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PAGE TWELVE > By REX Copyright, 1903, "> "Aye, Bill--it's all right. We did our ~-best, but we were dofie by a damped blackgnard. Now he'll send me up, bat I don't care. 1 broke him--with my naked hands. Didn't I, MeNa- mara?' He mocked unsteadily at the boss, who cursed aloud in return, glowering Ii an evil mask, while Stillman ran up, disheveled and shrilly frascible, "Take him away, I tell youn! him to jail!" But Wheaton held his place, while the room centered its eyes upon him, Iecenting some unexpected denouement, He saw it, and, {np ¢oncession to a nat- ural vanity and dramatic instinct, he threw back his head and stuffed his hands into his coat pockets, while the crowd waited. He grinned insolently at the judge and the receiver. \ "fhis will be a day of defeats and disappointments to you, my friends, That boy won't go to jail because you will wear the shackles yourselves. Oh, you played a shrewd game, you two, with your senators, your politics and your 'pulls, but it's eur turn now, and we'll make you dance for the mines you gutted and the robberies you've done and the men you've ruined. Thank heaven, there's one honest court, Take "We'll make you. dance for the mines you gutted." and 1 happened to find It" He turned to the strangers who had accompanied Mm from the ship, erying, "Serve those warrants," and they stepped forward, The uproar of the past few minutes had brought men running from every . direction till, finding no réom on the \ stairs, they had massed in the street below while the word flew from lip to " ip dpncerning this closing scene of thejr drama, the battle of the Midas, the great fight upstairs and the arrost by the 'Frisco deputied. Like Sind- bad's genie, n wondrous tale took shape from the rumors. Men shouldered one another eagerly for a glimpse of the actors, and when the press streamed out, greeted it with volleys of ques- tions. . They saw the unconscious mar- shicl 'borne forth, followed by the old Judge, now a palsied wretch, slinking beside bis captor, a very shell of a man at whom they jeered. When MeNama- ra lurched into view, an image of ae. feat 'and chagrin, their voices rose menacingly. The pack was turning and he knew it, but, though racked and crippled, be bent upon them a visage so full of defiance and dontemp- tuous malignity that they hushed them j selves, and their final picture of him { was that of a big man downed, but unbeaten to the last. They began to ery for Glenister, so that when he loomed in the doorway, a ragged, he- role figure, his heavy shock low over his eyes, his unshaven face aggressive even in its weariness, his corded arms and chest bare beneath the fluttering streamers, the street broke into wild cheering. Here was a man of their own, a son of the northiand who laber- od and loved and fought in a way they understood, and he had come Into his due. y But Roy, dumb and listless, stag. gered up the street, refusing the help of every man except Wheaton. He heard his companion talking, but grasped only that the attorney gloated and gloried. "We have whipped them, bay. We ¢ Spoilers. | E. BEACH. * Bash, =~» by Rex 8. fore the lawyer had covered him. There he lay like a dead man ti late in the afternoon, when Dextry and Slapjack came in from the hills, answering Wheaton's call, and fell upon him huagrily. They shook Roy into consclousness with joyous riot, pommeling him with affectionate roughness till he rose and joined with them stifly. He bathed and rubbed the soreness from his muscles, emerg- ing physically fit They made him recount his adventures to the tiniest detail, following bis description of the fight with absorbed interest till Dextry broke into mournful complaint: "I'd bave given my half of the Midas to see you bust him. Lord, I'd have sereeched with soopreme delight at that" "Why didn't you gouge his eyes out when you had him crippled ?" question- ed Slapjack vindictively. "I'd 'a' done i" Dextry continued: "They tell me that when he was arrested he swore in eighteen different languages, each one more refreshin'ly repulsive an' vig'rons than the precedin'. missed a-plenty today, partic'lar bes cause my own diction is gettin' rum down an' skim milky of late, showin" sad lack of new idees, which I might have assim'lated somethin' rob original' an' expressive if I'd been bere. No, sir; & nose bag full of nuggets wouldn't have kept me away." "How did it sound when she busts ed?' insisted the morbid Simms, but Glenister refused to discuss the come bat. | "Come on, Slap," said the old pros pector; "let's go downtown. I'm se het up I can't set still, an', besides, we can get the story the way it really happened from somebody whe ato' bound an' gagged an' chloroform. ed by such Wunbecomin' modesties. Bey, .don't never go into vawdyville with them personal episodes, because fuey read about as thrillin' as a cook- book. Why, say, I've had the story of that fight from four different fellers already, none of which was within four blocks of the scrimmage, an' they're all diffrent an' all better'n your account." Now that Glenister's mind had re- eovered some of its poise he realized what he had done. "I was a beast, an animal," he groan- ed, "and that after all my striving. I wanted to leave that part behind. I wanted to be worthy of her love and trust even though I never won it, but at the first test I em found lacking. I have Jost her 'confidence. = Yes, and what is worse, infinitely worse, I have my worst," hd went on, "but I'm not that kind at bottom--not that kind. 1 want to do what's right, and if I have another chance I will-1 know T will, I've been tried too bard, 'tat's all." Some one knocked, and he opened the door to admit the Bronco Kid and Helen, . "Walt a minute, old man," said the Kid. "Fm here as a friend." The gambler handled himself with dificul- ty, offering in explanation: / "I'm all sewed up in bandages of one kind or another." "He ought to be in bed now, but he wouldn't let me come alone, and I could not wait," the girl supplemented, while her eyes avolded Glenister's in strange hesitation. "He wouldn't let you. I don't under stand." "I'm her brother," announ & Bronco Kid. "I've known it for a long time, but I--l---well, you understand, 1 eoyldn't let ber know. All I can say is, |! I've gambled square till the night played you, and I was as mad as a dervish then, blaming you for the talk I'd heard. Last night I learned by ~chance about Stfuve and Helen and got to the roadhouse in time to save her. i I'm sorry I didn't kill him." His long white fingers writhed about the arm of his chair at the memory. "Isn't he dead?" Glenister inquired. "No. The doctors have brought him in, and he'll get well. He's like half the men In Alaska--bhere because the sheriffs back home couldn't shoot straight. There's something 'else. I'm not a good talker, but give me time and I'll manage it so you'll. understand. I tried to keep Helen from coming on this errand, but she said it was the Square thing and she knows better (than 1. It's about those papers she brought in last spring. She was you might consider a party deal, but you don't, do you?' He od belligerently, and fervor: i g § 3 Roy replied i g of blankets and was unconscious be- Oh, I have sare lost my own. She's always seen me at | THE DAILY BRITISI naps, *.y an ephemeral e loos of their stolen pt of court is the ae- un might as well con- | viet a murderer for breach of the | peace. We've thrown them off, it's | true, and they won't trouble us again, { but they'll never have to answer -for | their real infamy. That will go un- | punished while their lawyers quibble over technicalities and rules of court. I guess it's true that there isn't any law of God or man north of fifty-three; but if there is justice south of that mark, those people will answer for conspiracy and go to the penitentiary." "You make it hard for me to say what I want tea 1 am almost sorry we came, for I am not cunning with words, and I don't know that you'll understand," said the Bronco Kid gravely. "We looked at it this way: you have had your victory, you have beaten your enemies against odds, you have recovered your mine, and they are disgraced. To men like them that last will outlive and outweigh all the rest; but the judge is our uncle and our blood runs in his veins. He took Helen when she was a baby and wgs a father to her in his selfish way, lov- ing her as best he knew how. And she loves him." . | "I don't quite understand you," said Roy. And then Helen spoke for the first time eagerly, taking a packet from her | bosom as she began: "This will tell the whole wretched story, Mr. Glenister, nnd show the plot in all its vilenesa, It's hard for me to betray my uncle, but this proof is yours by right to use as you see fit, and I can't keep it" "Do you mean that this evidence will show gH that? Apd. you're going to give it to me because you think it is your duty?" - "It belongs to you. [I have no choice, But what I came for was to plead and ask a little mercy for my uncle, who is an old, old man, and very weak. This will kill him." He saw that her eyes were swim- ming, while the little chin quivered ever so slightly and her pale cheeks were flushed. There rose in him the old wild desire to take her in his arms, a yearning to pillow her bead on his shoulder and kiss away the tears, to smooth with tender caress the wavy bair and bury his face deep in it till he grew drunk: with the madness of her. But he knew at last for whom she really pleaded. 80 he was to forswear this venge- ance, which was no vengeance after all, but In verity a just punishment, They asked him--a man--a man's man --a northman---to do this, and for what? For no reward, but on the contrary to insure himself lasting bitterness. He strove te look at the proposition calm- ly, clearly, but it was difficult. If only by freeing this other, villain as well as her uncle he would bo a good to her, then he would not hesitate. Love was not the only thing. He marveled at his own attitude. THis could net be his old self debating thus. He had asked for another chance to show that he was not the old Roy Glenister. Well, it bad crwne, and he was ready. Roy dared wot look at Helen any more, for this was the hardest moment he had ever lived. "You ask this for your unele, but | what of--of the other fellow? You } rust know that if one goes free so will they both. They can't be sepa- rated." "It's almost too much to ask" the Kid took up. uneertainly. "But don't you think the work is done? 1 can't help but admire McNamara, and pel ther can yon--he's been too good an enemy to you for that--and--and--he loves Helen." "I know--I know," said Glenister hastily, at the same time stopping an unintelligible protest from the girl "You've said enough" [le straight ened his slightly stooping shoulders and looked at the unopened package wearily, then slipped the rubber band from it and. sepn.ating the contents. tore them up----one by one--tore them inte fine bits without burry or osten- | tation and tossed the fragments away. | while the woman began to sob softly, the sounf# of her relief alone disturb ing the silepce. And so he gave her his enemy. making his offer gamely. "according to his code. "You're right--the work is dove. And now I'm very tired." = Wheg deft him standing tiere. the "Mother prisonment, per disgrace and { goods Con | ensation, but yc i i less cost. i BRITISH WHIC, SATURDAY, DECEMBER glory of the dying «ay (TTumining his wa, great loneliness li. his weary eyes, He did not rouse himself till the sky before him was only a curtain of steel, penciled with streaks of soot that lay close down above the darker sea. Then be sighed and said aloud: "So this is the end, snd I gave him to her with these bands." He held them out before him curiously, becom ing conscious for the first time that the left ome was swollen and discolored and fearfully painful. He noted it with Impersonal interest, realising its need of medical attention--so left the cabin and walked down into the city. He encountered Dextry and Simms on the way, and they went with him, both flowing with the gossip of the camp. "Lord, but you're the talk of the town," they began. "The curio humt- ers have commenced to pull 's office apart for souvenirs, and the Swedes want #so run you for congress as soon as ever we get admitted as a state. They say that at collar an' élbow bolts you could lick any of them east- erh senators and thereby rastle out a fot of good legislation for us cripples' up here." "Speakin' of laws goes to show me that this here country 'is gettin' too blamed civilized for a white man," said Simms pessimisticaily, "and now that this fight is ended up it don't look Ake there would be anything doin' fit to claim the interest of a growed up per- son for a long while: I'm goin" west." "Wes! Why, you can throw a stone Into Bering strait ffbm here," said Roy, smiling. - years' cruise. Me an' Dex is figgerin' on gettin' out toward the frontier fer a spell" "Sure!" said Dextry. "I'm beginnin' to feel all eramped up hereabouts owin' to these fillymonareh orchestras an' French restardwnts and each discrep ancies of scenery. Ther're puttin' a savement on Front street. nud there's a shoe shinin® parfor opered up. Why, I'd like to get where i could streteh an' holler without disturbip' the peuasive ness of some dude in a dress suit. Bet ter come along, Roy; we cap sell out the Midas." "I'll think it over," said the young man. The night was bright with a full moon when they left the doctor's office his companions, parted from them. int had not gone far before he met Cherry Malotte. His he.d was low, and he did not see her till she spoke. "Well, boy, so it's ver at last." Her words chimed so perfectly with his thoughts that he replied. "Yes; it's all over, little girl." "You don't mind my congratulations ---Yyou know me too well for that. How does it feel to be a winner?" hb "1 don't know. I've lost" "Lost what?" "Everything--except the gold mine" "Everything except--1 sep! You medn that she-that you have ssked her, and she won't?" He never knew the cost at which she held her voice so | eteady, " Be va ' ¥ ore than that. It's so hew that it hurts yet, and it will continue to hurt for a long time, I suppose. But to morrow I am going back to my hills «And my valleys, back to the Midas and For a time I've wandered in strange paths, seeking mew gods, as it were, but the dazzle has digd out of my eves and | can see true again. She isa't for me, aithough 1 shail always love her. I'm sorry I can't forget easly, as some do. It's hard to look ahead and take an inférest in things. But what about you? Wher. shall you go?" "I don't know, It doesn't renlly matter--now." The dusk hid her white. set face, and she spoke monotonously. "I am going to see the Bronco Kid. He sent for me. He'r iL." "He's not a bad sort" said Roy. "And I suppose he'll make a new start too." "Perhaps," said he, gazing far out over the gloomy ocean. "It all de-- pends." After a moment she added, "What a pity that we can't all sponge off the slate and begin afresh and-- forget™ "It's part of the game," said he. 't know why it's so, but it is. see you sbmetimes, won't 17" "Na baz 1 think no." "1 rn (Continued Next Saturday. em Ai. en and Her Pets ° Love Candy Cascarets" Careful mothers know that Cascarets in the home means less sickness, less trouble, less worry, When one of the kiddies has a white tongue, tainted breath, sour stomach or a cold, a Cascaret quickly and harmlessly works the poisons from the liver and bowels and all is well again. 3 brown features, the vision of a | "Oh, well, the world's round. There's | a schooner outfittin' for Sibeery--two | Roy, in no mood for the exuberance of 14,1918. ~ Season's Greetings And Best Wishes For a Prosperous New Year Manton Bros. PRINTING INKS PRINTERS' ROLLERS MACHINERY AND SUPPLIES Toronto - Canada " FENN NE ENE RERRREER E Na. ---- N CE REERNA RANE EEE EE E e : - | EVERY, CONTINGENCY. 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