Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1907-05-22


hopeless struggle
And | did not go over to the ban
dts; / simply resumed my own neg
lected personal affairs and made Wild
Week at least personal triumph
There is nothing of the spectacular
in my makeup. / have no belief in
the value of martyrs and martyrdom.
Causes are not won-and in my hum
bic opinion never have been won-in
the graveyards. Alive and safoot and
armed, and true to my cause, am
the dreaded menace to systematic and
respectable robbery. What possible
sood could have come of mobs killing
me and the bandits dividing my
eStatee
But why should l seek to justify
myself? 1 care not a rap for the
opinion of my fellow men. They
sought my life when they should have
been hailing me as deliverer: now,
they look up to me because they false
ly believe me guilty of an infamy
My guards expected to be recalled
on Tuesday. But Melville heard
what Crawford had done about me.
s'AN tAoAShS"os uoSN HIS III
have me detained until the new grip
of the old gang was secure Saturday
afternoon we put in at Newport for
the daily communication with the shore
When the launch returned, Mulholland
brought the papers to me. lounging
aft in mass of cushions under the
awning. I'VE are going ashore" sale
he. The order has come
L had sudden sense of loneliness.
I'll take you down to New York"
said /. Il prefer to land my guests
where l shipped them"
AS we steamed slowly westward
read the papers. The country was
rapidly readjusting itself, was return
ing to the conditions before the up
heaval. The ''financiers"-the same
old gang, except for a few of the
weaker brethren ruined and few
strong outsiders. who had slipped in
during the confusion-were employing
all the old, familiar devices for deceiv-
ing and robbing the people. The up
set milking-stool was righted, and the
good old COW standing without so
much as shake of horn or switch of
tail. "Mulholland." said /, what do
you think of this business of living?"
| I'll tell you, Mr.. Blackjack" said
he. Il used to fuss and fret a good
deal about it. But 1 don't any more
I've got house up in the Bronx, and
| bit of land round it. And there's
Mrs. Mulholland and four little Mulhol-
lands and me-that's my country and
my party and my religion. The rest
is off my beat, and don't give a
damn for it. | don't care which fakir
gets to be president. or which swim
dler gets to be rich Everything
works out somehow, and the best
any man en- do is to mind his own
| business
"Mulholland-Mrs Mulholland-four
little Mulhollands.' said I, refectively
That's about as much as one man
could attend to properly. And-you
are ON the level aren't you?"
"Some say honesty's the best pol
| ICY" replied he. Some say it isn't
1 don't know, and I don't care, wheth-
er it is or it isn't. It's my policy
And we six seem to have got along
on it so far"
| 1 sent my guests" ashore the next
morning.
mo. I'll stay aboard" said I to
Mulholland. as he stood aside for me
to precede him down the Gangway
| from the launch. l went into the
watch-pocket of my trousers and drew
out the folded two s1OOObilIs l always
carried--it was a habit formed in my
youthful gambling days. l handed
him one of the bills. He hesitated.
For the four little MuihoIlands," Ii
| urged.
He put it in his pocket. l watched
him and his men depart with a heavy
heart. l felt alone, horribly alone.
without a tie or an interest Some
of the morning papers spoke respect
fully of me as one of the strong men
who had ridden the flood and had
been landed by it on the heights of
wealth and power. Admiration and
envy lurked even in sneers at my
''unscrupulous plotting" Since I had
wealth, plenty of wealth, I did not
need character. OF what use was
character in such a world except as
commodity to exchange fer wealth?
ANY orders, sir?" Interrupted my
captain.
/ looked round that vast and vivid
scene of sea and land activities l
looked along the city's titanic skyline
the mighty fortresses of trade and
commerce piercing the heavens and
flinging to the wind their black BAN
ners of defiance. felt that I was
under the walls of hell itself.
ITO get away from this" replied I
to the waiting captain. eco back
down the Sound-to Dawn HILL
Yes, l would go to the peaceful.
soothing country, to my dogs and
horses and those faithful servants
bound to me by our common love for
the same animals. Men to cross
swords with, to amuse oneself with"
l unused; "but dogs and horses to
IL