The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-02-09


ssNa1liat rorY was ths despOndent
quefyts'1raain morsel Any
way YOU hook NJ Il. Jeanie WON.
an groWed, aEd she don havetO have
the old daddy say she can, M
mustn't. Besides. they was probably
pitchins out til catch d ~ the early
trains-there's one each way, east and
west-and them trains ve been gone
d couple D, hours"
Daddy had done his best with tAc
breakfast, but / don't recall any meal
OF my life that ever came So near
choking me. told Daddy about the
smashing OF the machinery, and the
proof / had that II had been 4 piece
of sabotage.
Reckon maybe lie allowed you'd find
out he done Ii and try q dogfaI 4
somethln' with hImsto pay him backf'
Daddy qneried.
II don't know / confessed.
] went Oh eating Hi silence, Oh rath-
er trying to eat, and turning over the
puzzling and had-tasting questionings
In my mind. How could Jeanie 90 OF
with Fullerton, knowing him to be the
scamp he VAST And why, if she had
been meaning all along to do this thing,
had she blocked his game BY telling
me that / wasn't to sell him the Gin
nabar?
It was In the midst Of these reflec-
tions that I CHANGED to feel insthe coat
.. pocket where I had been carrying the
deed turned over 10 me by Daddy
Hiram ; and for the second time that
morning | nearly choked. The pocket
Was emptyi
Whats hit You now. son II. Daddy
inquired; seeing my jaw drop, sup
pose.
'"The last thing there was ID the box
that could fall out and hit me-" CUR
gled. Fullerton has stolen my deed
to the Cinnabar T.
'"The mischief he hasl Plum sure
you hain't lost It out o. your pocket9'
We made sure, without the loss Of
a moment looking In my loft sleeping
place and In the mine buildings. The
deed was gone, safely enough, and we
both agreed that Fullerton had had
plenty of chances to steal IT. Wearing
overclothes while I was working about
the machinery, ! had often left my
coat hanging in the cabin. AS a mat
ter of fact, I hadn't worn 1t at all on
the previous day. s Ga
well, Daddy" said I, after the pro-
longed search had proved futile,
where does this leave mi?
Threshing the facts out, we soon
found where it left me. Grandfather
Jasper, as you may remember, had
made no mention of the mine. or, In
deed, Of any legacy to me In his will
as 1t had been probated; there was no
need of it because he had already
decided the Cinnabar to me, and at. the
time Of his death It was nc longer
among his assets. Moreover, his law
yers had told Fullerton according to
Billerton's story told me in the Pull
man smOkeroom) that there was no
record Of any mining transaction
| whatever In his papers. Therefore, In
| the absence Of the memorandum which
my grandfather had given Cousin
Percy-and which Percy had doubt
less carried with him to C~hina--there
was nothing but the deSi to show for
my ownership; absolutely nothing.
At that, the loss of the deed wouldn't
have been fatal II the document had
been properly recorded. 1t hadn't
been. And now, with the ~unrecorded
deed gone, there vas nothing to prove
that I had ever owned the Cinnabar.
| The loss was total-with no insur-
ance.
Daddy Hiram was shaking his head
sorrowfully after we had run this last
| bunch Of straw through the threshing
| machine. ~ .. -
With things looking rs blue as the
bluest milestone that e clicked
| upon scythe, we tried to settle upon
some line of action. Copah was the
county seat, and the obvious first step
| would have been for me to GO there
for a search In the county records for
evidence Of the sale Of the mine to my
grandfather. But the minute ] should
show myself on the railroad, I'd be
nabbed for the theft Of that internal
inspection car. Daddy offered to 60
In my place, but that alternative didn't
appeal to me at all. I knew perfectly
well how helpless he'd be In any such
lawyerlike search as would have to be
made in the county recorders Office.