The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1908-06-12
BY WILLIAM WALLACE COOK.

camp on his uppers and very much
down on his buck, asl bainiy as a Chi
nook wind and about rs refreshing.
/ He was a habit and We acquired him.
/ For many a week II Won wanted TO
stand pat with the boys all You had TO
remark was that the professor says
/ this, or the professor does that What.
ever the professor said and did ranked
pretty hieh before he worked that
grand hocus pocus ia the mill After
( that things were different
lie shaped up good deai like the
shadow OF a skeleton man. bony and
! loose and a temptation for every four
knot breeze 10 lift him and watt him
elsewhere But the cyclone never blew
1 that could do business with Bings lie
weighed ions when be wanted 90 and
/ his magnificent nerve held him 20,
pether Nor was he ever known 10
dodge a calamity except once. and that
twas when he faded ont of our midst
at the Tenstrike When he came TO
MS he was a stranger and we took him
/ in then he reciproCated
Two days after reaching camp he
/ introduced the game OF monte. Not
/ that the time-honored game needed
any Introduction 10 most of us. but he
had individualized II until II defied orr
recognition. When we got together
lend took stock. after the monte fever
I Fad substupd-- VIC 'tlsU0yured mat me
professor had won all the good clothes
in camp, from Eph Perkins $50 So
nora hat, TO the boiled shirt that had
once been the pride OF One Eyed BaX-
ter and the Sunday foot.gear OF Abe
Little, who was doing some counting
over Phoenix way. But Bings was
such a qlpint little cuss We none of us
had the heart To grumble or 10 make
too rigid examination OF the backs OF
the monte deck
As soon as ne had made himself re-
spectacle. the professor proceeded 10
shove new scene into the groove.
Armed with a cold-chisel and a five
tpOunt- hummer, thu- -wautrrcti through
the hills.
"Just prospecting" he used TO ex-
plain, as he dragged himself into camp
simultaneously with the sounding OF
riIe suppergong. But not for gold,
he would add. The love OF gold is
the root OF all evil and heaven forbid
that should be the cause OF turning
any more evil loose in the world than
there is In it already. I'm prospecting
! for the remains of an eiephantus gi-
gantus which. II my search proves sue
cessful. sham forward 10 the Smith
1yryrrfarr institution sft-Nlr As n teR-
| Bings didn't find the elephantus, but
| he dug up the finest specimen OF pet
rifed man that the boys ever set eyes
ri n, MO on A yhihiflOD 2
the old clubhouse. four-bits a head for
outsiders and two bits for the Ten
strike men.
Prosperity smiled upon Bings. The
fame OF his petrihed man Travelled
from Casa Grande as far north as Big
Bug. and east and west in proportion
Our camp became the Mecca of the
morbidly curious and II OneEyed Bax'
ter hadn't sneaked up on the professor
after exhibition hours. and found him
ouarreithg with his petrified man about
the returns, suppose the graft would
have continued indefinitely.
Baxter saw enough with his one. eye
TO keep him talking for a week; ana
| he did talk, for brooding over the loss
F. OF his linen had made him revengelui.
He told how Bngs had gone across the
desert 10 Frog Tanks and had hired
greaser at dollar a day and found 10
play dead and allow himself 10 be
whitewashed. The expose. while IL
ruined The professor bustrfcs-7-
heightened his popularity. We began
TO see that he was cute as well as
quaint.
After Baxter had glutted his ven
peanee. the professor was quiet for a
month. spending his money like water
among the boys but not Oh water " =
long chalk. His bright talents would
not permit him TO remain long ihac'
tive and he took 10 roaming again
this time with a Winchester ana
beltful Of cartridges.
wouldn't it be- the best joke you
eyer heard Of said Baxter. II bihss
made a mistake and held up the Mon
tezuma stage during one OF those gun
ming trips OF his"
That remark came 20 the professor
ears and il hurt him. He'd play mont
he said. and he'd win IL he could ana
for the fun and profit TO be got out
OF II. but as for holding up stage
well who'd suppose that the loss OF
boiled shirt would put such IDEAS
I
into a mans head?
TIE professor didn't mold up the
stage on the contrary. he TOOK 10
bringing in wildcats and coyotes, anu
ella Monsters, and rattlesnakes. ana
euch vermin: and when ne had
collected enough for fair-sized men
agerie. he gave his Winchester away
and went 10 stufiing his COLLECTION.
I'm getting them ready for the
Smithsonian institution he conhdeh
IN tho bows on the night shift in the
toill-foT ne was. al the mill every
nirnt examining battery boxes and
-74-----r+--.--i..4s..s.r aIienig- be SAID.
And whenever he went to the mill he
carried a bottle which he exploited as
he observed. purely for the sake OF
sociability and the general HOW OF
! soul
Two weeks after the professor. be
can his VISITS TO the mill. some S2O,-
600 worth 5of amalgam was found to be
missing and the super. upon learning
how the professor had been studying
the battery boxes, waited upon him and
asked him gently. bat firmly, II he
! had seen anything of the missing
amalgam.
J -q.ha+-yas- tha-l..At-StraW-- -pIO-
fessor was cut to the heart and vowel
that he would leave the Tenstrike,
which he had SO long honored with
his presence. and never more return.
Henceforward. he declared he would
pursue his scientific Investigations VA
other camps, and upon other camps,
=