Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-12-04
;4ns- 52erhicas Ma1aIe1oau.t anma 9rtenher A. 1908

saved my life from pirates and general
ly acted like devoted nursemaid in
charge of baby Really, Mr.. jerks.
REALLY, Miss Deane, you will annoy
me seriously If you say another word.
l absolutely refuse to listen to such an
argument"
For some time they stood in silence
until the sailor commenced to reproach
himself for his rough protest. Perhaps
he had hurt her sensitive feelings.
What brute he was to be sure! She
was only child in ordinary affairs,
and he ought to have explained things
more lucidly and with greater COM
mand over his temper. And all this
time Iris face was dimpling with
amusement, for she understood him so
well that had he threatened to kill her
she would have laughed at him.
would you mind getting the lamp?"
he said softly, surprised to catch her
expression of saucy humor.
"Oh. please may | spenk" she In
quired. II don't want to annoy you,
but l am simply dying to Talk
He had forgotten his own injunction.
LET us first examine our NINE" he
said. "If you bring the lamp we can
have good look at it."
Close scrutiny OF the work already
done merely confirmed the accuracy of
his first impression. While Iris held
the light he opened up the seam with n
few strokes Of the pick. Each few
inches it broadened into a noteworthy
volcanic dixie. now yellow in its nbso-
lutte purity. at times blush black
when fused with other metals. The ad-
ditional labor involved caused him to
follow up the line OF the fault. Sud
denly the tlane of the lamp began to
flicker In draft. There was an air
passage between cave and ledge.
They came back into the external
glare Iris was now so serious that she
forgot to extinguish the little lamp.
She stood with outstretched hand.
There is lot of money in there"
she said
'"Tons of it,
mo need to quarrel about division.
There Is enough for both of us"
"Quite enough. We can even spare
some for our friends"
The hour drew near when jerks
climbed to the Summit rock He Shout
dered AK and rife and set forth. Iris
heard him rustli,lg upward through the
trees She set some water to boil for
whit Xvi, n Sl1-,n1v
of fuel, passed the spot where the torn
scraps Of paper Uttered the sand.
She was the soul OF honor for wo-
man, but there was never IL woman yet
who could take her eyes Off written
document which confronted her. She
could not help seeing that one small
morsel contained her own name.
Though mutilated, it had clearly read
Dear Miss Deane."
$50 it was intended for me" she
cried, throwing down her bundle and
dropping to her knees. She secured
that particular slip and examined it
earnestly, Not for worlds would she
pick up all the scraps and endeavor to
sort them. Yet they had fascination
for her, and at this closer range she
saw another which bore the legend-"I
love you"
4 Somehow the two seemed to fit to-
gether very nicely.
Yet third carried the same words
II love your They were still quite
coherent She did not want to look
any further. She did not even turn
over such of the torn pieces as had
auttered to earth face downward.
Opening the front of her bodice, she
brought to light small gold locket
containing miniatures Of her father
and mother. Inside this receptacle she
carefully placed the three really mate
rial portions of the sailors letter.
When jerks walked down the hill
again he heard her singing long before
he caught sight Of her sedulously tend
ing the fire.
AS he came near he perceived the re-
mains Of his useless document He
stopped and gathered them up, forth
with throwing them among the glow
ing logs.
"By the way, what were you writing
while had my bath?" inquired Iris de-
murely.
"Some information about the mine.
On second thoughts, however, saw it
was unnecessary"
ooh, was that all?'
practically ALL"
"Then some part was Impractical
ble?"
He glanced sharply at her, but she
vas merely talking at random.
"Well, you see," he explained, zone
can do so little without the requisite
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