The Argosy, Vol. 76, No. 3 — page 31: what you’re looking at

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

GOLD GRABBERS. Big Steve had ceased to rule the camp, and the laborers were taking heart. A new superintendent had come, and while he might not last long, yet his protecting arm was over the property for a time, at least. “And Deane’s price for this junk- heap,’ muttered Bremerton, “1s halt. a million! I am the connecting Ink between Deane and that money — his last chance, his only hope for a big clean-up. Well, we ‘shall see. If there’s anything better than ten-dollar rock here I’m going to find it.” He left the door, took an automatic revolver from one of the saddle-bags, and carried it with him into the sleep- ing-room. ‘There was a musty smell in the cranrped quarters, and he raised a window. Before lying down on the cot he placed the weapon handy by,.on a chair. With a sigh of relief he stretched himself out on the blankets of his creaking bed. He relaxed every tired muscle, but he did not want to sleep, and his mind kept busy. Mentally he catalogued: the successive steps of the work before him, First, the mine must be put in run- ning order. Next, the leak in the miil must be investigated. Following that, he would learn why the property had been called a bonanza with only ten- dollar rock finding its way to the stamps. A duty which might come first or last, or distribute itself over the entire - process of rehabilitating the mine, was searching out the stealthy forces en- gaged in a death-grapple with Deane. To reorganize the workers and keep in motion the wheels of mining, mill- ing, and cyaniding was the smallest part of Bremerton’s problem. Judg- mient and determination would take care of that. Probing the thievery im the mill would not be so difficult, now that Bremerton had a reliable clue. Big Steve was not a man to be discharged, the superintendent now decided, but to be retained, kept at work, and 501 watched. He was the key to the miss- ing amalgam. With only a ten-stamp mill to grind out rock whose gross assay value was but little better than ten dollars to the ton, the Mariquita Mine could never approach the splendid proportions of a bonanza property. Here there was something wrong. Deane was altogether too smart a spec- ulator to be hooked by a job of salt. When he secured the mine he had cer- tainly known what he was doing. Nor would the Mallorys fight so savagely to keep Deane out of his rights if the object of that fight was such a poor-paying proposition as showed on its face. They must know something, that old plotter and his girl. Yet what was it they knew? Bremerton’s one answer to this ques- tion was, a fabulously rich lead —a lead known to the Mawlorys, but lost to Griggsby and Lacey. While Mallory had worked the mine under bond it had paid huge returns. Those returns had captured the grasping fancies of Deane. Deane’s men, however, had failed to make the mine pay anything more than running expenses. The only explanation of such a state of affairs was a rich vein on the property, which had defied the efforts of Griggsby and Lacey to find it. It was possible that such a vein might have been worked out and ex- hausted. Disputing this theory was the’ fact that the Mallorys would not fight for a mine whose ore was hardly worth the trouble of digging and mill- mg. No, the Mallorys had an objecf in keeping up that struggle with Deane. There was a reef of gold which, un- covered once, must be brought to light again. As Big Steve was the key to the missing amalgam, so the Mallorys were a key to that lost lead. Bremerton’s thoughts covered these various topics slowly and methodically: He wanted to be sure of his ground as he mentally paced it off. Two or three hours passed, and he finally became COMicdoo S CO@