The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-09-08

I said; we cont want any more Of you,
coughing herer In an instant hs
ceased, and looked at me with such Q
cunning glitter in his eye. that it was
plain he comprehended everything.
None of your living skeleton tricks
any longer said l, .or your fasting
hermit business 'WhyF I haven't
been doing any fasting business here.
have Up he exclaimed in On irpudent
tone, seeing that the game was up; don't
bring that against me. Ask Mr.. Skel.
don If l have tasted Jen stood glar-
ing first at one and then the other, too
utterly amazed to speak. Your friend,
MIR. Hookle, will come for you to-mor.
row. said, SO you will clear out al
this What! you have seen old Jack,
them? he exclaimed; 1 have met him
once or twice myself lately, when Mr..
SHELDON has been refreshing himself
with doze. Well, Governor, the gaf1
is blown, l suppose; you don't want me
any longer 1 don't, you swindler!
you impostorr 1 shouted. as l was
more exasperated by the vulgar famil-
arity of his tone than anything which
had preceded it. What do you mean?'
he retorted, in changed, savage tone,
'what have l impostured in? Is it be-
cause l am not i'll enough? l never
asked you to take me, you know. It
was your very wide-awake friend, Mr..
SHELDON, who found me out and would
have me. However, we will part
friends. l have enjoyed myself here, I
must own. and have had q nice little
rest, SO l will take twenty pounds,
which is liberal on my part, [ think,
and clear out as you propose
Twenty pounds, you scoundrel!' I
said; mind you don't get horsewhipped
or taken before Police Magistrater
AS for horsewhipping. old man. said
the villain, coolly, Il will fight either OF
you for flyer this very day if YOU like.
And as for the Police Court -ha! ha!
half you don't hand over the twenty
pounds before leave will ask for q
hundred, and if you don't give me that
pretty sharp l will go to the Royal
Cornhill Insurance Office, and tell them
all your little game. Oh, you start at
that, do youP You don't suppose
have been such flat as not to spot
what you were up to in all this time;
and when you talk of my being an i'm
poster, tell you, to your faces, you are
a couple of swindlers, trying to defraud
the Office out of Absalom Watts policy
money. Blow me! l have read you
like two books, from the beginning of
your game to the end. You thought to
make tool of me. but you will find
you have been tools yourselves. Why,
when you grumbled at the expenses, or
the second idiot'-he meant me. Sam
was coming down to look me up, all 1
had to do was to groan and cough lit
tie extra and you were ready to have
given me gold to eat, if l could have
done it, so delighted were you to see
the policy money getting nearer Sam.
it is too painful. Horrible as it will
seem to you, we had tc give that unprin-
Gpled wretch the twenty pounds, and
he went off in most insolent manner.
He-who couldn't breathe except in
gasps-danced a breakdown on the
hearth-rug to his own whistling; jumped
clean into the open fly which came for
him, right over the side like an acrobat.
and went away singing at the top of his
voice.
cit was all over with us; it nearly
broke my heart, and so it did Skeldon's.
We applied to the office to purchase the
policy, but as it had not been in force
quite three years it was of no value, so
we have burned the thing. The last de-
mand of that scoundrel Tobbs, and our
clearing up expenses, left me without
penny; in fact l was something in debt,
so l had no resource but to SCH the
houses. They are gone, and lam off to
Queensland"
land Skeldon?" said I.
"Oh. poor Jemn' replied my cousin;
che will never be the same man again.
l believe. He has fortunately found
employment; he is what they call
'doorsman' or 'streetman' to a cheap
photographer. 1t is only sixteen shil-
lings a week, but it is better than
nothing. 1 could not have thought
there was SO much wickedness and
deceit in the world; would you have
believed it, Sam?'
l told him with perfect truth should
not have supposed it, and that l had
never heard story so full of such dis
honest trickery. He wasrelieved by my
sympathy, and took more whisky-and-
water than was good for him, to soothe
his disturbed mind. He sailed on the next
day but one, as he said, suppose, for /
never saw him again, and he sent me
a letter from Queensland, in which he
said he was working for baker, but
what he knew about baking I cannot
tell. At any rate ] never heard from
him again, and as what l am speaking
of happened pretty well ten years ago,
l suppose shall hear no more of him.
But | often think of Cousin William,
and how he Jared with his sound in
vesrment.
THE END.
Ants as q Marketable Commodity.