Rock Island Argus., 1911-04-07

have given an order to have that tele-
gram held out you can give another to
have IL sent Immediately"
. IAN right" said Gantry, '.5ust as
you say" And he made no effort TO
detain the enrased one when Blount
turned his back ard strode away. But
after the self discharged political man
ager was gone the tranc man chuc-
kled quietly and turned up q faced
down paper which had been lying on
his desk during the short and bellig
erent interview.
"Humph," he mused. reading the
typewriter lines over again. The
little lady was too fly for You this
time, Evan. my boy. She was just
prophecies enough to guess where and
how you would go of the handle
Great little woman that. / believe
she figures out more than half of the
: fine moves in the honorable senator's s
game"
Evan Blount walked a half dozen
blocks beyond the Inter Mountain ho-
tel before he had cooled down sum
ciently to determine what to do next.
AS it chanced. the cooling down mo-
ment found him at the entrance of the
pubic garage patronized by MS father.
Acting upon the impulse Of the mo-
ment. he went in and asked If any Of
Senator Blount's cars were in the city.
The garage manager replied that the
big roadster was in. and Blount's de-
cision was taken upon the spur OF the
moment.
4 few minutes later he was behind
80 fo0 ohi
picking his way out of town.
Blount reached the entrance to the
cottonwood shaded avenue at War
trace just before the dinner hour, and
he was so far recovered from the at
tack Of righteous indignation that he
was able to meet his father and the
others with a fair degree of equanin-
ity.
In the back part of his mind, how
ever, he held the fighting uitimatum in
suspense.
At the dinner table the professor
held forth dictatorially upon matters
pertaining solely to the pliocene age
and never once suffered the table con-
versat ation to come within several mil
lions of years of the twentieth cen
tury. and at the dfspersal-only there
was no dispersaI-it was his father
who led the way to the drawing room
and persuaded Patricia to go to the
piano
The young man with the fighting
determination in the back part of his
brain was willing enough to listen to
Grieg andI Brahms as interpreted by
Patricia, butt the greater matter was
still outweighing the lesser. Later,
out, the talk went back to the dino
saurs and the elpterodacyls. and when
Evan Blount finally went away to
smoke he did it alone.
The Wartraee den twas an annex to
the dining room, and through the
lOoped back portieres she could hear
the animated hum of sthe prehistoric
converse ton, In which, Patricia had
now Joined, as loyal daughter should.
Hoping against hope athst the pro-
fessor would someitimeSgo. to bed and
for his bedtime whifT at the long
stemmed pipe. Biount smoked and
waited. When his patienceiwas finally
it was not the honorable
senator who drew the ,portieres aside
and entered the cozy smoking room
1t was Patricia, and she wastalone.
Il thought perhaps 1 shouldafind you
here" she said calmly, takingtthe easy
chair at the opposite corner of the
hearth Did we bore you to extinc-
tion?"
Not quite" he laughed. But since
hadn't got myself born 6yOOooOO
years ago I can't somehow seem to
galvantze a very active interest In the
lead and buried periods"
Nor l." she confessed frankly.
though for papa's sake 1 do try to.
But for us who are living today there |
are so many problems Of really vital |
Importance. problems that the ptero- /
1actyls never knew anything about"
II know" said the young man, half
ibsently. IT am up against one Of |
hem right now. and don't know how
o meet it"
viii IT bear tellingr' she asked.
And he hoped that the sympathy In
~ AOt OLly DcdR tcftAuSs ~ w |
nands to be told to some one whose
sense OF right and wron9tnas not been
1rawn and quartered and fayed alive
until it has no longer life or breath
eft with which to protest"
Thereupon he told her all that had
happened to him since the evening he
1ad left the sleeping. car at Aretas,
almost shamefacedly with
he story OF the lumber magnate's at
empt at corruption, OF which he sup
pressed nothing but the fact that the
professors name appeared in Mr..
list OF shareholders.
When he made an end her eyes were
hining. either with Quickened sympa-
by or indignat1on-he couId not de-
ermine which
What did you dor she asked, re-
erring to the incident Of the after
loon
II didn't do half enough he fuDed
I am afraid let Hathaway get away
Without my telling him plainly enough