The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1922-02-03

Did |? She was gaSping n bit when
she got up rather unsteadily TO go
back to the cabin across the dump
head and wouldn't stay another min
ute, though l begged and pleaded with
her.
mo, indeed, Bluebeard man." she
said with that queer little gurgle of a
laugh. II think / have found out
what | wanted to. Goodby." And
then, after ! thought she was clean
gone, she turned back to say, airily:
"Oh, yes; ] had almost forgotten what
| came over here TO tell you. You
mustn't sell the Cinnabar, Stannie; not
for any price that anybody might offer
YOU. Goodby, again.
Can YOU beat it? When the good
Lord made women He doubtless had
many patterns: but | do believe the
mold was broken and thrown away
after this Jeanne girl had been fash
toned. For a solid hour or more | sat
on that slab bench at the S%hafthouse
door in a sort of bewildered daze, won.
dering ii | had been asleep and dream
ing, or if the bedazzling thing had
really happened.
At breakfast the next morning every
thing passed off rs usual and cor any
thing that Jcanie said or looked there
needn't have been any bench beside
the shafthouSe door and the dream
theory | had been playing with might
have been the sober fact. An hour
later, after | had gone across to the
mine, Fullerton came over TO dig me
out, as before.
Forty thousand this morning" he
announced as clipper as N English
sparrow owes an unexpected heap of
street sweepings. Say, Broughton,
can You afford TO let your capital
shrink at the rate Of ten thousand dol
lars a day? If you should ask me-, !
should say not"
you never miss what you haven't
had" | shot back. There are no
takers on the floor this morning"
"Right-o; it'll he thirty thousand to-
morrow, you must remember. At that
rate you'll be owing me quite a chunk
Of money by this time next week.
That's about all | have to say-ex-
cepting me more little thing: No more
chinny little tete-a-tetes in the star
light, old man, or | shall be obliged to
put the CAD TO you the railroad CAD,
YOU know
1t made me so boiling hot to have
him admit, thus BADLY, that he had
been spying upon Jeanne and me the
previous evening that / could scarcely
see straight.
THAT will be about enough. ~ /
Earked. II told you the other day
that there were limits, and you've
walked up and looked over the edge
two or three times. You may think
YOU have us many lives as a cat, but
/ doubt it,
He laughed and threw back the la
pei OF his coat to show me a regula-
ton siX-gun slung by IA shoulder strap
under his left arm.
you pulled a hammer on me yester-
day." he said, letting the laugh lapse
into a grin that showed his fine mouth
ful of teeth, 'and YOU probably didn't
know that YOU would have been a dead
man before you could swing it. Oh,
yes; ] could do it, and n cor0ner's
jury in the Red desert would acQuit
me; dangerous Observation-Disclosures
and 1t ought TO be sufficient. But /
have a better life-insurance policy than
any that the skX-gun could write me:
you're In love with Jeanne Twombly-
in spite Of that girl back East and be-
cause you are, you are not going to
make her a widow before the fact.
You're not selling your mine for forty
thOusand-cold cash-this morning."
Not this morning or any other
morning.
Good. I ear afford to stick around
here q few days longer, | guess-at
the rate of ten thousand dollars a day.
SO long" And he picked his way out
Of the clutter of the shop and went
across to the cabin-and Jeanne.
Later, along in this same day. while
4 va SiiIiNihS at liIt smut iliOuLH dDu
staring down at the water that was
keeping me out Of my heritage, Dad
dy Hiram came up.
"Still a-puzzlin' over it. Stannie?"
he asked, in the sympathetic tone that
he always used when he spoke of the
Great Disappointment.
There's nothing to 1t, Daddy" /
gloomed. "Bullerton has me by the
neck, and he Knows it,"
He tiptoed to the door and peeped
ont.
You've heard 'em say at curiosity
killed a cat" he said, out Of the cor
ner of his mouth; "well, the cats a.
comm. Skip III o. hat other door,
Stannic, and hit for the timber. I'll
ketch up with you in a little spell"
| didn't know exactly what he was
driving at until after l got clear of
the mine buildings and was climbing
the slope of the mountain above. Then
| looked back and saw Fullerton saun-
tering across the dump head. He was