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The Spoilers.
ny REX E. DEACil.
Copyright, 1005, by Ilex E. Ueacli.
(Contiuucd from Pago Threo.)
"By heavens', yolPre a wonder!" lie
cried at the close. "And I'm with you
iody and hoiiI. It's dangerous that's
why I IIIcimII."
"Dangerous?" McXnmnra shrugged
Ids Hhoulders. "Hah! Where Is the
danger? We've got the law, or, rather,
skg are the law. Now, let's got to
-work."
It seemed that the boss of North
Dakota was no sluggard. He discard
d coat and waistcoat and tackled the
documents which Struve laid before
lilm, going through them like a whirl
wind. Gradually ho Infected the oth'
ors with his energy, and soon behind
1he locked doors of Dunham & Struve
there were only haste and fever ami
plot and Intrigue.
As Helen Chester led the Judge to
ward the flamboyant, three storied ho
1el she prattled to him light heartedly
'The fascination of a new land already
bold her fast, and now she felt, In ad
dition, security and relief. ("Jlenistor
wiw them from a distance and strode
forward to greet them.
He beheld a man of perhaps three
score years, benign of aspect save foi
Hie eyes, which were neither clear noi
. steady, but had the trick of looking
jiiislonc. (ileuistor thought the mouth,
loo, rather weak and vacillating, but
-the clean shaven face was dignified by
learning and acumen and was wrln
Wed In pleasant fashion.
"My niece has Just told mo of youi
service to her." the old gentleman be
pm. "I am happy to know you. sir."
"Resides being a brave knight and
insisting ladles In distress. Mr. filonis
1cr Is a very great and wonderful
Jimn," Helen explained lightly. "He
owns the Midas."
"Indeed!" said the old man. his
nhiftiug eyes now resting full on the
other with a Hash of unmistakable In
terest. "I hear that Is a wonderful
mine. Have you begun work .vet?"
"No. We'll, commence sluicing day
after tomorrow. It has been a late
spring. The snow in the gulch was
kep and tile ground thaws slowly.
"We've ,?H building bouses and dolm:
dead work, but we've got our men on
-the ground waiting."
"I am greatly Interested. Won't you
-walk with us to the hotel'.' I want to
hoar more about tliiwe won.Ierful
j (Incurs."
"Well, they are great placers." said
the miner as the three walked on to
gether. "Nobody knows how great be
.'nuse we've only scratched at them
yet. In the Hrst place, the ground Is
so shallow and the gold Is so easy to
got that If nature didn't safeguard us
In the winter we'd never dare leave our
claims for fear of 'snipers.' They'd
run In and rob us."
"How much will the Anvil creek
jfllues produce this summer?" asked
Ibe judge.
"U'h hard to toll, sir, but we expect
to average $5,000 a day from the Mi
das alone, and there are other claims
just as good."
"Your title Is all clear, I dare say,
eh?"
"Absolutely except for one jumper,
nnd we don't take him seriously. A
JYllow named tlalloway relocated us
one night last mouth, but be didn't al
lege any grounds for doing so, and wo
4'ouhl never llnd trace of him. If we
Jjad, our title would be as clean as
suow again." He said the last with a
3-oculIar lulleetlon.
"You wouldn't use violence, I trust?"
"Sure! Why not? It has worked all
right heretofore."
"But, my dear sir, those days are
sone. The law Is here, and It Is the
rJnty of every one to abide by It."
"Well, perhaps It Is, but In this coun
try we consider a man's mine as sa
cred as his family. We didn't know
what a lock anil key were In the early
limes, and we didn't have any troubles
except famine and hardship. It dif
ferent now, though. Why, there have
been more claims Jumped around here
this spring than, In the whole length
and history of the Yukon."
They had reached the hotel, and
Jlenlster paused, turning to the girl as
iho' judge entered. When she started
to follow, he-dotnluod her.
"I came down from the hills on pur
joso to see you. It has been a long
week"
-"Don't talk that way," she interrupt
1 coldly. "I dou't care to hear It."
"See here, whut makes uu shut mo
out and wrap yourself up In your
JiaughlinessV I'm sorry for what I did
that night. I've told you so repeated
ly. I've wrung my sold for that act
- till there's nothing left but repeut
.nneo." "It Is not that." she said slowly. "I
!nave been thinking it over during the
$mst 'month, and now that I have gain
ed an insight Into this life I see that
'. -Jt, .wasn't an unnatural thing for you
in do. U's terrible to think of, but It's
true. I don't mean that It was pardon
able," she continued quickly, "for It
wasn't, and I hate you when I think
about It, but I suppose I put myself
Into a position to invite such actions.
No; I'm sulllciently broadminded not
to bl.ime you unreasonably, and I think
I could like you In spite of It, Just for
what yon have done for me. But that
Isn't all. There Is something deeper.
You saved my life, and I'm grateful,
but you frighten me always. It Is
the cruelty In your strength. It Is
something away back In you lustful
and ferocious and wild and crouching."
He smiled wryly.
"It Is my local color maybe, absorbed
from this country. I'll try to change,
though, If you want me to. I'll let
them rope and throw and brand me.
I'll take on the graces of civilization
and put away revenge and ambition
and all the rest of It If it will make
you like me any better. Why, I'll even
promise not to violate the person of
our claim Jumper If I catch him, and
heaven knows that means that Sam
son has parted with his locks."
"I think I could like you If you did."
she said, "but you can't do It. You aro
a savage."
There are no clubs nor marts whero
men foregather for business in tho
north nothing but the saloon, and this
Is all and more than a club. Here men
congregate to drink, to gamble and to
tralllc.
It was late In the evening when
Glenlsler entered the Northern and
passed Idly down the row of games,
pausing at the crap table, where he
rolled the dh-e when his turn came.
Moving to the roulette wheel, he lost a
fdack of whites, but at the faro "lay
out" his luck was better, and he won a
gold coin on the high card, whereupon
he promptly ordered a round of drinks
for the men grouped about him. a for
mality always precedent to overtures
of general friendship.
As he paused, glass In hand, his eyes
were drawn to a man who stood close
by, talking earnestly. The aspect of
the stranger challenged notice, for he
stood high above his companions, with
a peculiar grace of attitude In place of
the awkwardness common In men of
great stature. Among those who were
listening Intently to the man's care
fully modulated tones tlleulster recog
nized Mexico Muillns. the ex-gambler
who had given Iiextry the warning at
Unalaska. As he further studied the
listening group a drunken man stag
gered uncertainly through the wide
doors of the saloon and. gaining sight
of the tall stranger, blinked, then an-
I"
&H J ,k
it-
JjQi
"I'cc beta miltln' a turrlblc tlmt fer
tills dau."
preached him, speaking with a loud
voice:
"Well, if 'lain't ole Alec McNamara!
How do, ye ole pirate?"
McNamara nodded and turned his
back coolly upon the newcomer.
"Don't turn your dorsal tin to me. I
wan' to talk to ye."
McNamara continued his calm dis
course till he received a vicious whack
on the shoulder. Then he turned for a
moment to Interrupt his assailant's
garrulous proianlty:
"Don't bother me. I am engaged."
"Ye won' talk to me, eh? Well, I'm
goln' to talk to you, see. I guess you'd
listen If I told these people all I know
about you. Turn around here."
Ills voice was menacing and attract
ed general notice. Observing this, Mc
Namara addressed him, his words
dropping clear, concise and cold:
"Dou't talk to me. You are a drunk
en nuisance. (Jo away before some
thing happens to you."
Again he turned away, but tho
drunken man seized and whirled him
about, repeating his abuse, eucouraged
by this apparent patience.
"Your pardon for an Instant, gentle
men." McNamara laid a large white
and manicured hand upon the llauuel
sleeve of the miner and gently escorted
him through the entrance to the side
walk, while the crowd smiled.
As they cleared the threshold, how
ever, he clinched his tlst without n
word and, raising It, struck the sot
fully and cruelly upon the Jaw. Ills
victim fell silently, tho back of his
' head striking thp boards with a hollow
I thump; then, without even observing
. how ho lay, McNamara re-entered the
I saloon and took up his conversation
l where he had been Interrupted. His
voice was as evenly regulated as his
movements, betraying not a sign of
nnger, excitement or bravado. He lit
a cigarette, extracted a notebook and
-. .cwuir-
Jotted down certain memoranda sup
plied him by Mexico Muillns.
All this time the body lay across the
threshold without, a sign of life. The
buzz of the roulette wheel was re
sumed, and the crap dealer began his
monotonous routine. Kvcry eye was
llxed on the nonchalant man at the
bar, but tho tufconsclous creature out
side the threshold lay unheeded, for
In these men's code It behooves the
most humane to practice a certain
aloofness hi the matter of private
brawls."
Having completed his notes, McNa
mara shook hands gravely with his
companions and strode out through the
door, past the bulk that sprawled
across his path and without pause or
glance disappeared.
A dozen willing, though unsympa
thetic, hands laid the drunkard on the
roulette table, where the bartender
poured pitcher upon pitcher of water
ver him.
"He ain't hurt none to speak of,'
said a bystander; then added, with en
thusiasm: "But, say, there's a man In this here
camp!"
CIIAPTKB VI.
THO'S your new shift boss?"
It (Jlcnlstcr Inquired of his
ly partner a few days later,
Indicating a man In Mie cut
below, busied In setting a line of
sluices.
"That's old Slapjack Simms, friend
of mine from up Dawson way."
(Jlcnlstcr laughed immoderately, for
the object was unusually tall anl loo-o
Jointed and wore a soiled suit of yellow
mackiuaw. lie bad laid off his coat,
and now the baggy, bilious trousers
hung precariously from his angular
shoulders by suspenders of alarming
frailty. His legs wore lost In gum
boots, also loo-e and cavernous, and
his entire costume looked relaxed and
(lapping, so that he gave the Impres
sion of being able to shake himself out
of his raiment and to rise like a bur
lesque Aphrodite. His face was over
grown Willi a grizzled tangle that
looked as though It had been trimmed
with buttonhole scissors, while above
the brush heap grandly soared a shin',
domelike head.
"Has ho always been bald?"
"Naw! Ho ain't bald at all. He.
shaves his nob. In the early days he
wore a long llowln' mane which was
Inhabited by crickets, tree toads and
such fauna. It got to be a bobby with
him liually, so that he growed supersti
tlous about goln' uueurried and would
back into a corner with both guns
drawed if a barber came near him.
But once Hank thaj.'s his real name
undertook to fry some slapjacks and in
givln the skillet a heave, tho dough lit
among bis forest primeval, Jest back
of his ears, soft side down. I lank pol
luted the gulch with langwidge which
no man bad ought to keep in himself
without it was fumigated. DIsrcppita
bleness oozed out through him like
sweat through an ice pitcher, an' sjuce
then he's been known as Slapjack
Sltnins an' has "kept his head shingled
smooth as a gun bar'l. He's a good
miner, though. Ain't none better an'
square as a die."
Sluicing had begun on the Midas.
Long sluuous lengths of cauvas hose
wound down the creek bottom from
the dam, like gigantic serpents, while
the roll of gravel through the Humes
mingled musically with the rush of
waters, the tinkle of tools and the song
of steel on rock. There were four.
"strings'' ot boxes abreast, and the
heaving line of shovelers ate rapidly
Into the creek bed, while teams with
scrapers splashed through the tall races
u an atmosphere of softened profanity.
In the big white tents which sat back
from the bluffs, fifty men of the night
shift were asleep, for there Is no re-i
spite hereno night, no Sunday, no'
halt, during the hundred days in which '
the northland lends herself to pillage.
The nilue lay cradled between won
derful, mossy, willow mottled moun
tains, while above and below tho gulch
was dotted with tents ami huts, aud
everywhere, from basiu to hill crest, '
men dug and blasted, punlly, patiently,
while their tracks grew daily plainer
over the face of this Inscrutable wil
derness. A gloat contentment filled the two
partners as they looked on this scene.
To wrest from reluetnnt earth her
richest treasures, to add to the wealth
of the world, to create here was sat
isfaction. "We ain't robbiu' no widders an'
orphnns doln it, neither," Dcxtry sud
denly remarked, expressing his part
ner's feelings closely. They looked at
each other and smiled with that rare
understanding that exceeds words.
Descending into tho cut, the old man
' filled u gold pan with dirt taken from
( under tho feet of tho workers aud
i washed it iu a puddle, while the other
1 -watched ids dexterous whirling mo
I tlons. When ho had finished they
i poked the stream of yellow grains Into
a pile; thou, with bends together,
guessed Its weight, laughing again do
, llghtclly, in perfect harmouy aud con
1 tentment.
I "I've been waltin' a turrlblc time fer
i tills day," said tho eldor. "I've suf-
, them slipped, and It crashed against a
brace which held tne sluices in piace.
These boxes stand moro thaii a mnn's
height abovo tho bedrock, resting ou
supporting posts and running full of
wai aituuM a bIuIcq full the rush-
Tho Kind You Hnvo Always Bought, aud -which litis been
in use for over 30 years, 1ms homo tho signature of
-? and has been made under his ier-
&i jCJ&ffl?jfA so,ml supervision sineo its infancy.
vzT7r, '-C6CCA4V. Allow no ono to deceive you in thta .
All Counterfeits, Imitations and " Just-us-good" are but
K.vpcrinieuts that triilo with and endanger the health ot
Infants and Children Experience against Experiment.
What is CASTORIA
Custoria is a harmless substitute for Castor Oil, Pare
goric, Drops and Soothing Syrups. It is Pleasant. It
contains neither Opium, Morphine nor other Narcotic
.substance. Its ago is its guarantee It destroys Worms
and allays Feverishness. It cures Diarrhoea and Wind
Colic. It relieves Teething Troubles, cures Constipation
and Flatulency. It assimilates the Food, regulates tho
Stomach and Dowels, giving healthy and natural sleep.
The Children's Panacea Tho Mother's Friend.
GENUINE CASTORIA ALWAYS
Bears the
The Kind You tee Always Bought
In Use For Over 30 Years.
THE CtNTAUd COMH, TT MURRAY BTftCCT, NEW VOHK CITY.
""BSE
Bitt for
coupru, .
Colcfi, Croup.
Whooping
cough. Etc.
No Opiates.
Conforms to
National Puro
Food and
Drue Law.
All cough syrups containing opiates consti
pate the bowels. Bee's Laxative Cough Syrup
biotss tha bowels and contain no opiates.
PARKER'S
HAIR BALSAM
Oloanwa antl bcautiHci the htr.
l'nmtotti a Invariant growth.
JJevor Failt, to Hefttoro Ory
llalr to its Youthful Color.
Cure. M-alp ctl?i,' .V hair tallicr.
Mc.ndlUmtt DruarUu
nig stream carries. out the i;oIil which
linn lodged In the rllllcs ami ilooils the
bedrock, raisins havoc. Too late the
imrlnci's saw the stilus of boxes sway
and bend at the Joint; then, before
they could reach the threatened spot
to support It, Slapjack Slmms, with a
shriek, plunged Happing down Into tho
cut aud seized the Uuiiie. Ills great
height stood him iu good stead now,
for where the joint had opened water
txHtred forth hi a cataract. He dived
under the breach unhesitatingly nnd,
stooping, lifted the line as near to Its
former level as possible, holding the
entire burden upon his naked pate.
He gesticulated wildly for help,
while over him poured the deluge of
Icy, muddy water. It entered his gap
ing w:t 1st baud, bulging out his yellow
trousers till they were fat and full and
the seams were bursting, while his
ynwnlng boot tops became as boiling
springs. Meanwhile lie chattered forth
profanity In such volume that the ear
nched under It as must have aclud the
heroic Slapjack under the chill of the
melting snow. He was relieved quick
ly, however, and emerged triumphant,
though blue and puckered, his wilder
ness of whiskers streaming like limber
stalactites, his boots loosely "squish
ing," while oaths still poured from him
In such profusion that Destry whis
pered: "Ain't he a ring tailed wonder? it's
plumb solemn tin' reverent the way he
makes them untamed cuss words sit
up an' beg. It's a privilege to be pres
ent. That's a gift, that Is."
"You'd better get some dry clothes,"
they suggested, nnd Slapjack proceed
ed few paces toward tho ttuts, hob
bling as though trending on pounded
glass.
"Ow-w!" kq yelled. "These blasted
boots is full of gravel."
Ho seated himself and tugged nt his
foot till tho boot came away with u
sucking sound; then. Instead of emp
tying the accumulation at random, he
roured the conteuts Into Doxtry's omp-
'-8
lt BE CONTINUED.
Signature of
fMu
CATARRH
a&.
mm
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??YS
84
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ft . r- -
HAY-EEVER
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ewyw
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nnd dri vf-s away a Cold iu tin He.; 1 .juk-UIv.
Hi-stores the Senses of Ta-.te nnd ftmoll.
lltiy to iih-i'. Contains no injtui m-, drugs
Applied into tho nostril) nnd utiorhed.
Liugi fcizf, no cents tit Drugr-tn or by
mail Liquid Cream Riha t'or u.se 1.1
atomizers, 7.r cents.
ELY BROTHERS, 5G Warren St.. Now York.
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E32
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3
