"STAR" TALES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10273, 2 October 1911, Page 4

"STAR" TALES.

BURNING DAYLIGHT, - - (By JACK LONDON.) Author of " The Call of tho Wild," ' "The Sea Wolf," etc. [All Rights Reserved.] PARS XI. : ' CHAPTER I. '. • Jn no blaze of glory did Burning Day's .light descend upon San Francisco. Not only had he been forgotten, but the Klondike along with him. The world t> ' .was interested in other things, and tho 'Alaskan advonturv. liko the Spanish j war, was an old story. things , ' -had happened since then. Exciting : ' were happening every day, and ■ tho sensation-space of newspapers was limited. The effect of being ignored, /; lowever, was an exhilaration. Big man ' faa he had. been in tho Arctic game, 'I ,it 'merely showed how much bigger was .this new game, when a man worth eleven millions, and with a history such fts his, passed unnoticed, f Ho settled down in St Francis Hotel, ;' ,-waa interviewed by the cub-reporters on the hotel-run, and received brief , paragraphs of notice for twenty-four hours. He grinned to himself and began to look around and get acquainted witn the ne\v order of being and things. > He was very awkward and very selfpossessed, In addition to the stiffening afforded his backbone by the conscious /"' ownership of eleven' millions, he possessed an enormous certitude. Nothing abashed him, nor was he appalled by the /display and culture and power around 5" '((him.' It Was another kind of wilder"(nesg, that w!as all; and it wa« for him jto-learn tho ways of it, the signs and • i trails and water-holes where good huntling' lay, and the bad stretches of field . 'and flood to be avoided. As* usual, h j& fought shy of the, women. Ho was still ■ top Dadly soared, to come to close qufu*- '> ' tears -with the dazzling and resplendent creatures his own millions made acces- " siblei They looked and longed, but he .ty- »t> conoealed his timidity that he had •v, >' all the seeming of moving boldly among T, • jithem. Nor was it his wealth alone 1 'that attracted them. He was too much ;K [| ; [a man, and too much m unusiial type £>lY fof. man. Young yet, uarely thirty r six, | eminently handsome, magnificently ;i ■'strong, almost bursting with a splendid )Virihty, his free trail-stride, never \y '• ,'learnea on pavements, and his black y' r ; f ;' eyes,. hinting of great spaces and un<V:' pearled with the close perspective of ;, f the city dwellers, drew many a curious '.and wayward feminine glance. He i;,i ■ saw, grinned knowingly to himself, and fh , (faced them as so many dangers, with 'a ■ coolt' demeanour that was a far [: greater personal achievement than had ■ they been famine, frost or flood. .X- V- He had come down to the States to I; 1 -"/ 'play the man's game, not the woman's , game; and tho men he had not yet \ Jearned. They 'struck him as soft —soft V physically: yet he divined them hard '**' • Ml their dealings, but hard under an exterior of supple softness. _ It striick !■ Iliim that there was something cat-like .? about them. He met them in the *' 'clubs, and wondered how real was the >Cs Wood-fellowship they displayed and how ''/ ,'quickly they would unsheathe their i- J i .'claws and gouge and rend. "That's -'.the proposition," he repeated to him--7' self; "what will they-all do when tho it 4 ,; plajf te close and down to brass tacks r" (He fdt unwarrantably suspicious of If'. ,them. "They're sure slick," was his '■*{ secret judgment } and from bits of v'.i gossip dropped now and again he felt y-F' lis judgment well buttressed. On the '■f-\ father nand, they radiated' an_ atmof' " ' here of manliness and the - fair play ( at goes with manliness. They might i jgpuge and rend In a fight—which was •A' 1 ■ no more than natural; but he felt, ■if ' BomeKow, that they would gouge and fend according to rule. This was the Impression he got of them—a generalHsation tempered by knowledge that .ft ■' [there was bound to be a certain per- ' centage of scoundrels among them. ''< ) .Several months passed in San Fran- " ■ cisco, during which time ho studied the (game and its rules, and prepared him'iV jtielf to take «a hand. He even took -private instruction in English, and suc- •' needed in eliminating his worst faults, :*,A ' though in moments of excitement he ' was prone to lapse into " you-all," * ffenowed," "sure," and similar sole- *■' cisms. He learned to eat and dress 1 lapd generally comport himself after ■jf.'Jthe manner of civilised man; but , through it all he remained himself, not '/■ (unduly reverential nor considorative, i*nd never' hesitating to stride roughshod over any soft-faced convention if ! '1 •'it got in his way and the provocation great enough. Also, and unlike ■„ •' 1 jfche average run of weaker men coming i from back countries and far places, he ■/' ■failed to reverenco the particular tin cods worshipped variously by the oivi"lised tribes of men. He had seen totema before, and knew them for what they, wero. ,"Jv ( • t Tiring of being merely an onlooker, V, he ran up to Nevada, where the new " - 'cold-mining boom was .fairly started — i just to try a flutter," as he phrased ij";, it to himself. Tlie flutter on the V-1 'Tonopah Stock Exchange lasted 1 just Ki- ""ten days, during which time his smash- '!<] 'Jng, wild-bull game played ducks and ■ with tile mipre stereotyped '..-gamtleTa, and at the end of which "'.'time, ha vino; gambled Floridel into his p|, jflfrfc, lie let go for a net profit of half !C-. V' million. "Whereupon, smacking his I" LSlipa, he departed for. San Eranckeo the St Francis Hotel. It taatod s'/ipod, and his hunger for the game beAamo more acute. , [ < Aud once more tho papers sensationV,»lised hitn. BURNING DAYLIGHT a big-letter headline again. In- ', J ■ 'terviewera flockod about him. Old files - ■ ;'©f magazines and newspapers were f i ■ iaarched through, and the romantio _ historic Elam Harnisli, Adventurer ithe 'Frost, King of the Klondike, ;«nd Father' of tho Sourdoughs, strode 1 .'yttpon tho breakfafit table of a million Vlioinfifi along with the toast and break-Iw'/i-ijfttst foods. 1 Even before his elected ho was forcibly launched into the §J>''f "gaiaft, ' Financiers and promoters, and the flotsam and jetsam of the sea fy; tS - speculation surged upon the shores \ of his eleven millions. In self-defence \, , }i* was compelled to open offices. Ho i"' pad made them sit up and take notice, " knd now, willy-nilly, thoy were dealing ftiwi hands and clamouring for him to jjJay. > Well, play he would; he'd V,; 'allow 'em.j even despite the elated 1 pro- '' 'phoeies made of how swiftly he would ] fji'' Be tHmaned —-prophesies coupled with descriptions oz the bucolic game he f ' ( irould play and of his wild and woolly ' appearance. ' | He dabbled in things at first—- ( v.stalling for time," as he explained it to Holdsworthy, a friend he had made st: iiie Alta-Pacifio Club. Daylight limself was a member of the club, and Holdsworthy had proposed' him. Arid it was well that Daylight played closely •t first, for he was astounded, by the Multitude of sharks---" ground sharks," lie called them—that flockod about • }iink He saw through their schemes readily enough, and oven marvelled tihat suoh numbers of them could find Sufficient prey to keep them going. Their rascality and general dubiousness was so transparent that he could Hot understand how any ono could be " token in by them, i And then he found that there were fharks and sharks. Holdsworthy , , treated him more like a brother than a ' jnere fellow-clubman, watching over him, advising him, and introducing him to the magnates of the local financial Wprld. Holdsworthy's family Hired in a delightful bungalow near Menlo Park, and here Daylight spent a jliumber of week-ends, seeing a. fineness 4Hnd kindness of home life of which lie had neyer dreamed. Holdsworthy was ,sn enthusiast over flowers, and a half • Junatio over raising prize poultry; and these engrossing madnesses were a "■OUrce of perpetual joy to Daylight, f' : ; iwho looked on in tolerant good humour. Such amiable weaknesses tokened the health fulness of the man, and <.new '..Daylight closer to him, A prosperous, ■ jjjccflssful business man without greafr \ 'i irfiA 1 * f\ 91 ,f l, . .■' . I

ambition, was" ]'>ayh'ght'» estimate of iiim—a man tl > easily satisfied witli the small stakes of tho game ever to launch out in bir; play. On one such '-week-end visit, Holdsworthy lot him in on a good thing, a good little tiling, a brickyard at Glen Kikm. Daylight listened closely to tho other's doscription of the situation. It was a uioi-t reasonable venture, and Daylight's ono objection tvas that it was so small a matter and so far out of his lino; and ho went into it only as a matter of friendship, Holdsworthy explaining ' that he was hiinseli already in a bit, and that while it was a good thing, he would be compelled to mako sacrifices in other directions in order to develop it. .Daylight advanced the capital, fifty thousand dollars, and, as ho laughingly explained afterward, "I Avas stung, all right, but it wasn't Holdsworthy that did it half as much as those blamed chickens and fruittrees of his."

It was a good lesson, however; for lie learned that thero were few faiths in the business world, and that even the simple, homely faith of breaking bread and eating salt counted for little in the face of a worthless brickyard and fifty thousand dollars in cash. But the sharks and sharks of various orders and degrees, lie concluded, were on the surface. Deep down, lie divined, wero the integrities and the stabilities. These big captains of industry and masters of finance, he decided, wero the men to work wil;h. By the very nature of their huge deals and enterprises thoy had to play fair. No room there for little sharpers' tricks and bunco games. It was to be expected that little men should salt gold-mines with a shotgun and work off worthless brickyards on their friends, but in high finance such memiods wero not worth while. There the men were engaged in developing the country, organising its opening up its mines, making accessible its vast natural resources. Their play was bound to be big and stable. "They sure can't afford tin-horn tactics," was his summing up. So it was that lie resolved to leave the littlo men, the Holdsworthys, alone; and, while he met them in good-fellow-ship, he cbummsd with none, and formed no deep friendships. He did not dislike the little men, the men of the Alta-Pacific, for instance. He merely did not eleot to, choose_ them for partners in tho big game in which he intended to.play. What that big game was, even ho did not know. Fie was waiting to find it. And in the meantime he played small hands, investing in several arid-lands reclamation projects and keeping his eyes open for the big chance when it should come along. And then he met John Dcwsett. the groat John Doweett. The whole thing was fortuitous. This cannot be doubted. As Daylight himself knew, it was by the merest chance, when in Los Angelos, that he hoard the tuna were running strong at Santa Catalina, and went over to the island instead of returning directly to San Francisco as he had planned. There he met John Dowsett, resting off for several daya in the middle of a flying western trip. Dowsett had of course heard of the spectacular Klondike King and his rumoured thirty millions, and he certainly found himself interested by tho man in the acquaintance that was formed. Somewhere along in this acquaintanceship the idea must have popped into his brain. But he did not broach it, preferring to mature it carefully. So he talked in large general ways, and did his best to be agreeable and win Daylight's friendship. It was the first big magnate Daylight had met face to face, and he was pleased and charmed. There was such a kindly humanness about the man, such a genial democraticness, that Daylight found it hard ( to realise that this was the John Dowsett, president of a string of banks, insuranco manipulator, reputed ally of tho lieutenants of Standard oil, and known ally of the Guggenliammers. Nor did his looks belie his reputation and his manner. Physically, he guaranteed all that Daylight knew of him. _ Despite his sixty years and snow-white hair, his hancl-shake was firmly hearty, and lie showed no signs of decrepitude, walking with a quick, snappy step, making all movements definitely, and decisively. His skin waj3 a healthy pink, and his thin, clean lips knew the way to writhe heartily over a joke. He had honest blue eyes, of palest blue; they looked out at one keenly and frankly from under shaggy grey brows. His mind showed itself disciplined and orderly, and its working struck Daylight as having all the certitude of a steel trap. He was a man who knew and who never decorated his knowledge with foolish frills of sentiment or emotion. That he was accustomed to command was patent, and every word and gesture tingled with power. Combined with this was his sympathy and tact, and Daylight could note easily enough ail the earmarks that distinguished him from a little man of the Holdsworthy calibre. Daylight knew also his history, the prime old American stock from which he had descended, his own war record, the John .Dowsett before him who had been one of tho banking buttresses of the Cause of the Union, the Commodore Dowsett of the War of 1812, the General Dowsett of Revolutionary fame, and that first far Dowsett, owner of lands and slaves in early New England. " He's sure the real thing," he told one of his fellow-clubmen afterwards, in the smoking-room of the Alta-Paci-fio. "I tell you, Gallon, he was a

genuine surprise to me. I knew the big ones had to be like that, but I had to sea liim to really know it. He's one of the fellows that does things. You can see it sticking out all over him. He's one in a thousand, that's straight, a man to tie to. There's 110 limit to any game ho plays, and you can stack 011 it that he plays right up to the handle. I bet he can lose or win half a dozen million without batting an eye." Gallon puffed at his cigar, and at the conclusion of the panegyric regarded the other curiously; but Daylight, ordering cocktails, failed to note tliis curious stare. " Going in with him on some deal, I suppose," Gallon remarked. " Nope, not the slightest idea.— Here's Kindness. I was just explaining that I'd come to understand how these big fellows do big things. Why, d'ye know, ho gave me such a feeling that ho knew everything, that I was plumb ashamed of myself. "I guess I could give him cards and spades when it comes to driving a dogteam, though," Daylight observed after a meditative pause. " And I really believe I could put him on to a few wrinkles in poker and placer mining, and maybe in paddling a birch canoe. And maybe I stand a better chance to learn the game he's been playing all his life than he would stand of learning the game I played up North."

CHAPTER 11. It was not long afterward that Daylight came on to New York. A letter from John Dowsett had been the cause —a simple little typewritten letter of several lines. But Daylight had thrilled a ; s ho read it. He remembered the thrill that was his, a callow youth of fifteen, when, in Tempas Butte, through lack of a fourth man, Tom Galsworthy, the gambler, had said, Get in, Kid; take a hand." That thrill was his now. The bald, typewritten sentences seemed gorged with mystery. " Our Mr Howison will call upon you at your hotel. He is to be trusted. Wo must not. be seen together You will understand after we have had our talk." Daylight conned the words over and over. That was it. The big game had aj-rived, and it looked as if he were being invited to sit in and take a hand. Surely, f or no other reason would on© man so peremptorily invite another man to make a journey across the continent. They met—thanks to ' 1 our " JYIr Howison up the Hudson, in a, magnificent country home. Daylight, according to instructions, arrived in a private motor-car which had been furnished him. Whose car it was he did not know anv more than did he know the owner of the house, with its generous, rolling, tree-studded lawns. Dow,sett was already there, and another man whom Daylight recognised before the introduction was begun. It was Nathaniel Letton, and none other. Daylight had seen his face a score (» times in the magazines and newspapers, and read about) his standing in the financial world and about his endowed University of Daratona. He, likewise, struck Daylight as a man of power, though he was puzzled in that he could find 110 likeness to Dowsett. Except in the matter of cleanness—a cleanness that seemed to go down to the deepest fibres of him,—Nathaniel Letton was unlike the other in every particular. Ihin to emaciation, he seemed a cold flame of a man, a man of a mysterious, chemic sort of flame, who, under a glacier-liko exterior, conveyed, somehow, the impression of the ardent heat of a thousand suns. Ilis large prey eyes were mainly responsible for this feeling, and they blazed out feverisiily from what was almost a death's-head, so thin was tho face, the skin of which was a ghastly, dull, dead white. Not more than fifty, thatched with a sparse growth of iron-grey hair, he looked several times tho ag© of Dowsett. Yet Nathaniel Lett on possessed control— Daylight could see that plainly. He was a thin-faced ascetic, living in a state of high, attenuated calm—a molten planet under a transcontinental ice sheet. And yet, above all, most of all, Daylight was impressed by the terrific and almost awful cleanness of the man. There was 110 dross in bim. He had all the s-eeming of having been purged by fire. Daylight had the feeling that a healthy man-oath would bo a deadly offence to his ears, a sacrilege and a blasphemy. They drank—that is, Nathaniel Letton took mineral water served by tho smoothly operating machine of a lackey who inhabited the place, while Dowsett took Scotch and soda and Daylight a cocktail. Nobody seemed to notice the unusualness of a Martini at midnight, though Daylight looked sharply for that very thing; for lie had long since learned that Martinis had their strictly appointed times and places. But Ilo'liked Martinis, and, being a natural man, he chose deliberately to drink when and how he pleased. Others had noticed this peculiar habit of his, but not so Dowsett and Letton ; and Daylight's secret thought was: "They sure wouldn't bat an eye if I called for a glass of corrosive sublimate." Lecn Guggenhammer arrived in the midst of tho drink, and ordered Scotch. Daylight studied him curiously. This was one of tho great Guggenhammer family; a younger, true, but nevertheless one of tho crowd with which ho had locked grapples in the North. Nor did Leon Guggenhammor fail to mention cognisance of that old affair. He complimented Daylight 011 his prowess —" Tho echoes of Ophir came down to us, you know. And I must say, Mr Daylight—er, Mr Harnish, that you whipped us roundly in that affair!" iliclioes! Daylight could not escape the shock of the phrase—echoes had come down to them nf tho fight into which he had Hung all his strength and the strength of his Klondike millions. TJIO Guggenhammers sure must go some whon a fight of that dimension was 110 fnore than a skirmish of which they deigned to hoar echoes. "They sure play an almighty big game down hero," was liis conclusion, accompanied by a corresponding elation that it was just precisely that almighty big_ game in which he was about to be invited to I play a hand. For the moment he poignantly regretted that rumour was not

true, and that his eleven millions were not in reality thirty millions. Well, that much he Avould be frank about; lie would let them know exactly how many stacks of chips he could buy. Leon Guggenhammer was young and fat. Not a day more than thirty, his face, save for the adumbrated puff sacks under his eyes, was as (smooth and lineless as a boy's. He, too, gave tho impression of cleanness. Ho showed iu the pink of health; his unblemished, smooth-shaven skin shouted advertisement of his splendid physical condition. In the face of that perfect skin, his very fatness and mature, rotund paunch could be nothing other than normal. He was constituted to be prone to fatness, that was all. The talk soon centred down to business, though Guggenhammer had first to say his say about the forthcoming international yacht race and about ins own palatial steam yacht, the Electra,' whoso recent engines were already antiquated. Dowsett broached the plan, aided by an occasional remark from the other two, while Daylight asked questions. Whatever the proposition was, he was going into it with his eyes open. And they filled lus eyes with the practical vision of what they had in mind. "They will never dream you are with us," Guggenhainmer interjected, as the outlining of the matter drew to a close, his handsome Jewish eyes Hashing enthusiastically. "They'll think you are railing on your own in proper buccaneer style." "Of course, you understand, Mr Harnish, the absolute need for keeping our alliance in the dark,". Nathaniel Letton warned gravely. Daylight nedded his head. 1 "And you also understand," Letton went on, " that the result can only be productive of good. The thing is legitimate and right, and the only one who may be hurt are the stock gamblers themselves. It is not an attempt to smash the market. As you see yourself, you are to bull the market. The honest investor will be the gainer." " Yes, that's tho very thing," Dowsett said. "Tho commercial need for copper is continually increasing. Ward Valley Copper, and all that it stands for—practically one-quarter of the world's supply, as I have shown you—is a big thing, how big even we can scarcely estimate. Our arrangements are made. We have plenty of capital ourselves, and we want more. Also, there is tco much Ward Valley out to suit our present plans. Thus < we kill both birds with one stone " And I am the stone," Daylight broke in with, a smile. " Yes, just that. Not only will you bull Ward Valley, but you will at the same time gather Ward Valley in, This will be of inestimable advantage to us, while you and all of us will profit by it as well. And as Mr Letton lias pointed out, the thing is legitimate and square. On the eighteenth the directoi s meet, and, instead ol the customary dividend, a double dividend will be declared." , , , , "And where will the shorts be then?" Leon Guggenhammer cried excitedly. , , , ~ " The shorts will be the speculators, Nathaniel Letton explained, "the gamblers, the froth of Wall Street you understand. The genuine investors will not be hurt. Furthermore, they will have learned for the thousandth time to have confidence in Ward Valley. And with their confidence we can carry through the large developments wo have outlined to you. "There will be all sorts of rumours on the street," Dowsett warned Daylight, "but do not let them frighten you. These rumours may oven oxiginatc with us. You can see how and why clearly. But rumours are to be no concern of yours. You are on the inside. All you have to do is buy, buy, buy and keep on buying to the last stroke, when the directors declare the double dividend. Ward Valley will jump so that it won't be feasible to buy after that." " What we want," Letton took up tho strain, pausing significantly to sip his mineral water, "what we want is to take large blocks of Ward Valley off the hands of the public. We could do this easily enough by depressing the market and frightening the holders. And we could do it more cheaply in such fashion. . But we are absolute masters of the situation, and we are fair enough to buy Ward Valley on k rising market. Not that we are philanthropists, but that we need the investors in our big development scheme. Nor do we lose directly by the transaction. The instant the action of the directors becomes known, Ward Valley will rush heavenward. In addition, and outside the legitimate field of the transaction, we will pinch the shorts for a very large sum. But that is only incidental, you understand, and, in a way, unavoidable. On the other hand, we shall not turn up our noses at that phase of it. The shorts shall be the veriest gamblers, of course, and they will get no more than they deserve." "And ono other thins:, Mr Harnish," Guggenhainmer said, "if you exceed your available cash, or the amount you care to invest in the venture, don't fail immediately to call on us. Remember, wo are behind you." i "Yes, wo are behind you," Dowsett repeated. Nathaniel Letton nodded his head in affirmation. " Now about that double dividend on the eighteenth " John Dowsett drew a slip of paper from his notebook and adjusted his glasses. " Lot me show you the figures. Here, you see. ..." And thereupon he entered into a long technical and historical explanation of tho earnings and dividends of Ward Valley from tho day of its organisation. The whole conference lasted not more than an hour, during which time Daylight lived at the topmost of the highest peak of life that he had ever scaled. These men were big players. They were powers. True, as he know himself, they were not the real inner circle. They did not rank with tho Morgans and Harrimans. And yet they were in touch with those giants and were, themselves lesser giants. Ho was pleased, too, with their attitude towards him. They met him deferentially, but not patronisingly. It was the deference of equality, and Daylight could not escape the subtle flattery of it; for he was fully aware that in experience as well as wealth they were far and away beyond him. " We'll shako up the speculating crowd," 'Leon Guggenhammer proclaimed jubilantly, as they rose to go. " And you are the man to do it, Mr Harnish. They are bound to think you aro on your own, and their shears are all sharpened for the trimming of newcoiners like you." " They will ' certainly be misled," Letton agreed, his eerie grey eyes blazing out from the voluminous folds of tho huge muffler with which he Mas swathing his neck to the ears. "Their minds run in ruts. It is tho unexpected that upsets their stereotyped calculations—any new combination, any strange factor, any fresh variant. And you will be all that to them, Mr Harnish. And I repeat, they are gamblers, and they deserve all that befalls them. They clog and cumber all legitimate enterprises. You have no idea of the trouble they cause men like us—sometimes, by their gambling tactics, upsetting tho soundest plans, even overturning tho stablest institutions." Dowsett and young Guggenhainmer went away in ono motor-car, and Letton by himself in another. Daylight, with still in tho forefront of his consciousness all that had occurred in the proceeding hour, was deeply impressed by tho scene nt the moment of departure. Tho three machines stood like weird night monsters at tho gravelled foot of tho wide stairway under the unlighted porie-cnchere. Tt was a dark night, and tho lights of tho motorcars rut as sharply through the blackness as knives would cut through solid substance. Tho obsequious lackey—the automatic genie of the house which belonged to none of the three men—stood like a grave 1 ' statue after having helped them in. The fur-coated chauffeurs bulked dimly in. their eflAtsu

after the other, like spurred steeds, the cars leaped into the blackness, took the curve of the driveway, and were gone. Daylight's car was the last, and, peering out, he caught a glimpse of the unlightcd lionise that loomed hugely through the darkness like a mountain. Whoso was itP he wondered. How came th'ey to use it for their secret conference ? Would the lackey talk? How about the chauffeurs? Were they trusted men like "our" Mr Howison? Mystery ? The affair was i alive with it. And hand in hand with mystery walked Power. lie leaned back and inhaled liifi cigarette. Big things were afoot. The cards were shuffled even then for a mighty deal, and he was in on it. Ho remembered back to his poker games with Jack Kearns, and laughed aloud. Ho had played for thousands in those days on tlie turn of a card; but now he was playing for millions. And on the eighteenth when that dividend was declared, lie chuckled at the confusion that would inevitably descend upon the men. with the sharpened shears waiting to trim liini—him, Burning Daylight. CHAPTER HI. Back at his hotel, though nearly two in the morning, ho found the reporters waiting to interview him. Next morning there were more. And thus, with blare of paper trumpet, he was received by New York. Once more, with beating of tom-toms and wild hullaballoo, his picturesque figure strode across the printed sheet. The King of the Klondike, the hero of the Arctic, the thirtymillion dollar millionaire of the North, had come to New York. What had he come for? To trim tho New Yorkers as he had trimmed the Tonopah crowd in Nevada ? Wall Street had best watch out, for the wild man of Klondike had just come to town. Or, perchance, would Wall Street trim him? Wall Street had trimmed many wild men; would this be Burning Daylight's fate? Daylight grinned to himself, and gave out ambiguous interviews. It helped the game, and he grinned again, as he meditated that Wall Street would sure have to go seme before it trimmed him. They were prepared for him to play, and, when heavy buying of Ward Valley began, it was quickly decided that lie was the operator. Financial gossip buzzed and hummed. lie was after the Gugcen hammers once more. The ctory of Onhir was told over again and sensationalised until even Daylight scarcely recognised it. Still, it was all grist to his mill. The stock gamblers were clearly befooled. Each day he increased his buying, and so eager were the sellers that Wavd Valley rose but slowly. "It sure heats poker," Daylight whispered gleefully to himself, as he noted the perturbation he was causing. The newspapers hazarded countloss guesses and surmises, and Daylight was constantly dogged by a small battalion of reporters. His own interviews were gems. Discovering the delight the newspapers took in his vernacular, in his " yoil-alls," and "siires," and "surge-ups," he even exaggerated these peculiarities of speech, exploiting the phrases lie had heard other frontiersmen use, and inventing occasionally a new one of his own.

A wildly exciting time was his during the week preceding Thursday, the eighteenth. Not only was he gambling as he had nevor gambled before, but he was gambling at th© biggest tablo in tlio world, and for stakes so large that even the case-hardened habitues of that table were compelled to sit up. In spite of the unlimited selling, his persistent buying compelled Ward Valley steadily to rise; and as Thursday approached the situation became acute. Something had to smash. How much Ward Valley was this Klondike gambler going to buy? How much could he buy? What was the Ward Valley crowd doing all this time? Daylight appreciated the interviews with them that appeared—interviews delightfully placid and non-committal. Leon Guggenhammer even hazarded the opinion that this Northland Croesus might possibly be making a mistake. But not that they cared, John Dowsett explained. Nor did they object. While in the dark regarding his intentens, of one thing they were certain, namely, that he was bulling Ward Valley, and they did not mind that. No matter what happened to him and his spectacular operations, Ward Valley was all right, and would remain all right, as firm as the Hock of Gibraltar.. No; they had no Ward Valley to sell, thank you. This purely fictitious stato of the market was bound shortly to pass, and Ward Valley was not to bo induced to change the even tenor of its way by any insane stock exchange flurry. "It is purely gambling from beginning to end," were Nathaniel Letton's words; "and we refuse to have anything to do with it or take notice of it in any way."

During this time Daylight had several secret meetings with his partners—one with Leon Guggenhammer, ono with John Dowsett, and two with Mr Howison. Beyond congratulations, they really amounted to nothing; for, as lie was informed, everything was going satisfactorily. But on Tuesday morning a rumour that was disconcerting came to Daylight's ears. It was also published in the " Wall Street Journal," and it was to the effect, on apparently straight inside information, that on Thursday, when the directors of Ward Valley met, instead of the customary dividend being declared, an assessment would be levied. It was the first clwk Dayliflvb had received. It came to him with a shock that if the thing was so he was a broken man. And it also carao to him that all this colossal operating , of his was being dom> on his own money. Dowsett, Guggent'iammer and Letton were risking nothing. It was a panic, shortlived, it was true, bub sharp enough while it lasted to make him remember Holdsworthy and the brickyard, and to impel him to cancel all buying orders while he rushed to a telephone. "Nothing in it—only a rumour," came Leon Guggenhammer's throaty voico in tho receiver. " As you know," said Nathaniel Letton, " 1 am one of tho directors, and I should certainly be aware of it were such action contemplated," And John Dowsett: "I warned you against just such rumours. There is not an iota of truth in it—certainly not. I tell you on my honour as a gentleman." Heartily ashamed of himself for his temporary loss of nerve, Daylight returned to his task. Tho cessation of buying had turned the Stock Exchange into a bedlam, and down all the line of stocks the bears wcro smashing. Ward Valloy, as the apex, received the brunt of the shock, and was already beginning to tumble. Daylight calmly doubled his buying orders. And all through Tuesday and Wednesday, and Thursday morning, he wont on buying, while Ward Valley rose triumphantly higher. Still they sold, and still ho bought, exceeding his power to buy many times over, when delivery was taken into account. What of that? Oil this day the double dividend would bo declared, he assured himself. Tho pinch of delivery would be oil tho shorts. They would bo making terms with him. And thon the thunderbolt struck. True to the rumour, Ward Valley levied tho assessment. Daylight threw up his arms. He verified the report and quit. Not alono Ward Valley, but all securities were being hammered down by the triumphant bears. As for Ward Valley, Daylight did not even trouble to learn if it had fetched bottom or was still tumbling. Not stunned, not even bewildered, while Wall Street went mad, Daylight withdrew from the field to think it. over. After a short confereneo with his brokers, he proceeded to his hotel, on the way picking up the evening papers and glancing at the head-lines. BURNING DAYLIGHT CLEANED OUT, he read; DAYLIGHT GETS HIS; ANOTHER. WESTERNER FAILS TO FIND EASY MONEY. As he entered his hotel, a later edition announced tho suicide of a young man, a lamb, who had followed Daylight's play. What in hell did he want to kill Jiim-

self forP was Daylight's muttered comment.

He passed to his rooms, ordered a* Martini cocktail, took off his shoos, and sat down to think. After half an hour he roused himself to take the drink, and as he felt the liquor pass warmingly through his body, bis features relaxed into a slow, deliberate, yet genuine grin. Ho was laughing at himself. "Buncoed, by gosh!" he muttered. Then tho grin died away, and his face grey bleak and serious. Leaving out his interests in tho several Western reclamation projects (which were still assessing heavily), he was a ruined man. But harder hit than this was Ills pride. He had been so easy. They had gold-bricked him, and he had nothing to show for it. The simplest farmer would have had documents, while he had nothing but a gentleman's agreement, and a verbal one at that. Gentleman's agreement 1 He snorted over it. John Dowsett'e voice, just as he had heard it in the telephone receiver, sounded in his ears the words, "On my honour as a gentleman." They were snealc-thieves and swindlers, that was what they were, and they had given him tho douule-cross. Tho newspapers were right. He had come to New York to be trimmed, and Messrs Dowsett, Letton and Guggenhammer had done it. ■ He was a little fish, and they had played with him ten days—ample time in which to swallow him, along with his eleven millions. Or course, they had been unloading on him all the time, and now they were buying Ward Valley back for a song ere the market righted itself. Most probably, out of his share of tho swag, Nathaniel Letton would erect a couple of new buildings for that university of his. Leon Guggenhainmer would buy new engines for that yacht, or a whole fleet of yachts. But what the devil Dowsett would do with his whack, was beyond him—most likely start another string of banks. And Daylight sat and consumed cocktails and saw back in his life to Alaska, and lived over the grim years In which he had battled for his eleven millions. For a while murder ate at liis heart, and wild ideas and sketchy plans of killing his betrayers flashed through his mind. That was what that young man should have done instead of killing himself. He should havo gone gunning. Daylight unlocked his grip and took out his. automatio pistol—a big Colt's .44. He released the safety catch with his thumb, and, operating the sliding outer barrel, ran the contents of the clip through the mechanism. The eight cartridges slid out in a, stream. He refilled the clip, threw a cartridge into the chamber, an 4 with the trigger at full-cock, thrust up the safety ratchet. He shoved the weapon into the side pocket of his coat, ordered another Martini, and resumed his seat.

Pie thought steadily fo r an hour, hut he grinned no more. Lines formed in his ffjco, and in those lines wore the travail of the North, the bito of the frost all that he had achieved and- suffered—the lor-z, unending weeks of trail, the bleak tundra shore of Point Barrow, the smashing ice-jam of the Yukon, the battles with animals and men, the lean-dragged days of famine, the long months of stinging hell among the mosquitoes of the Koyokuk, the toil or pick and shovel, the scars and mars of pack-strap and tumpline, the straight meat diet with the dogs, and all the long procession of twenty full years of toil and sweat and endeavour.

At ten o'clock he arose and pored over the city directory. Then he put on his shoes took a cab, and departed into the night. Twice he changed cabs, and finally fetched up at the night office of a detective agency. He superintended the thing himself, laid down money in advanace in profuse quantities, selected the six men he needed, and gave them their instructions. Never, for so simple a task, -had they been eo well paid; for to each, in addition to office charges, he gave a five-hundred-dollar bill, with the promise of another if he suoceeded. Some time next day, he was convinced, if not sooner, his three silent partners would come together. To each one two of his detectives were to bo attached. Time and place was all he wanted to learn. " Stop at nothing, boys," were his final instructions. "I must have this information. Whatever you do, whatever happens, I'll sure see you through." Returning to his hotel, he changed calxs as before, went up to his room, and with one more cocktail for a nightcap, vyent to bod and to sleep. In the morning he dressed and shaved, ordered breakfast and the newspapers sent up, and waited. But he did not drink. By nine o'clock his -telephone began to ring and the reports to come in. Nathaniel Let'ton was taking the train at Tarrrytown. John Dowsett was coining down by the subway. Leon Guggenhammer had not stirred out yet, though he was assuredly within. And in this fashion, with a map of the city spread out before him, Daylight followed tho movements of his three men as they drew together. Nathaniel Lot ton was at his offices in the MutualSolander Building. Next arrived Guggenhammer. Dowsett was still in his own offices. But at eleven came the word that ho also had arrived, and several minutes later Daylight was in a hired motor-car and speeding for tho Mutual-Solander .Building. (To be continued.)