Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1919-05-16
CHAPTER xxI-continued.

swept in like q 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!
Uneeda! Munitions! +. Wowi Listen
The other night while 1 was trailing
across a little clue, and a little man
who told me a little secret. The Ger
mans have been getting ready for this
wal 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 a 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
80 every citizen. Their agents are
pussy-footing round to distribute con-
tracts quietly.
"The Bethlehem Steel company has
gathered in a big lot of them, and |
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 cash.
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 can you or I do with ammuni-
rtion c~ontracts2"
accept 'em, you blamed ijiti Open
up your old shut-up factory and get
busy"
"We have no machinery for making
ammunition"
"Get it, then, or adapt your ma
'chineryl 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.r
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
rotting on their hands ~
Bayard went aglow with the realiza-
tion of the opportunity. He began to
'tremble at the vision Of the sudden
savalanches Of wealth pouring down
the bleak mountains Of despair. He
could hear the roar of the Niagarase
of gold.
Daphne and Leila came rushing
from ~concealment. Clay's beatitude
was so complete that he forgot his re-
sentiments and kissed them both.
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
hand Of the situation and keep it. She
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 hatsI"
This asserted a 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
/ spend a cent. I'll never risk another
ordeal like the one we've been
through. No more fractures of the
Thirteenth for me p
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: "HeIl
want to know who the foreign agent
is you are dealing with? Or are there
several? Who shall I say?"S
"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
iWetherell. He could not imagine the
bitterness the name involved.
xviii some kind friend please tell
me what all the excitement is about?"
This was not easy. Who wanted to
tell Clay that Leila had just been ac-
-cused Of neglecting her husband and
her own duties for the society of this
very Wetherell? Leila herself was
the one that told him.
"Look here, Bydie," Leila cooed
and billed, don't you think you've
done enough? You've shown me that
you don't trust me and you've ordered
Mr.. Wetherell never to come near me
again. Isn't that enough without beg
caring us all for spite? What else
IS 1t but cheap, nasty spite?"
sits a great deal more than spite,'
lBayard groaned. "Do you think I'll