Butler High School - Magnet Yearbook (Butler, PA)

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THE SENIOR JWAGNET 13 him no questions but brought him food and then sent him to bed. The next morning, Jim told his mother what had happened and then went to town to telegraph for a col- lege friend to come at once. As he entered the telegraph office, he came face to face with a man who always pretended to be his father's friend but whom Jim instinctively distrusted. He was short and fat with a red face and small eyes almost hidden by thick rolls of fat. As his glance fell on the young man, he started back in hor- rorg his face became white and a green circle appeared around his mouth. He pushed past the young man with lowered head and went quickly into the street. Jim glanced after him surprised. A sudden thought struck him, and instead of sending the telegram, he followed the man at a distance. Then he made his second startling discovery of the morning. Some one else was follow- ing Harry Cratty. The man looked familiar but before he could ascertain who it was, the man disappeared as if the earth had swallowed him. Much disturbed by his discovery, he followed Cratty to his office, and then returned to where he had left his horse and started home. He had ridden several miles when he heard the sound of galloping hoof beats behind him. Thinking that it might be one of the outlaws, he reined his horse to the side of the roadbehind a clump of bushes, and drawing a pistol, waited. As the rider drew near, he recognized the man as the one who had followed Cratty, and a moment later he saw that it was none other than his chum Bill Blake, whom he was going to tele- graph. WVith a shout of joy, he spur- red his horse out on to the trail caus- ing Bill's horse to rear and buck. VVhen he finally got him quieted, Bill exclaimed, l say, old fellow, what's the big idea of riding out like a wild Indian and frightening a fellow out of his wits! Jim laughed heartily, for he knew that it would take more than that to frighten his friend. Then suddenly, his face soberedg and he explained the happenings of the last few days. Bill nodded quietly when he had fin- ished. Yes, l know, and I think your sus- picions about Cratty are correct. I'm down here looking after him myself and unless I'm greatly mistaken, we'll find him at a certain little cabin up in these hills tonight and then we will call on him to account for himself. just now, we had better get busy so we can give them a warm receptionfl The night was dark, and the men rode quietly up the trail looking more like ghosts than men. The utter silence with which they rode, except when one accidently struck his rille against something and cursed softly, was appalling. Presently at a word from their leader, they halted and leaving their horses with two of the men, crept up the trail. Soon, a dark bulk loomed in front of them. The men surrounded the cabin and waited. Jim and Bill stole close to the cabin and waited and listened. 'AWell, you all know what you arc to do nowf' they heard the voice of Cratty say, HTom, you take Dick and Jack and get that counterfeit money across the mountains. The rest of you kill young Montgomeryf any place and any way you canf, When the men came out of the cabin, they were greeted with the words f'Hands up and were quickly handcuffed. A few days later, Jim had the satisfaction of hearing the judge pronounce life sentence on Cratty for murder, attempted murder, and for passing counterfeit money.

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12 THE SENIOR iWAGNET The Mountaineer CURTIS KROUSE Late one afternoon about fifty years ago, two men stood on the edge of a cliff in the 'Tennessee mountains overlooking a small lake. They had been up in the mountains for two days inspecting coal deposits on the land of the younger man. The older of the two already passed the prime of life, and judging from the instru- ments he carried, he was a surveyor. The younger man, although not quite twenty-five years of age was far older in experience. He had lived most of his years in these mountains, except the four years spent at college. Now, he spoke with unconcealed bitterness, I suppose this trip we made up here was utterly useless. Those scoundrels have stolen our samples of coal and destroyed our papers. The company will do nothing till we prove the worth of those mines. I remembered father saying a few days before this same bunch killed him that every time he had a deal drawn up and ready to close it, somebody queered it. He said there was someone outside these hills back- ing it. ' The older man remained silent. He could think of no word of comfort, for he knew the story of the boyis life. The boy's father, Jim Mont- gomery, had owned valuable land in these hills. While he was yet a boy, a band of outlaws had sought con- cealment in the numerous caves in the land. Realizing that if the lands were developed they would be useless as a hiding place, they had fought every such attempt, and thus far they had succeeded. The year before they had been driven to extremes and had killed Montgomeryf. Now, young Jim had come home from college-deter- mined to drive out the outlaws and avenge his father's death. So this trip had been made into the moun- tains to survey the land and get some samples of the rich coal beds they thought were there. The night be- fore these samples with some valuable papers had been stolen. As the older man stood there thinking of these things, Jim spoke again. I have a feeling that someone is watching usg if they shoot, I'm going to jump over this clifff, As if in answer to his statement, two rifle shots rang out. The one bullet whizzed so close to Jim's face that he felt it fan his cheeks. He heard the other strike, and as he jumped, he saw his friend reel and stagger to the edge of the cliff and then toppled over the brink. As Jim touched the water, he struck out quickly for the shore. Reaching this he concealed himself in some bushes where he could see anyone on the cliff without being seen himself. Present- ly a villainous face peered over the cliff, to be refiected in the lake. f'Well, I guess we got them that time. I'll bet the old man will pay us well for this job. He was having a hard time to keep that coal company from leasing the land. Now he can buy the land cheap, from the old wo- man, one-eyed Tom exclaimed to someone behind him whom Jim could not see. Night came before Jim ventured from his hiding place and set off down the mountain. It was far after midnight when he reached home, but he found his mother and sister, Aileen, waiting for him with haggard faces brightening in spite of the fact that his face portrayed failure. They asked

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14- THE SENIOR .MAGNET A Happy Ending FANNIE FBLDSTEIN Betty Endicott walked into the library, slumped disconsolately into the easy chair and sat gazing at the book lined walls 'fMammy,l' she call- ed, 'fhas the mail arrived yet T' 'fYes, Miss Betty, honeyf' drawlled the cheerful looking negro woman who appeared at the door, I put it on the desk, and she stood there look- ing fondly at the girl dressed in riding togs. About five feet, four inches, she was with a school girl complex- ion that was the envy of her social companions. Expressive brown eyes, black curly hair and her two even rows of pearly teeth describe the girl. Betty glanced at the several enve- lopes there, all very apparently per- sonal correspondence, and frowned. Mammy darlingf' she said ser- iously, wif that check does not soon appear, we will have to go on a diet, for lack of necessary finance. f'Lawsy, Miss Betty, you couldn't go on a diet, lau.ghed Mammy, Hyou all wouldn't be just right if you be- gan to get thin. You know when Miss Smith comes down from New York, she always wishes that she was just right like you aref, 'fWell, if she would diet a little, answered Betty, Hit would improve her appearance, but there would be a great deal of a difference between that sort of a diet and starving. Well, I guess I'll have to write to Mr. Cadman and ask him to attend to this, in fact, she continued, I think, I'll wire him. - Shortly afterward she appeared in a chic gray ensemble suit, hat and gloves, and her roadster matched in color perfectly, that when she stepped on the gas, as she was fond of doing, one could hardly distinguish the driv- er from the car in the gray streak that literally flew dowln the road. f'Why, Jack Forrester! she ex- claimedas she stopped at the tele- graph office. Hello, Bettyf' greeted a tall clean cut and very good looking young fel- low, What's all the rush about 7' Nothing in particular, Jack, I just have to send a telegram, but tell me, when did you arrive and why haven't I heard from you ? I just arrived on business and was going to call you immediately. You see that was even more impor- tant than my business reasonf, How nicel Wait until I send this telegram and then we can talk. You see,H she continued teasingly, my whole life depends on thisf' 'fWell, wfell, you might tell an old friend all about it, after all I didn't spend a number of years studying law for nothing, even if I did spend a lot of my time, pursuing a certain co-ed. You see Bettyf, he explained, f'You were so popular and there was so much competitionf' But he grew more and more serious as Betty explained that the dividends from the stocks, in which her father had almost his entire fortune, had been delayed several times lately, and that this month's check had not ar- rived at all. Not only that, but in looking up the papers in the book en- closed safe, she found that some of them were missing. Betty insisted that no one could possibly have found the safe and that she herself must have mislaid them. But Jack was afraid that someone had taken them and asked to see the safe. Of course lVIammy was above sus- picion and so perhaps were the two