Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-12-19

with an utterly worthless tract of land
 along the gulf-a miserable, sun baked
 little hole rejoicing in the name of
 Olivia, which lies midway between
 Matagorda City and Longmatt, by the
 way. Through Hill & Eaton we ad'
 vised Brother Fishcall to buy this
 tract, which-bless my sOul-he did at
 once and at our own price"
 The amused speculator glanced at
 Richard and, mistaking his gloom for
 phlegmatic British lack of humor,
 went on:
 Ut seems also that thereafter the
 Peace and Good Will Realty com
 pany went to Bill Williams and asked
 his advice. The old skinflint also own
 ed lot of land around Olivia, which he promptly worked off on his contid'
 ing benefactors Now, look here, Croy-
 land. you don't seem to appreciate the
 joke.'
 But, my dear sir" began Richard, forgetting his role for moment
 "Olivia isn't such bad-er-I mean
 err
 Such a bad sale for me. eh?' laugh ed Mr. Renwyck. unconsciously help ing his guest out of a hole. '1 should say not! Why. my boy, we've sold white elephant!'
 Richard thought swiftly. Olivia, as he was about to tell Mr. Renwyck, was not such bad site for deep wa ter harbor after all, and in fact he had always contended with his father that 1t was more advantageously located for that purpose than Matagorda City. Not only was the situation more cen tral, but it offered shorter and more direct communication with freight routes and main lines. True, the country was sparsely populated in its vicinity, but settlers would come nat urally with the development of such an enterprise. Perhaps the Peace and Good Will Realty company's rep. resentative was not such an egregious ass as the Renwyck and Williams fac tiOns supposed.
 Has the new company. in your opin- ion, any chance of success:" he asked his host.
 "Chance." laughed Mr. Renwyck. Not ghost of it! Now, listen. Here comes the cream of the joke. The time for taking a vote on these deep water harbor bills in the Texas legislature had been set for two weeks from now, but va riorc circrp ct rnoc bayo pla avad directly into my hands. Senator Frank Kinwait, president of the Texas state improvement committee of the legis- lature, was closeted with me for two hours this morning. He is now on his way to Austin. where my harbor bill will be passed by both houses immedi- ately upon his arrival, and the legisla- ture will at once adjourn"
 "You-you mean." stammered Rich ard, that you have bought Kinwait- that
 Tut, tut" protested the crafty old schemer. True. I bought the gentle man lunch at Sherry's, together with few cigars, couple of cold bottles. and there were some incidental ex- penses which ran the price of the meal up-well, up into six figures. but be- yond this"- Mir. Renwyck paused and smiled. No one in this enlightened age would dream of buying an entire legislature. my dear boy. Horrible"
 Richard rose from his seat, took a turn up and down the library, then faced his exultant host
 'Mr Renwyck," he asked, 'aren't you losing sight of one important fac tor in the game? From what I have heard of him, Bill Williams is scarcely the man to be lying around in a ham, mock while you are putting through your deep water harbor bill. In my humble opinion, you are going to have a fight on your hands that will make 1 you sit up and get busy"
 This was the most un-English lan- 1 guage which the supposed nobleman i had yet employed, but it did not at tract the notice or awaken the suspi- 1 ciOn of NIT. Renwyck at that time, owing to his deep interest in the mat | ter immediately in hand.
 An" he cried. now you've laid | your finger on beauty spot. Of l course Williams will fight me with | tooth and nail; hut. by the Lord Harry, | he can't"
 Why nOt:"
 Simply because he will not be .n Texas when my bill is passed
 Richard stared at his host in fear and wonder. while Mir Renwyck con- l tinued jubilsntly:
 Il could not have had matters turn | out better if had arranged it all my self. It seems that Williams fool of a son was up here in New York last week and got himself badly smashed | up in an automobile accident"
 What. you don't mean
 Yes. it's true" added the specula- tor quickly without noticing Richards look of astOnishment. Michael show | ed me greatly exaggerated newspa- per account yesterday morning
 "ls he-er-mOTtaIly or dangerously I hurt:~ began Richard. who had in !. truth forgotten all about the condition ! of the real Croyland. and he now be- gan to fear that the man who had as sumed his name really might be more seriously injured than any of them had imagined Richard was neither heartIeSs nor indifferent: but. not sus- pecting Croylsnds injuries were seri- GUS and being fully occupied with his own engrOssing situation, he had not given the wounded earl a thought for Tavs