Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1907-05-31

| regular tram line toward 1t. HIM!
| Mighty good work Of yours. But doesn't
| it sour on you sometimes? Don't you
want a day off occasionally? A run
| down to Monte Carlo, for instance"
Monte Carlo! You horrify me, Mr.
Cambel. You are my guest, and l can
not speak strongly, but this Is q very
poor jest Of yours"
We'll, perhaps you Know best about
that place. Monte Carlo is risky at the
best Of time for some folks, because
| you're bound to meet crowds OF peo-
pie you know, and if they aren't on the
razzle dazzle, too, and pinned to diplo-
matte silence through their own In
EQUITIES some of them are apt to split
when they get home again. But l don't
know why you should be Mortified,
seeing that we are entire quatre yeux
here and not or one of your pious ex-
ample platforms. You know, you've
been in a far hotter shop thai Monte
Carlo. Watch me pocket that red.
All, rouge perd-Barcelona to wit. Ii
you remember, you We're staying at the
Quatro Naciones, and at nights you
used to cross the Rhambla, and
MY God, how did you know all this?"
do you remember Directing to take
a sheaf of obviously spurious notes, and
there was a row n somebody whipped
out q knife, and somebody else fioored
the knifeman with a chair?"
"Yes-no."
after which you very sensibly bolted.
Well, senior, | had only just that mo-
ment come in. but / saw you were a
fellow islander, and that's why / han
died the chair. You don't remember
me, and | didn't know our name, but
| recognized o the moment your wife
introduced us here, because l / never for
get a face"
You're mistaken. l never was in
such a place in my life, sir. Think of
the position occupy. Why, the things
absurd"
Now, my good sir, don't play Peter
here. I'm not going to give o away.
Nc fear. Why should l? 1t would
probably ruin you, and | should stand
self convicted Of having been in the
lowest and most desperate gambling
hell in Europe without being made a
siXpence richer by the transaction. Only
o didn't know me, and you thought
/ didn't know you, and l fancied ie
would be handler If we were open about
one another's little ways at once before
we went on any further. Who knows
but what we might stand in at soma
profitable business together? Oh, see
that! Bad huke n an eight shot"
Mr.. Theodore Shelf stood before the
fireplace and drew q handkerchief
across his forehead with trembling fin
gers.
What business did you refer to-" he
asked at length.
"None whatever. I'm not a business
man. l make discoveries and don't
know how to use them. You're q bust
ness man and may be able to see where
the money profit comes in. If you cam,
why, then We'll share the plumber. If
o can't were neither of us worse off
than before"
But this is vague. What sort of
discoveries? Have you found a mine?"
mo, sir, in the present instance a
channel"
"A channel? 1 don't take you"
"A deep water channel leading up
to a coast and in beyond it, where ev-
erybody else supposes there is nothing
but shallow water. The government
charts put down the place as partly un.
surveyed, but all impossible for naviga-
ton. The upgrowth Of coral, they say.
is turning part of the sea into dry land,
In q large measure that is true, but at
n point, which / have discovered, q
river comes down from the interior, and
the scour Of this river has cut q deep
narrow channel out through the reefA
to the deep sea water beyond"
I'm confidence could you tell me
where this place is?"
I'm confidence, I'll tell you it is on
the west coats of Florida-on the Mexi.
can gulf coast. The interior of south.
ern Florida is called the Everglades
It's partly lake, partly swamp, built up
of many groves, saw grass, cypress
trees and water, tenanted by snakes,
alligators, wild beasts and a few Sem
mole Indians. Only one expedition of
whites has been across it-or rather
only one expedition known to history,
But I've been there, right into the heart
of the Ever@lades-in fact, I've just
come from there, and 1 netted G1, 600
out of the trip"
Howe" asked Shelf.
Never mind exactly how. That's
partly another mans business. Shall
we say the other mar gave me a com.
mission there, and l carried it out and
got duly paid? Anyway that's a suffi-
Gent explanation. But what about the
channel I've found. If one gives it tc
the chart people, they'll simply say
thank 0 and publish your name in
one number of q professional magazine
which nobody reads. l don't banker
after fame of that kind. I've the sordid
taste to much prefer dollars"
Shelf strobe forward and seized Cam.
bel by the arm. IF your channel and
your everglades will answer a purpose
| want, there's half a million of Eng
liSh soVercignS to be mad out of it."
Five hundred thousand pounds!
Phewi'
Hush, There's somebody coming.
But it's to be had if o are not afraid
of a little risk
q fear nothing on this earth,' said
Cambel, when it's to my interest not
10 fear. Moreover, though I'm not a
saint, my standard of morality Is prob
ably a shade higher than yours. don't
mind doing some sorts of dirty things,
but there are shades in dirtiness. and
al some tints / draw the line. It's Ian
gerous to-er-have the tips of these
cues glued on so badly. They fly off
and hit people,"
The billiard room door had opened
and Amy Rivers had come in, with
Fairfax at her heels, whence Gamblers
depression. The matter had not been
put in so many words, but he felt
sure that the commission of a great
robbery had been proposed to him, and
he had more han half a mind to drive
his knuckles into Theodore Shells ly-
ing, hypocritical face there and then
on the spot.
Continued Next Weekly