Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-12-11

and its gaping pigskin burden. Ono
more he stretched. the mouth Of tn
bag and hooked In. The interior, II
Illuminated by the electric bracke
lamp above, was packed tight VIII
He took out a handful Of the bill
and examined them with careful
scrutiny. Some were new and stif
and cracking; others were soft ant
flimsy, from much handling. HI
found shredA Of blue silk fibre ii
the paper, which he thought va
ample proof they were not counter
felt, but he closely inspected tn,
natures NEVERTHELESS. He was no,
an expert, but the. bills certainl!
seemed to him genuine. '
He dug his hands deep down II
the bag and followed out the cen
ter, thinking that beneath the money
there might be some clue to Its origin
but only more bills, in packages, IL
him. 80
Then he turned his attention 70 til.
bag itaelf. It wal of shabby pig.
skin, OF the shape known as Il Kit.
bag" and II 1t were not his own, Il
was certainly his owns twin brother
On one end Of his. though, had beeg
his initials---"J. 4. B."-and on Meth.
err end Of this vas there any lattertna
whstever; He had taken thig bag IL
But 1t was not his fault; for the porte,
had carried the bags gu and had
placed it In his hands ~ he altghted
1t struck him at ono that. had hill
own bag contained 8 much money he
would have guarded 1t more carefully
He could not conceive Of AMMAN car:
Tying about this; fortune and trusting
1t FOR an instant out OF his. pers0naj
custody. Such carelesSness deserved
owner was being very sorely punished
az Just this moment, by which time
ne had probably discovered his loss,
Brooke smiled as he pictured "a
himself the mental distress Of. the
Serves him right" he CALCULATED,
Hell know better next time.s It's
lucky 0 him It fell into honesl
nands Now I'll have a more care
see il l can find some trace @cfl M
careless Midas who goee about SO de-
Hciously well heeled.
Deliberately and with Systematic
ne began removing the money
from the bag and laying it out on
me table. estimating the amount OF
each handful as he did SO, and re-
!lglousiy searching all the while for
some scrap of writing or printing to
inQlcate the name and address Ofstha
loser. 10y
And as he proceeded with this work
wonder of his find grew more AM
more impressive, for before the bae
haif empty he had roughly count
eu up to over half q milEonpdoliars re-,
ana the denominations Of the bilia
seemed to be increasing rather thar
!esseDtpS. And thus far not the siKn
q q name or anything Indicative ri
in any form had he found,
ne worked more yslowly now
Sui more searchingly-~and all the
While endeavoring to imagine the
character Of the mansyliksly to have
such an amount of money in his X6s.
session, transported in such q .fastfon
and with so little heed to Its shfe.
BANK messengers, brokers el4rks
meIcnants. importers. abo6kmakers
brlbing pollticians7-all these .)wert
considered I'M turn and put aside r.,
n good reason or another: the fina,
result OF his consideration being tia
the money was either the property 81
some ECCENTRIC millionaire or the
plunder of some criminal who HAD
purposeiy avoided all marks Of idanti.
fication on either the exterior OF tht
inferior OF n article of conveyance
ana for choice between these two
ne was rather inclined to favor the lat.
ter conclusion. believing that in spite
OF all he had heard Of American pluto,
Gratis, they were outn4mbered-the &c,
centric ones, at all eVents-by th1
lower class of CRIMINALS.
III he cOmmuned with himself
this money is the ill-gotteh. proceed,
OF some law-evading project, it's !;
very grave question whether the Law
evadsr VIII dare TO put in a claim 10,
the robbed or sw,ndled parties VII
soonerSor later be forthcominR.:
And just at that particular mo
ment, az sBrooke stood with two thou
sand, seyenty-0dd thousand spreat
over the table under the ELECTRIC, light
and the bay still unemptied, ther,
came q resoundtng knock on. his door
instantly the possibilities OF wha
mlani ensue from his being dIscoy
ered IN his present occupation rushet
IN upon him. Al! the Euesses IL
q Just been making concerning tn,
unknown loser of the bag and III
contents would naturally, be made III
ms dtscoverer regarding him With TN
probable result of the same 'cohclusio,
peing reached, and the axkpicion hor,
that he was the unrighf2ous poasero,
oI il.sotten wealth. Nor would I'll,
De aDae ~ such an event, TO explain
lne situation. How many mon. IA,
asked hlmseH, would believe III stnr,
mat ne had been given the bog in mais
take by a Pullman porter2ag
no ma visitor whoever he snnisfl
pc, must not see thu money. n,
throw 1t back in. tho bar would dn'
tvolye recounttng thu whole, and 81
fe4dy ne had spent more than an hou,
IN making his estimate.. 81, -
For just a moment the thou.ht q.
sailed him TINT possibly the ovne
y bag had watched him when h,
took - from the porter, and. Tor res,
IONS best known to himself, had Pre-
lerred that he, Drooke,@should carr,
mat precious burdensfromsthe static;
TO q hotel, whore the owner hai SnoY
come 70 claim Y. Bringing Brooke;
louder still pow ana more ansistent
ana BFookeI stepping hastily TO iii,
bathroom, intent upon securing
hAth towel to thYowsoyer the monev
strewn table, started back I'm dis,,aay
He had forgotten,. II the exeiteInen
of MS discovery, the faucets turnet
Tor his bath. and the. little room Va,
flooded from the overflow tub IN,
st,oor was 2 miniature Lake fed by tn,
which poured oysr tho tub,
Hastily he turned Oh, the nov
splashtng TO do 70 through the poo
which spread XAmp.highso over the fiiex
!l0Ortng. Then SnAtchin9 q towe
from q hook, he returned to hp cham
9 sRreAd IT. across the table ans
the bank notes cloSedsthesbas q beS
dnxS ~ - 49, n. ~ 49, 40 IN