The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-01-26
CHATTER XXxVT

4 thing is known before it happens, there were two opinions and only two as to the motives of the "Old Man
 He is plainly mad" said James Kahn and. his faction.
 Trust himln said Walter Grinding and Hector McKill; "he has his eyes on that Port Pit and those two square miles of moor. I only wish he had thought of it in time. But we only bought out his existing interests This Is a new game. The Old Man can no more help it than a cat can help steal ing fish. or rolling in mint. He loves a speculation for it's own sake It's the interest of doing the others that takes hin--not the money to be gained
 These might be called the two schools one advocating "Senile Debility and the other the 'Dyers Hand"
 But Jacob Romers motive was hid from the wise and prudent, even in the head office of Incubus & Co~-though not yet had it been revealed unto babes. still Phil Calmont who had leanings that way, dlvined more of it than any others.
 E Meantime even as the old Mine Mas ter bent his brows over PhiBs Satur- day balance sheet, and the paper mills over at Parton began to take the new Portogarten coal at nine shluings per ton-the building of the light on Rough 4Sie EOinL LOOK up tlt lHe liiiiV PA Dtiis Bryan and his senior assistant. DICK Finnan It became also the talk of the rneighbo1-hood and the laughter spread in a joyous wave
 But for that at least Uncle Barny proved to be sufficient. There really was a need for shore light on the spot the channel being frequented and difficult So after many negotiations with the Commissioners of Northern Lights a little second hand electric plant was procured, which threw beam sufficiently bright to reach the Skerry.
 We must keep a boyl" said Dick and Billy, simultaneously. Then they added but where can we find one? Boys-," And with complete unanim- ity they compared the male youth of the human species to the younger an gels who kept not their first estate. Only these were not the words they used-something shorter and br1sker satisfied Dick and Billy.
 Dick looked at Billy, and Billy look ed back at Dick.
 Night about, you and me?' inquired Billy
 "Till we drop!" returned the faithful Dick.
 The boy can do some cleanin' up. with one of us to look after him. he added thoughtfully.
 eWhat about Emma Smith? suggest ed Billy. T am noways clear about havin' boys near the light. They are forever pullin' handles and tryin' ca pers--"
 sThey're not all as bad as that one that. called you--"
 Never mind-I know what he called me- cut in Billy, whom this particular renniniseence aroused as Dick was per haps aware, red-headed." I may be, afa1 was"
 It did not occur to either of them that on the face of the Heugh above the Portogarten they had left a certain "boy'' considerably short-funded. In Mining. perhaps more than in any other human occupation, comfortable bank balance is necessary to success lt IS not like sweeping a crossing, or writing books or picking up nuggets among the gravel of some "wash-out." You must have people to dig for you-big- -boned people mostly Irish, all hungry ana thirsty-partcularl thirsty, with thirst that increases as pay day draws nearer With such men leash down is the sine qua non. No money, no navvyl
 But the cash-figure, and particularly the name of Jacob Romer at the bot tom of the check handed in by Philip Calmont in person." improved the com merciaI standing of the Portogarten Mine wonderfully. The cashier showed the bluish slip to his chief with lm- mense knowingness, and the chief grat- flied him by holding and smiling. Their opinion was very much that Of Messrs. Hector McKill and Walter Grinding.
 At it again--he cant let it alone" was their unspoken comment. And next Saturday both inquired privately of Phil if a share or two could be got at any reasonable figure in the new Portogarten Pit. Phil knew the wis dom of gratifying such men, and he spoke to his chief on the subject. The moment was not well chosen, one Of the electric fittings of the main beam not having come up to time. But Billy Bryan told Phil to do as he liked. not to come bothering him about every lit- tie trifle Little things meant things unconnected with the lighthouse-big things the contrary.
 Dick Finnan was already busily painting inside-all best regulation col ors, and had plentifully bedabbled his gray whiskers and the side of his nose with bright green. "Unc Barny' had connected, but all the money that had been sent by the New York lawyers was urgently needed for the new in stalatbn on the Point. Phil, up on the Heugh. alone with his "sinkers"
  could. "ft makes the boy win his spurs" said Billy, without the least thought of plagiarising the father of the Black Prince.
 Only one at the Cottage on Rough Island (which, by the way, was not an Island, but only peninsula) bethough herself-yes, of course, 1t was her of poor, mi-abandoned Phil Calmont keeping his end up as best he could among the rough pit-lads and noisy "sinkers" on the heugh of Portogar- ten.
 The little white cottage sat low down in cove where of old time they had landed many cargoes of Isle O Man brandy, Hollands, eau-de-vie, and oth . CT potent waters. It was closely beset with high cliffs on the one side those in which Phil was sinking his mine-and packed in on the other by sea-worn jungle of caves and arches sandy lanes and passages, in which children could play half the day-but through which twice in the twenty four hours, the green Atlantic water. hardly checked or altered by its pass age through Paddy's Slap, roared and spouted. All this part was of sand stone and had worn readily to the lash and suck of the water. Phils tall and ungapped, with the deep green water leaping eternally beneath tn em.
 A path wimpled up the face of the cove in easy gradients. It was easier now, because it had been designed for the heavy loads that came from the little construction railway to the light l, ny, h a lint Ion n