The Alaska citizen., 1910-10-24
VI I


 VI
 + was a remarkably open winter that followed and outdoor operations were thereby enabled 10 go on unin- terrIpted In the office he pompous Appi"rod, in his frock coat and silk nat. ground JohnsCn's sCul tJ gall dust; for he had taken 10 saying MT Johnson most formally. and issuing directions with madGening politeness and consideration. An arrangement had been effected with Applerod whereby that gentleman. for having suggested the golden oppor. tunity. was to reap the entire bene- fiji of the improvement on his own twenty acres, Bobby financing the whole deal and charging Applerod's S share Cf it against his account. Arplcrcd stood thereby to gain about seventy-fve thousand dol. lars over and above the price he had paid for his twenty acres; and. moreover. Bobby had decided to call the improved tract the Applerod Ad- dition' When that name began to appear in print. coupled with fam ing advertisements of Applerol's deyising there was grave danger of the rosy-cheeked old gentleman's losing every button from every fancy vest in his possession.
 In the meantime. thoroughly in love with the vast enterprise which he had projected, Bobby spent his time outdoors. fascinated. unable to find any peace elsewhere than upon his ri auic labor His evenings he spent in such social affairs as he could not avoid; with Agnes Ellis ton; with Biff Bates; in an occasion. al game of billiards at the Idlers'; but his days, from early morning un- til the evening whistle. he spent amid the clang of pick and shovel. the rafting of the rams. the creak- ing of the crane. IL was an absorb ing thing to see that enormous groove cut down through the big hill, and to watch the growth of the great mounds which grew up out of the marsh The ditch that should drain off all this murky water was. of course, the first thing to be achiev- ed and, from the base of the hill through which it was to be cut. the engineer ran a tram bridge straight across the swamp to the new retain ing wall; and from this, with the aid of a huge, long-armed crane which 1 lifted cars bodily from the track. the soil was dumped on either side as ii was removed from the cut. By the latter part of December the ditch had been completed and connected with the special sewer which. by per mission of the city, had been built 10 carry the overflow to the river, and. the open weather still holding. the sGagnant pool which had been a blot upon the landscape for untold ages began to flow sluggishly away. disnlaceG by the earth from the dis appearing hill.
 The city papers were teeming now with the vast energy and public spirited enterprise of young Robert Burnit and Oliver P. Applerod and there were many indications that the enterprise was to be a most sue eessful one Even before they were ready to receive them. applications were daily made for reservations in the new district. and individual hOme-seekers began to take Sunday trips out 10 where the big undertak ing was in progress.
 You sure have got 'em going. Bobby" confessed the finally con vinced Bff Bates after a visit of inspection. Here's where you put the hornet on one Silas Tight-Wad Trimmer all right. But the bones don't roll right that the side bet don't go for Johnson instead of Ap- plegoat. He's a shine for me. I think he's all to the canary color in side, but this man Johnson's some man if he only had shell to put il in Me for him."
 The unexpressed friendship that had sprung up between the tacti- turn bOokkeeper and the loquacious eX-pugilist was both a puzzle and a delight to Bobby, and it was one of his great joys to see them to- gether, not knowing why they liked such companionship, not having a single topic of conversation in com mon, but unconsciously enjoying that vague, sympathetic man-soul they found in each other.
 About the first of February the filling and grading were finished and the construction of the streets be- gan, and the middle of March saw the final disappearance of everything, except that dark, eight-acre spot of Silas Trimmer's, which might re- mind one of the tract once known as the Westmarsh. In its place lay a broad, yellow checker board, formed by intersecting streets of asphalt