The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1921-09-30
smoke upward more u 1e raA~ :

IT. wen call in as much Of the law |
as We can get, and meet II halfway,
Eth. HayesT
Sure" nodded the mining expert
Dale was on his way to the nsw
siding the following morning. when fm
met Henderson Gofr Again Dale was
fOrcibly reminded of stories he had
heard and read of Mississippi rfyew
steamboat gamblers Of the long aga
Cor stepped out of the trail, smiled
and spoke with apparent good humsr.
Dale passed hun without ii word
Then the shyster coal man called
ozt. Ready TO sell yeffv
The Moreiand Coal company's razn-
ager halted and faced about vita O
puckering of his broWs.
"For fair price. yes"
@Just what would ron can fais
price7
~Oh, somewhere between two and
three hundred thousand promptly.
Goff shifted. and the corners Of his
mouth came down.
@You don't want much. You wont
! get Ii from mel
Il don't want 1t from you
Dale turned and went on. he wMa
sorry that he had stopped TO talk with
the fellow.
That afternoon he again mel 0oT
In the trail. The bare sight on tbs
shyster made him very angry now. ana
his right hand fell upon the butt Of
the big revolver on his hip. GoR VISA
about to sidestep In the iaureis, whem
Dale caught him roughly by the arrn
See here" he said sharply, you've
about cut your little syfath. We'w
had enough of you. You can't get thia
coal at any price, and the sooner yos
get yourself out OF this country tha
better and safer 1t VIII be for you
To be plain. I'm pretty apt 10 thrash
you the very next time see you. Nos
move on! :"
| Goff went of laughing wfckedly.
"Oh, all right, Dale: go ahead ana
ARsld the little road for mer' he said
| bate that nigss every sleeper in the
valley of the Doe wss awakened by o
great, rumbllng explosion. which was
followed almost imme@atesy by am
other great, rumbling e1s@esion. Be
fore the reyerberations had diet
away. Bill Dale had dressed himself
and was standing on the Sine-huns
front porch, and he was snlE few
seconds ahead of John Aioreland.
Then there came the tearing sounA
of a heavy explosion uiks to the east.
ward.
do ye know what it fsT' inquiries
the mountaineer.
They've stolen our dynamite from
the tobacco-barn. and blown up the of
fee and supplies building and the com
missary building; also they've blows
up the big trestls near the siding
9 Dale answered.
"'Ats my guess too" said Moro
land.
Within the next half hour Dale and
: Hayes, Major Bradley, and the men
folk Of the Morelands and the Little
fords had gathered around the wrecA
!, of the two big, unfinished frame build
ings. Dale blamed himself much foe
having left dynamite unguarded In tina
|. tobacco-barn-bu Nobody else blamed
!, him for II.
Its time to let the law In" he said
when he had viewed the jumbled masa
: of broken planks and timbers by the
light of lanterns He turned to stall
= wart Luke Moreland.
You get on my horse and ride Co
Gainesville for the sheriff. Tell hin
he can get the best posse in the weEia
). right here, If he needs one. It's tia
:, proper thing, isn't II, majorr'
"Yes." said Major Bradley. its ths
proper thing. You've got a real griev'
ance now. But i fancy Coz had moth
ing TO do with this: he La shrewd
, enough to know that a thing like rhsa
would cook his goose. GofT has besn
playing a blum game all along, Jos
know. Some Balls or some Torreys
perhaps a mixture Of both. have dons
this without Goffs knowing anything
about 1t. I'd have Sheriff Flowers ar
= rest several Of the Balls and several
of the Torreys, and try to scare then
:. into turning states evidence to save
themselves"
The major finished In a low tone
because OF the probability for eaFeo
troopers. and In this he was wise
@WeTI do that" Dale decided
He faced Hayes. his dght-hand MAJ
. and began to give orders like vet
eran general manager. The men wers
!, to take their rifles with them to wors
in the morning. but they were TO nrs
no shot unless 1t was In defense Of
:, life or property. In the morning ever
available wagon in thu valley was q
he sent to the little sawmill that was
in operation ten miles toward the low
= land for more building material.
! BY Heck Joined them then Ia
guessed Just what had happened