THE COPPER HOUSE A Detective Story "v i JULIUS RKOIS AUTHOR OR “NO « TORONI “It must be you,” ha ac cused her. “You are intelli gent md deterqwned; you said to yi arafllf, *It will be better for me to take the responsibil ity, sergius in too weak.' You wnfviied over your son at night, whilst he slept, didn’t you? You need not answer; the r ring is obvious; you took the r! tcument secretly, that you might hide it more securely. You felt yourself strong enough to bear tire responsi bility alone. Very good. The entire responsibility is yours, Kinrr you will have it so. Now you nust answer me.” I.o a Ivanovna replied stern; 1f and unhesitatingly: “ 1 a, I took it whilst Ser giu- '/as asleep. Only I know where it is to be found now— and you cannot frighten me l” She I tughed grimly: “J Hunk I have baffled you this ttrue. You may kill me, but you won’t find what you are looking for. Those brutes hove ransacked the whole house twice, and you may do it again. You have no chance of succeeding, and you may be lieve that l know what. I am Haying, when you recollect that I have all my life been accus tomed to play hide-and-seek witli Ihe Tsar k secret police. Go your way, Gabriel Ortiz, you have failed. An old woman has beaten you ! ” The adventurer showed no Hip'll of discomposure; lie al lowed her biting scorn to pass unobserved; not so her chal lenge. After a ffew minutes calcula tion, be said, more to himself than to her: “There are only two or three places where you can have hid den it; but why waste time in guessing T There is a much simpler way.” As be said this, he showed his wintry even teeth, not in a smile, hut rather in the fixed grin of a wild beast, while a grim look came over his face, almost transforming its expres sion. He turned to the marines, and gave the word of com mand : “Heady! The first to stir from his place will be shot.” Half a dozen rifle-muzzles won pointed at the prisoners. “Kastakov, take your revol ver and place it against Ser gius Tangier's forehead. I will count three —and at the word ‘three,’ you will fire.” The six marines took careful «i'u, and nobody stirred, while kastakov crossed the room, and placed his heavy weapon j against Sergius’ right temple. There was a breathless silence, | for they all realized Ortiz’ in tent ion. Marcus Tassler turned ashen-gray; without a sound he I left the room, and was not seen ' again. “I forbid anyone to stir a finger,” Ortiz continued; ‘‘this business is between you and me, Lena Ivanovna. I have your sou —you have the document: will you exchange?” A dead pause ensued. The Judy raised her hand slowly to h»'r throat, and gazed as though fascinated at Hast.i kov s forefinger, which was ton king the trigger. *'* ,-gius had closed kis eyes, Oon f think of me, .Moth or," he said, softly; “think on ly of our cause.’ She opened her mouth, but no sound issued from her lips “Oriel” Sonia sprang up. hut Leo caught her in his arms, at a Iflfiuee from the journalist, who was now very pale. Lotia Ivan ovna remained stiff and im movable. ' . “Let me go!" cried the girl hysterically. “Ob, you—cow ardly—wretches! If only I were nlttiif” She sank down, half fainting, It but weeping as though her heart would break. Wallion clenched his hands, but kept atill; he seemed to be waiting for something. “Two!" A glazed look came over Lona Ivanovna’s eyes, and she stared at Ortiz as though she had never seen him before; she seemed to look at him as though from an immense dis tance, and to be straining every nerve to control herself. She saw his pitiless eyes, his lips unclosed for the third time.... she tore the workbag from her left arm, and threw it on the table. “Thar* l" she exclaimed, “Let Sergius go, you murder er! The paper is in the bag." “In the bag!" The adventurer put out hia hand, but drew it quickly back. “If you are lying,...." he said threateningly. “Iam not lying," aha replied wearily. “T too!: the paper out of the stick whilst Sergius was sleeping. I was certain that no body would look for it in a place that was so apparent to everyone. The paper is very small, and in a tiny roll; it is lying amongst the lacework... Forgive me, Sergius!" She sank down on a chair. Ortiz turned Ihe bag upside down, and shook ant the work on the table. W' ill on was care fully choosing a eigaret from his case; he mailed: Hip matter was taking the turn for whfeh he had hrped from the begin ning, and Ortiz had already wasted nearly two precious hours; his own opportunity was come at last. "Well, Gabriel Ortiz.” said h-», in a nonchalant tone, ‘‘is the memorandum there?” The adventurer had searched all through the contents of the work hag; he now pushed it a side, and began to examine the folds of the lace with nervous ness. "You won’t find anything there,” the journalist proceed ed; "fiona Ivanovna made a mistake. The paper is not in her work bag: I have it!” , CHAPTER XIX Wallion Speaks Out And Rastokov is Balked of his Prey The journalist's utterly un forseen announcement) electri fied everyone, anft all faces were turned towards him, with intense surprise. That Maurice Wallion could have obtained possession of Tarraschin’s memorandum, had occurred to none of them, least of all to Loiia Ivanovna. "You, yon!” she stammered "How is it possible?” Ortiz’ cold, hard vioee broke in: “Arc* you trying to shield her sou? She is lying, the bag is empty—I do not believe you.” “Allow me to explain the sit uation,’’ said the journalist, who still held in his left hand the cigarette which he had tak en from his case, and, in bis right the cigarlighter, whose little flame burned clearly and evenly; bis bauds were perfect ly steady. “The paper really was in liOna Ivanovna’s bag -until the time when, after hearing the story of the Bernin family, I demonstrated to them that the stick was empty, to Sergius Tassler’s great astonishment. Following your example. Ortiz, 1 concluded that his mother, wishing to shift the responsibil ity on her own shoulders, had secretly removed the paper, but unlike you, I went a step fur ther, and assumed, from what 1 knew of her character, that she had hidden it in her work bag, that well-known receptacle which everybody was accus tomed to see hanging on her arm. I fully anticipated that you, my dear Ortiz, would pro feed to the sort of compulsion we have just witnessed, and what would have been the good of her stratagem then f I at one# decided to remove the precious document to its third best, and final hiding-place. I I'nder the pretext of examin ing Andrei Hernia’s room, I was left alone with Lona Ivan ovna for a few minutes, and— ‘hey presto!’—Russia's fate lay snugly in mv waistcoat pocket. That 1* the story. Yon conscientiously leave mother and son in peace, my dear Or tiz; the thief—that thief who caused the baron such heart sea rehings—is none other than myself!” “ Damnation!” ejaculated Ortiz, his eyes bloodshot and staring; “shall I ever get hold of that infernal paper?” “The outlook doesn’t seem very promising,” agreed the journalist, smiling. “It lias passed through various hands in the last day or two, and its present owner—well, I have a pretty good idea that re will not let it out of liis posses sion!” His unshaken audacity took Ortiz aback: lie-hesitated for a minute, and the journalist u vailed himself of the pause. “Let us talk things over,” said he. “If anyone attempts to come near me, or to threat en me with liis gun, I swear that you will never have the document. ” “Where have you got it?” asked the adventurer reluc tantly. “Ah, where!” laughed Wal lion. “One of your men searched me just now, didn’t he? Did lie find it? No. And yet I can assure ypu that he saw it. I believe he even touched it! You see this tiny flame, and this little eigaret? The mo ment 1 light my eigaret, your dreams for the future will van ish in smoke, Ortiz.” “You would pay dearlv for it!” “You would, you mean. A far too expensive eigaret, and that’s a fact! Now, then, stand still, all the lot of you. Ortiz, keep them quiet. It wouldn’t take me a second, ami my death wouldn’t be much of a compensation for your loss.” “I do not believe that Tar rasehin’s memorandum could be compressed into so small a space,” Ortiz objected incred ulously. “Don’t you?” returned the journalist. “Didn’t Loua Iva novna say that the paper was quite small, and tightly rolled up? The idea struck me when I removed it. from her bag, and just before you came, I made this arrangement, on the chance of my tilings being searched. You don’t believe me? Look here, then.” He squo ‘zed the little cylin der between !iis fingers, so that the cigaret paper burst, and fluttered to the ground, whilst a thin layer of tobacco fell from the ends; there remained in his hand a tightly rolled sheet of white paper, which began to uncurl as though a spring had been released. Ortiz leaned forward. “No, keep hack!” sail the journalist. “You observe that the flame is ail hut touching ♦ lie paper now. You can sec perfectly well where you are do you recognize Prince Tatra sehin’s handwriting? Shall I tell you that it is written in French? Shall I read it out. to you?” “You are mad!” muttered Ortiz hoarsely. “What can you do? If you leave this room, you will be shot.” “Yes, from behind, 1 sus pect. But I prefer to stop here. I have something to say to you 9 9 “If you stay here with that paper in your hands, yon will he shot. You have never >eeu in greater danger than you are now.” “I’m not so sure of that! Have you really the moral courage to watch Tarraeiiin’s document burn? Mak- up your mind, I am waiting.” Ortiz watched the journal ist’s movements like a— lynx, but Walliou had gauged him correctly; he ecu Id not bring himself to run the risk, how ever willingly he would have given the order to shoot the man who was daring to thwart him on the very threshold of success. He gave a reluctant signal, and the weapons were lowered. “Speak out!” he said, “what do you waut?” Wallion stepped back a few paces. His bold “coup” had made him master of the situa tion for the time being, but tbe outlook was dangerous in the extreme. He must keep an eye on practically all his enemies at on should but one of them succeed in raising his gun, he would be lost; be was a pris oner. end compelled to plan his escape as best he could, alone and u larmed, under the eyes of his captors. Speed was alt important; never had he felt his mind clearer or cooler than now, as lie reviewed every pos sibility. He knew that Sergius Tussler had a revolver within reach, hidden presumably among tlie rugs of his arm chair: and he remembered that Max Rachel only awaited a sig nal to come to his assistance: on these two facts, his entire scheme must be built up. “Order Rnstakov to stand back,” he said briefly; “Sergi us Tassler has nothing more to do with this ease.” The Russian had remained standing near Sergius, but at a nod from his employer, he thrust his revolver back into his pocket, and returned to his place by the door. As he did so, Wallion exchanged a rapid glance wfth tin Austrian. He saw Rachel's intelligent eyes widen inquiringly, and he nodded almost imperceptibly The Austrian understood the signal, and would now be ready to play his part; Will ie n relied implicitly upon Ins experience and ready wit. Th» important thing now was to engross Ortiz’ whole attention for the next few minutes, and the journalist began again with a laugh; “Yes, I have something to say to you, Ortiz; this is a good opportunity, for 1 am afraid we shall not meet again after tonight. You intend tc kill me, if you can; I intend to render you harmless, if I can; (lie situation is not without its piquancy.” Ortiz had pulled >ut his handkerchief, and was drying his hands nervously; there was little of the Great Napo leon about his strained fea tures at this moment. “You talk too much, ” he said hoarsely; “get to busi ness.” “By all means. Your line lias run out, my dear Ortiz. There was a time when I ad mired you, in spite of my po sition as your natural enemy. Your former adventures at tracted me by a sort of simple and greathearted freshness which characterized them, but the gigantic plan which is now dragging you to the verge of a precipice, is marked by an ar rogance which the gods might envy. I can no longer admire a man who allows murder and robbery to be the milestones on bis road to success; you should have kept your hands clean, Ortiz: there is too much blood on them! All the millions which you have distributed so lavishly, cannot alter the fact that you are a murderer, at war with society, and, there, self-condemned.” The adventurer glared an grily at him, and exclaimed: “I do not expect you to un derstand me! You and I stand at opposite ends of the great, unimpressionable fabric of so ciety; how could you enter into my plans and my dreams t” The journalist did not repl\ immediately. He had seen Max ltaebel move a shade closer to Sergius Tassler, and exchange two or three words with him, and a suppressed ex citement began to rise in him. as he continued: (TO B* CONTINUED) Parties and Markets. Prom Milwaukee Journal. A1 Smith's messaRe to democrats of Massachusetts—‘ Will thev trv to blame the stock market on the dem ocrm*?”has more In It than a jest. H«*w many are lamenting today the loss of 5100 or51,000 vanished in the debacle of Wall street who last fall were parroting the words, "We must wote for Hoovor so that republican iprocpi ritf will continue,” with the thought in tli.dr minds that the whuit) of their pet gamble was what Vta.id continue? People think that wav because we listen to politicians who talk that way In 1843. before the democratic Administration of Grover .'leave land had got started, they said it was the unsettlement of people's minds because a democrat had been elected. And when in 1907 big bus iness republicans could notfblame it on the democrats, they said it was Roosevelt s reforms. And now some will try to say that it is the fight being made on new tariff robbery, others that it is Mr. Hoover s little experiment in Socialism for farm relief. Many will actually believe that if Mr. Coolidge had run again and been elected, this overdue break ir the market, inflated under the Coolidge-Mellon regime, would have beer a’-erted. How we ask to be fooled and then —to excuse our disregard of saletv | signals—ask to be fooled again about who is to blame. We knew the mar ket was too high. Or if we did not know that, we knew there were men in the game who had made it their life study. It was part of the game to point to the prosperity of the country as proof that stocks were worth many times what thei! earning power showed. They suc ceeded beyond their wildest dreams —and for many of the insiders also this is the morning after. "If we’d only known what we know now. If ever we get another chance—” Another chance for $hat? Hiere's an election next year. Watt for the campaign cry, "Vote for the blanks and keep prosperity!" -♦ ♦— SUGGEST GAS REMEDY LONDON—England, too. Is com plaining about the escaping carbon monoxide from its buses and auto mobiles and several suggestions have been offered to remedy It. The most practical method of eliminat ing this gas evil suggested so far is to extend the exhaust to the top of the car. expelling the gas above the heads of pedestrians. The gas i? lighter than air and would not set tl«. OF INTEREST TO FARMERS GET BOYS SOME RABBIT'S. You don’t fcav9 to run clear U> the end of the rainbow to find your pot of gold. There are a swore of home or back-yard enterprises that can ■how profit if worked at in the prop er spirit. Raising something—chick ens, rabbits, guinea piga—is one or the favorite back-yard businesses, and can be made quite profitable. Rabbit raising is becoming more popular every day. There i» a ready market for meat or fur. Not much equipment is needed, so that the ini tial investment is small. Following are a few things the beginner in rabbit breeding should do: Before purchasing any stock it is well to have hutches ready. Ycu do not need a lot of room or expensive build ings. Dry goods boxes, about two by four feet, with a wire door and a shady location, will take care of a dee and her young until weaning time. Have one of these for each rabbit you start with. Order good stock from a reliable breeder. You may want to get plans for better hutches, and the breeder who sup plies you can probably give you these plans. Gocd pedigreed dees, eligible to register, should be pur chased for your start. As In poultry raising, It costs no more to feed a good Individual than a poor one. I have found that it costs 20 cents a month to feed a rabbit, says one who has found their propagation profitable. With care, each doe will produce four litters a year, and will average five to six to a litter, so you see In a year's time one doe will produce from 20 to 24 rabbits; some erf her offspring also will be producing for you before the year is up. These young, sold at meat prices, will bring you a good price at five months old, and you will have the pelt to sell, which will bring any where from 50 cents to $2.50, accord ing to the condition and primeness of the pelt. Each doe should bring you a good profit each season. If you get good breeding stock to start with you can command better prices, for you own best stock, as breeders. Rabbits are subject to few diseases, and these are net hard to keep away If you keep hutches clean and free from drafts. Any person should be able to care for something like 100 rabbits In about two hours each day. Rabbits require plenty of clean fresh water twice a day; roughage. In the form of alfalfa hay, one a day. They should also have a little grain once a day. A small handful of oats and barley is good; if you do not have barley, oats alone Is all right, either rolled or whole. You will find that a rabbit eats but little. Aft?? two cr three feedings you can tell about how much they will clean up. and do not feed them more thin this amount. ■“* ♦ ♦ ■ • HEALTH PROGRAM NEEDED. Poultry breeders throughout the mlddlewest are annually sustaining tremendous losses from parasitic in festation and disease infection of their flecks. Most of the losses from these two sources can be avoided by proper methods of sanitation. It Is just as essential to raise chicks on fresh ground as It is to raise pigs on clean ground. Old poultry yards are full of roundworm eggs, and it is impossible, when raised on ground of that kind, to keep worms out of the birds, and birds infested with worms and other parasites are much more susceptible to disease infection than those that are free from parasites. In this connection, there are two impor tant factors to keep in mind. First, raising the chicks on clean ground and feeding them a growing ration up to maturity and an eg* produc tion ration later on, and giving them all they can eat to enable them to produce up to their maximum ca pacity. The other is to keep disease )ut of the flock by constant, rigorous culling. The next thing is to sell off the old birds as soon as thay are no longer profitable layers, and get them out of the way before the next set of pullets is ready to go into the laying l}°use- The fewer old hens that art kept over, other things be ing equal, the less difficulty there will be from disease infection. Tuberculosis is one of the diseases that is causing much loss to poultry producers, and it is mainly a dis ease of the old rather than of the youn* birds, If the old birds are promptly disposed of and the young birds are raised on clean ground, tuberculosis may be reduced to a minimum in a single season. It Is not a disease that can be cured by medication. The moment it Is kown that a birid is affected with tuber culosis. it should be disposed of. A tuberculosis bird is never a prof itable bird from an egg-laying standpoint, and it is a menace to the remainder of the flock. --- .... CAUSES OF SOFT PORK In the extensive soft-pork experi ments conducted co-operatively by the United States department of agriculture and a number of the state agricultural experiment sta tions. it has been found that unless the ration is distinctly softening the rate of gain of the pig is an Im portant factor contributing to firm ness of the pork. Firmness of pork is of great importance to the con suming public and to the pork pro ducing and meat industries. This federal-state co-operative work has been in progress for 10 years. The work nas involved a great number of experiments and thousands of animals. Variations in firmness of pork are due mainly to feeds, .some producing a pork that is soft, or even oily, and others a Droduct that is satisfactorily firm. Other factors entering into firmness are initial weight of the animal, raplditv of gain, degrees of finish, etc. Each vear representatives of the United States department of agriculture and the state experiment stations conducting this research work hold a conference to discuss and analyze results, issue statements of results based upon the work completed, and to make plans for future work. Following is the latest statefent of results: (1) Pigs with initial weights PROPER FEEDING OF PIGS. “Hoggishness" and "eating like a pig” are traditional phrases to de scribe unmannerly greediness and gluttony. Recent experiments In the feeding of pigs suggest that the phrases do net always apply. When pigs are fed by hand they do in fact, rush in to make sure of their share of the feed. But, put ho&s in a pasture and they graze leisurely and in contentment. If, instead of feeding by hand, the owner installs a self-feeder from which the hogs and pigs may eat what they want, when tne.v want it, and in whatever quantity they desire, thev soon loaa of 100 pounds or more and gaining at least 1 1-3 pounds daily on » mixture of ground corn <9 par or II 'parts* and ground soybeans (1 part) self-fed. free choice, with mineral mixture in drylot, through a period of approximately nine weeks or longer, ‘".ave produced firm carcasses in the majority of cases. (2) Pigs with initial weights of 100 pounds or less and gaining a maxi mum of one pound daily on a mix ture of ground corn (9 parts or II parts) and ground soybeans (1 part) self-fed, free choice, with mineral mixture in dry lot, through a pe riod of 15 weeks or less, have pro duced soft carcasses in the major ity of cases (3) Pigs with initial weights ranging from approximately 40 to approximately 70 pounds led raw soybeans with corn and min erals in comparison with cooked soybeans with oorn and minerals both rations in dry lot, have pro duced carcasses of appioximately the same degree cf firmness at com parable finished weights. (4) Pigs with initial weights of approximate ly 50 pounds gaining a maximum of 50 pounds on rations of rice polish or rice bran with tankage and min erals during an eight-week feeding period followed by a gain of at least 70 pounds on brewers’ rice with tankage and minerals during a pe riod o. eight weeks or more have produced firm carcasses in the usual cases. (5) Pigs fed low-fat rations varying widely in protein content, with dried blood the principal source of protein, have produced carcasses which were strikingly uni form in composition and firmness of fat. All rations were composed of hominy, dried blood, alfalta meal and minerals. Owing to variations in proportions of dried blood and hominy used, the nutritive ratios ol the rations varied from approxi mately 1.2 to 1.10. (The nutritiv® ratio is the proportion of digestible protein in relation to the sum of the digestible oarbohydrates and the digestible fat.) (0) Experiments have shown that when corn oil, peanut oil and soybean oil are pres ent in the ration, either as natural ly contained or as added, they have a so.tening effect on the body fat which increases with increase in the oil content of the ration. Cotton seed oil, on the other hand, naa shown a distinct hardening effect when added to the extent of 4 per cent of the mixture to basal rations of corn or hominy with supplements. When the amount of cottonseed oil is increased to 8 and 12 per cent respectively, a progressive decrease in firmness results. The 3 per oent addition of cottonseed oil produced hard or medium hard carcasses, and , the 12 per cent addition medium sort or soft carcasses, as compared to hard carcasses on the 4 per cent addition. CUTTING LABOR COSTS The first great item of expense in caring for the poultry flock is that of feed. This constitutes over hall the cost. Next in line comes the labor cost. This approximates 15 to 20 per cent of the total cost. There are a number of simple practices which will reduce the labor opera tions. First comes the installation of seme automatic water system to the laying houses. The most tedious and exacting labor operation in hand ling the flock is carrying water. There are many automatic systems which will greatly reduce this Item, Maintaining the litter in a clean, healthful, sweet condition is a heavy burden. The use of a peat-moss lit ter will accomplish this and will make it unnecessary to clean out the litter often. A substantial sup ply of feed located in bins in each pen will greatly reduce the labor of carrying heavy containers filled with feed about the plant. Large barrels or bins constructed on the wall of the house will hold two or three weeks’ supply. The cleaning of droppings boards can be greatly facilitated by using tools especially designed for the purpose. Special dropping board cleaners which take a wide area at each pull of the handle and are so constructed that they scrape the droppings off clean, through the presence of a sharp cutting head set at the right angle, will greatly speed up cleaning. If a suitable box or container Is con structed to catch the droppings, still greater speed is accomplished. The raising and lowering of curtains and the opening and closing of windows take a great deal of time. If these can be arranged to operate by coun terweights and a number of them controlled by ropes and pulleys from one point, much greater speed and ease in adjusting them are the re sult. BETTER METHODS SAFEGUARD Whenever the price of eggs takes a slump, even though such a slump naturally should be expected, the cry goes up that there Is no money In poultry and the faint-hearted put their fowls on the market. A more sensible thing to do would be to plan methods of cutting down the expenses and of marketing to better advantage. When everything is going well the overhead is likely to creep up because profits come easy, but when the tide sets the other way, this overhead often proves toe heavy to carry and by proper methods can be reduced to the point where a profit Is still possible. Somewhere a profit is still passible. Sometimes it is found that by mors carefully balancing the ration and making better use of waste products the flcek3 can be fed better for less expanse sometimes more fre quent collecting of the eggs, keep ing the nests cleaner and more care keted will increase the quality and, ful handling until they are mar therefore. the price of the eggs quite considerably; occasionally more comfortable housing, in both summer and winter, will bring an Increase In production without any additional cost for feed, care, etc. All these things should be thought of at all times, but in particular at times when prices of poultry prod ucts go down and profits are en dangered. _ their gluttonous ways. Commenting on a series of comparative feeding tests in which sows were self-fed and hand-fed, the United States depart ment of agriculture says a notice able fact about the sows in the self fed lots was that “there never was any crowding at the feeders. Scarce ly ever were there more than two or three sows eating at the same time, even when a dozen or moro sows were being fed from the ona feeder. Only a small quantity would be consumed at one time. It was tak en slowly and apparently thorough ly masticated and digested."