The Oregon daily journal., March 05, 1904, Page 24, Image 24

THE OREGON DAILY JOURNAL PORTLAND. SATURDAY EVENING, MARCII 5, 190L
ESSIE BUSYBODY . MAKES A GREAT,. RADIUM FIID
44:1-
win
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; TEACHER'MADB'ME tray after JT for drawing pictures
of her. I had to study the astronomy chart for in hour. I gof to tired of
it I jet' wished I was up in the tun, or moon, or tomewheret where there
wasn't any school teachers. I hadn't any more than wished it, when I heard
a squeaky voice behind me. laying: "Well, come on. I'll take you to the tun
' , J r k
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' ; i "WELTJIMINY CRICKETS, who are your I gasped, when
I looked arounatond taw a funny-looking little creature about half my tize
"Never mind whb I art. If you want to visit the tun, jump into thit Magic
Asbestos Coat arid put on these Enchanted Coealct and we'll be off "
j-I GUESS YOU KNOW I'm ready for anything likean adventure
to I jet' obeyed order, and when teacher wasn't looking we tlid out the
window and mounted up in the air right toward the tun. "I'm afraid I'll
burn up, won't I, Mr. er Mr' Whater-name?" " 'Sunbeam,' call me t"
he replied. "That Asbestot Coat will protect you from getting any warmer,
and the Enchanted Goggles will keep your eyes from' frying out." "' .
U tX !. Ai .VP
i 4 )
r old T' '
... 4 AS WE GOT NEAR o the tun,' we tawsome great black holes
Sun tpots,'. said Little Sunbeam. "We wjll land near one." When I
looked down in that Awful Bottomlett Pit, I wit rerribly tkeered and
wanted to run away. "What it thit hole for. Sunny?" I &,A
pointed to a tign which laid "RADIUM MINES." "Radium? O cricky '
' kno.i ,M. re4d omethin hout it being worth a million dollars a
pound I I thought, quick at a wink.
'.WKJL "i
W kU 4 x t
..... 5-'SAY,"' SUNBEAM; can't yon take me down in there?Tm pot
ikee'red a mite now, I wouldn't care if the devil himself thould pop out of
there." "Ha, Ha! Ho. Hoi it that to?" hissed an Ugly Monster, at he
came squirming out of the blackness. Mercy, but he was an awful-looking
specimen,! He jet' grabbed me, and whisked me down into that pit quicker
"'n greased lightning." - . :
6 DIDNT DARE OPEN my eyet until wt landed at the bottom,
and then f found everything light at day. No lamps, either: It wai radium I
Yet, sir! Radium t And thit wai a whole mine of it I "Now I'll tet you ro
work," grunted Old Solheimer, for that wat hit name. "Everyone I catch
I set to work in my Radium Mines,' he growled. "What do you do with
the radium?" I ssked. "Sell it to thether planets Venus, Mercury and
sometimes Mars. It's cheap at dirt here on the sun. Can't sell t here at all."
9TME EARTH LOOKED like a little full moon at first, but grew
big awful fast, just like-fillinjfi balloon with gas. After a time we landed
on the edge of i great city, and all the houset in the neighborhood began
'o take fire all at once. I couldn't understand how that happened, tinrit I
ran down the road and took oil the Enchanted. Gogglet. .,,...
io-THEN I COULDNT Iook- at our load of iadium'at all, it
was so bright it almost blinded me. and red hot, too. Just then a policeman
collared me. and laid : "Hey, sit. if that's- your load of fire, better movent
out of here. It'i burning up'all rhe" houses 1" "Njaver mirtd." I said, "I'll
pay for all the damage. That's my load of radium !" ' v . '
- 7-.AND"Y0U NEVER SOLD any on the Earth?'! know you
didn't, because thereisn't a pound on the whole planet, ma taid. Why.
' look here, Old Sol-what-ever-it-it, you wouldn't think of keeping me prisoner
down here, when I could make you to rich, from one load of that thiny trull,
you coutd buy up the whole sun, and, perhaps a moon or twol"
-
WELL, THAT LITTLE speech set him crazy.' "Do jou mean
It? Do you?" he chuckled. ; "It's a go I Jes' you wait a second until I get
ona 9f my ships loaded, and we'll be oft for the earth." Well, tir, in lets
than forty winkt, we were aboard one of, the big freight airships. Ws shot
out of that deep mine like a Wl out of a cannon. -
1 1 "RADIUM!" HE GASPED, and wat off Kk. a eraty man. The
report spread al! over the city like wildfire, and toon scientific men, specu
la tori and people of all kinds came Hooking but to tee the load of radium,
and if possible, get hold of tome of it. Well, no one coujd steal any of it.
..,......, ..,Vv.w, ....... ,,,-,
'': .V;' f v"'f .' '' ; i 1 ' '. ; .'."''; s ,"
t SO T JES' PUT little pinches of the tfiiny stuff in the glast tubes
the men brought, and told off a little chunk of it. The money piled up m
fait I couldn't attempt to count it, and as- the fire wat getting worse, I ran
back to the airship, paid Old Solheimer more money than he ever dreamed
of, and told him to get off the earth. Thit he did, and then I paid all the
people for the houset that had been burned After hirinv a wionn m tnv
my money, 1 made my escape.. ' JjJ