AUTH
lace

PUBLISHERS —

STREE
NEW YOR

S

LW

eG FT TE

B BQ20204 |

 
 

 
 

 

An Ideal Publication For The American Youth

 

 

 

 

STREET & SMITH, 19-89 Seventh Ave., New York. Copyright, 1913,

Issued Weekly. Entered as Second-class Matter at the New York Post Office according to an act of Congress, March 3,1819. Published oy

éy STREET & SMITH. O. G. Smith and G. C. Smith, Proprietors. . Sh

 

Terms to NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY Mail Subscribers..
(Postage Free.)
Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each.
BS MMIONUNS ce seeesscccascececse Gd.) sONG \VEar sees. ccnnes ove se s/e'ss eae $2.50
4 MODTHS,...cc00 e200 noe ccecceers 85c. 2 copies one year . eccesceses 4.00
6 MONDENS, ...00 vecceescoecees $1.25 1 Copy two years. . we ccccvce 4,00

 

 

How to Send Money—By post-office or express money order, regis-
tered letter, bank check or draft, at ourrisk. At your own risk if sent
by.currency, coin, or postage stamps in ordinary letter.

Receipts—Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper
change of number on your label. If not correct you have not beer
properly credited, and should let us know at once,

 

 

 

N Oc 59.

Frank Merriwell, Jr.'s, Lost Teammate;

NEW YORK, September 13, 1913.

Price Five Cents,

Or, THE SEARCH FOR VILLUM KESS.

By BURT L.

CHAPTER I.
HUNG UP AT ROUND TOP.

“Great Scott, fellows! What’s going on here?”

The “mixed local,’ a short train made up of freight
cars, a combination. baggage and smoking car, a battered
old passenger coach, and the Cleansport, the traveling home
of Merriwell’s Athletes, was just rolling into the little
town of Round Top, Arizona.

Owen. Clancy had his head and shoulders thrust throuch
one of the windows of the private car. Distant strains
of band music reached his ears, and he could see flags
waving in the breeze, store fronts decorated with bunting,
and crowds of people promenading the main street of the
town.

Clancy drew back into the car to call excitedly to the
rest of the Athletes. In another moment every window
of the Cleansport was raised on the side of the car over-
looking the town, and there was a head in each window.

“Reckon they’ve got their dates mixed, Red,” remarked
Pennyworth, looking back along the car at the red-headed
chap. “The Round Toppers must think this is the Fourth
of July.”

“Don’d you pelief me!” cried Villum Kess, hanging half
out of another window. “Some circuses iss come by der
~ town. Look at der tents vonce! .I like a circus pedder as
nodding, und I vish like anyding der town vas going
to shday by me for a vile.”

Here and there, in open places along the street, could
be seen small tents decked with banners, and there were
any number of rough-board booths around which small
groups of people were clustered.

In the middle of the street, some forty or fifty feet
beyond the railroad station, was a framework of timbers,

K

Oe PSO eorintent SOI A oh A a AAO he te NR. ne tt

>

STANDISH.

shaped like a pyramid and surrounded by a circular-in-
clined path. Up this path a gymnast in tights, a flag in

each hand, was rolling a big, gayly decorated ball. He ©

was standing on the ball and rolling it with his feet.

“No circus about this, Villum,” said Merriwell. “Looks
like a celebration of some sort.”

“Dot iss a circus feller vat iss der ball on!” returned
Villum. “Und der band! Ach, du leber, vat a habbiness
I don’d know to hear a band! Alvays mit circuses dere iss
a band. By-shinks, I lofe moosic mit a band!”

Villum hung out of the window and rolled his “eyes
tapturously. The noise, the crowds, and the excitement ae
pealed to him nearly as much as the music.

“Oh, listen to the band,” hummed Billy Dill, “it’s melody
is grand! Umph, ta-ra-rum, oom-pah, oom-pah, umph,
ta-ra-rum! It’s almost as fine as a steam calliope.”

“Who'd ever think of running onto anything like this,”
remarked Dart Keenan, “’way out here on the edge of
nowhere!”

“This Arizona country is sure full of surprises,” spoke
up Coddington. :

“That guy in tights has got to the top of his little hill,”
put in Baltimore Joe, the hobo twirler. “I hope we acy
here long enough to see him come down.”

“Hearin’ dat ‘ar band,” said Mose, the chef, porter, ae
mascot, “done makes me feel lak Ah wanted to git out
mah ole banjo!”

“By kelter,” cried Reuben J. Whittaker, “it makes me
feel like I wanted tew git aout and dance a break-down!”

“Don’t get excited boys,’ laughed Horton. “This little

fiesta, up here in the mountains, proves that the rest of

the country hasn’t any monopoly on fun and enjoyment.
Everybody, ery hors has to take a little time off to. play.
Now ‘

Bh RSS A Ai SW

LESS IESE GIES I IRA REIT RB GT

EES IEC NALD

 

 

 

 
 

“For the love of Mike!” cut in Clancy suddenly. “There’s
Bullhead Brewster, Chip—the fellow we left back in the
cattle country. He just got out of the car ahead of the
Cleansport!”

A broad-chested, well-set-up young fellow, with a
bronzed, handsome, face, was walking across the station
platform toward the street. He swung along with the roll-
ing gait of a sailor, although he had never trod a heaving
deck in his life, and his manner of walking was no more
than an affected swagger. He carried an old suit case, and
there was a yellow silk handkerchief knotted around his
throat.

Merriwell and the rest of the Athletes were as sur-
prised to see Bullhead Brewster alighting from the train
at Round Top as was Clancy. For this same Brewster had
been left in Henry Mullen’s hands with an ugly charge
of robbery hanging over him.’

Brewster had stolen $5,000 from Mullen, on whose ranch
he was employed, and would have allowed a man called
Bud Brackett to suffer the consequences of the crime had
not Merriwell interfered. Very cleverly, during a base-
ball game, Merry had unmasked_the real thief.

Mullen, the rancher, was to let Bullhead go his way, pro-
viding he restored the stolen money. When the Athletes
had left the cattle country, the guilty cowboy was being
taken back to the H—M Ranch to reveal the place where
he had hidden the money.

“T wonder how the mischief Bullhead got aboard this
train?” Frank murmured. “He must have made a quick
ride from the H—M: Ranch to Prescott.”
“Suppose he broke away from Mullen without giving up
the stolen money?’’ queried Penn. “Maybe, ae he didn’t
go back to the H—M Ranch at all.”

“He couldn’t have given Mullen the slip, Penn. Mullen
and his foreman, Capps, were going to take him back to
the ranch in the buckboard. It’s a cinch he couldn’t break
away from Capps.”

“Well,” said Clancy, “he’s here, anyhow, no matter how
it happened. I’m glad he got off the train, and isn’t going
to go through with us to Ash Fork. That fellow’s a
pill, and he’s sure got it in for you, Chip.”

. Merriwell laughed carelessly.

“It’s only natural he should have a grouch,” said he,
“after the way he was shown up at the Star A camp. But
he’s not camping on my trail, Clan. If he was, you know,
he wouldn’t be getting off at Round Top.”

“Probably,” chimed in Horton, “he went back to the
H—M Ranch, gave that stolen money back to Mullen,
and then hurried on to Prescott in time to catch the train

                     

Horton’s words faded on his lips. Staring from the
car window, he, in common with the others, at that mo-
ment received a second surprise.

A second passenger had dropped from the car ahead,
and- had started across the station platform in the direc-
tion of the crowded, noisy street. This second man was a
roughly dressed fellow, and familiar to all the Athletes.

“Jingoes!” gulped Keenan. ‘Wouldn't this get you?
There goes Bud Brackett!”

“What in Sam Hill was Brackett doing on this train?”
queried Coddington.

“Probably both he and Brewster were coming up to
Round Top for the celebration,’ Frank answered. “There
must be a good many outsiders in town.”

“But, as i remember,” said Clancy, “Brackett was going

 

NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

aot

eae when he got into that trouble at the H—M, and he
was going horseback.”
“He must have changed his mind suddenly.”
“He and Brewster must hate each other like Kilkenny
cats, and I wonder how they could travel on the same
train without having a scrap?”

“Brackett could not have been released by Mullen,” ob- |

served Horton, “until. Brewster had been taken back to
the ranch, and had turned over the stolen money. We
know, of course, that Brewster was discharged on the spot
and told to clear out; and Brackett wouldn’t have any
reason to linger with the H—M outfit. Both Brackett and
Brewster must have hurried in to Prescott in order to
catch the train. What their reasons were, boys, need not
concern us.
behind.”

Just at this point the conductor came down the plat-
fotm alongside the train. He smiled at the row of eager
faces lining the Cleauspori’s windows.

“What's going on here, conductor?” queried Horton.

“Round Top is trying to show she’s on the map,” was
the grinning: response. “The people are having a “home-
coming week, and a local lodge is putting on a stréet
carnival. Would you fellows like to get out and stretch
your legs and see the sights?”

“Haven’t time, have we?”

“You'll have an hour or two. A mile up the track a gang
of men are repairing a trestle, and the local will be hung
up at Round Top for a while. Passengers in the other
cars are going tp the street, and there’s no reason why you
fellows should stay bottled up in your private car.”
“Bully!”

“Fine business!”

“Ve vill haf some fun, you bed my life!’

“Hoop-a+la !”

“What time must we get back here, conductor ?” went
on Horton. ~

“Tt can’t tell just how long the blockade will last, but
the engineer will blow the whistle several times as a warn-
ing when we're ready to pull out. You'll hear it, all
right.” ae

The delighted Athletes grabbed their hats and made a
rush to get’ off the Cleansport.

99

“Remember; boys,” Horton called warningly, “the en-
gineer will blow the whistle when the blockade is lifted
and the train is ready to start. Keep your ears open, and
don’t fail to hurry back to the car when the whistle
sounds,”

“We'll come when they whistle, Rufus,’ anewered Rodno
laughingly.

“T hope dot ve shday here all der Wtdernaat by

Shiminy!” exclaimed Villum. “I like garnivals und home-
comings more as I can tell. Dere iss plendy oof oxcide-
ment, und you bed you I ged my share! Let us get into
der doings mit a chump! Der longer ve vait der less ve
vill haf to see, ain’d it?”

Mose was allowed to lock up the car and go an the
rest. The Athletes hurried across the platform, around

the station, and were soon swallowed up in the crowd. that.

ebbed and flowed along the main street. Merriwell and
Clancy were a little way behind the rest of their team-
mates, and soon lost sight of them.

The throng was made up of citizens, coe miners,

and visitors. There were many women and children, and

1, for one,.am glad we're leaving them both |

     

 

 

 

  
  

 

   
   
 
 

 

     
 

 

 

  

_ for his pocket.

everybody was laughing and seemed bent on having a

high old time.

“Where'll we go, Chip?” Owen asked.
the squad have got away from us.”

“We'll find the fellows again, Clan,’ Frank answered.
“We'll just drift with the crowds,. listen to the spielers,
and watch the open-air attractions, There’s a slack-wire
performer just getting ready to pull off a few stunts. That
kind of: a show is as old as the hills, but we might as
well take it in.”

As they drifted toward the platform where a young
fellow was just climbing up on the swaying wire, a man

‘stared after them, hesitated for a moment, and then silently

pushed along toward them.

CHAPTER EL.
THE BOXING KANGAROO.

Pennyworth, Rodno, Dill, and Villum Kess became sepa-
rated from the main detachment of Cleansport fellows be-
fore they had gone a block along the crowded street. These
four managed to keep, together, however, by placing their
hands on each other’s shoulders and stemming the tide
in single file.

They came to a small tent where a man with a wonder-
ful gift of gab was sounding the praises of a five-legged
pig, and inviting the bystanders to pay ten cents. for a
persogal inspection of the marvel.

“Dot hits me vere I lif,’ shouted Villum, jamming a hand
into his pocket, “for pigs iss fond oof me, und fife-legged
pigs iss vonderful pitzness. Let us all go by der tent und
see aboudt it, eh?”

“Tt’s a fake,” said Penn, “and we haven’t any time or
money to waste on fakes. Pull him along, fellows!”

Villum, much to his disappointment, was dragged away
from the pig tent. A halt was made at a booth for a
round of red lemonade, and then another: “attraction’’
caught and held Villum’s eye. A woman in a red velvet
dress and red slippers, with a calcimined face, light, rest-
less eyes, and white hair that stood on end all around her
head, posed on a platform in front of a tent.

A “barker” used a megaphone and told the crowd the
lady was Zelinda, the Albino, who charmed the venomous
reptiles of the jungle with a single glance of the eye. The
crowd was urged to pay the small sum of a dime, walk into
the pavilion, and gaze spellbound while Zelinda the beauti-
ful played with pythons and fascinated anacondas.

“Vat a peautiful laty!”’ gushed Villum, again reaching
“T’go me by der tent, I bed you, to kill
der shnake oof it tries to kill der fair ea ee Yah, so
hellup me!”

“Come on, you softy!” said Rod. “There’s something
here better worth seeing than a snake show.”

“T know vat I vant to see!” grumbled Villum, smiling
sweetly at Zelinda, who had given him a roguish glance.
“Ah, dere!” and he waved his hand. “I come by der tent,
leedle vone, und oof you bite der shnake den I kill him.”
He crowded his way to the ticket seller. “Vone dicket,
bledse,” he requested, “for a seat by der front row
vere——”

Rodno, Pennyworth, and Dill grabbed Villum just then,
and pulled him away by main force, much to the annoyance
of Zelinda and to the wrath of the ticket seller.

protested Villum, “ven I get me

 

“Vat a vay iss dot,”

“The rest of

   
 
 
 
 
 

NEW TIP TOP-WEEKLY. ee

a shance to safe a peautiful laty from a shnake-pite, eh
Take me your hants avay, so I go pack!”

Villum was inclined to get mad, and for some time he
struggled wildly.

“You are certainly an easy mark, Villum,” said Penny-
worth, “but right ahead of us is a show that’s worth
seeing. Eh, fellows?”

“Surest thing you know, Penn,” answered Rod.

“Here’s a winner and something new—a boxing Aus-
tralian kangaroo!” rhymed Dill delightedly. “I’m for that,
bigger than a wolf.”

Villum’s good humor at once returned.

“Dose kangarooers makes a pig hit by me!” he exclaimed

¢

enthusiastically. “You bed my life I can pox dot Aus-
dralian feller his feet off.”

“This ‘isn’t a feller, “Villum, \ laughed “Rods “its (ams
animal. Look at the picture.”

“Sure, I know! You tink I vas a geese?’ Aber I bed
you I can lick any kangarooer dot efer vas! Let us go

in kevick, so 1 can gif dot kangarooer a pain und let
him préak me in doo! Hurry a-leedle, pecause meppy der
drain vistles mit itselluf und ve haf to leaf pefore der fun
iss orer.”. uy

Penn bought the tickets and the four Athletes trooped
into the tent. There were fifteen or twenty people stand-
ing around between the canvas walls, and upon a plat-
form stood a man in trunks with one arm around the
neck of the kangaroo.

The animal sat up on its thick tail and strong hind
legs—the lower half of its body almost gigantic while the
upper half was ludicrously small and undeveloped. On its
short forelegs the kangaroo wore boxing gloves.

“Oh, vat a choke I don’d know!” sputtered Villum. “I
bed you someding for nodding I could knock dot kanga-
rooer by der mittle oof last veek !”

The crowd began to look at the Dutch boy and laugh.
The man on the platform also had his attentiom attracted
by Villum’s remark.

_“This here is Boliver,”

said the man on the platform,
“and he’s the lightweight champion of Australia. He hates
the Dutch, and goes for ’°em hammer and tongs. I'll give
five dollars, friends, to any. Dutchman who'll stay in the
ring five minutes with Boliver.”

“You vas my huckleperry!” boomed Villum, pushing
toward the platform. “It has peen too tays alretty since I
knocked a kangarooer der ring oudt. By Shiminy grickeds,
I vill make some monkeys oof dot kangarooer, und vin me
fife tollars oof easy money.” He pulled off his coat.
“Penn, holt der goat, blease,’ he added, tossing the garment
to Pennyworth.

“I'll bet nobody kin hold-his goat,” chuckled a cowboy

spectator. “The kang’s as good as got it, right now and
‘fer money.”

Delightful anticipations ran through the ranks of the on-
lookers. All crowded close to the platform, so that they
might see clearly and not let a single humorous detail of
the performance escape them.

“Come right up on the platform,” said the gentleman in
trunks, smiling broadly and stretching out a hand from
the top of a short flight of steps.

“You bed you I come,” clamored Villum, beginning to
climb toward the platform. “I come so kevick as nefer
vas, for fife tollar don’d grow by efery push! Misder,

you pedder gif me dot money now for dis iss a skinch.”

 

saa a me mar ar rea aera ah mage eae i ote er

   

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
     
   
    
    
    
       
     
   
        
     
  
y
Ai

hs,

4 NEW TE TOP WEEKLY.

“You got to win the money, friend, before I give it
to you. What is your name?”

*Kess.”

SEs ib eritz e
“Kess, Kess.”
“Give it up.” The man turned to the crowd. “Can

any of the audience guess the name of Boliver’s next vic-

tim?” he inquired.

“Dennis!” haw-hawed one spectator. “That’s his name,
sure as shootin’, even if it does look like a misfit.”

A roar of laughter shook the tent. Villum flushed in-
dignantly.

“Shtop der monkey-doodle pitzness!” he cried. “Dot iss
der name vat I got—Villum Kess.”

“You're as comical as a box of monkeys, Villum Kess,”
said Boliver’s trainer. “And you’re going to look like
a comic supplement in abottt a minute.” His manner grew

‘very solemn and serious as he went on. “Villum, who is
your next of kin?”

Villum stared blankly.

“T don’d know dot feller,” he answered..

“No, no, my boy! What I mean is, who is your nearest
telative, the one what we got to notify to come and take
away your remains?”

“I don’d vas going to remain afder I vin der fife tol-
dar,” said Villum:

The crowd was choking with mirth. The situation was
all the more ludicrous because of the solemn manner in
which the kangaroo sat up on its thick tail and surveyed
Villum.

“You don’t get me, friend,” explained the man patiently.
“Tell me the name of a close. relative——”

“All der relatifs vat I got iss glose,” broke in Villum.
“You could nod pry dem away from doo bits mit a crow-
par, no.”

“Har, har, har!” roared the cowboy, convulsed. “This is
more fun than I’ve had in a year!”

“Listen, Villum Kess,” proceeded the man on the plat-
forn® “You are going to be cut off in your youth and
bloom——”

“Dot iss a plooming shame, ain’d it?” cut in Villum inno-
cently. “Chust vatch me der kangarooer. He vill be
cut off mit a leedle oof der same.”

The trainer gave up that line of talk and tried some-
thing else.

“You do not seem to realize the seriousness of the occa-
sion, young man. When Boliver hits you once it will be
like the kick of a mule.”

“I haf kicked a moole more as a tousant times, und it
don’d hurt me.”

“I beg you to leave this platform and refrain from fac-
ing that there dangerous man killer.”

No? Then Hans? How about Yawcobe”

“Vat a talk you put ofer! You been afraidt you lose
dot fife tollar, eh? Vell, you can beg till you vas plue
der face in, und I von’t refrain. Let der fighdt go on.”

There were many in the crowd who thought Villum was
made up. for the occasion, and that his appearance was
only a part of the show. But the idea that they were
being fooled did not lessen their enjoyment.

The men in trunks picked up a boxing glove and began
fastening it on one of Villum’s hands.

“This Dutchman,” said he, talking as he worked, “is
bound to face Boliver, in spite of fate. You all bear wit-
ness that I can’t keep him out of it. He is rushin’ head-

long upon dee-struction. And I’m powerless to hold him
back.” ae

“T don’d see dot ve are hafing mooch oof a rush,” said
Villum. “You vas a vin chammer, und you talk a lot und
vaste time. Put me on der odder glof, blease.. Alretty
dose fife tollars iss raddling in my bocket.’

“What!” exclaimed the man, working with the second
glove, “you’re not rattled already?”

“Yah, so. hellup me! [ alvays raddle pefore a pite.
Pympy dere vill be eruelty to animals, und you pedder
shook handts mit Poliver for der lasdt time. Shed some
dears, oof he iss your friendt. Pooty soon he iss a gone
Poliver, und you pelieve me!”

The gloves were finally in place and the man in trunks
stepped gravely to the front of the platform.

“Gents and feller sports,’ he announced, “this here is
a one-round go to a finish between Villum Kess, the reck-
less Dutchman, and Boliver, the champion kangaroo bruiser
of Australia. Nothin’ is barred. The rules is Marquis of
Dusenberry, and there can be strangle holds, fightin’ in
the clinches, and any other old thing that happens to hap-
pen. If Boliver is put down for the count, or if Villum
Kess stays five minutes in the ring, then five dollars and
the picture money goes to the prize Wienerwurst.”

He turned away and pulled the handle of a gong at one
side of the platform.

“Time! he called. “Shake hands!”

About as funny a sight as Penn, Rod, and Dill ever saw
was staged at that moment. Villum stepped warily toward
the kangaroo, and the kangaroo lifted himself on his tail
and hopped toward Villum.

“Efery leedle meaning has a moofment oof its own,”
hummed Villum. “Vat a funny kangarooer! Vatch him
baste me!”

Then the bout was on.

CHAPTER: I
THE BOUT.

Probably there was not a crowd in all Round Top as
merry and jovial as the twenty or more spectators who
surged around the platform where Villum was boxing with
the kangaroo. The sight was mirth-provoking to the last
degree, and’ the fun began right from the start off.

Boliver forgot to shake hands. As Villum reached out
to greet his adversary, the kangaroo landed a swipe with
one glove, then reared up on its tail, and kicked forward
with both hind feet.

It was not possible for either the kangaroo or the Dutch
youth to get hurt in the set-to. The trainer was on the
alert, ready to interfere if the scrap assumed dangerous
proportions.

Villum’s head wobbled under the blow, and when those
strong hind paws struck him he sat down with a force that.
shook the platform. The kangaroo was anxious to jump
on Villum, but the man in trunks interfered.

“Fust fall fer the kang!” whooped a cowboy.

“Ketch him by the tail, Dutch, and stand him on his
head !”

“Never mind that, Villum!” called Penn encouragingly.
“You're better than half a dozen kangaroos.”

“Keep your eye on his feet!” cried Rod.

“Tl bet my hat you put him on the mat!’ shouted
Dill.

Villum got to his feet, flushed and indignant.

 

 

 

 
NEW VIP FOR:

“He vouldn’t shook hants,” he complained. “Und vat
kind oof a vay iss dot to pox? He goes for me mit his
hind feets.”

“You can do the same, friend,” said the trainer.
I said, nothin’ is barred.”

“Den maype I go for him mit a glub!” growled Villum.
“Ged avay so I can gif him some ubbercuts!’’

The kangaroo was as watchful as a cat and about as

quick. When it moved forward, it hopped by means of its
tail, and its two hind legs clattered down on the boards.
Its upper paws thrashed the air, not with much science,
but with a strength that was quite remarkable.

Furthermore, Boliver seemed to enjoy the clash, and
showed a disposition to rush Villum off his feet. No
sooner had the trainer stepped to one side than the agile
animal and the Dutch youth came together again.

Biff, biff, biff!

The kangaroo played a tattoo on Villum’s head and
shoulders, but Villum got in a cuff that made the kanga-
roo draw back and look dazed: It fanned the air in front
of its face with one glove, as though shooing away the
» flies.

“Now vat you tink?” gloated Villum. “I been afraidt
oof him alretty! He looks aroundt mit himselluf for
some way to eggsgape.” All at once he seemed afflicted
with regrets. “Vat a shame dot I dreat him so!” he mur-
mured. “Nice leedle kangarooer,” he wheedled; “come
again, blease, und I von’t be so rough mit you. Schust
keep it oop for fife minids, und den I take my fife tollars
und say goot-py.”

“This is a regular circus!” murmured Penn, in a smoth-
ered voice.

“More fun than I’ve had*in a month of Sundays!’
chuckled Dill.

“Keep your eye on the door for Rufus or Chip,” warned
Rod. “If they were to drop in I don’t believe they’d stand
for this.”

“Why not?’ demanded Penn. “The kangaroo likes it,
and so does Villum. Neither is getting hurt.”

“Look, look!” gasped Dill, so’ full of laughter he could
hardly speak; “‘oh, look at that!”

Villum had approached the seemingly dazed kangaroo,
holding out his hand and coaxing and wheedling. For a
moment it looked as though Boliver had had enough; and
then, for another moment it looked as though he was
hungry for more.

Villum’s broad face wore an ingratiating smile. He was
opening and closing his outstretched glove as he begged
Boliver to “come pack a leedle.”

Then, with a lightninglike move, the kangaroo did come
back. Here and there flashed the gloves on the absurdly
short front legs, and Villum toppled over against the
knees of the trainer. The trainer himself lost his foot-
ing, and while he and Villum rolled and squirmed on the
platform, trying to untangle themselves and get to their
feet, the kangaroo hopped on both of them.

The crowd clamored joyously.

“The kang’s good fer the two of you!” shouted one.

“Leave the animile alone and he'll clean out the tent,”
cried another.

,“Why don’t ye git up, you fellers?” asked a third.

Getting up was a difficult matter for the trainer and
Villum. One would start to rise, and the vigilant Boliver
would plunge for him and push him over.

 

SAS

WEEKLY. ia

“Boliver!” roared the trainer, in a tone of authority.
“Cut that out!”

The man in trunks failed to appreciate the humor of
the situation, for this part of the set-to was not down on
the bills. But the kangaroo did not care. Its fighting
blood was aroused, and it showed no disposition to dis-
criminate regarding antagonists.

A bucket of water stood at one corner.of the platform.
The trainer at last succeeded in getting to his knees, but
the kangaroo kicked him from behind—and the trainer
doubled over with his head in the bucket. For a second,
water flew all around the tent. The trainer was soaked.
He was saying unpleasant things about Boliver and Dutch-_
men in general, and gurgling and splashing and trying to
free himself of the bucket.

The kangaroo helped him. With a jump and a wide
swing, the animal knocked the bucket clear off the trainer’: S
head and into the crowd.

Thete was almost a riot among the epee But it
was a good-natured riot, and everybody was laughing.
Boliver seemed to have the best of the argument all around,
and the fact that the trainer had become involved merely
made the affair the more humorous.

And the trainer was helpless to stop Boliver, now that
the animal was thoroughly aroused. He began running
around the platform, wiping the water out of his eyes and
yelling for “Eph! Eph!”

Villum, while the kangaroo was occupied with the trainer,
had succeeded in getting to his feet. Watching his chance,
he rushed in and clinched with the aggressive brute.

“Vat for you call for help, huh?” he bellowed.
him, by shinks! I got him!”

Villum did have the kangaroo—but only for a second.
The agile brute twisted clear of the youth’s gripping arms,
then arose.on that thick, muscular tail and let drive again
with his hind legs. At that instant, Boliver, with all four
legs thrashing in the air, looked to Villum like a centi-
pede.

As the hind feet struck him in the stomach, the fore-
paws cuffed him angrily, right and left. The Dutch youth
was hurled backward as though shot from a catapult.
Soaring clear of the platform, he landed in the thick of
the crowd.

Several spectators, at some inconvenience to themselves,
broke the force of Villum’s fall. The youth sat up on
the ground, peering dazedly around him.

Penn, Rod, and Dill rushed to him and bent down. They
feared that he might be hurt.

“Are you all right, pard?” queried Penn solicitously.

“Somepody hit me mit an eardquake,” mumbled Villum.
“Oder maype it vas a cyglone. Eferyding virls und virls
aroundt. I see more as a tozen kangarooers, und efery
vone iss taking some gracks at me. Take ’em avay, take
*em avay!’’

Eph, the spieler from outside, had rushed into the tent
and was helping the trainer calm Boliver. They were hav-
ing their hands full. The kangaroo hit Eph with his feet
and the trainer with the gloves, all at the same time.

And then, during the commotion, loud blasts of a whistle
could be heard coming from the direction of the railroad
station.

“There’s the whistle, fellows!” exclaimed Rod.

“Get up, Villum!” urged Penn, “Don’t you hear the
whistle?”

“T hear more vistles as efer vas plowed,” mumbled Vil- ~

“T got

 

 

 
3 ao
aa aaa pare ceed SUNN iach a NaN OTEL A panic ancl aa

ta

lum. “My ears been full oof vistles, und ringing pells,
und odder t’ings! Und pefore my eyes iss shdars, und
comics, und sooch pright lighdts. Und dere iss a kanga-
rooer, so pig a a mountain und mit < a tousant legs! Ach,
let us go ’vay.”

Villum scrambled dazedly to his feet and made a rush
for the door of the tent. The whistle was still blowing
its loud summons, and the boys pushed their way through
the hilarious crowds.

“No bones broken, Villum?” queried Dill.

“T haf nod hat time to findt oudt,” replied Villum.

“I reckon, from the way you’re running,’ said Penn,
with a laugh, “your bones are all right.”

“I shtaid fife minids in der ring mit dot safage prute,”
remarked Villum, “aber I don’d care aboudt der fife tol-
lar. I haf hat enough midoudt gedding pay for it, py
chincher.”

“Five minutes!” exclaimed Rod.
bout didn’t last three!”

_ *T don’d tell you! Vy, I vould haf bet someding it
lasted fife hours! Sooch a lot can habben in sooch a
leedle vile, ain’d it? Say, vonce!”

“Well?”

“Vill dot kangarooer kill off all der people, I vonder?
Hé iss loadet at bot’ ends, und vile he massacrees some
mit his front paws, he makes more ruin mit der paws
pehindt. Ach, vat a destroyer it iss! I don’d——”

Villum came suddenly to a halt and clapped his hands,
which were still incased in boxing gloves, to his head.

“Mein hat has lost me!” he exclaimed.

“Here’s your hat,” said Rod. “I picked it up.

Villum took the hat and pulled it down on his shock
of tow-colored hair. He started on, only to halt again.

Ae goat—vere iss dot?” he asked. “Penn, I gif him
to you.”

“Great jumping sand hills!” muttered Penn. “I dropped
it during the row. It’s back there in the tent, Villum.”

“Vat a drouple! I vill go und ged him. Haf der drain
vait for me, blease!”

With that, Villum turned and rushed back along the
thronged street. Before any of his friends could inter-
fere with him, even had they been so disposed, he had
vanished.

“Shall we go after him?” asked Rod.
more trouble with that kangaroo.”

“I reckon not, Rod,” returned Penn, grinning. “Villum
has had enough of Boliver. We'd better hustle on and hold
the train until Villum comes.”

Without debating the question further, the three athletes
fan on toward the railroad station.

‘Why, Villum;that

“Tle may get into

CHAPTER IV.
BRACKETT’S RAY OF HOPE.

Young Merriwell, making his\way toward the slack-wire
performer with Clancy, suddenly felt a hand drop on his
shoulder. He turned his head and found himself looking
into the face of Bud Brackett.

“Son,” said Brackett, “I want a few words with you and
your pard.”

The fellow was a self-confessed rustler, or cattle thief,
and the reputation he bore in the vicinity of Prescott
was unenviable. But, somehow, from the very first time ~-
Frank saw him he was conscious of a feeling of sympathy
for the fellow.

NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

 

Frank learned later. that, although Brackett wronged
others, he had been cruelly wronged himself. It was the
sympathy of the young captain of the. Athletes which
spurred him on to prove Brackett’s innocence in the mat-
ter of the Mullen robbery, although Brackett, in surly mood,
had ordered him not to interfere.

Frank was surprised at being accosted by Brackett, and
in tones that were more than civil—almost friendly.

“Why, sure, Brackett,’ Frank answered, “you can have
as many words with Clancy and me as you want.”

“This way, then.” i

The rustler led the two chums out of the noise-and com-

motion of the ‘main street and into a thoroughfare that
was almost deserted. There they halted and leaned against
a fence while the music and revelry came to their ears in
diminished volume.

“I rode up on the train that had. hitched on to your
private car,” observed Brackett. “Ye see, a telephone
message come to the H—M for me, after ever’body had
started for the Star A for the mornin’ ball game. That
message was from the telegraph operator in Prescott, and
it repeated a telegram. The telegram was from Doctor
Baxter, here in Round Top, askin’ me to come at oncet.

But I couldn’t come, for two punchers was holdin’ me

at the H—M Ranch for the robbery of that five arp
from Hank Mullen. Hank, as you remember, would ’
sent me to the sher’ff, at Prescott, right airly in the morn-
in’ if you hadn’t asked him, as a pussonal favor, to wait
until after the game.

“Well, when Hank and Capps got back from the Star A
in the buckboard, they fetched Bullhead Brewster, and I
arned that Bullhead had been. made out the thief by your
clever work, Merriwell. Bullhead dug up the stolen money
from the place where he had cached it, and the boss told
him to take his cayuse and dig out. He dug, you bet! I
hit the breeze for Prescott to ketch the fust train for
Round Top, and I was mightily surprised to find Bullhead
on that same train, and your private car at the end of it.
Will you take a tip from me, Merriwell 2”

“I don’t know why I shouldn’t.”

“Bullhead is plumb pizen. Look out for him. In helpin’

me ye made Bullhead out a thief, and he’s killin’ mad at .

you. That's right. Heé’d do anythin’ to git even. From
things I heerd him say on the train, he was goin’ to Ash
Fork jest to play some dirty trick and get squar’ with ye.
He got off hyer, but I don’t b’leeve he fixes to stay hyer.
You keep a sharp eye on Bullhead Brewster, that’s all?

“I’m not afraid of Bullhead Brewster, Brackett.”

“That’s you! I don’t reckon, Merriwell, that there’s
much ye are afeared of, but I give ye credit for havin’
hoss sense. Bullhead’s sly and cunnin’; he won't lay for
ye in the open, but he’ll sneak youn and hand ye one
from behind. Now, there’s a favor I want to ask of you
and your pard.”

“We'll be glad to do anything we can for you, Brack-
ett.”

“It ain’t much, but it means a good deal to me. This
Doctor Baxter don’t know me from Adam, and I want
you two boys to identify me to him. Will ye come along
and do that?”

“Why, this Doctor Baxter doesn’t know us, either !”

“I opine not, but he won’t have to look at ye and yer
pard more’n oncet to see that ye’re straight. That’s all.
that’s necessary. I know two or three people in this man’s
town, but there’s sich a mix-up hyer to- -day I can’t find

   
   
     

 
   
 

    
   
   
   
   
  
  
  
  
    
 
    
  
 
   

 

  
  
 

 

him so.

nobody. It won’t take ye many minutes to help me out with
Baxter. My looks is all agin’ me, ye know, and I don’t
blame him a heap for not takin’ my word. Life has been
purty black for Brackett, up to now, but right hyer is
where a ray ©’ hope is beginnin’ to come through the
clouds.”

“All right, Brackett,” said Frank heartily, “take us to
Doctor Baxter and we'll do what we can for you. I’m
mighty glad to 4 that you've got something good in
prospect.”

“Same here,’
Brackett.”

“Ye're white, you fellers,’ murmured Brackett. ‘“That
hull outfit of Athletes, every blame’ one of ’em, is all to the
good. But come on, compadres, and we'll make tracks
for Baxter’s office. Train’ll be gittin’ away before long,
and I don’t want to make ye late for it.”

The rustler led the way back into the noisy street, el-
bowed a path through the heaving crowd, and came pres-
ently to a doorway and a flight of stairs. Up the stairs he
led his two companions and into a room where a stout
man, in his shirt sleeves, sat by a window, reading.

“Tm back ag’in, doc,” said Brackett, ond Tve tect
a couple of boys that knows who I am.’

Doctor Baxter put aside his paper and peered at Frank
and Owen. The bright young faces, the erect, athletic
figures, and the khaki fatigue uniforms of the Athletes with
the letters, “M. A.” on the coats, impressed the doctor
in favor of the witnesses.

“Naturally,” said Baxter, with a smile, “I don’t know
you young men any more than I know Brackett, but I’ve
got a feeling that your word is as good as your bond.
This is an important matter,” he went on, his face sober-
ing. “A miner I know was injured by a dynamite explo-
sion in the hills, and was brought into Round Top and
placed under’ my care. I saw he couldn’t live, and told
He asked me to send a telegram to Prescott, to
Bud Brackett, asking Brackett to come on at once.

“The miner’s name was Joe Sanderson, and he and
Brackett used to be prospectors together. Sanderson
hadn’t a relative in the world, and he wanted to leave
something to Brackett, as his next friend. The fellow
hadn’t much property—a burro and a prospecting outfit and
‘ten or fifteen dollars in money—but he had discovered a
mine that promises to be a bonanza. The claim isn’t lo-
cated yet—that dynamite went off before Sanderson had a
chance to pile-his monuments—but the location is down on
a paper, and that paper is now in my safe, and I am bound
by a solemn promise to give it into the hands of Bud Brack-
ett and no one else.”

“Then Sanderson is dead?” queried Frank.

/“He died early this morning—an hour after I sent the
telegram to Brackett. His last act was to place that paper
in my hands and make me promise to give it to~his old
friend. From this,” added the doctor, “you will see how
‘important a matter the identification of Brackett has be-
come. What is your name?” he finished, looking at
Frank, es

Doctor Baxter seemed pleasantly surprised when Frank
told his name.

“Not the Frank Merriwell who helped the army. aviator
rescue Henry Mullen’s little girl from the top of the
mesa?” he queried.

“The same, doc,” struck in Brackett, his eyes gleaming
‘strangely. “This Merriwell throwed a crimp into my game

, ie up Clancy. “lm wishing you luck,

NEW TIP -TOP WEEKLY,

‘hand was young Merriwell.

 

at the mesa, and kept me from gittin’ even with Skinflint
Hank.” | :

“T read about that in our local paper,” ‘said the doctor,
surveying Merry with fresh interest. “You seem to be on

pretty good terms with him, Brackett,” he continued, look-

ing at the rustler.
“Te’s proved to be one o’ my best ede: that’s why.”
“Who's the other young man?” proceeded the doctor.
“My chum, Owen Clancy, doctor,” Frank answered. _
“I’m taking your word, Merriwell, but just ds a formality

I'd like to know if you have any papers about you that

will prove you are the person you say?”

Frank had a letter from his father in the pocket of his
coat. He quietly passed it over to Baxter. The latter
looked at the address on the envelope. a

He reached out his hand.

“Glad to know you, Merriwell,” said he, “and you, too,
Owen Clancy. I’m pretty fond of athletics myself, and
your team is doing a lot for clean sport. I happened to
be in Phoenix when the Athletes played the Hassayampers,
and I recognize you. now, Merriwell, as the young whitl-
wind who pitched that ten-inning game. You played first,
didn’t you, Clancy?” a

“T played at it,” said the red-headed chap, with a laugh.

“If my memory serves, you covered that position re-
markably well. Brackett could have no better vouchers
for his identity.” He faced the rustler again. “I am
about to place in your hands, my friend, a document which
may make you a very rich man. From all Sanderson told
me of his ‘strike’? I believe a most excellent mine has
dropped into your possession. Guard the paper well, for
the claim has not been located, and it is attybody’s claim
until a notice is filed with the recorder.”

Baxter got up from his chair and went over to a small
safe in one corner of the room. Kneeling before the
strong box he twirled the combination for a few moments
and then opened the safe door and removed 2 sealed en-
velope.

“I shall have to take a receipt for this,” he observed,
uncapping a fountain pen and taking a tab of writing paper

from a table.

He wrote out the receipt and handed it to Brackett to
be signed. This formality over, he placed the sealed en-

velope in the rustler’s hand. Brackett’s eyes were glowing.

“T’ve been up ag’inst the toughest kind o’ luck for years,”
said he, “but right fact I reckon, is where luck takes a
change.”

“I hope so, Brackett,” returned the doctor, “I “do, in-—

‘deed. If fortune favors you, try and remember the ee:
you owe society.”
Brackett’s face darkened.

“Society hasn’t been so blamed quick to remember what —

it owed me,” he growled. “I’ve been bullyragged and
browbeaten for years, and ever’body that had a chance
took a kick at me while I was down. The very fust per-
son that ever went out 0’ his way to give mea helpin’
I reckon I can be decent and
law-abidin’, and I reckon I will, but Merriwell, more’n
anybody else, is responsible for makin” the change in me.”

Just here the engine at the railroad station set up its
clamoring warning. . It sounded faint above all the- noise
and revelry of the street, but it was distinct. -

“There's our tip to get back to the Cleansport, Cha
said Clancy.

“That’s right,” answered Frank. “We'll have to go.”

    
  

         
      
 
        
         
       
       
     
     
      
      
   
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
   
   
  
   
    
  
  
   
   
   
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
    
  
   
   
   
  
    
  
    
  
  
    

Ss

  
  

  

 

i Naa ceca el i te Geo DRS oi si he Re

 

~ asserted: Brackett,

_ We're:all ready to pull out.

_ straining hand.

NEW “Tie
The doctor shook hands with them. So did Brackett.
“I won’t never forgit what ye done for me, Merriwell,’’
“and you want to remember what I
told ye about Bullhead Brewster.”

Frank nodded.. “I don’t think Bullhead will have a
chance to do much,” said he, “but if he comes around where
I happen to be Vl watch him. . Adios!”

The two chums hurried out of the office, down the stairs,
and then made their way as rapidly as possible through the
crowds in the direction of the railroad station.

CHAPTER V:

WHERE IS. VILLUM?

Rufus Horton was standing on the station platform as

Merriwell and Clancy came around the end of station
building. The manager had just hurried a number of the
Athletes aboard, and was anxiously awaiting the ee
glers.

“Hello, there, Chip!’ called the Yale man. “I was just
wondering what the deuce could be keeping you and: Clancy.

“Villum? No. Isn’t he here?”

“He's. the only one that’s missing, now. Penn, Dill, and
Rodno were with him. As near as I can find out, Villom
was boxing with a trained kangaroo, and——”

“What?” cried lane. ‘Boxing with a kangaroo?” ~~

“Yes,” said Horton, but with no~humor showing in his -
worried. face. “The boys were in a tent not a great way

from the depot, and they started for -the car when the -

engine began to whistle. On the way, Villum suddenly re-
membered that he had left his coat in the tent, and went
back after it. I should think he ought to be here, by this
time. The conductor can’t wait much longer.”

Pennyworth thrust his head through an open window,
nearly over the place where Horton, Merriwell, and ey
were standing.

“I could run back to that ieeires es Rufus,” said
he, “and hurry Villum along.”

“I .can: go,” volunteered Frank.
Beans). ania

“On a vacant lot, second corner on the left. You can’t
miss it. It’s just beyond the place where there’s an albino
snake charmer.”

“Don't go, Chip,”

“Just where is it,

interposed Horton, putting out a re-
“The conductor couldn’t wait for you to
make the round trip. All the other passengers are ee
now, and he’s just waiting for Kess.”

“Is Bullhead Brewster aboard?” asked Merriwell Fae.
a sudden, vague suspicion flashing through his mind. |

“I don’t know—I’ve just got the conductor’s word for
it that every passenger is in the cars with the exception of
Villum. Maybe Brewster intended to stay in Round Top?”

“T think not. If information I have picked up is cor-
rect, he boarded the train at Prescott with the intention
of going on to Ash Fork.’

“Tll see if Brewster is on the train, Chip,” said Clancy,
and he climbed the steps to the day coach and cine
inside.

“Maybe Villum went back to have another round with
the kangaroo,” hazarded Frank, with a chuckle.

“Not on your life!” came from Penn. “He got enough
of that kangaroo in three minutes to last him for a lifetime.
You fellows ought to have seen that set-to—you’d have

laughed till you threw a fit.”

TOP WEEKLY.

Seen anything of Villum?” -

/

      
     

“I don’t suppose the kangaroo got much fun out of it,”

-commented Horton, a slight undertone of reproof in his

voice.

“That’s where you're wrong, Rufus.
joyed every minute of it. The way he lit into everybody
on the platform with him was a caution. He soaked the
trainer’s head in a bucket of water, kicked Villum off the
stage, and the last we saw the brute was doing up the man
on the door. He was certainly the busiest and the. happi-
est little kangaroo I ever paid ten cents to look at.”

Just here, Clancy dropped off the combination baggage
and smoking car and came back along the train to Rufus
and Frank.

“Bullhead isn’t aboard,” he reported.

“Then,” said Frank, with a worried look, “something is
keeping the fellow in Round Top.”

Clancy’s eyes widened as he caught Merriwell’s drift.
_ “You don’t think he has anything to do with keeping
Villum in the town, do-you?”-Clancy queried.

“T hope not, but—— Well, ae you remember what
Brackett told us.”

“Is Brackett on the train?” put 7 Horton.

“No, Rufus, he got off at Round Top to call on a doctor
who had telegraphed him to come. Clancy and I have
put-in nearly all our time in the town with Brackett.”

At this point the conductor approached the little group of ©
~ Athletes.

“That missing member of your squad hasn’t got back
yet?” he asked.

“No,” ‘answered Horton.

“We can’t wait for him any longer: well have to be
pulling out. The-trestle has been fixed.for us to cross, and
the construction gang is waiting.”

“T don’t see ee we can leave foi without taking
Villum with us,” remarked the Yale ‘man. “It won’t do
for us to go on, not knowing what’s happened to the boy.
Maybe you'd better drop off our car, and let a night train
Pick it up and haul it to Ash Fork. That. would give us
a chance to find Villum. 7"

“If you have got to be at the Fork to- -morrow,” said
the conductor, “you’d better go on with us. The mixed
local is the only train that will haul your car, and if you
don’t go with us to-day, you'll have to wait over for the

local to-morrow.”

This statement put Horton in a quandary. He did not
feel as though he should abandon Villum, and yet it was
quite necessary for the Cleansport to be in Ash Fork as
soon as possible.

“Tell you what we'll do, Rufus,” spoke up Frank, an
idea taking shape in his mind. “Clancy and I will stay
here in Round Top and get hold of Villum; then the three
of us will’come up to Ash Fork on the night train to-night.
How’s that?”

“Just the ticket!” exclaimed Clancy.

Horton gave Merirwell an uneasy look.

“T hate to have the team split up like that,” he replied.

“With our Dutch teammate lost, strayed, or stolen,” said
Clancy, “it’s split up, anyway. Chip and I can straighten
things out here and be with you in Ash Fork to-morrow,
Rufus.”

“We'll be leaving three of you behind, but I can’t think
of anything better to do, in the circumstances.” Horton
turned to the conductor. “You couldn’t wait five min-
utes longer, could you?” he inquired.

“Sorry,” was the reply, “but I can’t wait ‘hae seconds

The kangaroo en-

    

 

         
           
        
      
      
         
 
  
      
    
    
     
     
    
      
 
   
   
  
  
  
  
  
   
   
  
 
    
 
  
  
  
   
   
   
    
    
   
   
  
  
   
   
  
  
   
   
 
    
  
  
 
  
  
    
  

 

 

     
eg |

 

 

 

ee

      

 

pai AER HEL ig Ea

longer. Merriwell’s suggestion is a good one, and I’d let
him carry it out.”
The conductor turned, as he spoke, and gave the “high
ball” to the engineer. Slowly the train began to move.
“IT can trust you, Chip, I know,” called Horton, jumping

to the steps of the Cleansport, “but be careful, that’s all. .

If anything happens to make you miss the night train, wire
me at the Fork.”

“We won’t miss that train, Rufus,’ Frank answered
confidently, “and when we come we'll bring Villum.”

The Athletes in the car became suddenly aware that they
were leaving without their captain and first baseman. Penn,
listening at the open window, knew why Frank.and Owen
were staying, but had not had time to inform the rest. A
row of excited heads extended all along the side of the
ear! '

“What’s the row?” cried Dart Keenan;
fellows staying in Round Top for?”

“Daont’ mean tew say yeou haven’t had enough of the
show, do yeou?” shouted Reuben J.

“Don’t fall for any shell game, fellers AM laughingly ad-
monished Baltimore Joe.

And then, from the observation. platform at the rear,
Mose tuned up:

“Ah done got er feelin’ dat you-all is gwineter hab trou-
ble! By golly, Marse Merry, don’t you take any chances
wif nuffin’! Look out fo’ yo’self, dat’s all Ah got to say!
Ah’s mascottin’ fo’ you, and

But Mose’s voice was drowned out in the distance, and
Frank and Owen- could not hear the finish of his re-
marks. Mose was a calamity howler on principle; for, if
he prophesied disaster and “mascotted” against it, if no
disaster happened he claimed all the credit for averting it.

The two Athletes watched the train vanish around a

“what’re you

 

curve, and then Merriwell turned to Clancy with a startled

look.

By thunder!” he exclaimed. /

“What’s biting you, Chip?” demanded lice

“Tust happened to think that my money is on the Clean-
sport, and I haven’t a cent in my clothes. If I’d wanted
to see a show, or had had a chance, I’d haye had to bor-

‘row the price of admission from some of our fellows.”

“Never mind, never mind! What’s mine is yours, chum.”
“How much coin of the tealm have you about your Pel:
son, Red?”

“Let us examine the exchequer and decide that mo- |

mentous question.”

Clancy pulled two dimes and a nickel from one pocket,
and a quarter from another.

“That’s all,” he announced.

“Blazes!” exclaimed the dismayed Merriwell.

“Tsn’t that enough ”

“Enough? For the love of Pete, can’t you understand
that it’s not a drop in the bucket? We've got to have
supper, no telling what expense we'll be to in hunting our
lost teammate, and then we’ve got to pay our fare on the
night train to the Fork! Oh, we're a couple ‘of prize
lobsters, all right! How are we going to do all that, Red,
on two bits?”

“Wow!” murmured Glance: as the ee breadth, and
depth of the difficulty dawned on him. Suddenly he bright-
ened. “We've got to make a touch, Chip,” he remarked
airily.

“Who'll we touch?”

“Brackett.”

NEW: TIP TOP WEEKLY.

bathing a bruised eye in a basin of warm water.
-man, sitting in an old chair, had one shoe off, the leg of

\ 4

“Oh, Brackett !
his next meal is coming from.”

“Well, have a heart. We'll look up ‘Doc Baxter and
strike him for a loan.”

“I'd feel: pretty cheap,’doing that?’ murmured Merriwell

regretfully.

“Put your pride in your pocket, old man. It’s only a

- loan, and we can send the money back from Ash Fork: If

Baxter would take our word about Brackett, :he’d sure
trust us with a few dollars. Til ask him myself, if it
hurts you any.”

“No, you don’t,” said Frank grimly. “If we have to
make a raise, l’ll do my part. First thing, though, is to
begin the search for Villum.”

“Correct. .Where’ll we begin?”

“Second corner on the left, first tent beyond the- anne :

snake charmer. We'll look in on the boxing Rare aa and
see what we can discover, if anything.”
“Come on, then.”

They started forthwith, As they passed around the end
of the railroad station, a head arose from behind a pile .

of ties, revealing a hace that wore an ugly, forbidding
smile.
“I reckon the scheme is workin’—workin’ a whole lot

better than I thought,’ muttered the owner of the face. -

“Now, Mr. Frank Merriwell, junior, you and me have got
a bone to Pick, and before ar many hours older we'll
be pickin’ it.”

With that, Bullhead Bias left the pile of ties and —
stole ceuliously along in the wake of Merriwell and Clancy.

CHAPTER V1,
THE SEARCHERS BAFFLED.

It was not difficult for Merriwell and Clancy to find
the tent where the boxing kangaroo had been exhibited.
But the place was not doing business. The stand which
was Usually occupied by the spieler and ticket seller was
-drawn back against a painted canyas banner representing
Boliver knocking half a dozen brawny men in as many dif-
ferent directions. A large white paper was pinned across
the entrance, and on the paper were the ronan aCan
words: “Cloased temparooraly.”

Frank: and Owen drew close and bead the sign:
Owen laughed.

“What kind of a closing dol: you. think that is, “Chip: fe
. the red-headed fellow asked.

999

“I suppose it means‘temporarily, ee

“That’s a.warm: guess, all right. Tempus is. fugiting,
though, and we’re not getting anywhere, What’s the next
move?”

“This place is our best bet. There must be some one

around this tent, even if the show is out of business _ ‘tem-_

parooraly.’ What we want to find out is whether Villum
eame back and got his coat. I’m going in,”

Merriwell ducked under the sign and passed through the -

entrance. Clancy followed, close at his heels.
A man in trunks was sitting on an-empty~cracker box,
Another

his trousers rolled to the knee, and was applying arnica
to a sore shin.
frame of mind, if appearances counted for anything. They
looked up scowlingly as the boys entered and stood before
them.

I'll bet that fellow doesn’t know where

_Neither of the men was in a very pleasant -

bas ba te ai ee

   

  

   
    
    
  
  
  
  
  
   
    
   
   
  
   
    
   
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

      
       
     
     
     
      
      
     
       
     
        
    
     
       
   
       
     
     
     
      
        
     
     
     
     

    
 

  

SS ee

 

wae
10 | _ NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

“No show till to-morrow,” growled the man with the
puffed and blackened eye. “Beat it!”

“Clear out!” said the other. “Couldn't you read that
sign?”

‘Over at the end of the tent, fastened by a collar and
a chain and curled up in a heap of straw, was the kangaroo.
But already the two chums had discovered something which
whetted their curiosity—even aroused their hope. The
fellow in tights was wearing a coat over the upper part
of his scanty costume—a brown khaki coat, rather full at
the breast and short in the sleeves, and bearing on the
front the initials, “M. A.”

‘Owen flung a quick, significant glance at Frank, only to
find that Frank’s startled eyes were already fastened upon
him. In Frank’s look was something else—a request that
his chum curb his amazement and leave Frank’ himself
to deal with the situation.

“What're you gawpin’ at?” cried the trainer. _OeaRen
" and leave Eph and me alone. No show till to- morrow.’

‘We didn’t come here to look at the show,”
Frank. “We're looking for the chap who boxed with your
trained kangaroo.”

“Tots of chaps have boxed with the kangaroo,” said
the trainer, as he and his companion exchanged quick
glances.

“T guess, from the looks of things here,”
“that this fellow we want to find was the last one who did
any boxing. He’s a German, and his name is Villum Kess.”

“Oh, that dub!” grunted Eph. “Guess Matt and me won't
forget him in a hurry.”

“Then you know whom I mean. Where is he?”

“Were no information bureau,’ snorted Matt, bending
over the basin and lifting“more water to his eye with a
‘cupped palm. “When he got through here he left with
‘them other chaps that come with him. They heard a
whistle, or something, and left on the run. I wish, by thun-
der, they’d heard that whistle before they ever come in
here. Boliver went into such a tantrum it was all of half
an hour before Eph and me could get him quieted down.”

“Villum did not came back after he left?” persisted
Frank.

No”

“Well, he left a coat here, and he Btaricd back to get it.
Mighty strange you didn’t see him again,”

“Well, we didn’t.”

“Where’s the coat?”

‘What kind of a coat was it?”

“We'll not waste any words about that,’ said Frank,
quietly but with determination. “It’s the coat you have
on, and I’ll trouble you to hand it over.”

“How do I know?” flared Matt, jumping up. “You
butt in here and ask for a coat. Maybe you're entitled
to it and maybe you.ain’t. Who are you fellers, anyway: a

“My name’s Merriwell, and my friend’s name is Clancy.
We're members of the squad known as Merriwell’s Ath-
letes, If you'll look at us you'll see the sort of clothes we
wear when we haven’t got on our baseball or track togs,
and I guess you won't have any difficulty seeing that the
coat you have on belonds to.one of our men. I'll trou-
ble you to hand it over.”

“And I’ll. trouble you to mind your own business!’
shouted Matt. “Get out of here and be quick about a

He advanced threateningly toward Frank, but the latter

stood his ground.

“Red,” said. Frank, “just step outside and find an_of-

explained.

went on Frank,

ficer. We'll see if these fellows can keep a coat belonging
to one of our boys!” ae

“On the jump!” answered Owen, and started to leave the
tent. i

“Hold up, you!” called Eph, waving the cloth with which .
he had been supplying arnica to his shin. “Don’t be in
no rush, young feller. We're square, Matt and me are, and
we don’t want any hard feelin’s, That’s your, friend’s
coat, all right. It was left here, and we guessed the
owner never’d come back after it. It ain’t worth such a
lot, anyhow, mi it don’t fit Matt in a way to be proud of.
He'll give it up.’

“Sure Pll give it up,’ said Matt, stripping the coat from
his shoulders and throwing it|to Frank. “The coat was .
handy, and I just slipped into it,’

Frank, like his noted father, was a master hand in
reading faces. Just then, he read something in the faces .
cf Eph and Matt which convinced him that they were
concealing facts of importance. Were those facts con-
nected with the strange disappearance of Villum, or merely
with Villum’s coat? In his own way the young athlete

undertook to find out.

Holding the coat in his left hand, with his right he.
searched the pockets. All the pockets were empty.

“Before we leave here,” declared Frank, “we're going
to have everything this coat contained. You fellows might
as well shell out and make a short story of it.”

“How do you know there was anything in the coat?”
demanded Matt surlily.

“Villum is a teammate of mine, and I’m quite fone
with what he had about him. Fork over, and be quick
about it, |. Hie

“For goodness’ sake, Matt,” said Eph, “give up the stuff
and quit foolin’, Don’t let ’°em think we ain’t honest and
on the square. Any trouble here mow would queer us
for good.”

Muttering to himself, Matt went over to a tne box
at one side of the tent, lifted the cover and took out a
knotted handkerchief. He tossed the little parcel at Merri-
well’s feet.

“T reckoned findings was havings,”
take that and skip.”

“Open up the handkerchief, Red,’ instructed Frank,
“and see if the stuff is all there.”

Frank was disappointed. He knew that what the two
men had been concealing was the fact that they had re-
moved certain articles from the coat; so it followed, pre-
sumably, that their knowledge did not extend to Villum’s
whereabouts.

Neither Frank nor Owen had a very comprehensive idea
of the personal property Villum was im the habit of toting
around with him. There was a horn-handled pocket-
knife they were familiar with, a buckeye, and a bit of car-
bon out of an are light, but these were not things which
would tempt any one to appropriate them.

In addition to the articles enumerated, Clancy found a
rabbit’s foot, a pamphlet entitled “How to Play in the Out-"
field,” and a well-worn wallet. Clancy almost dropped
when he opened the wallet and found two five-dollar bills.
He hid his amazement well, however.

“Everything here, Chip,” he reported. “These fellows
are doing what is right by us now, ane we don’t want to
make them any trouble.”

“Certainly we don’t want, to make them any trouble,”
returned Frank. “You say,’ and he faced Matt and, Eph

he muttered. “Now |

 

 

 

 
   

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

once more, “that our teammate did not come back here
after he left?’

“No, he didn’t come back,” declared Matt, and his man-
ner was truthful as he said it. “If he had come back)
he’d have got the coat.” q

“We didn’t mean no harm,” harped Eph. “This show is
on the square.”

“T guess that’s all, then,”
the tent.

Clancy was talking to hncell as he rerbined his chum
and pushed into the crowd.

“Ten dollars, or I’m a goat!” he was saying. “How in
the dickens did Villum happen to have so mtich money,
all at once? You could have knocked me down with a
feather when I found those two ten-dollar bills.” -

“I’m beginning to understand, Red,’ chuckled Merti-
well, “why Villum was so anxious to get back the coat.

he loss of that money was what was worrying him.”

“T guess we won’t have to call on Doc-Baxter. We'll
just borrow this money of Villum’s. Talk about luck!
Say, this happened just right.”

“But those fellows in the kangaroo tent don’t know a
thing about what happened to Villum, Clan.”

poure Of that?

“Almost positive. The fact that they had the coat proved
that Villum didn’t come back after it. Whatever happened
to Villum took place between where he left Penn, Rod, and
Billy, and this boxing kangaroo show. I’ve got a hunch
that Bullhead Brewster is mixed up in this business some-
how.”

“Yes, I remember you said something about that. Maybe

and Frank turned and left

the quickest way to find Villum is to look for Brewster.”

“First, let’s get something to eat. A frankfurter sand-
wich and a cup of coffee will be enough for me, and we
can get a hand-out like that at one of these quick-lunch
stands.”

“Guess I can rub along on a Wee of the same,” said
Owen.

They stopped at a booth where a man was frying ham-
burger steak and frankfurters on a gasoline stove, and
gave their order. The bread was stale, the sausage was
half cooked, and the coffee was weak, but the boys. were
hungry and made the most of their food: Just as they
had finished and paid for their lunch, a husky voice struck
suddenly on their ears.

“Merriwell! And Clancy! Why, I reckoned you had
left town an hour ago!”

They turned and discovered Bud Brackett: The man’s
appearance astounded them.

“What the mischief has happened to you, Brackett?”
gasped Merriwell.

CHAPTER VII.
BRACKETT’S HARD LUCK.

Brackett’s face was bruised, and there was an ugly cut
on his temple to which he. was holding a reddened hand-
kerchief. One sleeve of his flannel shirt had been torn
almost to ribbons, and the rest of his clothing-was in
disorder and covered with dust and grime.

“I’ve just been robbed, that’s what’s the matter,’ he
answered savagely. .

“When did it happen?” asked Clancy excitedly.

“Jest now—not more’n five minutes ago—in broad day-
light, too! Nice kittle o’ fish, I must say. And to think

NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

of anybody tryin’ to rob me!” He gave a hollow, bitter
laugh. “Somebody knowed, that’s all,” he mumbled ; “some-
body knowed!” ~

“Knew what?”

“Why, that for oncet in my life I had somethin’ on me
wuth a thief’s while. You know what that was.”

“Sanderson’s letter?” queried Frank quickly.

“Nothin’ else, Merriwell. It’s gone—plumb gone. I was
follered and pounded, and when I was half stunned that
letter was taken away from me. I didn’t even see the
coyotes that did the robbin’—they tackled me from be-
hind. I fought, o’ course, but I was so busy I didn’t have
a chance to see the curs that jumped me. Reckon I hadn’t
ort to have expected anythin’ better. The old Brackett
hard luck was layin’ for me, jest when I was beginnin’ to
have a little hope that things was to be better. Ain’t it
fierce?”

Brackett leaned against the refreshment booth and dabbed -

away at his bleeding temple with the handkerchief.

“Why don’t you see the police?” demanded Frank. “Man
alive, you don’t intend to stand for this sort of thing with-
out making an effort to get back that letter ?”’

“What’s the eondr was the dreary, hopeless rejoinder.
“The town’s full o’ strangers, and I couldn’t give the
police no line on the skunks that trimmed me.”

“But surely, with all this crowd on the street, some one
must have seen the scoundrels!” exclaimed Frank, “How
could such a thing happen, with so many people around ?”

“There wasn’t many people around, and it didn’t happen
on the main street. I was goin’ to a second-class boardin’
house on the edge o’ town—past a place where there wasn’t

any houses, and not a soul in sight. There was bushes on

the side of the road, and I heard a rustlin’ among ’em. Was
jest turnin’ to see what made the noise, when some un
batted me over the head. I was half blinded, but I sus-
pected what was up and fought as well as I could. Another
rap, here over the eye, dropped me on the ground. For
about a minute I couldn’t move; then, when I got up,
there wasn’t nobody around—and that letter of Joe San-
derson’s was gone! I hadn’t even opened that letter, and
don’t know no more’n a fool what was inside. That’s how
things have been happenin’ to me ever since Hank Mullen
foreclosed on my ranch. I might as well lay down and

quit. Even when luck breaks my way, I haven’t got sense

enough to handle it.”

“Look here, Brackett,” said Frank, “you go at once to
Doctor Baxter. He'll help you, I know.
you have been robbed, and——

“What good can Baxter do? I. can’t give him any
clews.”

“Well, didn’t you say that some oné must have known
about that letter? If some one didn’t, such a dastardly
scheme could not have been carried out. Who besides
Doctor Baxter knew Sanderson had left a letter for you,
locating a rich mining claim? The doctor may be able
to answer that question. Don’t let any grass grow under
your feet, Brackett. Find the doctor as quick as you can.”

Brackett seemed to be impressed with Merriwell’s reason-
ing.

“You've got more hoss sense, young feller,”
“than I ever had, or hope to have.

_ said he,
Pll call on Baxter

right off; but—but what’re you boys doin’ here? Hasn’t

yon car gone? I know the train pulled out, quite a spelt
ago.”

it

Tell him how :

“The Cleansport went with the train,” Frank eblae :

 
   
    
     

 
  
  
  
  
   
 
  
NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

“but Clancy and I had to stay behind and look for one of
our teammates, Villum Kess. He didn’t get back to the
private car, and we're afraid Villum is in some sort of
trouble.”

“This town, jest at present, is a peach of a place
for trouble,’ murmured Brackett. “Anybody can do any-
thin’ hyer, I reckon, and git away with it. Don’t ye know
anythin’ about where your teammate went?”

“He boxed with a trained kangaroo in one of the side
shows, and had no more than finished the performance
when the train whistled for all the passengers to come back
and get aboard. Villum was with some of the other fel-
lows, and he hadn’t gone far before he discovered that
he had forgotten his coat. He went back after it. We
don’t know a thing about Villum after that. The conductor
held the train for a few minutes, but Villum didn’t show
up. Clancy and I stayed behind to look for him; and, if
we can find him, we’re all three going to take the night
train for Ash Fork.”

“Wish to thunder I could do somethin’ to help you,’
said Brackett. “You’ve done a heap-for me, and I’d like
to turn a trick that would help offset the obligation. But

Round Top is a purty hard place, jest now, to do any- .

thin’ in. Some deviltry has hit your pard, jest as it hit me.”

“We found his coat,” continued Frank. “Villum had not
been back to the side show to claim it. You’ve got enough
troubles of your own, Brackett, to keep you busy. P’m

sorry we can’t turn in and be of some help to you, but

we've got to do our best to find Villum. Looks now as
though we were going to have a hard job of it.”

“T wish ye luck, anyway-" So fur as I’m concerned, I
never had no luck, and I reckon I never will have any.
So long. I’m for Baxter’s to see if he can think of any
varmint who might have laid for that letter.”

Brackett moved off, dizzy and staggering, a pathetic
figure in his continued misfortunes.

“That’s too confounded bad!’ declared Clancy, sym-
pathetically. “That fellow seems bound to have trouble,
in spite of evetything.”

“Seems so,” agreed Frank. “I wish, with all my heart,
we could do a little to help him, but we have a big
job of our own on hand.” .

. “And we’re smack up against a stone wall! Where are
we to go next? This is a blind trail, Chip, and we haven't
a clew to work on.”

It was six o’clock and the crowd on the street was thin-
ning. The merrymakers were hunting homes, hotels, and
restaurants, hungry and eager for supper. Later, they
would return, and the fun and folly would continue in
full force.

“Strikes me,’ said Frank thoughtfully, “that we'd better
find police headquarters, and get some officers to aid us.
There can’t be another fellow in this town exactly like
Villum——’”

“No,” interjected Clancy, “nor in the whole United
States. He’s the only one of his kind.”

“We can give a good description of him,” proceeded
Merriwell, “and the officers can take part in the search.
Yes,” he finished decidedly, “that’s the thing for us to do,
and the only thing.”

They found a man, roughly dressed, trousers tucked
in his boot tops, a belt around his waist weighed down
with a policeman’s club, and a star on his breast bearing
the words, “Special Police.” This worthy was leaning

against a fruit stand and helping himself liberally to what-
ever captured his fancy. :

“Where the police headquarters, officer?” Frank asked.

“Headquarters is the town hall, pilgrim,” was the answer,
“and that’s down this side of the street for two blocks,
over the place where they keep the fire engine. You
can’t miss it.”

“Much obliged,” returned Frank civilly, and. he and Owen
started for the place.

They had not gone a block before Clancy whirled sud-
denly and gripped his chum’s arm with tense fingers.

“Look!” he whispered excitedly, pointing across the
street.

Merriwell followed the finger with his eyes and became
rather startled himself. Bullhead Brewster, smoking a
cigarette, was almost opposite the spot where they were
standing, leaning against a telegraph pole,

“Jove!” muttered Frank. “I’d forgotten all about that
fellow.”

“There he is, though, big as life. If he really had any-
thing to do with Villum’s disappearance, we couldn’t do
anything better than to keep tab on him,”

“That’s right. Let’s step into this doorway, Clan, and
watch the fellow. When he moves off we can trail him.
Maybe something will come of it; hope so, anyway.”

They withdrew into a hallway and carefully observed
Bullhead Brewster. The young fellow’s brown, handsome
face was not crossed with a single line of care or worry.
His eyes, the only evil part of his countenance, were
turned along the street. Brewster, to all appearance, was
merely loafing and enjoying himself.

No one would have taken him for a thief, a rascal who
had just escaped jail by a hair’s breadth.

“Nothing on his mind but his hat, Chip,” remarked
Clancy. “Oh, he’s reckless, all right, and doesn’t care much —
what he does. I wouldn’t put it past him any to do Villum
a bad turn.”

“T know he’d like to be revenged on me for what I did
during the ball game at the Star A Ranch, but Brewster
hasn’t any cause to dislike Villum.”

“Maybe he thinks he’s making trouble for you by going
after our Dutch teammate. If that’s his idea, I guess he’s
right.”

“Possibly that’s his scheme. Ah, he’s moving away!
Now let’s follow him’ and try and keep out of sight.”

There were so few people on the street, at that time,
that the boys had little trouble in shadowing Brewster.

_ The fellow swaggered along the walk with his rolling gait,

and turned in at the swing doors of a saloon.

The sign over the saloon door read:
Ranch.”

“Fine home ranch that is,” commented Clancy sar-
castically. ‘Drunkard’s home, I guess. Going in, Chip?’

It was a low, mean-looking groggery, but Merriwell was
on his mettle and was determined to follow wherever
Brewster might lead.

“Sure,” said he.
. They pushed through the swinging doors and found -
themselves confronted with a square screen. Fortunately,
there were a good many customers in the place and the air
was thick with smoke. From the edge of the screen the
boys saw Brewster drink something at the bar, and then
descend a stairway that led off from one side of the room.

They followed carefully. Brewster seemed absolutely
unconscious of the fact that he was being followed, and

“The Home

99

 

 

 
  

 

  

 

|
|
|

 

 

 

 

 

never looked around. At the bottom of the stairs was a
corridor. Brewster opened a door off the, corridor and
vanished.

Merriwell and Clancy hurried to the same door, opened
it, and stepped through. They were in a small, empty
rogm with another door opening in the opposite wall. As
they passed toward this second door, they heard a key
grate in the lock of the door through which they had just
come,

why?

CHAPTER VIII
BREWSTER'S CUNNING.

Merriwell ran back to the door and tried the knob. He
had a forlorn hope that he and Clancy might have been
deceived, and that the grating sound they had heard had
hot been the turning of a key. The door was fastened,
however.

“Who the deuce did that?” queried Clancy angrily.

“You know as much about it as I do, Red,” said Merri-
well. “Strikes me wé have walked into a trap

“Then while we were following Brewster some one was
following us.”

“Shouldn’t wonder.”

The room was a small one in the basement of the
building, and was lighted by a long, barred window let
into the outer wall near the ceiling. There was not
a stick of furniture in the place.

“I think, Chip,” observed Clancy, “that if the two of us
crowded that door pretty hard we could smash it déwn.”

“Getting out of here won’t be a hard matter, Clan,’
answered Merriwell.. “Now that we’re in here, though, I
have a curiosity “to investigate further. If somebody has
tried to trap us, suppose we find out why?”

Frank crossed the room and pushed open. the door
through which Bullhead Brewster had vanished. A mock-
ing laugh drifted through the opening.

“Come in, you little tin hero! Come in, Mr. Frank
Merriwell, junior! You're goin’ to have a warm wel-
come, that I can promise you!”

It was Brewster’s voice. Frank paused in the open

' door.

“Scared of me, eh?” continued Brewster jeeringty, 71
reckoned you might be. But you got to come on; there’s
no way you can back out now. I hold the winnin’ cards,
this round.”

‘Frank continued on into the other room, Owen keeping
close at his heels.

This second room was larger,than the one through which
the two chums had just passed. Two or three dusty win-
dows, high up in the outer wall, let in enough light to
bring out the surroundings clearly. —

There were six fellows, all of about Brewster’s age, in
the place. They were a reckless, dissipated-looking set, and
five were seated at a round table with cards in their

\ hands. Brewster had just arrived and evidently had not

had time to get into the game, but a place was waiting
for him, and he was standing by an empty chair.

Frank judged that he and Clancy were gazing at a
crowd of Round Top’s fast young bloods—fellows who
drink and gamble and love to refer to themselves as
“sports” and “thoroughbreds.” There were bottles and

NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

They halted, aghast. Who had turned that key? And _

 

 

ce

glasses on the table, and smoking cigarettes hung from the
lips of the five who were seated. nA

“Fellers,” called Brewster, with an elaborate bow and
wave of the hand, “allow me to present to you the biggest
little four-flusher and false alarm that ever broke out on
this part of the map—young Merriwell, Brick-top, there
next to him, totes the label of Clancy, and he’s Merri-
well’s pard.”

“They look like a couple of easy marks,” observed one
of the five players, in a bored, languid tone.

“Them’s real cute clothes they’re a-sportin’,” leered an-
other,

“Mollycoddles, eh, Bullhead?” mocked a third.

“T’'ll bet they'd swoon if ye give ’em a slap on the wrist!”
chuckled a fourth.

“Remind me of a couple of psalm singers!” grunted the
fifth.

A sort of half smile broke over Frank’s face. A light
came into his eyes which Owen knew meant danger for
somebody.

“You knew we were following you, Bullhead?” asked
Frank, calmly enough.

“*Course I knew it!” exulted Brewster. “I saw you
across the street, and I was smart enough to opine you
might be lookin’ for me. I led you to the Home Ranch,
and I stopped at the bar long enough to git a drink and
to tip off the barkeep to lock that outside door after you
follered me through. Oh, you fell for that in a way to
bring tears to a pair of glass eyes. You're so darned easy,
Merriwell, that it’s not much credit to anybody to double

- cross you.”

“Where’s: our Dutch teammate, Bullhead?” went on
Frank,

“I landed on him good and plenty,”’ gloated Brewster.

“That’s what we thought. But where is he?”

“I ain’t tellin’ all I know,” sneered Brewster, “anyways,
not jest now. I was goin’ up to Ash Fork to try and get
a whack at you there, but when the train got hung up at
my old stampin’ grounds here in Round ‘Top; \E gest
naturally tumbled off and made up my mind I could lay
for you in Round Top as well as in Ash Fork. But I
couldn’t get eyes on ye for some sort’ of a while, although:
I was wise to the Dutchman boxin’ with the kangaroo.
Me and Dolan there’—he indicated a youth at the table—
“follered the Dutchman and his crowd, and when Dutchy
mentioned his coat, and started back after it, I gave
Dolan a tip on what to do. While he was doin’ it, I went
on to the depot to keep tabs on what would happen.”

Brewster grinned craftily, took a cigarette from a box
on the table, and slowly lighted it,

“IT was behind a pile of ties,” he proceeded, “watchin’
and listenin’? when Redhead went through the train lookin’
for me. I was there when the conductor allowed he
couldn’t wait any longer, and you and Redhead agreed to
stay over, find the Dutchman, and then all three of you go
up to the Fork on the night passenger. I was there, too,
when the train pulled out, and TI trailed ye back to’ard
town. I had somethin’ else on hand, though, and couldn’t
play you up as I wanted to for a spell. When I got
foot loose, I simply moseyed along till I set eyes on you
—then I led you to the Home Ranch, and here you are.
I reckon I’m some clever to pull off a stunt like that, eh?”

“What was done to Villum Kess?” said Frank.

“Dolan,” and Bullhead turned to the chap at the table,
“you might bat that up to him.” :

\

 

  
 

74°

Dolan laid down his cards, yawned, and faced about in
his chair.

“I stopped that lobster while he was hittin’ it up on his
way back to the kangaroo place,” explained Dolan. “I
tells him I knows! what he’s after, and that his coat was
took by a guy who hot-footed it out of the show tent;
and I says to him—to this Dutchman, y’understand—I
says to him: to come with me and I'll show him the cimi-
roon that had his coat. Aw,’ and Dolan wrinkled up his
nose disgustedly, “he was so easy worked it was like
takin’ pennies from a blind man. The Dutchman followed
me to—to the place you told me to take him, Bullhead—
and he’s been there ever since.”

“I sort o’ thought, Merriwell,’ said Brewster, “that if I
could waylay your Dutch teammate I might make you
some trouble, That’s all 1.was countin’ on at first. Later,

* when you and Clancy stopped over to look up your missin’
pard, the trouble trail began to Open up, and I planned
this part of it. You got savvy enough to know why I got
you here?”

“I have my ideas regarding that,” returned Frank, “but
you might come across with it, Brewster, now while you're
in an explaining mood.”

“You beat me ridin’’’ snarled Brewster, hate twisting
at his face and his evil eyes glimmering, “you beat me
pitchin’, and you beat me out of five thousand dollars. I
swore I’d git square with you. And that,’ he finished,
thumping the table with his fist, “is why you're here.
We've got a bone to pick.”

“How are you going to pick it, Brewster?”
voice was soft and drawling.

“I got a way,” cried Bullhead, his face flaming. “When
I’m done with you, Merriwell, you won't be in no shape
to take that night train to Ash Fork.’

“Then Pll have to be in pretty bad shape.
Villum Kess?”

“I know, but before I tell you there’s somethin’ you got
to do.”

What. is ath?

_ “You're one of these here goody-goody junipers,” pro-
ceeded Brewster, his upper lip curling. “You don’t play
one-call-two, you don’t bet, you don’t drink, you don’t
smoke, To hear you tell it, you’re all but sproutin’ wings.
Say, to my notion, you’re a holler sham.”

Clancy laughed. . There was something in Brewster’s
words that struck him on his humorous side.

“He may be a sham, Bullhead,” he spoke up, “but he’s
not ‘hollerin’’ a whole lot. Oh, no, I guess not a whole
hot

Brewster scowled blackly.

“I ain’t fixin’ to give you much the worst of it, Red-
head,” said he, “but if ye work your clapper too much;
I might change my mind.”

“Change it! You can’t hand Chip anything, you measly
cur, that you can’t pass on to me!” retorted Clancy.

“Hanged if I don’t try and accommodate you! But.
Merriwell first,” said. Brewster, who turned and addressed
himself to Frank. “You got to bet, you got to play poker.
All this you got to do with me. You and me’ll sit in a
game—a two-handed game—and you're goin’ to put up
a hundred dollars against what I know about your missin’
pard. You lose, and I pocket the hundred. I lose, and I
tell ye where ye can find the Dutchman. Willin’?”

“I haven't a hundred dollars with me,” said Merriwell.
“Do you think I’m a first national bank, Bullhead?”

2

Frank’s

Where’s

 

«S

 

NEW DLR TOP WEAKLY:

Tit: take your 1, OU:
I O U than the money.” 4

“That promise to pay is put up against a summer breeze.

Your knowledge of where Villum Kess has been hid away!
How do I know you know that? How do I know you'll
tell me, even if I win?’ ;

“D’you call me a liar?” blustered Brewster.

“I’m not calling you anything just now.” e

“Well, there’s your chance. You can take it or leave it.”

“Here’s a fine, one-sided scheme!” protested Clancy
indignantly. “Let’s get out of here, Chip!. We can smash
down the. door and bolt. This outfit can’t hold us, if
we make up our minds to break away.” >

But Merriwell stood quietly where he was, his keen eyes ©

measuring Bullhead Brewster. The latter said something
in a low voice, and two of those at the table got up and
placed themselves between Merriwell and Clancy and the
door leading into the other ‘room.

“You won't try that,” snapped Bréwster, “not right away.
If it ain’t a card game with me, Merriwell, I can promise
ye itll be somethin’ worse. What's the word?”

Frank moved toward the table. Owen watched him anx-
iously. ;

“I’m going to play you, Brewster,” said Frank steadily.
“If I lose, Pll give you an I-O U for a hundred dollars.
If you lose, you tell me where I can find Villum Kess. My
word’s as good as yours.”

“Whoop!” cried Bullhead. “I’ll make a real sport out
o’ him yet, fellers, or I’ll break him in two. Draw back
and give us the table.”

CHAPTER IX, _
IN A GOOD CAUSE,

The itch for gambling was in. the Merriwell blood. It
had burned in the veins of Frank’s father, who had fought

manfully until he had conquered the evil; and if the elder ©

Merriwell. feared one thing more than another for his
son, it was that the family failing might crop out in him
and prove his undoing.

Owen Clancy knew this and his heart filled with anx-
iety. Many a time he had seen his chum turn with a look
of horror and loathing from a pack of cards, and he un-
derstood well what it was he feared.

Clancy stepped forward now, while the three at the
table were pushing back their chairs to make room for
the game between Merriwell and Brewster. The red-
headed chap laid a hand on his chum’s shoulder,

“Keep out of this, old man,” he begged.

“It’s all right, Clan,” said Frank, brushing the hand
away. “I’m doing this for Villum, you know.”

“Close your trap!” growled Dolan to Clancy.

Clancy whirled, fire in his eye.

“Tl close yours for you in about half a minute, you
half-baked .schemer.”’ he cried.

Dolan stepped back warily. Clancy turned again to.
Merriwell.

“Let me do this for Villum, Chip,” said he. .

“Vl do it—it’s my job,” Frank answered decisively.

“You're taking. a long chance. ¥
may lose what you're playing for.”

Even if you win you

“Chase yourself, Redhead,” cried Brewster angrily. “Ill
x sry
smash you one in a minute.”

Clancy, at that moment, would rather have fought the

I'd a heap rather have the

  
    

  
  
   
 

   
   

ae

 

 

 

 

BR

    

  
ys

AV Pe SS. Vs

 

 

 

 

 

 

. Frank and two to himself.

 

 

NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. : Cl

whole gang of young ruffians single-handed than let Merri-
well play with Brewster.

“Calm down, Red,’ Frank whispered to Owen. “TH
handle this, all right, and you don’t need to worry about
anything.”

Much against his will ae. stepped back and pre-
pared to watch the game.

It was nearly eight o’clock by that time, and one of the
fellows lighted a tin lamp and placed it on the table. Mer-
riwell and Brewster seated themselves,

“Shuffle the cards,” said Frank shortly.

They had cut for deal, and the deal had fallen to
Brewster. The latter shuffled and would have dealt at
once.

“Wait a minute,” interposed Frank.

He took the cards and deftly gave them a quick shuffle.

“Now go ahead,” said he.

- “Think ’'m crooked?” demanded Bullhead wrathfully.

“I don’t think, I know. -A fellow who’d steal five thou-
sand dollars from his employer would stack a deck. Go
on and deal,”

That game could hardly be called exciting. The stakes
were already agreed upon and there could be no raising or
calling. When the cards were cut, nothing would be left
but-a° ““show-down.”

_ Frank looked at his cards and discarded three. Bull-
head discarded two. Bullhead dealt again—three cards to
Frank did not even look -at
his cards, but left his hand lying face down on the table.
“Two: pair, aces up,’ said Bullhead, showing his. hand.

Frank turned over his cards. First came a deuce, then
an ace, then a king.

“Get a pencil and paper. for that I O U!” yelled Dolan.

“What in Sam Hill did you hold up, Merriwell?” tittered
one of the others.

, Here are the cards I held up,”
over two more deuces. “Now,
lum Kess 2’

“Oh, thunder!” snapped Bullhead. “Look here,
well, let’s play a real game. Let’s——”

“I accepted your own proposition,” broke in Frank, “and
it’s up to you to pay the price or prove yourself a liar.”
He turned

said Frank, and flipped
Bullhead, where is. Vil-

Merri-

A malevolent grin crossed Bullhead’s face.
to Dolan:

“Go and bring the Dutchman,” he ordered. “I’m playin’

fair, Merriwell,” hé added, as Dolan stepped to a door:

and disappeared into a gloomy apartment at the rear.
Presently, from the dark, came sounds of scraping feet
and a wild, familiar voice.
“T been a goot American cidizen, py Shiminy. grickeds,
und I don’d like it dot you dreat me so! You say I
come mit you und I findt my goat, Vell, I come, und
I don’d findt nodding but drouples. Somepody vill make
it hot for me for dis pitzness, und don’d you forget dot.”
To the amazement—and not a little to the satisfaction—
of Merriwell and Clancy, their Dutch teammate stumbled
out of the dark room and blinked as he came into the
light. He looked. none the worse for wear, although the
usual smile had vanished from his broad face, and he was

ine, temper,

“Villum !” called Frank.
Blinded temporarily by the glare of the lame the released

prisoner could not see clearly.

“Who shpoke by me?” he demanded. “rt lisdens like

der voice oof Chip, aber he iss far avay in der private
car, und I vas alone mit meinselluf in dis town vere dey
got a poxin’ kangarooer.”

“Wake up, Villum!” called Clancy.

Villum stared in the direction of his two friends.
he started back and began rubbing his eyes.

“Vake oop, dot’s righdt!” he muttered. “I haf been haf-
ing a tream. I tink I see Merrivell und Glancy, aber dot
iss imbossiple. Dey vas far, far avay, und I don’d haf no
bards any blace aroundt!”

“The freak is nutty,” said one of the fellows in the
room.

“Come over here, Villum,”’ called: Frank. “You're not
dreaming. Clancy and I stayed in Round Top to find
you.”

“Ach, vat.a habbiness!” exclaimed Villum, finally mak-
ing up his mind that his senses were to be depended on.
He stumbled across the room and threw his arms about
Krank. “Chip, I been so tickled as I don’d know!
vouldn’t. go pack on a bard, hey? I haf met mit some
hogus-poguses. Dot’s righdt. I vas a goot American cidi-
‘zen mit righdts to life, liberdy, und der pursuit oof den
tollar vich I got my goat in. Vere iss dot goat? Vere iss
dot den tollar? Ego answers me, ‘In der kangarooer tent,
So blease let us go by it und der money regover.”

“Wait.a minute, Villum,” continued Frank. ‘What ek
‘pened to you?”

“Vat didn’t habben by me?

“Look this. way!”
‘Then

T can tell you pedder dot

as vat dit. Fairst, I pox der kangarooer, und I do him
oop so I don’d know nodding ven der vistle plows. Penn
he hat my goat, und he drop him und forged him. I re-

memper me aboudt der goat und go pack by der dent,
only I don’d get dere. Py shinks, somepody shtops me und
say a feller run off mit der goat, und vill I go mit him und
findt der feller. I haf dought it ofer und come by der
gonglusion dot I fell me indo some draps. Dot chap
prings me by a dark room, und some fellers drows me der
floor on, und puts some ropes my hants aroundt, und
shuts me oop a dark room in. I vas dere for sixdy years,
I tink, und den der door oben, der ropes iss remoofed,
und I gome der room oudt und findt you und Glancy. Vat
a bleasure I can’t tell! Now, blease, ve go by der kanga-
rooer dent und get der goat mit der den tollars, und den I
shout for choy.”
Clancy was carrying the missing coat.
passed it over to Villum.
- “Here’s the coat, old man,” said he.
to the tent and got it for you.”

He laughed and

“Chip and I went

“Hoop-a-la!” exulted Villum, grabbing the garment
eagerly. “Say, you been bards vort’ hafing, I bed your life.
Id iss my goat, und no misdake.”’

He began plunging his hands into the pockets, growing
more and more disturbed as the useless search proceeded.

“T don’d findt me der shtuff vat I hat der bockets in!”

he exclaimed wildly. “Der den tollar iss gone! Ach, I.
been ruined!” |
“Calm yourself, Villum,” said Frank soothingly. “I’ve

got your ten dollars, and Clancy has the rabbit’s foot, the
knife, and the other things.”

“Vat a relief I got!’ murmured Villum. “Oof dot den

tollars lose me I vould haf been all broke oop mit mein-

selluf. Now let us go avay. So hellup me, I don’d like
dis blace, or der fellers vat iss it in.
as 1 cant tell. ;Come, und: let ug: go!”

 

Yow.

Also I vas so hungry:

ni

 
_Villum got into his coat, and he and Frank and Owen
started for the door that led into the locked room. They
found their way barred by Bullhead Brewster and _ his

five friends. There was an ugly look on Brewster’s face,
and he was holding out a glass of liquor.

a said I’d tell you where the Dutchman was,”. said

e, “but I didn’t say I’d let ye go. D’you think I’m square
_ you, Merriwell? If you do, by thunder, you've got
another think coming. You've ss cards with me, and
now there aré two more things you’ve got to do before
you leave the Home Ranch.”
' “I might have known you were up to some trick or
other,” said Frank. ‘What else am I to do before we
can leave this place?”
“You've got to drink with me and fight with me!” was
the savage response.

Clancy would have struck the glass out of Bullhead’s
hand had not Merriwell caught his fist.

“You're bound to pick a row, eh, Bullhead?” returned
peat.
“I’m bound to settle my score with ye!
done all this plannin’ for, if not for that?”
Frank reached out and took the glass.
moment staring at the reddish liquid.

“Pye got to drink this and then fight with your” he
asked.

“I’m goin’ to pound ye up. There’s one thing I can Peat
ye at, by thunder, and

He did not have a chance to finish what he was. saying.
With a quick movement, Frank dashed the contents \ of
the glass full in his face.

_“There’s your whisky, Bullhead!
-fight——”

 

Now, if you want to

CHAPTER X.
A WARM TIME.

Bullhead Brewster’s ideas of getting square with Merri-

well were peculiar, to say the least. The fellow was fully
entitled to hig nickname of “Bullhead.”
weird and wonderful, and he recklessly strove to realize
them.
_ He hated Frank because he had monopolized all the
popularity in the cattle country west of Prescott.’ Brewster
was a pitcher, and he had cut quite a wide swath among
the ranches before Merriwell arrived and became friends
with the cowboys.

Frank was straight and clean. Bullhead hated him for
that, also. To make the young athlete drink and gamble
appealed to Brewster’s rather primitive nature.

Throwing that glass of liquor full in Bullhead’s eyes
caused instant commotion among those in the room. Bull-
head, with the whisky Hep down his face, was mad
with rage.

- Clancy gave a whoop of delight Sud approval. He was
overjoyed to see his chum turn on his enemies in that
hearty and determined fashion.
 Villum, his fighting blood aroused in a moment, began to
push up the sleeves of his coat and to moisten his hands.

“Hammer the life out o’ him, Bullhead!” cNed Dolan.

“Tet’s give all three of ’em somethin’ they’ll remember !”
shouted another.

“PIL break the coyote’s head for him!” Pane Brewster,
his eyes smarting and his brain on fire. “He'll wish he’d

downed that booze before I’m done with him!”

 

NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

What have I

He stood for a

His fancies were '

  

“Come on, you bluffers!” clamored Clancy. “There. are
six of you and three of us, but we'll show you how
Merriwell’s Athletes can use their fists.”

“Wait a minute!” called Frank, wishing to vee a
general engagement. “This row is between Bullhead and
me, and the rest of you haven’t any cause to butt in. _Come
out here, Pa and we'll settle our differences. The
rest can look on.’

The rest, it may be mentioned, seemed perfectly willing
to look on. Two or three were warlike, but the others
showed a disposition to avoid a general clash.

“P’m goin’ to kill you !” panted Bullhead eee ae
forward.

As he spoke, he flung off his coat and hurled ae hat on
the floor. Something white fell out of the hat and lay
for a moment under Merriwell’s eyes. The young athlete
stared for a moment, then carelessly kicked the white object
under the table. No one observed the movement, it was
so deftly carried out.

Frank did not bother to remove his coat or hat. He
merely took up an approved position and waited.
_“Here’s where I settle your hash for you,” ground. out

Bullhead coarsely, and rushed at Frank.
' To a casual observer, Merriwelk would not have seemed
to be a match for Brewster. The ‘latter was heavy set,
brawny, and quick on his feet. He was much heavier
than Merriwell: But weight and muscle do not. ee
count the most in such a battle.

Frank was fully as strong as Bullhead, although te was
so perfectly proportioned that his strength was not. in evi-
dence until marshaled for the work before him. ~Not

“only was he as strong, but he was more skilled in the art

of boxing.

And that art is really a manly art when ised for the
purpose of self-defense, or for protecting the weak. It
is anything but manly and creditable when used in deliber-
ately picking a quarrel.

-Fists flashed in the lamplight, and the sodden thwack of
blows echoed through the room. When Bullhead leaped
\back, there was-.a bruise under his ear and his head was
ringing from the blow that had caused it.

Frank had been struck, but he hardly felt the- qelohe
of his enemy’s fists so cleverly did he counter the blows.
Bullhead, in spite of his mad, unreasoning rage, was
conscious of a thrill of surprise.

He had imagined that one bull-like rush would bey
Merriwell down. But Merriwell had not been borne down.
On the contrary, he was still on his feet and Brewster’s
terrific swings had _not damaged him a particle. *

“That’s the way, Chip!” cried Clancy. “He can fight
about as well as he can pitch and you know how well
that is.”

“Gif him some ubbercuts, Chip!” urged Villum. “Bore
in mit det left! He vas a pad egg, und der sooner yeu
finish him off der pedder.”

“Go for his wind, Bullhead!” ddgieed Dolan. “Pound

. the breath out o’ him.”

“That’s the talk!” said another of Brewster’s backers.
“You're better than he is, Bullhead!”

A second time Brewster advanced, and now he was more
cautious than he had beew before. He feinted with his
right hand, then smashed at Frank with his left. In
evading the blow, Frank slipped in the liquor that had
been spilled, and went down on one knee.

    

a as

 

 

  
  
     

 

 

 

 

 

  
  

talking about.

aside.

NEW, TIP TOP WEEKLY:

With a roar of triumph, Bullhead flung himself. at

‘Frank and beat him down as he was trying to get up.

“Now ye got him!” yelped Dolan.

“Finish him off, Bullhead, finish him off!”

“Put him-down.for’the count !”

“He's your meat—he can’t get away.”

But Bullhead’s friends did not know what they were
Frank could and did get away from his
furious antagonist. Nimbly he regained his footing, leaped
a little to one side, and then waited for Bullhead to come
at him.

By. that time, Brewster’s temporary advantage had ren-
dered him overconfident. He charged Merriwell like a
whirlwind, only to be met-by a terrific blow. straight be-
tween the eyes.

Frank, waiting for that one chance, put all his strength
into, his fist. He intended to knock Bullhead out and
bring the battle to a speedy close.

Brewster stopped in his headlong rush as though he
had been struck with-a club. He flung up his hands, a
dazed expression crossed his face, and then he tottered
and. fell against the table. ie

The table was overturned and the lamp dropped crashing
to the floor. Fortunately the flame was extinguished be-
fore it could set fire to the splashing oil. The next mo-
ment, stygian gloom filled the place.

_ “Beat ’em up!” cried the voice of Dolan, “Don’t let
’em get away!” a

(Stop em ten

_“Give ’em their gruel! We can do it!”

_ The windows in the outside wall were only oblong
squares a little lighter than the prevaling gloom. The
room was as black as a pocket, and it was impossible
to distinguish friend from foe.

Every one, with the possible exception of Brewster, was
doing something. But what the excited fighters were doing
was a good deal of a conundrum. There was a bedlam

‘of shouts, mingled with the thumping of fists, the crash

of chairs, and-the tramp of feet.
“Clancy!” cried Merriwell, his voice rising high above
the din.

“Here!” came a panting response from the right.

“Where's Villum?”

“T been righdt in der mittle oof der ructions, Chip !”
Villum answered for himself.
“Take Villum, Clancy, and hustle for the other room |
Let’s get out of here!”

“All right!” '

‘Frank himself, locating the door as well as he could,
started toward it. He fell sprawling against the table.

_ For an-instant he remained on his knees, his hands groping -

over the floor; then, with a chuckle of satisfaction, he
bounded erect and ran toward the other room.

He collided with somebody. ‘“Who’s that?” panted a
voice.

It was Dolan’s voice, and Merriwell hurled him roughly
Then a light broke upon the gloom. The door
of the outer room had been unlocked and opened. As the
gleam dispelled the darkness, Frank becatne aware that
Owen and Villum were very close to him.

A man, carrying a lighted lamp, was standing in the
open door,

“What in blazes is goin’ on down here?” he demanded.
“D’you fellers want to bring the police down on us? You're
‘makin’ more noise than a boiler factory. Let up, I say!”

Ve

“Come on, fellows!” called Frank breathlessly. “Here’s
our chance to get out of the Home Ranch!” *

“We're right with you, old man!’ answered Clancy.

“All der time, you bed my life!” added Villum.

They rushed toward the man with the lamp.

“Stop ’em, Murgatroyd!” yelled a voice behind.

“Keep back!” ordered the man in the door.

But the Athletes would not keep back. They rushed at~
the man, jostled him roughly, smashed the chimney of
the lamp, and upset the guardian of the door as they
hurried past and out into the corridor.

Frank led in the dash up the stairs. “The barroom was
crowded, and everybody seemed to be listening to the —
commotion below.

Not one of all those in the big room made an attempt
to interfere with the Athletes. as they ran toward the
street door. They had no idea what was happening, and
were more curious than hostile.

Out in the street the crowds were coming and going,
bands were playing, and everybody was laughing and
having a good time. Frank, Owen, and Villum halted their
flight not far from the tent given over to the albino snake
charmer. He

“Shiminy grickeds,” puffed Villum, “dot vas some high
chinks, you bed me! Dere has peen someding doing efery
minid since I got me off der Cleansport in dis Round Top
blace. Und der lasdt-few minids dere vas someding doing
more as efer. Ach, vat a fine oxcidement!” :

Clancy was more than pleased with the trend of affairs.

“This ig coming out a whole lot better than I expected!”
he exclaimed. “We dropped right into Brewster’s trap,
Chip, found Villum, and then got clear! Bullhead is a
bullhead, all right enough. I never saw a fellow get his
come-up-with in neater style. Just as he had everything
his own way, too.” ;

“He got his come-up-with in more ways than one,” said
Frank mysteriously. “What time does that night pas-
senger pull out for Ash Fork?”

“Eleven o'clock.”

“Then we've got plenty of time to go to Doctor Bax-
ter’s office.” a

“What do you want to go there for? We've got money
enough—we don’t have to borrow anes

“T don’t want to borrow anything—I want to give some-
thing away.” Pe

Clancy whistled. : :

“You've got something on your mind, Chip,” said he,
“but there’s no use trying to pry it away from you till
you're ready to let go. Baxter’s office it is. Wonder if
the doctor has been able to help Brackett locate that
letter?”

CHAPTER XI.
FRANK SPRINGS A SURPRISE,

The Athletes were fortunate in finding Bud Brackett
in the doctor’s office. The rustler was dozing in a chair,
just within a circle of lamplight, and his sunburned face
was pinched and haggard. A piece of surgeon’s plaster
covered the cut on his temple.

Brackett was alone in the outer room of the doctor's
office. Merriwell stepped to his side and touched his
shoulder.

Brackett lifted his head and looked at Frank blankly.
Then the bewilderment passed and he gave a faint smile.

f:
oe NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY,

“You ag'in, ‘Merriwell!” he muttered. “Our trails seem
to. be crossin’ pretty frequently, here in Round Top.”

“Doctor been able to help you any, Brackett?’ asked
Bak

The bronzed fous clouded.

“Not a thing he can do!” was the answer. “After I left
you I came here, but he had to go out and make a call and
told me to come back at eight-thirty. He’s been attendin’
to patients ever since I strolled in and took this chair.
I’m out a bonanza mine, clear enough, and some skulkin’
hound is ahead a fortune. Things are as they are, and
there ain’t no way to change ’em.”

Brackett drew a long sigh of disappointment. Just then
the door leading into the private office opened and the doc-
tor emerged with a patient. The latter went away. and
the doctor turned to Frank. :
“Glad to see you again, Merriwell,” said he.
Clancy.. Who’s this other chap?”

“Villum Kess,” said Merry, “our star outfielder.”

“Yah, so,” put in Villum, puffing out his chest. “Und der
shampion amadoor mile runner vat iss.”

“Also,” bubbled Clancy, “one of the best boxers you ever
saw in a ring with a kangaroo.”

Villum’s proud look gave way to an expression of pain
and regret. i

co NOG: af alk nod at all! \” he. hastened to say. . “IT -yill
admit, py chincher, dot a kangarooer iss too many for me.”

“Where did you find Villum, Merriwell2” asked Brackett.
“I was tellin’ doc how ye was in Round Top lookin’
for him,”

“Bud Brackett isn’t the only eli that’s had tough luck
in this town,” said Frank, laughing. “When Villum went
back to get his coat a fellow met him and coaxed him to
go to the Home Ranch_—”

“Home Ranch?” put in the doctor.
town.”

“Yah, so hellup me,” agreed Villum, with much earnest-
ness, “it vas der vorst blace alretty vat I efer got in.”

“Who was the fellow that lured you to the place?” went
on the doctor.

“He was working for another fellow called Bullhead
Brewster,” said Frank.

Brackett started in his chair.

“Brewster!” he exclaimed. “Didn’t that cimiroon go on
’ to Ash Fork with the train?”

“No, Brackett, he stayed in Round Top just to make
trouble for me by abducting Villum. Brewster laid a
clever plan, and when Clancy and I stayed over to look
for Villum, we helped the plan along in great shape. That
was exactly what Bullhead Brewster wanted. First, he
schemed to have Dolan make a prisoner of —~”

“Dolan?” echoed Doctor Baxter.

“Dolan!” gulped Brackett, his startled eyes on the doc-
tor’s face.

“Yes,” continued Frank, amazed at the effect the name
had had on Baxter and Brackett. “Brewster seemed to
have five men helping him, and Dolan was one of them.”

“You, too,

“Worst hole in

“T wonder if Dolan is still in the Home Ranch?” mused
the doctor. “He may be the fellow who can tell us what
became of Sanderson’s letter.”

_ “No use going there to look for him,” said Frank. “But
how is Dolan mixed up with what happened to Brackett ?”

“T hired him to help take care of Sanderson. He’s a ‘wily,
panded person, but a pretty good nurse. I think he’s

, what was the use of drinking the liquor?

the one who tied about that letter and planned to get
hold of it. Ever since Sanderson died Dolan has -acted
rather queer. He was in the room when Sanderson gave
me the letter for Brackett and told me how valuable it
was. And then, when you and Clancy came to this office
and identified Brackett and I turned the letter over to him,
Dolan was skulking in the hall. I discovered that. dust
after you boys left to hurry to the train.”

The doctor paused and rubbed his chin fhoaeuaue

“Pretty clear case, don’t you. think,. Merriwell?” he
queried. “Dolan is a drinker and a gambler and thor-
oughly dishonest., He learns Sanderson has given me a
very important communication for Bud Brackett, and he
hangs around and sees Brackett receive the letter. Isn’t
it more than likely that Dolan had designs on that com-
munication I shouldn’t wonder at all if he was one of the
thugs who set upon Brackett and robbed him. I think
it would be well to ‘have the fellow arrested and Gere
tioned.”

“TI don't think it aig do a bit of good, ie ve Pele:

“Why not?”

“Well, Dolan seems to be hand. and ine with Bwihed
Brewster, and I don’t believe Brewster thinks much more
of Brackett than he does of me.” ie

“That's a, cinch,” struck in Brackett. “Maybe Brewster
and Dolan are in cahoots on that holdup, I happen to
know that Brewster wouldn’t balk at any little dodge of
that kind. Everybody knows he’s a robber.”

“You might-go on, Merriwell,” said. Doctor Baxter, ‘ ‘and
describe what took place in the Home Ranch. Perhaps
that would give us valuable information. I can’t say
that I really have much-hope of recovering that stolen
letter. If Dolan took it, he would be careful not to ‘keep
it in his possession, That would be dangerous, and Dolan
is clever enough to understand that part of it. He would
hide the letter until he got ready to make use of the in-
formation it contains. If this fellow, Brewster, is mixed
up in the affair, that merely ae it without helping |
us settle anything.”

Frank told how he and Clancy ea as ‘they thought,
“shadowed” Brewster to the Home Ranch, only to find
themselves locked in a room is the basement. —

“The hound was workin’ ye,” said Brackett,

“We found it out, pretty soon,” proceeded Frank.

He resumed his recital, telling how Bullhead Brewster
had lured him and Clancy to the basement of the grog shop
just to “get square’ for what happened at the Star A
Ranch. Merriwell explained .about the game, and how
Dolan had released Villum and brought him from an’ad-
joining room, Then followed the incident of the glass of
liquor and the fight. !

The doctor was following the young athlete’s words
attentively. His face reflected the admiration he felt over
the way Merriwell had conducted his part of the affair.

“You were willing to do a whole lot for your lost team-
mate, Merriwell,” he commented. “Breaking through ort
principles like that must have been pretty hard.”

“The poker game wasn’t really much of a game,’
Merriwell, smiling.

“You rebelled when it came to the whisky, eh?”

“Tt had to fight Brewster, anyway, I could see that, so
The fight did-
not last long. Brackett,” and Frank turned to the rustler,
“did you ever see a fellow use 3 Ae patna of his hat
for a pocket?”

Teaia:

 

 
 

NEW TPs TOP

“Lots 0’ cattlemen do that,” was the reply. “I do it my-
self, occasionally.”

“Well, Brewster had Somening in the sweatband of his
hat. I managed to get hold of it. You see, he threw off
his coat and hat, and when the hat struck the floor this

~object fell out of it. I wonder if you know what it is?”

Frank was laughing as he took a soiled white envelope
from his pocket and presented it to Brackett.

The latter gasped and fell limply back in his chair.

“Sanderson’s letter!” he whispered hoarsely.

CHAPTER XII,
BRACKETT’S HOPES REVIVE.

“Foxy Chip!” chuckled Clancy. . “So that’s the trick you
had up your sleeve, eh? What did you want to keep it
from me for?”

“Since I got hold of the letter, Red,” said Merriwell, ey
haven’t had much time to explain about it.’

“Has it been opened, Brackett?” asked the doctor, in
some agitation. ‘‘Here, let me see it. I can tell.’

He took the letter in his own hands and examined it

His face cleared.
“it hasn’t been tampered with. Prob-

closely.
“No,” he averred,

ably the gang hadn’t had time to give any attention to ~

the letter.. And Bullhead Brewster had it!
that he and Dolan were working together.”
“All that crowd we ran into at the Home Ranch must
have been working together,’ said Clancy. “No wonder
Brackett was badly pounded. There were six in the
gang.”

“The way I figure the matter out,’ observed Frank, “is
this: Brewster took the train at Prescott with the inten-
tion of going to Ash Fork

“To git even with you, Merriwell,” interjected Brackett.

“He said as much. Well, when the train was held up,
here at Round Top, Brewster came with the other pas-
sengers to spend the time seeing the sights of the carni-
val. He calls this town his ‘old stamping grounds,’ so it
must be that he is well acquainted here, among a certain
class. He fell in with Dolan pretty soon after he got off
_ the train, and Dolan told him about Brackett’s letter. That
gave Brewster something else to attend te; but he never
lost sight of his grudge against me. He kept track of
Villum and sent Dolan to lure him into the basement of
the Home Ranch. Dolan picked up those other chaps, and,
between them, they made a prisoner of, Villum——’

That proves

“But,” demurred Baxter, “while that was going on Dolan
was around this office, watching Brackett get his letter
trom men)

“I believe,’ said Merry, “that happened just before
Villum was met by Dolan and-taken to the Home Ranch.
Dolan couldn’t very well be in two places at the same time,
you know, so he must have made connections with both
ends of the. game somehow. While the train was waiting
for Villum, Brewster—so he said—was behind a pile of ties,
watching the railroad station. He heard Clancy and me
tell Horton that we would stay in Round Top, find Villum,
and then go on to Ash Fork on the night train. That
pleased Brewster, and he began planning to get hold of
me while Clancy and I were looking for our lost team-
mate.” i

“But where does the attack on me come in?” queried
Brackett.

 

Decirans ss pene See ne atest etaake sence ivr

_ assistance.

 

 

WEEKLY. 19
“That took place while Clancy and I were in the tent
where the boxing kangaroo is being exhibited. Brewster
left the railroad station and went to the Home Ranch,
where he found Dolan and the other four chaps who had
helped make a prisoner of Villum. All six of the fellows
set out to find Bracketf—and very likely they picked es
up as he left the doctor’s office.”

“I didn’t see Brewster when I come out,” said Bracken

“He’d be careful to keep out of sight, Brackett. They
must have followed you as you made your way toward that
boarding house. When a favorable spot was reached for
their work, the attack was made. Brewster took the letter
and put it in the sweatband of his hat, sent the rest of
the gang back to the Home Ranch, and then began look-
ing for Clancy and me. The crowd was thinning out on
the street by that time, and it wasn’t difficult for Brewster
to spot us. We had guessed that he was mixed up in
what happened to Villum, and he was pretty sure that’s
what we would think; so he trailed us along to the Home
Ranch.”

“Gee,” murmured Clancy, “my head’s busines By at-—
tending to two different games like that, Bullhead Brewster
must have been kept on the jump.”

“He was busy, but luck seemed to be coming his way.’

“I have no doubt, Merriwell, but that you have accounted
for what happened in a manner that approximates the
actual occurrences,” said the doctor. “It is at least close
enough to satisfy me. After all, you know,” and he
smiled, “the real important thing is that you have found
your lost teammate, and Brackett has recovered his letter.
We need not bother our heads very much regarding what

- Bullhead Brewster and Dolan did in carrying out their

nefarious schemes. A\ll’s well that ends well, and Bud
Brackett is even more in your debt than he was before.”

“I'll never forgit what ye’ve done for me, Merriwell,”
declared Brackett. “Whenever you take hold of anything
results seem to happen right off. I opine it must be the
Merriwell luck.”

“He iss a fine feller,’ declared Villum,
aboudt it.”

“I seem to have a knack of getting scoundrels like
Bullhead Brewster down on me,” said Frank, with a laugh.
“We'll have to make for the railroad station, I guess.
If we missed that night train, Horton would throw a
nity.

The boys said good-by to Brackett and the doctor, and
left the office with the best wishes of both of them.

“Keep an eye out for Bullhead Brewster when ye git
to Ash Fork,” warned Brackett.

“And if you ever happen to be in Round Top again,”
was the doctor’s last word, “don’t fail to call on me, Mer-

“und dot’s all

iwell.”

“Ve don’d come pack here some more, you bed my se ?

murmured Villum, when they had reached the street and
started for the station. “I haf hat moré as I can shtand
oof Round Top, und—und poxing kangarooers.”

Merriwell and Clancy echoed their Dutch teammate’s
sentiments.

~

THE END,

Once more Chip Merriwell calls the aéroplane to his
This time the efforts of the young athlete
are directed to the assistance of Bud Brackett, against
whom Chip, as told in a recent issue of this weekly, used
an aéroplane when he rescued a little girl whom Brackett

SES sre asus naman titer nooner rates seer a

 
X

20

NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

had kidnaped and held for ransom. You will read all
about Chip’s thrilling ride in the aéroplane, and other ad-
ventures in the story that you will find in the next issue

of New Tip Tor Weex ty, No. 60, out September 2oth, en-

_titled, “Frank Merriwell, Junior’s, Daring daca: or, The
" Legacy of Joe Sanderson.”

THE RUSSET GRIP.

By Frederick Courtenay Barber.

SYNOPSIS OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS.

Mrs. Mortimer Wynkoop, a beautiful and handsomely
gowned young woman, arrives at the hotel of the little
village of Lafayette ; the next morning she is found brutally
murdered in her room.

Nothing beyond her name is known, as she neglected
to give an address on signing the register, nor is there the
slightest clew to the murderer. However, two drummers,
Croyden and Callagan, are arrested on suspicion, and
the coroner, Wesley, | sends quietly to New York for David
Grant, a detective.

On ‘the night of the woman’s arrival the railroad station
is burned to the ground, and Croyden, visiting the ruins,
makes some vague inquiries for a russet grip.

David Grant arrives, and takes charge; and, while
searching the effects of the dead woman, finds, in a_ small
Tusset bag, a torn envelope on which is written “Eunice
Cooper, Parquet National Bank.”

By an odd coincidence, he had that very morning col-
lided with a man who was hurrying out of the Parquet
Bank, with a bag exactly like the one he was examining.

Grant takes the envelope, and later manages, surrepti-
tiously, to compare the writing with Mrs. Wynkoop’s signa-
ture on the register.

While sitting in his room at the hotel on the evening of
his arrival, the detective sees, in the mirror, a face look-
ing in at ‘the window, and recognizes it as one he has
seen in a newspaper cut of the hotel and some of the
village officials.

The man has disappeared by the Aime Gann reaches the
window, but on the ground the detective finds a baggage
check from New York to Lafayette.

Later that same night, Grant, during the course of his
investigation, sees, through a, window, the station master,
Asquith, sorting and counting something which he takes
from a russet bag.

The next morning he follows the man to New York,
but goes to sleep, and loses him. On going to the Par-
quet National Bank, however, to interview the president’s
secretary, Miss Eunice Cooper, whose name and address

he has found among the dead woman’s effects, he sees

the station master standing with the empty bag before
the receiving teller’s window, having apparently just made
a deposit.

CHAPTER XIV.
CALLAGAN TAKES A DRIVE.

“See here, you,” said Callagan, as Barnley entered his
cell in the Lafayette lockup to také him before Coroner .
Wesley, “how much longer am I going to be kept in this
sweatbox ?”

“You'll have to ask the man isigtier up,” © said Barnley,
with a grin.

“Oh, I will, hey?” sneered the drummer. “Now, look
here, don’t you get too gay with me. Recollect I’mi not in
here for life, and when I get out the first thing I'll do

will be to get busy getting hunk for all this blamed non- -

sense. What time does this fool inquest ini ae
“Ten o'clock,”
“Am I the only witness?”

‘gan free, much to Barnley’s bewilderment.

pa

“Oh, no, quite a few of our leading citizens will be
called to the stand.”

“Where's that fellow Croyden?”

“He'll be there,” Barnley returned. “I’m going for him
as soon as/I turn you over to the sheriff.”

Callagan’s wrath did not cool on the way to the coro-
ner’s office, and it was increased a hundredfold when he
and Barnley were met by a messenger hurrying toward

the door with the information that the inquest had been

postponed for a week.

“Jimminetty!’ cried the drummer. “Do you mean to
say I’ve got to spend six more days in this jay burg?”

“Why, no, Mr. Callagan,’ boomed a big voice from in-
side the office, following which the coroner’s loose frame
filled the doorway. “I have decided to release you on
your own recognizance. All you’ve got to do is to give-
me, your word you'll be here next week for the inquest,
and you can go anywhere you like in the meanwhile.”

“Why, that’s mighty white of you, coroner,” said the
rapidly mollified traveling man. “That'll give me a chance
to make up for all the time I’ve lost so far. [ll just take
a Tun across the State and be back in a week.”

Wesley's signature on a red-sealed document set Calla-
The drummer
hastened to the hotel, packed a grip, and was on the side-
walk looking for a rig to take him to the next station,
when a well-dressed man, evidently a dweller in some
large city, drove around the corner and halted in front
of the inn.

“T’ll drive you over, Mr. Callagan,” said Detective Grant,
as he made room for the salesman beside him. “Jump in!”

“Why, yes,” said the drummer. “You've got something
on me when it comes to knowing names. But you don’t
look as if you had any two-thousand-dollar hunk of gold
to sell for ten dollars and seventy-five cents, and I don’t
suppose you've got any friend who is a sick engineer.”

The detective laughed.

“No,” he said. “I’m not selling anything to-day. I am
just driving over, and I thought you might like a lift.”

“T sure do,” said Callagan. “I’ve got to get right out
and hustle now. If I don’t do some business to make up
for this little vacation in the Lafayete rest cure, the firm
will give me a longer one. You from New York?” —

“Boston,” said the detective.—

“What you sellin’ ?”

“Nothing,” answered the sleuth. “I’m a buyer for a.
hair-and-wool concern, and I’m making the round of the
tanneries.” :

“T see,” said Callagan.
in this tank town?”

“Oh, so-so; couldn’t do much business,” answered Grant.
“Everybody a here is too busy trying to solve the
murder mystery.”

“Well, now yowre shoutin’,” said Callagan joyously.
“You sure have got the ring over the can with that crack; _
but did you ever see such a bunch of rubes? What they ©
don’t know about getting hep to crime would stock a a
negie library. Why, they arrested me!”

“No!” said Grant smoothly, as he flicked the MASS lightly
and let out a loop in the reins.

“That's what,” said Callagan angrily.

“Well, what luck have you had

“The minute I

“stepped into the lobby after ? found the woman dead;

not only that; but-———”
“Yes?” returned Grant eae
“They pinched another traveling man suet because he wa3

 

 
 
   
 

  
 
   

' in the house the night of the murder. Why, I was talking
to him in the bar up to a few minutes before he hit the
hay.”
“What sort of looking fellow is he?”
“Easy-going, swell dresser, only he wears an Alpine hat.”
“What’s his name?”
“Crawden, or Croyden—something like that.”
“Where does he come from?”
_ “I don’t know. Selling’some novelty or specialty. Never
met him on the road before.”
“What do you think of the case?” asked the detective
carelessly.
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Callagan, “I’m sick of the
whole thing. If they hadn’t queered themselves by ar-
\ resting me, I might have told them one or two things,
but, as it is, ’m hanged if I’ll help ’em.”

“Know anything about it at all?”

“All I know is that some time after midnight I heard a
noise behind the hotel like an automobile on the slow
speed. My room was at the other end of the hall from
Mrs. Wynkoop’s. I looked through the shutters and saw
a peach of a limousine standing directly beneath her win-
dow. I watched it for a few minutes, but I didn’t see
anything else, and, as I was pretty sleepy, I went to bed.”

“You didn’t see anybody with the car?”

“No,” answered the drummer. —

“Well,” said Grant, reining in the horse at the station,
“here’s where you get out, I suppose. Good luck to you!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER XY.

THE RUSSET GRIP AGAIN.

 

 

 

 

 

The detective sat in the buggy watching Callagan until
the drummer entered a car and the train moved off. Then
he gave his horse another smart flick and drove back to
the village and to the rear of the Moccasin Inn.

He hitched the horse in the woods, and got out of the
_ buggy. This time he did not walk along the little street

' that ran wild at the back of the hotel; instead, he threaded
the copse on its outer side and examined the ground.

Evidently his search was disappointing, for after half
an hour he turned toward the rig. He was about to un-
hitch the horse, when he caught sight of a man approach-
ing from a point a quarter of a mile deeper in the woods.
Apparently the man did not see the detective. Swinging
| what seemed to be a satchel, he was walking rapidly along
| a winding path that would lead him to the back street a
short distance from the hotel.
|
|
|

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a few seconds, he passed from view behind a clump
of trees that still retained enough of their foliage to screen
i him, and Grant, one hand on the halter, waited for the
- pedestrian to come from behind the clump.

{ 4 He waited in vain. What he saw instead was the flee-
1 ing figure of a taller man, one of whose hands gripped
il something that looked like a satchel.

\e ! Leaving the horse tied, Grant dashed into the woods in
4 | pursuit of the fugitive. The detective was a pretty good

a sprinter, but the tall man had longer legs, and, after a half

. ih mile or more, Grant gave it up.

‘ 1 He had some difficulty in making his way back, for the

f woods in that part were thick, but a whinny from the
horse guided him, and he returned toward the rig along
the path that had been followed by the man he had first
seen.

 
 

     

CERT or eC See

=

NEW Tip TOP WEERLY. ay

As he half expected, Grant found beside the clump of
trees the sharp-featured station master of the Scranton &
Wilkesbarre—the mati whose face had caught his eye in
the group of villagers in the newspaper illustration.

Asquith was sprawled face downward on the path, quite
unconscious. The fingers of one hand were twisted and
torn as if something had been wrested from them with
great violence, and a thread of blood trickled slowly from
a cut in the back of his head.

Asquith was a big man, but the detective was stronger
than he looked, and he half dragged, half carried the un-
conscious station master to the buggy, and pulled him into
it, ‘Then he unfastened the horse and drove rapidly along
the side street toward the main thoroughfare.

As he turned into the other fork of the road, something
lying beside the footpath caught his eye. Stopping the
horse, but still holding the reins, Grant got out and picked
it up. It was a brown bag, wide open, empty, and from <
ene end the gloss had been burned or washed or rubbed
away.

An alert gleam lighted the detective’s eyes as he sprang
into the buggy and droye at top speed to the hay and
feed store, where he found Coroner Wesley taking his
ease in an armchair.

“Where’s the nearest doctor, coroner?” called Grant
from the buggy.

“Just a little way down the street,” answered Wesley.
“What's happened?”

“Jump in, will you, and help me get this man there?”
said the sleuth, and, as the coroner complied, Grant added:
“After we get him safe in bed in a doctor’s care, ] wish
you'd make out a commitment paper for him,”

“For Bill Asquith?” asked Wesley amazedly.

“For William Asquith.”

“Vou don’t think he did it, do your”

“l’m not doing any thinking right now. This case is
keeping me busy trying to get so that I know things.”

“Bill Asquith!” exclaimed the coroner, overwhelmed by
his astonishment. “Why, say, Grant—well,” with a shrug, .
“it’s in your hands.”

In a short time Mr, William Asquith was as snugly and
drowsily contented in his own bed as if he never had
stayed away overnight sorting and stacking and counting
something taken out of a brown bag by the light of a
railroad lantern.

CHAPTER XVI
THE EMBEZZLEMENT.

Croyden tried many times in vain to obtain release pend-
ing the inquest. Again and again. he asked the coroner to
admit him to bail, but on Grant’s advice that official re-
fused.

The body of Mrs. Mortimer Wynkoop was buried in
Lafayette’s small graveyard, for, despite the broadcast
publicity given to the mystery, no one came forward as
relative or friend of the dead woman.

Her gold-and-brown loveliness, however, was not doomed
to the obscurity of the public burial plot. Just at the time
when the village undertaker, under the coroner’s reluctant
order, was preparing for the funeral, a bank note for five
hundred dollars was received by Wesley through the mail
in an enyelope addressed in typewriting.

Tt also contained a plain sheet of paper with the type-
22 : 7 NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

7

written line, “For the proper interment of Mrs. Mortimer
Wynkoop.”

' Enough was left from the fund to raise a Wine heads
stone above the grave, with a simple inscription, and the
case had already been relegated to secondary importance in
_ the newspapers, when Grant returned to New York and
paid a second visit to the Parquet National Bank—this time
to the president.

“Mr. Bransom,” said the detective courteously, “you'll
find the defalecation occurred less than a month ago,”

Mr. Bransom stared. He still held in his hand the neat
card that had gained for Detective Grant prompt admit-
tance to the financier’s luxurious private office, and, while
Bransom stared, Grant did a little looking on his own
account. uw

‘The detective apparently kept his eyes on the bank presi-
dent, but he found time for rapid-fire glances toward the
corner of the room where Miss Eunice Coopery private
secretary to the president, was clicking off transctiptions of
Mr. Bransom’s dictation.
_ “What do you mean?”
the detective.

“T mean,” answered Grant, “that the quarter million dol-
lars missing from the vault really was, as you suppose,
stolen within the month.”

“I assumed,” said the president curtly,
had a serious purpose. My time is of value, Mr. Grant.’

“So is mine,” retorted the young crime hunter.
it the quarter million is of some value, too.”

“What quarter million?”

‘“What quarter million? I think you said your time was
valuable, Mr. Bransom.”

“See here, young man,” returned the bank president
coldly, “anybody from the Sleepless Eye Detective Agency
who comes into this office is supposed to come on business.
The Parquet National Bank pays an annual retainer for
- such protection against fraud and dishonesty as that bureau
may be able to give.

The banker still stared hard at

“that your visit

OOF a
T take

“When I read the agency’s name on that card, I took it
for granted you had information to give me that would in-
terest me as a banking man) It will ‘not be necessary, I
take it, for me to push this button to have some one show
you the way out. The corridor leads directly to the street
door. Good morning!’

Grant glanced at the girl in the corner of the room, ne
though he appeared still to fix his regard upon her em-
ployer, he lost no tiniest detail of the perturbation that
made her drop her notebook, clash the keys of her type-
writer, and at length send a stack of letters fluttering to
the floor.

“T have seen self-possession in my time, President Bran-
som,” said he, “but until to-day I have never enjoyed the
privilege of looking upon anything half so superb as yours.

I don’t understand your object, but that is beside the ques--

tion. Of course, you don’t really mean to tell me you are
not aware that your bank, for the first time in its his-
tory, has been looted ?”

“It is very well for you, young man,” returned the
banker sternly, “that you made that remark in my private
office. Had you uttered it anywhere outside this building,
it would be my painful duty to take legal steps against poe
in the name of the institution.”

Grant, still watching Miss ee covertly, teplied with
a low whistle. :

“If you'll send for your cashier, Mr. Bransom, you will
find that my knowledge of your institution’s affairs is,
seemingly, a little more intimate than your own. If you'll
permit me to do so, I’ll put a question or two to your
cashier, and I’m strongly of the opinion that if he an-
swers cag! he will enlighten you to an astonishing
extent.”

ip ought to have you taken ou a the bank,” said 2

Bransom angrily; “but the good name of a financial in-
stitution is something so sensitive that I cannot afford to
let even a lunatic breathe upon it lightly.”

He pressed a push button, and, when a liveried attendant
appeared, said:

“Ask Mr. Blair to come here.”

Donald Blair responded briskly to the summons from
his chief.

“You sent for me, Mr. Bransom?” |

“At the request of this young man, yes,”
banker, “and he is——”

“Detective Grant, of the Sleepless Eye Agena” said the
sleuth himself, adding: ‘Mr. Blair, when did the short-
age in the books begin?”

The youthful cashier looked mutely at the presided
Bransom nodded grudgingly.

“T have consented that a few questions be put to you.”

“Am I to answer them fully?” asked Blair.

“Why, of course,” answered the financial man.

“About three weeks ago,” said Blair, turning to Grant.

replied the

CHAPTER XVII.
~, THE INQUIRY.

~ Bransom’s face became scarlet. He stared at Blair as

if he never had seen that young man before, and, when
he turned his eyes toward Grant, it was with a dazed look
that left in the detective’s mind no doubt of his sincerity.

That the Parquet National Bank could be robbed of
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars without the theft
coming to the knowledge of its president seemed incredible
to that official. :

-But there was no questioning Blair’s assertion. The
young cashier was telling the truth in such obvious distress
that no confirmation could be required.

Not for an instant did President Bransom suspect Blair
in connection with the embezzlement>” He was a shrewd
reader of men, and, in promoting this extremely young man
over the heads of the paying and receiving tellers from
an assistant 'tellership to the position of cashier, he was
convinced that he had acted wisely.

Bransom was nettled, however, by the fact that Blair
had left him in the dark in regard to the embezzlement.
He should have been the first to have been made ac-
quainted with the.disappearance of so large an amount.

“How comes it,” he asked, “that this is the first I have
heard of it?”

Blair glanced at Grant.

“Excuse me,” said the cashier. “I understood I was to
be questioned by this gentleman.” The detective nodded
approvingly, and remarked to Bransom:

“Possibly you had Dorie let me interrogate Mr. Bia
Se

‘Bending his eyes steadily on the young man, Grant
added:

“I may as well tell you right now that everybody- in

 

 
 

ata it isn’t i cleok ie aoa just why " refrained
m confiding in Mr. Bransom.”
‘lL may have acted mistakenly,’ Blair explained, “but I
10 trace the funds. I thought I could do both a little better
£ '. delayed a formal investigation of the books.”

/“Ftewe you any one in mind?” asked Grant.

'“I had every one in mind,” Blair replied, “until, one by

one, I convinced myself of the innocence of almost every-
‘body in the bank.”

“Do you suspect any one now?”

“I cannot say I do.”

“Then your investigation has cleared every one of sus-
picion?”

NO.

“And yet you suspect no one?”

“I can’t exactly use so strong a word as suspicion. It
ounds too much like accusation.”

“Come, come, Mr..Blair,” said Grant impatiently,. still
autiously observant of Miss Cooper’s agitation. “It is

vevident one person, at least, in the institution has not dem-

vonstrated his innocence, or, I should say, you have not

y made the demonstration for him,”

y “More than one,”

hind his back and fixing his eyes upon the carpet.

” “So? How many?” ;

Grant glanced. at the president, the president’s secretary,
nd the cashier.

“Three,’ answered the cashier,

“You have sifted them down to that number?”
_ “Yes, of all the persons in the bank there are only three
pro have not been shown by my private inquiry to be
‘beyond the possibility of connection with the theft,”

“Who are they?” asked the detective.

Bransom by this time was so absorbed in the detective’s
examination of the cashier that, elbows planted in the
middle of his desk, his plump face gripped. in his. hands,
he leaned far forward, watching them unblinkingly.

“Ts it necessary for me to answer that question now?”
asked Blair. —

“Of course,” growled Bransom. “How much longer do
you suppose we want the facts concealed ?”

Grant strolled to Miss Cooper’s desk, and, stooping,
picked up from the floor beside it an envelope from which
ome corner had been torn, The upper left-hand corner
was intact, and bore a return address in script.

As the detective, with a slight bow, laid the envelope on
the stenographer’s desk, his eyes seemed to photograph
the written words.

Eunice Cooper apparently noticed his interest im the bit

_ of paper, for she hastened, though with seeming care-
' lessness, to drop a letterhead over the envelope, and, as
_ she did so, she thought she saw a faint smile skim his
face. Turning away, Grant said to Blair:

“I think it would be better for you to take us completely
\ into your confidence now. We may be of assistance to you
| in clearing the three persons your inquiry i failed to

acquit, or—in fixing the guilt.”

“What I have to say will aSenie you,’

cashier.

Bransom’s face turned. a oe crimson.

“T want the exact facts,’ he said.

_ “Again I must remind you,” Blair corrected, “that 1 am
' not about to relate facts. I’m not even going to voice sus-

replied Blair, clasping his hands be-

“You mean to say.

* cautioned. the

23

picions. All I have to: tell you in connection with the
three names I will mention is that I have not found evi-
dence making it impossible that their owners be guilty of
the embezzlement.” se

“In other words, Mr. Blair,’ Grant interposed, “any one
of the three persons you’re going to name could have
stolen the quarter million dollars?”

“Just so,’ assented the cashier.

“Well,” grumbled the president, “let’s have ’em.” He
dug the point of an ivory letter opener into his blotter
so far that, the blotting paper tearing ander the strain,
the blade slipped and scattered his pens on the floor.

CHAPTER XVIII.
BLAIR NAMES THREE.

For several moments there was silence, while tai
looked from one to the other gravely.

“One of the persons. not yet cleared by my investigation,”
he said at length, “is Walter Coston.”

“One of va new bookkeepers, isn’t he?” asked Bran aber’

Meg. Shiu

“lL don’t see how he could have got to the money.”

“I don’t see that myself,” returned Blair. “The only
point about him is that I have not convinced myself abso-
lutely of his inability to lay hands om it. Embezzlement
takes strange forms, Mr. Bransom. An instance of ex-
ceptional strangeness can happen in the most carefully con-
ducted financial imstitution.”

“That’s so,’ Bransom conceded grudgingly.

Grant nodded agreement with the remark,

“Who’s next?” asked the detective.

“President Bransom.”

“What!” shouted the head of the Parquet. National.

”

“I mean merely what I say in connection with young
Coston. I have not satisfied myself that it would have
been impossible for you to get the money.”

“Why, of course I could get the money ” eried Bran-
som. “All I’d have to do right now would be to ring -
this bell and. order all the assets in the building brought to
my desk.”

“Undetected I mean, of course,” Blair explained.

“Quite so,” said Grant. “As I understand it, Mr. Bran-
som, we’re trying to narrow things down to the persons '
who might have got the two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars without being caught in the act.”

Bransom’s. face returned to a hue more nearly normal,
but it was manifest that even in that impersonal and col-
lective way he did not relish association of his name with
the possibility of embezzlement. Miss Cooper, in her re-
mote corner, gazed at the president anxiously, her fingers
drumming the keys of her typewriter in a nervous fashion.

“Well, Mr. Blair,” said Grant, in an urgent way, “you
have not told us the name of the third person.” ;

99

“It’s a name I dislike even more to connect with the
case;’” Blair answered, with a slight smile. Eunice turned
her eyes from the president’s face to his, and her lips
parted’ expectantly. One would say she was about to
speak.

“Who is the third person not yet cleared?” asked the
detective.

“Donald Blair,” said the young cashier,
straight in the eyes.

looking him

 
s

24 NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

“Yourself ?”

“Exactly.”

“Surely you don’t mean——”

“Surely I do’mean precisely what I say. There are three
persons whose innocence has not been established beyond
the shadow of a doubt, as I see it. -One is young Coston,
another Mr. Bransom, and I am the third.”

+

’ CHAPTER XIX.
GRANT NAMES A FOURTH.

Grant studied the young cashier’s face keenly.
he said admiringly, “‘you’re a cool one.”

“What do you mean?” asked Blair quickly.

“Why,” the detective rejoined, “you’re cashier of this
bank. You keep to yourself as well as you can the knowl-
edge that it has been looted of a quarter million dollars;
then you calmly tell us your own innocence remains to be
‘proven. That seems to me very much like saying that you
suspect yourself.” |

“It seems, sir,” was. Blair’s reply, “that I must impress
upon you, too, the distinction I made—that I am not giy-
ing voice to suspicions, but merely am relating the nega-
tive result of my inquiry into the theft.

“Of course I know I didn’t steal the money, but you don’t
know it, and President Bransom doesn’t know it, and the
district attorney and the grand jury, and a few dozen
others are equally ignorant of the fact. If it comes to a
show-down, I can’t clear myself. It will take evidence
other than mine to:acquit me, if suspicion happens to point
my way. f

“Now, what I’m endeavoring to make plain to you is
that Iam not in possession of that evidence, any more
than I have found similar evidence in regard to President
Bransom, or the bookkeeper.”

The keen impersonality of the youthful cashier amazed
all who heard him. Bransom stared at him in astonish-
ment; Grant in undisguised admiration, and Miss Cooper
with an expression in which awe was blended with a softer
feeling.

“Mr. Bransom,” said Grant, “you Ue heard what Mr.
Blair has said to you. Now I’m going to tell him some-
thing.”

He turned a stern face to the cashier.

“Mr. Blair,” he continued, “you have had ample oppor-
tunity to be frank with your chief and with me. For a
reason that remains to be explained, and which I may tell
you strikes me as being ashighly ‘important reason, you
have not seen fit to improve your opportunity. You have
not been candid; Mr. Blair. When you said there were
three persons whose innocence your inquiry had not es-
tablished, you did not tell the truth. You did not mention
one other.”

“Well,”

Blair paled, Eunice Cooper ware from her chair, and,

supporting herself by a hand that rested heavily on her
machine, extended the other toward the cashier with a
supplicating gesture. Bransom, his interest trebled, leaned
farther forward across his desk, and swept with his eyes
the faces of the three who stood before him.

“Shall I utter the neglected name myself?” asked Grant,
his eyes fixed on Blair.

“It isn’t—I don’t see that it’s necessaty—oh, do as you
please,” replied the cashier,
“You wouldn’t rather mention it yourself: 2 persisted

the sleuth. Blair was silent. “Very well” continued

_ Grant, “Pll tell you who the other uncleared person is.”

“Donald! Donald!” screamed the girl in the corner. of
the room, stretching both hands toward her lover Avith
terror ther eyes, “Don't [eb him —— :

“Miss Eunice Cooper, secretary to the-president of this
bank,” Grant continued coldly. “She-is the person you.
sought to shield, Mr. Blair. Perhaps you'll explain why
you withheld her name, when you were urged to talk vith

perfect frankness.”

Blair, with faltering steps, started toward the girl, as if *

_he expected her to collapse and meant to catch her in his

arms; but she stiffened as he approached, retreated to her
chair, and bowed her head upon the typewriter, further
hiding her face with arms that straggled pitifully across
the disordered desk. Blair passed a tremulous hand across
his forehead, and slowly turned toward the bank’president.
Bransom’ averted his face. The silence was tense until
Grant, having waited vainly for a response, stepped briskly
to the cashier’s side, and, laying a hand upon his shoulder,
said:

“Mr, Blair, I shall have to ask you to come with me.
Miss Cooper, please don’t attempt to leave the city without
my permission. You will be under continuous surveillance,
and it will be impossible for you to get away. Mr. Bran-
som, the bureau chief will submit to you.a full report on’
this case in a day or two. Meanwhile, I suggest you say
nothing of the defalcation; it may not be necessary to take
the public into your dee until you are ready to turn.
the thief over to the authdrities.” ae

“You expect, then,” said Bransom, striving vainly to con- .
trol his agitation, “to make an arrest shortly ?”

“I cannot answer that question now,” replied the detec-
tive. “Or perhaps I can answer it by requesting you to
send an officer of the bank or a trusted employee to a.
little place in Pennsylvania on receipt of a telephone mes-
sage from me.”

“For what purpose?” inquired the president. 4
“Identification,” ‘said Grant briefly. “Whom are you
likely to send?” 5
“Since you are taking Mr. Blair away,” answered Bran-
som, “the next person to send would be Mr. Richard Pair-.

child, our paying teller.”

“He'll do very well,” replied Grant, and, with a ee
at the weeping girl in the corner, he hooked his arm in.
Blair’s, and walked in a leisurely way out of the presi-.
dent’s room.

TO BE CONTINUED,

GYMNASTIC EXERCISE AND MANUAL
STRENGTH. .
Gymnastic exercise at regular intervals develops gen-
eral muscular strength far more than constant -manual
labor. Of course, in moderation, the exercise of any

-mhuscle, or muscles, is conducive to their higher develop-

ment, as in the blacksmith we find the muscles of the
arms are improved in size and quality, in the pedestrian’
the muscles of the legs, and in the boating man the muscles
of the arms and chest, but monotonous manual work is
provocative of fatigue, and when fatigue sets in deteriora-

tion of the tissues commences, and mtiscular wasting is

the result. ‘There is no more common form of mischief

among hard-working mechanics than muscular atrophy, and

this proceeds not from exercise of the muscles, but over-

 

 

 

 
     
 

work. iaaeeee exercise, ae at_the gymnasium or
_the workshop, is beneficial and develops strength, but ex-
iy cess of exercise, inducing fatigue, is injurious. One great
a advantage of gymnastic exercise is ‘that, by it, all the
‘muscles of the body are brought into play, whereas at
7 manual work only a few are used.

   
   

 

 

THE HAUNTED HULL.

A DETECTIVE STORY.

 

pe By Lewis C. Johnston,

, We were uitne upon the piazza of the St. Charles
; pe! Hotel, in New Orleans, engaged in story-telling. The turn
| had passed round, and come to_a middle-aged man named
\ Alfred Marsh, who had listenéd without speaking, and
IE was about to leave us, but we would not permit him, with-
t out first telling a story. I give it in nearly his own words.
) “Well, my friends, since you insist upon it,” he said, “I

) will relate a little incident which happened to me in my
_ younger days.

“I was a New York detective, had been but lately ap-
| pointed, and had not rendered any important service as
yet. One day the chief called me into his office and
Said: ‘
| ““My young friend, I have a duty for you, which I trust

/ you will perform with caution and dispatch. The city is
_ flooded with counterfeit bills, and the efforts of the police
"have proved unavailing to discover from where and how
they come. My idea is that Boston is the nest. You will
A eo 8 proceed there, and use all your efforts to discover
the counterfeiters.’

“IT considered myself fortunate in being selected for
i this service, when older heads than mine had failed, and
| without losing any time, I took the train for Boston.

_ <I put up at a little house in T—— Street, and day
| ! ‘after day passed. I was getting discouraged, when I was
' telegraphed to give up the seatch, and return to New
York. I packed up my clothes, took the train for Fall
River, and a boat from there to New York. The trip
_ through the Sound was delightful, and while passing C—,
# 61 got ashore. Unto this day I cannot tell the reason that

“induced me to land here, for the city of C—— is one of

the dirtiest places on the Sound.

“However, ashore I got, and walking up the principal
street, one moment stumbling against children sprawling
- on the sidewalk, or making mud pies in the gutter; and the
_hext, getting nearly knocked over by some infuriated

‘porker’ taking a notion to run between my legs—I at last

reached the hotel.

“Entering the barroom, I called for a glass of cider,
_and while sipping it, I listened to the conversation around
'me, for a detective learns as much by the use of his ears

as his eyes.

   

 

 

 

“All I have to say is,’ said One man, in a blue coat and
_brass buttons, ‘I don’t believe it?

“‘Don’t believe it! hear the man talk! exclaimed an-
other. ‘When Bill Dykes saw it and heard it?

Heard what?’ asked several newcomers, in a breath.

“Well, I spose you know,’ returned the man, ‘Bill
|| Dykes owed his landlord some rent, and not having money
y to pay him, was turned out into the street. Bill, having

§ nowhere else to go, thought he would sleep in the old boat
B at the wharf, and went in there last night. \

 
 

NEN W TIP TOR

  

WEEKLY. 25

“Going into the cabin, he lit a piece of candle that had
been given to him by somebody, and left it burning when
he went to sleep. He didn’t know how long he slept,
but he awoke very suddenly, and found his candle burned:
out. He was about to go to sleep again, when he heard
the most awful yeHs and groans; arid, starting up, he saw
a terrible skeleton pointing and grinning at him, enough to
scare the honest man out of his senses. Bill gave one
‘more look, and then rushed for shore, and he swears that
he will never sleep there again, if he has to lie in the
street!’

“During all this time, without saying a word, not that
I believed him, but I was amused with his gossip, had I
listened patiently. My mind was made up to sleep in the
hull the coming night, and endeavor to asi the mys--
ae if mystery there was.

“Never was I such an object of concern when I an-
nounced my intentions, and those who had laughed the
loudest at the narration were now the foremost to change
my purpose. But in vain; the’ ‘more they dissuaded the
more fixed I bécame.

“T had considered the stofy of Bill Diese as a fantasy
of a brain clouded with liquor, or else a trick had been
played upon the victim: probably the latter,

“‘Well, gentlemen,’ I said, ‘I am of the opinion that there
has been a trick played, and: I give warning that I carry —
a loaded revolver, and I shall use it on the alarm?

“They all declared they were not concerned in it; and
I then commenced my preparations for passing the aie
in such/a strange place.

“First of all, I withdrew the charges from my revolves
loading and capping afresh. Next, I prepared my dark lan- :
tern, and, having eaten my supper, I set out.

“I really believe three-fourths of ‘the population were
following at. my heels; men, women, and children were in-
discriminately mixed; some trying hard to restrain their
mirth; others moving slowly along as though they were
going to a funeral, with serious faces and downcast heads.
We arrivedat the wharf, and, having seen me board the -
vessel, the crowd turned away.

“The boat had undoubtedly been used as a eeaneneye
and had beefi a magnificent steamer in its day. With but.a~
brief glance at the deck, I went below to look for a place
to sleep, and soon saw a couple of boards thrown across
two logs, upon which, in the absence of anything better,
I meant to sleep.

“*This,’ I soliloquized, ‘is where Dykes slept, and here
where the ghost appeared to him; therefore, if the ghost
appears again, he is likely to come to this place.’

“I then threw myself on the boards, and composed my-
self for sleep, having first shut the slide of my lantern,
and placed my revolver where I could reach it in a mo-
ment. The strangeness of my situation banished sleep
from my eyes for a time; and it was not until I heard the
clock of a neighboring church strike eleven, that I fell
into a doze. :

“T must have slept an hour, when I was awakened by
a loud groan, which seemed to proceed from the opposite
side of the room—if room it could be called. I started to
my feet, and there, facing me, I plainly saw a ghastly,
grinning skeleton.

“Who are you? I cried, ‘man or spirit, speak, or I
fire’; at the same time cocking and presenting my revolver. ©
No answer was returned, and with a steady hand ‘I fired.

“One! the smoke cleared away, and there, grinning and

  
26

ghastly as before, stood the skeleton. Two! this time a
voice camé from the specter, and I paused to listen before
I fired the third time.

““Rash mortal, beware!”

“The voice paralyzed me, and my trembling finger
pressed the trigger, sending another leaden messenger at
the phantom, who appeared to mind it as little as though
they were only so many peas. Flinging down my revolver,
I rushed for the deck, his ghostship having condescended
to hasten my exit by sundry groans and peals of ghostly
laughter.

- “I soon recovered from my alarm, and, remembering my
revolver and lantern, I determined to get them, and de-
scended below for that purpose. Without looking toward
the place where the object of my alarm had appeared, I
picked up my lantern and revolver, ‘and turned toward
the ghost, slowly turning the slide of my light, and as it
- became brighter the ghost faded away.

“With the disappearance of the specter, my alarm sub-
sided, and I proceeded to examine the apartment; but,
finding nothing was to be seen, and leaving my lantern
burning, I went to sleep.

' “With the sun, 1 awoke, and blowite out my light,
I proceeded to make a more minute search than I had done
the night before.

“On examining the place where the ghost had appeared,
{T found the marks of my bullets through the boards, and,
confident that I could not discover the solution of the
mystery, and- knowing I had done all that could be done
for that purpose, I was turning away, when I was saluted
with a groan that would not have done discredit to Ham-
let’s father.

“This rather Pigitened x me, and I was debating with my-
self whether to take to my legs and run, or stay and face
it out, when groan number two sounded, and, strange as
it may appear, it determined me to stay.

“The groans appeared to come from where the mouth
of the ghost had been, and advancing toward it, I found
two rows of small gimlet holes. Here was a clew; but
without waiting to examine further, I went ashore, “
proceeded toward the house of the mayor.

“On: the way I was met by nearly all the people in the
place, asking if I had slept well, or had seen the ghost.
Without answering their questions, I gained admission to
the mayor, related what I had seen, and requested a
posse of men to examine the old hull effectually.

“This was'soon granted, and I on my way back, the
inhabitants, a third time, following after me. These
stopped on arriving at the wharf, and posting a guard
around to let no one escape, with about a dozen men I
entered the hull.

“Directing one of the men to bring me an ax, I plied
blow after on the boards, until they gave way with a
crash, disclosing a leaden pipe, reaching down into the
hold.

“Following the pipe, we eame suddenly upon a party
of men, who were so busily PaasERH that they had not
heard our approach.

“Some were hammering metal; others were clipping and
milling a large number of what appeared to be gold pieces;
some engaged in altering bills and subjecting them to some
- chemical’ process. In fact, it was the very gang of whom
‘I was in search.

“Going softly up behind the man who ae to he.

_ appear elevated above its true position.

NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

the director, I awe my hand on his one and ‘said:
‘You are my prisoner.’ a

“The whole gang sprang to their feet, but seeing thir-
teen men, with as many revolvers, confronting them, they
surrendered. Securing our prisoners, we took possession
of all the coin and tools and marched to the jail, where —
the counterfeiters were placed for safe-keeping, and then
I returned to the hotel, packed my baggage, and was
teady to return to New York.

“The next morning saw me en route for New a
where I soon arrived with my prisoners.

“The mystery of the hull was not yet solved, and un- —
willing to let slip an opportunity for explanations, I asked
one of the prisoners how they had personated the ghost.

“He told me a liberal use of phosphorus on the wall,
marked like a skeleton, had been given; the pipe was used
to speak and groan through.

“I rather astonished the chief when I ushered in ay.

prisoners, informing him that I’ had been successful, and 1

received my due share of thanks for having accomplished
my object.” i

HOW TO DYE SMALL SKINS BLACK.

Small skins with the fur on, such as those of rabbits,
hares, et cetera, may be dyed black in this way: Boil one
ounce of logwood, quarter of an ounce of sumac, and a
dram of copperas in four pints of water. Put your fur
into the liquid, give it a boil, rinse it, and pass it through
alum water. Rinse it again, and hang out to dry.

THE MIRAGE.

The most remarkable optical phenomena is the mirage
(pronounced mi-razh). The appearance is that of a double
image of the object in the air—one of the images being —
in its natural position, and the other inverted, SOLaSG ta
give the appearance of a distinct reflection in the water. —
The mirage is produced when the rays of light are un-
equally refracted in the lower strata of. the atmosphere.
The surface of the earth or sea becomes heated, and trans-

mits a portion of its heat to the layer of air lying directly |

above it, which thus becomes less dense than the superin-
cumbent layers. When rays of light pass from an object in __
the heated layer, they are bent downward, and thus ar-
rive at the end in such a direction as to make the object
In the whale
fishery, ships are often seen. and sometimes recognized
at considerable distances by means of the mirage.

ORIGIN OF HANDSHAKING.

There are several explanations of its origin in the early
days of the Middle Ages, when every one went about
fully armed, and men were compelled to be constantly
on the lookout against treacherous attacks. By grasping
one another’s right, or sword hands, men who met as-
sured themselves against a sudden and unpremeditated
attack, and, therefore, this shaking of hands came to be
‘recognized as the general form of friendly greeting,
continuing, as is the case with so many of our other

customs, long after the original cause for it had ceased — i

to operate. In feudal times the vassal put his hands in
the hands of his feed on oe the stele of es and
homage. —

 

 
      

oS

~ OD Fe bt OQ SS

~
2

ee ey

   

  
 

   

 
  

   
 

 

NEWS

 
 

NEW. TIP TOP WEEKLY.

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

 

  

   

Six-thousand-mile Trip for Movie Films.
The longest automobile tour so far undertaken by mo-
on-picture enterprise was started recently by Dustin Far-
m, William Elliott, and Walter Hale, of New York, who
left the Hotel Wagram, in Paris, France, in two big Ameri-
can cars for a 6,000-mile trip around southern Europe.
Before leaving New York the motion-picture rights of
two well-known plays were obtained, which will be pro-
duced with the necessary foreign backgrounds. Mr. Far-
hum will play the leading characters, assisted by Helen
Bertram, Rosina Henley, Frederick Kley, and others, who
are traveling with the party, which is directed by Mr.
Elliott. Mr. Hale is to select the artistic environment in
which the characters will appear.

The tour will include towns of France, the Riviera, and
Italy, and on the way back pictures will be made on the
Adriatic shores and in the Tyrol.

  
  
 

 
  

  
     
    
   
  
 

Boy, 13, Editor of Weekly Papert.
Search for the youngest editor actively engaged in the
' publication of a newspaper in Arkansas has resulted in
the discovery of one who will not be 14 years old until
September, Prentice Lackey has the other youngsters
beaten several years.

Editor Lackey is the son of J. P. fecey. mayor of Cave

Springs. He was born near Heber Springs, Clebourne
_ County, and has lived in Benton County three years. He
is editor and publisher of the Cave Springs Progress, a six-
column, six-page weekly.

“T always thought I would like to be a printer,” he said.
“Abotit a year ago I was offered a position in the Progress
| office. I worked two months for nothing to learn the
\ trade, until school started, and then at night and went to

    
  
   
   
  

  
 

| signed. I told the owner I would try to run the papef.
) He offered to give me all I could make if I would make
» good. I have been running it for two months.”

— Eats Eleven Pies and Then Dies.

i Caleb Evans, of Walden, Colo., said he never felt better
| in his life, a few moments after consuming eleven pies in
’ ten minutes at a pie-eating contest. An hour later he
died.

 

Bees Attack Trapped Man.

When William Coffin, of. Slatington, Pa., attempted to
hive a swarm of bees that flew from the apiary of William
Kuhns they started to sting him. Coffin fell part way down
the tree, breaking an arm, and hung suspended 50 feet

 

_ above ground, caught in the fork of a branch. For more
than an hour, until arrangements could be made for his
rescue, he was stung by thousands of the angry insects.
He is in the Palmerton Hospital, his body swollen to double
its normal size, and so badly poisoned by the stings that
)} his chances for recovery are said to be slight.

Miss ‘Bessie McIntyre, 18, of Wheeling, W. Va., was
jilted recently by Harry Pendleton, a well-known young
business man, from. whom she had received attention for

school in the day. After school was out the editor re-_

Dresses as Boy, Wins Het Rival, Z

two years. He simply told her he had become engaged to
another girl. This other girl proved-to be Miss Henrietta
Aiken, of Bridgeport, Ohio, just across the river from
Wheeling.

Although failing to understand her request, Miss Mc-
Intyre’s parents gave her-permission to have her hair cut
off. Then she donned a suit of her brother’s clothing,
visited Bridgeport, and through a friend met Miss Aiken.

It was a case of love at first sight on the part of the
Bridgeport girl. Miss McIntyre, who was masquerading
as “Lawrence Dessing,” was a devoted lover, and every
night found “Lawrence” at the Aiken home.

On a recent Sunday night, while “Lawrence” and Miss
Aiken were sitting on the front porch of the latter’s home,
Pendleton appeared and demanded to know why another
had usurped his place. Spurred on by her new-found —
suitor, Miss Aiken angrily dismissed Pendleton and or-
‘dered him never to see her again. She then confessed her
love for her “Lawrence.”

The next night Miss McIntyre, dressed in a gown of the
latest mode, met Miss Aiken on Market Street, Wheeling.
The recognition was mutual. Before Miss Aiken could
speak, Miss McIntyre gloatingly told her how she had re-
venged herself. In a moment the pair were at one another
and were only separated by the police. Both were dis-
charged in court with a reprimand.

Champion Poodle Butied in’ State.

Miss Elizabeth Blake, owner of the famous Castle
Ronald, at Newtown, Conn., is mourning the loss by death
of her pet Japanese toy poodle, which recently won the
world’s championship at the Waldorf-Astoria toy dog
show. The animal was said to be valued at $6,000.

Miss Blake fed the dog upon the choicest of food and
provided a special maid for his care. -Two veterinary sur-
geons and the family physician attended the dog when he

-was seized with a fatal malady. The body of the animal

was embalmed, and with the ceremonies usually attending
the burial of the dead, a haridsome coffin was lowered into
a grave beneath the castle walls.

\ Teaching Bright Children,

“It is often the exceptionally bright child, even the
genius, whom we find on the wrong side,” says Doctor
Maximilian P. E. Groszmann, discussing the education of
exceptional children in the annual report of the United
States commissioner of education, just issued. “The stupid
and weak-minded criminal is not as dangerous as the clever
and intellectual criminal.” ee

Doctor Groszmann urges that public attention be directed
to all types of exceptional children, not merely to the
feeble-minded and degenerate, who, no matter how unde-
sirable a factor they may be in society, are by no means
the whole problem. He points out that the problem of the
exceptional child is by no means merely the problem of the
“defective,” or the “subnormal,” or the “abnormal” child.

Often it is a case of misdirected ability on the’ part of
a gifted mind; or the problem of child growth and develop-
ment-as affecting criminal tendencies. Sometimes it is
vocational failure, due to improper vocational education; or
NEW _ TOP ‘WEERLY.

it may be a problem arising Hon racial dienes to-,

gether with the difficulties of social adjustment in a na-
tion which has grown through immigration.
Real progress, particularly in distinguishing between the

various types of exceptional children, is reported by Doc-

tor Groszmann. He considers the great lesson of the
year to be the need for intelligent, united effort on the
part of educators, medical men, social workers, charity or-
ganizations, welfare societies, juvenile courts, and other
agencies that have been active in the endeavor to remedy
early neglect of exceptional conditions. His point is that

each of these separate agencies is doing commendable

work, but that they must now join forces.

Doctor Groszmann asks compulsory education for all
children, “exceptional” as well as others. He declares we
need legislation which would establish the right of the
commonwealth to direct the education and training of every
child, and which would secure to the State and munici-
pality an authority which cannot be superseded by parental
prejudice.

Farmet Boy Won College Coutse,

The thing which our farmer boys need is incentive.
There would not be any back-to-the-farm problem if the

farmer father paused occasionally and looked at his world

through the eyes of his own farmer lad.

iNot many months ago a father and his son were out
splitting wood on their farm in Ohio. The boy had risen
that morning with a great longing in his heart. With the
warmth of the wood splitting came the warmth of cour-
age. He said:

“Father ?”

“Yes, my son.”

“To-day the Ohio Live Stock Association meets, down at
Delaware. There is to be a judging contest for boys.
Could I not go down and get in?”

The father straightened up. His eyes shone.

“Go and get ready, son. And, listen; if you can win
that silver cup, I'll send you down to Columbus to the
college of agriculture.” "

With this incentive—the achievement of his desire—the
young man entered the contest. He had not been going
to the Delaware pumpkin show all these years for nothing.
He had watched carefully the placing of the drafters and
the porkers, he had asked why. He had cultivated friend-
ship among the sons of the best stockmen in the country.
Their discussions had been to the point. Consequently
he had an idea of what was required in prize winners.

There were 21 contestants to try the lad’s steel. But he
won the cup and the college course.

Mirrors at Railroad Crossings,

Mirrors at road crossings for the use of warning auto-
mobiles are commencing to be used in England, it is stated,

and the results afe very good. They are being put in
places where the crossings are specially dangerous, says the
Scientific American, and the use of large mirrors allows
the driver to see the reflection of cars which are coming
in other directions.

The method will probably be extendéd in the future, as
it is likely to avoid many accidents and will be well worth
the small cost of putting in. Another use for mirrors is
upon heavy power wagons, where the driver cannot hear

‘the signals of automobiles back of him so as to have him
take the right-hand side of the road to allow them to

pass, for the noise of the power wagon often prevents fae
horn from being heard. ‘

It is proposed to fit the power wagons with small mir-
rors showing the back of the road, but were this to be
made obligatory, the mirrors might be imposed upon the
usual automobile cars as well, and this would give rise to
some objections from their owners. \

Bandits Who Killed Policemen Captuted.

The four bandits who killed two policemen and a stoker
at Warsaw, Russia, on June 8, and afterward escaped,
were stopped recently at the station of Sniadowo, on the
Vistula Railway, by two, policemen, who asked them for
their passports.

The bandits at once drew Browning pistols and kill”
both policemen, also wounding another man. They to
the policemen’s révolvers, and escaped.

A hunt for the bandits on a grand scale was then ofga
ized, and the fugitives were hotly pursued for two day
One of the bandits was killed, and a second committed st i
cide after wounding a policeman. be

The two’ remaining were soon after found hidden in|

roadkeeper’s hut, in the village of Undy, in the Lom {

government. Policemen and troops surrounded the huy-
firing volleys, to which the bandits replied, but their fir
soon ceased.

Policemen then entered the hut, and found both the
bandits killed. Five Browning pistols and a quantity of
ammunition were discovered in the hut.

No Train-time Games Heteafter.

President Thomas J. Lynch, of the National League, has —
announced that hereafter there would be no more stopping ©

of games in order to permit the contending clubs to make’
train connections. He has sent word to all of the man-
agers in his circuit that hereafter, when there is any ques-
tion as to close connections, the game shall be started
earlier than usual—sufficiently early, in fact, to guard

against the necessity of umpires calling a game before the |

end of the nine full innings. Exceptions will be made

only when a game unexpectedly extends into extra innings. —

Lawyets Draw Color Line,
Some time ago attention was called to certain indications

that England was beginning to draw the racial and color —

line. This at that time was mainly evident in the lower
strata of London’s social life, such as clubs, saloons, and
boarding houses which are frequented by fairly tough
specimens of humanity.

A similar disposition to draw the color line is now shown
in a far higher circle, the English bar. England is divided

“into certain circuits, each of which is visited periodically by

a judge who holds the assizes. Certain barristers attach

themselves to these circtits and travel around with the ©
“judge to plead oe at the assizes,

“barrister? mess,” to which all members belong who pay a_
subscription. The mess travels with its own butler, main-
tains its own cellar, and the members dine together nightly.
The mess is purely a social affair, a sort of dining club.
The color question now has cropped up owing to the
refusal of one of the circuit messes to admit an Asiatic,

The question is a prominent one, and will become more

acute if one or more of the colored barristers who gener-
ally return to their own country to practice, carry out thele
expressed intention to practice at the chancery bar.

Each circuit has ae

This —

 

a ee

 
 

 

Se Og peel feed:

NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY. 29

claims to be the cream of the profession, and its members
are struck with horror at the idea of an invasion of the
sacred precincts by men of color.

The old plea, “Am I not a man and a brother?” has little
force at the chancery bar, but unless a social boycott ef-
fects the purpose, the chancery bar will have to submit to
the color invasion.

Sewer the Gate to Gambling Den.

A well-equipped gambling den beneath the street, the
main entrance to which was a big city sewer, was raided by
the police recently in Pittsburgh, Pa. Twenty-two men
were captured as well as a large amount of money and
gambling paraphernalia.

When the police swooped down on the players. conster-
nation reigned, but as there was only one manner of egress
or exit, the entire crowd was captured.

Lieutenant Barry, with a squad of policemen in plain
clothes, was looking for small games which flourish in the
hill district last night. When they passed the manholes at

_ Logan and Pasture Streets they saw a glint of light flash

from a hole in the grating and then disappear.

Quietly lifting the manhole cover, the police, with the
aid of several lanterns, dropped down into the sewer, and
after proceeding through it about seventy-five feet they
came to atl opening which led into a large subterranean
room where the players were busy wagering their money.

After the gang had been rounded up it was found that
the entrance used to reach the underground room was a
manhole situated in a dark and unfrequented part of Logan
DETect:

Used Splints Six Thousand Years Ago.

“The oldest physician whose existence was known prac-
ticed at the court of a pharaoh of the fifth dynasty about
6,000 years ago,” said Doctor F. M. Sandwith, in a recent
lecture in London. “His popularity with his master had

apparently been great, for the pharaoh had given an order

that he should be supplied with slabs of stone for his tomb
similar to those he was having prepared for himself. His
private life had evidently been less happy, for in every case
the name of his wife has been erased.

“Splints found in the Nubian deserts are similar in prin-
ciple to. those of the present day, and the knots used to
keep them in place were reef knots, the same as those now
taught to students. The bandaging, as to-day, was done
so that the folds. crossed at right angles, with a view. to
their being kept in place. Palm fiber was used to serve
the function of cotton wool, and a fine linen to take the
place of gauze.

“Pare, who worked in the sixteenth century, was a sol-

‘dier surgeon of the best type. He was a man who had

never arrogated to himself the power of healing, and writ-
ing in his diary of an officer who had been struck in the
chest with a shell, he made this entry that was typical of
him: ‘I dressed the wounds; God cure him” There was
the story, too, of Pare trying to get some substitute for the
invariable practice of treating shot wounds with boiling
oil, On one occasion the oil ran short, and Pare, forced
to try a substitute for his wounded, spent a sleepless
night.

“On finding them in the morning happy and without in-
flammation,. he exclaimed: ‘I will never again put boiling
oil into these men’s wounds!’ and persuaded his colleagues
to follow his example. To Pare, too, they owed the inno-

vation of tying the arteries instead of cauterizing the stump

of the limb. The instruments of the kind were curious,
with strangely decorative handles, but little attention was
paid to the problem of designing them so that they might
easily be kept’ clean.”

Curious methods used to be adopted for reducing dislo-
cations by means of pulleys before it had been found
that a small dose of chloroform would relax the muscles
and make the patient unconscious during the operation.
The most striking was that for reducing a dislocated shoul-
der. The patient stood on a stool with his arm over a
ladder. An assistant stood on another stool so placed as to
be able to throw his weight on the upper portion of the
shoulder. Another friend pulled the arm down. At the
critical moment some one quickly took away the stool on
which the patient was standing, and if the proceeding was
successful the arm went back with a click.

Memory Spans Century,

A memory that spans a century! i

Charles Carroll Clusker, of San Diego, Cal., now 103
years and 2 months old, is going to have that distinction if
he lives only a few months longer.

And there’s no sign that he is going to die soon, for his
step is still sturdy, his voice is strong, and the keen eyes
that twinkle as he tells of his great shine with humor.

He’s the oldest living Elk, and fellow Elks are sure his
memory has never been surpassed in modern times.

What does he remember that happened almost a century
agoP

A whipping he got in his fourth year. Hu

“Tt was back in Virginia,” says the veteran. “I got into
a rough-and-tumble fight with a little playmate, and when
we rolled to the floor I scratched his face. Just what hap-
pened after that is a little hazy in my mind, but I do re-
member the mother of the little boy went to my mother,
and told her that I had scratched the face of her boy.
My mother was very angry and whipped me. The memory
of that whipping is still vivid in my mind.”

Clusker is a veteran of the Mexican and Civil Wars, and
is always in the thinning line of veterans in the Memorial
Day parade. He enlisted in the Confederate army, not as
a boy, but when he was forty years old. At that time he
had seen several months of service in the fight with Mex-
ico. He remembers hearing many Hoh hand stories of the
War of 1812.

Clusker was born in Madison County, Kentucky, on
March 27, 1810. When fourteen he was a playmate of
Abraham Lincoln.

“I went with him on several squirrel hunts,” he says,
“put I never knew him to harm an animal or bird,”

Lives Only fot Vengeance,

Flitting like the spirit of Vengeance in and out of the
crumbling adobes of “Old Town,” the picturesque and an-
cient Mexican quarter of Los Angeles, an aged woman
shrouded in a dark mantilla is searching for Juan Soto, the
“leopard man,” to be revenged upon him for the murder of
her three children,

“I live but for vengeance now, sefior,” said old Sefiora
Sosca, peering from glittering eyes set in a sinister face
sunken deep into the folds of her black shawl. ‘My chil-
dren, they are all gone. There, is nothing left but to
avenge them. !

“The police, they stop. They cannot find him. But as

 
30° NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

for me, I will never stop. He is stealthy and creeps like
a cat. He leaps like the leopard.
the shoulders of my darling Perfecto, striking her with
that red knife while she tried to run to me.

“He cannot creep too quietly for me. I feel young
again, sefior. I can also creep stealthily, silently, and some
day he will feel the pains my children felt when they
cried to me for help and I couldn’t help them.”

Her-faded eyes had witnegsed the most horrible sight
that ever tortured a mother. She had seen all her chil-
dren butchered by a madman on her doorstep, while she
Stood helplessly by.

The police wouldn’t let her accompany hen on their
hunt. She waited until they were gone, waited, crouching
by her hearthstone, crooning a savage dirge, glittering eyes
fixed on a blank wall, staring while her gnarled fingers
gripped the handle of a knife.

“She intends to follow, and hunt, and lie in wait until
her path crosses that of the leopard, and then—“vagale
Dios.”

Can Make an Ocean Airship.

Louis Bleriot, the first airman to fly across the English
Channel, has just told some astonishing things about the
possibility of transatlantic flight.

One of the most astonishing is that he thinks it imprac-
tical. Bleriot is as great an expert in the mathematics of
aviation as he is in the art of actually handling a ma-
chine. He is a scientist, who has not flown for two years,
but who spends all his time operating his factory and ex-
perimenting. -

“Do you think it possible to fly across the Atlantic?’ he
was asked.

“Perhaps, but I would not wish to try it with the aéro-
planes we have to-day. Only the very best of luck—mirac-
ulous luck—could get a flyer across.. An attempt would be
full of danger, with many odds in favor of failure and
death.”’

“But would it be possible to build an aéroplane that could
carry enough fuel for a non-stop flight across the At-
lantic?”

“Tf I had the money, and there was a commercial de-
mand for it, I could build an aéroplane within two years
that-would cross the Atlantic in fifty hours! I have figured
it all out and made all my calculations. It would easily
carry 200 persons, in addition to the fuel!

“My plan would be,” he said, “to have an aéroplane of
10,000 horse power. We figure that every horse power
catries 22 pounds, so the big transatlantic aéroplane might
weigh 220,000 pounds, or 110 tons. The engine and the
fuel, together with the necessary lubricating oil, would
weigh about 25 tons. I could build a very safe aeroplane
that would weigh less than 4o tons, aside from the engine,
and this would leave 4o tons for the passengers, unless it
was desired to use some of this passenger tonnage in sup-
_ plying luxurious surroundings.

“How soon, do you suppose, will such aéroplanes carry
“passengers across the Atlantic?”

“Just as soon as there is a demand for such transporta-
tion. It is a problem of commercial demand; not of aéro-
plane building. But I do not think that aéroplanes will
ever take the place of ships, for I doubt their commercial
usefulness in crossing oceans. Airships will always be de-
pendent on the weather.

“It’s a simple problem in mathematics. Suppose an aéro-

I saw him sitting upon’

plane, no matter how gigantic it is, has a speed of 100
miles an hour, and suppose it encounters a wind of 120
miles an hour. The result would be that the airship would
travel backward 20 miles an hour. The difference between
a water ship and an airship is that the ocean in which the
water ship sails always remains stationary.”

Boy Falls Between Tenement Walls.
Hyman Kacoff,:8 years old, his brother, Louis, 7 years

old, and another brother, Morris, 4 years old, were playing

recently on the roof of the six-story tenement in which
they live, at 250 East Third Street, New York, when they
decided to cross to the roof of 248. The roof of this
house is a little lower than that of the one on which they
were playing, and it was found that when Hyman hung by
his hands from the coping of his house his feet were some
six inches from the coping of the other house. There is
a space of nine inches between the walls of the two houses,
and in the bottom of this crevasse much rubbish has ac-
cumulated. se

Louis crossed in safety. Then it was Hyman’s ‘turn, He
hung by his hands from the coping of his house, but he
miscalculated in thrusting out his body to cross the open
space and fell into the well between the two houses. He
did not fall very rapidly, for his body caught here and ~
there in the narrow space. But he screamed and struggled,
and each effort sent him down a little farther. When he
had gone down several stories he began to strike the rub-
bish and carry it down with him. Gradually this formed
a compact mass which held him level with the second
story.

In the meantime Hyman’s cries and those of his brothers
had aroused the neighborhood. Max Kaufman, janitor
of the house at 248, turned in a fire alarm, and Truck 11
came from Fifth Street in charge of Lieutenant Magrino.
Patrolmen McCoy and Gardner, of the Union Market sta-
tion, had much difficulty in clearing the roofs in the vicinity
of the throngs that gathered upon them.

The firemen lowered a rope to Hyman, but they were
unable to. show him how to fasten it around himself.
Fireman Cavanaugh took a ladder into the airshaft, where
it widened at a point beyond where the boy was caught,

and came up almost opposite to him, Then a rope with ~—

a hook was lowered from the roof again. This time Cav-
anaugh soothed the frightened lad and showed him how to
pass it around his body under his shoulders and fasten the
hook so it would form a noose. Then the boy was hauled
slowly up to the roof.

Doctor Rosenzweig, of Bellevue Hospital, was waiting
there, and he took charge of the rescued boy. He found
he was suffering from cuts and bruises. He was taken to
the hospital, but returned to his home later.

Morris, the youngest of the three brothers, was saved
from falling down the shaft by Benjamin Fein, 8 years
old, who lives in the-same house. The youngest Kacoff
boy was about to dive head first from his house when the
Fein boy seized him.

Rice fot Alaskan Wende:

Joe Chambers, known as the “chicken king of interior
Alaska,” will open the fight for, control of the early spring
trade at Fairbanks that has been inaugurated between, the
White Pass and Yukon Railroad Company and the North-
ern Navigation Company, operating in the lower river.

The “chicken king,” who is pinning bis faith to the

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

NEW TIP TOP WEERLY.

dower Yukon route, recently left Seattle on the steamship

ackinaw for St. Michael in personal charge of a big ship-
‘ment of live chickens, hogs, and perishable fruits and vege-
‘tables. He will give Fairbanks the first watermelons and
Florida grapefruit ever successfully landed there. He ex-
pected to reach Fairbanks early in the summer.

With a population of nearly 3,000 miners, none of whom
has eaten anything but cold-storage- and canned meats
and vegetables for months, there is a strong demand at

Fairbanks for the fresh provisions that first steamships.

bring and consequent high prices. It is for this first mar-
ket that the transient merchants of the Yukon fight every
summer.

- They Laugh With Joy When Robbed.

With their pockets bulging with yellowbacks, Benjamin
Goldberg and Julius Verban, partners in the produce busi-
ness, left Passaic, N. J., at an early hour one morning re-
cently for Newark to purchase butter, eggs, and vegetables.
They were driving in a one-horse wagon along River Road
when two masked highwaymen jumped out from the
’ shadow of a tree and displayed revolvers.

One of the highwaymen kept the produce merchants
“covered” while the other climbed into the wagon and
searched them. Verban, a six-footer, showed fight, but the

- masked man landed an uppercut on his chin, and he

' tumbled backward into the wagon. Goldberg offered no
protest when the highwaymen took a roll of bills from his
pockets. _

When the two men had stopped the wagon, Verban
yelled for help, but before a policeman came running the
two robbers had disappeared into the woods. The police-
man found Goldberg and Verban embracing each other
and shedding tears of joy.

_ “Two masked men have just robbed us,”
to the policeman.

_ Puzzled by the laughter of the two, the policeman re-

amarked:

“Well, you seem to be carrying on over the matter as
though it were a huge joke.”

“And sure it is,’ explained Verban. “Them two guys
are running their fool legs off through that brier patch,
and all they have got is ten thousand dollars in——”

“What, ten thousand dollars ” shouted the policeman.

“Sure,” said Goldberg, “but it’s stage money, and they
don’t know it.”

_Goldberg then displayed $110 in real money which had
' been hidden under the cushion of the wagon seat. While
' making a trip to Newark a year ago Goldberg and Ver-
ban, who are in business at 105 Highland Avenue, Passaic,
were robbed of $150 by highwaymen. Since then they
have carried the stage money anticipating a second holdup.

said Goldberg

First Woman “Rustler.”

When the gates of the Kansas State penitentiary opened
the other day to admit Marie Pollard, she had the unique
_ distinction of being the first Kansas woman to be received
on a conviction of horse stealing. Several are serving
terms for stealing chickens and for other thefts, but no
| woman ever served a term on a horse- stealing charge, ac-
cording to the records.

With the Pollard woman came Samuel Parks, whom she
persuaded to steal a horse and buggy that they might
elope and be married. But Dan Cupid was denied, the

fore they could have the “knot which binds” tied by a
Clinton, Mo., magistrate. But the little god of love is
still confident, as the couple said recently they intend to.
be married immediately upon their being released from the
prison, seven years hence.

Parks hired a horse and buggy from a livery barn with
the understanding that he was to drive out in the country ©
but a few miles. Then, it was charged, the Pollard woman ©
induced him to elope with her. The horse’s mane and tail
were clipped to avoid detection. Although they drove the
horse as fast as possible toward Clinton, officers atrested
them, and they were taken back to Parsons.

Before she was sentenced the Pollard woman took all
the blame upon herself, saying that she had persuaded
Parks to steal the horse and buggy. Parks, however,
pleaded guilty, Marie Pollard is a widow and has two
children.

Mrs. Pollard previously had been implicated in wiews
stealing in Montgomery County, it is said, with a man who
was convicted and sentenced, but she was not placed on
trial, She is believed to be the leader of a gang of horse
thieves who have been operating in that section of the
State.

Women Don’t Like the Farm.

Farmers of Minnesota and other agricultural States face
an alarming scarcity of wives, says Dean A. F, Woods,
of the State College of Agriculture.

Two months ago the educator received a letter from a
farmer in southern Minnesota, who had given up his farm
because he was tired of cooking his own meals, mending.
his own socks and sewing on buttons. The agriculturist
declared he could not find a wife, and that all the men
in his vicinity were in the same predicament.

“The situation has not changed much in the last, two
months,” said Dean Woods. “Everywhere reports come
to us of the dislike women have for rural life under exist-
ing conditions.” When the farmer’s letter was received
the dean investigated the matter, and found southern Mins
nesota was not the only section devoid of marriageable
members of the gentler sex.

“Increasing recognition of the necessity for labor-sav-
ing devices and of making the farm home more Stee
has helped to reconcile more women to life in the country,”
said Dean Woods.

Needn’t Wear White Suits,

Democratic simplicity has taken another long stride for-
ward. Navy officers in natty white uniforms will no
longer be seen painfully and nervously performing their
duties in machine shops and storehouses in navy yards,
where every move may threaten to soil their spotlessness.

In the coufse of a fecent conversation with Colonel
George W. Goethals, chief engineer of the Panama Canal,
when the latter was in Washington, Secretary Daniels
asked if it was not irksome for the army officets on the
Isthmus to wear white uniforms all the time.

“Tt surely is,’ replied Colonel Goethals, “and when a
man is all the time afraid he will get his clothes dirty
he is no good whatever for any kind of work.”

Acting on this philosophical suggestion, Secretary Dan-
iels, when inspecting navy yards, has asked the officers on
duty if they enjoyed being in their uniforms while at work
in the shops and storehouses. The unvarying. answer has
been that they would be very glad to get rid of them. ~The

 

31.
32 NEW TIP TOP WEEKLY.

secretary then inquired what sort of clothes they would
- like to wear while at work, and every time the answer has
been overalls.

Officers like to show workmen how to do things. But
to take hold of a machine lathe or a drill press and run it
when one is dressed in immaculate white linen is expen-
sive.

So Bie Daniels has issued an order to com-
mandants of navy yards to permit officers on duty under
them to wear civilian clothes while on duty.

Wireless Calls Police.

“We want police,’ was the wireless message received at
police headquarters at New York recently. The message
came from the captain of the Austro-American liner Ar-
gentina, from Trieste and other Mediterranean ports. A
police launch met the Argentina when she arrived in Quar-
antine, and six detectives climbed on board.

The detectives sought Captain Cosolisch, who told them

that he had lost his watch. The detectives searched the
cabin and found the watch where the skipper had placed
it just before he retired a few nights before.

“My word!” said the skipper, in German, and then he
invited the detectives to be his dinner guests. It is said
that they accepted.

Drowns in a Milk Can.

Death by drowning in a milk can that contained only
four inches of water was the fate of Norman, the four-
year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Schumacher, of Calume-
ville, Wis.

The child’s chair, standing at the side of the milk can,
guided the grandmother when she sought the missing
child, who had fallen head foremost into the-receptacle
and was dead.

Chose a Lofty Couch.

At 6:35 o’clock one morning recently Patrolman William
Bunce saw a man lying apparently dead over the wires and
crossarms of an electric pole at Ellison and Church Streets,
Paterson, N. J... Thinking the man had been shocked to
‘death, he called the reserves and Truck 2 of the fire de-
partment. A net was spread so that the body would not he
marred if it fell, and then an extension ladder was run up
and two firemen mounted it. They stopped when they

heard the supposed dead man snore.

_ Then they went on up and tried to aieben him, ae
though they shook and pounded him, he would not stir.
Finally a rope and pulley were used to get him to the
street. On the way to the police station he awoke and
asked where he was going. Before Recorder Carroll he
explained that he was William Quinn, of 219 Marshall
Street, a lineman for the Postal Telegraph Company. He
‘admitted that he had been drinking on the night before.
Recorder Carroll released him, after he had asserted that
he must have climbed the pole to be near his work when
he awoke.

ho Tuberculosis “Cure” Getms and Water.

There is no longer any uncertainty as to the ingredients
of Doctor Friedrich Franz Friedmann’s turtle vaccine for
tuberculosis. Doctor George G. Rambaud, who is looking
after the scientific side of Friedmann’s interests in this
country, dispelled it recently in a formal-gtatement. . This
is the formula: Turtle tubercle bacilli and water—nothing

more, nothing less. They are simply mixed in proportions
that form a homogeneous emulsion. .
After he had issued this statement, Doctor Rambaud was

- asked by a reporter if this statement embodied the prom-

ised disclosures relative to the turtle germ mixture. He |
replied that it did, and, he added that there never had
been any mystery about it. He was reminded that Doctor
Friedmann, both before and after his arrival here and dur-
ing his stay in the United: States and Canada, had en- ©
veloped his achievement in a cloak of mystery. -

Doctor Rambaud admitted that this was the case, but
he said that Doctor Friedmann had made a grave mistake
by his attitude, and had alienated the sympathy and good
will of physicians on this side of the Atlantic by his air
of secrecy. This is Doctor Rambaud’s statement:

“The vaccine consists of a homogeneous emulsion of live ~
avirulent tuberculosis bacilli in sterile distilled water. The
germ was isolated several years ago from a turtle and
maintained ever since by transplantation on culture media
according to the usual procedure.
istered to patients in doses of from cubic centimeters 0.10
to cubic centimeters 0.30, at intervals of from four to six
weeks. Injections are made intravenously in the case of
joint tuberculosis and an rerclarey in the case of lung
tuberculosis.”

And so it turns out that the preparation which Doctor
Friedmann patented abroad and for which he asked a
patent in this country was simply a mixture of germs from
a diseased turtle and plain water, the two blended in a
proposition is made a clear emulsion.

This information was also given out by Doctor Ram-
baud for the benefit of the medical profession: a

“Any physician in good standing is welcome to familiar-
ize himself at the various laboratories where the vaccine is
prepared with the details concerning the administration of
the treatment that he may be able to use it personally on
his own patients.”

“Then, these are the promised disclosures that were to
dispel the mystery surrounding the Friedmann treatment?”
Doctor Rambaud was asked.

“They are,’ he responded.
about it now, and never was.”

Doctor Rambaud was reminded that the government .
physicians to whom Doctor Friedmann had turned over
cultures of his vaccine had complained later that all the
information regarding it had not been furnished by its
discoverer.

“There is no mystery about it, and never was,”
iterated.

“There isn’t any mystery

he re-

Woman Prevents Jail Break.

For the second time within a few months prisoners in
the county jail at Shelbyville, Ill, waylaid Sheriff F. D.
Crook in an attempt to escape.

Thomas Farrell and Raymond Wilson, the former com-
mitted on a charge of stealing bananas from a freight-car
at Findlay, and the latter brought from Moweaqua on a
charge of stealing a suit case, leaped upon the sheriff’s
back as he turned to close a door and closed their fingers
about his throat. He called for help, and his son-in-law,
Orval Aldridge, and Mrs. Crook rushed to his aid.

_ Aldridge entered the cellroom, while Mrs. Crook got a

revolver, and, aiming through the aperture through which
meals are passed, compelled the two men to enter their

cells.

 

The vaccine is admin-
 
SOME OF THE
BACK

NUMBERS OF

W TIP TOP
WEEKLY

THAT CAN |

BE

—

SUPPLIED

 

 

678—Dick Merriwell’s Development.
679—Dick Merriwell’s Eye.
680—Frank Merriwell’s Zest.
681—Frank Merriwell’s Patience.
683—Frank Merriwell’s Fighters.
684—Dick Merriwell at the ‘“‘Meet.”
685—Dick Merriwell’s Protest.
686—Dick Merriwell in the Marathon.
687—Dick Merriwell’s Colors.
688—Dick Merriwell, Driver.
689—Dick Merriwell on the Deep.
690—Dick Merriwell in the North Woods.
691—Dick Merriwell’s Dandies.
692—Dick Merriwell’s Skyscooter.
693—Dick Merriwell in the Elk
tains.
694—Dick Merriwell in Utah.
695—Dick Merriwell’s Bluff.
696—Dick Merriwell in the Saddle.
697—Dick Merriwell’s Ranch Friends.
698—Dick Merriwell at Phantom Lake.
699—Frank Merriwell’s Hold-back.
700—Frank Merriwell’s Lively Lads.
701—Frank Merriwell as Instructor.
702—Dick Merriwell’s Cayuse.
703—Dick Merriwell’s Quirt.
704—Dick Merriwell’s Freshman Friend.
705—Dick Merriwell’s Best Form.
706—Dick Merriwell’s Prank,
707—Dick Merriwell’s Gambol.
708—Dick Merriwell’s Gun.
709—Dick Merriwell at His Best.
710—Dick Merriwell’s Master Mind.
711—Dick Merriwell’s Dander.
712—Dick Merriwell’s Hope.
713—Dick’s Merriwell’s Standard.
714—Dick Merriwell’s Sympathy.
715—Dick Merriwell in Lumber Land.
716—Frank Merriwell’s Fairness.
717—Frank Merriwell’s Pledge.
718—Frank Merriwell, the Man of Grit.
719—Frank Merriwell’s Return Blow.
720—Frank Merriwell’s Quest.
721—Frank Merriwell’s Ingots.
722—Frank Merriwell’s Assistance.
723—Frank Merriwell at the Throttle.
724—Frank Merriwell, the Always Ready.
725—Frank Merriwell in Diamond Land.
726—Frank Merriwell’s Desperate Chance,
727—Frank Merriwell’s Black Terror.
728—F rank Merriwell Again on the Slab.
729—F rank Merriwell’s Hard Game.
730—Frank Merriwell’s Six-in-hand.
731—Frank Merriwell’s Duplicate.
732—Frank Merriwell on Rattlesnake
Ranch.
33—Frank Merriwell’s Sure Hand.
34—Frank Merriwell’s Treasure Map.
735—Frank Merriwell, Prince of the Rope.
oe ele Merriwell, Captain of the Var-
sity.
737—Dick Merriwell’s Control.
738—Dick Merriwell’s Back Stop.
739—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.
%44—Dick Merriwell’s Silence,
745—Dick Merriwell’s Dog.
746—Dick Merriwell’s Subterfuge.
747—Dick Merriwell’s Enigma.
748—Dick Merriwell Defeated.
749—Dick Merriwell’s “Wing.”
750—Dick Merriwell’s Sky Chase.
751—Dick Merriwell’s Pick-ups.
752—Dick Merriwell on the Rocking R.
753—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 Merriwell, American.
759—Dick Merriwell’s Understanding.
760—Dick Merriwell, Tutor.
761—Dick Merriwell’s Quandary.
762—Dick Merriwell on the Boards.

Moun-

PRICE, FIVE CENTS PER COPY.

news dealer, they can be obtained direct from this office.

763—Dick Merriwell, Peacemaker.
764—Frank Merriwell’s Sway. :
765—Frank Merriwell’s Comprehension.
766—Frank Merriwell’s Young Acrobat.
767—F rank Merriwell’s Tact.
(68—Frank Merriwell’s Unknown.
769—Frank Merriwell’s Acuteness.
770—F rank Merriwell’s Young Canadian.
771—F rank Merriwell’s Coward.
772—Frank Merriwell’s Perplexity.
773—Frank Merriwell’s Intervention.
774—Frank Merriwell’s Daring Deed.
775—Frank Merriwell’s Succor.
776—Frank Merriwell’s Wit.
777—F rank Merriwell’s Loyalty.
778—F rank Merriwell’s Bold Play.
779—Frank Merriwell’s Insight.
780—Frank Merriwell’s Guile.
781—Frank Merriwell’s Campaign.
782—Frank Merriwell in the
Forest.
783—Frank Merriwell’s Tenacity.
784—Dick Merriwell’s Self-sacrifice.
785—Dick Merriwell’s Close Shave.
786—Dick Merriwell’s Perception.
787—Dick Merriwell’s Mysterious Disap-
pearance.
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-
LAY
802—Dick Merriwell Strapped.
808—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—Frank Merriwell’s Young Warriors.
811—Frank Merriwell’s Appraisal.
812—Frank Merriwell’s Forgiveness.
813—Frank Merriwell’s Lads.
814—Frank Merriwell’s Young Aviators.
815—Frank 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—Dick Merriwell, Universal Coach.
825—Dick Merriwell’s Snare.
826—Dick Merriwell’s Star Pupil.
827—Dick Merriwell’s Astuteness.
828—Dic: 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.
834—Dick Merriwell’s Enthusiasm.
835—Dick Merriwell’s Solution.
836—Dick Merriwell’s Foreign Foe.
837—Dick Merriwell and the
Warriors.
838—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,

National

Carlisle

845—Dick Merriwell’s Heroic Crew.

846—Dick Merriwell Looks Ahead.

847—Dick Merriwell at the Olympics.

848—Dick Merriwell in Stockholm.

849—Dick Merriwell in the
Stadium.

850—Dick Merriwell’s Marathon.

Swedish

NEW SERIES.
New Tip Top Weekly

1-—Frank Merriwell, Jr.

2—Frank Merriwell, Jr., in the Box.

3—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Struggle.

4—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Skill.

do—Frank Merriwell, Jr., in Idaho.

6—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Close Shave.

(—Frank Merriwell, Jr., on Waiting Or-
ders.

8—Frank 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—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Competitor.
18—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Guidance.
14—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Scrimmage.
15—Frank Merriwell, Jr., Misjudged.
16—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Star Play.
17—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Blind Chase.
18—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Discretion.
19—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Substitute,
20—Frank Merriwell, Jr., Justified.
21—Frank Merriwell, Jr., Incog.
22—Frank Merriwell, Jr., Meets the Issue.
23—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Xmas Eve.
24—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Fearless Risk.
25—Frank Merriwell, Jr., on Skis.
26—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ice-boat Chase.
27—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ambushed
Foes.
28—Frank Merriwell, Jr., and the Totem.
29—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Hockey Game.
30—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Clew.
31—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Adversary.
32—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Timely Aid.
33—Frank Merriwell, Jr., in the Desert.
34—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Grueling Test.
35—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Special Mission
36—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Red Bowman.
37—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Task. s
38—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Cross-Country
Race.
39—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Four Miles.
40—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Umpire.
41—Frank Merriwell, Jr., Sidetracked.
42—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Teamwork.
43—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Step-Over.
44—Frank Merriwell, Jr., in Monterey.
45—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Athletes.
46—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Outfielder.
47—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, “Hundred.”
48—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Hobo Twirler.
49—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Canceled Game.
50—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Weird Adven-
ture.
1—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Double Header.
52—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Peck of Trou-

e.
53—Frank Merriwell, Jr., and the Spook
octor. <
54—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Sportsmanship.
Dated August 16th.
55—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ten-Innings.
Dated August 23d.
56—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Ordeal.
Dated August 30th.
507—Frank Merriwell, Jr., on the Wing.
Dated September 6th.
58—Frank Merriwell, Jr.’s, Cross-Fire.”

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