Evening star., 1923-09-26

T Once above the yawnins SPACE
| along which the trail skirted, Pete
| quickly drew his knife, cut the bind. |.
lag ropes ana sent bag after bag %
s. of the e fi Tssse (. d9Ss sSsr .fs s
would be safe until far into the nsxt
with rapid movements he stripped
All the harness except the eriAles
from the painting horses, Then, CIV,
shove after the ore sacks. hs spraisg
on the back of one OF the animals,
and leading the ether behind. he sal :
ioPed on toward the mine.
He knew he was fully an heur In
hind. yet he knew not what te ax.
peet at the bunk houses above, 80
ne increased his speed to the ut
Dawn waa not yet breaking whea
the lone light on the gable of the
nsi. main house ieomad before h.rn:
steaming horaes to convenient bysass,
hiding them from the trail as best
he could. For a moment he hesi-
tated. 20 pat the faithful heads 81
the horses. Precious as time was, he
could not continue his fsht untll he
/ had nfst sneaked to the several new
! buildings he found clustered about
| the entrance of the tunnel, where for
| nearly quarteN of an hour he
/ searched before finally eemiag onto
TIVE bits OF old canvas. With phieh
he covered the fast chilling bodies
First be listened. intentIy for
sounds OF his pufsuers. 0essrsing
hno evidence OF life about, he made Tor
the small window Of the bunk house
| he remembered. In the dim light
that emanated from the single LAM
tern overhead he observed that many
| new hunks had been added to the
ones he remembered. One end of the
room, too, haa been partitioned OF,
and he made on! q sign on Q deer
IN the center Of II that might be
once or Private" he ceuld not
Pete remembered the words OF
Hawkins, words that Butler had firSt
| spoken to Tams
The oficials will be there to re-
ssiVs sh. the Gsss ss ssS sss WY m.
more he considered the words. the
less he believed them. yet he hoped
! against hope that Butler had this
| time spoken the truth. ana he bur
ried around the side Of the hoqse
building. < light there s stresnes
Investigate it. but the feundation
of the building rested almost on the
edge Of the cliff. and he found prog
ress to q spot below the window net
only slow, but hazardous In the ex-
| tFenae. Once there, he considered
| long before determining what his
next step would be. He knew ne
dared not show his face to the light
for once his presence became known.
! voices within, but could not make
out the meaning Of the low spoken
! words. with his naked hnger he
traced the cracks between the boards
that formed the end of the building.
| Selecting the widest one, he drew his
heavy clasp knife and worked the
! point OF the blade slowly bstween
| the boards Gradually he sliced
| splinter after splinter, until the peat-
up light from within came out In a
stream fully Q quarter OF an inch
wide. Then, lying prone on the snow,
| he placed his ear to the opening and
listened. Browning was thereI And
at the sound of his Seice Pete felt q
rush of blood to his head that
threatened to drown cut his heaFing;
the distinct note OF triumph in the
voice angered him to the point of
desperation.
"And Sharpe's there to receive It,"
Browning was saying.
Tell me again, Ern, how much do
YOU think that. stuff is worthT'
Don't know" Houston grunted.
"oh, come. EN- can't you be cheer
full for q niinute2' Browning urged
You're the damuedest man ] ever
knew, Ern; here you've won; got the
deed; we've got the gold, six sled
loads of 1t, and I'm hanged IL you've
said fifty words all night"