Free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1888-1908, 1906-08-25

get an option on the OOnQuerOr mine
for anything like a reasonable price"
"'Well, it hasn't been for SALE said l,
DULY. but if any one can buy it at a
fair figure, l suppose l am he. If the
cash were coming to pay for it.
MAYBE here's your chance, said Osh-
kosh, and, taking up letter, passed It
over to me; then he turned to write,
digging away with his pen at a wonder
full rate on something that was evidently
juicy to him.
"The letter was from a capitalist who
was at the head of a syndicate that was
offering to buy developed mining prop
erty. 1t was evident that they meant
business and had millions back of them.
While l was reading and Oshkosh
was still writing like fury, clerk slipped
in with = basket containing the usual
grist of papers that daily passes through
a bank, all made up ready to sign and
mail, and on the top of the heap was
the Sultan's Draft. l give you my word
of honor, De, l grew sick again at sight
of If.
''The old man finished with a final
skate across the paper as the clerk passed
out.
well, James, son, what do you think
of it?' he said, wheeling around to me.
III sure tic SOllQuCIOI NOul0 DC SOlQ
if the price isn't out of sight. If you
can swing that deal, my boy, you can
snap your fingers at the whole pack of
your debts, and the Sultan's Draft, too.
Your commissions on the sale would
amount to five times the sum of your
present needs. Do you think you can
make it go through in six weeks? That's
about the limit of time I'm giving to the
return of this hoax
"'Oh, my God We can't count on
that in such a desperate emergency as
this ? cried, in a panic.
Keep cool, James, Keep cool. Sit
on the safety valve and throw in your
bacon and coal OIL You must beat in
the race with some of your plans. and
this offers another very good opportun-
ity to win out. Now look here Osh-
kosh continued, taking the paper he had
just been working over, that draft has
to have something to go with it, and
this is what l have made; but if any
soul on earth can tell what it is, it's more
than can do. 1t did not contain word
to make it ineligible But it was beau-
decorative as Chinese characters, and
seemingly as precise as German script.
Any one might have told me it was San
scrit, or Runic, or Cuneiform, or Aztec
or Choctaw, and I would have believed
tor, for that matter, design for an
Oriental rug or an Arabian mural deco
ration; it would have been all the same
to me. Why, De, what was intended to
! convey the idea of signature and ended
in that last almighty skate of Oshkosh's,
beat Spinner's and was a master
piece finer than that of the Sultan him
self that they inlay in mother-of-pearl on
the tops of tabourets. Heaven help the
British Museum if it ever meets with
that dummy document of Oshkosh's );
savants will waste their lives trying to
decipher it.
"Well, that worthless thing the old
man fastened with a big bank pin to
that worthless draft, and addressed it to
his correspondent here in Chicago.
There you are, James, my boy; bid
/ il good-by, but be ready TO greer it with
amount on demand when it comes back.
| Now go long about your business
Il did go about my business-you can
bank on that l fairly tore up the earth
to be ready to meet the return of that
draft. Why, / couldn't think of that in
fernal draft that l didn't imagine the
banks it went through and the stir il
must have made in some of them. OF
the blooming young clerks that handled
it-and reverently, too, good Lord land
of the old-timers they appealed to, per
haps, who were afraid to take it seri-
ously and afraid to take it as a joke
"None of my schemes positively failed
but they tantalized me with numberless
delays that ate into my nerves like I've
Still the return of the draft was provi-
dentially delayed Then, when each day
dawned with the dread that it would
bring the crack of doom, the consumma
ton of the Conqueror mine deal became
assured. The final settlement of the sale
that would give me money to burn RAJ
neck and neck with the return of tina
, daredevil draft that would bring nj
ruin and disgrace.
. "At last bank messenger came dowi
to the works to tell me Oshkosh wanted
to see me Immediately. If was thought
knew my condition-why, l thought o
suicide as | went up town
. "Old Oshkosh was waiting for me il
his private Office, looking as usual, faith
erly and kindly serious. But the doc
had hardly closed on us when he heN
> at me and beat and pounded me on tn
: back, and shouted an undertone of som
! good news into my ear couldn't max
out what
. Look. look, James, my boyp
:, cried, snatching UP bit of paper. TIL
Sultan's Draft, the Sultan's DraftP
i THE engraved voucher swan befor
my eyes, but 1 giddily saw enough
d James Mathematician thousand do
/ lars-the Sultan's Draft had been paid
e well, what do you think of that
: marveled De Loss.
From that on it seemed that every
5 thing came my wav." resumed HazletoI
y More than hundred thousand cair
e pouring in on me in the next few week
y But Raudebaugh and l never tired {
q specializing on the reason the Sultan hot
Il ored the draft. l spent good deal TT
ing to clear up the mystery Of cours