Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1905-09-22


when came into the Office that morn,
ing. as usual, and found Mason alone.
Not altogether alone-he had his bot
1. tie. And he had had il and others Of the
same family all the night before. The
poor drunken wretch hadn't been home
at all. He was worse than.he d been that
morning three days before. when had
stood facing him and talking TO him,
while with my hands behind my back
] was taking wax impression of the
lock of the desk; and he as unconscious
Of II all as Tausig himself.
The last page had dictated the day
before, which he'd been transeribing
from his notes, lay in front of him, the;
gas was still burning directly above him.
and a'shade he wore over his weak eyes
had been Knocked awry as his poor old
bald head went humping down on the
typewriter before him.
The thing that favored me was
Tausig's distrust Of everybody con
nected with him. He hates his part
ners only BIT less than he hates the
men outside the trust. The bigger
and richer the syndicate grows, the /.
more power ind prosperity il has. the
more he begrudges them their share
OF II; the more he wants II al sor
himself. He is madly suspicious Of his;
clerks, and hires Others TO watch them. I,
to spy upon them He is continually
moving his valuables from place TO
place, partly because he trusts. no
man, partly because he's so deathly
afraid his right hand will find out >
what his left is doing. He is a full
partner OF Braun and Lowenthal-withI
mental reservations He has no con-
fdence in either Of them. Half his
schemes he keeps from them; the other
half he tells theu-part Of He's for
ever afraid that the syndicate of which
he's the head will fall to pieces and
become another syndicate Of which he
won't be head.
II all makes him an unhappy. rest. -
less little beast. but it helped me to
day. II it'd been any question of safe
combinations and tangled things like :
that, the game would have been an up
for Nancy o. But in his official safe
Tausig keeps only such PAPERS as he
wants Braun and Lowenthal to see.
And in his private desk in his private
Office he keeps
stole past Mason. sleeping with his
forehead on the typewriter keys-hen
be lettered like the obelisk when he'i
wakes up-and crept into the next room
to see just what Tausig keeps in that
private desk Of his.
oh. yes, it was locked But hadn't
] been carrying the key to il every
minute for the last As hours? There
must be mine Of stun in that desk
OF Tausig's, Mag The touch of every
paper in it is Shiny with some dirty
trick, some bad secret some mean
action. It's pity that | hadn't time
TO 20 through EN- all; il would have
been interesting; but under a bundle
OF women's letters, which that old fox
keeps for no good reason, I'll bet, I
Iii on a paper that made my heart 70
humping like cart over cobbles.
Yes, there 1t was, just as 0bermuller
had vowed II was, with Tausiy's .
cramped little signature followed by
Heaelfingef :, Dixon's and Weinstocks:
a scheme TO crush the business life out
Of men by the cleverest, up-to-date
trust deyiltry; thing that cur Uncle
Sammy just won't stand for.
And neither will Nancy olden, Miss
Monahan.
She grabbed that precious paper with
gasp OF delight and closed the desk.
But she bungled a bit there, for
Mason lifted his head and blinked
dazedly at her for a moment, recog.
nized her and shook his head.
No-work to-day" be said.
Mo- know. III just look over
what we've done, Mr.. Mason" she an
swered, cheerfully.
! His poor head went down again with
Dob, and she caught up the type
written sheets OF 0bermuler's play.
she waited a minute longer; half be- .
cause she wanted to make sure Mason
. was asleep again before she tore the
sheets across and crammed them down
into the waste basket; half because she
pitied the old fellow and was sorry to
take advantage Of his condition. But
she knew a cure for this last sorry
way shed help him later; and when
she danced out into the hall she was
the very happiest burglar In a world
ehock full Of opportunities.
Oh. she was In such a twitter an
she did IT. All that old delight in do
Ing somebody else up, vague some
body whose meanness she didn't know.
was as nothing to the JOY Of doing
Isusig up She was dancing on a vol.
cano again, that incorrigible Nance!
On but such a volcano, Maggiel II
atoned for a year Of days when, there
was nothing doing; no excitement no
risk' nothing to keep . girl interested