Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-05-11
Conur;aht hy Charles Scribner's Sons

lard ragefully. Are you never going
to forget that senseless bit Of twad-
dle?"
You're not giving NE a chance to
forget IT," said the mapmaker soberly.
you told he that night that the
seven-year characteristic was change;
and you're a changed man, Victor, If
ever there was one. Moreover, 1t be-
gan that very night-or the next morn
ing"
Brouillard laughed
"All of which is bad enough, you'd
say Murray; but i isn't the worst of
IL I've Just run up against another
thing that is threatening to raise
merry hell in this valley"
81 know" said the photographer
slowly. You've been having a seance
with Steve Massingale. Leshington
told me about it."
What did he tell your" Brouillard
demanded half angrily.
"Oh, nothing much: nothing to make
you hot at him. He said he gathered
the notion hat the young sorehead
was trying to bully you"
'He was" was the brittle admission.
TSee here, Grizzly"
The thing to be seen was a small
buckskin bag which, when opened,
gave up paper packet folded like
medicine powder. The paper contained
. spoonful of dust and pellets of metal
OF dull yellow luster.
The photographer drew a long
breath and fingered the nuggets.
rGold-placer goldl" he exclaimed,
and Brouillard nodded and went on to
tell how he had come by the bag and
it's contents.
"Massingale had an ak to grind, OF
course. You may remember that
Harding talked loosely about the Mas
singale opposition to the building of
the dam. There was nothing in it.
The opposition was purely personal,
and 1t was directed against Harding
himself, with Amy Massingale for the
exciting cause"
That girl?-the elemental brutei"
Gr1slow broke in warmly. He knew
the miners daughter fairly well by
this time, and, in common with every
man on the staff, not excepting the
STATS chief, would have fought for
her in any cause.
Brouillard nodded. II don't know
what Harding did, but Smith, the Tri-
angle-Circle foreman, tells me that
Steve was on the warpath; he told
Harding when he left, last summer,
that If he ever came back to NiQuoia.
he'd come to stay-and stay dead"
never did like Harding any too
well" was the photographers defini-
tive comment, and Brouillard went
back TO the matter Of the mornings
seance and its golden outcome.
That Is only a little side issue,
Steve Massingale came to me this
morning with a proposal that was
about as cold-blooded as slap In the
race. Naturally, for good business rea.
sons OF their own, the Massingales
want to see the railroad built over
war Arrow pass into the Niquoia. In
some way Steve has found out that
l stand pretty well with President
Ford and the Pacific Southwestern
people. His first break was to offer
to incorporate the Little Susan and
TO give me block of the stock If I'd
pun Ford's leg on the extension prop
osition.''
Well?" queried Grislow.
Exactly. You can imagine what I
told him. Then he began to bully and
pulled the club on me-"
Again Grislow's smile was jocose.
Well, when I turned him down.
young Massingale began to buster
and to say that I'd have to boost the
railroad deal, whether l wanted to or
not. | told him he couldn't prove it,
and he said he would show me, if I'd
take half an hours walk up the valley
with him. You know that long. mar
row sandbar in the river Just below
the mouth of the upper canyon?"
Grislow 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 | 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
a 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
IS that first result would indicate. ]
proved that, too, by washing some
more OF 1t 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
lamatfon service-which are more far
reaching and of a good bit greater
consequence than a dozen placer
mines. Massingale drove the peg
down good and hard If would jumr
In and pull every possible string tc
hurry the railroad ovor tho ronuo opS