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About The Alliance herald. (Alliance, Box Butte County, Neb.) 1902-1922 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 26, 1914)
V L f V " 1,6 Ba,J Mrnetly. "I've got a teal knockout surprise for you, young fellow! Pembroke mas waiting at the flice of the hotel. That n, his man be sent here He knew we were leav tng New York before we started. He was telephoned to from the Grand Con iral Btation. That's how skilfully they work In these mad days of frenzied finance. "He didn't wait to take a train-he came by motor. And just to show you what a smart little fellow you are for wanting to close at their price at i.oon today, I, who represented my. elf as Henry Wilson, your secretary have given them till eleven o'clock to morrow to close the deal at fifteen hundred thousand dollars. "He's burning up every telegraph and telephone wire between here and Cleveland right now, and, unless I miss my guess, I'm making you richer by several hundred thousand dollars ;ust proving to you the value of pa Hence. Fifteen hundred thousand dol lars! A million and a half!" . He had been leaninir termor f In his chair. Now he cast himself backward in an attitude of satisfied tse. "What do you think of that?" he tisked. "Bob," said Broadway slowly '1 can't sell this plant." ' "You can't!" It was an exclamation of amazement. "You don't know." said Broadway dreamily. "You haven't heard. Now, Just think of what I'd be selling. Here's the thing my grandfather worked for and handed down to my father; and the thing my father worked for and (handed down to me; and it's the thing that I should work for and hand down to my children, and then to theirs, and Iso on and so on. Wallace looked at him with incredu lity too great, at first, for words When they finally came they were ex plosive. "Say" he cried. "What the the matter with you?" CHAPTER IX. On the way to the hotel, after they t&ad left the Judge's house, Broadway tried to tell Bob Wallace what, in deed, was the matter with him, but tould not, for he had not the least Idea. "Do you really mean to keep the plant?" asked Wallace skeptically. "Yes, and pass it to my children," aid the dazed young gentleman. "You haven't any children, you con founded ass!" "And they'll pass it to their chil dren," said the coming magnate of the hewing gum trade. "I think you're crazy." "Bob, it's a cinch. But let me tell frou." And he tried to, with but slight liuccess. Wallace was a shrewd young man. "Is it your conscience or the girl that jfcas driven you insane?" he asked. "I'm thinking about Jonesville. My '.grandfather built this town." "Well, he made a blamed bad Job laf it. Why didn't he build a place a jnan could get a decent drink In while Ike was about It?" "And my father kept it going." i "Well, he didn't keep it going very llast" "And now I've got to keep my faith with it. It is a sacred duty. I must tot abandon it." i "Say." said Wallace, in disgust Where did you get that stuff? Have lyou gone out and tried to get a decent trlnk here? This town ought to be abandoned. It ought to be put out laf Its misery." "The trust would close the plant and ruin all these people." "You'd think they were first cousins, to hear you talk about them." "Bob," Broadway chided ia a toft and earnest voice, "they are far more than that; far. far more than that They are charges placed by Providence Ha the care of the Jones family. And, Bob, I'm the last of the Joneses." "Let us hope there'll never be an lather like you." "There'll never be one more earnest, you can bet on that, Bob!" They were in a shady stretch of Ifaln street, and, at night a shady tretch of Main street, Jonesville, la bout the darkest spot on earth out aide of Africa. "Let's stop right here, in the dark, till you get over It," said Wallace. "It's late, but there might be some mad dened, Joyous Jonesville roisterer to aee if you went into the light" "I mean every word of it. There are no roisterers in Jonesville; they're all honest workingmen, horny-handed gum makers, tollers for the fortunes of my family. That' why I'm protecting them." "The horny hand of some insane asylum guard will be upon your shoul der if you don't watch out" "Ha, ha! Ha, bar iaughed Broad way aomewfcat cackllngly. think you're going to be violent!" eald Wallace. "He'll probably need both horny hands. But he'll subdue you! Now, try to give me some co herent notion of what's the matter with you, will you?" "I've awakened to my duty." "Time you did; you've bad a nice long nap. What do you aee, now you have aroused?" "A pleasant little city, working hap pily at well-paid Industry. I'm the pay master. A great nation, wagging tire less Jaws. They're chewing the Jones 'ni lones' rum. mind vou: not some gum that the Consolidated puis up against the public as Just as good a that my ancestors made famous. I see" "For heaven's sake, shut up! You'll aee snakes If this keeps on. That lem onade that Mrs. Spotswood gave you has gone to your empty head." "It was not the lemonade that Mrs. Spotswood gave me, it was the touch ing line of talk that er that Josle Richards gave me." He paused while Wallace waited with his law loos On Jts hlnM MHt in queen ?" "So that's itr But he marie no further protests. He was a levelheaded youth, was this joung advertising man. He knew as well as anyone that if the trust feared and wished to purchase the Jones Rum it could be but because the trust I new that the Jones gum was a dan gerous competitor. If. managed as It had been, unadvertlsed, it had been a dangerous competitor to . the trust, then it was worth having emphatical ly worth keeping. And some day Broadway must do something. He could not forever plav the idler on the Great White Way. even if his millions were unumbere.l. It was no life for an actual man, and Bob was sure that hidden somewhere in his friend were the true elements of worthy mnnhood. Nothing had oc enrred to bring them out. that was all. lie thought they might be coming now. Reaching the hotel, they found the place In utter darkness. Not a. light, even turned down for the night, was visible at any window; not a sound of no iaiuo iiuui me Duuaing save a rhythmic cadence of some sleeper soft ly sawing wood with a dull saw. "The clerk's asleep," said Bob. "How do you know that Is the clerk?" asked Broadway, listening crit ically to the snore. "I heard him singing when I first got here, and now I recognize the voice. He held the tune a little bet ter, then, thnt'B all." "Have we got to wake him up?" "Sure! Why, It's after eleven o'clock!" Nothing but the thought of Josie Richards' eyes could have kept Broad way at that instant from casting all his worthy resolutions to the winds, telling tc the trust and searching out I Bible upon which to swear that be sever again would set foot In Jones ville. But he did remember Josie's eyes, and so began to hammer on the loor. After a quarter of an hour of steady Hammering, some shouting and a little whistling, he was rewarded by a sleepy ind Ill-tempered voice from a slowly opened window. "Heavens! Was his window closed! And yet that snore got out to us!" "It sawed its way out," Bob suggest ed. "Well, what ye want?" the .angry voice inquired. - "Want to get in." "At this time the night?" "Sure. It s always night before we ever want to go to bed." "Well, the Grand hotel, it don't thick much of folks that stays out all night long, I'll tell you that!" the clerk ex claimed, as he caine down in bright red flannels (and not much of that) to let them in. "AH night long!" "Ain't it a quarter after "leven?" After telephoning Rankin (much to the clerk's disgust) to hurry to Con necticut by the first train in the morn ing, with well packed bags, the two friends crept upstairs, abashed. The clerk scorned such a menial service as attending them, and, in the excitement left from the rebuke he had received, Wallace stumbled into the wrong room. All doors were partly open, for the night was warm, and no one feared the midnight interloper, there In innocent nud simple Jones ville. Fortunately the moonlight fell upon the bed, and warned him, otherwise there might have been a scandal in Gum Village, in which case the com plainant (he felt certain from that hur ried glimpse) would have been a sylph of close upon two hundred and fifty pounds. Wallace made an effort to sit up and discuss things further with Broad way, who seemed to be entirely awake, though dreamy in a strange, unwonted way, but there were two arguments gainst this, the first that gnats and moths swarmed merrily la soon as the oil lamp was lighted, bringing with them more than one mosquito, the sec ond being that he was worn out after a long day full of various excitements. "I'm going to bed." he finally de cided. "Best place for you, Bob, this time of night. Folks who sit up" ' "Oh, shut up! Good night." "Good night Bee you in the morn ing." "Now, why," asked Wallace, after be had left his friend, "did that boy seem so glad to have me go to bed? He act ed Just as if he wanted to kneel down and pray, but couldn't while a vulgar herd like me was looking on. Now, what the devil!" He got into bed. Broadway did not go to bed. Instead he found a pen and ink and some of the soft, spongy hotel stationery in a drawer of the bare washstand. He be gan work with them slowly, painfully. The pen soon falling, be dug from a corner of a pocket In bis vest the pen cil of which be had been so proud when Pembroke had called on him, and continued. After an hour'a hard labor for his brain, the pencil, the soft paper and the tongue which he contin ually thrust Into his cheek, he had completed what he thought a master piece. He was not sure whether he would apeak It. the next day. to Josle, by herself, or to the assembled multi tude of the mill's employes, but he waa certain it was great Having written It be spent another hour In carefully committing it to memory (or so he fondly thought) and then got into bed. An hour later he tried to sleep the night out sitting up for the bed waa such as be had never even read about When, at last, he fell Into a posturo less suggestive of repose on garden rakes and hose than any other bad been, he dreamed horrid dreams of broken-hearted villagers, starving In the streets of Jonesville In such ter rible profusion that the newspapers re ferred to It a 'Ponesvllle" and "de clared 'ad proved to be the Iti'" ' hi lay, ruin ing, In the fourth generation, a fine family name which had, for three, stood for probity, humanity. Industry and the best chewing gum of all. - He suffered terribly ae he Imagined these grim things and a dozen times was attacked by reporters who became so incensed as they wrote their stories of his villainy that they strove to stab him with their lead pencils; a hun- ! dred times was set upon by famishing villagers who wished to pick his ribs with fang-like teeth, a thousand tlum j 1- , Produced a Small Tin Box. round himself stara and shivering be fore the bar of justice in a chilly stretch of space, where the specters of all worthy Joneses of the past con fronted him with slim, accusing fin gers, pointed straight at his terror stricken stomach. The dreams were not true night mares, though, for at the supreme in stant of each period of peril a white angel floated to him, rescuing him from that which threatened him. And this white angel, graceful, large-eyed, smiling and beneficent, was always Josie Richards. As soon as she had rescued him each time, he spoke his speech to her, and she wept on his shoulder. The result of such a night of agony was, naturally, that they slept later in the morning than was the Jonesville custom. When half past eight arrived and they had not appeared, the wife of the proprietor sent him uitairs to eee If they had not decamped without paying for their rooms, or if, per chance, they had not come there sui cidally inclined. She crept up behind her liege lord fearfully, and peeped across his shoul der as he opened each unlocked door in turn. Finding that they were but peacefully asleep, she was both shocked at such unheard-of indolence, and cheated at the lack of tragedy, so she snorted, "Scandalous!" as she crashed down each step. She was a very solid woman, widely built. Wallace had noticed that the night before when he had peeped in through the door. Had she been aware of that terrific episode, she would have screamed for the village constable and had him locked up in the calaboose. Broadway had his high triumphant moment when it became apparent that Wallace would of necessity go to the village barber shop. Having come away In flight from Mrs. Gerard with out bags or luggage of whatever kind, he had no razor with him. "My whiskers are so whitish that they will not begin to show until the afternoon!" Broadway exulted. "By that time Rankin will be here with bags.' T"li 11 wait for him. I won't see any" "You'll be sure to see the Judge's daughter. All the Jonesville girls that work at the gum factory get up at six o'clock. The Idle, aristocratic class, like Clara, stay in bed till seven." "Well, where Is It. then?" said Wal lace In an evil temper. "What? The village barber shop? Next door." Broadway wrung his band. "Good-by old chap; good by. Ill" "Just give my love to Broadway," Wallace begged. Jackson Jones grew sober In an in stant. "I don't expect I'll see much of It for a while." "It must be permanent!" said Wal lace. "It has lasted through the long est night the world has ever known." The day already was well under way at the Jones factory. Josie had been at her managerial desk not less than an hour and probably an hour and a half when Wallace started for the bar ber shop. It was a very trying morning for the girl. The events of the night before had much upset her, and her sleep had been as much disturbed as Broadway's, although, perhaps, less physically painful. She had been terribly in earnest in everything which she had said to him about his duty to the village which had made him rich, his duty to the family whose name he bore, his duty to him self; she had been Intensely worried, still waa intensely worried, lest all which she had aald might go for naught falling to Impress him perma nently. He had doubtless meant well when be left her, but would that good Inten tion stand the test of Wallace's rldl i-ule (she felt certain Wallace would oppose ber plan) and his own contem plation of the future for a night? She had a hazy notion of what the lfe of Idle rich youth in New York nust be, but Imagined that it must -(tract with vivid power, and she could -ruess that Jonesville did not Would ' hold firm in the determination ilch she felt sure he had formed? Vhen the Judge came in he found wondering and worrying as she r some papers she had sen' N: ' -a. 9 f :-s WW clerk to get. Already she had almost finished the statement of affairs which she had promised to give Broadway. "Well, I Just came over from th Irand hotel." the Judge began. "Fid you see the young man?" "Only for a minute." The Judge aughed Indulgently. "He was eating ireakfast In his room, and his valet iad Just borrowed some hot flat lions nd was pressing out his clothes." The 'idge's laughter became very hearty. Even Josie smiled; but the fact that 'hey had brought a valet with them as a bit of news to her. She ex pressed surprise. The Judge laughed again. "Oh, he just got here this morning. It seems they both came off without any bag page, bo they telephoned the valet, late last "night, to bring them on some clothes." "It muBt have been very late, for it was almost eleven w hen they left your house, wasn't It?" "Oh, those New York people they don't think a thing of sitting up till all hours midnight, sometimes Inter'" m juu? preened nimseit a little after this sensational statement, and ole, tho.igh one ., heard such wild tales Inlhe past, was much Impressed by this one. It seemed so much more possible, more real, now that she had seen Broadway in his maturity. How exciting It must bo to stay up, right along, till midnight! Hut it must strain one's health. She hoped he would not do it often in the future! She was beginning to feel a definite personal interest In the youth's health. ucu a utco young maul For him to dissipate tils life away oy staying up at night, that way "lie promised to be here at ten-fif teen," she ventured. "Yes; that's what brought me over. He asked me to tell you that he'd be a little late. I guess he didn't sleep very well. He says he had a lot of horrible dreams. What sort of a talk did you have with him last night, anyhow!" "Didn't he tell you?" "No; he left the house soon after you did. You must have said some thing that upset him. He acted dread fully worried." Josie bent above her work. She sould not tell even the Judge of the Intensity of feeling which she had put nto that long conversation w ith Broad way. She had not slept so very well her self. She had wondered If he thought her bold, ofllclous, to have given him advice so freely, to have told him what she had about what bIih believed to be his duty. She knew that, now and then, she had been almost Impassioned In her plea for Jonesville and It people. She wondered If he thought her silly, over-earnest. But she told the Judge none of these things. They were hidden In her heart That heart had known a lot of turmoil since Broadway had come back. "I simply told him the true state of affairs and explained to him what the plant meant to the town," she said and bent above her papers on the desk. "What did he say?" asked the persis tent Judge. Much as "she loved the Judge, she wished that he would go away and question her no further. There was a little feeling In her heart that she must file that talk with Broadway among the things which she held sacred. All women have a secret file of memories f that sort. She could not talk about It. "He said nothing very much," Then a detail of his talk which had Intensely puttied her came back to her, and she decided to discuss it with the Judge. "He kept inquiring how much cash we had." She smiled, not critically. 'He doesn't seem to be much of a business man." "He struck me that way, too," the Judge said gravely. "Did he aay the trust made him an offer?" She sighed. "Yes." Ah. If she had failed to move him! He might al ready have accepted it, and then what would be the fate of Jonesville! This thought made her very nervous. The Judge nodded wisely. 'That's what I thought" She sighed again. There was a long silence, full of troubled thoughts. "Did he talk as If he Intended to sell?" the Judge asked finally. She worked at her papers nervously momunt before jthe framed the words of her repTy Tin 'afraid ThaTs wliat he's thinking of, Judge." After a si lent moment she straightened out more papers, and then looked up again. 'We must do all we can to influence him against It." The Judge nodded, then rose, and after a worried turu about the great, bare room, approached her and stood facing ber with eyes intently on ber face. "You have Influence with him. Josie." She could not meet his eyes, yet was not certain why. She hoped that what he said was true, yet scarcely dared to think It. "Do you think so?" she asked somewhat weakly. The Judge answered in a hearty voice, full of real confidence. "I know It. You made a great Impression on him. He likea you, Josle." This was entirely unexpected. It confused her. vn In the officf whr he had so trained herself to buslnetM that nothing ordinarily could affect her. She felt that she could rightly show rejoicing at the news, tor It boded well for Jonesville, but, at the same time, she was Inwardly aware that it was not because it boded well for Jonesville that she really waa pleased by It "Oh, nonsense, Judge!" But he was very much In earnest It was plain enough that he attached no significance other than commercial to this liking of which he spoke. It waa a fortunate fact, and that was all. "H thin vou know your business." Bonow sne was intensely dlsap- poliutu Fo. 'hi tie criticised her elt W . better than to Lave the owner of The "enTerprlBe 61 which she virtually was manager think she knew her business? This was cer tainly good reason for congratulation. She must not be silly. Confidence in her ability at business might even help to influence him toward refusing to sell out. If she could but Impress him with the fact that she was able, might It not be possible that his confidence In largo future profits would weigh powerfully? To her surprise she heard a chuckle from the Judge and when she looked at him discovered definite amusement on his face. "Aud after you had gone last night, he Just raved about your eyes!" the old man happily Informed her. "My eyes!" She felt the blood mounting to her cheeks and tried to hide them with an Industry which kept her bent above her papers. If he had raved about her eyes then the Impres sion she had made on him w as not en tirely commercial! "That's what he did! He said you had the bluest eyes bo'd ever seen!" Now the Judge laughed heartily. She flushed with sudden wrath. "Why, Judge, my eyes are gray!" The Judge himself was now sur prised. He had believed them brown. "Are they?" t He arose, went to her, and, through his thlck-lensed enecta- cles, peered at her face. "Why, bo iney are!" He walked away, non plussed. "Well, what do you think of that!" "I think" "Perhaps he's color blind." th 1 said hopefully. "I guess I have been." "Aiayoe that is It." They were Interruntud bv Han Hi. gins. The foreman, It appeared, wished to talk to Josle. Sam had a way of al most shutting both him even and throw. Ing back his head when he announced wings or tnis kind. "Yes," said Josle. with the Indlffer. ence of the business woman who has long been of authority, "I'll aee him In Just a few minutes." Sam whirled slowly, went to the door and loudly delivered her message, as If his voice must reach to the factory's farthest end. This focused the Judge's attention Upon something he had benn ranaMer. Ing. He leaned above the desk "and spoKe to Josle confidentially. "I thought of soraethlm? on the wav over. Josie. Nobody but us knows that the young reuow is in town. He registered at the Grand, you know, under the name of Jackson. Maybe the people In the plant are getting nervous." "Yes, they are." she eranted. "Th have been so many rumors of the sale. i ra worried. ' "Well, then, don't you think it might be a good thing to spread the news around among, the men a little?" Clara Spotswood. She evidently agreed, for she vigor ously nodded and tapped a bell. "Per haps it would be a good Idea." Noting that ahe had rung the bell, the judge held up a warning hand. "Don't do it that way. You leave It to me. t won't have totell more than one or two of them." He chuckled. "IH step In on my way out and tell you what effect It haa." "Yes. do, Judge." "Are you ready for Hlgglns?" "Yes; ell him to come in." Going to the door, the judge beck oned to the man, who waa waiting In the shop beyond, and the rangllng, plainly heavy-minded and exceedingly Intense foreman entered. "How do you feel today, Joe?" the Judge asked kindly. "I don't feel very well," Hlgglns an swered gloomily and frowning. The Judge looked at him, smiling, not entirely with approval. "You nev er do, do you, Joe?" Hlgglns made no answer; the Judge laughed and disap peared. "Well, what Is It, Hlgglns r Josle In quired without delay, looking up at the unpleasantly faced creature as if ah had no time to waste. He came forward lurchlngly, nerv ously twisting his cap In powerful hands; but there was nothing of the suppliant about him; rather be seemed almost to be inclined to threaten. "I want to ask you a question, Miss Rich ards." "Go right ahead." "I'll expect you to tell me the truth now!" She flashed an angry look at him. "I'm not in the habit of lying." He gazed at her with lowered head aj)dIrownlng face. His words cam 2vJ slowly, as if he found It difficult to flnJ them; but he did not speak with heet latlon; indeed, there was that about Urn which hinted at the labor unlosj orator. "I'm talking for every man In tn plant." he began, w Ith rising voice, esv deavorlng to be Impressive. "We ba4 a meeting this morning, and we waaf to know whether this concern la going? Into the trust or not! We decided that we're entitled to some lnformafkn and that's what I'm here for; to find out what you know about It." This naturally angered her. 8h was not one to be browbeaten, and ha' was plainly trying to browbeat he, She flushed vividly. "I don't know anything about It" Ills voice reached a tone higher fa its pitch. "Well, if you don't, wa does?" "I'm sure I don't know." Now, he was definitely bullying. "Well, we must have an answer, oat way or the other, it's our work and our living, and we've got to know where w e are at." She paid no attention to his deflnlM ly offensive manner now. "You'll have ' to get your information from the roaa who owns the plant." "Well, where'a he?" "Right here In town." He was amazed. He had not dreamed of this. "Young Jones here In town? "Tee; he's stopping at the Oraas hotel." "When did he get here?" "Last evening." "Have you seen hlra?" "Yes." It was plain enough that Hlgglsj' most vivid suspicions were aroused. He looked at her accusingly. Ills vole was even louder than It had been. "H got here last evening, eh? Then that settles it!" He went to her desk anal leaned across it as If indicting her. "He came here with that trust fellow, didn't he?" Now she, in turn, waa really sae r!sed. "What trust fellow r I "Pembroke; on of the head men ot ' lie Consolidated." None but a fool could have doubted her amazement and her worry as aha rose and walked closer to htm. "I Pembroke here In town?" "Oh," he sneered. "You didn't know that, eh?" "I certainly did not." He did not quite believe her, fat took a certain pleasure In Imparting "The Business Will Need Your At" tentlon." the distressing news to her, on & chance that she waa truthful and ha not before heard It "Well, he's hra Several of the men saw him and reoosw nixed him. I suppose he's her wltifr Jones to close us out Is that It?" . "I don't know any more about ft than you do, Hlgglns." - This did not Impress or interest hiss. "You say the young fellow's stopplaf' at the Grand?" "Yes." "Well, nobody here knows anything about It." "I believe he registered under an other name." She could have bitten off her tongue for letting this slip out. Instantly the man assumed that thl confirmed his most unfavorable prog nostications. "Ah, ha! Well, what did he do that for?" "How should I know?" "Well." he shouted. "I guess I do! It's because he is a sneak ! He knows it's a rotten thing he's doing and he's afraid of the consequences." He strode up and down the room In deep and heavy thought "The men are not la a very good temper, and, you mark my . words, there'll be the devil to pajr' around her before this day's over un less we get sow satisfaction and And" out exactly what he Intends to dol" Josie looked at him with cold and angry eyes. For an Instant sh had been frightened. She had got th bet ter of her fear now, and In ber vole were both contempt and warning. 1 woukln't talk Ilk that. If I wer you, Hlgglns!" , He approached her threateningly! "Oh, you're on their aide, ar you? I thought so!" Again he went clo? iter, almost as if he meant to do her some vio lence. His face was black with rage, bis fists wer clenched. 1 never did believe in you. I told th men this morning. For all w know, you've been working for th in terests of th trust ail th tlmeX" (To be Continued) Any kind of coal you want on hand at our yard. Prices right. FOREST LUMBER CO