Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-05-22

be $3.50 to each man. But" said Steptoe in
lower. but perfectly distinct voice. eff
there should be rowland they begin it
and in the scuffesTom Marshall, their only
witness. should happen TO get in the way Of
revolver OF havp his head caved in. there
any of the mine s$ainst honest, hard-work-
ing miners III posAession. You hear me?"
There was Hfeathless silence for the
in their chairs. But never in fear or pro-
test Every one tad heard the speaker dis
tinctIy. andg every man distinctly under
stood him. Some of them were criminals.
one or TWO had already the stain OF blood
on their hands, but even the most timid,
who at other times might have shrunk
from suggested assassination, saw in the
| speakers words only the fair removal of
natural enemy.
"All right. boys I'm ready to wade in at
once. why amt we on the road now? We
might have been but fer foolin' our time
away on that man Van Loo"
van Loo! repeated Hall, eagerly. Van
Loo! Was he here?'
Yes" said Steptoe, shortly. administer
ing Kick under the table to Hall, he
rad no wish to revive the previous irrita
bilfty of his comrades. Hes gone, but"
| turning. to the others. you'd have had to
| wait for Mr.. Halls arrival, anyhow. And
now you've got your order you can start.
| 10 in two parties by different roads and
| meet on the other side Of the hotel at Hy-
mettIs; I'll be there before you. Pick up
your shoVeis and drills as you go; remcm-
Der. you're honest miners, D.It don't forget
your shootin irons for all that. Now
scatter"
room more cheerfully and sympathetically
than they had entered it, or Halls manifest
disturbance over Van Loo's visit would
have been noticed When the last man had
disappeared Hall turned quietly to Steptoe
Well. what did he say? Where has he
gomez
Don't know" said Steptoe with uneasy
curtness. He was running away with a
woman-well Mrs. Barker. if you want to
know" he added with rising anger. the
wife of one of those cussed partners. Jack
Hamlin was here, and was jockeyng to
stop him, and interfered.~ But what the
devil has that job to do with our job?" He
was losing his temper: everything seemed
to . turn upon this Internal Van Loo:
He wasn't running away with Mrs. Bar
ker. gasped Hail. 1T was with her
money! and the fear of being connected
with the wheat trust swindle. which he or
gained. and with our money. which 1
lent him for the same purpose. And he
knows all about that job. for 1 wanted to
get him to go into ii with us. Your name
and mine amt any too sweet smelling for
the bank. and we ought to have a middle
man who knows business to arrange with
them. The banlp dar'nt object to him. for
they've employed him in even shadier
transactions than this when they didn't
wish to appear. l knew he was in difficult
ties along with Mrs. Barker's speculations
tut never thought him up to this. And.
he added. with sudden desperation, you
trusted him. too
In an instant Steptoe caught the fright
ened man by the shoulders and was bear
ing him down the table. Are you a
traitor. liar. or a besotted fool?' he said.
hoarsely. Speak. When and where did l
trust nim?"
You said in your. MOTEL was-to-help
him., gasped Hail.
My note?" repeated Steptoe, releasing
Hail. with astonshed eyes
Yes said Hall, tren biingiy searching
in his vest pocket. q brought it with me-
1t isn't much OF a note but there's your
signature, plain enough
He handed Steptoe torn piece of paper,
folded in three-cornered shape Steptoe
opened it. FTe instantly recognized the pa
per on which, he had written his name and
sent up to his wife at the Boomville Hotel.
But. added 10 II. in apparently the same
hand. in smaller characters, were the
words, Help Van Loo all you can
Tie blood rushed into his face. But he
quickly collected himself and said hurried
ly, An right. had forgotten it. Let the
id sneak 90. We've got what's thou
sand times better in this claim at Mar
scoop the lions Share. Only we must not
waste time getting there now. You go
there first. and at once. and set those ras-
calls to work III follow you before Mar
shall comes Up. Get: I'll settle up here
His face darkened once more as Hall hur-
ried away, leaving him alone. He drew out
the piece Of paper from his pocket and
stared at it again. fes it was the one he
hold of it? Was he at the hotel that night?
Had he picked itiup-in thet hall or passage
when the servant dropped it? When Hall
handed him the paper and ne first recog-
nized it fiendish thought. followed by q
spasm of more fiendish rage. had sent the
blood to his face. But his crude common
sense quickly dismissed that suggestion of
his wife's completely with Van Loo. But
had she seen him passing through the no
tel that night. and had sought to draw
from him some knowledge Of his early in
everything, and even produced the paper
with his signature as proof of identity?
Women had been known to do such desper-
ate things Perhaps she disbelieved her
sound Van Loo. AS for the forged words
by Van Loo and the use he had put them
to. he cared little. He believed the man
was capable of forgery; indeed. he sud
denly remembered that in the old days his
son had spoken innocently. but admiringly,
of Van Loo's wonderful Typographical
powers, and his faculty of initiating the
writing Of others, and how he had even Of
fered to teach him. new and exasper-
ating thought came into his feverish con-
sciousness. What II Van Loo in teaching
the boy, had even made use of him as an
innocent accomplfce to cover up his own
tricks. The suggestion was no question of |
moral ethics to Steptoe, nor of his sons
possible contamination, although since the
night CT the big strike he had held differ
ent views; 1t was simply fierce, selfish |
Jealousy that another might have profited |
by the lads hclplessness and inexperience. |
He had been tormented by this jealousy be- |
fore In his sons liking for Van Loo He |
had at first encouraged his admiration and |
initiative regard for this smooth swindler's |
graces and accomplishments which, though |
he scorned them himself. he was. after the |
common parental infatuation, willing that |
the boy should profit by. Unable, through |
his own consciousness of distinguishing
between Van Loo's superficial polish and |
the true breeding of gentleman, he had |
only looked upon it an equipment for |
his son which might be serviceable to him. |
self. He had told his wife the truth when
he informed her of Van Loo's fears of |
being reminded of their former intimacy.
but he had not told her how its discontin-
uance. after they had left Heavy Tree Hill.
had affected her son. and how he still cher |
ished his old admiration for that specious
rascal Nor had he told her how this had |
stung him, through his own selfish greed
of the boys affection. Yet now that it was
possible that she had met Van Loo that |
evening. she might have become aware of
Van Loo's power over her child. How she |
would exult. for all her pretended hatred |
OF Van Loo! How. perhaps, they had plot |
ted together! How Van Loo might have
become aware of the place where his SON
was kept, and had been bribed by the |
mother to tell her! He stopped In a whiri |