New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1915-09-29
Copyright. 1913. BY Emerson Hough
CHAPTER v.

very poor"
But you have all sorts of things
back there where you live. and last
night you said you would pay that man
a hundred dollars just to open lot of
clam shells. Now, hundred dollars Is
awful sight Of money"
THAT depends, Jimmy" said.
And we ought to take them pearls"
broke In LATTE "Didn't we lick him?
I'VE did. yes; twice." And in my as
sent felt again fierce satisfaction in
the first conquest Of our invader, that
of body to body, eye to eye, rather than
in the one where I brought intellect to
aid in war. But there are two ways
of being pirate. Let us see If we can
not win treasure by taking chance in
logic and so be modern pirates"
They did not understand me and
went mute, but at last Jimmy resumed
his catechism. "Who owns the place
where you live, Black Bart?''
"I do"
"But how much?"
"Some five or six miles,
Gee! That must be over a hundred
acres. didn't know anybody owned
that much land. Whered you get it?"
in part from my father"
What business was he in?'
He was pirate, Jimmy. or at least
they said he was. But my mother
was not. I will tell you," l added
suddenly "My father owned a great
deal Of timberland long ago and iron
and oil and copper, when nobody cared
much for them. They say now he
stole some of them. l don't know.
In those days people weren't so partic-
ular. The more he got the more he
wanted. He never was a boy like
you and me. He educated me as
lawyer SO that l could take care of
his business and his property. and he
trained me in the pirate business the
best he could, and made money, too.
all wanted. You see, my father
could never get enough, but I did.
perhaps because my mother wasn't
pirate, you see. So when got enough
my father and mother both died, and
when I began to see that maybe my
father had taken little more than
our share l began trying to do some
thing for people, but 1 can't talk
about that, Of course"
swell, why not?' demanded LATTE
go on"
"A fellow doesn't like to-
but what did you do?"
Every little. l found could not do
very much. l gave some buildings to
schools, that sort of thing. No one
thanked me much. A good many
called me a Socialist"
whats that-a Socialism"
II can't tell you. Nobody knows.
But really, l suppose, Socialist is a
man born before the world got used
to steam and electricity. Those things
made lot Of changes, you see, and in
the confusion some people didn't get
quite as square deal as they de-
served, or at least they didn't think
they had. 1t takes time, really, as l
suppose, to settle down after any
great change. It's like moving
house,
what like about you, Black Bart"
resumed L'Olonnols naively. us you
seem always fair
flushed at this, suddenly, and push
ed back my plate. Jimmy" said at
last, II would rather have heard that,
from you, than to hear I had made
million dollars from pearls or anything
else. For that has always been my
great hope and wish-that some day
could teach myself always to be fair
not to deceive anybody. most of oil
not myself; in short, to be fair.
Brother, thank you, If you really be-
lieve have succeeded to some extent"
We later found our clammers, the
young man and his crone of mother,
up betimes and hard at work. as evil
looking pair as ever I saw
They had already roasted open and
examined quite heap Of shells by
the time We arrived, and l inquired,
pleasantly, If they had found anything.
The man answered surlily that they
had not, but something made me feel
suspicious, since they had made so
early a start l saw him now and
then wipe his hands on his overalls,
and several times noted that as he did
so his middle finger projected down
below the others, as though he were
touching for something inside his
pocket, which lay in front, the over
alls being made for carpenter, with
narrow pocket devised for carrying
folded footrule. But could see moth
ing suggested in the pocket
THAT'S too bad" l said pleasantly
1T looks as though were going to
lose my hundred, doesn't it2 Still, the
day Is long,"
/ busted myself in watching the deft
work of the two as they opened the