Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-18
CHAPTER XIII.

eondescending kindness OF certain WIN
ner who well knows his superiority, toward
his mistaken and on-to-be-humiliated OPP
ponent.
"Oh. Lord,' said Betsey to herself, as she
recalled the night before. "Oh, Lord. Jake
Musser! What n harvest you're a-goin' to
git You sowed the calm, but you are goin'
to reap the whirlwind!"
"Musser says" bawled Sam Bull first to-
ward one end of the human fringe upon the
cliff edge and then toward the other that
he chooses this end the course. He'll dig
whatever clans there is between that
stake there" Che pointed, land them there
tlmbers, there" again he pointed)
"Cooper'n tharfore have to take the other
end the beach," Sam shouted with great
gusto and added with final roar, where
the sunll be in his eyes!
The band struck up.
The sand, Just abandoned by the receding
tide, was smooth and shining-quite inno-
cent of any traces of the past nights work.
Finally the men were at their posts, their
tools were in their hands, their attendants,
bearing baskets were ready to pounce upon
the clans soon they were found Both
contestants stopped, ready for the signal,
and then, first they saw a puff of smoke
and then, an instant later, the puny pop of
Sam Bulls pistol drifted to their ears. While
they had been waiting Cooper's canny
eye had scanned the beach before him for
the sign of clans and had been astonished
by the multitude of little blow holes.
This surely is good clam reach, he
said gleefully, as he thrust his rake into
the sand, closed it and drew out four big
ones They were great quahaugs, and his
followers thrust them into their basket
with a shout.
And. almost simultaneously Musser I'M
covered the first bivalve of his harvest.
lnyu- hn1n ir11pn n fol, in from of
him in plenty, too, for the ShreWd workers
of the previous night had left the begin
ming of his course planted about as he had
fixed 1t. They had argued that to clean it
out at the commencement would discourage
him and arouse suspicious much too early
in the game.
First dozenr' came from Mussers side
in a shout which the breeze made wavering
before it reached the crowd, and the cry
brought forth cheer which had not ended
before First dozen!' came, If in echo,
from the Cooper end, to be likewise greet
ed with applause.
Second dozenr' came from Musser's
henchmen first, for the putting little poll
ucian had struck pocket arranged for
him by BetSeyS own perhdiOuS fingers 1t
full a minute before Cooper's friends
could shout similar announcement And
when they had done 1t they looked grave
for Cooper's luck seemed bad, just then.
And, a moment later, when the cry went
up from Musser's side, Fourth DOZEN!
before CoOper's men called Third there
was much CONSERVATION. But then the day
of famine as to CLAIMS fell on the wicked, and
moments of rich plenty on the just. Coop
er's men began to eat regularly and stur-
Oily their dozens He was having good but
by no means extraordinary luck in finding
clans. There were, also, occasional cries
from Musser's side, but they had only
reached to nine when Coopers men had
shouted gleefully, Twelve! A dozen doz-
en!' From that time on there clam
for Musser, while Coopers progress now
was slow because of very plethora.
Cooper was the first to scent foul play
He looked up, hopelessly puzzled from
his marvelously successful work and at
first grinned somewhat sheepishly. A
glance showed him the pitiful condition
of heat, rage, chagrin and sheer amaze
ment which twisted his opponents face
into many creaSeS of soft fat. He stopped
and looked around, distressed. Musser
quite reached the boundary without find
ing one more clam. Cooper would have
ceased his digging then and there had
not his friends urged him to go on, and
Betsey Bobbin's shrill voice clamored from
the bank above:
GO on! Dig right on, Caleb"
This reused laugh in spite of the
strange and bewilderng suspicious which
had begun to thrill the crowd
That something had happened to the
CLAIMS sunk in that beach was evident
now to the dullest of the spectators and
just before Cooper worked up to the bar
rier a thrust of his clam rake struck a
hard, unyielding mass. A few sweeps of
the instrument cleared the sand from it
and revealed to his astonished gaze such
a bed of clans as nature had never hid
den in a beach There were dozens. There
were. in fact, most of those which the
Portuguese had planted and Betsey Bob
bins party resurrected from Mussers
course to give to Cooper. They were
packed with the regularity of paving
stones in city street
Then rose Mussers almost inarticulate,
raging protest:
Its a fraud! It's a cheat.' he cried.
There was great roar from his sup
porters. and a dismayed and puzzled
silence fell on Cooper and his friends.
The conspirators were breathless
Cooper, with an establishment which
no one could for moment think was
feigned writ plain upon his race and
showing in his attitude, stared down,
amazed. at this great bed of clans. AT
first, while the crowd above waited spell
bound for the first move by the chief
actors in this extraordinary drama, he,
too, was silent. Then he stammered,
slowly:
"Why-what's-w put them CLAIMS
there?"
ewes protruded and his tongue refused him
speech. His face flushed until he felt as IL
an iron band was pressing around MS lore-
head. Then furious anger broke out III
him. and he jumped up and down and
cursed.
TITS fraudw he cried again. Fraud.
This is your dirty work, Caleb Cooper. Yes,
sir; yours. You're cheat--a swindllng
cheat!'
Such had never before been said to Caleb
Cooper. and at first he did not sense them.
Then, towering high. and with one hand up
lifted he started toward his vilifier. Mus
ser paled and shrank back instantly, but
before the frightened hands of Cooper's
friends had time to clutch him Cooper re-
gained his self-control and stood. white
faced but calm again, and gazed into Mus
sers little eyes. This scene held the crowd
quite quiet for moment, and before 1t had
time to recover from its fascination new
element had entered into the situation, for
the parsons rumblng voice growled sonor-
ously.
Fellow citizensw It exclaimed-and every
eye was turned upon him.
An expectant hush settled down upon the
multitude as 1t recognized the speaker.
Mr. Musser is quite right" roared out
the parson. He charges fraud, and fraud
there is
The hush was absolutely breathless.
II myself, the pastor OF the First Church,
who am standing here before you,
with my own eyes saw It perpetrated. L
myself saw a numerous party, made up
largely of the members of Caleb Cooper
family, on this beach last night. saw this
party put those CLAIMS where they were
foundr'