Evening star., 1921-04-24

you?" Mr.. LTowle had res olved to be
meek. to be placatory. and to avoid
more OF that strire which had
| the past. But the matter of Mr..
/ Sturnell's assets still rankled.
/ 'Hod. listen. Be reasonable! Can
| walk up to man as hoss-swapper
should. and talk trade, and ask him to
| roll up her lip. and be darned to him.
and dent in his thumb anywhere he's
mind to. and tell him to gaze on her
. from snout to crupper. and defy him
| to find that she has wheeze. whimper.
bump or pimpleo No. l can't. and you
know I can't
! "A halter and a peck Of oats for
assets. eh? Getting into this partner
| ship bv false pretrnses. and daring to
stand up here and talk like that to the
man who is doing i, an."
| "An of what?" queried Mr.. Sturnen
! truculenti,-.
! "All the investing
; That two doll;rs l showed you
! that speaks for itself. l can sell that
; Peck measure and them oats. righ;
here End now. Bu, if you can sell
! chat mare to anybody bu; deef man.
/ so ahead md try it,
| But in the back of Mr.. Tow!e's head
! iurked Miss Withee's promise of a
reward for concord. He respected her
ability to perform-he wondered wha,
was UP her sleeve. You're talking
hash. I>cll. 1t don't do to fly off 20 no
tangent in time like this"
Go sell her to deef man r,i,ed
! Mr.. Sturnell. He stamped straight
away On his short legs. Mr. Towie
} D-omenaded slowly II circles on his
bowed thin ones. He was, thinking
rather than observing. HIS thoughts
werc solemn ones. Whatever his own
! ership of Maud mi-nt count for in his
! own mind as an asset. he was obliged
: to admit the truth of his primers
/ estimate Of that asset when il came
+: to liquid" ton.
! found himself standing in front of an
| outstanding. ficnhiften gray: he
stored hard al the horse. but in his
abstraction was really not seeing the
| anmsl. He awnke when som meoody
! pat:ed hin o. the arm.
; Mr.. Towle informed himself that he
had never seen this individual before;
| he did not need to search his memory
! Tor an instant in that point. The man
, had one white eye and a harelip-ar
| out OF pie. Mfr. Towle promptly won
! dered what it would sound like when
that man talked. Therefore. when the
| man continued to pat his arm. Mr..
Towle asked amiably what he could do
! for him.
f; But curiosity in regard to sound was
not gratified. The man pointed to his
/ own ears and shook his head; he point
ed to his mouth and shook his head
! Mr. Towle had pretty good idea Of
! what this meant. but he looked around
! rather heiplessly for more confrma ton
He got it.
! A passer-by halted for a momen, and
! furnished it. NO use to try to talk to
from Purgatory Mills
! What do you suppose he wants Of
/ me?" ifquired the wondering Towie.
/ Probably wants you to slap horses
+, with him. He has been cottoninK onto
others here today. Tried to get me to
swap. But according to my notion, a
f! hoss- s-shift that is conducted without
conN ersation and without a chance to
get in the fine shades of dicker-talk
amt no more satisfying than a wind
! pudding with a fog sauce on it," The
! informant departed.
! + +*
! iMR: Towle looked from the gesticu-
A lating Mr.. Widd to the flea bitten
gray and felt very helpless. An idea
came to him. He dug around in his
pockets and found a little blank book
which advertised an epizootic remedy.
He licked the end Of a stubby lead pencil
and rolled his eyes. seeking words. The
deaf land dumb man grabbed away book
+, and pencil, made a cross on a dinsy
! page and shook his head.
Cant read or write-can only make
your mark" demanded Mr.. Towle, un-
able to adjust himself to the situation.
i Yes, that's what he means" he went
on. answering himself. ''Well, all I
want to say is this much, seeing that
I'm carrying on the whole conversation:
l don't believe it was designed out that
a deef and dumb man should ever own
a boss"
Then Mr.. Towle looked at the man. at
the horse and around the landscape I. nd
felt more helpless than ever. And the
last words Of his acrimonious partner
were ringing in his ears! Here was
the deaf man. providentialIy supplied.
We'll, tim ding ye,'' said Mr.. Towls,
continuing the conversation. 81 can
make some motions that you'll UNDER
stand. even il can't do anything else. 4"
Therefore he proceeded to go through
the horse -SWappers manual at arms.
He examined teeth, inspected fore
, head-dents. prodded certain suspicious
bumps with his thumb. lifted up each
foot and made critical survey Of the
frog.
When he stepped back. in order to
! take more complete view of the pros.
pect. he found his partner had Joined
Well" inquired Mr.. ;Sturnell.
what's WHAT"
I'm the one to be asking questions
Pat this point" stated Mr.. Towle sour
ly. Are you in partnership; or amt
your,
Il don't propose to discuss private