The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1907-09-06

In the room as an idle spectator ana
was bit with the excitement and asked
a friend who was a member to act for
him. I'm going to play a han In.
this quoth Master Losing.
AT that price," asked his friend.
when they get to 9S guineas pre-
MUM"
Il suppose you know that makes you
liable for about G1o,S00. There's
G540.O00 underwritten."
Pm good for that" said Losing, and
an hour afterward proved himself so.
as he had to pay. To this day many
Lloyds men who We're interested in
that scene congratulate themselves on
having made G10,S00 salvage by a
fluke out of a ship that was totally
lost.
1t began to dawn on LOSING after
the event that he had made a fool of
himself and that his uck was through,
but he had the sense not to whine
aloud. and so his friends forgot the
matter in the excitement of other in
t~erests. Losing did not forget, because
the bank had written to him that his
account was overdrawn, and he had
several bills which much wanted pay
ing. Unostentatiously he began 10
look about him for a means of making
IL more regular and steady livelihood.
AS alteT SeNtIal illOlllllS Oh octliCll
this last did not seem any appreciably
nearer, he was able to give full atten-
ton to a letter he received concerning
the Port Edes and her cargo. 1t was
unsigned and bore an American post
mark. 1t ran as follows:
Sir: l hear that you are now legfti-
mate owner of the Port Edes and her
cargo. She was picked up at sea and
is now in the Everglades of Florida in
(here followed the exact latitude and
longitude). The specie is taken out
of her. and you will find it by digging
directions). IL you are a wise MAJ and
wish to enjoy what is now your own,
you will say as little about it to any
one as possible"
The communication was, to say the
least of it, mysterious, but because
Losing was a fool he did not see so
many possibilities in it as g. man with
more imagination might have done. He
determined to find out how the matter
lay with his own eyes and with that
purpose journeyed to the hotel at Point
Sebastian, now rebuilt with new mag
niticence. 1t was the winter season,
and the place was crowded, and among
the crowd was Lossing's old friend
Kent-Williams, again at the end of
his new quarters allowance. The pair
had several cocktails together and
some talk. and finally set off into the
= VI iiu1 IlSS eLiS vi GlL
ancient alligator hunter. The saga of
their doings for the next six months
does not appear, but it is known that
other men joined them, including sew
eral in the nautical interest, so that
there must have been quite a colony
of them out there, presumably at some
sort of employment or other. Messrs.
Kent Williams and Losing again re-
turn to view OIL board a royal mail
boat bound home from q port of west
ern out America.
The pair of them watched the shores
sink under the sea. and THAT'S lone
WITH said Kent-Willians.
ut is returned LOSING" and I'm not
sorry, and l am satisfied. It's Il bigger
puzzle than / shall ever make out in
this life. First a steamer that's sup
posed to be sunk gets up and goes
overland and plants herself in the mid
die of a forest. as though she wanted
to grow. She's so tight there that it
takes us six months to cut a n to
the nearest river. Then someone paints
a different pattern on one smokestack
and leaves the other as it was and al
tiers some of the name plates OF her en-
gines and fittings and leaves he names
on the life buoys as they were. And
then the gold that's in her flies two
miles farther up country and dives
twenty feet under the ground without
disturbing the network of mangroNa
roots which are so matted above THAI
we had to cut them With an ak"
Il think. dear boy. we've been wise
in selling the steamer with a different
name on her to a man who gave her
a low price and asked no questions"
I'm sure of it. But still I'd like to
know how it was all done. Do you think
that Catnbel had a finger in it?"
D. you think" r%etorted Kent-Wil-
liams, that if Patrick Calnbel had his
finger on half a million that no one
else knew about it wouldn't have been
his half million? No, sir, that cock
won't fight. Besides he was spooning
the Kildar girl and that took up all
his time, l guess. He married her in
the early autumn, n they've gone
somewhere west, l fancy, and 1 don't
exactly know where. She'd a sister
near Point Sebastian, a Mrs. Duver-
nay. a deuced niced looking woman,
that Cambel was spoons on himself one
time"
"Oh. you've spoken about her before"
II know. Between ourselves, Loss
Ing, dear boy, l went up to her place
one evening and proposed to her, and,
by jove. d'you know she actually re-
fused me! She's got that fellow Cam
bel still in her head. 1 D But
1 shall go out and have a look at her
again. Honestly / was after $500 a
year at first, but now that. thanks to
you. I'm better off it won't look SC
bad. and really l like her better thai
| thought. She's a most awfully charm
ing WOMAN"
What did she ever marry that brute
DuNernay for?" asked Losing.
"Ah. that" replied Kent-Willia1ns. 81,
more than l can tell you."
THE END.
EELS IN WATER PIPES.