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14
—YTYHAPPY-
DAYS er
de
only in imagination, for we can hardly
fancy a being without lungs,
On the other hand we have the argu-
wholly without inhabitants,
‘fake the scorching plains of the desert
of Sahara or the silent frozen wastes sur-
rounding the poles, and still you will tind
men living there w hose ph ysical character
is precisely adapted to the country which
they call home,
This is true, and if true of the earth,
why not also true of the moon
Let us suppose that che moon has an at-
mospher e so rare that clouds cannot
gather, yet nevertheless an atmosphere,
‘This isentirely possible, and, admitting
it is so, why can we not as easily imagine
a race of beings whose lungs have an extra
condensing capacity and are capable of
breathing a rare atmosphere, as to imagine
a race like the negro which flourishes best
under a roasting heat, or like the Esqui-
maux, which is never so happy as when
the thermometer stands fifty or sixty de-
grees below 2
This isa very Y strong argument, but itis
only argument, Here is alittle fact which
goes to show that it is not only possible,
but probable, that the unseen. side of the
moon may have an atmosphere, while the
side we see has no
Look at Figure 3 “ind you will see what
makes the tide rise and fall. It is the at-
traction ot the moon for the sea water of
the ear
Two- thirds of the earth is water, one-
third land. Thus the moon at certain
times pulls the earth out of its natural
round shape and makes it 0
. If the moon can do this, what must have
been the force exerted by the earth upon
the moon while the latter was still ina
melted condition?
Many, many thousand times Breater, of
course. Enough to have pulled it.out of
the spherical shape many times over and
drawn one side of it away over toward the
“The highest mountains on earth rise far
above the limits of any atmosphere that
we can breathe. At the tops of these
mountains it is too rare for human lungs.
Suppose that the earth’s attraction has
actually pulled the moon out of shape,
making it oblong instead of round; then
the part the moon turned toward us
would be practically above the limit of the
lunar atmosphere, which would certainly
take as nearly a circular shape as possible.
This is the latest theory.
If true, it makes it entirely possible that
a breathable atmosphere should exist on
the other side of the moon—the side we
never see.
Perhaps this is so.
A lunarian with a telesco: ope 80 powerful
that he could see, by its aid, even a pin’s
point on the earth, would have to look a
Jong time at one particular part of our
It might be weeks, it might be years;
yet he would be all Wrong in conc uding
that th the earth was uninhabited because
oO
It is “together probable that there are
men inthe moon, adapted by Nature to
the globe on which they live.
If this is so and they ever come over on
our side of the moon, they must find it a
pretty hard country to travel in.
figure 6 is an ideal picture of the moon
as it would look to an observer standing
on one of the lunar mountain peaks,
Of course such a country as this could
never become densely populated, but is the
moon also
Here is othe great point:
Until that question is answered; until
it can be clearly shown what lies on that
lunar hemisphere which is ever turned
away from us, it must be a bold as well as
a foolish man who is willing to make the
emphatic ass assertion that there are no men
wu
Holding His Own.|t
(Continued from page 12.)
Dobson looked up and sawa thrilling ap-
parition.
Bob Carter stood sternly before him,
“What is this?” asked the young busi-
ness man, sternly. a ¥* hy are you molest-
irg this young Nady, Ilarkley Dobson ?”
The exhibition then made by the young
fop was pitiful as well as ludicrous,
He drew back, the picture of abject ter-
ror. Ifthere was one person in the world
he feared it was Bob Carter. He gasped
and drew back into the hedge, while his
face was ghastly white,
“No harm,” he sputtered. “It’s all
right. You're the pest man, I just lost
ell, take nt temper, and BO on
home,” said Bob, quietly, ‘And i
trouble this pouns lady again you teen
pay well for it,
jobson stood not on ceremony in going.
Ile was quickly out of sig!
Bob, of course, walked ‘home with Susie.
What was said on the way home we are
not privileged to tell,
e reader can guess that there was
a better, understanding between Bob and
Susie after that. With characteristic good
sense, Gob did not propose to take any
chances with so many rivals in the field,
It was rather a late hour when Bob left
the Prices that night,
Sam had built a big fire in the old-fash-
joned fireplace, and all hands had gathered
around it to pop corn, tell stories after the
good old Pennsylvania fashion and have a
general goo 5
It was the nigh ‘ht of the seventeenth. Bob
knew that the twenty full laden oil tank
cars were in the railroad yard of the T. &S.
He felt some uneasiness about them, for
he knew the risk incurred from the sparks
of a passing locomotive or other causes.
e ccnsignment meant a number of
thousands of dollars to the firm of Carter
& True, So Bob thought he would just
walk around to the freight yard and see
if the cars were ail ri
drew near fe high fence which
surrounded the yard, he saw two skulkin
forms in the gloom, They. evidently hear
his footsteps, for they van’
ere was po great significance to be] we
attached to th
Railroad yards and roundhouses are a
great resort for tramps and wanderers at
night. So Bob thought little of this,
enlle Pa Passed into the yard and went up to
There. were the oil cars all ready ona
siding to be drawn out the next morning,
Once they were billed out all responsibility
for them on the part of Carter & True
must cease,
Bob felt > relief when he saw that they
were some distance from the main track, |T
With an easy mind he turned and left the
yard,
As he passed into the street he turned a
corner which was lit by a street lamp,
Beneath this he suddenly met a pedes-
"It w was Cliff Small.
For a moment Small gave a quick, star-
tled glance at Bob and turned aside as if in
fear. The fellow’s manner struck Bob as
more peculiar than the mere fact of meet-
ing him in that aay at that hou
But Small 4 oy and vanished in
the gloom, oa. ueerly impressed,
and, turning his head, jooked after him.
But he kept o:
Bob reached ‘his home a little later. In
going to his own room he was obliged to
pass through his father’s apartm
ydne: Carter was sleeping heavily. On
atable by the bed were papers and ink,
Bob glanced at them as he pas:
They were covered with Fimbiing state-
ments and figures concerning the business
of the Toddville Railroad, once owned by
the demented man, Bob smile
ould only remember, how quickly we]
would overthrow Anstin Do son.
Then he went into his cham
But not to bed. He hardly had time to :
raise the sash of his window to admit air
o the room before retiring, ¥ when he heard
i “distant booming explos
Almost instantly ‘against ‘the sky along,
red column of flame. ran up through the
darkness,
} Bob > gazed for a moment spellbound with
horro:
“ Why; that is fire!” he gasped. ‘‘O:
my word, iti is hear the railroad yards! My
soul! Can
The words died on his lips. He was
frozen with borror ofthe thought. Buthe
waited no long
Out of the house he da shed.
He went ave through the midnight
ong before he reached the
feene the fire belle of Toddville were clang: | ¢
is was a night of horror which Toddville
was never to forget, And all through per-
sonal hatred and jealousy of one man
many were to lose, to suffer and die.
That night marked the downward trertl
of the career of the Dobsons, And it was
a rapid descent,
[TO BE CONTINUED.)
Oe
ANOTHER NEW STORY WILL COM-
NCE IN No. 245. TITLE WILL SE AN-
NOUNCED NEXT WEEK,
A gigantic, Palvage operation is about to be
attempted. Last summer the Russian Toneled
Hangouod, while engaged in maneuvers, went
to.the “bottom near Wiborg, off the Finnish |
ng on a hitherto unknown
e wreck now lies in 96 feet of water,
flat on her side, the bottom being soft mud, in-
to which the vessel has sunk abou!
iation, This offer has been accepted by
the tt ‘Tenasian Government, and the preliminary
work has already commence!
{This story commenced in No.
TICK AND SHARP
THE
Boy Bankers of Wall Street.
-By ROBERT LENNOX,
Author Se “e Bee the Bell Boy,” “Hal Hor-
t,” “The Ready | Feds,”
ot ivashtngton vO.
Bar rry of Barrington,” ‘aa
CHAPTER XVI.
-MOSER MAKES A BOLD MOVE,
For the next few days there was little
change in the affairs of Quick & Sharp,
On the street the market remained quiet.
The slight rise which
Jay Gould's tips to the Sphinx, had turned
to such good advantage was followed bya
correspondingly § slight shrinkage,
If Quick & arp and their speculative
customers ha hI on they would have
lost some money, and, in some cases of the
smaller investors, al. i their margin; but
jbarley determined to take no chances on
tl
Mr, Darlington’s head was far from
clear, and when Charley ventured to ask
his opinion of the market, his replies were
so rambling that Charley determined to
take no chances, and Tom ordered Alleyn
i close out everything a3 soon as the
Board opened next
Perhaps this ‘action. was ina measure ac-
countable for the slight slump which fol-
lowed, butatalleven ts it came, and neither
Quick 8 Sharp nor any of their customers
lost a dollar.
For their “shrewdness f in reading the con-
dition of the market th © boy bankers re-
les, and
during the days which “followed several
pew accounts were made for the firm’s
ks.
Meanwhile the Darlingtons were most
comfortable atthe Widow Quick's home,
“Oh, Charley,” remarked Dora one even-
ing as ‘hes all sat together in the parlor,
Mr, Darlington having gone off
quiet sleep upstairs with the call bell close,
d in case he awoke suddenly and
wanted anything, “toh, Charley, I don’t
know when I have had such an easy time
of it. This is the most like being in my
own home of anything I have experienced
in ”
2
years.’
“Why, that is the way-we want you to
feel, Dora,” Charley replied. -** And w:
shouldn’t you? We are all friends here,
and I am sure your father is ever so much
better since you came to ourjhouse,”
“Better ! Why, he basn’ t been so well
ab a time since the fire, Ob, it w
° dread ul in that boarding house. That
woman would have driven father to the
lunatic asylum if you hadn’t interfered.”
“Did ave any real pore over him,
Dora? I don’t, want into your
rivate affairs at all, but. I Fyould Tike to
now tha h.”
None at all, Charley. She wasalmost
a stranger to us when we went there,
Father had a slight acquaintance with her
husband,and thatis the way we came to
go. The rst night Mr. Robey watched
Sith father he was greatly excited,
and kept “talking all night, He tol
nm about his influence with Gould, and I
heard him speak of a certain paper which
he bad placed in your keeping, all things
he ought not to have told, I[suppose, From
that time on Mrs, Robey kept pestering
father to give her points, He referred her
to you, but I suppose she did not do any-
thing “about it. At last it got to be that
we were practically prisoners. She inter-
epted my letters, and——but that’s old
ground, harley, you put a stop to all
<3 Yes, ut what-you tell me interests me
greatly,” said Charley. “Will you de-
scribe this man Robey to me?”
Dora did so, and Charley saw at once
that his suspicions were correct.
dls, Bo Robey and “ Moser” were one and
“They. are B pair of scoundrels !” cried
Charley, “T know which is the
worst, the husband or the wife,” and (fhen
he went on and told Dora all about his
with the man Moser and "Ais
Dennison,” something which he had not
thought it wise to trouble her with before,
‘There is no doubt that woman was
Mrs, Robey,” said Dora, “Oh, Charley, I
Don! t think of such athing, It would
drive him mad, Charley. I suppose you
often wonder what all this can mean, but
harley, aided by | foll
“But it t would not be right for you. to
tell without your father’s permission
ora, and don’t you think of that,” sai
Charley, ‘and just then Mr, Darlington’s
bell rang and Dora had to go upstairs,
Two or three quiet days followed,
The time was now close at hand which
Charley had 0 long looked forward to,
According to the paper, within two days
Jay Gould and his associates would begin
their manipulation of the market to bring
out one of the’greatest booms in certain
Western raiJroad stocks known for years.
Among these the most prominent, ac-
cording to the paper, were Minneapolis &
St. Paul, Missouri, Kansas & Texas,
Wabash, Iron Mountain, ‘Missouri Pacific
and Kansas
There were also a host of minor stocks,
which it was anticipated would be more
or less aitected by the rising market.
per gave very full details ‘of the
place, but still to go in heavily on the deal
would involve so much money that Char-
ley hesitated to advise his customers to
ow him without having a farther talk
with the Sphinx, but as it happened Mr,
Darlington had not been feeling quite so
well for the past few days, and be had. not
been able to see him at al
“ We shall want atl Jeast two days to do
our buying in,” Tom remarked one after-
noon, end to get that start we must be-
gin to-morrow.
see the Sphinx to: to-night
“T rl any * replied Charley, * “ put Tecan’
ii t going to
m ype omises, I'm
force mysel into that i even if we do
not ° nto the deal at all.’
open and in walked Mr. Moser, accom-
panied by a roughly Gressed man who was
a perfect ; giant i in fra
** Good-day, gentlemen,” said | Moser, ab-
ruptly., “T think you kno
“T know you to be a scoundrel !" cried
Charley. “ flow dare oon come ‘in here?
Leave this office a
“Not much !” sneered Moser, coolly
shooting the bolt.
What does this mean?” demanded
Charley, ‘ved with anger. poms tell Mr.
Rylance to go for an oftice!
rang to the little ‘window which
communicated with the front office,
To his surprise the office was, vacant.
ba 1 Rylance Avas not at his post behind the
“Quick as.a flash Moser’s companion
sprang ig upon Tom and pinned him against
the wall, while Moser himself drew @ re-
volver and covered Charley,
“Quick, be quick!” he cried. “ That
y | paper! I propose to have it or there'll be
one dead boy, if not two, in this office in
just about two shakes of a ram’s tail I”
Charley faced the villain unflinchingly,
“Suppose I refuse,” he calmly said.
“Ah, settle him at once,” cried the big
man, who had oor Tom by the throat
now. “Yer said yer’d do it, pow Show
what sorter stuff yer, made of— we
can 4 troo de safe an’ get the paper ‘atter
he’s dea
CHAPTER XVII.
CHARLEY TURNS THE TABLES ON HIS
ENEMY AND PREPARES FOR THE BIG
DEAL,
Tom fully expected, to see Charley make
arush for Moser and rab the ree
fore he was ah enioasiy surprised when
Gharley s suddenly threw up his hands, ex-
claimin.
“ Don't shoot! I.give up, You shall
have, the paper if you will only spare my
ite,
“Then hand it over quick !” cried Moser,
“This thing may go off by accident, Lose
no time!”
Charley walked over to the safe, opened
the little door behind which ‘Tom knew the
paper was concealed, ulied out the
drawer, and placed a folded paper in
oser’s hands,
“Make sure it’s right now,” growled the
man who held Tom captivi * You’v
slumped on, this thing twict ‘etore—don’ 't
again.”
Cetes all right,” said Moser, glancing at
the paper and ‘then thrusting it into his
z
tie Opene ed the door and ‘sprang out,
holding it open while his companion
darted after him.
cor ‘Tom, almost black in the face, col-
lapsed in the corner, and while the two
Jains rushed. gut into the street, Charley
Sprang to his
Tom sprang to his feetin an instant, and
instead_of thanking Charley, he begai
| Sattering away like a wet hen,
“ How could you do it How could you
do itr | he. cried, “ Why didn’t you slug
that scoundrel? You could have done it,
I’m sure you could, I'd be hanged if Td
I
have given up the paper if I'd have been i in .-
your place,”
“Fold on, Tom,” nid Charley, ‘quietlf.
. ‘
4
Don’ t “en think you can
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