Fame And Fortune Weekly (no. 596) (1917 03 02)

Page 1

MARCH 2, 1917 yep oR, [HE BOY SOP NHO MADE A RAFT oF : : Zi 7 i LL —s : Rt cs Sh are you up to?” cried Dick Bristol, springing from the hedge and dealing Bill stunning blow with his club. Down went the ruffian, while his companions, with cries of rage, rushed to his assistance.

Page 2

Page 3

ae : FAMEAND FORTUNE WEEKLY STORIES OF BOYS WHO MAKE MONEY Issued Weekly—By iabeonaeyn $3.00 per year. Entered at the New York, N. Y., Post Office as Second-Class Matter y Fr ank No. 596. 5 NEW YORK, MARCH 2, 1917. ousey, Publisher, 168 West 23d Street, New York. Price 6 Cents. A’ LUCKY CONTRACT ’ THE BOY WHO MADE A RAFT OF MONEY By A SELF-MADE MAN. be CHAPTER LI. TOM TROWBRIDGE AND DICK BRISTOL. “Well, if this isn’t a blamed ‘shame!” exclaimed Tom Trowbridge to his chum, Dick Bristol, as the pair, with fishing-poles and lines in their hands, came to a stop at a point of a wide tidewater creek where a wooden bridge, erected and used by the Englewood & Preston Trolley Company, spanned the stream. “It’s an outrage!” coincided Dick. , “Talk about greedy corporations,” said Tom, with a look of disgust, “I think this trolley company is the limit.” “It goes way beyond the limit. The idea of removing six or = og feet of the ties from this end, placing a triangle of plentifully smeared with grease over the stringer, and a slanting board, treated in a like manner, against the rail, so a person can’t cross the creek except by paying a nickel for that privilege.” “It’s a low down trick,” growled Tom, looking at the ob- structions. ; “You bet it is. I'll wager Deacon Fitch is responsible for this move. He’s a meap old hunk, though he’s the richest man around here, and lives in the finest house, st Nutte’s excepted, this side of Preston.” “I wouldn’t be surprised but you’re right, Dick. It’s too bad the trolley company has such a man for its president.” “That can’t be help for the deacon owns a controlling interest in the stock.” . A “I guess the reason the company has put this job up on the public is to prevent the summer visitors from walking between Englewood Beach and North Beach. Lots of them did it last year, not because they wanted to save a, nickel earfare, but because the walk alongshore, in the afternoon and around sundown, is an invigorating exercise. The places are only a mile apart. Heretofore any one could eross this bridge by the footboard, but this trick of the trolley company cuts walkers off completely from the other side of the creek. Whenever an. Englewood visitor wants to take a short cut to North Beach after this he’ll have to cough up a nickel and cut out the walk, which is the best = of the trip. And the same thing applies 10 those North — people who want te walk over to Englewood or the » “That’s right,” nodded Dick. : “if thie empentian’s right-of-way is such a secret fran- chise the county ought to build a small footbridge across the creek at this point and restore to the citizen the right _ to walk if he wants to,” said Tom. _ “The deacon’s political pull is strong enough, I guess, to| fine from carrying out any such public roan er ses Fst RT mee Mie ce Fens nS eet BETTE SS SI TRAE Set ane anna aay ead “The deacon is a hog, then. He seems to want every- thing in sight.” “Deacon Fitch isn’t the only one who wants the earth, or a large section of it.” . “That’s no lie. His son Herbert is very like him.” “That dude gives me a pain. One would think he owned Englewood, by the way he struts about, just like a turkey obbler. . “When a boy’s father is cock-of-the-walk, like Deacon Fitch, he’s apt to make capital for himself out of the fact.” “Jimmy Dunn, of Preston, isn’t built that way, and his father could buy and sell Deacon Fitch twice over,” said Dick. “Jimmy is a first-class chap,” admitted Tom. — “Bet your life he is. Well, how are we going to get. across the creek now without taking that car that’s coming on behind us?” : . “Give it up. I’m not going to pay a nickel for the priv- ilege of getting over sixty feet of water.” ; “Me, either. It would be just the same if the distance were only a dozen feet.” : “If somebody would come along with a boat,” said Tom, “that would solve the difficulty.” : “Or a balloon,” chuckled Dick. Here the trolley car came gliding up. ’ The motorman slowed down, thinking perhaps the boys wanted to get aboard so as to reach the other side of the creek. There was a broad, malicious kind of grin on his face that made Tom and Dick hot under the collar. “This is a fine trick for your company to play on the pub- lic!” snorted Tom.. i ; “Want to ride’ across?” chuckled the man. . “Sure, we want to ride, as we can’t walk,” said Dick, jumping on the front platform. . “Here, you’re not going to put up a nickel just to cross the creek!” cried Tom, in astonishment. “Jump on, Tom,” was all the answer his chum got back. As the car started to move on again, Tom, much against his will, jumped aboard. _ “This will cost you ten cents,” he growled to his com- ion. “I won’t pay a cent for a sixty--foot ride.” “Don’t you worry. The motorman invited us to ride across, so it won’t cost us a cent,” grinned Dick. “I invited “You must think I said the conductor, coming to the door. “You'll — have to step inside. Nobody is permitted to ride on the front vlatform.”. + ee ae 2 eat ee Ue Niet Sta gprs

Page 4

2 SF a RS a es a SS i A ie Poe ER ee Oe es ee a Sa “What! are you charging to carry us across this old bridge ?* asked Dick, in well-assumed surprise, for the car had reached the other side by this time. “What a nerve you’ve got! Jump off, Tom. We’ ’re not going any further.” ; bd two boys leaped off and gave the conductor the au. “<hat’s where we got back at the deacon,” chuckled Dick, as the car continued on its way. “Now we'll go on to our fishing grounds,” ‘They snoulcered their ser and proceeded on their way in high glee at having tricked their way across the bridge. “The summer visitors will be as mad as thunder over this hold-up at the creek,” said Tom, as they walked along. “You bet they will; but the deacon won’t care how mad they get as long as he harvests their nickels.” a aregs won’t be near as much walking done as there has i lh “The summer people can do their walking on their own side of the creek, They don’t ha¥e to cross over.” ae ba I knew of some way to balk the trolley company,” ‘sai “There ‘isn’t any way ‘except by building a foot- bridge, . and if the county won’t do that nobody else is likely to.” “Tll tell you what we might do,” said Tom, suddenly struck with an idea. “What?” “Get a small flat-boat and hire a kid to pole the people ‘back and forth for a penny each.” “That isn’t a bad scheme, if the boy was honest enough to turn in all the cash he took in.” “Widow Dooley’s son, Mike, would be glad to take the job, and he’s as honest as the day is long. He’s doing nothing now. We could give him half of what he takes in. The main idea is to queer the trolley company.” “Where could we get a flat-boat?” “I know awhere I could get the loan of one for nothing.” PPK cg cheap enough. I’ve got a good mind to stand in ou. -We needn’t let on that it’s our. scheme. We'll ickey on to it and get the boat for him. We can have ine boat painted ig white and blue so it will look at- tractive.” “And put a nnd flag-pole in front on which we'll hoist a white banner with the words ‘Down with monopoly’ painted on it. At the end of the summer season we'll pre- sent Mike’s mother with our share of the profits in a lump sum., She’s poor, and it will come in handy to help tide her over the winter. “Well, I’m with you. I hope it won’t cost much to start Me abe for I’m not a bloated capitalists.” dollars pa oe: co float the ferry company. That’s _. two val a half each. You can stand that; cant you?” ess so.” right. [ll start the ball rolling when we get back. here we are and our fishing ground. I'll bet you a = I catch the first shiner. - “T take you,” said Rice Pephining to bait his hooks in a to the first catch, sgyres which was about or a mile Po Englewood ig bay » Tom was orphan tees ate} fis home with his aunt, a widow.in very modest circumstances. Poth year he had been employed as . Fp office hand at the Englewood pwond Wagon Wo business stagnation, due to Sart fa gehen the establishment had shut down for the sum- og previous Saturday, and so Tom was now out jo been working for the same company in one of and was out of a position for the same cause. mother was also a widow, and he had an older sister - ae peers in the one millinery and fancy goods ‘The fact the two boys were out of work was bound to make a difference in the internal economy of both house- iis_me sey ‘Tom, however, wasn't worrying over the herp as yet. He aes “aac “is ambi eee lad, and had every confi- “to make way ahead in the world. who bel to worl for other people could help. at és rent a Cam A LUCKY CONTRACT, small, one-horse business, such as many people are con- tented to plod along in, but something in which he could see large profits. Every time almost that he passed the residence of Deacon Fitch he mentally told himself that some day he would own a mansion as fine, or even finer than that. More than once he had mentioned his hopes and expecta- tions to his aunt, whom he thought the world of, for she had raised him from a small boy and had been as good as a mother to him; and she, worthy little woman, sympathized with and encouraged his ambitious ideas. She thought that there wasn’t a smarter, nor better boy in the world than Tom, and prophesied great things for him in the future. If there was one recreation the boys liked more than an- other it was to go fishing together. While waiting for the finny inhabitants of the bay. to bite they could talk over) plans and schemes that were always cropping up in their brains. Dick -had ambitious notions about his future,.also, but they were all associated with Tom. Some day he expected to go into partnership with his chum in some enterprise, or at least to be his manager or superintendent. ; And so, whenever jthe two boys were togéther, they amused themselves building all kinds of castles in the air which seemed pretty real to them at the time. CHAPTER II. TOM INTIMATES HOW HE COULD MAKE A RAFT OF MONEY. “Hurrah!”. shouted Dick,,in great~glee, as he yanked ‘a silvery object out of the water and landed it on shore. “I’ve caught the first fish, Come up with your nickel, Tom.” “You’re lucky. Here’s the coin,” and Tom handed over a_five-cent piece. “I knew I’d' do you,” chuckled Dick, as he rebaited his hook and cast his line in*again. “You didn’t know anything about it. You only took the same chance I did. Here, I’ve got a fish now myself. You didn’t get so far ahead of me after all.” “I got far enough ahead to win the nickel.” “You'll need it when you come to cross the trolley bridge again. same_ afternoon.” “Why not? It’s easy.” : “The motorman and the conductor will probably put the other men up to the dodge, and we'll get left if we try it.” “The trolley company has no right to maroon us on this side of the creek.” “What does the trolley company care for us?” “We have rights, haven’t eve?” “Not on that bridge. The trolley people heretofore per mitted the public to use the footboard as a privilege at their own risk. From the present look of things they have cut the privilege out. Now, the public have the choice of three things—they, can pay a nickel, or swim, or walk te the head of the creek and come around that way. That’s the whole thing in a nutshell.” “The people of Englewood ‘ought to get an inp against the trolley company.’ “Om what grounds?” - “The county presented the franchise to the company. As it was a gift, the people | ought to have some rights that the company should respect.” “Did you' ever hear of a corporation that had any grati- tude? ey take all they can get, and return as little as they can. ‘The people who own the stock want their divi- dends regularly. the company makes too much money on its original investment, the stockholders get together and water the stock so that their profits may not appear to ; be too large.” “What do you mean by ‘watering the stock?” “Oh, they increase the issue. there are 50,000 ap od out on which the profits warrant a twelve per cent. di dend, they increase the issue to 100,000, then the divi. dend will be reduced to six per cent. But as each stock- We’re not likely to work that trick twice on the c holder receives an extra share for every share he already i tele tp Sapstves ai oeare Aacge?

Page 5

“What difference can it make if he does get twelve o1 fifty per cent. as long as the company earns it?” askec Dick, rather puzzled to understand just why stock shoula be watered in order to apparently reduce its income. “Well, if a gas company is known to be making an ex- tra profit on its invested capital, the customers have good grounds for demanding a lower rate per thousand feet, and if a street car company is making huge returns on a five-cent fare the public have a right to expect that the company should reduce the fare to three cents. sv, one ol the operations of high finance is to keep the outsiders from knowing too much about what is going on inside.” _ But Dick had another bite, and for the time being he lost interest in the subject of high finance. While he was unhooking the fish Tom got a bite, too, and gave. his attention to landing his catch. When the boys threw their lines in again Tom did not have anything further to say on the late topic, and his chum did not ask him to resume it. ; When Tom did speak again it was on an entirely dif- ferent subject. “Tf I had a thousand dollars, Dick, I believe I could make a raft of money,” he said, with a thoughtful look. ‘ “Tf you had a thousand dollars you could make a raft of money?” repeated his chum, in a tone of surprise. “That’s what I said.” : “How could you do it?” “Do you know the Locke Farm, up the river?” “T guess I do. Everybody-around here knows that lemon. It’s been on the market for years at about a third of the price per acre that any other farmer values his land in that neighborhood, but though a hundred strangers have ing that time looked at what appeared to be a bargain- unter sale, not one would touch it with a ten-foot pole after a good squint at it. What about it?” “Locke will sell it for $20 an acre, cash.” “J wouldn’t give him twenty cents an acre for it if I had to go out there and try to make.a living off, it.” “There are fifty acres altogether, and $1,000 will buy it.” “That’s what his advertisement says, but nobody but a blind man will ever. buy it at that price, and to my mind nobody but a fool at any price. “Why not?” asked Tom, a bit sharply, “Because it’s no good.” “Why isn’t it amy good?” “Qh, come off! You know as well as I do why it isn’t any good. Because it’s about as stony a piece of ground as you could find anywhere on earth. 1t’s long and narrow, and forms practically the whole of the outer farce of the bluff. Since Locke had to part with the only really salable part of his original farm he hasn’t \been able to raise oe fodder on those fifty acres to feefl his horse and cow, let alone himself and his family. If he/ offered it for $5 an _-%ere I doubt if he’d be able to find a purchaser.” ss “That so?” replied Tom, in a tone that Dick construed '-- to be tantalizing. ‘ “Yes, that’s so.” “You’re wrong.” “Ai right. Have it your own way. You seem to know everything.” “If I had $1,000 I’d take it off his hands.” “Yes, you would. think I see you doing it,” replied Dick, jeeringly. : _*J tell you I would,” said Tom, positively. . Dick stared at his chum in a puzzled way. “Say, what kind of a jolly are you giving me?” he asked. “No jolly at all. I mean what I say.” . - “Excuse me if I doubt your word. Nobody but a chump Yeould give half a thousand. dollars for that farm as’ it stands, and I’ve never you for a chump yet.” “J should hope that 1 wasn’t a chump. and it’s for that reason I’d give Locke his price in double quick time if | had the coin.” , ; : “Do you fancy there’s a gold mine under those rocks?” know there’s a gold mine in those ‘rocks,’ as you call it.” _ “You'll have to explain, for your meaning is all Greek to me.” f ; “Wait a moment till I pull this fish in,” and Tom landed = - t his rd beauty. ; . “Well,” said Dick, “go on. : that . 4 I’m interested in your reason ofere.4 - the e farm, is worth $1,000.” _ Seoehas worth a good deal more than that, or, rather, it will ng. In fact, whether you believe I’m a prophet hi * A LUCKY CONTRACT. intl St NA A 8 x not, Locke will get his price for those fifty acres before . .e’s three months older.” “Who will give it to him?” “That is a question I can’t answer.” “What makes you think that farm is, or will be, worth saore than $1,000?” “Because I found out something the other day that will have a very important bearing on the Ste. Marie River and the neighborhood near the Locke Farm.” ; “Oh, you did?” ; Tom nodded mysteriously. “What was -it- you found out?” “That is one of my business secrets, Dick.” ; “Which means that you don’t intend to tell me,” replied Jick, in an aggrieved tone. “Not this afternoon. Later, perhaps. Look out, I think you’ve got a bite!” , Dick tound he had, and landed a fish just as Tom pulled in his fourth. : “It’s a mean thing to excite a fellow’s curiosity and then leave him on the ragged edge,” growled Dick. “Well, P’ll tell you this much: The outcroppings on the Locke Farm show that the rock is practically -all lime- stone.” E “What of it?” “A limestone quarry is a good thing to own if you don’t have to carry the stuff too far to market.” “It isn’t much good on the Locke Farm, for there isn’t a railroad station within fifteen or twenty miles where it could be shipped. Look what a haul it would be. It wouldn’t pay to ship it.” “Correct. Otherwise Locke could have sold his fifty acres long ago.” “Then what good is the rock if you can’t turn it into money ?” . “It can, and before long will, be turned into good money by some lucky chap.” “How will it?” . “That’s part of my business secret.” “Say, you’re mighty aggravating this afternoon. If you weren’t my chum I’d tell you what I think of you.” “Go on and tell, if it will make you feel any better. You won’t hurt my feelings.” “No, I’d rather not. I think we’d better change the sub- ject, anyway.” : “Just as you say. I’m through.” . is The boys fished in silence a while, each catching a couple more fish. “What are we going to do all summer, Tom?” asked Dick at henge. “We can’t afford to loaf around. At least, I can Ft , “I know where you can get a good job until the first of September.” 3 Mis “Where?” : : _ “At the Bay View Hotel. The proprietor is looking for an assistant to help old Captain Blakeley také care oi' the bath houses. I spoke to him this morning about , and he told me to send you around about five o’clock. He'll pay $30 a month and feed you. You can sleep home.” “I'll take that if I can get it.” “You can get it, all right.” “How about yourself?” ; t : . “I’m going to be night clerk at the same house.” - “That so? Then we'll both be fixed for the summer!” said Dick, joyfully. : “Yes.” : = _“Why didn’t you tell me this when we first started out?” “I thought it would be more of a pleasant surprise if I ies beam ana eng ler ‘. moun be ’s a big surprise me. I never thou striking” the hotel men for a job at this late day. I supposed every- think was taken up a month ago, for the hotels open up for business next week. ; * “Everything was taken up, but the two positions in question suddenly became vacant. \I got the tip this morn- ing about the night clerk job and I hustled around to the hotel and captured it. Then I spoke for you. All —— to do now is. to call on Mr. Sandford and tell. _ you'll — take the place. 7 Nik nae “J’ll do it, bet your life. Let’s get back now, we’ve ht Sop cope for apne de ak, and e boys wo ir h, and started for the bridge across the creek. : Barents es

Page 6

A LUCKY CONTRACT. Siem A car bound for Englewood came along just as they reached it. “Give us a lift across, will you?” Tom asked the motor- man, who looked kind of fr-endly. ; ; “Sure. Jump on,” was the man’s reply. The boys got on the car, and half a' minute later got off a the other side, after thanking the motorman for the avor. ' Then they started for their homes: "4 CHAPTER III. THE CHANCE OF HIS LIFE. The boys parted at the junction of the beach’ road and Jefferson Street, Dick taking the former, which led to the _ Bay View Hotel, while Tom 1ollowed the iatter, which wouid take him into the heart of Engiewood Village. He took Dick’s string c/ fish, as weli as his pole and line, _ to leave at his chum’s house, wh:ch, as we have said, was next door to his own. : When Tom walked into the house with his own fish he - found his aunt in the kitchen fixing the nre m the stove. “What do you think of these beauties?” he said to the cheerful-looking woman, holding up his string of the finny tribe. “There’s a dozen of them just out of the bay.” “They are fine,” his aunt replied. “I’ll fry three oi them for supper. I guess you won’t be able to eat’ more than two yourself, You’d better take haf of them around tu . Dooley. Her son isn’t doing anything at present, and I don’t believe they’ve got any too much to eat in the _ house.” f . “I intended to do that, Aunt Mary,” said Tom... “I'll clean three of the fish for yéu and then run around with six of the balance to Mrs. Vooley. I’ve no doubt but she’ll be glad to get them.” “het ‘ rs. Dooley, mother of Mike Dooley, whom Tom had mentioned to Dick as a likely lad to conduct the ferry en- terprise at the trolley bridge in the creek, was a poor widow who earned a scanty living assisting her more fortunate neighbors in their house cieaning and washing. “Whenever Tom and Dick went fishing, if they were for- tunate, they never failed to save a few of their catch for the worthy widow. mth _ They also assisted her in other ways when the opportunity offered, and, consequently, Mrs: Dootey had a warm, spot in her heart for both boys. On his way to the widow’s cottage with the fish, Tom’s mind was occupied with thoughts about the Locke Farm on the Ste. Marie River, about eight miles from Engle- _ In fact, he had been thinking of littie else for more than a week, ever since he had accidentally tearned avout certais Amprovements that were to be made in that neigh- _ The projectors of the enterprise were keeping their plans _-. @ profound secret as yet, not even a hint of what was in . : lation having reached the ears of the editor of the lewood “News.” er ; 5 int s 3 : ut About a week pti Tom was sunning himself .one ming at the end of the raised oa in front of the of attached ‘to the Bay View Hotel, when ‘0 gentlemen, one of whom was Major Willard Nutte, a ealthy resident the Minneapolis, séeas ced \ a) arn wa ih ot tenn: ptiots, wate 40° bald oF the M. St P. & S. Ste. M. R. \ ‘a, fish-canning | It was expected that the plans and specifications would be ready by the first of August, when bids would be invited for the erection of the dam. Later on bids would be asked for the construction of the factories, as well as for several hundred small cottages for the people who would be employed at the various industries. ‘he saw and planing mill would be put in advance to sup- ply lumber on the spot for the buildings. The railroad company would build a- branch line to the place, and it was expected that a thriving village or small town, that would put Englewood in the shade, would spring right up out of the wilderness, as it were. The site of this projected village, including the ground on which the factories were to be built, had been purchased a year previous by Major Nutte, but possession, by special agreement with the former own.r, a farmer who cultzvated the land, was deferred until ail'ter the present year’§ har- vest. its boundaries began at the foot of the northern end of the short bluf®’ owned by Andrew Locke, a shiftless indi- vidual, who had parted with all the tillable acres he had originally owned, and with his wife was now confined to what was considered the comparatively valueless bluff, the area of which was fifty acres. — s Locke and his wife were living on the $6,000 he had got- ten for his land. Their residence was a small farmhouse on the top of bluff overlooking the river and the surrounding country. The outbuildings, no longer of much use to their owner were in poor shape, and going to ruin. The bluff was largely composed of limestone, and this fact had been noted by Tom rodwbridge a few months be- fore, when hé was up that way on his wheel. After Major Nutte and his compa.ion had walked away from the end of the beardwalk, never susjectng that they had had a listener to their important conversation, Tom con- tinued to sit there and think about the revelation he had got on-to. He easjly saw that it was going to be a bfg thing for that pait of the State. Probably a million or more dollars would have to be spent beiore the syndicate could begin to look for results;, but, in the long run, he had [ttle doubt that. Major Nuitte and his associates would realize largely on their investment. The major’s connection und .influence with the big rail- road. company was an asset which would go a.long way to- ward rendering the project a ‘success, for the car works was bound to pay from the. very start. What particularly interested ‘Lom was the contemplated ) construction. ‘ee ; : And that stone was right on the ground in the shape of Andrew Locke's fifty acres of unproiitable farming land. 0.7 . ‘this would require a,large amount of cheap stone for its But for ‘that fact the stone would have to be brought ~ from a considerable distance, and that would cost money. Wheever got the contract for building the dam would find the Locke Farm a valuable asset, and it was now in the market for a paltry $1,000. rs “Tf I could buy that bluff I’d stand to make a raft money out of it,” the boy told himself, with a thrill at the possibilities of the scheme. “But, as I haven’t a cent of capital, and no possibility of gett‘ng any, I stand as much show of getting it.as I do of buying the Englewood & Pres- ton Trolley Line. Here is the chance of a fellow’s life going to! waste tor the lack of a that’s what it is!” na . Tom knew that the first contractor who came to estimate on the base, of the dam would as a preliminary measure snap up the biuff at the low price at which“t was offered, ~ for its possession would enable him to easily outbid all rival competitors. ; : ‘¢ “If I owned that farm I could make good terms with th “The of the village » has the # few hundred dollars. It’s tough, -

Page 7

\ ve =e “Mike vith h Le Aa! ‘aren at aan With Monopoly’ on it. That will occupy ha! A LUCKY CONTRACT. . of which now prove of great value in furnishing the material | oughly, and thep painted three stripes around it from stem ’ for the construction of the dam. We predict for this young| to stern. man a brilliant future.’ ” After all, it was only another of Tom’s castles in the air, for where was he to get $1,000 to buy the Locke Farm? Nevertheless, the possibilities of the thing appealed so strongly to his ambitious nature that he returned home that day feeling like a different boy altogether. | CHAPTER IV. A RACE FOR A aw ina After supper that evening Dick Useintol ran in to his friend’s home to tell him that he had gotten the job as assistant to Captain Blakeley, who would have charge of es string of bathhouses connected with the Bay View otel. “That will carry me over till the factory reopens in Se ber,” said Dick, who was in a happy humor. “Mother and sis are tickled to "death over my good luck. They were afraid I’d be idle all summer, for jobs are mighty scarce around Englewood. I told the folks that you got me the ° g, and they want you to come in so they can thank you.” *“T don’t want to be thanked for doing you a favor, old chap. You’d do the same for me if you had the chance.” ure I would,” repliéd Dick, in a tone that showed he meant it. “When are you going to work? Next week?” “I start in the morning. The houses .have got to be painted, and I’ve got to = the captain do the work. That will take the balance of the week. You don’t come on till the house 2 ngld — Wednesday, do you?” “No,” .replied “Then you'll coe another week’s vacation. mind if I had that, too. mo ‘ould tell you. I'll attend to that ferry scheme for so it will be ‘n working-order when it’s need I’ve oni 3 borrow the flat-boat, paint it up in gaudy colors, and rig a mast for the white flag that’s to have the legend A day, at any rate.” I'd like to see Deacon Fitch’s face after that boat goes into commission and the fact is reported to him,” chuckled Dick. “Maybe he'll put a stop to. it.” “How can he? Mke or any one else has the right to row passengers acrcss the creek if they want to go by in preference to the trolley. That’s one of the advantages of a free country.” “Are you sure that Mike doesn’t require a franchise?” grinned Dick. “I guess it won’t be jnecessary to ask the State Legis- lature to aera him one.” “P’ll bet Herbert Fitch will make it his business to try and bulldoze Mike out of the scheme.” “Mike doesn’t care a rap for Herbert Fitch, and he can’t be bluffed Pon cent. I'll tell Mike not to pay any at- to h'm.” xt will be hopping mad if Mike doesn’t take his hat. to him.” _eares if he does set mad? cept in his own opinion.” don’t count a whole lot in my opinion.” rE fs * in mine, either.” boys then got talking about something else, aad after he hile piel. went home. Tom had told Mrs. Murphy to send Mike over.to the cot- 9 in the morning, and the lad was on hand before Tom - got through breakfast, Tom explained the ferry scheme to Ailiea and Mike was en- I wouldn’t How are you going to put in the - He isn’t so much, ex- OD ie 2 Saeed eres disposed to patronize him. ith him when 1 he went to borrow the : icone nome Fg one thee catel age ‘ashes. to’ ap’ : se - chanted wi with the opportunity it offered him to make a little] It was left to dry in the sunshine under Mike’s care. Tom then went over to see man Dick was getting on at the bathhouses. He found him arrayed in a pair of overalls with a pot of eer paint, and a brush, working away for all he was wort “Hello, Dick, who are things coming on?” he-asked. “All right.” “Where’s. the captain?” “Mr. Sandford sent after him a few minutes ago.” “Well, Mike and I painted the outside of the flatboat red, white and blue, and it is drying now. As soon as it is ready to turn over I’m going “to have Mike give the in- side a couple of coats of white. ‘To-morrow I'll fit the pole in it, and then the boat will be ready for business as soon as the flag has been prepared for nailing to the top of the le.” “You didn’t lose any time over the matter,” said Dick. “No. I don’t believe in putting off till to-morrow what can be done to-day.” ‘ Tom remained an hour talking to his chum, and then went back to the place where Mike was watching the flat- boat. The pairit® was dry enough to permit the boat to be turned over, and then Tom and the widow’s son gave the in- side the first coat of white color. “I’m going home now, Mike. You’d better do the same. Come back some time this: afternoon and give the inside a second coat of the white. 1 won’t be around again till to-morrow morning, when lll put the pole in.” Tom went home and found his dinner waiting for him. After he had eaten it he got out his wheel_and started for a spin up the road in the direction of the Locke Farm. That locality had now a peculiar attraction for him. thoug gh he did not see the remotest chance of benefiting by the advance information that he had accidentally got possession of. Still, he wanted to go out there and inspect the prob- able site of the dam, and see where the factories and new oe wonts probably be built. had nothing else on his hands, anyway, and it was as eile a way to kill time and amuse himself as he could ‘think of, anyway. It was a gorgeous afternoon for a run up the road, and, though he missed the companionship of Dick, he thoroughly enjoyed the invigorating exercise. The farm was about eight miles by the road from Engle- wood, and he rapidly reduced that distance as the moments sped ‘by. As he passed Major Nutte’s residence, that : gentleman's daughter Hazel came rushing out on her coal ant mare, Queen Bess, a thoroughbred of exquisite She was a lovely girl, a pure blonde, blve eyes, and a form like é fairy. She was a daring, 1 and experienced equestrienne. _ Tom. favored her with a look of admiration as she flew by him, bound in the same direction as himself, A curve in the highway soon hid her from hig sight. : When he got around ee ene This was not extraordinary, as another bend a of a mile further on cut off an extended view of the road. uaa eee ne Then a unbieneeted scene Rha pe soak thes aor rt the e BA the steed by ae pro With gold golden hair, ‘ panes * and Two tough-looking men had sto fair girl, and while one was holding the the other was’t view she was sit came in 0

Page 8

6 A LUCKY CONTRACT. feet ahead, then he turned and started back for the ruffian | the saddle, where she swayed back and forth, like a reed © who held the bridle. The girl had been partially unseated by the fellow that Tom had knocked out, and as she jumped back on the saddle she struck the other man a blow in the dace with her, whip- handle. Sp The man uttered an imprecation of mingled pain and - rage, and releasing the bridle, seized Miss Nutte by the arm and jerked her partly from her saddle. At that moment Tom came up and struck him in the mouth with his fist. tS Just as he did it, the mare, who was a spirited animal, and had been exceedingly restive under the unusual condi- tions, sprang forward. The girl uttered a shrill scream as she felt herself falling. The sleeve of her dress gave way, leaving a piece of the cloth in the rascal’s hand. That saved her, for with admirable presence of mind she seized the mare’s mane and clung to it frantically as the animal dashed away down the road. Under the circumstances she was unable to regain her, seat on the saddle, but hung over sideways and backward, her foot caught it the stirrup, in great peril of her life, clinging to the mane while the mare plunged ahead on her course, clearly in a state of terror. Tom took in the situation at a glance, and spinning around, started in pursuit. / The mare was a fleet-footed animal, but she was greatly handicapped-by the way her rider hung on to her. Tom, fearful that the girl might tumble off at any ‘mo- ment, got down to work’ and spun along at high racing speed. The spokes of his wheels flashed in the sunshine like circlets of fire. : { Fortunately, the road was in fine condition, hard and _- smooth, with no stony obstructions, and the boy began to ’ gradually pull up on the fleeing horse. t But his work was cut out for him, just the same. : _ The first mile was pulled off at a clip that would have } won Tom a prize at a bicycle race. . The second mile was covered in hardly less time, with the boy much nearer the mare. } The third mile brought them in sight of the St. Mari { River, glistening in the distance. ree _ Farmhands working in a field close by stopped to gape in astonishment at the strange race, expecting to see the is endangered girl fall under the mare’s legs any moment a: { she and the animal swept by. : r hinge yelled encouragement to Tom, as, bent forward } pig handles of his machine, he swept by, pedaling with all might, for they easily divined that his object. was to - Yeseue the imperiled girl. Foot by foot Tom crept up on the frightened mare, but _just as the mare left ‘the river bank. over the handles and allowed the itself, at the same time he wound mare’s neck to support himself, the animal’s eyes, bending and t across é to See, she made frantic efforts to free her head, able to do Pigs for Tom clung on like grim shaken in a soft wind. Then he slipped around to the other side and grabbed her again, releasing her foot, which was entangled in the stirrup. ; Pulling her toward him, she fell limply into his arms, but still maintained her death-like grip on the mare’s mane. “Save me!” she breathed, letting her head drop on his shoulder. “You are safe, Miss Nutte,” he replied. hold on the mane.” ne did so, and then with a sigh fainted dead away. “Let go your CHAPTER V. “YOU SHALL HAVE THE THOUSAND DOLLARS.” Tom’s legs seemed to give way under him all at once. His brain began to swim and a mist came before his eyes. He had overdone himself, and the reaction had set in. : He staggered a few feet away, sank to the soft sod and fell back unconscious, with Hazel Nutte clasped in his arms. , When Tom recovered his senses he saw Miss Nutte bend- ing over him. His head was in her lap and she was rubbing his temples and forehead in an effort to bring him to. For a moment or two he looked into her face in a con- fused way, as if wondering why he was in that situation, then he remembered the cause of it all and raised himself up, feeling a bit sheepish to think that he had succumbed under the ordeal to which he had been subjected. “Are you much hurt?” asked the girl, sympathetically. “I guess not,” replied Tom. “I don’t know how I came to faint away. I suppose I overdid myself on‘the bicycle chasing you and the horse: I feel as weak as a cat, but I guess I’ll come around in a few minutes. I hope you are all right, Miss Nutte. You and the mare had a narrow escape from going into the river. I barely caught you in time.” “I know it,” she replied. “You saved my life, and Queen Bess’s, too. I am very, very grateful‘: to you. You are a “rave and plucky boy. You rescued me from those two yamps, also. How shall I ever be able to thank you nough ?” ‘ “Don’t worry about that, Miss Nutte. I am very glad ‘o have been able to render you a service. When I saw the ix you were in I could not do, otherwise than try my best “o save you. Anybody else would have done the same for ‘ou under the circumstances.” : “I am sure nobody could have done any better than you ude You had better lie down on the grass. You look very white. } \ ; : BF nes I will. I feel all knocked up,” he said, lying ac > 4 “TJ -will, walk Bess up and down while you are resting, for I’m afraid she might catch cold, notwithstanding that it’s a warm day. She’s as wet as though she’d been in the siver. é She went. to the horse, which was walking quietly about, and rubbed her down as well as she could with her hand- ‘erchief, and then she led her up and down the bank of the river until she was ‘cooled: off. > ; By that time Tom felt pretty good again, and was on his feet. “I shall never forget what you’ve done for me as long as I live,” said the girl to him, when she rejoined him. “Neither will my father. What is your name?” “Tom Trowbridge.” “You Jive in the village, I suppose?” “ “I don’t. remember having seen you before, though I’ve been living in the neighborhood of Englewood for two years.” “I suppose not, miss, as I’ve been working all day in the Englewood Wagon- Works for nearly two years. The place is shut down for the summer now, and_I’m idle at present. 1s t that will only be f week, I have been Put hal only be form weal a dave bon cored by Mr. Sandford, owner of the Bay Vi clerk, up to September first.” “Well, I’m glad to know you, Mr. Trowbri My name is Hazel Nutte. i father is Major William Nutte, as you know. is vice-president of the Minneapolis, Bes & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad. You must go back — ge t EPs aight <4

Page 9

A LUCKY CONTRACT. with me to my home; so that. my father and mother can thank you for what you did for me.” . “I don’t think it will be necessary for them to. thank me, as you have already done so,” replied Tom. ; . “Oh, they wouldn’t be satisfied unless they did. You will go, won’t you?” Tom couldn’t refuse. A In fact, the prospect of being a while in this charming girl’s company, and being so favorably regarded by her, was particularly delightful to the boy. * There. wasn’t a girl in the village who could compare with her in grace and loveliness, and Tom felt proud of the honor of her society even for a limited time. He looked around for his wheel, and found it some dis- tance away, lying on its side close to the river bank. ; He was glad to find that it had not been injured in the eas “Shall we ride down to the river a bit before we go back?” Hazel Nutte said. “It is early in the afternoon yet.” 2 “Anything you say goes with me, Miss Nutte,” answered ‘om. He assisted her into the saddle, and mounting his wheel they turned down the river road at a slow gait. “T should love to fo up en that bluff where that farm- house is, for one could get a fine view of the country from that elevation,” said the girl. “Well, I guess. there will be no objection to our going up. A man by the name'of Locke lives there with his wife. The place is for sale, as you can see by that sign, but no- y wants it.” * “Why not?” replied the major’s daughter, in some sur- prise. “I should think if was a fine, airy spot to live.” “That part of it is all right. People, however, don’t buy land around here just to get a fine view of the country. They expect to make a living and something better’ off the ground. There’s no way of doing that on the bluff. It’s too stony.” “y , “Then why did this Mr. Locke buy just the bluff when he came here?” “He didn’t. When he purchased the place there was a hundred and fifty acres to it,-one hundred of which was good planting ground. He has the/ reputation of being a - shiftless kind of man, for he never worked his farm to much advantage, and gradually got into debt. Finally he had the chance to sell the hundred good acres to his neigh- bor on the east. The man would have taken the whole farm, but Locke wanted too much for it, and, as the bluff was of no use to the other farmer he made the owner an offer of $60 an acre for the available land, or above $10 more than land around here was fetching and Locke sold it to him, and is now living in idleness on the bluff off the money. Within the last year he’s had the bluff in the market for $30, and then $25 an acre, and lately as low ,as $20, which shows that he wants to get away altogether. If I had $1,000 * Pd buy it, for I’d like to get the place badly.’ But I haven’t "plans to your father,” replied your father, in connection with got a cent, so.there’s no chance of my getting it.” As he spoke they were slowly ascending the path that led. to the top of the bluff, Tom on foot trundling his wheel. “What would you do with, the place if you owned it?” Hazel asked him. \ - . “Pd make a pile of money off it—many times the $1,000 that Locke wants for it.” “Indeed!” she exclaimed, much interested. “Then why not explain your plans té my father? He will be glad to help you in acknowledgment of the great service you have red me. ; : There are reasons why I wouldn’t like to explain my ‘ Tom., “I will explain every- thing to you if you will the matter.” : pega, YA “Of course I promise,” she said. . “Let us stop at’ this site while I tell you how, if I owned this bluff, I could make a lot of money.” “Very well,” she replied. “Will you help me dismount?” Tom assisted her down. ==. —-, “To in with, I ask you if know about any pl that other moneyed men, has wi promisg me not to say a word about ect to this neighborhood?” | She looked at him in “How did u learn pla ce 7 ~ yo ‘ t surprise before answering. that. he had any plans about this th “TI will tell you, though I am not sure that you will ap- prove of the way I came to hear about the matter. How- fe Wet peo? el 7 7 ever, I haven’t said a word on the subject to any one, and don’t mean to, yourself excepted.” Tom then explained how he had overheard her father talking to a gentleman at the end of the boardwalk in front of the bathhouses belonging to the Bay View Hotel about a week since, and he told her everything he had learned on that occasions ; “I dare say I should not have listened to a conversation not intended for my ears, Miss Nutte, but I was so inter- ested in the matter under discussion that I overlooked the fact that I was not exactly doing the proper thing. I hope you will excuse me for doing so, for I should feel very bad if I suffered in your esteem.” “I owe you too much to think of chiding you for playing the part of a listener,” she said, gently.. “I am sure no harm will come from it, as I know you will be silent about what you heard. Mother and I are acquainted with father’s plans, but it is a great secret. It might embarrass the en- terprise if the news received premature circulation.” “You may depend that no one will ever hear a whisper | from me.” “I believe you,” she said, laying a hand. on his’ arm. “Now tell me in what way does my tather’s plans affect you with relation to this bluff.” “It will take a considerable quantity of suitable stone to build the dam that is to be constructed across ‘this river. That kind of stone is right here in the bluff. If I owned the bluff I could sell it at a big profit to the contractor whose bid is accepted. It would besto his interest to get. possession of it, for otherwise he would have to buy the stone at a distance and pay heavy transportation charges on it. The nearest station at present on the railroad is more than fif- teen miles from here, and 1 doubt if’ the contemplated branch line will be started before the dam is well undér way. Look what it would cost to haul the stone to this spot. Under these circumstances think what the possession of $1,000 means to me. It would give me a start in life, and that’s what I’m looking for.” “Tom Trowbridge, you shall have the thousand dollars,” said Hazel, regarding him with an approving smile. CHAPTER VI. TOM SECURES THE LOCKE FARM. . If a bomb had been exploded under Tom he couldn’t have felt more astonished. He looked at the girl as if he wasn’t sure he had heard ight. “What did you say?” he asked. “Will you explain, just how I am to get it?” “I have considerably over a thousand dollars in my own name in the savings department of the Englewood Bank. I will lend you $1,000 of it for as long a time as you need it, without security. I would give it to you, but I feel that you would not accept it that way. You can pay the theu- sand back out of your profits. My father need not know anything about the matter, and it will not be necessary for you to explain to him that you know anything about his plans. It is better that way, for though he would not cen- sure you for the way in which the knowledge of his enter- prise came into your possession, still he might not like it, and I want you to stand well with him. I can see that you are smart and ambitious, and are bound to get ahead, so I want to do what little I can to make an opening tor you. gratitude alone would induce me to do that, but I may a quite frankly that I like you independent of. the service you have done for me. So you will take the money, will you not?” j “As much as I want that money, and as much as it would do for me, I do not know if I sp ow to take’ to take ad- vantage of your generosity, Miss Nutte. %% almost looks like a kind of pay for saving your life.” “You are quite hier I am only lending you the money. It is merely a small favor on my part, I should feel — hurt if you refused to accept it. 4 I will take it, and I a you Eo the favor Il my heart. You are perhaps doing more for me than think” | of this bluff io at “Th age | bh * « with you —

Page 10

§ im my hands. It is not impossible but you may be responsible gratitude.” “The gratitude will always be on my side, Tom Trow- bridge. Think what must have been my fate if. Bess had carried me into the river, with my’ foot entangled in her stirrup. I should have been drowned before she could have found .a spot to get on the bank again. Can either of us doubt for a moment that you saved my life?” . “Well, I'm glad I did. Id risk my life any day to save you from-peril. That’s all I can say, except that I like you_ and hope we shall always be good friends.” ; _ “I’m sure we shall,” she said, earnestly. ..“At least it won't be my fault if we are not.” “Nor mine,” replied Tom. “We will go back now,” said Hazel. “You won’t go to the top of the bluff, then?” “No, I will wait until th property is yours.” _ They walked back to the road, then, after helping Hazel in the saddle, Tom.got on his wheel and they started off _ in the direction of Englewood at a rapid clip. _ They saw no signage the two tramps on the way back, and in_due t'me reach e Nutte mansion. Major Nutte and his wife were sitting on the veranda when Hazel and Tom entered the grounds. The girl introduced Tom to her parents, and then des- cribed her adventure with t%& tramps, which led to the mare becoming frichtened and running away with her. She told how Tom had come to her rescue, and how he had _ chase on his whel when Queen Bess ran away. and _saved her and the mare from a plunge in the river which would probably have been fatal to both. . The major and his wife were astonished and concerned ' at the narrow escape she had had, and they could not suf- ficiently express their gratitude to the brave boy. f They prevailed on Tom to remain to tea, and after the meal Major Nutte took him into his library and asked him if he could do anything for him. Tom thanked him for the offer, and said that at present the major could do nothing for him. : “Well, my boy, I shall not be satisfied until I have given you some substantial evidence of my appreciation of your gallant services to my daughter,” said the rich man. “Re- member that I can push you ahead in the world. A friend at court is a good thing to have, and I shall always be that to you if you will permit me to help you.” “I am much obliged to you, Major Nutte; but it. is my ambition to get on without any one’s help, except when circumstances make it for me to ask a favor.” ; “Whenever you want a favor of me you have only to ask - it, and it will be granted at once,” replied, the major, who rather admired the boy’s independent spirit. Hazel accompanied Tom to the gate, and it was arranged _ between them that she was to meet him next morning seus _ ten o’clock at his aunt’s cottage, when she would go to the _. bank and draw $100, which was all he said that he would _ require at present to pay down on the contract for the ; of the Locke property. The deal would have to be put through in his aunt’s a since the law did not permit a minor to hold real f in his own name. SS eat a ae apna that will probably put every ying axes on.’ a ar i who said that don’t know what they're talk- > - sk yee mcienan to me how you expect to make uch money out o such-pn apparently worthless bit of ft Yl get $100. of the bluff y down to bi re nd t xpla it now, at. I am bound in honor not} secured Mike “tod abou the idee pia any one. What I want] do is to go out to the Locke place with me and ar-|_ A LUCKY CONTRACT. _——_$ — Then you will hold the property in your name for me. You'll do this to oblige me, won’t you, auntie?” “T’ll do anything in the world to oblige you, Tom.” “I knew you would, aunty, dear,” he said, kissing her. Next morning Tom went down to take a look at the flat- heat, and found that Mike Dooley had applied the second coat of white paint in good shape, and that the boat made quite a presentable appearance., d He deferred putting in the pole until he had attended. to his property business. Ma : At ten o’clock he was back at the cottage waiting for Hazel to put in her appearance. ‘ - She arrived soon after, and Tom introduced her to his aunt, who was quite taken with her good looks and lady- like ways. After a short visit she and Tom went to the bank to- gether, and he got the $100. ; As soon as dinner was over, Tom borrowed a horse and - buggy and drove his aunt out to the Locke Farm. When Tom stated the object of their call, Andrew Locke was ready to do business. : A new and unexpected difficulty, however, presented itself. Locke wanted an add'tional $500 for the farmhouse. | Tom made a strenuous objection to this, and told him he could move the house off if’ he wanted to. _ 2 Locke said he wasn’t going to move anything but his personal. property, and refused to make ‘any deal that did not include the house at $500 extra. . ‘Of course the boy wasn’t going to let the $500 stand in his way of getting the property, for he would manage to raise it some way when the time came to close the deal, so Locke accepted the $100 deposit and agreed to come to the village next morning and sign the contract. _ This he did, and Tom h‘red one of the two village lawyers to have the fifty acres surveyed, Locke’s title to the ground passed upon, and a deed transferring the rocky farm in a Jegal way to his aunt. A few. days later he called on Hazel Nutte, told her he had bought the pronerty, and then explained how he would require another $590 to pay for the farmhouse. She agreed to loan him the additional sum, and the boy returned home perfectly satisfied that his start in life was now assured. : CHAPTER VII. OM’S NEW SCHEME. ednesday the Bay View Hotel opened* with three guests, and Tom went to work that night. The Englewood Beach Hotel also threw open its doors, and every day thereafter more guests arr’ved, most of them permanent for the season. ge he Sar Poth houses were weg and everything in full swing by the Fourth of July. ; a) ni few days before that Mike Dooley put the flatboat in commission, and the summer visitors who preferred to wa. over to North Beach to taking the trolley patronized this uniaue mode of conveyance across the creek. Mike’s ferryboat was soon known to everybody at both beaches, and many walked to the ereck just for the fun of being poled across the short stretch of water. : Although he had a sign on the boat stating that his re- munerationw was a penny each way, he got more nickels than coppers, and somet’mes he got ten cents. and occasionally a quarter from those liberally disposed. ae Consequently the trolley people gained nothing by their shabby trick. : ' Deacon Fitch, as soon as the facts were reported to him, sent a couple of his men to put Mike out of business. The men happened to appear at a time when a number of the summer visitors were waiting to be. taken across the creek, and Mike appealed to them for protection. Several strapping college lads seized the enemy and ducked them in the stream, and that put a temporary. end to the raid. NE Pe : t Ton?f, being notified of the action of the trolley company attended a meeting of ie Town Sonnet of Englewood and o continue ! i business, explaining F r boy who needed the money. e trolley company was disliked deacon ordered the restored to on his part, however, did not break up the On ‘the following

Page 11

A LUCKY ferry, as by this time all the visitors had learned that Mike was the son of a poor widow who needed financial help, and continued to do as much business as _ before. About the middle of July the deed conveying the Locke Farm to Mrs. Mary Dean, Tom’s aunt, was signed, and the fact that the rocky bluff had passed into her possession was duly chronicled in the Englewood “News,” and created cons:derable speculation among the villagers, who had the idea that the Locke property Tar quince. People wondered what Mrs. Dean proposed to do with her purchase. Others, who had been under the impression that Tom’s relative was not very well off, were curious to learn where she had gotten the $1,500 to pay for the place. The general idea was that she had come into a legacy. Tom was quizzed on the subject, but had nothing to say. - The Lockes carted their household goods away and then Tom induced Mrs. Dooley to go out there and take charge of the house. Of course Mike had to accompany her, and that put the k ferry out of business, much to Deacon Fitch’s satis- tion. After deducting the expenses of the enterprise out of the Share of the rece'pts that Mike had faithfully. turned over each day to Tom, the latter had a balance of $6, which he presented to the Widow Dooley, ‘ Tom had bought Locke’s cow and his small stock of poul- try, and the widow and her son had the benefit of these in addition to free rent. ‘ Mike got work on the adjacent farm, and his mother secured quite a bit of washing to take home, so that three or four days a week there was always a display of clothes on the lines on the top of the bluff. About the ‘first of mnageet the plans of the syndicate which was going to improve that section were completed, and the news was permitted to get out. y The Englewood “News” printed a column about Major Nutte’s enterprise, and the facts created not a little excite- ment in the village and neighborhood. The farmers whose property adjoined, or was not far from the site of the projected factories and the new village which the starting of the industries would cause to spring into existence, began to hug themselves with satisfaction. The mere publication of the project made their proper- ties mere valuable, and in due time the facilities offered by the branch: railroad, which would run to Englewood, for sending their produce to market was bound.to bring an added income to their pockets. ' Nog one, however, as yet suspected that the new owner of the bluff would. benefit to any great extent. by the new condition of things, unless possibly it was covered with homes for the workingmen who would in time come to work in the factories. . But it would cost money to build houses, and houses had to be built before they could be rented. . Possibly Major Nutte might buy the bluff at an advance on the price paid to Locke, the gossips argued, and in that way Mrs. Dean might be able to double her investment. _ Yom, in getting possession of the bluff, had thought of nothing but the profit to come out of the stone that would be needed to build the dam. It was about this t'me that. another advantage occurred to him. : _ He and Hazel, with whom he was now pretty thick, went out to the bluff one afternoon for a ride in the girl’s pony Ps they were slowly mounting the path to ‘the farmhouse, Ma gs gees he called her by her first name now, and _ she called him Tom, “I sce another chance to get additional profit out of this property, with your father’s backing, and promised to do me a*favor any time I asked: it.” «What is it, Tom?” asked the g'rl, in an interested tone. “Why, when this rock has all been eut away and used it will leave ‘me with a flat piece of ground on my hands. at’s the matter with having a couple of streets laid out it and making it an addition to the village? With ofits I expect to realize out of the rock I can build of small cottages and rent them at a rate whi ‘pegae fo take thom That wl aoe ‘a | the whole fift :. aa y acres. It will enable me) to “then I eam mortgage those: for ore money to build .additional enough to ~ ‘build | tree. 9 CONTRAC "*. By that means I ought to be able to become What do you think of tne a few more. ‘quite an extensive landlord. idea?” ; “It is just splendid! Papa will lend you all the money you'll need, for he'll have security for it. Then, if you should for any reason ever get into temporary financial dif- ficulties he w:ll carry you over. He’s very anxious to help you in some way. I heard him tell mother so the other day. He feels wider such great obugations to you ror sav- ing my life that he wants to give you some substantial evi- dence of his gratitude.” “Well, the only substantial evidence of his gratitude ] will accept will be the advantage of his influence in connoc- tion with this new plan of mine. I should be glad to bor- row of him the’money necessary to push it on a big scale. Every speculator has to borrow money to carry out an ex- tensive enterprise. If your father has confidence enough in me to put up the coin it must be on the same business basis as IL would have to e with a stranger, for I mean to work out my own fortur®. He shall have the same in- terest from me he would exact from anybody else propos‘ng a similar scheme. I intend to do business on business pria- ciples. It is the only way to feel thoroughly independent There’s a big fortune in this property me’ if ’m smart enough to dig it out, and I don’t mean to let any grass grow under my feet in the effort to make a grand success or the enterprise.” “I am satisfied you will succeed, Tom,” replied Hazel. confidently. “Papa says you have the right stuff in you. and I kriew you had from the day-we-first met.” “You are very kind to encourage me, Hazel,” said Tom with a look of appreciation. “Why, I’m-only telling you the truth. Some day you'll be rich.” rhe “I hope so. Not because I’m in loye with money itself, but because of the advantages it brings a person. ‘1here is another reason, too, why T want to be rich.” “What is it?” “That’s a secret I don’t dare tell even to you.” Hazel looked at him a moment, and then sa‘d. “This is some new about?” “No. business project you are thinking . ¥ r * It is Sechaba more important to me even than tone. “Yes: It is‘a dream, and yet I am sure the whole happi- ness of my life will depend on whether it can ever be realized or not.” “It must be very, very important.” “It is. The prize I would win is the most in all the world.” “And you can’t tell me what it is?” | “Some day I hope I may be able to do so, but if I told you now,” he added, with a strange, wistful expression, you would think me presumptuous.” 2 “Presumptuous!” she said. “In what way?” that?” “Something more important?” she said, in a puzzled precious thing “That’s my secret. We are gopd. friends now. I don’t want anything to come between that would make us less so. : ; : “You would have to do something very, very bad to make me think less of you, Tom,” Hazel replied, earnestly. “And I am certain you never will be guilty of an act which you would regret.” * ¥ ; x “I should hope not.. The secret I am speaking about isn’t anything I am ashamed to tell you, but it’s something I’m afraid to tell you.” , $ “Afraid to teil me?” she replied, in surprise. “That’s the size of it.” : .“Why are you afraid to tell me anything that you’re not ashamed of?” ¥ : Re “Oh, because—it might not exactly please you.” “How can you tell that?” , ; , “I can’t tell; but I don’t like to take the chances.” / “You ridiculous boy! Come, now, tell me what this big secret is. I am curious to know,” she said, coaxingly. . They had reached the top of the bluff by this time, and- Tom had dri front door of the house. : aa “No,” he answered. “I'll tell you some day, perhaps, but He jumped out of the phaeton tied the Pony to the cas 4 oe | ‘ eae ‘ wd f ay iy $7 i “ a4 i] 4 the pony under a tree that shaded the —

Page 12

& -—. “We both owe him somethin’,” continued: Bill. 10 Then he held out his hand to her, and she sprang lightly }. to the ground. = “I don’t see any sign of Mrs. Dooley around,” he said. She may have gone to deliver some wash.” He tried the knob of the back door. It was not locked. “Mrs. Dooley is somewhere around the house, after all,” he said. “We'll walk in and surprise her.” They entered the kitchen and shut the door. Hazel sat down and Tom opened the door lea7ing into aoe which connected the front with the back of the bs 5 amma two rough-looking men sprang out and seized y: They were the two tramps who had held up Hazel that afternoon six weeks before. ¢ 7 ¥ * CHAPTER VIII. WHAT HAPPENED IN THE HOUSE ON THE BLUFF. _ Tom, taken by surprise, was an easy victim. ‘ _ He put up.a struggle, of course, but it amounted to very little against the two ruffians. sprang up with a low scream. “She was a plucky little girl, and had no idea either of | ’ ietnting or running away and leaving her escort ih a bad ickle. Her eyes lighted on a broom. 3 She seized it and attacked the nearest raseal with such vigor that he hadeto let go of Tom to defend himself. He grabbed the broom-handle and wrenched it away from ‘her, then he caught her by the wrist with one hand, forced her into a chair and put his other hand over her mouth. While he was doing this the other tramp threw Tom on the floor and sat on him. “¥ou’re the chap who butted in that; day on the road,” tted the ruffian. “You slugged me in the jaw and nearly Broke my face. I reckon I’'ll¥fix ye now for that.” _ “If you do anything to us you'll land in \the county jail pretty quick,” replied Tom, stoutly. “We'll take the chances of that,” replied the man, wit an ugly laugh. “Tie and gag that girl, Bill,” he added to his companion, “so she can’t do nothin’, and then lend me a hand with this young. rooster.” ‘ _ The man Bill took a towel from the table, wound it around Hazel’s mouth and tied it at the. hack of her head. __ Then he secured her to the chair with some cord he took from his pocket. : The girl being now helpless, the rascal helped himself to the chatelaine watch she wore on the bosom of her gown, took the diamond drops out of her ears, and the expensive er from one of hey fingers. : He slipped his plunder in his pocket and then went over to help his companion ) ° up Tom Trowbridge. “T owe you somethin’ nivself for that‘crack you gave. me _ on the nut,” said the rascal named Bill, “and I always _ pay my debts, don’t I, Dan?” , ¢ “I reckon you do,” replied his associate. x + “What'll we we do? * Chuck him off thé bluff?” “It’s none too good for him, but it doesn’t pay to run chances.of gettin’ your neck stretched,” returned Dan. “We don’t want to kill him.” ~ “We'll leave him till we finish goin’ through ‘the house, ' . then we'll attend ‘to his case.” said Bill. “Lock that door Tat ant aed tos doer ce i | i‘ i an the door en the two rascals left the room a ihe : py ne passage. - \ - Tom sat up and looked at Hazel, and the girl looked at "Neither could speak on account of the y | ‘he boy’s ‘hands wore tied behind his back and his ankles a Al ewe vely helpless, he did not despair on eran cage the room and put his ready wits to a al g her a é ge * Pas . In the table in the center of the room a plate, . aucer and a knife and fork, just Bete Fs ones ies him. A LUCKY CONTRACT. She had evidently gone away in a hurry. Tom saw the handle of the knife projecting over the es of the table, and the sight of it put an idea into his He dragged himself over to the table, then got on his knees, and then on his feet. ; Turning his back to the table, he felt along the edge with © his bound hands till he was able to grab the handle of the knife in his fingers. Then he proceeded to hop toward Hazel in the same way that participants in a sack-race try to cover ground. It took some little skill to maintain his balance, but he succeeded. , When he reached the girl he looked at the way she was bound to the chair. : : _ If the raseals did not reappear too soon he believed he could ‘free Hazel, and then it would be an easy matter for her to release him from the cord. Grabbing the blade of the knife firmly between his fingers, with the edge out, he ‘applied it to one of the cords. It took him but a few moments to cut the cord through® Hazel, who easily und@stood what he was about, pulled her right hand free and tare the towel from her mouth. “Give me the knife, Tom, and I will cut you loose.” Tom worked around so she could take the knife and use it on his cords. j ¢ In less than a minute his hands were free. “You’re a brick, Hazel,” he said, after getting rid of the gag. “I'll do the -rest.” : It was but the work of a moment to cut the cord about his ankles, then he released the girl from the chair. Going to the open passage door, he listened. Ae The two*men were rummaging about upstairs with) poor luek, as Mrs. Docley’s possessions were not very valuable. Tom then shot back the bolt on the outer door and un- locked it. « “Do you think they ean catch us before we can get ‘away in the phaeton?” she asked him. “We can’t drive fast down the bluff.” . “Are you willing to take a chance with me?” he asked her. “What do you mean?” “You’re a plucky little girl. I’d like to capture those tramps and turn them over to the authorities. Remembe the chap who bound you has.all your valuables.” . : “Oh, dear; that would be too dangerous for us to at. tempt,” she remonstrated. “Tm not sure of that, If they are not captured they may lay for us the next time we come out here, andwwe ycome frequently, you know, of an afternoon, for they seem to be revengeful rascals.” - “What are you.thinking of doing?” i 2 “There’s a club yonder that I’ll use. You can take that rolling-pin. which is weighty enough to crack 2 man’s skull. We'll lay for them when they come back to this room, and take them by surprise. Ill guarantee to knock one of them out at the first blow, and you ought to make the other chap sick till I can jump in and settle him. Then we'll tie them up the way they served me. Mrs. Dooley ought to be back soon, and she'll take care of them till 1 send the constables out to take charge of them.” It was a daring thing to do, and Hazel was rather ner- vous about attempting it, but finally, like the brave little girl she was, she agreed to help Tom. “You take the second one,” whispered Tom, as they took up their positions on either side of the passage door. . Presently they heard the two ruffians coming downstairs. ‘They were in bad humor because they had picked up none of value in the house. * “We'll pickle that young monkey now,” Tom heard the man’ Dan say. “Weill tie him to one of the treés outside and welt the life half out of him.” ' “You will—I don’t think,” chuckled Tom. - your head is much harder than this club.” The men shuffled along toward the kitchen. : Dan en the room first, and no sooner had he crossed the threshold of the door than Tom felled him to the floor. Thy Wak: Bal ‘ealtod, Th. atusehen eipetde: enty--te e man Bill + in ise, only to face a heavy rolling-pin that hurtled thr : the air and hit him a whack in the upper part of the that staggered wits Tom settled his hasb } , “ Pi. ae a SAR eae ad ¥. iJ “Not unless ' Before he could recover his fw’ 5 rt

Page 13

A~- LUCKY CONTRACT. “+ en EE ae Se Se el Ae ea eee OF OTP EE with a tap that made him see so many stars that he con- cluded to go to sleep. i Hurrah!” shouted Tom. “We've got them dead to rights. Now I'll secure them.” , There was cord aplenty to do that with, and when the on recovered their senses they found themselves help- _By that time Hazel had her watch, and ring, and ear- rings on again, just as if they had never left her. As the rascals had not been gagged they began to say things that caused the girl to open the kitchen door and step outside. They swore at Tom and threatened all kinds of trouble for him. ¢ “You might as well save your breaths, both of you. You're slated for the county jail, and Vil bet Major Nutte will make it hot for you for the indignities you offered his daughter.” At that moment Tom heard Hazel talking to some one outside, and soon after the girl re-entered the house with Mrs. Dooley. Mrs. Dooley was an Irish lady who never looked for a - liga but could hold her end up if a row was forced: upon er. , “So thim are the blackguards who assaulted you and thé young lady,” she said to Tom, as she looked on the bound xuffians. “Sure, it’s sorry I am I was away whin they came here, or I’d have made thim look two ways for Sunday, faith, I would. Ye have got him nicely trussed up, like a pair of pigs in a poke, so ye have. And what do ye in- tind to be afther doin’ with thim?” _“I want you to see that they don’t get away from here till I can send the constables after them in a wagon.” “Get away, is it? I’d like to see them,” replied the Irish- woman. “Sure, I could kape watch on thim with one eye, so I could.” “You won’t mind the trouble, will you, Mrs. Dooley?” said Tom. “Trouble, faith! Sure, it’s no trouble at all. I'l see thot they’re here whin the polacemin come.” “Thank you, Mrs. Dooley. Then Miss Nutte and I will lose no time getting back.” Tom took Hazel by the arm and led her to the phaeton. Assisting her in, he untied the pony, and getting in him- self, proceeded to drive down the road. They were m spinning up the road toward her home. He left her at her gate and went on in the vehicle to the office of the head constable in Englewood. one guardian of the peace was on hand and heard Tom’s story. Then he lost no time in getting his rig in readiness for ~s trip to the bluff, while Tom drove back to Major ca , The major was as mad as a hornet over the treatment Hazel had been subjected to by the tramps, and he said he would see they got all that was coming ‘to them. Tom remained to supper, as he often did these days, and then mounting his wheel drove to the hotel, where his duties ~ began at eight o’clock. e / - —__ CHAPTER IX. FRANK FLEETWOOD, CIVIL ENGINEER. ‘ The head constable and one of his deputies went out te the yes and brought the two tramps back to Englewood with them. c . They spent the night in the village lock-up, and next . morning were arraigned for examination before the justice. Tom and Hazel were present to press the charge against them, and Major Nutte was on hand to see that they were remanded “for trial. i 3 The justice’s office overflowed with spectators drawn there out of curiosity. =. c : ; _ The ruffians having pleaded “not guilty,” Tom went to “witness chair and told his story, His testimony was corroborated by Hazel. _. One of the rascals endeavored to make light of their of- - fense, no one believed his excuses. . > aby eee justice held them for trial. and that afternoon they -tete under the tree the men finished their work and 11 were taken to Preston, the county seat, where they were put in jail to await the next term of the Circuit Court. It was about this time that an advertisement appeared in several of the more important Chicago newspapers asking bids for the construction of a dam across the Ste. Marie River. Specifications were to be seen at the company’s office in Sault Ste. Marie, and bids, accompanied by a certified check for $20,000, had to be submitted on or before September 1. A week later Tom and Hazel made another visit to the bluff. ae time the girl rode Queen Bess and Tom went on his wheel. They found several men making measurements, and do- ing a lot of figuring, in the immediate. vicinity of the new dam site. ad They had a printed copy of the-specifications and several blueprints with them. “I guess that crowd consists of an contractor and his as- sistants getting the necessary data for a bid on the new dam,” said Tom, pointing towards the group. / “Yes. Papa said this morning that a young man from Chicago would be up here to-day with some other men to feu on a contract price for building the dam,” replied azel. “And there will be others later, for it is a job worth bidding on.” 2 , Tom and the girl went to the top of the bluff, as usual, and sat down under the shade of a tree near the edge facing the river. , They talked together in a chummy way and watched the movements of the men near the dam site. Hazel had forgotten all about that secret she was so eager to learn at the time Tom spoke about it, and the boy was glad that she did not take it up again. Tom was always very happy when in Hazel’s society, and she seemed equally conten to be with him. Their friendship grew stronger every time they came to- gether, and there was no doubt that Hazel greatly admired the stalwart, good-looking and manly boy who had saved her life. As for Tom, he had reached the conclusion that the girl was absolutely necessary to his future happinéss, and he made up his mind to win her love if he could. While the well-matched pair were enjoying their tete-a- iled their surveying instruments and other apparatus into a fight wagon and prepared to leave the spot. : ne of them, who seemed to be in charge of the party, walked ahead as far as the bluff and began to examine its face with a look of interest. He climbed up here and there and looked at the rock, breaking off pieces, and, after studying their composition, put them in his pocket. : 3 Tom watched the young man with a satisfied smile. He was satisfied that he would hunt up the owner of the bluff and try to see if he could buy it. Other contractors would probably do thé same, so that his aunt might expect more than one flattering offer for the ‘ property. ’ There wasn’t the least doubt that the man controlling the bluff could easily underbid his competitors and secure the contract for building the dam. “g At len the young man walked up on top of the bluff and knocked at the door of the house. we Mrs. Dooley answered the summons. ° “I beg your pardon, madam, but may I ask who is the owner of this cage he inquired, politely. “Mrs. Mary Dean.” 4 ; “Does she live here?” ; “No, sir. Sure, she lives in Englewood, on Madison Strate. Her nephew, Tom Trowbridge, is sated under thot — tree yonder with a young lady. Faith, he can till ye all about the place, sor.” the young man went over to interview Tom. 3 “That’s my name,” replied the “Your aunt, Mrs. Dean, owns x Sho d ” replied T : “She does, om. : “Has she ever had any idea of selling it?” {A , “No, sir.” : “How many acres does she own?” 4 property, I under-_ \

Page 14

12 “Only the bluff, about fifty acres.” “It does not seem to be adapted for growing anything.” “Poultry is about the only thing grown here.” “Do you think your aunt would consider an offer for she roperty ?” 0, for the bluff really belongs to me.” “Indeed. Then perhaps it cannot be disposed of until you come of age. Is that the way the matter stands?” asked the oung man, looking disappointed. ot exactly. But I can positively say that the bluff is not for sale. Are you a contractor?” “No, I am a civil engineer. My name is Frank Fleet- wood. I intend to put a bid in for the new dam same as any contractor. If I am successful in securing the job I will then be a full-fledged contractor as a matter of course.” The young man, who was good-looking and gentlemanly, spoke frankly, and Tom took a l’king for him on the spot. “Why do you want to buy this property?” he asked. Fleetwood hesitated, as if he didn’t want to admit what he was after. '- “Isn’t it because this bluff ‘would furnish you with the stone you would need to build the dam?” went on Tom. es. That’s my reason for wishing to buy the place. But if I can’t purchase it I take it for granted that no other contractor will be able to do so, either.” “That’s correct. I control this bluff. My purpose is to sell the stone to the successful bidder at a price lower than he can bring similar rock to this place. If you want to make an offer on those lines I will consider it.” » “You would have to employ a gang of men to blast the rock out in a proper way. Why not let me make you an offer for the property as it stands?” “Because I have use for it after the bluff shall have been cut away.” “Then you e to blast the stone out and sell it to the man who builds: the dam?” said Fleetwood. ‘“That’s ps exactl 7 ee you an offer for the rock per ton. Where “hall I I Pa you a letter?” “You can send it care of the Bay View Hotel. night clerk at that house.” > “Indeed!” I am going to stop there for a day or two, and will therefore have an opportunity for seeing you again, Mr. Trowbridge.” “Very well, ” replied Tom. “I shall be pleased to meet gain.” Fleetwood bowed and turned away to retrace his steps T ‘am you a, to the road the ype where his wagon was waiting, while Tom _ Fejoined Hazel under the tree. » CHAPTER X. _ TOM MAKES A PROPOSITION. re "While Tom was on his way from the Eibliiaks to “iia hote. ‘that evening, his mind filled with visions of the anticipated he to get out of the stone that composed the ; : of the bluff, a new idea suddenly occurred to him, __ A brilliant idea it was, too, and the very nerve of it al- most took his breath away. | "The scheme he thought of was this: Instead of selling the stone even at a big profit, why not | ea contract to build the dam? “ combined with the young engineer the latter would kee ateeets ean renege possibl make a profit on the ihe eoract wa bound to be avarded tothe fem of Fle after the neeri ag tae Bevo f th t, while the junior partner woul epee peo tak th that he determined to rt ehhh a a ing engineer considered the proposal i fa- reall ake an gintneat, with ith hint on aE NEE AE SES oO WEI dead EA RE, -—-——oo “dam? If you agree, A LUCKY CONTRACT. pate. ten, when he stepped up to the desk to get the ey of his room. “Glad to see you again, Trowbridge,” he said, with a cheerful,smile. “I will trouble. you for the key of No. 61.” “Certainly,” replied Tom, reaching for the pigeon-hole where it reposed. “By the way, have you a moment or two to spare, Mr. Fleetwood?” “Why not? I was just going to bed, and it makes no difference to me when I go.” “Well, I’ve a proposition to make you with reference to the dam that you are intending to submit a bid for,” began Tom. “You mean about the Stone for building the dam.” “I mean about the whole thing. You may think me yather cheeky, but I can’t help it. I’m out to do business on the most profitable basis.” “Well, what is your proposition?” smiled the young en- gineer. “Leaving the matter of the stone at the bluff out of your calculations altogether, what chance do you think you will stand of getting the dam contract?” “That would Se hard to say. The lowest responcible bid will, of course, Scoop the job. I have superintended a num- *ber ‘of big contracts in the interests of other people, chiefly for Sherlock & Mosby, with whom I’ve been employed for several years. Recently I had a break with the firm and am trying to branch out as a contractor.for myself. While I considex myself perfectly competent to make out a bid and carry the contract through to a successful conclusion if I should get it, still there-are many things I’m up against. Sherlock & Mosby, I understand, are going to put in a bid on the dam, and I expect’to see Sherlock and an engineer up here to-morrow t> look the ground over. The firm has been in the contracting business over twenty years, and owing to their facilities will probably be able to figure closer than I can if I cannot get your stone at a price that will enable me to make an exceptionally low bid. I might as well admit to you right now, for I have figured the mat- ter out since I talked with you on the bluff, and have come to the conclusion that unless you are willing to help me out a little I will be out of it.” “Suppose all you had to fo was to consder the cost. of quarrying the stone out of the bluff, how would that affect your bid?” asked Tom. “Why, I could easily underbid Sherlock & Mosby, or any other contractor,” replied Fleetwood, “because I’d have the material on the spot. That would make a mighty big differ- - ence. To bring the stone required for the work from the nearest quarry, as I have been figuring on, will cost a whole lot of money. “The man who can get his stone from your bluff will control the situation.” “That’s the way I look at it. As the case stands now, every contractor who comes down here to estimate on the dam will consider the. bluff as an important factor in the case, and I shall get offers from them all for the ground. Under no consideration will I part with the property, though I am prepared to dispose of the rock above a certain level, which would be all any ‘contractor would care for. Now, my proposition is this: That we go into partnership as con- tractors—you to furnish the expert experience and I to furnish*the stone in the bluff as it stands. The partnership can be l'mited to this.one job, or it can be extended to take in the other improvements on which bids will subse- quently be asked.” . “What are the other improvements?” Tom told him-about the factories nae the homes for the workingmen that were to be put Fleetwood looked at Tom in surprise “That would be a mighty big contract to tackle. It. looks like a million-dollar job.” “I have no doubt it would cost close. on to that sum.” “And you are actually taking that into cons‘deration in pro osing this partnership?” am. I am out for everything in ae a “The firm bidding on that probably be re-— fee ah lee os ee com coo to discuss other iain ited 3 The oie question us at present is—w'll Fic +B mead “orem I may as ‘me into partnership on ra % at have come . e the &

Page 15

A LUCKY CONTRACT. siderable influence in a very important quarter. Major Nutte, the preaiient and general manager of the Ste. Marie er Corporation, is a friend of mine, and is just aching to do me a favor. If it_was the question’ between our bid . and that of another firm equally low, his vote would be| I take it?” cast with the side in which I was interested. So, you see, it will not be necessary to put in an exceptionally low bid to get the contract, but one which the possession of the bluff will enable you to draw up with the certainty of being lower than that of any contractor who will have to figure , on getting the,stone from a distance. Now you have my ‘Plan in a nutshell. Sleep on it and let me have “your an- Swer to-morrow. Call on meat my aunt’s cottage any time after one o’clock. It’s on Mad‘son Street in the village, and anybody will direct you to Mrs. Dean’s.” Upon my word, Trowbridge, your proposition has as- tonished me,” replied the young engineer. “I have never met such a business-like young fellow of your years. There are features about your offer that entitle it to my earnest consideration, and that it shall have. I am bound to say that I have taken a great fancy to you pérsonally. There is something about you that attracts me. I may as well Say right now that I look upon your proposal with favor. I will meet 73 to-morrow and we will talk the matter over. Then I should like to take the buss stone-mason I brought with me out to the bluff and examine the ground as thoroughly as possible.” _ “All right,” replied Tom. “I think you will find that it will be greatly to your advantage to go into this deal with me. Just as it will he to my advantage to be con- ‘nected with you, since you have the experience which I lack. ‘It will make a whole lot of difference to us both if we don’t come yg nie but in any case I shall make a good —— aE of 2 a Boas - small cartape afterw: out ground ch, through my pu i j i ome of the village y pull with the. major, will “You seem to be an uncommonly smart young man,” re- . plied Fleetwood, “and if I take a patties that’s the kind of person I want with me. Well, good-night. I will meet you to-morrow at one o’clock at your home and we will go all over the matter. I have an idea that we will hitch if the prospects are really as rosy as I imagine they will prove yo = after a thorough sifting of all the conditions of the , CHAPTER XI. TOM RECEIVES A FLATTERING OFFER FOR THE BLUFF.’ . . Frank Fleetwood called on Tom next day at one o'clock, and they had a long and earnest conversation on the matter of the partnership and the construction of the dam. At three o’clock they rode out. to the bluff on the wagon with the boss mason, and the party spent some time going over the ground and examining the limestone outcroppings. E Another contractor, with two assistants, was making notes at the dam s‘te, and Fleetwood recognized the gen- tleman, who was expensively dressed,.as Job Sherlock, head of the contracting firm of Sherlock & Mosby, of Chicago. While Tom and his companions were inspecting the bluff Mr. Sherlock took note of their pre on the scene and walked down to see what they were doing. . _ «He had incidentally noticed the rocky eminence when he bang cheng at ane snbenidems to have a look at it.» a 0, Flee’ ~ he said, er gruffly, wh si tea oepek atotees en he came yo ng out here?” _ “Looking this bluff over, Mr. Sherlock,” replied the young -F ; : + eens i > politely. es o does the p belong to?” : ae a aegis a os. ‘ : “ “She lives in that house ere, on ap Shia ‘sir, She resides in Bngleweod? 2 Fe SO. - : ' wy: [r. Sherlock said no more for a while, but F =i a en ae oe the pk Ae ory “il Fin: iS he reivined; Tom Wnd his: party, id oats “Look here, Fleetwood, are you working in the interests eae contractor contemplating putting in a bid for that ust at present I'm looking after the interests of | cat * Etre aides sins tee the ita Bi: ia : . on ys ‘for sale / 13 “Indeed!” replied Mr. Sherlock, with a tinge of sarcasm in his tones. “Civil engineers, I presume?” y “And contractors,” added Fleetwood, with a smile. “Humph! You are down here to estimate on the dam “That is my mission.” Mr. Sherlock grinned. ; “What chance do you expect to stand against our firm?” he asked, aggressively. “That will be seen when the bids are opened on Sep- tember 1.” Wx “You are figuring on using this rock, maybe, if you are so fortunate as to land the contract?” continued Mr. Sher- lock, in an unpleasant voice, for he saw the possibil'ties that lay in the bluff, and mentally determined to try and get his own hooks in by outbidding Fleetwood for the prop- erty. “T was merely looking the bluff over to see whether the material for building the dam could be got out of it,” re- plied Fleetwood. ; “Just so,” replied Mr. Sherlock, rubbing his chin. The young-engineer knew wha‘ that. action meant, for he had <_< Sherlock do it yi and again when he was an- noyed and meditated some sharp move. Teetwood; however, was not worried, for he knew he had a cinch on the bluff. Although he and Trowbridge were not yet actually part- ners, they had come to an arrangement which needed only the drawing up of the papers to make the firm a legal one. Mr. Sherlock accompanied them over the bluff and took mental notes of all he saw. Er He was satisfied that he must buy the bluff if it was to be gotten at a fa‘r price. At any rate, he seb determined that no other contractor should get ahead of him in the matter. While Tom, Fleetwood and the mason sat down under one we the — at the summit of the bluff, Mr. Sherlock re- turned to his companions. J Shortly cetenteaan he and his assistants got into his auto- mobile and started for Englewood. : “Sherlock is going to hunt your aunt up and make her an offer for the bus” said Fleetwood, as the three watched the Sherlock party disappear up the - é : time,” grinned Tom. , ~ to use this rock. whe build the dam.” 3 ‘After putting the m up at the stable, ae mason went on to hotel, while “There was a gentleman here abo very anxious to buy the bluff,” B- | mesnid his name was Sherlock, didn’t he?” said Tom, a yes; that’s the name he gave me. You have seen . ar as ay him out at the bluff, but was not introduced to me was in my nameit while the Pivhe would be here early anos it.” rh ey Pr tee “ : -past- seven he won’t see ee he eels later Lashes ‘alt him that the bluff isnot Sactiedy called, however, at a few minutes after ; eK Ss rised, perhaps a little disconcerted, to ges he that afternoon poo rae at the bluff. — wv.) : : he said, I can make a deal with . brusquely. you for the

Page 16

or even as well. oo ‘The bluff itself ae ay oS oe eee reeds 14 A LUCKY CONTRACT. “Are you sure of getting the contract for building it?” asked Tom, with a slight smile. “I am willing to take the chances of getting it. I will pay you $1,000 down on account of the stone. privilege,” went on Mr. Sherlock. “The balance to be paid on Sep- tember 15.” Tom, however, declined his offer. “May I ask how you expect to do any better, young man?” asked the contractor, in a nettled tone. “I shall have to decline answering that question.” “Am I to understand that Fleetwood made you a better offer? If he did, I advise you to go slow before you com- mit yourself. In dealing with me you are doing business with one of the miost responsible contracting firms of Chi- cago,” said Mr. Sherlock, with a consequential expanding of; his broad chest, on which glowed a big diamond pin, easily worth $1,000. “Fleetwood has no responsibility as far as I am aware of. Until lately he was in the employ of our firm as a civil engineer, but we found it convenient to let him go. Shall I draw up a memorandum for you to sign and hand you my check for the thousand on account?” con- tinued the contractor, putting his hand in his coat pocket. “No, sir, for I cannot accept your offer.”, “You cannot accept $3,000 for the stone in the bluff?” almost gasped Mr. Sherlock. “Why, the ground will be improved a hundred per eent. after that bluff.is cut away, and you will have the money to boot.” “I am aware of that fact, sir; but if there is any cutting away to be done I think it will be done under my super- vision.” “Under your supervision?” eee, (ae : “Are you aware that it will cost a lot of money to blast the rock out of the bluff? The offer ’m making you throws that expense on my shoulders. You will get your property ically cleared of the rock for nothing, with a bonus of $3,000 thrown in.” Spohr that, sir.” ; € you refuse to accept my offer?” “T do.” “Tll make it $4,000. How does that strike you?” “No better than your other offer.” Mr. Sherlock regarded Tom as if he were some new freak which had come under his observation. “Upon my word, young man, I den’t understand you at all,” said the contractor, testily. “I have made you a most extraordinarily liberal offer, and yet you turn it down. I eannot for the life of me see how you gan do any better, —— . Tom ‘smiled and made no reply. ‘ “Will you take $5,000?” said Mr. Sherlock, after some cogitation. No, sir. I told you at the beginning of this interview “that the bluff was not for sale.” “Do you mean bv that that you have already closed a deal with Fleetwood?” “Well, I have made a business arrangement with Mr. Fleetwood which prevents me from disposing of the rock of which the bluff is composed.” ee * “Why didn’t you say so at once, then?” demanded the Oh tractor, angrily. . “T told you the bluff was not for sale.” : “But you didn’t tell me that you had sold the stone, or e Mr. Sherlock, aggressively, th peety, to Fleetwood,” sai - for he was hot under the aaet to think that his late em- were had got ahead of him. a ney sold either, the stone or the property to Mr, ic what kind 6f a deal did you make with him?” = eet answer that question, sir.” > contractor was puzzled to understand just how the land lay. 3 could be of no possible use to the young except so far as it would furnish the material to build the dam in case his bid was accepted by Marie River Co ion. the idea~ Mr. Sherlock that Fleetwood bluff with the intention ing contractor who would ; ; struck him as a more reasonable move on. Fleet- for building t se He determined to interview his late employee, who he | knew was stopping at the Bay View Hotel, on the subject at once, for he was determined to get hold of that stone if it were possible to do so, otherwise he/could not see how his firm would be able to submit a successful bid. : “All right, young man,” he said, rising from his chair.. “I won’t take up any more of your time. There is my business card. Should any change happen in your present ages you can communicate with me at that ad- ress.” That closed. the interview, and Mr. Sherlock took his leave. = \ CHAPTER XII. TOM SECURES THE PROMISE OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE. eat Sherlock lost no time. in hunting up Frank Fleet- wood. ok The interview produced no satisfactory results as far as he was concerned. Next morning he and his companions left. Englewood Beach for Chicago. That same afternoon Tom and Fleetwood went to the office of the justice of the peace in the village and had part- nership papers drawn up, which both signed in duplicate in the presence of the justice, who was also a notary. On the following morning Fleetwood departed for Chi- cago to make out his bid and get the certified check for $20,000 which his rich uncle had promised to loan him. That afternoon Tom wheeled out to the Nutte mansion. “You bad boy!” cried Hazel, when he presented him- self before her; “where have you been for the last five days? Come, now, you must give an account of yourself.” All right. I’m ready to do that. Did you miss me any, or were you glad to be rid of me for a while?” he asked, i ing her intently. I don’t know whether I ought to flatter you by saying that I missed you,” she said, with a sidelong glance in his face that was particularly fascinating to him. Those ,eyes of hers were dangerous weapons, and it re- quired some control on his part to refrain from seizing her in his arms then and there and kissing her. “Then you didn’t miss me?” he said. : “Yes, I did, so there! Are you satisfied?” “Very much so. Now, listen, and I'll tell you' what kept me away. I’ve great news for you, and I expect you to congratulate me. ° Thereupon he told her about the partnership he had entered into with Frank Fleetwood, the yotng civil en- gineer. ; “T am now the junior partner of the contracting firm of Fleetwood & Trowbridge, and our first business act will be to put in a bid for building the Ste. Marie River dam. What do you think of that?” : ; “You don’t mean it, Tom!” she cried, almost. incredu- lously. , “I do mean it,” he replied, “Instead of selling the stone to. some other contractor, we’re going to use it ourselves, for with the bluff as an asset we should easily be able to put in the lowest bid for the work.” ‘ “But can you build the dam according to the specifica- tions?” asked the girl, with a doubtful look. “Mr. Fleetwood can do it, for he has superintended “the construction of two dams already for Sherlock & Mosby, the Chicago contractors, with whom he was associated for over six years. By the way, Mr./Sherlock, of that firm, was up here two days ago figuring on the job. He offered me $5,000 for the privilege of taking the stone out of the bluff at his own expense. “That was a pretty good offer, wasn’t it?” “Not so fine when you figure how expensive it would be to furnish the stone at a distance and have it transperted here.” » . “Are you going to tell father about your “new business nts? “Of course. I expect him to,see that we get the contract if our bid is the lowest and he finds out on investigation that Mr. Fleetwood is competent to carry out the work right up to the handle.” 3 What part of the work are you going to look after?” “The quarrying of the stone. We are going to hire a 3

Page 17

A LUCKY CONTRACT. competent foreman and a gang of men to do the actual work. The necessary tools and implements will be sent on from Chicago as soon as the contract has been awarded ‘to us. The only real difficulty that I can see before us, and ' given out later on,” he said, with sparkling eyes. that is-no small one, will be to raise the cash to earry on the work. Mr. Fleetwood has a rich uncle, but all he can expect from him is the loan of the $20,000 forfeit that goes with the bid, and must remain with your father’s corpora- tion until the dam is completed and accepted. We'll have to raise quite a sum for working capital. Mr. Fleetwood hasn’t much more thgn enough to buy the drills and other machinery necessary to get the stone out of the bluff; while I—well, you know how much I’m worth. Nothing to speak of, and a debt of $1,500 due. you.” “Oh, that doesn’t count, Tom,” said Hazel. f “It doesn’t? Well, I rather think it does. Though it doesn’t worry me a great deal, for I know I will be able to repay you with interest before many moons.” “There isn’t. to be any interest, Tom.” “Yes, there is—five per’ cent. It Wwas a business trans- action between us, as well as a friendly one, though I didn’t have to put up any security.” “Well, Tom, you will have to lay the whole matter before father. I am sure he will see you through if he is satis- fied you and your partner can put the work through in a satisfactory manner in case the contract is awarded you. Was that Mr. Fleetwood who introduced himself to you the time we were “at the bluff?” “Yes. He’s a hice fellow.” “He’s quite, good-looking and very gentlemanly.” “I hope you won’t fall in love with him when I intro- digg 007 and give me the shake,” said Tom, half earnestly. “Why, the idea, you foolish boy! Just as if I would,” laughed Hazel. “You never can be sure what a girl will do. even know herself half the time:” “Well, I like that!” pouted Hazel. “I am sure I don’t call that a compliment.” ’ : “Present company is always excepted,” said Tom, hastily, for he was afraid his remark might have offended her. “I should hope so. If I don’t know my own mind I’d like to know who does.” _ “You’re not provoked with me for making that state- ment, are you?” Tom asked, a bit anxiously, “QOh,:no. I know you didn’t mean it.” “Of course, I didn’t.” j Tom then went on to tell her all about the plans of Fleet- wood & Trowbridge. “We want to get im on the other contracts that will be “Tf our work on the dam shows up satisfactorily, as I am sure it will, there is no reason, except the lack of working capital, that need prevent us from putting in a bid for the erection of the factories. Mr. Fleetwood has looked after the erec- tion of buildings of that kind before, and is Vac, 3 we to continue the work. purse, we won't be in it unless your father helps us out. Still, I’m afraid that will be asking too much of him. If he backs me up on the dam contract it will be as much as I can reasonably expect from him, even She doesn’t - for so important a service as saving your life. I am sorry ‘I know he is very anxious to serve that I have to go to him, anyway, as I would prefer to hoe my own row if possible. But it isn’t possible in such a big thing as I and my partner are about to tackle.” | “Well, Tom, I cannot say just what father will do, but ‘ou, and he will do it in every reasonable way. Don’t be afraid to explain every- thing to him, and give him every chance to look into the matter, as he will want to do it in your interest as well as his own.” ; ” : “Oh, I'll give it to him straight. Tell him I'll be around to-morrow afternoon to see him on important business, that is, if he hasn’t any engagement.” ~*T couldn’t tell you whether he has or not, but I'll tell want to see him, If he can’t see you to-morrow ‘ a you n en you come we'll go out and take a ride. say, in matter We'll go unless with our : one to-day, out to the bluff, as usual, here else.” oa” ba want to go somew! "Hazel was willing to go, and sent an order to. the stables é ‘a. oe her pony-phaeton brought around to the front of ——— ee 9 ey Ss a enn see S 15 Fifteen minutes later ‘they were off down the road. Next afternoon Tom rode out to the Nutte home again and found the major waiting for him. Hazel ,escorted him into the library, where her father was, and left them together. Tom lost no time in getti-~ down to business. He astonished Major tte by telling him that he had gone into partnership with a smart young Chicago civil engineer who had come up to that neighborhood for the purpose of inspecting the site of the new dam and putting in a bid for the contract of building it. He told the major .how the bluff, which he had pur- chased at a bargain from Locke, was almost a solid mass of limestone—just the material with which ‘to build the dam. “The possession of that stone will give us the inside track of every other contractor in making out our bid, so that we calculate on securing the contract through the lowest bid,” said Tom, as -he warmed up to the subject. “But, Trowbridge,’ you are only a boy,” remarked the major. “The contract will not be awarded to the lowest bidder unless he or théy are perfectly responsible. The company must have some guarantee that the work will be properly and expeditiously executed. One of the conditions is that each bid must be accompanied with a certified check for $20,000, as an evidence of good faith and responsibility. There will be a penalty clause in the contract. that unless, the dam is ready for the acceptance of the company within a stipulated time the contractor will forfeit a certain amount for every day that he is behind in his work. The whole sum will be deducted from ‘his deposit after the dam shall have been accepted. The company will have its own engi- neer to. keep tab on the contractor to see that he is doing the work according to the specifications. I’m afraid, my boy, that your ambition has carried you upon a wild goose chase.” “I hope not, sir,” replied Tom, respectfully. “My part- ner is a thoroughly capable engineer, who has m six years in the employ of a big Chicago firm of contractors. He has superintended the building of at least two dams already, and knows his business.”- Z ‘ “How did he come to take you into partnership?” _ “Because, being the owner of the bluff, I could furnish the stone right on the ground for the dam. The $20,000 cheek that is to accompany our bid is already promised to Mr. Fleetwood by his uncle. We will also have funds enough to get the machinery necessary to quarry the bluff. But that’s our limit. My object in coming’ to you to-day was to ask you to back the firm, throtgh me, with capital sufficient to put the contract through if we secure it. You told me that if I ever wanted a favor of you to ask it. Well, I’m asking you now. If you will stand by me in this mat- ter I shall make a raft of money. The fact that my partner will also benefit through any favor extended to me I hope will not count against my request for financial aid. If we «can’t raise the money to carry the work on, why, we'll lose the chance of a lifetime—at any rate, I will.” Major Nutte had gotten over his surprise and was now somewhat interested in Tom’s business aspirations, He asked the boy how’the firm of Fleetwood & Trow- bridge proposed to carry on the work in case the contract came their way. ay ; Tom gave him all the facts and figures that he had gotter from his partner on the matter, and told the major aboux how much working capital the firm stood in need of. ~ Major Nutte questioned him closely about every nt. that oceurred to him, and the boy, in the main, gave him satisfactory answers. _ ; ¢ ; The interview lasted about two hours, at the end of which time the major had a different opinion of the new firm of contractors. ~ i 2 : He assured Tom that if the firm complied with ‘all the requerements of the bid, and the contract to build the dam was te see them e ] “TJ am i; you have all the elements of success _ in you, Tro ige,”» he said. “It is up to you to utilize them to the best advantage. I am glad to have the oppor- _ tunity to help you get a good start, I look to see you win out.”? as ae a ayy Tom, having carried his point, on which so much hinged, — Welt tis ibeaty ‘after thanking the major tor dle’ w to stand by him. ; = } - =" OR) Mes 4 . Fe OS ee ee ‘awarded to them, ne would loan the boy enough money — ¥ ’

Page 18

6 A LUCKY CONTRACT. CHAPTER XIII. TOM ASTONISHES DICK. Although Tom dropped around to the bathhouses nearly every afternoon to see his friend Dick Bristol, he had never even told.his chum that he had gotten possession of the —_ Farm, as the bluff was still designated by the vil- agers. His object was to surprise Dick when he got ready for business. Since he entered into partnership with Fleetwood he had made up his mind to engage Dick as time-keeper and general gga at the quarry as soon as work was begun on the w On the morning following his satisfactory interview with Major Nutte, Tom received a small package and a letter by mail with the Chicago postmark. He knew they came from Mr. Fleetwood. - The letter stated that the young engineer had made out his bid for the building of the dam, and was now. waiting for his uncle to return to thé city so that he could get the check to enclose with it, then -he would send the packet by registered mail to the Ste. Marie River Corporat: on at Sault | Ste. Marie. . He told Tom what the amount of the bid was, and what profit he expected they would make, supposing that his cal- culations with reference to the cost of quarrying the stone turned out approximately correct. to carry on the work, he said, and he was going to try and fix that up with his uncle. ; The package contained 100 psindss cards, printed as fol-! ; ows: . ery FLEETWOOD & TROWBRIDGE, 2 Contractors, Room a4 wn Bidg., LaSalle Street. Chicago. Branch Office: Englewood, Mich. ’ Tom immediately wrote a shgrt letter to his- partner, acknowledging the receipt of his letter and the cards, and y telling him not to worry about raising the funds to carry on the work if they got the contract as he had already made arrangements to secure all the money necessary for that Tpose. a knew this bit of inforiination would aston‘sh Fleet- - wood, although’ Tom had told him he had a good friend in Major ares Syst half a dozen of. his “-siness cards in his poeket ies he walked down to the nae to see Dick. ; “IT might as well take his breath away now as later on, ; for everything seems to be settled except so far as the get- : ; tag of the contract is concerned,” he chuckled; “and I ess we’re almost sure of that, as things stand.” in and the bathing-suits given out. The captain was outside repairing the lock on one of the nts, “*Hello, Tom. Hot day, bP i it?” said Dick, wiping his _ face with his handkerchief. _. What do you expect in the middle of August?” laughed ae / eant that to-day is extra warm. All the houses are ii aa there are a number of people on the waiting Dick nodded at half a dozen of the hotel guests lounging around the door watching the bathers wai ¢ for a chance to get a bathhouse eans that you are extra busy.” “Well T haven’t any time to go to sleep,” pidened Dick. i pagers sg “ap ay tobe ers there are a coy te Ute san take i \ecdel eudeiash to) ths Fok Sos an armful of suits, which sort out, fold up and stow away on’ shelf The difficulty they now had to face was to raise the funds: He found Dick in the’ room where the money was taken}, a “So will you. But we don’t need to worry. The wagon works open up again on the 15th of September.” “I’m not worrying. I don’t care if the works never open up again.” “You don’t!” exclaimed Dick, in astonishment. “T don’t,” repeated Tom, nonchalantly. ot another and better job insight?” asked Dick, curi- ously. “Yes. I’m in business, for myself.” “In business for yourself! What do you mean by that?” “Can you read?” grinned Tom, taking one of his cards from his vest pocket. “Cast your optics on that bit of pasteboard,” and he tossed the card on the counter. Dick picked it up and glanced at it. “‘leetwood & Trowbridge, Contractors,’ ” he read. “What does this mean?” he went on, looking at Tom in a puzzled way. “Tt means what it says.” “That Trowbridge isn’t you, jad the same,” said Dick. “Isn’t it? I was under the impression that it was. , Don’t you see that our braneh office is in Englewood? Do you know of any other Trowbr’dge in Englewood?” That reply took the wind out of Dick’s sails, so to speak, and he. didn’t know what to say. . “Who is this [Fleetwood ?” be finally asked. “An expert civil engineer, who lives in Chi “And you and he have gone into partnership still apparently unconvinced. “That’s it exactly. If you don’t believe me, ask Justice Cullen. He drew up the papers a few days ago, and we signed them in his presence. Drop into the house to-night around seven and [ll show you my document.” “Now you're kidding me.” “Not a bit of it. I bought the Locke Farm about two months ago. Didn’t you see the notice about it in the *‘News’?” ; “No, I didn’t. If I had I should have asked you to ex- plain how you could pay $1,000 for that bluff.” “T borrowed the money. It cost me $1, 500 altogether, for Locke wanted $500 extra for the house.” ” said Dick, » SHAPTER XIV. FLLEiWOUD & TROWBRIDGE WIN THE CONTRACT. , TROY Before the first of September came around Tom had had several more talks with Dick Bristol, and-his chum had gradually come to believe that Tom, had gotten next to mighty big prospects. On the 31st of August Tom got a letter from Fleetwood. in which the latter told him that he was going to Sault Ste. Marie that day to be present at the opening of the bids on the Eopiilty afternoon. ; Although Tom felt reasonably sure that their bid enextig prove the lowest presented for the consideration of Major Nutte’s syndicate, still he began to feel a bit nervous over- the result. It was possible that his partner, in making his estimate, might have figured some items too high, and that the sum total would equalize or overstep the advantage the new firm possessed in having the stone on the spot. Or, again, some of their experienced competitors, owing to their super‘or facilities for undertaking such a big job, might be able to figuré lower than Fleetwood calculated on. The difference of $1, met on even $500, would turn the scale in favor of any bid , To say the truth,’ Tom ry afraid of Sherlock & Mosby. They might put in a bid almost at cost in order to make sure of the contract if they could and euchre their late employee out of it. The firm was a wealthy one, cal could afford to do the Sherlock, | tom ra tat as little as possible for the’ material. the bluff to i the rock was

Page 19

3 A LUCKY GONTRACT. __ He couldn’t afford to blast it out simply to obtain a build- oy er . ogether, when the morning of the first day of Sep- Sainpg dawned he was, on pins and needles ovér the situa- The hotel didn’t close till the 5th of the month, so he had several more nights to put in as clerk in the office. - Most of the season’s guests had gone back to their homes, and Dick’s job was now a sinecure. / . Tom had called on Hazel the afternoon previous and told her how all his plans hung on a thread, as it were, and that if Sherlock & Mosby got the contract he would probably he in the soup. ‘ He was so nervous and worked up about the matter that the girl felt very sorry for him, and tried to assure him. That night she had an interview with her father and told him all that Tom had said. She begged him, for her sake, to see that Tom and \his partner had a square deal when the bids were opened, and that none of the more experienced contractors be favored een sels bid was actually lower than Fleetwood & Trow- Fes. : , the major promised his daughter that the young firm should get the contract if their bid entitled them to it, for he had already made it his business to investigate Frank Fleetwood’s reputation as a capable engineer and superin- tendent, and although Sherlock & Mosby tried to say as little in the young man’s favor as they could, they did not dare assert that he was not thoroughly competent in his line of business. : _There were other contracters who knew Fleetwood’s capa- bilities: and spoke well of him; and the major also inter- viewed the presidents of several corporations for whom Sher- lock & Mosby had done work under Fleetwood’s superin- _tendence, ‘and their report was favorable to the young en- gineer. When Tom reached the hotel at eight o’clock to resume his duties, a telegram, which had come over the wire to the house two hours before, was handed to him by the day clerk. Tom’s heart beat like a trip- er as he tore the en- velope open and looked at what he felt was one of the most momentous messages he would ever receive. For a moment the hotel operator’s writing seemed to run ther, and he could make out nothing clearly. en his vision cleared and he read the following: ; “Sault. Ste. Marie, Sept. 1. “To Thomas Trowbridge, : “Bay View Hotel, Englewood Beach, Mich. “We win by a margin of only $100 over Sherlock & Mosby. Sherlock entered protest, but it was overruled by Major Nutte. Outside of the major, the syndicate favored Sherlock & Mosby, on account of their reputation and our lack of one. Major Nutte made a speech in which h2 com- plimented me as an expert, and insisted that my firm was entitled to the contract. It_was finally put to a vote, and we won by a single tally. Your friend carried us through and you can’t thank him too much. Look for me to-morrow. ; “Fleetwood.” » Just then Dick strolled into the rotunda and up to the desk. eae . “Hello, Tom; what makes you look so happy?” “Read that telegram and you'll understand why my spiri are trying to get up through the top of my head.” Dick read it. i “Let me be the first to congratulate you, old chap,” he said, holding out his hand. | Tom seized it and they shook like good fellows. “I s’pose you'll get down to business before long,” said “Yes, Fleetwood willbe here to-morrow, and then I'll know just how soon he intends to set the ball rolling.” “Well, I’m ready to start in whenever yuu say, Tom. I’d sooner work ‘for you than anybody. else.” “You won’t lose anything by working for Fleetwood & Trowbridge, I can assure you. take care of you, an et maar as circumstances permit.” - “Fa: y to think of you as my boss. I was tel folks’ about the possibility of it the other night, and sis laughed. They said they hoped you would in getting the contract, as you were a first-class d|'to Tom, while his 8 eh 6 cement SO a eater EM nS Pe eye FA PEER OP 2 ERs Rte. ES Pat ELON } sear linee Fae ee ba cide at ee! SO ees eC eee RE Ee ea - ° 7 SE 17 “l’m much obliged to them for their good opinion. By the way, have you got your wheel outside?” “Yes. Why?” “Have you any objection to going out to Major Nutte’s house at this hour?” F “I'll go if you wish me to.” “All right. Wait a moment.” Tom scribbled a few words to Hazel and enclosed his partner’s telegram with the note in one of the hotel en- velopes, which he addressed “Miss Hazel Nutte.” “There you are, Dick. Deliver that at the major’s house and I’ll be under a big obligation to you.” Dick took it, placed it in his pocket, and a minute later was on the road .to the nabob’s home. ‘CHAPTER XV. CONCLUSION. With the last week in September blasting operations were begun at the upper end of the bluff. Only a small gang under a foreman was employed at first, and the men were boarded at the farmhouse on the top of the bluff and lodged in a building built for the purpose out of the lumber taken from the outbuildings and erected on low ground at the opposite end of Tom’s property. The carpenter and builder employed by Fleetwood & Trowbridge declared that it would be quite practicable to remove the farmhouse, as it stood to the bottom of the bluff, and it was decided to do this when the blasting operatio got well under way. ) Tom and his aunt took up their residence at the farm- house,-with Mrs. Dooley as housekeeper and Mike as general helper, so as to be on the ground all the time. Dick also boarded with them, and so did Fleetwood, when ~ the operations on the dam were begun. When things got going in ship-shape style, and more men came there to work, another building was erected at the foot of the bluff, and regular arrangements were made to feed the men in that building. . Things went along in fine shape up to the latter part of October, when the blasting gang was largely increased. The men were brought from Sault Ste. Marie by Fleet- wood, and Tom didn’t fancy the looks of several of them, Siti | a stalwart, mahogany-featured chap named Bill oogley. , y ; He stood six feet in his stockings, and a wicked expres- sion seemed to hoyer about his jef-black eyes. | | “Say, Tom,” said Dick, one morning, “Hoogley is mighty chummy with the greater part of our gang. It’s my opini he’s trying to make it so hot for Foreman Brown that he’ll leave. I heard him tell one of the chaps the other day that | - he’d be the foreman here before the month was up.” “You heard him say that, did you?” replied Tom. _- “J did. Between you, me and the post, I don’t like Hoog- ley for a cent. I think he’s a bad man from Badville, Td be willing to bet you'll have trouble through him before long. He’s up to something. Whether he’s merely con- niving to get the foremanship, or he has some other ob- ject in view, I can’t say for certain. I advise you to keep our eye on him. I will as far as I can in your interest. r have a with your partrfer on the subject when he back from Sault Ste. Marie.” se, “Tl attend to it.” They talked the matter over for half an hour more and then went to bed. Next morning when Bill started to work in the them a blue envelope con their week’s wages and told them Shey were laid off ly. : “Laid off!” roared Hoogley. “Who says so?” “Trowbridge says so. 1 am carrying out his orders, mean?” glowered Hoogley, striding wu associates remained in the | handed us these envelopes and say: Poe Men gece tals Ly {i t " + A ie:

Page 20

18 ; ats your — for dischargin’ us?” reason is that you’re here for no good purpose. have found out tha . trouble ee oes t Mr. Job Sherlock sent you here to work “It’s a lie!” cried Hoogley, gered by the accusation. : “Tt’s no lie. You met Mr. Sherlock last night and. went with him up to the site of the dam. There you had a con- versation with him, which I overheard. You arranged to blow up the caisson some dark night as soon as you could get hold of the dynamite to do it with. You are a snake in the dark, and I won’t have any reptiles around here while this contract is going on. That’s all I’vé got to say. You and your crowd had better leave quietly or I'll expgse you and Mr. Sherlock in a way you won't like.” As Tom concluded, Hoogley uttered a howl of anger and struck the boy to the ground. _ As the young contractor lay dazed the ruffian seized him Sena and dropped him feet first into a shallow hole Then seizing his shovel, he began to throw the earth in around him as fast as he could work, and in a few minutes had the boy buried up to his chest. : ‘V’ll fix you, you young whippersnapper!” roared the rascal. “You'll not tell any lies on me and Sherlock, you kin bet your bottom dollar! .I’ll pickle you, dern you, if I hang for it!” : The big fellow was clearly in a murderous mood, and it would have gone hard with Tom but for the fact that help was at hand. “You rascal, what are you up t6?” cried Dick Bristol, springing from the hedge and dealing Bill Hoogley a stun- ning’ blow with his club. Down went the ruffian, while his companion, with cries of rage, rushed to his assistance. who was nevertheless stag- The scrap that followed was brief, and Hoogley’s pals| were knocked down and held by Brown and the laborers. Dick got rope from the shed and they, together with the unconscious Hoogley, were tied up hand and foot. Tom was quickly dug out of the hole, and he ordered that the four raseals be conveyed to the farmhouse and held there under guard until he could get the constables from Englewood to come out and take charge of them. When the three associates of .Hoogléy saw how deter- agreed to confess the particulars of the plot in which they mined Tom was to have them punished, they weskened and were all engaged if he would let them off. Tom consented. Their statements were taken down in writing by the young contractor in the presence of Brown, and they signed their os te to it, the foreman bi ani Boe A we ch The four rascals were then sent to the light wagon and put aboard a train for Sault Ste. Marie. ‘When the constables arrivéd from the village Tom told them that the trouble had been patched up, and the men implicated had been sent back whence they came. e paid the officers for their trouble of coming out on a bootless errand and the incident was closed. ; When Fleetwood returned he was Faas! astonished to léarn the particulars of what had happened during his absence. : He was surprised and,indignant at the part Mr. Sherlock had taken in the pen and wrote that gentle a sig- tage awhibe rene _ Bill Houle ae Bs * * ack and white, sig y Bi oogley is associates, ‘which, if published, would compromise the firm of Sherlock & Mosby to a very considerable extent. ~ . The facts, however, would be suppressed if Mr. Sherlock fr wt his own business in the future, and left Fleetwood Sherl ie hg it of the erloc'! da on receip communicati ‘Ghat worthy thought fit to’ k “ihe lias ne 2 at worthy tho to keep away , and $s Sciacca efforts to get into communication with him oo ood & Trowbri e had no further. trouble i - eter aaylien the building” of the Ba which moe coos pa ‘pl ‘to the pao 5 F of the corporation. ' _ The ter part tion, and the balance employed fe Bos factories, the enkewe for which Fleetw or Tom’s rock was used in its construc- the ms of & Trow- A LUCKY CONTRACT. They also put in a bid for the houses to be put up for I| the accommodation of the workmen, and secured it without any competition, as the firm was now in high favor with the corporation, owing to the excellent manner in which they had fulfilled their former contracts. .A period of two years elapsed from the beginning of work on the dam until the big railroad car shops’ and other build- ings were completed and ‘the dwelling houses were under way, and by that time the bank account of the contracting firm of Fleetwood & Trowbridge showed a considerable bal- ance, well up in the thousands, in their favor. Tom had already interested. Major Nutte in his plan of adding the fifty acres of rock-éleared ground to the pros- pective town, for it was definitely settled that the place was to become more than a mere village. Its name was to be St. Marie, and the major was to be its. guiding genius. : By this time the railroad company advertised for bids to build the twenty-one miles of track from the town of Pres- ton, on the main line, direct to Englewood, through Ste. Marie, and Fleetwood & Trowbridge got the contract for that, too. This contract also called for three stations and various necessary additions. ; By the time the construction of the branch line was well under way, work was begun by the Ste. Marie Corporation (the word “River” being dropped from their corporate title) on the car shops. A Enough houses were erected by this time to accommodate the initial force, and as fast as others were finished more hands were added to the shops. : One of the factories were leased to- the parties for whom they were putting up the village, as it was called for the present, of Ste. Marie, presented every appearance of a thriving hive of industry. Tom Trowbridge was twenty-two years old when the first train’ ran over the new Preston & Englewood branch line. It was a gala day at Englewood Village, for railroad connection with the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie line was what the inhabitants had been looking for- ward to for years. y Everybody in the county knew of Tom Trowbridge’s rise from nothing to a partnership! in the now well-known and important contracting firm of Fleetwood & Trowbridge, and the village of Englewood was proud of him, notwithstanding that hereafter he was to be identified with the rival burg of Ste. Marie, where the firm now had its branch office. During the progress of the three years’ work between the time the dam was begun and the branch line completed and openéd, Tom and Hazel saw each other in the summer and at the Christmas holidays, for during the rest of the time the fair girl was being educated at a well-known woman’s college in the East. sa They corresponded regularly, however, and the interest et had in the other grew with separation and the lapse of time. The major and his wife had long’ foreseen what ‘the friendship between their daughter and the rising young contractor was leading to, and had decided that Tom pos- sessed all the requisites of an eligible son-in-law, conse- . quently when the young man asked Major Nutte for Hazel he was told he could have her. : They were married ‘soon after her gradeitign in June, \and had a swell wedding at the Nutte home. After their return from their wedding trip they went to live with the bride’s parents, for as Tom had to be away often on business trips, Hazel naturally preferred to remain with her mother and father to having a home of her own. Tom undoubtedly made a raft of money out of his Incky contract and those which followed it, and to-day he is a rich man, while the firm of Fleetwood & Trowbridge is regarded as one of the most important contracting con- cerns in the Middle West. , Next week’s issue will contain “A BIG RISK; OR, THE GAME THAT WON.” ih ND POSTAL FOR OUR FREE CATALOGUE + ; 1 » * . af as

Page 21

FAME AND FORTUNE WEEi.LY. 19 _—<—<—<—$< $$ — — — CURRENT NEWS \ After being completely buried at the bottom of an eighteen-foot ditch for 20 minutes, Wayne Richard- Son, a laborér fro mClay Centre, Kan., who was working on the construction work in the draining district of North Lawrence, was rescued alive with- out apparent injury one day recently. ee ae. ee . Fear of compulsory military service has resulted im an exodus of foreigners from Canada to the United States. The migration, chiefly from the cities, has interfered seriously with many Canadian industries. In order to keep the workmen in Ca- nada the Dominion Government has issued a state- ment that compulsory military service is not under consideration. Almost 8,000,000 trees will be available for next spring’s reforesting operations from the stock now in the Pennsylvania State Forest nurseries. This is an increase in production over last year of about 30 per cent., and is the largest number of seedlings ever grown in the nurseries. Last year private individuals planted 1,500,000 trees furnished by the Department. f Three hundred persons have been killed and many injured in a disastrous earthquake in central For- mosa, according to special despatcheg from Tai- hoku, the capital of Formosa. It is estimated that 1,000 houses have been destroyed. The city of Nanto has been damaged extensively by fire. The island of Formosa lies between the Philippine Isl- ands and Japan and is owned by Japan. The city of Nanto is situated in the central part of the jsland, about 100 miles south of Taihoku. For discriminating against two uniformed en- listed men of the U. S. Navy in refusing to allow them to sit in a box for which they had purchased tickets, Henry Traub, lessee of a theatre in Brook- lyn, N. Y., was fined $250 by the Justices of the Special Sessions Court, in that New York city bor- ough, on January 11. In fining Traub, Justice Me- Inerney said: “The uniform of a United States sailor must be respected. A sailor has just as much rights as any civilian.” Before sentencing the de- fendant, Justice McInerney read a communication from Rear Admiral Nathaniel R. Usher, command- ant of the navy yard, New York, in which adequate punishment was urged.’ Admiral Usher feared the effect on the present preparedness movement in the event that discriminations against United States uniforms were allowed to go unpunished. Cc .:. aaa TF ’ Linton Watters of Georgia, who returned recent- ‘ly on the Trinidad liner Maraval, reported that he had found aluminum deposits in Dutch Guiana. He = a aie . | . made a ten months’ prospecting trip far up the great rivers of Guiana looking for pay dirt. “As the aluminum beds of Tennessee, Georgia and Arkansas show signs of giving out,” said he, “we have got to hunt up new deposits. I made a pros- pecting trip of 200 miles up the Surinam River, after getting a provisional concession from the Dutch authorities. Our party found bauxite and other mineral deposits from which aluminum can be extracted. These new fields may be very rich and may mean a good deal to those interested in the aluminum market just now with the American deposits on the down grade. Undoubtedly the Dutch authorities will give us a concession to devel- op the new fields.” Electrical fire logs, which have been used on the -stage for several years, are now available for other uses. These fire logs are made of imitation wood, consisting of three or more logs naturally grouped for interior fireplaces and outdoor camp-fires. The logs are of translucent material and asbestos, rein- forced with metal, and are made hollow for the in- sertion of electric bulbs. The bark and cut ends of the logs are artistically designed and hand paint- ed to give the natural, appearance of partially burned logs. By properly shading the translucent and opaque parts and providing for reflection from below, the logs when illuminated glow with the nat- ural bright and darker .shading of burning wood logs. The fire logs ean also be obtained in the form of a large wood log with imitation ash heap, for large old-fashioned fire-places. In accordance with the experience of the war, the gun practice of our battleships has been carried out at ranges far in excess of any heretofore pre- scribed. A comparison with the year 1914, when full charges were used in guns, shows results grati- fying to the Navy Department. The individual practice of the main battery guns was conducted at a mean range of over 15,000 yards, as compared with a mean range of 10,000 yards, with the same guns in 1914. In spite of an increase of over 50 per cent in range, the percentage of hits was not only maintained, but showed a slight increase. We are glad to note that full charges are being used; for, when three-quarter charges were used, the velocity being less and the angle of fall greater, it followed that the danger space at the target and the chances of hitting the same were reduced. Consequently, although the pointing may have been as good, the number o tended to produce discouragement among the gun crews. This factor is of great ae ee in our opinion greatly outweighs any advantage o nee due to the smaller charges used. 7 v4 \ : be o(- a Ban C * = a aE hits made was smialler—a fact which |

Page 22

ayy tg where the map is!” hissed the ruffian, FAME AND FORTUNE WEEBbLY. GOOD AS WHEAT THE BOY an ad ALL RIGHT By GASTON GARNE (A SERIAL STORY.) CHAPTER XI (Continued). “Bah! I saw old Mart Cruse die in that woman’s house in Silverton—I was looking in at the window —and I saw you take the paper out of his coat. I have known old Mart Cruse a long time, and have more than once tried to get him to tell me where the gold mine was located—he always babbled about it in his cups—but I was never successful. So when IT saw that he had told you what I had so long wished to know I made up my mind that I would git the knowledge from you, by securing the paper. Before I could fix up a scheme to get hold of the map, how- ever, you got those fellows to agree to go with you in search of the mine, and the only thing left for me to do was to follow you. Now here we are, and I’m going to have the.map, and you’ve got to tell me all you know about the mine.” “That was you who did that talking last nape wasn’t it?” exclaimed Bob. The ruffian grinned. “T believe I did do a little speechifying last night,” he said. “And your good friend, Boggett—you see, T know all about your crowd—how does he feel to- day, after his roll down the slope?” “He will make it hot for you fellows if ever he gets the chance,” said Bob. ‘The ruffians all laughed. “But he won’t get the chance,” said o one. “No, and we’ll serve him worse than that next cime,” from another. _ ‘The leader of the gang now stepped forward and began feeling in Bob’s pockets. He felt in every pocket, but did not find the paper he was looking for. _ He was evidently disappointed. - “Where’s the map?” he asked. “J haven’t it,” replied Bob. “The ruffian gave utterance to an angry exclama- tion, and sticking the muzzle of his revolver against Bob’s temple, hissed. “Tell me where the map is, or I’l] blow your brains out! ~.2 HAPTER XII. REDSKINS ROUT THE ROAD AGENTS. Bob was a brave boy. Then, too, he was a bright one, and did not believe that the ruffian wou!d shoot him. “He would not gain anything by doing that, ” he thought. Nevertheless, it was the reverse of pleasant to have the cold muzzle of the revolver pressing against his temple.” “Say, take that gun away,” he said. »“Toll me where the map is!” “T have told you.” “You lied!” “T did not.” “T am not trying to do so.” The ruffian was silent for a few,moments, during which time he gazed steadily into the boy’s eyes. Bob returned the look unflinchingly, and presently the man lowered the revolver and replaced it in his belt. “You burned the map, did you?’ ’ he remarked. “Vas, ” “All right; we’ll let it go at that. But you will have to make us one from memory.” ; “There is no need of my doing that.” “Why not?” “Because I can tell you all I know about it, and “I know better! You nave it in ‘a secret pocket,| it will do as well as if I were to make a map.” _ somewhere about your clothes.” “No. ” “What did you do with it?” . _ “T burned it up.” . “IT don’t believe you.” ’ - ‘T can’t help that.” . ad “Tt is in the ashes. I burned it, for the very rea-| Drona teat sg to fetta testes cael “And you'll do it?” “Tf you will agree to let me go free.” “T'll let you go free, after you tell me if you will agree to get your comrades to leave this part of the country at once.’ Bob shook his head. “I can’t agree to that,” he said. “You'll have to—or die!’ “You wouldn’t kill me in cold blood,” Bob said, confidently.

Page 23

FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. 21 “Sonny, don’t you believe that! We are up here| Then came the report of firearms. The road agents to find that gold mine and get the gold out of it,|were firing at their pursuers, undoubtedly. and we don’t intend to let anything stand in our way.|- Bob wondered if it would not be a good idea for ‘If you don’t agree to leave these parts, we will kill |him to slip out of the cavern and away at once. you, and then we will kill the rest of your gang,| “Perhaps that will be the best thing to do,” he and will have it all our own way.” : s of the region—the deadly Apaches. » breathed easier when he saw the forms flash tand disappear from view. and then not come back ‘here,” was his| utes, He did not wish to take any chances of be Rabie A tat Nine seme We hana’: ee The hurried ot 5 ama a ae would not be impossible for him to make the serie finceetes albert 3 ; o camp with his arms bound. (To tt 1 Pe

Page 24

22 FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. a ee ee FROM ALL POINTS ‘ LEPER AT POKER GAME. ’ According to testimony offered in the Mayor’s Court, at Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Joseph Norman, a leper, who is supposed to be under strict quarantine night and day, left his home at night and went to the home of a neighbor, where he engaged in a poker game. A fight occurred, according to the testimony, while the game was on and efforts were made on the part of some of the poker players to steal a $3 pot. While the police were getting to the scene to make a raid, Norman left by the back way, climbed over several fences and entered the house which has been his prison for the last eighteen months. It is costing the city and the Central Poor Board $3,000 annually for the care of Norman and his family and for guarding his home. _ FRENCH PRISONERS PLACED IN FIRING e : ZONE ' The following official. statement has been issued in Berlin: “The recent treatment of German prisoners in the firing zone of the French district of operations was recently pointed out, and it was made known that the German Government had taken measures to remedy this intolerable state of affairs. “To the French Government had been sent a note to the effect that all prisoners must be trans- ported at least thirty kilometres behind the firing line; that they must be assembled in well equipped camps and put on a footing of equality with French prisoners of war in Germany in regard to their treatment, mail service and visits by representatives of neutral embassies. “Tt was announced that in case of-refusal several - thousand French prisoners will be transported into the firing zone and submitted to the same conditions as the Sa we prisoners of Me behind the French front. “As the Phech Government had not answered at the end of the time set, January 15, it is an- _ nounced that the reprisals now will be carried out. _ These reprisals will, continue until the German re- ~ quests are complied with by the French Govern- -. ment.” FROM SOLITARY CONFINEMENT TO | ORDINARY CELL. — ‘Jesse Pomeroy, who has been for forty-one years in solitary confinment in the State prison at Charles- town, Mass., hereafter will have equal privileges _ with other prisoners by order of the executive coin: Zz Seal Convicted of murder at 15, aged two years ‘ later was locked in a cell lighted from a window in the ceiling so that he might not gaze on his fellow men. He took exercise apart from other prisoners and was barred as far as possible from human com- panionship. Such a record of punishment is rare in the prison annals of this country. Now, at the age of 57 years, Pomeroy will move into a cell where he can see passersby, will be per- mitted to exercise with other prisoners, sit with — them at the church services and at the prison enter- © tainments, and will have such light work in the prison shops as his. somewhat enfeebled health will permit. Governor McCall announced that he ap- proved the commutation. Pomeroy was convicted of the murder of two chil- dren, following a series of degenerate acts which had terrorized the South Boston and Dorchester dis- tricts of Boston. He was sentenced to be hanged, - |but because of his youth the sentence was commuted to solitary imprisonment for life. On September 7, 1876, he was placed in his solitary cell at the Charles Street Jail. TRAPPER UNEARTHS GEMS. Three cans containing jewelry worth, according to estimates, $35,000 were uncovered in a niche in a rocky cliff on the George Anderson ranch, east of Wheatland, Yuba county, Cal., by Alfred Talbot, Talbot, setting his trap in what he thought to be a trapper. Talbot, setting his trap in what hé thought to be a “coon hole,” placed his hands on the cans. He opened them and found them filled with jewelry, diamonds, rings, watches dnd stickpins: _ So far Sheriff McCoy has been unable to find any | clue to the owner of the cached jewelry. It is believed to have been cached there at least twenty years ago. The cans were red with rust and almost falling to pieces. The paper wrapped pee the jewelry was yellow with age. The watches are of a pat- tern in vogue a quarter of a century ago. Several valuable rings, one with a solitaire dia- mond setting valued at more than $300, bracelets studded with diamonds, pve and _ pear] stickpins, were in the cans. Sheriff McCoy believes the valuables unearthed by Talbot were stolen years ago from a jewelry store. That somebody recently has been trying to un- cover the cache is the opinion of Talbot, who said there were many evidenees that his trained woods- man’s \eye could detect of the jearth having been disturbed as though somebody had been digging and wished to conceal his work. ’

Page 25

FAME CHAPTER XIX. ; THE. NEW CLAIMANT. . / lie legal papers were yet drawn up in the form- ing of the New West Mining Company. Each felt confidence in the honor of the other members. But Colonel Pulsifer wrote out a brief form of contract, which all signed. This was sufficient for the present. Colonel Pulsifer was unanimously elected presi- dent, Julius Clark was secretary, and Tiff was treas- urer. Jack Hope accepted the office of general man- ager and Tug was elected director. The capitaliza- tion was nominally a million dollars, with one hun- dread and ten thousand dollars cash capital paid in: “Of course, as soon as we begin to do business -we must conform to the laws of the State and in- corporate,” said Colonel Pulsifer. “But at present this is sufficient. Now our first move will be to en- Zage engineers and surveyors.” . © “There are already surveyors working on the ledges,” said Tug. ‘All looked up in surprise. Ts that so?” demanded Colonel Pulsifer. whose right?” » “I dunno,” said Tug. F there yesterday.” _ 'Tiff’s eyes flashed. “He is trespassing,” he said. “He has no right son my land, and I shall order him off.” # “To-morrow we will pay a visit to ‘the claim,” - said the colonel, “and if he is there it will be a good _ time to mention the fact to him.” “J shall éertainly do so,” declared Tiff. “I owe Sy no courtesy whatever. I shall maintain my rights.” “By ““T saw old Caleb Lowe out} I ES “That’s the way to talk,” declared Jack Hope. _“Tt’s a bluff game. They probably want to make sure there’s a gold vein on your lav x “There is certainly some powerful reason,” said Colonel Pulsifer. ‘We must proceed with due care a costly one.” Tiff. “I own the land. The title is clear. I ts. ” can defend my right AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. ° ON TOP ‘THE BOY WHO GOT THERE : ; By ED KING 1 caution, for my experience with these sharpers’ to : “John Melton!’ “aa said Jack. ia with a shrug of his shoul- = face fell. (A SERIAL orunrd isisie “there’s a good many queer loops in ther laws of Montana regarding the rights of miners an’ prospectors. If I was you I’d keep ’em off my land.” Tiff slept lightly that night. His mind was filled with all sorts of odd fears and fancies. He knew that he had a hard gang to fight. But he was de- termined to hold his ground. The next day Tiff met Coonel Pulsifer and his father, Julius Clark, and preparations were made for a visit to the New West claim. Tug did not accompany them. Mr. Clark was in a happy frame of mind. The pallor of his cheeks was giving way “to a good clear color, and the light of anxiety in his eyes was lessening. — “It was a kind Prevtiniss that brought you to Wild Creek, Tiff,” he said. “I was just about to give up my grip. I was thoroughly discouraged. It séemed to me as if there was no chance in the world for me.’ Once .again the hunted light came into Julius Clark’s eyes, and he looked sharply behind him. “Tt is an awful feeling that you may be bagged by officers of the law, Tiff. There is never a sense of security. At any moment your end may come. I used to suspect every stranger, and be constantly on the qui vive. As it is, I know that if I become a conspicuous figure in Wild Creek I shall sooner or later be hunted down.” “Well,” said Tiff, “if the worst comes we will make them prove their forgery charge. Perhaps we can fight it out and beat them.” - “As sure as I'am taken back to Samiut to’answer | that charge, so sure shall I be made to go to prison for ten years. You cannot wonder that I am haunt- ed by a dreadful fear which sees danger in every | shadow and hears voices in every breeze. No, I must go back into seclusion very soon. There is — no other way, Tiff.” “But there must be some way to prove your inno- cence,” said Tiff. “I shall leave no stone unturned bring it about.” “There is only one man in the world who can “I don’t see how they can make trouble for me,” clear me of the charge.” “Who?”

Page 26

a “From what I know of John Melton,” he said, “you might as well appeal to an image of stone. He is a villain.” “That is true, Tiff. My only hope of escaping prison is to continue my fugitive existence. And 1] can tell you it is not pleasant.” Tiff felt a sinking of the heart. ~ The outlook was aot encouraging. But he said: “At present you are safe, father. I don’t think a detective would dare to arrest you in Wild Creek. Jur influence here will soon be too great.“ “As long as I am safe I shall remain here,” said Mr. Clark. “I have suffered much, Tiff. Your pres- ence here is the only bit of happiness I have: had since I left home.” “T will make an appeal to Melton——~” “It will be useless.” “At least I can try. If John Melton has a spark of human mercy and kindness in his nature he will speak the word that will clear you.” They had now crossed the bridge over Wild Creek |- and turned into a rocky path which led to Tiff’s claim. -The tall elevator over the Old Sledge shaft could be seen. Workmen were busy about it. Suddenly Colonel Pulsifer exclaimed: “It is true, Tiff. They are ‘making a survey of your Jand.” Tiff’s cheeks flushed. He saw the theodolite and flags of the surveys on a distant ledge of rock. He saw the figures of several men. One of them-he recognized as Caleb Lowe. _ For some moments Tiff stood stench them. He saw that there could be no mistake. They had set up stakes on his land. Tif? approached them very quietly. 3 “What is going on here?” he asked, bluntly. The surveyors did not reply. Caleb he looked up and said curtly: ° ““Can’t you see?” io - “Tt looks as if you were tre. svassing on my land,” said Tiff. _ “Ts that so?” said Lowe. sell it to us?” ~~ 2 . “No, sir; I did not,” said Tiff, quietly. “Unless you can give a better reason I must ra baa to leave at once.” — “Well, that is raters a fade way to traits your Lire Sabon said Lowe, with a sneer. _ “It matters not,” said Tiff, resolutely. “You have 1.0 right to survey here or to intrude. I order you 2 ‘0 leave my land!” “We shall leave when we have finished our sur- vey,” declared Lowe. | “For that matter, I doubt your rights. We have examined the title and find] ; _ that your ownership is hardly secure or legal. We want this claim, and if you. will not sell it we must) ‘take it, by right of a or cl: : veins tingled. He could. hardly credit ‘the “of | ‘the villain. is mine » legacy,” he said, “Didn’t you agree to 4 gee and another passed through his coat-sleeve. ‘FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. prove my ownership and my title. I would like to know what better claim you can furnish.” “The claim of a legal heir,” said Lowe. “‘An heir! Moses Fiske had no known kith or kin.” “Didn’t he?” sneered Lowe. “Well, that is just where you get. left. There is a young man in this party at present who has a better claim to this land than you. He is the nephew of Moses Fiske.” Lowe beckoned to a sharp-featured youth who was with the surveyors. He approached ane ‘glanced superciliously at Tiff. . “Mr. Harold Fiske, allow me to Garediain you to this fellow, Tiffany Clark, who claims that he owns this land by right of your uncle’s will.” “Indeed?” said the sharp-featured youth, giving Tiff a cold and contemptuous look. “It is a very unlikely thing that my uncle would do such a thing as that. Even if he did, he was of unsound mind when he died. You will find your claim is absolutely valueless, sir.” Tiff was never so deeply stirred in his life. He was not for a moment deceived that this new claim- ant was really a relative of Moses Fiske. “My claim is legal and complete,” replied Tiff, “and no bluff game or underhand scheme can de- ceive me. I warn you off my land, or I will employ proper means to put you off!” “Oh, you will?” said Harold Fiske, jeeringly. “We shall like to see you do it.” , “I realizé that Wild Creek is a locality somewhat bayoud the reach of the law,” said Tiff. “But if I can do no better, I will employ the means jrecog- nized as lawful in a community like this.” “And what is that?” - “Physical force!” Young Fiske placed ae hands on his hips and guffawed. “Do you hear that, Mr. pewet He is going to put us off with physical.force. He must be a Sam- son.. Why don’t you begin right now, my spring chicken? I'll give you a chance.” And with cool and insulting manner the fellow brought his right hand sharply in contact ‘with Tiff’s cheek. What happened next Tiff never exactly, remem- bered ; nor, for that matter, did the very fresh young man who had dared to slap his face. For in the fraction of a second, Mr. Harold Fiske was seeing stars and rolling on the ground some yards away. The lightning delivery of Tiff’s fist had raised his right eye to the thane seer iics ofa good-sized hen’s ege. So stunned was young Fiske that he did ak ae Z once arise. But now, what had been a passage-at- arms with nature’s weapons came near culminating ; in a tragedy. a - For Caleb Lowe, with face swollen with fierce _ passion, had pulled his revolver and opened fire Yat close range upon Tiff. One bullet grazed his ear ? (To he, ease rata FS

Page 27

TIMELY GETS A WHITE ‘WEASEL. , A white weasel was trapped recently by Lamont Borton, a young farmer living east of Fayette, O. Old residents say that they were once common in this territory, but this is the first one that has been Seen in recent years. of tg KITE BALLOONS FOR OUR NAVY. of The U. §.°S. “Nevada” and “Oklahoma” are being _ €quipped by the Navy Department for testing kite lloons for spotting purposes this year at Guan- “tanamo, according to a statement made by Captain ~ Josiah S. McKean, U.S. A., before the House Naval - Affairs Committee. They will cost from $4,000 to - $6,000 each, and will carry two men each and will be about 75 to 20 fect in length and 30 feet in dia- % meter. F ee o 4 de EAGLE IN BALBOA PARK. A huge bald-headed American eagle shot and dis- - abled by David Goldbaum of Engenada, while it was in the act. of carryine off a live sheep, arrived at San Diego on the British motor vessel Gryme. Gold- presented the eagle to the city of San Diego to _ be placed in the aviary at Balboa Park. Goldbaum’s ob et bore through one of the eagle’s wings, crip- - pline it. The bird put up a terrific fight before it ts could be subdued and placed in a cage. (Ze .... . §TOLEN. GEMS, RETURNED. it Diamond rings and brooches worth $5,000 which ;- Senet disappeared from the home of Pat- Tick W. Finn, a. contractor, at Anthills, a suburb _ of Altoona, Pa,, have been just as mysteriously re- i When the fom ly returned from church Christ-j: - mas morning the stolen gems, wrapped neatly in "a little paper bar and bound with red ribbon, were : found hanging to the door knob. While there were poten in the house, no one had seen a stranger ‘the premises and: pee identity of the thief is unknown. 2 Four 1 men had been arrested on suspicion, De tay X Steel SUES STATE FOR HORSE. ay Humphrey, who lives at Mohegan, N. Y., and a farm at Merwinsville, has asked the State mnecticut to recompense him for a horse which second best in a squabble with a buck deer to be shot. blyman Averill, “of Litchfield County, has da bill in ig aie oie asking that bere ee FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. ) ee eo TOPICS its antlers into thé horse’s side. State laws permit the deer to roam at large and forbid any one to molest them. CONVICTS RETURN TO PRISON. Captain J. T. Hazzard, who has been in charge of the construction work being done on the north and south highwa:; by convicts in the vicinity of Whitebird, Idaho, passed through Lewiston the other day with the convicts enroute to Boise, the weather being such as to put a stop to the work. The convict camp was established about eight months ago, and during that period approximately $18,000 worth of work has been done on the high- way. Captain Hazzard estimates the work done by this convict labor to be a saving of 30 per cent. over contract work. Sheriff Yates of Idaho County passed throuzh Lewiston bound te Boise in charge of Amos Hol- comb, a parole convict, who will be returned tc the penitentiary, having been caught snatching a’ purse from a woman of Grangeville. THE MUNITIONS INDUSTRY. The high water mark has been passed in making British guns, shells and all kinds of ammunition for the Allied armies. England now faces the large problem of diverting this production into new and useful channels, by which the nation will again sup- ply the outside world with goods, thus diminishing the steady outflow of gold and checking the decline in the British exchange rate. ordinarily employed in various useful kinds of metal production, which have been taken over by the Gov- ernment and are now controlled works. These are: in addition to the regular Government factories. re are 2,250,000 employes yorking in these “controlled” and Government factories making ex- ive guns and shells. a) enormous production has now reached | a oint where the equipment of the army is approxi- mately complete in some of the maiz lines. duced then there are 46 produced now; for Fin Bale up e ied ole the ty => There are now 4,623 private factories and cae : The extent to which this gun and shell output has a alpek grown is shown by figures given at the Ministry of ae Munitions. The comparison is made between June, | 1915, when the war had just got under way, and to- day. For every heavy howitzer produced then there am are 823 produced now; for every field howitzer pro- _ medium gun ar ea are 66 now. The oro “baok to twelve. fdas te the va production

Page 28

26. FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. and chokes off the draft of her fires, she can throw ; Fame and ¥ or tune Weekly behind her a heavy cloud of smoke which would be sr | very baffling to the enemy. If the ship were an oil NEW YORK, MARCH 2, 1917. burner the screen would be particularly effective, for oil smoke is dense, slow to dissipate, and settles ° low upon the water. "The submarine would hesitate TERMS TO SUBSCRIBERS to use her superior speed to close in on a ship which | she could not see, particularly if she knew that the ‘merchantman, as soon as the submarine became Visi- ble through the smoke, would be prepared to open on her’ with a 6-inch gun. Merchantmen should be armed with nothing less than a 4.7 or 6-inch piece} since these in the hands of a gunner at all expert * would be sure death to a submarine steaming at the per to avoid cutting the envelope. Write your name and || surface. The armament should consist of four of these guns, one forward, one aft and one on each poe Bieta pe aries TOUSEY, Publisher [| beam. The difficulty, of coursé, would be to provide " Charles E, Nylander, Sec.) | 168 West 23d St., N. Y. | quickly sufficient of these guns to arm the 4,000 ships of 2,000 tons and upward, in the British Mer- ° chant Marine. Good Current News Articles A large deer appeared in a pasture near Estey, . ’ W. Va., in which there were a large number of cows, Grins and Chuckles owned by W. LL. Huffman, and defeated the cattle] _Friend—What makes you think Tom has broken | in a pitched battle, goring several of them to such an| his promise to keep straight. Fiancee—Well, he extent that they later died. The deer was captured! brings me more expensive presents that he used to. and killed by a posse. ‘ ; ‘ address plainly. Address letters to _ Mr. Oldboy—The mountain air is very exhilarat- One afternoon recently, as a passenger train on| ing. I feel-like a two-year-old this morning. Miss the Carey-Findlay branch of the Big Four neared| Younger—And you look it, too, fifty times over. Huber, the brakeman called the town. Then the train Nes ee stopped suddenly. A couple of passengers alighted| He—You might at least have given me some and looked for the town. They couldn’t see it. They| warning that you were going to throw me over. then discovered that the engineer had stopped. to! She—Well, haven’t I been nice to you for over a remove a stubborn dog from the track. ~ | week? ‘Fond Father—Heaven bless you, sir, for rescuing my daughter from a watery grave. Think of the risk you ran. Life-Saver—No risk at all, sir, ’m married. \ 1 Philip’Gardinier, of Nelsonville, N. Y., breathed . easier upon recovering his hat in which he had sewed $842 in bills. A gust of wind blew it off his hedd while he was riding on a train. Gardinier broke his right arm in his haste to get the impro- _ vised bank by jumping off, but, despite his injuries, he searched for the hat and found it in some weeds. A man who wished to take proceedings against a © creditor in a distant town sent a letter addressed: “To any respectable lawyer in A ” The post- office returned the letter marked “Not known.” . The Department of Commerce announced on Jan- - uary 20 that its record showed a total gross tonnage f of 1,495,601 in steel merchant vessels under con- struction or contracted for by American shipbuild- ers on January 1. Four hundred and three vessels , were’ included in this record-breaking total, many = being for foreign account, however. The Bureau of _ Foreign, and Domestic Commerce announced that approximately one billion dollars’ worth of war mu- nitions had been exported to Europe. This in- i _cludes cartridges valued at $85,000,000; gunpowder, -«-- $250,000,000; firearms, $60,000,000 and other ex- om wes plosives, $475,000,000. ee aes Sia ae eeroaperpert “Like the rest of my sex,” said the mermaid, “I e: _ If merchant ships were to make use of the smoke] suppose I open my mouth a good deal, but——” _ Sereen, they would find it to be a very effective de-| “But what?” interrupted the lobster. “I never put . _ fense against submarine attacks. If a merchant ship| my foot in it,” continued the belle of the sea, as she — _ on sighting a submarine turns at once to windward! plunged into the surf. ; j oe oes Jaggles—What do you think of the stand taken by people who won’t work for a living? Waggles— It is altogether too uncertain. Some fellows become millionaires at it, while others starve to death. “Tt was only five years ago I started in with our firm at five dollars a-week,” said Bragg, “and now I earn fifty a. week without any trouble.” “That’s _ so; it’s easy to earn that,” replied Newitt, “but how — much do you get?” a Ss

Page 29

FAME AND FORTUNE WEEALY. ¢ 3 27 0 SM pW SS eS Se ee ee ee eee ee ee es a ee AN ADVENTURE WITH WOLVES. By Kit Clyde. ™ _ We lighted a fire to cook our supper,, which con- Sisted of turtles that Pepe had brought from the neighboring marsh, and were laid on the embers, ‘Shell side down, after which the scales could be very easily taken off. We made a miserable meal. The flesh of the tur- tles was execrable; it had a strong taste of mud. Supper over, we proceeded to make our prepara- tion for the night. In the vicinity of the marshes, and notwith- Standing that the warm’season had come, the nights Were cool; it was therefore decided that. the fire Should be kept up until the next morning—a matter easy enough, since the jarillas, among which we Were camping, are shrubs of so resinous a, nature that they feel sticky to the touch, and that even ‘the green wood burns ‘with a brilliant flame. For another reason also, we deemed it obligatory to keep the fire up all night—it was necessary for our personal safety, inasmuch as we were liable to be attacked by beasts of prey, which are very com- mon in this. part of South America. - It was agreed, as usual, that Charles should keep Watch for the first two hours, and then Luiz. Our horses were tethered to the stunted trunk of a willow standing some twenty yards away; then We wrapped ourselves in our ponchos, and with our feet turned toward the fire, we slept a sleep well earned by ten hours of slow but continuous travel? _ But the sleepers were not more tired than the techers. Charles, feeling himself, compelled to Yield to sleep, could not awake Luiz, who naturally continued to snore while the fire ‘died down for want of fuel. _- We had been sleeping quietly, when, about 11 ’clock, we were suddenly awakened by a prolonged | a and plaintive cry. We sprang to our feet and in- Stictively rushed to our guns—all, except Miguel, who was stirring up the ashes in the hope of find- ing one live ember. _ Then several other’ cries just like the first were heard, but nearer. 7 They | sounded like the howling of wolves. ze “We are lost,” tranquilly observed our see; “those are the red wolves.” In the mouth of Barlejo, those three Pe, We are lost, had a terrible significance;. they were equivalent to a sentence of death. Whether it was natural coolness, or the habitual indifference gained by an adventurous life, I do not know, but we made our preparations of defense with all the calm of men who are not overfrightened by the prospect of. death. — » “The howlings conti jn volume as they nued—they steadily increased ‘w nearer—in a little while ory mee , a ages distance from to wolves. Every discharge gs gee death into bd i tad, - iaoe ee We felt especially anxious about our horses. Armed with our hunting-guns, which we had charged with buckshot, we were on the point of ap- proaching the poor animals, which we could see trembling all over by the moonlight, when the vaqueano requested us to do nothing of the kind. “Don’t bother yourselves about them!” he ex- claimed. “Stand all right there in front of Miguel, who is{rying to start the fire—that is our only chance of safety. Silence, now!—and be careful not to shoot until I tell you!” At that moment a dozen wolves sprang out of the cover before us, their eyes glowing in the night like burning charcoal. “Bh! what hawseholes!”’ cried the incorrigible sailor, Loannec. ‘Look, Miguel!-there is something to light your fire with!” I struck the sailor on the back of the neck, as a means of reminding him of the order given; he held his peace. Meanwhile, after a. moment’s hesitation, the wolves approached our horses, which began to per- form a singular maneuver. Pressing closely against one another, with their heads all turned to a com- mon center (the willow tree to which they had been tied), they formed a ring; motionless, presenting their croups to the enemy, they awaited the at- | tack. —first at a cautious distance, then nearer and near- er—and all at orice they*leaped at our steeds. ‘But they had reckoned without their hosts. At the same moment that the wolves leaped, our horses—all together, as if moved by one spring— suddenly gave a terrific kick; the assailants were flung ten yards away, and rolled on the ground, uttering. another kind of howl—strange and fune- real. It seemed as if they were calling for help. ss “What a magnificent kick!” cried Loannec, with admiration. ; “That howl is a gall,” said Barisio, thus explain- ing to us the difference we had already noticed in the way our enemies howled. “In a little while we’ll have the whole pack on us.” Barlejo was not mistaken. Other howls responded to the howls of the wound- ed wolves, and almost immediately we saw about fifty rushing in our direction. “Fire!”? commanded the vaqueano. The new arrivals were received with a volley, immediately followed by another. Startled by our firearms, the survivors scattered in all directions with horrible yelpings. It was the signal for the general invasion. All the underbrush, which seemed so lifeless a little while before, now appeared one enormous lair of wild beasts. Right and left, and_ in front, new packs came rushing into the open The wolves began to turn around the living circle é space of which we unfortunately occupied the cen- 2 Ags ter, so that our enemies were able to surround us. ~ Volley followed volley, but wolves ever succeeded

Page 30

3. ;. mass of wild beasts, but every cry of death brought a new pack to the scene. The ground was covered with their carcasses—some had been’riddled by our buckshot, others killed by our horses. Men and beasts defended themselves; yet the more numerous the. victims, the more numer ous seemed to Bic. the assailants. We expected to have them upon us at every sec- ond; evidently we should never be able to over- zome the hungry pack who only retreated fyom the very flash of our volley. A few minutes more, and we should all be devoured.: * Meanwhile we kept on firing—with buckshot, small shot and ball. We hardly knew what we were doing; our brains seemed to boil. We were at the very white-heat of excitement. As for myself, I chought I should go mad! Argprask Miguel had sueceeded in rekindling the “Cet behind now!” cried Barlejo; “but take care not to turn your backs, and keep on firing.” Obedient to the orders of the vaqueano, we re- treated slowly, firing buckshot all the while. -“Stop firing!” At the same time Miguel and Barlejo threw in 3 front of us two blazing fagots, from the vicinity of _- which the wolves at once beat a hasty retreat. In a few minutes we were surrounded by about -.ten bonfires. While the two gauchos kept lighting ar a ftekr fagots at the principal fire, we continued to - *- shoot, so as to protect them. | ’ Then the fury of the wolves seemed to be turned against our horses. “Do as I do!” cried the vaqueano, lighting another fagot. We all followed his example, and ina fervicidk or two each one of us had a gigantic torch, and we began to place these in a line, a little distance apart from one another, in the direction of the horses. ; We went back, lit ore fagots, plac-1 them a little _ further, and so continued the line of fires until they formed a circle large enough to surround ourselves, ; our horses and a small thicket of jarillas. : One thing which impressed us all a great deal, _ was the way that the wolves would retreat to quite a distance whenever we approached with the im- ye risea torches in -ur hands. The sight of the iri fire ‘evidently terrified them much more than the discharge of our guns.’ Fire was, indeed, less mur- _ sderous than our weapons—in fact it was absolutely , ter safeguard for us. a little hope again, and to consider our situation less rate, although it was still anything but assur- ahs ‘ing. The whole question: of life and death for us a ate sould be summed up in the singe word, fire, and, ; anks to the plan of Barlejo, we could supply our- wie, ‘hel Haass to ming our fires going until harmless to the wolves; but it constituted a far bet- “Consequently we began to feel FAME AND “FORTUNE WEEKLY: a lurid color to all the currounding shrubvery, the wolves had retreated to a little distaxce. Like mon- sters vomited from the nether world, they turned swiftly round and round our fire which they dared not cross, and which made a sort of rampart for "s. Their thousand eyes, which shone like thansands of byrning coals, snot out phosphorescent gleams; their howlings, their wild leaps, their enormously enlarged shadows, gave strange and terrible effect to the scene. It suggezted fancies of «athropophagi dancing the death-cance around their victims. Suddenly a change, which we could not explain, but which we noticed at once, took place in their moveme::ts. . Their leaps became systematically regular; their ranks formed in order; their howl- ings became a chorus, almost a harmony—to dis- order succeeded order, symphony to cacophony. The circle which they now made around us was mathe- matically regular; they wheeled in a gallop, meas- ured and automatic, like that of circus-horses. ; Little by little their course quickened; they be- gan to gallop with dizzy rapidity, but always at one pace, like cavalry upon a day of review. Thoughtful of the danger that menaced us, we . kept watching them; we almost admired them. But the thousands of luminous points whirling around us —appearing and disappearing with the rapidity of lightning, dazzled and fascinated us, like the glit- tering tinsel trappings of those wooden horses cir- cling under a thousand lights at one of our great fairs. The howlings, now monotonous and cadenced, made us drowsy, made us dreamy. And in a little time it seemed to us that we were being drawn into.a great inverse movement; we felt ourselves carried along in an infernal dance, in a devilish whirl—ourselves, our horses, and evén our fires. The wolves no longer appeared to move; it ° was we who were circling round and round under | the gaze of those thousand flaming eyes, motionless, glaring with frightened fixity. The wild beasts were the spectators—they were the orchestra—we were only the actors. “Shut your eyes, everybody!” cried Barlejo. We all started’ at the gaucho’s voice—we obeyed him; it was high time, we were on the point of ee ing. The fascination had passed; the charm was broken. The wolves still whirled around us—still kept their eyes fixed upon us! it was evidently a maneuver . to make us dizzy. Imitating our guide we flung some burning brands into the middle of the pack. Terrified, and howling louder than betore under the bits of fire, the beasts of prey disbanded—their howlings were no longer the same, they were cries. of fury and pain—they felt the game was nave sok knew their prey would escape them. : ' Thanks to Barlejo. we had triumphed over one of the greatest dangers which threaten all travelers bold enough to venture into the chanars” of the it + louth; the ae waved our tives: -

Page 31

‘ PAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. RATTLESNAKE OIL. $14.40 A POUND. The market value of prime rattlesnake oil is $14.40 a pound. That price was paid to John Blakemore of Colorado City, Tex., world’s rattle- Snake king, for eight pounds of oil. -This quantity Was extracted from forty-eight diamond backs, the most poisonous of the species. San Angelo boasts one cf the few rattlesnake oil markets in the world. ‘CLOCK TAKES VACATION. _ Morgan Johnson, a newspaper distributor of Mid- dleport, O., bought a clock in 1881. It. ran along very cheerfully until about nine years ago, when it stopped stock still. No amount of persuasion would Start it again. The other day his sister Retta was dusting when she happened to touch it, whereupon it started off as vigorously as at first, and it has been keeping good time and striking the hours ever since. MUST MUZZLE’ GEESE. Alderman William McCartney of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., has ordéred William H. Bonn to muzzle a flock of 200 geese in order that residents of the Heights portion of this city be not annoyed by squawking and cackling. Sac FACTS WORTH READING search one room because two small daughters of Knox were taking a bath. They took up their stand outside of the house. Becoming impatient over the manner in which the small girls prolonged their bath, one of the officers went around the side of the house. There he found, according to his testimony, a stream of liquor issu- ing from the room in which the girls were sup- posed to be bathing. | They ordered a search of the room. The officers stated that the girls were discovered busily engaged in pouring out several gallons of whiskey through eracks in the floor. A search inthe attic of the house revealed the hiding place of a new worm and still. FROZEN ON HUNTING TRIP. The.bodies of Otto Powell and his bride have been found in the mountains after a search covering sev- eral weeks. On December 17 they left on a hunting trip. ‘They froze to death. The bodies were found on the Little Nisqually River, not far from Mona, Wash., by W. D. Stone of Puyallup, and P. Parmenter, who went into the woods in search of the Powells. Success in fmding the Powells is due largely to a The decision was made after Bonn had been ar-| ollie dog owned by Stone. The bodies were found rested by Osborne Morgan on a charge of main- taining a nuisance. Morgan alleged that he was kept awake nights by the noise of the geese. Alderman McCartney agreed that geese have no sense and they are just as likely to squawk and “murder sleep” at night as not. He decided that Bonn must muzzle the geese or dispose of them. ae JITNEY RIDES FOR HOBOES. Brownsville, Tex., is probably the only city’ in the United States operating a “hobo jitney.” Tramps and vagrants no longer “hit the grit” or “ride the rods” when leaving this town. Instead they occupy a cushion seat in a flivver. _ There is an ordinance against “hopping trains,” but the city authorities have observed that where wags are ordered out of town they walk only a short distance and then come back. So to avoid tempting the tvamps to violate the city ordinance by catching “rattlers” and to make certain they _ would be removed so far from the city that it would be easier to walk to some other joint than Browns- _ ville, the “hoko jitney” was inaugurated. _.. WHISKEY FROM BATHROOM. When Federal officers went to search for a still he a Bs their testimony in the case tried recently at At- a to be operated by John Knox, according within a short distance of the place where the searching parties had given up the hunt and not far from the noonday camp that was established by the Powells, on a high cliff at the junction of the Little Nisqually River and Mona Creek. | They were not more than five miles from camp and almost within hearing distance of the logging camps at Alder. : LETTING ELECTRICITY DO THE SCRUBBING. The latest recruit to the ranks of electric labor- saving devices is a scrubbing machine. It weighs | about 100 pounds and is entirely self-contained with the single exception that it takes its current from — any convenient socket. The machine wets, sweeps, scrubs and dries the floor at a single operation. It. requires only a single attendant, who merely pushes’ the machine forward and guides it. He controls the amount of water distributed on the floor by means of the handle. This water is immediately swept up by a cylindrical brush which is 16 inches wide and has a circumference of 20 inches. This brush is driven by a one-fourth horse-power motor at a speed — of 600 revolutions per minute. The brush does the actual scrubbing and carries all of the dirt and | soiled water over an apron into a separate receiving pan, so the scrubbing is always done with clean — water from the upper tank. The machine is said 4 4 to have a capacity of nearly 7,000 square feet of Janta, Ga., they were informed that they could not|surface per hour, =~ Sate ae a eee i ¥, a a . a \ f ‘ » : “A a ¢ = ier gir he tc a Rad

Page 32

q 80 FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. _ a IE INTERESTING ARTICLES WED SEVENTY YEARS WITHOUT STRIFE. J. P. Bentley, ninety years old, and his wife, Mrs. Susan Fristoe Bentley, eighty-eight years of age, were married seventy years ago and never had a fuss. They récently celebrated their anniversary. They live near Forest Green, Mo. : Mr. Bentley, who has lived all his life on his farm and still runs the 600-acre tract himself, is rated one of the wealthiest men in Charlton County, }having amassed a fortune of between $75,000 and $100,000. ; _ Both he and his wife were. born on adjoining farms. When they were wed they agreed that if either became angry the other should take cogni- zance of it, and preserve an unruffled demeanor. This, they say, is the secret of their smooth rela- tions. Nine children, five of whom are living, were born to the union. The Bentley farm descended to its present own- er from his father, who obtained it from the Goy- ernment by grant in 1815. f MONTANA’S BOBCAT INDUSTRY. The killing of bobcats for their pelts is becoming something of an industry in the Bull Mountains, where the cats are said to be unusually numerous this year. The'‘pelts are worth from $2.50 to $4 each, and shipments are regularly made to Eastern fur houses. GOLD IN THE STREETS. Gold specimens worth $2 and $3 each were pickea ap on a newly macadamized street in Grass Valley, Cal., after a heavy rain. Dozens. of miners spent many hours in the search and nearly all were re- warded with finds of some value. The rock with which the streets are macadamized came from mine dumps and contains gold-bearing quartz. ’ DOG SAVES A WOMAN’S LIFE. After lying paralyzed on the floor of her home in the cold for twenty-four horse, Miss Marie Sher- wood, 55 years old, of Patterson, N. Y., was savea _ by the continual barking of a dog from being frozen to death. Her feet, it is feared, are both frozen. Miss Sherwood suffered a stroke Friday morn- ing shortly after getting her breakfast. She could not move or shout for help. The fire went out in the stove after several hours passed, and the woman was slowly freezing when James Glenn, going through the dooryard, heard the dog, hungry ana thirsty, barking and whining. The dog yelped so Glenn looked in the windows and saw Miss Sher- wood lying.as if dead on the floor. He summoned Dr.-Burt, who found the woman paralyzed and left 1 nurse to care for her.\ LACE GROWS ON TREES. é Lace grows on trees on the Isthmus of Panama, and the trees grow wild in the swamips, Captain L. W. Richards of the steamship Norwalk brought a fine sample, not merely as a curiosity, but to induce tests as to the probable utility of the plant or tree in this section. When the bark of the limbs is stripped there are rolls of a filmy substance, of a texture very much like mosquito netting. The size of these layers inereases with the size of the tree, the largest being about a foot in diameter. This fabric is strong and can be sewn without tearing. The natives use the stuff in making garments. ; Captain Richards believes that by cultivation the tree may become very valuable, and if the lace lay- ers cannot be enlarged some process may be per- fected by which they can be joined into a fabric _ which will make the finest mosquito bar and may - even serve for summer rainment, | 76 Wek SNUFF BAFFLES HOUNDS. The habit of snuff taking undoubtedly helped Private Peter Nelsoi. of Vancouver to elude Teuton bloodhounds, for when he skipped his camp in Ger- many and heard the baying of the hounds he threw pinches of snuff about. This and the shelter of a friendly wood enabled him to cover up his traces. Nelson had been sent to camp not far from Muen- ster, where drainage operations were the, staple work. He managed to elude the guards and got into a wood near by where he could hear the dogs barking and machine guns working. He threw, snuff over his footsteps and made so rapid a journéy that next morning at 6:30 he found himself over the frontier, the distance covered being almost thirty miles. At one point he almost ran into a sentry, but man- aged to avoid him without attracting undue notice. Having, as he believed, got into Holland, he in- quired of a boy and found his surmise was correct. That supposition was at first suggested by the fact t two or three workmen were cycling to work and that they were young men. In Germany there would be no young men not in uniform. Two mount- ed police came along and asked Nelson ifthe was an escaped prisoner, and within an hour he was before an inspector. This time, however, the role of the police was to liberate rather than jail their man, and further, they gave him the best meal he had had for over a year, together with money and a letter to take him to the consul at Rotterdam. At the pay office at Westminster he had the satisfaction of drawing his pay for the entire period of his in- ternment. , 35 5:5, . . ~ \

Page 33

THE BALANCING BIRD. It measures more than four inches from tip to 2 of wings, and will balance per- fectly on ‘the tip of your finger nail, on the point of a pencil, or on any pointed instrument, only the tip of the bill resting on the nail or pencil point, the whole FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. lead | body of the bird being suspended in the | r with nothing to rest on. {t will not fall off unless shaken off. A great novelty. Wonderful, amusing and instructive. rice 10 cents, mailed postpaid. WOLEF Novelty Co., 163 W. 23d St. N. ¥. SEHRIFF BADGE, With this badge at- tached to your coat or vest you can show the boys, that you are a sheriff, and if they don't . behave them- selves you might lock them up. Itisa beauti- ful nickel-plated badge, 2% 6 inches in , the words “Sheriff 23. By Heck” in nickel letters on the face of it, with a pin on the back for attaching it to your Jom. ing. Send for one and have some fun with the boys. ’ Price 15 cents, or 3 for 40 cents; sent by mail, postpaid. H. F. LANG, 1815 Centre St., B’klyn, N. ¥. SCIENTIFIC MIND READING Wonderful! Startling! Sel- entific! You hand a friend a handsome set of cards on which are printed the names f the 28 United States Presi- dents. Ask him to secretly select a name and hold the card to his forehead and think of the name. Like a flash comes the answer “Lincoln Washing- ton,” or whatever name he is thinking of. The more you repeat it the more. puzzling it becomes. With our outfit you can do it any- Where, any time, with anybody. Startle your friends. Do it at the next party or at your club and be the lion of the evening. This was invented by a famous magacian. Price, with complete set of cards and full instructions, 12 cents, mailed, postpaid, C. BEHR, 150 W. 62d Street, N. Y¥. STEEL pisc GUN. Foret This gun has a pow- (a erful steel spring, ™ which shoots a disc bs from 150 to 200 feet in the air. With each gun we send fifteen dises, containing dif- ferent sayings, as “Kiss me, kiddo, nothing makes me sick,” “My, you look good, let's get acquainted,” “Put a damper on your jaw tackle,” “I lub my yaller gal, but oh, you Chocolate Drops,” “Say, old man, pay me them two bits,” etc. Young folks are delighted with them. Each gun packed in a box with 15 dises. Price complete, 12 cents; 3 for 30 cents; dozen, $1; sent by parcel post, prepaid. xtra discs 4 cents per dozen. WOLFF Novelty Co., 168 W. 23d St. N. ¥. DIAMOND SQUIRT RING. A handsome Gilt ring Set with a brilliant, a close imitation of a dia- mond, Connected with the ring is a small rub- : ber ball filled with water, which is con- cealed in the palm of your hand. your friend is admiring the stone in your ring, a gentle pressure on the vall will throw a small stream of water into his a in a gilt frame, the size DANS> of our engraving. By lighting a match and moving circular form at the back they can be made to dance furiously, the heat from t this pretty charm. ) Price, 15 cones, or 3 for 40 cents, sent by mail, post . WOLFF Novelty Co., 168 W- 23d St. N. ¥. S10 os et eae AR CASE. ELECTRIC CIGAR pi handsome cigar case ap- pears to be filled with fine cigars. If your friend smokes ask him to have a gar with you. As he reaches out for thought there were some A slight pressure thelt pm Ase gem ition in the case eir proper positio se. : tobaced o uded they are sure to deceive e’: & ne of the best Jokes of ont RK A novelty rid eee you can have lots of fun. Price 35 cents, sent by parcel post, post- paid. C. BEHR, 150 W. 62d Street, N. ¥. 31 TOBACCO HABIT A very interesting book has been ub- lished on tobacco habit—how' to conquer it pec d and easily. It tells the dangers of excessive smoking, chewing, snuff using, etc., and explains how nervousness, irritability, Sleeplessness, weak eyes, stomach troubles and numerous. other disorders may be elimi- nated through stopping Self-poisoning by tobacco. The man who has written this book wants to genuinely help all who have become addicted to tobacco habit and says there's no need to suffer that awful craving or restlessness which comes when one tries to quit voluntarily/ This is no mind-cure or temperance sermon tract, but plain, com- mon sense, clearly set forth. The author will send it free, postpaid, in plain wrapper. Write, giving name and full address—a Postcard will do. Address Edward J. Woods, 228 X, Station E., New York City. Keep this advertisement, it is likely to prove the best news you ever read in this journal. ce CY Ieee Step right up close boys and e ! 0! How s Gloss” wietia, eae do gglin awalia She Dances! 2°%2., that will open — “eyes. Absolutely the latest and niftiest novelty out. Sim- ple to operate, no match re- quired. Send TWO dimes at Once for “The Hulu Dancer” and treat your friends to some real fun—but don’t let a. gis! see is Ft ar g@ money; ‘or —$1.50 dozen. 4 ane Oriental Novelty Co., 4002-40 Indiana Aye., Chicago. ee and sizes : a e famou “Ranger” line of bicycles Ge ba el Tat BO a or bays’ FREE TRIAL our new 1917 catalog Ne F * test at ons expense. Wye! A Low FACTORY NA \ | : IBA, aia cessful bicycle cow. i j oe country at half usual prices. Send No Mone’ Ask for copy ‘of the \RS3 bes patie Ay af pan effer. Do not bay antilyoureceiven: WRITE NOTE ‘CYCLE CO. Dept.H 188 Chicago e Wife of ho Drinks t confidential messa for you. It will come in a plain envelo: How to conquer the liquor habit in 3° days and make homé happy. Wonderful, safe, last- ‘Be reliable, inexpensive method, guaranteed. rite to w. J. Woods, 228 8S, Station B, New York, ¥. Show this to othara. MEA To One I have an im

Page 34

FUNNY KISSING GAME. These cards, from No. 1 to No. 16, run {n ‘rotation, but must be mixed and dealt, a white one for a boy and a red one for a girl. oye fl are then read alternately, and the questions and answers make funny combinations. The right lady is rewarded with a kiss. A very funny game. Price, five cents a pack by mail. Ht. F. LANG, 1815 Centre St., B’klyn, N. Y. THE PRIZE FORD JOKE. Looks !ikea story-book, but it contains a cap and a_ trigger. The moment» your innocent friend opens the book to read the interesting story will think the Ger- after Price 25 cents each by mail, »olff Novelty Co 168 W. 23d St. . Xe REDs The working of this trick is ver WHITE BLUE easy, Most startling and mystifying. Give the case and three ewan to any one in your ®udience with instructions to place any penci] in the case point upward and to Close case and put the remaining two pen- cils in bis pocket. You now take the case with the pencil in it and can tell what color it is. Directions how to work the trick with each set. Price 25 ets. each by mall, postpaid. Wolff Novelty Co., 168 W. 23d St.. N. ¥. PRICE 6c PER COPY BUY A COPY! 32 PAGES OF READING New Portraits and Bio Six Stories of the Best Buy a copy NOW from your any number you desire. — cles are by the greatest experts ne. No amount of money is being spared to make this publication the very best of its kind in the world. , or send us 6 cents in money or postage-stamps, and we will mail you a IMITATION BED BUGS. This toy is an exact imitation of the friendly little fellow who shares your bed, eats out of your hand or leg and who ac- cepts your humble hospitality even with- out an invitation. The fact that he also insists on introducing all his friends and family circle, sometimes makes him most unpopular with the ladies; most every woman you know would have seven kinds of fits if she saw two, or even one, of these imitations on her bedspread.’ Six are contained in a transparent efivelope. Price, 10e by mail. 2 H. F, LANG, 1815 Centre St., B’klyn, N. Y. ' SOUVENIR SHOE THERMOMETER. This is tue prettiest and daintiest little article that we have ever seen. It con- sists of a miniature French shoe only 1% znches in length, to which is attached a perfect and thoughly reliable thermome- ter. They are made in Paris by skilled workmen, and the workmanship in evety detail is simply perfect. Ladies sometimes use them to attac! to embroidery work, and nothing could be more suitable to pretend to a lady friend as a momento. Besides being a practical ther- mometer it is a perfect work of art. Price, &e., 4 for 25¢e. postpaid. | H. F. LANG, 1815 Centre St.. B’klyn, N. Y¥. Its authors are the very best that mone RUBBER SUCKER, Rubber Vacuum Suckers The latest novelty out! Dishes and plates will stick to the table, cups to the Saucers like glue. Put one under a glass and then try to lift it. You can’t. Lots of fun. AJways put it on a smooth surface and wet the rubber.. Many other tricks can be accomplished with this novelty. Price 12 cts. each by mail, postpaid. FRANK SMITH, 383 Lenox Ave., N. ¥. READ THIS ONE! “Moving Picture Stories” A WEEKLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO PHOTOPLAYS AND PLAYERS aa ia~ THE BEST FILM MAGAZINE ON EARTH : Magnificent Colored Cover Portraits of Prominent Performers! EACH NUMBER CONTAINS phies of Actors and. Actresses ilms on the Screens Elegant Half-tone Scenes from the Plays . Interesting Articles About Prorinent People in the Films Doings of Actors and Actresses in the Studios and while Picture-making Lessons in Scenario Writing, and names of Companies who buy your plays - Poems, J-kes, and every brig!.t Feature of Interest in Making Moving Pictures THIS LITTLE MAGAZINE GIVES YOU MORE FOR YOUR MONEY THAN ANY OTHER SIMILAR PUBLI- CATION ON THE MARKET! in their narticular line. MOVING PICTURE STORIES, Inc., 168 West 23d Street, New York City y can procure; its profuse illustrations are exquisite, and its special arti- LITTLE RIP’S TEN-PINS In each set there are ten pins and tws bowling balls, packed in a beautifully or hameuted box. With one of these winia ture sets you can play ten-pins on your dining-room table. just as well as the game can be played in a regular alley. ikvery game KLown tu proufessioual bowl- ers Can be worked with these pis. Vfrice, ide, per box by mail, postpaid. M. EF. LANG, 1815 Centre St., B’kiyo, N. ¥. THE CREEPING MOUSE. This is the latest novelty out. Lue mouse is of a very natural appearance. When placed upon a mirror, wall, window or any other Suuovth surtace, it will creep siowly downward Without leaving the perpendicu- lar suriace. It is iurnisied with an ad- hesive gum-roil underneath which makes it stick, Very amusing to voth youlLg anu old. rice, ten cents by mail Wolff Noveity Co., 168 W. 23d St. N. ¥,. TRICK CIGARETTE BOX. This one is a corker! Get a vox right away, if you waut to have a barrel of juy. diere’s the secret: it iooks like au ordi- hary red vox of Turkish cigarettes. But lL COLUlains a trigger, ubder wich you place a paper cap. Offer your friend @ smoke &auu He raises the lid ‘of tue box, That expiodes the cup, and if you are Wise you will get out of sight with the box belore be gets over thinsing be Was shot. rice loc., postpaid. Woill Noveity Co., los W. 23d St.. N. ¥. BINGO. ® It is a little metal box. It looks very innocent, but is supplied with an ingenious mechanism which shoots off a Lurmiess cap when it is opened. You can Lave more fun than a circus with this new trick. Place the BINGO in or under any other article and it will go off wnen tne article is opened or removed. it can be-used as @ funny joke by being piaced in a purse, cigarette box, or between the leaves of a Magazine; also, under any movable article, such as a book, tray, dish, ete. The BINGO can aiso be used as a burglar alarm, as @ theft preventer by being placed In a drawer, money till, or under a door or window or under any article that would be moved or disturbed should a theft be attempted. Price, 5c. each by mail, postpaid. FRANK SMITH, 383 Lenox Ave., N. ¥. PRICE 6c PER COPY ENJOY YOURSELF'!. OUT EVERY FRIDAY

Page 35

Page 36

FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY 580 A Young Gold King; or./The Treasure of the Secret Caves. 581 Bound to Get Rich; or. How a Wall Street = 4 Made Money. © 582 Friendless Frank: or. The Boy Who Became 583 A $30,000 Tip: or, The Tous Weazel of Wall Street. 584 Plucky Bob: or, The Boy Who 585 From Newsboy to Banker; or, Rob Lake's Rise in Wall Street. 586 A Golden Stake: or, The Treasure of the Indies. 587 A Grip on the Market: or, A Hot Time in Wall Street. 588 Watching His Chance: or. From Ferry \ 589 A Game of Gold; or. The Young King of Wall Street. 590 A Wizard for Luck; or, Getting Ahead in the World. 591 A Fortune at Stake; or, A Wall Street Messenger’s Deal. 592 His Last Nickel: or, What It Did for Jack Rand. For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt of price, 5 cents per copy, in money or postage stamps. NOTICE—The following numbers PRICE SIX CENTS. 593 Nat Noble, the Little Broker; or, The Boy Who Started a Wall Street Panic. 594 A Struggle For Fame; or, The Gamest Boy in the World. 595 The Young Money Magnate; or, The Wall Street Boy Who Broke the Market. 563 Only a Dollar; or, 564 Pri 568 Mart Morton’s Money; or, 570 Strikin 571 From Street. 672 The Boy Gold _ Hunters; or, After a Pirate’s Treasure. Wall Street Boy’s Game of Man of Himself. 573 Tricking the Traders; ance, i74 Jack Merry’s *Grit; or. or, A Making a LATEST ISSUES—— 557 A Freak of Fortune: or, The Boy Who Struck. Luck, 558 The Prince of Wall Street; or. A Big Deal for Big Money. 659 Starting His Own Business; or, The Boy Whb Caught On. 560 A Corner in Stock; or, The Wall Street Boy Who f61 First in the Field; or, Doing Business for Himself. 562 A Broker at Eighteen; or, Roy Gilbert’s Wall Street Career. From Errand Boy to Owner. ice & Co., Boy Brokers: or. The Young Traders of Wall Street. 565 A Winfiing Risk; or, The Boy Who Made Good. 566 From a Dime to a Million; or, A Wide-Awake Wall Street - Boy. , . {67 The Path to Good Luck; or, The Boy Miner of Death Valley. A.Corner in Wal] Street Stocks. 569 Tips to Fortune; or, A Lucky Wall Street Deal. His Gait; or. The Perils of a Boy Engineer. essenger to Millionaire; or, A Boy’s Luck in Wall Won. 575 A Golden Shower; or, The Boy Banker of Wall Street. 576 Making a Record; or, The Luck of a Working Boy. 577 A Fight for Money; or, From School to Wall Street. 578 Stranded Out West; or, The Boy Who Found a Silver Mine. 579 Ben Bassford’s Luck: or. Working on Wall Street Tips. FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher, - a amous. Won Success. Boy to Captain. 168 West 23d St., N. 2. IF YOU WANT ANY BACK’ NUMBERS of our weeklies and cannot procure them from newsdealers, they can be obtained from this office direct. Write out and fill in your Order and send it to us with the price of the weeklies you want and we will send them to-you by return mail. POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY. FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher, - - - 168 West 23d St., N. Y. OUR TEN Ne. 46. HOW TO MAKE AND USE ELEC- TRICITY.—A description of the wonderful uses of electricity and electro magnetism: to- gether with full instructions for making Electric -Toys, Batteries. etc. By George Trebel, A.M., M.D. Containing over fifty il- lustrations. No. 47. HOW TO BREAK, RIDE AND DRIVE A HORSE.—A complete treatise on the horse, Describing the most useful horses for business, the best horses for the road; also valuable recipes for diseases pecnliar to the horse. No. 48. HOW TO BUILD AND SAIL CANOES.—A handy book for boys, contain- ing full directions for constructing canoes and the most popular manner of sailing them, Fully illustrated. No. 49. HOW TO DEBATE.—Giving rules for conducting debates. outlines for debates, questions for discussion, and the best sources for procuring information on the question given. No, 50. HOW TO STUFF BIRDS AND ANIMALS.—A valuable book, giving instruc- tions in collecting, preparing, mounting and preserving birds, animals and insects. No, 51, HOW TO DO TRICKS WITH CARDS.—Containing explanations of the general principles of sleight-of-hand appli- cable to card tricks; of ecard tricks» with ordinary cards, and not requiring sleight- of-hand; of tricks involving sleight-of-hand, or the use of specially prepared cards. Ll- lustrated. { No. 5% HOW TO PLAY CARDS —Giving the rules and full directions for playing Enchre, Cribbage, Casino, Forty-Five, Reunce, Pedro Sancho, Draw Poker, Auction Pitch, All Fours, and many other popular games of cards. No. 53. HOW TO WRITE LETTERS—A wonderfu! little beok, telling you how to write to your sweetheart, your father, moth- er, sister, brother. employer; and, in fact, _ everybody and anybody you wish to write to.. No. 4. HOW TO KEEP AND MANAGE PETS.--Giving Complete information as to the manner and method of raising, keeping, taming, breeding. and managing all Hinds of pets: also giving full instructions for making e¢ages. ete. Fully explained by - . twenty-eight illustrations. p £4 No. 55. HOW TO COLLECT STAMPS * AND COINS.—Containing valuable informa- tion regarding the collecting and arranging g. stamps and coins. WHandsomely illus- “Ne, 56. HOW TO BECOME AN EN- Te —Containing full instructions how _ to become a locomotive engineer; also direc- _ tions for building a mole! locomotive; to- J “weber: with a full description of everything engineer should know. FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher, — - -CENT No, 60. HOW TO BECOME A PHOTOG- RAPHER.—Containing useful information regarding the Camera and how to work it; also how to make Photographic Magic Lan- tera Slides and other Transparencies. Hand- somely illustrated. No. 62. HOW TO BECOME A WEST POINT MILITARY CADET,—Explains how to gain admittance, course of Study, Exami- nations, Duties, Staff of Officers, Post Guard, Police Regulations, Fire Department, and all a boy should know to be a cadet. By Lu Senarens. No. 63. MOW TO BECOME A NAVAL CADET.— Complete instructions of how to gain admission to the Annapolis Naval Acad- emy. Also containing the course of instruc- tion, description of grounds and. buildings, historical sketch, and everything a boy should know to become an officer in the United States Navy. By Lu Senarens, No. 644. HOW TO MAKE ELECTRICAL MACHINES,—-Containing full directions for making electrical machines, induction coils, dynamos, and many novel toys to be worked by electricity, By R. A. R. Bennet. Fully illustrated. No. 65. MULDOON’S JOKES,—The most original joke book ever published, and it is brimful of wit and humor. It contains a large collection of songs, jokes, conundrums, etc, of Terrence Muldoon, the great wit, hu- morist, and practical joker of the day. No. 66. HOW TO DO PUZZLES,—Con- taining over three hundred interesting puz- vies and conundrums, with key to same, A complete book. Fully illustrated. No, 6%. HOW TO DO ELECTRICAL TRICKS.—Containing a large collection of instructive and highly amusing electrical tricks, together with illustrations. By Anderson, No. 68 HOW TO DO CHEMICAL TRICKS.—Containing over one hundred Bighiy amusing and instructive tricks with chemicals. By A. Anderson, Handsomely illustrated. No, 69. HOW TO DO SLEIGHT-OF- | HAND.—Containing over fifty of the latest and best tricks used by magicians. Also pesca the secret of second sight. Fully illustrated. i No. 70, HOW TO MAKE MAGIC TOYS.— Containing full directions for making Magic Toys and d of many kinds. ‘ully il- lustrated. i No. 71. HOW TO DO MECHANICAL TRICKS.—Containing complete illustrations, for performing over sixty Mechanical Tricks, Fully illustrated. No. 72, TO DO SIXTY TRICKS WITH CARDS.—Ewbracing all of the latest and most deceptive card tricks, with illus- trations, ei For sale by all newsdealers. or will he sent to any address on-receipt of price, 10c, per copy, HAND BOOKS No. 73. HOW TO DO TRICKS WITH NUMBERS.—Showing many curious tricks with figures and the magic of numbers. By A. Anderson,. Fully illustrated. No, 74. HOW TO WRITE LETTERS CORRECTLY.—Containing full instructions for writing letters on almost any subject; also rules for punctuation and compositien, with specimen letters, No. 75. HOW TO BECOME A CONJURER. Containing tricks with Dominoes, Dice Cups and Balls; Hats, ete. Embracing thirty-six illustrations. By A, Anderson. No. 76. HOW TO TELL FORTUNES BY THE HAND.—Containing rules for telling fortunes by the aid of lines of the hand. or the secret of palmistry. Also the secret of telling future events by aid of moles, marks. scars, ete, Illustrated. No. 77. HOW TO DO FORTY TRICKS WITH CARDS.—Containing deceptive Card Tricks as performed by leading conjurers and magicians. Arranged for home amuse- ment, liy illustrated. No, 78. HOW TO DO THE BLACK ART, ~ = omtening a complete description of the mysteries of Magie und Sleight-of-hand. te- gether with many wonderful, experiments By <A, Anderson. Illustrated. p No. 79. HOW TO BECOME AN ACTOR. —Containing complete instructions hew to make up for various characters on the stagé: together with the duties of the Stace Man- : er, Prompter, Seenic Artist and Property an. No. 80. GUS WILLIAMS’ JOKE BOOK — Containing the latest jokes, anecdotes and funny stories of this world-renowned Ger- man comedian, Sixty-four pages; handsome: colored cover, containing a half-tone photo of the author. ‘4 No. 81, HOW TO MES MERIZE.—Contain- ing the most approved method of mesmer- ism; animal Sag pena or, magnetic heal- ing. By Prof. Hugo Koch, A,C.8., av- thor of “How to Hypnotize,” etc. No. 82, HOW TO DO PALMISTRY.—Uon- taining the most Spekaece methods of read- ing the lines on the hand, together with a full explanation of their meaning. Also ex- plaining phrenology, and the key of telling characters vd the bumps on the head. B Leo Hugo Koch, A,C.S. . Fully illustrated. No. 83. HOW TO HYPNOTIZE.—Contain- ing valuable and instructive Information re- garding the science of hypnotism. Also ex- plaining the most approved methods which are employed the world, No, M, —Containing information regarding choice of subjects, the use of words and man- < tion as to the neatness. legibility and gen- eral composition of manuscripts. j or 3 for Se., in money or postage stamps, by A * - = 168 West 23d St., N. Y. *, nabir