Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-10-10
Evening Story
BROTHER TOM DID IT.
BY Clara Inez Deacon.
downright 1913, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.)

They had told Mr.. Guy Richmond
1t the country hotel where he had put
up for a few days of fall fishing that
q mile down the highway he would
como to Diamond river.
That sounded good to begin with.
Most people connect diamonds with
fish, They do SO because it is posi-
bic to earn two diamonds saving wood
while catching one at fishing.
When Mr.. Richmond had reached
wv bridge he was to follow the stream
down about a quarter of a mile and
he would come to a boss place for
bass.
Good again! There was something
catchy about the name OF Ivy bridge.
It must have ivy climbing over 1t or
It would not be so named. Wherever
there is ivy there is romance.
Mr.. Richmond followed his nose
and found Ivy bridge. Yes, there was
ivy there. And there was Diamond
river.
Down the stream went Mr.. Rich
mond. and he oon found the spot he
had been directed to. 1t was a deep
pool in a bend, and in that pool lay
untold millions of fish ready to make
fools of themselves and be Topped to
the bank. 1t was a narrow river, and
Just above the pool was an old log
spanning the stream. That log was
an ideal place to fish from.
Young Mr.. Richmond was good
looking, had a rich father and was
a crackerjack at football, but he
should have taken lessons from Sher-
lock Holmes as to observation. Under
a tree at the end of the bridge was a
pony with a lady's saddle on his back.
The young man did not even notice
him.
AT the foot of the tree stood a
lunch basket and some spare fishing
tackle. Those things signifed that
the female had come prepared to
catch all the fish in the pool, no mat
ter if it took her all day.
Sherlock would have reasoned 1t
ont that only young ladies ride horse
back.
That only interesting girls ever
fish.
That a lone young lady, fishing in
a lone spot, would be glad OF the
presence of a lone young man after
she had sized him up as .. X.
That such meetings had led to
happy matriimony, and might again.
That the fraternal bond between
them as fishermen would certainly
induce her to invite him to partake
of the contents of that lunch basket
No. The young man had eyes for
the pool alone, and he slam-banged
along and got his tackle ready n
walked out on the log. Indeed, he
had been fishing for five minutes
when he was forced to observe that
there was another present. 1t was a
girl and she sat on the bank, partly
screened by a bush, and fishing IN
the samc-pool. She coughed and Mr..
Richmond looked up and gave a start.
She didn't cough to attract his atten-I
ito. but because she had a frog in
her throat.
After spreading his feet wide apart,
Mr.. Richmond got a proper balance
and on with his cap.
The girl stared at him.
els it good fishing here?."
No answer.
"Caught any yet?"
No answer in words, but she pulled
In a two-pound bass.
THAT'S ine-that's fne!"
If he didn't see her lip curl in n
tempt he was mistaken.
Perhaps he was a ~trespasser. Per-
haps her father owned Diamond river,
and she resented the intrusion
IF I am a trespasser-
The girl looked at him without the
flicker Of an eyelid.
'fYou say so and I'll 60"
She didn't say so. She didn't say
anything.
Bound to freeze me out" thought
the young man, but | don't propose
to 20 unless she changes her attitude.
It's a cold bluff she is making, and
it won't work" !,
It's simply a question in physical
culture. Can a young man standing
a half-slippery log over a stmear
take as much comfort and stand it
as long as a girl seated on the grassy
bank of the same stream? The an
swer is not by a joyful!
In 4 half hour the young nan be-
gan to tire and his knees to wobble.
He must stand just SO. Not for a
thousand dollars would he go ashore
and pass the girl who vas scorning
HILL, duu JuO OIhCA p@aHh "~S -
marsh. And to add gall to the sit
uation, he wasn't catching a fish.
He wasn't getting the faintest kind
of a nibble, while every two or three
minutes the girl was banking a fine
fish. She kept him in torture for an
hour and a half, and then rose up and
strolled to the bridge and sat down
to her lunch.
Mr.. Richmond almost crawled
ashore, aching in every bone, and as
soon as his legs had limbered up he
set off for the hotel. He had been
into the dust, and he
would have revenge. He did not plan
much. He was at the pool an hour
earlier mex morning. The girl might
not come, but if she did she would
find him on the bank and she might
take the log.
Behold, she was on hand and had
already landed three fish. Mr.. Rich
mond passed the girl without the
slightest notice, and began humming
a gay air as he cast in his hook.
There were fish there for the young
man. It was hardly a minute before