The Dolores star., 1918-12-27
But Bill was blandly undis.

I
fret. William Will be himself again
ere yet the morrow's sun shall clear
the horizon. Let us avoid recrimina.
ton. Good night"
week or so later he became sud-
denly and Unexpectedly active. He
left the house as soon as his break
fast was eaten. and he did not come
home to luncheon circumstance
which Irritated Hazel. since It was one
| of those rare days when she herself
lunched at home. Late in the after
noon he telephoned briefly that he
| would dine downtown. And when he
did return. ut nine or Whereabouts In
the evening. he clamped cigar be-
tween his teeth. and fell to work COW
ering a sheet Of paper with intermln-
able rows of figures.
"What Is all the clerical work
about?" she inquired. Reckoning
your assets and liabilitiesT
Bill smiled and pushed aside the
paper.
| am going to promote n mining COM
pany." he told her. quite casually. at
has been put up to me MS business
propositicn-and I've got to the stage
where I have to do something, or Ill
| sure have the Willies."
| She overlooked the latter statement;
1t conveyed no special Significance at
the time. But his first statement
| opened up possibilities such as of late
she had sincerely hoped would come
to pass, and she was all interest.
Promote mining company?' she
repeated. THAT sounds extremely
businesslike. observation-disclosures
Nowhere In Granville" he re-
| piled. you see." he continued, warm
ing up bit to the subject, when
was prospecting that creek where we
| made the clean rp last summer.
ran across n well-deflned quartz lead.
| packed out few samples in my
| pockets. and happened to show them
as well as one or two of the mug
| gets to some of these fellows at the
| club a while back. Lorimer took u
| piece of the quartz and had it assayed.
1t looms up MS something pretty big.
So he and Brooks and q couple of
other fellows want me to go ahead
| and organize and locate group of
thousand dollars capital might make
| EN- all rich. OF course, the placer
end of it will be the big thing while
the lode Is being developed. Getting
the start is easy. These fellows I've
talked to are dead anxious to get In"
''But"-her knowledge Of business
methods suggested ditliculty-"you
can't sell stock in business that has
no real foundation--yet. Don't you
have to locate those claims firstf"
wise old head; you have the idea,
all right" lie smiled. ''But this is
not stock-jobbing proposition.
wouldn't be in on 1t IL 1t were. believe
me. It's to be corporation. where
not to exceed six men will own all the
| stock that's issued. And so far as
the claims are concerned. I've got
Whitley Lewis located in Fort George,
and I've been burning the wires and
| spending a bundle of real money get
ting him grub-staked. He has got four
men besides himself all ready to hit
\ the trail as soon as l give the word"
| you won't have to go?" she put in
quickly.
NO" he murmured. at isn't neces-
sary, at this particular stage of the
game. Bit / wouldn't mind popping
Just the same."
| "B-r-r-rl" she shivered involuntar-
lily. -Four hundred miles across that
deep snow. through that steady. flesh
soaring caid. 1 don't envy them the
journey"
| She came over and stood by him,
playfally rumpling his brown hair with
her fingers.
"Tm glad you've found something
to loose that pent-up energy of yours
on, Billy-boy." she said. you'll make
| a success Of 1t, I know. don't see
why you shouldn't make success Of
any kind Of business. But I didn't
think you'd ever tackle business. You
have such peculiar views about busi-
ness and business practice"
II despIse the ordinary business
ethic," he returned sharply. But l
can exploit the resources Of nature.
And that Is my plan. II we make
money 1t won't be filched by a COM
plex process from the other fellows
pockets; 1t won't be wealth created by
shearing lambs In the market. by
sweatshop labor, or adulterated food,
or exorbitant rental of filthy dealing
| with. I'm not overly anxious to get
into 1t with them. But 1t promises
action of some sort-and / have to
do something till spring"
In the spring! That brief phrase
set Hazel TO sober thinking. With
April or May Bill would spread his
wings for the North. There would be
no more staying him than the flight
Of the wild goose to the reedy nesting
| grounds could be stayed. Well, a sum
| mer in the North would not be 30 bad,
she reflected. But she hated to think
of the isolation. 1t grieved her to
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