12
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION AERIAL
A Fool and His Money
By
George Ban
McOutcheon
Copyright, IMS,
By Geo. Bur
MeCuteheon.
8 SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS
S INSTALLMENTS.
J In the opening installments of
"A Fool and His Money," George
Barr MeCuteheon 's charming novel,
& serial rights for which have been
$ specially obtained for the Home
S and Farm Magazine Section, we
$ learn of John Bellamy Smart, the
5 young man who is telling the story.
t He has just written his first novel,
$ and at the same time has fallen
$ heir to an immense fortune left
J him by his uncle. He is 35 years
S of age.
$ After a visit to London Smart
$ takes a trip on the river Danube.
S After finding an old-world town,
s he discovers an ancient castle,
S which he purchases from its owner,
5 the Count. With his secretary,
Poopendyke, he takes possession of
$ the immense structure, which iB
S supposed . to be tenanted only by
& the caretaker and his family, the
8 Schmicks. To Smart's amazement,
S the first night, he hears the cry
S of a baby. The story continues:
(Continued From Last Week.)
Ill N THE NAME OF HEAVEN, Mr.
I Smart, what could have induced
you to " He got no further
than this, and to my certain knowledge
this unfinished reproof was the near
est he ever came to openly convicting
me of asininity.
, "Make yourself at home, old fel
low," said I in some haste. I felt sorry
for him. "We are going to be very
cosy here."
"Cosyf" murmured he, blinking as
he looked up, not at me, but at the
frowning walU that seemed to pene
trate the sky.
"I haven't explored those upper re
gions," I explained nervously, divining
his thoughts. "We shall do it together,
in a day or two."
"It looks as though it might fall
down if we jostled it carelessly," he
remarked, having recovered his breath.
"I am expecting masons at any min
ute," said I, contemplating the un
stable stone crest of the northeast tur
ret with some uneasiness. My face
brightened suddenly. "The particular
section of the castle is uninhabitable, I
am told. It really doesn't matter if
it collapses. Ah, BrittonI Here you
are, I see. Good morning."
Britton, a very exacting servant, look
ed me over critically.
"Your coat and trousers need press
ing, sir," said he. "And where am
I to get the hot water for shaving,
sirt"
"Frau Schmick will supply anything
you need, Britton," said I, happy on
being able to give the information.
"It is not I as needs it, sir," said
he, feeling of his smoothly shaven chin.
"Come in and have a look about the
place," said I, with a magnificent
sweep of my arm to counteract the feel
ing of utter insignificance I was ex
periencing at the moment. I could see
that my faithful retinue held me in se
cret but polite disdain.
A day or two later the castle was
swarming with workmen; the banging
of hammers, the rasp of Baws, the spat
tering of mortar, the crashing of stone
and the fumes of charcoal crucibles ex
tended to the remotest recesses; the
tower of Babel was being reconstruct
ed in the language of six or eight na
tions, and everybody was happy. I had
no idea there were so many tinsmiths
in the world. Every artisan in the
town across the river seems to have
felt it his duty to come over and help
the men from Linz in the enterprise.
There were so many of them that they
were constantly getting in each other's
way and quarreling over matters of
jurisdiction with even more spirit than
we might expect to encounter among
the labor unions at home.
Poopendyke, in great distress of
mind, notified me on the fourth day
of rehabilitation that the cost of labor
as well as living had gone up appre
ciably since our installation. In fact,
it had doubled. He paid all of my
bills, so I suppose he knew what he
was talking about.
"You will be surprised to know, Mr.
Smart," he said, consulting bis sheets,
"that scrub-women are getting more
here than they do in New York City,
and I am convinced that there are more
scrub-women. Today we had thirty new
ones scrubbing the loggia on the gun
room floor, and they all seem to have
apprentices working under them. The
carpenters and plasterers were not so
numerous today. I paid them off last
night, you see. It may interest yon to
hear that their wages for three days
amounted to nearly seven hundred dol
lars in our money, to say nothing of
materials and breakage."
" Breakage t" I exclaimed in sur
prise. - "Yes, sir, breakage. They break
nearly as much as they mend. Well
well go bankrupt, sir, if we're not
careful."
I liked his pronoun. "Never mind,"
I said, "we 11 soon be rid of them."
"They've got it in their heads, sir,
that it will take at least a year to
finish the "
"You tell the foremen that if this
job isn 't finished to onr satisfaction by
the end of the month, III fire SJI of
them," said I, wrathfully.
"That's less than three weeks off,
Mr. Smart. They don't seem to be
making much headway."
"Well, you tell 'em, just the same."
And that is how I dismissed it. "Tell
'em we've got to go to work our
selves."
"By the way, old man Schmick and
his family haven't been paid for near
ly two years. They have put in a elalm.
The late owner assured them they'd get
their money from the next"
"Discharge them at once," said L
"We can't get on without them,"
protested he. "They know the ropes,
so to speak, and, what's more to the
point, they know all the keys. Yes
terday I was nearly two hours in get
ting to the kitchen for a conference
with Mrs. Schmick about the market
men. In the first place, I couldn 't find
the way, and in the second place all the
doors are locked."
"Please send Herr Schmick to me
in the in the " I couldn't recall the
name of the administration chamber at
the head 'of the grand staircase, so I
was compelled to say: "111 see him
here."
"If we lose them we also are lost,"
was his sententious declaration. I be
lieved him
On the fifth day of our occupancy,
Britton reported to me that he had de
vised a plan by which we could utilize
the tremendous horse-power represent
ed by the muscles of those lazy giants,
Rudolph and Max. He suggested that
we rig up a huge windlass at the top
of the incline, with stout steel cables
attached to a small car which could be
hauled up the cliff by a hitherto wasted
human energy, and as readily lowered.
It sounded feasible and I instructed
him to have the extraordinary railway
built, but to be sure that the safety de
vice clutches in the eog wheels were
sound and trusty. It would prove to
be an infinitely more graceful mode of
ascending the peak than riding np on
the donkeys I had been persuaded to
buy, especially for Poopendyke and me,
whose legs were so long that when we
sat in the saddles our knees touched
our chins or were spread out so far
that we resembled the Prussian coat-ot
tos.
That evening, after the workmen had
filed down the steep, looking for all
the world like an evacuating army, I
sought a few minutes of peaee and quiet
in the small balcony outside my bed
room windows. My room was in the
western wing of the castle, facing the
river. The eastern wing mounted even
higher than the one in which we were
living, and was topped by the loftiest
watch tower of them all. We had not
attempted to do any work in that sec
tion as yet, for the simple reason that
Herr Schmick couldn't find the keys
to the doors.
The sun was disappearing beyond the
highlands and a cool, soft breeze swept
up through the valley. I leaned back
in a comfortable chair that Britton had
selected for me, and puffed at my pipe,
not quite sure that my serenity was
real or assumed. This was all costing
me a pretty penny. Was I, after all,
parting with my money in the way pre
scribed for fools! Was all this splendid
antiquity worth the
My reflections terminated sharply at
that critical instant and I don't be
lieve I ever felt called upon after that
to- complete the inquiry.
I found myself staring as if stupl
fied at the white figure of a woman
who stood in the topmost balcony of
the eastern wing, fully revealed by the
last glow of the sun and apparently as
deep in dreams as I had been the in
stant before.
For ten minutes a stood there star
ing up at her, completely bewildered
and not a little shaken. My first
thought had been of ghosts, but it
was almost instantly dispelled by a
significant action on the part of the
suspected wraith. She turned to whistle
over her shoulder, and to snap her fin
gers peremptorily, and then she stooped
and picked up a rather lustry chow dog
which promptly barked at me across the
intervening space, having discovered me
almost at once although I was many
rods away and quite snugly ensconced
among the shadows. The lady in white
uzzled him with her hand and I could
almost imagine I heard her reproving
whispers. After a few minutes, she ap
parently forgot the dog and lifted her
hand to adjust something in her hajr.
He again barked at me, quite ferocious
ly for a chow. This time it was quite
plain to her that he was not barking
at the now shadowy moon. ' She peered
over the stone balustrade and an in
stant lated disappeared from view
through the high, narrow window.
Vastly exercised, I set out in quest of
Hotel
Seattle.
Under new management entire change in
all departments all rooms redecorated and
refurnished. Particular attention is now being
paid to prompt, efficient and courteous service.
DAILY RATES
$2.00 Up With Private Bath
$100 Up Without Private Bath
r
Hotel Butler Cafe
-THE FINEST IN SEATTLE-
Service the Best
ROBERT J. ROBINSON
Manager
Herr Schmick. martialinff PoODendvke
as I went along, realizing that I would
have to depend on his Herman, wnicn
was less halting than mine and there
fore, more likely to dovetail with that
of the Schmicks, neither of whom spoke
Qerman because they loved it but be
cause they had to being Austrians.
(To Be Continued.)
A RARE OPPORTUNITY FOB AN
ALASKAN INVESTMENT.
The stock and bond house of Herria
ft Rhodes, Inc., Seattle, Wash., the old
est established firm in this line in
Washington, has been authorized by the
management of the Golden Hill Con
solidated Mines Company, situated in
the famous Willow Creek free gold
quarts district of Alaska, to sell 100,
000 shares of treasury stock at 15e per
share. The remarkable feature of this
commission is that we are furnished
with a written guarantee that the full
purchase price of these shares is to be
returned to all of the purchasers of
this stock in dividends before any other
shareholders can participate in the
profits. The guarantee provides that
the money is to be nsed only for a
stamp mill, which is under construction
now, and is expeeted to be in operation
on July 15. There is sufficient ore in
sight to warrant a substantial profit
from this season's run, and to reim
burse the purchasers of this stock. By
reason of this operation the shares
should greatly increase in face value.
This is a great opportunity for a good
investment. Mail your cheek today. We
will gladly furnish yon further infor
mation. References Any Seattle Bank.
Herrln Rhodes, Inc., established 1896,
Mining, Oil ft Bank Stock Broken, 119
Cherry St, Seattle, Washington. Adv.
Wash.
Cuisine Unexcelled
Butler