OCR Text |
Show U i i npnw w i i i ' " ' Eg. puMMMMMMMWWWIMIW 1H " 1 JJSl' 1 WEBSTER-MAN'S MAN BBbB K IM Author of "Cappy Rkk," The Valley of the Giante," Etc Ccpyrtt by PtW B. Kyaa 1 J MAN'S MAN BUT HE REFORMS. Presently a pink'jowled, well curried, flashily dressed big man, of about Webster's age, passed in the corridor, going toward the head of the train. An instant later a woman's voice said very nannr ft'ntffy! BflflU "I do not know you, sir; I do not wish to know you, and it is Br loathsome of you to persist in addressing me. If you da not stop Wmf your annoying attentions, I shall call the conductor." gJMg "Ah I Beauty in distress," John Stuart Webster soliloquised. I " look so much like an Angora goat I might as well bull in." lie stepped to the door of his stateroom. A girl stood in the vestibule, confronting the man who had just passed Webster's door. Webster bowed, "lladame, or mademoiselle, as the case may be," he said, "unlike "un-like this other male biped, my sole purpose in presuming to address you is to suggest that there is not the slightest necessity for taking this matter up with the conductor. I am here and very much at your service" The girl turned and John Stuart Webster's heart flopped twice in rapid succession, like a trout nucly grassed. She was as lovely as a royal flush. Her starry glance began at his miner's boots, traveled up his old soiled, whipcord trousers, over his light blue chambray shirt and found the m-tn behind the whiskers. She favored him with a quick, curious scrutiny and a grave, sweet smile. "Thank 11 you so much, sir," she answered, and passed down the corridor to the Bff observation car. B Wall, that' tho way they mat. Webstar was Just coming oat Bj of Daath Valley. He'd made his pile, out bo looked like a hobo. He I was dreaming; of happiness unending batbi, silk pajaraai and un- Bf: limited ham and egg. Thirty-nine, be'a alway bees shy of the B girl. Then he meets her and bis romance begins. U 1 In Denver be turns down a $2S,000-a-yoar job as a consulting R engineer to answer a call of adventure from an old pal who has 3 struck pay dirt in Central America. And when he gets there behold, 1 the girl of the train Is there alio. And right off quick there is a Kg revolution on, with Webster and the girl in the thick of it. Follows B some gorgeous fighting and thrilling adventure and everything. K Ob, yes "Webstsi Man's Man" is by Peter B. Kyne. That's enough. He's tbo originator of Cappy Ricks, you know, and be wrote B "The Valley of the Cants." And he's as confirmed a globe-trotter I as Jack London ever was and uses bis local color with equal ability. i Incidentally, he's considerable of a roan's man himself he is a veteran 9. of the Philippine scrap and in tho Great War be won his double HI , shoulder bars at the fighting front. I CHAPTER I. When John Stuart Webster, mining engineer and klckcr-up-of-dust on dls-tnnt dls-tnnt trails, flagged tho S. P L. A. & 8. L. Limited at a blistered board station sta-tion In Dcuth valley, California, ho lmil definitely resolved to do certain thing. To begin, ho would Invado tho dining car nt tho first call to dinner nd order approximately twenty dol-In dol-In re worth of luitn and eggs, which provender Is, dk nil who know will certify, tho plnnnclo of eplcureun delight de-light to an old sour-dough coming out H tho wilderness with u healthy bankroll bank-roll and n healthier appetite. Following tho ham and eggs, Mr. Webster planned to saturate himself from soul to vermiform appendix with nicotine, which ho purposed obtulnlng from tobacco with nicotine In It. It was n week Blnco bo had smoked anything any-thing with nn odor even remotely tlko tobacco, for tho August tempcrnturo In Death valley Is no respecter of moist-tiro moist-tiro In any man or bis tobacco. Upon arrival In Salt Lake City his spree would rcuHy begin. Webster designed chartering a taxtcub and proceeding forthwith to n hotel where ho would engage a sunny room with n buth, fill tho bathtub, climb blithely In and soak for two hours at least, for It was nearly near-ly eight months since ho had had a regular bath and ho purposed making tho most of his opportunity. His long-drawn long-drawn ablutions ul length over, ho would don a silken dressing gown and ' slippers, order up n barber and pro ceed to part with enough hair and whiskers to upholster an automobile, and upon the completion of his ton-sorlal ton-sorlal adventures ho would encase his ; person lu a suit of mauve-colorcd silk pajamas, climb Into bed and stay thcro for forty eight hours, merely waking wak-ing long enough to take another bath, ' order up periodical consignments of ham and eggs, and Incidentally, make , certain that a friendly side-winder or " rhuckwallu hadn't crawled tinder tho blanket with 1:1m. j So much for John Stuart Webster's '"' plans. Now for tho gentleman himself. No one not even tho Pullman porter, shrewd Judgo of mankind that he wuh could Imvo discerned In tho chrysalis that flagged the Limited the butterfly jr of fashion that was to be. As tho jjL ebony George raised tho vestibule pint- m , form, opened tho car door and looked IBt i out, ho had no confidence l.t tho lean, OK' i uiybakcd big man standing by tlio tV m train. Plainly tho fellow nwih not it fwte'"' m rHt,c,aSfl passenger but a wunderlng mut ; prospector, for ho was dog-dirty, a ruin KpS of raga and hnlry us a tarantula. Tho fy-. . only clean thing about him was n Kr heuvy-callberod automatic pistol of tho W , army type, swinging nt his hip. , t, ., "Day coach an' tourist up lu front,!-' m: tfo kulglit of the whlskbroom an wfc - rounccd In disapproving tones, and E; ifrirted to close down tho platform. m "So I perceived," John Stuart, Web- W cier replied blandl. "I also pb'served I lliat you failed to employ tho title 1 'Hr when addressing a wltlto man. Sagttfc, Unit that platform back and hop out WSBgll liicro with your little stool, you saddlo-BvBflBj saddlo-BvBflBj colored sou of Scnogambja, or I'll BBBW fosko you a hard porter to catch," HBflr . "Xaasali, yatsalil" the Dorter iput- sakasaasfaWa fr iL.i.:l.h- .ev - - ikuasv 181 w tcred, and obeyed Instantly. Mr. Webster Web-ster handed him a disreputable-looking suitcase 'nnd stepped aboard In state, only to be Infonned trait there wasn't n vacant first-class berth on the train. "Yes, I know I'm dirty," tho latn nr-rival nr-rival nnnounced cheerfully, "but still, as Hobby Hums onco remarked, 'a man's a man for u' that' and I'm not unsanitary," "I'm very sorry," the conductor replied re-plied perfunctorily and endeavored to pass on, but Webster secured a Ann grip on Ills lapel and frustrated tho escape. es-cape. "You're not sorry," tho ragged wanderer wan-derer declared, "not one little bit. You'ro only apprehensive. However, you needn't be. Thcro Is no wild life un me, brother, I nssuro you." "Hut I tell you, the train Is full up. You'll have to roost In the day coach or tne tourist. I'm very sorry "Nevertheless, despite your deep grief, something tells me you'ro spooling, so whllo I must, of necessity, nccept your suggestion, said acceptance will bo but temporary. In about two hours, young fellow, you're going to mako tho alarm-Ing alarm-Ing discovery that you have bats In your belfry," And with a whiskery grin which, under tho clrcumstnnccff, was charming In Its nbsoluto freedom from malice, Mr. Webster departed for tho day coarh. Two hours later the conductor found him In tho aforementioned day coach, cnguged In n mild game of Hiker with n mule-sklnner, a t'hliiamun, an aged prospector, and n half-breed Indian, and walled until Mr. Webster, on n boh-tnllcd flush, bluffed the Chinaman out of n dollar-und-n-hulf pot. "Arc you Mr. John S. Webster J" "Your assumption that I am that person Is so. eminently correct thut It would bo n wasta of time for me to dispute It," Webster replied quizzically. quizzical-ly. "However, Just to provo thnt you're not the only clairvoyant an this train, I'm going to tell you something about yourself. In your pocket you liavo-n telegram: It Is from Chicago, whoro your pay-check originates; It Is short, sweet nnd comprehensive, containing con-taining an order which you arc going to obey. It reads tfomewhnt as follows fol-lows : " 'My friend, John S. Webster, wires mo from Ulank that bo boarded train nt Hliink and was refused first. clans accommodation because ho looked like a hobo. Give hliu tho best you have lu stock, If you have to throw somebody off tho train to uccommodute him.' Signed, 'Sweeney.' "Do I hit tho target?" Tho conductor nodded. "You win, Mr. Webster," ho admitted. "Occasionally I lose, old timer. Welir "No offense, Mr. Wobstcr, no offense. I can let you havo a stateroom " '"Tout's trading talk. I'll tnko It." Tlio, conductor gave him his receipt nnd ItHl, hlin back to the stateroom In tho observation cur. At tho door Webster Web-ster handed him a flvo-doll .r bill. "For you, sou," lie said gently, 'ust to tnko tho sting out of what I'm nbou t- tell you. Now thut I possess your receipt and know that ten men and a boy cannot can-not tako It away from me, I'm golnc to teJJ you who Sweeney Is." "Who U hot" tfc conductor "Moded. Already he suspected he bad been outgeneraled. out-generaled. "Sweeney," said Mr. Webster, "fa tho chief clerk tn one of Chicago's most pretentious hotels and a young man who can find all the tangles of a situation sit-uation without working It out In logarithms. loga-rithms. I wired him the details of ray predicament; he heard the Macedonian cry and kicked In. Neat, Is It not J" The conductor grinned. "I hate to take your money," he declared. "Don't. Just at present I'm very flush. Ye, sir, I'm as prosperous as a yearling burro up to his ears In alfalfa and the only use I hove ever found for money Is to make other people happy with It, thereby getting some enjoyment enjoy-ment out of It myself. When I'm broke I'll moke some more." And Mr. Webster retired to his hard-won hard-won sanctuary, where be removed as much alkali and perspiration ns he could, carded his long hair and whiskers, whisk-ers, manicured his finger nails with a Jack-knife, changed his shirt, provided five minutes of Industry for George, with his whlskbroom and brush, and set himself patiently to await the first cull to dinner. Presently a plnk-Jowled, well curried, flashily dressed big man, of about Webster's age, passed In the corridor, cor-ridor, going toward the head of the train. An Instant later a woman's voice said very distinctly: "I do not know you, sir; I do not wish to know you, nnd It Is loathsome of you to persist In addressing me. If you do not stop your annoying attentions, atten-tions, I shall call the conductoV "Ah I Beauty In distress," John Stuart Webster soliloquized. "I look so much like nn Angora goat I might as well butt In." He stepped to the door of his stateroom. A girl stood In thts vestibule, confronting the man who had Just passed Webster's door. Webster Web-ster bowed. "Mddame. or mademoiselle, as the case may be," he said, "unlike this other male IiIixhI, my sole purposo In presuming to address you Is to suggest that there Is not the slightest necessity for tnklng this matter up with the conductor. con-ductor. I am here and very much at your service." Tho girl turned and John Stuart Webster's beart hopped twlco In rapid succession, like n trout newly grassed. She was as lovely as a royal flush. Her starry glance began at his miner's boots, traveled up his old soiled, whipcord whip-cord trousers, over his light blue chambray cham-bray shirt and found the man behind the whiskers. She favored him with a quick, curious scrutiny nnd a grave, sweet smile. "Thank you so much, sir," she answered, and passed down the corridor to the observation cur. "Well, old-timer," Webster greeted tho fellow who had been annoying her, "how about youT What do you think we ought to do about this little affair?" af-fair?" "Tho sensible thing wonld be to do nothing. You might start something you couldn't finish." "That's a dare." Webster declared brightly, "and wasn't It tho Immortal Huckleberry Finn who remarked that anybody that'd take a daro would suck eggs nnd steal sheep?" He was silent a few seconds, appraising his man. "I Kupiose you commenced operations by moving Into her section and asking If she would like to have the window open and enjoy the fresh air. She re-huffed re-huffed you, but being a persistent devil, you followed her into the observation ob-servation car, and In nil probability you ogled her ot luncheon and ruined her appetite. And Just now, when you met her In this vestibule, you doubtless doubt-less Jostled her, begged her pardon nnd without watting to be Introduced asked her to have dinner with you thts evening." HVell?" the fellow echoed belligerently. belliger-ently. "It' nil bad form. You shouldn't try to make n mush on a lady. I don't know who she Is, of course, but she's not common nnd for the sake of tho mother that bore mu I always respect and protect a good woman and whale It out of those thnt do not." Ho readied Inside lilH stateroom and pressed the bell. Thu porter arrived on the run. "George," said Mr. Webster, "In a few minutes we're duo at Smlthvllle. If my memory serves me nrlght, wo stop flvo minutes for wnter and orders." or-ders." "Ynssah." "Ilemuln right here nnd let me olT as soon as the train comes to a stop." When the train slid to u grinding halt and the porter opened the enr door. Wubster pointed. "Out!" he said. "This U no nice place to pull off a sera ji." ., "Seo here, neighbor, I don't want to hnvo nny trouble with you " , "I know It. All the same, you'ro going go-ing to Imvo It or come with me to thnt youug kidy uud beg her pardon." am ngnr. in npoiogize," and ho Started forward us If to pass Webster in tlte vcaUbule, on his way to the oh-sorTirtlw oh-sorTirtlw cur, whither tho subject of his nnaoylng attention had gone. Two tvs brought him wltMn striking dls-tutloe dls-tutloe of his enemy, and before Web-oter Web-oter could dodge, a sizzling right-handed right-handed blow landed on bis Jaw and set him back on his haunches In the vestibule. ves-tibule. It was almost a knockoutalmost, but not quite. As Webster's body struck the floor the big automatic came out of the holster; swinging In a weak circle. It covered the other. "That was a daisy," Webster tnura-bld. tnura-bld. "If you move before my head clears, I'll put four bullets Into you before be-fore you reach the corridor." lie waited about a minute, then with the gun he pointed to the car door and the masher stepped out. Webster handed hand-ed the porter his gun and followed; to minutes later he returned, dragging drag-ging his assailant by the collar. Up the steps he Jerked the big battered hutk and tossed It In the corner of the vestibule. Just ax the girl came through the car, making for the diner up ahead. Again she favored him with that calm, grave, yet vitally Interested gaze; nodded appreciatively, made as If to pass on, changed her mind, and said very gravely: "You are a very courtly court-ly gentleman, sir." He bowed. There was nothing else to do, nothing that he could say under the circumstances. To use his chivalry as a wedge to open an acquaintance never occurred to' Mm but his whiskers whisk-ers did occur to him. Hastily he backed Into his stateroom and closed the door, presently he rose and surveyed himself critically In the small mirror over the wastuitand. "No, Johnny," he murmured, "wo can't go Into the diner now. We're too blamed disreputable. We were bad enough before that big swine hung the shanty on our right eye, but whatever our physical and personal feelings, far be It from us to parade our Iridescent orb In public. Besides, one look at that queen Is enough to do us for the remainder re-mainder of our natural tlfe, and a second sec-ond look, minus a proper Introduction, would only drive us Into a suicide's grave." Ho sighed, rang for the porter "You Are a Very Courtly Qentleman." nnd told him to send a waiter for his order, since he would fain break his fast In the prlvncy of bta stateroom. And when the waiter came for tho order, such was Mr. Webster's mental perturbation that ham and eggs were furthest from his thoughts. Ho ordered or-dered a steak with French fried potatoes. po-tatoes. John Stuart Webster passed a restless rest-less night. Sleep came to him In hourly hour-ly Installments, from which he would rouso to usk himself whether It wns worth while to continue to go through tho motions of living, or alight nt the next station, seek a lonely und unfrequented unfre-quented spot and thero surrender to outrageous fortune. It wns ultogether damnable. In a careless moment, Fnto hud accorded him u glimpse of tbo only woman he had ever met nnd desired de-sired to meet again for Webster wns essentially u man's man, nnd his profession pro-fession nnd environment had militated against his opportunities for meeting extraordinary women; nnd extraordinary extraordi-nary women were the only kind thnt could hope to challenge his serious attention. at-tention. Fate had accorded him a signal opportunity for knightly combat In the service of this extraordinary woman, nnd In the absence of n formal Intro-ductlon, Intro-ductlon, what man could deslro a flner opportunity for getting acquainted I If inly their meeting had but been de-oyed de-oyed two weeks, ten days, n weekl Once free of his ugly cocoon of nigs and whiskers, the butterfly Webster would not have hesitated ono brief Instant In-stant to Infonn himself of that young lady's address, following his summary disposal of her tormentor. Hut In all things there Is n limit, nnd John Stuart Webster's right eye constituted n deadline beyond which, ns a gentleman, ho dared not venture; so with n heavy heart ho bowed to tho Inevitable Urllllnnt und mysterious mysteri-ous ns a meteorite sho hud flashed onco across his horizon aid was gone. In the prlvncy of his stateroom Webster Web-ster had ham and eggs for breakfast. Ho was lighting bin second cigar when tho porter knocked and entered with un envelope. "Lady In the observation car asked me to deliver this to you, aah," he announced an-nounced Importantly. It was a note, freshly written on the train stationery. Webster read: "The distressed lady desires to thank the gentleman In stateroom A for his chivalry of yesterday. She is profoundly sorry that In her service the gentleman In stateroom A was so unfortunate ns to acquire a red eye with blue trimmings." John Stuart Webster awore his mightiest oath. "By the twelve apostles, apos-tles, Simon. Peter, Andrew. James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James. Judo and Simon, and not omitting Judas Iscarlot, the scaly scoundrel who betrayed his Lord and Master I" He searched through -an old wallet until he discovered a fairly clean professional card, across the bottom bot-tom of whlcb he wrote, "Thank you. J. S. W." and sent It to the no-longer-distressed lady. "The most signal adventure of my life Is now over." he soliloquized and turned to his cigar. "For the sake of my self-respect, I had to let her know I'm not a hobo I And now to the task of framing up a scheme for future acquaintance. I must learn her name and destination; so as a preliminary I'll Interview the train conductor." He did and under the ameliorating influence of ft five-dollar bill the conductor con-ductor bent a respectful ear to the Websterlan message. "In Car Seven," be began, "there Is a young lady. I do not know what section sec-tion he occupies, neither do I know her name and destination. I only know what she looks like." The conductor nodded. "And yon wnnt to nscertaln ber name nnd destination?" des-tination?" "I do." "All right. I have the unused portion por-tion of her transportation to return to her before we hit' Suit Lake; her name Is on the ticket and tbo ticket Indicates her destination. I'll make a mental note of both as soon as I've Identified her ticket." A few hours later the conductor came to Webster's stateroom and handed him a card upon which was written: "Dolores Ituey. From Los Angeles, vln San Pedro. Los Angeles & Salt Lake, to Salt Lake City. Denver & Illo Grande to Denver, Burlington to St. Louis, Illinois Central to New Orleans. Stop-over at Denver." John Stuart Webster studied the name after the conductor withdrew. "That's a Spanish name," ho soliloquized, solilo-quized, "but for all that, she's not a parakeet. All thlngtf considered, I guess I'll take a chance and Investigate." Investi-gate." CHAPTER II. Webster's dreams of bliss had, with very slight variations, come true as per schedule. In Salt Lake City he abandoned the beefsteak on his damaged dam-aged eye for two businesslike leeches, which quickly reduced the nocturne effect around his orb, enabling him, the third day, to saunter forth among his fellowmen. By the end of the week he Was a being reincarnated, and so he packed a huge new wardrobe-trunk wardrobe-trunk with his latest purchases nnd Journeyed on to Denver. Coincident with his arrival there, we again take up the thread of our story. One hour nfter his trunk nr rived tho gentleman from Death valley might havo been observed standing before a chcvul glasx looking long and earnestly at the reflection of his mid-die-aged person, the while he marked the tit of his new raiment. John Stuart Webster was all dressed up for the first time In threo long, labor-ridden years, nnd wns tremendously glad of It. He lighted n clgur and stepped fortli Into Seventeenth street, nlong which ho strolled until he came, to a certain building, Into tho elevntor of which he entered nnd was whisked to tho twelfth floor, where ho alighted and found himself before n wide portal which bore In gold letters tho words: "Knglneers' Club." The Hnglneers club wns the closest nppronch to n homo thnt John Stuurt Webster bad known for twenty ycurs, and save for the slight Job of kal-somlnlng kal-somlnlng which Father Time had. done on the edges of tho close-cropped Websterlan Web-sterlan mustache, the returned prodigal prodi-gal might have stepped out of the club but yesterday. Ho would not have taken tho short end of n modest bet thnt even n fresh log had been placed on the Are or thnt tho domino-players over iigulnst tho wall had won or lost a drink or two nnd then resumed mny-fug mny-fug although perchance there were a few more gray lmlra in the thickly thatched head of old Neddy Jerome, sitting In his favorite seat by tlio window and turning the cards In his eternal gamo of solltnlre, In blissful Ignorunco thnt John Stunrt Webster stood within tho portals of home and nwaltcd the fntted calf. "Keep a light in the window for your old Jack-Pardner." (TO BE CONTINUED.) |