The San Francisco call., 1907-01-13

tate, gradually converting all of them
into cash Then, the opportunity Of
fering, he bought a stock which paid
excellent dividends, had it transferred
in blank, because II It should prove to
Rogers advantage to sell IT, his agent
could do so without any formal delays
between Paris and Canaan. AT least,
that is what the Judge had told him
self at the time, though it may be
that some lurking Whisperer in his
soul had limited that it might be well
TO preserve the great amount Of cash
in hand, and Rogers stock was prac-
tically that. Then came the evil days.
Laboriously. he had built up a name
for conservatism which most OF the
town accepted, but secretly he had al
ways been a gambler: Wall street was
his goal: 10 adventure there as one
Of the great single-eyed Cyclopean
man. eaters, his fond ambition; and he
had conceived the distillery trust as a
means TO attain It; but the structure
tumbled about his ears; other edfices
of his crumbled at the same time: he
found himself beset, his solvency en-
dSngered. and there was the Tabor
stock. quite as good as gold; Roger
had just died, and ii was enough to
save hin.--Save2 That was a strange
way to be remembering it today, when
fate grinned at him out of a dreadful
bert Flitcroft.
Martin Pike knew himself for a
fool. What chance had he, though he
destroyed the check thousand times
over, TO escape the records by which
the coil Of modern trade duplicates
and quadruplicates each slip of scrib-
bled paper? What chance had he
against the memories Of men9 Would
the man Of whom he had bought, for
get that the check was signed by
Rogers agent? Had the bank clerk
forgotten? Thrice fool. Martin Pike,
to dream that in a town like Canaan,
Norbert or any Of his kind could touch
an order for so great a sum and for
get it, But Martin Pike had not
dreamed that; had dreamed nothing.
When failure confronted him his mind
refused to consider anything but his
vital need at the time, and he had
supplied that need. And now he grew
busy with the future: he saw first the
civil suit for restitution, pressed with
the ferocity and cunning of one who
intended TO satisfy a grudge of years
then, perhaps, criminal prosecution.
But he would fight iti Did they
think that such a man was to be over
thrown by breath of air? BY a girl
a bank clerk. and a shyster lawyer?
They would find their case difficult to
prove in court. He did not believe they
ited for the attempt upon him
and he would win clear; these Beaver
Beach scandals would die of inertia
presently; there would be lucky trick
in wheat. and Martin Pike would be
Martin Pike once more; relnstated. die
tator of church. politics, business: all
those things which were the breath of
his life restored. lie would show this
pitiful pack what manner OF man they
houndedi Norman Flitcroft
The Judge put his big hand up to his
eyes and rubbed them. Curious me-
chanisms the eyes. That deer
In line with the vision-not a zebra? A
zebra after all these years? And yet
curious, indeed. the cyesl
a zebra. Who ever heard OF a
deer with stripes? The big hand rose
from the eyes and ran through the
hair which he had always worn rather
long. 1t would seem strange to have
ii cut very short. Did they use
clippers. perhaps?
He started suddenly and realized that
his next-door neighbor had passed
along the sidewalk with head averted.
pretending not TO see him. A few
weeks ago the man would not have
missed the chance of looking in to