ters, Jack holding Jim Crowe in subjection with - the revolver. ‘One end of the slab was broken off — so that air could enter the mound, and then it was fitted into place. The party then returned to. Selecting" what they wished to carry away with them, and taking it on board the oat Sail was made for Watling’s Island. Mr. White ‘expected that he would have to hir2 ‘a navigator to take the sloop to Nassau, in New to charter a small steamer to return to Treasure Key, as they called it, to get the yacht off. On ~ their arrival at Watling’s Island, however, they — found a good-sized steam yacht in the little har- . bor, with a party of English people on board. Mz. a ference with her owner. .His name was Sir John” _ Bl gine and he graciously. capsease tor Stent,

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22 « yacht afloat. Accordingly,-next morning the yacht steamed over in an hour, a hawser was made fast to the stern of Mr. White’s boat, and she was easily hauled out into deep water. She made consider- able water, as the heat had opened her seams, but the owner of the steam yacht sent a couple: of hands aboard ‘to pump her out on the way back, though it was impossible for her to sink owing to her airtight tanks. The yacht then steamed around to the western end of the island, where Jim Crowe and his associate were released from the mound and taken aboard the vessel. They were carefully watched all the way back to Watlineg’s Island. After thanking Sir John for his kindness, Mr. White, his daughter and Jack returned to the sloop-yacht, which was moored alongside of the black sloop. Mr. White’s boat was put in shape to proceed to the United States, and after the treasure was put aboard of her the sloop was disposed of at auction, a sailing-master secured and the yacht sailed from ‘Watling’s, bound north. Nothing of special interest» hap- pened during the four days’ trip to New York, except a futile attempt on the part of the two prisoners to break out of a narrow section of the hold where they were confined. Fania Jack and Eva found especial enjoyment in each other’s society, and were almost sorry when Sandy Hook lightship hove in sight, announcing that they were almost at their journey’s end. .As - 800on.as the yacht passéd quarantine and came to anchor near the Brooklyn shore, Tom and Mat were eager to get away for home, Jack deciding to accompany them, ag ie the treasure in charge of Eva’s father. They were landed and took a southshore train for the station near Blue- ville, the one where Jack had been accustomed to zo for the mail every day. : The station agent knew all about their sudden and unexplained disappearance two weeks. be- fore, and he gaped when he saw the three*boys get off the car. They were too eager to reach the yillage to stop and gratify his curiosity. There being no vehicle from Blueville at the station they had to hoof it, and they put their pest foot forward over the well-remembered road. _. When they reached the bridge. which had been BAe the scene of their trouble, and the beginning of their late adventures, they stopped to rest them- selves and look down at the spot where the rusty black sloop had been moored. All their recent experiences seemed like a dream to them as they stood there and talked the matter over. At last ; they reached the village and began to meet peo- ple they were acquainted with. Of course every one they met wanted to know where they -had + heen, but they wouldn’t. say a word on the sub- ject. Jack learned to hi8 great satisfaction that Captain Norris was almost well of his hurt, but was told that the captain was greatly worried _ over his disappearance, eA The three soon separated, Tom and Mat rush; ing off to their homes, and Jack to the store. - The captain was not yet able to be downstairs, and Jack found a man he knew in temporary eharge of the business. “Good gracious! That you; Jack?” eried the © man.:°; : Baye feet a , em v4 rf ’ ORS WE etal ay € a t ) = oot A GOLDEN STAKE = over to the little key and try to get Mr. White’s “Yes, it’s me, all right,” replied Jack, making a dash for the stairs. : “ie In two minutes he startled Captain Norris by rushing into the room and grasping the old skipper by the hand. ; “Jack,” cried the astonished captain, “where have you been?” “To the treasure island,” cried Jack, found the pirate gold.” It was a long and wonderful story he had to tell the captain that day, and the old skipper could hardly credit his narrative. Of course in © the end he did, but he flatly refused’ to accept ore than a few thousand dollars of the treasure ‘ove. “T don’t want it, Jack,” he said. and yours it shall remain.” Next day Jack returned to New York, accord- ing to arrangement and found Mr. White and Eva at their Madison Avenue home. Jack learned that the gold had been placed in the vaults of a safe deposit company, while the jewels, watches, and other valuable trinket$ had been turned over to the custom house for appraisement. Eventu- — ally they were taken out and the larger part - sold, after a considerable duty had been assessed ~ against them and paid. Jim Crowe was taken to . the county seat, near Blueville, and subsequently tried and convicted ‘Of murderous assault on Cap- tain Norris. His companion had been allowed to go free on the arrival of the yacht. After the treasure had been duly converted into American money, Jack found himself worth about $100,000. He divided $25,000 of this between Tom and Mat, - and they considered themselves rich for village boys. Mr. White advised Jack to invest his money _ in certain gilt-edged bonds that he suggested, — which paid five per cent. a year. Jack did so, — and thus secured a steady annual income. Cap- tain Norris sold out his country store and came to reside-in New York with Jack as his com- *panion. The boy entered the College of New York, intending to become a lawyer in time. He became=a steady and welcome visitor at Mr. White’s home, and the loadstone that drew him there was Eva. 2 “In due time their friendship developed into — love, and they are now engaged to be married, which event will come off \as soon as Jack shall have been admitted to the bar, RR aes hac Tom and Mat often come to visit him; and he occasionally revisits Blueville himself, where _ everybody takes his hat/ off to him, because the whole village knows that he is very wealthy — st having discovered the Treasure of the _ 1e8. (2 aes : “and hi “It’s yours, . “fea . Saf Next week’s issue will contain “A GRIP ON . THE MARKET; or, A HOT TIME IN WALL ~ STREET.” 1g x Turkey imports annually old or secdnd-hand clothes to the value of $90,000 to $100,000. 4 far the largest quantity comes from the Unite States. Only men’s clothes are used with dark- colored jackets seemingly the most in demand. fot

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FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY BUCKSKIN BILL, THE COWBOY é PRINCE Sues Or, The Rough Riders of the Ranch eee By GASTON GARNE (A Serial Story.) CHAPTER XXIII. Capturing The Bandits. “Hark, Bill!” “What now?” roe “Hear the clatter of hoofs coming?’ 5s “By Jove, it sounds like a body of horsemen.” “And here: they are!” cried the colonel, ex- ‘citedly, as he pointed at a troop of riders that -eame sweeping around a bend in the trail. “Look, Bill, look! It’s Jim Flood, and he has all the re- mainder of his gang with him. By thunder, there’s going to be a hot time in the old town to- night, all right.” “Fall in, there, boys!” -cried Bill to his men. _ “fold -your weapons ready for action, now—un- derstand?” “Yes, yes!” : t “We're ready, Bill!” and the rough-riders lined ‘across the road. ; ( The boy sat in the saddle like a statue, watching - the swift approach of his mortal foes. : They were coming along at a lope. ; Flood wag in the lead, with his rifle resting across his saddle-bow and a reckless smile on his ace. ‘ He saw Bill’s party, but seemed to and he eertainly acted as if = ay no heed e feared no. ‘golonel, angrily. “Why, he is completely ignoring Peas, Bul): - Be ee ae -- 4Ton’t fool yourself,” replied the boy, care- ~ Jessly. “They see us and mean mischief, surest thing you-know.” i ae 4 - In a few minutes. more the gang of bandits yeached a point not far removed from the rough- _ riders. per : Halt! Bill shouted at them. ‘ uate Flood gave him a look of surprise, reined in and demanded: en * “Well, young feller, what d’yer want?” ~ ©. “Your surrender!” shouted Bil A’ roar of sarcastic laughter came,.from the bandit. Spe ~ “¥f¥o, ho! My surrender, hey?” he chuckled at length, “Waal, thet’s ‘a joke. Why, I wuz jiste, _a-goin’ ter tell youse ter chuck down yer guns. ~The boy eyed the brazen rascal in silence a mo- ment and saw that he really meant what he said. . Seeing that it was useless to parley with him, Bill turned to his: il gle and shouted: ild yell burst from th eee ty ene Hage ae eee them!” - rancher. wR - away with hi + train robbe 23 ers, but just as they dashed forward Flood’s men flung up their rifles and let go a volley. Three of Bill’s men went down, wounded. : An angry frown gathered upon the boy’s white forehead. : “Halt!” he shouted. His men. suddenly reined in. rs “Fire!” continued the boy sternly. 5s Every weapon was aimed and discharged at the ranks of the outlaws. Seven men were unhorsed, and as the rest re- treated, firing back as they went, the charge of the rough-riders began. bs They went at their enemies like a cyclone, shots ra a mingling with the clatter of mustang’s oofs. Bh Bullets whistled through the air, and a cloud *iesge of dust and smoke arose, and all the citizens ran to cover behind the shanties into the bushes and under the shelter of the rocks. For a few minutes the battle between the cow- boys and bandits raged furiously, many a man on each side going down with wounds, some of z which proved to be fatal. It soon became evident to Flood that he was getting the worst of it. His men became panic- .— stricken and: fled. ; i Flood had all the stolen money now. Realizing that his gang were upon the verge —s_—™ of being wiped out, he suddenly dashed into a lane between two shanties. : Stary. “Y’m licked, an’ I’m a-goin’ ter light out with — ther dough,” he muttered. “Thet way I'll git ther ~~ hull boodle.” a He plunged into a grove of trees and swiftly rode away, leaving his men to their fate without the slightest regret. j a Bill had not seen his cowardly action, for he — was too busy directing his men against the gang. The fight did not last long after the rough- riders surrounded the band and threatened to an- nihilate all hands. j ‘ay “We quit!” yelled one of the desperadoes, fling- — in up his hands. “Stop shootin’, for heaven’s sake, boys. We don’t want to get slaughtered like sheep in their shambles.” ; e Bill now called to his men: “They surrender!” “Hurrah!” roared the firing. iat “Tie them up,” proceed the boy. one of that gang escape. cowboys, stopping their : “Do not let th iit mndl- he dome “oer u e gang, and it must be done thoroughly. Where's Flood?” 3 é pin ie fi “He ain’t among ‘the prisoners,” declared a cowboy. * . : Ee ae “Are you positive?” excitedly asked the young “Sure, Bill, sure!” . * “Then he must have-given us the slip.” ~ : Every one was disgusted when they heard the — news. : ieee: Buckskin Bill rode ovér,to where the prisoners were grouped and, pausing: before them, he cried: — “Well, I’m sorry for you fellows. Here you’ve been facing death for Jim Flood and when bad, — luck comes he deserts you like a snéaking coward. Not only that, but TH bet anything he-carried m very dollar you got out of the _ Be PA Bae ata pith Maer Se ee ‘ ’ f

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24 These words stung the bandits. _ All the spite in their make-up was aroused, and one of them, with a scowl of fury, exclaimed: “Yes, and 1 saw him go, leaving us to our fate.” “Which direction did he take?” asked Bill, quickly. “Tell me that and I'll run him down, and at least make him share your luck. That will be revenge for you. He won’t get the chance to spend the money, either.” “He rode into that grove over by them rocks.” “AY) right. Now, colonel, see that these men are locked up, and I’ll go off on Flood’s trail. TI ai not give up until I. capture the villain, r ? ‘And so saying, Bill rode away. CHAPTHR XXIV. Conclusion. - In the gloom of the trees it was mbterly impos- sible for Bill to see Flood’s trail, but he knew that the woods was not deep, and that the villain /would pass right through. _ He therefore made for the other side of the trees, and when he got out upon clear ground ,in the moonlight and gazed around he saw that jhis ranch laid straight ahead. In the distance ‘he beheld a lone rider. He could not make out who he was from there, but it struck him that the man was Flood, and che at once chased him. Down the hill rode Bill at the top of his black stallion’s speed and, reaching the rolling prairie, he galloped away. Mile after mile was covered in this manner, and the boy passed pretty close to his burned home. , As he rode to the top of a ridge he could see that he was slowly but surely gaining on the man; indeed, he was now near enough to see that the fellow was Jim Flood. Moreover, the bandit had recognized the boy, and was exerting every effort to escape him. Pa The course he had taken now began to carry him toward the home of Colonel Briggs. “He sees that I am bound to run him down in the end,” reflected Bill, “and he probably means - to make a stand in the ranch-house. If mother and the colonel’s daughter are there when he ar- rives, heaven help them, for he would not hési- tate an instant to kill both of them if they 'inter- : fered with his. plans.” € It gave the boy a feeling of intense anxiety, for he well knew what a villain Flood was. He urged Dandy alo&g faster. Pretty soon the ranch-house came in view, and as the boy went dashing by a herd of cattle he saw Flood’s sweating horse stumble. _ - The bandit was flung»to the ground. In an instant he bounded to his feet, ee. and aiding his horse to rise, he got behind the animal, rested his rifle across the saddle and fired. The ball grazed Dandy’s skull and stunned him. But Bill sprang to the ground before his mount went down, and, wheeling around, he cried: “Flood, you had better give*up.” — Cite : Ss - t “the cowboy prince, and carried Flood’s body away FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY “T}] die with my boots on if this is a-goin’ te be a finish fight,” snarled the bandit, and he fired again. The boy happened to move just then, and the . fluttering bullet went past his head. : Bill raised his rifle and aimed at his enemy, “Last call, Flood!” he sang out. ‘Surrender or not?” *“Neverd” yelled the other fiercely. And bang! came another shot. . The ball cut the boy’s left shoulder painfully. He had been forebearing enough, he thought, and he flashed one keen glance over the sights. “Then this is your finish!” he exclaimed. Crack! K A frantic scream of agony escaped the bandit as the bullet landed between his eyes. pee He reeled back, dropping his revolver from his nerveless fingers, and, flinging up his hands, he fell heavily to the und. “That settles him!” the boy muttered. He strode over to the man and glanced down at him. “Dead!” It was so. oe Baad evil career was ended. NM New B orem lf no voice. e started, glanced up and saw Jessie Briggs. She had heard the shots and rah fotos is : house, Bill’s mother coming on behind. ~ t Be pad sed ah muttered. e sa ou kill him, Bill,” sai i ‘tt Be bre ore said Jessie. “My son, it was awful,” remarked Mrs, mages land, “but'it were far better that he died sates & than you.” : f “Hark!” said the boy. “I head hoof-beats!” i Yes,” said Jessie, pointing over the prairie. See there, a troop of. your h-riders with — Papa, coming from the direction of Four Flush.” they have been puting Flood’s men in jail.” So you captured them at last?” Ei ' “Yes, The is all broken up. They thasalisead. Plog P ey robbed has the money on hi on. I must get it and return it to ae owner aes: He knelt beside the bandit. ; , Ne In a moment more he had the stolen $6,000. The rough-riders now came galloping up to the ~ spot and the moment they saw Flood iyi ‘dead — on the prairie they took off their hats and let out — a yell that might have been heard a mile away. — “Got him at last, ¢h?” roared the colonel. —~ “Yes, and here’s the stolen money,” cried Bill, waving it in the air. f pie ee “Three cheers for Buckskin Bill, boys!” shout Se ad ee 3 4 Cea oe e rough-riders responded with a will, and! for a few moments the din was fairly deafening. f Bill then sent one of the men for the sheriff, and, having gone on to the house, they all lid: 5; supper. st oa aie On the following day the sheriff arrived, and — when the matter was explained he complimented — in a wagon. é The boy rode off with Denver Jack gud Coe Briggs to the nearest city, and here he returned the stolen money to the railroad company. (To be continued) Re IBAC Y yen: etna he sie 3

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TALK 600 YEARS A DAY - The daily average of local and long-distance | telephone conversations in the United States is about 60,000,000, or 22 billions a year. As a basis for estimating we will assume that the length of the average conversation is five minutes - —it may not be so long in the very large cities, but in small cities, towns and in the country dis- tricts, the average conversation exceeds five min- utes. On a basis of sixty million five-minute talks per day, the nation would consume three hundred million minutes, five million hours, more than 208,000 twenty-four hour days, or about 600 _ years per day. ‘DEER HALTS AT CRY OF “STOP” - Bvery one who owns a dog or a horse or is a these animals believes they understand a. Now, just as the hunting ch with authority on the subject, it is the men of their race: __,,Many hunters do not know that a deer in full - flight will stop still if he hears the Revere shrill _ whistle known to the guides in the North Wccds. - Being whistlers themselves, it attracts their at- tention quickly. It may mean a warning or an evidence of sociability. _ Some nature lovers, a short time ago, visited after sunset a wild Adirondack lake to watch for deer coming down for water. With the exception _ of: one member of the party, a woman, they took _ up positions in a cove where the paces had told them deer were always seen. he remaining member stayed on a point on the other side of a hill from her friends. Toward dusk, through the _ thick woods across the lake from the point, a buck came down to drink. Immediately the woman whistled and, after regarding her for some time, the buck replied. Finally he grew friendly and _ for about twenty minutes the whistles were ex- chai ged until the return of the others frightened : the deer away. ‘ aa DRIVE FOR $2 BILL | - More than 800 tons of one-dollar bills will be put in circulation by the Government this year, as compared with 90 tons in 1900, according to a statement made today by the Federal Bureau of Efficiency, which has joined the “Treasury in a campaign to popularize the two-dollar bill as well as other ‘bills of higher denominations. __ The bureau -is interested in the movement to induce a wider use of »bill of higher denomina- _ tion instead of the one. dollar certificates because y _ FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY GOOD READING wants to see ‘economyin the production of 26 paper money. It also makes the argument that a great deal of time could be saved to the in- dividual by a more general use of the two-dollar bill as a substitute for the one-dollay denomina- tion. In this connection the bureau states: “The development of so bulky a currency is un- economical from the standpoint of its users. The individual loses time in having his change counted out to him in small bills. He loses time again in counting it out when he makes a purchase. The merchant has a great bulk of bills that he must count at the end of the day’s business, that’ he turns into the bank where they must n be counted. “The bank has an added task in handling this bulky currency if, for example, it is a member ein the Federal Reserve System and wants to send its extra currency to the Reserve Bank. Both banks have to count a bulky shipment. The Re- serve Bank many want to send the used notes to Washington for redemption. It is forced to count | innumerable small denomination bills. “Every one of these processes is complicated in proportion to the smallness of the dennomina- tion of the bills to be handled. The larger the denomination of the bills the easier and more . economical the task. Obviously, it is easier to count a thousand dol- lars in tens than in ones. The greater the num- ber of bills in that thousand dollars the greater is the chance of making mistakes. The business community suffers from a too great use of one- . dollar bills- ‘When these bills reach Washington they must be counted and recounted, sorted according to currency type, examined lest they be_counterfeit, destroyed with proper formality, The smaller the denomination the greater the work in thus retir- ing any given thousand dollars. “New money must be issued in the place’of that destroyed. ~The life of a dollar bill is but seven months. It completes its cycle and is replaeed in that time. If one ten-dollar bill can be made to take the place of ten ones, the expeise of main- taining $10 in circulation is‘one-tenth as great. If fives can replace ones, there is a corresponding Saving. If twos can be made to serve, the cost will be reduced to one-half. : “The two-dollar bill, the efficiency experts be- lieve, is a useful denomination that has fallen ° into. disuse for no sound reason, but merely he- cause is it believed to be unlucky. In Canada the smallest piece of paper money in use is a ten-- shilling bill, whick is worth a little more than the two-dollar bill. A bill of similar value is found useful elsewhere. Why not in the United States?” a . PER . “Moving Picture Stories” A Weekly Magazine Devoted to Photoplays ani Players PRICE TEN CENTS PER COPY * & Hach number contains Three Stories of the Best Films on the Screen—Hlegant Half-tone Scenes from the Plays —Interesting Articles About Prominent People in the Films—Doings. of Actors and Actresses in the Studio and Lessons in Scenario Writing. HARRY E. WOLFF, Publisher, Inc. 166 West 23d Street New York City S

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‘ae - the licoric plant is chiefly grown. - rivers flow through flat, treeless ‘brown trout, six years. 26 fay) * _ “Fame and Fortune Weekly” _ 1925 ___ NEW. IW YORK, OCTOBER “28, TERMS TO SUBSCiuBEKS Bingle Copies... cc ceieciceceees Postage Kree 8 Conta One copy Three Months........ 00 One Copy six Monmths........0 2 bs 2.00 One Copy One Year Roti Ne call © e 3 4.00 HOW TO SEND MONEY — At ‘our risk send P. O. Money Order, Check or Registered Letter; remittances in any other way are at your risk. We accept Postage Stamps the same as cash. When sending silver wrap the Coin in a separate piece of paper to avoid. cutting the envelope. Addressgletters to Marry E, Wolll, Pres. Charles BE. Nylander, Sec. L, ¥, Wilain, Treas. HARRY E. WOLFF, Publisher, Inc., 166 W. 23d St., N.Y. i ITEMS OF INTEREST $100,000 FOR MORPHINE SUBSTITUTE One hundred thousand dollars is the dazzling leg offered chemists to induce them to discover ow to manufacture a cheap substitute for mor- phine, says Popular Science Monthly. The dis- covery must be made within the next five years. Herman A, Metz of New York City, is making the offer in the hope of doing away with oe drug evil. Morphine is now derived from opium. Tt it _ could be made synthetically, much cheaper than that derived from the poppy, Mr. Metz believes that the suppl source, of opium would be killed at its THE LIFE OF A FISH How long does a fish live? Not out of water. Any boy can tell that from obseryation.. But ’ with proper food—everything it needs? According to Popular Science Monthly, Major -F. S. Fowler of England, who has been conduct- a special study to find out, reports that a_ e sh, with which he is acquainted, is now fifty vents old and is stilltively. An electric eel in the London Zoo, he found, lived twelve years. Other fish age figures, as given by Major Fowler, are as follows: Carp, thirteen years; goldfish, twelve gente) herring, four years; salmon, three years; A bullfrog’s record age was fifteen years; toad, eleven years, and the giant salamander, fifty-two. years, — ¥; » x - LICORICE Oxt the banks of the ‘Trigis and the Euphrates These great rairies of un- uninhabited and. For three ort pe and near ot winds blow, and the tem- months of the year ~ perature reaches one hundred and four degrees. © For six months of the year the climate is mod- erate and salubrious, and for three months bleak ge and wintery, the Shecepeer going down to thir- ty, degrees at night. Sie ee thas to about three feet The licorice plant isa small shrub, with fi ght FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY year-round. The root when dug is full of water, takes the best part of a year. or cut into small pieces from six inches to a foot rite your name and address plainly. » } rotten ones are used for firewood. It is then tak- ~ en in native river boats to Bussorah, whence it IS: «from there to America, where it is used largely in the manufacture of tobacco. juice mixed with a little starch, which prevents — it from melting in hot weather. rice” is of Greek origin, and means “sweet root. Mother — Yes! He’s only a year old and he’s unkapry without a bottle, and sie ce me up ever nig. ~ It would no mneee pay to grow the poppy.» proudly. “Ym the husband of the best bridge est in our neighborhood.” . work helpful? this morning I was the first one to reach. bargain counter out of a bunch of one Tenceed pbs Se ‘ so—-and should not move, you wour tel pa taking his servant to take one morniing, “who ; -it that sees all we do, and hears all we say, -knows all we think, and who regards even me in my bisho} "s robes as but a vile worm of the * ne ‘where du st? a7 d its roots can reach the water. “It grows without any cultivation. No lands are leased for the pur- | pose and no objection is made to its being cul- tivated. It grows on red earth soil, and also on light, almost sandy soil, where the ‘wood is best, provided it has plenty of water, and the ground is not more than fifty yards from the actual river or stream. The wood, after being once dug up, grows bet-. ter afterward. The time of collecting is gener- | ally during the winter, but it is possible all the | and must be allowed to dry, a process which | It is then sawed ong. The good’ and sound pieces are kept, and the’ shipped in pressed bales to London, and again- The black licorice stick sold in drug “stores . comes mostly from Spain, and is made of pure i The word “lico- ‘ EAUGHS =~ 2 43 Caller—Does Willie take after fis father? “What I am to-day I owe to my wife,” ie said 2 “Well, what are you?” asked the cynic. Mrs. Datus—Do you “find your gymnasium _ Mrs. Artigue—Helpful, Why, “What makes you so late?” asked his mother. “The teacher kept me in because I couldn’t find — Moscow on the map of Europe,” replied Johnnie Mother—And no wonder you couldn’t find Mos- cow. rage to treat a child that way. It was burned down in 1812. gyi out: a cn ty a clod. But I move, I leap, I run; do you call me? Voice from the peter ea od- hopper! * y a entaii ee afte: ae) “Now, Thomas,” said a 2 e missus, sir,” Thomas. replie

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» .. VEST POCKET BATTERY _, A discovery that may have a revolutionary ef- | fect on industry is claimed by A. F. Joffe of the >» Academy of Science. ; ~ In experimenting, “Joffe says, he obtained a tremendous concentration of electrical energy in ay small object. The accumulator which he - constructed and charged with energy, “sufficient ‘to drive the most powerful motor car for ten 8,” is small enough to. go into a waistcoat ‘pocket, he says. F 3 ; Scientists hope it’ may soon be possible to apply } the discovery to general industry on a large scale. SOUTH SEA NATIVES TO GET RADIO SETS _ Gilbert Islanders, ine the South Seas, are soon | to have wireless communication with the outside world. When the Rev. G. H. Eastman of the -Londori Missionary Society leaves for the islands within the next few weeks he will take with him a number of radio sets for distribution, Cocoa- nut Sales 80 to 90 feet high are to be used for aerial poles, and it is moped to be able to pick up the wireless concerts at Sydney, Australia. / The Gilbert Islands are 2,000 miles from Syd- “ney, and visits of steamers are often months apart. : . ~ EVERY DROP OF WATER IN PARIS MUST rile: BE PAID FOR ee: __ The price of water has just gone up again in Sheree common with the price of gas, electrici- ty and bus rides. The reason is that the munic- ipal income of Paris is not equal to its expendi- ' All apartment buildings and dwellings in Paris ; that gg were Pate spats ate ” r ey ed - ever rop of water supplied, and eyer ro! e mast be aid for. Is it any wonder that Bere: 4 people have always been careful in their use of. the precious fluid? No one can leave taps run- ning and forget about them with impunity. _ The origion of this excessive caution in the use of water was the pressing danger, now almost’ entirely eliminated, of the Paris supply running dry in time not only of severe, but even of the most trifling, dtought. In this connection it is interesting to read in a column reprint of one of _ the Paris dailies, t from its own pages of 100, years ago, that the Senie water was low, mudd and smelly in July, 1825. The editor of those ‘days added to that information a severe criticism of the City Administration for “lack of consider- ation of the public health,” in that the citizens ere still allowed to come down to the river and fill receptacles with the fetid water for drinking purposes. . i ; HICAGO BOASTS THE LARGEST “MEADOW PARK IN U. S&S. e largest clear, level grass meadow in any k in, the United States is the one in Washing- on Park, in Chicago, says an Associated Press ‘dispatch. It has an area of 101.7 square acres, which is nearly one-third of the total area of the Cai Seger Phage INL eo . A Os, eee ae BT Coy aie x a ay iy eee nk Bs . FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY a CURRENT NEWS The meadow is as level as engineering skill can make it, and is covered with a velvet coat of grass. There is space for 280 perfect football gridions, 125 baseball, fields and more than 1,800 tennis courts. : Here Chicago’s multitudes find room to “stretch their legs.”” The meadow is surrounded by shaded walks and pleasure drives, miniature lakes and flower gardens. The famous “Bug Club,” an in- stitution unique to Chicago, meets at this spot. Men, women and cildhren of every description ad in groups to listen to soap-box orators and emagogues deliver impassioned messages. It is a place where the American right to absolute freedom of speech is unhampered. Washington Park is the second largest of Chi- cago’s parks, ranking next to Jackson, which has an area of 554 acres. More than $2,700,000 has been spent in improvements, plus the original cost of the land. The park has 110 tennis courts, twen- ty-nine baseball diamonds and two football fields, in addition to 45,000 square feet of children’s play ground, 25,000 square feet of wading pools and 1,580 square feet of sand courts. ASTRONOMET SETS HIS WATCH BY STARS If you are out of doors on a clear night, and your watch has stopped, you can set it to an ac- curacy of within fifteen minutes of the correct time by looking at the northern aty. The astron- omer always finds his time by stellar observations, but this gives him star or sidereal time, and com- plicated tables are necessary to change this to the solar time which is in.common use. By a method recently developed by Dr. Charles C. Wylie, assistant professor of astronomy at the poeerety. of Iowa, with the co-operation’ of Dr. W. W. Merrymon of Bloomfield, N. J., approxi- mate solar time may be found from the stars with relative ease. “Consider the northern sky as a huge clock face,” says Ddctor Wylie, “with the Pole Star as the centre and the Pointers of the Dipper as the hour hand. The numeral six will be directly be- low the Pole Star and twelve directly above. Then read the indiggted time. With a little practice this can be done to the nearest quarter hour. To this figure add the number of. months that have. ps ig since Jan. 1 to the nearest quarter month; double this and subtract the result from sixteen and a quarter. If the result is more than six- teen and a quarter, subtract this result from forty as Fo sl This answer is the time in hours As an example, take an evening late in, Septem- ber. The pointers are in the position of a clock” hour hand at 7 o’clock. Eight and three-quarters. months have. elapsed since New Year’s day; which | is added to seven, making fifteen and three-quar-, ters. Doubled, this is thirty-one and a half, which, subtracted from forty and a quarter, gives eight and three-quarters, or 8:45 P. M. This is solar. time, and, of course, does not take daylight. sav- ing time into considexation. a 6 27 .

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28 “FROM ALL POINTS : SCALED MOUNT OLYMPUS Richard Halliburton of Memphis, Tenn., a Princeton graduate, was surprised, to say the least, when reports reached him from America recently that he had been drowned trying to emulate Leander of Abydos by swimming from that place, on the Asiatic shore of the Hellespont, to Sestos, on the European side. Halliburton admitted he made an unsuccessful attempt last month to perform the feat which” Leander accomplished nightly to visit his lady- love, but was happy over a recent success in climbing Mount Olympus. Bs Previous to his unsuccessful swim Halliburton swam the four-mile strait, starting from the Eu- ropean side, a feat accomplished by Lord. Byron more than a hundred years ago, but failed on the reverse journey. p NEARLY TON OF RUBBISH A YEAR IS BACH NEW YORKER’S OUTPUT Every person in New York City creates 1,605 pounds of waste material, garbage, ashes and rubbish every year, according to the report of the Committee on Waste Disposal of” Associated Business, for a Better New York, which recom- mends that more incinerators be provided to deal with this tremendous amount of refuse. “It may seem incredible,” says the report, “but the figures for 1924 show that the municipality © was called upon to dispose of no less than 1,131,- 964 tons of garbage, 3,214,651 tons of ashes and 495,000 tons of rubbish. Of this amount about - 889,000 tons were dumped at sea, all of this com~- ing from the Boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn.” - : Efforts to protect New York waters from pol- lution have failed to a large extent, says thé ‘committee, and it recommends that all dumping at sea be prohibited and that more incinerators be built. yt oe ‘ANTISEPTICS KILL GERMS THRQUGH GLASS . Two scientists in Paris recently dropped.a bot- tle containing an antiseptic in a vessel of impure water. The bottle was tightly corked so that its contents could not come in contact with the water, says Popular Science Monthly. Yet twenty-four hours later, when the bottle was taken out, 29 gtd ens of the microbes in the water had been ed. j The account of this amazing experiment con- ‘ducted by Drs. Techoueyres and Bunau-Varilla was made recently before the French Academy of Sciences. An explanation advanced is that, the antiseptic gives off rays that attack microbes, just as ultra-violet rays do. The tube that con- tained the antiseptic, a weak solution of chloride - of lime, was made of quartz, which apparently let the rays through readily. eas . Out of sixty tests, fifty-one showed that the microbe colonies had been reduced nearly 30 per cent. after twenty-fours hours’ exposure to the antiseptic, without contact. The consequences of this experiment may be of great importance for hygiene and medicine. Our city drinking water, for example, in the future may be purified at very - Jow cost. without chemicals. = ft P FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY _ 13307" ‘and the White Band; or, The Sign of thewBil- ‘4974 * SECRET SERVICE Grand and Thrilling Detective Stories’ By OLD KING BRADY ~ Price 10 Cents | pee #® We can stil? supply the following numbers ~ of the above Weekly es ; 2% 1338 ‘Lhe Bradys and the Subway Mystery; or, Tracking © a Gang, of Counterfeiters. ver Cross. § 1340 “ and Lock Box No. 11; or, Solvingea Post-Office ‘ Mystery. : raha 1341 “ and the Yellow Crooks; or, The Chase for the — Pine *- Chines¢ Diamonds. Aan bie 1842 “ 'Strangest Case; or, The Skeleton in the Well. 1343. ‘*° and the School Boy; or, Het Work on the~ Brandon Case: 2 ih 1844 “ and the Forged Check; or, Convicted by an Ink Mark. ; ; 1245 ‘“ Best Trick; or, The Clue in the Glass Jar. 1346 ** and the Cracksmen; gr, A Despers.te Game for Millions. : ix ia 1347“ ap eg aah Mine; or, The Mystery of Shaft 0., ; : v. ce pte 1348 \* and the Voodoo Queen; or, A Dark Case from gas San Juan Hill. ¢ eke | 1349 “ and the Boy Spy; or, Solving a Secret of Seven ears, : : bs 1350 ““ and the\Missing Money; or, Shadowing a Sus- pected Man. ¢ Wt oF 1351 ° “* bas iee og Case; or, The Hidden Den of Pell reeti» tiaeion cat 1852 “ and the Double Daggers; or, The Secret Sign. 1358 and “Old Breakloek” ‘Trappi Deineiet 3 reaklock”: or, Trappin, eo Crook. TEE eS House Gang. . é es Nebhisg: the Gas 1357“ and the Dumb Boy; or, The Fats of ‘Messenger — oO. Je / “ 7 New York, N. KX. rf

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AN INDIAN GRAVEYARD UNDER BEAN PATCH An ancient In- dian grayeyard, believed to ante- late the Cali- _ Period, was dis- “covered recently on ear Purissima mission in the Santa Ynez valley near Santa Bar-| | bara, Galif., by Don’ Meadows and -ay Gruwell, ; Orange, Calif... re- search © workers: _ A number of pre- _ historic speci- mens, including several’ Indian ens Skulls, eads and arrow- ‘were ob- r ei The burial plot, nee a “happy. hunting ground” of the bronzed warrior of the West, was sit- ated “in the “center ‘was a large bean ‘patch, which, up to the time of|- the: discovery, mpletely oblite ‘rated all. traces rf aur’ important :: Aceotding to Meadows, the y dug through three - different layers of aeavea, each from three to four feet indepth. of ‘The braves were buried in a sitting ‘posture with the knees crooked be- ‘neath the chin. Of |. Sf 0 rty skeletons: rave,” -as a sort partition . be- en it and the -severa ‘thick, — “fo rnia mission ® of what). aa ate ai ducts © L agen Prot uc! jag - LITTLE ADS Write to Riker & King, Advertising “Offices, 580 Broadway, New York City, or 29 East Madison Street, Chicago, for particulars about advertising in this magazine AGENTS WANTED ILL PROVE to you that you can make $96 a week taking orders for Jennings Guar- anteed Hosiery. I furnish complete equip- ment and offer you an Essex Coach without cost. Write now. The Frank B. Jennings Co., Dept. L222, Dayton, Ohio. NEW WONDERFUL SELLER — Cost 10c, profit $140 monograming autos. Bxperi- ence unnecessary. Free samples. Worcester Monograms, B134, Worcester, Mass. AGENTS—WRITE R FREE SAMPLES. Sell Madison ‘‘Better-Made” shirts for ~ large Manufacturer, direct to wearer. No capital, or experience required. Many earn $100 weekly and bonus. Madison Mfgrs., 503 Broadway, New York. “ NEW CAMERA takes and finishes photos in one minute. Make monev selling cam- eras, or taking photos. Exclusive territory. Crown Co:, Dept. 967, Norwalk, Conn. ABSOLUTELY ro competition selling Val- Style millinery. Every woman buys. You make $25 to $150 a week. Write for Special Offer and Exclusive Territory. Val-Style Hat Co., A81, Val-Style Building, Cincinnati, 0. HELP WANTED DETECTIVES needed everywhere. Big pa .experience’ unnecessary, easily learned, 7 to 45, write Harl Wilcox, 1407 Lafayette Ave, SE, Grand Rapids, Mich. |: DETECTIVES NEEDED “EVERYWHERE, ' Work home or travel, Phy I erlence- unneces- sary. Write George agner, former “Govt. Detective, 1968 Broadway, N N.Y. _ SILVERING Mirrors. French plate. Easily “learned; immense profits. Plank free. Wear Mirror Works, Excelsior Springs. Mo. ‘ PERSONAL OU LONESOME? Write Betty Lee, area Bex 820 City Hall Station, New York City. Stamp appreciated. ; HUNDREDS secking. marriage. If sincere enclose stamp. Mrs. F. Willard, 2928 Broadway, Chicago, Wlinois. 7 . LONELY HEARTS8—I have a sweetheart for inake new friends, you. Exchange letters: ficient, confidential and dignified service. Members everywhere. Eva Moore, Box 908, Florida. 2 > J acksonyille, Z | ee ee tations, Soaps, Laundry and sold in stores. Fast repeaters Bis income every. day. sive sale. Nocapital edad jig money for spare time. Ford auto. ito, abeokiitely. “Write jinelanath, ae . Digest, Bites Bes aes COME TO FLORIDA—Marry lonely maiden, Wealthy. League, Box 39, Oxford, Fla. MARRY IF LONELY “Home Maker’ Real oh dreds rich; reliable, years ex cn. 8- scriptions free. The Successful Club, Box 556. Oakland. Callfornia. MARRIAGE PAPER—20th year. Big issue with descriptions. photos, names and ad- dresses. 25 cents. No other fee. Sent sealed. . R, Boston, Mass. MARRY—Free photographs. descriptions of wealthy members. when married. New Plan Co. Dept. Kansas City, Mo. directory and Pay 86. COME TO FLORIDA—Marry lonely maiden, wealthy. League, Box 39, Oxford, Fla, MARRY—MARRIAGE ‘DIRECTORY with photos and descriptions free. Pay when City, Me The Exchange, Dept. 645) Kansas y, Mo. MARRY—Write for bic new directory with photos and por cess ge" National Agency, Dept. A, Sta, EL, Kansas City, Mo. ATTRACTIVE YOUNG LADY ark. $25,000, lonely, will marry. (R.C.) B- 1022, Wich” ita. Kansas. GET A Write me enclosing stamp. Dennison, Ohio. MARRY—Lonely Hearts, join our club, we have. a companion for yon, ‘from $5.000 to $50,000. Descriptions, photos, introductions free. Send no money. Stand- ard Cor. Club, Grayslake, Til. SWEETHEART. Exchanee letters, Violet Ray, Stampen SWEETHEARTS for everybody. Lily Cluh, Srirlonce for proposal. The Station H, Cleveland, Ohio. ue COME TO FLORIDA—Marry lonely maiden, wealthy. League, Box 39, Oxford, Fla. MISCELLANEOUS WOULD YOU like to know what day of the week,vou were born? Send age, birthday and a time (coin) and I will tell you. UB . Hayes, Box 137, Newberry, 8. SONGWRITERS SEND TODAY for free copy Writer's Di-, gest; tells how to write and sel) short stories, ee poems. songs. Writers 12th St., Cincinnati. BOYS & BE FIRST cirrus Earn $2.00 iw sour rown WRITE NOW forg 50 Sets Christmas Seals. Sell for 10c a set. When sold send us $3.00 and keep $2.00. rast You till Xmas. Rott eckeny 961 E. 23d St. Dept. B. Brock- yn, N. ¥. = . 7 yy ee? many Worth © ae sree me

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“iwa Ze a Takes and Finishes an Excel-. lent Photograph on a 344 x 2in One Minute It ig the nowest method of photography in which ekill and experience are not necessary. Not plato nor s film camera, but a camera that produces the complete picture. Does not jevere: it tea films, or darkitpom. All the the apparatu pioture-taking in the ordinary man- cluding ‘Ube Di nero optaway. It eliminates all the m’ and trouble and, above all, there is Ne Wai: for you actually see the finished picture in One Minute. You merely place the cards in ths oamers, preas the shutter, drop the card into the automatic developing tank attached tothe oamers, and in One Minute you have n Com- pees Picture all finished and ready to show. 't ls so simple and easy that any child who oan use ite hands can take good pictures. The ly, or can be made t camera hs little more than half a pound, ous Dissotving, and me ‘os about 4}¢x33{ inches, easy to d finish = picture in one minute, The Lensia of high grado, universal focus, needs justmont, and takes clear and brilliant pictures at any B deta "ha Shutter works perfectly and responds to very slight pressure. It Toads in brond daylight. ‘The Deseleping Tank is attached to the Caters and holds = about’snd always ready to tak _ningle solution that develops, tones and fixes the picture in one minute with absolute i certainty and with no care or attention on the patt of the operator; it cannot be over- lnined with full ‘ developed. Produces = picture 334x2 inches, Send today and have the never-failing easil: apparatus. pleasure of making excellent pictures of your family, friends or neighbors, your house of for ‘ONLY 75 CENTS POSTPAID TO ANY ADDRESS. ‘our domentio pets. Price of Camera Complete with Developer and Package of Cards, NLY 32.60. zoe recneese BSonaitized Cards 16 conts per pnokaxe; extra Developing Solution 25 cents, All prices are postpaid to any addressin the world, Every. Boy His Own Toy Maker] INVISIBLE INK 5 The most con- 4 Greatest boys’ bookifidential mes- written. Tells how tolsagescan be writ-! make a Pinhole Cam-jten with this Ink, era, a Canoe, modelifor the writing Raliroad, @ Telephone,|Makes No Mark. Boomerang, pores h}Cannot be seen un- ¥ Instrument, Box Kite,|less you know the Talking Machine,|secret. Invaluable Microscope, Electric Motor, Electricifor many reasons. Door Bell, Water Wheel, Paddle|Keep your postals and other pri- Rait, a pair_of Skis, 2 Dog Sled,|vate memorandums away from Bird House, Rabbit Yard, etc. 64|prying eyes. Great fun. for pages, 150 illustrations. PRICE,|olaying practical jokes. Only Oc postpald; 3 for 25c. a Bottle; 3 for 40c. Most Sensational Trick ofthe Day! With the Fire Eater in his possession any person can become 2) perfect salamander, wea fy parently breathing = It is made in pin i a eee Won y « a regular Auto- \ 5 rn 5 m3) — matic Pistol. ” ; \ No oneislikely | othe Tourist tostopand ask | tee v8 8 real or not. Great Fire Eater SQUIRT ROSE ? tively guarantee it to be se. They will bloom every ten weoks, Summer or Winter, and when three years old the | bush will be a mass of roses, bearing from five hundred to a thousand roses on each bush, The flowers are in three shades —white, pink, and crimson, The plants will do well both in and outdoors. We guarantee at least three bushes to grow from each packet of seed. Price, 10c packet, 3 pkts. for 25c postpaid, a he TS a An dN Ae PE I y. On pressing the trigger it = = : Li 4] Kissing Permit False Mustache | Spa sf M Heating Ahandsome Here you are, ae mekel plated: boyst Just the ot ; ‘oralittle, that you can harenian aa “s SURF. RISE MATCHES, wear, giving querading. On , Sy i moe vi than a you fun out and off in a te g with your of all propor- twinkling. Lots wife. Look just like ordinary matches. tion to its Put up in boxes of fun putting trifling cost. PRICE 10c one on nas just like regular Safety each, 3 for .. The sudden transformation fs | game fatches. As the vic- 10c 25¢, or 12 ishing. Fine for private theatricals, i tim tries to light one he for7kopost- Chae Zen apeenrancs beyond roane= : gag corey a ke id. ic per bo oxes fo ic vi : nitions BALCH 100, 3 fr £60 poetpaid. : : postpald, 12 for 75 cents. iit , baa tlt a : SEEBACKROSCOPE By. merely plac- ine stie Sure in- WONDER en your GOLD TEETH | oye, you can see é to to have sold crownentt you | PASE gle going, on or Tani ehind your bac! Shin ston over your real teeta | aNd sometimes you and look like ‘very thy | see very interesting fillings. Can be alipped on and | things when no one thinks you are look- Get oom ice | ing. Why it is just like having eyes ag. | ‘3 for 1Sc, or | the back of your head, PRICE ONLY [| F] SOc for I dox 25 Cents Postpald, 3forS0 cents. | The “Little Giant’? Typewriter A_ First Class Writing © You can easily mako = highly sensitive detectophone by using this Transmitter Button to colloct the sound waves. You onan build your own outfit without buying expensive equipment. It % simple and inexpensive, Yodtean insta an outfit in your home and hear conversations bsing held all er the house. You can connect up different rooma of a y ;, i 1. This outht was used secret nirview Speratived dur- Machine For $1.50 % % ing tho war. It is being used on the atage. It ia ultra-sensi- . A perfect little penser ee le dive and is the greatest invention in mic hones. You can "a Pee by are tho usa of par w jount the button almost anywhere—card board. boxes, stove io w typewr! wall behind ® picturo frame, ete. 11 it cannot be detected. Persons can be overheard withow “eee it. You esn listen in on conversations in nnother ro A deaf person in the audience . aS can hear she speaker. Connected to phonograph, piano or a < Feoo mme ther musical instrument, music can be heard hundreds of . ly made, ect away. Button may be used tg renew telephone trans- jo that mittera; often makes an old line “talk-up” when nothing else will, ‘Tho idoal salecephane for radio upe; carries heavy enrrent and js extremely senaittve. Armplifies radio signals. Countless other similar uses will suggest thomaclves. Experimenters find the Button useful for hundreds of experimanta along the lines of telephones, amplifiers, loud apoakers, otc. Many fnsci- nating atunts may be devised, auch as holding the button against the throat or chest } to reproduce mpesoh, without sound waves. $6.00 is given to anyone who sonds in # now auggeation for the use of the Button providing the manufacturers find it suitable _ for use in their literature, PRICE $1.00 POSTPAID ANYWHERE. Address orders Si pipes, atiff calondars, on Button ia go light and »: rot Racine, Wis. (coin or All the

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PROTECT LEGS OF DANCERS. A strong preju- ‘dice against brok- ‘en legs at Bradley “Beach, N. J., and against bare legs ‘on the Million Dol- “jar Pier at At- — lantic City, led to : a, | ance regu- ~ latiens in, both ~ places. Seen Bradley Beach, Mayor Borden ordered the Charleston ‘stopped: in the Municipal Beach Casino because of : frequency | “with which brok- en shins were - being reported. _ “J have no ob- jection to a per- ‘son dancing his “or her feet and} head off,” Mayor, ee: “but I think it best they keep away. from the Sp oe es on. he e. The manage- ment of the Mil- aon Dollar Pier at Atlantic City placed no ban on the. Charleston. ‘Dancers presum- -ably are free to break their legs if they want to, but ll--women.. danc- ers, the manage- ment decreed, _must wear stock- ings when they «dance on the pier. “The. decree was ppearance er young en dancer's on the pier who nad left - their ockings home. They at’ snot}, topped f r o m} ; ane but were | told they, mustn't} fant ehe will walk with ta emi talk; says ‘Ma Ma” just like # real,lire baby. “koe she goos to sleep. Pat gure little eeieg ant she's & nappy ,leugh= Dollie: the deareet,nost lovatie Doll, sikh rosy coheeks,bdi¢ blue eyes ruby lipa~* is Eyeglasses es res Er Sant alt ae Perfunet Sachet ** 10; Poiuies, Sass, NO JONES MPG.CO.DEPL 256 ATTLEBORO.MASS THROW YOUR ee > Under the table, into a : Fe pen down Cellar or Fo an ywhere, Our lessons # s YY VENTRILO UISh teaches you, With our'! (fits in the mouth and “ cannot be seen) Ste es as imitate Birds, YA mals, etc. a aout ASS moving your lips, Lp This outfit and book of Wy JOKES by mail for 19-, @ Universal Dist., Box 532, Stamford, Ct. Old Money Wanted Will pay Fifty Dollars for nickel of 1913 with Liberty head, (no Buffalo). We pay e¢ash premiums for all rare coins. Send 4c for Large Coin Folder. May mean much profit to you. ~ NUMISMATIC CO., Dept. 436 Ft. Worth,’ Texas.” tandey andagreat Fy, . pr Eee Sold-e exclu- Sa @ sivel us. PAY POST- iby MA oh 79 satane. Ti habe 4 ee Money: A* eS Se aatistic PATHFINDER t. "ten PAGB 534 Sixth Ave. WY, Hamar gets aerast, teat eae. + Write fc RAC iy ne Pending ‘ ment tha’ standing. Use like toilet water. t for men after shaving. Send nam YOUR SKIN OF area OVE B B 186 Chemical Building E. S. GIVENS PIMPLE: Blackheads—Acne Eruptions i Now Are Easily Removed at Home at a Small Cost! Banish those unsightly blemishes easily and quickly by using “CLEAR-TONE”—a simple home treat- t has cured chronic cases of long years ves the skin )clear, smooth and without a blemish. Has made Tmany friends with men, women and children. If you have Send us your name and address and we'll tell you how to get this bracelet watch Absolutely Free Watch has 14kt. White gold filled case, 25 year guar- Z antee. Excellent LG aS Send SLE name today for LAA free watch plan. , RELIABLE SALES CORP. 524 Broadway, Dept 184, New York yO Represent our big factory showing beautiful Style-Arch shoesto women. Ne experience needed. I show you how. Fas- cinating work, high earnings. Fine selling outfit. But act atonce. Get fuli information quick 4 m STYLE-ARCH SHOE COMPANY, Depart. ment 438 CINCINNATI, OHIO, _ BOYS & bd NO WORK GIRLS $2.00 Given just run Simply sell 50 Sets of Our Famous Christmas Seals for 10c a set. When-sold send us $3.00 and keep $2.00. ‘Trust You till Xmas... Amer- sean Ripetetame Seal Co., Dept. 131, Brooklyn, N. ii Show You How to Do It ~ LEARN AT HOME Don't be s $25 or a k slave, Get Into Electrichty, Hiectrical exports carn $20 10.8 & week—$3500 McNabb, £48 Spring w . rat z oD: = i! 38., makes you for one of thene bi jobs right in your $700 in 24 days own home — just like Peained 6 men whose pictures you see here. Get the complete dope— write ms now. Quick and Easy to Learn Experience or education unnecessary.1 train you under a money back guarantee, Pay me cues fow SEs. mcay Complete coe of Sooke apparatus and Employment Service given without extra charge, Free book explains all. ech eoacey ee rd’s Ariz.reers$20e day & ere - ia day now “es want ig money. — Bee CHICAGO Prentice RS, Bept.206 S 2150 Eawrence Av.» Chicago Pimples, Blackheads, * ga Eruptions on the face orbody, Barbers Itch, Eozema, Entarged Pores, Oil y or Shiny Skin—never mind how Ur get a ¥ caee oe ae ross cases I Een . Tse rugeis' special arborea ead eel 000 Men \: fat Wathen teat cases, we apcomncet ‘with CLEAR-TONE™ after failing with every- SKIN,"* eee HS : i_kno oS every : " KANSAS city, mo.

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- £ OUR TEN-CENT HAND BOOKS Useful, Instructive, and Amusing. They contain Valuable Information on Almost Every Subject. No. 26. HOW TO ROW, SAIL AND BUILD A BOAT. --Fully illustrated. Full instructiona are given in this little book, together with instructions on swimming and riding, companion sports to boating. No. 28. HOW TO TELL FORTUNES.—Bvery one is desirous of knowing what his future life will bring forth, whether happiness or misery, wealth or poverty. You can tell by a glance at this little book. uy one ,and be convinced. * No, 292. HOW TO BECOME AN INVENTOR.—DEvery : boy should know how tnventions originated. This book explains them all, giving examples in electricity, hy- »drautics, gia ea fe optica, pneumatics, mechanics. No. 80. HOW TO COOK.—One of the most instructive books on cooking ever published. It contains recipes ‘for cooking meats, fish, game and oysters; also pies puddings, cakes and all kinds of pastry, and a gran jeollection of recipes. No. | HOW TO BEHAVE.—Containing the rules and etiquette of good society and the easiest and most ‘approved methods of appearing to good advantage at ‘parties, balls, the theatre, church, and in the draw- in’-room, * No: 85. HOW TO PLAY GAMES.—A complete and useful Httle book, containing the rules and regulations a billiards, bagatelle, back-gammon, croquet, dominor , bs Z 1089 Stranded Out West; or, The Boy Who Found a oatman,. = . ies 1040 Ben Bassford’s Luck; or, Working on Wall Street ps. > 1041 A Young Gold King; or, The Treasure of the Secret ave. ? h 2 f 1042 Bound To Get Rich; or, How A Wall Street Boy Made Money, ‘ ‘ re nate 1043 Friendiess rank; or, The Boy who Became amous, ‘ a 1044 A $90,000 Tip; or, The Young Weazel of Wall Tee’ i os 1045 Plucky Bob; or, The Boy Who_Won Succes fate 1046 From Newsboy to Banker; or, Rob Lake's Wall Strect. ane ye - . y = For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any f address on receipt of price, 8c. per copy, Sasi : fm money or stamps, by — ‘ HRY K. WOLER, Publisher, Ine, : 166 West 4d bareee Mew Fork c « ~: : 7 aie aL” Sete we “; ~»~