Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-22
CONTINUED FRoM PAGE Two

That's all / can afford to give" said Jim
nie, as he led the way into the store; and
he, as well as True and Bent, thought that
his first bargain had been a good one
Jim displayed his goods, called attention
to their quality and price, with all the gray-
ity of an old trader, and the man bought
nearly twice as much as he had at first IN
tended.
In dealing with trading boats generally, he
had been accustomed to find only the cheap
est quality at the price of the best, and even
these would show evident signs OF aduitera-
tion. Jim's goods were of superior quality,
and. although the young trader made very
handsome profit, were not exorbitant IN price,
By the time the man had finished his pur-
chases, "the women folks" arrived, and al
though there were but four OF Them all three
of the boys were kept busy waiting on them;
Jims stock Of fancy goods had been well
selected, and contained many little novelties
which would sell well and pay profit Of
fifty or one hundred per cent. 1t was nearly
nightfal when the farmers family had nm
ished making their selection.
True figured up the amount of the bill and
ascertaiRed how many bushels OF corn should
be given in exchange, while Jethro ana Jlm
attended to the measuring and loading, not
being through with their work until nearly
nine o'clock.
or course, il would have been useless to
think of going further that night, although
the River Queen had not drifted more than
twenty-five miles that day, so Jethro set
about getting a very late supper, while Jim
and Bent replaced the goods that had been
disturbed, and locked up the store, Irne,
meanwhile, trying to figure up the prospec-
tive ppefts on this first transaction.
"There," he said, as Jethro called him to
supper, ''if you can sell your corn at three
cents per bushel below what was the market
price when we left Cincinnati, you will have
made just nineteen dollars and twenty cents
on this trade, which l think is bang-up
for beginning"
jim was highly elated by the days work,
and all the more so as he had not expected to
do any business in that portion of the river.
Even Jethro was pleased, and SO far forgot
his thoughts of vengeance. as to discuss with
his employers as to whether they should go
over the falls or around by the canal.
He was quite laxative while supper was
being eaten; and when that meal was fin
ished, the boys would have been only too
glad to have gone directly to bed, if the far
mer and two of his sons had not come TO
make them visit.
1t would have been entirely out of place
for Jim to have treated his first customer
other than very courteously, and all the
party sat sleepily around, processing to be
interested in his rather prosy stories, until he
startled them into wakefulness by saying:
''You haven't seen anything of three rough
looking men up the river, have you? They
come along this way tins morning, when the
boys and were down the river a piece and
the women-folks were all alone. They start
ed in as if they were going to get away with
everything they wanted; but we come home
just at the right time, and they made tracks
right lively, tell YOU"
(Which way did they go?' asked True,
eagerly, while the others waited anxiously
for the reply, and Jethro clenched his hands
tightly, as if to be ready for the thieves.
7"Tvhey made bee-line for the river, and
allowed that they had gone up stream; but
they may have gone the other way"
If the caller had any idea before this that
his hosts were sleepy he could not have
Thought so afterwards for four persons wider
awake than were the crew of the River
Queen it would have been hard to find, al
though they paid even less attention than be-
fore to the dull stories.
The farmer and his sons not long after took
their departure, and the young trader and
his assistants were at liberty to discuss the
lin had not spoken of the attempted rob-
bery. not thinking it was wise to do 50. 1t
was certain that the thieves were still in the
vicinity, and this fact called for serious con-
sideration.