The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1922-03-31

, that he went back to the cabin across
the dump and left me warming the
anvil
/ guess it will say itself that the
next few days stacked up about as
wretched an interval as / had ever
been called upon to put over.
Fullerton had a masterful sort of
grip that seemed to give him a stran-
gle-hoId upon everything he tackled.
At table and in the evenings before
the fire he. monopolized the talk and
the rest Of US sat around like slough
ton-bOttles and let him do it.
1t didn't help matters out much
when Daddy Hiram, chasing me up on
one Of the days when 1 was lodging
Fullerton, gave me the sealed enve-
lOpe which my grandfather had left
with him. AS will be remembered, it
was on the night of Bullerton's arrival
at the Cinnabar that l had told Daddy
and his daughter who l was, and the
subject hadn't been again referred to
by any Of US But now Daddy. having
| Overtaken me on one of the trails
above the mine, sat beside me on a
fiat rock and we had 1t out together.
You knew who 1 was from the first,
Daddy?" I asked.
Not right plumb at first, no." he
qualified. You see, didn't know who
l was looking for. Always reckoned
somebodyd be along, f course, but 1
hadn't had any idea who r when"
I'm afraid I've been a pretty sorry
disappointment to you," muttered. Il
have no money and I don't know
enough to be any good at the mining
game. And that reminds me: my
/ grandfather paid you a regular salary
for the caretaking, didn't he?"
! "Uh-huh"
"That has been discontinued since
his death?"
Il reckon So"
Il have a little income of my own;
not much, but enough for the way
we're living here. 1t must be under
stood that | share it with you and
Jeanie so long as I stay with you"
"Ain't no need O your doin' that,
Stannie. I got a little stake hid out
for a pinch"
In all this, you will notice, there
was no word said about Fullerton. We
sat In silence for while, Daddy chew
ing a spear of grass. After a time he
called attention to the envelope which
still held unopened in my hands
Don't We want to know what your
gran'paw says?" he asked mildly
At this l slit the end of the envelope
It's contents were a deed in fee simple
to the Cinnabar and a note TO me,
written in Grandfather Jasper's
cramped, Old-fashioned handwriting.
In the note he merely said that he was
leaving me property which had cost
him pretty well up to half a million
and that he hoped I'd brace up and go
to work and make something out of it,
adding that if / hadn't been such a
hopeless idler all my life he might |
have considered the propriety of add
ing an experimental fund to the gift. |
AS it was, l must work out my own
salvatiOn-if l were anxious to possess
any of that commodity.
/ think it was on the fourth day after |
his arrival that Fullerton cornered me |
again and again it was In the deserted |
blacksmith shop.
'Well, BroughtOn," he began abrupt |
", seating himself once more upon |
the empty dynamite box, 1--WE given,
you plenty of time to think it over. |
Where do you stand now?''
Right exactly where I did in the |
beginning" 1 snapped 81 don't want |
any observation-disclosures per cent part
nership with you; neither that nor any
other kind"
All right" he rejoined, brusquely; |
wen call that phase of it a back num-
Der and go on to something else. I'll |
buy your mine, just as it stands. water
Rd all-and that's what nobody else
Would do, you'd better believe"
For how much?"
For fifty thousand dollars-cash."
mo" 1 grated. II don't need lit
tie money that badly"
Fifty thousand isn't a little; at q
good, safe. investment interest it will
give you an income of three thousand
year. And that's more than you're
getting now out of what your father
left you"
You seem to know a good bit about
my private affairs" 1 growled
You said a mOuthful, then. I've
made 1t my business to find out about
them. There's nothing much to you.
BroughtOn, when you come right down
to brass tacks. You had good educa-
ton, but you haven't had get-up-and-get
enough in you to make any use of it,"
1.-The less you dig in my private gar
den patch, the better we shall get
along" I told him.
He was silent for a moment. He
had picked up a bit of iron rod and
was tracing hieroglyphic figures with
it in the dust of the shop floor. Pres
emily he looked up with a sort of mock
ing leer.
Been trying to carry sentimental
water on both shoulders, haven't you?
I'm telling you right now, Broughton,
it's no use. / filed on the little Blue
eyes claim over yonder in TwOmbly's
cabin a long. long time before you ever
saw or heard of It,"
That remark of his carried things
over the edge for me.
''See here, Fullerton" / said. and /
suppose l stuck out my jaw at him as
people say l do when I'm beginning
TO feel ugly, there are limits, and
I'll pay you the compliment of assum-
=, 4.