Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-09-09
AN OATH OF REVENGE.

: Walter Holmsby paced up and down
in his store, looking ruin iE the face.
and vowing revenge upon the crafty
counsellor who had duped and cheated
him.
Bates. his partner, was far away,
In some unknown hiding place, with
his lll-gotten gains in his grasp, and
uolmsby was reviling himself for his
blindness and stupidity. He was
nearly crazed with his misery and
rage, when an elderly man entered,
closing the door behind him, and ad :
vanclng with an air Of cordial greet
ing.
Wait" he said, II have lust
heard-Boy, boy" he cried, looking
full in the haggard face. lit is not
SO bad as that"
Its ruin and disgrace!" said the
young man, bitterly
ut may be ruin, but l cannot be-
lieve it is disgrace Tell me ALL" said
the old gentleman, taking a chair,
and motioning Walter to another
one.
~ have been fool" said Walter
H0lmsby, forcing himself to speak
trusting man who owe,
his very life to me. When l was in
Nicksburg, in the fall of '67, l met
Gordon Bates man old enough to
be my father, at the hotel, where he
was lying at Deaths door with yellow
fever, l had been down buying cot
ton, and was waiting to close a large
contract, with no other business in
hand. Hearing that a stranger was
so i'll in the room next my own,
went into him, having seen yellow
fever in New Orleans when was on
duty there during the war. I nursed
him, and finding he was poor, lent
him money. He had relapse, and
was fearfully i'll. / stayed with him,
and when he was better, brought him
here at my own expense. You will
say that l was infatuated, but did
believe in the man. He seemed so
grateful, and such a good business
man, that took him into ,he count
ing-hOuse, and at the end of year
into partnership 1t must have been
soon after that he began to use the
signature of the firm for private spec.
ulations, for, you see. IN little more
than Is months he has ruined me. :"
mot entirely I have been among
your fathers old friends, and we are
going to pull you through"
"Mr Graham!" faltered the young
merchant
''Pshaw! It is debt, remember.
You will pay me all again some time.
Will you put the whole matter into
my hands,"
''Gladly."
'Come, then, we will sift the whole
matter?"
Hours of the most careful inves.
tigatiOn did not serve to make
the complications any more satisfac-
tory, but Mr.. Graham had spoken for
several of the young mans friends
when he promised to "pull him
through"
Walter Holmsby was a man who
made friends, and kept them.
His rather Quixotic attachment
to his recent partner had puzzled
some of his more cautiour friends;
but when the crash came thete were
many who owned in their hearts that
they too had been deceived in Cor
don Bates.
He was middle-aged man, repre-
senting himself as a widower with
one daughter, a mere child, residing
with an aunt in the country Per-
fectly gentlemanly in manner, evinc-
ing culture and refined taste, he
was also keen man of business; and
at first the firm seemed to have taken
new impetus when the old sign of
Holmsby & Son. that had remained
stationary long after Holmsby the
first slept in Greenwood, was re-
placed by that of Holmsby & Bates.
The senior member, but younger
man, being yet little under thirty,
had allowed the reins CT business to
fall from his own hands into those of
his partner Bates seemed actually
to like all the dry details that had
been only duty to Walter, and as
money seemed flowing in under the
new management, the young mer-
chant allowed himself rather too
much leisure, too many afternoon
drives. and evening parties, that left
him weary in the mornings. He
was drifting toward the vortex of
dissipation that swallowed up SO
many young idlers, when he was
startled by the sudden disappearance
OF his partner, into an Investigation
OF his own affairs
1t was a horribly sharp lesson that
caught him back from pleasure and
ldleness. but bitter as il was, he
blessed it, when his friends by
timely aid and advice started him
again. with the name of Bates erased
from the firm.
The only danger that threatened
Walter was that he would become a
mere money-loving. king