Fame And Fortune Weekly (no. 602) (1917 04 13)

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FACING THE WORLD; pr A POOR BOY'S i FOR FORTUNE . b L heme ksi 2 CK AND OTHER STG Ee While two of the meen busied themselves emptying Joe Benton’s valise, the thin rufian com- pelled the boy to exchange clothes with him, and the stout rascal appropriated his derby. “Now skip!” cried the latter menacingly, pointing down the road.

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i Oe a, ¥ y Frank AMEAND FORTUNE WEEKLY STORIES OF BOYS WHO MAKE MONEY Issued Weekly—By Subscription $8.00 per year. Entered at the New York, N. Y., Post Office as Second-Class Matter f. ousey, Publisher, 168 West 23d Street, New York. ‘ No. 602. NEW YORK, APRIL 13, 1917. Price 6 Cents. FACING THE WORLD BM aS A POOR BOY’S FIGHT FOR FORTUNE es. By A SELF-MADE MAN. CHAPTER L IN THE SHADOW OF THE RUM BOTTLE. “So your mother is worse, eh?” said Tom Waldron sym- ‘pathetically. “I feel dead sorry for you, Joe.” “Tt isn’t more than I’ve expected,” replied Joe, with a; sob in his voice, though his eyes were dry and shone with _@ feverish light that betokened loss of ‘sleep. “Mother isn’t made of cast iron. There’s a limit to everything, and she’s reached hers at last.” + “Do you think she’s going to die?” “I do,” replied Joe, in a tone of conviction. “It’s too bad,” replied Tom. ; + *I don’t know,” answered the other. “She’ll be better : ‘Bre heard the minister speak about, she’ll go there, and _ face away, “but why should she linger on and suffer? No- £ body knows what she has gone through but. herself and— me. I’ve heard her talk at night, and cry out, while I sat _ by bed, and what she said was enough to drive me mad— _ Tad, do you understand, Tom Waldron?” And the speaker i si bbed his companion by the arm with a grip that made _ the other wince. a - “Doesn’t your father understand how things are going?” as ‘Tom. ; “Don’t mention him. I don’t know whether he does or At any rate, he doesn’t seem to care. He’s drunk se-quarters of the time. In fact, he’s never wholly sober time.” : rink is a terrible thing, Joe.” a curse!” cried the other vehemently. “It’s made a a wreck of my father, and paupers of mother It has brought mother to the grave, for she can’t much longer. Once my father was as industrious and table as any man in the county. Now look at him—a m sot, and a reproach not only to his family but the “J ‘fashion, with poor Mrs. Benton’ and the bright boy her sole support and consolation in her hour of the villagers, whose hearts were really touched erate plight of the unfortunate woman and her t of their way to assist them. The others— largely in the majority—contented themselves their sentiments by word of mouth when sewing circles and other social gatherings. They appeared to feel sorry for Mrs. Benton; no doubt they honestly were, but their sorrow never took practical shape. The drunkard’s wife was so far down the social scale that they could riot think of visiting the poor hovel where she lived. It hurt their feelings to think of coming into contact with such a person. They might contract some disease, they argued, or soil their clothes. They shuddered when they thought of the unfortunate woman, and thanked the good Lord that they were not like her. They opened their purses to the missionary fund, but forgot that poor Mrs. Benton needed money and human sympathy more than the Hottentots of South Africa, or If there’s a bright world beyond the skies, that} the savages of the South Sea Islands. “I’ve heard it said that Ike Horton is the cause of your € ‘happy. I hate to lose her,” choking up and turning his) father’s ruin,” said Tom Waldron. “Then you've heard the truth.” “He tempted your father to drink.” “He did.” “He encouraged him to idle away his time at the tavern.” “That’s. true.” “And when your father became a slave to the bottle Ike disappeared from the village.” “So he did.” ; “The man acted like a scoundrel.” “Yes. If he isn’t dead, he may get all that’s coming to him yet.” “I hope he will. He deserves to be handled without gloves.” “That won’t make my father a sober and honorable man again, nor will it bring back the wasted happiness of moth- er’s life, or save her from a pauper’s grave.” es “Tke Horton must have had a reason for acting as he did. Do you know what it was?” “I can guess. His reason was revenge.” “Revenge!” exclaimed Tom, in some surprise. “Yes. He and father both wanted to marry mother. | She chose my father. I have since heard that Ike Horton | swore to get square with them both.” : “If he did, he has kept his word.” ity “Like a coward and cur; not like a man. He worked in the dark, like a snake in the grass. His friendship for — father and mother was a pretence to cover his designs. _ Mother woke up to the true state of things when it was too late. Then she warned father, and did ev £ could to save him and herself from the fate the rascal had s marked out for them. Rut he had his hooks in, and you — see the result.” ; a

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‘ ef FACING THE WORLD. “Can I do oa ‘a for you, Joe? If I can, I'll be glad to hel you out,” said Tom. ‘I on’t know that you can, just now.” You look tired and played out. Is there any one with your mother?” “Yes. Widow Cameron. She’s done a whole lot for us, off and on. She deserves a gold medal. Well, I must get on with this medicine the doctor ordered for mother. He’s d another good chap. He knows we can’t pay him, but he told me that didn’t make any difference. He says money isn’t everything in this world.” _ “It may not be everything, but it cuts a mighty big figure, just the same,” replied Tom. “Well, so-long. I'll call over and see you after supper.” “All right. Ill look for you.” Thus speaking, Joe Benton continued on up the road, while Tom turned into a lane which led to a small but well- kept farm. We will follow Joe. = ‘He was an intelligent-looking, sturdy boy, with a frank, a open countenance that attracted one to him, in spite of his > apparel, which showed the pinch of poverty. é * He had been born and raised in the village of Glenwood, _ in the western part of New York State, and had obtained a fair education at the district school. a When his father, who had once been a prosperous carpen- ter, became a loafer and an inebriate, the support of the family devolved on him. He obtained work during the season at the different farms in the neighborhood, and was well liked because of his industrious habits. _ His young hands kept the wolf from the door, and things might have gone fairly well with him and his mother but for the conduct of his father, as the man sank lower and lower in the human scale. A goodly portion of the money Joe turned-in to his mother was taken from her through the intimidating tactics of her . worthless husband, and went to swell the profits of the pro- ; prietor of the tavern and roadhouse on the outskirts of the - village. It was some time before Joe got on to this fact. ee He wondered where his father got the coin to pay for all =i a, er oe a en the truth came out, he was atl i over the outlook. 2 ane aig 5 Before he had decided what course to adopt, so as to cut off his father’s souree of revenue, his mother took a severe ____ cold, which developed into hasty consumption, and the good- _ hearted doctor who volunteered to attend her free of charge saw she was doomed, and broke th as he could to the boy. ; "4: wa Re a stag _. The condition of Mrs. Benton did not awaken any sense of remorse in the breast of her husband. He treated her, if anything, worse than before, because he could not get any money from her. The tavern keeper, however, trusted him, on the strength of his statement that his wife, being ill, he couldn’t pois yom in ‘money till she got better. It was his habit to stay at the barroom all the afternoon, and as far into the night as he was permitted, and then return home,and raise Cain generally and sleep off the effects _ of his peo se : After parting m Tom Waldron, Joe walked up the road a little way till he came to the | i ‘hat 5 called heme, e poor looking cottage _ It stood close by the road, with a small piece of und, once a pretty garden, in front, and a much larger hea of oe on which stood a couple of ruinous outbuildings, in r = - vidage | ae about the place. . y rest of the live stock had been carried off and the dissolute Benton, and their acquisition, foes cM ous Ta - a va yard, and were the effort. The poor woman was now no longer able to attend to the place, and never would again, and her two weeks’ spell in bed showed itself in many ways throughout the house. Everything was turned -topsy-turvy in the kitchen, sit- © ting-room, and the small bedroom occupied by her husband, = for William Benton never failed to make his presence felt around the house when he was not snoring away in bed like an overfed pig. He and Joe had many a scrap, out of some of which the boy narrowly escaped with his life, for Benton, Senior, was — dangerous when the demon rum had him well under con-— trol. # ; CHAPTER II. A ‘DRUNKARD’S REVENGE. The sun was sinking behind the hills in the west, gilding the kitchen windows with its golden radiance, when Joe opened the gate and let himself into the front yard. He vated around to the kitchen door and entered the cottage. A pot of chicken broth was simmering on the stove, but there was no one in the room, which had been’ tidied up a bit since the boy went to the village. Joe walked softly upstairs, for he did not wish to disturb his mother, who might be asleep. The good-hearted Widow Cameron was seated by the win- ~ dow overlooking the road. : She had noted Joe’s arrival, and heard his steps on the stairs. : “How’s mother?” he whispered. proms the same, Joe,” replied the widow, with a sad loo t “Do you think’ she'll live through the night?” “Why, Joe!—you don’t expect her to die as soon as that, do you?” she said, in a shocked voice. “I don’t know,” replied the boy despondently. “The doc- tor hasn’t any hopes. He told me that she might go off any time, like the snuffing out of a candle, especially if any- thing should happen to excite her.” “What should happen——” began the widow; and then she stopped. The question was superfluous. under the circumstances of — ‘the case. Anything might happen when William Benton came home with a jag on. 2 In his wife’s weakened and nervous condition an out- ~ burst on his part might sap her little remaining vitality. “Father might——” began Joe, in reply to her half- formed remark. oe “Yes, I know,” interrupted the’ Widow Cameron. “Don’t let us talk about it.” ide “Joe, is that you?” came a weak voice from the bed. “Yes, mother. I have brought the medicine.” “Thank you, dear. You’re a good boy, Joe.” “You had better take some of it now. Will you give it to her, Mrs. Cameron? The directions are on the bottle.” The widow took the package from Joe, opened it, and — read the directions. nie mS It was to be taken in some water, and so the good woman went downstairs to get a glass and prepare the medicine for — the patient. — eer “How do you feel, mother?” asked Joe, when alone with — his parent. 3 “I feel very weak and listless. I have scarcely an he now. I’m afraid that is a bad sign. Tr means that Yaa not be long with you, Joe.” “Mother!” said the boy, controlling his voice by a strong 0 “It is hard to leave you, my poor child, but perha , for the best. Heaven’s will be done. I know I pag ing so why try to keep the fact from you? I want you promise me one thing.” : “I promise, mother, no matter what it is,” said Joe y. “Prome me, Joe, on your knees, beside your death-bed, that you never will touch strong drink.” a ky et Epa never inten 0, anyway. It has it never shall be mine—I swear it!”

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FACING THE WORLD. “A ae As he drew near the tavern again, now closed tight, and dark within and without, he seemed to grow more steady and resolute. He had but one idea in his head, and that was to set the building on fire. 2 Unfortunately, he was so well acquainted with the place that he readily picked out its most vulnerable part—an opening under the front porch, through which he. crawled. Here the boards forming the top of the cellar were rotten and punky from age. He tore several away, with little noise, for they seemed to crumble under his grasp. Then he lowered himself into the cellar. Lighting a match, he looked around. There were empty boxes, filled with excelsior, lyin around, and several barrels containing spirits, in one o which stood a tin funnel, thrust into the bunghole. The drunkard took a lantern from a nail in a beam and lighted it. ; Then he placed all the boxes containing excelsior together in a heap, and saturated them with spirit drawn from one of the barrels. He was foxy enough to place a barrel under the hole by which he-had entered the cellar, so he could crawl out easily after he had lighted the inflammable material. Making sure that everything was ready for the blaze, he opened the door of the lantern, took out the candle, and lared it in the under box of the pile. In a moment the excelsior was on fire. Dropping the lantern, he hastily crawled out of the cel- lar, and, taking to the road, walked away in a pretty steady manner, as compared with his movements after having been ejected from the tavern. “I believe you, Joe, and I shall die happy knowing that you, at least, will not become a victim of the rum bottle.” __ “Nothing more was said, as the Widow Cameron entered With the medicine, which shea administered to the sick “woman. Half an hour later she fed her some of the broth. When it began to grow dark she took her leave, promising _ to call in the morning. _ Joe was left alone with his mother, who dozed off to _. The boy then -went down to the kitchen, prepared a ' supper for himself and ate it. Returning to the chamber above, he sat by the window, looking out into the night, and wondering what he should do when his mother was no longer with him. His thoughts toward his father were very bitter. His mother’s approaching death he laid at his door. _ He was determined on one thing—when his mother’s life _ Went out, he would cut loose entirely from his father. At that moment‘he didn’t care if he ever saw his father - @gain. __ The slam of the front gate aroused him from his sad reverie. “That’s Tom,” he said to himself. “I will go down and _ meet him.” ___ Waldron was knocking on the kitchen door when Joe drew . the bolt and admitted him. ° _ “How’s your mother?” asked Tom. _. “The same.” ae y m, Here’s some jelly and things mother sent over,” said _ Tom, placing a package on the table. ___.“Thanks,” replied Joe gratefully. “Your mother is very _ kind to remember us.” __ “She'll be over herself, to-morrow, to see if she can be of any help.” « -*“T am very much obliged to her. She had better not ome till the afternoon, as my father may wake up and make greeable in the forenoon.” “AIL right. I'll tell her,” renlied Tom. _ “Wait a minute, till I slip upstairs and see if mother is _ Still asleep.” Joe found that she was sleeping calmly, like a tired child, and returned to the kitchen, where he and Tom talked for _ some time together. __ Finally Waldron took jis leave, and Joe returned to his lonely vigil in the bedroom. _ The hours passed slowly away, and the,sick woman slept P y through them, while the lonely boy sat and gaz ae ] h the window into the obscurity without. , é He was not trying to see into the darkness. CHAPTER III. CRIME AND DEATH. @ While William Benton was executing his incendiary job, his son Joe and his wife were asleep in the room overlook-~- ing the road. ‘ Suddenly Mrs. Benton woke up, with a frightened ery on her lips, that aroused Joe in an instant. ; “Mother,” he said, going to her, “did you call me?” Then he noticed the look of terror on her countenance and the excited state she was in. “Why, mother!—what is the matter?” “Your father!” she gasped. Joe looked around the room,.expecting to see him there, on Soe aan sp botres te sas ate tome es though the doors below were locked and the windows se- 7 radua his heavy eyes closed, in spite of his efforts | CUre- . awake, his head fell over on his arm, and he slept. Pl ben saw that there was no one in the room but ‘ : nA pan + approached, and Gewen the ree rested “What about father?” he asked. “He has not come = This man was William Benton. home yet.” | ae _ Drunk, as usual, but in an uglier humor than ordinarily,| “I know it,” faltered the. Lag-a4 oe. the tavern keeper, after a scrap with him, had ejected Then why did you mention his name? Mir into the road, and told him not to come back there any “Oh, Joel Joe!—lI’ve had a terrible dream about your SH », or he’d have him put in the lock-up as a vagrant | father! a common lush. . “4 terrible dream, mother?” Meu ape on, after shaking his fist at the man who had prac- “Yes! yes! I dreamed he committed a fearful crime!” 4g ‘made him what he was, and muttering dark threats| “A crime!”. a: evenge, started for the only place left him to go—the| “I saw him as plain as I see you now, in a cellar under 2 he had wrecked. ‘ ; same building. There were barrels of liquor there, and boxes Ri unk as he was, he knew how to get there. filled with some kind. of, white stuff, like shavings. Your =~ two or three falls, he came in sight of the cottage.| father piled the boxes up. and then set fire to them. There e’s a light (hic!) in the window for me,” he caroled.| was an awful look of satisfaction on his face, as if he was = pe eee he’s 2 el—no isn’ e kic me a - Tt. * Tiree me into the road like a bum. After| She broke off with a scream. me e money I’ve spent at his place. I'll fix him for it. “Look, Joe!—look!—a fire! See the blaze through the . (hic!) square, or my name’s not Bill Benton. I’ll| trees! It is just as I saw it in my dreams, after your father ae his blamed old house. :I won’t go home to-night | had started it!” . : ; ~ ‘revenge. I’ll go back. No man shall throw (hic!) | Joe turned and looked out of the window. : toad like 6 bum. I won’t stand it!” x taking revenge on some one. Oh; Joe! what can it mean? Do you think

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4 FACING THE WORLD. _ The poor woman only wrung her hands, beating the air in a paroxysm of excitement that was pitiful to see. What she had seen in her dream was too real to be dis- regarded by her. ’ _ Bad as her husband had been, she had never known him to do anything that would bring him within the strong . arm of the law, but now she was certain that he had com- mitted a great crime, and the knowledge stirred her gentle nature to its depths. Joe tried his best to calm her, but she would not be quiet until she collapsed from utter exhaustion. And while he strove with her the fire grew brighter and brighter, until the sky glowed with carmine. he flames rose high above the trees, and the distant jingle of the one-hand fire engine the village owned came faintly to the boy’s ears on the early morning breeze. His own nerves tingled with excitement as the fire cast its ruddy reflection into the room, and had his mother been well, he would have been among the first on the ground, to witness the conflagration at close quarters. Joe induced his mother to take her medicine, and after a time she grew quiet and dozed off to sleep again. ‘eae Then the boy watched the fire from the window until it “Ea gradually died away. : ‘soa “That was close enough to be the tavern,” he muttered. _ “It would be a good thing if the place was destroyed. Why was it not wiped out three years ago, when my father first started to go there? Only for that tavern, father might have been a respectable man to-day, and mother——” His voice faltered, and he said no more. _ Looking at the clock, he\saw that it was two in the morn- ing. Pte wondered where his father could be keeping himself at that hour. Not at the tavern, for that closed between eleven and midnight. - Then where could he be? Never, to Joe’s knowledge, had he remained out so late fore. Although he didn’t care much if his father remained away all night, still the strangeness of his absence made him a bit uneasy. ; _ He walked downstairs and out to the gate facing the ~~ * ‘The road, as far as he could see, was silent and deserted. At So he gave the matter up and returned to the bedroom. +» He watched his mother for a while, and finally dropped iy he 0 asleep... : ‘ ey The sun, shining through the window, awoke him. He was astonished to think that he had slept so long. di He looked at his mother. _. She still seemed to be sleeping quietly, so he went down- stairs, lighted a fire in the stove, and made some breakfast ! ) . for himself. : é ; fo. After eating it, he walked outside and looked up and _. down the road, but there was nothing to indicate that his father was in the nei rhood, Sy He stood a while, leaning on the gate, drinking in the cool -* morning air. Then he saw Tom Waldron coming up the __ “There are a number of suspicious circumstances that , poe eee to light during the investigation which began a ra time ago. There is no doubt whatever that the blaze started in the cellar. boxes, all in one place, where they shouldn’t have been, looked of inoendiary rie) From a pile of burned fragments’ of to ] ’s statement, as well as the charred of a barrel at a point where no barrel was when into the cellar before turning in for the the the elements of around | whether you are guilty or not, and no act mother’s dream about his father piling boxes filled with shavings up in a cellar and setting them on fire. This remarkable vision, added to the fact of his father’s prolonged absence, and the apparently incendiary origin of the tavern fire, made the boy feel decidedly uneasy. He could not bring himself to believe that his father was really guilty of the crime of destroying the roadhouse, but, nevertheless, things looked suspicious. He asked Tom many questions about the fire, and his friend gave him all the particulars he had been able to obtain. Joe did not dare ask Tom whether he had seen or heard anything about his father, lest his questions might ulti- mately arouse suspicion against his disreputable parent. After Tom had said all he had to say, he told Joe that he couldn’t stay any longer, and started off for his home. He had hardly gone before a man came slouching out of the bushes and approached the gate. His bloodshot eyes, uncertain gait, and wretched appear- ance betokened the slave of intemperance. Joe recognized him at once as his father. “Let me in,” said the man hoarsely, with a furtive, al- most frightened, look over his shoulder, as if he thought some one was coming up to him from behind. “Let me in—d’ye hear!” Joe opened the gate, and his father pushed roughly past him and made for the house. Suddenly he stopped, and turned around. He saw his son’s eyes following him. He walked back in a savage and threatening way. “If anybody comes here lookin’ for me, tell ’em I’m in bed,” he snarled. “Tell ’em I’ve been home all night, d’ye understand ?” “Where have you been, father?” asked the boy. “None of your blamed business where I’ve been!” cried William Benton savagely. “You do as I tell you! Don’t you dare say I didn’t come home till mornin’! If you do, Vl kill you!” ; The look that accompanied the words was almost murder- ous, and greatly disturbed Joe. He had never known his father to be quite so ugly after sleeping off a good bit of his nightly debauch. Evidently there was something unusual the matter with him, and Joe’s suspicions of his father’s guilt began to row. 3 He decided to tell him about the fire, to see how he’d take it. It took a lot of nerve for him to broach the subject under the circumstances, but Joe was a plucky boy. _ ‘ : “Father,” he said, looking him straight in the eye, “do you know that Ralston’s tavern was burned to the ground — early this morning?” . William Benton glared at his son with the eyes of a wild beast at bay. aaa “It’s a lie!” he shouted hoarsely. “I know nothin’ about and f it! Who says it was burned?” ; “I say so.” fees ves _ “You infernal little imp!” roared his father. “Do you accuse me of settin’ fire to it?” a i " He seized Joe by the throat with a grip that choked the — oy. e Pe “Take it back! Take it back—d’ye hear?—or Ill mur- der you!” Meats Joe, by a desperate struggle, succeeded in freeing neck from his infuriated father’s grasp. : % “Leave me alone, will you?” he said doggedly. “I eat say that you set fire to the place. I said it was burned own. ae “But your eyes accuse me. You believe I did it. I kno you do. If you give me away, I'll be the death of you!” __ “If you say you didn’t do it, I s’pose you didn’t,” 1 Joe, holding himself in readiness to avoid another att _ “I didn’t do it!—nobody saw me do it! It’s a lie! I was home all night—all night, d’ye understand? Don’t you tell any one I wasn’t, or——” apy His passion choked further utterance, and he stood ig at his son like a pigs genet ch : ies . “If you say you were home night nobody s anything different /from me, whether you set tavern or not,” replied the boy. ou are my) of RE 3 ae bring a crime home to you. Go to bed, for’ you needed rest. If any one sees" you § js ss ee or Se™ ie Br ee

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FACING THE WORLD. 5 that look on your face, it may cause suspicion to rest on you. Go into the house right away, and then maybe I'll be able to forget that I’ve’ seen you this morning.” His father seemed to grasp the meaning of his words, for with another furtive look up and down the deserted road he turned sullenly away and started for the house. * Joe watched him disappear around the corner of the ouse. Then he followed in a dejected way. “My father is a criminal! Yes, his earda and actions proclaim his guilt. He set the tavern on fire, just as mother dreamed he did. There isn’t the least doubt in my mind about it. This is the last straw that makes our misery complete. Thank heavens, murder was not a part of his desperate action. Why did he do-it? What motive urged ~him to the commission of such a terrible act? Was it simply because: his mind was crazed by liquor, and he did not know what he was doing? What a curse drink is! It is the father of all crime. Poor mother! If you knew how low father has now fallen, you would not survive the terrible na pena red the house and softly walked upstairs. He father was not in sight. He tiptoed to the bedside, where his mother lay, silent and motionless. One look at her white staring eyes,’and fallen jaw, told him the truth. ‘ . With a cry of grief and despair, he threw his arms about er. “Mother! mother!” Speak to me! _ she is dead—dead!” : : : He slipped to the floor, and, with his extended arms across : his mother’s body, he wept as if his heart would break. And there he was found, an hour later, by Widow Cam- eron, when she came over to see the patient, as she had ‘promised to do. ’ No! .no!—she cannot!— oa . - CHAPTER IV. : TEACHING A BULLY A LESSON. “The tavern fire created a good deal of excitement in the _ village, especially when it became known that it was thought - to be of incendiary origin. The question which then agitated the people was who ‘ould have done the deed. 3: As soon as Ralston became satisfied that somebody had _ fired his building, his suspicions pointed to William Benton. Benton had threatened him the night before, and, put- ting two and two together, the tavern keeper applied to the Ra panstice for a warrant against the suspect. The head constable was sent to serve it, and he drove out ; “to the Benton cottage on the county road to find the person _ he was after. . When he arrived there, a silence hung over the cottage, and he soon learned of the death of Mrs. Benton from the ames Cameron. ‘Being a man of feeling, he decided that, under the circum- ‘stances, he would postpone serving the warrant, so he drove ik into the village and announced the death of the drunk- ’s ‘ine "Ralston made a stiff kick because the constable had failed ae his duty. “The man won’t run away, I guess,” replied Constable “Besides, you have no direct evidence against Black stiffly. him, and I don’t think that, in view of the death of his yife, the warrant ought to be served until after the funeral. it would be hardly Christianlike.” “You have no right to let your private feelings interfere the execution of your duty,” answered Ralston angrily. m sure Benton is the person who fired my house, and if q the matter.”. way. ess, you can “Tf you_don’t like Justice Cox and make your Sigg come vle Jones: on his heel where he explained why he had not. served ‘there, Sabie came in and ad his u don’t go right back and arrest him, I’ll see the justice ; won't arrest him ‘to-day, at any rate,” replied the con- | equal hi and went to the office The justice settled the matter by telling the cotati that it was up to him. If the suspect skipped the village, he would hold the officer responsible; otherw'se, he didn’t see that any harm. would be done by deferring the arrest. Ralston, who was mighty mad over the destruction of his property, as well as the loss of the profits because his urinces had been brought to a standstill, went away with a grouch on, and began to spread the news broadcast of | how badly he was being treated. This naturally prejudiced the village against William Benton, and caused the impression to prevail that he was the incendiary. When the constable learned of Ralston’s tactics, he was much incensed. ; He found that it would be necessary to set a watch on ' Benton’s movements, since, if he was guilty, and he learned — that he was to be arrested, he probably would seek to leave the neighborhood. After his first burst of grief, Joe Benton left his dead mother to the kind offices of Widow Cameron and other sympathetic women, and walked off into the woods, to hide his sorrow from public notice. He sat down on a fallen tree and buried his face in his — hands. He had not been there very long before Job Ralston, son 4 of the tavern keeper, who was very like his father in dis- position and character, came along with a crony of his. They were on their way to inspect some rabbit taps, and _ find out what luck was in store for them that morning. For some reason, known only to himself, Job Ralston — hated Joe Benton. It might have been because the boy was popular in the neighborhood, while he was just the reverse. The fact that he, the son of a well-to-do tavern keeper, was at a discount alongside of Joe, the drunkard’s son, probably had a good deal to do with the matter. At any rate, he never failed to assume an offensive atti- tude whenever he met the object of his aversion. Joe, for fear that his father might suffer at the hands of the tavern keeper if he resented Job’s mean tactics, for- bore to get into a scrap with him, though he felt abundant able to polish off the tavern keeper’s son if he chose to bring matters to an issue. - ; On this occasion Job was more than ever incensed seninat® Joe of his conviction, acquired from his father, that William ‘Benton was the cause of the destruction of the tavern. The knowledge of the recent death of Joe’s mother beg not excite a grain of sympathy in his breast. He despised the whole Benton family—Joe worst of all. “Hello!” said Sam Parker, Job’s companion. “Who’s that — sittin’ on that log?” ; Job’s sharp, ferret-like eyes recognized Joe at once. “It’s that beast of a Joe Benton!” he snarled. What is he doin’ on that log? Looks as if memos... was wrong with him.” “Oh, I s’pose he’s moonin’ over his old womans pate It’s a good thing she did turn yup her toes. It saves the © county the expense of supportin’ her, for she was bound to. reach the poorhouse some time, if she’d lived,” he = . heartlessly. “It wouldn't have been her fault if she had,” said Sam, — who had some feeli “What difference does it make whose fault it was? ‘She y ing. died just in time, for Bill Benton will be sent to State prison for burnin’ our place down, and this lobster will have to leave the village, for nobody will hire the = of a jail-bird. Ain’t I glad of.that! I hate the little beast! manifestly impatient to find out if any game had been snared *, ae ia ov LS Job, eine seemed to forget that ie had deen in urry himself a few minutes before. : The Fn pny of the. unhappy-looking Joe was an : he couldn’t resist. ~ “Well, come on! Let’s hurry over to the traps,” said — : BS *s ie ies , 4 "a 4 a Yi se

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J at Al 3 FACING THE WORLD. _ _ So he looked around for one, and, as the woods were 3 _ ‘full of suitable saplings, he soon had a weapon in his hand. Then he opened proceedings. ___ “Hello, Joe Benton! What are you sniveling about?” he ___ Said offensively, while a satisfied grin rested on his sandy, yk pock-marked features. ___ At the sound of his voice, Joe looked up quickly. Hed was the first intimation he had that he was no longer one. He looked at the two boys, but made no reply, and waited for them to go on. a “Come on, Job!” said Sam. time with him? iia time to-day.” : __ Sam’s father kept the general store, and Sam acted as “What’s the use of wasting I’ve got to get -back to the store some ~ and glowered at Joe. x ___“So your old woman’s dead, is she?” he said sneeringly. “1 s’pose the village will have to stand the expense of plant- n’ her. That’s the worst of havin’ paupers around. They’re blamed nuisance, the whole brood of ’em.” __ The words were hardly out of the bully’s mouth before Joe was on his feet, facing him, with clenched fists and a look of suppressed fury blazing in his eyes. ; _ “How dare you talk that way about my mother, Job Ralston!” he cried, in a voice that trembled with wrath. The young rascal, though he had a stick in his hand, recoiled a step or two, as if afraid Joe would strike him. 25 gg Ain’t, we mad all of a sudden!” ‘he replied jeer- ingly. - “You go on where you’re bound, and leave me alone,” an- swered Joe. “I’m in no humor to be tantalized.” “Who you givin’ orders to, you lobster?” snorted Job. ‘I'll go on when I feel like it. The idea of a feller like te aaa me back talk! A feller whose father is a TO ——— Smash! gut _The word was hovering on his lips when Joe sprang at im like a wildcat and struck him in'the jaw with a force that knocked him down. “You lying cur!” cried the infuriated lad, standing over in an a “My father is no more a crook 5 v ggressive way. ian your father is!” . “Sam! Sam!” cried Job, in a whining tone, for he was eeryoghly alarmed at Joe’s attitade. “Help me out! Slug — quick!” $ \ Bin “hg Sire ee to sy nota = in = ps Dh which no special interest, especially as Joe looke ‘exceedingly dangerous, so he failed to respond to Job’s “I didn’t say he was a crook. I said my father was no more a crook than your father is. That’s what I said, and mean it, too.” else is your old man, when he set fire to my fa- no one saw him do the deed, then there is no evi- against him, and nobody has any right to accuse him h a crime. ’ evidence against him.” - is it?” asked Joe, with a sinking heart. u'll find out when he’s arrested. OS g ng to arrest + oe r ones, of course, if he ain’t done it already.” em and will go to State prison for it, sce if he “Don’t you touch me!” said Job, retreating. I'll hit you with this stick!” “Then leave my mother out of your talk,” replied Joe threateningly. ; “Oh, shoot your old woman! Who wants to talk about her? She never was no good for nothin’!” With a cry of rage, Joe fairly flew at his persecutor, he raised the stick and struck him a blow alongside the The. drunkard’s son minded the blow no more than if it had been laid on by a'‘wisp of straw, though it raised a red mark on his cheek, He snatched the sapling out of young Ralston’s hand, threw it into the bushes, and then gave him an upper-cut with ‘his left fist in the jaw that made every tooth in his head’ rattle like a pair of castanets. Before Job could do anything to defend himself, he fol- lowed up his attack with a punch in the eye that made the bully cry out with pain and terror, Then it was biff! swat! smash! - Every blow ‘landed like a pile-driver on the face of the young rascal, and he fell all over himself, crying out: “Help—Sam!—help! He’s murderin’ me! Help! Help!” ° CHAPTER V. FACING THE WORLD. “If you do, Sam Parker felt as if it was time for him to chip in, though he didn’t like the look on Joe Benton’s face. He knew that his companion had provoked the trouble, and that he wasn’t getting any more than he deserved. Still it was his duty to try and save Job from ihe conse- quences of his nasty disposition, so he stepped forward and said, in a conciliatory tone: ae “Oh, come, now, Joe Benton, let up on him! You’ve hit him enough!” “Don’t you interfere, Sam Parker,” replied Joe, turning on him, “unless you want some of the same medicine! You heard what he said about my mother and father! Suppose you wére in my shoes—would you stand for it?” “Well, you’ve licked him for it—what more do you want? If you hurt him, you'll get into trouble, for his father will make things hot for you.” ¥ “I’m not afraid of his father,” replied Joe. “He’s done harm enough,to us already by making a drunkard of my father. I have a very small opinion of a man who will make a practice of selling liquor to an unfortunate m cursed with the taste for it. Get up!” he added to Job. “Keep your mouth shut, and I'll let you alone; but if you dare utter another slander against either my dead mother or my father, I’ll half kill you, if I go to the lock-up for / it!” " a Thus. speaking, Joe hauled off, and Sam assisted his com- panion on to his feet. : “4 “Why didn’t you help me?” whined Job to Sam. “The two of us could have licked the stuffin’ out of him.” oa him another time.” - ; in “You can bet your life I’ll get square with him, if I die — for it!” said Joe, with a maleyolent glance at the boy he ~ hated. \ hn ASS Sam grabbed him by the arm and hauled him away, and soon their retreating footsteps died away in the w . te Joe watched them till they disappeared, then he started off in the direction of the cottage. °, oat i The question that worried him was how to prevent his mother from being buried as a common pauper. eae | He was ready to mortgage his services for a year or more, ~ : if, by so doing, he could secure her respectable burial, like a Christian. , : ses On his return he found that his mother had been wa and laid out, in readiness for the undertaker, and he his trouble to the Widow Cameron. : : megane him to call on the undertaker and talk im. a3 + oP ala sea > Spe beers ‘She further told Joe that she would loan é see pin hee undertaker w m f SR - “Oh, cut it out and come on! You can get square with a Bites: xi

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PRR Te Set ras

“Where are yer bound?” demanded the fat scoundrel. “Buffalo,” replied Joe, drawing back in distaste for their — company. ; : “Yer never kin walk so far with sich a heavy valise,” grinned fatty. “Here, chappies!” he said, snatching it from the boy’s hand, “see if yer can’t make it light enough for him to carry. r ’ While two of. the tramps busied themselves emptying Joe Benton’s valise, the thin ruffian compelled the boy to exchange clothes with him, while the stout rascal appropri- __ Pepe skip!” cried the latter menacingly, pointing down e road. sete tes Joe knew better than to enter into any argument with the rascals. : They had him where the hair was short, and he found 2: prudent to say nothing and saw wood. 3 ask Looking much the worse for his encounter with the rascals, __ he started off in the direction he had been instructed. 2s CHAPTER VI. ee : ‘ Se A HOSPITABLE WELCOME. Ae se y Joe, as he walked off down the road, felt that he cut a ry thin rascal who

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yr r . PRK oS eT LoS be robbed of the little money and the few clothes 1 D 4 l 1 2 Puught ain is rubbing things in with a vengeance. I feel like a fish out of water in this scarecrow suit. I haven’t worn : clothes for a long time that were any too good, but they _ Were not ragged; they passed in a crowd. Now I feel like hiding in the ushes if any person was to come along.” Poor Joe continued to tramp along the lonely road till it grew dark; then lights began to twinkle at long intervals across the landscape, denoting the presence of farmhouses here and there. He was now both tired and hungry. Heretofore it had been his practice to walk up to a con- i veniently located farmhouse and offer to pay for a meal or a night’s lodging, explaining that he was walking to Buffalo in order to save money, of which he admitted that he did not have a great deal. In no case had he been turned away, as his frank, open countenance inspired confidence, and up .to this point he had not been charged a cent. ~*~ Two or three farmers let him do a few chores in return _ for his dinner or a bed, but in most cases he was not re- _ quired to contribute anything. Now he felt ashamed to approach a hospitable farmer, for he had no money to offer, and he felt that his personal “f oe ce would arouse suspicion and result in a turn- So, famished and weary, he continued his wal | the gloomiest thingies > niet aie hor hues. Like Christian, in Pilgrim’s Progress, he was walkin in the valley of the shadow, and he did not know how to extricate himself from his difficulties. _ As the evening grew apace, he saw the lights of a village, or a small town, far ahead to the left. . 1 Sey swung away to the right, and it looked like a _ long walk to reach the place unless he took to the wood on the left, which seemed to offer a short cut. He decided to leave the road and save a mile or two. It was the spring of the year, and the trees were only just bi oe rage al their hai gn sleep. wood, er he t well into it, s ight- fully’ still. got well in a seemed fright | __ The white, ghostly moon, sifting through the bare branches __ that hung solemn and silent in the calm night air, poured _ @ soft, weird light all around him, and threw the gaunt- _ looking shadows out into. bold relief. __ The only sound that came to his ears was the rustle of his ‘shoes upon the old dead leaves. aie He felt more lonely and desolate than ever. os rate “he ead. His father the inmate of a cell in the Exet jai oa a serious charge n xeter county jail, a= Himsel a homeless wanderer, journeying to a large city, where his luck might prove to be the opposite of what he _ What wonder was it, at that lone hour, in the solitude of _ the wood, the most impressive of all solitudes, that Joe ‘Benton, for the first time in his life, began to feel nervous Pane areas %0 ~ By regret that he had not kept to the road, f cag could see the lights, which were a kind of onbany tg he aoe not go back now. | , Hem eep on, and so. he screwed up his courage a: _ well as he could and stepped bravely forward, thon more than once he paused in dismay at the sight of the moon- beams shining on a scarred tree-trunk, causing it to re- em le some ghostly object waiting in his path to waylay “He tried to whistle some familiar air, but the sound died on his lips, tor nis neart was not in it. At length, through a break in the wood, he saw the road once more, bah accep nat ed bara pe ht pe a large’ mansion and d well-kept grounds—the ence of some well-to-do resident of that locality. eet T! it of a human.habitation, and the moonlit land- : ond, revived Joe’s courage, and he felt like himself bark of a dog, and saw lights in the "fe took to be the _.. The immediate future had lost its encouraging, roseate |’ in the rear Ve learned that the young lady’s name was Grace F be the Kitchen. | and 4 WORLD Leaning against a tree, he wondered if he dare approach the house and ask for something to eat. ae | Ordinarily, he would hardly have taken the risk in his present unsavory outfit, but he was so desperately hungry that he could not resist the temptation. So he made his way across a barren field to the yard surrounded by barns and outhouses, and was aiming for the back door, when he was suddenly confronted by the watch-dog, who was loose. . e The animal looked ugly, and seemed inclined to spring at him, so Joe stopped, undecided whether to advance or re- treat, either of which movements was likely to be attended with danger. While facing this dilemma, the kitchen door was opened and a pretty young girl stepped out into the yard with a shallow pan in her hand. “Here, Tige!” she called. Tige! Where are you?” The animal, who was accustomed to answer the first sound of his young mistress’s voice, was unresponsive now. His whole attention was. concentrated on Joe, whom he regarded with suspicion and enmity. é Here, Tige! Tige!” called the girl, as she advanced into the yard. “Where——” She stopped suddenly on seeing the trampish figure of the boy standing at bay near the carriage house, with Tige crouching before him, within springing distance, In a men- acing way. “Who’s there?” she asked, feeling as if she wanted to draw back, yet conscious that she was safe in the presence of the dog. j pen you call the dog off, please?” asked Joe plead- ingly. ? The intruder’s voice did not seem to fit well with his wretched-looking attire. It was not the voice of a rough, uncultured boy. There was an honest, manly ring to it that impressed the girl favorably. She walked right up beside the dog, who began to growl and exhibit unmistakable signs of uneasiness at the pres- ence of his mistress. ; “Stop, Tige!” she said sharply, and the animal subsided, but his watehful eyes never left the boy for an instant. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?” she asked Joe, in a tone that was not unfriendly. “My name is Joe Benton, miss. I am walkine from the village of Glenwood, Blank County, to Buffalo.” ‘ “Buffalo!” she ejaculated. “That’s some distance from ere!” : “Yes, miss.. This afternoon I was waylaid by four tramps along the read. They robbed me of my valise, containing the little money and few things I possessed, and one of them compelled me to exchange clothes with him. I know I look like a wreck, but I can’t help it. I am tired and almost » starving. I would like to get something to eat. If you will let me have it I’ll go back to the wood and sleep there until morning, when I will keep on to the place I saw some- where ahead when I left the road.” There was a note of sincerity and forlorn appeal in Joe’s . voice that touched the girl. ; ; e She walked up closer to the boy, the dog following, witha = growl of displeasure at what he probably considered her temeérity. The girl studied Joe’s face a moment in the moonlight. What she saw there convinced her that he spoke the truth—that he was an honest, needy boy, whose necessities it were a charity to relieve. e 3 “Come with me,” she said. “You shall have all you can sete Here, Tige,” turning to the dog, “are a few dainties or you. , ; Seal ; She placed the pan on the ground, under the animal’s nose, but Tige disregarded the delicacies and fololwed the girl and Joe as far as the kitchen door; then, considering __ that he had performed his duty as far as he was able, he re- turned to the pan, : > The girl led Joe into the kitchen, and gave some instruc- tions to the cook, after which she disappeared. © The cook placed a bountiful supply of meat, bread, and __ other ed’bles before the wanderer, and he ate like a starved ve Se “Come here, good boy! Tige! : that she was the daughter of BREA Te aeh 7 the pe ~e an the owner of :, Aa) oe ae 4 JXoet

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ATA ae 8 St See ree, ¢ Se i; a ’ “IG : FACING THE WORLD. a SR AURIS ER OS pe ane emo ET ERA CE be, Se A ae ay ie a Se oe A j f who was president of the Corinth Bank, in the adjacent | be done to prevent them carrying out their project. It’s town. Mr. Fuller and his wife had been unexpectedly called away that afternoon to the home of Mrs. Fuller’s sister, in the town of Tamrack, fifteen miles away, who was critically ill, leaving the house of Grace, the gardener-coachman, an three women servants. ; After Joe had eaten as much as he wanted, Miss Grace reappeared and had a talk with him. - She was so satisfied that he was an honest, deserving boy that she gave him a $10 bill with which to purchase a cheap suit in town on the morrow and help him on his way. Then she called the gardener and told him to provide Joe with sleeping quarters in the barn for the night, and instructed the cook to give him his breakfast in the morn- ing. Sia expressed his gratitude to the young lady, bade her good-night, and followed the gardener to the barn. - “You can turn in on that pile of hay,” ‘said the gardener, pointing at a hillock on the ground floor, under a open window overlooking the field in the rear. “I'll have to lock you in, but the door will be open at six o’clock in the morning, which will be time enough for you, as the cook won’t be ready to give you your breakfast before seven. The man withdrew; then the boy threw himself upon the pile of hay and was asleep in five minutes. ,CHAPTER VII. A STARTLING DISCOVERY. - two in the morning, Joe awoke with a start. eed bet dream, in which the four a room where ; put 1 Banaen by. He left the hay, moved the step-ladder eer pavegal f moonlight shining through the window were : red by a dark object. ng the interior of the barn. 4 = boy's heart nearly stopped beating, for the situation almost a counterpart of his dream. 5 gave him quite a shock to see that ruffian’s face gazing ‘through the bars, which, however, looked solid enough to ch a rascal on the other side. stood back in the shadows, where he couldn’t very seen by the man at the window, but, nevertheless, he feel easy until the face was withdrawn, and he heard scraping sound again as he dropped back to the ground. waited to see if any other face would appear at “oS | lucky I've got on to their purpose. The question is: How am | I to get out of this barn in order to warn the people in the | house, for I’m locked in, and the bars across this window | keep me in as effectually as they keep any one on the out- side from breaking in? It’s my. duty to see if I can’t do something, for Miss Fuller has been very kind to me, and the least I can do is to make an effort to save her father’s property.” TN While Joe was considering the situation a fifth man ap- 7 peared on the scene. 4 He came from the direction of the house. He was a tall, well-built fellow, with bushy whiskers. ; As the moonlight shone in his face Joe gave a start of 77 surprise. : e recognized him as Ike Horton, the man who had made a drunkard of his father. The other ruffians were evidently waiting for him, for they gathered about him as soon as he came up. ; “Well, Ike,” said the stout man, “what did yer find out?” “All I wanted to know. The windows on the ground floor are all protected by steel shutters, barred on the in- side. We haven’t any tools to force them.” “How about the doors? Don’t you think a jimmy will whistle the back one open?” : “Easily; but I’m thinkin’ we'll find an iron one on the other ie, judging by the shutters.” ew “Then we'll have to hunt up a ladder, or find something else that will give us a chance at one of the second-story windows,” growled the stout man. “No; there’s a better and easier way of gettin’ in than that,” replied Horton. “Let’s hear about it, then.” “The bars protectin’ one of the cellar windows are a bit loose in their sockets. We can easily force them out. | window itself is not locked.” “Good! But in any case a twist of a lamb’s tail.” = “The opening is large enough to admit the whole of us, one by one. Once inside, we'll have a clean sweep, un- less the cellar door is of iron and heavily bolted. One of us can investigate that first of-all. If we can’t get through | y it, then we'll have to try for a second-story window.” “What hour is it?” asked the thin one, who wore Joe’s foaket and trousers, though the latter were much too short for him. : “About two,” replied Horton. a “Time we got down to business,” said. the stout man. Horton, who appeared to be the leading spirit of the en- | = terprise, nodded. ‘ “Cuss this moonshine!” remarked the thin chap. “It — shows a person up so. I’d like to put it out of business.” “The moon will be down before we’re through with the job,” said Horton. “Come on!” " a ah The five men walked off around the barn, leaving Joe to figure out how he was going to get out of the building — and put a oP to the rascals’ game. Rik Ree: First of all, he tried the stout iron bars at his side. ey f He did it mechanically, because he knew in his heart. that they were too solidly fixed to be removed by him. He was right, and descended the step-ladder. Then he walked to the big door which the gardener had locked upon him. The moonlight shone full the stout lock, and he e could not pass. big. jimmy would force it in the — Next he looked around in the semi-obscurity of the up the stairs, and through the o} ai in the floor, into a dark loft. pening — knew that, too, was a barrier room, and saw a stairway leading to the upper floor. “e He made his way A thin’ ray of moonlight shone through a crack in one side of. the place. Rin et That misty sheen of t attracted him, and he found himself standing before a d shutter. ees It was a stout wooden bar, set in a pair of staples, and

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10 Inside of two minutes he was picking himseli p> from __, the ground, a bit shaken by the fall. * He ran to the end of the barn around which the men - had vanished, and peered cautiously in the direction of the = mansion. a He Saw four of the rascals squatting on the grass against ~the side of the building—two on either side of one of the cellar windows. Joe, after what he had heard Horton say, concluded that this window had been forced, and that Horton himself was now in the cellar, for he was not outside with the others. Presently he saw the men bend their heads toward the opening, then one got on his hands and knees, and entered _ the window backward. ; As soon as he disappeared the others followed him, one y one. “Now what shall I do?” Joe asked himself. “How shall I give the alarm so as to have some of the rascals caught _‘in the act? I wonder where the gardner sleeps? If I could find out, and arouse him, there would be two of us against them,” - He walked out. into the yard where the moonlight was cut off by the shadows cast by ‘the outbuildings. ta The carriage house and stable combined adjoined the barn. It consisted of two stories, the windows of the upper floor being set off by curtains, indicating that it might be a bed- room. Riga t A narrow entrance alongside of the big double doors in- dicated the way by which the second floor was reached. = Joe noticed that there was a push-button in the door- _*. post near the knob. ; ; He jumped to the conclusion that the gardener slept up- _ stairs in the room where the curtains were. To test the matter he pushed the button, which he guessed connected with a bell or gong in the room above. foo He held his finger on it, and in a few moments he heard one of the windows pushed up, a man’s head was thrust out, “Sy and & voice, which he recognized as that of the gardner, _ inquired who was there. _ “Me,” replied Joe. “And who are you?” asked the puzzled gardner. oe Joe Benton, the boy you locked in the barn.” - _ | “The dickens!” ejaculated the surprised’: man. “How did _ you get out, and what do you want?” : 4. got out by an opening in the loft.” What did you do that for?” “Put on quick, and come down!” ot “Why, what's wrong? =~ about it while you’re dressing.” __ The earnest ring of Joe’s voice told the man that some- me was clearly wrong, so he shut down the window, ran _ down the narrow flight of stairs, and admitted Joe. ee CHAPTER VIII. 2 ; FACING THE BURGLARS. ___By the time the gardner was dressed he had learned all about the presence of the five rascals, and how they had _ forced their way into the mansion by way of one of the cellar windows. = = __ “The question is, how can the two of us put a spoke i r wheels?” said Joe. “There are five pretty folie wise: s to sien. ger Loeirgs — = they carry either re- ers or knives. | ess i ey have weapons the "tf. to use them. Rave me — i word to the wire; = you FACING THE -sounds of low conversation and the ratile of articles being _ d|her to keep quiet. | two - of the house, and he looked for trouble. ¥ ‘ WORLD. “It’s a pity that Mr. Fuller is away from home,” said the gardener, in an undecided way. Joe could see that the man was not very anxious to face five determined burglars, who might be armed. “Give me your revolver,” said Joe, “and I will enter the house first, by way of the cellar. We will see if we can make our way to the library. If we can, I will try and hold the rascals off while you telephone.” The gardener consented to this arrangement, though i* was clear that he did not relish the job. They crossed the yard stealthily to the cellar window, from which they saw that the bars had been torn off. Joe wriggled himself down into the cellar, and the gar- dener followed him. The place was quite dark, and unfamiliar to the boy, but the gardener showed him the way to the stairs. Holding the revolver in readiness for instant action, Joe tiptoed his way up to the ground floor, and found himself standing in the gloom of a small entry leading to the but- ler’s pantry and kitchen. “Where is the library?” whispered the boy. : “It’s a small room on this floor, connecting with the parlor and the front hall.” They listened intently for sounds that would enable them to locate the present whereabouts of the burglars. For a few moments they heard nothing suspicious, then muffled noises came from a room which the gardener said was the dining-room. ; Joe sneaked over to the door opening on the main hall, and listened. The gardener stood close behind him, and listened also. “Some of them are in the dining-room and the sitting- room, and there is one or more in the parlor. We can’t reach the telephone without being discovered,” he_ said. “Then we must wait till they go upstairs,” said Joe. - So they waited as patiently as they could, listening ali cy the while to the sounds made by the rascals, who were gathering up whatever they could find of value downstairs that they could carry away. : The parlor was full of small articles of more or less value, and these the five rascals were making up into small bundles for easy handling: : There were also many articles of fine plated ware in the dining-room that the burglars considered worth appropriat- ing, and many expensive knick-knacks in the sitting-room. They could see the! dark figures of a couple of the rascals crossing the wide and dimly lighted hall, from -the sitting- room to the parlor, ‘and back again. At length, after bringing all the plunder they had col- lected in the parlor and library into the sitting-room, three of the chaps mounted the stairs as softly as shadows. “Now,” said Joe, “can you reach the library. through that door?” _ “If it isn’t locked I can,” answered the gardener. : 3 “Try it. Be careful not to make any noise, for two of a the rascals are down here, probably busy with the collected plunder in the sitting-room, the door of which on the hall is open. The parlor door is probably open, too. Before you use the telephone sneak around and close the door, or the bell and what you say into the transmitter may reach the ears of the two fellows down here.” ‘ . aa: “What are you going to do?” asked the gardener. “I’m going to stand watch here. If one or both of those rascals should come into the hall and start to enter the parlor again I'll hold them up.” Pe The gardener softly crossed to the closed door of the library, tried the knob, and found that the door yielded _ to his touch. poe He disappeared inside, closing the door after him. t As Joe stood by the hall entrance he could easily hear packed up in the sitting-room. : Suddenly a shriek rang out through the house. a “My gracious!” exclaimed Joe. “That must be Miss Ful- _ ler. She’s been aroused by those rascals upstairs, and — they may do her an gee anne A second cry, but a ed one, followed, and Joe feared they had got hold of girl and were trying to in e Of course her first shrill outery was sure to awa female servants who slept in the top of the ba ,

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to face. The gardener had told: him that the back stairway in the entry leading to a landing above offered communication with the front of the second floor by way of a door. Joe, remembering this, left his post at thevrear of the main hall and ran up the back stairs. : Arrived at the landing, he heard a door open on the third floor, and concluded that one or both of the servants had come out of their rooms to find out the cause of the dis- turbance. t There was a door on his right and another on his left. He opened one and found it led into an unoccupied bed- room. Muffled sounds came from the chamber in front of it. Joe opened a door in that direction, and found himself - in a handsome tiled bathroom. : There was a door opposite, through which the sounds came quite plainly to him. He knew tlie trouble was taking place in that room, and nerving himself for the encounter he was about to face, he - opened the door and walked in, revolver in hand. > He was now in Grace Fuller’s bedroom. The girl was in bed, staring up, in a frightened way, into the masked face of the man with the bushy whiskers, ___- whom Joe knew to be Ike Horton. ‘He held a pointed, revolver at her head, while the thin _ ‘yascal, the one who wore Joe’s clothes, was hastily rum- __.. maging the dresser for articles of value. if Joe took in the situation at a glance, and without wast- ing a second in addressing the two crooks, he fired straight at Horton’s arm. é Simultaneously with the stunning crack of ‘the weapon - Horton uttered a ery of pain, and his revolver dropped _ from his nerveless grasp onto the bed. : race’s terrified’ gaze wandered to the spot where Joe stood, in all his ragged make-up, and she recognized the boy; , but not for some moments did she comprehend that he had come to her aid. w The thin rastal turned around, startled by the report of the gun in Joe’s hands, and the cry uttered by his com- -panion. . 7 “Throw up your hands, both of you!” cried the boy in ‘a determined tone, “or I’ll put a ball into you!” _- “Oh, Lor’!” gasped the thin crook. ¢ ‘Horton uttered a fierce imprecation as he stood holding onto his wounded arm. i Pick up that revolver, Miss Fuller,” said Joe, “and cover one of those chaps.” The girl seemed too dazed, or too much frightened, to At that moment the stout scoundrel, who had been rum- at ing in the room on the opposite side of the front land- rach g peered into the chamber, with a drawn revolver in his oe . f> " ‘ é Joe saw him and raised his weapon to intimidate him. he rascal, taking things in-at once, covered Joe with is revolver at the same moment. : _'fo save himself the boy saw he’d have to fire. Both weapons cracked together. oF Joe felt a sting like the touch of a hot iron above his cht ear, and for a moment it seemed as if the room was whirling around and around. Re eae Py ay — Fi nin : ¥ “4 the same time he heard a cry as from afar off. = » next thing he knew was the sensation of being pressed shly against the wall of the room by some one who had p on his throat. - his senses returned to him he saw that Horton had pg upon him, and\was holding him with his unwounded and the point of his knee. t » blood was’ running down his right cheek from the und he had received from the stout man’s revolver. is own weapon lay on the floor at his” feet. he started to’ struggle desperately with the him pinned against the wall, Horton shouted to pe v here, Simpson, and help me secure this young fellow started to obey, Grace Fuller seemed to the situati ‘man who the ¢ eas aie ‘up the revolver that lay on the coverlet of! . ; 7 #3 x FACING THE WORLD 4 ee eae : ae 3 > agen i” ee Pitality to him aroused a strong impulse on his part to net bed, aimed it at Horton, and pulled the trigger. Then ‘ go to her aid, in spite of the odds he would be compelled | She slipped into a wrapper. , . q The rascal uttered a groan, and, staggering away from Joe, fell upon the carpet and clutched wildly at the air. The next instant the boy and Simpson were engaged in a desperate struggle for mastery, while Grace, with the smoking weapon in her hand, watched them with distended eyes, unable to shoot again for fear of hitting her young champion. Ge CHAPTER IX. THE CAPTURE OF THE HOUSEBREAKERS. Joe found that Simpson was strong and wiry, and rather more than he could handle successfully. The rascal was not armed, and he was trying to do Joe up by sheer strength. , They rolled over and over on the carpet, Simpson some- times on top, and sometimes Joe. : =~ While the struggle was going on the gardener, who had ~ succeeded in connecting with police headquarters at Corinth, and explaining the situation, was in a funk over the revolver~ reports upstairs, for he feared murder had been done by the | — burglars. . ihn He had not the courage to go up to the second floor, un- armed as he was, for he felt that he would be placed com- pletely at the mercy of the rascals, and might lose his life — to no purpose. E He opened the library door and looked for Joe, but found that the boy had left his post at the rear hall door. . a He judged that Joe had gone upstairs and tackled the ~ burglars single-handed, firing at them and being shot at in return. This was the only way he could account for the shooting, as he did not believe that the rascals would wantonly use their weapons on the women. As none of the chaps came downstairs after the firing, it was his impression that the boy had been put out of busi- ‘ ness. cane The two crooks who were packing the plunder downstairs ~ in sections of table clotns they had torn into suitable lengths, stopped in their labors on hearing the shots. It looked as if their pals had met with unexpected oppo- sition on the floor above, and they hastened to provide an avenue for rapid retreat by throwing up one of the sitting- _ room windows and opening the steel shutters. : mee Then they went into the hall and listened. Pe They heard the muffled sounds of the struggle going on between Joe and Simpson in Miss Fuller’s bedroom. aoe eae og the noise “ a Bg to occur to them. ey beneved It was made y rT companions moving Pr; around after having shot whoever had interfered with them, so wey did not think it necessary to go upstairs to look aroun In their opinion, their three pals were well able to look — out for themselves, and had they met with any serious set- — back they would have come downstairs in a hurry. 5 After listening, and hearing nothing to alarm them, they returned to their work in the sitting-room, expecting their _ associates to reappear at any moment with the plunder they had picked up above. f Disiae’ In the meantime the struggle between Simpson and Joe ~ continued. j Whatever advantage there was rested with the thin crook. Grace watched them with an anxious eye, fully prepared to shoot and wound the burglar if she got a fair chance. Had she been confident of her ability as a markswoman, she would have found many chances, but as it was, she was afraid to fire at Simpson lest she hit Joe. cs Finally the boy, owing to loss of blood from his wound ~ and the superior strength of his antagonist, began to suc- cumb. oh aaa Simpson got him down on his back and held him there, — Then seeing the revolver on the floor, he reached for it, with the intention of stunning Joe with a clip on the head, — This gave Grace the opportunity she had been looki: for. : eo , bs et: Instead of sHooting Simpson, which she might ea ily done, she pluckily jumped forward and struck him side the head with her weapon. il et ad oy Ri s > Y % 3 fs + Ka Kd

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i io a FACING THE WORLD. The rascal fell over, partly stunned, and that gave Joe the chance to cémplete the good work. ‘He seized a towel that hung over the back of a chair,| tore it into three strips, and tied Simpson’s arms behind _ his back and his ankies together. . _ ‘then he looked at Ike Horton, who lay groaning with _ pein on the carpet. - ‘there was no need of tying him, apparently, for he had a bullet through the upper part of his right arm and a ~ wound in the side where Grace Fuller had shot him. “We've got two of the rascals dead to rights, at any rate,” - gaid Joe to the girl. “I wonder if the others have skipped? li they have I don’t see why the gardener doesn’t come up here and investigate the shooting. He went into the li- - brary, downstairs, to telephone to the police in town, and - must have heard the reports of the revolvers.” “How many of these men were in the house?” asked *Grace. “There’s another one lying over by the door.” “Ts there?” replied Joe, in some surprise. : “Yes. You shot him when he fired at you.” § “I hope I didn’t kill him,” said the boy, walking over and looking at the stout ruffian, who lay, unconscious, over the door-sill, with a red, bleeding furrow across one side of his forehead, where Joe’s bullet had ploughed its way. ___ *No, he’s not dead,” he added, glad of that fact, for it seemed a dreadful thing to him to take a human life, even in self- defense. Then he told the girl that five burglars had entered the mansion through one of the cellar windows, and tied up the third burglar. “The other two, who were packing up their plunder down- __ stairs in the sitting-room, have, no doubt, got away before this: Jm going down to‘ investigate and look up the gar- _ *You are a brave boy,” said Grace, looking at him ad- -miringly. “You have saved our house from being robbed, _ and you saved me from being frightened to death by that - man who threatened me with his revolver.” x ’t worry about me, M’ss Fuller. I'll attend to that later. It doesn’t bother me much, and there is no time to attend te it now. I must see if the rest of the crooks have - gone. Let me have that revolver.” pees He took the weapon from her hand and walked softly _ downstairs. As he stepped into the hall he saw the scared face of the gardener at the door of the library. d The man showed great surprise on seeing him, and beck- _ oned him over, at the same time motioning toward the door of the sitting-room. r Joe uni 1d from his pantomime that the other two “rascals were still in the house—in the sitting-room. _ This idea was confirmed as soon as he reached the gar- dener’s side. F _ “What spot that “ shooting upstairs?” asked the gardener . “I see you are wounded. Where are the three -men who went upstairs?” _ “Down and out,” replied Joe. é' oder aeons ee cried the ie eatouisiie’. : “T do. tdn’t you come up when you he the fir- ? J Bak have been 2 roe Her, who shot one of the rascals when he had me dead rights after 1 was shot myself. I laid out the fellow % at me, and Miss Fuller helped me get the best he third chap. That girl showed a great deal more - in the emergency than you have. Did you "phone lice ?” . They are on their way here.” , f enough! Here! Take this gun of yours, and old up the two re in the sitting-room. It’s a ey didn’t come u airs and see what the shooting came, af far as thé sitting-room door and then @ they're in there, are you?” t out of business only for Miss’ smile. ton to the gue “I do now. Come on! Let us finish up this business.” ~ Joe led the way to the door of the sitting-room, and then he and the gardener sprang into the room and covered the two crooks, who had finished their packing, and were 'm- patiently waiting the return of their companions. “Up with your hands!” cried Joe, sternly. - The rascals were taken entirely by surprise. They were also unarmed, and were thus at the mercy of Joe and the gardener. They made a break for the window, but Joe stopped them with the threat that he would shoot them down unless they gave in. 5 Seeing that they had no chance of escaping, they sullenly yielded. Joe backed them up into a corner of the room, where he could easily keep his eyes and revolver on both, and then told the gardener to open the front door so that the police could enter’ when they arrived. As soon as he had. done this the boy sent him upstairs to stay with Grace, and keep watch on the ° knocked-out burglars there. Inside of a quarter of an hour a light wagon drove up to the house with several policemen in it. They walked right in, as the front door had been left open for them. - Joe called to them, and they came into the sitting-room and took charge of the two rascals the boy was guarding. Two of them accompanied Joe upstairs to Grace’s room. The gardener was keeping watch in a chair in the middle of the room. The stout ruffian had recovered his senses, but as Joe had taken the precaution to secure his arms he could do nothing. 4 The three burglars were carried downstairs. The two wounded ones were immediately removed to the waiting wagon. When the officers came back for the third, Joe told the policeman in charge of the squad that Simpson had his pants and coat on, and he wanted to recover them and give the rascal back his own tattered garments. - He explained to the officer how four of the men had held him up and robbed him on the road the previous af- ternoon. Simpson sullenly admitted the truth of the boy’s state- ment, and at the policeman’s command he took off the . stolen clothes and put on his own. Joe also recovered his hat from the stout man. The officers then carried off their prisoners, with the assurance of\ Grace that her father would be on hand to | press the. charge of housebreaking against the rascals as — soon as he returned home and learned the particulars of the case. : The excitement being now over, Joe said he would return. — to the barn and finish his interrupted night’s rest. Grace would not hear of that, however. Pe “IT could not think of letting you sleep in the barn after — what you have.done for us to-night. You must occupy the chamber back of this. John will take you there. You . must not go away until my father has seen and thanked you for the service you have performed. I hope you unnder- — stand that I am very grateful to you, and you may be sure > that father and mother will appreciate your brave conduct; and reward you in a suitable manner,” sa’d the girl, — “I don’t ask any. reward, Miss Fuller,” replied Joe. “You were very kind to give me food and, shelter when I asked for it. and I am glad I had the opportunity to return the _ favor.” ~ f : is a “What I gave you was,but_a small thing. The service you have rendered us is very important.’ You have prob- — ably saved several thousand dollars’ worth of our property. — That watch and jewelry of mine, alone, are easily worth — $500, and I should have lost it all but for your courageous _ action. oF soe : e The girl, who had noticed his suddenly improved per- sonal appearance in some perplexity, asked him about it, and he told her that he had recovered his clothes from the __ rascal who had appropriated them the afternoon before. Bog 2? “You look ever so much better,” she answered, with Not at all like you did when I met you last in the yard. Now, John,” to the gardener, “take Mr. chamber on this floor, and see that needs for the night.” Site ‘== we everything € £3 oi To See

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| ; FACING THE WORLD. i a OS Se sah gi eee Bae Bt el eae pe wi aie eek ot ES eee aN ames ce ante Tee = __ Joe bowed, and said good-night to the young lady of the Grace seemed to have taken a digtinct liking for him, © house, and followed the man to the room in question. while he, on his side, was by no means indifferent te the _ _ To Joe’s eyes the brass bed looked almost too nice for) many personal charms of the fair girl. ' him to sleep in, but, nevertheless, after the gardener had| They often went to the town of Corinth together, and retired, he was glad to undress and turn in, for he was took frequent rides and walks about the neighborhood of conscious that he stood greatly in need of rest after his the banker’s home. late exertions. The more Grace saw of Joe the better she liked him, and it was just the same with Joe—he grew more interested in his fair companion the longer he was in her company. The boy, however, maintained an almost complete reserve CHAPTER X. about his later life in Glenwood. : He said not a word about his father being a drunkard, THE RAILROAD ACCIDENT. and in prison; charged with a serious crime; nor about the | way his surviving parent had practically sent his wife to Joe didn’t eat in the kitchen next morning, but in the| the grave, owing to his heartless conduct. _dining-room, as the guest of Grace Fuller, who took special} He felt that ‘such a confession would reflect more or less pains to let him know how much she appreciated his plucky discredit on himself, notwithstanding that he was in no conduct in connection with the capture of the burglars. | wise responsible for his father’s actions. | ___ Early that morning she had got into communication with| The six weeks passed away all too quickly for Joe, and her father by telephone, and after learning what had hap-| the trial of the burglars came on. pened Mr. Fuller told her that he would,be home around ten His testimony in the witness chair clinched their con- o’clock. viction, and they were sentenced to ten years each in the _ While awaiting her father’s arrival she devoted herself to | State prison. re entertaining Joe. On the morning that they were put aboard a train bound _ She made him feel as much at home as if he were one) for Auburn, in charge of a small posse of officers, Joe, with’ _ of her oldest friends, while he, on his part, tried to im-| g $1,000 draft on a Buffalo bank in his pocket, boarded the _ prove the favorable impression he had already made on her.| same train, bound for the Lake City, via Salamanca. __ Banker Fuller drove up in his auto at a quarter past ten,| The prisoners were to change at Salamanca for a train and Grace introduced Joe to him as the lad who had saved | going eastward, while Joe kept straight on northward to his their property and captured the five burglars. estination. ie _ He viewed the plunder the rascals had expected to carry| His parting with Grace had been a rather tearful one on ~ off, and listened to the stories told by his daughter, Joe and| the girl’s part, for she had come to think a great deal of _ the gardener. c the stalwart, manly lad, who was facing the world all by 4 that the boy had saved him a loss of sev-| himself in his fight for fortune.” ; ra llars, and he hastened to assure Joe of his} They arranged between themselves to write to each other, gratitude and the appreciation he felt for his valuable ser-| as neither wanted to lose track of the other. a ‘Vices. , Joe had also been provided by the banker with a couple a9 was necessary that Joe and the gardener should at-| o¢ jetters of introduction to business people of Buffalo, which ae ep- _ tend the examination of the housebreakers, in the court} tated that any favor accorded to the bearer would be duly house at Corinth an \give their testimony, so Mr. Fuller} ypreciated by Mr. Fuller. them to town ia his auto. traveler occupied a seat in one of the day he . ¥ i The young he evidence pe a see — pote conclusive | _ pits and his thoughts were about evenly divided between eer os ay 7 le 4 bes att a ta rm of the be ae" Grace Fuller and what the future had in store for him. Raieneis fe last theta, required to appear as the chi The sen ee approaching Salamanca when 2 This placed Joe in a rather peculiar predicament. eae melee one of the trucks of the smoking-car. As he was z panty of — county, ao judge would} used the coach to jump the track. ‘ ve caused his detention in town as a valuable witness : . by ote Fuller In a moment the connection was broken with the bag- ; Et git sia Dab guaranteed that the boy would be eean car directly ahead, and the smoker tilted over and After the examination was over, and they were on their struck a long sliding switch, completely demolishing it. way back to the banker’s residence, Joe called Mr. Fuller’s The switch lever being pushed over, opened the siding: gp y Tier a to the fact that he was “a homeless boy, making where a part tae cd train was stalled until it could take _ , : x main trac j ol an — as best he could, in order to get a start tae! * smoker, pushed along by the fifty-mile-an-hour mo-_ 3 re Se net tieik bay ts til th ple mentum of the passenger coaches and Pullman drawing- adj an Ihave, prattically no nergy saree ek orecpadtl af heres re. ee the. frei nd ti aes ee ng any right ee ie I continue my walk ‘to Buffalo, fost bee 3 zs : Har to Say where 1 be sx weeks, from now. whet | ‘"Ty y brief fraction of time, Before any one on the tain when wanted, I’ll have to look to you for advice.” realized that an accident had happened, the smoker crashed — You needn't worry about the money, Benton,” replied | int apnea the freight and smashed the little .car e banker. “I’m going to make you a present of $1,000, | 2,05" Sot Reion with the heavy freight turned the smoker show my appreciation of your services to my daughter over on its side, and the day coach immediately behind it thousand dollars!” exclaimed Joe, to whom such partially telescoped it, and then mounted the wreck like.a _ a F : “ay horse ng a, hurdle. ' Oe Fey es Sipe a el por sy I’d hardly know The second day coach, in which Joe was seated, butted Why, I’d put it in a savings bank, wouldn’t you, till you} into the rear of it, tearing the platform and part of the —— to be twenty-one, Cee — ae james 2 ee ae a —: and throwing its own passengers about in all — “suppose ir, idn’ er ij ons. é " 3 veal e) eal Sonex ta" give ie on pose as that?” ts . The vy .Pullmans crowded against this car and did nly. You are entitled to that much.” ‘considerable damage to it. : + rue ‘won't need to do any more tramping. I can ride| The thirty-odd box and platform cars of the freight ahead, | of the way to Buffalo, just as well as not.” ~ together with its powerful locomotive and tender, were Seek purpose. | pushed on and jumped together in a way productive of much > = ination | injury to the rolling stock and their contents. Soi es The whole thing happened inside of a few seconds, and as the unhurt but” y demoralized passengers poured ~ | of the cars as fast as they could the sight presented to “Fuller household until| eyes was not a reassuring one, off, and the ar- PRmoit those who escaped scot free, though much SAE esi ead ap, was Joe Benton. — Ye, 275) UP een Re co | b= aE? : +

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14 FACING THE WORLD. See. DOT ee eS eS . ' The shock had thrown him from his seat over the back! It was not far from the lake front, and within easy walking Me <a the one directly in front, and knocked the breath out of Samer of@the business house where he expected soon to be employed. oe called next day at the office of Walker & Co. and left his address. Two days later he was sent for. “The best thing I can offer you at present, Benton, is the post of watchman at our coal dock, foot of Jay street, on the Buffalo River,” said Mr. Walker, when Joe had been ushered into his office. “It’s a night job.” “All right,” replied the boy. “I don’t care what the posi- tion is as long as I get a start at something.” “Ve well,” answered the head of the establishment, leased at the boy’s readiness to accept employment, even if it happened to be uncongenial. “I will send one of my clerks with you presently, to show you the dock and introduce you to the day man you relieve. I shall want you to start in to-night, as the other watchman has been discharged for ~ habitual drunkenness.” ’ “I am ready to begin at once, sir,” replied Joe promptly. “I am bound to say that I like your energetic ways, Benton, and you may rest assured that this position is merely a step- ping-stone to something better. I shall ee you in mind, and as soon as a better opening offers you shall be advanced.” “Thank you, sir.” \ Mr. Walker then sent for a certain clerk. “This is Joseph Benton, Harper. Take him over to Dock A and make him known to Adams. He will fill in there as night watchman till further notice.” The clerk bowed and then motioned Joe to follow him. “So you’re going to stand the night watch on Dock A, are you?” said Harper, after they were started on their way. Many of the people in the car had been more or less injured from being flung about, and their cries and moans echoed through the coach. all The casualties in the coach ahead were much larger, and 4 of a more serious nature, while in the smashed smoker they were appalling. When Joe pulled himself together he gazed around the car like one awakening from a bad dream. The excited people were trying to extricate themselves and their friends from the coach. A pandemonium of terror seemed to have broken loose. He soon realized the situation, and his first thought was to assist any of his fellow travelers who needed aid. He carried a little old lady from the car, first of all, and then went back and helped her aged companion, a white- haired old man, to alight. ; Neither had suffered any material injury. The coach now being emptied, Joe mingled with the crowd that was nae the passengers out of the forward coach, which was tilted up at an angle of thirty degrees or so, its yo forward trucks resting on the smashed roof of the smoker. . Several dead and dying persons were taken from this car and many badly injured ones. ie The wreck of the smoker was a fearful one to ‘look at. eo Frantic efforts were being made to get out those of its 73 surviving occupants, and Joe took a leading part in this - gad duty, though the sights he saw turned his heart sick. Among the dead and fatally injured he recognized two of<the prisoners en route for Auburn, and their guards. Glenwood for me to get on.” “What did you do there? Work in a store, or on a farm?” “J did more farm work than anything else.” “How came you to apply at our firm for work?” “Brought a letter of introduction to Mr. Walker from Mr. pen Corinth.” a , a ak iaei . ¥ “This is a pretty tough jo e boss is giving you—night watchman on Dock A.” © si “Oh, I guess I can,stand it all right. When a fellow is looking for a position he can’t always select what pleases him best. I understand it’s only temporary, anyway. Something to keep me out of mischief till a better job turns up.” “T hope you have plenty of nerve,” said Harper, fooking at him critically. = _ He looked around for like Horton, Simpson, and the stout|}" “go Mr. Walk ” . rascal, whose name he had learned was Coates. “You're a athena Te eteele ace pen?” a To his surprise, there was no sign of those rascals, either| «] am.” 4 - among the dead, the injured, or those few who had miracu- “Where do you hail from?” ‘ lously esca $ f “Glenwood, Blank County, New York.” ae fs Of the five rds who had accompanied the prisoners, “Country town, I suppose 7” three were dead and the other‘two were badiy hurt. “Hardly a town. It’s a village.” fis “Can it be that those rascals escaped all injury and then| “Tired of the country, and came to Buffalo to see a little es got away from here in the confusion?” Joe asked himself. | of life, eh?” grinned Harper. : “I came to this city because there was no chance around as as . CHAPTER XI. ae THE NEW NIGHT WATCHMAN OF DOCK A. -Joe knew that the Fullers would hear of the railroad ___ aecident probably before night, and that Grace would be very anxious to learn how he had come out of it. . ___ As soon as the train pulled into the depot he sent the fol- are lowing telegram to Mr. Fuller: tt cst SALAMANCA, N. Y., June 6. GEORGE FULLER, CoRINTH BANK, CORINTH, N. Y. We had bad smash-up on road, ten miles south of Sala- Several dead and many hurt. Ike Horton, Simpson and Coates escaped in confusion. Other two dead. I am all _ Fight. | ae The dead were removed to the city morgue, pending iden- _ tification, while the badly wounded were carried to the hos- a en the train finally continued on to Buffalo Joe went “Why?” “Dock A is in a tough quarter, of the town, and you're lia- ble to be up against some tough roosters who hang around that neighborhood. If they took the notion to drop you into the river on a dark a ‘they’d be apt to do it, unless you kept your weather eye lifting, and was as nimble as a young» monkey.” a te RP a so? Are they in the habit of playing such games as | at? ; “They’re in the habit of doing pretty much as they please.” — “Don’t the police ever interfere with such amusements?” © “The cops stationed in that neighborhood know ross me : i Joe BENTON. to butt in on those chaps. If they did, a paving-stone — re their heads some night when they were not looking or it.” ; : Se “According to you I have a pleasant prospect ahead.” © Pa certainly have.” sa’ % : “You’re not jollying me, are you?” as oe, suspicion “Not a bit of it. Aske d , the day watchman, rie confirm all I’ve told you. I’m rather surprised that Wa a i chap like you, and a stranger in Buffalo, too, ; mi “Maybe he doesn’t know how tough it is.” e “He ought to know, and I — he does. Perhaps thinks you’ll pull through all right because you’re a bo “I su ee ion ne » furnished room for himself. eat difficulty i finding a place which he con-

Page 17

FACING THE WORLD. “Oh, yes; but you’ll need an arsenal to hold your own if the Night Owls ever get after you.” “The Night Owls, eh?” “Yes, That’s a gang that they say has a rendezvous some- where in the neighborhood of Dock A.” : “Tt?s a wonder that the police wouldn’t make a systematic raid on them and clean them out.” “The police have tried it several times, but failed to get any of them. They have a hiding-place that has baffled all ‘ of the detectives. Every once in a while some detective, spurred on by a reward, goes down there to try to get a line on their retreat.” “And he fails?” “His body is usually found floating in the river next day, or the day after.” “Well, I'll try and give a good account of myself while I neg he sont ill. At t h thy.” ope you will. any rate, you have my sympathy. In due time they reached Dock A. ! Joe took particular note of its surroundings. = Every third or fourth house along the river front in that _ loeality appeared to shelter a saloon on the ground fioor. | The buildings were largely of the cheap tenement class, a were occupied by longshoremen and their families, and a ers. : _ The others comprised many shady characters, known to the police, who slept and fraternized here during the days and —. evenings, and put in the small hours of the night else- where. ~ It was a matter of no surprise to their acquaintances when . these chaps failed to return from their trips abroad. In such an event they would generally be found wp on ex- amination before some magistrate on the charge 6f. highway robbery, or housebreaking, or something of that nature, an their old haunts missed them sometimes for years while they . Were living at the expense of the State. \ The gang known as the Night Owls confined their opera- tions to the water front. ; They were a particularly desperate class of “undesirable tizens. - On election — they were to be seen around the polls in that district, and could always be relied upon by the leader of one of the political parties to bulldoze honest voters, and cast all the ballots necessary to insure victory for the side _ that took care of them financially, and when they got in =: apices and were haled before a magistrate on some charge or other. . ____ It took the most positive kind of evidence to send one of them to prison, and their reputation was such that it was hard ‘to get an eye-witness of a crime committed by one of them to go into court and testify, _ Under such circumstances it was no wonder that the gang flourished, and ai, ty at the police. é these facts Joe learned from Adams, the day watch- CHAPTER XII. A STARTLING SURPRISE. et When darkness fell upon the face of nature, and the sounds of traffic were hushed, Joe began to understand that the country was not the only lonesome spot on earth at night. “There were lonesome spots even in the midst, as it were, a big city. y ‘ i The dark waters of the Buffalo River flowed around and Dock A, as it did about other docks in that vicinity. ‘ence surrounded the dock, lea a narrow footway on side, and was too high to be scaled by one man, but the be reached by a second person standing on another’s pg =" objects and shadowy 1 ee PO. oe gave Joe a view of lighted houses and saloons across the wide water front, and life flowing past them. : At six o’clock he was relieved by Adams, who asked him how he had passed the night. : “All right, sir,” replied Joe. “There wasn’t a thing doing.” “Things might run that way for a week, or two weeks, or even longer. Then you might find somebody trying to get over the fence to help themselves to a pail of coal, or some- thing else. The quickest way to get rid of them is to hail them once and order them away. If they-don’t go instantly, hasten their movements with a bullet about their ears.” Joe got his breakfast at a near-by restaurant, and then hastened to his lodgings to have a good sleep. He got up about three, had his dinner, and after walking around a while took a car which carried him within a couple of blocks of Dock A, where he reported at six. It was close on to one o’clock in the morning when Joe heard mén’s voices on the outside of the fence. The boy suspected that they were there for no good pur- pose, and he placed his ear to a convenient knot-hole to see if he could hear what they were talking about. “Now that we’ve got hold of the girl, Horton, how much are you goin’ to work her old man for?” said a voice that strongly resembled that of the stout crook, Coates. SA good stiff figure, you may depend on, Coates. Both the mighty dollar as well assrevenge for the close call we had of bein’ sent to Auburn, are powerful arguments in the case. He'll be willin’ to come up with a good many yellow-backed bills of large denomination when he realizes that he can’t get his daughter back any other way,” said Horton, striking a match and lighting a cigar. - Joe was nearly paralyzed with surprise on hearing the men address each other as Horton and Coates, which indiested qd | that they were two of the three convicted burglars who had escaped from the traja at the time of the accident near Sala- — manca, 2 . The flash of the match attracted Joe’s notice, and he put his eye to the knot-hole in order to see if he could catch a glimpse of either of the men’s faces. He hardly needed a sight of the men to convince him of the truth of his suspicions, but still it was just as well to make sure. As he looked through the hole the light of the match showed him the familiar bearded countenance of Ike Horton within a few inches of his eye. He could only catch an indistinct outline of Coates’ face, but he was sure it was that rascal, beyond doubt. The match also revealed the features and form of Simpson, the thin crook, who had not as yet spoken, and who stood midway between the two. “Tt was a neat rival in this town,” spoke up Simpson. “There is the dickens to pay at the Walker house, I'll bet you, at her mysterious disappearance. Every cop in the city has her description by this time, and is on the lookout for her; but they'll never find her—not by a jugful.” fe e “Find her!” ejaculated Horton. “I should say not. roost of the Night Owls is a sealed book to the Buffalo police, and is likely to remain so. She is safe there for an indefinite’ _ ; stay, in Mother Jinks’ care. When Fuller stumps up $5,000 apiece for us, then we’ll let her go; otherwise, she stays till he does. Joe gave a gasp at those words. eng t Until that moment the identity of the girl those rascals were speaking about had no special interest for him. ; Now it was different. He saw that it was Banker Fuller’s daughter Grace they — had got into their hands, by some means not so far explained, and that discovery aroused him to a high pitch of excitement and indignation. ; The men continued to talk about their plans for compelling Banker Fuller to ransom his daughter for the sum of $15,000 and they figured out how it could be managed safely expeditiously. Finally Horton said: “J’m goin’ on to the roost now, to see how the alo and irl is gettin’? e gives her © job to kidnap her on the day after her ar- — 5 on 7: Aud 6 Za oie og

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16 FACING THE WORLD. . that’ll let you out of your share of the $15,000. Then I’ll have | . Then he turned around and flashed the tiny bull’s-eye light to get somebody else to help me put the game through.” Coates and Simpson started to cross the wide thoroughfare, while Horton walked off up the river. On the spur of the moment Joe decided to desert his post and follow Horton in order to try and locate the rendezvous of the Night Owls. Me i Fair see ; “2 ee i. brave lad : eS fa ena Site helpless Horton took in Joe’s face. As the flash lighted up the boy’s features Hérton uttered a surprised imprecation. : He recognized the prisoner as William Benton’s son, and the boy who had been largely instrumental in foiling the burglarious attempt of himself and associates on Ranker Ful- ler’s house that eventful night, and whose evidence had se- cured their conviction, on which they had all been sentenced to a ten-year spell in Auburn. “ “So it’s you, is it?” roared the scoundrel, with another im- precation and a menacing flash of the eyes. “You who did us up in Corinth—you, the son of the man I hate more than any other person on this earth! Not satisfied with what you did to us, you have, in some way, got on our track again after we escaped from the train at the time of the smash-up, and you are tryin’ to get us caught again. Do you want to know what your fate is? Listen! Do you hear the swish of the water under this floor? You will be tied to one of the spiles, with your head just below high-water mark, When the tide rises you will feel the hand of death grippin’ at your heart. Inch by inch you will feel the cold, clammy water risin’ up to your mouth. When it reaches your lips you will struggle in vain to evade its suffocatin’ grasp. You will be slowly strangled to death. Your death agony will be pro- longed by your frantic efforts to rye your fate. What do ou think of it? Does the prospect please you? You might ave escaped all this by mindin’ your own business. Now you will pay the price of your folly, and to-morrow some one will find your body floatin’ in the river, while the newspapers print the story of another river mystery.” Z The rascal saw with satisfaction the effect produced on his prisoner by his words, and he gloated over it. Although he hated the very name of Benton, he had never intended to go out of his way to injure Joe, as his reve had been satisfied with the wreck of William Benton, and the consequent misery it had brought to the woman who had dis- carded him for the more successful suitor. 2 The boy, however, had butted in on him of his own free will; had done him and his pals a serious injury, and so Hor- ton determined he should suffer well for his temerity. : The end of a red bandana handkerchief protruding from the boy’s jacket pocket caught Horton’s eye. He whisked it out and bound it around Joe’s mouth, gag- ging him effectually. : 5 Then he went to one of the sashless- windows overlooking the river and flashed the bull’s-eye down one of the spiles. The tide was low, but still on the ebb. . He noticed the fact with some disappointment. It would be some hours before the tide was up to water mark. In fact, a couple of hours It would not do to carry out day, for there were many eyes along the’ river vat hour. ; He had the alternative of tying the boy down on the mud and letting the water slowly cover his face that way, which would answer the same purpose, so far as snuffing him out was concerned. : ras This could be carried out before sunrise. Horton, oneness didn’t fancy it - much as the other way. It was too quick in reaching results. Z He ented tie ee to feel the approach of death for as long a time as possible. 5 g P That could only be aan by tying him upright to a spile as soon as the tide began to rise, a least four hours of torture before his victim. So he decided to postpone Joe’s death until after the following night. , after sunrise. a his fiendish plan in the light o front at th high- — then there would be at dark on — v4

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FACING THE WORLD. - 4 11 ‘stairs to the watery tract under the building, and then around / _ aclosely knit line of spiles sunk into the mud. | The bags were emptied on the table, and their contents proved to be a valuable collection of diamond jewelry worth ausing before what seemed to be a mass of solid rock on | many thousands of dollars. which the building partly rested, Horton pressed a concealed spring. __A portion of the rock swung inward, diselosing a subter- _ Yanean passage. ~ Horton stepped inside, dragged in his burden, and closed the entrance, CHAPTER XIV. THE ROOST OF THE “NIGHT OWLS.” . Horton didn’t seem to consider a light necessary in that age. ' ; _ He knew every foot of the way as well as if the place was lighted by electricity. 3 __ Dragging Joe along, he advanced about a dozen feet, until _ their progress was barred by what seemed to.be a dead wall. — eee along the stone until his fingers rested on a : sn ob. hing this several times, he waited. Tn a few minutes a concealed door opened ingthe wall, and the figure of a repulsive-looking woman appeared in the _ Opening, with a flaring oil lamp in her hand. s wane flashed the light in Horton’s face and then, without a , » made way for him to pass with his burden. m He entered a roughly finished underground room, and de- posited his prisoner on the ground. The woman, after closing the door and putting two heavy bars across it, came forward and placed the lamp upon a lain deal table in the center of the room. : Joe’s eyes roved around the apartment. Besides the table, he saw that it was furnished with per- S li dozen stools, a stove, whose chimney disappeared ? ‘rough the roof, a rude kind of dresser filled with crockery- i ave ane shelving occupied by odds and ends, and a stout ‘jron- chest. _ There was a door leading into a room or passage beyond. The woman seemed to have been the only occupant of the ace until their arrival. ae had evidently been entertaining herself with a black ed anda glass, both of which stood on the table. __ Have you caught another spy, Ike?” asked the woman, at Joe w:th a wicked eye. “It’s a boy!” she added, in some surprise. Hy gt a of the cops who shadowed me to the house. caught him, and here he is,” replied Horton, carelessly. “Does he go the road?” asked the woman. “What else, since I’ve introduced him to the roost? That, “not else, would seal his fate, since he who is not one that passes yon door leaves hope behind.” . 1 e, so he does,” replied the woman, with an ugly laugh. irl is the only exception, if her friends come to snuff.” ie was brought here drugged, and drugged she will vay, if at all. Having no knowledge of where she is, or she got here, she cannot possibly betray our hiding that moment a bell. jingled in the room several times : lar Way. ‘he ae . ee a8 pearet Horton. eins other Jinks u e lamp and went to the door, ni Be wutgeried' and “opened. hard-looking men of perhaps twenty-five years en- 2 a ; ‘ VS coed a bag filled with something, which he laid table. — Th i a glanced inquiringly at the bound and gagged a ate . her detective?” asked one of them, with an ugly Caoited TORS RRR SCD cath a RE RGRME SE Sb: SST A Cab baa EE ERR Cae Sc eS SERS IT a Se SP EAS RAS Ss Se SE TE aE ee Oe ee eS a Te Se eee After the plunder had been sized up, and favorably boxe mented on by Horton, it was restored to the bags, an bee bags handed over to Mother Jinks, to put away in the strong chest, of which she kept the key, and was respon- sible for the property to the gang. y ‘i! Joe Benton, in spite of the seriousness of his position, noted all that went on under his eyes with not a little cur- iosity. He wondered in what part of this underground roost Grace Fuller was held a prisoner, pending the application to her father for her ransom. : ; Other members of the Night Owls dropped in, and finally Coates and Simpson appeared. ; To the latter pair Horton explained who Joe now he had caught him. a The two rascals were delighted that the boy, to whom they owed such a strong grudge, had fallen into their hands, and they expreszed the pleasure they would feel to be pres- ent that night, when he was given his quietus among the spiles outside, at high water. was, and It was now about sunrise, and all hands, except Mother” i vho retired to the region beyond the door, turn Os Cail that were taken from a corner where they iled up. : bie aa Sieh the boy was the Kans 2 “te in the room who noring away to beat the band. vee eae ies all up with me this trip,” he breathed. “That rascal, Horton, seems to have me dead to rights, and I can expect as little mercy from him as I might a famished tiger that had me in his grasp. Poor Grace, too, must feel terribly unhappy over her unfortune plight. I i her outwit her abductors, even if I couldn’t hati poarples ce lot; but that’s out of the question as matters stand. We’re both up against it hard, especially me, and at the present meee - don’t see the ghost of a chance i emies the slip.” : the spourk ‘paseed away aoe than thick molasses, and at length, overcome by the closeness and heat of the ea as well as by fatigue, the boy gradually sank into a troubl slumber that lasted well into the afternoon. CHAPTER XV. ON THE THRESHOLD OF FREEDOM. ea ‘is wildered senses tegether, he found that all the Owls, including Horton, had left the roost. <7 ae The sole occupant of the room was Mother Jinks, and she lay bent, with her arms sprawled on the table, snoring 12¥ uy, with the black bottle and a half-filled glass of gin ee al only see her hunched-up shoulders on the table, After gazing a few moments at the female guardian of the roost, Joe became conscious that he was uncommonly — Pat ieieation became more acute when his eyes rested on the remains of the cold leg of lamb and a portion of a loaf of bread on the table. " ened his eyes once more on the room, and Bound hand and foot, he seemed to have a small chance of getting any. To his surprise, the cord after a few tugs. bie ss he succeeded in freeing his hands from lasek ete ae eo ee It was then but the work of a moment for him to pull |. i : nd eut the cord holding his ankles together. cag Fgaeaty ted he did was to swoop down on the meat and bread. : dipper <of” oti 2)

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FACING THE WORLD . | Pe en pe Ge Re ee ee er . As he was considering the matter he saw a small bunch of keys hanging from the lock. : Turning the big one which was inserted in the lock, he opened the door and looked inside the room. A lighted lamp stood on a box, and revealed one other box in the place and a double mattress in the corner, on which was stretched a girlish form, fully dressed, with her : face buried in her arms, Grace,” he said softly, kneeling down and catching her by the arm. “Grace,” he said again, “don’t you know me?” “Joe Benton!” she gasped. eet I am Joe Benton, and I am here to rescue you, if I _ He led the trembling girl out through Mother Jinks’ room into the outer apartment, and up to the door of the passage, which he unlocked, for the key ‘was in the lock, and then ortaking ing the lamp from the table to light their way, they walked through the passage till they came to the outer en- — the one closed by the rock and worked by a spring He flashed the light of the lamp all over the face of the rock without result. Sage push-button seemed so well concealed that he couldn’t » .. While Joe was gazing at the rock in great perplexity, and Grace was standing behind him, in a state of anxious sus- pense, the door suddenly and noiselessly opened before their eyes, and the opening was filled by Horton, with Coates and Simpson right behind him. For a moment. both sides stood spellbound; then Grace uttered a scream and Horton a terrible imprecation. He rushed forward to seize the boy. At the same moment Joe recovered his presence of mind, and reaching for the revolver in his hip ket, he drew the weapon, aimed it at Horton, and fired point-blank. Horton clapped his hand to his breast and sank on the ground with a groan. As Coates and Simpson started back aghast at this un- expected denouement, Joe fired at the stout crook, with equally deadly effect. Coates uttered a cry, and fell against the rocky door, his Leg ye RA es oe to draw. a bead on Simpson, that sli wee 1 epee and ran. 2 ati oe not mean that he should escape and bring down other Owls on him and Grace, so he stepped over Coates and at the retreating rascal.: ~ The bullet struck his leg, and he went down into the mud and water among the spiles with a splash. ! Calling to Grace to follow him, Joe dashed out to capture the agile crook. CHAPTER XVI. CONCLUSION. Simpson struggled to his feet, only to sink down again, ) for his doubled under him, and extracted from him ee ie Joe sei _ without to his injury, and d 4 him behind the inner row of spiles. = The pain of his wounded leg caused the rascal to faint. Joe saw that the three rascals had come to the roost by boat instead of through the house. Se ag boat was tied to a spile a few feet away. _ He hastily lifted Grace into the boat, and was about to _ follow, when he thought about the valuable booty the two _ Owls had brought in early that morning, and which he had _ seen Mother Jinks take charge of and lock in the chest. _ Joe decided that it was his duty to try and recover the swag, in the interest of the persons from whom it had been stolen, ate some retu Owl should take alarm at the He took out all the bags and carried them outside and placed them in the boat. There being nothing further to detain him, he got aboard the boat, pushed out from under the spiles, and rowed down the river toward Dock A, On the way Grace told him that she had come to Buffalo on a visit to her friend, Sadie Walker, daughter of the sen- ior member of the shipping firm with whom Joe had secured employment. She had reached the city in the morning, and in the af- ternoon had gone out walking with Sadie in one of the parks not far from her friend’s home. They wandered to a secluded part of the park, and sud- denly found themselves in the presence of three men, whom Grace recognized as Horton, Coates and Simpson. z The recognition was mutual, and the men seized them both. Handkerchiefs were pressed over their faces, and both girls fainted. When Grace came to her senses she found herself in the room from which Joe had rescued her. Joe then told the girl his story, and by the time he had finished the boat was close to Dock A. 7 : As he hauled the boat up to a narrow flight of water- stairs alongside the dock he was seen and recognized by Adams, the day man. “Why, where have you been?” asked Adams, in surprise. “I can’t tell you now,” said Joe, assisting Grace on to the dock. “I’ve got to telephone Mr. Walker about this young lady, who is visiting at his house. I’ve also got to telephone the police, for I’ve discovered the roost of the Night Owls!” Joe telephone to the nearest police station first, and what he said over the wire brought a posse of officers in a hurry to Dock A. ; - Before they arrived Joe had communicated with Mr. Wal- ker, and told him that Grace Fuller was safe, and to send a carriage to the dock for her. When the officers arrived, in a wagon, Joe was ready to go with them to the old building. ~~ E The tide was low. when they got there, and so Joe had no trouble in taking them down among the spiles and showing them the entrance to the passage, which was just as he and Grace had left it. | Horton and his pals were still lying in the passage, and hel handcuffed and put aboard the wagon with Mother inks. - a6 ey The value of the plunder Joe had brought to Dock A was found to be over $150,000, and Joe subsequently received the $20 000 rewards offered for its recovery, amounting in all to 20,000. . Horton and Coates recovered from their wounds, and, with — Simpson, were sent to Auburn in due time to work out their ten-year sentences. ; Joe, as a matter of course, received the grateful thanks _ of Banker Fuller and his wife for having rescued Grace _ from her terrible situation, and as the boy had saved hi from being held up for a $15,000 ransom, the banker in- “so74 on presenting Joe with a nest-egg for his future of — Mr. Walker got a new night watchman for Dock A, as — geance on him. : Soon after this exploit, Joe learned that his father, after — wreck of his former self. The ‘shipper gave Joe a good berth in his office, the lad, in time, worked his way up to a responsible positi a in the house. is ; Long before that time he becdme engaged to Grace Full with her parents’ consent, and when he married her the boy’s fight for fortune had been won. r il AL and Next week’s issue will contain “A TIP WORTH LION; OR, HOW A BOY WORKED IT IN STREET.” | Alor ghee eevee

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FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. 19 CURRENT NEWS German correspondents of the western front of France report that the British are using a new type of gun and shell, according to an Associated Press Correspondent. The gun appears to be pneumatic, 48 it makes no noise when fired, and can, therefore, be used from points very close to the front. The shell which it carries bursts, it is said, with an ex- plosion resembling that of a mine, and the destruc- tive area of the burst is large. It is chiefly used against deep dugouts and trench positions. The owners of Crab Island, comprising about fifty _ acres on the New Jersey coast near Little Egg Har- _ bor, have offered this island to the Navy Depart- ment for use as a naval base. In the letter to Mr. Daniels, McKeever Brothers, Inc., the present hold- _ ers of the property, pointed out that it is the only _ harbor on the coast “between Sandy Hook and the _ Delaware BreakWater” that is available for this _ purpose. The Tuckerton wireless station is avail- able, two miles away. “You may have immediate possession,” the offer concluded. _ Anew record for the number of ships passing through the Panama Canal in a month was estab- - lished in January; the total of oceangoing ships, not including local launches and vessels, was 176. Their gate net tonnage was 557,839 tons. The month Sal greatest traffic previous to this was July, 1915, with 170 ships, having an aggregate net tonnage of .370 tons. The traffic in January consisted of venty-eight ships, of 258,317 net tons, moving from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and ninety-eight ps, 299,514 net tons, from Pacific to Atlantic. A life buoy capable of sheltering forty persons as been on exhibition in the Willamette River at rtland, Ore. It is intended as a substitute for a oat, and its inventor claims that it is unsink- ble, non-collapsible, and will ride upright in the zhest sea, says Popular Mechanics. The device made entirely of steel and resembles a huge top. intrance is gained through a trap-door which is -tight when closed. The buoy is intended to nt on a vessel’s deck, and if in time of danger .is no opportunity to launch it, passengers need get inside and wait for it to take the water as oat sinks. == > net gain which has been made in any nce the Spanish-American War. There has tifying increase in recruiting throughout ticularly in the Southern States, In nee ry1n a Piva Spe nang, 1s, wetonally Agee” The number of navy recruiting stations has been in- ~ creased to 217, forty-seven main stations and 17( sub-stations. There are now 22,622 actual vacancie; in the allowed complement of the navy, as againsi 26,178 vacancies on Jan. 3. There were 59,039 en- listed men in the navy on Feb. 28. The Department of Agriculture has issued a warn: ing about the “black Siberian hare,” which certain dealers are trying to palm off on the guileless public. The situation recalls that of the “miracle wheats,” concerning which the department recently enlightened the country. The “black Siberian hare” is advertised to produce a pelt of high market value. The fact is that, although more skins of hares or ; rabbits are collected and sold than of all other fur- bearing animals combined, no variety is worth rais- ing for its fur alone. Moreover, Siberia does not — produce hares, and the alleged new variety is merely > a black strain of ‘the “Flemish giant” breed of European hare. Germany failed by slightly more than a 50 per cent. margin to make good her threat to sink 1,000,- 000 tons of merchant shipping during the first month of unrestricted submarine warfare, according to a London dispatch. Her submarines, the figures show, only succeeded in sending to the bottom dur- ing the month of February, in round numbers 490,- 000 tons. This figure only exceeds by 140,000 tons, it is declared, what the British authorities expected would be sunk during that month if ordinary sub- marine warfare had been continued. It compares ‘| with 346,656 tons sunk during December, and 322,- 067 tons during January. The last annual report of the Coast Guard recom- mends the use of aeroplanes in connection with the life-saving work of the service. When a shipwreck occurs too far from the shore to be reached with the line-throwing gun, and when the state of the sea makes it impossible to use lifeboats, it is believed that a line could be carried to the wreck by means | of an aeroplane. Apart from their use in life-say- ing, aeroplanes would be extremely serviceable in the work of locating derelicts. Congress has been asked to provide aviation stations and equipment for — the coast guard, and in the expectation that such : work will be taken up sooner or later the guard has already assigned three junior officers to undergo training at naval and private aviation schools. An | additional argument in favor of this plan is:the fact & ; that the aviation facilities provided for the Coast Guard would be a valuable supplement to naval avia- _ tion equipment incase of war, a

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1 bee heaes °0 FAME AND FAME SND” FORTUNE WEEKLY. GOOD AS WHEAT &: THE BOY a wae ALL RIGHT By GASTON GARNE (A SERIAL STORY.) CHAPTER XIX (Continued). But nowhere was there any human being other than the four in the mouth of the cavern. At least, nobody was in sight. 3 When the four had satisfied themselves that this was so, they stepped out into the amphitheater. 4 A swift glance around, and they were assured 2 that there were no persons other than_themselves : in this strange place. cee Suddenly a wild yell escaped the lips of Boggett. “Look!” he exclaimed, pointing to a jagged pro- jection six inches long and a couple of inches in diameter, “thet’s gol’—solid gol’, ez I’m er sinner!” He picked up a hammer and leaped forward and struck the projection a lusty blow, breaking it off. Sg, The dull yellow of virgin gold glowed where the break occurred, and cries of excitement escaped the lips of the four. Billock walked along the wall, looking at it close- oe ly, and presently he exclaimed: “ae ‘Ther ole man whut tole ye erbout this place _ didn’ tell no lie, Bob. Thar is gol’ enuff in this ___ here mine ter sink er ship.” ES “Now ye’re shoutin’, Hank!” cried Boggett. “4 ! Bae “Whoop! We’re milyunaires, ev’ry one uv us, an’ _ thet’s ther trooth !” > Bob was looking all around, for he feared that ____ there might be a hiding-place somewhere about, and __ that the men who had evidently been at work in ___ the mine recently might suddenly leap up and shoot them down before they could lift a hand to protect _ themselves. ° Pon’ ve worry, son,” said Billock, who noted the “boy's action; “ther varmints got skeered las’ night, an’ they | hev skipped out. I’ll bet they don’ bother us none.” “IT hope that is the case,” said Bob; “but I’m _ afraid they may appear and give us some trouble.” ae _ “We'll be more’n enuff fur ’em ef they do come an’ try ter bother us.” att 1g out of the walls to load their horses down. e can only 8 it. and get goed in safety _ The four then made their way into every si6ok ithink?” — d cranny of the mine, and they saw enough gold! “Ye bet we wull!” from Boggett ; “now thet we’ve foun’ ther mine, an’ know thet ther gol’ really is here, thar hain’t nobuddy goin’ ter keep us frum kerryin’ off all we want uv et!” “How are we going to do it?” asked Bob. “Shall we stay here all the time, or shall we go down to the camp every night?” “We'll live an’ do our eatin’ and sleepin’ down thar,” said Billock; “we'll jest come up here an’ work ther mine an’ll kerry down ther gol’ at noon an’ in ther evenin’.” “An’ one uv us’ll allers be at ther camp in thar daytime ter watch ther gol’,” said Boggett. “I guess that will be the best plan,” agreed Bob. Over at one side of the mine they found where _ fires had been, there being ashes and partly-burned — sticks. Bob pointed to these and said: “That is how they made the ghosts. They kin- dled fires, and then danced about in front of them, and their shadows were visible to us over on the shore.” “T guess ye’re right, Bob,” agreed Boggett; “ye A] see, we didn’ think erbout ther top uv ther butte bein’ hollow like et is.” The four were so eager that they put in the ak Zh of the afternoon securing gold; but Sam was sent down to guard the camp. + When evening came they loaded themselves. on # with the gold and made their way down to. the — camp. ot: fee They dug a hole at the foot of a huge tree and cached the gold. ; Then they cooked and'‘ate their suppers, and Bil * lock and Boggett settled down to smoke. “This is shore solid comfort, Hank,” pried Boggett, as he stretched himself out at ‘full on his blanket and puffed away at his pipe. “T reckon et is, Bill; but et’s kinder Re evs* ce fur milyunaires ter be smokin’ pipes, don’t” ye “Waal, we’ll smoke twenty-five-cent segars: we git back ter the lan’ uv ther livin’.” 2 Then they fell to discussing the persons been working the mine and ronson tale - | not Bet would come back. ial bef on our guard, anyhow

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—- FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. . ee es Cea | their horses’ heads and started back toward the | mainland. THE ROAD-AGENTS APPEAR. “We'll fix you yet, blast you!” called out the leader nae of the road agents. “Just you wait!” The four gold hunters were up with the sun next “Shet yer head er we’ll plug ye fur keeps!” yelled Morning, and when they had eaten breakfast, Bob, | Boggett. “Ye tork too much, ye miser’ble galoot!” Billock and Boggett set out for the mine, leaving ’ There was no reply, and it was evident that the Sam to guard the camp and the gold. road agents feared the men on the top of the butte _ “If you see anybody pomAnE, fire a shot,” said | might put their threat into execution. “We've got ’em scart, pards,” said Billock. ee promised that he Se “Yaas, but they won’ giv’ et up so easy ez all + _ The three made their way to the entrance of the | thet,” declared Boggett. J ) tavern and then through the passage and up to| _“That’s.my idea, too,” said Bob. “They will wait mine. They took a careful look into the mine | till dark and then come across, likely. fore showing themselves, as they did not know| “We'll lay fur ’em an’ plug ’em ef they try et,” the men who had been there before might be | Said Billock. re now. “Thet’s whut we'll hev ter do,” agreed Boggett. : __ Nobody was there, however, and the three entered| Feeling confident that the road agents would and went to work. make no further effort to cross during th> day, the three descended and went to work again. They Tteposk ked away prone: oh oe - pos “Them scoun’rels hez interfered an’ caused me ter de and looked out across the lake. arb be er thousan’ dollars poorer than I would hev been,” growled Boggett. “I c’u’d hev easy knocked tthe top of the wall before he gave utterance vo) OF, thet much gol” while we wuz chinnin’ “em.” & exclama Bob laughed. a > is, lies f “Oh, well, we will have plenty of time in which Whut is et, son?” asked Billock. : to secure all the gold we can carry off, I guess,” he Phat gang of road agents is coming!” satel har air they?” of the head; “an’ my ’rithmetic allers tol’ me ter he two began climbing rapidly and were quickly | make hay while ther sun wuz shinin’, er words ter de Bob. that effeck.” Bob laughed and said: “That’s a rule, but I guess the sun will shine long enough for us to secure all the gold we want.” “All we want?” snorted Billock; ‘“waal, I guess = not, son. W’y, did ye ever see ther man thet hed oe all ther gol’ he wanted? I guess not! An’ I guess : ye never wull.” “Perhaps you are right, Hank; but we will be able to secure all the gold that we will need, any- ” * Ph hey saw that Bob had spoken truly; at any a party of five men, on horseback, were com- oss from the shore to the island. The horses vimming strongly, and were half-way across. mus’ stop ’em!” cried Billock. tow can we do it?” asked Bob. git our Winchesters an’ send er few threat- hots down ter warn em,” said Boggett; “an’ the ef they keep on comin’, we’ll giv et ter ’em vg n wa oT dunno ’bout thet, Bob,” said Boggett ; “T tell ye, Havanner seegars an’ champagny wine is some expensive, an’ ye bet them’s ther kin’ uv luxshoories : thet I’m goin’ ter swim aroun’ in arter we git back oe ae ter siverlizashun!” eure ha ascended the rude steps and took a look around to. see if he could see anything of the road agents. © They did not show themselves, however, and at noon the three carried their gold down to the ee ee cached it with the rest. soy ey Diag va was that shot about ?” asket Sam. Thera tte had been between him and sis — aegetse an d he had not seen them. — “Whut!” . “J dunno ’bout thet,” was the reply, with a shake > “ided that prudence was isdom, a and eee a SE

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FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. . FACTS WORTH READING ——— PAPER BLOWN SIXTY MILES. Relatives of J. A: Swartz of Rex, Ga., killed in the ___eyclone several weeks ago, recently received from Des Arc, Ala., a quantity of letters and papers which > were blown away when the Swartz home was de- __._ stroyed. They had been carried more than sixty re miles by the wind. q sae, : a: JAPAN- SENDS MEXICO MUNITION <i MACHINERY. +r The cartridge-making machinery purchased from 2 Japan has been unloaded at Manzanillo from the LS steamer Katchiro Maru and will soon be put in ag operation. Two hundred Japanese experts accom- panied the shipments to set up the machinery and a operate it. It is hoped by the Government that this Ss _ machinery will make Mexico independent of other = countries for ammunition. a Set, KEM esr iF § NEARLY 1,000 IN FAMILY. £f The biggest family in this county has almost 1,000 “ members. It is at Reserve, nine miles north of Hia- 2 watha, Kan. Reserve is a small town of 200 or more “J people with an average Kansas population in the ___ eountry surrounding for an area of six miles. Yet bie ot in the town and the entire area of country within six miles of the town there are not more than ten i families who are not related to each other by ties of ae blood or marriage. Of these ten families nearly all are strangers who have moved into the community si in recent years. so - # LARGEST MOTOR YET BUILT. What is said to be the largest electric motor yet built has recently been completed by a leading American electrical manufacturer, for use in driv- ing a two-high 35-inch reversing blooming mill, which, reverses for every pass; that is, every time re a bes A 5 - metal goes through the rolls. Reversals can be made from low speed to\full speed in about two seconds, and in regular work nineteen or twenty passes are -—s- made in two minutes. The motor has a rating of 15,000, and complete it weighs more than 250 tons. It is 20 feet high, and the shaft is over 2 feet in diameter. FIND OPIUM IN DRIED DUCKS. Quong Sun Chong, ‘dealer in rare china, costly silks, and ornaments of unique design, at 30 Mott _ Street, New York, recently made the peculiar ad- : ‘dition to his stock of an importation ef dried ducks, that looked like antiques, but’possessed a charm for i aus palates. The ducks sold at tremendous , ranging from $10 to $100 each. Nobody bay one of the long-dead fowls, however, with- oe a oo ae me ne a secret Pearce, ‘water, so that the lighter particles of graphi off from the heavier particles of impuriti 7 Internal Revenue Agents Yancey and Dobbs pro- cured one of them by stratagem and found a quan- tity of opium inside of it, carefully wrapped in small waterproof bags. They arrested Lum Suey, Quong Sun Chong’s clerk, and United States Commissioner Hitchcock held him in $2,000 bail for examination. BRANDED AS A FALSEHOOD. “Berlin newspapers,” say the Overseas News © Agency (Germany’s official press bureau), “say it is ~ reported reliably that the British have tried to in- duce neutral ships to carry poisoned food and wine, in the hope that the, crews. of German submarines will take these articles and be poisoned.” The statement in the German press that English ships are carrying poisoned food, and urging neu- trals to do the same, so the German submarine crews will be destroyed if they eat it, was character- ized as a preposterous falsehood by a high naval au- | thority. . “The idea of such a thing originated in a German head,” he said, “for it certainly would not have been ~ conceived by any one else. It was Germans who placed poison in wells in: Africa, and they dropped — poison from aeroplanes in Roumania. They are probably thinking of using poison in some way again and are in advance accusing us of its use.” wg LEAD PENCILS. ; The lead pencil so generally used to-day is not, as its name would: imply, made from lead, but pct graphite. It derives its name from the fact that prior to the time at a, pencils were made from graphite, metallic lead was employed for the pur-— pose. Graphite was first used in pencils after the discovery in 1565 of the famous Cumberland mine in England. This graphite was of remarkable pur-— ity and could be used without further treatment : by cutting it into thin slabs and encasing them i = wood. For two Ranwres years England enjoyed alone the profits of the pencil-making industry. In the eighteenth century, however, says the Sci American, the lead pencil industry had found way into Germany. To-day a large part of 1 pencil-making trade is centered in the United States American manufacturers supply nine-tenths o: ) pencils needed at home and have entered into the competition of the world’s markets. The principal raw materials that enter into : making of a lead pencil are graphite, clay, ce and rubber. The graphite, as it comes from mines, is broken into small pieces, the impure pa + ticles being separated by hand. It is then fine divided in large pulverizers and placed in tub

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FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. BEN AND THE CHAPTER I. LOOKING FOR A JOB. _ The first time Ben Leslie got himself into trouble on account of his remarkable resemblance to another b oy was after he had been looking for work in New ork about three weeks, ~ This was in the spring-time, several years ago, , to be a little more accurate, it was on a Tues- lay, the first of May, and it happened about eleven clock in the morning, just after"the boy had been uurned down at Winkler & Weiss’s tobacco firm on Front street, wheré in answer to an advertisement 3 the morning paper he had applied for a place. Ben was in the depths of despair that day, and hopeless look on his face was enough to condemn He had now been in New York three weeks, hav- g blown in from Fuddebackville, Pennsylvania, a which might well have been described by a E my “tooral—rural,” for it-~was about as near ing as any town in the State. | left Fuddebackville on the day after the e gave him the hundred dollars, which was all > was left after his dead father’s farm was under foreclosure. ed him that he ought to consider himself ky to get anything, and he supplemented nent by his sage piece of advice, which an boy, fresh from the farm, was wise take.. ou really intend to go to New York to seek rc Ene. Ben, you will need new clothes, hat e > but don’t buy them here at the store ‘ork, even if you spend more money: then d some show to get a job.” went to New York and on the day after here is what he had spent: - $ ; clothes, $20; shoes, $3; hat, $2.50; night's lodging, $1—total, $39. 50. kicked at the amount, but the squire coolly | on 1e the best he aoe een came so By enamel "Yea : th ee ee eee ae ie tag ~ BANKER’S SON THE TROUBLES OF A RICH BOY’S DOUBLE By ED KING (A SERIAL STORY) It made his $100 look sick, though, just the same. “T must get a job at once,” he said to himself. Easier said than done. Three weeks had now passed, and Ben had done everything that a boy without friends or influence could do to get a job, but had met with no success. First he tried applying in person, going from one business place to another. The first day’s experience showed him that this was not the way, for he could find no one even will- ing to listen to him. Then he tried answering advertisements by letter and in person. But here he found himself up against another snag—three if he had only known it. Ben’s early education had been somewhat neg- lected. Thanks to his father’s persistent correction, he could talk grammatically, but his handwriting was poor and his spelling abominable. Thus he never got a single answer to his letters, and at the time of which we write he could not imagine why. With his personal applications it always ran about as it. did on the morning of which we speak. We propose to describe this experience, as it will stand for about two dozen similar ones which the boy had passed through during his three weeks’ stay in New York. “Wanted—aA boy for general office work. Apply to Winkler & Weiss, No. — Front street.” This was the ad. Ben had learned that it was wise to get the paper early. He was ‘on hand at the Front street place a few minutes after seven o’clock, where he found twenty boys on a line. ~ Ben congratulated himself. He had grown used to this sort of thing, and expected to find at least forty. Then came a three hours’ wait before Mr. Weiss arrived, and until he came no boy was admitted to ei the store.

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Be FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. Usually it came before Ben’s turn: : Only in four of five instances had he been able to get an interview. nineteen boys went in and came out, each with some remark to make about the firm of Winkler nee. Weiss. ee “They’re no good!” “They won’t pay nothing.” ree ‘Say, they want the earth.” “You fellows better swe sneak.” “Nothing doing here.” & é - This was the way the talk ran, and when it came Bh Ben’s turn and he was shown into a stutfy little ie office where a fat man in his-shirt sleeves sat smok- a ing a rank cigar, it was no wonder he felt dis- jae couraged in advance. uf r The fat man looked Ben over contemptuously, and ‘a _ the following conversation ensued: “What's your name?” “Ben Leslie.” “Where have you worked?” “T have never work here in New York, sir. I “You’re from the country ?” “es, Site bs “You have had no experience fa any kind of | é ' business?” aaa SING, Sits. Bub. “Any one you can refer to here in New York as to your character?” “N ot here, sir. But “Get out! If you mer no city references we can’t use you.” If Ben had been a dog, the tone employed could not have been more contemptuous. Why do so many business men think it necessary = -r-te speak in this way to boys who are only doing their best to get a start in life? But it is so, and it_is a pity that it is so. Ben had been up against it before. This lack of reference was the snag he struck ‘every time. Heretofore he had given it right up and gone make a desperate attempt to get in a word in his own behalf, 4 “If you would only let me speak, sir!” he cried, boldly. “I’m used to hard work on my father’s farm. I can give you references in the town I came - from. I don’t think I’m sitogelien a fool. All I st want is a chance.” __ : Three times the man Weiss gedenal him out of the store while Ben was getting off this speech. But the boy persisted and finished. Weiss looked at him narrowly. He seemed to | e him better for his boldness. _ ‘Where are you from?” he asked. 2 “McKean County, Pennsylvania.” Ben ‘was. ashamed 0 of the Fuddebackville part. Suppos This morning it went differently, however, and _ away, but in this instant he made up his mind to | 5 sive. a trial; are you pling & Si sot Wie wl hee “But, Mr. Weiss, I couldn’t get board for that.” “That’s nothing to me. I can get all the boys I | want for three a week.” ; “But, sir. 6 “Oh, get out! roared Weiss. He sprang up, and taking Ben by the shoulders, pushed him into the store, at the same time bawl- ing: “Next!” Ben slipped out, receiving the jeers of the boys on the waiting line as he hurried down the street. But they did not eall out “Rube” or “jay” or any- thing of that sort, as they surely would have done if Ben, neglecting Squire Town’s advice, had bought his clothes in Fuddebackville. Get out! You want the earth!” We have now given a fair sample of Ben Leslie’s: three weeks’ experience at looking for a job in New York. The boy had been as economical as possible. He had not wasted a cent, and still had some money > left, but it was plain to him that this state of See, could not go on much longer. “T shall never get work this way,” thought Ben. “What on earth shall I do? | some carpenter or mason or something of that sort.” And if he had come to that, which he did not, Ben _ would have found himself up against all kinds Nt: snags. Then it would have been trade union rules to con -tend with. Ben’s plan was impossible, so far as New York was concerned. So much for the business ei of our hero’s site ation. Now we come to our story, for that morn-— ing Ben was to meet. with an adventure pices the end was destined to change his whole career. Already the boy had fallen into the way whic 1 omes to so many who fail to meet with suleess in New York. | The streets, with their towering buildings and hurrying crowd, had come to possess a certain ; cination for him. | Hour after hour he would wander about aim | after he had exhausted his tint of applicatia n work. a0 Usually Ben did not give up until o’clock. He had already learned that it ii to apply for work in New York late in the ; noon. Fs | But this morning, aithongtt he had seve - ; places on his list, he felt no heart to visit th “Tt’s the same everywhere, and always ws same,” he said to himself. “There is is no J this town for a country boy.” = That there is a place somewhere in for every boy who was ever born, prov nt and abe w. ‘ase was a by, If I don’t get a job within two or three days I must try my luck with ”

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FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. 25 DRUNK, MAKES ORPHANS OF FIVE. E Returning to his home in Harland Hollow, Conn., in an intoxicated condition, Frank Stewart, about forty years old, killed himself with a shotgun the other afternoon. _ Mrs. Stewart and his five children him themselves the pantry when Sthewart threatened their lives. esently they heard the report of a gun and found stewart dead in the sitting-room. They fled to leighbors, who notified Selectman Wilbur Miller of tragedy. _ The eldest child is a boy about twelve and the youngest a girl about two. Stewart also leaves sev- brothers. q WORLD’S DEEPEST WELL. Gas men throughout Northwestern Pennsylvania are waiting with much*interést the final result of illing operations at the two deep test wells lo- ed at Kersey and McDonald, both Pennsylvania vns, e Geary well, at McDonald, is almost twice as ep as the one at Kersey, having reached a depth 218 feet, which makes it the second deepest in orld. The world’s deepest well is in Roumania, is 7,300 feet deep, but it is likely that the Geary will make a new world’s record. promoters already have spent $300,000 in the e, and another $100,000 is to be invested be- it is abandoned. When the drill reached a of 7,110 feet a strain of rock salt over’ 100 sk was discovered. 3MARINE STARTS ON 3,500-MILE TRIP Mees Sy. ‘TO SPAIN. h the Spanish national colors and coat of arms on ‘the conning tower and carrying two n experts, the Isaac Peral, constructed for d one of the largest submarines ever built country, started shortly before 11 o’clock the 1orning on her 3,500-mile trip to Cadiz, Spain. the harbor she was picked up by the h merchantman Claudio Lopez, which will act a hull of the boat was built by the Electric Boat , at Quincy, Mass. She carries two 600- Diesel engines of special design, built by w London Ship and Engine Company, and a apid-fire gun, built by = subsidiary of Company. OUS HATS FOR LONDON. | a bega n making their visits Coe, 2 oy ess of London’s streets light to prevent! horses, TIMELY TOPICS pedestrians from running into each other. Gas Logie describes a recent invention that is doing its bit toward making the streets safe. This is a luminous hat. The inventor says of it: : “The difficulty, of course, was to find a suitable substance. Phosphorus is too dangerous—it is in- flammable; it smells and would probably damage the - hat. I discovered a firm who are employing a mix- ture of sulphides made into a liquid. It does not damage the material, it does not smell, it lasts a long time, is invisible by day. and gives off a striking bluish light at night. Moreover, the more it is ex- posed to daylight or artificial light the more it shines.. The firm have used it successfully on the surface of paper, and lumincus paper is now made in large sheets and is, I understand, already being ex- tensively employed.” SCHOOLBOYS FORM “ARMY.” The New York City Schoolboy Army is rapidly becoming a reality. Every week about 500 recruits are added to the high-school military units that have been organized through the efforts of the offi- cers of the Public Schools, Athletic League, Acting under the authority of General George W. Wingate and Major General O’Ryan, Dr. C. Ward Crampton, the league’s secretary, has been organizing the battalions. ee hee Guard has assisted by, granting the use of armories and, in some cases, by lending rifles uipment.. gr homes at of the twenty high-schools have started enlistment campaigns, and at least 2,500 high-school students are learning military tactics, camping, rifle-shooting, sanitation, first aid, wall sealing, signaling and other military arts.. pes Stuyvesant High School has received 175 rifles from the United States government, and has the use of the Sixty-Ninth Regiment Armory on two afternoons a week. Captain Davidson of the Sev- enty-First Regiment has been assigned to instruct the boys.. There are 250 active members, and 200 are fully uniformed. . ie The Boys’ High School of Brooklyn has three full companies and another company is being organized, Two companies are uniformed. They use the Thir- teenth Regiment Armory, and Sergeant Humphries of the Thirteenth Coast Artillery is drilling them. : -Manual Training High School has permission to use the Fourteenth Regiment Armory and has an organization of 150 students. Captain Hetzel of _ the Fourteenth Regiment is their expert adviser. Erasmus Hall High Schoo} has a mounted organiza- — { tion. Fifty boys are training at the First Cavalry Armory. The First Cavalry has p es has SS = “TS e 3 : = a ass -

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26 / ' FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. Fame and Fortune Weekly NEW YORK, APRIL 13, 1917. TERMS TO SUBSCRIBERS Single Copies f One Copy Three Months One Copy Six Months One Copy One Y¥ POSTAGE FREE ee HOW TO_SEND MONEY—At our risk send P. O. Money Order. Check or Registered Letter; remittances in any other Way are at your risk, We accept Postage Stamps the same as god When sending silver wrap the Coin in a separate piece ro ian ai to avoid cutting the envelope. Write your name and ss plainly. Address letters to Harry E. Wolff, Pres. N. Hastings Wolff, Treas. Charlies E, Nylander, Sec.: a ‘Good Current News Articles Recruiting during February resulted in 4,852 men being added to the regular army, the War Depart- ment announced on March 8. Officers view the re- sults as highly satisfactory and indicating that the army can be brought to its authorized strength be- fore June 30. FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher 168 West 23d St., N. Y. To relieve the serious coal famine at Baker, Ore., ‘ dealers have ordered the mine at Rock Springs, _ Wryo., to speed a shipment by parcel post. The order _ was received and the coal started by mail, but a snowstorm stopped the mail trains. The postage on coal from Rock Springs to Baker is $83 a ton. Unable to complete ‘sufficient storage tanks to : take care of the oil production in the newly devel- .oped Bedwell-Bowlus-Ross lease, northwest of Lola, ; Kan., a force of men and teams were put to work to : excavate a pond of 5,000-barrel capacity, which will -- be used pending the building of tanks or pipe lines. Oil men, after inspection, estimated one well to be pumping near 125 barrels daily. — Charles Barr of Greenfield, Ind., has a silver dol- ae lar. both sides of which are the same. The dollar was paid him when he drew $2,000 from an An- derson bank twenty-two years ago to pay off men working on a street contract. The piece was not =e, until one of the workmen presented it at derson store and it was refused. He returned it. to Barr, who has carried it since. The eagle is shown on both sides of the dollar, and therefore it has no date. The money is genuine. Mr. Barr / never found any person who has seen a simi- ; ‘are evergreens, which shed their bark | i i leaves ; but they are not shade trees. in inclined rather than in - panstige pret 2 little obstructed. For this reason, says the National Geographic Magazine, smaller trees and bushes and grass grow underneath, and the woods in places .as- sume the appearance of a jungle from which arise the towering shafts of trees. It is interesting to note that primitive ‘types of eucalyptus, as well as the young of more modern types, have horizontal leaves, pointing to a time in the geologic past when the climate was more congenial and no precautions to conserve moisture need be taken. In view of the present and prospective value of Australia’s na- tional tree, it is a little surprising to find that cut- ting and burning is proceeding with scant scientific supervision. California. and South America are planting eucalypts; Australia is cutting them down. Australian hardwoods rival mahogany in beauty and susceptibility of polish, and are uns ‘among the world’s timbers in strength, durability — and resistance to fungus and insect attacks. Grins and Chisckbes “You needn’t sit up for me to-night, Maria.” “I - won’t; dear, I’ll be standing just inside the door for you.” “Jinkins holds his head mighty high this morn-— in’. What’s happened?” “Just put a mortgage on — the mule an’ sold a mocking-bird for ten dollars.” Model—Pardon me, sir, but isn’t there another artist in this building Artist—Well, that is a mat- ; ter of opinion. There is another fellow who paints. — Hicks—If patience was a virtue Loeffer is one of | 7 the most virtuous men on earth. Wicks—Got lots of patience, eh? Hicks—Yes; he’s been sitting around for about ten years waiting for work. “John,” said the political leader’s wife, “you’l have to get a new policeman assigned to this beat; Bridget doesn’t like the present one.” “All righ said he, “and while I’m about it, I’ll get one likes his meat rare. I’m getting tired of overdone beef.” ‘> ie “Hiram, what. profession do you think our ought to follow?” “I dunno,” replied Farmer Korn- kob; “John is rather handicapped. The on ly) pro fession he thinks he is naturally adapted to is that of a capitalist, and I can’t see where the ma comin’ from.” — 4 A little boy told his hind: another young that his mother was accustomed to give him a p every morning so that he should take his med in peace and quietness. “Well, what do you it?” inquired the little friend. “Mother p the money-box until there is a shilling.” ‘ then?” “Why, then mother ware shee medicine with it.”

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- t J ¥ : A DETECTIVE OUTWITTED. . By Col. Ralph Fenton. ' _Some years ago, in the month of December, I Was strojling in the neighborhood of Scotland Yard, when I noticed that I was followed by a short, thick- Set man of peculiar appearance. _ He looked about three or four-and-twenty, and Was shabbily dressed in clothes which had never been made for him. _ The old cord trousers, much too large, were those of a working-man. ~ The vest, a bright scarlet, was that of a groom or coachman; whilst the surtout, patched as it was, had the unmistakable cut of a West End tailor. Tt struck me that we were old acquaintances, for lis Was a face, once seen, not easily to be forgotten. He was very ugly. _ The greatest peculiarity about him was the eyes, h were of a dark hazel, with an extraordinary iqueness of vision that made it impossible to tell ether he was looking you in the face or not. s head was covered with an old sealskin cap x which was a profusion of hair of a golden while his face was ornamented with a luxuri- crop of whiskers of the same fiery hue. ll this I noticed as he twice passed—each time ng as if about to address me. he was passing the second time, I turned on heel, and said: ~~ Well, my man, you appear to know me?” “Yes Mr. Sharpe,” he replied, “I know you, dare say you have forgotten me. My name e Fox; and you’ve had'me before the beak n once when I was young.” ” I said, “you are the rascal that belonged Seeman 5 gang, and who used to give us ble.” _guv’nor; but since my mother died I’ve been keep on the square. I’ve been to sea, and wking about the docks, or wherever I could job. Lately I ain’t had anything to do, and nost starving. I’ve'been following you, think- might. give me something to get me some shard work to keep straight after you’ve 6 wrong, ’spécially when you’re hungry.” aught this story might be true. ibered him as a young thief, with a bad ut that was-years ago; and I knew if he cking about London I must have heard , Fox,” I said, “you may be telling me uu are’hungry I will give you a meal.” ‘into the nearest public house, and ‘cold meat and bread, and beér; and nfirmed one part of his tale. ying ve j FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. eS 27 | good thing. You know about the murder of th woman at Glasgow, and I can tell you where to lay ~ hands on the cove that did it. There’s a hundred pounds reward, and I suppose if I plant you on him you'll give me half?” The murder was one of peculiar atrocity, com- mitted a month before in Glasgow, upon a poor girl. The police were at fault, and the home secretary had offered one hundred pounds reward for the dis- covery of the criminal. At first it struck me as improbable that Fox could know anything about it; but he told me that he was lodging down at East End; and the murderer, a sailor, was lodging in the-same house, and had con- fessed the crime to him. : ‘ Still I could not see a motive for Fox betraying his friend, and said: “You are, no doubt, very clever, Mr. Fox; but you must not try to make me believe because I have given you a meal that you are willing to round on a pal.” “You forget, Mr. Sharpe,” he replied, “the half of the reward, which will give me a fresh start; be- side that, I owe the man a grudge, and if I live ’ll pay him.” I told him he could soon prove whether his infor- mation was true by showing me the house where the man lived. I would take a couple of officers with me, and ar- rest him at once. ; To this, however, Fox would not listen. He said the man was a most desperate character, and surrounded. by friends, and there would be but littl€ chance of taking him there. His idea was to entice him pest, and take him off his guard. ; ‘ ‘Even then Fox said that there would be consider- able risk, as the murderer carried with him the knife with which he had committed the crime, and threatened to use it on’ any one that attempted to take him. After further conversation it was arranged that Fox should meet me that night. My plan was soon matured. I got an order for one of the theaters for the following night. Fox was to invite the man to accompany him, but, before entering the theater, was to take him into a public-house, and when he was drinking his glass we would take him. “ee Punctually at the time appointed Fox met me. I gave him the order for the theater, and ex- plained what I wished him to do, at the same time giving him a few shillings for his expenses. I waited for the following evening with consider- able anxiety. ; pte ce ‘The case was a most important one, and, if I could carry it to a successful issue, would add con- siderably to my reputation. Bt 2 ce 2 two officers to accompany

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ie \ 28 2 -against mistake, we were in the Strand half an hour earlier, the three of us being in plain clothes. Seven o’clock arrived—eight o’clock—but no ap- pearance of our men; and at reser top eight we| gave it up. I felt assured I had been thoroughly sold. Next morning, however, I found at the station a scrawl from Fox, saying that the man had got so FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. drunk the night before that he ‘could do nothing with him, and that he would meet me at twelve o’clock, at the house where I had given him his dinner; and if I could give him another order for the theater, he felt sure of bringing the murderer up that night. . I met Fox, gave him the order, and arranged to _be on the lookout at seven o’clock. We had not waited many minutes before I saw Fox coming along the Strand, in company with a tall man in a rough peajacket. He stopped to look ‘at a shop window, and as I passed I noticed that the tall man had the cut of a sailor. They walked on, and then turned into the bar of a public house. In half a minute my colleagues and I followed, and asked for something to drink. We were the only people in the bar, and the bar- maid was just serving Fox and his friend with two glasses of ale. At the back of where the man stood was a small - gas-burner, and my two officers went behind him, as _if to light their pipes. The moment that he lifted his glass to his lips, I _ sprang upon him, and my assistant at the same mo- “ment seized him. « | Quick as we were, he managed to wrench his left “arm away, and, striking straight out, sent me sprawling on the floor. © _ My two men, however, held him fast, and by the ni I regained my feet, had the handcuffs on him When I inoxed closer at our prisoner I was a little bit staggered. He had a fine, hatidotans face, and certainly had ‘not the look of one who would commit a murder. px “Well, mates,” he said, “this is nather raneh work. at do you want with me?” ‘(i _. “We want you,” I re ied, “fo - mitted in Scotland. vi i cs urder sacs _ “Murder! I never hurt anybody in my life.” et i Calling a cab, two of us. accompanied our pris- J gen the third officer being left with Fox, with or] to follow us to the station. — oe prisoner that of Archi name, e. gave oe Brown, f cea ti ‘sailor, . | armas “Bh, mon, there’s some mistake here. Th | ali clair, and half a dozen others, stated the charge to the inspector on duty, and martin I took Fox to a coffee-house, and arranged with the proprietor to supply him with board and lodging. - Two men from the force, in plain clothes, were told to watch him night and day, with orders to arrest him if he made any attempt to escape. The next morning the prisoner was brought be- fore a magistrate. My witness, Fox, would not, I thought, make a very favorable impression in his ordinary costume; so I purchased, at a second-hand, shop, a suit of clothes for him. ~ At the police court he gave his evidence in such a straightforward way as to favorably impress the magistrate with its truth. j Finally, Brown was remanded for a few days, to enable us to communicate with the authorities at Glasgow. 4 We immediately telegraphed to the chief of the police at Glasgow, stating that we had arrested a man named Brown for the murder of the woman, and that the prisoner was remanded until the see lowing Monday. We received a telegram in reply that an officer would be sent up to London in time for the examina- tion. Next morning we had a letter confirming the tele gram. aks The murder had, it appeared, been quite a mys- tery until the day before the receipt of our messag when a woman asserted that she had seen the ze, ceased on the night of the murder in company with a sailor named Brown, and that she had watched | them go into the house together. In the meantime we kept a sharp watch Fox; but the officer reported that he scarcely. left the house where he was staying. Our men watched him up to Saturday night, so convinced had we all become of his good f. that the officers were withdrawn. On Sunday afternoon I looked in to see .7 tell him that we should want him at the, court the next morning at eleven. I found him having his tea, and apparent! iy at home in the quarters I had provided. __ That night I met the Scotch officer at the Northern station, who congratulated me on cessful arrest which I had made. 4: I admitted that I thought there was. some ¢ due to me, as the prisoner, being such a tall, p ful man, there had been some danger. ; His reply took all the breath out of my we want is a wee chap, nicknamed “Re Charley,’ but whose real name is Brown, al a A light broke in upon me. A few _words of explanation — to and as fast as a hansom cab could gx * Fleet street, but the birt ae ing actaal murderer | an hour

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FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. BEAR MEAT FOR BEEF. _ Many big black bears have been slain this fall in the mountains near Webster, W. Va., and others have been trapped. Jake Mullins and John Leslie have killed and captured eight bears so far this sea- son and they find a ready market for the meat. : HUTS FOR BRITISH SOLDIERS. A recent invention adding to the comfort of the _ British and Canadian forces at the French front is _ described in a dispatch received from London. It _ is known as the Nissen hut, a semi-circular shelter with the appearance of a big piece of stove pipe, half buried in the earth, and containing doors and windows. There is room for twenty-five men in _ each hut. The convenience of transportation and _ the speed with which they can be erected enable _ men hitherto forced to sleep in the open during an - advance to obtain shelter. _ The event of the week at the Canadian Army _ headquarters at the French front, according to the _ dispatch, was a visit by Sir Robert Borden, Cana- dian Premier, and Robert Rogers and J. D. Hazen, members of the Premier’s Cabinet. The famous _ First Brigade of the Dominion’s original division _ passed in review. POE, SAW SON IN MOVIE. When R. E. Washington, a hotel man of Charles- ton, W. Va., went into a moving picture theater-he _ learned the whereabouts of his twenty-year-old son _ Lawrence, who disappeared from his home two years: ago. ' The film showed a picture of the dreadnought _ Pennsylvania in target practice in the Hampton BS oads. proving grounds, with Lawrence Washing- -: manning one of the guns. The father recog- TS d his son instantly. ~~ _ The picture showed honors being conferred on the ; ng man, who made three hits without a miss, as result of which he was promoted from an ordi- ry seaman to chief gun pointer, with an increase 8 in his monthly stipend. ne youth is a direct descendant of George Wash- OES THROUGH YALE ON $550 IN 4 YEARS. t cost the most economital member of the class 917 in Yale University just $550 to get through ‘years of college life, according to the statis- the senior class, which were given to a wait- ld to-day. The best spender in the class through by the expenditure of $15,000, he was careful to state, did not include Europe, automobiles and such Rie ee iets Adee oth for stock, pet Vie. ~ : ARTICLES OF ALL KINDS Although the class of 1917 had 112 working mem- bers, its collective earnings amounted to only $53,- 352, as against $306,979 earned by the class of 1916, with 120 working members. Harry Le Gore, the Yale athlete who was dis- qualified for one season because he spent his vaca-. tion playing baseball, was the unanimous choice of the class as its best athlete, which is the first time a senior class has ever agreed upon anything. Le Gore also won the blue ribbon for having done the most for Yale, second prize as the most popular member of the class, and got twenty votes as the member most to be admired. He also got six votes as the hardest worker and fifteen as the most ver- satile. S. A. Pumpelly, a member of the football team, was the winner in the most to be admired and most popular classes. He also took second prize as the best-natured and third as the most congenial. AUSTRALIA THE ONLY ONE-RIVER CON- TINENT. There are in Australia no Colo.ado or Columbias or Tennessees, trenching plateaus and crossing mountain chains, and no counterpart of the thou- sands of spring-fed brooks and streams issuing from lakes widely scattered over the country. The large area in Utah and Nevada from which dwindling streams never escape to the sea is represented in Australia by an enormous expanse of territory, com- prising fully half of the continent. The heart of the United States is a well-watered land of fields and woods and cities; the correspond- ing part of Australia is dry and barren and thinly populated, remarks the National Geographic Maga- zine. The Murray-Darling is the one great river sys- tem of Australia. It drains five-fifths of New South Wales, more than one-half of Victoria, and nearly one-seventh of the entire Australian Continent. Because of its unfavorable outlet, its small vol- ume, its snags and sand bars and great sinuosities, navigation of the Murray is limited to small light- draft steamers, towing one or two barges. Regular traffic in grain and wool is maintained during seven months of the year from the mouth of the river to _ Wentworth, 500 miles, and small boats reach A‘: — ‘bury. In the flood year of 1870 a steamer went beyond the Queensland border along a river sixty miles _ wide, and in 1890 steamers on the Darling between __ Wentworth and Burke “traveled for hours without seeing any land, and in one instance discharged car- 2k ip go twenty-five miles from the ordinary channel ‘of _ the river.” But a few years later (1902-1903) the — Darling ceased to flow for eleven months. During exceptional years the bed of the Murray is partly dry and the waters near its mouth become too

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BO FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. INTERESTING ARTICLES TO MINT MEXICAN COINS. Financial agents of the Mexican Government, it ’ was learned, have made inquiry at the Philadelphia Mint regarding prices and facilities for minting Mexican gold coins. Within the last ten days a rep- resentative of Stallforth & Co., New York bankers, asked the price per thousand pieces for coining cinco pesos, $5 gold pieces. He was told the mint could manufacture 60,000 piecés a week. The price was aot made public. Authority to do the work must come from the director of the mint at Washington. It was said at the mint that unofficial information had reached there that master dies, made at the Philadelphia Mint for the Mexican Government ten years ago, are m the way here. It was reported that Rafael Nieto of the Mexican Treasury is bringing $20,000,000 in gold bars here, but nothing was known of this at the mint. RARE MASTOBON FOUND. The American Museum of Natural History an- nounced that it had purchased the first mountable | ‘skeleton of a new species of mastodon of the Ter- af tiary period. The newly found variety, which is yet to be named, is distinguished by a jaw much longer than that of any of the Tertiary mastodons known. ‘ It is held that the find is another evidence that there once existed an Alaskan land bridge over _. which animals of a prehistoric age passed from Asia to North America. It is regarded as a de- scendant of a race of European mastodons, the skel- -_ gton of one of which is now on exhibition in the Museum of Natural History in Paris. In the West- ie ern Hemisphere, however, the long-jawed mastodon attained greater size than did the European variety. a This animal stood eight feet high and its bones “ are very massive. The skeleton is practically com- plete. It was unearthed in northern Texas. MAGNET INDUSTRY IN ENGLAND. be The Sheffield Daily Telegraph states that Shef- field promises to become the center of the manufac- ture of magnets, which were obtained before the war almost exclusively from Germany. On the out- - break of hostilities only one or two firms in Great _ Britain had given any attention to this particular product, although Sheffield had been for a long period supplying the steel to makers in Germany wd elsewhere abroad. The collapse of the German placed the British electrical trade in a serious and for some time looked, ominous, 4 fa the magneto industry. Sheffield, how-| to have saved the situation. A half order. dozen or more firms there have been producing mag- nets’on a large scale and of satisfactory quality fora considerable time, and there is every reason to be- lieve that when peace returns the British magnet in- dustry will remain. ODD INSTINCTS AND HABITS OF ANIMALS. Just as men have developed their savage state into pleasant civilized beings, so naturally dogs and cats and horses and hogs and other domestic ani- mals are very different from the wild things that were caught in the forest and trained to usefulness, but there are some habits inherited from their far- away ancestors which they still retain, and by which they are distinguished one from the other. We never question, for instance, why a horse runs so swiftly and has such power of endurance, but we must remember that his ancestors had to flee and defend themselves from the wolves—their greatest — enemies—and that their rearing and plunging was also a former means of defense if the enemy sprang on their backs. Their neigh was a watchword and call when wild horses went in droves, and some sort of a signal was necessary to keep them from stray- ing. Sheep, when frightened, always run to an eleyva- tion, because their ancestors originally came from the mountains. They always follow a leader, be- cause in the dangerous mountain passes their an- cestors had to go in single file. Hogs grunt because their feeding grounds were , thick woods, where they could not see one another, _ and sound was necessary to keep them together. - Dogs have a way of turning around several times _ before they lie down. This looks very foolish now, — but when they were wild things, centuries ago, they _ slept in the tall grass and turned around several — times to hollow out a bed and they have never out- — grown this habit, but to this late day they will turn around on a rug, just as if they were in the tall grass. i ’ Cats have, perhaps, the most traces of old ances- tral habits, says the Virginia Pilot. Many times — they do have a trace of the lion or the tiger very near the surface. Their uncertain temper, their — purring and growling, their sudden bounds, their — tendency to scratch, alf comes from the forest the jungle. 5 ae ~ All these and many more traits can be found, when we canter across country on our ponies fatten our respectable hogs for the markets, make pets of our dogs and cats, we forget how these traits have traveled, and that when was younger its live stock was of a ™

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4 FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY. 31 CUFF BUTTONS, Goid plated, bright finished, assorted Sees, aot with fine brilliants. Price 10c Postpaid. HL FP. LANG, 1815 Centre St., B’klyn, N. Y. 4 TRICK CIGARETTE BOX. This one is a corker! Get a box right ray. if you want to have a barrel of joy. re’s the secret: It looks like an ordi- red box of Turkish cigarettes. But contains a trigger, under which you ace a paper ap Offer your friend a oke and he raises the lid of the box. at explodes the cap, and if you are Se you will get out of sight with the x before be gets over thinking he was Price 15e., postpaid. olf Novelty Co., 168 W. 23d St., N. ¥. o@ CS Te tal The Bot~ tle Imp.— The pecu- larity of this little bottle is ; that it cannot be made to lie down, and yet by simply passing the hand over it, the per- férmer causes it to do so. This trick affords great SQmusement, and is of convenient size to carry — BDOUE. -. eee eee e ee ceceererecranene Price, 10¢ C. BEHR, 150 W. 62d St., New York City. BLACK-EYF JOKE. New and g@muwsing jokers Th victim is tol¢c tc hoid the tubs close to his eye the BBB EO...20ccrcccsserecestnveceosenseoreenqecqnene ennpenstisinnsetnnecuesiees KNITTER Every boy who wants a whip-lash, pair of reins, or any other knit article of Similar kind should have a Knitter. Any- body can work i. The most beautiful de- signs can be wade by using colored worsteds with this handy little object. It is handsomely lacquered, strongly made, and the wires are very durable. Price, 10c. each, by mail, postpaid. © Wolff Novelty Co., 168 W. 23d St. N. ¥: ELECTR IGAR CASE. ett. This bands 4, cigar case " pears to be filled with fine cigars. If your friend smokes ask ae to have a ciga with you. As he reaches out for one the C iy like a ° stantly disappear into the case tirely out sight, greatly to his surprise and astonishment. You can | his par- don _ eT Su thought there were some cigars left in the case. A, slight pressure 0 Bio case causes e cigars to magic. By touching a wire at bottom of case the cigars instantly their proper position in th tobacco is used they are sure to deceive any one. It is one of the best jokes of the euneem, > novelty wi you can have lots of fun. Frice 85 cents, sent by parcel post, pust- C. BEHR, 150 W. 62d Btreet, N ¥. 2 to $500 EACH paid for hundreds old Coins. Keep ALL money dated fo fore 1895 and send TEN cents for New Iilustrated Coin Value Book, size 4x7, It may mean your Fortune, CLARKE COIN Co., Box 95, Le Roy, N. ¥. MAGIC CARD box of ex BOX.—A very arate —_ = n fa or vanishing cards, any number of t of this character can be performed by it. . very necessary magical FRANK SMITH, 383 Lenox aves am ,

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XINK THE LINK PUZZLE. The sensation of the day. Pronounced by all, the most baffling and scientific novelty out. Thousands have worked at it fer hours witheut mas- tering it, still it can be done in two seconds by giving the links the proper twist, but un- less you know how, the harder you twist them the tighter they grow. Price, 6c.; 3 for 15c.; ene dozen, 50c., by mail, postpaid. + RANK SMITH, 383 Lenox Ave. N. ¥. THE JOKE SPIKE. This joke spike is an ordinary iron spike or very large nail, the same as is found in any carpenter's nail box. At the small end is a small steel needle, % inch in Jength, firmly. set in spike. Take your friend's hat or coat and hang it on the wall by driving (with a hammer) the spike through it into the wall; the needle in spike will not injure the ge yen Ro pete yen r it show on wall or woo e bes. Seen driven. ‘The deception is per- fect, as the spike appears to have been driven half-way through the hat or coat, which can be left hanging on the wall. or 3 for 25 cents; by mail, Price, 10 cents, post pale 1k, 150 W. 62d Street, N.Y. RUBBER TACKS, They come six in a box. A wonderful imitation of the real tack. Made of rubber. The box in which they come is the ordinary tack box. This is a great point upward. Then sla over the tacks and it wii suicide. Or the other hand seem as if you are committin dy can show the tacks and then put them u your moath and chew them, making be- lieve you have swallowed them. Your friends will think you are a magician. Then, agfin, you can exhibit the tacks and then quickly push one in your cheek or somebody else’s cheek and they will shriek with fear. Ab- solutely barmiess and a very practical and funny joke. Price, by mail, 10c. a box of six tacks; 3 for 25e. WOLF Novelty Co., 168 W. 23d St. N. Y¥. PRICE 6c PER COPY BUY A COPY! 32 PAGES OF READING cles are by Buy a copy NOW any number you desire. Parlor entertainer and you! ean play a lot of tricks | with the tacks. Place them | in the palm of your hand, | READ THIS ONE! “Moving Picture Stories” A WEEKLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO PHOTOPLAYS AND PLAYERS Its authors are the very best that money can procure; its the greatest experts in their narticular line. ; No amount of money is being spared to make this publication the very best of its kind in the world. from your newsdealer, or send us 6 cents in money or postage-stamps, anu we will mail you GREAT BURGLAR PUZZLE. The latest and most fascinating puzzle ever placed on the market. Patented May 30. It consists of four revolving dials, each dia] contain- ing 16 figures, 64 figures in all. To open the safe these dials must be turned around un- til the figures in each of the 16 col- umns added to- gether total 40. The puzzle is made on the plan of the combination lock on the large | on a combination of been known to sit | iron safes that open figures. Persons have up all night, so interested have they be- come trying to get each column to total 40, in this fascinating puzzle. With the prinied key which we send with each puzzle the fig- ures can be set in a-few minutes so as to total 40 in each column. Price 15 cents; mailed, postpaid. H, FE. LANG, 1815 Centre St., B’klyn, N. Y. POCKET PIECE. This handsome pocket piece ls made of aiu- minum, resembling sumewhat in size and appearance a_ silver dollar. In the of the pocket piece is LUCKY PENNY coin, inserted in such a way that it cannot be removed. (U. 8S. laws prevent our showing this coin in On one side of the pocket Piece are the words, “Lucky penny pocket piece; I bring good luck,” and the design of a horseshoe. On the opposite side, “Il am your mascot,” “Keep* me and never go broke,” and two sprigs of four-ieafed ‘clover. These handsome pocket pieces are believed by many to be harbingers of good luck. Price 12 cents; 3 for 30 cents; by mail, postpaid. Al. F. LANG, 1815 Centre St., B’klyn, N, Y, our engraving). eal ee THE BEST FILM MAGAZINE ON EARTH Magnificent Colored Cover Portraits of Prominent Performers! EACH NUMBER CONTAINS New Portraits and Biographies of Actors and Actresses Six Stories of the Best Films on the Screens Elegant Half-tone Scenes from the Plays Interesting Articles About Pror inent 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 ten SIMILAR PUBLI-. 4 CATION ON THE MARKET! MOVING PICTURE STORIES, Inc., 168 West 23d Street, New York City center | a new one-cent U. 8. | profuse illustrations are exquisite, and its special arti- 5 HALF MASKS. False-iacés beuten a ~ mile? ‘there are 7 in uw set and repre- seut an indian, a Japanese girl, a clown, Foxy Grandpa, au English Johnny Atkins and an Automo- bilist. Beautifully lithographed in handsome colors on a durable quality of cardboard. They have eyeholes and string perforations. Price, Ge. each, or the full set of i for 2%e., postpaid. © BEHR, 150 W. 62d St., New York City, c2 SNAPPER CIGAR. The real thing for the cigar grafter. If you smoke you must have met him. H 3 sees a few choice cigars in your pocke! and makes no bones about asking you for® one. You are all prepared for him this. time. How? Take one of these cigars suag | bers (which is so much like a real cigar « you are liable tosmoke it yourself b - take), Bend the spring backwards a lighted end, aud as you offer the cigar let go the spring and the victim gets a sbarp, stinging snap on the fingers. A Sure cure for grafters. Price, by mail, each, or three for 25e. Cc. BEHR, 150 624 St., New York City. ten cents GOOD LUCK GUN FOB. The real western article carried by the cowboys. It is made of fine leather, with a highly nickeled buckle. The holster con- si@tains a metal gun, of the ¥ attern as those used the most famous Any boy wearing one of these fobs will at- tract attention. It will give him an air of western romance. The rettiest and most serviceable watch fob ever made. Send for one to-day. Price 20 cents each by mail postpaid. |H. F, LANG, 1815 Centre St., B’klyn, N, ¥, PRICE 6c PER COPY ENJOY YOURSELF! OUT EVERY FRIDAY Az

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= ara FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY 571 F Street. 572 The Boy Gold Hunters; or, After a Pirate’s Treasure. Wall Street Boy’s Game of Chance. 574 Jack Merry’s Grit: or. Making a Man of Himself. 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 Scbool 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 a he . ve. The Treasure of the Secret Caves. »- TTew a Wall Street Boy Made Money. 573 Tricking the Traders; or, A 580 A Younes Goesi Ais BST Ronnd to FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher, . nt Wah we LATEST ISSUES—— 559 Starting His Own Business; or, The Boy Who Caught On. 560 A Corner in Stock; or, The Wall Street Boy Who 561 First in the Field; or, Doing Business for Himself. 562 A Broker at Eighteen; or. Roy Gilbert’s Wall Street Career. 563 Only a Dollar; or, From Errand Boy to Owner. 564 Price & Co., Boy Brokers; or, The Young Traders of Wall Street. 565 A Winning Risk; or, The Boy Who Made Good. 566 From a Dime to a Million; or, A Wide-Awake Wall Street oy. S67 The Path to Good Luck; or, The Boy Miner of Death Valley. 568 Mart Morton’s Money; or, A Corner in Wall Street Stocks. 569 Tips to Fortune; or, A Lucky Wall Street Deal. 570 Striking His Gait; or. The Perils of a Boy Engineer. rom Messenger to Millionaire; or, A Boy’s Luck in Wall - - - -* - 000 Tip Won. 587 A G 582 Friendless frank; or. The Boy Who Beeame Famous. 583 A $30, FOF. §&+ Plucky Bob: or, The Boy Who Won Success. 585 From Newsboy to Banker; or, Rob Lake’s Rise in Wall St 586 A Golden Stake: or, The Treasure of the Indies. rip on the Market; or, A Hot Time in Wall Street. 588 Watching His Chance: or. From Ferry Roy to Captain. 589 A Game of Gold; or, The Young King of Wal! 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 réceipt 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 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 Broke the Market. 596 A Lucky Contract; or, The Boy Who Made a Raft of Money. 597 A Big Risk; or, The Game That Won. 598 On Pirate’s Isle; or, The Treasute of the Seven Craters. 3 599 A Wall Street Mystery; or, The Boy Who Beat the Syndicate. 600 Dick Hadley’s Mine; or, The Boy Gold Diggers of Mexico. 601 A Boy Stock Broker; or, From Errand Boy to Millionaire. 602 Facing the World; or, A Poor Boy’s Fight For Fortune. The Young Weazel of Wall Street. - - 168 West 23d St., N. Y. 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 POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SA FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher, - rice of the weeklies you want and we will send them to E AS MONEY. you by return mail. a 168 West 23d St., N. i OUR TEN No, 46. HOW TO MAKE AND USE ELEC- TRICITY.—A peep oe of the wonderful uses of electricity and electro magnetism; to- ther with full instructions for making Mlectric 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 coniplete treatise on the horse, Describing the most useful horses for business, the best horses for the road; also valuable recipes for diseases peculiar to the horse. No. 48. HOW TO BUILD AND SAIL CANOES.—A handy book for boys, contain- ing fuli directions for Seg gs J 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 yaluable 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 genera) principles of sleight-of-hand appli- cable to eard tricks; of card tricks with ordinary cards, and pot requiring sleight- off-hand; of tricks involving sleight-of-hand, or the use of specially prepared ecards. Li- lustrated. ~ No. 52. HOW TO PLAY CARDS.—Giving the rules and full directions for playing Euchre, Cribbage, Casino, Forty-Five, Rounce, Pedro Sancho, Draw Poker, Auction Pitch, All Fours, and many other popular games of cards. No. 53, HOW TO WRITE LETTERS—A wonderful little book, telling you how to write to your sweetheart. your father, moth- er, sister, brother, employer; and, in fact, niga atta and anybody you wish to write No. 4. HOW TO KEEP AND MANAGE _ PETS.-—Giving complete information as to the manner and method of raising, peeping, taming, breeding. and managing all kinds of pets; also giving full instructions for making cages, ete. Fully explained by twenty-eight illustrations. No. 55. HOW TO COLLECT STAMPS AND COINS.—Containing valuable informa- tion regarding the collecting and arranging z ya and coins, Handsomely illus- ‘No. 56. HOW TO BECOME AN EN- —Containing full instructions how to become a locomotive engineer; also direc- tions for yameng a model locomotive; to- gether with a fu description of everything an engineer should know sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt of price, 10c. per copy, or 3 for 2%c., 1u money or pe NK TOU . , Publisher, = wy ey J Los < hee A +e” SS," No. 60. HOW TO BECOME A PHOTOG- RAPHER.—Containing useful information regarding the Camera and how to work it; also how to make Photographie 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. HOW 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. 64. 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, ete, 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- zies and conundrums, with key to same. complete book, Fully illustrated. No. 67. HOW TO DO ELECTRICAL eeeR Arr Contrening. a large collection of instructive and highly amusing electrical tricks, together with illustrations. By A. Anderson, No. 68. HOW TO DO CHEMICAL TRICKS,—Containing over one hundred highly amusing and instructive tricks wwith 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 containing the secret of second sight. Fully illustrated. No. 70, HOW TO MAKE MAGIC TOYS.— Containing full directions for making Magic Toys and de of many kinds. Fully il- lustrated. No. 71, HOW TO DO MECHANICAL TRICKS.—Containing coments illustrations for performing over sixty Mechanical Tricks, Fully illustrated. No. 72, HOW TO DO SIXTY TRICKS WITH CARDS.—Embracing all of the latest pmo most ptive card tricks, with illus- trations. CENT HAND BOOKS i No. 73. HOW TO DO TRICKS 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 composition, with specimen letters, No, 15. HOW TO BECOME A CONJURER. —Containing tricks with Dominoes, Dice Cups and Balls; Hats, ete, Embracing thirty-six illustrations, By A, Andgrson. 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, sears, ete, Illustrated. No. 77. HOW TO DO FORTY TRICKS — WITH CARDS.—Containing decep Card | Tricks as performed by leading jurers and magicians. Arranged for Lome amuse- ment, Fully illustrated. 9% No, 78. HOW TO DO THE BLACK ART, —Containing a complete description of the mysteries of Magic and Sleight-of-hand, te- gether with many wonderful experiments. By A, Anderson. Illustrated. mid No, 79. HOW TO BECOME AN ACTOR. —Containing complete instructions how to make up for yarious characters on the stage; ‘together with the duties of the Stage Man- ager, Prompter, Scenic Artist and Preperty — Man. ay No. 80. GUS WILLIAMS’ JOKE BOOK — — Containing the latest jokes, anecdotes a funny stories of this world-renowned der- man comedian. Sixty-four pages: handsome colored cover, containing a half-tone phote of the author. No. 81. HOW TO MESMERIZE.—Contain- ing the most approved method of mesmer- ism; animal magnetism, or, mens heal- ing. By Prof. Leo Hugo Koch, A.C.S, au- ~ thor of “How to Hypnotize,” ete. : x No. 82. HOW TO DO PALMISTRY.—Con- — taining the most spprere: methods of read- — ing the lines on the hand, he aie ay with a full explanation of their meaning. Also ex- plaining phrenology, and the key of telling characters by the bumps on tise head. By Leo Hugo Koch, A.C.S. ully illustrated. No. 838; HOW TO HYP? a i eel per , ing valuable and instructive a garding the science of hypnotism. plaining the most approved method cl} are employed by the leading hypnotists of the world, By Leo Hugo Koch, A.C.S, ‘¥ No. 84, HOW TO BECOME AN AUTHOR. — —Containing information ci of subjects, the use of words and ner of preparing and submitting mi scripts. Also containing valuable infor tion as to the eatness. legibility and_ ; eral com posit’ of manus~™'nts. | Abed - S 168 Wes