CHAPTER XI

AT AUCTION

Jimmy went back to the ranch beside the Fraser once, but Jordan went without him several times, for Forster apparently found his company congenial. It happened that he contrived to see a good deal of Eleanor Wheelock during his visits, but neither of them mentioned this to Jimmy, who, indeed, would probably have concerned himself little about it had he heard of it, since he had other things to think about just then. Merril had sent his father a formal notice that unless the money due should be paid by a certain time, the schooner would be sold as stipulated in the bond, and, though Tom Wheelock had expected nothing else, he apparently collapsed altogether under the final blow.

Jordan, who had just come back from Forster's ranch, arrived on board the _Tyee_ while the doctor was talking to Jimmy, and, strolling forward, he sat down on the windlass and commenced a conversation with Prescott, with whom he had promptly made friends. In the meanwhile, Jimmy looked at the doctor a trifle wearily as he leaned on the rail.

"Perhaps my mind's not as clear as usual to-day, but these scientific terms don't convey very much to me," he said.

"In plain English, then," said the doctor, "it is general break-down your father is suffering from, though it is intensified by a partial loss of control over the muscles on one side of him. The latter trouble is, perhaps, the result of what one might call constitutional causes, but, as you seem to fancy, worry and nervous strain, or a shock of any kind, may have accelerated it or brought about the climax."

Answer this series of questions:

1. Where had Jordan just come back from?
2. What was Eleanor's last name?
3. Who was the doctor talking about when he said he'd use plain English?
4. What did he say the father was suffering from?
5. What had Merril sent the father?
6. Did it say the house would be sold if the money wasn't paid?
7. What might get sold?
8. Who collapsed when hearing this?
9. What did Jordan arrive on?
10. Who was the doctor talking to then?
11. What's the title of the chapter?
12. Did Jordan ever go to the ranch without Jimmy?

Numbered answers:
1. Forster's ranch
2. Wheelock
3. the father
4. general break-down
5. a formal notice
6. No
7. the schooner
8. Tom Wheelock
9. on board the _Tyee_
10. Jimmy
11. AT AUCTION
12. Yes