Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About Dakota County herald. (Dakota City, Neb.) 1891-1965 | View Entire Issue (July 21, 1911)
K - -. j- ;' ' ""TT"-"- - 1 U 15- i ! 1IAK0TA CITY UBBALD JOHN H. REAM, Publisher. DAKOTA CITY, NEBRA8KA. MUSHROOMS A4 FOOD. Professor F, HI, Clements, tlio stale botanist of Mlnnenoin, has attracted attention by bin ontlmato In n recent bulletin U'At tlio minimi wnsto of mushrooms In tlio United 8tntes eqiiAls In value tlio entire nicrlcultiiml product of tlio country, snys the Man Chester Union It Is enny for an en thusiast In any line of thought or en deavor to lose tho sense of Just pro portion, nnd It mny perhaps bo token for grnntod Hint Professor Clomonts has parmlUod himself to bo carried away by the contemplation of tho waste of a natural food product which Is more or loss abundant everywhere and which has an unquestioned food value. Beginning with early summer and continuing until late fall, tho pro' dtictlon of mushrooms In woods, pas turos and wnsto places Is somcthltiK enormous, and a largo proportion of them are not only odlblo, but nour ishing. In so far as thoy nro not mado use of anil a smnll proportion of them Is ever gnthorod thoy of course, rbprcaont a loss of posslbro food supply, but somo account must I io inson or tlio cost or collecting nnu distributing them to conftiimors, nn woll as of tho danger from somo spo- clon which nro harmful nnd of at least two which may bo classed as ' dendly. These are easily distinguish cd, to bo sure, by nny ono who Has mado n study of tlio mushroom tribe, but until Amorlcnns, ns n rulo, nro much more fnffllllnr with tho subjoct J than at present, n grnt proportion of I tho odlblo variation will continue to go ' to wnsto, llnstng calculations on tho estimate that the number or American tourists In Europe In a season Is 300,000 and that tho avorngo individual expendi ture by thono tourists Is $7C0, somo ono hns easily figured that about $225, 000,000 of American money is spent abroad In tho courso of a season; nnd this does not Includo the cost of ntontn ship tlckots. Hankers who hnndla tho letters of credit for wealthy Ameri can tourlBta are quoted to the effect that $3,000 Is a fair average for tho value of these letters, says Oi Man chester Union. Among tourlsta of tho Wealthy class, says Oih report, It la common to place frofu $25,000 to $76, 000 In the hands of the bankers, nnd, a rule, fully two-thirds of tlio amount is drawn. Possibly ilia major premise of this main proposition hns been overdrawn; possibly tho minor promise; possibly both nnd possibly neither. In any ovont, It must bo ad intUed that $225,000,000 Is a tremen dous sum of American money to bo taken to Europe and left there In a single season. An jnppcnl for American-made nib ber tfrs Is mado by the United States consuls In Oormiiny, who nay that n rich mnrkct la being overlooked by the pcoplo nt home. These advance agents of trade point out that In somo of tho cities on tho high rond of tourist travel there a,r for snt but two makes of nutomobllo tires, and Ihoao of French nnd Gorman brands. Tho use of (he blcyclo as a means of trans portation ie reported on tho Increase, and, ns It to add to the field for ex ploitation, many of tho smaller cltlos aro Just beginning to awnko to the advantage of rubber tlrea as a part of tho fitting of general vehicles. An ungallant Noav Jersey fanner drtMd up his scarecrows In hohblo skirts and basket bats, and declnres that the crowa are too nantc-ntrlo.kon hv the f.ahlnnVhio fri-M. . ,. near his nelds. Many men will think 'JLTtfL?,. tTT m1 ' ,- !. i.on... . .i . .. B to bavo the frame of his eye more of he Intelligence of birds after M11 but on R ,al modol ,, .... U..L.H, ui ny crawa- anupatny to hobhlo skirts. A Chlcofio teamstor has been sen teuced to ono yt-nr In tho penitentiary tor stabbing a horse to death because the antiunl would not stand quietly braldo i hitching post. No doubt ho rtorvc(J Trhat he not. but If ho had merely ktllcd a man ho might be out on small ball. Since the means of Identification by finger nnd thumb marks. New Jorsoy burglar are wearing gloves. It la a pity moro commendable ambitions are not equally quick to take un-to-dnta advantage of all tho" resources of the age. A Connecticut woman has been cured by a surgical operation of her mania for playing tho plana De manda tor similar operations will prob ably now come pouring In from all paru of the United Stctcs. Ulue pnlnt, we are told, will drive away (Ilea. U red paint would do the same a good many of our cltlicns would be willing to giro up tbelr sleep and make the town Immune. Fifteen Philadelphia bakers have beeu arreated tor dyeing their pies Yet anyone who has tried to eat a Philadelphia pie will realize the neces sity tor disculstng them. It la never too late to learn. The pPt tell ua that a New Yorktr, alaety-nve year old, baa Just learned to BMOka, The Bsaa who et off Ma nose to at ato face U outclassed by the Breaalyalle was killed klaselt to r a teetkaek. All laat walk aaroa4 In Ua feet ; b)mmU V aiantea with a THE SWAG OF THE TROPIC DAWN By Bernard Mar (Copyright, IVB dayn a week Dostwlok, tho banker, nat In bin high vnultod oftlco, through the glass door of which he could survey at a glnnco the long lino of tlio bank' outfitting, tho fretted, tes sellated colling, with Its cltttorlng mosalo domes, and tho massy pillars of onyx, that ohllled and frlghtonod the common person who, by any accident, hap pened to find his way Into the plu tonic precincts of t' bank itself. Dostwlck lived up town In one of the handsoniost housos In Now York. 1 Ho sported a lino of touring cars, for 1 which ho had paid tho usual $14,500 ' por car, nny ono of which, even with out tho uso of Its honkor, was suffi ' dent to tnnko tho avorngo mnn feel 1 low and contcmptlblo In hi own opln 1 Ion. Ho contributed Invlshly to tho ' campaign funds of both parties, nnd ' was Just n trlfio bothorod whenever th president of tho United States ' would say anything strong onough to attract tho nttontlon of tho public at looni to uttor n fow words on tho business sltuntlon to tho National Commercial Drummors' association, or to aomo other equally Important ' organization, nnd his thoughts on uch occasions wero carefully consid ered by an tno nusincss interests in all parts of tho country, nnd wero oablod to London, I'nrla, nnd Berlin to ho carefully considered thoro, Whnn Tlnntwlrlr tnnk Ills nnnnnl lit- tl jnunt to Europo i10 paia for his CRDn nocommodatlona n prlco that would buy a suburban homo for oko of his clerks; tossed to tho hend stew ard a hundrcd-dollnr bill, and flury; to tin 4liA Hnifa nn MtA lutatr a fnf rA11fV dlo of flvci to divide among thorn aelvcs. Hotwlelc wns as solid with all tho mlnlstors of all the denomination as tho Apostlo Paul hlniBolf; perhaps a Uttlo moro so; and when ho wont to j church r- io Snbbnth hli reflnod sub- oeptlbllltlos were nover nssnlled by anything he did not enro to hoar, Ills name was nlwava well tin In tho llita of thoso who gave to religion or to ohnrlty, and he took an active Inter est In all forward movements that aimed at tho thorough reform of cor rupt political life, and at tnn swift and signal punishment or the prompt ex tirpation of crime, In tho course of several years of this kind of oxlstenco Dostwlok had formulated for himself an estimate of hli own position lu the world, In which ho figured himself as one of Ihe pillars of the social fabric and ono of tho necessary organs of the nation's industrial vitality. Too fuudniueiiU ou which this call mate wero based wero these: lie had financed some of tho blggost tunnels In existence ; he was tho controlling band in a scorn of street railroad sys tems In as many Amerloan towns; ho waa a partner In nearly everything that nad been paying tweaty per oant. on the par vnluo of the stock before It was watored; and when ho wanted to know how many wero the com pantos, corporations, concerns, and coalitions In which ho was ono of the big chiefs, he had to send for his personal bookkoopor to supply him wltU. tho facts. And yet, do you know, I never par ticularly cared for Uostwlok, not even before Longwood told mo that tory about tho Troplo Dawn, when Dostwlok had tried to aquoexe him In the panic of 1907, and onmo very near ly running Longwood over on the rocks, when a little money and a lit tle time would havo floated him out dear and fair Into safe and open wa ter. Considering that he was a pillar of the social fabric, Dostwlck had tho . Vorat face you ever saw. Ill eyes . -. oro ,-rro Rnd ..nnr, wa .... from the aide ot hla head, and one of them waa n good bit lower than the other. Tits face below the nose waa ao long that you would Juat naturally look nt In wonder: and If you drew a line through tho point whero the mid 31a of his mouth ought to be. you would find that tho mouth was about twenty-ftvo rer cent too fnr on the left aide of the diagram. nefor the panic of 1907 Ilostwlclc was known In business aa the "friend ot tho little fellows." Merchants nnd manufacturers whoso myrtnd travel ing men radiated from Now York llko the light ot the vernal sun had learn ed to depend upon Dostwlok as they depended upon tho regularly recur rent soquence of tho spring and the fall trade. Did Dostwlck agree to give you cash at dlscouM on the notes you brought In from your cus tomer up to say a hundred thousand er moro, he would initio on one side of hi face and let you double tho account It you found yourself doing a business greater than your capital safely warranted. Did you need a lit tle money for n proposition that fig ured out a quick return, although a little risky for a really conservative and moss-backed old timer, Dostwlck would take your notes for It and let I you have tho cash. Did you fall tor a anilUon, Dostwlck would take you j over, set you up on your feet, and let 1 you havo enough coin to begin your Uftt anew. Therefore, I say, Dostwlck was tho hero it not the demigod of the "little fellowV whose payrolls did not run wp higher than forty or fifty thousand a week, and who, In their own confi dential opinion, formed the backbone and the stomach of the country's saanufaaturea and trade, Now Ltoagwood, whose printing and Blading plant had been cleaning up Its nth per cent, for a matter of tweaty year, since Longwood had beagkt Into It to become finally tta ete proprietor, waa oue of the tint of Um lKtle fellow for whom Boat wtek tte$ kened In the early day ot the yatUo and Informed, with ft wick ed leek In kla cIoe-ct eye and a vlc- frown on kla akuttng forehead. -bi F I Hfci-ZJ 1 J by Jottph D, OowIm.) that thoy could not get another dollar until thoy had "out down their dis count to whero they could oo a llttlo light." "Cutting down his discount," which, In common human speech, mean con verting credit into cash, was juat nbout ns pleasing and as posslblo a proposal for Longwood as would bo an Invitation to eat up and digest the machinery in the ten prodigious sto ries of hi own printing and binding plant. And Longwood, for the first time In hi business caroer, was loarnlng what a panic really iuetts to the man who Is compelled to crawl Into the bank on his kneos, Instead or walking Into It with n bag In his hnnd nnd taking what he needs for rendy money tranaactlons. Whon Bostwlck wanted to be mean he would wrinkle up hla face aa If he wero trying to look at tho sun, Ills raised upper Up displayed a row of yellow teeth, the gonoral effect being ono of depression In an Infinite de gree to tho party who was second In tho contract. That pnrty Longwood now found himself; and when he let himself tnko In tho visage of the banker, and measured up tho meaning of It, he knew that nn nppeal to Ills nympnthlcs would bo nbout ns effec tual ns a brilliant argumont addressed to the Saskatchewan wind In mid winter, While tho printer and binder was Blaring into the black abyss of abso lute falluro, ho was simultaneously figuring on tho closo contiguity nnd the quick continuity of tho results that ho know would follow tho smash. When you aro kicked out Into tho streot a pauper at tho ngo of fifty flvo, with a wlfo twenty years your junior, who hns aluck to you just for the sake of ih money, nnd who will abandon you llko n shot tho very mo ment the touring car and tho 'house go up in tho ftnmos, nnd particularly when you havo a llttlo falling for tho liquor, the prospects are, If a financial panla happens to be overshadowing the world, that you will rapidly de generate Into a greasy hobo, upon whoso mystic atmosphere of total Ir resolution nnd of beds in strange places neither gods nor men can smile That was the way It came up to Long-wood, or at loast tli;t Is the way be told me it came. But as be was swallowing the brackish thought, and trying to reconcile himself to the notion of that sort of thing as an ev eryday diet, with the poorhouse and the dissecting table at the end of it, his attention was auddonly diverted by tho sight of Bostwick'a right ear. Tho top of the ear waa customarily obscured by tho rather long hair of tho banker, and in the careless mo tions he had been making with his hand Dostwlck had accidentally brushed tho hair aside, and Long wood for the firat time observed that abqut half an Inch ot tho top ot the ear wa missing, Longwood could hear Bostwiek's Tolce telling him about tho "reduction of discount," and "money on three'." and other things ot the kind that everybody talks about when a panic Is In the land, but he was not paying the slightest attention to what the bnnkcr was snylng. He was trying with all tho vigor of his brain to re construct in his Imagination a thing tho dim, gigantto outlines of which flung their shadows across the back ground of his memory, as If the thing Itself had happened to him In a vngue past In some other life on some other planet, a thousand years before the world wa created, when banks were not and the reduction ot dis count was a theory yet to be tried. In the very middle of it he felt a strange apoplotlc choking and the on coming of a storm In his head; and when the storm and the choking had cleared j.way he looked Bostwlck squnroly In the eyo nnd laughed aloud "You think It's a joke, do you?" Dostwlck said to him. with his solar grin and yellow teeth well to the front. "Well, you will dam soon find that It tsnt." He rose nnd began to finger the papers on his desk as a clear Invita tion to Longwood to take himself away "Flout wick." Held Longwood. aa If he were recalling a plensnnt little In cident of a hunting trip In the Cana dian wilds, "I wonder wnatever hap pened to the follows that enmo that time for the men of the Tropic DnwnT Pm hanged If 1 wouldn't like to know " He hnd his eyes trained on Dost wick's face and the face blanched un der the fire. And then did Dostwlck In his own turn train his eyes on I.ongwood's features nnd stare at them with the penetration of the sub tlest and most quick-acting poison Dut It waa clear that longwood to him was a totally Indecipherable writing. He gently moved himself round to his chair and let himself lapto Into It, with a perceptible sha king of the knees "The Tropic Dawn?" he queried, looking away from Longwood as If to try out his memory "That Tropic Dawn business was a long time ago. I suppose you mean tho fellows that were picked up, Yes, It was a long time ago. Outlawed long ago." His eyes wero still trained on Long wood's face, hla memory wringing It self without the sllgheet Issue. "What do you know about the Trop lo Dawnt" "Not much," replied tangwood, "but enough to know that a man has got to keep reading all the time tf h doesnt want to tall behind the news ot the day. I wa never aware, for Instance, that murder was ever outlawed. Guess they must have passed that law out there In the laat year or two," "Bit still, !ongwood. Don't go just yet. I want you to tell me about the Troplo Dawn. I want you to tell me all you know. It' tunny, Isn't It. how a man memory will get the beet of klmr Now the story that Longwood told to Bostwlck was not precisely tho story ho toil to mo, Longwood wan a business man who bad a knack ot getting prices which his heaviest competltora would not ovon drenm of nailing, and I fancy that ho kopt his business wits about him on that Im portant dny tho most Important day slnco his tnothor gave him birth, Dut you will never be nblo to understand how tho gamo was sproad botween them until you havo learnod what Longwood did In San Francisco twon ty yoars boforo; for It wan then that ho cnim by tho money that gnvo him hla llttlo startI mean after ho lost hla job In Boston nnd went out to the const with nil his belongings con verted Into roady mono" To Longwood's fancy 8an Francis co, while he still had money, was a Garden of Kdon In which men had been placed for the solo purpose of olstng with both hands tho ploasures of the world nnd the flash. Whin tha ozone poured In from tho ocean, nnd the crystalline weather cordlalod his brain and his spinal cord, the shacks of which Market street was built wore turned by tho sun Into palncos of moro joy. Tho restaurants, with their lights nnd llnon, wero, for him, the supping rooms of kings. Tho patntod women who clustered in the streets of ovonlngs wore tho dnlnty princesses of a fairy realm. Tho houses on tho hill top' woro trans fotiUeil Into the buoyant dwellings of glnd and airy gods. But Longwood was not nwnro thnt ho was thinking In those oxtrnvngnnt tonns. His odu cntlon hnd nover been carried boyond tho grammar school. And yet hnd ho been able to do so, thnt Is tho way ho would hnvo phrased It while his monoy lasted. Whon his money wns nil gono ho began to rcnllzo that the geographical position of Snn Francisco hnd been choson for ho quick nccompllshmont of ono or tho other of two specific things: Suicide or seafaring And when Longwood, Indorsing the second alternative, started to wnlk to tho "wnter front In search of n job ns a sailor beforo tho mast, he wns clothed In the raiment of a tramp. On tho whole, ho seemed to be glnd of It, anyway. Printing and binding up to that time--had not been for him the golden purso of Fortunntus. He knew tho business well; knew It from tho tannory up; knew It In Us practical and theoretical phnses; tho printing part, tho binding part, the Ilnnncc Dut nothing ns doing In aBBmBBBaSaV-r 'iT'jrPj'r. j"jjT " ITxaTJf jjr - BBHJV&jv-cfgaBjJ2x . "S-Jfc-jaT JPnBflBkg, i BBBBBBBBep3e?& fcBBB' HiiS3Pjg?-Mf - i' uSSBKb MT h. BTrrJBr "JtffTTBaTararBaWr" ;. jygra yTjfSLiygsjt" ftrisTBW ArBfBBBrflB'arBBHBmHM JaMtolkiL',r -YniaYvTjlWJ1 i "TELL THE FIVE THAT THE BARGAIN WAS BROKEN AND THE PEN- ALTY PAID." Snn Francisco In that line, and so far as Longvnod was concerned, nothing was doing In San Francisco In any line at all. If you made an exception of suicide nnd Beafarlng, And even at that, ns he ncared the water front, It became questionable with Longwood whether suicide would not be preferable to seafaring nil thlng weighed. Two months of pawning and selling had picked him clean of his clothes and of every other thing ot value he had; and a similar term on the bad whisky nnd Spanish free lunch they were offer ing nt the Slovn"Ian homes for the frlendlesH near the water front had mottled his face and Imparted to his eye the alertness and permanent an ticipation you tee on the visage of tho man without a name. San Fran cisco had danced hlra on her knee. Visaed him and eang to him And now ho was hustled and shoveled about, not because he was counted as worth tho shoveling, but merely be cause he seemed to be In somebody's way. What an accommodating town, to be sure! In the days of his pre ternatural joy the lustrous weather touched him with Its wand of gold nnd quickened the streams of his blood. In the time ot his adversity the rain fell on him day after dny, as If the ocean bad been transplanted to the sky and was vainly endeavor ing to get back. Seafaring? Yes. To be kicked by the mate- actually KlcKed; to say nothing ot falling from the top of a mast some day to find your home in the bounding deep. He was trying to use himself to the thought when he felt a touch on the shoulder and heard a voice In bis ear "Did you sign with the Tropic Dawn?" He was a man you would never have loved for his open and sunny countenance, having on the contrary the general aspect of a walrus drip ping and now-seated on Its wave washed Icy throne. Ho had not ques tioned Longwood with his eyes, but gazed with a stupid stare stupid and cunning while waiting for the an swer, Into the thick mist and sifting rain that were blowing In on a soft breexe from the bay The style of his dress, whatever it may ave been. waa hidden by hla glittering rain coat; and his sailor helmet conspired with the coat to obliterate all trace ot a neck. "Wny do you aak? Have you got a job?" He motioned to Longwood with hi fat body rather than with hi head, aad waddled swiftly away along th water front, never turning to whether he were followed or not, aad never drawing- a breath until be swung Into a barroom called the Cove ot Rest, halt Ailed with men wko wore comfortUs themtclvM wita quart pi ceoa of m -m beor nnd with pnlo whisky sold by tho measure ns nn encouragemont to tho trado. On he went to tho back door, which ho pushed open with his foot, and then on down tho stops that led to the cellar. At sight of tho black pit bolow Longwood pnusod, forgetting for tho moment that his negligee outfit wns tho union card of his perfect safety; but down ho followed on tho hcols of his guldo until ho was stoppod by tho bulk of him where ho was standing In tho darkness knocking roftly Whon a door opened Longwood could sco a light so thickly shroudod In tobacco smoke that It soemod to bo a mile away. It camo from a coal-oil lamp that swung from tho colling over a tablo about which three good men wero Bitting with glasses and liquor for all; and ns Longwood pushed past his companion and into the rosm. th man who had oponed the door for him bunged It shut, turnod tho koy, seated himself at tho table, nnd looked around at his frlcds. "Flvo!" ho said, filling himself a drink and pointing to a chair. "Sot down and got busy with tho boozo." Thoro was a false front on tho whole affair; an appearance of oaso and good fellowship that covered ovor tho fluttering heart of cankpr nnd expectation. It was tho dismal phantom of conversational politeness such as you sco at tho race track when tho horses arc coming through tho stretch and tho bettors aro prop p'ng thomsolves up with tho broken reeds of hopo. Longwood drank and waltod. The door-opener led the way. "Men," ho said, "I have drank good liquor in every latitude nnd close to near every longitude In the world, but thla hero liquor Is the best liquor I ever tasted." He spolt o of the liquor, but he was not thinking ot It. "This hero is good liquor," added another of them, not erelng it nnd not thinking of It, "but It ain't the finest of the fluo by a bag ways. It ain't got the tasto that mo-qua has got. Mo-qua is the Chln-Chln cham pagne, and I once drank it in Canton, but it'll put you to sleep for four days If you snuff up enough of It at a set tine" It was gritty work this polite con vocation gritty and unprofitable for plain blunt men accustomed to the alternatives of speaking their minds or ropinlnlng dumb like the beasts. Dut they played the gamo. though with tho obviouBUees of Infants. "Did you ever see such fine weath er as we're having these days?" spoke a third. "This here weather Is enough to make a man contented with his lot In life If he was a convict a Chile. It makes me think ot when I was a little v.hlld on my own mother's knee at home, so It does." The door-opener was dragging at his pipe. "I was wondering If all you men has weapons," he said. "Not that you're going to need them special, only I've always been In 'avor of a man having a weapon on hlr, If It's nothing but a lady's pen-knife, espe cially when you're going to be Intro duced to strangers." And then followed another round of the oatber. "Speaking of weapons," resumed the door-opener, "I once knowed a man who got hurt fearful in Callao by not having a thing on his person by a Portuguese in an argument about whether the king ot England wasn't the pope of the Trotcatant church " The wfeather man absently swal lowed a few ounces, staring hard at the door "Religion Is a thing I never bother with," ho said. "Bill didn't bother with it neither." assented the door-opener. "He was a good man. Dill was his name His name was Dill Drown. Come from Kentucky. He was drunk when he died Dut ho was a good man " "There was a vessel In the stream yesterday," the weather man ven tured, "that was four months out trom Santiago with ten Inches of barnacles and the master dead In the cabin The biscuits was, full ot weevils." "I see a Whitehall for sale for $25 this morning." said the door-opener, with his head cocked to one side, listening with his entire body it was Indeed a hard and gritty game; a game of dismal emptiness, ghastly pretense, nnd mocking un reality the poisonous thin vapor that swims over the crater's rim before the volcano belches up Its world-destroying Are. Longwood figured that It a man should happen to get him self killed In such a place and la such a company it would be the equiv alent ot wandering away unseen to tbo heart of the Sahara desert. But a knock at the door steadied them "There he I now!" exclaimed th door-opener, and h let In an Indi vidual In a loosely fitting storm coat a man ot a social species different from that of th men who were sit ting her. He had about him a way that Longwood recognised as that ot th bualn man In a transactloa with laborer; a pragmatic, seK-com-poeed air, that aaid aa plain aa word. "I am ovr ncro on my sldo of tho fenco, and you mo ovor tnero on yours." Ho winked lmra hs" his oyos were n "sailed by tho tobacco smoke, nnd ho coughed t little, stepping gontly into tho room. Ho took up the sixth and vacant chair by tho back and placed it boforo him as If he woro nbout to deliver a lecture; and his eyes having becomo adjusted to tho fog of tho smoke, he deliberate ly looked at each of tho flvo men In turn, trying, it would scom, to rocall whether ho had ever seen them be foro. Thoy woro staring Pt hm as If their eyes would fall out of their heads, so still that you would hardly bellovo thoy wero breathing. He straightened the chair In front of him. "I come, ' h nald, "by agreement with your principals to closo up a lit tle proflt-shnrlng Investment thnt was embarked upon a fow months ago, and I am pleased to bco that your principals hnvo been as true to their word thus far as I havo boen to mlno. Tho agreement nnd I take you all as witnesses of what I am going to say provided that after our last business meeting previously to the last Invest ment, we would nover again seek to oco ono another on the forfeit of our lives. Tho profits nro to be divided equally, eharo and share alike, nnd I take It that tho men hero present aro all duly qualified and authorized to act as agents with full power?" They fidgeted in tholr seats and grunted tholr replies In the affirma tive. "I havo the profits here under my coat," ho went on, t'but It will bo nec essary first as a moro formality, you understand, a meaningless formality to ascortaln whether you havo all boen supplied with tho password agrood upon. I will ask that each of you withdraw with me or a moment in ordor to got this little matter off our hands." Tho door-opener was nearest to him, and when tho two removed thomselves a few feet from tho circle and put their heads together, Long wood felt his life slipping away from him, although it wns a blessing that neither of them had tho "olee of a baby, nnd that Longwood had all his life been fortunate for his over-acute sense of hearing. He could mako out In the challenge of tho stranger the slnglo word, "sign;" and In ttte response of tho door-op sner tho two words "ask" and "Job;" and It oc curred to him then that tho caprice of tho hideous hazard was playing directly into his hands. Could this be the challenge and the nimble password that had caused tho walrus man to pilot him Into this black diverticulum of danger? A challenge nnd a response that had been thrust upoo-hin. by accident for better or worso? Did you sign with the Tropic Dawn? Why do you ask? Have you got a Job? He would try the Issue in any event, while commending his soul to its maker. Try It he did and make good. But tho game was not yet begun. "I will state It right and fair," con tinued the Btranger, resuming his tectorial attitude at the back ot the chair. "Right and fair. We are to place the profits on the table and count them out. Bhare aud share alike, In flvo shares, and no man Is to lay his hands on any "part of them until they aro all counted and divided so that each can see that no man Is get ting more than his sharo and no man less If any man lays his hands on them before the count Is made he Is to sufTer the penalty agreed on by tho principals In tho speculation, for I tako It for granted that I am doing business with men who have power to act." He thrust one of his hands Into the front of the storm coat, drew out a wallet of leather at big ft6 a hat, and placed It on the table. "I may say," he added, as If It were a bare afterthought, "that the total amount ot the profits was a hundred thousand dollars." The words were not uttered when the door-opener Jumped up. kicked his chair behind him, and clapped his left hand on the wallet. "You're a liar, mister!" he roared. "You're a thieving liar of the eternal fires! It wasn't no hundred thousand. It wasn't! It wasn't nc such tblngl If you want to know how much It was for a betting proposition, It was two hundred thousand, and no, a centime less! Ain't I right, men?" Their knives were at the stranger's throat like a seznUclrslzT cellar ot glittering spikes, the points directed lx?s-ard. He looked thm round and smiled at them as you smile at "Chil dren that are angry at somethlug they do not understand "If I bad a baseball bat I would beat you v?lth It," he calmly chlded with an indulgent little laugh. "Do you think that I don't know hnv? to count money? Take down your knives and let us gel to work and count the money'" They all teit back, but nobody seemed to have ooserved what was done, at first, between the door opener and the stranger What they saw and heard a momeut afterwards was the door-opener's knife singing past the head of the stranger, and the stranger's head tipping like a shuttle from one side to the other, v.hlle the hammer ot the forty-eight which the stranger was holding point blank at tbo door-opener's heart vsas so deftly "fanned" by the palm of the stranger's right hand that the three shots sounded almost like oue. As ho bacKed to the door ot the thick and pungent haze, he gently ad dressed himself to the four men be fore him. "Tell the Five," he said, "that the bargain was broken and the penalty paid " And the door hid him from sight. They were looking at the wallet on the table. "Men." suggested the weather man, "It's my heartfelt motion that wa count this here goods and divide K fair and square Into four equal parts, whlch'll make a quarter of a part extra for each man, and let the big five do the double-entry bookkeeping on It if It suits their fancy. I never see a cleaner job In my lite." They counted it and split it Into quarters of twenty-five thoutand, Neat and nice goods it waa all la clean new slips of yellow which told tbo bearer that there wero deposited in tho treasury of tho Unltod States so-and-so-many dollars In co'd, to all of which this document certified. But as Longwood, with his own sharo In the pocket of his coat, was about to pass toward the door, his eye fell On a queer thing that lay on the chair of tho stranger. What's this?" Tho weather man took It, inspected it, and gave tho tablo - tremendous volar slap. "What do you think of that7" he cried. "Did you ever soe tho llko of that? Hold mo, boya! Hold me enre ful, or I'll dlo with strangulation from laughing. He took it off ns clean as a whlstlo! Ab clenn as If ho was the visiting doctor at tho hospital." Dut what did Longwood do, utter he had broken his first fifty for a complete now outfit, and his second for a slooper on tho first train for tho east out of Oakland, and later, after he had bought Into tho printing nnd binding plnnt, which was then a small affair ot its kind, but an affair that promised woll if handled under careful management? Longwood naturally worried. Of evenings when bo would go home and lay asldo tho business caros of the day, ho would figuro for hours on tho problem of tho flvo, and the Tropic Dawn, and tho man with the forty-eight. What was tho Tropic Dawn? A ship, no doubt, that had been worked for the old game although thoro were objections to that theory too. Still, If it woro assumed that It wero a ship, with a consign ment of Bpcclo, or something llko that, and a substitution of tho goods, with tho big flvo scuttling her nt tea and getting away on a boat, and the lecture fellow doing tho dirty work for tho consignors, with a payment of marine insurance, and so on. Dut ho was never satisfied with that Ingenious explanation. Longwood grow fast and prosper ous, and one day after ho had ac quired complete control of the plnnt, so that he could have a little holiday for himself without danger of being robbed by his partner, he took a trip to San Francisco and put up at the Palaco hotel. You must understand that tho Tropic Dawn had become for him a problem that cried out for clearness, but ho would nover trust tho business to any mero erring hu man agency. Ho would look Into It with his own eyes; and the first night he was in San Francisco ho took It up with tho clerk of the hotel. "What was that business about the Tropic Dawn?" He put the question as & bold chance. "The Tropic Dawn? Don't you know about the Tropic Dawn? She was blown to slivers as she was passing tho presidio on her way from stream to sea. Blown to slivers. Some of them said It was her boilers, and somo of them said It was nitro-glycer-Ine. Whlchevor It was, she was, blown to slivers as she was going from stream to sea." Longwood thoughtfully made his way to a chair by the log fire In the lobby. Blown to silvers with nltro-glycer-lne? It was a fine problem to let alone! But that was how Longwood figur ing what wns coming to him If they compounded the interest on his own share of tho swag that Bostwlck had kept back from him agreed with Bostwlck that he would settle for a reasonable amount of stock in the bank and nn unlimited Hue of dis count on his paper. New Scheme to Water Flowers. Oue of the most effective window demonstrators now entertaining gap ing New Yorkers moves not, speaks not and draws no salary, but interests the crowd. The exhibition takes place in a florist's window. It con sists of a huge tin pall ot water stand ing on a table about four feet from tho floor. Hanging over tho edge of the pall are strips of muslin varying In width from ono to three Inches. These muslin strips are firmly an chored at one end Inside the pail by means of weights, while the other end rests on flower pots which are ar ranged In a circle around the table. "We are giving this demonstration," the florist said, "to show people how to water their plants when they shut up their apartment and go away for four or five dayn at a time. Tho wa ter soaks slowly through the muslin Into the earth and keeps it at a uni form moisture. The width of the mus lin strips varies with the size of tho flower pots. A pall of this size will supply all of these flowers for a week." New York Sun. Business Women Organize. Mrs. Robert A Woods presided at the recent gathering of business wom en In Bo3ton nt which the first step was taken toward forming a perma nent organization With the excep tion of a few women lawyers all the women attending this meeting occupy executive places In the business world of Boston. Addresses wero made by Miss Bertha Slennon, Mrs. Mary A. Moran, Mrs. Alice Parker Lesser, Miss Alice Grady, Miss Mary A. Mahan and Miss Josephlno Brourtan. A commit tee to Investigate and report on fur ther plans was appointed and a meet ing called for this month, when a per manent organization will be made, probably under the namo of the Down Town club Sanitation Is Salvation. Diseaso germs are Invisible, It Is true, but they And shelter and breed ing placeB In dirt, which Is easy to see It cleanliness Is mado tho rule of Ufa Innumerable seeds of posslblo Illness and death will be washed away without opportunity to do tholr destructive work. Sanitation Is the salvation ot many lives. It la science applied to the conquest ot death, within the allotted normal span ot human existence. Dut plain, ordinary, old-fasnicmed cleanliness goes tar to accomplish the same purpose and do the same service for mankind. Her Meteorlo Flight. Post (at luncheon) I wonder what our new cook will bo like? Mrs. Post Oh, John! She left this morning. Harper's Bazar.