The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-18

~ 0tLBERT PARKER.
CopyrighL. 1897. BY Joseph d Bopiss.

WHAT'S his price In open insrket2'
Thirty millions 4 think not"
Then was heard the voice ~ Billy Goat
-- his name WAS William Goatry:
Out IN the cold world. out in the street,
.,otbing to wear and nothing 10 eat;
Fatherleas, motherless. sadly ! roam:
child OF misfortune. I'm driven from home.
A loud laugh followed, for Billy Goat
was a popular person at Kowatin In the
saskatchewan country. He had an inim-
table drollery, heightened by a cast in
his eye, a very large mouth and a round,
good humored face; also he Ind a hand
and arm like iron, and was altogether n
great man on a spree.
There had been n two days spree at Ko-
watin for no other reason than that there
had been great excitement over the capture
and subsequent escape OF a prairie rover
who had robbed the contractors money
chest az the rail head on the Canadian
Pacific railroad.
He had been caught forty miles from
kowatin by the tan, brown eyed man
with the hard bitten face who leaned against
the open window of the tavern, looking
indiferently At the j~eering crowd before
him. He was not unpopular with them,
uut Ic ndu bttn ~ idil'IF wv 'i'F' hibs No
Billy Goat had said. at tickled usto death
TO see a rider Of the plains of his trolley
on the cold, cold ground. same "a you
and me
This man. leaning idly against the wall,
staring into the sunlight and smoking a
Mexican, cheroot, had been. as Billy Goat
said. 80 dang successful" that they had a
peculiar joy in his coming a cropper, az
they had lone in their tim too often. They
did not undervalue him.
II he had been less a man than he was
they would not have taken the trouble to
cover him with their drunken ribaldry.
He had scored on them in the pas IN just
such spress as this, when he had the power
10 do 80, and used the power good naturedly
and quietly-but used IL.
Then he Was Sergt. Foyle Of the Royal
Northwest Mounted Police, on duty in a
district as large ms the United Kingdom.
And he had no greater admirer than Billy
Goat, who now reviled him. Not without
cause. in a way for he had reviled himself
10 this extent, that when the prairie rover
Halbeck escaped on the way TO Prince
Albert after six months hunt for him
and a final capture in the Kowatin district
Foyle resigned the force before the COM
missioner could reproach him or call him 10
account.
Then he had made his way TO the Happy
Land Hotel at Kowatin, TO begin life as "A
free and independent gent on the loose"
as Billy Goat had said. To resign had
seemed extreme, because. though the COM
missioner was vexed at Halbeck's escape,
Foyle was the best non commissioned officer
in the force.
He had frightened horse thieves and
bogus land agents and spectators out Of
the country, had fearlessly tracked down
a criminal or a band Of criminals when the
odds were heavy against him. He carried
on his face the scars Of two bullets. and
there was one white lock in his brown hair
where an arrow had torn the scalp away
as. alone. he drove into the post a score Of
Indians. fresh from rsidng the cattle Of an
immigrant trailing TO the farther north.
Now he was out Of work. or 40 il seemed:
he had stepped down from his scarlet coated
dignity. from the place Of guardian and
guide Of civilization. into the idleness Of a
tavern stoop.
Al the little group swayed round him and
Billy Goat started another song FoyIe
reused himself as though TO move away
he was waiting for the mad stage TO take
him south.
oh. father. dear father. come home with
me now.
The clock in the steeple strikes one;
You said you were coming right nome from
the shop
As soon as your days work was done.
Come home come home
The song arrested him. and slowly hs
leaned back against the window again.
A curious look came int his eyes, a look that
had nothing to do with the acts Of the
people. before him.
II was searching into a scene beyond this
bright sunlight. and the far green brown
grass and the little oasis or trees in the dis
lance marking a homestead and the dust
Of the wagon wheels out or the trail beyond
the grain elevator. beyond the blue hori-
cons rim. quivering in the heat, and into
religions where this crisp. clear. life giving
life saving air never blew.
You said you were coming right home from
the shop
Al. soon as your day. work was done. ,
Come home-come home
He remembered when he had first heard
this song in a play called Ten Nights in a
bArrOOm many years De1Ore, ana now
II had wrenched his heart and soul, and COW
cred him with a sudden clod Of shame and
anger. For his father had been a drunk
ard. and a brother had grown up.a drunk
ard. that brother whom he had not seen for
ten years until - until
He shuddered. closed his eyes as though
TO shut out something that the mine saw.
He had had a rough Hfe. he had become
Injured 10 the seamy side Of thing there
was a seamy side even in this clean. free.
wide land, and he had no sentimentality.
though something seemed to hurt him now.
As soon as your days work was done.
Come home-come home
The crowd was uproarious. The exhilara-
lion had become a kind Of delirium. Men
were losing their heads: there was an ele-
ment OF irresponsibility in the new outbreak
likely TO breed some violent act, which
every man Of them would lament when
sober again.
Nettlewood Foyle watched the dust rising
from the wheels Of the stage, which had
passed the elevator and was nearing the
s.stIs mono Hotel lar down the street.
Hs would soon leave behind him this noisy
49, - urk.,b H. x,a Al. o.1N.- IL.