The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-05-02
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
CHAPTER ix-Continued.

waited SHE COulu Hdhc Illiii uSh, pul
he did not speak. The silence sud
denly took on the quality of granite.
She uttered, at last, a forlorn
laugh. "Trix won't ask about you,
either" she explained. "She is like
you, Joe. Getting more like you every
day Oh, it's crime. that's what
1t Isl When two people adore each
other the way you do" She turned
on him with an impetuous gesture of
appeal "Joe, she isn't far away.
She'll come to you like alike bird
If you'll just let me send her a ten
word telegram" .
His response to this was veritable
snarl of anger like that of wounded
beast. "None Of that, Jennie. Drop
IT, and drop 1t quick. Ask her to
come and see me like this! I'll see
her again some time. But it'll be when
I'm up; not when I'm down like his.
I'll be sitting on the world again some
day, Jennie, and then We'll see what
Trix has to say. She had her last
shot at me when was fiat on my back,
and what she did to me was aplenty.
Next time It's going to be different"
This brought him round to the old
refrain, his defeat by Williamson's
crowd and how 1t came about.
1--WE been wondering" he said,
what it was gave 'em the idea of
selling out in the first place. / sup
pose they must have got on, somehow,
back in August or so, to the fact that
l controlled the majority Of the stock,
and that made 'em think about getting
from under. Well, they know how to
keep their faces. that bunch!
They'd known it longer than that"
she told him. Since before the April
meeting"
He stared at her. What makes you
think SOP
"Oh, Henry made it pretty plain
from something he said the other day."
She wished, uneasily, that she hadn't
started this, but 1t was too late to
stop now.
do you mean Henry himself knew
about it them" he persisted, and she
nodded a reluctant assent.
Henry Craven" he repeated blank
ly. Henry Craven Why Jennie,
I'd have sworn knew everything that
went on behind that little mans eye
glasses. And he's known, you say,
ever since way back last winter what
that bunch was cooking for me? He
liked me, too. He liked both of US.
And he never cared a d-n for them.
I know he didn't" ..
Hes loyal, though" she said. Hes
the most-scrupulous man I've ever
known. His duty was to them, of
They're a different breed, Jennie"
he said at last. They're a herd.
horns and showing among
themselves until an outsider comes
along, and then they all face the same
way and put down their heads. They
know how 10 wait, too. Wait for
him, that's all they do. l made good
on my process; made thirty million
pounds Of valuable stuff out of some
thing that had always been thought
worthless. but they got me. This
time" ..
Nathan came In about then with
the power Of attorney, and by the
time 1t had been read and talked
over and signed, Doctor Bennett ap-
peared and made no secret Of his dis
Of their business with his
patient. So Jennie, as soon as 1t was
possible. took her leave.
Joe stopped her on the way to the
door with last reminder. Don't for
get that errand 1 gave you. And be
sure and come back first thing to-
morrow morning and tell me about it."
81 won't forget" she promised, but
she went away with sadly divided
mind. He had made it plain that the
hundred and fifty dollars he had asked
her to get him was not going to be
to Doctor Bennett.
There has not been, and of course
there never will be, next time" for
Joe Greer, If one means by the phrase
q return match with John Williamson
and his allies. This story, which be-
gan-if a story can be said to begin
on the April day in 1919 when they
organized the company, ended on the
Friday in the fall when Jennie went
to Williamson's office and signed, un-
der Joe's power Of attorney, the con-
tract the financiers offered her. They
were completely and finally the vic
tors. The spoils of Joe's process for
making linen from the straw that had
once been burned In the fields be-
longed to them; not to Joe, whose
had conceived the proc
ess; nor to the small, careful, mod
estly prosperous folk who built the
mills; nor to the farmers who grew
the flax.
Reluctantly one comedies the i'm
probability Of any other outcome, even
If Joe had never summoned his dis
turbing daughter from California to
live with him, nor sustained con-
cussion vf the brain and resorted TO
alcohol as a cure, nor fallen in love
with his antagonists wife. Unimagi-
native, soft, irresolute, kindly, as these
Stalled folk seemed TO him TO be,
their qualities are more than he can
cope with. They are truly gregarious !:
they are, by tradition and temper. col
ectors, harvesters, stowers-away; and
man like Joe, who had no real in
terest in property beyond the dynamic
use of it as part of the processes of
getting something done. stands little
chance against them.