St. Tammany farmer., 1922-09-23

dkd1u TIE uuCduuy SllcuC0 udu EHlleQ.
Listening, Gramont fancied that he
caught slow, stealthy footsteps amid
the underground, but derided the
fancy as sheer Imagination. His brain
was busy with this new problem.
Houma, he knew, was the seat of the
parish or county. This Ben Chacherre
appeared to have suddenly and unex-
pectedly encountered the sheriff, to
his obvious alarm, and the sheriff had
for some reason decided to arrest
him; 30 much was clear.
Chacherre had nothing to do with
the "place''-did that mean the adja-
cent property, or the Ledanois farm7
In his puzzled bewilderment over this
imbroglio Gramont for the moment
quite forgot the trickle Of oil at his
feet.
But now the deep silence became
unnatural and sinister. What had
happened7 Surely, Ben Chacherre
had not been arrested and taken away
In such silencel Why had the voices
90 abruptly ceased1 Vaguely uneasy,
startled by the :prolongation OF that
intense stiffness, Gramont rose to his
feet and peered among the trees.
The two speakers seemed to have
departed; he could descry nobody in
sight. A step to one side gave Ora
mont view Of the land adjoining the
Ledan0is place. This was cleared Of
all brush, and under some immense
oaks to the far left he had glimpse
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 large buildings
here. One seemed to be large barn,
closed, the other was a 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; Jhe, recog-
nixed none of them. Two, Of the talk
ers were clad in greasy overalls, and
the third figure showed the flash Of
collar. The sheriff, Ben Chacherrs
and some other man, thought Gra-
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 mistake; 1t would have
been 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
much the same sound in a Creole
mouth.
"1'd better attend to my own bust
ness" thought Gramont, and turned
away. He noticed that the motor had
ceased Its work "Wonder what rich
chap can be down here at his summer
cottage this time of year, May be
only a caretaker, though. I'd better
give all my attention to this oil, and
let other things alone"
He retraced his steps to the bayou
bank and turned back toward the
house. AS he did so, Hammond ap-
peared coming toward him, knife in
hand.
''1'm going to cut me pole and land
q couple O. fish for supper" an
nounced the chauffeur, grinning. "Got
things cleaned up fine, cap'n! You
won't know the old shack"
"Good enough said Gramont.
"Here, step over this way! I want to
show you something"
He led Hammond to the rivulet and
pointed out the thin film of oil on the
surface.
There's our golden fortune, ser
geant! Oil actually coming out of the
groundl It. doesn't happen very often,
but 1t does happen and this is one of
the times. I'll not bother to look
around any farther"
"Glory bel" said Hammond, staring
at the rivulet "Want to hit back for
. town y''s<
mo; we couldn't get back urti'
some time tonight. and the rosds
aren't very good for night work. I'm
going to get some leases around here
perhaps can do 1t right away, and
well. start back in the morning. Go
ahead 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 as a 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
few rods, turning in at a large and
very decent-looking farmhouse that
he had observed while passing 1t on
the way out.
He found the owner, an intelligent
appearing Creole driving in some
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
dial reply, and discovered that this
man owned the land across the road
from the LedaApis place-that his
farm, in fact, covered several hundred
acres