RAINBOW GOLD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21296, 24 September 1932, Page 12 (Supplement)

RAINBOW GOLD

CHAPTER V

" That's just what I'm afraid of doing," Dan groaned. " I'll puncture and bo nothing mare than a flat tyre." " You'll be all right," Medlicott said easily. " You'll find the folks all as easy as Miss Gilchrist. She doesn't make you nervous any more, does she ?" " She knows how to make allowances," Dan admitted. " But that's no reason why 1 should presume on her good nature." " Well, I've accepted for you," Medlicott said finally. So it came, when Friday evening arrived, that Dan found himself sitting beside Eve in the car which Medlicott provided lor their use, gliding through Leatherhead toward Guildford. He was rigid with apprehension, and Eve tried in vain to call his attention to the peace and charm of the Surrey countryside. His alarm was so patent that, in the end, the girl lost, patience \yith him. "Snap it out, Dan," she said suddenly. "You don't want your friends to think you are a common funk, do you ?" She was not prepared for the effect of her words. She had used his name almost unconsciously, for Frankio never addressed him in any other way than Dan. But the sound of it from her lips evidently affected him. for his face (lamed darkly, and she could see his hands shake. " If you are good enough to rate me your friend," he said hoarsely, " I've got to make a show somehow. I can only make a fool of myself at, the worst," " Oh, quit being humble,'' Eve said, to cover her own confusion. " You're more of a man than Medlicott, and I want you to show it." The manservant who unpacked Dan's bag lingered for a moment. "Is there anything else, sir?" he asked. " I'd like you to get mo into this harness," Dan said, with a gesture toward the dress clothes. " Over in Australia we don't go in much for this sort of rig; not where I come from. I never wore a tail coat in my life."

Slade's cablo reached Dan on the following day. It was signed in the name of Gordon Wetherby, and Slade had not allowed any consideration of expense to cramp his style.

An unfortunate mistake has arisen, owing <o my having mixed up a photograph of my partner,, Daniel Prescott. with my own. The picture I sent you ia that of Prescott. It is 3'reecott who visited you in (England, while 1 had to remain behind in Australia. Prescott. has cabled vne informing me of your natural mistake ia mistaking him for 1110. I blame him for not undeceiving you at once, but I have warned him that you have fcivon "him your promise to marry me. Please confirm this by cable, and write to my partner telling him that ho must not attempt to see you aguin. He was supposed 1o do no more than explain to you why 2 was detained here, though I must accept most of the blame for sending the wrong photograph. His cable says that he profoundly regrets Lis conduct. You will have no more trouble | vitli him if you are firm in refusing to see him any more. Am writing at length, for this' has been a great shock to me.—Gordon .Wetherby. Cairns, the solicitor, grinned widely after lie had read this through twice. " What do you think? " Dan asked. " Slade certainly leaves Wetherby holding the baby," the lawyer remarked. " I itm not' sure that he may not have overdone it a bit. Anyway, I'll get. right away to Hillingdon and see Miss Clements." " l.et. her down as lightly as yon can," Dan urged. " This thing has got to be settled with a lot of cash when it comes to the real showdown." " Is she likely to feel very deeply about losing you ? " Cairns asked. " We-ell," Dan said slowly, " a girl who can engage herself by letter to a man she has never seen is not the one to feel things deeplv, is she ? She's more likelv to feel them loudly, I should say." Cairns nodded his understanding. " I don't know much about women." Dan went on. " I didn't quite get the hang of this business before she had me all tangled up in it. The whole family were oozing with surplus affection." , "Putting it on for the sake of your money?" , < "I wouldn't say" that," Dan replied judicially. "No. Mr. Cairns, that wouldn't be fair. I reckon that girl would marry a man and keep on being fond of him, and showing it. Gripes! If I hadn't bolted when I did she'd have had me before the registrar in another 24 hours." "I gather that you wouldn't care to face her again 1"

" Very good, sir," the man agreed. Presently he tied Dan's bow, and helped him into tho coat.

"You were made for the suit, und tho suit was made for you, sir, if I may venture the observation," he said. " I have often noticed how a tanned complexion is set off by well-cut evening clothes." Eve noticed it, too; with a proprietary sense of pride. Dan was lacing the music like a soldier going into battlo, but he looked all of a man, though a very stiff one.

Dan made a gesture of pure horror. "I wouldn't say it to anybody but my lawyer," he said. " It sounds mean 'and rotten, I expect. But I never had a chance from the word go. She was in my arms and all over me, the moment she set eyes, on me." "One of the clinging sort, eh?"

" Relax," she murmured. " These arc kind, homely people, Dan, and Mrs. Medlicott is a dear."

There was certainly nothing formidable about Mrs. Burclon, a grey-haired matron with a smiling face, or about her husband, who was florid and actively hospitable. Mrs. Medlicott was gentle and fair, and had preserved a youthful appearance t>y virtue of placidity. "Australia must be a very interesting place, Mr. Prescott," Mr. Burdon said, almost as soon as they were seated at dinner. "It produces phenomenally skilful young men, like Lindrum and young Bradman. I suppose Bradman's a public idol out there? "

" You've got it," Dan agreed. "Then I'm in for a scene,"* Cairns said philosophically/ She'll be heartbroken and get over it in two days. All right, Prescott; I'll switch her off you, and this chap Wetherby will have to understand that it's his next move"

With the matter she had obtained at first-hand from Dan, Eve Gilchrist was able to get ahead with her pamphlet. She enjoyed writing it as she had never anything before; and Medlicott was warm in his appreciation of her work. "That's very vivid and convincing, Miss Gilchrist," he said. " I'm rushing it through with the printer, and we'll distribute 50.000 copies. With a share application form at the back."

" He's a bonzer cricketer," Dan agreed. " Does that mean very good ? " Mrs. Burdon asked. " I don't think I've ever heard the word before." Dan was scarlet with confusion, but he strove to rise to the occasion. " It's miners' slang, Airs. Burdon," he said, " so you must excuse me for using it. On the goldfields, a very rich find was a bonanza, you see. I'm told that is Spanish and came from the Californian diggings. But on the goldfields, fellows who could just read and write mispronounced it, cutting out a syllable. And so everything jjood in Australia nowadays is just bonzer. '• " How very interesting," Mrs. Burdon said.

"Then you really think that this mine is as valuable as Mr. Prescott thinks?' Eve asked.

"I'm backing that idea to the extent of £25J000 of ray own money," Medlicott gaid, with his customary twinkle. "Am 1 not, Miss Gilchrist?"

" I don't think you are Mr. Medlicott," Eve said bluntly. "You are buying threefifths of a mine for £IO,OOO in cash, knowing that you can sell it again without incurring any risk or loss. If it is a success, you will make a lot of money; if it turns out a disappointment, the loss will fall upOD other people." "That, more or less, is the principle, underlying all company promoting," Medlicott said, in no way offended by her frankness. " People v/ho desire to make money by speculation must use their own judgment. Of course, if there is any misrepresentation by the promoter it is a serious matter. And that, my dear young lady, is why I have entrusted the writing of this pamphlet to somebody as high-minded and scrupulous as yourself." " But -suppose Mr. Prescott has been misleading me ?" Eve asked. " Do you think he has?"

" Talking about Bradman," Dan went on, making a noble effort, " there was a fellow passenger on the boat coming

over—a lady who had to engage a new housemaid in Sydney. One of . the girls she saw was a fresh importation from. England—smart, and just what she wanted. But, before signing this girl on, the lady asked her why she was leaving the place she held. " ' Well, madam,' says this girl, ' I'm English, you see, and the master is very Australian, and we couldn't seem to agree about the cricket test matches.' " Medlicott led the laughter which rewarded this little anecdote, and Dan plied knife and fork with the air of a man who found conditions much more endurable than he had been led to expect. But his host was intent upon drawing him into the conversation, and presently began to ask questions about the lonely places which Dan had seen and known. " It sounds an appalling place," Mrs. Medlicott ventured, " so dry and dreary, and so utterly lonely. Fancy being two hundred miles from anybody, in a waterless waste! "

" Not intentionally," Eve replied. " He would no more do that than I would embroider his story to mislead your But his enthusiasm might lead him astrav."

"Then you and 1 will both have been misled," Medlicott. remarked, "Don't worry, please. Prescott, and anybody who invests in this mine, will get as fair a run for their money as I can give them. By the way, I've accepted a week-end invitation for him and myself, with Mr. and Mrs. Robert Burdon. I told Mrs. Burdon that I should bring a secretary to attend to business. I hoped that you would 'act as secretary." " Is a secretary really needed ?" Eve asked suspiciously. " Somebody is needed to put Prescott at his ease and show him off at his best," Medlicott said frankly. " Burdon might put up a big block of capital, if I could interest him. And you know how to draw Prescott out."

" It all depends," Dan said vaguely " Depends on what, Mr. Prescott

asked Mrs. Burdon. " On the time of the year and the conditions," Dan explained. " I was once camping in a howling wilderness, nothing but loose sand as far as the eye could see, and we had two days' rain—drenching rain. Seven or eight inches of it. On top of that the sun came out." "And then?" Eve asked, since Dan 6eemed inclined to leave it at that. "In twenty-four hours you could see the sand changing colour," Dan said. " In another day it was like a billiard fable, all covered with dark green velvety growth. Inside a week the grass was knee deep, and patterned with wild flowers like a bright carpet. Miles and miles of it, all waving with pink and white and purple blooms. From day to day it was like one of those transformation scenes at a pantomime. And then—bingo!" •' Bingo, eh ? " said Medlicott. Dan nodded emphatically. " The hot sun dried it all up," he said. " Nothing left but a lot of brown stuff like thin hay. The wind blew all that away, arid there were the old fiand hummocks again All inside a few weeks." "And it remains desert until the rains fall, again ? " " If they ever do," Dan agreed. " You could feed the whole world on what dry Australia would grow, if it wasn't dry." "And that's the sort of country where you discovered your mine? " Mr. Burdon asked. " Does not the aridity make it very difficult to develop the mine? " There's underground water there," Dan said confidently. " We've only got <o bore for it, and then Feathertop will he a centre for prospecting and for developing the country. It's going to bo a big place, in my opinion." " Arid you'll be able to say that you put it on the map," Medlicott remarked. " How far is it from railhead ? " " A bit over three hundred miles," Dan said carelessly. "What's the odds? We got a car there, and a bit of road making will open a good track for cars, so long as it doesn't rain. Tho clay patches turn to glue in the wet." " Tell Mr. Burdon about the birds," Eve suggested. " Jlow they disappear when the water dries up." For twenty minutes Dan held them with his account of the bird life of Leopardwood Greek. Ho told of the shy emus that came to drink at dawn and at dusk, of tho parrots that painted the whole earth and sky with their brilliant hues.

" Does Mr. Prescott know that he is week-ending ?" Eve asked. " Not yet. I thought I'd make sure of you, first. My wife is included, but there will be nobody else. Just the four of us. A nice place near Godalming. You will enjoy it, I think." " 1 ought to be very grateful, 1 suppose," Eve said, more than a little troubled.

"No; that is for me," Medlicott said. •Anil I'd like to show it, in the proper way. Look here, I suppose you have a dinner dress and so on, but not, so many evening frocks as Norma Shearer, perhaps. Now, if you choose something appropriate for the visit—your excellent taste in clothes is an office by-word—and send the bill in to the cashier." " I think I'd rather foot my own bills » . ."-Eve began. " That's not business. Put it to your friend Miss Carruthers. She will tell you that false delicacy is worse than no delicacy at all, wouldn't she?" " That's just about what Frankie would eay," Eve agreed. " Very well, then. Do you remember what Pooh Bah said to the Lord High Admiral. " Don't stint yourself, do it yell." " Thank vou, Mr. Medlicott."

" And Mrs. Medlicott asked me to say ■that she is looking forward to meeting you. She is in a department of my lite that I keep separate from the office; but 3 told her about you." " Mr. Prescott has no evening things," JEve suggested, " I happen to know." " I'll attend to that," Medlicott agreed. *' I'm glad you remembered, I might have overlooked it." Dan Prescott's alarm when Medlicott informed him of the hospitable plan made ior his entertainment was almost pathetic. " I'm no good at that sort of thing, Mr. iMedlicott," he protested. " I'll let you •down'for sure. I'd be like a fish out of j^vator."

" But the fish in the water-holes have got me beaten for fair," he said. " We caught as many as we wanted, ten inches and a loot long. What were they doing when the creek dried up to the last drop? "

"I've promised a lady.that you will join the party," Medlicott insisted, "Mrs. "Burden counts on you, Prescott. So do other ladies,, in point of fact, mv wife «nd Miss Gilchrist. If you try tc> back •put it will wreck tho whole affair."-

" Perhaps they came up from the underground with the water," Medlicott suggested. " No, sir," Dan said, " they couldn't. Fill any dry creek in the back country with water and you can catch big fish. Where do they como from then ? "

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

A THRILLING STORY OF ROMANCE AND ADVENTURE

(COPYRIGHT)

"If you don't know, nobody does,'

Medlicott laughed. " Did you ever notice, Burden, that oven the most trustworthy man gets off the rails as soon as he begins to talk about fish ? "

Eve saw Dan's jaw drop and then close up with :i snap. After that the most tactful questions , failed to extract any anecdotal response from him. " I suppose," Eve said to Medlicott later in the evening, " you intended to cut Dan off by that scepticism about his fish story." " Wasn't it time ? " Medlicott asked. " Burdon was about deciding that he was just a plain liar. But a likeable one." " Yes," Eve agreod. " I wonder whether Dan believed that yarn himself!" What Dan thought about it became apparent at every subsequent attempt to draw him out on the subject of his Australian experiences. For with a face of (he utmost gravity and innocence he forthwith plunged into the wildest improbabilities and extravagances. Medlicott contrived to preserve his air of amused good nature in these circumstances, but Evo thought slie was able to discern distinct traces of effort on the part of her em-

ployer. To the girl it was a now sidelight on Dan's ciiaracter. He resented the scepticism provoked by his attempt to entertain his friends with the truth, and retorted in a fashion which left Medlicott helpless and frustrated.

Among the attractions of the grounds at Eversleigh, the home of the Burdons, was a swimming pool with spring-board and a plunge into deep water. It was early May, but the low temperature of the water could not deter Eve from making use of this luxury; and, as there were plenty of spare bathing suits in the dressing hut, she challenged Dan to the same exercise.

Dan was a strong but not a skilful swimmer; and his method of diving was to hurl himself recklessly off the boards,

and chance the angle at which he might enter the water. Soon Eve was givinc him lessons, illustrating with such well-

known dives as llie swallow and the jackknife. Dan watched her, with all the admiration he felt for her skill, and for her slim, graceful figure, shining in his eyes.

' A splendid girl, isn't she ? " murmured the gentle voice of Mrs. Medlicott by his side. *' And I'm glad that she is going to be a lucky one, too. But stand up to her a bit more, Mr. Prescott." "I—what do you mean,) Mrs. Medlicott ?

Don't be too modest and meek,"

smiled the fair woman. " Girls like that enjoy being bossed about a bit sometimes." " <<he—Why, she wouldn't look at me," Dan blurted out. " I wouldn't have tho cheek—l—"

" Now, why is she showing off? " Mrs. Medlicott asked. " In that ice-cold water, too. Whom does she want to impress? No, I'm not being unkind. She's a dear and hardly knows it herself. But it's up to you, Mr. Prescott." " I'll get into my clothes," Dan said abruptly. He felt himself trembling in every limb, but not with cold. It was the suggestion that he might dare reach out for what seemed so inaccessible which moved bin) so profoundly. When he appeared from the hut, clad again, Eve had left the pool; but Medlicott was waiting with some communications which had been sent on from the office.

'* You were right about that warning you telephoned to Slade, Prescott, he said, extending a cable as he spoke. ''He followed your instructions about the mine, but he had delayed too long. The gold stealers have been at work."

Dan scanned the cable from Australia. It merely confirmed what Medlicott had just said. Some adventurer with a plane had visited the place, uncovered the outcrop, and flown away with the richest of the stone.

" What would you expect?" Dan asked. " We registered the find, and Wetherbv showed our specimens around before ho got in touch with Slade. I wish I had Wetherby here now —the big, fat. tramp " What would happen to him?" Medlicott asked, his eyes twinkling. "He'd drink blood for breakfast," Dan said savagely. "Why do you blame him?" Medlicott asked curiously. "You talk as though he were the world's worst wart, instead of

your tried and trusty partner." " If he'd come to England," Dan said, "he would have shone at this business in which you've engaged me. I should have gono back to the mine with a couple of good chaps; and I'd have had a rampart of barbed wire , around the gold hole that no snoopers could have passed in a hurry." " It's rather like locking the stable after the theft of the steed," Medlicott remarked. "But I'll cable to Slade to do

that very thing. Anything else?" "Tell "him to get on with tho water bore," Dan said impatiently. "Fair dinkum, Mr. Medlicott, when I sold this mine I understood that development work would proceed. It seems that nothing is to be done until it has been sold again, at a handsome profit." " Don't blame mo, blame Slade," Medlicott advised. "I placed ample capital at his disposal. It was up to him.." "Maybe," Dan retorted. "But it strikes me you were in no hurry to develop, in case the gold petered out." "If that were the case, I only followed your example," Medlicott reminded him. "Come, Prescott, it is most vexatious to encounter negligence and carelessness — that's admitted. But on the whole I'm just as glad that you came to England and left that partner behind. Whether

the mine is a winner or a loser is not affected by the theft of some surface gold." "Bad management means a bad mine," Dan said' doggedly. ' "We cannot afford to have such things happening." "I'll ginger Slade up," Medlicott promised. "He knows his business from top to bottom, really; but he is slow off thu mark." " I wish I was out there," Dan said. "Do you really?" Medlicott tvrinkled at him. "Cross your heart, and never a word of a lie? I shouldn't have thought it, Dan." "A ( \y, dickin to you!" Dan said puffily, and strode away with his hands in his pockets. (To be continued duily)