The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-10-25
Chapter Nine
Georges Story

"A S THE Hunts drove off, Tim
"A was very white and his big
hands were shaking.
Its true" he said presently.
Every word of it's true, Buff!
Now you know the kind of person
i ami" He rose to his feet and went
upstairs before she could answer.
Buff sat where she was for a
long time. She heard Webby STIR
ring in the kitchen and thought
vaguely that good dinner would
help the entire household; but
above every other sensation she
was conscious of pity for Tim Cor
liss. The bald little story had held
glimpses of tragedy which had
been underlined and made acute
by the look Of suffering on Tins
face.
After a time she went into the
kitchen. Mrs. Webb was furiously
busy. Something gave off savory
odOrs from the big range oven, a
double boiler simmered on top.
The fat houSekeeper was Dreaming
butter and sugar in bowl.
"A nice state you left my kitch-
en- in, Miss Buff" she said severely.
And if the. stuff that was left on
the table ia sample of what you
gave those poor Hunts to eat, l
don't wonder they left. Lumbago!
] suppose you and Mr.. Tim had
your reasons, and after all I'm get
tin paid to do what I'm told; but
layin' in bed without good nour-
ishin' food didn't do me any good,
and / sh'd say it hadn't helped you
either. by the looks of you'll"
Buff wandered about for am
other hour. When she heard the
sound Of a car approaching she
strOlled down to meet it. George
Weekes stopped and grinned at
her.
Here again. says she. Won
der how much longer that guy is
going TO keep on coning?'"
1T happens I'm extra glad to see
you today" Her tone was sober.
''And I'd like TO talk to you before
you see Tim. Suppose you drive
under those pines and let's confer
a bit Okay?"
And then some," he agreed
hear lily. He steered his car under
the clump of trees which marked
the boundary of the ranch Tim
not so well. or is it these Hunts he
called me about?"
Both, in a way. The Hunts left
right after lunch"-a fleeing smile
touched her mouth at the recollec-
ton of that meal-"but not before
the daughter had-had spilled the
beans about Tim"
He frowned. How d'you mean
spilled the beans?"
She told him briefly of Maudie
Mays accusations. Tim said it was
all true. and more. Then he shut
himself up in his room. think
you'd better tell me all about it,
George"
i suppose so. Poor old Tim!
Where shall / begin?"
@With-with the girl. Iris De-
Muth, isn't that her name?"
That's her name. She blew into
Boulder one fine day and dropped
into our Office. Had some ore speci-
mems she wanted asSayed. For sill
yer. Silver in EN- all right-plenty
Of il. Tetrahedrite-"
Don't waste time being techni-
cal" she commanded, where did
she get the ore?"
From a mine she owned up in
aka n, che Or.rV,oI -
all right. l looked it up, of course.
She wanted Tim to buy up a lot of
land around it; she had a New
York company willing to back any
development-if there was actu-
ally silver there"
"And was there? The specimens
might not have come from her
mine"
He n Cd d e d his appreciation.
Good point Naturally the same
idea occurred to Tim and me. So
he went up himself and took some
specimens from the mine to assay,
You know silver ore exists in
veins, and if a bit were taken from
the vein itself even an expert
couldn't tell whether it contained
silver until he had assayed it. Tim
brought home a tidy lot"
wait a minute. Did she go along
show him where to get the bits
he took?"
An Accomplish
Tim wasn't born yesterday, my
L. dear. He took his specimens
where and how he chose to. The
thing is, he had to go to Idaho
Springs before he could test them
Was gone ten days, in fact"
Go on" she babe him.
When he got back, he went to
work on the ore. 1t was darned
good. We were all excited about it,
Iris and Tim and /. She did
tell you that before all this devel-
oped she and Tim had fallen head
over heels in love with each
other?"
mo, you neglected that inter-
eSting item" she said dryly. 'How-
ever. inferred as much. Pro-
ceedl"
She said the more land we
owned. the more interested the
company would be. So we"
You didn't just take the COM
pany on trust?"
mo. it's bona fide development
firm. We sent along specimens for
their own man to assay. But after
Tim had come back-keep that in
mind. Buffi-from Idaho Springs!"
And the specimens he had
taken from the miner"
He sighed glStily. you've put
your finger on the rotten spot in
the scheme. Iris, of course. had &C.
cess 10 Tins Office while he was
gone: Not much of an Office; just
the little outer room. and then the