Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 36, Number 157, 15 April 1911 — Page 2

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ITtae Ace V

Hearts

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TortMI.EY flung four aces on th jN board and raked In a pll of gold Vll piece. The air In Lumley's tent U wn as thick as a London fog, and the two candles on each end of the upturned sled that was serving as a table looked like fireflies. A middle-aged man with one eye stood looking on, and after Cormley had sifted the gold Into his pocket, stooped, and picking up a fifth art, laid It before blm. "You dropped thlsT" he asked. In a, natter of fact tone. Oho!" cried Lumley, whipping out his (un and covering Gormley, "put It back. ci" you. put It back. So that's your Came!" The three men Jumped to their feet and scowled at the winner. Gormley stopped short, dazed. lie stared at tint card, then at the one-eyed man, and slowly emptied his pockets. "It's forty miles to Valdez." went on Lumley fiercely, "but the trail's good and most of It's down hill. This ain't no place for card cheats." Ills whole attitude was theatrical and overplayed. The other three losing gamesters growled assent. Oormley, very white, stared at all four. "Look here," he said, "there ain't no use talking:, but that ace of hearts never coma from me. Give me time to sell my cache an' I'll light out, only I ain't turnin' backAll I got' hire. I'll go on to Circle." "You prove that ace ain't your's," Insisted Lumley, lowering his gun and scrapingIn his share of the returned pot. "an' It's all off." The other shook his head. "I can't do It," he said In a hopeless voice. "It was night to his foot," broke In Mellor, the one-eyed man. "I ain't sayln' nothln'; you all seen where I got It." "Let the camp settle it," said Lumley. "We can have a call for to-morrow noon." Gormley went out onto the dreary waste f Jackass Flats. It was late April and the Tesllna was Just beginning to feel the flood from the foot of the melting glacier. He stood uncertain, looking Into the darkness, lie knew how a trial might result. Justice was dealt out with swift hands on the trail. It was the boast of the camp that on might leave a full pocketbook anywhere on the snow and find it again untouched after days. He recalled the poor devil who had made off with a side of bacon they burled him under two feet of frozen ground on the other t ile of the divide. On the Homeless Backzvard Trail. 11 went to his tent m.,1 i,i , ; in his sleeping bag. Shortly oi't-i midnight lid was up. It didn't take him long to roll up hit canvas and pack it on his sled with a bag of beans, another of bacon, some salt and tea, - his mining tools and blankets. He slipped the rope over his neck and under his arms, and with moccaslned feet making no noise on the crust, started off ground the bend toward the Tanana Hills nd the Copper Itlver. Ilia fifteen hundred pounds of stuff were lost to him; that was the price of the fifth are. II tried to. figure out how the vnlucky heart had fallen at his feet. The cne-eyed man he knew for a square fellow, the mail carrier of the country, who took This life in his hands every day fur a dollar , letter. He set his teeth and cursed his luck. "I'm through," ' he said, and was tartled at the sound of his own voice. "Hell, think of mortgaging the old place for this." He ''laughed harshly, Inwardly sick at the thought. He kept on mushing until long after daylight, stopped in a hollow to light a fire and cook a little breakfast, and then rolled himself up In his blanket and slept until late afternoon. Dragging one hundred and fifty pound wounds easy, but It Is no sinecure when the path is unbroken and unknown. His plans to build a boat and float down the Tezllna to Copper Centre were out of the question now. He must go It afoot, and try to meet up with prospectors who didn't know him. ' For ten days he pushed on over snows that were fast melting, fording streams that threatened to sweep him off his feet, and putting mile after mile between him and the spectre that hung over Jackasj Vlats. The Ice on Lake Marguerite wit beginning to break as he worked his war along the shore, and light laden ho reached the front of the lake In half the time h lad Mt aside to get thera. Tales of Gold, But Only Tales. There were men ahead of him: men wr.n tales of gold, but no gold. The rainbow now hung far away over the Tanana Hills beyond the clay banks of the Copper. Oormley pitched hla tent and rested. The surface snow was gone; there was no more sledding. Hack of the new camp lay acres cf fallen trees, round, shining, smooth with the wear and tear of anow and rain and veather. their bases cut off as clean as vheat after the scythe. The nights were getting shorter, and In the half dark, with men rowing on the ltke and lights twinkling from many tents, lth songs coming from light-hearted adventurers to the accompaniment of a banjo, cm might have thought he waa on an tiland lake back In the States. Only the Barrow rim of moon, tilted, uncanny, visible for a few moments over the tops of V'hlte peeks. Jarred on the eye and brok the imagination as on a wheel. Gormley saw pictured on many of these rights In the silence that followed the singing an almost tangible stillness the little farm In Indiana, his wife and the two children sitting by their mother on th farm wagon waving their hands as the 'train pulled out bearing him Into the unknown. There wer hundreds who could conjure up similar visions. Ha went over the scene In Lumtey's tent, and wondered If It might not have been for the best. Now and again prospectors passed on their way back, all with tales of the riches of the North. All with stories of how they, less fortunate than their fellows, had Just missed th lucky claims. Oormley looked about th circle that listened openmouthed to these fabrications of wealth lost by a hair's breadth, and shrugged his ahoulders. One night there mas a stirring In the camp. Thre men had come in with an account of a rich find In the hills. From all parts of the little town of tents forms begin to appear armed with pick anJ shovel. lut in their eyes. Impatience in their gait. The cavalcade starteJ, no one could hav told under whose direction, and by day light was half way tip In tha mountains.' Over swamps, across fields of criss-crossed fallen trunks, among boutera. threaded Its way. eating cold bacon

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and napjack as It went, and too hopeful to be weary. The sun went down. There, that was the place, that gulch the hundred began to dig, spreading out like a lot of Jackals, panning out black dirt with eyes glued to the bottom looking for the telltale glitter. Swarms of mosquitoes so thick as to darken the air buzzed and bit unheeded. Instead of gold was water water under the moss. The place was a morass. Then rage broke forth. Who said there waa gold here? No one could tell. Wen looked at each other and realized that they were exhausted; raised their eyes to the higher hills and saw a herd of caribou marching majestically up' up. They crept back, some silent, some cursing to each camp only when light was breaking and to forget their disappointment in sleep and whiskey. Gormley took his leave and headed north with his beans and bacon reduced to a fortnight's ration. Three days later he stopped near a deserted cache, on the side of which was scrawled on a flour bag, "Stranger, help yourself." He took what he needed and went on. This was the way to go, unburdened by a greut load. He looked back ami tried to figure how far he would have been If he had stopped to whip-saw lumber and build a boat. He pictured the men ho had left, toiling three miles through the swamp to find sizeable trees; their days of back-breaking toll, the carrying of tho preen boards to the camp, to patching and launching and waiting. He saw them loading up and floating, as he thought, serenely to tne Copper. He did not see the frequent strandlngs on sand bars, the battles waist deep In the icy waters to keep tha boats from swlsllng over, the changing channels and the water-soaked food. rsruwn and preen patches began to appeara grateful relief to the eye after the Interminable vista of white. He

struck the Copper above the "Centre," and passed men towlng heavy loads against its swift current. "Hello, goln' North?" "Yes. to Circle." "Good luck to you." "Same to you." The Spring was beginning to thaw out men's spirits as well as the ground. He lost track of the days, and the watch that ticked off the hours he rarely looked at. The nights were like the days, white and- long. He was in another world, and only the winds and the brooks talked to him In a language that he knew. Twelve days from striking the big stream he came tip with a party of Chlnooks, "Slwashes" they called themselves on the trail. They rewarded him stolidly, but their followers, a dozen yellow dogs with huge ears, barked long and loud. Gormley eyed them curiously as he went about getting his evening meal. The salmon had begun to run long ago and such salmon, shimmering with all the colors of the Northern lights. The Indians were apathetic, one of their number wes sick, an old man, evidently a chief. He lay in his clothing of skins and moaned while others of his ti-lbo crowded about him. Gormley got out his flask, and poured the remaining draught into a tin cup. He made motions of drinking to the onlookers, and held the whiskey to the old man's Hps. Then he emptied his quinine bottle of Its last three pills and added this to the dose, piling covering on the patient. The next morning the Chinook was better, and the Indians went on with their Interrupted work of drying salmon for tho Winter. King salmon had been offended, now he was propitiated, and all would be well. Gormley was starting on his way. when one of the wizened women of the camp pulled him by the arm and led him to the recovering chief. The latter grunted, and as apathetically ns though he had been offering Gormley a crust of bread, held out three nuggets of gold. The white man shook his head. Then the other made slams wirh JOHtllttMES his hands as if digging. Gormley understood; the lnIlan knew what ha sought to kn things. know of all For three days he waited broad day wth his ' ' nd then In walked by ,he ida of fhe M " baCk' the West. They halted .J m" tOWard from the rlvr. and thl JT. "V0 mi,CS low-ly.ng gu'ch fn a "bKrV- V foothills The white iTulTV . ""of a L Vfher tUrned bat" wltL the gat.on merCly rcpa,1 an obuGormley lost no time. He bean to dig. There was a showing in the first pan. He dug on. Ignoring th water that seeped in. and feverishly examining each shovelful. Then camo a nugget. His eyes glistened: his blood tingled. He took no count of time or muscle. IIK. dig.. dig. pan. pan. pan. They began to come faster. Suddenly he straightened. God! If some one should see him. ne hadn't even staked out a claim, and if he did where would he register It? He must be careful, careful and secretive, for tho gold hunter Is like a ravening wolf. He stopped and gathered his precious bits of metal Into his cap. Then he saw It was nearly sunset; he had been working eight hours and it seemed only a moment. Ho unrolled his blanket and spread the rubber covering over the hole. Then he dug another hole, and after lining the bottom with stones, buried his fifteen odd nuggets. He ate his salmon steak and fell asleep. He dreamed of his farm. He would build a new house with running water and buy a spanking pair and a buggy with rubber tires; he would get hooks for the boy and girl and a diamond ring for Kate; he would have cash in the bank. Half a dozen times he awoke; some one might be prowling. The fear of discovery was never ofY his mind. He would fight for what he had found, and die for it !f r.esd be. lie felt of his Colts and dozed off again. He formulated a plan 0f action. If any one sh.-uild come he would pretend. to be 1M and ask for help. He laughed at the thought. That would frighten them away. One mau's life more or less is nothing ia

the scramble for the yellow metal, and time In the North is more than life. For two months he toiled on. It was not until he had more than he had ever dared to hope for that the thougM struck him how to g?t his gold to the coast. He could not wait for Winter and trust to unbroken trails and sudden blizzards. Neither could he pack such a heavy weight over the now dangerous glacier without exciting suspicion. There was the river, but he had no boat. Provisions he could pick up along the telltale banks of the Copper with picks and shovels and pans but boats were not to be had. The incoming hosts needed them to haul up their goods, and the outgoing to get back to the Center. He had no money and he dared not offer nuggets. The necessity of the boat weighed on his mind, and he wandered to the ank of the river one afternoon, looking in vain for any sight of smoke or boat. A man tapped him on the shoulder. Gormley Jumped round and faced him. The other wasted no words in greeting. "Look here, pard," he said, "any doctor in these parts?" Gormley shook his head. "Why?" "Got a man with a broken leg down there. Hit by a bear. We fixed him up the best we could, but he's got to get back." "Where's your boat?" asked Gormley. "Lyln" in that cove." He seized the prospector by the sleeve, and started with him down tho precipitous gravel bank. Th boat lay on a ledge of shale, and about It moved two other adventurers whom Gormley had never seen before. They hailed him as a savior. The man with a broken leg lay on a sleeping bag with staring eyes. He saw Gormley and smiled a lone smile. "Hello, Lumley," said Gofmley. "I ain't

bearln' no malice." He turned to the sick man's companions. "You got to get him back," he said, "an I'm goln' back. You fellows want to pack it North, don't you? Give me the boat and 1 11 take him to the Centre. The Government Hoe's there, like as not." The others had looked for no such solution of a disagreeable situation as this. They showed the relief they felt. Gormley made no sign. "We ll give you all we can. spare." said the man who had first accosted him. "We can't pull up stream much farther, anyhow." "Give me a couple of hours," said Gormley. "I got a bag and a blanket up there, an' 1 11 be back." He climbed zig-zag up the bank, and struck south on a roundabout way to his tent. Here was his chance, He had due out as near as he could figure about two hundred pounds of gold. With his pick he could tote about seventy-five pounds. He wrapped half the nuggets in the canvas, and found he could scarcely lift the load. With a trembling hand he took some out and burled them with the other?, digging a hole for his shove!, his pan and his pick. He counted on dropping down stream a stretch and tying up long enough to get tho rest of his hoard. He ought to be at Canneries, at the mouth of the Copper, in ten days' easy floating. He felt a catch in his breath once there he could wait for a steamer and go back a rich man. His body was wet with perspiration when he got back to the bank. It was still light. He let himself down gingerly and faced the company on the shale. Then, with a supreme effort he dropped his pack into the boat as If it were a feather. The others were eatlrg and made room for him. Lumley was propped up on the boatOne of th the men passed him a pail cocoa sweetened with a saccharine tablet. "I 11 bet it's a long time since you had a smack if that." "How far north you goln'?" asked Gormlev. They all laughed bitterly. "God knows. We mirht a-beea to the Yuion by thU if

It hadn't been for this blasted fool flour at a dollar a pound on the Flats and lyln' aroun' here for nothin". You got to travel light. I say, but it's live and learn." "You ain't smokiu'?" "No, lost my tobacco." "Give 'im your pipe and plug. Lumley." said the speaker "You'll not need 'em tonight." He dug them out of the sick man's pocket and handed them over. Gormley filled the corncob bowl and took a long whiff with the manner of a man clutching at chloroform during an operation. The three men raised the figure In the boat. and Gormley smoothed out the blankets In the bow. Lumley groaned. Gormley filled his pail and gave him water. "He's In fever," he said. "I'll start along now, there'll be a little light left." The other men fixed the sick man half sitting on the flat bottom with his leg resting easy. The oars were fastened to the thole pins. Gormley took hold. "Wait, a minute." Tho two men dropped what food they could spare into the stern. "Shove her p((." cried Gormley. "Easy, easy." He stepped in as the craft swung freo and glided out Into the murky stream. Then the current caught them and they eank away from the watching figures on tho shale back on the road to God's country. Lumley's eyes were closed, but he was evidently suffering agonies. Gormley sa him indistinctly, save for the white bandages that stood out in the dark and forgot about the buried gold. Here was a suffering man who needed help. They moved swiftly on through the shadow of the long white evening of the Nort! pacing off the road to Copper Centre at six miles an hour. Two hours later Gormley pulled ashore. Millions of mosquitoes swarmed about the

Oho!' cried Lumley, whip . and covering Gormley." sick man's face, lie built a fire and heaped on grass te make a smudge. Then he held more water to Lumley's hot lips, fixed his net over hla head and rolled over to sleep. He was awakened by Lumley. who had half raised himself on his arms and was staring wild-eyed at the bank. "Lie down!" shouted Gormley. The other groaned and pointed frantically to the river. "All right," Gormley nodded and gave him water. "We'll be under way In a Jiffy now." He stopped for a brief breakfast, and for ten long hours they drifted on, pulling up at the Centre in the early afternoon. There was small comfort there, the Government squad breaking trail to the Yukon had passed days before. Luckily one prospector had a medicine chest with a few commonplace remedies. A dozen willing men carried Lumley out of the boat to the bank, and there an Impromptu doctor changed the bandages and soaked the new ones with liniment. Tho patient twitched and moaned. Gormley stood by and watched, but his eye never left the boat with its golden burden. "How'd it happen?" sbrae one asked. "He was out lookln' for bears, him and a pard," said Gormley, "when up come a big fellow smack into him. He pulled his gun, but afore he could shoot the beast slapped him in the leg with his paw. He went down like a shot an" the bear walked off. There warn't no doctor up there, an' his mates wantin" to pack It north, I agreed to leave him here, beln' on the way home myself." "Who you goin' to leave him with?" asked the impromptu doctor, startled. A bystander did not give him a chance to answer. "You can't leave him here," he said. "Float him down to the Canneries." "It's a big risk," said the questioner, "full of rapids the Copper is below here, and got a dozen mouths. My opinion Is you'd never get there." "I reckon the Government would take care of nlm." said Gormley. "So they might, but they ain't no soldiers here and you can't get him to Valdez. that's sure." "How lor.? afore fco gets healed up?" asked Gormley. "I ain't sayin'," replied the man who had arranged the bandages, "maybe six weeks." "I can't stay here all Winter with him,'" said Gorcv. "lie ain't no more to me

than he ts to you. I ain't cal'latln- to bultd a house ain't got no tools an" no food." "You mighVs well take a chance with the

river," said the other, "it's gettin' on now, and it'll be freezia' some fine day. Let him lie there till mornin'. He'll feel better after he has some broth." Lumley gulped down the bear meat broth and feli off into a doze. "I'll bunk In the boat," said Gormley. "Ain't had no sleep." The nuggets were never out of his mind, yet he had no idea of leaving Lumley. He had sacrificed a lot already, but he had the boat, and that was a good deal. He was up at daylight, with the rest of the camp. lie did not see a face he Knew. Th human tide was beating North wfth a resistless flood and little ebb. Lumley seemed a little better; his gaze less wild. "You can't leave him here." was tiie unspoken comment he read in every eye. The movement up the river began before sunrise. The miners who had given a helping hand to the sick man were only too glad to carry him back to the boat. They did It with alacrity, and proffered provisions In plenty. It was an easy way of patting themselves on the back and getting rid of responsibility and delay. They were all human, and they gave Gormiey full credit for what seemed to them a daring sacrifice. The sick man waa made comfortable in the bow, and two pins were fastened in the stern to hold an oar for a rudder. Gormley was pushed off on his Journey to the delta of the Copper, and the camp shouted good luck from the shore. He kept alert, avoiding driftwood and bars, until the sun was high, then beached to give Lumley .ome broth, easily heated in a battered soucepan. The latter's eyes fixed on him with a steady stare. "You're all right." said Gormley. "you got the grit." They went on smoothly, leav ing a wide wake. Ked vines and blue sky and the unutterable silence of the North gave an air of mysticism to the scene. It might have been a magic river undisturbed by any sound of man hungry for gold. If Gormley had been a dreamer he would have heard the music o an unfathomed world In the breeze. As It was he saw the smoke of a white etory and a half farmhouse and two children playing in a brook. He was roughly roused by the sudden steepening of the banks and a quickening of pace. Suddenly a thought struck him. He ran the boat's head to the shore, and let the stern swing while he fastened to the seat the canvas containing tho treasure. Lumley followed his action with a questionable glance. "All my dunnage Is there," said Gormley, "an" If she tipped not that there's any fear," he added, looking the other in the eye. Lumley shifted his gaze, and thereafter cast suspicious glances at the brown canvas. They were on again, getting quickly into swift water. There was no longer any time for rumination. High banks of rock penned In a gurgling swirl of impatient torrent. The sick man's nostrils went wide, but Gormley had no time to eee. Eddies were ahead. The helmsman was not a sailor born, but he knew that his safety depended on a strong arm and a clear eye. and he had both. The boat struck something with a chug, then rode over it a man's body floating face downward. Lumley's arms were like iron rods holding him to his place. On, on. faster and faster, grazing sreen boulders that vanished as they were seen, shooting through lanes of murky yellow churned to spray, and at last out into a broad stream, side by side with a second boat half filled and fast settling. Ji his gun They floated calmly after that. Gormley looked at the other and laughed. "That was luck,- he said. "Bull luck, and nothln' leas." He stretched his arms, standing up carefully. "How you feelin'?" Lumley nodded. "That's good, we ll win out yet." They pulled in a cove Just before dark, and Gormley swung the boat high. He fixed lumley's sleeping blankets and helped him ashore. He was a good deal stronger. "Not a dashed bit of" broth left," said Gormley. "Too bad you can't walk. I'll have to look for a stray bear." He took his gun and disappeared up the bank. The light began to fade off. Lumley watched the figure of Gormley mingle with the other shadows, raised himself cautiously, and. using his arms, sidled along to the spot where Gormley's bag was tied to the seat. He unfastened the cord, and plunged his hand among the blankets, felt something hard and pulled it out. Before his eyes saw the gold he Knew what it was. He took off his hat and dropped nugget after nugget In It, hobbled back to hla own bag and stuffed the treasure to the botton. Then, quickly, when his nervous fingers could find no more, seized at random what stones he could, and dropped them In thd Gormley kept Adis

covering that had sheltered the gold hunter's burden. Gormley returned with his hat full ft berries, to find the sick man almost as h had left him. The gathering dark hid from view the perspiration on his face, and the glitter In his eyes. "No bear." called Gormley, "but. Lord, what a raft of berries. Try some." Ha held out the hat. Into It Lumley thrust a shaking hand and ate. There was no telling how far they had yet to go. Gormley could only see by ths broadening of the stream that they must be somewhere near the mouth. The white top of Mount Wrangel loomed deceitfully near. They had met no one and the silence was absolute. Gormley sat in tha stern smoking Lumley's pipe and glancing now and again at his companion. "Look here," said the Injured man. "You've been on the square with me and I'll o on tha square with you. P'raps you thought I was playln' crooked In that poker game on the Flats. It wasn't me, but Jennings done the business, droppin that ace by your foot. Didn't you see htm ask Mellor to pick it up?" "I'd like to meet him." said Oormley. "He was on the bank above Copper, said Lumley. "I seen him, but I didn't cal'late to make no more trouble." "It's all right," replied Gormley, "mayb I'll run up with him yet, If, I do but say. do you want your pipe; feelin' fitter ain't you?" The other nodded. "Heckon I could tak a puff," he said. Gormley handed It over, and then leaning over, filled his hand with water, spat It out and stared at Lumley. "By God." h cried, "It's salt." The other stared, too. They were nearlng the end of their Jour ney. The river grew broader, but Gormley kept to the middle to get th full force of a Blackening current. It was lata tha next afternoon that he felt his moccasin wet. The boat was filling Lumley saw It, too. The wonder was that the Ill-made craft had stood the strain so long, Gormley dropped the oars into the pin and start to pull ashore. He had not gone half way when he saw that It waa uselesa with hla heavy load. "Can you swim?" he shouted at Lumley. The other, terrified, shook his head. It was a foolish question with the water lee cold. Gormley hesitated but only a moment. Hope died out of his heart. Then he cut the rope that bound the canvas bundle to th seat and threw It overboard, too overwrought to notice Ha loss of weight. It vanished and the boat brought up on a bar. Luck and Just Retribution. "Sit still," he yelled to Lumley tn vicious voice as he felt th bar with h!a feet. Steadying himself, he baled with th saucepan and found the leak. Gormley forgot to eat. H began to think of the gold he had left. He faced Lumley. "Can you get on alone?" he asked, Lumley leaned ' forward. "You wouldn't quit me now?" he asked. "Of course not," answered Gormley. "111 see you through." - They started on the last leg of their Journey. The salt air cam now In frequent whiffs, and In the distance a Un of smoke, lazy crooked, tilted against th blue. Gormley saw It listlessly, tho other eagerly. . A swarm of Chinese was' bustling around the salmon canneries when tha flat bottomed boat beached. A white man cam down to ffie boat. "Hello," he said. "Where from?" - Gormley got out and turned to help Lumley. The other hesitated and shook his head, pointing to his pack. "I'll carry that," said Gormley, and moved to tho bow. Suddenly, Lumley, for-, getting his broken leg, started forward, tripped on a seat and fell, striking hla temple. Both men bent over him. " " "Got a doctor here?" asked Gormley. "His leg is broke, an' " The other called to some Chines and -motioned to the company' house. H followed them as they carried th unconscious prospector, and called back to Gormley: "Fetch his stuff. It'll be stolen, there," Gormley aat down to think. He waa Interrupted by the return of the man who had hailed them. "Keep that dunnage," be said, "he's dead. Pard of yours? Hr'a pack of cards spilled out of his coat on th way up." "No, he warn't no pard of mine," said Gormley. "Glad to hear that." said th' other. "Ever stack up against him In a card game? No' Good thing, five aces In thla pack, two of 'em hearts." He ran th carda over as he spoke. "Hell," said Gormley. Th other threw down the pack and walked off. Gormley pulled at the dead man's bag. It was hard to move. He Jerked out a blanket, and a stream of nuggets came with it. His hand trembled. His eyes stard. H dumped the bag out and then replaced th gold, stuffing the blanket on top. "Hey," ho yelled to th retreating figure' of tha cannerlea man. "When" the next boat go?" The other turned back. "What's that?" "When's the next boat go?" "Three weeks; want to work?" "Can I earn my way back" "Sure," said the canneries man, "there'll be lots beggln' to do that before tha month Is past."

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