y of California 
 rn Regional 
 ry Facility 
 
 II nil liliiWli 1
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 P. Lennox Tierney
 
 s 
 
 . ^o, &.
 
 THE SPOTTER
 
 THE SPOTTER 
 
 A ROMANCE OF THE 
 OIL REGION 
 
 "By WILLIAM VT. CANFIELD 
 
 Author of " Legends of the Iriquois" 
 
 R. F. FENNO & COMPANY 
 
 18 EAST SEVENTEENTH STREET, - NEW YORK
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY 
 R. F. FENNO & COMPANY
 
 ps 
 
 A3.iT.2- 
 
 In Memory of 
 Mary Lisbeth Canfield, 
 
 a gentle critic 
 
 who watched with deepening interest 
 the growth of these pages.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. Page 
 Resisting a Temptation 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Coming of the Drill 16 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Newly-Rich 24 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The March of Development 37 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 An Instrument of Providence 44 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 An Agent of the Instrument 52 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 A Temptation Embraced 59 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 A Warning Unheeded 69 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 A Total Surrender 79 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Mr. Tubbs Decides to Invest 90 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 The Bubble Bursts 102 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Mrs. Wheeler Understands "4
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. Page 
 Chance Meeting of Old Friends 123 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 The Appointment at La Vintage 135 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Mrs. Wheeler Locks the Door 144 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Madame and Jeannette in Comedy 152 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Monsieur's Unpleasant Forenoon 159 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Jeannette Plays Her Part 168 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 Old Friends in a Strange Place 177 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Mr. Tubbs Receives a Letter 185 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 The Commune at Work 192 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 A Ride in the Country 202 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 A Discovery at Dawn 218 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 A Sequel to the Comedy 228 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 In the Boyhood Home 235
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. Page 
 Where Are the Vanished Years ? 241 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 Betsey Paints a Picture 251 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 Doctor Ross Sells Out 260 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 Mr. Tubbs in Business 265 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 The Spotter 272 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 The Moonshiner 277 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 Anxious Hours 284 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 Coon Discovers a Secret 297 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 Moonshiner and Spotter 307 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 The Story in the Rocks 318 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 Lanphere Writes a Note 324 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 Why Oil Prices Changed 331 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 One Afternoon 342 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 The Wedding Day 353
 
 THE SPOTTER* 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 RESISTING A TEMPTATION. 
 
 "I DON'T see why you should have objections to 
 leasing your farm, Mr. Cameron," said Mrs. Fisher, 
 somewhat awkwardly raising her gold-rimmed eye 
 glasses to the ridge of a red and pudgy nose, and 
 gazing curiously at the man to whom she had spoken. 
 
 "Perhaps not, ma'am," replied Cameron. "I have 
 heard that some people are able to see in a painting 
 only flat streaks of color." 
 
 "I didn't say anything about paintings, did I?" 
 asked the woman, innocent of the sarcasm. "I was 
 talking about your farm, which you ought to sell, or 
 lease, now that you have the chance, and give your 
 wife and daughter the opportunity to take their 
 places in a circle where they would shine. It's your 
 duty, Mr. Cameron, and you know it." 
 
 "Mrs. Cameron and Agnes adorn their home, 
 9
 
 10 Cfie Spotter, 
 
 ma'am, and are welcome members of the circle in 
 which we have moved," insisted Cameron. 
 
 "Well, there won't be any circle here for them to 
 adorn very long, Mr. Cameron, and you know it. 
 Now look at the matter sensibly. Here's our farm of 
 only a hundred and ten acres, and Fisher sold it out 
 right for seventy-five thousand dollars. The Tubbses 
 have sold their eighty acres for fifty thousand and a 
 sixteenth royalty. They were offered a twelfth the 
 first time the man came to see them, but Mrs. Tubbs 
 said she wouldn't let Tubbs sell for less than a six 
 teenth, and the man never hesitated a minute, but 
 took them up on the spot. The Nortons have leased 
 for a big pile cash down and a royalty that will bring 
 them more money every month than they ever saw 
 before. Sam Edgert, for his place with its old, tum 
 ble-down buildings and land that won't raise white 
 beans, got a clean hundred thousand. He's going to 
 move his family away next week. Everybody else 
 in the neighborhood has either sold out or leased for 
 big money, and they are getting out of this section 
 just as fast as they can, and going to places where 
 they may cut a dash." 
 
 "No doubt, ma'am. I expect they all will do 
 that" 
 
 "Of course, they will, because they've got the cash 
 to do it with, and that's more than most of the folks 
 in Bradan and Oleford can say leastwise, lots of 
 them that's credited with loads of money don't look
 
 Cfje ^pottet* 11 
 
 as though they had any to spare. Why, last Sunday 
 me and Fisher went to their high-falutin' fashion 
 able 'Piscopal church at Bradan. I wanted to see 
 whether they had any real style about them, and 
 there wasn't mor'n two women in the church that 
 had any jewelry on to speak of. I didn't see but one 
 watch chain besides mine, and that was a skimpy 
 thing. Hardly one of them wore mor'n one ring, or 
 possibly two, and I didn't see a bracelet or necklace 
 in the whole church." 
 
 "It must have been very dispiriting, ma'am. I 
 really don't see how you could enjoy the service un 
 der such circumstances." 
 
 She gave him a quick glance, but the impenetrable 
 face of the Scotchman betrayed no clue as to whether 
 he had spoken in jest or in earnest. 
 
 "Well, at any rate, I let them know that there was 
 folks who had lived within fifty miles of them all 
 their lives who was just as good as anybody at 
 Bradan. When the meeting was over, Fisher 
 stopped and asked a man how much they rented their 
 best pews for by the year. The man hunted up the 
 sexton, who pointed out a pew pretty well up in front 
 which he said we could have for a hundred dollars. 
 'Ain't you got anything better'n that ?' I asked. He 
 said there wasn't any better pew in the church, and 
 that it was one of the highest in price. 'Well,' I 
 said, loud enough for a lot of them to hear, 'we ex 
 pect to travel a good deal and may not be here all the
 
 12 C&e Spotter* 
 
 time to use it, but if it is the best you've got, we'll 
 take it so we can have it when we return from 
 abroad.' I thought I would let 'em know that we 
 didn't care for expense." 
 
 Cameron smiled and nodded slightly, as if in ap 
 proval of her course. 
 
 "You might just as well be in the swim as the 
 rest of your neighbors, Cameron," she continued. 
 "Fisher says that you own two hundred acres, and 
 that you don't owe a dollar on it. You could sell it 
 for an awful pile, and go out into the world where 
 folks would be bowing and scraping to you on every 
 hand. You could travel, as me and Fisher are going 
 to do, or you could go to the Assembly, or be some 
 other high officer. They say any man can get office 
 if he has a little money to spend. But if you hang 
 on much longer, you may lose it all, for the land has 
 been leased on every side, and when wells are sunk 
 on the next door territory they're likely to drain 
 yours, and then it won't be worth shucks." 
 
 "It will remain still as good a farm as it is to-day, 
 Mrs. Fisher." 
 
 "Oh, pshaw, Cameron, you're childish! If you 
 don't want the money for yourself, you have no 
 right to keep Mrs. Cameron and Agnes from enjoy 
 ing it. I'm sorry they ain't here, so I could spunk 
 them up in the way of persuading you to take a good 
 offer when one is knocking at your door, and not 
 hold off till you lose it all."
 
 Cfje Spotter, is 
 
 "Mrs. Fisher," said Cameron with sudden ear 
 nestness, "I suppose it would be quite impossible for 
 me to make you understand that I do not wish either 
 to sell or to lease my farm at any price, now or here 
 after. With much labor and care this place has 
 been brought to the perfection in which you see it, 
 and here we have all the comforts of that simple life 
 which pleases us. Great riches poured into our laps 
 could make us neither more independent nor con 
 tented. Indeed, we scarcely would know what to do 
 with wealth which we had not won, for we are not 
 accustomed to idleness and fashion, and in the at 
 tempt to live that way we would be most unhappy. 
 In the grasp for the glittering halo, the substance, 
 which we love, would escape. 
 
 "I do not know whether you have taken the trouble 
 to come to the old neighborhood from friendly inter 
 ests, or have been sent here by those who are anxious 
 to procure the lease of the Cameron farm. I will 
 think that your motive has been entirely innocent, 
 and thank you for the advice, though declining to 
 follow it. I am sorry Mr. Fisher did not accompany 
 you. Give him my kind regards, and say to him that 
 when he tires of the grand ways of the rich, and 
 when his eyes weary from gazing upon great sights, 
 to come to the valley. I will fit him out in clothing 
 that will not be injured if he lies at full length upon 
 the ground, and with a basket, filled with home-cook 
 ing, we will go out along some of the trout streams
 
 14: cfje Spotter, 
 
 where we have passed many a happy day, and be 
 once more the same old neighbors." 
 
 The woman looked at him a moment with puzzled 
 expression. "You are a queer man, Mr. Cameron," 
 she said at length. 
 
 "Yes, I suppose that is true. We ever are won 
 dering why others may not see things from our 
 standpoint. To me, it is without explanation that 
 people from choice should desert the real, substan 
 tial and wholesome for that which has in it only the 
 ceaseless quest for the new, the showy and the 
 frothy. To you, it is equally inexplicable that one 
 should wish to remain in this isolated place ; or why 
 I should love the hills and valleys, the fields, the 
 trees back yonder in the woods, the cattle there in 
 the pasture, and the horses here in the barn. Why, 
 just look at them, ma'am." 
 
 Cameron put his hands beside his mouth, forming 
 the bell of a trumpet, and gave a call. 
 
 "O-o-o-o-o, s-o-o-o k-e-e-e !" it rang out across the 
 meadow, and when it came to the pasture the cattle 
 raised their heads and listened for its repetition ; and 
 then, turning from the rich feed, tossed their horns 
 and hurried away down the lane, jostling and crowd 
 ing in the race to see which should come first to the 
 gate in answer to the master's voice. A collie, that 
 had been lying in the shade a few paces away, sat up 
 and watched the procession with all the interest of a 
 well-taught dog who knows that he may at any mo 
 ment be called upon to take part in the proceedings.
 
 &e Spotter, is 
 
 "There, ma'am, I'd rather enjoy that sight than 
 all the parties and balls, receptions, theatres and so 
 ciety events in the most brilliant metropolis of fash 
 ion and splendor in the world. ~No pleasure which 
 any number of thousands could buy would recom 
 pense me for its loss." 
 
 Though Mrs. Fisher was not a woman of fine sen 
 timent, she could not be wholly insensible to the deep 
 feeling which Cameron expressed, nor was she un 
 mindful of the fact that he had the argument on his 
 side. For nearly three months she had been engaged 
 in the attempt to make the plunge into the social cir 
 cles of Bradan, and in so doing she had met with ex 
 periences which somewhat cooled her ardor. Never 
 theless, she made the trip to Cameron farm upon the 
 suggestion of her husband, and at the request of some 
 of the men who were attempting to secure a lease or 
 negotiate the purchase of this splendid oil territory. 
 As a disinterested friend and old neighbor, she ex 
 pected to meet with some success. She would make 
 one more effort, and, as she stepped forward to her 
 carriage, she turned and said : 
 
 "Mr. Cameron, with the money you could get from 
 your farm " 
 
 "Good-day, ma'am, and pardon me for not waiting 
 to hear what I could do with it. My cattle are won 
 dering why I called them and am not at the gate to 
 let them through." 
 
 And he turned and walked rapidly to the lane.
 
 16 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE COMING OF THE DRILL. 
 
 DUNCAN CAMERON was born in Scotland, and at 
 the time of the opening of our story was in his forty- 
 second year. His parents had been well-to-do, but 
 before he was out of his teens, he was left an orphan 
 and his property was given in charge of a guardian. 
 Duncan chose the profession of civil engineering, and 
 just after his majority he entered his last term at col 
 lege. A few days later he received a letter from 
 America that changed the course of his life, for he 
 left college at once, converted his little holding into 
 money at a considerable sacrifice, and came to this 
 country as soon as he could complete his arrange 
 ments. 
 
 Three years previously, Andrew Laing, with his 
 wife and daughter Alice, neighbors of the Camerons, 
 left their Scottish home and came to America with 
 the hope of bettering their condition. Young Cam 
 eron and Alice had been lovers from the time they 
 were first at school, and it was well understood that 
 when Duncan had gained his profession, he would
 
 C&e Spotter, 17 
 
 follow the Laings to America and marry Alice. The 
 letter which came to him brought news of the death 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Laing within a few weeks of each 
 other. Alice, he was told, had taken service in the 
 home of some people of his own nationality. The 
 thought of her loneliness and bereavement drove 
 other things from his mind, and soon after Alice re 
 ceived the announcement that he was coming, he 
 was by her side. Their marriage took place within a 
 few weeks, and then for eight years Cameron pur 
 sued his profession with fair success. In the course 
 of his work, Duncan met the opportunity for pur 
 chasing a fine tract of land in one of the richest val 
 leys of Western Pennsylvania, and so the Cameron 
 farm came into his possession. With the money 
 saved in the practice of his profession, Cameron was 
 able to make many improvements upon his farm, and 
 in a brief time he surrounded himself with those 
 comforts which come only to those American farmers 
 who toil industriously and intelligently for a term of 
 many years. 
 
 Cameron was a student, a thinker, a lover of na 
 ture in every form. He was happy and contented 
 with his home, for there he found independence and 
 freedom. The farmers in the neighborhood saw that 
 he was ever a busy man, and while they could spend 
 half a summer's day talking to little or no purpose 
 over a rail fence, Cameron had work to do and his 
 fields, buildings and stock showed the result of his
 
 18 
 
 attention. It was but natural that these curious old 
 Pennsylvania families should think that "the Scotch 
 man," as Cameron was commonly called, was alto 
 gether too painstaking with his crops and stock, and 
 was foolish in his treatment of his wife and daugh 
 ter, for Duncan was at all times gallant, gentlemanly, 
 considerate and unselfish toward Alice. His first 
 thoughts were ever of her and his next of their 
 daughter, Agnes. 
 
 "W'y, he never lets one of his wimmin pail a 
 cow," said old Tubbs. 
 
 "Na, that he don't," replied his neighbor, Norton, 
 "an' you never see how he worked to git the spring 
 water in his kitchen, so there wouldn't be no call fer 
 his wife to tote water from the pump in the yard. 
 He's jest silly over that gal, too. W'y, she's eigh 
 teen if she's a day, but her pap takes her in his lap 
 an' holds her like a baby, an' plays with her as if she 
 want mor'n ten." 
 
 "An' jest look at the clothes he buys, an' the books 
 an' fixin's, an' pictures he puts in his house," contin 
 ued Tubbs, with fine scorn. 
 
 Norton shook his head. "You an' me can't spend 
 that way. He must have had a pile to start with, an' 
 he'll use it up afore he's as old as us." 
 
 Though they did not approve of his ways, Cam 
 eron's neighbors could not say that he was without 
 success even if he did love his wife and daughter 
 and was considerate of his hired men, and kind to
 
 Cfje Spotter* 19 
 
 his beasts. They learned, as people in small country 
 towns and neighborhoods always learn such things, 
 that Cameron owed nothing upon his place, paid for 
 whatever he bought when he took it from the store, 
 and had money in the bank. 
 
 "Wy, he packs apples in barrels an' sends 'em 
 away to the city, an' gits big pay for 'em," said 
 Tubbs in awe. "An' he puts butter up in fancy boxes 
 an' sells it to private customers who writes for it. I 
 hearn, too, that he made five hunder dollars on honey 
 last year, an' I don't know how many hunder on his 
 hens an' eggs, though they say it most breaks his 
 heart to kill a chicken. He sells them Durham 
 carves of his at big prices, too. Week before las' he 
 got seven hunder dollars for a yearling. I tell you, 
 Norton, the Scotchman's a schemer." 
 
 "My Gawd, Tubbs, he is a schemer. I hearn he's 
 the only farmer in McKean county that can draw his 
 check agin money of his own in the Bradan bank." 
 
 "May not be so long, though," said Tubbs with a 
 shake of his head. 
 
 "Oil?" queried Norton. 
 
 "Yes, oil. It's here jest as well as it's at Oil City 
 and Tidioute, and them places down the river. Every 
 wildcat well this way has struck it, and it's here. 
 You and me will sell or lease our farms for thou 
 sands afore two year." 
 
 "I hope so, Tubbs, for the mortgage on mine's due 
 next year December."
 
 20 Cfje 
 
 "Mine's due afore that ; but I've got a writin' that 
 it'll be renewed, an' you better git one, for the oil's 
 here, an' it's going' to be found. I tell ye, Norton, I 
 kin almost hear the thumpin' of the drill." 
 
 And in a few months old Tubbs did hear "the 
 thumpin' of the drill." The prospectors pushed out 
 and on, up one valley after another, along rocky 
 streams and over ranges of wooded hills, often strik 
 ing "dry sand," but as frequently piercing veins that 
 sent their thick, black flow to the surface and filled 
 the pockets of the fortunate owners with bulging rolls 
 of greenbacks. 
 
 From every part of the country came the money to 
 finance the companies that were engaged in the pros 
 pecting. Conservative business men, careful mem 
 bers of the various professions, keen and eager bank 
 ers, clerks, mechanics, laboring men who had a little 
 store of cash put by for the proverbial rainy day, 
 widows, guardians of trust funds, men who had spec 
 ulated all their lives, and men who never turned a 
 penny save by labor thousands upon thousands in 
 number cashed their securities, mortgaged their hold 
 ings, got the money somehow and somewhere, and 
 "went into oil." The craze for investment grew with 
 each report that came to hand of a successful well in 
 a new territory, and men were fairly beside them 
 selves in the strife to secure leases. Agents went 
 abroad by night and by day over the hills and 
 through the valleys seeking the owners of every;
 
 C6e Spotter, 21 
 
 square rod of a vast section which heretofore had 
 been given up to lumbering and very indifferent 
 farming, making leases for the companies that were 
 forming yonder in the towns and cities, and which 
 were coming into this wilderness to join in the mad 
 scramble for sudden wealth. 
 
 And what of the people who owned farms and 
 tracts of land in the new oil territory? Many of 
 them were lumbermen who helped to strip the land 
 of their marketable trees and raft the logs down the 
 streams to the river, and thence away to the cities 
 along the Ohio and Mississippi. They bought the 
 wild, rocky and brush-tangled lots because they did 
 not know what else to do when lumbering failed 
 them; and here, scores of miles from business cen 
 ters, upon roads that followed the logways of the 
 timber haulers, in the rudest of rough board or log- 
 houses, they eked out a bare existence. Little more 
 may be said of their lives. Their surroundings were 
 dreary, rough, uninteresting. Schools were almost 
 unknown ; churches a like quantity ; neighbors, miles 
 from each other. 
 
 Even in the most favorable localities, like the val 
 ley in which lay the Cameron farm, the conditions 
 were primitive, and the eight miles over the divide 
 to Tuna, the little station on the branch of a coal and 
 lumber railroad that ran a dilapidated old emigrant 
 car at the rear of a long freight train out to the 
 Junction and back each day, took you through a sec-
 
 22 
 
 tion that had in it little to commend. To be sure, 
 since Cameron settled there, he had succeeded in rid 
 ding the neighborhood of some of its most objection 
 able features. He spurred the farmers on to improve 
 the road leading to the railroad ; he was instrumental 
 in establishing a school, which was in session long 
 terms each fall and spring; he formed a church so 
 ciety, and every two weeks a minister came to them 
 and held services ; he led in starting a series of neigh 
 borhood parties in winter and picnics in summer, 
 into which he introduced some admirable literary fea 
 tures and easy study. Cameron lifted his neighbor 
 hood out of the tangle of hemlock brush, briars, wild 
 grape-vines and scrub oak, and clothed it with some 
 thing approaching a fair degree of enterprise and 
 progress. By the very force of example, he inspired 
 industry, thrift, and a desire for better things ; while 
 by advice and suggestion, modestly and unobtrusively 
 given, he was able to guide the poor derelicts about 
 him into smoother sailing. 
 
 So, when the great change came, when the money 
 was pouring in upon this land and companies were 
 ready to pay what seemed to be fabulous prices for 
 every acre within the known oil-belt; when men of 
 standing in the business and professional world were 
 almost imploring these ignorant backwoodsmen to 
 permit the putting down of wells upon their holdings, 
 with the promise of substantial royalties upon all 
 that might be produced the people of the Cameron
 
 C&e Spotter. 23 
 
 district were just a trifle better prepared to have the 
 responsibility of sudden riches thrust upon them than 
 were most of the residents of the upper oil regions. 
 
 And here developed a peculiarity which Cameron 
 never was able to explain. Men who learned from 
 him how best to crop their farms, where to market 
 their surplus product, or how to make their labor 
 count to greatest advantage, who sought his advice 
 upon almost every conceivable step from setting a 
 hen to renewing a mortgage, held aloof when fortune 
 knocked at their doors, and drove their own bargains 
 with the rival agents, or counted their own cash when 
 it was paid into their hands. Never a one took Cam 
 eron into his confidence in these days, and had there 
 not been sharp competition and strong bidding on the 
 part of many companies, it is probable that few of 
 the farmers would have realized more than beggarly 
 prices for their lands. As it was, the agents often 
 took advantage of the ignorance of the men and 
 women with whom they dealt, and many rich pieces 
 of oil territory went into the hands of the prospectors 
 for a mere song. While the companies reaped their 
 thousands, the dazed and helpless owners looked on 
 in simple and pitiful amazement.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE NEWLY RICH. 
 
 CAMERON watched the approach of producing oil- 
 wells with a feeling of sadness. Strange as it may 
 appear, he experienced no happiness in contemplat 
 ing the good fortune which befell his neighbors, right 
 and left. He did not believe that they would live 
 better lives or come to more peaceful deathbeds 
 through the riches thus suddenly thrust upon them, 
 and which they would not know how to employ for 
 the good of themselves and others. 
 
 "They are like children," he said to Alice, when 
 they were talking over the new conditions, "and when 
 they get their money will go out into the world with 
 the determination to dazzle others with the glare of 
 their worldly means. Industry will be stifled in their 
 sons, and their daughters will become mere silly 
 hangers-on after fashion. They will keep reaching 
 out for luxuries and amusements, which never can 
 form any solid foundation for true contentment and 
 happiness. In this race they foolishly will throw 
 away what has come to them without labor, and when
 
 Spotter, 25 
 
 stripped of their gold will be in a more unhappy state 
 than they were before." 
 
 "But, Duncan, many of them have lived such hard, 
 laborious lives. They surely are entitled to some rest 
 and comfort," replied Mrs. Cameron. 
 
 "That is true, Alice, but, with the help of God, 
 their condition was becoming more tolerable every 
 year, and I doubt if in all the commonwealth there 
 existed a happier community than this. If they 
 should come by degrees to more affluent circum 
 stances, there would be every reason to rejoice, for 
 then it certainly would be good fortune for them. 
 But when changed from penury to wealth, almost in 
 a day, their heads will be turned with the prospects 
 before them, and the riches that came with no effort 
 will be preyed upon by every swindler with whom 
 they come in contact." 
 
 At the same time, Cameron knew it would be fu 
 tile to raise his voice against leasing or selling the 
 lands all about him. It is not human nature to re 
 sist the opportunity to grasp a fortune when it is 
 within one's easy reach. We may search the world 
 almost in vain for men who do not gladly embrace 
 riches, and though philosophers may teach that the 
 possession of great treasure seldom brings the happi 
 ness anticipated, still we remember that poverty is a 
 master whose lash is as merciless as the hand of death 
 itself. 
 
 So, one by one, the Cameron Valley people leased
 
 26 
 
 or sold their farms and went into the distant towns 
 and cities with the avowed purpose of "getting into 
 society and seeing the world." Their poor belong 
 ings often were deserted, or given to the families of 
 laborers, who poured into the country to carry on 
 the new industry. Sometimes they held auctions and 
 sold their stock, but cases are not unknown where 
 everything was abandoned to be picked up by who 
 ever might come first upon the scene. Women who 
 never had been able to count more than two gowns 
 at any one time in their wardrobes, and those of poor 
 and cheap stuffs, were soon rustling in silks and kept 
 dressmakers constantly employed on new outfits. Men 
 who last week plodded in clumsy cowhide boots, and 
 who enjoyed the freedom of collarless shirts, blue or 
 butternut jeans and patched jumpers, were this week 
 squeezing their feet into patent leathers and endeav 
 oring to become accustomed to collars and cuffs and 
 to eat with their coats on at tables covered with 
 linen. 
 
 Cameron found it necessary to make a business 
 visit to Bradan, the nearest town of any consider 
 able size, and to which the Tubbs family moved as 
 soon as their property was sold. Having some time 
 upon his hands, Cameron hunted up his old neigh 
 bors, whom he found in a hired house, which they 
 had taken ready furnished until they could build for 
 themselves. Though excellent taste and full comfort 
 were displayed in the rooms, Mrs. Tubbs, whose best
 
 C&e Spotter, 27 
 
 piece of furniture three months before was a straight- 
 backed wooden rocker, with one broken arm, at once 
 began to apologize for what she termed their "shabby 
 condition." Nor was she content to permit the mat 
 ter to drop until she several times assured their guest 
 that it was the best they could get in the town until 
 their own new house should be completed and fur 
 nished with articles of her own choosing. She was 
 very grand, was Mrs. Tubbs, with her wealth of 
 skirts and tight bodice, which was brought together 
 only through great exertion over ribs that heretofore 
 had been unhampered. Her brand new rings and 
 massive gold chain flashed and glittered as though 
 proud to adorn one of so fine a mould, and her voice, 
 once harsh and high-pitched when she called the cat 
 tle or scolded Tubbs and the children, was now by 
 effort held in check or, perchance, was smothered by 
 the pressure of her corsets. 
 
 And Elizabeth Tubbs formerly Betsey was 
 quite imposing in a big-flowered delaine with an 
 enormous bustle and a long train, which she had not 
 yet fully mastered and which sometimes tripped her 
 as she walked. There were more rings and chains 
 and bracelets on Elizabeth than Cameron previously 
 had seen on any woman of her age ; but he reflected 
 that he was not a judge of what might be fashion 
 able. Elizabeth easily picked up superior airs and 
 she spoke loud and fast as though anxious to domi-
 
 28 
 
 nate the conversation. She was in all respects quite 
 the forward young woman. 
 
 And poor old Jim Tubbs, all shaven and shorn, 
 until his picturesqueness was lost, looked like a whit 
 ened manikin in broad-checked trousers and vest, 
 black cutaway coat, high collar, bright necktie, stiff 
 cuffs with turquois buttons, patent leather shoes, and 
 a high silk hat which he kept beside him on the floor. 
 He sat bolt upright on the edge of his chair as though 
 afraid of crushing the upholstery, and when spoken 
 to turned toward the speaker as he might have done 
 had the only joint in his body been at the hips. He 
 was the personification of discomfort, and kept glan 
 cing uneasily toward the door, and then back at 
 gorgeous Mrs. Tubbs and radiant Miss Tubbs, as 
 though watching an opportunity to cut-and-run out 
 into the fields, where he could find freedom. 
 
 Nearly all that Mrs. Tubbs or Elizabeth had to 
 say was upon subjects which led up to the expendi 
 ture of money, or about people who had money, or 
 how much pleasure they took in letting others know 
 that they had money of their own. It was at that 
 time in the history of our country when millionaires 
 were not as plentiful as they are at present, and those 
 who counted their assets above fifty or sixty thousand 
 dollars were really people of great fortunes. It was 
 not to be wondered at that simple Mrs. Tubbs and her 
 simpler daughter were full of the belief which is 
 not yet wholly eradicated in mankind that money
 
 Cfje Spotter, 29 
 
 is the balm for all ills and the open sesame to every 
 door leading to human satisfaction, and saw in the 
 shimmer of their gold a light that outshone modesty, 
 good breeding, education and culture. 
 
 "You ought to sell out, Mr. Cameron," declared 
 Mrs. Tubbs. "You won't never git any more for 
 your place than they'll pay for it now. Why, you'd 
 be richer'n any of your old neighbors. If you hold 
 on much longer maybe youns won't git any kind of a 
 price." 
 
 "'Youns,' ma?" said Elizabeth. 
 
 Mrs. Tubbs looked annoyed and bit her lip, but 
 made no reply. 
 
 "But I do not wish to sell, Mrs. Tubbs," replied 
 Cameron. "I prefer to remain as I am." 
 
 "Well, men are a queer lot, anyway," she rejoined. 
 "I sometimes think Tubbs d'ruther be back on that 
 old farm than bein' here in town where there's some- 
 thin' to see, an' where, if he's a mind to spunk up, 
 he can be as high as any of them. Banker Lowe ain't 
 got any more money than Tubbs, an' when he goes 
 down the street everybody bows an' scrapes ter him 
 as though he was a high mightiness; but Tubbs, he 
 jest sort of slinks along as if apologizin' for wearin' 
 clothes that cost sixty dollars a suit, and some of these 
 folks that thinks they're so fine, snicker at the way 
 he carries himself. They don't do it over me an' 
 Bet Elizabeth. We jest hold our heads up an' look
 
 so Cfje 
 
 'em right square in the face an' let 'em know that 
 we're inderpendent." 
 
 Tubbs shivered, and settled himself further down 
 in his collar, and shrunk visibly within his fine cloth 
 ing. 
 
 Cameron remembered that there was a young man 
 in the family whom he always had known as "Coon." 
 However, he was too wise to inquire after the boy by 
 that name, so he asked Elizabeth if her brother was at 
 home. 
 
 "Aw, yes, I think so. Do you know, Mr. Cam 
 eron, Archibald has grown quite sporty since we 
 moved to town, and has really become an example 
 which his father might follow." 
 
 "I ain't a goin' to foller his example," said Mr. 
 Tubbs, suddenly straightening up. "He drinks too 
 much licker." 
 
 "Mr. Tubbs!" ejaculated his wife with emphasis. 
 "Ain't I told you more'n once that all young gentle 
 men with money and with nothing to do but to amuse 
 themselves, drink more or less ?" 
 
 "Well, Coon drinks more; an' tain't no credit to 
 him nor to no one to do it," shouted Tubbs, with 
 some of his old-time vigor. 
 
 "I should think you'd be ashamed to call your 
 only son by such a low, vulgar name," sobbed Mrs. 
 Tubbs, with her handkerchief to her eyes. 
 
 " Wy, dum it ! you gin him the name yerself w'en 
 he was a little feller an' treed a coon one day jest
 
 Cfje Spotter, 31 
 
 back of the house. But sense we've come to town, an' 
 Coon's spendin' six or seven dollars a day buyin' 
 drinks for bummers that jest swells his head to ketch 
 his treats, you an' Betsey can't bear to hear him called 
 any thin' but Archibald." And Tubbs jammed his 
 silk hat down till it bent his ears forward, and 
 stamped out of the room. 
 
 Cameron pleaded that it was nearly time for his 
 train, and took his leave as best he might under the 
 circumstances. At the gate he joined Mr. Tubbs. 
 
 "I'm going to walk with you to the deepo," said 
 the old man, "for it heartens me up to see an old 
 neighbor who ain't gone plum crazy. Dum it, I wish 
 I was back in Cameron Valley. If you say the word, 
 I'll go down an' work for you on the farm by the 
 month." 
 
 "That would not do at all, Mr. Tubbs. You are 
 a man of property now, and it is your privilege and 
 duty to exercise a careful oversight in its expendi 
 ture, that you and the members of your family may 
 take some comfort and accomplish some good through 
 the use of this money that has come into your 
 hands." 
 
 Tubbs shook his head mournfully. "It's jest like 
 turnin' a cow or a hoss loose in a granery full of 
 meal. The poor critters ain't got judgment enough 
 to eat what's good for 'em, an' then stop till its time 
 to eat again ; but they keeps on stuffin' an' stuffin' till 
 they swells up an' busts. Wy this money I've got
 
 32 Cfje 
 
 won't last many years at the rate we are spendin' it ; 
 but I can't make Susan, nor Betsey, nor that fool of a 
 Coon see it. They've jest got their heads in the meal 
 barrel an' are hoggin' away like an ornery old cow; 
 an' bimby they'll bust. Cameron, I cal'calate we 
 have spent about four thousan' dollars in two months, 
 an' we ain't got a dum thing to show for it, 'cept 
 clothes that ain't like nobody else's, an' jewelry that 
 nobody else'd buy. Nor we ain't made society slip 
 a cog neither." 
 
 "But you should put your money at interest in 
 some safe investment, and limit yourselves to spend 
 ing the income and no more. There surely are 
 chances to loan it, or to place it where it will be 
 earning something." 
 
 "Chances, Cameron, w'y they're swarmin' like 
 bees. There's a slick feller hangin' around Betsey 
 courtin' her, mother thinks, but I don't who knows 
 where he could invest it an' double it every six 
 months. He's showed me figgers, an' tables, an' plans 
 all in print as how it could be done. Then there's a 
 man named Wilcox that Susan brought home from a 
 missionary meetin' to introduce to me, an' he knows 
 where he could put thirty thousan' an' make fifty 
 thousan' oif'n it inside a year. He's a mighty smart 
 man, too. He's told his plans to Susan half a dozen 
 times, an' she says it's jest as sure as thunder in July 
 to come out big an' loud. An' there's two men with a 
 gold mine to start up. The gold's right almost on
 
 Cfie Spotter, 33 
 
 top the ground, an' all that's waitin' is money to 
 hire teams an' draw it outen the mountains, so it can 
 be melted into twenty-dollar pieces. They showed me 
 the map with a big red dot where the mine lays. An' 
 patents, mor'n a dozen of 'em; an' city lots in the 
 nicest places all laid out jest like posey beds; an' 
 stock in forty companies with big gold seals on it, 
 an' pictures an' fancy letters tellin' how much it 'is 
 worth, while I can git it dum cheap. Some of it's 
 goin' to double in price in a week or two. Wy, I 
 can't begin to tell you the chances I've had to invest, 
 Cameron." 
 
 "I fear many of them are swindles, Mr. Tubbs. 
 You should be very cautious in making an invest 
 ment, and if I were you I would not place a penny 
 until I was sure as to the nature and reliability of 
 the project. Why do you not secure the service of 
 some lawyer of high character and good business re 
 pute ?" 
 
 "No; I don't want a lawyer. I'm goin' to give 
 them their fling for a while an' see if they don't git 
 sick of it. But they won't. I know that well enough. 
 Some day, when a partic'lar smooth chap comes along 
 an' makes love to Betsey till she's clean gone on him, 
 an' gits Coon drunk as a driller every other day, an' 
 makes Susan think he is jest the one who can take 
 her right into society then I'm goin' to invest, jest 
 to see how quick it will go! All but two thousan/ 
 Mr. Cameron. I've got that amount salted, an' when
 
 34 
 
 t'other's gone, I'll buy a place with that where they 
 ain't no oil, nor prospect of oil. If they want to go 
 an' live on it with me, they can; an' if they want to 
 stay in society, they can do that." 
 
 The old man stopped suddenly and caught Cam 
 eron by the arm. "My God! look there. I can't 
 go any further, Cameron ; good-by." 
 
 He wrung his companion's hand with a quick, 
 nervous grasp, and then, turning, walked rapidly to 
 ward his home. 
 
 Just ahead of him Cameron saw a group of young 
 men approaching, and a glance afforded an explana 
 tion for the sudden departure of Mr. Tubbs. The 
 leading spirit in the party was Coon, who in a few 
 weeks had changed from an awkward and plainly- 
 clad countryman into a loud, swaggering, half- 
 drunken, disgusting, leering "sport" Those accom 
 panying him were of the same class, save that they 
 were older in the ways in which Coon was being in 
 itiated, and he was paying for his inexperience. 
 
 "Who's the hayseed ?" shouted one. 
 
 "The devil !" said Coon, looking with a dull stare, 
 "it's Cameron. Hello, Scotchie, how much is punk- 
 ins worth ?" 
 
 "They're cheap in town, Coon, where so many 
 young fellows carry them a-top their shoulders," re 
 plied Cameron with a smile. 
 
 "Coon ! Coon !" laughed some of the young bloods. 
 "That is what his dad calls him."
 
 C&e Spotter* 35 
 
 "Damn my dad !" Coon blurted with anger. "He's 
 an old mossback, just like you." 
 
 "And I see that his son has become a gentleman 
 of leisure, spending his time in the company of 
 wits." 
 
 "Look a-here," said Coon with an oath. "I ain't 
 agoin' to be insulted by no countryman. We don't 
 stand such things in town." His hand went into his 
 hip pocket and brought out a revolver which he began 
 to flourish in an ugly manner. 
 
 Instantly sorry that he had made any reply to the 
 young fellow, who had been drinking quite freely, 
 Cameron stepped forward, caught the revolver from 
 Coon's hand with a quick twist, and breaking open 
 the barrel, slipped the cylinder from place and tossed 
 it into a deep mudhole in the street "There, my 
 boy," he said, returning the useless weapon. "You 
 go straight up the street and do not turn to look be 
 hind you until you reach home. If you are sober 
 enough to remember this message, tell your father, 
 who left me before I could say a word of farewell, 
 that if he wants Duncan Cameron's help at any time, 
 he knows where to find me. The rest of you go 
 back," he said, turning to them. "It must be sorry 
 lives that you lead to indulge in such poor sport as 
 getting drunk a silly lad like this one." 
 
 Coon had seen Cameron thrash a couple of bullies 
 in a lumber-camp one winter several years before,
 
 36 Cfie ^potter* 
 
 and he held the Scotchman in wholesome fear. With 
 out a word he followed the course that was pointed 
 out for him. His companions slunk away and made 
 no protest.
 
 Cfje Spotter* 37 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 THE MAECH OF DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 THE land upon all sides of the Cameron farm had 
 been leased or purchased by the eager, anxious com 
 panies, and the invasion by the strange, rough army 
 of developers was at its height. Thinking people of 
 those days often wondered whence came the swag 
 gering, bullying, drinking, carousing, profane men 
 who poured into the oil-fields to build derricks, at 
 tend the drills, chop wood, fire the engines, lay pipe 
 lines, erect tanks, haul oil or lumber, or to engage in 
 the various occupations co-incident with the growing 
 industry. It was all hard, dirty, perplexing work. 
 Men who came to perform it slept in shanties or in 
 old barns where they stabled their horses, or under 
 wagons when dry ground could be found for them to 
 lie upon. Sometimes they did not change their cloth 
 ing for weeks, and they battled constantly against the 
 elements and the mud, and the rocks. They ate the 
 coarsest food, for which they paid prices that were 
 almost fabulous. They were in a constant maelstrom 
 of hurry, and confusion, and excitement, where he 
 who had the strongest lungs with which to shout his
 
 38 C6e Spotter. 
 
 oaths, or the brawniest fist with which to clear his 
 way, made most rapid progress. 
 
 The quiet carpenter, who whistled at his bench in 
 the clean shop in town as he drove his plane or saw 
 upon well-seasoned lumber, became in a few days the 
 hoarse-voiced, cursing rig builder, tugging with 
 cracked and bleeding hands and aching back at water- 
 soaked and mud-covered hemlock planks. 
 
 The blacksmith who was wont to exchange stories 
 with the farmers as he leisurely fixed shoes upon 
 their horses, or who had a pleasant chat with the 
 tourist and his wife while making a few repairs upon 
 their carriage, became the burly tool-dresser, who, 
 for five dollars a day, faithfully swung a heavy 
 sledge, sharpening or pointing massive drills which 
 had been pounding holes two thousand feet down 
 through the flinty rocks to the oil-bearing sands. 
 
 The young man from town who had tried many 
 things and never just found himself, but who was ac 
 customed to regular meals and clean beds, became the 
 driller, all grimy with machine oil and the pasty 
 detrius from the well, working each alternate four 
 hours, night and day, ever at the same monotonous 
 twisting of the drill stem. Or, when an accident 
 occurred and the cable parted, fishing with all sorts 
 of queer barbs fifteen hundred feet down at the bot 
 tom of the narrow hole for the tons of iron and steel 
 which made up the lost set of tools fishing, it may 
 be for weeks without success, and then possibly
 
 Cfje Spotter. 39 
 
 catching the drill stem and hauling away till the tools 
 neared the surface, only to see the grip let go at the 
 last moment, while the mass of iron would plunge 
 back to the depths in the rock, and the fishing must 
 be commenced again. 
 
 The young farmer took his horses from the mow 
 ing machine or plow, and, hitching them to the lum 
 ber wagon, turned their heads away from the com 
 fortable farm and toward the oil regions to become 
 the teamster who found occupation in hauling lum 
 ber, engines, coils of rope, tubing, coal and oil. For 
 days and weeks he plodded wearily with his horses, 
 knee-deep in the mud, sticking fast in pitch-holes, 
 breaking down from contact against hidden rocks, 
 fighting with teamsters whose way he blocked, or who 
 found themselves hopelessly mired in some almost 
 bottomless swale. 
 
 The distant village merchant heard from the men 
 who were pouring their capital into the oil-fields, 
 how towns were springing up in a week. Collecting 
 a stock of coarse clothing and a few of the necessi 
 ties of life, he hurried away to the scene of a promis 
 ing "strike," and in a few days opened a store in a 
 rough shanty, through the cracks of which the storm 
 beat or the sun and wind penetrated. He soon 
 learned that a staple article of commerce was whisky, 
 and barrels of that liquid were brought in to be dealt 
 out at all hours of the day or night in all kinds of
 
 40 C&e Spotter. 
 
 vessels and in such quantities as the purchaser de 
 manded and for what he might be able to pay. 
 
 Boarding-housescalled by courtesy hotels, with 
 high-sounding names where forty men slept on 
 rough plank bunks around the sides of one room, 
 or in the center of the same room ate at equally 
 primitive tables, upon which quantities of food were 
 spread for their choosing, came into existence in an 
 incredibly short time. Dance halls, in which tobacco 
 smoke and the fumes of liquor mingled with the de 
 praved jokes and profanity every hour of the seven 
 days in a week, were as numerous as the saloons and 
 gambling-hells which crowded thick and fast around 
 the center in which the booming oil town took root. 
 
 Great roaring flames of natural gas sprang high 
 in the air from the mouths of tubing that stretched 
 away in all directions toward the wells, like slender 
 serpents spitting forth a stream of living fire. And 
 day or night these bellowing fires never were 
 quenched so long as the gas supply lasted. Months 
 or years might pass, but they flared or roared in wind 
 or storm, or sent their bright flames high in the still 
 air of an autumn noon or a summer night. 
 
 The stain of oil and its oppressive smell were 
 everywhere, for the thick, black liquid often escaped 
 in quantities and ran in streams down the hillsides. 
 
 The clanging of iron upon iron at the tool-dressers' 
 forges, the throb of engines and their hissing steam, 
 the pounding of the drills, the whirling of the bull-
 
 Spotter. 41 
 
 wheels at the derricks, the rattling of cables as they 
 shot through the blocks, the creaking of wagons and 
 the shouts of men were never quiet, for so great was 
 the haste to draw this hidden wealth from its reser 
 voirs that night was turned into day, and rest came 
 only when the field was exhausted. 
 
 Picture a sylvan glen through which coursed a gen 
 erous stream with dark and hidden pools reaching 
 back under overhanging banks a favorite haunt for 
 the trout fisherman. Tangled vines of wild grape 
 and cucumber go wandering over fallen trees and 
 hide decaying stumps, or hang in graceful festoons 
 over the faint trails that lead along the steep banks 
 or down beside the brook. Brush and bramble are all 
 in confusion, clinging to outcropping rocks and press 
 ing close upon the great trees which are ever lifting 
 their branches up and up in search of light and air. 
 Eight months later, see in the same spot a half-hun 
 dred derricks, whose thirsty engines drink from the 
 trout brook, and beside some of which stand mam 
 moth tanks into which black streams are pouring 
 from the wells ; while long wagon trains, laden with 
 barrels of the liquid, go groaning over the rough road 
 way leading out to the station, meeting other wagons 
 which come rattling back with empty barrels. The 
 feverish haste of hundreds of toiling men is evident 
 upon every side. A "boom town" has sprung into 
 life, with shanty stores, hotels, saloons, an opera 
 house, a mission church, a post-office and a popula-
 
 42 CJje Spotter, 
 
 tion of ten thousand souls. The tangled forest is cut 
 away where necessary, leaving white stumps which 
 are utilized for the corner posts of shanties or the 
 foundation of derricks. The soft leaf mold is bro 
 ken into ruts by the wheels of numerous wagons. 
 Wreckage they call it junk in the oil-fields lies 
 strewn wherever it fell the moment it became use 
 less. Vice in its many forms came almost at the be 
 ginning of the strange metamorphosis, and flaunts it 
 self with a freedom and blazonry that proves its pop 
 ularity. Over the mountain there, pushing on with a 
 rapidity that is almost marvellous, comes the narrow 
 gauge railroad, while here up the valley they are lay 
 ing a pipe line at the rate of a mile a day. 
 
 All these new conditions and people gathered like 
 a storm around the Cameron farm. A "city" sprang 
 up almost at the doorway of the Cameron homestead. 
 The clang and clamor, the babel of excitement and 
 strife and prodigious efforts crowded in upon this 
 oasis like hot sands which threatened to overwhelm 
 and blot it out forever. Strange men knocked at the 
 doors of the house and demanded boarding-places. 
 Women came with baskets and pails to purchase the 
 produce of farm and dairy, or of orchard. Teamsters 
 broke open the barn and stabled their horses when 
 they chose, and then flung money and curses at the 
 man who protested. Groups of workmen lawlessly 
 pushed their way across the fields without thought or 
 care for the damage they were causing to growing
 
 C&e Spotter, 43 
 
 crops of grain. The riff and rabble which attaches 
 itself to every great movement was present, with its 
 constant and almost unbearable annoyances. 
 
 But Duncan Cameron fought against it all. The 
 blood of the Covenanters was in his veins, and oppo 
 sition only strengthened his determination to cling to 
 his own and not permit these gathering foes to dis 
 lodge him. Scores of times was he approached by 
 those who sought to buy or lease his farm, for each 
 well approaching his lines from north, east, south, or 
 west, had been a better producer than the one behind 
 it. The expert prospectors declared that Cameron's 
 two hundred acres covered rich layers of the oil-bear 
 ing sands, and the prize was one for which they con 
 tended with spirit. 
 
 All these offers were refused, respectfully, but 
 firmly. He did not want their money, as he was in 
 no need ; he loved his home and would protect it from 
 trespass as best he might until this flood of destruc 
 tion should pass. 
 
 Then, when they could not persuade this man to 
 change his oft-repeated decision, when he could not 
 be lured to yield by offers of money, his persecution 
 began.
 
 44 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AN INSTRUMENT OF PROVIDENCE. 
 
 THE Cygnet Oil Producing and Refining Com 
 pany was now well started upon a career which has 
 since been considered in financial circles as a marvel 
 in the way of achievement. The tactics it adopted 
 at that time were bold and entirely new, and were not 
 greatly feared, but now are so common as to call for 
 general complaint. Its far-seeing officers realized 
 that they could be greatly aided in their operations 
 if they would enter into political manipulation to a 
 sufficient degree to control certain affairs in town 
 ships, municipalities, counties and States, and to the 
 accomplishment of this end the directors gave their 
 president full power to make such bargains with 
 party managers as he should deem necessary for the 
 welfare of the company and, of course, the good of 
 the State at large. This man was Henry Lanphere, 
 a smooth-shaven, soft-speaking, pious fraud. Very 
 few people knew President Lanphere other than as 
 an eminently respectable member of the community. 
 He was correct in all his habits, for he lived a life of 
 moral rectitude that was almost severe in its routine.
 
 Cfte Spotter. 45 
 
 His attendance at church was marked and regular, 
 nor did his piety stop there, for Mr. Lanphere car 
 ried his Sunday air at all times, and appeared to be 
 constantly pondering upon problems of how best he 
 might aid his fellow man. 
 
 He spoke of the oil-industry as a gift from Provi 
 dence, in the participation of which all should receive 
 benefit under certain rules and restrictions. 
 
 "Nature," he said, "has stored vast reservoirs of a 
 commodity that will be of benefit to all mankind, and 
 its hiding-place has been disclosed at this special time 
 because the world has reached a point in its career 
 when Providence has decreed that a new gift shall be 
 bestowed. The dissemination of this gift should be 
 controlled by men who are working along philan 
 thropic lines; hence, these same men should decide 
 as to the size of the output. To this end^ strife for 
 new and greater territory must be discouraged, and 
 while those who are working along new and indepen 
 dent lines may be permitted to use their money in 
 prospecting by sinking 'wildcat' wells, the represen 
 tatives of Providence must watch all such operations, 
 and if there is a show of oil, they must proceed to 
 secure title to all adjoining territory and hold it for 
 future operations." 
 
 President Lanphere declared also that the market 
 should be dominated by the men in whom Providence 
 ; the author of the gift had confidence. It was en 
 tirely wrong for the independent producer to sell to
 
 46 c&e Spotter* 
 
 the independent refiner ; or to permit the independent 
 refiners to go into distant cities and sell to exporters, 
 wholesalers or retailers. 
 
 "The general welfare of mankind," of which Presi 
 dent Lanphere spoke constantly, "will be best con 
 served if a firm hand has full direction of the mar 
 ket" 
 
 In order to bring this about, the representatives 
 must not only secure every refinery, but they must 
 embrace the railroads to an extent that enabled them 
 to secure rates for freighting oil which would permit 
 of competition from no other source. 
 
 With infinite care Henry Lanphere selected the 
 men whom he believed best fitted to aid him in this 
 great philanthropic scheme, and when he had made 
 his choice and the way was thus prepared, the Cygnet 
 Oil Producing and Refining Company was not slow 
 in moving to carry out the designs of Providence, ac 
 cording to the views of its president. 
 
 One of the first things necessary was to acquire an 
 interest in newspapers which had made their appear 
 ance in the growing young cities of the oil-country. 
 These were needed to expound the doctrines of Presi 
 dent Lanphere, by placing before the public such ar 
 ticles as would expand the ordinary intellect upon the 
 benefits to be secured through centralization of the 
 various branches of the industry. At the same time, 
 a quiet, circumspect campaign must be carried on 
 through all the Assembly districts of the State, that
 
 C&e Spotter* 47 
 
 men should be chosen who might be brought to thor 
 oughly appreciate the beneficient intentions of the 
 Oygnet Oil Producing and Eefining Company, and 
 aid it through the enactment of such laws as time 
 would prove to be necessary. While engaged in this 
 missionary effort, attention also was to be given to 
 the selection of judges who would construe the laws 
 in various courts. It was thought wise in many in 
 stances to make certain judges and legislators stock 
 holders of the company over which Mr. Lanphere 
 presided, and blocks of stock were set aside for that 
 purpose. The affairs of townships and boroughs 
 also required attention at the hands of the Cygnet Oil 
 Producing and Refining Company, for even the of 
 ficers of these small divisions would be helpful fac 
 tors in furthering the designs of this grand organiza 
 tion. 
 
 At this particular time, there was great activity 
 among practical men whose experience taught them 
 that certain inventions were demanded to help accom 
 plish the work of drilling to the oil-bearing sands, 
 storing and transporting the oil, increasing the sup 
 ply from wells, etc., and the keen president of the 
 Cygnet saw the advantage to be gained by getting 
 control of all the patents which promised to be of 
 value, lest they be retained by impious hands. A 
 separate branch of the company was created for this 
 special purpose, and, though operating under a dis-
 
 48 Cfte Spotter* 
 
 tinct charter, it was directed by Lanphere and was 
 financed by those who were associated with him. 
 
 It consumed time to accomplish all of this, but 
 not nearly so much as might be expected. Lanphere 
 was a prodigious worker, and he had an abundance of 
 money at his command. Step by step, the Cygnet Oil 
 Producing and Refining Company extended its 
 sphere of influence over these various bodies, and 
 through channels too numerous here to set forth, until 
 its stockholders the Representatives of Providence 
 might complacently look around them and see the 
 perfect workings of a magnificent machine. jSTo mat- 
 mer what might be desired, means were at hand 
 through which the end could be accomplished. 
 
 The Cygnet Company saw and realized the value 
 of the Cameron farm, and its agents were put to 
 work, with instructions either to buy or to lease the 
 property. In various guises they had been coming to 
 Cameron for a year. Mrs. Fisher was one of them. 
 President Lanphere thought that this woman who 
 had leaped from penury to prosperity, an old neigh 
 bor of the Camerons, might be able to excite the cu 
 pidity of the owner of the place, or at least to sow the 
 seeds of discontent with his wife or daughter. But 
 Mrs. Fisher signally failed, as all others had failed, 
 and the reports which were constantly borne to Presi 
 dent Lanphere's ears were that the Scotchman re 
 mained obstinate and would neither sell nor lease.
 
 49 
 
 "Give him his price," said Lanphere, "and get rid 
 of him." 
 
 "He has no price, sir." 
 
 "What, no price, and living in this age of the 
 world!" 
 
 "Yes, sir. He declares that he has no use for the 
 money, and that it would be a curse to him." 
 
 "Has an attempt been made to approach him 
 through his minister? Sometimes the clergy find it 
 to their advantage to take an interest in such mat 
 ters." 
 
 "Cameron Valley has no minister now, sir, since 
 most of the natives left there. You know that several 
 of his former neighbors have been called upon, but 
 without success." 
 
 "H-m-m. We may have to squeeze him." 
 
 "But there appears to be no easy way to do that, 
 sir. Cameron doesn't owe a penny, has about ten 
 thousand dollars in the Bradan National Bank, and 
 is making enough from his farm and stock to more 
 than support his family every year." 
 
 "Has the title to his farm been looked up ? Many 
 of these Pennsylvania lands have back taxes against 
 them, and we have found such claims to be advan 
 tageous to us in the past." 
 
 "Cameron's title is without a flaw. He has attend 
 ed to that." 
 
 "We might take him into the company." 
 
 "He would not think of it, sir. Bullis, who knows
 
 so Cfie 
 
 something of him, sounded him on that proposition. 
 Bullis led up to the subject by saying that he thought 
 of buying some Cygnet stock, and gave Cameron an 
 idea of what it is doing in dividends. He told Cam 
 eron that a block of the stock could be secured for 
 him, too, if he desired, but the fellow declared that 
 he would have nothing to do with it. Bullis says 
 that the Scotchman denounced the Cygnet in round 
 terms." 
 
 "Denounced us, did he? What did he have to 
 say?" 
 
 "Said it was a monopoly that would leave in its 
 wake the wreck of every independent concern that 
 dared attempt competition. That it was throttling 
 individual effort, absorbing or crushing opposition, 
 and by single control of the market, was putting mil 
 lions that were practically stolen from the people into 
 its treasury and the pockets of its stockholders." 
 
 President Lanphere listened with open-mouthed as 
 tonishment. "The poor, ignorant, misguided man !" 
 he said, with a show of deep emotion. "He has heard 
 some of this talk from those who refuse to see the 
 great mission for the good of mankind upon which 
 the Cygnet Oil Producing and Refining Company has 
 entered. It is to be regretted that a way is not pro 
 vided to punish such slanderers, who go about poison 
 ing the minds of uninformed men. I think I will 
 see Mr. Cameron in person, and disabuse him of
 
 C!)e Spotter, si 
 
 those erroneous impressions. Please send Wheeler 
 to me as you pass through the office." 
 
 The clerk bowed and left the room. As the door 
 closed, the benevolent look that overspread President 
 Lanphere's face during the interview, disappeared in 
 a flash. 
 
 "Damn this Scotch meddler !" he ejaculated, strik 
 ing his desk with his clenched fist. "I'll bring him to 
 my terms if I have to wreck the Bradan bank to 
 do it."
 
 52 C6e 
 
 CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 AN AGENT OF THE INSTRUMENT. 
 
 ELI WHEELEK, a cat-like, soft-spoken man, entered 
 the president's office and approached his chief with a 
 deferential air. Wheeler was one of those men whose 
 age is not easy to place at a guess, but he was prob 
 ably about forty-five. He was tall, narrow-chested, 
 and had shoulders that sloped sharply, like the roof 
 of a Queen Anne cottage, into unusually long arms. 
 His face was remarkable only for his shifting eyes, 
 which were so constantly moving from one object 
 to another that it was difficult to determine their 
 color. He wore a luxuriant brown beard, after a 
 mutton-chop fashion, and through this the long fin 
 gers of his restless hands were constantly combing. 
 He was faultlessly clad, with one exception his 
 linen was dirty; as if to give character to the man 
 who wore it. You made up your mind as soon as 
 you saw Eli Wheeler that you did not like him, but 
 when he spoke, you hesitated. There was a good 
 deal of humility in his voice, and his tone smacked 
 slightly of the professional exhorters, who were so
 
 53 
 
 common forty years ago. Still it had an earnestness 
 and convincing quality tliat surprised you when you 
 looked at the man, and if you listened long you began 
 to think that you possibly had misjudged Wheeler, 
 and that there really was about him more of candor 
 and truth than the first glance at his face led you to 
 think. It was never what Eli Wheeler said that 
 gave you even a fleeting thought in his favor, but the 
 way he said it. 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Wheeler," said President Lanphere, 
 turning from his desk as the man approached, "sit 
 down. I want to talk with you about this Cameron 
 business. You know ah, that is, I suppose you have 
 heard that the owner of that undeveloped tract over 
 Tuna way, refuses either to sell or to lease his 
 property." 
 
 "Something, something, Mr. Lanphere I have 
 heard just a little rumor; a rumor, as it were," re 
 plied Wheeler, plunging deeply into his whiskers. "I 
 have not attempted to find out anything about it, Mr. 
 Lanphere, being engaged recently, as you may remem 
 ber, upon another part of our grand work." 
 
 "Yes, yes; to be sure. I have been looking over 
 your report and must say that you have executed that 
 commission quite to my satisfaction quite to my 
 satisfaction. There is no defect in the titles, Mr. 
 Wheeler?" 
 
 "None whatever. They are flawless." 
 
 "I see you state that you have purchased in your
 
 54 Cbe ^potter, 
 
 name, as usual, and that you did not find it necessary 
 to give a bond to keep the properties in operation. 
 How was that?" 
 
 "A bond was suggested by the independents some 
 times, but Judge Purser, who happened to be present 
 always, said that such a suggestion was an insult 
 to an honest inventor, who had come among them 
 with the best of motives ; and then they said no more 
 about it" 
 
 "Judge Purser is an ornament to the bench," said 
 the president devoutly. "How many refineries have 
 you purchased in the last month, Mr. Wheeler ?" 
 
 "This last purchase makes the seventh, Mr. Lan- 
 phere." 
 
 "And I hear you have shut them all up, Mr. 
 Wheeler." 
 
 "Every one, sir, but temporarily, it is understood 
 in oil circles. The truth is, I can't afford to operate 
 them with refined oil at its present price, and may 
 never open them again, sir. I am afraid that I have 
 lost all that I invested in these enterprises, and with 
 it the sums which independent purchasers advanced 
 for stock in my refineries." And the snaky fingers 
 twisted and twined through his beard with nervous 
 twitches. 
 
 President Lanphere leaned back with a satisfied 
 smile on his thin, hard lips. Then, glancing at 
 Wheeler, he winked, slowly, solemnly and devoutly, 
 as became a man at the head of a great beneficient in-
 
 C&e Spotter* 55 
 
 stitution. "Wheeler," he said, "you are a rare friend 
 to the Cygnet, and through that to mankind at large. 
 I have directed a substantial increase in your salary, 
 which I hope you will not refuse, though of course I 
 realize that your service is mainly prompted from 
 philanthropic motives. Oh, no, it will not be any 
 hardship, I assure you. The price of refined oil will 
 advance about two dollars a barrel at the proper time, 
 and as there is no possibility for an increase in the 
 price of crude, the profit will be quite sufficient, quite 
 sufficient, to handsomely reward those engaged with 
 us in carrying out the designs of Providence. The 
 closing of independent refineries makes this possibly 
 ah, I may say almost a necessity. Refined oil 
 has been selling too low, and people have fallen into 
 the habit of using it too lavishly. It may be well to 
 check this ah, recklessness." 
 
 After this manner, these two master hands at dis 
 sembling sparred with each other several minutes, 
 and when they had convinced the desks and chairs, 
 the walls and the pictures which hung upon them, of 
 their purpose, they returned to the subject of Duncan 
 Cameron. 
 
 "I want you to go over with me to see this man 
 Cameron to-morrow, Mr. Wheeler," said the Cygnet's 
 president. "He is resisting the company, for his 
 farm lies just where we want to put up considerable 
 tankage and it is evidently good producing land. Be 
 side that, he is talking heresy and stirring up sedi-
 
 56 
 
 tion and giving comfort to the independents. The 
 good of the work demands that he be got rid of 
 peaceably, if we can, but ah, any other way, if he 
 will not listen to reason." 
 
 "I always feel so sorry for a poor man who won't 
 listen to reason, Mr. Lanphere," said Wheeler, re 
 leasing his beard for the moment and bringing out 
 his handkerchief. "Why, all the argument is on our 
 side. The press" and he told off one corner of the 
 handkerchief "recognizes the great benefit that will 
 accrue to mankind by the fullest possible development 
 of our plans. The brightest minds in the legislature 
 of our Great Commonwealth" and he released an 
 other corner "stand ready to champion such meas 
 ures as may be necessary for our unhampered prog 
 ress. The courts" and the third corner fluttered 
 out "have given the most liberal interpretation to 
 statutes in our interests and have often exercised 
 their discretion and wisdom to aid us in this progres 
 sive march. Capital" and the handkerchief spread 
 out upon his knees "the men who have had the 
 brains to accumulate money, the thinking, planning 
 men of every community, endorse our position by 
 standing ready to purchase every dollar's worth of 
 stock that goes upon the market. But some men close 
 their eyes to evidence and turn deaf ears to argu 
 ment" and he folded the square of linen in half. 
 "They are constantly striving to start rival com 
 panies" another fold "or to invoke the law!"
 
 C&e Spotter. sr 
 
 again a fold. "As I think them over" his bony 
 hand seized the pad of linen and held it in a grip of 
 steel "I am reminded that all, as St. Paul said, 
 have found it hard to kick against the pricks." And 
 Wheeler tucked the handkerchief away in his pocket 
 without again letting it see the light. 
 
 "Quite right, Mr. Wheeler, you are always quite 
 clear and right in your reasoning. You may have 
 time during the afternoon to make some inquiries of 
 Hughes concerning the Cameron matter, and I will 
 talk more with you to-morrow on the way over. We 
 will go by the narrow gauge. Oh yes, by the way, 
 Mr. Wheeler, I heard up at Bradan that you have 
 discovered a family that might be quite useful to you 
 in your private enterprise. Let me see the name, I 
 think, is Stubbs." 
 
 "Just Tubbs, Mr. Lanphere; leave off the first S. 
 I was about to tell you of them." 
 
 "Much cash?" 
 
 "Well, say forty thousand cash and a sixteenth' 
 royalty on ten good wells. Tubbs owned the tract 
 just west of the Cameron farm and sold to that 
 Forestville company which we closed out - " 
 
 "Absorbed, absorbed, Mr. Wheeler." 
 
 " - absorbed last fall," corrected Wheeler. 
 
 "H-m-m large family ?" 
 
 "No; only four." 
 
 "Tell me of them." 
 
 "Tubbs old-fashioned., weak, a hen-pecked non-
 
 58 Cjje Spotter* 
 
 entity ; Mrs. Tubbs vain, ignorant, crazy to get into 
 society, silly, garrulous; daughter handsome, ambi 
 tious, silly, but teachable; son gambler, bummer, 
 pickpocket, highwayman or anything you want him 
 to be." 
 
 "De-cidedly interesting. They are worth cultivat 
 ing, Mr. Wheeler, especially as Tubbs and the boy 
 might easily be got rid of and you are a widower." 
 
 Wheeler's shifting eyes nearly closed as he looked 
 for an instant into the face of his chief, but he made 
 no reply.
 
 C6e Spotter, 50 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A TEMPTATION EMBBACED. 
 
 IT was approaching noon the next day when Eli 
 Wheeler, driving a team attached to a light road 
 wagon, drew up at the Cameron farm house, tied his 
 horses to the fence, and sought the owner of the 
 place. Cameron was at work in his garden and be 
 trayed no desire to cease his labors for the purpose 
 of talking with his visitor, whom he at once placed in 
 the class of those who so constantly annoyed him with 
 offers to buy or lease. It was evident that the last 
 few months had been unpleasant ones for Cameron, 
 as he had grown pale, thin and nervous, from his con 
 stant vigils to guard his possessions from trespass and 
 destruction. Then, too, he had been compelled to do 
 all the work upon the farm, for there were so many 
 opportunities for young men to get employment on 
 the neighboring wells at large pay, that he could 
 secure none to engage in common farm drudgery. 
 Mrs. Cameron and Agnes had long been convinced 
 that he was wearing himself out in what appeared to 
 them a vain attempt to keep the home he so
 
 eo Cfie 
 
 deeply loved from falling into the hands of those 
 whom he looked upon as vandals. Several times they 
 pleaded with him to dispose of his holdings, and go 
 away where they would neither hear of the oil-coun 
 try nor be disturbed by its sights ; but they soon saw 
 that he grew suspicious even of them, and looked 
 upon them as in league with some of the numerous 
 agents who were constantly besieging him. So they 
 abandoned the attempt, and set cheerfully to work to 
 give him every possible aid. 
 
 Wheeler put forth his most consummate arts to en 
 gage Cameron in conversation, and though he re 
 ceived half-civil replies from the Scotchman, he made 
 little progress and was nearly at his wit's end when 
 .Cameron turned suddenly upon him. 
 
 "See here, sir," he said, "you are not present to 
 talk upon the prospects for crops, nor to compliment 
 me upon my garden or the growth of my meadows, 
 which I can get no man to help me harvest. Out with 
 your business and have done with it." 
 
 "Well, you see, Mr. Cameron, I am Eli Wheeler, 
 the man who is trying to establish a chain of inde 
 pendent refineries with which to fight the Cygnet Oil 
 Producing and Refining Company. ~No doubt you 
 have heard something of me ?" 
 
 "Aye, a bit." 
 
 "I have watched from afar your fight to hold this 
 property from the Cygnet Company and have prayed 
 night and day that you might hold on till I could
 
 C6e 
 
 complete some other moves in my great plan and 
 come here to see you. I believe, Mr. Cameron, that 
 Providence has inspired your noble contest. It has 
 been in my mind that you were raised up as an in 
 strument to further and aid the struggle the inde 
 pendents are making against this grasping and never- 
 satisfied monopoly. This thought has comforted me 
 as in my own humble way I have pushed on in the 
 work in which I have enlisted, and when discouraged 
 and disheartened by the obstacles which have been 
 thrown in my path, when tempted sometimes to give 
 up all I have accomplished, and see my hopes dashed 
 to the ground, I have turned my eyes in this direc 
 tion and received new strength and inspiration from 
 seeing that a contest equally as brave was being car 
 ried on by Duncan Cameron." 
 
 Cameron rested his folded arms on the top of the 
 handle of his hoe and looked straight across them at 
 the man who was speaking. Wheeler's face was a 
 study. His eyes were as steady now as the light of a 
 planet, for he sighted his game and could not be di 
 verted. He appeared like a man who had at heart a 
 great mission, which urged him on and on against ob 
 stacles that hurled themselves into his pathway from 
 every side. His earnestness gave him that look which 
 comes into the face of the kindly humanitarian, and 
 in his voice and manner of speaking there was the 
 ring of true courage. ISTot once did his long fore 
 fingers pursue their favorite chase through his beard,
 
 62 
 
 for they were clenched to hold them back, as though 
 grasping the shoulders of the monster with which he 
 was making his sham-fight. 
 
 "Let me say to you, Mr. Cameron, that the knowl 
 edge of what you have done is not confined to this lo 
 cality. In the lower district, where I have been at 
 work securing seven refineries, all of which are in 
 successful operation, men know what you are doing 
 here and are hoping that you will not surrender. 
 Hundreds of them would feel it an honor to grasp 
 your hand and thank you for your bravery." 
 
 "I am entitled to no credit for my action," said 
 Cameron quietly, "for it has been a selfish fight on 
 my part and was carried on merely that I might re 
 tain my farm." 
 
 "But the example, Mr. Cameron, the example has 
 been helpful to the oppressed producers in every cor 
 ner of the oil-fields. I cannot look upon it as in the 
 least selfish on your part. You have been standing 
 here like a rock, holding impregnable a position that 
 to-day can be taken advantage of if you desire and 
 thus make it possible to deal this band of gentlemanly 
 robbers the hardest blow they have ever received." 
 
 "What is your plan, Mr. Wheeler ?" 
 
 O, Duncan Cameron, Duncan Cameron! did no 
 echo of the warning you spoke to simple old Jim 
 Tubbs come to your ears ? Did not the prudence and 
 caution of your forefathers wave the danger signal 
 before your eyes ?
 
 Cfje 
 
 "It is this, Mr. Cameron," replied Wheeler, with 
 out betraying the least satisfaction. "If I under 
 stand the situation correctly, you own two hundred 
 acres here which the Cygnet Company cannot buy ?" 
 
 "That is true." 
 
 "And there are still within easy reach of, or ad 
 joining your place several independent tracts upon 
 which the Cygnet has not laid hands ?" 
 
 "Yes, sir twenty good producing wells, from 
 which the Cygnet refuses to take the oil to its re 
 fineries or to give the owners tankage. But the own 
 ers are becoming discouraged, for their money is in 
 the ground, and they are on the eve of selling out." 
 
 "Then there is no time to lose and they must be 
 encouraged to hold on," replied Wheeler in assumed 
 alarm. "That being the case, Mr. Cameron, my plan 
 is to establish here on this spot an independent refin 
 ery that will not only take care of the oil from the 
 twenty independent wells of which you have spoken, 
 but which will also refine the product of every well 
 that can be drilled upon your two hundred acres !" 
 
 Cameron's eyes were dimmed with a mist that 
 sprang to them, and through the swimming tears he 
 saw the smoking stills, the rows of reeking barrels, 
 the groaning derricks, the rum-shops, and shanties, 
 and striving men, and disorder, where now lay peace 
 ful meadows, an orchard bursting into perfection, and 
 rolling pastures in which were grazing the animals 
 he loved.
 
 "It is a bold project/' continued Wheeler, speak 
 ing partly to himself and clasping his hands as if to 
 calm his excitement. "If we can launch it without 
 our intentions becoming known, it will be a blow that 
 will stagger the Cygnet to its knees, and all over the 
 oil-country the independents will take heart and rally 
 to the final struggle that will set them free." And 
 then baring his head and turning his face heaven 
 ward, he appeared to murmur under breath a prayer 
 for guidance. 
 
 "Your pardon, Mr. Cameron," he continued, "but 
 I feel so deeply in this matter and see so vividly how 
 much there is at stake, that often I am quite beside 
 myself. Oh, if you knew, as I do, how this slimy 
 monster is reaching out like a mighty octopus, em 
 bracing within its grasp every factor with which it 
 may further its ends, you would not wonder at my 
 emotion, but would marvel how men can submit to 
 the forging of chains upon their hands." 
 
 "I know enough of the Cygnet and its methods to 
 convince me that it is the instrument of the devil, 
 sir," said Cameron; "and I believe it is my duty to 
 join you in your noble fight against it." 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Cameron, thank you !" exclaimed 
 Wheeler, seizing both of Duncan's hands. "I can 
 not express what is in my heart. Forgive my weak 
 ness." Tears coursed down the man's cheeks and his 
 voice was broken by sobs. After a time Wheeler re 
 gained his composure, and then he proceeded : "Your
 
 Cfte ^pottet. 65 
 
 name will be honored for this, Mr. Cameron, in ten 
 thousand homes, for it is one of the noblest acts in the 
 history of this great struggle. I know the sacrifice 
 is a heavy one; but you will not lose by it, for the 
 consciousness of having done something to aid one's 
 fellowmen is the greatest compensation that can come 
 to one. Nor will there be any money loss, for we 
 cannot fail. The B., B. & K narrow gauge is now 
 within three miles of this spot, and when completed 
 will pass but half-a-mile below, as the projectors have 
 assured me. The Cygnet cannot cut us off from the 
 market, and with public opinion on our side our suc 
 cess is assured." 
 
 An hour later, Wheeler entered his wagon and 
 drove away. There was in his manner no trace of 
 exultation nor had one word passed his lips or a 
 glance escaped his eyes that betrayed in the slightest 
 the game he had played. By slow degrees he unfold 
 ed his plan, leading Cameron on, step by step, and 
 often leaving his victim to make suggestions which he 
 adopted or from which he steered adroitly away as 
 might be necessary for his purpose. In brief, his 
 plan was as follows: They would become principal 
 stockholders in a company to be known as the Cam 
 eron Farm Company, capitalized at one hundred and 
 thirty thousand dollars. Cameron was to put in the 
 farm at fifty thousand dollars, "which is nothing 
 near what it is worth," said Wheeler, "but it will be 
 impossible for me to raise more than sixty-five thou-
 
 66 
 
 sand dollars on short notice without greater sacrifice 
 than I dare make, or without exciting suspicion, and 
 we must move with the utmost secrecy, you know." 
 However, Wheeler proposed to give Cameron a writ 
 ing to the effect that when the production from the 
 wells which might be drilled on the tract, or the pro 
 ceeds from sections they might lease, reached a cer 
 tain amount, the overplus should be paid to Cameron 
 for his greater interest. There was to Cameron's 
 credit approximately ten thousand dollars in the 
 Bradan bank, and this with the four thousand dol 
 lars he expected to raise from the sale of his stock, 
 was to make up his share. Wheeler would deposit to 
 the credit of the company within ten days his share 
 in cash. By that time the incorporation papers could 
 be prepared and the stock be issued. 
 
 "There is but one lawyer anywhere in the State 
 whom we can trust to draw our papers and not 
 breathe a word of our intentions to the Cygnet peo 
 ple," said Wheeler, "and that is Judge Purser of 
 Clarion County. The Cygnet has pretty nearly all 
 of them in its pay, and so I think it will be best to 
 send for him. He has done all of my business, so 
 far, and is deeply interested in the work. I can 
 recommend him as a noble-minded jurist, and if you 
 have none to suggest, I will telegraph him to-night 
 to come on." 
 
 "Certainly," said Cameron. "I know none of 
 them and will leave the selection to you.'"
 
 C&e Spotter, 67 
 
 "I have thought this out with great care, Mr. 
 Cameron," continued Wheeler, "and you will notice 
 by running over the figures that we still have one 
 thousand dollars stock unprovided for. This I would 
 propose to give to Judge Purser for his services, in 
 addition to the expenses of his trip. He is a man of 
 great influence among the independents, and has done 
 so much for their cause that he is identified with 
 them in all things. His name as one of our stock 
 holders would be a powerful factor in our favor 
 when we begin operations and I assure you, Mr. 
 Cameron, we will need his experience, counsel and 
 legal knowledge before we are through with this 
 struggle." 
 
 So Wheeler took his leave, with the understand 
 ing that he would return the third day after and 
 bring Judge Purser with him, for the whole business 
 could be transacted there at the farm-house, where in 
 quisitive persons might not pry upon their delibera 
 tions and reveal the nature of the proposed enter 
 prise to their enemies. 
 
 He sat half-bowed in his wagon, like a man upon 
 whose shoulders rests the weight of a tremendous 
 task. He passed a bend in the road, but his man 
 ner did not change and he looked straight ahead of 
 him and held the reins in a listless manner. An 
 other bend led him through a bit of woods, and then 
 on over a sharp hill. He was a mile and a half 
 from the Cameron farm when he straightened up
 
 68 c&e Spotter, 
 
 and cast a quick glance behind him. There was no 
 longer need for control, and in an instant Eli Wheeler 
 became himself. Writhing and wriggling in the seat, 
 thrusting his long legs out over the wagon box and 
 drawing them back again, chuckling to himself in 
 much the same manner that a dog growls and mut 
 ters as it gnaws at the bone it has wrested from the 
 companion of its kennel, his eyes shifting and squint 
 ing as though to make up for lost time, the unscrupu 
 lous tool of the Cygnet Oil Producing and Refining 
 Company went on his way. 
 
 Just before the train was due at the station, 
 Wheeler left the hotel where he had procured his 
 team and eaten his dinner. Lanphere was pacing 
 slowly up and down the platform, but they apparently 
 did not recognize each other. When they were crowd 
 ing into the coach, W T heeler was close beside his chief, 
 who turned and spoke one word of inquiry : 
 
 "Hooked?" 
 
 "Sure as hell," replied Wheeler in an undertone. 
 
 'A young man in the throng of passengers on the 
 platform heard the inquiry and reply and thought it 
 a strange salutation to pass between President Henry 
 Lanphere and an apparent stranger. A long time 
 afterward he remembered the occurrence to advan 
 tage.
 
 Cfje Spotter. 69 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 A WAENING UNHEEDED. 
 
 CAMERON remained standing in the road where 
 they had been talking until Wheeler disappeared 
 from sight. He was wondering how his wife and 
 daughter would look upon this change of purpose, for 
 no longer ago than when they were seated at the 
 breakfast table he had brought the subject up as he 
 did on every possible occasion of late and reiterated 
 for at least the thousandth time his determination to 
 hang on. 
 
 Mrs. Cameron, however, gave him little leisure to 
 think it over, for she had noted from the house 
 her husband's long conference with the visitor 
 and their very cordial farewells. Scarcely had 
 Wheeler driven around the first bend in the road, be 
 fore she stepped into the yard, filled with its 
 pretty flower beds and well-kept shrubbery, seeking 
 her husband. She was a comely, bright-faced woman, 
 who happily retained the beauty of her girlhood to 
 mingle with the riper bloom of maturer years. There 
 was, in these latter weeks, a trace of anxiety in her
 
 TO Cfje Spotter, 
 
 countenance, half -saddening her smile and touching 
 her eyes with a tinge of sorrow or of unknown fear. 
 However, she did not permit this slight apprehension 
 to mar her wholesome heartiness and uniform good 
 spirits, for Alice Cameron was not the kind of 
 woman to borrow from the future any trouble it 
 might have in store. 
 
 "Who was your visitor, Duncan ?" she called to 
 her husband. "Another land speculator?" 
 
 "No, Alice no, and yes," he replied, as he ap 
 proached the gate. "His name is Eli Wheeler." 
 
 "It is not familiar," said Mrs. Cameron, after a 
 moment's thought, in which her mind dwelt more 
 upon her husband's manner than upon Wheeler's 
 identity. "Nor is his face one that I recall." 
 
 "No, he is a stranger to you, Alice, but I have 
 heard much about his work in buying up the inde 
 pendent refineries in the lower country. However, 
 you are likely to know more of him in the future, 
 for I have entered into partnership with him." 
 
 "Duncan Duncan Cameron!" she exclaimed, 
 catching him by the arm and peering into his face. 
 "Are you daft, man, or are you trying the effect of a 
 little joke ?" 
 
 "No, Alice, I do not think I am daft, though I 
 may not be so good a judge of that as others. Let us 
 walk along to the spring and I will tell you the whole 
 plan ; but this you must remember, that for the pres 
 ent no word of it must be told, even to Agnes."
 
 C&e 
 
 "Why, Duncan, since these terrible people have 
 surrounded us, neither Agnes nor myself see any 
 body to whom anything could be told. We have no 
 confidants here, except yourself and Don." 
 
 "I know I know. But, Alice, it shall not be so 
 a great time longer. We that is, you and Agnes, are 
 very soon to leave here. I remain to see that which I 
 have endeavored to bring to perfection torn and 
 marred by all the hideous details of oil develop 
 ment." 
 
 Thunderstruck at his words and alarmed by his 
 manner, Mrs. Cameron took her husband's arm and 
 they sauntered slowly to the spring. On the way, 
 Cameron gave her the full details of the agreement 
 into which he had entered with Wheeler. They were 
 seated on the bank from which the clear, cold stream 
 of splendid water flowed, and Mrs. Cameron looked 
 steadfastly into the limpid pools as though endeav 
 oring to read therein what the future might hold 
 for this suddenly accepted venture. 
 
 "Duncan," she said at length. "What do you 
 know of this man ? Has an hour's acquaintance con 
 vinced you that he is honest, and that it will be en 
 tirely safe to risk all you have in this endeavor ?" 
 
 "Personally, I know nothing of Wheeler except 
 what I have observed to-day. Some of the papers, 
 and some producers whom I have met told about 
 his great achievements in purchasing a number 
 of refineries in the lower country and keep-
 
 72 C&e Spotter, 
 
 ing them open for the benefit of the struggling inde> 
 pendents. Very many believe that through Eli 
 Wheeler and those who unite with him will come the 
 only competition that may be expected to break the 
 increasing power of this accursed monopoly. Hun 
 dreds of men nay, thousands have trusted him and 
 have joined with him by placing their money in his 
 hands, and I see no reason, Alice, why I should 
 doubt him." 
 
 "This may be true, as you say, Duncan, for I have 
 heard little of the business and know scarcely any 
 thing of what is beyond us. But you are tired, my 
 dear husband, with the long effort you have so nobly 
 sustained to keep your own home and resist the tres 
 passes of the lawless men who press us on all sides. 
 Lad," and she turned to him gently and placed her 
 hand on his shoulders, "it would please me best, as I 
 think it would be better by far for you, if you should 
 sell the Cameron farm and have done with it all." 
 
 "I cannot do it, Alice," he replied, half-impatient- 
 ly. "I have passed my word to the contrary so many 
 times that to depart from the position I have taken 
 would look like cowardice or defeat. Besides, I 
 have agreed with Wheeler." 
 
 "But no papers have been drawn and signed." 
 
 He smiled as he turned to her. "A Cameron's 
 word does not need writings and bonds to enforce it," 
 he replied. "Eli Wheeler left here with my promise,
 
 Cfie 
 
 and when he returns he will find me ready to keep 
 it." 
 
 "Forgive me, Duncan; I will say no more," and 
 she took both his hard, calloused hands within her 
 own. "It is my love for you and my anxiety to see 
 you happy that has prompted me in my protests. 
 And, Duncan, whatever comes of it, we still will 
 have each other and Agnes." 
 
 "Yes, lass and the memory of the happy years 
 we have spent here, coupled with the hope that more 
 like them will come but it cannot be here in the spot 
 we love." 
 
 In the afternoon Cameron wrote to an acquaint 
 ance a few miles across the line in New York State 
 and offered to sell his horses and entire herd of grade 
 Durhams. He made no explanation other than to say 
 that conditions were such that he found it difficult to 
 secure farm help and he had decided to go out of the 
 stock business. He knew if his correspondent pur 
 chased his animals that they would be in good hands, 
 and therefore he was disposed to make the price rea 
 sonable if the sale could be made at once. He went 
 to the station to post his letter. As he was about re 
 turning home he was met by Sam Edgert, who had 
 taken a portion of the money he got for his farm in 
 the Cameron district and realized the dream of his 
 life by investing it in a hotel at the station. Edgert 
 proved a model landlord. He had the most preten 
 tious hotel in that vicinity and was so proud of his
 
 74 Cfje 
 
 accomplishment that he tolerated the presence of only 
 those guests who conducted themselves with decorum. 
 The result was that the Edgert House became head 
 quarters for the capitalists, land speculators, agents 
 and better class of visitors for a wide section. 
 
 "I'm not letting my women folks or my boys make 
 a jack-rabbit out of me, like Tubbs is," he was wont 
 to say to some of his old acquaintances. "The oldest 
 girl and both boys is to school over in York State, 
 and they don't get only board and twenty-five cents a 
 week for spending money. And I'm going to keep 
 'em there. The two youngest girls are home with 
 their mother and go to school every day, just the 
 same's if their dad didn't have a copper. Mrs. Ed 
 gert, she's the landlady, and if I do say it, you never 
 see a woman that knows what's going on in her house 
 better'n she does in this one. She keeps every room 
 in it as spick as a parlor, and the man who don't 
 wash the oil and black off his hands and face, and 
 comb his hair, don't set down to a meal in her dining- 
 room." 
 
 After greetings with Cameron, and a pressing in 
 vitation to come in and take supper which Duncan 
 declined on the plea that he must hurry home as he 
 was now both proprietor and hired man Edgert, who 
 never lost an opportunity to make known the popular 
 ity of his hostelry, said: 
 
 "You can't guess who took dinner at the Edgert to 
 day, Mr. Cameron."
 
 C6e Spotter. 75 
 
 "!N"o ? Well, suppose as a guess I should say Presi 
 dent Lanphere of the Cygnet ?" 
 
 "Thunder I Cameron ; how did you know ?" 
 
 "I didn't know," said Cameron with a laugh, "but 
 guessed it. The reputation of the Edgert has become 
 so wide that I should not be surprised to hear that the 
 head of the great oil and refinery monopoly came here 
 to take a meal and decide whether your hotel was 
 anything he needed in his campaign of greed and 
 grab." 
 
 Edgert looked at him in open-mouthed astonish 
 ment. "That's just what he did, Cameron, sure's a 
 gun. He came in on the 9 :16, walked over to the Ed 
 gert and said he wanted a room, and when he regis 
 tered you can bet I give him the best we had. Then 
 he said he might want a team after dinner to drive 
 out a few miles. I told him there was only one team 
 in and it might be let any minute. 'I shall expect it 
 to be ready for me, Mr. Edgert,' he said, 'if I want 
 it. You may charge me for the day.' He's such a 
 dum keen, sharp, bossy-looking chap, that I nodded 
 my head and didn't say a word. Couldn't see into 
 him half an inch, even when his mouth was open. 
 Well, he stayed in his room most of the time, writ 
 ing; but finally he came down and sat in the bar 
 room, and when he got a chance, he asked a lot of 
 questions about you." 
 
 "About me, Edgert ? What did Lanphere want to 
 know about me?"
 
 V6 
 
 "Better ask what he didn't want to know," replied 
 the hotel-keeper. "He didn't get much out of me, 
 though. I said you was a square-toed, opinionated 
 Scotchman, and had notions of right and wrong and 
 took after the right every time. Along about noon 
 another man that came in on the same train and 
 hired a team to go out and look at some wells on my 
 old place, drove back and asked what time the first 
 train left. When he went in to dinner, Lanphere 
 stepped up and said he had changed his mind and I 
 could leave the horses in the stable. But he paid me 
 for them when he settled his bill." 
 
 "Describe the other man, Edgert. Possibly I know 
 him," said Cameron. 
 
 "An ornery, sneaking, missionary-looking cuss, 
 with mutton-leg whiskers that he keeps fishing around 
 in all the time with his fingers. His eyes, too, mov 
 ing as though he expected someone to jump out at 
 him from the floor, ceiling, or wall, but when he talks 
 it sounds jest like he was preachin'." 
 
 "Did he register at the hotel ?" 
 
 "No; when he went out he was in a hurry, and 
 when he come back I guess he forgot it." 
 
 "Did Lanphere appear to know him ?" 
 
 "Never looked his way, Cameron ; but I thought it 
 odd that Lanphere made up his mind that he wouldn't 
 use the team about as soon as he heard the other fel 
 low inquire what time the train left." 
 
 "Possibly only a coincidence," said Cameron,
 
 Cfje ^potter, n 
 
 though the thought came to him that President Lan- 
 phere may have been shadowing Eli Wheeler and that 
 .Wheeler's plans to add the Cameron farm to the great 
 opposition forces against the Cygnet might be fore 
 stalled. Not a suspicion of collusion crossed his mind, 
 nor yet did the faintest echo of the warning he had 
 given old Tubbs come to his ears. 
 
 "Oh, I forgot," said Edgert, after they had said 
 good-by. "Harry was home from school yesterday 
 and went back this afternoon, on the same train with 
 Lanphere." 
 
 "Harry ! I should have been pleased to see him," 
 said Cameron. "Is he well ?" 
 
 "Like a racer, and takin' hold of his books as 
 steady as a professor. He's twenty-one next month, 
 an' he's got more sense than his pap, who's over 
 fifty." 
 
 Cameron laughed. 
 
 "He inquired all about you," continued Edgert, 
 "and was particular to be remembered to Miss 
 Agnes." 
 
 "Thank you; it will please her to have a message 
 from an old school-fellow. What are you going to 
 make out of him ?" 
 
 "I ain't going to make anything out of him," re 
 plied the elder man. "He's going to make his own 
 way, and you gave him the start when you got him 
 to come to your house to evening classes and lent 
 him books. In the two years since I sold the farm,
 
 V8 Cl)e 
 
 Harry's trotted square up the course, and nobody 
 can hold him back. I have my doubts about some of 
 the others, 'cause they ain't got the gait, but Harry's 
 going to cross the tape a winner." 
 
 "Success to him !" said Cameron, and with another 
 good-by he drove away thinking that possibly he had 
 been wrong in holding that the coming of sudden 
 wealth was a curse to all those who were its recip 
 ients.
 
 Spotter. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A TOTAL SURRENDER. 
 
 THE second day afterward, Cameron sold his stock 
 to the dealer to whom he had written, and who came 
 immediately on receipt of the letter. It was a grand 
 herd of beautiful creatures, and they were started 
 away in a drove just at break of light on the day 
 Wheeler had named for his return. Cameron could 
 not look upon their departure. iLe slept little during 
 the night, and before daylight arose and hurried 
 through the orchard and buried himself in the wood 
 lot. He did not return until long after he knew the 
 men had gone with his pets, and he went into the 
 house without casting a glance at the pasture or the 
 lane. He insisted also upon the sale of his horses, ex 
 acting a promise that the team should not be resold to 
 anyone who would return it to the oil-country. The 
 price was made by the purchaser, for Cameron said 
 he could not ascribe a value to his dumb friends. 
 
 That Mrs. Cameron and Alice had been crying, 
 was evident to him when he came to the house, though 
 they choked back their tears in the attempt to appear
 
 80 Cfte 
 
 cheerful. The family devotions which Duncan in 
 variably conducted were saddened with the thought 
 that they had turned from their shelter and care the 
 creatures that had served them so faithfully. Of all, 
 only the collie was left, and he pushed his way into 
 the half-open door and looked up into his master's 
 face and whined pitifully. 
 
 "No, Don, old fellow, we'll keep you," sobbed 
 lAgnes as she threw her arm around the collie's neck 
 and buried her face in his shaggy coat. 
 
 ~No one tasted the breakfast, and they spoke only 
 of the most commonplace things the prospect of 
 rain, the coming of new rosebuds, the twittering of 
 swallows in the chimney. After a time Cameron went 
 to his bookcase, on the shelf of which he had told the 
 purchaser to leave the check for his stock in such 
 amount as he could afford to give. He picked up the 
 slip of paper and read the figures five thousand, 
 seven hundred dollars. Surely the man had dealt 
 honorably, but Cameron would have torn the paper to 
 bits and given another in its place for an equal 
 amount if he could have gone to the door and looked 
 upon the sight which gladdened his heart that day 
 when Mrs. Fisher endeavored to persuade him to 
 lease or sell his farm. He felt that he was loosing 
 his moorings, and feared that if he should go out of 
 the house and look about his premises again he would 
 not have strength to resist a desire, that was now al 
 most in complete control, to say to Wheeler when he
 
 CJje Spotter. si 
 
 should come that he had reconsidered his agreement 
 and must ask to be released from his promise. So he 
 sat among his books, looking vacantly at their backs, 
 and not realizing the titles, which he read over and 
 over again. 
 
 Toward noon Wheeler came, accompanied by 
 Judge Purser, a middle-aged, pompous, loud-speak 
 ing man, with the smell of liquor in his breath. Pur 
 ser was one of those creatures who win preferment in 
 country places by the display of those brazen quali 
 ties of bombast that often are mistaken for states 
 manship. He could talk longer and say less upon 
 a given subject than any man in his district, but his 
 cheap clap-trap and spread-eagle speeches passed for 
 oratory among voters, and so he won place. He was 
 shrewd and unprincipled, greedy for wealth, and 
 covetous to a marked degree; hence he never hesi 
 tated to secretly lend his office to those who were plan 
 ning for the overthrow of individual liberty of men 
 engaged in the production and sale of oil. Long ago 
 Lanphere picked him out for just such purposes as 
 the one in which he was now engaged, but as the ends 
 aimed at could best be secured if the alliance were 
 kept secret, Purser posed as a friend of the inde 
 pendents, and with trembling voice and assumed in 
 dignation he discoursed before admiring crowds upon 
 the wickedness that was being practiced, and told of 
 the "sharp turn on the thumbs" he would give the
 
 82 C&e 
 
 monopolists if they were ever brought before his 
 bench. 
 
 Wheeler and this lawyer were ushered into the sit 
 ting-room by Mrs. Cameron. Wheeler was steady of 
 eye now and his hands were outstretched in friendly 
 greeting. If possible he wore an air of deeper respon 
 sibility and of graver appreciation of all that rested 
 upon his shoulders than on the occasion of his pre 
 vious visit. 
 
 "I have scarcely slept since I was here, Mr. Cam 
 eron," he said, after he had presented Purser, "and I 
 have been on the move constantly, making the ar 
 rangements to bring our enterprise to a conclusion, 
 so far as the preliminary steps are concerned, to-day. 
 I have succeeded, and my share of the capital stock 
 is in bank, as I will show you by certified check in 
 due time. As you know, it has been necessary to 
 move with caution, but that has not swerved me from 
 pushing ahead so that there may be no failure in this 
 grand project in which we are to engage. Judge 
 Purser came yesterday morning and at once set to 
 work to draw all the necessary papers. He did not 
 complete his work until nearly daylight this morning, 
 but, thank Heaven, all is ready." 
 
 "Yes, sir," said Purser, "when I received the tele 
 gram I dropped everything and started at once. Sir, 
 if I had been holding a term of court I would have 
 found an excuse for an adjournment that I might an 
 swer this summons. High as are the several duties
 
 Cfje Spotter* ss 
 
 of a jurist, I consider, sir, that there are calls which 
 will sometimes permit of a laying down of the judi 
 cial ermine. When I see struggling thousands reach 
 ing out their hands in supplication for help to rid 
 themselves of this insatiable monster which is slowly 
 but surely wrapping its folds around the industrial 
 prosperity of so many of the law-abiding citizens of 
 this great commonwealth of Pennsylvania; when I 
 behold, sir, the apathy and unconcern with which 
 our leaders in government and eminent men in my 
 own profession view this heart-rending situation, and, 
 I may say, metaphorically, trun their eyes from the 
 impending avalanche which threatens to sweep so 
 many fortunes into a maelstrom of disorder I feel, 
 sir, that it is my first and greater duty to come to the 
 aid of every heroic struggler who is endeavoring to 
 stem the threatening waves and hold back the damn 
 ing flood that endangers the very existence of our 
 ship of state." 
 
 Had Cameron been himself, he would have de 
 tected the fraud in Purser before it was too late, for 
 no man was quicker to see through a sham than Dun 
 can Cameron ere he was worn to the verge of col 
 lapse by the months spent in withstanding the on 
 slaught which was made upon him. As it was, he 
 looked at the speaker with mere curiosity, wondering 
 why those strangely mixed metaphors did not come 
 clearly to his mind.
 
 84 
 
 "I think you are right, sir," said Cameron. "In 
 deed, I think you are right." 
 
 "Right?" said Purser, with rising inflection, "I 
 know I am right, Mr. Cameron, and I know that Mr. 
 Wheeler is right, and I know that you are right. IsTo 
 man in all this broad country of ours has a higher 
 appreciation of the judicial functions than rests with 
 in my breast. It was born with me, sir. From my 
 earliest childhood I have looked upon the courts of 
 our land as exemplifying to the fullest extent my 
 ideal of all that was great, and good, and I say it, 
 sir, with the deepest reverence holy. I have never 
 lost sight of this oasis as a practicing attorney, and 
 when I was elevated to the bench it became my con 
 stant guide-star, my invariable precept. 'Judge Pur 
 ser', I say when a proposition is presented to me, 
 'think well upon this. Will such action soil the 
 judicial ermine; will it bring the cold breath of 
 calumny against the bench; is it a carrying out by 
 man of the laws of the All Wise ?' Then I hold the 
 balance there before me and watch the trembling of 
 the points. I do not take to myself any virtues, Mr. 
 Cameron, which I do not possess, for no man in this 
 Commonwealth can ever say that Judge Purser ever 
 knowingly and wilfully committed an act to bring 
 discredit upon the honor and uprightness of the court 
 over which he presides. I may have erred in judg 
 ment, Mr. Cameron, for man is fallible, but at all
 
 &e 
 
 times I have striven to maintain an even balance of 
 justice to all." 
 
 While he was talking, Purser took from his pock 
 ets a large number of formidably-appearing legal 
 documents which had been prepared for the occasion 
 tinder the direction of Lanphere and Wheeler. In 
 this preparation Purser took little part, for he would 
 not have been equal to the task. He was brought into 
 the case merely for the moral effect his name might 
 have, and to see that the papers were properly signd 
 and acknowledged. 
 
 "Mr. Wheeler," said Purser, "it is necessary that 
 we have two witnesses. Where can they be pro 
 cured ?" 
 
 Wheeler thought he could find some men at the 
 wells further on, and so he hastened away with the 
 wagon for that purpose. Scarcely realizing what he 
 heard, for his thoughts were far away and not upon 
 the words spoken with so much flourish and pom 
 posity by Purser, Cameron listened to the reading of 
 the deed which conveyed his farm to the Cameron 
 Farm Company. The articles of incorporation were 
 next produced, and Purser read them in sonorous 
 tones that filled the little sitting-room and evidently 
 gave him the highest satisfaction. Occasionally he 
 paused and proceeded to explain passages in the legal 
 phraesology, which he feared might not be under 
 stood, but his vague and involved dissertations left his 
 listeners more completely in the dark than they had
 
 86 C&e Spotter, 
 
 been before he commenced, and it was with some re 
 lief that they saw him turn to the closely-written 
 folios. 
 
 In time it was over. Alice tremblingly affixed her 
 name below that of her husband's on the deed, the ac 
 knowledgments to the documents were taken, and 
 two rig-builders whom Wheeler brought scrawled 
 their names as witnesses. Just what he had executed, 
 Cameron did not know, but when the papers were 
 folded and wrapped with tape and were put into 
 Judge Purser's hands to be recorded, Duncan Cam 
 eron, the long-headed, far-seeing, cautious, educated, 
 but unsuspecting farmer, who had been so ready 
 with his advice and counsel to his neighbors, had sur 
 rendered himself to the power of Wheeler and was 
 practically penniless. Among the papers which Judge 
 Purser shuffled before Cameron, and which was not 
 read, was one giving Eli Wheeler power of attorney 
 to act for Duncan Cameron and the Cameron Farm 
 Company in all its affairs, "freely and fully without 
 further consent or authority of the said Duncan Cam 
 eron or of the several stockholders in the said com 
 pany," and authorizing "the said Eli Wheeler to vote 
 by proxy the shares in the said company now held and 
 owned by the aforesaid Duncan Cameron." 
 
 But Judge Purser was a man of established honor, 
 and Eli Wheeler was sacrificing so much in the strug 
 gle against oppression, that there surely was no rea 
 son to suspect them of fraud or of wrong-doing. They
 
 C&e Spotter. sr 
 
 were grave, serious men in appearance, and were so 
 solicitious that every point should be covered to the 
 entire satisfaction of Cameron, that no hint of their 
 villainous game came to those with whom they dealt. 
 
 The documents were to be recorded at once, and on 
 the following Monday Cameron was to meet Wheeler 
 and Purser at Oleford, and the remaining steps 
 would be taken in the formation of the com 
 pany. With many good-bys, the men drove away, 
 and Cameron sank into his chair before the broad 
 shelf of his bookcase and buried his face in his hands. 
 He attempted to go over the steps he had taken in 
 this new enterprise, one by one, but they confused 
 him and he found it was impossible. After a time 
 he called his wife and daughter to him and they 
 planned what they would do. Several weeks might 
 elapse before active operations would be commenced 
 upon the farm and it was decided that in the mean 
 time Alice and Agnes should be installed in a modest 
 way in a hired house in one of the distant towns. 
 Duncan, who was to become the resident manager of 
 the company, would not hear of their expressed desire 
 to remain with him in the old home. 
 
 "It will not do, my dears," he said. "The house 
 will be turned into an office and general headquarters 
 for all the business. A large addition is to be built to 
 the barn and that will become the refinery. In three 
 months the rigs will cover our meadow and orchard, 
 and all this babel of confusion which now surrounds
 
 88 Cfte Spotter. 
 
 us at a distance will be renewed and added to with 
 this as its center. I have kept you here too long, out 
 of my selfish love for the home we have built up, and 
 now you must go." 
 
 "Do not say that, Duncan," said Mrs. Cameron. 
 "Since the death of my mother I have never seen a 
 sadder day than this upon which we have decided to 
 take this step. There has been no moment in which 
 we have desired to exchange our home for the town. 
 Is it not so, Agnes ?" 
 
 "Yes, mother," replied the girl quickly. "And if 
 we must go now I hope we have sense enough not 
 to attempt to break into society after the manner of 
 Mrs. Tubbs and Betsy." 
 
 Cameron smiled over the recollections of what he 
 had seen and what he had since learned concerning 
 the adventures Mrs. Tubbs was encountering in her 
 efforts to dazzle Bradan. 
 
 "No, little girl, there is no fear of that," he said, 
 as he kissed her, and some of his old light-hearted- 
 ness came back to his face. "You shall live in 
 Bradan, where you will have opportunity to continue 
 your studies and improve your musical knowledge. 
 I have no thought that your old schoolmate, Betsy 
 or Elizabeth, as you know she is now called will 
 ever recognize your presence in that place, and it is 
 just as well if she doesn't. Indeed, if I find that you 
 are accepting her as a pattern, I shall be tempted to
 
 C&e Spotter* 89 
 
 bring you back and put you in as mistress of the 
 boarding-house." 
 
 "And what of Coon, father ? Don't you remember 
 how he used to haul me around on his sled and call 
 me his girl ?" 
 
 "He is now a poor scapegrace, Agnes, and your 
 mother will have a care that he doesn't annoy you." 
 
 "There now, daddy, don't you worry about Coon 
 Tubbs giving me any annoyance," said Agnes with a 
 laugh. "You know I never could tolerate him as a 
 schoolfellow, even if he did draw me in his hand- 
 sled." 
 
 "Ah, yes, that is so," said Duncan with a twinkle. 
 "It was Harry Edgert who was the favorite, wasn't 
 it?" 
 
 Agnes, blushing, returned his jest with a declara 
 tion that she had no favorite but her cross old father ; 
 and so ; laughing and talking about pleasanter things, 
 they began to look for the brighter side of the change 
 that had come into their lives.
 
 oo C{)e Spotter, 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 ME. TUBES DECIDES TO INVEST. 
 
 MRS. CAMERON and Agnes were installed in a 
 pleasant little house in Bradan. As anticipated, they 
 did not receive visits from either Mrs. Tubbs or her 
 daughter, but Mr. Tubbs came almost every day to 
 their home and remained for hours. 
 
 "You needn't to mind 'me at all," he said to Mrs. 
 Cameron one day soon after their removal to the 
 town. "If you will only let me come in an' set down 
 quietly by myself, I'll be happy. It does my heart 
 good to see you at your work, Mis Cameron, an' to 
 hear Agnes practicing at her music an' singing, an' to 
 see that you don't try to set the fashions, or to follow 
 what someone else sets. It must be mighty wearin' 
 on a person to be all the time lookin' out to see that 
 nobody gits ahead with some newf angle or other. I 
 tried to tell Mis Tubbs one day that she was work 
 ing harder since we had money an' she had a dozen 
 dresses than she did when she done all her own 
 housework an' helped me about the farm ; but she got
 
 C6e Spotter, 91 
 
 histericky in a minnit, an' Betsy said I was cruel to 
 bring up ma's past life in that way, an' so I quit." 
 
 They told him to come when he liked and to re 
 main as long as he wished, and he took them at their 
 word. Very often Mr. Tubbs made his way to a lit 
 tle porch which looked out upon a small backyard 
 which he insisted upon caring for, and with Don, the 
 collie, at his feet, Tubbs would smoke his pipe and 
 talk to the dog for hours. 
 
 "These are about the happiest times me and you 
 have, Don," they heard him say over and over again. 
 "Of course, we'd like to be out fishin', and mebby 
 huntin', once in a while, but we'll come to that bime- 
 by if we don't get too old. Me and you are just 
 natchually cut out for country-fellers, ain't we ? You 
 don't like town cats, and fences, and boys that plug 
 stones at ye ; and I don't like style and bums. Queer 
 about dogs, ain't it ? They don't care a dum for style 
 just as leaves go around with a man what has got 
 on baggy pants and an old coat, and who don't know 
 the feeling of a biled shirt and collar, as to follow a 
 struck-oil man who is prinked up in a seventy-dol 
 lar suit and a plug hat." 
 
 Sometimes Mr. Tubbs would take Don on a chain 
 and they would go out through back streets and lanes 
 into the fields, and there wander about till nearly 
 dark, coming home at last all dusty, covered with 
 burs and very tired, but both happy. And when the 
 old man brought Don to the little yard, and with
 
 ^potter* 
 
 many a caress bade the dog good-night, he turned to 
 ward his home without a smile, and with a heavy 
 burden on his heart. 
 
 "What did you tell me was the name of Mr. Cam 
 eron's pardner ?" he asked of Mrs. Cameron one day. 
 
 "Eli Wheeler, the independent refiner," she re 
 plied. 
 
 Mr. Tubbs started quickly. "I don't believe I 
 ever heard that Wheeler was his pardner," he said. 
 "Mebby you didn't tell me after all. If you did I 
 should have remembered it." 
 
 "Do you know Mr. Wheeler?" asked Mrs. Cam 
 eron. 
 
 "Can't say as I do exactly," he replied. "I've seen 
 him and heard a lot about him. Wheeler's a mighty 
 smart one, and I've been watching his operations. I 
 ain't a business man, Mis Cameron, as you know, 
 and I've got to find some man to invest for me what 
 money I've got left, where it'll be making more 
 money. The Tubbs family can't live always on what 
 we got for the farm. From what I've seen and heard, 
 I guess that Wheeler's about the slickest timber in 
 this woods, short of Lanphere himself." 
 
 "He comes to Bradan frequently on business," said 
 'Alice. "Why don't you try to meet him ?" 
 
 "Does he ever come to the house here ?" he asked. 
 
 "No, he has not called upon us since Duncan was 
 here, about a fortnight ago. I suppose he is very 
 busy, and as I know nothing of the affairs of the
 
 93 
 
 company there is no occasion for him to call. He 
 spends most of his time in the lower field, Duncan 
 writes, where he is much occupied, and he only 
 passes through here on his way back and forth from 
 the farm. He has been purchasing the machinery 
 for the refinery, and they expect it to reach the farm 
 in a couple of weeks." 
 
 Mr. Tubb's little eyes squinted until they nearly 
 closed, for while he was hearing things that opened 
 his understanding he did not permit that knowledge 
 to betray itself in his face. He happened to know 
 that Wheeler had been in Bradan most of the time 
 for the past three weeks, and that he had spent a good 
 share of each day and night in paying court to Miss 
 Elizabeth Tubbs. 
 
 "I don't want to pry into no secrets, Mis Cam 
 eron," said the old man after a time, "but if you 
 will answer a question it may help me to decide 
 about investing with Wheeler." 
 
 "Certainly, Mr. Tubbs, I will answer if possible. 
 I know you too well to attribute to idle curiosity any 
 interest you may show." 
 
 "No, it ain't because I'm curious, or because I 
 want something to gossip about, but just because it's 
 important for me to know. It is this did Mr. Cam 
 eron invest all his pile with Wheeler ?" 
 
 "Yes, Mr. Tubbs, everything he possessed, with the 
 exception of a few hundred dollars, which have been 
 placed in the bank in my name, and upon which I am
 
 94 c&e Spotter, 
 
 to draw to pay the ordinary bills until Duncan shall 
 receive a regular salary from the company which they 
 have formed." 
 
 "Who's the company ?" 
 
 "Mr. Wheeler, who holds half the stock and is its 
 president, Judge Purser, who holds a thousand dol 
 lars and is secretary and treasurer, and Duncan, who 
 holds the balance of the stock and is the resident 
 manager at the farm. No money is to be drawn for 
 salaries until the machinery is delivered and ready 
 for installation, or the actual drilling of wells has 
 commenced." 
 
 "Thank you, Mis Cameron. You and Cameron 
 have been my friends ever since I've known you," 
 said Mr. Tubbs, rising to depart. "I won't make his 
 affairs public, and what you have told me will be my 
 secret. I'm more convinced than ever that Wheeler's 
 got a great head for business." 
 
 On his way home Mr. Tubbs stopped in the little 
 park and rested upon one of the benches. He ap 
 peared to be wholly absorbed in thought, and did not 
 see Wheeler and Betsy strolling along one of the 
 paths on the opposite side. The loud and unpleasant 
 laugh of the girl drew his attention, and he looked at 
 them a minute, his eyes narrowing with the peculiar 
 squint that ever came when he was weighing some 
 question of importance. 
 
 "I'll do it/' he said, half-aloud. "Give the scamp 
 rope enough and he'll be sure to hang himself."
 
 C&e Spotter, 95 
 
 And when those toward whom he looked had 
 strolled upon their way, Mr. Tubbs went home with 
 the determination to invest. 
 
 Meantime, on the Cameron farm the days were 
 passing slowly enough. Duncan, with the assist 
 ance of several workmen, was engaged in changing 
 the barn into a building that might be used 
 for a refinery. Wheeler made two visits to the 
 place, and once he wrote asking Duncan to meet 
 him at the Junction, where they discussed plans 
 and prospects during the two or three hours be 
 tween trains. His report was that the retorts 
 and other apparatus had been ordered, and though 
 some delay might be experienced in the delivery 
 on account of previous orders, he expected the 
 arrival of the machinery soon very soon. Then ex 
 perts would come on from the refining districts of 
 the west and the work would be hastened to the 
 utmost. He exhibited specifications for the lumber 
 for four complete derricks and the drilling machinery 
 for four wells, all of which, he declared, was to come 
 forward as early as the firms could reach the orders. 
 On the occasion of each visit he renewed his stories 
 about the progress of the independent refineries he 
 had secured. They were having some difficulty in 
 procuring oil to keep them going, he said, as the 
 Cygnet Company was blocking them at every turn of 
 the road ; but his properties were gaining friends and 
 even now had reached a point where they were pay-
 
 96 Ciie Spotter, 
 
 ing expenses. He was driven almost to distraction by 
 the details of a business that had to fight its way 
 against such heavy odds and such active opposition. 
 !New problems were constantly arising and must be 
 met on the instant, or the ground gained would be 
 lost 
 
 "In fact," declared Wheeler, when taking leave of 
 Cameron at the Junction, "I would simply have to 
 give up were it not for the help which Judge Purser 
 gives me. He has thrown himself into this work 
 with a singleness of purpose and a self-sacrifice that 
 amounts almost to heroism. If we can hold our own 
 against the enemy another month, we will have 
 reached a point where we shall have more reinforce 
 ments than we can well accommodate, and then all 
 our energies may be centered here, from which spot 
 the final victorious charge shall be made." 
 
 Papers containing marked articles reached Cam 
 eron, and in these he read glowing accounts of the 
 prospects for the independent refiners. In all par 
 ticulars they confirmed what Wheeler said, and on 
 the surface there was no cause for suspicion. 
 
 Soon after the transfer, Cameron visited each of 
 the independent producers in that vicinity and gave 
 to them some idea of the plan of the Cameron Farm 
 Company, at the same time urging them to hold out 
 against the demands of the Cygnet as long as possi 
 ble. His disclosure was greeted with considerable 
 enthusiasm and he received encouragement from all.
 
 Cfje Spotter, 97 
 
 But as the weeks passed and these men did not see 
 evidences of an early realization of the promises, they 
 began to doubt. Among them was George Knox, and 
 one afternoon he paid a visit to the Cameron farm 
 for the purpose of finding out what had been done. 
 Duncan went over the situation with Mr. Knox, as it 
 had been told him by Wheeler, and renewed his plea 
 that Knox hold out "just a few more weeks." 
 
 "To tell you the truth, Cameron," was the reply, 
 "I can't do it. The oil from my wells is running to 
 waste and I can't shut them down. Unless they are 
 pumped the salt water will drown them out. I've 
 waited just as long as I can, and if I don't turn my 
 oil into the Cygnet's lines and take their tankage, I 
 must go to the wall." 
 
 "We are making every endeavor to get iron for 
 tankage, pipe for our lines, and the apparatus for 
 our refinery. It was ordered weeks ago, and is ex 
 pected daily. The companies are so behind in fill 
 ing their orders that we have been outrageously de 
 layed." 
 
 "Who tells you they are ?" asked Knox. 
 
 "Mr. Wheeler," replied Cameron. "He explained 
 it all to me yesterday. I met him at the Junction 
 and had a long talk with him." 
 
 "Well, then, Wheeler lies." 
 
 "Mr. Knox " 
 
 "Yes, Cameron, he lies, and I can prove it to you," 
 replied Knox with considerable heat. "Here is a let-
 
 98 
 
 ter which I received this morning from the Oleford 
 Oil Well Supply Company. Now look at what they 
 write." 
 
 Cameron unfolded the sheet and read: 
 
 "Replying to yours of yesterday, we beg to state 
 that we can deliver iron for a 35,000-barrel tank at 
 your station inside of ten days. As there is little ac 
 tivity in tank construction just now, plenty of rivet 
 ers and experts in tank building may be secured here. 
 We have a full line of piping and are ready to fur 
 nish almost any quantity you may want in car-load 
 lots. 
 
 "Hoping to receive your esteemed orders, and 
 promising prompt attention, we remain, etc." 
 
 "There," said Knox, "doesn't that prove that 
 Wheeler lies ?" 
 
 Duncan made no reply. He was as one who had 
 been stunned by a blow, gazing vacantly upon his 
 visitor. 
 
 "I have the highest regard for your word, Mr. 
 Cameron," Knox continued, "but for the last week or 
 ten days I've been convinced that Wheeler is a swin 
 dler of the worst color. He has been playing you and 
 a good many others a deep game, and I am afraid 
 that you will suffer by it in some way. I hope I am 
 wrong, and if I am, I'll do the square thing and ask 
 his forgiveness, and yours; and I won't breathe my 
 suspicions to anybody else but you, until I get more 
 proof. I don't want to do your company any harm,
 
 CJ)e ^potter* 99 
 
 if it is coming out as you expect, but you have always 
 acted on the square, and I couldn't longer hold 
 back what I have found out." 
 
 "I am indebted to you, Mr. Knox, for your in 
 terest," said Duncan, slowly, for he was evolving the 
 matter as one in a dream. "I can't believe that there 
 is anything wrong. Mr. Wheeler can explain it all. 
 It may be that the Cygnet has prevented the Supply 
 Company from selling to what promises to be a 
 rival." 
 
 "Fiddlesticks !" snorted Knox. "The Supply Com 
 pany would sell to you as quick as it would sell to me, 
 and quicker, for you might be the larger customer. 
 Mr. Cameron, why don't you follow Wheeler up and 
 find out about this? It may be more important to 
 you than you now think." 
 
 "I would go to him and ask an explanation if I 
 knew just where to find him. He left either for 
 Cleveland or Pittsburg last night." 
 
 "No, he didn't," said Knox, with still more heat 
 and a few oaths. "He went to Bradan." 
 
 "To Bradan ? Why he told me that he had an im 
 portant meeting to attend in Oil City in the even 
 ing, and that he was then going either to Cleveland 
 or Pittsburg, he could not tell which until he received 
 some despatches." 
 
 "Well, he lied again." 
 
 "But how do you know that he went to Bradan, 
 Mr. Knox?"
 
 ioo Cfje 
 
 "He's to marry old Jim Tubbs's daughter some 
 day this week." 
 
 Duncan reached out for support and Knox took 
 him by the arm. 
 
 "Who has told you this, Mr. Knox?" he asked, 
 feebly. "How do you know this ?" 
 
 "The girl's brother, Coon, works on one of my 
 wells. He was run out of Brad an by the police for 
 some deviltry, and to escape arrest he came over here 
 and went to work. He got a letter from his sister 
 this morning, and that is what she wrote." 
 
 "Wheeler to marry Betsy Tubbs ! Mr. Knox, there 
 must be some mistake about this. It isn't possi 
 ble." 
 
 "Why isn't it possible, Cameron ? This man is an 
 adventurer, probably a swindler, and I shouldn't be 
 surprised if he skipped the country before he is forty- 
 eight hours older. The girl hinted to Coon that they 
 were going away on a long trip. He didn't tell me all 
 she wrote, but he was bragging to us that there would 
 be a big sensation in the oil-fields before the week 
 was over." 
 
 Cameron looked at his watch. "There's no train I 
 can catch till midnight." 
 
 "No, it's too late to get the six o'clock now," re 
 plied Knox. "But you can take the midnight train, 
 and by waiting four hours at Charlton be in Bradan 
 very early in the morning. That may be too late, 
 but it is the best you can do now."
 
 C&e Spotter, 101 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Knox; I will go. Please say 
 nothing of this to anyone until I return. It may 
 come out right after all. Mr. Wheeler surely has the 
 privilege of marrying if he chooses." 
 
 "Cameron, I wish I had your capacity for faith. 
 But, as I haven't, I can't help thinking that Wheeler 
 is a black-hearted scoundrel." 
 
 And Duncan Cameron thought so, too. When he 
 had gone into the old house, now bare and dismantled 
 of its furnishings except in one room where he re 
 tained a few comforts, he dropped heavily into a 
 chair and gazed helplessly before him upon a blank 
 wall. He knew that his confidence and trust had 
 been betrayed.
 
 102 Cfje 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE BUBBLE BURSTS. 
 
 WHEN Cameron alighted from the train at Bradan 
 in the morning, a half dozen newsboys came trooping 
 up the platform shouting their papers. 
 
 "Great excitement in the oil regions !" they called. 
 "Independent refineries sold to the Cygnet !" 
 
 He bought a paper hurriedly, as did every passen 
 ger on the train, but he did not have the courage to 
 open it there. He walked quickly across the street 
 and entered the bar-room of a small hotel. There 
 were no hangers-on at that hour and he took a seat 
 at one of the tables and asked the bartender to bring 
 him a glass of brandy. When he had swallowed the 
 liquor, Cameron slowly unfolded the paper and read 
 the announcement. The article said that a rumor cir 
 culated late the evening before was to the effect that 
 President Wheeler of the several companies formed 
 to operate independent refineries in the lower oil 
 country, had disposed of all his holdings to the Cyg 
 net Oil Producing and Refining Company. Efforts 
 had been made to ascertain the truth of the rumor, 
 but all that could be learned was contained in a spe-
 
 103 
 
 cial despatch from Oil City, which said that there 
 was much excitement among producers in that field, 
 and it was generally believed there that the rumor 
 was correct. The article continued : 
 
 "It is known that President Wheeler retained con 
 trol of all the companies formed, and in each instance 
 he held the power of attorney which authorized him 
 to buy, sell, dispose of property or stock, and to exer 
 cise all the functions of full ownership. He had ar 
 gued that headway against the Cygnet Company, 
 which he claimed he was endeavoring to fight, could 
 only be made by prompt action and adroit manipula 
 tion, and with this end in view as complete power 
 must be given the head of the competing companies 
 as that possessed by President Lanphere of the Cyg 
 net. Thus it was possible for him to make the ru 
 mored sale, if he has been base enough to do so." 
 
 Then followed another heading, which Cameron 
 read, and the paragraphs following it, with brain on 
 fire: 
 
 "WHEELEK IN BEAD AN! 
 
 "SAID TO HAVE MARRIED THE DAUGHTER OF JAMES 
 TUBES MRS. TUBES WILL NOT TALK. 
 
 "Wheeler has been in this city most of the time for 
 the past several weeks. He recently formed the
 
 104 C&e Spotter, 
 
 Cameron Farm Company, securing as a partner the 
 owner of the farm, Duncan Cameron, who has won 
 the reputation for being the most obstinate man in 
 Pennsylvania, because of his refusal to sell or lease 
 his tract, which is in the very heart of the Tuna- 
 gwant district. Those who know the territory say that 
 the Cameron farm is worth a cool two hundred thou 
 sand dollars and an eighth royalty, but it is under 
 stood to have been put into Wheeler's company at 
 about forty thousand, for which stock in the company 
 has been issued. 
 
 "Late last night it was learned on good authority 
 that Wheeler and the dashing Miss Elizabeth Tubbs, 
 daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Tubbs, who sold 
 their oil property and came here some two years ago, 
 were married in one of the villages just over the 
 York State line early yesterday morning. They left 
 on the 6 A. M. train, accompanied by Mrs. Tubbs, 
 who returned in the evening alone. A reporter vis 
 ited the Tubbs residence and finally succeeded in get 
 ting an audience with Mrs. Tubbs, who appeared at 
 a second story window. She refused to say anything 
 as to the whereabouts of her daughter and Wheeler, 
 or whether they have been married. Mrs. Tubbs was 
 very bitter in her denunciation of newspapers, as 
 they have told the particulars of several disgraceful 
 affairs in which her son 'Coon,' who left town sud 
 denly a few weeks ago, has been engaged. 
 
 "Another reporter visited the residence of Mrs.
 
 C&e Spotter* 105 
 
 Duncan Cameron, who, with her daughter, removed 
 here on the sale of their farm. Mrs. Cameron said 
 she did not know that her husband's partner had been 
 stopping in Bradan, but supposed that he was in the 
 lower oil country most of the time. She also said 
 that she had not seen any member of the Tubbs fam 
 ily except Mr. Tubbs, who called at her home yester 
 day. He said nothing, however, about his daughter. 
 Mrs. Cameron was greatly distressed when she was 
 informed of the rumors concerning Wheeler." 
 
 "My God ! must poor Alice be dragged into this !" 
 exclaimed Cameron, burying his face in his hands. 
 
 "Bad news, sir?" asked the bartender, who had 
 been watching Cameron with some curiosity since his 
 entrance. 
 
 Duncan looked up, half-angry over the question, 
 but seeing from the man's face that the inquiry had 
 been prompted by friendly interest, Cameron merely 
 nodded his head. 
 
 "Wrong side of the market ?" 
 
 "No; it is about this Wheeler affair. You have 
 read the rumors in the paper haven't you ?" 
 
 "They ain't rumors," replied the man. "Wheeler's 
 fooled the whole bunch he's beat 'em to a standstill, 
 coppered all the cash the independents put in, turned 
 the property they bought for him over to the Cygnet, 
 touched old Tubbs for all he's worth, tucked the 
 Tubbs gal under his wing, and skipped the country.
 
 106 Cfje Spotter* 
 
 That's the only fool thing he did taking that gal 
 along. She's a flyer, and don't you lose sight of it; 
 but how she fastened as smart a sailor as Wheeler 
 takes my breath. She'll lead him a quickstep that'll 
 shake the coin out of his purse in less than two years, 
 or my name ain't Sewell. I've seen her kind before." 
 
 "You have heard more of this than the paper tells, 
 have you not ?" 
 
 "Should say I had," replied the man with the air 
 of one who has been the confidant of many. "Half 
 a dozen parties in here last night that knowed all 
 about it. It's right, jest as I tell you." 
 
 "Where has Wheeler gone ?" 
 
 "Oh, he's up with the Kanucks by this time, and 
 before the week's out he will be on the briny on his 
 way across." 
 
 "Did he marry Miss Tubbs ?" 
 
 "That don't make any difference whether he did or 
 not. Maybe he did, and maybe he didn't." 
 
 "It makes a difference to her poor old father," re 
 plied Cameron feelingly. 
 
 "Huh, he's an old mooner," answered the bar 
 keeper with disgust. "Three or four good people who 
 didn't want to see him skun warned him against put 
 ting his money in Wheeler's hands, but he didn't 
 mind 'em a jog. Wheeler put up a bluff that there's 
 a big oil-field in Canada that he'd got a tip on, and he 
 made old Tubbs believe that he could buy up a whole 
 county and hold it for development and big prices.
 
 C6e 
 
 I guess the old woman was Wheeler's right bower, 
 and she drove the old man into it." 
 
 "But Mr. Tubbs has his place here yet, has he 
 not?" 
 
 "No ; mortgaged for every red it will bring, and all 
 turned over to Wheeler and his duster." 
 
 Cameron arose and started toward the door. 
 
 "Hope you didn't lose anything by him, mister." 
 
 "Well, I hope not. I don't know yet," was Dun 
 can's reply. 
 
 "Oh, you know all right if you was in with him. 
 Every man that was has lost all that he was in, and 
 that's the six sides of the block. Except Lanphere 
 he didn't lose. He furnished at least half the brains 
 for the deal. If the devil don't drive that pair tan 
 dem yet then he don't claim all his own." 
 
 Cameron walked straight to the great, glaring, 
 architectural monstrosity that was known as "Mrs. 
 Tubbs's ideal," for it had been erected under her di 
 rection a vulgar, obtrusive house that seemed to 
 shout at you all the time you had it in sight, telling 
 you over and over that its owner built it to show off 
 his abundance of money and, incidentally, his lack of 
 good taste. You were pained with its garish, bold, 
 overdone insolence, and yet, from the moment it came 
 into view until you had it well behind you, it was im 
 possible to turn your eyes away. This was taken by 
 Mrs. Tubbs as an evidence of admiration, and it gave 
 her supreme satisfaction to stand in one of the win-
 
 108 
 
 dows and contemplate the attention which her resi 
 dence compelled from passers-by. 
 
 It was but a few minutes after seven o'clock, but 
 Cameron's business was urgent and he did not intend 
 to delay because of the hour. He pulled a brass door 
 knob that was as large as an orange, and in a moment 
 was gratified to see the door opened by Mr. Tubbs in 
 person. 
 
 "Why, bless me, Mr. Cameron ! how you surprised 
 me, and I was thinkin' about ye all the mornin', too," 
 exclaimed the old man, seizing Duncan's hand. "Walk 
 straight in. Susan that is, Mis Tubbs ain't up 
 yet. She don' usually rise till ten ; that's the fashion 
 able hour, you know," and Tubbs chuckled over his 
 joke. "But you can just come in the dinin' room 
 with me and have a bowl of coffee and a snack." And 
 the old man drew his guest through the hall where 
 Duncan, had he been in a mood to observe, would 
 have noticed that all the glare and vulgarity of the 
 place were not on the outside. 
 
 "I cannot wait, Mr. Tubbs, for I must go to Mrs. 
 Cameron and Agnes at once. I came to inquire as to 
 Wheeler. Is he here ?" 
 
 The old man turned upon the inquirer a half-pity 
 ing, half -amused look. "No, Mr. Cameron, Wheeler 
 ain't here, and I don't more'n suspicion that he ever 
 will be here again." 
 
 "But he has been here ?" 
 
 "Yes, been livin' here, off and on, for a month."
 
 Cfje Spotter, 109 
 
 ? 'And he has gone away with your daughter ?" 
 
 The old man did not trust himself to speak, but 
 nodded his reply. 
 
 "They were married, Mr. Tubbs ?" 
 
 "Yes, early yesterday mornin'. That was the one 
 sensible streak Susan had 'bout it." 
 
 "And is this that I hear true that he has sold out 
 the independent refineries ?" 
 
 "I guess it must be, Mr. Cameron. He wanted the 
 cash to invest in a new oil-field in Canada. Wheeler 
 didn't tell me much about his investments, but he said 
 that he had some securities on which he could real 
 ize, and I guess he meant the independents." And 
 the old man grinned as though he had perpetrated 
 another joke. 
 
 "ISTow, Mr. Tubbs, pardon me as an old neighbor. 
 I hear that you entrusted him with your money to 
 invest. May I ask if that is true ?" 
 
 "Why, of course you may, Cameron. Susan 
 that is, Mis Tubbs has been set on my investing as 
 I told you once. Wheeler told her that he had a sure 
 thing in Canada, and as he was goin' to be our son- 
 in-law, I forked over the whole pile and took his note 
 
 every blamed cent, except " he bent close to 
 
 Cameron's ear and whispered "two thousan' as is 
 salted, just as I said before." 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Tubbs, I am so sorry. I fear that 
 Wheeler is not honest and that he has played us all
 
 no Cfje Spotter, 
 
 false. You must have had misgivings about him 
 yourself." 
 
 "Cameron," replied the old man, straightening up, 
 "I follered the example you set me." 
 
 "Yes, I know. I set the example, fool that I was, 
 and probably am beggared by his rascality, and by my 
 own folly. You read the man I know it, Mr. 
 Tubbs, by your manner and have beggared yourself 
 with your eyes open. I do not know why you have 
 done this, or why you have let your daughter marry 
 him and go away in this manner, unless it is because 
 you have been unable to withstand the pressure 
 against you in your own home and have tired of it all. 
 I cannot believe that you have followed me with the 
 idea that Wheeler was a safe man to trust." 
 
 "No, Mr. Cameron. I have looked upon him as a 
 sneakin' fraud for weeks. But I didn't know until a 
 few days ago, when it was too late to warn or save 
 you, that he was your pardner." The old man arose 
 and laid his hand on Cameron's arm. "They've been 
 drivin' at me to invest, and I've stood out against all 
 the swindlers a long time till I found one as would do 
 the job with a high hand, then I gave in. There ain't 
 
 much left, except " and he paused a moment to 
 
 give his words an impressiveness that he felt the occa 
 sion required r-"a lot of furniture that nobody else 
 would buy, and some jewelry and clothes nobody else 
 would want."
 
 Cfje Spotter* an 
 
 "But Mrs. Tubbs does she believe in his hon 
 esty ?" Cameron interrupted. 
 
 "To the dot. I told her all about it last night when 
 she came back, and she almost eat me up for having 
 suspicions. I feel sorry for Susan, though," said the 
 old man with a grimace and a wink toward the door. 
 "When she strikes true sand and finds her well's a 
 duster, she'll have a tantrum that won't be pleasant 
 to see." 
 
 "Surely, Mr. Tubbs, you cannot believe that your 
 daughter has known of Wheeler's intentions to swin 
 dle her aged father and mother out of their property. 
 I cannot think that Betsey ever could harbor such in 
 gratitude in her heart." 
 
 Mr. Tubbs bit his lips and trembled pitifully, 
 though he shook his head manfully. 
 
 "Mr. Cameron, when we lived back there in the 
 holler, Coon was an innocent little feller, wasn't he ? 
 Trotted about with his daddy, fishin', huntin', doin' 
 little chores on the farm whistlin', singin' and play- 
 in' some tunes I taught him on the fiddle just as 
 happy and decent a little chap as was in the neigh 
 borhood 2" 
 
 "Yes, Coon was all of that." 
 
 "Well, what did this money do but make him for 
 get all his boyhood ways and change him into a 
 young bummer ashamed of his old dad, with never 
 a civil word out of his head, but a sneer and a curse, 
 and fault-findin', and goin' his own gait until the
 
 112 Cfje 
 
 officers chased him away for his meanness. And Bet 
 sey she want a bad gal helpin' her mother with 
 the work and over playin' with that little gal of 
 yours till the money come. Then she changed, 
 same as Coon did, Mr. Cameron. Cuss the stuff! 
 Old Jim Tubbs wishes it had burnt up afore he got 
 it! Betsey was ashamed of her old dad all the time 
 after it come; and she finally got ashamed of her 
 marm. Susan couldn't learn the new ways, and Bet 
 sey could. She got so that she found fault with her 
 mother, and nagged, and scolded, and was wimpy 
 toward her. She thought she was rigged out to daz 
 zle fashionable circles, and her marm and old dad 
 was drags that was holdin' her back. She has been 
 wantin' to cut loose, to get away, to be where she 
 wouldn't be reminded every minit, and where others 
 wouldn't know that her dad and marm was simply 
 clay. 
 
 "I wrote Betsey and told her this, and put the let 
 ter down in her trunk where she'll find it some day," 
 continued Tubbs, turning more towards the door and 
 speaking as slowly and distinctly as his choked voice 
 would permit. "And I told her that her husband had 
 got all that we had in the world, and that her dad 
 and marm will have to work for the little that it will 
 take to keep them as they used to live. And I told 
 her that Wheeler not only had all of Jim Tubbs's 
 money, but that he had cleaned Cameron and hun 
 dreds of others out of theirs. I told her, too, that
 
 C&e Spotter. 113 
 
 pretty soon her heart would begin to turn to the old 
 mother and father, and she would see where she'd 
 did wrong. But I didn't blame her Lord bless you, 
 no, Cameron ! I told her that we wasn't fitted to be 
 rich yet, for we hadn't learned how to live. And 
 then I asked her to go to work and try and learn how, 
 for I know that she will be back with us, and I told 
 her so. 'There'll be a place, Betsey/ I wrote her, 'for 
 your old dad has some ideas how to make a way in 
 the world. That cuss of a Wheeler will treat you 
 like a slave, but when you can't stand it no longer, 
 come home and we will all be happy once more.' ' 
 
 A groan, a feeble shaking of the knob, and then a 
 heavy body pressing down against the door, brought 
 Cameron to his feet. He stepped forward and with 
 considerable difficulty pushed the door open suffi 
 ciently to allow him to reach the hall. 
 
 There, pallid, insensible, and looking, O, so old 
 and worn in her finery, which she seemed never to 
 leave off, crouching down upon the dazzling carpet, 
 lay Mrs. Tubbs.
 
 114 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MES. WHEELEE UNDEESTANDS. 
 
 ME. AND MES. ELI WHEELEE did not prove to be 
 congenial travelling companions. Mrs. Wheeler 
 wished to linger at the places they visited until she 
 might form acquaintances and, perchance, create envy 
 and astonishment over the richness of her wardrobe 
 and the magnificence of her jewelry. Mr. Wheeler 
 was desirous of hurrying forward, of attracting little 
 attention, and of coming finally to Paris, where he 
 might live in retirement for a time and further some 
 schemes for the extension abroad of the Cygnet Oil 
 Producing and Refining Company, which was just 
 then maturing the plan of embracing other countries. 
 Wheeler was not many hours upon his journey before 
 he begun to fear that he had gone a step too far in his 
 dealings with the independents. The thought that he 
 might be pursued haunted him, and though he feared 
 little from a legal encounter with those whom he had 
 so brazenly defrauded, he was mortally afraid that 
 he might be the object of personal attack from some 
 one of his many victims.
 
 Cfje Spotter* us 
 
 Upon one excuse or another he hurried his wife 
 through Canada, sailed from Quebec to Ireland, made 
 a flying trip to a few of the Scotch cities, and then 
 hastened to London. They paused scarcely long 
 enough to catch more than a fleeting glimpse of the 
 places through which they passed, and by the time 
 they reached the English metropolis Mrs. Wheeler's 
 complaints had become tiresome and constant. 
 
 Wheeler secured comfortable, though very modest, 
 lodgings, and when their luggage had been brought to 
 the rooms he told his wife that at last she might un 
 pack her trunks and they would begin to enjoy some 
 thing of the life she had so fondly anticipated. 
 
 "What!" she said in no pleasant tones, "do you 
 think of remaining in this dingy and out-of-the-way 
 boarding house during our stay in London? I 
 thought we were going to one of the fashionable ho 
 tels where other tourists go, and where we would 
 have opportunity to mingle with people of wealth and 
 style." 
 
 "But, my dear 
 
 "Oh, I am tired of your excuses and promises !" 
 she interrupted. "There has been nothing else but 
 this since we started, and it is time for something 
 like living. Ain't we got the money to live as other 
 folks do?" 
 
 "I have money to live and to travel as I choose," 
 replied Wheeler, turning upon her with an air that 
 betrayed his intention to throw aside his policy of
 
 116 c&e Spotter. 
 
 persuasion. "There are reasons why I do not care 
 to attract especial publicity just at the present, and 
 therefore we shall live very quietly, whether we re 
 main in London or go further." 
 
 "Reasons ? Yes, I suppose there are at least you 
 have said so times enough to make it true. But I 
 would like to know one of them." 
 
 "Well, you, for instance." 
 
 "Me ?" 
 
 "Yes, Betsey, you. See here," and he took her by 
 the shoulder and turned her so that she faced him 
 squarely. "I don't know what fiend in hell pos 
 sessed me when I married you, for I could have 
 skinned old Jim Tubbs out of his extra pile just as 
 easy as I did Cameron and the others, without mar 
 rying his daughter. It was the one fool move in the 
 whole play ; but it's done, and I am going to make the 
 best of it. As long as you behave yourself and do 
 just as I want you to, I'll treat you white, my lady, 
 and you won't have cause to complain. But as soon 
 as you go getting your high horses out with an idea 
 that you can take Eli Wheeler a race, I'll shake you 
 as I would an old coat, and leave you to shift for 
 yourself." 
 
 He spoke slowly and without raising his voice, but 
 every word went to the woman's heart like the prick 
 of a knife. 
 
 "It isn't so far from America to England that ugly 
 stories may not travel," he continued, "and some of
 
 C&e Spotter* nr 
 
 the recent operations in the oil regions must be pretty 
 well known to investors on this side of the ocean. At 
 all events, I intend to keep shady for a few months, 
 and I shall not permit a silly girl, who thinks a couple 
 of trunks full of loud dresses will help her break into 
 the ranks of royalty, dissuade me from that purpose. 
 Do you understand the situation now?" 
 
 She attempted to speak, but her throat filled and 
 she could only incline her head. 
 
 "We may stay here a day or a month ; I can't tell 
 until I get the letters which I suppose are awaiting 
 me. While we stay, we will not force ourselves on 
 society. Wherever we go, it will be in the most mod 
 est and unobtrusive manner. Possibly we will make 
 a few excursions about the city to see the sights, 
 though that will depend upon how you conduct your 
 self. You may unpack your trunks if you wish, and 
 look your finery over while I am out for an hour to 
 see if letters have arrived. I let you bring it along 
 rather against my inclinations, knowing that it would 
 not be possible for you to use it. There is no harm 
 in looking it over, however, but it is not for your 
 wear at present. Until such time as there is no longer 
 necessity for caution you are to be plain very plain ; 
 travelling with your husband who is abroad upon 
 business." 
 
 Wheeler left her with this, and she stood, like one 
 benumbed, looking at the door through which he had 
 disappeared. In time her eyes wandered to her
 
 118 &e Spotter, 
 
 trunks, and she recalled the day she had selected the 
 larger one in the store in Bradan. Then she stum 
 bled forward and sank down beside it, her hands 
 wandering helplessly over the straps and buckles, but 
 with no purpose of opening the cover. 
 
 "Dad, dear old dad!" she sobbed, "I know now 
 what I've done, dad ; but I didn't know it till to-day. 
 I've broken your old heart, dad, for youns think I 
 knew that Wheeler had robbed youns when I left 
 with him. But, dad, I didn't know it. I'm not as 
 bad as that honor bright." 
 
 She became hysterical and clung to the straps as 
 though they might save her from sinking beneath the 
 waters that seemed to be rising over her. The glar 
 ing house in Bradan, the blotchy patches of framed 
 color in its rooms, the incongruous furnishings and 
 all the extravagant surroundings swept before her 
 eyes. The efforts of her mother and herself to as 
 tound and awe their neighbors, the pride they had 
 felt in Coon when he became sporty and made himself 
 a place in the fast set, and the contempt and shame 
 they experienced over her father because he would 
 not, or could not, take kindly to the ways of the 
 newly rich, came upon her in vivid pictures. Then 
 the old home in the Cameron valley, simple, primi 
 tive, but, O, so peaceful, blotted out all else and 
 awakened fresh outbursts of tears and sobs. 
 
 In time, poor, broken-hearted Betsey was exhausted 
 and when Wheeler returned after an absence of a
 
 Spotter* 119 
 
 couple of hours, he found her sleeping with her head 
 pressed against the side of the trunk and her face 
 stained with traces of her sorrow. 
 
 "She broke down easier than I expected," he said, 
 without arousing her. "It is always so with a woman 
 who has no training back of her, for she has nothing 
 to rely upon. The fact that she has had her own way 
 and dominated others by a show of cheap spunk is no 
 help when a display of true courage is demanded. 
 She'll fall in all right in time, and now that she 
 knows what is expected of her, she may not give 
 much trouble in the future." 
 
 Stepping forward, Wheeler took her not ungently 
 by the shoulder. 
 
 "It isn't a good place to sleep," he said as Mrs. 
 Wheeler started up, dishevelled and trembling from 
 the floor. "There's a mark across your cheek where 
 it rested on the edge of the trunk that looks as though 
 you had been struck a blow with a whip. I declare," 
 looking around, "you didn't unpack your wardrobe 
 after all." 
 
 "No, I didn't care to," Betsey replied with some 
 effort. 
 
 "Well, now that's lucky very lucky, Mrs. Wheel 
 er, as you would have had the work for nothing. We 
 are going to Paris in the morning." 
 
 "To Paris?" 
 
 "Yes. I have a letter from Mr. Lanphere of the 
 Cygnet asking me to go there at once and take up
 
 120 Ci)e Spotter. 
 
 several important business propositions for him, the 
 necessity for which has arisen since our departure. 
 I really don't like to do it, as I have been looking 
 forward to a little rest after some years of hard 
 work ; but Mr. Lanphere has been so kind in taking 
 some rather hazardous speculations off my hands that 
 I feel like obliging him. I shall be detained there 
 some months, possibly a year or two, but Paris is 
 now a safe place in which to live, and of course you 
 won't mind, Betsey." 
 
 "No," she replied, with a calmness that surprised 
 him. "It doesn't matter to me. Paris or London, it 
 is all the same." 
 
 "Now that's right, Mrs. Wheeler that's the right 
 way to look at the situation, and if you do not get 
 away from that disposition I have no doubt you will 
 be quite happy and contented." 
 
 The supper that was brought in from a neighbor 
 ing confectioner's was eaten almost in silence. Wheel 
 er was thinking of the articles he had read in the 
 bundle of papers which he had received under the 
 address 'of Mr. Cyrus White, and which were deliv 
 ered to him by the solicitor in whose care they had 
 been sent. In them he learned that Eli Wheeler had 
 been anathematized by almost every independent in 
 the States in which the oil industry was known, and 
 the feeling against him was so high that threats of 
 violence were spoken with a boldness that smacked of 
 mob rule. In a half-dozen oil centers he had been
 
 C&e ^pottetu 121 
 
 hanged in effigy, and in one place a man who some 
 what resembled him was roughly handled and barely 
 escaped a coat of tar and feathers before his identity 
 was established. He read also that Judge Purser 
 had been secretly aided to leave the country and was 
 supposed to be in the West, and that no end of litiga 
 tion was promised by those who were so shamefully 
 swindled. 
 
 But it was Lanphere's letter that gave him the 
 chief cause for unpleasant reflection. The president 
 of the Cygnet wrote in a gossipy strain to Mr. White, 
 sperking of Wheeler in the third person, and declar 
 ing that all transactions of the Cygnet Company had 
 been carried on in entire good faith and with the 
 supposition that Wheeler was an honest man who had 
 the right to sell the properties. This Wheeler under 
 stood as a precaution taken for fear that the letter 
 might fall into the hands of someone for whose eyes 
 it was not intended. 
 
 "His greatest individual victim," wrote Lanphere, 
 "appears to be a man named Cameron, of whom you 
 may have heard. When the full effect of the deal 
 with Wheeler struck Cameron, he put his wife and 
 daughter in the care of an old man named Tubbs, 
 also one of Wheeler's dupes in more ways than one, 
 as he took with him in his flight a daughter of Tubbs 
 whose only qualification was a pretty face. Tubbs 
 and his wife were closed out and barely paid their 
 debts. They are now living with Cameron's wife and
 
 122 Cfje Spotter* 
 
 daughter, who may have a few hundreds in cash. 
 Cameron has disappeared. No one knows where or 
 when he went. One-half the community believes that 
 he has wandered away in a fit of insanity; the other 
 half declares that he is on Wheeler's track." 
 
 There was nothing more, except in relation to the 
 business that Mr. White was to take up in Paris. 
 
 The next morning when Wheeler was packing his 
 portmanteau, Lanphere's letter fell from the pocket 
 of a coat and lay on the floor. He picked it up, and 
 stepping to his wife's side, held the envelope up for 
 her to read the address. 
 
 "When we put foot upon the steamer to go to 
 France," he said, in the same low, intense tone he 
 used while speaking to her the day before, "I become 
 Mr. Cyrus White, agent for American securities. 
 The name of Wheeler is never to be used between us 
 or to others until I give you permission. You under 
 stand, do you ?" 
 
 "Yes, I understand, and will not forget," she said, 
 quite unconcernedly. But later in the day he re 
 called that when she said it there was a peculiar 
 gleam in his wife's eyes which he had never noticed 
 there before.
 
 Ci)e Spotter, 123 
 
 CHAPTEK XIII. 
 
 CHANCE MEETING OF OLD FRIENDS. 
 
 THE first few months of the stay in Paris of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Eli Wheeler, alias Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus 
 White, were uneventful. Apartments were selected 
 with the end in view of living very quietly. Wheeler 
 was not entirely unfamiliar with the city, for at a 
 former time in his career he had spent something over 
 a year in Paris, and the knowledge he then picked up 
 stood him well in hand at the present. After a few 
 days of investigation he engaged a Frenchwoman as 
 Mrs. Wheeler's companion. She was known as Jean- 
 nette LeGarde, and was recommended as a shrewd 
 and entirely reliable person. He believed that she 
 was the right one to exercise a certain espionage over 
 his wife, which he thought a quite necessary precau 
 tion. 
 
 Jeannette had a fairly good command of English 
 and a complete acquaintance with the city. She was 
 not far from the age of her mistress, a bright and en 
 gaging little woman when she wished to exercise her 
 powers; but at the same time a sharp, hard, deter-
 
 ^potter, 
 
 mined body when carrying out the directions of her 
 master. Each morning before Wheeler went away to 
 business he wrote the names of the streets which his 
 wife and Jeannette might visit during the day, 
 should Mrs. Wheeler be disposed to go out, and indi 
 cated the hours they were to be abroad. Often he 
 came upon them quite unexpectedly when they were 
 upon these little excursions, and Betsey grew to ex 
 pect his appearance at any moment. 
 
 Jeannette was commissioned to procure for her 
 mistress a modest wardrobe, not unlike that worn by 
 teachers or numbers of shop girls whom they met 
 every day. All the tawdry finery which Betsey and 
 her mother procured with such lavish hands at her 
 own home was taken away under Wheeler's direction 
 and disposed of by Jeannette. When the trunks 
 were looted of their wealth of costly silks, wools and 
 laces, Betsey wept over each piece as it was taken out ; 
 but the woman who was her keeper looked upon the 
 gowns and lingerie with no attempt to conceal her 
 disgust. Coarse and ill-bred as she was, she saw in it 
 only a display of vulgar taste. 
 
 "You could not wear these things here," said 
 Wheeler in explanation to his wife. "Men would 
 stare you out of countenance and insult you if you 
 appeared in them on the streets, while women would 
 treat you with derision. In time, my dear, you shall 
 be provided with handsome gowns of Paris make, but 
 at present there must be no display."
 
 125 
 
 Indeed, Wheeler set her the example in plain 
 dressing, for he wore a suit of English tweed, and 
 sacrificed his cherished beard. The change in his ap 
 pearance was almost as great as the difference in his 
 name, and the capitalists with whom he consulted 
 from day to day thought it strange that a great cor 
 poration like the Cygnet Oil Producing and Refining 
 Company, which was now reaching out to control the 
 petroleum trade of the world, should be represented 
 in Paris by so ordinary and common a man. 
 
 When they were unpacking her trunks, Betsey 
 came upon the letter which her father had written 
 and concealed in the folds of one of her dresses. She 
 caught it eagerly to her lips and tears filled her eyes. 
 
 Jeannette, who had been bidden to watch closely 
 that her mistress should neither write nor receive let 
 ters, held out her hand and aslfed that the missive be 
 surrendered to her keeping. 
 
 "No," said Mrs. Wheeler with indignation little 
 short of anger, "you cannot have it ; nor can my hus 
 band have it. This is from my old father." 
 
 She went to the further side of the room, and Jean 
 nette saw her kiss the paper and heard her sob as she 
 read it line by line. She took no further interest in 
 what was going on around her, but all the afternoon 
 read and re-read the cramped and almost undecipher 
 able characters. Jeannette heard her mistress talk 
 ing to herself between outbursts of grief, but could
 
 126 Ci)e 
 
 distinguish nothing she said except the oft-repeated 
 words, "Dear old dad ! O, my dear old dad !" 
 
 Toward the close of the business day when Wheel 
 er's return might be expected, Betsey tore the letter 
 into tiny bits and scattered the pieces upon the coals 
 in the grate. Only a part of the first page she kept, 
 and put it in her purse. Some days later, when the 
 circumstances had been duly reported by Jeannette 
 to her master, Wheeler asked Betsey what her father 
 had written. She frankly showed him the scrap of 
 paper and he read these words: 
 
 "Dear little betsy i am goin' ter write youns jest 
 as tho youns was a little gal livin' with me an' Ma 
 an' coon on the old Farm in cameron Valley." 
 
 That was all, nor would she tell him more. He re 
 turned the lines without remark. 
 
 In the months which followed, Wheeler was not un 
 kind to his wife, though she knew that when he was 
 not present the French girl kept her under constant 
 surveillance. He sent to their apartments pretty 
 pieces of bric-a-brac and furnishings. The walls 
 were adorned with a number of excellent pictures; 
 fresh flowers arrived daily, and in time Jeannette 
 brought a costume-maker, who selected materials and 
 made up for madame a number of handsome gowns 
 for house wear. The massive gold watch and chain, 
 which had been the amazement of Bradan, several 
 very large and ugly rings and some brooches of the 
 same character, one by one disappeared, to be replaced
 
 127 
 
 by artistic and delicately-wrought ornaments set with 
 gems of no mean value or insignificant number. 
 
 Mrs. Wheeler learned that none of these gifts was 
 for street wear. When she went upon her almost 
 daily excursions with Jeannette, or accompanied her 
 husband, as she sometimes did, to the theatre, she 
 wore the dark grey that was so commonly worn by 
 people of moderate station. She knew why it was. 
 Eli Wheeler, known in Paris as Cyrus White, repre 
 senting American securities, but chiefly Cygnet Oil 
 Producing and Refining Company interests, lived in 
 constant fear that some of the men whose confidence 
 he had betrayed and whose property he had embez 
 zled would run him down and make the attempt to 
 secure satisfaction for their wrongs. At times he 
 confessed to her that he entertained this fear, and 
 admitted that he used every means to keep away from 
 American visitors. 
 
 "Why do you not get Mr. Lanphere to settle for 
 you with these men ?" she one day asked him. 
 
 Wheeler looked at her and then burst out laughing. 
 "Lanphere settle with anyone he has helped to do 
 up!" he said. "That only shows what a child you 
 are, Betsey. It isn't Lanphere's policy to settle with 
 any man who has met him and been defeated in a 
 business deal, much less with one who has withstood 
 him. If I should suggest it, he would think I had 
 gone crazy." 
 
 "But you surely do not intend to keep what you
 
 128 cfte ^potter* 
 
 have taken from my father, and leave him and my 
 mother to live in want ?" she questioned. 
 
 "No, Betsey, I don't. The truth is, I never felt 
 just right about that little deal with Mr. Tubbs. I 
 believe he knew all the time that I was trading in a 
 gold brick scheme, and I have thought that he ap 
 peared glad to know that his money was going. Your 
 father was never completely happy in the effort to 
 shine in society, and he kept thinking with regret of 
 the old days before his property came to him." 
 
 Mrs. Wheeler's face clouded and with difficulty 
 she refrained from tears. 
 
 "I have been planning how I could send him some 
 money without letting him know whence it conies," 
 continued Wheeler. 
 
 "Oh, let me write to my father and mother and 
 send them something," she pleaded. "They may be 
 in want, or ill, and I know that they would tell no 
 one that we are here;" 
 
 "It won't do," he said, seeing that he had gone just 
 a little farther than he intended. "If anything of 
 that kind is done, it must be through Lanphere. But 
 they are not in need at present. They are living with 
 Cameron's wife and daughter, and your father has 
 been making more than enough to support them out 
 of a little business I got Lanphere to throw in his 
 way. Let the matter rest, Betsey, for the present, 
 and don't you. attempt to write them, as it might
 
 C6e Spotter, 129 
 
 mean the loss of everything my imprisonment, your 
 destitution, and the ruin of the Cygnet" 
 
 She remained thoughtful a few moments. "You 
 say that father and mother are with Mrs. Cameron 
 and Agnes ; where is Mr. Cameron ?" 
 
 Wheeler looked around in quick apprehension. 
 "No one knows," he replied in an undertone. "His 
 wife and daughter think he is dead, as no trace has 
 been discovered of him since a few days after I sold 
 out to the Cygnet. Mrs. Cameron reported to the 
 authorities that he appeared dazed by his misfor 
 tunes, as he persisted in calling the unexpected turn 
 of his investment. One day he disappeared without 
 a word of explanation. 
 
 "Pshaw!" after a moment's silence. "I thought 
 Cameron had more sand than that. He fought the 
 Cygnet like a hero, and they could not down him 
 either, till Lanphere put it in my hands." He 
 laughed with a certain pride in his victory, and his 
 fingers sought his cheeks where they were formerly 
 accustomed to twist themselves through his flowing 
 side- whiskers. "He might have expected it, though, 
 for he was a man of some experience in the world 
 and should have known that individuals who attempt 
 to stay the march of great corporations are swept out 
 of the way like so many flies. What was Cameron's 
 fortune and happiness, or what are the fortunes and, 
 the happiness of a thousand Camerons, that they
 
 130 Cfje 
 
 should stand in the way of the success of an organi 
 zation such as the Cygnet ?" 
 
 Soon after taking up the life in Paris, Mrs. Wheel 
 er commenced a regular course of study and reading. 
 She asked for books, and though wondering where 
 she learned which ones she most needed, her husband 
 procured them. She did not tell him that the list was 
 one that Duncan Cameron had prepared for his own 
 daughter long before, and that through some chance 
 it had remained in Betsey's possession. Wheeler 
 was amused over the enthusiasm which she exhibited 
 in this new work, but in time he came to consider it 
 with something like amazement, for his wife made 
 such rapid progress and stuck so closely to her stud 
 ies that he daily marvelled over her improvement. 
 He spoke with Jeannette concerning it. 
 
 "Ah, madame, read, read, study, study all the 
 time. She walks the floor with a book in her hand, 
 repeating that which she reads until it is learned by 
 heart. When we go out to walk, she keeps the book 
 in her hand until we reach the door, and on the street 
 she is thinking upon that which she studies. So 
 when we come to the door again she hastens to seize 
 the book and find out if she has made no mistake. 
 Every hour that monsieur is from home, madam is 
 thus employed." 
 
 Wheeler noticed that his wife grew nervous and 
 pale, and he protested that she was making herself 
 ill by such constant devotion to her books.
 
 Spotter, 131 
 
 "It will do me no harm," she replied, "and as I 
 neglected study so many years, I must make an effort 
 to catch up, now that I have the opportunity." 
 
 "But you have lost interest in all else," he contin 
 ued, "and scarcely leave the house from one week's 
 end to another." 
 
 "No, you are wrong. I have not lost interest, but 
 new interests are awakened. Besides, the weather 
 has not been pleasant, and so Jeannette and I have 
 kept rather closely to our rooms. As the pleasant 
 days come, we will go out more frequently." 
 
 "In a trifle over a year you have mastered a course 
 that is not usually covered by a seminary student in 
 three times that period," he persisted. 
 
 Mrs. Wheeler appeared to be pleased over this ad 
 mission on the part of her husband, and before the 
 subject was dismissed she promised to walk at least 
 an hour in the open air every pleasant day. 
 
 Several weeks after this conversation, Mrs. Wheel 
 er and Jeannette were one day taking an accustomed 
 walk, when, upon turning into a rather narrow street 
 leading back toward home, they saw Mr. Wheeler ap 
 proaching from the opposite direction. As they 
 neared him, a tall, black-whiskered man emerged 
 from the door of a shop almost beside them. His 
 eyes were bent to the pavement and he did not for the 
 moment notice the presence of the ladies who were 
 so near him.
 
 132 c&e potter* 
 
 When Mrs. Wheeler saw his face, she stopped 
 abruptly and caught Jeannette by the arm. 
 
 "What is it, madame ?" asked the startled girl. 
 
 "Quick !" she answered in a sharp whisper. "That 
 man warn my husband !" 
 
 The stranger at this moment raised his eyes and 
 looked Mrs. Wheeler full in the face; then stepped 
 forward a pace or two and stood before her. 
 
 "Mr. Cameron!" she murmured, still clinging to 
 Jeannette's arm to keep from falling. 
 
 "Exactly, ma'am." 
 
 "Why, what brings you to Paris, Mr. Cameron ?" 
 
 "I have come, ma'am, in search of Eli Wheeler." 
 
 At that moment Cameron felt a heavy stroke upon 
 his shoulder, and turning, stood face-to-face with the 
 man whom he had been trailing for nearly two years. 
 
 "Duncan Cameron, as I am alive !" said Wheeler, 
 as though greeting an old friend, and at the same 
 time extending his hand. 
 
 Cameron drew back, trembling with passion and 
 indignation. 
 
 "You thief ! you scoundrel ! you deceitful cur !" he 
 said through his clenched teeth, as he glowered at the 
 man who had accomplished his ruin. 
 
 Wheeler paused to glance around them. Up to the 
 present they had attracted no unusual attention from 
 the few persons in the vicinity. He saw this, and 
 turning with a smile, said : "Come, Cameron, you, as 
 a man of sense, ought to know that it is to no purpose
 
 C6e Spotter* 133 
 
 to use language like that in the open streets of a city 
 in which we are both strangers." 
 
 "Your pardon, messieurs/' said Jeannette, step 
 ping forward, "the police of Paris are most vigilant 
 and are quick to apprehend those who engage in dis 
 putes. If there is a matter of difference between 
 
 you " 
 
 "A mere misunderstanding," said Wheeler, bow 
 ing. 
 
 " there is a public house near where you may 
 
 have a room to yourselves and discuss your affairs 
 without interruption." 
 
 A glance of intelligence passed between the woman 
 and her master. 
 
 "The girl is right," said he, turning to Cameron. 
 "You and I can't afford to quarrel, Mr. Cameron, es 
 pecially in the street. Indeed, I do not see that the 
 necessity exists for a quarrel in any place ; but if you 
 care to talk over the ah, misunderstanding which 
 seems to have arisen between us, you may do it with 
 more freedom and satisfaction where strangers and 
 police officers are not present." 
 
 "As you please, and where you please," said Cam 
 eron. "I have not followed you all these months 
 merely to say good-day to you and let you pass." 
 
 Jeannette beckoned to a dark-browed, keen-look 
 ing man who was lounging under an awning near 
 them. As he approached, Mrs. Wheeler recalled his 
 face as a familiar one, for she frequently wondered
 
 134 Cfje ^potter. 
 
 why this man was so often near when she and Jean- 
 nette were walking. The man touched his hat, and 
 Jeannette spoke a few sentences to him in an under 
 tone. Then he turned to *ihe gentlemen and ex 
 pressed his pleasure in Oeing able to guide them to 
 "a very respectable and quiet public house." 
 
 Seizing her mistress by the arm, Jeannette turned 
 and hurried her toward their apartments. Before 
 proceeding far, Jeannette stopped and spoke to an 
 other man whom she called to her side with a gesture. 
 Along with her other studies, Mrs. Wheeler had been 
 picking up French words and phrases with amazing 
 rapidity, and though the girl spoke in a low tone, 
 Betsey knew that the man was told that his imme 
 diate presence was wanted at "La Vintage, in Rue de 
 Seine."
 
 C&e Spotter* 135 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE APPOINTMENT AT LA VINTAGE. 
 
 THEKE was nothing in the wine room of La Vint 
 age to awaken suspicion on the part of Duncan Cam 
 eron. To all appearances it was not unlike a thou 
 sand public places in Paris, or London, or New York, 
 in which men assemble to drink, talk politics, lay 
 plans, criticise the government, or to gamble in rooms 
 provided for that purpose. Their guide exchanged a 
 few words at the bar, and on returning to Wheeler 
 and Cameron announced that a room would be made 
 ready for them. He was given a coin by Wheeler, 
 and disappeared. Presently a waiter beckoned to 
 them, and they followed him into a long hall from 
 which doors opened on either side. Through one of 
 these they were ushered into an apartment of gen 
 erous size. It was furnished with several small 
 round tables and chairs at each. Wheeler directed 
 that wine and cigars be brought, and when these were 
 served, the waiter withdrew. 
 
 Filling a glass, Wheeler politely extended it to 
 Cameron, but the latter shook his head.
 
 136 
 
 "I could not drink with you, Wheeler. It is not 
 pleasant to even be in the same room with you." 
 
 Wheeler's eyes were steady now. Cameron remem 
 bered them in that way that day back on the farm 
 when the plan to organize the independent producers 
 and refiners was unfolded. 
 
 "This is awkward, Cameron, decidedly awkward," 
 he said, without apparently noticing the anger of the 
 other. "I may say to you frankly that I am sorry 
 that you followed me to Paris." 
 
 "Could you expect a man to do less a man whose 
 confidence and trust have been betrayed, who has been 
 defrauded of his property and left a pauper ? Is it 
 unnatural that I should seek redress ?" 
 
 "Under some circumstances, perhaps not. But in 
 the present instance I fail to see what you may expect 
 to gain by what must have been a long and very diffi 
 cult trip. However, an explanation may clear the 
 point, and so I should be pleased to have you tell me 
 just what you want me to do." 
 
 "Restore every dollar that you stole from Jim 
 Tubbs and embezzled from me," said Cameron, strik 
 ing the table a blow that made the glasses jingle. 
 "And more than that, I want a confession, signed and 
 witnessed, that will lay bare the conspiracy between 
 yourself and Lanphere and show to the world the 
 great wrong done those who have been struggling to 
 withstand the oppression of the all-powerful company 
 of which he is the head."
 
 C&e Spotter, 137 
 
 "Is that all, Cameron ?" 
 
 "I am in no temper to take your sneers, sir." 
 
 "I observe that you are not calm, and I am sorry ; 
 it is so much easier to get along when one is calm." 
 
 He selected a cigar and lighted it with delibera 
 tion. "Suppose I should refuse to grant these let 
 me see, what shall I call them ah, requests of 
 yours ? What then ?" 
 
 Cameron, half-rising from his chair, leaned 
 toward Wheeler across the table. 
 
 "Wheeler, I am not the Duncan Cameron whom 
 you found living so happily with his wife and daugh 
 ter upon his farm, surrounded by his cattle and 
 horses, which he had learned to love as beautiful and 
 obedient creatures which God has given to aid man 
 in his support. Nor am I the Duncan Cameron who 
 heard the story you told of a mighty effort on the part 
 of men who were oppressed that they might throw 
 off the ever-tightening toils of an unholy corporation 
 that was usurping their rights of trade and barter in 
 a free and open market. Nor yet again am I the 
 Duncan Cameron whose hand signed to you all that 
 he possessed, and who was persuaded against his own 
 judgment by the lies that were so ready upon your 
 tongue. That Cameron was childish I have out 
 grown him. That Cameron had forgiveness, compas 
 sion, tenderness and pity in his heart this Cameron 
 has brushed them aside until he shall have dealt with 
 the man to whom such qualities are strangers.
 
 138 Cfte Spotter. 
 
 "If you refuse to restore to me that which is mine, 
 and to give into my hands in trust that which I have 
 demanded for others, I will take you by the throat as 
 I would a cur that might attack me. I will drag you 
 through that door, through the hall and the wine 
 room beyond, into the street and there, if you be 
 yet alive, I will give you and myself into the hands 
 of the police, believing that even in the courts of 
 France the right will prevail." 
 
 Wheeler cowed before the white face and blazing 
 eyes that looked down upon him. He glanced uneas 
 ily past Cameron into the gathering gloom of the 
 room, and saw a screen near the rear wall noiselessly 
 moved aside. He toyed a moment with his glass of 
 wine, as though considering an answer. Then raised 
 the glass towards his lips and splashed the contents 
 full in the face of the man before him. 
 
 Though blinded by the liquor, Cameron leaped the 
 table and caught his assailant by the throat before he 
 could rise. Wheeler was borne to the floor by the in 
 furiated man whose grasp was like that of a trained 
 athlete. In the instant that followed, Wheeler real 
 ized his helplessness and felt that his life was being 
 crushed out by one tremendous outburst of awful pas 
 sion. There was the roar of a swift-moving train in 
 his ears and the shock of a trip-hammer upon his 
 brain then insensibility. 
 
 When Wheeler recovered, Jules, who had conduct 
 ed them to the place, was supporting him upon his
 
 C6e Spotter, 139 
 
 knee. Henri, to whom Jeannette had given warning 
 that he was wanted at La Vintage, was holding 
 brandy to his lips. The table and chair had been 
 righted, and candles were burning. By this light, 
 .Wheeler saw Cameron's body lying near. 
 
 "You were none too soon," he said feebly, after a 
 moment in which he collected his wandering senses. 
 
 "Indeed, we were not, monsieur. He was like a 
 tiger." 
 
 "Is he dead?" 
 
 "I think not, monsieur. The blow was with a sand 
 club, for we did not know your desires." 
 
 Wheeler sipped some of the brandy and raised him 
 self to a more nearly sitting posture. He glanced 
 about the room. 
 
 "It is my desire to be rid of him," he said, quietly. 
 
 "It is easily arranged, monsieur," said Henri. "In 
 an hour he will partially regain his senses and can be 
 led hence between two friends a drunken man who 
 is being conducted to his home." 
 
 "What will you do with him, then ?" 
 
 "A boat ride on the Seine, monsieur, to cool his 
 head. He returns not." 
 
 Wheeler shuddered. Hardened though he was, 
 this bargaining for the destruction of a man's life 
 had about it something he had not encountered in the 
 career of embezzlement and fraud which he pursued. 
 He glanced at Cameron with something of pity.
 
 140 Cfte 
 
 Henri, noticing this and fearing that the opportunity 
 to earn a liberal sum was slipping from them, shook 
 his head and remarked: "Ah, monsieur, he is a dan 
 gerous enemy." 
 
 "Yes, too dangerous. What pay do you want, Le 
 Garde, for this service ?" 
 
 "Only five hundred francs for each." 
 
 "I have but a small sum with me." 
 
 "We have learned in the past that monsieur is a 
 gentleman and a man of his word in matters of busi 
 ness. His promise is sufficient." 
 
 "The money will be paid to-morrow." 
 
 An hour later, Duncan Cameron, with eyes half- 
 closed and head bent forward upon his breast, was led 
 or dragged through the hall and wine room of La 
 Vintage to the street. The scene was too common to 
 attract attention from the few who sat at the tables in 
 the dingy room, for it was only a stranger who had 
 been drugged, or was drunken, and who was in good 
 hands. Henri and Jules would take care that no 
 money remained in his pockets when they should 
 leave him, and upon their return all would drink to 
 the happy circumstance. 
 
 The quay was almost entirely deserted, for a storm 
 of sleet and rain was drifting up from the distant 
 ocean, and its advance drove nearly everybody from 
 the open air. 
 
 "We will have a rough night," said Jules, after
 
 Cfje Spotter, 141 
 
 they had placed Cameron in a boat which one of 
 them previously had secured for the purpose. "But 
 it is very dark; we need not go far." 
 
 "Indeed, I do not think that morning will more 
 than find us at our destination." 
 
 "Why, how may that be ? We can safely dispose 
 of this log in an hour." 
 
 "Fool ! I am surprised over your lack of precep- 
 tion. No wonder, Jules, that you are always out of 
 money." 
 
 "I do not see any advantage in rowing all night to 
 tumble a man into the Seine when the shadow of the 
 first bridge will serve all the purpose of conceal 
 ment." 
 
 "Still Jules, the blind ! Cannot you see that if 
 this man dead is worth a thousand francs to M. 
 White, he is worth alive ten thousand, or twenty thou 
 sand to Henri and Jules ?" 
 
 Jules dropped his oar and turned in astonishment 
 toward his companion. 
 
 "Ah, ha !" laughed Henri. "Has it at last reached 
 your brain, my cousin ? I have been bursting with it 
 for an hour. I scarcely could hold myself, and I 
 feared that monsieur would see it in my face and 
 change his plans. But he is as dull an ass as is my 
 fellow-villain, Jules." 
 
 "Die, no my precious fire-eater !" he said, tenderly 
 raising Cameron's head and placing a coat under it
 
 142 cije Spotter, 
 
 *"You shall not die. We will take you to Gaspard at 
 Mantes Gasperd the skillful who was driven out of 
 Paris when the glorious Commune was overthrown 
 he will nurse you back to life and health. Then 
 as long as you live, and while M. White has a sou 
 in his pockets, you are as good to Henri and Jules 
 as would be the Bank of France." 
 
 Quickly appreciating his companion's plan, Jules 
 stripped off his coat and threw it over Cameron's 
 unconscious form; then they bent together against 
 the oars, as men who knew the work and the rewards 
 before them. 
 
 Eli Wheeler left La Vintage a few moments later 
 than the villains he had hired to make way with 
 Cameron. He followed them to the quay, and upon 
 arriving there could just distinguish in the dis 
 tance a rapidly-moving boat. He smiled to himself 
 with satisfaction that he was now free from inter 
 ference in the enjoyment of his stolen wealth. He 
 salved his conscience, as men sometimes do who hold 
 dishonest gettings, with the reflection that if Cam 
 eron had submitted to the robbery with meekness 
 and recognized in the great monarch of the Cygnet 
 Oil Producing and Refining Company a new de 
 velopment of industry that would go forward though 
 it must rear itself upon the wrecked hopes and ambi 
 tions of thousands of individuals, he might at this 
 time have been in his own home, possibly support-
 
 Cfje Spotter, 143 
 
 ting his family upon employment furnished by those 
 who had seized his substance. As it was 
 
 Well, even Eli Wheeler shuddered as he saw in 
 dark places along the street on his way home visions 
 of Cameron's face floating on the surface of the 
 Seine.
 
 144 c&e Spotter* 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 MRS. WHEELER LOCKS THE BOOK. 
 
 MRS. WHEELER could not define the feeling with 
 which she waited the coming of her husband. The 
 quality of sympathy, which is found in its true 
 sense only in those who have suffered, had been 
 growing in her nature and was aroused to its sharp 
 est degree. The remembrance of Cameron's wrongs, 
 which she never fully realized until she met him 
 in the street and there saw the great change in his 
 appearance from the man she had known as a 
 progressive and contented neighbor, awakened in her 
 deep emotions. He was unkempt ; he appeared to be 
 in want, for his clothing, while not actually ragged, 
 lore the stains of travel and hardships; there was 
 in his face a look of hunger and hard denial of those 
 comforts, and even necessities to which he had been 
 accustomed ; she guessed, and rightly, too, that there 
 was not a sou in his possession, and that he was 
 drinking from the very dregs of despair. All her 
 well of sympathy was opened, and, if it had been 
 within her power, Mrs. Wheeler would have put
 
 Cfie Spotter, 145 
 
 forth her hand to save Duncan Cameron from the 
 danger into which she felt he had been decoyed. An 
 impulse seized her to return to the streets in the 
 effort to again find Cameron, and to implore her hus 
 band to treat him fairly and with kindne^. 
 
 Her husband! More than ever before did she 
 realize now that she never loved Eli Wheeler. Vain, 
 inexperienced, ignorant, aspiring Betsey Tubbs had 
 been caught by the dazzle of the candle. Its flame, 
 searing her wings, awakened her intelligence, and 
 her one desire, since the hour his duplicity was fully 
 revealed to her in London on their journey thither, 
 had been to escape from this man whom she wedded 
 in her blindness. All her love of display, her eager 
 thirst for the grand successes in social life of which 
 she had dreamed, and which Wheeler pictured so 
 vividly to her as wholly within her grasp, were now 
 of the past. She was contrite, humbled. The rugged 
 honesty of her father arose within her, and she felt 
 ashamed and disgraced to be supported by the money 
 which Eli Wheeler had gotten through such shock 
 ing dishonesty. 
 
 Smouldering in her heart for months was a prayer 
 that she might escape from the conditions which sur 
 rounded her and go. back to the old home. ISTow it 
 burst from her lips in nervous and almost incoherent 
 sentences, broken by sobs and expressions of vain 
 regret 
 
 Almost since her first trip with Jeannette through
 
 146 
 
 Paris streets, Mrs. Wheeler had been looking for 
 Cameron's appearance. She knew her husband 
 feared that he would come, and this led her to hope 
 that it would so result. She thought of such a coming 
 as almost certain to release her from the hated bonds, 
 which were becoming more unbearable each day as 
 her conscience broadened and her knowledge of right 
 and wrong grew. She pictured Cameron as coming 
 with authority, with the strong arm of right and of 
 law to guard him but when he appeared it was as 
 a pitiful tramp, half -crazed by the haunting memory 
 of his undoing, and with no thought other than to 
 take by the throat the man responsible for his ruin 
 and by force of grip to tear from his enemy that 
 which had been lost. Thus he came, and she had 
 seen him trapped and led away, perhaps to be mur 
 dered, while she was without power to aid or warn 
 him. 
 
 Jeannette came to her with some show of affec 
 tion and said that madame had no cause for alarm. 
 Had not Jeannette's brother Jules, and her very 
 dear cousin Henri, gone to La Vintage to be of 
 service to Monsieur White ? They were brave young 
 men, and madame may be assured they will protect 
 monsieur from his foe. Should it be necessary, they 
 will fight for monsieur. 
 
 "It is not for the safety of monsieur that I fear," 
 replied Mrs. Wheeler, unguardedly. 
 
 "Ah, madame, then for whom?"
 
 Cfje Spotter* 147 
 
 "For this friend; or he who once was a friend, 
 who has been so wronged in the past and who is 
 now trapped by one who has so much reason to fear 
 him, and by hired cut-throats." 
 
 "Cut-throats! Surely madame must have a high 
 opinion of her husband to insinuate that the gen 
 tleman, who seemed to interest madame so much 
 from the moment she saw him, has been decoyed by 
 monsieur into danger." 
 
 Jeannette waited a moment for reply, but none 
 came. In the months she had been in the employ 
 ment of M. White she had not been idle in efforts 
 to discover the history which she and her friends 
 believed covered the past life of her employer. She 
 learned little of value to them, however; but now 
 she made a bold guess. 
 
 "Monsieur may have a cause. It is not often that 
 a young woman loves two men, each old enough to 
 be her father her husband, and another." 
 
 The mistress looked in astonishment at the up 
 raised and half-smiling face of Jeannette. 
 
 "Me! I love Duncan Cameron? Oh, no, Jean 
 nette, I am not a French woman. This is not a love 
 affair, Jeannette, be assured of that. I need not 
 explain further than to say that Mr. Cameron has 
 been wronged, cruelly wronged, and now I fear - " 
 
 "What, madame ?" 
 
 "Another wrong, perhaps more cruel than the 
 first, if that is possible."
 
 148 Cfte Spotter. 
 
 She attempted to interest herself in her books, but 
 soon turned from them and wandered aimlessly 
 about the apartments. 
 
 Jeannette met her master at the door and imparted 
 to him the details of madame's conversation and con 
 duct during the afternoon. When he finally entered 
 the parlors, Mrs. Wheeler saw at once that he was 
 unusually pale and that he wore a folded handker 
 chief about his neck. She ran to him in some anxiety 
 and inquired what had happened. 
 
 "Nothing that is at all alarming," was his reply. 
 "The air is damp and as I have a sore throat, I 
 used the handkerchief to protect it." 
 
 "But Mr. Cameron?" she inquired, hesitatingly. 
 
 "Damn Cameron! What concern is his welfare 
 to you ?" 
 
 "I want to know what has become of him," she 
 insisted, firmly. 
 
 "Oh, you do! Well, just because I am in the 
 mood, and not at all because you want to know, I'll 
 tell you. He has decided to go back at once." 
 
 She waited a moment. "Did you was there any 
 trouble about a settlement?" 
 
 "The only thing that should be of interest to you 
 is that your husband has returned to his home alive 
 and unharmed; but that appears to be of no 
 moment," replied Wheeler. 
 
 "You have told me that you are uninjured, and 
 I have accepted your word for it. Now I ask whether
 
 &e Spotter, 
 
 you have settled with Duncan Cameron; or have 
 you left him in the hands of those who would do 
 anything with him that you bid even murder ?" 
 
 He caught her by the wrist with a grasp that left 
 its mark for hours, and pushed her rudely upon a 
 chair. 
 
 "Curse that tongue of yours ! What hellish idea 
 has set it harping again about 'settling with those 
 I have wronged?' I thought that by this time you 
 had learned silence, but I see that you have only 
 been smouldering to break out more violently than 
 ever. Now, look here, Betsey" and he shook his 
 forefinger in her face- "I will say to you that your 
 man Cameron is on his way to Havre, and that he 
 will never bother me again and be damned to him. 
 You may spare your commiseration and sympathy. 
 I made money out of him, and out of your some 
 what amusing and extremely simple old fool of a 
 father, in a fair contest of brains against cupidity, 
 and I am going to keep it. You may stay with me 
 and enjoy such portion of the cash as I choose 
 to spend upon you ; or you may go out into the street, 
 where there is always room for women who have 
 neither love nor sympathy for their husbands." 
 
 She swept his threatening hand away and stood 
 before him, blazing with indignation. He had never 
 seen her just this way before, and he marveled over 
 the change. 
 
 "I was silly," she said, so quietly that he scarcely
 
 150 ctje Spotter, 
 
 caught her words; "silly, foolish and ignorant, but 
 there was no taint upon my character. I was vain, 
 easily led in many things, but never wicked in the 
 way you suggest for my escape from the shame of 
 living longer with an embezzler. You know this, 
 and you know that my mother, a shallow woman 
 whose poor head was turned with sudden wealth, 
 still taught her daughter that there is no degree of 
 want and misery that cannot be borne with a happier 
 heart than the one which accompanies a life of 
 wealth and dishonor." 
 
 Wheeler attempted to speak, but she would not 
 listen, and continued: 
 
 "From this moment I would consider it as shame 
 ful to live as your wife as to take your advice and 
 seek the streets of Paris. I have no money with 
 which to return to my home, where I may find 
 honorable employment, and I gather that you will 
 provide me with none. I will sell such of the cloth 
 ing and jewelry as you say is mine, and leave you at 
 once in the full enjoyment of this which your dis 
 honesty has won for you. Or, if this you prevent, I 
 will go with nothing and trust a truthful tale to 
 find the ears of people who will give me shelter 
 until I earn the sum necessary to take me home." 
 
 "High tragedy!" he sneered, white with rage. 
 "High tragedy from Betsey Tubbs the new wonder 
 and plaything in a cracked-voice chorus at ten sous 
 a week. Possibly it is Betsey, the kitchen maid, or
 
 Cfje Spotter, 151 
 
 Betsey, the cook, setting before the Parisiennes, 
 whom she came to dazzle with her splendors, the 
 corn cakes, boiled potatoes and fried pork of the 
 Pennsylvania woods ! Or, is it Betsey, the waitress, 
 with fifty words of French in her vocabulary and 
 the polished manners of the Junction House to recom 
 mend her ? God ! how Paris will rave over her !" 
 
 She made no reply, but stepped quickly past him, 
 entered her room, closed the door in his face when 
 he attempted to follow, and turned the key in the 
 lock.
 
 152 Ct)e Spotter* 
 
 CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 MADAME AND JEANNETTE IN COMEDY. 
 
 WHEN breakfast was served the next morning, 
 madame did not appear at the table, nor did she 
 make answer to her husband's summons, frequently 
 repeated, or to his threats spoken through the door. 
 The overture for a truce which he finally adopted 
 was no more successful, and, so far as Eli Wheeler 
 knew, he might have been making promises to an 
 empty room, had he not felt certain that there was 
 no way for his wife to escape from it. 
 
 Jeannette persuaded him to leave madame to her 
 self for a few hours. She was still angry, argued 
 the girl, but in time her temper would cool; or 
 she would be brought into a more amiable frame of 
 mind by the hunger which a perfectly healthy and 
 vigorous young person might be expected to experi 
 ence. This Wheeler finally consented to do, as he 
 felt that he must keep his appointment with Henri 
 and Jules at his office, and he was quite anxious to 
 learn whether they had performed their murderous 
 work. He impressed upon the woman the necessity
 
 Cjje Spotter, 153 
 
 of a close watch upon her mistress, and directed that 
 under no plea should she be permitted to leave the 
 apartments. 
 
 Not long after his departure, Mrs. Wheeler un 
 locked the door and entered the sitting-room. She 
 was clad in a plain, serviceable dress and carried 
 a small valise in which had been placed a few 
 necessary articles of apparel. 
 
 "Jeannette," she said to the girl, "I am going 
 away." 
 
 "But madame cannot go. Monsieur has forbid 
 den it, and she must wait until his return. He has 
 given me strict charge to " 
 
 "It is not important to repeat his words. I have 
 no doubt that he gave orders for you to guard me, 
 Jeannette, but we will get around that. Last night 
 he placed before me a choice, as you must know, for 
 I saw you lingering at the door where you might 
 overhear our conversation." 
 
 Jeannette was slightly confused. Surely, madame, 
 whom she almost despised for her dullness, was more 
 observing than the girl thought. 
 
 "But he was angered, madame, and now repents 
 what he said in a moment of quick temper." 
 
 "He meant what he said and would be well pleased 
 to be rid of me except he fears that I would return 
 to America and make known his hiding-place to 
 those who may wish to prosecute him. I will not do 
 that, Jeannette; I make that promise to you, for
 
 154 
 
 you now are more deeply interested in him than am 
 I." 
 
 "I, madame?" 
 
 "Yes, Jeannette, I have seen it for some time. 
 There is something about this man that wins a 
 woman, though I cannot tell what it is. You have 
 not served my husband as his spy and confederate 
 simply for the payment of wages." 
 
 "Madame, I protest - " 
 
 "Never mind, Jeannette; I have no feeling of 
 jealousy whatever, for I can surrender him to you 
 without a pang of regret. I am endeavoring to 
 escape, and by doing so will leave him wholly to 
 you. There is no reason w r hy I should warn you, 
 Jeannette, for you have seen the world and know 
 the men in it. This much only I wish to say his 
 name is not the one by which he is known in Paris." 
 
 "I know it is not, madame." 
 
 "He has told you ?" 
 
 "Madame, it is understood between my brother 
 Jules, my cousin Henri, and myself." 
 
 "Then you have warning. I may also tell you 
 that he has great wealth in his hands, and is well 
 able to care for you and your relatives. See that 
 he does." 
 
 "But, madame, should monsieur return to find that 
 I have permitted your departure, his rage would be 
 terrible. He would drive me from the house and 
 set all the police of Paris upon your track."
 
 Cfje Spotter, 155 
 
 "We will shield you, Jeannette, from any sus 
 picion. You are clever enough to act a bit of 
 comedy, for you may think the stakes worth the 
 effort. Come here." And she led the girl to her 
 room. 
 
 "In Canada I was ill with neuralgia and a phy- 
 sician gave me some morphine. Several of the pow 
 ders are unused. See, we will take two and throw 
 the contents of the papers out of the window" 
 suiting the word with the action "and leave the 
 empty wrappers here on the stand. Another we will 
 put in the wine glass, and with it a few drops of 
 wine, draining the liquor off to make it appear that 
 the potion has been drunk from the glass, and that 
 a small part remains. This paper we will put beside 
 the others, carelessly so. Now for the story: 
 
 "When monsieur comes home, as he will, as fast 
 as a carriage may bring him, you will tell him 
 this: You were alarmed over the continued silence 
 in madame's room. You called to her frequently 
 and received no response, and finally you set to work 
 to gain entrance. With a piece of wire, a bent hair 
 pin will do, you worked the key until you heard it 
 drop inside the door. You could see nothing through 
 the keyhole, and still there was no answer to your 
 shouts. You tried the keys in all the doors and dis 
 covered that the one from the wine closet would 
 unlock this to my room. You entered, and saw me 
 lying, fully dressed as now, upon the bed. You
 
 156 C6e 
 
 spoke, and I did not answer, but when you took hold 
 of my shoulder and shook me, I moaned, and would 
 not awaken. You saw the papers on the stand 
 and the wine glass, and when you saw the white 
 dregs, you touched your finger to the wine and 
 tasted it. The bitter taste convinced you that I had 
 taken morphine. Then you ran bareheaded to the 
 telegraph office to send a message to monsieur, and 
 then came back with all speed to watch with madanae 
 and to try to arouse her. When you came to the 
 room again, madame was not there !" 
 
 Jeannette's wondering eyes looked upon each 
 action of her mistress as she moved rapidly about 
 the room carrying out the details of the plot she 
 had arranged. Was this the listless, patient, almost 
 spiritless woman whom she had been guarding all 
 these months without suspecting that she was any 
 thing more than a dullard who had few accomplish 
 ments, whose ambition had been throttled, and whose 
 chief desire was to study everything printed in the 
 English language upon which she might lay her 
 hands? Was this madame, of whom. monsieur more 
 than once had spoken contemptuously as "an ignor 
 ant country girl with more beauty than sense," and 
 who, in a moment of weakness he had married "just 
 for the novelty of the adventure?" 
 
 Their eyes met, and like two women at a play 
 who turn to each other when the climax comes in 
 the comedy situation, they burst into laughter.
 
 Cfje Spotter* 157 
 
 "Ah, madame, it is too clever," said Jeannette. 
 "I cannot carry it on without laughing." 
 
 "Never fear, Jeannette ; when it becomes real you 
 will not be in a mood for humor." 
 
 "But where will you go, madame ? What can you 
 do without money or friends ?" 
 
 "I may not tell you where I shall go. I have a few 
 francs, saved a sou at a time for this hour, and I 
 shall not suffer." 
 
 The girl hesitated, but to her mind came a com 
 pact that she had made with Henri and Jules when 
 she obtained the employment with this wealthy 
 American brave, masterful Henri, to whom she was 
 plighted, and between whom and her brother Jules 
 there was an understanding that they should get M. 
 Wheeler in their power and pluck him as he had 
 plucked others. Madame thought that she, Jean 
 nette, loved monsieur. Faugh! she despised him. 
 She felt when he came fawning around her as though 
 she must set her nails in his face and tear his blink 
 ing eyes from their sockets. She pitied madame 
 without betraying it, and, too, in the end madame 
 might be in the way of the consummation of their 
 plans. 
 
 "Madame, we will play the comedy." 
 
 "Thank you, Jeannette," was the reply, and Mrs. 
 Wheeler returned to her room without another word, 
 and locked the door. She reclined upon the bed 
 and awaited the raising of the curtain.
 
 158 CJje Spotter. 
 
 Jeannette's voice calling to her through the door 
 was filled with emotion and deep concern. The work 
 ing of the bent hairpin in the lock was sharp and 
 unpleasant, and when at last the key fell out, her 
 heart beat more rapidly and sounded strangely in her 
 ears. One after another keys were tried and thrown 
 down by the door casing, until the right one was 
 secured and the bolt turned. The door opened cau 
 tiously; Jeannette approached the bed, speaking in 
 frightened tones. Then the girl's hand touched 
 madame's shoulder with a grip that brought pain, 
 and she felt herself shaken with violence. She 
 moaned and moved her arms, but did not open her 
 eyes or answer her anxious, almost pitiful demands 
 to awaken. There was a moment at the stand and 
 the clink of a glass a horrified exclamation from 
 Jeannette, and then a rush of footsteps from tSio 
 room and through the hall. 
 
 Mrs. Wheeler arose, adjusted her hat, and taking 
 her valise from behind the door, left her boudoir. 
 Passing through the sitting-room, she paused before 
 a mirror and smiled back at the Betsey Tubbs she 
 saw reflected in the glass.
 
 Cfje Spotter. 159 
 
 CHAPTEK XVII. 
 
 MONSIEUR'S UNPLEASANT FORENOON. 
 
 MONSIEUR was engaged in reading his American 
 mail, which arrived that morning, and which con 
 tained additional directions concerning the estab 
 lishment of several agencies which were well under 
 way. The great aim of the Cygnet Oil Producing 
 and Eefining Company must be carried out in 
 France as well as elsewhere. "Absolute control of 
 the market" was the watchword, and if opposition 
 of any nature presented itself, it must be met and 
 conquered at the outset The letters which he re 
 ceived did not deal frankly and openly with the sub 
 ject, but in every sentence there was a hidden mean 
 ing, and sometimes monsieur pondered long over 
 these before he could make them out When he read, 
 "You may be able to popularize our product by induc 
 ing some men of prominence in town and city affairs 
 to become customers," he knew that it authorized 
 him to pay officials for concessions that might be 
 wanted. Again, when he was told to "take all honor 
 able means to maintain the superiority of our pe-
 
 160 
 
 troleum against inferior opposition," he realized that 
 he must exert all the cunning of which he was pos 
 sessed and exhaust every last resort to confound and 
 beat down opposition, no matter what it cost. 
 
 Written by Lanphere's hand and pinned to the 
 letter of instructions was this note: 
 
 "Sam Edgert has been appointed guardian of the 
 C - girl? whose father has not been heard from 
 since his disappearance. Edgert's son, a young law 
 yer, is said to be very actively endeavoring to bring 
 before the courts, in the interests of the minor, an 
 action in which it is expected fraud and conspiracy 
 will be charged in the transfer of the Cameron 
 farm." 
 
 Monsieur did not like this, and he showed his aver 
 sion to it by burning the note and crushing the ashes 
 under his bed. Immediately thereafter he had other 
 matters to think about, for Henri LeGarde entered 
 the dingy little office and bowed to monsieur with 
 the air of one who has performed a mission with 
 which he has been entrusted. 
 
 "Monsieur," he said, "I have come as agreed, and 
 have here an order for the share of the reward to 
 Jules." 
 
 "Where is Jules? Why did he not come in per 
 son?" 
 
 "Ah, monsieur, Jules is not as strong as Henri. 
 Last night there was a bitter storm of rain and 
 sleet. It was required of Jules and myself that we
 
 Spotter. 
 
 row a long distance upon the Seine, and when the 
 journey was over Jules was exhausted by the cold. 
 He lies at a small village some distance from Paris." 
 
 "I have no means of knowing whether the order 
 is genuine or not, I will pay Jules when I see him." 
 
 Henri's eyes contracted and he looked at Wheeler 
 for a full minute before he spoke. 
 
 "Monsieur will pay me upon the order of Jules, 
 here and now," he said, slowly. "Such service does 
 not enter upon a ledger to be billed the first day of 
 each month." 
 
 Wheeler did not like the tone in which La Garde 
 said this nor the look which accompanied it. He was 
 not accustomed to fear, but just at this moment he 
 felt himself trembling with nervousness. 
 
 "I meant no offence, LeGarde," he made haste to 
 say. "It was merely a business precaution, but it 
 is of no consequence. Let me see the order, please." 
 
 He unfolded the paper and instantly his eyes were 
 riveted upon what was there written. His hands 
 trembled until the paper rattled noisily, while over 
 his face spread an ashen pallor like that upon one 
 who is dead. This is what he read: 
 
 M. Eli Wheeler. You will pay to Henri LeGarde 
 the sum of ten thousand francs on my account. 
 Failure to do so will make it necessary for me to 
 return to Paris accompanied by M. Cameron. 
 
 Jules LeGarde.
 
 162 C6e Spotter; 
 
 "Damn you ! it is blackmail !" said Wheeler as he 
 sprang upon the Frenchman. Henri had anticipated 
 this move, and darting under Wheeler's upraised 
 arm, he caught monsieur around the body with a 
 grasp that threatened to crush his ribs, and with a 
 quick trip threw him backward upon the floor. With 
 one hand and knee Henri pinioned Wheeler's arms, 
 and with the disengaged hand drew a serviceable 
 sheath-knife from under his coat. 
 
 "Monsieur," he said savagely, "not many years 
 ago I saw service here in Paris under a noted leader 
 in the Commune. I have cut many a man's throat 
 for less than this which you have done, and I have 
 not forgotten the trick. I can do it again, monsieur ; 
 very neatly and quietly." 
 
 Wheeler realized his great peril. He saw too that 
 in his anxiety to be rid of Cameron he had failed 
 in his estimate of these villains and thus committed 
 a fatal error. They were not as dull as they appeared, 
 and when once away from him had revived Cameron, 
 secured his name and learned the advantage they 
 held in keeping the Scotchman alive. How much 
 of his history they possessed, Wheeler could not guess, 
 but it was plain that they knew something which he 
 hoped to guard. Now they must be silenced and 
 Cameron must be disposed of, no matter at what 
 cost There was a dangerous look in LeGarde's eyes 
 and Wheeler had little doubt that the man would 
 scarcely hesitate over carrying his threat into exe-
 
 C&e 
 
 cution and trust to getting his pay from the open 
 safe. 
 
 "Let me up," he said after a moment's thought. 
 "It is bad enough to be robbed without adding to 
 it murder. I will pay." 
 
 "I have believed monsieur to be a man of wisdom, 
 now I am convinced of it," said LeGarde, rising. 
 
 "The sum you demand may not be at hand, though 
 I have kept some notes to use in emergency," re 
 marked Wheeler as calmly as though concluding an 
 ordinary business transaction. He opened the cash 
 drawer of the safe and counted the notes into an 
 orderly bundle. Standing within easy distance, Le 
 Garde saw that monsieur had by no means exhausted 
 his store, and for an instant the Frenchman's hand 
 clasped the handle of his knife and a flash of regret 
 that he had not used the instrument came upon him. 
 
 "Write a receipt," said Wheeler pointing to the 
 table. 
 
 "I am not a child, monsieur. Lay the notes in 
 my hand and with them the order from Jules. No 
 writing need pass between gentlemen who under 
 stand each other." 
 
 Wheeler bit his lip in perplexity. He had no 
 weapon of defence, he did not have the strength 
 to cope with LeGarde, and it would do him no good 
 to cry out, for the room in which they were stand 
 ing was the only one which was occupied in that 
 corridor. Clearly he was at great disadvantage, and
 
 164 Cfje 
 
 could only comply with the demand. He waited 
 long enough to swing the door of the safe shut and 
 turn the knob. Then he surrendered the money and 
 the order demanding it. 
 
 "We will not quarrel, LeGarde, for it would be 
 of advantage to neither. Besides, I am inclined to 
 be liberal with you. There is somthing at stake, but 
 not nearly as much as you may think, and perhaps 
 the best way is for us to come to an understanding 
 at once. Just what do you and Jules propose ?" 
 
 "We have not considered it fully, monsieur, for 
 there has been little time for consultation. We have 
 in our hands a gentleman whom monsieur, for rea 
 sons best known to himself, greatly fears. This gen 
 tleman may as ardently wish to live as monsieur 
 wishes him to die, and in that event it is merely a 
 question as to which one will pay best." 
 
 "He has nothing to pay with," Wheeler inter 
 rupted. 
 
 "Ah, but he must have friends, monsieur, for 
 he has not the appearance of one who is entirely with 
 out them." 
 
 "Has he told you this ?" 
 
 "Monsieur will pardon me if I do not answer 
 his question, as I am not the bearer of messages be 
 tween monsieur and his enemy. Let monsieur say 
 what he desires done and what he is willing to pay 
 those who may do it for him. Then we will con 
 sider."
 
 C&e Spotter, 165 
 
 LeGarde was not entirely sure of his ground. Tip 
 to the time he left Jules and Cameron, the latter 
 had not returned to consciousness and had mumbled 
 but few intelligent words. They rifled his pockets 
 and in them found a memorandum book bearing 
 Cameron's name and address and numerous papers 
 which they were not able or had not the time to 
 translate, but which evidently were statements of 
 accounts with one Eli Wheeler in some affair of 
 co-partnership. They jumped at the conclusion that 
 Wheeler had swindled the unconscious man out of a 
 large sum of money; so while Jules remained in 
 charge of Cameron at the house of Gaspard, a former 
 physician who through fear had been driven out 
 of Paris after the failure of the Commune in 1871, 
 Henri returned to the city to make the demand upon 
 Wheeler for ten thousand francs and at the same 
 time to pick up possible information that might aid 
 them in securing greater reward. At this moment 
 he was anxious to return to Mantes, expecting to find 
 Cameron fully restored. From him he believed the 
 whole story might be extracted and then Wheeler 
 would be entirely at their mercy. 
 
 An interruption at this moment prevented the 
 execution of the plan, and for the time drove from 
 Wheeler's thoughts all consideration of Duncan 
 Cameron. A hurried footstep came to the door and 
 a sharp, impatient rap followed. Wheeler bowed to 
 Henri, who stepped forward and opened the door
 
 166 c&e Spotter, 
 
 upon a messenger. The man entered and presented 
 to "M. White" the envelope which bore his name. 
 Instinctively, Wheeler felt that it brought him news 
 of an unpleasant nature, and he tore the envelope 
 open with trembling hands. His eyes fell upon the 
 single line 
 
 "Come quickly. Madame has taken poison. 
 
 "Jeannette." 
 
 "Curse the damned idiot!" he shouted as he 
 dashed toward the door. "Quick, LeGarde get a car 
 riage," and he flung money at the messenger as he 
 pushed the man into the hall and slammed the door 
 behind him. "Run, damn you, for a carriage! a 
 carriage with horses that can canter like hell itself." 
 
 He went down the stairway three steps at a time, 
 and plunged, bareheaded, into the street. LeGarde 
 and the messenger followed as rapidly as they could, 
 and at the curb came upon Wheeler, waving his arms 
 and shouting for a carriage. LeGarde silenced him 
 with a word, and clutching him by the arm led him 
 to the corner where he signaled to a coupe and thrust 
 the frenzied man inside. 
 
 "The address, monsieur?" 
 
 "To my apartments by the nearest route and quick 
 est possible time." 
 
 LeGarde gave the directions to the driver with 
 the promise of an extra reward should he make rapid 
 time, and stepped into the coupe. 
 
 "What has happened, monsieur?"
 
 Spotter* ier 
 
 Wheeler handed him Jeannette's message. As 
 LeGarde read it, the perspiration started upon his 
 forehead. 
 
 "This is bad, monsieur." 
 
 Wheeler nodded and shouted to the driver to make 
 better speed. 
 
 "It means the police official investigation." 
 
 "I know I know ! The shallow-pated fool ! 
 Where did she get poison? Who thought old Jim 
 Tubbs's daughter would ever e-are enough about any 
 thing to take her own life ? On on !" to the driver, 
 "a thousand francs if you will double your pace." 
 
 He was leaning out of the door in his eagerness, 
 and LeGarde with much difficulty succeeded in pull 
 ing him back into the carriage and pressing him 
 down upon the seat. 
 
 "Mousieur, monsieur, you must be calm! If 
 madame should die, there will be necessity for the 
 full possession of all your senses." 
 
 Wheeler sank passively upon the cushions and 
 looked gloomily upon the streets through which they 
 were rapidly whirling. 
 
 "Imbecile!" he muttered half -aloud, "why did 
 I ever hamper myself with this woman?"
 
 168 c&e ^potter* 
 
 CHAPTEK XVIII. 
 
 JEANNETTE PLATS HEK PAKT. 
 
 THE carriage scarcely came to a stop in front of 
 the building in which Wheeler's apartments were 
 located before he sprang from the step ana Hurried 
 up the stairway. LeGarde bade the coacnman wait 
 his return and ran after monsieur with the agility 
 of a cat. They came to the landing together and 
 pushed through the door. 
 
 Jeannette, wild and disheveled, was pacing the 
 floor, her hands clasped across her bosom and with 
 every appearance of great mental distress. 
 
 "Where is she?" asked Wheeler, glancing appre 
 hensively about the room. 
 
 "Oh, monsieur, madame, the poor lady, is gone!" 
 said the girl with a sob. 
 
 "Dead !" and Wheeler grasped the back of a chair 
 to keep from falling. "Speak, Jeannette, is she 
 dead ?" His voice was little more than a whisper. 
 
 "No, monsieur, she is not dead she has disap 
 peared." 
 
 He stared at the girl as one who hears but does
 
 Cjje ^potter, 169 
 
 not understand. She bowed before him and wrung 
 her hands in anguish. 
 
 "What does this mean, Jeannette ?" said monsieur 
 at last "You send me a message telUng me to come 
 quickly as madame has taken poison; and when T 
 come you meet me with the statement that madame 
 has disappeared. Where is she what is this story 
 about poison ?" 
 
 "I do not know, monsieur, indeed I do not know. 
 It was true as I said, but now it is no longer so, for 
 it is all a mystery. Oh, I do not know, monsieur; I 
 do not know." 
 
 She was greatly agitated and ran about the room 
 in an aimless and confused manner. Henri caught 
 her roughly by the arm and thrust her violently 
 against the wall. "Leave off this dribble," he com 
 manded angrily, "and tell monsieur everything that 
 has happened since he left you here to care for 
 madame. Tell him all, I say, or your pretty throat 
 will feel something rougher than a velvet ribbon!" 
 
 Jeannette winced with pain and cowed in fear be 
 fore the man. She attempted to speak, but a sob 
 choked back her words. Her cousin raised his hand 
 as if to strike, but Wheeler caught the upraised arm 
 and pushed the man aside. 
 
 "Let her alone, for she is already too frightened 
 to speak." Turning to the girl he assured her that 
 she would not be harmed, and asked her to tell her 
 story freely. 
 
 "It was this way, monsieur," she said after a
 
 170 Cfje Spotter, 
 
 moment's thought. She had not counted on the 
 presence of Henri when she agreed with madame, 
 and the appearance of her masterful lover nearly cost 
 her all her self-control. 
 
 "Though I listened a long time after you went 
 from the house, I could hear no sound in madame's 
 room, and there was no answer when I called to her. 
 I became frightened and struck upon the door, but 
 still there was no answer. Then a greater fear came 
 upon me, and I thought madame was dead." 
 
 Jeannette was gaining confidence now. She arose 
 from the chair into which she had sunk from weak 
 ness, and with broken sentences and quick, nervous 
 action explained how she had gained access to 
 madame's room. She was down on her knees before 
 the door working at the lock; she ran to and from 
 the other doors as she had done when trying their 
 keys; she led them to the boudoir, pointing out the 
 squares of paper which had wrapped the morphia 
 powders, and the bitter dregs of wine in the glass; 
 she caught the counterpane in her hands and illus 
 trated how the attempt had been made to arouse 
 the apparently unconscious woman, who only moaned 
 when shaken; she tasted again the morphia in the 
 glass, sat the fragile vessel down with horror on 
 her face. "Breathless I ran to the telegraph office, 
 monsieur, and sent the message which you have. T 
 did not know what other course to take madame 
 dead or unconscious here upon the bed, you should
 
 Cfie Spotter, in 
 
 be notified. I scarcely could write the words to the 
 clerk I could gasp but the one word, 'haste !' I ran 
 back here, monsieur, not caring that they stared in 
 wonder at me on the streets, and I was absent but 
 a few minutes. I came with throbbing heart to 
 madame's room she was not here ! She was not 
 there, or there, or there, or anywhere ! I searched 
 each nook I went to the street I asked some per 
 sons in the stairway who might have seen her. There 
 was no trace. 
 
 "Then I came back and waited hours, it seems, 
 monsieur waited until you came." 
 
 The girl sank exhausted upon the floor and buried 
 her face in her hands. Henri looked at her with 
 a half-concealed smile of admiration, but Wheeler 
 gazed upon the sobbing figure with a look of blank 
 and helpless pity. He moved mechanically about the 
 apartment, examined the papers on the stand as 
 though something about the bits of tissue would give 
 him a clue; lifted the glass and cautiously touched 
 the powder with the tips of his fingers. His eyes 
 wandered from one object to another, without com 
 prehending what he saw. He was dazed, mystified, 
 overwhelmed with the turn affairs had taken. In all 
 his life, Eli Wheeler had never been so completely 
 baffled as at this moment. By slow degrees his mind 
 began to work, and then, soon, he saw the danger 
 that might come to himself and the monstrous cor 
 poration which he served with so great fidelity if
 
 172 cfje Spotter, 
 
 his wife should succeed in making her way back to 
 America. There was no other thought for her of 
 the dangers which might beset an inexperienced, 
 friendless and penniless woman in the great city. He 
 feared for himself only, and this fear brought action. 
 
 "It was clever," he said, "very clever, and I 
 almost admire her for it. We must have her back, 
 LeGarde. Such a woman, running at large, may be 
 dangerous. We must find madame before the day 
 passes; but that should not be difficult, for she 
 knows little of Paris, and doubtless is now within 
 a couple of blocks of her home, confused and await 
 ing capture. Shall we ask the assistance of the 
 police 2" 
 
 LeGarde shook his head. "It is better not, 
 monsieur, if there is anything madame may tell 
 which you do not wish known. The officers ask many 
 questions." 
 
 "I know I know. You think that she may be 
 angry and would make unpleasant charges. Perhaps 
 it is so. But what shall we do ? Surely we cannot 
 search Paris alone." 
 
 "No, monsieur, for while doing so there would be 
 time for many things to happen. There is another 
 way as sure, but much less hazardous than through 
 official channels." 
 
 "And that, I suppose, is by the aid of those who 
 were with you in the Commune ?" 
 
 "I have many friends, monsieur," said LeGarde,
 
 Cfje ^pottet* 173 
 
 slightly coloring, "whose business is to see and know 
 what is going on in Paris. They are both men and 
 women who have common interests at stake and who 
 help each other in time of need in more ways than 
 I care to tell or monsieur would desire to hear." 
 
 "Would it not be a risk to set this rabble on her 
 track ?" 
 
 "It is not a mob, as monsieur thinks, but here a 
 man who is a shop-keeper, or his servant; there a 
 waiter or a valet; a maid in some mansion, an advo 
 cate's clerk; one in the government service, another 
 who may be the driver of a coupe or coachman for 
 the nobility; thousands who may live as do I, upon 
 their wits, and in performing service for those who 
 may have unpleasant but necessary tasks for which 
 they are willing to pay." 
 
 "Myself for instance." 
 
 "It is true, monsieur. It is necessary here in 
 France that this should be so, for the people bear 
 many burdens and wrongs at the hands of those who 
 rule. If they were not linked together as I have 
 said, their troubles would be greatly multiplied." 
 
 "You think this well, this freemasonry of com 
 mon sufferers could find madame ?" 
 
 "I am certain, monsieur, that it can be done, and 
 without publicity." 
 
 "How soon?" 
 
 LeGarde shrugged his shoulders. "In an hour, 
 monsieur, or in a day; or in any hour of a day in
 
 174 C!)e Spotter* 
 
 a week. I cannot tell which one. Madame is not 
 the child you have supposed. She has shown it 
 here." 
 
 Wheeler nodded. "You want money. How 
 much ?" 
 
 LeGarde hesitated. If he knew only a little more 
 of the history of monsieur! 
 
 "Fifty thousand francs," he ventured. 
 
 "Damn you, LeGarde, it is robbery! Ten thou 
 sand dollars for what you may accomplish in an 
 hour ! I won't pay it. Why, you may walk to the 
 next corner and run plump into madame, returning 
 of her own will." 
 
 LeGarde took an unfolded sheet of paper from 
 the dresser, where it had lain unobserved by either 
 Wheeler or Jeannette. He did not know what 
 was written upon the paper, but he made a shrewd 
 guess that it was some message from the missing 
 woman, and he believed that it might aid him in con 
 cluding the bargain for the search. Wheeler caught 
 the paper from LeGarde's hand and saw written 
 these words: 
 
 "I have done as you told me, but not to follow 
 your advice as to the future. I do not know how, 
 but if you have not killed Duncan Cameron I shall 
 find him and help him to escape. With your words 
 ringing in my ears, and with your villainy all ex 
 posed before me, I have thought it out and see my 
 duty."
 
 Cfte ^potter, 175 
 
 Monsieur crumpled the paper in his fist and then 
 tore it to bits. "Find her," he shouted in rage. "Set 
 your thieves and cut-throats upon her track and bring 
 her to this room. The money will be yours." 
 
 "Jeannette is the witness," said LeGarde. 
 
 "Yes, Jeannette is the witness, if you wish one. 
 She remains here where she may be found." 
 
 "She goes with me," said LeGarde with decision. 
 "There is work for her." 
 
 In a few moments they left the apartments and 
 Henri motioned Jeannette to enter the coupe, which 
 was waiting. He gave the driver an address and 
 then took a seat in the carriage. 
 
 "Where is she ?" he asked of the trembling woman 
 as soon as the carriage started. 
 
 "I do not know, Henri as God is my judge, I 
 swear " 
 
 "Pouf ! Will you never forget your lessons in the 
 convent ? You can't lie to me as you lied to monsieur. 
 I saw the deception in a moment; but he, the fool, 
 did not think that pretty, innocent Jeannette was 
 so great an actress. Where is madame?" 
 
 "Ah, Henri, I cannot tell I do not know. As 
 I love you, Henri, better than my life, I am telling 
 the truth. I did lie to monsieur. I let madame 
 escape, though the plan was hers, so that I should 
 not be suspected. I did not intend to keep it from 
 you, Henri, for have I not ever told you all?"
 
 176 C6e 
 
 He looked at her steadily, but saw in her coun 
 tenance no trace of deception. 
 
 "Then if you do not know where she is, monsieur's 
 reward may not be so easily earned," he said at last. 
 "It might have been wiser to have demanded a por 
 tion in advance."
 
 Cfte Spotter, ITT 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 OLD FEIENDS IN A STEANGE PLACE. 
 
 AMONG the studies which Mrs. Wheeler pursued 
 was that of Paris. For several months each day she 
 went carefully over sections of a small map which 
 she had bought at a bookstall, and with such de 
 scriptions as Jeannette readily gave her, she became 
 familiar with the general topography of the city. 
 Moreover, she had been most observant while upon 
 those frequent walks with her companion, and so 
 when she tripped away from the door leading to their 
 apartments there was neither indecision nor delay 
 in choosing the course she should take. She felt 
 quite sure of herself, and although for the first time 
 in her life she was without an escort in the crowded 
 streets of a city, she did not permit her self-posses 
 sion to waver for a moment. 
 
 "The first and most important thing is to get some 
 breakfast," she thought, "for I am nearly famished." 
 
 With this sensible object in view, Mrs. Wheeler 
 passed through several sections of streets until she 
 came to a respectable restaurant, in the window of
 
 ITS c&e Spotter, 
 
 which there was a sign to the effect that English 
 was spoken within. It was not good English, to be 
 sure, but it served her purpose, and in a few minutes 
 she was enjoying a substantial and appetizing meal, 
 of which she ate with increasing courage. 
 
 When her bill was settled, she asked the waiter 
 to order a coupe and to direct the driver to take her 
 immediately to the American legation. "I have be 
 come separated from my party," she explained with 
 out a twinge of conscience over the slight deception, 
 ''and as I know little of Paris and less of the French 
 language, I am under the necessity of seeking those 
 who may best direct me." 
 
 "Ah, if madame will ah inform where she has 
 been stopping, we will direct that she be returned 
 without necessity of the visit to the Legation," said 
 the cashier, coming forward from his desk and bow 
 ing before her most politely. 
 
 "No, it is best that I go first to the Legation," she 
 replied. "I will soonest find my friends in that 
 way." 
 
 A franc from her little store was added to the sum 
 paid for breakfast, and the waiter hurried out to 
 return shortly with the information that her carriage 
 was in waiting. Mrs. Wheeler thanked him and in 
 a moment was whirling away in quite an elegant 
 equipage toward her destination. 
 
 As they approached the business section of the city 
 she caught a glimpse of a carriage dashing past in
 
 Spotter. 179 
 
 the opposite direction. A white-faced, bare-headed 
 man leaned from the half-open door urging upon the 
 driver greater speed. She shrank back upon the 
 cushions in terror and for several minutes was almost 
 unnerved by the brief vision she had caught of her 
 husband. Then the humor of the situation came to 
 her, and had the rumble of her carriage upon the 
 pavement been stilled, the driver must have heard 
 a hearty and not unmusical peal of laughter. 
 
 "Ah, Jeannette has sent her message, and it has 
 been received," she said with evident pleasure. "As 
 dear old dad would say, 'go it, Wheeler, you have 
 got a bad spell of weather before ye, and no one's 
 going to lend ye an umbrel'." 
 
 The ride was one of considerable length, but it 
 gave her time for reflection. So far, her plan had 
 been successful, and some encouragement was to be 
 found in this. She knew that she was passing 
 through an entirely new section of Paris, and that 
 she was each moment going farther away from her 
 home, and though Jeannette had told her wonderful 
 stories of the ability of the Paris police to solve any 
 mystery, nevertheless, Mrs. Wheeler felt that some 
 time must elapse before they would be npon her 
 track, should her husband determine to take that 
 course. Until he had exhausted other methods of 
 discovering her, she believed he would be reluctant 
 to call upon the authorities. There was no reason 
 to expect that he would make inquiries at the Lega-
 
 180 Cije Spotter* 
 
 tion, as He was not aware that she knew of its exist 
 ence. By the merest chance she some months previ 
 ously had come upon a magazine article describing 
 the embassy. This she read and re-read until the 
 place became to her like a fabled city of refuge, at 
 the gates of which she need only knock to receive 
 protection. She recalled, too, that some years before, 
 when Mr. Cameron was endeavoring to instil a little 
 knowledge of the world into the neighborhood where 
 they lived, he once described at an evening meeting 
 how the government was represented abroad, and one 
 of the duties which he ascribed to the Minister was 
 to protect citizens of the United States who might 
 come to him in trouble. This all came back to her 
 when she read about the Legation, and she enter 
 tained no doubt that this was the one place in Paris 
 to which an American woman should go when in 
 distress. 
 
 So Mrs. Wheeler came to the Rue de Villijust with 
 confidence, and when the carriage stopped in front 
 of the building and she saw the flag like none other 
 that she had seen since, the day she bade a careless 
 farewell to her mother it was but natural that she 
 should feel that her freedom was near at hand. 
 
 There was a long half-hour of waiting, during 
 which she went for the hundreth time over the story 
 she would tell, and then Mrs. Wheeler was ushered 
 into a pleasant office in which a number of 
 were engage'd at their various duties.
 
 C&e Spotter, isi 
 
 To the secretary who received her, Mrs. Wheeler 
 requested an audience with the Minister, saying 
 with no small diffidence that she was an American 
 lady in trouble who greatly desired some assistance 
 in communicating with friends at home. 
 
 The young man explained that his chief was at 
 that moment engaged upon matters of great im 
 portance and might not be at liberty during the 
 afternoon. If madame would fully make known her 
 errand, it could be taken up by some of the sub 
 ordinates with entire satisfaction. Otherwise, she 
 might give her name and a message of a few words 
 which would possess the Minister of the importance 
 of her visit, and then wait ; he would see what might 
 be done. 
 
 He took a card from the desk, and madame wrote 
 upon it "Mrs. Wheeler, upon a matter of life or 
 death to a fellow countryman." 
 
 Madame was shown to an anteroom opening from 
 the office, and here took her place with a number 
 of others, and vaited. Occasionally a door opened 
 to rooms beyond and a messenger stepped out and 
 called the name of one of those ahead of her. Mrs. 
 Wheeler was engaged in calculating the probable 
 errand of each and in wondering how long it would 
 take to tell the story she had mapped out, when she 
 heard the rather loud tones of a familiar voice, just 
 outside the archway in the office she had recently 
 quitted.
 
 182 C&e 
 
 "I tell you it is the only place in the city where I 
 feel at home," said the speaker, "and that's because 
 the people around here talk plain United States." 
 
 "But we are here and ain't got much time to stay/' 
 was the reply in another strangely familiar voice; 
 "and so we ought to see everything we can." 
 
 "I've seen all I care to of pictures, and artists 
 and studios, and carvings, and bronzes, and Catholic 
 churches, and palaces and gardens where they don't 
 grow nothing but flowers; and I'm gol dum tired 
 of hearing nothing but polly vouz from morning till 
 night, and of having these old grinning, bobbing 
 Trenchers constantly holding out their hands for 
 franc pieces every time I turn around." 
 
 Mrs. Wheeler rubbed her eyes vigorously to make 
 sure that she was awake. She rose, staggering from 
 her chair and tottered to the entrance; stood an 
 instant, swaying upon the threshold, and then stum 
 bled forward with outstretched hands. 
 
 "Mr. Fisher!" she said, as a child might cry to 
 its father. 
 
 "My God ! it's Betsey Tubbs !" ejaculated the little 
 bald-headed old gentleman who had been talking, as 
 he leaped forward in time to catch the young woman 
 in his arms and keep her from falling to the floor. 
 
 "Betsey!" cried Mrs. Fisher, coming forward to 
 lend aid to her husband. "Why, mercy, mercy, child 
 how why, you poor dear there, don't faint 
 goodness, goodness she's gone! Quick, Arad, find
 
 Ci)e Spotter* iss 
 
 a place for her to lie down." And for the moment 
 Mrs. Fisher took affairs of state in her own hands 
 and directed the disposition of the insensible woman. 
 
 Betsey was conveyed to a retiring room and in a 
 short time, through the ministrations of the motherly 
 woman at her side, came to herself. 
 
 "I couldn't help it," she said apologetically as she 
 kissed Mrs. Fisher's hands. "I didn't mean to ; but 
 I just couldn't help it." 
 
 "Of course, you couldn't, dear. I came pretty 
 near fainting myself, when I looked up and saw you 
 standing there." 
 
 "Thunder out of a clear sky ain't to be compared 
 to it," said Mr. Fisher, who had been explaining 
 to the polite young secretary that the lady was "a. 
 little girl who used to live neighbor to us in the oil 
 country." "I wouldn't have been more surprised 
 to have seen poor Duncan Cameron coming toward 
 us." 
 
 Mrs. Wheeler's face clouded with a loot of 
 anxiety. "Mr. Cameron is in Paris," she said. 
 
 "Cameron! Cameron here in Paris? Why, every 
 body at home believes he is dead." 
 
 She shook her head. "To, Mr. Fisher, Cameron 
 was here yesterday, and alive. He may be dead 
 to-day." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Fisher looked at each other, dumb 
 founded. 
 
 "Was he sick ?"
 
 184 Cfte Spotter, 
 
 "No I am afraid that he has been murdered. That 
 was what brought me here. I was waiting to see the 
 Minister." 
 
 "Cameron murdered!" said Mr. Fisher in a 
 hushed voice, "and by these dum polly vouz 
 Frenchers? Why, Betsey, tell me all you know 
 about it. There must be something we can do." 
 
 With little detail, and without apology or extenua 
 tion for her own course in the past, Mrs. Wheeler 
 related the facts that gave her so great fear as to 
 Cameron's fate. Mr. Fisher interrupted her with a 
 few questions to the point, and with numerous mild 
 oaths, for which he was duly reproved by Mrs. 
 Fisher. Then, when it was finished, he declared that 
 they must see the Minister at once, even if they were 
 compelled "to push the doorkeeper one side and break 
 in on a diplomatic confab." He believed that there 
 was no time to lose, if, indeed it was not already 
 too late.
 
 Cfje Spotter* iss 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 MB. TUBES RECEIVES A I/ETTEB. 
 
 ARAB FISHER was a man of some standing at the 
 American Legation. He had arrived there with Mrs. 
 Fisher several days prior to the one upon which 
 they had so opportunely met Mrs. Wheeler, and 
 announced that they had been travelling in the 
 British Isles and were intending to spend some weeks 
 in Paris before sailing for home. Mr. Fisher carried 
 letters of introduction from several prominent 
 Americans, including one from the Governor of 
 Pennsylvania. He had a familiar way of making 
 himself at home while in the Legation buildings or 
 upon the grounds, betraying a sense of co-partnership 
 in this one little spot over which the flag of his 
 country floated. Every day he visited the Legation 
 "to get some of the French out of his ears and mouth, 
 and to be where everything wasn't polly vouz," he 
 said. His open contempt for those who could not 
 "talk United States," and his homely recitals of 
 some of his experiences in ordering his meals, going 
 from one place to another, and securing information
 
 186 
 
 generally, were most amusing to the clerks in the 
 Legation and brought back to some of them visions 
 of scenes and characters with which they had been 
 most familiar in the past. Mrs. Fisher, who was the 
 constant companion of her husband, sometimes 
 remonstrated, hinting that the gentlemen would 
 think they had been reared in the woods. 
 
 "I don't care a dum, Mrs. Fisher," he replied. 
 "The boys all know that we got our money by selling 
 a mighty poor streak of land under which there 
 happened to be a vein of oil, for a comfortable pile 
 of cash, and after we once got our eyes open, we 
 have been sharp enough to hang on to the money. 
 They know that we ain't city raised, and what's the 
 use of tryin' to make out that we ain't green ? We 
 are just travelling around so we can get good and 
 tired of these foreigners and go home contented, 
 knowin' that there ain't no other place in the whole 
 universe that's better than the United States, and 
 particularly Pennsylvania." 
 
 Mr. Fisher made his way directly to the chief of 
 the department and declared that he must see the 
 Minister at once upon a very important matter. 
 
 "I am sorry, Mr. Fisher," was the response, "but 
 the Legation hours are over for the day and the 
 Minister is not here. We simply were waiting to 
 close the office until the lady who fainted should be 
 well enough to depart"
 
 Cfje Spotter* isr 
 
 "Where does the Minister live?" asked Mr. 
 Fisher. I will follow him." 
 
 "That would not be possible to-day, as he has 
 gone to Versailles to attend an important function 
 which could not be ignored." 
 
 Mr. Fisher was annoyed. He thought a moment 
 and then said: "Now, look here, Mr. Ellis, this 
 ain't an ordinary case. A countryman of weuns is 
 in trouble maybe murdered. He came here to find 
 a dum sneakin' cuss, who is mean enough to be a 
 Trencher, and who cheated a lot of good men outen 
 their eye-teeth, including the man who came to find 
 him. He met the coot on the street and they had 
 some words, and then they went together to a tavern 
 to talk it over where the police wouldn't interfere. 
 A Frenchwoman in the service of the swindler sent 
 a couple of cut-throats to help her master. Late in 
 the evening when the swindler got home he said the 
 other man had started back on his return to America. 
 Now, I know the circumstances connected with the 
 whole transaction over home, and I know that the 
 man who was the greatest sufferer never started back 
 home alive without satisfaction from the man who 
 ruined him. There has been a murder, or else as 
 good a man as ever breathed is held a prisoner." 
 
 "This is rather serious, Mr. Fisher." 
 
 "Serious, Mr. Ellis, of course it is. I calculate 
 that it is about as serious a piece of business as has
 
 188 Ci)e Spotter, 
 
 come up between France and the United States in 
 some time." 
 
 Ellis picked up Mrs. Wheeler's card, which had 
 been returned to him by the usher, studied it a 
 moment and then turned to Mr. Fisher. 
 
 "This swindler, as you call him, is Eli Wheeler, is 
 he not?" 
 
 "Yes, Mr. Ellis, that's the man. But " 
 
 "And the man who searched him out is named 
 Duncan Cameron?" 
 
 "Exactly Duncan Cameron. But how'd youns 
 know this ?" 
 
 "I have watched the case in the American papers. 
 It is of interest to me from the fact that I am an 
 Ohio man and, in common with others, have been 
 deeply concerned in following the rise of the Cygnet 
 Oil Producing and Refining Company. That opera 
 tion of Wheeler's with the independents some two 
 or more years ago was little less than robbery." 
 
 "And the president of the Cygnet put it up." 
 
 "Possibly, but like a good many other suspected 
 things, it cannot be proven. How long has Wheeler 
 been in Paris ?" 
 
 "Not a minute as Wheeler, but ever since he left 
 the States as Cyrus White, dealer in American scuri- 
 ties and promoter of the schemes of the Cygnet." 
 
 Mr. Ellis whistled. "So, M. Cyrus White is none 
 other than Eli Wheeler? And the lady who wrote
 
 139 
 
 this message is the girl who ran away with him after 
 Wheeler swindled her father ?" 
 
 "She didn't know it, Mr. Ellis. Don't blame her. 
 She was an ignorant country girl, who, like all weuns 
 when money come to us quick and easy all in a 
 lump, lost her head. You'll find her repentant, and 
 you'll find, too, that she's learned a heap in two 
 years." 
 
 Mrs. Wheeler gave to Ellis full details of her meet 
 ing with Cameron and the events immediately fol 
 lowing. He recognized that it was a delicate mat 
 ter, and one that must be handled in the usual man 
 ner by turning the information over to the city 
 officials and leaving it with them to act. ISTothing 
 could be done until the Minister's return in the morn 
 ing, when Mr. Fisher and Mrs. Wheeler should meet 
 him without delay and the subject would be taken 
 up. 
 
 It was growing dark as Mr. and Mrs. Fisher, ac 
 companied by Mrs. Wheeler, whom they would not 
 let out of their sight, started for their hotel. A man 
 who loitered near enough to the carriage to hear the 
 address, which Mr. Fisher read from a card in his 
 very richest Pennsylvania French, stopped to roll 
 and light a cigarette as the carriage drove away. The 
 glow of the match displayed the perplexed features 
 of Henri LeGarde. 
 
 Late that evening, after dinner had been served
 
 190 
 
 and their plans discussed, "Mrs. Wheeler wrote this 
 letter, which Mr. Fisher addressed and posted: 
 
 "DEAR OLD DAD: 
 
 "I am coming home. I have found Mr. and Mrs. 
 Fisher, and they are to take me from this horrible 
 place, and will bring me home with them. We must 
 stay here a few days on very important business, and 
 then we will go to London, and from there home. 
 You don't know how I love to write that word, Dad. 
 I could just write 'Home Dad Home Dad' all 
 over the sheet and then not say it half as many times 
 as I have said it in my heart every hour since I 
 found Mr. and Mrs. Fisher. 
 
 "I won't tell you anything about the man who 
 stole your money, except to say that these mnti 
 friends have promised not to let him take me from 
 them. 
 
 "Now, you dear, dear old Dad, break this news 
 to Ma and get her prepared for my coming. You 
 will know how to do it without letting her see this 
 letter. And you be brave, Dad, and keep well. Mr. 
 Fisher has told me about you, and though I will 
 come back to you without any money, I am strong 
 and know something now. We have planned it all 
 out how I shall take care of you, and we will all be 
 happy again. 
 
 "BETSEY/' 
 
 When old Jim Tubbs got the letter a fortnight
 
 later, he took the collie out into the fields and read 
 it to him a dozen times. 
 
 "I knowed the little gal had the right kind of a 
 heart in her." he said to the dog. "She was innercent 
 and kind always, till her head got swelled with 
 money; but, Lord, Don, it was only jest temporary. 
 Folks what's born and brought up right is like flogs 
 what's got good blood in 'em and is trained right 
 when they's puppies. They may git excited some 
 times for a minnit and make mistakes, as you did 
 when I caught ye barkin' up the wrong tree for a 
 coon the other day. But when I pointed out the mis 
 take, you made up for it by gittin' in the right place 
 in a jiff and barkin' twict as loud and fast as ye 
 did before. Betsey made a mistake, Don ; but, Lord, 
 she'll do all she kin to recterfy it."
 
 192 c&e Spotter, 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE COMMUNE AT WORK. 
 
 HENRI LEGARDE, followed by Jeannette, entered 
 a confectioner's shop that was located in a large 
 block mainly given up to small stores of a varied 
 nature. They made their way directly through the 
 salesroom into a common sitting-room at the back, 
 and passing through the door, ascended a dark stair 
 way to the floor above. Henri knocked at the door 
 at the head of the stairs, and after giving a mut 
 tered password, they were admitted into a roomy 
 apartment, dimly lighted from a shaft at one end. 
 
 A few men sat at small tables amusing themselves 
 with dice or cards, and at another table four or five 
 women of different ages were talking together over 
 a couple of bottles of light wine. There was no fur 
 niture except chairs and tables. The room was stag 
 nant with poor air, dirty and ill-smelling. 
 
 "Welcome, Citizen LeGarde," said one of the 
 men, looking up from his cards. "We need new 
 blood in the game, for it is going to no one's fancy. 
 Sit in and take a hand with us."
 
 C6e ^potter* 193 
 
 "Not now, Citizen Lefevre," replied LeGarde, 
 "there is work on hand for all, and it must be done 
 at once. There are a few good sous in it, too - " 
 
 "Of which Citizen LeGarde will take care that he 
 gets his full share," laughed the man who had been 
 addressed as Lefevre. 
 
 Henri's eyes flashed and a scowl darkened his 
 face. "Curse you Lefevre, have I not always paid 
 you and every citizen here, man or woman liber 
 ally for what we have done together? Have I ever 
 taken more than my just share, or have I ever 
 refused to contribute to the common fund when the 
 treasury of the Commune demanded it?" 
 
 "No, no," came from a dozen tongues, male and 
 female. "LeGarde is all right Don't mind what 
 Lefevre says, for he has been losing Lis sous all the 
 morning and must have a fling at some one." 
 
 "He might better be on the lookout for oppor 
 tunities to help the Cause," growled LeGarde. "He, 
 as well as others, spends too much time gambling and 
 drinking, leaving a few to do the planning, think 
 ing, and acting for the Circle." 
 
 Lefevre made no reply. He saw that the chief 
 citizen was in bad temper, and former experiences 
 taught him that there was danger in adding fuel to 
 the flame. 
 
 "Call the others," ordered LeGarde, shortly. Two 
 or three men and as many women disapeared through 
 the doors opening from the two sides and one end
 
 194 Cfje Spotter. 
 
 of the room, and in a few moments several other men 
 and women came hastily into the hall. They all 
 were of the same general stamp none past middle 
 age, and probably none under twenty years. They 
 represented almost as many occupations as there were 
 persons present, and while a few had steady employ 
 ment, where they might be useful, the majority were 
 prowling jackals, ready for almost any crime or 
 adventure. It was a remnant of that Commune 
 which for a time held Paris in its grasp after the 
 withdrawal of the German army, and they lived 
 here in the upper stories of a great block, where they 
 assisted or protected each other as occasion might 
 demand. It was the administration building or head 
 center of that organization of which LeGarde had 
 spoken to Wheeler, and the knowledge possessed 
 within its walls of what was transpiring in the city 
 was greater than that held by the entire police depart 
 ment. 
 
 "A woman is missing," said LeGarde, looking 
 upon the fifty or more persons gathered around him. 
 "Some of you may know her, as she is the woman 
 Jeannette has been watching so many months. She 
 left her home an hour and a half ago, carrying a 
 small handbag. She knows little of Paris, speaks 
 only a few sentences of French, and has but little 
 money. She ought to be discovered in an hour. Jean 
 nette will describe her." 
 
 Jeannette stood upon a chair where all might see
 
 Cjje Spotter, 195 
 
 her, and in a few words pictured madame's dress 
 and appearance so minutely that those who listened 
 almost could see the woman they were to seek. 
 
 "She is one who by her beauty and the fresh glow 
 of her complexion without rouge will attract atten 
 tion," concluded Jeannette after describing the dress. 
 "Her eyes are of strong blue and appear always to 
 be asking a question. Her cheeks are round, her 
 lips are rather full, and her tee,th perfect. She has 
 hair like no other woman in Paris. One might call 
 it brown and another would declare that it is a dark 
 auburn, but whatever it may be in color, it is like 
 shimmering skeins of silk in texture and covers her 
 head in a magnificent coif." 
 
 LeGarde added a few further particulars 
 about Mrs. Wheeler's disappearance and then told 
 them that the news must be spread through all chan 
 nels. As soon as she was discovered, a message must 
 be forwarded to him, while at the same time watch 
 should be kept upon madame and every movement 
 followed until he should arrive to direct the espion 
 age in person and give further orders. "The re 
 ward," he said, "will be a hundred francs to the one 
 who makes the first report concerning her, and fifty 
 francs to each of those who may be called upon to 
 assist in continuing the watch. If we are success 
 ful, it means another thousand francs for our 
 treasury."
 
 196 C&e Spotter, 
 
 "And probably five thousand for LeGarde's belt," 
 muttered Lefevre to himself. 
 
 In five minutes the room was deserted by all save 
 Henri and Jeannette. In less than an hour more than 
 a thousand persons in Paris were looking for Mrs. 
 Wheeler. In an hour and a quarter LeGarde knew 
 where she had eaten her breakfast. In another half 
 hour he knew the name of the driver and the num 
 ber of the carriage madame had employed in her 
 trip to the American Legation. In another hour 
 there came a report from one who had seen madame 
 waiting for an audience with the American Minis 
 ter, and three were watching to dog her footsteps 
 should she emerge from the embassy. Then LeGarde 
 and Jeannette went to Wheeler, who met them at the 
 door, pale and nervous. 
 
 "What news ?" he asked anxiously. 
 
 "She has been located." 
 
 "Where?" 
 
 "At the American Legation." 
 
 Wheeler staggered. "How in the devil did she 
 come to know anything about the Legation ? She has 
 gone there to expose me." 
 
 LeGarde nodded. 
 
 "Has she seen the Minister ?" 
 
 "She is waiting for an audience." 
 
 Wheeler launched a string of oaths that almost 
 shocked the Frenchman and caused Jeannette to stop
 
 Ci)e ^potter, 197 
 
 her ears. When his inventions of blasphemy were 
 exhausted, he asked LeGarde what was to be done. 
 
 "You must be ready to leave Paris at a moment's 
 notice. The police soon will be searching for you 
 and for one Henri LeGarde and his companion 
 Jules ; and also for a certain M. Cameron." 
 
 "You think that her game ?" 
 
 "Yes; you were hard with her and she is 
 angry. She will tell of this man's disappearance." 
 
 "But, if you have told me the truth, we can pro 
 duce Cameron and refute her." 
 
 "Do you want that done ?" 
 
 "No !" he shouted, with another torrent of oaths. 
 
 "Monsieur is again childish," said LeGarde at 
 length. "It will not prevent his exposure to stand 
 there and curse like a pirate. He must act. There 
 may be some hours in which to do so, for a number 
 of people are waiting for audience ahead of madame. 
 Then, if she sees the Minister, there are certain 
 forms to follow and delays to encounter before the 
 information may be given the police. It is possible 
 that nothing will be done before morning; but we 
 shall know each step and can estimate the moment 
 of danger with precision, for the watchers are vigi 
 lant. 
 
 "Monsieur must immediately go to his office and 
 put his affairs in shape to leave. All securities, 
 private papers and cash should be placed in as small 
 parcels as possible so that they may be removed under
 
 198 Ciie Spotter. 
 
 monsieur's direction. The papers and records be 
 longing to those whom monsieur represents may be 
 deposited with the company's bankers with the ex 
 planation that monsieur is called suddenly to Eng 
 land. In the meantime, Jeannette, with the help of 
 those who may be trusted, will pack the articles in 
 these rooms which belong to monsieur, and they may 
 be stored where they may be withdrawn when it is 
 safe to do so. 
 
 "By evening, if necessary, monsieur, disguised as 
 an invalid gentleman, will be ready to leave Paris 
 with Jeannette as his guide and nurse." 
 
 Wheeler looked at him passively. "Where shall I 
 go?" he asked presently. 
 
 "To a very safe hiding-place not more than two 
 hours' ride from Paris, and where you may be con 
 stantly informed as to the progress of events here," 
 was the response. 
 
 "It appears to be the only course to follow," he 
 said, after reflection. "I suppose it is at least the 
 safest thing to do, until I may confer with my prin 
 cipals in America." 
 
 The remainder of the day was passed in unusual 
 activity on Wheeler's part. LeGarde brought two 
 young men whom he recommended as assistants, and 
 as they were accustomed to clerical work, a number 
 of letters were written at W T heeler's dictation ex 
 plaining that M. White had been urgently and uneK- 
 pectedly summoned to England, and that therefore
 
 C&e Spotter, 199 
 
 business transactions with the Cygnet Oil Producing 
 and Refining Company must be held in abeyance 
 until his return, which might be expected soon. With 
 his own hand he wrote President Lanphere and put 
 him in possession of all the occurrences up to that 
 time, and giving an address which had been furnished 
 by LeGarde as entirely safe for future communica 
 tions. In fact, the office of M. Cyrus White was 
 dismantled and closed, and the man who so long 
 had posed under that name left the place in feverish 
 haste, carrying a portmanteau in which there were 
 negotiable paper and bank notes to the value of 
 nearly two hundred and fifty thousand francs. 
 
 In the afternoon a message from LeGarde in 
 formed Wheeler that his wife had quite dramatically 
 met acquaintances at the Legation, that she fainted 
 upon recognizing them, and that they were now 
 closeted in a private room. Later, at an obscure 
 hotel whither he had been directed, Wheeler met 
 LeGarde and was given such an account of the inci 
 dents of the afternoon as best suited the purpose of 
 the man into whose hands he had fallen. 
 
 Wheeler's one thought was immediate flight. He 
 was led to believe that the Parisian police were even 
 now in possession of the story and had commenced a 
 preliminary investigation, which was not calculated 
 to awaken alarm in the suspected persons, but which 
 might result in sudden and decisive action. His 
 fears were played upon until his condition became
 
 200 Cfje 
 
 one of panic, and he thrust money into LeGarde's 
 hands without waiting to count it, begging the Com 
 munist to hasten the arrangements for his departure 
 from Paris. Whispered consultations were held by 
 members of the Circle who were continually arriv 
 ing and departing with appearance of the greatest 
 possible secrecy, and Eli Wheeler, the unscrupulous 
 manipulator, the man who for years had been prac 
 ticing the black art of deception with an adroit 
 ness that commended him to the high regard of the 
 great originator of the Cygnet Oil Producing and 
 Refining Company, became a trembling, cowardly 
 victim of his own strongest weapon. 
 
 It was nearing ten o'clock that evening when a 
 muffled, bent figure, leaning upon the arm of a 
 woman who was clad in a smart travelling costume, 
 and whose face was scarcely distinguishable through 
 a clever arrangement of her headgear, took the last 
 way train from Paris toward Havre. 
 
 "Where do we go?" asked the apparent invalid 
 of his companion when they were seated in their 
 compartment, and the porter had deposited the port 
 manteaus beside them. 
 
 "To Mantes," she replied in a whisper. "It is 
 but a short distance." 
 
 In this manner Eli Wheeler left Paris, nor did he 
 ever see the city again. But there were those re 
 maining who remembered him, for in the assembly 
 room of the Circle that night, many a bottle of wine
 
 C&e ^potter. 201 
 
 was opened which had been purchased with his 
 money, and the citizens there gathered laughed 
 heartily when told by chosen aides of LeGarde how 
 completely their chief's latest patron had shown him 
 self a poltroon.
 
 202 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 A BIDE IN THE COUNTRY. 
 
 AT MANTES, whither they arrived after midnight 
 in a storm of cold, drizzling rain, they were met by 
 a shabby, ill-smelling, closed carriage driven by Jules 
 LeGarde, though he was so muffled and tied up that 
 he was not recognized by Wheeler. Jeannette ex 
 changed no greetings that disclosed the identity of 
 the driver, and they were soon upon the road leading 
 toward their destination. The night was dark and 
 gusty, and after the poorly-lighted streets of the 
 town were left behind, Wheeler, peering from the 
 carriage window, could distinguish none of the ob 
 jects along the roadway. Suddenly there flashed 
 upon his mind the thought that he was being taken 
 away for the purpose of robbery, and he felt about 
 in the carriage until he secured the portmanteau in 
 which a large share of his treasure was lodged and 
 drew it into his lap. 
 
 "Monsieur need not be alarmed," said Jeannette, 
 "he is in the hands of friends." 
 
 "I do not doubt that, so far as you are concerned,
 
 CJie Spotter, 203 
 
 Jeannette," he replied quickly, "but it appears to be 
 a lonely road and for the moment the fear of high 
 waymen came into my mind. You must know that 
 in these bags there is a great deal of value." 
 
 "I know, monsieur," replied Jeannette with a 
 sigh. "To one in my humble station it is a fabulous 
 fortune. But it is as safe from highwaymen here, 
 monsieur, as though locked in the vaults of the Bank 
 of France." 
 
 "What guerdon of safety surrounds it here, in this 
 lonely and desolate highway, with only an unarmed 
 man and a young woman to guard it, and a driver 
 who, perhaps, may or may not be a highwayman 
 himself?" 
 
 Jeannette laughed and bethought herself that she 
 must allay his fears. 
 
 "I forget; monsieur has not been informed in 
 whose carriage he rides, or to whose retreat he is 
 about to pay a visit, else he would not ask a question 
 of this nature." 
 
 "No, Jeannette, I have not been informed; I do 
 not know. I have trusted all to LeGarde and you." 
 
 "That should be your assurance of safety." 
 
 "It may be so, but LeGardte has no interest in 
 me other than that which is purchased. I have within 
 the last few hours witnessed some exhibition of his 
 power and resources, but I cannot escape the thought 
 that it would be very easy for him simply to make
 
 204 C&e Spotter, 
 
 away with monsieur and help himself to what I pos 
 sess in money and other valuables." 
 
 "Monsieur!" and Wheeler knew that Jeannette 
 drew herself up to an attitude of indignation, "this 
 is most unjust of you. Neither Henri nor Jules have 
 given you cause for harboring such thoughts. Both 
 have served you well, and will continue to do so 
 until you are no longer in danger or in need of their 
 assistance. They are poor men, monsieur, and have 
 seen their hopes dashed to earth by the triumph 
 of the military and money power of France. But 
 they are not ungrateful traitors who will turn upon 
 an employer who has treated them with considera 
 tion and generosity." 
 
 Wheeler thought of the scene which occurred in his 
 office early the previous morning when Henri 
 LeGarde extorted ten thousand francs from him at 
 the point of a murderous-looking knife ; but he made 
 no reply. 
 
 "Monsieur." 
 
 "Yes, Jeannette." 
 
 "Has there been any act of mine that would lead 
 you to have suspicion that I would consent to your 
 robbery, or that harm would come to you in any 
 manner ?" 
 
 "No, no, Jeannette, surely there has not You 
 have been faithful and truthful in all things." 
 
 "Thank you, monsieur," she said in a voice that 
 trembled.
 
 Cfie Spotter, 205 
 
 "I have depended much upon you, Jeannette, and 
 without your help I do not know what I could have 
 done. I I have come to regard you highly, Jean- 
 nette very highly, indeed." 
 
 "I thank you, monsieur; I thank you for those 
 words," she repeated in low tones. 
 
 Wheeler's inordinate vanity for some weeks had 
 been feeding upon the belief that he was making 
 an impression upon Jeannette. He found her quick, 
 vivacious, ready to aid and abet him, sympathetic 
 really a person of superior attainments. She had 
 encouraged him, under her lover's direction, and 
 madame's quick eyes detected it. There was reason 
 now for still further encouragement, and so when 
 monsieur put his arm about her waist and drew her 
 more closely to him, fondly imagining that he had 
 made another conquest, Jeannette did not resist. 
 
 "I might say, Jeannette," he continued, with his 
 lips close to her cheek, "that my feelings toward you 
 have reached a point where the simple, cold word 
 regard does not express them. You have crept into 
 my heart, little girl; day by day you have grown 
 closer to me, and I have come to look upon you with 
 love." 
 
 "Fie, monsieur!" and she struggled feebly to 
 escape his grasp. "You should not say this to an 
 honest girl. Pleasant as it may be to you and to 
 me, alas ! you have no right to speak of it ; nor I to 
 listen. Think of madame !"
 
 206 ctie Spotter, 
 
 "Wait, Jeannette dear Jeannette I have a right 
 to say that I love you, and you have a right to listen 
 to the declaration. Madame never was my wife!" 
 
 Jeannette knew that he lied, and she hated him 
 more than ever for it. She had come to have for 
 Mrs. Wheeler a high opinion, which had been in 
 creased during the last few hours, and she consoled 
 herself that in submitting to the present ordeal she 
 would find some compensation in the belief that this 
 man would soon get the reward due him for his 
 treatment of madame. 
 
 "Ah, monsieur, this cannot be true. Madame was 
 so good, so kind and ever had such a modest way." 
 
 "I swear it, Jeannette, and the proof of what I 
 say can be produced. Madame is deep deeper than 
 either of us suspected. I did not know her until 
 after we reached Paris, and then I learned only a 
 part of her nature. She was almost a stranger to me 
 a young adventuress, whose pretty, innocent-look 
 ing face and guileless manner appealed to me and 
 caught my fancy. The carrying out of great business 
 transactions for the benefit of the whole world, but 
 which were opposed by a few fanatics who did not 
 know what they were doing, made it necessary for 
 me to leave my country and go abroad, and this girl 
 robbed and deserted her parents without my knowl 
 edge, and fastened herself upon me. Not until we 
 were here some months did I know that she had left
 
 Cfte Spotter* 207 
 
 her father and mother in actual want, and I then 
 took occasion to relieve them. 
 
 "Of course it was weak and wrong in me to take 
 up with her, Jeannette, but you know that she has a 
 most attractive manner when she desires to display it 
 She blinded me to what was right." 
 
 "Did monsieur intend never to marry madame?" 
 asked Jeannette, controlling her voice with difficulty, 
 for she was growing more indignant each minute. 
 
 "At one time I thought of it. You recall how I 
 disposed of her flashy jewelry and impossible 
 clothing, and how I attempted to lead and influence 
 her to adopt those manners and customs which would 
 become the wife of a sedate and home-loving busi 
 ness man, or a gentleman of leisure and quiet tastes. 
 But she was wilful and obstinate; and then when 
 this Cameron appeared upon the scene, and after an 
 interview, went his own way with money in his 
 pocket, she accused me of all manner of crimes, and 
 left me, as you know. I cannot guess what she 
 intends to do with these people whom she picked up 
 at the Legation, as there is no knowing to what ends 
 such a woman's desire for revenge may lead her." 
 
 "Why do you flee from Paris, monsieur, in such 
 terror, if what you tell me is true ?" 
 
 "Through unfortunate circumstances madame has 
 come into possession of some information which 
 might be used against me to the damage of my com 
 pany and my own financial ruin. In moments of
 
 208 
 
 weakness I told her some things which she should 
 not have known, and though they are not in them 
 selves criminal, and are nothing of which I should 
 be ashamed, they would do great injury to this busi 
 ness to which I have referred." 
 
 "It is very strange, monsieur, but I suppose I must 
 believe what you tell me." 
 
 "You should do so, Jeannette, for it is the truth. 
 I am free to love you, dear little girl, and I have 
 done so for months. At times it seemed to me that 
 I must take you in my arms and tell you so, but I 
 have hesitated, fearing that you would not forgive 
 my weakness." 
 
 "Ah, monsieur, it is not a pleasant tale. But 
 women can forgive much, monsieur in those in 
 those for whom they have affection," she said, her 
 voice sinking almost to a whisper. 
 
 "Jeannette, dear Jeannette!" he cried, clasping 
 her against his breast and attempting to press his 
 lips to hers. She avoided him with a show of 
 maidenly modesty, and after a struggle partially 
 released herself from his embrace. 
 
 "Monsieur, you must have a care. I am not a 
 child, nor am I one to let you fondle me at your 
 will." 
 
 "Oh, my dear one," he continued with fervor, 
 "why should we not leave France at once ? We are 
 free from LeGarde, who already has been well paid 
 for all he has done for me. We are away from the
 
 Cfje Spotter, 209 
 
 police of Paris, who may be looking for me upon 
 some cock-and-bull story of this woman. I have in 
 my possession a fortune, one that will take us to 
 any country to which we may decide to go, and keep 
 us after we reach there. And, besides this which I 
 have with me, there are thousands of francs, Jean- 
 nette, upon which I can draw, and it shall all be 
 yours. See "and he took two thick books from the 
 inside of his coat and thrust them into her hands 
 "feel in the pockets, my darling. You can tell, even 
 in the darkness, that they are filled with bank notes 
 thousands upon thousands of francs, and all shall 
 be yours. And not only these, but other scores of 
 thousands here in this bag. Come, Jeannette, why 
 hesitate ?" 
 
 "How can we escape, monsieur? What plan do 
 you propose?" 
 
 "We can stop the driver and command him to 
 return to the station tell him I have changed my 
 mind, or anything else. If the order be accompanied 
 by a few francs, he will be entirely agreeable and 
 will keep his own counsel. From the station we 
 ought to be able to catch a train that would get us 
 to Havre soon after daylight, and thence we may 
 easily secure passage upon a steamer for some coun 
 try I care not where if you are with me." 
 
 "But, monsieur, the the marriage ?" 
 
 "Ah, you little Puritan, that shall take place the
 
 210 c&e Spotter, 
 
 first moment we reach a place where we are free from 
 pursuit." 
 
 "Oh, monsieur, what would become of me if you 
 should deceive me ? I think of how you told madame 
 to go from you, and without money to buy even 
 a loaf of bread." 
 
 For a moment, Wheeler was silent. "I promise 
 you, Jeannette, upon my sacred honor, that the mar 
 riage shall take place." 
 
 "Perhaps you promised the same to madame." 
 
 "I swear, then, by every hope of happiness, here 
 or hereafter." 
 
 "Ah, monsieur, oaths are so soon forgotten." 
 
 "Then here," and he began emptying his pockets 
 into her lap. "I strip myself of every sou I now 
 have in my possession. Here, and here and here 
 you cannot see the notes, but you know their texture 
 and must understand, as I have told you that there 
 are thousands of francs. In this valise is more I 
 do not know the sum, but it will fill your pretty 
 head with visions of luxury and ease, could you but 
 catch a glimpse of this wealth. Take it all; hold 
 it in your possession until I keep my promise to 
 make you my wife. We will go as I have said, and 
 you shall be my banker." 
 
 The man was beside himself. For the time he for 
 got every danger and would have accepted any 
 chance. 
 
 "Monsieur, forgive me, I have wounded you," and
 
 Spotter, 211 
 
 her arms met around his neck and brought his head 
 upon her bosom. "I know now that you are in 
 earnest in what you have said, and that you intend 
 to deal honorably with me. Forgive me, monsieur." 
 
 "There is nothing to forgive, my darling one/' he 
 replied, returning her embrace with a warmth that 
 was unmistakable. Then lifting his head: "Let us 
 stop this driver at once and return to Mantes. Each 
 minute is important to us." 
 
 "Wait a moment, my dear monsieur," she replied, 
 almost in a whisper. "I am so happy that I cannot 
 bear to think of any interruption of the return 
 to streets and lights where people, always curious 
 and impertinent, watch one's movements; where we 
 will be called upon to travel a long distance bearing 
 toward each other the appearance of master and ser 
 vant, and where we may run into dangers that can 
 not be foreseen. Monsieur, if we could only go for 
 ward like this, by ourselves, forever! But that is 
 impossible, as there will be spies everywhere in 
 France who soon will be informed of our disap 
 pearance." 
 
 They had been riding forward in the darkness 
 nearly an hour, and the last half of it over a road 
 so rough and uneven that Wheeler had complained 
 about it several times. Scarcely had Jeannette made 
 her confession of happiness in monsieur's arms, be 
 fore the carriage gave a severe jolt and then came to 
 a halt. Almost immediately they heard cries and
 
 212 c&e Spotter, 
 
 groans from the driver and were aware that the 
 horses were plunging. 
 
 "Highwaymen S" gasped Wheeler in a husky whis 
 per, disentangling himself from the girl's embrace. 
 
 "An accident," said Jeannette. "No highway 
 man would touch this carriage it bears the sign of 
 the Circle. Hasten, monsieur, to assist the driver. 
 The poor man may be badly injured." 
 
 Wheeler fumbled badly with the carriage door, not 
 especially desiring to open it, as he was only par 
 tially convinced that he would not meet the grasp 
 of a robber as soon as the door swung open. 
 Finally, however, he stepped cautiously to the 
 ground, but in the blackness of the night could dis 
 tinguish little more than dim outlines. He called 
 to the driver and asked the cause of the trouble. 
 
 "Help, monsieur, for the love of God, give me 
 help. I am injured, monsieur, and fear I am dying. 
 Hasten, hasten, I faint!" 
 
 The man's voice sounded as though he lay upon 
 the ground near the forward wheels of the carriage, 
 and Wheeler cautiously groped his way toward it. 
 Jeannette glided past him and went to the heads of 
 the horses. The driver continued to groan from 
 what appeared to be great pain, and Wheeler took 
 him by the shoulders and gently drew him from a 
 position of evident danger. 
 
 "Steady, monsieur, you do not know how you 
 hurt me ah, that is better no, no, lift my shoul-
 
 Cfre Spotter* 213 
 
 'ders, quick! There, so;" and the poor fellow pain 
 fully gasped for breath. 
 
 "How are you hurt?" inquired "Wheeler with 
 anxiety, for he feared that the man was dangerously 
 injured. 
 
 "It is in my back and shoulders," came the faint 
 reply. "I cannot raise my arms ah, Blessed Vir 
 gin! the pain it will kill me." He was silent a 
 moment but for a groan, and then continued: "I 
 fear I dozed on my seat the whasls, falling sud 
 denly in a rut threw me head foremost from my 
 place under the feet of the horses." 
 
 He spoke in broken sentences and appeared to be 
 exhausted by the effort. Jearmette approached in the 
 darkness and stood beside monsieur. She asked if 
 there was not a lantern in the driver's seat. 
 
 "No, mam'selle; unfortunately, there is none," he 
 whispered. 
 
 "Is there no help near?" asked the girl, bending 
 down in tender solicitude. 
 
 "A short distance back a peasant's house ah, 
 monsieur, monsieur, the pain! Raise my head 
 there ; it is easier." 
 
 Jeannette and monsieur conferred together a mo 
 ment, their voices almost drowned by the suffering 
 man's groans. 
 
 "Monsieur will go for help if you will direct 
 him," said the girl, kneeling beside the driver. 
 
 "It is not far, mam'selle. Follow the hedge on
 
 Spotter* 
 
 the right until he comes the first opening." He 
 paused from weakness. "There in the field back 
 from the roadway an orchard. He will find it 
 there the peasant's home Jean Benoit and his 
 two stout sons." 
 
 They heard the man muttering his prayers with 
 his expressions of pain. 
 
 "Go, monsieur, it is a duty," said Jeannette, urg 
 ing him from her side. "Shout for assistance as 
 you run, and you may awaken them against your 
 coming. Pause a moment and shout twice at the 
 opening of the hedge, monsieur, and I will call to 
 you in return so you may know that all is well with 
 me. Ah, God ! this is a fearful hour to be left with 
 a dying man, and the sound of your voice will sus 
 tain me." 
 
 Wheeler caught her a moment in his arms and 
 kissed her unresisting lips. Then, with a promise 
 to make all speed, he hurried away, keeping close 
 to the hedge and halloing as he ran. He stumbled 
 into ditches, or plunged into the l'-ng and thorny 
 branches of the sweeping hedge, but these accidents 
 did not deter him from pressing on with such haste 
 as he could make in the darkness. At length, when 
 almost in despair of coming upon the opening, he 
 saw the space at his side. He paused to gain breatli, 
 and with his hands beside his moath be shouted 
 twice to Jeannette. Faintly and far away he heard 
 the answering
 
 C|je Spotter, 215 
 
 "Halloa! halloa!" 
 
 Before Eli Wheeler had gone fifty yards upon his 
 search for assistance, two strange things happened 
 at the carriage. Jules LeGarde, the driver, rose 
 from the ground, his sides shaking with laughter, 
 and in the enthusiasm of happiness caught Jeannette 
 in his arms. From the rear of the carriage where 
 he had been perched during the entire drive, Henri 
 LeGarde stepped down to seize the two in his arms, 
 all three dancing in a circle like children. 
 
 "Cease," said Jeannette, "you ars smothering me 
 with your embraces." 
 
 "Oh, but such a wonderful little woman deserves 
 embraces," said Henri, catching her around the waist 
 and sweeping her from her feet. "The stage loses 
 the greatest comedienne of a century when you 
 become my wife. What say you, Jules?" 
 
 "Indeed it is true; but listen do you not think 
 monsieur has a strong voice ?" 
 
 Together they laughed over the manner in which 
 Wheeler had been tricked. 
 
 "It is better so than an unpleasant encounter with 
 monsieur," declared Henri. "Had it been necessary 
 to bind and gag him, and leave him here beside the 
 road, possibly with wounds, there would have been 
 a pretty hue and cry over what the public would 
 declare to be a bold outrage. As it is, he ran away 
 without threat or show of violence, leaving his money 
 to the care of others who will disappear."
 
 216 Cjje Spotter, 
 
 "Thus making it partly his own fault that it 
 was lost to him." 
 
 "Entirely his own fault, for the unprotected 
 woman, left alone with the dissembling driver, was 
 overcome by him, gagged and abducted." 
 
 "Ha, ha, ha, was there ever such a simple thing." 
 
 "And it is to Jeannette that we owe the plan." 
 
 "Yes, Jules, to Jeannette, the minx. I think she 
 wanted to be made love to." 
 
 "Henri, you know it is not so," she protested. "I 
 suffered it because I did not wish you to be party 
 to a greater crime." 
 
 "Tish, tish, girl, I know how you felt; but I 
 doubted the success of the plan until I heard him 
 swearing everything and giving up all if you only 
 would elope with him. O, it was rare," and again he 
 went off in laughter. "But sometimes I felt like 
 cutting a hole through the carriage top and punch 
 ing monsieur's head." 
 
 Jeannette put her hand playfully over Henri's 
 mouth to keep him quiet and they heard again the 
 distant shouts. 
 
 "We must return at once," said Jules, "for it will 
 be daylight in an hour and there must now be no 
 miscarriage of our plans." 
 
 "True," replied Henri, releasing Jeannette. "Un 
 til we come to the old house near Mantes, you shall 
 guard the money which you won so easily, while 
 Jules and myself will act as your coachman and
 
 Cfje Spotter* 217 
 
 guide. You deserve a trumpeter and postillions, but 
 they might attract too much attention at present. 
 When night comes again, we leave for Italy you 
 and Jules and I." 
 
 "And Felice," said Jules. 
 
 "And Felice, of course. In my own happiness I 
 forgot that there are to be two weddings." 
 
 Jeannette, standing on the carriage step heard the 
 distant voice 
 
 "Halloa, Jeannette, halloa!" 
 
 Without a tremor of voice, she answered monsieur 
 as she had promised. 
 
 Henri and Jules mounted the driver's seat, the 
 horses were turned sharply to the right, upon a 
 firm, smooth roadway, and the carriage disappeared 
 in the darkness.
 
 218 C&e Spotter, 
 
 CHAPTEK XXIII. 
 
 A DISCOVERY AT DAWN. 
 
 WHEN Wheeler paused at the opening of the 
 hedge, he waited long enough to hear the faint call 
 of the false Jeannette in answer to his shout, and 
 then turned directly into the field. From the dim 
 outlines of trees about him he came to the conclusion 
 that he was following a road leading through an 
 orchard. 
 
 "Halloa, halloa !" he kept shouting. "Help, help ! 
 A man is injured and dying by the roadside ! Halloa, 
 halloa!" 
 
 The path was so indistinct that he soon lost it 
 and ran aimlessly among the trees, sometimes strik 
 ing the low branches which let loose a shower of 
 water, and again coming up against the trunk of 
 a tree with a bump that sent him sprawling to the 
 ground. He continued to shout until his voice be 
 came husky and he was compelled to partially cease 
 his cries. After an hour's fruitless search, he sud 
 denly came upon a hedge, which he turned and 
 followed, hoping it would lead to the entrance into
 
 Cbe Spotter, 219 
 
 the highway. At last he came to an opening, but 
 found therein a gate. This he surmounted, landing 
 in a field planted with vegetables, between the rows 
 of which were muddy pools that came to the tops 
 of his shoes when he attempted to press forward. 
 
 Realizing that he could make no progress, Wheeler 
 returned to the hedge and crept shivering under its 
 thick branches to shield himself from the storm, 
 which had increased in intensity. He then began 
 to review in sequence each event of the day and night 
 and had not proceeded far in this analysis before 
 the truth burst upon him. 
 
 "Fool! dolt! idiot!" he exclaimed, striking his 
 head with his clenched fist. "I have been played 
 like a damned imbecile, and they've landed me. I 
 am not fit to be called a man a weak, silly calf! 
 Faugh !" and he launched forth a volley of oaths that 
 had neither connection nor relevancy. "Jeannette !" 
 and his teeth bit together with a snap. "Bah, how 
 the wench wheedled me Eli Wheeler, who turned 
 for Lanphere the trick on the independents and 
 fooled the best men in three states." He struck his 
 fists into the thorny branches and took comfort in 
 the fact that the backs of his hands were bleeding. 
 
 "The whole thing was put up, and Betsey was as 
 deep in it as any of them probably Cameron, too 
 and I am robbed, fleeced, turned into a field like 
 the ass that I am, without a sou ; to freeze, or starve, 
 or drown in the mud, or to go to hell !" Again he
 
 220 Cfte 
 
 gave way to the most fearful and meaningless oaths. 
 
 When he tired of cursing, Wheeler looked about 
 him to notice by dim outlines that dawn was ap 
 proaching. He found the gate and leaped it at a 
 bound. Following a cart track he ran through the 
 orchard and finally came upon the opening through 
 which he must have passed under Jules LeGarde's 
 directions. Turning to the right he continued to 
 run along the highway, and at length came upon 
 a spot which he recognized by the marks of the car 
 riage wheels and tramping of horses' feet as the 
 scene of the fictitious accident. He noticed that for 
 some distance the carriage had been driven outside 
 the beaten track that there might be color for the 
 claim that the driver had been jolted from his place 
 by the character of the road. In the soft soil he 
 discovered the print of Jeannette's shoes beside the 
 tracks of heavier boots. These he stamped upon 
 like one possessed of a desire for some sort of 
 revenge. Here the injured driver had lain, and 
 Wheeler picked up stones and hurled them with 
 curses at the spot. 
 
 Finally the spasm of anger exhausted itself and 
 Wheeler took notice of his surroundings. On the 
 side of the highway opposite the orchard and field 
 which he had entered, Wheeler saw a peasant's house 
 and other farm buildings. Numbed, beaten, dejected, 
 and without purpose he made his way thither. The 
 door to which he came was fastened with a clumsy
 
 Cfje Spotter* 221 
 
 latch of wood, which Wheeler lifted from its place. 
 Without knocking, he pushed forward into a low 
 room, littered with furniture and household utensils, 
 barely discernible in the dim light. At the further 
 side of the room he saw the outlines of a couch, and 
 this he approached with the one desire to throw him 
 self upon some place that promised rest. 
 
 But as he came to the side of the couch he saw a 
 man lying there a man whose head was bandaged 
 covered with a clean, warm blanket, sleeping like 
 a child. 
 
 Wheeler bent forward to peer into the face, but 
 started back as though he had been dealt a blow. 
 He was looking upon Duncan Cameron. 
 
 Cameron! the hound who had dogged him to 
 Paris, who had threatened him, who no doubt played 
 upon the cupidity of the LeGardes and told them 
 enough of Wheeler's history to put into their hands 
 a weapon by which they could extort money; Cam 
 eron, who had come upon him when he was so secure 
 and comfortable and was on the eve of further suc 
 cess; Cameron, who may have been a party to the 
 plot through which Wheeler had been plucked ; Cam 
 eron, who, now that Wheeler's wife had escaped 
 him - ! 
 
 Curse the poor, blind fool of a meddler who had 
 played a game of such obstinate resistance to the 
 Cygnet and who might yet accomplish much greater 
 harm!
 
 222 Cfte Spotter, 
 
 Wheeler was neither cold, nor weak, nor trembling 
 now. Anger, hatred, and revenge thrilled him like 
 an electric shock. He had been fooled, cajoled, rob 
 bed; but now he would get his pay. He listened, 
 but no sound came to his ears save the regular 
 breathing of the man on the couch, and the drip 
 of the eaves. There might be other people in the 
 house no doubt the LeGardes but they were in 
 the rooms beyond and were sleeping. Why hesi 
 tate? In a moment he can be free from this man 
 forever, and in another moment he can be back there 
 upon the highway. The household may not awaken 
 in an hour, and another hour may pass before any 
 thing is discovered. Even then there will be no 
 reason why he should be suspected. Why hesitate? 
 
 He looked about the room for a weapon and his 
 eyes rested upon a heavy iron skillet with a long 
 handle. Stilling his breath, Wheeler sank to his 
 hands and knees and crept upon the floor lest his 
 steps would cause the boards to creak and awaken 
 his victim. He poised the weapon in his hand and 
 smiled to find that it was not unlike a maul, with 
 which he could deal one swift, effective blow. Then, 
 with muscles tense as steel, he made his way slowly 
 toward Cameron, ready each instant to overleap the 
 remaining distance if a movement gave warning 
 that the sleeping man was about to arouse. When 
 he came to the side of the couch, watching Cameron's 
 face with an intensity that must have penetrated the
 
 223 
 
 veil of sleep and startled the dormant senses from 
 their lethargy, Wheeler drew himself to full height 
 and swung the weapon above his head. 
 
 A dark object leaped through an opening which 
 Wheeler had not observed in the ceiling of the room, 
 and before his blow could fall, the man who never 
 before that moment came so near committing a 
 cowardly murder was crushed down upon the floor. 
 So sudden and violent was the attack that an appreci 
 able space elapsed before Wheeler realized what had 
 happened. He found himself in the grasp of a 
 peasant whose face was nearly concealed by its heavy 
 beard and whose eyes blazed with an anger that was 
 not comfortable to behold. The peasant was of low 
 stature, but heavy, compact frame, and the hand 
 which in no ungentle manner pushed Wheeler back 
 upon the floor when he attempted to sit up, was of 
 enormous size and as hard as the hoof of a horse. 
 
 Cameron, awakened by the clang of the falling 
 skillet and the plunge of the men upon the floor, 
 reclined on his elbow and looked wonderingly at 
 Wheeler and his captor. 
 
 "Does monsieur know the assassin?" asked the 
 peasant. 
 
 There was the appearance half of recognition and 
 wondering doubt in Cameron's face as he looked 
 at Wheeler. Twice he started to speak, and each 
 time shook his head and bent his brows as in the 
 effort to recall something that had escaped his recol-
 
 224 
 
 lection. He shuddered and sank back upon his pil 
 low. 
 
 u Nb/' he finally replied. "I have seen him only 
 in my dreams. I do not like to see him, and I am 
 wondering why you keep him here. What has he 
 been doing, Gaspard, that makes you hold him by 
 the throat?" 
 
 "Nothing, monsieur. It is only what he tried to 
 do. Come" to Wheeler "y u are no company 
 for a man who is ill." 
 
 The peasant dragged Wheeler to his feet, and 
 with that vice-like grip still upon his prisoner's 
 throat, led him from the room. There was nothing 
 tender about the manner in which Wheeler was con 
 ducted to a building used as a granary, and which 
 was one of the several wings of the house, extend 
 ing toward the barn. It was unlighted, except 
 by several small openings near the roof; but 
 this was not a matter of concern to the man im 
 prisoned there. He heard the bar drop into place 
 outside the door which was shut upon him, and in 
 a condition bordering upon collapse he sank upon 
 some sacks of grain and almost immediately fell 
 asleep. 
 
 Hours later, Gaspard's rough blows and shouts 
 aroused him and he partook of food and drink. The 
 peasant remained while Wheeler ate, ravenously, 
 for he was nearly famished, but spoke no words. 
 When the meal was finished, Gaspard directed that
 
 Spotter* 225 
 
 his prisoner follow, and he led to the highway. Here 
 he gave to Wheeler a handful of silver, and with a 
 wave of his hand toward the west, said in a tone 
 that could not be mistaken, "To Havre." 
 
 "To Havre?" asked Wheeler in astonishment. 
 "What do you mean? I have no desire to go to 
 Havre. I tell you, as I attempted to make you 
 understand before, that I have been robbed of large 
 treasure, and I demand to know why I have been 
 kept a prisoner throughout the day, thus giving the 
 thieves time to escape ?" 
 
 "Monsieur, I know nothing of robbery. I know 
 only of an attempted murder." 
 
 "It is a lie," declared Wheeler, stepping out of 
 the Frenchman's reach, for he had no desire to feel 
 again that hard hand at his throat. "The man in 
 your house is one of those concerned in my robbery. 
 I meant to injure him, as I had a right, to make sure 
 of his capture." 
 
 "This is a foolish tale, monsieur, for he whom 
 you attacked had not risen from his couch through 
 the day or night. He was injured in an accident of 
 which you may have some knowledge, and has 
 neither strength nor mind to sustain him in an expe 
 dition of robbery." 
 
 "I insist that the authorities be summoned and 
 that steps be taken to apprehend those who have 
 stripped me of all I possess. Surely in France there 
 imust be some measure of justice."
 
 226 Cfte Spotter* 
 
 "So there is, monsieur, if you will have it ; so there 
 is, and Gaspard LeBoyne will see that you get it. I 
 am an honest peasant, who has some knowledge of 
 healing, living upon my own lands. To my house 
 was brought before break of day yesterday a man 
 with an injury upon his head, and from which his 
 full recovery is in doubt. I promised to give him 
 the benefit of my skill and my poor care and pro 
 tection, and he was placed in my charge. 
 
 "This morning at daybreak, monsieur enters my 
 house, unbidden, and recognizes in my charge his 
 enemy, whom he has traced here in some unknown 
 manner. If monsieur saw in this, my charge, a 
 thief and robber, why did he not wait and demand 
 of the authorities his arrest? Did the sleeping man 
 threaten monsieur ? Was monsieur in peril of his 
 life ? Or, did not monsieur have time to creep along 
 the floor and select a weapon and then in the same 
 manner come again to the bedside of his enemy and 
 rise to strike him dead ?" 
 
 The peasant waited a moment for Wheeler to 
 answer, but as there was no reply, he continued: 
 
 "If monsieur will go with me to the Prefect at 
 Mantes, we will each tell his story, and let justice 
 be done for there is justice in France." 
 
 Realizing that a chain of circumstances had been 
 woven about him from which he could not escape, 
 and fearing that by this time the authorities in Paris 
 might be upon his track, Wheeler saw no course open
 
 Cfje Spotter, 227 
 
 except to make his way to Havre and secure passage 
 thence to America through some means not at present 
 clear. Without a word of reply, he accepted the 
 silver offered by the peasant, and started forward 
 upon his journey.
 
 228 Cfte ^potter. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 
 A SEQUEL TO THE COMEDY. 
 
 THE American Minister was awaiting the arrival 
 of Mrs. Wheeler and Mr. Fisher with some knowl 
 edge of the story they had to tell. Ellis had put 
 him in possession of the main facts, and with no 
 small indignation he gathered the full details of the 
 disappearance of Cameron. 
 
 "It is monstrous, Mr. Fisher," he said when the 
 recital was concluded, "and I shall lose no time in 
 acquainting the authorities with the full story. No 
 doubt they will desire to have the recital first-handed 
 from Mrs. Wheeler, and if you will kindly remain 
 a short time the consultation may take place here." 
 
 In half-an-hour Mrs. Wheeler and her escort were 
 summoned to one of the offices, and in answer to 
 many questions, propounded to them through an 
 interpreter, they gave the police such information 
 as they possessed. 
 
 The following forenoon they went again to the 
 Legation and from the Minister learned that a re 
 port had been made to him the evening before. It
 
 C6e Spotter, 229 
 
 was to the effect that M. Eli Wheeler, alias M. Cyrus 
 White, had disappeared. With him had gone the 
 LeGardes, Henri, Jules and the girl Jeannette. The 
 office of M. Wheeler had been visited, but it con 
 tained nothing beyond a litter of papers of no ap 
 parent bearing on the case except to disclose that 
 there had been a hasty flight. The apartments occu 
 pied by M. Wheeler and madame had also been under 
 examination and were now watched. Some furnish 
 ings of considerable value remained, along with a 
 quantity of clothing, evidently madame's, but all 
 portable articles of value were missing. The police 
 learned that these were taken away by persons under 
 the direction of Jeannette who held the warrant of 
 monsieur for their removal. 
 
 The search was to be continued. Madame was 
 advised to go about the city freely in company with 
 her friends and to have no fears, as an agent of the 
 secret service would be near her constantly to observe 
 any suspicious characters who might approach her. 
 
 So the trio settled down to the enjoyment of Paris 
 and for nearly a fortnight they experienced much 
 pleasure in daily excursions about the city. One 
 morning Mr. Fisher found in his mail a letter post 
 marked the afternoon before and addressed to Mrs. 
 Wheeler. She opened it with no little curiosity 
 and read: 
 
 "Madame : 
 
 "The comedy which began in your apartments had
 
 230 
 
 scenes in which you were not permitted to partici 
 pate and of which you cannot have heard. 
 
 "Monsieur found that it would be necessary for 
 him to leave Paris, and I was appointed to ac 
 company him some distance upon his journey. Our 
 course took us over a lonely highway at dead of 
 night, and while we were riding thus, monsieur with 
 great fervor implored me to consent to a change of 
 plans and join him in a flight from France. I chided 
 him for his desertion of you, when he became melo 
 dramatic and swore that you were not his wife. I 
 charged him with an attempt to likewise deceive 
 me, and 10 prove his earnestness he began to thrust 
 into my hands the money which he had taken with 
 him in his escape from Paris, saying I should keep it 
 until he had made me his wife. 
 
 "Ah, madame, it was like no scene in comedy you 
 have ever beheld. 
 
 "But then came the climax. The driver of our car 
 riage was my brother Jules, and he is an actor of 
 no mean ability. Monsieur was led to believe that 
 an accident had befallen and that the driver was dan 
 gerously injured through a fall in the road. Would 
 monsieur seek help ? Ah, he hesitated. Was help 
 near? Yes a short distance along the road was the 
 house of a peasant and the poor driver was in such 
 pain, moaning and mumbling his prayers together, 
 and crying out in agony to keep from laughter.
 
 Cjje Spotter, 231 
 
 Monsieur would go, and I would stay by the suffer 
 ing man, who might die in the darkness ! 
 
 "And so monsieur ran away with a hedge to guide 
 him, on the wildest chase man ever took, leaving the 
 girl whom he had sworn to marry, and the princely 
 dowry which he thrust into her lap leaving her to 
 be kissed and praised by her brother Jules, to be 
 kissed and petted by her lover Henri, who all the 
 time was at hand to give assistance should it be 
 required. 
 
 "The comedy ended, madame, when monsieur made 
 his way with a few sous in his pocket to Havre and 
 took passage for America upon one of the vessels 
 engaged in freighting for the company which he 
 represented. 
 
 "You desire to know what became of M. Cameron. 
 He was injured in an encounter with M. Wheeler 
 at La Vintage, and Henri and Jules were employed 
 to convey him upon the Seine and leave him to his 
 fate. However, they saved his life and concealed him 
 until he was able to travel, when he was put upon 
 a vessel bound for Scotland. He was provided with 
 funds to reach his old home and to sustain him for 
 a long time after his arrival there. Though physic 
 ally well, M. Cameron has not regained his memory, 
 and he imagines himself still a young man who has 
 never been away from Scotland until in some mys 
 terious manner he was brought to France. The
 
 232 Cije 
 
 skilled man who tenderly cared for him says that he 
 may never recover. 
 
 "This letter comes to Paris by the hand of a friend 
 and will reach you through the mail. You may show 
 it freely to the police, for there is no danger that 
 it will betray the place where we are now very 
 secure and happy. 
 
 "Madame, farewell. Jeannette." 
 
 "Well, I'll be dummed," exclaimed Mr. Fisher, 
 rubbing his hands with glee as Mrs. Wheeler finished 
 reading the letter. "If the Frenchers haven't given 
 Eli Wheeler a dose of his own medicine, then I'm a 
 Seneca Indian." 
 
 "Why, what has happened to him?" asked Mrs. 
 Fisher. "I don't understand the woman's letter." 
 
 "What has happened to Eli? They've robbed 
 him, Mrs. Fisher cleaned him out as slick as a 
 whistle and scared him so that he dassent come back 
 to Paris. Then they've turned him loose to make 
 his way to Havre, where he begged his way back to 
 America on one of Lanphere's oil ships. It's jest 
 one of them cases that old Dominie Perkins out in 
 Bradan would call 'righteous retribution, or fit pun 
 ishment for a mean sinner.' I'd give fifty dollars 
 to stand at Tompkins' Cove when that freighter gets 
 in so that I could ask Eli how he liked his voyage.'* 
 
 Mrs. Wheeler paid little heed to what Mr. Fisher 
 said, and when he turned laughing toward her, he
 
 233 
 
 noticed that her face was grave and that she was 
 still bent over the open letter. 
 
 "Why, Betsey, you ain't regrettin' the little run 
 for his money the polly vouz give Eli, are ye ?" 
 
 She smiled quickly. "No, Mr. Fisher, I scarcely 
 thought of it. What troubles me is this that Jean- 
 nette has written about Mr. Cameron." 
 
 Mr. Fisher was sobered in an instant. "Cameron, 
 bless me, that's so. I was so pleased to hear about 
 Wheeler getting his cummings that I forgot poor 
 Cameron. Gone back to his old home in Scotland 
 lost his memory thinks he's a boy, and don't remem 
 ber anything since that time! Say," he said, start 
 ing up as though ready for instant departure, "do 
 you know where in Scotland Cameron's old home 
 is?" 
 
 "I do not," replied Mrs. Wheeler. "I think I 
 have heard Mr. and Mrs. Cameron both speak about 
 the village, but I have forgotten its name." 
 
 Mr. Fisher whistled a few notes of "John Brown," 
 the only tune he knew. "!N"ow we have brought up 
 against a snubbin' post for sure. Scotland's got more 
 dum little towns than Pennsylvania, and we can't look 
 into each one for Cameron," and he continued the 
 tune on the note upon which he had stopped, but only 
 to go half-way through a bar. Again he stopped in 
 the middle of a note and let the pucker of his lips 
 broaden out into a smile. "Why, we'll write to Sam 
 Edgert and tell him all about it, and he'll send an
 
 234 Cfje Spotter, 
 
 answer to Edinburgh. We'll have Cameron in less 
 than a month." 
 
 So while Mr. Fisher hurried away to the Legation 
 to lay before the Minister and police authorities the 
 letter from Jeannette, Mrs. Wheeler wrote such an 
 account of events as would be necessary for Mr. 
 Edgert's information. A few characteristic sentences 
 were added by Mr. Eisher on his return, and that 
 evening the letter was upon its way. The next after 
 noon saw Mr. and Mrs. Eisher and Mrs. Wheeler 
 speeding toward the Scottish city.
 
 C6e Spotter, 235 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 IN THE BOYHOOD HOME. 
 
 THEY came upon Duncan Cameron near the little 
 village of Dunoon on the rocky western coast of the 
 Firth of Clyde. Before meeting him they were 
 warned by sympathetic townspeople and neighbors 
 that he was "JsTocht but a puir lad wi' na min' o' the 
 years syne he went oot and canna talk about onything 
 that befell him." 
 
 It was learned that Cameron appeared at the vil 
 lage one afternoon carrying a small bundle of cloth 
 ing slung on a stick over his shoulder. He greeted 
 some of the men and women as children and called 
 them by the names they bore in childhood. When 
 inquiry was made as to where he had been, he replied 
 that he had been to France, and a strange and troub 
 led look came upon his face. Realizing that 
 mystery clouded his past, they refrained from ques 
 tions, and Cameron, after lingering in the village a 
 short time, continued his journey to the little farm 
 formerly occupied by his parents. The present 
 holders of the place he regarded as interlopers, and
 
 236 Cfte 
 
 so vigorously did he protest against their usurpation 
 that the farmer was upon the point of setting the dog 
 to drive away one whom he thought either drunk or 
 crazy. 
 
 The minister, who was one of Duncan's classmates 
 in college, chanced to learn in the village of the mys 
 terious return of his old friend, and followed him im 
 mediately to the Cameron homestead, arriving just 
 in time to rescue Duncan from the indignity and 
 danger with which he was threatened. Through the 
 exercise of considerable tact, the Rev. Mr. Purdee 
 induced Duncan to return with him to the manse, 
 and after a few days of careful watching and the 
 giving of many evasive answers to the questions 
 asked, Cameron was brought to understand that great 
 changes had taken place in the time spent by him 
 in France. He became entirely tractable, and upon 
 expressing a desire to be permitted to live in his old 
 home, arrangements for his care were made with 
 the McLouths, who held the farm. In the weeks that 
 followed, he became quite accustomed to his sur 
 roundings. 
 
 Before they saw Cameron, Mr. and Mrs. Fisher 
 and Mrs. Wheeler held long conferences with the 
 Rev. Mr. Purdee and Dr. William Ross, the local 
 practitioner. Dr. Ross was absent at the time of 
 Cameron's appearance, and did not reach Dunoon 
 until the same day that saw the arrival of Mr. Fisher 
 and the ladies. When all the facts had been told
 
 Cfie Spotter, 237 
 
 him, he was asked if it were probable that anything 
 could be done to restore the reason of the man in 
 whom they were so greatly interested. 
 
 "Of course that may be determined only after 
 examination and a careful study of the case," said 
 Dr. Ross. "We do not know what has caused his 
 loss of memory. When Mrs. Wheeler met Cameron 
 in Paris, he recognized her, as he did her hus 
 band; so we may conclude that he was in normal 
 mind until he met with the injury in the encounter 
 referred to by the French woman in her letter to 
 Mrs. Wheeler. This injury may have been a blow 
 upon the head, causing either a slight fracture or a 
 depression of the skull and resulting in a pressure 
 upon the brain. If the latter, time may effect a 
 cure; or it may be necessary to resort to surgery. 
 Very remarkable instances of recovery from injury 
 of this nature are reported, and this one promises to 
 be as full of interest as any of them. If his gen 
 eral health is good, I do not believe that Cameron's 
 condition is entirely hopeless." 
 
 "Do you think, Doctor, that if Cameron were 
 brought face-to-face with these friends of more recent 
 years, or should see his wife and daughter and the 
 familiar sights around his home in America, that his 
 memory would return?" asked the minister. 
 
 "Probably not at first. But to venture an opinion 
 before I have seen Duncan and learned more about
 
 238 CJje Spotter, 
 
 his condition would be like a leap in the dark," re 
 plied Dr. Ross. 
 
 Mr. Fisher could not believe that Cameron would 
 fail to know him at sight. "I want to walk right 
 up to him and say, 'Duncan Cameron, here's an old 
 neighbor, Arad Fisher, come to take youns home to 
 youns' wife and daughter Agnes, and to stand by 
 with his last penny till youns git back with interest 
 what the Cygnet Oil Company stole from youns like 
 a sneak. Shake!' I'll bet a dollar it'll bring him 
 to his senses." 
 
 "Physically, he appears to be entirely well," said 
 Mr. Purdee, "and as rugged and strong as ever. Do 
 you think the trial Mr. Fisher proposed would do 
 him any harm, doctor?" 
 
 "No; on the contrary, I would advise it, and I 
 wish to be present and note the effect." 
 
 It was arranged that the four should drive out to 
 the McLouth place, Mrs. Fisher remaining in the 
 village, and they were soon upon their way. The 
 road, for about two miles, led along the coast, and 
 when it skirted the little bays and inlets which the 
 waves had eaten in the land, like irregular teeth of 
 a gigantic saw, they came frequently upon groups of 
 fishermen who were landing with the catch of the 
 forenoon. As they neared the McLouth farm, which 
 was all snugly tucked away in a little valley which 
 swept back from the Firth with rapidly narrowing
 
 Cfte Spotter, 239 
 
 sides until it ended in a rocky glen, they heard a 
 shout, and the carriage was brought to a halt. 
 
 "Davie Purdee, Davie Purdee!" came the voice, 
 "wait a bit and see the luck I have had with my 
 fishing." 
 
 Looking in the direction of the voice, they saw 
 Duncan running toward them, carrying a basket 
 filled with cool, glistening fish which had recently 
 come from the water. 
 
 "Ah, Duncan, lad," said Mr. Purdee, "we were 
 on our way in search of you. Here are some old 
 friends whom you will be glad to see." 
 
 Cameron paused as he neared the carriage, and 
 into his face came a puzzled, wondering expression 
 as he glanced from one to another. 
 
 "Old friends ? I know none here except you, 
 Davie. And yet yes, is this not Willie Ross, from 
 beyond Inverchaolin ? Sure, it is Willie. But, lad, 
 how is it you have grown a beard and come to look 
 like a man, the same as Davie, here, and the same as 
 I see myself when I look in a glass ?" He stood a 
 moment, looking wonderingly into the face of his 
 old friend, and then turned to the minister with a 
 pathetic gesture. "Davie, what does it all mean, lad ? 
 Why all this mystery?" 
 
 "What mystery, Duncan? I see nothing strange." 
 
 "Ah, but it is strange everything is strange, and 
 I cannot fathom the depths. Here am I a man, 
 who was but a lad in the near past. You, Davie,
 
 240 C6e 
 
 who were in college with me last year, now of family 
 and the parson of the kirk in town. Willie Ross, a 
 wee runt with a freckled face, comes out the next 
 spring looking like another parson, or a doctor. 
 Everybody has grown old in a few weeks. Bairns 
 whom I do not know are calling 'faither' and 
 'mither' to lads and lasses with whom I was familiar 
 just anon. The old town has changed ; the buildings 
 have grown older with all the rest, but a few new 
 ones have come suddenly into existence beside the 
 familiar ones. What what does it mean ? Tell me, 
 Davie or you, Willie Ross, tell me, if you would not 
 have me go daft with the weight of it." 
 
 There was piteous pleading in his voice and man 
 ner; a note of despair in his accents. Mr. Fisher 
 turned his head to hide the tears that coursed down 
 his cheeks. Mrs. Wheeler leaned back in the car 
 riage, white and silent, her face tender and beauti 
 ful with the great pity that welled up from her 
 heart. 
 
 Dr. Ross stepped from the carriage and took Cam 
 eron's hand. 
 
 "You tell me about it, Duncan, lad," said the doc 
 tor as he gently urged Cameron to sit on a moss- 
 covered rock and then took his place beside him and 
 twined his arm over Duncan's shoulder. "I have 
 just come back to Dunoon from a month's stay in a 
 London hospital, and I have not heard your story, 
 Duncan. Tell it, lad."
 
 Cjbe ^potter, 241 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 WHERE ARE THE VANISHED YEARS ? 
 
 CAMERON looked about him as though attempting 
 to collect his thoughts. His eyes for a moment rested 
 upon Mr. Fisher, and those who were watching 
 expected he would speak; but he shook his head 
 sadly and murmured to himself. 
 
 "And will you help me, Willie Ross, to clear some 
 thing that is clouding my mind ?" he asked suddenly. 
 
 "Aye, that I will, Duncan, if it is in my power. 
 And these here will help you, for each one has some 
 thing to say after you have told all you can remem 
 ber." 
 
 "It was this way," he began. "I recall that for 
 a long time I felt great heaviness upon my head. I 
 could not throw it off, nor could I awaken from a 
 sleep that held me so closely that I knew nothing 
 of my surroundings only the weight that crushed 
 me down. Then, after what seemed to be the lapse 
 of years, the weight decreased slowly at first, but 
 in time more rapidly until all at once I made a 
 mighty effort and broke loose from it in a moment.
 
 242 Cfre Spotter* 
 
 "I found myself sitting upright on a couch in a 
 large room with a low ceiling and the floor littered 
 with household utensils which I never before had 
 seen. Everything was unfamiliar; I was clad in a 
 night-robe that was not my own ; beside the couch was 
 a stand upon which there were some glasses of medi 
 cine; there was a bandage upon my head which was 
 wet with some lotion. 
 
 "I thought myself in a dream, for when I had 
 gone to bed I was here in my home with my father 
 and mother, and it was the school vacation of the 
 summer. In the evening before there had been a 
 great storm and the lightning was most vivid. I sat 
 with my father on the little porch, the rain splashing 
 upon our bare feet, when there came a blinding flash 
 and a loud report at the same instant. The stool 
 upon which I sat was thrown over and I fell, almost 
 insensible, upon the edge of the floor where the rain 
 from the eaves was dashing in my face. My father 
 dragged me within the house and, with my mother's 
 help, for I was weak and could aid them little, they 
 carried me to my room and put me to bed. By-and-by 
 as they sat watching and asking me constantly if I 
 was comfortable, I fell asleep and remember nothing 
 else until the weight of which I told you came upon 
 my head and then the strange room and the un 
 familiar surroundings. 
 
 "I put my hand to my face in wonderment and 
 felt a beard growing upon the cheeks of a lad in
 
 C&e ^potter, 243 
 
 his teens. I gazed upon my hands and they were 
 those of a man who had toiled, and not those of a 
 school-boy. Upon my finger was this ring which I 
 had never before seen and which bears the emblem of 
 Freemasonry, an order which, surely, I never joined. 
 
 "My brain swam with dizziness, my throat was 
 parched and husky, while over my body broke a 
 perspiration that was as cold and clammy as the 
 dew of death. I attempted to leap from the couch, 
 but fell back with weakness. 
 
 "As I lay thus, half-unconscious, and wondering 
 whether it were a dream or loss of reason, a man 
 came to the couch and looked into my face. He was 
 a stranger to me, and though he was rough and un 
 couth in appearance, he had a kindly manner and 
 he placed his hand upon my head with tenderness. 
 
 " 'Ah, monsieur,' he said to me in French, 'you 
 are improved and are once more yourself. Good, 
 monsieur, we soon will have you up.' 
 
 "The French language, and still I understood what 
 he said ! How did I know his words ? I was in my 
 first term of French and scarcely knew the rudiments, 
 and yet I replied to him in the same tongue by asking 
 where I was and how I had come there. 
 
 " 'You are in the house of a peasant, monsieur, 
 whom you may call Gaspard. You were brought 
 here by two men who found you injured, I know not 
 how, in a street in Paris. They were honest men, 
 monsieur, and finding a stranger unconscious near
 
 244 1 Cjje Spotter. 
 
 the Seine, they put you in their boat and brought 
 hence, fearing that you might fall a victim to foot 
 pads or robbers.' 
 
 " How long have I been here ?' 
 
 " 'Since early morning, monsieur/ 
 
 " 'Do you know my name who I am ?' 
 
 " 'You are an American an American named 
 Cameron. 7 
 
 " 'Yes, I am a Cameron/ I said at length, 'but 
 not an American. Indeed, I have never seen America, 
 for I am but a Scotch lad, and my home is at Dunoon, 
 on the Firth of Clyde.' 
 
 " 'Then I am in error, monsieur. I have no infor 
 mation save that secured from papers in your 
 pockets.' 
 
 "I asked that they be shown me, but the peasant 
 said I must first take some nourishment, which he 
 soon brought. After I had partaken of the gruel, 
 toast and eggs, Gaspard placed a coat and waistcoat 
 upon the couch and asked me if they were not mine. 
 I shook my head, for I did not remember having 
 seen them before. 
 
 " 'You wore them when brought here, monsieur.' 
 
 " 'They are not mine,' I told him. 'These gar 
 ments are from the clothing of a man, while I am 
 a mere lad. They are travel-stained and thread-bare, 
 and have a strange make and texture not at all like 
 our tweeds and homespuns.' 
 
 "I examined the papers which Gaspard took from
 
 C&e Spotter, 245 
 
 the pockets for my inspection. There was my name, 
 and my writing, too, though that was grown cramped 
 and angular like my body. Of their contents I knew 
 nothing, for they were mostly memoranda of trans 
 actions about unheard-of things. One of them pur 
 ported to be an account of the formation of a co 
 partnership between Duncan Cameron and one Eli 
 Wheeler to carry on the business of mining and refin 
 ing oil upon a tract of land known as the Cameron 
 farm. Large sums of money and capital stock are 
 mentioned, but nothing is said as to the source from 
 which the oil is to be secured, or what kind of oil 
 is to be produced and refined. The other papers are 
 equally as perplexing, for they mention persons, 
 places and factors of which I have no knowledge. 
 
 "But the most mysterious thing of all, Willie Ross, 
 is that the numerous dates which the papers bear are 
 years in the future ! Noticing this, I asked Gaspard 
 the year and the day. 
 
 " 'Monsieur, it is October eleventh, eighteen hun 
 dred and seventy-three/ he replied. 
 
 " 'Eighteen hundred and seventy-three ! Ah, my 
 God, man, why do you deceive me ?' 
 
 " 'Monsieur, it is as I say. Be calm, for you have 
 been very ill and your hurt is a dangerous one. It 
 will all come right in time, all you have forgotten in 
 your illness.' 
 
 " 'Forgotten ! Can one go to sleep a mere youth 
 and then in some unexplained way live more than
 
 246 
 
 twenty years, in which time he travels to foreign 
 countries, amasses property, engages in great busi 
 ness transactions and then awakens to find himself 
 in a peasant's house in France, able to converse in a 
 tongue which he has not mastered, and having no 
 knowledge of all that has intervened ? It is not for- 
 getfulness, Gaspard, it is insanity !' 
 
 "Gaspard turned quickly to the stand and was 
 busy a moment with the medicines. He brought me 
 a cup containing a cool, sweet draught and asked me 
 if I was not thirsty. I drank, and though I attempted 
 to continue the conversation, I could frame but a 
 few sentences before I sank to sleep." 
 
 Cameron rose and paced up and down the path 
 several times. They said nothing to him, though Dr. 
 Ross watched him narrowly and with anxiety. When 
 he resumed his place beside the doctor, he continued : 
 
 "I remember that in my sleep there came a horrid 
 nightmare. Before me lay a wide, deep and ragged 
 crevasse, spanned by a single moss-covered trunk of 
 a tree that some time had been thrown down by a 
 storm. Upon the opposite side were two women who 
 appeared to be in deep trouble, and who were endeav 
 oring by signs to make me realize a danger which I 
 could escape only by coming quickly to them. One was 
 a matron, fair and lovely, even in her distress, and 
 with that in her face that told me it was my little 
 schoolmate and sweetheart, Alice Laing, and about 
 whom none in Dunoon has told me aught since my
 
 C&e Spotter* 247 
 
 return. Her companion was much younger, a beauti 
 ful girl just turning to womanhood, who with her 
 eyes and outstretched hands implored me to leap 
 upon the slender crossing and hasten to her side. I 
 glanced above, and there upon the edge of an over 
 hanging crag crouched a man, holding poised beside 
 him an immense rock which with one push of his 
 hand would crash down upon me with a force that 
 meant instant death. I attempted to shout, but my 
 tongue was as a clod and made no sound. I braced 
 myself to leap as far upon the narrow path as possible, 
 but stood as one whose muscles had turned to unbend 
 ing iron. 
 
 "He saw my distress the man there beside the 
 swaying rock and laughed at my helplessness. In 
 pantomime he showed me how easily he could send 
 the cruel missile down upon me. He clenched his 
 teeth and a gleam came into his eyes that told me he 
 would wait no longer but still I could not move 
 from the spot in which I stood. 
 
 "There was a loud crash in the twinkling of an 
 eye the scene changed and I was upon the couch in 
 the low room in the peasant's house and two men 
 were struggling upon the floor. One was Gaspard, 
 whom I knew the other was the man who an instant 
 before seemed to stand above me on the crag, ready 
 to hurl upon my head a weight which I could not 
 escape. 
 
 "It was a satisfaction to see him beaten into sub-
 
 248 
 
 mission and pinioned by Gaspard, for the nightmare 
 still possessed me and my fear of the man was over 
 powering. I was asked by the Frenchman if I recog 
 nized his prisoner and I replied that I did not. I 
 wanted him out of my sight and did not tell of my 
 dream. 
 
 "There is little more to add, Willie. How long 
 I remained at the peasant's house, I do not know. 
 Gaspard was with me constantly and gave me every 
 care. He walked with me each day in an orchard, 
 talking ever of France, the downfall of Napoleon 
 III, the Commune, the establishment of a Kepublic, 
 and many things which happened, he declared, in the 
 years immediately preceding. He gave me little op 
 portunity to think upon my own affairs and the 
 strange condition in which I found myself, and I 
 became strong and well. There were other persons 
 at the house, but I saw them only at a distance. One 
 day Gaspard asked me if I desired to return to 
 my home, and I told him that I did, if he would help 
 me to do so, as I had no means with which to make 
 the journey. 
 
 " 'Monsieur is free to go,' he replied, 'and will be 
 provided with money if he feels that his strength is 
 sufficient for travelling. Yes. and I will accompany 
 him upon his way.' 
 
 "I made the effort to thank him, but he replied that 
 thanks were not due. My case, he said, had excited 
 the sympathy of some wealthy men who had learned
 
 249 
 
 of the circumstances, and they would provide what 
 was necessary. He brought me new clothing and 
 more money than I had ever before seen. He came 
 with me as far as Edinburgh, and when I pressed 
 him at last to tell me something that would enlighten 
 me as to my past life, he said : 'Monsieur, I know 
 little or nothing to tell, except that fate, who was 
 once kind, seems to have turned her face from you for 
 the present. Do not think upon your condition; 
 live in the open air where you may gain strength, and 
 ever hold to the hope that some day it will all come 
 right.' 
 
 "Gaspard left me then and I came here, to be 
 overwhelmed in wonderment over the changes which 
 press upon me at every turn ; to tread a path so intri 
 cate and mysterious that I find no straight course to 
 lead me to a solution of the problem of my life. A 
 boy, with memories of childhood and youth cluster 
 ing around me and with no recollection of how I 
 came to manhood, save fleeting visions which I can 
 not hold and which have no tangible or cohesive se 
 quence. They sometimes for a moment flash upon 
 my brain, and then as quickly vanish, leaving me 
 to grope in darkness and to pray for their return. 
 And yet a man in stature, strength and age, as they 
 who were my companions but a summer ago are now 
 men and women. 
 
 "Ross, in the mercy of God, tell me what has hap 
 pened," and Cameron fell upon his knees before
 
 250 c&e Spotter* 
 
 them. "Or you, Davie Purdee, my boyhood friend ; 
 or this stranger here, with the kindly face, which I 
 seem to know as though I had met it in a dream; 
 or this beautiful young woman, who has so much sym 
 pathy in her eyes that her heart must be as tender 
 as the heart of a wee lassie tell in a word what you 
 must call this cloud that rests upon my life ! Where 
 are the years which vanished between the night when 
 I was struck down by the lightning and the day I 
 awoke in the house of the French peasant ? Was I 
 insane through them all, and did I pass them in some 
 madhouse; or was I then sane and have I now gone 
 mad? 
 
 "See, Ross, Purdee, all can you look with indif 
 ference to the pleading of one who prays to you from 
 his knees as he would to his God ?"
 
 CJje ^potter, 251 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 BETSEY PAINTS A PICTURE. 
 
 THE Rev. Mr. Purdee and Dr. Ross stepped for 
 ward and raised Cameron to his feet. Mrs. Wheeler 
 covered her face with her hands and sobbed con 
 vulsively. Mr. Fisher's furrowed face was as color 
 less as the hair that crowned it, and he appeared to 
 be on the point of breaking out in a denunciation of 
 the great wrong which had been committed against 
 his friend. 
 
 "Calm yourself, Duncan, lad," said Dr. Ross in 
 a tone he might be expected to use to a nervous child. 
 "We are here to help you and to make all clear. You 
 have not been, nor are you now insane. Through 
 an injury, as the peasant whom you call Gaspard de 
 clared, you lost consciousness, and when it returned 
 a number of years of active life had dropped from 
 your memory. With God's help and in His own 
 good time, that memory will come again." 
 
 "Davie !" and Cameron caught Mr. Purdee's arms 
 and looked him straight in the eyes, "is this true ?" 
 
 "It is true, Duncan, as true as the sun yonder ; as 
 true as the mercy and love of God."
 
 252 
 
 "Twenty-five years, is it not ! The memory lost of 
 twenty-five years! Ah," and he glanced quickly 
 from one to another of those around him, "should I 
 desire its return? Is there something in that long 
 period from youth to middle age which I have 
 done and now do not know, but which, returning to 
 me, would make me ashamed ?" 
 
 "No!" thundered Mr. Fisher, coming up and tak 
 ing Cameron's hand. "No, Cameron, not one single 
 act" 
 
 The bewildered man looked upon Mr. Fisher 
 with that curious gaze, of half recognition over 
 shadowed with doubt, which one unconsciously as 
 sumes when circumstances arise which partially re 
 call an elusive incident or bring back the features of 
 a long-forgotten face. 
 
 "Thank you, sir. From whom does this assurance 
 come ?" 
 
 "From an old friend, Cameron one who knows 
 even more of your life than these companions of your 
 youth. I lived beside you many years as a neighbor 
 in Cameron Valley Arad Fisher." 
 
 "And what Mr. Fisher tells you is known to very 
 many," said Mrs. Wheeler, coming to Cameron's 
 side and taking his hand. "Do you not know me, 
 Mr. Cameron the little girl whom you taught so 
 many things and who was a playmate of your daugh 
 ter Agnes ?" 
 
 "My daughter Agnes!"
 
 C&e Spotter, 253 
 
 He reeled and would have fallen had not Dr. Ross 
 caught him quickly and supported him to a seat on 
 the rock. Mrs. Wheeler, pale with fright, sank down 
 by Cameron's side. 
 
 "Oh, forgive me ; I ought not to have spoken so ab 
 ruptly, but for the moment I forgot that we have 
 not told you all. There is a daughter, Mr. Cameron, 
 a beautiful, noble girl; just a few years younger 
 than myself and with never a thought from the begin 
 ning of a year to its end except to make others 
 happy." 
 
 "Her her mother ! Quick, girl, tell me has this 
 'Agnes, my daughter, a living mother ?" 
 
 "Why of course she has, Mr. Cameron ; the dearest, 
 sweetest mother that one can imagine kind, loving, 
 indulgent, unselfish a guide and companion to her 
 daughter, a friend to every one in need." 
 
 Cameron's face was a study. Astonishment, sur 
 prise, perplexity, wonder, fear, and finally, joy, 
 swept over his countenance in alternating waves of 
 light and shadow. Tears started to his eyes and he 
 extended his arms as if in supplication. 
 
 "Is it Alice Laing ? Davie, is it Alice Laing ? Oh, 
 for the love of Heaven, tell me, is it Alice?" 
 
 "Yes, Duncan, it is Alice Laing." 
 
 "Thank God; thank God; thank God! I feared I 
 had lost her, for when I came back and found all so 
 changed I dared not ask for Alice. There were 
 strangers in her old home, and I would not let them
 
 254 CJje Spotter. 
 
 guess my secret, so made no inquiry. I searched 
 everywhere, except in the kirkyard, and that I 
 shunned. I listened, hoping, yet fearful that some 
 one would speak her name. I haunted the place, 
 where we wandered as boy and girl, recalling her 
 pretty ways and feeling her dear presence ; yet with 
 each happy hour thus brought back, came the crush 
 ing thought and overshadowing fear that Alice had 
 gone out of my life. And yet you tell me, friends, 
 that she has been is now my wife, and that she 
 has borne me a daughter?" 
 
 "Yes, Duncan, it is so. Alice went to America 
 with her parents, both of whom died soon after reach 
 ing there. Upon learning this, you followed imme 
 diately and were married in a few weeks." 
 
 Cameron buried his face in his hands and wept 
 with joy. His body swayed with emotion, and those 
 who stood beside him saw that he was wrought upon 
 by intense nervous excitement. !No word was spoken, 
 and after a few minutes he raised his head and looked 
 afar off upon the blue water of the Firth with a gaze 
 of deep and intense inquiry. 
 
 "Almost !" he whispered. "The picture of the past 
 almost comes to me. Oh, help me to bring it back." 
 
 "Quick," said Dr. Eoss. "Tell him some dramatic, 
 thrilling incident of his life." 
 
 Mi\ Fisher shook his head helplessly and glanced 
 toward Mrs. Wheeler. She stepped forward, laid 
 her hand on Cameron's shoulder, and pointing toward
 
 Cfce Spotter, 255 
 
 the gray and rugged Scottish landscape she drew this 
 picture : 
 
 "There lies a beautiful valley, and here is a farm, 
 the well-tilled fields of which have been brought from 
 a state of neglect into a condition of fruitf ulness and 
 plenty. Here runs the road, and there on a little rise, 
 is a comfortable, homelike farmhouse, hedged in with 
 currant and small fruit shrubs, and filled with beds 
 and rows of growing vegetables. Back of the house 
 a rolling field stretches away to the wooded hill, and 
 in it, first, an orchard, all pink-and-white in blos 
 soms ; and then a great meadow upon which the rich 
 grass is even now glistening with different shades of 
 green as the light wind sweeps across it. Off at the 
 right is a smooth pasture leading up the gentle hill 
 to the woodland, and upon which a herd of splendid 
 cattle are grazing on the fresh pasturage." 
 
 She spoke in a deep, low voice, without hesitation, 
 and Cameron followed her description with an atten 
 tion that indicated that it was making upon him a 
 tremendous impression. 
 
 "Two girls are seated in a swing in the yard. A 
 man comes from the garden and passes a corner of 
 the house where they can see him, while a great collie, 
 called Don, leaps from the sod and runs forward with 
 joyful bark to greet his master. 
 
 ' 'Father/ says one of the girls to the farmer, 
 'please take Betsey and me up to the Edgert tract to 
 see them torpedo the well/
 
 256 c&e Spotter* 
 
 "The man pauses. A new industry is being de 
 veloped in all that section and the land of most of his 
 neighbors has been leased for the purpose of drilling 
 upon it wells for the production of oil. Within a 
 few weeks an invention has been announced by 
 which the flow of oil from the wells may be increased. 
 A great can of nitro-glycerine is lowered to the bot 
 tom of the well and then exploded by a weight that 
 is let fall upon it from the top. The explosion breaks 
 up the rock at the bottom and opens new reservoirs 
 of the product, thus giving a greater supply. The 
 invention has not been tried in this neighborhood, 
 and upon the success of the experiment to-day de 
 pends the sale of a neighbor's farm at a price that 
 will raise him from poverty to riches. The whole 
 community is interested and curious, and the girls 
 plead that they be taken to witness the sight. The 
 man consents to go if the mother of one of the girls 
 may be induced to accompany them, and the girls 
 run into the house, to return in a moment, their 
 arms around the beautiful woman whom one calls 
 mother. 
 
 "Back through the meadow and orchard they troop, 
 three of them decking their hair and bosoms with 
 sprays of apple-blossoms and bunches of violets the 
 man gravely amused over their play and listening 
 to their chatter with kindly interest. On through the 
 wood lot where the big maples stand, which a few 
 weeks before were dripping their flow of sweet sap
 
 Cfje Spotter* 257 
 
 into troughs and buckets, over fences, through a wild 
 lot given up to a tangle of bushes, and finally out 
 into the clearing where a great derrick of rough 
 boards stands seventy feet in the air above the oil 
 well. 
 
 "A crowd of sightseers has assembled. Most of 
 them are known to the man and they come around 
 him with many questions, seeking his opinion con 
 cerning the invention. Before he has time to answer, 
 there is a warning from the derrick to stand back 
 out of danger, and some drillers and torpedo men 
 approach with a long tube of tin filled with a dan 
 gerous explosive. Carefully they convey it to the 
 well, and with great caution lower it gently through 
 the mouth of the casing. 
 
 "Two men slowly pay out the rope as the tre 
 mendous charge sinks foot by foot into the earth. 
 Two other men stand by the casing, one guiding the 
 rope in the center of the well and the other listening 
 for any sound from the depths below. A hundred 
 feet two hundred a thousand feet of the slender 
 line has been uneoiled, and still the torpedo sinks, 
 deeper and deeper into the black and narrow hole. 
 Twelve hundred feet ! The men, women and children 
 gather near in breathless, silent interest, for they see 
 no danger now. Fifteen hundred feet of the line has 
 disappeared, and there are two hundred feet remain 
 ing when the man who has been listening all this time 
 over the casing, raises his hand.
 
 258 Cfje 
 
 "He feels a puff of gas upon his cheek faint and 
 almost imperceptible. The drillers stop paying out 
 rope and stand immovable. A low-spoken word or 
 two by the men is not heard by the people, who are 
 crowding to the sides of the derrick. 
 
 "Another puff of gas, stronger than before, comes 
 into the now white faces of the men. 
 
 " 'God ! she is going to flow ! Back, back !' shouts 
 one of the drillers, and as they drop the line the four 
 men leap among the people and run for their lives. 
 
 "A startled, fearful cry from those who press 
 around the narrow platform a panic struggle for 
 flight which results in throwing many to the ground 
 and keeping all save the strongest from reaching 
 safety ! A rushing, hissing sound from the mouth of 
 the well ! 
 
 "A man this owner of the peaceful farm leaps 
 upon the derrick platform and stands crouching near 
 the iron casing. Men shout, women scream, children 
 scramble to their feet and flee in terror but he heeds 
 them not. The rush of gas grows louder, for the 
 subterranean reservoir has broken open of its own 
 pent-up force and the torpedo is being driven upward 
 like a shot, to be thrown into the air and fall to the 
 ground with an explosion that will kill a score of 
 people. Some faint; others stand rooted to the spot, 
 paralyzed with the fascination of approaching death. 
 
 "In a flash the glistening tube leaps upward, and 
 the man, watching its flight twenty feet above his
 
 Cfte Spotter, 259 
 
 head, springs forward as it falls and, reaching up on 
 tip-toe, with arms cushioned to receive it, catches the 
 awful missile and bears it gently up from striking 
 ground or timbers ! 
 
 "A mighty shout; a roar of gas; a thick stream 
 of black, liquid spurting high above the derrick and 
 raining upon all with stifling odor and pelting flood, 
 does not stop this man who has saved so many lives. 
 Blindly, carefully, he creeps forward with his burden 
 of death until other men come to his side and take 
 it from his arms. 
 
 "Mr. Cameron, do you not recognize the picture ?" 
 
 One hand was clasped over his eyes, the other ex 
 tended before him. 
 
 "Yes, yes I see it all ! Cameron farm my home 
 Sam Edgert, Jim Tubbs, Arad Fisher, Old Don, 
 Agnes, Betsey Alice ! Oh, thank God, thank God !" 
 
 The vanished years came rushing back as the 
 scenes of a day before return to the awakened sleeper !
 
 260 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 DOCTOR EOSS SELLS OUT. 
 
 ONE afternoon a month later, the Rev. David Pur- 
 dee pushed open the door and entered Dr. Ross's 
 office. 
 
 "What is this I hear, Ross ; that you have offered 
 your practice for sale and intend to go to America ?" 
 
 "Yes, it is true, dominie." 
 
 "But, man, are you not contented with what you 
 are doing here? They tell me that you are riding 
 night and day and have been called in consultation 
 as far away as Garrows and Holten." 
 
 "I have no complaint to make of the practice ; but 
 it has been for sale." 
 
 "Been? Then you have reconsidered your plan 
 and have withdrawn it?" 
 
 "E"o; I have sold out." 
 
 The minister looked at him curiously for a moment 
 from under perplexed eyebrows. "I don't understand 
 it, Willie. Why should a man with your brilliant 
 prospects wish to throw them aside and go abroad, 
 where he must again commence at the bottom of the 
 ladder?"
 
 C&e Spotter* 26i 
 
 Doctor Ross smiled, and without speaking step 
 ped to the locker and mixed two glasses of strong 
 Scotch whiskey. "There's an uncomfortable chill in 
 the air this afternoon, Davie," he said, bringing the 
 drinks forward, "and I have to start on a long ride 
 in a few minutes, so I'll ask you to join me in some 
 thing warming, and at the same time to drink to my 
 success." 
 
 "That I will of course do, Willie, and pray for it 
 as well. But I can't see why you should put aside 
 that which is already successful to enter upon a ven 
 ture which is doubtful." 
 
 "Do you remember the day out on the shore, Davie, 
 when Cameron was so strangely restored to his full 
 reason ?" 
 
 "To be sure I do, for it is almost never out of my 
 thoughts. And that reminds me I have here a let 
 ter from Duncan telling about his arrival home. I 
 brought it over for your reading ; it is as much to you 
 as to me." 
 
 The doctor took the letter somewhat eagerly. "Let 
 me keep it and read it later." 
 
 "Certainly ; that was my intention." 
 
 "And do you remember the little woman, Davie, 
 who told the thrilling story about Cameron's heroism 
 which shocked him into consciousness ?" 
 
 The minister nodded absently. "Yes, Mrs. 
 Wheeler." 
 
 "It is she that is taking me to America."
 
 262 C!)e 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Purdee's hand with the half -emptied 
 glass paused on its way to his lips for a sip of the 
 fragrant liquor. Slowly it sank until the glass rested 
 upon the table, and the men looked each other in the 
 eyes. 
 
 "Willie Ross!" 
 
 "Yes, Davie, it is so. You are my minister as well 
 as my friend. This is my confession." 
 
 "Why man, do you know that the woman is mar 
 ried?" 
 
 "That I do, to my regret. Had she not been, she 
 would have stayed here as my wife, or I should have 
 accompanied her home as her husband." 
 
 "You crazy dolt! Have you said anything to her 
 of this?" 
 
 "Davie !" reproachfully. 
 
 "Ah, but I don't know. When a Scotchman is in 
 love neither honor nor dishonor, nor the commands of 
 God, nor the fear of the devil stand in his way. Did 
 you let her know during the days they remained here 
 that you were smitten ?" 
 
 "No, not by one word except " 
 
 "Except what, man? Tell me the whole of it, if 
 you are making your confession." 
 
 "When we bade them good-by on the steamer, and 
 you were talking and laughing with the others, she 
 gave me her hand in farewell. I held it firmly in 
 my grasp a moment, and said to her: 'This is for 
 a time, only. I am coming to America.' She looked
 
 C&e Spotter* 263 
 
 at me with unspoken words on her lips. Then she 
 turned away and was silent for a moment, at last 
 saying that she thought my place was. here where I 
 have opportunities to do so much good." 
 
 "And she was right. Losh, but the woman has 
 the greater wisdom of the two, and no doubt she 
 thinks you the crazy loon that you are. What can 
 come to you by following her ? Only heartburnings 
 and disappointments." 
 
 "Nevertheless, I shall go." 
 
 "Yes, I suppose you will, for you were ever the 
 most headstrong lad in the country. You will go to 
 find that when she told you to remain in Scotland, 
 she gave you good advice. From Duncan and Mr. 
 Fisher I had some of Mrs. Wheeler's history, and 
 barring the fact that she temporarily lost her head 
 when her parents suddenly became wealthy, and was 
 flattered into marrying a man more than twice her 
 own age, she has been a sensible girl and woman. She 
 is tied to a scoundrel, I will grant; but have you 
 stopped to consider that she may not be freed from 
 him in a lifetime ?" 
 
 "Then by neither word nor look shall she or any 
 other know that I love her, for I will carry my secret 
 in silence. Something has told me from the start, 
 Davie, that there would be a sequel to the chapter 
 in the life of this woman in which I have part, and 
 that in some manner I must be a factor in writing 
 that sequel."
 
 264 cfje Spotter. 
 
 "In other words, without invitation or request, you 
 are to become a modern Don Quixote, and are going 
 out to fight battles for those who do not wish your 
 services. No good will ever come of it, my boy, and 
 if you but keep the sea between yourself and the ob 
 ject of your romantic fancies you will be happier, and 
 will soon laugh over these dreams." 
 
 Ross shook his head. "It is too late, Davie, too 
 late. The fancy as you call it has laid hold on me 
 and I would not have it let go. I leave this day 
 week. Will you not drink to my success ?" 
 
 The minister took the glass and slowly extended it 
 until it touched the one held by his friend. Tears 
 stood in his eyes, and in a broken voice he said: 
 
 "To your success, Willie Ross in your profes 
 sion."
 
 265 
 
 CHAPTEK XXIX. 
 
 MR. TUBES IN BUSINESS. 
 
 THE great suit of Cameron vs. The Cygnet Oil 
 Producing and Refining Company had been dragging 
 its tiresome way through the courts for more than 
 two years, and was not yet at the end. Times almost 
 without number it made its appearance in one form 
 or another, only to be delayed upon various pretexts 
 until the public nearly lost sight of the contest and 
 no longer expected a determination of the issue with 
 in the memory of one generation. The policy of the 
 Cygnet Company appeared to be delay, and as the 
 courts in some subtle manner were held under in 
 fluences exerted by the powerful interests of the 
 Cygnet, t was not a difficult matter for the adroit 
 and well-paid lawyers for the defendants to get such 
 postponements and adjournments as they might ds 
 sire. A simple motion for a change of venue, for 
 instance, was argued on four different occasions about 
 three months apart, and then the learned judges took 
 another three months to reach a decision, from which 
 an appeal was immediately interposed.
 
 266 C&e Spotter* 
 
 "Tire them out and break them down," was the 
 laconic order issued by President Lanphere when the 
 suit was brought. It appeared as though this would 
 be the result. 
 
 The plaintiff sought to show that through a con 
 spiracy, "existing between John Lanphere, Presi 
 dent of the Cygnet Oil Producing and Kefining Com 
 pany, and one Eli Wheeler, the lands and certain 
 sums of cash owned by Duncan Cameron had been 
 wrongfully and fraudulently seized, converted, and 
 were now held to the use and benefit of the said 
 Company, and that the said Cameron had not been 
 paid any just compensation for the same." 
 
 The defense set up the claim that the property had 
 been purchased in good faith from Wheeler, who held 
 deeds of the same, and was authorized under power 
 of attorney to transact business for the Cameron 
 Farm Company, and to buy and sell for the said com 
 pany. 
 
 So rapid and sure was the growth of the Cygnet's 
 power throughout the oil regions that the independ 
 ents who suffered with Cameron when Wheeler sold 
 them out became cowed and disheartened and had lit 
 tle inclination to give him either aid or encourage 
 ment. Indeed, some of them were now holding posi 
 tions of one kind or another with the Cygnet, and 
 they conveniently forgot about the transactions of 
 several years before, not being inclined to jeopardize 
 what they already held in the doubtful effort to prove
 
 C6e Spotter. 26? 
 
 that the President of the Cygnet had ruined them 
 through a conspiracy with Wheeler. The very good 
 Mr. Lanphere could not be guilty of such an act. 
 It was no secret that he wanted the independent re 
 fineries and the Cameron property. What man among 
 them would not buy out dangerous opposition when 
 the opportunity presented ? It was a legitimate move 
 in trade and could not be criticised. Lanphere was 
 not to blame; Wheeler was the scapegoat. He had 
 gone to the good Mr. Lanphere, admitted that he was 
 tired and discouraged with his efforts to buck the 
 Cygnet, confessed that he was at the end of his 
 financial leash, and offered the properties for sale. 
 Wheeler was the man to prosecute ; Wheeler was the 
 liar, the swindler, the thief. Find Wheeler and they 
 would give their last dollar to bring him to complete 
 justice but the good Mr. Lanphere could not be 
 blamed. 
 
 Thus they argued, and so it fell out that Cameron 
 found himself fighting the battle alone and in the 
 face of many discouragements. 
 
 The first of these was his lack of money. Cameron 
 came home to find that his wife and daughter were 
 occupying with Mr. and Mrs. Tubbs the cottage in 
 which he had installed them in Bradan. Mrs. Cam 
 eron knew many womanly arts, and with her ready 
 adaptability found opportunity to employ them to an 
 extent which yielded a considerable revenue. Agnes, 
 grown into beautiful womanhood, gave instruction in
 
 268 Ci) 
 
 music, and for the past year no social function had 
 been complete without the benefit of her professional 
 presence. Mr. Tubbs happy old Jim, who, now that 
 his daughter and Cameron were safely home, 
 was the most contented and well satisfied man on 
 earth confided to Cameron that he was making more 
 money matching horses and selling the teams in the 
 oil country to lucky producers than "could be made 
 out of a half-dozen twenty-barrel wells." 
 
 "You're going to take every dollar of it," he de 
 clared when Cameron told of his plan to bring suit 
 against the Cygnet, "and when that's gone there'll be 
 more ready for ye. Besides a little better than seven 
 teen hunder in the bank, there's" and his voice sank 
 to a whisper "that two thousand that I salted, and 
 nobody to this day knows anything about it but us 
 two. I never'll want it, Mr. Cameron, for since I 
 got into business and out of society, I can make 
 money hand over. Cleaned up a hunder and eight 
 yesterday, and now that my reputation is gettin' up, 
 can make two hunder a month above expenses as easy 
 as talkin' politics. It comes natural to me to specu 
 late in bosses, and since I've got speeded up to a safe 
 gait there ain't no other hossman passed me. I 
 started in with a fifty-dollar mare that I got by sell 
 ing some of the duds and jimcracks they bought for 
 me when we soared, and now I've got over in that 
 barn four thousand dollars' wuth of bosses and rigs, 
 besides what I've told you of. Ain't that a good
 
 Clje Spotter* 209 
 
 stroke for an old duffer what didn't know enough to 
 ehine in a plug hat and swaller tail coat?" 
 
 "Indeed it is, Mr. Tubbs. It is an achievement of 
 which any man might be proud. You do not know 
 how greatly it pleases me. And to see Mrs. Tubbs 
 so contented, too. She appears most happy." 
 
 "Happy! why there ain't a happier soul than Mis 
 Tubbs in the State,, unless it is Mis Cameron, now 
 that you're home. And it was so durin' all the dark 
 days when never a word came from Betsey, the poor 
 little gal whose head was turned, but whose heart 
 was right all the time. Mis Tubbs never mourned 
 a minnit for the money after she picked up the 
 stitches she dropped when the crash come and the 
 whole web of rosy colors she'd been weavin' fell out 
 of her hands. 
 
 " 'James,' she says, comin' up to me one day after 
 you left us, 'do you suppose you can forgive me?' 
 ' Susan,' says I, 'what have you been doin', breakin' 
 some of them chiney dishes mother gin us as a wed- 
 din' present?' 
 
 " 'You know what I'm askin' forgiveness for, 
 James/ she replied. 
 
 " 'There ain't nothin' else in the world for which 
 you'd have to ask forgiveness, except to break them 
 five or six pieces of chiney.' ' 
 
 "She looked at me out of the corners of her eyes 
 just as she used to when we went to dances together
 
 270 
 
 before she was Mis Tubbs but I was as sober as 
 a hungry cow and didn't change an eyebrow. 
 
 " 'James/ she said after a minnit, 'if you really 
 mean it, I ain't goin' to say any more about it. If 
 anybody'd told me three years ago that I could 
 have been such a silly old hen well, I'd a tied a 
 sunbonnet on my head to keep my senses from gettin' 
 out. Xow that I've come to my right mind once 
 more, I'm goin' to work and make you as happy as 
 you've been miserable. And when Betsey's back with 
 us for she'll come, James, as sure as summer fol 
 lows winter, and come in her right mind, too the 
 place where we live will be about as near like home 
 as any spot on earth no matter if it's in a shanty.' ' 
 
 Mr. Tubbs turned away, for there was a fulness 
 in his throat that made his speech difficult. In a 
 moment he abruptly changed the subject: 
 
 "You can have all I've saved, Mr. Cameron, to 
 fight Lanphere." 
 
 "I do not want it, Mr. Tubbs, though I thank you 
 for the offer. I thought of borrowing five hundred 
 dollars from Mr. Edgert, and if you will loan me the 
 same sum, I will give a note, and if I live it will 
 be paid." 
 
 "You can't borrow any money from me. I'm goin' 
 to put the cash in your hand, and I won't take no 
 note 
 
 "But, Mr. Tubbs " 
 
 "No sir-ee ; this is as much my fight as it is yours,
 
 &e Spotter. 271 
 
 and though I don't want the money back that my 
 high-flyin' son-in-law took out of the Tubbs family, 
 I want to see you win out." 
 
 In the end, a thousand dollars was placed in the 
 hands of young Harry Edgert, who had completed 
 his studies and was now an active and progressive 
 lawyer, and the fight was begun that made him 
 famous for his persistency and resources, and gave 
 the Cygnet Oil Producing and Refining Company the 
 hardest rub it ever experienced. 
 
 Cameron returned to the oil country in the vicinity 
 of his old home with several objects in view. He would 
 be upon the scene of action where without delay he 
 could have frequent consultation with Harry, and by 
 becoming managing superintendent of a producing 
 tract he would earn a salary that would help him 
 in the contest against a corporation possessed of un 
 limited means. Finally, here he might be able to se 
 cure some knowledge of the whereabouts of Wheeler. 
 This much only was known of the missing man it 
 was reported that he had been seen in Oleford several 
 times, and it was supposed that he was engaged in 
 some secret work for the Cygnet.
 
 272 c&e Spotter. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXX. 
 
 THE SPOTTER. 
 
 IN ALL eras of industrial development, necessary 
 inventions keep pace with the increased demands 
 which are constantly presenting themselves. 
 
 One of the outgrowths of the oil industry was the 
 torpedo, or nitro-glycerine "shot," which was lowered 
 to the oil-bearing rock and there exploded, breaking 
 up the veins and pools containing the fluid and giving 
 them free outlet to the chamber formed by the explo 
 sion and final vent through the mouth of the well 
 above. 
 
 It was one of the early experiments with this 
 invention which Mrs. Wheeler seized upon to de 
 scribe, and thus reach and recall the fugitive mem 
 ory of Duncan Cameron when they found him in 
 Scotland. When Cameron returned to the oil regions 
 and took up the work he was engaged to superintend, 
 he found that next to drilling, the torpedoing of wells 
 was a most important branch of the work. A thriving 
 company controlled the patents and sought through 
 the monopoly to enrich its stockholders by leaps and
 
 Cfte Spotter* 273 
 
 bounds, rather than through the slower channels of 
 more equitable dealing. The producers who wished 
 to torpedo their wells were compelled to pay almost 
 prohibitive prices for the privilege of so doing, 
 though the cost of material and work was compara 
 tively small. The producers were between two op 
 pressive influences. On the one hand, the Cygnet, 
 with the pipe lines, tankage, shipping facilities, rail 
 road concessions and refineries in its control, fixed the 
 price of oil at whatever figure its pleasure and love of 
 profit might suggest On the other hand, the Torpedo 
 Company demanded a full pound of flesh for the per 
 mission to employ its devices to increase the flow of 
 the wells. 
 
 The simplicity of the process, and the case with 
 which unauthorized torpedoes might be constructed 
 invited constant, but not wholly inexcusable, in 
 fringement upon the rights of the patent-owners. 
 Thus there grew up a body of "moonshiners" men 
 who for one-half or a third of the sum demanded by 
 the Torpedo Company, would "shoot" a well, gener 
 ally at night, without warrant of authority. So com 
 mon became this illicit practice that regular organiza 
 tions of the moonshiners were formed. Agents manu 
 factured the explosive in distant localities; others, 
 in wagons fitted with specially prepared springs and 
 covers, conveyed loads of the product to the vicinity 
 of the wells, where scores of reckless and daring men, 
 carrying knapsacks each containing several cans of
 
 274 1 cfie Spotter, 
 
 the death-dealing liquid, went abroad over the hills 
 and mountains at night through almost impassable 
 trails in great tracts of woodland, each with his 
 object in view and bent upon its accomplishment. 
 They generally operated in pairs, but many times one 
 man would take the contract to surreptitiously tor 
 pedo several wells. 
 
 Now it must not be thought that the Torpedo Com 
 pany suffered the work of the moonshiners to go on 
 without protest and made no attempt to check it. In 
 junctions, complaints, suits for damages, arrests, 
 writs and prosecutions clogged the courts and almost 
 blocked the wheels of justice. In the furtherance of 
 these proceedings, every possible subterfuge was em 
 ployed to secure evidence against those who offended. 
 
 It was a wild country. Towns which grew in a 
 night vanished in a month. The population was a 
 floating one. Titles and ownership of many lands were 
 obscure. The conditions of to-day were obliterated 
 to-morrow. As compared with the customary prog 
 ress of a community, it was guerilla scouting and at 
 tack contrasted with the orderly march of highly- 
 drilled armies and the pitched battle upon the open 
 plain. The authorities were often powerless and al 
 ways indifferent. 
 
 The Torpedo Company employed to do its detective 
 work men who came to be known as "spotters." They 
 followed almost every known calling and frequented 
 the oil exchanges, the hotels, the theatres, the broth-
 
 Cjje ^potter* 275 
 
 els, and the gambling joints. They went abroad as 
 drillers, tool-sharpeners, rig-builders, pumpers, teams 
 ters, or what not. Some of them seldom saw the light 
 of day, but prowled about at night, skulking up to 
 the wells, trailing the footsteps of the moonshiners, 
 eaves-dropping upon well-owners, seducing into low 
 resorts men from whom they desired information, and 
 there plying them with liquor. They paid few visits 
 to headquarters, making their reports in cipher and 
 concealing them in designated places whence they 
 were secured by others and conveyed to the chief a 
 dignitary who moved about from place to place and 
 who never appeared in the prosecutions, but whose 
 duty it was to discover through his band of "spotters" 
 evidence of such violations as he could, and then give 
 the information to those who carried on the open 
 work of legal attack. 
 
 Though the calling of the spotter may have been 
 a wholly honorable and necessary one, those who 
 pursued it in the oil regions were hated with the same 
 intensity that is poured out upon the informer against 
 an illicit still in the mountains of Tennessee. He 
 was called a sneak, an underhanded villain, a black 
 mailer, a spy in the interests of oppressive tyrants, a 
 creature who crawled upon you while you slept. It 
 was not a serious matter in the eyes of many if a 
 party of drillers caught him, beat him into insensi 
 bility, rolled him in crude petroleum and dirt, and 
 then threw him into a stream to crawl out, or sink,
 
 276 c&e Spotter* 
 
 as might happen. It was not a crime that awakened 
 horror and repugnance if the body of a spotter was 
 found in the woods with a moonshiner's bullet 
 through his head. Even those owners who paid their 
 royalties to the company and had their wells tor 
 pedoed by licensed agents hated the spotter, and when 
 discovered drove him from the premises with threats 
 of violence should he return. 
 
 No man of character became a spotter. And what 
 more natural than that he who had been the plotting 
 and dishonest speculator, the fugitive and buncoed 
 promoter, should become chief of the hated spot 
 ters? 
 
 Such was Eli Wheeler.
 
 277 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THE MOONSHINER. 
 
 DUNCAN CAMEKON was proceeding from the group 
 of wells which he designated as headquarters to a 
 distant section of the tract where a gang of men 
 were erecting new derricks. He was on horseback, 
 picking his way along a rough road through the 
 woods and thinking at that instant only of the warmth 
 of the day, the bursting of the leaf-buds, the piping 
 calls of birds, and the carpet of green springing up 
 through the leaves of last Autumn, all gem-sparkled 
 with flowers. Suddenly his horse leaped sidewise, 
 almost unseating his rider, reared, wheeled and 
 sprung forward. Cameron brought the animal to 
 quick control, and looking for the cause of the fright, 
 saw coiled, ready to strike, almost at the exact point 
 where the horse was startled, a monster rattlesnake. 
 The reptile uncoiled and glided toward him, and 
 Cameron, slipping from the saddle, advanced. Like 
 the flash of a whip-lash the coil reformed, but as 
 the flattened head arose and drew back for the fatal 
 leap, Cameron reached forward and by a sharp,
 
 278 
 
 powerful blow from his riding whip paralyzed the 
 squirming body as with a shock of electricity. Seiz 
 ing a stone, he finished his work with one crushing 
 blow. Shuddering, almost sickened, by the terror 
 and revulsion that came over him at the sight of a 
 reptile, Cameron stepped backward two or three paces 
 and stood wiping his brow. 
 
 "There's a lot of them damned rattlers along this 
 run." 
 
 Cameron turned in amazement. A few yards back 
 upon the road a young man was holding Cameron's 
 horse and by reassuring strokes of the hand and gentle 
 words was quieting the animal's terror. 
 
 "Lucky, I was back here beside the road, Mr. 
 Cameron, or you would have had a five-mile walk." 
 
 "CoonTubbs!" 
 
 "Sure; just plain Coon to you every time. I've 
 lost all my airs, Mr. Cameron. You can call me 
 Coon without my getting mad now." 
 
 "But but what are you doing here?" 
 
 "Watching you make the prettiest kill of a rattler 
 I ever saw, and then catching your horse for you. 
 I generally shoot 'em the rattlers when I dast, and 
 jest now happens to be a time when I dassent. Next 
 to a spotter they're the damndest, meanest critters 
 on top of ground. Neither of them spotters or ratt 
 lers is safe to handle except at the end of a bullet." 
 
 "Why, Coon, you can't know how surprised I am 
 to see you," and Cameron stepped forward and took
 
 C6e Spotter, 279 
 
 the young man by the hand. "I have been making 
 all sorts of inquiries to learn something about you, 
 and your father has been trying to find you for two 
 years." 
 
 "Dad ain't the only one what's looking for me." 
 
 "You surely aren't in trouble again with the 
 authorities, Coon?" 
 
 "No ; jest with the spotters, that's all." 
 
 "You've been moonshining, then?" 
 
 "Well, I wouldn't care to say so before everybody, 
 Mr. Cameron, but you are wheat, and so I won't deny 
 the profession. I've been told you don't allow any 
 of it on your tract, but I guess that, to come right 
 down to it, you'll admit that moonshining is jest as 
 honest as to hold an owner up for three hundred dol 
 lars for shootin' a well when the whole cost ain't more 
 than fifty. And when it conies to spotting why, 
 moonshining is preaching and praying alongside that 
 occupation." 
 
 "But how do you happen to be here, Coon ? There's 
 no work here, is there ?" 
 
 "It's like this, Mr. Cameron: I've moonshined all 
 over the regions, both upper and lower. I've shot 
 wells in Shamburg, Venango, Pithole, Oleopolis, 
 Bonanza Pool, and on every tract in the lower coun 
 try, and the spotters never touched me. And I've 
 been all over this region and shot wells at Derrick 
 City, Lewis Run, Summit City, Big Shanty, Tuna, 
 Tionesta, Kinzua and everywhere else, and they
 
 280 
 
 didn't catch me here. I've been backwards and for 
 wards from one region to the other, and I've fooled 
 them every time for two years. Well, about two 
 months ago I got word that orders had been put out 
 to bring me down, dead or alive, or else git off the 
 job. Then things fell off, and for a month they let 
 me have my own run. I almost thought that it was 
 a false report, till one day I come to and found their 
 damned slippery chief right at my heels. He had 
 called off the whole force and set out to take care of 
 me, himself, and sence that time he's give me a rustle 
 for my money every hour. I ain't shot but three 
 wells in a month on account of him, and so I slipped 
 over here into an unsuspected tract to git him off the 
 scent. I left him down near Pithole flew the roost 
 at night; but I don't think he's shook for good, and 
 I've made up my mind to take a vacation over in 
 York State." 
 
 "Who is this chief, Coon ?" 
 
 "Why, don't you know, Mr. Cameron ? He's that 
 lying, thieving, sneaking slippery skunk of a brother- 
 in-law of mine Eli Wheeler meaner than that 
 rattler there ; but the cutest damned spotter in Penn 
 sylvania." 
 
 "Wheeler! Coon, do you say that Eli Wheeler 
 
 P-i-n-g ! There was a hot puff of air against Cam 
 eron's cheek and a sharp snap of something in Coon's 
 right arm, and then the report of a rifle. Nerveless,
 
 Clje Spotter, asi 
 
 Coon's fingers unclasped from the bridle and his arm 
 dropped and hung useless. With his uninjured hand 
 he clutched his side, and to his lips and face came 
 the pallor of sudden pain. He reeled and would have 
 fallen had not Cameron bore him up. 
 
 "Coon you are wounded !" 
 
 "Yes," throwing off the faintness that came upon 
 him and crouching upon the ground. "It's Wheeler 
 quick, drop down here beside me or he'll plug you, 
 too. Down, down Mr. Cameron, the bushes will give 
 us some protection !" And he pulled Cameron to the 
 ground beside him. 
 
 "Got a shooter? !No, well take one of mine I 
 can't use but one hand anyway. Now watch out for 
 him through the bushes there, and fire if you see 
 a shadow or a moving branch. I'll watch the rear 
 and this side, for some of his gang may be with 
 him. Damn his hide, he's got us in a pocket and may 
 bring us both down." 
 
 "Are you hurt badly, Coon ?" 
 
 "I don't know, and I don't care if I only get one 
 shot at Wheeler. My arm is snapped and bleeding 
 and I guess there's a hole in my side ; but I can hang 
 on for a time." 
 
 Cameron thrust the revolver into his pocket and 
 moved over beside Coon. 
 
 "What are you going to do ?" 
 
 "Dress your wounds as best I can."
 
 282 c&e Spotter, 
 
 "You musn't try it, Mr. Cameron. Wheeler'll 
 creep up on us and shoot you." 
 
 "Then let him do it. I am not going to see you 
 bleed to death. You can watch while I work." 
 
 With his knife Cameron cut away the sleeves of 
 Coon's coat and shirt. He made a tourniquet 
 of some of the strips of cloth and with this 
 soon stopped the flow of blood. Then he cut and 
 pulled away the clothing from the young man's side. 
 He judged that the bullet had glanced along the ribs 
 and was lodged somewhere in the back, but was not 
 sure. The bleeding must be stopped, for Coon was 
 growing weak. Cameron made a compress of his 
 handkerchief and bound it in place upon Coon's side 
 with another bandage. Every instant, Coon pro 
 tested and urged Cameron to be on his guard, but 
 the man gave no reply and worked as rapidly and 
 freely as though danger had never been born. 
 
 Fifty yards away along the bank, Eli Wheeler, in 
 the thick branches of a small hemlock, swore under his 
 breath and twisted and pounded the lock of his rifle 
 with his hands. The firing pin, rusted by exposure 
 to storms and night, stuck in its place and the 
 charging lever could not be worked. He dared not 
 leave his place of concealment and approach within 
 revolver range, for that would put him at disad 
 vantage with those whom he sought to kill, and so 
 each moment as he jerked nervously upon the lever 
 the arm became more nearly useless.
 
 Cfte Spotter. 233 
 
 The horse, cropping the sweet tops of bath and 
 squirrel corn under the bushes, a few yards from 
 where Coon lay pillowed on Cameron's coat with 
 Cameron seated beside him, raised its head and 
 whinnied. 
 
 "Some one is coming," said Coon, attempting to 
 rise. 
 
 "Yes," said Cameron, gently holding the boy back, 
 "but you lie still. I'll do the fighting if there's any 
 to be done." 
 
 He listened intently a moment and then smiled. 
 "It is all right, Coon. It is our teams with material 
 for the new wells. We'll have help in a few minutes." 
 
 The men came on four of them, with two loaded 
 wagons, each drawn by four horses. But before they 
 came to the side of the superintendent, Wheeler 
 slipped from his hiding place and, skulking low, 
 noiselessly ran up over the brow of the hill and dis 
 appeared. They found his rifle where he had dropped 
 it near the foot of the hemlock, and then they knew 
 how it was than Duncan Cameron had not been the 
 victim of an assassin's bullet. 
 
 Hours later, when Coon Tubbs was lifted tenderly 
 from the mattress of boughs that covered one of the 
 wagons and was carried into Cameron's room in the 
 little old farmhouse at headquarters and placed upon 
 the bed, he was babbling the incoherent sentences of 
 the fever-crazed.
 
 284 C6e Spotter* 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 ANXIOUS HOURS. 
 
 DOCTOR WILLIAM Ross had been located in Bradan 
 for somewhat over a year. The growth of his prac 
 tice was by no means rapid, but as it increased a 
 little each month he felt justified in saying in his 
 letters to the Rev. Mr. Purdee that he "was making 
 way." Since his arrival at Bradan, Dr. Ross had 
 been most discreet and careful in his deportment, and 
 there were none who guessed the real cause of his 
 coming to America. He called each week upon Mrs. 
 Cameron and Agnes, and became very friendly with 
 Mr. and Mrs. Tubbs. When Cameron came home, 
 as he did frequently to remain over Sunday, Dr. 
 Ross was invited to take dinner with them. In this 
 way he saw Mrs. Wheeler often ; but he had solemnly 
 promised the Rev. Mr. Purdee before he left Scot 
 land, that neither by word nor by manner would he 
 disclose to any one his love for the woman who had 
 no right to accept his addresses, and the promise was 
 kept. 
 
 Though her father protested and declared over and
 
 Cije Spotter, 285 
 
 over again that it was not necessary for her to do so, 
 Mrs. Wheeler took active part in the work in which 
 he was engaged. After some persuasion, Mr. Tubbs 
 permitted her to open for him a regular set of account 
 books, whereas heretofore he had made almost 
 illegible memoranda of insignificant matters upon the 
 walls of his office or on bits of paper, and "carried 
 in his head" the greater transactions. She wrote his 
 letters, kept account of stock, made trips into the 
 country to procure supplies, and sometimes even 
 purchased horses which were brought for sale when 
 her father chanced to be away. 
 
 "Betsey's got better sense about a hoss than two- 
 thirds o' the men," Tubbs would say. "She don't 
 appear ter hev any scientific knowledge about 'em 
 either; but w'en she looks at one an' draws a line 
 over him, an' sorter sizes him up, she jest seems ter 
 know how much he's wuth to a dollar. She jest looks 
 right through 'em an' sees all thet ain't right, or all 
 thet's sound an' val'able at er glance. Dum curious 
 she couldn't hev exercised ther same judgment when 
 thet dum But here, I wasn't never goin' to say 
 nothin' about thet any more." 
 
 The telegram which Doctor Ross received from 
 Cameron just at the edge of evening read as follows : 
 
 "HEMLOCK RUN, May 16th. 
 "Dr. William Ross, Bradan. 
 
 "Have found Coon Tubbs. He is badly injured by
 
 286 
 
 accident; gunshot wound. Come at once. Have 
 Tubbs and Betsey come with you. Edgert will bring 
 you from junction. DUNCAN CAMERON." 
 
 Ross hurried over to the sales-stables to acquaint 
 Mr. Tubbs with the news, and was there met by Mrs. 
 Wheeler, who informed him that her father had the 
 day before gone to Canada to purchase horses and 
 would not return for several days. 
 
 The doctor hesitated a moment and then said: "I 
 have both good news and bad news for you I hope 
 more that is good than is bad. Shall I tell it ?" 
 
 Into Betsey's mind flashed the thought that this 
 man had something to tell about her husband some 
 thing that she would not like to hear from his lips. 
 The doctor half-divined of what she was thinking. 
 
 "It is about your brother and comes from Cam 
 eron." 
 
 A quick gasp of relief. "Yes ; what is it ? Is he 
 ill in trouble ?" 
 
 Ross handed her the message and she read it twice 
 thiough. 
 
 "When can you go ?" 
 
 "On the freight and passenger at 8 :10." 
 
 "I will be at the depot and go with you," she re 
 plied, and turned away to give directions to the fore 
 man. 
 
 As the way-freight slowly dragged its length up 
 into the oil regions, stopping long periods at each sta-
 
 Cfje 
 
 tion to cut out or pick up cars and load or unload 
 merchandise and supplies, Betsey and Doctor Ross 
 talked little. She told the doctor how difficult it had 
 been to induce her mother to stay at home, and how 
 she finally succeeded in doing so by telling her that 
 some one must remain to get a room ready to receive 
 the injured boy and prepare against his coming. 
 "Poor mother," she said, "is not strong enough for 
 the trip, and she would have been too nearly worn 
 out and too nervous to have been of assistance. But it 
 grieved me to leave her there, for she pleaded so to 
 see her boy. Do you believe, doctor, that a mother ever 
 loses any of her love for a son no matter how wild 
 he may be, or what trouble he may fall into, or how 
 completely he may desert her ?" 
 
 "No; I think not I hope not. It is too beauti 
 ful a love to be lost. It is next to God's love for 
 man." 
 
 "It is God's love for man, manifested through the 
 woman," she replied. 
 
 It was after midnight when they reached the junc 
 tion. Edgert was waiting on the depot platform, for 
 the way-freight was an uncertain quantity and ran 
 wholly regardless of time schedule. He sent Mrs. 
 Wheeler into the house while he went with Ross 
 to bring out the team. 
 
 "She need not know it at present," he said to the 
 doctor when they were hitching the horses to the
 
 288 C!)e Spotter* 
 
 wagon, "but the shot that wounded Coon was fired 
 by Wheeler." 
 
 "Her husband?" 
 
 "The same. He's a spotter for the Torpedo Com 
 pany and has been after Coon for a month. It was 
 a plain enough try at murder, only it can't be proved 
 as no one saw him fire the shot." 
 
 "Monstrous ! He ought to be brought to justice." 
 
 "There's nothing around here by that name since 
 the Cygnet got its grip on the country. If Eli Wheeler 
 ever gets all that's coming to him it will have to be 
 through some other route than is furnished by the 
 courts. Do you carry a gun ?" 
 
 "No. I have never had occasion to." 
 
 "Well, you take this one. Put it in your overcoat 
 pocket until we get away from the lights and then 
 hold it in your hand ready for use all the way. It 
 works by just pulling the trigger like this." And 
 Edgert slipped the chamber out of the revolver and 
 illustrated its action. "Betsey'll sit on the front seat 
 with me, and you keep your eyes and ears open for 
 the rear of the wagon. But don't you fire a shot 
 unless you get a cue from me." 
 
 "What danger should there be, Mr. Edgert? I 
 don't understand it." 
 
 "There mayn't be danger, and then again there 
 may. Wheeler is somewhere in this section and 
 probably has other spotters with him. He knows 
 what's going on; he is a desperate chap, and under
 
 Cfte ^potter. 239 
 
 cover of night may make us trouble. It is a solitary- 
 bit of road from here to Hemlock, and the men in the 
 oil regions ain't all Sunday School boys. You just 
 hold on to the butt of that gun, doctor, and though 
 it may not do any good, it won't do any harm. And 
 remember, too, that I've got another one just like it 
 right here where its handy." 
 
 So they started away for a fourteen-mile drive 
 through the night to Hemlock. The road lay for 
 some distance alongside one of the railroads, and then 
 turned to the right and wound up the side of the 
 range of hills which separated the valleys. The hiss 
 ing natural gas torches about the junction, re 
 flected upon the low, dark clouds, gave for a time 
 some light on their way, but as they mounted the 
 rough, stony road and wound in and out crossing ra 
 vines that cut the mountain side into huge windrows, 
 the darkness settled in upon them, and Ross, for the 
 first time in his life, begun to realize the full mean 
 ing of solitude. Far back, he occasionally caught a 
 glimpse of tiny specks of light, the glow of red and 
 green signals along the railroad tracks, but, as he 
 watched, they turned the sharp shoulder of the hill 
 and even the cheery sparkle of the glow-worm lamps 
 at the junction were hidden from view. 
 
 Mr. Edgert told Mrs. Wheeler briefly as they were 
 driving away from the hotel that the messenger sent 
 out by Cameron had hurried back with a few articles 
 needed for her brother. He said nothing about the
 
 290 Cfie 
 
 accident, save that it had occurred some dis 
 tance from headquarters, and that the wounded man 
 had suffered greatly while they were carrying him to 
 shelter. Then Edgert gave his whole attention to his 
 horses and spoke only to caution or encourage the 
 animals in the most difficult portions of the road. 
 
 The forest took on strange, gloomy, dark shapes. 
 Blackened and denuded trunks, reaching above the 
 second growth and seen dimly against the horizon, 
 were uncouth and grotesque figures, with stunted, 
 crooked arms flung widely out as if in fear. Clusters 
 of small trees and tangled bushes became mysterious 
 envelopes of darkness which might conceal either men 
 or beasts of evil disposition. The sweep of the 
 branches against their faces as they drove where 
 underbrush crowded in upon the track, was the 
 swish of lassoes thrown swiftly out or dangled over 
 head by unseen hands to catch them. The crunch 
 and grind of the wagon tires upon the stones were 
 murmuring protests against their progress. Fre 
 quently, the iron-shod feet of the horses, scraping 
 upon the rocks which were everywhere, struck a 
 flash of fire which was gone in so brief an instant 
 that it scarcely left its impress. When the horses 
 came to a halt for a breathing space, the solitude in 
 creased, for then the rasping of the wagon wheels, 
 the sharp hoof-stroke and the squeaking of the har 
 ness leather was stilled, and only the hot, beating
 
 291 
 
 breath of the laboring horses broke a stillness that 
 was more impressive than the darkness. 
 
 They paused for a brief rest at the top of the hill 
 before going down the other side. It was in a clear 
 ing, made years before by a great sweep of wind that 
 tumbled down acres of timber, like so many match 
 sticks. 
 
 "Why didn't you bring a lantern, Mr. Edgert ?" 
 asked Mrs. Wheeler. 
 
 "There's one in the wagon," he said, "under the 
 back seat." 
 
 "Then why not light it ? I could hold it over the 
 side and it would be ever so much more cheerful." 
 
 "The light from it would be unsteady, and it would 
 confuse the horses and make it harder for them to 
 follow the road than it is now." 
 
 "Is that the only reason, Mr. Edgert?" 
 
 "Y-e-s that's the only reason I can think of." 
 Then they went forward, rocking, plunging, tipping 
 half-way over on one side to be thrown back again and 
 half-way over the other the next moment; the wagon 
 groaning and banging; the horses stumbling into 
 washouts and climbing over rocks; past the grim 
 shapes ; under the lassoes down and down miles it 
 seemed to Ross and Betsey, into a valley that had no 
 outline or shape but looked ever like an abyss of 
 deepest night. 
 
 At the bottom, they came upon a smoother and 
 pleasanter bit of road, past open fields and some barns
 
 292 
 
 and houses, which they saw in dim outline and from 
 which came the barking of dogs. Two or three times 
 they crept over rickety bridges, and once they had to 
 ford a stream. Wherever possible, Edgert urged his 
 horses to a trot, but the night was too dark and the 
 track too uncertain for speed. 
 
 "Isn't that the throb of an engine?" asked Ross 
 as they neared the upper end of the valley. 
 
 "Yes, we are coming to some rigs," replied Edgert, 
 and in a few minutes they turned a jutting point of 
 the hill and again saw the blaze of gas before them. 
 
 The road ran quite close to one of the derricks and 
 a driller stood in the doorway. 
 
 "Mornin', Edgert," said the man. "Goin' over 
 ter Hemlock?" 
 
 "Yes, Gross; that's where I'm bound for. What 
 time is it ?" 
 
 "Just past two. Been some shootin' over there, we 
 heard." 
 
 "Yes, an accident. I've got the doctor." 
 
 "Accident, hell! 'Twas a plain case of a spotter 
 tryin' ter kill a moonshiner." 
 
 Edgert started his horses forward before the sen 
 tence was finished and made no reply. 
 
 "You better wait here for daylight," shouted the 
 man. 
 
 There was no answer, and the driller went back 
 to his place beside the casing and twisted down the 
 stem of the mighty drill.
 
 C&e Spotter* 293 
 
 Soon the road grew rough and uneven again and 
 very slowly they mounted another great hill, doubling 
 back at length and finally coming to a point fifteen 
 hundred feet above the wells where they had spoken 
 with the driller. They had travelled for miles back 
 and forth upon the side of the mountain and were 
 still so near the wells that they could hear the rattle 
 of the bull-wheel and the coughing of the exhaust 
 pipe. 
 
 "What wells are those ?" asked Mrs. Wheeler when 
 the horses, nearing the top of the long climb, stopped 
 again to rest. 
 
 "The ones at Hunt's which we passed a while 
 back," answered Edgert. 
 
 "It seems hours since we left them," said Mrs. 
 Wheeler. 
 
 "You must be very tired," said Ross. "This is a 
 terrible ride for you to take in the night" 
 
 "No more terrible than for you and for Mr. Ed 
 gert; and I am not tired, but very anxious." Then, 
 turning to Edgert, she said in a low tone: "Mr. 
 Edgert, who shot my brother ?" 
 
 "Oh, I don't know, Betsey. Really I don't. The 
 messenger told me only a few details, and I didn't 
 more than half -listen to him. Gee up, boys; gee 
 up ; its coming daylight." 
 
 And then Ross noticed for the first time that the 
 strange shapes, which had been slowly moving back 
 of them as if to fall in with a procession of phantoms,
 
 294 Cfte 
 
 were taking dim but more tangible forms, still 
 ghostly, distorted and forbidding. The light came 
 slowly, creeping on as though discouraged with the 
 task of always driving the darkness before it and 
 finding that the places it had kissed into life and 
 warmed and vivified the day before, so soon became 
 dark and cold and sodden when it left them for 
 a time. Ross watched its coming with more than 
 usual interest, for he now began to realize fully the 
 character of the country they had passed through in 
 the darkness. The frowsy, bushy fields, the patches 
 of half-cut woodland, the twisting, rocky roadway, 
 the sheer descent, at times starting from the very 
 edge of the wagon track, inviting a plunge and tumble 
 hundreds of feet down the mountain side, the frown 
 ing masses of rock that threatened to slide upon them 
 the neglected, desolate, discouraging, hopeless ap 
 pearance of a lumber country where the soil does 
 not invite cultivation of the fields after lumbermen 
 and fire have together carried on their destructive 
 work all these pressed upon him as the daylight 
 slowly made its way. 
 
 Looking back, just as they turned one of the numer 
 ous curves in the road, Ross saw two men step out 
 of the thick fringe of bushes through which they were 
 moving and hurry forward after them. He touched 
 Edgert on the arm and whispered in his ear that two 
 men were following. Betsey, worn with the journey,
 
 295 
 
 leaned half-asleep upon Edgert's shoulder and did 
 not hear. 
 
 "Yes," said Edgert quietly, "they've been with us 
 since we left the top of the hill. We've passed them 
 twice." 
 
 "Who are they ?" 
 
 "Spotters, I suppose. They skulk along behind 
 us a ways and then where the road turns they cut 
 across and wait for us to pass them again. What 
 you going to do ?" as Ross threw the blankets from 
 his lap and started to leave the wagon. 
 
 "I'm going back to have it out with the scoundrels 
 right now." 
 
 "You ain't going to do any such thing," replied 
 Edgert so emphatically that Mrs. Wheeler sat up with 
 a start. "If that boy is alive up at Hemlock, you 
 are wanted there, and if he isn't, I'll come back with 
 you on your hunt." 
 
 "What is it, Mr. Edgert ?" asked Mrs. Wheeler. 
 
 "Oh, the doctor thought he saw a bear and he 
 wanted to chase him with nothing but a revolver to 
 fight with," was the reply. 
 
 She looked at the doctor with a puzzled expression. 
 "Oh, Dr. Ross, you surely could not be so careless. 
 And besides, we are almost there, aren't we, Mr. 
 Edgert ?" 
 
 "Yes, in ten minutes we will be down the hill and 
 find a better road, and then it is but a short distance. 
 P-h-e-w!" And he brought the horses to their
 
 296 c&e Spotter* 
 
 haunches, so suddenly did he halt them. Out of the 
 half-light of the dawn in front of them rode two men 
 on horseback with rifles across their saddle bows. 
 
 "Helloa, Edgert," shouted a voice they all knew. 
 
 "Cameron, as I'm a sinner !" said Edgert with evi 
 dent relief, as the riders came forward and greeted 
 them warmly. 
 
 "Mr. Cameron, is my brother " Betsey asked, 
 not daring to finish the sentence. 
 
 "He is alive, and I think he can be saved. Anxiety 
 to do what I could for him kept me at the house or I 
 should have met you nearer the junction." 
 
 He looked inquiringly at Edgert, who in turn made 
 a quick motion with his thumb over his shoulder, and 
 a significant glance passed between them. The horse 
 men fell in behind the wagon, and, as soon as the 
 mountain was safely passed, the party pushed ahead 
 and came to Cameron's headquarters just as the sun 
 was rising.
 
 Cfje Spotter* 297 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXIII. 
 
 COON DISCOVERS A SECEET. 
 
 IT was a month before Coon Tubbs was able, with 
 the help of his mother and sister, to creep out of bed 
 and sit beside the window. The wound in his side 
 proved a most dangerous one, and for several days 
 his hold upon life was by no means secure. Dr. Ross 
 seldom left the boy during these first days, and Bet 
 sey, with that intuitive faculty which is ever the sub 
 ject of so much wonderment in women, became all at 
 once a competent nurse and assistant, requiring but 
 a word or two of explanation to make her understand 
 exactly what should be done in almost any emergency. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Tubbs came on, and when the greatest 
 danger was past, Mr. Tubbs returned home to send 
 forward furnishings and comforts which turned the 
 old house that had been used by Cameron as an office, 
 sleeping-room and general storage for supplies, into 
 a cozy and acceptable home. 
 
 Dr. Ross had not been with them in a fortnight, 
 though he took opportunity several times to send to 
 Coon some delicacy which he knew would whet the 
 boy's appetite and add to his strength.
 
 298 Cfje 
 
 When finally able to bear his weight upon his feet, 
 Coon made more rapid progress, and by the end of 
 June he could take walks of considerable length. 
 What astonished all was his constant good nature and 
 gentleness. Again he was the little boy of the farm, 
 and loved them all, with never a selfish, petulant word 
 or act The shadow of death drove away the con 
 taminating influences of the dance hall, the gambling 
 den, the drinking bout, the illegal pursuit, the skulk 
 ing from authorities. The patient devotion of his 
 sister and mother through long nights and days, the 
 anxiety of his father, the solicitude of Cameron, the 
 watchfulness of Dr. Ross, awakened the young man's 
 true nature, and to each he gave back in joyous laugh, 
 cheerfulness of manner, and open gratitude full 
 measure of repayment. 
 
 "Coon," said his sister one day as they sat on a 
 favorite knoll on the hill back of one of the derricks 
 and watched the pumper on his rounds, "I want you 
 to tell me who fired the bullet that wounded you." 
 
 "Oh, pshaw, Bet, what do you want to bother your 
 head about that for ?" 
 
 "Well, I want to know if my guess has been cor 
 rect" 
 
 "To tell you truly, Bet, I don't know who fired 
 it" 
 
 "But you have suspicions ?" 
 
 "Yes, though they may not be right I've been a 
 moonshiner a long time and have given the Torpedo
 
 Cjje 
 
 Company a whole lot of trouble. The spotters had 
 been trying two years or more to catch me, but I 
 dodged them. Probably one of them saw me and took 
 a shot just for luck, thinking he'd wing me." 
 
 "You were talking with Mr. Cameron at the time, 
 weren't you, Coon ?" 
 
 "Now, who told you that ?" 
 
 "Oh, I've heard a word dropped here and there, 
 and something you once said in delirium led me to 
 believe so." 
 
 "And don't you know that people never talk real 
 things in delirium? You are a pretty nurse to be 
 listening to what your patient says, and then bring 
 it up against him !" and he reached over and patted 
 her cheek. 
 
 "Coon, did Wheeler fire that shot ?" 
 
 He looked at her a moment. "I don't know, Bet ; 
 I don't know." 
 
 "You think he did, don't you Coon ?" 
 
 "I did think so; it may have been one of fifty 
 others." 
 
 "But why should any of the others want to kill 
 Mr. Cameron?" 
 
 "See here, little girl, you are asking too many 
 questions of a sick man, and I can't answer them. 
 There's some things that I don't know, for you must 
 remember that I've been tied down to bed for a month 
 or more and haven't heard the news." 
 
 Betsey, looking very grave and serious, for a few
 
 300 Cfte Spotter. 
 
 minutes watched the regular strokes of the walking 
 beam of the derrick, as though it might give her a 
 solution of the problems which bothered her. 
 
 "Dad and Dr. Ross are coming up to-morrow, 
 Coon." 
 
 He glanced at her so quickly, and with so much of 
 inquiry in his face, that she blushed in confusion. 
 
 "Bet, dear Bet, I am so sorry for you!" and he 
 took her hand and pressed it to his lips. 
 
 "Why, Coon, what do you mean ? I don't under 
 stand," though she blushed the deeper and her eyes 
 swam with tears. 
 
 "I've seen it, Bet, ever since I first came to myself 
 and found you and the doctor watching by my bed. 
 You have tried to hide it even from yourself, and so 
 has he; but I couldn't help knowing it. And I've 
 been so sorry for you both, because I couldn't see 
 any way out." 
 
 "Hush, Coon, you must not talk like that, for you 
 say things which I have not permitted myself to 
 think. You must help me, Coon, in every way, and 
 not speak like that again, for it makes it so much 
 harder for me to bear." 
 
 "Yes, yes, dear sis; I'll help you if I can." 
 
 "Well, this is how you may do it. The doctor 
 is coming up with dad to see if you are able to go 
 home to Bradan. When we get back there I'm going 
 to ask dad to send me away somewhere to school " 
 
 "To school, Bet?"
 
 Cfje Spotter* 301 
 
 "Yes, where I may take up some study, I don't 
 care what music, bookkeeping, teaching, law, en 
 graving any of the many things in which women are 
 beginning to take part. He will object, because he 
 is making money and he will think it is not necessary. 
 But he now places great dependence upon you, Coon. 
 He says you have seen all sides of life and know what 
 you are about, and so if you join in with me, he will 
 give his consent." 
 
 "And do you think, Bet, that you can forget this 
 this that has come upon you, if you go away ?" 
 
 "Coon, I have learned that there is nothing so good 
 for a sore and heavy heart as work. When I was a 
 prisoner there for months in Paris, starving for a 
 word from home and praying for escape from the 
 man I had so blindly married, I found relief in work 
 work from morning till late at night, week in and 
 week out for two years. How I blessed Mrs. Cameron 
 and her husband that in their home-school, back there 
 in the valley, they gave me a little start toward an 
 education, for when I plunged into the study of the 
 books which were purchased for me, the weary hours 
 no longer weighed me down, but days sped almost 
 without notice." 
 
 "I'll help you, Bet, if you think it will make you 
 any happier." 
 
 And she took his thin, white hand and kissed it. 
 
 The next afternoon Coon called to his sister to get 
 her hat and go with him for a walk. "We may be
 
 302 Cfje Spotter* 
 
 leaving here in a day or two," he said, "and there's 
 a spot down the road a bit that I want to visit before 
 I quit the oil country." 
 
 They strolled along nearly a mile from the settle 
 ment of wells and in the direction of the junction, 
 until they were nearing one of the steepest hills in the 
 vicinity. Its sides were covered with great masses 
 of rocks, broken into streets and alleys of so regular 
 a character that the place was known as Rock City, 
 and was visited by many exploring parties everyyear. 
 Trees of mammoth size grew upon the tops of the 
 rock masses, sending their roots down the sides of 
 the stones into the soil of the streets, forming fantas 
 tic loops, swings, ladders and festoons which in turn 
 furnished lodging places for soft mosses, lichens, 
 and ferns. Under the thick foliage of a timbered 
 tract, which up to that time had defied the approach 
 of the lumbermen, it was a dark and gloomy spot and 
 few cared to penetrate further than a half-dozen of 
 the streets, which turned so many angles and had 
 such peculiar endings, either abrupt or tapering down 
 to mere fissures, so that they comprised a labyrinth 
 from which it was not always easy to extricate one's 
 self. 
 
 Just where the road turned to avoid the hill and 
 crept along through a dugway above the stream, Coon 
 stopped and they rested a few minutes under a maple. 
 
 "You have walked too fast," said his sister. "I 
 should have cautioned you before."
 
 C&e Spotter, 303 
 
 "No, I am not tired, but I wanted to rest with 
 you here a little before I go up amongst the rocks." 
 
 "You must not attempt that, Coon, dear. There 
 is nothing you care to see in the rocks." 
 
 "Yes, there is, sis. I've got a cache up there in a 
 cave." 
 
 "A cache ? I don't understand you, Coon." 
 
 "Oh, I forgot; you are not a moonshiner. Well, 
 I'll tell you. We moonshiners had to pack our 
 glycerine on our backs, and we had a habit of hiding 
 it in certain places near wells that we expected to 
 shoot, or in any good territory. Sometimes we would 
 make a good many trips and get a whole lot of the 
 nitro stored up, and then some blamed spotter would 
 catch on and capture the supply. Another chap and 
 I found a cave up here in the city a-ways, and when 
 we had some money we put in a big supply, for it is 
 in a mighty safe place. Just a few days before I was 
 shot, my chum was pinched when shooting a well 
 over near Custer City, and of course they railroaded 
 him to the penitentiary for two years and a half. 
 
 "Now, you see, Bet, I'm going out of the moonshine 
 business, but I don't want to leave the nitro up there 
 in the rocks. In time, some excursion party might 
 run onto it, get to fooling with the cans, and then 
 there'd be trouble for innocent people. I've written 
 to a couple of the boys in the profession telling them 
 where they can find it and promising to mark the spot 
 for them. See these little strips of cloth red, white,
 
 304 
 
 blue and black, and then the same thing over again ? 
 Well, I've promised to tie these along the way in ac 
 cordance with a plan which they will understand, and 
 then my work will be finished as a moonshiner." 
 
 "You are not strong enough to do this, Coon. Why 
 not explain it to Mr. Cameron and dad, and let them 
 attend to it?" 
 
 "They couldn't find the place in a thousand years, 
 Bet; and, besides that, it would be mixing them up 
 in the moonshine business, and if they were caught at 
 it well, it would be another victory for old Lanphere 
 and a certain other individual both of us know. I 
 can do it all right and keep them out of it, for it 
 isn't a job that they would care to attempt. You stay 
 here beside the road in the clearing and watch for 
 dad and Dr. Ross. They ought to come along pretty 
 soon, and maybe we can get a ride back home with 
 them." 
 
 He fondled her hair a moment, and drew her head 
 to his shoulder and kissed her. "Bet, he said, "I 
 used never to think that you would be such a pretty 
 woman as you are." 
 
 "Fie, Coon ; I am afraid you are a flatterer." 
 
 "No flattery, Bet, dear ; just the plain truth." And 
 he kissed her again and then started up the hill whist 
 ling. She heard him for a considerable time, and 
 once she caught a glimpse of him through the trees 
 and waved her handkerchief. She saw him reply
 
 305 
 
 with a sweep of his cap and a motion like the throw 
 ing of a kiss from his hand. 
 
 After a little, Betsey fell to watching the dugway, 
 as it was nearing the time when her father and Dr. 
 Ross might be expected. She wondered which would 
 observe her first, for she made up her mind to keep 
 very still as they approached and see if they would 
 discover her. She asked herself what she would say 
 to the doctor, and how he would greet her ; and then 
 she checked herself, endeavored to put him out of her 
 thoughts, and turned them again to her brother. 
 
 Poor lad, what a hard life he had led a wanderer, 
 a castaway, a fugitive, sometimes sleeping in barns or 
 in the woods ; often creeping along over rough trails, 
 pushing through brush, wading streams, climbing up 
 and down hills with a knapsack on his back contain 
 ing enough of the explosive to send a hundred men 
 into eternity in an instant, and every second in danger 
 of being himself the victim of a misstep, a fall, or a 
 sudden jar. During his convalescence, Coon had told 
 her a great deal about this life he had led, and, as she 
 thought now of how heavy the hand of fate had rested 
 upon him, the tears sprang from her eyes and 
 coursed down her cheeks. 
 
 But it was all to be changed now. They were going 
 home together, where Coon would be happy; where 
 he would have a pleasant room, comfortable clothing, 
 regular meals, and would go into business with his 
 father. Coon loved horses; when they were living
 
 306 Cjje 
 
 on tlie farm, he had a way of getting along with the 
 animals, and he never had to whip them, either. He 
 had been so cheerful since his father had asked him to 
 go home. He talked about it so much with them all, 
 that she was sure he would live a contended, indus 
 trious, honorable life from this time on. 
 
 And Coon meant what he said, too. He was such 
 a determined young fellow. He had never been mean 
 and really bad only wild, heedless, selfish, as she 
 herself had been. Really, there was more for her 
 father and mother to forgive in her than there was 
 in Coon. She was two years older than her brother. 
 She ought to have influenced him to better things by 
 her own example. He was such an open-natured boy, 
 and so easily led that 
 
 Betsey heard in the distance the faint rattle of 
 wagon wheels and the tread of horses.
 
 Cbe Spotter, SOT 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 MOONSHINES AND SPOTTEE. 
 
 IT was with considerable difficulty that Coon Tubbs 
 made his way up the steep, rough path to the city of 
 rocks. He was still weak from his long confinement, 
 and the walk from the wells to the place where his 
 sister awaited him was the longest he had taken since 
 he had left his bed. But Coon had a purpose, and he 
 would permit no thought of fatigue to drive it from 
 his mind. He had written his friends that he would 
 mark the way to his store of glycerine so they could 
 find it, and he was determined to do it. As long as 
 he remained in Betsey's view, he went forward with 
 firm step and jaunty carriage, though the effort cost 
 his utmost self-control, but when she was no longer 
 in view he proceeded with less speed. 
 
 Coon entered the curious city of enormous sand 
 stone blocks by the main avenue. He was revived 
 somewhat by the cooler air, damp from the melting 
 ice which remained in the pathways and shel 
 tered corners. Though June was well advanced, these 
 narrow, shaded streets admitted little of the sun, and
 
 ^potter* 
 
 midsummer often saw them sheltering the remem 
 brances of winter. 
 
 Coon paused to take a drink from the spring at 
 the picnic place, and then went forward through a 
 long tunnel formed by two of the huge blocks which 
 were separated at the base but still clung together at 
 the top. He came into an intricate network of streets 
 that were seldom traversed by any save those who 
 made a study of the place. Here he looked for some 
 marks on a small birch tree, and when they were 
 found, Coon chose the street he would follow, and 
 tied to a root one of the colored strips of cloth he 
 carried in his hand. These he fixed to branches or 
 twigs at every turn, and to one standing upon a corner 
 in the route he followed, two of the signals were in 
 view. After a number of angles were passed, the 
 street came to an abrupt stop, and through aid of the 
 festooned roots wandering over the perpendicular 
 wall, the boy climbed slowly up the face of the block. 
 Fixing a signal at the edge, he went forward and 
 paused at an opening in the trees to look off over the 
 valley before him. The roadway wound along the 
 hillside like a string of tow, and there in the shade 
 of the maple was his sister. He waved his hat to her 
 and called a clear, ringing "Halloa!" Soon he saw 
 the fluttering of her handkerchief and knew that she 
 was greeting him with love. 
 
 "Poor little Bet," he said, as the tears came to his 
 eyes. "I hope I may be able to help you in some
 
 Cfte Spotter* 309 
 
 way, Bet; but I don't know how. The way may 
 come to me when I least expect it, and then I'll re 
 member my promise, Bet." And he kissed his hands 
 many times and wafted the kisses toward her. 
 
 Turning, Coon took his course over the housetops 
 of the silent city. He leaped narrow alleys, but when 
 the streets were too wide for this he knew where to 
 find the trunks of fallen trees upon which he might 
 safely pass over those depths which knew only the 
 chattering of squirrels and chipmunks, the song of 
 the birds, the pattering rain, the fall of a giant of 
 the forest, the roar of a winter storm, or the ghostly 
 rustle of dead leaves. But Coon did not stop to think 
 of this only to fix markers of cloth that the path 
 might not be mistaken. 
 
 Once while tying one of the markers he heard a 
 sound, as of the contact of a boot with rock. He 
 paused and listened a long time in some alarm, but, 
 hearing nothing further, he continued on his way. 
 
 Coon came at last to one side of an oblong court, 
 possibly five yards wide and twice that distance in 
 length. From where he stood there appeared to be 
 only perpendicular walls inclosing the court, the 
 floor of which was twenty feet below ; but when Coon 
 tied his last marker to a small twig near the ground 
 and then swung himself down the root ladder to the 
 bottom, he stepped back under a shelving part of 
 the rock which was not easily detected from the top, 
 and disappeared from view. Here was a gallery,
 
 310 Cl)e Spotter. 
 
 formed by the cutting away of the lower part of the 
 rock to a depth of about eight feet. It was not unlike 
 those old-fashioned buildings where the second story 
 projects some distance into the street, leaving a cov 
 ered porch or walk the whole length of the house. 
 Against the rock at the back of the gallery was a cov 
 ering of hemlock boughs, now broken and dead. Coon 
 threw off his coat and then carefully lifted and 
 cleaned away the branches, exposing several rows of 
 nitro-glycerine cans, as dry and bright as when they 
 had been stored in their present location months be 
 fore. 
 
 "Two, four, six, eight," he counted up one of the 
 rows to the end, and then noted the number of rows. 
 "Four hundred and eighty-six quarts. That's right, 
 as I remember it. And there's the rope and swing to 
 take them up as we let them down. Everything is 
 all right, and it is as pretty a cache as any moon 
 shiner ever made. It took a lot of work and cost some 
 money ; but I don't care. Preston and Ensworth may 
 have it and welcome, for they are a couple of good 
 fellows and have both helped me out of trouble before 
 now. It was Ensworth who knocked that Pithole 
 gambler's arm up just in time to save me from get 
 ting a bullet when I showed up his cheating; 
 and " 
 
 Coon's voice stopped, as did the hand which was 
 dusting the dead hemlock needles from the tops of 
 the cans nearest him. He stood motionless. His
 
 C6e Spotter, 311 
 
 quick ears, trained to be ever alert, caught sounds 
 that told him as plainly as though he could see, that 
 some one was picking his way cautiously down the 
 face of the rock by the root staircase. 
 
 "God!" he whispered. "I thought I heard some 
 one following me. I'll bet it's a spotter, and I'm 
 cornered without a gun." He glanced at the glycerine 
 cans and smiled. Then drew himself to full height 
 and stood resolute. "Now, Coon Tubbs, don't 
 weaken !" he said. 
 
 Peering out under the edge of the rock roof, Coon 
 saw the feet of a man one of them resting upon a 
 root, and the other feeling carefully down the rock 
 in search of the next place that would bear the weight 
 of the body above. The loop was found, and then 
 the other foot moved, passed its fellow, and in turn 
 reached a place of lodgement. The body came into 
 view, and the climber, looking down and seeing the 
 distance was not now great, leaped lightly to the leaf 
 mould, which scarcely gave sound to the jump. 
 
 The man glanced about him, and seeing the cham 
 ber and Coon standing within it, stepped forward a 
 pace or two, and then halted. For a full minute they 
 looked each other straight in the eyes. 
 
 "I've caught you at last, Tubbs, and with the goods 
 on the person." 
 
 "Cornered me, you mean, Wheeler not caught." 
 
 Wheeler ran his eyes swiftly about the court.
 
 312 c&e Spotter, 
 
 "Caught, safe enough. You don't get out of here 
 alive unless you are roped to me." 
 
 "Then neither of us gets out of here alive," said 
 Coon with perfect calmness. 
 
 "Oh, come, now, that's too good," Wheeler laughed. 
 "You can't bluff me with a threat like that. 
 You ain't fool enough to throw away your life for 
 two or three years in the penitentiary, where you will 
 have plenty of company among others like you." 
 
 Watching Wheeler narrowly, Coon stooped and 
 lifted in his hand a rough, jagged piece of the rock 
 which he had worked up to the surface of the leaf- 
 mould with his feet. 
 
 "You come in and take me out, if you think I am 
 bluffing," was his reply. 
 
 Wheeler carried a short magazine rifle, and he com 
 menced to swing it carelessly back and forth with the 
 probable intention of bringing it to his shoulder and 
 covering his man. He did not hurry in his move 
 ments, for he realized that the situation was critical. 
 
 "Don't you try that," said Coon, shifting the stone 
 to the hand of his uninjured arm, raising it above his 
 shoulder and poising it upon his palm over the glist 
 ening cans at his feet. "Drop that gun on the ground, 
 or this charge here will go off quicker than you can 
 pull a trigger !" 
 
 What was it that Eli Wheeler saw in the eyes and 
 face of this young man that made him obey, and as 
 he did so turn faint and almost powerless ? What
 
 C&e ^potter, sis 
 
 great fear fell upon him, and beat down his courage 
 and sent despair knocking at his heart as it had 
 never knocked there before ? When had he seen 
 that look ? Had it not blazed from the eyes of Duncan 
 Cameron in the back room of La Vintage, when, over 
 come with passion and moved by taunts he had leaped 
 upon Wheeler in the effort to catch the swindler's 
 throat and by force compel a return of some portion 
 of that of which he had been robbed ? Or, was there 
 not something of it in his wife's eyes, back there in 
 Paris, when he sneer ingly bade her make her living 
 in the streets as a common woman ? 
 
 "You are as suspicious as ever, Coon," he faltered, 
 for the moment unnerved. "See, I will disarm my 
 self as you request, and we'll talk it over on an equal 
 footing. Put down that stone; it looks mighty dan 
 gerous so nearly over those glycerine cans. We can 
 come to terms." 
 
 "You can't make any terms with me, Wheeler. I 
 wouldn't believe any promise you might make, for 
 you wouldn't keep one made on a deathbed. I've 
 been a moonshiner too long to believe a damned spot 
 ter. You might come it over poor old dad, or wheedle 
 Cameron and hundreds of others, but not Coon 
 Tubbs." 
 
 "But I am not trying to wheedle you, Coon. I am 
 willing to let you escape if you will give me your 
 word that you will stop moonshining and clear out of 
 the country."
 
 314 C&e ^potter, 
 
 "You already know that I've stopped moonshin- 
 ing. Ever since Cameron came here as a superin 
 tendent, you've had a spy among his men, and he's 
 told you everything that's been going on. You know 
 that I was intending to leave the State to-morrow, 
 and you know that I wouldn't be well enough from 
 the effects of your bullet to do moonshining in a year, 
 should I want to. I thought you might go away 
 when you heard that, and so I came up here to- 
 day- 
 
 "To mark the way of your cache for others ?" 
 
 "Well, yes, partly that and partly to see if you 
 would follow me. It appears that you are not satis 
 fied with what you have done, but want to bring more 
 disgrace on poor old dad and marm by sending their 
 son to prison; and so you followed to arrest me." 
 
 "You are wrong, Coon. We could have placed 
 you under arrest at any time since you have been 
 confined to the house with your wound, if I had 
 wanted it that way. But I have had compassion on 
 you. I have thought that I may have wronged your 
 father and others. I was led on to it and did not 
 see the harm then as I since have, and so I made some 
 amends by not sending the deputies in and taking 
 you out to prison, wound or no wound. I will own 
 that I have been watching you, but only to secure this 
 opportunity. I followed you to-day so that I might 
 meet you alone and talk it over with you ; possibly to 
 show you the error of your course."
 
 Cfje ^pottet* 315 
 
 "You lie, Wheeler, as black as you have ever lied ! 
 You wanted to catch me Svith the goods on the per 
 son,' or you never could have convicted me, even in 
 Lanp here's courts." 
 
 Moving from one foot to the other as they talked, 
 inch-by-inch, Wheeler worked himself forward until 
 he was almost within arm's length of Coon. ISTow 
 his shifty eyes wore still, but they blazed with an 
 unnatural light that caught the gaze of the weakened, 
 trembling boy and held him immovable and power 
 less. From Coon's vision the outlines of Wheeler's 
 face faded, and only the two blazing points remained 
 
 fascinating, irresistible in their compelling force; 
 now moving slowly from side to side, but ever coming 
 nearer and nearer. 
 
 Time was banished from the universe. Seconds 
 lengthened into years. 
 
 There was something long ago that Coon wanted to 
 do what was it ? Ages before, he had been talking 
 with somebody and the echo of the words was still 
 ringing in his ears but who was it, and where was 
 he now? Someone was in great peril from what 
 source ? 
 
 Why could he not remember, or take hold upon 
 something tangible ? 
 
 Ah yes, yes, there was once a man standing there 
 
 a man whom Coon had been dodging for months 
 and who had made an attempt to kill him a man
 
 316 C6e Spotter. 
 
 to be hated, shunned, feared; but the man had dis 
 appeared, and there was now nothing in all the world 
 but these numbing lights, which almost froze the 
 blood in his veins. 
 
 Something touches Coon's upraised arm poised 
 above his head, he knows not for what purpose. He 
 feels the icy clasp of an object and rejoices that the 
 sleeve of his shirt does not let it come in contact 
 with his flesh. Slowly the cold thing, from which 
 he would shrink if he could, moves toward his wrist. 
 
 But now Coon remembers! Ages ago there was 
 something in his hand that would keep this man, 
 whom he feared, from making him a prisoner ; some 
 thing that would fly to his sister Betsey and set her 
 free to roam hand-in-hand with her lover; some 
 thing that would leap, and shout and shake the earth, 
 and roar; but something that Coon did not fear. 
 
 The blazing points can no longer drive that from 
 Coon's memory, or burn out the knowledge that this 
 cold thing that is creeping up his wrist is trying to 
 seize that which will prevent the shame of his arrest 
 and imprisonment, or give to little Bet her freedom. 
 
 Why not let it go? He will he will but the 
 lights sparkle with brilliant colors in his eyes and a 
 voice shouts in his ear to hold! to stop! for God's 
 sake to stop ! 
 
 IsTo, he will not stop he will not hold ! There 
 unloose the fingers, for the cold thing is now creep-
 
 Spotter, 317 
 
 ing over the back of his hand. A tremendous effort 
 it is gone ! Betsey's freedom ! 
 
 An eternity passes. 
 
 Coon's feeble shout is swallowed in a roar that fills 
 his ears, and a blinding flash blots out for all time 
 those cursed points of light.
 
 318 Cfje 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 THE STORY IN THE BOOKS. 
 
 BETSEY leaned forward, watching the driveway 
 with expectancy and vainly endeavoring to still the 
 fluttering at her heart, which came, she knew not why. 
 The horses appeared to her sight over a little rise in 
 the winding road. 
 
 In that instant the earth rocked as though shaken 
 to the center by a fearful convulsion, and a roar like 
 the burst of mighty thunders filled the air. The 
 woman was thrown headlong upon the sward, and the- 
 trembling ground tossed her to and fro as by the 
 pitching of a boat. A great hurricane of wind rushed 
 down the mountain side, bending before it the giant 
 trees and hurling dead branches from lofty heights. 
 The centuries rolled backward in the city of rocks, 
 and the throes which accompanied its birth shook 
 again the massive blocks to their foundations, snap 
 ping open new fissures and streets where solid granite 
 blocked the way, or thrusting against each other the 
 surfaces which had once been a concrete mass but 
 which had long been separated.
 
 C&e Spotter* 319 
 
 The wagon bringing Mr. Tubbs and Dr. Ross to 
 headquarters was on the brow of the up-grade when 
 the first shock came upon them. For one brief instant 
 the road seemed to fall away, and then to rebound 
 like the recoil of a bow, lifting them in the air and 
 throwing the horses upon their sides. Edgert, half- 
 leaping, half -thrown from his seat, but without losing 
 presence of mind, staggered to the heads of the ani 
 mals and had just secured one of them when Dr. 
 Ross ran forward and gave him the necessary aid. A 
 shower of stones and fragments of limbs fell upon 
 them, but they held the frightened beasts upon the 
 ground until the immediate effects of the explosion 
 disappeared and the air was again calm. 
 
 "What was it ?" asked Ross as Mr. Tubbs came for 
 ward and commenced unhitching the harness so the 
 horses might rise in safety. 
 
 "Glycerine explosion," answered Edgert, "and the 
 worst one I ever heard or felt. I am afraid that more 
 than one poor devil has paid the penalty for some 
 one's carelessness." 
 
 "But I don't understand it," said the doctor as he 
 permitted the horse he had been holding down to rise, 
 and then stroked it reassuringly. "I don't see any 
 place where there has been an explosion, and still it 
 appeared to be directly underneath us." 
 
 "No," said Mr. Tubbs, "if that charge of glycerine 
 had been under us, we wouldn't be talkin' it over 
 now. It was up here in the rocks. See that little
 
 320 c&e Spotter. 
 
 cloud of white smoke ? Well, that ain't far from the 
 place." 
 
 "There's no rigs up there," remarked Edgert, "and 
 that was fifty times as much nitro as ever was put 
 into a well. I'll bet a dollar it was a moonshiner's 
 storehouse." 
 
 "Father!" 
 
 They heard a cry, and turning, saw a woman run 
 ning toward them. 
 
 "Betsey my God, what has happened !" and Mr. 
 Tubbs darted up the road with a speed far beyond 
 one of his years, and caught his daughter in his arms. 
 
 "Speak, little gal, what why, how is it that you 
 was down here? Oh, to meet your dad and you 
 run right into a big explosion ! There, there !" and 
 he patted her tumbled head, pillowed now upon his 
 shoulder. 
 
 "Oh, dad, it's Coon it's poor, poor Coon!" she 
 sobbed. 
 
 An icy hand gripped her father's heart, and his 
 face took on the deep-set lines of a new sorrow; a 
 horror, brought suddenly to his door. 
 
 "Coon ! Why, Betsey, how did poor wounded Coon 
 come to be up there in the rocks ?" 
 
 "He had glycerine stored there, and he came to 
 mark the place that some of his former companions 
 to whom he had written might find it Oh, dad, dear 
 old dad! he hadn't been gone from me but a little
 
 &e Spotter* 321 
 
 time when the explosion came. Let us go to him, all 
 of us, he may only be injured and we can help him." 
 
 She started as though she would go forward up the 
 mountain, but her father held her close to his side 
 and slowly shook his head. 
 
 "There's no hope up there, little gal. No man 
 could have been near that charge and live a second. 
 Our boy is dead, and there won't be left even a shred 
 of his poor body." 
 
 Father and daughter sank upon the bank beside 
 the road, and with mingled tears sought in caresses 
 to comfort each other, speaking few words mute 
 from their grief. 
 
 Cameron and several of the men came running 
 from the wells where the effect of the explosion had 
 been so great that the sections of two derricks had 
 been thrown down, and windows broken in all of the 
 houses. They persuaded Mr. Tubbs and Betsey to 
 enter the wagon and go forward with one of the 
 men as driver, for Coon's mother was yet to be told 
 the sad fate of her son. 
 
 A searching party was formed and finally pene 
 trated to the scene of the explosion. It was a difficult 
 task, for in many places great blocks of rock were 
 'dislodged or toppled over, and sometimes the bits of 
 cloth left by Coon to guide his fellows, and which 
 Betsey explained to them, were concealed under the 
 debris. As they drew near the place, the havoc 
 wrought by the tremendous force pent up in nearly
 
 322 
 
 five hundred quarts of nitro-glycerine was apparent 
 on every side. The trunks of trees were split in 
 twain, broken into splinters or stripped of branches 
 and verdure; squirrels, struck dead as they scamp 
 ered merrily over the ground, lay there before them; 
 half -raised upon his haunches, petrified by the fear 
 ful concussion, they saw a hedge hog; birds, stopped 
 in flight or song and falling with helpless, out 
 stretched wings, were mute witnesses of the awful 
 stroke of death. 
 
 They came upon the place at last, and saw in the 
 court which Coon had used as a hiding-place for the 
 explosive, a tumble of broken rock which they could 
 not hope to remove without the labor of several days, 
 and the day came to a close before progress in the 
 search could be made. 
 
 In time they found Coon's coat and portions of the 
 battered tins in which the nitro-glycerine had been 
 stored. The broken stock and twisted barrel of a re 
 peating rifle caused much speculation, as they knew 
 the boy had not carried one. Beyond this, they came 
 upon some semblance of a body. 
 
 Pieces of the clothing told them it was not the 
 body of Coon Tubbs. One of these fragments of cloth 
 protected from destruction a bundle of papers, nearly 
 all of which were written by Eli Wheeler's hand, or 
 by the hand of Lanphere. They were statements and 
 memoranda of transactions in which Duncan Cam 
 eron and many others were deeply concerned. When
 
 Cfte ^potter. 323 
 
 these and further evidences were discovered, those 
 who searched knew that they looked upon, the body of 
 the Spotter. 
 
 And this was all that appeared when the broken 
 rocks were pushed aside and the place of the tragedy 
 was brought to view. Yet from these meagre wit 
 nesses, those who knew the two lives which were so 
 suddenly snuffed out upon that spot, could read the 
 mystery there concealed from others.
 
 324 c&e Spotter, 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXVI. 
 
 LANPHERE WRITES A NOTE. 
 
 A MESSENGER rode over from the junction and 
 handed to Cameron a letter, which proved to be an 
 invitation from President Lanphere, asking Cameron 
 to come to his office on the following afternoon. The 
 note suggested that Harry Edgert might accompany 
 Cameron on his visit, and closed with the significant 
 statement that Mr, Lanphere had recently come into 
 the possession of facts which led him to believe that 
 the litigation between them might be discontinued by 
 stipulation. 
 
 "What has induced such a suggestion on the part 
 of Lanphere ?" asked Cameron of Harry, when they 
 met in Oleford the next day and were discussing the 
 note which had been sent by the president of the 
 Cygnet. 
 
 "I surmise that he has gained some knowledge 
 of the contents of the papers that were found on 
 Wheeler's body, and has come to the conclusion that 
 a settlement will be the wisest plan to pursue." 
 
 "How should he know of their contents? The
 
 C6e Spotter, 325 
 
 papers were given to Mrs. Wheeler and are still in 
 her possession." 
 
 "You forget, Mr. Cameron, that the coroner made 
 an examination of the documents and took a full list 
 of them. I was present and insisted that every scrap 
 of the writings found in Wheeler's pockets should 
 be left in the possession of the widow. Nothing could 
 be done, however, to prevent the coroner from making 
 such use of the knowledge he gained on the examina 
 tion as would be profitable to him, and I suppose he 
 turned that knowledge to account as quickly as he 
 could get the news to Lanphere." 
 
 "You think he sold the information ?" 
 
 "Well, that is a question. The influence of the 
 Cygnet is far-reaching and each official in many 
 counties owes his position to this company, which 
 has come into control of so many things. The cor 
 oner, no doubt, is an ambitious man, and at any rate 
 he knows that he might as well move out of the State 
 as to conceal from Lanphere the knowledge that 
 Wheeler left statements of his own, and a number of 
 personal letters from Lanphere, which completely 
 prove our contention that a conspiracy existed be 
 tween these two men to swindle you and many others. 
 I looked for some such move as this, but did not ex 
 pect that Lanphere would appear in it himself I 
 supposed he would leave that to his lawyers." 
 
 "He may think it of so delicate a nature that he 
 prefers to deal with it in person."
 
 326 Cfte Spotter. 
 
 "Yes, that is the explanation, without doubt. I 
 think it true that all of the important movements to 
 bring under the control of the Cygnet the political 
 machinery of at least two States and the operation 
 of several great railroads, to say nothing of the entire 
 petroleum industry, have been personally directed 
 and nearly always carried out by Lanphere. Sev 
 eral of the men in whom he first placed confidence 
 and upon whom he depended, either through timidity 
 or lack of power to grasp the moves planned for them, 
 failed in their work, and Lanphere lost faith in every 
 man whom he could not hold to his service by fear." 
 
 "Did he have such a whip with which to threaten 
 Wheeler?" 
 
 "Possibly; though I have not discovered what it 
 was. The fact that Wheeler prepared those state 
 ments, and kept with them letters to prove their 
 genuineness, is evidence that he felt his safety lay in 
 being ready to meet Lanphere with sure weapons 
 should the necessity arise. But, Mr. Cameron, have 
 you considered what course you will follow when Lan 
 phere proposes the compromise which he here indi 
 cates ?" 
 
 "Yes, Harry, I have given it constant thought 
 since receiving his note yesterday, and have reached 
 a decision. In this I am guided in great measure 
 by the wishes of Mrs. Cameron and Mr. Tubbs. I 
 spent last night in Bradan* and we talked it over
 
 327 
 
 together. I will enter into a stipulation to discon 
 tinue the suits." 
 
 Edgert shook his head in the disappointment which 
 he could not conceal. 
 
 "I know, Harry, that it is not what you would 
 advise, and I have thought of your share in it as 
 well as of my own. You will say that we now have 
 everything in our hands, and can prove our contention 
 so clearly that even courts which are controlled cannot 
 refuse us justice; and you will also tell me to con 
 sider the moral effect of the victory. You are too 
 unselfish, Harry, to ask that your part in such a vic 
 tory shall have any weight in the negotiations, and 
 are looking only toward what I have been fighting to 
 accomplish these several years. I will not deny that 
 it is hard to give over a struggle for principle, but I 
 am going to shut my eyes to it and surrender when I 
 may do so with honor. The controlling influence in 
 such a course, as has been pointed out to me by my 
 wife, is Mrs. Wheeler." 
 
 "Mrs. Wheeler?" 
 
 "Yes. If the litigation is to be continued, sfie will 
 of necessity be dragged into if the nature of the 
 papers which came into her possession on the death 
 of her husband, makes this certain, and the story of 
 her life will be brought out in the courts and paraded 
 in the public prints in the most unpleasant form 
 which the lawyers for the Cygnet can invent. Not 
 that there is anything to her discredit only the mis-
 
 328 Cfje 
 
 takes of an ignorant girl; but she has developed into 
 a woman of fine sensibilities and high character. 
 Rather than see her wounded by a new threshing of 
 the whole affair, I am ready to forego any satisfaction 
 I might find in a successful prosecution." 
 
 "But surely, Mr. Cameron, you do not intend to 
 permit this man to keep thousands which he entered 
 into a conspiracy with Wheeler to take from you 
 under the shadow of a business transaction. Mrs. 
 Wheeler would never consent to any such course as 
 that. She will look upon it as her duty to see that 
 the wrong against you be righted, if any sac 
 rifice she can make will help to do it. You may 
 not expect her to be satisfied by an arrangement that 
 provides for anything less." 
 
 "In this you echo the belief of her father, who in 
 his quaint way declared that 'Betsey's bin hurt by 
 what befel her, but the pain of her hurt ain't so 
 great that she forgits that you have suffered. I know 
 her, Cameron; she'll stand it all over again, and 
 more, rather than eee you lose your rights.' ' 
 
 Harry paced the floor a moment in thought, then 
 coming to Cameron's side, said: "If Lanphere is 
 anxious to compromise, he will doubtless make a 
 proposition. It is for you to decide what terms you 
 will accept." 
 
 "I want nothing from him, Harry, except the pay 
 for Cameron farm at its value when the deal with 
 Wheeler was made, a return of the money furnished
 
 C&e Spotter, 329 
 
 by me at that time and pay at the customary royalty 
 for oil since produced on the farm." 
 
 "You may have double that figure, Mr. Cameron." 
 
 "I will not accept it More than is rightfully mine 
 would do me no good." 
 
 Edgert looked at him in admiration. "I under 
 stand you, Mr. Cameron, but an honest man who runs 
 up against Henry Lanphere will get left. You had 
 best let me talk business with him." 
 
 "Why you are honest, Harry !" laughed Cameron. 
 
 "I hope so, in some things. But my ideas of 
 honesty would not arouse in me any scruples about 
 making Lanphere pay for his rascality. As your 
 attorney, Mr. Cameron, I shall insist upon one-sixth, 
 instead of one-eighth royalty on the oil produced, and 
 shall demand an inspection of the pipe line records 
 to determine the quantity. He must pay you all let*., 
 costs and disbursements up to date, including lawyer's 
 charges, and interest on the principal from the date 
 Wheeler and Judge Purser carried out the scheme at 
 your house. I shall insist also upon the payment to 
 you of a liberal salary for the two years and more 
 you spent in tracking Wheeler and in returning home 
 again " 
 
 "Harry, you must not mention that. It is a part 
 of my life that I am trying to forget, and which I 
 hope to entirely lose when this miserable business is 
 over and we have gone away from the scenes which
 
 330 C!)e 
 
 are continually recalling it. Simply what is my due 
 from Lanphere as I have indicated, and nothing else." 
 
 The young man glanced at his watch. "We must 
 be going, Mr. Cameron. I think Lanphere mentioned 
 three o'clock as the hour he would be at liberty." 
 
 "Yes, and we have fifteen minutes in which to 
 walk to his office. I do not think it is to be a case 
 of bearding the lion, Harry." 
 
 "No," and Harry smiled, "more like the spider 
 and the fly."
 
 CSe Spotter* ssi 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXVII. 
 
 WHY OIL PRICES CHANGED. 
 
 PKESIDENT LANPHEEE was delighted to meet Dun 
 can Cameron, of whom he had heard, but with whom 
 he had not previously had a personal acquaintance 
 and Mr. Harry Edgert, too, whose brilliant course at 
 the bar was already becoming the subject of comment 
 on the part of older lawyers really, President Lan- 
 phere did not recall that it had been his good fortune 
 to meet Mr. Edgert before ; or, was there an occasion ? 
 yes, there was, he believed, a brief meeting one 
 peculiarly trying day upon which many things oc 
 curred to test his patience and tire him out an occa 
 sion when Mr. Edgert had found his own patience 
 exhausted, too, by the interference of some clerks who 
 did not understand the nature of his business and he 
 had been compelled almost to force himself into Mr. 
 Lanphere's presence for the purpose of serving some 
 papers and would the gentlemen pray be seated? 
 
 Harry grinned as he recalled with pleasure the 
 occasion to which the suave, bowing, obsequious man 
 before him referred. He remembered how very dif-
 
 332 cfje Spotter* 
 
 ferent was Lanphere's greeting when he had thrust 
 into the President's hands the papers referred 
 to; and how the great oil magnate stormed, called 
 him a conscienceless blackmailer, and ordered him 
 from the room. But the young lawyer said nothing 
 to disturb the present tranquillity. 
 
 Ahem ! President Lanphere had begged an inter 
 view with Mr. Cameron for the purpose of righting 
 what he had within a few days learned was a wrong ; 
 unwittingly, unknowingly committed through the 
 rascality of a man who appeared to be so honest and 
 straightforward in his manner and dealing that not 
 the slightest suspicion arose against him a man, let 
 us say in passing who had never been employed by 
 the Cygnet Oil Producing and Refining Company, 
 but who came forward with a plain business proposi 
 tion that could not be overlooked by the company in 
 whose hands, by force of circumstances, had been 
 placed the tremendous responsibility of fostering and 
 building up the great industry that so suddenly 
 sprung upon a people unprepared to deal with it. 
 From the very nature of things it was often neces 
 sary to accept the pledge, the word, the apparent good 
 faith of people with whom transactions were carried 
 on, and it was not possible always to investigate all 
 sides of every move that was made. It thus hap 
 pened that in a few instances remarkably few in 
 deed, considering the widely disseminated business 
 and the great interests involved the Company had
 
 Cjje Spotter* sss 
 
 been led into transactions which were not counte 
 nanced by its president or directorate, and which 
 were always amended when discovered. President 
 Lanphere hoped and the gentlemen who were asso 
 ciated with him in carrying out the broad and up 
 lifting policies of this great organization which had 
 providentially been formed for the good of humanity 
 hoped that Mr. Cameron would understand, and 
 that Mr. Edgert would understand, that many de 
 tails and minor transactions must of necessity be 
 relegated to departments, and that it was a physical 
 impossibility to be certain that every man employed 
 was in all cases carrying out the benign intention of 
 the Company. 
 
 Ahem! ~Not until recently President Lanphere 
 begged to say very recently had the fact been 
 drawn to his attention by a mutual friend, and one 
 who had no interest at stake whatever, that the suit 
 brought by Mr. Cameron was one in which the plain 
 tiff really had a cause, and was not like the great 
 majority of such actions which are commenced by 
 designing and jealous persons for no less a purpose 
 than blackmail. Upon receiving this hint, President 
 Lanphere had sent immediately to the law depart 
 ment for all the papers in the case, and after care 
 fully examining the records of the original transac 
 tion, and with the firm resolve to maintain the posi 
 tion he had taken in all business affairs since his
 
 334 Cjje 
 
 first venture, he followed up his investigation by an 
 offer of settlement. 
 
 President Lanphere, however, must beg the gentle 
 men to remember that this was not through any fear 
 or thought, still less of remote possibility, that the 
 slightest proof could be brought that such a prepos 
 terous thing as a conspiracy to defraud Mr. Duncan 
 Cameron, or anyone else under Heaven, ever existed 
 between himself and this Eli Wheeler. Such a claim 
 was false, wicked, monstrous ! and that it had been 
 set up in the complaint and already had to some ex 
 tent, he was informed, been paraded in the courts, 
 almost deterred him from taking steps to bring about 
 an amicable understanding. But, remembering that 
 public men and those who attempt to benefit their 
 fellows are often misjudged and maligned, he had 
 stifled his indignation, believing that the generosity 
 and fairness of those who made the charge misled 
 no doubt by appearances and by the false rumors 
 which many were so ready to set afloat would lead 
 them to make such public amends as good taste and 
 common justice would suggest. 
 
 With this full explanation and statement before 
 him, he asked, was Mr. Cameron ready to say upon 
 what terms he would enter into a stipulation for the 
 discontinuance of the proceedings? 
 
 Mr. Cameron was ready and was just upon the 
 point of telling President Lanphere that the terms 
 would be those which commended themselves to the
 
 C&e Spotter* 335 
 
 Cygnet Company through its honorable president, 
 when he was interrupted by Edgert. 
 
 "The charge of conspiracy, Mr. Lanphere, can be 
 proven beyond shadow of doubt. You know this to 
 be so, else this meeting would never have been 
 sought," he said quietly. 
 
 For the fraction of a second President Lanphere 
 was disconcerted. He had looked for an easy victory 
 over this young man who had been listening so sym 
 pathetically to his favorite theme the Providential 
 Mission and Eminent Justice of the Cygnet. 
 
 "Bravo !" And he laughed. "I always like to see 
 a lawyer stick to his points. Do you know, my dear 
 Edgert, that this Company has need of just such 
 men as you. Naturally we have a vast amount of 
 legal business and we find it most difficult to secure 
 the services of men who may be trusted, even though 
 we pay excellent salaries." 
 
 "I am doing fairly well in general practice," re 
 plied Harry with a bow. "But that is getting away 
 from the question. Mr. Cameron is tired of litiga 
 tion, and has authorized me to say that he will with 
 draw the suits brought against you and your Com 
 pany upon these terms: Full payment for his farm 
 at its value at the time the co-partnership was 
 formed with Wheeler ; return of the money put into 
 the Cameron Farm Company by him ; interest upon 
 both sums to the present day ; one-sixth royalty upon 
 the oil produced upon the Cameron farm ; full repay-
 
 336 Cfje Spotter* 
 
 ment of all costs, disbursements and attorney's fees 
 in the proceedings. I have urged him to demand 
 salary for the time he has lost and also exemplary 
 damages, but upon this he does not insist." 
 
 Lanphere was white with rage and for a moment 
 he could not control his trembling lips to the forma 
 tion of words. 
 
 "It is blackmail !" he whispered, "as I expected 
 from the start. Blackmail, you young shyster, and 
 no doubt you have a bargain to take half or two- 
 thirds you secure for your part of the game. I won't 
 pay it. The value of the farm was fictitious and the 
 money never came into the Cygnet Company. I 
 won't pay it, I say !" 
 
 "Very well ; then there is no reason for our further 
 delay," said Harry, picking up his gloves and rising. 
 
 "You can't milk money from me to pay for 
 jWheeler's dishonesty," Lanphere continued. 
 
 "If Wheeler had been the only dishonest man in 
 the transaction we would not try," replied Harry 
 yery calmly. 
 
 "I scarcely knew the man. There was no collusion 
 or agreement between us whatever. He came to me 
 possessing power of attorney to act for Cameron and 
 the Cameron Farm Company, and I took the prop 
 erty at a much lower price than you declare in your 
 complaint was placed upon it. The Cygnet Com 
 pany has developed the territory and the product is 
 in no degree Cameron's. Any money that Wheeler
 
 Cfje Spotter. 337 
 
 may have swindled Cameron out of is no concern of 
 ours. The Cygnet Company has had no part in it 
 whatever I have had no part in it whatever." 
 "Then why did you invite us here ?" 
 "Because as I have tried to explain to you, I am 
 convinced that Cameron did not receive any pay for 
 his farm and I do not like to look upon wrong of 
 that sort. I that is,, the Cygnet Company would 
 rather pay for the farm twice than hold property in 
 which there is any shadow of doubt concerning the 
 equity of the purchase." 
 
 "Bosh, Mr. Lanphere ! You are not dealing with 
 a poor devil of a producer who is driven to the wall 
 to get money or accommodation to carry on his ex 
 ploitation. Nor with a man with a territory who 
 never saw five hundred dollars at one time in his 
 life. Your story is pretty and well told, your alleged 
 object altruistic, but I have known your real object 
 and true character ever since that day when Eli 
 Wheeler went to the Cameron farm to accomplish 
 your purpose and you waited at the Junction to learn 
 the result of his visit. I stood beside you on the 
 train when you and Wheeler met in the aisle, and I 
 heard your question 'Is he hooked ?' and Wheeler's 
 reply, 'Fast as hell.' I didn't then know what it 
 meant, but I did very soon afterwards, when the 
 bubble burst and this man went out from his home a 
 penniless wanderer. Let me assure you, Mr. Lan 
 phere, that the most pleasing words I have ever heard
 
 338 C6e Spotter* 
 
 in my life are those in which you refuse to pay Mr. 
 Cameron his very modest demand." 
 
 "What evidence of conspiracy is a chance word 
 that may, or may not, have been spoken by me to a 
 man I met on a train ? And as for a visit to the 
 Junction why, I am constantly going everywhere 
 to investigate property and watch operations. That 
 such a visit was coincident with some other transac 
 tion is not significant." 
 
 "We are not losing sleep over the insufficiency or 
 character of our evidence," was Harry's reply. 
 
 "Mr. Cameron," said Lanphere, turning to Dun 
 can, "I appeal to you, as a man of honesty and in 
 tegrity, to state whether you consider this emi 
 nently fair. I will admit that through the course 
 followed by Wheeler a course which I am now con 
 vinced was cunningly planned by him, that suspicion 
 might be thrown upon me, and with the intent of 
 reaping for himself some wicked advantage in the 
 future there is a slight reason for your entertaining 
 the belief that you do. But, after thinking it all 
 over, can you say there is a possibility of proving 
 your suspicion to the satisfaction of a jury ?" 
 
 "Your letters to Wheeler, Mr. Lanphere, leave no 
 doubt whatever in my mind as to that," Cameron 
 answered, looking him straight in the eyes. 
 
 The president of the Cygnet Oil Producing and 
 Refining Company took a turn or two across his of-
 
 C&e Spotter, 339 
 
 fice floor and then stopping suddenly in front of 
 Harry said : 
 
 "I shall insist, Mr. Edgert, in retaining you for a 
 little service though you have refused the proffer of 
 business at the hands of the Cygnet. You are fa 
 miliar with the figures and details of this matter 
 and there is no reason why it should not be closed 
 at the present time. You may act for both parties 
 and prepare copies of a stipulation of settlement along 
 the lines you have proposed. You see, I am deter 
 mined to bring you into our employment." 
 
 "In this case, Mr. Lanphere, I will act with pleas 
 ure. Shall it be at once ?" 
 
 "Yes ; too much time has been lost upon it already. 
 I shall expect, gentlemen, that all all documentary 
 records bearing in any way upon the subject will be 
 surrendered when the stipulation and satisfaction are 
 passed." 
 
 "Certainly," said Cameron, "but as the papers are 
 at Bradan it will be necessary for one of us to go 
 there this evening and return in the morning." 
 
 "That will be entirely satisfactory," said Lanphere 
 with cordiality, and he at once plunged into a dis 
 cussion of other topics with Cameron, while Harry 
 rapidly prepared the necessary documents. Lanphere 
 was never the man to show that he had been hit, and 
 within five minutes he more than hinted to Cameron 
 that if he wanted to invest the money that would come
 
 340 C&e ^potter, 
 
 to him, no safer place could be found than to secure 
 stock in the Cygnet. 
 
 "I thank you, Mr. Lanphere," was Cameron's re 
 ply, "but I am not looking for investment. This 
 money will provide me a new Cameron farm far 
 enough from the oil belt so that I shall be sure it will 
 never be the subject of speculation. There will be 
 something left besides, and with my work, if God 
 prospers it, none of mine will ever come to want, 
 and I may even be able to give assistance in deserv 
 ing cases. I have no desire for great wealth. More 
 than a man requires for his reasonable maintenance 
 is a curse. Such surplus when drawn from the peo 
 ple at large, at the cost of want and misery to many 
 homes, and perhaps ruin to the fond hopes and ex 
 pectations of those who may have staked their all in 
 some promising enterprise, appears to me to be the 
 proceeds of an illegitimate and unholy advantage, 
 which has been secured through unfair means. I 
 trust you will not misunderstand me when I say that 
 there are many higher aims for man than the mere 
 pursuit of wealth." 
 
 Lanphere was about to launch out upon his favorite 
 theme concerning the Providential medium embodied 
 in the Cygnet and its Great Mission upon earth, 
 when Harry arose and handed him the papers he 
 had prepared. The shrewd president required but 
 a moment's examination of the documents to see that
 
 C&e Spotter, 341 
 
 there was no fault in the work, and he expressed 
 himself as entirely satisfied. 
 
 And thus on the following morning the business 
 was speedily concluded. Cameron made the trip to 
 Bradan and Mrs. Wheeler gladly gave into his hands 
 every scrap of paper that connected the shameful past 
 of her husband with either Lanphere or Cameron. 
 With no reference whatever to unpleasant topics, 
 Lanphere affixed h's signature with that of Cameron, 
 and gave his check for the stipulated amount. So 
 far as outward appearances were concerned, he might 
 have been merely taking over the lease of a hundred 
 acres of wildcat territory. 
 
 That afternoon, as Cameron and Harry took the 
 train for Bradan, Harry purchased the last edition 
 of the evening paper, and as the train left the depot 
 he glanced at the market report. 
 
 "See, Mr. Cameron," he said, pointing to the head 
 lines, "the settlement of your suit has not cost the 
 Cygnet a penny. The producer and the consumer 
 will foot the bill, and more with it." 
 
 And Cameron read that in the afternoon the quo 
 tations on crude oil had dropped away twenty points, 
 while the price on refined petroleum had risen fifty 
 cents a barrel !
 
 342 cije Spotter, 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 ONE AFTEENOOlSr. 
 
 JTJST west of the thriving little city of St. 
 James, Duncan Cameron found the home which he 
 sought a fertile, fruitful farm, which ran back 
 from the shore of a beautiful lake to a gentle hill, 
 from which there stretched on every side a most 
 pleasing prospect. Here came to the members of his 
 little circle that rest and happiness which is given to 
 those who contentedly pursue congenial and active 
 lives. Cameron devoted himself to his stock and 
 crops, but gave liberally of his time and experience, 
 and often of his means, to furthering the interests of 
 the pursuits' in which he engaged. Mrs. Cameron 
 and Agnes were most happy in their home and in 
 their intercourse with the friends of the old days, 
 and such new ones as time had brought into their 
 lives. 
 
 Almost fronting the Cameron place was the mod 
 est home of Mr. and Mrs. Tubbs and their daughter. 
 The families were inseparable, and as Mr. Tubbs had 
 prospered in his affairs, he had an abundance with
 
 Spotter, 343 
 
 which, to procure them a home and to provide for 
 their future, when his thrift and activity were no 
 longer possible. His complete happiness was ex 
 pressed in a remark to Mr. Fisher, whom he met in 
 the city one day. 
 
 "It takes pretty near all of one's life to learn how 
 to live," he said. "But if the lesson is well learned, 
 you can get enough satisfaction outen one year of 
 right livin' to pay for all the other years of hard 
 experience." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Fisher had a pleasant home in the 
 city, and as Mrs. Fisher had long ago learned that the 
 bauble she so eagerly chased through the first years 
 of their affluence was a mere puff of pretense, they, 
 too, were to be counted among the contented ones. 
 
 But there are others of our old friends in this 
 charming little city, and one of them is Harry Ed- 
 gert, who mysteriously left a good clientage in Ole- 
 ford and opened an office in St. James, offering no 
 further excuse for the change than to say that as his 
 dear friend Dr. Ross had given up his prosperous 
 practice in Bradan and was moving to the city, he 
 wished to accompany him. These two were almost 
 constant companions, and what more natural than 
 that they should frequently very frequently, indeed 
 take their way along the pleasant lake shore road, 
 or row their boat through the outlet of the lake itself 
 to the Cameron Landing ? 
 
 It was an afternoon in late summer just when
 
 344 C|)e 
 
 the harvest apples lose their glistening green and are 
 seen all golden against the banks of leaves; when 
 mellow tints come to the fields and set them ablaze 
 with the stored-up glory of the ripening suns of long, 
 hot weeks an afternoon that brought the first faint 
 breath of the spicy breezes of autumn, and gave to 
 the lake which shimmered so brightly through the 
 orchard branches a tinge of the violet that comes so 
 deeply when the season lengthens to the time of frosts. 
 Out upon the water a few sail-boats drifted lazily 
 with the light wind, and little spots here and there 
 indicated that the trollers were taking advantage 
 of the last few days of the open season for bass. 
 
 "Oh, it is at all times such a beautiful sight," said 
 Agnes, "that I never tire of it." 
 
 "No," replied Betsey, "one cannot tire of a view 
 that is never for two hours changed. The shadows, 
 the waves, the tinge of the water, the mirrored re 
 flection of the clouds, the sweeping curves of foam 
 left by steamers or sail-boats, the sparkle from oar- 
 blades, and the drive of tumbling white-caps are ever 
 presenting new effects." 
 
 They were seated under one of the big apple trees 
 in Mr. Cameron's orchard, and close beside them ran 
 the well-beaten path that led down to boat-house and 
 landing. It was a favorite place for reading and 
 study, and the books over which they had been por 
 ing now lay closed on the square of canvas that 
 formed their carpet.
 
 Cf)e Spotter, 345 
 
 "We have all been so happy here," said Agnes, 
 "that I often fear something will happen to disturb 
 it." 
 
 "Oh, no, dear, you must not think that," and 
 Betsey took her companion's hand. "God does not 
 seek out those who are happy and contented as espe 
 cial subjects upon whom to visit trouble. That we 
 are happy here and now, is of itself no reason why 
 that happiness should be broken, and though sick 
 ness or death, or other distress may come at any mo 
 ment, I cannot believe that it would be sent to us 
 because we are now favored with every wish that 
 heart could desire." 
 
 "What a wise little philosopher you have become, 
 Betsey. I really do not know where you get all your 
 ideas, for while I study as hard as you and try to 
 gain a store of wisdom, I never have an original 
 thought, or even a borrowed one, which I can adapt 
 to an occasion ? 
 
 Betsey's eyes danced with mischief. "Mr. Edgert 
 says it was an original idea on your part when you 
 insisted that your wedding should take place in the 
 little church which your father and mother used to 
 attend in Scotland," she said. 
 
 "Well ' and Agnes blushed very prettily, "it 
 was not an idea simply an impulse. I haven't told 
 you about it, have I, and I promised to do so, too." 
 
 "There's hardly been time, for it was decided only
 
 346 ct)e Spotter* 
 
 the night before last, and I saw you but a few mo 
 ments yesterday." 
 
 "You see it was this way: Harry was urging me 
 to set a date in October upon which to be mar 
 ried, and to decide where we should go for our 
 wedding-trip. It flashed upon me why not get papa 
 and mamma to make their intended visit to their old 
 home right away and I go with them, while Harry, 
 if he wanted me badly enough, could follow us and 
 wed me in Scotland. 
 
 " 'Harry,' I said in a tragically solemn voice, 'you 
 have told me many times that you love me very 
 deeply.' 
 
 " 'Yes, dear, and I do,' he replied, looking rather 
 surprised and just a little bit alarmed. 
 
 " 'Do you love me well enough, Harry, to follow 
 me well, say to Scotland ?' 
 
 " 'To Scotland, Agnes ! Yes, to the end of the 
 world and back again, a dozen times over. But why 
 do you ask that, dear ?' 
 
 " 'Because, Harry, I am going to Scotland with 
 my father and mother, late in September, and if you 
 will come to Dunoon we will be married on the six 
 teenth of October in the little kirk they attended 
 when they were children.' 
 
 "It was an awful risk, Betsey, for I didn't know 
 what father would say about it, though I felt rather 
 sure about mother. Ever since Harry and I prom 
 ised to make our home here with them, they have
 
 Cfje Spotter, 347 
 
 been willing to do anything I asked, and so I went 
 ahead, half in jest, planning the wedding as though 
 it had been arranged between us at home. And 
 Harry, the dear old dunce, fell in with the plan 
 as if it were the cleverest idea in the world. Before 
 he left we had arranged for the remainder of our 
 trip and had the time set for our home-coming. I 
 saw then that I would just have to win the consent 
 of papa and mamma, for it would never do to back 
 out after it was all understood with Harry. But 
 that was the easiest part of it, for they have been in 
 tending to pay a visit to the old home either this fall 
 or in the spring, and the thought of having their 
 daughter married there was pleasing to both. Father 
 did not wait a moment after we had decided it before 
 he wrote a letter to the Kev. David Purdee at Du- 
 noon, telling him that we were coming, and asking 
 him if it would be agreeable to him to have the wed 
 ding in his church. It is going to be just splendid 
 all but one thing. There's just one feature to regret, 
 dear," concluded Agnes, putting her arms around 
 Betsey's waist. 
 
 "And that is what, you dear child ?" 
 
 "I wanted you with me at the time of my marriage, 
 Betsey. It seems to me that I shall not be happy if 
 you are absent." 
 
 "Yes, yes, you will, Agnes. I shall be with you 
 in constant love and good wishes." 
 
 "Will you not come with us, Betsey ? Father and
 
 348 C&e 
 
 mother are both going to urge you, and you know it 
 is my dearest wish." 
 
 Betsey's lips trembled and tears filled her eyes. 
 The thought of even a temporary separation from her 
 sweet companion saddened her, but she did not wish 
 to leave her parents entirely alone. She was on the 
 point of replying when their attention was drawn to 
 Harry Edgert, who was approaching from the land 
 ing. 
 
 "What can be so interesting," he called, "that you 
 should have neither eyes nor ears for the anxious 
 visitors who have been waiting for a welcome at the 
 landing for at least ten minutes? And you espe 
 cially, Betsey, who was never known to refuse a 
 chance to take a boat ride do you not know that Dr. 
 Ross has been resting upon his oars until he has again 
 grown weary, and hallooing until he is hoarse from 
 the vain attempt to attract your notice?" 
 
 "I don't believe a word of it," replied Agnes. "You 
 stole up to the landing as quietly as possible, proba 
 bly with muffled oars, hoping to surprise us, and you 
 have been talking in whispers if at all." 
 
 "At any rate you cannot deny the evidence of the 
 waiting boatman, who sent me forward to beg the 
 fair lady to accept the tender of an hour's row," and 
 Harry swept his hat from his head and bowed low 
 before the ladies. 
 
 Betsey flushed through the smile she gave Harry. 
 "Oh, of course I will go," she said. "As you say, I
 
 C&e Spotter* 349 
 
 was never known to refuse a ride on the lake, in 
 storm or in calm, and I certainly would not do so 
 at this time when two lovers are quite impatient for 
 me to be off, so that they may have the whole orchard 
 to themselves." And she ran from them down the 
 path. 
 
 "And two other lovers," said Harry, dropping 
 upon the canvas beside Agnes, "who are just as im 
 patient to get away from everybody else and have 
 the whole lake to themselves." 
 
 "Is it true, doctor," said Betsey, as she came to 
 the landing, "that you delegated Mr. Edgert to in 
 vite me upon a ride ?" 
 
 "Indeed, it is, and I beg your pardon for not com 
 ing in person. I had a little work upon the rudder, 
 as one of the lines was loosened, and I asked Harry 
 to say to you that the trolling ought to be good this 
 afternoon, and if you cared for it we would go out 
 for an hour." 
 
 She took her place in the boat and they moved out 
 upon the lake. Would she throw the spoon and hold 
 the line ? the doctor asked. Yes, if the doctor wished, 
 though :he thought fishing might not be good here 
 in the path of so many boats. Would it not be a better 
 plan to keep close in-shore and row around toward 
 Long Point, where the water lilies are now at their 
 best ? The doctor was delighted to do this, for they 
 could then run out to the deeper water and troll on 
 their return trip. Whereupon they fell into a dis-
 
 350 CJje Spotter, 
 
 cussion concerning the merits of different fishing 
 tackle, and the success of skittering for bass in-shore 
 as compared with trolling further out. 
 
 But a man who is very much in love with a woman 
 cannot be kept discussing fishing-tackle with her all 
 afternoon; and a woman who is very much in love 
 with a man, but ctill is afraid to have him speak, 
 cannot forever find subjects that will keep him away 
 from the point. 
 
 They were floating now among the lily pads the 
 graceful green saucers with their cups of purest white 
 and decorated centers of yellow. Betsey would not 
 pick them, although the doctor hunted out the very 
 largest and brightest, and rowed the boat close be 
 side them. They were so much more beautiful, she 
 said, floating here upon the cool, dark water than 
 they would be in any other place. 
 
 Had Agnes Cameron said anything about the some 
 what novel plan for her marriage with Harry ? Yes, 
 yes, she had been telling something about it this after 
 noon; but really, didn't the doctor think it very 
 strange that the lily stems should reach up and up, 
 so many yards through the water, and then when 
 they came to the surface send out such beautiful 
 blossoms ? 
 
 Ross caught the overhanging branches of a great 
 willow, whose trunk, bent down by a storm years 
 before, lay out over the water and formed a natural 
 landing. He drew the boat into one of the forks of
 
 Cbe Spotter* 351 
 
 a huge, crooked limb, and when the craft was quite 
 secure he seated himself beside the woman who re 
 mained so still and demure, dipping one hand over 
 the side of the boat into the limpid water, with throb 
 bing heart and blanched face, yet with a joy she could 
 not control. 
 
 "The groping of the water lilies from the dark bot 
 tom of the lake through a fathom of water, pushing 
 on toward the sun, which draws them and which they 
 love, is just a type of my own life," he said, taking 
 her hand. "Love brought me here from Scotland, 
 though I came with a heavy heart, not knowing that 
 it would ever be my right to declare that love. Love 
 and respect, each day growing stronger, have kept me 
 from saying what has been so constantly in my heart, 
 until the time has come when I may speak. It is 
 love for you, Betsey, and I cannot help thinking that 
 you must have known it all along. But I came this 
 afternoon to let you know it from my lips, and to ask 
 you if there may not be two weddings, on the six 
 teenth of October, in dear old Dunoon, where I first 
 saw you ?" 
 
 Whether there were tears of happiness in her eyes, 
 or whether he heard from her lips some word which 
 gave him the right, cannot be told, for when she 
 raised her head and looked into his face, the lover 
 caught her in his arms and their lips met in kisses 
 that she did not care to resist. 
 
 They came home in the twilight, far beyond the
 
 352 C&e Spotter* 
 
 hour which they had set for their return, and found 
 Agnes and Harry waiting for them at the landing. 
 
 "Where are the fish ?" asked Harry as the boat 
 approached. 
 
 "In the lake/' answered the doctor. "We haven't 
 uncoiled a line !" 
 
 "You must have -had a long ride," said Agnes. 
 
 "iSTo, not very long," replied Betsey, demurely. 
 "We went in-shore around the bay through the lily 
 pads to Long Point, and then straight home." 
 
 "Oh, and it took you all this time?" 
 
 "Yes," very innocently. "We did not row rapidly, 
 the lake was so perfectly lovely to-day." 
 
 "Indeed ! Did you bring any lilies ?" 
 
 "No, dear, they were too beautiful to pick." 
 
 "Ah, ha, I know where you have been," said Agnes, 
 at that moment observing twigs and leaves of willow 
 in the boat. "Harry, they've been all this time in the 
 branches of the old leaning willow. You and I know 
 what a cosy place it is in which to hide, don't we ?" 
 
 "Indeed, we do," said Harry, laughingly, as he 
 caught the doctor's hand to help him up to put off 
 the boat. "For we were there on the same errand." 
 
 "Betsey," said Agnes, throwing her arms around 
 her friend's shoulders, "look me straight in the eyes 
 and tell me if you are going with me to Scotland." 
 
 "Hush, hush, you tease; of course, I am!"
 
 C6e ^potter, 353 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 THE WEDDING DAY. 
 
 WHAT a delightful party took passage on the 
 steamer sailing for Glasgow on the first Saturday 
 in October ! 
 
 There were, first, Mr. and Mrs. Duncan Cameron 
 going back to their old home upon what they de 
 clared was their wedding-trip; and with them their 
 daughter, Agnes. Next in order were Mr. and Mrs. 
 James Tulbs, won from their home by the persuasion 
 of their friends; and their handsome daughter, Mrs. 
 Wheeler, who was most solicitous at all times for 
 their comfort and pleasure. And then there were 
 Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Edgert, no longer in the hotel 
 business, but "just looking around the world a bit 
 before settling down." With them were their three 
 daughters, all vivacious and accomplished young 
 women, and Harry, who was ever the life of any 
 party in which he had place. Mr. and Mrs. Arad 
 Fisher, too, who were always pleased to take a jaunt 
 in good company, and who thought of spending the 
 winter at a quiet place in the south of France. And
 
 354 Cfje Spotter* 
 
 Dr. William Ross, a serious man upon most occasions, 
 but now as full of buoyant spirits and keen humor 
 as one who might have had his nativity in the 
 Emerald Isle instead of in the land of fogs. 
 
 What pranks they played upon each other when 
 out at sea ! What songs they sung, and stories they 
 told, and how the cabin echoed with laughter, and 
 when had the deck held another such congenial party ? 
 
 Did such a guileless, innocent, happy old fellow 
 as Mr. Tubbs ever before make voyage across the At 
 lantic, scattering his quaint philosophy and homely 
 sayings over everybody from the captain to the cabin 
 boy, and not forgetting his fellow-passengers, with 
 every one of whom he was on speaking terms before 
 the close of the second day out ? 
 
 Did a ship on the Glasgow line ever carry a pas 
 senger who knew more about ships and shipping, 
 sailors and sailing, fish and fishing, than Dr. Ross; 
 and was there such another who could relate with 
 sober countenance and convincing tone of voice so 
 many absurd yarns about the sea? 
 
 Did captain, passengers or crew ever spend seven 
 days with one who could laugh with more infectious 
 heartiness, or turn a sally of wit more adroitly than 
 the elder Edgert? 
 
 Was there in all the world one with more resources 
 at his command, more mischief in his make-up, or 
 greater tenderness in his love than Harry ? 
 
 Or, did any traveller ever meet a man who, bjr
 
 potter* 355 
 
 every movement and act, by every word and look, 
 betrayed more complete happiness than that possessed 
 by Duncan Cameron? 
 
 And the ladies, old and young, like sisters all, or a 
 company of school girls out on a summer vacation, 
 vieing with each other in the part they might take to 
 make this holiday one never to be forgotten. 
 
 The days and nights sped too quickly, and the 
 travellers came to Glasgow before they were ready 
 that the voyage should end. The Kev. Mr. Purdee 
 met them in that city, welcoming his old friends with 
 affection, and greeting the new acquaintances with 
 warmth. 
 
 "I tell you, Willie Boss," he said to the doctor 
 when they were at the hotel where rooms had been en 
 gaged for the party, "the news of the coming events 
 has made a great stir down in Dunoon." 
 
 "Davie, you haven't been spreading it down there, 
 have you?" 
 
 "Indeed, I had no occasion to do so, for it doesn't 
 take a paper to circulate a bit of gossip in a Scotch 
 village. When I received Mr. Cameron's second let 
 ter, giving me his word that you were about to apply 
 for my services upon an important occasion in your 
 life, I called upon Granny Seaton and told her as 
 much about it as I thought she could bear at one 
 sitting. Before an hour the whole village knew it, 
 and the news was travelling to the country. Why, 
 lad, you are blushing."
 
 356 cjie Spotter, 
 
 "It is high time that he did," said Agnes, "for all 
 the way over he has been telling us the most extrava 
 gant stories about the adventures of the fisher-folk 
 and sailors from his old home. It would be strange 
 if his conscience did not reproach him now that he 
 is nearing the scenes of these marvellous adventures 
 and is likely to meet some of the characters face to 
 face." 
 
 "Never mind ! They will have opportunity to re 
 turn it all and with interest at the reception on the 
 day of the wedding," declared Mr. Purdee, laughing. 
 
 "Heavens, Davie, is it to be a reception?" asked 
 Ross in astonishment. 
 
 "Why, man, of course it is. Hasn't Mr. Cameron 
 told you " The minister paused, seeing that he 
 had unwittingly disclosed a secret. 
 
 "It may as well come out first as last," said Dun 
 can, meeting their inquiring looks with a laugh. "I 
 have not had the courage to tel] you before, but now 
 that Davie is here to stand by me, I will make a con 
 fession. I wrote him that if he considered it proper, 
 he might arrange for a genuine Scotch wedding, and 
 I conclude that he has done so." 
 
 "That I have, Duncan, and for a fortnight the 
 country around Dunoon has been preparing for noth 
 ing else. Why, on the Sabbath it was almost impos 
 sible to get the folk to give attention to the sermon, 
 so full are they of the coming event. The details are 
 complete, and Dunoon impatiently awaits the hour
 
 C6e Spotter, 357 
 
 when it may show its American guests what is meant 
 by a Scotch welcome." 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Purdee did not overstate the situa 
 tion at the little village. For several days, Sandy 
 McLouth had been riding back and forth making 
 preparations for the wedding feast which Duncan 
 Cameron intended to give the people of his native 
 town. The guid wives entered heartily into the event, 
 for Sandy said the siller was plenty and each was 
 to receive pay for what should be furnished. The 
 Craigs and the Laings (distant relatives of Mrs. 
 Cameron) were to furnish fowls, and it was told it 
 the smithy that at least a hundred would be provided 
 for the occasion. Hams and bacon were ordered 
 from the McLeans and the Lambs neighbors who 
 were famous for the excellence of their breed of pigs, 
 and who knew better than any others how to cure and 
 bring to perfection the product. David Hoag dressed 
 his fattest steer, and it was to be roasted in a brick 
 oven built for the purpose by Archie MacDonald. 
 Auld Dannie Cummings and her two daughters and 
 daughter-in-law were busy for days mixing together 
 rich butter, flour and sugar, and baking short bread 
 that could not be excelled in Scotland. To the Mc 
 Kays and Thompsons was given the contract for the 
 fish, and Marget Campbell and Bell Douglas made 
 great baskets full of toothsome oatmeal cakes. Other 
 families were to furnish white bread, marmalade,
 
 358 
 
 sweeties, jam and cheese all in abundance, for none 
 was to stop short of eating his fill. 
 
 The feast was to be served on the great floor of 
 Willie MacKie's new barn, and long white boards 
 were brought from the sawmill and formed into 
 benches and tables for the accommodation of the 
 guests. 
 
 The baggis 
 
 "Great chieftain o* the puddin'-race," 
 
 without which no wedding feast in the "land o' braw 
 lads and bonnie lassies" would be complete was 
 product of the combined skill of Mrs. McCritchie 
 and Jean McAllister. As befitted its importance, 
 place was made for it in the center of the long table, 
 and when the time came to serve it, the brides tucked 
 up the dainty laces in their sleeves, and with their 
 most gracious wishes, sent generous slices round the 
 board. 
 
 To Bobbie Cruickshank, a man of rare discretion, 
 Sandy had entrusted the duty of serving the spirits. 
 
 "Ye are no' to be sparin', Bobbie," said McLouth, 
 "but I'm no' tellin' ye that ye are to dispose it too 
 freely. Gie each mon his fu', but na more than his 
 fu', for we dinna want oor American veesitors to hae 
 the impression that we are a drinkin' folk. I wud be 
 ashamed ta sae any mon drunk, even Jock McTavish, 
 who gets fu' wi a smell of the cork. It wad na
 
 Cfte Spotter, 359 
 
 speak weel for the toon. I'm thinkin' that it wad be 
 wisdom ta mix the whusky well wi' water for the 
 first twa or three rounds, and after they ha' had their 
 fling at the tables ye can gie it ta them a bit 
 stronger." 
 
 "Ye may hae na fear, McLouth," said Bobbie, re 
 assuringly. "There's nae a mon in Dunoon whose 
 capacity I dinna ken. I'll send them a' hame sober, 
 but happy." And faithfully he kept his word. 
 
 At noon in the little kirk, filled to its utmost with 
 the excited and gossiping throng, the marriage cere 
 mony was said, and the two couples went out to 
 mingle in the rejoicings of their friends. There were 
 those in Dunoon who held that Dominie Purdee 
 missed the opportunity of his life to exhort the con 
 gregation, but he let them go with a prayer and a 
 benediction that were mercifully brief. 
 
 If you should chance to visit Dunoon to-day, you 
 would find those who would be able to give a descrip 
 tion of the festivities which followed the ceremony 
 in the kirk. They would tell you of the abundance 
 of the feast, which never lacked in variety or quality, 
 though the tables were filled many times. You would 
 hear of Duncan Cameron's speech and the cheers 
 which followed it; and also of the speech of a little, 
 sharp, old cricket of a man, "father of the bonnie 
 lady whom Willie Ross married." They would de 
 scribe the reels and jigs to the music of fiddle and 
 pipes, in which the brides and grooms took part with'
 
 360 C&e Spotter, 
 
 as keen zest and full enjoyment as the lads and lasses 
 of the native heath. They would relate how the 
 graver folk gathered in groups under the trees on 
 that beautiful October afternoon, and as song and 
 shout of revelry came from the broad floor of the 
 barn, smiled indulgently and pretended not to hear; 
 or, with no outward evidence of curiosity, sought 
 points of vantage whence they could look upon the 
 merry revellers, remembering in their hearts when 
 they were like these and danced the happy hours 
 away. 
 
 And then they would not forget this they would 
 tell you how, when the carriage came to take away the 
 quartette in whose honor the festival had been held, 
 when the stockings and old shoes were ready to throw, 
 and every hand not otherwise occupied was filled with 
 rice to shower, the two beautiful brides stood upon 
 the seat of the carriage, with the two stalwart grooms 
 supporting them, and waved their pretty hands and 
 called with voices filled with love : 
 
 "Good-by ! Good-by ! We love you all ! Good-by ! 
 Good-by!"
 
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