The Hope pioneer., 1922-10-12

you ought to be able to find that out
pretty shortly"
AS if in answer, the sheriff turned
and shouted question down the
mountain side. And back came the
answer:
Its Doc Mason's. Must have been
stolen. Doc was at the Dance"
Il guess that settles it," The Off
Ger reached for his hip pocket. "Stick
out your hands, Harry, While l put
the cuffs on them."
but 'ow in bloody ell ave been
doing anything when I've been up ERE
working on the chiv wheel? 'Ow-?"
''They say you held up the dance
tonight and robbed u.s." Fairchild cut
in. Harry's face lost its surprised
look, to give way to glance of keen
questioning.
"And do you say it,"
II most certainly do not. The iden-
tification was given by that honorable
person known as Mr.. Maurice Ro-
daine."
"Oh! One thief identifying an
other"
Sheriff" Again the voice from be-
low.
| "Yeh!"
| "We've found cache down here
Must have been made in a hurry-two
new revolvers, bullets, a mask, a cou-
Pile of new handkerchiefs and the
money!"
Harry eyes grew wide. Then he
stuck out his hands.
'The evidence certainly is piling
up" he grunted. II might as we'll
save my talking for later"
That's good idea." The sheriff
snapped the handouts into place.
Then Fairchild shut off the pumps
and they started toward the machine.
Back in Ohadi more news awaited
them. Harry, if Harry had been the
highwayman, had gone to no expense
for his outfit. The combined general
store and hardware emporium of
Gregg Brothers had been robbed of
the articles necessary for Disguise
also the revolvers and their bullets.
Robert Fairchild watched Harry
placed in the solitary cell Of the county
Jail with a spirit that could not re-
spopd to the Cornishmans grin and
his assurances that morning would
bring righting of affairs. -Four
charges hung heavy above him: that
of horse-stealing, of burglary, Of high
way robbery, and worse, the final as
sault with attempt to kill. Fairchild
turned wearily away; he could not
find the optimism to join Harry's
cheerful announcement that 1t would
be "all right" The appearances were
otherwise. Besides, up in the little
hospital on the hill, Fairchild had seen
lights cleaning as he entered the Jail,
and he knew that doctors were work
ing there over the wounded body of
the fiddler. Tired, heavy at heart,
his earlier conquest of the night sod
den and overshadowed now, he turned
away from the cell and its optimistic
cccupant-out into the night.
It was only short walk to the hos
pital and Fairchild went there, to
leave with at least a ray Of hope. The
probing operation had been completed;
the fiddler would live, and at least the
charge against Harry would not be
one of murder. That was thing for
which to be thankful; but there was
plenty to cause CONSERVATION. as Fair
child walked slowly down the dark,
winding street toward the main thor
oughfare. Without Harry, Fairchild
now felt himself lost. Before the big,
genial, eccentric Cornishman had come
into his life. he had believed, with
some sort Of divine ignorance, that
he could carry out his ambitions by
himself, with no knowledge of the tech
nical details necessary to mining, with
no previous history of the Blue Pop
py to guide him, and with no help
against the enemies who seemed every
where. Now he saw that it was i'm
possible. More, the incidents of the
night showed how swiftly those ene-
mics were working, how sharp and
stiletto-like their weapons.
That Harry was innocent was GER
tain-to Robert Fairchild.
Looking back over it now, he could
see how easily Fate had played into
the hands Of the Rodaines, if the Ro-
DANES had not possessed deeper con-
cern than merely to seize upon hap
pening and turn it to their own ac-
count. The highwayman was big. The
highwayman talked with a Cousin
Jack" accent-fOr all Cornishmen are
"Cousin Jacks" in the mining country.
Those two features in themselves,
Fairchild thought. as he stumbled
along in the darkness, were sufficient
to start the scheming plot in the brain
of Maurice Rodaine, already ugly and
evil through the trick played by Harry
on his father and the rebuke that had
come from Anita Richmond. It was
an easy matter for him to get the in
| spiration, leap out of the window. and
then wait until the robber had gone,
that he might flare forth with his
accusation. And after that.
Either Chance or something strong