| Show I The Drawn Brawn Episode Game Gm of the the w Schemes m s of y I I Colonel 11 1 Clay lay Copyright Cyb o BY 1907 GRANT by W WG ALLEN G Cha Chapman o The of ot August saw us as usual I at Seldon castle It Is part tempera of Charles harles c restless roving tempera temperament temperament ment rent that on the morning cf the wet or fine he must set out from Lon London LonIon London don Ion whether the house is js sitting or not In defiance of the most urgent three line whips and at dawn on the he hl must be at work on his hla moors shooting down the young birds with might and main at the earliest possible possible possible ble legal moment He goes on like Saul slaying his thousands or like David his tens of thousands with all the guns in the house to help him till the keepers warn him he has killed as many grouse its they consider desirable and then hav having havIng having ing done dono his bis duty as he thinks In this respect he be retires precipitately with flying colors to Brighton NIco Monte MonteCarlo MonteCarlo Carlo or elsewhere Ho He must be ba alway al always alays ways way ays s n on the tho trek when he is burled buried I believe he will not be able abl to rest quiet In his grave his ghost will walk the world to terrify old ladles At Seldon at least he said to me with a sigh as he stepped Into his Pullman I 1 shall be bo safe from that Impostor And indeed as soon as he had begun to tire a little of counting up his hun hundreds hundreds hundreds of brace per diem ne re found a trifling piece of financial work wore cut ready to Ills his J s hand which amply dis distracted distracted distracted his mind for fr f r the moment from Colonel Clay his accomplices and an his villainies Sir Charles I ought to say had hod se secured secured secured cured during that summer a very ery ad advantageous advantageous advantageous option in a part of Africa on the Transvaal frontier rumored to tobe tobe tobe be auriferous Now whether It was auriferous or not before the mere fact that Charles had secured some claim claimon cl lm on It t naturally made It so for no man had ever e er the genuine Midas touch to toa toa a 8 greater degree than Charles Van Von rift drift whatever ho be handles turns at once onca to gold If 1 not to diamonds Therefore soon as my had obtained this option from the na native native native tive vendor a most respected chief by name and promoted a company of his own to develop It his great rival In n that region Lord Craig CraigEllachie formerly Sir Sin r David avld Alexan Alexander Alexander Alexander der Granton Immediately secured a similar option of ot an adjacent track the larger part of which had bad pretty much the same Rame geological geol conditions as that covered by Sir Charles right of ot preemption We were not wholly disappointed as asIt asIt asIt It turned out in the result A month or two later while we were still at Sel Seldon Seldon Seldon don we received a long and encouraging ing letter from our prospectors on the spot who had been hunting over the ground In n search of gold reefs They reported that they had found a good auriferous vein In a corner of the tract approachable by but unfortunately only a few yards of ot the lode lay within the limits of Sir Charles area The remainder ran on at once into what was locally known as section However our out prospectors had been canny they said though young Mr Granton was prospecting JJ at the same time in the selfsame ridge not very far from them his miners had failed to discover the auriferous quartz so EO our men had held their tongues about It U wisely leaving It for tor Charles to gov govern govern govern ern himself accordingly Can you dispute the boundary I asked Impossible Charles answered You see iee the limit IB s a meridian of ot longi ture Theres no getting over oyer that Cant ant pretend to deny It No buying over the tie sun I No bribing the instruments instruments Instruments ments Besides we drew the line our ourselves ourselves ourselves selves Weve only one way out of It Boy Soy Amalgamate Amal te Amalgamate Charles is s a marvelous man The very cry voice in which he murmured that blessed word amalgamate was in It ft Itself Itself self a aC poem Capitals C I answered Say nothing about it and join forces with Craig CraigEllachie Charles closed one eye pen pensively That very same came evening came a telI tel telegram I in hi cipher from our chief engi engineer engineer engineer neer on the territory of or the option Young Granton has hIlS somehow Driven ven venus us the slip and gone home We sus suspect suspect he knows all aU But we have not divulged the secret to anybody Seymour my said impressively there is no time to be lost I must write this evening to Sir David DavidI I mean to my lord Do you happen to know where he Is stopping at the present The Morning Post announced two or three days ago that he was at Glen I answered Then Ill ask him to come over and thrash the matter out with me my went on A very rich reef reet they say sa I must have my finger in It We adjourned into the study where Sir Charles drafted I must admit a most judicious letter to the rival capitalist cap capitalist capItalist Ho He pointed 1 out that the min mineral mineral eral resources of the country were wore probably great but as yet uncertain That the expense of crushing and mill millIng millIng milling Ing might be almost prohibitive That access to fuel was costly and its con conveyance conveyance conveyance difficult That water was scarce and cowman c man fed d by our section That two rival comI nice If they hap bap happened happened to hit upon ore might cut ut one anthers throats by b erecting two tits sets I of furnaces or pumping plants and bringing two separate streams to the spot where one would answer In short to employ the golden word that amalgamation might prove tetter letter in the end than competition and that lie he advised at least a conference on the subject I wrote It out fair fall for him and Sir Charles with the air of ot a Cromwell signed It This Is s important Sey he rte said It had better be registered for tor fear tear of falling Into improper hands Dont give ghe it to Dobson let take it over overto overto overto to Fowlie in the tho dog cart It is the drawback of Seldon that we weare weare weare are twelve miles from a railway sta station station station tion though we look out on one of loveliest firths in Scotland took it as directed an In Invaluable invaluable invaluable valuable servant that girl Irl Meanwhile we learned from the Morning Post next day that young Mr Granton had stolen a march upon us He had ar arrived arrived rived from Africa by the sar same m e mall mail with our agents letter ietter and had hM joined Bis liis 1 s father at once at Two days later we received a most polite reply from the opposing interest It ran alter arter this fashion CraigEllachie Lodge GlenElla chic Dear Sir Charles Thanks for yours of the In reply I can only say I fully reciprocate reciprocate reciprocate cate your amiable desire that nothing adverse to either of our companies j Lit Lii i t I 1 I should happen In South Africa JUrica With regard to your suggestion that we should meet in person erBon to discuss the basis of ot a possible amalgamation I can only say my house Is at present fun full of guests as Is doubtless your own and andI I should therefore find It practically Impossible to leave For Fortunately Fortunately however my son David Is Ia Isnow isnow now at home on ona a brief holiday holl from Kimberley and it will give him great groat pleasure to come como over and hear what you have to say in favor of an arr ment which certainly on some grounds seems to me ma desirable In the Interests of ot both our concessions alike He will arrive tomorrow afternoon at Seldon and he Is authorized In every respect to negotiate with w th full tull powers on behalf of myself and the other directors With kindest regards to your wife and sons I remain dear Sir Charles yours faithfully 1 J Cunning old fox Sir Charles ex exclaimed exclaimed exclaimed claimed with a sniff he be up to now I wonder Seems almost as anxious to amalgamate as we our ourselves ourselves ourselves selves are Soy Sey A sudden thought struck him Do you know he cried looking up I really believe the same thing must have happened to both our exploring parties They must have have found a reef that goes under our ground and the tho wicked old rascal wants to cheat us out of it IU As we want to cheat him I ven ventured ventured ventured to interpose Charles looked at me fixedly Well if so were both In luck he murmur murmured ed after a pause though we can only get to know the whereabouts of their find by joining hands with them and showing them ours Still its good business either way But I shall be cautious cautious 1 What a nuisance Amelia cried I when we wo told her of the incident I suppose I shall have to put the man j jup I I up for tor the night nighta a nasty raw boned half baked Scotchman you may be br j certain I On Wednesday afternoon about 3 j I jyoung young oung Granton arrived He was a at t j pleasant featured red haired sandy j i whiskered youth not unlike his father but sut strange to say he dropped in to call instead of bringing his luggage Why Vh youre not going back to tonight surely i Charles exclaimed in amazement Lady will be so 80 disappoint disappointed ed Besides this business cant be ar I ranted ranged between two trains do you think Mr Granton Young Granton smiled He Hc had Rn an agreeable smile canny yet open j i jOh Oh no he said frankly I 1 j I mean to go back Ive Ie put up at the I inn I have my wife wl with me you know and I invited I Amelia was of opinion when we told her this episode that David Granton Grant n stop at Seldon because h lit was an honorable Isabel was of opinIon opinIon opinion Ion he stop because became he had married an young wom worn woman i ian an an somewhere out in South Africa i iCharles Charles Chartee was of opinion that th t as i t of ot the hostile interest he put up at t the inn because b cause it might tie his 1115 hands In some way to be the guest of I the chairman of the rival rhal company And I was of opinion that he had I heard of the castle and knew it well by report as the dullest country house I Ito to stay at In Scotland However that may be young Gran Granton Granton j ton Insisted on remaining ng at the Cro Cromarty Cromarty CroMarty marty Arms though he told us hk hl wife would be delighted to receive r 1 call from Lady and nd Mrs Wentworth So we all returned witt with him to bring the Hon Mrs Granton up to tea at the castle She was I a nice little thing very sh shand shand shand and timid and by b no means able and an evident lady She gig giggled giggled at the end of every sentence and andi she was endowed with a slight squint which somehow seemed to point all her feeble sallies She knew little outside South Africa but of that she talked prettily and nd she won all our hearts In spite spit of the cast In to her eye by her unaffected simplicity Next morning Charles and I had a regular debate with young Granton about the rival options Our talk was of cyanide J processes pennyweights But it dawned upon us soon that in spite of his red hair and his Innocent manners our friend the tho Hon David Granton knew a thing or two Gradually and arid gracefully he let us see that Lord had sent him for the benefit of ot the company but that he had come for tor the benefit of the Hon David Granton Im a younger son Sir Charles he be said and therefore I have to feather my nest for myself I know the ground My father will be guided Implicitly by what I advise in the matter We are men of the world Now lets be busi busl businesslike businesslike You want to amalgamate You do that of course co If it you know of something to the ad advantage advantage advantage vantage of my m fathers company say saya a lode on our land which you hope to secure for yourself by b amalgamation Very well I can mako make or mar your project If It you choose to render it worth my while Ill Induce my father and his directors to amalgamate If It you dont I wont v nt the Ion ton and th the tha short of It Charles looked at hire admiringly Young man he said youre deep very vet deep for your age Is this can candor dor or deception Do you mean what you say Or do you OU know some rea reason reason reason son why it suits your fathers book to amalgamate as well as It suits mine mins And are you trying to keep It from me He fingered his chin If It ItI I only knew that he went I should know how to deal with you Young Granton smiled again Youre a financier Sir Charles he answered answer i I wonder at your time Ume of life you O should pause Dause to ask another financier whether hes trying to fill till his own pocket or his fathers Whatever is my fathers goes to his eldest son and I am his youngest You Yo are right as to general principles principles principles ples Of Sir Charles Charls replied quite affectionately affectionately affectionately Most sound and sensible But how do I know you bar bargained bargained gained d already alread In the same way with your father f ther You may have settled with him and be trying to t diddle me meThe meThe meThe The young man assumed a most can candid candid candid did air Look here he said leaning for forward forward forward ward I 1 offer you this chance Take it or leave lt ave it Do you wish to pur vur purchase purchase chase my aid for this amalgamation by bya a moderate commission on the net value of my fathers option to your yourself self I know approximately Say 5 per cent I suggested In iff a IL ILten tentative ten voice just to justify my presence He looked me through and through Ten Tm Tot is more usual he answered b in u a peculiar tune tone and with u a peculiar l glance Great heavens how I winced 1 I knew what his words meant They were the th very words I had said myself to Colonel Clay Cla as the Count von Leb Lebenstein Lebenstein enstein about the of the schloss and In the very same me ac accent accent accent cent I saw SIL through it all now That beastly cheque This was Colonel Clay and he was trying to buy my silence and assistance by b the threat of exposure My blood ran cold I d know how tf te answer him What happened at the rest of that Interview I really tell you My lIy brain reeled round I heard Just faint echoes of ot fuel and reduction works What on earth was I to do If I tol Charles my suspicion for it was only a suspicion the fellow tellow might turn up upon upon upon on me and disclose the cheque which would suffice to ruin me If I I ran a v risk of ot being considered by Charles xan an accomplice and a confederate ate The interview was long I J hardly know how I struggled through it t At Atthe Atthe Atthe the end young Granton went off well satisfied If it was young Granton and Amelia invited him and his wife up to dinner at the castle Whatever else they were they were capital company They stopped for tor three days das more at the Cromarty I Arms And Charles debated and dis discussed discussed cussed incessantly He Quite make up his mind hind what to do io p In to the affair and I certainly help him I never was placed in n such a fix fixIn fixin In tn my life me I did my best to preserve a strict neutrality Young Granton it turned out was a most agreeable person and so in her herway herway herway way was that timid unpretending South African ah wife of his She was naively surprised Amelia had never met i her mamma at Durban They both talked delightfully and had haa lots lotsof lotsof lotsof of good stories mostly with points that told against the CraigEllachie people Moreover the Honorable Da David David David vid was wasa a n splendid swimmer He went out in a boat with us and dived Uke like a aseaL aseaL aseal seaL He was burning to t teach Charles and myself to swim when we told him we could neither of us take t ke a single stroke he said it was an |
