Fame And Fortune Weekly (no. 926) (1923 06 29)

Page 1

No. 926 JUNE 29, 1923 7 Cents \ Down the-rope he slid very carefully until he was near the ground. Then a chorus of shouts arose. Glancing down, he saw a crowd of armed Mexicans threatening to impale him on theirswords. The boy stopped his descent.

Page 2

Page 3

me oe y Post-Ofice at New York, N. AM. 9D ~ s for dis Unseen Audience e pages 24 & 25 FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY “taeved ee eee price, $3.50 per year; Canada, $4.00; Foreign, $4.50, Harry B. Wolff, Publisher, Inc., 166 as Second-Class Matter, October 4, 1911, at ¥., under the Act of March 3, 1879. NEW YORK, JUNE 29, 1923 New York, N. Y. Entered Price 7 Cents : FACING THE MEXICANS — CHAPTER I.-—The Aztec Vase. - “What an odd-looking vase, Cyril,” said Will _ Adams, a good-looking, well-dressed boy of six- _ teen, as he held up to the light a curious relic _ of a past century.. Tt was made of brenze, profusely carved, and seemed to be some sort of an engraved in- ; _ seription on one side in-a circular space left in to receive it. - “Tsn’t it?” feplied Cyril Young, with a smile. Cyril was a handsome. square-shouldered lad yf seventeen, and he and Will were chums. They were standing in front of one of the windows of Cyril *s room, on the third-story of a handsome vy residence on Staten Island, overlooking the Narrows and upper New York Bay. A few days a: , Mr. Young had sailed for Europe, on a mbined business and pleasure trip, and had taken Mrs, Young and their daughter Edith with him, leaving Cyril in charge of Professor Euclid, private tutor, wHo was fitting both boys for Ne: “Ww ere did you get it, Gyril?” asked Will, turn- ng the antique vase over and over in his hands, yut with great care. Sue | picked it up in op,” replied his tried: a Third avenue curiosity “It cost me three dol- “Looks. to me as if you had got a bargain.” “I am not sure of that, though it is true the Jer wanted five for it at first, but finally ed to let me have it for three, as that was the funds I ‘had to spare.” It’s worth three dollars as a curiosity. How id do you think it is?” ’ve got me. It might be centuries old, veg again, it might be quite modern. I’m mg to put its age up to Professor Euclid, He’s mething of an archeologist, you know.” s hardly possible, I think, that any valuable en of ancient workmanship, such as this ears to be, would be floating around second- shops in New York City,”_said Will, re- Ss right. eS bet = Ss it’s a arte : up by some clever European artist ig aga to swindle a collector.” er if it had a good OR, THE SECRET OF THE AZTEC’S GOLD By A SELF-MADE MAN “I’m going to clean it after I’ve shown it to the professor.” “That’s a curfous inscription. It certainly isn’t Latin, nor does it resemble Greek.” “Looks to me like a species of hieroglyphics.” “The ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphics to express themselves.” “And so did other old-time nations.” “Also the American Indians, for instance. “T’ve seen lots of illustrations of hiero "Se ohics, but never anything like this,” said Cyril. “Let’s look the matter up in the encyclopedia.” oe While they were thus engaged, with the vase prominently displayed before them, there came a : knock upon the door, Neither of the boys heard “ the @nock, so interested were they in the subject before them. Presently the door was opened and a a little, wizened old man, in a somewhat faded but scrupulously clean brown suit, appeared in < the opening. This was Professor Euclid, the pri- vate tutor. He walked softly into the room, clos- = ing the door behind him, and as he drew near ; to the boys the vase attracted his sharp eyes. AS he reached out his hand to take it up, while a — look of surprised interest came into his sedate uN features, the boys suddenly became aware of his presence. “Good-morging, professor,” said both boys ina b ; but the learned gentleman, for once in his . life at least, forgot to resvond to the salutation. “Where did you get this, Master Cyril?” he asked, at length, bending a questioning look upon his eldest pupil. Cyril told him how it came into his possession. “Has it any, real value, Professor Euclid?” the lad concluded, eagerly oy The professor made no reply, but turned eo = article 6ver slowly and critically in his fingers. ees “T got it so cheap that I’m afraid it’s an imita- tion of some original, or perhaps the creation of %, a relic manufacturer,” “What do you think it is?” asked the professor, | “Sieg with a keen glance. - iu To me it looks like 2 “I haven’t any idea. old Roman or Greek vase.”

Page 4

a genrieness, yet he had secretly hoped that he ra might be mistaken. - . “No, Master Cyril,” replied Professor Euclid, slowly, “this is no fake.” “No fake, sir?” “No. It is a genuine Aztec vase, of the time of Montezuma the Second, who was elected king 7 of Mexico in 1502. This vase is, therefore, four iss _ eenturies old.” + are “You don’t say!” almost gasped Cyril, in sur- prise, while Will Adams seemed to be equally astonished. “There is an inscription’ on it, I see,” went on the professor, peering fixedly at the queer char- acters cut in the metal. “I am verv much inter- ested in this, my lad. You will let me take it home with me to-day, as I should like to try and decipher these rude characters?”. and the old man looked eagerly into his pupil’s face, while he clutched the vase as if loath to give it up. “Certainly, Professor Euclid. Is that the Aztec language?” “Not exactly, Master Cyril. It is a specimen of Aztec hieroglyphics, a method these people adopted to record their annals, as well as any in- formation they wished to keep a secret from out- side nations. ‘ “Then you have given some study to the Aztec, have you, professor?” asked Cyril. “J have given many, many years of my life to -a patient research of the early Mexican race. It is a passion—a hobby with me,” cried the learned man, his eyes lighting up with the fire of an enthusiast. “The history of ancient Mex- ico exhibits two distinct and widely differing pe- riods, the former of which, that of the Toltecs, appears to have been begun in the seventh and mide with the twelfth century; while the serond, 7 that of the Aztecs, began in the year 1200, and -. may be said to have been closed by the conquest by Cortez in 1519, for its existence as a nation ceased with the Spanish domination.” “Jt must be an interesting subject, professor,” said Will. “Ah!” ejac; lated the private tutor, and there was A worid of meaning in that little word. “It has been to me a lifework to penetrate and under- stand the secrets of those wonderful peoples—the Aztecs particularly. They were highly super- stitious, and worshiped quite a number of deities, despite the progress they had made in the arts, as shown by representations of their paintings and their architectural and sculptural monu- ments.” : CHAPTER II.—Struck by Lightning. Professor Euclid devoted four hours daily— Saturday and Sunday, of coursé, excepted*—to the * tion of Cyril Young and Will Adams— "from ten to twelve and from one to three, taking ~ his lunch with the boys in the spacious dining- room of the Young mansion. Promptly at three o'clock the professor took his departure for his home, which was about a mile distant, with the cious vase wrapped up under his arm. “You made a aba find-in that vase, after all, il,” said Will, as they stood on the veranda : attenuated limbs of their in- im at a rapid rate up the FACING THE MEXICANS road, for the house was situated well on the out- skirts of the town. “Tt was pure luck. The dealer must have got it pretty cheap himself from somebody who had no idea of its value, and, not being a connoisseur of such things, he affixed his own value to it. He — * seemed to be glad to get rid of it, from which I.» judge it must have been some time on his hands.” ~~ “It’s a great thing to know as much as Profes-— sor Euclid,” said Will. “But, for all that, he hasn’t got wealthy by his. knowledge.” “Well, Will, let’s take a spin up the road as far as Blankville on our bicycles. What say?” “T'm willing.” “There’s Corney, now. wheels.” Corney McFaul was the gardener’s assistant. He was a good-natured Irish lad, a late arrival © from the green isle of Erin, and the boys liked — him very much, indeed. A , a “Hello, Corney!” called Cyril. “Yis, sor,” “answered the boy, coming forward and touching his hat respectfully. “You know where we keep our bicycles, don’t. you?” sopces “Thim little things wid two whales apiece is it you mane?” = “Yes.” = “Shure I do, sor.” ’ “J wish you’d bring them ’round here. We're going out for a spin.” : Pa “For a spin, is it? Faith, it’s mesillf will be afther bringin’ ’em to yez at wanst, sor.” Corney dropped the handle of the lawn-mower_ and started for the shed where the boys kept their wheels. “IT never saw a more obliging young fellow than Corney,” said Will, watching the Irish lad i he disappeared around the corner of the ouse. * “He certainly is a treasure in that way,” agreed =~ Cyril. “ga = I'll send him for our “Where did your father pick him up?” << See “At Ellis Island, the.day he disembarked from the Celtic.” oe “He came over on the Celtic, did he? That was an appropriate name,” grinned Will. pts “He was as green as his native isle when he” came over last fall, but he’s getting bravely over ~~ it by degrees. I was speaking to him the other day about the troubles of his country—I had just been reading a long article in the Post about the future of the Emerald Isle. Finally I. asked — him what the Irish were coming to.” ese “And what did he say?” asked Will, curiously. — a ats Ameriky, sor,’ he answered, as sober as a judge.” Sisk a ha, ha! That was pretty good,” laughed ill. ae “That’s what I thought.” % At this point Corney reappeared, wheeling the two bicycles along in regulation fashion. “Tll have to get a wheel for you, Corney,” said. Cyrill, “and teach you how to ride it. It’s splen- did exercise.” ; “Yis, sor; thank ye, sor; but shure it do plenty of-exercise I find in kaping nate about place. For what wid lookin’ after the’ ga: and helpin’ the cook in the ki “I know all about that, Cc

Page 5

FACING THE MEXICANS 3 “That’s work, but riding a wheel is great fun.” _“Ts that a fact?” : _“That’s what we find it, eh, Will?” | “Sure thing,” replied Adams, mounting his bi- : cy! Z bg . a “Now, if you’ll open the front gate, Corney, said Cyril, bestriding his own wheel. “Faith, I will,” hastening to do so, whereupon the two boys glided out into the road. It was about three miles to Blankville, and Cyril and Will were not long in covering that dis- tranee. As they started on their return trip they neticed that a thunder-storm was coming up from the direction of New Jersey. “Well have to get a move on, or we'll be caught by the storm before we can reach home,” said * “Oh, we can stop at the professor’s if it comes to that,” said Will. “So we can, but I’d rather go straight on to the house.” : They started down the road at a lively gait, but the storm came up faster than they thought it would. The wind swooped on the island with a rush, tearing through the trees and churning up eddies of dust in the road in a way most un- pleasant for the boys. The declining sun was ~ engulfed by the electrically charged clouds, and ‘“Sthe air grew dark and threatening. Then the . first big drops of the cncoming rain were blown into their faces, while they were yet a mile from their destination. : “We'll have.to stop at Professor Euclid’s, after = all,” said Will, as a brilliant flash of lightning “Vit up the sky, presently followed by a heavy roll of thunder. ; “Well, his house is only a short distance away, up yonder lane. We've got to make record time, Or we'll be soaked before we get there.” * They made-their pedals hum, and flew along - through the fast-increasing rain liké a pair of Winged Mgrcuries. The outer gate of the profes- Sor’s place was reached just in the nick of time. Will jumped his wheel and opened the gate for Cyril to pass through, and then followed his chum up to the back ‘porch as fast as he could follow. Hardly were they under the shelter when the rain “came down in a perfect flood. ©. “We-just escaped it, chappie,” said Will, as Cyril rang the bell, the sound of which was - dro in a terrific peal of thunder, seemingly «close at hand. Mrs. Benson, the professor’s housekeeper, came =»-to the door and admitted the boys. “Dear me! are you wet? Come right into the * Kitchen and dry yourselves by the fire,” she said "With warm hospitality. “Then you can go up to the professor. You'll find him in his room.” il and Will stood their wheels against the of the entry and availed themselves of the nts ’s kind invitation. The boys were | €xecedingly glad they had fdund shelter as they Stood before the bright kitchen fire and listened @ the hubbub of the elements outside. The rain heavily against the windows, the lightning more vivid and the thunder louder and more >. e he. early in the season for such a hea ac ae a, you think?” remarked Will. m ‘It’s a corker, all right.” : e dampness soon dried out of the boy’s oe i ee — ." . garments, and they decided to seek the professor in his den— a large, square room on the second floor, overlooking the road. 2 The room was an interesting place for Cyril and Will, who had been there many times, as it was filled with all sorts of unique objects, from the war clubs and javelins of the South Sea Islanders to antique curiosities of every con- ceivable kind, for the professor was an industri- ous collector of everything out of the common under the sun that his purse would permit him to secure. The floor was covered with rugs, and a big bookcase, filled to overflowing, took up the whole of one side of the apartment. Cyril knocked twice on the door without receiving an answer; but this was not surprising, as the pro- fessor was a trifle deaf, and the storm, now central above the island, made a great racket. Under these circumstances Cyril took the liberty of turning the knob and opening the door. As he did so a tremendous shock swayed the house from roof to basement. The boys were dashed against the corner of the bookcase as if seized and flung there by a giant hand. Every object in the room, including the lean form of 'Profés- sor Euclid, who was bending over his writing table, in the center of the room, under the clow of a swinging bronze lamp, was for the moment lit up with a dazzling. supernatural sort of glare, the professor himself seeming to be the very center of the electrical display, while the roar of the explosion filled the boys’ ears with a stun- ning violence that cannot be described: The house had been struck by a thunderbolt. CHAPTER III.—What Happened to the Pro- ; fessor. ; It was several moments after the light had faded from the room, leaving everything appar- ently as it was before, that the boys recovered their faculties and their feet. They heard the clatter of Mrs. Benson’s shoes on the stairs, and presently the startled face of the housekeeper appeared at the door. “Goodness gracious!” she exclaimed, in a quav- ering voice. “Has the house’ been struck by lightning?” “T guess it was,” replied Cyril. “Will and I were knocked all of a heap up against the book- a. Never felt such.a shock in my life, did you, Jj =. “J should say not,” answered his chum, who was partly dazed yet from the shaking-up he had been subjected to. Another brillant flash lit up the reom and the landscape outside and another terrific peal of thunder shook the atmosphere. Mrs. Benson screamed and covered her head with her apron. Bath boys turned pale and shivered for a mo- ment, for their nerves had been badly upset. The - most remarkable feature of it all was that Pro- fessor Euclid never stirred or seemed the least bit disturbed by it all. He continued to lean over the table in the same attitude the boys had no- ticed when they started to enter the room. It was the attitude of one engaged in writing. The bronze Aztec vase was propped up befsre him, - as if it engaged his attention. Several of the en or ai < eis: ae eg ek sid ss RSE ey eRe as Pee eee we Te a

Page 6

“ees FACING THE. MEXICANS = displaced by the shock the house had undergone, among other things an expensive glass jar from the ruins of Pompeii, presented to the professor by an old college friend, and which he prized highly, which lay in a thousand pieces at the base of the mantel. The rain beat down heavier than ever upon the roof and against the windows. It seemed to be coming down in sheets. “Gee whiz! how it is pouring!” exclaimed Will, when the blue glare of ‘the lightning had died ; out of the room again. pee y “I should say it is,” replied Cyril. “But I say, old man, has the professor gone stone deaf all _ at once? He hasn’t moved since we entered the yoom.” Mrs. Benson uncovered her head as the boy spoke and looked toward her master. The lamp above the table, which had been swinging to and fro, now came to a rest, and its soft light shone clear and bright upon the motionless figure be- neath. As the three gazed in great wonderment upon the learned little man, who might have been taken for a graven image, for all the sign of ; life he exhibited, some hing glistening dropped Pe from the celling ‘and settled upon the old man’s _ bald head. It was a bi drop of water. A second drop followed and settled beside the other, and then came a third and fourth in quick succession, If anything should have disturbed the nrofessor, that ought to have done it. He never made.a sign that he felt it. At that moment Mrs. Ben- son uttered an exclamation and pointed to the celling above her master’s head. The boys’ eyes followed the direction indicated by her finger and saw a small, dark hole that seemed to have been - ‘punctured through the white plaster by a hot - iron. Moisture was gathering about it and dis- charging itself in drops upon the professor’s head. = =ay. gracious!” cried Cyril. “What does this -~ mean? The housekeeper, struck by a sudden presenti- ~ ment of evil, rushed up to Professor Euclid and _». looked into his set face, at the same time laying her hand upon his arm. Then she uttered a scream that brought the boys to her side. “Merciful heaven!” she exclaimed. “He is dead!” “Dead!” eeecbd the two lads in one breath. Yes. Professor Euclid was, indeed, dead. Killed in the fraction of a second by the bolt of lightning which had entered by the roof, passed through his body and thence through the rug to - the boards of the flooring, whence in some unac- ~ countable way it had been deflected to the side of the room, leaving a blazed trail behind it. As - they straightened the professor up they observed a blistered patch of skin upon the front of his skull, where the flesh beneath looked discolored. His eyes were wide open, and he looked so life- like the boys could hardly believe he was really dead. Cyril found it difficult to remove : a from his stiffened fingers. his is terrible,” aoe he liked his old instructor. Will oe said nothing, but he showed that upset. “Weld better lay him out on the sofa,” Cyril curiosities scattered about the room had been he said, with some emotion, gentleman! He was a kind and master!” “Come, Will, lend a hand,” said Cyril. As they straightened the old man’s limbs upon — the lounge Will pointed to his left trouser’s leg. 2 The lightning had ripped if from the waistband straight down to the top of the gaiter, which was also rent into a shapeless piece of leather. 4 “He never knew what struck him, Cyril,” said Will, with a mournful shake of his head. “Then he couldn’t have suffered anything.” Cyril removed the coverlet from the professor’s bed, which stood in the alcove, and covered the body from view. a “We feel very sorry for you, Mrs. Benson,” he — said to the distressed housekeeper. “If we can ~ be of any assistance in this unforeseen emergency we will gladly do what we can.” “Thank you, young gentlemen. It is very good of you, and I shan’t forget it,” replied Mrs. Ben- son. “As soon as the storm is over you had better — notify the coroner. And you ought to telegraph Professor Euclid’s nephew, Robert Morrison, who lives in Harlem, sight away. I will get you his address.” Mrs. Benson rose, “dried her eyes and left the chamber of death. The boys went to one of the — windows and looked out. The rain was still fall- — ing in a lively fashion, but the storm itself had ~ passed off oceanward. = = “Tt is clearing up fast,” remarked Will. “It was short, but mighty fierce while it lasted. — Poor old professor! Who would have expected — Ps have ‘gone off like this?” said Cyril, = sa “TL seems to be the unexpected that always happens.” . : “What shall we do now for an instructor?” Will shook his - head gloomily. =e “J give it up,” he answered. “You will have ~ to cable your father for instructions, as he left — you in charge of Professor Euclid.” aS “We may have to. give up our vacation trip to Mexico, where the professor was going to tobe. ‘= us.” indulgent “Oh, I guess we’re old enough to go by our- selves,” = “Well, it depends on what my governor says. He has considerable confidence in my ability tat look out for myself, so I don’t think he will veto a any reasonable plans we may form for the sum- mer.” r ; “T should hope not. As to my father, he’s fectly satisfied when I’m in your company; there- fore there won’t be any kick coming from him. The boys came to a pause beside the table at which the old professor had been engaged be * struck down. : “He was writing something,” said Cyril, look- ing at a thick note-book, in which Professor Bu- clid, in his erabbed hand, had closely scrawled a great many lines, the last “word ending abruptly. <3 There were several open note-books near, the ex- posed pages of-which were inscribed with sirange: a characters, and there was a big printed volu lying close to where the old man’s elbow hi been, which was opened at a page covered 3 similar, but enlarged, characters. “He was translating that inscription. 4 ‘on e,” ill, pointing at the Aztec re

Page 7

: FACING THE MEXICANS e 5 “T believe he was,” said Cyril, snatching up the note-book and scanning the professor’s penman- ship, which was not easy to read. *“What does it say?” asked Will, eagerly. : “You'll have to give me time to decipher his oe pothooks—they are something weird in their - Way.” CHAPTER IV.—What Professor Euclid Wrote Before He Died. Cyril sat down in the chair lately occupied by the dead professor and began to study the writ- » Ing. As . slowly made out the meaning of the ' words he grew intensely excited. Will, leaning over him, and also taking in the sense of the manuscript, shared in the feeling which agitated _ his chum. By slow degrees they mastered all * that Professor Euclid had written down up to the - moment he had. been so suddenly taken from the * world. It ran as follows: “June 13, 190— “At last the dream of my life is about to be realized. I have this_day come into possession of an Aztec vase of priceless value—priceless ---hecause it conveys the secret I have long searched iz r in vain, a secret hidden from the world for ie centuries. On this vase is an inscription in Aztec hieroglyphics intelligible only to him who by profound study’ and long research is able to translate the meaning thereof. This inscription is the key to the location of the lost mines of Montezuma IL., sealed up by the king’s orders, that they might escape spoliation at the hands of the victorious Spanish adventurer, Hernando . Cortez, and his followers. It was engraved on this vase by an artist of the first order in the = empire, who was immediately put to death when he had finished his work, that the secret might remain alone with the king himself. Cortez knew that these mines, incomparably rich in gold and silver oréf existed, and by some means it came to his knowledge that the secret of their location _ had been engraved upon a bronze vase of peculiar workmanship; but threats, and even torture, sepiuiled to make the captive Montezuma disclose wd it had been hidden, and the most diligent search of the country failed to reveal the where _ abouts of the mines. After four hundred years this vase has turned up in the city of New York, was yesterday purchased for a song by a eee 2 pupil of mine, Cyril Young, from whom I . — wed it. The translation of this in- = Seription has not been an easy matter even for "7 me, who is regarded as an expert in the language and hierogiyphics of the Aztec people, I will + Jot it down here in its most lucid shape, that I "May profit by the wonderful intelligence it. _ conveys. _~. “The Jos: mines lie in the heart of the Della : a mountains, that mark-the boundary between ~ the States of Hidalgo and Della Cruz. The exact et is one hundyéd and fifty miles southeast of —— ie city of Mexico, and is marked by a low, flat placed within. the mines for safety. When the morning sun has risen to a point in the heavens that the two ends of a line drawn exactly through its center will rest upon each of the twin peaks the extreme point of the shadow cast down the valley by the peaks should be marked at the same time. At a certain spot an imaginary line, in- tersecting these two points—the spot cannot be mistaken, for from there you can see—— Here Professor Euclid’s description terminated, for at that point his life went out like the snuf- fing of a candle. . “Too bad,” remarked Cyril, as he looked up into his friend’s face. “The most important part of the description, probably, will remain a ost quantity.” . “What do you think of it, Cyril?” asked. Will, in a voice of excited interest. “I think we have reached the borderland of a wonderful discovery.” 4 “That’s what I think, too. The professor was a most astonishing man. Without his» minute knowledge of the country of the Aztecs and the history. of that peculiar race, I am satisfied that a literal translation of the meaning of the hiero- glyphics on that vase, if made by an ordinary expert, would have been valueless at this day, after the lapse of four hundred years.” “You are right, Will. Its meaning could only be made clear by the mental fetrospect in eonnec- tion with an absolute familiarity with conditions as they existed at the time the mine was sealed a Montezuma. I am satisfied the professor had all the landmarks down fine, and that he alone of all men in this world could have laid his finger upon the lost entrance to those mines.” “Had he but lived a few minutes longer am “Will, there is something weird about this thing.” ' “What do you mean?” asked his chum, a bit startled by his friend’s manner. “I mean that it almost looks as if the Deity does not intend that the lost mines of Montezuma should be brought to light.” ' “Why do you think so?” “Because of the strange and instantaneous manner of the professor’s death.” “T can’t sée the point.” i “Notice how the description breaks off. ‘The spot cannot be mistaken, for from there you can see——’.. He was on the point of noting down a vital clue. Some natural landmark, perhaps, which marks the entrance to the mines. Half a dozen more words would probably have be- .trayed the secret, and yet those half a dozen words were fated never to be written.” “Pshaw!” replied Will. “It’s simply a mere coincidence that the professor was struck down at that particular point in his description. It would have answered better, if Heaven intended the mines to remain forever a mystery, that the vase should not have reached the professor’s eye at all. The fact that it did come to the attention - ‘of the one man, of all others, able to read and apply his knowledge to a practical translation of the hieroglyphi« inscription shows there is:no special reason why the secret of the mines should not come out some iime.”. “There is sense im your argument, T\admit;~ ©© but-——” ne Paces =<

Page 8

“ “Come off, Cyril; you’re getting superstitious, aren’t you?” : me “It isn’t that, old fellow. The Deity may have -- had His reason for permitting the professor to so far in his description as a warning = ~8T> whom? Not to Professer Euclid himself, for he is past such a thing.” “To you and I, who were bound to find the writing.” _/ “Don’t get dopy, Cyril: Put that book into your pocket, roll up the vase, for it belongs to you, and let’s get to town to notify the coroner. Hur- ry up) for I hear Mrs. Benson coming upstairs. She went to get the address of the professor’s nephew, to whom we are to telegraph the melan- choly news.” Cyril thought his chum’s advice good and fol- lowed it. He had just finished wrapping up the Aztec relie when the housekeeper re-entered the reom. ; “Here is Mr. Morrison’s address, Master Cyril. I mislaid it and it took me some time to find it. I hope you will excuse the delay.” “Don’t mention it, Mrs. Benson.” * ~ “We ought to send some one to keep you com- ‘pany, Mrs. Benson, don’t you think?” suggest Will. ' e _ “Well,” she replied thankfully, “if you don’t > mind calling in at Major Bradford’s, the first --. house you come to on the road below, and tell z him what has happened, I shall consider it a favor.” “Certainly, Mrs. Benson,” replied Cyril. will do that with pleasure.” The boys went downstairs, got their wheels and started off. They stopped at Major Bradford’s house, communicated the sad news of the profes- sor’s death, and then went on again. At the Young mansion they stopped long enough for Cyril to take the precious Aztec vase to his room, and then they continued on to the town, where aA they hunted up the coroner and informed him of f» i : at what ite width

Page 9

“Well, I'll tell you how that might be arrived at,” said Cyril, reflectively. aE: ; “How?” asked Will, with some eagerness. — ”- “Tf we were on the spot, and had ascertained the exact position of the imaginary line in ques- _ tion, by starting out, each of us from the opposite points of the shadow, as previously marked ac- cording to the directions, and walking slowly = teward a common center, we might, by keeping our eyes carefully upon the center of the low, - flat-topped mountain, reach that particular point _- where one of us would see——” ; “What?” grinned Will. Pa “J can’t say what, of course; but it must be. | something out of the ordinary in the landscape which is invisible to the eye except when the ob- Server is in one particular position.” : “But, Cyril, while, by following out your direc- - tions, we might actually see the landmark in question, it might not of itself be peculiar enough to attract our attention; while if we knew what - the landmark was we should then be in a posi- _ tion to identify it the moment our eyes lighted emit.” : _/ “Bxactly, Will; but we don’t know what the landmark, as we presume the unknown clue to be, is, and no amount of guesswork on our part _ will supply the deficiency. The professor’s life was cut off at a most inopportune moment. Had lived to write even three or four words more, _ the key of the situation would probably now be ~__ in our hands.” ; “That’s right,” nodded Will, with a lugubrious expression on his face. “Still, what good would that do us, unless we went to Mexico and made “use of our knowledge on the spot?” : “We intended to go to Mexico this summer, did- _ n’t we?” 5 ; - “Under the professor’s guidance—tyes. _ “Well, what’s the matter with our going, any- way, on*our own responsibility?” “Do you mean that, Cyril Young?” Sl do.” é os: ~ Will sat back in his chair and looked at his chum a moment or two without speaking. _ “And is it your idea to make your way into ‘the heart of the Della Cruz mountains at a point hundred and fifty miles southeast of the city ~ of Mexico?” he asked at length. : “It is,” replied Cyril, coolly. ; _ “Without a more tangible clue than we possess in the professor’s notebook?” “Yes.” - Fie of course, you expect me to go along th you?” Beles ianan ek poate eid | ‘surprise = an to e Corney?” in ise. ats Do you object to him?” I rather like the idea of > him along. But will he go?” ; 3 I’m going to write to the governor to-morrow in particulars of the professor’s death. ould be of little use to cable the bare fact aid have to send a letter anyway. I'll tell 7S 6a ee aa , Se re t our plans for the summer are, Shic’ permission to éarry them out.” | FACING THE MEXICANS 7 _“And you think he will agree to let the three of us—you, I and Corney—make this proposed trip to Mexico?” “T think he will,” replied Cyril, confidently. “If he will, it will be simply great,” cried Will, with sparkling eyes. “We'll have the time of our lives, whether we find anything out about the Montezuma mines or not.” “Well, I’m-going especially to investigate the professor’s description. Somehow I’ve great faith in the idea that something is going to come of it. I shall be sure of it the moment my eyes actually rest on those twin peaks with the low, flat mountain midway between them. I’m curious to learn just what the missing clue is, and if there is such a thing as finding it out I’m going to do it.” : Cyril spoke in a determined way that showed he meant every word he spoke. He had plenty of American pluck and energy—dqualities he in- herited from his father, who had started out in life a poor boy, without friends or influence, and — made a place and financial standing for himself before he reached the age of forty. Cyril was as good as his word about writing to his father next morning. While awaiting a reply, which he did rot expect before the first : week in July, the two boys employed the time making preparations for the proposed trip which they confidently expected to make. They got books descriptive of Mexico, its topography, cli- mate, inhabitants, mode of living there, and a —_ of other details which they felt they ought to know. All this in addition to the copious information the dead professor had already imparted to them at odd intervals. They proposed to make the journey to the city of Mexico in the ordinary guise of tourists, but after that they expected te rough it, for they had no idea how long they would remain in the Della Cruz mountains pro- secuting their seach after the lost mines of the Montezuma. Corney McFaul was delighted with the idea of accompanying Cyril and Will to Mex- . ico, or anywhere, in fact. As a matter of fact, z he would have been just as ready to go with : them to the North Pole, if that had been the : object of their journey. At last the expected ~ letter arrived, and it contained the much-desired permission for Cyril to go to Mexico with his comrades, as originally determined: on when it was expected that Professor Euclid would head the party. Mr. Young enclosed a couple of pages of practical advice. In his opinion it did well-. = balanced boys a world of good to be thrown upon _ a their own resources and compelled to look out for themselves. It imparted to them a degree of confidence not otherwise obtainable and gave them the opportunity to accumulate valuable experience. ah ae tnt which carriéd them Phe. tpn PEK:

Page 10

CHAPTER VI—Pepita. “Be the piper that played before Moses, what do yez call that?” exclaimed Corney McFaul,, on the third day after the boys had left the city of Mexico. : They were traveling along a dustry country road leading toward the southeast in a general way. Suddenly around the turn in the road swung an old, decrepit diligence—a sort of four- wheeled public stage-coach. It swayed to and fro on its springs like a small lugger in a cross sea. This crazy-looking conveyance was filled with male and female Mexicans of the lower or- der, who were chattering together like a lot of jes. The driver was lashing his team of i . four stout mules into a-run, while on the sea _ beside him and on the roof were half a dozen picturesquely clad natives of the country, smok- ing the everlasting cigarette with the utmost _composure, in spite of the jerky motion of their vehicle. “That’s a Mexican diligence,” replied Cyril, in answer to Corney’s exclamation. “A diligence, is it? Faith, it seems to be all comin’ apart, and it’s full of payple, too.” “Don’t worry, Corney; it isn’t going to come to pieces. It’s good for many moons yet,” laughed Cyril. With a rush and clatter the vehicle flew at them, the. passengers inside craning their necks to get a view of the boys, as much a curiosity to them as they were to the lads. “It’s pipin’ us off they are, do yez notice?” grinned Corney, doffing his big hat to a pretty senorita, who smiled back at him and showed him a set of ivory teeth. “Do yez moind that, now? Shure, it’s a bit of = a Don Juan I am wid the ladies.” z “You'd better look out, Corney. It’s a danger- =p ous matter to flirt with the Mexican girls. They’ve nearly all got sweethearts, and it doesn’t take much more than a wink to make those chaps jealous.” an “There’s a stream we're looking for, Cyril,” ‘said Will, at this point, waving his arm toward a a glittering streak of water issuing from among the foothills and crossing the road about a quar- ter of a mile ahead. ) When they came to it they turned off toward a grove of trees, beneath which they tethered ; their animals with long ropes, after relieving the mule of its load. They built a small fire to make some coffee, which they sweetened with con- - ¢densed milk, while the rest of their al fresco : was made of American canned goods, with maize bread they had procured at a small farmhouse, as they called it, where they had picked up a breakfast that morning. ey talked and. dozed ynder the trees for the best of the afternoon, until ‘the heat of the day somewhat subsided, when they resumed their j ey. Thus several days passed, and they : nearer and nearer to the Della Cruz moun- tains, whose outlines they could make ‘out above the distant horizon. Sunday afternoon found them resting in a shady spot within forty miles of the mountain range, which filled the horizon HE i at Yee are eee Oe ee =~ 2 eee Se ieee a ee es tk 1S — eer gt mgt lig TSE set aac pa erie ie ne, the eye ‘could reach... of his sails, as it were. His MEXICANS — Bs: Will and Corney had gore to sleep, but somehow or other Cyril didn’t feel at all drowsy. > y He tried to pass away the time studying a small handbook of the Spanish language, in which the three boys had made some progress since they started from their home on Staten Island, but- the effort was a failure. So he put the book into his pocket and started to wander off about — - the neighborhood. He came at length to a weljl- ~~ beaten path. ‘ Following this, he passed through a cactus hedge, which had hitherto obscured his view, and found himself in a large grove of pepper and mesquite trees, whose feathery leaves cast delicate shadows on the white ground. A stream ran along the path, and he crossed it further on by means of stepping-stones made out of horses’ skulls. : “Gracious!” he exclaimed, in some surprise, “this is a new kind of bridge for cressing water. I wonder what great head originated such a scheme?” The cacti that girdled the grove were of gi- gantic growth, and of the grotesque and even - gruesome shapes, and in the dusk of the evening one might even fancy them the grim guardians of some iy it castle beyond. Never having seen anything like them before, Cyril paused to ex- amine them with the interest of a curiosity- hunter. While thus engaged he thought he heard voices not far away. This fact did not disturb ‘ him, though in all probability he was trespassing on some wealthy Mexican’s property. Suddenly, however, he was startled by hearing a woman’s seream. Then came the light patter of fleeing feet, mingled with the sound of heavier steps, apparently in pursuit. : “What’s this I’m up against?” Cyril asked him- ~~ self, wonderingly. The sounds drew nearer rapidly, and above them the boys heard the frightened exclamations of a female interspersed with the fuller tones of a man’s excited voice, All at once a lovely Spanish girl, attired in a brieht-hued skirt, and a black lace mantilla supported by a high hack comb, dashed into the opening where Cyril stood. A terrified expression rested on her beautiful — olive countenance and shone from the depths of her liquid jet-black tyes. She appeared almost _ exhausted and at her wit’s end. As she caught ~_ a glimpse of the handsome, stalwart American ~~ boy she uttered a little.cry of hope and, rushing — forward, threw herself almost on her knees at. his feet, cryirig, in Spanish: y, y “Save me, senor! Save me!” 3 While Cyril did not exactly understand the words, her meaning was. sufficiently clear. She was fleeing from some danger, and was begging for protection. Cyril was not a boy to desert any woman in distress, least of all so young and — pretty a specimen of real Andalusian loveliness. So he came to the scratch like the brave young — American he was. = “Tl protect you all right,” he replied, in good old Anglo-Saxon, and his attitude, though she did not understand his words, reassured the girl, for she rose and nestled close to his side, just ~ as a splendid specimen of a Mexican ranchman =. hove into view, and then stopped suddenly at the unexpected picture befcre him. male Tor the moment the wind was all taken oj of motu Jook ee Te VR NOD ROR AS ope ee

Page 11

FACING THE MEXICANS =a - ment, iadoally yielded to a menacing expression. ‘sharply in Spanish. Cyril understood what she With a smothered curse he advanced upon the said. It was short and to the point—an impera- peeking girl and her intrepid protecter. tive request for the gentleman in the leather . = “What does this mean?” he demanded, haught- jeans to depart. The Mexican didn’t like it for =~ _ ily, in Spanish, not a word of which the boy a cent, and half drew his gun, as if he meant — BS understood. to polish off the senorita’s defender first and ra - Cyril made no reply, probably because he did settle with the lady herself afterward. For a not know how to make himself understood to this moment things looked serious, for Cyril, with sk - picturesque-looking Mexican, who seemed to be red-hot American grit, had his revolver out and _ proudly conscious of his peaked, cart-wheel hat, ready for instant use, while at the same ; Sided down with gold and silver braid, his clank- time he proudly moved from behind the shelter =: 5 ain spurs, his revolvers depending from his hips ef Pepita’s person: ; = in embroidered holsters, his short and jaunty “Senorita Pepita has asked you to go, senor,” : _ eat with its silver clasps, and last, but not least, he remarked, coolly. “So I think it’s time you his skin-tight leather ae that —. have took a walk.” = drawn on as carefully as a pair of new . AONE Ty gts ° gloves. The Mexican repeated his remark, with = kill Pc =. ere age Modine. ‘sundry additions and every token of impatience, is interesting junc anewer ae ddenly appeared on the scene. He was an ~ he was not in s humor to be elterly man of pleasing and rather dignified per- sonality.. His attire was somewhat similar to rea worn by Senor Gonzalez, bans vs bart sub- —. dued. His appearance was received by Senorita == CHAPTER VIl.—Cyril Stands Between Pepita pepita with a little scream of satisfaction, and sae and Senor Gonzales. she flew at once to his side and ~E aoe = to him at a great rate, and in no little excite- ~ : “I don’t understand a word you say,” blurted ment, pointing at Cyril and then at Garcia Gon- | out Cyril, half-defiantly Ys for he was determined jajez The Mexican was clearly discomfited by 7 ogi fo tar stand by the beautiful girl who had thrown thi, unexpected addition to the proceedings, for = 4: _— < = herself upon his protection. ; . without another word he turned upon his heel — 3 ___ “Ha! Un Americano!” exclaimed the Mexi- and stroke off down the path and was soon lost ean, with a disagreeable smile. s beyond the cactus wall. Then the elderly gentle- ‘ _ , Yes. I’m an American all right,” replied the men advanced, held out his hand to Cyril with = Rey, coolly. = a smile, and greeted him in Spanish. The boy _~ ee. “You a not speak Spanish, eh? understood him, but replied in English. (aes “ <a “Muy poco” (very little), answered Cyril. “Ah! You are an American, are you not?” — Se ee here? asked Seg cmpartorey in excellent English. a ages “Tam is Cyri 5 zs eset “A walk?” sneered the Mexican. “This is the js in New Youk, — oy oung, and my-home Fe 2 ae hacienda—of Don Jose Calderon. “I am happy to make your acquaintance. Allow ‘ou have no right here, senor.’ .. me to introduce myself. I am Don Jose Calderon. _ -All right. Perhaps you'll tell me who this his is my hacienda. Permit me’ to make you is?” o known to my only child, Senorita Pepita.” ° “What a Fepita, sengher of Don Jose. ioe Cyril removed his hat and bowed politely to ed Sh e trou . etween you foe the the handsome young lady, who returned the bs ¥ ie does not seewh to care for your -ainte in a most bewitching manner, as her ~ father said something to her in Spanish. “That is my business, senor,” replied the Mexi- * : ‘ean, somewhat fiercely. “You will leave her to Pepita tells me you rescued her from the — = Do you understand?” undesirable attentions of Senor Gonzalez, for “Excuse me, senor, but the senorita has claim- whom shé has a strong aversion. Indeed, I my- — ed my protection for some reason which points poe — a oo not ~Apeany* upon this acienda again, bu seems ave disregarded ; Lymn. Under the circumstances I cannot desert <= com Ag He wishes to be eonside red. “. “Tot t : suitor for my child’s hand, but ave to m is “Hat ee Oecent” cmt eg roe that is quite imposible. His conduct to her this pping his hand on the butt of one of his afternoon will make it impossible for him to ~~ present —— a, her a I thank you all ‘this ti for interfering in Pepita’s beh and offer you Senorit = ie Ponkia, wie watching the nd anes the hospitality of my hacienda as long as you fely, but not understanding a word that passed * choose to remain.” sen them, saw the man’s action, and, with a Don Jose spoke with the polished courtesy of | m, sprang in front of Cyril as if to protect a Spanish grandee of the old school, and his The boy, however, was not taken un- Manner showed that he was grateful to - res, just the same. His hand was on his own for what he had done. ‘as quick as was the other’s, and the Mexican “I thank you very much for your invitati ’ that he was not going to get the drop on his Dan Jose,” answered the boy, “but I am ing adversary as easily as he had supposed I shall not be able to accept your Boe, i as I have two companions in the wood’ who are probably joa te me to return Py shal be } mba!” he exclainied, furiously. a, who coud te hire: cemmeieed, her- -self- stamped her foot and said something

Page 12

“in my invitation. Can you not prevail on them* ~ to spend a few days with us.” ~ He then said something to Pepita in her na- ' tive tongue, whereupon she ran forward and ad- ‘dressed Cyril in Spanish in ‘a most captivating way, the sense of which he clearly understood, though most of her words, spoken so rapidly, were Greek to him. She was adding her en- __ treaties to her father’s request, and what could _* the boy do in the face of so charming a pleader _- but agree to bring his friends to the hacienda at once. . = “J will send one of my people with you,” said : Don Jose, putting a silver whistle to his lips -and blowing a shrill blast. “He will guide you Tight to our door.” peon @ressed out in his best togs soon appeared. Don Jose addressed him in Spanish, ‘whereupon the man turned, bowed to Cyril and ~ intimated that he was at his service. Cyril then took temporary leave of the Spaniard and his lovely daughter and returned with the servitor to the wood, where he found Will and Corney - impatiently awaiting his appearance. The Irish - boy was making preparations for supper. : “You needn’t bother getting supper to-night, - Corney,” said Cyril. : “Why, not, sor? Shute, this is not a fast — day, at all, at all,” in surprise. ' “Of course not, Corney. Sunday -is generally a 9a day,” grinned the leader of the expedi- He then briefly explained to his companion that he had accepted the invitation of Dan Jose Cal- deron, proprietor of an adjacent hacienda, for _ the three to spend a day or two at his place. “Shure, that’s foine,” replied Corney, with a grin of satisfaction. The pack mule was reloaded with their effects, and the three boys, preceded by Don Jose’s servi- tor, tock up their line of march for the hacienda. CHAPTER VIII.—At the Calderon Hacienda. Nothing in Mexico ages but the people, and he smaliest of them are seldom young. Hence it was a matter of no surprise to Cyril and Will, r having passed through the -cactus grove and emerged into the great space before the long cant buildings which constituted the hacienda, g so fresh in its clean coat of pink and 3 kalsomine, to learn that this house was Mece” rand dred years old. Great doors flanked each side of the main entrance, through which the three boys were piloted into. the central t where they were courteously received by Jose, Donna Calderon—his wife—and Sen- ita Pepita. The ground was paved with well- - ibbed cobblestones, laid in geometrical design, ‘ile lofty pecan trees shaded the enclosure. ant roses bloomed here the year around. : “The boys were duly impressed by their recep- , and Will was particularly struck with the ita; but ieet lovely maiden had eyes only in the shade Be st left, Misther Corney, with'a Pepi es: FACING THE MEXICANS the Ca their eyes, which is a moighty convaynient way — for exprissin’ wan’s silf sometoimes, so it is.” ; “You’re right, Corney,” replied Will, with a shade of annoyance in his tone. “It looks as if : my name was mud in that direction.” = “Don’t yez moind, me b’y; there are others. The woods are full, so they are, wid purty girls z down here. I’ve seen so many of thim since we lift El Paso that me heart is broke wid kapin’ — track of ’em.” ; The donna spoke a little English, but the bur-- ; den of entertaining the guests was thrown upon Don Jose’s shoulders. Cyril tried his best to make himself understood by Pepita, and was sat- isfied he was making a wretched failure of it. Notwithstanding that fact, they seemed to finda good deal of satisfaction in each other’s com- | pany. The sencrita could certainly talk with her eyes to the queen’s taste, and that is a language — that is current the world over. It is rather a dangerous method of communication between two such young and impressionable people as Cyril 4 and Pepita. The young American, however, was not- accustomed to flee from danger, while the Spanish girl loved to coquette with it, so by the time they all went into one of the main rooms | of the hacienda, all of which were grouped — =e around the central patio, for the evening meal, Cyril and Pepita were more than half in love with each other, The only adornment on the walls of the dining-room, to Will’s surprise, were illustrations setting forth the virtues of Chihua- hua beer. What bothered Corney very much was the fact that the table, which was in the center — of the room, was very high, while the chairs were very low; consequently when he sat down his. chin was practically on the Jevel with the — tablecloth. See “Howly Moses!” he whispered to Will. “How — are we to ate at all, at all?” “When you ’re in Rome you must do as the Romans do,” grinned Will. “Well, it’s moighty convaynient, so it is, ge: chune bits, to wipe your mouth on the table- cloth.” The table was waited on by little brown Wess : as Corney called them, whose cocoanut-shaped heads were thatched with mops of black hair. — At last the meal was over and all adjourned to the ground sala, or best room of the house, the ees floor of which was covered with marble — tiles. ape was -very anxious to know where Cyril and his friends were going. She asked him the question in Spanish several times before he got hold of the drift of her remark. Cyril answered her by telling her father that they were going to the mountains of Della Cruz, and he translated it to her. She looked a bit disturbed at this, and asked her father to tell Cyril that was a dangerous place on account of the robbers who lurked in its fastnesses. ; He found out that it was strongly suenee by the family that Senor Garcia Gonzalez connected with those rascals. At any ra was on account of his shady reputation tha’ society was not welcome at the Calderor haci The boys were persuaded to stay two“weeks made deron home, and caring this a great progress int the Spanish tin y in Pep cae

Page 13

ha FACING THE MEXICANS —_ ae > ie - 7 -by acquiring herself quite an insight into the Bosh . Will declared that it was the funniest ‘thing in the world to hear them talk together; but as they appeared to enjoy it, nobody had a right to kick. - “Begorra! it’s a pair of turtle doves they look loike, do yez moind?” grinned Corney, one morn- ing. “He'll be able to walk Spanish as well as it wan of these foine days.” “Tt’s about time we got a move on, if we’re going to find those lost mines of Montezuma,” said Will, who was all eagerness to get down to business once more. “Faith, they won’t run away bekase we’re Tistin’ our tin toes here, Misther Will. It’s moighty hot in the sun, do yez moind, and I'd sooner sit here under wan of these gumbo trees——” “Pecan trees, you mean,” laughed Will. “Peekan, is it? Shure, it’s right yez are, for Wan can peek ’round thim at a purty senorita at the other soide of the coort,” grinned Corney. “Funny boy. Do you know, Corney, some of your jokes make me weary?” : “Ts that a fact? Thin yez moight lie down in the shade and slape it off.” : . “Come off. I say, now, aren’t you tired of this humdrum loafing about this old hacienda, with no one to speak to who understands you but the old tleman?” 5 “Tt’s betther than hard wurrub wid the tim- perature at sivin hundred in the shade.” “What's that? Seven hundred!” @Well, it fales loike it, at any rate, so it does. Be the sivin bugles that played before Jericho, I’ve been parboiled iver since Pve been in the counthry.” aS = ! I’m going to stir Cyril up a bit. We can’t stay here forever.” And so it camie about that Cyril Young reluc- tantly decided that it was time for the party to take up their line of march once more for the Della Cruz mountains. “CHAPTER IX.—The Twin Peaks. Four days later they were among the foot- hills of the Della Cruz mountains. “Now,” said Cyril, “we must keep our eyes skinned for the twin peaks, mentioned in the pro- fessor’s note-book.” : : ; “That’s what,” replied Will. “The question is, Are they straight ahead, or off to the right or to the left? If we go in the wrong direction we Shall waste days in useless hot-footing.” _ “J mean to inquire of the natives until I get some clue to their whereabouts.” — “That will be the best way,” agreed Will. “You're beginning to handle the Spanish lan- we pretty cleverly.” ee ohove. ahr wouldn’t he, wid such a purty l as the Senorita Pepita at his elbow all the estony day to teach him the ins and outs of the language?” grinned Corney. “Faith it was ‘Oursilves thot was jealous of yez, So we. were.” *“Pon’t blush, old chap,” laughed Will. “We you were pretty hard hit.” ei “What nonsense!” replied Cyril, with a rosy \ 11 The road they were now traversing was lined with immense palms, with great broad leaves, while here and there they noted the castor-oil trees. The orchids hung on the taller trees, or sat in nests in the crotch, parasitic plants of every color making the trees into nosegays. E “Faith, this is a wonderful country, so it is,” remarked Corney. “It has ould Oireland baten to a shtandstill for color.” About nine miles up the road wound around a gorge. They left the road and followed it until they came to one of the most beautiful waterfalls théy had ever seen. The hills rose all around it a thousand feet or more, and the sides of these hills from base to peak were densely covered with trees, whose leaves were almost a solid mass of green. The white water leaped from this green center a hundred or two hundred feet into a curling, foaming river below. The boys, after pausing a while to admire the picture, rode down into a kind of valley, narrow and sinuous. At length, as dusk was falling, they came suddenly upon a break in the lower hills. The breach was quite wide, the elevations curving away to the eastward. As they rode toward it, thinking it was high time to bivouac for the night, Cyril all at once reined in his animal and, gripping Will by the arm, pointed right ahead. “The twin peaks!” he cried, in a voice that tingled with excitement. “Do you see them, Will, and the filat-top mountain between, just a® Pro- fessor Euclid described the scene? I have no longer any doubt but that we are in the presence of the lost mines of the Montezumas.” “T see them,” responded Will, the blood rush- ing tumultuously through his veins as he looked. “The sun throws their shadows down this valley in the morning. Just to think, old man, we are now -actually looking upon the very picture, a representation of which I drew in your reom on the night of the professor’s death. It hardly seems true.” * = “The peaks are alike as two pears, aren’t they?” ; “They certainly are. Exactly the same height. The ends of a ruler long enough to span them would rest evenly on the top of each.” - “So thim are the pakes yez have been in search of?” said Corney, wonderingly. “Yes, Corney, those are the real things.” “And where moizht thim moines be? “That’s what we-have to find out.” “And yez are goin’ to do thot wid the sun’s shadder—is thot a fact?” : “We're going to try. Whether we will suc- ceed or not is another question.” ‘Tt’s to be hoped yez will. Are we goin’ to thravel all night or not?” “No. There a stream of water yonder. We'll pitch our tent beside it,” The horses and mule were soon tethered to stakes on the grassy hillside, and it was not long before Corney had a fire kindled and supper under way. The boys were hungry, all right, after their long ride from their last resting-place, and when everything was ready they did ample justice to the food and the fine Mexican coffee, which the Irish boy knew how to prepare in _ great style. They turned in early, for they were eager to begin operations, and all night long Cyril and Wiil dreamed of glittering gold mines in \

Page 14

the heart of the mountains, while Corney’s slum- the hg disturbed by visions of the bandits of hills. Sere eR X.—What Corney Saw in the Moun- 3 tain Side. The boys were up early next morning, and the first thing they did when they came out of the tent was to cast their eyes toward the twin peaks that stood out bold and clear against a cloudless sky. “Tt was on top of that flat mountain that the altar _of the chief gold Huitzilopochtli stood,” said Cyril, in a tone of great interest. “It is so stated in the histories of the Aztec es eople,” nodded Will. “If we went up there I re say we might find some remains of the sacrificial stone still in existence. They were mighty big, solid-looking blocks.” “I suppose the people gather all around here during the sacrifices.” > “Probably. According to the pictures I’ve seen of the subject, they got as close to the stone as their numbers permitted.” - “Many thousands yielded up their lives on that ~ mountain, I’ve no doubt.” *“That’s what they did. The priests had things their own way in those days.” “Christianity has been a great boon ‘6 the wor = ge a over the mountain? Supposing that it oesn’t rise in the right place at this time of the year—what then?” “Oh, it doesn’t vary much the year around, for ~ we are not so far from the equator.” “What is our latitude, anyway? | Do you know?” “About eighteen degrees north.” “Where did you put those pieces of glass we ‘brought along to look at the sun through? We’d ‘better smoke them over the fire as soon as Corney is through with it, so as to have them in readi- ness.” “T’ve got them in my hand-bag. I’ll get them out, as your suggestion is a good one.” After the ‘boys had finished their breakfasts -. nounced satisfactory, were laid aside until wanted. “The best way for us to get a straight im- aginary line from the points of the two shadows, which you and I will have to note and mark at “the proper moment, will be to station Corney “midway between us "where he will interrupt our ~ line of vision from point to point. Then we will start out and walk toward him very slowly, watching the mountain as closely as we can for that peculiar clue, visible at a certain point, which the professor’s sudden death prevented _ him from recording.” “You’ye got the thing down fine, Cyril. We ought to be able to turn the trick, if the thing — is sible of accomplishment.” : Ss e boys leafed around the trees until the -_* sun rose above the mountain -range. To their ae ged peep ek its course carried it up almost di- n the center of the apace of sky penne “I wonder at what hour the sun begins to _. the glasses were duly smoked and, when pro-. ; mountain himself. FACING THE MEXICANS convinced of the truth of the professor’s trans- lation of those Berens pies on that Aztec vase. Those peaks had to lie almost due north and south in order to be available for the purpose - of a sun-guide. They stand so close together that — in any other position it would be much more diffi- ~ cult to get the sun’s altitude correctly without instruments made for such a purpose.” : “We can easily see the points of the shadows from here,” said- Cyril. “What shall we mark them with?” : “A couple of those white rocks yonder will do. As soon as we have determined the proper length of the shadows we'll stand still at our posts and Corney can bring a stone to each of us. Do you understand that, Corney?” “Faith, I do.” Cyril then explained to the Irish boy how he was then to take his place about midway in a direct line from where they each stood beside the stones. Finally the sun had risen high enough for them to get busy; so Cyril and Will, each with a piece of smoked glass in his hand, walked out to the edges of the two shadows, which were slowly creeping down the valley, and began to keep pace with them. Every once in a while — they took a sight of the sun. Simultaneously they-came to a stop at length, as the burnished ~~ disk reached a position in the sky where a line drawn exactly through its center, as well as the“ boys were able to determine, would rest on the apex of each of the two peaks. “Now, Corney, get a move on. stones.” e Corney, who had been an interested observer — of the proceedings, reluctantly left the shade of — a huge palm tree and carried a stone to each aS his comrades, who deposited it at their feet. The Irish boy was then properly stationed after ‘some — trouble, in about. the center of the imaginary line, intersecting the two whites stones. Every _ thing being in readiness for the rest of the ceremony, at a signal from Cyril, he and Will started toward each other at a rate that was exasperatingly slow to Corney, who, having noth- ing to do but stand in one position in the boil- ing sun, was fully persuadéd there would soon be nothing left of him but a grease spot. Finally — they reached -Corney, without having observed © anything out of the ordinary in the face of the distant mountain. ; “Well,” asked Will, “what did you see, Cyril?” “Nothing.” / ¥ “Nothing?” disappointedly. “Not a thing. And you? Didn’t you cnn | any uncommon point in the aspect of ae _moun-~ = tain?” Will shook his head. . 5 “Well, what do you think?” asked Cyril, whose _ high hopes had also fallen to the zero point. “I think that the landmark, whatever it was, — must have been wiped out some time during the — four hundred years that has passed sinee the © mines were closed up.” 2 “Looks that way, doesn’t it?” replied Cyril. - “So yez didn’t see ‘nothin’ at all, at all?” said — Corney. “What a pity!” = Then he shaded his eyes and looked toward the | Fetch those two “Trosh! it’s a hole bechune the hills I see from

Page 15

FACING THE MEXICANS here, wid a funny-looking tree at the far end of it. _Do yez think there’s anythin’ in thot?” “Let me see!” cried both boys in a breath, with _ great eagerness. ; 7 —_ “Well, yez can’t both see to wanst, for when I move my head this way the hole isn’t there. Nor is it there, faith, when I move me head this way. I can only see it when I stand here.” “You look first, Cyril. That’s your right as boss of the expedition,” said Will. So Cyril took Corney’s place, and he easily made out the fissure in the mountain-side, with the odd-looking tree at its further extremity. Then he stepped aside and allowed Will to look, and then Will saw the same thing. “Get another white stone, Corney, and plant it right here. I really believe we’ve got onto the clue, after all, for certainly this cut in the mountain, with the tree belond, can’t be seen from any other point of this imaginary line.” “Now,” said Will, after Corney had marked the spot with another white stone, “let’s talk the matter over and consider what we’ll do next.” “Corney, you’re all to the good. If it hadn’t been for your sharp eyes we would probably have missed the object at which we were aiming.” “Thrue for yez, Misther Cyril. Faith, it’s funny I found the right spot, all accydental- loike, while yez two were walkin’ the line like a “pair of monkeys on a tight-rope. Shure, it’s the Oirish that get there every toime.” o ~ CHAPTER XI —tThe Specter of the Mountain. The boys were eager to investigate the defile in the mountain-side, but it was a good hour be- fore they felt like making a move out into the blazing sunshine again. Before starting they took a bite of cold lunch. They then marched out to the central white stone, whence the fissure “was observable, and from that point started up the valley toward the foot of the flat-top moun- tain. Owing to the inequalities of the ground : lost sight of the distant break in the Syhillside *b ut they felt reasonably sure that they % Would eventually reach a spot close enough to ~~) se the place to locate it. It was hot work hoofing it in the-sun, over rock and boulders, but they persevered, for the end in view was worth the effort. At last they reached the foot of the moun- » S = in, which was covered with trees. “I hope it won’t be like looking for a needle in-a hay-stack to find that hole,” said Will. -“Tt’s somewhere around here, for certain,” re- il Cyril. At last,-after an hour’s search, they came upon tall, narrow cleft in the face of the moun- ; or the far end of which was a fantastic- 2 bleached tree, withered and dead. They " entered the defile and made their way ‘up to the It was a weird spot, lonesome and for- The mountain rose in sheer elevation of feet above their heads. you think this is the entrance to the mines of Montezuma?” asked Will, with of excitement. - his head. is,” .a crowd. of : “s spailé-him-on theirsswords. The boy ste 18 “Shure, it- looks more loike the entrance to Hades, so it does,” said Corney. aac the next step, now we’re here?” asked ill. “You’ve got me,” answered Cyril, scratching “Probably it’s a matter of digging straight into the mountain ahead.” “Faith, that’s a foine prospect of hard worruk,” said Corney, regarding the situation dubiously. “You don’t get much in this world unless you work for it,” replied Cyril. “Be hivins! Thot’s no lie.” “T think we’ve seen all we want to see for to-day,” remarked Will. “We'll bring up the shovels to-morrow morning and start the ball rolling early. In the meantime we can move our tent nearer.” “That’s a good plan,” said Cyril. They walked to the entrance of the defile and, after taking a careful survey of the surround- ings, started back to their tent. - din some way they managed to get separated, and the first thing Cyril knew Will and Corney had disappeared. Cyril came to a stop and ‘looked around to see where his companions had gone to, but could see no ‘sign of them. He waited a while for them to turn up, and when they failed to do so he retraced his steps a»short ‘distance. ie wonder where they went?” he asked him- self, He shouted to his friends but got no reply. He figured that the only way they could have gone was up a sloping path that trailed up the border of the: defile and he followed it himself, expecting to see them any moment. The path carried him in a circuitous way to a height of sixty feet and then he saw the entrance to a narrow cave. Thinking they had gone in there to investigate, he proceeded to explore it, too. After going twenty feet in the dark he stepped into a hole in his path, and down he went a matter of # dozen feet along a sharp incline, and slid out ‘on a bare shelf of earth and rock, on which stood a solitary tree near the edge. Picking himself up, he looked around and saw a wide expanse of country before him. On the left was the river, near which they had pitched their tent. Apparently there was no way of leaving the shelf except by the route he had come, for to jump forty odd feet to the ground below was too much of a risk to/undertake. His com- panions had not blundered into the predicament he had, so he must try to get back up the hole. He lost no time in essaying the task, but found it impossible. “This is a nice fix I’m in,” he muttered. At that moment his eyes lighted on a coiled lariat lying near the rocky wall. “How lucky!” he said. “I can tie one end to the tree.and let the other end hang down over the edge.” This plan he put in operation, and found that the rope came within ten feet or so of the ground. That was close enough, and after testing the end around the tree, he swung over the edge of the shelf. Down the. rope he slid very care- fully until he was near the “ground. Then # chorus of shouts arose. Glancing down, he saw cans threatening to_im=— =

Page 16

gat a ae > oe? eae - FACING _ descent. The natives slashed at him, but Cyril hastily swung his legs up against the rock and out of their reach. They yelled afresh, expecting to see him drop. But he didn’t. With the agility _ of a moneky he pulled himself up to the shelf - again, and then coolly surveyed the disappointed peons, “T guess I'll have to stay here till they go away,” he thought. Then he saw a projecting rock twenty feet _ above, behind which appeared to be a path. He _ removed the end of the lariat from the tree, open- ed out the noose and threw it at the rock. The first attempt. was successful, and five minutes later he was standing on the path above. Fol- _ lowing the path he came out into the defile again. _ . Issuing from it he saw no signs of the aggressive a peons. Believing that Will and Corney had al- ready reached the tent, he resumed his way. keep- a ing a sharp lookout for the bunch of Mexicans. there. After watching for them for half an hour _ he grew drowsy from the heat. So he retired ~~ into ti tent, lay, down on his blankets and was z soon asleep. Two hours later he was aroused by the appearance of Will and Corney. He knew by their faces and manner that something out of the ordinary had occurred. “Where have you chaps been?” he asked, curi- neey- — % ‘’t say a wurrud. Yez missed the ad- vimgture of your life,” cried Corney. : 2 at have I missed, Will?” asked Cyril, eagerly. “It will knock you silly when I tell you,” re- plied Will, with a serious face. “Well, don’t keep me in suspense, old man.” “Corney and I stumbled onto the headquarters _ of the mountain bandit gang.” - - “You don’t mean it!” exclaimed Cyril, half- incredulously. : = _ “*Isn’t it a fact, Corney?” said Will, appealing to the Irish lad. 7 wa “It’s gospel truth, Misther Cyril, on me wurrud as a McFaul.” __ . “Gracious! here on our ground!” replied Cyril, aghast. _ “That’s what they are,” answered Will. “And _ that fellow Garcia Gonzalez, whom you had the -Yun-in with, is the chief of them, too.” “How do you know?” asked Cyril, anxiously. “Bekase we seen the ould villain,” replied Cor- mney. - 3 “But he isn’t old, Corney,” said Cyril. “He’s a -looking chap of about thirty.” ure, that’s roight. I mane he’s ould in ras- cality.” ~ “How could you identity the fellow as Gon- _ zalez?” “Didn’t Will and mesilf hear thim men of his call him ez? But we’ve strorger proof ethan that, more’s the pity,” added Corney, with y shake of the head. What do you mean, Corney? And why do you look so strange?” “Yez had betther tell him, Will.” _*I have bad news for you, Cyril,” ventured uu mean?” asi} ot tied Cyril. “What do. ez has off Pepita ee en he got to the tent his friends were not, So that villainous crowd are right? ‘of the rascals, and = THE MEXICANS her down here to his den in-the mountains, wheres he intends to force her to marry him.” ae es Bg do you know he has?” cried Cyril, greatly excited. : “Because we saw her a prisoner in his under- ground headquarters.” 7 “Are you "telling me the truth, Willi Adams?” ejaculated Cyril, almost violently. ; ; * “Ask Corney.” “Shure, didn’t I see the senorita wid me two blissid eyes?” corroborated the Irish boy, nodding his head positively. . “Pepita in the power of that villain!” groaned =e “Something must be done, boys, to save her.” “What can we do? We must do something. I, for one, am not going to desert her, not if it costs me my life!” cried Cyril, the fire of resolu- tion flashing from his eyes. “I'm ready to do anything, Cyril; but m\ “Tell me how you made this discovery?” de- manded Cyril, abruptly. “T don’t know how we managed to lose you,” said Will, “but all at once you were out of sight. We started to retrace our steps, when suddenly the ground gave way beneath us and down we went somewhere, the bushes closing over our heads, leaving’ us in the dark. I struck a mately and we looked around, .We were in a kind of cavern. Noting that it would not be heard .to . craw! out into the air again, Cormey and I de- termined to investigate the place. We made torches of brushwood and went ahead. The place : went right into the mountain, and we followed : it. Presently we came to a turn in the place and stopped, for our torches were nearly burned out, 4 and we were afraid to venture further.” “Thot’s right, faith. It’s afeard we’d get lost in the bowels of the/earth we were,” put in Cor- ney. “While we were considering whether to go on a little further or retreat we heard voices not far away. That excited our curiosity and we crept forward to investigate, after dropping our expiring torches on the ground. We saw a bright gleam of light ahead and figures of men moving about and stretched upon the ground, smoking : cigarettes. Finally our course was barred by a ~~ lot of brush that partially choked the passage. * We had a good view from here of the room be- yond. Soon after we came to a halt at this spot. the man I presently learned to be Gonzalez, the bandit leader, entered the cavernous apartment and sent the men away somewhere. Then it was that Pepita Calderon was brought in by'a couple — ou might have knocked us both down with a feather at that moment, 9@-5 a surprised were we to see her there. I am not any too well up in Spanish, but I managed to understand a word here and there, and some-— times a whole sentence. Then actions speak loud- er than words, so that I tumbled to the drift of the interview. Gonzalez had evidently kid- napped the senorita, and I made out that his _ purpose was immediate marriage. She scorne his advances to the queen’s taste, but he gave her the laugh. She was in his power, he said, and to ee a ei intimated that she had as much show to escape him as water has of running up the mountain-— side. He gave her twelve hours: tove : Beet an —

Page 17

roposal, and then the two rascals who brought rt before him reappeared and carried her away there before Gonzalez and a dozen of his men ~ came riding out of the defile, dashed up the valley » toward the waterfall and disappeared.” +3 Will stopped as if that was the whole story. - Cyril made no remark for several minutes. He _ seemed to be thinking—thinking how he could help Pepita out of her terrible predicament. “We must take advantage of Gonzalez’s absence and try to rescue her,” he said, at length. “You _ say a dozen men rode off with him. Probably that was the larger part of his gang. Maybe _ only two or three were left behind. We ought to be able to surprise and do them up. Are you game to back me up in this, both of you?” he said, looking at his chum and Corney. “You can count on me,” replied Will, sturdily. “And on me, too, faith,” answered Corney. “I'm wid yez, be“the hoofs of Balaam’s rabbit! It’s spilin’ I am for a scrimmage.” “Get supper ready, Corney. We'll set out for _ that hole you fell into just as soon,as it gets-dark. __. Do you think you'll be able to find it again?” -. “I think so,” answered Will. “I took the bear- ings of the place before we left the neighbor- ~~ hood.” . “ ~ “Ani right,” replied Cyril; cheerfully, “The safety of Pepita is of more importance than all the gold in the lost mines of the Montezumas.” He said this in a tone that caused Corney to “wink impressively at Will.. They wanted no bet- ter evidence that Cyril was thoroughly in love with the beautiful daughter of Don Jose Calderon. As soon as the sun set, darkness fell quickly - upon the face of the landscape. The boys lost - no time in setting out upon the strenuous job _ Cyril had decided upon. The dark mountainside ‘ up before them as they advanced. The oeg of the night was partially relieved by the htness of the star-bedecked sky, but the still- Ness which brooded over nature’s vast solitude Was curiously oppressive. - “You are sure the opening in the mountain- ' side is somewhere about here?” asked Cyril, as a drew near to the locality pointed out by _ Cyril raised the lantern he carried and flashed s bright light in the direction his chum pointed. black opening appeared a short distance in of them. that it?” he asked, drawing his revolver as utionary measure. “No,” replied Will. “That isn’t the spot. But ~ what is that, anyway?” The three boys advanced cautiously toward the looking hole. Suddenly, without warning, am of thick white smoke issued from the ng, and as it melted away there was reveal- parently floating in the air, a phosphores- On. ber!” gasped pelt asped Corney, felicia ay’ tS eet ae SD: “Se See ey eM ees ee FACING THE MEXICANS : 15 CHAPTER XII.—In the Haunts of the Bandits. Cyril and Will started back in surprise, not to say consternation, as the. gruesome figure un- folded its outlines before their startled gaze and then seemed to advance upon them. “Great Scott!” exclaimed Will. “What do you call that?” - “The saints presarve us! Take it away!” howled Corney, thoroughly frightened, if ever a boy was. The boys fell back a short distance, without taking their eyes from the spectral vision, which continued to hover in the dim air, waving its bony arms about at random, as though warning thém away from the spot. Cyril was the first to recover from the feeling of awe the “ghost” incited. “It’s some fake,” he said. “Our presence has been. discovered by the bandits and they are using this device to scare us from the locality. That must be one of the entrances to their head- quarters.” : “It isn’t the place Corney and I fell into this afternoon,” said Will, beginning to. feel easier in his mind after Cyril’s words. “What shall we do? If it’s a fake, we’d better make a dash at it and do the old thing up.” “No,” replied Cyril. “That won’t do at all. If those chaps in there, who are no doubt watch- ing us, see that their spook isn’t going to have a proper effect on us, they’ll probably begin shooting next, and we may get hurt. As long as this isn’t the right hole, we’d best pretend to be scared off. The other hole must be near here. We'd better search for it.” “It’s somewhere among those tall bushes, I am almost sure,” replied Will. “It is certainly not far from that white rock.” Accordingly the boys withdrew and, taking a roundabout course, approaching the locality from an opposite point of the compass, keeping well within the line of bushes close to the hillside and observing great caution. Will was in ad- vance, with his eyes on the alert for some sign showing the proximity of the hole. They were now out of sight of the place where the draped skeleton had appeared to them, but were draw- ing near the spot every moment. Suddenly as Will took a step forward inte the bushes he went right down into them before Cyril’s eyes, vanishing like a spirit through a stage trap-door. Cyril came to a dead spot, as did Corney behind him. Dropping down on his knees, the boy un- covered the lantern and thrust it into a yawning hole among the bushes, Its.bright rays showed Will scrambling to his feet eight feet below the surface. . : “Hurt yourself, old chap?” asked Cyril, in a voice of some concern. g “Not a bit. Come on down. This is the hole we ers looking for,” replied Will, glancing up-+ ward. 2 “Sure of that, are you?” Ses.” : “Follow me, Corney,” said Cyril, springing down into the opening, where he landed on P62 mass of soft dirt. Seer 32 Corney followed’ immediately’ after" him.” ae) a

Page 18

(16 “Give me the lantern and I’ll lead the way,” said Will. - He swung the light to and fro as they ad- vanced under the mountain, and the flashing rays revealed a long, narrow. cavern that seemed to have been fashioned by the hand of man. At one : point a flat rock protruded, the face of which was = as smooth as a bit of unpolished marble. It was = covered from top to bottom with Aztec symbols and hieroglyphics. ._ ~“Look at that,” cried Will, pointing to it. “Wé seem to be right on the stamping grounds of ; Montezuma’s subjects. Who knows but we may = have blundered upon one of the approaches to ic the mines. If we have, ’twill save us an awful : lot of trouble.” *: “I’m not bothering about the Aztec mines just é now, Will. They will keep, same as they have __ kept for four hundred years. It’s Pepita’s safety “ I’m interested in at this moment. Come on and find that passage which leads into the headquar- ters of the bandits. We have no time to lose. Gonzalez may return with his followers at any moment, and then the fat would be in the fire.” > So Will started:forward again, and in a few => minutes they branched off to the left. % “This is the passage,” whispered Will. “We've : got to go cautiously now.” x “All right. You know the ropes.” They went on. “Here is the heap of brushwood which blocked our way this afternoon,” and Will threw a glim- mer upon the obstruction. : : “Where is that room or cavern you say you looked into?” asked Cyril, in a low voice. “ie “Right in front of us.” ~ _ “It’s as dark as pitch there.” >: ' “That’s because most of the crowd are away, I guess.” “We must make an opening here,” said Cyril. This was not a difficult matter to do, and they soon passed into the robbers’ den under the flat- » top mountain. Flashing the lantern about, they found themselves in a big cavern, in which were seattered wooden benches, rude tables of the same ‘material, and many other evidences. of occupa- tion by man, plainly showing that this was the general gathering place for a crowd of rough- and-ready Mexican outlaws. Two openings led in opposite directions from the cavern. : “Which way did they take Pepita?” asked Cyril, anxiously. . fete “That way,” replied Will, pointing to the open- ing running toward the center of the mountain. “Then that’s the way we will go,” said Cyril, taking the lantern and now leading the way him- ‘They passed a number of empty caverns, much smaller in size than the one they had entered first. They did not have to go far, however, be- fore they came to one across which a bit of udy drapery was hung. Cyril held up his d, for he had noticed a glimmer of light com- ing through the edge of the folds of the fabric. _ Putting down the lantern, he drew back a corner of the drapery and looked in. The room, if we _ may call it such, was elegantly and picturesquely _ furnished. A rough-looking Mexican was loung- ing in a chair near the entrance, lazily puffing the nevitable cigarette, while at the far end of the a - hly ornamented coach, had a broad face, wide mouth and terrib FACING THE MEXICANS | ee ve The reader may as well be informed that this elegant retreat under the mountain was Garcia Gonzalez’s private retiring-room. Here he took his meals’ and slept, when not aboard among the haunts of civilization. At a given signalCyril drew the curtain aside and, closely followed by, Will and Corney, confronted the Mexican ruf- fian who was on guard. CHAPTER XII.—The Aztec God Huitzilopochtli. The bandit sprang to his feet with a rude oath and reached for his gun. “Stop!” cried Cyril to him in Spanish, “or you are a dead man.” The fellow saw the three gleaming revolvers pointed at him and, perceiving the folly of re- sistance, threw up his hands reluctantly. Sen- orita Calderon, who had not been asleep, sprang to her feet in open-eyed surprise. “Bind and gag that rascal,” said Cyril to his companions. R It took but a moment to do this, as the rascal was thoroughly cowed. Then Cyril turned and advanced toward the couch. , “Pepita,” he exclaimed, tenderly. -The girl swayed for a moment in ‘the air, then, with a little cry of delight, to which the boy’s name was coupled, she rushed across the room. < and fairly sprang into Cyril’s arms. “Come, Pepita, we must go,” said Cyril, and with Will leading the way, lantern in one hand - and cocked revolver in the other, they passed out into the underground passage. ee" They reached the main cavern without mishap, and were on the point of entering the brush-coy-— ered passage, when suddenly Garcia Gonzalez and several of his men appeared at the other opening. Gyril pushed the girl into the passage and drew his revolver. : “Seize them!” shouted the Mexican in Spanish. “Stand back!” cried Cyril, raising his pistol. Gonzalez, who was no coward, drew: his weapons from their holsters and, with a hurried aim, fired at the boys. Two bullets whizzed by their heads and flattened themselves against the wall, and under cover of the smoke the other ruffians dashed forward. Three revolvers cracked and three bandits went down wounded. Taking advantage of their confusion, the boys rushed through into the passage and hurried away. But Gonzalez, with others of his band, was promptly on their heels. So quickly did they follow that the boys, pushing the girl forward in the dark— for they had covered the lantern, lest it should draw the rascals’ fire—took the wrong turn and hurried further away by a new course into the depths of the mountain. = And as they ran the sound of their pursuers _ faded away, for Garcia Gonzalez imagined that they must have gone in the other direction, to- ward an opening in the mountain, the existene= of which he did not know, but naturally surmised _ they had accidentally ‘discovered. So they kept — on, using the lantern now to light their way. till all at once they came out into a vast under- — ground chamber, in the center of which stood a monstrous graven image of sinister aspect. ¥ aa oo ak es oe 37 SAE En *

Page 19

. FACING THE MEXICANS The light of the lantern was reflected from a thousand tiny sparkling points of the hideous figure, for it was covered with gold, pearls and precious stones, and was girt about with golden serpents. The four fugitives gazed on this mon- ster with feelings of awe akin to.terror. Pepita Was almost overcome, and clung closely to her young protector. y - “Cyril,” cried Will, in a tone which sent.a thrill through his chum’s veins and for a moment made him even forget the girl of his heart, “do you know where we are? We’re in the mines of Montezuma—where probably man has not pene- trated for four hundred years.” “T believe you are right,” breathed his chum, stirred beyond measure at the thought that they were the first, since the days of Montezuma, to gaze upon the chief god of the Aztecs—in fact, Outside of Cortez himself, who had been specially accorded the privilege, they were the only white- skinned persons who had ever looked upon its awful features. As the boys grew somewhat accustomed to their Weird surroundings they began to examine the image closer. “Cyril,” cried Will, excitedly. «“These precious stones seem to be of the finest quality. There must be a fortune or two upon this image. Talking digging for gold and silver! Why, that -isn’t a circumstance to picking these diamonds . and pearls, and sapphires and rubies. This is like the rden Alladin wandered into in the “Arabian Nights” story. I tell you, Cyril, if we can away with this treasure alone we’re made for life.” : : , ; “You forget one important thing,” said Cyril. “Our retreat is cut off by the bandits, who may conte in here after us at any moment.” “Don’t you worry,” said Will. “If those chaps knew of this place they’d have had this image stripped long ago.” But*in hunting for us they may flounder on it like we did ourselves,” replied Cyril. “Well, I’m going to get some of those diamonds right away,” said Will, his eagerness to gather in the valuable brilliants overcoming every other consideration. CHAPTER XIV.—Caught in a Trap. Pepita was persuaded to hold the lantern while Cyril and Will proceeded to denude the god of its précious belongings. With the butts of their re- volvers they !oosened the gems from their fasten- ings, and the pile which they deposited in their hats, after they had filled their pockets, made their mouths water. Pepita almost managed to stow away a great many of the finest gems hand- ed to her by Cyril. : “We'll come back another time and get the serpents and other gold and silver orna- ments,” said Cyril. “And then we’ll see what mines contain.” “Shure, wid these moines on our hands we'll Seon be as rich as Misther Rockefeller, so we =. will,” cried Corney, in a tone of intense satis- 2 = "asked “What will Will you do with your share, Corney,” “My share! Begob! I'll go back to ould 17 Oireland, buy the country and have mesilf elected king, loike me great ancister the O’Brien,” _ While Cyril and Pepita were talking—or coo- ing, as Corney called it—together, Will and the Irish boy, with the aid of the lantern, started on. i a tour of discovery around the great cavern. They found wide steps of stone leading up te what appeared to have been the main entrance. These steps terminated at a wide platform, from which ‘galleries led off in »several directions, penetrating the bowels of the mines. The en- trance itself was blocked up by a wall of ma- sonry, how thick the boys could only conjecture. “It’s a foine time of it we’d had diggin’ our way through this, don’t yez think, Misther Will?” grinned Corney, as he rapped upon the well-set stones of four hundred years’ standing. “It would have taken a few boxes of dynamite to have made an impression on it,” replied Will. At that moment they hes~4 a strange, far- away grumbling and muttering in the depth of the mine. “What's thot?” asked Corney, his hair begin- ning to rise on his head, for the sound was weird and uncanny. “Give it up,” said Will way off.” “Maybe it’s the spooks of the ould haythen Aztecs kickin’ bekase we’ve been afther robbin’ their image.” _ The sound came again, louder than before, roll- ing up through the galleries and filling the big cavern with the reverberations. “Howly St. Patrick! I don’t fancy thot-at all, at all,” shivered Corney. “I’d rather go up ag’inst live Greasers than dead-men any day, so I would.” ; “Why, that’s only some subterranean noise way down in the bowels of the earth.” Again came up, that strange subterranean noise, as if something was wrong far beneath them. Corney was anxious to rejoin Cyril and make a break for the outside air. He was very superstitious, and he didn’t like that sound for a cent. So they descended, and found Cyril and Pepita perfectly contented at the-feet of the hideous god. ‘ “Well, what did you find out?” leader. “We discovered the original entrance to these mines,” replied Will. : “Did you?” said Cyril, with a look of interest. “It’s all blocked up by masonry.” = “Then there’s no show of getting out that way?” “Not the slightest. It would take several d Dissectin’—robbin’, de yez moind, their big gou. ‘ - “It sounded a long asked the young

Page 20

iP _began to ascend the steps. and began to jabber in an excited way. is by ry “You mean desecrating,” laughed Cyril. “IT s’pose so. I’m not up in thim big wurruds. We've been after stealin’ thim jewels, and maybe er don’t loike it, Misther Cyril.” _ “That’s right, Corney,” with a wink at Will; “Perhaps they don’t. Maybe we’d better make a start for the back door.” “I’m wid yez. I’d rather foight me way out than stay here and listen to thot awful wail. Puts me in moind of the banshee, so it does.” “Did you ever hear a banshee?” “Niver. And I don’t want to, aither.” “Well, boys, I guess we’ll make a move.” As they gathered up their hats full of gems that awful sound came up again from the depths of the mine. “Saints presarve us! Do yez hear thim? They know we’re preparin’ to go, and they don’t like the idea of thim gems goin’, too. Maybe they'll foller us.” : “Perhaps in that case,” laughed Cyril, “you'd better go ahead with the lantern, and we'll cover your retreat.” “Faith, I will, wid pleasure,” and grabbing the lantern he started for the passage. “Keep your eyes wide open for the Mexicans,” warned Will. “You'd better keep the lantern cov- ered.” “Corney was about to “douse the glim,” when suddenly there came to their ears a murmuring sound down the passage. “Tt’s them Greasers comin’ this way at last,” he said. _ “Lights began to flash and twinkle in the dis- tance and the growl of many voices came nearer. “We're caught in a trap, I’m afraid,” said Cyril. : “We must retreat to the galleries,” suggested Will. “We may be able to hide there.” They hurried back and mounted the stone steps to the esa taking refuge behind a pile of loose masonry: In a few moments Garcia Gon- zalez, leading his band of rascals, swarmed with lanterns and torches into the great cavern below. _~ CHAPTER XV.—The Earthquake. -.The whole gang came to a pause in front of «he image, whose presence rather astonished the bandits. Gonzalez, who. was intent on recover- ing Pepita, soon stirred his men into activity in. Under his direction, they spread them- ves all over the place, and, finding nothing, At that critical mo- ment the subterranean noise was renewed, only much louder. It came rolling up like the mutter- ings of approaching thunder. Somehow or an- other both Cyril and Will thought of that after- noon of storm on Staten Island when Professor Euelid’s life went out with the thunderbolt.” All at once a slight thrill or tremble seemed to per- The bandits paused But ez swore at them and urged them on in tones they dared not disobey. ; The boys hoped to escape observation behind e masonry, but unfortunately one sharp-eyed saw Corney’s shock head in the glare of i he- a-shout. — sy aed ‘vade the mountain depths. -and Will FACING THE MEXICANS - “By the tail of Pat Murphy’s cow, it’s diskiv- - ered we are,” Corney cried, and he fired his re- Mei i point-blank at the rascal who had seen im. Down went the robber with a how! of pain, and he didn’t get up again. Crack! Crack! i wled over two more of the enemy. Crack! crack! Crack! The revolvers of several bandits began to spit fire. “Be careful!” roared Gonzalez, bounding up the steps. “See that you hit not the senorita, he added, warningly. Crack! Crack! Crack! The three boys re- turned the fire, with all the advantage in their favor for the time being. Two more of the bandits went down. The uproar was terrific in that enclosed place, but above it all came louder and louder the underground noises, and once more a kind of sickening tremor shook the depths of the flat-top mountain. : “Surrender the senorita,” Said Gonzalez, “and you can go free.” : “Never!” answered Cyril, in Spanish. “You will get her only over our dead bodies.” ; “Caramba!~ You die, then!” hissed the villain. Spitting flashes of fire sprang from behind the blocks of masonry where the fugitives were hid- den. Gonzalez clasped his hand to his side with a terrible oath. ; “Kill! Kill! Kill!” he shrieked, as he staggered — back and sank down on the top step. Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack. The revolvers of the bandits blazed in a lurid volley. But the end was near at hand. An end terrible and awe- inspiring. A thunderous roar pentrated the mountain to its very center. The spirits of a million shrieking Aztecs seemed to fill the smoke~ saturated atmosphere of the place. The earth shook and swayed in a mighty convulsion. “We are lost!” shrieked Pepita, throwing her- self upon Cyril. “The earthquake!” ith a crash the roof of the cavern split apart and tons on tons of earth and rock fell in. An+ other fearful reverberation followed on the heels of the first. The mountain shook and swayed again, and a deafening roar filled the ears of the now thoroughly terrified lads, who expected to be crushed in the falling.debris. A great crack ran up through the solid mass of masonry at their back. Then, as the third and last shock of the earthquake came, the masonry crumbled away behind them. The whole mountain seemed to re- cede. Dust filled their eyes and choked them. The world seemed coming to an end. And then— the three boys knew no more. The morning sun was just peeping over the mountain ridge into the defile, covering the bleached trunk of the dead tree landmark with a blaze of glory, when Cyril Young opened his eyes upon the world once more. “Where the dickens am I, and what has oc- curred?” He lay on the edge of a mound of debris, and for some moments all he could do was to try and recover his confused senses. Then h® rose on his elbow and looked around. At his side, with her lovely head -pillowed on one arm, Senorita Pepita Calderon, white and unconscious. With a cry of consternation Cyril sprang up and — 7 es. lay the caught her into his arms. __ = “Great Scott! Someth

Page 21

2 A FACING THE : aye he breathed, as he chafed her hands and ace and tried to arouse the insensible girl. He looked around him in wonder. Will Adams half-reclined against a hugé boulder, a dark- red blood spot showing under his curly brown _ hair. While Corney McFaul was just come to © himself, a yard away. Three empty American » revolvers lay scattered on the ground, while three hats full of precious stones were glistening in the sunshine. “Upon me sowl, are we alive or not?” ejacu- lated Corney, as he got on his feet and looked at Cyril, busy over Pepita. , 1° guess we’re alive all right,” replied Cyril, as he noticed that the girl was beginning to revive and that Will was stirring. “And how did we get here, do yez know? The last I remimber we were in the dark, wid the Mountain tumblin’ in upon us. Be the crook of - St. Anthony! I niver thought to. see the light of day ag’in.” *T never can tell you, Corney. My sensations were the same as yours—I thought my last hour come. The earth was heaving and the rocks Were caving in about us. The very end of the World seemed to be on hand.” “Glory be! That was the ’arthquake.” “TI believe we’re at the entrance to the mines, Which must bave opened up and let us out at the “last minute.” Pepita opened her eyes like oné in a daze. “Where am I?” she murmured, in soft Spanish. “Where do you think, sweetheart?” answered Cyril, fondly. : “My Cyril!” shrowing her arms about his neck. “Pepita, darling!” ° “Will yez listen to thot?” chuckled Corney to Will. Spanish?” The four young people stood up and took a survey of their surroundings. They found they Were not far from the entrance to the defile. That part of the low-top mountain had been shat- tered by the throes of the earthquake. Behind them what had been the big cavern was now filled up with a confused mass of stone and rock. Only the topmost stairs were visible of the flight which had led up to the gallery. Here and there “Sunder the debris an arm or a leg of one of the % Mexican brigands protruded itself, a ghastly re- * minder of that night of horror. The Spanish girl shuddered and turned away _ her head. Then they went out into the sunshine, _ after carefully gathering up the hats which con- _ tained the precious stones, aaa “Come, let us go down to our tent,” said Cyril. “pts 8 took their way out of the defile and across the v. . When they came to the neighborhood - where their canvas shelter had been erected they " found that the bandits had cut it down, had Scattered their belongings or carried them away, - and had taken possession of. their animals. It Wasa nice predicament they now found them- "~ selves in in the midst of the wilderness. PCHAPTER XVI.—A Golden Risk Eves With A a Golden Harvest. "> The boys, searching about the place, managed to find-a can or two of American pps chiéken where the Greastrs hal thrown them, and <= “Isn’t it a foine thing~ to make love in : MEXICANS 19 of the contents of these they made a satisfactory meal, washing it down with pure spring water. With pieces of the torn canvas they made three impromptu bags to carry the precious stones, tying the folding ends together as one does the cloth around a plum puding before it is put into the pot to boil. Then they took up their line of march up the valley toward the waterfall. They had not proceeded far before Corney, who was in advance, gave a shot of joy. “Shure, there’s the horses of thim defunct Greasers. Don’t yez see thim nibblin’ the grass wid all the contintment in the wurrld?” “You’re right, Corney,” answered Will. “This is great luck.” They waited for Cyril and Pepita to come up, to whom they pointed out the animals. “We might as well take the whole caboodle with us. Don Jose will find them useful,” said Will. As they drew near the animals Corney sud- denly uttered an exclamation. - “Look yonder, will yez? There’s siveral horse- men comin’ down the valley. Faix, I hope it ain’t more of thim bandits. It’s a nice kittle of fish we'd be in.” The newcomers were too far off to be identi- fied, but they were approaching at a smart pace. There was no way of escaping the notice of the approaching horsemen, so the boys got out and reloaded their revolvers while they walked toward the tethered animals. One man in a broad som- brero rode ahead of the others, as if in command of the party. Something about him attracted and held the. senorita’s attention. She gripped Cyril’s arm tightly and stopped him, then leaned forward, her lips half parted in her excitement. “Mi padre!” (My father) she screamed. Her cry arrested Will and Corney. “By George! It’s Don Jose!” cried Will, in high glee. “Don Hosey, is it? The country’s saved, so it is!” It was, indeed,’ Don Jose Calderon, with half a dozen of his peon servitors, all well armed, who were bowling down the valley in search of Gar- cia Gonzalez and Pepita. The meeting between father and daughter was a joyful one: And when she had explained’ to her parent how Cyril had rescued her, saving her life at the risk of his own, with the assistance of his brave young com- panions, the haciendado, as Don Jose was called, was profuse in this thanks, not only to Cyzil, whom he regarded with the warmest friendship, but to the other boys as well. After the story of their thrilling adventures had been told, the entire party, with the horses of the bandits in charge, turned their faces up the valley and toward the Calderon hacienda. They \ put up at a roadside inn that night, and next day they reached Don Jose’s home, to the great happiness of the distressed donna, © Pepita’s mother. There was high jinks about the hacienda for the rest of that day and well into the even- ing. It might be said that the American boys owned the place. Don Jose and his wife couldn’t do enough for them, while the servitors took off their hats to them and bowed_low with the great- est of respect every time they appeared. While Will and Corney were having the time of their lives, Cyril .and 'Pepita Hope Sale Seep theaalzes: a Hurroo! in their own way. They were si

Page 22

20 FACING THE central patio under the shade-of a big pecan tree. They seemed to be very happy, indeed, together. “Pepita, I am soon going back to the United States—to my father’s home on Staten Island, in the State of New York.” : “No, no!” she cried, earnestly, nestling close to him. “You must not go. You must stay here with me. I should die if you left me.” “I'm afraid I can’t stay, Pepita. I must re- turn, for I have yet to go through college. But I will come back next summer—and every sum- mer until I graduate. And then you will marry me, and come back North with me, and be my little wife forever more, will you not?” “Your wife! Yes, I love you. The whole world is as nothing to me without you. You saved me from Senor Gonzalez, whom I hated, and my very life I also owe to you. I am yours forever.” And so it came about that Cyril, before they took their departure for home, had an interview with Don Jose, the subject of which was the ut- most importance both to himself and Pepita. The result proved to be quite satisfactory to Cyril Young. Don Jose was perfectly satisfied to ac- cept the fine young American as his future son- in-law. Cyril met with an equally happy recep- tion from the donna. A grand party was held at the hacienda to mark the formal betrothal of the two young people. We are sorry to record, however, that Corney forgot himself on this oc- casion. Between the bright eyes of Mercedes, Pepita’s maid, and the hilarity of the afternoon and evening, Corney forgot that it was wine in- stead of water he was drinking, and the result was that a couple of sturdy Mexican neons had to be called into requisition to carry him off to bed. The boy’s bedroom was on the upper (second) / floor, and opened onto the central court. It was late when they awoke, and then Will began to joke Corney on the big head he got the night before. “Why, you’re not Sober yet; what are you talk- ing about?” laughed Will. ae “Is thot so? Don’t yez fool yoursilf. Shure, St. Patrick niver was more sober than I am at this moment, plase the pigs.” All at once his eyes rested on a huge tarantula, a poisonous species of spider, which was making its way out of one of his shoes, which lay on the matting. “Howly mother of Moses! What’s thot!” he gasped, with staring eyes. “What’s what?” : ; “Why, thot thing,” and Corney pointed in terror at the immense insect - Will detected the tarantula at once, but, in- stead of remarking its presence, he winked at Cyril and said: “There’s nothing there.” Are “Nothin’ there?” roared Corney. “Is it blind yez are this mornin’? Can’t yez see thot big bug erawlin’ out of me shoe?” Will shook his head solmenly. “Y’m afraid you’ve got ’em, ,Corney.” “Got whot?” “The jim-jams.” ~ “Do yez mane to say there ain’t any bug~walk- im’ over thot mattin’! “Nary .” grinned Will, while Cyril had to the -in his mouth to keep from - : : os Tigati % outright. i; che: ” =: = ea eee” Ee ee a _ GONTRACTOR:”: MEXICANS “Thin it’s bewitched I am. Git a docther right away, for the love of hivin. I’ve got a faver or some other Mexican disease.” That settled it. Cyril and Will roared, and —_ Corney discovered he was the butt of a joke. “Faix, I'll git aven yid yez two for thot, so I will.” Then he grabbed up his trousers, shook them for fear of concealed centipedes, and then got into them as soon as he could. A few days later the boys started for the City of Mexico en route for the United States. Cyril and Pepita had a tearful parting, but they were young and the future full of golden hopes for them, which they expected some day to realize. Some of the finest gems in-the collection the boys had brought away from the mines of Montezuma, now lost probably beyond all hope of recovery, were unanimously poe to Pepita before they left. The rest, eing worth all of three hundred thousand dol- lars, according to Don Jose, were carefully made up into parcels and consigned to Senor Luis Pacheco, an expert in the capital city,.on the advice of the owner of the hacienda, to be dis- posed of at the best figure obtainable, as the young Americans would not have been able to carry the gems across the border without paying a high duty, whith, of course, they were not in a position to do. When they arrived home at Staten Island they found that Cyril’s father, mother and sister had returned from their European trip. As a matter of course, the boys had a long and thrill- ing story to tell, not the least interesting part yof which was concentrated about the lovely daughter of the noble Spaniard, Don Jose, of the Calderon hacienda. Cyril, as a matter of course, kept his promise to return to Mexico during the following summer, and he was ac- companied ‘by Will and Corney as a select body- guard. Each summer while at Princeton he spent at the Calderon hacienda. A-few days after he graduated, quite a party, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Young, Edith Young, Mr. George Adams, Cyril, Will and Corney, set out for Mexico, and were received at the hacienda with great honor. ; y The marriage of Cyril and Pepita, now lovely beyond all compare in her: glorious ‘ ripening womanhood, took place in the Catholic Church of the Assumption, in the neighboring town, and the ceremony was performed by the bishop of the diocese. They left for Vera Cruz, en route for Europe, next day, while the American party re- mained two weeks to enjoy the bountiful hospital- ity of the hacienda. Corney, who called himself an Irish grande, with his one hundred thousand dollars, married Mercedes, the maid of Senorita Calderon, and eventually took up his permanent residence in Mexico with Cyril and his young Spanish bride. Will came to see them once in a while with his American wife, and those occasions were particularly happy ones for the boys whose Gold Risk had turned up trumps. Next week’s issue will contain “FIGHTING . LUCK OF A YOUNG. FOR FAME; or, THE ~ ok 4 - : t Py ~3 A et : Reha > ees ei

Page 23

FACING THE MEXICANS .,..y CURRENT NEWS PETRIFIED “AGATE TREE” USED AS A Sa BRIDGE - ___ The greatest wonder of the Petrified Forest is >the agate bridge. This is a huge tree trunk, 100 - feet long, spanning a 60-foot chasm, says Na- ture Magazine. e‘entire tree is made up-of _ agates, jaspers, chalcedony and other highly col- _ ored and handsome stones. In, the canyon directly ~ below the agate bridge is a pool of water and - around it grow the only trees in the whole coun- aad try. POODLE PICKS OUT OWNER A French poodle decided its own case in the Englewood Court, Chicago, enacting the final scene which determined the ownership of the = rd _ Judge Barasa “set the stage He stood at one d of the courtroom. holding the poodle while _ Mrs. Albert Evers, No. 6208 South Rockwell ¢ et, and Mrs. Mary Creighton, No. 6147 South ekwell street, stood anxiously at the other end. Mrs. Creighton said the dog’s name was Dixie, vhile Mrs Evers claimed the poodle as Tootsie. - At a signal the judge released the dog. Dixie- oes _ light. a Tootsie first ran to Mrs Creighton, sniffed and — then to Mrs. Evers “Tootsie it shall be,” ordered Judge Barasa. PAINTING IN LIGHT ON : THAMES From London comes an interesting news item — describing a new conception in art—painting in ist, proposes to use the blackness: of night as his THE RIVER F. Gregory Brown, an English poster art- ¥ : background, colored incendescent lights as his “age pigments, and the smooth surface of the Thames. as the canvas upon whieh his creations will be reflected. “The idea was born from the riot of colored “4 lights in Piccadilly Circus,” said Mr. Brown re cently. “This uncontrolled anarchy of color, I thought, was merely the first stage. Why should it not be brought within the rules of harmony in line as well as color; why not pictures painted — re in light as well as pigment?” ee It is reported in the Edison Monthly that thous- ands of pounds are to be spent on the scheme and that when completed it will be one of the sights — of the world. ‘A BIG CHANGE IN -““MOVING PICTURE STORIES” | Magnificent Art-Work Covers in Sepia — Handsome Sepia inside illustrations — Twice as many and better pictures _than before — Intimate talks with the greatest picture stars — Splendid stories of the very best film plays — And all sorts of news from the studios TAKE NOTICE! If you thought “Moving Picture Stories” was a bright, sparkling little magazine in the past, you ought to see it now! Improved 100 per cent. in every department. The big portraits of actresses, the zippy short articles and up-to-date interviews make it doubly interesting. No room here to tell you all the good things it contains, Just buy a copy and you will be delighted at all you get for 7 cents. The: Nuisker Oat Today is a Dandy! »* = Don’t Miss It -- _ FOR ee. es >. ee

Page 24

* 22 FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY Wrecked On The Desert = ORs: THE ADVENTURES OF TWO BOY PROSPECTORS By GASTON GARNE CHAPTER II.—(Continued.) “TI hardly know,” was the faint reply. “I’m afraid I’m all in, boys. My heart’s all wrong— has been this long time. I was about worn out before. The shock of it al! last night has been too much for me.” “Cheer up,” said Jack. “Tell us your name.” “My name? It’s Ben Budd. I’m an old pros- pector. I was in the first’ rush ‘to the Klondike long ago.” : “We are prospectors, too. My name is Jack Fennister. y friend is Arthur Morley. What happened?” 7 ‘ “We run on a rock and went all to pieces in a moment?” “Steamer?” “Yes; the old Queen.” “You don’t say! Any lives lost?” “There were six in our boat—it was the mate’s. She capsized. I doubt if any one escaped but me. I’m an expert swimmer and struck out. At last I got hold of that rock and called for help, not daring to hope it would come. The captain’s boat may have come out all right. You haven’t seen anybody?” “Nobody but you, sir.” “Then Sinte I’m the only one... What place is this?” “Kettle Island.” : “Heavens! You don’t mean it! How strange!” cried the old man, trying to rise. “What is strange?” asked Jack. “Why, I worked a claim in this island ten years ” We found the old workings. There’s pay quartz there still, but it’s nothing but a prospect hole.” “It is the top of an ore chimney, boy. I took sixty thousand out of that same hole, I want you to understand. This is my old shack, then. Strange that I should return here to die.” “Qh, don’t talk of dying,” cried Jack, cheerful- ly. “Let me give you your breakfast and then you'll feel better. We have a big motor boat. We shall be soon pulling out of here. Where do you want to go?” “I was heading for Prince Rupert, where I ex- pected to get work. I have no people and no set- tled home. The last was Vancouver. Perhaps I shall pull out of this. Hard to tell.” ~ As talking seemed to tire him and his breath grew more labored, Jack said no more then. Ben Budd displayed but small appetite for breakfast and less for dinner. As the day wore = ‘on it became evident that he was slowly sinking. Towards calling out to an imaginary woman named “Ag- gie.” At last he slept. It had turned cooler and Jack built a fire in the,old wood stove they found in the shack. ‘At nine o’clock he and Arthur were sitting by it smoking their pipes. But Budd still slum- bered. His breathing had become fainter, than ever and his face was fearfully white. \ “Guess the old fellow was right when he said he was all in,” remarked Jack, looking over at him. “He still breathes, but that’s about all, I shouldn’t wonder if he never woke.” “He’s waking now,” whispered Arthur, as Budd with a deep ne | opened his eyes. “So I’m still Rere,” he murmured faintly. _ Right here,” replied Jack, looking down on him. “Is there anything I can do for you?” “Nothing. I am surely all in, as I told you. Listen here, boys; I’m going to let you into a secret. If you are prospectors, know your busi- ness and have courage enough to brave real hard- ships—death perhaps—-I can put you next to the greatest gold prospect ever if what was told me is true. It will never be of any use to me.” “That’s what we want, Mr. Budd,” cried Jack. “Let it come. We are all attention.” “It’s this way,” continued the dying miner, for dying he surely was; “I’ve been mixed up with all sorts of queer people in my time. Just before I left Vancouver on this trip there was an old prospector like myself named Adams, a man of more education and intelligence than I ever dared to be, who came to the house where I boarded. He was dead broke and all in like myself and I was with him when he died. He told me how five years ago he got down into the lava country in Yye County, Southern Nevada, which as mebbe you know is the most horrible country in all the world. Worse even than the borax country, if anything.” “T’ve read all about it,” said Jack, as the old* man paused for breath. “It’s below the great desert.” “Yes; well, Adams told me that while there he located an old lake bottom where the sand is chock full of gold nuggets, some of ’em as big as your fist. He brovght out a few, but his mule died on him, water and grub ran out and he had to make a quick getaway as best he could on foot. The wonder was he ever did get out of it alive; wouldn’t have if he hadn’t happened to run into a party of prospectors traveling in their private cars, who took pity on him and ran him down into Arizona. He never said a word to them about his find, though. He swore he never told a soul but me. He never got back there, neither. Boys, I believe every word he told me. I am satisfied that there’s millions lying in that old lake bot- tom waiting for somebody. Of course it wes out” of the question for me to think of trying to get in there, but you two are young and strong, and what’s been done ‘once can be done again. there’s my secret. Make what you can out of it. You are right welcome, for you did your best to save me.” “But how are we ever to find the place, Mr. Budd?” asked Jack, whose interest in all this had become intense. (To be continued) = ; : ae ; ; a

Page 25

UP NEW ORLEANS AFFIC Traffic stopped at Camp and Gravier streets _ the other afternoon at 6.30 when an alligator five eet long waddled across the street. It paid no ttention to traffic signals. Traffic Policeman John Kent tried to stop the saurian but he wad- dl on. A rope was secured. The ’gator was lassoed. Then great crowds gathered while he was oisted into a patrol wagon. At headquarters Supt. Molony knew not what to do with him. None of the zoos wanted him. Finally a contractor @greed to give him a home. TWO DWARFED SONS HID IN MANSION ‘An inventory of the household effects of a anada composer, Ladipo, who died recently, vealed the existence of two of the strangest Sings Spain has seen in years. Ladipo lived _ With his servants. : ~ Authorities discovered the musician had two “sons, each 3 feet 1 inch tall, their bodies per- ; y proportioned, but with small heads. They * spoke feebly, like veices far away. "The servants said the dwarfs, Jose and Fer- nando, forty-two and forty years old, had never een outside of the big house, do not know how to ‘at humanly, have no notion of time and cannot ALLIGATOR TIES : TR “Senor Lapido concealed them because he was hamed of their deformity, it is believed. If ven proper instruction they will be normal. 0 ELEPHANT HAILS HER RETURNED : MAHOUT ‘Last year, on Good Friday, Indirani, the Zoo’s irgest riding elephant, received in the year 1920 a gift from the Maharajah of Cooch Behar, on strike, refusing to obey the orders of her lish keepers. . As the elephant was only stub- and not vicious it was decided to import a ahout from India to see what could be done with er. The result of this éxperiment was surpris- : successful, for the native succeeded within days in obtaining a perfect command over animal. Last autumn the mahout departed r his native land. Since his departure the ele- nt has been exercised by her white keeper and behaved in an exemplary manner. To guard nst a recurrence of bad behavior on her part summer the Zoo authorities arranged for a urn visit of the mahout. The welcome he re- ved from Indirani was quite extraordinary, the hant going mad with joy on the appearance former master. So pleased was she that y she became ill with excitement. SEPLEJACK’S LIFE SAVED BY. =. >> FIREMAN . and twenty minute , hung to a slender FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY NEWS FROM EVERYWHERE - foot smokestack of the Sioux City Brick < Tile Company, after a scaffold on which he = been working crashed to the earth below. : Momentarily the seantling threatened to give way, while firemen worked to save Campbell’s life. While they worked a forty-mile gale threat. ened to blow their ladders from the stack and spectators far below shouted up to them to aban- don their efforts before they were swept from the giant chimney to certain death. “Ladders, lengthened out to the full failed to reach the top of the stack. Atoms cane — to ag ropes over the top of the chimney, but the high win i = pe ee £ d carried the ropes a The ladders were then shortened until they reached a point six feet above the point where Campbell clung for life, and the firemen chisled - a hole through the brick wall, sixteen inches thick, As the chisel broke through the thick wall the 3 firemen heard Campbell say, “Thank God.” A ae rope was thrust through the aperture and the steeplejack lowered to the bottom of the pit. & When the steeplejack was taken from the pitit was found that his arms were numb from the hours of clinging to the seantling. “ = ———laSaD@DaSSSSSSSS “sé . ¢ ~ Mystery Magazine’ ey SEMI-MONTHLY 10 CENTS A COPY — LATEsT ISssvEs — 453 WHEN CROOKS CONSPIRE, by Harola F. Pods * : THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE CAR. by Ham. ilton Craigie a THE DETECTIV a 32 Ban CTIVE AND THE LAW, by Frederiek aa THE HAND IN THE DARK. hy Ch . g THE TRAT Dd: . ny as. F. Oursler, a waon-Howard. THE ROGUE, By George Bron: a. 3} WON ‘ BE WOMAN FROM NOWHERE. by Jack Bech. e THR TIMP DETECTIVE, by Frank Ri! oe. THE WHISPERING-ROOM. By Hesich {aaa = The Famous Detective Story Out Today in 135 Is Fae. ONE .CLUE MISSING By CHAS. F. OURSLER HARRY E. WOLFF, Publisher, Inc. 166 West 23d Street, New York City a a “Moving Picture Stories? = A Weekly Magazine Devoted to Photoplays and Players” a PRICE SEVEN CENTS PER COPY Each number contains Four Stories of the Bes on the ‘Screen -~ Elegant Half-tone Scenes gs the Plays — wine eat Articles About Prominent in the Films — Do ate of Actors and Aciresses Studio and Lessons Scenario Writing. :

Page 26

LINTERESTING : RADIO FOR LEPERS Off Porto Rico, on Cabras Island, the lepers are quarantined and lead a dreary life, as they may not communicate with the outside world, but now things have changed, and the outside world is brought to them by means of radio. When, it was being adjusted there never was a more in- terested lot of spectators. Rev. Charles B. Bare and two assistants put it up in the clubhouse of the island; and when the “loud speaker” is ad- justed the listeners will be able to hear concerts, lectures and everything else in ail the large cities of the United States. The superintendent of the island says there wil] be seats enough for. all, so that they may be comfortable while enjoying. the concerts. SHOULD RECEIVERS BE RATED IN OHMS? The policy of selling headsets on the strength of their direct-current resistance is held -ta be wrong by many radio engineers. It is claimed that the average 2,000-ohm headset is as sensi- tive, and in many instances even more so, than the receiver with a resistance of 4,000 ohms. Radio receivers should be rated by their impe- dance. The impedance varies, of course, with the frequency of the current. One well-known head- set manufacturer has taken as a standard 1,000 sycles, and at this frequency his headsets have an impedance of 22,000 ohms. It has been found that this is the resistance of the average crystal or tube circuit. This in itself, however, does not guarante the efficiency of a headset, since there are many other requirements and features that determine the operating efficiency and sensitive- ness of the radio headset. _ THE RADIOTRON UV-201-A The Radiotron UV-201-A is an improved high vacuum tube suitable for detection, radio-am- _plification. It contains the new thoriated tung- sten filament, the characteristics of which. are long life, low power consumption and low operat- ing temperature, and it consumes only one-quar- ter 6f an ampere (0.25 ampere). If the filament - yoltage is*supplied by a six-volt battery, the re- sistance of the filament rheostat should be at least four ohms. It will be noted that the cur- rent consumption is very low; in fact, five tubes of the UV-201-A may be operated with the same expenditure of energy as is generally called for by a single tube of standard type. The UV-201- A, however, is microphonic and should be mounted on cushion er spring supports to prevent noise from vibration. The life of this new tube is usually ended by a decrease in electron emission. This is indicated by an increase in the filament voltage required for satisfactory operation. LIGHTNING. MAN MADE ndr | engineers who were at- sae is aa! POT re ee a tr a I ee ee a fir a = c le Spun stay ee Se ~~ FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY RADIO NEWS stitute of Electrical Engineers at Pittsburgh were startled recently while visiting the Westinghouse New High Voltage Testing. Laboratory at Traf- ford when 1,000,000 volts were shot into two brass spheres placed several feet apart. The unex- pected display and its resulting blinding flash similar to a streak of lightning out of a clear sky and the crashing noise, man-made thunder whi could be heard a mile away, nearly knocked sey- eral of the engineers off their feet. ; A wonderful illuminating effect was next pro- duced by drawing a high voltage arc over a dis- tance of 25 feet; this demonstration, which lasted for three minutes, lighted up the entire labora- tory. - The laboratory is equipped with 1,000,000 and 500,000 volts testing transformers, and appa- ratus for testing electrical apparatus and insula- — tion under the most unfavorable climatic and im? stallation conditions. t CARE FOR YOUR RADIO TUBES wit The radio fan is apt to experience disappoint- ment when he finds that the high voltage leads from the ““B” battery have been accidentally con- nected across the filament posts of his receiver and one or more tubes are burned out. Although the normal life of the average Radio- tron filament is considerably more than 1,000 — hours, it requires but an instant to destroy this delicate filament when excessive voltages are ap- plied to the terminals. - ~ When filaments are’ shorted across a twenty, forty or sixty-volt batterv in new condition, the “burn-out” requires but a fraction of a_ second and unless the user happens to be-inspecting the — tube at the instant of the fiash, the <u would not be discovered-until the set was used again. It is a very easy matter to protect tube a filaments by either of the following means: Insert a 100-ohm (non-inductive) resistance ™ for each 22-volt block of “B” battery in the cir- cuit next to the positive terminal of the “B” bat- 4 tery. This resistance may be left permanently = 3 in the circuit without any effects whatsoever in the normal life of the receiving set. : Probably the most convenient form of resist- -ance is a 25-watt, 110-volt tungsten lamp, which will provide ‘sufficient protection for plate volt- ages up to and including 100 volts. This resist- _ ance automatically increases with the current so as to act, in effect, as a protective ballast lamp. : RADIO DRAMA ae - Philadelphians and those who listen in to the Philadelphia stations had an opportunity recently — to hear a real “radio drama”—one written es- © pecially for broadcasting. The play, a three-act melodrama, “The Secret Wave,” was written é Clyde Agnew Criswell, who, with Walter Gre “radio drama technique.” —

Page 27

FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY 25 “When the moving picture was invented it was found that dramas written for the stage were not suited for filming,” Mr. Greenough says; “a new technique had to be developed before the motion Picture industry could go forward. It is the shme with radio. A new way of writing had to be de- veloped before radio dramas could be as complete and entertaining as the legitimate stage and the Moving picture have become. “The difficulty the moving picture had to over- come was the inabilfy of the players to speak; with radio the difficulty is to supply scenery. Sev- eral plays have been broadeast by various sta- tions successfully because it has been left entirely to the listener’s imagination to build scenery to fit the words coming through his head phones. “But it is possible to use the voices of the Speakers to show the scenery as well as to carry On the action of the play, and, in addition, to take advantage of many things not possible on the Stage or in the films. “For instance, the dialogue ean continue from scene to scene, a thing not pos- sible on the stage. - WGY, Schenectady, has broadeast several plays, but these were all plays intended for the Stage and not for the studio. The local stations have broadcast several plays direct from the Stage, and there is no doubt of the popularity of radio entertainment. 4 ro Se RADIO AND RAIN Since the announcement in February that army aviators flying over McCook Field, near Dayton, Qhio, had succeeded in dispelling clouds by means of electrically-charged particles of sand, consid- €rable discussion has been rampant about the abil- ity of man to control the elemental forces of fogs, » clouds and rain. The theory advanced by Prof. Wilder D. Bancroft of Cornell Universitly and L. » Francis Warren, who devised the method used _ by the army aviators, has never been actually dis- + proved.” Neither has it been proved to the sat- isfaction of all scientists. It was devised upon the assumption that spraying the minute drops _ Charged sand would cause negatively charged - Of water which form clouds with positively ' drops to coalesce. bm The experiments have been carried on by the >>» army air service and attention is called to the fact | that the service has not been interésted in caus- ing rain but in dispelling fogs from landing fields. _ The clouds: attacked by the aviators have con- tained very little moisture, so it has never been Seientifically established that the method would actually cause rain. Almost all of the United States has been treated (or subjected, depending upon your point f view) to excessive rainfall during the past Year. Last summer brought more than the aver- * 8g amount of rainfall and the past winter has ght to the East, at. least, an unusual amount 5 Snowfall. The theory has been advanced that ‘the extensive use of radio has brought about a ~S"per-charged condition in the upper strata of > 8tmosphere and as so affected the clouds as to M “8Use excessive rain and snow fall. Whether or Not the theory is correct, we do not know. It has Never heen scientifically proved. The experiences he army aviators would lead to the conclu- that an.electrical disturbance in the atmos- f ~*~ Pir lag) etd ed wah eae 2 , ~ phere has some effect upon moisture. Experi- ments have been conducted in an effort to broad- cast electrical power by radio. It is not alto- gether impossible to believe that at some future time this method of power transmission may be as common as the present-day method. It is not altogether impossible that the same future may see vast acreages of untillable soil rendered cul- tivatable by an electrification of the air by power transmitted by radio. A GOOD HOOK-UP It is unfortunate that not a few of the hook- ups diagrammed by experts for amateurs either have left out some essential point or the drawing is so sketchy that the poor amateur is driven back and forth from his apparatus to the retailer, to the “immediate” .profit of the latter unless he be especially scrupulous. As has been indicated in more than one high- grade periodical cevoted to the radio industry, this profit of the dealer is only immediate for un- scrupulous members of the trade can kill the goose which lays the golden eggs—and-a careful survey of conditions has brought about the con- clusion that the goose is already gasping. A hook-up for one step of radio frequency amplification is perhaps the most generally in- teresting problem for the amateur who has got beyond his first plunge into radio development. Of the many which have been outlined during the past month there is printed herewith a descrip- tive diagram, planneed by one of the editors of the Radio News. Place three UV-201 lamps in a row, the F’s toward you. Between the first and second place a radio frequency amplifying transformer and put an audio frequency amplifier between the - second and third lamps. Leave a one-inch space between each of them. Place a rheostat a few inches in front of each lamp. One wire from the tuner is connected to the G on the lamp. Run a wire from the P to the primary of the radio transformer. A wife run from the secondary to the g on the middle lamp, and another from the P to primary g of the audio /transférmer. From the secondary a wire goes to the g on the last lamp‘ and one side of the phone is connected to a wire from the P on the last lamp. Next run a wire from due F to the first rheos- tat and connect the second tuner lead to this wire. Then run a wire from the second F to the positive pole of a 6-volt battery. Tap in a wire on this lead, run it eighth and tap in a wire to it from each of the other two rheostats. Next run a wire.from the primary of the radio transformer to the’ negative of a B battery and a line from the positive of the audio transformer to the same battery. From the second secondary of the radio transformer run a wire down and tap into the lead between the lamp F' and the secon- dary rheostat. Run a line from the second secon- dary on the audio transformer to the line between the last rheostat and the F on the third lamp, and solder it. The other phone wire is fastened to the negative of the B battery. Now a wire runs down from each remaining F on the lamps to the“positive of the A battery and the circuit is complete. Attached to a one-lamp set this hook-up will give three stages of amplification, . has

Page 28

‘ ” $4.50, HOw TO SEND MONEY — At our risk send P. O, Money Order, Check or Registered Letter; remittances in any other way are at your risk. We a t Postage Stamps the same as cash. When sending silver wrap _« the Coin in a separate piece of paper to avoid cut the envelope. rite your mame and address plainly. _ Address letters to Marry E. Wolff, Pres. } Bee. Canada, $4.00; Foreign, Publisher, Inc., 166 W. 23d St., N. ¥. ITEMS OF INTEREST LARGEST CHIMNEY IN ENGLAND . __ The largest chimney in the British Isles is to _ be erected at Coventry. It is to be 365 feet high. Charles E. Nylander, % F. Wilsin, Treas. Mont., standing 506 feet above its foundations. GIANTJNEW ZEALAND TREE * One of the largest, if not the largest trees in _ the world has been discovered in the bush at _ Waihou, Hokianga, New Zealand. It is a huge _ kauri tree, the vast trunk rising to.a height of 75 feet before being broken by the first branch, and measuring 22 feet in diameter and 66 feet, or ap- proximately a chain, in girth. A well known bush expert estimates the tree to contain more than 195,000 superficial feet of timber, sufficient to build three double storied ho- _ tels of twenty rooms each from floor to ceiling. PLANK TELLS OF SEA LOSS . A bit of plank tossed by the Atlantic for five __- years, drifted into St. Johns, N. B., the home port _ of the schooner E. E. Armstrong, recently, bear- ing a message which was believed to clear up the mystery of the Armstrong’s disappearance in 1918 - “Lost ship and crew,” said the message carved ‘on the bit of driftwood. “Capt Burns (Me.) sur- vives.” . Capt. Burns was the commander of the missing schooner, last heard’ from near the Barbados. _ He probably did not survive long, as he never was heard from after the vessel dropped from the seas. : é aie ; Sa as Bs z = TROUT FIGHTS FOR LIFE 35 MINUTES i _A fishing record for New York waters was __made the other day when a nineteen-pound brown 3 put was captured in Loon Lake, near Malone, , by A. E. Paye. The great fish gave its wearing: le before it sur- 2% FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY _ FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY NEW YORK, JUNE, 29, 1923 TERMS TO SUBSCRIBERS Bingle Copies........... sere+sPostage Free 7 Cents One Copy Three Months..... a = 90 Cents Ome Copy Six Months........ * “ $1.25 Copy One Year........ ee sy 3.50 HARRY E. WOLFF, _ ain’t you? The world’s highest chimney is at Great Falls, | place. Wife—Just the place? H fishing in company with E. R. Hayes of Loon Lake, using an Archie spinner and minnow with a steel rod. When the fish struck it was realized that a large catch was hooked, but the fishermen thought it was a “laker,”’ which sometimes reaches large size in these waters. They were therefore ion surprised when it proved to be a brown trout. 3 From the moment of the strike a battle was on. Again and again in repeate@ rushes the big fish ran out Mr. Paye’s reel until nearly the whole — of his line was in the water, and at times the ~ tackle was under perilous strain. The struggle lasted thirty-five minues before the fish, in ex- haustion, gave up. M. Paye has entered his prize in a contest for a reel offered by a Malone firm. LAUGHS “Good Heavens, man; pretty. badly smashed up, Anybody with you?” . “Yes, the chap who was trying to sell me this used car.” He—Why do you talk continually from mornin until night? She—It’s the only time I get. i sleep from night till morning. Orchestra Drummer—lI’m the fastest man in. - the world. Violinist—How’s that? O. D.—Time flies, doesn’t it? V.—So they say. O. D.—Well, - I beat time. “Mamma, what’s in the package?”’ “While at the butcher’s, dear, I got some lights for the cat.” “Mamma, if I ate lights could I see inthe dark like kitty?” Nurse—Why, Bobby, you selfish little boy! Why didn’t eg give your sister a piece of your — apple? Bobby—I gave her the seeds. She can _ plant ’em and have a whole orchard. 5 = Teacher—Now, boys, what creature is satisfied with the least amount of nourishment? Up shot — the hand of Johnnie Thompson, the dunce of the class. ‘Well, Johnnie,” said the teacher, “and # what creature is it?” “The moth, miss,” replied = Johnnie, “because it only eats holes.” see Magistrate—Do you mean to say such a phy- sical wreck as your husband gave you that black eye? Plaintiff—Your Washup, e’ wasn’t a phy- sical wreck until e’ gave me the black eye. Dick’s parents are well-meaning but a trifle too _ strict, believing that “to spare the rod is to spoil the child.” When Dick was asked by a friend o the family what he would like to be when grew up, he replied, readily, “An orphan.” Pan Wife—I found an egg in the coal-bin th morning. That’s a queer place for a hen to lay” = in. Husband—Just the place, my dear, jus he usband—W = bea Fn bees certainly. If 0 to lay in coal ‘won't x tom the ice

Page 29

FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY ITEMS OF GENERAL INTEREST HORNED OWLS FEAST ON YOUNG PIGS Horned owls are believed guilty of carrying off young pigs from Puget Sound ranches. The carcasses of several month-old pigs were recent- ly found in the limbs of fir trees, with full-fed owls sleeping away the daylight hours further above. The owls also carry off large salmon and . impale them on splintered boughs of tall trees. _in erecting a memorial to a tree. COOL CHILD SAVES CHILD Hans, five-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. John Siverts, was saved from death in Spring Creek, near Golden Valley, N. D., by Carl Maxie, seven years old. ; Hans tumbled into the creek, which is swollen by the recent rains. Carl peeped over the bank to determine that his playmate had landed in the water and then ran to a point a short distance below, where the current cut in close to the bank. He arrived there ahead of Hans, who soon came down the creek, his protruding foot giving the only indication of his presence, Carl grabbed the foot and soon had Hans on dry land, where neighbors revived him. MONUMENT TO A TREE - Inanimate objects are not often memorialized, and-Nebraska has gone ahead of other States It, is a wide stretch between New York and San Francisco, but about half way between,.on the plains of Ne- braska, there stood, when the “forty-niners” were west, a cottonwood tree, about five feet in i ter. It was a beauty, and the only big tree im an immense area, so thousands of gold seekers sought its grateful shade, and spread abroad the location for other campers who were to follow. - It was Pentinel and guide for the prairie schgon- _ tracks and ran its trains. = a i i 7 . <2 <4 ol s 2 - aE . ae ers until the Union Pacific Railroad laid its The tree finally died, but some of those whom it had sheltered erected @ momument which represents the trunk of a cottonwood and bears the inscription: “On this rt stood the original Lone Tree, on the old Cal- ornia trail.” THREE OF ONE FAMILY REUNITED BY : CHANCE Fate reunited father, mother and daughter at Texas and Pacific Railroad station, Fort Worth, Tex., after a period of eighteen years’ Separation. Early in the morning Mary Ellis, Bighteen, arrived in the city and asked of the Travellers’ Aid to be directed to a nice hotel. # an hour later the girl’s mother, from she had been separated since shortly after the girl’s birth, arrived in the city and asked of Travellers’ Aid information concerning a cer- tain firm. Casually glancing over the register ihe noticed a name which appeared familiar—the Be of her daughter. , She inquired of the girl’s was directed to the hotel to been sent. , mother and child were re- wrod Hitter of besos new 10 and oo z 2 iain aks “which frequen Two hours later George Ellis, St. Louis de- tective, arrived in Fort Worth in search of an alleged girl forger. At the Travellers’ Aid office at ‘the’ railroad station he encountered the ad- dress of a girl whose description resembled that of the girl he sought, and found that it was his daughter, who, however, proved not to be the al- leged forger. Going to the hotel, he was met by his wife. Mrs. Ellis fainted upon the sight of her husband, whom she had not seen for more than eighteen years. , Later in the day, Mrs. Ellis told newspaper men of how her husband disappeared shortly be- fore the birth of her daughter from their home in Newport, R. I. When the baby was born she was given into custody of a sister of Mr. Ellis who reared the child as her own. Mrs. Ellis de- clared that she had believed her husband dead. The reunited family will return to Chicago, where Ellis is employed. THE KILLER WHALE A model of the dreadful Killer—the “wolf of the sea”—is to be seen in the American Museum of Natural History. The Killer—or Orca—ilooks like a small whale or big dolphin. Its length varies from twenty to thirty feet. Its jaws are prolonged into a beak filled with strong, large teeth. Commer- cially, the Killer is of practically no value, its blubber containing little oil. It is found in al- most every ocean of the world, being abundant in Japan. Roy C. Andrews of the museum tells some in- teresting facts about the Killer in his “Whale Hunting with Gun and Camera.” Killers will ap- parently eat anything that swims, says Mr. Andews. There is a record of thirteen porpoises and fourteen seals being taken from the stomach of a 21-foot specimen. : They set upon a young whale, baiting him like so many bulldogs. Some will lay hold of his tall to keep him from threshing, while others attack his head, until the poor creature, becoming over- heated, lolls out his tongue. This is what the Killers have been playing for. They instantly catch hold of his lips, and if possible, his tongue, They feed chiefly on the head, leaving the car- cass when it begins to!putrefy. The sperm whale is probably the only marine animal which is ‘more than a match for a herd of Killers. The gray whale, ordinarily the clev- erest of all large whales, becomes so terrified when threatened by a Killer that he either dashes madly for the shore or rolls over on his back paralyzed with fright. Not even ships can daunt the ferocious Killer, fn helps whaling parties by terri- fying the mutual prey into non-resistance. Mr. Andrews testifies to an attack made on a man‘ and several dogs standing on a cake: of ice. The Killers hurled themselves from below and thrust a great heads through the cracks, snapping their jaws viciously. Fortunately; man and. dogs were just out of _reath. ..-. ideas : ~ ae se aa x

Page 30

COYOTES KILLING BIG GOATS Coyotes are actually wiping out the goats, one _ of the most important agricultural lines in Ore- ~ gon, and goat owners are seeking relief, accord- - ing to a report of County Agent Beck, just re- _. turned from the Nashville-Nortons district. The -.. eoyotes are becoming so predacious they kill big = : goats and sheep. — AIRPLANE HUNTS FOR MULES © ’ Folks who think spending an afternoon in an - airplane is a nice, expensive luxury, would have ~ been scandalized recently when C. W. Kraul, - rancher, of Lindsey, Cal., hired an aviator and his _ plane and went out hunting for his mules. = Hunting lost mules by airplane is declared the ___- very, newest in stunts. Mr. Kraul, with Orval _ Freeman, local airman, soared high, and as they _ flew Kraul scanned the landscape with a power- ful glass, finally being rewarded by the discov- -ery-of the three lost mules, which had strayed away three days before. : MINISTER SAVES HIS DOG Jt cost the Rev. I. A. Storey, pastor of the Col- - ored- Methodist church, El Dorado, Kan., $6.66 to secure the return of his dog, after it had been eaptured by Joel Robinson, a negro, who is a dog _ ¢atcher. - "The dog was taken into custody several days ago by Robinson, when he found it running at Jarge. It, with a number of other dogs, was shipped to Kansas University to be used by med- ~~ ical students. The Rev. Mr. Storey wired the of- ficials not to kill it, but to ship it back to El - Dorado. This was done, but it cost the minister ' $3.66 express charges. rafter the dog arrived here the Rev. Mr. Storey * Si secured a city license for it. ; : ~ minister then was fined $1 for allowing his dog to run at large, bringing the costs to $6.66. * - ICEBERGS ARE MOST DANGEROUS IN s SPRING Contrary to the belief of many people, the sea- - son when icebergs are most dangerous to ships - in the North Atlantic is not in the winter but in the spring and summer, when the big bergs break » away from the fields during the winter and drift into the lane of ships. In winter the floating fields of ice are so frozen together that they offer ~ but little danger to ships. The small drifts that _ — float into the North Atlantic in winter may easily + ploughed through by a big ship without any ifficulty. In clear weather icebergs may be seen ta great distance so that ape may change their rse and avoid collision. The chief difficulty in the spring and summer lies in the presence of fog that usually surrounds a huge berg, so that it be seen. The United States Coastguard s a fleet probons eotves re duty it =e : ot of ice- ee ee See oe FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY INTERESTING NEWS ARTICLES That cost $2. The with inlaid ornament. other on behalf of there is great likelihood of the explosive merely destroying the top of the berg, leaving the bulk of it floating beneath the surface and more dan- gerous to ships, since it cannot be detected until the vessel is upon it. : > A MUSICAL PIG There has been added to the collections in the Indian Religious Room of the British Museum a recently acquired granite figure of Nandi, the bull of Siva, the god of destruction. This animal is very frequently represented in Hindu religious art, but the specimen now exhibited is the best and by far the largest possessed by the museum. For the granite sculpture is very beautiful, and is so finely carved as to seem full of life. It may date from the fourteenth century. It was prob- ably brought to England in the eighteenth cen- tury, and formed part of the Stowe House col- lection. The Department of Ethnography has just ac- quired a small but interesting ethnological collec- tion’ from what was formerly known as German ~ New Guinea, but is now Australian mandated territory. Before the war most of the specimens from this region naturally went to Germany, but they are now finding their way to other countries. Perhaps the most curious of the new objects is a musical. instrument carved in the shape of a igh — mp Se New Ireland, an island in the Bismarck Archipelago which was ren New Mechlenburg by the Geran and ea - received back its original name. This instrument is made of a section of a tree trunk about a foot in diameter. It has three upstanding keys, which are played by rubbing the palms of the hands with resin from the breadfruit tree and then pass-. ing them over the keys, the principle being that of __ the musical glasses. The instrument is engraved The pig’s eyes are rep-°. — resented by the opercula of shells. “This instru- — ment, of which the museum already possessed one specimen, but an entirely undecorated one, is peculiar to New Ireland. 2 Another object of great interest is a head- = dress made of cassowary plumes. It folds up into. | a very small compass and opens out to make 402: dignified panache. This specimen comes from ex- German New Guinea. Another curious object is a nut, about the size of a Brazil nut, from — which the kernel has been extracted. It is carved _ outside with a human face. The nutshell is so * fashioned as to emit a sharp clicking noise, when clipped by the thumb nail. This sound, which re- sembles the click of a castanet, is a love-call and is used by a lover to summon his beloved. This also comes from ex-German New Guinea. = has _ = > . A Chinese carving on a white stone, which —e been added to the collection in this depa < represents two figures of Kwan-Yin, the goddess = of mercy and relief. The inscription reads, “Tw Kwan-Yins on white jade, one on behalf of de- ceased ancestors seven Eset back, and F my deceased husband, that |

Page 31

‘ i a _ and it is STONE-EATING ANIMALS Stones are com- monly found in the stomach of the crab - eating seal of the Ant- arctic Seas; and it is believed that they, with a cer- tain amount of grit, are scooped up with the crus- tacea from the bottom of the sea. The emperor pen- guin, on the other hand, shows an instinctive crav- ing for stones for gizzard - grinding purposes; for these stones must be assiduous- ly sought, since these birds never rest upon dry land, but only upon ice. The fate of stones swal- lowed by birds is not easy to deter- mine. Another unex- pected name in this list of stone- Swallowers is that of the Lesser ' Rorqual. This is a “baleen” whale, feeding upon Minuf® crustacea and fish. From the peculiar meth- od of feeding Which is, -so. to speak, forced upon this animal, it is unlikely that any portion of its food is scooped up from the sea floor; hence the Pebbles found in its stomach. must be deliber- ately swallowed, sup- Posed, for the Purposes of di- estion, or, rath- er, of Sah ea ey are hardly likely to be de- Tived from the ‘Glands Used To Restore Hair Growth Science of Gland Therapy Relieves Baldness — New Treatment Re- stores Health and Growth. Baldness In both men and women is now enerally ascribed by scientists to defective | functioning of endocrine glands. Hair growth is dependent upon the secretions of these glands—these secretions making possible the assimilation of those elements in the blood which are vital to a luxurious growth of hair. i = Now it is possible for any bald person to have a full, luxuriant growth of hair through the discoyery of E. R. Alexander, nationally known scientist. Dr. Alexander, through the concentration of glands, can supply the de- ficiency of glamd secretion and produce a full growth of hair. This discovery may be ently as in the privacy of your own home. ithin a few weeks you will notice new, vigorous hair be- ginning to come in and with this growth you ean go restore your hair to its former bright, healthy color. So confident is Dr. Alexander that you can be relieved of the embarrassment of baldness and regain the normal hair growth by this method that he offers to send a regular $4.00 treatment for only $2.00 to anyone who will write for it. Use it according to directions, and if at the end of a month you do not find the treatment does not cost a cent. SEND NO MONEY —just your name and address to Alexander Laboratories, 721 Gate- way Station, Kansas City, Mo., or 721 Ter- minal, Toronto, Canada, and this treatment will be mailed at once in plain wrapper. Try it according to directions and if at the end of a month you are not more than satisfied with results, your mrs} will be refunded at once. A big Kansas City bank guarantees that Dr. Alexander is reliable and holds $1,000 cash aS a guarantee to return your money if you wish. Don’t suffer the embarrassment of baldness —give the treatment a trial on this liberal offer. it tariff raise prices for a limited time. a 00, 25-calibre, 7-shot anto- matic, 41-4in, , our No. 748110, spe- A= cial at $6.95. Or regular $25.00 heavy service$2-calibre,10-shot automa~ tie, 6in.1 No. 748120, special at .75. EXTRA MAGAZINE FREE with cach gun. Bote at your hair returning with all its former vigor, A DAY selling Sits =! vi to sell. No experience or capital re- quired, Entirely new proposit: Write for Fac #10 to @25 on the Ranger you select from 44 Styles, colors and sizes. Delivered free on approval ex- press prepaid for 30 pays FreeTriai, ‘oseession and IE } vse st once on '. Mas ee our liberal year to pay plan. A A whee! osnal Deion Write for toe Cycle Company write Dept pissChicago today from the batteries will THE ELECTRICITY torn oueotie through your table or hand. Cures Rheumatiom, Liver and Weak and Lame Back,ete. Pot 4 MEAD. Dept .No. 42, VINELAND ,NEW JERSEY, Your skin can be quickly cleared of Pimples, Black- heads, Acne Eruptions on the face or body, Barbers I E FRE eee oe yeelf after being aileted f fs my $1000 Cash says! can clear your sius ofthe above blemishes E.S.GIVENS, 156 Chemical Bidg., Kansas City,Mo. Habit Cured or No Pay Any form, ci; ii i é ~ anne ee.nins, chewing or on trial. d i thine if fet i SUPERBA AEST eetisoe” ie VENTRILOQUISM taught almost any one at home. Small sest, Send TODAY 2 eents for partieulass and proof. GEORGE W. SMITH Room M-761, 125 N. Jeff Ave., Peoria, TM. SEND FOR INFORMATION DR.QUAYLE SANITARIUM. Dept. 971 MADISON.O#IO FLAPPER + JewernvG/Y SET ring —S— eee Se ee ART PHOTOS, studies beauty of the na- which are en- sizes shoot all fulfed, for these standard ture, postcards and large size, great collee- Sto m vf YY POSTMAN ON DELIVERY plus postage. tion. Sample splendid for $1.00 — $3.00 — ‘ ostly her Rianey back promptly f Not Satisfied. $500. Editions d’Art at Neullly-Piaisancs ring. CONSUMERS CO., dept. 748° 1265 Broadway,N.¥. | (S&O) France.

Page 32

RaoCourse] Be a Certificated FREE ween Electrical Expert given FREE when a enroll for the trical Course. 4 = You, Too, Can Learn | To Boss This Job “ELECTRICAL EXPERTS” Fars $12 to $30 a Day Trained ‘Electrical Experts’ are in great demand at the highest salaries, and the opportunities for advancement and a big success in this line are the greatest ever known. : “Electrical Experts’’ earn $70 to $200 a week. Fit yourself for one of these big paying positions 5 Be an “Electrical Expert” Today even the ordinary electrician—the “‘screw driver’’ kind is making money—-big money. But it’s the trained man—the man who knows the whys and wherefores of Electricity—the ‘‘Electrical Expert’—who is picked out to ‘‘bocs’’ ordinary electricians—to boss big jobs—the jobs that pay. $3,500 to $10,000 a Year Get in line for one of these “Big Jobs’ by enrolling now for my easily-learned, quickly-grasped, right-up-to-the-minute, Spare-Time Home Study Course in Practical Electricity. . Age or Lack of Experience No Draw-back You don’t have to be a College Man; you don’t have to be e High School graduate. My Course in Electricity is the most simple, h, and successful in existence, and cao every man, regardless of age, education, or previous experience, the chance to become, im a very short time, an “‘Electrieai Expert,’’ able to make from $70 to $200 a week. > I Give You a Real Training : As Chief Engineer of the Chicago Engineering Works I know exactly the kind of training a man needs to get the best positions at the highest salaries. Hundreds of my students are now earning $3.500 to $10,000. Many are now successful ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS. « - Satisfaction Guaranteed Bo suré am I that you can learn Electricity—so sure am I that after studying with me, you, too, can get into the “‘big money” class in electrical work, that I will guarantee under bond to return every single penny paid me in tuition, if, when you have finished my course, you are not satisfied it was the best investment you ever made. - FREE—Electrical Working Outfit—FREE ~* I give each student a Splendid Gutfit of Electricai Tools, Materials and Measuring Instruments absolutely FREE. 1 also furnish them with all supplies, examination paper, and many other things that other schools don’t furnish. You do PRACTICAL work—AT HOME. . ‘ : You start right in after the first few lessons to WORK AT YOUR PRO- ee eee eee re nn ee ae FESSION in a practical way. L. COOKE, Chief Engineer, Chi Engineering Work: > Dept. 209, 2150 pa mr dva.s Obicose. iil. : SAVE $45.50 BY ENROLLING NOW $45.50 BY ENROLLING NOW You can save $45.50 in tuition by enrolling now. Let me send you full Dear Sir: Send me at once full particulars of your great Bpecial Offer: also your Free nooklet on “How = Sasectie | ticulars of my great Special Offer, and my Free booklet on “How to “4 An Electrical Expert." No obligation on my part. ¢ An Electrical Expert.” WOME. 560 cece sides nccencssecdesccgecccsSesacceecescs ces L.L. COOKE, CHIEF ENGINEER \ edit eee, = CHICAGO ENGINEERING WORKS 1 Dept. 209. 2106 Lanremae ‘Ave. Chicago, tt. <4

Page 33

LiFe AINT IN HOLDIN’ A G00D HERE IS NO FINER THING IN THE WORLD than courage. flame which lights the fires of ambition in every man’s soul and burns a forward path through every difficulty. <= It is easy to be courageous when the odds are in your favor. But the greater hero is the man who -~ gmiles a brave smile when days are darkest and _ keeps on fighting toward the ultimate goal—“to the ws a warrior unafraid.” As Grantland Rice so beautifully expresses it:— “God grant that in the strife and stress Which all must face who linger here— Upon the Field of Hopelessness 5 Or with the laurel swinging near, Upon the world’s red. firing line The battle of the strong and weak— * The fate of all the Fates be mine— I will not show the Yellow Streak. If Fortune play me false or fair— os If, from the shadowlands I creep Up to the heights and linger there, Or topple downward to the deep— On up the rugged path of fame, PR gone a gs a Serge mounts; grant it ay out the game, _ For there is Setting else that counts.” As the old cowboy saying goes—“Life ain’t in’ holdin’ a good hand, but in playin’ a poor hand well.” What if you did have to leave school when you re but a boy! What if you have been working — at a small salary with little or no chance ‘advancement! Do you think that makes any ference to a real fighter? What you have done with your time up to now counts for what you are Today. What you do with your time from now on will © what you will be Tomorrow. ur hands can’t earn the money you need. But head can—and will/—if you give it the chance.” ‘matter what your age—your education—or oe you paige the rut and make good. if you grit your teeth and say “I will.” eee: Se = 2, ser s “ . ice Se It is the warm*and beautiful ~ " “Life Aint in Holdin’ a Good Hand, = but in Playin’a Poor Hand Well By R.C. Templeton O you want to advance in Business? In Adver- tising? In Salesmanship? Many of the coun- try’s foremost Sales and Advertising Managers, Chief Clerks, Accountants, Office Managers, Book- keepers, and Private Secretaries have won success with the help of the International Correspondence Schools. More students have been enrolled in the I. C. S. Business Courses than in any other business courses in the country, — Would you like to be a first-class Draftsman, Mechanical, Electrical, Civil or Steam Engineer? A Chemist? An Architect? A Building Contractor? An Automobile Expert? Thousands of men have climbed into big jobs in the technical professions through I. C. S. help. The I. C. S. is the biggest and oldest correspon- dence school.in the world. For thirty-one years, it has been helping men out of routine drudgery into work they like—helping them to win advancement, to have happy, prosperous homes, to know the joy of getting ahead in business and in life. How much longer are you going to wait before taking the step that is bound to bring you more money? Isn’t it better to start now than to wait five years and then realize what the delay has cost you? One hour after supper each night spent with the I. C. S. in the quiet of your own home will prepare you for the position you want. f Here is all we ask: Without cost, without obligat- ing yourself in any way, mark and mail this coupon. It takes only a moment of your time, but it is the most important thing you can do today. Right now is the time to say “I will.” _-- ee TEAR OUT HERE — — — —— — — INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS Box 4489-B, Seranton, Penna. Without cost or obligation, please tell me how I can Bm 4 for @he position or in the subject before which I have marked sn X: BUSINESS TRAINING DEPARTMENT Business Management Industrial Management Personnel Organization Mic Manag ement Business Law anking and Banking Law Accountancy (including C.P.A.) Nichelson Cost Accounting Bookkeeping = Private saree Business Span OD French TECHNICAL ams INDUSTRIAL DEPARTMENT rehi jectrical Engineer: Electric Lighting Blue Print Readin, Mechanical Engineer and B {Ider Mechanical D: Architectural Draftsman Machine Shop Practice Concrete Builder lroad Positions Structural Engineer cae Operating he ang Fone vil Engineer mistry Dace Serveving and Mapping ~ cl Work Metallurgy O Mining Navigation m Engineering Agriculture and Poultry _ Radio O Airplane Engines matics AGATOSS .....<c.sassscoenevensnsncamgseensy sovves seeses seessecoeepsonenss seseee Occupation........-....- get selipessinseovatethat sine Cadi cgda sities oti aed “f Hana batoponastn Boies Canadtons Limled Monten, Cateaa

Page 34

Fame and Fortune Weekly 4 af — LATEST ISSUES — ~— ss 883 Stranded in the Cit,, or, A Boy With a Head for Business. S84 Getting the Coin; or, The Luckiest Lad in Wall St. S85 In the Lumber Trade; or, A Winning Speculator. 886 A Boy’s Big Deal; or, The Wall St. Tip That Won. S87 Prince. the Printer; or, The Little Shop That Was z Made to Pay. : 888 The Little Money King; or, Tempting Fate in Wall Street 889 Among the Missing; or, The Treasure of the Silver City. . 890 Lucky Larry: or, The Boy Who Made Wal! Street “Pake Notice. - 891 The Young Wrecker; or, The Boy Who Dealt in z Derelicts. 892 In pd Game for Gold; or, Beating the Wall Street arket. 3} 893 Messenger Sixty-four; or, Hustlng for a Living. r 894 Old Kitson’s Kid; or, The Best Tip in Wall Stree a 895 Lineman Jack;_or, The Boy Who Built a Business. 896 Barry & Co., Bankers and Brokers: or, The Boy Money Makers of Wall Street. 89T On the Fast Mail; or, From Clerk to Postmaster. 898 His Last Chance; or, The Boy Who Made Money in Wall Street. 899 Shipped to Sea; or, The Treasure of the Coral Cave. . 900 An Errand Boy’s Fortune; or, The Office of the . Wall Street Secrets. 901 In the Film Game; or, The Boy Who Made Moving ; Pictures. : 902 A Smart New York Boy; or, From the Tenements : 3 to Wall Street. ; 903 Mark Milton’s Mine: or, A Schoolboy’s Inheritance. 04 The Young Banker; or, The Mystery of a Money Box. 905 The Secret Chart; or, The Golden Treasure of the Crater. 408 The Boy Behind the Deals; or, The Luck of a Wall Street Broker. 907 Thrown on the World; or, Starting Business with a Dollar. 908 A Speculator at 16; or, The Lad Who Worked His ° Brains. a #9 ‘Yom. the Steeplejack; or, Winning a Living by ; verve. ' 910 Saving a Million; or, Ben and the /Wall Street , * <-e : Brokers. = 911 Down and Ont; or, A Hard Boy to Beat. _-—s«: $12 The Boy Banker’s Double; or, A Strange Wall St. Mystery. 913 The Young Beach Comber; or, A Fortune in the Sand. 914 The Little Ross: or, After the Wall St. Money Kings. 915 $250,000 in Gold; or, Hunting a Hindoo Treasure. 916 A Corner in Money; or, Beating the Wall St. Loan Sharks. 917 Going It Alone; or, The Boy Who Made His Own uck. 918 Little Dan Tucker; or, Making Big Money in Wall Street 919 Fi hting. for Business: or, Beating a Bad Start. _ 420 A’ Boy Money-Maker: or, In Wall St. on His Nerve. “921 Buried Gold; or, The Treasure of the Old Buc- caneers. - } 922 Hitting It Rich: or, The Luckiest Firm in Wall St. 923 Sam the Salesmah; or, The Boy With the Silver Tongue. 924 Playing in Luck; or, A’ Plotter’s Dangerous Deal. 925 After a Big Stake; or, Brains Against Brawn. : / For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any ad- — ‘dress on receipt of price, 7e. per copy, in money or pos- tage stamps, by HARRY E. WOLFF, Publisher, Inc., 166 West 23d Street, ~~ New York City a7 HOW TO _|SCENARIOS {Ot e SHeM Price 85 Cents Per Copy | This book contains all the most recent changes in the method of construction and tgrmtages of scenarios. ‘Sixty Lessons, every phase of scenario writ- . . For sale by all’ Newsdsalers and Bookstores, 2 cannot procure a copy, send us the price, in money or postage stamps, and we will J 106 West 25a Street OUR TEN-CENT HAND BOOKS Useful, Instructive and Amusing. They Contain Valuable Information on Almost Every Subject Ne. 42. THE BOYS OF NEW YORK STUMP _ SPEAKER. — Containing a varied assortment of stump speeches, Negro, Dutch and Irish, Also-end men’s jokes. Just the thing for home amusement and amateur shows. No. 45. THE BOYS OF NEW YORK MINSTREL GUIDE AND JOKE BOOK.—Something new and very instructive. Every boy should obtain this book, as it : contains full instructions for organizing an amateur minstrel troupe. No. 46. HOW TO MAKE AND USE ELECTRICITY. : —A description of the wonderful uses of electricity and 2 electro magnetism; together with full instructions for making Electric Toys, Batteries, etc. By George Trebel, A.M., M.D. Containing over fifty illustrations. No. 4% HOW TO BUILD AND SAIL CANOES. —A handy book for boys, containing full directions for con- structing canoes and the most popular manner of sail- ing them. Fully illustrated. No. 49. HOW TO DEBATE. — Giving rules for con- — ducting debates, outlines for debates, questions for dis- cussion and the best seurces for procuring information on the questions given. = No. 50. HOW TO STUFF BIRDS AND ANIMALS.— A-valuable book giving, instructions in collecting, pre- paring, mounting and preserving birds, animals and insects. No. 51. HOW TO DO TRICKS WITH CARDS. — Con- “2 taining 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 specially prepared cards. Illustrated. No, 52. HOW TO PLAY CARDS.—A complete and ~— handy little book, giving the rules and full directions ~—_ for playing Euchre, Cribbage, Cassino, Forty-Five, =~ Rounce, Pedro Sancho, Draw Poker, Auction Pitch, All Fours, and many other popular games of cards. “ No. 54. HOW TO KEEP AND MANAGE PETS.— Giving complete information as to the manner and - method of raising, keeping, taming, breeding and man- 4 aging all kinds of pets: also giving full instructions for = making cages, etc. Full explained by twenty-eight illustrations. 7 No. 56. HOW TO BECOME AN ENGINEER.—Con- taining full instructions how to become a locomotive 4 engineer: also directions for building a model locomo- 3 tive; together with a full description of everything an _ engineer should know. ONS 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 det ves, ese No. 60. HOW TO BECOME A PHOTOGRAPHER. — a Containing useful information regarding the Camera and a4 how to work it; also how to make Photographic Magic Lantern Slides and other Transparencies. Handsomely illustrated. : No. 64. HOW TO MAKE ELECTRICAL MAC Re — Containing full directions for making electrical ma- —_ chines, induction coils, dynamos and many novel toys <= to be worked by electricity. By B. A. R. Bennett. te illnstrated. wy No. 65. MULDOON’S JOKES.—The most original joke book ever published, and it is brimful of wit and humor. It contains a Jarge collection of songs, jokes, conundrums, ete., of Terrence Muldoon, the great wit, — humorist and practical joker of the day. s No. 66. HOW TO DO PUZZLES. — Containing over three hundred interesting puzzles and conundrums, with key to same. A coniplete book. Fully illustrated. No. 67. HOW TO DO ELECTRICA TRICKS.—Con- — taining a large collection of instrnctive and highly pmusing electrical tricks, together with illustrations, — By. A. Anderson. — No. 68. HOW TO DO CHEMICAL TRICKS. — Con 2 taining over one hundred highly amusing and instrue- — tive tricks with chemicals. By A. Anderson. r semely illustrated. : No. 69. HOW TO DO SLEIGHT-OF-HAND. —Con- taining over fifty of the latest and best tricks used magicians. Also containing the secret of second sig] Fully ilimstrated. By A. Anderson. For sale by all newsdealers or Wiii be sent te a address on receipt of price, 10 cents per copy, in m or postage stomps, by HARRY E. WOLFF, Publisher, 1 Stes

Page 35

Page 36