The Holbrook news., 1922-12-01
THE CROSS-CUT
By Courtney Ryley Cooper
oopyrighs by Litsls, Brown . co.

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
 CT 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 hand.
 'Ere's something more that's nice" he announced. pointing to an Item on the front page. It 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 1t with morbldity. Trouble seemed to have become more than occasional, and further than that, 1t appeared to descend upon him at just the times when he could least re- sist 1t. 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 a six-column adver- tisement, announcing the strike In the Silver Queen mine and also spreading the word that a two-mlllion-dOllar company would be formed. one mill lion in stock to represent the mine It. self, the other to be subscribed to ex- ploit this new find as 1t, should be ex- plotted. Glowing words told of the possibilities of the Silver Queen. Of fees had been opened; everything had been planned in advance and the ad- vertisement written before the town was aware of the big discovery up Kentucky gulch. All of 1t Fairchild read with feeling he could not down "a feeling that Fate, somehow, was dealing the cards from the bottom, and that trickery and treachery and a venomous nature were the necessary ingredients, after all, to success. He finished the last line, looked at the list of officers, and gasped.
 For there, following one another. were three names, two of which Fair child had expected. But the other
 They were, president and general manager, R. B. (Squint) Rodaine; secretary-treasurer, Maurice Rodaine; and first vice president-Miss Anita Natalie RichmondI
 After that, Fairchild heard little that Harry said as he rambled on about plans for the future. He sat and stared, until finally his partner said goodnight and left the room.
 That name could mean only one thing: that she had consented to be- come partner with them, that they had won her over, after all Now. even a different light came upon the with Barnham in Denver and a different view to Fairchild. What if she had been playing their game all along? What If she had been merely a tool for them; what If she had sent Farrell at their direction, to learn everything he and Harry knew2 Had not another lawyer played the friend ship racket, in an effort to buy the Blue Poppy mine?
 And here Fairchild smiled grimly. From the present prospects, 1t would seem that the gain would have been all on his side, for certainly there was little to show now toward a possibility of the Blue Poppy ever being worth near the figure which he had been offered for 1t. And yet, If that offer had not been made as some sort of stiletto jest, why had 1t been made at all? Was it because Rodaine knew that wealth did lie concealed there? Fairchild suddenly took hope. He clenched his hands and he spoke, to himself, to the darkness and to the spirits of Encouragement that were all about him:
 If it's there, we'll find tiff we have to work our fingers to the bone, If we have to starve and die there we'll find ftp
 With that determination, he went to bed, to awake in the morning filled with desire 70 reach the mine, to claw at Its vitals with the sharp edged drills, to swing the heavy sledge until his shoulders and back ached,