The Ordway new era., 1920-07-30
CHAPTER vi.-continued.

"Tll rave to admit" said Hililard
tightly, shat the odds are on the side
of the experts But ms for the ro-
nance" He smiled at Angela and
wondered II he dared begin so soon to
build up the framework of his mission.
ave been telling Angela that it's
mostly hard work. Once in n while
you do run into something lurid. of
course-romantic. II you want to call
Il so. ] remember ono bit out of my
own experience" Angela had dropped
the papers. and was listening as close
ly as her father "a few years ago
some friends OF mine bought up an old
abandoned property out in the Butte
region; bought it for song. and II
was very quiet peaceful little song
at that, because metals had been dull,
md to continue the metaphor-my
friends weren't In particularly good
voice just then. But after they'd TAX
en- title they realized thnt they'd only
sung the first verse of the song and
there were n lot more verses and
pretty strenuous chorus. There was
a shaft to he unwntered and lot of
timber-work to be done: they were In
for big expense. and their credit had
tucks in it. and the outlook wasn't any
too rosy. But thirty yards from the
main workings there was fairish
sort OF tunnel. with the start of
wlnze-thnts blind shaft running
down obliquely from II horizontal tun-
nei-and 1t pointed straight toward
the main shaft, and It occurred to
them that they could continue that
wlnze another few feet strike their
main shaft about the hundred and
fifty foot level, and save lot OF labor
and expense that way by getting a
clean approach to the shaft instead
of taking lot Of bother with 1t In its
decrepit condition. Well. they began
to go down that wlnze. and inside of
ten feet they struck brand new and
unsuspected vein-there hadn't been
any outcrop showing; 1t was sheer.
unadulterated luck. Then they had
credit-they certainly did To make
long story short, they pawned their
futures. and begged and borrowed ev-
cry penny they could lay their hands
on. and they developed that property
20 the last cent. and when they had
perhaps two hundred thousand or so
tons of four per cent copper in sight.
and there were indicated ore reserves
OF another half million tons. they
sold that property to group OF New
Workers for an utterly phenomenal
price, without ever having so much
as touched the original shaft for which
they'd bought the property"
"Ouchr' said Cullen. and Good
ness !" said Angela.
And" said Hilliard. smiling remi-
niscently. "if the original owners had
pushed that winze for couple of days
more than they did. or II my friends
hadn't decided To go at the problem
In exactly that way .. well, as say.
what's one mans romance is another
mans tragedy. My friends got their
investment back In something less than
four months, and after that It was vel
vet. And the selling price was In the
oetghborhood OF two hundred times
what they'd paid Tor II. That's min
Ing history, Mr.. Cullen" And indeed
II wLs and the only fabrication about
u was Hilliar'fs claim OF friendship
for .he lucky owners. This. as he as
sured himself. was saiesman's license
every successful operator is a
friend" OF any salesman.
Cullen nodded thoughtfuly; his
eyes were bright. Angela was alter
uateiy regarding him with indulgent
pity. and sending NI-toid you-so mes.
sages to Hilliurd.
.Where was thls-in Montana?"
"SilverbOw county. Near Butte
Yes. there is romance In that country
Mr.. Cullen. It's In every tree and ev.
cry rock. and in every hill and valley
and under the ground. And I'm afraid
I'm INST enough of "A realist to find
most of my own under the surface"
''To save my life" said Cullen. "l
can't help thinking of that region II.
Mark Twain sort of country-som
breros and six-shooters aud Vigilantes
aud stage coach hold-ups and gold dusI
as a medium Of exchange. know it.:
childish. but I've never been out there
and It's hard to get over what w
learned at school," He surveyed hi,
Al. ~.