The St. Charles herald., 1922-11-11
THE CROSS-CUT
By Courtney Ryley Cooper
Copyright By Little, Brown 4 Co.

they don't even take the trouble to
mine. That is, unless they run Ugh in
silver" he picked up chunk Of the
ore from the muck pile where 1t had
been deposited and studied it intently
but / don't see any pure silver
sticking out In this stuff"
"But it must be here somewhere. l
don't know anything about mining
hut don't veins sometimes pinch on
and then show up later on?"
"Sure they do-sometimes. But It's
gamble"
"That's all we've had from the be-
ginning, Harry"
"And it's about all we're going to
ave any time unless something bobs
up sudden like"
Then, by common consent, they laid
away their working clothes and left
the mine, to wander down the gulch
and to the boarding house. After din
ner they chatted moment with Moth
er Howard, then went upstairs, each
to his room. An hour later Harry
knocked at Fairchild's door, and en-
tered, the evening paper In his band.
.'Ere's something more that's nice"
he announced. pointing to an Item on
the front page. 1t was the announce
ment that a general grand jury was
| to be convened late.in the summer and
| that one Of its tasks would be to seek
| to unravel the mystery Of the murder
| Of Sissie Larsen
Fairchild read it with morbidity.
Trouble seemed to have become more
than occasional, and further than that,
II appeared to- descend upon him ut
Just the times when he could least re
sist it. He made no comment; there
was little that he could say. Again
he read the item and again, finally to
turn the page and breathe sharply
Before him was six-cOlumn adver'
tisement, announcing the strike in the
Silver Queen mine and also spreading
| the word that a twO-million-doliar
company would be formed, one mil
lion In stock to represent the mine It
self, the other to be subscribed to ex
| plot this new find as it should be ex
! plotted. Glowing words told OF the
possibilities of the Silver Queen. or
fees had been opened everything hat
been planned in advance and the ad
vertisement written before the towr
was aware Of the big discovery ur
Kentucky gulch. All of 1t Fairchiit
read with a feeling he could not dowr
Ia feeling that Fate, somehow, wal
dealing the cards from the bottom
and that trickery and treachery ant
venomOus nature were the necessar!
ingredients, after all, to success. H'
finished the last line, looked at the lis
Of officers, and gasped.
For there, following one another
were three names, two OF which Fair
child had expected. But the other
4 They were, president and genera
manager, R. B. (Squint) Rodaine
Isecretary-treasurer, Maurice Rodaine
and first vice president Miss Anti
Natalie Richmond
After that, Fairchild heard littl
| tndL HARRY Sdlu hS Hc ioAnOiS" "
about plans for the future. He sat an
stared, until finally his partner sal
goodnight and left the room.
That name could mean only on
thing: that she had consented to bt
come a partner with them, that the
had won her over, after all. Nov
even a different light came upon tn
meeting with Barnham IN Denver an
a different view to Fairchild. Whs
IL she had been playing their game a
along? What II she Had been merel
a tool for them; what If she had ser
Farrell at their direction, to lear
everything he and Harry knew? Ha
not another lawyer played the frien'
? ship racket, in an effort to buy 4
. Blue Poppy mine?
And here Fairchild smiled griml
From the present prospects, It woul
! seem that the gain would have bee
all on his side, for certainly there WI