Argosy All-Story Weekly, January 13, 1923 — page 67: what you’re looking at

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

we sell the mine ourselves and save his commission. Instead of paying thousands of dollars for newspaper space, we put on a. practical demonstration that gets us the space free of charge. The newspapers even pay Dick Lambert for filling it.” Frazer brought down his hand with a slap on the arm of his chair. ‘‘ We borrow the goods and the good will of the business men of Boulton under false pretenses,” he declared. ‘‘ They help us because they sympathize with us. We use their help for another purpose than the one we stated.” Nell spoke, and her voice sounded grieved. ‘‘ Do you mean, Steve, that you have never once intended to go through with the plan as you told it to us? You have schemed all the while to fool people— our friends in town, and us as well?” It was more than he could take sitting down. He rose before them, rebuked yet defiant. ‘““We cheat nobody,” he maintaimed. ‘The people who help us will get their money back when we sell the mine. Wheth- er we sell the mine or not, we shall break even by December and pay them what we owe them. And the people who buy the mine will get their money’s worth, don’t worry.” ‘‘ Suppose we should sell out to-morrow,” said Nell. ‘ What about all these men you have coaxed to come here and help you? You promised them six months of work.” “Tll take care of them,” he answered. “The buyer will have to settle with me for my lease, remember.” Daniel Frazer sprang up and paced to the end of the porch and back. ‘ The humbug of it, Stephen—the hypocrisy!” ‘Look here, sir,” Steve insisted, pacing beside him; “ anybody can see we can’t make a cent the way we are going. Not in fifty years. Anybody who stops to think a minute knows there’s a catch in it. A. P. Horner knows; so do other men.” “They know,” Frazer sent back severely, ‘that we are sharpers; that morally we belong in the Tudor Wheeling class.” “If we dispose of the mine at a good price they will say we belong in the Morgan-Rothschild class.”’ AA WHEN A MAN’S BROKE. Impatiently the old gentleman waved away that bright prospect. “You were to tell me your plans, Ste- phen, and you did not keep your word. And why? Because you had deceit in mind, and you knew I would never be a party to it.” “ That’s a hard word, sir.” ‘No other word fits.” 3 ‘Back in 1914,” the culprit retorted, ‘“T had deceit in mind, I suppose, when I demonstrated the Honeyman digger and took orders for diggers on the strength of the holes I dug. Am I doing a worse thing now? I’m showing people our mine at work, that’s all.”’ ‘ Listen!”’ Nell warned, Down by the stables Dr. John Hamilton’s team and runabout came into sight. : Through the moonlight Frazer went to meet him, Steve Brown following dutifully. “Hello!” hailed the newcomer. “I heard you were selling your mine. Is the deal closed? Am I too late to say a word?” ‘“We are not selling the mine,” Frazer answered stiffly. ‘‘ We have said we will work it ourselves, and work it we will until our debts are paid and our promises kept. Stenhen, will you look after the doctor’s team?” — CHAPTER XI. AS ADVERTISED. ERHAPS the moon should have shim- P mied in zigzags across a startled sky, and the mountains tumbled their bowlders into the canon; but the moon sailed serenely on her scheduled course, and the hills maintained their stony decorum. The catastrophe was all in Steve Brown’s. soul. For the life of him he could see nothing dishonorable in his scheme, beyond the fact that he had kept his inner purpose from the Frazers until he had set the wheels in motion. He had meant only to do for them what they could not or would not do for themselves. Bitterly he vowed to show Daniel Frazer an example of honor that should make the GEomichbooks at in