Adventure Magazine Cover — page 42: what you’re looking at

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

32 trickled down his face in a steady stream. “Sign!” ordered Tom. Markum straightened suddenly. “ft won’t! Leggo me! I promised under duress. My life was threatened. Officers, arrest that man.” Coming through the doorway in the wake of an excited clerk who had summoned them were two stalwart men in the blue uniform of the San Francisco police. Wentworth saved the situation. ‘“‘Wait a moment. There’s some mistake here. You're excited, Markum.”’ “But——”’ i “Calm down. A_ business misunder- standing doesn’t concern the police. You and Hall were both excited. Let the matter lie.”’ Markum, still pop-eyed, looked rebellious. “But ——’ “I know. Still, you’d better take my advice.” The owner of the low, cool, level voice seemed to have Markum’s immense respect. Markum bowed to money; and this man had stacks of it, with all the influence and power that money begets. The stout little promoter hesitated. He looked at Tom with venomous eyes. Then he gulped and turned to the patrolmen. “Allright. It’sa mistake, boys. Nothin’ toit. Cigars? Better takea handful. All right. Good-by!” There was a strained silence. Tom felt like an ass. His temper had run away from him, and all to no purpose. Helen’s fiancé had placed him under obligations. His visit was a total loss. Tom collected himself and turned to the well-groomed aristocrat who had inter- . vened. “T owe you my thanks and my apologies, Wentworth. I’ll deal with this man some other way. Good day.” “Stop,’’ demanded Wentworth. “What’s it all about?”’ “It’s a protest. A protest against crooked business methods. This man Markum has swindled us out of our Escalante mine.’ “Escalante? Why, what is this? Ima director in that company. I’ve put up fifty thousand dollars.”’ “Happy days!’ mimicked Tom weakly. “If you have any charges to make against the Escalante mine, Hall, I’m here to listen.” Adventure “Nothing against the mine. The mine’s good. It’s the promoter.” Tom’s brow knit. “Say, did you fall for the hog-wash in those ae er ements How did you come to be in it?” “A mining engineer spoke of it,’ said Wentworth, ‘“‘and then I believe one of Markum’s salesmen came. But that’s out- side the mark. You have made certain charges against a corporation in which I am interested. Substantiate them.” Tom described the changing of the re- ceipt. Markum was voluble in denials. He told a frank story of buying the property from an old miner for five hundred dollars. Such things happened every day, and Wentworth was naturally unable to judge. “Vou’d better go to law,” he advised Tom finally. Tom went to an attorney he had known for years. The attorney was sympathetic but dubious. “It’s one man’s word against another’s, he observed. ‘‘There’s not a witness except Markum and Pete. I'll take the case if you want me to, but I’m not too sure about winning. Where is the correspondence hetween yourself and Pete?” “In Escalante.” “Get it.” “Tl start in a few days. Pete is better.” Tom then took Pete to a decent hospital where he had a clean, quiet little room. Nothing was said about the tragedy of the mine. Pete was ill. He needed cheerful- ness. Tom needed cheering too; but his job was to give, not receive. Had he overheard a conversation between Markum and Went- worth he might have felt better; but he didn’t hear it. Markum had explained his program: “Bryan’s defeat smashes the free-silver idea and gold’s the big idea from now on. Our company’s stock is all sold and we’re ready to start operations.” Tom had been thinking of his hungry crowd at Escalante, waiting patiently for the mine to come. In 99 As soon as WHILE in town Tom had a social duty that could not be avoided. He made for the house on Pacific Avenue; but he feared the ordeal. It was not so bad as expected. Even cCOmiclbook CO