Cleveland County herald., 1920-03-11

III tell iuluuleS uS IedppedIeu. I1c Wds completely metamorphosed. Instead of the smart morning coat, he now wore long tan ''duster;" instead of the stylish derby hat, he wore a broad brimmed yellow one; and he wore a soft flannel shirt with attached col lar. and rough trousers and dusty shoes. Under one arm he carried a horseWhip. In fine, he was typical rancher. just arrived in Chicago with a load of cattle and a big wallet for the thousand-dollar bills. Even his beard was magically changed: it was tOusled and all askew, and against the ''sunburn" on his face appeared to be that of man sadly in need of a shave rather than of one recently barbered.
 A few minutes later he entered the Customers room" CT Quigg & Peevy. Free and easily, as befitted one of untrammeled life. he strode across the floor toward Quigg's private office, with great, awkward movements of his long body, flicking his whip against his thick trousers and puffing like a tugboat at his evil cigar.
 Ostensibly, Quigg & Peevy were brokers. In reality they were swim dlerS. A superficial observer, visiting their offices. would have supposed their customers to be La Salle street speculators. A rigid investigator would have discovered their only patrons were victims of the get-rich- Quigg & Peevy was the selling of worthless stock. The rows of chairs in the Customers room" and their oc- cupants. the rushing messenger boys. the long blackboard and the phleg- matie youth chalking cabalistic fig ures, the chattering telegraph instru ment, operated automatically not twenty feet away, were nothing more than stage properties and players, em- ployed for the sole benefit of the suck CTS who made them possible.
 And upon this opera bouffe stage of sham and hypocrisy strutted Daniel FitZhugh, dreamer and actor His roles were many and varied. but he portrayed them all with unerring ac- curacy-and, yes, even art. When he was informed that it was time for an other entrance" he never knew, until the messenger came with directions, what part he would be called upon to enact. Now it was that of a Vest ern millionaire, bluff, ungrammatical, breezy again that of a French fnan- cier. suave, polite, tangling his Eng fish; anon 1t was some great banker from Liverpool, frigid and precise. But the character he most often DOT trayed was the Eastern capitalist"
 Peevy was thin, pale man, of dropping eye and pointed chin, and was deeply attached to small briar pipe. His business was to round up the boobs and steer 'em in." Quigg, aided by Fitzhugh. did the rest.
 After the second week Fitzhugh be- gan to conceive a sinking dislike for the knavery he was abetting. After the third he began to hate it. Capa- bilities were stirring within him capabilities which told him he was worth infinitely more than one hun dred dollars a week, and that every week he worked for that sum he was throwing away money. It was near the end of the first month that he asked his slippery employer for a hun dred-dollar weekly increase. He was little surprised when it was prompt ly granted him.
 q was thinking about increasing your pay, Fitz," said Quigg, in his large, careless way. "You're worth two hundred week to me-"
 But when three weeks later the grafter was told it was four hundred dollars week or nothing, he drowned, pinched the pink roll of flesh under his chin with his chubby fingers. and rocked himself gently in his swivel chair. "Ill tell you what, Fitz. I'm about to tackle the biggest thing I've ever attempted. Pm launching upon the grandest little mail-order scheme in America. I expect to spend cou- pie O hundred thousands in advertis- ing. If 1t goes through. as I certainly think it will, I'll do the level thing by you"
 That's not the point" broke in the petitioner. Do I or do l not get my four hundred-now?"
 You do not!" Quigg's palms de- scended firmly upon the arms of his chair. His big jaw acquired a bel ligerent aspect.
 That's all I want to know" Fitz- hugh stood up briskly. This is Wednesday. You therefore owe me a hundred dollars. I'll take it now"
 ''Sit down, Fitz. Sit down and keep cool. believe you're a game sport, in spite of the lew way you're acting, and I'm going to make you a gambling proposition. Some friends O mine are getting up nice, quiet little game of poker tonight. and I'm going to sit in. The potll run high--no limit. Be- tween ourselves we'll cooperate in hn