Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1915-07-31

~e "a e.. On IT,. Is grass ..... at
ing.
80. Jimmy I replied putting down
my coffee cup. "Ou the contrary, / am
very poor"
"Eut you have all sorts Of things
back there where you i've, aud last
night you said you would pay that man
a hundred dollars just 10 open lot Of
clam shells. Now. a hundred dollars is
"A awful slight Of money"
That depends. Jimmy" I said
"Aud we ought 20 taEe them pearls"
broke in La6tte Didn't we lick himE"
we did, yes; twice" Aud in my as
sent / felt again a fierce satisfaction in
the drst conquest OF our invader, that
OF body to body, eye to eye. rather than
ia the one where l brought intellect 10
aid ia war. But there are two ways
of being a pirate. Let as see if we can
not win treasure by taking chance ia
logic and So be modern pirates
They did not understand me ana
went mute, but at last Jimmy resumed
lis catechism. "Who owns the place
where sou live, Black Bartg"
Il do"
"But how muchT'
"Some FIVE OF six miles"
"Geel That must be over a hundred
acres. / didn't know anybody owned
that much land Where'd you get it,"
In part from nay father"
''What business was be imp
He was a pirate. Jimmy. or at east
they said he was. But my mother
was not, ! will tell YOU I added
suddenly My father owned 81 great
deaf Of timbarlaud long ago and iron
and oil and copper, when nobody cared
much for them They say now he
stole some Of them. I don't know
In those days people weren't SO partic-
ulaF The more he got the more he
wanted. He never was u boy Ike
you and me He educated me as
lawyer SO that ! could take care Of
his business and his property. and he
trained me in the pirate business the
best be could. and l made money. 100.
ali / wanted You see. my father
could never get enough, but I did,
perhaps because my mother wasn't a
pirate, you see So when ] got enough
my father and mother both died. ana
when ! began to see that maybe my
father had taken a little more than
our share began trying to do some
thing for people, but can't talk
about that, of course
Well why notE' demanded Laftte-
go on"
"a fellow doesn't like to-"
but what did you dof"
VERY little. l found / could not do
very much. gave some buildings TO
schools, that sort Of thing. No one
thanked me much 8 good many
called me a Socialist"
whats that-a Socialism
Il can't tell you. Nobody knows.
But really, I suppose. a Socialist is q
man born before the world got used
to steam and electricity. Those things
made a lot Of changes, you see, and in
the confusion some people didn't get
quite as square a deal as they de
served, or at least they didn't think
they had 1t takes time really. as
suppose. to settle down after any
great change. Its like moving q
house"
What ike about YOU Black Bart"
resumed L'Olounois naively, is you
seem always fair"
/ flushed at this. suddenly. and push
ed back my plate Jimmy" said / at
last j wonld rather have heard that,
from you, than to hear I had made a
million dollars from pearls or anything
else For that has always been my
great hope and wish-that some day /
could teagh myself always 10 be f0ir-
not 10 deceive anybody. most OF all
not myself IN short, 10 be fair.
Brother I thank you. IL you really be-
lieye have succeeded to some extent"
We Inter found our clammers, the
young man and his cTone OF a mother
up betimes and hard at work. as evil
looking a pair as ever i saw
They had already roasted open aud
examined quite . heap Of shells by
the time we arrived. and ! inquired,
pleasantly, il they had found anything.
The intn answered surHIy that they
had NOT. i'ug something made me feel
suspicious, since they had made SO
early a start saw him now and
then wipe uis hands ON his overallS.
and several times noted thar rs ne did
so his middle finger projected down
below the others, as though ne were
touching for something inside his
pocket. which lay ia front. the over
ais heins made for n carpenter. with
narrow pocset devised for carrying q
folded footrule Bat I could see moth
Ing suggested IN the pocket
-That's too bad" / said pleasantly.
1T LOOKS rs though / were going 70
lose my hundred. doesn't it, Still. the
day is long
busted myself in wstching the deft
work of the two as they opened the
shells started by the heat. sweeping