The Yale expositor., 1913-03-27

ICES scorn.
Make it three" said the Bonanza
King, turning his head slightly and
throwing the sentence over his shout
der.
Gene Cannon was now Twenty-Five
years OF age and had drunk since HIS
eighteenth year. His mother had died
In ignorance of his vice. When his
father discovered 1t, 1t simply aug
mented the old mans impatience
against the feeble youth who would
carry on his name and be one Of the
inheritors Of his fortune. Bill Can
non had never cared much for his
only son. He had early seen the stuff
or which the boy was made. Doesn't
amount to hill Of BEANS" he would
say, throwing the words at his vile
over the bitten end Of his cigar. He
could have forgiven the drinking, as
ne could other vices, IL Gene had had
some OF his own force, some of that
driving power which had carried him
triumphant over friend and foe. But
the boy had no initiative, no brains,
no energy. How did | ever come 20
have such a SOM" he queried some
times in an access of disgust in which
the surprise was stronger than the
disgust. The question possessed a
sort Of scientific interest for him
which was deeper than the personal
and over which the disappointed mag
nate would ponder.
AS Gene grew older and his intern
perance assumed more serious proper
tons. the fathers scorn grew more
open and was augmented by a sort OF
eXasperated dislike. The Bonanza
King had no patience with those who
failed from ill-health or the persistent
prosecutions of bad luck. His conten-
ton was that they should not have
been i'll, and they should have con-
quered their bad luck. He had not ex-
against the wall-only death should
be able to do that. But when 1t came
to useless, hampering vice, a weak
ness that In itself was harmless
enough, but that was allowed to gain
paralyzing proportions, his original
contempt was intensified into a fierce
intolerance which would have been
with an indifferent disdain.
Roses attitude toward her brother
was a source Of secret wonder to him.
She loved the feeble youth; a tie of
the deepest affection existed between
them, upon which Genes intemperance
seemed to have no effect. The Bonan-
"a King had always admitted that the
ways of the gentler sex were beyond
his comprehension, but that the two
women he had known best-his wife
and his daughter-should have law
ished the tenderest love upon an in.
temperate, incompetent, useless weak.
ling was to him one Of the fathomless
mysteries Of life.
1t was Roses suggestion that Gene
should be withdrawn from temptation
by sending him to the country. As
the only. son of Bill Cannon he was
the object Of a variety OF attentions
and allurements in the city to which
stronger-willed man might have sue.
cumbed. The father readily agreed to
III.
scribe to all Rose said, as the removal
Of Genes amiable visage and unin
spired conversation would not cause
him any particular distress or sense
Of loss.
But when Rose unfolded the whole
of her scheme he was not SO enthu.
siastically in accord with her. 1t was
that Gene should be put on his fathers
ranch-the historic Rancho Of the
Santa Trinidad near San Luis Obispo
as manager, that all responsibility
should be placed in his hands, and
that II, during one years probation.
he should remain sober and maintain
record Of quiet conduct and general
good behavior, the ranch should be
turned over to him as his own prop.
erty, to be developed on such lines as
he thought best.
The Rancho Of the Santa Trinidad
was one of the finest pieces Of agri'
cultural property in California. The
Bonanza King visited it once a year,
and at intervals received crates OF
fruit and spring chickens raised upon
il. This was about all he got out
Of il, but when lie heard Rose calmly
arranging to nave it become Genes
property, he felt like man who sud
denly finds himself being robbed. He
had difficulty in restraining a roar
of refusal. Had it been any one but
Rose he would not have restrained 1t.
OF course he gave way to her, as he
always did. He even gave way grace
fully with an effect of a generosity too
large to bother over trifles, not be-
cause he felt 1t but because he did
not want Rose to guess how It went
against him" Under the genial bland
ness Of his demeanor he reconciled
himself to the situation by the thought
that Gene would certainly never keep
sober for a year. and that there was
therefore no fear Of the richest piece
Of land in the state passing into the
hands OF that dull and incapable
young man.
The year was nearly up now. 1t
had but three months to run and
Genes record had been exemplary.
He had come to the city only twice.
when his father noticed with a jeal-
ously- Yatchful eye that he had been