Evening star., 1922-01-29

the south Of them; the twin granite
| buttes that marked where the Sui
phur Sink began, and SO forth.
There were stories connected with
each name, and Mangas, who had lis
tened to the old desert rats at their
EARNING. knew the stories. Thus to
| both of them the four hours passed
swiftly. until at length they drew In
to the long canon which they sought
II X i
! MO trail went nowadays by the way
Of Las Palmas Hermanas. The
| water had vanished years ago, and
| for time Mangas was not at all cer-
| tain that he had found the right place
When they reached the fork of the
canon, however, they found that this
was beyond question the spot pictured
in the map. The sister palms had van
ished utterly. and all sign of water
hole had departed. yet there was no
mistaking the place. 81,
| But where's the claim. where's. the
tunnel that's on the map?" asked
Beth. staring helpl'.ssly around at the
| waste Of rock and stand and cactus.
Gone the same way Of the two
palm trees, most likely" said Mangas.
| However, we know about where it
should be. Do you know the kind of
I ore or clay you're after, the color
| Of it. mean?"
mo. l have an impression it was
| yellow. but / can't be certain
By reference to the map Mangas
of 10
might be the caved-in tunnel; there
was little to prove the fact, however,
amid the waste of rock and sand on
the hillside. He now gave his atten-
tion to rigging up a shelter for the
girl. by the aid Of blanket, Joshua
tree and a couple of sticks.
TN have to pick around for Bit"
he explained. wen stop here for
most of the day. SO there's no rush:
and you must keep out Of the sun as
much as possible. In another hour
it'll be hundred and twenty in this
canon"
But You can't work in such heat"
expostulated Beth. Mangas laughed.
II don't ain, to do much work. just
look around bit. And I'm used to it.
have any idea that the map referred
to Las Palmas HerrnanasS'
Beth frowned slightly. Not until
the other night. He was trying to get
the map away from me when you
came. 1t was with the roll Of money,
and he had started to examine it when
you interfered."
ManEas dismissed the matter care
lessly. In fact he was not a whit
worried over Heller. whom he knew
to be an arrant coward. Since this
mine could turn out nothing except
fire clay, at best. II would not afford
a very fruitful subject for dispute.
Pick in hand Mangas worked his
way up the hillside. testing out the
ledges and various points of contact.
AS he worked higher up the side of
the canon he got away from the talus
he found less sand and more rock.
Then. unexpectedly. he came upon Il
i freshly dug hole among some boul-
| ders. 1t opened up what was undoubt-
edly yellowish clay formation, un-
der foot Of soil.
Mangas stood staring at it in STAR
tied alarm. Fresh? 1t was so fresh
| that 1t had not been dug an hour ago:
The sides OF the exposed hole were
not nearly SO hot as the soil around;
| the sun had not been at it so very
long. Again. discarded quid of to-
! bacco lay under a rock to one side
| where it had been flung. Testing il
| Mangas found that it was not yet
quite dry and hard. The evidence
! was indisputable. And Crater Heller,
! he knew. chewed tobacco constantly,
For space Mangas stood there
and gradually reconstructed in his
| own mind what must have taken
place. Heller had seen the telltale
words written across the back of the
! map and had come here. He must
! have had a scanty water supply to
| come with. also. Then he had set to
| work to explore the ground. Had he
| struck this clay by accident? Very
| likely.
, A LMOST at the moment he had un-
covered it he must have seen Man
gas and Beth Linder approaching the
place. Mangas turned and looked; yes,
! one could see the entire lower canon
| from here. Heller must have decamped
at once. He must have gone, then.
up the canon.
Mangas went over the ground care.
| fully. There were no monuments, no
| location notices; Heller had not even
tried to Jump" the claim. He had
probably been afraid to linger, espe-
cially as he was disarmed. What, then,
would he do? What was his game?
Climbing the hillside to a higher
| point Mangas carefully scrutinised
everything in sight. Almost all at
once an exclamation broke from him.
He caught sight of a moving dot in
/ the distance, Heller and a burro evil
IDENTIFY. They had just debouched
from a small canon farther to the
| north. Heller had circled about and
had come back to the fiat floor Of the
desert and was heading north. Was
he going back to the cabin?
Bound to be-" reflected Mangas
angrily. He'll head for town. file on
the claim and then come back later
to post his notices. He might get
away with fraud of that sort. too;
it's been done. But in order to get
in town, he'll have to have water
! Therefore. he'll visit the cabin"
He hastened down the hillside. TAX
ing sample Of the clay with him. and
rejoined Beth Linder. '1s this the
stufr"' he demanded. The girl in