The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1898-02-10
.,oh. i,,s you. Is h. Mr.

saiusatior. oh, it's you. Is u. Er.
1horndyke? 4 didn't know you at
first. Come back to take a look at the
corpse"
lit amounts 10 that. I'm afraid" said
Philip. sympatheticaAy.
lit does. for a fact-just that. All
we need now ia a good, old-fashioned
Earthquake; not the fever-and-ague
kind you read about nowadays, but the
sort they used TO put in the Biographies
when we went TO school-a shake with
u big crack in the middle of II to bury
the wreck decently out of sight"
Its dreadful" said Philip. not
knowing what else TO say. why didn't
you get away with the rest of them"
The man made a pathetic gesture of
helplessuess. There were two rea-
sons. In the first place, | bought my
stock and paid for IL. so ! missed the
help of the deputy sherifrs and the
creditors; they made the move easy for
most of 'em. | tell you. Then, again
it costs money to move a stock of hard
ware. even if you know where to take
il, and | don't"
II think you're more TO be pitied than
the Others" ventured Philip.
You're right about that. It's a ter
rible thing TO be anchored in a dead
town, and that's what ! am-both an
chors down and stuck il the mud. with
the windlass broken. at that" The man
smiled at his own joke and went back
TO his seat on the spool of wire when
Philip told the driver TO turn down into
the manufacturing district.
In the space between the railway and
the river the air of desolation was even
more oppressive than in Broadway
Tall chimneys standing guard over
many-windowed factories whose walls
had never vibrated with the jar of the
expensive machinery left to rust and
crumble within them; piles of costly
lumber warping and twisting in the
weather; rows of cottages built for the
operatives, tenantless now, save for an
occasional family of negroes living
rent-free in the industrial desert. II
seemed like q Dissertation to break Tho
silence. and neither of them spoke unit
the carriage had reached the bisecting
street of the old town.
This is Allacoochee the original
said Philip. land l fancy it has gone
back to just what it was in the antedi'
luvian days. There's the Mountain
house; fine old southern mansion, they
told me it used to be. That's the old
courthouse at the head of the street
where | found the deed. you know
This is Catron's store. and the place
next door-well. if that isn't n%erve!"
The exclamation pointed at a slim
figure standing before a doorway over
which swung a faded sign bearing the
inscription "Simon Pragmore, Notary
Public" The figure lifted its SLOUGH hat
at sight of the carriage and its occu-
pants. and out of its sallow and immo'
bile face came the courteous saluta'
ton: Good mawnin. Misteh Thorn.
dyke; glad to see you lookin' so well.
seh.''
II suppose that is Mr.. Pragmore?'
said Helen. a little later.
Philip was wrestling with a ghost OF
Indignation. "Of course it is: and &c
think that he has the assurance to come
rs though nothing had happened! I've
n mind TO stop over and revive the
charge against him."
Indeed you won't do anything of the
kind" retorted Helen, and Philip
! changed the subject.
"Have you seen enough of the placer
he asked.
"Yes."
"Well. / haven't. Drive back ur
Broadway past the Guaranty building