The Savannah morning news., 1902-12-07
CuAPTEP xXXV

| They stood and watched them 60.
"Oh. the great man! Oh, the great
| mani" murmured the writer, fascinat-
ed.
The grandeur of the sacrifice had
struck them dumb. They did not I'M
| derstand the motives beneath ii all,
| but the fact was patent. Big Junko
broke down and sobbed.
After a time the stream of logs
through the gap slackened. In a mo-
| ment more, save for the inevitably
| stranded few, the booms We're empty.
A deep sigh went up from the attentive
multitude.
She's gone!" said one man. with the
emphasis of a novel discovery; and
+ groaned.
Then the awe broke from about their
| minds, and they spoke many opinions
and speculations. Thorpe had disap-
peared. They respected his emotion
and did not follow him.
1T was just plain damn foolishness
but it was great" said Shearer.
That no-account jackass of a Big
| Junko amt worth as much per thou
| sand feet as good white pine"
Then they noticed a group of men
gathering about the office steps, and
on it some one talking. Collins. the
bookkeeper, was making a speech.
Collins was a little hatchet-faced
man, with straight, dark hair. near
sighted eyes, a timid, order-loving dis
position, and great suitability for his
profession. He was accurate, unemo-
tional and valuable. All his actions
were as dry as the saw-dust in the
burner. No one had ever seen him ex-
cited. But he was human: and now
his knowledge of the company's af-
fairs showed him the dramatic con-
trast. He knewi He knew that the
property of the firm had been mort
gagged to the last dollar in order TO
assist expansion, so that not another
cent could be borrowed to tide over
present difficulty. He knew that the
notes for $4,000 covering the loan to
Wallace Carpenter came due in three
months; he knew from the long table
of statistics which he was eternally
preparing and comparing that the sea-
sons cut should have Melted a profit
of $780, 00-enoush to pay the interest
on the mortgages, to take up the notes
and to furnish a working capital for
the ensuing year. These things he
knew in the strange concrete arfth-
metical manner of the routine book
keeper. Other men saw a desperate
phase of firm rivalry; he saw a strug-
gle to the uttermost. Other men cheer
ed rescue: he thrilled over the mag
nificent gesture of the Gambler scat
tering his stake in largesse to Death.
II 10 lut Oh the
hand from full breathed prosperity to
lifeless failure.
His view was the inverse of his mas
ter's. To Thorpe il had suddenly be-
come very little thing in contrast 20
the great, sweet elemental truth that
the dream girl had enunciated. To
Collins the affair was miles Vaster than
the widest scope of his own narrow
life.
The firm could not take up its notes
when they came due: it could not pay
the interest on the mortgages, which
would now be fOreclOsed; it could not
even pay in full the men who had
worked for it-that would come under
courts adjudication.
He had, therefore, watched Thorpe's
desperate sally to mend the weakened
chain, in all the suspense of a man
whose entire universe is in the keeping
of the chance moment 1t must be
remembered that at bottom, below the
outer consciousness, Thorpe's final de-
cision had already grown to maturity
On the other hand, no other thought
than that of accomplishment had even
entered the little bookkeeper's head.
The rescue and all that il had meant
had hit him like a stroke of apoplexy,
and his thin emotions had curdled to
hysteria Full of the idea he appeared
before the men.
With rapid almost incoherent speech
he poured it out to them. Professional
| caution and secrecy were forgotten
| Wallace Carpenter attempted to push
| through the ring for the purpose of
| stopping him. A gigantic riverman
kindly but firmly held him back
Il guess it's just as well we hears
this" said the latter.
1t all came out-the loan to Carpen-
ter, with a hint at the motive: the
Vaccinations of the rival firm on the
Board of Trade: the notes. the mort
cages, the necessity of a big season S
cut; the reasons the rival firm had
for wishing to prevent that cut from
arriving at the market; the desperate
and varied means they had employed
| The men listened silent. Hamilton. his
| eyes glowing like Goals, drank in every
| word. Here was the master motive he
| had sought; here was the. story great
| to his hand
That's what we ought to get" cried
Collins, almost weeping, land now
we're gone and bust. just because thai
internal river-hog had to fall off a
boom. BY God, it's shame. Those
scalawags have done us after ALL"
Out from the shadows of the woods
stole Ihjin Charley. The whole bear.
ing and aspect of the man had chang.
ed. His eye CLEANED with a distant
far-seeing fire of it's own. which tool
no account of anything but some re.
mote vision. He stole along almost fur.
lively, but with a proud upright car.
riage of his neck. a backward tilt OF
his fine head. dlstention of his nos.
trils that lent to his appearance a pan.
ther-like pride and stealthiness. No on,
saw him. Suddenly he broke throug 81
the group and mounted the steps be.
side Collins.
1.-The enemy of my brother is gone.
said he simply in his native tongue
and with a sudden gesture held GU
before them-a scalp.
The medieval barbarity of the thint
appalled, them for a moment. The DAYS
of scalping were long since past, haC
been closed away between the pages
of forgotten histories. and yet her,