Argosy All-Story Weekly, January 13, 1923 — page 46: what you’re looking at

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

508 “ Good night, Steve.” He looked up at her. ‘“ Good night, Nell. I’m sorry I was a crab, you know.” “T know, Steve. Don’t think Janet and I haven’t been through it, too. We*know all there is to know about pride, and all that.” She had never told him so much before. Long as he had known these brave people, he had never guessed through what dark shadows of spirit they had passed. But all that was over now. Lutwell would buy their mine. The dawn of a hap- pier day had come for the Frazers. CHAPTER Iii. A SHOCK. HEN the Frazers and their visitors took the trail up the canon next morning to view the sperrylite lode, Nell walked beside her father, lending him the steadying influence he so plainly need- ed. Daniel Frazer was in an ecstasy of hope and fear, and showed it in a rush of volubility as unrestrained as the flow of the mountain stream beside them. _ Steve Brown saw the syndicate men ex- change glances. They could not have failed to recognize their host’s weakness and his inability to cope with a hard-headed world. The party came in sight of a steep hill- side where a recent winter landslide had swept away all trees, brush and alluvium in its path and left ‘the gray country rock exposed. Up from the creek and across the devastated area ran a streak of darker gray, twenty feet wide. The eye could trace it to the top of the slope, a quarter of a mile above. Frazer’s lode. They clambered along the great vein, gathering bits of crystalline ore, and Frazer’s chatter never ceased. They ex- amined the rusty tin box tacked to a pine tree beside the creek, with which Frazer had marked ascorner of his claim. All the while it was clear to Steve Brown that the visitors thought rather of the man than of the mine. On the return trip down the canon the shrewd-eyed Lutwell indicated by no word This streak was Daniel ~—- ite lg ee Sn a i a ee a “ee > a *- - a rk a Sm Yet ae = | on = =~ ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. or sign his opinion of the prospect. At dinner he seemed to avoid the subject and to wish to draw out his host on others. More than once his eye caught Laird’s, after something Frazer had said. Steve Brown, a humble and silent witness at the foot of the table, observed these things and wor- ried. In the hands of two such men of the world the old gentleman was just a babe. ‘Arthur and I want to do a little fig- uring,” said Lutwell when dinner was over. “Do I see a bench down there by your workshop? Come along, Arthur.” On the porch at the house Daniel Frazer read the Denver papers that Steve had brought him from town. Nell sat beside him, busy with her sewing, never leaving him in this hour that meant so much to him. For surely the New Yorkers would not come back to him without a proposition of some sort. An hour they remained in conference at the workshop before they returned up the hill and stood before him. Steve Brown drifted nearer. Janet, in the house, came to the door to listen. Even Miguel, at work in the garden, knew that the moment was fateful, and, resting on his hoe, he watched the group on the porch. Mr. Lutwell wasted no words. “ Dr. Frazer,” he said bluntly, ‘ I’ll give you five thousand dollars cash for your lode as it lies.” Frazer’s face pictured an inner emotional conflict. His indignation at the paltry offer clashed with his settled doubt of himself and for a moment had the upper hand. ‘Will you repeat that figure?” he said. ‘* Five thousand cash.” ‘“ Mr. Lutwell, I suppose you are joking.” ‘No, ’'m not, Frazer. I’m making you a business offer. If you don’t like it, of course—”’ “I assure you I don’t, sir. I have not asked you to buy my claim. I have asked you to help me develop it. I thought I had made it clear to you that I am not hoping to make a little money, or much money. My aim is to produce platinum.” Nell’s anxious hand on his arm restrained him as his voice rose. Janet turned away. Hard and unsentimental as Lutwell looked, CORMICLOOKS (E@)