Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 90, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1918 — Page 7

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1918 » , . -

SYNOPSIS. CHAPTER I—J. Montague Smith, Lawrenceville bank cashier and society man, receives two letters. One warns him that a note which he has O. KL’d with consent St Watrous Dunham, the bank’s preslent, is worthless. The other is a rumdons from Dunham. He breaks an appointment with Vera Richlander, daughter of the local millionaire, and meets Dunham alone at night in the bank. CH AFTER ll—Dunham threatens Smith with the police. Smith becomes aggressive. Dunham draws a pistol and is floored by a blow that apparently kills him. Smith escapes on an outgoing freight train. CHAPTER Hl—Near Brewster, Colo., Dexter Baldwin, president of the Timanyonl Ditch company, gets Smith an office Job at the big dam the company is building. CHAPTER IV—Williams, chief engineer, finds the hobo Smith used to money in big chunks and to making it work. The company is fighting concealed opposition ana is near ruin. Smith is Jokingly suggested as a financial doctor. CHAPTER V—Williams talks business to Smith, who will tell nothing of his past. Smith pushes a stalled auto away from an oncoming train and saves the colonel’s daughter Corona. CHAPTER Vl—While Corona looks on tie drives oft three bogus mining right elalmants from the company’s land. CHAPTER Vll—The colonel takes Cmith to his home and persuades him. in spite of Smith's warning, to undertake gna financial salvation of the company. CHAPTER Vlll—Crawford Stanton, hired by eastern interests to kill off the ditch company, sets his spies to work to find out who Smith is. CHAPTER IX—Smith reorganizes the company and gets a loan from Kinzie, the local banker. CHAPTER X—ln the midst of a ••mira-cle-working" campaign Corona asks Smith alarming questions. He reads that Dunham, still living, has doubled the reyrard for his capture. CHAPTER Xl—Smith gets encouragement in his fight from Corona, but realizes that he must stay away from her. Vera Richlander and her father come to Brewster. CHAPTER Xll—Smith tells Corona of ills danger. He hears the Richlanders have gone up to the mines. He hires a new stenographer, Shaw, who is a spy of Stanton’s. CHAPTER Xin—He meets Vera, who has not gone away with her father. She exacts almost constant attendance from him as the price of her silence. CHAPTER XlV—Stanton and his wife ■fell to learn about Smith from Vera. Stanton makes some night visits and is ■trailed. CHAPTER XV—Smith tells Starbuck of the time limit on the dam. Starbuck cautions him about Vera and tells him Of a Plot to kill him or blow up the dam. They catch Shaw listening, but he escapes. CHAPTER XVl—Rumors that the darn Is unsafe cause a stock-selling panic. Smith tells the colonel of his entanglement with Vera and the colonel wants to let her talk if she wants to. She tells Smith that Tucker Jibbey, another suitor, Who knows Smith, is coming to visit her. CHAPTER XVII—An abandoned railroad right-of-way is claimed across the dam, and Smith prepares for actual fighting. He buys options on all offered stock and stops the pajqic. CHAPTER XVIII—He tells Corona he has locked up Jlbbey in an old mine until the fight is over. She calls him a coward. CHAPTER XIX—He releases Jibbey, and after that rescues him from drowning. CHAPTER XX—Smith tells Starbuck of Stanton's probable moves to get United States court Interference.

CHAPTER XXL The Colonel’s “DefL”' Though It was only eight o’clock, Smith sent his card to Miss Richlander’s rooms at once and then had himself lifted to the mezzanine floor to wait for her. She came in a few minutes, a strikingly beautiful figure of a woman in the freshness of her morning gown, red-lipped, bright-eyed, and serenely conscious of her own resplendent gifts of face and figure. Smith went quickly to meet her and drew her aside into the music parlor. Already the need for caution was beginning to make Itself felt. “I have come,” he said briefly. “You got my note?” she asked. “A few minutes ago—just as I was leaving the breakfast table.” “You will leave Brewster at once — while the way is still open?” » He shook his head. “I can’t do that; in common, justice to the men' who have trusted me, and who are now needing me more than ever, I must stay through this one day, and possibly another.” “Mr. Kinzie will not be likely to lose any time,” she prefigured thoughtfully. “He has probably telegraphed to Lawrenceville before this.” Then, with a glance over her shoulder to make sure that there were no eavesdroppers: “But not one of these Brewsterites can Identify you as John Montague Smith of Lawrenceville —the man who is wanted by Sheriff Macauley. My father, In his letter, after telling me that he will be detained in the mountains several days longer, refers to Mr. Klnzle’s Request and suggests—” The fugitive was smiling grimly. “He suggests that you might help Mr. Kinzie out.” “Not quite that,” she rejoined. “He merely suggests that I am to be prudent, and—to qudte Mta exactly—*not get mixed up in the affair in any way so that it would make talk.’ ” "I gee,” said Smith. And then: “You have a disagreeable duty hhead of you, •

The Real Man

and Ud relieve you of the necessity by running away. if I could. But that Is impossible, as I have explained." She was silent for a moment; then she said: “When I told you a few days ago that you were going to need my help, Montague, I didn't foresee anything like this. I stall breakfast with the Stantons In a few minutes; and "after nine ©'dock ... if yon could contrive to keep out of the way until I can get word to you; just so they won't be able to bring us face to face with each other—" Smith saw what she meant; saw, also, whereunto his wretched fate was dragging him It was the newest of all the reincarnations, the one which had begun with Jiboeys sleu band* Hasp the night before, which prompted aim to say: “If they should ask you about rile, con must tell than the truth. Verda." Her smile was mildly scornful. “Is that what the plain-faced little ranch person would do?* she asked. “I don't know; yes, I guess it is.” “Doesn’t she care any more for you than that?” Smith did not reply." He was standing where he could watch the comings and goings of the elevators. Time was precious and he was chafing at the delay, but Miss Richlander was not yet ready to let him go. “Tell me honestly. Montague,” she said; “is it anything more than a case

"Tell Me Honestly, Montague."

of propinquity with this Baldwin girl? —on your part. I mean.” “It isn't anything.” he returned soberly. "Corona Baldwin will never marry any man who has so much to explain as I have.” “You didn't know this w>s her home, when you came out here?” “No.” “But you had met her somewhere, before you came?" “Once; yes. It was in Guthrieville, over a year ago. I met her there at a house where she was visiting.” “I see.” she nodded, and then, without warning: “unat was the matter with you last night—about dinnertime?’’ “Why should you think there was anything the matter with mes “I was out driving with the Stantons. When I came back to the hotel I found Colonel Baldwin and another man—a lawyer, I think he was—waiting for me. They said you were needing a friend who could go and talk to you and —“calm you down,* was the phrase the lawyer used. I was good-natured enough to go with them, but when we reached your offices you had gone, and the ranch girl was there alone, waiting for her father.” “That was nonsense?" he commented ; “their going after you as if I were a maniac or a drunken man, I mean.” This time Miss Richlander's smile was distinctly resentful. “I suppose the colonel’s daughter answered the purpose better," she said. “There was an awkward little contretemps, and Miss Baldwin refused, rather rudely, I thought, to tell her father where you had gone.” Smith broke away from the unwelcome subject abruptly, saying: “There is something else you ought to know. Jlbbey is here, at last." “Does he know you are here?” “He does.” “Why didn't you tell me before? That win complicate things'dreadfully. Tucker win talk and ten an be knows; he can't it." “This is one time when he win not talk. Perhaps he win ten you why when you nee him." Miss Richlander glanced at the face of the small watch pinned on her shoulder. “You must not stay here any longer," she protested. “The Stantons may come down any minute, now, and theg mustn’t find us together. I am still forgiving enough to want to help you, but you must do your part and let me know what is going an." William Starbuck’s new ear was standing in front of Judge Warner’s bouse in the southern sub art when

By Francis Lynde

Hlusirabdnd

smith descended from the closed cab which he had taken at the Hophra House side entrance. The clock in the courthouse tower was striking the quarter of nine. The elevated mesa upon which the suburb was built commanded a broad view of the town and the outlying ranch lands, and in the distance beyond the river the Hillcrest cottonwoods outlined "t themselves against a background of miniature buttes. Smith’s gaze took in the wide, sunlit prospect. He had paid and dismissed his cabman, and the thought came to him that in a few hours the wooded buttes, the bare plains, the mighty mountains, and the pictured city spreading maplike at his feet would probably exist for him only as a memory. While he halted on the terrace, 1 Starbuck came out of the house. “The Judge is. at breakfast,” the owner announced. “You’re to go In and wait. What do you want me to 1 do next?” J “When I get through with the judge, I shall want to go out to the dam. i Will you wait and take me?” I “Surest thing on earth” —with prompt acquiescence. And then; “Is it as bad as you thought it was going to be, John?” ’ “It’s about as bad as it can be,” was the sober reply, and with that Smith ‘went in to wait for his interview with the Tlmanyoni’s best-beloved Jurist. | At nine o’clock, or a few minutes before the hour, David KJnzie, at his desk in the Brewster City National, telephoned a message that presently brought Colonel Dexter Baldwin to the private room in the bank known to nervous debtors as “the sweatbox.” “Sit dswn, Dexter," said the banker shortly;, “sit down a minute while I look at my mail.” It was one of David Kinzie’s small subtleties to make a man sit idly thus, on one pretext or another; it rarely failed to put the incomer at a disadvantage, and on the present occasion it worked like a charm. Baldwin had let his cigar go out and had chewed the end of it into a pulp before Kinzie swung around in his chair and launched out abruptly. “You and I have always been pretty good friends, Dexter,” he began, “and I have called you down here this morning to prove to you that I am still your friend. Where is your man Smith?” Baldwin shook his head. “I don’t know,” he answered. “I haven’t seen him since last evening.” “Has he run away, then?” The Missouri colonel squared himself doggedly in the suppliant debtor’s chair, which was the one Kinzie had placed for him. “What are you driving at, Dave?” he demanded. “We’ll tackle your end of it first,” said the banker curtly. “Do you know that you and your crowd have come to the bottom of the bag on that dam proposition?” “No, I don’t.” “Well, you have. You’ve got just one more day to live.” The Missourian fell back upon his native phrase. “I reckon you’ll have to show me, Dave,” asserted Baldwin stoutly. “But go on. You’ve got your gun loaded: what are you aiming it at?” “Just this: I told you weeks ago that the other people were carrying too many big guns for you. I don’t want to see you killed off, Dexter.” Tm no quitter; you ought to know that, Dave,” was the blunt rejoinder. “I know; but there are times when it is simply foolhardy to hold on. The compromise proposition that I put up to you people a while back still holds good. But today is the last day, Dexter. You must accept it now, if you are going to accept it-at all." “And if we refuse?” “You’ll go to smash, the whole kit of you. As I’ve said, this is the last can.” By this time Baldwin’s cigar was a hopeless wreck. “You’ve got something up your sleeve, Dave: what is It?” he inquired. The banker pursed his lips and the bristling mustache assumed its most aggressive angle. “There are a number of things, but the one which concerns you most-, Just now. Is this: we’ve got Smith’s record, lat last He Is an outlaw, with a price on his head. We’ve dug out the whole story. He Is a defaulting bank cashier, and before he ran away, he tried to kill his president.” Baldwin was frowning heavily. “Who told you all this? Was It this Miss Richlander over at the Hophra House. . “No; it was her father. I sent one of my young men out to the Topaz ; to look him up.” I “And you have telegraphed to the chief of police, or the sheriff, or whoever it Is that wants Smith?” “Not yet. I wanted to give you one ’ more chance, Dexter. Business comes ’first. The Brewster City National is a bank, not a detective agency. You I go and find Smith and fire him; tell him he is down and out; get rid of him. once for all. Then come back here and we’ll fix up that compromise with Stanton.” Baldwin found a match and tried to relight the dead cigar. But it was I chewed past redemption. “Let’s get it plumb straight, Dave,” he pleaded, in the quiet tone of one j who will leave no peace-keeping stone 'unturned. “You say you’ve got John • dead to rights. Smith is a mighty comI mon name- I shouldn’t wonder if there were half a million ’r so John ’ smiths— taking the country over. How 'do you know you’ve got the right 1 one?” | “Hia middle name is ‘Montague,’” mapped the banker, “and the man I who is wanted called himself ‘J. Montague Smith.* But we can identify i torn positively. Mr. Richlander’s i daughter can tell us if be Is the right

THE TWICE-A-WEEK DEMOCRAT

Smith, and she probably will if the police ask her to.” Baldwin may have had his own opinion about that, but If so, he kept it to himself and spoke feelingly of other things. - -——' “Dave,” he said, rising to stand over the square-built man In the swlngchatr, “It’s like pulling a sound tooth to have to tell you the plain truth. You’ve got a bad case of money-rot. The profit account has grown so big with you that you can’t see over the top.of it. You’ve horsed back and forth between Stanton’s outfit and ours until you can’t tell the difference between your old friends and a bunch of low-down, conscienceless land-pirates. You pull your gun and go to shooting whenever you get ready. We’ll stay with you and try to hold up our end —and John’s. And you mark my words, Dave: you’re the man that’s going to get left in this deal; the straddler always gets left.” And with that he cut the interview short and went back to the High Line oflices on the upper floor. (TO BE CONTINUED.)

“Mamma —” “Now, sonnie, don’t ask me any more foolish questions.” “I just want to ask one little, teeny question, mamma.” “Well, you may ask it if it Is a sensible one, but I am tired of the silly ones you generally ask.” “Well, mamma, is papa your husband?” “I don’t call that a sensible question. You ought to know that without asking. Of course he Is." “Well, mamma, I know, but I just wanted to ask a really sensible question. If prffra should die and go to heaven, what relation would you be to God?"

Mr. Braggleday had onc,e been on a tour to Egypt and couldn’t forget It. Everything reminded him of something else that took place on that memorable trip. His friend Johnson was admiring a beauiiful sunset one evening. “Ah,” said Braggleday, “you should just see the sunset In the East 1” “I should like to 1” said Johnson. “The sun always sets In the west In this ordinary old country 1”

“Todd tells me he has moved his gasoline tank Into his garage.” “But that’s awfully dangerous. The garage may catch Are at any moment.” “That’s what Todd hopes.”

“That’s what It Is,” said the man who was evidently thinking aloud. “What ’tls that Is?” queried the party with the rubber habit. “It Is hard to believe a man Is telling the truth about a thing when you know you would lie were you in his place,” answered he of the audible thoughts.

“How did Mrs. Grabcoin succeed in getting Mr. Grabcoin to attend church regularly?” “She persuaded the new rector to play Mr. Grabcoin a game of golf. The

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rector beat Mr. Grabcoin so badly the old gentleman said any man who could play golf like that ought to be able to preach a smashing sermon, so he Wnt to church.”

Man and Turtle.

x“After a man gets In the soup,” the ragtime raorallzer, “ha’s no “That’s where he differs from a turtle," rejoiced the dippy demoralizer. The latter is no good until he finds himself in the consomme.”

The Night Hawk.

“What’s Old Rounder doing now?” “Trying to get the gang to stay another hour while he tells them how much he thinks of home.”

HASTE NOT

First Doctor —Did that last case get well? Second Doctor —Not yet! He’s well off, and I believe In letting well enough alone.

Seldom.

I do not like Alexis Delf, He rather pains and pricks me. For when I underrate myself He seldom contradicts me.

Blamed Again.

Guest —Good gracious, waiter! Nine and nine make eighteen, not nineteen! Walter —Ah, but monsieur must remember that everything has been augmented by the war!

Sweet Advice.

“Words are inadequate to express my love!” “I know they are, Freddy,” said the dear girl. “Try candy and violets.”

* The deposits in the 294 postal savings banks throughout Bulgaria have reached the unprecedented amount of $11,820,800. A curved ladder has been invented on which drowning persons can be placed and drawn into a boat without danger of capsizing it. PNEUMONIA « Firstcallaphysician. Then begin hot < * applications of— EVsSX W V tW*lodyCwd Haw’

The food production department of London reports that the tractor has justified itself, and the farming community may be said to have been completely converted, for ths demand for tractors today bids fair to exceed, the full complement ordered by the department. The figures collected from a wide rargo of oo*snties are, In fact, overwhelming; thus, In West Surrey, one tractor plowed thirty-six acres in six days, and In Wiltshire the tractors averaged eighteen acres In a week; 1* Dorset, thirteen acres. Similar results are quoted from the districts of the agricultural county of Lincolnshire. —London Globe.

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