The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-08-28
An EVEN DIVIDE
BY ELLSWORTH LEWIS.


"Well?" queried Mr.. James Monroe
Wallace as his son Philip came
slouching into the library and dropped
into q chair with q tired look.
you wanted to see me, father?"
"Humph! Philip, you don't amount
to putty"
Fright you are. father"
81 think Of a fishworm every time l
see you.''
And feel like one But there's
another side to 1t. II am flshworm
am q harmless one"
The young man rose and took two
or three turns around the room. and
then halted to say:
Father. should l make i've thou
sand dollars in the next year, besides
winning good wife, what will the
bridal gift bel"
"A thirty.thousand brownstone
front"
Thanks In advance"
When Philip left the city he rode =
hundred miles by rail and got OF at
town of 1000 inhabitants. Why7
He could not answer.
At the hotel they wondered who the
young man was and what had brought
him there, but he made no explana-
tons. He must make $1,000 and find
q bride within year, and he realized
1t would require heap of thinking.
He was in the office of the hotel
one morning when the telephone rang
and the operator at Benton, ten miles
away. said: Tell the sheriff that the
bank was robbed last night"
"Of how much?" the young man
asked.
"The robbers got $4,000 of the
banks money and about the same from
the safe deposit vaults"
And have the officers there got q
clue?"
They know there were three rob-
bers and that they passed the house Of
q farmer three miles out an hour after
midnight"
II see."
''They were in a one-horse buggy
and had driven SO fast that the horse
dropped dead"
ANY reward"
"Yes. $1,000 for each of the robbers
and $1,000 for the return of the
money"
Young Wallace did not start for the
sheriff's ONCE on the run. 1t was
laughable. even to himself. that
young man who had been charac-
terized by his father AZ q fishworm
and totally without energy should find
himself breathing like runner ~ he
thought Of pitting himself against
three desperate men. That was what
1t might come to.
After having arrived at this deci-
sion, the putty man" went to the
livery stable and got horse and
buoy ard >e.e<-tsd- for Benson. He
reached the town to nnu !. ss>esaing
with excitement. Officers and anna
tours were on the hunt. and the
farmer who had seen the robbers and
witnessed the fate Of their horse had
to tell the story over again q score
| Of times. When he had learned where
this farmer lived. young Wallace
drove out there. He asked no Ques-
tons Of anyone.
II his theory was correct, the rob-
bers would find . safe hiding place
for the plumber and then separate and
come back later to divide the spoils
They would realize that every town
for fifty miles around would be mott.
fed before noon. They would have
to conceal the plumber at once and
within . mile or two of where they
lost their horses. A every farmer
kept his barn locked. and a watchdog
besides. the fellows would be driven
back to the strawstacks or the woods.
Philip drove back to Benson to
think 1t over. On the way. he met =
young woman driving . horse and
buggy. In passing each other they
almost came to halt and tho young
man was SO attracted by the girls
agreeable personality that, for the mo-
ment, he almost forgot his role of anna
teur sleuth.
|
An hour later q note was handed
him by q boy. He was asked to call
on Miss Hazel Drayton at a certain
address. He found her to be the girl
he had passed on the highway. He
had scarcely given her his name when
she said:
"You are looking for the bank plum.
der?"
"wen?"
Both of US know where it u.s."
Perhaps"
Lets work in partnership and di.
vide the reward"
1--WE may find the plumber, but not
the robbers. You see, I must have
the five thousand to hold father to
his promise" Then he proceeded to
tell her all about It,
"But II we we're to divide, wouldn't
your father think you had done very
well?" asked the blushing Miss Ha-
gel. when he had finished.
Father is hard-hearted man. Miss
Drayton."
| "Yes?"
Not more than three minutes passed
before Mr.. Wallace said: But, you
see. I've got half the money. or will
have it, and ten months to find the
other half and the wife. and we will
make an even divide and l will take
the chances"