The Cairo bulletin., 1905-01-27

H. The Bulletins Daily Story. ~:
!:

uulh HAS ShipItu. We fedu all aDOul
1t. There's Il gang outside waitin' for
him, but he amt here, an he ain'i
comm"
Wilmot did not dare to express any
doubt Of this. but he ventured to make
another suggestion of caution, to
which, however, Bill did not reply. He
drew a large bag from under his coat
and began TO collect in it the family
silver from the sideboard and closet,
keeping his revolver ready and an eye
| upon Wilmot all the time. Finally in q
compartment of the sideboard he came
upon a quantity of cooked food and
some bottles.
''Champagne.' he muttered. whats
1t don' here? An this beef an bread
looks pretty fresh. Well, blast mcw
He brought the food and drink to the
table.
Il don't understand this" said he,
"but we may as well get next TO it.
| Hungry, are We? We'll. I'm thirsty.
| Never was any other way. Sit down"
They took their places mt opposite
sides of the table, and, keeping the re-
vOlver handy, Bill opened two bottles
Of wine, pushing one of them across to
his companion. They drank from sill
yer cups, Wilmot sparingly, Bill with a
deep, absorbing, natural thirst, like
that Of sponge.
Presently Bill appeared TO fall into
sort Of trance. His head sank forward
a little: his eyes stared at the cup from
which he had drunk. Minutes passed
slowly.
After what seemed to Wimot an
eternity Bill slowly emerged from his
torpor. He put up his left hand and
rubbed his stubbly chin Then he
pushed back the tangle of black hair
that tumbled over his low forehead
and in so doing dislodged the rusty hat
which had been perched upon the back
of his head. 1t fell upon the floor with
an unnaturally loud sound, but Bill
gave it no heed.
I'm a back number" said he slowly;
that's what / am. Look at that stuff
on the table. What II | get for It?
Mebbe $500 It's worth good deal
more. sure. But / got TO take what
they'll give me. The fellers that buy
this sort o. stuff are all In combine.
A gun that sells outside the ring goes
TO the jug. It's the same all the way
around. The Teller that does the work
gets nothin'; the Teller that's got the
money an is in the combination gets
everything. I'm back number; that's
what's the matter with me-
"What you complain Of" said Will
mot, sis feature Of our present indus
trial development"
Bill, whose head had sunk upon his
breast, looked up again.
"You seem to be an edjercated man."
said he, "but," he added with sigh, |
"edjercation cuts no ice any more. It's |
grab game Now, look at this man
Murdoch. What's he beeu a-doin,i Do
you read the papers? Well. then you
know. He's grabbed two railroads; |
he's ruined an old fashioned million.
aire named Harrison-a sort O back |
number like myself iudge-an' lot |
o. little guys that put their money in
the road. Bit what's that? What hid |
the fellers get thai built the road, the
fellers that did the work? Mebbe a |
few contractors an bosses got little |
rake-off. but most o. 'em was dagoes |
workin' for dollar a day. An now in |
comes this man Murdoch, this blamed |
up TO date pirate, an grabs them two |
roads an hands 'em over to the gang. |
An they say his fee III be near half
million bones. Think he'll get as much |
as thatfr
1--WE heard somewhere" said viii |
mot, that it would he 100000"
A sudden shlver swept over him as
he named the sum, and for an instant
the money belt against his body seem
ed stuffed with ice.
-Four hundred thousand" echoed |
Bill Think what a fellow like me
could do with all that money! But it
amt nothn' in these days. Why, |
some o. these trust magnates blow in
more'n that on a steam yacht. Why N
blazes they should do it," he added re-
fectively Il don't know I can get as
stdslck us WANT 10 I've IOT II uOlldT |
and half goln down TO Sandy Hook
on fishin' excursion. hut the stom-
achs O them fellers viii stand any
thing, 9sguess. Itsias mneh as mine
can stand sometimes TO read about
'en1e 81 F's49 ir-.e
You seem to be a sort Of social
ist," said Wilmot
Sometimes l get a-thinkin' about
them things" he admitted. Il get /
a-thinkIn' about people worlin'. work
in all over the world. They're a-goin'
il all the time, for the world turns over.
an some OF 'em work while the others.
sleep An what are they dom?
They're maxim things that they can't
maxim em for fellers like
Amt that queer? Amt it
queer TO think o. lot o. men buildin'
on a great bis. fine fireproof hotel all
day an then goin' home TO sleep in
Z by 8 rooms in little fire trap tene-
ments? / saw a lot o. men at work on
n fifteen story department store build
in today. They'll work at that sort o.
thing for twenty, thirty or forty years.
some o. 'em. an when it's all over an
they're dead their wives won't have