Fame And Fortune Weekly (no. 941) (1923 10 12)

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BOYS, READ THE RADIO ARTICLES IN THIS NUMBER No. 941 ¢ OCTOBER 12, 1923 Price 7 Cents 5 6 + FAW Mito NEEKIN sTORIES OF BoYys WRHO MAKE MONEY. A Wib A MAKE Boy A WINNING oT : > ¢ sak ‘ Joe’s big friend had the advantage of size and strength, and being very cine in earnest, he made short work of Hyde. He threw the man on the bed and sat on him. Katie rushed to Joe and assisted him to rise.

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BOOKS, MAGAZINES, NOVELS Bought, Soid a: Erchanged. Write for lists Out of Print Five Cant Novels, Our Specialty : LG. LURANG, Darien Center, N.Y. ;

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- Like Good Radio News? Turn to pages 24 and 25 FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY ‘issued bm og Fy price, $3.50 per year; Canada, $4.00; Foreign, $4.50. Harry E. Wolff, Publisher, Inc., 168 . est Street, New York, N. Y. \ No. 941 °® CHAPTER [.—Introduces Joe Vickers and Shows How He Saved the Life of His Enemy. “Get out of my way, boy!” - The speaker was a large and pompous-looking man. His name’ was Godfrey Chase, and he was Teputed to be the richest, and in his own opinion he was the most important, man in Pandora. He ‘was president of the Nimrod & Pandora Railroad . Com: whose general offices were at Pandora. This road Connigtend: of two divisions—one branch- ing northward from Pandora, via Nimrod, to Grand Junction; on the Rock Island system; the other, called the mountain division, westward, * ‘ever a picturesque Colorado range to Palmyra, and thence to Trinidad, the terminal. The boy, ‘who d accidentaly obstructed his way in the railroad yard, was a bright, curly headed lad of sixteen yéars, whose name was Joe Vickers. ei He avas the son of a widow in very moderate . ‘eiren nees, who lived about a mile from the 2 raidroud yard, and he was employed in the round- “shouse 4s a wiper and machinist’s assistant. Joe had been working for nearly a year at the yard, _. and, being an observant and ambitious youth, had ‘become familiar with all the outward and visible _ parts of a locomotive, for he had plenty of oppor- -_gnitie€™to see them taken to pieces by the me- - ehanics. His genial-manners and willingness to - make himself generally useful had made him a favorite in the yard, especially among the ma- _ chinists and wipers with whom he was brought into daily contact. Even Gosport, the foreman, a - ‘man noted for his tacitdrnity, often had a pleas- ant word for the boy. This might have been due to the, fact that he and Joe’s father had been warm friends. : j _ While he did not seem to pay much attention - to the boy, he really was watching him closely, and it did not take him long to discover that the \ boy was built of the right material, and therefore, though Joe did not know it, he gave him_all sorts of opportunities to learn things. It was rather an unusual circumstance for the president of the Toad to be seen in the track-spanned and ¢ar-en- yard, but Joe, in his greasy check mper and grimy “overalls, tigre s a oe e magnate’s way, en kept right — the roundhouse, cing what a fine thing s to be a rich man as well as the official a railroad company. _ et Entered as Second-Class Matter, October 4, 1911, at the Post-Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of Ma 3, 1879. : NEW YORK, OCTOBER 12 Yoo §. iy fe A WIDE-AWAKE: BOY | , Be, No OR, BORN WITH A WINNING S -ported the fact to Mr. Gosport. 2 (5. a, 7) *O By A SELF-MADE MAN 0 a Sag.” dsy, = ao eres le. Cin Entering the roundhouse, the boy Alped over to one side of the building. where a big ‘locomo- tive was jacked up and a machinist was waiting | for the casting which was to replace the broken ; one lying on the ground. Joe assisted the machin- : ist to put the center casting in place and bolt it securely... The engine was then let down on the track and shortly afterward was run out on the turn-table and switched to the proper track in the yard. ~Another engine ran in on the table out- side, some wipers swung it around and it was then backed into the house. The foreman set Joe at work cleaning her. In the course of his work he discovered a cracked eccentric strap and re- In due time a machinist came around and repaired the damage, but the circumstance reached the ears of Abel Hyde, the engineer of 44, who boarded not far from the yard, and he came around to see about it. He had long prided himself on the fact that : nothing ever went wrong with his locomotive that f he didn’t find out for himself. pes “Look here,” he said, coming up to Joe, who was just putting the finishing touches to 44, “what do you mean, you young monkey, by reporting a break on my engine?” 7 “Because I found your ecccentric strap cracked, and it was my duty to report it to the foreman,” ; replied Joe, respectfully. = “You broke that yourself, you little whipper- snapper!” snarled the engineer. “You know better than that, Mr. Hyde.” “You're a little liar, and I’m going to take sat- isfaction out of your skin.” 4 The engineer made’ a dash for the boy, but Joe,- as nimble as a monkey on his feet, mounted into the cab at a bound and dropped down on the other » side before Hyde got a footing on the tender. When the engineer got on the other side, Joe was just disappearing around a nearby locomotive, and all Hyde could do was to shake his fist me- nacingly after him. 7 - “ll get square with the young villain,” he mut- tered, thickly. - . Then he staggered off to hunt up the foreman | and enter a protest. He found Gosport somewhere _ about the yard. 2 Tae “T want that boy taken off my engine, Sa ae understand?” he cried, angrily, laying his hand ~ on the foreman’s arm. “I won't have him do any — more cleaning around 44" : Ses Re Sa dl = =

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A WIDE-AWAKE BOY pe “What are you ning about? 2” growled Gos- = rt, shaking off the engineer’s grasp. Bre etn talking’ about Joe Vickers, that’s who ’m = talking about.” “What about him?” demanded the foreman, im- ., ss patiently. ay “JT want you to put another wiper on 44 next time she comes in. That young imp reported a > broken eccentric on my engine this afternoon.” ; “T examined the locomotive and found that the report was correct,” replied the foreman shortly, - for he didn’t relish such argument from Hyde, or -. any one else about the yard. how, and tried to sneak out of it.” “That’s all nonsense, Hyde. You know the boy couldn’t break that strap himself. You’re always so careful- with your engine it’s a wonder you didn’t notice it yourself.” “T say there was no such thing the matter with AA tint I left the house.” nage “Well, I’m not going to argue the matter with - you,” said the foreman, turning away. With that Gosport walked away, leaving the ‘engineer glowering after him, and swearing under his breath like a trooper. “So Joe Vickers is a fav’rite of yours, is he?” muttered Hyde, still following the retreating form ‘of the foreman with his coal-black eyes. “I'll lick that boy within an inch of his life the first chance I get.” Te started to walk away, but rage and the - fumes of liquor in his brain made his steps un- certain. “Mebbe I'll find him at the roundhouse now.” 4, ‘As he was approaching the roundhouse a loco- + motive came out of the doors. He didn’t know it, but Joe, the object of his attention, was only a _ /few yards away, coming toward him from an- _ other building. As the engine came along, Hyde __ , started to cross the track in front of her. His * feet got in his way and he Bipyed over the near Ss _ rail, measuring his Jength on the ground between so... the ‘tracks. put for Joe Vickers, whose eyes were on him when he went down. e boy sprang forward, grasped the engineer by his jacket, and, exerting all] of his strength, pulled him clear of the pilot of the - oncoming locomotive just in the nick of time. - “By George! that was a mighty Close call,” ejac- ulated the yardmaster, who hap peared to step out _ of his office at the moment, as the engine passed on, “Who is that plucky boy?” The words were addressed to a switchman who knew the lad well. _“That’s Joe Vickers, one of the wipers at the XK Probably a dozen persons in the immediate vi- the rescue, and several came run- zp to — out if ae had es ov escaped “Well, if you found it, he-done it himself some-" It would have been all up with Hyde’ arm. “Don’t you know that boy saved your life just now?” “Saved nothing!” yelled the engineer. “I came over here to lick him, and I’m going to do it!” “T guess not,” replied the yardman, “unless you want to have a mix-up with me. What kind of man are you, anyway?” : uae your own business, will you?” snarled e veyou’ re drunk, that’s what’s the matter with you,” said the yardman, in a tone of disgust. - “That’s my affair.” “What’s the trouble?” asked Mr. Radway, the yardmaster, coming up. “Nothing, sir,” replied the yardman, not wish- ing to get the engineer in trouble. “T saw him strike young Vickers, after the boy had pulled him off the track from in front of 66;” — persisted Mr. Radway, who was a man with a= sharp eye and not easily hoodwinked. “Didn’t know what he was doing, I guess, sir.” Radway saw that the engineer was under the influence of liquor. Hyde growled out something, under his breath and started to walk away. After watching the engineer @ moment, the yardmaster turned to Joe. “That was a-nervy act, young man, and I’m obliged to you for saving me the trouble of hav- ing to report a fatal accident in the yard. Why did he strike you?” “T think he wasn’t aware of what he was do- ing, sir,” said the boy, generously. “May ‘be so,” replied Mr. Radway, apparently satisfied. “The man is very drunk.” ; He knew Hyde’s failing, but as the engineer’ — always turned up in proper condition to oie engine out, he didn’t feel called upon to notice it. So he returned to his office. “What’s the trouble between you and Hyde ™ asked the yardman of Joe. The boy explained the origin of Hyde’s ugli- ness in the round-house. ~ “You were in the right, of course,” said the other. “All the same, you want to keep your eye C skinned for Hyde. He’s meaner than dirt and as dangerous as a snake. Like as not heey to get at you in the dark—hit you from behind. ~ Just watch out that he doesn’t turn the trick qn 5 you. He’s capable of doing you a bodily injury.” ' “7 ]L be on my guard against him. Any man, even half-drunk as he is, that would turn on a fel-_ low after he has saved his life is pretty low down. ” - “That’s right,” agreed the yardman, and then the group broke up — 5 Joe left the yard about six o’clock for home. ~ ie = block away he passed a paper box factory. Thirty — or forty girls worked there and most of them were nag > 2 out at that hour. Among them was — a pretty little miss with blonde hair and a creamy _ complexion. This was Katie Todd, who ret 3 nearly opposite Joe’s home. She and the y wiper were great friends, and she usually” home with him —* Her home surroundings

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liquor, and the two were sort of boon compan- _ jons in their cups. ___ “Good-evening, Katie,” said Joe, in his cheerful, breezy way. Ses _ #Good-evening, Joe. I’ve been waiting for you.” Can't we go with you, too, Joe?” asked an- _ other girl with a laugh, advancing with a com- _ -panion. Ss “Sure thing,” grinned the boy. “The more the merrier. AS “That’s real nice of you. I didn’t know but you wanted Katie all to yourself.” “The idea!” laughed Katie. he “Just as if he would.” 3 The four walked up the street together, chat- _ © ting and laughing merrily. As they started to - . eross one of the streets an automobile came Nayound the corner with a rush. A boy of sixteen -was driving the machine, and he looked around _ and laughed heartily, as if he thought the affair x My huge joke. 3 ~ ., “That was Herbert Chase, the son of the presi- ‘dent of the railroad,” said Joe, as he assisted the frightened Katie ‘on her feet and brushed her at > py “He ought to be ashamed of himself,” cried the ‘girl, indignantly. “He might have run over us, especially me.” ; _ Young Chase knew Joe well b sight, and had even spoken to him in an insul Way on sev- _ eral occasions when he chanced to meet him. He despised the engine wiper because the boy was poor and was forced to work at a dirty business to support his mother. . In fact, Herbert had no use for anybody who didn’t move in the same rade of society as himself. At the next corner ag Katie parted from Miss Maggie and her 3 i start of apprehension, for her quick eye ‘noticed that Michael Todd was a little unsteady on his legs, and this fact promised unfortunate _ results at home. ° - “TJ see him,” observed Joe. : ously. But as it happened, the section foreman was not so drunk but he readily noticed what was on about him, and his eyes soon lighted on : hter and the young engine wiper. Hyde nd he had been drinking ther since the en- left the yard after failure to inflict ement on the lad, and Hyde | preju- him against young Vickers. Michael Todd ‘felt an unexplainable resentment against the nd it only needed a very slight pretext to itself. He walked up and stopped before : their progress. His bloodshot eyes pped his whole attitude was menacing d threatened trouble. - ‘ER IIl.—In Which Reference Is Made to the Golden Rule. Pos 3 “ay vy Ph .* eS _ “There’s father,” said Katie suddenly, with a © _- “TI hope he won’t see us,” said the factory girl. ° home, gal!” he cried to Katie, catch-— on arm. 3, ‘i ¢ Say bs ries A WIDE-AWAKE BOY a 3 ‘ “Well, go then,” swinging her roughly aside. “Go, d’ye hear?” Katie heard and meekly ae ; “Now ye kin go yer way,” he safd, turning to Joe. “This happens to be my way,” replied the boy quietly. : “No it ain’t. At any rate, ye don’t live on this side of the street—ye live on the other.” “Well, what if I do?” answered Joe, indignant at the man’s nasty manner. “I can walk up this side if I choose, can’t 1?” “Not with my darter, ye can’t,” snarled Michael — Todd, with a vindictive look. -“What’s the reason of this sudden “Tt ain’t none of yer bizness what the reason is ‘or how sudden it it. ~I won’t have ye walkin’ with Katie, and that’s all there is to it.” - “Tt’s a small thing to make a kick about,” ob- jected Joe, who didn’t relish the idea of being cut off entirely from the society of the pretty Miss Todd. “Took here, Joe Vickers, I don’t want any baek sass from ye, and what’s more, I won’t take it. Ye’re a little too swift for yer circumstances. P’haps ye think ye kin rub it into my friend Hyde, but I reckon when he gets a good chance at ye again he’ll make ye sorry yer alive.” “T understand now why you've taken this unac- countable dislike to me,” replied Joe, coolly. “Mr. Hyde has been running me down to you” “T guess he ain’t said no more’n ye deeserye.” “T1] bet he didn’t tell you how I saved him from being run down by an engine in the yard this afternoon.” : For a moment Michael Todd opened his eyes very wide, for this was news to him, but the in- telligence didn’t seem to affect him very much. “J guess ye’re dreamin’,” he answered in- D peanange & “He didn’t say nothin’ to me about “That’s what I thought: Well, ’'m going home.” . “Go, and if'I ketch ye with Katie agin there’s goin’ to be trouble.” Joe made no further remark, but passed o ———— Todd standing in the middle o the sidewalk, swaying slightly to and fro but following the boy with his eyes. A few minutes later he reached his mother’s cottage. “You're late, Joe, to-night. Supper has been ready for a quarter of an hour.” “Never mind, mother,” he said, kissing her with — “I’m hungry enough to eat my filial warmth. share in half the usual time.” “You always have a good appetite, my boy,” replied his mother with a cheerful smile. is a blessing denied to many.” “Hard work and plent fellow an appetite, copied Joe cheerfully. “But “That t: of it is bound to give a here’s something that ought to give one an ap- petite if anything will,” and the boy produced a small pocketbook and took an oblong slip of pa-- per from it. curiously. e “That,” said Joe, with a broad grin, “is the re- sult of a little stirring up of my gray matter,” -and the boy tapped his forehead prou = are | ht be a receipt,” said Mrs. Vickers, ‘ ed), gd otk) galyion y= = “What is that, my son?” asked the little mother —

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: “That’s true, mother, it might be, but it isn’t. It happens to be-a check.” 2 “A check? Money?” exclaimed the little wo- man jn wonder, “Exactly. It represents money.” “That’s something that is always welcome. How much it is, and how did you manage to earn 7” “T'l] bet you couldn’t guess the amount, moth- ~ er,” he said mischievously. “No, I haven’t the least idea. badd “Tf you had said fifty times ten you would have come closér to it.” Ber “Now, Joe, that is simply ridiculous.” “Fs it? ) 0 dear, and you will see that the First National Bank of Pandora is requested to pay to the order of Joseph Vickers, that’s yours truly, the sum of five hundred dollars. Signed, Harper Fosdick.” Mrs. Vickers flopped down in a convenient chair -and stared at her son in sheer amazement. “What does it all mean?” she gasped. : “Jt means, mother, that I’ve figured out a new + jdea in, automatic car couplers. had no money : to patent it, and I knew you would not afford to -. help me, so I hunted around till I found 4 man : who had some money, and whom I believed I . eould trust, and to him I explained the advan- tages of my idea, and he has purchased a half _ 4nterest in the invention for $500. He will have - it patented, and when it shall have been intro- duced on the market we will divide the royalties between us.” : is What a head you’ve got, Joe! And what are ~~ you going to do with that money?” — é “Tt think you could find use for it, couldn’t you?” — ” “Tf can get along very well with your regular - wages, my son. You had better put that $500 in the bank for-your own.” ~ + *No, mother, $500 would do you more good than it would me. I am going ] ne tot I will give ant this check for that ‘gold ,: brick’ you have in the bureau drawer.” «Gold brick! I don’t understand what you mean?” replied Mrs. Vickers in a perplexed tone. - / «Don’t you? Well, I mean that deed to a cer- tain plot of land located somewhere out in the wilderness, which father was persuaded to accept from Mr, Godfrey Chase more than ten years “avo in full satisfaction for the sum of $2,500 “Which father had loaned him some months pre- vi 1 is ¥ . . Why, Joe, that isn’t worth anything like $500. Besides, you know I eouldn’t transfer that prop- - erty to you, as you’re a minor. saee “You needn’t transfer it to me until I reach the age of 21. I can trust you to hold it for me that ~ Jong, can’t 17” : os “6 eatery if you will have it that way.” _- . “AN right, mother, here is the money,” and he - hande “T now consider the prop- Is it ten dol > G Then cast your eye upon it, mother . to make a deal with. A WIDE-AWAKE BOY from your father so he could pay for the house he was putting up. When the note became due ~ Mr. Chase was unable to pay cash, and to save his _ credit he offered that land, which he represented to be worth more than $3,500. Of course, before your father accepted the land he made an inves- tigation as to its value. As it afterward turned out, the person to whom he applied for trust- worthy information was an intimate associate of Mr. Chase, On the strength of this person’s re- port which was most favorable, your father ac- cepted the property and in return cancelled the note. Too late we discovered that the property had little real value.” : g “It seems to me, mother, that the scales of jus- tice often tip the wrong way. Mr. Chase worked this gold brick off on father, yet to-day he is a- wealthy man and president of the railway in whose employ father lost his life, while we, who suffered at his hands, are comparatively poor and dependent on the small salary I draw from that — same company. That isn’t right.” x at it doesn’t seem so,” admitted Mrs. Vickers, sadly. 3 “When father found how he had been taken in, — didn’t he make a kick with Mr. Chase over it?” = “Yes, they had some words on the subject. Mr. Chase had inherited a legacy which he invested — in stock of the, railroad company and had just _ been elected president of the road. He refused, however, to recompense your father for his loss. All he did was to get him a special increase of salary as engineer of the day express, and this, of course, did not come out of his pocket.” ; “That -was no favor,” answered the boy. “Father had to earn every dollar he received from the company. He was one of the best en- — gineers on the road.” Then he told her how rudely he had been ad- — dressed in the railroad yard that afternoon by — the magnate. a “He treated me as if I were dirt under his feet, — though I am sure he recognized me. He mi have accorded me the common politeness due even — an humble employee. , And it is the same way — with his son Herbert.- He seems to take an especial delight in noticing me, only to insult « me.’ : “It’s the way of the world, my son, and we must bow to the inevitable.” ; a “Well, I’m not kicking. I wouldn’t change — places with Herbert Chase for all his prospects. — Some day I hope to be as important as his | father. Who knows?” Fae, With these words Joe got up and kissed his — mother good-night, while Mrs, Vickers, with tears ~ in her eyes, thanked heaven for having blessed — her with such a brave and noble-minded son. ee ~~ ’ $e. ete CHAPTER IV.—Joe Gets a Regular Job as Fire-_ man on the Freight. “a “Here, Vickers, I want you to go over and ; 21. ‘We’re short of firemen in the yard this morn ing. You'll find her yonder.” 2 | answered the bpy, hastenin ; ee poe

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He was delighted at the opportunity thus pre- _ gented to learn the ropes of a fireman’s job, as _ #t was a step on the road to his present ambition ta become a locomotive engineer. Engine 21 was used for switching purposes. So Joe swung be into the cab, where the engineer, one Gau- tier, was waiting for him. It was not the first time he had been on an engine. He had often had opportunities to ride about the yard, and on such occasions had carefully watched the work of -~ ‘poth fireman and engineer with the view to fu- -_ ture profit, for he knew the time would come . when 6 would be called upon to fill the former’s {o> though it might be but temporary, and upon : ‘expertness would probably depend his chances - 6f becoming a regular fireman. Joe had resolved - to make good when the chance came his way, and _. fortune always seems to favor those who are de- termined to win. Gautier received the signal to go ahead, and glancing at the gauge,~told the boy to ring the bell. Joe pulled the bell- - To Ding-dong! Ding-dong! The engineer led on the throttle a little and let off the take. No. 21 began to move, dragging half a dozen loaded freight. cars in its wake. “Keep the gauge about where she is now,” said Gautier to his new fireman. Joe nodded and kept his eye peeled. When the steam began to-drop he slammed open the fur- nace door, seized the shovel, and with a dexterous twist of the wrist scattered the coal over the glowing mass within. Gautier, who knew the boy was inexperienced, watched him with an approv- ‘ing nod. A “J see you've got the knack, my lad. Is this _ the first time you've fired?” _ “Yes, sir,” replied Joe, respectfully, pleased _- with the engineer’s approval. ‘ ~ “How did you-pick up the correct method?” a ply by watching other firemen and taking - note Sf how they worked.” : é “Smart boy. You'll come out all right, I'll sy bet.” z “T hope so. All I ask is the chance to learn, - gnd then the opportunity to put my knowledge to the test.” eit: -. For an hour or two the pele Sein he St! pushing and hauling cars abou e yard an at Taktehing sa frost. one. track to another. Joe’s anpreree in ringing he a es ing steam up to the proper point. Dur- oer — eter hour The boy sat.in the cab and talked to Gautier while the two ate their meal out, of their tin cans. The engineer showed some ~ Gnterest in the young fellow, and gave him many ‘valuable hints, while he puffed away at his pipe. - “You’ve got the theory of running an engine down fine, Vickers, but what you need now is the => ce.” i _ time was principally He knocked the ashes out of his pipe and both were ready to resume work. Just then he got the signal to switch to another track and run _ down to the end of the yard for a solitary car. “He opened up a bit, then reversed her, and 21 started backward down the track. As, soon as ey had hitched on to the car he said to Joe: ow, then, see if you can run her up to yon- ; “Thus speaking, he stepped.away and gave up = ever to his new fireman. Joe felt decidedly x 4 4 A WIDE-AWAKE BOY 5 nervous as he touched the throttle and felt the machine start ahead. The sensation was a pe- culiar one—a sort of stage fright. By the time they reached the switch, however, he was be- ginning to recover his nerve. “Reverse her,” said Gautier, who was ringing the bell with one eye on the boy. For a moment Joe was all up in the air, in spite of the fact that he knew exactly how the engine ought to be handled. His hand was on the brake, then he recollected himself and grasped the re- verse lever and moved it over and the locomo- tive answered like a boat its helm. Several times that afternoon the engineer gave him chances to get familiar with the practical work- ing of the engine, correcting him in a kindly way when he made a blunder, so that on the whole he made considerable headway, and, toward the end, became quite cool and confident. “You'll do all right,” nodded the engineer, af- ter they returned to the roundhouse for the day. ‘Evidently you have used: your eyes and ears to good advantage since you came to the yard. You know more about a locomotive than most ex- perienced firemen, and. with practice you’l! soon be able to run one without making mistakes.” Joe expected to resume work as a wiper again next morning, but Gautier’s fireman was too ill te show up at the yard, so he was put on 21 again that day. And the boy took advantage of every minute he was in the cab to familiarize himself with the new job, as well as to pick up any fresh kinks shown him by the engineer. For the next two days Joe fired the switch engine and then went back to the roundhouse once more. During the following week he got another chance on a switch engine for a day. In fact, he got several chances during the month, which struck him as a favorable sign. And so it was. The result was that one warm June evening Gosport came to him. as he was about leaving off work far the day and said: : “Mr. Ditchett wishes to see you in his office right away, Vickers.” “All right, sir,” replied Joe, wondering what the master mechanic wanted with him. He hastened to that official’s office, entered and gave his name to an attendant. The master mechanic’ looked his young visitor over critically - before he spoke. “How long have you been a wiper on this road, Vickers ?” z “Eleyen months, sir,” answered the boy, re- spectfully. “How old are you?” “Nearly seventeen, sir.” “You have been recommended to me as a com- petent man for a regular job as fireman. What opportunities. have you had for firing?” ~ Joe detailed his experience about the yard. “Hum! What do you know about an engine?” The boy modestly explained his knowledge on the subject. : “So you think you can run one, after a fashion, — 2g do you?” Joe intimated that Mr. Gautier said he only needed practice to be able to make good. tee The master mechanic asked the boy a score of questions about the different parts of a locomo- of which Joo tive and about han all answered correctly. a.

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new sensation to the | : say ghly enjoyed it. —- ‘A WIDE-AWAKE BOY “You didn’t pick all that information up about the yard, did you 2” asked Mr. Ditchett curiously. “No, sir; I’ve been studying a book on loco- motive engineering.” “You seem to know a good deal about. en- gineering for one so young. Well, I’m going to give you a trial as a regular fireman. If you make good you'll hold the job. You'll go out to-night on 18 with the nine o’clock freight. Re- port at the roundhouse in time to get your engine ready for the trip. Understand?” “Yes, sir,” replied Joe, almost dazed at his promotion to the outgoing freight. “That is all,” said the master mechanic, wheel- ing around in his chair as a signal that the in- terview was at an end. CHAPTER V.—tThe 138th of June. “What’s the matter, Joe?” asked Mrs. Vickers, noticing something strange in her son’s manner as he sat down to supper that night. “Nothing, ‘mother, only I’ve been promoted.” “Promoted!” she exclaimed, in surprise. “Yes. I’m a fireman now. I make my first trip to-night. I go out with the ntne o’clock freight.” “And when will you be back?” said the little mother, who to say the truth, though delighted at her boy’s advancement, was not happy at the idea of his night’s trip over the wild and lonesome reaches of the Colorado mountain range. “Thursday morning.” : Joe answered her questions readily enough, for he was familiar with the schedules of the more important freight and passenger trains. Mother and son had a long talk together before the boy finally put his hat on and left the house. Joe arrived at the roundhouse in ample time to get his engine ready before the engineer appeared. It wanted a quarter of nine when a tall, thin man, with a saturnine cast of countenance appeared and climbed into the cab. This was Gregson, the engineer, who had just returned to the employ of the Nimrod & Pandora Company after an ab- sence of three years. He gave Joe a searching glance, but said nothing. In due time Gregson got the signal to run out. He glanced at the gauge and then looked to see,that everything was in place. The locomotive glided out of the roundhouse on to the turntable and was switched to the roper track. A few moments later a swinging i el signalled Gregson to ahead. The ‘steam began to hiss into the cylinders, the pon- derous wheels commenced to turn, and, with Joe looking out of the left-hand window of the cab and pulling the bell-rope with his right hand, the train moved slowly out of the yard. It was a boy, and we are bound to It was a bright moonlight night, and trees and houses near the track threw their dark shadows athwart the rails. eet _ “You’re a new fireman, aren’t you?” asked the engineer at last, when the train had reached a speed of about fifteen miles an hour. “Yes, sir,” answered Joe, with a glance at the “Joe Vickers.” The man started as if he had been stung. “Are you the son of Robert Vickers, who was killed in an accident at Black Rock siding?” he asked, after a moment or two, in a changed voice. “Yes; sir.” The engineer looked out: of the window and didn’t speak again for several minutes. “You heard how the wreck was caused, I s’pose,” said Gregson, glaring qt the lad in a strange way. “By an engine which should have been in the repair shop,” said Joe, with a trace of resentment in his voice. “It jumped the track at the switch on the down grade at high speed, piled the mail car on top of the tender, and telescoped two of the coaches behind. There were thirty people killed and injured, and the company laid the blame of it all on my father,” added the boy, with a stifled’ sob. “He died a few hours after the ac- cident, so he could not*defend himself against the charge.” “T s’pose your mother got damages?” “Not a cent,” replied Joe, indignantly. “Though it is true Mr. Chase, the president, presented her with a sum sufficient to settle the undertaker’s - bill.” At this point Joe shovelled in more coal as the engine took the grade which swung around the foothills of the great mountain range which rose before them in a succession of trees and shrub- covered elevations that finally reached up to the snow line. The speed of the train was now much reduced, the engine snorting away like an over-_ worked animal. All the locomotives on this di- vision were powerful machines, made necessary by the heavy grades they had to overcome. The level, productive farming country was now left behind, and the wild and lonesome mountain re- gion succeeded. . “T guess you haven’t been working on the road for some years, have you ?” asked Joe, after Greg- son had blown the whistle for a mountain cross-_ ing they were approaching. “I know I haven’t seen you before, and I’ve been nearly a year in the yards.” “No,” replied the man shortly, his face working curiously. ; “You knew my father, did you?” “Yes,” cried the man, in a hoarse voice, so png altered that Joe looked at him in won- er. ? His hand shook where his fingers clung to the throttle, and an ashy grayness hung about- his mouth. The train passed the crossing and plunged into a narrow defile, the sides of which rose hundreds of feet straight up into the air. When Joe opened the furnace door the red glow reflected a weird radiance above and behind the engine, and his moving figure, as he shoveled in the coal, looked gigantic and’ distorted upon the rocky walls of the pass. Black Rock siding was but a short distance ahead. Every moment son grew more nervous and brs og his actions. ‘ : “What can be the matter with 2?” wondered ' Joe, watching the man out of the corner of his eye. “Boy!” he cried, suddenly turning and facing Joe with a look of horror almost in his eyes, — “what day is this?” ON eS aa ae res eee ea aera

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“Tuesday,” answered the young fireman. ___ “I know that,” exclaimed the engineer, fiercely. - “] mean what day of the month.” - “The 13th of June.” '_ “My heaven!” gasped the man, with a groan. “The 13th of June! The anniversary of his death! And this is 13, my old engine, which pulled the ill-fated Saithound: freight. across the mountains that day. Is there a fate in this? Three years J have been away, three years during which | have suffered the pangs of the tortured. I never meant to return. Why did F? What infernal influence has compelled me to return to this road “Why, if it isn’t my fate to pay the _ penalty for my—— Boy! Why do fou look at me like that? You have his eyes! Aye, his very features. Are you here to accuse me of his th?” Gregson fairly frothed at the mouth. - “What is he talking about? Is he going - erazy?” gasped Joe. : “How came you on this engine, boy?”. “J was assigned to her by Mr. Ditchett.” “When?” ES “At six o'clock to-night.” “And I got her at half-past eight,’ muttered Gregson. ; ‘His hand mechanically neg for the whistle rod, and a shrill, prolonged blast awoke the ‘echoes of the mountainsides. Black Rock sid- ing was just ahead. —~ ; “Boy,” cried Gregson, turning again on the lad, ~ with an awful look in his eyes, “this day three _ years ago your father lost his life at Black Rock “siding yonder, owing to the defective working of tet switch? Who was responsible for the condi- - tion of that switch? I, Bill Gregson! I fixed it'so 36, driven by your father, would jump the rails4t that point. Why did I doit? Because I hated him. I had hated him for years, and was ey caaiting for my chance to do him up. He stole the only woman I ever cared for away from EI the day they were married I swore to him. And I kept my word—ha, ha, ha! If others lost their lives at the same time I could “not help it—I did not care. And now this night our father will have his revenge on me. He rought me here that I might die on the same a ; where he died. I know it! I feel it here!” the engineer thumped his forehead. “I have sn him often, and he told me I should come id di And I have come. I could not . And on the anniversary of his h, too. But I will not ‘go alone. No, no! his son, shall go with me. Thus I will cheat ‘of his revenge. He may kill me, but he ‘shall also kill you, too.” “Great Scott!” muttered the boy. “He is as ad as a March hare. Thank heaven, we are the siding.” wéugh the gloom the unnerved boy could see eker of the switchman’s lantern approach- switch. Gregson muttered incoherently a or two, and then as the far-away sc ight exp ress, as the train passed the sd ae _ toward Black a A WIDE-AWAKE BOY. night on 18 with that Rock siding, struck upon their ears, the man ut- tered a hoarse, maniacal laugh. which curdled es Joe’s blood. His hand went to the throttle and he shut off steam and applied the brake. Some- thing instantly told the boy that this was wrong. The freight train would certainly be brought to a ‘standstill on the main line close by the switch, — as the track was only a single one over the moun- tains. What, then, could the engineer mean by his action? Joe was not kept long in doubt as to Gregson’s intentions. There came a long, wailing shriek down to them as the express, running at a fifty-mile clip, passed a crossing. Joe realized it was just time for the freight to pull into the siding before the express would-be there. No. 13 had now come almost to a 2 stop. If Joe could only manage to send it onto N the siding before the express hit them! A ter- rific struggle now took place in the cab. But Joe suddenly shook the madman off for a few seconds, which enabled him to seize the other and start the locomotive on the siding, after which he fainted. When he came to the train had been stopped is and the conductor was in the cab. < “Where is Gregson?” asked the conductor, “and what is the matter with you?” < Joe explained as best he. could as soon as he could get his breath. : The conductor was astounded at Joe’s story, = and sent three brakemen back with a lantern to see if they could find anything of Gregson’s body, as he had an idea that the engineer had fallen out of the cab. Sure enough, a few parts of Greg- son’s body were found along the track where the express had hit him and passed over his body. The conductor was now puzzled for an engineer to run the engine and train to Palmyra, but Joe now came to the front and offered his services.’ They were accepted and the freight, with Joe Vickers at the throttle was off on an all-nigh run to Trinadad. ; CHAPTER VI.—How Joe Saves the Life of - Florence Van Sylck. The freight arrived at Palyra, at the western foothills, about 3:30 in the morning, the run from the summit being made without steam and with the brakes on at intervals. Trinidad was reached at six. Here Joe put 13 in the roundhouse, and© after attending to her, made out his report and took it to the office of the division superintendent. Then he looked up a boarding-house, had his breakfast and went to bed. A new engineer had been assigned to 18, and he came to Trinidad on the day express. His name was Dan Beard. He was an old and reliable man, formerly employed on the passenger trains. Sickness had kept him — off of the road for some months, and now, hav- — ing reported again and requested employment, he was put on the freight, that being the best that could be done for him at the present time. Joe met him that afternoon in the yard at dad, and took an immediate liking to him, feeling that was reciprocated by Beard, w was much struck by the breezy manner and tlemanly deportment of his young fireman. “I hear you had quite a lively time o ‘ express at

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siding,” said Beard, after the two had got ac- quainted. “T should say I had,” replied Jee, with a serious countenance, for the recollection, especially its connection with his father’s death, was far from pleasant. Of course he had not mentioned even-a hint in his official report of Gregson’s confession about how his father’s death had been brought about. Nor had he confided the secret to the conductor of the train. And when he narrated his experi- ence to Beard, that part was carefully kept in the background. He intended that the knowl- edge, which he did not doubt was ture, should : never pass his lips, not even to his mother, for he | felt it would only serve to open a wound not yet healed by time. of “You’re just the kind of chap I should have 7” chosen, if the preference had been left to me, for <A a cab partner,” said Dan Beard, in his honest, hearty way which attracted Joe to him. “Thank you, Mr. Beard,” replied the boy. “I might say the same of you.” “Well, that’s comforting,” said the engineer. “I fancy we shall get along very well together.” 5 “I hope so, sir. It won’t be my fault if we in don’t.” : = “That’s the way to talk,” smiled Beard, in a tone of satisfaction. “It isn’t every one that I ty hitch to, but there’s something about you, my a lad, that tells me that we’re going to make a first-rate team.” “Tt is certainly an advantage for a new hand like me to fall in with a good man like you, who will give me a fair show and not try to knock me at the first chance, like some of the other en- ineers have the habit of doing with other new remen.” “I’m not a knocker, my lad. No man, whether he’s pulled with me or not, has ever had it in his power. to say that I tried to do him. It isn’t my nature. Everything fair and above-board is my motto. If I don’t like my workings partner I try to bring about a change in an honorable way. eS Those are my sentiments, and you can judge me by them.” suit you. G The country between Trinidad and Palmyra was perfectly level. It was cultivated in sections, - each section being overgrown with a tall and dense mass of prairie grass, interspersed with a sprinkling of trees and sometimes of whole woods reaching nearly to the tracks, which were double between those points. Palmyra was a busy and ‘prosperous town, almost a city, and was inter- _sected by a narrow river which had its source somewhere up in the mountain range which be- e at the very doors of the town, one might say. _ The freight drawn by 13 passed ater oa Palmyra crossing a wooden bridge at the northern end of he town about 10:30, and then began its climb v the summit "yar | 4 : several thousand feet above. - freight ran on the siding at Lone Tree ¥ ' * collision was certain. A WIDE-AWAKE BOY to get out of the way of the eastbound night ex- press, which passed that point at 11:10, after which 13 and her thirty odd box cars continued on their way to the summit, where the train took the siding again for the westbound night freight. At seven o’clock next morning 18 was leading the way across the farming district toward Pan- dora at a merry clip. At the same hour Herbert Chase, with Miss Florence Van Slyck, daughter of Judge Van Slyck, and the prettiest girl in Pandora, as his compan- ion, were taken an early spin in the Chase auto- mobile along the county road. The train and the automobile reached the crossing at the same mo- ment. This was largely due to the fact that when Herbert had spied the freight coming along at a speed of nearly eighteen miles an hour, he de- cided upon the questionable experiment of beat- ing the train and getting across first, as he was too impatient to wait for the long line of box cars to pass. . At the last moment he realized he had made a fatal mistake, and having an uncommon respect for his own elegant little person, he leaped out on the grass, nccepng an unpleasant tumble and shaking up with the best grace he could, and left his machine with its fair passenger to their al- most certain fate. Miss Florence saw her dan- ger, and, with a scream, rose to her feet. The ocomotive, however, was only a few yards away, and there is no doubt that the girl would have been fatally injured or instantly killed but for the presence of mind and courage of Joe Vickers. He was eg 3 out of the cab window ringing the bell when he saw the rapid approach of the automobile. “Great Scott!” he exclaimed, calling Beard’s attention to the swiftly moving machine. “They are trying to cross, as sure as you live.” Dan took in the situation, whistled down brakes, pulled over the reverse lever, put on the locomo- tive brake, and let down sand on the tracks, but for all that the distance to the road was too short for these emergency efforts to be of much avail. While the engineer was doing his level best to avert the impending catastrophe, Joe sprang out of the cab and ran along the engine footboard until he reached the pilot. Here he saw that a Was it possible for him to save the beautiful young girl.at the moment the locomotive hit the auto? The chances were he could not. “At least I will make the effort,” he breathed. It was at that thrilling moment that Herbert Chase showed the white feather and abandoned the vehicle and his gentle companion. - “The coward!” gritted Joe, as he saw the boy roll over and over on the grass by the roadside. “Serves him right if he’s smashed into bits.” But Herbert had luck on his side, and fetched up in a soft bit of ooze, near the fence, without sustaining any injury except to“his summer suit of clothes. A second later the auto was under the headlight, and Joe, reaching out as far as he could with his right arm, while he clung with the other to the curved bar in front of the Smee Palit grasped Miss Van Slyck by the arm and fairly dragged her on to the iron pistiems on which he ¥ stood, just as the automobile was hurled, a mass — F f

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of wreckage, against the fence at the corner of _ the road. Fair. When the freight came to a stop Joe carried - Florence Van Slyck into the cab. Although she _ did not faint nor give way to hysterics, she was _ a@ pretty badly frightened girl. : : "You had a very narrow escape, miss,” said - Dan Beard, as Joe handed the lovely miss a tin “TJ should think I had,” she repliéd, as she re- -_ covered her composure somewhat. “And to think _ Herbert Chase was the cause of it all, because he would insist on heading off the cars in spite Ry of my remonstrance. Was he hurt?” ‘J think not” answered Joe, dryly. “He jumped _ out before the locomotive struck the auto.” ; “JT know he did, and left me there to be run down, the mean little coward!” Florence ex- - claimed, indignantly. “I'll never notice him again as long as I live.” < . “He certainly ought to be ashamed of him- _ self,” interjected the engineer. “If he was re- onsible for the scrape, the least he should have one was to stick by you, sink or swim.” “T believe I would have been killed if it hadn’t been for you,” said Miss Van Slyck, looking _ — gratefully at Joe. “I am sure I never can thank _- you sufficiently for your bravery.” Set “I hope you won’t let that fact worry you, Miss——” a + Joe paused and looked at her inquiringly. fa “Florence Van Slyck is my name,” said the girl. ey Most prominent lawyer and one of the town’s leading citizens. Joe also had a general idea - that the judge was a man of even more local im- portance than Godfrey Chase, which was saying _ @ great deal. In the meanwhile, Herbert Chase had picked himself out of the mud, and he pre- sented a sorry spectacle. His nice new light sum- - mer suit was ruined, for, besides the dirt and - ooze which covered it, several bad rents were to : seen in his coat and trousers. The automo- bile was in flames, what was left of it, as the gasoline tank had exploded. There wasn‘t a par- ticle of use in trying to put -out the flames, as - the machine was practically reduced to a mass of junk, anyway. Bes - “Didn’t you hear the whistle and the bell?” asked the conductor, when he came up. “What “made you try to head the train when it was so ~ elose upon you?” __ ] thought I could beat it across,” replied in a crestfallen way. is just such recklessness that leads to so y dents—many of them fatal. It’s a won- you were hot killed. Have any one with an es. \ father is Judge Van Slyck.” ian Beard knew that the: judge was Pandora’s 0?” asked the conductor, looking around - Herbert’s anion. : A girl—Miss Florence Van Slyck.” official gave a startled whistle. ee { 339 : “oe _ CHAPTER VII.—Only the Brave Deserve the - A WIDE-AWAKE BOY 9 “Great Moses!” he exclaimed. “Do you mean the daughter of Judge Van Slyck?” Herbert nodded. “Then, where is she? She must have been killed—buried in the ruins of that blazing wreck. Come on!” he cried, excitedly, for he had a proper respect. for wealth and influence, to the ~ group of trainmen who stood around, “we must save the body, at least!” At that moment Dan Beard signaled the con- ductor. While Herbert was occupying the atten- tion of the conductor and train crew, Miss Flor- ence got her nerve into working shape again and insisted on saying all manner of compli- mentary things to Joe. “My father is a big stockholder in this rail- road, and he will see that you are suitably re-' warded for saving my life.” “But I don’t want to be rewarded,” protested the boy, with some embarrassment. ‘Why not?” she asked, in some surprise. “Because I only did my duty, miss. And I am fully’ paid with the knowledge that I did save you.’ < Miss Van Slyck opened her pretty eyes very wide and regarded the handsome young fireman with a new interest. ‘ “But at least you will promise to call at our house and let my father and mother, thank you for the service you have rendered m I am sure they will not be, satisfied unless you do.” “T don’t know,” the boy answered, doubtfully, for he had some idea what such .an interview meant, and he didn’t fancy the role of a hero. —‘Please do,” pleaded the girl, earnestly. “Won’t you oblige me?” What could Joe do under the circumstances? What would any boy have done in a similar po- sition? Here was an uncommonly lovely girl of fifteen, with fluffy golden hair and pleading, sapphire-blue eyes, begging him to grant her the favor she earnestly wished for. Could he or any other boy refuse? Well, hardly. Joe, with some reluctance, promised to call at her home that af- ternoon. He realized the social gulf which lay between Judge Van Slyck’s position and his own humble station in life. And this knowledge em- barrassed him, though it is quite true he hoped one day to rise to the same plane as the judge himself, for all things are possible in America for a boy who-has the ambition to contrive and ~ will to carry out his views, but Joe felt that a long space of time lay between the anticipa- tion and the wished-for-realization. “I shall hold you to your promise,” Florence said, with one of her captivating smiles that quite upset the boy, and caused him to wish after the unattainable. At this point the conductor came up. When his eyes lighted on Miss Slyck, seated contentedly in the cab, he was a thoroughly surprised man. “Aren’t you hurt at all?” he asked, hardly able to believe the evidence of his eyes. She shook her head and favored him with a saucy smile. “Well, well,” with a long breath of relief, — ne. did you escape a “This young man, Joseph Vickers,” and she looked at Joe to make sure she had his name — right, whereat he nodded, “pulled me out of ‘the | |. ate, Ob ; 3 g

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., chine.” “Ts it possible?” ejaculated the conductor. “Yes, sir,” corroborated Dan Beard, “and it was the nerviest thing I ever saw done, an I’ve seen _few in my time.” . “Young man, you’ve done a big thing,” said the conductor, solemnly. ‘“You’ve made a pow- erful friend for Judge Van Slyck is bound to ~ recognize the obligation and that is everything these days.” 2 Joe couldn’t help knowing that he had -done a _ big thing, as the world looks at it, but he hoped Zh Judge Van Slyck wouldn’t put himself out about an the matter. “Go ahead, Dan,” said the conductor. “You mav ride in on the engine, Miss Van Slyck.” “May I? I’m so glad! I’ve jusv wanted to * ride on an engine ever so bad,” she replied, de- lightedly. The engineer opened up slowly to give the conductor and train crew time to get aboard, taking Herbert up into the caboose. This hav- ing been accomplished, Beard let old 13 out at her best speed to try and make up a part of the time lost. Joe showed Florence how to pull the bell-rope as soon as they reached the outskirts - of Pandora, and Dan slowed down to the regula- _' tion gate. “Tsn’t this fun!” she exclaimed, as she worked her shapely little arm and the bell ding-donged , away, many onlookers regarding the girl in the ~ cab with wonder. - And in this way the freight pulled into the yard. When 18 was uncoupled, Florence was - earried into the roundhouse, and when the loco- -__ motive came to her final rest, Joe politely assisted ay the ne descend from her elevated perch. - - 4 a= ‘How am I to get out?” she asked, in a mys- way. “J will pilot the way for you,” replied the boy, = + gallantly. : “Thank you. I’m ever so much obliged.” <2 “J think I had better take you over to the “Mr. Ditchett ” - master mechanic’s office,’ he said. will see that you are sent home all right. a me “Just as you think best, Mr. Vickers,” she an- -__ gwered, with a smile. fo = “There's your friend, Herbert Chase,” said Joe. _“T guess he’s waiting for you.” ~ .“T don’t want to see him,” she said, with a dis- dainful toss of her head. . “I'm afraid you can’t help yourself, as he is ‘standing at the door of the office.” She stopped short. I don’t want to go there,’ she replied, ed fa began Joe, not knowing how to pro- ad * : ; Herbert, however, had caught sight of her and geo to join her. ~- res ; “Pm so glad you escaped all right, Miss Flor- ence,” he , rushing forward and officiousl; g himself between Joe and. the girl. will see you home at once.” will, Herbert Chase,” she “Our acquaintance ceases mare automobile when the locomotive struck the ma-’ no fault “If it had not A WIDE-AWAKE BOY been for the bravery of this boy, Joseph Vickers, I probably would have been. He’s a hero, while you—l’ve no words to express my opinion of — you.” ; Herbert Chase was taken all aback, and he darted a baleful look at~Joe, as if he held him responsible for the trouble. ‘ : CHAPTER VIII.—A Nigger in the Woodpile. “T hope you don’t compare me with a common engine wiper, Miss Florence,” said Herbert, with _a@ sneer. _ “What do you mean by an engine wiper?” flashed Miss Van Slyck. “That’s what this fellow is. The lowest, com- monest position in the railroad .company.? gy flushed to.the roots of his hair at this in- sult. ; “T think you make a mistake, Herbert Chase. © ] A boy may be an engine wiper and be a gentle- man, too. It is honest work, and no one need be ashamed to engage in it. Mr. Ditchett, the master mechanic of this road, was once a wiper on this road. At any rate, I am no longer = wiper. I have been -promoted.” .. “You have been promoted!” exclaimed Herbert, . incredulously. “Yes. J am a regular fireman on the freight.” “Well, that. isn’t above a wiper.” “I think you asked me if I meant to compare you with this boy,” said Florence, with flashing eyes, for she was thoroughly disgusted with Her- bert’s conduct. ‘No. paring you with him.” : “J should think not,” said Herbert, complac- _— ently. i “Because,” she continued, cuttingly, “you're not his equal in courage, in politeness nor manliness __ —in fact, you’re not in his class at all. The only advantage you have over him is your father’s _money and influence. I wish you to understand that I am proud to know him, even if he was still an engine wiper, as you call it. And I.am sure ~ my parents will agree with my resolution when — they learn how you acted in the hour of our mu- tual peril.. That has classed you as a cowardin my eyes, and you have now proved yourself no gentleman by deliberately insulting this boy in ~ my presence. _I wish you good-by. Will you show me into the office, Mr. Vickers?” . Bee Herbert stood rooted to the spot with rage and mortification. He had never experienced such a taking-down in his life. And to think Florence | Van Slyck, the girl he thought the most of in town, was the one to rake him over the Rasy es Not only that, but she had degraded him before a common railroad employee. Worst of all, he — knew in his inmost soul that he deserved every _ word of censure she had administered to him. That, however, didn’t make it any the more pala- table. Well, he would have revenge, at any Eyre Not on Miss Van Slyck, because that was out of make Joe Vickers suffer ee es a : Sn Aa ine ee father to fire him from the re oe = so much. It’s only a step I wouldn’t think of com- the question. He would a . itted,

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; or two, I guess. I’d like to see him in the Seehouse. I'll make it my business to see that 8 doesn’t get another job 4 Pandora, the stuck- Up beggar. Oh, how I hate him! So, I’m not in the same class with him! I should think not. If he’s Miss Van Slyck’s idea of a gentleman, I ¢an’t say much for her taste.” a7 _ Then his thoughts reverted to the condition of his clothes. : “TJ can’t go through the streets looking like a tramp,” he growled. “I'll have to go to Dob- bin’s livery stable in the next block and hire a rig. That reminds me, I haven’t had breakfast yet, and dt must be after mig Rare I ee es he Square myself with the governor for the loss o the auto ” he mused, as he started out of the tailroad yard. “Well, he’s got loads of coin. Let him buy another.” When Joe got home that morning he found his Mother anxiously awaiting his return. “T’ye never been so lonely as during the interval fou’ve been away from home, Joe?” she said, ing him fondly. __ “Y’m sorry, mother,’ he answered, “but you know I can’t regulate my time,” said the boy, as he sat down to his breakfast. “T am not complaining, my son. We must bow to the regulations of the company. I wish, how- €ver, that you had a day run.” “The night trips dre the least desirable, and _ that is why the new hands get them, I suppose. _- +“We must be Satisfied with the reflection that _ you have been promoted to a better position. I lad you are done with engine wiping at last. “Go am I, mother. My next step will probably be to fire a passenger locomotive—maybe the ex- Press. And then ie “And then?” repeated Mrs. Vickers, with a mie, “When fully competent I expect to become an “Ts that the height of your ambition, Joe?” __ “Noe mother, far from it. Some day I mean to __ be general manager of the Nimrod & andora, or _ ome other road,” he said, enthusiastically. “You are looking a long way ahead, are you — not?” - “Why not, mother? I think one ought to aim rh, and then try to work up to it. It is no ce if you do not always hit the mark. At least it is a satisfaction to feel that one has done his best to get there.” “You have more ambition than your poor father. He was content to be a good engineer. » never expected to rise higher than that.” “Father was all right in his way. I may never able to get higher myself. But I think I will, live, for the young,man has more opportuni- ; for advancement than ever before, and n’t mean to be left behind if I can heip it.” Now, Joe, I have something to tell you that ‘surprise you.” : ws “What is it, mother?” asked the boy, curiously, Mr. Chase called on me yesterday afternoon. don’t mean that, do you?” pushing back air and looking at her. “And who will take the trouble to inyestigat for you?” — Beek Sti Oy *

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_ “T think I know some one who will help me - out. When Mr. Chase calls this afternoonfi put _ him off. Give him any old excuse. I’ve got a date at Judge Van Slyck’s this afternoon, and Ill talk the thing over with him.” _ “Why, what should take you to Judge Van Slyck’s, Joe?” asked his mother, in great sur- prise, for she was well aware of the social im- portance of the Van Slycks. _.. “] promised Miss Florence Van. Slyck that 1 would call.” “What business takes you there?” ~ “JT rendered Miss Van Slyck a service this morn- ing, and she wouldn’t take no for an answer but I must call and see her father and mother this afternoon. So I’m going to get into my Sunday togs and make my debut into the cream of Pan- dora society. It will be your turn next, mother,” - he added, gavly, “so you want to look up your finery when the time comes.” Then Joe told his mother of his thrilling rescue of Florence that morning. Of course Mrs.-Vick- ers felt very proud to learn that her dear boy had proved his’courage in so signal a manner, though she could not repress a shudder when she thoug _of the risk he ran. ; , “The Van Slycks are very nice people,” she said; “much, nicer, I think, than the Chases.” “Well, I guess!” replied Joe, with some energy. “But you can hardly expect that you will be allowed to associate with Florence as an equal— the lines of society are too strongly drawn for that. They will no doubt treat you very kindly— that is to be expected under the usual circum- ~ stances—but I hope, Joe, you will not impose on their friendship.” “That’s all right, mother. I’m only a fireman -on the road of which the judge is senior counsel. ~ But I mean to consult him about that plot of _Jand—father’s gold brick.” _ -“I see no-objection to that. to advise you as to its value.” : _ “Now, mother, I’ve more to tell you. I. met ‘with a singular and exciting experience on the en- gine last night. It’s a wonder you didn’t notice _ the story in the morning’s paper.” _ » “Why, what do you mean?” asked Mrs. Vick- ers, somewhat disturbed. . Joe at once related what he had gone through with at the hands of the crazy engineer of 13, but he was careful to hold back everything he had heard from the frenzied lips of Gregson, which affected his father’s death and the causes Jeading up to it. f % “You had a very narrow esca Mrs. Vickers, tearfully. “And the man was really ground to death by the express?” she added, with a shudder. : “Yes, mother, he was. And now 13 has a new igineer—Dan Beard. 'He’s taken a great fancy ) me hie to him. Iam sure we shall be great 2, a ‘Having thus reassu to visit a friend. After dinner he got ready to cal! oe Oe = . He may be able this offer of Mr. Chase’s for that - lressed himself. - ealthy as he is — th an ought not to “T will explain,” he replied, with a breezy laugh. . penses.” , my boy,” said ‘tampered with.” red his mother, Joe went _ = in the woodpile, and I’m going to make it my usiness to bring him to the light.” ao CHAPTER IX.—Joé Calls at Judge Van Slyck’s Home. 7 : It was about three o’clock that Joe reached the residence of Judge Van Slyck, marched up the gravel path which led to the front door and rang the bell. He gave his name to the maid and was shown into the parlor. In a few minutes the maid returfed and asked him to walk into the library. Judge Van Slyck rose from a _ big, leather-covered revolving chair in front of his desk, came forward and greeted his young visitor warmly. : “T am very glad to make the acquaintance of so brave and manly a lad as you have proved yourself to be,” he said. “In saving the life of our only child, Florence, you have placed us under a debt of gratitude we can never repay.” Joe was clearly embarrassed in the presence of — so dignified and important a personage as Judge Van Slyck, and the lawyer, observing it, has- tened to put him at his ease. “Sit down here; I would like to talk with you,” and he led the boy to a seat beside his desk. “How long have you been in the company’s em- ploy?” : “About a year, sir.” “You began as a wiper in the roundhouse, I believe?” “Wesssir.” z “And have been recently advanced to fireman?” “Yes, sir.” “Your father and. mother—may I ask if they are alive?” : re “My mether is. My father was engineer on _ the express for many years. He was killed in an : accident at Black Rock siding three years ago.” ~ “T recall the lamentable occurrence,” said the judge. “I.presume the company provided for — your mother.” tee “No, sir,” replied Joe, with a trace of bitter- — ness in his tone, “the company did nothing for mother beyond paying for father’s funeral ex- PR Ser a ee a Le eh) ee eee ee eT: “You astonish me,” and the judge looked it, — “How was that?” oon Joe told him that his father had been held ac- ~ countable for the catastrophe. — = aoe “Tt was a false and cruel allegation,” added & the boy, resentfully. “Until lately I believed it was the fault of the engine which father had to _ take ont that day, as he found ‘something the matter with her, which he reported, but it was not attended to. But I believe now the acciden was brought about by a switch which had been . “On what evidence do you make this asser-— tion?” asked the amazed lawyer. ed wf Joe rehearsed the events of his first trip w the mountains with Gregson, the engineer w. had unaccountably. gone insane durtng the run t Black Rock siding. The judge listened atten ly, then shook his head. tide Bs 5 T= “The man was clearly mad,” lace any dependenc =

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A WIDE-AWAKE BOY 13-~ Still,” thoughtfully, “there might have been some- thing in it, if he really owed your father a e ge. “I believe he did.” Joe then mentioned the attitude assumed at the time toward his mother by Godfrey Chase, the _ president of the road. ~ = “You say that Mr. Chase was an old friend of your father’s?” remarked Judge Van Slyck. * “Yes, sir, but when Mr. Chase grew rich and bec: a railroad magnate he ceased to have any further interest in us.” Judge Van Slyck asked the boy’ many ques- tions about his father’s connection with the. road, and afterward about his own plans and ambitions, and the jad’s answers interested him greatly. Finally Joe spoke about the piece of property "which Mr. Chase had worked off on his father : now seemed so anxious to recover. He showed the deed to the lawyer and asked him if e would interest himself in it so far as to as- eertain what the property really was worth. _ “T will do so with great pleasure,” said Judge an Slyck, taking the deed and making a note ‘of the matter. At this point Mrs. Van Slyck entered the room, accompanied by her daughter. Florence greeted Joe effusively., : 3 _ “Mother,” she said, “‘this is Joseph Vickers, the _ ‘bravest boy in“ Pandora.” Mrs. Van Slyck expressed the pleasure she felt meeting the lad to whom she was indebted- for e rescue of her dear child from a most peril- situation. , “The judge and myself will never forget what we owe you, Mr. Vickers; and I hope you will look Uy us as your most sincere and grateful “friends.” Joe bowed, and said he believed that he had only done his duty. His modest and gentlemanly ‘manater favorably impressed the judge and his wife. His good looks and manly way had their effect on Florence. ees “Aren't you glad to be the hero of a thrilling Sieiventare > siked the girl, roguishly, when they "were left by themselves for a little while. “I don’t know,” replied Joe, slightly embar- Fassed by her question. eee _ -“T-think you ought to be,” she said, gaily. It 2 -every young man who gets the chance to ave a young lady's life at the risk of his own.” “Pm afraid you exaggerate my share of the proceedings. I was fortunate\in being able to -eatth you, Miss Van Slyck.” hae x Cog you saved me, just the same, didn’t you? Joe had to admit that fact. ‘ think it just too delightful to be rescued by nice young man.” - ; I was paralyzed by the remark,” blurted out >» fi} a Rew. et st s don’t you think you are a nice young persisted his fair tormentor. — to auswer,” he added, growing bolder, “when such a pony girl as yourself. insists on a reply.” “Well,” she said, with a little gasp and a rosy blush, “you certainly are improving.” “I couldn’t do otherwise under the charming influence of your presence,” he said, gallantly. “Are you in the habit of reading novels, Mr. Vickers?” “No, Miss Van Slyck. My time is otherwise employed.” “Then you must be a natural-born hero. No doubt you have been longing for years for*an opportunity to rescue some unfortunate young lady from a situation similar to that which oc- curred this morning. Your patience has at last been rewarded, and I am the victim.” “Then I am to infer that,you would have pre- ferred not to have been rescued? Is that it?” said Joe, with a grin. - “Oh, dear, no!” she hastily replied. “I assure you I am deeply grateful that you appeared at the nick of time, otherwise I’m afraid I wouldn’t be here now to enjoy myself at the expense of -such a nice young man as yourself.” 5 “If I afford you that pleasure I am satisfied ~~ I have not lived in vain.” ~ 5 “How delightfully you_say that. I don’t know =: but, on the whole, I should congratulate myself ~~ on having been saved by such a nice——” ‘ 5 “Please don’t, Miss Van Slyck,” protested Joe, be rather enjoying the girl’s good-natured banter. eS Florence was simply overflowing with life and vivaciousness, and though she was perfectly con-_ scious of the debt she owed the boy, and grate-* ful to him, down to the very bottom of her warm little heart, she couldn’t help acting as she did ~~ if she died for it. The entrance of Judge Van id Slyck at this moment prevented any further ex- hibition of the young-lady’s pleasantry, and Joe ~ rose to take his leave. - eg “Wait a moment,” said the judge, and, going to his desk, took a small pastboard box from one of the pigeon-holes. “On behalf of Mrs. Van Slyck and myself I wish to present you with this — e slight token of our esteem and gratitude” = — Thus speaking, Judge Van Slyck opened the box, took out an elegant gold watch and chain ~ and handed it to Joe. The boy was surprised and overpowered by this testimonial of apprecia- ed tion. He accepted it with a few words of thanks. _ “You must call on us-soon again,” said the judge, kindly. “Certainly you must,” insisted Florence. “We ~ didn’t finish our conversation, you know,” she added, with a winning smile. 49> : And Joe promised to call some evening soon, oe CHAPTER X.—Joe’s First Trip As Engineer, — Two weeks passed away, during whigh ES made his regular trips on 13 with Dan Beard, over the mountains, with the freight, between Pandora and Trinidad. Dan devoted his spare - EE Je eth oe of the 5 al- ow oe frequently to take long s a to aaa | me Fh ee: e handling a locomotive. Joe

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14 fast, and having a strong sympathy with his work, he was soon fairly competent to run an engine under all the circumstances he had faced thus far. “I happen to know that the road is short of engineers,” Dan said to Joe, one morning, as they were running in toward Pandora. “And it wouldn’t surprise me in the léast if you soon got a chance to show what you’re made of in the engineering line.” “1 hardly think so,” answered the boy, doubt- fully; “that’s almost too good to be true. I’ve only been firing three weeks, and whether I’m competent or not to fill the bill, Mr. Ditchett would hardly be able to form any idea as to my ability as an engineer.” “The master mechanic was speaking to me about you the day before yesterday. He’s keep- ing his eye on you, I am positive. You’re bright and smart, and the way you pick up things is a caution. The way you took Gregson’s place when the man went daft before he committed suicide, and carried the freight all the way to Trinidad without ever having been over the road before, was bound to attract attention to you. ; You were on time to the minute, and the brake- man who fired for you repo that you went — through your ticklish duty like an old hand. Abel } Hyde has been on a spree ever since you saved him from being run over in the yard. Then Brice, one of the freight engineers, is down with malarial fever. And Judson, another, broke his leg and is in the hospital.” “The company seems to be having hard luck with their engineers.” “Such things happen every once in a white, and then some of the firemen get their chance to step up another notch. If they make good, it usually leads to a steady job at the throttle.” “Of course I'd like to get a chance, as firing is pretty hard work and often a thankless job; _ but to tell the truth, I’d hate to part from you.” “Same here, my lad; but I’m afraid we sha’n’t hang together as a team long, in any event.” “Why not, Mr. Beard?” asked -the boy, not a little dismayed at the idea of separation from his friend. : “Well, I got a hint from the master mechanic . that this might be my last trip on 13. He gave me to understand that it was more than probable _I should get 44, Hyde’s engine, which takes out the day express.” This was unpleasant intelligence for Joe, and for the rest of the way to town he looked as ae as he felt. While attending to his final fies in connection with 13 in the roundhouse, Beard walked in and came up to him. “Well, Joe, we’re both through with 13, I’m _ thinking. At any rate, I am, for I go out with _ the express to-morrow morning. As for your- self, Mr. Ditchett told me to tell you to report at his office before you go home. That means there’s something in the wind. He asked me a lot of questio: ions as to your capability to lle an engine, from which I judge you are slated for promotion. It may be only temporary to s up to you to make the most o: \ at - We ~ Ria ee See A WIDE-AWAKE BOY _ pull together, he was simply delighted at the bare idea that he might be placed at the throttle. “Of course it will be a switch engine, if any- thing,” he remarked. “That doesn’t follow,”. replied Beard, with a smile. “But whatever you may get will mean“a step forward, and that’s what you’re looking for.” In twenty minutes Joe sent his name in to the master mechanic, and was askea to walk into the inner office. ; “I was told you wanted to see me, sir,” said the boy, respectfully. “Hum!” and Ditchett looked him over, much as he had done when Joe was first called before him three weeks previous. “You fired for Greg- son, I believe, on your first trip over the moun- tains?” said the master mechanic, abruptly. “Yes, sir,” replied Joe, promptly. “Gregson lost his life at Black Rock siding, and you ran the freight the rest of the way to Trinidad, didn’t you?” “Yes, sir.” “Been firing for Beard ever since, I think.” “J have.” “Consider yourself capable of handling am engine, I suppose?” and Mr, Ditchett fixed him with his sharp eyes. : “Yes, sir,” replied Joe, confidently, but with becoming modesty. “Humph! How do you know?” sharply. Joe proceeded to give his reasons, and referred the master mechanic to Dan Beard as authority for his statement. “Hum! I want a man to go down the road right away, about thirty miles, and bring up a coal train. Will you go?” “Haven't h d breakf aven’t had your breakfast yet, have you?” . “No, sir. I'd like to get a bite before 1 go out. “Very well. There’s a restaurant outside, Take twenty minutes, and then report to Mr. Radway. hat’s all.” : : .Joe sent word to his mother that he wouldn’t — be able to get home for some hours, got outside of a cup of coffee and a small steak, and then returned to the yard. f5 “The coal train is on a siding up Silver bow : Branch,” said the yardmaster. “You want te get it here as soon as you can.” “Very well, sir.” ; “You will take No. 15. She’s waiting for yonder.” : a to the locomotive and tender. Joe walked out A bright young wiper, who had been recently promised, was going to fire for him, Vickers climbed into the cab. ; = “Hello, Oliver!” addressing his assistant, with whom he was well acquainted. “I see you’ye got a boost, too.” pat 5 “Yep. I’ve been firing in the yard for a She’s all ready to start. I’ve coaled, pull out.” “All right. ni Sy aap ad en opened 15.

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- s made up. He had had nothing to do but to : ple on and start off, and he lost no time in _ doing so. He had to hang up at one siding, for ' the afternoon mail to pass, and she was six minutes behind. That took fifteen minutes, and an hour more was consumed at another siding, while he waited for a couple of passenger ins, one either way, to go by. At last stop Was made at Pagoda Junction to avoid the east- bound day express from Grand Junction, and for the rest of the way into Pandora, Joe had a clear track, and he made 15 thump herself. y he ran into the yard with his long train : of coal cars, and shortly after, with a sigh of relief, he took 16 to the roundhouse and left her - “in charge of his fireman. & x - \ ; - When Joe left the yard that afternoon for home, he had orders to report next morning for ‘instructions. It was the talk of the yard that engineers were scarce just at the moment on the Nimrod & Pandora road. The contributing rea- gon for this state of affairs was that the general 2 down expenses and that just when spare men were at a premium, were put out by drink and sickness, and that put the road in a bit of a hole, which it was neces- et: to fill, temporarily at any rate, from the n, whose places in turn were recruited from among the wipers. In addition, many of the engineers and. firemen were over-worked by being N ov, ie to make éxtra-trips, which is not an un- _ €ommon occurrence on some roads, though a rail- “road always takes a risk when it works its em- ( to death to save a few dollars, _ Joe reached home and found his mother some- what worried over his prolonged absence, not- thstanding the text of the note he had sent that morning, previous to his departure down road afer the coal train. She started to et finner right away, as he declared he was as hungry as a bear. Joe explained how he had m engaged since he came in with the freight n the morning. ‘ --—s- “Mr. Chase was here again this morning about perty. ” “Seems very anxious to square himself with doesn’t he, mother?” ; “He does, indeed.” “This is the fifth time, I think, he has honored with a call on the subject.” : haven’t kept count. I know he has called 1 times.” S. ; 3 “Now, mother, it isn’t at all like Godfrey Chase put himself out to that extent merely to do favor, as he claims, is it?” He certainly hasn’t noticed us before in ” n I feel more certain than ever that there hing in the background.” do you expect to hear fr» ‘ndge Van k about the property?” _ ES. m unable to say. He promised to | favor on his part, of course A WIDE-AWAKE BOY 3 \ attend ~ 15 it is not for me to hurry him. He is a very busy 3 man.” | “It would be well to have the matter settled one way or the other as soon as possible, for Mr. Chase thinks it very strange that we hesi- tate over the reconveyance of the property to him under such favorable terms as he has pro- posed.” “How did you manage to head him off to-day?” a told him you had not come to a decision yet. “What did he say to that?” “He rather bluntly called you a fool, and. said that the property being in my name I ought not to be so foolish as to be guided by your ridiculous ideas when a matter of $4,000 was to be so easily picked up.” “T am much obliged to him for his fine opinion of me. It is nothing more than I might expect from him. I hope you gave him to understand that the property was practically out of your hands. That I had bought it’of you for $500.” “I have already told him that twice, but he pooh-poobed at it. He said I was your natural guardian, which, of course, is true, and that whatever technically belonged to you was entirely under my control, and that I had a perfectly legal right to sell the property, or anything else. in that line to which you -might lay claim, if I chose to do so. He said it was preposterous for me to defer to the opinion of a mere boy like 7 you.” “x “That was only a’ bluff, mother.” “By the way, Katie Todd called this morning, early, before she went to work.” “Did she?” said Joe, with some interest. “What “ did she want? I haven’t been able to see Katie i for quite a while.” . ; “She said she wanted to see you very much. a Seemed to be quite anxious over something. She- “Y left a note for you, which she asked me to be ¥ sure and see that you got as soon as possible.” “Where is it, mother?” “On the mantel in the dining-room.” “2 Joe walked into that room and got it. 4 “T wonder what she has to say to me?” mused = the boy, as he tore the envelope open. “Dear Joe—I want to warn you against that engineer with whom you had some trouble—Abel ~ Hyde. He’s up to some scheme to injure you, and I’m sorry to say father is helping him. I couldn’t find out what it is, but I fear it is some- thing serious. Father has been drunk almost continuously since the evening he met us on the street, and we have all had a hard time of it. (‘Poor Katie,’ murmured Joe). I: heard father mention the name of Mr. Chase, the president of — the railroad, several times, almost in the same — breath that he talked about you and Abel Hyde. — I can’t imagine what he could mean by that, and I merely mention the circumstance because it seems so queer to me. Please be on your guard against both my father and Abel Hyde. t would make me feel very badly indeed if you came to harm, especially through my father, who, bad as he is, is still my father. | “Katie Todd. Joe ate his dinner and then went up to k for a sleep, of which he felt greatly in n = Oe dee eerie 3

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16 he hadn’t closed his eyes since the previous day at Trinidad. It was nearly nine o’clock when he woke up, and he decided, as the night was fine, he would go out-and take a short walk, for he wanted to see one of his friends on a little matter of business. T’ll be back in an hour, mother,” he said, as she put on his hat. “Very well,” she answered. “T’ll wait up for you, as I sha’n’t care to go to bed before ten.” . The evennig was warm, for it was the first part of July. There was no moon, and as the sky was overcast, the streets in that locality, not any too well lighted, were rather dark and, at that hour, somewhat lonesome. Joe started up the street at a swinging stride habitual with him, and consequently did not observe the crouch- Z ing figure of a man who, a few minutes before, had slouched up against the fence which en- closed the neat little garden in front of his mother’s cottage. The figure straightened up as Joe walked off, and stealthily followed in his wake. At the corner he was joined by another person, and both sneaked along at the pace set by the boy, but kept as close as possible in the shadow of the houses. Joe turned down an adjacent street and his shadowers did likewise. Then he crossed over _ and continued along on the ether side of a block and turned up a shady street. The fellows be- hind crossed at the corner and now rapidly closed s¢ two doors of his destination, his sharp ears de- a tected the stealthy steps behind, and he turned and leoked back. He saw the indistinct-forms of the two men coming quickly on. Supposing, naturally, they were men going home, he made no effort to avoid them. In a moment or two they were up to him. pete something soft and clinging was thrown over his head and he was pinned down to the walk, without the power to utter a cry for help. Sy CHAPTER XII—In Which Katie Todd Shows What She is Made Of. Of course Joe, as soon as he realized what was happening to him, put up a hard struggle to free himself from the folds of the material which aavelpoes his head and shoulders, but both of the men plumped themselves down on him and pinioned his arms to his sides in such a way that he soon found himself quite helpless. Then the gir within the shawl was soon ‘exhausted, and a sufficient quantity of fresh air not being obtain- - able, the boy quickly collapsed and lay quite still, whereupon the brace of ruffians, not meaning to do him up entirely there on the street, cautiously removed the covering from his head and per- _ mitted the atmosphere to circulate in his lungs again. They were satisfied that they had accom- plished their obpect, which was to render him in- _ sensible, so that they might be able to carry out the rest of the program without opposition on the boy’s part. ' -- 5 “He’s ag enough now,” said the voice of Abel By Mies ick him up by the heels and we'll carry individual who had been requested to lift < ‘Sr sar ae, Re “ aan A WIDE-AWAKE BOY in on him. Half-way up the block, and within , Joe’s nether limbs would easily have been recog- nized as Michael Todd by any one who knew him. Hyde took hold of the boy under the armpits, and thus the two men carried the young en- gineer along the shady and deserted street for several blocks without meeting a soul, not even a policeman, and Pandora was reputed to be fairly well picketed by the guardians of the peace. Finally they turned a corner, which brought them down by the railroad track. Alongside of the track they walked for some little distance until they came to a solitary, lonesome-looking two- story dwelling, much in need of paint and re- pair, and which seemed to be uninhabited. Hyde and his companion laid the boy down, and the former produced a key from his pocket . — and opened the front door. Then they raised the unconscious boy between them, entered the build- ing and shut and locked the door behind them. Hardly had they disappeared with their prisoner before another figure came out of the gloom from the direction the men and their burden had come. It was a small figure, and it wore skirts and a hat not adapted to a man or a boy—therfore its sex could not be misunderstood. It was a girl, and a very determined little one at that, who, had she been asked by one entitled to an answer, would have said that her name was Katie Todd. Half an hour before Katie had been looking out of her unlit chamber window, which commanded a view of the Vicker cottage, diagonally across the street, when she saw two men, whom she identified as her father and Abel Hyde, come up the road. They separated in front of the house, one going on to the corner, while the other, Hyde, crossed over toward the Vickers house. At that moment Joe came out, and she saw the two men ~ follow him stealthily behind. That was enough for Katie. é She knew they were up to some mischief di- rected at Joe Vickers, and she at once deci ‘ like the brave little girl she was, that she would track the shadowers and try to get a chance to warn the boy. So she put on her hat and started forth into the night, undismayed by the lonesome- ~ ness of the streets and the silence which reigned abroad at that hour. But she failed in her effort to intercept Joe, and almost betrayed her pres- ence by a scream when he was set upon and over- powered. When Hyde and Todd started to carry Joe away, Katie followed as silent and alert as an Indian on a trail, and she had now spotted the place which appeared to be the destination of the two men. and its surroundings, Katie started off towa the distant railroad yard to get help to release Joe from his predicament. In the meantime, Hyde and his-companion carried Joe upstairs to rey furnished room, and threw him on the Drawing a chair up near the door, which he closed, Hyde coolly filled his pipe, struck a match __ and, applying the light to the bowl, began to smoke. . “Anythin’ to drink on the premises?” asked Todd, in an eager voice. Hyde nodded his head toward the which stood near the window. 4 took the hint, opened the top drawer and‘swooped down _ upon a pint bottle of old rye, in which se Fe weg =" Ne 2 Taking note of the building « - ;

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_ S00d-sized drinks still remained. After the sec- _ tion foreman had withdrawn the bottle from his 2 there was a noticeable shrinkage of its con- _ tents. The gurgle of the liquor awakened a kin- _ dred desire on Hyde’s part to sample the whisky also, and as soon as the bottle came into his _ hands he drank down the remainder and tossed _ the bottle upon the floor behind him. - “That’s where my money goes,” he remarked, _ with a satisfied grin. s “Mine, too,” said Todd. “But this night’s work ought to point the way _ t6 many more of them bottles,” quothed Hyde, complacently. ; 1" t’s what it ought,” agreed his associate. s A movement from the bed attracted Hyde’s notice. “He’s coming to his senses,” the engineer re- _ marked. “You’d better go downstairs and keep an eye out for the trackwalker. As soon as he _ Passes down, come up.” ; Michael nodded and left the room. He went downstairs, to one of the lower rooms, overlook- ing the track and seated himself on a box by the window. The silence and the last dose of _ whisky produced a somnolent effect upon him, and the result was his head soon fell upon his | Breast .and he-snored away to beat the band. : “sag Sigg Hyde watched Joe Vickers gradually come consciousness. “Where am I?” muttered the boy, aloud, as he Sat up in stupefied astonishment at his unusual _‘ Surroundinds. - _ ~ “Where I’ve been waiting to get you,” said alone, but face to face with his enemy, the Vindictive engineer. “Why did you bring me here?” he asked, firmly. _ “To have a talk with you where there is no _likelfiood of interruption,” replied the engineer. “IT suppose I’ve got to listen to you.” “I reckon you have, so we'll proceed to busi- ess. There’s a little account to be settled be- tween you and me, if you remember. I’m willing _ to let that go if you’re disposed to be reasonable tn the matter, which I am authorized to arrange with you. If you turn balky, why, all I’ve got _ to say is, there’ll be a freight along here in half an hour and you'll be tied to the track out yonder in a way that’l! allow the wheels te make mince- “meat of you.” = “What do you want of me?” asked Joe, with a shudder at the significant reference to the ex- ‘pected freight train. Abel Hyde rose, went to a big table at one - Bide of the room, and pulling out a drawer took a small book and a pad of writing @per, together with a penholder and a boitle of ink. From his pocket he produced a folded _ legal document. : __ “Write a note to your mother, telling her to ‘Sign this deed, which conveys a certain piece of oe to Mr. Godfrey Chase, president of the Tell her that business prevents your urn to-night, and that she can_take Mr. Chase’s k to the bank to-morrow and have it cashed. you have done that you must take your . oath on this here Bible never to open your about what has occurred here to-night, nor any fuss about the transfer of the prop- Fe rn eS 5 owe - = A WIDE-AWAKE BOY - Hyde, and then Joe realized that he was not \ by Katie Todd, dashed into the room. : 17 erty in question. If you agree to do this you’ll be set free to-morrow morning in time to report for work at the yard. If you refuse, the freight will get you. Ill give you five minutes to make up your mind.” “You must think I am a fool to agree to any such scheme as you propose. Mr. Chase has only defeated himself by employing such a tool as yourself to gain his ends,” said Joe, stoutly. Abel Hyde laughed sardonically. “You certainly are a greater fool than I took 77 to be, Jge Vickers. You must either do what want or die a horrible death. If it must be the latter, your mother will gladly sign away that property in order to get money enough to bury what'will be found of your remains and to save her cottage from ultimate foreclosure of the mortgage Mr. Chase holds upon it.” _“You are a scoundrel, Abel Hyde!” cried Joe, rising to his feet. : “Hard words break no bones,” grinned the engineer. _ “Then Vl see whether this will make an impression on them!” cried Joe, rushing over <a grabbing the chair, which he swung aloft with the evident\intention of striking down the rascal. But Hyde was equal to the occasion. He jumped , aside and evaded the descending chair, which slipped away from the lad’s grasp. Then, with an oath, the engineer sprang upon Joe and bore him to the floor. The boy was strong as a young lion, and he knew the situation was desperate, so he fought for his life, with every ounce of power he could bring to bear. Hyde, however, was a man of iron muscle and dogged resolution, and proved to be more than his match. Over and over they rolled about the floor of the room, now one on top, then the other—each seeking to mas- ter the other. The table was overturned, the candlestick falling to the floor. The struggle soon had its effect on Joe, and with a feeling of despair he felt himself growing weaker and weaker. Finally Hyde got him down and held him down. The talon-like fingers of the schemer closed about Joe’s neck, and were fast choking - the life out of the boy, when the door was sud- -: denly burst open and Dan Beard, closely followed CHAPTER XIII.—Abel Hyde Is Held for Trail. Dan Beard sized up the situation. He didn’t lose a moment in grasping Abel Hyde by the shoulders and yanking him-off the prostrate boy. Joe’s big friend had the advantage of size and strength, and being much in earnest, he made short work of Hyde. He threw the man on the bed and sat on him. Katie rushed to Joe and assisted him to rise. She had expected to find her father in the room also, and was thankful he — was not, as his absence simplified matters greatly. “I can’t tell you yet. PRET Gs, cs fe he ‘Mr. Beard is calling 7

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18 ~ 2 agree to that awful——” oy “Come here, Joe. I want you to tie this rascal while I hold him!” cried Dan. Joe was only too willing to take a hand in putting his late antagonist in a shape where he couldn’: do any more harm. Abel Hyde didn’t take his defeat calmly, as may be supposed. He uirmed and kicked, and swore like a trooper, while Joe tore one of the dirty bed sheets into strips and tied his arms and legs. Finally he was reduced to a helpless state. “This isn’t the end of this matter by a long shot,” he gritted, fiercely, regarding the boy with a malignant scowl. “I'll get square with you yet if it takes me months or years to reach you.” “Shut up, you cantankerous scoundrel!” ex- claimed Beard, with some warmth. “You’ll harm nobody for some time to come, I’m thinking. Where’s your companion?” “Find out!” growled Hyde. -Beard and Katie had been accompanied by an- other man, a stout teamster with whom Dan had been talking down by the corner of the rail- road yard where Katie, in search of assistance, fortunately ran against them. He had remained standing in the background, as his aid did not seem to be required. Now he came forward and said: “JT heard somebody moving about downstairs just now. Perhaps it is the man you want.” Beard agreed that it would be well to investi- gate, so he and the teamster left the room. - “Now, Katie,” said Joe, regarding the pretty factory girl with a look of great interest, “I want to hear how you and Dan discovered I had been brought here.” ; i “Tt was just luck,” she said, earnestly, “and I am so glad we got here in time to save you.” “Then she told Joe how she had seen the two men, one of whom was her father, from the window; how she had followed in their wake in- tent on warning him of his danger, and how, when this proved futile, she had gone in search of help, and been so fortunate as to find Dan> Beard and a companion a few blocks away. She knew Beard by sight, and when she had hurriedly told her story, Dan and his friends accompanied her back to the building into which she had seen Joe carried. They had effected an entrance through a rear window, which they had found un- secured, and the noise of the struggle upstairs. had guided them to the right spot. : “There, that’s all,” concluded the girl, with a note of excitement in her tones. “Do you know, I believe you have saved my life to-night, Katie,” said Joe, with a look of ed gratitude and admiration in his eyes, _ while he held her two brown little hands in his. _ “Hyde swore he meant to tie me down to the ‘track outside and let the incoming freight carve me up if I refused to do what he wanted.” - “Oh!” shuddered the girl. “And did my father Her eyes filled with tears of grief and shame. ; itied her. =a 8 a question which must remain unan- swered, Katie,” he said. ~~ ~ You wish to spare me the humiliation of know- t+ my father was in thought at least a py 5 ioe the dreadful word which fluttered on trembling ton and he caught her in his she uttered a thetic little cry, almost A WIDE-AWAKE BOY > of despair. Her head dropped on his shoulder, and she sobbed for a few moments as if her heart page break. Joe comforted her as best he knew ow. “I will make it as easy as possible for your father if he is arrested,” he said, earnestly. Katie looked up at him gratefully. “T know you mean it,” she replied, “but the dreadful story will have to be told. My own statement will be enough to convict my father of being an accomplice of a crime.” Dan Beard and his friend, the teamster, now returned, after an unsuccessful search for Michael Todd. The man had evidently taken alarm and fied. A heavy rumble and the strident puffing of a locomotive announced the approach of the freight. The cars slewly rolled by the old house, causing the building to tremble down to its foundations. : “Well,” said Dan, “we may as well get out of here. Come now!” cutting the bonds which had secured Hyde’s legs, “get on to your feet. We’re going to march you up to jail.” Abel Hyde sullenly obeyed, for resistance was of no avail. Twenty minutes later Joe made his charge against the scoundrelly engineer, and the fellow was locked up, pending his examina- tion in the police court in the morning. Then the party separated, Joe seeing Katie home. It was after midnight when the boy knocked for admission at his home. “Why, Joe, I did not think you meant to stay out until this hour,” said his mother, Whose face wore an anxious look. - “Nor did I, mother. Come into the dining-room — sand I will tell you what detained me.” Joe knew that he had to tell his story though he hated to upset his mother. So he explained his adventure as gently as he could. Of course the story was a shock to Mrs. Vickers—hew could it be Samana You know how it is with mothers. er gratitude to Katie Todd was boundless, “And now, mother, you see what kind of a He will stoop pretty low man Godfrey Chase is. to accomplish his purpose. You don’t want any better proof that the property he wants to re- cover must have turned up valuable in some way. We shall surely get at the real truth as soon as Judge Van Slyck has had time to go into it.” Joe was sfated to go out with a train of empties next morning at nine, but owing to the fact that it was necessary for him to appear at the police court, he was excused from duty until — the afternoon, although it was clear the master mechanic did not relish the delay. At the ex- amination, Joe suppressed all reference to Mr. Chase’s ‘presumed connection with the affair. Dan Beard’s evidence was submitted in the form ~ of a deposition, sworn to before a notary, as the engineer was compelled to take out the 8.55 ex- press. His friend, the teamster, corroborated the written testimony in the witness-chair. Katie

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"CHAPTER XIV.—In Which Joe Has A Run-in a : With Herbert Chase. Three months passed away. Joe Vickers had made good at the throttle, and his advancement was made permanent. During that time Able _. Hyde was tried and convicted for his assault on __ Joe, and got a two-years’ sentence in the State prison. Michael Todd had managed to evade eapture and was still at large. We may as well _ say here that he was never heard of again. Katie, her mother and the two little Todds found his absence from the family rooftree a great re- ~ fief. Joe called on the Van Slycks once. His purpose was to find out what news, if any, the | judge had for him in reference to his “gold brick” property, as he called it. The reason why he had not heard from Judge Van Slyck was then ap- parent. The judge had gone to Washington to attend to an important legal matter, of which _ the Nimrod & Pandora R. R. was a party, and which had come up before the Supreme Court of the United States. Joe was disappointed, but there wasn’t anything for him to do but make the best of it. One morning when Joe came into the i ee yard, expecting to take a train of empty coal -_ ears down to the Silver Bow Branch, Gosport met him and said that Mr. Ditchett wanted to see him at his office. Joe proceeded without delay to _ the office of the master mechanic. _ * -*Vickers,” began Mr. Ditchett, swinging about im his chair and facing the boy, “I’ve had my eye on you ever since you were advanced to your present position on the road, and I am pleased to find that you have made an excellent record.” Joe bowed. “Therefore,” went on Mr. Ditchett, “I am going to give you something better than hauling coal ‘ears and yard work. How would you like to run a er _ “J should like it very much, sir.” “Very well. I shall put you on No. 81. You ean take Oliver to fire for you.” “J should like to have him. We are used to each other.” ; © right. You are to take the 9.55 accommo- on the Nimrod division. Report to the trainmaster and take your orders from him. 7 ” Good-day. Joe fat as if he was walking on 7 when he left the master mechanic’s office. Joe wrote a note to his mother no ifying her of the change im his work, and that he would not be back to Pandora until later that night. He sent it to ‘the cottage by a special messenger, and then ? was time for him to run out of the round- rc and back down to the train-shed. Prompt- on time, the through accommodation pulled out, f nd was switched on to the Nimrod main line. Oliver was at his post. It was a fine day, and Joe was feeling like a top. Ev ing went with 31. During the entire trip to Grand nction the indicator on the steam gauge did extent. Therefore, he A WIDE-AWAKE BOY 19° ing on the siding at a small station named Sid- ney, on the edge of the prairie, ten miles or so south of the long tunnel, and he notified Joe to that effect. While Joe was oiling the drivers and Dick Oliver was looking after the fire, a well- dressed youth walked down the platform and attempted to mount up into the cab. Joe saw him and quickly headed him off. When he got close to him he saw it was Herbert Chase. “You can’t get up there,” he said to th f the railroad magnate. : 8. My father is one of the owners of this road and I guess-I can go where I choose,” replied Herbert, insolently. “T'"d like to know how you —— to be driving a passenger train, anyway, oe Vickers. I thought you was a fireman on the freight. Father will have to hear of this, and then I guess there'll be something doing.” ae mae ee peg to mount the iron 4 oe, W as little sho f we pomsibls, prevented him. piers sci = want you to understand that I’m goi to ride to Pandora on this engine,” sted bert, with an air of Trapevtanoes aes r “Have you a signed i rope —- 2 asked Joe. ne ee 3 “No, aven’t, but my father and sever the directors of the road are at Sidney, so I sare ‘think you’ll dare keep me off.” “That doesn’t make the least bit of differen You can’t ride without a permit and that’s all there is to it,” said Joe, firmly. “Step back, please.” : Herbert fumed and sputtered, but the engineer paid no further attention to him. e swung up into the cab and in a moment or two the conductor gave him the signal to start. CHAPTER V.—A Race for Life—Conclusion. “That was President Chase’s son, wasn’t it?” ra 5 Dick Oliver, as the train pric Tikes B<% “That's who it was,” replied Joe. a berg te ae z make trouble for you.” won e first ti , i mak things hot for me; but, all. tptwine 7" succeeded. “Something’s wrong!” cried Oli head out of the cab window. Shae ie on

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“Give it up,” replied Joe, “but we’re likely to know in a moment, for here comes the con- ductor.” “Vickers,” said the mogul of the train as soon as he reached the locomotive, “we have orders, you know, to pick up the directors’ car at Sid- ney.” The young engineer nodded. oe “Well, it appears the prairie is afire all around Sidney and is spreading to the tracks. President _ Chase and half a dozen of the directors are aboard of the car and have telegraph for help. _ Uncouple your engine and tender and pull through to Sidney and fetch the car away.” “All right, sir. We'll get there if the track is all right.” - “Make haste; there isn’t a moment to be lost.” The locomotive was uncoupled from the train | and started. Joe opened her up by degrees, and 2 31 was soon flying through the long, dark tunnel, : out of the other end of which she soon darted like a swaying meteor. And now the whole “sky on this side of the range was lighted by a fearful conflagration. The distant horizon looked like the edge of an ocean of fire. “We'll never be able to fetch Sidney!” cried -- Oliver, huskily. “I'll wager we'll find the track 23 afire miles this side of the station. 3 _. “We must reach there,” said Joe, firmly, as he hooked her up another notch, while his assistant shoveled the coal into the furnace as fast as he ; _ could work. The perspiration was pouring down ~~ Oliver’s face, and the only rest he took was to F ‘bathe his forehead with water from the tank ; - - gecasionally. And now they were drawing near - b- - Pz __ Sidney. Joe began to ease 31 up by degrees, but F for the next half mile her speed hardly appeared . to diminish, owing to the momentum she had aequired. But he got her under control by the time she hit the last stretch, and he pulled the whistle. The roof of the station was smoking -and some of the telegraph poles were on fire when he slowed down and approached the siding. _- The switch was over and everything ready for him to bring the engine up against the solitary =) eis oe ‘ en “ear lying there on the side-track. : . : Something like a cheer greeted his arrival, and : ' ready hands were soon busy coupling on 31. 4, Just as the signal was given—“All right, go _ ahead!”—a blazing telegraph pole fell over upon -.». the car and crushed in the roof like an eggshell. - As Joe pulled on the throttle, the car began to blaze, but a score of hands soon smothered the fire, and engine and car commenced their race “against the conflagration rushing down to de- “your them. The return trip was far more peri- ~ lous than the other, for the flames, racing along _at an incredible speed, succeeded in reaching the track in many spots ahead of them. ry the black mouth of the tunnel before them. minutes more they would be there, and now at they were comparatively safe, Joe shut off am, allowing the locomotive to proceed by acquired velocity alone, while Oliver dropped, ting and exhausted down on the bottom of the miid the scattered chunks of coal, Five d car rolled out o and came to a sto} gee A WIDE-AWAKE BOY ‘The mountain range was looming up ahead, f the” = Sa ae Oe eae : fo = ’ > ‘ _ Although Joe had’ hercically saved the twenty imperilled people who had been cut off at Sidney, it was found on their arrival that death was hovering over the director’s car. The blazing telegraph pole which had smashed in the roof of the car just before they started north had struck Godfrey Chase and fatally injured him. He was” dying, and he knew it. i “Let me shake the hand of the brave engineer who brought us through this sea of fire,” he whispered to those around him, and Joe Vickers was brought into the car. He waved the others away, and all withdrew but the boy. of wronged your father, lad, as you know, and I have tried to cheat you, too, out of great wealth. The property I strove to regain from your mother, and which she told me now belongs, by right of purchase, to you, is of intestimable value by reason of its vast growth of locust trees, invaluable to this and other railroads for ties and telegraph poles on account of their toughness and durability. There are, I have computed, half a million dollars’ worth of lumber there as it stands. You are rich, boy. All I ask now is that you forgive me for the past.” ; “I do forgive you; sir, with all my heart, for I believe you are sincerely sorry for the wrong ae did ae oe ran the train back to Nimrod, an : she reached there Godfrey Chase was dent. Jon naturally became the hero of the hour, but that fact didn’t. give him a big head. The result of it all was that the directors held a special meeting ~ during the week at Pandora and. voted the brave boy and his fireman $10,000 as evidence of their _ appreciation. About this time Judge Van Slyck’s a investigations in his behalf confirmed the late Mr. __ Chase’s statement concerning his property. There was enough full-grown Jocust trees on the land to furnish, at a rough guess, 100,000 telegraph pales, Manin 4 ant which meant $400,000, suffi-’ — cien provide their young owner wi i = of $20,000 a year. oes wih oie Joe’s automatic coupler invention also proved _ a winner and the firm of Fosdick & Vickers realize a large annua! income from the royalties. Joe, however, stuck to the railroad, and in a few years rose to the coveted position of superin- — tendent, and subsequently he became general manager. He is one of the best-known railroad men in the West to-day, and is married to Flor- ence Van Slyck, but for obvious reasons we do not use his right name. <sa8 Pa wre er ee eae ey eT es ae Next week’s issue will contain “CAPTURIN THE MONEY; or, HOW BEN BAILEY HIS MARK.” ; .

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YOU CAN SHAVE IN THE DARK . Caen ee especially for use by travelling men, | self-illum inating safety razor makes it possi- to shave in the dark. eta the handle of the razor is a tiny electric bulb, encased in a rubber holder which prevents dampness from rusting it. The lamp is adjusted 80 that it always throws its light on the spot Where the razor is cutting. A clean shave in , "Bitch darkness is said to be possible with this de- PAINT BATH IN MIDAIR _ Suspended eigthy feet in midair by his toes for =m early half an hour before being rescued was the “experience of John B. Thomas, sixty, a painter, at work on a factory smokestack, New Orleans, La. ‘Thomas was sitting in a rigger’s chair when he _ Was overcome by heat. Falling backward he be- naplunge. As his feet came up through the ir his toes caught in a piece of rope, stopping fall. A bucket of creosote paint upset and oured over Thomas, adding to his suffering. A NEXT WEEK! NEXT “MYSTERY Tt will contain a “PLL WIN! es on odd subjects. ARRY E. WOLFF, ‘Publisher, Inc., pee "FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY = “CURRENT NEWS We will issue No. _ Arthur B. Reeve and Margaret Wilson Reeve The greatest writers of detective fiction in the world The title is Get a copy. Read the story by these famous authors, for it-contains one of the strangest mysteries ever written. A new oie of fine detective sketches wi ll also appear under the title “GUTTERSIDE TALES” By Neil McConlogue . : In addition there » will pe half-a-dozen bright and interesting detective romances, filled — So Br exciting ineidents, an article on fingerprinting, short stories and nc end of pithy ar- Order a copy ahead from your new sdealer te on 21 oo 3 climbed from the top of the stack and lashed Thomas’s feet to the rigging. A fire com- pany rescued Thomas twenty-five mimutes later. MOSQUITOES MAY BE ELIMINATED The mosquito, which has probably done as much as any other one agency. to make New Jersey fa- mous, is still amongst us, and probably will continue to abide in our midst until we will really make a united effort to exterminate it. Essex County, New Jersey, is spending $70,000 this year in the work of exterminating this dan- gerous pest, which is known to be a carrier of dangerous diseases ‘and the only agent that car- ries malaria and yellow fever. Approximately half of the swamp land which has provided such wonderful opportunities of the mosquito to pro 1 agate has been drained, and 60 per cent. of t mosquito-breeding places in the uplands has been eliminated in the scientific warfare which New Jersey is waging against the pest. WEEK! 143 of MAGAZINE”? ; splendid story by NEXT WEEK! PLL WIN!” 166 West 23d Street, New York City <F 3

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‘ ~ Wrecked On The Desert “d on THE ADVENTURES OF TWO BOY PROSPECTORS By GASTON GARNE (A Serial Story.) + ASHAPTER X.—(Continued). “There’s a bell to ring if you do think of any- thing,” said the dwarf. “It will bring some one any time. You’re in luck, let me tell you.” “J appreciate that.” “You ought to,” growled Andy, and he with- drew, making no response when Jack gave him a pleasant “good-night.” “Not very hospitable,” remarked Arthur. “YT think he is as crazy as the doctor,” replied Jack, “It must be a queer household. But now, old man, I’ll help you to undress and we'll turn in. We are in luck indeed.” Arthur was in bed and Jack just about ready to follow him, when there came a thunderous knock on the door. “Well?” called Jack, not a little startled. “l’m Glick—P. Remington Glick, M. D.,” roared a voice. “I want to come in and see my patient. 4 Can I?” “Why, certainly, doctor,” replied Jack,-throw- | ing open the door, and’in walked Glick, wrapped in a long purple gown belted in at the waist, reaching almost to his feet. - “Get out of my road an don’t dare to start at me,” he snarled, giving Jack a shove; and he added, as he bent over bed: “Well, young man, how do you feel?” “As comfortable as I can expect, thanks to you, doctor,” replied Arthur. ~ “No fever?” “No, sir.” -“Uh, huh! — That’s all right,” growled Glick, _ feeling Arthur’s pulse. o soon have you around. You young cub! Didn’t I tell you not to stare at me, and there you are doing it again. What do you mean by'it? Say!” “T’ll look out the window,” replied poor Jack, y- “Go to thunder” was the paneling “Tf this was my house you never would tered it.” 5 He proceeded to mix medicine in a glass of | water, Jack standing with his back turned. “You are to take this pee two hours, if Ps “happen to be awake,” he said, and then stalked out of the room, eggs! tne door behind him. “He seems to be everlastingly down on you, Jack,” remarked Arthur. , “Oh, we'll forget him,” laughed Jack. “Here, let_me ae you your dose, and I’ll turn in.” “ boys were to have one more experience, for they were still awake when a series of shrill ‘ C the house. 32 DES xb WF Bek eis a ge 5, response. have en- ext wet FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY Pee nS O a ee ieee * grees S a sie ee eee RS 2 ee “The voice was a woman’s, and the cry was: “Murder! Murder!” “For heaven sake!” gasped Arthur. “Jack, you must see what that means, sure.” “Wonder if I ought to?” questioned Jack, sit- ting up in bed. Just then some one was heard running through the hall, the cry still continuing: In an instant there was a knock on Ahe door. “Awake, boys?” Nemo’s voice called. “Yes, sir!” cried Jack. “Can I be of any as- sistance?” “None whatever. Pay no attention to anything that happens. T’ll quickly put a stop to this racket. Good-night.” “Good-night,” answered Jack, and then he heard his host run back along the corridor. Presently the cries ceased. There was no further disturbance. Soon our two boy prospectors were asleep. CHAPTER XI. A Singular Household. Jack was roused at daybreak by the clattering of a flock of birds in a tree outside his window, and he sprang out of bed to have a look. Here was a beautiful garden—just one mass of flowers. Edna, armed with a pair of scissors, was gathering roses with which she had almost filled a basket. Jack drew down the shade in a hurry and began to dress. There was no water in the room, except a little in a pitcher for Arthur’s drinking, so Jack pressed the electric button. The answer was prompt, and this time instead of the hunchback, came a Mesizo boy of about Jack’s own age. “I am Pedro,” he said, displaying his glittering teeth. “I am to serve you, senor. What is it you wish?” : “Water to wash with,” replied Jack. “T can ab, it, senor, but we have our bath. Besides, there is the lake. It is only a step. Every morning and evening I bathe there.” “The very thing!” cried Jack. “Show me, Pedro. Have you had your morning bath yet?” “Not yet, senor.” “Then I will join you.” “T’ll get the towels and then guide you,” said Pedro, and he departed. ; “I only wish I could go,” sighed Arthur, who had now awakened. : “You poor fellow! So do I,” replied Jack. “It would do you a world of good.” “I wonder if it is far?” “Just a step, the boy said.” “What about you two —— me there? My back is ever so much better. believe I could hobble to the lake, with you two to support me.” “You shall try it,” assented Jack. ll give you a good rubdown, if the water isn’t too cold.” Pedro, returning, assurgd them that the water _ was by no means cold, and that the lake was not — more than a hundred yards from the house, so — Arthur decided to make the attempt, and they succeeded in getting him through the gard without much difficulty. “4 _{To be Continued.). — SHSYOY svités a bstind coved’ Yon 452 Ss 2 Sas aie _ = Sth

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eee SS Pi, Ppatn oe heey eas 5 = : ee ~ oe g ‘ ii _ YOUNG GIRL HAS WILD RIDE _ When an automobile occupied by John Koch and Eddie Faix, each aged sixteen years, and by Thel- na Davies, aged twelve, and Margaret Faix, ten, s struck by a train on the Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad, at Catasauqua, Pa., Miss Davies was thrown from her seat in the rear of the demolished machine and landed on the pilot '0f the locomotive, on which she was given a ride of 100 yards before the train was brought to a op. She escaped, however, without a scratch. ither members of the party sustained only slight ises, notwithstanding the fact that the auto- nobile was a total wreck. Dabs eat a _ GOATS MULTIPLY TOO QUICK - Uncle Sam may refuse to permit any other Alaskan island game preserves, In 1917 the Boone and Crocket Club of New York spent a all fortune in capturing fifteen wild Alaskan uuntain goats and planting the herd on Am- alty Island off the coast. It is now certain t unless the club gets buy, hunts the game erously to reduce the numbers of goats they “will destroy all vegetation of the island. According to recent reports there are several hundred goats swarming over the rocky preserve. A moderate amount of shooting each fall would » the animals within bounds, but visits of bers of the club are infrequent. OTLEGGERS ACTIVE IN BRITISH ad COLUMBIA _ Addison K. Lusk, Federal Prohibition Director - Montana, who made a survey of the system ‘Government control of the liquor traffic in tish Columbia, has incorpora his observa- in a report to the Federal Prohibition Com- sioner, in which he says: “There are practically as many bootleggers on rating in the cities of British Columbia as in the ies the same size in this country.” ecording to Mr. Lusk this condition is due to xport of liquor from British Columbia, on ich no duty is required, and its shipment back o the Province to be sold by bootleggers.. Where r is sold in the Province the tax is-120 per x told,” says Director Lusk, “that half e, be asd liquor a cag in British Columbia smuggled Back into the Province and sold h bootleggers.” the old ek Mr. Lusk says, Vancouver had nty-odd saloons, but now it has 105 so-called clubs.” He claims that “actually any ce alk into a club and secure all the beer h thout going through any formality what- ‘CANOEISTS PADDLE TO ‘NEW ORLEANS FAME AND FORTUNE “WEEKLY GOOD READING a4 *& — . a Ly > <_* b a of more than 1,500 miles down the I. i sissippi Rivers that no woman ever seocieees before. They camped on sandbars and islands and were paddling for seven weeks. Neither c ried Sag defensive weapons. B55 e were treated fine by everybody.” chanted. “We ran into many bodtleeness et we can say one thing for them, they were courte- ous and hospitable. One bootlegger at St. Louis painted our canoe for us and others we met on Bi pag Pace the river ne gave us provisions. - mped on an island near is” night, thinking it was deserted. In rane eae canoe broke its moorings. We walked along the island, tearfully. Our only means of trenaieireen tion was gone. We'sighted a tumbledown shack— and found it to be a bootlegger’s place. ; They suggested we were women detectives but they were polite, and volunteered to help us, but they sent a guard along, one man on either side of us and each carried a gun. They took us down the river until we located our canoe, then the frankly told us we had been in the hands of moet i that there were three stills on the is- “We did much of our paddlin i the dazzling glare of the sun” ee ee “Mystery Magazine” SEMI-MONTHLY 10 CENTS A COPY — LATEST 1IssuEs —— ie sonteeeasdl. z= basics by George Bron- = ge WOMAN FROM NOWHERE, by. Jack Bech- olt. 133 THE TIME DETECTIVE, by Frank Blighton THE WHISPERING-ROGM, b ONE CLUE MISSING, by Chas er Onesies awe 139 THE BRASS VOICE, by Jack Becko FOR SHAME. by Wm. Hamilton Osborne. by Hamilton Craigie, The Famous Detective Story Out Today in 142 Is BLOOD RUBIES By J. WERNER PHELPS — HARRY E. WOLFF, Publisher, dnc. = 166 Went 23d Street, New York Oity | “Moving Picture Stories” ai A Weekly Magazine Devoted to Photoplays and Players PRICE SEVEN CENTS PERCOPY

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> e —- a: ——- oe Pee 4 = he hee oe ey oe FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY INTERESTING RADIO NEWS AND HINTS RADIO POWER The action of the British Parliament in grant- ing to the Marconi Company a license to con- struct an inter-Empire system of high power radio stations is seen as the prelude to a fan- tastic battle in the air for the radio domination of Latin America. The grant to the Marconi Company comes as the end.of a long effort on the part of that enterprising organization to establish the sys- tem, against the opposition, indifference and de- lay of the British postal system. The belief was held in many quarters that the establishment of such imperial communications should be under the control of the postal service, which also oper- ates the land telephones in England. Inability to get things through the government, contrasted with the aggressive initiative of the Marconi Company, which submitted a detailed plan for a system to embrace the world, left Parliament finally-to turn to the private organization. - ' The Marconi system projects one or more la stations in England, one in Africa, one in the Caribbean, one in Australasia, one in India, one in Canada, with the requisite subordinate sta- Ub tions to assure a thorough ethereal blanket over 3 the surface of the far-flung British Empire. The Caribbean, West African and Australasian i stations form a vast triangle, enclosing South y America. The distance from New Zealand is ual to the distance from that coast, 23 about _ across th America and the Atlantic, to Western Africa. From Jamaica to the tip of South America is about equal to either of the other stretches. With the increase of radio efii- : ciency it is to be anticipated that all parts of pe South America, though far from the trunk sta- * tions, can readily be reached through the radio of the British Empire with its ramifications. Such are the possibilities of the British strategy. And the American layout? The American opposition is an assumption based on the American habit of leadership in the Western Hemisphere and the sweeping tide of American business in Latin America. The old : litical imperialism attributed to the United - $tates, and so feared and worked upon in Latin America, is gone. In its place is the deeper, safer and infinitely more certain. economic de- velopment that is running like a flush of new life through all of Latin America. This new tide of life is pushed forward by the impetus _ of expanding American capital. In the place of an aloof and resented political domination we have an active and cheerfully received business co-operation. Every month the participation of the United States in the life of Central and South America increases, and with every month the im ptible ties that bind the countries to- Sey in common interest become stronger. “munication are axiomatic. The United States must inevitably intensify its cable and radio con- . the countries to the south = In such a situation, expanding means of com-. As it moves forward to do so—as the Radio Corporation of America may be expected to do on the part of the United States—it will find the field occupied in part by the British. Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean area are now well within the dominance of Amer- ican radio. They can hear the stations of Ger- many and Britain and France, but the mass of their daily contacts is with the stations of the United antes within the United States proper or established by her interests within the area. _To the south of Panama there is nothing. The high power station of Darien in the Panama Canal Zone, operated by the Navy Department primarily for government uses, stands like a stronghold confronting the top of the continent of South America. It can send as far south as Valparaiso. But sending alone, even if Darien were operated commercially, is an utterly non- productive process unless there be some station to receive. And in South America, A i interests have not established the ntationa ‘Sarees ceive and distribute, or to send back the thou- sand daily messages that arise in the life of trade. The subtle radio of common sense will tell you that the Marconi Company, ente Tising. aggressive, thorough, is not going to neglect the full establishment of all corollary stations and connections ‘involved in its plan of world-wide radio. They will be there, like the Western Tele- graph Company (also British), before them. HYPNOTISM BY RADIO Long-distance hypnotism by radio was demon--_ | strated recently with apparent succes offices of Science and Invention, 53 Park Place when Joseph Dumninger, hypnotist and mind- reader, speaking into the microphone at Station ee ee L. threw the s ie B. Duncan, into a motic state i Place office ten miles eld 0 i ee ee At about 10:30 o’clock the voice of Dunninger was heard from the large horn of the receiving apparatus. Duncan, a pale, slender. youth of 20, stood directly in front of the horn, with his eyes fixed intently upon it. After a short silence, broken only by the hum of the instrument, the ubject, Lees- : S voice suddenly came again, speaking sharp, stac- _ cato commands: “Duncan,” it said, “I am s zs ing only to you. Look directly into the tec You see my eyes, looking into yours. You see me, here before you. I forbid you to move, to look away. Your eyes are tired, your eyelids drooping. You will remain standing; your arms at your side, your body rigid.” A few seconds after the metallic sound of the hypnotist’s voice was heard the eyes of the sub- _ ject became fixed in a glassy stare. As the voice youth gradually continued its commands the threw back his head until he appeared to be star- ing at the ceiling with unseeing eyes, through His body, however, was not _ rigid, although he stood motion-less, his arms half-closed eyelids. pressed to his sides. : The hypnotist was informed over a private wire” : 1 = ms os = 4

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FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY 25 bject’s condition, and presently the voice the rotor of your vario-coupler until you get the heard again, giving a sharp command to signals clear and distinct without interference Mean to “wake up.” ‘The head eame forward, from other stations. I should have said at the eyelids fluttered, and in a moment or two beginning that in the event of your having the he boy regained consciousness, though dazed and variable condenser in the aerial circuit it is _ Wembling. necessary to start off with that condenser set _ The experiment 'was repeated after a few at least one-half of its full capacity. You Minutes’ interval, and this time a complete state find that the variation in this condenser adjust- eataleptic rigidity was obtained. The body ment will necessitate the readjustment of the the subject was across the back of two primary of the vario-coupler. When you have airs, where it lay extended like a log. It did got your oscillating circuits completely adjusted even bend undét the burden of a 170-pound to your satisfaction adjust the plate variometer nan, who for a moment rested his entire weight until you get maximum regeneration. This means bss the slender body. This time, too, the sub- the loudest strength of seta consistent with _ Jeet was awakened without difficulty. clear reproduction. _~ For a third time fe subject we sion inte a hypnotic trance. attendant, hastily s iz- _ ing a small spot of the lower arm, thrust through RADIO FREQUENCY INDICATOR ‘the lifted skin a large needle, withdrawing it One of the resolutions adopted by the Second a few seconds.. There was no sign of Radio Conference, held in Washington, stated “Of the needle were plainly visible. Once more with an indicating instrument for the purpose of ‘the subject was awakened, a little shaken, as maintaining the operating wave frequency within _ before, but in no apparent pain. two kilocycles of the assigned wave frequency. — The Bureau of Standards has designed a radio I freqnency indicator to meet the need. Specifica- AMPLIFIERS . tions for its construction may be secured by any _ Liberal spacing should be allowed between the broadcasting station upon request. The instru- Parts of a radio set. There should be at least ment consists of a seventy-two turn space-wound ‘OMe and a half inches between tubes and am- coil on a 3%-inch tube, a variable condenser and lifying transformers. This will leave about a a sensitive thermogalvanometer. The entire ele- : aration between the tubes, centre to ments are connected in series. The condenser centre. ‘All wires should be as short and direct is provided with a locking device, so that it may possible, especially those <n to the grids be locked or soldered in position after the in- d to the plates. The return leads in the grid strument is adjusted to indicate the required fre- Circuit of each amplifier tube should run from quency. may be set to indicate the redio fre- the transformer secondary to the negative ter- quency if range from 222 meters to 545 meters. minal of the “A” battery. This method of con-, If indicators are constructed by the broadcasting ion places a negative in the resistance of stations according to the Bureau of Standards : ® rheostat. This permits the use of higher specifications and are sent to the Bureau’s radio Plate voltages, which results in better amplifica- laboratory they will be adjusted at a naminal fee, tion wathout the use of “C” batteries. to operate at the frequency of the station. Connecting the cores of the audio amplifying Patnat of tks, <A" batters, will, help ta terminal of the “A” battery wi p Minimize howls and increase signal strength. The TUBE PRODUCTION €ffectiveness of this scheme depends upon the _ Plans for meeting the demands for vacuum type of transformers. The circuit generally ‘tubes were revealed by General J. G. Harbord tives more satisfactory results if the first am- President of the Radio Corporation of America, ‘Plifying transformer has a higher ratio than that jn a letter made public recently by the National of the second amplifying aera ‘ a — can Radio Chamber of Commerce. t used i e audio ampiiner cir . ¢ con be used alone or the detector and tien eee Mee ee padte, Corpora- stage. It is not a good plan to employ jacks consisting of 200,000 of the Pe cell ae = a radio frequency circuit. 200,000 to be used with storage batteries. Ap Pepamiaiats psd peg tubes were placed on e market during ril and the first week TUNING A REGENERATOR May. General eae asserted that pe aes j and bad way to tune a set increases of production will depend to a large nsisting of a vario-coupler, two variometers extent upon the rate at which these tubes are @nd a 43-plate variable condenser. If you use absorbed. The Radio Corporation has adopted ‘@ variable condenser in this circuit it should a vacuum tube production scheduled for a period be placed in series with the ground lead. In of six months, beginning May 1, which con- der to tune the set the secondary of the vario- templates delivery to the corporation of no less ler should be in its maximum inductive posi- than 2,000,000 vacuum tubes of the storage bat- u Now carefully tune the primary of this tery and dry battery types. Should sales of ‘Coupler until you hear the signals of the station tubes during the coming months indicate that you desire. It is next necessary to tune the the above figures are too low, General Harbord | variometer. This instrument is very sharp explained, the Radio Corporation is prepared to ‘the slightest variation will bring in or throw increase its production to supply all detuends of the station you wish to hear. Next adjust the market. ‘ Wi . - ~ 4 i Zz: er - - flinching, no trace of blood, though the marks that all broadcasting stations should be equipped -

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en _ ‘FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKL = NEW YORK, OCTOBER 12, 1923 : = TERMS TO SUBSCRIBERS Gingle Copies.:............... Postage Free 7 Cents Gne Copy Three Months..... bs % 90 Cents One Copy Six Months........ Cs bg $1.75 One Copy One Year.......... hed ¢ 3.50 Canada, $4.00; Foreign, $4.50. HOW TO SEND MONEY — At our risk send P. O. ~ Money Order, Check or Registered Letter; remittances ’ any other way are at your risk, We accept Postage Se - tamps the same as cash. When sending silver wrap wis 4he Coin in a separate piece of paper to avoid cutting —e envelope. Write your name and address plainly. dress letters to Marry E. Wolff, Pres. : Charles E. Nyinader, 8 Publisher, Inc., L. F. Wilzin, Treas. 166 W. 28d St., N. Y. eee ITEMS OF INTEREST CHASED BY QUEER SNAKE ' A monster snake, strange to that part of the world, chased Elmer Gorsuch, truck farmer, from watermelon field, near Concordia, Kan., he as- serted.. Chased him out not only once but twice and meted out the same treatment to the two -Gorsuch boys. As Mr. Gorsuch entered the field the snake | struck at him without warning. He dodged and , the snake went after him until he left the field. / Whe reptile is: described as being five to six feet j g, body as thick as a large.man’s arm, head ' shaped like that of a cobra, and Mr. Gorsuch as- : bo pa E. WOLFF, ec. ae | perts it has plenty of speed, too.. To date, the as snake has not been captured or killed. There som are no volunteers for the job. Ee a ; Fa LAKE OF LIVING FIRE AGAIN IS 3 SUBSIDING Kilauea’s Lake of Living Fire has again _ drained out as a result of subterranean disturb- ances, the surface of the liquid lava having dropped 600 feet below the rim, according to a radio message just received by the Department of Interior from Superintendent Boles of Hawaii National Park. The east end of this park area ‘also has been broken up badly by earthquakes, the cracks emitting gas clouds and fiames and lava. In May, 1922, as a result of similar disturb- ances, the Lake of Living Fire disappeared, but in September of the same year the surface of the __ Jake had risen to within 150 feet of the rim. The _. Maost remarkable recovery was on May 12, when the surface of the lake rose 80 feet in one day, - making a total volume of molten lava poured out by the scores of fountains of over 2,000,000 cubic 3 pe for the twenty-four hours. The area of the ~ lake on that day was over forty-five acres, or nearly eighteen city blocks. _ BIRDS HAVE OWN HEAVEN | , * : - FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY ~ going to hele it all.” is theirs to live on without the danger of hunters. They pay no rent. Edward Every Mcllhenny, a noted conserva- tionist, of Every Islands, La., has just purchased 135,000 acres of land, 10,000 acres of which is to constitute a public shooting ground under State control. The remainder is to be dedicated,to the conservation of bird life. This is Mr. McIlhenny’s second great contribu- tion to game life in Southern Louisiana. Twenty years ago he set aside a tract of land to become a “bird city” for snowy herons. He stocked it with eight birds. To-day there are something over 100,000 snowy herons in Louisiana. The “bird heaven” is the largest piece of land devoted to that purpose by a private individual in the country. It is more widely known — the birds than among humans. The north an south flights are nearly always via southern Louisiana, and thousands of birds stop off to visit — or to make their homes there. rey wa a tae ey te hae Se a ee ae ee ee LAUGHS Jack—I want to marry my opposite. Maud— I don’t know of any girl bright enough to suit you, Foreman of Torrent Engine Company of Po- . dunk (gazing at the smoking ruins, but speaking — cheerfully)—Well, boys, we saved the engine. Mamma—lIkey, vat you vant for yer birt’day? Ikey after a pause)—-A box of matches. Papa (proudly)—Such a peesness man he’ll make. : “My husband considered a very long time be- fore he proposed to me. He was very careful.” “Ah, it’s always those careful people who get taken in!” , Tom—Why didn’t you go back to college? Dick — —Deficient in mathematics. Tom—How did that sopeees Dick—I calculated that I could kick the © ball clean over the goal, and I didn’t reach it by | twenty feet. Xe. “Who gave the bride away?” asked Mrs. Evens of her daughter, who had just returned from the — wedding. “Her little brother,” replied the daugh- — ter; “he stood up in the middle of the ceremony poe yeree ‘Hurrah, Blanche, you’ve got him at ast >” - =< Hiram—Haw! haw! haw! I skinned one of — them city fellers that put the lightning-rods on my house. Silas—Ye did? How did you do it? — Hiram—Why, when I made out the check to pay — him, I just signed my name without specifying the amount. I'll bet there will be somebody pretty mad when he goes to cash it. ae Dr. Arnold was paying a visit to one of atients—a young mother. ‘You must let 1 by have one cow’s milk to drink every d Mrs. Burrell,” he said. “Very well, doctor; if y say so, of course I will,” replied the perp young woman, “but I really don’t see how h F :

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3 \ 4 FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY INTERESTING NEWS ARTICLES GOLD DISCOVERED IN FIJI ISLANDS __ Gold has been discovered in Fiji, according to Private advices received in Hilo, Hawaii. No an- _Rouncement of the discovery has been made in _ print heretofore, because of Government restric- _ tions, but the news has leaked out from authori- tative sources and is fully credited by well in- formed persons. _._A rich gold-bearing lode is said to have been discovered near Savu-savu Bay on the island of Vanua Levu, the second in size of the Fiji “group. Traces of gold have beén found in the z oem tn several Fiji localities, but have been con- = hitherto to small pockets and were unre- _ Mmunerative. ’ _ The reticence of the Fiji Government in mat- ters of this nature is well known. It takes the _ Position that premature publicity would attract _ 4 rush of goldseekers, fill up the islands and, _ When the boom subsided, leave an indigent popu- lation to constitute a new problem for the au- thorities. ee GET HEBRIDES ISLAND _ The gift of an island to its inhabitants is rather _ Bnusyal, but such a gift has just been made of a large part of the island of Lewis,one of the outer Hebrides, by Lord Leverhulme, the soap maker. Lord Leverhulme purclfased the island some ago, planning to organize fisheries and other ‘industries there. The project failed chiefly be- €ause the islanders pc tage to becoming em- we of a company. They preferred to fish and Tun their small farms as their own masters. i The most valuable feature of the island is the _ #€mous Stornoway Castle and its supporting es- _ tate. The islanders who number about 4,000 xi ¢ been rather undecided about accepting Lord erhulme’s present, sonie fearing the Castle ald become a white elephant on their hands. * Was even talked of asking the lord to submit to them a report of his revenues — the expend- , itures of the property in the last ‘few years. Now, however, the Stonoway Town Council has ted to accept the Castle, and doubtless the whole will be ratified by the island Government. POSED AS MAN 40 YEARS | officials have discovered that a woman for forty years at Lynxville, Wis., pos- @saman. The deception was disclosed when dst-mortem examination was made here on the ly Taylor took when not working at the Mississippi River ‘S or on farms. to trace the life of the woman have met = suecess, although old inhabitants of the call that half a century ago a girl in a . distant village, who claimed she had ben misled by a stranger, went away to be marriea. The authorities believe that friendship of an older girl for her younger friend prompted the marriage, though no record of it has been found. Taylor was 65, and Nellie 55. Nellie worked as a scrubwoman in the village hotel until Taylor’s death, when she*disappeared and has not been seen or heard of since. PLAN TO GET HEAT FROM GEYSERS In Iceland, where one would suppose that coal was about the most essential of commodities, it has just been announced that the Icelanders are about to do abe with that fallacious heating me- dium entirely. The authorities in Reykjavik, the capital, are considering utilizing the natural hot springs and geysers there for heating the whole country. The famous geysers are situated about a mile from the city and have long been used by Reyk- javik housewives as a free laundry and hot water supply. — According to the preliminary plans which have been prepared, the waters from the springs will be brought into the city through wooden pipes and piped into the buildings. The water from the geysers and springs are both sulphurous and radio-active and it is the hope of the city fathers that some future time may see the establishment of a medical Spa in the Arctic. ; The wash houses which now surround the gey- sers are used by the inhabitants as baths and laundries and are entirely heated by the hot waters, DISEASE SOMETIMES YIELDS FORTUNE It has been said that what is one man’s poison is another’s food. So it would seem in the case of the oyster and its pearl. It has been discovered that the formation of pearls in oyster shells is not as has been supposced, due to an irritant, but to a peculiar disease which attacks the shells. This disease is thought to be a form of rheuma- tism which has its origin in an excess of uric acid in the oyster. Experiments have:shown, it is said, that the theory that pearls form around a grain of sand or similar foreign body is not based om fact. A pearl expert has Peep out that thousands of grains of sand find their way into the outer open- ing of the shell with receding tides, and that they are washed out again when the tide turns. An- other point of evidence lies in the fact that the glands which secrete the pearl-forming substance are found where no foreign body could pene- trate. ° Interesting in this connection are the . caiteral ments of Japanese scientists in producing pearls. Their was to ce into the shell of the oyster a nucleus of around which the forming substance in the $-. -

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ALASKA CLACIERS RAPIDLY DISINTEGRATING ; Alaska’s eoast glaciers are disintegrating rap- idly, according to marines navigating the inland waters of the territory. Some of the glacier bays are filled with huge icebergs which are daily slip- ing from the' precipitous icy bluffs. These ice- rgs, many of them larger-than ‘the ‘biggest steamship, drift out into close proximity to regu- lar lanes of steamship traffic. What has caused . so rapid a breaking up of the glacier faces is a mystery. Earthquakes may have caused a tum- ble of loose ice and a sudden increase in mo- mentum of the ice river would also shake off chunks. i GOLD ORE WAS IN BOX r Speculation was rife when a 3800-pound box, covered with Chinese symbols, was received at the chemical laboratory of Lehigh University, Beth- lehem, Pa., and, when opened, was found to con- tain sand. Only the fact that all charges were prepaid dispelled the conviction that the labora- tery was the victim of a practical joke. The mystery was solved when a Chinese student happened by and, translating the writing, ex- -. plained that the “sand” was gold ore, sent from China by a former student for use in the course in assaying, which is conducted at Lehigh every “summer. Samples of the ore were distributed at once, and in a few hours the value of the ore was ‘ascertained. - ONE BUSH DOES $10,000 DAMAGE According to the Scientific American, a special study to determine the extent of infection and _ loss from a single bush was made by one of the State leaders ‘of barberry eradication. The out- break of stem rust which started from a known bush travelled in one direction, at least, for about five miles. The total wheat area affected on eighteen different farms was 963 acres. The average yield for that year was only 37 per cent. of what it would have been without the black stem rust, or a total loss in yield of 12,520 bush- els. Ata dollar a bushel the combined money loss from this single bush in this one direction was’ 12,520, or an average loss to each farmer of- 96 worth of wheat. A barberry bush with $10,- ‘000 potential damage possibility can be destroyed with ten pounds of salt or an hour’s work with | @ grub hoe. CAVE MAN RELIC DISCOVERED IN Pas MISSOURI ‘The first actual trace ever found in Missouri _ and perhaps in the United States of the original ~ “cave man”—the human being who precedéd the American Indian and the mound-builders by of the _ FAME* AND FORTUNE WEEKLY ' HERE AND THERE dent} which might pass unobserved under the eyes of the uninitiated. But to anthropologists who are seeking evidences of an early race the flint tells a story of a primitive man,who lived in America thousands of years ago and left almost no traces behind him. y _ The relic was found in a stratum some distance beneath the floor of the cave. The position in which it was found is regarded as indicating ex- treme age because of the fact that the topmost stratum above it is formed of ashes and debris undoubtedly left by very early Indians. In this stratum Fowke found remains of an Indian race of much lower physical type than any now known. The “cave-man” relic was found below this in a stratum made up of debris from the face of the cliff which, Fowke says, probably is the accumu-— lation of thousands of years: aS The relic is a cone of chert slightly more than _ an inch high. The flakes of chert have been chipped off around the outside of the cone and, — according to experts, the chipping was done by — humans. The cave man who owned it may have lived in the cave itself or dwelt on the bluff above. — The cone is the remains of a large piece of flint — after the primitive workman had chipped off — flakes from a piece of flint rock for use as knives” and arrowheads. Such cones are common to early - Indian remains, but have not been found at depths — and in deposits antedating the coming of the In- _ dians and their immediate predecessors. ae q The fact that the entrance of the cave and the face of the bluff had once been far out was — proved by a pile of debris from the original roof, — which had fallen to the floor of the cave so ago that it was almost as hard as the solid é from five to eight — feet deep, debris which had been falling through — centuries from the roof of the cave. There were no human remains in this layer, which was so- hard that it was necessary to yse dynamite to sae n it. : a n top of this hard layer was the debris in — which a number of human remains were fick This layer was made up of ashes from the fires of.its later inhabitants, but some of these eyi- dently going back to prehistoric times. ee ee The long period of ‘iuman occupanc repre- — sented by this top layer may be ju y what he had found in other caves in the region. A © vast amount of ashes was removed in the ex: tien of the top layer and it is estimated that. least 1,000 years of continuous occupancy wou have been ~~ to accumulate this rubbis ' There had three burials in the Stratm Cave. Fragments of the skeletons of an infan child of 7 or 8 years, and of a boy of 16 or or a woman, were found in the upper layer. Evi- the cave had been inhabited after these evidence di i burials. The bones were badly broken, bu advent of the so-called aboriginal ashes had preserved the fragments, and 1 only a small of chert or flint of the same pri type found in ot

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Wurlitzer P e easiest to | play and unusual for }} Tich tone values, Blows and fingers so |f| easily that playingis | as simple as whist- | ling a tune. pitch, and clear even tones in both soft and loud playi Valve pistons individually ground to insure smooth, easy action and absence, of leak- . Onice*‘lipping” lection of Old Violins is interna- tionally famous. Wurlitzer modern violins are made by experts, and gtcura- tely patterned after Stradivarius. Guar- nerius, and other famous models. We especially urge young People to take up the violin, play simple band music. cAny Musical Instrument will send you anyinstrument for a week's trial in your own home. No obligation to buy — no expense for the trial — you do not risk a penny. Wur- litzer instruments are known the world over for artistic quality and excellence of workmanship. Used by the greatest musicians, bands, and orchestras. The house of Wurlitzer has made the finest musical instruments for over 200 years. Easy Payments P. are conveniently arranged in smal] monthly sums —a few cents a day will pay. All instruments to you at lowest factory er Special Goosbinacions offers on complete musical outfits— velvet lined case, all accessories, self-instructor, etc.—everything you need at practically the cost of the instrument alone. Send New Illustrated Catalog! The test musical catalog ever published! Over 3,000 articles — e cavers testcase described and illustrated—many of them shown in full colors, No matter where you live, you can buy Wurlitzer instruments direct by mail the same as at any of the 27 Wurlitzer stores. Send the coupon today! : Wurlitzer banjos guitars, mandolins, ukeleles,etc. are made with particular atten- tion to close fit at all joints, to give true vi- Setion and full reso- nance. Stringed in- | The Rudolph Wurlitzer Co., Dept. 2547 | 117 E. 4th St., Cineinnati —329 Se. Wabash Ave., Chicage 120W. 42ndSt., New York —250 Stockton St., San Francisco Send me your new catalog with illustrations in color and full description of every. known musical instrument. Also tell me how I may have any instrument for free trial in my own home, and may pay for it in easy in: No obligation. Name ------~-~-~--~—----------- Tone remarkable for sonority and clearness, absolutely pure in all registers. Slides are drawn to a great hardness ahd perfect line, insuring easy action and perfect intonation. State instrument in which you are conect=liv interested)

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a lee eta 3 eee “We pay him $100 a week” ND he’s worth every cent of it. Came here several years ago asking for a job. He got just that—a small job at a small salary. “Then I forgot about him—hardly knew he was on the payroll until one day I got a letter from the International Correspondence Schools telling me that Thomas A. Andrews had en- rolled for a course and had received a mark of 98 for his first lesson. “*There’s a man worth watching,’ I said to myself, so I began to keep tabs on his work. Pretty soon he began coming to me with suggestions. I could almost see him growing. “Somehow, he was the first man I thought of whenever there was a position open. And he always made good because he was always preparing himself for'the job ahead. We pay him $100 a week now and he’s going to be earning even a larger salary some day. I ‘wish we had more men like him.” Hew do you stand when your employer checks up his men for promotion? Does he think of you? Is there really any reason why you should be selected? Ask yourtslf these questions fairly. You must face them {f you expect advancement and more money. Fot now, more than ever, the big jobs are going to men with speial, training. > { vaipas ; rome ae meh . @dk eT-B mpesie There is an easy, fascinating way for you to get . this special training right at home in spare time. One hour a day, spent with the I. C, S. im the quiet of your own home, will bring you more money, more comforts, more pleasure, all that suc- cess means, Don’t let another priceless hour of spare time go to waste! Without cost or obligation, let us prove that we can help you. Mark and mail this coupon now, o_——— — — — TEAR OUT HERE — — — — — — = INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS Box 4493-8, Scranton, Penna. Without cost or obligation, please tell me how I can for the position or im the subject tcfore which I have marked an X: BUSINESS TRAINING COURSES eB gn etomcel To trial Managem: | Seige Orga: tion Bina 3 ony (including c CP.A.) Ricbelvon ooh Accounting Private been Business Spant: O French Tllustratin TECHNICAL AND INDUSTRIAL COURSES Arebitect Street 3-27-23 AGGrOSS........---21rsensnssnnrs sevens rset connsecerecnenenunareanrrenmscsssamenrenns syne neeeeseeeegGmt ase saneensnentnseenyy svvars sneves onee+s DEREC ss scepsnnensesnenrnenmensennnesenenes ceeneetl Occupation. = ‘sone residing in ap errr nae coupon te the Interne= Honal Coree pondenos Schools Canadian, Limited, Montreal, Canada, nTime

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PALESTINE CENSUS A recent cen- Sus of Palestine shows that 10 per cent. of the popu- lation is Chris- tian. The total Population, 757,- 82 approximate- 8: equals that of oston. Seventy- five per cent. is Mahometanh and 11 per cent. Jews. Jerusalem and Tiberius have More Jews than Other cities. In the former, out of 62,000, 34,000 are Hebrews. Naza- reth has 7,424 in- habitants, nearly two-thirds of Whom are Chris- tians, and in Bethlehem Chris- tians predomi- care, there being 5,830, ith only 818 of Jews and home€tans. The principal Seaport, Jaffa, has about 47,000 eeeple, of whom there are 20,000 €ach of Jews and ometans and about 7,000 Chris- tians. The other Tge centers of Population are Very largely Ma- hometan The Palestine oes ie country has Ported a pop- Sel of 7 600, » Which is leg- €nd and not fact. €n one con- Siders that — the ee of Palestine S about equal to t of Vermont @nd that it has SDout an equal amount of arable » one ques- ions Seriously Whether, with the wighest ” develop- t of her nat- Ural resources, it ossible for Pal AP ever lan Everybo- dy delighted with it. Odd, Lots os WEIRD. “| MUSTO Q OTF IT ORIGINAL wefrd Mysto Talisman Ring— sickness, Spells, otc., jecess to carer ia | aes te plan F ae on arrival $1.97 Plus Postage. MYSTO CO., Dept. 801 103 E, 125th St., N. ¥. C. By Note or Ear. With or without music. Short Course. Adult beginners taught by mail. No teacher required. Self-Instruction Course for Advanced Pianists. Learn 67 styles of Bass, 180 Syncopated Effects, Blue Harmony, Oriental, Chime, Movie and Cafe Jazz, Trick Endings, Clever Breaks, Space | Fillers, Sax Slurs, Triple Bass, Wicked Har- mony, Blue ea abet and 247 other Subjects, including Bar Playing. 110 pages of REAL Jazz, ,000 words. A Postal brings our FRED Special Offer, Waterman Piano School 281 Superba Theatre a * Jes os Anaclen: ost: ieee id Wren state which pee ag ve it Wate —- SIDNEY, O- Address W. K. STERLINE, " oes service- strongly FREE Fine, handsome, Football, tion for sellin Sa bag mts a Fag e W = OLUMBIA NOVELTY CO. Dept. oa East Boston, Mass. _ ‘ackages ostcards at 10 HEAD THIS WONDER RADIO SET with double head pines ready to hook up FREE in special metal ca phones, Aa ia ‘} TE TY LISTEN a >. ete, t to-day for wonderful FRED RADIO PLAN: TEE SALES CO. | Classes. t Lome. conte 10F partionims aod GEORGE W. SMITH Room M-764, 125 N. Jeff Ave., NV Guaranteed Time Keep- eer. Given for selling only = 30 cards of Dress Snap-Fas- teners at 10c per card. Basily Sold. EARN BIG MONBY OR PREMIUMS. Order your cards TO-DAY. Send no money. wy “ trust you till goods are sold. \ MERICAN SPECIALTY Zar: Box i27 2 Lancas' Pa. Comics, Cartoons, Commercial, Newspaper and Magazine Sevag Pastel Crayon Portraits and Fashions y Mail or Local Easy method. Write for terms and List of successful students. ASSOCIATED ART STUDIOS ____A-92 Flatiron Building, New York LUCKY EGYPTIAN KARA CIAMOGN Rinc * = , ‘ wesk: Becrets nontens Money back not sstisfied. co. GOITR ‘a Ihave an hones’ vac a for goitre fg, — 1t_checks the growth at once, foaueha the enlarge. ment, sto painand distress and re- iieves inalitile while. Pa Tellyour friends about fale. Walt Write meatonce. DR. RO ck. ‘Geat. 96: Sen 751, Maan, Hae 96 Box737, Milwaukee, TOBACCO Habit Cured or No Pay Any form, cigers,ci; ttes, pipe, chewing or snuff Guaranteed. Harm mplete treatment sen& SUPINE U8" WAT. babies St Boysand Girls E Xma M Write for 50 sets arn S$ oney AMERICAN CHRISTMAS SEALS. Sell for oy? 3 set. When sold, send us $3.00 and keep | B. Neubecker, 961 E. 23d St., Brooklya, N. ¥. “UNDER GROWND TREASURE S- DW a here to Fi hem f. Medel Publishine HER. 21 preva Buliding. tor 2 coate CRieene MW. Jackson Boul. Dept. 3, Chlcage, |

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4 4 Tsou eannot procure a copy, send us the pri Fame and Fortune Weekly — LATEST rssvEsS — Wall Street Secrets. 901 In the Film Game; or, The Boy Who Made Moving Pictures. 002 A Smart New York Boy; or, From the Tenements to Wall Street. 903 Mark Milton’s Mine; or, A Schoolboy’s Inheritance, 004 The Young Banker; or, ‘he Mystery of a Money Sox. 905 — —- Chart; or, The Golden Treasure of the ‘rater. 906 The Boy Rebind the Deals; or, The Luck of a Wall Street Broker. 007 Thrown on the World; or, Starting Business with a Dollar. 908 A > ao ror at 16; or, The Lad Who Worked His ns. #0) Tom! the Steeplejack; or, Winning a Living by Nerve. 910 Saving a Million; or, Ben and the Wall Street Brokers. 911 Down and Out: or, A Hard Boy to Beat. 812 The Boy Banker’s Double; or, A Strange Wall St. Mystery. 913 The Young Beach Comber; or, A Fortune in the Sand. 914 The Tittle Boss; or, After the Wall St. Money Kings. 915 $250,000 in Gold; or, Hunting a Hindoo Treasure. $16 A Corner in Money; or, Beating the Wall St. Loan Sharks. 917 eS Alone; or, The Boy Who Made His Own ‘ nck. 918 Little Dan Tucker; or, Making Big Money in Wall Street. 919 Fighting for Business: or, pee: a Bad Start. $20 A’ Boy Money-Maker: or, In Wall St. on His Nerve. 921 Buried Gold; or, The Treasure of the Old Buc- caneers. 3 ittifie It Rich; or, The Uncktest Firm in Wall St. am the Salesman; 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. 926 Facing the Mexicans; or, The Secret of the Aztec’s Gold. 927 Fighting for Fame; or, The Luck of a Young Con- t or. ractor. 928 weg a Lost Treasure; or, The Nerve of a Young xplorer. 929 Matt the Mechanic; or, The Boy Who Made His Pile. 930 ae the Ice Peaks; or, The Voyage That Made the : Money. 931 The Little Castaways: or, The Fortune That a Wreck Brought. 082 Takine Big Chances; or, The Boy Who Saved a Town 933 Alwavs Lucky; or, Winning on His Merits. 984 Ont for a Commer; or, A Smart.Chicago Boy. 935 The Winning Trick; or, How a Boy Made His Mark, 9236 The Young Editor; or, Running a Country News- paper. ; 937 A Big Stroke; or, The Lad Who Made a Record. 938 In the Copper Fields; or, The Mine That Made the Money. 939 From a Cent to Fortune; or, A Chicago Boy's Great Scoop. 940 A Start in Life; or, A Poor Boy’s Rise to Fame. For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any ad- dress on receipt ¢? price, Tc. per copy, In money or pos- tage stamps, by HARRY E. WOLFF, Publisher, Inc., 166 West 28d Street, New York City HOW TO SCENARIOS HOW TO Pries 85 Cents Per Copy This book contains all the most recent changes in the method of construction and submission of scenarios. \ Sixty Lessons, covering every phase of scenario writ- For sale by all Newsdealers and Bookstores. cents, in money or postage stamps, and we wi mail you one, postage free. Address _L, BENABENS, 319 Seventh Ave, New York, N. ¥. 166 West 23d Street OUR TEN-CENT HAND BOOKS Useful, Instructive .and Amusing. They Contain Valuable Information on Almost Every Subject. No. 1. NAPOLEON'S ORACULUM AND DREAM BOOK.—Containing the great oracle of human destiny; also the true meaning of almost any kind of dreams. pon eg with charms, ceremonies and curious games of ards, No. 2. HOW TO DO TRICKS.—The reat b magic and card tricks, containing full inetructions = all leading card tricks of the day, also the most pop- ular magical illusions as performed by our ieading ma- gicians; every boy should obtain a copy of this book. No. 8. HOW TO FLIRT.— The arts flirtation are fully explained by this little ‘books * sides the various methods of handkerchief, fan, glove. ——- window and hat filrtation, it contains a full ist of the language and sentiment of flowers. No. 5, HOW TO MAKE LOVE—A com to love, courtship and marriage, giving sonable sien rules and etiquette to be observed, with many curious and interesting things not generally known, : No. 7. HOW TO KEEP BIRDS.—Hand a a var cn Fug instructions for the mane ment and training e canary, mocking’ link. blackbird, paroquet, parrot, pic. —— 5 o. 9. HOW TO BECOME A VENTRILO Sen By Harry Kennedy. The secret given away. peat telligent bey reading this book of instructions, b . practical Pane gr can master the art, and create 4 -, amount of fun for himself and friends. It is the rf at ee eyer i083. 44 and there’s millions (of fun) No. 10. HOW TO BOX.—The art of self-def easy Containing over thirty illustrations of sane blows and the different positions of a £ bo ator por os sie ae -B one = these oe Gat structive hooks, as it will teac — = an instructor. 5 ye eee E with- . Yo. 11. HOW TO WRITE LOVE-LETTERS.— Panag ore wegen eo | eee full Strections en pear ng love-letters, and when to use them, 3 letters for voune and old. : em, stving specimes No. 18. HOW TO DO IT; Or, BOOK OF ET —It is a great life secret, and one that prt man desires to know about. There’s happiness Artem 3 bs nook for matlba'a ods’ ofan, ieee bande o ‘or making nds of candy, ice- 4 essences, etc. iy eS No. 18. 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No. 41. THE BOYS OF NEW YORK END MEN'S JOKE BOOK. — Containing a great variety of the latest Jokes used by the most famous end men. No amatenr minstrels is complete without this wonderful Httle book. For sale by all newsdealers or will be sent to any address on receipt of price, 10 cents per ¢opy in money or postage stamps, by + 56 HARRY E. WOLBF, Publisher, Ine, et New 7 oom ——— dete =~ re od or note: ws

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