The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-12-31
COpyriaht, 1913, (COns1nned.)

room in his house is filled with price less antiques, with secret drawer in everything but the glassware and not an nnbrofen piece in the collection. I had the plant all ready for opening to the public and had suction svveepers working. reversed, for a week, to get a good coating of dust and had turned two dozen spiders loose in each room to put on the finishing touches when old JozAthan, who went through every battle of the civil war without a scratch, ran splinter in hds thumb and died or lOckjaw. Now, every stick Of furniture had is in that house. | haven't scrap of paper to show for. 1t. and the Oklahoma heir will probably throw me off the place when I put in my btf1.''
 tPoplarvi11e!'' yelled the brakeman as the engine wi1istled for down brakes.
 The antique furniture maker arose wearf1ys Where are you going7" he asked
 s.Lafayette. They tell me it's ttvs little county seat with plenty of loose
 .Ten miles farther on,'' coznmented the other. Any particular business there?''
 'sEJc; just prospecting.
 e.I wish you'd get or and help me collect for my antiques And the ex- green goods man eyed wistfuIIy the large proportions and impressive ap- peaEance Of his old friend WaIIingford.
 CT don't mind if do,' observed J. Rufus careleasly, and he went back to his chair for his hand luggage.
 s%
 Lafayette Bunker, who was a gaunt and clumsy man of dueeriy knotted muscles, stood at the gate of the old Bunker farm and acknowledged his l. identity with gloomy reluctance.
 "I came to see you about some an- tique furniture,' 2 said Dollar Bill
 T don't want to buy none,y imme- diateIy repudiated Lafayette. sI de clare | don't know where old Jona- than got all the worthless trash the house is ciuttered up with. When | was here i've years ago he had two chairs and 8 kitchen table and a cam vas cot. ?
 ~He got it from me" explained the worm hole expert, land here's the bill for it. I'm William J. Shuvit' 1 L1afayeEte Bunker, who had not yet removed his foot from the lower bar of the gate, eyed the document in ques- fion with careless indifference, but did not take t in his hands. ''That afn't no proof that Jonathan owed it to you, he uninterestedIy argued. stCourse don't say he didn't, but If he did you'll have to collect it the next time you see him. and he laughed silently, like man too stingy to share even joke.
 tsVery well: I'll have to repleyin the fysrniture," announced MT. Shuvit, con- cealing his anger as much as possi- ble.
 sYou can do whatever you blame pIease!' granted young MT. Bunker t@The furnftme,s mine, and I'm going to sell it if I can find anybody fool enough to buy il" and he stroIled away in the direction of the disin- tegrating old house, pausing to pull 8 dead and decayed weed from the side of the walk
 tsThe worst of it is don't dare re- plevin it,s' confessed Dollar Bill to WaIlingford s'The papers would get hold of it, and that would ruin my business. ought to have made sew eraI thousand dollars on this deal, but in the shape the thing is I'd have been glad to settle for $1 300 and take the next train for Texas. Why, con- found 1t, Jim, I have4't any furniture left to sell. used # all in stocking up this place."
 seYou might buy it in at very cheap figure" suggested Walhngford. ~I say" he called after the retreating heir to the Bunker estate
 Lafayette half turned and bent upon them impatient brows. Huh 2' he grunted.
 What will you take for that furnI- tureT'
 The heir from okiahona came back immediately.
 s'What'H you giveg'
 "A hundred dollars"
 sWell, this morning might have sold 1t to you for that, but I've just seen this mans bdIl, and it says the furnfture's worth fifteen hundred. SO that's the price I afn't looking for any profit. I'm just plain farmer
 "I know; I've bought apples from them," chuckled Wallingford. Lets see that furniture. ''
 ssCome right in," invited MT. Bunker.
 Dollar Bill Shuvft walked reverently into the parIor of the old Bunker home stead and surveyed his own creations with the worshipful pride of born genius. Look at that ScrambIeton suit,' he glowed "Did you ever see more beautifully threadbare upholster- ing? Look at the mended leg on that Stuart table! You can see that the bottom of the leg is newer wood and was glued On by a dub. say. twenty or twenty-five years agor' Wallingford looked about him with the appreciation of an artist. The dust af aSyes law fI14cJxlv an evarvf11fr2