Gilpin observer., 1918-12-26
CHAPTER xiv-contlnued.


"Yes. Precisely. And there were
many just as valueless. But we have
been gradually getting those out Of
the way and listing and appraising the
remainder. 1t was tangle. Your
brothers business methods, especially
OF late years, were decidedly unsys-
temat1c and slipshod. It may have
been the condition Of his health which
prevented his attending to them as he
should. Or" he hesitated slightly, at
may have been that he was secretly in
great trouble and mental distress. At
all events, the task has been a hard
one for us. But largely owing to
0faves and his patient work, our re-
port was practically ready a month
ago."
He paused. Captain Elisha, who had
bean listening attentively. nodded.
"Yes." he said; "you told me twas.
What does the whole thing tot up TOT
What's the final fgger, Mr.. Graves?'
Never mind them now, Graves," in
terrupted Kuhn. '.The amount, rough
" speaking, u close to over our orig
fnal estimate, half million"
The captain drew q breath Of relief.
Well" he exclaimed, that's all right
then. a1n't iti That's NO poorhouse
psns6on."
Sylvester answered. eyes," he said,
that's all right a. far - it goes"
"Humphl Well, cal'late could
make It 60 to the end Of the route
and then have enough left for Q 10
turn ticket Say" with another look
at the solemn faces Of the three, what
ID the row7 II the estate is wuth hat
million what's the matter with it,"
That ts what We are here this morn
ing to discuss. captain. A month ago,
- I said, we considered our report
practically ready. Then we suddenly
happened on the trail Of something
which upon investigation upset all our
calculations. II true 1t threatened,
not to mention its effect upon the es-
tate, to prove 30 distressing and pain
full to ", Rodgers Warren's friends
and legal advisers, that we decided not
to alarm You, his brother. by disclosing
our suspicious until we were sure there
was no mistake. l did drop you q hint,
you will remember
"I remember. Now we're comm to
the rock!"
Sylvester was evidently disturbed.
Captain Misha, regarding him intent
ly, nodded
II judge it's sort Of hard for you to
go on, Mr.. Sylvester" he said. "I'n
help you all l can. You and Mr.. Kuhn
and Mr.. Graves here have found out
somethin' that amt exactly straight
in Bites doin's-somethin's he's done
that's-well to speak plain, that's
crooked2"
I'm afraid there's no doubt Of It."
"Humph!' The captain frowned.
His cigar had gone out, and he idly
twisted the stump between his fin
gers. .'Well." he said, with a sigh,
"our family. centrally speakin', has al
ways held its head pretty high. Dad
was poor, but he prided himself on
bein' straight as a plumb line. And, as
for mother. she"- sss Then. look
ing up quickly. he asked, "Does any
body outside know about this7"
mo one but ourselves--yet."
"Yet7 Is 1t goin' to be necessary
for anybody else to know it3"
I'VE hope not But there Is a posi-.
bility."
"I was thinkin' about the children"
"Of course. So are we ALL"
"Um-hm. Poor Caroline! She put
her father on a sort OF altar and bow
ed down afore him, as you might say.
Any sort Of disgrace to his name would
about kill her. AS for me-" with an
other sigh. 81 amt SO much surprised
as you might think. know that
sounds tough to say about your own
brother, but I've been afraid all along.
You see. Bite always steered pretty
close to the edge Of the channel. He
had ideas about honesty and fair deal.
In In business that didn't jibe with
.nine. We split on just that, as told
you. Mr.. Graves. when You and fust
met. He got some South Denboro folks
70 invest money along with him-sort
Of savin's account, they nggered 1T
but I found out he was usin' Il tc
speculate with. So that's why We had
our row. I took pains to see that the
money was paid back, but he and
never spoke afterward. Fur a. my
own money was concerned, 1 hadn'i
any kick. but . - However. I'm
talkin' too much. Go on, Sylvester
I'm ready 70 hear whatever you've r.,
60 say"
''Thsnk you, captain. You make Il
easier for me. Il seems that you,
brothers nrst step toward wealth and
success was taken about nineteer
years ago. Then somehow or other
probably through Q combination d
luck and shrewdness. he obtained I
grant, Q coocession from the Brazilian
vovernment, the long term lease Of {
good sised tract Of land ON the uppsl
Amazon. 1t was very valuable b
- a.