Evening star., 1923-09-19

L
seeking his bunk. where he lay.
| completely dressed, thinking hard
and awaiting developments.
Before long, possibly an hour or so,
he imagined he heard sounds of men
stamping snow or mud noisily from
their boots on the little porch that
| served as an entrance to the bunk
| house. Soon Browning, Sharpe and
beTston bemn1s Sn entered asGt. preceded c by
lamps. Inside the room the party
hesitated, as Browning's eyes swept
| about. dwelling at some length on
the men occupying hunks along the
wall.
Hell. can't talk in here" he said,
| as he turned an inquiring look on
| Demons. Isn't there shack or
something where we can talk pri-
There's the old dining room"
Demons replied. nobody in there.
Got no cook up here any more. Let's
| go there"
The party acted on the engineers
suggestion and followed him through
a door that led from the sleeping
and dining room, where they entered
! Immediately into an animated dis
| cussion, fragments of which drifted
into the bunk house. Twice Pete
| ing term he himself had come
10 know thoroughly through the
| daily swapping of yarns with Ham
| and kloch. He quickly surmised the
meaning of the words now. as he
pictured the men. gouging deep into
the golden treasure of the mine, in
| frantic haste to get as much of the
| spolls as possible before an comppli-
| cations of ownership, remote as they
were, might arise.
! Fake up a shell for a dredge on
! the claims" was another Expression
! brought a Of
TO him as he lay, straining every
| faculty in an effort TO catch each
/ word. Dirty vandals," he cursed as
J these words came to him. Not con-
tented with stealing thousands from
/ stockholders you now would steal
the miners gold and then build only
a. faxed shell in place of the dredge
you agreed to erect on their placer
/ claims!''
! At length the talking quieted down
some one uttered a loud satisfied
! yawn and suggested going to bed
/ Following this the light reappeared
/ In the room, where for several min
! utes Demons and Houston busted
! themselves dragging wire bottomed
/ hunks toward the narrow door that
led into the dining room. An hour
| later Pete heard loud snores and
meaningless muttering of words in
| dreams. and he knew the men about
/ him We're fast asleep.
Stealthily he pushed the blankets
! to the floor beside him. Then, MAX
! ing certain OF his gun, he crept
, silently over the side of the bunk
10 the hoor. Carrying his boots in
! one hand and as much of his pack
! equipment as he could safely manage
! in the other. he stole toward the
door. Several times during even the
| snort distance he had to travel over
the rough spruce boards he stopped
| ana listened attentively. But all
seemed well, and in a moment more
! ne found himself outside the build
| ing with his stocking feet sinking
9eep into soft, fluffy snow. Great
! face as he searched in vain through
/ the intense darkness for a trace of
| the moon. Making his way cautious
| ly through the snow he found the
sheltered boards of the blacksmith
| Shop' where, by the aid of candle
| lights, he spread the canvas of his
/ pack on the bare ground floor and
ment
Twice he stole back into the sleep
ing quarters, each time emerging
! with additional articles of wearing
! apparel; ammunition for his own and
| another gun he managed to secure,
| canned food taken from long boxes
or provisions that had been kept as
emergency rations. Quickly, but with
| extreme care, he rolled his pack and
| fitted 1t to his back Apparently SAT-
| ished with the way it felt he unsIunr
II again from his back, snufied his
candles, putting the two he had been
| burning together with a dozen or SO
others in his pocket before he cjrcled
several times about the little shelter,
Realzing that darkness and falling
snow meant as much to him as lib-
erty itself, he finally placed the nacl.
on top of the shack, frightened his
belt, and securely tied the Iaces of
ms ms stdli.h hlgh leather boots Then with
the sleeping quarters once more
where with heart pounding fast. and
every nerve a tingle. he crawled di-
! recly across the floor of the sIeen-
room beyond -
In the intense darkness he bumped
ms ms, head full into a bunk that stood
Just inside the door. For a moment
he halted breathlessly, his hand on
the holster of his gun ready for
instant action; But the occupant of
ing beneath his blankets. gave no
sign of being disturbed.
| Inch by inch Pete made his way
with his band for clothes and haver-
sacks. The bunk against which he
had bumped yielded a goodly sun
ply, and as he left the many folds
knew 1t belonged to Demons With
a thrill of satisfaction he felt the
long folds of blue prints in the pock
/ cts. Placing the coat beneath him
to further deaden the sound of his
knee bones on the board floor he
proceeded to search for the remain
ing hunks. For fully an hour he
continued his desperate work until ar
length he had in one pile practicalIy
all of the clothing, boots and hats
| included, that the entire party pos
sessed.
Congratulating himself on his
initial success, he repeated the vep
ture in the sleeping quarters of the
crew, working much quicker than in
the room beyond.
1t was only a matter of minutes
in the, blacksmith shop until all
papers and documents found in the
confiscated clothing entered the
Ipockets of his own. So far, his plan
was working well. But the fact that
levery one of the sleepers kept his
gun beneath his pillow disturbed him
He had hoped, though it took him ali
might, to secure these also. Then, too
there were electric flashlights among
them and he bit his lip and con-
sidered again going to the rooms
to renew his search.
Reason, however, overcame the zeal
of the moment. He abandoned thu
idea of further search, and set about
the final and by far the most dan
gerous act of his plan.
Tying all of the stolen clothing in
a large bundle, which he threw into
the center of the tunnel, he made
certain once again that his own mack
shop, and prepared for a final and
leXtremely important visit to the bunk
house. This time he made for the
kitchen of the dining room, crawling
fore. Two of the hunks were passed
and he began to breathe easily, when
the occupant of the third one sud
denly, sat bolt upright and stared
iw.nss ssAlr1 H.