The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-07-28
WTTAKEKS
 PLACE
By JOSEPH c. LINCOLN
zOOs.-by D. Appleton G. Go.

"S.s1h2h! You know I've got the proofs. They were easy enough to get once I happened on the track of lem. Lord sakes, Heman, ain't a fool! Whats the use of your pretendin' to be one? There's the deed out in Fris- co. with yours and Johns name on it. There's the records to prove the sale. There's the receipt for the $75, 900 signed by you on behalf of yourself and your partners widow. There's old man Everdean alive and competent to testify. There's John Thayer's will on file over to Orham Proofs! Why, you thief, if it's proofs you want I've got enough to send you to state prison for the rest of your lifei Don't you dare say proofs to me again! Heman Atkins, you owe me. as Bos'n's guard ian, $S7, 800, with interest since 1854. What you. gofn' to do about 1t"
 Here was one ray, feeble ray, of light.
 You're. not her guardian cried At kins. '@The courts have thrown you out, and your appeal won't stand ei- ther. If any money is due it belongs to her father. She isn't of age! No, sir, her father''-
 Captain Cy's patience had been giv- ing away. Now he lost it altogether. He strode across the room and shook his forefnger in his victims face.
 "Sor' he cried. t4That's your tack, is it? By the big d1pper. you go to her father-Just you go to him and tell himI Just hint to him that you owe his daughter thirty-odd thousand dol lars and see what he'll do. Good heav-; ems above, he was ready to sell her out to me for $50 zvuth of sand bank in Orham-a1most ready, he was, till you offered a higher price to him toi fight. Why, he'll have your hide nail ed up on the barn door! If you don't pay him every red copper down on the nail he'll wiring you dry. And then he'll blackmai1 you forever and ever, amen-unless, of course, go home and stop the b1ackmai1 by printing my story in the Breeze. I've a precious good mind to do 1t. By the Almighty, will do it unless you come off that high horse of yours and talk like a man"
 And then the monument fen-fe1 prostrate, with sickly, pitifu1 crash. If we of Bayport could have seen our congressman then! The great man, great no longer, broke down complete ly. He cried like a baby. It was all true-an true. He had not meant to steaIs at first He had been led Into using the money in his business. Then he had meant to send it to the heirs, but he didn't know their whereabouts. Captain Cy smiled at this excuse. And now he couldn't pay-he couldn't. He had hardly that sum in the world. He had lost money in stocks. His prop erty in the south had gone to the bad He would be ruined. He would have to go to prison. He was getting to be. an old man. And there was Alicia, his daughter! Think of her! Think of the disgrace! And so on, over and over, with the one recurring burden-what was the captain going to do-what was he going to do? It was a miserable, dreadful exhibition, and Captain Cy could feel no pride in his triumph.
 'NThere, therer he said atAast. "Stop 1t, man; stop it, for goodness sakesl Pull yourself together. T guess we can fix it up somehow. I ain't goin' to be too hard on you. If ft~wan't for your meanness in bein' wi11in' to let Bos'n suffer her life long with that drunken beast of a dad of hers I'd feel almost like telIin' you to gettup and forget it. But, that's got>to be stopped. Now, you listen to me.''
 Heman listened. He was on his knees beside the bed, his face buried in his arms, and his gray hair, the 1eonineH Atkins hair, which he was wont to toss backward in the heated periods of his eloquence, tunabled and draggled. Captain, Cyy looked down at him.
 E "Tf1fs whole business about Bos'n must be stopped" he said, land stopped right off. You tell your law yers to drop the case. Her dad is only hang1n' around becausegyou pay 4him to. He don't want her; She don't care