The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1911-02-25

s-rhen You biankets.Slani, Top
cared. sheepheaded coyote. what did
you say you took II. for?
-sBeeause. said Bob. simply, Z
didn't know you were asleep.
Il saw him glance toward The door
otsthe room where Allied and Jac.k and
Zllla were. and l knew then what II
meant to be . mans friend from
Bob's point Of view.
Major Tom paused. and again a..
irected his glance out Of the window
He saw some one In the Stockrnenss
National bank reach and draw vel,
low shade down the whole length Of
its plate-glass, big front window, nj:
though the position Of the sun did not
seem to warrant such i defensive
movement against It's rays.
Nettlewick sat up straight In his
chair. He had listened patiently, but
without consuming interest to tha'
majors story, 1t had Impressed him.
as irrelevant to the situation and Il
could certainly have no eject upon
the consequences. Those western peo-
pie. he thought, had an exaggerated.
sentimentality. They were not pusk
ness:like. They needed to; be protect.
ed from their friends. Evidently the
major had concluded: And what he
said amounted to nothing.
May l ssk," said the examiner. iii.
you have anything further to saystaat'
bears directly upon the question OF
those abstracted securities"
"Abstracted securities, slrl Major
Tom turned suddenly In his chair. his
blue eyes flashing upon the examiner,
What do you mean. sir!s
He drew from his coat pocket 1
batch Of folded papers held together,
by a rubber band. and tossed them
into Nettlewlck's hands. and rose TO
hts feet.
You'll find those securities there,
sir. every stock, bond and share $of
'em. l took them from the notes
while you were counting the cash. ES.
anime and compare them for your.
SELF
The major led the way back into
the ba~nking.room. The examiner,
%astounded. p%erplexed, nettled, at sea.
followed He felt that he had been
made the victim Of something that
was not exactly a hoax, but that LEFT
him in the shoes Of one who had been
played upon. used, and then discard.
ed. without even an inkiing Of the
game. Perhaps, also, HIS on ciai po-
sltion had been irreyerehtly jusgied
with. But there was nothing be
could take hold Of. An oaiclal repor.
Of the matter would be an absurdlty.
And, somehow, he felt that he would
never know anything more about the
matter than he did then. 4
Frlgtdiy. mechanically. Nettiewfck
examined the securities. found them
TO tally with the notes, gathered his
black wallet to depart.
II will say" he protested, turning
the Indignant glare Of his glasses
upon Major, kingmnn; that your
statements-Typur Misleading state
ments. which you do not lcondescend
TO explaln4-do not. appear! to be quite
the thing. regarded either as bussess
or humor. i do not understand such
motives or action
Major Tom looked down at him so
renely and not unkiudlys
t::son;"s he said ere are plenty OF
things In the chaparral. and on the
prairies. and up the, canyons that you
don't understand. But i want 70 thank
you for listening to a. garruloins old
mans: prosys stories. We old Texans
love to talk about our adventures and
our old comrades. and the home folks
have long ago learned to run when
we. begin With Once upon q time so
we have to spin our yarns TO the
stranger within our gates. :
The major smiled. but the examiner
only bowed coldly. and abruptly QUIT.
ted the bank. They saw him travel
diagouaily across the street in 4
straight line and enter the Stock.
mems National bank.
Major Tom sat down at his desk,
and drew from hfs vest pocket the
note Roy had given him. He had read
II once. but hurriedly and now. with
something like a2winkle, 10 his eyes,
he read again. These were the words
he read; Is.
Dear Tom:
hear there's one Of Uncle Sans
grayhounds going through you. and
that means that we'll catch him inside
of a couple of hours. maybe. Now IL
want you to do aomethiRg for me-.
We've got just $4,000 insthes bank, and
the law requires that We have S2os
900. Ialet Ross and Fisher have SIS.
900 late yesterday afternoon to buy
up that Gibson bunch of cattle. They'll
realize. $4,000 in less than thirty
days on the transaction: but that
wont make, my cash on, hand look any
prettier to that bank examiner. Now,
j can't show him those notes, for
they're Just plain notes OF hand with.
out any security in sight. but you
know r. weff that PINT RozS M