The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1919-04-17
matter Of life and death. I'm on my

Daphne should disappear, since Bay.
ard had said that they were all Out.
The women retreated to Leila's room
as a good coign Of addition.
When Bayard opened the door Clay
swept in like a March gale. He flung
himself at Bayard and clenched his
elbows in his hands and roared:
"Bayard! Bayard! It's come!
We're rich! We're made! Eureka I
Uneedal Munitions! Wowl Listenl
The other night while I was trailing
a Job in darkest New Jersey I ran
across a little clue, and a little man
who told me a little secret. The Ger
mans have been getting ready for this
war FOR years, piling up guns and am
munition for Der Tag. The other
countries were caught only half ready.
They have stopped the Germans on
the Marine, but they've been using
their shells at such q rate that the
famine is near. <~Their only hope is to
buy supplies Of us. They're going to
dump enough contracts on this coun-
try to furnish about a million dollars
to every citizen. Their agents are
~pussy-footing round to distribute con-
tracts quietly.
1.-THE Bethlehem Steel company has
gathered in a big lot Of them, and I
had a tip that the stock was going
to boom; so are a lot of other stocks.
I'd sell my right arm for a little CAST.
But there's no market for detached
right arms, SO I used mine. to sign up
a few little contracts for placing con.
tracts, and I've plucked them and
brought them to you" He broke into
! dance and whirled Bayard off his feet.
Bayard tried to be patient. that's
all very interesting, Clay, but take
your decisions down to Bellevue,
where they'll put you in the right. cell.
What a you or I do with ammuni-
ton ~contracts?"
"Accept 'em, you blamed lift! Open
up your old shut-up factory and get
busy"
"We have no machinery for making
ammunition"
"Get it, then, or adapt your ma
chinery! They need millions of each
article, for there are millions Of men
in the field using up What they've got
so fast that it's only a matter of
weeks before they'll be desperate"
Bayard began to see the scheme
also the obstacles. "But it takes
money to make those things. Where
will we get the cash for the pay rolls
and the raw materials?"
"From the banks! The banks are
bursting open with idle money; it's
rottlng on their hands"
Bayard went aglow with the realiza-
ton OF the opportunity. He began to
tremble at the vision Of the sudden
avalanches Of wealth pouring down
the Dleak mountains of despair. He
could hear the roar of the Niagaras
of gold.
Daphne and Leila came rushing
from concealment. Clay's beatitude
wa so complete that he forgot his re-
sentiments and kissed them Doth.
Bayard was frantic to be at work.
He resolved to telephone the presi-
dent of his company at once and lay
the matter before him. Leila cannily
advised Bayard to grasp the whip
band Of the situation and keep It Dhe
began to dance about the room like
a Miriam celebrating the passage Of
the Red sea.
"The first thing We'll do" she said,
will be to get my jewelry out Of the
pawnshop and the second will be to
buy some more And, oh, the dresses
and the hatsl"
This asserted q SOLDERING effect on
Bayard. "No," he announced. "We've
gone through hades once because I
gambled away my reserves. This time
I'm going to get a big reserve before
I spend a cent. I'll never risk another
ordeal like the one we've been
through. No more fractures Of the
Thirteenth for mel"
Leila laughed.
Bayard went to the telephone to
start the wheels Of the factory In mo-
ton by summoning the president to
council. He paused to ask: "Hell
want to know who the foreign agent
is you are dealing with? Or are there
several? Who shall / say?"
"Wetherell," said Clay.
The great Skoda gun that suddenly
one day dropped a monster shell in
Dunkirk twenty miles off could hardly
have caused more stupefaction than
the name Of Wetherell decorating in
that room.
Daphne snatched her hand from
Clay's. Bayard sprang up so sharply
that he almost threw Leila forward
on her face. Instinctively he caught
her by the arm and saved her from
falling. But instantly he flung her
arm from him in a gush Of disgust.
Clay gaped at the tableau in bewil-
derment. He had not dreamed that
any Of the three had ever heard Of
Wetherell. He could not imagine the
bitterness the name involved.
"Will some kind friend please tell
me what all the excitement is about?"
This was not easy. Who wanted to
a - az Q L@Fn 50 - a. &E