Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1928-06-14

cess kept Christie busy at the settling
counter. A miner. although 1t was
summer in Sleepy Cat, bid in pair
Of fur gloves. To pay he threw down
q twenty-dollar bill. Christie looked
desperately in her cigar-box cash
drawer for change. It was not to be
found. Selwood drew from his pock-
ct, without speaking, a roll Of bills.
a bigger roll than Christie had ever
seen, and tossed it toward her. The
roll stopped almost under her hand.
She looked up, and in doing so met
Selwood's eyes. make the change
out Of that" he said dryly. And, as
there still seemed a question in her
eyes he added: "Help yourself"
She attempted to laugh. "Oh. would
you give me little change? They've
swept the drawer just about clean,"
she confessed with another nervous
little laugh, and held the twenty-dol-
lar bill appealingly toward him.
He pointed to the roll. "Plenty Of
small bills there he suggested, with
only trace of interest "Help your
self" And with this invitation he
walked away, while the man In front
Of her waited.
Christie called in CONSERVATION.
He could not, or would not, hear.
The men about her laughed; the
miner asked for his change; Selwood
had disappeared.
yonv.nin~ ha hoPr-onH ut
eleven o'clock. The auction-room
crowd was gathering when Selwood
arrived and the buying had begun to
be spirited. Christie stood again con-
demned to the cashiers desk. She
looked up in a moment and saw the
silent man in the big hat standing
almost beside her.
Father laid up YETI" Selwood put
the question as soon as he caught
her eye.
Christie, heightened in color by her
confusion, told him she feared her
father was quite i'll. Then, stopping
her work, she delved into a corner
of the big cigar box, and from under
the loose money drew a roll of bills
carefully tied with number of
strings and held it toward him. "You
ran away yesterday and left all this
money!"
She waited for his comment; he
made none-only regarded her grave
ly. "Please take it, quick" she added
hurriedly; ''Tve been frightened to
death for fear I should lose it ~
"You may need it again this morn
ing" objected Selwood. But Christie
would listen to no Establishments, and
Selwood, knowing when to quit, took
his roll-leaving her to wonder. when
she could find time to, what manner
Of men these mountain men were who
trusted strangers with their money.
SelwOod watched her. One Of her
weightiest cares. was that of making
in blank book q record Of each arti-
Gle sold. This took time and required
more knowledge Of goods than she
could muster; Haynes kept dupli-
cate book under his own hand. but
he jotted things down fast, never
stopping his talk. Selwood before
long had taken charge Of Christie's
book, though this seemed not precise
ly to Haynes liking.
Christie, without thinking much
about him, began to look for Selwood
as an incident Of the day, which was
exacting enough even when she had
help-and he could always be count
ed on to keep her cash straight. He
was better hammered than the
other men, always reserved, always
freshly shaver, and always neatly
dressed. He, too, asked questions, but
without seeming inquisitive, and by
easy degrees and without serious eff
fort picked up more information than
Christie would have realized about
her father and his affairs and herself
He learned, too, about the arrange
ment under which Haynes had intro
duced the auction into the store.
Haynes, so the story ran, had part
ner-a man of mystery, as far as
Christie's information went-who had
small stock of merchandise. Haynes
had suggested the two stocks be COM
bined and sold by auction. Selwood
heard all, never by any chance inter-
posing comment, and at the end of
each day helped Christie settle with
Haynes, who held rigidly to prompt
settlements, refusing to wait for her
fathers return. Selwood had not &C
tual knowledge enough Of the two
stocks to know just what the equities
were, but he knew enough Of Haynes
and Of Haynes silent" partner to
reach without difficulty the conclu-
sion that Christie was to be cheated
whenever feasible.
Bob Scott and Bill Pardaloe had
been detailed by Lefever to investf-
gate the disappearance of the Fyler
shipment of boots. And as their re-
ports began to come In, It was not
hard for Selwood, who always used
his eyes and ears, to reach the con-
clusion that Haynes merchandise con-
sisted chiefly, If not wholly, Of stolen
goods-and that these were of much
better quality than FLYERS stock. By
kicking packing case here and there
under the counters, Selwood likewise
found reason to believe that some