811
Road Closed? DeftOIUlir By William Hamilton Osborne
THE BEE: OMAHA. SUNDAY. OCTOBER 16. 1921.
I
1
Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars, a
Hero and Four Sweeping
Hawks.
AT I o'clock on a certain Saturday
fti-rnoon a balmy day In tarly spring
a young town of th ntm of Klmr
Qua) stood bareheaded on the topmost step of
tha city hall la River Cly. Ill ineral appear
ance we that of man who had Nn thor
oughly through tha mill. On arm wa bound
apros hla breast lit had no eyebrows. Ilia
hair had bn cropped vary cInm, revealing to
th publlo gate a whit. wll-hapd poll. II
waa about It yar old. of mtdlum height
and weight Save fur hla broad shoulder,
h waa lndr. II wtlghad. atrlpptd, not
mora, perhaps, than a hundred and fifty pound.
It waa a necessary part of hla profession, for
h had on, that h b of athletic tendency and
build. Wk before h had bn a paaaably
food looking rhap. Week later ha would one
mora coma Into hla own.
II atood erect and straight, but painfully
embarrassed, upon th topmost step. In front
of him ther stretched a knock-down speakers'
platform a amatl affair, with a floor aurfac ten
by ten. Elmer Quayle waa not th whole ahow
her by any means. Ther waa something ela
that mada thla particular occasion remarkably
unliiue and curloua Ther wus a tnyaterloua
mla-ahapen object resting In th ml.ldi of thla
platform an object hidden and concealed. Over
thla object an American flair had been thrown.
Small boy In th secret knew wuli what was
there, perhapi). ltut they couldn't ae whst wua
there. And moat of the peoplo didn't know.
Th Honorable Knm Oliver, River County'
cental, popular and eloquent prosecutor of tha
pitas, delivered tho presentation apcech. Ho
waa never tiresome. In thla cnno he wai brief
and ti the point. With a final ton of hla Innky
hair Ram Oliver reached hla peroration h
humlcrcd out hla climax. Dramatically he mo.
tinned to a dozen little boya and girl. Scram
bling eagerly across the platform, they drew
awny tha flog. The crowd surged forward to
ratoh tha better gllmpso of what luy there re
Yea led.
The Honorable Hum Oliver turned to the
bandaged youth bealde him. '
"Ta yt'ii, young Elmer Quaylo," ho cried.
. "thla hard earned heap of coin."
It waa heap of coin a heap of bills and
coin, Pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters halves,
silver dollars, dollar bills, twos, fives, tens, and
so on up to fifties. Clean money, soiled money,
thrown Into a heap. Much money twenty-flve
thousand dollars by actuul count. Twenty-flvo
thousand dollurs In good American currency.
And all for Elmer Quayle.
The silence was Intense. Then, as In a flush,
three diminutive cheer loaders sprang to th
platform, raised their voices in sharp, metallic!
treble, and swung and swayed, and flung their
bodies to th four corners of th wind. Shrill
voices responded young voices. Young voices
were In the majority, young eyes glistened,
young bodies thousands of them pulpitated
and pulsatod in that crowd. For the gift was
the gift of the school children of River City to
Elmer Quayle, the forlorn young hero standing
there on the top step of the city hall.
It waa th Idea of tho school children, this
gift an Idea born and nurtured In their schools.
In secret they had made their preparations for
the tribute to their hero for more than a
month they had busied themselves about the
great drlv of their young lives. It was their
own personal drive for their own personal idol.
They had pestered the life out of River City .
business men but with grave cautions to their
contributors not to tell Elmer Quayle, nor any
of his family, nor any of his friends about it.
Elmer Quayle was not to know,
. They had. Indeed, intended great things. At
th start they had thought of buying Elmer
Quayl a twenty-five thousand dollar house to
Ilv in. They had thought of having built for '
him a twenty-five thousand dollar automobile.
They had considered fitting up for him a twenty- ,
llv thousand dollar sporting goods store, where
they could all rush in and spend much money
all th time.- Many of them had thought of
many meritorious things. The inevitable result
waa clamor, internecine strife. And then from
tbe Very midst of these warrlmj tlemnts there
rose a great genius, a spendthrift, a very human -spendthrift,
' He opined that if he were Elmer
Quayle he'd rather have the nioiu His chance
remark was recognised as a flash of inspiration. .
Every youthful donor, every collector and dls-
penser of small coin, searched li is own con
science and found there the naked truth. He
would rather have the money, too. And then a
young High School idealist her soul ' attune .
with poesy undertook to ennoble this idea. Sho ,
capped th climax. '
"The money Just as it comes in," she said.
And ther it was. It lay in front of Elmer
Quayl, warm with the pressure of their youth
ful hands.
Elmer Quayl glanced nervously about him.
The crowd was not all composed of children.
Ther wer adults a-plenty. His own friends
were there; others. Idlers, enthusiasts, hero
Worshiper A School teachers, of course. There :
waa ons school teacher in particular in whose
direction Elmer Quayle glanced from time to
time glanced as a man in deep trouble glances
toward hia friend. A wisp of a girl, this, young
er than he -a girl with wistful, winsome eyes.
She was a 'marked figure, too. For all about
her, clinging to her, clutching at her skirts,
using her slender figure as a pleasing prop and
comfortable support, were many kids Just kids.
This girl returned Elmer Quayle'a glance
With interest; she waa flushed and worried Just
as he waa flushed and worried. She wanted
to help him if she could. In the midst of the
hubbub Elmer Quayl tore his glance from hers
and looked th other way. Elmer Quayle knew
Just wher to look. ,
i Leaning gracefully against a column, warm,
rich furs about her neck, stood Zeida Lindquist.
She waa a woman, a grown woman, fair and
young and stipple, with th creamy complexion
of th whit peaoh, and with hair as fair aa
Any viking's daughter. Mayhap she waa a vik
ing's daughter at any rate, she looked the part.
Sho waa unusually aelf-possessed, serene, un
troubled. . Eh was ther to see and to be seen.
And ah waa seen; it was in her to attract atten
tion. One she had stepped out from behind
that column, the male spectators of adult or
even adolescent age shifted their glance from
Elmer Quayle; shifted their glances from that
pit of money on th platform. They looked at
her. Boys from th high school looked at her.
Prosecutor Bam Oliver, slumping into his plat
(form cat, fixed his steady, curious, appraising '
yea upon her; the fact that h didn't know
hor and had never seen her at any time before
lent aest and spice to his curious regard.
This Zelda Llndqulst had com to see. She
aw. 8h held her glance fixed upon on thing
and one thing only twenty-five thousand dol
- lars' worth of good American money that was
piled upon the little platform. As Sam Oliver
watched her, he saw that sha was not alone.
She had a male companion with her a big man,
. stupid looking. This man was no viking, but
he might well qualify aa th vasa! of a vlklnr.
Thla man's eyea wer small, furtive Greed
ahon from them. He, too, kept hia eyea upun
tho money.
. Zelda Llndqulst looked up at this companion.
"Twenty-five thousand dollars," Sam Oliver
heard her say to her companion, "it doesn't look
liko much."
"If money, chuckled her companion. He
did something mors than chuckle. Playfully
he flipped her chin with a huge forefinger did
it with an air of Intimacy that th woman
seemed to resent She reddened angtti?. Then,
conscious, mayhap, that she was a center of
attraction, she glanced upward one agftin, with
saucy f nil upon her lips. Tired of restinc
("I -Ol'O V ft, I
7 8 I i H ,
M luC! J 4 (I f m
Th honurtbU Sam Olivtr turn
ya, young Omar Quayl;" A
her fine shoulders against the stone pillar, she
leaned openly, gracefully, sigainst this man. The
men watched her the woman watched her, too. -Bam
Oliver, a grim smile upon his lips, watched
the people that were watching her, th ijeflex
influence of a Woman of this type was to him
more interesting than the woman was herself.
Then, as he looked about him, for the first
time that afternoon Prosecutor Sam Oliver
caught Sight of Rossiter F. Jones. Rossiter F.
Jones was one of the handsomest, and, in the
estimation of Sam Oliver, one of tho most dan
gerous gentlemen in town. Just why he was
dangerous-will soon appear,- He, too, was a big
man bigger and far finer than the woman's es
cort. He was well dressed, well groomed, was
Rossiter F. Jones. One of tho remarkable char
acteristics of this man was that he looked like
a million dollars at all times. He, too, was
Standing near a oolumn, but at the moment he
was not looking at the woman. Sam Oliver,
however, saw her twice cast a woman's glance
at -Rossiter F, Jones. But for tho moment Sam
Oliver lost .Interest in the woman and her by
play. He concentrated, willingly and eagerly,
upon this Rossiter F. Jones, And he perceived,
as in a flash, that of all the people in that crowd
Rossiter F. Jones was eyeing that luscious pile
or currency with more genuine affection and
retard, giving It. more intensive thought and
considerate meditation, than was anybody ls.
Prosecutor Bam Oliver began to sniff the air.
Silence was finally restored. The crowd
gased with expectation at their young hero,
Elmer Quayl.
He spoke. "From now on," stammered Elmer
Quayle, aa though talking to himself, or per
haps, aa though taking into his confidence the
souls of those youngster round about, "from
now on to do the right thing at any cost.
Th right thing and nothing else." -
His chin quivered. His eyes filled. Then,
suddenly he broke down and cried; cried like a
little child; perhaps mora like a woman,
"Ge," broke out a boyish voice, "that'a Just
the way he blubbered when he brought 'em
down." '
The crowd, relieved,, took up the cry. That
waa the way that Elmer Quayle had blubbered
when ha brought 'em down. Those who hadn't
seen and heard him blubber when he brought
'em down, had read about it in the newspapers.
For Elmer Quayle had earned this heap of
money lying on th platform; by his singed hair
and eyebrows, by his dislocated shoulder, by his
broken riba he had earned it. In the sight of
hundreds of River City school children he had
earned it' H had earned it in a fire.
Ther wer many witnesses to Elmer
Quayle's heroic act. Elmer Quayle was physical
training Instructor in . the River City schools.
On th day in question, Elmer Quayle was drill
ing classes on the top floor of the high school.
This school backed up against th Iroquois
apartments on the street behind. The Iroquois
apartments formed a rectangular U whose base
fronted on the other treet, whose uprights
thrust themselves out toward the high school
In th rear. Th flr broke out on lower floors,
seemingly In many places all at once. Smoke
enveloped th apartment house.
Elmer Quayl waa a regular human being.
He suspended drill hia pupils massed them
selves against tha rear windows of the big room.
They watched In interested silence. The half
shriek of a girl pupil broke thia silence. , Above
th heavy pall of smoke, acroes th intervening
space, she had caught sight of women at an
upper window, signaling frantically for assist
ance Elmor Quayl followed this girl's glance he,
too, saw the women. They were clustered In a
fourth floor window situate at tbe deepest por:
5 .
J fa tha bandog! youth batlda him. "T
crfeW, "thi$ harJ-aarntJ haap of coin."
tion of the V. Nobody, of course, could see
them from the street owing to the heavy
smoke, nobody could have seen them from the
ground, .Elmer Quayle noted the wisps of
white vapor that curled from that window. He
saw that one of the women was about to Jump.
He caught up a gymnasium shirt that wasn't
working he seized a megaphone. Across two
hundred feet he called to them;' called to those
frantic women not, to Jump. They saw his sig
nalthey heard hi reassuring voice.
' Elmer QUayle left the megaphone in the
hands of a student directed him to keep up the
spirits of the women. Then he darted down
the stairs. Reaching: the apartment house, he
found a lire escape that wasn't w6rking.
Through the smoke that enveloped It he wrig
gled his way upon the roof to a point above the
women. He leaned far out over the edge
spoke to the women, told them All was well.
They lifted scared faces to him stretched
out ibeseeching arms. Thin wisps of smoke
curled up about those faces and those arms.
These women were two floors below the roof.
Elmer Quayle had brought no rope From his
position on the roof ha could, offer them no
help. Scurrying about he discovered a trapdoor
and wrenched it open. From it he lowered
himself into an unfinished low ceilinged attia
He made his way to a convenifnt window and
found that h had called th turn. This win
dow was Just above the window where the
women clustered. Tha distance between the
bottom ' of his window and the top of theirs
was short His window sash he opened from
the bottom he directed the women to lower
their window sashes from the top.
Then, while tho high school megaphone
cheered him on, he lpwered himself into the
room where they were gathered H found flv .
women there, of assorted sizes. He fojind them
more than frightened he found them desperate.
And with good cause. His swift investigation
proved to him that they wer trapped. There
was but one solution to the problem the thing
was up to him. He picked out the smallest
woman of the bunch; gave her and the others
brief directions. Then, with some difficulty, he
swung himself back to his vantage point at
the attic window up above. Once inside the
attic, he leaned our of the window and stretched
down his arms. The four women lifted the fifth
until her finger , tips touched Elmer Quayle's.
Elmer grasped her firmly by the wrists and
slowly drew her upward a moment later she
lay quivering beside him on the flooi1. But not
for long, for Elmer Quayl had work for her
to do.
"Hang on to my legs," commanded Elmer
Quayle. And showed her how. She hung on.
adding her weight and her Inslgniflant strength
to his. But she furnished leverage, at any rate,
and that waa what h needed. He fished an
other woman'through the window stopped for
a moment's rest Then, unfler his direction, the
women hung to hia legs one leg to each. He
fished a third a fourth. Then came the tug of
war h knew it for th thing it was. Elmer
Quayle weighed, stripped, ISO pounds. The last
despairing soul remaining on the floor below
weighed 109 if she weighed an ounce. Fortu
nately, thia woman waa a scrub woman of th
place; .her muscles wer trained muscles; she .
was as brawny as she was big. And ah had a
pair of powerful handa and wrists. Obeying
Elmer Quayle's instruction, this woman climbed,
somehow, to the window sill of the room of
which, now, she was sole occupant, half seated
herself upon the lowered window sashes, and
stretched her long arms toward Elmer Quayle.
Inside the attic four women hung, in despera
tion, to th legs of Elmer Quayle two women
to a leg
"You hang to me," commanded Elmer
' Quayle. ' The woman hung. She was fully as
: much interested in the matter a was Elmer.
She gripped him tight . (Jslng ., his reserve
strength,, his second wind, using every trick
and artifice known to the trained athlete. Elmer
Quayle fought his way backward into the attic
with that dead weight clinging to him. By hook
and crook he got that woman in By hook and
crook he get his five women throush the trap
door to the roof. By hoof and crook he got
them down the Are escape safely down the flr
escape. Safely, all save himself.
On his last trip down flames burst from the
third story windows in the rear and robbed
him of his hair and. temporarily, of his good
looks as well. He dropped into the midst of the
five women he had rescued blubbering, un
, done. .
Five minutes after Elmer Quayle had snaked
those women out .flames burst from the window
where they had crouched. Ten minutes later
flames burst through the .attics and the roof.
The fire escape down which the women) clam
bered became impassable the Instant they were
safely dpwn. Three-quarters of an hour later
, thet walls of the Iroquois fell in. The high school
5 was unsinged the wind had blown the other
way. ' . i '
Elmer Quayle had accomplished the lmpos
- sible he had saved five human lives. ,. -
And here he was, only half mended so far; '
and there lay his reward. He still was sobbing.
Nobody seemed to know Just what to do.
Then a 13-year-old girl did it.
- "A long life and a happy one, Prof. Elmer
Quayle!" she cried,' starting from her place in
the depths of the crowd. She was a song leader
and her time had come. With a catch in her
fine young voice She started in on one of the
sentimental ditties of the day. She knew her
business. In anothir instant she had swung
into the melody in full, rich tones. With a long
line Of singing boys and girls behind her she
skirted the multitude, wound her graceful way
to the place where the physical instructor sat
: and kissed him. ''
- The spell was broken. All was well.
A few -days afterward Zelda Lfndquist waa
ushered into the private office of Eleazei' Grind
stone, one of the well known professional men
of River City. With ZeUa.Linrtquist was her
huge, escort of the city hall steps. If you wanted
to accomplish the impossible and were not par
ticular as to th means to be employed you
went to Grindstone. He accomplished it He
did it legally and got twice as much if not for
you, then for himself -
"I am Zelda Llndqulst," said Grindstone's
new client
Eleazer Grindstone looked her over care
fully. Ha nodded toward the damaged gentle
man. "And ybu ?" he queried.
"He is my brother he is Joe Lindquist,"
said the lady swiftly. ' Sho leaned forward.
"Counselor," she went on, "I have work for
you to do."
The old lawyer nodded. "A breach of prom-'
ise case," he smiled.
Zelda Lindquist gasped she stared at him.
"How did you know?" she demanded.
Grindstone smiled quizzically. "You have not
lost much time, my fair young friend," he said.
She kept on staring. "How do you mean
much time?" she echoed.
Grindstsone looked her in the eye.
"It was but a day or so ago they handed
him the money," he reminded her. "Since then
you have made the rounds of all the lawyers In
th town"
"How can you know that?" demanded th
woman.
"Only to b turned down," smiled Grind
stone; "only to find out that our smug members
of th bar declined to enforce a woman's rights
against our local, hero. And then you came
to me." '
"You are a wisard," breathed th girL
"It is my business to be a wizard," nodded
Grindstone. He leaned back in his chair and
placed finger tips against linger lips. "What
have you got?" he queried. -
"Much." responded Zelda Lindquist "I have
been engaged, to Elmer Quayle for upward of
a year. Now he has turned me down." ,
"Engaged," mused Grindstsone. "How many
witnesses have you got to back you up? What
kind of evidence can you present?"
Zeida Lindquist shrugged her supple shoulders.
"I do not need much vidm-.H she said, "I
have ihta ring." MH took It off that ring and
hsnd-fd It to Urtndston. Th lawyer lifted from
hi desk drawer magnifying tana, gUnred at
th Inscription first, then at th diamond,
"four hundred and twntyflv dollnr a It
stand." said Grindstone, tiayln it, h slipped
th ring Into hi waistcoat pocket.
"But why?" protested th lady,
"I shall retain It." smiled Urlndston. "a
evidence, to be used upon tho trial"
"Oh. but you r slick." cried Zelda Llnd
qulst. "That's why you ar her," Mid Grindstone,
"Now. tell ni this what doe this ring pro,
v that you bought It and had an Inscription,
cut on th Insld rim what lsT"
Zelda Undqulst was ready for that question.
She produced a packet of letter, tied with a
highly scented pink ribbon. "The Is," ah
returned Hh pawed them over.
Grlndston read them over.
"Well," h grinned, "look Ilk lie love you
and want to marry you. Why don't you marry
him?"
"Because of thla!" exclaimed th girl defi
antly. She produced another letter. Grlndston
read It one, twice, thrlc.
. -Wall." h aald at length, "thrs couldn't
hav been better if you'd had 'em all forged for
th purpose of your, breach of promts suit I'm
obliged to tell you that your rase Is clear. You
win. Th gentleman has IIS, 000 in th bank
good American money. It'll split up quit con
veniently, it coern to me."
So muoh for Grlndston and his now. client,
Zelda Llndqulst A week after their presumably
satisfactory Interview two people entcrsd th
office of Sam Oliver, prosecutor of th plea..
Sam Oliver had quit for th day. He was lying
back In hla swivel chair, on foot cocked up,
hi hat drawn rakishly oVr hi left eyebrow.
H waa ready to go home, but he lolled ther,
dreaming, gaslng from hi vantage point on
Court House Hill over th first-class city that
was hla especial pride and car. That city waa
co-extensiv with th county limits. As a county
Officer Sam Oliver had done hla best to solve
that city' problems he had don his best to
keep th city clean.
Th two people that come In roused him
from a revery. They did more than that they
aroused his Immediate attention. II saw, as In
a flash, their significance, their place In th
scheme of things. To him they wers great peo
ple, these two. Grtat people because they wer
great lovers. On of them waa th still dam
aged Elmer Quayle th other was th littte
school teacher of th city hall stepa Lovers,
clearly, but not at peace. Trouble brooded over
them, rested its burden upon their youthful
shoulders on of them a dislocated shoulder In
th bargain. It helped, though, that they were
bearing it together,
Elmer Quayl opened negotiations forthwith,
"Prosecutor Oliver," he said, "I'v com to you :
because you seemed, somehow, to really feel th
flne things you said about me Just the other day.
Because of that and because I don't know where
else to go. This is the first time I'v ever been
at law."
"You are at law now?" queried Sam Oliver.
"Much." returned Elmer Quayl with a grim
ace. "I have been sued for breach of promise
by a woman."
"Breach of promise!" echoed Sam Oliver,
bending his glance upon the little school teach
er. "And you have been served with papers In
the suit?"
Elmer Quayle produced them, a summon
and complaint He passed them to Sam Oliver.
Sam Oliver read them through in silence. Then
he shook his head.
. 'This complaint," he mused, "carries its
sharpest sting in its tail." He placed his fore
finger upon a typed named at th bottom of th
paper. "Mr. Eleazer Grindstone brings this
suit" '
"How does that signify?" asked Elmer
Quayle. '
"It signifies." nodded Sam Oliver, "because
Mr. Eleazer Grindstone doesn't bring a suit un
' less he is sure of a satisfactory settlement or
sure to get a verdict He wins. He gets results."
"He mustn't win thia case," said Elmer
. Quayle.
"He can't win this case," cried th little
school teacher. 'Sam Oliver smiled to himself
and looked her over. "Needless to ask," he said
to Elmer Quayle, "this is not the woman in the
case?"
"I . should say not," returned Elmer Quayle,
drawin the girl close to himself;, "she's Peggy
Warner. I forogot to Introduce heft She's my
fiancee. We've sort of gone together all our
lives. Except "
-Peggy Warner interrupted. "It was all my
'fault. Prosecutor Oliver!" sh exclaimed con
tritely. "I thought a while back that Elmer was
well, sowinsr too many wild oats. And so I
turned him off."
"Wild oats wild oats!" echoed Sam Oliver.
'Ah athletio instructor in our city's schools
sowinsr wild oats?" .
"Well," pleaded Elmer Quayle, "It's true
but it's all over now."
"I should have gone out and sowed wild oats
with him," went on little Peprgy Warner. "I ,
should have stuck to him. Then this thing
never would hav happened."
Sam Oliver, returned to a persusal of the
papers In the case. ' "This Zelda Lindquist."
nodded he, "says that you promised to marry
her a year ago says you have broken your
' promise. And ah wants 125,000 from you for
the breach."
"How did you come to meet this woman?"
he demanded of Elmer Quayle.
"I met her at a public dance."
"She Is attractive?" asked Sam Oliver.
"Very," returned Elmer Quayle.
"Oh, Elmer!" cried th girl.
"I can't help it," repeated Elmer doggedly;
"she's attractive h attracted me " -
"Tell me about her," demanded th prosecu
tor. Elmer Quayle started in to describe th
Zelda Lindquist that he knew. In th midst of
hla description Sam Oliver held up his hand.
"I know now I have seen the woman,"
nodded Sam Oliver; "she waa on the steps of th
city hall that day." ,
"Yes," said Elmer Quayl.
The prosecutor tapped the papers with th
back of his hand. "I take it," he proceeded,
"that you stand ready to deny everything ah
sets forth in her complaint"
"Not so you can notioe it," said Elmer Quayl.
"You asked her to marry you?"
"I did, and in a letter," nodded Elmer
Quayle. -
"Why in a letter?" queried the prosecutor.
"I met her at dances several times," went
on Elmer Quayle. "She asked me my address
she wrote me a letter asking mo to come and
see her. She wrote me letters frequently love
letters. I can see now that she wrote them
for one purpose one only. She wanted me to
answer them wanted m to commit myself in
writing. She wanted letter to dream on, ahe
told me."
"It cam to a point where, it seemed to ma,
both of us wer of on mind. She kept-away
from me for a week or so. I had to write her.
And I wrote. ' I promised to marry her and
gave her a ring." went on the young athlete.
"And then" persisted th prosecutor.
'Then, for the fl at time, I told her the truth
about my circumstances told her that I had
spent all my money on her. Told her that I
had nothing but my salary aa athletic instruc
tor In th schools. I wanted her to marry m
on that"
"With what result?" asked th prosecutor,
hopefully. ,
"None, save that she lost all interest In me
and exhibited indifference toward me. You
wer quit right, sir. I see it now. She had
made herself, attractive to me until she had m.
She still held me. though. She did not release
m. W lust drifted on I still spent money on
her. Bh till wor my ring. At timet 1 ftvt
tier money. Then, somehow or other, I wok
up. I am to my Hmu, I thought tk mora
I thought tha mor I dldot Uk It I can't tot
thla over to you Just th way I want to get l&
but I couldn't m thla woman aa th mother at
a lot of children. I, don't know Just wbal tha
wa mada for, but It wasn't for a bom I told
her o, I brok with her myself."
"By word of mouth?" queried Sam Ottv.
"I did It la a letter," aald Elmer Quayl gat
rably. .
"How foolish. Elmer!" ar4 tha girl
Elmr araeed himself. "Bsfor I gav ht aa
ngagmnt ring." h Hla, "h waa aa fin aa
silk. Thlnga changed after that I found aa
moklng cigeret to beat th band. , Ml etak wf
bottom dollar sh' a flend."
"What !?" qurid tha p rose eu tor. Tva
got that down."
. "Cocktail too many of thorn," aodded BH
mer Quayl; "and sh keep a lot of bottle aa
tap In her apartment ta th bargain. I know
sh drink too much."
"What la?" demanded Sam Oliver, makta
mor not.
"Bh go to dances every night," aald Elmt
"sh dance till th cow com horn. And
what mad m aor was thla: Befor I waa en
gaged to Zelda sh danced all her dant with
me. Afterward sh danced not with m. but
with th bt dressed chap with th blggMt
roll of money In th room. If I got on danea
a night Z was a lucky man. Sh Ignored in.
Sh let m spend my money on her; sh let ma
glv her money. Actually, ah threw roe down.
Only sh didn't say so, Ilk a man. Ia her
heart ah Jilted me before I vr thought of
Jilting her. I couldn't ttand It I wrot that
Utter to her. And then, this flr. and now"
"Obviously," nodded th prosecutor, "tha .
116,000 put a new light on th matter. That'a
neither her nor ther. It waa her good luck to
hav fat play Into her handa Now, listen, El
mer Quayle. Follow m. Th record, a you'va
mad It, stand Ilk thia: You courted thi girl;
you promised to marry her; you gave her a ring.
You showered her with money, gift. ttentkn.
Then suddenly you Jilt her. Bh may hav Jllttd
you at first, but the record shows you Jilted her.
On of your strong reason for so doing I that
ahe dissipate, smokes clgarats, drink cocktalla
now and then" j
"Now and always," returned Elmer Quayl
earnestly; "I'm telling you th truth."
"Nobody ever drlnka cocktail mor than
now and the n befor a Jury," wnt on th pros
ecutor. "And beside th clgaret and drlnka sh
goe to dance all th Urn. Good. She'll ad
mit most of these charges, If aha' wis. Thsy
are probably susceptlbl of proot Grlndston
will set her straight on that What doa It .
amount to, Elmer Quayl? Over In New York
ther are mothers, grandmothers staid, respect- .
abla women with large families smoking elf
arets, drinking cocktails, dancing every night
River City is a city it's not so far away from
the Borough of Manhattan. Hundreds of River
City girls get married every year a whole lot
of 'em have smoked clgareta, drunk cocktalla,
gone to dancea every night Ten chances ta on
there'll be three men on your Jury who met
their wives at a publlo dancing plac. That'a
what dancing's for. These wives of their ar
bringing up their children. . How ar you going
to prove that Zelda Lindquist la any different
from these girls 7"
"I know sho is," said Elmer Quayl.
"What els do you know about this?" quer-
led Sam Oliver.
"Nothing." said th athlete; "neither doe
anybody else. She cam her from Australia ,,
flv year ago, ah says sh and her brother,
Joe. They lived first In Nw York then hr.
That's all I over kn'ew."
Sam Oliver leaned back In hi chair and 1
thought about It hard. "It'a bad enough," h
said at length, "and you must understand Just
how bad it la, Thia ia Elmer Quayle' town
and Elmer 1 a hero. Th children of th city
plac at Elmer'a feet $15,000 to do With a he .
will. A sacred tribute. For him to do With aa
he will This woman cornea along this Strang
woman. They've never oven heard of her be- V
for. Sh seta he velvet claws upon this pile
and takes it for her own. Twenty-flv thou
sand dollars raised for Elmer Quayle presented
to him by th kid with glowing eyes, with hero
worship in their hearts, i And then h handa it
over to a woman of thla typ."
"But ahe hasn't got th money yet!" orled
Peggy Warner.
"Now you're talking," said the prosecutor. '
"No more postmortems. We'll build np now la
stead of tearing down. Let everybody help."
"I'll help," nodded Peggy Warner. "Thlg
case must be settled, and settled rignt away.
"How much money have you got?" queried
Sam Oliver.
'Twenty-flve thousand dollars,' responoed
Elmer Quayle forlornly, "and not a dollar more."- '
"I have two thousand dollars of my own!"
cried Peggy Warner eagerly.
Sam Oliver thought It over carefully, Ha
didn't like it, but, after all. it wa on way
out "Bring in your two thousand," he said to
Peggy Warner, against the protests of Elmer ,
Quayle, '"'and I'll go see Eleaaer Grindstone right
away." '
He sat up that night till midnight preparing '
an answer that would put out th eye of any
ordinary antagonist Next day he took his an- -swer
in to Eleazer Grlndatone, handed him a
copy.and laid two thousand dollar on Eleaser
Grindstone's desk.
"Two thousand dollars," nodded Sam Oliver
to Grindstone, "if your woman quits right now.
Destroy these papers. Squelch th whole thing
strangle It in its birth. That means a thou
sand to you, Grindstone and a thousand mora
to her, A thousand ter a few hours' work. That'
fair."
. Grindstone picked up the answer and read it
carefully. It was a formidable document, but
Grindstone merely chuckled as ho read It
"Not a farthing leas than twenty-flve." said
Grindstone. ' Next day th storm broke th
fight was on. Next day, too, Eleaaer Grlndston
sent for Zilda Lindquist And Zelda Llndqulst
came. t
,"Nowt young woman," he nodded to her,
"I've sent for you to find out what you are doing
with yourself."
The Swedish beauty tossed her head. "I ant
doing as I please," she answered.
"Exactly," nodded Grindstone; "I supposed
so. Ten years from now you'll look bark and
wonder at your recklessness. ' You've been doing
as you please too much. Your picture, lady, will
be in all the evening papers. And from now
on you'll do aa you don't please,
"Keep under cover, don't be seen. Don't
smoke in public, don't dance in public, don't
drink In public. Don't be seen.- Not here, at
any rate." j .
Sam Oliver, pn his own part, spent two sleep-
less nights in an attempt to solve a problem
that somehow, in the nature of things, would not .
work out His would be a superhuman task
It was up to him to make a Jury see this thing : -In
the same way that he saw it, that Elmer
Quayle and Peggy Warner saw it The evidence
was all against him as It stood he must hav
superevldenc to combat It Ther waa nobody
to furnish him that superevldenc, unless It waa
the woman in the case. Sam concentrated on
the woman In the case. ' He had her reckoned
up, carefully shadowed. He had her past so far
as it waa known. Investigated. And all without,
result The woman had no record ah was an
adventuress without a past But ah was an
adventuress, and Sam Oliver knew her for th
thing she waa He must trim Grindstone' In this
case, and with legal evidence. The mora ha
thought about it the more he felt that somehow,
in the showdown, the woman In the case would
yield that evidence. She must ba mada to give
it up. At two o'clock In the morning of aa)
.Continued on Pag five.)
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