The Lamar register., 1902-07-09
CHAPTER II.
IN THE HOSTILE CAMP.

Guy had four hours and Q half At his
disposal before the freight train left
Concord, and he made up his mind that
he would put in the time looking over
the town. Before descending the de-
crepit stairs leading from the Blizzard
office. he fingered at the top to sean
the three points OF the compass that
lay open to him. As the building occu-
pied by the newspaper was we'll at the
foot of the main thoroughfsFs. nearly
the whole OF Concord lAy under the
young mans eye.
Certainly no eulogiss were TO b
wasted upon that collection Of houses
and stores. The principal street had
roads dsbouehing TO left and right.
Buildings were not huddled together;
on the contrary, they were far apart.
with stretches of virgin prairie be-
tween them. It had been the policy Of
the Townsite company to donate . lot
in each block in the residence portion
to any one who would build . house
upon it. For this reason, nearly every
dwelling had a block TO itself.
Main street began at the Northern
Pacific depot and ran south for half .
mile beyond the Blizzard building. the
latter closing up the ragged file OF
store structures. Just south of the
depot was huge. barn-hks hotel. Ths
hotel. be It observed, always formed
the nucleus of the boom" town.
Across from the hotel was the once Of
. real estate agent; south of that, on
the same side. was . building erected
by the Townsite company for . bank;
then there was a drug store and then
Mr.. Benjamin Glimmer's Emporium
and then a livery stable. the latter al
most opposite the Blis.ard building.
Between the latter and the hotel was
the new courthouse.
As Guy gave further attention 70
the courthouse he saw something
which had before escaped him. namely,
a weather vane. This vane was cut
into the profile of mans head. hand
before the face. thumb to the nose and
digits outspread. The head looked
steadily and insolently westward and
refused to move with the northwest
wind. Guys anger arose at the sight.
He had no idea what such vans might
mean, but he would tolerate nothing
of that kind in his town. That vane
was TO come down in . very short time,
even II he had to remove Il himself.
Descending the stairs he went oveI
to the Emporium and introduced him.
self to the proprietor. Mr.. Glimmez
was a slender man of sallow complex.
ion and looked at the world through
iron-framed spectacles. He was glad
to meet Guy and presented him TO sew
eral citizens; among others, Elishs
McQuilkin. the postmaster, Lemuel
Bilkins. a youth of harmless aspect
whose abnormally long and spider-lik
legs were the standing joke of the
town; Christopher Waffle. justice OF
the peace and proprietor Of thresh
ing outfit, and Bill Comfort, who oper
ated Judge waffle's engine. Conver
sation with these gentlemen revealed
such depth of animosity and bitter
ness over the county-seat question
that Guy was surprised.
1.-THE Harmony folks have threat
ened to come down on us like Assyri
ans on the fold and run of with the
county records" observed Mr. GNm
mer, his thin lips comprising and hi
eyes cleaning through his glasssa
"We1l fool 'em if they try 1t on. 1 ca,
tell you. I've only to pull this rope
he laid his hand on a rope that dan
gled through a hole in the ceiling
"and bell on the roof II ring out ,
warning and bring every eitissn 70 III
new courthouse"
sand every citizen will bring gun.
snapped Waffle.
Continued next week