University of South Carolina Libraries
r- A MILLION. ■- * Synopsis.—In a New York Jewelry •tore Philip Severn. United States consular agent, notices a small box which attracts him. He purchases it Later he discovers In a secret compartment a writing giving a clew to a revolutionary movement In this country seeking to overthrow the Chilean government. The writ ing - mentions a rendezvous, and Severn decides to investigate. Find ing the place mentioned In the writ ing apparently deserted, Severn visits a saloon in the» vicinity. A woman In the place la met by a man, seemingly by appointment, and Severn, his suspicions aroused, follows them. They go to the des ignated meeting place, an aban doned iron foundry. At the ren dezvous Severn is accepted as one of the conspirators and admitted. He meets a stranger who addressee him as Harry Daly. The incident plays into Severn’s hands and he accepts It His new acquaintance Is a notorious thief. “Oentleman George" Harris Concealed, Severn hears the girl address the conspira tors. She urges them to hasten the work of revolution. The girl discovers Severn listening. She ac cepts his explanation of his pres ence and asks him to meet her next day. He tells her his name Is Daly. She Is "Miss Conrad." CHAPTER V—Continued I began to thinfc Harris had gone Away with the others, and left me tlibre alone. I heard voices speaking earnestly in the distance, but without venturing forth from my hiding place. Then he appeared suddenly, bringing • in his arms a bottle and a box of cigars. • ‘Touch a match to the gas-jet, Daly," he sold, feeling for the table In the dark. "That*! better. 1 hung around until the gang all got out, so at to be sure we were safely alone. Have a drink, and light up, old man. We are as secure here as we would be at the bottom of the sea. This is Alva’s whisky, but good—I sampled It lM»fo^e. ,, He sat on the table, nursing bis knee, rather pleased with himself, 1 thought, a cigar thrust between his lips, the blue smoke curling up before his face. I ignored the Invitation to drink, but helped myself to- a weed, waiting for him to open conversation. , ‘\VeU, ,, he said dually, “everything la going according to Hoyle, but there la a knot or two yet to be untied be fore we squeeze that million. Did you hear what was said In there?’* “No; you told me to stick here."’ “Still In a way you’re on—Waldron must have spilled part of the scheme to you. that’s what got your foot In the mess. H—1J I know Ivan Wal dron, the d—d Russian Jew; he’d double-cross his best friend. What was it he told you?” “Not very much,” I said, wondering how far I had better go, yet feeling it necessary to relate enough to convince him that I was really conversant with the situation, and endeavoring to imi tate his style,of speech. “According to . his story, there was a gang of con spirators here—birds from South America mostly—who had been round ed up by this fellow Alva to pull off some frightful ness, or other. I didn’t catch on to Just what It was, and per haps Waldron himself didn’t know, or care.. Some revolution, I took it to be. Waldron explained how- he got “Did the Russian say anything about me?” . - - '« “Not a whisper. I supposed I had a crear run for the money, except his rakeoff.” ‘The dirty dog. Because I didn’t show up on the dot, he was ready to ditch me. Now listen, and I’ll tell you the straight story. I’m going to need you, and we’H divide fifty-fifty, leav ing this guy to suck his thumbs, is that a go?” “He’s sure nothing to me—shoot.” Harris poured out a stiff drink, and put it down; then tduched a match to the extinguished cigar. “Waldron sent me a cable in Eng land about a month ago,” be explained briefly. “He didn’t make the thing very clear, only that he had a big deal on, and wanted me in on It I had' made enough to get back on, and took a second-class passage on the Vulcan. It was not a big boat, and, to escape close Inspection, I went aboard at Queenstown. At that time I had no more notion what was up than a blind rat. I-was Just desperate enough to take a chance." He paused and relit, his stub, with an oath at finding it again useless. “Then things begun to happen. 1 was room-mate with a bird named Homer, who claimed to live In De troit. He must have cottoned to me. for we got a»blt chummy, and in that way I picked odds and ends out of him which set me thinking. He was quite a foxy bird—one of these tall, raw- bojned, ^jaecreUv# cusses, who talk a lot, hut never say nothing, and he came near getting my goat. I went through his baggage, of course, but that was just ordinary stuff—he only had one grip, which he left unlocked; but I did get onto a pocket belt the fellow wore around his waist. < He never let that get away from him night or day. I studied every d—n way I could think up to get a peep at IL but nothing gave me a chance. I came near going bugs over the thing.” He laughed, exhibiting a row of rather ugly teeth behind his tbb' lips. "Then the devil must have- Imlped me. One night—five days out, for we were a slow boat—we ran Into a to—I of a stonn. We* both of us tumbled out, and began hustling on our duds. He was trying to get a shoe on, and went plunpng hend-on Into the side of the ship. I reckon It nearly brained him, but, to make things sure, I hand ed him one to the Jaw before ne got his senses, and he went out for the count. Then, believe me._I didn’t lose no time In frisking the guy—and, say, what do you think ( found?” I shook my heed, unwilling to Inter rupt, fascinated with his description. “The fellow was a revolutionary agent. I didn't get onto all of It then —I didn’t have time, but I found a let ter of credit for a million dollars, and memoranda of how It was to be de livered. The d—n thing wasn’t any good to me—It was to be paid to this fellow by a banker in New _ York named Krantz—but It sure made my mouth water just to see It—a million dollars, good old U. S. currency. Gan .VDir^eat it?”, ,* “Looked easy—you bud It, and you didn’t have It.” “You said it, Daly. I didn’t dare keep the thing, and It wouldn’t have done me nnv^ gtAid if I had; there was no way of my cashing the jlaper. What the h—I could I do? If I denounced hlfii, the game was ail off; If I held on to the stuff he’d report his loss soon ns he landed in'New York, and that letter of credit wouldn’t be worth the paper it was written on . . . Say. 1 was in aome boat; but, believe me, I had no notion of giving up that mil lion—it looked darned good.” - % W I should say yes,” and I leaned for ward to show my Interest. “And from" what I know of you, Harris, that guy had no show on earth. Did you croak him?” . He grinned, evidently pleased at the note of admiration in my voice, and tossed down another drink. “That never ain’t been in my line. Of course I was tempted to—a cool million would tempt any guy. But I Just shoved everything back, exactly., where It come from, and fetched the steward. Between us we hoisted Hor ner back into the bunk and doused him with water till he came to. First - thing he did was to feel for that belt7 and he never got wise that it had ever been touched. Anyhow, he never let on to no suspicion." must get to him somehow in a way that would put me next his scheme, so I’d know when he had the cash. Once I got these details attended to in litile old New York, the swag was as good as my own. I knew a dozen guys that would bump Horner off for a hundred if it come to that—so the price wasn’t high. A million! Oh, man; and It had dropped right into my lap. Bbt to do this It was neces sary that I should be Homer, , That was as plain ns the nose on my face; as Horner, coming with credentials, and a letter of credit; Alva would be bound to receive me with open arms— see! After that I figured It would be easy enough. But how was I to be come Horner?”—•v*' “You couldn’t divvy with him?” T should say not; he was a square guy. It didn't take me five days to find that out. So there wasn’t hut one .way out of it—I had to put Horner out of commission, and cop his belt It w as either that, or lose a million " I looked at him, with a sickening feeling of horror I found hard to sup press, but he went on Indifferently In the same cool, calm vole®. •There’s no use going into details, Daly. We landed good friends, and Horner was in n strange land. You / ‘Th®ra Is a Knot or Two Yot to Bo Untlod." hold of the scheme. It seems he’s hi with the bunch to some extent; that la, they use him whenever they need tot and occasionally hand him a bunch ot money—4t’s never too dirty for him to tench. Anyhow, he knew enough to put me wise to this dump, gave me die pass-word, am} alt that. It looked as though there might be something in it, so I blew over here tonight Just to take a look. 1 was merely prowl- inf around when I ran into you." , "I see," be mattered, as J came to an ead* chewing savagely on his cigar. ^ CHAPTER VI. The Deserted Automobile. I was impatient for him to continue, but he, sat there chuckling to himself, and toying with a fresh cigar. “Well, what did you do?” . * “Played it safe and sure. Tm too old a bird to be caught napping. I put in-most of that night holding wet cloths to Horner's head, and thinking out some plan of action. Before morn ing he thought I was the beat fellow he ever knew, and I had the guy whpre I wanted him. For one of his breed, he was rather a friendly cuss. This was how I mapped it out. That letter of credit had to bd turned into' currency before It coaid do me any good, and the only way that might be •lone was through thla guy Alva. 1 “He Jotted Down an Address on a Bh of Papor." know New York pretty well, and I lost him the first afternoon down on the East side. I never did knew Just what became of the fellow, but the next morning I was alone in a hack room In Greenwich, and had his belt with me.” He chuckled grimly. “There wasn’t much In It. except the letter of credit and a notation as to where and when Krantz'could be seen pri vately. It was the next night Harris was to cajl on the banker up In Lc Oorapte street.” . “Le Compte? What number?” . “247 Le Compte. Do you know any* body there?" # • “No; only Le Compte Is an old stamping.ground of mine. Go on ; yo:» went there, of course." “Sure. Krantz didn’t know me fro^i Adam, not even my name. I was Just 108’ to him, hut he was mighty nerv ous. Just the same, and anxious to get away. I could see that. I don’t think it was his house either; Just an ordi nary-looking shack, brick, three stories and a basement. - „ ‘That banker was business all right, and he put me through the whole bundle of tricks before he’d even let me sit downl I had to lie some, but mostly I was posted well enough so as to give him what he was looking tor. Anyhow, I passed, and after that he was rather decent Took me Into a room and gave me a drink, besides asking me about affairs in Europe. H—1, I didn’t know only what I’d seen In the papers—but I gave him an earful, and on the' strength of h!5 name I "enssed England for all I was ykorth—which at that time was about a million bucks. Then I handed liver the^ Tetter of credit, and he jammed it into his pocket like it wa? a scrap of paper, I don’t remeirfbei that he even looked at it. After that he was for getting rid of roe, the soon er the better. But I needed to know where Alva was, so I^hung on, telling the old guy I had a private message that I had to deliver personally— straight from them financiers In Lon don. So, after skirmishing a while, he Jotted down an address on a bit of paper, and the next thing I knew I was out In the street, with that gripped in my mitt" ' . ' ' (TO BB CONTINUED.) Speedier Than Light. Electricity travels about 62.000 'miles further la a second than does light TO CRUISE IN BUZZARD’S BAY The 1921 National Council Seac&mp of the Seascouts, Boy Scouts of Amer ica, will be pitched dn the grounds of* the Tabor academy, Mariob, Mass. The camp will furnish equipment and space for three full ships’ companies and some extra officers. Any seascout, scouLor cabin bpy, weighing at least 112 pounds and at least 15 years of age is eligible to participate. The program will, like all scouting, be “fun and work mixed.” The law of the camp is the scout law; trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, clean, brave and reverent. The training for the first ten days (July 6-16) will consist of the regular seaship routine with elementary sea manship, life-saving and short cruises under oars! This will be followed by • long cruise down the bay for all hands In the Cuflew’s flotilla of boats, camping each noon on one of the many fascinating beaches and islands at hand. This will be the third an nual cruise of the Curlew. The same program will be repeated July 28 to August 6;. August 7 to 18. The 67- foot American schooner, Black Duck, under Ensign Cheatham of the Tabor academy staff, will also cruise in Buz zard’s bay manned by her regular crew and such Seascouts as are “schooner men.” General Goethats, chairman of the pational seascout com mittee, and other members of the committee will visit the camp from time to time. THEY KNOW HOW TO DO IT. * Cooking Their Own Meals When on a Hike Is One of the Scouts’ Spe cialities . GETS MEDAL FOR BRAVE ACT. The Court of Honor of the National council recently awarded a bronze medal to Harry -C. Harper, a charter member of Salt Lake- Troop No. 51, for his courage and prompt action In saving the life of a five-year-old child who was In danger of being dashed to death over an embankment in an automobile. The child was alone in his father’s car and accidentally released the brakes, setting the machine mov ing backward toward the embankment. The child’s screams attracted the At tention of young Harper, who ran out from his own y^rd, Jumped on the running board of the car and succeeded in stopping it. Just as it balanced itself on -twq, wheels on the edge. A mo ment’s delay and both the child and tlie scout would probably have been crushed under the ear. Harper la an Eagle scout and distinguished himself during the war, for big achievements in selling Liberty bonds and War Sav ings stamps. HA was awarded medals for both these services and possesses the ace medal with five silver bare ami- the Liberty loan medal with bars of honor for each campaign. ;Prepared by the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture.) “How is your orchard?” asked Brown. “No hope,” said Jones. ‘Tree* look prosperous enough, but I know the worms will be on them before fall. Entire crop was ruined last year. I im glad it was last year, because fruit was a drag on the umrket, but I keep toping some time I’ll have a lot of apples which are worth some.hing, tnd I don’t see how that will come About If I can’t keep the Insects out." “Have you thought of spraying?” •T’d like to, but I can’t afford the DUtflt" “Same here.” The two farmers then put their heads together and did some thinking. A spraying outfit with motor and force pump costs more than either of them could afford, but it would not be la operation more than a few hours, or most days, in any one orchard. It could take care of 15 or 20 ordinary farm orchards in the season when spraying is effective, and it was eaay to call to mind many farmers in the vicinity who Were in the same position as themselves. Of course, it would have been possible for one man to ob tain capital, buy a sprhyer, and cover all the orchards, but they were in the farming business and not the com mercial spraying business. Another plan suggested Itself, and here is the way It worked out: Brown and Jones called a meeting of 20 orchard owners and selected one man with good executive ability aa secretary and manager of a co-opera tive spray ring. A simple constitu tion and by-laws were drawn up, and a plan of stock subscriptions was for mulated. With a very moderate per capita investment a machine was pur chased with a capacity of five gallons a minute. The machine was driven by a two-horsepower engine and equipped with a tank filler. The sec retary manager was placed in charge of the machine and authorized to hire such help as necessary, being given adequate pay for his own time. Boys taking the agricultural course in the near-by high school were engaged for the work and w?r» given time from their -studies ip consideration of the Instrucllye value of the experience. Peters, the secretary manager, fortu nately proved the right min for the Job and obtained from the United States Department of Agriculture bul letins and other information on spray schedules and formulas. The work commenced as soon as the apple buds began to show pink, the spraying outfit traveling over a carefully prepared route, so as ..to / ^ CERTIFICATES PRESENTED fO 260 YOUNG WOMEN TAKitfe SPECIAL COURSES. GOVERNOR DELIVERS ADDRESS Every Seat Taken Long Before Orya* Sounded for the Entrance of the • Officials and Graduates. • " ' : > Rock Hill.—With the* presentation of diplomas to the graduates and cer tificates to the young women complet ing special course*, numbering 260 students, and the annouRceaieRt of distinctions, scholarship awards, the Winthrop college commencement for 1921 came to an end. % ? ^ The exercises began in the mala auditorium at 8 o'clock and every available seat was taken long before the orgen sounded for the entrance of the offlclali and graduates. Reversing the long followed custom, the entire faculty had seats on the etag4! Whllo the graduates were seated In the tral section of the auditorium, the auditorium the seniors and certi ficate students in turn later marched across the front of the stage to re ceive from the hands of President Johnson the scroll on which was em- blazoned the fact that they had com pleted the prescribed coarse of study et the South Caroline college for young women. . Appealing that they go forth with the definite purpose to make this a greater state and that they seek to Impart the advantages accruing from completion of their course of study that others may be prepared to grasp the opportunity to serve. Governor Cooper made an eloquent address be fore the graduates. Greenville.-—”Because I believe that the law of the state of South Caro- liea reflects and upholds the ideal sad standard of marriage which Christ himself has tsught us» I have ruled that under no condition will I give permission to the clergy of the church of South Carolina to remarry divorc ed people.* said the Rev; Wm. A. Ouer- ry, bishop of tho South Carolina dio cese of the Episcopal church in an ad* dress to the annual convention of men of tho diocese here. Beaufort—A united country waa the theme of the speech of Edwin Denby, secretary of the navy, hero on Memorial day. He recalled tho scene of Lee and Grant at Appomat tox and surrounded by Union and Con federate dead lying under moss hung oaks far from their homes. He stirred the throng with pictures of gallant men fighting bitterly and valiantly for causes each believed just before God and out of the struggle building a united nation. , Bamberg.—The baseball team of Carlisls school has won the 1921 cham pionship of South Carolina prepara tory schools, after Jiavlng enjoyed its' most successful- season on the dia mond. This fact was settled by a vote of the members of the prepara tory school executive committee, who. -djclded that Carlisle’s excellent rec ord entitled it to the distiactl^n of bo- fug the state convention. SCOUTS TO HELP AIR SERVICE. made at. the request of the federal air* service for definite co-opCratlon of boy scouts with the service. Some ot the work which it Is contemplated hav ing scouts do will consist of helping aviators making forced landings, re porting adverse weather conditions, marking airways, guarding p.4mea landed or broken, night signaling, dis patch work, reporting on terrain, etc. ■> A SCOUT IS TRUSTWORTHY. , ; Beaumont, Texas, scouts were ssked to undertake the delivery of telephone books. “We used to go out into the streets and get the find kids we saw the manager of the local telephone company. “As a result we frequently found a number of books that had been thrown away, and their loss was costly.- -So new we have the acuuU deliver the Looks because -wy run Trust them." Worth while nraise that and worth desenlaa Demonstrating Work or opraysr In Orchard. make the best possible time. The sue oud, third, and fourth sprays wera put on after prepared schedules. The results the first year showed the' benefits of co-operation. Ques tionnaires were sent out to all the men whose orchards were sprayed. From these It has been computed that the average cost ef spraying, allowing 10 per cent depreciation on the ma chine, was 1,18.63 per orchard, the or chards averaging 33 trees! 'As the total value of fruit was more than $120 per orehard, it it easily seen that the experiment was worth while. ‘ In addition, other spray Hugs were . Washington scouts had the honor of laying the first marker “D. C. i,” for the new air route fron Bolling Field _ to Dayton. Ohio, and ..bm* b.o^^fmtoed-^ftet-th^ ‘ and the result In improving the gen eral appearance of the orchards gave the region a reputation for fine trees snd~frult w-bich was of great value in increasing tharket possibilities and also the value of the farms. FAILURES IM OLD ORCHARDS Attributed to Uoo of Poor or Improp, orly Mixed Material and Applied at Wrong Time-. Failures reported by people who have made the attempt to spray their trees can be attributed to the use of who weren’t busy, to do the Job,” says poor or improperly mixed material, applying at the wrong time, or hap hazard work. One should not expect however, that trees that are badly run •town and have not set any fruit buds will produce any fruit the lint year. Spraying will put the foiiagr in a healthy condition, and than pvt the trees hi shape fur the crop (few following Gaffney.—Much complaint Is heard among the peach growers of Cherokee county in regard to the rot which seems to have at'icked the* cr—». Many people say that they have not been able to gather anything tike a full crop, and if tho hot weather con tinues the later fruit will be seri™"’* affected- Garden products are ful at this time, the crop being fr>*n two to three weeks earlier than usual. Chester.—There was a large atten dance at the Wlthemw Arte building to see the annual exhibit of the man ual training, domestic science, art goods and sewing departments. The exhibits were the moat complete* and extensive ever seen at the Annual ex hibits. Each department was highly commended for the completeness of its exhibit Cotton improves After Rain. York.—Excellent stands of cotton- have been geared throughout Torh county as the results of the recuut rains. Cotton chopping is well under way and is being prosecuted vlgoroua- ly, as the grass It also flourishing on account of the -excess of moisture. Thu . reduction In cotton acreage this year in York county Is about 15 or 20 par cent Little comnrerr.iai fertiliser waa used and the cost of this year's cottou crop will be less than any other crop > in many years. . Car and Liquor Seized. Anderson.—Officers made the big gest haul that has ever been made here when they took In a six cylinder touring car, 81 gallons of whiskey and arrested three men.. There were 16 five gallon kegs tn the car. The ear bore a license tag af Columbia, and Williams that city. Freak C. Georgia. a