Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-12-03

enough in dollars and cents to war.
| rant the INSTRUCTORS in holding out.
Ford was for starting back the next
morning; he had missed Brissac anG
both of thu Bensons on the way over.
, But Kenneth confessed to being sad
| die sore. ard begged for another day,
respite. Ford agreed without giving
the matter . second thought Upon
| such unconsidered trifes an ndif.
ferent yes" or ''no"--turn the poised
scales of life. For one other DAY the
| two Southwestern representatives put
ND at the Grand Union. Copah's tar
paper covered simulacrum of no.
tel: and during that day Ford con
| trived to sell his birthrisht for what
| he. himself valued at the moment as
q. mess of rottage.
| 1t was in this. wise. AT this period
or its existence Copah, the future
great, was merely a promise: camp
of magnificent prospects. Isolated by
one hundred and fifty miles of wagon
road and rack-trail from one railroad
base, and ly forty miles of mountains
from the other. it's future turned upon
the hope Of cheaper transportation.
As gold camp twas an anomaly.
1 With single exception its ores were
low grade, and the wagoii-road and
rack'ral freightage made them prac-
tically proitless to the miners.
The single exception was the Little
Alicia" and it was the coincidence Of
the name, rather than the eloauence
OF its impoverished owner that first.
attracted Ford. From first TO last he
did not know the exact location of the
mine. II was somewhere in the hills
back of Colah. and Grigsby, the pros
pector who had discovered and opened
It. had an office in The camp.
| If was III Grigsbys town Office thai
| Ford saw the ore specimens and The
certified assays, and listened not too
credulously to Grigsby's enthusiastic
description of the Little Alicia. To be
la halloween i'll tllis mine of mines
was to be rich beyond the dreams Of
avarice- when the railroad should
come: if one might take Grigsby's
word for it
1t is curious fever. that which
seizes upon the newcomer in an unex.
nloited mining field Ford was far
| from being money-mad: but there
were times when he could not hello
contrasting d railroad salary with
Miss Adair's millions. True. he had
once said to her. in the fullness of
confident belief. that the money OF the
woman he loved would make no differ.
ence- to her or to him. But the point
of view, wise Or foolish. is not always
| the same. There were moments when
/ the Adair millions doomed large, and
the salary of an assistant to the pres
| ident-s who was in fact little moro
| than a slo.ified chief of constructions
-shrank in proportion He was free
of obligation and footloose. His
twenty thousand dollars invested in
| P. SW. stock at twenty-nine and q
| half had grown with the rising market
| to siXty-odd What did it matter to
any one il he chose 10 put ten thou
sand of the sixty-odd on turn Of the
Little Alicia card?
| While il was gambling pure and
simple, he did not bet with his eyes
shut. Inquiry at the Bank of Copah
established Grissby's reputation for
| 'truth-teline. The specimens and the
assay certificates were beyond doubt
genuine More than this. Grigsby. had
made a number of ore shipments by
| freightars' wagon and jack tram over
the range and the returns had en-
abled him TO keep q small force Of
men al work in the mine.
Ford mace his bet through the bank
The cashier was willing to take a p
S-W officials note of hand, to be can
! teled when Ford could deposit to the
banks credit in Denver. and to give
Grigsby al open account for his inn
mediate needs Grigsby accepted JOY
fully, and the thing was done. Ford's
mess OF portage was a deed of half
ownership in the Little Alicia, eXecui
ed and recorded in the afternoon OF
the day OF stopovers and he was far
enough from suspecting that he had
| exchanged for it all that man Of
| honor hold: dearest. But, as matter
| of fact. tho birthright had not yet
I been handed over; that came later.
| CHAPTER XIV.
| Tho Eraw.Ear Pull