Gold! Death Valley Gives Up
Another Secret. Rich Find in Little-Known Corner
of Treacherous Waste. Dead Father of Picturesque
Girl Called Jerkline Jo the Finder. Weird Tale of
Struggles and Death and Baby Lost on Desert. Gold
Hills Mining Co. Takes Over the Claims at $1,000,000.
President Says Richest Discovery Since Days of '49.

"Great stutterin' Demosthenes!" exclaimed Tweet, and fell limply into a
chair.

Then again the door was opened, and a boy from the post office handed
Tweet a special-delivery letter. Tremblingly he tore the envelope and
removed a yellow telegram. Tears sprang to his eyes as he read aloud:

"Have to-day deposited to credit of your checking
account in Bluemount National Bank, Los Angeles,
one hundred thousand dollars. Check against it at
pleasure. Hiram and I on our way to Mendocino
County for a little rest and to see old friend of his.
Reach Ragtown in about two weeks if all goes well.

"JEAN PRINCE HOOKER, JERKLINE JO."

Tweet sprang from his chair, cramming on his hat.

"Lock the door and take the key, Heine!" he cried. "I'm going to Los
Angeles at fifty miles an hour!"

At the same time in the shooting gallery Al Drummond and Lucy Dalles
stared over the top of a newspaper at each other, their eyes tragic.

"Gyped!" exclaimed Drummond at last.

"Gyped!" Lucy echoed faintly.

Then for a time there was silence, broken at last by Drummond's weary
voice.

"Guess I'll drift up to the Dugout," he said. "See you later."

Lucy made no reply, but stood staring out across the spring-scented
desert, her thoughts on the tinkling streams of Mendocino and the big,
kind, sheltering trees. The rhododendrons were beginning to blossom
there now. Soon the redwood lilies would be scenting the air with
their delicate fragrance. Gray squirrels would be scolding in lofty
trees, and trout would be leaping in still, dark pools.

Lucy sat down very suddenly, and then her head fell forward on her
arms. There on the carpeted counter, between the rifles, she sobbed
heartbrokenly. She knew by intuition that in her quest for wealth she
would not have Al Drummond to help her in the future.

Ragtown's biggest day was when old Basil Filer, having been acquitted
of the charge of murder on the evidence furnished by Jerkline Jo and
Hiram Hooker, returned to hunt for his burros. This was Ragtown's
greatest day because Hiram Hooker and his bride came, too.