The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-09

pIeadsd. s'lf you begin wi4h houses scr tnese. you'ilEhave to cail the others aWeli. there's somethinx in that, toc, said Crunden. doubtfully
 Afsr a long but amicabie debate. Crunden allowed hjmseif to be overruled on all points. me cottages were called cottages. and were num- nered-Hill Side Cottages. 1 to 20, And Tn little while all but three of them were occupied by the best class of cottaee tenants.
 This was pleasant enough; but be- Tore very long MT. Crunden had to race two more disappointments. The man who had taken Lot s, and of wh om much was hoped disclosed himself as man of straw. An unsightly roofiess carcass was thrown on MT. Crunden's hands. Carcasses cannot be left about on building estate: prohtably or not you must convert them into weather tight roofed. and glazed houses; aban- doned as derelict, they proclaim the story of failure and will scarce away the boldest speculators. MT. Crunden grunted, shrugged his shoulders, and manfully set to work to turn the scar ing carcass into nth turing decoy. Then came the iEnominious collapse of Mir Parrot Et tu. Brutel In, a moment one saw plainly the straw sUAfSHs ahu prOtruNshB. ne was as completely man of straw as any ef- hky of his landlord on last Guy Fawkes day. M ass
 He had allowed st. Valentines feast to- pass without beginning to build. Midsummer was near before he cut the turf. brought bricks upon the ground. and slowly laid down concrete and set his footings for the three new rows of cottages. ! On the third of July. when he was about ten courses high, the bill which he had given to his brickmaiser was dishonored, and he came up to Kings Cottage to ask for money. The mornings post had already sounded the well-known note of alarm. Tn regard to J. R. Parrot, 7 wrote this man of straw's timber mer- chantS i've are prepared to deliver im- mediateIy on the Understanding. as we have already been given to unders- stand that you are guaranteeing the account: but before doing so shall be glad to have your confirmation of the same" There was nothing for 1t but to take over the newly started cot tages. Rather than lose time and in- cur costs in recovery by law. Crunden paid off Parrots score for bricks etc. bought out Parrot. and even gave him something for himself. to be rid lof him promptly. Gladly would he have also given Parrot "a prodigious kick be- hind, to speed him from the land and knock the straw out of him.
 Again. however, he. bore his disap- poihtment stoica1ly. l"f saw 1t coming" he said tot Jack. aThere was no surprise in 1t. I've seen 1t coming quite plain last few weeks"
 And he grunted. squared his shoui- ders, and took mp the new work. Un- finished cottages cannot be left about on a successful building estate. One must keep moving; nothing must stand still. Upon the hill. his rivals were moving fast. The company had clear- ed the ground along their outside frontage. had marked out and even fenced their plots;- ands these esItside sites--with the unhroken view over the golf links. the common. the bare down and nestling woods--were going off like hot cakes i
 The staff was increased again; the yard was so full now that 1t over flowed. The master was now as busy as in the old days when he had six or seven solid contracts on hand. But of cotpse there must be a. limit to this sort of thing. Mr. Crunden's scheme had been to get others to build all sver the land, not to build all over 1t aim seis.
 CHAPTER XVIII.
 Nearly year had passed and the warm summer weather was coming