The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-08-03
AFish Story
By ALAN HINsDALE

hNN 'aff NAAt was lANAA Wv
service and set about trying to make q
living for which three years OF soldier
Ing had not prepared him. Yet one
Kind OF preparation he had gained from
his campaigning He was not afraid
to strike out In any path. Many OF the
boys OF 1851 10 1865 finding II difficult
J after the war 10 settle down 10 a hum.
drum life, sought untried fields. Bob
Anterior was one OF these. He went
10 Australia TO begin life In what was
then a new country.
Bob wouldn't have gone had he not
believed there was no chance for him
/ at home. for he had sweetheart whom
| It panied him 10 leave. But Elsie Rath
| bone promised 10 wait till he had made
enough TO send for her. when she
would go TO him. This comforted him.
Australia was then, as II Is now. a
wool growing country. and Bob on
reaching Melbourne. where men Were
wanted. found a position IN the count
ing room of wool broker. He learned
lot about the business. but somehow
he did not find promotion rapid. Per
haps soldering had taken out OF him
that contentment necessary TO one
working In treadmill. At any rate.
he was not interested In his business,
and II IL probable that he was not as
up and doing as his employers expect
ed him to be.
He went on 10 sheep ranch, where
he found more congenial occupation
riding about IN the open air herding
sheep. But here, too, he was paid so
much money for so much work, and
since the work was not skilled he fail |
ed to gather in more funds than he
needed for his personal wants. Besides
one who had spent much OF his time /
In the army playing poker with the |
dollar bill greenbacks of the period was
not likely TO look after the pence.
Atherton drifted from one thing to
another for FIVE years. He kept up a
correspondence with Elsie for four Of
them, then, considering the status I'M
lust to her. ceased 10 write. He grad I
ually ran down till he was shabby
enough to be mistaken for a larrikin,
which means the descendant OF
Botany bay convict. From this condi
ton he drifted TO the coast. where he
tried TO pick up a scant living as
fisherman.
One day Bob caught big fish and In
endeavoring TO extricate his hook saw
something that looked like paper In
the gullet. Curious to know what It
was, he cut the fish open and found
that 1t had swallowed a newspaper.
The journal had been inclosed in a
wrapper, and IL Is not impossible that
the fish had mistaken 1t for another
fish. Bob unfolded II very carefully. j
The outside had been saturated, but t
the inner sheets were comparatively i
dry. 1t proved to be London paper 3
Of a then recent date. On one of the Y
pages Bob saw a notice that the En-
peror Napoleon III. had left Paris to II
place himself at the head OF the
French army to fight the Prussians. +
That meant that war had been de-
clared between France and Prussia,
news that had not yet reached Mel
for that was before a cable :
had been laid between Europe and q
Australia. Another item that Bob no =
iced was quotation for wool. The Il
Price In the English market was very
much higher than in Australia. 81
That set Bob to thinking. II he had Il
he money he could buy wool for one h
,rice, and as soon as a ship came in h
bringing the news of the war and re- 81
ent quotations he might sell 1t for u
'rofit, But he hadn't sixpence to his
lame. He sat on the sand thinking
low he could utilize his information. =,
He was sufficiently familiar with the "
WOOL business TO know the names of co
be principal dealers, all OF whom had al
ought through the commission firm I
y whom he had been employed. Sc. hs
nown, he sent an order from each Sc
, his former employers to buy large
uantity of wool for each one of them, ~
hen went to the firms whose names :"
e had used and told them what he he
ad done, offering to produce proof m,
lat the price Wouid rise on conoitlof I'M
Is order be confirmed and that he be ur
aid quarter of the profits arising op
'om the deal. Nearly all acquiesced
writing. do
The contracts had not been signed pa
ing when a ship came in bringing no
ews that war had been declared ga
stween France and Prussia, with iht
,w quotation for wool. The firms in -
hose names Bob had given his orders 4
ade enormous profits. Bob's aggre- II
lte proceeds were as large as any
lie of the buyers.
AS soon as the money was paid over
him Bob took the next ship for
merica, hoping that he would find his
veetheart unmarried He not only
und her a spinster. but hoping that
e might again hear from him. When
told her that he had made a fortune
e rejoiced, but when he told her how
had done It she thought he was
affing her. However, he confirmed
5 story by producing the newspaper
had taken from the fish's belly and
item cut from Melbourne paper
scribing his coup
As to how the fish carried the Eng
b paper 10 Melbourne ahead of the
ails. that is a matter Of conjecture.
can only be accounted for on the