is: JANUARY 10, 1914 - 16 mil ERED WwW An Ideal Publication For The American Youth STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Ave., New York. Issued Weekly. Entered as Second-class Matter at the New York Post Office, according to an act of Congress, March 8, 1879. Published ly Copyright, 1914, by STREET & SMITH. O. G. Smith and G. C. Smith, Proprietors. 4 Terms to NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY Mail Subscribers. How to Send Money—By post-office or express money order, regis- h - ' (Postage Free.) tered letter, bank check or draft, at ourrisk. At your own risk ifsent 9 ‘Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c, Each. by currency, coin, or postage stamps in ordinary letter. | B MODIS, 50000. dcveds secdacces GOCG, Ov1O YORT! vases cece sawevasdcdas teen Receipts—Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper { THOME > CHAPTER TL A NOTE FoR $1,000. “FHlere’s a go, and no mistake!” _ Owen Clancy, a troubled look on his face, came out on the veranda of the Bristow House. He held in his hand a paper of some sort, and this, it was evident, hada good deal to do with his unsettled state of mind. His chum, young Frank Merriwell, usually hunted the coolest. spot-around the hotel during the heat of the day. now, lounging in a comfortable chair and half dozing, as he looked out on the main street,of Wagon Gap. He was . wide awake in a moment, however, when Owen’s words reached his ears. “What's: to pay now, Red?” he asked. “More hard luck for the Clancys, Chip,” was the reply, “and there’s crooked work in it.” He dropped into a . chair at Frank’s side.. “What’s that old saw about mis- is down, and fate is getting in one staggering blow after another. We no sooner get out of one mess of trouble than we’re company front with another. Wonder if there’s ever going to be an end to the tough luck?”. a “Don’t sob, old man” said Frank. “You've had a lot of troubles, but, so far, you've worked through all of _ them in handsome style. We came to southern Arizona * to straighten out your father’s affairs at the ‘Happy | Hoosier’ Cyanide Works. When we got through at the . ‘Hoosier,’ you were eight thousand dollars better off than . you ever hoped to be. And when we made that’ dash into ' Mexico to get your father out of the hands of the in- _surrectos, we made good in a way that surprised every- This spot was the shaded veranda, and Frank was there | a fortunes never coming singly? Well, the Clancy family , Frank Merriwell, J unior’s, Desert Race; A DARING VENTURE. By BURT L. STANDISH. \ have a lot of good luck to make up for it. Maybe that will be the case now.” What’s happened?” “The governor seemed to feel pretty well this morning, and I had a little talk with him about his affairs. First time I’ve dared to talk business with him since we. got him back across the border. I was sorry I opened the subject. He gets excited, and then he has a sort of col- lapse, becomes discouraged, loses interest in everything, and shuts up like a clam. He’s as different from what he used to be as you can imagine. There’s no ambition left him, and he has aged a dozen years during the few weeks he was trying to save something from the wreck of his affairs in Sonora.” A mist rose in the eyes of the red-headed chap, and his | lips trembled. With a brave effort he fought down his rising emotion. “Dad’s lost his grip,” he went on, “and that is something I might as well look right in the face. After he gets back his health, he may find himself again, but it will be months, perhaps years, before he recovers from that ex- perience among the Mexican reyolutionists. Meanwhile,” and Clancy’s body stiffened resolutely, “I’ll have to be the. head of the family and do what I can to keep the wheels’ running.” Frank nodded. “T see how it is, Clan,” said he, “but there’s a big chance — that your father will get over his misfortunes more — ‘easily and quickly than you think.” ; “I can’t plan on it, Chip. T’ve got to proceed just as — though the worst was going to happen, and then hope fer ‘the best.” - “Youre not going back to Fardale school,” returned — Frank, with keen regret, “but I’d like to know just what — your plans are, old man.” = NEW TIP “The first thing. is to deal with this business. that has *ust come up. When that simmers down, I'll know more about what I’m to do. When dad left Arizona and went to Mexico,” he pursued, “he had a wallet full of papers which he left with Bristow, the proprietor of this hotel, for safe-keeping. Bristow was to put the wallet in his office safe and take charge of it.” Frank’s brows lowered. “If what we hear about Bristow is true,” said he, .low- ering his voice cautiously, “he wasn’t. much of a friend of your father’s.” “The governor didn’t know that. He thought he could pi be trusted. The papers were of no use to anybody but Ey dad, and there was a note for a thousand dollars among ; them. It was given by a fellow in Phoenix, who runs a garage. Dad knows him, and when the fellow was hard up and wanted a loan, why, dad passed over the dinero. The note wasn’t indorsed by anybody, and it became due while the governor was in Mexico. It is past due now, and I ought to collect on it, A thousand is a lot of money. to the Clancys, at this time.” “Get the papers from Bristow and collect the note.” “I’ve just tried to get the papers from Bristow, but he hasn’t. got them.” “Hasn't got them?” queried Frank,. surprised, * mits taking them, doesn’t. he?” . i eV “Then what the deuce has bekdintd to aaah they stolen ?’’. _“No,. Bristow turned the wallet over to. Newton. My- fick? This piece of infigiviatign only rendered the. situation the more obscure, so far as Frank was concerned. _New- ton Myrick, nicknamed “Red” on account of his fiery hair and beard, had been the partner of Owen's father in the “Happy Hoosier” Cyanide Works; he was the fellow whom Frank and Owen had proved to be dishonest, and who had been forced to make good his. stealings. - Bristow, the chums had heard, was a friend of Myrick, and, while posing, also, as a friend of John Clancy, Owen’s _ father, had betrayed to Myrick important information with which John Clancy. had intrusted him. . The news Owen had just given to Frank, therefore, _ proved rather startling. It might mean that Bristow and Myrick were still working together against the Clancys. “When did. Bristow turn. the eee over. to Myrick: a asked Frank. + “Before we reached Wagon i Chip—or,, so he says,” Owen answered. . “Did your father tell him to.do such a thing?” “Certainly not! He supposed he could trust Bristow, z, and gave him the papers for safe-keeping while he was in Mexico.” . “What excuse does Bristow give for betraying your father's trust in him?” i. “Here is his excuse,” and Owen held up the sheet of paper. “It’s an order on Bristow, signed by my father, instructing him to give the wallet. and papers to. Red | Myrick.” ’ “Oh!” muttered Brass, eointrig his eile: “That lets “Soi out, and Myrick, too. Why in the world did re ather give such an order to Myrick?” . ihe Te pn ae ' “He ad- Were TOP zically. _ me, W EEKLY. Pea “One minute you say your father gave an or- der on. Bristow, and the next minute you say he didn’t.” re “The order was a forgery. The signature was an imi- i ve tation of dad’s, and a pretty bum imitation at that. It ee fooled Bristow, though. Right here is where the crooked work comes in, and Red Myrick is the fellow who did it.” ( “ Maybe,” said Frank, in a guarded tone, “Bristow was ! willing to be fooled, Judging from what we have heard, he wouldn’t be above helping Myrick, at your father’s © expense.” oe. “But the papers—even that thousand-dollar note—what good are they to Myrick?” “Your father can’t collect the note if he hasn’t got it, can he?” “I suppose not, but neither can Myrick collect it!” “He can beat your father out of the money, Clan. He has a grouch against the Clancys, and we know he’s a desperate scoundrel. Myrick wouldn’t halt at anything.” ‘Owen’s face grew thoughtful. “Myrick is all you say he is, Chip,” he remarked, “but he’s not stich a fool as to run his head into a legal noose, just to beat dad out of a thousand dollars, "Getting per- sonal property on a een order is a mighty dangerous JOO...” 4 “Myrick doesn’t care a hoot for the law!” declared . Frank. “Look at what he did out at the ‘Happy Hoosier’ | works. ~ Rerriember how he threw Abe Rollins into the’ solution tank? If we hadn’t pulled Rollins out, it would have been all day with him. Myrick wasn’t careful to keep inside the law then, was he? And when we went across the border with that money to ransom your father from the Mexican rebels—didn’t Myrick plan a cee rc ae holdup and ‘try to carry it out?” : oe ; “We couldn't swear it was Myrick who’ tried to holt a us: up for that money. All three of those fellows were masked.” ““Tt’s pretty near a cinch, Clan. We have the testimony — of Wun Loo, the chink who ran away from Myrick, that the red-headed villain was planning the robbery. Oh, I think we could. make it ‘pretty warm for Myrick, if we wanted to. But you want to recover the’ note and the — rest of those papers. They’re out at the ‘Happy Hoosier’ now, unless Myrick has destroyed them. How do you inténd fo get thet back?” ae “Tm going out there,” said Owen determitedly, “and — make a’ demand on Myrick for the “wallet and its fees 3 tents.” Frank dropped back in “ix chair and fagaiied his chum 5 through half-closed’ eyes. Pe “Going to take a bodyguard alOnBE he asked © “quits a ae “No; I'm ging ‘aone” “No, you're not,” assétted Frank, with en oee “Why?” the othér asked. ta en “Red Myrick ‘will like nothing better than to get a whack at you, Clan. He has no love for you, and he’s — lawless enough to do anything—if you give him the chance. ¥ What better chance could he have if he found you riding into the ‘Happy Hoosier’ camp ‘all by your lonesome? Don’t forget what he tried to do to Abe Rollins—and whe = had less cause to hate Rollins than he has to hate you.” “Everybody in town will ‘know I’ve, gone out there,” went on Owen, “and Myrick won't dare lay a hand on He’ a not ‘be reckless and foolish.” ino he'll, not be reckless, and foolish,” - said ‘y an +e ti tl toe 4 ; wd we PPP door opened and Lawler reappeared. A youngish, roughly “He’s full of cunning. As I recall it, he was going to let the solution tank wipe Rollins out, and then claim that Rollins fell into the tank by accident. You'll not go out there alone.” “Who will prevent me?” ~“T will.” A slight smile curled Clancy’s lips. “How will you do it, Chip?” he inquired. “By going along with you,”* was Merriwell’s reply. “How can you help that, you crazy old lobster? When I take the bit in my teeth,” he laughed, “you ve got to let me have my own way or there’s trouble.” CHAPTER II. UNCOVERING A BIT OF TREACHERY. Frank and Owen, having decided on the journey to the “Happy Hoosier” Cyanide Works, thought it would be well to call on Lawler, the attorney, and get his ideas as to the best way of dealing with Red Myrick. Myrick was a dangerous man, and after the boys reached the cy- anide plant, they would find themselves confronted with a task that called for coolness, daring, and judgment. The attorney’s advice would be a help. Lawler was a friend of Owen’s father and had proved a good friend to Owen. He had managed the first set- tlement effected with Myrick and had been one of the party that had crossed the border and rescued John Clancy. It was but natural that Owen should turn to him in the present emergency. The attorney’s office was only a few doors down the street, and the boys found him taking a siesta on a couch drawn up between two open windows. He arose at once and greeted his callers cordially. Owen at once told him the exact situation, and’ offered the forged order for his inspection. “T know your father’s signature,” said Lawler, “and this is a forgery, sure enough. The question is, did Bristow know this order was bogus?” “He says he didn’t.” “What do you think, Clancy?” “Just what I have always thought—that Bristow would _ strain a point to help Red Myrick.” “And you and Merriwell propose to go out to the ‘Happy Hoosier’ and get those papers?” “That is the idea.” “How do you propose to make Red Myrick give them up?” “We want your advice about that, Mr. Lawler.” The attorney began walking up and down the room, his head bent in thought. Suddenly he halted as though elec- _trified, flashed a look from Merriwell to Clancy, then turned and grabbed his hat from a hook on the wall. “Wait here!” he exclaimed. “I'll be back in a few minutes,” The door slammed behind him, and he could be heard running down the stairs. “Now, what the deuce has got into him?” queried Frank, staring blankly at his chum. “Search me,” answered the puzzled Owen. just happened to think of something.” For a full quarter of an hour the boys waited and won- “T. guess he _ dered, and then they heard a sound of voices, then foot- steps ascending the stairs and coming along the hall. The is he?” NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. } 3 dressed chap, spurs clattering at his heels and a quirt looped around his right wrist, accompanied him. “Friends,” said the attorney to Frank and Owen, “this is Joe Geigel. Joe,” and he turned to his companion, “I reckon you have heard of Owen Clancy and. eres Merri- well, eh?” Lawler, it seemed to Frank, looked at Joe Geigel with unwonted sharpness as he put the question. Geigel, for some reason, appeared rather nervous. “Yep,” he replied, “I’ve sure heard of them.” “About half an hour ago, Geigel,” went on the attorney, “you were sleeping on a bench in front of the ‘Emporium, just across the street.” Geigel nodded, his nervousness increasing considerably. “Allers take a snooze durin’ the heat o’ the day,” he explained, in a manner which he tried to make offhand, but with poor success. “Most every one in the Gap does that, I opine.” “I sat by the window,” continued Lawler, “where I had a good view of what was going on. Bristow came down the street, aroused you, and sat down on the bench and talked with you. Your powwow didn’t last more than five minutes, and when Bristow got through, he gave you a note and some money. Is that right?” “What’s it to you?” answered Geigel sullenly. business and Bristow’s, ain’t it? o’ your put-in.” “That is where you are wrong, Joe,” returned the law- yer easily. “You went into the ‘Emporium’ and came out with a water canteen slung over your shoulder. Then you started off in the direction of the town corral. That’s where I found you, a moment ago—just getting ready to mount and ride south.” “How d’you know I was going to ride south?” asked Geigel, with a scowl. “That’s a guess, Joe, but I think it is a good one. Bris- tow hired you to go out to the ‘Happy Hoosier’ Cyanide Works, and he gave you a note to deliver to Newt My- rick.” Geigel’s jaws fell agape. He was plainly astounded by the extent of the lawyer’s Sreeeeatee For a minute he was speechless. “Do you want to get yourself into trouble, Geigel?” in- quired. Lawler. “Who’s gittin’ into any trouble?” mumbled the other. “I reckon if I git a chanst to earn five dollars, it ain’t nobody’s business but my own.” Jerking his hat down on his head, he turned and laid hig hand on the knob of the office door. “Wait !” The lawyer’s voice was ahs and compelling. Geigel’s hand dropped from the knob and he slowly faced about. “What the jumpin’ blazes d’you want o’ me, anyways?” he demanded. “I ain’t done a thing to oe bear down on me like this.” “I’m trying to be a friend to you, Joe, and keep you from getting tangled up in some crooked work.” “It ain’t crooked work. I’m square, an’ don’t do that sort o’ thing.” “You know mighty well what sort, of man Red Myrick is. He’s a ruffian, and there’s not an honest hair in his head,” | soa “What's that to do with me, huh? I’m only delfireria’ ea a note to Myrick fer Bristow. Bristow ain’t crooked, “It’s my I don’t allow it’s. any Nig “Well,” was the dry response, “if he isn’t, he is being badly fooled. You can’t afford to, go out to the “Happy - Hoosier’ and take chances, Geigel. I want that note!’ “Ye'll not git it!’ snapped Geigel. Lawler turned briskly to Merriwell and Clancy. “Take it away from him,” said he, “and after you get it, keep him here. I’m going to telephone to Dagget.” The attorney turned calmly to a telephone on the wall and began ringing up “central.” Geigel, muttering wrath- fully, again turned toward the door. Merriwell, however, was barring the way. “Le’me be,” growled Geigel, “or I’ll smash ye!” “You heard what Lawler said,” answered Frank quietly. Geigel’s fist shot out. Merriwell ducked, and the fist landed on the door with a force that made it shiver. fore Geigel could recover himself, Merry had him by both arms and was holding him by main force. “Get the note, Clan,” said Frank. It was rather an unusual proceeding, but they had the lawyer’s authority. And Lawler must have known what he was doing. Geigel twisted and squirmed while Clancy ran a quick hand through his pockets. At last the note was found and Clancy backed away with it. Geigel opened his mouth as though he “would yell for help, But no cry left his lips) At that instant, Lawler asked “central” to connect him with the sheriff’s office. Something in that call took Geigel all aback. The hos- tility oozed out of him and he fell limply into a chair. “What're ye callin’ the sheriff fer?” he asked weakly. “T intend to have him put you under arrest,” said Law- ler, his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. “I gave ‘you a chance to save yourself, but you wouldn’t listen to reason.. Now we'll let Dagget, the sheriff, take care bf you.” cave in! Don’t send fer Dagget! — le’me go.” But Lawler had already got the sheriff on the wire. | Dagget was briefly requested to step over to the lawyer’s } office. Turning away from the phone, Lawler reached out his hand toward Clancy. “Let me see the note,” said he. The note was handed to him and he unfolded it and read the contents aloud; Keep the note and "Mine: Young Clancy aibied) for those papers. I told him I didn’t have them, but had passed them on to you. He asked for my authority and I gave him the or- der you presented when you took them. He declared the order was a forgery. Now, it’s up to you. —_ Bristow.” is “By Jove!” exclaimed Frank. “Bristow was sending nd ycink, a tip.” _ “Helping Myrick in his crooked game!” Clancy wrathfully. . “Just what I thought,” said Lawler, “Lucky thing I happened to see that little proceeding across the street, and it was another lucky thing I happened to overhaul Geigel before he got away from the corral. If Geigel had exclaimed would have put those papers safely away somewhere and you'd never have found them. Now, we have the bulge on that | red-whiskered rascal.” would. have to give up the papers if we made a dem d on him, wouldn’t he 2” Owen asked, 4 | NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. Be- “I didn’t know—I hadn’t no idee—~— Say, Lawler, I got up and went over to Dagget. idee I was helpin’ Bristow do anythin’ off color”, reached the ‘Happy Hoosier’ ahead of you, Clancy, Myrick oT How could you make him? He's lawless, and he'd go the limit to keep those documents out of your hands. In his present temper, he might destroy them. Here’s the situation: Myrick heard the papers were in Bristow’s hands and he forged an order for them. Bristow accepted the order. He may have suspected that the order was a forgery, but we don’t know certainly about that. We may also feel pretty sure that Bristow is standing in with My- rick, and yet there is a doubt. We haven’t much of any- thing on the hotel keeper, but we have got Myrick dead to rights. “The proper course, if we were dealing with an ordinary aS tu criminal, would be to have Dagget go out to the ‘Happy’ i eee z Ten Hoosier,’ ‘arrest Myrick, and force him to give up the stolen property. We are not dealing with an ordinary i criminal, though, but with a desperate scoundrel, who can- i not be handled in the usual way. I have a plan. I be- an ‘lieve it is a good one, and that it may save you a good = deal of danger and trouble. We'll see. Ah!” he finished, “here’s Dagget now.” Hurried steps sounded outside, the office door opened, i and the sheriff stepped into the room. He appeared sur- prised when his eyes rested on the three who were with the lawyer. “Howdy, Merriwell!” he called, with a friendly smile. “Clancy, you're stacking up pretty well after that dash into Mexico,” he went on. “Joe,” he finished, turning to Geigel, “you're all of a shake. What ails you?” Sh Sie CHAPTER Ill. NT A SUDDEN CHANGE IN PLANS. ’ “I'll tell you what’s the matter with him, Dagget,” said Lawler. “I caught him helping along a crooked deal. When he heard me calling you on the phone, he went to — : pieces.” 3 “Sorry to hear that,” returned the sheriff, “but I always reckoned Joe would get into trouble if he didn’t change his ways. What’s he done? You and Clancy needn’t hang on to him so closely, Merriwell,” he added. “Now that _ I’m here, I’ll see that he behaves.” ' Frank and Owen drew away’ from Geigel. eee A The latter Woe “You're a friend o’ mine, Dagget,” he half. whageeeie “and you know blame’ well I wouldn’t do nothin’. wrong. — I'll pick up.a fiver wherever I can, sure, but I hadn’t no “Bristow? Is he tangled up in it? Give me the ins and outs, Lawler.” laneNes The attorney at once told about John Clancy's papers and how Red Myrick had secured them on a forged or- der. He finished by describing how he had caught. Geigel just as he was on the point of leaving for the “Happy. Hoosier” works with the letter for Myrick. The order and the letter were both shown to Dagget. “This here is certainly crooked,” muttered the sherift wrinkling his brows. “Maybe Joe. didn't know just how he was being used, though, or-——’ “I didn’t!” blurted out Geigel desperately. “I was eae hired to tote the paper to Red Myrick. Honest to good- : ness, Dagget, that : the hull of it. You don’t need to come | down hard on me,” ' “Here’s the point, ” put in Lawler. “Myrick 1 must have that thousand-dollar note and the other papers out in his shack. If he eet young, Relay was alter: thera, how long would it take him to put the documents where they couldn’t be found? Claney and Merriwell are going to the ‘Happy Hoosier,’ and——” is Epes “They better fight shy of the ‘Happy Hoosier,’” cut in Dagget. ‘Myrick hasn’t any love for them, and he’d cut up rough.” > hee to let Bristow’s tip get to Myrick. For that reason, Dag- get, I think Geigel had better be kept in some safe place in town while the boys are getting the papers away from i eS an i Pie eae “How are Merriwell and Clancy to get them?” a “Here’s about the way I planned it,” said the attorney. “Wun Loo, the Chinaman who ran away from Myrick, is working for me at my house. He knows all about My- rick’s shack, and more than likely could tell us just where that packet of papers could be found. We'll get all the information we can from Wun Loo, and Merriwell and 7» Clancy can make a quiet visit to the ‘Happy Hoosier’ and hunt for the stolen property. Myrick, if he doesn’t’ get as oie this tip from Bristow, won’t suspect a thing, and can’t hoe aes plan any deviltry.” “You mean that Merriwell and Clancy are to go out there and steal those papers, Lawler?” asked the sheriff. “Splash!” grunted the attorney. “It’s not stealing to take from a thief property that belongs to you. To my notion, it is the only move that will win. Myrick is a { scoundrel, and he would do anything to double cross John t a pi Clancy. He might destroy that note and the rest) of the |, papers, if he thought young Clancy was after them.” iy Dagget, sitting on one corner of the lawyer’s table, shook his head. “I’m not for any such plan ‘as that,” said he. “In the _ first place, it doesn’t look right, and, in the second place, the law’ is able to deal with Red Myrick.” “How?” queried Lawler impatiently. Listen here. What will Mytick be doing while Merri- well and Clancy are ransacking his adobe, eh?” “The boys will have to wait till he is out of the house > before they——” “It won’t do. I think it’s a good plan to keep Geigel away from Myrick and prevent our move being tipped off. That’s sensible. As for the rest of it, I'll go to the ‘Happy Hoosier’ at once and arrest Myrick. See? I'll arrest him for trying to pull off that holdup when you _ fellows were motoring down into Mexico. I don’t reckon we could make such a charge stick, but we could use it in sidetracking Myrick for a spell. As soon as he’s ar- _ rested, I'll bring him in to Wagon Gap. That will leave the coast clear for you to go with Merriwell and Clancy and ransack Myrick’s wikiup for the stolen property. Eh? How's that? If you go along with the boys, Lawler, it will sort of give the business a legal sanction. fand that’s a good thing.” “Well, maybe that scheme will work,” said the attorney. ot work. I arrest Myrick suddenly. He doesn’t have any _ chance to put the papers away anywhere or destroy them, for he'll be under my eye every minute. town and lodge him in jail, and he can’t make any Bei See?” _ “When will you arrest him?” - “Just as soon as I can get out to the ‘Happy Hoosier.’’ “And you'll take care of Geigel? We don’t want Bristow suspect that ois ‘note of warning isn’t on the way to NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. ) 5 “Well, they have planned to go there, and it won't do. corral. “Sure it'll work! And it is the only scheme that will. Ut if we don't keep him from making a get-away.” I bring him to Myrick. He might send another note, if he had any idea anything had gone wrong with his plans.” “I'll put Geigel in the skookum house,” said Dagget, til this job is finished.” Geigel put up a wail. “I don’t want to be put in the lockup! right to turn a key on me!” “Keep your shirt on, Joe,” laughed the sheriff. “You won't be hurt. ATI] we want to make sure of is that you don’t lope out to the ‘Happy Hoosier’ works and put My- rick wise to our plans.” “How can I do that? I ain’t got Bristow’s letter!” “No,” struck in Lawler, “you haven’t got the letter, Gei- gel, but you heard me read it, aloud to Merriwell and Clancy. And I’ll bet something handsome, my lad,” he added dryly, “that you had already read it for yourself. You know what was in the note, and you could tell My- rick—if you were able to get to the ‘Happy Hoosier.’” “Think I ain’t square?” murmured Geigel sadly. “T don’t think anything about it. I know you are not to be depended on: You have heard our plans, and that makes it dangerous for us to leave you running around loose.” Lawler turned to Merriwell and Clancy. “When can you fellows leave for the hills?” he asked. “Right away,” said Frank. “The quicker we start, the better,” supplemented Owen. “I’m to go first and clear Myrick out of your way,” put in Dagget; “after that, you‘can happen along with Lawler and take your time hunting for those papers. We——” There came the sound of a scramble, followed by a star- tled cry from Lawler and exclamations from the boys. The window, through which the attorney-had seen Bris- _ tow talking with Geigel in front of the “Emporium,” was — open. Geigel had been sitting on the sill. Suddenly, with- out the slightest warning, Geigel tipped over backward, his boots striking the bottom of the raised sash. In a twinkling he had vanished from the opening. “He fell out!” cried Dagget. “If he doesn’t break tas neck, he’l]——” “Fell!” cut in the exasperated Lawler. “He threw him- self out purposely. He wants to get away and carry — Bristow’s tip to Myrick!” All four who were left in the room rushed to the win- — dows and looked out. The first floor of the building was — occupied by a hardware store, and in front of the Bee was a lowered canvas awning. . Geigel had landed on his back on the awning and had’ slid down it and glided off the edge into the street. He — had cleared a hitching pole in front of the store, and, with better luck than he deserved, had landed right side up. — When those in the lawyer’s office looked for him, he was crossing the street at top speed, Sey bound for the “in- Ye ain't got no “Stop him !” - hawled Dagget. “ ‘Our plans will be knocked The sheriff whirled and rushed for the hall door. rs ler followed him. Frank could not take time to leave by the hall and the stairway, and crawled over the sill « the open window and tobogganed into the street 7 awning route. Clancy followed suit. The two chums negotiated a safe landing in the ee made off swiftly im the direction taken id G None of the townspeople helped: the pursuers. Wagon Gap was still steeped in its midday siesta, and heard lit- tle or nothing of what was going on. Frank and Owen, after crossing the street, raced along the side wall of the “Emporium.” From the rear of that establishment they could look off across several vacant lots and see the town corral. A saddled and bridled horse was hitched to the corral fence. It was the animal made ready for Geigel, and which he had been on the point of mounting when inter- cepted by Lawler and taken to the office for a talk. Geigel was close to the horse when Frank and Owen came within sight of the corral. “We can’t stop him, Chip!” declared Owen. “There’s a way we_can stop him, all right,” Frank an- swered. “We can’t head him off before he gets the horse, but there’s a way by which we can run him down.” Geigel was already mounting. The boys could ‘see him jerking the horse around, pointing southward, and then using his spurred heels and his quirt. Frank, as he spoke to Owen, halted and turned back to- ward the main street. “Where are you going?” demanded Owen. “To the garage! We'll use that red car we had a few days ago, Clan, and we'll come up with Geigel before he has gone three miles!” “Whoop!” yelled Owen. “That’s the talk, Chip!” Two minutes later the boys raced into the garage. The proprietor was asleep somewhere and no time was wasted in looking for him. A little red car, built for two—a machine which Frank and Owen had used before—stood at one side of the big room. The boys hurried toward it and made a hasty examination to discover whethc= it was fit for the road. Gasoline, oil, and water—all were needed. The chums knew just where each was to be obtained, and. they flew about the garage getting the roadster ready. In a remarkably short space of time the work had been accomplished. Owen jumped to a place behind the wheel and Frank pulled the crank. The sound of the popping motor brought the proprietor from a rear room. “Here!” he yelled; “where you going with that machine ?” | Sas The car was moving off toward the wide door. Frank jumped to the running board and fell into the vacant seat at Owen’s side. “We're in a hurry, Benton!” he called. “I don’t know _ how long we want the car, but we'll settle for it when we get back.” : Then the little red car rushed through the door and turned south along the main street of Wagon Gap. CHAPTER IV. GEIGEL’S CUNNING. _ Merriwell and Clancy had been over the trail to the _ “Happy Hoosier” Cyanide Works twice, ‘and they had partly covered the same trail during their recent dash across the border. On their first journey over the road they had lost themselves,.and had blundered upon the _ “Flappy Hoosier” by accident, but since then they had learned the way and its difficulties had been smoothed out for them. fs _ On their first trip to the cyanide “plant,” they had used that same red roadster. It had not behaved well on the 6 Na NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. ~ come ‘together and wait for him there. road out, but had retrieved itself admirably on the way back. Had there been another and more dependable machine handy the boys might have chosen it instead of the little red car, but there had been no time to hunt for a better machine. Owen let the car out, as soon as they were clear of the garage, and they flung through town like a crimson streak. There was an occasional break in the purring from under the hood, and this showed that the motor was “missing” now and then. “Too much fuel in the carburetor, Chip,” said Owen. “Shut off a little.” Frank bent over the dash and slightly turned a thumb- screw. “All right now;” went on Owen. “We're moving along as sweetly as a girl tripping to market. See anything of Dagget and Lawler?” Frank stood up and looked back. “They're over by the corral,” he answered. “I guess they see us, though, but they’re so far off it is hard to tell which way they’re looking. It can’t be long before they find out that we’re on the trail. Instead of looking behind for Lawler and Dagget, Clan, I’d better be watch- ing ahead for Geigel.” He sat down once more, and fixed his gaze on the dis- tant stretch of sandy road, toward which they were hur- rying. By that time the town was well behind them, and only the sun-scorched desert, with its dusty clumps of greasewood and sprawling growths of cactus, lay in ad- vance, “Geigel can’t be so very far ahead,” went on Frank, “but Pll be hanged if I can see him.” “Maybe he took another trail,” suggested Owen, keep- ing his gaze steadily on the road. “There’s a clutter of trails to the south of the Gap. We got lost among them, you remember.” “There are a lot of trails, Red, but there is only one leading to the cyanide works; all the others run into it, a dozen-miles out. If Geigel is trying to fool us by taking another road, we'll hustle for the place where the trails He’s a sharp one, that Geigel !” “Not half so big a fool as he pretended to be,” agreed Owen. “He’s doing all he can to help out Bristow and ‘Myrick. If we don’t catch the fellow, then I can give up all hope of recovering that thousand-dollar note. Con- found the luck, anyway !” “Don’t give up yet, old man. I don’t see how we can . fail tg overhaul Geigel. We're traveling a dozen feet to his one, right this minute.” “Have you heard of any other road to the ‘Happy Hoosier’ besides the one by the barranca?” “No. We were told, several days ago, that that is the only. road.” For several minutes there was silence in the little red car, racing cylinders and gave his full attention to the machine and the road. It was a good road, at that point, and well — i traveled, and the car fairly flew on its way. As Owen had said, as circumstances had shaped them- selves just at that time, a thousand dollars meant a good deal to the Clancys—possibly more than ten times that _ amount would have meant in happier and more prosper- ous days. Every resource must be exhausted in recover- ing the garage man’s “promise to pay.” \ | ; Clancy coaxed the last ounce of power out of the _ Sapte seta tin ay le of nt Is yf S ao oOo uN eyes, narrowed keenly, flashed with determination. lowed, and he must have taken another road. ‘sure that we’re three or four miles ahead of him, Clan. “take ‘such a chance. hadn’t been for that awning.” Owen morosely.: has picked up, the fatwill be in the fire. riek,” we're not entitled to win out and recover the stolen prop- erty. Wish to thunder we had. those binoculars along!” _ _- Panting like lizards in the sun, the chims held to their vid Sign on the hot hilltop and stared across the desett until ‘their eyes smarted and burned, and the or ‘seemed tor rise up and dance a hornpipe. — ; The minutes dragged arid a half hour passed. “Then, The red-headed chap’s face was set resolutely. His As the elder son, he had now become the mainstay of the fam- ily, and he was marshaling every power of mind and muscle to bear the responsibilities placed upon him. “Can’t you see anything of the fellow, Chip?” he queried, after a time. “Not a sign,” “He knew he’d be fol- I’m pretty Frank answered. Before long we'll be on the main trail and can turn out and wait for him to come along.” The main trail to the old mine was reached a little later, Frank got out of the car and carefully examined the loose sand of the road. “Tt’s a cinch,” he finally reported, “that no rider has been along here within the last few hours. I can find no tracks at all.” “It’s another cinch, Chip, that no horse could have got to this point ahead of the car, so there was no use look- ing for tracks,’ returned Owen. “All I’m afraid of is that Geigel knows of some other way to get to the ‘Happy Hoosier, and won’t come along this trail.” “T don’t think he has an idea that we'll use a machine in following him. If that is really the case, he'll think he’s’ safe and will be along. Anyhow, all we can do is to run the ¢ar into the greasewood, hide out; and wait.” “T's the logical move, Chip,” agreed Owen, and \turned the atitomobile out of the road and ran’ it into a “patch of chaparral close to the roadside. At this point the country had roughened into low hills, desolate, rocky, and overgrown with cactus. The boys, picking their way through the cholla: clumps, climbed to the crest of one of the low elevations, and, from that lookout station, peered off in the direction of Wagon Gap. They saw nothing but a wide stretch of desert, misty with curling heat waves. No galloping rider met their eyes. “Tf Dagget hadn’t been so blamed sure of Geigel,” grum- bled Owen, “‘the chap wouldn’t have got away. ‘We were watching him like a Couple of cats until os sheriff inter- -- fered.” _ “Geigel cértainly played his hand cleverly,” was the re- sponse. “He acted as though he was scared to death—and ‘all the time he was figuring how he could get: out of Law- ‘ “ter’s office and make a break for the hills.” “And Dagget was so surprised that he thought Geigel fell out of that window by accident!”” “Well, I don’t think any of us dreaméd Geigel would “He was in the office and heard all the talk,” proceeded | “He knows just what our plans ate, and if he éver gets to Myrick with all the information he Myrick will take the papers and clear out.” “He has got to get around us before sa reaches My- ifisisted Frank, “and if we allow him to do that, NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. | 7 ‘watched Geigel. ‘He'd ‘have broken some bones if Mee atm through the looped reins, he was walking and teading He suspects there is trouble ahead, and—— Ahl” he broke off, “I guess-he has made up his mind everything Chip! abruptly, Frank rubbed his aching eyes, freed them for clearer vision, gazed long, and uttered a startled exclama- tion. “By Jove, Clan, I think I see some one in the trail!” He pointed, and Owen followed the leveled finger with his eyes. “You're right, Chip!” he declared. “There’s some one in the trail and coming this way. It’s only a black speck, but it may be Geigel.” “Or it may be a freighter—only freighters don’t do much traveling at this time of the day. We'll know in a min- ute whether we're looking at a rider or at a team and wagon.” A low flurry of white dust marked the passing of the dark spot along the trail. The spot grew larger and larger, and at last took form and shape. It was a horse- man! The rider’s pace. was ‘a slow gallop. “By George!” averred Clancy, with a long breath of satisfaction, “it’s Geigel, and no mistake. How are we going to stop him, Chip?” ; oss ite Frank picked up a crooked branch of mesquite which, in 4 ‘sorhe manner known only to the desert, had found ‘its ‘way : to the crest of the hill) The branch was as dry as tin- der, and blackened by exposure to the wind. He broke the branch at one end, and‘ then at the other, leaviug a straight section, four or five inches” long, and a crook of about the same angen. Then, with his pocket knife, he did a little trimming. a ae “What the deuce is that for?” demanded Clancy. “Hands up!” chuckled Frank, gripping the bit of “stick and leveling it at his chum. “Does ‘it look like a six- shooter ?” ieee “About as’ “much like a’ six-shooter as a squirt ‘gun es “Well, maybe Geigel will ‘be too excited to note * the difference. -I am going ta jump out into the trail, dtaw a bead ‘on him, and command him to halt. ~ He'll stop, I think, for I expect to frighten his -horse:’ Before he can turn and gallop away, Clan; you must jump out of the: brush’ and pull him-from the ‘saddle, I think the scheme ¥ wilt work. It’s got to work, that’s all.” ~ Merry began” sliding down the hill toward the grease-, “s wood bushes.” Clancy took a last look at the rider be- _ fore following his chum—and then ail ‘idea of followitig Sy went out of his mind. ; “Wait, Chip!” he called. “Geigel has halted in the ask and dismounted: He’s examining the road.” _What i in ‘Sam Hill is he doing that for?” Merriwell crawled back to his ‘companion’s “ side and The “fellow was several hundred yards away, but his movements could be easily noted. With his : ‘ his horse, Groasionally bending over to look at something — in the road, ; ‘“Here’s. beastly luck!" ~exclaimed Frank, in much ie chagrin. “He’s looking at the tire-marks of the red car. all right ahead—he’s mounting again.” Geigel could. be seen vaulting’ to the back of his horte. The ‘moment he-was in the saddle, he sptirred froth. trail and vanished between two of thé low ‘hills. “Smelled a rat!” grumbled Owen, his voice’ heavy wit disappointment. “He has taken to~ the rough ¢c He knows we're after him with an automobil country with the. machine, I guess the jig is up. Joe Geigel is too sharp for us.’ Frank had started wwitdy down the hillside. “We'll go back in the car to the place where he left the road, Clan!” he called back. “Maybe that dodge of his won’t work, after all. Hurry up! There’s a chance we can catch him yet! ( “A mighty slim chance!” answered Owen, as . he has- tened down the slope after his chum. CHAPTER V. A HARD RUN OF LUCK. he car was backed out of the chaparral, pointed north- ward, and started over the back trail at top speed. Frank and Owen found the place where Geigel had turned from the trail. As they had expected, Geigel had taken a course that: was absolutely impossible for an automobile. A little to the south of.the point where Bristow’s mes- senger had entered the hills, the boys found a gap through which:they could force the car, It proved:to be the mouth of a small valley, which soon narrowed, became choked with brush, and formed. a complete “blockade. — “No use, Chip,” said Owen, “This country is too rough to get over with a car.” ; ‘Who was that chap: who said, ‘A horse, a ‘horse!’ My kingdom for a horse!’?” Frank: returned, . assuming a cheerfulness he was far from feeling. “If’we had a couple of mounts now, Clan, we could soon run. Geigel down.” “We haven’t any horses, and so we might as well call it a bad sek and _ out of this mess of iat into: the trail.” :; “Just a skate, old man, “heinie: you do any backing.” Frank jumped out of the car, @limbed to the top of the nearest hill, and began looking. for Geigel. He saw him at last, far away in the southeast, urging his horse onward with quirt and spur. © _ “He’s making the’ dirt fly in the direction of Myrick’s barranca, Red,” Frank reported as soon as he had re- gained the car. ‘The game is up,” said Owen, as he began backing the car through the valley.. “Geigel has beaten us out.” “TY don’t know about that.” “Looks plain enough to me. thing we could do, Chip?” “Yes. When we're in the trail again, Clan, point the car Have you thought of some- southward and hit ’er up. I'll tell you what’s on my mind, while we're traveling.” They had not proceeded fai along the valley, so it did not take them long to regain the trail. Owen obediently started the car in the direction suggested by his chum. “Here we go toward the south,” he remarked, “although I’ll be hanged if I’can see the use of it.. What’s the idea; Merry?” os “It’s a cinch,” was the reply, “that we can’t overhaul Geigel if. he’s going to worry along through the hard country, but, if we can’t follow him, Clan, we can cer- 24% tainly beat him to the ‘Happy Hoosier’! “What if we do?” “We'll have a little time to deal with Myrick before he gets the news Bristow is sending to him. I don’t know what we can accomplish, but maybe: we can do.some- thing.” Clancy. made a wry fied; y a moient Myrick sets eyes. on us,” said he, “he’ll ‘ NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. That open up with his artillery. mesquite cannon of yours won't help much in a case of that kind.” “Don’t cast any asparagus on that wooden gun. spectacular effect would be great, if the light, didn’t hap- pen to be too strong. A lot of,things might be accom- plished if we could make Myrick think we had the ‘drop’ on him. I’m not counting on putting up a fight, though, for at that sort of game Myrick would be too many for ~There’s a bare possibility that the red-whiskered des-. perado may be away from home. If that proves the case, ‘we could dash up to his adobe, make a pretty thorough search, and then dash away again. There’s a chance.” “About. one chance in a million, Chip. If Myrick isn’t around the place, then some of his men will be there. That Hargeaves is about as tough a proposition as My- rick himself.” “By going through the hills, Geigel. will be an hour or two longer reaching the barranca than he would if he followed ‘the trail. That would give us that much more time to stay at the cyanide works. It won’t do any harm to prospect a little, anyway. There’s nothing else we can do, Owen.” “It’s a big risk.” “Not with the red car. We can tune the machine up to forty miles an hour if Myrick happened to be around ‘and tried to catch us,’ “[’m ready to. grab any chance, no matter how Siege in’™ The. order to get_hold-of that thousand-dollar note, but I don’t — know why I should rush you into a lot of trouble and danger.” “Oh, you don’t!” said F rank, with a laugh. “Say, Clan,” he drawled, “don’t you be.so blamed careful of me. Let the car out for. all she is worth and maybe we'll have the pleasure of meeting Geigel when he shows up at the old mine. I'd be glad to take a big risk just to do that.” So far, the car had been behaving well, but now, with- out the least warning, the motor missed fire, sputtered feebly, and went out of business. The machine slowed to a halt. “Oh, blazes !”. growled Frank. “Reminds you of the first time we tried to run this old teakettle, doesn’t it?” asked Owen grimly. “Might know something would go crosswise! wrong, Red?” x “Not being a mind reader, or gifted with second sight, Vu pore to make an examination before i give an an- swer.” “Why, I thought you were a regular motor wizard and gasoline expert! . Can’t you tell, ae: by using your ears, what went wrong?” “Hardly ! by using my eyes.. This halt may be due to anything from dirty spark plugs to sandy gasoline.” The boys got out and Owen opened the hood. ‘Two of the plugs were loose and oil had«worked up and stained the porcelain. however. “Benton Keeps his cars in ‘fine shape, I must say Y grum- bled Owen. © i He took out all four plugs and looked at shetn. They were black and foul, just .as he had imagined, and he cleaned them and screwed them back into place. “That took half an hour,” commented Frank, looking at his watch. .“Geigel gains a little-on us. We're not too late yet.” eis Ae Ns é What's That could not have caused all the trouble, ~ And I may have a time locating, the trouble ge pa co ~ an th hi “ fc — oir het NEW “et’s see if the motor will mote,” suggested Owen. rank cranked until he was blue in the face, but -couldn’t get the engine started. “Guess again, Red,” said he. The red-headed chap went hunting through the vital parts of the machinery, and in fifteen minutes had dis- covered a faulty connection between the magneto and the motor. After remedying this, the cranking was resumed, and the engine cheerfully took up its cycle. “Now we're off,” remarked Frank, following Owen into the car. “Any use going on, Chip, after all this delay? Owen. “Geigel hasn’t negotiated all the hills between here and the barranca. There’s a chance that we can reach the ‘Happy Hoosier’ ahead of him.” “Same oid chance,” said Owen ay “but we'll keep on after it” Half a mile farther on a front tire popped, began to hiss, and rapidly flattened. “This red car is a peach—I don’t think!” grunted Rieck: “Knowing the miserable old rattletrap as we did, we were foolish to take it out.” “We'd have done better if we had gone te the corral and hired a couple of horses. No use sobbing, though. Wonder if there’s a spare inner tube along? T’H bet there isn’t. We used one, you remember, the last time we took a joy ride in this crimson nerve destroyer. Look for a tube, Chip, while I-get that front wheel off the ground.” Merry looked, and by the time the Fomagal axle was jacked up he sorrowfully reported that there was no ex- tra tube. “Then we'll have to patch the old one,” declared Clancy. “There are some patches and quick-repair dope in the tool box, and we'll have to get busy if we ever expect to move.” 2592. inquired Owen was Sinaastae handy. in tinkering with machines. More and more this fact had been borne in. on Frank during the last few days. It took time, however, to pull out the tube, remove the old patch where the leak had occurred, scrape the rubber, apply the dee and the new patch, and then let the work dry. While the tube lay in the sun, patched side up, as ily, “I guess there’s no breaking this run of hard’ luck,” he « murmured, “My plan’'to beat Geigel to the cyanide works has been knocked galley-west,” said Frank. “By this time, Clan, Geigel must have reached the ‘Happy Hoosier’ and have ° told Myrick everything he knows. Pretty tough, but there was no way we could help it. wish I had a drink!” returned Clancy, “but the only water we Guess the radiator needs “Same here,” _ have with us is in the radiator, it more than we do.” Frank lifted himself erect and looked around. “Tf I’m not mistaken,” he observed, “there’s a charco not a great way from this particular spot. Seems to me I remember seeing it, or hearing about. it, that time we rode into the Gap with the bullion. Isn’t that a patch of - mesquite, over there toward the west, Clan?” ~ Clancy looked. wiped his hands on some waste and shook-his head gloom- Jove!” he added, “I - TIPS TOPAWEERLY: 9 “That bunch of chaparral looks pretty green for grease- wood,” said he. “Shouldn’t wonder, Chip, if that’s the water hole. Shall we put the tube back in the oe and go there?” “T’ve got to have a drink, Red, as so have you. I don’t know of any other place we could go that would do us more good.” While they were getting the tire in shape for use, they were startled by the growing hum of another motor car. They straightened quickly and looked northward, and Frank gave a shout. “Here come Lawler and Dagget,” he cried, “in Lawler’s big, six-cylinder car! Bully! We might have known those fellows would be along pretty soon.’ “Dagget’s going .out to ‘the ‘Happy Hoosier’. to arrest Myrick,”. said Owen, “but he’s a trifle late. When. he reaches the barranca, Myrick will be gone—and the note and the rest of. the papers will be gone with him.” “Those chaps have had plenty of time to. get here ‘be- fore,” observed Frank. “What could have caused the de- lay?” : The big car—the one das had eed used in fhe dash across.the border at the time John Clancy was rescued— came rushing along the trail. The two chums watched it and noted the astonishment in the faces of Lawler and Dagget as they approached. “What are you. doing here?” demanded Dagget, as Edwe ler brought the big machine to a halt. “Just got through repairing a puncture,” eentaheed Owen. “Where’s Geigel? Didn’t you overhaul him?” Frank shook his head, and the amazement of the lawyer and the sheriff increased, CHAPTER VI. AT THE CHARCO. “We thought you had that fellow, sure,” said Lawler. _ “How in Sam Hill did you happen to let him get away from you?” te “He took thie wrorig trail out of town,” Frank answered, “and we hustled to get ahead of him, reach the main road to the ‘Happy Hoosier,’ and wait for him to come along. He came, ail right; but he saw the tracks of our car and they scared him. Then he turned into the hills and hunted all the hard places, where a car couldn’t follow.” “Tough luck!” exclaimed Dagget, ee long ago was this, Merriwell?” “So long ago that Geigel- has had inte. to ceecli ‘ie a cyanide. works and blow-all our plans to Myrick.” “What have you fellows been doing?” asked Lawler. “Been fixing up breakdowns, most of the time,” Owen answered. “This old catamaran has been raising merry blazes with us. When. Geigel went inte the hills, we thought we’d rush on to the barranca and get ahead of the latest news from the Gap, ‘but the little red car ~ butted into the scheme and played hob with it. - “We had hard luck ourselves,” continued Lawler. “I went for my car, sedn after you and Merriwell got away, — “Hows but, in the hurry and. excitement, I did not look at the a gasoline supply. Ten miles from town we stopped, with an empty tank. It was more than’ two hours before we found any fuel.” °, ‘ “But we weren’t worrying a whole lot on account of the delay,” struck in Dagget. “We felt sure you two had TO ‘caught up with Geigel and grabbed him, and that my scheme for arresting ee ‘could be carried out. Now we're up: a. stump:” “The ‘thing: to. da; ‘seems. ‘to “me,” suid the aang “is ‘to slide ‘on..to ‘the. cyanide ‘plant’ and try-and_ gets hands on: Myrick before he has a:chance to make away with those papers. If we hit it up, + reckon. -we ¢an get there: in time,” 3 . : ‘We'll try it, dashes returned the sheriff. “You. boys wait around here somewhere till we come back. ‘Wei not be long.” “You'll: find. us. over at the stare, Dageget,” ‘anid Merry, pointing toward the water hole. “Bueno! Let ‘er slide, Lawler.” ‘The attorney pressed the button of his self-starter, threw in the clutch, and the big machine glided away. A mo- ment. later, machine and ‘passengers were’ lost in a‘cloud of «dust. “hander !” eecclaimndd Clancy, "Why didnt’ .we. think to ask them for a drink? I'll bet. they’ve got a: couple of canteens in the machine with: them.” ma —. “Twouldn’t betoo. sure of -that, Clan,” said Merry. “A. couple of chaps who'd start. on a long trip into the desert and forget their gasoline, would be’ just as. apt to forget water, We've: got our .orders,’ so es hike for the charco.” The final touches were given the tire, ihe air’ pump was brought into play, and-ther the forward wheel was lowered, the tools put’ away. and a Start made for .the . water. hole; The surface of the deuart was a enough to msde fairly good going for the light .machine. All that was necessary was to dodge the greasewood and cactus. clumps. Although the charco was small, its waters were clear as crystal, The chaparral of mesquite that surrounded it covered, perhaps, a quarter of an acre. The bushes were tall, and here and there they were broken by. open spaces covered with grama grass. It was into one of these cleared spots in the heart of the chaparral that the boys ‘ran their car. As soon as the machine came to a stop, they jumped out and went down to the charco and took a drink of the warm, clear water. ‘“T’'ve had better’ irate than thats lots of times.” _said i Clancy, “but, it’s a lot better than none at all. I don’t know what you’re going to do, Chip, but I’m going _ to stretch out in the shade. of these bushes and try and snatch about forty winks, . Maybe, I .can forget, for a little while, the rough sledding that has come to the Clancys,” . “Take your snooze, old man,’ i Netendd Merriwell. “I'll just tramp around and wait for Lawler and Dagget to show. up.” cio Owen peeled off his coat, yelled it. into a pillow, fais Jay down in the shade, relaxing with a long sigh of sat- -isfaction, and, pulling his hat over. his face, eeocentet, to go to sleep. sas Frank, as he shits bak: ‘gle through the Gr iat was = with: his. thoughts. They: were not eeeey pleas- NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. / when he reached Wagon Gap—not only. physically, but -not only with John Claney, but also with Owen's cig! sibly to be a long Christmas vacation, Business was to be coupled: with pleasure, for Clancy was going to southern ern. Arizona on a@.mission for his. father. John.,Clancy was a mining engineer. Most of his. for- tune was invested in Mexico, and the activities of the revo- lutionists threatened to wipe it out... It- was necessary for him to go.into that unsettled and. war-harried- coun- try and do what-he could to save his investments from complete wreck. Newton Myrick was his partner in the ‘epanida ce near Wagon Gap. lieve that Myrick was not treating him faitly, and, while he was in Mexico, he had asked his son to come to Ari- . zona and investigate matters at the “Happy Cone. plant. This. work. Frank and. Owen had performed expedi- tiously and well. Luck had favored them. In one after- nogn and night they proved Red Myrick to. be a thief, recovered several bars of bullion which rightfully ;be- longed to Owen’s father, and successfully carried: the gold into. the Gap... Myrick, enraged, followed, to recover the bullion. He was confronted with evidences of his crim- inal work, and, rather than face arrest and trial, agreed to a settlement with Clancy, senior, through his son. ° By .the terms of. this settlement, Owen sold out: his father’s interest in the cyanide works for three thousand dollars in cash. He also was allowed to keep the bul- lion, which netted something over five thousand dollars more. John Clancy had asked his son to sell out to. Myrick, if possible, at a sum not less than two thousand dollars), Thus Owen, as it will be seen, had secured six thousand _ dollars more than his father had hoped for out of the. Tay cyanide “plant.” 1 But while Owen ‘had been: successful in Arizona, his . father had made a flat failure in Mexico. Electrical works which John Clancy owned in a Sonora city were demol- ’ ished, and mines in which he was heavily interested were _ destroyed. To cap his troubles, Clancy was captured by © bandits, posing ag revolutionists, and a communication was | sent to Owen asking ten thousand dollars as a ransom, Owen and Frank, accompanied by Lawler and Abe Rol- lins, crossed the border into Mexico to rescue John Clancy. They took with them the eight thousand dollars which had been wrested from the scoundrelly- Myrick, ‘hoping to make the insurrectos accept that in lieu of the Satay ie sum .they had demanded, In Sonora, the party of Americans met with ieee ss vand double-dealing, Nevertheless, fortune befriended them and they escaped across the line into their own country, thousand dollars. The elder Clancy had suffered teprible hardships ‘pate in the hands of the insurrectos. He was a very sick man mentally, .As Owen had said, he was badly incurs and had “lost his grip.” sti . While Owen’s father was asi wetting. ans a le of his strength, and while Frank was planning an ‘earl return to Fardale, the wallet of papers was discovered | to be missing, and the present series of ‘experienten a aad taken the center of the rain The elder Clancy had reason to be-— aces Ea tea ral thi to all oe ie ae ~ Oe to ern ee > ... = =. we SN ~ though, and see what happens. ‘to the place where he had left Owen. NEW East. Also—and that was the hard part of it—he must . leave his chum, Owen Clancy. For a long time Frank and Owen had been _insepa- table. Each had come to look upon the other as some- thing of a fixture in his life, and presently they: were to separate and go different ways. In this thought there was sadness and gioom for both. _ There by the charco, Frank’s thoughts took account of all these events. Time passed unheeded, and Frank sud- denly looked around to note that the sun was dropping close to the western horizon. It would soon be night— and where were Dagget and Lawler? They had had ample time to make the round trip to the “Happy Hoosier” Cyanide Works. In order to get a better view of the trail leading to the south, Frank went'to the car, climbed up, and stood on a seat and gazed away over the tops of the bushes. He did not see the attorney’s big machine returning, but he did see something that brought a gasp of consternation to his lips. A man on a big horse was riding toward.the charco from the trail. The fellow was burly and. broad-shoul- dered, roughly dressed, and his face was covered with a fiery beard. \ Frank leaped hurriedly down from the car and rushed The latter was sleeping comfortably, but roused at once when his chum called his name. “Time to get up, Chip?” queried Owen, rising to a sit- ting posture. “T should say so!” Frank answered. coming this way, Clan, and——” “Myrick!” Owen exploded the word and bounded to his feet. “Coming this way, you say?” “Yes, he is headed straight for the water hole.” “Then he must have given Dagget and Lawler the slip.” “Sure! He wouldn't be here, if he hadn’t. I suppose he got Geigel’s tip and is going to hide out until the storm blows over. He hasn’t an idea we're in this bunch of chaparral. Luckily, the car is at a little distance from the charco, and is well screened by the bushes. We'll get out of sight and watch the fellow. Maybe—it’s just pos- sible—— Frank’s voice trailed off into silence. “What's just possible?” queried Owen excitedly. “T was thinking that, if we watch .our chances, per- haps we can capture Myrick and turn him over to Dag- “Red Myrick is get.” “Wow!” said Owen. “That scoundrel is heeled like a company of artillery, and you and I haven’t a thing to shoot with. ture him, Chip.” “Maybe you’re right, Clan. We'll get into the brush, Come on!” The boys ducked into the chaparral and watched and waited for Red Myrick to come riding to the charco. ‘Finally, they heard the crunching hoofs of hig horse. -a stroke of lick, Myrick approached the water hole on the side opposite the place where the car was standing. he allowed his horse to drink. While the animal was drinking, Myrick stood in his stir- - -rups and cast a wary glance around the chaparral. By Riding into the pool, “Acts suspicious, doesn’t he, Chip?” murmured Clancy. ¢ 5 TIP TOP WEEKLY, It would be plain suicide to try to cap-: CHAPTER VII. A DARING VENTURE. Owen was. correct in making his guess as to how well Myrick was “heeled.” In a case under his stirrup leather was slung a rifle. A belt about his waist sagged under the weight of holsters, so that the revolver scabbards showed below the bottom of his coat. In addition to the revolver belt, there was a fluted cartridge belt, gleam- ing with the brass of loaded shells. Myrick had an evil, murderous face. He had no cause to feel friendly toward Frank and Owen, and if he, hap- pened to discover the boys, there was no telling how far his hate and lawlessness would carry him. Frank would have given a good deal to have had a Remington rifle just then. With such a weapon, he, could have stepped clear of the bushes, drawn a bead on ¢the red-whiskered rascal, and ordered him to put up his hands. But the boys had nothing to shoot with, and they knew very well that they must lie low and not allow Myrick to set eyes on them. Myrick’s survey of the chaparral seemed to be reas- suring. He dropped back into his ‘saddle, swerved his horse to the bank, and dismounted. Allowing the bridle reins to trail on the ground, he walked over to a clump of mesquite and stood in the shade, while he took some- thing from the breast pocket of his coat. Owen gasped. The object Myrick held in his hands was a long, black wallet—a wallet which Owen had seen before, and with which he was familiar. “There are dad’s papers, Chip!” Owen whispered, in a quivering voice. \ “Positive of it?” returned Frank. “T can’t be mistaken. Look! He’s taking out some of the papers.” Deliberately, Myrick removed several folded documents, looked at each in turn, and, one by one, tore them in pieces. “Oh, if I only had a gun!” fumed Owen, stroying property that is valuable to the governor. he wants is just to make dad trouble.” “Keep your nerve, Clan,” cautioned Frank, a thing we can do.” Two or three of the papers were not destroyed, but re- ; placed in the wallet and the wallet put back in the coat pocket. fe “If he hasetorn up that thousand-dollar note,” Owen huskily, “dad is out just that much.” “Chances are he didn’t destroy the note. thing he may think he can realize on.” Myrick had a keen ear. Whether the boys’ voices car- ried to him across the pool, or whether something else drew his attention, was hard to say; at any rate, the man’s hand darted suddenly under his coat and reappeared with a six-shooter. For a moment he stood alert, revolver ready, and ‘eyes sweeping the bushes in a wide) circle. Then, with a hoarse laugh, he put up the weapon, took a pipe and bag of tobacco from his pocket, flung them on the ground, and stripped off his coat. It was warm, there by the charco, and Myrick’s coat - must have been uncomfortable. He turned to hang it over his saddle horn, then went to the bushes, sat down, pushed his broad-brimmed hat back on his head, and began filling his pipe. Slowly and reflectively, he struck a match and trailed the flame over the pipe bowl. “He’s de- All “There’s not continued That’s some- “Must be going to make something of a stay,” mutf- mured Frank. “Wish we could get that coat!” “Don’t go crazy, Chip,” returned Owen. “Myrick could the horse.” “Tt would be a great business, though, if we could make off with that coat, right under Myrick’s nose!” Such a daring act appealed powerfully to Merriwell’s love of adventure. At the same time, he knew the at- - tempt might be one of reckless folly. “Maybe Myrick will take a nap,” “thens——” “Then,” finished Frank, “ a quick move might accom- plish something. But,” he finished, “he doesn’t seem to be very sleepy.” _ Myrick, leaning back against a scraggly mesquite, was blowing billows of smoke into the air and apparently en- joying himself. “Geigel,” pursued Frank, in guarded tones, “got to him with the information sent by Bristow; and he must have told Myrick of Dagget’s plans. The big ruffian has left the ‘Happy Hoosier,’ and brought the papers with him. I wish to thunder that Dagget and Lawler would show up!” “What do you suppose is titi them?” suggested Owen; some good. As they’re not here, though, I think we ought to do something.” “We'll have all we can do to hang. onto our scalps. If Myrick happened to go nosing around through the chaparral, and discovered that automobile—we’d—we'd be in a pretty tight corner, Chip.” “That may happen,” said Frank gravely. “We might as well begin trying for a get-away, Clan. You slip away to the car and get ready to crank up. When you vi hear me yell, jump into the machine and start for the trail as fast as you can go.” : “Look here,” returned Owen earnestly, scheme have you got in your mind, Chip?” “I don’t think it’s foolish, and if it doesn’t look feasible when I get around to carrying it out, I'll stop right where I am. We don’t want to have Myrick blaze away at us with that rifle of his while we’re plunging for the road in the car, do we? The six-shooters aren’t so bad, _ but a rifle ball carries a long distance, old man.” - “How do you, expect to keep him from using the rifle?” “{ don’t know that I can, but I’m going to i it if everything seems favorable.” _ “What's the idea?” ; “Haven't time to explain. Go to the car, Clan, and leave me to deal with this end of the scheme.” “Tt hate to leave you,” demurred Owen. “I’m afraid you'll do something reckless. If anything happened to you, Chip, all the thousand-dollar notes in the world wouldn't make up for it.” “what fool ~ skin,” persisted Merry. “That’s what I’m working for. See how quick you can handle the car when if let off a yell By is i Without waiting for any further tale with his chum, ‘Frank began crawling around the charco. On all ‘fours he made his way carefully from one clump of mesquite to another, selecting the thickest cover, and passing through it as. noiselessly as q snake. e Owen's face went white with trepidation! 12. Lee | NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. pick us off with one of his guns before we got halfway to “Wish I knew. Here's a place where they could do’ Tm thinking of getting away from here with a whole Frank, how-. ever, had “taken the bit. in his teeth,” and it was use- less to protest when he was in such a mood. Hoping against hope that all would come out right, Qwen crawled away to the car and made ready to turn over the en- gine when he should receive his chum’s signal. Meanwhile, Frank was stealthily effecting a wide de- tour of the water hole. His course was designed to bring him on Myrick’s side of the pool, at a point where the lrorse would be between himself and the lounging des- perado. The horse was some twenty feet from Myrick, and was standing in one of the small open spaces with which the chaparral was sprinkled. And the rifle, which fore- boded most disaster to the boys in their attempt to flee, was still in its case under the stirrup leather. yet!—the coat, with the wallet and the remaining papers in its pocket, still hung from the saddle horn. Frank’s plan was to get as close to the horse as the edge of the chaparral would take him, then make a rush for the animal, mount, and ride away.: He hoped to accomplish this before Myrick could recover from _ his: surprise and do any effective shooting with his revolvers; and if there was any shooting, Merry hoped to stretch out alongsthe horse’s neck and escape the bullets. This maneuver would distract Myrick’s attention from the automobile, making it possible for Claney to crank : the machine and get well on the way to the trail. My- rick would have his hands so full with Merry that he could not give much heed to the car and Clancy. As soon as Frank had ridden the horse to a safe distance, he could abandon the animal for the red car, and then he and his chum could glide away to safety—with the wallet and what was left of the papers. The whole design was a daring conception, and worthy of Chip Merriwell; and perhaps, indeed, only this “chip of the old block” possessed the nerve, the cool-headed — judgment, and the physical ability to carry it out. So softly he moved through the brush that Myrick did not hear him. The movements of the horse cloaked the whispering’ in the mesquite, caused by the stealthy move- ments of the creeping lad, At the edge of the brush, with the horse no more than ten feet away, Frank paused. From his crouching position Frank could look under — i the horse and across at Myrick. The big fellow was still sitting on the ground, puffing clouds of smoke contentedly, ae and leaning back against the mesquite. — Fs The horse, scenting Merriwell’s presence, was growing ae Te It would not be many moments before Myrick noted the actions of the horse and investigated the sur- The time had come to put the daring ven- a restive. roundings. ture to the test. Quietly,, Frank arose and stepped clear of the tsehase He kept the horse between him and Myrick, and advanced | steadily toward the animal. He was almost at the horse’s side when Myrick dined uneasily. The ‘horse had snorted and shied. Frank leaped into lightninglike action. _ With his right hand he gathered up the trailing reins; with his left he caught the saddle horn, over the swing- — ing coat, and jumped to the horse’s back. Bending low, he turned the horse toward the edge of me seperti and dug in with his heels. “Stop, ye pesky robber!” roared the danad? Myrick, “Stop, or r Till shoot! Come back with that hot . | And—better ree ny Pe te «A Ase Ba Ee ME 1° Sere bush TI huny not buzz Pea A red i.” Flin chat bus! - — unf por In | the ) and i ae red car’s motor, “All ready, Clan!” shouted Merry. ' Bang! Myrick’s “artillery” was getting into action. Bug-s-s! screamed the bullets, and swish, swish, went the slapping bushes against the knees of the racing horse, The sun was almost down, and yagrant shadows over- hung the charco and the chaparral, The faint light was net conducive to accurate shooting, and while the lead buzzed angrily it flew wide, Across the pool could be heard the pounding of the Clancy wes now coming into action. Flinging a glance to the right as he passed out of the chaparral, Merriwell saw the machine emerge from the bushes and dart off in the direction of the trail. Then something else happened—something that boded unforeseen disaster to Frank. The shooting ceased, Re- ’ ei ports of reyolvers gave way to a shrill, peculiar whistle. In spite of Frank’s efforts to urge the horse onward in the direction of the trail, the animal circled on the desert and stubbornly started back toward the charco, fast you can snake this car back into the trail. CHAPTER VIII. FRESH DISASTERS. As a demonstration of a brute’s loyalty to its master, the actions of that horse were in the nature of a revela- tion. Myrick’s peculiar whistle, in spite of the frenzy of excitement, was heard and heeded. Frank’s desperate efforts to turn the animal were of no avaik He was Des being carried steadily back toward the red-whiskered des- _ perado. There was but one thing for him to do, and that was to jump from the horse’s back. He had no time to unsling the rifle and take it with him, but-he did not fail to take possession of the coat. He dropped lightly to the ground, at the edge of the chaparral, and ran in a direction that kept the horse be- tween him and Myrick. Clancy had seen what had haigeied. He was equal to the emergency, and rushed the red car to the aid of his chum. Merry swerved his course and ran to meet. the machine. k “Jump !” roared Clancy. “I can’t stop—Myrick is tear- ing this way with his guns.” Merriwell flung himself at the running board, landed in a huddle, and was caught and held by one of Clancy’s hands. side. | Sping! That was the hoarse note of a rifle, not the lighter bark of the six-shooters. Myrick had unlimbered his heaviest gun. A moment later he was in the seat at his chum’s _ “Chip, you’re a wonder!” breathed Owen, in a yoice 4 at once tense and full of admiration, ' “See how Look out for the cactus! We don’t want to puncture a tire and run on the rim—not at this stage of the game. © Wow! listen to that!” eo The final remark was elicited by a snarling bit of lead “Never mind that,” panted Frank grimly. that clove the air directly over Clancy's head. - “AK miss is as good as a mile!” cried Clancy jubilantly. “It’s that long-range gun J was afraid of—and I didn’t have time to bring it with me. What do you think of from the coat.” A spurt of sand shot into the air less than a toot from the flying wheels of the car. NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY, | 13 that horse, anyhow? The brute deserves a better master than Myrick. I would have——-” _ Sping-~sip—whir-r-r ! Frank’s words died suddenly on his lips and 2 look of consternation rushed into his face. A bullet had struck the machine and glanced, singing, into space. “That hit us!” exclaimed Owen, bending over the wheel and watching the course ahead. “Where did it hit us?” returned Frank, glancing around. “That’s the point that worries me.’ “{ don’t think it did any damage. running as well as usual,” “We're in luck, then, other.” The bullet im question churned up the sand a few yards behind the motor car, seeming to prove that the fleeing lads were drawing out of range. Frank turned and gazed rearward. Myrick had mounted and was racing after the machine at a terrific gallop. His reins lay on the saddle in front of him, and both his hands clasped the rifle. “He’s on his horse, but he can’t overhaul us—nothing on hoofs could do that,” exulted Frank. “And here’s the trail. Now we’ll do some running. Give her the last . ounce of power, Clan, and make this red termagant show her paces.” The car whirled into the trail. creased, “Who’s that “coming along the trail from the south, Chip?” asked Clancy. “Seems to me I caught a glimpse of some one out of the tails of my eyes.” Frank’s attention had been taken up in another .quar- ter. Now, impelled by his chum’s words, he flung an-— other look rearward. “Blamed if it isn’t Myrick’s pard, Hargreaves!” he ex- claimed, “I'l bet he was coming to join Myrick at the charco. Lucky we made that get-away when we did.” “{ should say so!’ murmured Owen. “You hung onto the coat, didn’t. you?” “Surest thing you know! The machine keeps Whoosh! There comes an- At once the pace in- Nothing could pry me loose “You might pry that wallet loose from the coat, and then drop the coat into the road. No use bothering bis Myrick’s clothes.” \\ Frank straightened around in his seat, drew the wallet from the breast pocket of the coat, made sure there were no loose papers in the pocket, and then dropped the coat at the trailside. “See what papers Myrick left, Chip,” “I’m interested in that thousand- mae note. there the jig is up.” went on Owen. If that isn’t “Not exactly,” returned Frank. “We have saved our- selves—and that’s something.” : The Mery ‘iret, one. ‘promise to pay.” _ Carefully he removed the papers. he examined was the valuable ‘ “It’s here, Clan,” reported Frank. eden “Hooray!” cried Owen. “Snatched it out of a hot — erab bag, by thunder! Chip, I'll never forget what I owe By you for this.” hi “Bosh! You owe yourself something, Clan. Where’ do I have been if you fecinis stood . handily» by with this car?” “You’ye done’ a heap more, in shaking up this bag of, tricks, than I have. But never mind that, for now, Put | ' NEW the wallet and the papers in your pocket, then look around and tell me what’s going on behind.” Frank garefully stowed the wallet away in his coat, and proceeded to give attention to the horsemen in the rear, “My tick has joined Hargreaves,” he reported, “and they’re tearing after us, stirrup to stirrup. A lot of good that will do them, for we’re traveling three times as fast as they ate, and they haven’t a ghost of a show to over- haul us.” “IT guess they hate to give up,” chuckled Clancy. “Tl wish Dagget and Lawler would run up behind them in the big car. It’s about time those fellows put in an appearance.” “Where the deuce are they? be gone long.” “Something must have gone crossways with their plans. The shadows are getting thick, and I can’t see very plain —Myrick and Hargreaves are pretty well in the dim dis- tance.” “But they’re still coming?” “Yes, I can see that much. Fine thing we stopped at the charco, Clan. I’ll bet a farm Myrick was going to meet Hargreaves there, and that the two were intending to duck for places unknown, for a while. Well, they can go now, if they want to. We’ve got what we want. They are . Merriwell paused. The motor. had suddenly spluttered féebly, and died.. The car slowed to a halt. Through the gathering gloom the chums stared at each other blankly. “Flere’s something else to think about!” growled Owen, as he sprang from the car. “What’s wrong? Nice time for the machine to act up, I must say!” “We're a good way from being out of the “woods,” said Frank gruesomely. “See if you can tinker the thing into shape. Hustle, Clan. Myrick and Hargreaves are plugging along.” ’ Clancy walked around the car. Presently he halted. “Look here, Chip!” he called.. “We’re right up against it, and no mistake. One of those rifle balls of Myrick’s smashed a hole in the gasoline reservoir, and all our fuel has dribbled out. . Here’s a nice how-de-do!” Clancy had found the difficulty. Merriwell saw at a glance that theré was no way of going on in the car. “We'll push the car out of the trail and into the brush,” said Frank hastily, “and then we'll take to the rocks. - We'll get away from Myrick yet. Look'sharp, Clan! Lay hold and push.” It required only a minute or two to get the car out of the trail and back of a clump of greasewood. Clancy could see no reason for wasting the time, when time was pre- cious, but he knew that Merry’s alert brain must have _ thought of some plan which made the move necessary. “Now for the hills!” said Frank. They said they wouldn’t As they hurried across the trail and on into a seam between two bowlder-strewn uplifts, the boys heard the thumpety-thump, thumpety-thump of racing hoofs. My- - rick and Hargreaves were close, and their sliding figures _ were silhouetted against the lighter background of gather- _ ing shadows. ~ ©Think they saw us, Chip?” asked Owen. “Hard to tell,” was the reply. “I hope not. _ Anyhow, : _ they'll have a hard time running us down among these hills and in the dark. Let’s wait and see what happens. peel have plenty of chance to get away.” , TIP TOP- WEEKLY. The boys halted and peered out between two bowlders. “What was the scheme in hiding the car?” asked Owen. “I want to see if Myrick and Hargreaves won't keep right on, thinking the car is still humping itself in the di- rection of Wagon Gap. It’s a long chance, but I thought it good business to take it.” The pounding hoofs came closer and closer. Presently the two riders hove into sight almost opposite the spot where the boys were crouching. i It seemed, for a moment, as though the men would gallop on. Myrick drew quick rein, however, and gave a yell of triumph. “There’s the keer, Hargreaves!” he shouted. “I allowed it ‘was nigh time the pesky machine pegged out. We've been sniffin’ that gasoline fer two mile back. Right here is where the last of it dripped from the tank.” “One of them bullets o’ yourn done the trick, Newt,” said Hargreaves. “Are them fellers with the machine?” “It ain’t in noways likely. Howsumever, ye better look, | to make sure.” Hargreaves rode into the brush, and made an examina- tion. He was back in the trail in short order. “No one there,” said he. “They’re purty blamed cute, them: fellers. They hid their old chug wagon, allowin’ mebby we'd shin right along. Where d’ye s’pose they went ?” “They can’t be fur off,’ answered Myrick. “I jest want to lay hands on ’em, that’s all. I’ve stood a heap from them two, and I reckon it’s about time I played even. We'll jump in here, Hargreaves, and begin to look.” Myrick spurred his horse toward the opening between the bowlders. Frank, grabbing his chum’s arm, pulled him off up the narrow little valley. “Here’s where we have to work it pretty fine, Clan,” he whispered, “if we fool Myrick again. Careful how you step. A little noise will give us away.” Minding their steps was difficult, there in that gloomy gap of the hills. Still holding Clancy’s arm, Merry led the way up a bowlder-strewn slope. CHAPTER IX. THE BURNING SAHUARAS. Working their way to the top of a low hill, up which it would have been almost impossible for horses to climb, Frank and Owen knelt there, and used their eyes and ears in keeping track of their pursuers. Occasionally they could catch fleeting glimpses of My-— rick and Hargreaves when they forged over some rise — in the valley. At such times they rose out of a pool of darkness, like evil specters, and vanished into another pool beyond, The clatter of iron-shod hoofs on the stones, however, could be heard by the boys constantly. Myrick and Har- greaves seemed to be circling back and forth, in rather an aimless fashion. ; “Why don’t they go farther into the hills?” asked Owen. “Do you think they have an idea that we’re around here, “4 } Chip?” “T have an idea that they believe we agnitee! t have gone far,” said Frank. “If they give us a chance, we'll slide down the opposite side of this hill and do a little travel- ing along the trail. Hanged if I like the way things are going. Listen | From the sound, Myrick and Hargreaves © ce ce rin’ 1ey ant Im en. en led ” oF Ww ny he are Separating. One horse is moving “away- hae the other. .Doesn’t. it seem that way to you, Clan?” aoe “By George, it-does! Maybe they have anidea where ‘ we are, and are going to climb after us from two different directions. Ah! What's that?” i tite | From the slope of a hill directly wich of. the one -whiere ‘Frank and Owen had taken up their. position. there sud- denly flamed a column of fire. ; “Ts sahwara cactus!” exclaimed Frank. “They have set fire to it! Keep down below the bowlders, Clan! They started that fire, hoping it would help them locate us.” “There goes another!” whispered Clancy. “It’s north of us. -Now we know why: those two scoundrels sepa- rated. They're starting the sahuara candles to going, in order to light up this part of the hills. Chip.” That part of the country was a veritable. forest of sahuaras. The huge cactus, some as tall as telegraph poles, stood on every hand. The hark of the giant plant was oily and took fire like tinder. ' Matches were touched to one ‘cactus after: another until the rocky hill was completely. surrounded. by. deaping, shooting flames. hills, #? Frank and Owen, crouching low behind bowlders, ‘were -/. careful not to show themselves. & “Chip,” murmured Owen, reaching for his chum’s hand, “if anything happens to you, I’ll never forgive myself.” |. “Something might happen, Clan, that- would help. us to / get away from here,” returned Frank lightly. “How a out that, chum?” : “You know what I mean, I got you into. this.” “No, you didn’t, Red. I got myself into it. Our. last adventure together promises to be rather thrilling. But Myrick hasn’t got us yet—and he won’t get us.” “Tt looks pretty dubious now,” “Listen !” Myrick’s hoarse voice, from one side of the hill, could be heard calling to Hargreaves, who was evidently on the other side. » “They're on this bunch 0’ rocks, some’rs! “my oath to that.” “T can’t see a thing of them, Newt!” Hargreaves called back. _ “They're layin’ low, that’s why. Move up on ’em from your side, Hargreaves. I’ll come from this side. Go clean to the top! Ready?” — “Suret? . . “Then start.” _ Frank moved his head and stole a cautious oote down- _. ward through the glare, He could see Myrick, a, re- volver in each hand, just beginning to climb the difficult slope. Behind Myrick stood his horse. _“There’s an open space just in front of Myrick, Chip,” whispered Owen excitedly. “Couldn’t we roll one of these ‘bowlders down on him?” ng ; “Great idea!” returned Frank. T’ll take \ “If we could knock My- hill and get his horse.” “Td rather have Hargreaves’ sake ‘ead to that mount of his, the animal wouldn't do us much + ood. ao bin t “Once tip Myrick over with a bowlder, Clan, and he won't be able to whistle. That’s the scheme! The two NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY -you, looks. as though it might. roll. in. the right direction. We're in for it} A light as of day gleamed. over: the ‘but went twisting and rolling down the jagged slope. , ick over with a bowlder, maybe we could lig down the i Myrick whis- when contesting a.race on the cinder oval. E that ne had covered a mile when oe ice, halted tt of us ats run away from “Hargreaves on that -horse of Myrick’s. - Pick.-out the bowlder, That one, close to Myrick is just coming out on the cleared stretch. of the At hill, Are you ready?” | “Yes,” -was the .excited. answer. As the boys rose up to dislodge the bowlder, ean gave vent to a wild yell. “There they are, Myrick! of the hill, all right.” “Go for-’em, then!” There followed a,scrambling of feet on the steep slope. “Now!” said Merriwell. ‘ Together, he and, Clancy heaved at the acter The big stone was dislodged and began jumping, and leaping, and grinding down the steep slope. Myrick saw the great stone coming toward him, ack a hoarse cry of fear burst from his. lips. He sprang to get away from the rushing danger, slipped in the sand, and plunged headlong, both revolvers falling from his hands. Frank and Owen both watched him. From the. other side of the hill, Hargreaves seemed to divine that some- thing was- going wrong, for he shouted again and again to. Myrick.. No answer came back, as. Myrick had other things to think about just then. By a stroke of luck he saved himself from the bowlder, I see ’em! They're ‘on top The- boys saw him, at last, lying crumpled and. silent against a stone at the bottom of the hillside. ‘“Here’s our chance, Clan!” said Merry. “Come on!” They started at a run down the slope, laying a course which would bring them to Myrick’s horse. They were less than fifty feet from the animal, when Hargreaves rushed into view around the side of the hill. “Halt!” he roared. “Halt, or I'll pepper ye! you done to Myrick? Where’s Myrick?” Hargreaves was directly between the boys and the horse. To get the animal was now out of the ee and plans had to be changed again. teat “To the-trail, Clancy!” called Frank, They swerved their course, descending into the circular valley at the hill’s foot, and plunging at top speed around | to the-point where they had entered the hats a short time before. “If we could find Hargreaves’ horse,” would.serve us as well as Myrick’s.” “Don’t lose any time looking for a horse!”. returned Claney. “Let’s trust to our heels and take to the trail. If we’re followed, we can run in among the rocks again.” ~ The glare of the burning sahuaras was dying down, but — there was still light enough to bring out the surround- — ings distinctly. Frank could not see Hargreaves’ horse, A and so there was an end of designs on that particular: animal. “We'll have to take to the trail, Clan,” Frank shaves “] shouldn’t wonder if Hargreaves would have his hands full taking care of Myrick, for a while. ‘That ought to give us a chance to put a lot of country between those scoundrels and ourselves.” They rushed through the gap in the bowtaes: and canst: into the trail. Turning north, they set themselves to the run ahead of them just as they had done many a- time What’ve panted Finks it’. Side by side, steadily onward they ran. Frank since: 16 NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. breathe themselves and to look and listen for sounds’ of pursuit. There was a faint glow in the sky behind them, given off by the smoldering sahuara candles. -“T can’t hear any horses, Chip,” said Clancy, throwing himself wearily down on the sand. “That was a fast tun, I’m telling you. If I could go at that clip in a track meet, I’d corral about all the prizes. Gee! Nothing like “a little danger in the rear to make a fellow stretch his legs and paw the earth.” “T can’t hear any horses, either,” “but I can hear something else.” “What?” demanded the red-haired chap, sitting up sud- denly. “Sounds like a. motor car.” “Dagget and Lawler—at last!” gasped Clancy. about time they were coming. along.” “Must be Dagget and Lawler—unless Myrick and Har- greaves have mended the tank of that red car and filled it with gasoline. That’s a fool guess, and no mistake. I can see the machine now.” Clancy got to his feet and peered backward along the trail, A vague shape, behind two far-reaching pencils of light, was bobbing and swaying in the half gloom. Side by side the boys stood in the road, waving their hands. The croon of the motor grew louder and louder, the vague shape became more and more. distinct, and | returned Merriwell, “It's finally the far-flung rays of the searchlights struck full | upon the lads, A shout came from the car and the machine began quickly. to lessen speed. It halted, at. last, within half a dozen yards of Frank and Owen. “Great guns!” cried the voice of Lawler, “What are you. fellows doing here? Where’s your - automobile? What’s happened to you, anyway?” Dagget leaped from. his seat and came around in front of the car, “All that, and a heap more, is what I’m pinin’ to know,” ‘said he, “You was to be at the charco, Why didn’t you stay there, eh?” “And you. were to come back to the charco ‘before long,’” answered Frank. “What do you call ‘before long,’ anyway ?” “We had to stay at the ‘Happy Hoosier,” “And we had to get up and dust, Dagget. Clancy and ‘I have had a race, a desert race, and if you had been around you’d have seen us go some.’ “Why did you have to leave the charco? 2” asked Ras also getting out of the car. “Myrick routed us out.” “And then,” added Clancy, “he took after us. _ where the race came in.” That’s CHAPTER X._ THE LAST OF , MYRICK. iiheia and Lawler had heard: just enough to puzzle then and to make them want to hear more. “If you found Myrick,” said the sheriff, “you were a heap more successful than we\ were. When we got to _ the cyanide works we found a new man in charge there.” “A new man?” echoed Frank. . “Yes, Myrick has sold out—closed the deal yesterday. _ He was still staying at the works, though. Bushmarf, the _ new owner, told us that Geigel had reached the barranca opposite the gap in the rocks. quite a. powwow, according to Bushman, Right after that, Geigel started back toward the Gap, and Myrick saddled his horse, took a black wallet out of an/old trunk, mounted, and rode off.” “That is when he came to the charco,” put in Owen. “Bushman said Myrick was expecting an important message from his friend, Hargreaves,” said Lawler, “and he was sure Myrick would come back to the ‘Happy Hoo- sier.’” Dagget and I thought it would be a good scheme to wait for him. That is what delayed us. We gave up any idea of capturing the fellow when it began to grow dark, and started back toward the Gap.” “Myrick met Hargreaves,” said Frank. “I think they were going to’meet at the water hole. Myrick reached the charco first, we had our squabble with him, and then, when we got away, we saw Hargreaves galloping up from the south. He and Myrick came together, and they both took after us.” “Tell us about that squabble,” requested Dagget. “Law- ler and I were all up in the air when we failed to find - you fellows at the water hole. was. it?” “It was red-hot, right from the start,” answered Clancy, “and Chip, here, bore the brunt of it.” Clancy proceeded at once. to relate the facts. He did it in a@ .way that proved mighty embarrassing” to. his ‘chum. “I guess I’d better tell it,” said Frank. “You keep out of this,” returned Owen, and proceeded on to the end. The. end, of course, was there in the trail just as Law- ler’s big car overhauled the two chums.. “Well, by glory!” muttered Dagget. ‘“Merriwell, aie certainly a winner! Talk about nerve! Say, I’d have taken to the cliffs and the cactus myself if I wasn’t heeled, and happened to come company front. with that red scoun- drel, He was after you good and plenty, wasn’t her “Yes,” said Clancy, “and then some.” “A pretty state of affairs, I must say,” growled Lawier, “when two rogues like Myrick and Hargreaves are allowed What sort of a squabble to carry on in such a way. We're heeled, Dagget. If Myrick was hurt so he could not get away, he is back there: yet among the/rocks. It’s your duty to get him.” “Correct. I was just going to suggest that we go. back there and take a look for those fellows. But we won’t find them. As for Myrick, you can gamble. that the fall he — had didn’t hurt him much. He and Hargreaves would have continued the chase for Merriwell and Clancy, if we hadn't happened to come along just “when we did, Still, as you suggest, Lawler, it’s my duty to go back and — see what I can find.” All of them got into the car at once and ieee: south. “Tell us when we reach the place, Merriwell, * said Dagget. The place was. easily found. Phe -sahuaras were still, glowing and smoking, and now and then one of them would topple to earth and a shower of sparks would rush skyward. “Here we are, Lawler,” called Frank, when the: car. Was remarked the sheriff, “here’s a revolver. Vou: Merriwell will take us over the “Clancy,” stay and watch the car, scene of your latest exploit, and talked with Myrick. They went off together and had through the hills, — NS Lead the way, Chip,” he 2 added, after the three of them had got out - the car, ( t, at | if = oe .8 phasis. more loyal than the sheriff and the attorney. ‘Frank took the lead and the three walked into the rocky “tittle valley. They circumnavigated the hill, but; just as ‘Dagget had expected, saw nothing of «Myrick or. Har- greaves. “This country,” declared the sheriff, “has seen the last of Myrick, and, I hope, of Hargreaves, as well. They are both bad medicine and anything but a credit to the place they inhabit. It was you and Clancy, Merriwell, who ran Myrick out. Since you fellows reached this section, Myrick has cut loose and made a fool of himself. For all that, though, this work to-night gives the law about its only chance to step in and make Red Myrick any trouble.” . “How about that hold-up?” inquired Lawler. “While we know that Myrick had a hand in that hold- up, Lawler, yet where’s the proof?” “Wun Loo heard the plans, didn’t he?” “Wun Loo is a pretty white Chinaman, but no one in this country would take a chink’s word against a white man. Then, again, that wasn’t a real holdup. Myrick tried to make it so, but you and Rollins were too clever for him. A crime was attempted, but not committed. So far as Myrick is concerned, we'll have to let well enough alone) If he has quit the vicinity of Wagon Gap, I reckon everybody will be plumb satisfied, and no questions asked.” They got back to the car, which Clancy had been use- lessly guarding. No one had appeared to bother him. “T wish I’d had that gun,” said he, when returning the six-shooter to Dagget, rick at the charco.” “You'd have used it?” queried Daaee as Tswler: pressed “at the time Era Bees saw My- the button of the self-starter and backed the car around for the journey back to the Gap. “You can bet I’d have used it,” said Clancy, with em- “T was mad enough to fight when Myrick began tearing up the papers. in dad’s wallet.” “What did he tear up?” Lawler asked. “T don’t know. It’s hard to talk business with dad and find out just what papers were taken.” “You recovered that thousand-dollar note, though?” “Yes, and that was the main thing I was after. | I guess we ¢an stand the loss of the rest of the papers.” It was pleasant, skimming along through the night in that big, powerful ¢ar, conscious ‘that’ the perils were passed and that the depleted fortunes of the Clancys were not to lose the small resource that might mean so much. Frank, during the short time he had been in Wagon Gap, had made a host of loyal friends; and none were ‘ “Clancy,” said. Dagget, forward seat, “I had a talk with the doctor who’s looking after your father.” ‘ “Ee said the governor was péttins sii all right, didn’t. he ?” Clancy asked, quickly and a little: uneasily. | “Oh, yes, as well as can be expected... The doctor thinks, though, that the sooner he’s taken to -his eras pace East, the better it will be for him.” "Why didn’t he tell me that?” “Well, he understands that you’re intending to stay in the Southwest and be the breadwinner: for the . family. Dee sort of had the idea that you’d change your plans _ and hurry home, if you knew. what he thought’ about . ea Clancy.” about Rockwell. | leaning over the. back of the: NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. | oy -“That’s- what I’ll do, sure,” averred Owen. “I'll give up all my plans if I have to, in order to help dad.” Now, nothing“would have pleased Merriwell more than to have Owen go back East with him; but there was an undernote of deep disappointment in Clancy’s words which made a quick appeal to his chum. “What are you planning to do, son,’ continued the sheriff, “if you don’t want to keep it a secret? I feel sort of interested in you and Merriwell, since we've all been thrown together a considerable while you’ve been in the Gap. Lawler, I opine, feels the same way. That right, . Lawler?” “Exactly right,” answered the attorney. “Tt’s no secret, Dagget,” said Owen, “now that I have secured that thousand-dollar note. I’m fitst going to Phoenix and collect the money.” “H’m,” murmured the sheriff. your father?” “A man named Silas Rockwell.” “Runs a garage in Phoenix?” - “Yes. “T heard the fellow’s name was Rockwell. Hate to be a wet blanket, Claney, but you ll never -collect the thou- sand.” : “Why?” Owen demanded. a “Well, Rockwell is a dead beat. All his property is in his wife’s name, Nobody ever collects anything from him If you’re puttirig off going back.East just to do busi- ness with Rockwell, es might as well take the train with your father.” : Here, -assuredly, was virisidadiant news. stunned. “Perhaps,” “Who gave that note to Owen seemed spoke up Frank, “vou haven’t got it straight Your information may not be reliable.” “Oh, I reckon it is,” was the sheriffs reply. “You see, Si Rockwell is a cousin: of mine. He’s got a good garage, but he doesn’t own even one of the monkey wrenches in the place. Everything belongs to his wife. Tf Mrs. Rockwell had ‘signed the note with her husband, it would be as good as gold.” “Tf I can’t get the money,” I could get a thousand dollars’ interest in the garage.” “Like enough you could. do your” “Incline to it?” burst from Frank. “Why, Mr. Dagget, Owen’s*a regular wizard with gasoline engines.” “I’ve got to do something to earn money,” “and I think an interest in a garage would make the big- gest kind of a hit with me. tically, “I really believe A patie? sadat an interest in the garage than the money.” “Well,” advised the sheriff, Mit you do get an interest in the garage, be sure and look out for Si Rockwell. He’s a skinner from Skinnerville. Personally, I wouldn’t trust him around the block.” A By that time the big-car had-come spinning into the main | street of Wagon Gap. Lawler drew up in front of the Bristow House. : “Take my advice, idertigells you and Clancy,” said Law- ler, “and don’t bear down on Bristow. ' He: may have been entirely innocent of any intent of wrongdoing in the matter of those Dapere You're getting out of this well enough as it is.” ‘ oi The boys, perhaps a little reluctantly, promised to’ be guided by Lawler’s judgment. lai said Clancy hopefully, “maybe Incline some to machinery, said Clancy,. By Jove!” he added enthusias- — NEW CHAPTER. XI. MERRIWELL’S PROPOSITION. Bristow. met. the affably. when they .came_ into the hotel office. If he had acted a double part, his behavior certainly gave no evidence of it... _ “Been out in the hills, eh?” he asked genially. two are gteat on these sudden hikes.” “We had a little business at the ‘Happy Hoosier,” said Frank. \ “Oh, I see,” smiling. “How’s the red-whiskered des- perado?” “T guess he’s feeling sort of stove up, about now. He took a tumble over the rocks.” Bristow did not seem particularly interested in what had happened to Red Myrick and suddenly changed the sub- ject... “It’s a long while after supper time,” he observed, “but I’ve saved something warm for you. Step into the dining room, and the chink will serve it.” Poppet “That’s mghty thoughtful of you, Bristow,” said Frank. “T feel as though I could make a pretty good clean-up with the dishes.” “Some guests of this hotel,” returned Bristow, “always remain guests, and they get no more than the rules and regulations call for. Then, again,” he beamed, “some guests ate friends, and I count Merriwell and Clancy among that class. Nothing is too good for Bristow’s friends.” \ The chums proceeded -at once to the dining room and were served with a piping hot supper. “Now, what the dickens do you think of this man Bris- tow?” asked Frank, in a/ low tone. “If he’s a scoundrel,” returned Clancy, “he has a mighty clever way of hiding it.” | “Geigel made a tremendous effort to earn Bristow’s five dollars. Still, there wasn’t anything in that note of __ Bristow’s that might be called incriminating. He simply acquainted Myrick with the facts that had transpired.” “What did he mean by those underscored words: Now it’s up to you?” “I’m in no shape to do any guessing to-night. would be. an interesting chap to talk with, I think.” “T think so, too, but I guess I'l take Lawler’s advice and let the whole matter drop.” When they left the dining room, after a big meal, Clancy - told Merriwell he was going to see the doctor and have a heart-to-heart talk with him, “Good idea,” approved Frank. when you come back, will you?” o Owen was gone an hour, but when he returned to the hotel he found his chum sitting up and waiting for him. The red-headed chap’s face was long and gloomy, but the _ determined light was in his eyes. _ “What did the doctor say, old man?” Frank asked. _ “Dagget had it right,” was the reply. “The doctor thinks i the governor oer m go home at See Me in “fact? “ “Thinks your father will tie better there, eh?” _ “He says that, in’ his own mind, there’s not a doubt but that he'll begin to improve right away. In six ‘months che believes dad will wake up and take a fresh interest in You’ re going to leave in the morning, Chip?” boys “Vou Geigel “Step into my room we aie ay the morning's: ~ to Rocky ; Frank, with feeling, “I know that. TIP TOP WEEKLY. “Then there'll be a party, of. us,” and Owén forced a smile. -‘‘Dad and I are going along.” “Ts it necessary for you to go?” Wh ke “It’s necessary for some one to go and. look after the governor.” . rene. Frank arose and took a turn around: the room. At last he halted in front of Owen and looked at him keenly. ‘You really meant what you said about wanting to stay in the Southwest and get into business, Red?” he asked, “T don’t often say what I don’t mean, Chip.” “You think there are bigger chances for a young fellow in the Southwest than there are in any other part of the country?” “Oh, the chances are bigger any place in the West.- I wouldn’t limit them to the Southwest. Chip,” and owl grew very eatnest, “I’m going to let you: in on alittle matter which I’ve been keeping to myself. Possibly you'll think me a fool for even imagining that I can accomplish ‘ what I am going to attempt. I’ve found out from dad just how bddly he is involved, It will take the eight thousand we cleaned up here, and twenty-five thousand more on top of it, to set the Clancys on their feet, And that twenty-five thousand must be picked up somewhere inside of six months,” and a fine fire glowed in his eyes. “J’m going after that money!” he finished, ot aa Frank stared, Twenty-five thousand in six lnoabalts It looked like a tremendous, almost an impossible, under- taking. And yet—— Well, Frank Merriwell had all the faith in the world in his chum. “You think you can get the money out hore a little easier than you can in the East?” he asked, Wiig “T know it. Of course” and Owen grinned, “I don’t — intend to crack a bank or do any strong-arm work to pull down the prize. I have got to get hold of the money by honest, legitimate work, with my head and hands. i That garage in Phoenix may be a starter in the right i direction, I hate to have to go East and leave that propo- — sition dangling. But—dad first! He has been mighty — good to me, handing out the coin always whenever 1 wanted to spend it, and making life easy for me—per- — haps too easy. Now, I’m going to try and do OES, for him.” “Well,” said Frank, his face flushed and his eyes ena ing, “I’m going East, and what's the reason you can’t trust meto take care of your father? Why didn’t you ask me to do it? If we can arrange that, you can go to Phoenix — right away and begin dickering for your old garage. Am I so reckless you're afraid I can’t look after your father?” Clancy ‘started up, walked over to Merriwell, and took his hand, His voice was husky as he said; “Blame it all, Id trust you with anything I’ve got, or” ever expect to have. I didn’t want to bother you, for dad will be a care; still, if you’re willing, I can get busy without delay, piling up all that money. Chip Merriwell, you're the best chum a fellow ever had. You're a brick!” “I’m losing the best chum a fellow ever had,” declared. But—well, hang” i ali, I want to help you. As for oe ee thous ¢ to do a dain, you generally make “dasd Adit yo to make. aor as boss of the a een Y as Owen threw back his shoulders | ke NEW: TIP “lOP WEEKLY, 19 } “You almost make me believe I can do what I’m plan- “Nothing foolish about it!” asserted Clancy. “A good 1a ning,” said Owen, with a laugh. many Americans have lost money in Mexico. You're not _ “Believe it, and you'll do it. I would give a lot if you the only one, by a long shot.” "| were going back with me to old Fardale. You'll be missed The father heaved a long sigh. the by the ice-hockey squad, and when the spring sports come “Well, for better or worse, all the’ family cares are on, Red Clancy will be badly wanted. But——” heaped on your shoulders,” said he wearily. “I hope the last 4 “Cut out the Fardale talk, or I’ll begin to blubber.” load will not be too heavy. You are sure you have money fi “T’ve cut it out, Clan. I just want to say, though, that enough to take care of you until you can find something tay if you make good piling up that money, I’ll be glad you to do?” h quit Fardale. There’s more glory in doing a big thing “I have more than enough.” i for the sake of duty, it strikes me; than in doing a lot “Have you made up your mind what you will try to get Ow of other things just for the fun and sport. By thunder, into?” the ~ I almost wish I had a job similar to yours!” Clancy had explained at least a dozen times what his “We've got to take the thing that fate bats upto us, plans were, but his father could not, in his present con- sd Chip. At least, that’s the way I size the thing up. I’m _ dition, keep any subject very long in his mind. en trying to—what they call—make a virtue of necessity.” “Sure,” said Owen cheerily. “I’m going to make a big tle “You're doing it in pretty good shape,” returned Frank. stake, and surprise you. What I want you to do is to rl “That’s all I can say.” get home with the folks, stop worrying, and recover your . ; health.” a “ , , ‘ ao sae ‘ a “f CHAPTER XIL ee we'll see. Merriwell, you’re going with me, na THE PARTING OF THE WAYS. “All the way, Mr. Clancy. I’ve taken the job off Owen’s . When the stage left Wagon Gap the following morn- a oF '_ ing, there was a large crowd assembled to see John Clancy You're a fine fellow, and I m glad Owen has had the ay i and his son and Frank Merriwell starfed on their journey. benefit of your companionship for so many years. . Benton, the garage proprietor, was one of the throng. “It has “been a good thing for me,” said Frank, “that I “Don’t fret about the red car, boys!” Benton called. have had the benefit of jis companionship. Owen and I “l’ve sent out for it, and I reckon it'll be along pronto.” have had some great times together.” “ve stopped fretting about that red car, Benton,” re- “I should say so, Chip!” exclaimed Owen. “And some turned Clancy. “We did so much fretting whilé we were running it that we are plumb exhausted. You don’t take good enough care of it.” “What's the use?” answered Benton. “I bought it for a hundred dollars from a chap that was taking it to the scrapheap.” “Then you ought to sue that ‘fellow for ene money under false pretenses.” “You fellers have kept tinkerin’ with it till it’s a oe good machine now. If,I could only get you to take it out a few more times, I imagine it would be fixed up “proper.” “So that was your game, eh?” laughed Clancy. John Clancy was well known in the Gap, and many clustered around the stage to shake hands with him. But the mining engineer seemed to be in a daze. He smiled and took every hand that was offered, but there was a were elsewhere. In Rocky Point, Wagon Gap’s business rival, there was an hour’s wait for the east-boufid “overland.” Frank was glad to have that hour with Owen. Owen’s father and another way. “Son,” said John Cpe arousing somewhat from the apathy which had become habitual with him, “you and Chip Merriwell may not see each other again for a long, long time. I am sorry to have it so. If I had been more judi- cious in my investments, you could have kept right on at the Fardale Military Academy. Now——” - “There, there, dad,” returned Owen, patting his father’s skinny hand, “I’d a lot rather get out in the world and paddle my own canoe. Don’t find any more fault with yourself.” _ “You're not only paddling your own ectlve, Owy, but a whole fleet of Clancy canoes. It was my foolish—— Merriwell were traveling East, while Owen would be going. far-away look ‘in his eyes which prov ed that his thoughts - - ‘Motor Wizard in the Garage.” of those times were right around Phoenix. Remember Merriwell’s Athletes? And the ball’ game the Athletes played in that same town of Phoenix?” “T'll never forget the Athletes!” laughed Frank. Home-run Reuben and his ‘enchanted’ swatstick.” “Nor One reminiscence recalled another, and the two friends happily passed the time until the overland train rolled up to the station platform. Then there were fervent hand- shakes, and Merry helped Owen’s :father aboard and ran through to the observation platform at the rear of the train-to see the last of his chum. Owen had planted himself firmly on the planks of the station platform, and was bravely waving his hat. Frank removed his own hat and waved it in return. Then, sud- denly, both lads turned away, And there was a mist in Frank’s eyes and a choke in his throat as he went back to the coach where he had left John Clancy. THE END, With Chip Merriwell going back to his studies, athletics, and adventures at Fardale Military Academy, we feel that you would rather follow the fortunes of his chum, Owen Clancy, who is so bravely going out into the strife and struggle for the mighty dollar, in which most of us find ourselves sooner or later, until, at least, you learn if Owen makes good. Next week, then, you will find out how the red-headed chap makes his staft*in pursuit of the elusive dollar, by reading “Owen Clancy’s Run of Luck; or, The The issue is No. 77, and it will be out January 17th. It is a cracking good story, and you must not miss it, not only because it is such a © good one, but also because by reading it you will be better able to understand the stories of the trials and whist: of Owen Clancy that are to follow it. DAVE MANNING, MIDSHIPMAN. By Ensign Lee Tempest, U. S. N. CHAPTER XXVII. AN EXPEDITION ASHORE The news of Dave's return swept the Virginia from stem to stern like wildfire. And for the rest of that day the lad held royal levee aboard, greeting and shaking hands with every officer and man he knew. And for days to come between watches, when he was not engaged with his duties, Dave was surrounded by groups of the younger officers, and importuned until he spun his. yarn. Captain Salter was not long in getting wind of the proceedings. And ‘while in the midst of repeating his story for the third time, the middy was summoned to the cabin, , . Of course, the Old Man was astonished to the core at seeing Manning alive and in the flesh. He had given him up for dead since that wild night in the Atlantic. But now, at Dave’s reappearance, he was as happy as a clam in high water. He sprang up and wrung the middy by the hand. And ‘by a volley of questions had half the lad’s story before a minute had passed. Then, the mést important points _ disposed of, he drew up a chair for Dave and had him go over his story in easy style from beginning to end. _ To tell the truth, Dave finished his recital with not the best of grace. He realized that his yarn made it all _ the more obvious that he had failed in his main object of retrieving the stolen documents. Yet deep down in his heart, he knew that he had done his best. _ Captain Salter was “quick to see how matters lay. And he was quick, also, to. right them. He placed a hand on - Dave’s shoulder. “You failed, Mr. Manning,” he said, of yours. ~~ much. “Now, do not give up hope,” he encouraged.. “Perhaps we have not seen the last of this Oyo. You know there ; As always a chance that you may be able to regain the _ papers before he can work us harm through ee Dave shook his head. “T believe he was shipped to Japan, as in that little Argen- “through no fault You did your best and that of a certainty was consolate. “Ah!” winked the captain, Indeed, I think we may find Oyo in our next port!” The middy snapped erect. “Callao?” he ejaculated. Like an owl, the Old Man nodded his head. “You surely haven't forgotten, Mr. Manning,” he said. what. seemed to repeat from memory : “Instruct Kuri-no-Ku- “Great guns!” Dave: leaped to aie feet. “Those are the ery, words!” Captain Salter sdicead him back into the chair, j oor, what, lad?” he then asked. ‘O “Oyo's message in + the: bottle, sir! We're in luck! NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY, ‘the cruise he had missed. tine town he told me he would be,” he muttered, dis- vy ase t know about that. _ Daye had to confess that he had forgotten—he 1 knew not “Do you remember this?” continued the captain, and he roka, Callao, Peru, to expect my coming and be prepared | story of the three was marked a a Tow of ee narrow This may mean success, the regaining of the papers, atte! Ati ne aut dirty “It is probable,” quietly the Old Man went on, “that CAS T¥e: Oyo has made straight for this place, wherever in Callao | “wy it may be. Now, when we reach Callao——’ ee id “Can I go ashore to look him up, ein f” the middy ex- > wail citedly interposed, eo ay The captain smiled at his eagerness. 5 amie that Ae “Yes, Mr. Manning, you--—” Loo As “And Roddy--I mean, Mr. Seabright, too?” ee _Captain Salter nodded assent. ates And so it fell out. No sooner had the fleet dropped its | type, mudhooks in the Bay of Callao, amid thunderous salutes eat from the shore and its own answering salvos, than Dave At Manning and Roddy Seabright were chug-chugging toward | in, , the shore in a natty white launch. j ; teh Roddy lounged back lazily in the stern. a “y “Well, here’s a welcome change,” he sighed. JiR iste “How’s that?” asked Dave. a | “Well, y’see,” drawled Seabright, “this here ben’t all ie i same old rigmarole.” “Rigmarole, Roddy?” repeated Daye, at a loss. ; “Sartin,” went on the irrepressible. “All we did was eat, eat, eat—watch, watch, watch—and sleep, sleep——~” Dave laughed. His chum was referring to the part of “No wonder most of the fellows are suffering from | in- | digestion,” he remarked. “Well, if you had to eat five here and there on top Q’ that “TY wouldn’t be laughing now, eh, Roddy ?” Roddy nodded vigorously. “And all this time,” he growled, time of your life.” Be Sy ny aes “Sometimes, it was none too pleasant,” remarked Dave — seriously. Gs Baek ds “You're an old galoot! Nothing can satisfy you,’ grunted Seabright, disgusted. “But now I’m going to take a hand——” “In what? The adventure?” “Sure as shooting! And I Won't get enough of | either.” Dave murmured: “We'll see.” oa The launch had gained the wharf by this ‘time. ‘The. 3 boys sprang ashore, and, asking their way, penetrated — oh Callao. From water front, through street after street, by | bazaar and plaza, they walked. Twilight found them still ‘is searching for Kuri-no-Kuroka’s residence. or six banquets, and parade “you were haying the - CHAPTER XXVIII. yeas A HARD Nut TO CRACK. ‘At last, far out in the deserted outskirts of the Sha they saw the building that had been described for them at least ten times. It was an immense stone structure three _ stories high. They had been informed that. it. had_ for- merly been a monastery, Here, in the ancient pile of are cells and eu ay dors, where once the sandal-shod monk, as he glided ick | and forth, had told his rosary, dwelt as a solitary Kuri-no- Kuroka, a white-haired native of Japan. And here, Dave and Roddy believed, was hiding Oyo, the spy. : The structure had a gloomy and deserted aspett, Each ter nat lao a NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. iron bars and sealed against light and air by heavy and dirty shutters. ,Dave examined those on the first story. "We can’t enter through them,” he announced. “And as far as I can see, they’re the only breaks in the walls,” remarked Roddy, who had been using his eyes. “Excepting that arched entrance in front-——’ “And the balcony above it.” Sure enough, in the wall of the building facing Callao was an arched and tunnellike entrance. And right above the arch, a balcony, or semi-inclosed porch of the Moorish type, with pillars and arches and a massive stone balus- trade. At either end of the balcony was a door, opening into the structure. And, in the darkness of the entrance must also be another door. “Let's examine them,” suggested Roddy. “All right,” indorsed Dave. “Let's.” And examine them they did. Roddy the door in en- trance, and Dave the two in the balcony above. They found that all were oaken and immovable. Manning, puzzled, scratched his head. “We're stumped, Roddy,” he said. “Worse than that, if nothing turns up,” declared Sea- bright. He started. “I’ve got a plan!” he exclaimed. “Out with it, then,” hurried Dave. “T’ll run back to the Virginia——” “And——” “Get some marines.” “Then re “Surround the house, force an entrance, capture Oyo and his henchman : “But what about the papers?” Dave cut in sharply. Roddy, surprised, faced him. “Well, what about them?” he asked. along with Oyo, won’t we?” Dave shrugged his shoulders. “V’m not so sure of that,” he said. “Why ?” “Well, for the simple reason that, while we were forc- ing .an entrance, Oyo could do away with them. He'd do anything, I know, to keep them out of my hands. And we certainly can’t risk that.” Roddy was willing to leave the thinking to some one else, now. “What can we do?” he asked. That was what Dave was waiting for. “Use strategy, Roddy!” he exclaimed. “Outwit them!” “All very well as far as it goes,’ agreed Seabright. “But how? That’s the question !” Dave shrugged his ,shoulders. This was one of the habits he had acquired from his sojourn in South America. “Anyhow,” he muttered, “we don’t even know whether Oyo is in there, or Kuri, for that matter.” Roddy had been gazing toward the side of the struc- ture. He clutched Dave by the arm. ; “We do, Dave!” he cried. “At least somebody’s in there. I see a light!” And he pointed toward one of the first-story windows. Sure enough, streaming through a chink in the shutter, was a faint ray of light. Dave glued his eyes to the chink. ~a large, bare, cell-like chamber. “We'll get them He saw a foom It was lighted by 21 two candles on a table opposite. A man, his back toward him, was working over the table. Dave recognized that man as Oyo, the spy! At that moment, he was roughly pulled away, and Roddy, without a word, took his station at the chink. And at that moment Roddy gasped, Presently, in silence, the two drew away. Still in silénce, they walked slowly toward the front. Here Roddy turned suddenly. “What a chance, Dave!’ stroke, you can get the papers. as I looked!” ; The middy started at this. was thinking, “He doesn’t dream of your being near,” went on Roddy. “He’s there all alone, with no one to warn him, save——” “Ssh |” Back against the wall, the boys jumped. along the balcony overhead, they had seen an old man, He carried a torch above his white head, while from his waist jangled a bunch of large keys. “By the powers, Davy, who’s that?” whispered Roddy, in the shadow of the building. “Kuri-no-Kuroka.” “As old as that?” “Ssh !” The old man was just above them. He had come from the far doorway and was advancing along the balcony toward the other. To all appearances, he was engaged in guarding Oyo. He entered the doorway, locking it behind him. “Tf he returns,” began Dave. “I’m with you,” replied Roddy, understanding. They clambered up the wall, yaulted the balustrade, and alighted upon the balcony. Then, without speaking a word, they prepared to wait. Thus it chanced that, when Kuri-no-Kuroka, the old agent of Nippon, shot back the bolts of the door and stepped onto the balcony once more, a command hissed through the darkness, “Now, Rod!” it came. And at that two shadowy forms grasped him, Softly, swiftly, gently, his arms were pinned to his sides, his cries stifled, his feeble struggles stilled. In a moment he was a helpless prisoner in the hands of the two mid- dies. “So far, so good,” remarked Dave. “What’s next?” asked his chum. “To enter,” he instantly returned. and the torch, Roddy.” Seabright picked up the torch from where it had fallen upon the balcony in the short struggle. Then, together, the two boys carried the old spy through the doorway. he exclaimed. “With He was sorting them, one But he never spoke. He For, advancing “You take his feet They reached a stone stairéase. Ascending this, they entered, at its top, a small room crowded with furniture. “It’s his toom, I’ll wager,” said Dave. . It was lit by a smoky lantern. All about were odds an ends of furniture. Several huge antique chests, placed side by side, served as a couch, and upon them the lads deposited the old spy. Oyo was. in a far part of the structure. He could: not hear. And besides, he was deeply engrossed. So the. middies felt reasonably safe from discovery for the \time being. Dave looked at Roddy. Roddy looked at. Dave. 22 NEW TIP ‘TOP’ WEEKLY. “Everything’s .shipshape,” Roddy cried. “We've got Oyo’s sentinel yonder, and we have gained access to this place. And the best part of it is, Davy, the Jap is none the wiser. But what we now need is a plan.” “T have it!” calmly remarked Manning. Roddy started. “You have?” But what is it?” Dave leaned over and whispered for some time in his ear. “A Jim Dandy!” exclaimed Roddy, when he had done. “You sure have a head on your shoulders, Dave Man- ning! With it we'll win, Dave, we'll win!” Dave repeated grimly: “We must: win!” he cried. “Great, splendid, old scout! CHAPTER XXIX. SURPRISE FOR OYO. In the sleeping city of Callao, the ancient town clock boomed out the hour of twelve. Oyo, the spy, in a far corner of the old monastery, paused in his work to count the measured strokes. “Midnight,” he muttered. “Midnight, and no danger.” He paused. That phrase had a special ery him. “Of that I am sure,” he resumed. “The papers are safe. I have won them from the Americans. They will never think to look for me here. Dave Manning is beaten. “Hei,” he ended. “Yes. Midnight, and all is safe.” And he turned once more to the work that caused this vigil. It was the task of studying and. sorting the docu- ments he and his men had stolen from the United States fleet. He took paper after paper from the heap in the center of the table and placed them, according to their contents, upon the several piles about. Save for the rustle of the papers, as he shifted them, and now and again the sputter of the candles, the room was utterly still. Time passed. The several piles grew rapidly. Oyo had settled to the work. He appeared to have forgotten the still and gloomy edifice about his ears. The room, no longer still, was full of the continuous rustle of the papers. Then, of a sudden, he started erect. His face paled. ‘He had heard, or ‘thought he had heard, maid the rustle, a sound, It alarmed him. And, head to one side, he stood in- tently listening. But all was silent, still. ~ ‘\He resumed his labors. “Pshaw!” he muttered. “It was only a fancy.” However, he was on the alert. More than once his eyes peered from under bent brows about the bare chamber. But it was not until long after this that he was again startled by a sound. | He knew he was not mistaken this time. lieved he had not been mistaken the other time. _ tened. _ From out the maze of cells. and corridors, from out 4 f He now be- He lis- fy the depths of the old structure, through the silence it came - —a low, muffled, far-away sound. It was the sound of some one walking rapidly, or running slowly, through the vast edifice toward the far corner where he stood and listened. _ His hand trembled on the table. “Who can it be?” he asked himself “Kuri is on watch, ‘beaten, and he would not come. I ordered him not to disturb me, unless—unless he became alarmed. But what could have alarmed him?” Meanwhile, the newcomer had entered the long corridor leading to the cell-like chamber in which Oyo waited. Presently, he clattered up to the door and knocked. Oyo crouched beside the table, still—very still. And to the summons for admittance, he returned no answer. “Oyo!” then came in Japanese in a high, cracked voice from the other side of the door. “Oyo, open for me, Kuri- no-Kuroka.” At that the Jap sprang to the door. “Kuri,” he cried, “why have you come?” The answer was a wild shriek: “The to-gins, Oyo, the to-gins!” Oyo staggered back. “The Americans!” he wailed. The fellow beat the door. “Hei, Oyo,” he blurted. “We are aaied: Es “But, Kuri, I have been in tighter places before. can escape with the papers!” Oyo had come to the stage where he was pleading, now. But the fellow beyond the door gave him no encourage- ment. “You cannot,” He paused. “Don’t you hear them?” he asked. Oyo listened, and was silent. The old man without was silent. The edifice was silent—for a moment. But then, softly, came the tramp of marching men. As he leaned over the table and listened, Oyo’s almond eyes narrowed to mere slits. “Tt’s Dave Manning’s work!” he snarled. yet escape.” | “I am trapped!” Say I he said, with finality. / f “But I may Like a ferret, he glanced about the room. His eyes. e alighting on the shuttered aperture, he dashed to it. But he found that this, which had once been his protection, was now a means to make him prisoner. He could. not ‘move them. He could not escape that way. And it was the only way. For, looking about the room, only blank adobe walls met his gaze. All this time the footbeats of the Americans were grow- ing loud and louder. Now, to judge from the sound, they had entered the long corridor, which stretched to se su chamber. “Where are they, Kuri?” asked the Jap. “Down at the end of the ar came the answer. Then, in a shriek; “Gods of Nippon! I see their torches. They are one a ing, Oyo!” “And I am trapped,” muttered Oyo. “Trapped, but ‘not eee I have the papers the Americans want—the papers the Ameritans will never get!” His voice rose, rh “For I will destroy them! I will burn the papers! Dave Manning will lose out, after all.” And Oyo dashed back to the table. ns Whereupon arose a terrific clamor from the other side as of the door. “i “By all the gods of Racca. Oyo, don’t destroy those oy papers! For chief, master, I know a way to escape!” — Just as drops of water fall on the parched tongue of ait’ i man dying of thirst, just so fell these words on Oyo’s ears. : Of all things, he did not want to destroy the papers. Any- rr navy, And this, despite the long ‘NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. thing and everything he would do to save. them for his country. ’ : And, in one bound, he was at the door. The bolts “hetiged back, and open in his face the door was flung. And that moment he looked dow the muzzle of a ré- volver! He recognized the face above it. “Dave Manning!” -he cried. CHAPTER XXX. BEFORE THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF, On the Pacific coast of Mexico, below the southern ex- tremity of Lower California, lies 'the lonely ‘desert-en- vironed Magdalena Bay. And here at sunrise one day in the month of March, the year 1908, cast anchor a fleet of sixteen white ships of war of the United: States. Then was begun the annual gunnery practice of the , record-breaking: cruise the fleet (had just completed. But as commander in chief, the rear admiral said: “They were as fit as a fiddle to begin shooting at the targets, to go out to sea and fight a battle, or to keep right on with the cruise!” Thus it was that, as soon as they cast anchor in Man- o’-War Cove, the Americans went at gunnery practice ham- mer and tongs, with the result that all the gunnery records then held in the world were beaten, smashed, shattered! One hot afternoon a week later were gathered on board. the flagship of the fleet, the battleship Connecticut, in the cabin of the commander in chief, all the commanding of- ficers—rear admirals and captains. It was an informal meeting. Not one of those present knew why it had been © / called. But, on his appearance, the commander in chief quickly set them to rights: “Gentlemen,” he said, “you are all aware of the fact that numerous important documents were stolen from our ships during the cruise. You are not aware, however, _ that they have been returned. Nor are you aware of the one who brought about their return.” - He noted with a smile the look of growing interest _ appearing on the faces of his hearers. “To-day,” he went on, “I have called you together to see this young man, and to hear his story from his own lips. For, gentlemen’”—in a rising yoice—“you are here to wit- ness the triumph of Midshipman David Manning! You are. here to see him return to his country the documents | stolen from her—the documents which he x pemainee for her by his own hands and head!” ‘He nodded to one of the captains. aa Mt you meee Mr. rath he said. : taped a young midshipman, soldierly of tiie uate square 0 chin, clear of eye. He was Midshipman ae Man- ~All of them he had ‘bat of, most of ie he re sight, but this was the first time he had ever come igh his face was slichtly iste too. F rally, this much done—*Mr. Manning,” said he rea dmiral, “I- wish you would relate your interesting | 'S ore all these attentive gentlemént” ; ¥ R story down to the present. “After that I will take the papers. 23 At. that the lad orld have been. keel ed over by a feather. - “Why didn’t the Old Man tell me. what cota be ex- pected of me?” he thought. “I. feared something like this.” : Certainly it was a trying moment fo the middy. “I’d rather face Oyo and all his spies a hundred times,” he said to himself, “than tell that old yarn before all these officers !” But what could he do? They were all staring into his face. Not a few were smiling in encouragement, doubt- less realizing his frame of mind, And there he stood all alone, before them. He heard the faint booming of the guns of some battle- ship away on the range. “It’s a signal,” he thought, And then, as he had done once before, months ago, Ke. began: “Mr. Seabright and I, gentlemen, were on the ‘starboard side of the Virginia, It was in the Caribbean Sea. It had just gone one bell in the midwatch. Of a sudden, there flashed up a red lignt from an island on our starboard. Then another. Then, gentlemen, a white light from our own quarter-deck !” Modestly, concisely, straightforwardly, Dave brought his By the time he was well into it, the officers, to a man, were leaning far forward in their seats. They were drinking in his every. word, In a burst of. eloquence, he finished his story with his winning back of the stolen documents for his country: “Mr. Seabright was running heavily down the corri- dor, and, in the echoes of the place, his footsteps sounded — like the tramp of many men. When he came up, I turned the Jap over to him, and, approaching the table, gathered up the papers. “Then we left the monastery with Oyo between us, a prisoner. We had released the old spy, Kuri-no-Kuroka, with the warning not to follow us. We reached the Vir- ginia without mishap, and soon had Oyo confined in the brig, where, I believe, he rests at present. That is all.” He turned to the old rear admiral. “Admiral,” he said, “here are the papers.” And he held out an oil-paper-wrapped parcel. But the veteran made not a motion, not a sound. © He sat motionless, staring before ‘him into space. As for the other officers, they sat, as though carved in stone, in a ring about the midshipman. And hb made not a motion, not a sound. ‘Now, save for the faint booming of the guns at. target — practice far away, and the splash of the waves on the ie sides of the ship, not a sound disturbed the stillness of © the cabin of the commander in chief, One—two—three minutes, Dave waited with the pack 17 age of papers still held forth. ‘ Then, suddenly, the rear admiral started. He unde as if to rise. But at that moment the pangs of rheumatism, to which he was a sufferer, shot through his apa fenaye and, with a groan, he sank back. + “Confound that confounded pain!” he Mosdebesna That broke the spell. Inhaling deep breaths, the as: sembled officers sat up in their chairs. Every one of them uttered some favorite ejaculation. owe Then the rear. admiral spoke. joa “Let me shake with you, Wendina™ Supe aid deaceth For you I regard more 24 valuable to your country than these. You are a credit, an honor, to the service.’ Your hand, Manning!” And with that burst of praise so unusual with him, the bluff old sea dog wrung the middy’s hand. It was trem- bling now, however steady it may have been in the most crucial of moments. \ Then, accepting the papers, the rear admiral turned to the other officers. ~ “Gentlemen,” he said, tions.” And this the admirals ‘and captains did. They crowded around the flushed boy, shaking his hands and saying things about him he had never thought admirals and cap- tains would say. Altogether, they acted in a manner abso- lutely unlike their usual conduct. And none was more hearty than Captain Salter, of the Virginia, Dave’s Old Man. “Now, Mr. Manning,” at last broke in “Fighting Bob,” “you at least realize what we think of you, although you have not been rewarded for your services, nor ever ‘fully. can be.” He smiled at the confused and speechless boy. “And now, you may do what I believe you very much desire to do,” he said. “You can leave us, Mr. Manning, whenever you see fit.” And sure enough, the middy “saw fit” there and then. “Gentlemen,” said the rear admiral, rising to his feet, as the door closed ‘behind the lad. “I tell you, gentle- men, we have not heard the last of that midshipman.” THE END, “add your thanks and congratula- THE IMPERISHABLE SAUSAGE. By MAX ADELER. Bradley, of Pencader, a year or two ago, invented an article which he entitled “The Patent Imperishable Army Sausage.” His idea was to simplify the movements of troops. by doing away with heavy provision trains and to furnish soldiers with nutritious. food in a condensed form. The sausage was made on strictly scientific principles. It contained peas and beef, and salt and pepper, and starch and gum arabic, and it was stuffed in the skins by a ma- chine which exhausted the air so that it would be air- tight. Bradley said that the sausage would keep in any climate. You might lay it on the. equator and let the ' tropical sun fairly scorch it and it would remain as sweet and fresh as ever; and Bradley said that there was more flesh and muscle-producing material in a cubic inch of the sausage than. in an entire dinner of roast turkey and other such foolery. So when Bradley had made upa lot of the Imperishable, be stored the bulk of them in the garret, and putting a sample of them in his pocket, he went down to Washing- ton to see the secretary of war to get him to introduce them to the army. He walked into the secretary’s office and pulled out a fa sausage, and holding it toward him was about to explain. ‘it to him, when the secretary suddenly dodged behind the ' table. The movement struck Bradley as being kind of - queer, and he walked around after the secretary, still hold- ing out a sample of the Imperishable. Then the secretary : made a bolt for the door, and went out, and. presently in. _ came a couple of clerks with shotguns. They aimed at ie A. NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY, Bradley, and told him to drop his weapon or they would fire. He deposited the sausage on the table, and asked them what was the matter, and then the secretary came in, and — said he mistook the sausage for a revolver. When Brad- ley explained his mission, the secretary told him that noth- ing could be done without the action of Congress, and he recommended the inventor to go up to the Capitol and push the sausage through there. - So Bradley was on hand next day before the session opened, and he laid a sausage on the desk of each member. When the House assembled, there was a large diversity of opinion respecting the meaning of the extraordinary dis- play. Some were inclined to regard the article as an infernal machine introduced by some modern Guy Fawkes, while others leaned to the view that it was a new kind of banana developed by the agricultural department, After a while Bradley turned up, and explained, and he spent the. winter there trying to force that sausage on his be- loved country. At the very end of the season a bill wag smuggled through, ordering the commissary department to appoint a commission to investigate the sausage, and to report to the secretary of war. When the commission was organized it went on fo Pen- cader with Bradley to examine his method. As the party — approached the house a terrific smell greeted them, and_ upon entering the front door it became unendurable. Mrs. Bradley said she thought there must be something dead under the washboard. But upon going into the garret the origin of the stench became. obvious. About half a ton of the Patent Imperishable Sausage lay on the floor in a condition of fearful decay. Then the commissioners put their fingers to their noses and adjourned; and the chairman went to the hotel to write out his report. It was about as follows: “After a careful examination of the Bradley Patent Imperishable Army Sausage, we find that it is eminently If it should be | introduced to warfare as a\missile, we could calculate with — suitable for certain well-defined purposes. precision that its projection from a gun into a besieged town would instantly induce the garrison to evacuate the place and quit; but the barbarity which would be involved | in subjecting even an enemy to direct contact with the © Bradley Sausage is so frightful that we shrink from recom- mending its use, excepting in extreme cases. seminated by the stink pot used in war by the Chinese is’ fragrant and balmy compared with the perfume which be- longs to this article. It might also be used profitably as av. manure for poor land, and in a very cold climate, where it — is absolutely certain to be frozen, it could be. made service- able as a tent pin. “But as an article of food it is open to several objec: _ ee tions. Bradley’s method of mixing is so defective that he has one sausage filled with peas, another with gum arabic, another with beef. any man who eats a mouthful, unless they are constantly kept on ice from the hour that they are made, and the gum-arabic sausages are not sufficiently nutritious to en- able an army to conduct an arduous campaign. friends put him in an asylum where his mind can be cared for.” When Bradley heard about the report, he was. indignant? ' 38 The odor dis-_ The beef sausages will certainly kill oe We are therefore disposed.to recommend that the sausage shall © not be accepted by the department, and that Bradley’s — and after reflecting that republics are always ungrateful, he sent a box of the sausages to Bismarck, in order Ito asc aman : +by at that. i march of -th has a fectin stage of dr ‘ould them and rad- oth- and and sion ber. ‘sity dis- an kes, ind fter ent Wag rit eri ss } to ascertain if they could not be introduced to the Ger- }man army. Three months later he was shot at one night by a mysterious person, and the belief prevails in Pencader _ | that it was an assassin sent over to this country by Bis- |} marck for the single purpose of butchering the inventor of the Imperishable Army Sausage. Since then Bradley has abandoned the project, and he is now engaged in per- fecting a washing machine which has reached such a stage on the first trial that it tore four shirts and a pair of drawers to rags. ‘ THE HAUNTED HOLD. By GUY DECKER. | A dark and stormy night off Cape Horn! ~ | — With drenched garments and shivering forms the watch on board of the North Light stood upon the quarter-deck, conversing in low tones, and now and then peering through the darkness to windward. _ All sail had been taken in with the exception of a _close-reefed maintopsail and topmast-staysail, but the ves- } sel rolled and plunged with such violence, and the seas broke over her weather rail so often that the. officer of the deck, advancing toward the group of tars alluded to, |} now ordered them to batten down the hatches and put | extra lashings around the boats. _ This order being promptly @xecuted the men returned | to the quarter-deck and resumed their conversation, which, | however, was destined to be a second time interrupted. | Rising from between decks a strange cry suddenly broke | upon their ears. £1 | The men started and exchanged glances of astonish- “Where did that noise come from?” inquired the officer of the deck, approaching. “From the main hold, it seemed to me,” answered one f the men. “And I can’t imagine who it was that spoke, eeing as t’other watch are below, asleep in their bunks.” “Aye, aye, it is somethin’ of a mystery,” remarked an- ther, “but p’r’aps we'll hear it again.” . Accordingly they listened several minutes for a repe- on of the voice, but it was not again heard. make a search,” said the officer. “That voice must, of ourse, have come from somebody. The groaning of the anes couldn’t have made any noise like it.” One of the men procured a lantern, and closely fol- lowed by two of his shipmates descended into the steerage hatch, which communicated with the hold. The search, however, proved fruitless. Having ex- mined every nook and corner, the three returned to the eck and reported to the officer of the watch. “It is certainly very strange,” said the second mate. We all heard the voice, I am sure.” “Ves.” replied an old sailor, “and I thought p’r’aps it ght have come from our little monkey of a steerage oy, Tom, who is always full of his tricks. But no sign f him was to be seen when we made the search. If it ‘ him he had plenty of time to get back into his bunk be- re we went into the hold. He’s a cunnin’ creatur’, that bi le rascal, and is mighty fond of. molasses. I’ve seen ST m eat half a cupful.” “His being fond of molasses, Jack, has nothing to do vith the matter,” said the second mate, smiling good- NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. - molasses. ‘the jib hoisted. “Two or three of you had better go into the hold to. 25. naturedly. “Go down into the steerage,” he added, turn-. ing to the man who still held the lantern, “and question | him sharply. If it was he who spoke I shall give him 2 good taste of the rope’s end.” Accordingly, the man entered the steerage, made his way to little Tom’s bunk, and pulling aside the curtain was sur- prised to discover that the bed was empty. He returned to the deck and communicated the news to his astonished shipmates, all of whom were at a loss to account for the disappearance of the lad. “That boy,” said the second mate; “was placed under my charge by his father, who is an old friend of mine, and if anything has happened to him I shall feel very, bad about it.” “He’s hiding somewhere, sir, I’ll warrant you,” replied the old sailor. “I can’t for the life of me imagine any- thing of a serious natur’ that could have happened to him while below, except his dyin’ from eatin’ too much He'll turn up all right by breakfast time to- mofrow morning, or I’m much mistaken. I heard of his hiding in this same way one night a week ago.” “Aye, aye! perhaps you are right, Jack,” answered the officer, his face brightening. “I trust he’ll be on deck early to-morrow morning.” At that moment the ship’s bell sounded, and the second mate entered the cabin to rouse the officer who was to relieve him, while Jack glided forward and called the other watch. At daylight, the violence of the gale having abated, all hands were summoned to make sail: The topsails were loosened, the reefs shaken out, and Afterward the maintopgallant sail was also set, and the vessel bowled merrily upon her way, with the white water roaring around her bows. “Sir,” said the cook, at this juncture, addressing the first officer, “there’s no molasses left to make the scouse for the men’s breakfast.” “We must break out the hold, then,” answered the mate, “and get up another cask.” Accordingly a tackle was rigged over the main hold, and the men were set to work “hoisting out.” While thus engaged they heard a cry of horror: pro- ceeding from the hold, and glancing downward they beheld the second officer, who had descended through the hatch- way, pointing toward a cask half hidden by coils of rig- ging and a number of barrels piled around it. “What is it? What do you see?” inquired the first of-. ficer. ; “Come down here, sir!’ responded the other. “It is’ terrible! Poor Tom!” Followed .by several of his men, the mate jumped into the hold and instantly made his way to the cask, to behold a sight which was well calculated to awaken feelings of sorrow and astonishment. ; _The cask, which was nearly full of molasses, had been : broken open at the top, and through the aperture thus made protruded the naked feet of little Tom, the steerage boy, - who, it was evident, had fallen headfirst into the barrel while partaking of his “favorite extract.” “Aye, aye!” said old Jack, after the dead body had been pulled out, “I knew that if the poor lad ever died, molass¢s would be the cause of it. I can imagine how the whole | thing happened,” added he. “The boy left his bunk last — night to get some of the sweet stuff, knowing that it was [ao _work to devise the ways and means, the enemy was upon him, . (over in a narrow street. excursion the other day, and as they wanted to be sure to wake in time, they ran a bit of clothesline across the “street in at the second-story windows, and each tied an end to his leg, so that if one awele the ‘other would immediately feel a pull. ; " he eee was an “excellent fae and we esr. - tho kept in the hold, and that this cask had been broken open. Being too careless while leaning over it he fell in, and the cry we heard must have come from him just as he lost his balance. It’s a short but a sad story, mates.” We will add that the body of the unfortunate lad. was buried on the'next morning, and that to this day supersti- tious seamen, who have sailed in the North Light since the accident, report that in stormy nights frequent moans, as of a human being in great distress, are heard in the vessel’s hold. HOW HE GOT A HORSE. During the war the Confederate cavalryman was often puzzled as how to provide himself with a horse. The authorities gave him the choice to keep mounted or go into the ranks with his musket, as horses were not furnished by the government. To be dismounted and become.a foot soldier was worse’ to him than a court-martial, and he would risk much in his efforts to get.a horse from the enemy. In the autumn of 1862 a cavalryman had his horse killed _in a skirmish near Warrenton, and as his best chance was then to capture one from the enemy, he put his wits to He was with the outside pickets, and.not far off, on the pike, were the cavalry pickets of the enemy. He procured-a piece of telegraph wire from the railway, and, when twilight.came on, stretched this across. the road, fastening one end to the fence and the other end to a.con- venient. tree, just ne enough to catch a cavalryman about the. belt, . When matters were thus arranged to hig liking he started dows the pike and stopped in plain view of the enemy. It was not long before three of them gave chase, mounted on good horses. It was now.too dark for them.to see the wire, and’ on. they came, determined to have a. prisoner. . The chase was sharp and quickly over, so that by the time the schemer had. passed through and under his trap The sequel is not hard to guess. Two of the pursuers were quickly and most uncere- moniously unhorsed, the third being so thuch astonished and frightened at their fate as to turn and beat a hasty _ retreat. : The two horses, ‘without their riders, continued dow the toad, and were easily captured by the Confederate, who, by. his clever ruse, became their owner, and kept his | place in the cavalry. The two pickets, left to themselves, _ hurriedly made their way back to their comrades as crest- fallen and astonished as two men could well be. of this incident tells the tale himself, and adds that he The hero rode one of these horses to Appomattox and from there es to his home, and that it was one of the best he ever owned. HOW 1 TO RISE EARLY. acetal Thompson and Tommy Simms live opposite ¢ach They were going on a fishing NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. ‘ The other was not to be disposed of so easily, reason why, tinder ordinary circumstances, have worked well. But about seven o’clock that morning some laborers | assembled in front of Tommy’s for the purpose of erecting a telegraph pole. When the hole was dug they began to. put the pole up on end. But unfortunately it slipped down with tremendous force upon the clothesline. it should not. Mrs. Simms, who happened to be passing Tommy’s room, 7 Tl was very much surprised to see Tommy go over the foot artil of the bed and shoot feet foremost out of the window; but | inte: even she was not more amazed than Mrs. Thompson was | new when Jimmy performed the same feat. are They met in the middle of the street, clustering, as it | stee’ were, round the pole, but each with a broken leg. They _ by t wake themselves now with alarm clocks. It is safer—and | and less exciting. into -behi THE SIGNATURE OF THE CROSS. gy Fecc The signature of the cross—the mark which persons | who are unable to write are required to make—was not | always confined to illiterate persons; for among the Saxons | the mark of the’ cross, as an attestation of the good faith | of the persons signing, was required to be attached to the signature of those who could write, as well as to stand in the place of the signature of those who could not write. — A FIGHT WITH SHARKS. The prettiest battle I ever witnessed was between ‘a | Cuban and a couple of sharks. We had reached. Havana, and were lying half a mile from the docks, waiting for the signal to go in. Several fruit peddlers had boarded us, among them. a swarthy young fellow who looked like a pirate. The purser was standing by the rail, with his Avb-ven old son in his arms, watching a couple of moister sharks that were hanging about the vessel, when the child slipped from his grasp and fell into the: water. The father plunged overboard and seized him, xsd ‘the big sharks made at once for the pair. The young | caneer dropped the fruit basket and went over. the like a flash. preliide to biting—the Cubes) rose, and with a Tong, knife fairly disemboweled it. Several of us gil to blaze away at hit with our r and the combatants nad a fair field. The Cates dive but the shark did not wait for him to come up, and: chang his location. Finally the latter advanced straight upon his antagonist, his ugly fin cutting a the awa “antagonist with his fait) but the latter eege wel and iterally cut him to pieces. * “ragamuffin ‘could have given Solomon points int of wee, Sone NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. NEWS ITEMS OF INTEREST. 1 not. oOrers — cting | an to. down ; Motors Haul Artillery. ‘oom, | The French gunners” method of handling in action heavy foot | artillery drawn by motor traction was the chief point of ; but | interest for foreign observers of the recent grand ma- was | neuvers of the French army. The wheels of the motor | are broad, with their outside tires composed of jointed as it | steel, and it has been found that the guns can be taken They | by this means across freshly plowed fields and over ditches —and | and minor obstructions. When the heavy ordnance came into action, the motor tires were detached and spread out | behind the cannon, forming rails upon which the pieces | recoiled after firing, without.sinking into the soil. \ ong) More than 100,000 men and a large fleet of aéroplanes, | ee Operating in two armies, opposed each other over a wide xons | Tange of country stretching from Hantauban to Agen on faith the north, and from Auch to Toulouse on the south. The the | Northern, or blue, army was commanded by General Paul tand | Pau, and the Southern, or red, army by General Nicholas ste 4 _ Chomer. Colonel Samuel W. Miller, U. S. A., witnessed | the maneuvers. He was full of admiration for the en- iS durance and marching powers of the French soldiers. | Only 67 men fell out of the ranks to be cared for by the ie mbulances out of the 60,000 composing the Southern ana, army during three days of hard field work. for : ded Jake Stahl Won’t Play Ball. like | _ Jake Stahl, Chicago bank official and leader of the | || world’s champions of 1912, has made emphatic denial of ear- a persistent rumor that he had bought a Chicago semipro arlés eam and would reénter the game, playing at first base. “JT don’t see how that rumor was spread,” sid Stahl. ‘I wish to say I am through with baseball, so far as the playing end of it is concerned, for all time. So far as Semipro ball is concerned, the rumor that I would go back to that part of the game is ridiculous. I had my fill of the semipro ball several years ago. No, the work in the bank will take all of my working hours. My con- nection with baseball will be that of a spectator or fan.” Use for Waste Wood. Waste wood in the manufacture of school desks is now being used for the backs of cheap brushes, according to the statement of the forest service. : A large manufacturer of school desks in Michigan had a considerable amount of waste material in sizes which were too short to enter into the manufacture of the small- est desks, and could not be utilized -further with his machinery or in his line of work. This material was all hard maple in pieces an inch thick, a foot or so long, and about three inches wide; for a long time it had been consigned to the waste pile and sold’ as firewood. This waste amounted to from 1,000 to 1,500 board feet each day, A near-by manufacturer was using practically this quantity of maple, which he was sawing up into small pieces for making the backs of cheap brushes. Members of the forest service, investigating methods. of eliminating factory waste, conceived the. idea that the m the waste of the school-desk manufacturer, and on basis, he got the two together. Arrangements were ‘it opens up the game and prevents shinnying. made so that the brush manufacturer now places orders with the other. firm for its raw material, and what was formerly waste is now a source of profit. A Man Who Spins Tops. | Tops are great toys, aren’t they? But even at that, when a boy passes a certain age, he is inclined to lose in- terest in them and, maybe, consider them a bit too much of a juvenile amusement. But what would you think of a man who spins tops? Moreover, he is a congressman— Stanley E. Bowdie, representative from Ohio. Tops are his hobby. He has in his home any number of them—and very unusual ones they are, too. What is more, he spins them and takes keen delight in doing so. Many of them are mechanical marvels; and he is now building a huge gyroscope and experimenting with it. Before he came to Congress—and even before he took up the study of law—he worked as a mechanic in a machine shop. While so engaged, he became interested in turning out tops—and has never gotten over it. ? Hockey Expert Says Rover is Unnecessary. “Skating, and, with it, hockey, is due to start in the rinks soon,” said Jimmy Shirreff, the noted hockey player of the Crescent A. C., of Brooklyn, recently, “and it is not too soon to advocate what, to my mind, will prove the salvation of the sport in this country. The one deterrent of the game as at present constituted in this country, is the smallness of the rinks and the consequent crowding of fourteen players on the ice. “There is a remedy that is both simple and, I think, im- minent. The Canadian hockey players are now playing only six men to a team, leaving out the rover, whose util- ity, as a matter of fact, has always been somewhat ques- tionable> I am safe in saying that the great majority of players here believe with me that the governing body should this fall so change conditions of the game that the rover will be dispensed with. “The question is asked: Why this change? Well, the answer is simple, particularly in view of our small rinks. With fourteen players on the ice there is almost no chance for any individual or team brilliancy. There is a crowd- ing that prevents real hockey, so that the game has al- most become shinny. Take, for instance, a scramble in back of the net. With the puck behind the cage, there arc often eight players falling over each other in an attempt to get the disk. It results in a scramble that is neither interesting nor exciting to player or spectator. Certainly, it isn’t hockey. “Another reason is that a rover always finds it hard to get in line. He is usually offside. All of the big Canadian teams have dispensed with the rover, for the reason that Indeed, - there is far more reason to advocate and put through the | change here than in Canada, for our teams play only once a week, whereas the Canadians are at it four or five times in that period. In Canada there has been only one fault found with the change, and that is, that it puts on the shoulders of the three remaining linemen more work than under the old system. Where professional hockey is con- 4 cs NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. cerned, as in Canada, it is, of course, essential that every man should be in as good shape as the ball players have to be in this country, but the well-trained hockey player of Canada scoffs at the only objection thus far raised. “We had a good chance to size up the diffetence of the game last year when the Canadians played here, and every hockey player in these parts was impressed with the im- provement. There remained no question but that it added speed and interest to the matches. Of course, the improve- ment was. not noted until the end of the season,. when the Canucks were_here. - “The change is a matter that affects the player and spectator alike, but it is up to the executive committee to establish the change. The players should get together and force the committee to try the shift. “T have talked with many of our leading players, and every one agrees with me. As at present constituted, the game has resolved itself into a defensive rather than an offensive game.” Sea Elephant on Hands. “The Man With the Elephant on His Hands,” made famous by DeWolf Hopper in “Wang,” had nothing on William Wickersham, of Los Angeles, late of the federal customs service. \ Wickersham has a stds sea elephant on his hands, which is forty-five degrees worse than a regular, sure- enough elephant with four feet and a trunk. The latter can be put to work and can live on peanuts, but the sea elephant has never been trained to draw a boat, and to keep alive must have dozens of fish daily. The big sea denizen was brought from Guadalupe Island. for exhibition purposes. Customs regulations de- _manded that Wickersham produce a permit from the Mex- ican government to take the animal from Mexican waters. In lieu of such a document, he was forced to provide a bond for $500 before he was allowed to land the elephant at San Pedro. Monument to Child Murdeted in Factory. Reverend J. C. Parrot has called. upon the women of the State of Georgia with the codperation of the churches, to erect a monument to Mary Phagan, the fourteen-year- old girl who was murdered in an Atlanta factory, for which murder Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the fac- tory, is under sentence of death. Most monuments, he ‘Says, are erected to men who have been heroes in war, --men who have made widows or orphans of children. Mary Phagan laid down her life for her honor, “and this little heroine,” the minister says, “outshines all the _ others.” A fund for the monument is growing rapidly. Chinese Smuggled in by Huge Trost. As the result of a quarrel between Chinamen of Chi- cago over the burning of a restaurant, and accusations made by one of them when he became angry, the govern- - ment has discovered an extensive smuggling trust by which several thousand Chinese have been slipped into the United States through the port of Mobile, Ala. A con- _ fession was made by Moy Chee Yu, one of the Chinamen involved, and recently immigration authorities at Mobile _ arrested two members of the crew of the Norwegian lum- _ ber steamer Alm, charged with complicity in the plot. Those arrested are Thor Strom, second officer of the steamer, ais x ng 4 rheon i ‘steward. ney were locked up in default of $1,000 bonds each. They were identified by Moy Chee Yu, who was sent to Mobile from Chicago for the purpose of aiding the Federal officials in the search for the smugglers. Crews of several other steamers plying between Kings- ton, Jamaica, and Mobile are said to be involved in the smuggling plot. The arrival of these steamers is awaited by the immigration authorities and a number of additional artests may follow. The plot is said to have netted the smugglers more than $100,000 in the last two years. The sailors involved in the “smuggling trust” estab- lished headquarters at Kingston and fixed the rate at $250 — a head for every Chinaman carried across to Mobile. Moy Chee Yu told the Federal officials that 5,000 Chinese are now in Kingston awaiting a chance to be saeeeied into the United States. Facts You May Not Know. Ginseng, never seriously considered as a medicine in this — country, is bringing fabulous prices in China. Last year — one lot of especially selected ginseng root sold at auction © for $327.16 gold a pound, More than 2,000,000 men have been killed in battle in the last fifty years. “g Only one person in 100 inhabitants of Great Britain — owns more than an acre of land. a The Bible contains 3,568,480 letters, 733,748 cova 31, 173 verses, 1,189 chapters, and 66 books. i During the year 1910 in the jungles of Africa 93,000 caté- tle were killed by snakes and wild beasts. 4 The art of creosoting lumber has been greatly improved © lately by the discovery that its effect is made more last- - ing by the addition of paraffin, stearic acid, or something My of that character. disil Automobiles cost us more than household furniture every! j year, and we pay our garage mechanics and oar a more than our school-teachers. ’ High-school pupils in eight American cities spend a ‘mil- lion and avhalf dollars each school year for lunches. As a result of a vigorous corn campaign waged by the Philippine bureau of education, at Manila, there has been a decided increase in the production of corn, and a large decrease in the use of rice, formerly the chief article: of diet in the archipelago. Maine Eel Farm Makes Big Profit. Everybody knows that the eel is the slipperiest li ns thing, but though this be so, he can be slipped into - siderable money, and profits realized from an eel farm ex ceed any other kind of farming with the same amount oO labor. ‘anes Jacobs, of Somerset County, Maine, taps eel as belonging to the snake family instead of oe “fl family best not enter into this industry. Mr. Jacobs ¢ that for eating purposes no better fish ever run than aneel. His eel traps so called are situated on the Sebasticoo River and each morning, during seven months of the he takes from his traps from 100 to 150 of these. eae fish, In starting this industry he dammed the river swift point in a V-shaped dam of piles driven into the so the water will pass mine and out Pees not ch NEW TIP TOP: WEEKLY. meets the V-shaped dam, the eels that come with it pass readily into this inclosure, and as they approach the narrow part of the V they are then plunged by the swift water into an elongated trough that is made at the foot of the V dam. They run mostly at nighttime and during’ the summer months when they run the thickest, it is necessary during the night to clean the trough out, to keep the eels from dying. These are put into another trough and kept there until morning when they are made ready for the shipping. The eels are from one foot to twenty inches long. If one doubts that an eel is slippery, one wants to try to hold one. The only way that they can be caught and held in the hand is to throw them into the sand where they will become possible to be taken into the hands. A photog- rapher at Mr. Jacobs’ farm wanted to take a picture of one of the eels with Mr. Jacobs holding it, and the only method that could be devised to do this was to take a pair of automobile pliers and nip him by the tail and then before the picture could be taken successfully the eel had wiggled himself from the jaws of the pliers into the stream. After a quantity of these eels have been trapped they are placed in barrels alive with ice and shipped to the New York markets where the demand is greater than the supply. They sell readily and the highest-class people eat them. They are best fried the same as \a trout would be fried. It has been said that an eel died hard and that after they had been cooked for half an hour. they would turn over in the spider. This seems exaggerated, but if one will watch them fry one will see that the tendency of the eel as it is being cooked is to turn up at both ends and there- fore the cel has got the reputation of dying hard. _ The only tools that are necessary in carrying on an eel farm is a net. As the eels go into the troughs or traps, as they are called, they are then dipped out with a net. _ Only one man is required beside the owner to carry on this industry and $1,500 is not an uncommon profit for the owner each year in this industry. . British Army to Advertise. Lord Northcliffe, of Great Britain, in a recent speech conveyed a hint to the government , that its difficulty in getting army recruits might be overcome by an alert ad- vertising campaign in the press. It is now announced that the government is about to start a publicity campaign on these lines, and advertise- ‘ments will soon appear in the newspapers inviting men to oin the army, and setting forth the army’s attractions. Has a Rabbit Preserve. ‘ohn G. van Riper, a farmer, has put in three years organizing a rabbit preserve, near Montville, N. J., and s just now reaping the benefits of it. Three years ago, 1 there was a scarcity of rabbits, a number of New ork business men who at considerable expense came out tight down. an Riper bought a few Belgian hares and tamed them auch as he could. At considerable expense he built esh wire fence about fifteen acres of meadow and and. ‘Into this he turned the rabbits, and upon ery post he pasted a “No Hunting” sign. He daily dumped a load of produce into the inclosure to feed the _rabbits, which multiplied until they now number ‘several hundred, With the advent of the hunting season Van Riper adver- tised that he could guarantee any hunter all the rabbits he cared to shoot for the nominal charge of half a dollar a head. A-number of wealthy New Yorkers jumped at the chance, and hardly a day goes by, but half a dozen hunters are out on Van Riper’s meadowland. So far 212 rab- bits have been shot on the place, bringing the farmer in $106. Three-eyed Pig With Other Freaks. Leonard Carter, at Big Laurel, Va., known as “the freak farmer,”’: has added to his collection. The latest arrival is a pig with three well-developed eyes. Two are close together on the left side of its head, the other being on the right side in the accustomed place. Carter has a four- legged chicken and a two-tailed calf. Lost Horse Becomes Wild. Clarence Dawson and Bert Walker have recovered a horse that had broken away from them in the wilderness twenty miles from Ishpeming, Mich., early last spring, \ when they were on a fishing trip. A homesteader saw the horse recently, and notified the owners. The horse was as wild as a deer and was cor- ralled with difficulty. ‘Decorative Mole a Peril. Doctor Jean Dartier, speaking before the French Asso- ciation for the Study of Cancer, referred to the tragic possibilities of the decorative mole which again has come into fashion. “Scratch a mole,” cex.” Some moles were harmless and some were potentially poisonous, he continued. The only wise course was to leave well enough alone and resist the temptation to scratch _ the mole. Warts and wens should be borne patiently, lest worse befall their possessors. Doctor Dartier told of a man who, by cauterizing a harmless wart on his hand, transformed it into a cancer. he said, “and you may catch a can-. Slit Skirts Worn Ages Ago. Maids and matrons 2000 B. C. wore slit skirts, accord- ing to Doctor Edith Hall, an archxologist of the University of Pennsyly ania. In a lecture before the Twentieth Cen- tury Club, in Pittsburgh, including social and fashion lead- ers, she announced that in the Isle of Crete she found proof that the ancient Cretan ladies wore the slit, hobble, balloon, and hoop skirts. rd . Alfonso’s Little Joke. : King Alfonso of Spain told President Poincaré’s shoot- ing party, at Rambouillet, France, recently, an amusing — story of a trick he played on one of his ministers in — Spain. This minister, said the iis“ was a very bad shot. One 3 day he saw a little rabbit moving slowly through the — grass. about 15 yards away. He fired with both barrels — and missed as usual, but the rabbit still remained in sight. Once more the minister fired. He: fired in all thirty-six cartridges, and at last bowled the rabbit over. eo the minister ran or ore up a: vrai, NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. which, however, had tied around its neck a card with the words, “Long life.to Sefior ——,” and then came the minister’s name. “It was a stuffed rabbit which a keeper pulled about by a string. “It was a year before my minister forgave me for the trick I played upon him,” concluded Alfonso. Dives Among Sharks. Mrs. Pearl Doles Bell, a writer, who arrived in Mo- bile, Ala., recently from New York on board the steam- ship Nueces, performed in Key West a feat hitherto unat- tempted by a woman—that of diving thirty feet into the open sea at Key West and braving a school of sharks. A Wonderful New Gun. A new automatic machine gun, the invention of Colonel Lewis, United States army, retired, was exhaustively tested recently at Bisley, England, in the presence of a dis- tinguished gathering of English army officers and foreign military attachés. ; The new gun resembles a large rifle in appearance, with an outer jacket covering. The barrel weighs only twenty- seven pounds. The action is totally automatic. The gun is capable of firing eight hundred rounds a minute. With a Lewis gun mounted on a Graham-White aéro- plane, Lieutenant Stellingwelf, of the Belgian army, scored eleven hits in fourteen shots from an altitude of six hun- dred feet on a target of white sheets twenty feet square. Those present were greatly impressed by the demonstra- tion, Lash Men in Name of Law. With their back grilled from neck to waist, two pris- oners moaned and tossed on their cots in the Newcastle, , County workhouse. They were the latest victims of the whipping post, which is in use in the State of Delaware, U.S. A., and in Russia. Each of the men had received twenty lashes with a cat- o’-nine tails. Bare-backed, despite the freezing weather, they had been shackled to the post. A week before they ‘had suffered similar punishment. Afterward they were locked up and left to nurse their burning, welted backs. Prison physicians said they did not need a doctor. These men, William Reason and James Byard, are young negroes. They were convicted of breaking into two houses with intent to commit burglary. They had been sentenced’ to receive forty lashes. Recently two white men and four négroes writhed before the “cat.” And the “cat” will remain in Delaware until the ancient law providing for it is repealed. So says Governor Charles R, Miller. Protests against this method of punishing crim- ‘inals reached Congress and Representative Evans, of Mon- tana, urged that the attorney general of the United States be instructed to bring injunction proceedings against Dela- ware, to end the whipping penalty. The agitation in Congress brought the following statement from Governor Miller recently: “ “The courts and other legal authorities of the State of Delaware will administer the internal affairs of the com- monwealth regardless of any attempted interference by a member of Congress or of individuals residing in other States, who are ignorant of conditions and permit them- selves to be misled. ' “The persons who have written me numerous letters, some of them abusive and insulting to the citizenship of the State, should pause to consider that State government in Amrica is based upon a statutory law - men elected by the people.” The whipping post has its advocates,.even in this day of new methods in dealing with criminals. In Delaware, officials and the public have become accustomed to it. Be- cause the scourging of men has been denounced in Con- gress as a relic of barbarity,\a larger crowd than usual wit- - nessed the flogging of Reason and Byard in the stone stockade, fifty yards from the workhouse. Only seven minutes were required for the ceremonies. A tiny iron door let in the erowd. A door on the oppo- site side disgorged the prisoners and prison guards. Flagel- lation of each man lasted almost exactly twenty seconds, a stroke every second on their bare backs. Spectators who had viewed other floggings said that the punishnient was mild’ and “tame,” compared with many others, although Warden Crawford denied that his arm was stayed to any degree by the public protests against . the Delaware scourging. “I think the whipping post is a good thing,” Warden Crawford said. “It keeps crooks out of the State. Profes- sional crooks steer clear of Delaware. I'll admit I don’t like it; it isn’t a pleasant thing to do; but I have felt it my duty to do the flogging myself and not make a subor- dinate do it. Flogging is the law and part of my duty. “l’ve whipped men for six or seven years, twelve to fifteen a year, and I’ve seen whippings for twelve years, but I never saw a drop of blood drawn.” That statement is contradicted. Several persons declared | that blood had been let in the past. Burglars, highwaymen, and wife beaters are subjected to the whipping-post law of Delaware. The maximum is — forty lashes. The law is one of the ancient blue laws of the State which first ratified have been lightened in recent — years. The original law provided that burglars “shall ‘be whipped with thirty-nine lashes on the bare back, well laid — on, shall be set on the pillory for one hour, shall suffer im- prisonment for one year, and afterward shall be disposed of as a servant to the highest and best bidder for not — less than four nor more than seven years.” Population of Berlin Shrinks. The population of Berlin, Germany, is decreasing. Not. only are the laboring classes moving out to the country to find work, but the.wealthy are forsaking the city for more pretentious homes in the near-by suburbs. The exo- dus has been so steady during the past eight months that Berlin to-day has over 41,000 less inhabitants than it had on March 1. The present year is the only one to show a decrease. in population since 1873. For six years past the rate of | increase has been comparatively slow, but as recently as 1906 there was a gain of 54,000 in 12 months. Now the tide has turned the other way, and the municipality is alarmed over the departure of 19 millionaires, in the Ger. man sense, in the three months ended June 30. The city’s tax receipts are torrespondingly reduced, : Fifteen Races in Her Family. Mrs. L. Brackett Bishop, wife of a wealthy Chicago ist ness man, has announced her intention to adopt fifteen chil- dren, each to represent one of the fifteen most characte istic racial types. Her representatives are visiting local orphan asylums in search of the nucleus of her future fam- NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. ae 31 ily. Mrs. Bishop also has friends touring Europe to find ‘babies representing such races as are not represented in Chicago. The family will include a negro baby, an Indian, an Arab, a Japanese, a Malay, a German, an Irish, a Chinese, a ‘Scandinavian, an American, and babies representing sev- eral of the South American countries. The plan, Mrs. Bishop said, had been under considera- tion since the death of her two sanerucrs twenty-five years ago. “We will move from the hotel where we are now living to a comfortable house in the outskirts of the city as soon as the family is started,” said Mrs. Bishop, “and we intended to bring the children up as nearly as possible as the American family of moderate means.” Ship Found After Six Yeats. The steamship Centennial, which left Muroran, Japan, six years ago for San Francisco with a cargo of sulphur, nd was never heard from, is reported fast in the ice off _Saghalin Island, Okhotsk Sea, near Siberia. oa Russian expedition found the vessel, its lifeboats gone, the name partly obliterated, and its ironwork cor- roded. There was no sign of life aboard./ Drowned by Great Fish. yi Fone fishing from a bulkhead at a point about midway etween. Coney Island and Brighton Beach, N. Y., an un- identified man, 55 or 60 years old, tumbled into the water. “As he sank he shouted that he had been pulled in by a great fish tugging at the other end of his line. He disap- eared before other fishermen on the jetty could help ad been dragged into the sea by a huge sea serpent. His es attracted the attention of Policeman William Major. They got grappling irons and a boat, and at 10:30 o’clock that night dragged the body of the drowned fisherman ore. He was about five feet eight inches in height, 150 pounds in weight. He wore a black suit and a gray eater. “Hyde said that ON man had come 5 the jetty first at 30 ‘clock in the afternoon. Half an hour later he said that e felt some great fish tugging at his line. At dusk he went way and returned at 8 o'clock, It was just 9 o’clock when he was pallet off the bulkhead. - Baseball Tourists’ Receipts $97,240. E aspite the withdrawal of several star players from the | nks at the close of the American tour John J. McGraw | and James J. Callahan, managers of the world’s touring ball teams, will be able to put first-class teams in the for the games to be played in foreign countries. Vhen the Comiskey party, numbering sixty-seven persons, ailed from Victoria, B. C., each manager had eleven play- under his control, and each will be able to line up am with players in their own positions, Or at least positions where they have had considérable experience. . American tour gave a total of $97,240 for the thirty- ames played, or an average of more than $3,000 per Had it not rained on the final day, when a double- . up of Pitchers Scott, Benz, and Leverenz; success of the American tour is very gratifying to Messrs Comiskey and McGraw, and it dispels all fear of the affair being a money-losing proposition. Five Giants and three White Sox left the party when the games at Tacoma and Seattle were called off. These players were Mathewson, Tesreau, Fromme, Myers, Snod- grass, Chase, Schalk, and Rath. Jack Bliss, the former St. Louis catcher, who has been in the Pacific Coast League during the past season, joined the tourists, and he will do the catching for the White Sox in the games abroad. Daly, of the White Sox, can also go behind the bat, and he will undoubtedly act as utility catcher for both clubs. There will be no need of a change from team to team in any other position. The White Sox team in the foreign games will be made Catchers Bliss and Daly; Sam Crawford, first base; Herman Schaefer, second base; Weaver, shortstop; Dick Egan, third base; Tris Speaker, Steve Evans, Daly, or Manager Callahan, in the outfield. McGraw’s team will have George Wiltse, Bunny Hearne, and Faber, a Western League recruit, for pitchers; Ivy Wingo, catcher; Merkle, first base; Doyle, second base; Mike Doolan, shortstop; Hans Lobert,. third base; Lee Magee,, Jim Thorpe, and Mike Donlin for the outfield. The American Leaguers have the better pitch- ing staff and a better outfield, while the National Leaguers are stronger behind the bat and in the infield. McGraw’s team appears to be a better hitting aggregation than the Sox, despite the presence of Tris Speaker and Sam Craw- ford on the Sox roster. To Cross Ocean in “Bottle.” Under one of the archways of the Pont St. Michel, Paris, on the Seine, two men are working on the con- struction of a cylindrical, bottlelike craft which is to take them across the Atlantic. The craft is of wood and tarred cardboard, with strong hoops of iron. It is about 30 feet long by 7l%, feet across. There is 4 manhole at each end, The master of this curious craft is turned seventy, and a Greek, Constantine Panejotti, by name. His only assist- ant is a young workman, = “The craft now in the slip,” said M. Panejotti, “is only a model. Later on I propose to build another measuring three hundred and twenty-five feet and driven by three fif- teen-horse-power motors, which will develop a speed of one hundred miles an hour. “The secret of my invention lies in the action of the ' propellers, which will enable my bottle to revolve on its own axis at a dizzy rate. The persons inside will be on a floor fitted with rollers, which will remain completely stable. My pupil and I intend to go from Paris to Havre and thence to New York. “My boat,” he added, “has no keel. If by a shock dr ‘any other cause a leak is sprung, a stroke of the propellers” causes it to turn upside down, and a leak can be eens without the least danger. Got Anteater Alive Alter Fight ia Tee. J..J. Schmidt, the wild animal collector, who says he prefers a tame boa constrictor to a watchdog in his home, __ réturned to New York recently from the forests of Co- lombia on the United Fruit steamship Metapan, bringing’) _ with him an anteater for the zodlogical park in the Bronx. - He said there was not a live specimen of the South Ameri- oF can anteater in any zddlogical gardens in the United States. _ 32 New York once had one, Mr. Schmidt ecoteinee, but it pined away and died because it did not get the kind of red ants to eat that it had been accustomed to in its native lair. Mr. Schmidt’s anteater is somewhat like a “sheepdog, reddish-brown in color, the hair shading to gray toward its bushy tail, and a long narrow head. It got loose oné night when the ship was between Colon and Kingston, and started to eat up the coat of a New York newspaper man who was. traveling for his health. “He alarmed the first officer, who ran to me and re- ported that my anteater had its mouth so wide open that any one could see its spinal column, and was eating up the crew,” said Mr. Schmidt. “I knew my pet could only open its mouth at the most about three quarters of an inch, so I did not feel alarmed about its running amuck around the deck. “The anteaters in the Colombian forests,” Mr. Schmidt went on to say,-“are very difficult to catch, as they climb the tall cottonwood trees and hide out of sight. I went into the interior from Baranquilla with a bag of provisions, a rifle, and an Indian guide, and managed to catch this fellow after a lively chase. I spotted him in an open glade, making toward a grove of mango trees, near the Magdalena River, one night just as the moon was setting. Directly the anteater scented me it went up the nearest tree like a streak. Throwing my sack and rifle to the guide I went after it. “Near the top of the tree I made a grab for the ant- eater, and it scratched my arm and hand, and crushed my fingers between ifs hard jaws, but I held on and got it to Kis ground, and then carried it back to camp in my arms.’ In addition to thé anteater, Mr. Schmidt brought back two hundred and fifty macaws and parrots, twenty-five monkeys of various kinds, including the spider monkey, which is all black fur and bones, with gleaming yellow eyes, and two boa constrictors, one ten and the other aes feet long. Mrs. Schmidt, who met her husband at the pier, took the serpents out of their box and twisted them around her neck as if they had been feather boas. The customs of- ficials declined the invitation to examine the boa constric- tors, and said that they preferred to take the animal man’s declaration as read. [ Liked to Hear Clang of Fire Bells. ue thought of the wild clanging of the fire bells, the rising smoke, and the reddening heavens was too much for me. I burned*over thirty buildings because the excite- ment was’ irresistible,” said Frank Norton to the Winona, Minn., police. Nottou formerly was aunleved as driver of a mail wagon, He confessed that he was the cause of the nu- merous incendiary fires that had baffled the Bayes the past six months. Judge Changed Mind and Doubled Sentence. The power of a judge to change his mind and increase the sentence of a prisoner, after he has beeri sent to prison, will be one of the problems the supreme court must solve shortly. JA judge in Trego County, Kansas, sentenced Henry Meyer to jail for three months and to a fine of’ $100 for _ violating a liquor injunction. “NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. Twelve hours‘later in the day, the judge + Sealed Meyer from ‘jail and made his sentence six months. The legal minds of Kansas have been figuring ever since what happened to Meyer. The supreme court of — Kansas held that the trial judge was powerless to set aside the first sentence, and that this must be-served out. Meyer claims that the judge set aside the first sentence, but was without power to impose a second sentence, so that he is a free man. Vatican’s Ban on Tango. Several bishops have addressed questions to the vatican, at Rome, as to whether confessors should give absolution to Catholics who dance the tango. The reply of the vatican is that the tango must be considered an immoral dance and is Ce pro- hibited to Catholics, - Several bishops in Italy have forbidden women wearing _ slit skirts to attend religious ceremofies in churches. Red Noses Will Cost Jobs. Red noses and breaths burdened with the odor of spiritu- ous, vinous, or malt liquors, will suffice to separate an em- ployee of the census bureau; at Washington, D. C., from his job hereafter, for Director Harris has announced that _ from now on-his branch of the government is to be as dry as the sandy center of Sahara. es Watchmaker’s Ingenuity, A marvel of minuteness and completeness is an en- gine made by an American clockmaker. It weighs about I5 grains, and can be entirely covered by an ordinary ~- thimble. The stroke of the piston is a little more than © % one-twelfth of an inch, and its diameter is less than one- ninth of an inch. The engine is built of 140 screws, and fastened together by 52 screws, and three drops of water fill the boiler and set the engine in motion. It would re-— quire about: 12,000 such engines to do the work of one — horse. Another marvel of ingenuity in the same line has Bee fl produced by a watchmaker. This little engine is of the up- right-pattern, and is made of silver and gold. It rests on a. 25-cent piece, and can be worked either by steam or com- pressed air. The cylinder is a little less than one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter, with a little less than three-thirty- ; seconds of an inch stroke. The balance wheel is one- third of an inch in diameter and can make acme like ; 1,000 revolutions a minute. “Toughest” Boy Wanted. ‘e Juvenile and truant officers at Pittsburgh, P4.; have | been asked ‘by John Robbins, president of of the Nation Fellowship Club, of Chicago, for assistance in finding the “toughest” boy in the city. After he is discovered mem- bership in the Last Chance Boys’ Club will be offered to him, and, with eleven others, he will be taken to a ranch near Reno, Nev., where he will have an beporaie to : become a good man. Recently Upton Sinclair, Robert Hunter, Jack London, and John Robbins formed an organization having for its object the saving of a dozen of the worst boys in the coun- try, and Mr. Robbins was chosen to select them. Already bad boys have been found at Racine, Wis. ; Mishawaka, Ind.; East St. Louis, Ill.; Lima, Ohio, and St. Louis. No aia: over twelve years old are considered. i j ist. be ‘s pro- aring SOME OF THE BACK NUMBERS OF NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY THAT CAN BE SUPPLIED 700—Frank Merriwell’s Lively Lads. 701—F rank Merriwell as Instructor. 702—Dick Merriwell’s Cayuse. 703—Dick Merriwell’s Quirt. 704—Dick Merriwell’s Freshman Friend. 5—Dick Merriwell’s Best Form. Dick Merriwell’s Prank. —Dick Merriwell’s Gambol. Dick Merriwell’s Gun. Dick Merriwell at His Best. -Dick Merriwell’s Master Mind. Dick Merriwell’s Dander. 7 ee Merriwell’ s Hope. —Dick’s Merriwell’s Rian urd. —Dick Merriwell’s Sympathy. »—Dick Merriwell in Lumber Land. —Frank Merriwell’s Fairness. —Frank Merriwell’s Pledge. —Frank Merriwell, the Man of Grit. 9—F rank Merriwell’s Return Blow. —F rank Merriwell’s Quest. >1—Frank Merriwell’s Ingots. 2—Frank Merriwell’s Assistance. 3—Frank Merriwell at the Throttle. —TFrank Merriwell, the Always Ready. 5—Frank Merriwell in Diamond Land: —Frank Merriwell’s Desperate Chance. —Frank Merriwell’s Black Terror. 8—F rank Merriwell Again on the Slab. 9—F rank Merriwell’s Hard Game. 30 FY rank Merriwell’s Six-in-hand. 31—Frank Merriwell’s Duplicate. 32—Frank Merriwell on Rattlesnake Ranch. 33—F rank Merriwell’s Sure Hand. 734—Frank Merriwell’s Treasure Map. 735—Frank Merriwell, Prince of the Rope. 736—Dick Merriwell, Captain of the Var- sity. 737—Dic k Merriwell’s Control. 738—Dick Merriwell’s Back Stop. 7 39—Dick Merriwell’s Masked Enemy. 740—Dick Merriwell’s Motor Car. 741—Dick Merriwell’s Hot Pursuit. 742—Dick Merriwell at Forest Lake. 743—Dick Merriwell in Court. i Merriwell’s Silence. 45—Dick Merriwell’s Dog. 746——Dick Merriwell’s Sabter fuge. 747-—Dick Merriwell’s Enigma. 748-—Dick Merriwell Defeated. 1a0—= Dick Merriwell’s “Wing. 750—Dick Merriwell’s Sky a ae )1—Dick Merriwell’s Pick-ups. 92—-Dick Merriwell on the Rocking R. 7 23 Dick Merriwell’s Penetration. 754—Dick Merriwell’s Intuition. 755—Dick Merriwell’s Vantage. 756—Dick Merriwell’s Advice. 757—Dick Merriwell’s Rescue. 758—Dick a riwell, American. TDS riwell’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—Frank Merriwell’s Tact. 768—Frank Merriwell’s Unknown. 769—Frank Merriwell’s Acuteness. 770—Frank Merriwell’s Young Canadian, io rank Merriwell’s Coward. 2—F rank Merriwell’s Perplexity. 3—Frank Merriwell’s Intervention. 4—TVrank Merriwell’s Daring Deed. 5—Frank Merriwell’s Succor. —Frank Merriwell’s Wit. 7—Frank Merriwell’s Loyalty. 8—Frank Merriwell’s Bold Play. amare Merriwell’s Insight. 1 2: PELL CLM e pal ae SS UR COND Soo oa SI sad tad dd sd et ddd dd 1 Se SSS SL SAS Sos la ad ete and ee arp I=] ——Frank Merriwell’s Guile. —Frank Merriwell’s Campaign. —Frank Merriwell in the Forest. j—F rank Merriwell’s Tenacity. National 8 8 8 85 PRICE, FIVE CENTS PER COPY. news dealer, they can be obtained direct from thi: office. 784—Dick Merriwell’s Self-sacrifice. 785—Dick Merriwell’s Close Shave. 786—Dick Merriwell’s Perception. 787—Dick Merriwell’s Mysterious Disap- pearance, 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. 800—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—Frank Merriwell’s Interference. 810—F rank Merriwell’s Young W arriors. 811—F rank Merriwell’s Appraisal. 812—Frank Merriwell’s Forgiveness. 813—Frank Merriwell’s Lads. ; 814—Frank Merriwell’s Young Aviators. 815—F rank Merriwell’s Hot-head. 816—Dick Merriwell, Diplomat. 817—Dick Merriwell in Panama. 818—Dick Merriwell’s Perseverance. 819—Dick Merriwell Triumphant. 820—Dick Merriwell’s Betrayal. 821—Dick Merriwell, Revolutionist. 822-—Dick Merriwell’s Fortitude. 823—Dick Merriwell’s Undoing. 824—Dic k Merriwell, Universal Coach. 825—Dick Merriwell’s Snare. 896— Dick Merriwell’s Star Pupil. 827—Dick Merriwell’s Astuteness. 828—Die Merriwell’s Responsibility. 829—Dick Merriwell’s Plan. 830—Dick Merriwell’s Warning. 831—Dick Merriwell’s Counsel. 832—Dick Merriwell’s Champions. 833—Dick Merriwell’s Marksmen. 884—Dick Merriwell’s Enthusiasm. 835—Dick Merriwell’s Solution. 836—Dick Merriwell’s Foreign Foe. 887—Dick Merriwell and _ the Warriors. 888—Dick Merriwell’s Battle for the Blue. 839—Dick Merriwell’s Evidence. 840—Dick Merriwell’s Device. 841—Dick Merriwell’s Princeton Oppo- nents. 842—Dick Merriwell’s Sixth Sense. 843—Dick Merriwell’s Strange Clew. 844—Dick Merriwell Comes Back. 845—Dick Merriwell’s Heroic Crew. £46—Dick Merriwell Looks Ahead. 847—Dick Merriwell at the Olympics. 848—Dick Merriwell in Stockholm. 849—Dick Merriwell in the 3 Stadium. 850—Dick Merriwell’s Marathon. Carlisle Swedish NEW SERIES. New Tip Top Weekly 1-—Frank Merriwell, Jr. 2—F rank Merriwell, Jr., in the Box. 38—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Struggle. 4—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Skill. 5—Frank Merriwell, Jr., in Idaho. 6—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Close Shave. 7—Frank Merriwell, Jr., on Waiting Or- ders. 8—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Danger. 9—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Relay Mara- thon. 10—Frank Merriwell, Jr., at. the Bar Z Ranch. 11—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Golden Trail. 12—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Competitor. 13—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Guidance. 14—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Scrimmage. 15—Frank Merriwell, Jr., Misjudged. 16—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Star Play. 17—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Blind Chase. 18—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Discretion. 19—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Substitute. 20—F rank Merriwell, Jr., Justified. 21—F rank Merriwell, Jr., Incog. 22—F rank Merriwell, Jr., Meets the Issue. 23—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Xmas Eve. 24—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Fearless Risk. 25—F rank Merriwell, Jr., on Skis. 26—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ice-boat Chase 27—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ambushed Foes. 28—F rank Merriwell, Jr., and the Totem. 29—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Hockey Game, 30—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Clew. 31—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Adversary. 32—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Timely Aid. 3838—Frank Merriwell, Jr, in the Desert. 34—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Grueling Test. 35—F rank Merriwell, Jr. s) Special Mission 386—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Red Bowman. 37—Frank Merriwell, Jr. "s, Task. 388—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Cross-Country Race. 89—F rank Merriwell, Jr.'s, Four Miles. 40—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Umpire. 41—Irank Merriwell, Jr., ‘Sidetracked. 42—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Teamwork. 43—Frank Merriwell, Jr. i, Step-Over. 44—Frank Merriwell, Jr., in Monterey. 45—F rank Merriwell, Jr. ig, Athletes. 46—F rank Merriwell, Jr. s, Outfielder. 47—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, ‘‘Hundred.’ 48—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Hobo Twisler. 49—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Canceled Game. 50—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Weird Adven- ture. 51—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Double Header. 52—F ey Merriwell, Jr.’s, Peck of Trou- 538—F pani “Merriwell, Jv., and the Spook Joctor. 54—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Sportsmanship. 55—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ten-Innings. 56—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ordeal. 57—Frank Merriwell, Jr., on the Wing. 58—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Cross-Fire.” 59—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Lost Team- mate. 60—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Daring Plight. 61—F rank Merriwell, Jr., at Fardale. 62—F rank Merriwell, Jr., Plebe. 63—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Quarter-Back. 64—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Touchdown. 65—Frank Merriwell, Jr..s, Night Off. 66—Frank Merriwell, Jr., and the Little Black Box. 67—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Classmates. 68—F rank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Repentant En- emy. 69—Frank Merriwell, Jr. ., and the “Spell.” 70—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Gridiron Honors. 71—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Winning Run. G2—Frank Merriwell, Jr.'s, Jujutsu. Dated buna -r 20th. 73—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Christmas Va- cation. Dated December 27th. 74—Frank Merriwell, Jr., and the Nine Wolves. Dated January 3d, 1914. 75—Frank Merriwell, Jr., on the Border. Dated January 10th, 1914. 76—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Desert Race. If you want any back numbers of our weeklies and cannot procure them from your Postage stamps taken the same as money. Street & Smith, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Ave., New York City " i A i ie iid ead i a ala a RR i Serene Ee