Money to Burn By Peter B. Kyne ? by B. Kyn-x WNU Serrio* CHAPTER XIV ? Continued Follo?!nK Bunker's unceremonious . ar,?re. Elmer Clarke gat down to do some so!l a?nin. so wlufct tU I ear'* for the slings and arrows of out rage* us fortune, provided I do not have to wait too lone to marry Nellie? ??Why, I almost forgot that I am mayor. I have got a Job. after all. and It Y>'iys me one hundred dollars a month. Well. I've existed on less. Kl ttf.r. old settler, you're wot licked at all.'* lie decided to await developments. It .ecurred to him that if Bunker really had such a club to swing he in . ! have swung it most profitably on t'nde Iliram before the latter de pri: ?1 f??r that mysterious land where income taxes are not. He certainly w i hi not swing it until he had col let vd his own legacy from the estate, for I'.'ii.Uer was too cunning to make gucli a maladroit move. Perhaps his threat had been n monumental bluff. I think this is a matter I should take up with McPeake.** he decided, and forthwith called upon the lawyer. Jh r?eake listened to the incredible tale with a growing disgust manifesting Itself "ii his features. "You're a shrewd judge of human nnture, Mr. Clarke,** he declared when i Elmer had finished his recital. "Bun ker is a rat. I am positive, however, that he Is binding you. If he had had such a weapon to use on your uncle, he would have used it. Consequently, I think that the best thing to do Is to Ignore him and proceed with the dis tribution of tiie estate." "Well, I'll not accept any money that doesn't belong to me. Mr. Mc Peake.** ?That's all very fine, but wait until you know for a certainty that it doesn't belong to you. I have uo apprehen sions on the matter, Mr. Clarke. Re memher. Bunker is an arrant coward." "Well, perhaps you're right, but I do not think he Is bluffing. 1 don't think he has the courage to bluff. I confess I'm afraid of him." -Well, I'm not. and the first day he comes In here I'll have him on the carpet end shake him down. I'll write you the results of my inquisition." So Elmer went on to New York. Five weeks later McPeake wrote him that the real estate had been sold, that all of the debts of the estate had been paid and that a final decree of distribution had been signed by the judge of the probate court- McPeake at'ded that Elmer's share of the es tate would amount to approximately 1218.000. Immediately upon receipt of this in formation Elmer catne on to Muscatine and the day after his arrival he was to meet McPeake in the latter's office. "Not a peep out of our friend Bunker," he announced, coming at once to the subject closest to Elmer's heart. "1 had him in my office and gave him a bad half hour, but could not get any admission from him. lie talked vague ly of things he could do, but seemed disinclined to do them. I think he was Muffing.** "Has ha received his legacy, Mr. Mc Peake?" "I handed him his check ten min utes ago. Thought I might as well get rid of him before you arrived.*' Mc Peake reached Into his desk and drew out a formal typewritten receipt with a check for $218,734.22 attached to it *Sign here," he ordered ? and Elmer signed and pouched his check. Then he gathered up all of the pa pers and took his departure. The , check he had received was on the First National bank, downstairs, so Elmer went into the bank first and ap proached the paying teller's window. "I wish you'd have this check certi fied," he said, and handed it through the grill work. The paying teller took it and de parted. Five minutes later he re turned and handed the check back to Elmer uncertified. ?'Sorry," he said, "hut a distraint warrant has been served on the bank by the local col lector of internal revenue, and we are debarred from honoring any further cheeks on this account ** MI thank you," said Elmer politely and walked out. Dp to McPeake's office he wdlt The client the latter had been expecting had not yet arrived and Elmer went at once Into the law yer's private office. "Well, Bunker has made good." he announced. MI told you I thought he fun,ls ?f the estate are jM ,|"^' Th? ^?TEF? ??i W - "Holy Jumped up Jehosnphat 1" Tilled Absolom McPeake. "No'" "Hut yes !" "I don't believe It!" "Go downstairs anil ask the riTtns teller Of tt?. First National bank. Ho'U en'ishtcn j-na. I ,j.,wn there and he enlightened nje." "The dirty .log!- McPeake mved. "The dirty little snake In the *rass to do a thine like this!" Rimer shrugged. "All Im h-ping In that the collector of internal revenue it-Hvea me enougi. to pay inv few debt*. I owe the PilarcUos rammer clal Trust and Savings bank twentv thousand. If T get that much out of the wreck I'll be hack where I started and In a month or two I'll he Just * happy as If I hud never been a mi" Hon a ire.** He smiled wanly. MY? u see I haven't got terribly accustomed to being a millionaire." he ::!d"d. "Spending money is a tine art and I have never learned it. < -or up. M ? If I'd collected all of t! \w) .-r ? and had got accustomed to livin? or. n million-dollar scale, IV, inker's action would have broken my 1- >rt" "You are game." M Iv-1,.. ' ?? rej admiringly, and called f r '.is tnry. "(let the colla tor nf intern i! revenue on the line for n ?\" he or dere?L Thereafter for live minutes h?? n tened on the line while the collector of internal revenue talked. Silent'.. McPeake hung up. "Licked!" he croak, il. "I.hk.d to a frazzle!" ?'All right, I'm licked." Elmer re torted calmly. "What Interests me is to know how I was licked." "Bunker went to the collector of Internal revenue directly after you gave him your ultimatum and turned the real set of books and vouchers over to them, and for live weeks a corps of expert accountants has been exporting them. The statute of limi tations has run against the income t;i\ returns for 11)13, l!)14t 1015, 1910 and 1017. but they have you nailed on the returns from then on. They have made up the tax returns for those years ns they should have been made up had your uncle made an honest re turn, and the collector Informs ni? that the estate owes the governmen two hundred and thirty-one thousand nine hundred and four dollars am! eight cents." They looked at each other, aad pres ently the slow, amused smile crep around Elmer's mouth. "Mac," h? asked, "did you pet your fee out of the estate before the crash?" McPeake shook his head wearily. "Then the joke's on you," Elmer de clared. and stood up. "Tell you what you do," he continued. "You pet hold of that collector, run down his ac counting and. when you are convinced he is right and we haven't pot a let* to stand on. you settle with him on the best basis you can. "As for me, I'm out. I have nelthe; the time nor the inclination to tiphr for anything except a living, ami tin longer I delay that assault the wors off I'll be. I'm about eight month*, behind the procession now and 1*1 have to hurry to catch up." He held out his hand. "Good by, Mac, I'm or my way." "Elmer, I'm terribly sorry." M Penke, friendliest of men, was callin him by his first name. "Don't waste your sympathy, Mac I'm one bird In this world who hate sympathy. I've never heen able t? use any. Uncle Hiram's money woul have meant a great deal to the happi ness of that girl I told you about, am1 for her sake I wish Bunker had neve been bom. But why repine? Whet the collector of Internal revenue prove Lis case, hand him this with my c??n? pliments," and Elmer laid on Mr Peake's desk the check the latter ha? so recently handed him. He held ou his hand. Goodby, Mac. Hope yoi get yours. You've worked for It whlch Is more than I did. You migh write to me from time to time and tel me how you're coming along." He shook hands and departed. Back at his hotel, he packed hi trunk and suitcase, telephoned down stairs for his bill and then lay dowi on his bed to wait for train time. A? four o'clock he was homeward bourn and three days later he dropped o:; the Del Monte Flyer at Pilarcltos and made his way on foot up to his house (TO BE CONTINUED.) Datei From Old Time* The shout, "Fourteen Hundred.** I the cry raised on the I.ondon stock exchange to give notice that a stranger has entered the "Iiouse." It Is said t? have originated at a time when foi a considerable peri??d the number of members had remained stationary af ill Another Birth Rale Slumps 1 Just as England wa/; congratulnt- j Ing herself that babies were arriving faster than deaths were recnrd*?d, alarm was spread of another slump In birth rates. This time it was cats. There has been such a derided de cline iu the feline birth rate that the cat world is facing a problem great er than ever before confronted- No body knows the cause, says Manager Bust ode of the Kensington Kitten club show. Girl at the Top in Health Tests Millions of boys and girlsall over the world, thousands of 1 them right here in the West, are being restored to health and strength by the j nnroW ton. 1 1 ic and laxative knows as Calif orr'a Fig Syrup at '1 cndorsiMl by ^hy^irians i"-.r over "?0 <'!:i!dren need no urging to take it. They love its rich, fruit v tlavor N thing can eompi ??* with ii as a gen tle, but certain laxative, and it go s further than this. It ?. .cs tone ? 1 sireagth t? tlu? stomach and how* !s so these organs continue to art nor mally, of their own accoftj* It stimu lates the appetite, he'-j-s di-'.-ii' ti. A Kansas mother, Mrs. Iv:;a A giro. G10 Monroe St., T<>i" ka, say-:: nip B. is abs'idut *y the picture , of health, now, with her ruddy cheeks, ! bright eyes and plump but g;' ?' i'ul little body and she stands at the top | in ? very 1" ilth test. Much of the credit for her perfect condition is due to California Fig Syrup. We have used it since baby 1. "| to keep h(?r bowels active dur ing colds or any children's ailin i ts am! she has always had cn e . y time with them. She always r. ponds to its gentle urging and is quickly back to normal." Ask your druggist f?-r California Fig Syrup and look for the word "California** on the carton so you'll always got the genuine. Where It Should Be Customer- llmvsthe sail business? j Ship Chandler? It's on the boom. I BAYERf*"; ASPIRIN From Many Visit* | "What happened to tho Im?.v who used to bring you all the flowers?" | "lie married the cirl at tho flor list's." London opinion. In Character I'hcto*;rnplirr llmv do von want this picture of yourself as a north* west policeman? Tourist Mounted. Colds era common bacouse people are carsless. Prom if use of aspirin will always c'ncc!; a co!J. Cr relieve ycur cold at any slags And genuine aspirin can'} hurt you. Take two tablets of Bayer Aspirin at t.ie f rst indicclion cf a cold, and that's usually the end of it. If every symptom hasn't disappeared in a few hours, repeat. Bayer Aspirin does not depress the heart. Take enough to give complete relief. And if your throat is sore, dissolve three tablets in water and gargle away oil soreness. In every package of genuine Payer Aspirin are proven directions for colds, headaches, sore throat, neuralgia, neuritis. Millions who used to suffer from these things have found winter comfort in aspirin. 1 "If pipe tobacco is iust as good for ROLLIN your OWN . .why don't ready-mades use it?" I'D been smoking 15?$ pi|>e tobacco 'for pipe and cigarette' for years, when TARGET cigarette tobacco came along. But now, it'sTARGET for mine! "Real cigarette tobacco ? Virginia, Burley and Turkish ? prepared just like the tobacco in ready-mades, and kept fresh in Moistureproof Cellophane. That's what swung me to TARGET! "I can roll swell smokes from TARGET with my fingers, but that TARGET rolling machine puts my best makin's on the back seat! Sure, you get 40 gummed cigarette papers free with every package. TARGET at lOfi is the best buy I know of!" MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE BROWN & WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CORP., LOUISVILLE, KY. Buy a package of TARGET right now. Foil 15 or 20 ciparfliw. If yon don't say they're the best smokes you ever rolled, return tlic half-empty package to your dealer and lie will return yonr dime! AND GET THIS! Hie United States Government tax on 20 ciga rettes amounts to On 20 cigarettes you roll from Target tobacco the tax is just aliout 1*. And where there is a state tax on cigarettes yon save just that much morel No wonder you get Bnch value for a dime!