The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1923-02-05
CHAPTER XVII

TIE WAS out in his taXicah again
RI the next morning. and by noon
he had secured what he wanted.
II was curiously significant thai Eo
worked so quickly. All the years due
ing which his wife had pressed hI
toward his present shift he had swor
to himself. As we'll as TO her. that
would never Weld, and vet vlen
did yield he had no plans to maxi
because he found them already p,
pared and worked out I'm detail
his mind, as if he had Ions coute
plated the step" he believed him-.
incapable Of taking.
Sometimes he had thought Of 3D.
I proving his income by exchanging o..
little collection OF bonds for a "sr.
rental property" if he could find
! good buy; and he had spent many
. his spare hours rambling over r.
enormously spreading city and its d..
lieUs. looking for the ideal buy"
remained unattainabIe. so far as BE-
was concerned but he found 9th
things.
/ Not twice a crows mile from his
own house there was a dismal and
slummish quarter. "A decayed indus
trial district" of earlier days. Most OF
the industries were small: some of
/ them died. perishing Of bankruptcy or
fire, and a few had moved. leaving
their shells. OF the relics. the best
was a brick building which had been
the largest and most important fac
tory In the quarter; It had been injured
by long vacancy almost az serious
as fire, in effect and Adams had
often guessed at the sum needed to
put 1t In repair.
When he passed It, he would look
at It with an interest whi.r he SUP.
posed detached On idly speculative.
'"That'd be Just the thing" he
thought. IF a fellow had money
enough. and took a notion to set I'M
some new business on a big scale.
this would be a pretty good place
70 make glue, for instance. IL that
wasn't out Of the question of course
II would take lot Of money, though:
q great deal too much for me to ex-
pect to handle-even II I'd ever dream
of doing such a thing"
Opposite the dismantled factory
was a muddy, open lot of two acres
or so. and near the middle Of the lot
long brick shed stood in a desoIate
abandonment, not happily decorated
by old coatings Of theatrical and med.
ical advertisements. But the brick
shed had two wooden ellis, and. though
both shed and ellis were OF a single
story. here was empty space enough
FOR a modest enterprise 49, "space
enough for almost anything. to start
with, Adams thought, as he walked
through the low buildings. one dav
when he was prospecting in that sec
ton Yes, I suppose I could swing
this" he thought. "Tf the process
belonged TO me, say, instead of being
out Of the question because It ism.
my property-or II ] was the kind Of
man to do such a thing anyhow, here
would be something 1 could probably
set hold Of pretty cheap. They'd
want lot Of money for Il lease. on
that big building over the way-but
this, why, I should think it'd be prac-
tically nothing at all.
Then, by chance. meeting an agent
he knew. he made inquiries-merely
to satisfy casual curiosity. he
thousht-and he found matters much
as he had supposed. except that the
owners Of the big building did not
/ wish to let, but to sell it. and this
\ at a price so exorbitant that Adams
laughed. But the long brick shed in
the great muddy lot was for sale or
/ to let, or pretty near to be given
away" he learned. n anybody would
take IL.
Adams took It now. though without
/ seeing that he had been destined to
take 1t, and that some dreary wizard
in TIA back of his head had foreseen
all ap,ng that he would take it. and