Burning Daylight

read it. He remembered the thrill that was his, a callow youth of fifteen, when, in Tempas Butte, through lack of a fourth man, Tom Galsworthy, the gambler, had said, "Get in, Kid; take a ha

he big game had arrived, and it looked as if he were being invited to sit in and take a hand. Surely, fo

struck Daylight as a man of power, though he was puzzled in that he could find no likeness to Dowsett. Except in the matter of cleanness,-a cleanness that seemed to go down to the deepest fibers of him,-Nathaniel Letton was unlike the other in every particular. Thin to emaciation, he seemed a cold flame of a man, a man of a mysterious, chemic sort of flame, who, under a glacier-like exterior, conveyed, somehow, the impression of the ardent heat of a thousand suns. His large gray eyes were mainly responsible for this feeling, and they blazed out feverishly from what was almost a death's-head, so thin was the face, the skin of which was

of a Martini at midnight, though Daylight looked sharply for that very thing; for he had long since learned that Martinis had their strictly appointed times and places. But he liked Martinis, and, being a natural man, he chose delib

but nevertheless one of the crowd with which he had locked grapples in the North. Nor did Leon Guggenhammer fail to mention cognizance of that old affair. He complim

which he had flung all his strength and the strength of his Klondike millions. The Guggenhammers sure mus

ig game in which he was about to be invited to play a hand. For the moment he poignantly regretted that rumor was not true, and that his eleven millio

too, gave the impression of cleanness. He showed in the pink of health; his unblemished, smooth-shaven skin shouted advertisement of his splendid physical condition. I

am yacht, the Electra, whose recent engines were already antiquated. Dowsett broached the plan, aided by an occasional remark from the other two, while Daylight a

ning of the matter drew to a close, his handsome Jewish eyes flashing enthusias

e absolute need for keeping our alliance in

The thing is legitimate and right, and the only ones who may be hurt are the stock gamblers themselves. It is not an

ically one-quarter of the world's supply, as I have shown you,-is a big thing, how big, even we can scarcely estimate. Our arrangements are made. We have pl

ne," Daylight bro

able advantage to us, while you and all of us will profit by it as well. And as Mr. Letton has pointed out, the thing is legitima

rts be then?" Leon Gugg

and. The genuine investors will not be hurt. Furthermore, they will have learned for the thousandth time to have conf

us. You can see how and why clearly. But rumors are to be no concern of yours. You are on the inside. All you have to do is buy, buy, buy, and keep

rs of the situation, and we are fair enough to buy Ward Valley on a rising market. Not that we are philanthropists, but that we need the investors in our big development scheme. Nor do we lose directly by the transaction. The instant the action of the directors becomes known, Ward Valley will rush heavenward. In addition, and outs

your available cash, or the amount you care to invest in the venture

ehind you," Do

nodded his head

teenth-" John Dowsett drew a slip of paper

u the figures.

historical explanation of the earnings and divide

ey were not the real inner circle. They did not rank with the Morgans and Harrimans. And yet they were in touch with those giants and were themselves lesser giants. He was pleased, too, with their attitude toward him. They met

rose to go. "And you are the man to do it, Mr. Harnish. They are bound to think you are

that upsets their stereotyped calculations-any new combination, any strange factor, any fresh variant. And you will be all that to them, Mr. Harnish. And I repeat, they are gamblers, and they will deserve all that befall

ike weird night monsters at the gravelled foot of the wide stairway under the unlighted porte-cochere. It was a dark night, and the lights of the motor-cars cut as sharply through the blackness as knives would cut through solid substance. The obsequious lackey-the automatic genie of t

ur" Mr. Howison? Mystery? The affair was alive with it. And hand in hand with mystery walked Power. He leaned back and inhaled his cigarette. Big things were afoot. The cards were shuffled even then for a mighty deal, and he was in on it. He remembered back to his poker games with Jack Kearns, and laughe