The Belding banner-news., 1920-09-29

sI6ly Jacques. though he must have
burned whole cord Of wood, to judge
from the charred remnants that were
scattered everywhere.
Look r shouted IAfe. pointing.
The ground was covered with frag-
ments OF some sort Of ore. and tran
Of chips and dust led out OF the mOsth
a. the cave into another recess aznong
ths rocks Amoas the brambles. m
des . roughly constructed roof. vaS .
anan hand machine. conslsting N ~
main of two steel rollsrA white With
crushed rock.
Looks lfhs Q haod nour-ukn.- 0td
LAfe. II Thought maybe n m1UAf b
gold But II amt gold. Anuvlsl1
washed In q stream. and Qnrts eDfd
has TO be Uot with cynnides
A plck next caught their eyss- S0me
body. q party. rather. had besn vxk-
ing ct the rocks. apparently to t.ks
samples q some ore: bat 6ene vaD
certainly no god In the LaavoDt1an
granite.
Suddenly Lafs uttered m exclamn-
tion and. STOPPING down. picked up .
matted handful OF some nbroua vool-
like material that had been sts6ed
into . cleft. He pulled out yet anoth-
er handful. and more and more-stih
wool, yet Of = stony consistency-spun
stone, II such thing were possible.
Rock max" he exclaimed. II seen
1t down Thetford way years ago. Mr..
Askew. Look therel The clifrs alive
with itw
Asbestos !" cried Hilary.
"A regular asbestos quarry" said
Lafe. There's thousands OF dollars
worth here Look at itw
Hilary could see now that the coarse
fibers ran through the side of the cliff
In every direction. They were so
blended with the notified stone that
ne had not even noticed them.
THAT accounts for everything" he
said.
seau wasn't paying all those hands at
Ste. Marie and pretending to work his
limits just to jump your timber rights.
i knew he had something up his sleeve.
but l didn't know what. / knew there
wasn't no gold round here"
80 that's why he wants to get me
out of the way"
That's the whole game, sir. He
knew you'd hit upon this mine sooner
or later, though he'd left the island
of the map Of the seigniory. Lord
what fool was not 10 have known ;"
There's more TO ii than that, Lafe.
That's why he tried to draw us off the
scent on the subject Of the river boun-
dary. He thought that If he could get
into fight with us over that we
wouldn't be thinking of the island.
And this mine belongs to Rosny. No
wonder Brousseau wants the seign-
ioryw
ITS as good as a play" said Lafe.
at gives us the trump card" said
Hilary. 1T means that he'll lose his
hold over him, and-well, Lafe. feel
too happy TO say any more about IT,"
Lafe grabbed him by the hand.
"We've won," he said ecstatically.
"And now guess we'd best be start
ing for the boat"
They retraced their steps along the
trail. II was nervous experience.
with the thought that old Jacques
might be lurking in the bushes nearby.
However, by the time they reached the
little open space they satisfied them
selves that he was not following them.
"We'ye passed our landing place"
said Hilary
Looking out across the gray waters
he perceived, close at hand, and ap-
parently beached on the shore, the
white sail OF sloop. II seemed to be
the vessel which they had seen earlier
that afternoon. tacking toward the
south shore.
The men looked at each other, and
the same unspoken question was In
the eyes OF each. Then Lafe grabbed
Hilary by the shoulders.
"See herel" he said. 1--WE amt go
ing to stay and fight Brousseau's gang
just for the fun Of IL. / guess It's
Pierre and Leblanc I'm that boat all
right, and that they're on their way
home. We beat IL for ours as hard as
we can go-see? You amt fit TO do
no more fighting anyway" he pleaded.
"And won't, no matter what happens
that's straight to you. I'll fight any
man with fists If l got to. but I'm
darned If I'll stand up against that
scum with camp knives"
you're quite right, Lafe," answered
Hilary. Come, let's get to the boat as
quick as we can"
(TO BE CONTINUED
WEST CRATTAN