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THE PAYETTE FALCON, SOME)? OLE. - TENNESSEE M 1 - ' - 1 1 - 1 1 " 1 ... , m OF2HE IP(CS XCWXT Mi CHAPTER I Continued. 18 lie cnme stealing across the suow a muslier of the first degree. Very silently and swiftly he slipped off his snowslioes at the door. The door It self was unlocked. Just as he had sup posed. In an Instiyit more he was tip toeing, a dark, silent figure, through the corridors of the house, lie held bis rllle ready In his hands. lie peered Into Lennox's bedroom first. The room was unoccupied. Then the floor of the corridor creaked beneath his step; and' he knew noth ing further was to he gained by wait ing. If Lennox suspected his pres ence, he might he waiting with aimed title as he opened the door of the Hy ing room. lie glided fnsrer. He halted once tnore a moment at the living-room door lo see if Lennox had been dis turbed. He was lying still, however, ' so Cranston pushed through. Lennox glanced up from his maga zine to find that unmistakable thing, the barrel of a rifle, pointed at his breast Cranston was one of those rare marksmen who shoot with both eyes open and that meant that he kept his full visual powers to the last Instant before the hsimer fell. "I can't raise my arms," Lennox said simply. "One of 'era won't work at oil besides, against the doctor's orders." Cranoton stole over toward him, looking closely for weapons. He pulled aside the woolen blanket that Lennox had drawn up over his body, and he pushed liis hand Into the cushions of the couch. A few deft pnts, holding his rifle through the fork of his arm, finger colled Into the trigger guard, assured him that Lennox wns not "heeled" at all. Then he laughed and went to work. "I thought I told you once," Len nox began with perfect coldness, "that the doors of my house were no longer open to you." "You did say that," was Cranston' guttural reply. "But you see I'm here just the same, don't you? And what are you going to do about it?" "I probably felt that sooner or later yon would come to steal just as you and your crowd stole the supplies from, the forest station last winter and that probably Influenced me to give the orders. I didn't want thieves aroinid nay house, and I don't want them now. I don't want coyotes, either." "And I don't want any such remarks out of you, either," Cranston an swered him. "You He still ! and shut tip, and I suspect that sissy boarder of yours- vlll come back, after he's through embracing your daughter In the Know, and find you In one piece. Otherwise oof " ' "If I wete in one piece," Lennox an swered hlru very quietly, "Instead of a bundle of broken bones that can't I Cant Raise My Arms," Lennox 8ald Simply. lift Its arms, II get up off this couch, unarmed at I am, and stamp on your lying llps." But Cranston only laughed and tied Lennox's feet with a cord from the window shade. He went to work very systematical ly. First he rifled Lennox's desk In the living room. Then he looked on all the mantels and ransacked the eepboarda ""d ,D drawers. He was taunting and calm at first. But as the ments passed, his passion grew up p him. He no longer smiled. The fwSt'nt ferture berre intent; the jes narrowed t curious, bright slits t, ; - . L i. .,, i jr-jr y -. under tne dark lashes. He went to Dan's room, searched his bureau drawer and all the pockets of the clothes hanging In his closet. He up set his trunk and pawed among old letters In the suitcase. Then, stealing like some creature of the wilderness, he came bock to the living room. Lennox was not on the divan where he had left him. He lay Instead on the floor near the fireplace; and he met the passion-drawn face with entire calmness. His motives were perfectly plain. He had Just made a desperate effort to procure Dan's rifle that hung on two sets of deer horns over the fire place, and was entirely exhausted from It. He had succeeded In getting down from the couch, though wracked by agony, but had been unable to lift himself up In reach of the gun. Cranston read his Intention In one glance. Lennox knew It, but he sim ply didn't care. He had passed the point where anything 6eemed to mat ter. "Tell me where It la," Cranston or dered him. Again he pointed his rifle at Lennox's wasted breast "Tell 'you where what la? My money?" "Tou know what I want and It Isn't money. I mean those letters that Falling found on the ridge. I'm through fooling, Lennox; Dan learned that long ago, and It's time you learned It now." "Dan learned It because he was sick. He Isn't sick now. Don't presume too much on that." Cranston laughed with harsh scorn. "But that isn't the question. I said I've wasted all the time I'm going to. You are an old man and helpless; hut I'm not going to let that stand In the way of getting what I cnme to get They're hidden somewhere around this house. I've watched, and he's had no chance to take them Into town. I'll give you Just five seconds to tell me where they're hidden." "And I give you," Lennox replied, "one second less than that to go to h 111" Both of them breathed hard In the quiet room. Cranston was trembling now, shivering Just a little In his arms and shoulders. "Don't get me wrong, Lennox," he warned. "And don't have any delusions In re gard to me, either," Lennox replied. "I've stood worse pain from this acci dent than any man can give me while I yet live, no matter what he does. If you want to get on me and hammer me In the approved Cranston way, I can't defend myself but you won't get a civil answer out of me. I'm used to pain, and I can fftand It I'm not used to fawning to a coyote like you, nnd I can't stand it" But Cranston hardly beard. An Idea had flamed In his mind and cast a red glamor over all the Scene about him. It was instilling a poison in his nerves and a madness in his blood, and It was seating him, like fire, in his dark brain. Nothing seemed real. He sud denly bent forward, tense. "That's all right about you," he said. "But you'd be a little more polite if it was Snowbird and Dan that would have to pay." i Perhaps the color faded slightly In Lennox's face; but his voice did not change. "They'll see your footprints before they come In and be ready," Lennox replied evenly. "They always come In by the back way. And even with a pistol. Snowbird's a match for you." "Did you think that was what I meantr Cranston scorned. "I know a way to destroy those letters, and I'll do it in the four seconds that I said, unless you tell. I'm not even sure I'm goln to give you a chance to tell now ; it's too good a scheme. There won't be any witnesses then to yell around In the courts. What if I choose to set fire to this house?" "It wouldn't surprise me a great deal." It's your own trade." Lennox shuddered once on his place on the floor. "I wouldn't have to worry about those letters then, would I? They are somewhere In the bouse, and they'd be burned to ashes. . But that isn't all that would be burned. Toft could may be crawl out but you couldn't carry the guns, and you couldn't carry the pantry full of food. You're nearly eighty miles np here from the nearest occupied house, with two pair of snowshoes for the three of you and oat dinky pistol. And you can't walk at alL It would be a nice pickle, wouldn't it? Wouldn't you have a fat chance of getting down to civiliza tion?" The voice no longer held steady. It trembled with passion. This was no Idle threat The brain had already seized upon the scheme with every in tention of carrying It out The wil derness lay stark and bare, stripped of all delusion not only in the snow world outside but ia the hearts of these two men, its sons. "1 have only one hope," Lennox re plied. , "I hope, unknown to me, that Dan baa already dispatched those let ters. The arm oi the law ia long, Cranston. It's easy to forget that fact up here. It will reach you In the end." Cranston turned tfirough the door. Into the kitchen. He was gone a long time. Lennox heard hlra at work; the crinkle of paper and then a pour ing sound around the walls. Then he heard the sharp crack of a match. An Instant later the first wisp of smoke came curling, pungent with burning oil, through the corridor. "You crawled from jour couch to reach that gun," Cranston .told him when he came In. "Let's see you crawl out now." Lennox's answer was a curse the last, dread outpouring of an unbroken will. He didn't look again at the glit tering eyes. He scarcely watched Cranston's further preparations: the oil poured on the rugs and furnishings, the kindling placed at the base of the curtains. Cranston was trained in this work. He was taking no chances on the fire being extinguished. And Len nox began to crawl toward the door. He managed to grasp the corner of the blanket on the divan as he went, and he dragged It behind him. Tain wracked him, and smoke half-blinded him. But he made It at last And by the time he had crawled one hundred feet over the snow crust the whole structure was In flames. The red tongues spoke with a roar. Cranston, the fire-madness on his face, hurried to the outbuildings. There he repeated the work. Ha touched a mutch the hay In the Ha Called Once to the Prone Body ot Lennox. barn, and the wind flung the flame through It In an instant The sheds witn oil And seeing that his work was done, he called once to the prone body of Lennox on the mow and mushed away into the silences. Lennox's answer, was not a curs this time. Rather it was a prayer, nn uttered, and in his long years Lennox had not prayed often. When he prayed at all, the words were burning Ore. His prayer was that of Samson that for a moment his strength might come back to him. CHAPTER II. Two miles across the ridges, Dan and Snowbird saw a faint mist blow lng between the trees. They didn't recognize It at first It might be fine snow, blown by the wind, or even one of those mysterious fogs that some times sweep over the snow. "But It looks like smoke," Snowbird said. "But it couldn't be. The trees are too wet to burn." But then a sound that at first was Just the faintest whisper in which neither of them would let themselves believe, became distinct past all deny ing. It was that menacing crackle of a great fire, that In the whole world of sounds Is perhaps the most terrible. "It's our house," Snowbird told him. "And father can't get out" She spoke very quietly. Ferhaps the most terrible truths of life are al ways spoken In that same quiet voice. Then both of them started across the snow as fast as their unwieldy snow shoes would permit "He can crawl a little," Dan called to her. "Don't gt np. Snowbird mine. I think he'll be safe." They mounted tc the top of the ridge; and the long sweep of the for est was revealed to them. The house was a singular talr pillar of flame, al ready glowing that dreadful red from which firemen, despclxiag. turn away. Then the girl selztd his hands and danced about him In a mad circle. "He's allva!" aha cried.; "You can see him Just a dot on the anow. Ha crawled out to safety." She turned and sped at a breakneck pace down the ridge. Dan had to race to keep np with her. But it wasn't en tirely wise to try to mush so fast A dead log lay beneath the snow with a broken limb stretched almost to Its surface, and it cwght her snowshoe. The wood cracked sharply, and she fell forward In the mow. But she wasn't hurt and the snowshoe itself. In spite of a small crack in the wood, was still serviceable. "Haste makes waste," he told her. "Keep your feet on the ground, Snew blrd; the house is goee already and your father Is safe. Remember what lies txrfore us." , . - (TO BE COVH VVTEV.i - . . If truth" is strar. r than fiction. It la because fact ootruns lmaglnst'on. 4L . New Occupation of Germany by 1,. ,.. vr. B A ' : "-.'Vcr Belgian troops marching past the Frederick statue In Dusseldorf to occupy this Important German city In the Rhine territory. Insert A French machine gun on the famous Dusseldorf bridge. Goal Structure Being Studied Bureau of Mines Conducting Mi croscopic Investigation at Pittsburgh Station. OLD TESTS ARE UNRELIABLE Relnhardt Thiessen, Research Chem ist, Says Scientists of the Past Only Had a Vague Idea of the Composition of Coal. Washington. Conceptions of the or igin, composition and general nature of coal held by scientists in the past are so different und contradictory that It Is a difficult matter to determine the real extent of knowledge available or to rely on the literature, says Reln hardt Thiessen, research chemist of the bureau of mines. Scientists In gen eral had only a vague Idea of the com position of coal, the origin of its con stituents, the transformation they have undergone, and the conditions they now are In. ' The chemist did not have enough fundamental knowledge to attack Us chemistry In the right directions. The fuel engineer, in turn, did not have a broad enough chemical basis for stud ies in combustion, distillation, cooking and other processes relating to the use of coal, hence the efficient utilization of coal in the Industries has suffered from the lack of a proper knowledge of the nature of coal Itself. ' The bureau of mines. In order to clear up some of the confusion that exists and to get a more exact knowl edge of the nature of coal in general, as well ns to obtain certain fundamen tal facts, has been conducting at Its Pittsburgh station a microscopic study of the structure of coat One of the great hindrances to its study, from the time of the earliest Investigators to the present, has been the difficulty in preparing thin sections for microscopic observation. Many attempts had been made to overcome this difficulty, and also to devise other means of study. For a number of years the ash meth od was pursued, bits of coal being ei ther totally or partly burned and the ash examined under the microscope. Later, maceration was tried with some success, but on the whole it failed to reveal the true nature of coal. More recently the method was tried of sof tening the coal with reagents and then cutting it into thin sections with a mi crotome. But this changes the coal too much to show Its true appearance, besides the method is Inexpedient Used Rock Method Study. For the bureau'a work an adaptation of the method , used successfully for years by penologists in studying rocks and paleobotanlsts In studying plants was employed. A small rectangular piece of the coal to be examined was planed and polished on one surface, which was then cemented to a glass slide with a mixture of Canada balsam and marine glue. The piece was ground to a safe thickness on a lapidary's wheel and was finally ground to trans parent thinness by band on a fine hone. Examinations were then made through the microscope at magnifications rang ing qp to 2,000 diameters. The bureau says that even with the naked eye a bed of any bituminous coal Is readily seen to be banded, sad a chunk of coat Is seen to be highly laminated and composed of layers varying greatly In thickness and In color, texture and fracture. : There are generally recognized and described two kinds of coal with re spect to Its texture; compact coal and mineral charcoal or moUier-of-cooL In the compact coot In general, two kinds of bands are recognized, apparently alternating and la sharp contrast. The one Is of a bright Jet-black, pitchy ap pearance and breaks with a conchoidal smooth, fchluy fractnre. The other is grayish binck. of a dull appearance, and breaks Irregularly. The former is irenerally railed brteht roar organs coal" and the latter "dull (MwP or "matt coaL" The bright coal consists i 1 Ii i - of lenticular masses greatly varying In thickness and breadth and entirely sur rounded by or Imbedded In the "dull coat" From the study at high magnifica tions it has been definitely shown that the "bright coal" represents constitu ents that at one time were pieces of wood, as of trunks, stems, branches and roots. They are called "anthrax ylon." The "dull coal" is extensively sublamlnated Into thinner sheets of "bright coal" and "dull coal." These thin sheets of "bright coal" also con sist of definite components and are im bedded in a dull granular appearing matter. The "dull coal" may therefore conveniently be divided Into two clnsses the thin black shiny strips and the highly comminuted material, termed attrltus, In which they are Im bedded. Derived From Plants. It Is conclusively shown that the thin strips of bright coal are also de rived from woody parts of plants, and are anthraxylon, but represent thin ner and smaller fragments than 'the thicker strips. There is no real dis tinction between the larger and the smaller or thinner anthraxylon constit uents, there being a complete range In Intermediate sizes, but the smaller are the more numerous. Some coals are largely made up of the thinner an thraxylon strips. The attrltus is composed of a num ber of groups or classes of constitu ents, most of which can be definitely Identified and their origin determined. These are the degradation products of cellulose (the essential constituent of cell walls), humlc matter, spore exlnes, resins, remains of cuticles, highly car bonized material rodlets and some mln- RESCUED FROM REIMS ' ' "V V I It, Ml, t . .., t ' ,( A French tot from the ruined city of Reims who has been rescued from the shattered streets and debris of his home town, and taken to the frenh-alr colony at Vlllers-Allernnd, where he Is given sunshine and good food. The colony was established by a Reims schoolteacher for the benefit of delicate children, and she has had many fairy godmothers. Including the Jnnior Bed Cross, which has belpd with 48,000 francs. x v V"''i i j I Allied Troops It ff 1 - t - a it. . 1 i V J eral matter. All are readily, dlsthv gulshable In the photomicrographs. Examination of a number of coals has shown that most of the coal is de rived from the woody ports of plants, such as trunks, stems, branches and roots, Including all the tissues that make up such parts. Some of this wood is represented by the larger an thraxylon, some by the smaller an thraxylon and some by the attrltus. The proportion represented In each of these varies in different coals and even at different levels In the same coal bed. There Is evidence that some of the cellulose mntter is derived from the more delicate tissues, such as her baceous plants, young or growing parts Of plants, leaf tissues, etc. The humlc or decayed vegetable mat ter forms a considerable proportion of the attrltus of all coals. It Is derived from the celluloslc parts of plants, but Includes, besides macerated, semi-decayed wood, some macerated gum. bark, pith, cortex and other more deli cate parts. There Is no sharp dividing line between the anthraxylon and the humlc constituents. Resins are found in all coals, but in greatly varying proportions, both la the anthraxylon and the attrltus. When found In the anthraxylon, the resin la found in those tissues where it would be expected If the constituent wer still a sound piece of wood. ' In the attrltus the resins are easily distin guished from the other constituents. Comparing Different Coals. The exlnes or outer walls of spores are present In the attrltus only and form an Important part of all coals but In greatly varying proportions. Tbe spore exlnes are the most readily dis cernible constituents in all coals, and have definite characteristics. Different genera and perhaps different specie of exlnes differ In sculpturing, size, form and thickness of wall, and by means of these characters can readily be distinguished from, one another. The spore characters have been so well preserved In almost all coals that the spores of one kind , of plants can be clearly distinguished from those of an other kind. In some coal seams the larger bulk of the spore exlnes are of the same kind. In other seams two of three kinds may form the main bolls. In comparing coals from different beds the predominating exlnes of one seant are easily seen to be different in soma way from those of any other bed. Thus the coals of different beds, containing: different spores, may readily be dis tinguished from one another. Occasionally In a given coal seam a spore exlne is found that differs front those of any other seam, but does not predominate. Thin spore exlne may be a distinguishing characteristic of tha coal seam in question, although not ths predominate one. This fact promises to be of value in the stratlgraphlc cor relation of coal seams. The Pittsburgh seam, for example, contains a smalt spore exlne that Is both predominant and characteristic and may thus be easily distinguished from any other. ! All ordinary bituminous coals con tain certain constituents that are mora highly carbonized than the rest of tha coal and stand out In sharp contrast to It on account of their opaqueness. In general there are two types of car bonaceous matter one type shows def inite plant structure and consists of the more highly carbonized parts of plant cells or bits of woody tissues or other plant tissues; the other show no plant structure and la of indefinite) origin. 1 ' ,' i Other constituents that sre invari ably present In all coals are the so called rodlets or needles. Many are scattered helter-skelter through the at tritus. Sometimes tliey sre present la inch large numbers that they form considerable part of certain thin lami nae. Many of the anthraxylon compo nents, and. conspicuously, many of the) mineral charcoal constituents, incloee a smaller or larger number of rodlets that are evidently part of their struc ture. Most of the tissues remaining la the coal with which rodlets are associ ated are recognized to he those of plants related to the Medulloeae, welt known paleozoic plaata allied to tha cycads. From this It appears that Home of the rodlets. If not all, are tha semi-petrified contents of the mucilage canals of Medullosa-llke ptarta. In ths original plants these canals were elon gated Intercellular spaces containing gumming substances. Ml n . 3