The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1922-08-29

of large summer cottage, boarded
up and apparently deserted. Nearer
at hand, however, he saw other build
ings, and these drew his attention. He
heard the throbbing pound Of motor
at work, and as there was no power
line along here, the place evidently
had its own electrical plant. He
scrutinized the scene before him ap-
praisingly. =;
There were. two larses buildings
here. One seemed to be i large barn,
closed. the other was long, low
shed which was too large to%be a
garage. The door of this was open,
and before the opening Gramont saw
three men standing in talk; heSrecog-
nized none of them. Two of the talk
ers were clad In greasy overalls, and
the third figure showed. the flash Of a
collar. The sheriff, Ben Chacherre,
and some other man, thought Ora
mont. He would not have known Cha
cherre had he encountered him face
to face. To him, the man was name
only.
The mention Of his own name by
Chacherre impelled him to 60 forward
and demand some explanation. Then
1t occurred to him that perhaps he
had made a mistake; it would have
beef very easy, for he was not certain
that Chacherre had referred to him.
There could be other Gramonts, or
other men whose name would have
muSh the same sound In a Creole
mouth. 49,.
I'd better attend to my own bust
ness" thought Gramont,. and turned
away. He noticed that the motor had
ceased its work. .Wonder what ricl,
chip can be down here at his summer
; collage this time Of year? May be
only a caretaker, though. I'd better
give ali my attention to this oil, and
let other things alone. ...
He retraced his steps to, the bayou
bdhk and turned back toward the
house. AS he did so. Hammond ap-
penred coming toward him, knife in
hand. - T.. =
I'm going to cut me pole and land
a'couple O. fish for supper" an
nounced the chauffeur, grinning. "Got
things cleaned up fine, cap'n! You
won't know the old shack" a.:
,"Good enough. said Gramont.
"Here, step over this way! want to
show you something"
He led Hammond to the rivulet and
pointed out the thin film o. oil on the
surface.
"'There's our golden fortune. SER
geant! OIL actually coming out Of the
ground! It doesn't happen very often,
but It does happen and this is one of
the times. I'll not bother to look
around any farther"
s"Glory bel" said Hammond, staring
at the rivulet. "Want to hit back for
town." a.
mo; we couldn't get back until
some time tonight, and the roads
aren't very good for night work. I'm
gQing to get some leases around here
perhaps I can do it right away, and
we'll start back in the morning. Go
al Head and get your fish,,
Regaining the house, he saw that
Hammond had indeed cleaned up in
great style, and had the main room
looking clean asa pin, with fire pop
ping on the hearth. He did not pause
here, but went to the car. got in, and
started 1t. He drove back to the road
and followed this toward town for a
few rods, turning in at a large and
VERY decent-looking farmhouse that
he had observed while passing it on
the way out. ''.- '.'~
He found the owner. an Intelligent
appearing Creole, driving IN Seine
cows for milking, and was a little
stArtled to realize that the afternoon
wAs so late. When he addressed the
farmer in French, he received a cor
dill reply, and discovered that this
man owned the land across the road
from the ,Ledanois place-that his
farm, in fact, covered several hundred
acres.
"Who owns the land next to the
Ledanois placer inquired Gramont.
"Iisold that of my land a couple Of
years ago." replied the, other. "A man
from New Orleans wanted it for a
summer places-a business man there,
Isidore Gumbert1
{Gumberts "a Mphiasss1zzy" Gum
berts! Tie maine flashed to Ora
mont's mind, and brought the recollec-
ton Of a conversation with Hammond.
Why, Gumberts was the famous crook
of whom Hammond had spoken.
IT saw the sheriff while ago, head
ing up the road" observed the Creole.
did you meet himy'
Gramont shook his head. mo, but
I saw several men at the Gumberts
place. Perhaps he was there"
"Not there, guess and the farm
er laughed. 'Those fellows have rent
ed the place from Gumberts, hear;
they're inventors, and quiet enough
men. You're a stranger here!".
Gssmo.t- introduced himself as a
tConrlnued in Next ASS -sI w..