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Show r r -r. . grrt tt' XTp " ITJI TV "T7 x1 XV' 1i7 S v' ' iimhhiiiihiihiiiiiihiiiiuhihiiminiiiiihiiiiiiiii I 'il (fxi II Tf1 , Yl 7 II IF ' By REX BEACH y 1 If II II Al II IIU.' II " II II " II II II II' r l ' "C ' PTrl.ht 113 by Bex IKavch. Prints by U- ! l i v Jy Y.V II vl vv vv TL vL Jy ll7! II )) - kpJ LO .. w'-m-"tBrA,,,,c.,M1;.r?i, ( ', J -M p-r , y . st. a J Vc"Low , " b2- y tii-il w w . iniiinniiiiiniinniiinmiiiinniniiniimiinHin of joking, chatting, making prtty iPMtliM t en an angel! That waa going pom. Tha rail ot It I Aftr a while, wbn tha two man wra oi tha street again. Buddy Inquired; In-quired; "Waa la that young lady? I mean Oiw name?" - Gray told him. than with a friendly friend-ly twinkle: -Well, sneak out! What do you think ot her?" "Oh fit!" Buddy cried, breath, laaaly. whereupon bla companion laughed In perfect satisfaction, CHAPTER XXVIII. r A Bank Changaa Hand. ' . i Two caller war awaiting Gray when. - lata that afternoon, ha motrhted tha ataira to bla office Tons rarker and Judg Halloran and omthlng In thalr formal, awkward creatine aent a quick chill of alarm through htm. Tha two old man were talking, ona lamely upplmntlng tha othara afforta to lead up to tba object ob-ject of thalr vllt. Oray turnad a aet face to Tom Parker finally, and 'a BET. IX IFII TODAY ' Oafvle Uray le the eeemjr of Oloejel Honry Neleon of Denes. Oray Is In lv- win, Barbara Parker, who bore Una for Ffeleon. Orer le frtedlyswMh the Rrukow family. Bad. the sea, lies chores of his fnlbere oil wella Allle. Uie daughter, le enendteg e few days t. with her brother- While watching operations oper-ations et the all fields. Orer Is tn-. tn-. . Jured and Allle aaraes Mm. A Beevy rainfall swells ths watere sarrossdlng the cabin whore All's le oaring for Oray. Tbe water le thloky eoeted with ell from bsretlng tanks Bud goes to bring a doctor te admin later te Orer. HOW GO ON WITH TUB ITOBT. Gray laid at rone; hold of hlmaelf. hlm-aelf. hut it la not easy to subdue - thought, and ha could feal those - atrong. smooth, velvet irmi encircling encir-cling him. Disorder without and chaos within tha house 1 - Tha heaven rumbled Ilka a mighty drumhead, tha lightning mad useless use-less tha faabla ray In hla hand. It waa tha place, tha hour of Impulse. Oray swore aarageiy at himself. - then be atumblad into Ma room and dreesed htmeelf mora fully. "Wall, there doesn't aeem to be ' much change.' ha said, cheerfully. . aa he opened AIMe'g door awhile later. "The fire don't aeem to be apreedlng." She waa atttlng wham try had a mora aolld etaadlng aor mora powerful names upon Ite directorate. Bennett Swope, for Instance.' waa the rlcbeat of tha big. cattle barons; Martin Murphy waa known aa tha Arkansas hardwood hard-wood king, and Herman Gage owned and operated a chain at department stores. The other two there were but aeren. Including Bell and hla eon were northern capitalists who took no vary active ac-tive Interest In the bank and al. moat never attended Ha meetings, for that matter, tbe three local men above named concerned themselves them-selves little with the actual running run-ning of the Institution, for tbe Nelaona, who owned nine-tenths of the atock, were auprame In that sphere. It waa only at the annual meetings when direr-tors were reelected re-elected and Invariably they aue-eeeded aue-eeeded Ihsmaelvee that they fu.e-gm fu.e-gm the red. to conduct the dull routine rou-tine easiness which la a part of all annual meeting. , Jn aplte ef tha fact that the program pro-gram thle year waa as thoroughly rut and dried aa usual, the day of the meeting found both father and eon decidedly nervous, for there were certain queetlone of management manage-ment and of policy which they did not wish to touch upon, and their nervouenssa manifested itself In an assumption of frlendllneaa and good fellowship flulta unuttnal. Senator Lowe, tha bank's attorney attor-ney and secretary, waa arranging hla minute booka. hla re porta and hla miscellaneous papers, Martin Murphy waa telling hla lateat story, when a knock came at the door lo the direct ore' room. Bell himself answered It. but ble protest at the Interruption died upon hla Una when he beheld Calvin Oray, Gua Brlskow. and the latter aon, Oaark, facing him. 0ray apoke aharply. and hla words fell with the .effect of a bomb, at least ' upon Bell and Henry, for what he said waa: "We are attending thla meeting aa tockholdera. and wa came early to enable the secretary to record the necessary transfer . of our s hares. " Disregarding the president's gaap of astonishment, the speaker pushed paat him and entered, then Introduced himself and hla companions com-panions to the other men present. Henry Nelson experienced a elck moment of dtsxineee: the room' grew black before hla eyee. It was Bell who broke out, harshly: "Stockholder? Where did you get any atockeKn thla bank, I'd Ilka to know" "so where should I turn, except to my frtendo? I assume you make no objection to the atock transfer? Very welf He drew trogn hla pocket a bundle of shares and tossed them acroaa tha labia to Senator Lowe. ' Henry made hie way to hla fa ther'g side; they withdrew to a corner cor-ner and bent (heir -heade togelher. murmuring Inaudible. Oray watched them with unblinking Intensity; he r.odded to Buddy Brlskow. and the latter, aa- if heading some prearranged pre-arranged signal, removed his hands from hla pocket and etepped farther far-ther Into the room. He. ton, watched the agitated pair. "Why look here!" tt secretary gaaped, after a moment or two. "Thle thle glvea you control!" Bell Nelson raised a etrtcken face. "Control V he repeated, faintly. "Conuuir He atrode to tha end of tha table, and with shaking hands he ran through tha aheaf of neatly folded certtflcatea "Seed out, by Oodl" He fell to cursing certain men, the name of whom caussd Swop and Murphy and j Uage to prick up their ears. (Jray waa atlll atarlng at the Junior Jun-ior Nelson r H waa to htm more I than to tha father he apoke: "Sold out I right! It came high, but I think it was worth the price. We Intend to vote our atock." "By that I Infer that you're going to take the bank over take Its msnaeemenr awaf" from-Belt-nd Henry r Bsnnett Swope ventured. "Naturally.", The elder Nelson voiced an unintelligible un-intelligible exclamation. "That's a pretty rough deal. Bell has put hla Ufa Into It. It la an an Institution, a credit to the community. com-munity. It would be a misfortune if It ' fell Into tha hands of Into the control of somebody who" Tha ranchman hesitated. then blurted forth angrily: "Well. I don't Hke the look of this thing. 1 want to know what It means?" "I'll tell you." Henry cried un evenly. "I'll tell you what It meana. ' Pereecutlon! Revenge! Hatred I I quarreled with thlsmsn In France. He'a vindictive: he followed ma here tried every way to ruin roe- -coat me - thousands, hundreds of thouaanda of dollara Father and I were wa were pinched. We had to realise some quick money to protect our oil holdings offsets and the like and we sold a lot of our atock with the underatandtng that wa could that we would buy It back at a higher figure. We only borrowed on It, you might say hypothecated It. Wo thought we were dealing with Mends, but -Friends' My God!" The speaker aelxed his head. director seated thmselrea. Oray thanked them with a bow. "I'll be aa brief aa possible, and if you don't mind, I'll stund aa I talk. I'm In no mood to i l '. I'll have to go back a bit" It waa aeveral second- before be reaiin.eU- "Whc i it became evMent that the United Hta:ee ana gol u to war. I managej to get In at I'Uttaburg and-took and-took lb oini.ia' training course. It was easy fr rr to compile thit coutse. Uisjsip I had atrv.-a in tha Spanish w:r t.nd had tretH up my Interest In military affair. Something Some-thing convinced those rlio ougn. to know that I possessed qualification of unusual value to the country a wide busineee experietee at home and abroad, a knowleOite of language lan-guage perhape anyhow, I waa called to Washington. Thero t met Henry Nelson a valuable man too. in hla way. We were commissioned at the same time and sent oversea on th same ship to cng'ige in th same work military IntellKence. I didn't like the Job. but It waa con ldered important and naturally I couldn't pick and ch.wee. Of course It wa secret, oonflilem.al work. No" need of going Into that here. "Nelson and my d'uic were Identical, our authority was equal; we were ordered to woik han-1 lit hand, and although wa were coin-missioned coin-missioned together, trchrlcMlly he outranked ma owing to the tart ih.iy he waa given Ms mmmii.m a mov ment before 1 got mino. - "When we arrived ' In Franc t tackled my Job with all the energy In me; 1 tried for. results. Nelson I discovered In time, waa concerned only In taking entire credit for all that he and I and the whole jn-laatlon jn-laatlon under ue arcomplishel and In advancing himself. I worked, h played politics. "I rebelled. I had to. or bo m id rldleuloue. I warned him, privately a man to man. He lanored th warning. Then I prepared a complete com-plete report, showing by t"ie copies of hi order, by the records of our reepectlve accompllshmcntr, by our correspondence, how he liat! systematically system-atically and maliciously eneenvored to nullify by work and and th Ilka. It waa not a pretty report to read. I turned It In to him for aub-miaalon aub-miaalon higher up. "Then It waa that he oulgeneraK-4 m. H was furious, of course, but he apologised abjectly. He admitted ad-mitted that he had -been wrong; (hat he had Imposed upon me. He promised prom-ised to play fair If I'd permit him to withhold the report, and I waa deceived. de-ceived. - "for a while we worked In harmony. har-mony. I became engaged In an intricate in-tricate caae, having to do with a leak concerning transport salllnaa H took lore to restrain him' from 9'"' n a you seem to think." th boy aid, doubtfully. Oray smiled. "Toti hava fl-tmmen ansa, at least, and that's nm-thing nm-thing you can't get In school. Men wear smooth from contact with on another, and It la time you got In touch with eemelhlng bigger then mere drilling. .If you're willing. I'll take you to Wichita Kail wtln me." "Willing?" Buddy eye eparkled. Guiltily he confessed; "It a been pretty lonesome out her with the scorpions. But I wanted to show you I could make good." News of the damage wrought bv tha recent storm waa naturally of grave concern to Henry Nelson, but owing to the fact that llnea were down, about hi only source of Information, In-formation, during th daya Immediately Imme-diately following It, waa the press report. Ha waa reading tlie Dallas paper with Interest one morning when hi attention was arr-slcd by th nam of Calvin Oray. Now Orev's ttam In print affected the banker a, moat a disagreeably aa did a sight of th man himrelf. theref'-re It wa with Intense resentment re-sentment that he read the article In which It appeared. It was a vividly written account of the former's experience) ex-perience) daring the flood, l td. due no doubt to Oray'a personal touch. It read a good deal like fiction. The next time Tom Parker earr.e Into the hank Henry called him lnta hla prlval offic and hal a talk with him Old Tom listened silently: never- interrupted By aaying: "Permit ma to ease your embarrassment, embar-rassment, air. You object to my attentions at-tentions to your daughter, la that It?" Tom dropped hla eyea and mumbled an uncomfortable affirmative. affir-mative. "Not, I hope, becauee you queetlon the nature of my Intentions?" Inten-tions?" 'dSu-.y'yes ana no lo that." HaT Vn-sn declared, argumentatlvely. "Tom and I are gentlemen of the old school; we live by the code and 'Bob' le our Joint property. In a way. Any man who aspires to the honor of well, of even paying attentlona to that girl must stand th acid teat. There must b no blot upon his 'scutcheon." . I "Ton Imply, then, that there I a blot upon rnln?" Tom Parker stirred: Irritably he broke out, "I'm damned if ,1 think you did It!" "Did whatr Tom remained silent, but when hi companion drew a deep, preparatory pre-paratory breath, Oray lifted a hand. H roee nervously and In a changed tone continued: "Again let m apeak for you and shorten our mutual dletreaa. Flrat, however, I must make my own position posi-tion plain, I love your daughter, Mr. Parker."- The declaration came at great cost, th apeaker turned away to hide hi emotion. "I think I hop h la not Indifferent to me. I would give my life to marry her and, Ood willing, I ahalL So much for that." He swung himself about and met the eye of flrat one old man, then the other. Harshly, defiantly, ha added: "Understand "I'll tell yew' what It means. Perse-. Perse-. autionl Rvn0lN "W bought' It. Picked It up here and there " "I don't believe It!" Hell glared at the speaker, then he turned hie eyee npon Swope, upon Muephy. upon Oag pltt ny-"ofyoo n out?" "W don't own enough to mk It worth while" Swop said, dryly. Murphy and Gag agreed. Bell' peculiar display of emotion aur-priaed aur-priaed - theni; they exchanged glancea. "I thought there wasn't any stock outride of what owned ! by our group. 'What's th Idea?" I Oray anawered. eaally. "There la now a conalderable amount out-aide out-aide of that. A very conalderable amount." , . . ' Henry Nelson made hlmaelf audible aud-ible for the flrat time, and sneered angrily. "Quite theatric. Oray, this eleventh-hour move. How much hava you got? What' your your object?" In aplte of hlmaelf his voice shook. "My object ia purely selfish." Oray'a tone waa equally unpleasant. unpleas-ant. He had expected to create a sensation, and he waa not disappointed. disap-pointed. "Mr. Brlskow and hla son are looking for a secure Investment, Invest-ment, and I hava convinced them of. the aoundeaa ot your Institution. My operations make It necessary for me to establish a close banking affiliation ona where I can ask for and receive consideration" his mockery waa new unmistakable "Ysu abject te my attention to your daughter, la that HI" ' me, nothing you can do, nothing on earth nothing la heaven or In hell, tor that matter will stop m from telling her about my love, when th time come. Now then. Henry Nel- ffOft tlKV tWll I'itwat t wteaewpp" "tllMt I wa nt back from overseas In disgrace. dis-grace. Ton want to know it he spok th truth. H did!" After a moment of alienee Judge Halloran said, with stiff finality: "Under the clreumetance there la nothing more to talk about. Tou amass m whea you say " "Perhaps you'll understand when I say that I propose to clear myself." my-self." "How? When?" , 1 "Soon. I hope." "And In the meantime?" Oray considered this question briefly. "In th meantime If you will agree to aay nothing to 'Bob.' I will promise not to declare ray feelings, not to see her alone." - -That' a go," eald th father. Without further ado, the twe men left. Tbe Nelsons' bank was known aa the Security National, and It represented rep-resented the life work ot two generation gen-eration of tha family. Bell's father had founded It. in the early cattle daya but to th geniu and induatry of Bell himself had been due Its growth Into one of th In-fleentlal In-fleentlal Institution of th state. Other banka had finer quarter, but none In this part of -the coun- ne bad left her, aha had not moved. "Anything new on thla aide?" Allle shrugged; slowly sha turned, exposing a face tragic and stony-"I stony-"I guee you don't think much of me," ehe eald. -'"- Tndeear" - h-"cTrWT.'heartrr. "Thla 1 enough to frighten anybody. any-body. I don't mind saying It haa upset ma But the worst la over.- - He laid a reaseurlng hand upon her fthoulder. CHAPTER XXVII. Introduced te a Lady, Buddy Brlskow had difficulty In getting out of th' valley on his way for a doctor, for never had the roe. da been like thla He drove recklessly: where necessary he dla-regarded dla-regarded fences and puahed acriMU paat urea that were hub deep; he even buret through eccailonal thicket In defiance of axle and tire. He drewned hla motor finally final-ly In fording a roily stream and abandoned the car. He came Into Banger that afternoon after-noon on th back of a truck horse that ha had borrowed without the ewner'a consent. For a time It eemed that If h got a doctor at all ha would have to follow a similar simi-lar procedure, but the Brlskow name waa powerful, and Buddy talked In big figures, so eventually - he set out -on the return Journey thl tlm In a prlngleee freight wagon drawn by the atouteet team in town. A medical man wa on and routes a matter Involving the live of thousands of our boys million mil-lion of dollara In supplies, and-I went to Brest, under cover. It h.fli to be handled with extreme care- some danger about It, tro. A very Interesting rasa, I assure you. I lived in a houss with some of tha people under surveillance. One of them waa a woman, extremely attractive at-tractive thoroughly unscrupulous. My avenue of approach waa through her. Neleon, of course, knew what I waa doing; he waa about the only on who did. - (Continued next Sunday.) - i y tn seat pesin-e nim. - It waa after midnight whea Buddy and hla miserable companion compan-ion gained the comparatively eaay " going of the last ridge, that flinty range beyond which lay th Brla-kow Brla-kow farm. Buddy stopped at a drilling camp whore iighte showed the occupants oc-cupants to be astir, and there he received confirmation of hi fears. Th flat beyond were Inundated to a depth rendering travel lte posalbie. and altheugh aoma of the men ststloned out there had man-ared man-ared to work their way back, other were, for th tlm being, - hopelessly cut off. "I guess I can swim. If t try. Feller can do 'most anything If he haa to. How about you. Dee?" Buddy turned to hi traveling companion. com-panion. The latter shook hi heed positively, posi-tively, "Tou'r eraay, Brlskow. Wed probably drown. If we didn't, we'd be burned ally when that loose oil catenae fire." , Buddy cursed furiously and lurched towsrd the door. It took force to restrain him from going. The rain ceased with the paaslng ef the electrical storm, but the lale hours of the night were thick and the fires continued to bum. It seemed aa , If morning would never come. With the first light Buddy mounted one of his horsea and, regardless of admonltlona, aet out. In mile h had no great distance , to go; nevertheless. It waa midday before be came In sight of hi father's fa-ther's unpalnted farmhouse, and when he dismounted at the front porch he fell rather than walked through tha door. Even after he had been helped Into the kitchen and hla wet rlothee had been etrlpped from him, he could tell little about his trip, but hot food and drink theles. It wa plain that he wa deeply shocked. "I s'po-ie you alnt lvln'," h "aid. coldly, when the banker had finished. fin-ished. "If a matter ot record,, Tom. He can't dry It." "Whit we It he did?" ' " "Conine? unbecoming an officer and a gi-ntleman' la the way the record etanda. That covers n lot." "Did he welch ejult und-- fire?" "No.- ... f4teI something!" "No.-' . "Woman scrape ?" "There w a woman concerned. Pretty nasty mess. Tom. He' the ort of mat to Intrigue an- fonllsh woman. Women' can't se i far" In griat perturbation of -lrlt Tom cons iHed Judg Halloran-. - The Judge listened to him In astonishment: as-tonishment: angrily he cried: "To and I will go directly to tho scoundrel. scoun-drel. t.l him we are aware of hie mfamy. ar.d order him out of town. Ha! Thnt'e the'way tn go thiut It: rut deep and quickly. T. snJ feather e,rn too good for" "Trouble Is." Tom repea'ed. with a reluttont sigh. "I like him and I ain't sure r "The i.n.l.le I you'r a weakling!" weak-ling!" Tlxliorsn snapped. "You are a sentimentalist. Tou lack my stern, uncompromising moral fiber. Like blm? Pah! What haa that to do with It? I have no weakneas, no bowels of compassion. 1 am a Spartan. Spar-tan. I am " "Tou'r a damned old fool If you think you ran run him. He' liable to run you." If Calvin Oray' affair were In a precarious condition, be ehowel no eigne of It when ha returned to Wichita Falls. On the contrary, he was In an exultant mood, and even on the train young Brlskow, who accompanied him, waa amaxod at the change that had come over hU "Trie etock waa not hypothecated. Tou sold it," Oray ald, quietly, "and w bought ltln." "It I all a personal matter, a grudge." "I that true, Mr. Gray?" Swop Inquired, "Substantially. But Tm waiting for Colonel Neleon to tell you morei to tell you tha whole story of our antagonism." Martin Murphy, whs had been a allent onlooker up to fhle point, made himself heard. "Mr, Cray, I don't Ilka the look of thla any better bet-ter than Swope doea. Tou aay you paid high for your stock; do you Intend to wreck th Institution, loe a fortune" "I had ventured te hop that you three gentlemen would remain oa the board,' "He doean't want the bank," Henry Hen-ry Nelson exclaimed, hoarsely. "That's all a bluff. He wanta hla price. How much, Oray? What'll, It coat us?" "Oh, ther 1 a price for everything! every-thing! Mine will surprise you. however. It Is so low. Can't you gueee what It ia?" The speaker's Intsnt gaxe had never left Henry Nelaona fare; It waa fixed there now, as cold, aa relentles aa tbe etare of a python. Bell Nelson leaned forward, his Hps parted, a new eagerness came. Into hi purple countenance. "Well, well! What la It?" he demanded, queruously. "Vindication!" There waa a moment of silence. "What la he talking about, Henry Hen-ry r Bell', eyee were stralnsd toward hla aon, "I don't knew." th latter (aid. In a thin vole. "He cragy always waa," "I'm giving you a chance, Colonel. Colo-nel. You'd better take It. Think carefully." When there came no response to thla warning. Oray ahmgged. "Very well! There le nothing further, except t complete brought him around and then. Indeed, In-deed, hla atory was one that deeply touched the elder man. Already the water had ceased to rise, but Buddy'e difficulty In getting through proved the folly of attempting to escape for tha time being; hla horse had been forced to v ' , swim with him In mors than one place: In other he had waded waist deep, atumbllng through thickets, hauling the animal aller him by main atrength. There we nothing to do .It eeemed, but await a auhsldence of the flood. Then, too. the boy wa half dead for leep. Late that evening.1 after Allle had gone to bed. Orav had a long talk with hla young friend, during which he told him more about hla affair than he had made knwa even to RoawelL the banker. Buddy listened with the eloaeet attention. He drew a deep breath at last and aaid: "I knew you waa In deep, but I thought It waa Juet your way. Now I know It waa Nelson's crew that fired our gnawer " Oray continued the conversation. ' "Do you think your father would trust me? Do you think he'd go it u.lnd on my say eo?" -if he won't, I wllL . I got money. Sea Allle.- . Oray declined thl effer with a positive shake of the head. "It must appeal to him ea It mertta I wouiant permit you te go oonlrary to hi Judgment." "Jodgment? What's pi's Judgment Judg-ment worth? He knows U'l no good, in' so do we. Everybody tryln' to do hhm up hot you: you're the enly one he trueta An th aame here. There's mr bank roll yon can snoot the whole piece. I dont care If it never comes hack. Tryln to get you kiirtd! An' epcllin a we' I on me'" "Thank you. Buddy! Ton make me alow to tmet mv own Judgment. I I aeem to be developing a conscience. con-science. But I'm aura thla Is th tnmg to do. for y9t and your father as well ss for sne. People can't und at:H: they must go forward. ) ne V-mow tortun must grow or It e i crumble i c.-.o if w'v gut a much In friend, with every mil they traveled trav-eled Oray' buoyancy Increased and upon hia arrival he trod the street to hi office like a conqueror. Mc-Wade Mc-Wade and Stoner. who cam In for a conferenc with minds preoccupied preoccu-pied and face grave, left with a smile and a Jest. When they had gone Oray rose with relief end surprised Buddy by aaying: "That'a enough for , now, thank goodness! Bualneea la only one aide of life, my boy. Tou are going to make thla city your hdme. ee .you must begin by meeting the right people, the Influential people. Nlceat people In the world right here. Buddy; nicest plac In th world, tool" . Now to 4 youth who, tor month, had bean Immured In the ell fields. Wichita Falla did Indeed reaemhle a city of marveleu portent. Pavements, Pave-ments, large buildings, bright light, theatre Buddy waa thrilled. He prepared himself for Introduction to oil operators, te men of flnanoe it-ttng it-ttng In marble and mahogany offices: of-fices: he made ready to tp forth Into tha big world. Great waa hla astonishment therefore, when after a awlft walk Oray turned Into a tiny frame Insurance In-surance office en a side street. Funny plac lo look for people of Influence, Buddy Cogitated. A girl waa seated at a desk; she rose at sight of Oray, and her face broke Into a smile. Her greeting waa warm! her hand lingered In hia; for the moment neither of them eeemed to remember Buddy presence. pres-ence. When aha did hear hia name, however, her face lightened and she reve her band te him aa to an old friend. When aha amlled at him, aa she had amiled at hia companion. Buddy dropped hla hat. H had never eeen anyone In the laet like Ihla creature and she knew Allle! I he knew hla mother! He had missed her noma, but probably she owned that Da!laa department store, or was the mayor of Wichita Falla He had never before been o embarrassed. em-barrassed. Mr. Gray certainly was a wonderful wonder-ful man. HI pole, hi air of re-epectful re-epectful but eaay familiarity with this thla angel rained him immensely im-mensely ia Buddy ssieeoa. Think nee tieneirr ana proceed with tn business of the meeting. Mr. Brlskow Brls-kow will be th next prsldnt, and I shall occupy th position of vie prealdent and treaaurer, now held by you J The effect of thl drclatatlon was electric. With a cry th younger Nelson lunged forward. Confusion folio wsd. It waa of short duration, however, for Henry found himself locked In the arm of th Brlkkow giant. Oray continued: "I have something some-thing to aay to you gentlemen be. for we go on with the meeting and I wish to say it In the presence of Colonel Nelson and his " I "You'll not keep me here. I refuse to stay." Henry shouted a fid he pushed past Swop toward the door. "Walt!" It waa the eider Nelson apeaklng, and la hi vole was a new note a note of triumph. "Stack can't be transferred at an annual meeting. It ha to be done lb ad-vance ad-vance ten daya I think it la. Am I" right. Senator r "That la th usual procedure," Senator.Lowe agreed. "Then there won't he any meeting!" meet-ing!" Bell loudly declared. "I think we'd better goV someone said. "Thla I too extraordinary We're la no tram ef mind te go ahead" "I must Insist that you remain long enough to hear m out You have n rtyht te refuse. Thar la something you muat he told." T'U tdrn't I tn tuiioua to know what th devil It aU mean. Murphy, Mur-phy, th lumberman, con 'o-ood; -but I don't know that I ahould accept an explanation ft una you. Not after Henry'a accusations. I've known him and Bell for year ' "I reap t your friendship for them, nd I har.'t expect you to put trust In my wo.- la. It eeenie to mej however, that yod owe it to that frteodahlp to heJLT me. Thla Incident Inci-dent haa taken a turn wholly- unexpected, unex-pected, and I muat oonfesa. disappointing. disap-pointing. I looked for a different outcome hoped to be abl to fore aa applanation' " ' The epeeker ahook hie head and frowned again, perplexed'y. w heel after a moment ia Indecisive murmuring, th Uure ' |
