Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1922-05-18


and spoke with apparent good humor
Dale passed him without word.
Then the shyster coal man called
out, Ready To sell yet?'
The Moreland Coal company's man.
ager halted and faced about with a
pickering of his brows.
"For a fair price, yes"
"Just what would you call fair
prlce?'
ooh, somewhere between two and
three hundred thousand" promptly.
Goff shifted, and the corners of his
mouth came down.
"You don't want much. You won't
get 1t from mel"
III don't want II from YOU"
Dale turned and went on. He was
sorry that he had stopped TO talk with
the fellow.
That afternoon he again met Con
i'm the trail. The bare sight OF the
shyster made him very angry now, and
his right hand fell upon the butt OF
the big revolver on his hip. Goff was
about TO sidestep in the laurels, when
Dale caught him roughly by the arm
"See here" he said sharply, you've
about cut your little swath. We've
had enough of you. You can't get this
coal at any price. and the sooner You
get yourself out OF this country the
better and safer ii will be for you
To be plain, I'm pretty apt to thrash
you the very next time see you. Now
move on"
Golf went off laughing wickedly.
"Oh. all right, Dale go ahead and
build the little road for me! !" he said.
Late that night every sleeper in the
valley of the Doe was awakened by a
great, rumbling explosion, which was
followed almost Immediately by an
other great, rumblng explosion. Be-
fore the reverberations had died
away, Bill Dale had dressed himself
front porch, and he was only few
seconds ahead of John Moreland.
Then there came the tearing sound
of a heavy explosion miles to the east
ward.
do We know what 1t Isl" inquired
the mountaineer.
They've stolen our dynamite from
the tobacco-barn, and blown up the Of
flee and supplies building and the COM
missary building; also they've blown
up the big trestle near the siding"
Dale answered.
"'At's my guess, too" said More
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 wreck
of the two big, unfinished frame build
ings. Dale blamed himself much for
having left dynamite unguarded in the
tobacco-barn-but nobody else blamed
him for it.
ITS time to let the law In" he said
when he had viewed the jumbled mass
of broken planks and timbers by the
light Of lanterns. He turned TO stall
wart Luke Moreland.
You get on my horse and ride to
Gainesville for the sheriff. Tell him
he can get the best posse in the world
right here, If he needs one. It's the
proper thing, isn't 1t, major?"
yes" said Major Bradley, ats the
proper thing. You've got a real grew
ance now. But l fancy Golf had moth
ing to do with this; he Is shrewd
enough to know that a thing like this
would cook his goose. Golf has been
playing a bluff game all along, you
know. Some Balls or some Torreys,
perhaps mixture of both, have done
this without COTS knowing anything
about IT. I'd have Sheriff Flowers ar
rest several of the Balls and several
of the Torreys, and try to scare them
into turning states evidence to save
themselves"
The major finished In a low tone,
because of the probability for caves
troopers, and in this he was wise.
"We'll do that" Dale decided.
He faced Hayes, his right-hand man,
and began to give orders like a vet
eran general manager. The men were
to take their rifles with them to work
in the morning, but they were to fire
no shot unless ii was in defense of
life or property. In the morning every
available wagon In the valley was to
be sent to the little sawmill that was
in operation ten miles toward the low
land for more building material.
BY Heck Joined them then. He
guessed just what had happened.
plucked at Dale's sleeve and whis-
pered:
"Sposen / takes a sneak or two to-
ward them lowdown, walnut-eyed,
knock-kneed, dadblamed Balls and
Torreys and finds out what can find
out; hey, Bill?
The answer came readily: "Sure.
you be detective. But be careful that
you don't lose anything for us, y
know, If you don't gain anything"
BY Heck and his rifle disappeared
in the darkness of the mountain night.
A little after work-tlme that day,
Bill Dale started alone on the way of
the narrow-gauge railroad for the sid
ing. He wished to see for himself just
what the damage had been TO the
trestle, and he hoped to meet Golf, or
a Ball, or a Torrey, and learn some