Charlevoix county herald., 1908-08-29
al
III THE GREEN CAMP 81
III BY F. E. CHASE Ia
Copyright. by shortstory Pub. Coz
By F. E. CHASE

fered many changes, generally for the
worse.
In SO years many things had come
into the little shop and gone again.
Love and JOY and death and bitterness,
and pledges innumerable, waning with
the years from the dignity of watches
and wedding rings to the degradation
Of fiat-irons and the bed blankets.
Commercially regarded, pledge No.
831 was a green silk umbrella with a
heavy metal handle of considerable in
trinsic value; sentimentally, it stood
for Hicks Oldest and dearest friend;
psychologically, it supplied him, other
motives being lacking, with some
thing to live for.
Its history was simple one, but of
exceptional interest.
1t had been pawned one morning in
the early years of his business life by
respectable elderly gentleman, who,
sitter some haggling, accepted for 1t
the sum of four dollars. With this
sum and the customary ticket, he went
out of Hicks establishment, and was
never again seen there or elsewhere.
Nearly a>year from the date of this
transaction. and just before the ex-
piration Of the term of the loan, a
young man had turned up, and had in
CURED with evident anxiety regarding
the pledged umbrella.
1T Is most important" said the
young man, "for-for family reasons,
that this article be redeemed. There
Is no objection, presume, to my pay
ing the loan and interest, on behalf
of my-my relative, and taking the
property out of your hands"
None whatever" said Hicks, pro
vided you have the ticket"
Surely that is unimportant," urged
the stranger, so that you get your
money. Suppose we say double the
amount, by way of penalty for my
,arelessness in having lost the ticket"
That won't do" said the broker.
"Supposing it turned up?"
But II can't turn up said the
young man, earnestly. 1T Is at the
bottom of the sea with the man to
whom you gave it."
How can you prove that to me?"
said Hicks. mo, no, my friend,
must have my ticket"
But the thing is worthless-I will
pay you ten times the loan to safe
guard you against any claim-20
timesl Good God" he cried, excited
ly. Il must have 1t, man; more de-
ponds upon it than you know"
Ho haI IL
down the umbrella from its shelf and
examined it with a new interest. 1t
was an excellent umbrella, solidly
respectable as to handle and stoutly
serviceable as to fabric, yet scarcely
deserving the valuation the young man
had put upon it. Doubtless its value
was sentimental merely; and yet-the
claimant had been strangely eager
There was some mystery about it,.
Well, in 80 days it might be solved, for
IL, as the young man had said. it's
owner and the ticket were both at the
bottom of~the sea, the umbrella would
become his when the lean matured.
But the matter turned out by no
means so simply. Two days before
the loan matursd, the young man re-
turned, clearly fortified with a better
knowledge of the business and of his
powers and privileges, paid the inter-
est on the loan for another year, and
thus renewed the matter for that
period.
In II months more, just as Hicks
imagination was beginning to hover
In close circles about his mysterious
pledge, the young man again returned
and renewed the loan as before, after
again trying vainly to negotiate its
surrender. In another 12-month the
same performance took place, and
again at the fourth and fifth anniver-
saries of the transaction. Each year
Hicks visitor looked thinner and more
careworn, and his argument grew
more 1anguid and perfunctory; but If
his pursuit was less eager it was not
less persistent, and each annual recur-
renee of the date found him promptly
on hand to protect his mysterious in
terests.
Between whiles the pawnbroker
never saw him or heard from him, but
there was scarcely DAY That ne did
not think of him and of his pursuit,
and scarcely week that, in an &C.
stasy of bsffied curiosity and greed
for to his inflamed imagination the
simple CAMP had become the key TO
treasures untold-he did not take
down the article and re-examine It, rap
II. sound II, rattle it, feel its fabric
inch by inch, and, upon occasion, curse
its silent secretiveness in good set
terms.
Its metal head was large and heavy,
solid apparently, to all tests that he
dared make.
Thus time went on, the young man
still coming doggedly year after year,
every season older and grayer, soon
a middle-aged man, by and by an old
man, older than his years, shabbier