The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-06-01
THIS BEGINS THE STORY

Peter Nicholaevftch, Russian
 Grand Duke, exiled by revoIu-
 tfon, comes to this country on a
 British ship, working his passage
 steward. On board he meets
 Jim Coast, who invites him to be
 partner with him in some shady
 scheme, details unknow to Peter,
 and he turns it down. As Peter
 Nichols, he takes charge of
 group of men on the estate of
 Jonathan K. McGuire, whose
 duty it is to keep all strangers
 from the house. The man Me
 Guire fears breaks the guard and
 scares the housel<eeper- Beth's
 father, a ne'er-do-weII, has been
 missing for years. Peter fears
 that the stranger is Beth's father.
 The stranger sends a message to
 McGuire, appointin" a meeting.
 The message is. signed Hawk
 Kennedy Peter meets him for
 Mcclure and discovers that he is
 Jim Coast. Coast tells him that
 Mcclure long ago in the West
 slew his partner and later desert
 cd him, Coast, to let him die of
 thirst on the resert. "HorribIc,'
 says Peter.
 AND HERE TT CONTINUES
 'It was. I reckon I died-the soul of me, or what was left of 1t. I came to life under the starlight, with a couple of 'greasers' droppin' water on my tongue They brought me around, but I was out of my head for a week. I couldn't talk the lingo anyhow. I just went with 'em like a child. There wasn't anything else to do. Lucky they didn't kill me. I guess I wasn't worth kil1in'. We went South. They were maxim for Herm osi1lo. Revo1utionists. They took all my money-about $500. But it was worth it. They'd saved my even if I wanted to. had no money, nor any way of gettin' any,
 Jim Coast leaned forward, glover ing at the rag carpet.
 "But IT didn't want to go back just then. The fear of God was in me. I'd looked into hel1.''
 He laughed bitterly.
 Then I joined the 'greasers' against Diaz I've told you about that And the Hurdles cleaned us up all right. A girl saved my life. Instead of shootin' me against a mud wall, they put me to work on a rail- road. I was there three years. I escap ped at last and reached the coast, where I shipped for South America It was the only way out, but all the while I was thinkin' of Mike Mo Guire and the copper mine. You know the rest, Pete--the Argentine deal that might of made me rich an how it fell through. Don't 1t beat hell how the world bites the under dog!''
 ''But why didn't you go back to America and fight your claim with McGuire?" asked. Peter, aware of the sinister, missing passage in the story.
 Coast shot a sharp glance at his questioner.
 There were two reasons-one of which you won't know. The other was that I couldn't. I was on the beach an not too popular. The only ships out of Buenos Aires were, for London. That was the easiest way back to America anyhow. So ship ped as a cattle hand. And there you are. I lived easy in London. That's me. Easy come, easy go. There 1t was I wrote a man knew out in Bis hee-the feller that helped stake us -and he answered me that Mcclure was dead, and that the mine was ffivver-too far away to work. You see he must of showed the letter to Mcclure, and Mcclure told him what to write That threw me off the track. I forgot him and went to France. *"
 Coast paused while he filled his glass again
 '.It wasn't until I reached New York that I found out McGuire was alive It was just a chance while was plannin' another deal I took it. hunted around the brokers offices where they sell copper stocks It didn't take me long to find that my mine was the "Tarantula-' McGuire had developed it with capital from Denver, built a narrow guage in. Then
 . I,T cIror for more than half a million clear"
 Peter was studying Coast keenly. thinking hard. But the story held with what he already knew of the mans history.
 That's when Mike Mcclure tackled the Jonathan K onto his name" Coast went on. And that moneys mine the good half of it. Figure it out for yourself. Say s50o.OOO, per cent, 15 years| reckon l could worry along on that even if he would mt do better-which he will.
 well, ,Pete-to shorten up-I found McGuire was herein New York and I laid for him. I watched for a while and then one day I got my nerve up and tackled him on the street You ought to of seen his face when I told him who l was and what I'd come for. We were in the crowd at BrOadWay ana Wadl, peOpIe all about us. He started the high and mighty stuff for a minute until crurnpIed him up with a few facts I thought he was goin' to have a stroke for a minute, when I made my brace for the five thou-then he turned tail and ran into the crowd pale as death. I lost him then. But it didn't matter. I'd find him again. l knew where his office was-and his hotel. It was dead easy. But he beat it down here. 1t took me awhile to pick up the trail But here I am, Pete-here l am are Tn harbor at last"
 Coast took the bills out of his rock- ct and slowly counted them again. And when you come back from the West. what will you do?' asked Peter. "Oh, now you're talkin', Pete. I'm goin' to settle down and live respect able I like this country around here I came from Jersey, you know, in the first place. I might build nice place keep a few horses and automo- opd eniou my old age-ruQ