Adventure Magazine Cover — page 40: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

30 name and address on the dotted line. Send for literature. Do it now/ Underneath this violent outburst was the name of Peter J. Dolliver, President. - The advertisement was a life-saver to Tom. It stifled opposition and gave the new public officials a chance to work. Things quieted down. Tom was finally able to start on a little expedition after Finley. He got a deputy sheriff’s star and pottered about the hills, finding nothing except some cold trails. The Finley crowd had vanished. The next crisis came from the mine-own- _ ers’ association, which grew restless. Ten- nessee put it bluntly: “When’s that company comin’? Grub’s scarce and we’re all broke.”’ Tom went to the county seat, got credit and established a small community store at the mines. Everything was on eredit. It meant still another gamble. Tom’s eyes were getting haggard. | 7 After a time he noted that no word had come from Pete. He wrote again and again. No reply came. Thoroughly worried, he happened to pick up a news- paper. There was the usual shrieking advertise- ment of the mine, giving notice that only a few shares were now for sale. At the bot- tom of the screed was a new name. Oliver J. Metz, President. Tom felt his spine tingle. He read it again. The page seemed to blur. Where was Pete? Why was his name missing? Had he resigned? Was he kicked out? What had happened? The stage down-country was just turning a corner on its way for the main road. Tom jumped for it. Doubt, suspicion and anxiety assailed him. Without a coat, without baggage, without explanation to any one, he leaped on the rear end of the stage and swung up toa seat. Fifty hours later he was on a train. morning he was in the city. Next Pa) TOM went straight to headquarters. fg ) In a short time he stood before “<< Markum in the elegant office. “T’m Tom Hall,” he announced. ‘‘Pete Dolliver’s partner. I just came up to see what’s going on with our mine.”’ Markum looked at him through heavy- lidded eyes. He appeared to be racking his brain. : Adventure “Dolliver. Dolliver. Oh, yes. That’s the old fellow who sold us the Escalante mine.” ‘Sold you the mine? ing about?” ‘Sure he sold me the mine.”’ “Outright?” “Certainly.” “You lie!” “T do, hey?” Markum opened a drawer, wet his thumb and flicked a packet of papers. He pulled an oblong bit from the rest. : ‘*Read that,”’ he demanded. Tom read. The room seemed to whirl around him. The writing was plain. ‘It seemed tqleap like a snake from ambush— Received of Hiram K. Markum, Five Hundred Dollars in full payment for the Jessica mine at Esca- lante, also known as the Escalante Bonanza mine. What are you talk- It was signed by Peter J. Dolliver in his crabbed handwriting. Pinned to it was Tom’s authorization, allowing Pete to sign for him. VII HE hospital whither Pete was taken was a horror. Cheap politics, ancient equipment and public indifference evolved an institutional nightmare. In the flimgy, hastily constructed buildings politicians, cockroaches, sick, dying, bad food, evil smells, foul language, poor ventilation, scanty equipment, discouraged nurses and hardened stewards combined to make a hopeless total. This was the place where fate had sent Pete. Tom strode into the ramshackle old hospital soon after leaving Markum. He had learned Pete’s whereabouts from the lodging-house landlady. The old prospector was weak and wan. His cot was in the middle of a row of human derelicts. Over his prominent cheek-bones the skin was tight-drawn, while lustrous, deep-set eyes told of a battle with fever. Tom was staggered by the change in his partner. His own anguish gave way to pity. He saw the glad look in the old desert-rat’s face at sight of him and could not spoil it. He tried to be cheerful. Soon he realized that Pete should have been almost well by now; but—this was the old hospital. “I feel sorter blue,’’ admitted Pete. cCOmiclboolks CO