Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1911-07-21

You're thieving liar OF the eternal
fires! 1t wasn't no hundred thousand,
it wasn't! 1t wasn't no such thing!
II you want to know how much it was
for betting proposition, it was two
hundred thousand, and not a centime
less! Amt right, menu"
Their knives were at the strangers
throat like semi-circular collar of
glittering spikes, the points directed
inward. He looked them round and
smiled at them as you smile at chill
dren that are angry at something
they do not understand.
IF | had a baseball bat I would
beat you with it, he calmly chided
with an indulgent little laugh. do
you think that I don't know how to
count money? Take down your knives
and let us get to work and count the
money!"
They all fell back, but nobody
seemed to have observed what was
done, at first, between the door
opener and the stranger What they
saw and heard a moment afterwards
was the door-opener's knife singing
past the head of the stranger, and
the strangers head tipping like a
shuttle from one side to the other,
while the hammer of the forty-eight
which the stranger was holding point
blank at the door-openers heart was
so deity famed" by the palm of
the strangers right hand that the
three shots sounded almost like one.
AS he backed to the door of the thick
and pungent haze, he gently ad-
dressed himself to the four men be-
fore him.
'"Tell the Five" he said, that the
bargain was broken and the penalty
paid"
And the door hid him from sight.
They were looking at the wallet ON
the table.
"Men," suggested the weather man,
'it's my heartfelt motion that we
count this here goods and divide it
fair and square into four equal parts.
which'll make quarter of part
extra for each man, and let the big
five do the double-entry bookkeeping
on it if it suits their fancy. l never
see a cleaner job in my life"
They counted it and split it into
quarters of twenty-five thousand.
Neat and nice goods it was-all in
clean new slips of yellow which told
the bearer that there were deposited
in the treasury of the United States
so-and-so-many dollars in gold, to all
of which this document certified. But
as Longwood, with his own share in
the pocket of his coat, was about to
pass toward the door, his eye fell on
queer thing that lay on the chair
of the stranger
What's this?"
The weather man took it, inspected
it, and gave the table tremendous
volar slap.
what do you think of that?" he
cried. did you ever see the like of
that? Hold me, boys! Hold me care
full, or I'll die with strangulation from
laughing. He took it off as clean as
a whistle! AS clean as if he was the
visiting doctor at the hospital"
@ q @ . q
he had broken his first fifty for a
complete now outfit, and his second
for a sleeper on the first train for
the east out of Oakland, and later,
after he had bought into the printing
and binding plant, which was then
small affair Of it's kind, but an affair
that promised we'll if handled under
careful management?
Longwood naturally worried.
OF evenings when he would go
home and lay aside the business
cares of the day, he would figure for
hours on the problem of the five.
and the Tropic Dawn, and the man
with the forty-eight. What was the
Tropic Dawn? A ship, no doubt, that
had been worked for the old game
although there were objections to that
theory too. Still, if it were assumed
that it were ship, with consign-
ment of specie, or something like
that, and substitution of the goods,
with the big five scuttling her at sea
and getting away on boat. and the
lecture fellow doing the dirty work
LOT inc COuSlSLOIS, Will pdymcuS
of marine insurance, and so on.
But he was never satisfied with that
ingenious explanation.
Longwood grew fast and prosper
Gus, and one day after he had ac-
quired complete control of the plant,
so that he could have a little holiday
for himself without danger Of being
robbed by his partner, he took trip
to San Francisco and put up at the
Palace hotel. You must understand
that the Tropic Dawn had become
for him a problem that cried out for
clearness, but he would never trust
the business to any mere erring hui
man agency. He would look into it
with his own eyes; and the first night
he was in San Francisco he took it
up with the clerk Of the hotel.
''What was that business about the
Tropic DAWN"
He put the question as a bold
chance.
ssTho Tronic DAWN Don't Won