The sun., 1908-04-26
THE STRANGER AT
/ THUNDER CREEK.
Eustaee MuCatroYd SpinkS Sore
Was a PuzEle for a Time.


sardonioally that afternoon his New York
entertainers getting their nails manicured,
He harked back to the manlouring at dinner
that evening.
'You hombreys gettin' yourolaws trimmed
and overhauled by them pompadoured
dolls to-day took me back to Eustace
Murgatroyd Splnks,' said he.
'As a plhmb puzzle and mystery Eustaoe
Murgatroyd Spinks had Mister Sphinx,
his sandlot namesake. lookin as candid
az a circus poster on a country road and
as easy to solve as Plank in the Pro-
hibidon platform. f. NJ Spinks when he
liz in Thunder Crlck was the riddle OF all
the ages, pan siited, centrifugal separated
and hydraulic bullloned into somethin'
lean and elegant, in pearl gray frock coat
suit that looked like the House Of Splooken-
! heipeT billed down to one mighty, perlshin'
effort. gray plug hat to match, spats ditto,
pick pinted paytent leather shoes, shirt and
necktie like fourdollarsw worth OF Neapolitan
brick ice cream, complexion peachier n
shirtwaist dummys. moss agatey eyes
bigger n tgw marbles, slick tallowy hair,
a retirin' molasses candy mustash, and
one o. these always inquinn' expressions
on his face like somebody wonderin' whether
it's goin 20 rain next Tuesday week OF not.
Elistace he sure looked like somebody
dressed up in clothes like you see in the
back pages Of magazines which there
never was any such clothes on land or sea
eIoeptin' on Spnks,
But Spinks's clothes alone didn't make
him mystery and a riddle. II was what
he was goin' 10 n, or how they we're goin
20 do him, and maybe little Of both, that
made the Thunder Criokets ohirp among
themselves like the inmates OF the old
ladies home hgurin' on when they're goin'
to get new gingham sunbonnets. That's
what made Spinks algebry and diferental
calculus and how old Is Ann in Thunder
Criok. Because when he sifted in Spnks
sort O. let il gurgle that he was thinkin
some Of settlin' In Thunder Crick. After
sayin' Just that Eustace dried up like a
caterpillar on a hot rock He didn't men
ton what business he was cogtatin' on
goin' into. And that's what wrapped
Spinks in that mist o. mystery.
There was Eustace Murgatroyd Spinks
ookin' like Newport on a gay afternoon
in August, dlfiusin' the aroma OF money and
private cars and opera boxes and white
yachts and Floradora sextets and prize
bull pups and tallyho coaches and tourin'
cars and maybe alimony up in the Ave
figures year-there was Spinks, in all
Of his rare and radiant beauty o. ralment,
set in the middle Of the activities o Thunder
| Crick, lookm' about as much out OF place
there as a lavender orchid in plate o
greens-and nobody KNOWN what his lay
was barrin' his one reluctant observation
made on his first day in camp to the clerk
Of the Saratoga Springs Hotel that he was
meditatln some on settlin' in Thunder
Crick and goin' into business there. Which
| it amt any wonder that the camp fell 10
hummin' about Eustace Murgatroyd Spinks
busiern n short handed reduction plant
workin' in three shifts.
'This looks like the place TO shoot it that
as an avalanche proposition Thunder Crick
sure was on the tobog when Sprinks got
| there. Az boom camp Thunder Crick
had done rolled its hoop and the hoop had
wabbled few times and then settled down
waitin' for nearsighted suckers to step on
| the rim. The camp was like one o. them
wash il yourself white rubber shirt bosoms
that you snap around your neck with
| rubber band on Sundays and holidays 10
| hide the cerise woolen bodice that you're
wearin next TO the pelt. Which I'm tryin
TO unfold and uncoil that Thunder Crick
when Spinks got there was whitened
sarcophagis a tinkle hell phony, a gravel
bed bogus and an exploded Fl Dorado all
rolled into one, like the liver pill Jake Hes
selkoop bought at the druggists fire sale
in Kansas City,
Thunder Crick had forty-nine hole In
/ the ground claim promoters TO the square
acre and all o. their claims Jumped together
didn't hold enough pay dust N stop up
the mouthpiece Of a tin whistle. The three
produon' claims of Thunder Crick had been
oorralled by an English syndicate that even
then was maxim a noise like it wished it
had its money back, and the other $4,000
Thunder Crick claims belonged 30 busted
Thunder Criok sooners that wanted you to
buy stock at two cents the gilt printed
share. said stock bein' guaranteed to sell
at SsS5 a share next Friday week come
Candlemas il II didn't rain and the promo
ter's hat didn't blow of or his galluses
snap asunder
SOn paper Thunder Crick had the mines
Of Ophir and Ind lookin', as dividend payin'
propositions like paper box factories two
hundred miles from railroad. All you
had to do TO become minin' Bhizz- Bhang
Billebedad was { let one o. them Thunder
Crick dust claim boosters back you into a
corner and sell you i5O 900 shares o. Aurifero-
Bluggs or Pilkins-d'Or or Argent-NiX at a
cent or two a paper slip, and there you'd
he, a maybe millionaire wearin' tn jingle
bells.
III you didn't banker to blossom into
minn' mogul overnight. why the cheerful
Thunder Crickets had other goods TO toss
on the bargain counter for tenderfeet.
Thunder Crick telephone options, Thunder
Criok water works franchises, Thunder
Crick real estate, the same eXtendin', by |
burro trail. eighty-seven miles from the |
camp; Thunder Crick street railway con-
oessions, Thunder Crick sewer buildin'
privileges, Thunder Crick graveyard sites,
that's the kind O. Junk three-quarters o.
the transient and hoatin' population o. /
Thunder Crick was tryin to peddle to the
iunipers droppin' into the camp that looked |
like live ones. Thunder Criok, perceivin' its
finish, was gettin' from under. and buster
at 1t than a bird dog In burr patch.
And that's why when Eustace Murga,
troyd Spinks bluged into Thunder Crioh
on drowsy September afternoon the camP
NJ -