Fame And Fortune Weekly (no. 829) (1921 08 19)

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AUGUST 19, sia S WHO MAKE MONEY ee ee We g Vor oi ee i | = | 4 tse aad oe eiee Ben P34 or Some Sen Spee aon. ae all At that nioment a sailor dashed into the room. “Hold on there, my hearty!” he cried, “thats ‘my pr rty.” “Your property!” exclaimed Dick, stopping him with his arm. “Iyguess not I've just bought this cabinet and contents at auction.”

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- No. 829 NEW YORK, AUGUST 19, ii, at 1921. Price 7 Cents BOUGHT AT AUCTION OR, THE BID THAT LED TO RICHES BY A SELF-MADE MAN CHAPTER I.—The — Drawer and What Was In It. “Now, gentlemen, how much am I offered for this chest of drawers?” cried the auctioneer. “It is a real antique, and ought to fetch one hundred doll ” “Rats!” exclaimed a voice. fashioned piece of furniture.” : The .auctioneer glared in the direction of the es = but could not pick out the person in the . crowd who had spoken. = “What is an antique but an old-fashioned ar- r ticle? Exaniine it, gentlemen, and see for your- selves that it is all I represent it to be. Pull out the drawers and you will see they are tongue- and-grooyed, and that not a nail was used in the construction of this unique cabinet. They don’t make such things nowadays, take my word for that. Come, gentlemen, start the ball roll- ing. Will somebody start it at fifty dollars? Who says——” “Ten dollars!” said a bright-looking boy named Dick Dutton, who was an amateur carpenter and cabinet-maker. : x _ “Ten dollars!” exciaimed the autioneer depre- _ eatingly. “Why, that is a ridiculous offer on such a——” “Eleven dollars!” said a well-dressed man. “Eleven dollars! My dear sir, the wood in the ecabinet—real Spanish mahogany—is worth more than that. Gentlemen, look the article over and Bee tit is. I am offered——” ~ “Twelve dollars,” said the boy. Boks man, you have no idea of the value of that cablret. If you had you would not bid——” “Thirteen dollars,” said the other bidder. _ *And.@ half,” said the boy. ; “Only an advance of cents,” said the auc- tioneer. . “will snes aay Sg the last quarter?” he a sarcastically, “T will,” said the second bidder. ‘ “Thankyou, sir. You have lifted a load off a” “It’s only an old- ‘ *, a cas a5 wa 2 : : said the auctioneer, Jooking around the room where the sale was going on. Nobody appeared to be eager to do so. “Gentlemen, for the third and last time” said the auctioneer raised both hands, “this cabinet is going for fifteen dollars. Sold! Step up, young man, pay fifteen dollars to my clerk and take your bargain away. We will now proceed to something else—this splendid vase, gentle- men, warranted to be a genuine——” But the vase has no connection with our story, and so we will follow Dick Dutton to the clerk’s desk, where he paid the $15 and got a receipt: Then he motioned to his friend, Fred French, who had been a silent and interested observer of the proceedings, and between them they carried the chest of empty drawers to the sidewalk, where Dick arranged with an expressman to car- ry it to his home for fifty cents, the two boys to ride from in the wagon. The wagon stopped in front of the cottage where Dick lived with his mother, who was a widow, and two sisters, one of whom was em- ployed in a millinery store on the main business street of the big town, the name of which was Stapleton.. The cottage stood back from the street line, along which ran a white picket fence, the intervening space being occupied by a pretty little garden, through which a gravel walk ran to the front porch, and then branched off around one side of the house to the yard in the rear, at the back of which stood an outhouse fitted up like a carpenter shop. This was Dick’s workshop, and into it the chest. of drawers was conveyed by the two boys and stood up in the middle of the room. Dick fhen proceeded to examine his purehase more criti- cally. It contained four fair-sized drawers. He pulled each out and shoved it back to see how they worked. There was nothing in any of them. Underneath the bottom drawer Was a fancy tail- piece to give effect to the whole. In old-fash- ioned furniture this tailpiece was often the front of a shallow, secret drawer, The principle was so often adopted by cabinet-makers of former days that it could hardly be regarded as a se- cret receptacle in those days. - Still in many articles of furniture they were o so’ cunningly contrived that they could be really ~ considered secret drawers. W these secret drawers were Ne ag wre by a hidden spree Shey were able to defy detection, as a rule. Toa person #i nowadays the tailpiece would hardly suggest the oF BES, _

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2 ce of a secret drawer. Dick would never ve connected it with one in his chest of draw- ers had he not noticed when he ran his hand sander where the tailpiece was that the bottom of the cabinet was lower than he expected it to be. ” He tipped the chest of drawers a little to look and then his eyes perceived a round piece of brass, flush with the wood. Surprised at that, he fingered and pressed it. The brass piece yield- ed to his touch and the tailpiece shot outward, disclosing a shallow drawer in which lay a pa- per. He took it out and looked at it. It was folded in deep creases, and was yellow‘with age. “Whai’s that?” asked Fred. “IT haven’t the least idea,” answered Dick. “Wait till I examine it.” “He unfolded it and found the inside covered with faded writing. “Tt seems to be an old letter,” he said. ie ek fe to the original owner, I suppose,” said . _ “Tt looks ancient enough to have come over with the Pilgrims in the Mayflower. . Maybe it’s - an old love er. Some precious relic hidden in that secret drawer.” “Look it over and see.” Dick smoothed it out carefully and held it up At that moment a sailor dashed our property!” exclaimed Dick, stopping him with his arm. “I guess not. I’ve just bought this cabinet and contents at auction.” a CHAPTER II.—Ben the Boatswain. “I know you bought my, hearty, and you’re welcome to the cabinet, but I want that paper,” he said, reaching for it. “That’s my property.” “Well, who are you, anyway 2” asked Dic “I'm Ben the bo’s’n.” | “He means boatswain,” said Fred. “Well, Mr. Ben the Boatswain, you'll have to prove your ownership to this paper before I’ll give it up to you,” said Dick. “I can do that, ab what’s the use of givin’ me _all that trouble for a bit of paper that’s no use to you?” ; * “It’s old and curious, and I’d like to keep “it as a curiosity.” . “Ain't the cabinet enough for you?” _ “I like to hold on to all that belongs to me. I paid a good. for the eabinet, and——” .“What did you pay?” “Fifteen dollars.” The sailor pulled out a small roll of bills. A ee eae tt Pay ye te BOUGHT AT AUCTION “It must be pretty valuable for you to offer fifteen dollars for it,” said Dick, regarding the boatswain’s offer with suspicion. “It’s valuable to me, shipmate.” “In what way?” “It was the last letter writ to me by an old shipmate I loved like a brother,” said the sailor, screwing his features into a solemn look. “What was his name?” said Dick, now fully convinced that the sailor was lying, for the let- ter looked to be easily fifty years old. “His name was—Bob Backstay.” “Backstay! That doesn’t sound natural.” “It’s a purser’s name. I never know’d his real one. I reckon he didn’t remember it himself.” “When did he write it to you?” “It might have been ten year's ago. I always kept it by me till I went to sea the last time.” * “How came it to get in that cabinet? That chest of drawers didn’t belong to you.” “T’ll allow it didn’t. It belonged to the woman I boarded with when I was hangin’ around this town lookin’ for a chance to ship. When I signed with a cap’n for a v’age to Rio and back I left the letter with the missus to keep for me. Now she’s dead and all her things are sold out. I reckon she put the letter in that chest of draw- ers so it would be safe against the time I got back. I-landed this mornin’, rushed to her house, found the missus had slipped her cable, and her things was bein’ sold at auction. the cabinet——” “How did you know the letter was in the cab- inet?” “She told me she was goin’ to put it there.” ioe on. You asked about the cabinet,” said ie! “The auctioneer told me he had sold it and sent me around to you.” “T don’t see how he could do that. He doesn’t know me, nor where I live, for I didn’t leave my address with him.” “Here’s fifteen dollars. Now give me the let- ter,” said the sailor eagerly. “Td take your money in a minute if I thought this was your letter, but as it isn’t———” “It’s my letter,” insisted the sailor. “How do you know it is?” “Let me see it and I'll tell reaching for it again. “Wait a moment.” Ex Dick looked closely at the first line on the letter. It was a date line and he made‘out Au- gust 6, 1820. 5 ta “You say your shipmate wrote that ‘letter, to you ten years or so ago?” : ATt pies have been longer,” Dick dropped the letter in the secret drawer and oor He ae “That’s as far as vou’ll come to getting it, Mr. Boatswain,” he said, “The letter is wignty years old. Your shipmate, Bill Backstay, never . wrote it. You’d better go back and see the heirs you right away,” ee * of the missus and make your inquiries of them.” give me that letter?” — “So you don’t intend to said the sailor, a J 3 % - “No. What good would it be to.you? I tell you, that isn’t the letter you for.” I asked about . “Sell it to me for fifteen dollars and I'll take — my chances ‘with it.” eS ae 2 sie “Dick now saw that the sailor was after that - = ; + x ; pone: ae , 3 ee

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up a Boe one See by ae ~~ old ete to induce him to part with it the ome back in an hour and I'll give you my ~ final aanet” he said. “No. I want that letter now. I'll give you twenty dollars for it,” and the sailor took out - another bill and placed it with the others. = eek all right. Then I won’t sell it for twenty “Tll give you twenty-five dollars.” “No, I wouldn’t take fifty for it now. I’m go- ing to find out, if I can, what makes it of so ~ much that you are willing to pay a big price for it.” You'll regret this, my hearty,” said the sailor Fi *] don’t think I will,” said Dick indifferently. = agin you || knew me better, you wouldn’t. set -me By | a ae ’t want to know you better.” Ben the Boatswain glared at him in a seas Way, put his money back in his pocket, turn on his heel and left the shop. — z bs : ie = = e : - CHAPTER Ill—The Visitor With-One Eye. m glad he’s gone,” said Dick. “I don't like his: ne “Neither dol. S he's threatened you, I pa mone = ~ Fred maa over to the door, while Dick opened the secret drawer again and 1ook out. the letter. He earried it over to the bench where he could iE aia Pp. Spher the dim writing. After much trouble, he made out the following: | ar letter for some reason and that he had- - will make Bae of go to it and the other ed eis BOUGHT AT AUCTION : 8 cause I thought I was going to get well, but i appears there's. something wrong with my wen which can’t be mended, and so I’ve got to pass out of this life, and just.at the time when For- tupe was dropping into. my lap. As I don’t know of any one more deserving than yourself to be- come the heir of my secret, and as you've always been a good friend to me, I’m going to tell what ‘ou. independent for life. There’s a Face tay the face of Storm Stone rock, You know the scarred pine near the edge of the cliff. Tie a rope at least twenty feet your body. Ii had done the last, I wouldn’t be where 1 am this afternoon. J was always a reckless sort of chap, and have had mahy escapes during my life, but there always comes a time when luck fails yeu. “Tt failed me at a critical moment. . Let your- self down over the edge of the cliff and look for a cross cut in the rock. You'll find it fifteen feet or so from the tep.. Then——” w eame Dick had the utmost difficulty in what was written, and he had te guess at a a of it. Continuing, he read: “Bushes. There you will find a hole large enough to crawl into. It will lead yeu to the Lae Es money. ue will se og te remove the gold y degrees, w you t to have m trouble in doing, a aiag Goody. 2 his friend. “Well, what’s the letter about 2 long: time trying to read it,” said boy’s curiosity. “You'll never guess, Fred.” “No, I'm not good at jpuessing the contests of a letter I’ve never read.” “It’s about a box of money hidden in the tace - of Storm Stone Rock.” “You don’t mean.it!” cried Fred, astonished. — ~ ho box of money. No-wonder the sailor wanted - t hold of the paper. , Does the letter de- exactly where the money_is?” “tt does, but I ean’t read that part. It is i!- legible.” “Does the ‘letter give a , beneral idea sbeut : where the money is hidden?” + Yeu were a Fred, with a “Somewhere under a scarred pine that stead x near the edge of the cliffs, eighty years z “Not much chance of it being there = “I don’t know about that.. There is a a - pine on top of the rock. _T've seen it, It's near the of the cliff.” “Tell me all. the letter said about the hidden money.” =e Dick complied with. his friend’s ? ——- “Say, let’s go out to Storm ean and = take a look gee eS

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4 BOUGHT AT AUCTION t “Thanks! who’s this?” e A rough-looking man, with a patch over one eye and a flavor of the sea in his walk, was coming across the yard toward the shop. e” * “J don’t like his looks,” said Dick, eyeing him with disfavor. “I'll bet Mr. Ben the Boatswain sent him to try and work me for the letter.” Dick hastil his pocket, then he closed the secret drawer of the cabinet. At that moment Mrs. Dutton ap- peared at the kitchen door, and, after looking at the unsavory stranger, called out to Dick that dinner was ready. Dick shut the door of the shop and secured it with the padlock as the second visitor of the day came up. “Which of you young gents bought a chest of = at auction is mornin’?” asked the one-eyed man “J did,” replied Dick. “What about it?” “Did you so anythin’ in it?” “Why do y “There pth aa oid letter in it belongin’ to me which id like to get back, if you don’t mind me,” it a letter written by an old shipmate whom you loved like a brother?” chuckled Dick. “No; I never had a shipmate write to me that I know of. It wouldn’t have done him no good, for I ain’t no hand at writin’ letters myself. The letter I’ve mentioned was writ to my grandfa- ther about eighty years ago. I’d like to get it and keep it for the old gent’s sake, seein’ as it’s the only thing left to remember him by. The stranger pulled out his fendhorchiot: blew ~ nose with a trumpet-like sound, and then _ — visible eye. was your ndfather’s name?” asked Dic with a wink at Fred. is name was Elint—Andrew Flint.” vy eo cutie old letter in the cabinet, dated eigh eThat's. the “Kientical letter. Sealed by a piece of red wae, wasn’t it?” “Tt wasn’t sealed. It had been opened, but the remains of the wax was attached to it.” “That’s what IT mean, sonny. If you'll hand over the letter I’ll consider it a favor.” “Why, I was. offered twenty-five dollars for that ‘letter by a sailor who told me it was writ- “ to him by an old shipmate named Bob Back-, 1 bet it was that scoundrel, Ben He wants to do me out of that let- ter. You didn’t sell it to him, did’ you?” There was a leer in the stranger’s one eye and a Porte ring in his voice as he spoke. ‘oF “That's right, sonny. If you want pay for that letter I’m willin’ to make it right with you; but, of course I couldn’t give nothin’ like twenty- five dollars for it. That’s a ridiculous price for an, old letter what ain’t of no use to anybody Ben the boatswain,” said Dick. “He ain’t got no use for it except: to keep me Yll accept your invitation. Hello, * but myself. - ee out of it ‘of it.” on as 8 ‘he want to do that for? ” FA ate long story, sonny, which I ain’t got to tell” e’s a bad one, that Ben tHe Boi you don't want to have nothin’ to do vee Pr. ; ‘ < ; é folded the letter up and put it in‘ with him. ’Cause why? If you didn’t rub him the right way he’d just as soon kill you as look at you.” “That’s the kind of a chap he is, eh?” “That’s the identical kind of chap he is, per- ticerly when he’s three sheéts in the wind.” “Meaning when he’s drunk.” The stranger nodded. “Goin’ to give me the letter, sonny?” he said, fixing the boy’ with his eye. “Tf you’ll bring me some proof it’s yours, I'll consider your request.” “Ain’t I proved it? Didn’t I say it was eighty years old?” “That isn’t proof enough. You want to bring some -reliable person around who will say the letter is rightfully yours.” “But I told you the letter was writ to my grandfather, Andrew Flint.” “T don’t know that the letter was written to Andrew Flint, or if it was that he was your grandfather.” “Ain’t my word good for nothin’?” “It might be to those who know you. that honor.” “My name is Bill Flint.” “Well, Mr. Flint, you'll have to prove your right to that letter before you can get it. As my dinner is ready, you'll have to excuse me. : “Then I can’t have that letter?” “T don’t think you can till you can iat your right to it.” “You’re' mighty partic’lar, sonny.” “It’s the way I do business.” “All right, sonny. You'll see me again. Don’t let Ben the bo’s’n have it. And don’t forget he’s a bad chap to get into trouble with. Very bed. indeed. If I was so unfort’nate as to get in bad with him, I’d make my will, for I wouldn’t expect to live long.” The one-eyed visitor shook a head meaningly, turned around and walked off. “What do you think of that chap?” said Dick. i “Tt is a safe bet that Ben the boatswain sent ‘im. ‘ : “My idea exactly. pene on in and feed.” — The two boys entered the kitchen on their way to the dining room, ~ I haven’t } CHAPTER IV.—At Storm Stone Rock. After dinner the boys started for Storm Rock, a landmark in that neighborhood. The rock was fully two miles from the town by the most di- rect way to the shore, and Dick and Fred took the rough path which led in that diréction from’ the country road on the outskirts of Stapleton. The ground was of a rolling character and was used for pasturing stock by the farmers. The path went straight to a sheltered basin in the cliffs where boys from the town and ‘the farms went to swim in summer. Dick and Fred u and plodded rd the rock. The ground rose- ~ as they proceeded, and-when they reached the rock they stood on a lével with the top of the cliffs, about fifty feet or 80 above the sea. — “Now comes the culty,” said Dick. its: no cinch to climb (geile top of Storm Stone oc ft the path at a enitin point : Py - aS a ES ; eM CES ate Wari *

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e _ “Tt doesn’t look easy, but. as you've been up there, and I know two-or three other fellows who have been at the summit, too, I. guess we'll get there all right,” replied Fred. _-, “Sure we will. It isn’t as hard as it looks, but ~ s hard enough. Follow me and I’ll show you how to do the stunt.” Dick had been on top of the rock three times and each time he had taken a different route. He had thus found that it was easier to climb at a certain point than from any other. What he ealled the easy route was broken by a fifty-foot chasm, but this was bridged by a fallen tree, one end of which was wedged in a crevice of the rocks and held it firmly in place.. [It took a good nerve to walk over that chasm, but both boys did it. Five minutes later they stood on top of the ~ one thrill when he looked down and 2 what would happen to a person who fell __ off that height. per _ +> “I don’t see how the man who wrote that. let- ever survived his fall for a moment,” he said. “Neither do I,” admitted Dick. “His fall must - have been broken by something not in existence e = the nerve to let yourself down I could depend on the rope I would,” ‘said rat you Wound need is a rope ladder, so you climb back easily.” © . the of money ever was there, I guess stage tha ORL ot gens down bate altar it ike the risk of going down > after it. d require Serer bes to fetch all the BOUGHT AT AUCTION 5 money away, and every trip would be a kind of nightmare, [ should en al “A whole nest of nightmares to a chap like you,” laughed Dick. The boys yemained on the summit of the rock for nearly an hour and then started to go down the way they came. Suddenly they heard voices of two men coming toward them, but as yet out of sight. They had heard those voices before, and recognized the speakers as Ben the boatswain and the one-eyed man who said his name~was Bill Flint. The boys stopped and looked at each other. The same thought had occurred to both— that it might not be healthy for them, Dick par- ticularly, to encounter those two men in that rugged and lonesome spot. “Ben the boatswain and that other chap are coming this way,” said Fred. “I hear them talking. Their voices identify them,” responded Dick. “What are we goin letter in your pocket. “We'll sneak into those bushes and keep quiet.” Half a minute later the boys were invisible. They hadn’t executed the movement a moment too soon, for around a jutting part of the rock came the sailor and his one-eyed companion. to do? You’ve got that CHAPTER V.—How the Sailor and His Pal Were _ Trapped. “Do Figss! s’pose you can get a line on that box of gold without the letter?” said Bill Flint, if © that was really his name. “T dunno, shipmate. Nothin’ like tryin’ for a thing when you want it, and you can’t getit no other way,” replied the sailor. “If you hadn’t ac so blamed anxious to get hold of that letter in the first place, and hadn’t offered so much money for it, the boy would have let you had it. You went the wrong way about it, and that gs the young feller the idea it i Magee yy, valua i fe hat’s why he wouldn’t sell it to you,” sai int, pausing to — light his pipe. “Now he’s read it soll gt all about the box of gold, and perticerly how to reach it, so you can expect to be up ag’in him.” “If I catch him up here I'll make him give up the letter or throw him off the» rock,” said the sailor, in. an ugly tone. = “He seems to be a plucky chap. he’s likely to give us trouble.” “Don’t you worry about him givin’ us trouble. Let me get my hands on him out here and I'll fix him. We will break ifto his shop to-night and see what we can get hold of.” ; Z “Very well, we'll do that,” replied the other. The boys heard no more, for the twe men passed out of earshot. They waited in the bushes till the voices died away in the distance and then continued on their way down the rock, . “Those chaps are going to pay you a visit- to-night,” said Fred. é ataee “Tf, they do, I’ll see they meet with a surprise,” replied Dick. _ = sal ? ‘. The ‘boy’s parted at Dick’s home we young . : tthe ‘ime ‘ill supper evening meal told the officer in ; ~ ~ - ¥ ; I’m thinkin’ the station house and . © ‘4 i ‘i os % aes ee ee ee

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6- z there that a sailor named Ben the boatswain and . His pal, named Bill Plint, were going to break : into his carpenter that ni to try and steal something they had taken @ great faney to. ve “JT want you to send a couple ‘of policemen / avound to m they're not likely to come before that hour, to <a lie in wait for them,” said Dick. =" The officer promised to do so, and the boy went home, He said nothing to his mother or sisters about what was on the tapis, as he did not wish to frighten them. At a quarter to eleven he put a revolver in his pocket and went outside to watch for the policemen. They appeared on time and he tovk them into his shop, where he had ar- ranged a screen for them to hide behind. In the meanwhile they stood at the bench, where they ~ commanded a view of the yard through the win- dew. An hour passed and nothing happened. “They. may not come till one or two o'clock,” said one of the policemen. “That’s the most likely time a burglar would choose.” '“Phey’re not regular burglars. One is a tough sailor and the other was probably a sailor, too, before his eye got bunged up. He wears a black pateh over it now,” said Dick. ‘ Time passed, and one o’clock came around. Then they saw two dark figures slouching toward == the shop. « “Here they come,” said Dick. “We'll get be- hind the screen.” In a few minutes they heard a noise at the door. The intruders were at work on the pad- lock. ‘They yanked the staple out with some im- is plement they had brought along for that pur- «spose, opened the door, and entered. The sailor r flashed a match and, going to the cabinet, soon had te secret drawer open. “It’s not here,” he said. : “He's taken it into the house with him,” said ‘int, “Then we'll have to go in the house; but let’s look arownd first. He might have hidden it in place here.” 2 by the officers; after being handeuffed Pick then Pip anaes sn goes beats gh , entered the co y of tI itchen a bg Seth over the “went to-bed. He was much ] house about eleven o'clock, for- cabinet?” BOUGHT AT AUCTION men suddenly jumped out- upon them from an alley and knocked them down with billets of wood. They were badly: stunned, and when they recovered their feet both the prisopers and the men who had interfered in their alf had dis- appeared. At breakfast Dick told’ his mother and sisters what happened the night before, and they were much astonished to hear about it. “You never said a word to us last evening about expecting a visit from those men,” said his sister Daisy. ow did you know they were coming to break into your shop?” “Fred and I were over at Storm Stone Rock yesterday afternoon, and those fellows came over there, too. We heard them talking about the project.” “Why should they want to enter your shop? To steal some of your tools?” “No. The sailor chap is interested in a letter I found in the cabinet I bought at auction yes- terday, and he thought I'd leave it in the cabinet which is in my shop.” “Why should he want the letter?” “Beeause it contains some information he is ° anxious to get hold of.” “He’s the sailor who called here yesterday shortly after you brought the chest of drawers home?” : “Veg.” ~ “How did the sailor know the letter was in the “I couldn’t tell, you, He learned it some -way. It was the only thing in the cabinet, and I found it. lying in a secret drawer at the bottom. Come to the shop after-breakfast and I’ll show you my purchase.” “IT won't have time. or I’ll be late.” ; “I told her all about the cabinet,” said Effie Dutton, Dick’s youngest ‘sister, who stayed at home to help keep house. “She isn’t half as curi- ous to examine old furniture as she is to look at some new creation in the millinery line.” “It was smart of you to bring the policemen I must hurry to the store and hide them in the shop,” said Daisy. “Yeu caught them, I suppose?” - “Yes, we caught them all right, but ’'m ‘ to say they afterwards esca’ from the eorek fieers, though they were handcuffed together.” “How could they do it?” asked his sister in sur- prise, . : ‘ Pz “Read the story and that will tell you,” said Dick, handing her the paper. “They must be bad men to have such compan- ions at their back.” “They are pretty tough.” “You read the letter that was the cause‘ af all this trouble, I suppose?” nee was 5-3 that could have interested that 3 “T did. itor much sailor so “Pl tell you some time. I’d rather not do it * now. ee “Why not?” said Daisy, her curiosity aroused. _ fa rin 3 eee Pee — Te ee “T won’t say anything about” See SS L+told you Po have to tell mother and Effie, — too, Between the three of you it might acci- jenteiy Teak Gate oe oe oe ee as “I think you’re real mean. I’m just dying to ~ ~ =

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_ know what is in the letter that you make such a { mystery of.” q “TI know. Girls always want to learn all se- _ ¢rets that are flying about. Well, you’ll have to E curb 2 jae: impatience. I’m not giving it away.” = “Pl bet you told Fred.” - : “Oh, he’s a boy and my chum. I made him Promise not to let it out.” “T’m your sister, and ought to be more import- _ &ant than your chum.” ; 3g “You are, but I don’t have to tell you my se- _ that’s a secret you are keeping to yourself.” — ' “Vd have an engagement ring, wouldn’t I, if I _ Were going to marry him?” : ; _ “It doesn’t follow you’d get ,one right away. is a mighty nice fellow, but he hasn’t got a whole lot of money. I heard him say that the ‘proper kind of an enga mt ring, in his opin- Fon was a diamond, so I guess he’s saving up to Duy one.” i ; >. “Dear me, I must ee off to the store,” said Daisy, getting up hastily. _ Dick ehuckled and, finishing i pe ee rte his coffee, went to : his shop. CHAPTER VI.—Dick Encounters, the Unex- roa pected. ; 5 Fred appeared in,a little while. catch them.” “They'll never find out.” f “J suppose the police are looking for them ut town ?” ; a likely, and for the two who helped them a ) escape.” 3 j “The sailor and his pal will have to get away ‘the neighborhood now if they hope to keep ; il ” a . if ’t believe they’ll go far.” uu f -to thé police that a couple of ets sent out there to watch for them—-that case they’re not found in town.” ‘They might hang around the rock for a while, i earried a ply of eatables with them.” that reas have to postpone any plan o 4 y crates of money.” the money is there?” . Night before last I don S i . Se haa tala ent acct the ook Pan ‘suggest BOUGHT AT AUCTION 7 “What has number fifteen got to do with the cabinet ?” “It’s got quite a bit to do with it. Fifteen dol- lars was the bid at which the chest of drawers _ was knocked down to me.. My competitor’s last bid was fourteen and a half. The auctioneer tried to get him to raise my fifteen bid even a quarter, but he wouldn’t. It wasn’t so much the quarter that the auctioneer wanted, but he felt sure I would bid higher.” ; “It’s lucky for you, then, that he didn’t have a capper on the ground, or you’d have had to pay higher for your. bargain.” i “IT wouldn’t have gone over twenty.” “Did-you think of your dream when you bid fifteen?” “No. It’s only since I read the letter that I’ve - thought of it.” “Then if you should get possession of that box of gold you'd believe that your bid of fifteen led you to riches?” : " “Wouldn’t it look that way?” “Yes, it would. Some dreams do come true, but not always the way they indicate. Once I dreamed I found a lot of goldpieces—ever so many of them.” ‘ “And the next day you found some bright pen- nies in the street, eh?” “No; I lost a five-dollar goldpiece I had been kegpime for a particular purpose.” “That was tough on you,” laughed Dick. “Yes, for five-dollar me.” While they were talking, Dick was busy at work on an oblong box he was making for a neighbor, who wanted to use it as a clothes chest. He was attaching the cover to it by means of a pair of brass hinges, whieh, when finished, would not show at all on the outside. “That's a nice box you are ‘finishing,” said Fred. “Who are you making it for?” “For the Widow White, around the corner.” i “How much are you going to charge for‘it?” “Five dollars.” “That’s cheap. You’ve put brass handles at each end, and a brass lock.” “T’ve got other work to do for her. She wents |; a summer house in her yard, and I’m going to’ > build it,” said Dick. : At that moment a man with an unpleasant | face walked into the shop. > : : “You do carpenter work, don’t you?” he saj% goldpieces are scarce with to Dick. “Sometimes. Who sent you to me?” “A man told me you were a good carpenter.” “What work do you, want done?” “J want some shelves put up.» F'll furnish the; wood for them.” ‘ 3 “I can do that all right.” : “What will you rge me?” ae . “Twenty-five cents an hour, counting from thr time [I leave the shop.” ¥ . “When can you do it?” car “I can do it as soon as I finish this box.” : “How long will that be?” ' ae “In fiftecn witebtes.”. o-0 6 oy Seca a? “Pll wait for yout <= 8s * a cass + of business ?”_ : ra 3 4 B x= “Where is your place ) “Down on Essex street.” _ ao BEREE Walk BE

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al 8. men and rough characters generally lived there in ing houses and three-story wooden tene- ments. Dick said no more, but kept on with his “work. He finished the box in about fifteen min- utes. ; “Will you wait till I take this around the cor- ner?” Dick said to the man. “Yes.” : : Dick shouldered the box and went out with it. As soon as he was gone the man stepped up to the eabinet Dick bought at auction and looked it over with apparent curiosity. “Kind of old-fashioned,” he said to Fred. “Yes. It’s away out of date.” The stranger walked around the shop, looking sharply into every nook and corner, and he was thus engaged when Dick returned. . The boy got his small mahogany toolbox that he carried around with him and which had a brass handle in the top.- : “I’m ready to go with you,” he said to the man. : “Come on, then,” said Baxter. “T’ll see you after supper, Fred,” said Dick, as the three walked ‘outside. ‘ He locked up, having fixed the hasp and staple that morning that the sailor wrenched off the night before, stopped at the kitchen door to tell his mother he was going off to do a job of work, then followed the man. Fred went a couple of blocks with them, and then went to see an- - other friend of his. Baxter piloted Dick to the water front, and down tow: the worst part of that street, which faced on the wharves. Finally they came to a dirty Sa & ; “This way,” said ? Dick didn’t like the looks of the alley, but he had gone too far to back ont, “I thought your store was on Essex street?” he said. “So it is. The work isn’t to be done there. I’m going to open a restaurant on South -stret and [I want the shelves put up in the kitchen. This alley is a shorticut to the back of my store.” Dick said nothing more, but followed the man. The alley led into another one, and, following ‘it, they came to a door. Baxter knocked three times on it. Presently the door opened. “Go right in,” said the man- : Dick entered a dark and dirty room with a stove in it. Baxter shut the door and shot two dolts. : “Here he is, Ben,” he said, Prom an inner room s to Dick’s sur- prise, Ben the boatswain. ke a flash, the boy ealized that he had been led into a trap, ee OS BOUGHT AT AUCTION “Now that you’ve got me here, what do you want with me?” “That’s the way to talk, sonny. Always come to the p’int. If you’ve got that letter about your clothes, produce it,” said Ben the boatswain. Ag at got it gpank my clothes.” “As I'd like to make sure on that p’int, I'll tak the liberty of searchin’ you.” hes ; . It was no use to resist, so the boy submitted to the ordeal. As he didn’t have the letter with him, the sailor didn’t find it. “I see you told the truth. Whereabouts is it?” “Home.” “In your shop?” “Perhaps it is, and perhaps it isn’t.” “This is the key of your shop, ain’t it?” said the boatswain, holding up the padlock kev he had taken from the boy’s pocket. “Yes,” admitted Dick. = “Very good. Now s’pose you write a note to our old woman, tellin’ her where to find the etter, and directin’ her to hand it over to the bearer ?” Se “I won’t write such a letter.” “Oh, you won’t?” “No ” “Y'd be sorry to make things unpleasant for you, sonny, but I must have that letter, and when I want anythin’ I generally get it. You've read it, SE wie b “ es.” “And “T do. “Hidden in Storm Stone Rock?” le gives the direction gd godt s how to find the box “Yes, but if you can read : better eyes than’ | have.” Heh Tae “What d’ye mean that?” 3 “Because the writing is too indistinct whe the directions are mentioned.” ; Fre you couldn’t read them?” Ot * you know it refers to a box of gold?” . The sailor looked disappointed, “Then the letter ain’t 3 No use?” “Not for what you want it for.” ~ “Then what’s our objections to sendin’ for it Se ee ae pee | ecause the le i 7 e ie sansipitigt t being oe I don’t choose “Seein’ as you're i have to Sneckle fowa whet re “I don’t know that I wilk “If you don’t 4 re have to learn you. you, sar yu! etter ma true enough, but I’d rather see the ae ig Ree 7 instea reaking into my shop last night and getting yourself in trouble eine had called this morning and made your request to see the letter, I’d have read it to you and shown you cries Seen oe aoe oe ae ‘ou’d be conv: ur chances of finding that box of Id, if it’s hidden in the rock, are not very : ae sonny, you'll lo as I tell you.” ma to send. for it”... “Having made u : p my mind to hold on to that. 2 letter, I-won't Sead fortes" ey xe Sh ane # ; rhe baer ; i Ae eae ee nee or letter than take ; iar “Sonny, you talk like a sea-lawyer. Havin’ de up my mind to see that letter, you'll have

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“Get a rope, shipmate, and we'll tie this young Sculpin. Birds that can sing and won’t must be 1; » - The chap who had enticed Dick to the room ae a piece of rope and the boy’s arms were tied ind his back. _ “Now, then, open the trap.” Baxter knelt on the floor and with the point _ f his caseknife pried up a hinged door in the _~ floor and threw it open. Ben the boatswain ~ Sy ged Dick to the hole. ee, down there. That’s where you'll have _ to stay till you agree to send for the letter. If € want to give in now before { shove you down do it, and my shipmate will fetch pen, papes. What d’ye say?” ; send for the letter.” € en down !” and he dropped the boy 2 filthy cellar that was dank with moisture. ick didn’t fall fa, as the cellar was a shal- and he alighted on his feet as the flap down over his head. All was dark in the place, and the smell! of decaying z ink 2 3 | pe oy, been up against before. c= 4 is place is simply rank,” he-muttered, “but Se I can manage to stand it. At any rate, to, unless I capitulate, which I don’t doing at this moment.” round a bit and felt a number of of which were broken. The bro- F Bie gfe 4 Ite ae ES andied it cautiously, glass had a razor edge. up with it in his fingers and moved about encountered a post. Placing the broken oot of the post, he brought its the rope that secured his wrists. great caution, to avoid wounding he eut through the strands of the rope s freed himself. Springing up, hé struck match and looked around the place. The wa- ter, which evidently came in when the tide was high, lay at one end in stagnant pools. All kinds of debris scattered about, though mere else. rested partly on the stone wall and that were in a state of decay, 1 threatened to greatly weaken the building his all over to try and = inspection ove try by be > eo a as + ayer: ir & 4 | ip i but saw none. He pushed against the , Showing it-was not secured on , he only wa Pd ee = putt aw on it, a is see Rg) not considered neces- getting out of s right on the lines he d not count on the boy releasing probably regarded as im- inch and listened show him that the Es and dirty water was something he had ~ Oe a ee - BOUGHT AT AUCTION - 9 “There is somebody in the room, after ali,” he thought. Finding he had attracted no attention, he lift- ed the trap again, a little at a time, until it was up six inches. He could see about three-quarters of the floor of the room. On one side stood a rough deal table, and under it was a pair of legs, the feet extended to within an inch or so of the trap. Dick wondered if the human ex- tremities belonged to Ben the beatswain, or to the rascal who had enticed him to that den. The feet drew back with a scrape. Just then he heard another pair of feet coming inte the room. He dropped the trap to the merest crack and listened. a “Have you got that letter written yet, my hearty?” said the voice of the sailor, who was evidently the person who had entered. “Yes,” said the voice of Baxter. “I’m writin’ the chap’s name to it now. [It’s Dick, ain't it?” “Yes—Dick Dutton. That’s the name the auc- r gave me.” “Down it goes—Dick Dutton.” “Let’s look at it,” said the boatswain. “I can’t tell whether it looks like his writin’ or not,” said Baxter. “ be his old woman won’t gts the letter, or she mightn’t know where it is, “We've got to take the risk of that. I’m goin’ 3 Pye it by- Barney. He’s an innercent-lookin’ “He’s just the chap to turn the trick. He’s as foxy as they come. Ee estat oy pet r let me go. e's in Dolan’s saloon. You can’t tell but a detective might be there lookin’ for you and Bill, in which case you'd likely be nabbed. You don’t want to take any chances.” gre “All right, my hearty. if I ain’t here when you get back you'll find me upstairs with Bill.” “If Barney gets the letter you'll let the young » go? “And have him send the police here after me? Where’s your brains, shipmate?” “But you ain’t goin’ to stay here longer than it gets dbeox: {t ain’t safe for you.” “Time enough to let him go after Bill and me have got out of the way. He can stand it down there a few hours.” “Ts the letter all right?” J “Tt'll do, I reckon.” “Then Yu go after Barney.” ‘Baxter left the room. Dick dropped the trap, for the sailer began walking around the room. Thinking he might raise the trap and look down, Dick got off the keg, put it back a little way, and sat on it. What he imagined might happen did take place. The trap was suddenly raised and the sailor craned his head down. “Hello, my hearty!” he bawled. - : “What do you want?” replied the boy. “How do you like it down there?” : “I don’t like it,” said Dick, quite truthfully. _ “If you’ll write that letter to your old woman I'll let you out.” : f “J won’t write it.” stay down there!” said the sailor, slam- do the keg under the trap again and remeunted it. aa f Pe Oe a 2 de -~d wes eer ee De ee ae 43

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, 10 ‘Opening the trap a little, he listened. Feeling satisfied that the room was untenanted, he push- ed the trap up higher and looked all around the room. He could see there was nobody around. Letting the trapdoor softly back, he scrambled out of the cellar and shut the trapdoor. a bbhed it, opened the door into the inner ley and stepped outside. After a quick look around, he started for the main alley, which led the way to the street. As he turned into the other alley he came face to face with Baxter and Barney. CHAPTER VIII—A Second Night Visit. Baxter was taken entirely by surprise, which ve Dick, who was keyed up for possible trou- le while he was still in that locality, the chance to dash past him and make for the street on the run. He was halfway down the alley before Bax- ter recovered himself and started after him, shouting, “Stop him! Stop him!” and followed by the lad Barney, who, being quicker to his feet, rapidly gained on Dick. Barney grabbed the fugitive just as he reach- ed the street. Dick turned and gave him a blow in the jaw that sent him reeling back. Then he dashed out of the alley to find himself confronted by several tough men. The bo extended hands, but was greatly hendivapoed by his tool -bex, which he clung to, for he didn’t want to lose it. He rushed across to one of the wharves with the rascals in pursuit. A schooner was just leaving the wharf.. Dick flung the tool box on her deck and cleared the intervening space See a bound. The receding vessel saved - from capture, and his baffled pursuers stood on the wharf and shook their fists _. at him in angry impotence. The mate and three sailors on board the schooner were somewhat taken aback b Dick's flying leap which landed him amongst them “What’s the trouble, sonny?” asked: the near- est sailor. “I came aboard to get rid of those rascals,” re- plied the boy. Here the mate came up. “Why were you running away from those ™men?” “Because I didn’t want them to catch me.”” “That was clear enough. What~lid you do to them?” “Nothing. They chipped in to — those I was escaping from.” ~ “Who were they?” “A rascal named Baxter who decoyed me toa den up two alleys yonder, alleging he wanted some shelves put Up: I’m a sort of carpenter, you see.” Ze The tool box was some evidence of that, though it was rather a handsome one for a carpenter to _ tarry. A-surgeon would not have been ashamed = ane oe, his instruments in it. the captatsl will ao¥ obec to * thet hae: the cause that®browght you corner was shoved his tool; box. He dodged their, ‘a BOUGHT AT AUCTION aboard. He’s in the cabin. I will go down and tell him about you.” The captain came on deck and asked Dick about the trouble he had got in. The boy did not care to say anything about the true reason why he was enticed to the den, so he merely re- aya what he had told the mate, that a man ad called at his shop and asked him to do some work at his store on Essex street. He accompa- nied the man, and was taken up two alleys and finally landed in a room where he found a chap named Ben the boatswain who, with a pal, broke * fnto his shop the night before and was captured by the police, from whom he and his mate had escaped on the way to the station house. From Dick’s statement the skipper judged it was a case of revenge on the part of zh sailor. He congratulated the boy on getting away before he could be done up, said he hadsgone into the workt part of Stapleton, and promised to put him ashore. . The skipper had a boat lowered and ordered a sailor to take Dick to the beach at the eastern end of the town, which was the side on which he lived. The boy got home in time for dinner. “How much did you make this morning, Dicky dear?” asked his sister Effie at the dinner table. “I’m sorry to say that I didn’t make a cent.” “I thought you went with a man to put up some shelves for him?” “So I did. He had no:shelves to put up. He was a rascal, whose object was to entice me into the worst part of the town so that the sailer I had arrested last night and who. escaped, you know, a get. hold of me.” His mother and sister gasped. Dick then re- lated the whole of his experience in the den, and described how he succeeded in making his es- cape by the skin of his teeth. “You're going to notify the police, aren't you?” said his sister. “Yes, but I don’t know that it will do any good. That sailor and his pal, as well as the man Baxter, will take care to make themselves scarce.” After dinner Dick went te the station house and related what had happened to him, suppress- ing, however, all reference to the letter. Several officers were at once sent to search the Essex street den and other buildings in that neighbor- hood. Dick went home and spent the afternoon planning the slats he intended to use in the eon- struction of the summer house for the Widow ang After supper he went around to call on Fred. “lve got you the contract to build us a summer house like the one you are going, to put up for the Widow White,” said his “Thanks. I. accept it with pleasure. me up- ; staits and [ll tell you what happened to ms down on Essex street.” } Fred took him to his room, and there Dick told him all about his adventure in the den. “Great Scott! You were up against it for fair,” said Fred. “That sailor seems ined to get a line on that box of gold.” “Tf the police were equally Tetanetinad to” hold-of him, he wouldn’t come within two m a the spot where the gold is"supposed to be hid- ,*= ’ 25 543 “As long as he is: fee, 0s Son diingtsotn tae

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BOUGHT u to go near Storm Stone. Rock lest you meet “J shall wait a while, at any rate. The gold - Won’t run away in the meanwhile, for there is = en chance of the sailor getting it, supposing 4 ia cpa “en Skis ate Wak ond ba ve _ turned home. He wanted to go to bed early, as et several hours of sleep the night before on account of Ben the boatswain and his pal. He _ turned in at half-past nine, and at half-past ten ree was dark and silent: About three three men and a boy came up the street and sneaked into the yard. We may as well say >. that wer were the sailor, Bill Flint, Baxter and Sak Chetedd ie tack at idive- tn the first two Se to ass Sas ge e of — arrest eS night knowing tha policeman in the town had their description, with orders to run them a 2 Rag cakes Tee Ben the boatswain and his éBmpan- _ dons, however, believed they were a match for ee two officers they might happen to run against the three men were now provided with wea- paterertholess they were not looking for trou- swith the police, and so were cautious in their ™oyements. They were also cautious in enter- ing the yard of the Dutton home, lest another - €npleasant surprise be awaiting them. ey : examined every part of the et ao =F = peti 2 en door nae doubly potted at night, door was likewise well secured. e -windows were also locked with the usual Ss re, were held by a patent Dick, whose room was at the back, over the bag liked fresh aif and, winter summer he kept the upper sash down at varying distances, but on account of a special contrivance . of his own, the window could not ex a fur- : it was Bins about: tense ese “ _ there was no way of climbing to s window “Without a ladder, he did not expect any one would up there. Ben the boatswain had his eyes _ n Dick’s open window, and not kn that it Could not be pushed farther down, that was the. ye to enter the house with > least Beet ee was ot successful si a wh be AT AUCTION il Seeking gow the oe men below watched him. with Finally he discovered the some’ Tookog itp be ae eee pee iy sashes, then the other, and dropped lightly into down- stairs and open the kitchen door so could enter the house. This he would have done bat for the fact that Dick had attached a thin wire from one of his chairs to the other, six feet apart, while ex, ricig-wg- 3 with an. idea he had in mind gs m the Giccat of Storm Stone Rock, and had forgotten to remove it. e® wire not being visible to Barney when he ided toward the r, he struck it with his - and, as a consequence, upset both chairs. The noise awoke Dick. As he sat up in bed he Saw an object in motion in his room. He bed his revolver, cocked it, and called out: “Who's there?” Barney dropped beside one of the chairs. Dick saw his action, sprang out of and flashed a match. ‘The light revealed the kid’s crouchin; figure. Barney, finding he was caught, j up and rushed for the door, but before he could open it Dick had him by the collar. CHAPTER IX.—After the Box of Gold. “What are "you m4 in nvy room?” demanded Dick, seeing he had only a boy to deal with. “Nothin’,” answered ny bo sulkily. “You're pretty young for a crook.” said Dick, “but your presence here shows that you're on no honest errand. It is clear yen came to steal, so I'll have to. keep you here till morning and then hand you over to the police.” The word “police” was.a’ bugbear to Barney, and he began to struggle io ggg He was no match for the museular D That lad Poo ped him up, rolled him.on his. face and tied his wrists together with a towel. While he was thus employed, Barney uttered a warning cry to the men outside. They heard him and understood that he was in tronble. The sailor was hop; mad over the situation. He had conte on hoe ney being a:valuable helper, and at the very start the kid had spoiled everything semehow. He swore under his breath, and so did the other two mien, “The fat’s in the fire,” said Bill Flint. “We'll have to mosey, “We oeahtat to leave the Kid in the lureh,” said Baxter. Barney's cry had told Dick net the lad was not alone, so as soon as he arms secured be rushed to the window -and Tonia out. He saw three men below. So many rather him. He was certain that the Saitow was one of them, and that the others were his pals. Their errand was to reach him, of course. Without a moment’s hesitation he fired down at them, more to scare them away and atiract attention than to hit them. : they disappeared in a hurry. window. in and returned to his feet ‘hd tying to to get the

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nf ie acta oeege fo ~ 12 3 BOUGHT AT AUCTION . his bound hands. Dick marched the lad down- stairs to the kitchen and bound him fast to the chair with a piece of clothes line. Satisfied that the youth could’ not free himself, he returned to his room. He remained at the window watching for some time, and seeing nothing further of the men, he returned: to bed. He was not disturbed again that night. Next morning he found Barney looking miser- able and sullen. When his mother came down he showed her the little rascal and explained how he had caught him. He said nothing about the men, for the shot had not awakened his mother or sisters. He immediately marched the boy to the ‘station house and turned him over to the police, with his report of the affair. The police put Barney through a sort of third degree, but he wouldn’t tell who had been with him. He was locked w gis ick appeared against him, and the magis- trate, instead of holding him for trial, sent him to the workhouse for a year. The police made another effort to catch the sailor and. his pals, but failed to find them. A week passed away and Dick was not bothered further by the sailor and his, friends. During that time he built the summer house for the Widow White and painted it. He also bought the material for his friend’s he idea he had thought of for ck had not feoned out, and he gave it up. The only feasi and, was later on brought before the his arms and after being raped around the tree to be eased out by Fred as he went down, nd to assist his return ascent, as well as to him while he was looking for the hole. — n Sunday morning the boys started for Storm “Rock with the two ropes. Each also car- revolver, though they did not expect to i g9 the tide was in. There was little wind and surface of the sea, which was calm and peace- the rays of the sun. They met no e on their way to the rock, and in due time ar- Tired at tie . The knotted rope was made fast to the scarred pine and tested by both boys to- gether. | : ‘ : - “It gives me the shivers to think of you going down there,” said Fred, as his chum was tying the other end of the rope about his waist. __ -*Pooh! I can’t fall with these precautions. Both gy would have to break to let me down,” said Dic! The second rope was put twice around the tree and tied under Dick’s arms with a knot that would not slip. “Now, then, old man,” said Dick, “here’s a thin cord which I'll tie fo your wrist.” : - “What for?” fs : “ “To signal you with, for you'll be out of my sight. One pull means hold on to the support- : "ing rope; two pulls mean lower away, while. three TY es 8 , - 3 > ~ 7 em. It was a bright, sunshiny morning, ~ pulls will be the signal that I’m coming up and you are to pull in the slack. Understand?” “Sure,” said Fred. Everything being ready, Dick placed his jacket on the edge of the rock for the two ropes to rest on to prevent their chaffing on the bare rock, then he dropped the cord down. “Now, then, let mg down over the edge easy,” said the nervy amateur carpenter. , He grabbed the knotted rope and swung him- self over the edge. _He was bothered by no nery- ous. twitching, for he felt confident that he couldn’t fall. Down he went, foot by foot, till he had counted off fifteen knots, then he pulled the cord once and Fred held on, with his feet braced against the tree. He looked about the face of the rock for the cross. There was no sign of it on either side of him., He went down still far- ther without result. After counting off twenty knots she decided that if there was a cross on the rock he was not in the right position to see it. This was where the value of the obliterated directions in the letter came in. There were bushes sprouting out-from the crevices in the rock.’ These bushes, which\ looked like mere shrubs from the water level, he found to be of some size up there. He gave the signal to haul away, and began his upward climb. In a short time Fred saw his head appear above the top of the rock, and in another moment he was out of his dangerous situation. . “My, but I’m glad you’re safe back!” said Fred. “Ho! I was all right,” grinned Dick. “How did it feel hanging a hundred feet in the air, with your face against the rock?” “TI didn’t think about the feeling. I had enough to do to look for the cross.” “Did you find it?” 3 “No, I didn’t. Ill probably have to make a number of descents befére I can locate it, if it is there at all.” “Tf those two lines in the letter hadn’t been zee out, you wouldn’t be put to all this trou- es” . “T suppose not.” ; : “This is a fine morning for the business, isn’t it? No wind to interfere with you.” “Pine as silk. Well, I guess I’m rested enough now. Ill go down in a new place, to the left. If it doesn’t pan out, [’ll try to the right.” Dick made a cross-mark at the spot where he went down, so as to distinguish the place, and then moving the ropes over about six feet, he repeated his descent, examining the face of the rock carefully as he went down. Nothin ; cross met his gaze, an he began to wonder if it had become illegible through the lapse of years. “Nothing doing,” he said, when he rejoined his friend on the top of — rock once more. “I'm afraid this gold-hunting scheme won't amount. to anything, after all,” said Fred. . “Oh, I'm not going to give up the ship on ac- count, of two failures. If at first you don’t suc- ceed, try, try again.“ When my father was a boy the schoolmaster used to ding that into the boys’ heads, telling them the story of the English Alfred and the spider, which everybody ws, by way of illustration.” - 4 “J suppose the oftener you go down the more nervy you get?” = like a |

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_ “Of course, I’ll grow more accustomed to hang- ing in midair. If I had a paint-pot with me I'd - paint my name on the rock.” _ _ “Then your feat would be likely to get into the Stapleton papers.” “If [ added the words, ‘Carpenter and Cabinet- “maker. All work executed with neatness and _ dispatch. Terms reasonable,’ it would advertise ’ me, don’t you think?” laughed Dick. a “tt certainly would. People would call at your i shop if only to see the boy who had the nerve to _ hang down from the top of Storm Stone Rock : and paint such a sign.” } - Dick marked the last spot with another cross ~and then moved the ropes over to the right. As Soon as he felt equa! to undertaking the ordeal _ again he made his third descent. The result was = same. Still farther to the right he saw a ‘ ‘thick clump of bushes growing out of a huge “T wonder where the earth comes from that enables those bushes to thrive away up there?” he asked himself. _ on top to fall down and land on the ledge or crevice. He decided to go down there next time. » Pulling the string three times, he started up and duly reached the top. : = “There’s a large clump of bushes growing out the rock over this way,” he told his compan- _ ion. “I’m going down to take a look at the place. _Tean’t make out how they find root room. They might cover the hole I’m in search of. If they - do not, I’m blessed if I can see where there is £: ny, hole around large enough for a man to crawl into.” Gj “Well, you’d better make it your last venture os ,’ said Fred. “Our dinners will be waiting - for us by the time we get back to town.” |. The boys did not dream that a pair of watch- ful eyes toh the va of a huge boulder at the back of the - Yock. After a ten-minutes’ talk, Dick decided to make his fourth and last attempt for the day. He placed the ropes right over the clump of bushes and started down. No sooner had he dis- . eereerest down the face of the rock than two Men came from behind the boulder. One was _ Ben the boatswain and the other was Bill Flint. ee a week they had been hiding in the neigh- bor ; subsisting on grub they had brought . h them, supplemented with a chicken and eggs they stole at night from a neighboring farm- house. They expected Baxter that afernoon with a fresh supply of eatables from town, and as their E was now fully exhausted they eagerly Wee _ it ove e of the rock. him,” said the boatswain to W give up the letter or take the BOUGHT AT AUCTION now observing them from benind — moe rushed forward and seized the staggered _ “Hold on to him,” said the boatswain. “I'll at- #end to the other chap.” He drew his knife and stretched himself at full length on the F Shows 2 Shoving his ugly head over the edge of the rock, he saw Dick swinging just over the clump of bushes. “Now, you young sculpin, I’ve got you where I want you!” he roared down. Dick looked up and beheld the rascally features of the sailor glaring down at him. He realized that he was in a critical position. CHAPTER X.—Dick’s Curious Escape. “I say, you young sculpin, I’ve got you!” grin- ned the sailor maliciously. “You escaped me last week, but I reckon you can’t repeat the trick now. Have you got that letter around your clothes now?” “No, I haven’t.” " “You haven’t? And you're lookin’ for the box of gold, you swab!” “I admit it; but as the directions in the letter are rubbed out, as I told you, it isn’t of any use to me, so I’m looking for the gold without it.” “Pell that to the marines. You can’t tell me you are riskin’ your life without knowin’ what- you're about. ell me all you know about the box of gold or I’ll let you down with a run.” “J don’t know anything about it yet, no more than you do yourself.” “Don’t you lie to me, you young monkey, Out with the truth, or I’ll cut the ropes with this here knife.” He flashed his knife as he spoke, and the per- spiration started out on the boy’s forehead. ; ae you if I knew,” protested Dick, “but ion’t.” “I say you do. Aide yen got all your prepara- tions in shape for gettin’ the money?” : “I’m just hunting for the hole, but I don’t be- lieve there’s any. This is the fourth time I’ve been down trying to find it. I’m going to give it up. If you want to try your luck J’ll leave the ropes with you,” said Dick, willing to make any concession to escape from the sailor’s clutches. : . “And while I’m tryin’ my luck you'll go to town and set the police on me. You can’t pull the wool over me. I’m too old a,fish to be caught by such bait.” The sailor seized the knotted rope and began to jerk it. Dick’s Weight prevented his efforts from having much effect.» Then he grabbed the other rope and called on his pal to release it from the tree. Getting on his feet, he walked away a dozen feet and lay down again. Then he hauled on the rope, pulling the boy toward ‘him. Presently he let it slide through his hands, and ig swung back and past his perpendicular posi- on. ar : . In this way he soon had the boy swinging to and fro, like a pendulum, a kind of amusement “that afforded him a lot of satisfaction, for he believed he had Dick frightened to death: Wheth+ er he did or not, the boy’s position was not enviable one, As long as the knotted rope held

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ou above, Dick was in no danger of falling. During oné of these swings which carried him beyond the elump of bushes, the bet Bache that they issued from a good-sized hole. lizing that he was at the m of the raseal, who was bent on for- menting Rios. as a cat worries a mouse, and not sure but the sailor in the end meant to do him up, Dick suddenly decided on a plan of action. As he swung back and forth, with an occasion&l pull from the sailor, he began to unknot the bs tons sailor held from under his arm’ pits. s a couple of swings the boatswain. giving it ok a jerk, pulled it entirely away from the boy.: ' The moment he was free from it, Dick slipped down the knotted rope and the back swing car- ried him crashing through the bushes./ When he _eame Wack he caught at them with one hand. . heir tenacity was great, and he ceased to swing farther. 3 The sailor, finding his fun suddenly spoiled, Hed up the rope and then saw the boy at rest, olding on to the bushes. He got up and started back to the knotted rope, the only thing which “~ - now stood between Dick and a horrible fall. The ‘ yamoment the bey saw him draw in his head he “surmised that he was going back to the main “s-, rope, so he hastily parted the bushes and stepped inte the hole. The hole went some distance into the rock, and iis sides. were rough. Dick braced his feet in such a way that if the twe men tried to pull him clear of the place he was in they would be unatile to do so, “Where are you, you young sculpin?” roared the sailor, grabbing the knotted rope and pulling on it. As Dick was pulling down on it, he couldn't -get a fair grip. Finding the boy did not answer his ' yepeated hails, he told Bill Flint to release the rope from the tree, but to hold on to it. The loosening of the rope enabled the sailor to get a hold on it. eS “Climb up, you monkey,‘oer I'll let the e down and then you'll be in a nice piekle!” he shouted. ot Dick id no attention to his request. that he’d have to cut the aoe eon Then the ying out space. below him, Dick realized rooned in a hole about ninety ee ge _ Dick pocketed a number of them to ca BOUGHT AT AUCTION He hauled in the knotted rope and coiled it up at the entrance to the hole. Then he released the double loop around his waist. EE sj around, he struck a match.” As the light flare up he saw that he was in a sort of small cave. The floor was rough and uneven, but was not difficult to walk upon, ; “This must be the hole referred to in the lee | ter,” he said, as he inspected it by matchlight; ~~ “put I don’t see any sign of a box.” ‘ Yaa At the back of the place was a sort of tunnel leading downward. Dick ventured into it and then followed its course, lightine a fresh mateh as soon as the previous one expired. The tunne}) / seemed endless to Dick, but gs it had no offshoots" to mix him up, he knew he could retrace his way back to the cave above. Res, “T must be down to the level of the sea by this’ time,” he thought. “TI wonder how far it goes? This is something that nobody .in the neighber- heod knows anything about, for I never heard any one speak about it.” - Dick was curious to see where the tunnel went, and so he kept on. It came to an end presently, _ He saw. a light ahead ef hi Walking toward it, the tunnel ended in a low-ceiled marine cave, with a sloping floor of sand. It was half full of % sea water, and the light came dimly*through the opening above the water. The sand above the water-line was wet all the way up to where the tunnel ended, which showed that the cave was entirely flooded at high tide. The tide was now going out, and it was quite possible that most - of the water would be out at low tide, “Why, I might be able to make my escape this way by swimming!” thought Dick, e decided to wait there and see how low the water receded, He picked up a bit of wood that had floated in and marked the water-line, then he walked around, looking the place over. The walls were cut in all kinds of fantastic shapes by the action of the water which, in rough weather, dashed about the watery cavern. All around the foot of these walls was a huge mass of seaweed, intermingled with broken bits of wreckage. This flotsam had been serio og for years, and in some places was many féet high, ere were shells everywhere. They were imbedded in the sand, and they were mixed with the seaweed, = Many of those in sight were quite pretty, and After inspecting the place thor , Dick no- feed that the water-line had receded s conplemhcks inches ow stiek. e ni through which the rigs vteren, had nn a tite se .. and | r cave was a trifle li Fs Se than when he entered it. He could see mg through the arched opening but a wall of rock — covered in spots by damp-gréen seaweed. The water came around it from the ocean outside. The which was merely reflected from one & angle of rock to another, of co Fee rege t urge, came bite : with the Atlantic by a short tunnel said Dick to himself. - This be a fact,

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Vo pK intervening ledge of rock, which formed a kind of strait through which the water flowed. When the sun shone brightly down on the ledge, as it did at that hour, the light was reffected as from a burnished piece of metal, into the tunnel. and there reflected into the marine cayern in a way that would ordinarily seem impossible. Dick stood at the entrance of the narrow passage ' ‘whieh had brought him down from the cave ~ above and watched the tide go out. _ : : He was rather pleased than otherwise with his morning’s adventure, though he had failed to find any trace of the box of gold. If a box of gold ; Bet bree been in the cave above, it had been car- ried away by some one in the course of the time which had intervened since the letter was writ- ten. His thoughts also recurred to his friend _ Fred, who had clearly been surprised by the _. sailor and probably some of that rascal’s friends. As those individuals had nothing against Fred, jt did not strike Dick that any harm would hap- _» pen to his friend. ; : _. -*They will probably hold on to him for a while | ete. vent him from bringing the police to the z before they are ready to clear out themselves for their hiding place in the neighborhood, wher- _ ever that is,” said Dick to himself. . | Two hours ‘passed before the boy realized that =a wn, and by that time the tide was st ot low in e Haarte ae igereS “Sigg was almost full an ick, taking off his _ shoes ry pA = cee and rolling up his trousers, 24 right down into it. He turned into the =e tunnel, expecting to see the ocean and the distant sky; his view was cut off the ledge we re referred to. As he started through the _ | tunnel he felt the water deepen. He returned to | fy 3 the cave, disrobed and made another start. Had great sea on the outside he never af , as the action of the water would have taken him off his feet; but the ocean was almost as _ ealm as a mill pond, and the water in the tunnel was i equally unruffied. - The water came up to his armpits by the time he reached the mouth. He swam the narrow strait to the ledge, with the blue sky above his head. Climbing the ledge, he. gazed upon the -ocean. Looking upward, he saw that he ; not under Storm Stone Rock, as he supposed e was, but a little to the east of it. The sandy eh under the cliffs that lay to the east of the was but an easy swim away, and he knew ‘there were many places where he could ascend to the land above and make his way to the village. After-surveying thé situation, he returned to the ‘ine cave, made a bundle of his apparel, re- _to the mouth of the tunnel, holding his clothes above the water so they would not get wet. He f he could pick his way over the s to the beach, a feat not possible at high: tide, and in a short time he stepped on the sandy ‘shore, a hundred yards from the strait, and pro- eeeded to dress himself. . 4 Fe j —Tied > XI got out of f dances ae ae [didnt Brow tefore: about Storm ‘Stong 7 7% BOUGHT AT AUCTION” Rock, and which, I dare say, nobody else knows. I could write quite a story for the paper, and I'll bet it would be printed. I doubt if any one but me has gone dowh the face of the rock in a mighty long time, maybe not since the writer of the old letter did it and lost his life through carelessness. Fred probably thinks that Ben the boatswin sent me to my death when he chucked the knotted rope over the edge of the rock, or if he knows from what the sailor said that I had secured foothold in a hole, he figures that I’m in a pretty bad fix,” thought Dick, as he began looking for a place to climb the cliffs. He found a rude path made by nature and af- ter some trouble reached the top, a climb of fifty feet or so. He started for the rock, intending to go up there and see if the rascals were still there with his friend a prisoner. Twenty minutes later he 'reached the summit of the rock. At first he thought no one was there, and was on the point of leaving when he saw something odd about the Scarred pine. Walking closer to it, he discov-. ered Fred bound as tight as a drum to it, with a _ dozen turns of the rope that the sailor had pulled up when Dick released it from his body. He was facing the ocean and didn’t’ see Dick when he approached from behind. Dick chuckled as he. looked at the back of his friend’s head. F “He doesn’t dream I am so close to him,” he said. “I’ll give him a little bit of a sensation.” Stepping closer to the tree, he shouted: “Hello, Fred! Where have you got to?” Fred would have jumped a foot, but the rope prevented him from doing it. ; “Dick! Oh, Dick, is that you?”- he eried, ree- ognizing his friend’s voice. Had he been of, a superstitious turn of mind, he might have bélieved he had been hailed by his chum’s ghost; that is, if he believed his friend. was dead. ~ : : “It’s nobody else, old man,” said Dick, showing + himself. “I see you are triced up to that tree as if you were tied to a stake to be burned alive by the Indians. I needn’t ask who is responsible for it, It was Ben the boatswain.” ; “He and his pal Bill,” said Fred, as Dick be- gan the task of freeing him. “I am awfully glad to* see you again. How in creation did you es- cape from the bushes on the face of the cliff? Bill said he guessed you’d stay there some time—— maybe till he got ready to go down there him- self and see if you’d struck the spot where the box of gold is,” @ “I got out all right, as you see by my appear ance here.” 2 : hve “But how a you? It seeems like a miracle.” “No miracle about it at all. As I couldn’t climb up the face of the rock without a knotted rope, I ~ 4 _went' the other way.” “What! Down?” z : “Yes, but not on the outside.. That’s a drop of — ninety feet or so, and a chap needs a parac ute to attempt it, with a boat below to ¢atch him and keep his feet from getting wet. There you “J want tu’know how you made your 2s 4

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1 can tell you right new that thereis no box of gold, or anything else, not even a toothpick in it. “That's too bad.” “Yes, it’s rather disappointing after the risks I took, but it ean’t be helped: If it ever was there, it’s been carried off by somebody more for- tunate in the money-finding line than myself.” “Go on about your escape.” “While looking around the cave, ] discovered an exit at the back in the shape of a tunnel-like passage that goes down to the water-line with a gentle slope.” “You did?” “Yes. [ followed it and came out in a kind of marine cavern where I’d be still only the tide was going out. I waited till it was low down and then found my way out to the shore through a watery tunnel] and over the rocks. I the beach a short distancé to the east of this rock, climbed the cliffs, and here I am.” “Wonderful!” exclaimed Fred. : “Yes, it was ep cama. Boag of the usual. T doubt if anybedy knows there is such a pas- sage in the rock, or a watery cavern away under the cliffs. How long were you tied to that tree?” . said Dick, as they were making their way down ' by the usual route. “More than two hours.” “T su the sailor and his pal went away after tying you up?” “Shortly afterward.” “Did they say they would return later and let vourkes "aid not.” “I suppose they meant to, for they’ve nothing against you.” . “They tied me here so I wouldn’t rush back to _ town and tell what they had done to you and ‘bring help to rescue fou from the place you ‘were in.” : _ ~“T guess so.” _- “Do you know, I'd like to see that marine cay- ern and the passage.” ' “We'll go there together next week in a boat when the tide is low. We can’t stay very long if we want to get out before the tide comes in much, otherwise we’d have to remain over a full tide.” _. “We can come prepared for that. If it’s in _ the morning, we can bring our lunch.” “That puts me in mind of dinner. Our folks are no doubt wondering where we have gone, we've been away so long. _We'll.be late for din- ner, but I eon it will be kept fer us. Mine al- ways is, I ow.” ‘i e _ The boys hurried baek to town and separated o™ here ave you been so long?” asked Daisy ae os Dutton, whew Dick walked in. : “Yi ated gS) : = ay : to see ; the letter I ae CS BOUGHT AT AUCTION indicated was hidden in a hole in the side of the rock, facing the sea.” “A box of gold!” exclaimed Daisy, opening her eyes. “Yes, think 2?” “Did the letter say the gold was hidden about Storm Stone Rock?’ “Yes—eighty years ago.” “Eighty years ago! And you expected to find it now? How silly!” : “Not se silly as you think. It was hidden in spot that was mighty hard to get at.” ‘ “Did you find the spot?”. : “TI think I did. The box of gold wasn’t there, however.” . disappointed?” smiled his “T suppese you were sister. “Somewhat; but my expectations were not very igh in the first place, for it hardly seemed prob- that the gold would still be there. It was. natural to expect that the man to whom the ~ letter was written would have secured the treas- ure if he possibly could do so.” “Of course. I should think so.” “Well, I am now of the opinion that he did get it.” “Who was he?” “That I couldn’t tell you. There were no en- velopes used in those days. Letters were. simply _ folded up in convenient form and were secured ~~ by sealing wax. The name and address was then | @ written on one side, after which they were con- signed to the mail and carried to their destina- ~ tion im that shape. The letter in question did not go through the mail, but was sent by the. . writer to his. friend by a messenger. That fact may be assumed, as both of them lived within a shert distance of each other—say, a mile or two —in this neighborhood. The name of the person to-whom the letter was sent is now too indistinct — to make out, and there does not seem to have been any address on the letter, which shows it — was sent by a messenger who knew where to de- liver it.” 4 Aa: : “The letter must be quite a curiosity. I should — But I must eat my dinner, for - ike to see it.” “You shall. I’m mighty hungry. aay After Dick had finished his meal he showed She read it as well as’ It was worth looking for, don’t you Tre the-letter to his sister. she could, but found it a hard job. ; “Judging from this letter, it would seem that the box of gold was in a very dangerous spot,” said Daisy. F ges oa “Jt is a dangerous feat to reach the hole oe way the writer did,” said Dick. “He went = the face of the rock, which is over 125 feet high”. ~_ 2s iy ious! But, of course, you wouldn’t < tak of attempting such. thing as that. You'd Ss ; ~ “Of cou ox “Well, I ~ Be: ¢ didn’t!” the girl. . eine Ack Fred” Bett toll vot aid” te be n do ne Ms

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I’m not going to do it again. an easier way of reaching that guess is known only to myself.” _ rope to go down the rock, of 2” said his sister. yopes,” and Dick explained the method “You see, with Fred in control of 4 PPI an ‘5 I } nexpected ce on the scene with his-pal, and what had done to him, for it would only have ‘distressed his sister to no purpose. After put- ting the letter away, he left the house to call on Fred, for the two boys had agreed to go together to the station house and report the presence of Ben the boatswain and Bill Flint in the neigh- borhood of Storm Stone Rock, and what they had experienced at the hands of the raseal that day. CHAPTER XII.—In the Heart of Storm Stone. , Rock. Set pavten the following week Dick worked on the summer house in the garden of the French prop- hs 7, and he had it completed and painted by y- he took Fred’s mother out te at it. She declared that it looked every bit as the plan it, and that she much pleased with it. — some —— — yp in ~ eellar, and repairs made e house. guess you the work as good as any carpenter,” she Be ' 5 vi “ dl f AE “I guess I can. At any rate, if I don’t do your perfect satisfaction, you needn't it,” replied Dick. very curious to see the inside of Rock—that is, the tunnel-like pas- that ran 2 ae it to the pepe Seyes above the water-line—Dick agreed vy day about the time the tide aH te i w. we there ae that eo way around uld, % ) fn ndety) oad take us ‘ has a small sailboat with a mov- . Fie Eom yg of its ‘orward » & engthwise pty then ip would be wet like a row- tide yaries. rock around nine, then, though it was going out. It was re c 1 I made BOUGHT AT -AUCTION Last Sunday it was high : ~ We saber po 17 shows that it will be high tide at half-past one in the afternoon to-morrow, which means that - the conditions will be completely reversed, as it will be low tide about half-past seven in the merning.” - “Then we'll have to make an early stur?,” said Fred. “We ought to start in the boat not later than six o’cloek, for it will take us all of an hour to sail around to the reck unless the wind is quite fresh. The fresher the wind, the rougher the water will be, and the rougher the water the more unpleasant it will be to enter the watery tunnel and land in the cavern. The’ conditions were ideal last Sunday morning for me to get out without a:boat. I couldn’t have done it had the water been at all rough.” “We ean’t tell now how thirfgs will be in the morning.” “As it’s a fine night, we may reasonably look for a clear day. If you think you can wake up at half-past five and get around here at six we'll go; otherwise, it isn’t worth while.” “Oh, [ll be on the job, don’t you worry. I’ve got an alarm clock. I'll set it to go off at half- past five when I get home.” “See that you get up when it goes off. Lots of times people set alarm clocks to awaken them early, and when the clock gues off they hate to turn out of their beds, particularly on a Sunday morning.” ae “T'll turn ‘out and be knocking on your back — door at six.” : iF 3 “Very well. Then we'll consider the matter ar settled.” Dick went downstairs at five next morning and made a small pot of coffee, as he didn’t believe when Fred appeared at ten minutes of six. aoe Fred. “So much the better. Sit up and have some food. We'll need a lining in our stomachs for __. t the small sai od which = : day. Tt re ee ba breeze, and the boat made headwa, ae water was merely ruffled the breeze, q 1 hour higher, but —

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its light on the ledge. The sun was high in the . heavens at the time I came on the place, conse- quently it was quite light in there. It will be — as dark as night in the cavern, but I anticipated ee! that. I’ve brought the lantern to light us in ; there, and to light our way up through the pas- sage.” ; “How did you manage without a light?” _* “f had a bunch of matches in my pocket and _~ ~« they furnished fair illumination.” = Dick, while speaking, lighted the lantern, and Vv. hen they rounded the inner roek they saw the arched opening before them, like a great black ms +. __ plot. The water was so low that the boat ground- _. ed at the entrance, so the boys took off their shoes a and stockings and got out. Dick tied the boat’s oe painter securely to a piece of rock, so she would _-. not float away an@ leave them in the lurch. Tak- ; ing their lunches and the lantern, they waded 7 into the cavern. After resuming their footgear, Dick flashed the lantern around so that Fred : could see the piles of seaweed and other flot- ; gam. The place rather astonished Fred. b “We’rg right under the cliffs, aren’t we?” 2 “Sure we are; a short distance from the rock. _.. See that dark spot yonder?” es.” Theis the entrance to the passage that runs up into Storm Stone Rock. The grade is easy, bat the distance is considerable for a tunnel of its kind.” = “T wonder what made it?” " “Nature, of course.” : “1 know, but how came Nature to make it?” “ll never tell you. It’s a mystery. Come on. We'll go up.” }, Dick led the way and Fred followed. There was nothing to see but uneven walls of rock.. The lantern gave Dick a better view of it than he had had before. The path was fairly smooth, p25 though water had coursed over it for a long - time. If water had ever passed that way, it was thousands of years since when the conditions of that part of the earth were different from what -+they were then, or had been for a mighty long time. © “It’s quite a walk,” remarked Fred, as he saw no end to the tunnel. “Are you sure you're go- ing the right way?” . “There’s only one way to g0, ‘as there appears - to be no offshoots, so we can’t miss our way. It - geerns longer to us than it really is,” said Dick. “Tt feels funny to know you are walking! _ through the heart of the cliffs.” we “What do you. gare as long as the roof doesn’t “tumble in on us? “There’s no danger of that, I guess.” : - *Tt’s a safe bet there isn’t.” » She serene Sees ee Te ee See OS =: wie don't haye earthquakes in this part of the ete eke we eens be truly grateful. Judg- about them, and the pic-_ 4 wee sakes at Sk said . py abe, som: he ome, in the & rock," seid plac, w would have been maria ‘the day but bushes that blocked » * ce =e wet wt ; a a , BOUGHT .AT AUCTION shole looking out on the ocean, Dick, after flash- ing the lantern above the cave and showing Fred .that it was bare of everything, put it down and parted the bushes at the hole. The morning sun shone in at an angle. “A fine airy window, this,” said Fred. ~ “Tt is, in a gale of wind.” “The bushes are rooted inside the hole where the dirt is. The seeds from which they sprouted have been blown in here, and have been watered by the rain.” “So this is where the box of gold originally was?” . “I don’t know of any other place.” “And it isn’t here now.” “Tf you can see it your eyes are sharper than mine,’ ‘It’s teo bad. We could carry it down through the passage to our boat without much trouble, un- less it was too heavy, of course, in which case we could make two or three trips.’ “T'll have to make my fortune as a carpenter or cabinet-maker, as I always expected to. : “That dream of yours about the number fifteen isn’t panning out after all.” “It may. It doesn’t follow that my fifteen-dol- lar bid is the lucky fifteen referred to by my ea m. “But it followed so closely on your dream that _ it ought to be.” “The cabinet may give me some lucky idea that will make my fortune yet.” . . “But why should you find that old letter in the cabinet, pointing.the way to a box of gold if it. didn’t mean something?” “Oh, it doesn’t. follow because you find an an- cient letter in an old- time piece of furniture that there is any significance in it.” ms | was sure you were going to -find-the box of money.” “Then for once in Obes $2 life you’ve got left.” Dick took up the re leaving Fred at the: : hole, and walked around the cave, bestowing a. ~~ ' closer inspection on the walls than he had been able to do by eee Suddenly he noticed a break in the rocks. There,was a hole there he ; had not seen before.‘ He held the lantern so that. the rays would penetrate it. There was somie- thing in it. He dropped on his knees and shoved — the lantern forward. His heart gave a great. pound as he saw it was a brass-bound box. Phe “Tt’s the box of gold!” he ejaculated, in a vibrant whisper. At that moment Fred rushed over to the spot. ‘Dick! Dick!” he said, in great excitement. “Here I am. See what—" aes “We must run.’ “Run! What do you mean?” “Ben, the boatswain, is coming——” : on oe “Coming!” 2 “Down a rope on the outside. He’s nearly’ the hole. We haven’t a moment to lose.” Vs This was indeed startling news for Dick—and* “3 ete at the moment when he had found the a of : gold. & r = » a ‘CHAPTER XIIL.—Conelusion, # oa ‘ “That rascal coming, awe just i te ti oun oe ae the gold,” said Dick. » ; “The wri ‘ =

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vA BOUGHT AT AUCTION “Yes, léok there—in that hole.” Fred looked and saw the brass-bound box. “Tis very appearance suggested that it held ae of value. j That one word spoke volumes. “What are you going to do?” he added. “Come with me,” and Dick fairly dragged his ~ companion over to the entrance of the passage. ‘id you bring your revolver?” “No. 1 didn’t think——” . ~ “Of course you didn’t, but I did, and brought - mine. The rascal shan’t have the box if I have to _ shoot him,” said Dick resoiutely. At that moment there was a tustling at the _ bush-covered hole. ““Here, take the lantern and cover it with your jacket,” said Dick. ; Fred did so, and darkness shrouiled them. The - bushes parted and the sun’s light shone on a pair of legs, then on a bulky body and lastly on the wicked features of the sailor. He squatted in the _ hole and peered inside. Then he let go of the -- Yepe and, squirming in, stood up. The bushes - sprang toget again, but the boys could dimly -- make out the fellow’s shadow at the hole. Then they Heard the scratch of a match. “A streak of light followed, flashing into a bluish gleam. The sailor held up the match and looked around. He stepped forward and began an investigation of _ the place. When the first match expired he lit a -seeond, and then a third. The inspection was no “more encouraging to him than it. had been to Dick on his first visit to the cave. The boys heard him mutter occasionally, and somthing like an finally escaped his lips. Lueck at last hole where the box was hid- exclamation of satisfaction. reached - in ‘seized the box by its handle, and the boys heard drag itout. = “He's cot it!” whispered. Fred, in a dismayed nothing, but his fingers tightened on Dick ? * j j the butt of his revolver. The boatswain struck aE mateh and looked at the box, which he out of the hole. The sailor stood listening. A deep silence rest- ed on the place. ; “Tl swear I heard somethimg,” said the rascal. He struck a match and held it up. Them it was he noticed the hole leading into the passage. “There’s. another hole,” he muttered. “Maybe somebody is hiding there,” he added suspiciously. “T must find out.” The boys could not withdraw;along the stone passage without making a noise, and that was sure to give them away. Realizing that matters had reached a crisis, Dick seized the lantern with his left hand and suddenly flashed it in the boat- swain’s face. The rascal started back with an exclamation of surprise and consternation. “Who are you?” he hissed. In another moment he had drawn a wieked- looking knife. “Drop that. knife, or I'll drop you!” said Diek. “Ha! It is you, you yeung seulpin!” he cried. “Yes, it’s me. Now get out of here.” - “T’ll have your life!” shouted the sailor. He made a spring at the boy. There came a fiash and a report, and the boatswain staggered back and fell. Not a move or a sound came from him after that. “You've killed him,” said Fred, in ah awed whisper. “He would have killed me,” said Dick, flashing the lantern on the inert man. “You are a wit- ness to the fact that he came at me with his knife.” “Yes, I saw him spring at. you.” ; Dick knelt- beside the prostrate sailor and saw that his shirt was dyed with blood. He wags not dead, however, and the boy could not tell whether he was fatally. wounded or not. Then he threw the light on the brass-bound box. “We must get it away from here and down to < boat,” he said. “Grab hold of one of the han- They lifted it between them and found it was as much as they could carry. “Can’t we drag it down the passage?” said ~3 - “Yes, if we had a piece of rope.” : Then. he thought of the rope outside, down which the boatswain had come. ; 19 “This will do to d the box with,” he said- rag x wi e = . started down the inclined way, drag ing the box - g2 box obli

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20 BOUGHT AT “We've been away too long, Fred. The tide is half up,” said Dick. “Then we must stay here till it goes down again,” replied his chum. “That won't happen till along toward evening.” “I suppose it can’t be helped.” ‘ “We can reach the beat yet by taking off our clothes and wading out to her.” “How deep is it out there now?” * “About up to our armpits, perhaps a little r. ut we, can’t take the box.” “No.” “Then what’s the use of trying it?” “I think you’d better go, sail the boat to the beach under thé cliffs, a short distance from the ledge, hurry in to town and tell the police what has i—how I had.to shoot the sailor in ie ow, Bi: Ww Ae . self-defense, but don’t sa} anything about the box of gold. I'll go back to the cave and wait there you return with the police and ropes to thaul the wounded man up with. When that is done I'll let them ‘haul me up. About five o’clock we'll walk back to the cliffs, go down to the beach and sail back to the cavern. By that time the tide will be fairly low and we'll be able to get the box. Then we’ll sail back to town and carry the box to ‘my house.” +. _ “But how can I get my clothes to the boat?” “You can carry them by holding them over the water, on top of your head.” Fred decided to follow the plan outlined by his friend and quickly got out of his clothes. He had no difficulty in reaching the boat, cast off and paddled her out inte daylight. Before going fur- ther he put on his garments, shipped the mast and Sailed over to the beach, where he dropped the sail and made the boat fast. She would be safe enough there, in that lonesome spot, so Fred left her and hurried to town as fast as he could go. The story the told the policeman at the station- house desk rather staggered that individual. The chief was sent for and came. - As soon as he heard Fred’s story he got busy, and in the course of half an hour a wagon con- taining half a dozen officers, with ropes, and, ac- --_-- eompanied by Fred, started for Storm Stone Rock. 773 On reaching the top they found Bill Flint impa- - tiently awaiting the sailor’s retutn. Taken by _ «+» gurprise, he was handeuffed and stood aside un- ; = wateh. 4 rope was then lowered down into ; 4 bushes. Dick was on the lookout for it, and when it appeared he knew the police had arrived above. Ben, the boatswain, had some time since recovered his senses,! and showed by his choice language that he still had lots of life in him. at ke didn’t say to Dick while the boy was waiting is hardly worth mentioning., Dick sdraggzed him to the hole, tied the rope securely under his armpits and gaye the signal to haul away. The rascal was soon pulled up. The rope ; was lowered again and Dick followed. He was = put under arrest for shooting the sailor, but he expected re be, and was not nah — 5 ae soon as wagon got back to town Frea hur- teh bail Dick out, ee und the box of gold," he said, +. = 7. elie 3 body to another. ae ENS aaa na 7h > Sr . “eae >. Lad AUCTION - “You did!” exclaimed his sister Daisy. “Yes, and Fred and I are going back after it before dark, when the tide is getting down. We'll hang around till seven o’clock and then the tide will be out and we can get the box into the boat, but it’s going to be something of a lift, for it’s mighty heavy.” By the time Dick had finished his story Fred came in and found the Dutton family greatly ex- cited over Dick’s great luck. At half-past five they started for the cliffs, and reached the boat about six. They sailed over to the strait and stayed there an hour before working their way into the watery tunnel. They found it a difficult job lifting the box into the boat, but in the end succeeded, and then set sail'for town. It was half- past nine when they got the'box of gold to Dick’s house, and Mrs. Dutton and the girls were eagerly awaiting its appearance, Dick got tools from his shop and soon broke the brass lock. The cover was lifted and the gold was there. All hands proceeded to count it, and it panned out $30,000. There was no clue to the original owner who, of course, was dead and bur- ied many a year before. Next morning Fred, to whom Dick presented $5,000 of the money, came around and helped carry the money to the Staple- ton Bank, where Dick put it in asa Fam deposit to his eredit, to draw interest. e boys then went to the police court, where Dick gave himself up. He told his story on the’stand, called Fred te corroborate him, and the magistrate released. him on the ground that the shooting was. justi- fiable. Bill Flint wads next called up and was held for trial. Ben, the boatswain, was in the hospital, but in no danger of dying of his wound, which, however,-might have finished a man less robust than he. In the end he and his pal were tried for burglary, convicted and sent to the State ‘prison. And so my story ends, for with the finding of the chest of gold, practitally through the old letter Dick found in the cabinet he bought at auction, the bid that won it for him certainly led to riches. ' Next week’s issue will contain “THE YOUNG COPPER KING; OR, THE BOY WHO WENT™ THE LIMIT.” POISON OAK. It is known that the poisonous principle which makes poison ivy so noxious to susceptible per- sons is toxicodendrol, a substance that is insolu- ble in water but soluble in ether and alcohol. So active is it, says the Journal of the American Medical Association, that 0.005 milligrams ap- plied to the skin will start painful inflammation. The poisonous principle of poison oak has just | been discovered by Dr. J. B. McNair and called. by him ‘lobinol. flammation is caused by 2¢- tual. contact with the resinous sap of the plant, but this contact may result through the - mediary of such" objects as. clothes ’ balls or even smoke. ‘And it. may be treikenmuiedy by the finger-nails oh * “

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. - BACHELOR SEA LIONS TO DIE, - Because 100 bachelor sea lions on Anno Nuevo Island, twenty miles north of Santa Cruz, Cala., elutter up the walks around the lighthouse, steal food from the back porch of the lighthouse keeper’s cottage and have a sneaking desire to take up their residence in the front parlor, the United States Lighthouse Service will open bids ~ for shooting the obnoxious bachelors. _ There are four hundred more sea lions on the _ island, but as they consist of thoroughly trained _ husbands with their harems of wives, they have __ their own social sets and don’t bother the light- house keeper, said Rhodes. The bachelors’ skins are good for leather, their blubber contains good Oil and the rest of their carcasses can be sold for | fertilizer, he stated. UNCLE SAM PAYS HIS DEBT TO THE . ar INDIANS. 3" The exact sum paid to members of the Osage _ tribe is $3,397,197.11. That includes the interest _ of 5 per cent. on the Osages trust,fund. Each of _ the 2,229 Osages on the tribal roll receives in ad- dition to his $1,500 check the sum of $47.50 as _ interest on the money in the trust fund. __ Simultaneously nearly $500,000 is being turned _ back into the National Treasury by members of ‘the tribe who are filing their income tax reports. _ The checks average about $165 for each name on the rolls. _ All Osages who possess certificates of com- - petency are being paid the full amount of their i ee So aioe __ payment. Those without certificates of compet- _ ney are given $1,000, the balance remaining ‘in E trust for them. Minors receive $500 a quarter, _ Hundreds of thousands of dollars will be paid on old debts out of accumulated funds. Of the withheld for minors and restricted, Indians. ange portions are sent to allottees residing of the county, notably in Kansas, Texas “ a _ $3,397,197.11 in this payment probably one-half _ WORRY ENOUGH IN THE WORLD. _\ There is enough worry in the world already, amg Rudyard Kipling, who has seen as deeply == keenly into the faults and foibles of human- kind as any author of our generation, and there ui dR Hers Og rtd wie at see ‘A Pied is no in our going out of our way to add to 3 it. Here is what “the little colonial, to whose song we all must listen and to whose pipe we all 3 sey 7 Frank Norris described him, ‘Says about thrift: ‘ : ie 5 : in the world is no use to a man _ “All the mon Zs he spends it as fast as he makes his bills and the reputa- There is poakny Hy rowing a cash on things you don a “| othe cash -is here: We've our time, and we’ve all had to pay The man who says he never worries money is the man who has to worry about t in the long run, and knows s enough worry in the already with- : FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY CURRENT NEWS _would seem to be that of striking a happy out, our. going out of our way to add to it: Any fool can waste, any fool-can muddle; but it takes something of a man to “save, and the more he saves the more of a man does it make of him. Waste and extravagance unsettle a man’s mind for every crisis; thrift, which means some’ form of self-restraint and continence, steadies it.” It is not enough to believe what Kipling says. is true. It is n€cessary to practice thrift and saving as well as believe in it. The easiest way to practice it is to buy Government Savings Se- curities regularly. —-BUY W. S. S—— DANCE FLOORS ON SPRINGS. ‘ Dance fioors can be quite interesting from a constructional point of view. The best ones are: not, as is popularly supposed by the non-dancin; public, parquet floors. Parquet, though beautift im appearance, and possessing a certain merit in the fact that its criss-cross construction prevents it from becoming too slippery, must of necessity be laid. on a comparatively solid foundation. The best floors are carried on springs. _ The problem of the ideal suspension of ball- room floors has eecupied the minds of inventors = and engineers for many years, and innumerable ingenious devices have been tested with varying success. Some. of the earlier designs consisted of foors suspended by iron chains. By this means a-cer- - tain amount of “give” was obtained, but the movement allowed was necessarily almost en- tirely in a lateral instead of a vertical plane. . Another scheme was to support the floor on- light joists, which bent to some entent when suf- ficient weight was imposed upon them. In order . to prevent the springing from-.being confined to the middle of the floor, ha: pieces were ‘cut out of the ends of the joists, and some elas- ticity was obtained round the sides. — With such a method as this the chief difficul 4 mean ’ between very strong joists and ome rigidity : and -very weak joists and the possibility of 4 floor “sinking with all hands” in the middle of an unusually animated one-step! aS The meee Sere floor has reached’ a stage of very high age ; - At the Empress Rooms, in London, for in- stance, the floor is constructed ,of narrow oak lanks laid on a framework of strong but supple Fists. These are supported on. spiral s springs 45 in number, which are anchored to the concrete foundation some 18 inches below the — Leni ee awed Ra A floor of this type is icately sp “that. — though when 8 dance is progress the movement __ beneath one’s feet is eg’ too pronounced, yeta sing le person oo e ater —< , can — oe it “gives” perceptibly merely by rocking up~ < down on his heels. * ee A ie .* Such floors as these are, of course, deligh Ree to dance on and cause far less fatigue to— sz dancers than does the solidly laid parquet. = ‘

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22 A Lawyer At Nineteen FIGHTING AGAINST A FRAUD By GASTON GARNE (A. Serial Story) CHAPTER XVIIL—(Continued.) In a little while Eddie Blakesley arrived, dressed in a much more worn suit than Lew had on, and carry ing the furnace with the saldering iron in it with one hand and a pair of bellows and a bag of charcoal with the other. Eddie had smutted up his face pretty well, and Lew now proceeded te do the same, and when they issued from the — they were a pretty disreputable-looking pa They lit their oa es fire and then walked at a fast pace to the corner of the street in which Mrs. French lived. Then Lew began to shout din “as heavy a voice as he could assume: 3 pee to mend!” woman came out from a house two doors aes Mrs. French’s and called to him. “How much to mend this kettle?” she asked, holding it up to view. “Tell yer in a minute, ge i said Lew, com- ing forward and taking it from her hand. He jooked it over carefully, remembered what his —— had paid for similar jobs, and promptly “Fifteen pret 4 Alt Soe spate ” said Sika throw away cre when times is hard, “can’t afford to you “Eddie used the bellows on the fire, thrust the irons in deep and handed over the solder and rosin to Lew. The latter drew out a clay pipe, ee ee ee ren oe the ie ae. and began his work; puffing away in true og oa was doin his work, and making a good ie of it, too, Eddie did not fail to shout out the tinkering’ ery several times, and bef young lawyer was with his task the -- door of Mrs. French’s house opened and she came Without - the pipe from his mouth. you in a very few minutes, mum.” _ playing cards when the raid took FAME AND FORTUNE. WEEKLY him- as one of the two who had been place. “Come in,” said Mrs. French. “I’ve got a lot of stuff to be mended, and I can’t bring it all out. Here it is on the tubs.” She pointed to a lot of Mave and pans resting on the stationary washtubs, and Lew walked inte — kitchen puffing clouds from his clay pipe. care he examined the various ar- brew turning them over and over. “How much for the lot?” asked Mrs. French. Lew thoughtfully rubbed some smut over his nose. “Do it for a dollar,” he said. “That’s too much. Give cents.” ; sigheithomanads iter odieet oostdhies sO naam t OWS an 8 adi squat+ ted down on the floor. The woman walked into the front room. and began to converse with the man who was smok- ing there. Their voices were low, but Lew’s hearing was very sharp and he caught broken parts of sentences: “As I was saying, the boss takes a big——” “Oh, he’s taken that risk before, and be- sides “Might be an overdose, and then ‘s “Well, of course, it’s taking chances, but——” - “Don’t like her breathing, and if she pegged out nes breathing better than she was two oe Well, I don’t like this part of the business, and the boss Then their voices sank so low that Lew could - only get a confused Ta, with here and there an occasional word, bu had heard enough to convince him that tho conversation was about Madge, and that her condition was such as to - cause at least one of the speakers alarm, While working away, with Eddie at his side, the young lawyer spoke quietly to the office boy in a whisper, while the hum of the conversation in the front room assured him that what he = would ay bg heard. i an of action was quickly Be BI “Plolding. the dishpan that he had been on in one hand and the hot soldering iron in od other, Lew got up from the floor and walked into me mn’ think ie ‘orth on is pan is w spending any money on, and if you take my advice about you. seventy-five she, taken wholly by ape was too mich as- tonished to utter a soun : : The man who was sitting there smoking leaped to his feet, but was upon him with a great leap. The heavy soldering iron hummed through the air, caught the rascal, and down hé went, — senseless, to the floor. : Lew knew that the man wouldn’t trouble him for a long time, and that he would not be in fight- ing trim when hv came back to life, so he at once Weteine feos ee cndiee eee rom her complete astonishment. was g her mouth, to.cry out. — {To be contieuel.) = : ~ °

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_ Pernambuco, c Foe ¥ _ where § use for alcohol. Nt: sons for this’ substitution. a AIR ROUTE OVER DESERT. -_ Regions that would have to wait many years before they could be traversed by railways are re now quickly mastered by aerial transport. News comes from the Air Ministry that a new air route has been opened, up across the desert be- tween Palestine and Mesopotamia. Notification has been received of the arrival at Bagdad of three airplanes of the Royal Air Force which fave flown over this routé. _ The new route is about 580 miles long. It is an extension of the present Cairo-Remleh route. It starts from Ramleh, where is the main Royal Air Force.aerodrome in Palestine, passes through Amman (east of the Jordan) and Kasr Azrak, landing grounds have been prepared, and - proceeds thence in an almost straight.line across of ‘the Arabian desert to Ramadie, on the Euphrates, as follows: Ramleh to Amman, 65 miles; Am- “Man to Kasr Azrak, 55 miles; Kasr Azrak to Ramadie, 400 miles; Ramadie to Bagdad, 60 : ALCOHOL FOR GASOLINE. -.In Pernambuco, Brazil, they have found a new u They. drive their automobiles “with it instead of gasoline. There are, two rea- The first is the high of gasoline, which is selling in Pernambuco I $5.83 per case of ten gallons, and the second ‘or is that alechol down there is a byproduct of the ae cane industry and is very plantiful. hese facts. are reported by our consul at Cameron. eHe relates that plenters who use the aleohol made on their plan- tations for automobile fuel have found that pure hol from 41 to 42 degrees answers, the. re- Mirements of automobile motors, with ‘a slight alteration in the carburetor, Users of this fuel Say it is satisfactory and the amount consumed practically the same as the amount of gaso- © required for the same work. As the combustion is more complete, very lit- 2 carbonized matter is deposited in the com- _bustion chamber, the spank plugs are clean and ly the valves (expo: AB nen are subject to ' Experience has demonstrated that the ad- ion of five per cent. of gasoline or kerosene i prevent this rusting, and will, moreover, ve a lubricating effect on the cylinder. ' It is i ‘that this five percent. mixture will form standard type of alcohol motor fuel. ee 7 ‘THE WHIPPING POST FAILS. effort to establish the whipping post in land as part of the punitive system for men rimes misdemeanors is vigor- ted of ¢ by the ‘warden of the Maryland who has had ample opportuni- FAME AND FORTUNE. WEEKLY ITEMS OF GENERAL INTEREST | society against the habitual criminal, a view that is supported probably by the majority of all who have given it thought. There are men who can be influenced only by the lash, he admits, but they are so few that the situation would remain practically un- changed. A‘man seldom if ever thinks of pun- ishment when committing a crime, according to the warden, and possible fear of a lashing would not change that. x Depriving the criminal of his liberty is the worst punishment he can receive, is the conclu- sion of the warden. He says there isn’t a man in the Maryland penitentiary who is not almost crazily anxious to get out. The law allows the’ penitentiary warden to whip prisoners as a meas- ure of discipline, yet he finds that the worst of- fenders are brought under control easier and bet- ter and quicker by simply depriving them of the liberty they are permitted in the prison. This he considers another reason for preferring the indeterminate sentence to the whipping post. The worst punishment. is that which the prisoner fears;most, and that he believes to be loss of freedom. NaeaeNq03a0R.—.—00 ww “Mystery Magazine” - SEMI-MONTHLY 10 CENTS A copy. LATEST ISSUES 1, THE ADMIRAL'S SPOONS, by William Hamil_on THE CANINE CLUB, by Thos. J. Lally. THE PSYCHIC ENEMY, by Arthur Wm. Andreen, THRE WONDER GIRL, by Ralph Cummins. ; ON THE WRONG TRAIL, by Ethel. Rosemon THE SPIRIT WITNESS, by Chas. @. Ovnrmer nen LITTLE WHITE ROOM, by Mare Kamuna Jones. THE STOLEN YEAR. by Edmund FEiltet THE AFFAIR AT HOLLYWO ‘SE ‘lain Ht, Koteed. . OD HOUSE, by Wil ; Ss } ERY, by Ft ‘igi PROFESSOR SATAN. by Chas. I Gauge WHO KILLED. MeNALLY? by Beninh Poynter. THE CLUE OF THE WHORL, by Katherine Stagg. THR “CZAR AND THE RING, by Edmund Elliot A CLUR OF FLAME. by Jack Bechdolt : ; mE FACE IN > CROWD,” : THE. MAN IN ROOM No. 7, by Chen one FOUR TEN-DOLLAR BILLS, by Henrr G. Howland A CHALLENGE TO POWER, by Dr. Harry Enton, The Famous Detective Story Out Today In No. 90 19 THE HOUSE’ NEXT DOGR . By POLICE CAPTAIN HOWARD. FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher, 163 W. 23d St. Kew York be es eR Baccus an na “Moving Picture Stories” A Weekly Magazine Devoted to Photoplays and Players PRICE SEVEN CENTS PER COPY — . Rach number contains Four Stories of the Best iiiwe, rom = , ¥ Plays—Interesting Articles. About Prominent People fr on the Sereens—-Elegant Half-tone, bike? Doings of Actors and Actresses in the Studios af n> Writing. rie Zh ae OTs eee: ~ cheek Se aren as . ba % ’ a.

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The Accusing Hand. By COL. RALPH FENTON. I had been very busy all the spring and early summer, and thought myself entitled to the leave of absence I asked for in August The chief laughed when I proficied my request for a vacation. “Why, ten to one ~ don’t spend the time in building up your health and strength. You'll get mixed up into something, I’A bet my life.” “Nonsense,” I replied. “Well, I can go “Yes. I-am glad, Clark, to have it in my power to grant you leave of absence, and show ‘you how much I appreciate you.” I bowed my. acknowledgment, and having ar- ranged the dates and terms of my vacation me him and went home to prepare for my Where to go? This was the question I now ad- dressed to myself. At first T decided not to stop short of two hundred miles from New York. Then, however, arose another consideration—I was going for a quiet, pleasurable time, and must be with or near friends, The result was that I packed up and went to visit aE old friend of mine just back of the village of Tarrytown, on the Hudson River, and only twenty-five miles from New York. I received a most cordial welcome, and for the first week had a quiet yet most enjoyable time. However, this was destined to have an ending. The chief’s words were to be come prophetic. “Clark,” exclaimed my host, “something awful -has happened!” orb is it?” ; “Old Squire Redmond has been murdered in his bed!” ° “When did it happen?” F “They say it must have been done last eyen- ng.” “How far away is the Redmond place?” “Half a mile. Will you go over, Clark?” ~ “Yes; come on.” We reached the place in a very few minutes. I was not known to be a detective, and my ques- tions were freely replied to. I soon learned all that was knovwn. ‘Old Squire Redmond had long been ailing, = the previous —a had been informed by the = not live more than a day or two longer. “In that case it is about time I made my will,” he said. “Yes,” replied the doctor. Reimonds lawyer lived in New York, and it was late in the afternoon before he reached the He then drew up a will, by the terms of which Sadie Redmond, a niece who lived with him, be- eame the sole heir to Redmond’s wealth. “How about; Arthur?” asked the lawyer. on” Jae Wie patra poe Sate te tite, work <de hag ah Satine Tn £ ee I have learned from truthful sources he “become iee-Siok de aaa eee jd men for eompanions, and I do not feel like is FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY leaving the wealth accumulated by honest indus- try to one who will squander it on people more vicious than himself.” The lawyer left the room, sending Sadie in to her uncle. Several hours passed. None visited the sick room, and all was quiet there. he became dark. The doctor had not yet ar- rived. He came between nine and ten. : He had been delayed, he said. A man™had broken his leg, and he had been compelled to set it before coming. “We may as well finish the job of his will,” said the lawyer, and he, the doctor, and the housekeeper entered the squire’s room. , = was quiet as the grave, and the room was ark. “Sadie!” ‘But no reply came to the house- keeper’s low call. “She must have fallen asleep,” said the woman, as she lighted a lamp. Both doctor and lawyer uttered a cry of sur- prise as the darkness was dispelled. The doctor ™ sprang to the bedside. “He is dead,” he said, the instant he touched the cold hand. “He has been dead an hour or more. ” “Where is his niece?” asked the lawyer. Sadie was nowhere to be found. Meanwhile the doctor had examined the corpse more closely, and he quite startled the lawyer a ae that Redmond had been choked to eat High and low they hunted for Sadie, but she could not be found. There on the table lay the unsigned will. An hour passed, and then the lawyer sent away ae watestaphic dispatch to Arthur Brooks, New Back came the reply in due season: “I will be up on the midnight train. “ARTHUR BROOKS.” This was the state of affairs when I arrived at the Redmond place the next morning about half- past nine. Arthur Brooks, the intended-to-be disinherfted py oe , was in full charge of the place. e doctor had gone home, but the lawyer still remained, Who could have done the horrid deed? The OT ek aie ide and questioned him. wyer aside an “Sadie? Pooh! Why, man, she’s scarce more than a child,” said the ‘lawyer. “But, sir, = ag ‘I told him he was preted. “You most — my identity a secret,” shall do so. Now, sir, tell me frankly, what do you think of this?” “You know of none who was so much Red- of mond’s enemy as to wish to choke out his last = few hours of breath?” “No,” he reluctantly admitted. “Now as regards this nephew—what of him?” = “He could not nese done it,” was the prompt Fg nts f ame d’ Shee 9 Se Stee Ss ©: 8 2 him at New York and received a reply in due -séason, fa he sity nine wo avery Spa ~z Fe back to the city in time to answer my

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ze i» He showed me the answering dispatch of Ar a Brooks. sgh was staggered, I must admit, for my sus- us ran to him rather than to Sadie. I med that the squire had no other known rela- 10 and that there was no one else who could sibly be interested in his death. “I am positive that it will transpire that his ey was at the bottom of it,” I said, in con- ; “As the old gentleman’s lawyer, can you me anything of the intended disposition of 2 rope: ae zo This direct question put me in possession of she reason for the lawyer’s visit, and TI learned that it was intended that Arthur Brooks should be disinherited. “There is your motive!” I exclaimed. “By the “man’s death before the signing of the will, my Brooks comes in for a share of the © y.” But the telegram,” persisted the lawyer; “how can you explain it?” ; I could not explain it, and kept my mouth shut. Some people from the neighboring farms were ore the house, and at my request they sepa- and began a search for the young girl. We searched the house again, and went out on grounds and toward a little stream at the om of the well-kept lawn. A shout suddenly came to our ears, and both us started, Brooks in a guilty manner, I gh I saw him glance at me, and then he d forward by my side, as if overcoming a Clutching a tree for support was a farmer, e hand extended and pointing toward the water. ozen or more had already collected about him ey gazing into the stream, pale-faced and iD first I could see nothing, but presently my , riveted on a human hand protruding the water. A human hand, so soft and e that I knew it to be a female’s, and tight- clasped about the stem of a water-lily. - An old farmer handed his hat to the lawyer. He must be uncovered when he touched the dead. d then he kneeled down on the edge of the and bared his arms. 2 farmer ged his hand deep into the r and took of the girl’s arm. I am not er in the supernatural, and am fully per- that what followed was owing to natural ch his pressing a particular set of but it is that as he began to » bod. hand relaxed its grip of the the r was accusingly dingcted rooks. ¢ doubt; it was : did I look, iolence. FAME -AND FORTUNE WEEKLY 2 I started for New York. At the depot I found a cabman who had driven a man from that train to the very house wheré Arthur lived. They reached there just.as a messenger boy arrived with a teegram. The man had said it was for him, had taxcn and read it, and jumping —_ the cab again, been driven to a telegraph ice. The next, train carried me back to~Tarry- town. I went direct to the Redmond place. My stern face must have betrayed my purpose to Brooks, for at sight of me he started, and I saw his~hand glide toward his hip pocket. : “Arthur Brooks, you are my prisoner,’ I said, as I sprang at him. aS The hand I had seen stealing to his hip now came flashing before him, clutchin volver. * Crack! I had tried to spring aside, and had so far succeeded that his bullet, though it plowed the scalp of my skull, did not enter my brain. I sprang fiercely upon him, and tried to wrench his revolver from his hand. I might have drawn my own and shot him dead, but I wanted to save for hanging the man who had murdered sweet, pretty Sadie. Surprised, Brooks unconsciously gave me an opportunity to arise, which I at once availed my- self of, and with the lawyer’s assistance, we soon had the prisoner securely bound. “I told you so!” laughed the chief, when I showed up with my head al] bandaged. Through the papers_he had learned all about the affair and the part I had played in it. : I attended the trial of Brooks. — : He denied his guilt, but needless to say was convicted and sentenced to death. A few days before the day of execution he confessed it all. ‘ “He had heard of his uncle’s sickness and de- termined to visit him. He arrived unseen and had’ crossed. the lawn to the low French windows of his uncle’s room. Squire Redmond had fallen asleep and Sadie had gone out into the grounds. A light was burning, and seeing the unsigned will, he read it. : If his uncle died before it was signed he would be wealthy. Otherwise he would be a beggar. Prompted by an awful feeling he strangled his uncle, turned out the light and left the room. Desiring to leave the place unseen, he had gone to the usually deserted path beside the stream. ocket a re- A voice asking, “Who is it?” started him into making an exclamation, and Sadie, recognizing his voice, called him by. name. : “ That was enough. Let her live to tell of her meeting with him and he was doomed. Desper- reckless, he committed a second.murder to

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2 Fame and Fortune Weekly NEW YORK, AUGUST 19, 1921. TERMS TO SUBSCRIBERS Cikgie Copies. i. noes eee a¥ Postage Free.... 07 Cents One Copy Three Months... = SE ery .00 Cents One Copy Six Months...... ry gig nts i One Copy One Year....... x © yah 3.0 HOW TO SEND MONEY—At our risk send P. 0. Money, Order, Check or Registered Letter; remittances in any other way are at your risk. We accept Postage Stamps the saine as cash. When sending silver wrap the Coin in a separate piece of paper to avoid cutting the euvelope. Write your uame aud address plafnly. Ad- t dress letters to HARRY E. WOLFF, Publisher @ 100 West 23d St, New York a ITEMS OF INTEREST AN ELEVATOR FOR BATHERS. Atlantic City’s newest hotel has a special ele- : vator running to every floor for the convenience 4 of bathers who can reach the beach by means of : a tunnel under the board walk. They can come = up dripping to their rooms without destroying the fine clothes of the neighboring guests. eat VACUUM CLEANER ROUTS BUG ARMY. : When the commuter appeared in his front yard with the longest nozzle, meant for the pic- ture moldings, attached to his vacuum cleaner, the neighbors were surprised, but his explana- tion was sound; he stated that he did not intend to vacuum clean the leaves, but there had been bugs on the trees for days, which were too slen- der and young to stand the weight of a ladder against the trunk and he did-not have a spraying outfit. So he picked the bugs off the top branches with the vacuum’ cleaner. NEW DATE FOR GOLD PIONEER. . © j On the statue of James W. Marshall, the pioneer who discovered gold in California in 1848, at Colma, near Placerville, Cal., there was placed a recently a marble inset bearing a new date for ik the discovery. / = The inscription on the statue B. 7. originally gave the date as January 19, 1848. The AA new date is-January 24, 1848. eas "t The change was made when a special commis- _. . sion authorized by the State Legislature inves- ae ‘tigated and found Marshall made his discovery” _. five days later than originally believed. IS ———_ = - REMODELING OF FIELD SHOES. : Arrangements are being made by the Salvage Branch of the Quartermaster Corps to remodel 150, pairs of field shoes with and without hob- ' nails for subsequent issue for ee use. The iron rim heels and hob-nails will be removed, the dyed to a standard color, and the solcs lightened by removing one | of leather. This We *sS FAME -AND FORTUNE WEEKLY \ WILL TAX SHORT SKIRT WEARERS. \ The peasants are now firmly established i power in Bulgaria, and legislative bedjes, both State and provincial, in which their representa- tives are in the majority, are engaged in trans- ferring the burden of taxation to the shoulders of the despised city folks. > The District Council of Rostchouk has evolved the following taxes, which it styles “American”: Carrying a parasol, 50 levas yearly (nominally worth 19 cents each) ; skirts more than 11 inches - above the ground or wearing silk ‘stockings, 500 levas; wearing gloves between April 15 and Sep- tember 15. without a doctor’s certificate, 200 levas; wearing jewelry, 300 levas; keeping pet dogs, 500 levas; use of walking canes by persons under 50 years of age in good health, 100 levas; wearing shoes with tops exceeding 11 inches in © height, 200 levas; fur tippets or muffs, 500 levas, and using baby carriages in cities, 200 levas, BULGARIA LAUGHS Tommy—Papa, what do men mean by cireum- _ stances over which they have no control? Tom- “my’s Papa—Wives, my son. ; Inpecunious Nobleman—Sir, I understand you have a peerless daughter? Old Moneybags—Yes, and you might, as well understand first as last that she is going to stay peerless, as far as you fortune-hunters are concerned. Jones—Yes, sir; that boy of mine is a wonder- ful piano-player. Why, he can play with his toes. _ Brown—How,. old is he? Jones—Fifteen- Brown —I’ve got a boy at home who can play with his toes, and he is only one year old. Minister—So you go to school, do you, Bobby? Bobby—Yes, sir. Minister—Let me hear you spell bread. . Bobby—B-r-e-d. - Minister—Webs ster spells it with an a. Bobby—Yes; sir;~ but you didn’t ask me how Webster spells it, You — asked me how I spell it. ee oe “Things will be changed when the women vote.” “Yes, I suppose they will. Probably they will insist on having rugs on the floors of all the polling places.” “I wasn’t thinking of that. They will prebably want to add postscrips to their bal- lots after they get them marked. ~ : “Waiter,” said the traveler, in an Erie Rail- _ road*restaurant, “did you say I had twenty min- __ utes to wait or that it was twenty minutes to eight?” “Nayther. Oi said ye had twenty min- _ utes to ate, an’ that’s all ye did have Yer train’s just gone.” " Abby, the littlest : irl of the family, was at the breakfast. tabl A table one morning. pee: Be >. accomplished ough the salvage eggs were served. Either she was not h ae =i Yacilitics at_the various\base salvage plants, -It or she Rat’ gtown tired of the inevitable bill of be ‘is-estimated that the cost of remodeling each fare, for very earnestly and slowly, she — nets of “shees wil) ‘approximate $1.50 as a max- marked: “I do wish hens would lay something es oe PEREGO? Rickey WORE EER Ta Sa ee ee 7 : + 4 Xe 4 = ee . epee a y 2 A RL: ee ere 00m . er eee x

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.FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY ‘ ~ FLIES IN NEW YORK. "Owing -to the fact that refuse must now be covered and that. few other places are left to breed, the common housefly is becoming rather

_ while he was : nibal king. infrequent in the more settled part of New York ne net in the outskirts. Many of the high- class apartments no longer provide fly screens. Asphalt, concrete, and the covered garbage pail have done wonders in mitigating the evils of this ba ~-“& CLASSIC seg iin aye — ; is de Rou ond certainly gave Ananias, caacke Dre Swift and Sindbad the sailor an He has just died in a London pau- per infirmary. It is extraordinary that a man of such wonderful imagination should have died in poverty. Even his real name was appropri- -ate for : Henry Louis Grin. of yarns about savages and cannibals ad to have married a cannibal wife. were accepted for a time and he even addressed the British Association on the habits ‘of the Australian aes ines, but, at sagt. 7 wes by an newspeper a hcimes nai he rad working for a Swiss banker astonishing’ the natives as a can- : THEY DIG FISH IN FLORIDA. Yaak Walton scarcely would believe his eyes “fhe were to walk through the country near ew Smyrna, Fia., fish from the ground as would look twice and then racles ‘of this a out Sn search of an oculist. A certain variety of mud fish gros in nearly all parts of the State this. hen the water aporates, certain seasons of the year, leaving : FISH FOR HURRICANES. : cle Sam is going fishi for hurricanes with vant teh across the Gulf of Mexico and oT THE NEWS IN SHORT ARTICLES will be impossible for even the most agile trop- ical storm to twist without its every movement being flashed to the Weather Bureau. Masters of oil tankers in the Galveston-Para- pico trade, as well as the captains of about 100 other vessels plying the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, according to Messrs. Bowie and Cal- vert, now are being coached in the art of makin accurate observations. These the mariners wil! immediately fiash to the nearest Weather Bureau station. In addition, during the hurricane sea- son, according to the plans, two emergency land observers will be stationed on the Gulf, one be- tween Galveston and Corpus Christi and the other at Morgan City, Louisiana. This storm net once spread, according to the experts, it will be impossible for storms to sweep around the Caribbean and become lost in the ex- panse of water north of the Yucatan Channel, GHOST PLAYS JAZZ AND HYMNS. Since the‘death of George F. Bosher, wealthy real estate operator, June 18, his late home, at 890 Manchester avenue, Manchester, N. H., ac- cupied by three women, has nightly been visited by a ghost, and-the women in desperation have’: asked the police for protection. : The human occupants of the house are Mrs. Mabel Morrill, Mrs. Abe Adlen and Miss Frances * Stewart, the latter a granddaughter. of Bosher.. This far the ghost—-which Miss Stewart. feels sure is that of her grandfather—has thumped on walls and doors, stalked through the bedrooms, » his eyes shining; tossed and broken plates, drink- ingglasses and chairs, and started the phono- graph playing two tunes at a time, according to the stery told the police. Mrs. Allen fainted twice, and she declares that. Miss Stewart has swooned fourteen. times, since . the ghost first appeared. Bosher was buried Monday, and since then he has given neither his granddayghtér ror myself, nor any one living in the house, any peace,” said Mrs. Allen. “The first night the e found the clock away at the farther end ~ the bedroom. Then the phonograph starte right out of the darkness. aieatage ts cut with a knife, a ghostly face would peer at brimstone would leer at us, We | that’s the limit. Stewart : ate ‘ ty chair starts dancing on its left rear:

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FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY THE NEWS IN SHORT ARTICLES PARIS TO WARSAW. Beginning April 2d an aerial post was put into uperation between Paris and Warsaw. The air- planes start every Tuesday and Saturday at 8 A. M. Letters, post cards, periodicals, newspa- pers, commercial papers, samples of goods, or- dinary and registered, may be sent by this post. The charge for letters from Warsaw is 30 marks to Prague, 60 marks to Strasburg, and 105 marks to Paris for the first 20 grams. These letters or parcels are received at the main post- STEAM PRESSURE COOKERS IN EQUADOR A correspondent writes us that the Jivaru In- dians have a steam “pressure cooker” all their own. An earthenware jug or pot, small at the bottom, bellying out at the middle to about 15 inches, and then into a narrow neck, ends in a lipped mouth. A grid or false bottom of split bamboo is built about three inches from the bot- tom of the pot, the space between is filled with water; the food—meats or vegetables or both— is “placed on this grid and the top of the pot is > ty office from 8 A. M. to 8 P. M., and on the day covered with several large palm leaves, criss- ia of departure at 6 A. M. crossed and tied down with vines. The pot is Pe! then placed upon the fire. and the food is THE GRAPHITE INDUSTRY. In the island of Ceylon graphite is found in ter abundance than in any similar sized area the world. The soil and rocks of Ceylon are almost everywhere impregnated with graphite, so that it may be seen covering the surface in the drains after a rain. The supply is practically inexhaustible. The peculiarity of Ceylon graph- ite is its remarkable purity. Another source of graphite is Chosen, the graphite found there be- ing classified as scaly, fibrous, foliated and earthy, the first two classifications containing over 90 per cent. carbon. “In China, graphite is found in several localities. A NEW FISH. x An angler, armed with every luxury in the way of bait and fishing gear, sat on the bank for hours without getting a bite. Seated near him was a small lad with a a cut from a neigh- g wood. At the end of this improvised rod were a bit of string, a bent pin and half a worm. First one perch was landed by this youthful an- = and then another. Pleased with his success, e started for home and on his way met the vicar. “Those are two fine perch, my lad,” said the clergyman.” “No, sir; they’re not perch,” said the boy. “But they are,” said the vicar. “No, sir; I’m sure they’re not, for when I caught the second fish the man next to me.on the bank said, ‘Well, that’s the limit!’ ” - thoroughly cooked in a very short time. This “latest” method has probably been used by the Jivaru Indians for centuries, and our correspon- dent says that he has enjoyed many a monkey and parrot cooked by this method. AIRPLANE IN TIGHT FIX. When his engine suddenly stopped 15,000 feet in the air above remote Crater Lake, Ore., Ray- mond G. Fisher, Forest Service pilot, was forced to land on a tiny island in the lake, which is in* the pit of an extinct voleano with walls 1,000 feet high surrounding it, forestry officials an- nounced. The plane was not damaged in the descent, but Fisher, upon examination, found four of the spark plugs of the engine broken. Using the wireless set with which the machine was equip- ped, he succeeded in getting in touch with an- other Forest Service ee This second flier hastened to Medford, Ore., and obtained new spark plugs for Fisher’s plane. Arriving back at the lake, however, the rescue ilot found it impossible for another plane to and on the island, or apparently to get the plugs to Fisher. Other Forest Service planes came up and sets of spark plugs were sent to earth by means of parachutes. : Hunting with a torch at night, Fisher found one of the parachutes, repaired his machine, and “took-off” from the island, reaching the Forest Service airplane base at Medford safely. “The biggest rattle- FREE TO EVERYBODY—FREE Send us $10.50 for 3 one-year subscriptions to this magazine, at $3.50 each, or the same amount for 6 six-months subscriptions at $1.75 each and we will mail you a handsomg, DUNN FO — rare : — ES ne ene, a yh 6s CRA “ | DESCRIPTION—A little red pump-bandle fills the pen. Holds twice as mueb & i ; ink ther ~ * Fi f ink is sitive. N floods clogs. ‘ is mosh of “ik. solid gold, tip: Arith native, ‘Tasmenian Oomin tee x ardest metal known. Points cannot lap, d or scra ae ASK YOUR FRIENDS TO SUBSCRIBE. GET ONE oF THESE $1.00 PENS FREE 3¥ HARRY_£. WOLFF, 166 West Twenty-third St, New York City. snake ever saw I caught up here "by Palaka. He was 10 feet 11 inches long, weighed 38 pounds, and had 56 rattles. I had him in a pit there in the yard for a long time, A Vy rain , came and filled the pit up. with water,‘ drowned. - . and he vest out of Thus said hie eee Si. Foman; 1 4 As, who makes a business of catching _ ttle- i A

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* 3 a A : | This é Fame and Fortune Weekly — LATEST ISSUES —— % 788 A Born Salesman; or, A Young Money-Maker on the oad. Palton, the Young Banker; or, Cornering the Wall St. Sharks. 790 A $50,000 Deal; or, Hal Hardy, the Wall St. Wizard. 791 Billy the Blacksmith; or, From Atvil to Fortune, 792 Sharp and Smart, the Young Brokers: and, How ; They Made a Million. 793 Driven From School; or, The Pirate's Buried Gold. 794 A Bright Boy Sy or, Shearing the Wall Street “Lambs.” . 79% Telegraph Tom; or, The Message That Made Him : Famous. 796 Dick and the Mad Broker; or, The Secret Band of Wall Street. 797 A Sharp Boy; or, Making His Mark in Business, 798 Tom Swift of Wall Street; or, The Boy Who Was on the Job. 799 Andy the Auctioneer; or, Bidding in a Fortune. 800 Doubling Their Dollars; or, Schoolmates In Wall Street. 801 Dick Durling’s Money; or, The Rise of an Olgce bs the Market; or, A Boy Broker's Big Deal, 802 Beat 803 38 ao the Jungle; or, The Secret of the Hindoo ‘emple. 804 Bound to Get the Cash; or, Out for a Million in f Wall Street. 805 & backs Errand Boy; ot, Working His Way To ‘ortune. 806 7 Johnnie Brown; or, How a Smart Boy Made oney. - $07 Finding a Fortune; or, The Mystery of the Old S05 In the Stock M ket The Lucky Vent a oc) arket; or, e Lucky Ventures of = Wall Street Messenger. i“ 8 809 es Copper Cents and How They Made a Waif's 5 me. ‘$10 The Old Trader’s Legacy and What His Office Bo ~ Did with It. iad $1) A Million in Diamonds; or, The Treasure of the Hidden Valley. 812 _—_. abe Speculator; or, Playing the Wall Street rke ‘818 A Born Sliowman; or; The Boy Who Ran a Circus. 814 After a Golden Stake; or, Breaking a “Bucket-Shop” ~~ Combine, 815 a to Be a Manager; or, Making Money in a se - 816 A Boy ker’s Dollars; or, The Mystery of the . Money Vault. 817 Tom, the Apprentice; or, The Young Mechanic Who _-. Made His Mark. 818 A Banker at 17; or, A Wall Street Boy’s Syndicate. 819 The Mystic Chart; or, The Treasure of the Big ves. me Ce _ 820 Working the Mo Market; or, The Deals of i - Well Sttect Boy.” ; a een ‘21 = Boy Gold King; or, The Greatest Mine in the t= or’ _ $22 A Young Broker’s Money; or, Trapping the Sharpers . of Wall St. 823 Dollars and Cents: ory From. Cash Boy to Partner. a the Office Boy; or, A Plucky Wali Street i unger. _ $25 Always on Time; or, The Perils of a Young Mail Contractor. The Missing Bonds: or, A Lucky Boy in Wall St. ag Hunting For Treasure; or, The Pirate's Chest of of "s 828 $10.000 Reward; or, The Fortune of a Bank Clerk. - Pot sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any ad- on receipt of price, ic. per copy, stamps, by dress money or pos- tage St., New York. WRITE THEM Price 35 Cents Per Copy book contains all the most recent changes in the of construction and submission of scenarios. covering every phase of scenario writ- by all Newsdealers and Bookstores. cannot procure a copy, send us the price, cents, in money or pose Pn si and we will itl you one, postage free. Address Pacey 5 ‘ =e: New York, N. ¥,. thod 3, 219 Seventh ove, address on receipt of OUR TEN-CENT HAND BOOKS Useful, Instructive, and Amusing. They Contain Valuable Information on Almost Eyery Subject No. 51. HOW TO DO TRICKS WITH CARDS.— Containing explanations of the general principles of sleight-of-hand applicable to card tricks} of card tricks with ordinary cards, and not. requiring sleight-of-hand;: of tricks involving sleight-of-hand, or the use of spe- cially prepared Cards. Illustrated. No. 538. HOW TO WRITE LETTERS.—A wonderful little book, telling you how to write to your sweetheart, your father, mother, sister, brother, employer; and, in fact, everybody and anybody you wish to write to. No. 54% HOW TO KEEP AND MANAGE PETsS.— Giving complete infvrmation as to the manner and method of raising, keeping, taming, breeding and man- aging all kinds of pets; also giving full instructions for making cages, ete. Fully explained by twenty-eight illustrations. No. 56.—HOW TO BECOME AN ENGINEER.—Con- taining fuli instructions how to become a locomotive engineer; also directions for building a model locomo- tive; together with a full description of everything an engineer should know. No. 58. HOW*TO BE A DETECTIVE.—By Old King Brady, the well-known detective. In which he lays down some valuable rules for beginners, and also relates some adventures of well-known detectives. ’ No. 60. HOW TO BECOME A PHOTOGRAPHER.— Containing useful information regarding the camera and how to work it; also how to make Photographic Magic Uantern Slides and other Transparencies. Hand- somely fl'ustrated. No, 64. HOW TO MAKE ELECTRICAL MACHINES. —Containing full directions for waking electrical ma- chines, induction coils, dynamos and many novel toys to be worked by electricity... By B. A. K. Bennett. Fully illustrated. No, 65. MULDOON’S JOKES.—The most original joke book ever published, and it is brimful of wit and hnmor. It contains a large collection of songs, jokes, conundrums, ete., of Terrence Muldoon, the great wit, humorist and practical joker of the day. No. 66. HOW TO DO PUZZLES.—Containing over three hundred interesting puzzles and conundrums, with key to same. A complete book. Fully illustrated. No 67.—HOW TO DO ELECTRICAL TRICKS.—Con- taining a large collection of instructive and highly amusing electrical tricks, together with illustrations. By A. Anderson. : No. 68. HOW TO DO CHEMICAL TRICKS.—Con- taining over one hundred highly amusing und ingtruc- tive tricks with chemicals. By A. Anderson, and- somely illustrated. No. 69. HOW TO DO SLEIGHT-OF-HAND.—Contain- ing over fifty, of the latest and best tricks used by magicians. so containing the secret of second-sight. Fully. illustrated. No, %. HOW TO MAKE MAGIC TOYS.—Containing full directions for. making Magic Toys and devices of © many kinds. Fully illustrated. No. 7. HOW TO DO MECHANICAL TRICKS —Con- taining com e! e instr ous for perform over sixty ‘Mechanical Tricks. Fully illustrated. ~- No, 72. HOW TO DO SIXTY TRICKS WITH CARDS. Embracing all of the latest and most deceptive card tricks, with Mlustrations. No, 4. HOW TO WRITE LETTERS CORRECTLY. —Containing full instructions for writing letfers on al- most any subject; also rules for punctuation and eom- position, with specimen letters. : 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 mées, marks, sears, etc. Illustrated. : No, 77. HOW TO DO FORTY TRICKS WITH CARDS.—Containing deceptive Curd Tricks as performed by leading conjurers and magicians. Arranged for home amusement. Fully illustrated. - For sale by all newsdealers or will be sent to any price, 10 cents per copy, in money or postage stamps, by : nae, yf _ FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher,

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: eat fl Ae HOUSE LIGHTED BY FLOW FROM FAUCET +a Prof. Colar- deau, head of the physics depart- meni ina French university, lights his . house with electricity made by the flow of water from an ordizary faucet. Describing 1:8 method to the Academie des Sciences in Paris “recently, he said that if the water had its source 236. feet higher than the faucet a ficw of one quart ‘r second woud ish one-horse Colar dean mounted 2 water turbine on the faucet, gear- ed this to a dyn- amo which sent its electric cur- rent into a stor- battery. From this he ob- tained enough current to light a 500 - candle- BS HBE eeek § La LITTLE ADS Write to Riker & King, Advertising Offices, 118 East 28th Street, New York City, or 8 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago, for particulars about advertising in this magazine. AIDS TO EFFICIENCY WRITE THE WORDS FOR A SONG. We revise ‘poems, write music and guarantes to secure publication. Bub- ‘amit poems om any subject. Broadway Studies, 165C, Fitzgerald Bulldog. New York, AGENTS BIG MONEY AND FAST SALES. Every owner burs Gold Iniuials for bis auto. You-charge $1.50, make 31.85. ‘Ten orders dally easy. “Write for particulars anfi ‘free samples. AMERICAN MONOGRAM CO., Dept. 917i, ant Orange, _N New Jersey. AGENTS-"We offer - you $3 a a day palling ni new concen - hatwal soft drinks; great pega hit; 30c ‘bottle makes 32 glasses; all flavora; just add water; lightning aclier; small packages; carry in pocket; outfit’ furnished Thee; send postal today. American Products Co., 4397 Americ “an Bidg., Cincinnati, BOYS AND GIRLS MAKE 70 IN ONE HOUR. Sell ten Ueantel Gummed Fruit Jar Tabels Books for 15c each. Keep S@c and send ws $100. Every House- keeper will buy two or gore of the books. Send mame Weantel Co., 2577 A HELP WANTED ba dence! eee Railway ‘Trac Inspectors; no expe- tienes; train for this wrofession ‘thru spare time home- study; easy terms; $110 to $200 monthiy and expenses guaranteed, or money back. Outdoors; local or travel- 3 under big men who rewari ability. Get Hree Booklet, CM-101, ndard Besiness Training Inst., Buffalo, N, ¥. MEN WANTED for Detective Work. Experience un- necessary. Write J. a Re Former ©. Gort. De- fective, 152, St Louis, , BE A DETECTIVE. Opporwmity for men end women for. senret investigation in = atsirict. = c.f. Ludwig. 521 Westover Bldg., Kansas City, Mo. mye EARN BIG Fes — demand Tor | oa. Fascinating ‘articulars free. en and weme ca Ameriena “Detective System, 1968 5 MANUSCRIPTS WANTED 4% MISCELLANEOUS—Continued FREE—Formula” cuttings Dept. 33 Laboratories, Boylisten _ Building, Chicago. LEARN TO DANCE recaneksabie new way. In a few hours--at home—in private—you can easily master Fox Trot, One Step, Two Step, Waltz and latest popa- lar dances by my ore — Diagram Method. Write today for tres. Special Wm. Chandler ere wy. z. ‘bundle M, 4737 Broadway. Chicago, IWinois. PERSONAL MARRY IF LONELY; for results, best and most successful. ‘Home Maker’; ns M7 rich wish marriage Boon; strictly confidential; most relable; years experience; leseriptions free. “The Snecesafutl ‘Chitb;”” Mrs. Nash, Box 556, » Oakland, Californm. with cen: MARRIAGE PAPER, 20th scar. Big descriptions, photos, names und addresses, 25 No oiler fee. Sent sealed. Box 2206R, Baston. | WRITE MRS. WILLARD, Box 749, Culeago, Milnols. ts. Mase. Te i place, “Muspeth, N. ¥ if Re want @ wonderful little wife. Enclose stamped envelope. ART AND DEN PICTURES HAIR “grown (on bald heads, Failing. tain. a oad. any proved cases. ans’ secret. 00! with Macs he Roane meine og ng GS 25e. testimonials, Ppt ee mailed 10 un. eliver or onan F-08, | eisty Lure Make Bish Hite Vast. Box | stampe. Kotalko Offices, BY-270, Staton %. New Xeuk. Reading. Daring Pictures, ac, 5c. Catalogue 0c. MARRY IF LONESOME—Ladie tie CREATES PATENTS, “Copyttet nth peor eens been Sen get aeadlios, 490 rosea, Ba | siees oon it Eerie pe et ot ; : “on ponies “WoRDS FOR A SONG. wi seus sae music = a. ee tz FUNNY ag | LETTERS roading two ways, 10c. postpaid. The Maroy Maling o., Phos, N. X. 68 Broadway. Bureau, 515 fa Weis ‘autralt_ Toes pore ty 1650, ‘pitzgerald “Building, New York. -

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LF a @ y, ieee nr ck | ne eee ir” wieds ‘ re or pee Ore SONGWRITERS—Continued HAVE YOU SONG POEM? I have best Hibbeler, D104, 4040 Dickens Ave., Chicago, wes i 5 THE worss FOR A SONG, We will com- music, copyright, and pouns on any abject. SETON MUSIC. COMPANY, $20 .S. Michigan Ave, Room 122, Chicago. ST-STU-T-T-TERING and stammering cured at eT etive booklet free. mnell, Instru Potomac Bank Bidg.. Washington, D. O. TOBACCO HABIT sTo ‘OBACCO HABIT. Free Sample Famous Tobacco ve Ae No craving after first few doses. Dr, Elders, A-15, St. Joseph, Mo. ToBaged or Snuff Habit cured or no pay. $1 i it Remedy sent om trial. Superba Co., PC, Baltimore, Md. “Blank JOHNSON SMITH & CO., Dest. 637 3224 OH pa print. Submit STAMMERING Walter McDo LAX Ee wi under the tabi i th i! Pj) into & tr unk desk in Scheol, any 0 id place. Big FUN fooling "Peddlers, yetleeneet fests Claxophone layson yourtongue | pagan always ready to ae anyone. Imt. zc ne o wits fall instructions a set of Tricks, also Magic Dial Trick, al Oc., 3 for 25c- (no stam, Re. CLAXO TRICK CO..Dept. S New H aven, Conn. N WATC HH ms Ap The bigest watch offer ever made—NO RED TAPE—NO WAIT- — G. Simply send $2 and receive the watch. Full seven-jeweled Elgin, stylish octagon case, guaranteed 20 years. 12 size, thin model. 30 DAYS’ FREE TRIAL You carry the .watch for 80 days—you take no chances. If not gatisfactory your deposit is returned to you.. You do not risk a penny, $2 A MONTH Send only $2 and the watch comes to you ieee paid. Pay the balance $2 a month for 10 months, Price only $22. FREE CATALOG—lIllustrates and describes over ” 2.000 items in , Watches and jewelry. Send for it, Dept. S44. “DIAMOND & WATCH CO . : BS. Maiden Lane > New York ; ide Bente Ne SAVE $10 to $25 fe, zs or tans é Pape xs ¢ eera tbo Bs 7s Piaeet ire ‘on the Ranger you poth! = ualeas you are estis- |. Dativeres free ‘ives dae peti wars © set and torma So, wll Fre Moads cycle. usséhicago Y fers N. Halsted Street, Chicago Woderfal, new device, guides your hand; corrects eur writing in few days. Big improvement in three ours. No fasilores, Complete outline FREE, Write C, J. Oxment, Dept. $9 St.Louis, Mo. , SONG WRITERS: If you want good, orig- inal, snappy melodies, try mine. Real kick in every one. Poor words made good—good ones made better. Send poem for free criti- cism. Hesitate and you lose. Lylah Case, Bulte 422, 1198 Broadway, New York City. SORENESS HEALED Bore or hecied lest, ulcers, ae vetns, eexema ile you work. rite for free book ao describe your own ease. A.C. Liepe, 1457 Green Bay Av., Milwaukee, Wis. ’ = es taught almost an one at home. Small cost. Send TODAY 2 cents for particulars and proof. GEORGE W. SMITH Room M-145, 125 N; Jeff Ave., Peorla, Til, Getd Filled ranteed for 3 ao ae ee te ipited ow moire fs te" ed S| EFFECTS OF FEAR ON CHILDREN’S HEARTS. According tc Dr. Mabel El- liott, head of the American Wo- man’s Hospitals, who is now serv- jing with the Near | East Relief at Is- mid, Turkey, « llarge number voi the Armenian children under her care are suf- ifering from en- llarged hearts or ~ other ‘forms of heart disease, due ito the constant ifear to which they have been prey during the past few years. People living ;in the Near East have long . been familiar with the mental petrifica- tion due to the terrible experi- ence through whith these chil- |dren have passed, most of them having forgotten everything of their past, their names, their homes and their language includ- led, but this.is the i\first instance jthat has been re- icorded of the ef- fect of fear on -|theiz hearts. The cure which Dr. Elliott is practising | with these children is a combination of mental and medi- cal. First of all they are made to realize that they are éntirely out of danger ana among _ friends. Then they are put on a special diet of nowrish- ing foods and certain exescises are prescribed. | The results so far Fever) been very successful ~~

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200 REWARD TWO HOURS WORK jer 'ARREN BIGELOW, the Finger Print Retective, was paking his usual review in the morning newspapers. He had just finished reading the press reports of the daring robbery of the offices of the T— O— Company when the telephone on his desk rang. Central Office wascailing, asking him to come immediately to the scene of the robbery. Although he drove his high powncod roadster rapidly and errived very shortly at_his nation, he had plenty of time to consider the main features of the case as eo tay by the press. The job had undoubtedly been done by skilled cracks- men robbers of uncommon nerve. Sixty-five hundred dollars in currency—the company pay-roll—were gone. Not a single, apparent clew had been found by the police. Finger Print Expert Solves Mystery On his arrival, Bigelow was greeted by Nick Austin, Chief of Detectives, who had gone over the ground thoroughly. By this time, the district offi- cers and the operatives from Central Office had almost Why dont You be a Learn At Home in Spare Time Could you imagine more fascinating work than this? Often life and death depend upon decisions of finger-print evidence —and big rewards go to the Expert. Thousands of trained men are now needed in this great field. The finger print work of governments, corporations, police depart- ments, detective agencies and individuals has created a new profession, Many experts regularly earn from $3,000 to $10,000 a year in this fascinating game. And now you can easily Jearn the secrets of this new Science in your spare time — at home. Any man with common school education and average ability can become a Finger Print Detective in a surprisingly short time. Free Course in Secret Service For a limited time we are making a special offer of a Professional Finger Print Outfit, absolutely Free, and urse in Secret Service Intelli- gence. Mastery of these two kindred professions will open @ brilliant career for you. Write quickly for fully _iflus- 1 Office ha iven e trated free book on Finger Prints the investigation. After hours 9 which explains this wonderful of fruitless efforts, their work 7” training in detail. Don’t wait un- ‘was at a standstill. They were © til this offer has expired — mail Wis ait soneuit ond é fhlingalncliesehe With lively interest and a ing of reli y stepped back to await the results of the Finger Print Detective’s findings. They were plainly awed at his quiet, assured manner. The adroit old Chief himself was manifestly impressed at the quick, sure way in which Bigelow made his investigation. Almost immediately Bigelow turned his attention toa heavy table which had been tipped up on its side. Examination of the glossy mahogany showed an excellent set of finger prints. The thief might just as well have left his calling card. To make a long story short his prints were photographed and taken to Central OF;'2, where they were matched with those of “Big Joe” Moran, 1 tafe blower well known to the ice. Moran was subsequently caught and convicted on elow’s testimony and finger-print procf. Most of the money was recovered. In the meantime the T— O Company hed offered a $500.00 reward, which was given to Bigelow— his vav for two hours’ work. the coupon now. You may fever see this announcement again! You assume no obligation— you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Address UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED~SCIENCE Dept. C109, 1920 Sunnyside Avenuo, Chicago, Iliinais ng v8 SSERESRSSUSEST TE STREV IST EL SEES TEC eeeeRareeEee SUET VEU OENEUSESEVTESESeETEES UNIVERSITY of APPLIED SCIENCE, Dept.C109, 1920 Sumyside Av., Chicage Gentlemen: Withovt_nny obligation whatever send me your new, fnily illustrated, FREE book on Finger Prints and your offer ofa FREE course FS Service Tnteliigence ‘and the es Prov fessional Finger Print Outfit. NAMB. «0.0 ode Sivevesxe sdscnovse causcveuvecdes. weevseees seeetaceeoeseues® = = = = .

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