RAINBOW GOLD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21292, 20 September 1932, Page 15

RAINBOW GOLD

By E. C. BULEY Author of " Sea Urchin." "Calcutta Luck."' etc. •

SYNOPSIS Dan Prescott and Gordon Wetherby find gold in the arid bush of Central Australia. Their claim may be worth or it may just be " a little jeweller's shop, ihey cannot stay and work the mine themselves, for during the greater part of the year this part of the bush is a burning desert, it the gold is to be worked properly, they must have capital. They go down to Sydney an® meet a man named Slade. who is agent lor Milton Medlicott, a London company promoter. Wetherby and Slade tell Dan that they have been to the mine by aeroplane, and are ready to form a company. }Y hl f, h will be promoted in London by Medlicott. Dan agrees, though he later feels that the plans of Slade and Medlicott " sound a bit crook." especially after the former had mentioned " mug" investors in tngland. Dan had left England when he was a boy, but he was sure that Wetherby was Australian born, until the latter showed him. up in the bush, a photo, of his finance Gladys Clements, a London girl. When they had been in Sydney a tew days Wetherby sprang another surprise. " Meet the missus, Dan," he said, introducing a pretty blonde. " Wo're on our honeymoon." Dan is dumbfounded, before he get furious. hat about the ijirl in England Wetherby has jilted? What about Wetherby's trip to England to give, Medlicott detailed information which •will be necesary for floating the company? Dan had intended to stay in Australia and keep an eye on the mine,, but owing to Wetherby's honeymoon, he le perauaded by Slade to make the trip to England. Just before the boat sails. Wetherby slipped a piece of paper into his hand. On it *as written 'Miss Gladys Clements. Truro Villa. Stade Street, Hillingdon. When Dan reaches England he goes to Gladys Clements address, and while waiting for her is astounded to see his framed photograph in the room. CHAPTER ll.—(Continued) While Dan was groping for the significance of this portent the door was flung open. The girl of Don's picture stood framed in the doorway; big eyes, wistful drooping mouth, and all. She paused foi a moment —long enough for Dan to feel a rush of pity that she find a stranger instead of the man who had promised to return to her. Then she uttered an ecstatic cry. " Gor-don ! "

Dan saw her coming, and then she was in his arms, helpless to resist. He felt bare arms about his' neck. His face was pulled down, and warm lips met his. Having met, they pressed against his so long and disturbingly that he jerked his head back. The girl accepted the hint, and stood back, holding his two hands in liers. " I knew you at once, Gordon, darling, by your precious photograph. Did you know me by mine? And you are not disappointed, are you?" Dan murmured something below his breath. , , . He was just as much stunned and incapable of action or coherent speech as if a blacksmith had smitten h;m on the head with a sledge hammer.

Any pretty girl who has had to fend for her own living in London learns to be suspicious of the philanthropy of cliancemadis acquaintances of the other sex. Eve Gilchrist wa s no exception, when she assumed her new duties in the organisation of Mr. Milton Medlicott, outside broker. Not even the circumstances that Mr. Medlicott ignored her very existence, after she was once installed in his office, served to dissipate her wariness. . But she soon discovered that a spirit existed in the office which rendered her initial fears and suspicions absurd, lne whole staff were efficient and zealous, and inspired by a personal loyally to Medlicott which was only partly accounted tor bv irenerous payment and considerate treatment. When Medlicott stopped, on his -way to his private room, to pass a word with one of his employees—and Eve soon learned that it was the junior and humbler members of the staff who were usually so distinguished—the recipient of the notice was happy for a week. It was a pleasant office all round, with social activities. A hockey club a swimming club, staff dances at regular intervals. The afternoon break for tea—provided at the expense of the firm—was a short but sociable interval. "We are a matey lot here," explained Frances Oarruthurs, a big girl who safe next to Eve. " Mr. Medlicott sets the tone of the show. He's a prince." Eve's immediate superior was Mr. (jreville Sanders, a cadaverous young man m horn-rimmed glasses, who was always solemnly cheerful. " We impart the glad tidings, Miss Gilchrist," he explained on her first day in the place. " For instance, take this letter.

Dear Sir,— Acting on your timely instructions, we sold your Brazil Tractions, and beg to congratulate you upon the nice profit which accrues from following the ad vice of our experts. Enclosed please find our cheque for £ll6 13s 2d, which kindly acknowledge at your own good time. Hop ing that our long connection will be extended by further transactions to our mutual advantage—Faithfully yours, Milton Medlicott, per pro.

After a week spent in showering cheques and congratulations upon the clients ot Mr. Medlicott, Eve was glad of a weekend in which to turn the matter over in her mind. Was Mr. Medlicott, her own admitted benefactor, also enriching anybody who had the enterprise to do business with him? A chance word or two exchanged by members of another department during the second week caused Eve to doubt it. , , " Hundreds of 'em took the tip, she heard a girl typist say. " The shares went down like a lump of lead, and now I m assuaging the agony of the wounded and maimed." '. ... L , i "Letters of complaint?" tersely asked the vouth to whom she was chattering. " feaskets," said the typist. But the chief turned out a peach of an explanation. It's a pleasure to type it. So there were losers to propitiate as well as winners to congratulate! Eve noted the compensating factor but passed no remark upon it to anybody. Presently she became aware of smart visitors to the office, who were obviously attached to the organisation, though not employed within the office itself. They repaired to a room known as " social contacts," where a well-tailored man named Landcross conferred with them. Most of them were well-looking men, but one very smart-looking woman evidently held a prominent place in the team. " What do the social contact people do?" Eve ventured to ask of Frankie Carruthers, having now reached the stage of acquaintanceship where a fair question mav he put. __ , . ''They're our solicitors, Frankie reLawyers?" Eve said puzzled. lawyers » Frankie laughed. «' They' pray every night to be preserved from lawyers. In the advertising business they'd be called canvassers; but stocks and shares are move genteel. In America they would be called bond-sellers; they place the shares that the firm specially recommends." , " That is not the same as share-pushers is it?" Eve asked, having read something about share-pushers in the Record-Cou-rier, which was campaigning against such activities at the tim^ " S—sh!" said Frankie, clapping a hand on Eve's lips, in an alarm which may have been simulated, but struck Eve as not entirelv fictitious. " There mav be such persons as you suecest," Frankie explained, with a mock seriousness. "But it is not considered good taste to mention them in these surroundings." " I'll remember!" Eve said. But when the office closed she waited for Frankie, and suggested a bit of dinner and a talkie. Over the meal she broached the question which troubled her mind. " This is the best job I ever had, Frankie," she began. " Then take care not to quarrel with it," her friend advised. " I've always had the feeling that it s just a bit too'good to be true," Eve went on unheeding. . "Well, what's biting you?" trankie j demanded. " Get it out, if you have to I talk about such things."

(COPYRIGHT)

A THRILLING STORY OF ROMANCE AND ADVENTURE

" I was reading about two old maiden ladies, who parted with their all- to a sharepusher," Eve said. " I've been wondering. . . " You've been wondering whether Milton Medlicott doesn't exist by wangling their last pennies from cripples and blind men !" said Frankie indignantly. "I m surprised at vou, Eve Gilchrist, lou are one of us, and you know what . sort of a crowd we have there. If you eve#, before worked with people half as nice, you ve been luckier than I ever was." " That's true enough," Eve conceded. " There's nobody there, from the last office bov up to Mr. Landcross, who wouldn't *go through fire and for the chief," Frankie went on. "If it s a comfortable, efficient office, it is because it has a considerate, just, efficient head. Woman, I've been in places where the boss did nothing but bawl you out, and i I've been in places where the boss was i always trving to paw you over. And 1 say that Milton Medlicott is a prince. If you want to say anything against him, 'say it to somebody else." It struck Eve that her friend's vehemence was due to a desire to con ™" ce ier * self, as much as her hearer. 4V ,,„JIh! was something fine about the loya y which inspired the words, as fcve was the first to admit. "I'd hate to think you were wrong, old thing," she said, laying a hand on Frankie's. " I know nothing about shares and investing, you know." " Nor I," said Frankie. " But I know a white man when I get the chance of working for one. Because swindlers do crooked things, it is not to say that a man like Mr. Medlicott wouM look at a deal that wasn't on the level.' Eve remained silent; and the two girls devoted themselves for a space to their " Forget about it, Eve," Frankie said. Eve nodded her agreement, and they began to discuss something else. Shortly afterwards Eve was promoted from the routine work of the glad tidings department to employment which bought her more into personal touch with Mediic°tt. ~ . ... „ Miss Gilchrist," he said, twinkling at her in his charming fashion. " I've heard good accounts of you; and I m putting you on a job which calls for niore lnitiative, and ought to prove more interesting. Do you read much 7 " " I'm very fond of reading," Eve confessed. " I subscribe to a library. . . . ■ "So Saunders tells me; and you don t confine yourself to fiction," Medlicott remarked. " Well, I want some material for a pamphlet about a gold mine in the heart of Australia. My idea was that you might go to the British Musem, or some place like that, and read up on that part of the world. Get an idea of the sort of place it is from real authorities, and the sort of adventure it must be for two men to seek gold in such a wilderness." He had a list of standard works on Australian exploration, and Eve set out on research work, quickly warming to her subject. Every morning she went over her notes with Medlicott himself; and he raised questions and suggested possibilities, which she found wonderfully stimulating. Sometimes he dictated for ten minutes, and Eve understood that the rough material so collected was being shaped for a vivid little book. " We'll have our hero here next week, he announced one day. " The man who risked his life in the waterless desert, and came out again with "half a hundred weight of gold. He's a shy bird, I gather from my Australian agent, and I'm hoping you'll find a. way of making him sing." j "I ? " Eve said, lifting her eyebrows. " Deep calling to deep," Medlicott said. " Adventurer to adventurer. I don't forget, Miss Gilchrist, that I saw you tackle a murderous brute who many a man would have shirked. He had a gun in his pocket, you know. That came out in court." " So you think I'm a person to tackle a gold-digger," Eve laughed. " I'm frightfully flattered, Mr. Medlicott; and keenly interested." " I hoped you would be, ' Medlicott said. " I'm hoping to make this miner's fortune, and my own at the same time. My report says that he unearthed a bonanza." " It does sound exciting," Eve said. " After readincr ahont. fV.ntral Aiisfrnlia if

will be wonderful to talk to somebody who has been there." Her former misgiving had vanished, and she was as keen about the pamphlet that was planned as any girl could possibly have been. And then a few scraps of talk that floated out from the social contacts department changed her whole outlook on the task in hand. The smart woman, whose name was Mrs. BelterFosby, set the ball rolling. " What's this gold brick scheme from Australia?" Eve heard her say, in her penetrating voice. " How on earth does Medlicott expect me to sell my people on stuff like that ? " Landcross closed the door, and no more could be heard except a soothing murmur. But a day later she heard one of the other " solicitors " say, in a jeering tone: " Of course, there's a real gold mine old son. Why, the chief has imported a real Aussie gold-digger, at terrific expense. If there's a real digger, there must be a real mine." " I know those Aussie diggers," grumbled his companion. " And I always button up my pockets when I meet one, for fear he should start gold-digging for my gold." With this dialogue rankling in her mind, Eve went put to lunch with her friend Frankie. Both were .girls of rather striking appearance, with the knack of wearing their quiet and tasteful clothes cleverly. As they passed a table in the restaurant where three other girls were sitting, one of the strangers said, with every intention of being overheard: " I've found out all about them, my dears. Would you think, from the side they put on, that they both work at that swindling bucket-shop opposite ?" The two girls choked over their lunch in silent anger. The only word that passed between them came from Frankie, as she picked up the checks. " If that cat is still there," she said hotly, " I'll smack her head for her." But Eve was beyond obtaining satisfaction from mere violence. Her chance came soon after her return to the office, when Medlicott rang for her and entered upon some instructions. (To be continued daily)