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No. 83. NEW YORK, February 28, 1914. Price Five Cents.
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ANNOUNCEMENT. ©:

aq

TO MY FRIENDS: | : |
| address this announcement to ‘‘my friends” because |

wv woo mpmamnery
; 7

BEA ae

feel that all Tip Top readers are my friends and that | am theirs.
Now, friends, this is what 1 have to say to you: For some

time I have thought that a change of characters would be refresh-
ing to you in the pages of Tip Top, in which | have so long nar-
‘rated the doings of that illustrious family, the Merriwells. So |
have prevailed upon the publishers to let.me leave the Merriwells,
for a time, at least, and follow the fortunes and doings of some
other young fellows. of whom I have been keeping _ track.
Starting with Owen Clancy, Chip Merriwell’s chum, of
whose adventures you have been reading for almost two years,
| am writing a series of eighteen stories telling of Clancy’s
efforts to make good in the bread-winning class. At the
termination of this set of eighteen stories, | will write another
series of eighteen stories about a new set of characters, new, with
the possible exception of one or two which | will carry along.
You are my judgés, friends, and | want to hear your
verdict. Therefore, write me just what you think of this idea
of mine, and how you like my new stories. Your letters will
be printed in the columns of Tip Top under ‘‘The Compass. ”
Yours sincerely, |

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Owen Clancy and the Sky Pilot;

Or, The Motor Wizard’s Mysterious Patron.

CHAPTER I.
IN THE MEXICAN QUARTER.
“Help! Police! Police!”

Owen Clancy had been driving a car for one of the
patrons of the Square-deal Garage. Having left the owner
of the car at his home, Clancy was taking the machine
back to the garage by a short cut that carried him through
the Mexican quarter.

It was ten o’clock in the evening, and that. particular
part of the town was gloomy and uninviting.. ..Squalid
and unsavory by daylight, when it was at its. best, by
night, when it was at its worst, the section was one for
an Americano. to avoid.

The motor wizard, in. a swift, six-cylinder touring car,
was Only biting off.a corner of the quarter with his short
cut. As he hurled the. machine through a narrow, dark
street, keeping his eyes on the golden gleams of the search-
lights, high above the purring of the engine there echoed
a wild ery.

It was the call of some man, plainly hard beset in that
evil neighborhood, for aid. Instinctively Clancy halted
the car. Then, staring around. him, he listened intently.
Again the ery smote on his ears, but.this time. it was
weaker, as though the one who gave vent to it. was half
strangled and nearly at the last gasp.

Always ready to fly to the aid of any one in distress,
the young motorist lost not an instant in tumbling out of
the car. The cry had issued from a side street, 50 into
this lateral passage he turned.

Most of the houses were of adobe, and. all the front
walls had been built flush with the street. A door was
open, and through it came a glow of lamplight that fell
over a group of struggling figures ‘on the sidewalk.

Into this group Clancy threw himself, striking right
atid left with his fists. An old hag showed herself in
the open door, for a moment, and screamed something in
Mexican, :

A return. volley of “carambas |” and “Madre mias!’ and
other expletives not half so polite, came from the group
on the walk. Three figtires sprang away from a fourth,
which lay prostrate on the stones—and one of the three
was reeling from a blow of. Clancy’s flintlike fist.

“Three to one!” shouted the motor wizard wrathfully,
“do you ¢call that fair?”

The man on the walk partly lifted himself on one
elbow.

“The plans!” he gasped; “the roll of papers——

The three members of the attacking force were all
Mexicans, One of them had something in his hand. .He
cut into the words of the man on the walk with an oath,
‘and tried to reach the open door.

Clancy was quick to divine that robbery was | the mo-

»

_ By BURT L. STANDISH.

tive for that night attack, and that the Mexican who
Was aiming for the door was making off with the loot.
He sprang at this man, striking with one fist, while he
grabbed: with the other.

It-was rarely that the young motorist ever made any
false moves. He did not in this ‘case, and while his
fist reached the point of the Mexican’s chin his clutch-
ing fingers encircled the roll in the man’s hand. The
footpad fell back, and the papers slid into Clancy’s pés-
session.

There was more screeching from the doorway. The
forces of crime and disorder gathered compactly, and
Clancy found himself backed against the wall, and threat-
ened as he had seldom been before in his life.

Naked blades, catching the lamplight from the door,
gleamed in the hands of the Mexicans: The trio of hood-

lums mouthed fierce words in their own tongue, and the

glitter of their eyes matched that of their knives.

The faces of two of the scoundrels were concealed
by the brims of their bell-crowned hats, but the face of the
third—the one: from whom Clancy had taken the roll—
was unshaded arid stood out clearly against the. gloom.

If. ever “gallows” was written in a face, it was written
in that one.:
actoss one cheek lay a V-shaped scar.

Clancy realized that he was hard pressed. With only
his bare hands it seemed: impossible to resist succegs-
fully three Méxicans armed with knives.

There was a pause before the attack—a stage wait
before Tragedy emerged from the wings and into the
limelight. That halt in proceedings proved the salvation
of young Clancy.

Swift footsteps were heard in the distance.
were hurrying to the scene, drumming against the mud
walls * with their .nightsticks, as they came. This gave
the three Mexicans something else to think about.

As one man they vanished, falling through the open
door with surprising suddenness. The door slammed,

Instantly the light was blotted out andthe street was ett

in’ darkness.
The young motorist ran to the man on the walk, and
knelt beside him.
“Ate you hurt?” he asked.
“Not seriously—just beaten up a little.”
The words ran into a hacking cough.
“Three of the scoundrels jumped you!” went on Claney.
“Did they get anything but that roll of papers?”
“That’s all: But you got the roll back again,
you?”

and one of the man’s hands clasped Clancy’s conyul-
sively.

Oy cite be Ne orgh Oh wee sha hie
sth ik AEA Rg Ri itches EG a eb Ag PB

It was low-browed and heavy-jawed, and

Officers

didn’t '

The question was put in an eager, apprehensive voice,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

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Bape efits ee

 

 

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» swered.

 

 

“Sure, I got that back,” returned the motor wizard.

By that time two officers had reached the scene, and
were using their flash lights to. gather up a few details
of the situation.

“Which av ye was yellin’ for help?” queried one.

“T was,” said the man on the walk, slowly taking a
sitting posture.

“What was th’ throuble?”

“Three Mexicans made an attack on me and tried to
rob me. This young man,” and Clancy was’ indicated,
“came to my rescue. When the Mexicans heard you com-
ing, they ran away.”

“Are ye hurt at all?”

“Bruised a little, but nothing serious.”

“What’s your name?”

“Never mind my name, nor where | live. No great
damage has ‘been done, and I am willing to let the mat-
ter drop.”

The flash lights focused on the face of the young mo-
torist.

“Begorry,” exclaimed the officer who had been doing
the speaking, “it’s Clancy, av th’ Square-deal Motor Shop!’
His voice relaxed into more friendly tones. “How is it
we find ye here, me boy?”

“Tye got a machine in the street below,” Clancy an-
“I was riding through the. quarter jin the car
when I heard a call for help. I jumped.out, ran this
way, and found three greasers hammering that fellow on

the walk. They left him and started for me, then, when

they heard you coming, they, left me and went into that
house there. Maybe you could find them inside, Mo-

- loney.”

“Divil a bit!” growled Moloney. “These greaser shacks
are full av doors and ways for gettin’ from one to an-
other! By now the omadhouns may be two blocks away.

' Claney, will ye take charge av this man who’s so choice

av his name? Take him where he belongs, av he’ll let

ye. Morris and I will have a look insoide th’ ‘dobe,

>»

though it’s little good ‘twill do, I’m thinkin’.

“T’'ll look after him,” the young motorist answered.

Clancy was well known around Phoenix. As Lafe
Wynn's partner in the Square-deal Garage he had sprung
into prominence, and circumstances had conspired to keep
him much ‘in the public eye. And wherever Clancy was
known he was liked and admired.

While Moloney and his companion gave their attention
to the door through which the trio of Mexicans had dis-
appeared, Clancy turned to the man who had been the ob-
ject of the attack. The latter had risen to his feet, and

was leaning against the wall at the edge of the sidewalk.

“T have an automobile just around the corner,” re-
marked Clancy. “I'll be glad to take you wherever you

’ want.to go.”

“Where were you bound for when you stopped to help
me?”

“For the garage.”

“Then if you'll help me to the machine I’ll ride with
you to the garage.”

.

“But——”

“You are really Owen Clancy, of the Square-deal Ga-
rage?”

¥Ves.”

“Then my meeting with you is a remarkable coinci-
dence. My main reason in coming to Phoenix this aft-
ernoon was to see you. And now we meet under such

 

NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. 3

queer circumstances as these! If there’s anything in
omens, Clancy, this must indicate a fortunate turn of
events for me. [—— :

Another spasm of coughing interrupted him. Clancy,
tucking a hand under his arm, half led and half carried
him to the place where the automobile had been left.
After climbing to his place behind the steering wheel,
the young motorist pulled his companion after him.

“T didn’t want to figure in any. police report,” said
Clancy’s companion, “and that is the reason I did not
give my name to the officers. I don’t. object to telling
you more about myself, however.
Ray Norton. I came into Phoenix to-day particularly to
see you. You are an expert with gasoline motors, and I
need such a man. Can I hire you to do some work
for me?”

Clancy punched the self-starter and got the car in mo-
tion.

“That’s my business, Norton—doctoring refractory en-
gines and motor cars,” he answered.

“This is not a repair job. What I want is to have you
install an engine for me.”

“TI suppose I could do it.”

“Tt will take yo™ a week, and you'll have to go into
the hills.”

“Then you'll have to get somebody else, Norton. I
couldn’t go away from the garage and stay a week.”

“Not if I gave you a thousand dollars in cash for your
week’s work?” inquired Ray Norton.

”

My name is Norton,

CHAPTER II.
A MYSTERIOUS MISSION.

The young motorist’s hands fluttered on the steering
wheel, and the car wabbled.

“Come again with that, Norton,” said he.

“IT say,” repeated the other, quite calmly, “that I will
give you one thousand dollars in cash for a week's
work.”

“That's pretty liberal.”

“T know it, but I can afford to be liberal.”

“When would you want me?”

“From twelve o'clock to-night until midnight a week
from to-night.” :

“Tf you expect a man to work all night and day——

“T don’t. Working five or six hours a day, Clancy,
you can finish the work in less than a week.”

“Then why is the job to begin at twelve o’clock to-
night?”

“That is a point I cannot explain to you, at present.”

“You say the work is in the hills. Wheréabouts in the
hills?” ~

“I cannot explain that, either.”

“You say I am to install a motor. Now’ that——”

“I can’t give you any further information about any-
thing until you accept my offer, and place yourself at my
disposal at midnight to-night.”

The promise of so great a reward for so small a serv-.
ice was enough in itself to arouse Clancy’s distrust. Then,

-Norton’s refusal to be perfectly frank regarding details

of the work, had the effect of still further shaking his
confidence. —

“Can I count on you?” queried Norton.

“T’ll have to put the matter up to my partner,” the
young motorist answered. “When it comes to my staying

  
    

@ NEW

A

away from the garage for a week, Lafe Wynn cught to
have the privilege of putting in a word.”

“T don’t believe he'll object when he learns how much
money you're going to be paid,” said the other dryly.

Clancy said nothing in reply to this. What he thought
was: “You don’t know much about that partner of
mine, Norton.” For Wynn had his own ideas, and a
thousand dollars would have been no temptation for him
to break away from them.

Reaching the garage, Clancy turned the car in through
the broad doorway. Barney, the night man, came for-
ward to take the car and back it into its berth.

“Wynn is waitin’ for yez in th’ office, Red,” said Barney.

“Anything wrong?” queried Clancy quickly.

“Sorry a bit! Some new worruk come in and Oj’ve an
idee Lafe is wantin’ to tell yez about it so yez can take
it up the first thing in th’ mornin’.”

Here, under the lights of the big storeroom, the motor
wizard got his first good, look at Ray Norton. He found
him a slender man, who had every appearance of being
sixty years old, but was probably well under fifty.

His face was thin, almost emaciated. His eyes were
deep set, and glowed in their dark hollows with an
almost uncanny light.

He was dressed in worn khaki. From the knees down
his legs were incased in leggings, and his head was sur-
mounted by a brown cap that had evidently seen much
service.

As Clancy peered at Norton he was conscious of a num-
ber of contradictory impressions regarding him. He
had the air of a capable master mechanic, and he also
bore himself like an aristocrat and an idler. There was
something about him at once sunny and genial, and some-
thing else that indicated a hard nature and an unyielding
will. Also, there was the impression of physical weak-
ness, and of a mental power that played like a storm upon
the bucking sinews of the body.

All in all, Ray Norton was a difficult person to com-
prehend. The very mazes of his nature were such as to
puzzle and excite suspicion, and in the end to keep others
at a distance. ;

Clancy felt his distrust growing as he led Norton into
the garage office, Wynn, sitting in front of the desk,
threw a casual glance at Norton. The glance caught the
man’s striking personality, and it became a rigid stare.

“Wynn,” said Clancy, “Mr. Norton. I picked him up
as I came through the Mexican quarter. Three cholos

were at him, and they’d have got away with some of his '

property if a couple of policemen had not shown up.”

“Clancy came first,” spoke up Norton. “The police-
men would have been of no use if he had not reached
the scene so quickly.”

“My partner,” returned Wynn, with a pleased glance
at the motor wizard, “has a habit of being in the right
place at the right time. Were you hurt, Norton? And
did you lose anything?”

Norton pressed a hand to his side and fondled a bruise
over his eye.

“IT was considerably battered,” he answered, “but no
serious injury was done, I shall be lame for a day or
two, and after that I'll be well as ever. You sée, I—
Fe?

He went off into a fit of coughing, bowing his. head,
doubling over, and making a hard business of it. Wynn

 

TIP ‘TOP’ WEEKLY;

shot a glance at Clancy and touched his breast, mutely
suggesting a lung affection. Clancy nodded gravely.

“There was quite a coincidence about the way I met
Claney,” continued Norton, after the spasm had left him.
“My principal errand in coming to town was to get him for
a piece of work that | am anxious to have well done,
and he, the very chap I wanted, was the one to come to
my rescue in the Mexican quarter, I call it an omen,
a good omen.”

“Norton has a motor he wants me to install for him,”
explained Clancy.

“Where ?”

“He says he can’t tell me that until I. agree to take
the job.”

Suspicion began to take shape in Wynn’s eyes.
far and away quicker in
Clancy was,

“What's the reason of that?” queried Wynn, his eyes
seeking Norton.

“That is my affair,” said the man in khaki.

“Tf I accepted his offer,”

He was

experiencing distrust than

went on the motor wizard, “!
should have to be away from the garage a week, leaving
town at midnight to-night.”

“The work will not be hard.” put in Norton, “and I
will pay a thousand dollars in cash for Clancy's services
for the week.”

Wynn fell back in his chair.

“One thousand dollars!” he exclaimed.
right, Norton?”

“That is what I said. To assure you of my good faith,
L will deposit five hundred dollars with you the mofment
Clancy accepts the work. The remaining five hundred
dollars I will give him when the work is finished.”

“Ts it dangerous work?”

No”

“Why are you paying su much to have it done?”

“Because it pleases me. to do so.”

Wynn stared incredulously at the man in khaki.

“It’s my opinion, Norton,” said he bluntly, “that you're
either crazy or crooked. My advice to Clancy is to keep
away from you.”

“Surely you won't let your partner turn down such a
good offer as I have made him!” cried Norton,

“The trouble with that offer is, it’s too good. Then,
too, you're hiding something. In working for you a man
would have to go it blind. I don’t like that sort of
business, Norton.”

“Nor I,” said Clancy. “I guess you'll have to get some-
body else to install that engine.”

A great disappointment showed itself in Norton's face.

“T believe,” he returned, “that there’s only one person
in town who can do the work, Clancy. That one per-
son is you.” .

“I’m sorry,” said the young motorist, “but you'll have
to call me out of it.”

“Ts that final?” queried Norton regretfully.

“Yes.”

Norton got up, pushed his roll of papers under his
arm, and moved toward the street door. He turned to
say, pausing with his hand on the knob:

“IT am under obligations to you, Clancy, for the help
you gave me in the Mexican quarter. Accept my thanks
for that, anyway.”

“Do [ get that

“What I did was hardly worth mentioning, Norton.
Good-by,”’

 

 

     
   
     
 

 

 

 

 

NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. %

The next mornent the door had closed, and Norton. was
gone.

“He’s a queer one for you to pick up, Owen,” remarked
Wynn.

“He's a hard chap to understand,” said Clancy. “There’s
something about him that’s likable, and something that
keeps you at a distance.”

“That's it! Strikes me, he’s too much of a mystery
to be on the square. The man who goes around offering
wages of one hundred and fifty dollars a day ought to be
You did well, Owen, to refuse his
offer. His work might have got you into trouble.”

“Tl could have used that thousand very nicely, Lafe.”

“Maybe,” and Wynn smiled, “it would have been tainted
money.”

Clancy laughed.

“"Tain’t for me—that’s where the taint comes in.” He
flashed a glance at the office clock. “Ten minutes after
eleven, Lafe, and pretty nearly time for me to get home
and tutn in. What have you got on your mind?”

“Swingle’s car is to be overhauled, and he insists that
you do it. He wants the work to be done right away,
Owen. I waited here to tell you about it so you can
get busy on the machine the first thing in the morning.”

“Why is Swingle in such a hurry?”

“He is going on a tour in two or three days, and he’s
anxious to have the car in apple-pie order before he
starts.”

“IT see. Well, I'll begin taking the thing apart in the
morning.”

Sut Clancy was wrong about that.

put in an asylum.

Several mornings
were to pass before he began overhauling Swingle’s car.

It was twenty minutes past eleven when he and Wynn
left the garage and walked together as far as they could

/g@o im the direction of their boarding places. Something

happened after they separated and Clancy continued on
alone. And it happened to Clancy.

As he passed a dark corner a man stepped stddenly
in front of him and asked if, he was Owen Clancy. The
moment he gave an affirmative response, another man
appeared at his back and flung a blanket over his head
and shoulders. By pulling on the ends of the blanket the
man succeeded in laying the motor wizard prostrate on
the ground.

Clancy began to struggle, but he was in the hands of
strong men, and resistance was useless. The smother-
ing folds of the blanket were drawn tighter and tighter
over his face, until at last, half stifled, he gave over
his struggling and lay still. Then his hands and feet were
bound and he was lifted and borne rapidly away.

CHAPTER III.
NORTON HAS HIS WAY.

Clancy had not the remotest idea why he was being way-
laid and carried off. He had been handled carefully by
the two men who had overpowered him, and no undue
totighness had been indulged in, but, in spite of their
consideration, the two men were determined and car-
tied out their work thoroughly.

Held up from the ground by the feet and shoulders, the
young motorist was carried swiftly and easily by his two
captors. The blanket was still wrapped about his head
and face, not only smothering him, but blinding him so
he could not see the course in which he was being taken.

:

 

For fifteen or twenty minutes he was borne through
the silent and almost deserted streets, then the feet of
his captors passed from hard cement into sand, and for
several minutes more he was carried over what must have
been vacant ground.

Finally his bearers halted. Clancy was deposited gently
on the earth, and a voice reached his ears. The prisoner
recognized the voice, although he could not distinguish
the words. Ray Norton, undoubtedly, was the speaker!

A light dawned suddenly upon the young motorist.
Norton was the one who had had him set upon and cap-
tured! Norton was determined to have his way, by hook
or crook.

An angry exclamation broke from Clancy’s lips. If
Norton thought he could work any such game as that,
and win out, he would soon find that he had made a big
mistake. More than ever Clancy was disposed to regard
the fellow as crooked. How could he be anything else
than dishonest when he connived at such a high-handed
proceeding as this?

With a jerk, the smothering cloth was removed from
Clancy’s head and shoulders. He found himself lying
on a strip of desert between the town and the Hassayampa
River. It was an isolated spot, as the young motorist
knew well. Norton stood at his side in the moonlight.

“I can’t get along without you, Clancy,” said he, quite
coolly, “and so I am going to take you with me, willy-
nilly.”

“Nice way to treat me,” answered the motor wizard
sarcastically, “after what I did for you in the Mexican
quarter! Is this fair or right, Norton?”

“T think it is both fair and right. The work is honest,
and I am going to pay you well for doing it. You had
no business to refuse. Now I shall make you earn
that money whether you want to or not.”

”

“You can run me off, but you can’t make me work!
What's more, I'll get away from you if you give me half
a chance.”

“It won’t be possible for you to get away from me
until you have done the work I want you to do. I guess

you'll do it, Clancy.”

He motioned to one of Clancy’s captors, who was
standing near, and the man knéit down and deftly re-
moved the ropes from the prisoner’s wrists and ankles.
As soon as he was free of the bonds, Clancy jumped to
his feet.

“Don’t try to run, Clancy,” said Norton. “Look at

Joe, there.”

Joe was the second of the two men who had captured
the motor wizard. He had crooked his left arm in front
of his face and laid the muzzle of a long-barreled re-
volver across it. The weapon was leveled at Clancy, and
its point followed his every move.

“You—you wouldn’t shoot?” murmured Clancy.

“Joe has his orders,” Norton answered. “I am sorry
to have to intimidate you, Clancy, but when I make up
my mind to do a thing I generally do it. I need a motor
wizard in my business just about now. Do as you are
told and no harm will come to you. A week from to-day
you will be returned safely to town. If you think your
partner will worry about you, you might send him a note.
I'll see that Joe slips it under the office. door, at the
garage, sonie time before morning.” ,

Norton offered Clancy a pencil and a serap of, paper.

 
6 NEW: TIP -tOPr Wank y.

Joe’s companion bent in front of him so he could write on
his back.

“I’ll have to dictate the note, Clancy,” said Norton, tak-
ing a flash light from the breast of his khaki coat and
holding it for the young motorist’s convenience. “You
might ‘write something about me which you would re-
gret later. Just tell your partner that you changed your
mind, at the last moment, and decided to accept my
offer.”

“T’ll write no lies to Lafe Wynn,” returned Clancy.

“That is not an untruth. I used force in making you
change your mind, but you need say nothing about that.”

Clancy did not want to worry his partner, and he knew
that is what he would have done had he been able to
state the real facts. He finally scribbled the following:

Am going out into the hills with Norton,
after all. Don’t worry. Will be back in a week. Bar-
ton can overhaul Swingle’s car; he'll have to, anyhow,
if it’s done in our shop during the next few days. Hastily,
“OwEN.”

“DEAR LAFE:

“That will do excellently!” said Norton, reading the
note over Clancy’s shoulder.

“I don’t want Wynn to be troubled,” growled Clancy,
watching the leveled revolver out of the corners of his
eyes. “If it wasn’t for that, I’d send him no note at all.”

Norton laughed, coughed a little, then tucked the note
into Joe’s pocket.

“Get that under the office door at the Square-deal Ga-
rage before morning, Joe,” said he. “Now, Clancy, if
you’re ready we'll get into the air.”

Norton turned squarely about and walked off across
the sand. Clancy, glancing in the direction he was going,
gave vent to a gasp of astonishment.

Not fifty feet from where he was standing there was
an aéroplane crouched ready for flight. It was a large
machine, of biplane construction, and the moonlight
gleamed whitely on the wide-stretched wings.

Clancy’s heart fluttered, and he breathed quickly through
his tense lips. An aéroplane! The one desire of Clancy’s
life had been to mix up with flying machines. Had
Norton, when talking with Clancy in the office, merely
mentioned the fact that he was an aviator, the chances
are that Clancy would have been won without any re-
sort to force.

The motor wizard started hastily after Norton, join-
ing him presently at the front of the machine. Joe
moved as Clancy moved, keeping the revolver trained
upon him every moment.

“T call this biplane ‘Number Three,’” said Norton, “but
my daughter Bella calls it the Eagle. The machine carries
two, Clancy, and we shall have to use it in getting to my
workshop. Are you afraid of the air?”

“I never took a flight in an aéroplane,”
young motorist, “but I’m hungry to try it.”

There was that in his voice which pleased Ray Norton.

“I’m glad you have a fancy for aviation,” said he.
“It’s going - to make this proceeding of mine easier for
both of us.’

“Is the work you want me to do connected in any way
with aéroplanes ?”

ek.

“Where is your workshop?”

“On the slopes of Spanish Peak. The only way to get
to the place, Clancy, is by aéroplane. Otherwise, that eerie

x99

answered the

“of mine is inaccessible.

 

You are willing to travel with
me in the Eagle?”

“There’s no out of it, is there?”

“No. I want you to tell me, though, whether you are
going to go with me peaceably or not. I must not be in-
terfered with while I am maneuvering the machine. Any-
thing of that sort might spell disaster for both of us. If
you are going to be disagreeable during the flight, I shail
have to tie you in your seat.”

“T’ll_ not bother you,” said Clancy.

“You give me your word?”

“Yes. You brought me here against my will, Norton,
and you’re taking me to Spanish Peak against my will,
but I’ll not deny that the prospect of a flight in that
aéroplane is a pleasant one. Tell me what you want me
to do, and you'll have no cause to complain of my ac-
tions.”

“Then take the seat onthe right.”

Clancy wriggled through the guy wires, stepped over
the braces, and finally deposited himself in the seat in-
dicated by Norton. Joe, standing ‘off to one side, still
kept his revolver leveled at Clancy.

“Plant your feet firmly on the foot rest,” said Norton,
“and keep them there. There are hand holds at the side
of the seat, and when we start you had better use them
in steadying- yourself. I’ve a license for this sort of
thing, so you need not worry. Bella calls me the “
pilot,’” he finished, with a chuckle.

“How do you get started?” inquired Clancy.

  

 

Very deliberately Norton settled himself in the driver's gl

seat. After a preliminary twist at one or two levers he

called to Joe’s companion to give the propellers a pull) 9e

“That’s the way we crank this engine, Clancy,”
plained | the sky pilot. “We have to give the propellers
a start.”

After one or two attempts, coupled with a lot of pop-
ping and spluttering, the propellers got in motion. As
the whirling grew faster and faster, a deafening Shriek
and clatter filled the night, and the rubber-tired wheels
began to turn.

Lurching and swaying, the aéroplane started across the
level ground at swiftly increasing speed. Clancy was
thrown this way and that, but finally grabbed at the hand
holds and: steadied himself.

In a few moments the rough motion over the ground
changed into a smooth, gliding flight. The machine had
left the earth, and was running up a long aerial in-
cline.

The ground beneath receded. The lights of Phoenix ar-
ranged themselves into, starry parallelograms, and van-
ished slowly rearward.

The propellers raised a din which rendered talking im-
possible. But Clancy was not eager to talk. He was
enjoying a new experience, and had no time to waste in
words.

Perhaps a thousand feet above the earth, Norton

straightened the Eagle to an even keel. Laying the ma-
chine on a straight course, he speeded up the engine, and
they rushed through the moonbeams and starshine with
the speed of an express train. —
._ A strange buoyancy filled Clancy’s veins. Somghow,
Clancy aloft was a different person from Clancy below.
It was difficult for him to analyze the change which
being on the wing had wrought in him.

Steadily, swiftly onward they rushed. A high peak in

 

ex-) am

 

 

 

 

     

     
    

—s Pe er ‘ve «

    
    

 

 

kept back.

‘the Peak.

 

 

 

the distance swept toward them. As it drew neater and
nearer, a red beacon could be seen blazing under the
summit. Norton turned to Clancy and said something.
But the propellers made so much noise the young motor-
ist could not understand.

“What is it?’ he called.

“The red light!” shouted the sky pilot. “There’s trou-
ble on the Peak! A yellow beacon means ‘AII well,’ but
the red blaze is a storm signal!”

He said something more, which escaped Clancy, then,
pointing the Eagle for the crimson glare, he turned on
full speed.

CHAPTER IV.
VANDALS’ OF THE “AIR,

This experience with Norton and the aéroplane was
very unreal to Clancy. It was almost like a dream. It
was hard for the motor wizard to believe that he was
gliding through the air at a tremendous rate of speed,

bound for the crest of a towering peak which it was im-,

possible to reach in any other way than by a flying
machine. ,

The circutnstances surrounding Ray Noston had been
Out of the mystery a few, facts were de-
veloping from time to time, but they were facts which
only made the mystery the more puzzling.

Norton had a daughter, Bella. : Presumably she was on
the Peak, and had a hand in starting the red fire. But

who was there to threaten a person ifi that isolated place
with danger?

_ A thrill. raced through Clancy’s nerves. A. touch of

“human ‘interest had been injected into that experience,

and he came out’ of the romance.and glamour at Once aind
completely.

The aéroplane was ‘plunging toward the dark mass of
As the rigged buttress of rock came closer,
the slopes opened out into a black, tangled wall.

Clancy was peering ahead at the red blaze.

4
He saw a

little. plateau, with piles of masonry that might have
been the.walls of buildings.

Strange masses’ of shadow
were scattered over’ the plateau, but they _ wefé so in-
distinct that he could riot begin, to make out theit dimen-

_ sions.

On a shelf of the péakside there was some sort. of

‘camp. Clancy could be sure of no more than that.

The beacon seemed to have been kindled on a frock pile
in the middle of the plateau. Norton. pointed the Eagle

directly toward the glare, and continued to urge it for-

ward with every ounce of power the motor ¢otild dev elop.
They appeared to be very close; in fact, the motor

‘wizard feared they would bump into the mountain wall
‘and go to smash. But they were not so close as Clancy

imagined.
Breathing sharply and quickly, the young motorist

leaned forward, and watched and listened for some signs
‘of the “storm” of which the red flare was a sighal. A
' point of fire blazed and died in the darkness well to the

left Of the beacon. It was followed instantly by the
sharp note of a firearm, which could not be drowned by
the screeching of the Eagle’s propellers.

The shooting had a tremendous effect upon Norton.
Claney saw his vague form hunch lower to its work with
the levers. ’

“Then, out of the black shadows that hovered over the

NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

‘Rotherick.

plateati, there burst a black shape like a bird of. rey.
It mounted with a clamor, which rivaled that of the
Eagle, and hurled itself straight toward Norton’s ma-
chine. A gasp of horror escaped Claricy’s lips.

A collision seemed imminent, a crash in mid-ait, which
could not but result in the wreck of two aéroplanes and
the destruction of their passengers. But the motor wizard
was taking no account of the skill of the sky pilot.

Norton’s hands traveled like lightning around the
levers. The forward planes of the Eagle suddenly dropped
until they ‘pointed ‘almost straight downward; then fol-
lowed a descent that was sickeningly like a fall. Yet it
lasted only a few seconds.

In the nick of time, Norton caught up his sky craft,
leveled it, and the next moment aimed it skyward again.
There was a roar over Clancy’s head. A _ great shape
was swinging between him and the stars, rushing on and
on into space.

Crack!

Another report sounded above the screaming of the
propellers. Something buzzed angrily as it passed the
young motorist’s ear.

A passenger in the other machine had fired ‘a revolver
—had taken a drop shot “while” passing 6ver Norton’s
aéroplané. But it was a chance shot, and had gone wild.

The sky pilot had proved himself in every way worthy
of his name. By skill and clear-headed thinking he had
dropped below the other flying machine—duckifig out of

‘its path just when a head-on “dollisiém Seemed: inevitable.

Clancy caught his breath ahd nearly collapsed ih “his
seat. Such aérial dangers were new to him, and not to his
liking. : ae

Norton evidently knew exactly what he-was doing. He

_ Shut off his engine, dropped to the plateau, touched smooth

ground with the machine’s rubber-tired wheels, and glided

to’ a halt,

’Themoment the Eagle was at rest the sky of threw
himself clear of his seat. “Bella! Belay" he cried, run-
ning wildly across the plateau:

Suddenly he stopped in the glare of the set A fines
was huddled on the rocks, and Norton bent over it: Clancy,

‘who had also made haste to get out ‘of his seat,- raced
after the aviator, and was close enough~ to hear the

words he addressed to the form near’ the beacon:

“What’s the matter here, Lee?” Re

A frightened Chinaman, gripping his-left forearm with
the fingets of his right hand, rose tremblingly i in front of
Norton:

“Missul No’ton, my heap glad you makee come!” chat- ,

“tered the Celestial, “Sky lobbers makée tlouble! Whoosh!

Makee shoot, ketchee China boy allee samee one piecee
arm.” :

“When did they come here?” demanded Norton, in a
voice husky with wrath.

“Plaps half hour. Missy Bella say my makee put led
powder on beacon: My ketchee, chop-chop.”

“How many were there of thé scoundrels, Lee?”

“Two.”

“The robbers!” gritted Norton. “The fiendish air yan-
dals! They tried to run us down. You saw that, Clancy?
If we had crashed in mid-air, our bodies would now be

lying mangled among the rocks of the mountainside.. We

bregdth. It must have been
He's trying to stealjmy idea. He wants to
etichre me out of the fruits of years .of study and ex-

escaped that fate, by a hair’s
  

  

8

 

The sky pilot turned and shook his fist in. the
direction the other machine had flown: “I defy you,
Rotherick,” he muttered. “Next time you come I hope
you will find me at home!”

He turned again to the Chinaman.

“Where is Bella, Lee?”

“Missy Bella safe,” answered the Celestial.
lock: up house, makee stay inside with gun.
light.”

Norton drew a long breath of relief.

“But you say you’re wounded, boy?” he went on. “I
heard the shot. Let me see your arm.”

Lee thrust out his left arm. In the glow of the beacon
Norton examined it hastily.

“The bullet merely grazed you,

“Him not bad hurt,” chattered Lee; “but by gee Klis-
mus, my no likee: Makee shoot ally mo’, mebby my
ketchee bullet, no ketchee graze! Whoosh!
topside.”

“Where did those scoundrels go when they got here,
Lee?”

“Makee hike fo’ work yard, Missul No’ton.”

“Did they get in? Did they examine the new machine?”

“No savvy.”

Norton whirled, and once more began running. A
distance of, perhaps, fifty feet: brought him to a stone
wall. It was not the wall of a house, but, as near as
Clancy could judge, of a roofless yard or corral.

A gate of heavy planks was set in the stone wall. With
his electric torch Norton made a close examination of the
gate. :

“They didn’t get -in here, at all events,” he remarked.
“We arrived before Rotherick could carry out his scoun-
drelly plans.” .

“Who is Rotherick?” inquired Clancy.

Norton started, then stared at the motor wizard blankly.
The next moment he pulled himself together, snapped off
the light, and pushed the torch into his pocket.

periment.”

“She makee
She allee

” said the aviator.

Mebby go

“Naturally,” he returned, “you don’t know anything
about Rotherick. And, naturally again, what he has done
this night has aroused your interest in him. -Gene Roth-
erick is a hound. I am positive he inspired that attack
on me in the Mexican quarter, and, when the attack
failed to place him in possession of the plans, he took
advantage of my absence from home and came out here
in his machine. If he couldn’t see the plans, he hoped to
see the work I had already done. But we got here just
in the nick of time to foil him.”

Clancy’s knowledge of Norton and his affairs was so
meager that this explanation did not shed. much light on
the situation. That it was an interesting situation, how-
ever, the young motorist had no doubt.

“What were those plans the Mexican tried to get away
from you?” he asked.

“Plans, of the new aéroplane. It is the last word in bi-
plane construction, and is. destined to revolutionize the
art of aviation. You see, I have invented Norton
checked himself abruptly. “But it is late, and there is no
need of going into this now,” he added. “To-morrow I
will tell you everything it is necessary for you to know.
We must go to the house without further delay and find
Bella. . This way, Clancy.”

Once more the sky pilot started off across the plateau.
He and Clancy passed the heap of stones where the beacon

 

 

UW A Wik

had been burning. Lee, the Chinaman, was scattering the
brands and extinguishing the fire.

“T rarely do any flying except at night,” the aviator ex-
plained to Clancy as they walked on, “and whenever. I
am gone in the machine, a fire is lighted to help me make
a landing on my return. It would be impossible to come
down on the plateau without accident if there was uo
beacon to serve aS a guide. For that reason, the moment
the blaze is extinguished there will be nothing more to
fear from Rotherick.

“In case of trouble on the plateau, I have told Bella to
throw red powder on the beacon. She had Lee Song do
that to-night. When I saw the crimson glare, Clancy, it
gave me a bad start, and the sound of that revolver shot

But the danger is passed. If
again, he will find me here+

didn’t help my nerves any.
Rothgrick tries to come
and@eady for him.”

Norton halted at a door in a stone wall. Evidently it

was the front door of a rude, one-story house. He
knocked. .
“Keep away,” called a muffled, feminine voice, “or, I'll

shoot !””

Ray Norton laughed—and the laugh brought on.a spasm’

of coughing. That was enough, evidently, to reassure. the
person on the other side of the door. A bolt rattled, the
door was pulled open, and a girl with a rifle stood in .a
flood of yellow lamplight. ie
“Oh, dad!” she exclaimed. “I thought it was——” She
caught sight of the young motor wizard. and paused in
embarrassment. ¢ .

“Bella,” said Ray Norton, “this is Owen Clancy. I

have brought him from town to install the motor in the

new aéroplane. Clancy, my daughter, Bella Norton.”

CHAPTER V.
ON THE PEAK.

Bella could not have been more than seventeen: She
was a lithe, athletic-looking. girl, and had fine, black eyes
and a beautiful face. It was plain that she had. been
undergoing a trying ordeal, but, now that the danger was
past, and her father home again, she was smiling bravely
and hopefully. She put out her hand to Clancy.

“So you’re the ‘motor wizard’ we’ve been, hearing so
much about, are you?” she asked.

“They. call me that, over in Phoenix,” laughed samen

“but what’s in a name—or a nickname?”

He clasped the small, firm hand in a friendly grip. At
first sight he liked Bella Norton, and he was hoping that
she liked him.

“There may be a good deal. in a nickname,”
the girl.
We take the Phoenix papers, and we have been follow-
ing your career since you have been in town. Mr. Clancy,
I think you must be a wonder!”

There was admiration in the words. The young mo-
torist grew red and embarrassed, The sky pilot chuckled.

“See what it is to be famous, Clancy!” he put in. “Of
course, we have read all about you. Bella and I held a
council of war over your case, and finally decided to hire
you to” install the motor in the Acme.
added, “is the new aéroplane I am building—the one
which, I feel. sure, is destined to revolutionize the art of
flying.
very sure that you can do it.”

went on

“At least, I think there’s a.good deal in yours..

The Acme,” he

It is.a delicate bit of work, Clancy, but I am

s

 

 

 

 

   

 

  
   
  
   
 

   
   
 

    

 
‘was a biplane, dad, and that is what fooled us.

 

 

 

ey Be

 

    
  
 

 

“Certainly he can do it!” declared Bella, with girlish
confidence.

“T hope I’m not going to disappoint you,” said Clancy.

“Come into the living room,’ urged Norton. “It’s late,
but we'll have a short talk before going to bed.”

The young motorist followed the aviator and his
daughter into a large room, comfortably furnished in a
primitive sort of way. A profusion of choice Navaho
blankets was scattered around, and there were other ap-
pointments which suggested wealth, as well as comfort.

Clancy took a chair by a table on which stood a stu-
dent lamp. Bella leaned her rifle in a corner, and seated
herself on a couch at a little distance. Norton drew up
a rocking chair close to Clancy’s and dropped into it with
an air Of weariness.

“First, Bella,” said the sky pilot, “tell me what hap-
pened here while I was gone.”

“You left about half past eight, or nine,” answered the
girl, “and it was approaching midnight when we lit the
beacon to guide you into camp. The fire had not’ been
burning long when I saw a machine flying toward the
Peak. Lee and I naturally thought it was the Eagle. It
Before
the machine landed, though, I made up my mind it was not
your flyer.” I fan for the house and locked myself in with
the model and the original set of plans.” A wave of
color pulsed through the girl’s face as she added: “I was
ready to fight, dad, if I had to.”

Norton gave his daughter a fond look.

“You have a brave heart, mujercita,” said he.
those thieves of the night come to the house?”

“Ves but I told them to leave the door or I’d shoot.”

“Did they talk? Could -you recognize the voice of either
of them?”

“JT recognized Rotherick’s. voice.”

The sky pilot brought his clenched fist down on the arm
of his chair.

“7 knew it; I knew it!” he muttered.

“J had-already told Lee Song ‘to throw red powder on
the: beacon,” ‘continued the girl. “I knew, when ‘you saw
the danger signal, that you would hurry.” ae

‘T was delayed in getting back, Bella. Clancy,” and he
cast a humorous glance ‘at the motor wizard, “had some
arrangements to’ make before he could come with me.
We were almost on the plateau when the other machine
left it and nearly fouled us. By quick’ work we avoided
a collision. I’m, more glad-than I ‘can tell that Rotherick
had only his trouble for his pains.”

At this. moment the Chinamari entered the rogm by the
outside door.

“Get me my medicine case, Bella,” said Norton. “Lee
has a scratch on his arm, and it needs a little antiseptic
treatment and a bandage.”

The girl brought the case, and her father quickly at-
tended to the Chinaman’s hurt and sent him into the rear
of the house. j

“There are just three of us on this Peak, Claricy,” con-
tinued ‘the sky pilot. “They are Bella; myself, and Lee.
All the work I have accomplished here has beén done
by the three of us. The science of aviation is still in its
infancy, but when all the statistics are compiled I be-
lieve that my daughter, the Chinaman, and myself will
have our names written alongside those of the Wrights,
Lilienthal, and the other pioneers of aérial navigation.”

“Did

’

The more Clancy saw of Norton, the more favorably

   

NEW. Tip: TOP: WEEREY:.

   

he was becoming. impressed with him. The man, contra-
dictory though his character was in many respects, had
talent and, perhaps, genius.

“Strange,” murmured the young motorist, “that I have
never heard about you and your flying machines in
Phoenix. I have been there for some time, but have not
heard so much as a whisper about the sky pilot of Spanish
Peak.”

Norton smiled.

“Not so strange, after all,” he answered. “Bella, Lee, and
I have been in Camp Aéro a year, but we have been ex-
ceedingly careful not to let outsiders know we were here.
When I leave the Peak in the Eagle, for supplies or on
any other errand, I always go by night. The beacon is
lighted shortly before the hour I am expected to return,
and when I am safely back the fire is extinguished.”

He paused, racked with a hard coughing spell. Bella
hovered around him anxiously until the spasm had passed,
and. then returned to the couch.

“A better place than Spanish Peak for hiding oneself
and one’s ' work away from the world,” the sky pilot
pursued, “could hardly be devised. The Peak is seventy-
five miles from Phoenix, andefor fifty miles in.every: di-
rection it is surrounded by waterless deserts, and bleak,
forbidding hills. Until Rotherick found us,” and.a frown
came to his face as he spoke, “we were safe and secure
in Camp Aéro. But now—now 4

A flood of passion rushed into his voice. and choked
him.

“Now, dad,” said Bella soothingly, “your work here -is
nearly finished. When it is done, we can leave Camp
Aéro, and Rotherick’s envy and malice cannot hurt you
or reach you.”

“In one week,” whispered the sky pilot, a flush of: pride
chasing the anger out of his face, “in one week the engine
will be installed, and the Acme will be ready for a trial
flight. Then we shall leave here, and I shall make my
contribution to the scientific progress of the age!”

He; jumped ‘to his feet and walked up and ddwn, his
drooping shoulders flung back, and his head raised high.
A moment ‘later he dismissed this exultant mood with a
laugh, and paused in front of Clancy:

“TI: must not forget, though,” said he; “that there is
many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip. I went to Phoenix
to-night principally ‘to secure your services, Clancy. I
took with me.a roll of blue prints, showing the design of
the Acme’s motor, and how it should be placed so as not
to interfere with the stabilizing machinery. It was my in-
tention, if you accepted» my offer, to’ show you the plans.

“Always, in visiting Phoenix, I come down in the va-
cant lands along the. Hassayampa. There I leave the
Eagle and enter the town afoot. \Joe Ordway and his
brother Tim are two. men upon whom I can rely ab-
solutely. They stay near the ‘aéroplane and watch it
carefully.. Well, I had just sent Joe and Tim out to
look after the machine, and was making a. short cut
through the Mexican quarter, when the three Mexicans
attempted to steal the roll of blue prints.”

“You were set upon by Mexicans, dad?” broke in the
girl appréhensively.

 

“Yes, Bella,” replied her father, “but Clancy happened
to be around, and he came to my rescue. An odd coinci-
dence, don’t you think? The Mexicans secured. nothing,
and did not even do me much injury.”

Jella turned to Clancy with her face full of gratitude.
Bese ihe Wi es Tea edie, Bay tati-s Sane Bh

 

10 7 NEW TIP

“Then,” said she, “we owe you a debt entirely apart
from what we.shall have to pay for, having the Acme’s
motor installed. I think, Mr. Clancy, that you will find
we know how to cancel our obligations.”

“There's no obligation,” returned Clancy hastily, AOR
the little I did for your father in the Mexican quarter.”

“That’s his way of looking at it,” said Norton, smiling,
“There is much more that I wish to tell you, Clancy,” he
went on, “but that will wait until morning. If we don’t
go to bed we shall have little sleep this night. Come
with me and I will show you your room. We haven't
much of an establishment, up here on the Peak, but it is
fairly comfortable, what there is of it.”

The sky pilot took a candle from a shelf, lighted it,
and started toward a door leading off the rear of the
room.
and then followed his mysterious patron.

A passage, narrow and walled with stone, stretched
away in a sort of dusky corridor. Along this Clancy and
Norton passed until they reached a door. Norton opened
the door and ushered Clancy into a sleeping apartment.

It was a small, square chamber, furnished with a com-
fortable bed, table, and chair. The stone wall was not
plastered, but it was whitewashed. A window opened in
the outer wall, and Norton, after putting down the candle,
beckoned Clancy to approach the wall and the window.

“T hope,” said he, “that you don’t walk in your sleep,

Clancy. If you were a somnambulist, and were to crawl
through this window——” He paused and pushed the win-
dow open. “Well,” he finished, “look out.”

Clancy thrust his head through the opening and im-
mediately withdrew it, with a gasp. A dizzy void, hun-
dreds of feet deep, lay below in the moonlight.

“You can bet I’ll not fool around that window!”
claimed Clancy.

“Well, good night, and pleasant dreams,
and left the room.

The hour was late, and Clancy was tired. He had no
dreams, but slept like a log. When he opened his eyes,
the sun was shining through the window of his room,
While he lay in bed, thinking over his peculiar situation,
a hand rapped on his door.

“Who is it?” called the young motorist,
might be Lee Song sent to arouse him.

“It’s Bella, Mr. Clancy,” came a reply in trembling, fem-
inine tones. “Something terrible has happened to dad.
Will you came as soon as you can?”

The voice ended in a choking sob.

“T’]l be with you in two minutes,’ Clancy answered,
bounding out of bed, and beginning to scramble into his
clothes.

@x-

”

said. Norton,

thinking it

CHAPTER VI,

THE MESSAGE MISSILE.

Shortly after Clancy had been summoned he joined
Bella Norton in the living room. Lee Song was with
the girl, and both were plainly very much excited and
worried,

* “What has happened to your father, Miss Norton?”
Claney asked,

“He’s gone!” exclaimed the girl.

“Gone?”

“His room is empty, and there are signs of a struggle.

But wait, Mr. Clancy! See for yourself.”

The young motorist said good night to the girl,

TOP WEEKLY.

The girl flew across the living room and flung open a
door. It was the door to her father’s sleeping. cham-
ber. Clancy and Lee Song followed her into the apart-
ment.

Bedclothing was scattered over the floor.
chair lay against the wall.
and a number. of old letters and papers were heaped
around it.

There was one window in the room, and it was ope!
Claney walked to it and looked out. He half. expected
to find himself staring down into a deep cafion, but Nor-

A broken

ton’s room was on the side of the house that looked out

aver the plateau. Turning from the window, he faced
the perplexed and grief-stricken girl,

“When did-you find out that your father was missing,
Miss Norton?” he asked.

“Lee discovered it an hour ago,” said the girl. “We
thought that, perhaps, he had left the room and walked
out of the house—to the work
around the camp. We _ have. looked everywhere, . Mr.
Clancy, but can’t find a trace of. him.”

“From the appearance -of- this room, I should judge
that force had been used to get your father out of it,”

“Only dad, you, and I, and Lee are in the camp. Who
was there here to use force in getting him away?”

Claney was in a quandary, He ran his fingers through
his red hair in a puzzled way, and tried to think of some-
thing that would explain the situation. But he could not,

“It’s too deep for me, Miss Norton,” he observed,
tossing his hands helplessly. “I don’t think you need
worry too much over the matter, though. You don’t know
that anything serious has happened to your father, and
until you do you ought to be hopeful. You are positive
he isn’t on the plateau?”

“Lee and I have looked everywhere.”

“He didn’t go away in the Eagle, did he?”

“No, the machine is in its hangar. It may be—and this
is what worries me—that Rotherick came back in his
aéroplane and took father away. I didn’t hear a sound
of the struggle, and Lee says he didn’t,”

“Neither did I. But I understood your father to say
that no aéroplane could land on the plateau at night with-
out a fire as a guide. How could this Rotherick get. here
in his machine, if that is true?”

“Rotherick is a desperate scoundrel, and takes long
chances. He might have landed here in the dark, and then
got away again, taking dad with him. Oh,” and the girl

. . “3 ra
clasped her hands convulsiyely, while a sob rushed from

her lips, “I, wish I knew what had happened!”

“We ketchee one piecee bad time,” mourned Lee Song.

“Lothlick plenty bad Melican man!”

“We shall have to have breakfast, Lee,” said Bella,

mastering her grief as best she could. “Unless we look
after our physical needs we shall be in no condition to do
anything for dad—in case anything can be done,”

“My gettee bleakfus’ chop-chép, Missy Bella,”
the Celestial, starting moodily from the room.
solly we no findee Missu!l No’ton.”

“What do you think about this, Mr. Clancy?” queried
the girl, when Lee Song had vanished.

“You don’t think the Chinaman would do any under-
handed work, do you?” the young motorist asked, drop-
ping his voice.

“No, no!” returned Bella, her tone sharp and em-

returned
“Heap

A tin box lay in one corner, .

yard, or somewhere else.

 

 

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phatic. “He has been with dad for years, and would
die for him.”

“From the condition of this room,” went on Clancy,
“it seems certain that some person entered it through the
window, had a struggle with your father, and carried

him off. If there is no one in the camp but yourself, Lee

 

| what happened.”

ph er “That is impossible!”

eo “The other explanation is that Rotherick came here

during the night and took your father away in his flying
machine. I consider that equally impossible, Miss Nor-

. ton. The propellers of an aéroplane in flight make so

much noise that I know I should have heard the ma-

chine—I’d have heard it, even if I slept while the struggle

1, was going on in here.”

fia: “That is true,” agreed Bella, and there was a meas-

ure of relief-in her voice. “I am glad you don’t think

the theory worth considering, Mr. Clancy. I would rather

a almost anything else should happen to dad than that he
| should be carried away by Rotherick.”

a “If I knew more about Rotherick, and about your
.| father’s dealings with him,” said Clancy, “possibly I might
* be of more help to you just now.”

“Dad hasn’t told you anything?”

“The first time he -gave me any information about
himself and his affairs was last night. You were present
and heard it all, Miss Norton.”

_ “Let’s go outside,” said the girl. “Lee will call us when
breakfast is ready, and I can put in the time telling
_ you about. dad and Rotherick.” ;

They passed out of the chamber, through the living
room, and so to the outside of the house. Clancy paused
for a moment to sweep his eyes over the surroundings.

The morning sun was trailing its bright ‘beams across
the plateau. In broad day the odd situation of the camp
was brought out with wonderful distinctness.

 

 

   
  
  
  
  
  
   
   
  
   
  
 

heart of Spanish Peak. This gouge had left the wide shelf
or plateau just under the pinnacle’s crest.

The level space was, perhaps, five hundred yards across
by as many deep. Beginning where the steep side of the
Peak formed a precipice, it extended back to a blank wall
at least a hundred feet high. Flanking the plateau were
other walls which diminished in height ‘as they reached
the edge of the cliff.

Against the right-hand wall stood the house. Across
the plateau from the house was the stone-walled corral,
or work yard. Under an overhang of. the cliff back of
the plateau was a portable forge, an anvil, a carpenter’s
bench, one for an iron worker, and piles of material for
_ use in Norton’s aéroplane building.

In the center of the plateau was the heap of bowlders,

already described. Near this heap, under a canvas hangar,
the Eagle was housed.
_ Trickling down the cliff near the blacksmith shop was
a rill of water. Evidently it came from a spring, higher
up the side of the Peak. Forming a pool at the edge
of the plateau, it overflowed, and trickled on to a point
where it lost itself over the brink of the precipice.

  
  
  
 

 

  

 
 

  

Clancy was only a few moments in taking in these de-
tails) The amount of work connected with preparing that
eerie for a manufacturing establishment made a vivid ‘im-
_ pression upon him. Everything had to be brought to the
camp by aéroplane. In the early stages of his work, Ray

  

  

   

NEW iTP fOP WEEKLY.

Song, and me, then one of us must have had a hand in.

It was as though a gigantic chisel had gouged at the ©

Norton must have been exceedingly busy flying back and
forth between the Peak and the nearest settlements. |

Bella led Clancy to a point near the canvas hangar.
There she seated herself on a bowlder, and motioned for
the motor wizard to take his place near her. After look-
ing around eagerly, perhaps in the hope of discovering
some clew as to the whereabouts of her father, Bella
dropped her head disappointedly.

“We have only been here a year, as father told you,
Mr. Clancy,” said she. “For a long time father has been
interested in aviation, and he and I both learned to
manage a flying machine at the instruction camp near San
Diego. We lived in Los Angeles, and that is where dad
first met Anton Rotherick.

“Rotherick was an aviator, and was attending an avi-
ation meet. Father, at the time, had just perfected the
model of his new aéroplane. Needing a reliable man to
help him, he broached the matter of his invention to
Rotherick. Not only that, but father offered to give him
an interest in the invention for his services. Rotherick
was only too glad to accept.

“Father was shrewd, and would not show Rotherick
either his model or his drawings. All Rotherick wanted.
as we know now, was to steal dad’s invention. He did
run away with the box containing the model, but was over-
taken, and the model was recovered. That settled dad’s
partnership dealings with Rotherick, and he made up his
mind to go off alone, and perfect the new flying machine
himself.

“That was when we came here, to Spanish Peak. We
had been established in Camp Aéro for several months be-
fore we even dreamed that Rotherick knew where we
were, or still had hopes of cheating father out of his
invention. One night father came face to face with
Rotherick in Maricopa. He got away from him, but must
have been followed, for on the next day Rotherick came
flying over Spanish Peak in his own machine. Since then
we have been constantly in fear of Rotherick. Last
night, however, is the first time he has ‘attempted to land
on the plateau.”

‘“Hasn’t your father got his invention patented?” Clancy
asked.

“No. He refuses to do anything of that sort until he
finishes the Acme and gives it a trial. If the machine
proves ‘equal to his expectations, he will at once proceed
to protect himself.”

“IT think ‘he ought to send the model on to Washington.
Lots of inventors are beaten out of their rights by un-
scrupulous people who steal a model or a set of plans,
and then rush to get them patented before the rightful .
owner has a chance.”

“It isn’t a matter of money with father,” said the girl,
“for he is already so rich he has more than he can spend.
What he wants is to add something to the advancement
of the science of aviation. He wishes to make the work
safer, take it out of the class of dangerous sports, and
to add it to the commercial life of the nation. He——”

Something, dropping from overhead, struck the ground
between Clancy and the girl at that moment. The ob-—
ject came unheralded, and with startling suddenness.
leaped to their feet, and looked around to see where the
stone—for such it proved to be—had come from.

“Why,”
holding it up for Clancy’s inspection,

“there’s a paper tied
to it!” ; ;

  

 
     
    
     
     
     
       
     
     
       
    
       
     
     
 

Both —

     
 
 

cried Bella, picking the stone off the ground and

    
      
    
 

 

a NEW

“The paper is a message!” exclaimed Clancy. “Read
the message, Miss Norton, and then we'll try and dis-
cover who threw it.”

Quickly the girl removed the folded paper from the
stone, opened it out, and gave the writing her attention.
Then a stifled cry escaped her, .the color faded from her
cheeks, and she fell back with a wild Jook at the motor
wizard.

CHAPTER VII.
NORTON’S HARD LUCK.

“What is it?” queried Clancy,

Mutely Bella extended the crumpled paper toward him.
He took it from her, smoothed it out, and read as fol-
lows:

At lookout station with sprained ankle. Bring
FATHER.”

“BELLA:
a rope.

“Lookout station?” said Clancy. “Where’s that?”

The girl pointed to the cliff at the back of the plateau.
She did not speak, and Clancy looked at her wonder-
ingly,

“I should think you ought to feel cheered up, Miss
Norton,” went on the young motorist, “Your father isn’t
far away—-and he’s well, barring a sprained ankle, That's
nothing serious,”

“I’m afraid,” whispered Bella, “that he’s hurt worse
than he says he is. His being at the lookout with a
sprained ankle doesn’t explain why he left the house, or
account for the disorder in the room.”

“Suppose we investigate and find out just what’s wrong.
Your father was able to write this note, tie it to a stone,
and then heave the stone at us—and it was quite a throw,
and he made a good shot of it. Certainly he couldn’t
do that, Miss Norton, if he was badly injured.”

“He’s hurt so badly he can’t get down from the look-
out.”

“We can get up there, can’t we?’

“Yes, I’ll get a rope, Mr. Clancy, and we'll start.”

She hurried away toward the house. Clancy examined
the face of the cliff above the overhang, but could see
nothing that resembled a lookout station. While he was
still using his eyes, the girl returned with a coil of light,
strong rope.

“It’s a hard path to climb,” said she, “and maybe it
would be dangerous for you to attempt it.”

“Have you ever attempted it?”

“¥en”

“Then I guess it won’t be too much for me.”

Only a short distance separated them. from the face
of the cliff. Bella laid a course that brought them to it
at a point to the right of the overhang and the black-
smith shop.

Here ‘the path commenced—if it could be called a path.
For twelye feet it was almost perpendicular, and was
scaled by means of hand and foot holds, chiseled from
the solid rock.

At the top of the twelve feet, the path turned, and led
across the cliff where it bulged outward to form the
overhang. Here there seemed, to Clancy, to be a few
yards of very easy going. After that, however, there
were more foot and hand holds, so that it was not diffi-
cult to understand why a man with a sprained ankle would
find the path impossible,

   

TIP TOP WEEKLY,

Bella was not in the cheerful frame of mind which,
Clancy felt, this news from her father should inspire in
her, He noticed, too, that on coming from the house with
the rope she had brought along a revolver--the weapon
dangling from a belt about her waist.

“I'll go first, Mr, Clancy,” she said,

“1 wish you-wouldn’t be so formal,” returned the motor
wizard. “Just drop the ‘mister,’ please. Did you catch
my first name when your father introduced us? It’s
Owen.”

This brought a smile, just as Clancy hoped it would.

“If I waive formality,” the girl answered, “you'll have
to do the same,”

“It’s a bargain, Bella!”

“All right, Owen,’

She began negotiating the difficult path.

“Why the revolver?” Clancy inquired.

“I was afraid the note might be luring us into some
sort of a\trap,” Bella answered. “I can’t imagine what
makes me so suspicious, unless it’s because I have such
a profound distrust for Anton Rotherick.”

“Rotherick may not have had a thing to do with your
father’s leaving the house last night.”

“T’m sure he had.”

“You recognized the handwriting in that note as being
your father’s ?”’

“It looked like dad’s.”

“Then don’t borrow any trouble, Bella. We'll get your
father away from the lookout and back to the house in
time for breakfast.”

Clancy had taken the rope. He now swung it, over his
shoulder, and proceeded to follow his companion up the

face of the cliff.

Claney’s athletic training stood him in good stead. He
was as sure-footed as a mountain goat, and had a clear
head and steady nerves.

Bella’s coolness and skill surprised him, but his sur-
prise lessened somewhat when he remembered that she
had served her apprenticeship in the art of flying. If she
had the courage and ability to drive an aéroplane, her
nerves surely were proof against the difficulties of that
up-and-down wall.

Clancy crept across the slope of the overhang, and then
began climbing in an angling course across the breast of
the rugged rocks,. He pressed closely after Bella, and was
right at her heels when she drew herself over a bit of
a shelf that projected out from the cliff.

It was more like a balcony than a shelf, for nature
had thrown around the queer formation a balustrade of
stone. Back of this balustrade lay Ray Norton.

He had removed his right shoe and bandaged the foot
with a red cotton handkerchief. His face was not only
filled with physical pain, but it also reflected troubles
more portentous. ;

“How did you happen to come here, dad?” asked Bella.

“T’ll tell you all about it, Bella,” said Norton, “when
you and Clancy get me down from here. I’ve been lying
here for several hours. Every time { tried to. call at the
top of my yoice, I suffered a conghing spell, and I did
not bring along a revolver, which I might have used to
attract attention. It tried me terribly to write that note,
tie it to the stone, lift myself to the balustrade, and hurl
the missile in the direction of you and Clancy, I’m about
fagged, Bella,”

 

A ae ee

 
a a

    
   
  
  
  
  

 

  
 

  

 

 

forced me to show them where the model an
folio of plans were secreted m4

NEW [IP

“We'll get you down in a jiffy, Norton,” declared
Clancy.

“The best way,” ggested, “will be to lower
him directly down from the lookout. The rope is long
enough for the purpose, and, | think, Owen, that yon and
1 can hold it with dad’s weight.’

“We .can make doubly sure of that by taking a half
hitch around the smooth stone there,” said the young mo-
torist, indicating the stone in question,

As gently as he could he made the rope fast around
Norton’s body,and under the arms. After that he lifted
Norton to the top of the balustrade and got him. safely
over. Only a few moments were required to pay out the
rope and let the sky pilot comfortably down to the foot
of the cliff.

Clancy and the girl went down the path rapidly, and
between them, succeeded in getting the injured man to
the house.

Lee Song was not taken ‘ig surprise. When Bella had
come to the house for the rope and the revolver she had
told the Chinaman of the note dropped from the lookout.
So Lee had been expecting to see his master.

Breakfast was ready. Norton, after his foot had been
cared for, was pushed up to the table in an easy-chair,
and he ate his meal with the others. :

“You gave me a scare, dad,” remarked Bella
room was in so much disorder that I was afraid Rotherick

the girl s1

“Your

had come and carried you off.”

“Rotherick did come,” was the sky pilot’s astounding

reply, “and with him came one of the Mexicans who

tried to rob me in Phoenix. He was the man with the
V-shaped scar; Esteban, Rotherick called him.”

“Did they come in an aéroplane, at night, and with no
y g

beacon burning?” Bella asked.

“No,” said her father. “From their talk, I gather that
Rotherick, Esteban, and one other were aboard the ma-
chine that landed on the plateau before Clancy and I
reached the Peak. When the machine got away, only the
driver was with it, and Rotherick and Esteban were left

_ behind to steal the model and the plans.”

This was startling news.

“So Rotherick and Esteban were here during the night?”
asked Clancy excitedly, “and they are here now?”

“They were here during the night,” went on Norton.
“Dawn was beginning to break when I heard a noise in
my room. I opened my eyes and saw Rotherick beside my
bed and Esteban just climbing through the window. 1
feared to raise an alarm, because I knew Bella, whose

- room is not far from mine, would hurry to me at once,
-and I also knew that Rotherick—the scoundrelly cur!

—would not hesitate to use his revolver. I sprang out

of bed and did what I could to fight off the two villains

t me and
the port-

with my bare hands. They leveled revolvers

 

A stricken cry burst Sasi the: girl, Leaning across

the table, she seized her father’s hand in a convulsive

grip.
_ “And they got them,

dad?” she breathed huskily.
Norton lowered his head and his chin dropped on his
deat.

“Yes, Bella,” he replied, “they got them. What could
do? If I had raised a disturbance, you would have
come, and there would have been shooting. Of gourse,
ujércita, | could not have that.”

.the cliff,

  

 

TOP WEEKLY. ° i

‘“‘How—how did you happen to be at the lookout?” asked ©
the girl, in a colorless voice. .
Her heart seemed to be broken by her father’s news.

"I got into my clothes as hurriedly as I could, and

followed Rotherick and the Mexican,” continued Norton.
“They scaled the cliff, and I went after them as far as
the lookout. It was there I turned my ankle, and-—-”

Lee Song, at that juncture, came running into the room.
He was so excited that his pidgin English almost failed
him. He made two or three attempts to talk before he
could succeed in relieving his mind.

“Lothlick! Him and Mexy man allee samee ketchee fly
machine! Lothlick takee Zagle sky boat from pldce where
Missul No’ton makee stay! You savvy? Plenty bad man
makee steal cloud ship! Whoosh! By gee Klismus, we
ketchee heap bad time!”

The Celestial catight up a gun from the corner, and
rushed through the front door of the house. Clancy, jerk-
ing the revolver from the belt around Bella’s waist, fol-
lowed Lee on the run.

CHAPTER VIII.

SAVING THE “EAGLE.”

Rotherick had been left at Camp Aéro by his own air-
ship. Having accomplished the dastardly work that had
brought him to the Peak, he was now trying to steal
Norton’s aéroplane, and make his escape.

The Eagle had been run out of the hangar. The two
men were working frantically to launch the machine into
the air, but either they did not understand how to do it
or there was something wrong with the engine.
dark-haired man was in the driver’s seat.
Anton Rotherick. At the rear,
on the starboard side,

A. slender,
This, undoubtedly, was
pulling furiously. at the ‘propeller
was the Mexican, Esteban.

Both Rotherick and Esteban saw Clancy and Lee Song
as they emerged from the house and started at a run to-
ward the hangar. Rotherick flung himself clear of the ma-
chine, picked up a small box and a square, flat package
that lay on the deck of the flyer, then started to run in
the direction of the cliff. Esteban joined in the flight,
taking the box from Rotherick, as he ran along beside
him.

Rotherick was first to reach the wall and to begin
climbing the difficult path. With the flat package tucked
in the breast of his coat, he was hampered in no way
by the burden; and used his hands and feet to excellent
advantage. By the time Clancy and Lee Song gained
Rotherick was out of sight behind the stone
balustrade of the lookout,

The Mexican, however, was not so fortunate. The
box was too large to be stowed away about his clothes,
and he had to carry it under his arm. This interfered
with his climbing and threatened him with imminent dan-
ger of a fall.

“Halt!” shouted Clancy.
we'll shoot !” Bag

The Mexican was above the overhang and angling actives
the face of the cliff on his way to the lookout, Clancy's
command had no effect, except to cause him to climb whe:
faster.

"My makee scare,” muttered Lee Song, planting ieaeiia
firmly, and lifting the rifle to his shoulder. “Maybeso, my
makee come down and ere box.” i

LS

“Esteban, come back here, or —

  

      
       
     
     
   
     
     
     
     
 

       
       
       
         
     
      
      
 
     
 
     
     
 
  
 

 
        
   

   
    
 

NEW: TIP

4
“Careful!” warned
Bang!
The rifle exploded, and a sliver of stone shot ftom the

cliff not more than a foot from the Mexican’s head. The
fellow gave a wild cry of fear, and a convulsive tremor
ran through his body. For a moment it seemed as though
he must topple from his lofty perch, but he managed to
save himself.

The box, however, dropped from his arm. It came rat-
tling down, glissaded across the overhang, and landed
vith a thud at Clancy’s feet.

“Him model box,” said Lee Song, with a grin.
Makee shoot once m

the motor wizard.

“May-
beso my makee othel tly, huh? oO’,
flighten Mexy man, makee dlop.”

“Let him alone, Lee,” returned Clancy. “We've got
what we wanted from the Mexican, and there’s no need
of pressing him any harder.” *

“Him plenty bad medicine,” growled the Celestial. “All
samee coyote. Good thing he makee fall, bleak um neck.”

Lee Song, in spite if his hatred for Esteban, made no
move to take another shot at him. Together, he and
Clancy watched the scoundrel reach the lookout and crawl
out of sight behind the curtain of stone.

At that moment, Bella arrived from the house. Clancy
answered her eager queries and gave her the main de-
tails of the situation.

“We saved the Eagle,” the young motorist finished, “and
recovered the model of the new aéroplane.”

Bella picked up the box. She smiled a little as she
turned to Clancy. |

“There was no gasoline in the Eagle’s fuel tank,” said
she, “so it was impossible for Rotherick to make off with
the machine. But it is fine to have recovered the model,
Owen! I suppose the model was broken by the fall
from the cliff, but, at all events, it is where it will not
do Rotherick any good.”

“He still has the portfolio of plans.”

The girl’s face clouded.

“Tt is not necessary for him to have the model if he has
“Every step in the Acme’s con-
Is there no way

the plans,” she went on.
struction is detailed in those drawings.
{o get them away from him?”

“Ves,” said Clancy promptly, “there is a way.”

“How?”

“Why, by starving Rotherick out. As I understand it,
Rotherick and Esteban have been hiding on the top of
that hundred-foot wall. The path, I suppose, runs from
the base to the lookout, and from the lookout to the crest?”

The girl nodded. “You can see the path over the look-
out from here,” she said, pointing. ©

“At present,” the young motorist went on, “Rotherick
and Esteban are safe behind the balustrade of the look-
out. They can’t stay there indefinitely, though. They
will have to come out before long, and either climb up
or down. Naturally, they'll try to climb toward the top,
in order to get away from us. When they get hungry
or thirsty they’ll make the attempt.”

“Ves,” said Bella, following him closely.

“We'll have Lee remain here with the rifle and watch
the lookout. When Rotherick or Esteban tries to leave,
Lee will threaten him with the gun and drive him back.
Those scoundrels will, have to come to our terms, Bella,
before they get away from the lookout.”

“And the terms?”

TOP ‘WEEKLY.

“Rotherick must throw the portfolio of drawings down
to us.”

“Splendid!” Bella exclaimed. “You understand, Lee?”
she queried, turning to the Chinaman.

“My savvy, Missy Bella,” answered Lee, grinning widely.
“What my no savvy is, why don’t Lothlick makee shoot
with gun?”

“I don’t believe that he or
hazarded the motor wizard.

“They were armed last night when they entered our
house and forced father to do their bidding.”

“I can’t remember seeing any belts or guns on them
while they were running across the plateau and climbing
the wall,” persisted Clancy. “Suppose we go to the
hangar, Bella, and look the ground over there? Lee, you
go on guard,” he added. “You know what to do if those
fellows try to climb from the lookout.”

“All samee,” answered the Celestial, patting the stock
of the rifle.

Clancy and the girl made their way to the hangar.
Two belts, each with a revolver in an attached holster,
lay on the deck of the aéroplane. The mystery regard-
ing the failure of Rotherick and the Mexican to do any
shooting was explained.

“They left their weapons here, Bella,” said Clancy, with
a laugh. - “You see, when Lee and I ran out of the louse
and came in this direction, Rotherick was in the pilot’s
seat of the Eagle; and Esteban was around at the rear,
Rotherick grabbed the box
his

the Mexican is armed,”

trying to crank the engine.
with the model and the portfolio of drawings. In
hurry he overlooked the revolvers. If he remembered them
later, it was too late to come back and get them.”

“T see,’ murmured Bella. “Rotherick’s actions last
night and this morning will show you how desperate and
determined he is. Rotherick and two others came here
in Rotherick’s machine. His flyer is a large one, and while
it has a seat for only one passenger besides the driver, it
could carry an extra passenger very easily. When Roth-
erick’s aéroplane left the plateau, and so narrowly es-
caped collision with the Eagle, Rotherick and Esteban re-
mained behind. They stayed in Camp Aéro to secure
the model and the plans at any cost.”

“T gathered that much from what your father told
us,” said the motor wizard.

“They hid themselves away until dawn,” proceeded Bella,
“and then stole into our house and made dad, at the point
of the revolver, deliver up the model and the plans. After
that they climbed the cliff. Immediately after we had
lowered dad from the lookout and carried him to the
house, Rotherick and the Mexican came down to the
plateau and tried to steal the Eagle. But getting away
in our aéroplane was not a part of their original designs,
I am sure.”

“That must have been an extra detail, and entirely
separate from the main plot,” agreed Clancy. “Rotherick
probably arranged with the fellow who took his flying
machine away last night to come back to Camp Aéro after
him and Esteban.”

“Rotherick must have known would not let
an enemy’s machine land in this camp. We could pre-
vent that, you know. Lee, with his rifle could keep a
whole flock of aéroplanes off the plateau.”

that we

“Tt was never in Rotherick’s plan that he was to be
picked up out of this camp, Bella. That, i think, was

 

partie commen

ae

i

 

 
  

to be done from the top of -the wall.
Peak is flat, isn’t: it?’

“Voq?’..

“How large an area?”

“Perhaps. half an acre.’’

“Plenty of room for a flying machine to alight and to
launch itself into the air?”

“Yes.”

“Then we have Rotherick’s reason for getting to the
top of the wall after he had secured the model and the
plans. He was there to wait for his own machine to
come along and pick up him and Esteban,”

; } _ “Why did he come down into our camp and try to run
away with the Eagle?”

“Tt ig just, possible, Bella, that his own. aéroplane. is
slow in getting to Spanish Peak.. Perhaps, being ‘way
Bien behind schedule, Rotherick fears something has happened
to the machine. He cannot stay on the summit indefinitely,
any more than he can remain behind the stone balustrade
of the lookout. He and Esteban haye got to have food
and water, The plans will not do Rotherick any good
if he can’t get away with them. I suppose he was get-
ting desperate when he made that dash for the Eagle.”

“He is my father’s bitterest enemy,” whispered the girl,
_ staring at the face of the cliff with kindling eyes. “There
is not an honest hair in his head, Owen, and he is bound
to steal father’s invention if there is any possible way of
accomplishing it. Why are such men allowed to-——”

Clancy interrupted Bella. Dropping a quick hand on
her arm, ‘he pointed skyward and to the south and west of
the Peak. ‘

“Look!” he cried. “There comes the - other aéroplane
now, Bella!”

A distant shape swung against the blue of the sky.
There was no doubt of its being Rotherick’s flyer.

“Rotherick has the plans,” murmured Bella, with pallid

lips, “and his machine is coming for him!”
“But Rotherick is in the lokout,” said Clancy, “and
not on top of the wall! What's more, Lee and his rifle
- command-the lookout. Oh, I guess the fellaw in that. fly-
ing machine won't have everything all his own way.”

   
   
  
  
 

 

 

CHAPTER IX.

A DEADLOCK.

 

The flyer rushed out of the southwest at tremendous
3 Ae... ‘speed. As it drew nearer, Clancy could see that it was
a very large machine.
“That is the Bai,”
in her voice.

_ “The Bat is Rotherick’s flyer ?/
“Yes”

The aéroplane was built along the lines of the familiar
right model. It had double planes and two propellers.

_ Although the machine flew high over the Peak, it was
‘not difficult for Clancy ie the girl to distinguish that
i The Bat sailed across
; the summit of the mountain jad was lost to the eyes of

be
y pie.

declared Bella, an ominous catch

’ asked Cldhey.

  

  

“the ee is ao

NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

The crest of the

 

because they weren’t in sight. He won’t give up, though,
until he looks some more.”

Claney was right in this surmise. The Bai drove into
sight again. As it passed over the Peak the second time,
a white handkerchief. was waved from the lookout ste-
tion,

Sping !

Lee Song’s rifle spoke, and the hand waving the hand+
kerchief was hastily withdrawn. The pilot of the Bat had
observed the signal, however. He had discovered the
whereabouts of those whom he had come to bear away, but
he must have been somewhat puzzled to account for the
situation. Instead of winging across the Peak, he began
cutting great “figure eights” above the plateau, evidently
watching to secure a little further information.

Cautiously a form lifted itself clear of the lookout, and
essayed the path to the top of the wall. Lee's rifle awoke
the echoes. once more, and a bullet struck the cliff just
over the climber’s head. It was.equivalent to a shot across
the bows,.and mutely but emphatically ordered the man
to heave to.

The climber was Anton Rotherick. He appreciated the
necessity of reaching the top of the wall in order to be
taken off the Peak by the Bat, and he disregarded the
Chinaman’s signal,

Lee Song was an excellent marksman, and he again
pulled the trigger,

This time the Jead almost took a chunk of
under Rotherick’s gripping fingers. The man let go his
hold, and dropped back into the lookout. ;

“T guess that will hold him for a while!”
Clancy.

“Suppose the man in the Baé is armed, and does a little
shooting himself?” said Bella.

    

rock from.

murmured |

“He'can't do much shooting while he is driving the ma-

‘chine, can he?”

She shook her head.
chances,” she answered.
Rotherick can’t leave the lookout,

*Not without taking dangerous
“But this is merely a deadlock.
and we can’t get the

plans. The man in the Bat is a helpless spectator, just as_

What is to be the upshot of all this?”

“Rotherick will be forced’ ta come to terms,’ said the
young motorist. “When he and, Esteban begin to feel
the pinch of hunger and thirst, they'll be willing to give
up the plans in order to gain their liberty.”

“What is the Bat trying to do, Owen?’ ‘ab

Bella suddenly turned and pointed to Rotherick’s ma-
chine, Clancy sweryed his eyes to the flyer, and watched
with profound interest. ‘

The pilot, maneuyering at some distance from the Peak,
had dropped a long rope. The rope was made fast to the
Bat at a point near the driver’s seat, and the free end,
dropping to 4 tremendous distance, -writhed and twisted
as it trailed through the air.

we are, Owen.

“That fellow has some sort of a scheme up his sleeve,”
commented Clancy, “but I’ll be hanged if I can make out
what ‘it is, I guess we'll know before long.”

“He's going to do something to get Rotherick away from

the lookout,” returned Bella.
it is,
ish Peak with those plans-—-dad will lose the reward
of years of study and labor. He is not well,
you- can see, and the blow. would be more than he coul
bear.”

Owen, as

“But I can’t imagine what ~—
If he succeeds—if Rotherick gets away from Span- |

 
     
     
  

   
   

   
  
 
  
  

  
  
  
     
       
     
   
             
   
     
       
 
         
        
   
     
    
 

 

rt aes NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

Clancy, keeping sharp watch of the Bat, saw the aéro-
plane describe a wide circle, and drop down toward the
top of the Peak. The machine swept along the edge of the
cliff so that the end of the trailing rope was jerked
across the lookout.

“By thunder!” gasped Clancy, as the daring idea of
the aviator flashed over him. “What do you think of
that, Bella?”

“T can’t see yet what the man in the Bat is trying
to do.”

“Why, he wants Rotherick to grab the rope as it is
whisked past the lookout.” ;

Bella’s eyes widened with wonder.

‘Me wants Rotherick to catch hold of the rope and
hang to it, while the Bat carries him off?” she asked.

“That’s the scheme. It’s something of a dare-devil per-
formance, but it is possible—if a man has nerve enough.
You see, the Bat is traveling fast, and Rotherick hasn’t
much time for getting a firm hold on the rope. The mo-
ment he grabs it, he will be whisked away into space,
swinging under the aéroplane like a pendulum. The
driver of the Bat will have to make for the top of the
Peak and give Rotherick a chance to drop safely off the
rope. There’s a chance for lots of tragic things to
happen, but if nothing went wrong the scheme would
win. Lee could bang away with his rifle, but Roth-
erick would be traveling so rapidly that I don’t believe
the shooting would be very dangerous.”

“Then,” whispered Bella, in a tearful voice, “Rotherick’s
treacherous schemes are to be successful, and dad must
lose the result of years of study and work!”

“IT hope not, Bella,” answered the young
“Perhaps there is something I can do.”

“Tt don’t think there is a thing you can do, Owen,”
was the hopeless rejoinder. “We must’ trust everything
to Lee and his rifle.”

The Bat made another attempt to get Rotherick away
from the lookout. Rotherick understood by that time
what was expected of him, and he was ready to spring
at the rope, and take his chances. Owing to some error
of the man in the aéroplane, however, the rope swept
past the lookout too far away for Rotherick to grasp it.

“Failure number two,” said Clancy, to himself.

Foliowed by the girl, he walked briskly across the
plateau to the spot where Lee Song stood with the
rifle.

“Savvy what that flying machine is trying to do, Lee?”
queried the motor wizard.

The Chiraman never took his eyes from the lookout.

“My savvy,” he answered.

“Think you can knock Rotherick off that rope with
a bullet?”

Lee shook his head.

*%Maybeso can do, maybeso no can do,” he said. “Allo-
plane him tlavel allee samee Sam Hill. Whoosh!”

It was plain that Lee was very much in doubt re-
garding his ability to save the plans for Ray Norton.
If his shooting was successful, and he did save the
plans, it would be at the expense of a life. Such. an
outcome the young motorist did not fancy. There must
be some other way, he thought, for breaking the dead-
lock and saving the day for Norton.

Vhile the Bat made a third unsuccessful attempt
to get the rope into Rotherick’s hands, Clancy walked

motorist.

-back and forth by the overhang, thinking deeply.

  

Considering the circumstances, it was strange how in-
terested he had become in the affairs of the Nortons. He
had been taken from Phoenix, and carried to Spanish
Peak by force, and yet he was forgetting that, in the
hope of being of service to the man who had engineered’
his abduction.

Just how much Clancy’s forgiving attitude was due to
the glamour of aviation—in which he had long been in-
terested—and how much to the fine eyes and beautiful
face of Bella Norton, probably Clancy did not know. The
troubles of the Nortons had commenced with the young
motorist’s arrival in Camp Aéro, and he had promptly
and heartily “enlisted for the war.”

An idea suggested itself to Clancy as he walked up and
down by the overhang. With eyes agleam with purpose,
he turned toward Bella.

“V’ve got a plan,” he announced.

“What is it?” she returned eagerly. ¥

“The aéroplane drawings must be got away from Roth-
erick before the Bat snakes him away from the lookout
on the end of that rope.”

“How can that be done?”

“I’m going back to the lookout, Bella,” said the motor
wizard.

“You mean you are going to climb the cliff and place
yourself at the-mercy of Rotherick and Esteban?”

“T’ll not be at their mercy. . You see, I shall have
revolver, and those rascals will have to obey my ord

Already Clancy was casting off his coat, hat, atid shoes,

and making ready for his desperate undertaking. The girl
put out a hand _restrainingly.
“I think that is a foolhardy move, Owen,” said she.

“You can’t do anything with the revolver while you are
climbing the cliff, and when you reach the lookout there
will be two desperate enemies for you to contend against.
Just to save the plans is not worth the risk. I'll not
agree to your making the attempt!”

Clancy smiled confidently,

“l’m going to the lookout just the same,” he declared.
“We're going to keep Rotherick from getting away with
that portfolio of drawings. I got into this affair of
your father’s somewhat against my will, now that [’m
in it, though, I’m going to see it through.”

Picking up the revolver, he thrust it inside the belt of
his trousers.

“Lee,” he asked, “you understand what I’m going to do?”

“Allee samee,” answered the Chinaman, a strange glow
in his slant eyes.

“You do what you can from down here to help me
out.” ”

“My makee do evelthing possible.”

“Don’t let Rotherick escape from. the lookout until I
get the plans away from him. That’s the principal thing.”
Clancy ran quickly toward the foot of the wall. Bella
followed him for a parting word.

“Do be careful,” she murmured, in a voice that throbbed
with earnestness. “If anything happened to you, Owen,
1 should never forgive myself.”

“I’m the luckiest chap you ever saw, Bella,” laughed

the motor wizard. “Everybody in Phoenix says that. If

I can only turn my luck to some account in this business
of your father’s, I'll be mighty’ glad.”
With that, he began climbing toward the’ overhang.

  

 

 

 
  

NEW ° TIP

   

oe | CHAPTER X.,,
TWO TO ONE.

Claney’s. progress toward the lookout was watched with
interest by every one in his immediate. vicinity.

1, ag
Cepcs
i

lla was fearful, the Chinaman’s face reflected admira-

- tién, the downward peering eyes of Rotherick and Este-
F ban were puzzled and wondering, and the pilot of the Bat,
surveying the scene from a lofty height, tried to guess

what the red-headed youth was about.

The young motorist climbed the cliff more swiftly this
time than he had done before. His shoes had not allowed
so. firm a foothold ‘on the rocks as his stocking
feet now gave him, and he mounted rapidly and surely.

\s he hugged the cliff and came closer and closer to
the lookout, the scarred face of the Mexican and the
| hard countenance of Rotherick both grew threatening.
7 The meén in the lookout realized that Clancy was after
Norton’s: plans.

‘Keep away!” cried Rotherick, between his teeth. “This
If you won't

him

Tittle game is one that will work two ways.
jet us out of here neither will we let you in.”

“Por Dios!” cried Esteban. “He is the Americano who
helped Norton in the Mexican quarter!”

“lie is?” returned Rotherick.

*Si! Me, I saw him plain in the light.
1 would have had the plans in Phoenix!”

3ut for him

WSiieer off, Reddy!” again shouted Rotherick. “You
© Wave weddled in my affairs too much already, and T'll
Hot Starid it any more!”

 

* Claney, hanging to the treacherous cliffside with one
liand, jerked the revolver from inside his belt, and leveled
it dt the leering faces.

“Get back from there!” he ordered.
the lookout, and you are not going to stop me.

“Y’'m coming to
Clear
the way!”
“What do you want?” demanded Rotherick.
“! want that portfolio of drawings you stole from
Norton's house last night.”
. “1 didn’t steal-them—he gave them to me.”
“At the point of the gun,” qualified Clancy ironically.
“Tf that isn’t stealing, I’d like to know what is. Hand
over those plans, Rotherick, and you'll be free to leave
fiere in your aéroplane.”
“I'll die before I give them up!”
“Don’t be foolish! Push back—I’m tired
here.”

of hanging

The young motorist flourished\the revolver, and the two

* wen drew farther back into the lookout. Then, with

the way clear, Clancy hastily gained the little shelf, and
stood confronting the white man and the Mexican.

: The lookout station, as has already been stated, was

small. Nature had placed it there, onthe face of the

cliff, and the path to it from below, and beyond it to

 

‘ 4he top of the wall, had been chiseled from the rock by
~ human hands.
ig The heavy granite balustrade took up a large part of
> the standing room. Against the farther side of the nar-

 

row quarters crouched Rotherick and Esteban. Although
‘they were as far from Clancy as they could get, they
Were not more than a yard from the muzzle of the firearm
which he held outstretched in his right hand.

  
   

Overhead sailed the Bat. 3elow: on the qui. vive, was
Lee Song with the rifle. But the driver of the flyer and

  
 

TOP WEEKLY. 17

the Chinaman seemed both to be helpless so far as tak-
ing part in the present situation’ was concerned.

“Rotherick,” said Clancy firmly, “I want that portfolio
of plans.”

Rotherick had the flat, square.package in his hands,

“What right have you got meddling in this business?”
he demanded.. “It’s a matter that concerns me and Nor-
ton.”

“You are trying to steal Norton’s ideas, and profit by
them.”

“That’s what Norton tells you,” sneered the aviator.
“There are always two sides to a story, and you'd better
hear mine.”

“What is yours? Be quick, if you want to tell it.”

“I was Norton’s partner in this new aéroplane affair.
I had a half interest in his ideas, and he refused to share
them with me. I refused to stand for that sort of work,
and we split up.”

“Tf you split up,’ queried Clancy, “why don’t you leave
Norton alone?”

“Because I still consider that ' have a right to my half
interest in his invention.”
“He doesn’t think so.”

“Naturally, he doesn’t. I paid my good money down,
however, for the half interest, and I don’t intend to
let Norton beat me out of it. He and that girl of his
are no better than crooks. They c ;

“That will be about all of that, Rotherick!”’ cut in
Clancy sternly. “Norton and his daughter are-not crooks.
If you have a legal right to a share of Norton’s invention,

Why

 

then why don’t you let the courts settle the matter?
do you take the affair into your own hands?”

“That’s my business!” snapped Rotherick.

“It proves that you, and not Norton, are the crook.
You haven’t a legal right to anything. If you had, you'd
not be skulking around Camp Aéro at night, and tak-
ing what you want like a sneak thief. Rotherick, I'll
trouble you for those plans without further words.. Hand
them over or I’ll shoot!”

Clancy. had been giving his entire attention to Roth-
erick. The latter had. moved slightly away from_ his
Mexican companion, and this had afforded Esteban a
chance to make a treacherous move unchecked.

The Mexican flung up his right drm suddenly.
shot forward and released a stone.

Then, almost before the motor wizard knew what had
happened, his extended arm was struck bya flying missile
and dropped at his side. The six-shooter clattered to
the rocks. With a triuraphant yell, Rotherick and Esteban
jhurled themselves upon him.

A savage exclamation. escaped Clancy’s lips. He had
been caught napping. But, if he had fallen into a trap,
he was quick to do what he could to get out of it.

Rotherick snached up the fallen revolver. Clancy grabbed
at it, caught Rotherick’s arm, and the two fell against the
stone balustrade.

It was a rough fall, with the Mexican clutching furi-
ously at the motor wizard, losing his footing and taking
part in the ugly tumble., The revolver, which was the
bone of contention, was jarred from Rotherick’s fingers.
It fell from the lookout and dropped to the base of the-
cliff.

Clancy had now no weapon to aid him in his fight with
Bella, who was looking upward from

His hand

his two enemies.

below, and watching as well as she could, gave vent to a

  
 

 

 

18

stifled scream as she glimpsed the tangle of forms at
the edge of the lookout and saw the six-shooter fall:

“By gee Klismus,” muttered Lee Song, “my no likee!”

The Chinaman not only did not like the situation in the
lookout, but he liked his own helplessness less. He could
not use his rifle for fear of injuring Clancy.

The moment the revolver dropped, Clancy jerked away
from Rotherick, gave Esteban a kick as he was recovering
his balance, then leaped to pick up the package of draw-
ings. Rotherick had dropped the portfolio in jumping
to possess himself of the revolver.

“Stop him, Esteban!” shouted Rotherick,
him get the plans!”

The Mexican, however, was not able to stop Clancy.
The young motorist’s right arm was numb from haying
been struck with the stone, but he was making good use
of his left.

Snatching the portfolio from the rocks, Clancy flung,
it over the balustrade just as Esteban, from behind, caught
him in a viselike grip. Rotherick, seeing the package of
plans go sailing into space, eased his surcharged feelings
with an oath.

Clancy kicked and fought in the attempt to free himself
from the Mexican’s gripping arms, He struggled to such
good purpose that Esteban was thrown back against the
wall of the cliff. As the Mexican’s muscles relaxed, for
an instant, the motor wizard wrenched himself away,
struck Rotherick out of his path, and leaped to the top
of the balustrade.

This formation of stone encircled the shelf, and ran
out for a short way along the breast of the cliff. Clancy
retreated, his back to the granite wall, until he could
eo no farther, and another side-step would have dropped
him off into space. -He was some six feet from the look-
out station, and from below it loaked as though he was
merely plastered against the wall, and had no substantial
footing under him.

“Now we've got him, Esteban!” cried Rotherick, “Push
him off! The red-headed meddler has cooked our goose
for us, so why not cook his?”

“T will fix him!’ hissed the Mexican, and crawled to
the top of the balustrade.

Sping !

ee Song was still on the qui vive. He was now able
to do a little something for Clancy. The shifting about
of the figures on the overhead shelf had made it possible
for the Chinaman to use his rifle ta good advantage.

“Don’t let

A bullet whistled past Esteban’s ear, struck the face of
the cliff, and glanced singing off into space. A yell es-
caped the Mexican, and he dropped back into the lookout.

“That confounded chink is still on the job!” exclaimed
Rotherick. “But we have the bulge on this layout! As
long as we stay back of the rocks the chink can’t get at
us-—and we can get at Reddy. Look here, Esteban!”

Rotherick, sinking to his knees, picked up a stone the
size of his fist. | Partly rising, he flung the missile at
Clancy.

The stone struck the young motorist in the side. He
tottered, and seemed on the point of falling, but managed
to regain his balance. A loud laugh came from Rotherick
and the Mexican.

“I reckon we’re on top, now!” growled Rotherick, “I'll
give the girl my ultimatum. It’s either Reddy’s life, or
those plans—she can haves whichever she wants.”

NEW «TIP “TOP: WEEKLY. a

He pushed his hand over the curtain of stone, and
waved a white handkerchief.
over the balustrade. Only the Chinaman was below. The
girl was at the hangar, hurriedly filling the fuel. reservoir
of the Eagle.

“Hello, Charley!” yelled Rotherick.

“Makee hello you'self!” called back the Celestial.

“Clear out with that rifle and leave the plans where I
can get them. If you don't we'll knock this red-headed
friend of yours off the side of the cliff.”

“Maybeso you wait a li'l while, huh? Missy Bella come
back, then you makee talk with her. My no savyy one
piecee pidgin.”

Clancy, flattened out against the wall behind him, was
staring downward at the girl, and wondering why she was
making the Eagle ready for a flight. As he watched,
she pushed the aéroplane a little way out on the plateau,
started the propellers, hurried around, and dropped into
the driver’s seat, then lurched away in thé direction of the
brink of the precipice.

A moment later she was in the air.

CHAPTER XI.
A DARING RESCUE.

Claney had not been paying much attention to the Bat
since: he had ,.undertaken the ascent to the lookout, Now
he looked around and located Rotherick’s a¢roplane. hover-
ing aboye the plateau like a yulture.

As the Eagle rose, the Bat darted downward and crossed
above her, Then something happened which caused Claney
to catch his breath, and it sent a-thrill of apprehension
along his nerves.

The long rope, trailing from the bottom of the Bat,
fouled one of the guy wires of the Eagle. Both aéro-
planes suffered from the mischance. The Bat was tilted
downward and the Eagle was tilted sideways.

For a moment it looked as though disaster would over-
take each machine. The propellers shrieked, the rope
strained, and the aéroplanes fought and fluttered for re-
lease. Then a guy wire snapped, and the end of the rope
parted from the Eagle’s framework.

The broken wire did not incapacitate the Eagle, nor
cripple her in the least. The Bat, however, still had a
forward list, as she plunged away through the air.

The Bat’s pilot, concerned about the safety of the ma-
chine, steered at once for the top of the Peak. While
he was maneuvering for a landing, the Eagle began fol-

A moment later he looked —

lowing tactics which the Bat had followed, a little while’

before.

Clancy saw Bella lean forward and fling a long rope
downward. This rope, with end ‘attached to the
bottom of the flyer, reached far below.

In masterly fashion the girl brought the Eagle around
in a half circle and: skirted the brink of the cliff, high
above it and with the rope trailing toward the lookout
station.

“She's going to pick me off,’ thought the motor wiz-
ard, “just as the fellow in the other machine tried to
rescue Rotherick! Bella's a brick! If I can do my part
of it as well as she does hers, we'll get thé better of
Rotherick and his gang.’

The numbness had left Clancy’s right arm. He felt
that he was fit and ready to make the effort of his life
in catching the rope and hanging to it.

one

“~~
ri sneeit a Stl on

“-

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Sadness

*

ae le SR

se ify

 
NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

But that first trial was not a successful one. The Eagle
sailed so high that the end of the rope crossed the look-
out a dozen feet over Clancy’s head.

“The girl’s trying to snake him out of this bunch of
trouble!” whooped Rotherick. “Pry him off the cliffside,
Esteban! Stone him until he drops!”

“Ai,” shouted Esteban, “we take care of him!”

Then ithe two in the lookout began to heave missiles at
the motor wizard. Some missed him altogether, but
others struck him, and he was put to it to keep his
place on the narrow ledge of rock. ,

Bella knew that she had missed getting the rope into
Clancy’s hands, and she knew why she had missed. Bring-
ing the machine about, she sailed back for another trial.
Clancy saw her white, determined face as she rushed past.

‘She opened her lips and shouted something to him, but
the words were drowned in the wild clamor of the pro-
pellers. Clancy, thinking she was calling words of en-
- couragement, waved» his hand reassuringly.

Then, once more, the Eagle came gliding back. This
time the machine was lower. The motor wizard, straining
every nerve to meet the ordeal that lay ahead of him,
watched the trailing rope.

The rope seemed to jump at him out of space. It
twisted and writhed, so that- laying. hold of it was a
breathless and uncertain proposition.

Clancy knew, however, that it was either take a chance
on grabbing the writhing cable or stay where he was
until Rotherick and Esteban stoned him off the ledge.
With a final mustering of all his strength he launched him-
self straight out into space.

Then it was that. Clancy’s athletic training stood him in
good stead. He had a tremendous amount of strength for
a lad of his build, and he was as quick as a flash in using
his hands.

His fingers closed on the rope. The aéroplane was
proceeding at a rate of thirty or forty miles .an hour,

and Clancy was in the position of a person attempting to

leap aboard a train going at that speed.

‘There followed a jerk which almost unhinged his arms
at the» shoulders. The sudden addition of his weight
caused _the Eagle to go into a wild flurry. It tossed and
tumbled like a cork in a whirlpool.

- Calmly the girl’s hands passed from lever to lever, get-
ting the machine once more under control. Cool judgment
was hers, in that emergency, and, to her steadiness and
skill both she and Clancy owed their lives.

Clancy, ioo, owed much to himself. The lurching of
the Eagle tossed him with cruel force against the face
of the cliff. He was stunned and almost lost his senses,
but he hung to the rope like grim death.

Under Bella’s cool and clever manipulation; the Eagle
straightened out steadily on an even keel. She flew, per-
haps, even more steadily than she had done before, for
Clancy’s body, swinging far below, shifted with each
sidewise lurch, and overcame the unequal lift of the
planes.

Two thousand feet in the air!: This was Clancy’s situa-
tion as the Eagle dashed away from Spanish Peak. As

quickly as possible, however, Bella put about and came’

charging back to Camp Aéro.
She came just low enough to make it possible for the
_ motor wizard to drop to the surface of the plateau. The
rope was moving at a speed of forty miles an hour when

f

Clancy caught hold of it,
same speed when he let go.
The moment his feet struck the ground they were
whirled out from under him and he was flung headfirst
with cruel force. He rolled over and over for a dozen
yards, and when he opened his eyes several minutes had
elapsed, and Lee Song was supporting his head on one
knee, and Bella was dashing cold water in his face.

“Great Scott!’ Clancy exclaimed, lifting a hand to wipe
the water out of his eyes. “Are we all safe in camp
again, Bella?”

“Yes,” said the girl. “We took a long chance, Owen,
but fortune favored us.” :

“It. was the Clancy luck I mentioned to you, a while
ago. Where’s the portfolio of drawings?”

“My ketchee!” said Lee, holding up the flat package.

“Bully!” Clancy exulted, sitting up on the ground.
“Bella, you’re a crackajack! You can run that aéroplane
as well as your father. The trick that other crowd tried
to do, and failed to accomplish, we pulled off at the sec-
ond try, with ground to spare. But never again will I
jump out into space and try to grab a rope that’s dancing
a hornpipe.”

“You makee fine jump!” cried the admiring Lee Song.
“By gee Klismus, that’s fine -ketch! Whoosh! Just to
look makee China boy all goose flesh!”

“Where are Rotherick and the Mexican?” asked Clancy.

“They’re climbing the wall,” said Bella. “I think the
Bat was disabled when the drag rope fouled. the Eagle.
Anyhow, Rotherick’s machine had a bad tilt when it broke
away. The pilot took it up on the Peak.”

The motor wizard, lame and bruised from his rough
experiences, got to his feet, and looked toward the face
of the cliff. Two dark forms could be seen, climbing
steadily toward the top of the wall.

“Lothlick him bad egg, you bettee!” growled Lee Song.
“We foolee plenty good thisee time, though! Him tly
takee model, takee plans, but no gettee. Gettee tlouble fo’
pains. Him one piecee coyote, no good!”

and it was traveling at the

“It was your bravery,. Owen,” said Bella gratefully,
“that secured the drawings for us. It was a desperate
risk you took, but courage won.” ,

“I got hold of the plans by a fluke, and tossed them
away from the lookout,” returned Clancy; “but/ I was
backed into a fine corner when you came to my rescue
with that trailing rope. I think,” he laughed, “that I
am indebted to you for this auburn scalp of mine, Bella.”

“Let’s go and tell dad about it.. He has been all alone
in the house for a long time, and I’m sure he’s badly wor-
ried, It will make him happy to learn that we have secured
the model and the drawings.”

The three of them started at once for the house. They
found that Norton had worked his way across the. room to
a window that commanded a view of the plateau, and from —
the opening he had watched all that had taken place at
the lookout station. In fact, he had a better knowledge
of developments than either Lee Song or Bella, for he
had watched events through a pair of binoculars. :

“Clancy,” he called, as the party from the plateau en-
tered the door, “you are entitled to my everlasting: grati-
tude. It \was a fortunate thing for me that I insisted
on bringing you to Camp Aéro last night. + If I hadn’t,

_ Rotherick would have scored heavily against me.”

“T don’t know just how much good I have done you,

 
 

20 NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY:

Norton,” answered Clancy, “but I’m mighty glad Roth-
erick didn’t succeed in his underhand work.”

‘He's a scheming scoundrel,” said Norton, with a black
frown, “and I am going to bend every energy toward get-
ting the Acme completed and before the scientific world
at the very earliest date. That is the one thing that will
foil all of Rotherick’s black plots.”

“lm ready to do my part, Norton,” returned Clancy.
“Just show me what I’m to do and I’ll take hold.”

“You have had enough work and excitement for one
day, Clancy. The way you were pounded against that
cliff when Bella took you from the lookout, and the way
you hit the ground when you dropped from the rope on the
plateau, ought to entitle you to a month in the hospital.”

“We don’t always get what we're entitled to in this
world,” laughed the motor wizard. “I guess I’m too tough

to hunt a hospital after a bit of rough treatment. I can
go to work this afternoon, Norton.”
“J like your spirit, Clancy,” said the sky pilot. “I’m

going to give you a thousand dollars for your week’s
' work here, but I feel as though we owed you more than
that. Isn’t there something else we can do for you?”

“Yes,” was the answer.

Bella and her father both looked up quickly.

“What is it?” queried Norton.

“T want you to teach me how to drive an aéroplane,”
answered Clancy. “For years I've wanted to be an aviator,
and this is the first chance I’ve had to take any lessons
in the art of flying.”

“T’'ll teach you, Owen,” said Bella, flushing a little as
her eyes met the young motorist’s.

“Bella can handle a ntachine better than I can, Clancy,”
spoke up Norton; “You could not have a better instruc-
tor. If [ am any prophet, and judging from what I have
seen of you, under Bella’s guidance you'll become one of
the best aviators that ever handled a machine! You-——’

Clancy broke away from the group in the front room.
He went suddenly, picked up the rifle Lee had been using
that morning, and dashed through the outside door.

.

CHAPTER XII.
A BAFFLED ‘SCOUNDREL,

Through the window Clancy had seen the Bat, hovering
over the plateau as though getting ready to make a land-
ing. Thref men were huddied on the deck of the lower
plane—Rotherick, Esteban, and the pilot who had been
driving the car for Rotherick.

Repairs had been made on the top of the Peak. As
soon as Rotherick and Esteban had gained the crest,
the machine must have been almost ready to go on wing
again,

The minute Clancy had gained the center of the plateau,
he threw: the rifle to his shoulder and lifted the muzzle
to command the aéroplane,

“Keep away from here!” he roared.

Those aboard the machine changed their plans about
descending in Camp Aéro. Instead, they began cruis-
ing around in circles. Clancy could see that Rotherick
was using a pencil and paper—evidently writing a note.

A few minutes later, as the Bat swept over Clancy’s
head, no more than fifty feet in the air, a hand reached
out of the aéroplane and dropped a folded paper. It
came straight down, and the young motorist caught it
deftly. 0 5

The sheet was folded about an unused revolver cartridge.
This had given it weight, and caused it to drop into
Clancy’s hands instead of fluttering over the edge of the
precipice.

Dropping the cartridge, thé motor wizard smoothed out
the sheet and read the message Rotherick had sent him:
It ran as follows;

“Reppy: You are a nervy guy, and I rather like you.
Why do you want to tie up with old Norton? He’s about
on his last legs, and the chances are he won't live to
put his invention through. Get the portfolio of drawings
away from him and into my hands before the Acme is
completed, and I’ll see that you get five thousand dollars
in cash. If you are agreeable, waye your hat after fead-
ing this, I could be a mighty good friend to a promising
chap like you. RoTHERICK.”

The angry color rushed into Clancy’s. face. His eyes
gleamed angrily, and he crumpled the note in his fist and
cast it from him fiercely.

The Bat was still circling above the plateau while
Rotherick awaited the young motorist’s answer. He re-
ceived it in short order, although it certainly was not
the one he had been hoping for.

Clancy tossed the rifle to his shoulder and turned loose
a bullet at the aéroplane. The piece of lead tore its way
through both planes and went. whistling on into space. It
touched no one aboard the Bat, and Clancy ‘had not in-
tended that it should; but he did intend that it should in-
dicate his contempt for Anton Rotherick and his un-
scrupulous tricks, and that is what it did.

Esteban shook his fist at Clancy. Rotherick went far-
ther, and snatched a revolver from the belt of the man
who was driving the machine, and fired at Clancy,

The bullet kicked up the dust at the young motorist’s
feet, but did no further damage; Following this exchange
of warlike compliments, the Bat turned her head to the
south and west, and rapidly receded into the distance.

Clancy turned around and was surprised to see Bella
almost at his elbow.
note and was reading it.

“That’s a nice billet-doux for Rotherick to send me,”
growled Clancy. “Eh, Bella?”

“The girl looked up. There was a faint touch of color
in her cheeks and a soft glow in her large eyes.

“Dad and I wondered why you left the house in such a
hurry,” said she. “A moment later we saw you keeping
the Bat out of camp—and the mystery was explained.”

“{ wanted Rotherick to stay away from here. We've had
enough trouble with him for one day, I think.”

“He wrote this line and threw it down to you

“Why, yes. If he had been within reach, I should have
tried to knock him down.” .

a?

 

“It would have been possible, Owen,’ continued the
girl, “for you to do everything that Rotherick requested of
you. My father is laid up with a sprained ankle, and
Lee and I have so much faith in you that we would have
played entirely into your hands. You——”

“What do you take me for?” demanded Clancy, bristling.

A hint of a smile tugged at the girl’s lips.

“You could have delivered the drawings to Rotherick,”
she went on, “and have received five thousand dollars in
cash from him. That is four thousand more than you
are to get from dad, and you have to spend a week ,earn-

pe ae Aare tee tka eS
SPR Ae ON glk SU AN ae

es PH ere a Sacre td
Ee ache ai | GE eats EEE

The girl had picked up the crumpled’

en ye

 

 

 
NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

ing it. Yet—you did not wave your hat! Instead, you
put a bullet through both planes of the Bat.”

“Just to show how Rotherick’s proposition struck me,”
explained Clancy. :

Bella folded the note and put it away carefully, then
she reached out her hand to Clancy.

“Owen,” said she, “dad and I can trust you implicitly.
It is good to know that we have so loyal a friend. 1 was a
little in doubt until this moment, for dad told me last
night how he had taken you away from Phoenix by force.
I feared you might resent that.”

“T did resent it,’ returned Clancy, “until I got to
know your father better. My first impression of him
was not entirely satisfactory. 1 couldn’t understand why
he wanted to pay me a thousand dollars for a week’s
- work—if the work was honest. He wouldn’t explain, and
that is why | refused his offer. liam glad now’ that
he brought me away by force.’ The young motorist
laughed. “I'll not only earn a thousand dollars, but I’ye
already had an exciting time. In addition to that, Bella,
| you are going to teach me the knack of flying. I’m com-
ing out a big winner in this little game of your father’s.”

He shook her hand cordially.

“Come over to the work yard,” said Bella, moving off
across the plateau, “and I'll show you where you are to
install the engine for dad. You shall have your first
glimpse of the Acme, the craft that is to revolutionize
the art of flying. If I teach you how. to manage the Eagle,”
she said to him archly, oyer her shoulder, “you'll have to
learn all over again when you try to handle a machine
like dad’s new one.”

“Ts the Acme so much harder to manipulate?” asked
the motor wizard.
| “No, with that machine there is nothing to learn, and
“that is the beauty of

Together they came to the gate of the work yard. Bella
produced a key, unlocked the gate, and pushed it open.

Clancy followed her into a large space completely walled
around with the high stone fence. In the middle of the
-inclosure stood the Acme. ;

So far as Clancy could see, at the first cursory glance,
the aéroplane was not so much different from an ordi-
_nary machine of the type of the Eagle. Bella, however,
‘took him close, and pointed out a peculiar contrivance in
the center of the lower plane, She called it a “stabilizer,”
and said that its function was to keep the aéroplane poised
steadily during flight, in spite of contrary air currents.

“The stabilizer,” said Bella, “is the whole secret of

‘dad’s invention. He claims—and I believe he is correct—

that the stabilizer will make aviation as safe as automobil-

_ ing. ‘The Acme, when finished, will afford the proof of
‘that. Your work, Owen, is to put the engine into the

flyer.”

_ "Where is the engine?” the young motorist asked,
“Over there, under the shed at the side of the work

yard.” .

; Clancy went oyer to the shed and examined the en-
‘ine carefully. It was small, light, and powerful. It
as beautifully made, and put together like a watch.
The motor wizard’s eyes glowed with delight as he

loo ked the engine over. His pleasure in the motor was

great that it drew a laugh from Bella.

“T'm beginning to understand now,” said the girl,

hy they call you the rhotor wizard. You are bruised

battered from all the exciting and dangerous work

of this morning, and yet you are able to enthuse over an
aéroplane engine.”

“Gasoline motors are the joy of my life, Bella,” re-
turned Clancy. “I would rather work with them than do
anything else on earth. I’m glad they use them in flying
machines! You can bet that if I have the making of a
sky man in me I am going to be one:”

“Have you thought of the danger of flying?”

“Danger? What danger?”

She smiled.

“Well, there’s always a chance that something may go
wrong while you’re up in the air. That’s a risk an avia-
tor has to take.”

"I'll take it. I guess that if a person uses a little horse
sense he can get along in the air as well as anywhere —
else.”

This reply seemed to amuse Bella. A little later they
left the work yard, locked the gate, and returned to the
house.

“I(have been showing Owen the wate where he is to
work, dad,” said Bella.

“What do you think of the Acme, Clancy?” inquired
Norton.

“IT can tell you more about that after I have worked
on her for a while,” said the young motorist... “This fly-
ing-machine deal is pretty new to me, and I want to get
better acquainted with it before I pass out any opinions.”

“That’s the way I like to hear a young fellow talk,” re-
turned Norton, with hearty approval. “If there is one
thing I dislike more than another, it is a snap judgment.
Sut what did Rotherick want?” the sky pilot asked. “You
wouldn’t allow him to land and he threw a note down to”
you.”

“Here’s the note, dad,” said Bella, handing the crumpled
scrap to her father. “Read that and then you'll know
what Rotherick wanted.”

Norton read the note and anger rose in his face. |

“That is the scoundrel, over and over again!” he mut-
tered. “But you didn’t wave your hat, Clancy.” es

“No,”

put in Bella, “he fired a bullet werongy ‘the two
wings of Rotherick’s machine.”

“And Rotherick returned the compliment with a shot
from a revolver,” said Norton. “I saw all that from the
window.” ' ;

’

“That expressed our feelings for each other,” observed |
Clancy, “so I guess neither has a doubt as to how the
?
other ‘stands. I amon the side of the -Nortons,” he
laughed, “and there is war between me and Rotherick.” —
“You have no hard feelings over the way I enlisted.
your aid in helping me with the new aéroplane?” \

“No. I think, Norton, I,am beginning to vasderdiinal
you better.”

“What will- your partner say?’

‘Lafe will feel all right after. I get back to Phoenix
and explain.”

“And you'll begin installing the motor in the sonia

“I’m going to be on the job this afternoon,” replied
Claney, with finality. “The quicker I get to work the’
sooner the Acme will be ready for a trial flight, and the.
quicker you will beat out this sascally Reverie in his.
black schemes.”

Norton reached out his hand gratefully. As he cial

the sky pilot's thin palm, Clancy's eyes wandered to |

smiling and pmapes* ie of ae

 
 

22 NEW TIP

CHAPTER XIII.
CLANCY EARNS HIS THOUSAND.

Clancy put in a pleasant and busy week at Camp Aéro.
He worked slowly, and only a few hours each day. Part
of the day was spent in discussing aviation matters with
the sky pilot, and the early morning was put in with
Bella, learning' how to manipulate the Eagle.

The motor wizard picked up the knack of flying as if
by magic. It seemed to come to him almost as a second
nature.

The fourth morning he dropped over the brink of the
plateau alone in the aéroplane, and flew back and forth
for several minutes. He came back to earth in splendid
fashion, and was complimented highly by Bella.

“By the end of the week, Owen,” said the girl,
know more about flying than I do.”

“That’s mighty kind of you, Bella,”
“but I guess you’re a little wide of your trail.
think I’m going to make a sky pilot?”

“There’s no doubt of it.”

“Hooray! I’m thinking of hangar
joor to the Square-deal Garage, and keeping aéroplanes
for hire, the same as we keep automobiles. I wonder
how that would take?”

“The general public isn’t educated sufficiently in the
use of aéroplanes to make such a scheme a success,”
laughed Bella.

“Anyway,” said Clancy, “a hangar with an aeroplane or
two would be lots of fun, and it’s a venture that might
prove profitable. But, very likely,” he added,
a dream.”

At the end af: the week the engine had been installed,
and the work had passed the critical examination, and
been given the approval of the sky pilot.

“Tt’s a difficult job well done, Clancy,” declared Nor-
ton, after limping around the new aéroplane with the
support of a crutch. “I knew you were the fellow for
the work the moment I saw you.”

“When are you going to try the Acme out?”

“Not until my ankle will permit me to do the driving
myself. I won’t allow any one else to risk his neck in
her on the first trip. I think the craft will prove equal
to my high opinion of her, but only a trial can settle
that point.”

Clancy was disappointed. He had hoped to'see the new
néroplane in flight, and to know whether or not it was
a success before he went back to» Phoenix.

This pleasure was denied him, however.
him to question
matter.

On the night that saw the work completed, Bella made
ready the Eagle and took Clancy back to Phoenix. It
was nine o’clock when the aéroplane left Spanish Peak.
With a favoring wind at her back, the craft dropped to
earth on the vacant ground by the Hassayampa at ten
o'clock,

“You can get back all right, Bella?” Clancy asked.

The girl laughed.

“T have made this trip a dozen times, Ceca.’ she an-
swered, “and always at night. It is easy. Dad will have
the beacon burning for me, and I'll have no trouble at
all making a landing.”

“Well, I’ll help you get. started back, anyhow,” de-
clared Clancy.

“you'll

replied Clancy,
You ‘really

building a next

“it’s only

It was not for
Norton’s reasoning or desires in the

AT ALES DR NN Iie” ee

* oh Rate i ;
NA EAR MOR Cn ho rere e

TOP -WEERLY.

The girl stepped into the mathine and sank into the
driver’s seat. Before Clancy cranked the engine,. she
reached out her hand to him.

“Good-by, Owen,” she said, and there was regret in her
voice that was not at all displeasing to the young mo-
torist.

“Good-by,” He answered. “If you need a motor wizard
again, Bella, don’t forget to call on Owen Clancy.”

“You may be sure we shall not.”

The engine sputtered as Clancy pulled at the propellers,
then the popping became steadier, and the propellers
thrashed the air at lightning speed, and. the Eagle glided
off and presently rose into the air,

Clancy watched until the vague shape had faded from
sight among the stars. Then he turned and started for
town.

There was a thousand dollars in his pocket. And in
his heart there was a pang of regret over the parting from
Bella Norton.

THE END,

Chock-full of “excitement and adventure is “Owen
Clancy and the Air Pirates; or, The Motor Wizard’s Trail
in the Clouds,” which is the title of the story that you
will find in the next issue of this. weekly, No. 84, out
March 7th,

Only a few years ago this story of adventures in the
air would have been thought to have been a dreamer’s
impossible romance, but to-day it is as probable as your
ability to talk over the telephone or to drive about in
an automobile. For the aéroplane has come to stay, and
it is no wild prediction to say that many of the readers
of this weekly, and at no very distant date, will think
as little about flying as their fathers do to-day about
riding in a motor car.

TROUBLE TO LOAN.

By R. KEENE THOMPSON.
SYNOPSIS OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS. .

Barlow, a country chap from the West, is seeking a
job in New York. One day he stops a runaway. A
pleasant-faced stranger, who has witnessed the action,
addresses him, and offers him a job to take care of some
horses on their way West.

Barlow, who has been “touched” for his pocketbook
with all the money he possessed, is forced to accept.

He meets in a restaurant a little chap who tells him
how his pocketbook was stolen, and Barlow in return
tells him of his new job.

CHAPTER III.
THE WHEELS BEGIN ‘TO TURN.

It was promptly at the end of fifteen minutes that he
rejoined Smith in the latter’s room. He found that person-
age pacing the ,floor in evident impatience, and caught
a look of relief on his face as he entered the door.

“All ready now?” the man asked.

“Whenever you are, sir!” answered Barlow.

“Get your necessities?”

“T bought a toothbrush—all I'll need, I guess,”
replied.

His employer nodded.

the other

ee

ne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

th
\
fis

OT

tie
NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

“Then we'll start!’ he said briskly

On the way to Jersey City by street car and ferry
low received these bald

“All I want of you, Jack, is that you get these animals
delivered in the town where you come from safe and
sound. That’s all. When you get to Stillwater you'll find
a man waiting for you. A man called Hock. Remember
that name; make a note of it. H-o-c-k, Hock. You turn
over thé horses to him, understand. Just say that ‘Smith’
sent ‘em—that’s all you'll need to do. After that your
job’s- over and done with.”

By this time they had entered the freight yards of
the Jersey Central Railroad, It was fast growing dark.
Which accounted for Barlow’s companion bumping into a
figure that was hurrying toward the gate—the figure of
a man, in a long, gray dust coat, with a cigar pushed into
which was hidden in the

Bar-
instructions:

gloom

g

one corner of his face,
from Barlow’s’ eyes.

“Bill!” the latter exclaimed,

Smith turned to the

“Just a minute,” he said.

He walked away for a few feet with Mr. Gray Duster.

There was a whispered colloquy, which terminated in

snicker from thé last-named man.

“Go ’way!”

‘Don't believe me, then.”

“Him—well, if you haven't got the nerve!”
Sth!” the other warned. “Got your art
ished?” ~

Evidently he received an answer in the affirmative.

“Good, How about the pass?’

Gr wor. tts

“Hand her over!”

There was a rustle of something.

“Now, you beat it!” said Smith.

The man in the dust coat turned in the direction from
- which he had come, and his form blurred out in the sur-
‘rounding darkness almost immediately.

“Here,” said the other, rejoining Barlow.
in your pocket,”
He handed him a slip of thin paper, which the latter
_ glanced at and then tucked away.
-“Come along,” said Smith. “I’ve got to hunt up the
yardmaster around this place somewhere.”
They walked on between the rows of loaded track. Soon
they found the official Barlow’s companion sought, direct-
ing two or three workmen beside an engine.
“Well?” growled the foreman of the yards, turning at
the horse shipper’s. touch on his shoulder. “What d’ye
want?”
 “Noy’ve got a carload of horses belonging to me that
are being freighted out ne here to-night,” said the man
‘with the twinkling eyes. “There is an even half dozen
‘of them——”

JT know,”

ifi\a hoarse undertone.

young fellow «beside him.

work fin-

“Put, that

interrupted ‘the other, turning away. “You
“No, eight thousand and eight.”

The yardmaster stopped.

_ "I said four thousand and four.”

“Well, prare wong Sep R the other coolly.

fee ‘only one load of cin ses in these. here. yards,”
said the official. “You've got a car of them on the track?
“ha then, is what I say, and

“You're mistaken. I ought to know the number of it,
oughtn’t I? It’s mine,” .

The yardmaster was getting mad,

“T guess I know what cars are here in my yard, and
what cars ain't,” he snapped. “Do you think I’m any-
body’s fool? Haven't I got my waybills'to look at?”

“Why don’t you take a look at this one, then?” said
Smith, his tone. oily. “What number car does that call
for?”

He held out a folded shipping order. The other snatched
it out of his hand, As he looked it over, his face clouded
with a mixture of mystification and surprise.

“T’d have sworn he began

Then he threw up his head and looked around him at
the freight trains lining both sides of the alley where they
stood between the tracks. ‘Walking briskly forward, he
scanned the sides of the cars in a long train‘at his left.

Before one car he stopped. It was shaped like the grain
and refrigerator. cars coupled to it at both ends. Yet
with the difference of two slat-blind windows set into
the sides, one each to the right and left of the rolling
door in the center. ;

A-whinny sounded. from. within.
back and looked up at a cabalistic sign stenciled
paint on the brick-red boards of the car side:

“Number eight thousand and eight.”

He scratched his ear.

“T’d have sworn,” he repeated blankly,
that——”

He paused to give vent to a generous sample of his
talents in that line.

“Tad have taken my oath,” he continued, evidently much
relieved, “that. there car was numbered four thousand and
four. It ain’t often there’s a-car with such a low set
of figgers comes in here; that’s why I paid particular
heed to it.”

He squinted his eyes up at the lettering. Then he looked
back at the paper in his hands. And slowly he shook his
head.

“It’s darn funny!” he mused.

“But was I right?” broke in the man. with the briglit
eyes.- “Is the number of that car eight thousand and eight, «
or isn’t it?”

“You win!” said the yardmaster.
thing goin’ wrong with my sight.”
“Better have it attended to!” Smith laughed, as they
turned away. ioe
Barlow paused a moment in indecision. Then, curi-
ous, he drew nearer to that car. ,There had been a glare,
from an engine headlight thrown on the side wall of the
vehicle, giving a queer look to the figures
from where he had been standing, and——
Reaching up on tiptoe, the young man put his ‘Sahil ta:
the first eight on the line. Drawing the digit away, he.

looked down at it.

Wet paint—a smudge of it came off the Soise he had
touched,

This was queer.
were walking off some little way ahead of him along the
edge of the tracks, So he wiped the paint off his thumb —
upon his handkerchief, and hurried after them, not. want- —
ing to risk separating himself from his employer. i

“Well, your car’s all right. It's made up in the train
that’s bound for eee erie pee,

The. officer. stepped
in white

“I'd have sworn

“There must be some-

 

in question —

But the yardmaster and Mr. Smith |
 

came up behind him with the other man falling into step at
their heels.

“What are you fussin’ about, I’d like to know?”

“T’ye changed my mind about sending the horses South.”

The official stopped.

“You've done—what?” he said.

“I’m not going to send that car to\ Vailsburg,”
Smith. “Changed my mind about it, you know.”

The yardmaster snorted.

repeated

“Lemme tell you something, mister. You can change
your mind all you like; nobody’s goin’ to stop you. But
you don’t change the destination of your car so easy—not
by a blame’ sight!”

“No?”

“Nit! Before you do that bit of changin’, you'll do a
leetle mite more. You'll git your waybill changed first.
And that you can’t do this night, cause the office is
closed. See?”

“Let me have it again.”

The boss: of the freight yards drew out the shipping
order and passed it over to the man, whose eyes, by
this time, were twinkling more than ever. He spread out
the paper again and refolded it differently.

“What’s the first thing that meets that weak sight of
yours?” he asked, handing the thing back. “There, on the
line below that fresh crease?” :

The yardmaster looked at the bill.

“Stillwater, Minnesota,” he read. “Well——”

“Before you were so excited over the number on that
order for my car,’ ’ explained the former, “that you didn’t
look at anything else.
destination—you see?” °

The other nodded slowly.

“You've been to the freight office already,” he said.

“T had a new shipping direction made out before I
came to see you, of course,” Smith remarked. “I know
something about this business: myself, friend. I used to
work, once upon a timé, for a certain railroad that I don’t
need to mention just now!”

The yardmaster waved the order wildly.

“Well, what d’ye want me to do?” he demanded com-
plainingly.

“Is there a train leaving. for the West to-night?”

“One goes out inside an hour.”

“Another through freight?”

“Ves,”

“Well, will you oblige me by coupling my car to it?”

The man’s request was put most pleasantly.

“Now, look here!” snapped the railroader. “You know
something about this business, you say. Don’t you know
that this gives me a lot of extry work? I’ve got to tear
that South freight all to pieces to get your car uncoupled.
And then I’ve got to split another whole train in half
to hook your car on. That’s a job fer you. That’s a EC

The other held up his hand. In, it something crinkled
with tempting suggestiveness.

“T understand,” said he, permitting his hand to en-
counter that of the yardmaster, and then drop down at
his side.. “This is going to put you to a whole bunch of
bother. But that car’s got to start West to-night. And
you'd oblige a friend by having your coupling crew get
busy on it right off, wouldn’t you?”

The other scratched his ear again.

“Well,” said he, “seein’ as how you used to be a rail-
road man’’—he put the tip in his pocket—“and know how

 

NEW TIP TOP WE

But now, when you hunt for the,

  

 

   

TEKEY

“T'll see what I can do for

it is yourself”—he grinned—
you!”

Suddenly he became charged with activity.

“But that westbound train leaves before an hour,” he

muttered. “Time’s awful short. I’ve got to git all-fired
busy on the job. I’ll look around for’you in a half hour
or so——”

With that he hurried away.

Barlow walked back with his companion to the other
end of the yard. Neither of them talked much during
the wait. Smith was supposedly occupied with thoughts

of getting his carload of horses on the road to their des-

tination, while Barlow was full of thoughts of his new
job.

The car about which so much fuss was being made
was to be his home during the next five or six days. A
rolling lodging, it was to be, traveling over the country
with him in it as ihe caretaker for a half. dozen’ dumb
beasts.

What he had seen of the domicile, the outside of it,
hadn’t prepossessed him in its favor as. a.permanent resi-
dence. Barlow wondered how he was going to’find it as
even a temporary shelter and vehicle back home.

“All ready, boss!”

A brakeman Was calling to them.
down a different track from the one on which the car had
been standing before. This time it was only three from
the end of a shorter freight, sandwiched between a coal
car. and an ordinary freighter.

“We pull out right away,” announced the brakeman,
leaving Barlow and his boss beside the partly A door
of the box car.

The latter held out his hand.

“Well, Jack,” he said, “I’ll look to you to take good
care of the horses, deliver them,in condition to Hock. at
the end of your run, and don’t let anything happerf to. you
or them. All you have to do is easy: I don’t need*to tell

you how to water and feed your charges, for you a

>

know about that——’
He broke off.
sound of footsteps.
“Get aboard!” said. Smith, in an undertone. :
—you’re going to start soon, Inside the car!”

“Hurry. up

Barlow clambered up and stood in the apertyse, of the

rolling door, looking down at the other.

“Here!”

Smith pulled out his roll e bills. From the outside
of it he hastily peeled off several ee

“Here’s twenty- five dollars,” he said. “That will pay
your expenses.”

He handed up the money. Barlow took it without eoutit:
ing and put it away.

“Spend what you have to for yourself out of that,” catne
the whisper. “You won’t need to buy feed, grain, or hay;
it’s all in the car, plenty of it. Whatever you don’t have
to use for your own meals and so on, keep—it’ll be a few
dollars to put you on your feet when you land home in
your own town.”

He reached up and shook hands with the young man
again. .

“Good-by,” said he. “Good-by, good luck, and——”

And the next minute, to Barlow’s sprprise, he_let go
of his hand with a muffled exclamation and disappeared
in a twinkling along the’side cf the track.

A queer farewell. A queer business all around, this was

     

They followed him:

From somewhere in-their rear came: the:

  

 
  

 

   
   
   
     
  
 
   
   
  
   
  
   
   

 

 

 
  
 
 
  

 
  

beginning. to look. He had been the victim of crooked-
ness once to-day: Barlow wondered

But, pshaw! Broke, penniless—except for the few dol-
lars which the person, himself, who was sending him on
this trip: had given him—what mischief could anybody
be plotting at his expense?

He strained his eyes out of the doorway of the car
for a sight of the man who had just left him. If he
could have caught hold of him again he would have ques-
tioned him about that incident of the wet paint on the
> lettering of the car. But “Smith” had effectually disap-
peared.

This train was leaving almost at once.

 

 

It was now or

never for Barlow to decide whether he would stick on

his job. The thought that it was his only chance to get
} home—and that if he didn’t return at once he would lose
} his position in Stillwater—made him determine to under-
j take the journey in spite of everything.

Stepping inside, he rolled the door shut against intru-
sion. Then he looked about him.

By the light of a lantern hanging on the wall, he saw
in the forward end of the car the six horses, tethered to a
pole running lengthwise of the conveyance. Another
pole, extending widthwise of the car, spaced off a small
area in the rear which Barlow presumed he was to occupy
for sleeping and other purposes.
| At-any rate, there was a bundle of blankets, or some
such stuff, thrown down here against the end wall of the
Near that looked like a bed of primitive kind.

Sward this pile of clothing. ‘
© Then he stopped, at a sudden, authoritative pounding
| on the door.
es. “Well?” he called, his own voice sounding strange and
» hollow in the reverberating wooden inclosure. ‘“What’s
= wanted?”

“Open the door,”

E He crossed the floor, shuffling through the stray wisps
©) Of hay which littered it, and unfastened the sliding portal.
Sticking his head out, he looked down at a man in a slouch
» hat, overalls, and greasy jumper.

© “Well?” Barlow repeated.

“What are you doin’ in there?” demanded this person
_ Sharply.

“*Tending to business,” the other replied, his tone curt.
“I’m the caretaker of the horses in this car.”

“You are?” half incredulous.

“T am.”

Le “Pass?”

"> He frowned a moment, perplexed.

| “Who was it?” he asked. “I didn’t see anybody go by.”
> “Pass—your pass !” the former exclaimed, staring at him
) harder than ever. “Where is your license to ride in that

.

a car. I’m the conductor. If you’ve got a pass, hand it

 
    
  
   
   
   
 

 

He stepped

 

  

Of course! He dug out of his pocket the slip of paper
he had received from the man with the merry eyes. Bar-
low remembered now that he had heard a mention of the
word when his companion had met that fellow in the dust
coat and taken this paper from him.

“There you are!” And he handed the thing down to
the man below him.

As the latter took it, glanced it over carefully, and began
inching it, the young man looked at him.

This shabby, poorly Wressed fellow was a conductor—

 

  
  
  

 

 

  

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

NEW TIP TOP WEERDY: 25

species to the resplendently uniformed members he had
encountered when he came East. But he forgot that he
was traveling after a different style himself, now!
As the man handed Barlow back the perforated pass,
he gave the latter an additional survey, remarking:
“Shaved since I seen you.”

What? Evidently it was some slang phrase, that was all,
thought Barlow. He wasn’t familiar with it, so he said
nothing.

“We get under way at once,” the conductor flung over
his shoulder, starting off. “Git your door locked again,
an’ look out fer tramps on the first ten miles !”

The other heard him go down the line of cars, pound-
ing at the doors, his footsteps dying away on the cinders
under the ties. Then began a series of jolts.

Bump! C-c-crunch! Biff-bang! Bump!

The wheels were moving. Well, he was under. way,
bound-on as strange a journey as he could have imagined
himself taking in his wildest dreams, even so short a time
before as that morning.

Barlow didn’t regret his departure from the scene of his
cold-shouldering in the pursuit of a New. York job. He
was glad he was going away from the unfeeling place
that had shattered his hopes—and whipsawed him out of
his money.

And he didn’t feel any. particular shame for the way. in
which he was returning home—stranded and shipped back
by freight. One good thing, there wouldn’t be any. friends
with a band to meet him at the Stillwater station to “rub
ae edtice

But——

What he didn’t like about this trip was its lack of
something to do. For the best part of a week Barlow
was going to be cooped up in the car with some few
horses which he could attend to in ten minutes every day.
The rest of the time was going to hang pretty heavy on
his hands.

And he wished it wasn’t going to be so monotonous, so
tiresome, so uninteresting !,

CHAPTER IV.
AN UNINVITED COMPANION.

Barlow didn’t know what time*it was when he woke up.

Neither did he know where he was for a minute when,
rousing bolt upright on the couch of blankets—or what-
ever,it was on which he was lying in his end of the car
—he' looked wild-eyed about him in his strange surround-
ings.

Somebody was in the car with him.

Somebody besides the horses. Somebody shared his oc-
cupancy of the rapidly moving box who was human—hu-
man, he knew, because the thing that had stirred him
from his slamber was a sound that no animal had ever
made.

It was a snore.

“Who's there?” he called, his voice sounding very thin, .
pitched as it was at the unknown hidden in the semigloom ©
of the lantern-lit interior.

There was no answer. No sound fell on his listening
ear but the creak of the springs and the clatter of wheels
under him; the champ-champ of a restless hoof in the hay
from the horses’ quarters; and just then the eerie moan
of the whistle on the engine ahead announced an approach-
ing grade.

   
26 NEW
Getting slowly to his feet, he groped his way forward.
Bending over the horizontal pole that separated his por-
tion of the car, he peered here, there, seemingly every-
where that anything bigger than a very small boy could
hide from view.
He saw no one.

It was a mistake. As he laid himself down again on

his improvised bed, Barlow told himself that there was
nobody there; he had simply dreamed that snore, nothing
else.

Perhaps it was five miriutes later, maybe more, when he
woke the sécond time. Again he heard a sound—quick
breathing near him. Sleepily he rolled over on his side,
reassuring himself that the disturbance was caused by the
air brakes underneath the car.

The passage of air through the pipes had sounded like
a snore before, now imitated some one’s breathing.

He dozed off once more.

Smash!

In the midst of his sleep, the lantern overhead crashed
down in-Barlow’s face!

Luckily, though the light went out, the glass only cracked,
did not break; the only damage beyond an imaginable
shock which he received was a scratch of two on cheek
from the wire framework surrounding the

and nose

chimney.

Leaping to the middle of the space at the rear end of:

the car, surrounded now by a darkness that was total,
Stygian, he stood with nerves a-quiver.

Somebody was with him. He was sure of ‘that now.
The lantern had never dropped of its own accord; some-
body in reaching it down had dropped Who was it?
Who was with him?

TO BE CONTINUED.

PATAGONIA.
The land called Patagonia is called Tsonecas by the na-
tive tribes. Patagonia is the name given by Magellan,

and ‘means “duck+footed.”| The natives wear, *or did wear
‘when Magellan’s men saw them, boots without soles, or
long gaiters, made of guanaco skins, with the yellowish
fur turned outward, the leg being covered from the knee
‘downward, the fur coming over the top of the foot, leaving

the toes sticking out; hence the name. They are of In-

dian extraction, of fine. muscular development—although
not giants, as once supposed—and are of about the’ same
grade of intelligence as the North American Indians.’ The

country is a vast treeless plain, except near the coast and
the Straits of Magellan. Chite now rules-a narrow strip
‘on the west coast, and the remainder is a*part of the
Argentine Republic, the island of Terra del Fuego being
jointly owned by these two powers.

%

 

WILD ANIMALS WHICH .COST THE MOST
MONEY.

Those animals which are most difficult to obtain bring
the largest prices in the market. A full-grown gorilla
would in this country, if euch an animal were obtainable,
cost, it is said, not less than $30,000, owing to the fact
that these animals have not become sufficiently acclimatized
_in Europe to enable them to attain full growth. The $10,-
‘000 given by the late P. T. Barnum for the old favorite

TIP TOP WEEKLY.

 

elephant, Jumbo, was the highest price ever paid for a
wild animal. Barnum, it may be mentioned, realized over
$200,000 by exhibiting Jumbo in America, and if poor
Jumbo had not been run into by an engine while, traveling
through the country he woutd have been the means ‘of
swelling the bank account of the circus people. Two speci-
were sold not long. ago for $7,000
The value of a good, large hip-
$5,000. Giraffes are also ex-
pensive animals, costing nearly $4,000 each. It is unfor-
tunately one of the most delicate. animals, and requires
A good elephant is worth in Europe
well-trained animal will bring
and at time. A pair of
zebras which came from the hills of South Africa recently
cost $2,300; full-sized lions are to be had for from $500
to $1,500 each; a first-class pair of tigers would cost $1,500.
The largest and best specimens of snakes sell up to $5,000
each.

mens of the rhinoceros
and $6,000, respectively.
popotamus is reckoned at

the greatest care.
from $2,000 to $3,000; a

a higher price anywhere, any

CHINESE TRIALS.

The manner in which trials are conducted in Chinese
courts would be a startling surprise to all who have not
personally attended a court scene. Torture is always re-
sorted to in order to compel the accused to declare him-
self guilty of the charge against him, and to such an ex?

tent is it carried that it often results in either causingy™

the death of the accused or else maiming him for life.

A LOST CIVILIZATION.

In the deserts of Chinese Turkestan the sands. have

buried a vast civilization that was forgotten for centuries.
The dry. sand preserved intact numbers of manuscripts
in an.unknown language written in unknown. characters,
These M, Gauthiot, a Frenchman, has managed. to de-
cipher by the fortunate finding of fragments that had notes
in other known languages. This discovery, it is expected,
will lead to the world’s gaining a much further knowledge
of the lost country, Sogdiana, and its people.

CURED OF THE CHEESE HABIT.

A ‘grocer ‘in the upper part’ of ‘the State onze. cured
a cheese-loving baker of his pilfering propensities, «

On the grocer’s counter there stands at all. times: the
half or more ofa cheese, with small parings, the: excess
of sundry pounds:and half: pounds, placed: on the top. ”

The baker used to drop in several:times during the day
for a talk.. During the conversation he would. merely, as
a sort of digression, lift a paring or two and eat them as if
through absence of mind.

The grocer at last began to look at it in the asriael of
a loss.

One day when the shop was pretty full of chstomers,
he spied the baker making his way to his premises.

He therefore placed a small thin paring of yellow soap
on the top of the cheese. After a few moments’ conversa-
tion, the fish seized the bait.

Foam gathered on his lips, his eyes rolled in his head,
and his face assumed a greenish hue.

Hurriedly muttering that he had
bolted from the shop. «
\He has called since, but never touches cheese.

  
    

i. co Riles ha

man to meét, he

pa atl Ag Ss sane ila ca aE

alae TA

      

44

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saa;

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j
ver j S
oor ;
ing
of j
*Ci- i
p00 «Se
‘ip ;
x. a
or- ‘i
res .
ype 4
ing
of { Questions from a Canadian Reader.
tly 4% Proressor FourmMEN: Will you be kind enough to tell me
oP what my right measurements should be? I am 63.1 inches
es 4 in height. I have been a reader of the New Tire Top
2 Weexty for over a year, and I enjoy reading it more

than anything that I have ever read.
Toronto, Canada. GrorcE WILSON.
Your correct measurements should be: Weight, 107.5

$e © pounds; girths: neck, 12.4 inches; chest, contracted, 30.4
‘ot ‘inches; chest, expanded, 32.9; waist, 25.3; forearm, 9.2;
e+ upper arms, down, 8.6; upper arms, up, 10.2; thighs, 17.3;

Calves, 11.9.

: Parents Like “Tip Top,” Too.

| When I first began reading Tip Top, four years ago,
My parents thought that, perhaps, I was not reading good
Stories. I was so sure that I *was, that I gave one of
@ weeklies to my father to read. There was a rattling
Bod baseball story in it. Father is a fan. Guess you
an see what the result was! Yes, he thought it was the
Jest ball story he had ever read, and he buys me Tip Top
Nevery week now. Mother likes the weekly, too. She
es riot care for baseball very much, but she says that
she can find in every story a mighty good moral.

Newark, N. J. Harry HeEnperson.
Well, you played in luck, did you not, Harry? You
have pleased the whole family, and you get Tre Top for
nothing now.

From a New Friend,
@ While I have been a reader of the New Tir Top WEEKLY

 
  
   

doi; a for only six months, I have not missed buying it since I
© bought my first number. The stories are certainly the
mo best that I have ever read. I think that Owen Clancy is
ae a fine fellow, and I know that all your readers are~fol-
‘lowing with the greatest interest his efforts to make good.
y ‘I hope that you will find a place in the columns of the
$ weekly for this letter, though I am only a new friend.
f Charleston, N. C. Peter WILLETs.
; Mighty glad to have you in the fold, Peter. We can

  

now. always find a place in Trp Top for letters from our
Teaders.

  
  

Likes Running the Best.

I have been/a reader of Tip Top for six years, and I
‘am still finding as,much interest in it as I ever did; in
fact, I think that I can truthfully say that as time goes
n I like the weekly more and more. Of course, I like
Msome of the stories better than others. It is only natural
. that certain athletic evgnts appeal to one reader more than
' to another. Some of us like stories about track events, and

   
  
  
  
   
  

 

 

Personally, I am more interested

some about field events.
in stories about foot races, because running is the ath-

letic pastime that I like best. I hope that in the spring
there will be some. more cross-country stories.
New York. Joun Gray.
You have chosen an athletic event that you can have a
lot of fun out of, John, and one that you can enjoy all by
yourself. Here is hoping that you win health and fame
with it!

Cute for Insomnia.

ProFessor FourMEN: I suffer a great deal from insomnia.
Will you please tell me what is a good cure for it? I
am mighty glad that we can now ask you questions about
our health and about athletic subjects again.

Boston, Mass. SESS.
Insomnia, contrary to most medical advice, ‘is easily
cured. In most instances, sleeplessness is caused by a

strain on the nerves. Bathing is essential, and light ex-
ercise before retiring is almost always beneficial. We
have known sleepless persons to get up and take a two or
three-mile walk in the night, and, after doing this, they
found no difficulty in falling into a peaceful and refresh-
ing sleep.

Decide on Lincoln Statue.

The type of statue of Abraham Lincoln to be pre-
sented to Norway by North Dakota has been determined.
It will be bronze on a granite base, and underneath the
statue will be the word “Lincoln.” On one side will be a
note of presentation, and on the other the closing sentence
of Lincoln’s, famous Gettysburg address.

Paul Fjelde, a former North Dakota boy of Norwegian
parentage and a pupil of Lorado Taft, was chosen to
model the statue.

Abandoned Baby Has Charmed Life.

There is a baby in the North Hudson Hospital, Wee-
hawken, N. J., who should live to a ripe old age, judg-
ing from thé tenacity with whiclhe has held to the exist-
ence into which he was ushered, an unwelcome arrival.
Wrapped in newspapers and. tied up in a pasteboard box,
he was abandoned in a vacant iol, tossed into a bonfire
several hours: later, pulled out, taken to an undertaker’s
shop for burial, and eventually removed to the hospital,
where he is now paying frequent and undivided attention
to a bottle of milk.

Schoolboys saw the pasteboard box.
tossed it into the bonfire.

This particular good angel that had been assigned to

One of the boys

protect the little waif prompted another boy to rescue

  
28 NEW
the box. There was something about the bundle that
caused the boys to explore it. Inside the wrapping of
paper they found the naked baby, blue and wrinkled from
the cold.

Baseball War is On; Federals Sign Stars.

A bitter war is on between the Federal League and
Otganized baseball, as represented by the National and
American Leagues, and the Federals, who tried them-
selves out successfully last summer, have struck the first
big blow. President James A. Gilmore, of the outlaw cir-
cuit, has announced that Joe Tinker, formerly one of
the stars of the Cubs, the Chicago National League team,
and last season. manager of the Cincinnati National League
team, will manage the Chicago club in the Federal League,
while Mordecai Brown, the famous pitcher, who also
played with the Chicago and Cincinnati Nationals, is to be
boss of the St. Louis club. Both, men signed contracts
with the Federals for three years.

As soon as they heard the news of Tinker’s signing,
Officials of the Brooklyn National League team deter-
mined to secure a injunction and start a legal battle for
Joe. Directors of the Cincinnati club recently made a
deal, selling Tinker to Brooklyn, then changed their
minds, but the Brooklyn authorities contended that the
deal stood.

Toronto, Canada, has taken the place of Cleveland,
Ohio, in the Federal Leagtie on account of the inability

of Cleveland’s representatives to secure suitable grounds.’

President Gilmore gave out the following list of team
leaders so far selécted:

Chicago, Joe Tinker; St. Louis, Mordecai Brown; Kan-
sas City, George Stovall; Indianapolis, Bill Phillips, and
3uffalo, Larry Schlafley.

Pays United States Forty-year Debt.

A 25-cent coritribution to the conscience fund of the treas-
ury department arrived at Washington, D. C., recently,
from a man in Oregon who said that about forty years
ago he made usé of 4 canceled 3-cent stamp. The con-
tributot figutfed his debt at compound interest.

New Range Finder Makes Aim Deadly.

Upon recommendation of the School of Musketry, at
Fort Sill, Okla., the army ordnance department has adopted
a new range finder, which is accurate in its record of dis-
tance within 2 per cent up to 2,800 yards.

Already fifty of these new devices have been ordered
for use by infantry and cavalry regimetits as well as a
dozen large ones for use by the field artillery, and this
number will be further increased until there is one for
each company of troops. .By meats of these new ifstru-
mefits ordnatice officers bélieve that a considerable in-
crease in the effective fire of troops in battle will result.

Experts in the ordnance butéau poifit out that it is im-
practicable to guess accurately at an enemy at a distance
beyond 606 yards, The tests made by the officers who
recommerided the adoption of the new finders simulated
setvice conditions as closely as possible at distances from
606 to 2,800 yards for infantry fire and at distances from
2,500 to 6,500 yards for field-artillery fire.

The device, which now becomes part of the army equip-
ment, is a form of telescope, having two object glasses
and two side windows at each erid of the cylindrical tube,

the common eyepiéce being in the center. The fays from
¥»

TIP TOP WEEKLY.

the object enter the side windows and are deflected by
prisms in rear of the windows through the object glasses.

Two prisms in the center reflect the two images through
the common eyepiece, one image being seen above and the
other below a horizontal line which passes through the
center of the field of view. The images are brought into
coincidence by the revolution of one of the prisms.

The instrument being in adjustment to the image in ¢o-
incidence the range is read from a scale, dependent upon
the amount of revolution of the prism.

This range finder is manipulated upon a tripod, and
the board of officers recommending it suggests that one
man be detailed to carry the instrument while another”
transports the tripod and adjusting bar.

Finds Indians’ Skeletons in Cave.

John McDonald, a trapper, discovered a cave four miles
east of Gordon, Texas. Large rocks blocked the entrance,
and, getting assistance, the obstructions were removed,
Inside, skeletons of four men were found, evidently those

of Indians.
|

Needy Men Get Bed and Bath for Five Cents.
The Rufus F. Dawes hotel, of Chicago, erected by
Charles G. Dawes, a bank president, is destined fo rank)
at the of beneficial institutions, if its

head Atnerica’s

work since it.was opened January 1 is any criterion. Sineé

that time it has housed at least 300 poor men each night.

The hotel was built as a tribute to Rufus F. Dawesyeas

”

who was drowned in Lake Geneva, September 5, 101g0™

Although heir to a fortune the young man had chosen to.
work his way to the top unassisted.

The hotel provides a bed and a bath for 5 cents; sO
fot 2 cents, coffee for 2 cents, rolls or doughnuts for
cent, and pie for 3 cents.

It is said other hotels of similar nature may follow Wf
the Rufus F. Dawes hostelry is made self-sustaining. ~~

Wright Says Flying Machine ts Foolproof Now.

Orville Wright, in discussing his new invention—the
automatie stabilizer for acroplanes—said recently that
the time was almost at hand when aérial transportation
would be as safe. as any other mode of travel. Mr. Wright
said he probably would be able to put the new device on
the market this spring. In an interview he expressed the”
belief that the aéroplane would be in general use for com-
mercial transportation within a very short time. He also
is rapidly perfecting his. aéroboat, and indicates that he
soon will have some other great surprises for those in-
terested in aérial flight.

“We have invented an automatie stability device which
will revolutionize flight,’ said he. “It is more accurate
than any aviator can be, and will make flying foolptoof,
or as nearly foolproof as anything can be. I have flown ©
many miles with it, and have never touched the con-
trols. Weare now simplifying it, and expect to be able”

T

to bring it'to the point where it may be put in general ™

use by early spring. We believe in taking aerial work . *

as safe as any on land, and we will ¢ontintte to labor in —

that direction.
just as safe to board an aéroplane and take a long trip ©

as it is at present to make a journey behind a locomotive. pa
The stability device will go a long way toward making?”

this dream a reality, and we are emthusiastic about if,

“Our device insures lateral as well as fore and aft —

We hope to see the day when it will be

 
 

stability. It depends in part on electricity, and we shall

soon have the mechanism so perfectéd that it will not

i get out of order, and that means safety in flight.

“As may not be generally known, many of the acci-
dents in aviation have been due to what is called stalling.
The aviator lets his speed sag below a certain point—
the point necessary to secure sufficient wind pressure on
the wings to sustain the machine—and it falls. Nothing

[If he is traveling on an even keel when he

thus reduces his speed below the danger point his machine
ies. will slide back, tail first, to the ground. Our device pre-
|e - vents the plane from rising too sharply, and if the speed
: falls below the danger point it automatically directs the
machine to the ground, so that it will require speed enough
to sustain it.”

Discussing the future of the aeroplane Mr. Wright
said: “The aéroplane will be used for commercial pur-
poses, especially as a means of speedy transportation over
Vast distances. Over waste places and deserts the aéro-
oe: plane will be indispensable—in fact, wherever water is
h fet available. Mails will be so carried doubtless

Over large stretches of territory in Texas, Utah, and

New Mexico. Automatic stability is all that is needed to

» make it wholly practical, and I believe we have solved
_ the problem.”
y | Experiments with the Wright aeroboat, a trim $7,000
b ) product of the Wright plant, have been made on the Miami
River, south of Dayton, Ohio, and the machine has
worked to the satisfaction of the inventor.

r. can stop it.
.

 

 

     
 
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
    
 
  
  
 
    
  
    
  
 
  
  
  
  
  
 

Imported Kafir Best for Farmers.

Experiments made by farmers of Osage City, Kan.,
demonstrate that Kafir corn in this country has deteriorated
nee its introduction in 1885. A Jocal merchant imported
= some white Kafir seed from.the American consul at Cape-
"town last winter, and in the spring distributed it among
26 farmers in the vicinity of Osage City, Kan.

» At a display recently it was demonstrated that the
Hamported seed produced matured grain in from eighty-four
to ninety-five days, while the old seed took from one hun-
dred and fifteen to one hundred and thirty days. The
new seed produced crops averaging a yield of thirty bushels
» to the acre, while the home-grown seed failed to pro-
MH duce acrop. The latter was unable to stand the drought.
| It is shown that the American Kafir has a tendency to
take the entire season for growing while the African grain
matures speedily.

Tiny Dog Crosses Sea Hidden in Owner’s Muff.

) The principals in a little comedy which was a source of
Joy to the passengers of the steamer Amerika were Mrs.
Grace VY. Lloyd Clapper, of New York, Captain Schulke,
_and Fi Fum, a high-pedigreed Pekinese pup, bought by
| Mrs. Clapper in London. Fi Fum is only eight inches
long, but he created eight miles of trouble for the ship’s
crew.

' There is a tule at sea that all dogs be left in the
care of the butcher in the baggage room, but Fi Fum’s
* mistress decided that her precious should travel first class,
© and he came aboard inside a big sable muff. The second
day out another passenger, whose dog had been sent to
the care of the butcher, told Captain Schulke there was
"a dog on boatd that was not playing!the game according
to the rules.

The commander investigated and remonstrated with the

   
   
   
   
   
 

NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. . 29

owner of Fi Fum. He finally intimated that he could not
tolerate mutiny aboard his ship, even though committed
by a charming young woman. Mrs. Clapper then held
a secret conference with a score of friends.

While the captain made a tour of inspection, Fi Fum
was passed from one to the other. For four days an
ineffectual search was made. The day before the steamer
arrived in New York, while the captain was in the palm
room, he turned to Mrs. Clapper, who was at the next
table, and said:

“T’ll get that dog before we land.” He did not know
Fi Fum was staring at him all the time out of the muff.

“T didn’t want to take any chances of losing the darling,”
said Mrs. Clapper, on the pier.

Man Lost in Sewer is Insane When Rescued.

After wandering thirty-six hours in big sewer mains
under the streets of Steubenville, Ohio, unable to make
his cries for help heard, Steve Hobolo, 23 years old, an
employee at the Carnegie steel plant, was rescued insane

It is believed Hobolo crawled into a sewer entrance
at the river bank, and was unable to find his way out.
Passers-by finally heard faint noises under a manhole
and pulled him out, nearly starved and raving.

From the incoherent fragments of the man’s ravings it
is believed that he went in the mouth of the sewer simply
in a spirit of adventure, with an idea of exploring it a
short distance and then returning. The first intimation
that some one was in the sewer came at noon, when per-
sons passing on Front Street heard faint cries. At first
they were unable to locate the source of the noise, but
finally they were found to center at the manhole in. the
street. The cover’ was lifted off, and down in the murky
depths was seen the form of a man. He was unable to
help himself, and a fireman. was lowered with a rope, by
which Hobolo was hauled to the surface.

More Chaplains Are Wanted.

An increase of the corps of chaplains in the navy to
not less than one for every thovsand men is proposed
in a bill introduced in the House hy Representative Farr,
of Pennsylvania.

Farr said that while the navy had increased sixfold
since 1841, the corps of chaplains had not been increased.
The bill would give the rank of captain to ro per cent
of the chaplains authorized by law, commander to 20
per cent of them, lieutenant commander to 30 per cent,
and the remainder would be lieutenants. All would have
the rank, uniform, pay, and allowances of other sea-going
officers of the same rank.

Bear Chews Off Own Paw.

Claude Rosenberg set a trap for raccoons four miles
from Franklin, Pa., a few days ago, and when he went
to the trap he found a paw of a bear cub in it. The cub,
having found it impossible to pull its paw out of the trap
or to pull-the trap from its fastenings, had chewed off
its leg just above the jaws of the trap.

Says Federals Won’t Last.

In the opinion of Evangelist Sunday, a former base-
ball star, that the Federal League will die a-borning. To
quote him literally, it is a dead one already.

‘It won’t hold up; it can’t hold up,” declared the one-
time Pittsburgh outfielder.

“Why? Because it will lack

  
30 NEW

financially sound—have a

may be

public confidence. It
whole slew of backing, but it won’t have the confidence of
the public, and without such confidence it will lack sup-
port. And without support—well, good night.”

Fisherman Gets Mink on His Hook.

Lilburn Maggard, a farmer, was fishing on the Guest
River, near Big Laurel, Va., and had set his hook in the
evening, hoping he would catch a fine catfish. In the
morning when he drew in the line he found a large brown
mink on the hook. The mink had swallowed the minnow
bait and drowned.

Holds to Washington Relic.

The will of Martha Washington, stolen from the rec-
ords of Fairfax County, Va., during the Civil War, has
been located in the library of J. P. Morgan, who has re-
fused to accede to a request for its return, holding it was
contraband of war. When the legislature meets, State
Senator Thornton will introduce a resolution instructing
the State attorney general to institute suit for recovery of
the will.

Count Says He is No Account.

When a man who said he was Charles S. Speis, but who
has been known elsewhere, it is said, as,Count von Brom-
erhoff, of Russia, was arraigned in the Jefferson Market
police court, in New York, on a charge of grand larceny
made by Miss Stella Ford, of the Metropolitan Opera Com-
pany, he was held in $5,000 bail by Magistrate Campbell
for examination. He pleaded not guilty.

“Are you a count?” he was asked.

“T guess I’m a no-account count,” he answered.

Reaches Bottom of Vesuvius.

Frederick Burlingham, an American, who descended
into the crater of Vesuvius, said that he reached the
extreme bottom at a depth of 1,212 feet. The volcano
was active at that depth. Professor Mercalli, director
of the Vesuvius Observatory, who had descended 1,200
feet into the crater, said Burlingham’s trip was the most
dangerous ever attempted. Burlingham made moving-
picture films of the pit.

Sheep in Snow Bank Nine Days.

Although buried for nine days’ in a snowbank, a sheep
belonging to John Garten, a farmer, living a few miles
northeast of Carsonville, Mich., is still alive and recover-
ing rapidly. The animal disappeared during a big storm
and was not found until the snow began to melt

Johnson is a Chicken Fancier,

Walter Johnson, the peerless American League pitcher,
is a chicken fancier. Three White Orpington chickens
he entered in the Greater Washington Poultry and Pigeon
Club show, won second prize. The birds were among
the finest shown, and according to word received by the
ball player from friends in the East, would have won first
place but for travel stains and poor feeding during the
journey to Washington.

Seven Loops in a Biplane.
Turning seven somersaults in a biplane in one flight,
Lincoln Beachey established a new aviation record. One
of the loops was executed directly above a crowd of more

T4n SP OEY NW ESI oe

than 20,000 persons. In another loop Beachey did what
is known as the “corkscrew” twist while his aéroplane
was in a perpendicular position.

A feature of the exhibition was a somersault performed
around a hydroaéroplane. Since he turned his first somer-
sault in the air a short time ago Beachey has performed
the act forty-three times.

Gives Away His Flour Mills.

David Stott, multimillionaire owner of flour mills at
Detroit, Mich., has decided to make a gift of the entire
business to his employees.

Stott’s son, who has been trained in the business, is to
receive stock and be general manager, and the heads of
departments’ and other employees will receive stock ac-
cording to their length of service and their efficiency. No
man will pay for his stock.

Phonograph to Nab - Thieves.

The high price of eggs and the added value of pedi-
greed poultry for hatching purposes led to so many bur-
glaries of pens at the Madison Square Garden Poultry
Show, in New ‘York, that several exhibitors installed
electrical apparatus to protect their entries. A device
set up by K. M. Turner, of Nyack, N. Y., to protect
his exhibit resulted in phonographic records being made
of the voices of three persons who are believed to have
robbed the Turner pens.

Find Stolen Gems in Gum.

Diamonds valued at a thousand dollars, stolen several ©

weeks ago from the home of Doctor R. B. McKenzie, in

Enid, Okla., were found by the police in a wad of chewing ”
gum under the porch steps of a vacant house.

Three boys, under 20 years of age, who were arrested

charged with the theft of the jewels, led the police to an= a

other vacant house where jewelry worth hundreds of dol-
lats that had disappeared from homes in the last year, was
found concealed under the floor.

Gives $10,000,000 to 26,000 Employees.

Henry Ford, head of the Ford Motor Company, an-
nounced recently one of the most remarkable business
moves of his entire remarkable career: In brief it is:

To give to the employees of the company $10,000,000
of the profits of the 1914 business, the payments to be
made semimonthly and added to the pay checks.

To run the factory continuously instead of only eighteen
hours a day, giving employment to several thousand more
men by employing three shifts of eight hours each, in-
stead of only two nine-hour shifts, as at present. .

To establish a minimum wage scale of $5 per day,
Even the boy who sweeps up the floors will get that
much. /

Before any man in any department of the company
who does not seem to be doing good work shall be dis-
charged, an opportunity will be given to “him to tty to
make good in every other department. No man shall be
discharged except for proved unfaithfulness or irremedi-
able inefficiency. }

The Ford Company’s financial statement of September
20, 1912, showed assets of $20,815,785.63 and surplus of
$14,745,005.57. One year later it showed assets of $35,-
033,019.86 and surplus of $28,124,173.68. Dividends paid
out during the year, it is understood, aggregated $10,000,- |

 
NEW ‘TIP TOP WEEKLY. 31

000. The indicated profits for the year, therefore, were
about $37,597,312.. The company’s capital stock, authorized
and otitstanding, is $2,000,000. There is no bond issue.

_ About 10 per cent of the employees, boys and women,
will not be affected by the profit sharing, but all will have
the benefit of the $5 minimum wage. Those among them
who are supporting families, however, will have a share
Similar to the men of more thaM 22 years of age.

In all, about 26,000 employeé * ill be affected. Fifteen
thousand now are at work in the Detroit’factories. Four
thousand more will be added by the institution of: .the
eight-hour shift. -The other seven thousand employees are
Scattered all over the world, in the Ford branches. They
will share the same as the Detroit employees.

Pefsonal statements. were made by Henry Ford and
James Couzens, treasurer of the company, regarding the
move.

» “It is our belief,” said Mr. Couzens, “that social justice
* begins at home. We want those who have helped us to
produce this great institution and are helping to maintain

Sit to share our prosperity. We want them to have present

"profits and future prospects. Thrift and good

/and sobriety, all will be enforced and recognized.

Believing as we do, that a division of our earnings be-
tween pp and labor is eneaahls we have sought a os

service

Be tno verert toward the Sania, of society must be
Miversat’ We think that one concetn can make a start
ind create an example for other employers. That is our

Tf we are obliged,” said Mr. Ford, “to lay men off for
Want of sufficient work at any season we purpose to so
‘plan Our year’s work that the lay-off shall be in the har-
vest time, July, August, and September, not in the winter.
We hope in such case to induce our men to respond to
the calls of the farmers for harvest hands, and not to lie
ile and dissipate their savings. We shall make it our
) biisiness to get in touch with the farmers and to induce
lir employees to answer calls for harvest help.
»*No man will be discharged if we can help it, except
for unfaithfulness or inefficiency. No foreman in the Ford
Ompany has the power to discharge a man, He may
im out of his department if he does not make good. The
Man is then sent to our ‘clearing house,’ covering all the
departments, and is tried repeatedly in other work, until
We find the job he is suited for, provided he is honestly
trying to render good service.”

send

Noted Indian Athlete Dead.

_ Lonis Sockalexis, a Penobscot Indian, who won fame
as a ball player, dropped dead of heart disease while

working in a logging camp, at Burlington, Me. . His body
Was removed to his home in Old Town.
» Sockalexis was born forty-one yeats ago. His paternal
‘grandfather was at one time governor of the Penobscots,
=#and the family was prominent in the affairs of the tribe.

‘e >.
ang was an uncle of Andrew, ROCA OR the sasha

} He became known as a baseball player in
590 when he played. center field on the Holy Cross

team, his work attracting the attention of the big
scouts.

In 1897 Sockalexis was an outfielder for
the National League. Afterward he played on teams
the minor leagues of New England. In recent seasons
had officiated as umpire in local leagues.

} rit
r-jcasue

Clevéland “i

Pig Clubs to be Formed for Boys.

The success of corn clubs, tomato clubs, and poultry
clubs, as well as of cotton clubs in some parts of the
South, has induced the department of agriculture to start
the organization of pig clubs, which eventually will be
formed throughout the United States. However, the
thovement will be started in the South first,
people of that section,
raise few hogs.

According to statistics they spend millions of. dollars
each year for pork raised in other sections, which is just
so much money wasted, for pigs can be raised and fat-
tened in the South more cheaply than in any other part of
the United States.

In time there will be a

because the
while great consumers of pork,

government agent for each
State. It will be his duty to codperate with local ex-
perts in giving instruction. . It also. will be his business
to get the boys together and to start the movemént, A
club will be formed wherever ten or more members,. be-
tween the ages of 10 and 18 years, are found.

The county will be the geographical unit for pig clubs.
Each county will be divided into districts small enough
to reach all the boys, and each district will have one
or more clubs. A boy, to be a member, must own at. least
one pig, and must care for his stock in person.

The government bureau of animal industry wishes to en-
courage the people to raise pork for home consumption.
The boys are to be. taught how to raise and fatten good
and cheap hogs. When they have found out that there
is money in the business the rest will follow naturally.

Each member,of a pig club will be required to keep a
record of the feed given and pasture grazed, of the
weight of each animal at intervals, of dates of farrowing,
et cetera. He must show at least one pig at the county
exhibition. The boys who prove winners at county. ex-
hibitions will be expected to show at the State fair, en-
tering their animals for prizes. Some of these prizes,
offered by the government, will take the form of free
trips to Washington, where the lucky youngsters will be.
photographed in proud groups with the secretary of. ag-
riculture,

It is tirged that parents of pig-club members should
encourage the boys by paying fair prices for their fat
hogs when the latter are used for home consumption. The
investment demanded of any boy at the outset is very
small, especially in the Southern States, where the warm
winter climate renders substantial and expensive houses
unnecessary. One point of instruction on which the pig
agents will lay great stress is that the animals must al-
ways have plenty of clean, fresh water for drinking, and
that a dry bed with plenty of sunshine must be pro-
vided for the little piglings.

This new departure in the direction of organizing pig
clubs, corn clubs, poultry clubs, and other kinds of farm
clubs for boys and girls is expected to give young people
a taste for agricultural pursuits, and to furnish a valu-
able educational basis for the farming of the future. The
farm boy and farm girl represent the rising generation

 
32 NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

of farmers. Whatever they are able to learn will tend
to augment the economy and efficiency of our agriculture
in the future. :

Naturally, the prime attraction of such club work, from
the point of view of the young folks, lies in the oppor-
tunity it affords them to earn money. No fewer than 20,-
000 boys in eight States are to-day enrolled in corn clubs,
and in parts of the country where there is not
rainfall for maize there are Kafir-corn clubs and milo
clubs. . Cotton clubs for boys are becoming popular in
Oklahoma and Texas, where special prizes are to be won
by growing the best cotton or the most cotton on a given
area of land.

Poultry clubs are already an established institution. This
is where the girls and young women come in. In most
parts of the country these organizations for raising and
marketing chickens and eggs are multiplying and pros-
pering.

enough

43,052,846 Jews in World.

According to the forthcoming issue of The Jewish Year
Book, the number of Jews in the world is now 13,052,846.
The figures have been compiled by the Reverend Isidore
Harris. His tabulation is as follows:

MMIII, oaks. sin Deine Si Gnd ohne ce Kia
Asia
Africa

9,950,175
484,350
404,836

2,194.061

MN a eh a, BG RR oN ad a 7 ce 13,052,846

According to Mr. Harris, previous estimates in regard
to the Jewish population have been far below the actual
figures, owing to the adoption of the 1897 census estimate
for Russia—s5,215,805. The latest census returns for
Russia show the number of Jews there to be 6,064,415, indi-
cating that the great exodus of Jews to America and else-
where has been more than offset by the internal increase
of the population.

Indians May Play Notre Dame.

The Carlisle Indian football team plans to invade Chi-
cago with a war whoop next fall, and negotiations are now
under way for a post-season game in the Windy City
with the spectacular Notre Dame eleven. Coach Glenn
Warner, of Carlisle, and Coach Jesse Harper met in
New York City recently at the Hotel Astor and discussed
the possibilities for a game. Both agreed that the game
would prove a big attraction in the Middle West. Notre
Dame is one of the leading exponents of the open game in
the West, while the Indians have by f
style of, football in the East.

Dartmouth will not play the Indians this year, as the
red men have refused to go to Hanover. Boston alumni
of Dartmouth are endeavoring to have a game played in
Boston, as they have little chance to see the team play
since Dartmouth was dropped by Harvard. Dartmouth
is trying to arrange a game with Syracuse at Boston late
in, the season.

far the most versatile

Banker’s Son a Brakeman.

Fréderick H. Prince, junior, son of a Boston banker,
is to begin at the bottom in the railroad business and
work his way up. Young Mr. Prince, who was graduated
from Harvard in 1906, left his home at Beverly Farms,

Massachusetts, recently, for Cincinnati, where he will start
in at once as a regular freight brakeman on one of the
Western roads. The announcement was received with
amazement by people of the social world, inasmuch as it
vas thought the young man was a fixture as leader of the

younger set.

Mr. Prince came into romantic prominence in 1912, when
he rescued a beautiful Frenchwoman, Mademoiselle de
Flores, from drowning in Paris.

Gotch Victim of the Tango Craze,

Frank Gotch, of Humboldt, champion wrestler,
is the latest prominent personage to fall victim to that
entrancing dance, the tango. He will give a demonstra-
tion of the art at the Fort Dodge, Iowa, army at a charity
ball to be given this month.

The champion and his wife went to Chicago recently,
and it is said that the greatest of grapplers spent his spare
time in getting a strangle hold on the tango; as taught by a
fashionable instructor in the Windy City.

world’s

Tall Boy Grows Too Fast.

Arthur Masur, 16 years old, said to be the tallest boy for
his age in Brooklyn, is dead. He measured 6 feet 2 inches
in his stocking feet. His rapid. growth weakened him
so that he could not resist the inroads of a tubercular
condition that set in some time ago.

Arrests Bright’s Disease. es
A newly discovered treatment of “washing’\ the kid-
neys with an alkaline solution is declared by Doctor A.
T. Charlton, of the County Hospital, of Los Angeles, Call, .
to be a positive “arrest” of Bright’s disease in any stage:
and Doctor Charlton cited as proof twenty cases in whieh:

he applied the method.
“It is well known,” he

“that Bright’s disease is
caused by the kidney being unable to purify the blood as

said,

it passes through those organs. With my new discovery
[ wash the kidney clean, and, by using the alkaline solu->
tion, change the reaction of the blood from acid to alka-
line. This overcomes the toxicity and cleanses the en-
tire system of its poison.”

Doctor Charlton’s most severe test was that of John

Frohman, a laborer, who was brought to the hospital in 3
By using .

the dropsical, or last stages, of the disease.
a “high irrigation” pressure, Doctor Charlton declared,
he had not only enabled Frohman to leave the hospital,
but that the man would live his natural span of days so
far as his kidneys were concerned.

Doctor Charlton said he was engaged in making a
minute report of his discovery, its application, and the
cases treated by him, to the American Medical Associa-
tion and to several other scientific bodies.

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SOME OF THE
BACK

NUMBERS OF

NEW TIP TOP
WEEKL

THAT CAN

 

 

705—Dick Merriwell’s Best Form.
706—Dick Merriwell’s Prank.
707—Dick Merriwell’s Gambol.
7O8—Dick Merriwell’s Gun,
709—Dick Merriwell at His Best.
710—Dick Merriwell’s Master Mind.
1—Dick Merriwell’s Dander.
2—Dick Merriwell’s Hope.
3—Dick’s Merriwell’s Standard.
4—Dick Merriwell’s Sympathy.
5—Di¢ck Merriwell in Lumber Land.
Ry
IE rank Mer riwell’s Pledge.
8—Frank Merriwell, the Man of Grit.
oe rank Merriwell’s Return Blow.
20—Frank Merriwell’s- Quest.
21—Frank Merriwell’s Ingots.
22—F rank Merriwell’s Assistance.
23—Frank Merriwell at the Throttle.
724—F rank Merriwell, the Always Ready.
725—Frank Merriwell in Diamond Land,
726—F rank Merriwell’s Desperate Chance.
727—F rank Merriwell’s Black Terror.
ao5 —Frank Merriwell Again on the Slab.
—Frank Merriwell’s Hard Game.
—~Frank Merriwell’s Six-in-hand.
Frank Merriwell’s Duplicate.
3: 2 FP rank Merriwell on Rattlesnake
Ranch.
8—Frank Merriwell’s Sure Hand.

—Frank Merriwell’s Treasure Map.
—Frank Merriwell, Prince of the Rope.
—Dick Merriwell, Captain of the Var-

sity.

87—Dick Merriwell’s Control.

e —Dick Merriwell’s Back Stop.
j—Dick Merriwell’s Masked Enemy.
\—Dick Merriwell’s'Motor Car.

41-Dick Merriwell’s Hot Pursuit.
42—TDick Merriwell at Forest Lake.
8—Dick Merriwell in Court.
4—Dick Merriwell’s Silence.
5—Dick Merriwell’s Dog.
46—Dick Merriwell’s Subterfuge.

‘

8

9

0

rank Merriwell’s Fairness,

1
1
li
1
1
1¢
1
1
if

—Dick Merriwell’s Enigma

—Dick Merriwell Defeated.

—Dick Merriwell’s ‘‘Wing.”’

—Dick Merriwell’s Sky Chase.
51—Dick Merriwell’s Pick-ups.
52—Dick Merriwell on the Rocking R.
53—Dick Merr iwell’s Penetration.

54—Dick Merriwell’s Intuition.
755—Dick Merriwell’s Vantage.
756—Dick Merriwell’s Advice.
757—Dick Merriwell’s Rescue.
758—Dick Merriwell, American.
759—Dick Merriwell’s Understanding,
760—Dick Merriwell, Tutor.
761—Dick Merriwell’s Quandary.
762—Dick Merriwell on the Boards,
763—Dick Merriwell, Peacemaker.
764—Frank Merriwell’s Sway.
765—Frank Merriwell’s Comprehension.
766—Frank Merriwell’s Young Acrobat.
767—F rank Merriwell’s Tact.
768—Frank Merriwell’s Unknown.
769—F rank Merriwell’s Acuteness,
770—F rank Merriwell’s Young Canadian.
771—F rank Merriwell’s Coward.
72—Frank Merriwell’s Perplexity.
3—Frank Merriwell’s Intervention.
4—F rank Merriwell’s Daring Deed.
5—Frank Merriwell’s Succor. +
6—Frank Merriwell’s Wit. -
77—F rank Merriwell’s Loyalty.
78—F rank Merriwell’s Bold Play.
779—F rank Merriwell’s Insight.
7T80—Frank Merriwell’s Guile.
781—Frank Merriwell’s Campaign.
782—Frank Merriwell in the
Forest.
783—Frank Merriwell’s Tenacity.
784—Dick Merriwell’s Self-sacrifice.
785—Dick Merriwell’s Close Shave.
786—Dick Merriwell’s Perception.
787—-Dick Merriwell’s Mysterious Disap-
pearance.

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788—Dick Merriwell’s Detective Work.
789—Dick Merriwell’s Proof.
790—Dick Merriwell’s Brain Work.
791—Dick Merriwell’s Queer Case.
792—Dick Merriwell, Navigator.
793—Dick Merriwell’s Good Fellowship.
794—Dick Merriwell’s Fun.
795—Dick Merriwell’s Commencement.
796—Dick Merriwell at Montauk Point.
797—Dick Merriwell, Mediator.
798—Dick Merriwell’s Decision,
799—Dick Merriwell on the Great Lakes.
$00—Dick Merriwell Caught Napping.
801—Dick Merriwell in the Copper Coun-
try.
802—Dick Merriwell Strapped.
803—Dick Merriwell’s Coolness.
804—Dick Merriwell’s Reliance.
805—Dick Merriwell’s College Mate.
806—Dick Merriwell’s Young Pitcher.
807—Dick Merriwell's Prodding.
808—F rank Merriwell’s Boy.
809—TFrank Merriwell’s Interference.
810—F rank Merriwell’s Young Warriors.
811—F rank Merriwell’s Appraisal.
812—F rank Merriwell’s Forgiveness.
,—Frank Merriwell’s Lads.
4—rank Merriwell’s Young Aviators.
5—F rank Merriwell’s Hot-head.
i—Dick Merriwell, Diplomat.
817—Dick Merriwell in Panama.
818—Dick Merriwell’s Perseverance.
819—Dick Merriwell Triumphant.
8: 20 Dick Merriwell’s Betrayal.
—Dick Merriwell, Revolutionist.
2—Dick Merriwell’s Fortitude.
8—Dick Merriwell’s Undoing.
Dick Merriwell, Universal Coach.
—Dick Merriwell’s Snare. |
Dick Merriwell's Star Pupil.
~Nick Merriwell’s Astutenes
—Dick Merriwell’s Responsibility.
‘Dick Merriwell’s Plan.
0—Die k Merriwell’s Warning.
-Dick Merriwell’ s Counsel.
—Dick Merriwell’s Champions.
-Dick Merriwell’s Marksmen.
Dick Merriwell’s Enthusiasm.
—Dick Merriwell’s Solution.
Dick Merriwell’s Foreign Foe.
7—Dick Merriwell and _ the
Warriors.
88—Dick Merriwell’s Battle for the Blue.
8839—Dick Merriwell’s Evidence.
840—Dick Merriwell’s Device,
841—Dick Merriwell’s Princeton
nents.
842—_Dick Merriwell’s Sixth Sense.
8483—Dick Merriwell’s Strange Clew.
844—Dick Merriwell Comes Back.
845—Dick Merriwell’s Heroic Crew.
846—Dick Merriwell Looks Ahead.
847—Dick Merriwell at the Olympics.
848—Dick Merriwell in Stockholm.
849—Dick Merriwell in the
Stadium.
850—Dick Merriwell’s Marathon.

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1-—F rank Merriwell, Jr. :
2—F rank Merriwell, Jr., in the Box.
8—Frank Merriwell, Jr.'s, Struggle.
4—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Skill.
5—F rank Merriwell, Jr., in Idaho.
6—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Close Shave.
7—Frank Merriwell, Jr., on Waiting
ders.
8—Frank Merriwell, Jr.
a ee Merriwell, Jr.’s,
the
Mérriw. ell, Jr.,

10—F rank at the
Ranch,

11—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Golden Trail.

Or-

’s, Danger.

Relay Mara-

Bar .Z

’s, Competitor.
s, Guidance.

s, Scrimmage.
Misjudged.

s, Star Play.
Blind Chase,
r.’s, Discretion.
’s, Substitute,
Justified.

2—Frank Merriwell, Jr.
3—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’
4—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’
15—Frank Merriwell, Jr.,
16—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’
17—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s,
18—Frank Merriwell, J
19—F rank Merriwell, Jr.
20—F rank Merriwell, Jr.
21—F rank Merriwell, Jr., Incog.
22—F rank Merriwell, Jr., Meets the Issue.
23—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Xmas Eve.
24—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Fearless Risk.
25—F rank Merriwell, Jr., on Skis.
26—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ice-boat Chase,
27—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ambushed
Foes.

28—Frank Merriwell, Jr., and the Totem.
29—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Hockey Game,
80—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Clew.

1—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Adversary.
2—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Timely Aid.
3—Trank Merriwell, Jr., in the Desert.
{—I’rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Grueling Test.
5—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Special Mission
36—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Red Bowman.
37—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Task.
388—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Cross-Country

Race. ¥ +.

89—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Four Miles.
40—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Umpire.
41—F rank Merriwell, Jr., Sidetracked.
42—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Teamwork.
43—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Step-Over.
44—F rank Merriwell, Jr., in Monterey.
45—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Athletes. _
46—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Outfielder.
47—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, ‘Hundred’ *
4
4

1
Li
1

"
»
«
0
oe
oe
2
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°
oe

‘
8—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Hobo Pwivler..
9—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Cancéled Gam

50—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Weird Advyg

ture. ee hk
5t- Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Double Hea

5 -I'ré ane Merriwell, Jr.’s, Peck of J

le; ee
—Frank Merriwell, Jr.,. and
Doctor. q

54—F rank Me rriwell, Jr.’s, Sports

55—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s; Ten-In
56—Frank Merriwell, Jr.'s, Ordeal
57—Frank Merriwell, Jr., on the - ng.

58—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Cross-Fire.”

59—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Lost Tea

mate *

60—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Daring Flight.

61—F rank Merriwell, Ir. at I ‘ardale.

62—F rank Merriwell, Jr., Plebe, j

63—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Quarte

64—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’

65—Frank Merriwell, Jr.'s, }

66—F rank Merriwell, Jr.,

Black Box.
67—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s,
68—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s
i emy.
69—Frank Merriwell, Jr.
7O—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s
Honors.
—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’
Frank Merriwell, Jr.’
3—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’
cation.
{—T'rank Merriwell, In,
Wolves.
F re ‘ank en r iwell, Jr, on tne or

Dated January 17th,
Owen Clancy’s Run of Luck. r

Dated January 24th, 1914,
-Owen Claney’s Square Deal.

Dated January 3ist, 1914.

79—Owen Clancy’s Hardest Fight.

Dated February 7th, 1914.
80-—Owen Clancy’s Ride for Fortune.

Dated February 14th, 1914, 5
£1—Owen Clancy’s Makeshift. :

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