The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1919-05-29
THAT Stupid
Boy >
By ALLEN cHAPPELL

vim and threw down his pen, which
he had poked into the inkwell to find
1t full of red instead of black fluid.
Don't scold him, Mr.. Drew
coaxed Lettie Duncan, cashier of the
establishment and a general favorite
with everybody about it.
"But l can't have this kind of work
going on" demonstrated her employer
yesterday Jerry mailed oil the let
tiers with one-cent stamp and they
came back for extra postage. He
seems to be wool-gathering half Of
the time"
81 happen to know the reason Why
spoke Miss Duncan, land l had better
reveal it to you. guess Jerry Law
ton is a thoroughly good boy, but he
came here with great object in view
and it has 50 obsessed him that~all he
thinks of is wedding trousseau."
Mr.. Drew regarded his informant
with a wondering and incredulous
stare. "You are jesting," he observed.
Surely you don't mean to intimate
that Jerry is contemplating matri'
mony?'
"Surely not, but his sister is. Jer'
~ is something of hero, Mr.. Drew.
It seems that his sister is to marry
quite worthy young man next month.
Her people are poor and Jerry has
been working and scraping and saving
to surprise her by handing her the
price of a complete bridal outfit"
"Well we'll p commented Mr.. Drew
indulgently. 1--WE must keep track OF
this romance, encourage it and help the
happy couple along" He repressed a
slight sigh, and his eyes sought those
of Miss Duncan. She smiled back at
him, flushing slightly, for she fancied
she surmised what was in his thoughts.
AS to himself, there was moment or
sadness as he thought Of wife he
had loved and lost.
The hum of industry caused the in
cident Of the moment to pass into for
getfulness for the time being. Jerry
came in swinging the satchel contain
ing the mail. He placed it on desk
as Miss Duncan called to him.
us the auto outside, Jerry?" she in
quired.
EYES, ma'am,"'h he responded.
II must get TO the branch plant with
the pay ROLL" she said. @You can
drive me over, if you like"
"Crackey! that will be tine," chirped
Jerry. Eyes, ma'am, fh take charge
of it," as Miss Duncan went to the
safe and filled satclfel with pack
ages of bank notes and rouleaux ct
coin. He dropped the satchel to a
chair to open for Miss Duncan ward
robe where her wraps were. She had
some orders to leave with the stenog'
raphers and her other assistants.
Then: "All ready, jerry" and he hur-
ried out, satchel in hand, and tossed
it on the rear seat Of the machine.
Miss Duncan got in. Jerry proudly
seated himself at the wheel and di-
rected the machine down the plant
alley, turned into the street, almost
came bump up against another auto
waiting there, and his jaw dropped
as one of the men sprang to the
front seat, the other to the rear. Jer-
rvs eyes were like miniature moons
Miss Duncan screamed.
"Quit that, or you'll have trouble y
sounded gruff, menacing tones and a
revolver cleaned. It's possessor shot
out his free hand, seized the satchel
and with his companion backed to-
wards the other automobile in waiting.
"Don't you make an outcry or
move to follow" was ordered threaten
ingly to Jerry, "or there will be rain
of lead" Then the driver and his
colleagues spun away and Miss Dun
can, white to the lips, mur1nured
family:
"Give the alarm, Jerry"
"Thunder! real holdup." gasped
Jerry, and ran to the nearest factory
entrance and shouted out that the
branch pay roll had vanished.
All was excitement and turmoil as
once more in the Office of the works
Lettie and Jerry were surrounded by
an eager interested crowd.
''Hold ont"
1t was Jerry who uttered the words
In ringing shout and with forward
pounce. OF a sudden his glance had
fallen to what he at first supposed to
be 1.-The mail satchel. Now he knew
better. He seized the object, lifted it.,
gave it a swing and yelled fEsterl-
cally:
'Hurrah! They got the wrong one"
whats that?" demanded Mr.. Drew.
II made a mistake. Oh, say! Mics
Duncan, we've fooled those hold-up
men grandly. It's the paper mail
satchel they've got, and the money
Jerry slipped~a catch and the opu'
lent contents of the satchel tumbled
out. He gloated over the heap OF
money. The color returned to Miss
Duncan's face. Mr.. Drew looked i'm
mensely relieved and pleased, congrat'
ulated Jerry on his fortunate mistake,
and arranged with Miss Duncan to
promptly see that Jerry had suit
ohio roUord cuff cionf t0 more than