Evening star., 1923-01-21

Not in the city. No. I got me place
out q ways"
you don't mean it, Peter" says I.
why, how did you come to leave
Tamarack?"
He stared again for a moment.
You don't hear about me, eh?" he
asks. 'tHow get rich?"
Then il was my turn to stare.
Certainly he didn't look much more
prosperous than he used to when two
or three times a year he got himself
into his Sunday suit for a trip to
Duluth Well, that fuzzy ulster might
be fairly new, and the heavy gold
watch chain draped across his vest
was an addition. But his trousers
still bagged at the knees and were
too long; he wore the same kind of
blue cap with ear lappets tied in
front, and there was no getting away
from the fact that the collar was of
the good old celluloid brand that can
be laundered with a sponge.
"Whaddye mean, rich ~ demanded.
"oh. plenty" says Rete, waving his
hands vague. more comm in all
the time, too
Sounds thrilling says T. How
conner
T<HEN Pete Jensen sketched out for
i me his stroke of luck. All that
timber land which his old father and
uncle had homesteaded in the early
days, and which they expected to
cut over and make few thousand
out Of by selling the logs to some
lumber company-Well, I knew how
forest fire had wiped OUT all their
hopes in a single night, leaving them
acres and acres Of blackened stumps
and sandy soil. And I knew how
Pete, when the worthless land had
been left to him, had struggled along
trying to raise a family on 1t, until
he finally gave up and moved into
the Junction, where he'd opened
pool parlor and cigar store.
Yes, of course" says I. 'tBut you
never got much out Of that enter
prise. What happened next?"
"Ore!" says he. Iron ore"
'tNot reaIlyw says I.
"Surel thing!' says Pete. "Some
prospectors from q big company was
out fox huntin' and they located it
tryin' to dig out a si1veK tail. They
didn't say nothin', but came and made
offers to buy me out. If they hadn't
bid SO high 1 might of sold without
| KNOWN. But I got leery. IF them
fellers wants that land so bad I
| thinks, 1t must be worth keepin.' So
I goes out and tramps around until i
find the hole myself. Me, knows
| red dirt. Might be a pocket, and
| might be a vein. but it would run If
teen to the ton. So I don't sell.
tell 'em I lease on royalty. And by
yimminy. when they got to work an
| strip the overburden, there she is,
J twenty foot wide an nobody knows
4 how deep. as good hematite as they
| get from the Puritan or the Pabst.
| Yes, sir! They been scoopin' away
two years now, tons an tons every
day, and every time they runs UP
car the checker marks off so many
dollars for Pete Jensen, who don't do
one tam thing but stand with his
hand out and his eye skinned to see
he don't get cheated. Eh?"
/ OF course, / congratulated Pete.
Then I towed him into the nearest
/ soda joint and over cups OF hot
chocolate we had nice. long chat
about all the folks back in .,amarack.
| 81 been gone near a year now"
says Pete. ''but it seems longer. We
wouldn't have gone IL it hadn't been
for Elsa. You remember Elsa? She's
the oldest girl. Coin on eighteen
IAow Elsa is And she'd been to high
school and learned geography and got
lotta aims. She says I'VE oughta
| travel. Well, Hilda don't want to.
nor l. don't either: We was gonna
build nice house in Tamaraek, with