Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1909-09-15

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you know, and you may have heard
much better accounts Of me than I
deserve. Still, it isn't surprising you
can't account for me; in fact, it would
be surprising if you could. Nobody
pretends to do that. You must not be
shocked if l can't even account for
myself. Do you know what a derelict
is? A ship that has been abandoned
but never wholly sinks"
please don't make fun of me! How
did you happen to come into the
mountains? 1 do want to understand
things better"
why, you are in real earnest,
aren't you? But am not making fun
of you Do you know President Bucks?
No? Too bad! He's very handsome
old bachelor. And he is one of those
men who get all sorts of men to do
all sorts of things for them. You
know, building and operating railroads
in this part of the country is no joke.
The mountains are filed with men
that don't care for God, man, or the
devil. Sometimes they furnish their
own ammunition to fight with and
don't bother the railroad for years; at
such times the railroad leaves them
alone. For my part, | never quarrel
with man that doesn't quarrel with
the road. Then comes a time when
they get after us, shooting our men or
robbing our agents or stopping our
trains. Of course we have to get
busy then. A few years ago they wor-
:.
hair gray. At that unfortunate time
/ happened into his Office with letter
of introduction from his closest Chi
cago friend, Willis Howard, prince of
good men, the man that made the
Palmer house famous-yes. Now l
had come out here, Miss Dunning-I
almost said Miss Dicksie, because
hear it so much"
q should be greatly set up to hear
you call me Dicksie. And l have won
dered a thousand times about your
name. Dare 1 ask-why do they cali
you Whispering Smith? You don't
whisper"
He laughed with abundance of good
humor. THAT is ridiculous accident,
and it all came about when l lived in
Chicago. Do you know anything about
the Internal climate there? Well, in
Chicago I used to lose my voice when
ever l caught a cold-sometimes for
weeks together. So they began call
ing me Whispering Smith, and I've
never been able to shake the name.
Odd, isn't it? But l came out to go
into the real estate business. 1 was
looking for some gold-bearing farm
lands where could raise quartz, don't
you know, and such things-yes. I
don't mind telling you this, though 1
wouldn't tell it to everybody"
Certainly not" assented Dicksie,
drawing her skirt around to sit in
closer confidence.
81 wanted to get rich quick" MUIR
INJURED Whispering Smith, conf
dentially.
almost criminal, wasn't it?"
81 wanted to have evening clothes"
Eyes"
"And for once in my life two pairs
of suspenders-a modest ambition, but
a gnawing one. Would you believe it?
Before l left Bucks office he had hired
me for railroad man. When he asked
me what l could do, and I admitted a
little experience in handling real es-
tate, he brought his fist down on the
table and swore l should be his right
of-way man."
How about the mining?
Whispering Smith waved his hand
in something of the proud manner in
which Bucks could wave his presi-
Dental hand. my business, Bucks
said, need not interfere with that, not
in the least; he said that 1 could do
all the mining I wanted to, and 1
have done all the mining wanted to.
But here is the singular thing that
happened: 1 opened up my Office and
had nothing to do; they didn't seem to
want any right of way just then. l
kept getting my check every month,
and wasn't doing hands turn but rid
ing over the country and shooting
jack-rabbits. But, Lord, 1 love this
countryi Did you know l used to be
a cowboy in the mountains years ago?
Indeed I did / know it almost as well
as you do. l mined more or less in
the meantime. Occasionally l would
go to Bucks-you say you don't know
him?-too bad!-and tell him, candid
ly 1 wasn't doing a thing to earn my
salary. At such times he would only
ask me how [ liked the job" and
Whispering Smiths heavy eyebrows
rose in mild surprise at the rec0llec-
ton. zone day when | was talking
with him he handed me a telegram
from the desert saying that night
operator at lonely station had been
shot and a switch misplaced and a
train nearly wrecked. He asked me
what 1 thought of it. l discovered
that the poor fellow had shot himself,
and in the end we had to put him in
the insane asylum to save him from
-bIIf val was where