Show money t to U r n by peter pete B kyne 0 E by peter B kyno kyne CHAPTER XII continued 2 24 then marry me and help me stand au it no I 1 had nothing to do with get birg oaf u into this jam and have to fight your own way out if you do that however the day I 1 find it out ill marry you but it if you quit if you run count me out of your calculations lie be groaned inwardly you the slightest conception of a womans comans pride elmer netlie nellie went on with motherly tenderness that adventuress la Is trying to break you to run you out of your own country im trying to fo ma make keyou you to keep beep you from being run out the question therefore resolves itself into this who Is going to win you tire are the only human being who can decide that question and I 1 call upon you to decide it here and now or forfeit not only the fragments of my former love for you but my future friendship and respect for you speak up elmer or remain forever silent 1 you win he declared without an instants hesitation 1 I dont care what happens to me provided I 1 do not humiliate you again I 1 can take a licking you know smiling I 1 hope well at any rate in silence that remains to be seen said bald nellie darkly your courage and sportsmanship are going to be tested in a manner of which you little dream our future happiness depends upon how bow well or how poorly you emerge from that test elmer thought of his love letters to doris and shuddered again youre not eating anything nellie challenged him suddenly why you hit vent taken a single bitel if I 1 did id feel as vulgar and insensate sensate as a pig he replied cheer up elmer there Is no hell bell well then im up to my ears cars in something just as hot he eyed her half angrily and youre the little devil stoking the fire alre nellie halt half rose from her chair and leaned across the table toward him kiss me booby I 1 she commanded fiercely and elmer obeyed I 1 up to the day he received from that anonymous los loa angeles source the letters he had written his inamorata elmer made no progress in the matter of mapping out his campaign for mayor he was much too nervous too overwhelmed with grave apprehensions hen bens lons to focus his mind on this adventure which could only end in disaster ile he spent his days fishing and his nights to in gloomy meditation longfellow in his hiawatha observes that misfortunes come not singly the poet might with equal truth have written that blessings come in flocks suddenly came the letter from doris charging him with the perpetration of a newer and more despicable crime and vowing vengeance when her time should be up the receipt of the newspaper clipping solved the mystery of the girls letter and while elmer was rejoicing at this lable evidence of a stay of execution and making up hla his mind to make the fur fly in his campaign for mayor now that fate ate had intervened and given him a fighting chance to win the packet of love letters arrived the comfort that had been his just previous to this was the most moat extravagant grief in comparison with the delirious delight that descended upon him now it was the greatest day in history when his paroxysm of delight deligh thad had in a measure abated he proceeded I 1 to read the letters in the order of their dates after rending reading the third letter he shook as with an ague for he discovered that he had indeed asked doris to marry him halml I 1 he essayed to read the fourth letter and groaned aloud it was terrible so lie he burned them all he was waiting outside the buck bank when nellie came out at five hop flop into this car and come away with me nellie he ordered or ill kidnap you nellie hopped in and they whirled 41 away into the country once clear of the town elmers hand stole over and closed over Ne nellies jeilles Illes she jerked it away but he seized her arm roughly and again possessed himself of her hand which he retained by brute force still he said nothing so nellie main talked silence presently she spoke to break an embarrassing silence what have you been doing all day elmerl elmer ive been singing bet you a hundred dollars I 1 know what youve been singing taken what have I 1 been singing the national anthem of slam you lose losa I 1 dont know IV it oh yes you dot dol it called she informed him without a moments hesitation eloer elmer butterworth clarke took out his wallet and solemnly handed nellie cathcart it a hundred dollar bill and vellie nellie took it itt I 1 when elmer rose the fol following lowin morning he remembered that if he intended to be mayor of Pilar eltos it behooved him to be up and doing he had no time to spare ills his first idea was to contract with the Illar eltos silver cornet band to play at his political rallies exclusively thus forcing his opponents to import their music expensively from surrounding towns the extent of ills his advertising and the elaborate preparations for his campaign alarmed and irritated his opponents the alarm being occasioned by firsthand first hand knowledge that they were being opposed by a young forceful popular man without a blemish lr L 1 z kiss me Boo bodbyl byll she commanded fiercely on his character and with an excellent war record ills strength in fraternal circles was well known and of course courna he be would get the old soldier vote in its entirety the irritation of the enemy was born of an apprehension that if they were to oppose him successfully cess fully they would have to adopt the pace he bad seta set which predicated the spending of more money than they cared to think about also they would have to make speeches they were incapable of making with a tithe of the ease grace and logic of their youthful opponent their best plan lay in ancient political strategy by mutual consent the democratic and the republican candidates concluded to refrain from fighting each other and concentrate their fire on elmer to elmer competition was the joy of life he had been born with the tha winning spirit and he be resolved to leave no stone unturned to secure his objective however he be overlooked one stone nellie cathcart called it to his attention 1 I suppose elmer youre going to spend a couple of thousand dollars to win an office that pays a salary of only one hundred dollars a month 1 I suppose so the confounded job to Is really a nuisance but now that im in the race im not going to let a little money stand in the way of victory well you had better form the elmer B clarke campaign committee and permit it to spend that money she suggested name the committee and appoint me treasurer you have already spent as much money as you are permitted to spend under the law if you spend more you will violate violat ethe the purity of the election law it if you win your enemies will check up on you after the election indict you convict you and deprive you of your hard won office but I 1 cant pass the hat for my campaign expenses he be protested bewildered wil dered organize your finance committee head the subscription list with a fifty dollar donation and open an account in anse bank then send your bills to me and as treasurer I 1 will pay them but how never mind how As aa treasurer that will be my worry you stick to your knitting but where can you get the money ill get it somewhere elmer did you ever see a ca cal reconnoiter recon a hole bole in a fence ile he his bis head bead through and if his whiskers touch he be knows he be cannot get his body through so BO he climbs over the fena fen p well im going to crawl through this hole without touching my financial whiskers TO BE BB CONTINUED |