Tie copper house
A Detective Story
BY
JULIUS RECIS
AUTHOR OF "NO 13 TOFONI"
1 On board the lighter, the
flanking of machinery became
audible, and the tow-line was
last loose. The submarine shot
twav, and steered for the open
lea, leaving a white trail of
foam in it s wake. The speed a
tors began to run along the
beach, and came out on the lit
tle promontory. On land, the
>olice had completed their
4round-up,” which yielded a
larveat of fourteen abandoned,
Rejected individuals, all cap
tured unarmed, and asserting
their innocence. But it looked
is though their Ohief was to
get away in spite of every
thing. Waliion stoo 1 on the
furthest point, looking out to
»ea.
“Fog!” lie remarked, la
ionieally.
t A dense, gray wall was ris
ing out of the Baltic, and driv
ing in towards the land. The
submarine continued to steer
east, at full speed, leaving the
lighter to shift for itself; both
entered the fog-belt, and dis
appeared.
Robert. Lang reproached
himself bitterly for his rc
tnissncsa, but Wallion said:
“You couldn’t have known
It, and besides, what matter if
he slips through our fingers
for the lime being? He lias
. nothing left to hope for. .
]Io spoke in a low tone, and
without shifting his gaze from
the sea. Was he waiting for
lomething?
Ten minutes passed. Then
the sea of fog was tinged with
« sudden crimson glow, which
loomed to come from a point
du e east, of the outlying |
Islands. A deafening and pro
longed ex plosion rent the air;
then darkness settled down
tgain, and silence reigned once
more over the sea. They
looked at one another.
“A mine explosion?” sug
gested some one.
“The submarine!” cried
Robert, Lang. “It came from
that, direction. A catastrophe
must have occurred on board.”
“Or—something else!” cried
Wallion. “Ortiz went on
• board as a defeated man—and
Rnstakov’s comrades. . .”
He bent his head and turned
u way.
“It is Into. Let us go.”
Tivo days later, quite a lit
tle company was .assembled in
Lawyer Burchardt’s office.
There were Leonard Grath,
Lena Ivanovna, Sonia and
Sergius. The lawyer trotted up
and dotvn his sunny room, and
looked incessantly at the
clock. All faces were cheer
ful and free from anxiety, but
a certain solemnity pervaded
the atmosphere, and nobody
seemed inclined to talk.
Twelve o’clock struck, and the
lawyer stopped his pacing, and
looked expectantly at the door.
It opened, and admitted
Maurice Wallion in travelling
costume.
“Good morning,” he said,
with a smile. “I have to go
abroad this afternoon, so you
must excuse me if I seem a lit
tle hurried.”
He shook hands with every
body, and gave Loo a small
packet, saying as ho did so:
“Take back your property;
it is an atonement from a man
who is sincerely repentent.”
t. The young man opened the
parcel, and colored with aston
ishment.
“The mortgages on the Top
per House!” he exclaimed.
• “Yes,” answered the jour
nalist, smiling. “Take them,
you deserve a reward after all
you have gone through, but
ask no questions.”
He turned to Lona Ivanovna.
“I have a message for you.
You know that Marcus Tnssler
quitted the Copper House
when Ortiz threatened your
son’s life. From that minute,
be became another man, and
fled from Ortiz’ neighbor
29
hood, never to return. He
. wishes me to tell von that he
regrets the past, and that you
will never see him again.”
The old Russian lady ap
peared deeply moved.
“Did you go and look for
him?”
“Yes, 1 have had a talk
with him.”
“And—you let him go?”
“Yes, lie is broken and
changed. \Ye must be merci
ful. . . .”
The old lady bowed.
“I thank you,” she said
simply.
“f have another very impor
tant piece of news for you,”
i Wallion continued.. “Raebel
and 1, with the help of certain
interested persons in various
quarters, have settled the ques
tion of Tarrascliin’s memoran
dum, which is now in the
hands of its rightful owner.
Yes, Sergius Tnssler, you must
forgive me, but you know you
had really no right to it at all!
You shall not be a loser in the
matter. I am authorized to in
form the Bernin family • that
they are at liberty to return to
Russia.”
lie smilingly deprecated
their delighted expressions ot’
gratitude, and continued:
“This brings the whole
matter to a definite conclu
sion. Gabriel Ortiz’ gigantic
‘coup’ has failed, and he him
self has vanished without
leaving any trace. I suppose
you have seen the notices in
the newspapers about the mys
terious mine-explosion? That’s
the end of a many-sided ad
venture. By special request
from an influential quarter,
no official report will be pub
lished. The fourteen men who
were .arrested will be de
ported. Whatever the future
holds, my friends, none of you
will ever hear anything more
of Gabriel Ortiz.”
lie was silent for a little.
“Jle was a man, after all!”
he added, but he saw that none
of them quite understood him.
Sonia had clasped Sergius’
hand, and regardless of them
all, was pressing it to her
cheek. Wallion bowed gal
lantly to her.
I wish yau a happier and
brighter future," he said,
smiling; “you are worthy of
it!"
With these words, he left
the room, and they looked
after him with a pang of re
gret in the midst of their hap
piness, for they felt that they
were losing a friend, and that
his path might never again
cross their own.
—0—
A letter from Maurice Wal
lion to the author, dated Mon
treal, July 20th, 11)18.
“My dear Author,
“I suppose it must be! Tell
what happened at the Copper
House in your own way; of
course, there will be more fic
tion than fact, but that can’t
be helped.
“You can say that I was
mistaken as I have never been
mistaken before; (except in
the case of Madame Loretta
Chandeloup, whose story I
will tell you some day). I be
lieved that Gabriel Ortiz could
be conquered, and I was
wrong. The man died uncon
quered. I salute his memory;
I could have wished to be his
friend.
“Don’t forget to lay stress
upon one thing; that two im
portant points in this mad ad
venture have never been
cleared up. First, what be
came of all that was left of
Ortiz’ millions? They disap
peared. as though by magic,
from the banks, between the
10th and 20th of July, 1917.
The Whirlpool engulfed them,
and it is a mystery to me what
became of them.
“The second point is: is Ga
briel Ortiz really dead? What
THE
MASTER MAN
BY
RUBY M. AYRES
Author of •‘The Phantom Lovor," “The G!rl Next Door," etc.
Tliey had turned in at the
little station yard, and Patri
cia had thrown open the low
door of thp ear and tried to
get out before he had brought
it to a standstill.
“Do you want to break your
neck?” he asked angrily.
She turned stormy eyes on
him.
“You wouldn’t rare if I
did.” she said. “1 believe
you’d be glad.”
Mllward laughed outright.
The ear was at a standstill
now, and he took her dressing
ease and followed her into the
station.
“You’ll have to hurry—the
train is in,” he said.
He found a carriage for her
and deposited the ease on the
rack.
There was only a moment
before the train started.
Milward stood at the open
door, a little breathless with
his hurry.
“Goodbye, and try to for
give me,” he said.
Patricia ignored his offered
hand.
“I hope I shall never see you
again,” she said.
lie stood back from the door
as the train began to move.
“Oh. I think you will,” lie
answered easily.
CHAPTER II.
“But it’s monstrous—mon
strous!” said Patricia. She
leaned forward, her hands
clutching the arms of the big
chair in which she sat, and
stared at the man who had just
finished reading from the pile
of papers on the table before
him.
Her face was colorless and
her beautiful eyes blazed.
“He must have been mad,”
she said again hoarsely. “He
always told me that every
thing would he mine—every
body knew it!” She tried to
laugh. “Oh, there’s some mis
take, of course; there must he
another will.”
Mr. Phillips shrugged his
shoulders.
“I am afraid there is no mis
take,” lie said, with unwonted
gentleness. “This will was
only made a month ago, and
Mr. Rolf knew quite well what
he was doing. It was a sur
prise to me, I admit. I always
looked upon you as his heiress
—everybody did. I had no
idea that Mr. Rolf had ever in
tended to change his will. I
most certainly had no idea that
his son was still Jiving.”
Patricia leaned back again
actually happened that night
out in the Baltic? The red
glare haunts me!
“You know that Russia is
still suffering. Kerensky’s fall
soon succeeded that of Ortiz;
neither of them was strong
enough to steer the drifting
ship, which still awaits its
master-pilot. Bolsheviks, Cze
cho-Slovaks, monarchists, and
foreign powers are injuring
themselves without gaining
one atom of honor or happi
ness in exchange for all the
blood they are shedding. Ts
Ortiz still behind the scenes?
Has he risen from his grave to
play the ‘grand jeu,’ I can
not tell. You may say: after
all, he was only a grain of
dust in the whirlpool. Possi
bly. Has not a grain of dust
been able to change the course
of the world before now?
“It is just a year today
since I fought him at the Cop
per House for Tarrasehin’s
memorandum. Somehow I
feel that I shall see him again;
I would stake my life on itT
“Good-bye, and, perhaps,
‘an revoir’l
“In haste, between two ad
ventures,
“Yours very sincenjy,
“Maurice Wallion.”
THE END.
1
in her chair; she felt faint and
giddy.
‘‘1 don’t believe he is alive,’
she forced herself to say. “I
believe it's all some cruel joke
—he was always cruel! He told
me himself that his son had
died years ago. He never spok*
of him. Oh, I am sure that it
cannot he true.”
Mr. Phillips did not answer
lb* felt very sorry for this girl
He had done his best to per
suade his client, to leave her al
least a small income. lie re
called his own indignant words
now as he looked at Patricia’s
stunned face:
‘‘You have brought her up
in luxury; you have encour
aged her in extravagant tastes
for 14 years, and now you
leave her without a penny!
What will become of her?
What can she do?”
And a little shiver of dis
taste shook him as he remem
bered Peter Rolf’s mirthless
laugh as he had answered:
“She can go back to where
she came from; it will do her
good. She never showed me
any affection—I owe her no
consideration. Now, then, are
you going to draw up that will,
or shall I get someone else to
do it?”
Peter Rolf had always been
a determined man, and, even
while he made bis protest, Mr
Philips had realized its hope
less futility. So the will had
been made, leaving everything
to this son whom everybody
had believed to be dead.
It seemed a gross injustice.
Mr. Phillips thought, as he
looked at Patricia. He won
dered what she would say if
she could know how Peter Rolf
had chuckled to think of hei
discomfort when the terms of
his will became known.
He said again, gently:
“1 hoped to be able to make
him change his mind, or at
least, to leave you something.
Miss Rolf, but—” ,
Patricia turned on him furi
ously. ,
“Don t call me Miss Rolf—
don’t call me by' his name; I
won t have it. He must al
ways have hated me—I am
sure now that he did.” Her
voice trembled suddenly.
“What do you suppose will be
come of me? What in the wide
world can 1 do?”
The lawyer, cleared his
throat nervously.
“ ^ on will probably marry,’
he said, courteously. “And.
of course, young Mr. Rolf will
see that something is done to
provide for you; I am sure that
he will do so.”
She laughed scornfully.
“If he is anything like his
father, he will hate me, too,”
she said. “Do you know him?
Where is he now? And does
he know about—about this—
l injustice?”
“1 have not seen him or
hoard anythin# of him since he
wont away, 15 years ago. 1
always understood that he was
dead. I can assure you that
it was as much 3f a surprise to
me as—”
She interrupted impatiently:
‘‘But now — where is iie
now?”
“In Australia.”
“And he knows — about
this?”
Mr. Phillips shook his head.
“I wrote—at Mr. Rolf’s
wish as soon as this will was
made, but he cannot vet have
got the letter. I have sent
a cable, of course. He will
probably sail for England at
once, but even then it will be
six or seven weeks before he
can possibly get here.”
‘ And in the meantime what
am I to do? Where ain I tc
go?”
(TO B» CONTINUED)
-- M
In Bath, England, water Is stil)
flowing through the lead pipes that
were used in Roman times.
u“'- .Whole System Putrid.
A Prom New York World.
Tft fell to Senator George of
' Georgia to make the really final
• comment on the affair of Senator
Bingham and Mr. Eyanson. The
nmj'orf of the Caraway committee as
^STif wrpectcd, confined itself to facts
'without censure.* In debate. Mr.
Caraway ably brought out the im
propriety of introducing a salaried
agent of local interests into the
group of senators drafting a great
national measure to see that these
local intertsts were g'ven the special
privileges they craved. But Senator
George went beyond this In showing
hew the episode is typical of the
whole selfish "system” by which tar
iff legislation is drawn and passed.
The system comprises a broad
interlocking structure of devices—
pressure, manipulation and log rol
| iir.g—by which powerful economic
groups get special privileges, sub
sides and exemptions at the public
expense. They bring.almost irresist
ible inlluence to bear on senators
and representatives. Their lobbyists
besiege congressional committees
where the agents of the consumer
are never, and of the farmer seldom,
heard. We have seen how they
worm their way into the committee
room to influence rates. They raise
huge campaign funds, as Mr.
Grundy calmly admits he did, in the
expectation of reciprocal tariff fa
vors; and when the campaign is over
they proceed to collect just as a
business man does on a promissory
note. They arrange lcg-rolling deals
by which one interest trades votes
with another to gain selfish ends
of both. As the eider La Follstte
said of Aldrich in his autobiography,
they convert legislators who are sup
posed to look at the national inter
est into well rewarded attorneys fcr
local and special interests.
It is a consolation to think that
the ‘system” is be^ng more effect
ively shown ud this year than even
when La Follette, Beveridge and
Dolli-jr exposed the Aldrich bill, or
when Senator Quay was forced to
admit speculating on his inside
knowledge of pending tariff changes
As various senators said *he pending
bill has fallen under * «iadow ol.
general discredit. A little m-rfre, ano
public disgust will make it possible tc
do away with the system entirely
and resort to the sane type of alter
native procedure which Governo’
Smith outlined a year ago.
Q. Is poor eyesight a commor
failing? D W.
A. It is estimated that at leas
cne person out of four, has vision
defective enough not to be able to
do close work without serious eyt
'train.
OF INTEREST TO FARMERS
■ mm i i m 1« i i — iMi
NEW ERA IN BEEF PRODUCTION
We are m a new day of be;! pro
duction. In thio new era here in the
Middle West we are taking much
of the speculative element out of
beef-cattle feeding. The young, early
maturing, fed-fiom-birth-to-market
babv beef is definite'/ and finally
replacing the older, heavier cattle.
Baby-beef production is taking the
gamble out of cattle feeding.
With the old system of buying
and feeding out heavy cattle, a feed
er hesitated to make the venture un
less he felt confident of a wide mar
gin. Even then he could not be sure
of the outcome of the enterprise. It
was this type of feeding which gave
the cattle-feeding game the gamb
ling reputation.
In order to help meet this chang
ing condition and to aid farmers
with the newer system of cattle
feeding, we have built a part of our
animal husbandry extension work
around a state-wide car-lot baby
beef feeding contest for the last two
years. We have just completed the
second of these contests. Out of
these contests we have derived some
valuable lessons.
First of all, we have found some
most efficient baby-beef producers.
J. H. George, Corning, la., who has
wen the contests in both years, has
been able to make his whole car
loads of calves gain almost a pound
and a half a day from the day they
were born until they went to mar
iet. weighing 1,000 to 1,100 pounds
it 13 to 15 months of age.
One point driven home by the
rontests is the heavy losses incurred
from diseases, some of which are
easily preventable. For example,
line out of 50 farmers who en
;ered the first contest had to drop
)ut because of the losses from blaok
eg. This was amazing, for a safe,
:asy, inexpensive and sure method
las been in use for some years in
oreventing this disease. The pre
ventive, of course, is vaccination.
The contests also have showed
;hat heifers are not so good feeders
as steers, on the whole. The heif
ers averaged 7 per cent lighter than
the steers in the state contest.
It has been urged that it Is wise
to castrate and dehorn feeder calves
while hey are young. That this is
good policy has been demonstrated
in the contests.
Another outstanding lesson from
these contests has been the differ
ence in cows and bulls to transmit
the ability to their progeny of mak
ing good use of their feed. In the
same herd, calves from certain cows
forge far ahead of others by the
some sire. All, of course, had an
equal chance.
Why should we not work out, as
Is obviously needed, some kind of
record of performance for beef cat
tle to measure their productive abil
ity, such as we have had for 50
years with dairy cattle?
OLD METHODS VS. NEW
We frequently come across some
one who knows of some new and
bee ter way of doing things. Every
where there are new inventions and
improvements, many of which can *
not be patented, but which never
theless are going to have a lot of
influence on our ways of doing busi
ness. Most people do not realize
how rapid has been the change in
our ways of feeding both human
beings and animals. High powered
advertising has so shell-shocked us
that sometimes we fail to recognize
the truth merely because it is
shouted at us too loudly. Cod-liver
lil and Vitamin D have undoubt
;dly revolutionized the poultry busi
ness. The mixing of tankage with
vlfalfa meal, linseed oil meal, min
erals and other feeds has made the
vinter feeding of hogs far more
profitable. Trapnesting and selec
tion have made the White Leghorn
into an extraordinary egg machine.
Of course, in the machinery world
changes are stealing up on us all
the time. It was only a few years
ago that a tractor was developed to
cultivate three or four rows of corn
at a time, and now we have suc
cessful two-row tractor corn pickers,
which, in good corn, have husked
over 1,500 bushels of corn in a day.
Some farmers are actually produc
ing their corn and small grain with
only about one half as much labor
as they used to require. Of course,
the saving in labor Is offset to some
extent by the Increased outlay in
machinery. In fact, these wonder
ful new' inventions oftentimes cost
more than they are worth during
the first few years after their in
1 troduction. But after a short time
they are either improved or the price
is cheapened, and the result is that
thousands of farmers find that they
can out-compete their neighbors by
using the new devices. The inven
tive urge is in the air, and this
means that all of us must be on our
toes continually, reading the pa
pers, attending fann demonstra
tions, talking to machinery people,
and learning from county agents.
It also means thait some of us
must be on our guard not to spend
too much money on things which
have not yet been fully proved.
Others of us must be on our guard
against the inclination to stay in
the old rut long after it has been
proved possible to make more
money by the new methods.
BLUE RIBBONS
In our rush for egg production,
meat quality and so-called utility
characteristics of poultry, there has
been a growing tendency to disre
gard the finer points of breed, type
and color and those characteristics
of beauty and refinement which go
to make up a pure-bred bird. We
must not lose sight of size, type,
color and purity of breeding, or we
will find ourselves a nation with
mongrel poultry. We are just en
tering the show season. For the
next two or three months, fall and
winter shows will be held in almost
every community throughout the
nation. These exhibitions offer an
opportunity for every poultryman
to enter his birds or products, and
the results can be used by him as a
—a— — - ... ■
measure of his proficiency in breed
ing, feeding ana management. There
is no greater incentive to any poul
try keeper than the blue riooon. It
isn't only the fun and pleasure of
winning, but it is the wonderful
educational opportunity which the
poultry show offers to study the
methods of different breeders and
irom such study measure the effi
ciency of one’s own operations. The
race for a maximum number of eggs
has led us into dangerous practices,
which have resulted in a decrease in
weight and size of our birds, and
consequently a decrease in the size
of the eggs produced. They have
also given us a poultry population
which is way off color in many
breeds from what the standard re
quirements call for, and there ha3
been a rapid deterioration in shape
and type. The greatest benefit that
could happen to the poultry indus
try of the nation would be ' for
greater attention to be paid to some
of these fundamental breed char
acteristics. The forthcoming poul
try shows offer the best opportunity
of getting such improvements under
way.
--
CONDITIONING PULTJETS
Pullets just coming into full lay
ing condition are in a peculiar con
dition physically. In cne way, thej
are or should be, at their best,
vigorous, strong and full of health
But in another way they arc just
passing from a growing stage intc
an entirely new phase of living, tin
laying stage, wherein new function*
within their bodies begin to appear
tied up closely with the nervou*
system, the digestive system and th*
like. In this delicate physical con
dition they are very susceptible t«
environmental conditions and treat
ment. They must be handled wit It
a full appreciation of this fact. Th*
pcultryman must be ready to pro
tect his pullets at this time, and
recall that this change in theii
existence comes just as the weathei
grows wilder, the temperature drops
winds blow, and snow- comes. Thj
first step lies in getting the matur
ing pullets into good flesh and up
to weight before forcing them for
winter egg yield. If on examina
tion of the good pullets as they
come into winter quarters the flock
is not in good flesh, heavier grain
feeding especially yellow corn,
should be practiced to gain the sur
plus of flesh and fat that will be
needed as the birds progress
through a long season of egg pro
duction. It will, net pay to get a
few early eggs by premature forc
ing, and have to accept short sea
son of yield as a result of the pul
lets not having sufficient strength
to stand up under the strain.
FEEDING NURSING SOWS
The spectacle of a bunch of
squealing pigs trying vainly to-tug
life and nourishment from a half
starved sow which is compelled to
subsist on straight corn and water
is still too common a sight through
out the corn belt. Milk is an idea!
feed for the young growing animal.
Corn is a feed unsurpassed for fat
: tening purposes, but unsurpassed
for fattening purposes, but notor
iously deficient in the flesh and
bone building substances. A sow
cannot secrete milk on corn alone
because corn does not possess the
food materials out of which milk is
made. It is not necessary to follow
any one system or method of feeding
to obtain good results with the
nursing sow. The feed may be self
or hand fed, dry, wet or soaked,
with little fidderence. The essential
thing is to supply liberally feeds
that make a complete and balanced
ration. Hhere are some samples of
good rations: (1) Four parts of corn,
two parts cf ground oats, one part
of wheat middlings, and 10 parts of
skim milk or buttermilk, by weight.
(2.) Eight parts of com, two parts
of ground oats, one part of best
grade tankage or fish meal, and
green forage or fine quality alfalfa
had. (3.) Eight parts of ground oats
or barley, two parts of wheat, shorts,
one part of tankage and linseed oil
meal half and half, and half a pari
of alfalfa meal. A good mineral mix
ture, such as equal parts by measure
of bone meal, limestone dust, wood
ashes and salt, should be available
for nursing sows.
.BOVINE “T. B.” ERADICATION.
Those who have objected to th*
program of eradicating bovine tu
berculosis and held that it was im
possible to eradicate this disease,
must get little comfort out of th*
results which are being obtained
Much evidence can be cited to show
how erroneous the reasoning is oi
those who would let bovine tuber
culosis run its course. Many state*
offer substantial evidence that tu,
berculosis is on the decrease and
notwithstanding the imperfection ot
the tuberculin test, real progresi
is being made in subduing this cat;
tie disease. A report from one west
ern agricultural college states tha>
in one county in their territory les*
than .07 of 1 per cent of the ani
mals are affected. Th'5 is almost
absolute eradication. Nearly 12.00C
cattle were tested and only 9 re
actors found. In another county
where 32,000 cows were tested, only
212 reactors were found, when on
first test there were nearly 1,500. In
other words, the percentage of in
fection in this oounty on the first
test was 4.78 per cent, while cn the
second test it was only 0.66 per cent,
W> hear some say that the tuber
culin test does not reveal the dis
eased animals To this it can ba
stated that the animals slaugh
tered from these sections show a
marked decrease in tuberculosis. In
fact, in some sections scarcely any
diseased animals are found upcn
slaughter at the packing nouses.
A DUCKLING RATION
The best food for the new
hatchew ducklings is bread moist
ened with milk, with a little fine
; grit and powered charcoal sprinkled
on it.
LANTERNS IN HEN HOUSE
There Is no question but what
providing the laying flock with a
12-hour day throughout the winter
oy means of artificial light at the
beginning or end of the day, or
both, pays under western conditions.
More and more farm flocks are be
.ng thus helped to make the best of
warm houses and good rations dur
.ng the months of short days. Gen
erally, providing the poultry house
with lights has been assumed to go
hand in hand with electricity on
the farm. But as yet a compara
tively small per cent of farms are
electrically equipped. During the
last two years I have visited at
j least a dozen farms, says an investl
' gation of poultry l'fare, where It
: was called to my attention that
lanterns had been used to furnish
1 light for the chicken house. In most
i cases, these were gasoline lanterns,
| although I know at least one farm
woman reported the use of an oil
! pressure kerosene lamp. If equipped
with reflectors of the right sort ana
hung in the right part of the poultry
house, these lanterns have proved
a safe and desirable sort of light.
For those without electricity, this
sort of lighting for the poultry
' house is worth investigation and
f trial.
