Macon beacon., 1916-05-26

with him. You know that long, mar
row sandbar in the river just below
the mouth Of the upper canyon?"
GTislow nodded.
THAT is where we went for the
proof, Massingale dipped up painful
Of the bar sand, which he asked me
to wash out for myself, l did it, and
you have the results there in that pa
per- That bar is comparatively rich
placer dirt"
Good Lord!" calculated the map
maker. Comparatively rich, you say?
and you washed this spoonful out of
single PAM"
Keep your head" said Brouillard
coolly, "Massingale explained that |
had happened to make a ten-strike;
that the bar wasn't any such bonanza
as that first result would indicate. l
proved that, too, by washing some
more Of it without getting any more
than few 'colors.' But the fact re-
mains: It's placer ground"
1t was at this point that the larger
aspect Of the fact launched itself upon
the photographer.
"A gold strike!" he gasped. "And
we-we're planning to drown it un-
der two hundred feet of lake!"
Brouillard's laugh was harsh.
Don't let the fever get hold of you
Grislow. Don't forget that we are
here to carry out the plans Of the rec
lamation seryice-which are more far
reaching and of good bit greater
consequence than a dozen placer
mines. Massingale drove the peg
down good and hard. If would jump
In and pull every possible string to
hurry the railroad over the range, and
keep on pulling them, the secret of
the placer bar would remain a secret.
Otherwise he, Stephen Massingale,
would give 1t away, publish it, adver-
tise 1t to the world. You know what
that would mean for us, Murray"
MY Lord! I should say so! We'd
have Boomtownon-the-pike right now,
with all the variations! Every white
man in the camp would chuck his job
in the hollow half of minute and go
to gravel washing!"
That's 1t precisely" Brouillard &C.
qulesced gloomily, "Masslngale Is a
young tough, but he Is shrewd enough,
when he is sober. He had me dead to
rights, and he knew 1t. You don't
want any gold camp starting up here
in the bottom Of your reservoir he
said; and had to admit it"
GrisIow had found a magnifying
glass in the drawer Of the mapping
table, and he was holding 1t in focus
over the small collection of grain gold
and nuggets. In the midst Of the ca
ger examination he looked up sudden
ly to say: Hold on minute. Why Is
Steve proposing to give this thing
away? Why isn't he working the bar
HIMSELF"
"He explained that phase of it. after
a fashion-said that placer mining was
always more or less Of a gamble and
that they had sure thing of it In
the Little Susan OF course, il the
thing had to be given away he and
his father would avail themselves oi
their rights as discoverers and take
their chance with the crowd for the
sake Of the ready money they might
get out of 1t. Otherwise they'd be
content to let it alone and stick tc
their legitimate business, which is
quartz mining"
"And to do that successfully they've
got to have the railroad. How did yor
settle it finally?"
"He told me to take week or two
and think about it.
Grislow was biting the end Of his
penholder thoughtfully.
: What are you going to do about
, it, Victor?" he asked at length. 1--WE
, can't stand for any more chaos thar
the gods have already doped out fol-
US, can we?"
: Brouillard took another long minute
t at the office window before he said
| What would you do if you were il
, my place, Murray"
, But at this the mapmaker put VI
his hands as If to ward off blow.
D mo, you DON'T" he laughed. &C
refuse to be that kind Of fool. Bu
I'll venture a small prophecy: The
golden secret will leak out. And after
that, the deluge."