Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1909-04-09

N In The return or Hugh
~ Stires and his apparen.
curious transformation
was the prime subject of conversation
For a half year the place had known
but n other event as startling. That
was the finding some months before
of a dead body-that of a comparative
stranger In the p~lace-thrust beneath
a thicket on Smoky mountain, on the
very claim which now held Prender-
CAST and his partner.
The "amen corner of the Mountain
Valley House had discussed the pros
and IONS exhaustively. There were
many who sneered at the loss of mem
DRY and took their cue from Devlin,
who, smarting from his humiliation
and nursing venom, revamped suspi-
cions wherever he showed his battered
face. In his opinion Hugh Stires was
playing a slick game"
"Your view is colored by your preju.
dices, D%evlin," said Fielder. He's been
a backlog In the past-granted. Blu.
give the devil his due. AS for the
other ugly tale, there's no more evi
ii a6dAbot al NAah tASAC -
against you or me!'
'They didn't find the body on my
ground had been the others surly
retort. land l didn't clear out the day
before either"
The phenomenon, however, whether
credited or poohpoohed. was a draw.
ing card. More than a few found oc
casion to climb the mountain by the
hillside trail that skirted the lonely
cabin. These as likely as not saw
Prendergast lounging in the doorway
smoking, while the younger man
worked, leading a trench along the
GROW of the hill to bring the water
from It's intake, which Harry's quick
eye had seen was practicable.
The spectacle of Hugh Stires. who
had been USED to pass his days In the
saloons and his nights In even less be
coming resorts. turned practical miner
added a touch of opera bouffe to the
situation that to a degree modhlated
the rigor of dispraise. 1t was the con-
sensus of opinion that the new Hugh
Stires seemed vastly different from the
old; that If he were playing a game"
1t was a curious one.
On the one side was a black record,
exemplified In OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES in
fanny, a shuddering adherence of his
past self as he saw 1t through the pitt
less lens of public opinion; on the other
was a grim constancy of purpose, a pas
sionate wish to reconstruct the warped
structure of life of which he found
himself the tenant, days of healthful,
peace inspiring toll, a woman's face
that threaded his every thought. AS he
welded his pick in the trench or labo-
riously washed out the few g%listening
grains that now were to mean his dal-
ly ~sustenance he turned often to gaze
mp the slope where, set in its foliage,
the glass roof of the sanitarium spar
killed. softly through the Indian haze.
Strange that the sight should mysteri-
ously suggest the face that haunted
himi
Prendergast saw the distracted re
gard as he came up the trail from the
town. He was in an ugly humor. The
bag Of gold dust which he had shown
to Harry he had not returned to the
hiding place in the wall, and with this
in his pocket the faro table had that
day tempted him. The pouch was
empty now.
Harry's back was toward him, and
the gold pan In which he had been
washing the gravel lay at his feet.
With a noiseless, mirthless laugh Prem
dergast stole into the cabin and reach
ed down from the shelf the bottle into
which each day Harry had poured his
Ecanty findings. He weighed it in his
than $40. He hastily took the empty
bag from his pocket.
But just then a shadow darkened the
doorway. and Harry entered. He saw
the action and, striding forward, took
the bottle from the others hand.
Prendergast turned on him, q sinis-
ter snarl under his affectation of sur
prise. Cant you attend to your own
rat killingY' he growled. 81 guess I've
got a right to what l need"
mot to that" said Harry quietly.
1--WE shall touch the bottom of the
-four sack tomorrow. You expect to get
your meals here, / presume"
II still look forward to that pleas
ure," answered Prendergast, with an
evil sneer. Three meals a day and a
rotten ROOT over my head. When ]
think of the little / have done to de-
serve it, the hospitality overcomes me.
All l have done is to keep you from
starving to death and out of quod at
the same time. | only taught you a
safe way to beat the game. an easier
n than you seem to know. and to
live on Easy street"
II Am looking for no easy way" re-
sponded Harry, whatever you mean
by that. / expect to earn my living as
I'm earning 1t now. It's an honest
method, at all events"
you've grown all fred particular
since you lost your memory" retorted