CHAPTER XIII—Continued
De
\ op held notes on him as security
for business that he transacted through
his ofMice—properties I could not af-
ford to have in my name, He thought
I would not dare to sell his notes, he
having so much information about me,
No use going into the ugly details. He
woke up too late to find out that his
transactions were with me—the com-
pany he was dealing with was mine—
he sold my property to me. It was I
who bought from him what he hdd no
right to sell, I stopped payment on
the checks he held, I had his notes,
agd he was holding—the bag."
“But how could you? That's not
eight. You couldn't do that.”
“Why not?” asked Pastano. “I was
cleverer than he, What could he do?
What could he say? I called in his
notes. Either he had to pay me, or
I would sell them to his bank for
discount. He put in his stone stock—
sound property—and recovered his
notes, Then he found all his debts
due on the same day. He lost seven-
teen accounts in one afternoon—busl-
ness taken right out of his office, He
sold car and yesterday he mort-
gaged his house. And today-—unless
it's stopped—he's going to be In-
dicted.”
Ernestine got to her feet,
“But, Ruby—how can you
to Loring? He does know
about you—"
“Yery little,” answered
evenly. “Fragments—nothing whole,
Part of this deal—part of that. Klis
own activities will shine much worse
in court than his connections with me.
Do you think I am fool enough to put
myself in jeopardy with a man like
Loring?
Ernestine made a little moan, and
he began to speak quickly, vehemently,
with a strange sternness and justice
in his face,
“He came to me—he sought
nection—he was eager for any
He offered to do things for me
wouldn't let him do. He was well
pald, and he didn’t play the game. His
fees were big—business was thrown to
him from a dozen directions Inac-
<cessible to him five years ago. He sat
where he wanted to sit—Iin the lap of
city politics, and he grew weary of his
mistress. He wished to exploit her—
desert her, So he schemed and
planned. But you cannot get into the
whirlpool and then out agaln—"
Ernestine, looking at him, felt the
sucking breath of the vortex. “Bat
what have I to do with this?" she
asked. “What can I do for Loring?
You haven't told me this without some
purpose.”
“First let me show you why I can
do nothing for him myself—it is easler
to start a landslide than to stop It
It was my intention—no, my determin-
ation—to ruin him, to have him de-
barred, disgraced, sent to the peniten
tiary, if I could. It seemed necessary.
Here, all about me, are these young
men—lleutenants—gangsters, If you
like the newspaper word better. They
are my army. We must have loyalty
in any army. We must have obedi-
ence. Loyalty and obedience, first,
because they have confidence in me,
that I am wise, that I will take care of
them while they stay with me, that I
am competent to meet all sitonations.
3ut If a man Is disloyal, all the rest
must see what becomes of him. Loy-
ality, first, because of confidence; sec-
ond, because of fear, When admira-
tion fails, fear remains.”
jut you are not going to ruin Lor-
ing now?” she sald eagerly. “You have
changed your mind-—you have some
plan?”
“No,” he said slowly, “no, not I
fT have no plan to save Loring Hamil.
ton. I have no desire to save him, 1
would not lift my little finger for Lor-
ing Hamilton. It is inevitable that he
should fail, should be punished. Even
if I wanted to do something for him
now, I could not. His treachery Is
known to others as well as to myself.
Money Is needed. If I should with
draw money from my own private
sources, or if I should withdraw money
from funds that gre available for gifts,
when It is necessary, it would be in-
stantly known. No—in the first place,
I don't want to help Loring. If he
were my own brother, I would feel
that he must follow his course alone,
Nor could I help him, even if I liked,
but”—he looked at her intently so that
for a moment It seemed that she was
fost, hypnotized by his great dark eyes
—*you can help him, If you like,
Ernestine.”
“Tell me,”
can I do?”
He put his hand In his pocket and
took out his big silver watch. Laying
the flat of his palm upon it, he twisted
it, unscrewed the back of the watch
and took from between the outer and
inner cases a small plece of paper,
folded once across, He sat, his dis-
membered watch In one hand, and the
plece of paper In the other, and sald
to her:
“lI know that you have your own
standards of honor—1 have exposed
myself, in this talk, knowing your
code. But now, I must ask you if you
are capable of secrecy, No one but
Will must know of this. He must
know.”
“1 promise,” she sald at once.
He put the folded paper in her hand,
and kept his finger upon it, so that it
remained closed, :
“There is a name here, This after
noon, within an hour after this bank
is closed—before four o'clock, to be
exact, twenty thousand dollars, In
cash, must be placed in the hands of
his
do this
things
‘astano
the con-
work,
that I
she whispered. “What
Margaret Weymouth
Jackson
WNU Service
Copyright by Bobbs-Merrill Ca,
this person, and the indictment against
Loring will be dropped.”
Ernestine was very pale,
she sald, her throat dry.
wrong."
He was very gentle,
“Wrong, yes—no doubt, But+we are
at a place now—where it Is the lesser
evil, which must be chosen—not right
or wrong. A bribe—ugly word. Yes,
there is a regular scale of prices for
indictments. This money must be
spread, It will take twenty thousand
dollars to do it. You have the money,
I take a great risk upon myself—this
talk, this name, this opportunity, but
I wished you to have it."
He beamed upon her now-—pleased
as a child who has been good and
walts for praise. Ernestine was very
agitated,
“How do
money?”
“I am a director In this bank—you
have it—here.”
“But that money is for Will,
been saving it for nearly two
“A bribe?
“But that's
you know I have
I've
Years.
f
“He Was Well Paid, and He Didn't
Play the Game.”
I can't give that
It's Will's.”
“I'll not pay
money for Loring.
for Loring” sald Pas-
tano sternly, and he shrugged, his
face altered, hard. “Why should 1?
You can—if you won't, he's sunk-—
that's all.”
“No, no,” cried Ernestine,
-—not Will's money. I
Ruby, 1 can't, Loring
down In his own wreckage,
should I pay a bribe for him? Why
should I rob WIll of his very chance,
for Loring? This isn't just money—
this Is Will's future-—his his
happiness—this is my marriage--this
money.”
He was silent. He stared at her.
She could feel In him disappointment.
He was disappointed in her! He,
monster that he was, dared to Judge
her!
*You see,” she sald desperately,
“Will isn't always going to be a car-
toonist. He's going to do something
else, He hasn't any sense about
money, I learned about money, when
we were poor, but Will has never
learned. He's extravagant, foolish, I
found out long ago that if he had fifty
cents in his pocket, or fifty dollars, It
was all the same to him. And then—
I discovered that Will wanted to be
an artist, that he wanted to work In
colors, that he hated the cats. And
I began to save. I've kept up a front
on a small amount of money. I spent
less than twelve thousand dollars last
year, and Will earned thirty thousand,
But it's been for WII. I'm not nat-
urally economical, or close, but I did
it for Will"
“Perhaps Will would want you to
do this—ask him."
“Perhaps he would.
“not that
won't do It,
will have to go
Why
peace,
It would be
a
like him to throw away his chance for
Loring. But Will doesn't know I've
got this money. Nobody knows, ex-
cept the bank clerks. I‘thought a sav-
ings account was a private matter.
Will has a studio down near here—If
he could study—if he could go to
Paris.”
“I know,” sald Pastano, “He rents
his workroom from me. I've seen
some of his stuff. Well—Loring can
go to jail then, for all of me, and if
you are subpenaed Into court, to tes-
tify about things that happened at
Langley lake three summers ago, don't
say I didn’t warn you."
He sighed. His eyes were sad and
tired. The tears sprang down Ernes-
tine's cheeks.
“Don’t think I don't appreciate this
—1 know that you endanger yourself—
your very life—by talking to me. 1
know enough about all this to know
what you are doing—Iit's generous, but,
ch, Ruby, it Is Will I love—Will, all
the time”
“Your sister—" he oblected,
“Why should I sacrifice Will for
Loring and Lilllan?" she sald passion-
{ ately. “It will take me a long time to
accumwiate this money aguin. And
simply to give it away—to send It out
blindly, and not even know where It
goes! Loring has always hated Will—
has tried to harm him. And now yon
ask up Will's chance, He
can't wait forever. His gift will dle,
he'll go stale”
“Loring has loved you. Ernestine,
She stopped her incoherent speech.
She looked at him with dark eyes, and
her face grew very pale,
“That time,” Pastano sald, “when
you were lll-—when Elaine was born,
we would not have found you, If it had
not been for Loring”
“But Will found me,” she quavered.
“Yes—after Loring had torn
town up—had organized a search
had warned me. Bib would still be
wandering about Sheridan Park, And
after Will found you, what did he
You might have died there,
proper care. It was Lori
energy and abillty—his
his efficiency which saved you.
He and
lessly. seemed
with her,
“That's why
night,
me to give
”
without
ical
and
ng's pract
dec sion
rest.
plead
moved about
almost to
got up
He
I couldn't last
It came to me all the time—he
loves our Ernestine, fool and traltor
that he is. He would give everything
he has—for her. It is her sister, her
family, her family name. She Is
mixed in it—she will be hurt by it. Seo
this morning, I came to town. I have
seen the bank ledger from time to
time. I have watched your private
fortune growing with much interest,
and known, or thought, that Will was
ignorant of it. So this morning 1
came to and carefully 1 have
made this possible. And now, you do
not see it"
He was putting his watch
as he spoke, but he left the slip of
paper in Ernestine's hand,
“It's o'clock,” he sald. "The
bank closes at three, Suppose you go
and talk to Will. A woman ought not
take a step like this, anyhow, without
talking to her husband.”
“I'm not going to give Will's money
to Loring,” Ernestine sald despair-
ingly.
Mr. Pastano
her, but did
“good-by.”
Emestine went
stairs and out into
the street.
“I'm not going to ask Will"
thought stubbornly. “He'll just
me to do what Pastano wants.
not going to do it"
She ran for a car going north and
boarded it. She rode as far as Bel.
mont avenue, jumped up suddenly and
got out of the street car, A taxi stood
before a drug store across the street.
Ernestine ran across through the
traffic and got into the taxi.
“Please hurry,” she said,
him the address of the old office build.
sleep
town,
together
one
the door for
answer her low
opened
not
swiftly down the
the brightness of
she
tell
I'm
secret life,
Will soon enough, now
started. She paid the taxi driver at
the door and went quickly into the
dim and dusty doorway,
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Chinese Leaders Split
China, unlike most nations, has
nothing that can really be called a
national sport, Japan, in much the
same circumstances, adopted baseball ;
but baseball In China has never
eaught on to any great extent. Mis
sion schools and Y. M. C, A's, however,
have done much to teach forms of
sport to elementary and middie school
students, with the result that basket-
ball, tennis and feotball are begin.
ning to prove fairly popular, but only
among an extremely small percentage
of the nation's many millions of
youths. As far as the revival of folk.
lore (which Is being considered by the
social education department of the
ministry of education) Is concerned,
it is expected that the ministry will
encounter difficulties. China Is rich in
folklore, but while with one hand the
government Is trying to encourage its
revival, with the other hand the gov-
ernment is launching a bitter cam-
palgn against superstition. Much of
China's ancient folklore deals * with
supernatural beings, and with histor.
feal and mythical characters endowed
with supernatural powers. What Is
needed, according to educational lead-
on Educational Plans
ers, Is the development of a critical
faculty among students and the popu-
lace which will enable them to disas-
sociate themselves entirely from the
million and one popular myths which
form the basis of thelr mental tex-
ture, if not of thelr religious beliefs,
———
Unfounded Popular Belisf
That a fire caused by lightning can
not be extinguished with water Is an
old popular belief which still survives
in many parts of the country, says an
article in Pathfinder Magazine. Fire
is fire no matter how started, whether
by a match, spontaneous combustion,
or a flash of lightning. A fire pro-
duced by lightning has the same
physical properties as other fire and
can be extinguished in the same man-
ner.
Divide Hatching Duty
Among the true ostriches of the old
world several females lay their eggs
in the sume nest and the male sits on
the eggs during the night while the
hens take turns at the job during the
day.
By ELMO SCOTTY WAT GON
MERICAN Ind
an enduring
monbum
been erecied to one
leaders of the
Down
shadow of he hits pountains
where he spent t > la years of his
fife, both red
1 a short time ag
nent to the me
ore a mon-
ah Par-
lef of the Cor he The mon
nt was made p sible »
iroprint ed
hy congress,
1 $1,500 for the pur-
but this i
came into being through the
Mrs
whom
in ap
pose some time ago,
efforts of
Lena Banks
ts comple
of a debt
a patriotic woman,
of C1 Okla. for
resented the
wche, {
tion rej paying
of gratitude.
ago Mrs
lived near Cache, One «
fell il and lapsed Into a coma from
which her family feared she would not
Chief Quan ah, who was their
neighbor, came In while the mother
was Ill, Looking at her, he turned to
Mrs. Banks’ father and sald: “Al
right, judge, you wait. Me be
pretty quick Mounting hi
rode away, but returned
short time with some native medicine
which he administered. Then he re-
mained by the white woman's bedside
until
recovery
Quanah died February 23, 1011, and
was buried on a high knoll in an In-
dian near C Several
years ago Mrs. Banks visited the cem-
etery and found that the Indian chief's
grave was unmarked, although a large
memorial had been placed over the
grave of Cynthia Ann Parker, his
mother, a short distance away. The
white woman who remembered with
gratitude how the Indian had saved
her mother's life immediately began
to work on the project of erecting
memorial over his grave. She enlisted
the aid of the Oklahoma senators and
congressmen and after many vicissi-
tudes saw her ambition realized in the
monument which now marks Quanah
Parker's grave.
The story of this Indian leader is
one of the most romantic in all Amer-
jean history. Although he was a great
war chief of one of the wildest tribes
of the plaing, Quanah was not a full.
binoded Indian. He was the son of an
Indian father and a white mother.
Tie story goes back to the early thir
fies when John Nathaniel Parker led
a party of settlers Into Comanche
county in Texas, Associated with him
were several brothers with thelr
wives, sons and married daughters,
For two years they lived in peace In
thelr new home, Then, oie morning
when most of the men were in the
field, about 600 Comanche warriors
swooped down upon their fort, de-
stroyed it, killed most of the colo
nists who remained and carried off a
number of women and children,
Among the captives were a girl of
nine, Cynthia Ann Parker, and her
six-year-old brother, John,
One day In 1800 Major L. 8 ("Sul")
Ross of the Texas forces attacked a
Comanche village at the head of the
Pease river, The Indians, taken by
surprise, scattered In all directions.
Many years Banks’ parents
y
lay her mother
roecnyYer,
back
8 horse he
within a
was assured,
cemetery ache,
x
She was di
md been killed.
they had all
qd ie
Parker story and thoug
woman might be the
Ann, They her
ter, Prairie
with them.
During her captivity her parents
had died. Her uncle, Col. lsase Par-
ker, took her to his hom e¢ and then her
story became known. After the Par
ker raid she was carried to the hunt-
ing grounds of the Comar
Wichita
OR aped.
Texans were familiar with the
hit perhaps this
Cynthia
daugh-
Texas
long-lost
and her
back to
took
Flower,
iwches in the
Tew
learned their lane
guage, adopted their customs, forgot
her native tongue, and became
bronzed and featured like an Indian.
When she became of marriageable
age--probably about her fifteenth
year-she the wife of Chief
Nacona, one of the most noted and
warlike men of the tribe. Three chil.
dren were born to her, little Prairie
Fiower and the two boys who had
escaped in the raid. One of the boys
was Quanah yarker, who succeeded
his father to the chieftainship.
Quanah--the Phrker was added lat.
er-was a leader from boyhood. In his
early teens he headed a band of fear-
less raiders. He stole horses from
Mexicans numbering Into the thou-
sands. While still quite young he be
came the great war chief of the Co
manche nation.
Implacable, he refused to compro.
mise with the whites who sought by
treaty to deprive his people of their
lands. Although half white, Quanah
Parker was all Indian in sentiment:
flercely he rejected the Medicine
Lodge treaty, refusing to sign away
the Indians’ rights. Gathering such
kindred spirits about him, he walked
out of the conference. But though he
refused to sign the treaty, Quanah
Parker determined no whites should
pass the boundary. And when the
buffalo herds of the North diminished
and disappeared, he knew it would not
Be long before the white men would
forget the treaty and again invade In.
dian land. So Quanah Parker waited
and watched, and when the hunters
crossed the Arkansas river, Quanah
Parker knew that the time had come
for war,
He resolved first to attack a party
of hunters who had established them.
selves at an old trading post on the
Canadian river, known as Adobe Walls
The result was the now-famous battle
mountains,
the tribe,
There she
i
eu » ad
became
at that place where the hunt
their great Sharps buffal«
cessfully withstood
by Quanah’s warriors
caused Qu: andl to reti
first objective of Lis ca
wrt time Gen, Nel
in the field with a
} h forced the surrende
which
the hostiles.
repens
a si
But Quanah refused to
For nearly a year he held
vine 3 ws #184 "
realizing the futility of tryin
surrende
further, he
declared
the white
gave up the strug
intention of
man's road™
The other great Indian whose
ory is to be preserved in an enduring
monument is Chief Joseph of the Nes
Perces, one of the greatest milita
leaders ever developed on
nent snd 8 man who won
title of the “Indian Na
Two years ago congress created a na
monument in Montana, the site
of the battle of the Bear's Paw
in 1877 Gen. Nelson A. Miles captured
Chief Joseph and his tribesmen after
one of the most brilliant retreats ir
the history of Indian warfare. Dur
ing the last congress a bill was intro
duced providing for the erection of g
monument. there which would com
memorate the achievements of the
great Indian soldier and preserve for
future generations the memory of
him as a patriot and a man.
Here briefly Is the achievement of
Chief Joseph during that remarkable
retreat: Encumbered with women and
children, which he refused to desert
and allow to fall into the hands o
the soldiers as he might have dons
several times to facilitate his flight
and having a fighting force that never
exceeded 300 warriors, he fought elev
en engagements, five of them pitches
battles of which he lost but one: It
the other six skirmishes he killed 12¢
and wounded 140 of the 2.000 sol
dlers who fought him, but he lost 15
killed and 88 wounded of his own peo
ple. Then having distanced his pur
suers and knowing that he was only
50 miles from the Canadian line ane
safety (for he did not know of the ap
proach of General Miles’ troops) he
made the fatal mistake of stopping
for a little while to give his weary
tribesmen a chance for a brief rest
Here in the Bear Paw mountains
where the memorial to him is to
erected, General Miles attacked on
September 30, 1577. For five dass
Joseph and his little band, greatly out
numbered, withstood the attuck of
Miles’ soldiers. Finally artillery was
brouglit to bear upon their defenses
and on October 4 Chief Joseph gave
up the contest. He never fought again,
his
mem
the poleon.”
tional
where