Evening star., 1923-09-18


with a long gaze at the wonders
of radiant nature in winter time.
Pete completed his toilet in the cold.
soft snow and returned tof the little
shack. where the welcome aroma; OF
breakfast almost tempted him to
pinch the mahogany cheek of the old
stead he took the place at the table
that had been provided for him and
devoted his entire attention to the.
Steaming oatmeal and dried ash thai
the woman brought snfo king hot,
with corn biscuits, from the FIRE. 3
The meal finished, he set about iii
as skillful a manner as he could mus,
ter, learning what the old SIpdian'
knew of the characters he felt must
figure in his Immediate future - ..ys j,
Ht -. ---- "a t4s- %sf - ~
CHAPTER XII. ,3 ,-ls y
Fol. long, weary days, days That
merged: into weeks Pete bent sover
his work in the Dead Horse mine,
Finding on his arrival there only two
men, both dsContented and shtftleSs
drifters, he accepted the burdens of
carrying on the largest share of the
work himself.
He. found the workings to be lit
tie more than rather we'll developed
prospect. with one main tunnel fol-
lowing vein matter for probably one
hundred yards into the slope of the
mountain. This tunnel ended abrupt
" however and Ham, seasoned old
miner, who had long since lost inter
est in everything save the avoidance
of starvation, had started Pete dig
! sing what he termed cross cut,
sort of new tunnel, directly at right
angles to the old one, insisting that
Pete wheel the muck from the new
diggfngs into the space between its
opening and the face or end of the old
tunnel
Before many weeks had passed
Pete became hardened to his work
and took great pride in the bulge
of muscles that made even his over
sized flannel shirts seem small. There
We're no regular hours for work, the
men usually starting early in the
morning and working until they had
driven in the new tunnel or cross cut
an allotted distance. If the going
was good, las the men said, it meant
that much more leisure; if the work
was hard. and IL usually was, owing
to unusual formations of the rock
encountered, the men continued work
ing longer. -
Once each week runner came
from Salmon Tooth Pass, checking
up the work done at the mine and
bringing to the workers food, cloth
fngs old magazines and such luxuries
as the men might send for from the
commissary below. At frst Pete
made no effort to obtain information
would be best first to earn as much of
their confidence possible. The wis,
dom of his. policy was demonstrated
With the first visit of the runner.
whom Pete observed talking covertly
and at some length with Ham. That
they were talking about him he had
no doubt. as he quietly observed the
tll-concealed .glances and motions of
the two men. However. Re noticed a
much better and more friendly at
titude on the part of the two miners
toward him after the runner had left.
For some time he wondered how Bul-
Ter had squared matters with Jenkins
and others to whom he was undoubt-
edIy. accountable. A remark passed
quite casually by Ham. in which he
mentioned breaking rock" with, a
significant smile, cleared his mind on
this point. He recollected that the
gold company seemed to specialize
in having fugitives from Justice in
its service Butler had apparently
used his. first-hand knowledge of this
policy in arranging safe berth for
Pete. Nevertheless. Pete had little
doubt that after all he was still vir-
tually a prisoner. and that all con-
cernkd knew him to be Peter Alden
and not Philip West.
Before long the two miners seem
ed to consider Pete one, of them
selves and talked freely with him.
Little by little he picked UP odds and
ends, of the crooked career of the
Salmon River Gold Company. Sew
eral circumstances which had puZ-
zled him deeply were explained. He
had never before been able to un-
derstand why practically all of the
old placer miners, men. independent
and prosperous in theG own way.
with fumes, shovels, and pans. had
been willing to relinqaish their hold
ings to Browning's Company. Kloch,
HAMS companion, innocently enough
furnished an excellent explanation.
Pete deducted that through some
means or other he. Kloch. had title
at one time to a bit OF placer ground
in the gulch below. Browning, Kloch
explained, had made the same offer
and terms with him as with all the
others. Pete, showing unusual inter-
estsin the transaction. asked to see
the contract in the matter and Kloch
proudly and obligingly furnished him
with it. -s
Pete found one important provision