Arizona republican., 1915-09-05


 of the California sunshine. outside an adobe hut Luke Lowell, it is fated, is to see and gain again the diamond from the SKY. He has taken up with associates as pad as himself and has become a *boot- lesger." or Illicit whisky peddler With q companion of his own iIk he passes by the desert Indians hut and sees the diamond the squaw has found gleaming in the sun shine, papooses plaything. It is only a Dit of glass and tinsel in the mind of the sodden. drink craving Indian father De- spite the angry protests of the squaw, the glistening ornament Is bartered for the vile whisky of the eager white man.
 And so the diamond moves on again
 Santa Barbara the sea coast resort Tor rich tourists. is not far away. and thither Luke Lowell and his crony b 1t, seeking a purchaser able to buy this gem of price.
 With Arthur Stanley that was. who is John Powell" now. how fares it? How have his fortunes. fortunes to be founded on stolen means. prospered? Not we'll Arthur has fallen into the hands of oil sharks. and has invested the outlaw plum. der in the Good Hope wells. The Good Hope wells have been joke of these oil fields. But who Is to warn a guileless young investor?
 John Powell" has played with high stakes in a crooked game and has lost. His men, who laughed at him behind his bach for his simplicity. feel for him. JGcs Wilson. his foreman. seeks his despairine young employer and finds him in the shanty that Is the office of the Good Hope wells.
 T am sorry, boss" says Jack but I'll tell you something. There is oil in the Good Hope. We've struck every indication If you only had money to drill deeper the oil is there. That money you sent east would save you,"
 Its too late now. Jack, that money saved something more to me than these wells"
 I'm from Pennsylvania" says Wilson. "I believe if we torpedoed the big well we'd start the oil know it ruins a well. If the oil doesn't start and already the shysters are coming to take the property away from you because we didn't strike oil and the last payment is due. So let's do something desperate. boss. let's torpedo the big well!"
 John Powell" is desperate and he agrees. The man of law representing the unpaid owners. hears of the plan and ar rtves with injunction. But the des- perate John Powell" def1es law. when he was known as Arthur Stanley he defed all order. The lawyer is held back way ing the "scrap of paper" the injunction. The nitro glycerin charged torpedo is low cred to the bottom of the well, the heavy iron detonator is dropped. and all run for their lives. A throb shakes the earth and the derrick rocks. Then arises geyser of mud and spuming fountain of roaring oil and gas!
 The big Good Hope we'll has " come in " a gusher! John Powell" is a million aire!
 No such gusher has ever been known in those fields. as the long dry and long despised Good Hope becomes. No oil mil 1ionaire gets rich quickly as popular young John Powell" His associates. Jack Wilson wearing impressively his first dress suit. give him "the swellest banquet with cabaret trimmings that Los Angeles leading restaurant has ever known.
 Vivian Marston dimes with an elderly ad- mrer at this same restaurant the night of the banquet.
 John PowelpS" associates toast and praise him for the pluck and resolution that snatched victory from defeat, and ever Vfvfans dark eyes on the dash ing and handsome feted oil magnate. Her elderly admtrer testify endures the bangs of Jealousy. But 1t is not love or sudden fnfatuation that draws the dark eyes Of Vivian Marston to the young millionaire at the head of his festal board. Where has she this lauded young favorite of fortune before?
 John PowelTs" secretary enters def erentially with a telegram It has come to the offices of the Good Hope oil com pany and the secretary. thinking it impor- tant, brings 1t to the feast. Arthur opens 1t and reads:
 Esther Harding departed parts un- known. Hagar Harding better. Bought in Stanley Hall for $20,00e you sent Will keep everything quiet. BLAKE"
 Esther departed for parts unknown. Ar thur crushes the telegram in his nervous grasp. Mechanically he hears the friends that honor John Powell" chant jovially. |" For he's jolly. good fellow!" As one daEed, he rises and departs with his happy. felicitsting associates. and is hardly aware of tho dark eyes of luxurious woman fastened upon him. He bows he passes, but he has recollection of who this bold and beautiful woman who smiles at him may be.
 Walled by the green high hills and the gray and higher mountains at It's back. beautiful Santa Barbara slopes down to the The fronds of stately palms wave in the mild evening air. The vivid scarlet of the flowers and the emerald green of fair lawns beautify the scene below. Fair the gardens of the Lord seems the scene to the desert burned eyes of Luke Lowell and his fellow bootlegger they stand upon the hill near the old mission and gaze upon a panorama of paradise below them Far of at anchor the sapphire waters of the bay great white yacht rides like swan upon the tide.
 A guy rich enough to own a skin like that afford to buy the diamond from us," growls Luke Lowell. And in the on- coming dusk they plod down the hill That night they unite a rowboat at the waters edge and Luke Lowell pulls upon the oars fO q a