Evening star., 1916-09-24

country's civilized now, and. besides,
the little bunch I got here weighs near
ly 500 pounds. That's some load for
burglars to carry on
Yes. but they could have mules" ar
gued Bill. "Wow!" he yelled, as Jim's
pet darted between his legs. Say. Jim,
that skunk'll scare me to death yet"
=, ,sn.e HIS employer k laaghed; Huh; h. he e
house cat. Why. I've had Spot over
FIVE years and he's about the best
friend ! got Do you know'--and the
old man mounted a hobby-"he's awful
smart. Why. the little rascal drags in
stove wood and tries to sweep the
floor with his tail. was offered 500
for him once. but I never 'ud think of
parting with him. Don't know how
he'll get along without me. Therell
sure be some ruction if anything hap
pens to him while I'm gone"
Bill betrayed his lack of confidence
by moving farther away. "'Spose the
new millll be up by the time you get
back" he ventured
Yes" said Jim, land I wish 1 knew
what to do with this little one. She's
plumb wore out, but she's done the
work. Too bad we have to move her.
but this is the only place for the big
mill"
Put a box of powder under her"
suggested the blacksmith. as he start
ed down the trail. That 'ud be a At
ting end
After Bill had gone the old miner
went inside his mill. He looked to
see that the ore was feeding properly
into the crusher. and from there into
the stamps under the great hammers.
His sharp eyes darted here and there,
finally resting upon the plates over
which the muddy slime was washing.
"A hundred thousand dollars"' he ex-
claimed. That's what I've scraped off
them plates since she started up less'n
year ago. Well, old girl'-he ad-
dressed the mass of pounding ma
chnery-'you're pretty near done An
other shift, maybe. to clean up the
bins, then you can have lay-off. too
Old Jim went back to his seat in the
Spot. neglected, tried to attract his
attention The little animal sprang
upon the box that the blacksmith had
brought and began worrying the bur
lap-covered package.
Here. you. Spot" yelled the old man.
You let that be. That's caps what
they use to shoot powder with. Itll
blow you up
Spot. not being used to such harsh
language. jumped off the box and ran
around the mill. In a moment he was
back to the corner. peering at his old
he advanced two jerky
steps at a time until he was once
more beside the box. He gave the
package SLY tug and threw mis-
=
But Jim had forgotten him; he had
relapsed into his doze and was dream
ing-of the old home he soon would
see again-of the ten bars of yellow
bullion hidden under the big rock
across the trail-of the new mill that
the contractor would build while he
was gone.
Come alive. you old snoozer. Up
with your hands! Stick 'em up"
Old Jim awoke to a jerk that threw
n i'm haa in n
he was confronted by two roughly
dressed men. whose faces were COW
cred with masks cut from a -four sack.
Each held heavy revolver close to the
Come on" the larger of the two
commanded. Get up. Show us where
your stuff is. We know you got it."
The miner rose slowly to his feet
mind was in a daze. He shook his
head sharply, trying to clear his
brain.
The big bandit prodded his victim
with his gun. Get move on. old
timer he insisted where's the big
clean-up?"
Jim grasped the situation. He was
about to be robbed of a fortune-a
fortune for which he had shaved and
starved a lifetime He must show
were cached under the big rock. They
would take his stake and ride away
and he could not build the new mill
nor take the trip back home.
Say, amt you awake YETI" The
burly highwayman struck him savage
ly. Get a-going.'
The old man walked with tagging
steps toward the rock. the two men
following him. Again he shook his
head in an effort to throw off the daze.
Twenty feet more and he would lose
his precious gold. Wasn't there some
thing he could do?
Slowly at first. then with lighting
like rapidty his mind began to act.
Incidents of long ago flashed vividly
and were gone. Stories he had read
old yarns he had heard-bad men he
had known-each picture famed for
an instant then died away. If he could
only do something. Oh, if he were
only like Long Ben, and able to tell
them the gold was somewhere else.
He was nearly to the rock; the