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  No. 801   FEBRUARY 4, 1921.   7 Cents

Fame and Fortune Weekly.

  STORIES OF

  BOYS THAT MAKE MONEY.

  DICK DARLING'S MONEY
  OR THE RISE OF AN OFFICE BOY

  AND OTHER STORIES

  By A Self-Made Man

[Illustration: Dick's head, falling forward when he lost consciousness,
hit the door and the sound attracted the attention of the proprietor
and his two clerks. "What's that?" exclaimed Mr. Bacon. He pulled the
door open and the office boy fell out.]




CONTENTS


  Dick Darling's Money; or, The Rise of an Office Boy
    CHAPTER I.--The Office Boy's Peril.
    CHAPTER II.--Dick Escapes.
    CHAPTER III.--Dick Meets the Mason Family.
    CHAPTER IV.--The Missing Diamond.
    CHAPTER V.--Dick Carries His Point.
    CHAPTER VI.--Knocked Out.
    CHAPTER VII.--Dick and His Eldest Sister.
    CHAPTER VIII.--Dick Has His Fortune Told.
    CHAPTER IX.--In the Mirror.
    CHAPTER X.--Dick's Strenuous Experience.
    CHAPTER XI.--Guilt Sees Its Finish.
    CHAPTER XII.--The Man in the Tree.
    CHAPTER XIII.--The Hidden Treasure.
  Current News
  A Lawyer At Nineteen; or, Fighting Against a Fraud
    CHAPTER I.--(continued)
    CHAPTER II.--The Result of the Young Lawyer's Keen Management of the
      Smollett Case.
  The News in Short Articles
  The Renegade's Fate
  Items of Interest
  Laughs
  Items of General Interest




  FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY

  Issued Weekly--Subscription price, $3.50 per year; Canada, $4.00;
  Foreign, $4.50. Harry E. Wolff, Publisher, 166 West 23d Street,
  New York, N. Y. Entered as Second-Class Matter, October 4, 1911, at
  the Post-Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879.

  No. 801 NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 4, 1921. Price 7 Cents

  Dick Darling's Money

  OR, THE RISE OF AN OFFICE BOY

  BY A SELF-MADE MAN




CHAPTER I.--The Office Boy's Peril.


"Dick, come into my office," said Mr. Roger Bacon, a well-known
wholesale dealer in watches, jewelry and silverware, on John street,
New York City.

"Yes, sir," replied Dick Darling, his fifteen-year-old office
boy--a bright, good-looking lad, who had not yet graduated out of
knickerbockers, though most boys of his age would have dispensed with
them for trousers. Somehow or another Dick looked to unusual advantage
in knickerbockers, and he made a pretty figure in the store, which
naturally made his employer partial to that kind of attire in him. That
was one reason why he continued to wear them at his age.

Another reason was because being the youngest of a family of four,
the older members being all girls, he was regarded by his mother and
sisters as the baby of the family, and they wouldn't hear to his making
any change in his attire. He was only a baby in name, however, for
there wasn't a pluckier young chap of his years in his neighborhood, or
in the city for that matter. The boys in his block, who knew him well,
and those employed in the vicinity of Mr. Bacon's store, downtown,
often made his knickerbockers the butt of their witticism, but Dick
was a self-reliant, independent youth, and he didn't care a rap for
the fun and criticism that was directed at his apparel. He surprised
the downtown lads by polishing off a couple of them who got too gay on
the subject, which made the rest rather shy about tackling him, since
it was apparent that he knew how to use his fists if forced to call
upon them. When Dick followed his employer into his private office the
merchant pointed at the chair beside the desk, so the office boy sat
down and awaited developments.

"Dick," said Mr. Bacon, "I'm going to send you on an unusual mission. I
want you to take this package," laying his hand on a square one which
stood on his desk, "to Springville, New Jersey. The village is about
an hour's ride from Jersey City, on the line of the Central Railroad
of New Jersey. A train that will stop there leaves Jersey City at
four-thirty, and you have thirty minutes to catch it. You will deliver
the package at the home of Mr. Goodrich--his name and address are
written on the outside. As he is well known in the place, the station
agent or anybody in the village will direct you to his house, which I
believe is not over ten minutes' walk from the station. Under ordinary
circumstances this package would be sent by express, but the order
came only a short time ago, and the article must reach the gentleman
early this evening. I may as well tell you that it is a wedding
present, and is worth about $330. You ought to be able to deliver the
package and get back to the station in time to take the train for
Jersey City which stops at Springville at six-fifteen. That is all.
Go to the cashier and he will hand you money enough to cover all your
expenses."

Dick took the package and carried it with him into the counting room,
where the cashier handed him a five-dollar bill and told him to turn
in the change in the morning. Then he put on his hat and started for
the Cortlandt street ferry. He landed in Jersey City in ample time to
catch the accommodation train which stopped at all points north of its
destination. Dick enjoyed the ride to Springville, where he arrived
about half-past five.

He found no trouble in reaching the Goodrich house, where he asked for
Mr. Goodrich and delivered the package to him. The gentleman presented
him with a dollar, treated him to some cake and lemonade, after which
Dick started back for the station. He arrived there five minutes before
train time and went to the window to buy a return ticket. The agent was
busy at the telegraph key and Dick had to wait for him to get through.

"I want a ticket for Jersey City," said the office boy.

"Sorry, but there's just been an accident down the road. The train you
expect to take, due here in five minutes, ran into a number of freight
cars on a siding, owing to a switch having been imperfectly locked, and
it stuck there. It may be hours before the tangle is straightened out.
You will have to wait for the nine-ten, which is the next train that
stops here."

"Nine-ten!" exclaimed Dick. "That's three hours from now."

The agent nodded.

"This is only a small place, and but few of the trains stop here," he
said.

"If I have to wait for that train I won't get home till after eleven
o'clock, and my folks will be worried to death about me, for they don't
know that I was sent down here."

The agent looked at the clock.

"Well, I'll tell you what you can do if you are a spry walker. The
express which passes here at seven-thirty stops at Carlin, six miles
north of this station. There's a good road running straight to
that town. If you think you can cover the distance between now and
seven-thirty-eight, why, you will be able to get that train, which will
land you in Jersey City about eight-ten."

"I'll try it. Where's the road?"

The agent came out of his office, took Dick to the rear door of the
station, and showed him the road.

"It goes right to Carlin, you say?" said Dick.

"Yes."

"Will it land me near the station?"

"Within a short distance of it. You ought to make the train, for you
have an hour and twenty-five minutes to do it in. You ought to be able
to walk five miles in an hour if you do your best. It's a good hard
road on which a person can make good time."

Dick started at a brisk walk for Carlin. He came to a fork in the
road after going about a mile. After due deliberation he took what he
thought was the right road, but which turned out to be the wrong one.
After he had walked what he thought at least six miles and no town
in sight, he felt he had taken the wrong road. An old and apparently
deserted house stood near where Dick halted and a storm coming up, he
decided to seek shelter there. It was now nearly dark. Dick sought
shelter in the old house. The door was nearly off its hinges. Soon the
storm came on, and by a flash of lightning he saw a couple of men each
with a bag over his shoulder, putting for the house. He drew back into
what had apparently been a bedroom, as he did not wish to be seen by
the strangers.

As soon as the two men entered, they started to talk of dividing the
contents of the bags as soon as they reached the house of one of the
men, who was called Parker by the other, whose name was Bulger. Dick
soon learned the bag contained the contents of a burglary which the
two men had committed on a large house in the vicinity, and that they
had had an exciting encounter with one of the servants. Dick felt that
he was in bad company. In leaning a little too heavily on one foot a
board creaked, which sound the two thieves heard, and they started
to investigate. Dick retreated into a corner of the room. One of the
thieves heard him and made a dive for the spot. As Dick could not see
the crook any better than that individual could see him, he was taken
by surprise when the muscular arms of the man suddenly encountered him
and he was immediately seized and dragged out of the corner. The crook
saw that it was a boy he had hold of.

"Now, you young imp, I've got you!" he cried triumphantly. "What are
you hidin' up in this place for?"

"What's that to you?" replied Dick pluckily.

"Sassy, are you? I reckon I'll take some of the sass out'r you before
I'm through with you. Come along."

He dragged the boy into the next room.

"Open the winder and let's take a squint at this chap," said Bulger.

Parker threw up the dirty window overlooking the road, but the amount
of light that came in did not greatly help matters out.

"How came you in this house?" said Bulger.

"I came here to get out of the storm," replied Dick.

"Oh, you did; then why didn't you show yourself when we came in?"

"Why should I?"

"You heard us come in, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"And you didn't let on you were here. You've been listenin' to our
talk."

Dick made no reply.

"You heard all we said, didn't you?" said Bulger, giving the boy a
rough shake.

"You say I did."

"I know you did."

"Then what's the use of asking me, if you know so much?"

"Because I want you to admit it."

"I'll admit nothing."

"I'll choke the life out of you if you don't!" said the crook savagely.

"I haven't done you any harm, what do you want to treat me this way
for?"

"But you intend to squeal on us as soon as you get away."

"What will I squeal about?"

"About what you heard."

"I haven't said that I heard anything."

"Who are you, anyway?" said Bulger, suddenly changing his line of
questioning.

"My name is Dick Darling."

"Where do you live around here?"

"I don't live around here at all."

"You don't? Know anybody named Darling about here, Parker?"

"No. He looks like a stranger to me as well as I can see him," said
Parker.

"Where do you live, then?" demanded Bulger.

"In New York."

"New York!" roared the crook. "What are you givin' me?"

"That's the truth."

"What are you doin' 'way down here in Jersey, then? Who are you
visitin'?"

"Nobody. I was sent to Springville on an errand by my boss."

"Where's Springville, Parker?"

"It's a village on the railroad about eight miles from here."

"If you were sent to Springville, how is it that you are over here?"

"An accident happened to the train I was going to take for Jersey City,
and the agent told me that I could catch an express if I walked to
Carlin. That's what brought me over here."

"Did you start to walk to Carlin from Springville?" asked Parker.

"Yes," replied Dick.

"And instead of keepin' to your left, you turned into the road to the
right and came over here, eh?"

"Yes, I did that. And I walked away from the town instead of toward it?"

"That's what you've been doin'."

"That's tough. I'll have to go back to the Carlin road, then, before
I'm on the right track again."

"I reckon you won't go nowheres at present," said Bulger. "You've heard
too much for some people's good. We'll take him over to your place,
Parker, and hold on to him till I'm ready to dig out, and then I'll
take him with me."

Having decided that point, the crook took a firm hold of the boy by the
arm, and led him outside, followed by his pal, who shouldered the two
bags.




CHAPTER II.--Dick Escapes.


Dick was marched along the road to a field, lifted over the fence, and
compelled to tramp it through the sodden turf and high grass. At length
they reached another fence and he was lifted over that, too. The grass
wasn't so tall in this meadow, but it was high enough to keep his shoes
and stockings well soaked. They passed downhill here into a wood, and
through the wood to another meadow, and across the meadow to a road,
a narrow branch one, and along the road to a small weather-beaten
picket gate, in the center of a picket fence, which admitted them to
a ruinous-looking plot of ground, in the foreground of which stood a
disreputable-looking two-story house, with a light shining from one of
the windows. Dick was marched around the house to a crazy barn in the
rear. The door, held by a hasp and staple, was opened and he was pushed
in, followed by the man, Parker dropping the bags on the floor. Parker
fumbled about on a beam till he found a match, with which he lighted
a lantern. Then he got a piece of rope and with it Dick was bound to
a post on which some odd pieces of harness were hanging. The men then
conferred in a low tone. Finally, after Bulger had examined Dick's
bonds to make sure that he was well tied, the men took the bags up and
left the barn, after blowing out the light, and secured the door after
them.

For the next half hour Dick worked hard to get free from the post. He
twisted and pulled and shoved his arms this way and that, stopping
occasionally to rest himself. Perseverance, they say, will conquer in
the end; at any rate, it did in Dick's case, for at the end of thirty
minutes he pulled one of his hands out of the bonds. The other soon
followed, but still he wasn't free, for the rope around his chest held
him close to the post. Even though his hands were free, he could not
reach the knot that held him a prisoner. However, that did not greatly
matter, for he managed to work his right arm to the front so he could
put his hand in his pocket and pull out his knife. He had to put it
behind his back to open it, but once that was done all he had to do was
to crook his arm and begin sawing at the rope. The blade was sharp so
the strands were quickly severed, and he stepped away from the post,
free at last. The next thing was to get out of the barn. He tried the
door, but that was beyond him. Then he felt his way around the walls
in the dark, stumbling over various obstacles in his path. He found a
place at the back where the boards appeared to be loose. He struck at
one with his heel and it began to give way. Encouraged by this, he kept
at it and in a short time detached the end of the board. He succeeded
in knocking out a second board, and ripping both off, made a hole
sufficiently large for him to crawl through. He knew where the road was
and he started for it, taking care to give the house a wide berth.

There was a light in the room he judged was the kitchen, and he
believed the two men were there, drying their clothes. He climbed over
the picket fence, and when he stood in the road the problem of where
it led to struck him with some force. He would have to follow the road
in one direction or the other, and he had no idea at all where he would
fetch up at. The night was dark and the strangeness and uncertainty of
his situation made him feel all at sea. He started down the road at
random, hoping he would meet with a house where, if the inmates were
up, he could get information that would enable him to reach Carlin. He
saw the lighted windows of a house up the road and decided to go there
and make his inquiries. As he approached the gate he saw three men
standing there talking. Two of them seemed to be rural policemen. They
looked at him as he came up.

"Is this the road that runs into the Carlin road?" he asked the party
generally.

"Yes," replied the well-dressed third person, who was evidently
connected with the house.

"Would you favor me with the time?"

"It is about ten o'clock."

"Thank you, sir; now maybe you'll tell me whether this house was robbed
this evening just before the thunderstorm?"

The three looked at Dick with some surprise and curiosity.

"Yes, it was," replied the gentleman. "How did you learn about it?"

"From the two thieves themselves."

His reply created something of a sensation.

"You learned the fact from the thieves?" said the gentleman.

"Yes, sir."

"Pray, who are you, young man? You seem to be a stranger in this
vicinity."

"I am a stranger. My name is Dick Darling. I live in New York, and
am employed by Roger Bacon, wholesale dealer in watches, jewelry and
silverware. I was sent with a package to Mr. Goodrich, of Springville,
a few miles from here, this afternoon, but after delivering it I
found that the accommodation train for Jersey City, which stops at
Springville at six-fifteen, had met with an accident which put it out
of business, and being anxious to get home, the agent told me that if
I walked to Carlin, six miles north, I could catch the next express,
which stopped there at seven-thirty-eight. I started to walk, and got
on all right till I came to where the road joined another, this one,
in fact. I took this one by mistake and it brought me out here, away
from Carlin, though I did not know at the time that I was going wrong.
Then the thunderstorm came on and I took refuge in the vacant house up
yonder."

Dick then went on to describe the arrival of the two rough characters
with a bag each, and how not liking their looks he retreated to another
room, from which spot he overheard them speaking about the robbery they
had committed, and what their plans were for the immediate future.
Then he told how they discovered his presence in the house and made a
prisoner of him, and after questioning him closely they took him over
to the house where the man named Parker lived, where they locked him
up in the barn, after tying him to a post to make sure he wouldn't get
away; but he had made his escape in spite of their precautions, and
found his way over to that road, his object being to reach Carlin and,
after reporting the robbery and all the facts connected with it, take
the first train he could get for home. Dick's story interested the
gentleman, whose name was Mason. They said they would go and arrest the
thieves, while Dick was to stay at Mason's house until they came back.
This plan was carried out.




CHAPTER III.--Dick Meets the Mason Family.


The gentleman took Dick into the house by a side door and up a back
stairs to his own room. Here he provided the boy with a pair of long
stockings and his own slippers. Then he showed him where he could
wash his hands and face and brush his hair. While Dick was thus
employed, his host took his shoes and stockings down to the kitchen,
and instructed the cook to start up the fire and dry them as soon as
possible. He returned to his room and found that Dick had made a great
improvement in his personal appearance.

"Now we will go into the sitting room, and I will make you acquainted
with my family," he said. "They are greatly exercised over the robbery,
for the thieves made a clean sweep of this floor, and took all the
jewelry and other personal belongings of value, including a much-prized
set of silverware which my wife inherited from her mother. The loss
of the latter has made her quite ill, but when I tell her that we are
likely to recover all our property through the information furnished
by you, it will make her feel much better, and you will receive her
thanks."

Mrs. Mason, her unmarried sister, and Miss Madge were seated in a bunch
in the sitting room, looking very much dejected.

"Let me make you acquainted with Richard Darling, of New York," said
Mr. Mason.

Dick bowed and the ladies acknowledged the introduction in a solemn
way, expressive of the state of their feelings.

"You will be glad to learn that this young man has brought us a clue
to the rascals who robbed the house, and the constables have gone off
quite confident of capturing them and recovering our property," said
the gentleman.

His words produced a considerable change in the ladies.

"Do you really think, John, that they will be caught, and that we shall
get our things back?" asked his wife.

"I have strong hopes for it, for this lad's story confirms William's
statement that Samuel Parker is one of the men. According to his
account, the two rascals went over to Parker's house, where they
proposed to hide the plunder in a dry well on his grounds until it
could be safely taken away and disposed of."

Mr. Mason asked Dick to tell his story to the ladies, and he did so.
They expressed their astonishment that circumstances should have
brought him into the business, and declared that he was a fine, plucky
boy. They said they were sorry that his mother and sisters would
necessarily be worried about him, but he was sure to get home early in
the morning, probably about half-past two, and then their anxiety would
be allayed.

"In the meanwhile we will try and make your short stay with us as
pleasant as possible," said Mr. Mason, "and I assure you that you are
entitled to our grateful appreciation. We won't forget what we owe
you for the clue you have furnished us, even if those rascals are not
caught as soon as we expect. And now as you have missed your dinner, I
will see that a meal is prepared for you at once."

The gentleman left the room and the ladies continued conversing with
Dick. He was such a nice, polite boy, and gentle in his ways, as
lads brought up in a family of girls usually are, that they took a
great fancy to him. After a while Mr. Mason returned and told him to
accompany him downstairs. Dick found a nice meal waiting for him, and
as he was very hungry, he did full justice to it. While he was eating,
the constables returned, bringing their prisoners with them and also
the stolen goods. The ladies were pleased to death to learn that their
property had been recovered and, of course, gave all the credit for
it to Dick. After the office boy had finished eating he was taken
outside to identify the rascals, which he did. The servant William also
recognized them as the thieves. Bulger favored Dick with an unpleasant
look and told him he hoped to get even with him some day.

The rascals were then put in a wagon and carried to the lock-up of the
near-by village to be removed next morning to Carlin. Mr. Mason had his
auto brought out of the garage.

"I am ready to take you to the station at Carlin," he said.

Dick was quite ready to go with him. He bade the ladies and Miss Madge,
who had taken a decided liking to him, good-night, and he and his host
were presently en route for that town, which they reached in ample time
for Dick to connect with the midnight express. Thirty minutes later
he reached Jersey City, crossed the river and took an elevated train
for Harlem. He reached the flat where the family lived a few minutes
before two and found his mother and sisters all up and in a great stew
about him. He explained everything to them, and then the family retired
to make the most of the few hours before morning called them to arise
as usual, for the girls all worked in offices downtown and had to get
away about eight o'clock. Dick reached the store on time next morning,
in spite of the fact that his usual hours of sleep had been curtailed,
and he turned the change of the $5 bill over to the cashier; also
the receipt Mr. Goodrich had signed for the package. The office boy
attended to his duties until Mr. Bacon appeared about ten o'clock, when
he followed him into his office.

"You delivered the package to Mr. Goodrich all right, I suppose?" said
his employer.

"Yes, sir. I handed the receipt to the cashier."

Then Dick surprised Mr. Bacon with the story of his adventures with the
two thieves in New Jersey.

"You didn't have much sleep," said Mr. Bacon. "If you feel tired this
afternoon you can go home at four o'clock."

"Thank you, sir, but I don't think that will be necessary. I'll have
plenty of time to make up my lost rest by going to bed directly after
supper. Mr. Mason told me that I will be required to appear in court
at Carlin this afternoon when the men are brought up before the
magistrate. He told me I should take the half-past twelve train down,
and that he would meet me at the station. Can I go?"

"Certainly. I have no right to prevent you giving your testimony in
court."

That ended the interview. Dick went to Carlin that afternoon, was taken
to the court by Mason, and identified the men as the two thieves,
telling his story in a straightforward way. The rascals were held for
trial. Dick returned to New York by an express, reaching Jersey City at
half-past five, and within an hour got home, just in time to sit down
to supper.




CHAPTER IV.--The Missing Diamond.


Although Mr. Bacon was a wholesale dealer, he also did a considerable
retail trade as well. On the following morning a well-dressed man came
into the store and asked to see some fine diamonds. The clerk who
waited on him showed him a tray full of choice gems from two carats
up to five. The customer looked them over carefully, made several
selections, but the price was always too high for him to pay. He
tried to get the clerk to reduce the figure, but that was out of the
question, as Mr. Bacon had but one price for his goods. Finally the man
said that he would have to go elsewhere. As he started to leave the
sharp-eyed clerk noticed that a five-carat stone was missing from the
tray.

"One minute, sir," said the clerk. "You forgot to return one of the
diamonds you were looking at."

"I did? Nonsense! Do you take me for a thief? I only handled one of
them at a time and after looking it over laid it down on the showcase,
or on that mat."

"Nevertheless, one of the diamonds is missing," said the clerk, pushing
a button under the counter which summoned the manager of the store.
The customer waxed indignant and protested that he had no knowledge
whatever of the diamond. The clerk insisted that he must have it.

"Well, then, you can search me, but I think it's an outrage," said the
man.

The manager took him into his office and went through all his pockets,
and looked him over for a secret pocket, but there was none and the
diamond was not found on him.

"You see, I haven't got it," said the man. "Your clerk's eyesight is
defective. I don't believe there is a diamond missing at all from the
tray. He only thought there was."

Under the circumstances the customer was permitted to leave the store,
though the manager was pretty well satisfied that the clerk had made
no mistake. Dick had seen the man examining the diamonds, but had
noticed no suspicious movement on his part to get away with a gem. In
his opinion the man had been wrongfully accused. Once he had seen the
man put his left hand under the outside ledge of the showcase at the
bottom and hold it there for a moment, but he thought nothing of that.
At any rate, he knew there was no place there where a diamond could be
lodged even temporarily. The clerk looked over the floor on the outside
of the counter, but without result, so he felt sure that the customer
had managed to get away with it somehow. In about half an hour a lady
entered the store and went to the same counter. She wanted to look at
some new style rings. While the clerk was producing a couple of trays,
Dick, who was close by, saw her place her hand under the bottom ledge
of the showcase and run it along there about a foot, an action the
office boy thought strange. When she removed her hand she fumbled for
her pocket. A moment or two later she was looking at the rings the
clerk placed before her. At that juncture the manager called Dick and
sent him down the block with a message. As he was coming back he saw
the man who had been suspected of taking the diamond standing near the
curb about a hundred yards from the store. He seemed to be waiting for
some one.

Down the street came the lady whom Dick had left examining the rings.
She went directly up to the man and handed him something. Dick saw
him hold the article up and pick at it. In another moment he tossed
something away and put his finger and thumb into his vest pocket, then
the couple walked away. The meeting of these two persons struck Dick as
having a suspicious bearing on the missing diamond, though just what
the connection was he could not say. He looked at the place where he
had seen the man toss what the woman had handed him and saw a small,
dark object. He went and picked it up. It proved to be a wad of chewing
gum. Dick was disappointed with his discovery and was about to drop it
when he noticed a deep impression in it that looked like the imprint of
a diamond.

Then the truth came to his bright mind like a flash of inspiration. The
missing diamond had been stuck in the gum. Still that didn't explain
to his mind how the diamond had got there, or how the lady who had
been in the store half an hour after the man had come in possession
of the diamond. The matter puzzled him greatly, but of one thing he
was confident, and that was that the missing diamond was now in the
man's pocket. Under such circumstances he believed that it was his duty
to follow the pair. The couple turned into Nassau street and walked
leisurely northward. Dick kept on behind them in a rather doubtful
frame of mind. They kept straight on, passing the Tribune Building and
the other newspaper offices of the Row, and so on under the Brooklyn
Bridge entrance to the corner of North William, a narrow and short
street that cuts into Park Row at that point. They crossed the head of
this street and walked into a well-known pawnshop that stood there.

"I'll bet the man is going to pawn that diamond," thought Dick. "Well,
I'm going to see if he is."

He immediately followed them into the public room. He found them
standing before the long counter. A clerk came up to them.

"How much will you advance me for a month on that diamond?" asked the
man, taking the unset stone out of his pocket and laying it down on the
counter.

The size of the diamond corresponded with the missing one, and on the
spur of the moment Dick glided to the counter and grabbed it before the
clerk's fingers touched it.

"I don't think this shop will advance you a dollar on a stolen
diamond," he said, stepping back defiantly, ready to maintain his
employer's claim to the stone.

The woman gave a stifled exclamation and looked frightened.

"Give me that diamond!" cried the man.

"No, sir. Will you send for a policeman to settle this matter?" said
Dick to the clerk.

"Do you want me to send for an officer?" the clerk asked the man.

"No; I can settle my own business without a cop butting into it,"
replied the man savagely.

"Call an officer for me, then," said Dick. "I accuse this man of
stealing the diamond he asked you to fix a price on."

"How dare you call me a thief!" roared the man.

"Because that's what you are," answered Dick defiantly.

Customers coming into the pawnshop stopped to see what was going on. As
the case stood, all the advantage lay with Dick, for he had the article
in dispute, and possession is nine points of the law. As the racket was
highly undesirable in the pawnshop, the clerk decided to telephone for
a policeman to come and straighten things out, since neither Dick nor
the man showed any signs of giving in. The man himself realized that
things were growing desperate. The lady said something to him in a low
tone, but he shook his head impatiently. Evidently somebody had told a
policeman of the case, for just at this time an officer appeared.




CHAPTER V.--Dick Carries His Point.


"Well, what's the trouble here?" asked the officer.

"The trouble is that man stole a five-carat unset diamond from our
store and came here to pawn it. I followed him and got it away from
him. I expect the manager of the store here any moment so I want that
man detained till he comes," said Dick.

"It's a lie. The diamond is my property," said the accused wrathfully.

"He brought a lady with him and she has just run away," said Dick.
"That looks suspicious."

"She was frightened by the trouble that you raised, you young imp."

The policeman turned to the head clerk and asked for the facts as far
as he knew them. The chief clerk told the officer all that had happened
from the moment the parties to the dispute made their appearance.

"This boy has the diamond, then?" said the policeman.

"He has," answered the pawn clerk.

"Hand it to me, young man."

Dick took it out of his pocket and turned it over to the officer.

"You charge this man with the theft of the stone from your store?"

"I do."

"Did you see him take it?"

"I did not."

"Then how do you know he stole it?"

"Because circumstances point towards him."

"What do you mean by circumstances?"

Dick explained that the accused had called at the store and asked to
be shown some diamonds. A tray of the stones had been submitted to
his inspection under the eyes of the salesman. He looked over quite
a number, and finally said the prices were too high for him to pay.
Then he started to leave, but the salesman called him back because he
noticed that one of the diamonds was missing. The man finally submitted
to a search in the manager's office, and the diamond not being found on
him, he was allowed to go.

"You see," said the accused, brightening up, "there is no evidence
against me."

"You admit, then, you were in our store?" said Dick quickly.

"Yes, I never denied the fact."

"Is that so?" returned the boy. "A few minutes ago you said before this
clerk that you had not been in any store this morning. Isn't that a
fact?" added Dick, turning to the head clerk.

"Yes, he did say that," admitted the clerk.

"There you are," said Dick triumphantly.

"I couldn't have said such a thing," protested the man. "At any rate,
you have shown that I didn't steal the diamond from your store."

"I have merely admitted that I did not see you take the stone. You'll
have to explain how you came to have the missing stone in your
possession when you came here to pawn it."

"That stone belongs to the lady who was with me. It never came out of
your store."

"All right. When the manager arrives he will know the stone."

"I don't care what he will have to say about it. The stone belongs to
the lady."

"You have been claiming it as your own right along."

"Well, what's hers is mine, in a way."

"Is she your wife?"

"It's none of your business whether she is or not."

"She did not claim the stone from the time I grabbed it till she ran
away. If it was her property, I should think she would have put up a
big kick."

"Where is the store you claim to be connected with?" asked the
policeman.

"It's at No. -- John street. Mr. Roger Bacon is the proprietor."

At that moment the manager of the store entered with the diamond
salesman. Both of them immediately identified the accused as the man
who had visited the store an hour or more since, and the manager
corroborated all that Dick had already told about the circumstances of
the case.

"But you have no evidence against the man," said the policeman.

"I understand that he brought a diamond here to pawn. I'd like to see
it," said the manager.

The officer handed the five-carat stone to him. He looked it over and
handed it to the salesman.

"Is that the stone that you missed?" he said.

"Yes, that appears to be the stone," said the clerk.

"How do you recognize it?" asked the officer, who believed that all
unset diamonds of a size looked as much alike as all peas of a size.
The salesman explained that it was a part of his business to make
himself familiar with the looks and quality of all diamonds he had
charge of.

"Well, this may or may not be the stone you assert is missing from
your stock," said the policeman; "but as long as you can't show that
this man took it, I don't see how I can run him in without a regular
warrant."

"I think I can throw some light on the matter," said Dick at this point.

All hands looked at him.

"Here's a piece of gum which I saw that man throw into the street after
picking something out of it," he said, handing the gum to the manager.
"It evidently held the diamond, for it bears a clear impression of a
five-carat stone."

"It does, indeed!" said the manager.

"The lady who was in the store looking at rings when you sent me on the
errand came up to that man and handed him that piece of gum. It was
the singularity of their meeting that aroused my suspicions and caused
me to watch and then follow them to this place, particularly after I
picked the gum up and saw the impression of a diamond in it. I judged
at once that the man must have hidden the stone in the gum and left
it somewhere about the counter where the lady found it afterward and
brought it to him."

Dick's words seemed to make the matter quite clear to the manager, who
was familiar with many of the tricks adopted by diamond thieves to ply
their vocation without detection.

"The gum business is an old trick," said the manager. "It's a wonder it
did not occur to you," he added, looking at the salesman. "When a thief
comes into a store he sometimes carries a piece of adhesive gum like
that," he explained to the policeman. "The first thing he does is to
attach it to the bottom of the showcase, out of sight. Then he watches
his chance, and if he is a sufficiently expert sleight-of-hand artist,
he manages at some time during his inspection of the stones to convey a
diamond to the gum and force it into it. When the diamond is afterward
missed he cheerfully submits to a search, for the stolen stone is not
on his person. Later he sends a confederate into the store to get the
gum, under cover of an intention to make some kind of a purchase, other
than diamonds, at that counter. In this case, it is quite clear to me
that the lady was the man's confederate. I think I am fully justified
in demanding that fellow's arrest at our risk. It is too bad that the
woman got away, but I guess we'll be able to find her. You have her
description, Dick," he said to the office boy.

"Yes, sir. I'd recognize her on sight."

"Now, officer, you may arrest that man and take him to the police
station. We will go with you and make the charge," said the manager.

"All right," said the policeman. "Come on, my man, you'll have to go
with me."

That settled the case as far as the pawnshop was concerned, and the
party directly interested started with the officer and the prisoner for
the Brooklyn Bridge station. The charge was made against the man, who
gave his name as Jack Hurley, and he was locked up pending his removal
to the Tombs prison. The manager, salesman and Dick then returned to
the store. The former complimented the office boy on his smartness
in bringing the thief to justice, which would result in the ultimate
return of the valuable diamond to the store. Mr. Bacon, who had been
informed of the theft of the stone, was duly put in possession of
Dick's clever work toward its recovery and the punishment of the thief
and, it was hoped, his accomplice. He sent for his office boy and
added his compliments to those of the manager.

"You're a clever boy, Dick," he concluded, "and I'll see that you lose
nothing through your devotion to my interests. That's all."

Dick got up and returned to his duty.




CHAPTER VI.--Knocked Out.



Of course, the robbery of the diamond and Dick's brilliant rounding
up of the thief got into the afternoon papers. All the merchants and
clerks of the jewelry district downtown were talking about it before
closing-up time. Dick Darling, the boy in the knickerbockers, was voted
an uncommonly smart lad, and people who knew Mr. Bacon told him so.
One of Bacon's clerks after reading the story in the paper called Dick
over and showed it to him. Dick bought a couple of papers on his way
home and read both accounts. When he got to the house he handed one of
the papers to his mother and called her attention to the story. She
read it and was, of course, much surprised. Dick supplied her with many
additional particulars not in the paper.

"Mr. Bacon must be greatly pleased with you," said Mrs. Darling.

"Yes, mother, I dare say he thinks I'm all to the good."

His sisters nearly always read the evening paper on their way home. The
diamond theft having been given an important position on the first page
of the papers they bought that afternoon, it attracted their attention
right away. When they saw that the theft had taken place at the store
where their brother was employed, they read on with added interest.
Then when they saw Dick's name in cold type they became still more
interested. As he proved to be the chief figure in the story, next
to the thief, they grew quite excited over the story. Had they been
together, their exclamations and talk would have attracted attention in
the car, but they seldom came together on the same car or train, and so
they waited till they reached home to loosen up their tongues. And what
a jabbering there was in the little flat when they arrived within a few
minutes of each other. They surrounded their brother and plied him with
questions, till he broke away, declaring that they made his head ring.
Their excitement lasted all through supper. The sum total of their
opinion was that Dick was a regular hero, and they were awfully proud
of him. The morning papers repeated the story with a few additional
details, and Dick read it over again. Then he turned his attention to
the other news.

He generally saw everything that was in the papers, though he didn't
read everything, because he hadn't time to do so. A paragraph, however,
caught his attention this morning which interested him. It told of the
escape of Bulger and Parker from the Carlin jail. The jail was an old
one, and they had been lodged in a cell the window bars of which proved
to have become defective. At any rate, during the short time they were
locked up there, they managed to loosen two of the bars so they could
be removed during the night. From the window they reached the jail
yard, scaled the tall wall with its rusty spikes, and got away. Their
escape was not discovered until morning, when officers were at once
sent out to look for them.

Dick wondered if they would succeed in getting clear off. About eleven
that morning Dick, the manager and the diamond salesman, went to the
Tombs police court to appear against Jack Hurley, the diamond thief. He
was represented by a cheap lawyer, who employed browbeating tactics in
his client's behalf, but did not succeed in shaking the testimony of
the witnesses. Dick being the chief witness, the lawyer spared no pains
in his efforts to tangle the boy up. Finally he moved that his client
be discharged on the ground that there was no real evidence connecting
him with the theft of the diamond. The magistrate, however, refused to
accept his view of the matter, and remanded Hurley to the consideration
of the Grand Jury. During that month the store was closed at three on
Saturday afternoon. On the Saturday following the events narrated the
clerks were getting ready to leave, after having been paid off, when a
consignment of cases containing silverware arrived from the pier of one
of the Sound steamboats. The goods had been shipped by the factory in
Rhode Island the previous day, and had reached the city that morning,
but the truckman had not been able to fetch them to the store until
that hour.

As the manager had gone home, Mr. Bacon decided to stay himself and see
the cases taken in, and detained two clerks to attend to the work along
with the porter. An hour before, Dick had been sent up to the second
floor, which was used in part as a sample room, to arrange some of the
samples and move others out of the upright cases standing against the
walls. There was no clock on that floor, and Dick, forgetting it was
Saturday and that the house closed early, gave no attention to the
flight of time. The cashier, thinking he was out on an errand, left his
pay envelope on Mr. Bacon's desk, and the proprietor seeing it there,
also concluded that the manager had sent Dick out before he left. When
the truck came up, two rough-looking men were lounging on the opposite
side of the street. They were not there by accident, and since they
came there they had been watching the Bacon store in a furtive way. The
cases of goods were taken off the truck and sent down into the cellar.

While this work was under way one of the men strolled across the
street, and, watching his chance, sneaked into the store. He made his
way to the back and looked around. Seeing no one there, he walked
upstairs and found himself in the sample room. The sight of numerous
pieces of choice silverware of all kinds and sizes made him anxious,
and he made up his mind to get away with several of the least bulky
ones, which he could successfully conceal in his clothes. He approached
a case with the view of helping himself when he suddenly came upon
Dick, who was kneeling on the floor behind a table. The boy looked up
and uttered an exclamation, for he recognized the intruder as Bulger,
whose escape from the Carlin jail he had read about. Bulger recognized
him at the same moment, and, with an imprecation, seized him.

"So I've got hold of you again," he said. "Me and my pal have been
waitin' an hour to get a sight of you. We want to settle accounts with
you."

"More likely you'll be settled yourselves," said Dick pluckily. "I've
only to call out and some of the clerks will come up and take charge of
you."

"You won't do any callin' out if I can help it," said the rascal,
seizing the boy by the throat and choking him hard. Dick struggled in
vain to free himself from the burly man's grasp, but he was taken at a
disadvantage, and found himself quite powerless. He gasped for breath,
and was turning black in the face, when Bulger, not intending to kill
him, eased up a bit. The sight of the silverware within his reach had
put different thoughts into the fellow's head, and seeing the door of a
closet standing ajar, he dragged Dick to it, tied his wrists together
with a piece of cord, in a rough way, shoved him into the closet, and
shut the door tight.

Dick, though not wholly unconscious, was fast becoming so from the
effect of the choking, added to the lack of air in the closet. Bulger
quickly opened a case, abstracted several small pieces of silverware,
concealed them about his person, and hurriedly left the sample room,
sneaking downstairs and making for the front door. Mr. Bacon and the
clerks were so busily engaged with the cases of goods that they did not
notice the rascal slip out of the door and walk down the street, after
signaling to Parker, on the other side, to follow.

As soon as the goods had all been placed in the cellar, Mr. Bacon and
the two clerks re-entered the store. The merchant went into his office
to get a small package he was going to take home. Then the sight of
Dick's pay envelope on his desk made him remember the boy.

"I wonder where he was sent?" he asked himself.

It occurred to him to ask the clerks if they had any idea where he was.
He stepped outside where the young men were washing their hands and
putting on their coats.

"Does either of you know where Dick is?" he inquired.

"He's gone home," replied one of the clerks.

"That can't be, for his pay envelope is here waiting for him to claim
it."

"Is that so?" said the clerk.

"Yes; the cashier handed it to me and said he believed Mr. Dale had
sent him out on an errand."

"He might have done so, but he would have got back long before this,
for he knows that the store closes at three on Saturday."

"When did you see him last?"

"Something over an hour ago. He was then up on the next floor making
some changes in the sample cases."

"He might be up there yet."

"It isn't likely, for he would come down after his money when he saw it
was getting close to closing-up time."

"There's no clock up there, and, besides, he isn't a boy who watches
the clock, like some employees do for fear they will work a minute more
than they're paid for it. Dick is always interested in his work. I've
noticed that, and it is just possible he might have overlooked the fact
that it is Saturday. I am going up to see if he is there," said Mr.
Bacon.

The clerks followed him, curious to see if the boy was really still at
work. They found no sign of the office boy on the floor.

"He is not here," said Mr. Bacon. "Mr. Dale must have sent him on an
errand and he has been delayed."

The three were standing near the closet as the merchant spoke. It was
at that very moment that the subject of their thoughts finally became
senseless. Dick's head, falling forward when he lost consciousness, hit
the door, and the sound attracted the attention of the proprietor and
his two clerks.

"What's that?" exclaimed Mr. Bacon.

He pulled the door open and the office boy fell out.




CHAPTER VII.--Dick and His Eldest Sister.


To say that Mr. Bacon and his clerks were both astonished and startled
would be stating the case quite mildly.

"My gracious!" cried the merchant. "What does this mean?"

One of the clerks stepped forward and raised Dick up.

"Why, his hands are bound!" he ejaculated, in surprise.

That fact was apparent to the others.

"Great heavens! How came he to be in this state?" cried Mr. Bacon. "Cut
him loose as quick as you can. Jones, run down to my office and fetch
a glass of the cognac you'll find on a shelf in the closet. This is
certainly a most singular occurrence. Somebody bound the boy and shut
him up in the closet. Nobody connected with the store would do such a
thing as that. And yet how could a stranger have got up here unnoticed?
A thief would not attempt to carry anything away before the clerks in
the store. I don't understand it at all."

Clerk Jones returned with a glass partly filled with cognac. When
Dick's head was lifted the clerk noticed the marks of Bulger's fingers
on the boy's throat. He pointed to them and said:

"Look there; he's been choked."

"My goodness! so he was," said the merchant. "This is a very strange
affair. But we'll be able to learn all about it as soon as he recovers
his senses."

The brandy was poured little by little into Dick's mouth, and as it
trickled down his throat it revived him and brought on a coughing
spell which ended in his opening his eyes. As soon as he was somewhat
recovered, Mr. Bacon said:

"Now tell us what happened to you, my boy. We found you in the closet
with your wrists tied together. It was by the merest accident that we
discovered you there. Your body fell against the door and made a noise.
But for that we should not have known you were there, and you would
have been locked up in the building until Monday morning."

Dick instinctively put his hand to his throat, for he felt the after
effects of the impress of Bulger's fingers. With some difficulty at
first, which wore off as he proceeded, Dick told his story.

He explained that the man who attacked him and put him out was one
of the two rascals he encountered down in New Jersey, and whom his
testimony had materially helped to fasten the crime of the burglary of
Mr. Mason's house upon. The men, he said, had escaped from the Carlin
jail within a day or two of being locked up, and it was now clear that
they had not been recaptured, but had made their escape to New York. It
seemed strange, he thought, that Bulger should have the nerve to enter
the store in quest of him, as his few words had indicated he had. It
showed what a vindictive and desperate scoundrel he was. Dick wound up
by asking if he had stolen anything, for it seemed likely that he would
not go away without helping himself to some of the valuable articles
that were within his easy reach.

That caused the clerks to examine the showcases, and they reported
that some of the small samples in the case nearest the closet
were missing from their place. Dick got up and confirmed their
statement, for he knew exactly what was in showcase at the time he
was attacked. An inventory of the loss showed that it was not very
considerable--probably not over $100. Mr. Bacon went downstairs to
notify the police department over the telephone about the affair,
acquaint them with the amount of the loss, and the fact that the
rascal who was implicated in the job had escaped, with his pal, from
the Carlin jail a few days before, and furnish Bulger's name and
description. Dick got his pay envelope, and by that time felt all
right again. The store was then locked up by the porter and all hands
separated for their homes. Bulger and Parker were caught that night
at a low resort frequented by men of their stamp, and Mr. Bacon was
notified by a policeman who called at the store on Monday morning.

Dick was sent up to headquarters to identify the men, which he had no
trouble in doing. The Carlin authorities were notified of their arrest,
and of the charge made against Bulger of assault and grand larceny, on
which the New York authorities proposed to hold him until the grand
jury returned an indictment against him. The Carlin authorities at once
started extradition proceedings in order to get the two men back to
stand trial for the robbery of Mr. Mason's house. In the end when the
papers were served on the New York police department, the indictment
against Bulger was pigeonholed for future use, and the men were
delivered to representatives of the Carlin police. They were tried for
the burglary almost immediately, and Dick appeared as a witness against
them. They were convicted, Bulger, on account of his record, getting
ten years, while Parker, as it was his first offence, was let off with
five years. Dick was given a vacation of two weeks at the time, as he
had received a pressing invitation to stay with the Mason family.

He would have got a week's vacation, anyway, as it was the month of
August. The Masons treated him as an honored guest, and he spent most
of his time in the company of Madge Mason, who was a very pretty and
companionable girl.

As an evidence of his appreciation of Dick's services, Mr. Mason deeded
to Mrs. Darling, in trust for Dick, a five-acre piece of ground, worth
about $250, which had come to him some years before as part of a deal
he made, and which he had no use for. Dick visited the place, which
was fenced in and was rented as a pasture to a farmer whose property
adjoined it. Mr. Mason told Dick that some day he might be able to sell
it to a small farmer for twice its present value. At any rate, he could
easily hold it as long as he chose, for the taxes on it were light, and
it could be kept rented at a profit over all expenses.

The boy was delighted to come into possession of a piece of real
estate. His ambition had always been to own property when he grew
up. He thanked Mr. Mason for his gift, and took the deed home with
him when he returned to New York. He handed it to his mother, as the
property stood in her name, and was so recorded at Carlin, but the deed
contained the trust clause which practically settled the ownership of
the ground on her son. The trial of Jack Hurley came on about the time
Dick got back to the city. The woman, who proved to be no relation
of the thief, had been found and held in the House of Detention for
Witnesses, as she agreed to appear against the man in consideration of
the charge as a confederate being withdrawn. The result of the trial
was that Hurley got three years up the river. After the conviction
of the rascal, Mr. Bacon presented Dick with $100. With that sum he
started a bank account in his own name.

"You'll be wealthy some day, Dick," said his eldest sister, Gertie.

"How?" he asked.

"Why, you have $100 and a piece of property estimated to be worth $250,
and which is likely to increase in value as you grow older."

"Suppose it's worth $500 when I get to be twenty-one, that won't make
me wealthy, even with the $100 and the interest on top of it."

"No, but it'll start you on the road to wealth."

"Maybe it will, and maybe it won't," laughed Dick. "You may become
wealthy long before I get within hailing distance of big money."

"Nonsense! I haven't got a cent."

"I know. You girls never have a cent left out of your princely wages,
for you spend it all on glad rags in the hope of capturing a husband
who will consider it an honor to pay all your bills, furnish you with a
fine house, an auto to ride about in, and other et ceteras too numerous
to mention."

"Aren't you the horrid boy to say such a thing!"

"Isn't it the truth?"

"Indeed, it isn't. I never expect to get married."

"You don't? Oh, come now, don't get off such whoppers or the bogie man
will get you when you aren't looking."

"One must have a beau first, and you know I haven't acquired such a
luxury yet."

"What's the matter with the gent in the tall dicer and lavender kids
who calls on you regularly every week, and takes you out to the theater
and entertainments? Mr. Clarence Peck. He's clerk in a broker's office,
with prospects of advancement, and expectations from two maiden aunts."

His sister blushed vividly, and looked a bit confused.

"Mr. Peck is merely a friend," she said.

"Well, he thinks a lot of you."

"How do you know?" said his sister, with another blush.

"He didn't tell me so, I admit, but actions speak louder even than his
lavender kids."

"I wish you wouldn't make fun of his gloves. I think they are the
proper thing for him to wear."

Dick chuckled.

"He seems to be rather bashful, though. If I visited a girl as long as
he has been coming here to see you, I would propose and have it over
with."

"Don't be too sure that you would. Mr. Peck is not bashful; he is only
a little diffident. He is very clever, but I sometimes fear that he
lets his light shine under a bushel."

"What has a bushel got to do with him? It takes two pecks to make one,
and he's only one Peck."

"Aren't you smart! I think we'd better change the subject."

"Sure I'm smart. I've proved that by helping to catch three crooks
and send them to State prison. I think it's about time I shook these
knickerbockers and got into trousers. I'm getting tired of being taken
for a twelve-year-old kid."

"Why, the idea! You look real cute in knee pants. Mr. Peck says----"

"Cut out what Mr. Half Bushel says. I'm the party to be pleased. I've
got a girl now, so it's time----"

"A girl!" exclaimed his sister, evidently astonished.

"Why not? Got any objection?" asked Dick aggressively.

"When did this happen? Who is she?"

"She's an heiress. You don't suppose I would consider any girl who
hadn't prospects, do you?" grinned Dick.

"Tell me her name," asked his sister, with an air of inquisitive
interest.

"Sorry, but I couldn't think of giving away such a valuable secret."

"Oh, I know--I know!" cried his sister, clapping her hands. "If you
aren't the sly rogue! It's Madge Mason, the girl you've been talking so
much about since you got home from your visit to her parents' home."

"Well, keep it dark, sis," said Dick, with a flush.

"Oh, I couldn't think of it. I must tell Nell and May and mother."

"You tell them and I'll get square with you. The next time Mr. Peck
calls I'll tell him how much you're stuck on him, and then maybe he'll
get up spunk enough to propose to you."

"You wouldn't dare, Richard Darling!" cried his sister, with a burning
face.

"I wouldn't? Well, say, you don't know me! It's up to you. Keep mum
about Miss Mason and I'll be good; otherwise--you know what'll happen."

Then Dick walked out of the room, satisfied that his sister would be as
mute as a mop stick.




CHAPTER VIII.--Dick Has His Fortune Told.


We will pass over two years, during which Dick ceased to be an office
boy and became one of the most gentlemanly clerks in Mr. Bacon's
store. His knickerbockers disappeared the day after the conversation he
had with his sister, as detailed in the previous chapter, and he made
his appearance at the store in a new suit of clothes, which so changed
him that the boss and clerks hardly recognized him at first. The change
developed a new line of witticism on the part of his young friends, but
Dick took the bull by the horns in so energetic a way that the funny
lads shut up in short order.

Dick now felt that he was a real man, except in years, and during the
ensuing two years he deported himself along that line, and was made a
clerk before the merchant had expected to raise him to that dignity;
but the fact was when the knickerbockers went to the scrap heap Mr.
Bacon decided that he looked too old to continue as his office boy,
hence his promotion. During these two years Dick visited the Masons
several times--spending the Christmas holidays with them twice, the
Easter week-end once, and two weeks in each summer.

Thanksgiving was now approaching and he had received an invitation
to come down and spend the interval between Wednesday afternoon till
Monday morning, and Mr. Bacon very graciously gave him permission to do
so. Dick was very glad to visit the Masons, not alone because he always
received a royal welcome from the family as a whole, but because Madge
Mason was now "sweet sixteen," and growing more charming every day.
The fact that Madge was heiress to all her parents' worldly goods had
really no bearing on his feelings toward the pretty miss. Of course it
was nice to think that her future was provided for, but Dick liked her
for herself alone, just as she entertained the same feelings toward
him. Their friendship was firmly established, and both were never so
happy as when together. Perhaps the fact that they were together so
seldom, and then only for a short time, enhanced the feeling each felt
toward the other. Presumedly the girl's father and mother noticed the
growing interest that existed between their daughter and the young
New York clerk. Certainly they put no obstacles in the young people's
way, which may be taken as evidence that they approved of it. Madge's
aunt had a clearer insight into the matter than any one else, because
the girl made a confidante of her. The Mason automobile was at the
railroad station in Carlin waiting for Dick, who had written that he
would come by express which left Jersey City at five-thirty. In the
auto, besides the gardener, who acted as chauffeur, sat Miss Madge, in
a warm gown trimmed with fur, while her pretty head was adorned with a
bewitching fur cap, tilted on one side. The train came in on time and
Dick jumped off with other passengers, carrying a small suit-case in
his hand. Madge saw him at once and waved her handkerchief at him. Dick
saw the signal, recognized the girl, and lost no time in reaching the
automobile.

"This is quite an honor, Miss Madge," said Dick, raising his derby and
stepping in beside his charmer.

"Really, do you think so?" replied Madge, as the gardener started off.

"I certainly do. I never dreamed I should have so charming a companion
on my ride to the house," he replied gallantly.

"Dear me, you say that awfully nice," returned the girl blushingly.
"How are your mother and sisters?"

Dick assured her that they were quite well, and then asked after Mr.
and Mrs. Mason and Miss Woods, the aunt.

"They're very well, indeed," said Madge.

"And how is Cleopatra?" asked Dick, who felt that so important a member
of the family as Madge's pet cat must not be overlooked lest he incur
the young lady's displeasure.

"Oh, Cleo is all right. She is really getting cuter every day."

"Can she stand on her head yet?" chuckled Dick.

"Of course not," said Madge. "Who ever heard of cats standing on their
heads?"

Dick laughed and the conversation changed to another subject, during
which they were whirled over the three miles of road and landed at the
front door of the country house where Mr. Mason was on hand to welcome
Dick. Next morning after breakfast Dick took a stroll over to his
property, more for the exercise of walking than anything else, for he
had viewed his five-acre plot often enough to know its layout by heart;
besides, the month of November was a poor time to look at country land,
which was wearing a wintry aspect. A lot of young trees had started
growing over a part of his land, and at the edge of this section he was
surprised to see a small wooden hut and round it two good-sized tents.
It looked as if a family of squatters had camped upon his property. He
saw a couple of small children playing around the door of the hut, and
from its stovepipe smoke was floating upward.

"I like their nerve taking possession of my place," he thought, as he
leaned over the fence and looked.

A young woman with a bright-colored shawl over her head and shoulders
came out of the hut with a tin pail in her hand and went in the
direction of a spring. Then Dick noticed a covered wagon of the prairie
schooner kind, and beside it another rude, oblong building. He wondered
that Mr. Mason hadn't told him about these free tenants, who had
apparently taken root there for the winter at least. Curious to find
out something about them, he got over the fence and walked toward the
camp. A rough-looking man came out of one of the tents, with a pipe in
his mouth, and looked at him. Dick walked up to him and asked him what
he and the rest of the bunch were doing there.

"We are gypsies," replied the man, who was dark skinned and sported a
black mustache. "We are camping here till next spring."

"Got permission to stay from the owner?" asked Dick.

A peculiar smile flickered about the man's mouth.

"We never ask permission. Why should we? The earth was made for all. We
are only occupying a small part of it for the time being when the land
is of no use to anybody."

"Then you have settled here as a sort of winter quarters. During the
rest of the year you travel about the country, eh?"

The man nodded.

"We travel from place to place, staying as long as we choose. You do
not look like a country boy. You have come here from some town or city."

"That's right. I belong in New York. It happens, however, that I own
this piece of property."

"You do?" said the man, with an accent on the "you," looking Dick over
curiously.

"Yes."

"You object to our being here, perhaps?" said the gypsy, with a frown.

"On, no, as long as you intend to start off in the spring."

"What is your name?"

"Richard Darling. What's yours?"

"Hugh Blacklock."

"You're the boss of this outfit, I suppose?"

The gypsy shook his head.

"Miriam is the head of our branch. There are seven of us, besides the
children."

"Miriam!" said Dick. "That's a woman's name."

The man nodded.

"What's her other name?"

"That is the name she goes by. Perhaps you would like to see her? If
you cross her palm with a piece of silver she will tell your fortune."

"I suppose that's the way you live--by telling fortunes?"

"That and selling fancywork. Come, I will introduce you to Miriam."

As Dick was curious to see the woman who was at the head of this small
tribe of gypsies, he followed his conductor, and was taken into the
hut. Miriam proved to be a woman of middle age, whose features were
not unpleasant. She had raven black hair streaming down her back, and
an eye as dark as a sloe. Her attire was shabby, with the exception
of a bright-colored shawl worn carelessly across her shoulders. The
man spoke to her in a strange tongue, and she regarded Dick with some
attention.

"You are a brave-looking boy," she said. "Shall I tell your fortune?
Come, cross my hand with silver, and I will see what the future holds
in store for you."

Dick wasn't particularly curious about his future, and he rather
doubted the ability of the woman to foretell anything of importance.
However, he concluded to help the tribe along to the extent of a silver
quarter, so he pulled the coin out and placed it in her hand.

"Your left hand," she said.

Dick presented it. She pored over the lines and mounds, which palmistry
teaches mean so much, for a minute or more before speaking again.

"You were born of parents in moderate circumstances, and you are the
youngest of four children," she said.

"That's hitting the mark pretty close," he thought. "I wonder how she
can get that out of my hand?"

"One of your parents is dead," she continued, "and it seems to be your
father."

"Another good guess," thought Dick.

"You had to go to work young, about your fourteenth year."

"That's right," admitted the boy. "Maybe you can tell me what business
I am engaged in?"

"It is something genteel--a clerk in a store or office. You have been
in danger twice within the last three years from evil-disposed persons.
You are fated to make many friends, some of whom will help you forward
in life, but your success will make enemies--you have already made
three, two of whom have had something to do with the peril in which
you have been placed. Since then life has run smoother with you, but
beware, there is trouble hanging over you now."

"Trouble!" exclaimed Dick. "I see none ahead."

"Trouble comes when we are not looking for it."

"Well, give me a pointer on it. You ought to be able to tip me off how
to get out of it."

"Beware of a tall, dark man and a short, light woman."

"That's rather indefinite."

"There is a connection between them and your business."

"My business, eh? This is getting interesting."

The woman frowned and changed the subject.

"You have a sweetheart and you are closer to her now than usual. She is
the bright star of your life--whom you will marry. Three children will
bless your marriage, and you will pass a large part of your life in the
country."

"If you see all that in my hand, it is quite clear that the trouble you
say is hanging over me now will not lay me out."

"You will always triumph over your enemies, but they will do you much
harm. Fortune will soon smile on you. You are about to come into
possession of riches."

"Where am I going to get it? I have no such expectation."

"Good luck, like trouble, often comes upon us unaware. At this moment
you are close to a fortune in money."

"The dickens I am! I'm afraid you're making a mistake there."

"It is so written in your hand and will come to pass."

She dropped Dick's hand and the seance was over.

"Your hand is, on the whole, a lucky one," she said. "The fates smiled
on you at your birth. Favorable planets were in happy aspect. Saturn
alone casts its malignant influence across your life's path, but will
not prevail."

With a sweep of her arm toward the door, Dick understood that he was
dismissed, and he walked back to the house somewhat impressed by what
he had learned.




CHAPTER IX.--In the Mirror.


When Dick reached the house, he found Madge waiting for him.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

"I walked down the road as far as my property. Did you know there were
gypsies camped on it?"

"Why, no; are there?"

"Yes. They have two tents, a hut, a wagon, and a sort of rough barn for
their horses."

"They have no right to camp there. They are trespassing."

"Oh, well, they won't harm the property, and they'll go away in the
spring."

"How do you know? Were you speaking to them?"

"I talked with one of the men, and with the woman who heads the tribe.
Her name is Miriam, and she told my fortune."

"Really?" cried the girl, with a smile. "What did she tell you?"

"Many things that I know to be true, and some things that I hope will
turn out true."

"Then your fortune was a good one?"

"On the whole, it was. You'd better call on her and have your fortune
told."

"Perhaps I will, if aunty will go with me. Come, now, tell me what she
told you."

Dick repeated as near as he could remember all that the gypsy woman
had read in his hand, with the exception of that part referring to his
sweetheart.

"I suppose she said you'd marry the girl of your choice and live
happily ever afterward," laughed Madge slyly.

"Sure; they always put that in to make you feel good."

"So she said you were going to come into a fortune soon? Isn't that
nice?"

"It's too nice to be true."

"It might happen."

"I haven't a rich relative in the world whose death would put me on
Easy street."

"Then you'll get the money some other way."

"I don't know of any other way unless I robbed a bank, and I'm not
likely to do that."

"You might find a pocketbook full of money."

"If I did I'd return it to the owner if I could locate him."

"Well, let us hope you will get the money somehow. Most people wouldn't
worry how money came to them as long as they got it."

Dick agreed with her, and then they began talking about other things.
On Monday morning eleven o'clock a small, stylishly dressed lady, of a
blonde complexion, came into the store and asked for Mr. Bacon. She was
shown into his office, where she introduced herself as Mrs. Patterson.
She said she had been recommended to Mr. Bacon's store by the Rev. John
Dobbs, pastor of a certain church. The church in question was the one
that the merchant was connected with, and the pastor was a warm friend
of his. She said that the Rev. Dobbs had given her a note to hand to
Mr. Bacon, but she had lost or mislaid it, for it was not in her bag.
The merchant asked her what he could do for her, and she said she had
called to look at his stock of silver cups and a few other articles in
the silver line. Mr. Bacon said he would be very glad to give her every
opportunity to make a selection from among his latest samples, and he
assigned Dick to wait on her, as the boy was very successful in dealing
with the lady customers of the house.

So Dick took her up to the sample room and let her see what was on
exhibition in the lines she wanted. The boy had engaging ways that
always took with the ladies, so he never had any difficulty in handling
them to their own satisfaction and that of his employer. Mr. Bacon
had given him a quiet tip that Mrs. Patterson was a special customer
who had been recommended to him, so Dick laid himself out to please
her. He appeared to have no trouble in doing so, for in a short time
she made quite a number of purchases of the finest and most expensive
articles, and giving her address to Dick said that she wanted the ware
delivered C. O. D. at her residence that afternoon at six o'clock. Her
husband would be home at that hour and would pay the bill in cash. She
then left the store, after picking out an expensive diamond pin to be
sent with the other goods. Dick turned the order and the directions in
to his boss, who O. K.'d it and handed it over to his manager, through
whom it proceeded to the packer, who got the articles from Dick, and
the ring from the diamond salesman. About closing time Mr. Bacon called
Dick into his office.

"I wish you'd take that package up to Mrs. Patterson's house, if it is
not too heavy for you," the merchant said. "It is on your way home, and
as the bill amounts to $700, I'd rather you would collect it than a
messenger."

"All right, sir," answered Dick, who was always willing to oblige his
employer.

He got the package, which weighed about twenty pounds, and left the
store with it at a quarter-past five, when the porter closed up. The
address Mrs. Patterson had given was on the West Side, in a district
wholly occupied by fine private houses, except in a few instances,
where there were handsome apartment houses on the corners. Dick took
the elevated at Cortlandt street station and at ten minutes of six got
out at the nearest station on Columbus avenue to the block he was bound
for. It still wanted a minute or two of six when he mounted the high
stoop of the handsome house which bore Mrs. Patterson's number. He rang
the bell, and after the lapse of five minutes, during which interval
he was, without his knowledge, inspected through the inside blinds on
the parlor floor, a tall man, in good clothes, with a dark complexion,
opened the door and asked him what he wanted.

"Does Mrs. Henry Patterson live here?" he asked.

"She does," replied the man. "Are you from Mr. Bacon's store on John
street?"

"I am."

"Walk in."

Dick entered and the heavy vestibule door was closed behind him.

"You have brought the bill for the goods with you?" said the man, in
smooth tones, as he led the way inside the inner door.

"I have."

"Very well. I am Mr. Patterson. As soon as my wife has examined the
articles and checked them off I will pay you the money for them."

The interior of the house, so far as Dick could judge from the looks of
the hall, was in keeping with its external indications.

"Follow me upstairs to the sitting room," said Mr. Patterson.

Dick was introduced into the front room on the second floor which was
handsomely furnished. The gentleman took the package and the itemized
bill and pointed to a chair. Then he left the room. Ten minutes
elapsed, during which Dick heard not a sound. The house was as silent
as the grave. Then the door opened and Mr. Patterson reappeared.

"The articles are all right and my wife has O. K.'d the bill," he
said. "Step this way and I will pay you."

Dick got up and followed him into the back room on the same floor. A
chair was drawn up at the marble center table, and the boy was invited
to be seated. Mr. Patterson went to a closet behind the boy and
presently returned with a bunch of money, which he laid, with the bill,
in front of him.

"Count it, please, and see that the sum is correct," said the gentleman.

Dick proceeded to do so. Mr. Patterson went back to the closet.
In a moment or two he approached the boy so softly that Dick did
not hear his steps. Even if he had he would have paid no attention
to the gentleman's movements. Every one, it is said, is endowed
with an instinctive sense that seems to be awakened by the unseen
or unsuspected presence of another person in the room with us,
particularly when that person is standing close behind. We cannot go
into an explanation here of the phenomenon, but that it frequently
comes to pass is an undoubted fact.

Certain it is Dick experienced it at that moment while he was counting
the bunch of bills which seemed to be all five-dollar ones, and without
any intention on his part he mechanically raised his eyes and looked
straight ahead. They rested on the surface of a mirror hanging against
the wall facing him. In the fraction of time at his disposal he was
startled to see the form of Mr. Patterson towering about him, his arm
uplifted in the act of bringing a slungshot down upon his head. The
weapon was actually descending when Dick caught sight of it, and he
dodged his head aside. The round iron ball swept his ear like a shot
and landed just beyond his collar-bone, the man's hand striking his
shoulder with considerable force. Dick slid off the chair on his hands
and knees, and though much shaken up, was on his feet in a moment, for
he was as active as a cat. There was a terrible look in the man's eyes
as they confronted each other, then he sprang at Dick with a hissing
imprecation.




CHAPTER X.--Dick's Strenuous Experience.


Dick, alive to his danger, side-stepped and launched out his fist at
his assailant, catching him in the jaw with a blow that staggered him
and caused him to drop the weapon. Before Dick could get in another
effective blow, the man had him in his grasp, and a desperate struggle
for the mastery took place between them. Over and over they rolled
upon the rug, first one on top and then the other, but neither could
maintain the temporary advantage. In the midst of it the door slowly
opened and a woman looked in--the short, blonde lady who had made the
purchases at the store. She gazed with dilated eyes on the struggle
that was going on. Neither of the combatants saw her at the moment
so intent were they on their own exertions. Slowly she opened the
door until her handsome form stood fully revealed. She appeared to
be nerving herself to go to the aid of the man who had represented
himself as her husband. Gradually she entered the room, with an almost
imperceptible motion, until her gaze rested on the slungshot. The
sight of it brought animation into her movements. She swooped down on
it with a rush, and then the man took notice of her presence.

"Grab him, Fanny; he's as strong as a young bear," he cried.

At that moment Dick managed to get on top of his man again. He saw the
woman's dress and looked up. She had the weapon raised to strike him.

"You--you here!" she cried, in startled tones, as she recognized the
young clerk who had waited on her with such polite attention that she
had felt attracted to him.

The blow did not fall. She crouched in the act of delivering it as if
she had suddenly been transformed into a nerveless thing.

"Hit him--hit him!" hissed her husband, making no move to upset the
boy, but trying his best to hold him at the woman's mercy.

"No, no, I can't, Jim; I can't strike that boy. He ought not to have
come here. I did not dream that he would. He must not be hurt," she
articulated, in an agitated voice.

"Are you mad, Fan? The boy has us in his power unless he is done up.
Strike him and get it over with, do you hear me!"

"I can't," returned the woman, almost pathetically. "He reminds me
of----"

"Blast your squeamishness! You will ruin us."

"We must adopt other means to silence him till we are safe," she said.

She looked feverishly about the room. Her eyes rested on a small bottle
on the mantel. Flinging the slungshot down, she bounded over and seized
it. Tearing a lace handkerchief from her bosom, she dashed some of the
contents of the bottle on it. In the meantime the struggle between Dick
and the man was renewed. Patterson succeeded in pulling the boy over on
the rug again. As he held him there, the woman slipped over, threw her
weight on Dick's side and pressed the handkerchief over his face. Dick
struggled desperately, for he knew he was being drugged, but he had not
the ghost of a show.

"It is better this way, Jim," she said. "Oh, why did he come here? Why
did he come?"

"What's the matter with you?" growled Patterson, allowing matters to
take their course. "What interest have you in that boy?"

"I don't know, indeed I don't; but he is a nice boy, and he looks so
like my brother!" she faltered.

"Oh, hang your brother! What has your brother got to do with him?"

As Dick's struggles ceased the woman lifted the handkerchief. The boy
was unconscious.

"Look at him, Jim; isn't he a handsome boy? And he treated me at the
store as if I were a real lady."

Jim Patterson, if his name really was Patterson, which seemed doubtful
after what had happened, uttered an imprecation as he got up.

"Now, then, you soft-hearted thing, go and find a piece of line for me
to tie him with," he said.

"You won't do anything to him while I'm gone, will you, Jim?" she said
anxiously.

"Why should I? He's down and out now for six or eight hours, which will
give us time to skip. There's nothing in the house, except our trunks
and duds that belong to us, for we took the place furnished. When the
servant returns in the morning she'll find the boy and liberate him.
By that time we'll be a long way on our way West. We have cleaned up
quite a stake since we've been here, and can live on Easy street for
a while. I'm afraid I made a mistake in pulling off this last trick.
There isn't enough in it for the risk we ran. You ought to have bought
more diamonds while you were about it."

"I was afraid to buy too much lest it should have excited suspicion,"
she said.

"We won't quarrel over it. Go and get the line."

The woman left the room, her dress rustling on the stairs. In a short
time, during which Patterson took the money from the table and put it
in his pocket and paced up and down the room, she came back with a
length of clothes-line. Dick was carried into a small bedroom on that
floor and his arms bound to his sides by half a dozen turns of the
rope, which was then knotted at his back. There he was left to lie
like a dead one on the bed until well along in the evening, when the
Pattersons were ready to leave the house for good, when Jim intended
to carry him downstairs to the basement where the servant would find
him in the morning when she returned. After the woman had completed the
balance of the packing, she and Jim went out to their dinner. When they
got back the expressman Patterson had arranged with early in the day
to take their trunks to the Pennsylvania ferry was waiting for them.
He took away all their baggage. Soon afterward Patterson carried the
unconscious boy downstairs, placed him upright in a kitchen chair, with
the table for a support, and then the rascal locked up the house and
placed the key of the front door under the iron area gate where the
servant would see it when she came in the morning, and with his wife
started for the railroad station.

They had been gone about an hour when Dick recovered his senses. He
discovered his bound condition at once, and wondered where he was, for
the room he was in was pitch dark. He pushed back the chair with his
feet, which he saw were not tied, and got up. His eyes were accustomed
to the darkness so he soon made out the outline of the stove and other
things that showed him that he was in the kitchen, which he judged
was in the basement of the house. Walking toward the door, which he
found standing open, he passed into the lower hall up which he went
to the door that opened on to the small space within the area gate
and directly under the stoop and the stairs to the sidewalk. Bending
sideways a little, he seized the handle and turned, but it was, as
he supposed, locked. He bent lower and felt for the key, but it was
missing, for the servant had taken it with her, along with the key
of the gate. He saw that he couldn't get out there, so he thought he
would venture to try the front door. He walked softly upstairs, for he
supposed the man and his wife were still in the house. There was no
light in the hall and the house was as silent as the grave, from which
fact Dick circulated that it was very late.

He went to the front door, the inner one, but again he was stumped,
for that key was missing, too. That seemed to indicate that Patterson
and his wife had left the premises. This appeared to be a reasonable
conclusion under the circumstances. They would hardly remain all night
after what they had been guilty of. If they had fled the place, they
had left a furnished house behind them, and the boy presumed that the
furnishings belonged to them. He wondered if the man had intended to
kill him, and that the woman had saved his life.

The recollection of that awful sight of the descending slungshot he had
caught sight of in the mirror, and which he shuddered to recall, and
would never forget as long as he lived, made him think so. Believing
that he was probably alone in the house, after all, he became less
cautious in moving about. He turned the knob of the parlor door and
walked into that big room. He could see the ghostly-looking pieces of
furniture standing about, an upright piano, and the dim effect of walls
covered with pictures. He went through into the back room, the folding
doors of which stood open.

Here for the first time he heard a sound--the ticking of the gilt
ormulo clock on a fancy shelf. The room was furnished as a library.
There were bookcases filled with books, and a desk by the back window,
the shades of which were down. Suddenly the thought occurred to him to
see if there was a telephone in the room. He believed that houses of
that class were nearly always equipped with one. Whether Patterson had
use for such a convenience or not he could not say. When the man rented
the house there was a telephone in it, and though he had little use
for it, and as he did not intend to occupy the place long, he let it
remain, and Dick discovered it attached to the wall beside the desk. He
humped his shoulder and knocked the receiver off the hook. It fell upon
his shoulder and lay close to his ear.

As soon as he heard the voice of the girl ask for the number wanted he
put his mouth near the mouthpiece and said:

"Give me police headquarters--very urgent!"

Then he tilted his ear toward the receiver again. Presently he heard a
man's voice call, "Hello!"

"Is this police headquarters?"

"Yes," came back the answer.

"Send a policeman to No. 164 West ---- street at once. I am locked
in the house and my arms are bound to my sides. I am the victim of a
pair of crooks, a man and a woman. The doors are locked so the officer
will have to come prepared to force his entrance through the area gate
or one of the windows. I am telephoning under great difficulties, so
please don't ask questions, but act at once."

"All right," was the answer returned, and the officer closed his
circuit.

As Dick couldn't replace the receiver, he had to let it drop the length
of its covered wire, and the telephone girl soon saw that something was
wrong, and she began ringing.

"Hello!" said Dick, returning to the phone. "The receiver is hanging
and I can't replace it because my arms are bound. The circuit will
have to remain open till the police get here. That's all," said Dick,
judging that the call came from the girl at the central office.

She evidently understood and reported the situation, for the bell did
not ring any more. Dick left the library and made his way down to the
dining room in the front of the basement to watch for the coming of
the policeman. In a short time he saw an officer come in sight and
stop in front of the house next door. A second policeman joined him a
moment later and pointed to the right house. They started down into the
areaway.

Dick at once pounded on the window with his forehead, the best he could
do. The policeman heard the sounds and came up to the window, which was
protected by diamond-shaped iron-work. Through this they peered and
could just make out the boy's face pressed against the pane. One of
them took an electric flashlight cylinder from his pocket and turned
the light on Dick's form. They saw at once how his arms were bound
alongside his body.

Then the officer turned the light on the iron area gate. As he looked
it over, he saw the key on the floor just inside. He reached for it and
tried it on the gate, but saw right away that it wouldn't fit. They
conversed a minute, then leaving the area, they went up to the front
door and found no trouble in opening the outer portal. Flashing the
light on the inside door, they saw the key standing in the lock. In
another moment they were in the house and Dick heard their heavy tread
on the stairs, coming down. Within a minute he stood in the full glare
of the flashlight, while the policemen were sizing him up.




CHAPTER XI.--Guilt Sees Its Finish.


"My, but I'm glad you've come!" said Dick, in a tone of relief. "Cut me
free, please."

"How came you to be in this shape?" asked the officer with the
flashlight, while the other produced his knife and began severing the
clothes line.

Dick told his story in as few words as possible, beginning with the
appearance of the richly dressed blonde woman at his store that
morning. The policeman listened with attention.

"That fellow is no common rascal," said one of them, "and his name
isn't Patterson, for a dollar bill. They have left the house of course?"

"I judge so, for I haven't heard a sound since I recovered my senses
nearly an hour ago. Besides, the house appears to be locked up from the
outside, or was until you came and got in. How did you manage to do it?"

The policeman told him about finding the key inside of the area gate,
where it had evidently been placed by the man when he and the woman
left.

"Well, come along to the police station with us, and we'll lock up the
house again after we search it thoroughly. How much was the package
worth you brought here?"

"Seven hundred dollars."

"They've got away with that, at any rate."

On their way upstairs Dick went into the library and replaced the
telephone receiver on its hook. The officers were astonished to find
the house so elegantly furnished, and they came to the erroneous
conclusion that the family who occupied it was away, and that the crook
and his accomplice had learned of the fact and taken possession of it
for the purpose of working that particular job. The truth came out
later when the police made a thorough investigation of the case.

The house was looked over from cellar to the top floor, and nothing
was to be seen but the furniture and furnishings, just as the house
had been rented. The officers were of the opinion that Patterson had
cleaned out everything that was worth carrying off. It was about
midnight now, and Dick went with the policemen to the station to which
they were attached, and told his story over again, with more detail, to
the man at the desk. He furnished a first-rate description of Patterson
and of the woman he claimed as his wife, and after Dick was allowed
to go home several detectives were put out on the case. Dick got home
about one o'clock and found his family all exercised over his failure
to come home at a reasonable hour.

Only two of his sisters were now living in the flat, as Gertie, the
elder, had succeeded in hooking Clarence Peck, and the young couple
were living in a small genteel flat of their own. Dick had to explain
the cause that had detained him, and his mother and two sisters were
horrified over the recital.

"What a narrow escape you had, my dear boy!" said his mother tearfully.

"That's right, but don't let us talk about it. Is there anything handy
that I can eat?" he said.

"I'll warm up something," said Nellie, "while May will make you a cup
of tea."

The girls prepared him a meal and after eating it he turned in with
the others. His story was in the morning papers, and the first inkling
that Mr. Bacon, his manager and the clerks got of it was through the
morning journals. Dick appeared at the store on time, and in advance of
the other employees, and as they arrived they gathered around him and
bombarded him with questions. He satisfied their curiosity as well as
he could, and when the manager turned up he took the boy in his room
and asked him to give him the whole story. Then Mr. Bacon appeared and
Dick was closeted with him for half an hour.

The manager in the meanwhile had communicated with the police, who
told him they were working on the case, but so far without results.
During the day one of the people who lived opposite the house where
the adventure happened to Dick, after reading the story in the paper,
reported to the police that he had seen an expressman take two
trunks and two suitcases out of the house at about half-past eight
on the evening before. By that time the police had learned the name
of the owner of the house and its contents, and learned from his
representative that Patterson had leased the place for a year, giving
certain references. He had paid only one month's rent--the first. The
second month would be due in a few days, thereby showing that Patterson
and his accomplice had occupied the house but one month. The servant
had been found in the house and interviewed by a policeman. She was
very much astonished to learn of the character of the parties who had
engaged her as a cook and general domestic.

She had been with them since they took possession, and thought them
very nice people, though she saw little of the man. Under close
questioning she called to mind many things which the detectives
regarded as suspicious. In the course of a day or two some of
Patterson's operations came to light, and the police picked up many
clues concerning his movements while he was living at the house.

It was three days before the expressman who carried the trunks to
the ferry was found, for he had been paid to keep a stiff upper lip,
and had tried to keep out of the way, then the authorities got wise
to the fact that the guilty couple had gone out of the city via the
Pennsylvania road. By following the clue, the pair was traced to
Pittsburg, and from there to Cincinnati, thence to St. Louis, where
they were caught and brought back to New York.

Dick was called on to identify them, which he readily did. As he felt
a certain gratitude toward the little blonde woman who had refused to
lay him out with the slungshot, he would liked to have made matters
as easy for her as possible; but there was no getting around her part
of the business, and so she was held for grand larceny, and criminal
participation in the other operations which were brought against the
man who was supposed to be her husband. In the end she was sent to
Auburn, while Patterson got a long sentence at Sing Sing, but Mr. Bacon
recovered none of his loss, not even the diamond ring.

The merchant did not blame Dick for the loss of his goods. It was
clear that the game had been too slickly worked for the boy to have
acted differently than he had done. On the whole, Mr. Bacon thought
his young clerk a lucky boy to have escaped with his life. Dick spent
his third Christmas week with the Masons, and made further progress in
the good opinion of the gentleman, his wife and the sister-in-law, and
more firmly established himself in the heart of Madge. He visited the
gypsy camp again and told Miriam of the peril he had passed through in
connection with the Pattersons.

"Did I not tell you to beware of a tall, dark man and a short, light
woman?" said the gypsy queen.

"By George, you're right! Do you know, that fact has never occurred to
me till this moment," admitted Dick. "The man was tall and dark, and
the woman was a small blonde. I was lucky to fare no worse than I did."

"It was the benign influence of your favorable planets that saved you
from death. How old are you?"

"I was eighteen about six months ago," said Dick.

"It is as I thought. You were threatened with a sudden and violent
death through the position of Saturn in the sky at the moment you
entered that house in the city; and but for other planetary influences
in your favor you would have fared badly."

"How can you tell all that without even looking at my hand?"

"I recall much that your hand told me, and the circumstances you have
related to me enables me to make those deductions."

"Hand-reading and astrology seem to be more or less alike."

"They must agree, or there would be nothing in either. Cartomancy,
which means the reading of the past, present or future through cards,
also coincides with the other two, reaching the same results. Why, I
can tell your character and all your characteristics by merely studying
your physical appearance. You have a compact body, well-developed
chest, and other traits that show at a glance the influence of the Sun
and Jupiter at your birth, and indicate to an ordinary observer that
you are endowed with good health and a resistance against disease. The
color of your eyes, and hair, the size and shape of your hands, your
ears, your eyebrows, all tell their story as clearly as if described
in print. The very flush that you bear upon your cheeks shows beyond a
doubt that you were born in the cycle of the Sun."

"You gypsies are a great people in your way, I am bound to say," said
Dick, regarding Miriam with increased respect.

"Our ancestors came from Egypt. We are an old race."

"Well, I've got to be going," said Dick.

"You are bound back to the city--soon?"

"On the day after New Year's."

"When you return we will have departed, so I will say good-by forever."

"Maybe not. I expect to return at Easter."

"Unless the weather is backward, we will be on the move before then,"
she said. "One last look at your hand."

Dick gave it to her.

"I told you that you were coming into a fortune before long."

"I remember that you did. But there is very little chance of such a
thing happening."

"The fortune will come to you around Easter."

"In what way?" asked Dick curiously.

"It is already yours. Indeed, you have been in possession of this
fortune for three years."

"I have? Then it can't amount to much."

"It is a fortune in money."

"Why, I have been in possession of no money over a couple of hundred
dollars."

"You have, but even now you know it not."

"How can I possess something and not be aware of the fact?"

"You will understand within four months. When the time comes, you will
recall my words and say Miriam was right. She can read that which is
hidden from most people. She has the power to see beyond the veil that
hides from mankind the mysteries of life. And now good-by. Take this
piece of bone and keep it as your emblem of good luck. Have it mounted
in silver or gold and wear it as a charm on your watch chain. It will
be worth your while. That is all."

With a smile she entered the tent, and Dick never saw her more; but he
often had occasion to remember her and her words of truth.




CHAPTER XII.--The Man in the Tree.


When Dick returned to the store at the beginning of the new year he
found he was promoted to a regular position in the store proper, with
an increase of wages. His rise had been so far fairly rapid, and was
due to his natural abilities as a salesman, his attractive personality
and magnetic ways, and his strict attention to his duties and to the
interests of his employer. His advancement created no envy among the
other clerks, for they all liked him. He possessed all the elements
that make people popular with those they come in contact with; and
his power extended over both sexes. Dick presided chiefly over the
silverware department, as he was more familiar with that branch than
the others.

He gradually extended his knowledge to watches, and subsequently to
jewelry, but the unset diamond line was a special branch that required
an expert to deal with, and it was attended to by one clerk only. This
man was the head of the jewelry department. His pay was much higher
than that of the other clerks, but then his responsibilities, knowledge
and experience were greater than theirs. The days passed into weeks,
and the weeks resolved themselves into months, and Easter week came
around, bringing its expected invitation to Dick to spend the week-end
with the Masons. He and Madge corresponded regularly now, and the
latest piece of news he got from her was that she was slated for Vassar
College at the beginning of the fall term. The four-year course would
carry her into her twentieth year. Dick would be twenty-two then, if he
lived, and he wondered if they would still think as much of each other
as they did now.

So he went down to Carlin early on Saturday afternoon and was met by
the auto, with Madge in it, and whirled over the road to the house.
They were just turning in at the gate when a seedy, hard-featured man
came along. He scowled when his eyes rested on Dick's face, and then
the boy recognized him as Samuel Parker, one of the two burglars who
had robbed the Mason house. His time, reduced by commutation for good
behavior, had just expired at the State prison, and he had come back to
his old stamping-grounds, to find things about as he had left them.

His wife had managed to get along through the sympathy of neighbors
who had given her various kinds of employment, and many of the farmers
occasionally chipped in a dollar apiece to help her out when she was
hard pressed. She kept a cow, chickens, and raised her own vegetables,
so she did not fare so badly. Now that her husband had returned, the
question arose as to whether he would be able to get any employment on
the farm where he had picked up odd jobs before he got into trouble.
Dick was surprised to see him at liberty, not knowing that his sentence
had expired, and he called Madge's attention to him.

"Yes, he's been around for about a week," she said. "Father said his
time was up."

"I see. He got a commutation of twenty months. Well, he isn't as tough
a nut as his companion, who enticed him into the job. That chap has
three years and a half more to serve, deducting his commutation. Then
he will be arrested as soon as he comes out and taken to New York to
answer to the indictment the district attorney secured against him for
assaulting me in the sample room of our store and stealing $100 worth
of our stock. He'll get another five years at least for that, at Sing
Sing. It will simply be a change of prisons for him."

Dick inquired if the gypsies had taken their departure, and Madge said
she believed they had.

"This is the time that Miriam, the head of the tribe, said I was going
to come into a fortune that she alleged I already possessed, but I
don't see any signs of the matter coming to pass yet," he said.

"I wonder what she meant by saying that you possessed it. She must have
referred to that piece of land father gave you."

"That isn't money."

"You could realize money on it."

"Not over $400 at the most, and that is no fortune."

"Well, she told you so much that you say proved true that I shall be
surprised if she made a mistake in this matter."

"I'll be surprised if she hit the truth, for coming into a fortune in
money is the very last thing I dream of at this moment."

They got out of the auto and entered the house. On the following day
after dinner, as it was a nice afternoon, Dick proposed to Madge
that they take a walk. So they went out and spent a couple of hours
strolling along the road. They passed Dick's property and he saw that
the gypsies had gone away. On their way back he proposed that they go
over to the spring and have a drink.

"I'm not thirsty, but I'll go with you," she said.

The fence rails were wide enough apart for her to get through, while
Dick took the customary way and climbed over. The spring was down in
a gully near the fence which marked the end of Dick's land in that
direction, and taking a silver-plated collapsible cup out of his pocket
the boy filled it and offered it to Madge. She took a drink and then he
helped himself. The young trees, now well advanced, which we mentioned
before as growing at this end of Dick's property were gradually forming
a small wood that would occupy about one acre of the five. On their way
back they walked through these trees, as Dick was somewhat interested
in their growth. They were cedar trees and would ultimately make good
railroad ties.

"I wish the whole property was wooded like this," he said. "I would in
such a case make a good thing out of the trees."

"As lumber?" said Madge.

"As railroad ties. Those articles are always in demand. Hello!" he
exclaimed, stopping, "here's one of the old guard still standing."

He pointed at a hoary-looking old tree that had been dead for years. It
showed evidence of having been struck by lightning a long time since.
This had killed it, and now it stood like the mummified corpse of some
old grizzled veteran of many wars, its two withered arms pointing
heavenward at an acute angle that formed the whole trunk into the shape
of the letter Y. Dick approached it and struck the tree with the palm
of his hand. It gave forth a hollow sound and shook under the blow.

"That old monarch won't last much longer," he said. "It feels as if a
strong wind would blow it over. It seems to be nothing but a shell,
and yet it looks as solid as a rock outside. It's funny how some trees
decay from the inside. I'm going to climb up and see if there's an
opening between those limbs."

He started to do so, with the assistance of the knobby projections,
when he was surprised to hear a noise inside the tree that made him
suspect some kind of an animal had taken refuge there. He kept on
till his head rose above the fork and he saw a great hole extending
downward. He was about to ask Madge to hand him a long stick he saw
lying on the ground, when, to his astonishment, a rough voice floated
upward.

"Is that you, Parker?" were the words that reached his ears.

"Hello! Who are you?" cried Dick.

A muttered imprecation followed, and then silence.

"Who are you?" again asked Dick.

There was no reply. Dick climbed higher after telling the surprised
girl that there was a man inside of the tree, pulled out his match
safe and flashed a light into the tree. He saw a slouched hat, which
evidently covered a head, and a pair of broad shoulders.

"Come on now, I see you. What are you doing in there?" said Dick.

"None of your business," replied a voice from under the hat.

"Maybe it isn't, but it strikes me that you have no business there. So
you're a friend of Parker's, eh? Birds of a feather flock together,
they say, so I guess you're not a very creditable sort of individual.
I'd like you to know that you're trespassing on----"

"Trespassin' be jiggered! I'm just restin' here. Go away and leave me
alone."

"Not until I find out who you are. Your presence in this hollow tree
looks suspicious."

"What's suspicious about it? Can't a fellow roost inside a tree if he
wants to when he ain't got nowhere else to go?"

Dick climbed down the tree and, taking Madge by the arm, started off.
There was a large rock close by of sufficient size for a person to
conceal himself behind.

"You go on, Madge, a little way, and I'll follow in a few minutes. I
have an idea that fellow will show himself presently to see if the
coast is clear, and I'm going to hide behind this rock and catch a
sight of him if he comes up."

The girl kept on at a slow pace and Dick dropped on his hands and knees
behind the stone. Five minutes passed and nothing happened. Dick was
beginning to think that he had calculated wrongly, when he saw the
crown of a hat rise between the fork of the two limbs. A face followed
the hat, a tough-looking face, and Dick gave a gasp as he recognized
it. It was the countenance of Bulger, supposed to be serving the rest
of his time at the Trenton State prison.




CHAPTER XIII.--The Hidden Treasure.


Bulger looked around cautiously on every side, and believing that the
person who had discovered him had gone away he sank back into his
hiding place.

Dick hastily rejoined Madge and told her about the identity of the man
in the tree. He also outlined his plans for the rascal's arrest. They
were about to hurry to the house when Dick caught sight of a figure
slouching through the trees toward the gully. He guessed it was Parker,
and he altered his arrangements.

"Parker is coming to see Bulger. There he is yonder, just going down
into the gully. I'm going to remain and see what happens. You hurry to
the house and send John and William here as fast as they can come. Tell
them to fetch their revolvers and a piece of rope. Now, then, Madge,
put your best foot forward."

She hastened away, while he crept back toward the big rock. Parker
was coming up the gully with a package and a tin bucket in his hands.
Presumedly they held food for the escaped convict. Dick gained the
rock without attracting Parker's attention. The ex-convict approached
the tree, laid his burdens on the ground and, climbing up, stuck his
head down the opening. He remained a few minutes talking with the man
inside and then returned to the ground and carried up first the package
and then the pail, which he passed down to Bulger. He remained at the
crotch talking to his pal. Suddenly there was a cracking sound and the
tree began to bend over.

Parker uttered an exclamation of alarm and started to clamber down. His
movements brought matters to a head. The tree broke off at its roots
and went over, carrying the ex-convict with it. As it hit the ground
Dick saw a pair of legs, which belonged to Bulger, kicking like mad in
the air. As they hit the roots of the tree they made the punky material
fly about in a cloud. Parker was half-stunned for a moment and then he
got up and went to his companion's aid, catching him by the legs and
pulling him out, all covered with dirt. Bulger swore like a trooper,
blaming his pal for the catastrophe.

"Where am I goin' to roost now?" said Bulger. "You'll have to take me
over to your place after dark and let me stay in your barn. I can't
stay out here all night, and, what's more, I won't."

"I s'pose you'll have to come, but it's dangerous for me."

"Dangerous be blamed! It's your duty to help an old pal when he's in
deep."

He gave the roots of the tree a kick, expressive of his sentiments. The
kick uncovered something that attracted his attention.

"Hello! What's this?" he cried.

He stooped and picked a bag out of the dust.

"What have you got there?" asked Parker, looking interested.

"Blame my hide, if it ain't a bag of money!" cried Bulger.

"Money!" cried Parker. "Then we'll divvy up."

"No, we won't divvy nothin'. Findin's is keepin's. I wonder if there's
any more?"

Down he got on his hands and knees and scratched in the dust, bringing
to light a second bag.

"Hurray! Another! I'm made for fair. Here's a third and there's more
underneath. I'm rich!"

Dick beheld all this with feelings of the greatest astonishment. Bags
of money hidden in the roots of the dead tree! Then the gypsy woman's
prediction occurred to him like a flash. This was his fortune, then,
and these rascals had brought it to light. What was on his property
belonged to him by right of ownership in all. And now these fellows
had it in their clutches, or rather Bulger had it, and seemed disposed
to hold on to all of it. That was too much for Dick to stand. He was
about to rush on Bulger and order him to give up the money when Parker
snatched up a couple of the bags.

"Drop them!" roared Bulger.

"I'm only takin' my share," said Parker.

Bulger sprang up and jumped at the ex-convict, who had to let the
bags fall to defend himself. In another moment they were both at it,
hammer-and-tongs, with the advantage in Bulger's favor, owing to his
build and strength. Dick saw his advantage. Dashing forward, he picked
up the long stick which lay on the ground and began laying it on the
heads and shoulders of the two fighters. That brought the scrap to a
sudden end, and the men turned to face this new and unexpected trouble.
They at once recognized Dick, and as they bore him no good will, Bulger
particularly, they lost no time in making a rush at him.

"Now we've got you!" hissed Bulger.

At that critical moment for Dick the gardener and the footman came
on the scene and sprang to the boy's assistance. The gardener seized
Bulger and the footman nabbed Parker, compelling them to release Dick.
The boy then assisted the gardener in securing the escaped convict,
and they had their hands full doing it. The butler was able to subdue
Parker alone. Bulger was bound with the rope, and he was furious at his
capture, not to speak of the loss of the money he believed he had come
into. The young New Yorker then called the attention of the butler and
the gardener to the bags of money lying on the ground.

"They came out of the roots of that tree, and as this property is mine,
the money is mine, too, unless somebody can establish a mighty strong
claim to it. It has evidently been hidden there for a great many years.
The person who put it there is doubtless dead, else he would have
reclaimed it long ago. I shall take charge of it by right of ownership
in the property," said Dick, who at once set about gathering together
the six bags Bulger had brought to light, while the ruffian hurled
imprecations at him as he watched him. Dick then hunted for more, and
found six additional bags. The weight of the whole was more than even
the three of them could carry, had they not been embarrassed by the two
prisoners, so Dick told the men to take the rascals to the house and
lock them up while he would remain in charge of the money.

Then came a fresh difficulty. Bulger refused to walk.

"Return to the house, William, and get Mr. Mason to telephone to the
village for the constables," said Dick. "I'll see that Parker doesn't
get away."

So the butler departed on his errand. He was back in twenty minutes,
accompanied by Mr. Mason and a neighboring farmer, who had called at
the house. The prisoners were taken to the road where the automobile
stood. Then the twelve bags of money were carried and put in the
vehicle. Leaving the two servants to walk, the rest of the party
proceeded to the house in the vehicle. Bulger and Parker were locked up
in an outhouse to await the arrival of the constable, while the money
was taken into the house and displayed before the astonished eyes of
the ladies.

The money-bags were then opened and found to contain gold eagles of
a date about the time of the War of the Rebellion, and being counted
footed up $120,000.

"What a lucky boy you are!" Madge said to him, after supper.

"I hope I am," he replied.

"Hope!" she exclaimed, in surprise. "Why, you are, with all that money."

"There is something better than money. Something I'd rather have than
all the gold I have come in possession of."

"What is that?"

"It's your love, Madge," he replied earnestly.

"Oh, Dick!" she cried blushingly.

"Have I got it, or have I dreamed in vain?"

He put his arm around her waist and she did not draw back. Dick did
not return to New York by the early train on Monday morning, as he had
arranged to do, instead of which he went to Carlin with Mr. Mason in
the auto and placed the money in the Carlin National Bank, receiving
therefor a draft on a bank in New York for the amount. Then he sent
off two telegrams--one to the manager of the store, the other to his
mother. The first read: "Will report Tuesday morning."

The second was worded: "I've found the fortune. Will be home to-night
in time for dinner." Then he returned to the house to take lunch with
the Masons. On the road he confessed to Mr. Mason that he loved Madge,
and that she reciprocated his affection.

"I want you to sanction our engagement, with a view to our marriage as
soon as she shall have graduated from Vassar."

"Ask her mother, my boy," said the gentleman. "As far as I am
concerned, you need fear no obstacle from me."

While they were away, Madge sought her mother and told her that Dick
had asked her to marry him four years hence when she had completed
her education. Then Mrs. Mason kissed her daughter and told her that
she and Mr. Mason were both well disposed toward Dick, and they were
perfectly satisfied to receive him into the family at the proper time
as their son-in-law.

Then the happy girl ran and broke the news to her aunt, who
congratulated her on winning such a fine young man as she had always
believed Dick Darling to be. Dick decided not to press any charge
against Parker, and so that rascal was allowed to go free, while Bulger
was taken back to Trenton, and his punishment for taking French leave
was the loss of his commutation time, so he was obliged to serve the
full ten years, after which he would have to face the other indictment,
so his chances of staying in prison for a good part of his life were
good.

During the summer the Darlings moved into a house of their own in the
Bronx, and Nellie and May gave up their jobs for good. So four years
passed away and Dick continued to rise in the store till one day Mr.
Bacon offered to sell him a half interest in the business, and make him
the manager of the store. Dick accepted his proposal, and thus, on the
eve of his marriage to Madge he invested a large part of the fortune
which came to him through the acquisition of a five-acre plot of ground
worth not over $250.

Next week's issue will contain "BEATING THE MARKET; or, A BOY BROKER'S
BIG DEAL."




CURRENT NEWS


JANITOR AN HEIR.

Charles Wineland, an $8 a month janitor at the City Hall, Fort Wayne,
Ind., leaned on the handle of his broom long enough to read a letter
the other day and then a few hours later started for California to
claim a 114-acre fruit farm on the outskirts of San Francisco and
$28,000 deposited in a bank there. The letter informed him that his
brother had died leaving his estate to the janitor and a sister, Mrs.
Caroline Bowman, of Burlington, Ind. The farm is appraised for taxation
at $78,000, according to the letter.


SETS HIMSELF ON FIRE.

Pedro Sacherelli, a boy in the eighth grade in the Little Falls, N. Y.,
High School, was sitting at his desk, wiggling, as boys do. Another
boy, sitting near him, saw a column of smoke ascending along Pedro's
backbone and circling toward the ceiling. A quick look revealed the
fact that matches in Pedro's pocket had been rubbed violently enough to
set them on fire.

Other pupils and the teacher jumped to the rescue and Pedro's sweater
was jerked off, the fire beat out and the small boy returned to his
seat. A considerable hole was burned through Pedro's clothes and he was
not hurt, though the fire extinguishers shook him up considerably.


MUSICAL PITCHFORKS IN SOUTH AFRICA.

A tale comes out of England which illustrates admirably the sort of
unexpected demand which may have to be met in building up a foreign
trade. A British manufacturer of edge tools made up his mind to secure
a share of the trade in Kaffir picks, and obtained a sample of the
native-made pick, which he reproduced so exactly that it seemed to be
impossible to detect the difference between it and the native article.
His tools, however, did not sell, and a representative was sent out to
investigate. He found there was one thing for which the Kaffir used the
pick that had not been taken into consideration. The native took it out
of its haft and used it as a cattle call, and every Kaffir had found
that the British-made pick had not quite the right note. It speaks
well for the enterprise of the maker that, having discovered this, he
produced a Kaffir pick with the right note and established a trade
which, the story goes, he has retained ever since.


A PARIS HOLD-UP.

Paris Apaches, imitating their New York brothers, got away with one
of the most daring robberies in the history of the city, carrying off
500,000 francs' worth of jewels from a shop in the center of the town
and distancing their pursuers after an exciting motor car chase.

About 9 o'clock in the evening a policeman passing across the street
from a jewelry shop in the Rue Tronchet running from the Place de la
Madeleine to the Boulevard Haussmann saw a man deliberately break a
window of the store with a hammer, seize a tray of jewels and jump
into a car, which drove away at high speed. The gendarme succeeded in
getting on the running board of the car, but was pushed off by the
robber. The thief fired twice at him. The policeman commandeered a
passing taxi and began a vain chase, for the bandit's car disappeared
in a network of side streets.


SCORES OF GIRLS LOSE $50.

Dreams of becoming cinema stars are being shattered in the minds of
scores of girls throughout the Middle West as a result of the bursting
of an alleged promotion bubble in Kansas City, Mo., known as the
International Pictures Corporation.

The scheme, according to Federal officers, was simple. An advertisement
in an Eastern theatrical magazine asked for chorus girls and leads. On
beautifully engraved stationery, the applicants were told of a trip to
California, a chartered yacht that was to sail the South Seas, drop
anchor in Egypt and cruise European waters. The only requisite was a
deposit of $50 to "keep away curiosity seekers."

The money came with answers such as the following:

"I am five feet four and very pretty. Inclosed is $50."

Then along came the agents of the post-office department and spoiled
the plan. Hubert Settles and his wife were arrested. Post-office
inspectors say they have scores of the letters from girls.


NAVY RECRUITING STOPPED.

Secretary of the Navy Daniels announced on January 4 that recruiting
for the Navy has been stopped for the present, the enlisted strength
having reached 132,000. The naval appropriations for the current
fiscal year were made to take care of the pay of an average of 120,000
enlisted men. By expiration of enlistments the number soon will drop to
about 122,000, which will give the Navy an average of 120,000 for the
fiscal year ending June 30. One reason for the action is uncertainty
as to the number of enlisted men Congress will authorize for the next
fiscal year. Navy authorities have recommended 143,000. Another reason
is found in the fact that the U. S. Atlantic and Pacific Fleets soon
will sail for their rendezvous at the Pacific entrance to the Panama
Canal. It was not deemed desirable to go ahead with further enlistments
with most of the active ships in distant waters. Although the Marine
Corps has not suspended recruiting, the standard has been raised,
requiring a minimum of twenty-one years of age, five feet five inches
height, and 130 pounds weight. The quota for January has been cut to
1,400 and this low figure will keep the enlisted personnel of the
corps within the average of 20,000 for the fiscal year 1921 for which
appropriations are available. Two-year enlistments have been suspended,
and recruits confined to a choice of enlisting for either three or four
years.





A Lawyer At Nineteen

OR

FIGHTING AGAINST A FRAUD

By GASTON GARNE

(A Serial Story)




CHAPTER I.--(continued)


And then the busy lawyer caught up his satchel and started out of the
office to catch his train. Lew opened the bundle of papers, and was
soon studying them hard.

He had tried minor court cases, but had never had one in the supreme
court, and he felt that it was rather unkind of fate that the first
one that came to him to try in the upper court was regarded by even
his shrewd employer as quite hopeless. However, he bent himself to the
task, reflecting over the one saving point of the week that Smollett
had worked, and trying to decide just how to make that fact effective.

Just as he had made up his mind what course to pursue about it, the
telephone rang, and he was notified that the case was called and that
the office boy had answered ready.

Stuffing the papers in his pocket, Lew walked over to the courthouse,
thinking deeply over the idea that had come into his mind. He got there
just as the jury box was filled, and eyed them narrowly while the
counsel for the plaintiff was examining them. It looked like a good
sensible jury to him, and he made but two objections to the men in the
box.

The jury was sworn and the case opened.

Smollett's lawyer told how the accident had happened, and then drew
a touching picture of how the plaintiff's wife, a sickly looking
woman who sat at his side in court, had slaved to support the family,
Smollett being unable to work, and not having done a day's work since
the time he was injured. Lew cast down his eyes when this statement was
made, and began to feel a little more hopeful.

Then Smollett was put on the stand and told his story, moaned about the
constant pain that he had suffered since he was hurt, while the jury
began to look sympathetic. In response to the questioning of his lawyer
he declared that he had not been able to do more than to sweep a room
since the day of the accident. Then Lew arose to cross-examine him.

"Mr. Smollett, what was your business before you were injured?"

"I was an iron worker."

"That requires great strength, does it not?"

"Yes, it does."

"All parts of the work?"

"Yes, all parts of the work."

"And you could do any part of the work?"

"Yes, I was a pretty powerful man."

"And you have not been able to do anything more laborious than to sweep
a room since you were injured?"

"That is true."

"How long have you lived in this city?"

"Three years."

"Where did you live before you came here?"

"In Far Rockton."

"At what address?"

"Two-forty-one Vine street."

"How long did you live there?"

"Four months."

"Where did you move to when you came to this city?"

"One-seventy-two Bear street."

"How long did you live there?"

"Six weeks. The house was cold and we could not stay there."

Lew bent down and selected a paper, glanced at it as though to refresh
his memory, and then went on with the examination.




CHAPTER II.

The Result of the Young Lawyer's Keen Management of the Smollett Case.


"Where did you move to then?"

"Seventy-nine-eight Locust street."

"How long did you live there?"

"Only three weeks. The plumbing was bad."

Lew kept on in this line of questioning for several minutes more, by
which time Smollett had testified that he had moved thirteen times
during the past three years, in each instance telling the address of
the house he had lived in and the length of time he had lived there.

"This is astonishing," said Lew. "You certainly possess a remarkable
memory, Mr. Smollett."

"I think I have got a good memory," complacently said the witness.

"There is no question about that," said Lew. "I very much doubt if any
gentleman on the jury could have remembered so much and so positively
as you have done, and yet you have apparently forgotten that you worked
for the Continental Iron Works for one entire week since the date of
your accident!"

A murmur of surprise went around the crowded courtroom. The witness
grew pale and then flushed fiery red, and shifted uneasily in his seat,
while the members of the jury glanced at each other in a significant
manner.

Smollett's lawyer half arose as though to make some objection, and then
seemed to realize the hopeless nature of the situation and sat down
again with a scowl on his face.

The witness was trembling, and Lew went at him savagely.

"I have here a sworn copy of the time-book of the Continental Iron
Works, in which your name appears as having worked from the seventh to
the thirteenth of June in the year you were injured," he said, fixing
the unhappy witness with his piercing eyes. "Do you deny that you did
that work?"


(To be continued.)




THE NEWS IN SHORT ARTICLES.


"NO JOB; NO BRIDE."

The extent and the effect of unemployment in Detroit was shown recently
when it was learned that twenty-six bridegrooms have recently returned
their marriage licenses to the county clerk. All gave the same reason:
"No job, no wedding," they said.


BABY OSTRICH SCRAPPY.

Jonathan, the first ostrich chick hatched in Canada, is progressing
under the care of Zoo Manager F. Green in Stanley Park, Vancouver.
It was at first believed that the rare and valuable bird would not
live, and it was taken from its parents and placed in the Green home.
Appearance of weakness proved deceptive, for Jonathan quickly whipped
the house cat and won a decision over the family spaniel.


CRACKS SAFE, GETS 16 CENTS.

William Redke, forty years old, with no permanent residence, out of
employment and broke, is in the Washington County jail, Pennsylvania,
a confessed burglar and attempted suicide. Redke's cracking of the
safe in the Pennsylvania Station at Houston the other night, he told
the authorities, netted him but 16 cents. Discouraged over the small
haul, he turned on all the gas in the station office. Five hours later
he awoke still in the land of the living. In disgust he surrendered to
the officers. He pleaded guilty and was committed to jail in default of
$1,000 bail.


WHERE DO SEALS SPEND THE WINTER?

No one knows where the seals go in the winter. In Alaska they begin to
appear on the Islands of St. Paul and St. George about the end of April
or the first of May, and toward the latter part of August or in the
first weeks of September they disappear as strangely and mysteriously
as they came. This is one of nature's secrets which she has kept most
successfully hid from scientists as well as the prying eyes of the
merely curious and inquisitive.

Even in the days, years ago, when the seals numbered five millions or
more, apparently some signal unknown to man would be given and the next
day the fog-wreathed rocks would be bare, the seals having deserted the
islands. With their slipping off into Bering Sea, all trace of them was
lost until their return the following spring. Then some morning they
would suddenly reappear, disporting themselves in the water or on the
shore.


ABOUT SCENTED WOODS.

With the woods of the world to choose from one can easily arrange a
whole scale of scents from the sweetest and most delicate of perfumes
at one extreme to rank and overpowering odors at the other, says the
American Forestry Magazine. The stores of the perfumer's shop will not
yield a greater variety than one can find in woods.

The most famous of all scented woods is the incomparable sandalwood.
The true sandalwood (Santalum album) is an Oriental tree, the use of
which for perfumery and incense began thousands of years ago, and its
popularity remains undiminished. The later Greeks considered it one of
their greatest luxuries, and no festivities were complete without it.
There are many false sandalwoods, at least three from India, one or two
from the Philippines and Java, one from Australia and another from the
West Indies and Venezuela.

In some parts of the Himalayas and in the Khasia Hills the yew tree is
called deodar (God's tree), the name that is elsewhere applied to a
true cedar. The wood of the yew is burnt as incense, as is also that
of the cypress. One of the favorite woods for incense in the Buddhist
temples of India is the juniper. In parts of South America a wood
closely related to the lignum-vitae is called palo santo (sacred wood),
because of its use for incense in churches.

The Northwestern Indians nearly always made their totem poles out of
Western red cedar, but this choice was probably due more to the fact
that the wood is easy to work and extremely durable rather than to its
fragrance. It may be taken as a very good general rule that woods that
are scented are resistant to decay and insect attack and have good
cabinet qualities.


"MYSTERY MAGAZINE"

  SEMI-MONTHLY       10 CENTS A COPY

LATEST ISSUES

  63 THE CLUE OF THE RED LAMP, by Charles Fulton Oursler.

  64 THE SCHEME OF SOLOMON SNARE, by William Hamilton Osborne.

  65 QUICKER THAN THE EYE, by Ralph Cummins.

  66 THE CLUE IN THE DARK ROOM, by Hamilton Craigie.

  67 THE TONGUE OF OSIRIS, by Marc Edmund Jones.

  68 DETECTIVE WADE'S BIG CASE, by Ethel Rosemon.

  69 THE SPIRIT BELL, by Charles Fulton Oursler.

  70 THE HOUSE BEHIND THE WALL, by Julian Darrow.

  71 THE ADMIRAL'S SPOONS, by William Hamilton Osborne.

  72 THE CANINE CLUE, by Thos. J. Lally.

  73 THE PSYCHIC ENEMY, by Arthur Wm. Andreen.

  74 THE WONDER GIRL, by Ralph Cummins.

  75 ON THE WRONG TRAIL, by Ethel Rosemon.

The Famous Detective Story Out To-Day in No. 76 Is


THE SPIRIT WITNESS

By Chas. Fulton Oursler

FRANK TOUSEY, Pub., 168 W. 23d St., N. Y.


"MOVING PICTURE STORIES"

A Weekly Magazine Devoted to Photoplays and Players

PRICE SEVEN CENTS PER COPY

Each number contains Four Stories of the Best Films on the
Screens--Elegant Half-tone Scenes from the Plays--Interesting Articles
About Prominent People in the Films--Doings of Actors and Actresses in
the Studios and Lessons In Scenario Writing.

HARRY E. WOLFF, Pub., 166 W. 23rd St., N. Y.




THE RENEGADE'S FATE.

By Kit Clyde.


"Then you will not listen to me?"

"No. I believe you to be a wicked man, and I will never consent to
sacrifice my child to such as you."

"But if she loves me?"

"She does not--she cannot! She knows your evil reputation, and her
heart is another's."

"I will wait. She loves me, and will be mine. I am sure of it."

"Never! And now, as we have already prolonged this meeting beyond
reason, go, and never speak to me on the subject again."

"Very well, Giles Raynor, I shall not. I shall speak to your daughter
instead."

"Do so at your peril, Tom Walden! Now go!"

"Good-morning, Farmer Raynor, and a better temper to you when we meet
again."

The man whose suit had been refused went away with a smile upon his
dark face, and without the least threat against his rival, or the man
who had given him his dismissal, nor the least suggestion that he meant
otherwise than to honestly win the girl whom he professed to love.

Giles Raynor was a settler in the far Northwest, and a man of
importance in the little town which he had founded.

Tom Walden had come among the settlers within a year, and had affected
a great liking for Grace Raynor, the farmer's daughter, and had asked
for her hand in marriage.

Walden claimed to be a lumberman, but there were those who said that he
had come into this lonely region to get ahead of an evil reputation,
and although he might be what he avowed, he was no honest man seeking
to make a living in these wilds.

It was said, although not too openly, that Tom Walden was a gambler and
a thief; that he had fled to escape punishment for his crimes, and that
even now, in his new home, he was not above suspicion, and that many
had been made victims of his unscrupulous methods.

Grace Raynor had expressed an open dislike to him, and was reported
to be engaged to marry Jack Woodson, an honest young fellow at work
in the sawmill in town, the only support of a widowed mother, and as
free-hearted, generous-handed a young man as one could meet.

No one knew definitely if the young people were engaged, for they kept
their own counsel, and when slyly questioned about the matter replied
that people would know all about it as soon as it became necessary for
them to do so.

Tom Walden left the farmer's house, ostensibly to go to work in the
woods, and Giles Raynor gave little thought to him, having other
matters to occupy his mind.

He left his daughter to look after the house, as usual, when he went
into the fields, saying nothing to her about Walden's proposal, not
deeming it necessary to worry her.

When he came home at noon his wife said that Grace had gone to another
town to make some purchases, being unable to obtain what she wanted in
their own village, expecting to return by the middle of the afternoon.

When evening came she had not returned, and the farmer began to feel
a vague alarm concerning her, although Walden had uttered no threats
against her, or any one in whom she was interested.

At nightfall a boy brought a note to the farmer, saying that it had
been given him by a woman closely veiled, an hour before, on the
extreme verge of the town.

The note read as follows:

  "Dear Father: I have gone away with the man I love--Tom Walden. Do
  not pursue us, for we will not be brought back alive. By the time you
  receive this we will be married.

                                                            "GRACE."

The farmer handed the note to his wife, his face expressing the
astonishment he felt.

"It is not true," said Mrs. Raynor. "Grace told me only this noon that
she loved Jack Woodson, and that they intended to be married in the
fall, but that they did not want it generally known just yet."

"Then this scoundrel Walden has carried her off!" cried the farmer.

"Grace never wrote that letter," said the wife. "She is a truthful
girl, and has told me often that she never loved any one but Jack, and
to-day, as I told you, she said that she and Jack had fixed on the day
for their wedding."

The farmer took the note, put on his glasses, and read it again, more
carefully.

"It's her handwriting, as sure as I sit here," he said; "but that
scoundrel has made her write it, and has carried her off."

"Grace would die sooner than write a lie," said the mother.

At that moment Jack Woodson entered the room.

"Where is Grace? What is this story I hear?" he asked excitedly.

The farmer handed him the note, which he read hurriedly and then tossed
upon the floor.

"It's a lie! a false, cruel lie!" he cried. "My darling never wrote
that--never could write it. It's the work of that villain, Walden. Do
you know what I have just heard? Tom Walden was arrested on a charge of
forgery in Chicago--would have gone to prison, for his conviction was
certain, but jumped his bail, and fled. His name is not Walden at all.
There is a man at the hotel who knows all about him, and described him
this very hour. More than that, there is an old indictment against him
in New York for murder. The plea was self-defence, and the case never
came to trial. Now they have new evidence that he deliberately murdered
the man. He was then known as Tom Walden. My Grace run away with a man
like that! Never! He has carried her off, and has written this note
himself to deceive us. He has stolen her, but I will pursue him and
bring her back, if I have to kill him to do it!"

Then, without further words, he rushed from the house into the darkness.

The next morning he had disappeared, and no one knew where he had gone,
nor for months did the settlers hear tidings of him or of Grace or of
Tom Walden.

In one of the wildest parts of the Northwest woods an Indian village
had been built.

There were no white settlers within many miles, and the tribe was said
to be a peaceful one, never going on the warpath, and always treating
with kindness the few straggling whites who made their way into this
wilderness.

In one of the larger lodges of the village, one pleasant afternoon in
the late autumn, were a man of about forty and a girl not much over
twenty.

The girl's complexion was fair, and she had none of the characteristics
of the Indian, although dressed like one.

The man was tall and swarthy, with long, black hair, which hung
straight down upon his broad shoulders, his face was cruel and crafty,
and his every look was evil.

He was dressed in half-savage, half-civilized style, wearing a fur cap,
an embroidered hunting-shirt of buckskin, woolen trousers, heavy boots,
and a red sash in which were thrust a brace of pistols and a knife.

"See here, Grace," he said to the girl who sat before him on a low
couch of skins, "I haven't brought you here for nothing, and you must
be my wife."

"Never, Tom Walden, or whatever your evil name is," said the girl. "Far
from home and friends, among these wild and savage men, less pitiless
than you are, I can still defy you. I will never be your wife!"

"These people are my allies," said Walden. "I have inflamed them
against the whites, and they are ready to go on the warpath if I bid
them. They will kill you as soon as any one, if I give the word, and I
will if you do not consent to----"

"Never!" cried Grace, springing to her feet. "I doubt not that you have
told many lies to account for my disappearance, since you dragged me
from my home by your baseness. You are false enough to make war against
your own people, but I do not fear you, no matter what you threaten.
Kill me, if you will, and release me from my misery!"

"I've a mind to take you at your word!" cried Walden, seizing the girl
by the wrist and raising his knife as if to strike.

The maiden never flinched; but at that moment an Indian youth sprang
into the lodge and threw himself between the renegade and the girl.

"White man no strike the white flower!" he cried.

"Who are you?" growled the man, looking fixedly at the youth.

"Me Young Elk. Me live far off, me come to village, me have friend."

"Well, Mr. Young Elk, this is my squaw, and you will take yourself off
and mind your----"

"Paleface lie! The white flower is not his squaw!" the young Indian
replied.

"Get out of here!" hissed the renegade.

"No! Young Elk stay. White flower need friend. Me be her friend."

"Blame you!" hissed Walden. "We'll see if any mere boy can defy me! Out
of the way, dog!"

"No," said the Indian. "Not while white flower stay. Young Elk be
friend to white woman; bad paleface shall not strike."

"Thank you, my friend, but I fear him not," said Grace.

"I will conquer you yet!" hissed the renegade, as he rushed from the
lodge, the Indian boy having stepped aside.

As soon as Walden had gone, Grace left the lodge and hurried into the
forest, where she ran on till she reached a pool of water which made
its way swiftly into a cave amid the great ledges of rock.

The spot was at some distance from the village, the trees grew thick
and high, and the path between them was narrow and winding, and easily
lost; but the girl had evidently been there before, for when she
reached the opening in front of the pool she looked around her with an
air of security.

Walden, leaving the lodge, went to the chiefs, whom he found gathered
in council.

"Who is Young Elk?" demanded Walden.

"He is my kinsman," said one of the chiefs.

"He is a meddler!" snarled the renegade. "I will kill him if he does
not take care!"

"No, False Heart will not!" cried the old chief. "False Heart lies, he
has told crooked tales of the paleface, he is a bad man. He would make
us go on the warpath when the whites have not wronged us. It is he who
will have to take care lest Young Elk kill him!"

Inflamed with rage, Walden left the council and hurried into the
forest. As he hurried along the narrow path he was followed by Young
Elk.

Reaching the opening, Walden found Grace upon her knees at the edge of
the pool. "I cannot bear to leave this bright world," she murmured,
"but I could not bear the disgrace, the shame of being that man's wife!
Oh! why is there no one to help me?"

"Die, if you will have it so!" cried the renegade, raising his hand to
strike.

Upon the instant, the young Indian who had been trailing him, sprang
forward, seized the renegade by the throat and hurled him into the pool.

"Grace, my darling!" he cried, taking the girl in his strong grasp and
drawing her away.

"Jack! You!" she cried. "Then you are Young Elk?"

"No; he is my friend. He it was who found you here in the village,
and told me, and none too soon. I have sought you in many places. The
Indian boy who gave your father the letter forged by Walden confessed
that the villain had taken you to some tribe far away, and I began my
search. I went from tribe to tribe, finding you not, and at last met
Young Elk, whose life I saved. He went with me from village to village,
making inquiries, and here at last he found you. But what has become of
that scoundrel?"

"The strong current must have carried him into yonder cave," said
Grace. "The Indians say the stream never issues forth after leaving the
light."

"Then the scoundrel has met his just reward for all his crimes," said
Jack. "Come, I have found you, and now we will return, never to be
parted again."

It is needless to say that Grace's parents were overjoyed at her safe
return, and on the appointed day Jack and Grace became man and wife.


FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY

NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 4, 1921.

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HARRY E. WOLFF, Publisher

166 West 23d St., New York




ITEMS OF INTEREST


GETS FOUR BEARS.

Albert Forney of White Rapids, Wis., shot four bears recently. While
out hunting he discovered a cub in what proved to be a winter den. He
shot the cub and brought the mother charging down upon him. Another
shot finished her. Forney then dispatched the two remaining cubs.
Father Bruin escaped by flight.


CARRIED AN ARSENAL.

Hilary Smith of Brooklyn was sent to jail the other day for six months
and fined $35 on charges of carrying concealed weapons, drunkenness
and disorderly conduct. Smith, who said he was a longshoreman, carried
three big revolvers, three razors, two dirk knives, 200 rounds of
ammunition, a marked deck of cards, a pair of loaded dice and two half
pints of whisky. He was arrested at the Union Station, Washington, D.
C., by detectives, who noticed the bulges in his clothing.

"I was getting along all right in New York and Brooklyn," he said in
court, "until those cops up there got too inquisitive and I had to
leave. Just the same I am a harmless man."


WILD DOG ATTACKS MAN.

Running wild for two years, after being lost in the wilds of the Indian
Creek Valley, Pa., by a Pittsburgh hunter, an Airedale dog attacked and
injured James C. Munson, a well-known Connelsville man, who was hunting
in that section of the country.

It was with difficulty that Munson beat off the dog, which tore his
clothing and flesh in several places.

Only the whine of pups near by prevented Munson from killing the
canine. Nine pups about six weeks old were taken by members of a posse
which went into the mountains when the attack was reported by Munson.
The mother dog was not seen, but hunters who have encountered the
animal say she is as savage as any wolf they ever saw.


WHY CAN'T WE SEE IN THE DARK?

We cannot see in the dark because there is no light to see by. To
understand this we must first understand that when we see a thing, as
we generally say, we do not actually see the thing itself, but only
the light coming from it. But we have become so used to saying that
we see the thing itself that for all practical purposes we can accept
that as true, although it is not scientifically exact. Scientifically
speaking, we see that part of the sunlight or other light which is
shining upon it which the object is able to reflect.

If there were no air about us, we could not hear any sounds, no matter
how much disturbance people or things created, because it requires air
to cause the sound waves which produce sound, and air also to carry
the sound waves to our ears. In the same way, if there is no light
to produce light rays from any given object to our eyes, we can see
nothing. It requires light waves to produce the reflections of objects
to our eyes. Without light our eyes and their delicate organs are
useless. You cannot see yourself in a mirror when the quicksilver which
was once on the back of the glass has been removed, because there is
then nothing to reflect the light. We can only see things when there
is light enough about to reflect things to our eyes. When it is dark
there is no light, and that is the reason we cannot see anything in the
dark.--Book of Wonders.




LAUGHS


"I had an awful time with Amos last night." "Amos who?" "A mosquito."

       *       *       *       *       *

"So you want to marry my daughter; what are your prospects?" "That is
for you to say, sir; I am not a mind reader."

       *       *       *       *       *

Sunday School Teacher--Is your papa a Christian, Bobby? Little
Bobby--No'm. Not to-day. He's got a toothache.

       *       *       *       *       *

Teacher--Now, Patsy, would it be proper to say, 'You can't learn me
nothing?' Patsy--Yes'm. Teacher--Why? Patsy--'Cause yer can't.

       *       *       *       *       *

"No, I can never be your wife." "What? Am I never to be known as the
husband of the beautiful Mrs. Smith?" She succumbed.

       *       *       *       *       *

"How do you distinguish the waiters from the guests in this cafe? Both
wear full dress." "Yes, but the waiters keep sober!"

       *       *       *       *       *

Albert Asker--Mamma, may I go out in the street? They say there's going
to be an eclipse of the sun. Mrs. Asker--Yes, but don't go too near.

       *       *       *       *       *

Teacher--What do we see above us when we go out on a clear day?
Harry--We see the blue sky. "Correct, and what do we see above us on a
rainy day?" "An umbrella."

       *       *       *       *       *

Mother--I gave you a nickel yesterday to be good, and to-day you are
just as bad as you can be. Willie--Yes, ma I'm trying to show you that
you got your money's worth yesterday.




ITEMS OF GENERAL INTEREST


CAT SAVED BY DOG.

Judson T. Logan, of Leverette, Mass., and members of his family
overlooked the family cat, "Chum," when they made a hurried escape from
their burning home the other day. But "Ted," their big St. Bernard,
remembered.

The dog discovered the absence of his playmate, rushed back through the
smoke and soon reappeared with "Chum" in his mouth.

Incidentally the Logans, as well as the other occupants of another
apartment in the house gave the dog credit for awakening them by
barking, so they reached the street before their escape was cut off by
the flames.


OVERPOPULATION.

A remarkable case of overpopulation is that of the Island of Bukara,
in Lake Victoria Nyanza, described by H. L. Duke in the Cornhill
Magazine. This island, with an area of 36 square miles, much of which
is bare granite, though isolated from the rest of the world, supports a
population of 19,000. The small garden plots are carefully marked off
and rights of ownership are rigidly observed. Trees are valued more
than the land on which they grow. In some cases one man owns the trees
and another the ground. A man must not steal his neighbor's leaves,
sticks and rubbish. A father may even divide a tree among his children,
allotting certain branches to each.


FINDS A REAL PARADISE.

Thomas Kelley, a farmhand in Paradise, Kan., 60 years old, has just
received a present that belonged to anybody until a few days ago.

Kelley has been working in this community as a farmhand for some years.
Near Paradise is the Worley ranch, consisting of several thousand
acres. It has been the opinion of all that Worley owned all the land.
Kelley began an investigation and discovered that eighty acres near the
center of the ranch never had been homesteaded.

He immediately took up the matter with the Topeka land office and is
now practically the owner of the farm, worth approximately $5,000. The
land is in the heart of a rich and fertile valley, noted for raising
wheat. Most of the farm is under cultivation.

Kelley will improve the land at once and will erect a house to live in.


GIRLS MUST COVER KNEES.

Girl students at the Randolph-Macon Institute, part of the Southern
Methodist institution, Danville, Va., have been told in blunt terms
they must wear their stockings as their mothers taught them and not in
conformity with fashion's latest edict, which provides for the rolling
process and knee lengths.

From sources of unquestioned authority comes word that within the last
few days the faculty of teachers were called together and served what
was little short of an ultimatum to the student body. Failure to comply
will be met with severe reprisals.

It is alleged and not contradicted, that certain young sophomores who
cling to college traditions have been "rolling their own" with ruthless
disregard to feet and meters. The students have accepted the order with
philosophy.


OUR TEN-CENT HAND BOOKS

Useful, Instructive, and Amusing. They Contain Valuable Information on
Almost Every Subject

=No. 24. HOW TO WRITE LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN.=--Containing full
instructions for writing to gentlemen on all subjects.

=No. 25. HOW TO BECOME A GYMNAST.=--Containing full instructions
for all kinds of gymnastic sports and athletic exercises. Embracing
thirty-five illustrations. By Professor W. Macdonald.

=No. 26. HOW TO ROW, SAIL AND BUILD A BOAT.=--Fully illustrated. Full
instructions are given in this little book, together with instructions
on swimming and riding, companion sports to boating.

=No. 27. HOW TO RECITE AND BOOK OF RECITATIONS.=--Containing the most
popular selections in use, comprising Dutch dialect, French dialect,
Yankee and Irish dialect pieces, together with many standard readings.

=No. 28. HOW TO TELL FORTUNES.=--Everyone is desirous of knowing what
his future life will bring forth, whether happiness or misery, wealth
or poverty. You can tell by a glance at this little book. Buy one and
be convinced.

=No. 29. HOW TO BECOME AN INVENTOR.=--Every boy should know how
inventions originated. This book explains them all, giving examples in
electricity, hydraulics, magnetism, optics, pneumatics, mechanics, etc.

=No. 30. HOW TO COOK.=--One of the most instructive books on cooking
ever published. It contains recipes for cooking meats, fish, game, and
oysters; also pies, puddings, cakes and all kinds of pastry, and a
grand collection of recipes.

=No. 31. HOW TO BECOME A SPEAKER.=--Containing fourteen illustrations,
giving the different positions requisite to become a good speaker,
reader and elocutionist. Also containing gems from all the popular
authors of prose and poetry.

=No. 32. HOW TO RIDE A BICYCLE.=--Containing instructions for
beginners, choice of a machine, hints on training, etc. A complete
book. Full of practical illustrations.

=No. 35. HOW TO PLAY GAMES.=--A complete and useful little book,
containing the rules and regulations of billiards, bagatelle,
backgammon, croquet, dominoes, etc.

=No. 36. HOW TO SOLVE CONUNDRUMS.=--Containing all the leading
conundrums of the day, amusing riddles, curious catches and witty
sayings.

=No. 38. HOW TO BECOME YOUR OWN DOCTOR.=--A wonderful book, containing
useful and practical information in the treatment of ordinary diseases
and ailments common to every family. Abounding in useful and effective
recipes for general complaints.

=No. 39. HOW TO RAISE DOGS, POULTRY, PIGEONS AND RABBITS.=--A useful
and instructive book. Handsomely illustrated.

=No. 40. HOW TO MAKE AND SET TRAPS.=--Including hints on how to catch
moles, weasels, otter, rats, squirrels and birds. Also how to cure
skins. Copiously illustrated.

=No. 41. THE BOYS OF NEW YORK END MEN'S JOKE BOOK.=--Containing a great
variety of the latest jokes used by the most famous end men. No amateur
minstrels is complete without this wonderful little book.

  For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any
  address on receipt of price, 10c. per copy, in
  money or stamps, by

  FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher,
  168 West 23d Street,            New York.




[Illustration]

A Real Moving Picture Show In Your Own Home

NEW ELECTRIC MODEL

Remember, this is a Genuine Moving Picture Machine and the motion
pictures are clear, sharp and distinct.

The Moving Picture Machine is finely constructed, and carefully put
together by skilled workmen. It is made of Russian Metal, has a
beautiful finish, and is operated by a finely constructed mechanism,
consisting of an eight wheel movement, etc. The projecting lenses are
carefully ground and adjusted, triple polished, standard double extra
reflector, throwing a ray of light many feet, and enlarging the picture
on the screen up to three or four feet in area.

It is not a toy; it is a solidly constructed and durable Moving Picture
Machine. The mechanism is exceedingly simple and is readily operated
by the most inexperienced. The pictures shown by this marvelous Moving
Picture Machine are not the common, crude and lifeless Magic Lantern
variety, but are life-like photographic reproductions of actual scenes,
places and people, which never tire its audiences. This Moving Picture
Machine has caused a rousing enthusiasm wherever it is used.

This Moving Picture Machine which I want to send you FREE, gives clear
and life-like Moving Pictures as are shown at any regular Moving
Picture show. It flashes moving pictures on the sheet before you. This
Machine and Box of Film are FREE--absolutely free to every boy in this
land who wants to write for an Outfit, free to girls and free to older
people. Read MY OFFER below, which shows you how to get this Marvelous
Machine.

How You Can Get This Great Moving Picture Machine--Read My Wonderful
Offer to You

Here is what you are to do in order to get this amazing Moving Picture
Machine and the real Moving Pictures: Send your name and address--that
is all. Write name and address very plainly. Mail to-day. As soon as I
receive it I will mail you 20 of the most beautiful premium pictures
you ever saw--all brilliant and shimmering colors. These pictures
are printed in many colors and among the titles are such subjects
as "_Betsy Ross Making the First American Flag_"--"_Washington at
Home_,"--"_Battle of Lake Erie_," _etc._ I want you to distribute
these premium pictures on a special 40-cent offer among the people you
know. When you have distributed the 20 premium pictures on my liberal
offer you will have collected $8.00. Send the $8.00. to me and I will
immediately send you FREE the Moving Picture Machine with complete
Outfit and the Box of Film.

  50,000 of these machines have made
  50,000 boys happy. Answer at once.
  Be the first in your town to get one.

A. E. FLEMING, Secy., 615 W. 43d Street, Dept. 142, New York


Read These Letters From Happy Boys:

Shows Clear Pictures

I have been very slow in sending you an answer. I received my Moving
Picture Machine a few weeks ago and I think it is a dandy, and it
shows the pictures clear just as you said it would. I am very proud of
it. I thank you very much for it and I am glad to have it. I gave an
entertainment two days after I got it. Leopold Lamontagne, 54 Summer
Ave., Central Falls. R. I.


Sold His for $10.00 and Ordered Another

Some time ago I got one of your Machines and I am very much pleased
with it. After working it for about a month I sold it for $10.00 to a
friend of mine. He has it and entertains his family nightly. I have now
decided to get another one of your machines. Michael Ehereth, Mandan,
N. Dak.


Would Not Give Away for $25.00

My Moving Picture Machine is a good one and I would not give it away
for $25.00. It's the best machine I ever had and I wish everybody could
have one. Addie Bresky, Jeanesville, Pa. Box 34.


Better Than a $12.00 Machine

I am slow about turning in my thanks to you, but my Moving Picture
Machine is all right. I have had it a long time and it has not been
broken yet. I have seen a $12.00 Machine but would not swap mine for
it. Robert Lineberry, care of Revolution Store, Greenboro, N. C.

[Illustration: PLEASE USE COUPON]

_Free Coupon_

Good for Moving Picture Offer

Simply cut out this Free Coupon, pin it to a sheet of paper, mail to me
with your name and address written plainly, and I will send you the 20
Pictures at once. Address

A. E. FLEMING. Secy., 615 W. 43 St., Dept. 142, New York




BOYS SETTLE DISPUTE; SCHOOL-MA'AM REFEREE


Schoolroom disputes among the boys at the Webster School in Chicago,
where children of twenty-two nationalities attend classes, are not
settled by arbitrary fiat of a teacher. Instead, the principal of the
school, Miss Alice M. Hogge, believes in letting the boys decide their
grievances with their fists, it was learned recently, and in the latest
quarrel she acted as referee and second to both combatants.

It was a fight to the finish in school basement between Salvatore
Sortino and Abe Selon, both aged 12. Time was called several times to
enable the combatants to rest and rinse out their mouths, and after
fifteen minutes Salvatore had an unquestioned decision.

"Letting the boys fight out their troubles is the best way in a school
such as the Webster," said Miss Hogge. "Of course, the fights must be
fair.

"I never permit any serious injuries. A black eye or two, such as Abe
got, is usually the limit."

J. C. Mortensen, superintendent of schools, declared he was in favor
of Miss Hogge's method, saying it is the most successful ever tried in
that school.




MONT BLANC LOSES TOP.


The top of Mont Blanc fell off November 26 and started an enormous
avalanche, which rolled down into Italy along the gorge of the Brenva
Glacier, destroying in its course the whole forest of Pourtud.

The origin of the avalanche was unknown till yesterday, when the
weather cleared, and a powerful telescope could be brought to bear on
the mountain. Then it was found that part of the limestone pyramid
which forms the summit of the greatest mountain mass in Europe had
split and fallen.

The avalanche was one of the biggest and most destructive known for
some time. The rock and ice tumbling from the summit dislodged immense
snow fields, which in turn tore out rock, and the great mass went
rumbling down the mountainside for nearly ten miles. It plunged along
the glacier bed, leaped the valley of the Doire, throwing pine trees
and boulders about like corks in a waterfall, and came to rest almost
miraculously at the entrance to the little Italian village of Pourtud.
Several houses, which stood almost in its path, were spared by a width
of only a few yards, and so far no loss of life has been reported.




[Illustration]

  GREAT SPORT

OH, BOYS--GIRLS THROW YOUR VOICE

  with
  CLAXOPHONE

under the table, back of a door, into a trunk, desk in School, any old
place. Big FUN fooling Peddlers, Policeman, Friend, anybody. Several
boys write: 'I want more Claxophones. I had so much fun I can't do
without them.' Claxophone lays on your tongue unseen, always ready for
use by anyone. Imt. Birds, &c. Claxophone with full instructions and
set of Secret Writing Tricks, also Magic Dial Trick, all for 10c. 3 for
20c (no stamps).

  CLAXO TRICK CO., Dept. S          New Haven. Conn.




NEW SCIENTIFIC WONDER

"X-RAY" CURIO

[Illustration]

PRICE 12c. SILVER ONLY. BIG FUN

BOYS You apparently see thru Clothes, Wood, Stones, Any object. See
Bones in Flesh.

A magic trick novelty FREE with each X Ray.

  MARVEL MFG. CO.,      Dept. 13.      NEW HAVEN. CONN.




12 Months to Pay.

[Illustration]

Enjoy your 1921 "Ranger" at once. Earn money for the small monthly
payments on Our Easy Payment Plan. Parents often advance first small
payment to help their boys along.

FACTORY TO RIDER wholesale prices.

Three big model factories. 44 Styles, colors and sizes in our famous
Ranger line.

DELIVERED FREE, _express prepaid_, FOR 30 DAYS TRIAL. Select bicycle
and terms that suit--cash or easy payments.

Tires lamps, horns, wheels, parts and equipment, at half retail prices
SEND NO MONEY--Simply write today for big FREE Ranger Catalog and
marvelous prices and terms.

  Mead Cycle Company
  Dept H-188 Chicago

  Special Offer to
  Rider Agents




BIG VALUE for 10 Cts.

[Illustration]

6 Songs, words and music; 25 Pictures Pretty Girls; 40 Ways to Make
Money; 1 Joke Book; 1 Book on Love; 1 Magic Book; 1 Book Letter
Writing; 1 Dream Book and Fortune Teller; 1 Cook Book; 1 Base Ball
Book, gives rules for games; 1 Toy Maker Book; Language of Flowers; 1
Morse Telegraph Alphabet; 12 Chemical Experiments; Magic Age Table;
Great North Pole Game; 100 Conundrums; 8 Puzzles; 12 Games; 30 Verses
for Autograph Albums. All the above by mail for 10 cts. and 2 cts.
postage.

  ROYAL SALES CO., Box 2O, South Norwalk, Conn.




HOW TO MAKE LOVE

[Illustration]

(NEW BOOK) Tells how to Get Acquainted; How to Begin Courtship; How to
Court a Bashful Girl; to Woo a Widow; to win an Heiress; how to catch a
Rich Bachelor; how to manage your beau to make him propose; how to make
your fellow or girl love you; what to do before and after the wedding.
Tells other things necessary for Lovers to know. Sample copy by mail 10
cents.

  ROYAL BOOK CO.,      Box 9      So. Norwalk, Conn.




Learn WIRELESS At Home By Mail

[Illustration]

Attractive positions open for men and boys. Salaries up to $3,500 a
year. Beginners paid $125 a month plus Room and Board, which means
more than $200 at the start. One of our recent graduates is getting
$6,000 a year. Opportunity to travel or locate in land radio offices.
We train you by mail in a short time--some have completed the course
in 10 weeks. No previous experience necessary. First correspondence
radio school in America. Our new automatic Wireless Instrument, "The
Natrometer" Furnished Every Student. Send for Free Book.

"Wireless. The Opportunity of Today"

NATIONAL RADIO INSTITUTE

Dept. 503, Washington. D. C.




ALL THIS FREE

[Illustration]

Gold-plated Lavalilere and Chain, pair Earbobs, Gold-plated Expansion
Bracelet with Im. Watch, guaranteed quality and 3 Gold-plated Rings ALL
FREE for selling only 15 pieces Jewelry at 10 cents each.

Columbia Novelty Co.

Dep 466 East Boston, Mass.




MADE TO MEASURE

[Illustration]

Express or Postage Prepaid

$13.50

This offer is one of the biggest, most generous ever made by any
tailoring house. It's your one big opportunity to get a finely
tailored-to-measure 2 piece suit with box back, superbly trimmed and
cut in the latest city style for only $13.50.

We're out to beat high tailoring prices

You save $6 to $11. Why not save 50% on your next suit? We have such
a tremendous business, buy all materials in such large quantities and
have such a perfect organization that we can make these wonderful
prices--and remember we guarantee style, fit and workmanship or your
money back.

Big Sample Outfit FREE

Write us today and we will mail you =absolutely FREE= our beautiful
illustrated pattern book showing dozens of the latest city styles and
designs, also many large size cloth samples to choose from. Don't
delay; we urge you to act quick; today.

The Progress Tailoring Co., Dept. 310, Chicago




OLD COINS WANTED

[Illustration]

$2 to $500 EACH paid for Hundreds of Coins dated before 1895. Keep ALL
old Money. You may have Coins worth a Large Premium. Send 10c. for new
Illustrated Coin Value Book, size 4×6. Get Posted at Once.

CLARKE COIN CO., Box 35, Le Rey, N. Y.




THROW YOUR VOICE

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Down cellar, under the Bed, in the Darky's grip or anywhere.

With our VENTRILOPHONE, (which fits into the mouth and cannot be seen,)
you can positively perform the following tricks and many more with a
few minutes practice. "Dog at back door." "Chasing the Chicken." "Bird
under Coat." "The Invisible Canary."

One boy writes--"I frightened my Mother by putting my cap under my coat
and immitating an animal." Any Boy or Girl can use it. With a little
practice you can play a tune without moving your lips.

  THE VENTRILOPHONE, Booklet on Ventriloquism
  and full directions, only 10 CTS

3 for 25 cts. By mail postpaid with big Catalog of Novelties and Tricks

Universal Novelty Co. Dept. 406 Stamford Conn.




SHARK FISHING IN LOWER CALIFORNIA


The shark fishing industry is becoming increasingly important in the
Ensenada Consular district, writes United States Consul William C.
Burdett, stationed in Lower California. The Lower California shark,
known locally as the dogfish shark, is from four to five feet long and
weighs from 90 to 125 pounds. The fishing is usually done by individual
fishermen working out from camps on land. The fish are caught on long
set lines, on which are fifty to one hundred hooks baited with small
fish or lumps of shark meat.

The fins are sold for consumption by Chinese in shark fin soup. The
liver is boiled down and shark oil rendered out. Each liver gives
an average of one gallon of oil. The oil is used in paints and as
a leather preservative. The skins are not utilized, except for
fertilizer. Frequently shark steaks are sold by Chinese in the district
under the name of grayfish.

The large canneries operating fish fertilizer plants in San Diego,
Cal., are eager to buy shark, and the newly finished plant at Sauzal,
Lower California, expects to specialize on converting shark into fish
meal fertilizer.




LITTLE ADS


_Write to Riker & King, Advertising Offices, 118 East 28th Street, New
York City, or 8 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago, for particulars about
advertising in this magazine._


AIDS TO EFFICIENCY

WRITE THE WORDS FOR A SONG. We revise poems, write music and guarantee
to secure publication. Submit poems on any subject. Broadway Studios,
165C. Fitzgerald Building. New York.

       *       *       *       *       *

SHORTHAND--Learn complete system, few evenings (home) then acquire
speed, pleasant practice. Brochure free. Save money, time, increase
your efficiency, earnings. King Institute. EA-370. Station F, New York.


AGENTS

YOUR NAME on 35 linen cards and case 25 cts. Agents outfit free. Card
and leather specialties. John W. Burt. Coshocton, Ohio.

       *       *       *       *       *

MEN, get into the wonderful tailoring agency business.

Big profits taking orders and your own clothes free. We furnish fine
sample outfit and everything free. No experience needed. Write today.
Banner Tailoring Co., Dept. E2071. Chicago.

       *       *       *       *       *

WIDE-AWAKE MEN--To take charge of our local trade: $6 to $8 a day
steady; no experience required; pay starts at once. Write today.
American Products Co. 3151 American Bldg., Cincinnati, Ohio.


ART AND DEN PICTURES

GIRL PICTURES--Real "Classy"; 16 (all different) $1.00; two samples, 25
cts. United Sales Co., Springfield. Ill.

       *       *       *       *       *

PHOTO'S GIRL MODELS. Daring poses, samples 25 cts. Dozen $1.50. Shimmie
Dancer, she's alive, boys, sample 25 cts. Dozen $1.50. Oriental Hula
Hula Dancer, sample 25 cts. Dozen $1.50. Book Exposing gambling 25 cts.
Illustrated sporting goods catalogue 10 cts. Hamilton's Company. Barnes
City, Iowa.

       *       *       *       *       *

ZEE BEAUTIFUL GIRL pictures. Twelve wonderful poses $1.00. Refunded if
dissatisfied. Bairart Co., Dept. 120. St. Louis. Mo.


EXCHANGE

IF YOU WANT to sell or exchange your property write me. John J. Black.
173rd St., Chippewa Falls, Wis.


FOR SALE

SILK REMNANTS. Largest packages yet offered. Square of stamped satin
free with every package. 15 cts. Silk Manufacturers Agency. Portland,
Me.

       *       *       *       *       *

A REAL OPPORTUNITY calls you to Antrim and Kalkaska counties, Mich.
Raise big crops on our hardwood lands. Close to markets, schools. R.
R., only $15 to $35 per acre. Easy terms. Write for big free booklet,
Swigart, M1268 First Nat'l Bank Bldg., Chicago, Ill.

       *       *       *       *       *

REAL ARMY EMBLEMS. Collection of various kinds sent postpaid on receipt
of 25 cts. Money or stamps. Schaff. 557-15 S. E., Washington, D. C.


HELP WANTED

WANTED--1,500 Railway Traffic Inspectors; no experience; train for this
profession thru spare time home-study; easy terms; $110 to $200 monthly
and expenses guaranteed, or money back. Outdoors; local or traveling;
under big men who reward ability. Get Free Booklet. CM-101, Standard
Business Training Inst., Buffalo, N. Y.

       *       *       *       *       *

MEN WANTED for Detective Work. Experience unnecessary. Write J. Ganor,
Former U. S. Govt. Detective, 132, St. Louis, Mo.

       *       *       *       *       *

DETECTIVES EARN BIG MONEY. Great demand for men and women. Fascinating
work. Particulars free. Write, American Detective System, 1968
Broadway, New York.

       *       *       *       *       *

LADIES WANTED, and MEN, too, to address envelopes and mail advertising
matter at home for large mail order firms, spare or whole time. Can
make $10 to $35 wkly. No capital or experience required. Book explains
everything; send 10 cts. to cover postage, etc. Ward Pub. Co., Tilton,
N. H.

       *       *       *       *       *

BE A DETECTIVE. Opportunity for men and women for secret investigation
in your district. Write C. T. Ludwig. 521 Westover Bldg., Kansas City,
Mo.

       *       *       *       *       *

DETECTIVES earn big money. Travel and good opportunities. We show you
how. Write American School of Criminology, Dept. M. Detroit, Mich.


MISCELLANEOUS

PATENTS, Trademark, Copyright--foremost word free. Long experience
as patent solicitor. Prompt advice, charges very reasonable.
Correspondence solicited. Results procured. Metzger, Washington, D. C.

       *       *       *       *       *

ELECTRICAL Tattooing Machine, $3, $5 and $7. Catalogue for stamp. J. H.
Temks, 1019 Vine, K, Cincinnati, O.

       *       *       *       *       *

BOOKS--PHOTOS--NOVELTIES--Just what you want. Big illustrated catalog,
10 cents. United Sales Co., Springfield, Ill.

       *       *       *       *       *

MOUSTACHE. Best invigorant, is Kotalko, contains genuine bear oil and
other potent ingredients. Send 10 cents for proof box of this true hair
grower. Kotalko Offices. BA-370, Station X, New York.

       *       *       *       *       *

TWENTY movie stars' pictures 10 cents. Chas. Durse, Dept. 39, 25
Mulberry St., N. Y. City.

       *       *       *       *       *

WORLD'S SMALLEST BIBLE! Illustrated, 10 cts, (silver) Mannco, 320 W.
Gothe St., Chicago.


MOTION PICTURE PLAYS

AMBITIOUS WRITERS of Photoplays, Short Stories, Poems, Songs, send
today for Free, valuable, instructive book, "KEY TO SUCCESSFUL WRITING"
including 65 helpful suggestions on writing and selling. Atlas
Publishing Co., 522 Butler Bldg., Cincinnati, O.

       *       *       *       *       *

EARN $50 weekly spare time at home writing photoplays. Experience
unnecessary. Particulars free. Playwriters Co., Dept. 1418, St. Louis,
Mo.


PERSONAL

MARRIAGE PAPER. Big issue with descriptions, photos, names and
addresses, 25 cents. No other fee. Sent sealed. Box 3317A, Boston, Mass.

       *       *       *       *       *

MARRY IF LONESOME--Ladies' Membership Free. Gentlemen's Membership two
months 25 cents. One year, $1.00. Copy members names, addresses, 10
cents. Sweetheart's Magazine, Barnes City, Iowa.

       *       *       *       *       *

MARRY--Thousands people; all ages; worth $5,000 to $400,000; anxious
for marriage; write for my list; FREE. Ralph Hyde, B-2, Minna St., San
Francisco, Cal.

       *       *       *       *       *

PIMPLES--Acne eruptions, face or body; I know the cause, my internal
treatment removes it; my special external preparation eradicates all
blemishes and restores natural skin. Booklet for stamp. Dr. Rodgers,
135 East 47th St., Chicago.

       *       *       *       *       *

WRITE Lillian Sproul, Station H, Cleveland, O., if you wish a pretty
and wealthy wife. Enclose stamped envelope.

       *       *       *       *       *

SINCERE LADIES and GENTLEMEN who wish to marry. Confidential and
satisfaction. Box 73, Arcade Station, Los Angeles, Calif.

       *       *       *       *       *

LONELY MAIDEN, 26, would marry. Write for picture. Box 150K, Syracuse,
N. Y.

       *       *       *       *       *

MARRY. Successful "Home Maker." Hundreds rich. Confidential, reliable,
years' experience, descriptions free. The Successful Club, Box 556,
Oakland, Cal.

       *       *       *       *       *

MARRY RICH, hundreds anxious, descriptive list free, satisfaction
guaranteed. Select Club, Dept. A, Rapid City. So. Dak.

       *       *       *       *       *

SIXTH AND SEVENTH BOOKS OF MOSES. Egyptian secrets. Black art, other
rare books. Catalog free. Star Book Co., R-122. Camden, N. J.

       *       *       *       *       *

MARRY: Thousands congenial people, worth from $1,000 to $50,000 seeking
early marriage, descriptions, photos. Introductions free. Sealed.
Either sex. Send no money. Address Standard Cor. Club, Grayslake, Ill.

       *       *       *       *       *

GET MARRIED--Best Matrimonial paper published. Mailed FREE. American
Distributor, Suite 217, Blairsville, Penna.

       *       *       *       *       *

MARRY--FREE PHOTOS beautiful ladies; descriptions and directory; pay
when married. New Plan Co., Dept. 245, Kansas City, Mo.

       *       *       *       *       *

MARRY--MARRIAGE DIRECTORY with photos and descriptions free. Pay when
married. The Exchange, Dept. 545, Kansas City, Mo.

       *       *       *       *       *

303 NAMES, Addresses descriptions, also pictures, lonesome marriageable
people, 25 cts. Box 3317B, Boston, Mass.

       *       *       *       *       *

INTERESTED IN MATRIMONY? Write Chicago Friendship Club, Box 749,
Chicago, Ill. Enclose stamped envelope.

       *       *       *       *       *

YOUNG WIDOW with $60,000 wishes to marry some kind gentleman. Box 55,
Oxford, Fla.

       *       *       *       *       *

BERTHA, will return with old time love if you become slender again. Get
Korein tabules, any druggist. Joe.


SCIENTIFIC

CRYSTAL GAZING--How to develop efficiency. Send stamp for free
instructions. Birthday readings. Strong and weak points. Health,
Business, Marriage and other valuable hints. Twenty-five cents.
"Zancig," Asbury Park, N. J.

       *       *       *       *       *

YOUR LIFE STORY in the stars. Send birth date and dime for trial
reading. Sherman. Rapid City, S. Dak.

       *       *       *       *       *

ASTROLOGY--STARS TELL LIFE'S STORY. Send birthdate and dime for trial
reading. Eddy, 4307 Jefferson, Kansas City, Mo. Apartment 73.


SONGWRITERS

HAVE YOU SONG POEMS? I have best proposition. RAY HIBBELER, D104, 4040
Dickens Ave., Chicago.

       *       *       *       *       *

WRITE THE WORDS FOR A SONG! We will write the music and guarantee
publication on a royalty basis. Submit poems on any subject. Seton
Music Company, 920 S. Michigan Ave., Room 122, Chicago.

       *       *       *       *       *

WRITE A SONG POEM--I compose music and guarantee publication. Send poem
today. E. Hanson, 3810 Broadway, Room 107, Chicago.

       *       *       *       *       *

WRITE A SONG POEM--Love, Mother, Home, Comic or any subject. I compose
music and guarantee publication. Send words today. Edward Trent, 636
Reaper Block, Chicago.

       *       *       *       *       *

WRITE THE WORDS FOR A SONG. We revise poems, write music and guarantee
to secure publication. Submit poems on any subject. Broadway Studios,
165C, Fitzgerald Building, New York.


STAMMERING

ST-STU-T-T-TERING and stammering cured at home. Instructive booklet
free. Walter McDonnell, 15 Potomac Bank Bldg., Washington, D. C.


THEATRICAL

GET ON THE STAGE. I tell you how! Send 6 cts. postage for Illustrated
Stage Book and full particulars. H. LaDelle, Box 557, Los Angeles, Cal.


TOBACCO HABIT

TOBACCO or Snuff Habit cured or no pay. $1 if cured. Remedy sent on
trial. Superbs Co., PC, Baltimore, Md.

       *       *       *       *       *

TOBACCO KILLS MANLY VIGOR. Quit habit easily. Any form, chewing,
smoking or snuff, cured or no charge. If cured, $1. Stops craving,
harmless. Full remedy on trial. Perkins Co., B-51 Hastings, Nebr.

       *       *       *       *       *

TOBACCO HABIT

[Illustration]

Crushes Helpless Victims

Not only is tobacco filthy and disgusting to your loved ones, but it
contains a Deadly Poison which weakens heart, stomach, lowers vitality
and invites disease that may shorten your life. STOP! Regain vigor; but
don't shock your system by trying to quit unaided.

EASY TO QUIT

It makes no difference how long you have used tobacco whether you smoke
cigarettes, pipe, cigars, chew or use snuff, Nix-O-Tine Tobacco Remedy
will free you from the craving quickly and for good. No further desire
for tobacco. Guaranteed harmless. Has cured thousands of worst cases.
If it cures, costs $1. No charge if it fails.

  SENT ON TRIAL

_Write today for full remedy on trial_

PERKINS CHEMICAL COMPANY, E-12, Hastings, Nebr.

       *       *       *       *       *

_PILES_ DON'T BE CUT

Until You Try This Wonderful Treatment.

My internal method of treatment is the correct one, and is sanctioned
by the best informed physicians and surgeons. Ointments, salves and
other local applications give only temporary relief.

If you have piles in any form write for a FREE sample of _Page's Pile
Tablets_ and you will bless the day that you read this. Write today.

E. R. PAGE, 349B, Page Bldg., Marshall, Mich.

       *       *       *       *       *

Goitre

  Cured at home; worst cases.
  No pain. No cost if it fails.
  Successfully used for 18 years.
  Write for Free Book and testimonials.
  GOITRENE COMPANY,
  438 West 63rd Street, Chicago.

       *       *       *       *       *

SORENESS HEALED

Sore or open legs, ulcers, enlarged veins, eczema healed while you
work. Write for free book and describe your own case. A. C. Liepe, 1457
Green Bay Av., Milwaukee, Wis.

       *       *       *       *       *

BOYS! BOYS! BOYS!

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

THROW YOUR VOICE

Into a trunk, under the bed or anywhere. Lots of Fun fooling the
Teacher, Policeman or Friends.

THE VENTRILO, a little instrument, fits in the mouth out of sight, used
with above for Bird Calls, etc. Anyone can use it.

NEVER FAILS. A 32 PAGE BOOK ON VENTRILOQUISM, the Ventrilo and large
Catalog of Tricks all for 10¢

BOY. NOV. CO., Dept. 200 So. Norwalk, Conn. LARGEST and OLDEST Mail
Order House in Connecticut. HEADQUARTERS for all the latest Jokes,
Tricks, Novelties, etc.




  RHEUMATISM LEFT HIM
  AS IF BY MAGIC!

[Illustration]

  Had Suffered
  Over 50 Years!

  Now 83 Years,
  Yet a Big
  Surprise
  To Friends

  Regains
  Strength
  Goes Out
  Fishing
  Back to
  Business
  Laughs at
  "URIC
  ACID"

  How the
  "Inner
  Mysteries"
  Reveals Startling
  Facts Overlooked
  By Doctors and
  Scientists For Centuries

"I am eighty-three years old and I doctored for rheumatism ever since
I came out of the army over fifty years ago" writes J. B. Ashelman.
"Like many others, I spent money freely for so-called 'cures', and I
have read about 'Uric Acid' until I could almost taste it. I could not
sleep nights or walk without pain; my hands were so sore and stiff I
could not hold a pen. But now, as if by magic, I am again in active
business and can walk with ease or write all day with comfort. Friends
are surprised at the change."


HOW IT HAPPENED.

Mr. Ashelman is only one of thousands who suffered for years, owing
to the general belief in the old, false theory that "Uric Acid"
causes rheumatism. This erroneous belief induced him and legions of
unfortunate men and women to take wrong treatments. You might just as
well attempt to put out a fire with oil as to try and get rid of your
rheumatism, neuritis and like complaints, by taking treatments supposed
to drive Uric Acid out of your blood and body. Many physicians and
scientists now know that Uric Acid never did, never can and never will
cause rheumatism; that it is a natural and necessary constituent of the
blood; that it is found in every new-born babe; and that without it we
could not live!

These statements may seem strange to some folks, who have all along
been led to believe in the old "Uric Acid" humbug. It took Mr. Ashelman
fifty years to find out this truth. He learned how to get rid of the
true cause of his rheumatism, other disorders, and recover his strength
from "The Inner Mysteries," a remarkable book now being distributed
free by an authority who devoted over twenty years to the scientific
study of this particular trouble.

NOTE: If any reader of this magazine wishes the book that reveals these
facts regarding the true cause and cure of rheumatism, facts that were
overlooked by doctors and scientists for centuries past, simply send a
post card or letter to H. P. Clearwater, No. 534 G Street. Hallowell,
Maine, and it will be sent by return mail without any charge whatever.
Cut out this notice lest you forget! If not a sufferer yourself hand
this good news to some afflicted friend.




SIGNS OF GOLD VEIN FRENCH VILLAGE


The peaceful village life in Coudray-Montceaux, in the Seine et Oise,
only half an hour's ride by train from Paris, has been greatly excited
by the discovery of metal bearing sand, the color of which indicates a
gold vein, less than twenty-five feet below the surface of the ground.
Samples of the sand have been sent to State chemists, who refuse to
make any comment until the analyses are completed. The discovery was
made on the farm of a retired Government clerk while drilling for water.

Speculation in adjoining properties, however, has already begun, owners
of the land refusing offers four times the former value of their
property, although as yet they have nothing definite to justify the
belief that a new Klondike has been discovered. In fact, a reporter
succeeded in getting a handful of the sand, which he brought back to
Paris. He was assured by a chemist after a moment's examination of it
that it was nothing more than ferruginous flakes (fool's gold), similar
to the iron pyrites which early explorers in America brought to Europe
by shipload.--New York Herald.




GET ON THE STAGE

[Illustration]


=I Tell You How! Stage Work and Cabaret Entertaining= successfully
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Write for this free Stage Book =today=!

  FREDERIC LA DELLE      Box 557-X      LOS ANGELES, CALIF.

       *       *       *       *       *

4 RINGS FREE

[Illustration: BIRTHSTONE]

[Illustration: DIAMOND]

[Illustration: INITIAL SIGNET]

[Illustration: WEDDING]

4 solid Gold filled Rings, guaranteed 8 years, your Birthstone, your
Initial Signet, handsome Engagement and Real Wedding Ring, all 4 Rings
FREE for selling 12 pckgs. Bluine at 15c. a pckg. Write for them,
Bluine Mfg. Co., 580 Mill St., Concord Junct., Mass

       *       *       *       *       *

FREE

[Illustration]

  BOYS AIR RIFLE

This fine Rifle free for selling only 25 pieces of our Jewelry at 10c
each. Jewelry and Rifle sent prepaid.

EAGLE WATCH CO., Dept. 365 EAST BOSTON, MASS.

       *       *       *       *       *

Stop Using a Truss

[Illustration]

Yes, stop it, you know by your own experience it is only a make-shift,
a false prop against a collapsing wall, and that it is undermining your
health. Why, then, continue to wear it? Here is a better way, which
means that tiresome, torturous trusses can be thrown away forever, and
it's all because Stuart's PLAPAO-PADS are different, being medicine
applicators made self-adhesive purposely to prevent slipping and to
afford an arrangement to hold the parts securely in place.

NO STRAPS, BUCKLES OR SPRINGS ATTACHED, cannot slip, so cannot chafe or
press against the pubic bone.

=Thousands have treated themselves= in the privacy of the home, and
report most obstinate cases cured--no delay from work. =Soft as
velvet--easy to apply--inexpensive.= Process of recovery is natural,
so afterwards no use for trusses. Awarded Gold Medal International
Exposition, Rome; Grand Prix, Paris. Write us today to prove it by
sending TRIAL PLAPAO, FREE. Address,

Plapao Co. 2185 Stuart Bldg. St. Louis, Mo.

       *       *       *       *       *

  FAT PEOPLE
  GET THIN

Why be overstout when you might easily reduce 10 to 60 pounds,
(whatever you need to) by the wonderfully efficacious, safe, reliable
Korein system? _You look and feel younger._ Get a small box of KOREIN
tabules (pronounced _koreen_) at the druggist's. Follow directions
under money-refund guarantee. Brochure will be mailed you FREE by
KOREIN CO., NF-375, Station X. New York, N. Y.

       *       *       *       *       *

[Illustration]

Ouija Board

FREE

good size, 13 × 9 in. with 3-legged pointer, for selling 12 pckgs.
Bluine at 15c. a pckg.

Bluine Mfg. Co., 581 Mill St., Concord Jct., Mass. Write today.




Fame and Fortune Weekly

----LATEST ISSUES----


  759 A Pair of Jacks; or, The Smartest Messengers in Wall St.

  760 Brave Billy Bland; or, Hustling Up a Business.

  761 Taking a Big Risk; or, The Dime That Led to Riches.

  762 Clear Grit; or, The Office Boy Who Made Good.

  763 Dealing in Stocks; or, Saved by a Wall St. Ticker.

  764 The Sailor's Secret; or, The Treasure of Dead Man's Rock.

  765 Capturing the Coin; or, The Deals of a Boy Broker.

  766 On His Own Hook; or, Making a Losing Business Pay.

  767 Lucky Jim; or, $100,000 From Stocks.

  768 "Millions In It"; or, A Boy With Ideas.

  769 The Mystery of a Mining Chart; and, The Wall St. Boy Who Solved
  It.

  770 Grasping His Chance; or, The Boy Merchant of Melrose.

  771 Winning by Pluck; or, The Deals that Made the Dollars.

  772 The Crimson Mask; or, The Treasure of San Pedro.

  773 Frank Fisk, the Boy Broker; or, Working the Wall St. Stock Market.

  774 Playing a Lone Hand; or, The Boy Who Got the Gold.

  775 Will Fox of Wall St.; or, The Success of a Boy Broker.

  776 A Lad of Iron Nerve; or, Little Joe's Big Bonanza.

  777 Too Lucky to Lose; or, A Boy With a Winning Streak.

  778 The Stolen Chart; or, The Treasure of the Cataract.

  779 A Game Young Speculator; or, Taking a Chance on the Market.

  780 Charlie Crawford's Claim; or, From High School to Mining Camp.

  781 An Office Boy's Luck; or, The Lad Who Lost the Tips.

  782 Out for His Rights; or, Starting a Business on His Nerve.

  783 After the Last Dollar; or, The Wall St. Boy Who Saved His Boss.

  784 Fresh From the West; or, The Lad Who Made Good in New York.

  785 Boss of Wall St.; or, Taking Chances on the Curb.

  786 Dick, the Runaway; or, The Treasure of the Isle of Fog.

  787 In the Game to Win; or, Beating the Wall St. "Bulls."

  788 A Born Salesman; or, A Young Money-Maker on the Road.

  789 Dick Dalton, the Young Banker; or, Cornering the Wall St. Sharks.

  790 A $50,000 Deal; or, Hal Hardy, the Wall St. Wizard.

  791 Billy the Blacksmith; or, From Anvil to Fortune.

  792 Sharp and Smart, the Young Brokers; and, How They Made a Million.

  793 Driven From School; or, The Pirate's Buried Gold.

  794 A Bright Boy Broker; or, Shearing the Wall Street "Lambs."

  795 Telegraph Tom; or, The Message That Made Him Famous.

  796 Dick and the Mad Broker; or, The Secret Band of Wall Street.

  797 A Sharp Boy; or, Making His Mark in Business.

  798 Tom Swift of Wall Street; or, The Boy Who Was on the Job.

  790 Andy the Auctioneer; or, Bidding in a Fortune.

  800 Doubling Their Dollars; or, Schoolmates In Wall Street.

For sale by all newsdealers, or will sent to any address on receipt of
price, 7c. per copy, in money or postage stamps, by

HARRY E. WOLFF, Pub., 166 West 23d St., New York.

       *       *       *       *       *

  SCENARIOS

  HOW TO
  WRITE THEM

  By JAMES P. COGAN      Price 35 Cents Per Copy

This book contains all the most recent changes in the method of
construction and submission of scenarios. Sixty Lessons, covering every
phase of scenario writing, from the most elemental to the most advanced
principles. This treatise covers everything a person must know in
order to make money as a successful scenario writer. For sale by all
News-dealers and Book-Stores. If you cannot procure a copy, send us the
price, 35 cents, in money or postage stamps, and we will mail you one,
postage free. Address

L. SENARENS, 219 Seventh Ave., New York, N. Y.




Transcriber's Notes:


Added table of contents.

The title story of this issue originally appeared in _Fame and Fortune_
#341. The later reprint represented in this e-text contains some
condensations (for example, the first two chapters of the original
version are combined into a single chapter here), several chapter title
variations, and the removal of many paragraph breaks.

Retained some inconsistent hyphenation (e.g. suit-case vs. suitcases,
to-day vs. today).

Retained some inconsistent spelling (e.g. Pittsburg vs. Pittsburgh).

Bold is represented by =equal signs=, italics by _underscores_.

Page 5, renumbered "The Missing Diamond" from Chapter V to Chapter IV.

Page 6, changed "Piont" to "Point" in Chapter V title.

Page 7, changed "attack it to" to "attach it to."

Page 8, changed "containing silverwire" to "containing silverware" and
"porprietor" to "proprietor."

Page 9, changed "wasd not very" to "was not very." Replaced misprinted
text "inventory of the loss showed that it was not very" (a duplication
of text lower on the page) with "their statement, for he knew exactly
what was in" (the correct text recovered from the earlier appearance in
_Fame and Fortune_ #341).

Page 10, added missing quote after "him to wear."

Page 13, the last line of the column ("him, so Dick laid himself out to
please her. He") was accidentally duplicated between "Monday morning"
and "eleven o'clock." This duplicate text has been removed.

Page 16, changed "Fnish" to "Finish" in Chapter XI title.

Page 19, added missing "you" to "I'd like you to know."

Page 20, added missing quote after "BIG DEAL."

Page 21, changed "becomoing" to "becoming" in "becoming cinema stars."

Page 22, changed "consel" to "counsel," "plantiff" to "plaintiff" and
"objecions" to "objections."

Page 23, changed "rank any overpowering" to "rank and overpowering" and
"Foresrty" to "Forestry."

Page 24, the line "ing her, although Walden had uttered no threats" is
missing from this printing between "vague alarm concern-" and "against
her." The text has been filled in from a later reprint of the story, in
_Fame and Fortune_ #828.

Changed "thatt villain, Walden" to "that villain, Walden."

Unnumbered pages, added missing quote after "usually the limit." Added
semi-colon after "Courtship." Changed "In fact, a reporer" to "In fact,
a reporter." The address "438 West 63rd Street" is a best guess based
on very blurry printing.