Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 138, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1918 — SPORTING BLOOD [ARTICLE]

SPORTING BLOOD

By JACK LAWTON.

(Oopyrisht. IMB. hr Wwtern NewapaDK Cntoa.) When the girl had climbed to the nook in the Cliff, she drew back at the appearance of an old man ensconced on tl>e rock which was her favorite resting place. A us “I beg your pardon,” she said; * thought no one was here." The old man smilingly waved his hand. “Well, I’m just no one at all, he replied, “so make yourself comfortable, and don’t mind me." Janey hesitated, but as he returned to his absorbed contemplation of the scenic panorama, she sank down upon a lower rock, and was evidently soon lost in troubled thought. A deep sigh at last escaped her. “Only the aged should sigh,” the old man remarked pleasantly. Janey turned 'to look into his shrewd eyes beneath their grizzled white brows, and all at once she felt an Impulsive desire to confide in the possessor of these same kindly sympathetic eyes. As though reading her scruples, the old man bent down encouragingly. “Well?” he asked. The girl laughed. “It’s about Billy,” she answered, the words seeming to say themselves. “When a young woman sighs," her - odd companion responded, “it usually is about Billy, or Jack or Tom! Has he been called to war?” Janey shook her head. “Not yet,” she said. “Billy is just a little above the age limit. That seems.to be his fault; he is always just a little out of —everything.” “And this particular thingy in which he fails?” the man persisted. ?

“I am strangely moved to tell you all about It,” Janey said slowly, “though I am sure I don’t know why.” “Most people are moved to tell me things,” he assured her ; “sometimes I am fortunate enough to help them; sometimes not. In this Instance—- “ Billy and I had decided to marry,” Janey said. “Father places an obstacle.” The old man nodded. “My father would like me to marry his own business partner,” she said; “a very promising young man.” “But you wouldn’t like It,” her companion supplemented; “so what is father’s obstacle in Billy’s case?” “Oh! It’s mean,” the girl cried out indignantly, “and it’s unfair! Years ago father sold a cumbersome house and barns on the hills to some stranger who agreed to carry the estate, along and make payment when he could. Father was glad, then, to have the taxes taken off his hands. But the man who bought the place went away (he was some sort of a sporting man) and he left the house with caretakers, the barns filled with his horses. Then one day the estate came back Into father’s hands. The sporting man was bankrupt, they said. He had paid nothing on the property, and house and barns were all out of repair. They really had abused things shockingly, so father sued for damages, just enough to put the place In selling order again. But his lawyer could get nothing. The sporting man was clever enough always to arrange his affairs that way, they said. And now —» Janey threw out her hands despairingly, “this is father’s insurmountable obstacle: Billy must make good by collecting those damages. Father knows this is impossible. And Billy—” A tender smile hovered about the girl’s mouth. "Oh, Billy is so confident of everything." “I like a man who is sure of winning,” the old man told her. Janey laughed. “That is the way Billy was sure about me, n she confided. He really Is poor, you know, and father is quite rich. Yet Billy came boldly courting, and you see,” her tone was wistful, “Billy won me.” The old man nodded. “Yes,” he answered, "I see. And what was the name of this unscrupulous man who purchased your father’s hpuse to destroy It?” The girl arose. “It was an Irish name,” she replied, “Jerry Sullivan. And perhaps he did not know how> badly the place had been used; he was away, you know. But at any rate,” she sighed, “no one can collect from Jerry Sullivan; that’s his reputation.” Her companion chuckled; • then- with old-time gallantry he turned’ to assist her down the cliff. "Now If they’d sent you to him,” he said, “they might have had a different story.” “I wonder,” said Janey, with a parting handclasp, From below she waved up to him, then turned to run Into her arms. “Just hunted you up,” s’STd Billy, “to tell you I'm on the way to Sullivan’s office; he’s In town.” “Billy.” cried the girl, “will you sue him today?” The young man shook his head. Any eyes but Billy’s might have been discouraged by the shabby appearance of Jerry Sullivan’s office. Surely bankruptcy, even poverty was evidenced here. But when he had stated his case, the old man In the chair before him pushed forward pen a»d paper. “Write out your claim, young man,” he said, “and we will settle the thin/ right here. And now," he added, when that feat had been accomplished with astounding ease, “now, I want you to take a message for me to that girl you are going to marry. “Tell her that she met Jerry Sullivan on the Cliff today, And Jerry’s •porting blood wouldn’t let him ss» ( the other fellow win."