The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-07-13

"Thing for you to do," his friend Franklin counseled one busy Mon- day morning, "ls take some of the average samples of the ore and send them in by stage for formal assay. I'll go on in to Phoenix easy, and if the assay looks good, then that's all you need"
 "Iu do it," Dick agreed, hap pily. T wanted to stick close here anyway
 yeah" Franklin nodded. Shed make a man forget mining or any, thing else" ..
 Deuce if she wouldn't, pal! You think maybe well, listen, Frank, I'm just ham fullback. -fullback. Not a dime to my name, and not much future, looks like. You think she could-she'd ever-?"
 Franklin wasn't looking at his friend. The pain in his own soul was throbbing. Which accounts, perhaps, for the fact that he Jumped at a conclusion.
 Finally he walked over and put a hand on the others shoulder. "Dick," he said, smiling in slow friendly manner, money doesn't matter with that girl. It's you. I-well, already know. She told me so herself"
 Metallurgiests, advertised their bus- eMtallurgists, advertised their bus mess partnership with sign in front of a cluttered laboratory on First street in Phoenix, Arizona, and this Thursday morning old man Briscoe himself washed his hands, and wiped them on an inky towel, and went to the overloaded desk in the front of his establish ment. He found his glasses and adjusted them an amaz:ng distance from his eyes, then tilted back his head to see through them, auto- matically opening his mouth.
 For 10 minutes then he searched, "prospected" through the litter of papers, rocks, dust, lint, envelopes, keys, pencils, whiskey glasses and cat hairs before him. Even the cat itself was moved, with protesting meow. But MT. Briscoe was thwarted.
 Finally his son and partner, a man of almost 50 himself, grew impatient.
 "Whyn't just send tn reports to Ed Felch!" he begged, conten- tiously. You been knowin' him for 50 years. Goldcrest is Western M. & M. property, and r'elch's still tn prsident, ain't he? Any assay'd have to git to him sooner or later anyhow
 "Yep, reckon so," old man Bris- COG said. Wasn't him that sent in tn samples, though. Still they both musta been his men, or they wouldn't of said they got tn sam pies at Goldcrest. One asked about this new business of hand lin low grade ore, l remember. You take and write Ed a letter for me, son. and say the low grade Is good for about $6 ton, but to forget that and work the rock samples. My lord, they assayed better'n a $100 a toni Old Gold crest is likely to boom again, son You wish Ed Flech well, for me. We'll likely git more of his busi- ness"
 Which accounts for the fact that four days later President Felch of the Western Metals and Minerals Corporation, headquar- ters in Fl Paso, almost had a spasm of surprise and anger when he read the formal assay report and the personal letter from Bris- COG & Son in Phoenix. And for the fact that MT. Felch forthwith called in the burly field manager of his corporation for an execu- tive session.
 The two were closeted together for most of one morning, talking lot and cursing a lot, going over musty old records from the cor poration files, studying maps that had been forgotten for long years, speculating and planning and cursing some more. When they were done with 1t, though, they had agreed on two courses of ac-