Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1913-11-28

dunn of waiting. he had staked MS
savings on this one throw-and lost.
He would have to begin all over
again. The very thought of it nauseat-
ed him. and he determined to remain
in California even if he had to seek
some new employment. For awhile at
least he would stay away from his
hated law books and revel in the
mountain NE. His sketch book would
be the richer for the experience.
So he paid his men and sent them
away down the mountain side, while he
remained alone on the worthless bit of
land he could call his own. The days
were dull enough when he was not
sk~etching, for continually there were
thoughts of his traitorous friend Hale,
and gradually there grew upon him the
conviction that Hale's action might
have had a double motive. There was
a girl back there in New York in
whom both the young men were inter
ested. The thought came to Beekman
now that possibly Hale had desired a
clear field and had thus cleverly dis
posed of his rival financially as well as
bodily.
Edith Lenton belonged to a rich fam
lily. That was another reason why
Phil Beekman wanted money. He had
dreamed of going back with filed pock-
cts and bringing her out to his 81 Do
RADIO, together with his sketch books.
but all that was out of the question
now. BY the time he had saved more
money, enough to give him courage to
approach her. Hale would have won
out and it would be too late.
So he spent the dreary days sleeping
at night under the pine boughs, inhal-
ing the spicy breath of the mountains.
cooking his own meals, bathing in the
waters of a tumbling cascade close at
band, sketching until he was weary
and night again claimed him and clos
ed his eyes.
1t was a lonely life, but in the end 1t
proved to be a healthy one. for Phil
broadened out marvelously. and his
face lost its city pallor and was most
becomingly brown.
One day he packed a lunch and,
with sketching block and pencils in his
pocket, set forth, hoping for some ma
terial In the surrounding valleys. just
as the midday sun was throwing squat
shadows of the trees against the
ground Phil stumbled across a most in
viting spot. Within a circle of gigan-
tic pines there was a little broken gul-
ly bordered with wild flowers in a riot
of color. Near by a little rill of cold
water burst from the rocky soil and
splashed unsteady In a stony pool.
Refreshed by his luncheon and lured
by the quiet beauty of the spot, Phil
reclined on the pine needles and idly
watched the flowers dipping In the
light breeze. sali
All at once something bright attract
ed his eye. and he watched 1t curious
ly. 1t flashed in the sunlight, and he
realized that 1t moved, but SO slowly
that on. a cloudy day its movements
might have been imperceptible: After.
awhile It flashed again among the
flowers and was lost to sight.
Lazily yawning, Phil got upon his
feet and went to investigate. What
he saw he never forgot.
Slowly creeping among the fiowerl
roots was a large land tortoise, perfs
haps ten inches long. 1t was much
like other tortoises save that its armor
plate appeared to be of pure gold.
With a whoop of excitement Phil
picked up the tortoise and examined
the shell. careful to keep his fngersI
from the swapping, angry jaws of the|
littleablack head. i
1t was ~goid-pure. virgin gold-which
had accumulated on the back of the
animal until his .armor plate was
worth many dollars Where had he
come from? Where was he going?i
Back to bis golden nest. where per-
chance his rough shell had grazed so
continually against pure gold that in
the years >of his existence he had
amassed a fortune unon his back?
Philip Beekman asked himself these
questions with dizzying haste. Then
upon sober reflection he decided to re-
lease the tortoise and follow 1t to Its
home-if it took a year to get there.
1--WE tried the hare's mode of prog
ress-the get-rich-quick method. Now
I'll give the tortoise way a trial." he
muttered grimly. and. so saying. he
placed the tortoise on the ground and
waited patiently while it recovered
from its fright and once more resumed
its ~leisurely journey. 1t was headed
down the dry gully. and Philip follow
ed it, pausing occasionally to sketch.
but never losing sight Of his golden
guide.
At nightfall he had progressed per-
haps 200 feet. but be was not dismay-
ed. He bored a small hole in the edge
Of the upper shell. receiving a severe
bite in consequence. In this hole he
inserted the end of a piece of copper
wire that his pocket had produced and
so tethered his captive to a small tree
He threw himself on the dry needles
close by and slept until daylight, when