The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1921-12-22

meeting would be in such an out-of-
the-way corner Of the universe as this
/ hope you've been well and clipper.
all these weeks"
l said what / was obliged to, and
wasn't any o. confoundedly cordial
about ii, either, | guess.
Fullerton drew up a chair and began
to talk, much as If we'd invited him to.
about his Woodworking year In South
America; about the fabulously rich
mines in that far-away Utopia of the
gold-diggers about his voyage up from
the Isthmus; about the Oddness of his
meeting me on the train, combined
with the more eXcruciating oddness Of
his meeting me again, here In the East
ern TimanyOnis things like that.
He was just comfortably surging
along in the swing Of 1t when q door
opened behind us and he jumped up
with another "Well, well, look who's
here" and when l turned, he was
holding Jeanie's two hands In his and
braying over her like a wild ass of the
plains. And, If you'll believe me, that
girl had gone and changed her dress!
That is what she ven to do when she
slipped out and left me to stare at her
empty chair, after she had heard her
father say, WELL, hello, Charley Bull
lertOn !"
1t was all off with me from that
time on. For what was left Of the
evening, Fullerton played a solo. I
got full-up on the performance about
nine o'clock, and climbed my ladder
and went to bed, muffiing my head in
the blankets so that l wouldn't have
to lie there and listen to the bagpipe
drone of Bullerton's voice in the room
below.
hoped-without the least shadow of
reason for the hope, of cOurse-that
the next morning would show me a
hole in the atmosphere in the space
that Fullerton had occupied. But
there was no such luck. He vas pres
ent at the breakfast table, as large
as life and twice as laxative.
l made my escape from the cabin
as soon as l could and tramped over
to the mine. A glance into the shaft
showed the black pool In its depths as
placid and %untroubled as If we hadn't
just lifted a million or SO cubic feet
Of water out Of 1t by hard labor.
In morose Encouragement I recalled
the few things l had learned about
drowned mines while I was knocking
about in the Cripple Greek district
trying to trace Fullerton. Particular.
~ l remembered my talk with Hilton.
the man who had finally put me upon
what had proved to be the right track
In the tracing job. He had talked
quite freely. Sometimes the food was
only the tapping of an underground
stream. as when one digs a we'll; In
other cases-and these were most COM
mon In the Cripple Greek region
the source Of the food would be found
In a buried lake or reservoir, large or
not so large, as the luck might have
1t. II the source were q lake-so Hill
ton had said-there was little use In
trying to pump the mine dry.
Mulling over these discOuraging bits
of information, l was naturally led
back to the Pullman smoking-room talk
with Fullerton. l remembered, with a
sharp little flick Of the memory whip,
that he had given an expert opinion,
which. as 1t seemed, he had backed up
a year earlier with q thousand dol
lars Of real m~Oney-the deposit In the
Omaha bank made to cover my grand
fathers bargain binder. What he had
said was, "Im reasonably certain that
l discovered a way in which that mine
can be drained at comparatively small
expense"
Had he really discovered a way?-
and with no better data than a study
Of the maps? Staring down a the
black pool which Daddy and l hadn't
been able to lower by so much as a
fraction of IN inch in a weeks pump
ing. | doubted it.
/ was stumbling out toward the en-
CINE room with my head down and
my hands in my pockets when l heard
footsteps coming from the direction of
the cabin beyond the dump. Looking
out, l saw Fullerton sauntering over
toward the shaft-house. Though /
knew that some sort of a wrangle with
him was inevitable, / was perfectly
willing to postpone it, so l edged in
TO the blacksmith shop and sat down
on the anvil, hoping he might miss me
and go away. But there was nothing
coming to me on that bet.
II saw your lead when you left the
house." he began, after he had found
me and had busted Off an empty dyna-
mite box for a seat. Don't you think
you've played 1t rather low down on
me?"
"How so?"
by taking In my story of this mine
when l told II to you without giving
me a hint that you were the person
most deeply interested-since my old
gentleman was your grandfather"
ut didn't strike me that way, and 1t
doesn't yet" / shot back. II notice
you were mighty careful not to tell
me the name Of your old gentleman,
or rather. / should say. you lied about
it when / wired you"