Evening star., 1900-10-06
THE BOOK HE WAS AFTER

The elderly, distingushed-lookingm man had
been lowering around the open-air second
hand bookstalI for several days The
cloth-bound volumes did not appear to gain
his attention. He devoted himself exclu-
sively to the stacks of fiction. paper-bound.
10 the old-fashioned way-abount fourteen
inches long by ten inches wide-and he even
| thumbed over the nickel and dime libra
ries'' with great apparent interest. The
thick-set proprietor of the secondhand book
stall noticed the elderly. distinguished
looking man the other afternoon and stroll
ed out to the pavement.
Cant find what you're looking for. eh.
judge?" inquired the proprietor OF the
stand pleasantly.
"The elderly, NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. man
appeared to be somewhat embarrassed.
"N-no." he replied. diffidently, Il suppose
I'm a fruitless quest
He didn't name the nature OF the quest,
however.
those paper-bound piles. you know" said
the proprietor OF the stall. experimentalfy.
"No?" said the elderly. distinguished-look-
ing man.
pire' in paper covers. but it's out O. print
years ago. remarked the proprietor Of the
stall. after a pause.
THAT so?" said the stranger. Don't be-
We've got whole lot of Omar Khay-
yams in cheap cloth covers, though" pur-
sued the boOkstall man, scratching his head
in a puzzled sort of way and sizing up the
MISUNDERSTANDING man out OF the tall OF
his eye.
WELL, I'm not a devotee at the Omar
shrine" replied the elderly man, turning
| over another heap Of the elongated paper
volumes.
The proprietor Of the stall walked away
| little distance and appeared to be think
ing it over.
you'll find Hugo's History Of a Crime
and Les Miserables in that bunch. he
said, returning to the elderly man at the
stall. but there's hardly any use in buying
EN- in that form, when I've got 'em cloth
bound Tor as low as a quarter each, and
sets of Hugos complete works for ST."
Il find Hugo hard reading" replied the
elderly man Of distinguished appearance,
| wiping his spectacles reflectively. Il knock
ed off doing literary penance long while
ago."
The proprietor scratched his head some
more. He looked like a man up against it.
Having a reputation to sustain, however.
for shrewdness in guessing his customers
literary tastes he returned to the charge.
after a silence.
There's some O. Goethe's and Schiuer's
stuff in those paper piles he said, but
got all the Schiller and Goethe you want in
side. in cloth. for little nothing"
"Uh-huh." replied the distinguished-look
ing man. again removing his iron-r1mmed
spectacles and wipng them with a spotless
handkerchief. Glad to hear that. How
ever. haven't much time to solace myself
with Goethe and Schiller. Life's too short -
The bookstall proprietor walked out to
| the curb and spat musingly.
Fellow that looked pretty hard up came
in here the other day." he said. returning to
the elderly gentleman at the stall. ''and
sold me ten volumes of the plays of Con-
greve, Wycherly and Vanbrugh at a pretty
small figure. Like to look at 'em?"
"N-no." replied the elderly man. I'VE
can see all that hot stuff that's good for us
at the theaters nowadays without reverting
to that bunch of degenerates"
We'll, he's on to what he's talking about
all right" unused the bookstaIl proprietor
grinning. Then he said aloud:
dramatists- -Marlowe. Otway. Beaumont and
Fletcher and that sort?"
We'll, If l was marooned on desert ISL
and maybe ID read some of the older En-
glish dramatists-on rainy afternoons, when
L couldn't hunt mollusks for supper" re-
piled the high-grade-looking man at the
stall
We'll. this one gets me going right" NUT
tered the bookstali proprietor to himself
IN give him another whizz."
Then the bookstall proprietor pulled out
from beneath stack Of paper bound liter
ature yellowed copy Of Carlyles 'Sartor
Resartus."
Maybe this is what you're looking for
sir?" he said. holding the book up so that
the elderly man could see the title.
No" replied the elderly man, "that is
not what I'm looking for. On the contrary,
Carlyle gives me pale pink pain
This phrase gave the proprietor of the
bookstall his opening. He grinned and in
quired:
well. is there anything particular you're
hunting for, sir? I don't want to appear
to be curious, but"
The elderly, MISUNDERSTANDING man re-
| moved his spectacles. put them in his pock-
ct and smiled benignly upon the proprietor
of the stall.
Well" he said, "Tn tell you what I'm
looking for, seeing that you take such an
interest. I'm looking for work entitled
-Bonea Zeb, the Terror Of the Rock
les ] was reading that work one afternoon
about thirtyfour years ago ad had just
got to the most absorbing part-where Zeb
bites the arms off forty-seven Blackfeet In
dians in bunch, IL you remember-when
my mother came along and snatched the
book out of my hand. It was darned In
teresting and entertaining work. and Ia
be willing to pay big money to get hold OF
copy and find out how 1t ended?'