The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1921-12-23

f.
!. Fullerton su,,, drew up a chair and I.
2 taik, much as If we'd invited Su ", essa
about bis Woodworking wear - !, nun
America, about the fohW,a, y souA
mines In that far-away ITsos, s'y riA
goldsdiggers; about his yoyaaa a :. % d
the isthmus; about the oddSss ~ non
meeting me on the train ~ oa,l g iis
with the more excruciatlno "a su'Olnsd hi
MS meeting me again, here IN tAa y
ern Timanyonis; things like nv l.. aas N
He was just comfortablv ss
along In the swing Of II whan 'sfgas n
opened behind us and no ,rra. : aoa
with another well, well loos Veu y
hereR and when turned l. "u0i
holding Jeanie's two hands Il ~ wa
braying over her like wild 81 !. aaa
plains. And, If youll belIeye u Z ~
girl had gone and changed her G, y.
That Is what she went to do when nv ~
slipped out and left me to stare J, y
empty chair, after she had haarS -
father say, swell, hello, Charley Pn1 4
lerton!" Dut
It wns all off with me from ~.
time on. For what was left N =.
evening, Fullerton played 4 soIo
got fuil-up on the performance ab,,.
nine o'clock. and climbed nv ladda.
and went to bed, muffllng my head !,
the blankets so that | wouldn't bar.
to lie there and listen to the baUips
drone of Bullerton's voice in the room
below.
/ hoped-without the least shadow y
reason for the hope, of course--ths,
the next morning would show me-
hole In the. atmosphere in the spaca
that Fullerton had occupied. But
there was no such luck. He was pres
ent at the breakfast table, as arga
as life and twice as talkatiye.
made my escape from the cabin
as soon as could and tramped over
to the mine. A glance into the shaft
showed the black pool in its depths as
placid and untroubled as If we hadn't
just lifted million or so cubic feet
of water out of 1t by hard labor
In morose discouragement recalled
the few things l had learned about
drowned mines while l was knocking
about in the Cripple Greek district
trying to trace Fullerton. Particular.
ly remembered my talk with Hilton,
the man who had finally put me upon
what had proved to be the right track
In the. tracing job. He had talked
quite freely. Sometimes the flood was
only the tapping of an underground
stream, as when one digs we'll; In
other cases-and these were most com
mon in the Cripple Creek region
the source of the flood would be found
in a buried lake or reservoir, large or
not so large, as the luck might have
it. If the source were lake-s0 Hi.
ton had said-there was little use In
| trying to pump the mine dry.
Mulling over these discouraging bits
of information, was naturally led
back to the Pullman smoking-room tab
with Fullerton. / remembered, with
sharp little flick of the memory whip
that he had given an expert opinion
which, as it seemed, he had backed VI
year earlier with thousand dol
lars of real money-the deposit In tn
| Omaha bank made to cover my grand
fathers bargain binder. What be MAJ
I said was, "Fm reasonably certain tina
Z. l discovered a way in which that min
can be drained at comparatively smal
expense"
Had he really discovered a wayf-
and with no better data than STUD
of the maps? Staring down al U
black pool which Daddy and l hadn
been able to lower by so much as
fraction of an inch In a weeks puml
ing, | doubted 1t.
/ was stumbling out toward .fhe e
CINE room with my head down an
my hands in my pockets when near
footsteps coming from the direction
the cabin beyond the dump. LooRip
out, saw Fullerton sauntering oN'
toward the shaft-house. Thouen
knew that some sort of wrangle WI
him was inevitable. / was percy.
willing to postpone it, so easea !
10 the blacksmith shop and SAT u0N
on the anvil, hoping he might mss ! !
and go away. But there was no'ui'
coming TO me on that bet !,
Il saw your lead when you ieis :
house." he began, after he HAD lou ~,
me and had busted of an empty W. ~,
mite box for sea-. Don't you UNI
you've played it rather low down
meT'
How SOP :,
"By taking In my story OF TINS ~ =,
when / told II to you without ~.
me hint that you were the PEI
most deeply interested-sinee my
gentleman was your grandfa'her,
1T didn't strike me that way, ans
doesn't yet" | shot back. ",
you were mighty careful not y -,
me the name of your old gent'ela e,
or rather, should say, you neu y
II when / wired YOU \,
IAN ordinary business precuu's