Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1933-04-26

he left with me to be opened In
case . well, in case a cathedral
fell on him. was the way he put
IT, It's dated In December. the day
be left He wrote II Just before
you came In from Witch Hill,
guess.
This is it:
Dear Johnny-If you read this.
Ii will be because the doctors over
looked a lot of shakes and blow
downs when they cruised my In
sides two weeks ago. I've kept my
mouth shut about being under the
weather; time enough to worry
folks when there's a cause. espe-
cially your mother. They tell me
that three months of rest will put
me spry again. | hope they're right
for a lot of reasons. but only one
of them frets me much.
This Is because II | hit the
grade for the last time now you are
going to beat me to finding out just
how big a monkey I've been made
In the Kampfest operation. Yes,
son. things are wrong up there.
guess you e right In your esti-
mate of Gorbel. For over a year
I've been certain that a plenty Is
being put over on us. | can't run
1t down now: that Is a job for a
well man. I'm going off to get well
so | can fix what | broke.
IF there's one thing rye prided
myself on II was the picking of
men. | took Gorbel on, first, be-
cause ne had a hold on just Che lay
out you and | needed for the Big
Job and, second because-spite of
all of you-he looked good TO me.
There r some men who can
admit mistakes, but a Belknap
hates to. When we have 10, though,
we want to do 1t ourselves and not
have somebody else finding out
what fools we've been. Besides.
any a with a son like you wants
to be able to turn over the works
to him without any messes to clean
up. ! don't even want you to guess
that there's a mess until | get II
fixed up Then | can tell you and
save my face That Is straining a
point, perhaps. but II you ever have
the sort of q son you should have
such a son as you r to me-you'll
get the Idea that the admiration
and respect of Il boy will keep his
old dad hustling to be worthy of
them.
"'You1l be In soon. For the Sec
ond time I'm going to steer you
away from Kampfest. IT'S going to
break your heart and mine. too.
But you're not going to show 1t;
neither am /. The reason Is that
we're Belknaps. and the breed
doesn't show hurts or affections
much. II feels a lot. though, and
so II the doctors are wrong and
you have to get your explanation
this way, please believe that I'm
hurting you so | can have a chance
to wash the clothes I'VE dirtied and
by doing 80 keep your respect
"'And above all. you must real
lie this: that an old mar has a
devil of a time playing up to what
a father of a son like you should
be. I'm so proud of you 1t keeps
me awake nights. Good luck; God
bless you. TOM"
Harrington paused. His voice
had shaken a trifie on the last.
John blinked his eyes and cleared
his throat with a brave, long hur-r-
rumpl
"Tll -. I'll 49," he began. II
guess I'll be d--d"-weakly.
"But you should have heard him
. cheer, clear across the Atlantic,
when | told him what the afternoon
papers said, about all the double
crossing you'd forced G0rbel to con
%fess," Harrington went on.
And he said for you to stay
right there In Kampfest and run
the Job and that be was coming to
ask for a chance to help-that's
Just what he said: to ask for a
chance to help-as fast as boats
and trains can bring him. Says
that Me feels fit as q fiddle and had
already booked passage two weeks
earlier than he'd intended to. You
can use your own judgment, but
| don't know as I'd make any i'm
portant changes until he gets here"
John reached out for Ellen's hand.
"How long will II take hlmT" he
asked, commencing to smile.
"Why. not long; ten days, say"
"Ten daysl Don't you call that
long? What's that?"-leaning
closer to the phone as the wire
went bad for a moment "Oh ...
the job Sure, the job can stagger
along for ten days without any
changes. But there are other things
up here, Harrington, so important
that they make the job look like a
joke. And ten days? Man, for
these other things, ten days is ages
and ages and ages -"
THE END.1
Twenty Use Dollar Sign
Twenty other sc%ountries besides
tho TTu{tod ctatoe owpfov fhp dollar