Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1912-02-01

49, - NN'N ~ 'k'aNN wiz Va AhS
ing There WAS liue OF light show
ms under The III lifting door, and. with
the top step Of the downhil Digit tor
pefchln& place. one might lay an ear
to the crack and overhead But door
and steps were sharply struck out in
the moonlight. and they faced the min.
ing hamlet, where the men of the day
shift were still stirring
Judson knew the temper OF the II.
manyoni miners, To be seen crouch.
ing on the boss doorstep would be to
take the chance of making target of
himself for the first loiterer Of the day
shift who happened TO look his way.
Diminishing the risky cxpetiieut. he
made third circuit from moou glare
to shadow, this time upon hands and
knees. To the lowly come the rewards
Of humility. Framed level upon stout
log pillars on the downhil side, the
headquarters warehouse and office
sheltered a space beneath its floor
which was roughly boarded mp with
slabs from the log saving Slab by
slab the eX-enginccr sought for his
rat hole. trying each one softly in its
turn. When there remained but three
more TO be tugged at the loosened one
was found JudSon swung il eau
uouSly aside and wrjgSled through
the narrow aperture left by its remov
al \ crawling minute later he was
crouching beneath the loosely iointed
floor of the lighted room. aud the ave
nue. of the ear had broadened into a
fair highway
Almost at once he was able to verify
his guess that there were only two
men In the room above At all events
there were only two speakers They
were talking in low tones and Judson
had no difficulty in Identifying the
rather high pitched voice OF the owner
of the Wire Silver mine. The man
whose profile he had seen on the win
dow shade had the voice which belong
ed to the outlined features, but the
listener under the floor had vague
impression that he was trying to dis.
guiSe it. ludson knew nothing about
the letter in which FemiSter had
promised to arrange for meeting be-
tween Lidgerwood and the ranchman
Grotield. What he did know was that
he had followed Hallock almost to the
door of Flemister's office and that he
had seen Swallowed face on the OF,
fee window shade which could be no
other than the face of the chief clerk
1t was in spite of all this that the i'm
preston that the second speaker was
trying to disguise his voice persisted
But the eX-engineer of fast passenger
trains was able to Danish the impress.
sion after the first few minutes OF
eavesdropping.
Judson had scarcely found his breath
ing space between the floor timbers
and had not yet overheard enough to
give him the drift of the low ton, j talk
when the bell of the private line tele-
phone rang in the room above 1t was
Flemister who answered the bell ringer
Hello! Yes, this is Flemister
What's that? message about Mr..
Lidgerwood? All right; fire away"
''Who is it?" came the inquiry In the
grating voice which fitted and yet did
not fit the other man
The listener heard the click Of the
telephone earpiece replacement.
"It's Goodloe, talking from his sta
ton office at Little Butte" replied the
mine owner. THE dispatcher has Just
called him up to say that Lidgerwood
left Angels in his service car. running
special. at $40, which would figure 1t
here at about IL or little later"
"Who is running it?" inquired the
other man. rather anxiously, Judson
decided.
williams and Bradford A fool for
luck every time. We might have had
to wipe out couple Of our friends"
The listener under the floor had a
sensation like that which might be
produced by a cold wind blowing up
the nape Of his neck
There is no such thing as luck"
rasped the other voice. My time was
short-after | found out that Lidger-
wood wasn't coming on the passenger.
But managed to send word to Mat
thews and Lester, telling them to
make sure Of Williams and Bradford
We could spare both OF them. If we
have to-"
Good" said Flemister Then you
had some such alternative in mind az
that l have just been proposing"
NO" was the crusty rejoinder, ~
was merely providing for the hun
dredth chance. | don't like your alter
native"
"Why don't you?"
We'll for one thing. It's needlessly
bloody. We don't have to go at this
thing like a bull at gate. I've had
my finger on the pulse OF things ever
since Lidgerwood took hold The dope
is working all right in a purely natu-
raj way. In the ordinary run of things
1t will be only few days or weeks
before Lidgerwood will throw up his
hands and quit, and when be goes out
/ go in That's straight goods this
time"
You thought 1t was before" sheer