Gunnison news-champion., 1921-12-30


stead. ! made him . proposition. Of
fer-d TO undertake the drainage job
q; my own Gusts IL should succeed
he was 10 deed me a fourth Interest In
the property. II ! didn't succeed. II
was to Gust him noihins-sort VI .
continsenI Zee. as lawyer would say
| laughed You made an offer like
that 10 = stranger. and on u mine that
you had never ssenT
He srinned good-naturedly and got
back NJ the. quick
-All business j. taking OF chances
As the matter stood II that stage Of
the game. had everything 10 gain and
nothing 10 lose. and the only chance
was taking Was in the bet on my own
ability as an engineer. The old .naD
Was n queer odd codger In some re-
spects. as secretiye and caGfi"us as
an old fox For erzmple: he bad care
fully clipped the name Of the mine
from the blue-pFiBts and other papers.
and In all our talk be never once let
that name slip. and never .yeh men
toned the name OF the district In
which the mine was located. But IL
spite OF all this caution he drew up u
sort Of option agreement with me.
We found n lawyer and had III.
agreement drawn W In legal form.
The time limit was TO be year. and
each OF Us was TO put up thousand
dollars to make the agreement bind
Ing. II either Of u should wish 10
withdraw within that time. he WIS NJ
liberty To do 80 by forf.lting his ante
of a Thousand dollars to the other II
neither of Us withdrew by or before
the end Of the year. ! Was to be at lib.
srty TO go ahead with my drainage
project. and the agreement bound The
owner to turn over n one-fourth inter.
est In the property to me upon the
completion of the Job and the unwater-
Ing OF the mine
at the moment ! WAS under engage
ment TO go to Peru for n Chicago syn
dicate. and ] expected TO be out OF ,the
United States for at least six months.
and maybe longer. A. II turned out.
the South American job was lot big.
ger than | had anticipated. and for
that reason the time limit Of year
expired a week ago. on the day that
landed In New York. Yesterday ]
called upon the Omaha banker. and he
gave me the cheering Information that
my old man was dead-had died just
few days earlier"
"Sull, / don't see how you have lost
out put in.
Walt: here comes the funny part
Of It. Mr. Banker tells me solemnly
that am remembered in my old gen
tleman's disposition Of some cash lega-
Giles made just before his death. and
I'm To have the thousand dollars which
he put up Ms IA forfeit. took the prize
down ard spent some Of II within the
next few minutes wiring the old mans
home lawyer. whose name and address
the banker had given me. | briefed
the situation for the lawyer. said was
ready 10. fulfli my part of the con
tract. and asked him TO wire me the
name and location Of the mine. You'd
never guess in ts,usand years the
kind Of an answer got"
shook my head.
mo: probably not. What was it?''
1T was bolt from the blue, all
right. Sir. Home Lawyer wired that
his client had never owned share Of
mining stock in his life. that there was
nothing in his papers or records bear
ing upon the subject Of my telegram.
and that I must he either drunk or
crazy. OF course. he didn't put 1t just
that way in his reply, but that is what
he meant"
"IIow do you sort II out r inquired.
THE lawyers telegram? put Il up
that my cautious. secretive old gentle
man never told anybody at home about
his mining investments: kept them In
a separate pocket. SO to speak. Quite
possibly he didn't have any other ex-
ceptiBg the one I've been telling you
about, and the one he regarded as q
dead cock In the pit. That would ex-
plain the situation nicely, don't you
| thinkT'
The story had left me a bit foggei
! as to the present state and standing
Of the thing. and said So
well. 1t stacks up about this way"
said Brown-beard. There Is q per
IeNtiy stNi mime SoutWneIe We8S OF
US that is worth anywhere from q
quarter to q half million. and at the
present moment II is kicking around
without an owner. So far as can see.
I'm the only man on top Of earth who
has claim on any part Of II. And
have no more idea than the man In the
| moon where IL Is at No; I'm afraid
my handsome fortune is lost dog. 10
far rs I'm concerned"
IT'S rsntion of lost dog hit me
right in the center Of the soIar plexus
and laughed like fool
What struck your funny-bone.- he
demanded. sort Of obviously. l fancied
Nothing" gurgied; nothing
worth mentioning-only I'm hunting
for lost dog. too"
But didn't tell him any more After
we'd smoked a while longer, and