Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 66, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 November 1916 — GOLD [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GOLD

By STEWART EDWARD WHITE

SYNOPSIS Talbot Ward’s challenge to Frank Munroe to a personal encounter to determine whether Munroe Is fit to make a trip to California in search of gold is accepted. Munroe gets a hammerlock on Ward and wins the bout. Arriving at Chagres, Talbot Ward’s knowledge of Spanish and his firm treatment of the native boatmen help wonderfully. The party enters a tropical forest. They reach Gatun, and, after passing through several villages where Ward always diplomatically handles the natives, they arrive in Panama. Puts it up to each man to get »220 in one day. Munroe makes $25 as a laborer. Johnny gambles and gets $220. Ward astounds the party by telling now, by shrewd business deals in one day in the Golden City, he accumulated several thousand dollars. Ward decides that he will not go with the party to the mines, but will stay lu Ban Francisco, where he thinks more gold is to be found. The party dig their first gold. They are not much encouraged when told that the value of their first pan is 12 cents. Don Gaspar, a Spaniard, and his manservant Vasquez Join forces with the trio and the gold is divided into five parts. After working like beavers several days the miners decide to takq a day off and attend a miners’ meeting in town. For sls a week in gold and a drink of whisky twice a day Bagsby promises to lead the party to a rich unexplored mining country. A band of Indians come into the camp to trade. They are thankful for blankets. Later the Indians attempt an ambuscade, but are routed by rifle shots. McNally is found with group of traders. Vasquez, left in charge of camp, is found scalped by the red men. Yank, Buck Barry and Don Gaspar are •ent to town with $35,000 in gold. Barry and Don Gaspar return to camp declaring they have been robbed.

CHAPTER XX. Johnny Gets Pistol Lesson. JOHNNY reached for his pistol, but before his hand was fairly on the butt Randall had thrust the muzzle of a small revolver beneath his nose. His pale blue eyes had lit with concentration, his bleached eyebrows were drawn together. For an Instant the thought flashed across my mind that this was a genuine holdup, and I am sure Johnny

caught the same suspicion, for his flgvre stiffened. Then Randall dropped bw hand. “Very pretty,” said Johnny coolly. “How did you do that? I didn’t catch your motion.” “Frum the sleeve,” said Randall. “It’s difficult, but It’s pretty, as you say, ar dJf you learn to draw from the sleeve I’ll guarantee you’ll get the draw on your man every time.” “Show me,” said Johnny simply. “That gun of yours Is too big. It’s a holster weapon. Here, take this.” He handed Johnny a beautifully balanced small revolver, engraved andsllver plated, with polished rosewood handle. This he showed Johnny how to stow away in the sleeve, how to arrange it, how to grasp it and the exact motion in snatching it away. “It takes practice, lots of it and then more of it,” said Randall. “It’s worse than useless unless you get it just right If you made a mistake at the ■wrong time the other 'man would get you sure.” “Where can I get one of these?” asked Johnny. “Good!” Randall approved his decision. “You see the necessity. You can’t But a derringer is about as good, and Jones has them for sale. Now as for your holster gun. The whole trick of quick drawing is to throw your right shoulder forward and drag the gun from the holster with one forward sweep. Don’t lift it up and out This way.” He snapped his hand past bls hip and brought it away 'armed. “Pretty,” repeated Johnny. “Don’t waste much powder and ball shooting at a mark,” advised RandalL “It looks nice to cut out the ace of hearts at ten yards, but it doesn’t mean much. If you can shoot at all you can shoot straight enough to hit a man at close range. Practice the draw.” He turned to me. “You’d better practice too. Every man’s got to take care of himself these days. But you’re not

due for trouble same as your friend K" “I’m obliged to you,” said Johnny. “You are not Now it’s up to you. I' judged you didn’t know conditions here, and I thought It only right to warn you. There's lots of good fellows in this camp, and some of the hard eases are a pretty good sort Just keep organized; that’s all.” “Now, I wonder who Danny Randall is?” speculated Johnny after our visitor had departed. “He talked as though we ought to know all about it I’m going to find out from the first fellow I get acquainted with.” Next morning we asked the Morenas who was Danny Randall. “El dlabolo,” replied Morena shortly and trudged obstinately away to his work without vouchsafing further information.

“Which is interesting, but indefinite,” said Johnny. The rest of the day and of several days following we spent in putting up our tent, ditching It, arranging our cooking affairs, building rough seats and generally making ourselves comfortable. We stretched these things to cover as long a space of time as possible, for we secretly dreaded facing the resumption of the old grind and postponed it as long as we could. A good deal of the time we spent at Yank’s bedside, generally sitting silent and constrained, to the mutual discomfort of all three of us, lam sure. At odd intervals we practiced conscientiously and solemnly at the “draw.” We would stand facing each other, the nipples of our revolvers uncapped, and would at the given word see who could cover the other first. We took turns at giving the word-. At first we were not far apart, but Johnny quickly passed me in skill. lam always somewhat clumsy, but my friend was naturally quick and keen at all games of skill or dexterity. He was the sort of man who could bowl or play pool or billiards or anything else rather better than the average accustomed player the first time he tried. He turned card tricks deftly. At the end of dur three days’ loafing he caught me at the end of his pistol so regularly that there ceased to be any contest in it. I never did get the sleeve trick; but, then, I never succeeded in fooling the merest Infant with any of my attempts at legerdemain. Johnny -could flip that little derringer out with a twist of his supple wrist as neatly as a snake darts Its forked tongue. For ten minutes at a time he practiced it, over and over, as regularly as well oiled machinery. “But that proves nothing as to how it would work out in real action,” said Johnny thoughtfully. . The afternoon of. the third day while we were resting from the heat beneath the shade of our tree we were approached by three men. “Howdy, boys?” said the first. “We haln’t seen you around camp lately and thought mebbe you’d flew.” “We are still here,” replied Johnny, with smooth politeness. “As you see, we have been fixing our quarters to stay here.” “Scarface Charley is here, too,” observed the spokesman, “and he wanted me to tell you that he is going to be at the Bella Union at 8 this evenin’, and he wants to know will he see you, and to come heeled.”

“Thank you, gentlemen,” replied Johnny quietly. “If by accident you should happen to see the desperado In question—who, I,assume, can be in no way your friend—l hope you will tell him that I, too, will 'be at the Bella Union at 8 o’clock, and that I will come heeled.” * “You’ll be cornin’ alone,” said the man, “or p’rhaps yore friend”— “My friend, as you call hfm, is simply a miner and has nothing to do with this,” interrupted Johnny emphatically. “I thank you, sir,” said the spokesman, rising, The other two, who had throughout said no word, followed his example. “Do you know Danny Randall?” said Johnny as they moved off. If he had presented his derringer under their noses they could not have stopped more suddenly. They stared at each other a moment “Is he a friend of yours?” inquired the spokesman after an uncertain moment. “He likes fair play,” said Johnny enigmatically. The trio moved off In the direction of town. “We don’t know any more about Danny Randall than we did,” observed Johnny, “but I tried a shot In the dark.” .» “Nevertheless,” 1 told him, “I’m going to be there, and you want to make up your mind to just that.” “You will come, of course,” agreed Johnny. “I suppose I cannot keep you from that. But Jim,” he commanded earnestly, “you must swear to keep out of the row unless it develops into a general one, and you must swear not to speak to me or make any sign, no matter what happens. I must play a lone hand.” He was flrm on this point, and in the end I gave my promise, to his evident relief. “This is our visitors’ day evidently,” he observed. “Here come two more men. One of them is the doctor. I’d know that hat two miles.” “The other is our friend Danny Randall,” said I. Dr. Rankin greeted us with a cordiality I had not suspected in him. Randall nodded in his usual diffident fashion and slid into the oak shadow, where be squatted on his heels. “About this Scarface Charley,” 'he said abruptly, “I hear he’s issued his left, and you’ve taken him up. Do you know anything about this sort of thing?” ■ “Not a bit,” admitted Johnny frankly. “Is it a duel, and are you gentlemen here to act as my seconds?” “It is not,” stated the downright doctor. “It’s a barroom murder, and yo u cannot get around it and I, for one.

don’t try. But now you’re In foe it and you’ve got to go through with it” “I Intend to,” said Johnny. * “It’s not precisely that,” objected Danny Randall, “for, d’ye see, he’s sent you warning.” “Ifß about all the warning you’ll get!” snorted the doctor. “There’s a sort of rule about it,” per-' slated Randall. “And that’s what‘l’m here to tell you. He’ll try to come up on you suddenly, probably from behind, and he’ll say ‘draw and defend yourself,’ and shoot you as soon after that as he can. You want to see him first; that’s all.” “Thanks,” said Johnny. “And," exploded the doctor, “if you don’t kill that fellow, by the Eternal, when you get a chance”—-> “You’ll give him a pill, doctor,” interrupted Randall, with a little chuckle. “But look here,” he said to Johnny, “after all, this sort es a mess Isn’t required of you. You say the word and I’ll take on this Scarface Charley and run him out of town. He’s a good deal of a pest” “Thank you,” said Johnny stiffly, “I intend to paddle my own canoe.” Randall nodded. “I don’t know as we can help you any more,” said he. “I just thought you ought to be on to the way It is done.” “I’m obliged to you,” said Johnny warmly. “The only doubt in my mind was when I was privileged to open.” ‘Td pot him through the window with q shotgun first chance I got” stated the doctor. “That sort of a ruffian Is just like a mad dog.” “Of course you would, doctor,” said Randall, with just the faintest suspicion of sarcasm In his voice. "Well, I guess we’ll be toddling.” But I wanted some information, and I meant to have it. “Who is this^gcarface Charley?” I asked. “Got me,” replied Randall. “You fellows seemed to. recognize him. Only he’s one of the gang undoubtedly.” “The gang?” “Oh, the general run of hangers-on! Nobody knows how they live, but every one suspects. Some of them work, but not many. There are a heap of disappearances that no one knows anything about, and every once In awhile a man is found drowned and floating—floating, mind you!” “What of that?” I asked. “Drowned bodies usually float.” “There’s no miner in these diggings but has gold enough in his belt to sink him. If a man floats he’s been robbed, and you can tie to that reasoning. And the fellows are all well mounted and given to mysterious disappearances.” “In other words,” broke in the doctor, “they are an organized band of cutthroats and highway robbers making this honest camp a headquarters.” (To be continued.)

Randall Had Thrust the Muzzle of a Small Revolver Beneath His Nose.