is house.

[Illustration: "'CAN FOLKS SEE IN FROM OUTSIDE?'"]

This plan he had now come to suggest to his employer.

"Any one in the house with you, Mr. Yetmore?" he inquired.

"No, John, I'm all alone. Come in. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I just wanted to talk to you, and I didn't want anybody listening,
that's all. Can folks see in from outside?"

"No, not while the curtains are drawn. Come on in. What's all this
mystery about?"

Long John entered, and sitting down close to his friend, he began,
speaking in a low tone:

"You've heard about Tom Connor trying to raise money on his house, o'
course? Well, I can stop him, if you say so. Any one can see what Tom
wants the money for. He'll get that hundred and fifty, sure, and then
off he'll go. He's a thorough good prospector, better'n me, and with
equal chances the betting will be in his favor. If there's a big vein,
there's a big fortune for the finder, and it's for you to say whether
Tom Connor is to get a shot at it or not."

Long John paused a moment, and then, emphasizing each point with an
extended finger, he continued: "Without money Tom can't move--that's
sure; he's strapped just now--that's sure; and his only way of getting
the cash is by raising it on that house of his--and that's sure. Now,
Mr. Yetmore, you say the word and he shan't get it. No personal violence
that you're always objecting to. Just the simplest little move; nobody
hurt and nobody the wiser."

Yetmore gazed at him earnestly for a few moments, and then said: "It's
against the law, I suppose."

"Oh, yes," replied Long John, with a careless shrug of his shoulders.
"It's against the law all right; but what does that matter to you? I'm
the one to do the job, and I'm the only one the law can touch, if it
can touch any one; and I don't mean that it shall touch me. It's safe
and it's sure."

"Well, John, what is it?"

Long John rose from his chair, leaned forward, and whispered in the
other's ear a little sentence of five words.

For a moment Yetmore gazed open-eyed at his henchman, then suddenly
turned pale, then shook his head.

"I daren't, John," said he. "It's a simple plan and it looks safe; and
even if it were found out it would be about impossible for the law to
prove anything against me, whatever it might do to you. But it isn't the
law I'm afraid of--it's the people. Tom Connor has always been a
favorite, and just now he is more of a favorite than ever, and if it
should be foun