Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1898-09-29
Here's our sucker, Jim. Look out
the other fellows don't get him.

clutched him firmly BY the arm and
shoulder and rushed him toward q
buggy. Instantly great crowd surged
around them, yelling like demons and
poking@cards IN the face Of the fright
ened German.
Hurry up, Jim. Here, quick, let's
Mand HIM" And before Jake could coli
|ilect his sea tered senses he was
grasped on either side by his arms
and legs and lifted bodily into the
buggy. The; tall man jumped, in and
iashed the horse,gand they went tear
ing up the street like mad g IL
Jake thought of his money, of his
wife, and little Gretchen, and be-
moaneds the day he ever left them. He
could not doubt that he had fallen
among robbers, and, as they emerged
from the city, he was Sure he was be-
ing taken to their den in the noun
Etains that lowered menacingly near.
His heart stood still at the thought.
What would they do with him? !.
/, Meanwhile the real estate man talked
necessarily, pointed out the advan-
tages of Pasadena as a place of resi-
!dence, occ OCCASIONALLY stopping to go into
rapturesi ovef a. certain lot which he
advised the German to purchase. at
once, as it would double in value in
"a hours. But his .eloqhence. fell IN
needed upon 4 mind. obliviouss Of all
but itsHown heartsick misery. Every
time sthe real estate man knitted his
shaggy eyebrows and turned on him
those piercing gray eyes, Jake shud-
dered.
weary Of his tunproftab BILE
task, the tall man cast an angry glance
at the trembling German and in silence
drove him to a hotel. Throwing his
luggage after him, the real estate man
drove away $disheartened, after in
forming Jake that another mem Der of
his Fl nm would call at four 8 clock, hop
ing, no doubt, that some one else.would
have better luck in inducing the Ger
man to purchase town lot.
Now, Jake had no desire or inten-
ton of meeting another member Of
that firm, either at four O'clock or
any other time, and finding that the
train: left in IS minutes for Los Angeles,
he made his way to the depot in all
possible haste.
If the scene at the depot at Pasa-
denatwas 'bewildering, exciting, alarm
ing, it was ten times more so at Los
Angeles. Schmidt sat as if riveted to
his seat, and dared not venture forth
until the porter notified him with great
dignity that the train had reached its
destination, intimating quite pointed
~ that his bsence was infinitely more
desirable than his company. AS Jake
alighted from the car, he perceived the
door of carriage standing inyitingly
open onsthe other side Of the court and
made for it on the run, the ra bible after
him. He bolted head foremost in to the
vehicle, and the hackman, being suf-
ficiently up to the situation, sent his
horses off at a gallop, and landed him
safely at the hotel. Jacob Schmidt
congratulated himself upon his mar
row escape Nevertheless, when he de-
scended to dinner that evening, he
glanced furtively in all directions, but
as the way appeared to be clear he
walked confidently along the corridor.
just as. he was entering the dining
room, he was suddenly confronted by
two men who politely bowed and at
tempted to hand him some cards.
''Haf no time to talk said Jake,
hastily, looking for an avenue of es-
cape.
''How very Fortunate" said the
spokesman. ''We are also very short
OF time. But there is no place more
conducive to good business under
standing than the dining-room." And
the three walked into the dining-room,
arm in arm. One of the men spread a
map out on the table, and they took
turns in explaining the advantages Of
certain properties in Los Angeles that
were advancing in value at an cxtraor-
binary pace. Jake felt helpless, while
the waiter tried frantically to get their
order. fss
"Oh, bring us anything, and be as
long about it as you like" said one Of
the real estate men, throwing the
waiter dollar.
After dinner the German was in
formed that; one of the men would call
for him at nine o'clock in the morn
ing and take him out to see the prop
erty. IA conseq uence Of which threat
1t seemed to Jake a threat-he passed
a very, bad; night. But he was up bright
and earl lin the morning, and having
ascertained that there were fewer real
estate men in San Diego, he took the
early train for that point.
That there were fewer real estate
men in San Diego was true, but it
seemed to Jake that they were Of a
more yirulent type. The terrible ex-