Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-08-06
THE TRAITOR s THUMB.


as he added some big figures on his score
| sheet. What do you make it work ont
! at Wilie?"
| Willie Stamford's face looked rather
/ white as he slowly totaled the amount
| that Hardwick and his partner had won,
J he was already realizing what fool he
| had been to attempt to play bridge
against a man with Hardwick's motor
| ious luck.
4 think he said at last, ''it is exact
| ~ 1850. III have to send you a check.
! Hardwick."
.'All right" returned the other man
| easily. NO hurry, old chap. Nobody
| game for another rubber, Ell? Wen. it
| is a bit late. Have whisky and soda
before we go, you fellows
| You do have the most extraordinary
| luck Guy" said Willie as the club wait
| er departed for what one of them called
a stirrup cup.
''Luck!' said Hardwick. You may
well say that; I've got mascot, you
! know
Mosan, his partner, laughed somewhat
skeptically.
1T is all very we'll to laugh at what
you don't understand, but I'm not jok
ing. Look here, if you fellows will hold
your tongue III show you the thing
Hardwick took a silver cigar case
! from his pocket and held it out to them
! open. They peered over it eargerly,
wonder written large on the faces of all
three.
1t did not contain cigars. All that
there was inside it was curiously
shaped brownish, weezened, shriveled OBJ
| iect set in a wide gold rim of antique
workmanship, round which ran some
what roughly executed inscription.
Its a mans thumb" replied Hard
wick. Il found it amongst a lot of odds
and ends when succeeded my old uncle
at HardwicE You know he would not
have left the place to me only | happen
TO be the last Hardwick left and he
went and chucked a whole lot of the
mOney-all he could in fact-to impos-
sible charities and things, and | thought
! | was up tree with the death duties
and that. Well, l was roofing about,
and as l say | found that grizzly relic
! and q long rigmarole written on parch-
ment wrapped round it, which being in
| terpreted and condensed informed the
been a disreputable Hardwick who had
tried to betray some fortress for the
safety of which he was responsible.
He was caught red-handed sneaking 81
! with the KEYS of the front gate, and
somebody Topped off his thumb during
the resulting unpleasantness. The gen.
tleman was subsequently boiled in oil
or hanged-I forget which-and the
thumb was picked, and sent to his sor-
rowing relatives as a little reminder not
to follow his distressing example. As
for that chaste and elegant mounting,
don't know who put that on.
Il felt pretty desperate when l found
what a trick old Uncle Guy had played
on me, and as | stood one day with that
thing in my hand an idea flashed into
my head.
:" Good luck you bring, do YOU?
said to myself. We'll, Mr.. Traitor, we
will try your luck
Il did. | went off with my last hum
dred pounds and a single ticket to Monte
Carlo and made that bank sit up there.
The traitor certainly was all on for rou'
lette. Then | tried the stock exchange
and paid off the death duties and all
little worries like that. Apparently, all
is fish that comes to my lamented ances-
tors net; we scoop the dollars gaily in,
even when we play bridge for penny
points or beggar by neighbOr with some
hody's children. Well, good night, you
fellows"
He iounged out laughingly putting the
silver cigar case carefully back into an
inner pocket as he did so.
Il WISH" said Willie Stamford, as
they parted on the club steps, some
kind ancestor had left me Il mascot"
Get Hardwick to lend you his" sug-
gested White, the man who had been
his partner; and he and Mason hailed
a belated taXicah, leaving Willie alone
in the murky night for Hardwick was
already out of sight.
Five hundred and fifty pounds"
groaned the young man to himself as he
walked along the deserted street
Heavens! Why. | can't raise fifty
! let alone FIVE hundred. Briefless barris-
tiers shouldn't play bridge" Suddenly
something lying in the mud by the curb
caught his eye as the hazy light from a
. street lamp fell upon it. He picked it
mp. 1t was n silver cigar case with
crest engraved upon !t-Hardwick's
\ He opened it, his hands shaking with
excitement as he did so. There was no
mistake. Inside-sinister, crooked, loath-
some-lay the gold-mounted traitors
7 thumb.
"Hardwick's luck" he exclaimed. by
r George! He must have dropped it out
? of his pocket and not noticed. I'll take
) it round TO him in the morning. 1t is
too late now"
He slipped the silver case into his
pocket. and suddenly Whites words as
. he climbed into the taxi after Mason
flashed into his brain Get Hardwick
to lend you his" hammered and
churned seerhing in his head, He pulled
the thing for a bit?" he told himself
Not keep it, just borrow it for a week
or two to pull things round bit and
set me on my feet. Hardwick might
refuse if l asked him, so l will say
nothing about it, If it doesn't bring me
luck I'll return it at once. At any rate
Iit is too good a chance to be thrown
away"
He closed the case and again PUT it
in his pocket as he reached the front
door of the old house where he lived
and pulled ont latch key.
After he had drawn the bolts he felt
in his pocket the last edition of an even
ing paper at which he had not yet trou-
bled TO look. He unfolded it and
glanced ahSently through its columns.
by Georgew he cried. FLORIDA has
won the Grand National. A 60 to out
slider, and I have a flyer on the beast
Har1wick'S luck has started me off with
t3oN."
Three months later Willie Stamford.
poor hrjefess obscure no longer. en-
gagged to be married to a girl whom he
had loved for several years, but whom
he had not dared to ask before to share