ROY NORTON 
 
FRED LOCKLEY 
 
 RARE WESTERN BOOKS 
 
 4227 S. E. Stark St. 
 PORTLAND. OR' 
 

 V 
 
 • » * 
 
Burmah reeled as if the world was slipping from him and fell 
 crumpled at their feet. 
 
THE BOOMERS 
 
 BT 
 
 ROY NORTON 
 
 Author The Garden of Fate, The Plunderer, etc. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS :BY 
 W. GOLDBECK 
 
 
 » • » . J 
 
 New York 
 W. J. WATT & COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHEKS 
 
Copyright, 1914, by 
 W. J. WATT & COMPANY 
 
To 
 WILLIAM A. BAKER, Esq., 
 
 WHOSE WANDERING FEET TEEAD MUCH 
 OF THE EARTH AND WHO 
 IS AN APOSTLE OF 
 FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 M 8005 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PA6E 
 
 I. A Heabtless Knave and a Gentle Dbeameb 
 
 Meet 7 
 
 II. And the Dbeameb is Wobsted 23 
 
 III. But the Knave Develops a Conscience 36 
 
 IV. And Conscience Involves Him 50 
 
 V. The Dbeameb's Daughtee Faib Joubneys 59 
 
 VI. While the Knave Lays Plans 69 
 
 VII. To Rob the Tbustful 82 
 
 VIII. The Knave Plunges Deepeb 98 
 
 IX. The Daughter Abbives 110 
 
 X. And They Visit Utopia 128 
 
 XI. Yet the Knave Rests Not 145 
 
 XII. A Race for a Fortune 157 
 
 XIII. Bbings an Honest Tale 175 
 
 XIV. And the Knave Fights 201 
 
 XV. A Good but Hopeless Battle 216 
 
 XVI. The Dbeameb is Extbavagant 228 
 
 5 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAFTEB PAGE 
 
 XVII. And Lands a Menagebie 245 
 
 XVIII. And the Knave Runs Away 260 
 
 XIX. To BE Mastebed by Honesty 271 
 
 XX. The Dbeameb Upsets Evebything 283 
 
 XXI. Much to the Refobmed Knave's Distbess 300 
 
 XXII. And All Is Ruin 312 
 
 XXIII. The Knave Sacbifices His All 330 
 
 XXIV. Befobe Saying Fabewell 349 
 
 XXV. But Fate Intebvenes 356 
 
 XXVI. The Knave Confesses 365 
 
 XXVII. To Dwell With Honob 380 
 
» » » > » » » 
 
 I » > * 
 
 • • » » 
 
 THE BOOMERS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A HEAETLESS KNAVE AND A GENTLE DEEAMER MEET. 
 
 Colonel Alonzo Faiefax Hatch, somewhat dis- 
 consolately pacing the sunlit deck of The Golden 
 Eagle, was filled with conflicting emotions. First, 
 he was a sociable old gentleman, and the passengers 
 neither knew him nor talked to him, nor cared who he 
 was ; second, he had lost his hand-bag, having quite 
 carelessly walked off and left it on the pier at Seattle ; 
 third, somebody "without heart or honor. Sir," had 
 picked his pockets. None of these three disturbing 
 elements could have entered into his life in Chat- 
 tanooga, Tennessee, whence he came. 
 
 "Pshaw! The worst of it is," he communed, 
 "that Arabella's pot of strawberry jam is in that 
 satchel ! That, and two shirts, and four collars ; but, 
 anyhow, I saved mighty near forty cents laundry on 
 them. It's a heap better than losing clean stuff." 
 
 Which philosophical afterthought appeared to 
 ease the Colonel's mind and convince him that, after 
 all, fortune favored him. His hand came down from 
 the heavy white goatee, which in moments of abstrac- 
 tion it was his habit to stroke, and sought the pockets 
 of the old style "Prince Albert" coat, to which he 
 clung through tradition. The coat was buttoned, it 
 was immaculately clean, and it hung straight over 
 the carefully creased trousers. The carnation in the 
 
 7 
 
a THE BOOMERS. 
 
 lapel shone as fresh as when the Colonel had pur- 
 chased it from a flower-vendor at the dock, grace- 
 fully lifted his hat to her, paid her a compliment on 
 its fulness, and lovingly pinned it in place. 
 
 "Three things. Miss, I have always loved," he had 
 told the astonished daughter of Italy; "women, 
 lowers, and horses. I wish you a very good morning.'* 
 
 But now, with the flower still fresh, his hand slipped 
 tentatively, abstractedly, as if impelled by its own 
 volition, to the tails of his coat, and thence inward, 
 to appear a moment later with a bag that had bulged 
 the symmetry of his apparel. The hand seemed to 
 swing around, still by its own volition, and hold it- 
 self up for the Colonel's attention. Almost as if 
 surprised at meeting an old friend, the Colonel looked 
 at the bag. 
 
 "Oh, yes, those goobers!" the Colonel exclaimed, 
 delightedly, and then sauntered to the protection of 
 The Golden Eagle's smoke-stack, and began to eat 
 peanuts with the air and relish of a connoisseur. 
 ^' Some's cocks, and some's culls," he meditated, 
 fingering the tubers. " Can't get good tubers north 
 of Mason and Dixon line. A gentleman wouldn't 
 endeavor to make a success of a commercial pursuit 
 by mixin' his peanuts. No, Sir !" 
 
 With which censure of gentlemen in the peanut 
 business, the Colonel finished the last golden-brown 
 nut, walked carefully to the rail, and threw the 
 crumpled paper bag containing the shells overboard. 
 The wind carried it outward; then inward, as the 
 steamer hurried along the beautiful waters of Puget 
 Sound, and it came to rest on deck again, as if 
 loath to be drowned. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 9 
 
 "Pshaw!" said the Colonel, and, hastily going 
 aft, he chased the recalcitrant bag around, his coat- 
 tails flapping each time he dived for it, until he had 
 seized, and again consigned it to the rail on the 
 windward side. The grinning deck-hand thereupon 
 decided that this odd passenger was a man of clean- 
 ly and methodical habits, and rescued the Colonel's 
 big-brimmed black felt hat, which had become 
 loosened in his latest effort, and threatened a longing 
 to keep company with the gaily floating bag. 
 
 The Colonel thanked the deck-hand with all the 
 courtesy at his command, and would have presented 
 him with a bill had there been one in his possession. 
 He apologised for this seeming stinginess, until the 
 deck-hand told him that everything was all right, 
 and wished him luck; but, being a deck-hand, he 
 afterward referred to the Colonel as a "queer old 
 gook," which could be taken in a complimentary 
 sense, or otherwise. 
 
 A party of girl excursionists halted near the Colo- 
 nel, and indulged in rapturous youthful adjectives 
 to express their appreciation of the green shores, the 
 distant mountains, and the quiet coves that seemed 
 slipping backward past The Golden Eagle. The 
 lone old adventurer hovered as close to the girls as 
 he dared, and was made homesick for his daughter, 
 Arabella, the sole other living member of his own 
 family, away back there in Tennessee. He wet his 
 lips to speak, and timidly thought of sentences by 
 which he might interject himself into the youthful 
 company. His eagerness to talk to this heedless 
 group of maids was pathetic, for he suffered the 
 tortures of a hungry, lonesome heart. Down in 
 
10 THE EOOMERS. 
 
 Chattanooga he dared talk to all of them, and there 
 were whole dozens of girls like these, who exuberantl;^; 
 would have expressed their love and confidence in 
 him by kissing his white old cheek, or patting it 
 with soft, tender hands. It seemed years instead of 
 but a few days since he had seen or heard any of 
 them. It seemed ages since he had begun the quest, 
 since he had bravely started out, a fine young man 
 of sixty-five, to conquer fortune and the world. 
 
 And that was what he was now doing, away up 
 there on Puget Sound, in the new and fabulous 
 far North-west. 
 
 On the day when his lawyer sorrowfully told him 
 that the failure of a bank of which he had been 
 director, was breaking and impoverishing some few 
 hundred stock-holders, the Colonel had frowned from 
 his bewildered, kindly old eyes, and drawn down his 
 heavy gray eyebrows, and stroked his white mus- 
 tache and goatee, then said: 
 
 "Judge, you know. Sir, that there is but one thing 
 for a man of honor to do. That one thing is to give 
 what he has until every dollar is paid. I had a right 
 smart time, as you may remember, cleaning up things 
 when we all came back from the war. All of us did. 
 Most of us made good. Sir. The Marquard planta- 
 tion is to be put on the market, to-morrow!" 
 
 He slapped an emphatic fiston the ^able, and the law- 
 yer, and old comrade in arms, sought to dissuade him. 
 
 " Why, Colonel Hatch," he said, " it'll bust you 
 wide open just like a ripe melon that's been dropped 
 off 'n a wagon ! And the Marquard has been owned 
 by none but a Hatch, Sir, for nigh on to a hundred 
 and twenty years. And " 
 
THE BOOMERS. 11 
 
 "See here, Yancey," the Colonel interrupted. "The 
 Hatches always paid when they could. I can pay 
 back every dollar lost by that poor unfortunate " 
 
 " Scoundrel — Williams ! " 
 
 "No, poor, unfortunate Williams," the Colonel 
 went on, with his soft, patient drawl, "and Yancey, 
 if it wasn't for Arabella, I wouldn't mind it a bit. 
 Besides, I've always insisted, Yancey, that, if a gentle- 
 man were to turn his attention to commercial pur- 
 suits, he could make money. Look at me! I'm 
 still a gentleman, and not too old to begin all over 
 again, Sir!" 
 
 He had stood up, on that day, and thrown his 
 chest out, and glared defiance, as if at a whole world 
 of money-seeking gentlemen from whom he pro- 
 posed to wrest his share of the world's goods. And 
 he had squared his shoulders, and held his head high 
 on that day when the last depositor of the ill-fated, 
 ill-managed bank had been paid from the proceeds 
 of the Marquard sale, and wet-eyed old Yancey Price 
 had opened papers with trembling hands, and told 
 him that he was no longer a rich man, and had left 
 but seven thousand dollars, a right to live in the 
 family homestead for three months, and possession 
 of the family heirlooms. The Colonel had pored 
 over literature with a grave face, and studied the 
 direction for his venture. He had bought his ticket 
 with an untrembling voice, when he, who had never 
 been farther from home than Baltimore, decided to 
 choose the State of Washington as the place to begin 
 life anew. He had not confessed to a living soul the 
 terrors that such a prodigious journey held for 
 him, and the preparations that he made were such 
 
12 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 as some might make when going to the heart of 
 Africa, or on a quest for the North Pole. He had 
 smiled at his neighbors and friends when they bade 
 him good-bj, assuring them, with that sturdy war 
 cry of his, that " Any gentleman, if he but turn his 
 attention to commercial pursuits, can become rich." 
 He indulged in much flowery oratory, also, and main- 
 tained that brave fighting front, though by nights 
 he tumbled and lay awake in his bed, thinking of 
 all the misfortunes that had befallen his house, and 
 wondering what was to become of Arabella if by 
 any chance that " Yoick ! " of his failed of a brush. 
 And bravely had he stood on the platform of the 
 rear car on the day of departure, bowing his white 
 old head, with hat in hand, when the station, with all 
 the crowd that had come to see him depart, receded 
 from sight. 
 
 It had all seemed very easy, when he started, and, 
 to fortify himself with worldly wisdom, the had 
 read. Smiles' "Advice to Young Men," stingy inter- 
 views from Rockefeller, Morgan, Carnegie, and other 
 renowned magnates. These had agreed that all a 
 young man starting in life required was industry 
 and penuriousness. Sage appealed to him quite a 
 good deal, and he had a fond mental picture of that 
 veteran philanthropist sedately and cautiously eating 
 a five-cent chunk of pie, while, on the next stool at 
 the lunch-counter, sat that other eminent humani- 
 tarian and mentor. Jay Gould. The only trouble 
 with both of them was, from the Colonel's philo- 
 sophical view-point, that each had millions before he 
 ate the pie. He was quite sure that he, too, would 
 be willing to lunch on a glass of milk and a piece of 
 
THE BOOMERS. 18 
 
 pie, if he knew, at the same time, that he had seven- 
 teen hundred millions of dollars in the bank with 
 which to buy terrapin if the pie-crop failed. Some- 
 how all this advice they gave fell flat. He had voted 
 for Greeley, who advised beginners to go West, and 
 now he clung to Greeley ; but the West proved strange 
 and unhomelike. In Seattle, he had stopped at a 
 four-dollar-a-day hotel, waiting, quite eagerly, for 
 Miss Opportunity to interrupt him at his meals. He 
 had listened, hungrily, for her to call him up over 
 the telephone, always to learn that she rang for 
 Isaac Levinsky, or Si Hawkins, and immediately 
 after leaving the booth, both Si and Isaac usually 
 rushed off with a sample-case to show her their 
 wares, hot-footing it toward her abode. Yet he was 
 undaunted. His guidon was now threadbare; his 
 banner of intent was frayed around the edges where 
 he had stubbornly swung it to the Washington breeze. 
 Its letters were faded in those few weeks, but still 
 "bore that strange device"; "Any gentleman can 
 make money. Sir, if he but turn his attention to 
 commercial pursuits." 
 
 Now, he was on the excursion because it had been 
 advertised as a rare bargain, and bargains had al- 
 ways appealed to him, whether they were for clothes- 
 pins, talking machines, or dogs. Plainly, also, when 
 he counted over his funds at the hotel before starting, 
 he was distressed because his capital had steadily and 
 alarmingly decreased. He felt, for a time, that it would 
 have been better to have foregone the bargain. 
 
 " I must get to work, mighty soon," he had said. 
 " Right soon after I get back, I must start this-here 
 commercial pursuit. Arabella's got faith in me, and 
 
14 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 all my neighbors down there in Chattanooga expect' 
 me to do something. Must get to work ! " 
 
 Then he had sat down and read Tennyson for an 
 hour, and had arisen much inspirited in his pursuit 
 of millions. 
 
 Exclamations from the group of young ladies in- 
 terrupted the Colonel's reverie ! They were extolling 
 — nay, rhapsodizing, over a tiny bay, a soaring cliff, 
 gorgeous trees and lofty mountains, that swelled and 
 blended into a picture as The Golden Eagle turned 
 her quivering bow around a headland of the wonder- 
 ful sound, and changed her course. The Colonel had 
 always been afflicted with an eye for beauty. 
 
 "By Jinks!" he declared, to himself. "It is a 
 fairy spot! I'm tired of working so hard to make 
 a fortune. If I had that, and a house on it, and a 
 few good hounds, and a small steam yacht, I could be 
 right happy there with Arabella." 
 
 "I guess I can sell it to you. Friend," a voice broke 
 in behind him, and the Colonel was bashfully aware 
 that he had expressed his thought aloud in that 
 moment of artistic ecstasy. He turned, and lifted 
 his hat, glad of the opportunity to speak to anyone 
 who would listen. 
 
 A fat, short, broad and red-faced man, smooth- 
 shaven, smoothly groomed, in a checked suit, and 
 wearing a large double Albert watch-chain across a 
 very rotund frontage, smiled up at him. The Colonel 
 was dazzled by the smile, but somewhat critical over 
 the individual's taste. He had never approved of a 
 checked business suit, a silk hat, a diamond shirt- 
 stud, diamond cuff-links and a blue-bordered silk 
 handkerchief to match blue cloth-topped patent- 
 
THE BOOMERS. 15 
 
 leather shoes. He wished the man had a soft hat 
 and a white handkerchief; but the eyes, which framed 
 themselves into a vivacious, merry twinkle, held him. 
 There were friendliness, curiosity and alert intelli- 
 gence in their depths. They met other eyes fairly, 
 and laughed, and sparkled, and expressed good hu- 
 mor. They suggested keenness, and many other 
 things. They were eyes that might prove crafty, or 
 cruel, or selfish ; and yet one might be sure that they 
 looked on life as a great joke and a splendid show. 
 
 "Yes, Sir," the little man said, hooking the thumbs 
 of his white, pudgy hands in the arm-holes of his 
 vest, after shoving the offensive silk hat farther back 
 on his head, "if you like that land, I'll sell it to you. 
 Come on now. Sir, what do you say?" 
 
 For quite a long time, the Colonel studied that 
 blandly smiling face, and he was compelled to melt. 
 
 "I take it. Sir, that you are its owner," he said. 
 **I'm right glad to meet you, and congratulate you 
 on having such a splendid slice of God's beautiful 
 earth." 
 
 "Must remember that," said the stocky man, re- 
 moving his hat and looking into its crown. "Good 
 idea for an ad! 'God's beautiful earth!' Good 
 stuff, that." Then he replaced the hat, and looked 
 at the Colonel. 
 
 "No," he went on, "I don't own that land. I'm 
 a real-estate broker. Permit me." 
 
 With amazing quickness, he thrust his hand into 
 his vest-pocket, then tendered his card. The Colonel 
 accepted it, fumbled for his glasses, adjusted them 
 to the bridge of his high, thin, finely cut nose, and 
 read: 
 
le THE BOOMERS. 
 
 WILLIAM BURMAH JONES 
 
 Real Estate Agent 
 The globe for sale. Any, or all of it, at the custo- 
 mers* disposal. List, or buy your property 
 from a live one, because the dead ones all 
 specialize in cemetery lots. 
 
 Then there had been scratched out with the pen 
 the address in Fort Scott, Kansas, and a Seattle ad- 
 dress substituted. 
 
 "Nifty! Yes?" demanded William Burmah 
 Jones, twinkling at the Colonel. "Shows the differ- 
 ence between a hustler and a fogy, eh.? My moth- 
 er's name was Burmah. Great for that, the old lady 
 was. I always print it out in full because she liked 
 it. Been gone a long time now, but I always do all I 
 can to keep her name before the public." 
 
 The Colonel, somewhat bewildered, assured him 
 that it was very creditable to pay so much honor to 
 his mother's memory on a business card. Mentally 
 he wondered if the card was an indication of what a 
 gentleman had to do when he went out after suc- 
 . cess. 
 
 "Now, about that land," Jones continued briskly; 
 "I can sell it to you cheap. It's a bargain, that's 
 what it is. Observe that wonderful bay, with a nat- 
 ural place for wharves, sheltered from the winds and 
 the waves! Pretty good, that! Sheltered from the 
 winds and the waves. Ideal place. Sir ! Grow any- 
 thing up there on that magnificent hill behind it." 
 
 The Colonel caught his breath after this out- 
 burst. 
 
 "Of course, Sir, you have been up there on the 
 hill to test the soil.?" he asked. 
 
THE BOOMERS. IT 
 
 "Been up tHeie? Me? No! But Lord bless 
 you, Man ! 'tain't necessary. One can see that from 
 here. Yes, Siree! Grow anything up there. Mister 
 — by the way, what is your name?" 
 
 "Hatch, Sir. Alonzo Fairfax Hatch, from 
 Chattanoogy, Tennessee." 
 
 Jones was studying the Confederate button that 
 peeped from beneath the carnation. He now thrust 
 out his fat, fleshy, white hand, and said: 
 
 "Glad to meet you. Colonel!" And the Colonel, 
 so accustomed to the title, gave no thought to its 
 use as he accepted the hand. It warmed him up to 
 find any one in this lonesome land to whom he could 
 talk in a friendly spirit. Jones was, at the least, 
 company. 
 
 "Officer, just a moment, please," Jones suddenly 
 called to the chief mate as the latter passed them. 
 The officer halted. 
 
 "Excuse me a moment. Colonel," Jones said, hasten- 
 ing away to the chief mate. "Say, what's that point 
 over there called?" he asked, in a quick mutter. 
 
 "That ! It's Squaw Point." 
 
 "Thanks." 
 
 Jones returned to the Colonel. 
 
 "Now, let me see! Where were we? Oh, yes, I 
 remember, now. We were talking about Squaw 
 Point, that exquisite piece of nature's handiwork 
 you see planted over there. Squaw Point can be 
 bought, Colonel, I think. I have some connection 
 with the family that owns it. It can be bought 
 cheap — dirt cheap! It's a bargain, Colonel!" 
 
 The Golden Eagle swung farther around, and 
 
18 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 now there was discernible a sand spit stretching out, 
 and on it a hut, of the sort built by fishermen, or 
 squatters, and a small, weather-beaten tent. From 
 the shore line of the tiny bay stretched a shallow 
 flat, and above that precipitously arose the splendid 
 cliff, whose crest was wood-crowned. A canoe, with 
 a tiny rag of discolored canvas, swept round by the 
 steamer's stern, and a much tanned young man 
 looked up at them with calm gray eyes, and waved a 
 hand in response to their salute. A little distance 
 beyond him a bearded, forlorn, slouchy fisherman 
 paused from hauling in a net to stare at them, and 
 they could see the silvery thrashing of fish at his 
 feet in the bottom of the boat. 
 
 "See what a perfect place for the building of a 
 home!" enthused Jones, calling the Colonel's atten- 
 tion to the wooded headland. "The bay is the place 
 for the yacht; the hill the spot for a home. Yes, 
 Siree! Nothing like it anywhere in the world! A 
 paradise, that's what she is ! Finest climate in the 
 world. Wonderful timber up there. Why, I guess a 
 man could go into the timber business, and make a 
 fortune off' n that hillside. More money out here in 
 timber than anywhere on God Almighty's footstool. 
 All the millionaires out here got rich from timber. 
 Just buy that place, cut all that magnificent timber 
 off, take the money for it, and build a house on that 
 cleared land, and there you are ! What more could a 
 man want?" 
 
 The Colonel tried to recall any millionaire who 
 had made his fortune from lumbering. Neither 
 Smiles, Carnegie, nor Sage, had given him any ad- 
 
THE BOOMERS. 19 
 
 vice on that subject, and he was convinced that Jay 
 Gould had had something to do with railways. 
 
 "I must be cautious," he declared to himself. 
 "Sage taught me that. A gentleman starting out in 
 commercial pursuits must move cautiously." 
 
 Moreover, he had somehow conceived the idea, 
 vaguely, that he wanted to start life as a railway 
 magnate. All the books on success he had read 
 taught him that the first thing to do was to save 
 money to buy the object desired. Pondering over 
 this, while William Burmah Jones rattled off a string 
 of amazing figures about how many shingles could 
 be made from one small tree, and hearing nothing 
 of the words, the Colonel came to the conclusion that 
 he must be conservative. He would follow the books 
 and his inclinations at the same time ! That was it ! 
 Save his money, and buy a railway ! He looked down 
 at the emphatic and calculating Mr. Jones with a 
 great resolve in his eyes. 
 
 "I'm right sorry. Sir," he said, "to disappoint 
 you; but, while it is quite true that I have some 
 small means. Sir, and seek investment, I favor rail- 
 way projects." 
 
 "Railways? Humph! What's a railway com- 
 pared with such a magnificent spot as that there is? 
 Think of the timber. Colonel! Hundreds of thou- 
 sands have been made off'n timber. Besides all that. 
 Colonel, we need men of your character here In this 
 growin' country. We want you with us. Maybe I can 
 get you Into the Chamber of Commerce over at Seattle, 
 or Port Townsend. You'd be a credit to us, with all 
 your vast knowledge of commerce and Industry." 
 
20 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Mr, Jones failed to state that he himself was not 
 a member of either of these bodies, and that in his 
 pocket reposed a ticket for Spokane, some hundreds 
 of miles distant, which, he had decided, would be his 
 next field of conquest. Indeed, he preferred, if this 
 sale went through, that there should be several hun- 
 dred miles between him and the Colonel immediately 
 after its consummation. A man with the whole 
 globe for sale couldn't be expected to remain forever 
 in one spot ! It would be unjust to the globe. A dinner- 
 bell clanged loudly through the steamer's length, and, 
 like a war-horse hearing the bugle call for the charge, 
 Jones sniffed the air, and lifted his head. 
 
 "That's for the chewings," he said. "Come on. 
 Colonel. First come, first served on these barges." 
 But the Colonel, his poetic soul still entranced by the 
 passing scenery, was loath to miss any of it. 
 
 "Thank you kindly. Sir," he said, "for your invi- 
 tation, but I think I shall fast to-day." 
 
 "See you later then. Colonel," Jones replied. But 
 as he hastened as rapidly as his short legs would carry 
 him in the direction of the dining-saloon, he said to 
 himself: "Invitation.? Invitation .? Wonder if that 
 old fellow was sarcastic, or really meant it. Maybe 
 that's the way they do things down there where he 
 come from." 
 
 Yet Mr. Jones did not appreciate the seed he had 
 sown in the cheerful adventurer's mind, or how re- 
 luctantly the Colonel was rejecting the proposition 
 to buy Squaw Point, the price of which, or even 
 whether it was for sale, neither he nor Mr. Jones 
 knew. In fact, the Colonel was wondering whether 
 
THE BOOMERS. 21 
 
 he could not purchase the land, build a fine home on 
 that attractive point, start a saw-mill to clear the 
 timber, then afterward raise cotton on that noble 
 headland. And all on less than seven thousand dol- 
 lars 1 Perhaps the railway could wait until he had 
 saved more money. He felt certain that Arabella, 
 with all the dancing blood of her twenty years, and 
 with her youthful desire for outdoors, would love 
 this spot if he chose it for her home. He wondered 
 if she would miss all that retinue of admirers who 
 had known her from girlhood, paid assiduous atten- 
 tion to her, taken turns at trying to persuade her 
 to marry, and kept hoping, after each rejection, 
 that she might relent. He was not positive that he 
 did not owe it to Arabella's happiness to buy this 
 place for her. She was quite fond of fishing, and 
 there were fish in the sound, he knew, because in 
 that fisherman's boat he had seen some of them. A 
 nice boat-house could be built somewhere down on 
 the beach at the foot of the cliff. He imagined how 
 nice it would look if it were built of stone, with a 
 place beneath for a launch, and the whole upper part 
 devoted to a den for Arabella's exclusive use. He 
 could have a large stone fireplace, and a hard-wood 
 floor, and big easy chairs, and a few nice rugs and 
 skins, and one corner filled with books, all in red- 
 morocco bindings. And so his imagination went 
 sailing on much faster, but with far less chance of 
 reaching a destination, than The Golden Eagle be- 
 neath his feet. So intent was he on the problem 
 that he almost forgot to eat any luncheon, and was 
 the last one to enter the saloon from which William 
 
22 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Burmah Jones, looking fatter than ever, panting a 
 little from over-stuffiness, and picking his teeth, was 
 just departing by the opposite door. The broker, 
 holding the toothpick quite airily, waved a pudgy 
 hand at the Colonel, who promptly removed his hat 
 and bowed, then seated himself with a feeling of 
 thankfulness that he was alone where he could still 
 think over what kind of a mansion would best befit that 
 wonderful point and prove pleasing to Arabella. 
 
 Indeed, he was quite free from any interruption 
 throughout the remainder of the afternoon and even- 
 ing, and discovered the cause when he passed the 
 smoking-room that squatted in isolated state forward 
 on the main deck. Jones, in shirt-sleeves, with his 
 silk hat tilted at a belligerent angle over his fair 
 brow, and chewing steadily at the remnant of a 
 frayed cigar that protruded from the wrinkle at the 
 corner of his mouth, was addressing himself in a tone 
 of firm expostulation to three other excursionists. 
 
 "That stuff's too raw to try to pull on me," he 
 was asserting at the moment the Colonel paused by 
 the open window. "Any man that draws one card 
 on me, and then tries to bluff when I've got fours, 
 never had the benefits of learnin' this noble game in 
 Fort Scott, Kansas. So, Siree ! Why, when I think 
 of what the boys down there would do to you in- 
 fants, if you ever blew into our town, it just natu- 
 rally gives me the first spell of sea-sickness I've had 
 on this-here boat!" 
 
 And from the size of the pile of money that rested 
 in front of Mr. Jones, the Colonel decided the state- 
 ment had been but a bald utterance of truth. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 AND THE DREAMER IS WORSTED. 
 
 The Colonel, in his room in the Seattle Hotel, was 
 painstakingly counting his funds for the thousandth 
 time or so, when the telephone jangled, and he was 
 told: 
 
 "Mister William Burmah Jones calling, Sir." 
 
 It was the day after his return from the excur- 
 sion, and he felt homesick. He had played one hun- 
 dred straight games of patience between whiles of 
 counting his money, and passively awaiting the op- 
 portunity to become rich. He had walked down the 
 bustling street where prospectors, bound for the dis- 
 tant hills, timber-cruisers, with keen eyes and tanned 
 faces, swaggering lumbermen seeing the sights, and 
 sailors, with rolling progress, had alternately 
 bumped into him as, with that worried, abstracted 
 look on his face, he sauntered along, or halted before 
 shop windows, thinking how much Arabella would 
 enjoy some of the tempting articles therein exposed. 
 Some of the lumber-jacks had sworn at him, arous- 
 ing a momentary flame, for he was unaccustomed to 
 such treatment. He had suffered the pangs of 
 economy when he thought of the money expended 
 on the excursion, and, remembering the eminent ex- 
 amples of which he had read, had tried dining on 
 peanuts. Four bags had left him quite hungry, and 
 he thought of Mr. Sage. 
 
 "Dog-gone my cats!" he had exclaimed. "What 
 
 23 
 
24 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 I should have done was to go to a lunch counter, 
 and eat pie and such." 
 
 So he had gone to a counter, perched on a stool 
 beside a friendly stevedore, first assuring himself 
 that the man was not a negro, but had merely been 
 handling coal, and he ate fifty cents worth of pie. 
 Total, seventy cents, when the hotel luncheon would 
 have cost but fifty! Then, without reckoning the 
 cost, having assured himself that such rigid economy 
 entitled him to spend a little extra on his cigar, he had 
 bought one for twenty-five cents instead of the usual 
 fifteen, or two for a quarter. Immensely pleased 
 with himself, he had gone to his room for a nap 
 before again chasing Dame Fortune, and, after the 
 nap, he had decided the hour was too late to 
 seek her any further on this day. 
 
 "Send him right up, Boy," the Colonel answered 
 the telephone, and then gathered his money together, 
 thrust it into his pocket, and waited for the tap at 
 the door. And he was unaware that Opportunity 
 had come at last, heralded by the round, fat, hustling 
 man from Fort Scott! 
 
 If the Colonel had been his long-lost father, Jones 
 could not have greeted him with greater cordiality. 
 For a minute or so, the Colonel feared the visitor 
 would embrace him. Then William Burmah turned 
 and tiptoed to the door, and jerked it open to look 
 out into the hall. After this action he strode quickly 
 to the locked folding doors barring the next room, 
 and listened intently at the crack. Then he half- 
 squatted, and peered behind a screen, and whispered 
 hoarsely : 
 
THE BOOMERS. 25 
 
 "Anybody here, Colonel?" 
 
 The Colonel, his eyes by this time as wide as silver 
 quarters, assured him there was not. 
 
 "What's the matter, Sir.?" the Colonel asked com- 
 miseratingly. "Police after you? Or some of these 
 scoundrels been trying to rob you?" 
 
 Jones tiptoed across the room, removed his silk 
 hat, and wiped his forehead with an extra handker- 
 chief drawn from his hip-pocket, the silk polka- 
 dotted one protruding from his coat evidently being 
 immune from service. 
 
 "Colonel," he said, raising his pudgy forefinger, 
 as he settled into a chair, "Colonel Hatch, me and 
 you are goin' to make our fortunes ! Yes, Siree ! 
 Our everlastin' fortunes ! I'm goin' to start East next 
 week to get hold of big capital ; but I'm goin' to let 
 you share my luck. Now ! What d'you think of that?" 
 
 He got his thumbs hooked into the arm-holes of 
 his vest, pursed his cheeks, and beamed at the 
 Colonel with what was plainly intended to be a 
 benevolent smile. 
 
 The Colonel, trembling with joy, hastened to 
 thank him. 
 
 "It is right good of you. Sir, to remember me," 
 he said. "I'd sort of worried over it the last few 
 days; but I always said that any gentleman could 
 make money. Sir, if he turned to commerce." 
 
 Jones hitched his chair closer, so that he could 
 rest a friendly hand on the Colonel's knee as he 
 talked, such having been his method since he had read 
 a book on hypnotism. 
 
 "It's that land that your discriminatin' eye sighted 
 
26 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 when we were on the steamer," declared Jones. "Yes, 
 Sir, with your financial genius, you picked it out! 
 You saw the possibilities of that bay, of that head- 
 land, of that beach. That's it, Squaw Point! I've 
 practically taken it for you, at five thousand dollars. 
 A rare bargain. Sir. I was afraid it would escape. 
 The timber alone on it, in these days of vast lumber 
 enterprises, should be worth double the money. 
 Yes, Siree ! Only five thousand cart-wheels ! I was 
 so afraid some one else would come along and get it 
 that I just snapped it up, knowin' you would thank 
 me for my service." 
 
 He leaned back expectantly, but a close friend of 
 his might have read a great suspense in h^s eyes as 
 he paused to see how the Colonel would take the news 
 of such unheard-of philanthropy. As for the 
 Colonel, some of the enthusiasm appeared to die out 
 of his face. If he paid five thousand for the land, 
 he would have but little more than a thousand dol- 
 lars with which to plunge ahead on his reckless path 
 to wealth. Jones, the veteran salesman of the globe, 
 recognized the wavering, and, like a good general, 
 hastened to rally the forces. 
 
 "Don't say a word," he whispered, as if afraid that 
 the Colonel was about to indulge in garrulity. "Don't 
 say a word ; but listen to your Uncle Burmah ! But, 
 first, Colonel, give me your solemn word of honor, as 
 a gentleman, that you will never let any one know, 
 come what will, what I'm about to tell you! It 
 might ruin me." 
 
 Probably Jones was nearer the truth than he 
 knew, at that moment, for jails have yawned for 
 
THE BOOMERS. 27 
 
 many a lesser offense. The Colonel assured him that 
 his secret would forever be preserved. 
 
 "Then," said Jones, dropping his voice, and lay- 
 ing both hands on the Colonel's knee, "Squaw Point 
 may become the great metropolis of this Pacific 
 Coast! It may be the New York of the West. The 
 world may learn to speak of Squaw Point, London, 
 New York, Yokohama, Hamburg, in the same 
 breath." 
 
 The Colonel began to twist uneasily. The grip 
 on his knees tightened as if to keep him from bolting. 
 
 "You have heard of the Atlantic and Oriental 
 Railway, ain't you?" Jones whispered, and, of 
 course, the Colonel had heard of the projected road 
 that had dawdled along for years, threatening at in- 
 tervals to go through to the Pacific Coast, but al- 
 ways stopping the moment the stock-market got to 
 the point that best suited the pockets of the great 
 railway king, Henry Ford. 
 
 "But — but — I thought old Ford, when he died 
 was — " 
 
 "That's just the way," interrupted Jones. 
 "When he died his property was so big that it took 
 grears to straighten it out. His boy wouldn't foller 
 in his dad's footsteps." 
 
 "And a mighty good thing, too, I should say," 
 responded the Colonel, grimly, remembering the king 
 of promoters, bribers and wreckers. 
 
 **But, now, live men have got the property," Bur- 
 mah Jones went on, patiently. "They're goin' to put 
 her through! Pierp — excuse me, I always speak 
 of one of my best friends that way — Horgan told 
 me so. So did Corny. That's what I always call 
 
28 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Wanderbilt, Corny. Just like that! It's *Hello, 
 Corny,' and 'Hello, Burmah,' when we meet. Pierp 
 and Corny both told me so ! They're puttin' up the 
 coin, if someone else ain't. Now ! What more do 
 you want?" 
 
 "But," insisted the Colonel, striving by his atti- 
 tude to convey the impression that he did not in the 
 least dispute Jones' word, "what has this to do with 
 — er — Squaw Point?" 
 
 "What has it to do with Squaw Point? Why, 
 Colonel, I've as good as told you. Squaw Point's to 
 be the Pacific Coast terminus of that road." 
 
 William Burmah emphasized each word by chop- 
 ping it off, rolling it under his tongue, and spitting 
 it out, after which, with a great air of triumphant 
 assertion, he leaned back and grinned. This time 
 there was no question. The Colonel was hooked as 
 certainly as if he had been a bass snapping a min- 
 now. 
 
 "And you took that land for me?" he gasped. 
 
 "That's what I did!" 
 
 The Colonel got to his feet, as did Burmah Jones, 
 and seized both the agent's pudgy hands in his. He 
 bubbled and overflowed with gratitude. He threat- 
 ened to make a speech. His, imagination kindled 
 until the room was flooded with gold. He shifted to 
 apprehension lest he find that slip 'twixt the cup 
 and the lip, before he could get the deeds in his 
 hands. He urged haste for the conclusion of the 
 deal, and he found William Burmah Jones a ready 
 and active ally; for Burmah was quite as eager as 
 the Colonel to close the transaction. 
 
 "Yon stay right here, Colonel — right here in this 
 
THE BOOMERS. 29 
 
 room, till I go and get the lawyer who will clos^ 
 this up. By the way, it'll be cash, of course." 
 
 "Certainly, Sir — certainly! I have it here with 
 me!" 
 
 Jones plunged out ; but he was torn between satis- 
 faction and ruefulness as the elevator lowered him to 
 the ground floor of the hotel. 
 
 "Got it with him! Humph! Why didn't I try 
 for ten thousand!" he muttered as he puffed up the 
 street to the office of a real-estate agent, and burst 
 impatiently in. 
 
 "I've decided to think of that Squaw Point prop- 
 erty you have for sale," he said, entering the agent's 
 private office. "But two thousand is too much for 
 it. I'll give you seventeen hundred and fifty cash. 
 You say the title is guaranteed?" 
 
 The agent lost small time in dickering over the 
 odd two hundred and fifty, and began filling out the 
 deed with himself as vendor through power of at- 
 torney. 
 
 "Just make the consideration one dollar," said 
 Burmah, over his shoulder, "and the deed read to 
 Alonzo Fairfax Hatch. No, that ain't me, but for a 
 client of mine. Crusty old cuss — mighty peculiar ! 
 Won't deal with no one but me. Awful funny man I 
 You don't need to sign now, but come with me 
 around to The Butler, and bring a notary with you 
 so's there won't be any question abut your power of 
 attorney, and all that rot. I'll give you the seven- 
 teen fifty now, and, if there's any hitch, you can 
 give it back. I'm a sort of secretary to this old fel~ 
 ler." 
 
 With a sallow-faced clerk from the office, they 
 
30 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 went to The Butler, and up to the room where the 
 Colonel pranced backward and forward restlessly, 
 fearful that this golden chance for fortune would 
 stumble en route to his door. With tremulous dig- 
 nity he acknowledged the ostentatious introductions, 
 and dragged open the drawer in which he had placed 
 his money ; but Burmah hastily caught his arm, and 
 gave him a warning glance. 
 
 "I had to pay 'em," he whispered, "out of my 
 pocket. At the last minute they were goin' to back 
 out. You can pay me after they're gone." 
 
 The Colonel acknowledged Burmah's kindness by 
 a warm grip of the hand, and proceeded with the for- 
 malities. 
 
 "There you are, signed and sealed and delivered," 
 said the notary, affixing his seal. 
 
 "Then, gentlemen," said the Colonel, beaming, 
 and possessing himself of the deed lest they recant, 
 '*our bargain is concluded. In that fair portion of 
 the country, Sirs, from which I come, that glorious 
 State of Tennessee, it is customary to celebrate every 
 transaction fittingly. 'Most always, I make the 
 juleps; but in the absence of that dream of delight — 
 er — what will you have?" 
 
 "Nothing — never drink," snapped the visiting 
 real-estate agent, thus confirming Burmah Jones' as- 
 sertion that he and the notary were men "fit for 
 treasons, stratagems and spoils." 
 
 The Colonel looked hurt; but Jones was already 
 politely urging the two to depart, and assuming an 
 air of business celerity and lack of time. They bade 
 the Colonel and his "secretary" good-day, and hur- 
 ried away. Burmah Jones listened until the elevator 
 
THE BOOMERS. 81 
 
 gratings had clanged, then closed the door, and 
 smiled and stared up at the Colonel. 
 
 "There she is. Friend Colonel!" Jones asserte«i, 
 beaming from his five feet, two up at the Colonel's 
 six feet, one. "There she is. A fortune! Sure's 
 there's wool on a coon! Now you can give me that 
 money, and then I'll take a bottle of the fizzy lubri- 
 cant that makes the fountain of youth look like ditch 
 water !" 
 
 The Colonel dragged out his bills, and painstak- 
 ingly counted five thousand dollars, which sum Bur- 
 mah Jones rolled into a wad and carelessly thrust 
 into his pocket, his motion not betraying that, with 
 the exception of two silver dollars, this was his en- 
 tire earthly fortune. 
 
 "Now," said the man from Kansas, a half-hour 
 later, obligingly, "I'll go with you to the county re- 
 corder's office, and we'll have that recorded. Colonel. 
 Oh, no trouble at all! Glad to oblige a friend. 
 That's all I'm doing this for, just accommodation." 
 
 The Colonel threatened for a moment to pay him 
 a commission; but recovered in time when he re- 
 membered that his fortune had now dwindled so 
 heavily. 
 
 "I'm right sorry. Sir," he said to Jones, "that I 
 find myself in such straitened circumstances that 
 I am compelled to seem delinquent in regard to your 
 profit; but I accept your generosity in the spirit in 
 which it is offered, and wish to assure you, Mister 
 Jones, that when I make money from this venture of 
 ours, I shall requite you as best lies in my power. It 
 is customary with the Hatches, Sir, never to forget 
 a friend or a foeman." 
 
32 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Had the Colonel been sufficiently observant, he 
 would have discovered that William Burmah Jones 
 lost a trifle of his ruddy color at the concluding part 
 of the sentence; but the same William Burmah was 
 as quick at recovery as a cat is in finding its feet. 
 
 "Don't mention it, Colonel. Forget all about me," 
 he said, fervently. "Now to record this precious 
 document." 
 
 Quite merrily they passed up the street together 
 to the little old court-house on the hill, where they 
 found the recorder very busy. He took time to jerk 
 the paper open and glance at it, then at the Colonel. 
 
 "Yes, Sir, it's mine," asserted the Colonel, proud- 
 
 ly- 
 
 The recorder looked from him to Jones, and stud- 
 ied the latter the more. He did not seem to have 
 ever before seen Mr. Jones, a surprising circum- 
 stance, considering that the latter was supposed to 
 be in the real-estate business in Seattle. 
 
 "Beats all what some people are buying these 
 days," he said, tentatively. 
 
 Jones glared at him indignantly; but the Colonel, 
 striving to appear nonchalant in the face of his bar- 
 gain, said: 
 
 "Yes, Sir; there is opportunity at every door. 
 Timber lands in this great new State are all val- 
 uable." 
 
 "Timber land ! Humph ! That patch off up there 
 at Squaw Point was cut off nearly ten years ago. 
 The timber on that ain't worth six bits!" 
 
 "We want that recorded," Jones hastened to in- 
 terrupt, with insistent firmness, and endeavoring to 
 close the conversation. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 33 
 
 "Well, you can record it here if you wish," said 
 the recorder, hourly; "but it ought, by rights, to be 
 recorded, also, in the county where the sale is made." 
 
 Jones flushed at being exposed in ignorance. 
 
 "Oh, that's all right," he said, airily. "We shall 
 record it there later. Come on. Colonel. I suppose 
 we can get this deed about to-morrow or the next 
 day?" he asked, addressing himself to the official. 
 
 "To-morrow morning," said the recorder, "or in 
 two hours, if there is any dadbinged hurry about 
 it!" 
 
 The Colonel hastened to mollify him by saying 
 that the next day would do, and, arm-in-arm with 
 Burmah Jones, passed out into the light of a day 
 that seemed joyous and young and filled with great 
 hopes. The Colonel drew a sigh of relief. 
 
 "Well," he declared, "that lifts a mighty big load 
 from my mind. I had begun to believe that it was not 
 so easy to make a fortune; but that just shows how 
 a man can be mistaken, Sir. Why, do you know, 
 when I stop to think that yesterday I was a com- 
 paratively poor man, and that to-day I have laid the 
 foundation for a new estate, it seems almost impos- 
 sible! I must buy back the Marquard plantation 
 with the first money I get." 
 
 He had a warmth of friendship and affection for 
 the short fat man who toddled alongside him, and, 
 overcoming his customary scruples, poured into 
 Burmah's ears the story of his life, the pride of his 
 house, the love for his daughter, and went into details 
 of the marvelous venture on which he had started 
 forth. Burmah began to have qualms of conscience. 
 
34 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 which proved the Colonel's homely eloquence ; for the 
 conscience of Burmah Jones, through many years 
 of dormancy, had become extremely hard to arouse. 
 It had a well-developed, chronic case of the sleep- 
 ing sickness. Once or twice the little man shoved 
 his silk hat back and frowned absently ahead, and 
 again, when the Colonel touched on that rare affec- 
 tion, more fragrant through memory, which he 
 cherished for Arabella, Jones' hand crept up and 
 felt the roll of bills that had been transferred to the 
 inside of his waistcoat, as if by that magic touch 
 to steel himself against sentiment. 
 
 They dined together, sumptuously, recklessly, at 
 the Colonel's expense, and throughout that time the 
 ancient adventurer, rejuvenated, built air-castles of 
 grandeur. Jones had to tear himself away from 
 his host, and immediately outside the door gave a 
 snarling "Humph!" the meaning of which he alone 
 knew. The Colonel, to the contrary, was so gay 
 that, when alone, he hummed in his cracked old voice 
 those war-like tunes of the Confederacy with which 
 he had been wont in youth to charge to victory. 
 Alone in his room, he jubilated. . . . Alone in 
 his room, Burmah swore. 
 
 "Damn that old cuss!" he roared, impatiently, 
 staring at himself in the mirror. "Why did he go and 
 tell me all that stuff about his daughter, and what he 
 hoped to do for her? Always for this-here Ara- 
 bella! Arabella! Nice old-fashioned name. If I 
 didn't need the money so bad, I'll swear I'd put the 
 whole caboodle in an envelope, and send it to him. 
 Ain't it just my luck to get hold of a sucker like 
 
THE BOOMERS. 35 
 
 that ! Maybe I'd better start East to-morrow. It'd 
 make me feel rotten mean to see him after he finds 
 out that Squaw Point ain't worth ten dollars. 
 iWonder if it is, now.? Wonder if there ain't some 
 way I could get his money back for him, and keep 
 mine at the same time?" 
 
 He stood for a full minute, staring at the pattern 
 of the carpet, as if balancing and weighing an idea, 
 communing with some hidden financial Genius with 
 whom he argued silently. He shook his head im- 
 patiently, at last, and turned his back to the mirror, 
 as if rather reluctant to face his own presentment 
 on that clear, unfaltering surface. 
 
 "He's got more money left," he said stubbornly, 
 as if ending a debate, "and, if I'm goin' to be a hog, 
 I'll be a good one. I'll get that, too! Poor old 
 feller!" 
 
 With which amicable admixture of crooked desire 
 and laudable pity, William Burmah Jones now 
 scowled savagely and rebelliously at the fat face 
 in the mirror, and hurriedly switched off the lights 
 lest it further accuse him. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 BUT THE KNAVE DEVELOPS A CONSCIENCE. 
 
 After pitching about more or less during the 
 night, made restless by that newly and curiously 
 aroused conscience of his, Burmah Jones arose and 
 threw open the shades of his window. The early 
 workmen were steadily tramping the streets toward 
 their tasks, just as the last of the roysterers and 
 gamblers were unsteadily turning homeward. He 
 yawned at them, and stuck his pudgy hands in 
 the waistband of his pajamas. His scant hair 
 was ruffled around his Napoleonic head, and his 
 eyebrows were twisted into long gray tangles. He 
 stood and scowled at awakening Seattle while he 
 reflected on a very checkered career. He went 
 to the faucet and drank copiously as if to wash a 
 bad taste from his mouth, found a half-smoked cigar 
 on the floor, and lighted it, rolled himself into the 
 depths of an easy chair, and hung his bare feet 
 on the window sill. 
 
 Plainly, he had not been able to dismiss his latest 
 conquest from mind, for instantly, awake, he was 
 fighting its ethics over again. 
 
 "Burmah," he said to himself, "it's been your 
 business to trim suckers, and take chances on being 
 trimmed. Some of 'em have done the last. Some- 
 times you waded in where the water was deep and 
 cold ; but now you've gone and done it for sure. 
 You've buncoed a poor, confidin' old cuss of sixty- 
 five, that ain't never had a chance to cut his wisdom 
 
 36 
 
THE BOOMERS. 37 
 
 teeth. It's too plagued much like stealin' ear-trum- 
 pets from a home for old deaf ladies." 
 
 He lapsed into a melancholy heap of fat, and 
 twisted, rolled and chewed the cigar butt from one 
 corner of his mouth to the other.. There werfe 
 those, familiar with him in past days of fight, pros- 
 perity, and enterprise, who would have taken alarm 
 at that symptom of mental activity, and hastened 
 away to lock safes, and secrete family silver, pocket- 
 books, or anything else that wasn't securely fastened 
 beyond hope of being pried loose. 
 
 That look was on his face throughout the fore- 
 noon, and still there when, in the late afternoon, he 
 went, hesitantly, to the Colonel's hotel. It had 
 taken much resolution on his part to face the Colonel. 
 He felt like a murderer visiting the morgue to look 
 at his victim. He glanced through the big plate- 
 glass window in front of the hotel lobby, and saw 
 the dupe, with a beatific expression on his face, 
 asleep in one of the big leather chairs. 
 
 "There he is," said Burmah to himself. "Now, 
 ain't he a picture of a hustling young man startin' 
 out to make his fortune? He's a rare old specimen 
 of a gent startin' out to make dead-oodles of money 
 in commercial pursuits ! Humph !" 
 
 If the real-estate agent lacked anything, it was 
 not "hustle," and full appreciation of a "hustler." 
 He had never been accused of incompetence, and it 
 exasperated him to come in contact with a man of 
 the Colonel's stamp. 
 
 "I come up here to sympathize with him," he 
 went on in self-communion, "and what do I see? That 
 old Rebel crowbait a-sittin' there asleep ! Serves him 
 
38 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 right. Now, I'm goin' in to get the rest of his 
 roll, hang him !" 
 
 He trudged determinedly into the hotel lobby, and 
 laid a heavy hand on the Colonel's shoulder. 
 
 "Yes, dear," the Colonel's sleepy voice muttered, 
 and he sat up, and blinked his eyes in bewilderment 
 as he realized that he was not home in his library, 
 being aroused by Arabella. His fine old face flushed, 
 and he hastened to get to his feet, and take the 
 pudgy, reluctant hand of William Burmah Jones. 
 The roar of street-cars abruptly assailing the 
 Colonel's ears, the clatter of hotel conversation, told 
 him that, as far as he was concerned, Chattanooga 
 was millions of miles away. 
 
 "I thought — I thought — I was home again," he 
 apologized, lamely, and Burmah's anger was sup- 
 planted by something as near to pity as he ever 
 approached. "And — and I've been waiting for you, 
 my friend, because, somehow, I seem sort of help- 
 less in my plans. I forgot, Sir, to ask you yester- 
 day how you would advise me to go about getting the 
 money from that Squaw Point. It is inexperience, 
 Sir, that makes me so slow and deliberate. I'm a 
 tiger for work. A regular demon for accomplish- 
 ing. Show a Hatch the way, and he'll rip the stars 
 down to plant them in his flower-beds. As General 
 Robert E. Lee once said to me, Sir: *There are none 
 of your family that are not ' " 
 
 "Did you get that deed from the local recorder's 
 office, and send it up to the other county seat?" 
 asked Burmah, frowning at him. 
 
 "I forgot all about that important necessity," the 
 Colonel confessed. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 39 
 
 "Well, I guess you ought to do that," Burmah 
 said, grimly. "S'pose that real-estate man was 
 crooked, like some of 'em are, and sold Squaw Point 
 to some other feller, and the other feller beat you 
 to the recorder's office? Huh? What d'you think 
 would happen to you then?" 
 
 "Why, bless my soul!" said the Colonel, em- 
 phatically. "I never thought of that ! — no, Sir, not 
 once." 
 
 He was in a momentary panic at the suggested 
 danger. 
 
 "Boy, get me a cab — quick!" he shouted at a 
 passing bell-boy, so loudly that every man in the 
 rotunda turned and looked at him, wondering 
 whether he had missed a train, or a murder. He 
 fairly danced up and down in impatience as he 
 admonished the boy to haste. If he had been order- 
 ing an aeroplane in order to escape from an earth- 
 quake, he could have been no more earnest or ex- 
 cited. His coat-tails flapped vigorously, he gestic- 
 ulated with his long arms until his celluloid cuffs 
 rattled like castanets, and his big slouch hat worked 
 forward over his brow until it threatened to blind- 
 fold him. Burmah, impertubable, with a freshly 
 lighted cigar projecting from the wrinkle in the 
 corner of his straight-cut mouth, watched him, not 
 without a suspicion of a smile in his eyes. 
 
 "Calm yourself. Colonel," he admonished — and 
 he pronounced it as "cam." "Just calm yourself. 
 You ain't goin' to save time by takin' the roof off 
 this hospitable inn." 
 
 He led the excited financier out to the curb, saw 
 him into the cab, and instructed him to ask the 
 
40 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 county recorder where the deed should be sent for 
 its second record. Then he waved his hand airily, 
 and said: 
 
 "See you to-morrow. Busy to-night. Don't 
 worry. Don't let the recorder pick your pockets, 
 and be sure not to blow the gas out when you go 
 to bed. So long, old hoss !" 
 
 The Colonel was too excited to be indignant 
 over this familiarity. He did not appreciate the 
 struggle of emotions that still possessed the soul 
 of his new-found friend, Burmah Jones. And Bur- 
 mah, waddling down the street, was expostulating 
 with himself, and forever coming back to the same 
 point : 
 
 "I'm an old crook, and I need money; but I just 
 can't take it away from that old cuss ! He'll be the 
 ruination of me yet! I feel it in my bones!" 
 
 It may have been the "feeling in his bones" that 
 led him to return to the hotel, and to walk back- 
 ward and forward in his room for a long time; that 
 sent him down to the wharves, where he studied the 
 shipping with the eye of an amateur ; and that, later 
 in the evening, caused him to sit in the well-padded 
 alcove of a St. James Street resort, looking as 
 morose as a fat man can look. He sat where he 
 could let his sharp, intelligent eyes wander vacantly 
 over the crowd that came in, imbibed, and passed 
 out, or paused to loiter in front of the garish bar, 
 and stare at the ornate cut glass. One man interested 
 him more than any of the others. This was a 
 melancholy-appearing young gentleman of an in- 
 definite age, whose hair, worn very straight and very 
 long, was prematurely streaked with gray, a man 
 
THE BOOMERS. 41 
 
 who had the eyes of a dissipated poet, and the 
 finest of features, and wore, despite the warmth of 
 the evening, a mantle that might have done service 
 in the Quartier Latin in Paris, as a cape for a 
 Roumanian guardsman, or a dress-coat for a 
 Miinchen professor of letters. This man was the 
 picture of complete dejection, as he stood at the 
 end of the bar, nodding to acquaintances, accepting 
 every proffered drink, and purchasing nothing. Be- 
 tween whiles, with long, white, slender fingers, he 
 drew geometrical designs on the bar from the over- 
 flow of numerous glasses of beer. To this forlorn 
 individual, entered another man, sturdy, sun-tanned, 
 wearing the regulation white, dented Western hat, 
 and carrying a suit-case. At sight of each other, 
 they rushed to a hand-clasp and much greeting. 
 They sat in the little stall immediately behind Bur- 
 mah, and he could hear their conversation. 
 
 "Well, Fred, you are still here, eh? I heard 
 you were in Seattle," said the sturdy man. It was 
 easy to identify him by the vigor of his voice. 
 
 "Yes. But where did you come from, and where 
 do you go?" 
 
 "From Juneau, and going to South Dakota." 
 
 There was a moment's silence, as if each were 
 looking at the other, or thinking, and then the 
 sturdy voice burst out, impetuously : 
 
 *'Fred, I want you to come with me. I can give 
 you work. You're too good an engineer, too good 
 an all-round man, to throw yourself away on fool 
 ideas. That year in Paris ruined you. You're out 
 for this art-for-art-sake's stuff. It won't do! It's 
 rot! You want to build the 'City Beautiful.' 
 
42 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Pshaw ! Leave that for the ladies who write for the 
 ladies' journals. You want to do the up-lift stunt 
 in architecture. That's all bunk! You tried to 
 lecture on it, and went bust. You came out to the 
 Pacific Coast to try your hand at it, and what's the 
 West done for you? Listened to you, laughed at 
 you, and made a plain drunkard out of you ! Isn't 
 that so? We went over the Boston Tech. hurdles 
 together, and I know you. Cut it out. Now, 
 listen!" 
 
 There was some mumbled response that sounded 
 to Burmah like a protest; but the stronger man's 
 voice drowned opposition. 
 
 "I've got a job. Don't know how long it will 
 last. It's doing surveys for the A. and C. Railway. 
 It may be a bluff, and it may be steady work. I 
 want you to come with me, cut out the booze; and 
 I'll give you a boost with the chief. Will you come? 
 I leave in half an hour." 
 
 "No, I won't come." 
 
 The reply was petulant in its positiveness, and the 
 conversation drifted into personal channels that no 
 longer interested William Burmah Jones, who had 
 suddenly shoved his hat to the back of his head, 
 leaned his elbows and arms on the marble-topped 
 table in front of him, and begun drumming upon it 
 with his fat fingers, which somehow betrayed a cer- 
 tain decisiveness of character, as if fatness did not 
 extend to the soul of their owner. What he had 
 heard was galloping through his head, and, shrewd- 
 ly, he was drawing conclusions, and formulating 
 plans; nor would he have acknowledged to himself 
 that there was anything of philanthropy, of kind- 
 
THE BOOMERS. 43 
 
 ness, or of sentiment in the scheme that was un- 
 folding itself, leaf bj leaf, as an open book, thrown 
 carelessly on a table, adjusts itself. He reached a 
 finger over to the push-button in the upholstered 
 wall beside him, and pressed it. Then, the finger 
 slipped back into his vest-pocket, fumbled therein, 
 produced a five-dollar bill, and wadded it before the 
 waiter appeared. Jones' face masked itself into that 
 of a merely jolly, careless, prosperous fat man. 
 
 "Bring me a plain seltzer water," he said; and 
 then, as the waiter started to hurry away: "But 
 hold on a minute." He leaned closer, smiled, and 
 whispered: "What's the name of that long-haired 
 architect — engineer chap, that I see around .f* I 
 think he's in the next stall behind me here." 
 
 The waiter craned his neck back, and looked 
 around into the other compartment. 
 
 "I don't know," he whispered hoarsely, and then 
 eyed the bill that Burmah had suddenly opened and 
 was smoothing out on the table-top. He looked 
 suggestively at the speculator, and was not disap- 
 pointed. 
 
 "Too bad !" declared Burmah, in an almost tearful 
 whisper. "Too bad! I was going to give you this 
 if you knew." 
 
 "You were, eh? Well, say, Boss, for that I'd 
 choke him till his tongue stuck out, and he told me 
 in his delirium," asserted the waiter. "Leave it to 
 me!" 
 
 He hastened away to get the seltzer. He whis- 
 pered to the nearest bar-tender, who sauntered care- 
 lessly down to the end of the bar, and stared. The 
 bar-tender whispered to the next bar-tender, and he 
 
44 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 in turn stared, and then bent far across the polished 
 wood to whisper to another lounger, who carelessly 
 traversed the length of the room, halted in front of 
 the compartment, said, "Hello Fred," and went 
 back to convey the information. 
 
 "His name's Fred Hubbard," whispered the 
 waiter into Burmah's ear. "He's a queer guy. Got a 
 crack in his punkin.' Wants to make towns look 
 right. Tried it on Seattle, but they didn't fall for 
 his graft." 
 
 "Good ! You win !" said Burmah, shoving the bill 
 toward him. "Pay for this decoction of slough 
 water, and keep the change." 
 
 Even as the waiter hurried away, Jones was pull- 
 ing his stubby legs into shape, and scrambling out 
 from behind the table. He was not in the least 
 affected by modesty. Indeed, audacity seemed to be 
 his forte. He calmly ignored the seltzer he had 
 ordered, got up, and with a pretense of looking at 
 a ticker at the end of the room, walked past the 
 place where the engineers were talking. He started 
 as if surprised, halted at the end of the table, rested 
 his knuckles on it, and said: 
 
 "Excuse me. You are Mister Frederick Hubbard, 
 ain't you? My name's William Burmah Jones. I 
 heard you lecture once on this scheme of makin' 
 towns look good. I've tried to paint some of 'em 
 myself; but they never stood for it. But I liked 
 your idea. I've always wanted to have a talk with 
 you, my boy. Might be you and me could do some 
 business." 
 
 Burmah stared steadily at Hubbard, who, gratified 
 by even so sinall a recognition, stood up to shake 
 
THE BOOMERS. 45 
 
 hands. He would have introduced Burmah to the 
 engineer; but the latter, discovering a necessity for 
 haste, brusquely passed it over, and, after once 
 more urging his friend to drop the idea of cities 
 beautiful, gave an address, which Hubbard wrote 
 down, and Jones memorized, then made his de- 
 parture. Jones took the vacant seat, and ordered 
 some more seltzer water for himself, and something 
 stronger for Hubbard, and tactfully led the poet- 
 artist-engineer on to discourse of his ideals. An 
 attentive listener was Burmah Jones; but his eyes 
 were either appraising, or meditative, as he sat there 
 beside the table, chewing, everlastingly chewing, or 
 rolling his cigar. Sometimes he studied the face 
 across from him, a face fired with enthusiasm as its 
 owner talked. Here and there fell a word of flat- 
 tery, so subtle as to be almost a caress, and then, 
 suddenly, the masterful man leaped out from be- 
 hind the fat, as his appraisement was complete. 
 
 "The trouble with you, Hubbard, is that you're 
 a boozer ! You drink too much." 
 
 Purposely he had fired this shot of antagonism, 
 and he watched the other man straighten himself to 
 a semblance of dignity; but Jones gave him no time 
 to protest. 
 
 "Don't try to tell me you ain't !" he snapped. "I 
 know. I can read the signs as if they were cross- 
 ing boards for a railway, which said, 'Look out for 
 the engine.' I've got a job of surveyin' — nothin' 
 else for you, maybe! Understand that? Maybe! 
 If you make good, and things go right, you might 
 get a chance to show us some of this *City Beautiful' 
 
46 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 rot. But you'll have to do the work for small pay, 
 and cut this stuff out !" 
 
 He seized the unemptied glass in front of Hubbard 
 as he spoke, turned, and dumped its contents on the 
 floor beside him. 
 
 "You're hired!" he declared. "No more of this 
 till you're through with me. I'm the boss. You 
 come to the hotel Wickard to-morrow morning at 
 eight o'clock — not a minute later — and ask for 
 William Burmah Jones. Got a transit or a theo- 
 dolite? If you haven't, rent one. Now, go home 
 and sober up." 
 
 With which brutal order, he got up and walked 
 out before the astonished Frederick Hubbard could 
 recover. 
 
 In just ten minutes, Burmah was battering on the 
 door of Colonel Alonzo Hatch's room, where the 
 Colonel, well dined, was comfortably reclining in 
 an easy chair. Burmah did not wait for a summons 
 to enter, but burst in as if he had been fired from a 
 torpedo tube. He was a man of merriment now, 
 a boy breaking into a comrade's apartment. 
 
 "Colonel," he shouted, "I've something for you! 
 Good news. You're to start a town. You're to 
 hustle. You're to make a wad of money. Me and 
 you'll smash 'em hard." 
 
 "I always insisted," began the Colonel, in a jubi- 
 lant, self-satisfied voice, "that any gentleman, did 
 he " 
 
 "And you're right !" Interrupted Burmah. "Well, 
 take it for as good as done. "Now, see here, 
 Colonel, I've taken a real, sure-enough interest iri 
 
"I've hired a man who will make Squaw Point the most beau- 
 tiful city in the world." 
 
THE BOOMERS. 47 
 
 you. I've done you a favor without askin' you 
 anything about it." 
 
 The Colonel did not hesitate to thank his bene- 
 factor, not only in his own behalf, but in the name 
 of Arabella. 
 
 "Colonel," said Burmah, buttonholing the head 
 of the Hatch family, and lowering his voice to a 
 most impressive tone, "I've hired a man for you 
 who will make Squaw Point the most beautiful city 
 in Washington, in the West, in the United States of 
 America, in the world." 
 
 His voice rose to a triumphant note, and the 
 Colonel's eyes opened, and his hands trembled. Per- 
 haps it was with a perfervid desire to escape the 
 hands of Burmah Jones, which had seized him by 
 the coat-lapel and strenuously jerked as each com- 
 parison was voiced. 
 
 "I've hired that genius of landscape-gardening, 
 Frederick Hubbard, to lay out a modern and glorious 
 city on your land," Burmah said, impressively, and 
 stood back and stuck his thumbs into their habitual 
 resting place to gloat over his achievement. 
 
 The Colonel had never heard of Frederick Hub- 
 bard, but mentally decided he must be "some shakes." 
 The very attitude of his intimate friend and coun- 
 sellor, William Burmah Jones, indicated as much. 
 Far be it from him, the head of the Hatch family, 
 to be laggard in recompense. No one could be more 
 magnanimous than a Hatch. 
 
 "Then," said the Colonel, oracularly, and assum- 
 ing the pose that had been his favorite when ad- 
 dressing his fellow citizens in Chattanooga on festal 
 
48 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 occasions, "I shall deem it an honor, Sir, if you will 
 permit me the gratification of insisting that for your 
 enterprise you shall share in the pecuniary rewards. 
 Frederick Hubbard, Sir, is a man to be esteemed. 
 He is all that makes for good Americanism. He is 
 one of our most worthy citizens. Yes, Sir ! One of 
 the great men of the day." He paused, and seemed 
 to be thinking for an instant. "By the way, who 
 in the deuce is this man, Hubbard?" he asked. "I 
 can't just remember what he has done." 
 
 "Done? Done? Why, Colonel, he is the author 
 of the 'City Beautiful.' The renowned lecturer ! He's 
 a cheese! He's a riprinosticum snooter, he is. 
 Now, about the rewards, what I might suggest is 
 this, Colonel; not that I want money so much, but 
 that it's only fair, and business is business. We'll 
 get this man to lay out a 'City Beautiful' up there. 
 You will give me some of the lots on the main street, 
 just a few. You get the profits from the rest. 
 We'll sell 'em off, so as to start a town. Not that 
 I would part with any of this valuable property, 
 but we must be liberal. Colonel Hatch. We must 
 let others share our prosperity. There is another 
 reason for disposin' of some of it, and that is so's 
 you won't be lonesome up there, all alone. Of 
 course. Colonel, I don't speak so much of you as 
 I do of your dear daughter, Miss Arabella. She 
 shall look at it and feel at home, knowin' that it 
 has been started by her father. Are you on. Colonel? 
 Do you get me? I get some of the lots. I handle 
 it for your benefit. The lots will perhaps pay my 
 expenses, but that don't matter-. Colonel, you are 
 
THE BOOMERS. 49 
 
 launched on the road to fortune. To-morrow, at 
 ten-thirty, the boat sails, and we will meet on the 
 wharf!" 
 
 The Colonel had no time to think. He was swept 
 off his feet by this whirlwind. He glowed in his 
 endeavor to thank Burmah Jones for his kindness, 
 and began to think of a speech; but, before it could 
 vent itself, Burmah had slapped him on the back 
 and rushed for the elevator. His last injunction, 
 not to miss the boat, was wafted up from [the 
 elevator shaft like something left behind. 
 
 "Fortune! Fortune! Kindly maid, I thank thee!" 
 said the Colonel, poetically, after he had returned 
 to his room. 
 
 "If things will only go my way," ruminated Mr. 
 Jones, ploughing along the street, "a spring lamb 
 in April won't be half as cold as some of these 
 Seattle boys when I get through shearin' 'em on this 
 deal. I'll put overcoats at a premium to shed off 
 chills whenever they hear the name of William Bur- 
 mah Jones!" 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AND CONSCIENCE INVOLVES HIM. 
 
 The Colonel was like one in his second youth 
 when, on the following morning, the party sailed 
 outward on the sound steamer. He hummed snatches 
 of song; he expatiated in rounded, grandiloquent 
 periods on the beauty of the scenery, the day and 
 the excellence of the boat. He was flooded by the sun- 
 light of accomplishment. Hubbard, somewhat shaky, 
 decidedly threadbare, and chafing at the restraint of 
 that inexorable monster, Burmah Jones, watched 
 him with astonishment. Burmah, cynical, thought- 
 ful and keen, saw to two things: that Hubbard 
 kept dry, and that the Colonel kept enthused. Ap- 
 parently these were his only tasks; but, iii truth, 
 he was spinning mental webs to be thrown out on 
 the winds, at a later time, in which fools might en- 
 mesh themselves. He was calculating what could 
 be done with the tools at hand and such money as 
 he cared to expend on his scheme. He was no longer 
 trammeled by introspection. All the yesterdays were 
 gone — only the to-morrows were filled with fear. 
 
 "The old Colonel's a good advertisement in him- 
 self," he thought, "and I'll make this chump en- 
 gineer, or gardener, or whatever he thinks he is, 
 more famous than he's ever been in his life. If 
 I can skin enough out of it on the first leap then 
 it's me to get away before the sun shines on this 
 soap-bubble, and bursts her wide open." 
 
 But all these meticulous projects did not in the 
 
 60 
 
THE BOOMERS. 51 
 
 least show themselves on his face. Outwardly, he 
 was merely good-humored. There was nothing to 
 indicate either his extraordinary energy, his un- 
 ending persistence, or his pugnacious temperament. 
 
 The steamer swung her nose cautiously into the 
 bay, where the two fishermen stared upward in posi- 
 tive amazement, so long had it been since any one 
 paused at Squaw Point. The captain on the end 
 of the bridge cupped his hands, and vented a shout 
 that simulated the siren of his craft more than 
 anything human. 
 
 "Hey! You men! Can't you come over here, 
 and land three passengers for me?" 
 
 "Tell 'em there's a dollar in it for them," Bur- 
 mah called up, whereupon the captain made the 
 proffer, and whatever spell of lethargy held the 
 fishermen was dissipated as they fell to their oars. 
 They came alongside; the three visitors to Squaw 
 Point clambered out over the strake and into the 
 bow of the boat; Burmah Jones called, "Be sure to 
 pick us up on the return trip to-night," and the 
 steamer's bells clanged, and she moved away. 
 
 Washington crossing the Delaware was not half 
 so excited as Colonel Hatch crossing to Squaw Point. 
 He stood up in the boat, with his feet surrounded by 
 fish, the wind moving his white locks, and rapture 
 on his kindly old face. 
 
 "Gentlemen, there she is!" he exclaimed, exuber- 
 antly. "The fairest spot in all the North-west. The 
 garden of the sovereign State of Washington. The 
 rose on the palpitating breast of the queen of moun- 
 tains." 
 
 One of the rowers, afflicted with a sense of humor, 
 
52 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 missed a stroke, the boat lurched, and the Colonel 
 sat suddenly down, on and amidst the fish. They 
 flapped vigorously with what life was left in them, 
 and the Colonel, disgusted not so much at the acci- 
 dent as by the abrupt termination of what had 
 promised to be a highly poetic speech, recovered 
 himself, and sat meekly on a board across the 
 thwarts. 
 
 "Pshaw!" he said, proceeding to wipe his coat- 
 tails with his handkerchief. "Wasn't that right 
 aggravating !" 
 
 And then, his transports of oratory abated, and 
 suddenly appreciating the ridiculousness of his 
 finale, he, too, laughed. Through it all, Hubbard 
 sat staring ahead at the splendid bay, the noble 
 hills and the towering background, seeing dream 
 castles springing upward for his first "City Beau- 
 tiful," visualizing with clarity the pictures in his 
 mind. The rowers gawped at the transit that lay 
 across his knees, and mumbled to each other. 
 
 "Maybe they're timber-cruisers, eh. Flay?" one 
 asked; and the other said, "They mout be." 
 
 The boat landed on the beach, and Burmah's keen 
 eyes picked out the young man they had seen in the 
 canoe on the preceding trip. The man stood in 
 front of his tent, comfortably smoking a well- 
 seasoned pipe, but evinced no curiosity. 
 
 "Who is that fellow?" demanded Burmah of one 
 of the fishermen. 
 
 "Him? Name's Lester. Yank from down Bost- 
 ing way. Out for a rest and his health, he says. 
 Fishes and hunts all the time, when he ain't just 
 plain loafing." 
 
THE BOOMERS. 53 
 
 Burmah continued to stare for a moment, then 
 turned to the engineer. 
 
 "Want these fellers to help?" 
 
 ''Yes, we shall need a flagman or two." 
 
 "Pull the boat up on the beach," Burmah ordered 
 the two fishermen, who stood, pictures of dilapidation 
 and shiftlessness, waiting for their dollar or instruc- 
 tions. "We want you two fellers to help make a sur- 
 vey. You'll get paid better than fishin'. Get a move 
 on you." 
 
 He turned and looked at the Colonel, who, with 
 arms folded, and head thrown back, was giving him- 
 self over to a vast admiration of his property. 
 
 "Colonel," Burmah said, "if we're goin' to get 
 through in time to take the steamer back, we've all 
 got to help. I suppose we'd best go right up to the 
 top first, eh.?" 
 
 "I was just about to suggest that," the Colonel 
 agreed. 
 
 "Now, Hubbard, show us what you can do," Bur- 
 mah said to the engineer briskly. "Everybody's at 
 your service, ain't they. Colonel.?" 
 
 "You fairly took the words out of my mouth," 
 said the Colonel, still convinced that he was adroitly 
 and personally managing the whole enterprise. 
 
 Burmah pulled a roll of paper from his pocket, 
 unfolded some strips of cloth, and said: 
 
 "Here, you two men ! Go and cut some long poles. 
 That's right, ain't it. Colonel.? Flags for survey, 
 eh?" 
 
 "Yes, Sir. Please, go and cut the poles, gentle- 
 men. And, by the way, what might your names be?" 
 
 "Skaggs is mine, but my partner calls me Hank," 
 
54 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 said the first one. "His name's Flavius Josephus 
 Banks — Flaj for short." 
 
 The Colonel shook hands with due decorum, and 
 insisted on introducing his companions, despite the 
 fact that Burmah was dancing around restlessly, as 
 if eager to have this "City Beautiful" started, and fin- 
 ished. Hank and Flavius Josephus led the way up 
 a path that rambled in and out in a steep ascent 
 through the glories of the undergrowth, where wild 
 flowers cropped up between the rocks, vines in blos- 
 som sprang pell-mell over miniature precipices, and 
 young trees started from stumps of ancient cuttings. 
 Here and there, where trees had been too gnarled, 
 or too small, to be available for lumbering, whole 
 groups of them stood as if watching the advent of 
 the adventurers. Hubbard, thinking of his great 
 artistic venture, but not quite confident as to what 
 Burmah Jones intended to do, forgot his thirst, and 
 his eyes glowed with the enthusiasm of the zealot. 
 Here it was, at hand, the place to build the most 
 exquisite little city in the West. At the top, he saw, 
 spread before him, a plateau, almost level, narrow- 
 ing at the distant end to the precipitous cliff against 
 which the languid waves of the sound throbbed and 
 sang. Behind him came the steep ascent, in terraces, 
 up which he had climbed, and far back, step by step, 
 the rise of hills leading up to the crowning moun- 
 tains, which seemed to have established themselves 
 to shelter this long, beautiful peninsula. 
 
 "Now, what we want laid out first," declared Bur- 
 mah, wasting no time, "is the main business street. 
 "Isn't that right, Colonel?" 
 
 **It is," solemnly assented the Colonel, feeling for 
 
THE BOOMERS. 55 
 
 all the world like Christopher Columbus taking pos- 
 session of a new land. 
 
 "But, gentlemen," expostulated the engineer, still 
 intent on making the future city of Squaw Point 
 a model for the world to view with pleasurable envy, 
 "I must have time to consider the land, the topog- 
 raphy, the forthcoming necessities of commerce." 
 
 Burmah opened his lips to consign the forthcom- 
 ing necessities and all such rubbish to the discards; 
 but held his peace when he perceived the Colonel's 
 face. The old veteran was in an ecstasy of enthu- 
 siasm. The word, "commerce," had struck a respon- 
 sive chord, like the echo of his shibboleth. To ele- 
 vate commercial pursuits that he might prove his 
 gentlemanly qualifications, what but that was his 
 mission?" 
 
 "Mister Hubbard, Sir," he said in his most 
 grandiose manner, "I thank you for so directly sug- 
 gesting my own thoughts. I heartily agree with you. 
 Let us spare no pains, or loving care, to make this 
 God's city! Let it be an honor, Sir, to all of us. 
 My daughter. Miss Arabella, would express the same 
 high sentiment were she here to share with us this 
 blissful moment — the moment when we are about to 
 plan something of which we may all be proud. Take 
 all the time you wish. Sir." 
 
 "But, Colonel, the steamer! We won't catch it 
 back to Seattle if we put in too much time here," pro- 
 tested Burmah, removing his hat, and, in his agita- 
 tion, using the sacred blue-bordered handkerchief to 
 wipe his moist brow. 
 
 "To hades with the steamer!" said the Colonel, 
 magnificently. "What is the catching of a steam- 
 
«6 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 boat, Sir compared with such an enterprise as this?" 
 It was futile to argue* now that the Colonel was 
 fired with the great idea. In the wake of the Colonel 
 and the artistic engineer, Burmah trudged about over 
 that point of land all the afternoon, his short legs 
 quaking beneath him as the march progressed, and 
 he reduced weight more rapidly than he had ever 
 contemplated when reading anti-fat advertisements. 
 Behind him followed the two fishermen, steadily and 
 placidly chewing tobacco and without any more ex- 
 pression on their faces than cud-chewing sheep. In- 
 deed, they resembled mountain goats more than any- 
 thing else as their whiskers wagged in time to their 
 plodding steps. Patiently too, they carried the poles, 
 never offering to lay them down, but intent only on 
 earning their daily wages from this unexpected wind- 
 fall. They might even have repeated the words of 
 the cannibal chief who had reverted from his conver- 
 sion, and said, at sight of a fat man : 
 "See, Brother, what God has sent us ?^^ 
 And so it came to pass that when the steamer 
 called in, that night, Burmah Jones was the only one 
 to embark, the Colonel having nonchalantly told him 
 to go ahead with his plans for selling off some of 
 the property, and promising to be with him on the 
 following day. As for the Colonel, he had explained 
 to the fishermen that he would accept their hospital- 
 ity for himself and Hubbard. They protested that 
 they had no place to keep guests, but the Colonel 
 assured them what was good enough for them would 
 serve him. They explained that their fare was 
 meager; but the Colonel airily dismissed this objec- 
 tion with the statement that the scenery in itself 
 
THE BOOMERS. 57 
 
 was a feast. Consequently, despite themselves, 
 Skaggs and Flay found themselves hosts to two 
 dreamers, dreamers who made merry over their din- 
 ner, and sat on a bench in front of the cabin, and 
 smoked, after the moon had arisen. From the tent 
 near by came the sound of whistling; and, later, the 
 Colonel and the engineer were joined by the young 
 man with the steady gray eyes. 
 
 "Mister Lester, Sir, I believe," the Colonel said, 
 getting to his feet. "Permit me. Sir, the honor of in- 
 troducing to you my dear friend, one of the world's 
 greatest artistic engineers. Mister Frederick Hubbell, 
 known everywhere as the father of " 
 
 "Hubbard ! Hubbard, my name is," interposed the 
 author of the "City Beautiful." 
 
 "And my name, Sir, is Hatch, Alonzo Fairfax 
 Hatch," the Colonel went on unblushingly, in his 
 soft, musical drawl; and then, before Lester could 
 seat himself, he had launched into the great scheme 
 of making Squaw Point the most heavenly spot on 
 the globe. The idea was growing with snow-ball 
 rapidity. Already the Colonel saw himself fathering 
 a community of prosperous, delighted souls, dwellers 
 in Utopia. 
 
 Lester had small need to seek health, so far as ap- 
 pearance went; for he stood close upon six feet, was 
 broad-shouldered, deep-chested' and tanned to a 
 healthy brown. He seemed anything but loquacious ; 
 yet, had he been so, he would have found small op- 
 portunity in this outpouring of the Colonel's imagi- 
 nation. He stood where the light through the open 
 door of the cabin shone on him, his fair face 
 expressing keen, though whimsical, enjoyment at 
 
58 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 what the veteran was saying. Hubbard, too, inter- 
 ested him, and with curious eyes he scrutinized the 
 engineer to discover, if possible, what form of mad- 
 ness possessed this man. He seemed most enter- 
 tained by the Colonel's theory that any gentleman 
 could make money from commerce if the notion seized 
 him, and led him on, by a few adroit questions, until 
 the Colonel had, with child-like simplicity, confided 
 the history of his entire past life. Lester did not 
 permit himself to laugh until he had bade them 
 good-night and found the seclusion of his tent. Then 
 he gave himself over to mirth. 
 
 As for the Colonel, he was deeply touched when 
 the fishermen insisted that their bunks should be 
 given over to the guests, while they themselves slept 
 on the floor with one blanket under, and one over 
 them, and their boots for pillows. But they were not 
 to go unrewarded. On the evening following, mel- 
 lowed by his day's work and the growing projects, 
 the Colonel quite magnanimously presented them 
 with the land on which their cabin stood. 
 
 And thus was made the first transfer of a part of 
 that property from which the Colonel proposed to 
 amass a fortune, a fine strip of what, if Squaw Point 
 should ever become a city, would be the choicest bit 
 of the water-front. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE DREAMEE's DAUGHTER FAIR JOURNEYS. 
 
 Down in Chattanooga, Arabella Hatch, daily re- 
 ceiving proposals of marriage from eligible joung 
 men, and attending garden parties and teas under 
 the chaperonage of a distant cousin, was wavering as 
 to whether or not she should accept Kirby Smith, or 
 one of the others. She had no ardent love for Kirby, 
 nor dislike. In a strange indecision she continued 
 until a telegram from the Colonel brushed hesi- 
 tation aside, and threw her into a state of unbounded 
 enthusiasm. Sitting in a hammock, with Kirby in a 
 garden chair at her side — ^he had made his fifth pro- 
 posal of marriage — she saw the messenger boy ap- 
 proaching, and for a moment her heart gave a check 
 of the sort that attacks those who receive few mes- 
 sages by wire other than chronicles of disaster or 
 death. Her hands trembled as they tore the yellow 
 envelope open, and Kirby Smith, clean and graceful, 
 leaned forward and watched her, his face depicting 
 love and sympathy. Then, to his relief, she bounced 
 from the hammock, and executed a very fair imitation 
 of Genee doing a flower-dance. 
 
 "There," she exclaimed, rapturously, "I told you- 
 all it would happen ! It's Daddy ! He's done it !" 
 
 "Done what?" drawled Kirby, rather disappointed 
 that he was not to have the opportunity of acting 
 as comforter. 
 
 "Made his everlasting fortune," jubilantly re- 
 plied Arabella. "Here, read this, if you don't be- 
 lieve it!" 
 
 She handed the pages of the open message to her 
 
 59 
 
60 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 most persistent admirer who took them and scanned 
 them, not without a sly smile of amusement. 
 
 "Dear Arabella," it read. "You will doubtless re- 
 member former statement mine any gentleman could 
 make money if turned attention commercial pur- 
 suits. Bought glorious place for home with nice bay 
 for yacht. Waters most hundred feet deep. Lots 
 timber and Burmah says there's a fortune in it. 
 Burmah thinks saw mill might make good. Beautiful 
 place for house. Am going into railway business 
 indirectly. Wire me when you start. Better buy a 
 linen duster to wear on train because it's dusty this 
 time year. Your old red tam o'shanter cap will be 
 ideal for traveling. Don't ever open window at foot 
 of your berth because your feet will get cold cross- 
 ing mountains. Bring Uncle Jeff and Aunt Sally 
 with you. There are no Jim Crow cars but they have 
 immigrant sleepers. Dad." 
 
 Kirby Smith finished reading the message, and, 
 having just graduated from law school, began to prac- 
 tise his profession by picking flaws in the telegram. 
 
 "Who is Burmah? Is that a code word?" he in- 
 quired, politely. 
 
 Arabella did not know whether it was a code word, 
 a man, or a patent medicine. 
 
 "It doesn't matter about that," she insisted. 
 "What counts is that Dad has made his fortune, and 
 bought a place, and is going to have a yacht, and go 
 into the lumber-business." 
 
 "But what foozles me," replied Kirby, "is how in 
 the deuce he could have done it so quickly. I know 
 they have gold mines out there in Seattle, and all 
 that, but it takes time to mine gold." 
 
THE BOOMERS. 61 
 
 "Rubbish! Leave it to Dad!" retorted Arabella, 
 with an airj snap of her fingers. "Anyhow, I shall 
 do as he says, and go West at once. But, just now, 
 I am going over to the tennis courts." 
 
 "Me, too!" cheerfully asserted Kirby. 
 
 And, on the way to the courts of the club to which 
 they belonged, he decided that the quick fortune must 
 have been made from speculation. There was a 
 rush to meet the two when they appeared at the court, 
 where three airily clad young men were industriously 
 swinging their rackets. 
 
 "There they are, hang 'em!" grimly remarked 
 Kirby Smith, his expression indicating supreme con- 
 tempt for three of his classmates, who, also, had 
 just taken their degrees in law. But neither William 
 Reynolds, known as "Little Billy," because he was 
 a young giant, Harry Pickett, known as "Pick," 
 nor Thomas Travers, known as "Tommy," appeared 
 to mind anything save the presence of Arabella, 
 who greeted them impartially. 
 
 "Gather round me, my children," she commanded, 
 as if it were possible to gather any closer than they 
 already were, "and I will break the news. Dad's made 
 a fortune, and is going to have a yacht, and a saw-mill, 
 and I'm going West to grow up with the country !" 
 
 The message passed round, and all agreed that 
 the Colonel was a wonder. Gloom fell upon the 
 hearts of Arabella's admirers at her announcement 
 that she would depart from Chattanooga in just 
 one week. But Chattanooga rejoiced when next 
 morning's newspaper announced in very glowing 
 terms, rendered somewhat vague through lack of 
 'definite information, the success of Colonel Aloozo 
 
62 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Fairfax Hatch. No one cared how the Colonel had 
 gained riches, and there was none to envy him, or 
 to wish him anything but good luck, for in Chat- 
 tanooga he was a veritable colonel of hearts. The 
 journal found it, also, an excellent opportunity for 
 a "cheer-up" editorial, which concluded thus: 
 
 "There is a lesson to be learned from the career 
 of our distinguished fellow townsman, and that les- 
 son is best given in his own familiar saying, that 
 'any gentleman, regardless of his years, may 
 achieve financial success if he turns his attention 
 to commercial pursuits.' Those are encouraging 
 words, voiced by a brave and gallant gentleman, 
 who practised, and proved, what he so aptly 
 preached. Undaunted by those financial misfor- 
 tunes that so nearly wrecked a fine old house, no 
 longer young in years, and with scarcely anything 
 save a spotlessly clean reputation, he turned his 
 face Westward. That he has so quickly rehabilitated 
 his purse proves that his campaign for wealth must 
 have been as dashing as were his charges in those 
 gloomy days when he fought for that which was to 
 be a lost cause. The discouraging, although fre- 
 quently misquoted, statement of a great scientist, 
 that a man at forty-five years of life has passed 
 the hey-day of accomplishment, or the goal-mark of 
 hope for his declining years, is proven, in the case 
 of Colonel Hatch at least, fallacious. There is no 
 age-limit for men of his character. It is such as he, 
 brave men, clean men, intelligent men, who are the 
 beacon lights of our national life, and fortunate, 
 indeed, is the community that has such an example 
 to save others from the rocks of discouragement." 
 
THE BOOMERS. 68 
 
 Arabella was proud of that editorial. She even 
 cried a little with happiness when, for the third time, 
 she read it. She carefully clipped it out, and pre- 
 served it. Burmah Jones would have kept it less 
 secret; for he would immediately have rushed to a 
 printing office to have it made into a neat and tasty cir- 
 cular. The Colonel would have read it about four 
 times, then blushed, and torn it up, and reluctantly dis- 
 missed the subject had any one mentioned it to him. 
 
 But Chattanooga was not through paying honor 
 to one of its finest old names. A Southern city 
 is not a city in the Northern sense of the word; for 
 the reason that cities of the South regard them- 
 selves as families; not mere collections of individ- 
 ual units bent on devouring one another. So, on 
 the evening preceding her departure, Arabella wa?^ 
 given a parting party such as is given to one 
 of a family stepping out and away- Kirby, Little 
 Billy, and Pick and Tommy, were there, each good- 
 humoredly intent on filling her card with his own 
 name and each, in turn, endeavoring to extract from 
 her a promise of marriage. Moreover, the quartet 
 accompanied her home, and each one fancied himself 
 broken-hearted because she declined the honor of 
 being wife to any young man with whom she had 
 gone to school, although the young man might have 
 family name, and be the prospective inheritor of 
 sufficient means to enable him to idle 'away the 
 remainder of "his natural born days." 
 
 Alone at last, in the home of a friend, where she 
 was to pass the last night of her stay in Chattanooga, 
 The moon slipped its rays softly through the gardens, 
 and from her window she could look out and see the 
 
64 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 towering hill, Lookout Mountain. At its feet the 
 river wound softly, and on its heights the lights of the 
 hotel glowed faintly. She faced the hill, wondering if 
 there were any more majestic height than that in all 
 the world. Up on its brink, she knew, stood the guns 
 that her father had helped to defend back there in 
 the tragic war. Across from it were the grounds 
 where as a girl she had gone picnicking — and now, 
 come to remember it, Billy and Pick, and Tommy and 
 Kirby had nearly always been there on the same 
 occasions. A spell of homesickness came over her, 
 and vaguely she felt rather sorry that the United 
 States was not polyandrous, so that she might marry 
 them all. Presently, her thoughts drifted to her 
 father, and remembering that he had made such a 
 success, her mind leaped exultantly. At length, she 
 slept the restful sleep of the young, and awoke 
 drowsily, wondering if her departure for that far- 
 distant land were not part of a dream. Resolutely 
 she had refused to be sad. 
 
 At the railway station she found Uncle Jeff and 
 Aunt Sally waiting for her, and Uncle Jeff had at- 
 tired himself, as befitted a gentleman of the old 
 school about to become a great traveler, in a silk hat 
 that had once belonged to the Colonel, and a uniform 
 of the Ancient Sons of Africa, resplendent with much 
 braid. Several members of the Order were there to 
 bid him good-by. Arabella rebelled at that gorgeous 
 traveling costume, and, after smothering with 
 laughter, explained to Uncle Jeff that the Order 
 might not be in existence in the far West, and that, 
 for the sake of its preservation' his uniform should be 
 exchanged for a more commonplace garb. Uncle Jeff 
 
THE BOOMERS. 65 
 
 was not in the least abashed by this, and ca«ie closer 
 to her, the sun reflecting on his blue and shiny bald head. 
 
 "Deedy, Ah understands dat, Missy Arabella," hfi 
 whispered, hoarsely, "an' Ah's dun got mah odder 
 clothes whar Ah can git 'em; but ry^ou see. Missy, 
 Ah've been gran' Chief Sagamoah of de Ordah so 
 long, Ah's expectin' a delegation of de brudders down 
 heah to see me off." 
 
 He did not explain that for some days it had 
 been an open secret to him that the Order proposed to 
 make him a suitable gift, or that he cherished expecta- 
 tions that a king's ovation would be as a side show- 
 compared with the "send off" the members would give 
 him. So Arabella went to the other end of the plat- 
 form, and bade farewell to her o^n friends, who gave 
 her floivers and candies, and solicitous advice. The 
 quartet was there, and acted as porters to carry these 
 offerings to her state-room, each of its members 
 exhibiting a calm fortitude and a firm resolve to 
 "tote" the major part of the contributions. 
 
 There came a final clash of noise, and everything 
 else was drowned in the discordant clamor of a very 
 blaring band that marched out upon the platform. 
 Wondering, those within seeing distance stared. The 
 Ancient Sons of Africa had arrived. Every one had 
 to know it. A very proud drum-major led the way, 
 flourishing a magnificent home-made baton. Trom- 
 bones, blown by dusky brothers whose cheeks puffed, 
 and who rolled their eyes sidewise, cracked and 
 spluttered as each man endeavored to add arpeggios 
 to the music; an immense darkey threatened to split 
 the head of an immense base drum; a cornetist who 
 had once played with a minstrel show, and who now 
 
66 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 ,wore a cap with "Director" shining on its braid, 
 nearly killed himself trying to catch a high note on 
 an E-flat cornet. The station rocked with noise. 
 Behind the band came a procession of dusky brothers, 
 in the van of which walked the gift committee, and in 
 front of all, shrouded in an immense dignity, stood 
 Uncle Jeff. 
 
 From the steps of the Pullman coach, Arabella 
 could see that he was being presented with a huge 
 silver-plated water-pitcher, together with what looked 
 like an old hotel tray, burnished for the offering. She 
 also knew; that Uncle Jeff's speech was interrupted 
 by the train-men, who rudely insisted that the train 
 ,was obliged to depart on time. She saw that Uncle 
 Jeff, with Aunt Sally, and the water-pitcher and 
 tray, was being hustled aboard, she heard the band 
 strike up again, her own friends bade her farewell, the 
 bell on the locomotive clanged in with the chorus, the 
 .wheels moved, and her journey had begun its first 
 stage of a progress not unlike the long film-reel of 
 a six-day moving picture. She turned back, some- 
 what tearfully, and bumped into a young man who 
 was struggling to don a linen duster. Something 
 about his back was familiar. He turned toward her, 
 and grinned. Little Billy looked down at her. 
 
 "For heaven's sake! Billy! Where are you: 
 going?" she demanded. "I thought I missed you just 
 before we left." 
 
 "Me?" grinned little Billy. "I'm going to Seattle 
 to practise law. Got to start sometime, you know. 
 Think I fooled the other fellows. Kept mum as a 
 clapperless bell !" 
 
 **5Vell, what in the dev— - !" a voice sounded behind 
 
THE BOOMERS'. 67i 
 
 them; and together they turned to see who had uttered 
 the exclamation. And there stood two other young 
 gentlemen, each attired in a linen duster, and these two 
 were staring at each other. Pick and Tommy! Little 
 Billy's face grew black, and he rushed toward them. 
 
 "Say," he demanded, "where do you fellows think 
 you're going?" 
 
 They turned toward him, frowning, and then, at 
 sight of Arabella, grinned amiably. 
 
 "Seattle !" they declared in unison, and resolutely. 
 J'hey, too, had secretly decided upon Seattle. 
 
 "Well, of all things !" exclaimed Arabella, scarcely 
 knowing whether to be amused or annoyed, while 
 the three rivals eyed one another, and the other 
 passengers in the car, settling their belongings, gaped 
 at them. "Isn't that splendid !" 
 
 The humor of the situation dawned on the trio, and 
 they laughed together, and agreed that it might be 
 worse — each one, however, disappointed that the 
 others were there. 
 
 "Well, anyhow," cheerfully announced Little Billy 
 in his big' bass growl, "we've got rid of Kirby! 
 That's something to be thankful for," 
 
 They turned to escort her to her state-room at the 
 rear of the car when a porter came toward them, 
 talking volubly. 
 
 *'Yas, Sah! De cawnductor don' told me you c'd 
 change to numbah f oah. Heah it am, Sah !" 
 
 The porter swung a suit-case deftly under the 
 seat of section four, and, as he bent over, exposed 
 behind him another young gentleman in a linen duster. 
 
 "Of course, you're going to sneak away from 
 Chattanooga to Seattle to practise law!" a scornful 
 
68 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 chorus of voices declared, as the three others of 
 Arabella's admirers pounced down on him. "Don't 
 tell us jou aren't ! It would hurt our feelings !" 
 
 Kirbj shielded his head and face with his hands 
 as they advanced on him, and backed until he 
 threatened to smash the window. 
 
 "Well, why shouldn't I?" he demanded, savagely. 
 ^'Anybody going to stop me? JVhat are you all 
 doing here?" 
 
 "Going to practise law in Seattle," they chanted, 
 and then, finding a tune that fitted it, repeated it in 
 a sing-song drone of dirge-like quality. 
 
 Arabella escaped to the seclusion of her state-room 
 .where she slammed the door, and sat down and 
 wondered whether she should cry with vexation, or 
 laugh with enjoyment, because she was to have such 
 able protectors for the forthcoming tedious journey. 
 She decided to laugh. 
 
 And, even at that moment. Uncle Jeff, put on the 
 coach forward, which he would be compelled to occupy 
 until later in the evening when he could have his 
 berth in the sleeper, was doffing his regimentals to re- 
 place them with what he fancied would be a suitable 
 costume for the wild and woolly West. He also 
 stared apprehensively at a huge hammerless gun, 
 which he had bought from a dealer in second-ha^d 
 goods, who had guaranteed it not to shoot, but to 
 frighten any one who looked at it, and especially Red 
 Indians. Aunt Sally, in the meantime, was doing 
 the best job of weeping that had been done on that 
 train since it shook the dust of Chattanooga from its 
 wheels. So, in this fashion, Arabella started West- 
 ward. 
 
CHAPTER yi. 
 
 .WHILE THE KNAVE LAYS PLANS. 
 
 BuEMAH Jones, rather pleased by the prospects, 
 and having a free hand, used it. His campaign was 
 simplicitT^ itself. He merely notified the big morning 
 newspaper, on his return from Squaw Point, that he 
 had a story for a good man, met the good man 
 graciously, took him out and fed him on crab flakes 
 and champagne, and then confided to him the great 
 secret. 
 
 "It's not what I intended to tell you, young man," 
 said Burmah, confidentially; "but I just can't help 
 giving you a good story. It may be a disappointment 
 to Seattle, but that part I'm sorry for. This is it !" 
 
 He leaned farther across the table and said : 
 
 "The A. and O. Railway Directors are all friends 
 of mine. I don't want to be quoted in this, but you 
 can be safe in saying that you have the story from 
 what you newspaper mien call a reliable source. 
 The A. and O. has got the financial end of its game 
 straightened out, and it's got all the money it needs. 
 See? Well, it's going ahead, right this minute, with 
 the preliminary surveys, and its line is just about 
 as close to mapped out as is possible for anything 
 to be. And you can't guess where she is goin' to hit 
 tidewater ? Squaw Point ! Look it up in your maps, 
 and you'll find that's an ideal bay for big steamers, 
 and it's fifty-three miles nearer the mouth of Puget 
 Sound. The A. and O.'s a-goin' to make that place up 
 
 69 
 
70 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 there the biggest thing in the way of a hummer town 
 that's ever been started. There's a man more or less 
 connected with 'em up there right at this moment. 
 Now, the reason I don't want you to quote me 
 is that it might cost me some fat commissions, because 
 I've handled real estate for a heap of railroads in 
 my time. 
 
 "And I'm trustin' to your confidence this much, 
 just because I like you, and want you to have a real 
 good story. Ain't that all right?" 
 
 The reporter asked a few shrewd questions, but, 
 influenced by the frankness of Mr. Jones, was half- 
 convinced that the story might be true. If true, it 
 was, indeed, big news. He made a hasty departure, 
 and headed for his city editor's office. That astute 
 and sceptical gentleman repaired to the telegraph- 
 room, consulted with the telegraph-editor, then wired 
 a Fargo newspaper to know if there was anything to 
 corroborate the report. Back came the reply that the 
 Fargo paper would on the following morning print 
 a statement that the A. & O. had again resumed 
 activity, because that very afternoon three distinct 
 surveying parties had begun work. Further, the 
 paper was credibly informed that the road would be 
 rushed forward to become a great Transcontinental 
 line, and that Fargo stood the best chance of becom- 
 ing the division headquarters for the line, which 
 meant that Fargo would be the site for large machine 
 and construction shops. 
 
 In the local room of the great Seattle daily, where 
 news had been dull and leading events scarce in the 
 day's gleanings, Burmah's announcement was hailed 
 with delight. It was "played up," and featured. It 
 
THE BOOMERS. 71 
 
 was used as subject for an editorial headed, "Boost 
 for Seattle !" and, in this, the citizens and the Chamber 
 of Commerce were called upon to exert themselves to 
 see that the terminal on the Pacific Coast should be 
 no other city than Seattle itself. 
 
 The pot of Burmah Jones was bubbling when he 
 sat in his pajamas on the following morning, and 
 with rare delight read the columns devoted to his 
 story. His guile had worked better than he had 
 dared to hope. There faced him his free advertising, 
 in pure reading matter! 
 
 "It's ten chances to one," he said to himself, "that 
 none of the railway Directors will take the trouble 
 to deny it until the rumpus kicked up is a lot bigger 
 than now. And, by the time they get ready to say to 
 Mister Chamber of Commerce, 'We don't know nothin' 
 about any Squaw Point and never heard of it,' Wil- 
 liam Burmah Jones will have his, and be on his merry 
 little way, and the Colonel, unless he's too big a 
 fool, will have got mor'n his five thousand back, and 
 be pattin' himself on the left shoulder-blade because 
 he's learned how easy it is for a gentleman to make 
 money from commercial pursuits ! By Gad, Sir !" 
 
 In the course of the day, Burmah permitted him- 
 self to be interviewed by two evening newspapers, and 
 adroitly intimated that, while he was nothing but 
 an employee, there might be a story coming within 
 a day or two from Squaw Point. His role was now 
 that of an extremely busy and reticent man. He had 
 set the stage for the reporters by taking a suite of 
 rooms at a more pretentious hotel, and, when they 
 interviewed him, they found him dictating letters to 
 a stenographer. Needless to say, he had not ex- 
 
7a THE BOOMERS. 
 
 plained that she was hire^i for just one week, and that 
 the letters he wrote were carefully signed, sealed, 
 and, after the girl's departure, just as carefully 
 destroyed. If all the magnates to whom these letters 
 were addressed in such friendly, confidential terms, 
 had received them, there would have been more sur- 
 prised millionaires in the United States than had 
 ever before been jarred by crank letters. Burmah 
 had shrewdly calculated that his stenographer might 
 be impressed, and do some confidential talking. And 
 his judgment was not at fault, for never before hacl 
 she worked for a man who addressed Rockefeller as, 
 "Dear Old John," Vanderbilt as, "Dear Bill," and 
 Morgan as, "M^ old friend, Pierp !" 
 
 Surely, such a man knew whereof he spoke, and 
 fraternized with the great. 
 
 Eagerly Burmah waited for the Colonel to return ; 
 but the Colonel, carried away by the artistic endeavor 
 and poetic fluency of Hubbard, passed another 
 day on Squaw Point. On the second night, alone 
 in his room, in his shirt-sleeves, with his sparse gray 
 bair ruffled, and collarless, Burmah worked over news- 
 paper advertisements. Veteran campaigner that he 
 was, the seductive, flamboyant copy grew beneath his 
 hands. This was to be the golden opportunity. A 
 dollar invested now, would quadruple itself within 
 three months. It was a certainty that Squaw Point 
 would be the terminus ! It was fifty-three miles nearer 
 the open Pacific than any other available city on 
 Puget Sound, and had the finest harbor facilities in 
 the world. 
 
 "Sheltered from the wind and the waves, it is the 
 ideal retreat for the tired ships of the sea," his copy 
 
THE BOOMERS. 78 
 
 read. "A battle-ship could anchor in its quiet depths, 
 secure from storm and stress, and the leviathans of 
 the Transatlantic trade could dock at its teeming 
 wharves." 
 
 He told of the generosity of the great Transconti- 
 nental line in permitting the public to profit by this 
 real-estate purchase, and so adroitly did he word his 
 matter that the renowned A. and O. itself could find 
 no legitimate reason to put a stop to his use of its 
 name. He reveled in adjectives, and intoxicated him- 
 self with hyperbole, sitting there bent over his huge 
 pieces of writing paper. He chewed the butts of 
 pencils to splinters, and wore out erasers, adjusting 
 his display print. Past master of fake sales, appre- 
 ciating the tremendous power of advertising, he was 
 like an old war-horse scenting the battle at hand. 
 This was to be his supreme effort, this boom that must 
 reach a climax, render profits, and permit him to 
 depart within a few days. A week or two, at the 
 most, he calculated, would be the ultimate limit, and 
 this required quick work, even for a man who had the 
 gift of getting other persons' money for nothing. 
 
 "Everything has got to be put over with a punch," 
 he said to himself, when, tired and anxious, he 
 went to bed. "I'll try to save the Colonel his five 
 thousand; but that long-haired Hubbard guy will 
 have to look out for himself. He don't look as if 
 he'd starve to death, anyhow, so long as there are 
 hen-roosts !" 
 
 He was at the dock to meet the Colonel and the 
 engineer when they returned, and to hurry them 
 to his rooms. Convinced that the time had come 
 when he would have to depend on diplomacy, he 
 
74 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 adopted the role of listener, silent and attentive, 
 when Hubbard, over the dinner, expatiated upon 
 his far-reaching plans, and the Colonel glowed ap- 
 proval. He let the engineer run his course, then 
 dismissed him with the injunction that the plats for 
 the main street of Squaw Point must be finished 
 by the next evening, even if he had to work with- 
 out sleeping or eating in the interim. Hubbard 
 departed, and Burmah found himself alone with 
 the Colonel, who walked up and down the room 
 lauding the beauties of wonderful Squaw Point. 
 
 "Arabella's going to be the happiest girl on 
 earth," he said. "When she sees how successful 
 her father's been, how there's a glorious city spring- 
 ing up, and how everything's all right again, she'll 
 just naturally put her arms round her old Dad's 
 neck, and say, 'I told them you'd do it ! I told them 
 all the time!' Yes, Sir, Mr. Jones, we've got this 
 thing right by the horns ! I've always insisted. Sir, 
 that a gentleman, should he but " 
 
 Burmah Jones, wily but impatient, decided that 
 this was the time to strike. 
 
 "By the way. Colonel," he interrupted, "I believe 
 it's understood that me and you's to share on this 
 first sale, ain't it?" 
 
 The Colonel stopped and looked at him with an 
 aggrieved air, and Burmah feared that he had ad- 
 vanced his demand too abruptly. 
 
 "Share? Share, Sir? I'm a Hatch, Sir. No 
 man ever did a Hatch a favor who was not re- 
 quited. Of course I thought that was all under- 
 stood." 
 
 Plainly, he was wounded by a suggestion that he, 
 
THE BOOMERS. 75 
 
 a Hatch, might forget a friend. Burmah was on 
 his feet, and had the Colonel's hand in an instant. 
 
 "My dear Colonel," he expostulated, "you didn't 
 understand me. Certainly I understood that I was 
 to share in your great success; but what I thought 
 of, was how we were to arrive at the most equitable 
 method of division. Here! Suppose we sell some 
 lots to get people interested in this new and future 
 great city, and that you and I alternately take the 
 proceeds from alternate lots in the first sale. Could 
 anything be fairer than that?" 
 
 "Why, Lord bless me, Sir !" promptly replied the 
 Colonel, with his customary liberality. "I couldn't 
 have thought of anything better than that. In fact. 
 Sir, I was on the very eve of suggesting the plan, 
 myself." 
 
 And Burmah sat down, debating whether it would 
 be necessary for him to have the agreement in 
 writing, and decided that it wouldn't. The thing to 
 do now was to use the Colonel and Hubbard to the 
 utmost as advertising possibilities. Hubbard would 
 prove easy; but the Colonel, he decided, might 
 prove troublesome. A brilliant idea invaded his 
 mind. Why not follow out his tried and approved 
 method of letting the Colonel think he was doing it 
 all, and "turn him loose"? He began by joining 
 that delightful old dreamer in plans for this wonder- 
 ful city-to-be, and then said : 
 
 "Of course, Colonel, neither me nor you are hogs. 
 yVe want other folks to share this with us, don't we?" 
 
 "Of course. Sir! Of course! There is profit 
 enough in this coming metropolis of the North-west 
 
76 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 to enable many a man, Sir, to repair his battered 
 fortunes." 
 
 "Then," said Burmah, thoughtfully, "the quicker 
 they get action on this battered-fortune business, 
 the better it'll be for 'em. I think we ought to do 
 some advertising." 
 
 The Colonel, previous to his trip to Squaw Point, 
 had always regarded advertising with abhorrence; 
 but, while en route to that land of promise, the 
 far-sighted Burmah had surreptitiously slipped into 
 the Colonel's pocket a few copies of booklets issued 
 by advertising agencies, wherein it was plainly told 
 that none but the advertiser could be considered 
 honest, up-to-date, or worth while. And, as the 
 Kansan had hoped, this seed had borne fruit. 
 
 The Colonel now leaned back in his chair, with an 
 air of profound wisdom, and, much to Burmah's 
 enjoyment, quoted, almost word for word, some of 
 the advanced-thought ideas from that stack of 
 literature. 
 
 "The modern highway to success," he said, "is 
 paved with advertisement. The road to failure is 
 lined with wrecks of those who never learned the 
 value of printer's ink." 
 
 "By heck. Colonel," Burmah burst out enthusiasti- 
 cally, "you are a wonder. I never could have 
 thought of that in this world. It's a positive educa- 
 tion to be associated with a man of red-hot business 
 ideas, such as you've got! Will you write some 
 of those thrillers up?" 
 
 The poor old Colonel suddenly wilted over his 
 chair. He had never written an advertisement in his 
 
THE BOOMERS. 77 
 
 life. Hq had seldom read one. Burmah came to his 
 relief. 
 
 "But that's sort of mean for me to let you do all 
 the work, Colonel, while I'm doin' nothin' but sit 
 around and let you get the ideas, furnish the money, 
 and make money for me! I'll try to j?rite those 
 ads." 
 
 ,The Colonel beamed on him. 
 "I beg of you,, Sir, not to feel that way about 
 it," he insisted. "It is true," he continued, modestly, 
 *'that I have devoted considerable time, study and 
 research to modern business methods; but I have 
 had great opportunities. Mister Jones. Providence 
 has been very kind to me and mine. I think, just 
 to let you gain experience, I will let you try to 
 write some of those advertisements. You are a 
 much younger man than I, and should have your 
 chance. I'll give it to you. Yes, Sir, you shall 
 have your chance!" 
 
 "Thank you. Colonel," said the graj^eful Burmah 
 Jones. "Now, about gettin' the folks up there after 
 the ads are out? Did I hear you mention takin' a 
 steamer to carry fellers up there free of expense, 
 and then sellin' the first lots at auction?" 
 
 The Colonel's mouth hung open, and he gasped 
 at the audacity of this campaign. He had never 
 thought or heard of such a bold enterprise; he 
 wondered what it would cost to charter a steamer. 
 But Burmah gave him no time to object. 
 
 "That was a brilliant idea of yours, Colonel," 
 he went on, with fervent heartiness. "You were 
 quite right. All that is necessary to start that 
 beautiful city into active creation, is to show the 
 
78 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 place to the people. The auction sale proves that 
 you are in earnest. It's like handin' 'em money on a 
 silver-plated platter. .They'll jump at the chance! 
 They'll buy lots, and we'll explain to 'em that we 
 want 'em to build on 'em, although of course it would 
 be against the sacred constitution of the United 
 States, guaranteein' liberty to all, to make 'em do 
 it. They'll build fast enough, anyhow. Who 
 could help it? Why, it's goin' to be the swellest 
 town on earth. A man would almost go out and 
 commit murder to get the money to build a house on 
 that magnificent headland. Yes, Siree! That was 
 a great idea of yours, Colonel ! Positively great !" 
 
 "It comes from patient thought, Sir," said the 
 Colonel, modestly. "I've had to think of a great 
 many things in my time; but," he concluded as an 
 afterthought, voicing his great homesickness, "Ara- 
 bella's been a very wise counsellor to me. Sir. She's 
 a wonderful child." 
 
 His mind reverted to Arabella, with her hair wav- 
 ing as she played tennis, or her lissome body, wonder- 
 fully rounded, bending over her saddle as her horse 
 vaulted the old "stake-and-ridered" fences up in the 
 Tennessee hills; the dance of her eyes at some 
 particularly reckless feat accomplished; the laugh, 
 like a wonderful golden bell, when he reproached hei 
 for some girlish prank; the assumed meekness, when 
 he chided her for some' extravagance of expenditure ; 
 the warm and tender kiss on his cheek; the loving 
 strength of her arms around his neck that stifled 
 every attempt at sternness. 
 
 "And another thing, Colonel," the voice of Bur- 
 mah, studiedly careless, interrupted his reverie. "I 
 
THE BOOMERS. . 79 
 
 forgot to tell jou, that somebody has leaked about 
 Squaw Point bein' the prospective terminus for the 
 A. and O. They talked to me some about it, and I 
 told 'em that I couldn't say much, but that you 
 were up there with Hubbard, and that maybe you'd 
 tell 'em what kind of a city you are going to build 
 on that splendid patch of ground. I knew you 
 wouldn't mind. I'll telephone the newspaper man 
 to come up." 
 
 For an instant, the Colonel threatened panic. He 
 looked wildly about the room, as if seeking an excuse 
 to escape; but Burmah had already stepped to the 
 telephone, and called the city editor of the big 
 morning paper. With the receiver in one hand 
 and the other one fatly shutting off the transmitter, 
 he talked to the Colonel while awaiting an answer, 
 talked persistently as if to avoid interference. 
 
 "All you have to do, Colonel, is to be close. Let 
 them do the guessing about the A. and O. Me and 
 you can't betray confidence. So do most of your 
 talkin' about what a wonderful harbor that is, and 
 what a 'City Beautiful' this feller Hubbard is a-goin' 
 to make." 
 
 He turned to the telephone, and explained that 
 Colonel Alonzo Hatch was at the hotel, having re- 
 turned from Squaw Point, and that he thought it 
 might be of interest to their readers to hear what 
 the Colonel had to say. Then he hung up the re- 
 ceiver briskly. 
 
 "They'll have a man here in five minutes," he 
 said. "And, now, Colonel, don't knock the A. and O. 
 Just look mysterious whenever this feller asks you 
 anything about it." 
 
80 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 He sat and rapidly advised the bewildered old 
 veteran, coaching him indirectly for the forthcoming 
 interview, until the reporter arrived, after which he 
 made the introductions, and assumed the air of a 
 mere underling, a respectful and meek employee of 
 a great man, while the Colonel, warming to his own 
 dreams, expatiated on the magnificence of that city 
 which as yet existed only in his and Hubbard's minds. 
 It stretched out into a fairy place, with towers, 
 flower-bordered streets, beauteous parks, prosperous 
 shipping and an orderly community. It was to be 
 a city of good will and brotherly love. It was to 
 have the most modern improvements, and to be the 
 most sanitary place on the globe. There were to be 
 no old men in it, because no one could ever die 
 within its limits. Besides, persons would not wish to 
 die when they were so well acquainted and happy in 
 Squaw Point, heaven having lost its attractions. 
 
 The reporter wondered whether he was in contact 
 with a poet, a madman, or a marvelous realty agent. 
 And, always, when the interviewer referred to the 
 A. & O., the Colonel insisted that he had nothing 
 to say about the future plans of the great Trans- 
 continental line, which more than ever gave the 
 impression that this old man was wise, and knew 
 all about it, yet too acutely cautious and reserved 
 to say anything. His very denial that he knew any- 
 one connected with the A. & O. gave color to the 
 belief that he knew all about it. His very ingenuous- 
 ness and frankness, caused conviction that he was 
 concealing a vast number of cards in his sleeve. 
 
 The interviewer left with many notes, and at the 
 very door was told, incidentally by the Kansan, that 
 
THE BOOMERS. 81 
 
 Mr. Hubbard could be found at such-and-such a 
 place, he thought, but wasn't quite certain. So the 
 reporter hastened to the Hubbard abode, exactly as 
 Burmah Jones had anticipated, to find that young 
 enthusiast working his head off over drawings and 
 plats, and unable to tell anything save that he had 
 been given carte blanche to plan for Squaw Point the 
 most beautiful and model city in existence, the em- 
 bodiment of the Hubbard idea; that his clients ap- 
 peared to have money to burn; that great wharves 
 were proposed ; that the Colonel was a most wonder- 
 ful old gentleman; and that outlay, in this mar- 
 velous enterprise, was to be merely a secondary con- 
 sideration. 
 
 All of which was news — If not entirely convincing. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TO ROB THE TRUSTFUL. 
 
 Two days later, the Colonel walked proudly up 
 and down the beach of Squaw Point, and saw two 
 rough timber-men, assisted by Hank and Flay, the 
 latter looking as dilapidated as ever, hurriedly 
 spiking the last of the poles for a primitive pier. 
 It was a necessity that the Colonel, intent on philo- 
 sophizing over the manner in which gentlemen make 
 money, had overlooked; but Burmah Jones had 
 thought of it. Also, after one brief day in Seattle, 
 Burmah Jones had shipped the Colonel and Hub- 
 bard, together with the two timber-men, some cots, a 
 tent, and a few other accessories, to Squaw Point. 
 
 "Hubbard's all right for just about one day where 
 the anheuser bush grows," he had said to himself, 
 "and the Colonel's going to talk too much if he's 
 where they can get at him. Besides, the old feller 
 might kick if he knew what I'm going to do to this 
 town of Seattle." 
 
 And, doubtless, he spoke the truth ; for within two 
 days Seattle was bill-boarded with glaring lies con- 
 cerning Squaw Point, the newspapers had full ad- 
 vertisements, mysterious interviews were being pub- 
 lished, the Chamber of Commerce was beginning to 
 act, and, through the aid of an old and trusted accom- 
 plice in New York, William Burmah had sent a num- 
 ber of telegrams to the Seattle papers, signed by 
 various men supposed to be directors of banks and 
 other financial institutions. Usually these asked for 
 
 82 
 
THE BOOMERS. 88 
 
 information relative to Squaw Point, and sometimes 
 they explained that it was rumored on the Street 
 that this was to be the terminus of a great Trans- 
 continental railway. Burmah himself was as in- 
 constant and lively in his movements as a certain 
 insect pest that hops. Only, his hop consisted of 
 a lively waddle, albeit his sting was just as sure. 
 
 But, on this morning, the Colonel, in a flutter of 
 excitement, watched the laying of the last pole for 
 a landing-place at Squaw Point, and spoke, between 
 times, to Lester, the calm, humorous-eyed young 
 athlete, who wanted a rest, and seemed to have 
 nothing in the world to do save fish and hunt. 
 
 "Mister Lester, Sir," the Colonel was saying, at 
 the minute the last spike was being driven, "I've 
 given you much of my confidence, as a kindred 
 spirit, and as a much older man speaking to a 
 younger one. It's the easiest matter in the world 
 for a gentleman to achieve financial success. It re- 
 quires nothing more than thought and industry, Sir. 
 The human mind is so constituted that it must spe- 
 cialize. That is the secret, my young friend. Spe- 
 cialize! Look at me, Sir. Before I started out 
 to make my fortune, I specialized. I read, I studied 
 finance. I learned how other masters of finance 
 had conducted themselves. Sir. It is to that prep- 
 aration I owe my success ! 
 
 " 'Lives of great men all remind us, we can make 
 
 our lives sublime, 
 " 'And, departing, leave behind us footprints in 
 
 the sands of time.' " 
 
84 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 He quoted in his mellifluous voice, standing there 
 with one hand on his heart, and his eyes upraised, 
 and at the "Footprints in the sands of time," he 
 opened his graceful fingers, and looked down at the 
 beach, and seemed writing footprints with them, 
 much to Lester's quiet amusement. 
 
 "As soon," said the Colonel, "as my charming 
 daughter. Miss Arabella, arrives with our modest 
 possessions, including my library, I shall take plea- 
 sure. Mister Lester, in lending you some of those 
 masterpieces regarding finance, provided that you 
 are at all thinking of specializing in that line." 
 
 "I should be delighted. Colonel Hatch," drily 
 assented Lester, who, in so far as any one could 
 see, had no idea of ever doing more than such 
 dawdling as the means of a very modest man might 
 permit. "But about this city, Colonel, do I under- 
 stand that to-day is the great day when the ex- 
 cursionists are to come?" 
 
 "To-day is the day," solemnly asserted the Colonel. 
 
 Even as he spoke, they heard, in the distance, the 
 sound of a steamer's whistle, and the subdued puffing 
 of her exhaust. The Colonel was transfixed with 
 excitement, as he strained his eyes looking down the 
 long, broad, placid reach of one of the most beauti- 
 ful spots in the world. Everything seemed waiting 
 — the hills, the forests that projected out to the 
 water's edge in friendly solicitude, the indented 
 banks, the whole glorious panorama, just waiting 
 for this, the actual starting of Squaw Point. A 
 smudge appeared around a long point of land, 
 forest-clad, which concealed the next stretch of the 
 
THE BOOMERS. 85 
 
 sound. The exhaust was plainer now. It steadily 
 increased in volume. Suddenly, around the curving 
 point, a half-mile distant, the bow of a white sound 
 steamer shoved itself, enlarged, and, gay with bunt- 
 ing and flags and signs, headed into the placid bay. 
 A cracked and wheezy brass band suddenly broke it- 
 self into pieces playing, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," 
 and the watchers saw that the boat's decks were 
 black with folk who had taken advantage of this 
 unprecedented opportunity for a free ride and 
 pleasant outing- Standing stodgily on the steamer's 
 bridge beside the captain, was the unmistakable 
 figure of Burmah Jones, this time with his silk hat on 
 the extreme rear of his head. He smoked a full- 
 length cigar, and, as the boat approached, the 
 Colonel observed, with much approval, that Bur- 
 mah had donned a frock-coat for the occasion. The 
 boat came to the extemporized landing, and, as the 
 Colonel rushed down to meet it, he was nearly knocked 
 from his feet by a bundle thrown ashore. The 
 gang-plank did not come out immediately, but two 
 or three men leaped the intervening space, and began 
 receiving other packages and mysterious boxes. 
 These bundles were seized upon and carried away, 
 and the Colonel was informed that this group of 
 men were professional clam-bakers, who had been 
 hired to go up to the top of the hill, and there make 
 a spread. 
 
 "Most amazing!" said the Colonel. "Most 
 amazing, what my friend Jones does think up !" 
 
 But he had small time for reflection, for now the 
 gang-plank was out, and down it poured a laughing, 
 
86 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 elated crowd of excursionists. Burmah Jones from 
 his vantage point watched them speculatively, much 
 as a nice' fat lion might watch a flock of lambs, good- 
 naturedly marking and selecting those he proposed 
 to devour. At length he disembarked, carrying a 
 bundle under his arm. He accepted the Colonel's 
 hand and congratulations. 
 
 "Some of them. Sir, look like representative 
 citizens," crooned the Colonel. 
 
 "And the rest like a bunch of yeggmen," added 
 Burmah. But he failed to state to the Colonel that, 
 for a small stipend, this same bunch of yeggmen, 
 properly trained, were to be the "Boosters" for the 
 bidding, and that he had worked with them over 
 night, teaching them "stop and start" signals. He 
 was a thorough believer in orgiinization. 
 
 "Where's Hubbard?" he demanded, tersely. 
 
 The Colonel's face sobered, and he looked ag- 
 grieved. 
 
 "That young man. Sir, is wasting his time at this 
 moment, making water-color sketches of what this 
 city's to look like; and what's more, he says you 
 told him to." 
 
 Burmah disarmed this resentment with a laugh. 
 
 "Sure I did!" he said, unblushingly. "You see. 
 Colonel, folks like to know how it's possible for 
 things to look. Besides, you see, it might look that 
 way after all, if you just turn your mind to it- You 
 don't suppose old Pullman laid out his town with- 
 out some plans, do you? That great industrial city 
 where they make the fancy cars? Why, I should 
 
THE BOOMERS. 87 
 
 say not! I was sure that's just what you'd want 
 Hubbard to do — make plans!" 
 
 "And so I did," unblushingly assented the Colonel, 
 taking back tracks with agility. "The very minute 
 he told me what he was doing, I let him alone. Of 
 course, we have to have visible suggestions." 
 
 "Then," said Burmah, "I'd better go over to his 
 tent, and see how he's comin' on." 
 
 And he hurried away, leaving the Colonel feeling 
 as lonesome and helpless, for the moment, as it was 
 possible to be. At the tent that had been made 
 "Engineer's Headquarters," Burmah stopped, took 
 off his coat, shouted, "Come out here, Hubbard," and 
 unrolled his bundle. It proved to contain a big 
 cloth banner, which, fifteen minutes later, was 
 stretched on poles beside the tent, where any one 
 could read, in red, "Engineer's Headquarters." 
 
 Burmah spared just one minute to look at the 
 partially completed sketches, told Hubbard not to 
 be so careful, and to "hustle them to a finish," and 
 pattered off up the hillside. Already, under the 
 shade of a clump of fine old trees, the clam-bakers 
 were at work. A huge vat had been planted on 
 stones. Into it had gone a heavy layer of clams, 
 and now on top of this, the chef, in white apron 
 and cap, was placing the white muslin sacks con- 
 taining chickens and sweet potatoes, lobsters and 
 sweet corn, while a man fed the fire beneath. At a 
 little distance away, other adepts were adjusting 
 collapsible tables, and making benches. Another man 
 was sorting cutlery and plates, and still another 
 heaped great loaves of bread on a table, preparatory 
 
88 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 to slicing them. They worked, Burinah noted, with 
 the quick perfection of experience and training, and 
 he approved. The sounds of a hammer called him, 
 and he hurried across to another part of the knoll, 
 where men were making a platform, and he admon- 
 ished them to haste. Two boys with bundles of flags 
 under their arms were going over the surveyed 
 ground, planting a red flag beside each stake, and 
 in the center of each lot a placard bearing a number. 
 Burmah sent one of them hurriedly down the hill to 
 get a plat from Hubbard, and' when the boy re- 
 turned, mounted the half-constructed platform, and 
 tacked up a huge, crude drawing, showing "Main 
 Street." This was so large that it could be seen 
 from many yards' distance. He climbed down from 
 the platform, and ordered that each member of the 
 little band should be given a bottle of claret, and 
 thereby gained the musicians' approval. He stop- 
 ped long enough to cut a staff for a decrepit old 
 gentleman, who was wandering aimlessly around, and 
 won that gentleman's regard. He laughed, joked, 
 told stories, or discussed the weather, with different 
 men he met. He was ubiquitous; he was entertain- 
 ing. He radiated good will, and made friends of 
 every man he met. He would have attempted back and 
 fore somersaults if he had thought, for an instant, 
 that they would have put any one in a good humor. 
 He was the king of blandishments. Sweat streamed 
 from his face, and his coat was on his arm, his collar 
 wilted, a handkerchief thrust into his neckband, and 
 his patent-leather shoes were white with mountain 
 dust. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 89 
 
 He sent a boy for the Colonel, also to Hubbard, 
 with instructions to the latter that, finished or not, 
 the sketch of the proposed city must be brought 
 along. He repaired to a place where his own be- 
 longings had been stacked,, and pulled out long 
 cylindrical rolls, and scanned them while waiting 
 for the cook's announcement. And it was Burmah 
 Jones, indefatigable, who got the chef's signal that 
 the meal was prepared, and then ordered the cor- 
 netist of the band to blow "Assembly" as a bugle 
 call until all the excursionists were seated. He took 
 no time to eat of that savory mess, but bustled 
 around to see that the food was served, and that no 
 man's glass should be left for an instant empty. 
 Claret, the heaviest he had been able to buy, was 
 to flow like water. "Warm 'em up!" might have 
 been his motto. 
 
 And, at just the right moment, he assembled the 
 band in front of the completed auctioneer's plat- 
 form, and it wheezed gaily into that magic tune, 
 "A Hot Time in the Old Town To-night," while he 
 made the Colonel and Hubbard mount the rostrum 
 and take chairs. His speech was a marvel of brevity, 
 for he shrewdly calculated that the effects of that 
 dreadful claret, mixed with hot clams, would wear 
 away in less than an hour. The Colonel gasped 
 when Burmah explained, audaciously, that the At- 
 lantic and Oriental Railway wanted the good will of 
 the people of the Pacific Coast, and knew that such 
 friendliness could not be obtained by "hoggin' it all." 
 That was why this group of representative citizens 
 assembled on this glorious day were to have given 
 
90 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 them the chance of a life-time. He called attention 
 to the sketch made by the "Honorable" Frederick 
 Hubbard, the world-renowned and unequaled ex- 
 ponent of the "City Beautiful," who, at an enormous 
 expense, had been employed to make this the model 
 city of the universe. Mr. Hubbard would now be 
 introduced, and expound his theories of what made 
 a "City Beautiful." 
 
 And Mr. Hubbard, who, after a long drought, had 
 been led to the spring in the desert, ambled to the 
 front of the stage, broke into words at this rare 
 opportunity, and began to expound at the rate of 
 a mile a minute. He was like a moving picture 
 film, and Burmah the man who turned the crank; 
 for, when the latter thought time enough had been 
 used to make an impression, he chopped the film off, 
 and jocosely interrupted. 
 
 The Colonel was introduced. 
 
 "Tell 'em all about Arabella and Lee, and how 
 you want to make this place a credit to Chattanoogy, 
 Colonel," whispered Burmah. 
 
 And the Colonel did! Burmah envied him that 
 rare gift of simultaneously dreaming and vocalizing. 
 He wondered how much the crowd would stand. He 
 saw with delight that this fine, simple old man 
 was a big drawing card, and let him go the limit. 
 
 "Out yonder, gentlemen," the Colonel was saying 
 in his peroration' "will be the city park. Its grassy 
 lawns shall be covered with little children, those 
 flowers of God's garden, ornamenting and decorating 
 its borders. 'Suffer little children to come unto me,* 
 said the Greatest Being that ever lived in human 
 
THE BOOMERS. 91 
 
 form. They shall come to this city of ours ! It shall 
 be a city of homes, where these little ones may grow 
 up under the flag of our country, the most noble 
 flag that waves over the land of a free people. 
 Down below us great ships of the sea shall come 
 in, dock at magnificent wharves, and take on the 
 golden grain that has blossomed and ripened under 
 heaven's kindly winds on the far-flung plains. 
 Loaded with spices and myrrh, and strange per- 
 fumes from the East, they shall enter, bearing their 
 fragrance to a great railway terminus, and, re- 
 loaded with the sweet-smelling grain, they shall de- 
 part hungrily, hoping to come back again and see 
 the headland of Squaw Point rising up like a jewel 
 in the crown of Puget Sound. There will be school- 
 houses, and churches, and places of amusement, and 
 stately dwellings, and paved streets, and electric 
 lights shining through the calm and peaceful nights, 
 where now you stand. Some years ago, gentlemen, 
 I had no dreams of finance." 
 
 He paused impressively, and William Burmah be- 
 hind him fidgeted a trifle, and cocked his ears for- 
 ward. 
 
 "Old cuss is a-goin' too far," he thought. "He's 
 about due for the bell." 
 
 "I found myself and my beautiful daughter. Miss 
 Arabella Hatch, by reverses of fortune, reduced to 
 poverty," the Colonel was going on in a trembling 
 voice that betrayed a great hunger for sympathy, 
 and a proud recountal of successes. I had always 
 insisted that any gentleman, did he but turn his at- 
 tention to commercial pursuits, could make money. 
 
92 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Now I'm asking you to take a chance with me. 1 
 don't know, of course, whether the Atlantic ana 
 Oriental is " 
 
 He halted, for there came a violent jerk of his 
 coat-tail, and, as he looked around to discover the 
 cause, he saw Burmah Jones crowding in front of 
 him. He was indignant, but helpless. He had mapped 
 out in his mind one of those flowery periods such as 
 had won him applause on many public occasions in 
 that far-distant South, and down there nobody ever 
 dared jerk his coat-tails. Bewildered, he subsided, 
 even as Burmah Jones, in his incisive, raucous voice 
 said: 
 
 "Gentlemen, my respected friend, Colonel Hatch, 
 has told you but a part of it; but time is gettin' 
 short, and we will now auction off a few of these lots. 
 I ain't got time to even explain the plans for the 
 new depot, or the round-house, or the first public 
 school, or the library ; but, so's you'll know we mean 
 business, here they are !" 
 
 The Colonel staggered back into his chair- and 
 wiped his face with his handkerchief. He saw that 
 from some unexpected place Burmah Jones had un- 
 rolled a lot of drawings, which he now hastily ex- 
 hibited. Nor did he dream that from the front view 
 they were so magnificent. Why should they not be, 
 inasmuch as they were drawings borrowed from 
 architect's offices under the pretext of examination, 
 drawings that covered everything from competitive 
 designs for a treasury building at Washington, a new 
 wing for the Metropolitan Museum of New York, a 
 study of the Metropolitan Tower, to a residence for 
 
THE BOOMERS. 98 
 
 a newly made millionaire Senator from Montana? 
 The Colonel wondered where Hubbard had got time 
 to draw them, and poor Hubbard, author of the "City 
 Beautiful," sustained equal curiosity. But, after be- 
 ing unrolled and displayed for the briefest time, they 
 were again carefully rolled, and thrust back into the 
 tin case. 
 
 "Can I look at those?" whispered Hubbard to 
 Burmah. 
 
 "No, you can't," snapped Burmah in reply. "Let 
 you see 'em later, maybe," and again he faced his 
 audience. Well he knew that the psychological 
 moment was coming. He seized a pointer' and 
 pointed at Lot number One, on Main Street, called 
 attention to its merits of situation, lifted his hand 
 to his cheek as if some wandering insect had annoyed 
 him, and began. The hand to the cheek was the signal 
 to the boosters, scattered here and there, to start the 
 price good and high. They did. And up on the 
 stand stood that Napoleonic little fat man, watching 
 each bidder, calculating with lightning-like rapidity 
 and absolute accuracy just how high he dared let 
 the bidding go. Sweat streamed from him. First he 
 doffed his coat, then his vest, and last of all slipped 
 his suspenders down. The sweat continued relent- 
 lessly, until the gay silk shirt he wore was wet 
 through, and his cherubic face began to show the 
 strain. He was just selling the lots fronting, "On 
 the magnificent public library which we propose to 
 build here, Gentlemen, where you see it indicated on 
 the map," when Lester, always deliberate, always im- 
 perturbable, arrived on the scene, heard men bidding 
 
94 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 vociferously for the favored spot, and had to retire 
 behind a tree to conceal his laughter. 
 
 "By Jove !" he said, addressing Skaggs, who with 
 hands in pockets, and tired from a day's work under 
 such a strenuous driver as Jones, leaned against the 
 nearest tree, "it looks to me as if I'd missed quite a 
 lot of fun." 
 
 "Fish bitin'?" Hank asked, without shifting his 
 tired frame. 
 
 "Bully!" 
 
 "Wish I'd a-fished instead of takin' this job. 
 Hang that-there little fat feller! He's a regular 
 heller for work, he is." 
 
 "Looks like it," cheerfully grinned Lester, sur- 
 veying the drenched appearance of the auctioneer. 
 "He seemed rather disappointed because I didn't 
 want to do a day's work for him. He offered me 
 two dollars." 
 
 The last lot was being sold, and the bidding had 
 reached a climax in that splendid mob fury which pre- 
 vails where such a sale is a success. Many a man, 
 carried away by that subtle current in the air, was 
 bidding his last dollar. In a perfect frenzy, the 
 lot was sold, and Burmah Jones climbed down, and 
 went to the band, which at intervals had played while 
 men were examining lots. 
 
 "Turn it loose," Burmah said. 
 
 It did, tearing to shreds that fine old anthem, 
 "When a Reuben Comes to Town, He is Sure to be 
 Done Brown." Burmah started to leave, and then, 
 appearing to notice the Colonel for the first time 
 since the sale began, wondered if he had not better 
 
THE BOOMERS. 95 
 
 resort to diplomacy again. The Colonel might get 
 into a dudgeon about something. Quick as a flash, 
 his mind saw the way. He climbed to his perch, and 
 waved his arms up and down at the band, bringing 
 it to a scattering stop, the tuba and the clarionet 
 being the last to yield. 
 
 "Gentlemen! Gentlemen!" shouted Burmah. 
 "Just a moment more, please." 
 
 The crowd, which had begun to shift and move, 
 halted to catch his words. 
 
 "We are all feller citizens now," said Burmah, 
 genially taking them into his confidence and society. 
 "We are goin' to make this a great city. The name 
 of Squaw Point is inappropriate for what is to be 
 the model city of the West. I suggest that we re- 
 name it. I suggest that we name it in honor of 
 that distinguished Southern gentleman who fought 
 through the war with valor, and who discovered this 
 beautiful spot. That peerless leader, who, like the 
 Moses of old, led a bunch of Israelites to New York. 
 Hold on — I mean the promised land. Let us call 
 our city — Port Hatch!" 
 
 He gave a signal to the boosters, who, knowing 
 that something was expected of them, started a wild 
 cheer. Others, not caring a continental what name the 
 embryo town had, joined in. The Colonel was on his 
 feet, prouder than any king being called to a throne, 
 smiling and trying to make himself heard. Burmah 
 Jones with hands cupped to his mouth, was yelling to 
 the leader of the band to play "Dixie," and that 
 gentlemanly and tired Teuton misunderstood, and 
 with his cornet to his lips and his cheeks distended, 
 started, "See the Conquering Hero Comes," while 
 
96 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 behind the tree Lester, the only man besides Jones to 
 see the humor of the situation, doubled over with 
 mirth. 
 
 Burmah stopped the band and the cheering, and 
 the good-humored crowd wondered what was coming 
 next. The Colonel, almost speechless with emotion, 
 and dim-eyed, made them a deep bow. 
 
 "Gentlemen, and fellow citizens," he said, "from 
 the bottom of my heart, I thank you for the high 
 honor you have done us. There has never been a 
 Hatch, my friends, who was not a gentleman. It is 
 a proud name in that far land whence I came, with 
 my loins girded up for the making of this, the great- 
 est endeavor of my life." 
 
 He paused, as if something had clutched his heart. 
 The laugh died on Lester's lips, and he saw that 
 others around him were affected and wondering. 
 Some cadence of the Colonel's voice, some underlying 
 suggestion, not in words, revealed that he was telling 
 the truth, and, also, that this was his great fight. 
 
 "I have a daughter, Men, back down there in what 
 we who fought for it call God's land. She will be 
 proud to know that her old father has been honored 
 by having a new town named after him. And, stand- 
 ing here to thank you all, I give you my word, the 
 unbreakable word of a gentleman and a Hatch, that 
 I shall do all I can to make this town an honor to my 
 family name !" 
 
 He sat down, and this time the band-master, exer- 
 cising his own judgment, broke into the Marseillaise. 
 To the Colonel, it was like a trumpet blaring the be- 
 ginning of a battle. Proud, happy, homesick and 
 
THE BOOMERS. 97 
 
 lonesome, he got up to follow the crowd toward the 
 landing, and, as he did so, said: 
 
 **Lord! I wish Arabella could have been here!" 
 
 But Burmah Jones was scowling and frowning, and 
 chewing a cigar again, that sign of mental unrest. 
 He nearly forgot to instruct the Colonel and Hub- 
 bard what to do, until he saw them on the wharf. 
 
 "Hubbard," he said, tersely, "you stay here, and 
 keep workin' until you hear from me, which may be 
 within a couple of days. And you. Colonel, I think 
 you had better come down to Seattle with me." 
 
 It did seem as if Burmah feared that some of those 
 who had bought land might get an opportunity to 
 talk with the Colonel, and that the Colonel might say 
 something to upset things, for on the whole home- 
 ward trip, while men began to come to their senses, 
 he "rode herd" over the Colonel, and kept him from 
 saying much of anything to any one. 
 
CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 THE KNAVE PLUNGES DEEPER. 
 
 The soul of William Burmah Jones was troubled 
 for a strange reason — a most unusual reason for a 
 soul that so rarelj was troubled by anything like 
 conscience. And that reason was due to his tactical 
 blunder in naming Squaw Point, Port Hatch; for 
 up to that time the Colonel had not been badly com- 
 promised. As it was, the Colonel had basked in de- 
 lightful ignorance, and taken the whole affair 
 seriously. 
 
 "He's such a foolish old feller," said Burmah to 
 himself, walking up and down his room, preparatory 
 to dining with the Colonel, "that, if I leave him alone 
 here, they'll tear him to pieces when they get wise. 
 They'll crucify him higher'n Ham-and. And I 
 dassen't go to him, and tell him to beat it with me! 
 Humph ! The old cuss'd probably drag a boss pistol 
 out of his clothes somewhere, and fill me with lead. 
 Him and his Arabella ! Wish to the Highrasticutum 
 of Swat I'd never heard of either of 'em, because — 
 hang it all! — I like the old cuss!" 
 
 Later in the evening, it was hard to avoid the 
 infection of the Colonel's great joy. It was hard to 
 face his liberality. Never a word of complaint did 
 he make when he learned that William Burmah Jones' 
 share of the day's sales amounted to a little more 
 than ten thousand dollars. He beamed on Burmah. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 99 
 
 He patronized him. For the first time he called him 
 Burmah, a certain sign that he had accepted him into 
 his full confidence and warmest friendship. 
 
 "Burmah, my boy," he said, "you are a sure- 
 enough able lieutenant and helper! You have as- 
 sisted me throughout my enterprise in a most as- 
 tounding manner. Sir. If you just stick by the colors, 
 I'll lend you my financial judgment, and you, also, 
 shall be rich. Most astounding, when you come to 
 think of it, how nobly we've started this great work ! 
 I just sent a wire to Miss Arabella, urging her to 
 come at once, and telling her I'd got a start for my 
 fortune. It cost me 'most fourteen dollars. I knew 
 she'd be right happy!" 
 
 He leaned back, and blew a cloud of smoke at the 
 ceiling, and rolled his expensive cigar between his 
 white old fingers, and stroked his goatee, and looked 
 the picture of prosperity. Burmah scowled at him, 
 knowing that another awkward and compromising 
 step had been taken, the bringing of Arabella to the 
 scene of trouble. 
 
 "Poor little kiddie!" he thought. "So she's run 
 into it, too, eh? Maybe they'll only tar and feather 
 Arabella!" 
 
 "And, by the way, Burmah, while you were gone, 
 fixing-up for dinner," the Colonel said, "I arranged 
 for a lumber- and brick- and coal-yard up there at 
 Port Hatch." 
 
 Burmah "came to" with a jump, and wondered 
 what other misfortune was due. 
 
 "There was a man whose brother bought three 
 lots up there to-day. Maybe you recall him. Todd 
 
100 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 was his name, tall, rather lean, not to say thin, man, 
 who wore spectacles, and seemed a right-nice man. 
 Just came West from Iowa, he told me, where he 
 sold out a farm. Should make a good citizen, I 
 take it, this Mister Todd." 
 
 "But about this brother of his?" insisted Burmah. 
 
 "His name is Todd, too. He's a nice man." 
 
 "Yes, Colonel, I see all that ; but you haven't told 
 me about this lumber business." 
 
 "Why, you see," said the Colonel, "he came to 
 buy land for a lumber- and coal- and brick-yard. 
 Said he couldn't lose any time, because he wanted to 
 ship a stock up there to-morrow, so he could be on 
 hand when they start to build. He was such a fine 
 sort of a man that I could see what a fine citizen he 
 would make. Perfectly representative. Sir. So I 
 just naturally gave him land for his yards, and a 
 place for a wharf. He said he had to be located on 
 tide water, so's his ships could unload. His brother 
 is going to start a hardware store, right away, on 
 one of those lots of his." 
 
 Burmah leaned back, and groaned. 
 
 "You gave this feller, Todd, enough of the water- 
 front for a wharf and a lumber-yard, you say? 
 For nothing? Why, Colonel, if he came to buy, why 
 didn't you sell it to him? Why didn't you get his 
 money? You can't make nothin' by givin' land 
 away !" 
 
 "By Jingoes !" said the Colonel. "That's an idea I 
 haven't given enough attention to yet ! I didn't think 
 about that at the time. He was such a nice man, 
 this Mister Todd, that I sort of wanted him for a 
 
THE BOOMERS. 101 
 
 neighbor. He's got four children, and he's a 
 widower. He looked right sad, yihe.n ];?etto],d me aboait 
 losing his wife. And she's bec^ (Je^d ,el^yen jears." 
 
 "Are you sure," said Burma h,'. 'j'tliat* y»it''didiiit' 
 give him a lot up on the hill, too?" 
 
 "No, Sir," said the Colonel, cheerfully, "I didn't. 
 I just mentioned that to him, and told him that, if 
 he'd wait till we got our surveys extended, maybe 
 he'd find a place up there that he'd like to have. 
 But he couldn't wait. He wants to start right in." 
 
 Burmah was too tired to argue, too much annoyed 
 to convince the Colonel of anything, if to do so 
 required words. His voice was hoarse from his day's 
 work, and his throat hurt, and he croaked instead 
 of enunciated. He jerked his chair over to the table 
 in the room, and began his accounting. 
 
 "Lot One brought three, fifty; and that's yours. 
 Lot Two brought four hundred flat, and that's mine." 
 
 And so on, while the Colonel, delighted, listened 
 and pretended keen attention and great business 
 closeness. Burmah got up when his accounting was 
 finished, and said, desperately : 
 
 "I'm. tired, and I'm goin' home. But, Colonel, for 
 God's sake don't give away the rest of it, and the 
 money and the cheques I've just handed you before 
 I can get here in the mornin'. Don't give away any 
 more land!" 
 
 With which emphatic, despairing injunction, he 
 clapped his silk hat on his head, and hurried away. 
 Tired as he was, he did not go to sleep when he 
 reached the sumptuous apartment he had taken in 
 the hotel. He walked up and down, chewing his 
 
102 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 cigar, and pausing now and then to kick the waste- 
 Basket beside tlie stenographer's desk, as if such 
 physical action were a safety-valve for his perturba- 
 tion:!. 'He could not conceive of such a man as the 
 Colonel. 
 
 "Why, if any one had told me about him a month 
 ago," he said to himself, savagely, "I'd have thought 
 the man was a liar, or just out of a booze sanatorium. 
 I can't hold on, and I can't let go! If I told the 
 Colonel it was all a bunk, he'd first kill me, and then 
 distribute that money back where it came from while 
 waitin' in his cell for trial. If I don't tell him, he's 
 goin' ri^ht ahead to make an ass of himself." 
 
 Carefully he went over all the statements he had 
 issued, all the excitement he had worked up, and, also, 
 what chances for himself there were if he continued 
 with the game. 
 
 "The A. and O. ain't denied nothin' yet," he 
 thought, "and they've had time. Probably they don't 
 pay no attention to such things. Maybe they ain't 
 even thinkin' of coming to the Coast. Maybe it's 
 nothing but a plain stock-jobbin' deal to sell bonds, 
 or somethin', and all this helps 'em." 
 
 He paused directly in front of the mirror with his 
 eyes widely opened, and his lips set grimly. 
 
 "By Gad! That's it!" he declared. "Why not.? 
 I can take a chance! The Colonel would give me a 
 whole subdivision, if I asked him for it. This fool, 
 Todd, or whatever his name is, is goin' to ship some 
 lumber and brick and stuff up there, and his brother, 
 that scraggly-necked farmer, is a-goin' to open a 
 hardware store. It'll make it look more than ever 
 
THE BOOMERS. 103 
 
 like the real goods. Some of those suckers may start 
 to build a house or two. Besides, there'll be a steam- 
 boat service, that's a cinch, and I can get away pretty 
 fast and over to Canada, if it blows up ! I'll take a 
 chance." 
 
 In all his crooked, stormy career, he had never 
 lacked decision, and now that characteristic stood 
 him in good stead. He tumbled into bed, and, in less 
 than five minutes after the lights went dark in the 
 gorgeous apartment, was sleeping that fine, steady, 
 undisturbed sleep which is supposed to come from a 
 guiltless conscience. And so soundly did he sleep, 
 and so tired was he, that he sat up in bed thinking it 
 still early in the night, when, in the morning, the 
 Colonel rapped on his door, having insisted on "going 
 right up." 
 
 "Well, well, well !" exclaimed the Colonel, beaming 
 at him as he rubbed his sleepy eyes and hitched his 
 pajamas closer. "Look at the ant, thou sluggard! 
 I've been up 'most three hours, Burmah, and have 
 done a whole heap of business." 
 
 That brought the schemer to wakefulness in an 
 instant. 
 
 "Yes, Sir," the Colonel went on, highly elated with 
 himself, "I took the advice of Mister Smiles, who, in 
 his most excellent work, says that financial success 
 comes to those who get up early enough. I got up 
 at five o'clock this morning, at six-thirty my break- 
 fast w^as over, and I was reading the big account of 
 the establishment of Port Hatch. At seven I was 
 down to a contracting office I had observed but a few 
 days ago, arranging for having them come up and 
 
104 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 grade Main Street. Very liberal men they are, Sir. 
 Very liberal, indeed! They're going to put in a 
 graded road from the wharves right up the hill, too, 
 and fix it so's they can lay the pavements as soon as 
 we can — er — show them some additional security for 
 their work. I paid them five thousand dollars down 
 so there would be no delay. They're to send me con- 
 tracts this morning." 
 
 "They are, eh?" said Burmah, hopelessly. "And 
 you paid them five thousand down before the con- 
 tracts were drawn, eh.'^" 
 
 And, to the Colonel's surprise, he got up and 
 clutched his thatch of gray hair with both hands, 
 walked across to kick the unoffending waste-basket 
 with has bare foot, then used profanity as he hopped 
 around the room on one leg, holding his injured big 
 toe in his fat hand. This exercise seemed to steady 
 him. He slipped into a big dressing-gown, and 
 grimly sat down by his desk. 
 
 "Colonel," he said, bluntly, "friendship's friend- 
 ship, and business is business. I can help you build 
 up Port Hatch, and you can help me. I want you 
 to deed me two blocks of that water-front, and four 
 blocks of the extension on Main Street. It's to be 
 mine. I can't — " 
 
 He stopped ; for there was such a hurt look on the 
 Colonel's face that even he, hardened as he was, could 
 not endure it and continue unrelenting. 
 
 "Burmah," said the Colonel, "it ain't what you 
 say, but the way you say it, that sounds mighty 
 unkind. Gentlemen, as you know, even though they 
 are in financial pursuits, don't quibble over trifles. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 105 
 
 You asked for four blocks on Main Street Exten- 
 sion. I'm going to give you six. You asked for two 
 blocks of water-front. I'll give you four. There's 
 enough for both Miss Arabella and me. Personally, 
 I work for her interests. Publicly, I work for the 
 promotion and up-lift of the forthcoming city, which, 
 bears my name, which has honored me by calling 
 itself Port Hatch ! And I don't like to feel, Burmah, 
 that you-all— " 
 
 "Why, Colonel, you ain't sore, are you? I didn't 
 mean it that way. No, Siree. Rather than make 
 you offended, I'd cut off my right leg. Yes, Sir! 
 Chop her right off!" 
 
 Burmah held up a chubby leg, the roundness of 
 which was not concealed by his pajamas. And the 
 truth of the matter was that he was actually touched 
 by this generosity. It brought back something fine 
 from his youth, when he, too, had been generous, 
 before greed and conquest had made him the half- 
 blackleg he was, the sharper, the schemer, the heart- 
 less trafficker in anything that would bring returns. 
 "I was about to suggest. Colonel," he said, quickly 
 shifting away from dangerous ground, "that we 
 should have an office, or offices, down in the business 
 section of Seattle; that we should open them to-day, 
 if possible. There is goin' to be a rush for Port 
 Hatch lands. Port Hatch must have a local head- 
 quarters." 
 
 "Just what I was thinking of," asserted the 
 Colonel, helping himself to one of Burmah's cigars. 
 "I was about to say that to you. Sir. We'll do that 
 the first thing. I'll pay for fitting them up. Now, 
 
106 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 about rugs. I've always leaned toward those old 
 Persian things. Red's the best for offices, though. 
 Maybe the second office ought to have green. Wish 
 I'd thought to ask Mister Hubbard about that. 
 Great thing to be an artist, Sir!" 
 
 And thus, while Burmah Jones shaved, bathed, and 
 dressed, the Colonel ambled, sometimes vocally, some- 
 times mentally, onward, devoted for the moment to 
 establishing offices for a town that had no buildings, 
 and a real-estate concern that was not incorporated, 
 and a business firm that was not formed. 
 
 Celerity was a habit with Burmah Jones, when 
 wearing his war-paint, and inasmuch as the Colonel 
 had so kindly volunteered to pay for the equipment 
 of the new offices, and wished to have them fitted 
 artistically, he willingly conceded this point. As a 
 result, by sunset of that day, the Port Hatch Land 
 Company had become a reality so far as outward 
 appearances went. Burmah admitted to himself that 
 he could see no reason in the world why the Colonel 
 insisted on buying a rug of dull green, when it would 
 have been possible, for half the price, to get a very 
 gorgeous one with a yellow border, red center and 
 purple fringe; but the Colonel paid, and that was 
 vastly different from paying for it one's self. Also, 
 he could not see why it was that the Colonel chose 
 big, old, dull mahogany desks and chairs, when, for 
 less money, they could have had a desk painted and 
 striped like a zebra. 
 
 On the other hand, the Colonel failed to appre- 
 ciate all the decorative instincts turned loose by Bur- 
 mah. The Colonel had just hammered his thumb in 
 
THE BOOMERS. 107 
 
 the new offices, when Burmah appeared with two boys 
 behind him lugging huge bundles. 
 
 "Put 'em down there," indicated Burmah, and 
 then, after they had gone, turned to the Colonel. 
 "Got 'em!" he exclaimed. "Just what we want. 
 Found 'em in a store bein' sold out by the Sheriff. 
 That is, most of 'em. The rest I got down at 
 Smith's." 
 
 The Colonel meditatively sucked his injured thumb, 
 and stood above Burmah while the latter opened his 
 bundles. First came a shock of Dakota wheat, cut 
 green, and palpably dyed to an extraordinary golden 
 hue. Next came a shock of Idaho oats. An enor- 
 mous stand of Iowa corn-stalks with immense white 
 and yellow ears wired thereon, a dozen monster 
 Oregon apples, some California Bartlett pears, and 
 some Florida lemons, completed the selection. The 
 Colonel forgot his thumb, and gazed at the display 
 on the floor. 
 
 "But pardon me. Sir," he queried, "if I ask what 
 we are to do with all those things !" 
 
 "What to do with 'em.? Put 'em in the window 
 over there as soon as we pull the shades up, and have 
 a nice sign painted to hang above 'em which reads, 
 'Port Hatch land the most fertile in the world. Look 
 at these!'" 
 
 Burmah got up from his knees with an air of tri- 
 umph; but the Colonel looked dubious. 
 
 "Don't you think — eh, that is, ain't you afraid 
 that's sort of misrepresenting things?" the Colonel 
 asked. 
 
 Burmah took off his hat and wiped his forehead. 
 
108 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 He then twisted the large diamond ring on his finger, 
 pursed his lips, and vented a sigh what sounded more 
 like the exhaust from a river packet than a human 
 being. 
 
 "But we don't exactly say they was grown up at 
 Port Hatch, do we?" he objected. 
 
 "Don't see how the inference could be plainer," the 
 Colonel replied. 
 
 And there was something so inflexibly honest in 
 his attitude that Burmah decided to change front. 
 
 "That's the way real-estate men did in lots of 
 places where I've been," he remarked, as if to himself ; 
 "but maybe it ain't exactly right. Colonel. I'll tell 
 you what I'll do with you. I'll split the difference. 
 You're right about our havin' no fruit up there yet, 
 so we'll just put the grain in the window, with the 
 sign. We'll eat the other stuff. Besides, it wouldn't 
 keep long' anyhow !" 
 
 Mentally, he consoled himself with the thought 
 that he could have Hubbard make a lot of drawings, 
 and fill the window in with pictures of buildings such 
 as the "proposed Methodist Church at Port Hatch," 
 and have the word "proposed" so small that it would 
 take a reading glass to discover it. Outwardly, he 
 was active with the pears, and by careful attention 
 to business succeeded in eating four to the Colonel's 
 one, for the Colonel had fallen to rhapsodizing on 
 the excellence of the fruit, and now and then quoted 
 poetry. He was in the midst of it when Burmah bit 
 into the fifth. 
 
 "Pears, ripe and yellow, hanging from spreading 
 limbs ; 
 
THE BOOMERS. 109 
 
 "Pears that droop and falter, eager for craving 
 
 hands ; 
 "Pears that seem to welcome the — " 
 
 There was a rap at the door and a frowsy-headed 
 messenger-boy, with a uniform that had evidently 
 done much service for a much larger lad, opened it, 
 and stared around. 
 
 "Any feller here by the name of Hatch?" he 
 queried, nonchalantly. 
 
 The Colonel stopped quoting, and acquiesced. 
 
 "Message for you," the boy said, with admirable 
 brevity, and delivered a yellow envelope and his 
 book. The Colonel adjusted his glasces, signed the 
 book, gave the boy a dime, and tore the envelope open. 
 
 "She's coming!" he exclaimed, jubilantly- "She's 
 coming, Lord bless her ! She'll be here to-morrow !" 
 
 Burmah had been looking at him as if transfixed, 
 with a pear, half-eaten, in his hand ; but, now, he was 
 assailed with a dreadful surmise. 
 
 "Coming? Who's coming?" he asked. 
 
 "My daughter, Arabella," the Colonel almost 
 shouted. 
 
 "Good Lord !" groaned Burmah Jones, as happily 
 as if someone had just read a warrant for his arrest. 
 "Comin', is she?" And then, to himself, he added: 
 "I wish to the little fat Billikin of luck that I was 
 goinM" 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE DAUGHTER ARRIVES. 
 
 The train rattled into the station-shed, and in the 
 very front rank of those who waited for it stood one 
 very tall, thin man, with a mustache and goatee and 
 an ebullient air, and one very short, fat man, with 
 an expectant, downcast mien. The tall man almost 
 dragged his smaller companion into danger's path 
 as the train crashed to a standstill and an officer ad- 
 vised them to go slowly. A Pullman porter dropped 
 off with his little carpeted step, so that the soles of 
 the drummers' shoes might not get soiled before wad- 
 ing through the mud; a pompous gentleman with a 
 small hand-bag descended, and then, with due speed, 
 came the Tennessee contingent, led by Kirby,who car- 
 ried some bags. After him came Tommy, with three 
 or four lady's wraps, followed by Pick, with a hand- 
 bag, and finally, Arabella herself, smiling, radiant, 
 and so beautiful that every man on the platform 
 stared at her, including one gentleman who, em- 
 bracing his wife after a seemingly long absence, had 
 to swing his spouse around so that he could see over 
 her shoulder. The policeman edged closer, the sta- 
 tion-master wiped off his glasses, and a baggage-man 
 used the word "Please" in asking for gangway room 
 for his truck. 
 
 And, as they came down the steps in procession, 
 the Colonel, stricken dumb by the sight of so many 
 home faces, embraced one after another, and repeated 
 to each: 
 
 110 
 
THE BOOMERS. Ill 
 
 "Why, bless my soul!" 
 
 But, at sight of Arabella, he could no longer re- 
 strain himself, so crushed her in his arms, and kissed 
 her on the forehead, the lips, the hair, the tip of her 
 pretty ear, and her upturned throat, while she clung 
 to him joyously, heedless of disarray. The Colonel 
 released her, held her at arms' length and critically 
 surveyed her from the depths of her candid, violet 
 eyes to the points of her tiny, dainty shoes. 
 
 "Why, Arabella, you haven't changed a particle," 
 he exclaimed, as if expecting that she would show 
 gray hairs, after being separated from him for three 
 or four weeks. "You look just like you used to, 
 lassie !" 
 
 He paused, as he caught sight of something huge, 
 like a trained bear in a linen duster, lumbering down 
 the steps, and carrying a heap of wilted flowers. It 
 was Little Billy bringing up the rear. The Colonel 
 dropped back to his, "Why, bless my soul!" and 
 rushed to Billy, who promptly shoved the flowers on 
 him. The Colonel accepted them much as he would 
 have a bale of hay, and appeared puzzled, and half- 
 inclined to drop them on the platform. 
 
 "What — what's this mess?" he began. 
 
 "Flowers, Dad ! Just flowers ! Flowers from Ten- 
 nessee that I saved for you," exclaimed his daughter. 
 
 He suddenly buried his face in the wilted petals 
 and inhaled deeply- The very hold of his hands 
 changed from reluctance to reverence. As if the 
 blossoms were alive and tender, he clutched them a 
 little closer to his breast, and they saw that his eyes 
 were moist, and filled with longing and homesickness. 
 
112 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 "Flowers! Flowers from home!" he whispered; 
 and Arabella relieved him of the burden, and brought 
 him back to realities. 
 
 "Oh, Dad !" she exclaimed. "Isn't it lovely, the way 
 the boys decided to come through with me? I don't 
 know what I should have done without them. We've 
 had such a good time' all the way, and it is so far! 
 And we are all so glad to know that you have made 
 a fortune !" 
 
 Behind her, a small, retiring fat man winced, and 
 looked uncomfortable. So that was what this fine old 
 simpleton had wired, was it? — that he had already 
 made a fortune ! Burmah Jones rarely lacked plenty 
 of self-assurance; but, for once in his life, he was 
 timid and constrained, and devoutly wished that he 
 were at least two thousand miles away, or— say — 
 back in Fort Scott. But he was not to escape, for 
 the Colonel, suddenly remembering him, wheeled and 
 caught him by the arm. 
 
 "Arabella," said the Colonel, graciously, "I wish 
 to have permission to introduce to you my sympa- 
 thetic and understanding lieutenant. Mister William 
 Burmah Jones !" 
 
 He doffed his hat, and bowed as if presenting an 
 ambassador to a queen, and Burmah got red in the 
 face and blinked like an owl, and with difficulty re- 
 strained a desire to scrape his feet, and tell her that 
 she was "A peach !" He felt more at home in meeting 
 the quartet of hopefuls who accompanied her, and 
 mentally decided, with his customary quick appraise- 
 ment, that they were all young men of means and 
 address, and from both view-Doints would prove 
 
THE BOOMERS. 113 
 
 desirable assets. Besides, he decided to himself in 
 that same flashing thought, if he should be compelled 
 to leave for parts unknown on some fast train, this 
 quartet should be able at least to save the Colonel's 
 life. 
 
 A shout of laughter disturbed them, and the per- 
 sons in the immediate vicinity of the party began to 
 crane necks in the direction of the front end of the 
 train. A querulous old voice, filled with indignation, 
 was heard above the noise of the station, shouting : 
 
 "Heah, White Man! You-all bettah leave dem 
 baggage alone! Don' tek dem away from heah! 
 Please, Sah!" 
 
 And on the top of that arose another and more 
 militant voice: 
 
 "Dat-ar's Miss Arabella's j uranium! You-all put 
 dat down, or Ah'U jes nachurally swat you one dat'll 
 double you up like a bolony skin when de stuffin's 
 picked out ! Gim me dat !" 
 
 Some familiar note in the voice, something recall^ 
 ing his old days of feudal protectorship, came to the 
 Colonel, and he answered as if to the call of a bugle. 
 With coat-tails flying and fists doubled, he whirled 
 and swung down the patform, thrusting men aside as 
 if they were straws, and plunged into a crowd up 
 near the second-class sleeper steps. Uncle Jeff was 
 there, again arrayed in his gold-braided uniform and 
 ancient silk hat, but now some one had jammed it 
 down over his head, where it clung, rumpled and ruf- 
 fled. Aunt Sally was behind him striving to hold 
 fast to the huge water-pitcher, a tray and a bird- 
 cage, at the same time. At her feet was a bundle 
 
114 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 wrapped in a bed-quilt scarcely less gorgeous than 
 Uncle Jeff's regalia. A roaring, tantalizing crowd 
 surrounded them, and beset them with rude jest. 
 Through this, and to their aid, plunged the Colonel, 
 wild-eyed, and excited. Uncle Jeff was manfully 
 struggling with an expressman bent on removing an 
 old and battered satchel; but the Colonel was imme- 
 diately recognized by Aunt Sally, who shouted : 
 
 "Kunnell! Kunnell! Heah we-all! Make that 
 low white trash pass back dat j uranium! Dar he! 
 Ovah dah!" 
 
 Appeal and jubilation rang in her voice, and she 
 dropped the bird-cage to point a trembling hand at 
 a van beyond. The Colonel lost no time. He sprang 
 forward with the agility of excitement, shoved out of 
 the way one who interfered, seized the geranium pot 
 with one hand, and wrested it from Aunt Sally's tor- 
 mentor, then, doubling a white old fist, smote the 
 offender full on the jaw. Taken by surprise, al- 
 though much younger and heavier than the Colonel, 
 the man was knocked from his feet. The Colonel 
 slipped the flower-pot under his arm, and struck an- 
 other man who shouted a curse. 
 
 "There ain't no man livin' dares cuss out a Hatch," 
 roared the Colonel, dropping into vernacular, and 
 fuming with rage. "Is there any other pusson here 
 who has anything to say?" 
 
 Having made his challenge, he stood there, white 
 and trembling, with the flower-pot under his arm 
 and the blossoming plant dragging limply downward. 
 At once the disturbers began to fall back and give 
 him room. Then the outer throng wavered, and 
 
<>eec.i 
 
THE BOOMERS. 115 
 
 broke wide open, and there charged in, like a flying 
 wedge, the quartet from Chattanooga, with a short, 
 fighting, fat man as the apex. A policeman became 
 entangled in the swirl, and came with them. 
 
 "Stop ! Stop this !" shouted the executive of law 
 and order. What does this mean?" 
 
 There was an instant's silence, and the man who 
 had seized the cherished plant got to his feet, and 
 began to struggle out of the crowd. The officer, 
 deciding that this man must be the malefactor, 
 plunged after, and caught him by the collar, threat- 
 ening to use his club. 
 
 But the Colonel interfered. 
 
 "Mister Policeman," he said, in his most dignified 
 voice, "I am Colonel Alonzo Fairfax Hatch. We-all 
 have had a slight argument here, but it's over now. 
 This man here surely did aggravate me; but there's 
 no use in pesterin' with him. Let him go. I have no 
 complaint. The Hatches have been able to take care 
 of themselves. Sir, always." 
 
 The officer released his hold on the man who had 
 been captured, and looked bewildered. 
 
 "Well, you're sure some square old guy," asserted 
 the man, grinning at the Colonel. 
 
 "The same to you. Sir," declared the Colonel, 
 magnanimously, and suddenly held the geranium out 
 toward the officer. "Would you mind holding this 
 for me," he asked, "until I can find my daughter. 
 Miss Arabella?" 
 
 The policeman was so astonished that he sheathed 
 his club, and accepted the plant, and stood with it 
 in his hands. The Colonel saw Burmah, and the 
 quartet of hopefuls and was overjoyed. 
 
116 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 "Come on, let's get out of this," suggested the man 
 from Kansas, cooling his anger. "Are these some 
 more of your folks, Colonel?" 
 
 "'Deed we is," fervently responded Aunt Sally, 
 before the Colonel had time to reply; and Burmah 
 marshaled them, took the plant from the officer, and 
 shoved his way out toward Arabella, who, infinitely 
 distressed and excited, was hovering on the outskirts. 
 
 "It looks to me," muttered Burmah, "as if I had 
 taken charge of an orphan asylum where all the 
 young ones are the offspring of prize-fighters! 
 Lord ! I got to get them away from this !" 
 
 He deposited the plant at Arabella's feet, and 
 looked for an instant over his shoulder to where the 
 officer, again demanding order, was firmly compelling 
 the crowd to disperse. 
 
 "Get a move on you! If you have no business 
 here, get out!" he was ordering, and, when any one 
 hesitated, he enforced his words with a shove. Al- 
 ready the station was resuming its normal activities, 
 and the group stood alone. 
 
 "Now," said Burmah, "if you folks will wait here 
 a minute, I'll fix everything up all right." 
 
 Before his words were finished, he had vanished. 
 
 He hastened out to secure cabs for the party. He 
 hustled back with porters. He had the baggage 
 counted. He took the checks, and saw to it that 
 everything was undamaged. He was a general, mar- 
 shaling his troops, and displaying efficiency in every 
 move. He tactfully crowded the four young men into 
 his own cab, and acted as a guide on the way to the 
 hotel, displaying an amazing knowledge of Seattle, 
 from its yearly tonnage to its land values and the 
 
THE BOOMERS. 117 
 
 price of sky-scrapers. There was no question he 
 could not answer off-hand, and his amazing memory 
 for figures and details commanded his hearers' ad- 
 miration. He maneuvered so deftly that he installed 
 the quartet in his own hotel with rooms on the same 
 floor, where he could have them under his eye, and 
 cultivate them. There was no telling how useful they 
 might be, and he, a past master at using men, had 
 long before discovered that guileless young men with 
 money were frequently profitable. He telephoned 
 the hotel that entertained the Colonel and Arabella, 
 an announcement that he would have the entire party 
 there for luncheon, and all the time he was mentally 
 formulating his campaign. 
 
 The Colonel, in the meantime, bubbling over with 
 joy and pride, was being driven to his hotel. Every 
 now and then he arose in his seat to look at the cab 
 following' in which were seated Uncle Jeff and Aunt 
 Sally, still perturbed and frightened by their narrow 
 escape, but mighty proud of that cab. Each time 
 he looked at them, the Colonel waved his hand re- 
 assuringly, and each time that he waved Uncle Jeff 
 arose and doffed his hat, and attempted to bow. 
 Now and then Uncle Jeff did so inopportunely, and, 
 as the vehicle jolted, was thrown back into his seat. 
 The cab-driver seemed a careless sort of person, who 
 smoked a pipe, and never so much as bestowed a 
 glance on the Colonel or his own fares. It seemed 
 as if fighting and hauling men in uniform were every- 
 day events with him. His horses were scarcely less 
 phlegmatic than he, for they stood without hitching 
 when he halted before the servants' entrance, and 
 
118 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 huddled passengers, plants, bundles, satchels and 
 bird-cages out to the doorway. He said to the porter 
 who came out: 
 
 "Take 'em in and preserve 'em carefully till they're 
 wanted. There seems to be an old gink upstairs 
 that's rather fond of them. Nice clothes this old 
 coon's got on, ain't they?" 
 
 Then he drove away, thinking of the liberal fare 
 he had mulcted from Burmah Jones, and was content. 
 
 The Colonel and Arabella had disappeared inside 
 the rotunda, attended by porters carrying the hand- 
 baggage, who stood respectfully behind them. For 
 was not this man the great financier, whom the news- 
 papers had made so notable? Was he not an ex- 
 ceptionally liberal man with his tips? 
 
 The Colonel had reached the very desk before he 
 suddenly remembered something, and was shocked by 
 his own negligence. 
 
 "Dear me !" he exclaimed, turning to Arabella. "I 
 do declare I forgot all about engaging a room for 
 you! Wonder if we shall be able to get it! You 
 see. Honey, I've been so all-fired busy here, looking 
 after things, that I just naturally overlooked it." 
 
 And Arabella patted his arm, and looked fondly 
 up into his face, and told him that she had always 
 understood that big financiers did have a heap to 
 think about, and assured him, also, that she didn't 
 want him to work so hard. A long string of com- 
 mercial men was lined up at the register ahead of 
 them, and Arabella had time to look around. The 
 wonder of that wonder city of the North-west was 
 dawning upon her, and thrilling her with its mar* 
 
THE BOOMERS. 119 
 
 velous palpitation. Here before her were rough, 
 sinewy, clear-eyed miners from Alaska, quietly ob- 
 serving everything, and saying little, as if the silence 
 of the vast isolations of the North had sealed their 
 lips. Cattlemen, black-hatted and bow-legged from 
 the saddles of their youth, quietly discussed the price 
 of beef, and at a table two young engineers in worn 
 corduroys sat studying a drawing. A banker, clad 
 as if he had just stepped from a Fifth Avenue hotel, 
 immaculate and poised, was drawing gloves on his 
 slender fingers, and a priest and a minister were ex- 
 changing greetings. At the cigar-stand in the corner 
 of the rotunda, a girl, by nature a pronounced 
 brunette, but now a startling blonde, was throwing 
 dice with two men to see which of them should pay 
 for the cigars, and the slang she used was so new 
 and daring that Arabella was fascinated by it. Her 
 inspection of those around was interrupted by the 
 hotel-clerk, who discovered the Colonel, and abruptly 
 left the register, and came to the end of his enclosure. 
 
 "Colonel Hatch — oh. Colonel!" the clerk shouted 
 through the grating. "Mr. Jones made all arrange- 
 ments for you, and ordered your personal belongings 
 taken from your old room to the new ones. It's all 
 attended to. Here, boy!" He banged a bell, and 
 a bell-boy rushed forward. "Take Colonel Hatch 
 and his daughter up to suite six, seventeen !" 
 
 **Now that was sure right nice of Burmah! He 
 does do a mighty lot to help me," exclaimed the 
 Colonel. "Come on, Arabella ;" and he led the way 
 in pursuit of the boy to the elevator. 
 
 Arabella could not restrain an exclamation of de- 
 
120 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 light when the doors were thrown open ; for Burmah 
 had chosen, regardless of expense, the largest suite 
 in the hotel, that which commanded the most noble 
 views, with an outlook upon the majestic Olympics, 
 the wonderful Puget Sound and the broad-flung 
 forests in the distance. [The room was filled with 
 flowers, also bought regardless of expense, and they 
 were everywhere impregnating the air with fragrance. 
 All the surroundings bore frank evidence that Colonel 
 Alonzo Fairfax Hatch had a bank-account big 
 enough to buy the hotel, if he wanted it, and then, 
 like a Coal Oil Johnny, hand it to a cab-driver. And 
 the financier, not in the least disturbed as to where 
 the means were to come from to pay for such ex- 
 travagant quarters, thoughtfully approved of Bur- 
 mah's selection. There was but one thing in the 
 room that annoyed him, and that was a small, en- 
 graved and framed brass tablet, stating that this 
 suite of rooms had once been occupied by a President 
 of the United States. There were two reasons for 
 his annoyance: the first that he thought it bad taste 
 to boast so openly ; and the second that the President 
 mentioned had been a Republican President, while 
 he, the Colonel, had never voted anything but a 
 straight Democratic ticket. Before attending to any- 
 thing else, he turned the tablet's face to the wall. 
 
 Arabella removed her hat, and then threw herself 
 into his arms. He picked her up as if she were still 
 a child, and carried her over, and seated himself in 
 one of the big upholstered chairs, holding her very 
 tenderly. 
 
 "My little girl! My little girl!" he whispered in 
 
THE BOOMERS. 121 
 
 her ear. "I've wanted jou, Honey, every hour since 
 I left home. I've been thinkin' of you all the time — 
 more than I did of makin' money. And now you're 
 here with me, and we ain't goin' to be away from 
 each other any more." 
 
 His hand patted her shoulders even as he had 
 patted them when, a tiny child, she had sobbed for 
 the mother that had passed forever from her sight; 
 patted and comforted her even as it had when striv- 
 ing to assuage her childish sorrows. There were 
 strength and love and understanding in his touch; 
 there was his deep, constant longing for her in the 
 cadence of his whisper. She alone fathomed the 
 anxieties that had assailed him in all his adventures 
 since he had wandered from his quiet, sequestered 
 life to seek a new fortune, and so she rested, speech- 
 less and happy, in his arms. The quiet home on 
 the Marquard plantation seemed now a scene of some 
 past existence, and they, together, exiled into a hurly- 
 burly world of noise and endeavor. The roar of the 
 train carrying her across the thousands of miles was 
 still in her ears, the scream of locomotives awak- 
 ening her in the night ; but above all, triumphant, yet 
 soothing, that soft whisper. 
 
 "Home, my father," she said, "is where you are 
 and where we can be together." 
 
 The Colonel gulped strangely, and then, to relieve 
 himself, boosted her from his lap, and assumed a 
 great air of direction. 
 
 "Now, you must go and take your bath, and get 
 out of your traveling-dress," he said. "I'll call up 
 the office, and tell them to send Mammy and Uncle 
 
122 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Jeff right up. {Thej can help you unpack your 
 stuff," 
 
 He sent for his servants, who came up timidly, 
 being fearful of elevators and such modern improve- 
 ments, which they had never seen, and broke into 
 the room much as if they, too, sought protection. 
 Jeff, who had been vastly disappointed because he 
 could discover no colored brother who recognized 
 the uniform of the Ancient Sons of Africa, was 
 rehabilitated into a very homely, very gnarled old 
 negro man. 
 
 "Now j^ou and Jeff, Mammy, get busy around 
 here, and do what is to be done," ordered the Colonel, 
 as if speaking to children, "and I'll see what I can 
 do. Hold on a minute. Where did they put you? 
 In the coal-bin?" 
 
 "Lawseee, no, Kunnell!" replied Aunt Sally. 
 "Dey done put us upstairs in two rooms. I ain't 
 goin' to stand for no sech foolishness as dat. 'You 
 jes fotch dat ole nigger you see comin' with me 
 right in heah,' Ah says. 'Ah ain't goin' to have 
 him gallivantin' aroun' whar Ah cain't look after 
 him. He's mah ole man!' So now dey-all got us 
 in one big, fine room most as good as dis. But 
 tain't lak home, Marse Hatch. When we all goin' 
 back home? We shore been away a mighty long 
 time now." 
 
 With a great attempt at sternness, the Colonel 
 chided her for talking too much, and then proceeded 
 out of his new apartment with something almost 
 approaching a swagger of proprietorship. 
 
 "De Kunnell done said he made his fortune and 
 
THE BOOMERS. 123 
 
 a powful sight of money," Aunt Sally confided to 
 Uncle Jeff in a hoarse whisper, after the doughty 
 financier had departed, "an' Ah reckon from de 
 looks of dis house he's bought he has. Dis is sure 
 some house!" 
 
 The Colonel, in the meantime, stalking down the 
 halls, betrayed another bit of good feeling by bow- 
 ing to every one he met. He felt gracious toward 
 the elevator-boy, and gave that pert youth as a 
 tip a nice, new, shinj'' dollar. The world was at 
 his feet, now that he had Arabella here by his side, 
 his old household retainers to do his bidding, and 
 a town named after him — a town that was to be 
 the most famous in the West. He sauntered around 
 the rotunda, and out to the street, where he beamed 
 benevolently on all he met with a smile so frank 
 and engaging that even those who had never seen 
 or heard of him returned it with interest. Each 
 atom of creation, on that day of Arabella's arrival, 
 was numbered amongst his friends. He was satisfied 
 with everybody and everything. Presently, he met 
 Burmah Jones, escorting the Chattanooga quartet 
 to luncheon at the Colonel's expense. Burmah 
 stopped him. 
 
 "Saw you coming, Colonel," he said, deferentially, 
 "and was glad to see you. I was just tellin' our 
 friends here — " He paused suddenly, and eyed the 
 lapel of the Colonel's coat. "For the Lord's sake. 
 Colonel," he burst out, "why don't you get a new 
 buttonholer? That stuff looks to me like hay." 
 
 "That, Mister Jones," said the Colonel, gravely, 
 **is a flower from Tennessee." 
 
124 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 The quiet dignity of the man made the others 
 respect him, and Burmah most of all. He, a wan- 
 derer, who could with difficulty trace back the 
 periods of his stopping in a long and constantly 
 migratory flight, found in this ancient Southerner 
 a new and engrossing puzzle. There was something 
 awakening in Burmah Jones that responded to this 
 natural sentiment on the part of Colonel Hatch. 
 
 "We are all goin' to have luncheon at your hotel, 
 Colonel," he said, "and we were on our way. How 
 is your daughter?" 
 
 "Yes, Colonel, how is Miss Arabella?" broke in 
 a solicitous chorus, which the Colonel could not 
 ignore. 
 
 "Thank you. Gentlemen," said the colonel, "Miss 
 Arabella is very comfortable. You will see her at 
 luncheon, I trust." 
 
 And the quartet agreed in the hope. Under Bur- 
 mah's guidance, they turned back to the hotel, and 
 waited for Arabella. When she appeared, the girl 
 went directly to the man from Kansas, and thanked 
 him for securing her such admirable apartments, 
 and for gracing them with flowers. To his own 
 surprise, as well as to the surprise of the Colonel, 
 Burmah again found himself awkward and embar- 
 rassed. 
 
 "Say, that's all right. Miss Hatch," he stam- 
 mered. "I wanted to do something, and that was 
 — all I could think of. The flowers were — ^were — 
 cheap," 
 
 Then, to escape from conversation, he led the 
 
THE BOOMERS. 125 
 
 way out and downward to the private dining-room 
 which he had engaged for his luncheon party. 
 
 Again, Arabella was compelled to give an exclama- 
 tion of delight ; also, she turned, and, for the second 
 time, complimented the Kansan for his taste, a com- 
 pliment which Burmah accepted gleefully, but with- 
 out telling her that he had left the decoration as 
 well as the bill of fare entirely to the judgment of 
 a red-headed, bow-legged waiter, who had once been 
 steward on a fish-boat. Burmah knew there was 
 this to his own credit, that he had ordered regard- 
 less of expense, inasmuch as he proposed that the 
 Colonel should pay the bill. 
 
 It was a wonderful luncheon. The Colonel, from 
 the head of the table, beamed upon his daughter, 
 his partner and his young friends, and warming 
 under the influence of flowers and wine, expanded 
 with satisfaction. Presently, he began to be fidgety, 
 and Arabella, recognizing that he was threatening 
 to burst into oratory, tried desperately to keep the 
 conversation moving so swiftly that her father 
 might find no opening. This ruse, however, did not 
 succeed in checking the Colonel. Nothing could 
 have stopped him — nothing less than the dynamit- 
 ing of the hotel. He was "chuck full" of speech, 
 and had to talk, or burst. There was nothing for 
 it but to humor him. 
 
 A smiling Beau Brummel of the old school, he 
 got to his feet, buttoned his coat very tightly, 
 bowed deeply, and flamed into eloquence. 
 
 "Friends and fellow citizens. Miss Arabella and 
 Gentlemen: Since we are gathered here together 
 
126 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 like one great family at the festal banquet board, 
 I deem it fitting to say a few words to those young 
 gentlemen who have stepped from the threshold of 
 their homes in our beloved South to engage in the 
 pursuits of life. They come from the State where 
 the birds sing the sweetest, where the flowers are 
 the most fragrant and beautiful, where the women 
 are the handsomest, the horses the fastest, and the 
 citizens shining lights to the entire civilized world. 
 It is with a feeling tinged with sorrow that I tell 
 you that we who are here are to establish the one rival 
 to the glorious city of Chattanooga. We are not 
 traitors to that proud and beautiful city which we 
 have left, but we are to be her pioneers. We are 
 to show the world what people from Chattanooga 
 can do. Off up to the north of us, cradled by blue 
 waves and lofty hills, lies the dream city of Port 
 Hatch. I can close my eyes, and see her lofty 
 spires, her magnificent public buildings, her splen- 
 did parks, her beautifully paved streets, her wharves 
 teeming with industry, and her school-houses filled 
 with studious young citizens, all of whom shall do 
 credit to this nation. Looking further into the 
 future, I can see many of these pupils, now little 
 boys bent over their books, becoming presidents, 
 and senators, and congressmen, and police-commis- 
 sioners. I wish to offer four standing toasts!" 
 
 With a perfected knowledge of the proprieties, 
 the quartet promptly scrambled to its feet, and 
 Burmah Jones, bewildered, also climbed up. 
 
 "I have the honor," said the Colonel, "to drink 
 to the happiness of my daughter. Miss Arabella." 
 
THE BOOMERS. 127 
 
 "Hurrah for Miss Arabella!" enthusiastically 
 shouted the quartet. 
 
 "Now, to our mother city, the queen of Ten- 
 nessee — Chattanooga." 
 
 The yell and response were not so fervent. 
 
 "Now, to that young giant metropolis, Port 
 Hatch." 
 
 Only Burmah found his voice. 
 
 "And, last of all, to that wonderful dreamer, 
 artist to his finger-tips, poet in his heart, gentleman 
 by instinct, honorable as few men are, builder of 
 empires — our host. Colonel William Burmah Jones !" 
 
 Arabella instantly jumped to her feet, waved her 
 glass on high, and joined in the ovation. It was 
 an ovation; but Burmah Jones suddenly got red 
 in the face, his mouth hung open in astonishment, 
 and he displayed all the symptoms of paralysis. 
 It was the first time in his long and notorious career 
 that anybody had ever accused him of being either 
 honorable, or a gentleman. True, he had modestly, 
 on various occasions, advertised himself as an 
 empire-builder; but it was the first time that as 
 many as six people had agreed with him. Also, 
 there was another cause for perturbation. But all 
 he said aloud, in response, was: 
 
 "I thank you from the bottom of my heart." 
 
 What he thought to himself as he sat down was: 
 
 "Hell, that old goat expects me to pay for this 
 lunch 1" 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 AND THEY VISIT UTOPIA. 
 
 The bells of the sound steamer, The Golden 
 Eagle, were jangling in the depths of the engine- 
 rooms below, and her whistle was bellowing its 
 hoarse call for a landing. 
 
 Port Hatch was in sight. A young man, carry- 
 ing a suit-case in one hand and a large thin, square 
 package under his other arm, came hurriedly aft. 
 He saw that the whole portion of the deck abaft 
 the smoke-house was deserted, then suddenly dropped 
 the suit-case, and used an impolite exclamation. It 
 was "Little Billy." Immediately after him, in pro- 
 cession, one at a time, came Pick, Kirby and 
 Tommy, and each in turn did exactly as Little 
 Billy had, then scowled at the others. Little Billy 
 suddenly tore the wrapping from the package 
 under his arm, and in the casement of the smoking- 
 room window stood up a nice new sign, tastefully 
 done in blue and gold, which read: 
 
 WILLIAM REYNOLDS 
 
 ATTORNEY-AT-LAW 
 
 The others in turn carefully undid their pack- 
 ages, each announcing that its owner was about to 
 hang out his shingle. All of a sudden, the big form 
 of Little Billy doubled over, in a mad burst of 
 hilarity. 
 
 He jumped to the corner of the smoking-room, 
 and waved an arm, in a gesture like the Colonel's, 
 toward the bare headland they were approaching. 
 
 128 
 
THE BOOMERS. 129 
 
 "See the lofty spires !" he shouted. 
 
 "And magnificent public buildings !" added 
 Tommy. 
 
 "And splendid park!" chimed in Kirby. 
 
 "And her school-houses filled with industrious 
 young citizens, all of whom shall do credit to this 
 nation," chanted Pick, excellently imitating the 
 Colonel's voice. 
 
 And then, joining arms in a circle, they danced 
 quite gaily around their suit-cases, and sang it, to 
 the tune of the "Miserere." 
 
 They were interrupted in this important cere- 
 mony by a voice from the corner: 
 
 "Well, for heaven's sake! What are you boys 
 doing?" it asked; and they turned to see Arabella 
 looking at them. Instantly they sobered, for it 
 was pitifully plain that Arabella was almost on the 
 verge of tears. 
 
 "What on earth are we to do?" she asked, with 
 lips that, in spite of her attempt to be brave, were 
 quivering. 
 
 "Do? One could do anything in a place like this. 
 It's all and more than the Colonel said. I'm just 
 tickled to death," Little Billy lied with enthusiasm. 
 
 "I never saw anything like it," bravely announced 
 Kirby, which was really the truth. 
 
 "It's the most beautiful town site in the world," 
 devoutly exclaimed Pick. 
 
 Tommy in the meantime had seized his suit-case 
 and his sign, and started hastily forward. 
 
 "I'm not going to wait a minute longer," he 
 declared. It would be the height of ingratitude for 
 us not to hurry up, and thank the Colonel for 
 the wonderful opportunity he has given us to prac- 
 tise law." 
 
130 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 The steamer was approaching the little rickety 
 wharf, the bells clanged, and the propellers suddenly 
 reversed and thrashed. The entire population of 
 Port Hatch was there to meet them. Skag and 
 Flay, the fishermen, were draped lazily on a pile 
 of lumber, chewing their cuds with the regularity 
 of contented cows, and looking as though they had 
 taken root, and grown there for a great many years. 
 Young Lester, still with a humorous twinkle in his 
 eyes, paused from bait-casting to watch the arrival. 
 The "nice man from Iowa," the man to whom the 
 Colonel had so graciously presented liberal portions 
 of land, and his brother, were checking up a lighter- 
 load of barrels of merchandise. Hubbard, the 
 author of the "City Beautiful," bare-headed, with 
 his long hair unkempt, and four or five days' growth 
 of black stubble on his face, was the only citizen 
 of Port Hatch who seemed to be "hustling." With 
 a pencil behind one ear, a drawing-pen in his 
 mouth, and a huge roll of plans under his arm, 
 he danced nervously around the end of the dock 
 while The Golden Eagle was throwing out her gang- 
 plank. Up in the bow, the Colonel, surrounded by 
 a wide-eyed, interested group, had reverently doffed 
 his hat, and was making a speech. 
 
 "Fellow passengers," he was saying, "I call your 
 attention to what is destined to be the most glorious 
 city the world has ever known. And then, with an 
 air of profound modesty, he added: "It has the 
 honor to bear my name. It is called Port Hatch. 
 Being as you are all wayfarers, I thought it 
 would be of interest to you, sometime, to be able 
 to say to your children, and your grand-children, 
 and your great-grand-children, that you had seen 
 the proud city of Port Hatch in its infancy. I 
 
THE BOOMERS. 131 
 
 trust that jou will remember it kindly, and that — " 
 
 "Say! ain't you a-goin' to get off here, Colonel 
 Hatch?" a rude voice bellowed through a mega- 
 phone from the bridge; and the Colonel paused. 
 "We're about to pull in the gang-plank, and are 
 waitin' on you," the rude voice continued grumpily, 
 
 "Bless my soul!" exclaimed the Colonel, frantic- 
 ally running toward the gang-way, with his coat- 
 tails flapping around his long, skinny legs. But, 
 even under that stress, he did not forget to be 
 courteous. He stood on the stringer of the wharf, 
 thrust one hand into the breast of his "Prince 
 Albert," removed his big slouch hat with the other, 
 and repeatedly bowed a gracious farewell to his 
 erstwhile auditors as The Golden Eagle swiftly 
 drew away from the most magnificent city of the 
 world. 
 
 The Colonel was almost dazed with astonishment 
 when he turned around. The wharf and the land 
 adjoining suddenly became populous. Burmah 
 Jones, with his hat planted determinedly on the back 
 of his head, jumped here and there, answered ques- 
 tions, and gave orders like a general. The 
 Colonel, slightly bewildered, hastened to him. 
 
 "Where — where — say, Burmah, where did all 
 these men come from?" he questioned. 
 
 "Come from. Colonel?" replied Burmah. "Why, 
 don't you remember telling me we ought to have 
 at least five carpenters and a couple or three stone- 
 masons and all the laborers I could get?" The 
 Colonel's jaw dropped in sheer amazement. Hav- 
 ing never so much as mentioned anything of the 
 kind, it was quite natural that he should not re- 
 member. But he rallied bravely. 
 
 "It sort of slipped my memory," he said; "but 
 
182 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 I suppose I must have suggested something of the 
 sort. You're quite right, Sir. You are the most 
 invaluable assistant I ever had in any of my great 
 enterprises." 
 
 "I could only get a hundred laborers," Bur- 
 mah hastened to add, "and they'll be up on the 
 next boat, due here in about an hour. Got a spe- 
 cial rate for them — chartered an old tub to bring 
 'em. Lot cheaper. And, by the way, you didn't 
 mention it, but I thought best to have 'em bring 
 a big tent to sleep and eat in, and some picks and 
 shovels and scrapers, and six teams of horses." 
 
 "How thoughtless of me!" said the Colonel. 
 "I'm glad you attended to it. But — say !" he cupped 
 both hands, bent his tall form over until he could 
 whisper in Burmah's ear. "How in the deuce are 
 we ever going to pay for all this?" 
 
 "Pay for it? Humph! That's nothin', Colonel, 
 I hired them by the month," placidly replied Bur- 
 mah, and then, desperately afraid that the Colonel 
 might ask more questions of a similar embarrassing 
 nature, he made a pretext to rush forward to Ara- 
 bella, who was standing on the edge of the land 
 surrounded by her four admirers, each of whom 
 still held his bright new tin sign under his arm. 
 Even Burmah's self-possession was jarred by the 
 sight of these inscriptions. 
 
 "What in the d — ?" he burst out, then checked 
 himself, and smiled sweetly. 
 
 "That's fine," he commented. "If there's any one 
 thing the city of Port Hatch is goin' to need, it's 
 plenty of lawyers. Welcome to our city, gentle- 
 men. We'll start building a court-house right away. 
 A town without a court-house ain't no good, nohow I" 
 And then he suddenly fell to bossing his gang. 
 
'But how the deuce are we ever going to pay for all this?' 
 exclaimed the Colonel, 
 
?""!i ^ t * * 'c! 
 
THE BOOMERS. 183 
 
 The Colonel had succeeded in arresting that danc- 
 ing dervish, Hubbard, and was now triumphantly 
 dragging him forward to be introduced. All around 
 them the bustling confusion increased as Burmah's 
 men began carrying the lumber off to a spot where 
 he had decided to erect a temporary structure, to 
 house the officers of the Port Hatch Land Com- 
 pany. Above all this clamor the Colonel's voice 
 rose flamboyantly. 
 
 "Arabella," said the Colonel, gallantly, "I crave 
 permission to introduce to you the world-famous 
 originator and author of the 'City Beautiful,' who 
 is to make this scene blossom like a rose. This 
 young man had kindly loaned us his wonderful 
 talent, and genius, in direction of our artistic 
 endeavor. Mr. Hubbard, this is my daughter, Miss 
 Arabella Hatch." 
 
 Hubbard, the derelict, became a polished gentle- 
 man once more, and no queen's courtier could have 
 made a more deferential or graceful bow. The 
 members of the quartet, young and inexperienced 
 as they were, recognized in Hubbard an enthusiast 
 and a dreamer, and were really glad to know him. 
 
 Arabella watched him curiously, and felt a little 
 more hopeful, for, peculiar as he appeared, she 
 intuitively divined that in Hubbard was competency 
 that would probably qualify him for a great task. 
 More than ever was she convinced of this when he 
 led them to his working tent, and unfolded the plans 
 over which he had worked night and day as his 
 dream of an examplary city unfolded and grew. 
 Forgetful of all else, he enthused as he explained, 
 and became eloquent as he pointed out his plans. 
 That his schemes involved the expenditure of hun- 
 dreds of thousands of dollars meant nothing to him, 
 
134 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 for quite literally he had obeyed Burmah Jones' 
 instructions to "turn himself loose." 
 
 Here on this spot was to be the public library, 
 there the city hall ; here was to be the public market, 
 over there at the base of the clffs the free baths; 
 and here at the back of the town was where the 
 little river would be dammed for a reservoir which 
 should supply Port Hatch with water. Those lines 
 extending to the far side of the peninsula indicated 
 the sewage system, for, above all things, the "City 
 Beautiful" was to be sanitary. Those red spots 
 with little marks in them indicated lands that would 
 be given away for church buildings. At this point, 
 the Colonel exercised his prerogative as founder 
 and employer to offer an objection. 
 
 "What did you say that spot there was.''" asked 
 the Colonel, reading with his glasses on his nose. 
 "Unitarian Church, eh? Well please rub that out. 
 There isn't going to be any church in Port Hatch 
 that don't believe in hell," announced the Colonel, 
 and for an instant he threatened to preach a ser- 
 mon. But the author of the "City Beautiful" inter- 
 fered by hastening onward with his discourse. 
 
 "This spot, , here on the headland," he said 
 modestly, "is the one that would be my personal 
 selection for your residence, Sir. I have the plans 
 and elevation for a home, which I should be glad 
 to place at your service — a house that could find 
 no more admirable setting." 
 
 The Colonel's eagerness was no greater now than 
 that of Arabella, who clapped her hands joyously 
 and said: 
 
 "Please show it. Please do, Mr. Hubbard." 
 
 Hubbard went over to a corner, and, somewhat 
 diffidently, drew forth a large tin case from beneath 
 
THE BOOMERS. 135 
 
 his cot, and selected therefrom a roll of drawings. 
 Arabella and the Colonel were enraptured. The 
 quartet leaned over their shoulders to share in the 
 inspection. It was Tommy who suddenly smoothed 
 down the corner, and exposed an inscription thereon. 
 
 "Why, what's this?" he asked; and then read: 
 "Awarded a gold medal at the seventeenth annual 
 exhibition of the American Architectural Society." 
 
 The derelict suddenly blushed a furious red, and 
 was distressed. 
 
 "Yes, I drew it," he said, somewhat sorrowfully, 
 as if it recalled high hopes and promise of a youth 
 that had been squandered in dissipating. But he 
 gave them no time for comment, and spoke rapidly, 
 as if eager to prevent them from asking questions. 
 "Such a residence, with some modifications, if you 
 do not care for a building of such large propor- 
 tions, could be erected for a sum not exceeding 
 twenty-five thousand dollars." 
 
 "By George! Can it?" exclaimed the Colonel. 
 "Mr. Hubbard, Sir, you're a genius. We'll com- 
 mence building that house this very afternoon. 
 Marvelous, Sir — marvelous !" 
 
 He suddenly whirled around, unable to suppress 
 his enthusiasm, and seized Arabella in his arms. 
 
 "It shall be a place fit for a queen, the queen of 
 my heart — you, Arabella!" he shouted, fondly. 
 "We'll go right up there now, and look at it. Come 
 on, everybody !" and he plunged excitedly out of the 
 tent, with Hubbard, Arabella and the lawyers, still 
 carrying their tin signs, following behind him. 
 Little Billy recovered sufficiently to hide his sign 
 under a pile of lumber, and in the succeeding minute 
 the other three friends placed their's to keep his 
 company. 
 
136 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Up to the headland they went, and whatever dis- 
 appointment Arabella had felt at not discovering 
 the city, which the Colonel so ably had pictured 
 from his imagination, vanished as she stood there 
 on one of the most beautiful spots in the world, 
 and looked down at the sound far below. Thie 
 peninsula came to a sharp point, lofty and rugged. 
 From the site chosen for the house, they could see 
 the sound on three sides, and the land's end seemed 
 like a great tongue descending from the mountain 
 behind. It came in a gradual sweep, forming gently 
 a long flat. To her inexperienced eyes it appeared 
 beautifully wooded. To one side, far below, she 
 could see the tiny wharf, with men working upon 
 it like pygmies intent on some foolish task. A 
 black steamer, with a plume of smoke from its 
 single stack, was coming slowly in, and Arabella 
 surmised that this must be the one carrying the 
 little army of invaders hired by Burmah Jones to 
 begin the task of making a city. Far behind it 
 came a small schooner, with sails drawing and decks 
 piled high with lumber. Arabella did not know that 
 the man from Iowa was seizing time by the fore- 
 lock, and that within a short time Port Hatch would 
 have a real lumber-yard. Out in the distance, 
 another steamer, huge and majestic, but appearing 
 small from the height on which they stood, drew 
 and fascinated the girl's gaze. Brought up inland, 
 the sea and its ships charmed her, and now she 
 excitedly called the attention of her companions to 
 that swift-moving shape. 
 
 "That is one of the Japanese liners. Miss Hatch," 
 volunteered Hubbard, after looking at it a moment. 
 *'Outward bound for the Orient." 
 
 "And some day," asserted the Colonel, "she and 
 
THE BOOMERS. 137 
 
 l\ all of her class will stop here, as well as at Seattle. 
 
 Then there will be immense docks down there below 
 us, to which the railway will bring the wheat and 
 the lumber from the interior, and pour them out 
 for transport. Have you worked on the dock plans 
 any, as yet, Mr. Hubbard?" 
 
 "Only roughly," answered the engineer, gravely. 
 "That is too important a matter to be taken up 
 carelessly. It is difficult to combine beauty and 
 utility in docks, and we must make them perfect." 
 
 The arrivals from Chattanooga took heart. It 
 was impossible to come in contact with such men 
 as they had met thus far, and not begin to have a 
 hazy belief that possibly, after all, there was some- 
 thing besides an air-castle in this undertaking. 
 Confidence is contagious. The sublime faith of 
 these persons that they were really creating a won- 
 derful city was convincing. And why not a wonder- 
 ful city.? Here was as beautiful a site as could be 
 found, a site looking out upon one of the most 
 wonderful sounds in all the great world of 
 waters. A great Transcontinental railway was 
 expected to make this city its terminus. Hubbard, 
 impractical in finance, but highly developed as a 
 man with an ideal, knew nothing save that he had 
 been rescued from a bar-room, and given unre- 
 strained liberty to plan this place to the fashioning 
 of his dream. He was desperately intent on prov- 
 ing to the world that had not previously given him 
 a chance, that he could create an ideal city, and he 
 worked the more tirelessly in that, at the same time 
 as he labored, he was having the supreme battle of 
 his life in the conquering of his appetite. 
 
 "How much of this land do you own. Colonel?" 
 inquired Kirby, looking off toward the mountain. 
 
138 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 "By Jingoes ! I don't know. I never thought 
 of that part of it," admitted the Colonel. 
 
 But he was saved a too deplorable show of igno- 
 rance by Hubbard, who quietly answered: 
 
 "The Colonel's farthest boundary line is the crest 
 of that range of mountains you see back there, 
 extending completely around the shores of the bay, 
 and including this entire peninsula. 
 
 "Why, how splendid!" exclaimed Arabella, and 
 the unsophisticated young men from Chattanooga 
 looked at the Colonel deferentially; for here, indeed, 
 was a great landed proprietor. Land values to 
 them were measured by the standards of the South, 
 where every foot was valuable, and they did not 
 understand that the land whereon they stood, save 
 for timber or town-site purposes, could be had 
 almost as a gift. 
 
 They must write back to the home folk, and tell 
 them what this marvelous man had accomplished, 
 this distinguished man from Chattanooga, who had 
 so bravely met misfortune, and gone West to con- 
 quer a savage world. They must let the folk 
 know that pioneering was the real man's life, and 
 that Chattanooga had other pioneers besides 
 Colonel Hatch and his daughter. The wine of 
 enthusiasm, poured out so lavishly in the first 
 instance by that rare romancer, Burmah Jones, was 
 mounting to their heads. 
 
 In the meanwhile, one of the pygmies down on 
 the wharf, the one in shirt-sleeves and silk hat, was 
 driving his men as many of them had never before 
 been driven. Already he was displaying his splen- 
 did capacity for organization. He had appointed 
 a foreman of carpenters, a foreman for the labor- 
 ing gang, a time-keeper, and had started them to 
 
THE BOOMERS. 189 
 
 work on the rough building that was to serve as 
 an office and field headquarters, and now he was 
 impatiently waiting, on the end of the dock, for 
 the steamer bearing his laborers and outfit to pull 
 in. Scarcely had she landed when he was urging 
 them to "hustle," and, that no time might be lost, 
 he hastened up to Hubbard's tent, and looked 
 around in the hope of finding the genius on whom 
 the Colonel depended. 
 
 The tent's being empty was proof enough that 
 Hubbard was not there; so Burmah stepped to the 
 fly, and, with a shout like the lower register of 
 a calliope, called Hubbard's name. 
 
 "I think," said a calm voice almost at his shoulder, 
 "you will find that your man is somewhere out on 
 the point, making preparations to build a castle." 
 
 "Eh.?" said Burmah, whirling around, to dis- 
 cover the placid Mr. Lester calmly leaning against 
 a tent pole and smoking a much browned pipe. 
 "Oh, it's you, is it.?^" he added, and then walked 
 over until he confronted that young gentleman. 
 "Say, what do you think of this 'City Beautiful' 
 stuff.? It's all tripe to me!" 
 
 For a full half-minute Lester stared at him, and 
 Burmah could not decide during that time exactly 
 what caused the look of half-merriment that was 
 plainly depicted on Lester's face. 
 
 "What do I think of it.? I think just this: 
 that Hubbard, in his way, is the sanest man that 
 has ever landed on Squaw Point. He knows what he 
 wants to do, and he's going after it. Colonel Hatch 
 is a lovely old dreamer; but, as far as you're con- 
 cerned, I'll bet a dollar to a five-cent piece, that 
 all in the world you're after is the money." 
 
140 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Burmah eyed him admiringly. 
 
 "Well," he said, with the utmost good-nature, 
 "you're not the plain fool that I took you for. 
 You do look like one, and, as far as I can figure 
 out, the chief reason you've lived here so long is 
 that you're too lazy to keep the flies oflP yourself. 
 No hard feelin's — understand? It's every man's 
 right to think what he blamed well pleases of another 
 man. I've told you what I think of you, and I never 
 have lost any sleep over what anybody thought of me." 
 
 For an instant, Lester straightened himself, and 
 there was an angry flash in his eyes; but Burmah, 
 with a laugh devoid of any malice, turned away 
 from him, and trudged back toward the gang of 
 men that was waiting for further instructions. 
 
 "You can fall-to on that beach there, the first 
 thing," he ordered, "grub out those saplings on the 
 hillside, until I can find the fellow I'm looking for. 
 And keep 'em at it. I'm not going to have a hundred 
 men drawing wages here for one minute unless they 
 do somethin' for it. If you get that done before I 
 get back, give 'em each a tin cup, send 'em down to 
 the water's edge, and let 'em see if they can empty 
 this ocean." After which, he trudged hurriedly 
 away in quest of the author of the "City Beautiful." 
 
 He had nearly gained a half-way mark on the 
 hill, puffing and dripping, before he paused to rest. 
 Lamenting his rotundity, he sat down on a boulder 
 to recover his breath, ran a shirt-sleeve over his wet 
 forehead, removed his hat, and looked below to where 
 his little army was spreading out. The ring of 
 axes, as the swarm of laborers cleared away the scrub 
 timber that encroached upon the beach, came faintly 
 up to his ears. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 141 
 
 "That," he thought to himself, "is just wasted 
 labor. The suckers that buy land here are the ones 
 that ought to be payin' for that ; but I'll be hanged 
 if I'm goin' to show the white feather for two hundred 
 a day, and that's just about what that bunch of 
 sheep-herders are supposed to be gettin'." 
 
 Casting his eye out toward the end of the wharf, 
 something else attracted his observation. It was the 
 schooner, laden with lumber for the man from Iowa. 
 He clapped his hat on his head with an air of deter- 
 mination, and scowled, even as the deck-hands were 
 lowering away a boat to bring a stern line to the 
 wharf that he had caused to be constructed. He 
 forget his breathlessness, and succumbed to a slow 
 indignation. 
 
 "They're goin' to get their land for nothin', arc 
 they?" he said to himself, with a slow grin. And 
 then : "Well, I guess not." 
 
 Abruptly he retraced his steps down the steep 
 declivity, heedless of boulders, and fallen logs that 
 obstructed his path, and toddled as fast as his short 
 legs would permit out on the wharf to where the 
 "nice men from Iowa" were waiting to begin the 
 unloading of their cargo. 
 
 "Say," he blurted to the nearest, "you're the man 
 who is goin' to open a lumber-, coal- and feed-yard 
 here, ain't you.'* I'm William Burmah Jones, Colonel 
 Hatch's partner. 
 
 "No, I'm the man that's goin' to open the hard- 
 Ware store," was the reply. Todd is my name. I'm 
 J. P. My brother's J. W." 
 
 "Then it's J. W. I want to talk to," said Burmah, 
 and promptly turned away to the other man. 
 
 "J. W." was a cadaverous-looking individual, with 
 
142 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 high cheek-bones, a nose like a wandering minstrel, 
 and pig eyes. Burmah quickly catalogued him. 
 Honesty and acquisitiveness were portrayed on J. 
 W.'s face. 
 
 "Hey," began the Kansan, "there seems to be some 
 mistake here. Why are you landing lumber on my 
 wharf?" 
 
 J. W. hastened to explain, while Burmah assumed 
 an appearance of perturbation. 
 
 "There seems to be some sort of mix-up," he de- 
 clared, with a vast sorrow on his fat face. "To 
 begin with, I understand the Colonel gave you the 
 wrong number on some lots. That place, where he 
 told you you could plant your lumber-yard, isn't 
 open at all. I told the Pacific and Oriental Steam- 
 ship Company they could have that for a dock more 
 than three months ago." He lied with the engaging 
 candor of a child. 
 
 The two men from Iowa began a loud and violent 
 protest; but they were checked by the fat man, who 
 snapped his fingers in their faces. 
 
 "Say," he bawled, with an abrupt pretense of 
 anger, "what did you fellows expect for nothin'.'* 
 Don't you know that every foot of this water-front 
 down here is goin' to be worth from two to five hun- 
 dred dollars a front foot, within the next six months.?* 
 You didn't think that the Colonel meant to present 
 you with fifteen thousand dollars worth of property 
 in order to get a dinky little lumber-yard up here, did 
 you? Why, he's tryin' to be your friend! He's 
 givin' you a chance. He's lettin' you in on the 
 ground floor. The land that he meant is off up 
 there in the tide flat. What is the lot that you 
 thought he gave you?" 
 
THE BOOMERS. 143 
 
 The brothers from Iowa hastily consulted 
 memorandum books. 
 
 "Lots A, 217, to A, 230," they asserted. 
 
 "Oh, I see how that is," calmly asserted Burmah, 
 consulting an absolutely blank page in a memoran- 
 dum book, which he took from his own pocket. "You 
 simply made a mistake in the letter. What the 
 Colonel said, was that he'd give you lots K-217 to 30, 
 they're the ones away back up yonder." 
 
 The place to which he pointed at that hour of the 
 day was on a sloping beach that lay flat and glisten- 
 ing in the sunlight. The brothers from Iowa shaded 
 their eyes with their hands, and stared at it. De- 
 spair was on their faces. 
 
 "Why, it would cost two or three thousand dollars 
 to build a wharf up there," J. W. asserted gloomily. 
 
 "But what do you expect.?" demanded Burmah. 
 And then he suddenly became the suave and seductive 
 dealer in real-estate. "You gentlemen seem to over- 
 look the fact that you get the first lumber-yard, and 
 the first hardware store, in what is bound to be one 
 of the biggest cities in the whole North-west. You 
 get a chance to make hundreds of thousands of dol- 
 lars here, and now you stand airound, like a pair 
 of kids, full of green apples and screamin' for pare- 
 goric, all because there's been a little mistake made 
 on your part." 
 
 "But we've got a schooner load of lumber, and 
 enough stuiff to stock a small hardware store, right 
 here, now, and no place to put it," screamed J. W., 
 as if in acute pain. 
 
 Burmah Jones was the soul of sympathy. He 
 threatened to do anything, from tendering his own 
 purse, to weeping on the brother's shoulders. 
 
144 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 "It's too bad," he almost wailed. "It's too badi" 
 And then he suddenly brightened. "But say, you 
 didn't blow in all the money you've got, did you, 
 on this stock?" 
 
 The Todd Brothers, carried by storm, admitted 
 that they had some money left. 
 
 "Then," said Burmah cheerfully, "you can afford 
 to pay five thousand dollars for the land up there at 
 that corner of the cove, where there is deep water, and 
 I will see that you get it, even if I have to take more 
 out of my own pocket to make good." 
 
 It is doubtful if he ever brought to bear more 
 persuading magnetism and eloquence than he poured 
 out on the Todd Brothers within the next hour and a 
 half. But, at the end of that time, he had mag- 
 nanimously permitted them to unload their schooner, 
 and temporarily use the spot cleared by the laborers 
 on the beach, and had in his pocket a thousand dollars 
 in cash, and a ninety-day note for three thousand 
 additional. 
 
 "Well," he remarked to himself, complacently, as 
 he watched Hubbard, Arabella, the Colonel, and the 
 quartet descending the trail, "this reminds me of a 
 thing that used to be in my copy book at school: 
 'Count that day lost whose low-descending sun views 
 o'er thy work without some worthy person done.' " 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 YET THE KNAVE BESTS NOT. 
 
 "This Port Hatch, I want to tell you fellers, is no 
 joke," asserted Burmah Jones, addressing the four 
 young lawyers from Chattanooga in the privacy of 
 the new office the following morning, after their re- 
 turn to Seattle. "It's the biggest opportunity that 
 was ever offered to a bunch of people to make money. 
 Now, if you fellers have got anything, you want to 
 get busy. I'm a lot older than any of you, and I'm 
 no financial shark. I don't know nothin' about it, 
 except this: that there's a ten-to-one bet that it's 
 goin' to be the big railway town of the North-west, 
 outside of Seattle; also, that the Colonel would nat- 
 urally favor you more than anyone else in the 
 world. He'd let you in on the ground floor of every- 
 thing. He told me so ; but said I wasn't to influence 
 you. I'm not. I'm just tellin' you that, if you 
 have any money loose, you want to get aboard before 
 it's too late. You can buy land now for five hundred 
 a lot that will be worth five thousand before this 
 year slides out. And that ain't all ! You owe it to 
 yourselves, the Colonel, Chattanooga, and Miss Ara- 
 bella, to take hold." 
 
 He paused impressively, and the four young men, 
 who were lounging around in attentive attitudes, 
 nodded briskly to show that they were ready to da 
 the "taking hold" as soon as a place for a grip 
 should be exposed. 
 
 "Listen !" Burmah went on, in a confidential tone, 
 after glancing around the room as if about to expose 
 
 145 
 
146 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 a secret that must not pass beyond them. "Colonel 
 Hatch is one of the greatest financial geniuses that 
 this country has ever known. He sees away off 
 three or four miles, while the rest of us are like 
 sprinters at a country fair, lookin' at the white 
 tape just fifty yards up the track. It's up to us to 
 do the short distances, and let him advise us for the 
 big finish. Now, are you with me.'^" 
 
 "We are," they asserted in solemn chorus. Show 
 us how?" 
 
 "Got any money?" asked Burmah, cautiously. 
 "For, if you have, you ought to take advantage of 
 this chance." 
 
 The members of the Chattanooga contingent 
 looked at him earnestly, and then at one another. 
 
 "I could take a few lots," asserted Little Billy, 
 fumbling in his pocket for a cheque-book. 
 
 "Me, too," asserted Tommy, not to be outdone 
 in this great work of boosting Port Hatch. 
 
 "First come, first served," cheerfully asserted 
 Burmah, striving hard to keep his gratification 
 masked, and looking expectantly at Pick, who could 
 not stand the pressure, and announced that he, too, 
 would like to have at least two lots; but Kirby re- 
 fused to declare himself, and sat quietly. Burmah's 
 eyes gleamed a little savagely, but he made no com- 
 ment on Kirby's hesitancy. 
 
 "Very well," he said, stepping to the wall, and 
 un-rolling the set of plats that he had brought 
 back from Hubbard's work tent. "Now, if you 
 want my advice, I shall say that this part here" — 
 he indicated with a fat forefinger — "will probably 
 be the main business street. Indeed, I shall tell you 
 in confidence that it is Mr. Hubbard's plan to induce 
 
THE BOOMERS. 147 
 
 merchants to build up here, so that the beach land, 
 down there, can be sold for warehouses, factories, 
 piers, ship-yards and all that. If I were like you 
 fellers are, I'd own all that land up there on Main 
 Street. There's where the contract for pavin' is 
 let. It'll be the first street paved in the town. Now, 
 how many lots do each of you want ?" 
 
 With the exception of Kirby, they all invested, 
 and the real-estate agent calmly pasted little red 
 tags, reading "Sold", on each one as picked out. 
 Kirby still held back as if sceptical; but Burmah 
 Jones did not even look at him. Far be it from Bur- 
 mah to coax anyone to buy land in Port Hatch! 
 From their wallets, the three purchasers drew out 
 their drafts and certified cheques, and gravely made 
 their first venture. Into the capacious wallet of 
 Burmah Jones went the narrow slips of paper. 
 
 "Now," he said, briskly. "I shall see to it that 
 your deeds are forthcomin' at once, and in the time 
 it takes to get 'em ready you shall have my receipt." 
 
 "Oh, never mind that. Mister Jones; we trust 
 you. The Colonel's introduction is enough for me," 
 stoutly asserted Tommy, and into this chorus joined 
 Pick and Little Billy, while Kirby began to feel like 
 an outsider, but was still too cautious to venture. 
 Burmah observed the thin-drawn scowl on Kirby's 
 eyebrows, and decided that this young man might 
 give trouble, and began placing mental sentinels on 
 guard. Privately, he had learned that Kirby was 
 the wealthiest of the young men from Chattanooga; 
 hence he rather resented that Kirby did not "chip 
 into" this jack-pot that he was so carefully arrang- 
 ing. But not so much as a quiver of an eye-lash be- 
 trayed this distrust. 
 
148 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 "Everything has to have a head to it," he ob- 
 served, leaning back and feeling the crinkle of seven 
 thousand dollars' worth of drafts and cheques in his 
 pocket. It's only right that you young men should 
 get in with me now, and boostin's what makes the 
 globe whirl. If there warn't somethin' to keep it 
 rollin', it might drop out through space, and be- 
 come as dead as the moon. So, as I'm the one that's 
 doin' all the hirin', under the Colonel's suggestions, 
 I'm goin' to say somethin' more. There'll be no law 
 business in Port Hatch for some time; but we need 
 a lawyer up there." 
 
 The quartet agreed on this. 
 
 "Suppose, then, that we have Kirby Smith go up 
 there and attend to that. We'll have an office built 
 for him, right away, somewhere close to the offices 
 of the Port Hatch Land Company." 
 
 Kirby thought this was very fine; but the others 
 looked glum. 
 
 "He can make his expenses from his clients," 
 suavely said Burmah, and Kirby, already compro- 
 mised by an acceptance, had to agree, or appear mean. 
 
 "Did I hear you say, one day, that you had edited 
 a paper at the^ College?" politely queried Burmah 
 of Pick. 
 
 The latter proudly asserted that this was true. 
 
 "Then, seein' as we have to start a paper right 
 away," observed Burmah, making industrious mem- 
 oranda with a pencil, "we must buy a printin' plant, 
 and have Mr. Pickett open the semi-weekly news- 
 paper. We'll talk about its name later." 
 
 Pick, while not entirely satisfied, nodded, and not 
 even this slight show of reluctance escaped Uxe sharp 
 eyes that watched him. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 149 
 
 "The owner of the first newspaper in Port Hatch,"^ 
 observed Burmah, as if to himself, "has a big re- 
 sponsibility. An editor that's any good i& the 
 heaviest force any community ever gets. Think of 
 Horace Greeley, and Charley Dana, and Colonel 
 Blethen," he said, "and of all they've done! Are 
 you sure you can fill the bill?" he demanded anx- 
 iously of Pick. 
 
 Thus put on his mettle, Pick was certain that he 
 could. And so Burmah had adroitly arranged to 
 divert Kirby, who had not bought lots, and Pickett, 
 who had been the last to come forward with cash, 
 to scenes other than those that might be too active. 
 
 "Well," assented he, as if hesitant, "that shall be 
 your chance." 
 
 He thoughtfully whirled in his new chair, and 
 looked down the street, as if coming to some momen- 
 tous decision. Below him the totem-pole in Pioneer 
 Square loomed ancient and ugly. In that long, open 
 space, street-cars whirled, and clamored with loud 
 warning bells. Its activity fascinated him, in spite 
 of his efforts at concentration, but he brought his' 
 responsive mind back to business. Here were three 
 young men, stt least, who believed in him, three young 
 men starting out in life, who trusted to his general- 
 ship. For a full minute he struggled with a half- 
 defined desire to return them their money, and tell 
 them to walk out, advising them that it was all but 
 a huge joke. Then, habit mastering him, he went 
 ahead, inflexibly, with his plans, even as the spider 
 goes steadily forward with the web that is to en- 
 mesh those venturing too close to its industry. 
 
 "I'm goin' to offer to Mister Reynolds," he said, 
 quietly, "the position of Secretary and Treasurer 
 
150 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 to the Port Hatch Land Company — a firm, and not 
 a corporation — at a salary of two hundred dollars 
 per month, and with an interest in the stock should 
 it be made a corporation, which seems possible. 
 
 Little Billy's gasp of gratification had not sub- 
 sided before Burmah went on in that same level voice : 
 
 "And I'm goin' to choose as General Publicity 
 Agent for everything pertainin' to Port Hatch, Mr. 
 Travers, because I believe that him and me'll under- 
 stand that part of the game, and get along together, 
 and he will get the same money. Mr. Smith gets 
 the fees from the law business that's bound to come ; 
 Mr. Pickett gets the first newspaper in Port Hatch, 
 and we give him the plant to start with. The others 
 get salaries, and can be on the inside of what ought 
 to make us all rich. So, there you are !" 
 
 There was not one of them, college-bred as they 
 Were, which he was not, cultured as they were, which 
 he was not, educated to dress, which he was not, 
 who could tell why, when he made this flat, uncom- 
 promising statement, they had no vocal objection 
 to offer. All they knew was that in the man was 
 some quiet leadership, some indefinable power that 
 made them accept anything he said as an ultimatum. 
 There was but one who was not disappointed, and 
 that was Kirby Smith, who had b^en given his 
 ambition. Yet Kirby Smith understood that, for some 
 reason he could not fathom, he had been squarely 
 placed outside the breastworks of profit. He, as 
 well as the others, surmised that, if they had arisen 
 together, and voiced a protest, this same fat, badly 
 dressed man would have told them that he had no 
 desire save to meet their wishes, and that, in ac- 
 cordance, he would immediately present them with 
 
THE BOOMERS. 151 
 
 three little houses in Port Hatch, leaving each of them 
 to recover from beneath a lumber pile his brave 
 shingle, and hang it fluttering to the winds to creak 
 itself into rusty uselessness. Each would have been 
 permitted to practise law as best he might, knowing 
 all the time that this strange, inscrutable man, vulgar 
 yet Napoleonic, would see to it that all business was 
 transacted by Seattle lawyers. They did not in the 
 least pause to consider that favors had been be- 
 stowed in exact proportions to favors given. Little 
 Billy had become the Kansan's right-hand man be- 
 cause he had been the first to show his faith with 
 money; Tommy had come next because he had been 
 second; Pick third because he had been third; and 
 Kirby Smith was cut off as being the one who was 
 not amenable. 
 
 "Now," the quiet voice of Burmah went on, "we 
 shall each give the other feller all the assistance 
 we can. If Mr. Smith has a library, he will want 
 to send for it; or, if he hasn't, he may want to find 
 one that he can buy cheap." 
 
 There was a certain suggestive emphasis on the 
 last word. 
 
 "Mr. Pickett will probably want to go out and 
 find a plant for printin' a newspaper. And, by the 
 way, I think you'd better buy a linotype. We can't 
 tell how soon the paper will have to print a daily 
 issup." 
 
 Pick began to see rainbows. 
 
 "And my new immediate assistants will come to 
 me this afternoon, so's we can discuss our cam- 
 paign," asserted Burmah, thus airily dismissing them. 
 Quite surely, he was welding them all to his will — 
 and this was merely that he, Burmah Jones, should 
 
152 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 get all there was to be had, and then step away, 
 silently and gently, always within the law, before 
 the great air-castle crumbled. 
 
 They separated, and Burmah was left alone to 
 meditate, and to arrange his plans. Everything 
 now was to focus upon one point, to get action and 
 results as speedil;^ as possible, and constantly to 
 present an appearance of sincerity. Little Billy's 
 very frankness, his bigness, his candid smile, his 
 pleasant voice, his taciturnity, would make him the 
 ideal man to meet persons in the Seattle offices, and 
 these talents would render him effective. Those who 
 came to investigate would be convinced, and spend 
 their money. Tommy, fiery, ingenious and impres- 
 sionable, could be enthused, and would make an ideal 
 press-agent. The only trouble with him was that 
 he was too honest to lie willingly. He must be 
 molded to modern business ideas, which Burmah 
 Jones was not alone in believing consisted of, "No 
 matter what the means, so long as the end is gained." 
 Pick, it was certain, would become indefatigible in 
 whatever he attempted. The Port Hatch paper, 
 printed before there was a subscriber possible out- 
 side of Todd Brothers, "nice men from Iowa," would 
 be creditable enough to send out to the East as 
 advertising matter. It could be filled with adver- 
 tisements of Seattle merchants, when once they were 
 convinced that a certain number of copies were to 
 be sent broadcast, because nowhere in the world 
 had there been massed together a more progressive 
 set of men than those who wielded the commercial des- 
 tinies of that wonder city of the North-west. And 
 Kirby Smith ? Hang Kirby Smith ! Let him sit in his 
 office, presented gratis, and watch the town grow 
 
THE BOOMERS. 153 
 
 beneath his eyes while he waited hopefully for a 
 client. 
 
 Burmah was at the dock to meet the Colonel and 
 Arabella when they arrived, that he might be the 
 first to inform the blossoming financier of the ar- 
 rangements he had made. As usual, everything 
 met with the Colonel's approval. 
 
 "Couldn't have taken care of my young friends 
 better myself," declared the Colonel. "I don't see 
 how it is that your ideas and mine always run so 
 closely together, Burmah." 
 
 And the odd part of it was that the meant it. 
 
 "Now," said Burmah, "I must tell you something 
 else. The boys, all except Mister Smith, bought lots 
 on Main Street. I telephoned the pavin' company, 
 and their men will begin work there to-morrow. I 
 telephoned to the contractors to come in, and bid on 
 your house, because the sooner we get that under 
 way, the quicker folks'll know we mean business. I've 
 hired two more stenographers and a book-keeper. 
 If you want me to, I'll start in to get out some ad- 
 vertisin' matter that I think we'd ought to have." 
 
 And to all this Colonel assented with alacrity. 
 But that feature over which he enthused most was 
 that the young men from Chattanooga had evidenced 
 their faith in him by buying lots. He referred to 
 this immediately after he had reached the new offices, 
 seen Arabella depart for her hotel, and seated him- 
 self comfortably in the private room that Burmah 
 had alloted to his use. 
 
 "The lots I sold them. Colonel," said Burmah, 
 quietly, "are all from your land with the exception 
 of one, which I believe is mine." 
 
 He reached into his pocket, and took out the 
 
154 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 cheques and drafts, and laid them on the desk before 
 the Colonel, who scowled at them, to appear very 
 business-like and cautions, as he scrutinized the en- 
 dorsements. 
 
 "Seven thousand dollars," he said, as if hypnotized 
 by the sum. "Why, that's as much as I had left 
 when I came away from Chattanooga." 
 
 He laid the slips of paper on the desk, and whirled 
 toward the real-estate agent with a warm gleam in 
 his eyes. 
 
 "Mister Jones — Burmah," he said, "it isn't fair 
 for me to grasp all this opportunity, Sir, when you 
 are the one who brought it to my consideration. No, 
 Sir, it isn't fair. I want you to do me the favor 
 of accepting half this money as your own. I want 
 you to do more than that. I want you to take half 
 of everything that comes in from all those lots we 
 had surveyed, from now on." 
 
 Burmah had not expected this generosity. He had 
 confidently believed that by the use of diplomacy he 
 would get his share and a little more of all that was 
 sold ; but he had not, in his wildest moment, hoped 
 that the Colonel would offer him half of the total 
 receipts. But not by the slightest twitching of a 
 muscle did he display any emotion. 
 
 "Thank you. Colonel," he said, with beautiful 
 simplicity. "I accept your offer in the same spirit 
 in which it is made. It's a pleasure to do things 
 with the right man at the helm, and you're it." 
 
 The Colonel beamed at this praise, and, as he 
 carefully divided the cheques on the desk, replied, 
 with due modesty : 
 
 "Making money is very easy, after all, Burmah. 
 It consists in knowing how. You have no idea how 
 
THE BOOMERS. 155 
 
 long I studied over finance after it — ahem — became 
 necessary for me to enter into commercial pursuits." 
 
 He pocketed the cheques, and stood up with an air 
 of industry. 
 
 "I must go right down now," he declared, "and 
 buy some lumber to build my house with. No — 
 maybe I'd best buy it off Mr. Todd. A very nice 
 man is Mr. Todd. We must patronize our home 
 merchants." 
 
 "But, Colonel," objected Burmah, "I telephoned 
 for some contractors to come around, and give you a 
 bid on the house !" 
 
 The Colonel looked at him blankly. 
 
 "That's the best way to get 'em built, you know," 
 Burmah went on, "and the contractor likes to buy 
 his own material." 
 
 "I'll declare I never thought of that," said the 
 Colonel. "It seems to me that down in Chattanooga 
 'most every one tends to all that himself. Building's 
 a little out of my line." 
 
 "Then," said Burmah, cheerfully, "you just leave 
 those plans you brought, and let me talk to the con- 
 tractors." 
 
 "Thank you, Burmah," replied the Colonel. 
 "That might save time. I've got a heap of things 
 to attend to. I'm a powerful-busy man. 
 
 He promptly departed for his hotel, from which> 
 carefully groomed, he emerged two hours later to 
 take Arabella for a long drive in a hired touring 
 car — this being the important business that occupied 
 his attention. And Burmah Jones, heavy and glower- 
 ing, was brow-beating the different contractors that 
 had come at his behest, and driving them to give 
 quick estimates, and displaying a knowledge of all 
 
156 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 the details of contracting that compelled the re- 
 luctant admiration of those with whom he wrangled. 
 A week before he would have frankly informed the 
 contractors, that he expected to get a good fat 
 commission for giving them the job, and that they 
 had to figure him in on the profits ; but now, with the 
 Colonel's generosity still biting into his mind, he 
 had not the heart, and fought as valiantly for the 
 Colonel's interests as if they were his own, and an 
 able fighter he proved. 
 
 "I'm a sucker for doin' it," he communed with 
 himself that evening, after he had closed a contract 
 much to the Colonel's advantage, "but a feller can't 
 be a hog. That is a new way of play in' the game 
 with me, but I guess it'll come out all right in the 
 end, and that I'll come pretty near gettin' all that's 
 comin' to me." 
 
 Then, with sudden impatience, he added: 
 
 "Hang the Colonel ! Why in the devil can't he do 
 somethin' mean, or somethin' to give me an excuse 
 to hand it to him right? If he'd only lie to me, or 
 try to skin me, or do somethin' — 'most anything, so 
 I could have a little interest in my work !" 
 
 And the Colonel, at that moment, was sitting in 
 a box at the Opera House, surrounded by the four 
 young men from Chattanooga and Arabella, all in 
 perfect evening dress, and being pointed out by 
 many in the audience as the millionaire financier who 
 was going to make Port Hatch a rival of the great 
 city of Seattle. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A RACE FOR A FORTUNE. 
 
 BuRMAH sat in his office in Seattle with a divided 
 mind, a most unusual state of things with that astute 
 gentleman? while in the reception-room outside nu- 
 merous prospective clients of the Port Hatch Land 
 Company awaited interviews. Some of these scanned 
 the printed matter which the same Burmah Jones 
 had written with great sapience, for in response to 
 these circulars they had come from all quarters of 
 the United States, the advance guard of the great 
 army of those who wish to get rich quick. There 
 were farmers from Illinois, mountaineers from Ten- 
 nessee, planters from Mississippi, cattle-men from 
 west of the Rocky Mountains, and a number of those 
 refugees who had succeeded in escaping from the 
 conservative States of Massachuetts., New York and 
 Connecticut. The latter sat stiffly in their chairs 
 with a godlike air of knowledge, supercilious and 
 thoroughly convinced that outside of the very wards 
 in w:hich they had lived there was nothing worth 
 knowing. These, particularly those from New 
 York, would be the first and easiest lambs to be 
 shorn by the Kansan. In his classification, the next 
 easiest would be those from the South, while the cat- 
 tle-men of the West would be the last whose pockets 
 he would pick. For a long time, his assertion had 
 been this: 
 
 "Life is too short to waste on the wise guys. 
 Tbere*s no place in the world where the market for 
 gold-bjiclcs IS so good as in New York, because in the 
 
 157 
 
158 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 big jay town they're too sure they know it all to 
 ever know anything." 
 
 On the desk in front of Mr. Jones lay a bank-book 
 neatly balanced, its figures disclosing the fact that 
 he had cash enough on hand to go back to Kansas, 
 and open a First National Bank, in a small city. 
 He was thoroughly convinced in his own mind that 
 the time was ripe for his departure ; yet, being a good 
 gambler, he was restrained by the fact that, in the 
 outer waiting-room, there was more money to be 
 had through his never failing and constantly seduc- 
 tive line of argument. He was a virtuoso in playing 
 upon the weaker strings of humanity. He could talk 
 religion to a preacher, orthodoxy to a priest, horse- 
 racing to a turf man, or the price of rice and bacon to 
 a grocer. He could discuss stocks with a broker, or 
 the best method of salting gold mines with a bunco 
 man. He could be firm with a financier, obstinate 
 with the obstreperous, or deferential to the great. 
 He could brow-beat a pugilist, or cry like an under- 
 taker. Furthermore, he knew exactly the man whom 
 he should introduce to Colonel Hatch seated com- 
 fortably in the inner sanctum, and also the hundred 
 others to whom the Colonel should never be intro- 
 duced. He had strained through industrious days 
 and fevered nights, financing Port Hatch, in those 
 three months that had elapsed since that day he 
 calmly stripped the Todd Brothers of four thousand 
 dollars. The golden stream was beginning to rush 
 in — a flood of yellow, in return for the money he had 
 spent in extensive newspaper and magazine adver- 
 tising. A Federal inquiry as to whether or not he 
 was using the mails for fraudulent purposes, had 
 been routed utterly, and the notes cashed by two 
 banks had been deftly met. iThe wages of that 
 
THE BOOMERS. 159 
 
 army of employees, which he had driven to the point 
 of heart-break, and that, too, without the remotest 
 idea of ever paying, had been paid, and this he con- 
 sidered a piece of misfortune. No man had come 
 seeking employment whom Burmah Jones had not 
 employed, and, with the rapidity of a hot-house 
 flower, fertilized and nurtured. Port Hatch had be- 
 come a city. The magic of a magician's wand 
 seemed vested in the fat hand that now toyed with the 
 ruler in the private office of the Port Hatch Land 
 Company. 
 
 "This thing's got to bust, like a toy rubber pig 
 when some kid bites his tail off," he reasoned. "When 
 it does, and a lot of those boobs get busy nosin' into 
 the affairs of this Port Hatch Land Company, there'll 
 be at least three more nice rooms in some man's jail 
 occupied by quite permanent tenants. The Colonel 
 may get three years. Hubbard will probably get* 
 two, and it's up to me to decide right now whether 
 me or Little Billy is to have the third one. I did the 
 best I could to keep the Colonel from having Ara- 
 bella's picture put on all his letterheads and cheques, 
 but the old cuss insisted on it so hard that I had to 
 lay down my hand, and that'll drag her into it." 
 
 He gave a deep and troubled sigh, for he was 
 coming to a decision, and it was exceptionally slow 
 for one who had the admirable habit of saying yes 
 or no, when pressed for time. Greed and a moral 
 sense that had been long- subjugated, but now 
 struggled for a chance, were having a fight. What- 
 ever he might do, this was the turning point. All 
 his life he had been the first rat to leave the sinking 
 ship. Now, to his own amazement, he found himself 
 aboard a foredoomed craft that held him. His native 
 shrewdness told him that the ship must sink, and yet 
 
160 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 he had come to love the planks over which he slipped 
 and struggled. Moreover, he was confronted with 
 another necessity for decision, inasmuch as the af- 
 fairs of the Seattle office were at such a stage that 
 it must become secondary in importance to the office 
 in Port Hatch, now presided over by Little Billy, who 
 had become a first-rate realty agent. Little Billy'fe 
 place in the Seattle office had been filled by a per- 
 fectly competent middle-aged man, named Billings, 
 who sold realty and answered questions just as auto- 
 matically as an agent in a great railway station 
 sells tickets, and gives information; a man always 
 polite and suave, never hurried, never annoyed, al- 
 ways willing and always ready. The Port Hatch 
 Semi-weehly Banner was a success, and had an en- 
 thusiastic editor with high ideals as to the power 
 of the press. Profound editorials issued from that 
 distant sanctum, advising presidents of their errors, 
 telling congressmen and senators for what bills they 
 should vote, and deploring the decline of Great Bri- 
 tain. It was a paper without hobbies or animosities, 
 and had once gained metropolitan notice, when it ob- 
 served the fact that the New York Sun had failed 
 to accuse William Jennings Bryan of being the cause 
 of the Ohio floods. Pick was making money, and 
 liked his place. The publicity department had 
 flourished under Tommy so effectually that Burmah 
 Jones had once remarked to himself : 
 
 "I'll make that boy the most accomplished liar in 
 the world, if I can only handle him for three months 
 more." 
 
 Kirby Smith had no money; but hoped on, and 
 still retained a fine faith in the majesty of the law. 
 Everything ran as smoothly as a six-cylinder car 
 just out of the agent's hands; but Burmah feared 
 
THE BOOMERS. 161 
 
 that, like the same six-cylinder car, the whole ma- 
 chine might balk at any moment. He had always 
 insisted that the greatest art in playing poker con- 
 sisted in knowing when to lay down your hand, and, 
 as far as he could reason, he neared the point in the 
 Port Hatch game where the hand, even though it 
 held four kings, should be deftly tossed into the dis- 
 card. To-day, he would have to take the boat for 
 Port Hatch, or write a letter pleading some excuse. 
 The excuse might be worded to the effect that he had 
 been called East suddenly by the death of a dear old 
 aunt. And then — good-by forever ! 
 
 His meditations were cut short by the entrance of 
 Billings. 
 
 "Mr. Jones," said that paragon of agents, 
 "there's a guy outside here that wants to talk with 
 you personally. Says his deal's one too big to be 
 handled by anybody but the chief." 
 
 "Send him in," said Burmah, wearily, wondering 
 if this were simply a false alarm. But he stiffened 
 himself with a jerk when he saw the man who entered, 
 for here was one who looked like ready money and 
 plain business. 
 
 "I am Henry Conover," said the visitor, extend- 
 ing a neatly engraved card with a well-gloved hand. 
 
 Burmah arose to shake hands, and to offer his 
 visitor a seat. He looked at the card as if more 
 closely to observe the name ; but at the same time he 
 was mentally appraising Mr. Conover. The latter, 
 a square-jawed, keen-eyed, clean-cut man, of perhaps 
 fifty years of age, every line of whose face betok- 
 ened commercial acumen, dropped into the proffered 
 chair, and settled into its leathery billows. For 
 some reason, he seemed to be studying the face of 
 Burmah Jones as if speculating whether or not that 
 
162 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 face was familiar; but, if he believed himself ac- 
 quainted, by picture, or hear-say, with Burmah, he 
 seemed unable to recall him, and was more at ease. 
 
 "I have two partners," he said, without waste of 
 time, "who, with myself, have been handling Omaha 
 real estate, and we've decided to seek a new field. We 
 have been up at Port Hatch, and it looks good to us. 
 I suppose there is room for more agents unless the 
 Railway Company wishes to dispose of all its lands 
 in its own behalf?" 
 
 Burmah's soul thrilled with joy. Here was a 
 man who believed the current talk that the big 
 Transcontinental Railway was coming to Port Hatch, 
 and that the Colonel was merely one of its own 
 financiers, handling its realty department. To strike 
 while the iron is hot was a maxim with Burmah, 
 and he swung around in his chair with a seductive 
 air of frankness and sincerity. 
 
 "The Company does desire to handle its own prop- 
 erty, Mr. Conover," he said; "but, at the same 
 time, it's a mighty liberal company. It gives men a 
 chance if they can show that they are out to boost 
 the Company's game. What can we do for you?" 
 
 "We thought perhaps you would be willing to sell 
 us enough land for an entire subdivision," said Mr. 
 Conover, as calmly as if discussing big deals were 
 his forte. 
 
 "How big?" demanded Burmah, entirely unruffled, 
 and suppressing his eagerness. 
 
 "That depends, of course," said the man from 
 Omaha. "But, if we can get the right kind of a deal, 
 we might take as much as a couple of hundred thou- 
 sand dollars' worth." 
 
 Burmah had to stare out of the window to keep 
 
THE BOOMERS. 163 
 
 the visitor from seeing the rapacious gleam thai 
 came into his eyes. 
 
 "Cash?" he a;sked, in a perfectly quiet voice. 
 
 "Half cash, and the rest on payments," said Con- 
 over; and then Burmah settled down to the skilful 
 defense, thrust and parry of the trained dealer. 
 But the man from Omaha proved a worthy foeman 
 in the battle for odds, and stood inflexibly on his 
 first offer. For three hours, they were like two 
 expert chess-players, meeting pawn with pawn, or 
 moving castles forward to the defense, and in all 
 that time Burmah never exposed his cupidity, but 
 talked as if a hundred thousand cash meant nothing 
 whatever to a company that was spending millions 
 of dollars in the construction of a railway. 
 
 He was convincing, he was masterful. He per- 
 suaded the stranger that this deal would show an 
 enormous profit, and he put an ornamental climax 
 on his attitude when he asserted that he, personally, 
 did not favor the deal at all ; and that he would have 
 to lay the matter before his superior. Colonel Alonzo 
 Fairfax Hatch. Also, the Colonel was a very busy 
 man, and probably would not have time to devote to 
 it for a few days ; but Burmah would try to find 
 opportunity to discuss it with him some time within 
 the week. He had to write the Colonel on some other 
 matters that were highly important, and would bring 
 up this matter also. Finally, he doubted whether the 
 
 Colonel would consent to the terms offered 
 
 And, by the way, had Mr. Conover any references? 
 
 The man from Omaha, now more eager than ever 
 to engage in the transaction, responded by extract- 
 ing the most fulsome recommendations from his 
 pocket, and a bank-letter of credit, showing that he 
 could pay a hundred thousand dollars, and still have 
 
164 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 sufficient left for operation. Burmah read through 
 all these gravely, with a bored air, and handed them 
 back. 
 
 "Well," he said, arising, "I can say no more to-day, 
 Mr. Conover, and I am a very busy man. I can't 
 even spare the time to go up and see the Colonel, but 
 will write him. I will give you an answer in three 
 days from now, if the Colonel can get to it, and give 
 a decision. If he can't, you'll have to wait, or drop 
 it. Personally I can't advise him to take it; but he 
 does things about as he pleases, and that's all there 
 is to it." 
 
 And then came the first real shock that Burmah 
 had sustained during the highly pleasant interview. 
 
 "In a way, I am glad to hear that Colonel Hatch 
 is the one who must make the decision," the visitor 
 said; "because my partners are there in Port Hatch 
 now, and I shall immediately send word to them, by 
 this afternoon's boat, so that they, too, can go and 
 have a talk with the Colonel." He consulted his 
 watch, and hastily slipped it back into his pocket. 
 "May I use your telephone?" he asked politely. 
 
 "Certainly," assented Burmah, swinging it toward 
 him. And, as the man talked, through Burmah's 
 mind flashed all the possibilities — and all threatened 
 disaster. He had made it so plain that he was too 
 busy to go to Port Hatch himself and interview the 
 Colonel that it would never do for him to change 
 front, lest the prospective purchaser become sus- 
 picious. Suspicion would, at the least, mean delay 
 in closing the big sale, and delays might prove worse 
 than dangerous. Suspicion, if carried to the point 
 of astute investigation, would terminate the entire 
 transaction, and such an opportunity would probably 
 never come again. He had played his game of non- 
 
THE BOOMERS. 165 
 
 chalance too strongly, and now found himself blocked 
 on every possible move, as far as words were con- 
 cerned. He had advanced his pawns prematurely. 
 
 Conover had been connected with the number he 
 desired, and Burmah walked to the window, and 
 stared down into the street, attempting to appear 
 disinterested, while listening with strained auditory 
 nerves. Every word came to him distinctly. 
 
 "You are the agent for the Port Hatch boat?" 
 asked Conover, and then: "I have an important 
 message to give you that I have not time to send 
 down. Will you write it for me, and give it to the 
 purser of the boat to be delivered to some messenger 
 in Port Hatch? Thank you. All ready? Here it 
 is: To Mr. Charles Wellington, at the hotel. Will 
 you and Frank make it a point to have a talk with 
 Colonel Hatch, just as soon as possible, about our 
 proposed deal, and use every endeavor to get him in 
 a frame of mind to close it quickly? Important that 
 you succeed for all depends on him. Sign it, Con- 
 over. Repeat it, please. Thank you. I will come 
 down later, and pay you for your trouble and ex- 
 pense. Good-by." 
 
 Conover arose, and thanked Burmah; and the lat- 
 ter's thoughts wlere swiftly planning even as he 
 reached to his desk, and pressed the bell that sum- 
 moned Billings. At the same time, he picked up 
 another visitor's card, and examined it thoughtfully, 
 as if thinking of the next interview, an action which 
 Conover, being a well-trained business man, accepted 
 as a dismissal. 
 
 "Well, I shall call in to see you day after to-mor- 
 row, Mr. Jones," he said, extending his hand. 
 
 Burmah accepted it, even as Billings, imperturb- 
 able and polite, appeared to answer his call. 
 
166 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 "Yes, day after to-morrow, in the late afternoon," 
 Burmah replied, completely at his ease so far as 
 manner went. "Been havin' nice weather for a visit, 
 haven't you? Sorry I can't find time to take you 
 around to my club this evenin', Mr. Conover ; but I'm 
 tied up. However, there are other days. Good-by." 
 
 That he had no club made no difference to Bur- 
 mah Jones. He shut the door behind the man from 
 Omaha, and suddenly all his deliberate slowness dis- 
 appeared, and his air of lazy content dropped from 
 him like the masque it was. 
 
 "Ring for a taxi' — quick !" he snapped. "It don't 
 matter who wants to see me. I can't be seen for at 
 least two days. Do what you can without me. Tell 
 'em you don't know where I've gone, but you think 
 Portland. I've got to get the Port Hatch boat, and 
 have got less than five minutes !" 
 
 He jerked a hand-bag from a wardrobe, and ran 
 hastily out through a side entrance and down the 
 stairs, fearing to descend by the elevator lest he 
 should meet his departing visitor. He looked 
 anxiously out into the street for a taxi-cab. He 
 saw one heading his way, but a team obstructed its 
 rush toward the curb, and Burmah, cursing volubly, 
 dashed into the street at the peril of his neck, and 
 pounced on the chauffeur. 
 
 "To the Schwabacher dock, as fast as you can 
 drive ! I'll pay all fines ; but get me there ! Quick !" 
 
 The driver threw his car around in a hairpin turn, 
 and shot through the crowded streets of the city that 
 forever rushes about its affairs. The car nearly 
 raked a policeman on a corner, and in vain he 
 shouted after it. It bent a fender against a slowly 
 backed truck, but never paused, for Burmah 
 shouted : 
 
THE BOOMERS. 167 
 
 "Let it go ! I'll pay for it." Everything must 
 make way, and the motor horn blew a wild, con- 
 tinuous warning. By fractions of an inch, they 
 missed a pedestrian or two, and once took to the 
 curb, to avoid collision with a blindered horse. They 
 swung recklessly down to the dock, and Burmah, 
 springing from the door as if thrown violently by 
 someone behind, vented an exclamation of disappoint- 
 ment. Far out in the sound the steamer for Port 
 Hatch churned the water behind, and threw long 
 white furrows under its fore-foot as it turned toward 
 the long neck of land behind which it would soon dis- 
 appear. 
 
 "Here," said Burmah, hastily scribbling on the 
 back of a card, "take this note up to my office, and 
 tell the man at the desk to settle all bills if you get 
 arrested. You know me. I'm Burmah Jones." 
 
 The chauffeur bowed in recognition of the name, 
 and climbed into his seat. But, before he had turned 
 his machine, Burmah had plunged into the office of a 
 towing company that stood at the end of the dock. 
 
 "I want a tug for Port Hatch — a fast tug — the 
 fastest you've got," he demanded curtly, and the 
 clerk behind the counter, urged to speed by the 
 visitor's dominance, turned to an inner office. 
 
 There was no time wasted in bargaining, for Bur- 
 mah cut that short with: 
 
 "Hang the price. Make it, and I'll pay it !" 
 
 Burmah was a man to make others move. Inside 
 of fifteen minutes, he stood on board a boat, watching 
 the lines being cast off from the deck, and then, all 
 his impatience concealed, calmly observed the en- 
 gineer at the engines as if haste meant nothing what- 
 ever to him. He had realized the danger while he 
 
168 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 listened to Conover's message. If the two men in Port 
 Hatch reached the Colonel first, the latter would cer- 
 tainly either let the land go for an absurd price, or, 
 in some freak of generosity, present them with what- 
 ever they wanted, and wish them God's blessing. He 
 must get to the Colonel before a bargain could be 
 clinched, and then pluck that hundred thousand dol- 
 lars which swung so temptingly before his nose! 
 Once let him get his hands on the money, and every- 
 thing else could go to smash, so far as one Burmah 
 Jones was concerned. By the side of the cabin he 
 stood and gazed down at the swirl of slow-moving 
 water as the tugboat began to obtain headway. He 
 walked forward, and stared back at the pilot, who 
 stood in the wheel-house above, rough, weather-beaten 
 and watchful. The big gold letters of the boat's 
 name-plate shone brightly, and Burmah hoped that 
 her appellation, The Hercules, was a misnomer. He 
 wanted speed, not strength. The pilot seemed in no 
 hurry, but there hung a comforting hope in the 
 cloud of black smoke that began to rush from the 
 smoke-stack, telling that below the firemen were forc- 
 ing their draughts. He stood quietly while The 
 Hercules swung out into midstream. The marvelous 
 harbor, deep enough to float the biggest ship in the 
 world, broad enough to give free-way to a battleship, 
 lay as placid as if it were of glass poured molten into 
 a cup, and left to cool. Wharves and warehouses, 
 mills and factories, bent over the edge of the water. 
 The broad flat, palpitant with industry and the fervid 
 youth of the West, sent its smoky spirals into the 
 sky, thin and gray and pale. Behind all arose the 
 splendid hills, shouldering the residences of the city, 
 and appearing like battlements impregnable to Fate 
 
THE BOOMERS. 169 
 
 itself. To one side now, dotted with islands tenanted 
 by industry, were the tide-lands, from which far- 
 seeing men had made fortunes. A slow-moving steam- 
 ship, huge and black, and laden with argonauts for 
 Alaska, was backing away from her wharf, and those 
 left on the shore were shouting shrill farewell. In 
 the distance, another huge steamer ran up the flag of 
 Japan, telling to the observant that she was prepar- 
 ing to breast the Pacific, and, by holding resolutely to 
 the west, would reach the east. He found time, even 
 in his stress, to think of what it all meant, this mar- 
 velous activity, this twisting life, and to see in it 
 resistless, invincible, daring assertion, a dauntless bid 
 for future eminence. This was a city made by men 
 who had been honest builders, men who flaunted as 
 a battle-cry that single pregnant phrase, so truly 
 Western and American, "Boost for Seattle." And 
 here on The Hercules was he, the wrecker, whose only 
 shibboleth had been, "Get all you can, and get." 
 
 For some reason baffling in its subtlety, but bear- 
 ing naked comparison, he felt small and mean and 
 ashamed of himself, as he turned away from that 
 sliding panorama, and looked out toward the bow of 
 The Hercules, now entering the open waters of the 
 beautiful sound. He shut his teeth savagely, and 
 scowled. This was no time for a man to weaken in 
 such a disreputable enterprise as that in which he 
 was involved. He must cut loose from everything. 
 He must get his clutch on the money of the Omaha 
 Syndicate, and go. Those who were foolish enough 
 to stick to the game, must stick, and pay for their 
 folly. 
 
 Away ahead, appearing like a white speck dropped 
 down on the blue waves of Puget Sound, steamed the 
 
170 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Port Hatch boat, carrying the message that might 
 upset all his plans. He looked anxiously up at the 
 stack of The Hercules, and the plume of black smoke 
 was still there, exactly as it had been but a few min- 
 utes before. It seemed to him that hours had passed 
 since he first observed it. To his impetuous and 
 intolerant mood, the boat seemed to be plodding. A 
 fever of impatience impelled him like a determined 
 horseman to use a spur. He hurried back to the 
 engine-room door, and shouted to the engineer 
 abruptly, all suavity and serenity dropped, and again 
 the man of action. 
 
 "Come here !" he commanded ; and the engineer, 
 wiping his hands on a piece of waste, obeyed. 
 
 "You've got two firemen down there, haven't you?" 
 Burmah asked, crisply. 
 
 "One fireman and a coal-passer." 
 
 "All right. That makes three of you. You get a 
 hundred dollars a-piece if you beat that other boat 
 into Port Hatch ;" and he took from his pocket a fat 
 wallet, and exposed three one-hundred-dollar bills. 
 
 "You're on. Boss ! I'd bust the boilers for that 
 much money," the engineer answered, and jumped 
 back to impart the news to his men. 
 
 Burmah turned immediately, and ran up the short 
 steps to the pilot-house, where without ceremony he 
 jerked open the door. The pilot turned, and scowled 
 at this intrusion, for the pilot-house is sacred, even 
 though the man who enters may be the one who has 
 chartered the boat. 
 
 "This boat," said Burmah, "ain't goin' fast enough 
 to suit me. It's speed I want. I want her to hump 
 herself till she cracks her hull. If you beat that boat 
 up yonder into Port Hatch by half an hour, you 
 
THE BOOMERS. 171 
 
 get a hundred and fifty dollars for your own pocket. 
 See ? Now get a hustle on you, and earn it ! I don't 
 want to be all day on this tub. Get busy! 
 
 He turned back, and slammed the door behind him, 
 leaving the astonished pilot to speculate as to what 
 urgent business that fat, short, domineering man 
 might have on hand. But there rang the voice of the 
 master and the liberality of one willing to pay for 
 his whims. So the speaking-tubes shrilled, and The 
 Hercules began to throb and squat lower in the 
 water, like a foot-racer preparing to get off the 
 mark. The waves commenced to smash up across her 
 up-tilted bow, flushing the forward deck, and cascad- 
 ing from the rope buffer that disfigured her nose. 
 The deck beneath shivered, and the trees along the 
 in-shore, where she ran to find the stillest water, 
 began to slide past more rapidly. The Hercules was 
 making the record run of her existence. 
 
 The white speck ahead gradually took on a more 
 clear-cut shape, then began to loom distinctly. Next 
 it started to come back toward them in perspective — ■ 
 it came abreast. On the decks of the Port Hatch boat, 
 the passengers crowded to the nearest rail to watch 
 the passing of this sea-going tug that tore the water 
 in a frenzy of haste. The Hercules, with her huge 
 engines at full speed, was now a seething, racing 
 thing, recklessly plunging over the water with an 
 uplifted bow, as if run by drunken men; but on her 
 decks none save one or two roustabouts were in sight, 
 for Burmah had discreetly gone to the farther side 
 of the cabin, lest someone should see and recognize 
 him. He must take no chances of arousing inquiry, 
 or curiosity. It was his part to get into Port Hatch, 
 find the Colonel, and influence him before the message 
 
172 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 arrived that would set two probably clever men on 
 the trail like hounds on a close quarry. He smiled 
 with satisfaction when, after some minutes had 
 passed, he looked back over the torn wake, and saw 
 that the Port Hatch boat, sedately making her reg- 
 ular schedule, was being dropped behind as if she 
 were tied. He lighted a huge cigar. He had won 
 the first move, and now the break was more than even. 
 He would get Mr. Conover's hundred thousand dol- 
 lars, unless The Hercules blew up or broke down 
 before she finished that desperate spurt. The miles 
 were swimming away behind them, and the persistent 
 clang of the shovels below, feeding coal into the boil- 
 ers, told that the men in the engine- and fire-rooms 
 were taking every ounce out of the tug that she could 
 stand. Burmah Jones gaily hummed a little song to 
 himself, for the elation of accomplishment had en- 
 tered his head, and intoxicated him. He felt like 
 shaking hands with himself in congratulation, and 
 wondered if there was not someone on board who had 
 nice strong liquor which he might obtain to drink a 
 toast to himself, the lone passenger on this driven, 
 rocking craft. He was speculating as to which man 
 on the boat would be the most likely to supply this 
 demand, when there came a sudden terrific ear-split- 
 ting report from the engine-room, and the sharp 
 crash of rent wood in the superstructure. A cloud 
 of steam belched out through the side doors, and 
 The Hercules quivered from bow to stern. The screw 
 stopped revolving, and from the engine-room, with 
 arms held over his face to avoid the white and deadly 
 mist, plunged the engineer, followed in turn by the 
 coal-passer and fireman. The door of the pilot- 
 house flew open violently, and down the steps dove 
 
THE BOOMERS. 178 
 
 the pilot, set-faced and swearing steadily in a dull 
 voice. A roar of steam burst from the escape-valve, 
 sending a heavy white cloud upward toward the blue 
 afternoon sky. But, above the noise, Burmah, who 
 had stepped to the rail, prepared to jump overboard, 
 heard the pilot shout: 
 
 "What's happened.?" 
 
 Burmah recovered himself, and hurried after the 
 latter to hear the engineer's reply. 
 
 "Blew out a high-pressure cylinder head. Nobody 
 hurt down here." 
 
 There was more said, which Burmah could not 
 hear ; but he surmised that the pilot was cursing the 
 engineer for over-zealousness to win the reward, and 
 that the engineer was attempting to foist the blame 
 on the fireman, who, in turn, tried to shift it along 
 to the coal-passer. 
 
 As suddenly as pandemonium had broken loose, it 
 ceased when the escape-valve, relieved of pressure 
 became silent. The Hercules began veering a little 
 wildly as she lost headway, and the pilot ran back to 
 the wheel, and headed her toward the nearest shore, 
 where a tiny cove appeared to offer depth and shelter. 
 Her impetus carried her forward, but the waves no 
 longer dashed against her short nose, and she no 
 longer squatted down in a nest of boiling water. The 
 men from the engine-room had ducked back through 
 the dissipating and cooling clouds of steam, and then, 
 as she began to slow down, with never a quiver of 
 engine nor throb of screw, the shore appeared to be 
 lazily advancing to greet her. 
 
 Burmah Jones, after that first excited, frenzied 
 rush, had grown red in the face, and then become 
 desperately grim and quiet, a certain sign that his 
 
174 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 mind was exceptionally active. The boat's fore-foot 
 took the sand as gently as if merely touching it for 
 anchorage, and the pilot stepped down from his 
 house to meet the passenger. 
 
 "Well," queried the latter, imperturbably, "how 
 bad is it? Do you get that bonus?" 
 
 "Bonus? Humph !" replied the pilot, spitting over 
 the rail. "When we get off here we'll be towed off! 
 The Hercules is as dead as a salt mackerel." 
 
 If he was nothing else, Burmah Jones was capable 
 in misfortune. The Indian's prayer might have been 
 his: 
 
 "Oh, Great Spirit, let me win if I can; but, if I 
 can't, make me a good loser." 
 
 "You've done your best," he said, quietly. "Luck 
 wasn't with you. I'm going to give you each a piece 
 of money, anyway." 
 
 He took from his roll of bills two hundred-dollar 
 notes, crisp and yellow, and thrust them into the 
 hand of the astonished pilot. Nothing in his appear- 
 ance made the seaman suspect, for a moment, that 
 even then the short, fat donor calculated that he had 
 participated in a game where a hundred thousand 
 dollars were at stake, and that he had lost it all. 
 
 "Divide that up with the boys," said Burmah, 
 softly, "and say for me that I wish them joy. We 
 can't always do all we try to do. If we do all we can 
 do, it's only tough luck that can do us, and keep us 
 from doin' others," 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 BEINGS AN HONEST TALE. 
 
 The crew of The Hercules came in a body to thank 
 the passenger, and found him calmly seated on the 
 winch, with his silk hat on the back of his head, and a 
 bank-book in his hand. He slipped the book into his 
 pocket, as they approached to commiserate with him, 
 and told them that, "it didn't matter, anyhow." 
 After all his surprising desire for haste at the start, 
 this struck them as being the height of politeness, 
 and they stood for a moment wondering what it could 
 all be about. There was something in his attitude 
 that appeared to them unusual, some quiet expect- 
 ancy — which was exactly the opposite to anything 
 in Burmah's mind; for he was ruminating and phi- 
 losophizing over something that had come to him, and 
 wanted neither thanks nor conversation. 
 
 "Oh, it's all right, boys," he assured them, with a 
 wave of his hand. "How'U we get back?" 
 
 "Some tug will come in and pick us up," assured 
 the pilot, looking out toward the sound, which ap- 
 peared as desolate and primitive as if its waters had 
 never been stirred. And then, as Burmah did not 
 answer, he turned away. 
 
 Burmah, with abstracted eyes, stared at the forest. 
 He felt convinced, by all reasoning, that the big sale 
 must be lost, and, therefore, that he was exactly 
 where he had been prior to the hour when Conover 
 appeared in his office with that startling proposition. 
 Yet, somehow, sitting there on the iron seat, with 
 everything quiet and dead around him, with no one 
 
 175 
 
176 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 in an outer office to annoy him, and nothing to do 
 but to think, a helpless prisoner on a helpless craft, 
 his mind seemed clearer. He found time and courage 
 for introspection and review. The ethics of his life 
 did not seem good. A careless life it had been, that 
 of the man greedy to acquire much money quickly, 
 without regard for the ethics of the means used in 
 its acquisition. He wondered if he could not have 
 done better with his talents than to employ them as 
 he had. His soul hurt him a little, and, to avoid its 
 bold accusation, for no man can lie to himself, he 
 steeled himself to consider whether it might not be 
 better to go back to Seattle, and depart at once with- 
 out waiting for anything more. But, always, the 
 things the Colonel had done, the things he had said, 
 the trust of three of the young men from Chat- 
 tanooga, and the wholesome confidence of Arabella 
 were remembered, and they made him ashamed. 
 
 Suddenly, from the wrecked roof of the superstruc- 
 ture through which the cylinder head had torn its 
 way even as a cannon ball perforates the canvas of a 
 target, he heard a shout, and looked up. It was from 
 the pilot who had been inspecting the damage. 
 
 "A boat of some sort! Hey! Below there! All 
 hands !" 
 
 Burmah listened, but could hear nothing save the 
 sounds of the engineer's voice shouting to his helpers, 
 and their rush of feet as they came out in response 
 to the summons. 
 
 "I hear a boat coming. Mister," the pilot roared 
 down from his perch to Burmah. "Maybe we can 
 stop her. Below there ! Look lively, and lower away 
 a boat!" 
 
THE BOOMERS. 177 
 
 Up to the deck the men sprang, eager to do any- 
 thing they could in behalf of a passenger who had 
 astonished them by his liberality and his calm accept- 
 ance of misfortune, two qualities that are idolized by 
 men of the sea, no matter whither they fare. Bur- 
 mah Jones lifted his head hopefully, and watched 
 them as they hastened to cast off the lashings, and 
 get the boat over and down the side into the water. 
 There was still a chance, and he gathered himself 
 to take advantage of it, for habit bade him run his 
 race to a finish. 
 
 "If it's anyone who can help us, we'll give them 
 word," exclaimed the pilot. "And anyhow. Mister, 
 they will probably be willing to carry you into 
 Seattle." As he spoke he was scrambling into the 
 boat, and preparing to order his men to give way on 
 the oars. But Burmah sprang after him. 
 
 "Back to Seattle, if I can't do better," he said. 
 "Pull out into the sound, where we can see what 
 she is." 
 
 "Right-o !" declared the pilot ; and the oars dipped 
 into the water with a friendly energy. The boat 
 seemed to crawl out past the point of the cove, while 
 the steady puffs of the approaching hope grew 
 rapidly near. Burmah feared that the craft, what- 
 ever she might be, would pass before they could inter- 
 cept her, and then, abruptly, there burst into view 
 another tugboat, headed toward Seattle, and travel- 
 ing light. The pilot gave a hoarse shout. 
 
 "It's The Mary D. She towed a schooner out this 
 morning, and is homeward bound!" 
 
 He stood up in the boat, balancing himself easily, 
 despite the jerky motion imparted by the oars and the 
 
178 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 wash of the sound, and encouraged his men to give 
 way. He waved his cap, and shouted with a voice 
 that sounded sufficiently powerful to be heard at any 
 distance. There was a wavering moment when it was 
 feared they would not be observed or that The Mary 
 D. would ignore them; and then, in a hoarse shriek, 
 the tug's whistle told them they had been seen. In 
 a long, graceful swing, she came toward them, and 
 they could hear, across the still waters, the sound of 
 bells in her engine-room calling for slow speed, then 
 speed astern, and she halted within a few feet of them. 
 
 "What's the matter, Dan.^" the pilot's voice came 
 from above them; and the pilot of The Hercules 
 grinned. 
 
 "Cylinder head blown out. Got a passenger who 
 wants to get to Port Hatch." 
 
 "Sorry! Can't take him!" 
 
 Burmah's hopes fell flat. 
 
 "Yes, you can, too," shouted the pilot of The 
 Hercules. "Lord Almighty! He's in a hurry, and 
 he's a friend of ours. Hang orders. Come on and 
 do this for us, won't you.^^ He's white all the way 
 through." 
 
 Burmah's generosity was bearing unexpected fruit. 
 
 "You tell them," said Burmah to the man called 
 Dan, "that I'll pay them big to take me aboard, and 
 get me there ahead of the regular boat. I've got 
 to get there !" 
 
 The message was bawled upward. The pilot of 
 The Mary D. hesitated, looked at his watch, and then 
 slipped it back into his pocket. 
 
 "All right, Dan. Get him aboard. I wouldn't do 
 it if it wasn't for you, though. Get him up." 
 
THE BOOMERS. 179 
 
 Burmah climbed over the strake of The Mary Z>., 
 and then turned back to the men of The Hercules. 
 
 "Thanks," he said. "My name's Jones — Burmah 
 Jones. If what I'm after goes through, I'll not 
 forget a man of you. You can bet your heads on 
 that." 
 
 He hurried around to the pilot-house steps, and, 
 as he did so, heard Dan calling to his friend to report 
 the accident to The Hercules at her home office that 
 night, then he felt The Mary D. starting her screw. 
 This time he made no bargain, but slipped another 
 of the precious yellow bills into the pilot's hands, 
 
 "Beat the regular boat in by every foot you can," 
 he said, tersely. "Every minute means money to 
 me. Savvey?" 
 
 He ducked back out of the house, and down to the 
 engine-room, where once more he used the greatest 
 wand that magicians can use, the one that is engraved, 
 and the response was as immediate as it had been 
 with the men of The Hercules. He walked aft, and 
 waved his hat at the latter in farewell, and looked 
 down the sound. As if relentlessly pursuing him, he 
 saw the regular boat again racing toward them, and 
 she seemed to be going faster than ever. But now, 
 landsman that he was, he discovered something else: 
 that The Mary D. was much faster than The Her- 
 culesy and that the men aboard her were intent on 
 repaying him for his bribes. Again they were racing 
 away from the slow sound boat; again she was 
 dropped from sight. The afternoon sun was waning 
 in a glory of red haze, and the Olympics were don- 
 ning a purple robe in preparation for the night. 
 That he might lose no time, he went back to the 
 pilot-house and paid for the short charter, after 
 
180 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 which he stepped down, and patiently waited for the 
 high headland that would tell him that his race was 
 over. 
 
 It was sunset when he leaped to the wharf, and 
 looked around him. He did not stop to think of the 
 changes that had come over Port Hatch since first 
 he landed there. The old temporary wharf had given 
 way to a substantial one, and other wharves were 
 being run out, wharves of stone and concrete, to stay 
 through all time. Two schooners were being un- 
 loaded on one hand, and farther up a squatty black 
 tramp freighter was hoisting out her cargo to the 
 accompaniment of a groaning, puffing, steam winch. 
 Electric lights were beginning to shine dully here and 
 there, as they fought for supremacy with the on- 
 coming dusk. A broad, finely paved street zig- 
 zagged upward on the side of the cliff toward the 
 lofty top of the peninsula, and everywhere that one 
 might look could be seen the skeletons of buildings 
 in course of erection, buildings being painted, or 
 buildings garish in their new colors. He knew that 
 already the town boasted two taxi-cabs run by a 
 man whom he had induced to see the advantages of 
 having the first cab line in the city; but neither of 
 these was in sight. From a wharf bulletin-board, a 
 big bill stared him in the face, announcing that on 
 the following day there would be a mass-meeting of 
 citizens to organize Port Hatch into a city proper; 
 but this did not halt him. He puffed away up the 
 street, climbing the switchback road, and he did not 
 pause in front of The Banner office, al thought within 
 he heard the clicking of a linotype machine grinding 
 out Pickett's editorials and the flamboyant articles 
 that he, Burmah Jones, had written under a midnight 
 
THE BOOMERS. 181 
 
 incandescent. He did hesitate for an instant in front 
 of the building, built after the "arts and crafts" beau- 
 tiful styles, wherein he knew was to be located the 
 Port Hatch Club. He smlied grimly when he thought 
 how he had tried to prevent the Colonel from this 
 extravagance, and how the Colonel had assured him 
 that he had always wanted to be the founder of a 
 club, "devoted to gentlemen, wherein kindly memories 
 might be cherished long after the founder had passed 
 to his rest." Persons were moving homeward 
 through the debris of the streets, carpenters and 
 masons mostly, lured to this city of promise by the 
 certainty of work at boom wages. He was glad that 
 he met no one who recognized him, for what he 
 wanted most of all was to reach the Colonel, talk 
 with him, and then to escape back to the rooms above 
 Hubbard's quarters, one of which was his own for 
 use when in this bubble-creation of his brain. 
 
 Out toward the very point of the cliff he made his 
 laborious way, and the shadows were growing more 
 enveloping, and the lights more distant as he ad- 
 vanced. The new palace on the hill, the residence 
 of the Colonel and Arabella, was in a glow, and he 
 wondered what this could mean. Away below him he 
 heard a steamer whistling, and stopped to breathe 
 and look downward and grin, for, after all, he had 
 beaten Conover's message. The emmissaries would 
 have to pay full value when they arrived, that much 
 was certain; and the chances were that he, Burmah 
 Jones, would make enough to justify him in shaking 
 North-western dust from his feet. He hastened on- 
 ward, and came to huge natural stone pillars, from 
 which wrought-iron gates would swing when they 
 
182 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 were placed, and entered the domain of Marquard 
 Villa, as the Colonel, after long consultation with 
 Arabella and the four lawyers from Chattanooga, 
 had named his mansion. On every side, showing 
 through the gloom, were evidences of Hubbard's 
 genius as a landscape artist. Here and there were 
 basins for fountains, and an occasional pedestal for 
 a statue. Trees had been trimmed to meet require- 
 ments, and patches of green where new lawns were 
 starting showed soft and inviting in the dusk. Birds 
 twittered when disturbed by the crunching of Bur- 
 mah's footsteps over the freshly rolled gravel paths. 
 He advanced up the broad and hospital steps, and 
 the smell of fresh paint fought with the odors of 
 evening, and from within the house came the sounds 
 of laughter. He rang the bell, and Uncle Jeff, clad 
 in sedate livery, opened the door with a bow that 
 had done credit to that other home in Chattanooga, 
 so far away. Burmah heard the Colonel's voice 
 through one of the wide grilled openings leading 
 from the fine hallway. 
 
 "No, Billy," it expostulated, "don't you try to 
 climb that ladder. There's roses enough there by 
 that cornice. I'd a heap rather have it look scant 
 than to have you bust a leg, and miss this glorious 
 reception." 
 
 Then, in a flash, the meaning came to Burmah. 
 This was the fifteenth of August, and the night of 
 the Colonel's house-warming, the reception planned 
 so long and so insistently, which was to do honor to 
 a new Hatch home, and to which Burmah had been 
 invited. Already the sound of Uncle Jeff's announce- 
 ment of his name was in his ears. He stepped quickly 
 
THE BOOMERS. 183 
 
 forward toward the sound, and was merely a placid, 
 unctuous little fat man as he hailed those within the 
 room. 
 
 "Good-evening, Colonel, Miss Arabella, and Gen- 
 tlemen," he said. "Well, I have come, as you can 
 see. Glad to be in time." 
 
 "Bless my soul!" shouted the Colonel, boyishly 
 rushing forward to seize and shake his hand. "I 
 knew you would be here. Welcome to Marquard 
 Villa! Isn't it all right, Burmah.?^ Just look at this, 
 will you?" 
 
 And Arabella, smiling and glad to see him, caught 
 his hand in both of hers, and said: 
 
 "I was afraid you wouldn't spare the time to come. 
 Isn't it lovely.^ Oh, Mr. Hubbard is such a won- 
 derful man !" 
 
 Even Lester, the quiet dawdler, was there, taking 
 his part in the floral decoration of the house ; but he 
 alone displayed no happiness at seeing the Kansan, 
 and smiled sardonically, as if suspecting that some- 
 thing besides courtesy had brought Burmah Jones 
 there at that hour — or at all. It was he who looked 
 at his watch, and then said, in surprise : 
 
 "Why, the boat must have got in early." 
 
 "No, it didn't," quietly retorted Burmah, facing 
 him with a hard stare, as if appreciating the fact 
 that this stranger was too shrewd to be congenial. 
 *'I missed it and hired a tug-boat. You didn't any 
 of you suppose I wouldn't get here for a blow- 
 out like this, did you.?" Lester did not answer. 
 *'Well, I should say not!" declared Burmah, answer- 
 ing himself. 
 
 "Of course, I knew it!" gallantly asserted the 
 
184 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Colonel. "You-ali might know that my friend 
 Burmah wouldn't neglect an important occasion 
 where Miss Arabella and I are concerned. No, 
 Sire-e-e! Had supper? No? Sally! Oh, Sally! 
 Jeff! Go tell Aunt Sally to get somethin' for Mr. 
 Jones to eat. Hurry up, now. Lord, Burmah! 
 You-all must be mighty near starved!" 
 
 Already Arabella had tripped out of the room 
 to act as hostess, and now the Colonel himself led 
 the way up the broad stairs to a chamber to dispose 
 of his guest. 
 
 "Where's your grip, Burmah?" he asked, as he 
 turned into the most spacious room in the new 
 house. 
 
 "Lost it on the dock," unblushingly lied Burmah. 
 
 "I've done that myself," said the Colonel com- 
 fortingly. "But you won't need it, anyhow. Why, 
 bless you, Man, I've got hair-brushes and night- 
 shirts, and slippers and — say — I've got an extra 
 dress-suit and shirt!" 
 
 That he was more than six feet tall, and nearly 
 as thin as a lath, while Burmah was four times as 
 big around and considerably shorter, did not put 
 him out of countenance at all in this hospitable 
 offer. But he had no time to say more, for now 
 was Burmah's chance, and time was precious. 
 
 "It's possible. Colonel," he said, ignoring the 
 proffer of the dress-suit, but concealing any anxiety, 
 "that two men will come to Port Hatch to see you 
 about buying land for a subdivision. One of them 
 is named Wellington, and the other, Frank some- 
 thing. I've forgotten the name. They are from 
 Omaha, and — " 
 
THE BOOMERS. 185 
 
 "They've already been up here to see me," said 
 the Colonel, and Burmah's hopes dropped to zero. 
 Everything in that moment seemed lost. Conover's 
 partners had anticipated his message. 
 
 "When was that?" he asked, his voice exposing 
 his stress. 
 
 "To-day, Sir," answered the Colonel. "And I 
 told 'em I couldn't talk business of any sort to-day, 
 because I was helping Miss Arabella to fix up the 
 house, and was right busy. I invited them to the 
 reception, and they said they'd come. Right nice 
 gentlemen they were, too!" 
 
 Burmah was relieved. It flashed through his 
 mind that perhaps he could explain, to drive away 
 suspicion in case Conover ever entertained any, that 
 he had forgotten the reception, and had come on a 
 private boat, and disregarded all business, that he 
 might not disappoint so great a man as the Colonel. 
 The way was clearing by leaps and bounds. 
 
 "Well, Colonel," he said, "I'm glad you talked 
 to them. You are a wonder for doin' things. I 
 thought I was goin' to bring you some good news, 
 and here, just as usual, you beat me to it." 
 
 His voice was doleful, expressing disappointment 
 that he could not have carried out a big transaction 
 without the Colonel's aid; and the latter hastened 
 to comfort him. 
 
 "Beat you? No, Sir. It's just that faculty that 
 comes from commercial training. I do seem sort 
 of gifted in that way. Whenever a gentleman 
 plunges into business. Sir, he succeeds, if he is 
 industrious. Now, about these gentlemen, I reckon 
 we must be liberal with them. They appear to be 
 
186 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 just the kind of men we should encourage to come 
 to this city, which is sure to become the highest 
 in its ideals of any city in the world. Hubbard 
 is a great man." 
 
 He waved his arms, and his eyes glowed with 
 enthusiasm. His youth seemed to have returned to 
 him, and to have lent its glow to his white cheeks; 
 but of these attractions Burmah was oblivious. 
 
 "Maybe I had better attend to the deal, Colonel," 
 he said. "You are wearin' yourself out with all 
 these details. It's about all one man can do to 
 make Port Hatch a real city, without botherin' his 
 head over the little things." 
 
 "That's so," said the Colonel, with a sigh. "I 
 do get right tired, badgering my brains over what 
 to do, and what not to do. I'd be right obliged to 
 you, Burmah, if you would just take charge of 
 the whole affair." 
 
 "Then," said Burmah, lightly, "when they come 
 to you, you just tell them that you have given me 
 authority to go ahead and close the deal on what- 
 ever terms I think best." 
 
 "Thank you! Thank you. Sir, for helping me 
 out so much. I'll do it!" said the Colonel, intent 
 on hastening back to finish his decorations. "That 
 settles that ! Come down when you get ready. Oh, 
 yes, those brushes !" 
 
 He came back and deposited them on the dresser, 
 while Burmah was splashing his face in the adjoin- 
 ing bath-room, and then hurried down the stairs 
 to where the laughing voices, jests and exclamations 
 still told of the presence of those from Chattanooga, 
 and of the quiet Lester. When the Kansan joined 
 
THE BOOMERS. 187 
 
 them, the Colonel and Arabella met him and escorted 
 him to the dining-room, and, hardened as he was, 
 Burmah Jones enjoyed the thrill of the girl's hand 
 on his arm, her caress of friendly familiarity. That 
 the Colonel sat with him at the table lest he should 
 be alone, a guest in the house, also furnished food 
 for thought; and, beyond that, as he ate, with his 
 serviette tucked carefully beneath his double chin, 
 there was somehow an envy of those characteristics 
 of gentility which he had overlooked. The candles 
 on the table, glowing from candlesticks that had 
 been in the Hatch family for hundreds of years, 
 the tasteful arrangement of flowers, the service 
 itself, the neatness of the quiet maid, the soft 
 drawl of the Colonel's voice, forever voicing his 
 dreams of a great city — all, everything, filled the 
 wanderer with a vague melancholy. It was as if 
 admonitory voices, soft and insistent as the rustling 
 of fall breezes through the tamaracks, whispered 
 accusations. Somewhere from his desultory read- 
 ing, accidental, not habitual, the compulsory read- 
 ing of idle hours in railway trains, or hotel parlors, 
 came that gleaning of the duty of one to another 
 when he has eaten of the other's salt; that the 
 worst of crimes was betrayal after hospitality. And 
 now it began to appear to his conscience that he 
 was eating of the salt while his heart premeditated 
 treachery. He heard the soft clamor of a door- 
 bell, and presently Uncle Jeff came into the room, 
 and addressed the Colonel, who looked a question 
 at him from beneath his heavy white eyebrows. 
 
 "It's dem musikans, Sah," said Jeff. "Dey's 
 done come on de steamboat, an' dey wants to know 
 whah dey's to git ready." 
 
188 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 The Colonel hastily excused himself, with apolo- 
 gies, and passed out of the room. Out in the hall- 
 way, Burmah could hear his hearty voice. 
 
 "Right out here. Gentlemen! Right out here on 
 the terrace, so that the music can come softly 
 through the big w^indows. Right out here on the 
 terrace amongst these palms. The palms are to 
 hide your lamps, gentlemen, and to keep you-all 
 from being interrupted. Music is a divine art. 
 It's something that has to be born in men. It 
 makes them better. It boosts them up." 
 
 His voice died away as he took his especially 
 employed Seattle orchestra out to some invisible 
 terrace, and bustled around to see that they were 
 properly accommodated. Burmah seized the moment 
 to escape from the dining-room and up the stairs, 
 where he tried to make himself as presentable as 
 possible, and found occasion to regret that he had 
 not remembered the reception, and bought himself 
 a dress-suit. He resolved that this would be the 
 first purchase he made on his return to Seattle, 
 and that never, thereafter, would he travel anywhere 
 without one. He sat for a long time in brooding 
 contemplation of his tan shoes, until summoned 
 to the door by a gentle tattoo. He opened it to 
 find Arabella, radiant in a simple evening gown, 
 awaiting him. She looked up at him with an affec- 
 tion in her eyes that stabbed him, so introspective 
 had been his mood. 
 
 "I want the honor of going down on your arm, 
 Mr. Jones," she said. "You see, you are like one 
 of our own family, and Father told me he would 
 forego the pleasure, even though he might have 
 to fight you afterward." 
 
THE BOOMEES. 189 
 
 Embarrassed, he permitted her to lead him down 
 the stairway. Already the musicians were playing 
 their first piece, and out through the open doors 
 in front of the mansion he saw that lamps had 
 been lighted, stretching away toward the entrance to 
 Marquard Villa, and that the guests were beginning 
 to arrive. Arabella placed him at her side, ignor- 
 ing for the moment the attentive quartet from Chat- 
 tanooga, and now, for the first time, Burmah 
 observed that Lester, too, seemed to have fallen 
 under her spell. Burmah stood awkwardly, striv- 
 ing to imitate the graceful bow of the Colonel, and 
 suffering introductions. Most of the men who came 
 he had met before. Many of them he had regarded 
 as victims. To some of the women he had been 
 introduced — brave women coming as pioneers with 
 the men by whom they stood steadfast, and never 
 until that moment at the door had he entertained 
 pity for any of them. They greeted him as a 
 friend, and all were happy. In flocks the Colonel 
 led them through the palace of folly, built nobly 
 on a noble site, costing double what Hubbard had 
 inteded it to cost, and embellished with furniture 
 that had been collected through generations by 
 gentlemen and gentlewomen. Proudly the Colonel 
 pointed to the paintings; proudly he gave inter- 
 esting bits of history connected with some of his 
 family heirlooms. And always he sought out Bur- 
 mah Jones to repeat to him, and always he made 
 his guests feel that Burmah Jones was a great and 
 refined man, partner in enterprise, partner in 
 honesty. There were some there garbed as inform- 
 ally as was Burmah himself, and that helped to 
 
190 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 put him at his ease. Others were there who appeared 
 to receptions born, and everywhere, strive to 
 escape as he might, he heard the glowing enthusiasm 
 of the builders, their marvelous faith, their splen- 
 did loyalty to the city that they were creating. 
 
 "When the railway comes !" The homes were 
 being erected on that foundation. The money was 
 being confidently poured forth on that basis. And 
 Burmah Jones, alone of all those there, knew that 
 it was a lie, a mere hopeless figment from his own 
 unscrupulous imagination. Women, motherly and 
 charming, came to him, and talked about it. Men, 
 eager for the latest news, sought him out for advice. 
 Hubbard, arriving late, and looking worn by 
 work, and yet bright-eyed in his ambition, hurried 
 to greet him as a friend. Little Billy got him 
 alone to pour tales of the latest prospects for sales, 
 and even Kirby hopefully stated that before long 
 he would establish a record for examining titles, 
 and that he had already made arrangements to buy 
 several lots for Little Billy. There was a flood 
 of happenings of which he had not learned, 
 so engrossed had he been in the task of separating 
 men from their money. The new hotel had been 
 opened for three days now, and it boasted a fine 
 grill-room. The school-house which the Colonel had 
 donated, would be completed next week, and Hub- 
 bard had found two wandering architectural 
 draughtsmen to assist him, and the Colonel had 
 employed them. The Todds were going to open 
 a general merchandise store, and they had given 
 out a contract for a building, suggested by Hub- 
 bard, that was to be a marvel of taste. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 191 
 
 This was an end to his work that Burmah had 
 not seen or given thought to. All he knew was that 
 he had sold lots, and lied as seemed best for his 
 purpose, and stuck to his Seattle offices, and let 
 the Colonel spend his share of the money as he 
 chose. It was none of Burmah's business if that 
 "nice old feller wanted to blow in every cent as 
 fast, and faster than he got it. Made business 
 better, anyhow. Poor old chump !" 
 
 But, now, Burmah discovered something that had 
 not appeared to him before, that when the end 
 came, as it must, these men and women around 
 him, more than two hundred in all, would lose some- 
 thing beside their money; they would lose a little 
 of their faith in humanity, and in him most of all. 
 Wholesale robbery, he knew it to be. Oddly enough, 
 it was the elder of the Todds who brought this full 
 meaning home a little closer than any of the others, 
 when that lanky individual had cornered him as 
 he stood alone on the terrace, trying to escape from 
 those within — and himself. 
 
 "Pretty, ain't it?" said Todd, ungainly, and 
 looking awkward in his "store clothes," as he sat 
 down by Burmah. 
 
 Burmah merely grunted. 
 
 "Yes, Sir, it's fine," Todd went on, unrebuffed, 
 as if confident that he was talking to one congenial. 
 " 'Tain't so nice, sometimes, as back where we come 
 from, it seems to me; but maybe that's because I 
 ain't used to high mountains like these. Jim and 
 me hated to leave home when we come out here. 
 [We'd worked so hard, though, that we thought we'd 
 just naturally have to do something to git ahead. 
 
192 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 You see, we got so many to think about! Jim's 
 been a widower for nigh on to seven years, and he's 
 got four little shavers. Then it did seem as if our 
 family had the worst luck. There were five 
 brothers of us, and all married. I'm the oldest. 
 I never married. I sort of had to drag the other 
 boys up, and a sister too, after Paw and Maw 
 died. Then the others had bad luck. Two of the 
 brothers died trying to save a woman floatin' down 
 the Mizzouri when they was a flood. Then the 
 other one, Tom, just worked himself to death, and 
 he left us, and he was the only one that had made 
 any money. He turned his family, a widder and 
 four babies, over to me. 'Will,' he says, when he 
 lay there gaspin' for breath, and coughin', 'send 
 'em all out of the room.' So they all went, and 
 we was alone. 'Will,' he says, reachin' over and 
 gettin' hold of my hand, 'look after 'em, won't you? 
 Keep the wolves away from the fold. Help 'em 
 to grow up and be decent, and honest and truth- 
 ful. I want 'em to be real men and women, Will, 
 the kind that never do anything they need be 
 ashamed of; so they can look other folks, and God 
 Himself, in the face without droppin' their eyes. 
 They don't any of 'em, and my wife least of all, 
 know anything about how to take care of what 
 little I've got.' Then his voice got hoarse, and he 
 couldn't talk for a while, and just whispered; and, 
 when I bent over to see if he was still talkin' to 
 me, he was prayin' in his way, and sayin', 'Lord I 
 s'pose it's writ in the books that I'm to be took 
 away, and so I don't ask nothin' for myself, no 
 forgiveness, no nothin'; only this. Lord, that you 
 
THE BOOMERS. 193 
 
 make my brother Will a good shepherd for my 
 flock. Show him how, because it's mighty dark, 
 and we can't seem to see, and — ' That was all. 
 He'd gone out over that same dark road, and I was 
 left there alone, the shepherd." 
 
 The orchestra stopped its playing; but neither 
 of them noticed it — neither William Todd, whose 
 weather-beaten, gnarled, hard-worked hands had 
 twisted themselves together on the railing, nor Bur- 
 mah Jones, whose head had dropped low on his 
 breast, and who was sprawled out with his hands 
 in his pockets. 
 
 "I don't know why I should tell you all this, 
 Mister Jones," the plaintive voice went on, "except 
 that I want to thank you — for both me and my 
 brother — for helpin' us along the way you have. 
 We borrowed the money to come out here to start 
 with from men that didn't have much, but believed 
 in us, and let us have what they could spare. We 
 knew by the way you was doin' things that at last 
 it was our chance. We saw Fort Hatch goin' right 
 ahead, and began to make more money than we'd 
 ever thought of. So, when we needed more to 
 pay our bills because we'd sort of reached out 
 too far, I knew it was all right, and I've taken 
 everything that was left by Tom, and put it, too, 
 into our new building. That's all going to be 
 theirs — Tom's children's and his widow's — and 
 I'm goin' to try and run it for them so that when 
 they come they'll be happy, and be brought up 
 right, and so that poor Tom, if he sees me, will 
 look over it all, and know that I've kept faith, and 
 that I've been a good shepherd for his flock. And, 
 
194 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Mister Jones, the Colonel's all right; but Jim and 
 me has talked it over, and knows that it's most all 
 due to you, and so we said that, whenever we got 
 the chance, we'd tell you about it, and thank you. 
 I'm thankin' you now !" 
 
 He put out one of his harsh hands, and Bur- 
 mah was compelled to accept it, and compelled to 
 look into the overflowing eyes that sought his 
 through the light filtering between the palms. The 
 hand grasped his in unrestrained friendliness, and 
 the eyes expressed a great gratitude. Burmah sud- 
 denly got to his feet, and fled from the terrace, 
 speechless and ashamed. He found the guests 
 broken into groups, and thought he might slip 
 unobserved up-stairs; but Arabella captured him 
 just as someone shouted, "Speech! Speech from 
 the Colonel!" 
 
 The Colonel, nothing loath, and beaming with 
 infinite friendliness upon all those in the room, 
 stood beneath a huge cut-glass chandelier that had 
 been sent him from the old Marquard plantation as a 
 present for his new house, and gracefully assumed 
 an oratorical pose. 
 
 "Neighbors and Friends," he said, "it is with an 
 overflowing heart that I have welcomed you to-night, 
 to a new home of yours and of mine in the far 
 North-west. It is, what you see, a step in the 
 direction of art and comfort combined. Its con- 
 ception is due to one of the greatest genuises of this, 
 or any other century, the man we are all proud 
 of, the man who is making our city the most per- 
 fect of its kind in the world, Mr. Hubbard." 
 
 He paused while his hearers applauded, and 
 
THE BOOMERS. 195 
 
 Hubbard blushed, and looked wild-eyed, and 
 threatened to bolt. 
 
 "It has the distinction of being the first attempt at 
 real home-building in what is to be a city of which 
 we shall be proud. Other homes may be built here, 
 far more pretentious, more elaborate, costing more; 
 but in none of them can the hearthstone wax 
 warmer, or the heart of the stranger be more free 
 than in this. We who are here to-night, are 
 pioneers, in truth, bringing a greater victory than 
 that which is led by the bugle and the drum, the 
 victory of peace. Behind the charges of the bugle, 
 the drum, and the shining steel, is a pathway of 
 white faces, turned silently toward the pitiless 
 skies, and the mark of attempt is a battle-flag 
 planted, ephemerally, on the trodden, desolated 
 field. Back of our advance, silent, save for the ring 
 of the axe, and peaceful, save for our own hurried 
 industry, are no pitiful sacrifices to havoc and ruin, 
 and the momument of our endeavor is the home. 
 We are a little army, and we come, not to destroy, 
 but to upbuild, to utilize, to beautify. We are an 
 army of ideals, exalted by the spiritual desire to 
 create for ourselves a city that shall, in its home 
 and civic life, shine as an example of what an 
 American city may be when founded by Americans, 
 and clinging undeviatingly to the clean spirit of 
 our nation. Port Hatch is not, and shall not be, 
 a city of individual effort, but of united aim. We 
 are not brothers in blood, but we are a family of 
 heart, each individual working for others as cheer- 
 fully as for himself, and each pouring his talents 
 on the altar of Port Hatch. Nor shall we fail 
 
196 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 to achieve the ideal, for we are founded on that 
 rock of all ages, Honesty ! There is no man con- 
 nected with Port Hatch, thank God! who has an 
 ulterior motive in his heart. There is none who is 
 not fighting for the beauty of the ideal." 
 
 Burmah lifted his eyes from the floor where he 
 had held them to conceal the sardonic, cynical 
 twinkle that flooded them despite his desire to 
 appear sincere, and they came straight to meet 
 those of Lester, standing near at hand, and Lester's 
 eyes bored him through with a calm, merciless ap- 
 praisal under which his own again dropped, as the 
 Colonel continued, with fervor. 
 
 "Two distinctions have been mine," said the 
 Colonel, in his soft, musical voice, "one, undeserved, 
 that the city has been named after my family; and 
 the other, seized, that Marquard Villa is the first 
 home on this beloved peninsula. If I do nothing 
 else in my life, if I bequeath nothing more, I shall 
 endeavor to be worthy of that gentleman who died 
 penniless, his ancestral home burdened by mort- 
 gages, whose heirs discovered that his total pos- 
 sessions were the garments he wore and the key to 
 the house that no longer might shelter him and 
 those he had loved. But engraved upon this key 
 was that which made it a heritage, that which read, 
 'For friends — at all times.' 
 
 "Financial ability is an acquired and cultivated 
 talent. Any gentleman, if he turns his attention 
 to commercial pursuits, may achieve financial suc- 
 cess ; but to comprehend the signficance of the scroll 
 upon the key left by the dead man, is of far greater 
 value to those of the world than to leave behind 
 
THE BOOMERS. 197 
 
 millions of dollars to be scattered. And now I wish 
 to emphasize the meaning I expressed in the state- 
 ment that we of Port Hatch are, and shall be, as 
 those of one family. I wish you all to follow me." 
 He bowed, turned and led the way out through 
 the doors opening on the terrace. The moon had 
 arisen from behind the mountains that sheltered 
 Port Hatch, and rendered the night bright. Straight 
 out to the end of the house walked the Colonel, 
 until he stood where the terrace, in a curve, hung 
 over the sheer face of the cliif. Full three hun- 
 dred feet below, the waters of the sound lapped 
 softly against the unyielding rock, and the gentle 
 waves, racing in procession, were all plumed with 
 silver. In the far distance old Puget was a mirror 
 for the night. Against the horizon a high peak, 
 bearing everlasting snows, lifted itself toward the 
 stars, wearing its shining mantle with a dignity 
 all its own. The sounds of the orchestra from the 
 far end of the terrace were subdued, soft and warm, 
 as the Colonel's guests, trooping after him, paused 
 in quiet expectancy, and to them, too, the moon 
 was kindly, as she showered her light over the soft, 
 bared shoulders of women, upon their hair, and 
 upon their brows, caressing them. She lent grace 
 to the men, whether they were garbed in conven- 
 tional evening dress, or in plain business suits. She 
 threw a halo around the shining white hair of Colonel 
 Hatch, and illumined his fine, gentle face, as he 
 lifted his hand and again spoke. 
 
 "Friends, this shall be the formal dedication of 
 our home, that we have opened to you all, to-night, 
 and shall symbolize the truth that its doors shall 
 never be locked." 
 
198 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 He held aloft a shining key, fresh from the mint, 
 poised it for a moment, then hurled it far out to 
 fall into the waters of the sound, and the arc of 
 its flight was like the dim, whirling light of 
 a comet on its path to extinction. The Colonel 
 threw his arms wide in a broad gesture, as if express- 
 ing the wish that he might take everything, his 
 guests, his home. Port Hatch, the cherished ground 
 on which he stood, even the rugged old mountains, 
 to his heart, and those who watched him, fascinated 
 by his kindly peculiarities, stood for a moment, and 
 then rushed upon him to congratulate. Arabella 
 came first, and clasped her arms around his neck; 
 and he held her very close, and drank the glory 
 of her eyes, which met his with proud affection. 
 Lester, big and thoughtful, stood at the edge of 
 the terrace, and watched them for a moment, and 
 there was something in his attitude that centered 
 the attention of Burmah Jones, who stood farther 
 back. There was a certain poise in Lester that 
 Burmah thought he had not observed before, some 
 suggestion of strength, some hint of class, place and 
 power, which was scarcely in keeping with one who, 
 so far as any knew, was merely a gentlemanly 
 dawdler tenting on the beach. As if feeling Bur- 
 mah's stare, Lester suddenly turned and looked at 
 him, and then went toward him. His face was 
 grave and unsmiling, his gray eyes unwavering and 
 his brows slightly contracted, as he looked squarely 
 into the Kansan's face. 
 
 "Jones," he said, meaningly, in a low voice, dis- 
 tinct and cutting, "I should think you would be 
 damned well ashamed of yourself!" 
 
 And, before Burmah could recover, Lester had 
 
"This shall symbolize the truth that its door shall never be 
 
 locked." 
 
THE BOOMERS. 199 
 
 passed deliberately onward and into the brilliantly 
 lighted drawing-room. For an instant, Burmah 
 flushed, took a step as if to follow Lester, and then 
 halted. He was not afraid of anything in the 
 world; but he knew with absolute certainty that the 
 strange idler had fathomed him and all his motives 
 with disturbing keenness, and, also, that Lester was 
 not one at whom he dared snap his fingers. He 
 wavered as to what course he should take, and in 
 that moment of wavering Arabella saw him, hastened 
 to him, put both hands on his arm with a caress, 
 and smiled at him. 
 
 "I wonder," she said, softly, "if you know how 
 much we all think of you — how we appreciate what 
 you have done for all of us — how great a credit we 
 give you for your work! Mister Jones, my father, 
 the boys, Mister Hubbard — all of us — love you!" 
 
 Her words, each a thrust, stabbed home, and he 
 could but mumble and make an excuse to escape. 
 He asked her to bid the Colonel good-night for him, 
 claiming weariness and a wish to retire, and then 
 slipped hurriedly away, and sought the back stairs. 
 Failing to find them, he passed almost furtively 
 through the dining-room, out into the hallway and 
 upward. He closed the door of his room behind 
 him, and stepped out upon the balcony that hung 
 beneath his window. This position gave him a view 
 of the mushroom city, with its spread of buildings 
 under construction showing like yellow skeletons of 
 gold in the moonlight, its completed buildings 
 softened to an appearance of age by the shadows, 
 the wharves stretching out like tentacles, the ships 
 moored by them and the piles of lumber over on 
 
200 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 the flat from which other buildings would be 
 erected. It was all his, a creation of his unscrupu- 
 lous brazenness. All those below were his victims, 
 even to that fine old man whom he had used as a 
 decoy. He had made and kept money, the one thing 
 for which he sought, and was even then on the 
 verge of what he conceived to be the ultimate vic- 
 tory; and yet he stood there stockily, and cursed 
 himself, the day he was born, the day he had met 
 Colonel Hatch, and his whole misspent life. For 
 an instant, he thought, wildly of going back below, 
 calling everyone around him, and saying boldly: 
 
 "I have defrauded you — all ! There is no punish- 
 ment too great for me; but, as I am beyond pun- 
 ishment by law, I shall punish myself. I shall be 
 the executioner of Burmah Jones." Then he would 
 walk out to the end of the terrace and leap over 
 it into the waters far below. Yet, that would do 
 those who had trusted him, and believed in him, 
 no good. He had gone too far to recede. He must 
 steel himself to play the game through to the end, 
 as he had started; but he swore to himself that 
 when he did leave, abandoning those behind to the 
 misfortunes of their folly, he would go far away, 
 and begin life over on a plan of inflexible rectitude. 
 He returned to his room, darkened it, and, before 
 he climbed into bed, shut all the windows tight, 
 striving to bar out the sounds of the voices of those 
 whom he had recklessly despoiled. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 AND THE KNAVE FIGHTS. 
 
 JBuRMAH Jones a week later walked slowly and 
 thoughtfully between the big pillars leading to the 
 Marquard Villa, and paused to stare at two men 
 who were working with careful deliberation, and 
 "soldiering" qualities manifest, over what presum- 
 ably would some time be a huge, ornamental flower- 
 bed. Their laziness annoyed him, and he wished 
 that he were the boss around that place for about 
 five minutes, long enough, anyway, to discharge the 
 two offenders, and kick them off the premises. 
 
 "Skaggs and Flay! Humph! Fishermen they 
 were, and now they're landscape gardeners, work- 
 ing for that slob, Hubbard, who wants to build a 
 flower-pot on every lamp-post," he mumbled to him- 
 self. "Nobody but the Colonel would have such 
 trash hangin' around. I s'pose by this time he 
 always refers to 'em as his very dear friends, and 
 that they borrow his money !" 
 
 He trudged on toward the residence, where, but 
 a week before, he had endured the pangs of a new- 
 born conscience, and climbed the steps toward the 
 open doors, to be met by Uncle Jeff, who regarded 
 him as perhaps the greatest man living — next, always, 
 to Colonel Alonzo Fairfax Hatch^ "of the Hatches 
 of Tennessee, Sah!" The prophet^ Moses, had he 
 stepped out of the clouds, would have been next, 
 always, in the same way, to the same Colonel Hatch, 
 in Jeff's estimation. 
 
 "Good maWnin', Sah, Kunnel Jones," said Jeff, 
 bending far over several times, and scratching his feet 
 
 201 
 
202 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 on the polished floor of the hall. "Ah reckon de 
 Kunnel spectin' you-all to-day, Sah. He'll shoah 
 be mighty glad to see you, though. He done told 
 me whenever you come, Sah, to bring you right to 
 the library, Sah, whah he's workin'. He's been 
 a mighty busy gemman, Sah, since dey elect him 
 Mayor of dis city, Sah." 
 
 Burmah wondered what would make the Colonel 
 busy, and followed through the house to the library, 
 which had, already, under the direction of Arabella, 
 become a cozy, homelike place of infinite rest and 
 comfort. As he passed through the door, the 
 Colonel arose from a desk that was littered with 
 papers, scrawled over in his crabbed, punctilious 
 hand, and laid his glasses on the last sheet. 
 
 "Why, Burmah!" he shouted effusively, and with 
 delight at sight of his lieutenant shining from his 
 eyes. "I didn't expect to see you to-day; but I told 
 Jeff that, whenever you came, at any hour of the 
 day or night, you were always to be brought right 
 straight to me. I'm mighty glad to see you. Maybe 
 you can lend me your asistance. I'm preparing a 
 very important and historical document." 
 
 "And what's that?" demanded Burmah, as he 
 dropped into a chair. 
 
 "Well, you see it's this way," said the Colonel, 
 with great gravity. "At the mass-meeting when 
 we organized, I was unanimously elected Mayor of 
 Port Hatch. Quite an honor. Sir, to be the first 
 Mayor of this city. I appreciate to the full my 
 responsibilities. Mine is an epoch-making term of 
 office; so I thought, don't you see, that I ought to 
 make a sort of proclamation, or address, or some- 
 thing like that, the same way Presidents do when 
 
THE BOOMERS. 203 
 
 they take office. Only, this is a Mayor's message. 
 Mr. Picket has kindly consented to run it on the 
 front page of The Banner, and has sent to Seattle 
 to get a right-big cut of an eagle with screamin' 
 wings, that will go clean across the top of the page 
 for this momentous issue. Also, I told him to have 
 five thousand extra copies printed, so my message 
 could be sent away to those friends of mine that 
 might want to read it, and to sell to the many 
 folks that will be interested, hereafter — after I am 
 gone — in my views and utterances." 
 
 Burmah sat staring at him in open-mouthed 
 astonishment, and suppressed a rising desire to 
 laugh when he saw that the Colonel actually took 
 himself as seriously as if the fate of nations de- 
 pended on his views. The proclamation of a Caesar 
 had no more weight in the eyes of the Colonel than 
 this first address of his as Mayor of Port Hatch. 
 Burmah straightened himself with a jerk, when he 
 saw that the Colonel had picked up the first sheet, 
 and threatened to read the entire manuscript 
 through. 
 
 "I'd like to hear it, Colonel," he said, "only that 
 I've got a lot of things to talk about." 
 
 He reached in his pocket, and drew out a closely 
 folded slip of paper. His pudgy hands unfolded 
 it with a quick motion, and he threw it on the desk 
 before the financier from Chattanooga. 
 
 "There," he said quietly, "is the bank's receipt 
 for fifty thousand dollars placed to your credit. 
 I have taken fifty thousand for myself." 
 
 "Quite right, Burmah ! Quite right," said the 
 Colonel; and then, as it dawned on him that he had 
 fifty thousand dollars in cash all at one time: 
 
20i THE BOOMERS. 
 
 "Most amazin'! Most amazin' what a gentleman 
 can do when he starts in to conquer the financial 
 world." 
 
 '^I got better terms than I thought I could, 
 from Conover," Burmah went on. "Him and his 
 pardners agree to pay us fifty thousand more at 
 the end of six months, and another fifty at the end 
 of the year." 
 
 The Colonel stared out of the window, as if 
 fascinated by some object in the distance. 
 
 "Also," said Burmah, in the same quiet voice, 
 *^I have decided that it's best for me to be here all 
 the time. I've brought my trunk up with me. I've 
 got the Seattle ofiice runnin' like clock-work, and 
 Billings is a good man. Folks are goin' to come 
 here, after this, more than they are to Seattle, 
 I'm goin' to see it through, right here, Colonel." 
 
 The Colonel did not appreciate the renunciation 
 that was conveyed in the Kansan's last words, for 
 he had never suspected that Burmah Jones had any 
 other course in his mind; yet that announcement 
 had cost the latter sleepless nights and the uproot- 
 ing of old methods. 
 
 "We may not do all we expected to, and we may 
 fall down at the end of the race," continued Bur- 
 mah; "but. Colonel, we'll run it out, straight and 
 fair, even if we drop dead at the finish." 
 
 Something in his tone attracted the Colonel's 
 interest, and he looked a question, but Burmah's 
 eyes did not waver from their habitual steady stare, 
 
 "And, Colonel," Burmah went on in that same 
 controlled voice, "I've got just one favor to ask, 
 because I think I'm better able to handle real-estate 
 than you are, and that is that, no matter who come* 
 
THE BOOMERS. 205 
 
 to you, no matter what person asks you to make a 
 deal, you will turn it over to me. If they ask you 
 when the railroad is comin' here, I want you to tell 
 'em to come to me. Tell 'em you don't know. You 
 don't! Neither do I; but I'm the one, after this, 
 that's goin' to do all the explanation work. If, by 
 bad luck, she never comes, they'll have no one to 
 blame but themselves, and they won't be able to say 
 that Burmah Jones, or Colonel Hatch, ever hooked 
 them into it by a lie." 
 
 He was annoyed by the Colonel's absent-minded- 
 ness, for the latter, long before the close of the 
 speech, was again gazing dreamily out of the 
 window. And he answered Burmah as if he had but 
 half-heard, assenting, as usual, to any arrangement 
 that might be made. 
 
 "That's right good of you, Burmah, to take so 
 much work off my shoulders. I'll give you advice 
 whenever you need it, and I'll send them all to yoU, 
 if they come to me. I'm right glad you made this 
 last deal, because I've got a right-smart need for 
 the money. I'm studyin' mighty hard whether gray 
 or blue would be the best colors for uniforms for the 
 police force, and whether or not Skaggs and Flay 
 would make good officers of the law. They do 
 aggravate me sometimes !" 
 
 Burmah got up, as near to being in a hopeless rage 
 as he ever got, and clapped his hat on his head. 
 
 "If I were you," he said, turning toward the 
 door, "I'd have 'em pink !" 
 
 "Pink? Pink?" queried the Colonel, arising to 
 show him out, "I never thought of that! I think 
 I'll ask Hubbard about it." 
 
 Out at the door, he recalled the statement that 
 
206 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Burmah was going to make his headquarters in Port 
 Hatch. 
 
 "Of course," he said, "you sent your trunk here, 
 Burmah?" 
 
 "No, Colonel; I think it's better for me to take 
 the rooms over the offices." 
 
 The Colonel's face expressed great disappoint- 
 ment. 
 
 "Why, Burmah!" he declared, his voice express- 
 ing hurt amazement. "When we built Marquard 
 Villa, Arabella and I pointed to the room on the 
 plans that we were to call the Burmah room! It's 
 the one you slept in the other night. If that room 
 doesn't suit you, you can have any one in the house. 
 You can have two, if none of 'em are big enough." 
 
 As usual, Burmah's adroit wits found a way to 
 compromise. 
 
 "S'pose you just keep that same room for me, 
 Colonel," he said, "and as soon as I can get around 
 to it, I'll come up and fill it. I'd do it now; only, 
 while this rush is on, I guess I ought to be down 
 there where I can talk to customers nights, if they 
 happen to come in late." 
 
 The Colonel did not seem sufficiently impressed. 
 Burmah promptly adopted another tact. He swelled 
 his chest with something of his old time flamboyant 
 air, and held his finger aloft in the manner of the 
 man who said, "There is hope," and spoke with 
 great decision. 
 
 "This is no time for us to jib at the jumps. 
 Colonel, me and you are making the most glorious 
 city that has ever been kicked into existence. It 
 must be Port Hatch, first, last, and all the time. 
 Everything must be sacrificed to Port Hatch! You 
 
THE BOOMERS. 207 
 
 are furnishin' all the brains, and me the executive 
 work. Until we can get her ahead a leetle mite 
 further, I've got to be close on the job. They 
 ain't nothin' in the world would suit me so much 
 as to come up here to live, but I've just got to stick 
 down there for a while, till Port Hatch is recognized 
 as the Queen City of the North-west." 
 
 The Colonel, touched on the tender spot, arose 
 to the occasion. 
 
 "Burmah, I beg your pardon. Sir, for having 
 seemed trying to deflect you from our manifest duties. 
 It is most commendable that you are a man who 
 follows an undeviating line toward an ideal. You 
 make me feel ashamed of myself, Sir, and proud to 
 be associated with such a man as you; but no other 
 man shall ever sleep in the Burmah room, be he 
 King, or President, until you come to take it as 
 your own. My hand. Sir!" 
 
 He walked as far as the gate, extracted a 
 promise from Burmah to call that evening, and 
 then, his message to the people forgotten, began 
 admiring some roses on bushes that had been 
 brought, at considerable expense, from Tennessee. 
 Burmah trudged slowly and thoughtfully along the 
 road, stopping in front of every building and pile 
 of lumber, and scrutinizing each. His tabulated 
 memory instantly recalled each owner, and the detail 
 of each sale. Here was a residence being built by a 
 man who had told him that he was merely taking a 
 gamble on the railway's reaching Port Hatch. Here 
 was another one where he had told the purchaser 
 that the railway was a positive certainty, and he 
 began to think how many such cases there might be in 
 the mushroom city. He flinched mentally as he 
 
208 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 thought apprehensively of the time when all these 
 individuals would realize that, if they had not been 
 actually tricked into buying land, and squandering 
 money thereon, they would at least be in a position 
 to call the men back of Port Hatch pitiable fools 
 and unworthy of credence. But he set his heavy 
 jaws -grimly, and scowled, and clung to the resolution 
 so hardly arrived at: that, no matter what befell, 
 he, Burmah Jones, would be there at the end, and 
 would face the music. He stopped at the head of 
 Main Street, and scanned it, and half-reluctantly 
 £^dmitted that there must be something in Hubbard 
 vaove than he had believed possible ; for there was har- 
 mony in the architecture of the business buildings 
 that were creeping along toward the distance, and 
 a new note, too, for Hubbard had adopted the 
 uniformity of a quaint old English style. For the 
 sake of the advertising value, Burmah had permit- 
 ted him to be the sole arbiter of what should be 
 built on that model street, and had inserted, some- 
 times after great argument, such a clause in every 
 deed of sale. The overhanging balconies, with 
 flower-boxes laden with color, the pitched roofs, 
 redly stained, the quaint signs, all lent the street 
 a charming individuality. 
 
 "If only there had been a railway!" Burmah 
 gighed to himself, as he turned toward the building 
 that was to be his workshop and his home. 
 
 His first act was to get every scrap of advertising 
 copy that was to be sent out, and carefully, pains- 
 takingly, he minimized that portion bearing on the 
 railway. He knew that this must not be too sharply 
 done, lest it attract attention. His campaign was 
 already outlined in his own mind, and he proposed, 
 
THE BOOMERS. 209 
 
 by gradual steps, to eliminate everything except the 
 bare suggestion that the Transcontinental road 
 might possibly make Port Hatch its terminal, while 
 at the same time boosting, with might and main, 
 the artistic and home features of the new town. 
 This task done, he opened his mail, and, first of 
 all, seized the envelopes from clipping-bureaus to 
 which he had subscribed and from which he had 
 ordered everything that appeared in the papers 
 pertaining to the progress, or financing, of the A. 
 & O. Railway. Rapidly he scanned the clippings, and 
 one by one, with a grunt of satisfaction, threw them 
 aside into a pile. Work on the railway had not 
 stopped, but was seemingly being rushed faster than 
 ever, and the financial news intimated that the 
 unknown capitalists behind the enterprise were 
 Englishmen, seeking to outdo the lines of Canada, 
 and that possibly the road would soon veer north- 
 ward. He smiled sceptically at this, for there was 
 not the slightest doubt in his mind that this was a 
 road being built by American interests, and that 
 the terminus would be Seattle. There were reports 
 of surveying parties being seen here and there in the 
 far West, and steadily approaching the borders of 
 the State of Washington. Once they entered the 
 State, the downfall of Port Hatch was imminent. 
 A fake surveying party, running lines across the 
 State from one of the true A. &. O. surveys would 
 help for a time, if it ran a line through to Port 
 Hatch. That must be attended to. Already, he 
 began casting over in his mind the names of friends 
 in the East, old confidence operators like himself, 
 who could be depended upon to employ such a 
 surveying party, and start it out, and at the same 
 
210 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 time preserve the secret. There was Diamond Bill, 
 who had operated the Omaha. The last Burmah 
 had heard of him he was somewhere on the New 
 Jersey coast, promoting a process for getting gold 
 out of the sea waves. Bill might attend to the 
 survey matter for him; but he would want a big 
 slice of money for the job. There was Deacon 
 Wills, whose specialty was selling fake mining stock 
 to church congregations, but heaven only knew 
 where the Deacon could be found. There was the 
 Count Mareschal de Benoit, known in private as 
 Bill Slack; but the Count, unfortunately, was doing 
 a five-year sentence in a Federal prison. Habit 
 held the active brain of Burmah in its spell for a 
 long time, and he walked backward and forward 
 the length of his room, in an aimless effort to think 
 who best would serve his purpose. He paused in 
 front of the window, with hands in his pockets, and 
 hat pulled down over his eyes, just as a man passed 
 along the street. In the heavy gait of the over- 
 worked, the awkward swing of the muscle-bound 
 arms, and the bent shoulders, Burmah recognized 
 the elder Todd, the man who had taken upon him- 
 self the burden of caring for the helpless, and Jones 
 suddenly whirled back from the window, and brought 
 one fat fist smashing into the other palm. 
 
 "It's crooked ! It's plumb crooked !" he muttered, 
 emphatically. "The railway won't come here; but, 
 if it does, or it don't, I'm goin' to play the game as 
 square as I can from now on. I'm through fakin', 
 if it kills me!" 
 
 Angry with himself for ever having wavered, he 
 tramped down the stairs and into Hubbard's office. 
 Here he found the engineer going over some plans 
 
THE BOOMERS. 211 
 
 that had just been submitted by one of the hired 
 architects. 
 
 "What's that?" demanded Burmah, glancing over 
 Hubbard's shoulder at something that looked like 
 a miniature Greek temple. 
 
 "The new City Hall we are to build," said the 
 author of the "City Beautiful." 
 
 Burmah's lips parted, and he drew in his breath. 
 
 "Who's doin' that?" he asked, although guessing 
 the answer. 
 
 "Colonel Hatch is donating it to the city," replied 
 Hubbard. 
 
 "Humph ! I might have known it," said Burmah, 
 looking at the drawing. "And how much will that 
 cost him?" 
 
 "Probably a little less than fifteen thousand 
 dollars," the engineer said, consulting a tablet of 
 figures on his desk. 
 
 "And what are all these sketch things you've got 
 here?" asked Burmah, pointing at a pile of draw- 
 ings in water-color on another table. 
 
 "Those are for the Park that we are laying out 
 at the head of Main Street," answered Hubbard. 
 "But that is fairly well completed now. The Colonel 
 insisted that we have at least a hundred men work- 
 ing there, and with that number it doesn't take very 
 long to make all the purely mechanical outlay on a 
 park. Nature has to have time to do her part. 
 It will be very fine when finished. You see, I have 
 modeled it somewhat after the Englischer Gartens 
 of Munich, Bavaria, a park I have always con- 
 sidered a rare combination of art and nature. The 
 lake, you see there, is already nearly full, because 
 we found a hollow that opportunely fitted our 
 
212 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 purpose, and diverted water from the reservoir into 
 it. Here is the drawing for the Children's Temple. 
 This is for the Zoological Garden, This is for 
 
 He did not finish, but stood with the drawing in 
 his hand, staring at the angry back of Burmah 
 Jones, as the latter, with a gesture of impotence, 
 suddenly turned and waddled out of the room. 
 
 "No sense of the artistic whatever!" exclaimed 
 Hubbard, wrathfully, as he threw the drawing back 
 on the pile. "How in the world he and the Colonel 
 ever got together, I can't understand! Knows 
 money, and nothing else! Absolutely no artistic 
 perception !" 
 
 Burmah, as he climbed back up the stairs to his 
 own work, felt himself a stranger in Port Hatch. 
 At once, he immersed himself in memoranda for 
 press-notices, and details of his task that had to be 
 picked up. Not many minutes passed before he 
 was disturbed by the sounds of shouting, and, lift- 
 ing the window, he called to the first man whose 
 attention he could attract, asking the cause of the 
 turmoil. 
 
 "Why, it's the dedication of the new school- 
 house," replied the man, a stranger to Burmah. 
 "Colonel Hatch is going to speak, and there are to 
 be some exercises, and singing, and a flag-raising, 
 and everyone with an interest in the town'll be 
 there." 
 
 Tired of work, Burmah slipped on his coat, and 
 joined the movement. Along the street came one 
 of the two taxi-cabs with the Colonel and Arabella 
 in it, the Colonel bowing and smiling from right to 
 left in acknowledgment of the greetings of thoise 
 
THE BOOMERS. 213 
 
 who knew him, and he appeared as happy as an 
 emperor driving to the forum to receive congratu- 
 lations for a triumph. Behind him came the second 
 taxi-cab with the newly ^elected members of the 
 school-board, and they, too, bowed and smiled. Fol- 
 lowing here appeared three lumber wagons, each 
 surmounted by a platform, decorated with bunting, 
 and seating, in pyramids, rows of grave-faced little 
 girls, dressed in white and carrying flowers. Bur- 
 mah's lips twisted into a sneer of contempt as he 
 saw this parade, which, he correctly surmised, had 
 been planned and was being executed by the Colonel 
 himself; but he thought it best, that he might not 
 be accused of indifference to the welfare of the 
 town, to follow with other of the citizens toward the 
 school-house. 
 
 He saw that the stores had all been closed in 
 honor of the event, and that some of them had blos- 
 somed out into flags and bunting. Even the club- 
 house appeared deserted. He admitted to himself 
 that the school-house was rather pretty for a small 
 building. He edged his way around the outskirts 
 of the crowd to where he could see the temporary 
 platform that had been flung across the front of 
 the building for celebration purposes. He chewed 
 the end of his cigar, and smiled when the Colonel 
 and Arabella mounted the stand, followed by the 
 school-board, and the little girls in white. The 
 crowd cheered lustily as the Colonel advanced to 
 the front, and in true oratorical style paused long 
 enough to drink a glass of water before beginning 
 his speech. Burmah grinned again, and thought 
 to himself that probably the Colonel would have 
 preferred a mint- julep, and would have had the 
 
214 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 julep, but that he feared it might set a bad example 
 to the children. Nevertheless, Jones was slightly 
 touched by the picture of the kindly old Colonel, 
 standing there with his black slouch hat folded 
 carefully under one arm, a hand thrust into the 
 lapel of his "Prince Albert" coat, and the wander- 
 ing breeze from the mountainside diarranging his 
 waving white hair. 
 
 The Colonel indulged in a wonderful burst of 
 oratory, savoring of speeches he had made in the 
 sunny South, and filled with poetical allusions and 
 grandiloquent phrases. He had many of the fine 
 old platitudes about "future Presidents" and "the 
 little red school-houses being the cradles of liberty" ; 
 yet he could not finish without coming back to his 
 hobby. 
 
 "The greatest blessing given to an American 
 citizen. Neighbors," he said, in a gravely modu- 
 lated voice, "is to have the God-inspired gift of 
 creating something which shall beautify the world, 
 make the desert blossom like the rose, and give the 
 glad sun as he climbs the peaks of the universe, 
 performing his daily task of bringing light to his 
 children below, something fair to look upon. May 
 he, in his everlasting rounds fail not to smile upon 
 the proudly beautiful city which we, by the efforts 
 of our hands and hearts, are here creating, and 
 particularly on this blessed edifice which we will 
 now dedicate fittingly by the hoisting of our nation's 
 flag. I fought against it once, being a fool in his 
 folly; but now I fight for it, as will all those who 
 come after me from this abode of learning." 
 
 He was choking with emotion as he turned and 
 gave a signal. A slim school-teacher lifted her 
 
THE BOOMERS. 215 
 
 hand, and the little girls in shrill, childish notes 
 burst into "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," and the 
 Colonel, enthusiastic, sprang to the front of the 
 platform, and beckoned for the spectators to partic- 
 ipate, he himself joining in with a high, cracked 
 treble, quite distinctly out of time and tune. The 
 banner was run up by Arabella, and the Colonel's 
 excitement increased as he watched the wind catch 
 it, and whip its folds out in gorgeous billows. 
 
 The hymn ended, and the choir appeared on the 
 point of disbanding, when the Colonel again re- 
 strained them all by pumping his arms up and down 
 like flails, and demanding a hearing. 
 
 "I'm going to ask you one favor, the first I've 
 ever asked from anyone in Port Hatch," he said, 
 "and I'm sure you all won't mind gratifying an old 
 man's whim. I want every one to join with me in 
 singing a song I love. I want to hear 'Dixie Land.' " 
 
 There was a wild shout from the place where the 
 four young lawyers from Chattanooga stood, and 
 again the Colonel sang; only Arabella, who caught 
 him furtively wiping his eyes, knew that homesick 
 strings had been touched in the harp of his memory. 
 He at last descended the platform to receive con- 
 gratulations. But Burmah, trying to preserve his 
 remnant of cynicsm, slipped away, saying to him- 
 self: 
 
 "Singin' like an old simpleton! Him! Humph! 
 Might make a good boy soprano in a church choir 
 with what voice he's got!" Then, after a moment, 
 his good humor returning, he added, still to him- 
 self: "But what right have I got to judge his singing? 
 — me, who never tried to sing before three o'clock in 
 the mornin'!" 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A GOOD BUT HOPELESS BATTLE. 
 
 Pick, after languidly explaining to Little Billy 
 that he thought he would stay at the club that 
 evening, and play bridge whist, made his way after 
 dusk toward Marquard Villa, whither Little Billy 
 had gone after impressing it upon Tommy that he 
 had a lot of work to do that night. And Tommy 
 had yawned in Kirby's face, and said he was "going 
 to hit the hay early," and then promptly taken a 
 back route along the cliff. So Burmah, when he 
 arrived, found the quartet surrounding Arabella, 
 one accusing another of taking unfair advantage. 
 Arabella, acting in the capacity of peace-maker, 
 was pouring on the troubled waters an imitation of 
 oil that tended to aggravate rather than pacify 
 them, and was enjoying herself to the utmost. The 
 Colonel paced up and down the terrace with his 
 hands clasped beneath his coat-tails, trying his 
 hardest to make a sonnet to the moon, and Uncle 
 Jeff was bemoaning the lack of real "yarbs" to 
 make a proper mint -julep. 
 
 Burmah came with an air of determination, and, 
 without ringing the bell, or waiting for Uncle Jeff, 
 sought the voices. The quartet and Arabella pounced 
 upon him to act as arbiter, and, before he knew it, 
 he was involved in the good-natured squabble. 
 
 "What they're fighting about," she explained, "is 
 whether it's ethical for four young men to mislead 
 one another for a selfish purpose." 
 
 216 
 
THE BOOMERS. 217 
 
 "Depends on the purpose," said Burmah, tact- 
 fully. 
 
 "Purpose? Why, they were coming here to see 
 me, and there wasn't a one of them invited as an 
 individual. I asked them all to come." 
 
 "Conditions alter cases," judicially said Burmah, 
 with vast seriousness. "But all's fair in love and 
 war, and I've always held to the rule that the correct 
 thing to do is to be sure to beat the other feller 
 to anything you start after. I hadn't thought of 
 it, before," he added, whimsically, "but it seems to 
 me that I ought to marry you, myself. Will you 
 have me?" 
 
 There were shouts, of "Unfair!" "Prejudiced 
 Judge," and "One at a time," from the quartet; 
 but Burmah stilled them with a wave of his hand. 
 
 "I hadn't thought of it before," replied Arabella, 
 smiling at him, "but I'm not sure, on consideration, 
 that I wouldn't a little bit rather marry you than 
 any of those who have so persistently and repeatedly 
 asked me. I'll take time to think it over, if you'll 
 be good enough to give me — say — two or three weeks 
 for deliberation." 
 
 "Then," said Burmah, with the utmost gravity, as 
 he turned to the quartet, "I think you fellers ought 
 to stand aside while there's a deal bein' considered. 
 Now, havin' attended to that part of my business, 
 I guess I'll go out and see the Colonel." 
 
 He brought his heels together, reached over and 
 caught one of Arabella's hands in his, and gravely 
 bent and kissed it. And she flushed a trifle, for she 
 could not be sure whether his eyes, usually mocking, 
 were not now in earnest. She looked at him, wifh 
 a vague sense of perturbation, as he quietly walked 
 
218 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 away, and out to where he could intercept the 
 Colonel. 
 
 "Colonel," he said to the latter at the end of the 
 terrace, "I want to talk to you about something 
 that's none of my business. It's as a friend." 
 
 The Colonel appeared to think that Burmah had 
 come to him for advice, and exhibited a conde- 
 scending, gracious air, as he led the way to the 
 corner of the terrace, where the concrete benches 
 were covered with heavy cushions, and seated him- 
 self. 
 
 "Burmah," he said, "if I can be of any assistance 
 to you, Sir, in any trouble that you may have, I 
 am always at your service." 
 
 *'It ain't about me. Colonel," said Burmah, slight- 
 ly exasperated; "it's about you. I saw the plans 
 to-day for the new City Hall. Hubbard's all right, 
 but that thing looks to me pretty all-fired imprac- 
 tical. Any town of this size that has a City Hall 
 usually has rooms for offices up above it, and a 
 store-room or two alongside for practical rental 
 purposes, so that the City Hall will pay for itself 
 — the sort of a building that'll bring in returns on 
 the investment. Why don't you try to put your 
 money out so's you'll get something back for it.'*" 
 
 The Colonel waved his hand, and looked out over 
 the sound. 
 
 "Burmah," he said, with fine dignity, "you don't 
 understand. Any place which houses a branch, a 
 piece, a part, of our immortal National Government, 
 should have no taint of sordid trade. Where waves 
 the banner of the screaming eagle must be a hal- 
 lowed spot, untainted by the dollar-mark." 
 
 "I know all that, but — " Burmah began. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 219 
 
 And again the Colonel silenced him, 
 
 "There are places, like shrines, that should be 
 immune from the encroachments of trade. Any 
 gentleman can make money, dead-oodles of it, Sir; 
 but it's the hall-mark of the gentleman when he can 
 hold back, and separate his instincts of acquisition 
 from encroachment on his instincts as a citizen. 
 Burmah, you are mistaken, and I grieve over it." 
 
 But Burmah had come, in his new determination, 
 prepared to fight some reason into the Colonel's mind. 
 
 "Have the contracts been given out yet.?" he 
 asked, unabashed. 
 
 "They have," said the Colonel, "and in order to 
 induce the contractors to haste in completing the 
 structure, I agreed to give them a ten per cent, 
 bonus for time." 
 
 "Then that is settled," exclaimed Burmah, with a 
 note of regret. "Now for the next thing: If Port 
 Hatch has to have a park, why don't you let Port 
 Hatch pay for it?" 
 
 The Colonel suddenly arose to his full and com- 
 manding height, and it was evident to Burmah that 
 he was struggling with temper. 
 
 "Burmah! — Mr. Jones," he said, with cutting 
 emphasis, "I am Port Hatch!" He tapped his 
 breast in emphasis, and Burmah, after staring at 
 him for a moment, threw up both hands with an air 
 of resignation. 
 
 "Colonel," he said, quietly, "I'm goin' to say it to 
 you — goin' to say something, because you're dead 
 sure to get the worst of a bad deal in the long run, 
 unless you pull up. I wouldn't have talked to you 
 this way a month ago. I wouldn't do it now, only 
 someone's got to, and you believe in me." 
 
220 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 "As I do in my own life!" interjected the Colonel, 
 reseating himself and relaxing. 
 
 "You've had more than a hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand dollars in cash out of Port Hatch already," 
 Burmah went on, in the same steady voice. "I've 
 had nearly as much. I've kept mine, almost every 
 cent of it! What have you got? Almost nothin', 
 save what I paid you yesterday." 
 
 "Almost nothing?" roared the Colonel, again 
 exhibiting signs of restlessness. "Why, I'Ve got 
 the finest residence in the State, in the United States, 
 in the world, so far as artistic beauty is concerned. 
 What have I got? I've got a school-house started, 
 a club named after me, a public wharf, pavements, 
 and a city park. What in hell more could a man 
 want, Sir?" 
 
 "That's all right,'* calmly replied Burmah to the 
 explosion, "but. Colonel, parks and clubs, and school- 
 houses and city halls, and pavements and wharves, 
 ain't goin' to feed Miss Arabella after you're dead 
 and gone, and they ain't goin' to keep Marquard 
 Villa repaired and cared for. You've got somebody 
 besides Port Hatch to think about. Colonel, if you 
 won't do it for anyone else, hang on to some of it 
 for her. Hang on to some of it, to please me. You 
 know you owe it to me, some of it, for helpin' you 
 get hold of it, and makin' it a go — under your 
 advice." He added the last as an afterthought, 
 playing by habit on that chord of vanity. 
 
 The Colonel melted somewhat', and laid a hand on 
 Burmah's knee, a thing that he had never done be- 
 fore save under extreme stress, and Burmah recog- 
 nized the conciliatory significance of it, and grew 
 hopeful. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 221 
 
 "There are three things," said the Colonel softly, 
 "for whom and which I would do anything in the 
 world — or make any sacrifice. The first is my 
 daughter, whom I love as few men have loved their 
 offspring. The second and third, equal in my 
 affection, are Port Hatch, God bless Her! and you, 
 Burmah Jones ! Don't you see, that I've got land 
 left, hundreds of acres of it, stretching off up there 
 like a glorious carpet laid at the mountain's feet, 
 and every foot of which is going to be valuable when 
 the railway comes, and Port Hatch has become a 
 magnificent city of tens of thousands where now she 
 has but hundreds?" 
 
 "But — but — ," almost whispered Burmah, "sup- 
 pose the railway don't come?" 
 
 The Colonel ran a troubled hand over his brow, 
 which appeared white and ascetic in the moonlight. 
 
 "It's got to come !" he declared, hoarsely. 
 
 "But, Colonel, suppose it don't! There's nothin' 
 in the world dead sure until it's happened." 
 
 "You told me—" 
 
 "Never mind what I told you," insisted Burmah. 
 "I'm just like anybody else. Sometimes I make 
 mistakes. I've made a lot of 'em. Colonel, I wish 
 you'd hang on to what you have and what comes in, 
 until the railroad does come. After that, if it does, 
 you'll have enough to build a marble opera-house 
 and not feel it." 
 
 He had made his first tactical blunder, and knew 
 it ; but it was too late. 
 
 "By Jingoes !" exclaimed the Colonel, enthuiastic- 
 ally, "I never thought of that ! A marble opera- 
 house. Burmah, you're the most wonderful assist- 
 wai a man in finance ever had. Your hand, Sir! 
 
222 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 I'm mighty grateful to you for that suggestion. 
 I'll ask Hubbard to begin the plans right away 
 to-morrow." 
 
 Burmah made one more attempt to check the 
 splendid, unselfish old spendthrift in his dreams, and 
 turned toward him, and stared an appeal into his 
 eyes. 
 
 "But, Colonel, won't you promise this, for what 
 I've tried to do: that you won't build the opera- 
 house until after the first engine whistles its way 
 into Port Hatch?" 
 
 The Colonel deliberated for a long time, and 
 Burmah feared that he was going to refuse. Then, 
 as if he had weighed the subject impartially, the 
 Colonel said: 
 
 "Yes, I'll promise it to you; but I'll be hanged 
 if I'd promise as big a sacrifice as that to any other 
 man on earth!" 
 
 Burmah stood up wearily, and looked out over 
 the terrace, convinced that the time was inoppor- 
 tune to demand more. The Colonel had stated a 
 truth, in one respect, that he had abundant acreage 
 remaining if ever the railway came. For once in his 
 life Burmah was unselfish; for none of this land 
 beyond was subdivided, and therefore he could 
 expect nothing from its revenues. He was sick at 
 heart from fear that the Colonel could not be re- 
 strained, and that the inevitable crash and collapse 
 would find him penniless and unprepared. He 
 looked uncertainly around him, and then caught 
 at another idea. He would bring all the influence 
 he could bear to keep the Colonel from squandering 
 anything further. He would appeal to Arabella, 
 and he would enlist the boys from Chattanooga. He 
 
THE BOOMERS. 223 
 
 would brow-beat Hubbard into sensible acceptance 
 of deferring everything, and would himself con- 
 stantly warn the Colonel in every possible way. 
 
 "I think," he said, "that I ought to talk to Miss 
 Arabella for a while, so you'll excuse me, won't you, 
 Colonel?" 
 
 And the Colonel, nothing loath to solitude for the 
 important business of thinking over a marble opera- 
 house, was quite agreeable. 
 
 Burmah wandered into the house and out upon the 
 lawn, where he heard, faintly, the broken words and 
 sentences of an animated conversation, and this he 
 traced to a new summer-house, built with crude log 
 supports and rustic seats. Hubbard, having joined 
 the quartet, was there paying court to Arabella, 
 and was expatiating on the value of classical designs 
 as compared with modern atrocities. His long hair 
 was tossed back, his poetic eyes were glowing like 
 coals, and his white, graceful hands were gesturing 
 rapidly to emphasize his arguments. All the 
 others, duly impressed, gazed at him, spell-bound, 
 as he volleyed sentences at them on his theory of 
 beautification. He checked himself as he saw the 
 square shape of the Kansan in the entrance, and the 
 latter seized the opportunity to turn the conversa- 
 tion by politely asking Arabella if the three weeks 
 were up yet. 
 
 "Almost," she declared ; "but perhaps I shall have 
 to extend the time." 
 
 "That's something that needs talkin' over," said 
 Burmah, mockingly. "And, as the time's so short, 
 I think I'd like to have you walk around this whole 
 lawn, once, with me, where we won't be bothered by 
 any of these old gentlemen." 
 
224 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Beneath all his bantering and assumption of 
 gaiety, she knew, intuitively, that some serious 
 purpose was in him, and that he wished to talk with 
 her alone. 
 
 "All right! I accept," she retorted, and hastened 
 over to take his arm. "Now mind you, all of you," 
 she commanded, turning to her admirers, who stared 
 at her according to individual moods, "no one of you 
 is invited. You must all wait here until I come back." 
 
 Burmah walked with no uncertain step along a 
 path that led to a stone seat near the edge of the 
 cliff, and, as he went, he passed nothing but com- 
 ments on the improvements that had been made in 
 the grounds. Reaching the bench, he beckoned her 
 to a seat, and she saw that his face was grave and 
 thoughtful. 
 
 "Miss Arabella," he said, bluntly, "what I want 
 to talk about is your father. Somebody ought to 
 try and keep him from blowin' in every copper that 
 he gets as fast as he gets it. Do you know what 
 he's goin' to do now.? Build a City Hall! Lord 
 Almighty ! If this keeps up he'd better begin to 
 build a nice poor-house, so's he'll have some place to 
 fall into when this boom's busted. I want you to 
 help me." 
 
 She looked up at him with a troubled face, which 
 portrayed perplexity also. 
 
 "Why, hasn't he lots of money?" she asked. "I 
 thought, from what he says, that he must be worth 
 a million." 
 
 "No, he ain't got lots of money, and he ain't worth 
 no million!" savagely replied Burmah. "He's had 
 about a hundred and fifty thousand cash, and I've 
 got no idea how much of it's left; but I guess that, 
 
THE BOOMERS. 225 
 
 if he paid the things he's contracted for, he'd have 
 less than twenty-five thousand. Just think of it! 
 Only twenty-five thousand out of a hundred and fifty, 
 in three or four months." 
 
 He walked backward and forward in front of her, 
 his fat hands, on one of which was displayed the 
 diamond of vulgar size, gesturing now and then, 
 and the diamond flashed in the moonlight as if 
 punctuating his sentence. 
 
 "Look what he's done with it all," he exclaimed, 
 contemptuously. "The only dollar that he has spent 
 on himself is for Marquard Villa. He ain't even 
 bought a new pair of shoes since he came here. All 
 he's done, with all he got, was to give free pave- 
 ments and free buildings to Port Hatch. The land 
 he gave for the Park would be worth hundreds of 
 thousands if a railway ever did come here, and on 
 top of that he goes to work, and turns Hubbard 
 loose to fix it up. Zoological Gardens — bah! — 
 fountains — artificial lakes — all rubbish! He must 
 be stopped; and he's so devilish crusty that we've 
 all got to take a hand in tryin' to discourage him 
 every time he gets a new fool idea. It ain't as if 
 
 he was young Somehow or another, 
 
 I've got so, lately, that I'm afraid of the years !" 
 
 He stopped, and looked out upon the mountains 
 for a while before continuing, as if to himself and 
 forgetful of her presence; a pudgy, impolite 
 philosopher, with his back turned toward his com- 
 panion. 
 
 "It's time that always beats us. Just that! 
 Time ! There's a man-child born at every tick of the 
 clock. We ain't no good before we're twenty-one, 
 and we croak at sixty. When you come to figure 
 
226 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 out all the time that we're asleep and drunk, we 
 don't live very long, nohow !" 
 
 Arabella's voice recalled him. 
 
 "I didn't hear you, Burmah," she said; and he 
 felt a glow at her unconscious use of his name. 
 
 "What I mean by all this," he said, wheeling so 
 that he faced her, "is that something's got to be 
 done to curb the Colonel, and I want you to help 
 me." 
 
 Her shapely eyebrows were drawn into a frown, 
 and her face was a picture of distress as she met 
 his eyes. 
 
 "But what can I do.^ You know how father is! 
 No one can influence him." 
 
 "You can do this," he asserted. "You can listen 
 to his plans. You can argue against them — not so 
 he'll notice it, but just to find ways of makin' him 
 change his mind. You must never let him think 
 you don't believe his new hobby-horse the finest that 
 ever was rode ; but always suggest that maybe there's 
 another that's got prettier paint on it. You must 
 always appear to agree, and inside of your head 
 know that you don't agree. You must always smile, 
 and pat his cheek, the way I've seen you pat it, 
 even if your heart's sick over some new-fangled way 
 of throwin' away the bank-roll. And you can do 
 more than all that. You can tell me, always, when 
 he's gat a new hobby-horse in mind, and I'll do my 
 darndest to see that it's taken out of the shop window 
 before he can get around to buy it, or that it comes 
 to him with a broken leg." 
 
 She got up impulsively, and came to him. She 
 put both white hands on his arms, and looked him 
 full in the face, with the trustful aifection of a sister 
 
THE BOOMERS. 227 
 
 for a big and strong brother, and he sustained a 
 pang of sorrow because he had been compelled to 
 bring even this worthy distress upon her. 
 
 "You are so good!" she whispered. "You talk 
 differently than the men I have known; but there's 
 something in the way you say things that makes 
 anyone know, without thinking, that you are honest 
 and wise." 
 
 Beneath the confidence of her touch, and the 
 trust and admiration in her voice, he shuddered as 
 the lash bit deeply. But his eyes did not lower 
 themselves, and he appeared the same immobile, un- 
 emotional, stocky, fat man, grotesque in his vulgarity 
 of dress, masterful in the dominant features of his 
 face and head. 
 
 "Then you'll do it.?" he insisted, never varying 
 from the point that he sought to attain. 
 
 "Yes, I will," she promised with outspoken candor 
 and no reservation. "And I'll do it without feeling 
 that I am a spy on my own father, because I know, 
 now, that it is for his good." 
 
 "Then," he said, masking his gratitude under the 
 guise of raillery, "my time of suspense has been ex- 
 tended another three weeks, and I can take you back 
 to where Hubbard is probably spoutin' about the 
 high-art way of how to build parrot-cages." 
 
 He made a flourish with his hat, and offered his 
 arm, and talked lightly of trivial things, as he led 
 her back to the arbor, at the entrance of which he 
 bade her good-night. He waved his hand to the 
 young men who waited, and pretended to whistle 
 gaily as he passed out through the gates; but, im- 
 mediately after, he sobered, and walked along the 
 road a worried, tired, conscience-smitten old man. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE DREAMER IS EXTRAVAGANT. 
 
 On the morning after the conspiracy against 
 expenditure had been hatched by Burmah Jones, 
 the Colonel, in his pajamas and with ruffled hair, 
 got up and stalked to the window, and prepared to 
 enjoy the dawn. The early twittering of the birds 
 and the splendor of daybreak had always appealed 
 to him; but here, in the midst of beauty, where the 
 rugged Olympics shattered the sky-line, the forests 
 on their flanks marched like an army, and the waters 
 of the sound palpitated in expectancy, the Colonel 
 was in his element. Carnations, massed beneath his 
 window, filled the somnolent air with fragrance. 
 Roses beyond, now mere clumps and patches of dark 
 foliage, would, as the sun arose, become jewels 
 of red, blazing like imperial rubies toward his 
 window. White roses would be picked out as 
 they stared in purity, and pink ones would dis- 
 play shy modesty. Mount Rainier in the dis- 
 tance would remind him of austere heights to which 
 gentlemen might climb, and the window from which 
 he leaned would become a palace casement, whence 
 he, a gentlemanly king and a financial genius, might 
 look out over his domain with its slumbering sub- 
 jects. He had dreamed of a marble opera-house 
 that outshone the great edifice in Paris, a house 
 he knew only in picture. He had enjoyed the 
 dream to the full; for he had made a speech, and 
 he tried, sleepily, there in the dawn, to think of 
 
 228 
 
THE BOOMERS. 229 
 
 some of those wonderful phrases he had coined 
 when standing behind the footlights. A half-fledged 
 caterpillar, making its laborious way along the 
 window ledge, interested him, and he very gently 
 decoyed it to a piece of paper, and carried it down 
 to the lawn, and liberated it, heedless of the fact 
 that his feet were bare, and the new turf covered 
 with dew. A newspaper on the stand in the hall 
 caught his eye, and he smiled as he remembered that 
 by the advent of Burmah he had been prevented 
 from reading it on the preceding evening. He car- 
 ried it up the stairs with him, and in the red light 
 from the eastern sky found his glasses, and glanced 
 over it idly, pausing now and then to lift his eyes 
 and watch for some new display of color in the 
 heavens. Something in the advertising columns 
 caught his vagrant glance, and he suddenly went 
 out on the balcony where the light was stronger, and 
 with bated breath read the article through. His 
 lips were open, and his whole attitude portrayed the 
 most intense interest. The old clock from his an- 
 cestral home in Tennessee, now pioneering with the 
 Hatch family in the North-west, and standing watch- 
 fully at the foot of the Hatch stairs, struck age- 
 mellowed chimes, and the Colonel lifted his head, 
 and counted straight through until the total of five 
 was reached. 
 
 "Five o'clock," he muttered, "and the early boat 
 for Seattle sails at six-thirty. I can surely make 
 it. This is a grand opportunity, not to be wasted. 
 I must hurry." 
 
 He skipped excitedly around the room, dragged 
 his trousers on wrong side foremost, and delivered 
 
230 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 objurgations, lost a cuff-button from his shirt, and 
 had difficulty in knotting his old-fashioned scarf. 
 He tied the laces of his shoes in hasty hard knots to 
 save time, and forgot to wash his face, or comb his 
 hair. Benjamin Franklin had said that the way 
 to success was to take time by the forelock, as the 
 Colonel remembered it, so, metaphorically, he 
 grabbed Father Time by the whiskers, scythe and 
 lantern, to make sure. Like Father Time, the 
 Colonel was proud of his ability to makle haste 
 where business was concerned. He hurried down- 
 stairs, and wrote a note to Arabella, which read: 
 
 "Have been compelled to go to the city on ex- 
 tremely important business, by the early boat. 
 Shall probably not return home for two or three 
 days. But when I do come will have a surprise for 
 you, my dear little girl, that will make you happy. 
 A thousand kisses from your devoted old Daddy." 
 
 He slipped into the breakfast-room, and put his 
 note in a conspicuous place, and then tore madly 
 out of the house and down the road toward the 
 wharf and the steamer. Now and then, an early 
 workman saluted him, and he always found time to 
 lift his hat, and wish each a pleasant day. Now 
 and then, other early risers stared out of win- 
 dows at his lank and hurrying figure, and always 
 they smiled at this Colonel of Hearts. The captain 
 of the steamer saluted him, and shouted a good- 
 morning from the bridge, and the stewards, mindful 
 of his liberal tips, hastened to his service. The few 
 passengers who made regular trips to Seattle were 
 all eager to have a few words with him, and the 
 world went very happily. He stood alone as the 
 
THE BOOMERS. 231 
 
 boat pulled out, and, when it came abreast of his 
 home, perched like an eagle's nest high above, he 
 threw his hands wide, and blew a kiss in the direction 
 of it, and murmured, "Good-by, Arabella! Sleep 
 well, little sweetheart!" 
 
 He burst into song, having repeated reference to 
 one part of his ditty — that which went, "Daddy's 
 gone a-hunting to get a rabbit skin." 
 
 But, when the boat arrived at Seattle, the Colonel 
 might have been accused of having misinformed his 
 daughter; for he pulled out his watch, and hastened 
 up the street toward the railway station, where he 
 walked inside, and bought a ticket for Centralia, a 
 near-by County seat. 
 
 At two o'clock of the sunny afternoon, there was 
 a strange sight in that fine little city. Small boys 
 and farmers had been congregating for some time 
 preceding, and a heterogeneous crowd wound its 
 way toward the edge of the town. There were lum- 
 ber-jacks enjoying the dull season, all the chronic 
 loafers, four or five sporty, but glum-looking, gen- 
 tlemen with loud clothes, and an equally somber 
 collection of men and women, whose movements, 
 beneath ill-fitting clothes, displayed a certain light- 
 ness and excellent muscular development. The 
 sporty gentlemen were those who had owned "Buz- 
 zard's Biggest Menagerie and Most Colossal Cir- 
 cus," until the Sheriff had stopped its progress, and 
 the group of well-muscled ladies and gentlemen were 
 unpaid performers, who hoped the Sheriff would 
 sell for enough at least to pay them their back 
 wages. The small boys went to get a free look at 
 the animals that were to be sold under the hammer, 
 
252 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 the lumber- j acks in the hope that there might be a 
 chance for a free-for-all fight, and the others were 
 merely going to see the fun. There were almost as 
 many persons in attendance as on that day when 
 "Buzzard's Biggest" came to the town, and spread 
 its frayed, patched, and discolored canvas to the 
 clean Washington air, and polluted the place with 
 multi-odors. On that glad day there had been a 
 shimmering of imitation silk; gallant, but unkempt, 
 knights in tin uniforms had ridden travel-worn and 
 dejected horses through the streets, and the "Hun- 
 dred-Thousand-Dollar Beauty," her face stiff with 
 powder and paint, had stared haughtily at the crowd 
 from, "the most gorgeous chariot in the world, out- 
 rivaling the Oriental masterpiece of Cleopatra," 
 and beside her had stood a proud Marc Antony^ 
 who, in private life, was named Abraham Abramsky^ 
 and had the concession for lemonade with the big 
 show. But alas ! So fleetly had time traveled, all 
 these were gone to other fields, save those acrobats 
 with families, who could not depart until funds were 
 secured through the Sheriff. 
 
 The Sheriff was a blase individual, who wore a 
 soft hat suggesting an acquaintance at some time 
 in his career with wandering steers over a very 
 broad, unfenced range. With him were two or 
 three other men, who calmly eyed the lumber- jacks, 
 and the circus men, and whose sack coats bulged 
 over belts, tjiese being mere deputies brought along 
 to preserve order. And in the heart of this pro- 
 cession, smiling with the keenest enjoyment, proudly 
 intent on acquiring a zoological collection, fervid 
 with dreams for Port Hatch, walked the Colonel, 
 
THE BOOMERS. 238 
 
 with head erect and hands in his pockets lest some 
 one should remove his valuables. 
 
 The "big top" was down, and had lost all its 
 glamour, being merely a huge heap of dirty canvas 
 with numerous piles of battered blue lumber around 
 it, the latter being seats that had supported joyous 
 multitudes in days when business was good, and 
 been unfortunately empty as the show toured the 
 West. The wagons looked as if they needed paint 
 and a rest, and the chariot, once the proud vehicle 
 for the prize beauty, who had now opened a man- 
 icure parlor, appeared dingy and forlorn. Only 
 one spread of canvas was there, and its sides were 
 rolled up as if to mock those glad days when they 
 were down, and urchins were spanked on prominent 
 portions of their anatomy as they attempted to 
 crawl beneath. Sheltered from the sun that beat 
 down upon it, what animals were left of Buzzard's 
 grand menagerie slept with profound gratitude for 
 the peaceful rest that had so unexpectedly descended 
 upon their imprisoned lives. 
 
 The Sheriff halted the crowd outside, as best he 
 could; but the small boys, the ranchers and most 
 of the lumber-jacks passed on and stared at the 
 animals, and at the surly keeper who lay at length 
 on the ground in front, scornfully "sizing up the 
 jays." The Colonel was among those that waited 
 outside, while the Sheriff mounted a pile of seats, 
 and read his notice of sale in a humdrum voice^ as 
 if eager to be through with his unusual task. 
 
 "The first articles on which we will ask bids," he 
 said) "are the tents you see piled there, and the 
 seats of this show. Somebody make an offer." 
 
234 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 The showmen, who had been consulting as he read 
 the notice, opened the bidding, and had such small 
 opposition that the sale was almost perfunctory. 
 They appeared satisfied at the lowness of the price, 
 and grinned and chuckled, and glowered at the acro- 
 bats, who, a melancholy group, stood on one side. 
 
 The horses and wagons went next, and again the 
 sporty-looking gentlemen had it much their own 
 way, and the bidding lacked spirit. Then the Sheriff 
 proposed that the entire contents of the menagerie 
 tent be sold in a lump, and again the acrobats 
 looked mournful, and whispered to one another, as 
 if the case were hopeless ; but they were interested 
 when the tall old gentleman, with the rose in his lapel, 
 stepped forward, and, in a drawling voice, accosted 
 the officer. 
 
 "Excuse me. Mister Sheriff," he said, with the ut- 
 most respect, "but, if you don't mind, I'd sort of like 
 to look at the animals that are to be sold. Can you 
 show them to me. Sir?" 
 
 The sporty-looking gentlemen acted as if some 
 one had applied an electric shock to them, as they 
 heard this request, and crowded forward with loud 
 expostulations. 
 
 "Go on with the sale," their leader demanded truc- 
 lently, and the Sheriff's eye gleamed with a new light. 
 
 "Suppose you hold your yawp," he retorted, 
 shortly. "Whose runnin' this sale — you or me.?" 
 
 The group of acrobats who had concluded that 
 they were to be robbed, after all, by their former 
 employers, brightened visibly, and came closer, pre- 
 pared to "rough it" in behalf of the Sheriff, if given 
 the slightest possible pretext. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 235 
 
 "This rube's had thirty days to look at animals, 
 if he means business," growled the spokesman for 
 the would-be buyers. "What's he buttin' in here 
 for, anyhow? Go on and put 'em up." 
 
 The Sheriff still smiled pleasantly. 
 
 "I believe," he remarked, "that I said I didn't 
 need none of your help." He turned toward the 
 Colonel, and added, "Certainly, you can have a 
 look at 'em, if you want to bid. The animals ain't 
 in no hurry, and I ain't, either." 
 
 The sporty man elbowed his way in with his hat 
 jammed back on his head, and in so doing shoved 
 the Colonel to one side ; but his action did not in the 
 least escape the officer's vigilant eye. 
 
 "Hey, Jim," he called to one of his deputies. 
 "Just grab this smart aleck here, and take him up 
 and chuck him in till we get this sale over. He's 
 interferin' with an officer in discharge of his duty." 
 
 The man called Jim collared the disturber so 
 quickly that the latter had no time to put up a fight. 
 Two of his associates shoved themselves forward, 
 and the Sheriff suddenly attracted their attention 
 in a very decisive manner. 
 
 "Stop!" he shouted, and they looked up at him. 
 A big, worn Colt's pistol was pointed down toward 
 them. They decided to stand still. 
 
 "We came here expectin' somethin' of this sort," 
 said the Sheriff, with the utmost calmness, "and I 
 want to warn you fellers that it won't go. Either 
 me or my deputies would just as soon pot-shot a 
 circus man as we would anything else. First come, 
 first served. Glad to meet you gentlemen on any 
 kind of a basis. Jim, go ahead with that big slob 
 
286 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 you've got, and throw him in. Bill, you go along 
 to see that Jim doesn't have to kill him without a 
 witness handy. Now, Mister, if you want to have 
 a look at them animals, we'll show 'em to you." 
 
 The acrobats grinned derisively at their former 
 boss, as he was led sullenly away; his companions 
 in the bidding syndicate decided that discretion was 
 the better plan to pursue, and the Sheriff dropped 
 down from his stand, and led the way for the Colo- 
 nel, who appeared mildly dazed and interested in 
 all the excitement, though thinking of but one fea- 
 ture, the menagerie. 
 
 "I'm takin' it for granted you mean business, 
 Mister," the Sheriff said, as they started toward the 
 crowd around the cages. 
 
 "I want to buy some animals," replied the Colo- 
 nel, with deep fervor. "I'm going to give them to 
 a park. My name. Sir, is Colonel Alonzo Fairfax 
 Hatch," he concluded; and the Sheriff suddenly 
 became very respectful. 
 
 "Why, you're the man that's makin' that new 
 town for the Railroad Company, ain't you.?" he 
 asked, and the Colonel was duly flattered. 
 
 "I am. Sir," he replied, with a display of pride. 
 
 "Then I'm glad you came," grinned the Sheriff, 
 "because, you see, these fellers that owned this cir- 
 cus just stalled through, and thought this was the 
 cheapest way to pay their debts — have a Sheriff's 
 sale. Bid her in by some of their own men, and let 
 these poor devils they owed get about one cent on 
 the dollar. Sure, you can see the beasts. Come on, 
 Colonel Hatch, and have a look at 'em." 
 
 The acrobats, who had kept as close as they 
 
THE BOOMERS. 23T 
 
 dared, and strained their ears to catch all this con- 
 versation, nodded happily, looked relieved, and saw 
 to it that the way was quite clear for the Colonel 
 to make his inspection. A dealer in animals would 
 have been satisfied, and contemptuous, at sight of 
 the first display; but the Colonel, who had never 
 owned a menagerie, was as delighted as any small 
 boy that ever stood before gratings. One of the 
 acrobats, who professionally was a strong man, 
 shoved his way hastily ahead, and whispered to the 
 keeper who had been lounging in front of the cages, 
 and the latter, hopeful at last of getting his full 
 back pay, evinced a sudden interest, and hurried 
 down behind the rope to meet the prospective buyer 
 when he halted in front of a battered cage con- 
 taining two sleeping lions. 
 
 "Behold the kings of the jungle!" shouted the 
 keeper, repeating the patter that he had been taught 
 for the entertainment of crowds while working with 
 other small menageries at Coney Island in New 
 York. "The two finest specimens of their kind in 
 
 captivity Pompey ! Git up, and 
 
 let the gentleman cast his lamps over you!" 
 
 He prodded the nearest sleeping lion with a short 
 stick he carried, and succeeded in raising a grunt 
 from the king of the jungle. Finding that this 
 failed to arouse the tired beast, he put both hands 
 through the bars, seized the king by his mane, and 
 almost hauled him to his feet. The cage mate also 
 got up and yawned, and the Colonel stared with 
 immense admiration at two of the most moth-eaten 
 lions that had ever ridden on top of wagons through 
 crowded streets — ancient, kindly, toothless beasts, 
 
238 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 which had come to regard the world with cynical 
 laziness, and, being born in captivity, cared for 
 nothing beyond the flavoring of the grease-soaked 
 poultices that were fed them in their fine old cage. 
 They looked reproachfully at their keeper, who now 
 stood back, and waved a hand at them. 
 
 "There they are. Sir," he croaked in his hoarse, 
 and worn-out "spieler's" voice. "The finest animals 
 that's ever been behind a cage. Yes, Sir, them's 
 two noble lions. Males, they are." 
 
 The Colonel's face clouded. 
 
 "It seems to me there'd ought to be a lion and a 
 lioness always together," he said sorrowfully. "We 
 want specimens for our Park, and — " 
 
 "Did I say Males .f^" demanded the keeper hastily. 
 "Excuse me. Boss, I was mistook, or you didn't get 
 me. That's a pair of mates. Lord! They been 
 together since they was caught in Africy. Why, 
 bless you. Sir! That there female didn't need to 
 have got caught at all. No, Sir! They caught the 
 old he-lion, and she came and tried to help him get 
 away. The man what caught 'em cried about it 
 when he told me how it happened." 
 
 "Remarkable! Remarkable illustration of animal 
 affection!" said the Colonel, admiringly. "We 
 must have them. Indeed, that adds very much to 
 their sentimental value. He acted as if struggling 
 with a desire to compliment the lions on their 
 loyalty; but inasmuch as poor, tired old Pompey 
 laid himself out again to finish his nap, was diverted 
 to the next cage, where a tiger that was badly 
 striped, undersized, and had been crippled in a rail- 
 way accident, went limping around his narrow space. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 239 
 
 "Some animal, ain't he?" said the keeper. "Royal 
 king of the jungles. Man-eater from Darkest 
 Africy. The peerless — " 
 
 He stopped suddenly, when he saw that the Colo- 
 nel was frowning at the animal's painful limp, and 
 dropped the long line of empty sentences. 
 
 "That foot's all right," he said. "All it needs is 
 some liniment and a rag; but, you see. Boss, we 
 ain't had time to do nothin' since these rubes out 
 here stuck us up. That's some tiger! Believe me!" 
 
 He hastily diverted the Colonel's attention to the 
 next cage, where a half-dozen monkeys chattered 
 joyously in the hope of peanuts, and the Colonel 
 smiled happily. He did not notice the long rig- 
 marole that the keeper vented on the virtues and 
 rarity of the collection, all of which, needless to 
 say, was delighfully untrue. Next came a cage con- 
 taining a very common, ordinary specimen of tim- 
 ber wolf on one side of a partition, while on the 
 other was an equally common coyote. Another 
 wagon held a quite homesick hyena, and still an- 
 other held the only specimen in the whole collection 
 worth looking at, a fine jaguar, whose lithe muscles 
 rippled silkily as he worked restlessly around his 
 cage. A poor little elephant, old, wise, and phil- 
 osophic, put out a friendly trunk, and the Colonel 
 "shook hands" with him, and warmed to him. 
 
 "He's just naturally askin' you to take him home 
 with you," the keeper declared. "He's plumb sick 
 of loafin' around this burg, same as me." 
 
 Close by the elephant stood a placid camel, soft 
 eyed and unconcerned, and possessed, as Harris 
 Dickson once said, of "a noble smell." They had 
 
240 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 reached the end of the display, and the Colonel 
 paused. The keeper leaned forward, and talked 
 confidentially. 
 
 "Say, Boss," he muttered, '*the big feller told me 
 you wanted 'em for a park. Got any body to keep 
 'em.? If you ain't, I'd sort of like the job." 
 
 "Thank you, Sir. Thank you!" replied the Colo- 
 nel. "I hadn't thought about that part of it, and 
 you'd be just the man. They know you, and that 
 might keep them from feelin' so lonesome in Port 
 Hatch." 
 
 "Know me? Well, I guess yes!" answered the 
 keeper, still confidentially. "Why, I reckon some 
 of them there animules would die if they know'd I 
 wasn't goin' with 'em. Yes, Sir, just turn up their 
 toes, and kick the bucket. They ain't no man in 
 the world knows more about menageries than I do. 
 Maybe you've hearn tell of the great Zo-Zo, King 
 of the Beasts? That's me!" 
 
 He eyed the Colonel keenly, swelled out his chest, 
 and assumed a pose. 
 
 "Get me. Boss?" he asked. "King of the iBeasts 
 — that's me. And say, if youre goin' to put this 
 royal menagerie into a park, it'll make that park 
 second only to the Bronx back in little old New 
 York. You see, you can pick up more of 'em now 
 an' then. And say. Boss, leave it to me to condition 
 'em. I'm great at it. I can take a tiger rug off'n 
 a parlor floor, and have it walkin' around a cage 
 and roarin' in two months. Buy 'em in. Boss. Buy 
 'em in !" 
 
 The Sheriff interrupted a conversation that might 
 have lasted all the afternoon, by saying: 
 
THE BOOMERS. 241 
 
 "Well, Colonel, that's all of 'em. Shall I go 
 ahead with the sale now?" 
 
 The Colonel said yes, and stepped after the officer 
 with ah air of unmistakeable determination ahd fire 
 in his eye. The crowd opened for them respectfully, 
 for it had been passed round in whispers that this 
 was the millionaire financier who was building the 
 model city, which had been so extensively advertised, 
 and the Sheriff again took his stand on the outside. 
 The sporty, but downcast and subdued, circus men 
 had been holding a whispered conference, and were 
 plainly angry. They had expected to get the 
 menagerie on the sahie short terms that had char- 
 acterized their purchase of the other equipment ; but 
 surmised that this "old ignoramus," who knew noth- 
 ing whatever of the value of beasts f. o. b., would 
 probably run the price up beyond all hope. They 
 opened the bidding by offering five hundred dollars 
 for the lot, tent included. One of the acrobats whis- 
 pered to the Colonel and tugged at his sleeve. 
 
 "Ask the fly cop to knock down the canvas sep- 
 arate," he suggested, and the Colonel voiced the 
 request, which was immediately granted. 
 
 The circus men bought the canvas at a bargain 
 rate, and again the Sheriff asked for bids on the 
 /menagerie. He enumerated in a sing-song voice 
 T^hat was to be sold. "One steam calliope, one golden 
 chariot of state with lots of silken umbrellas, orie 
 royal Bengal tiger," and so on through the list, and 
 then turned expectantly toward his audience. 
 
 "Five hundred," growled one of the circus men. 
 
 "One thousand;" nervously shouted the Colonel. 
 
 "Ten fifty," shouted the opposition. 
 
242 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 "Eleven," said the Colonel, getting warmer under 
 the collar. 
 
 "Eleven twenty-five," came the quick bid from 
 the other side, and the Colonel grew suddenly des- 
 perate. 
 
 "Four thousand dollars," he shouted at the top 
 of his voice, glaring at the check-suited group. 
 
 The acrobats grinned with delight, and one of 
 them turned a hand-spring, while the opposition 
 bidders shrugged their shoulders and swore. 
 
 "Any more bids over there .^^ Do I hear any more 
 bids.?" demanded the Sheriff, staring at the two 
 circus men; but they stood sullenly quiet. 
 
 "You ain't goin' to lay down your hands, are you, 
 you fellers.'^" demanded the Sheriff. 
 
 "Lay down our hands?" shouted the one who had 
 been doing the bidding. "Why, nobody but a 
 sucker'd offer that for that bunch of junk! Let him 
 have 'em!" and he also added two or three impolite 
 words consigning the animals that had composed 
 the most marvelous collection on earth to a hot here- 
 after. 
 
 "Going once ! Going twice ! Third and last call ! 
 All done? Sold to Colonel Hatch for four thousand 
 dollars!" the Sheriff ended, banging a tent stake on 
 the lumber pile. 
 
 The Colonel let out a real Rebel-yell of triumph 
 that sounded far across the heads of the crowd, and 
 pulled out his cheque-book. He gave the Sheriff the 
 slip of paper while the admiring crowd watched a 
 man who could so easily turn over such a sum, and 
 then the new owner hastened back to view his col- 
 lection. The keeper was waiting to congratulate him. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 243 
 
 "It's a bargain, Boss ! It's dead cheap !" he 
 assured him, knowing all the tim^e that he lied. 
 "Now, about that job?" 
 
 "Why, we'll start to ship them right away, this 
 afternoon," said the Colonel, anxious to hasten back 
 to Port Hatch. 
 
 "But the wages. Boss? What do I get?" demanded 
 the cautious keeper. 
 
 The Colonel was frankly puzzled. 
 
 "What do animal-keepers usually receive?" he 
 asked, thus further exposing his innocence. 
 
 "A hundred and fifty a month's what most of 'em 
 gets," said the wily keeper, whose largest pay had 
 never exceeded "forty and found." "But you see 
 Hagenback's been wirin' and cablin' to me to come 
 over to Hamburg to take charge of his animals, and — " 
 
 "I'll make it a hundred and seventy-five dollars," 
 said the Colonel. 
 
 The keeper appeared to hesitate; but was afraid 
 that if he ventured further this golden goose might 
 be strangled, so he decided to close. 
 
 "All right. Boss," he said. "That ain't as much 
 as I might get over with Haggy, but this climate 
 out here suits me fine. That's why I'm out on the 
 Coast now. Yes, Sir, I'll go you." 
 
 The Sheriff, who had approached, had a sugges- 
 tion to offer. 
 
 "The flat cars some of these came in on is down 
 here on the switch yet, Colonel," he said, "and I 
 saw the station-agent outside there, just now. If 
 you want 'em you'd better let me slip over and give 
 him the tip before these scrubs that bought the 
 rest of the shebang beat you to it." 
 
244 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 The Colonel thanked him profusely, and the 
 Sheriff hurried away. 
 
 "And I can get a drayman to haul the cages 
 aboard for you," said his new keeper with a desire 
 to show his efficiency. "Then we can get 'em out 
 and into Seattle by mornin', if that's where you 
 want to go. We only need one rattler for the 
 elephant and camel." 
 
 This suggestion, also, was received thankfully by 
 t}\e Gplpnel, and the keeper enlisted one of the g,cro- 
 bats to assist him by chasing after the drayman. 
 A few of the canvas men who had "stuck" by the 
 ^hqw began to move around and exort the loafers 
 to clear away. In long slips, the canvas covering 
 of the menagerie came down. Men shoved the cages 
 outside, where the keeper began clamping on the 
 shutters, and finally the tent itself came fluttering 
 to the ground, slowly, under short-handed work. 
 The drayman came, and had difficulty in getting 
 his frightened horses up to their task, and the men 
 the Colonel hired, sweated, and cursed, and assisted 
 the entraining of "Buzzard's Best Menagerie" as it 
 pulled away from the spot where it had stood so 
 long. The animals restively moved about in their 
 confinement, and vented their sorrows to their kind. 
 The little elephant tested the gang-way leading up 
 to the box-car that had been allotted him, and the 
 camplj with many grunts, followed patiently after. 
 The Colonel's menagerie was ready to begin its last 
 journey, and the Colonel himself, tired, but happy, 
 walked back and forth on the station platform, and 
 proudly stared at his collection. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 AND LANDS A MENAGERIE. 
 
 The Colonel arrived in Seattle late on the fol- 
 lowing morning, and was vastly disappointed when 
 he learned that the boat for Port Hatch had sailed; 
 for his impatience to land his collection in the Port 
 Hatch Public Park and Zoological Garden made it 
 difficult to brook delay. He was obliged, however, 
 tti resign himself to necessity, and, when he realized 
 that he had put in an almost sleepless night, and 
 stood sadly in need of a nap, he went to his hotel. 
 He partially disrobed, and, with a sigh, stretched 
 himself out on his comfortable bed; in a minute he 
 was peacefully snoring, dreaming of other fields to 
 conquer. Heavenly strains of music seemed to filter 
 through his dreams, and, after a while, he turned 
 restlessly, before sitting erect on the edge of the 
 bed to listen. There was no mistaking the cause of 
 the disturbance, for below his window a band was 
 gaily tootling away, and he slipped over and leaned 
 out, his ruffied white hair and eyebrows, his collar- 
 less shirt, and his suspenders showing themselves 
 gaily to any passer-by who might chance to look 
 upward toward the third story of the caravansfery. 
 
 Below him, at the curb's edge, a little German 
 band of vagabond musicians, with battered horns 
 find squeaky clarionets, was rending the air in an 
 attempt to play "WaldteiifePs Waltz," an old 
 favorite of the Colonel's, to which he had danced 
 a sprightly step fifty years agone. From where he 
 
246 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 looked out, he could see nothing but the bells of 
 dented brass instruments, some faded red caps and 
 shoulders with equally faded gilt epaulettes. No 
 matter, the music was there. The Colonel appeared to 
 be the only one who found it tuneful, for the throngs 
 moving along the pavements below did not pause to 
 pay tribute to Waldteiifel. Indeed, some of the 
 passers-by clapped their hands to their ears as if 
 hearing something agonizing in this praiseworthy 
 attempt. The Colonel's eyes lost their drowsy ex- 
 pression, and began to look dreamy. The band, 
 after a short pause, struck up "Maryland, My 
 Maryland," and the Colonel wagged time with his 
 head, and hummed an accompaniment, and then, 
 quite suddenly, he stopped, and his eyes were dis- 
 tended, and his lips parted. 
 
 "By Jimminy Crickets !" he exclaimed aloud. 
 "Don't see why I never thought of that!" 
 
 And straightway he got back into the room, and 
 began hastily to don his collar and tie. He was 
 afraid, from the cessation of sound from without, 
 that the band had escaped, and he ran to the win- 
 dow to look. His fears were justified, for the little 
 party in red was starting up St. James' Street as 
 if completely discouraged. 
 
 "Hey! Hey, you!" the Colonel shouted, wildly; 
 but no one heard, or, if any did hear, no one heeded 
 him. 
 
 He plunged out into the hall, and pressed the bell 
 for the elevator with an impatient and prolonged 
 punch, and was plainly excited when the car halted 
 in front of his floor. 
 
 "Down, Boy! Down quickly!" the Colonel or- 
 
THE BOOMERS. 247 
 
 dered, and, on the instant the car stopped at the 
 main floor, he plunged out, and ran into the street. 
 The Colonel caught sight of a red coat vanishing 
 into a lager-beer saloon, a block and a half away, 
 and he doggedly hurried in that direction. Breath- 
 less with endeavor and excitement, he raced into the 
 resort, and found the nine musicians thirstily im- 
 mersing their noses in nine foaming steins of beer. 
 A lugubrious-appearing individual, who seemed on 
 friendly terms with the bandsmen, sighted the Colo- 
 nel, and punched the man nearest him, who promptly 
 pulled his stein a short distance from his face, and 
 there held it suspended, while foam dripped from a 
 Teutonic mustache, and two round Teutonic eyes 
 stared innocently at his neighbor. 
 
 "Dat's de old guy wot bought de animules," 
 hoarsely muttered the lugubrious man, as if impart- 
 ing precious information. The bandsmen said, 
 "Jah.? Ach, Gott!" and chuckled. 
 
 The Colonel advanced toward them, and asked, 
 most politely: 
 
 "Which one of you gentlemen is the leader of this 
 band.?" 
 
 "Dot is me!" proudly asserted the man who had 
 been first apprised of the Colonel's identity. "I am 
 der Herr Schmidt, Kapellmeister,^* 
 
 "Then you are the man I want to talk with," the 
 Colonel asserted, with great satisfaction; and the 
 band leader promptly told his companions, in Ger- 
 man, to wait, and led the way to a beer-stained table 
 in the rear of the room. 
 
 "I am Colonel Hatch, from the City of Port 
 Hatch, Sir," said the Colonel, with great gravity, 
 
248 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 "and our city, the finest on earth, has no musical 
 organization." 
 
 "Ach! What a shame!" ejaculated Herr Schmidt, 
 raising his hands in horror, and rolling his eyes 
 toward the ceiling as if asking the dingy cobwebs 
 above how such a thing could be. 
 
 "I want to know, Sir, if you could be induced to 
 bring your band to Port Hatch, and remain there 
 permanently," the Colonel said, with admirable 
 brevity. 
 
 Herr Schmidt looked at him, too astonished to 
 blink. At various times, he had known men to ask 
 him to move on, but this was the first time he could 
 remember that anyone had ever asked him to stay. 
 The lugubrious man came and hovered near the 
 table; but Herr Schmidt did not object. 
 
 "Are dere any saloons in dis town.?" he asked, 
 cautiously investigating the disadvantages of a res- 
 idence in Port Hatch. 
 
 "There are none now, Mister Smith," replied the 
 Colonel, and then hastily added: "But we hope to 
 have some before long." 
 
 "You can git yer booze shipped up, you big 
 Dutch chump," expostulated the lugubrious man, 
 poking his friend in the ribs. 
 
 "Port Hatch will be the greatest city in the world 
 inside of a year or two," the Colonel said, seriously, 
 "and it will have an opera-house that will want an 
 orchestra, and it will want an orchestra for its 
 dances, and it now needs a band to give concerts 
 in its Park, and it will support a worthy director 
 who makes his band a good one, a big one, one that 
 will be worthy of such a great city." 
 
THE BOOMERS. 249 
 
 Herr Schmidt, paralyzed by his own good for- 
 tune, was spieechless, and shut his eyes. There 
 flashed through his mind all that he had dreamed 
 when he had been a boy emigrating to America; all 
 his adversities, all his failures, all his slide down- 
 ward from steady positions to that of a wandering 
 mendicant. The old chap was moist-eyed when he 
 looked at the Colonel, and pronounced his ulti- 
 matum. 
 
 "Und ve can stay by dis Port Hetch? Und can 
 a big band haf? All ridt! Ve goes!" His words 
 tumbled over one another in his anxiety. 
 
 "Now, about the finances. Mister Smith," said the 
 Colonel, remembering that he must drive a bargain, 
 because Russell Sage had declared that to be the 
 beginning of all things. "Would five hundred dol- 
 lars a month be enough to pay for it?" 
 
 "Und vat we can on de outside make?" demanded 
 the German, cautiously thinking of his followers. 
 
 "Certainly, Sir, you would get that," agreed the 
 Colonel. "And, as the band grew, you would get 
 more. Also, we will build a club-house for your 
 men where they can sleep." 
 
 "Ve goes !" shouted Herr Schmidt, rising in his 
 exuberance, and waving a clarionet. "Ve goes, und 
 by und by ve vill a band haf! No musegons, aber 
 ein band mit musicians ! A band that shall grow 
 ven ve gets blaces for blumbers, und tinschmitts, 
 und tailors, und tinkers, und — Ach ! Und I shall de 
 Herr Director be!" 
 
 He threatened to embrace the Colonel and the 
 latter, still wondering what plumbers and tinsmiths 
 and tailors had to do with making a band, and not 
 
250 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 knowing that the little German's idea of creating 
 a small city band was most feasible, retreated. 
 
 "Und Herr Colonel! Ven do ve out go?" de- 
 manded Schmidt. 
 
 "To-morrow morning, Sir," the Colonel answered, 
 smiling happily. 
 
 The "Herr Director" rushed over to his men, and 
 began in rapid Bavarian to tell them of their good 
 fortune, and they gathered around him, and 
 shouted, and asked excited questions. The lugu- 
 brious man looked deserted and forlorn; but rallied. 
 
 "Say, Boss," he said, crowding over toward the 
 Colonel, "I'm Slivers, de guy that spieled the cal- 
 liope you bought with that other junk. Any chance 
 for me.^ I've got all the hot rags and a lot of good 
 stuff like "Sweet Violets," and "Silver Threads," 
 and — and "Dixie," and — " 
 
 The Colonel leaped with gladness, and thrust out 
 his hand. 
 
 "Fine! Fine!" he shouted. "Can you play in 
 the band, also.? You see, we want a calliope some- 
 times, but, when you aren't playing there, maybe 
 you could — " 
 
 "Played alto horn all me life," solemnly asserted 
 the calliope-player. "Um-tahtah ! Um-tahtah ! Um- 
 tahtah!" he hummed through his pursed lips, twist- 
 ing his mouth until it looked more like a closed 
 oyster-shell than anything human. "And yuh kin 
 git me cheap ! Fifty per, and me sleeps trown in in 
 de club-house !" 
 
 "Excellent," said the Colonel. "Most excellent! 
 You can come, also !" 
 
 He might have said more, had not the members 
 
THE BOOMERS. 251 
 
 of the band swooped down on him to thank him, all 
 talking at once, all excited, and all eager to hasten 
 to the land of promise, Port Hatch. He almost 
 fought his way out, good-naturedly, before he was 
 checked by Schmidt. 
 
 "Herr Colonel," he said, "I must talk! Herr 
 Colonel! Vere do ve — ?^^ 
 
 "Come with me, Mister Smith," said the Colonel, 
 rather embarrassed by the members of the band, as 
 he dodged out to the pavement. 
 
 The band-master, after commanding his followers 
 to remain behind until he returned, hastened after 
 the Colonel, and talked to him from the edge of the 
 curb, with his faded red cap under one arm and the 
 clarionet under the other. 
 
 "Ve must music haf ! Und music-racks ! Und 
 vere to go know." 
 
 The Colonel looked at him thoughtfully and it 
 suddenly dawned on him that the uniforms of the 
 men were not entirely satisfactory. 
 
 "You shall buy them all. Mister Smith, Sir," he 
 pronounced, after a moment's thought, and then, 
 with a grandiose wave of his hand befitting a mag- 
 nate, added; "and you had better go right down to 
 some place, and get some new suits of clothes. I 
 like gray with silver braid the best. Lots of braid, 
 Mister Smith. And maybe you can get a few more 
 men, if you need them." 
 
 Herr Schmidt staggered against a lamp-post for 
 support, and rallied bravely. 
 
 "I can some men get vat var mit de circus oudt," 
 he exclaimed. "Bud de money .^" 
 
 "Get them. Sir," said the Colonel, suddenly 
 
252 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 plunging, as the glor j of a bigger band invaded 
 his mind. "Get them. I will arrange their pay in 
 Port Hatch. Buy them uniforms and music. Have 
 them down at Schwabacher's wharf by nine o'clock 
 to-morrow morning to go aboard the boat. Be sure 
 to be there. Don't fail. And here is some money 
 you may need for the new clothes." 
 
 He took a roll of bills from his pocket, enough to 
 buy more than would ever be required, and mag- 
 nanimously pressed it into the hands of Herr 
 Schmidt, who counted the sum over almost auto- 
 matically, and promised to account for every cent. 
 It was well for the Colonel that he had, unawares, 
 stumbled upon an honest man, for the little Ba- 
 varian was that, and, moreover, was drunk with 
 opportunity to rehabilitate himself. He stood on 
 the street with his hat off, in a reverential attitude, 
 until the Colonel had disappeared from sight, before 
 he turned toward the dingy doors of the saloon 
 where faces stared at him that were as astonished 
 as his own. 
 
 The Colonel entertained not the least anxiety for 
 his outlay, or as to whether the band would appear, 
 and fortunately was not disappointed when he 
 reached the dock on the following morning, but was 
 saluted from the steamer's deck by "Hail to the 
 Chief," a surprise carefully arranged by Herr 
 Schmidt. The Colonel gasped with delight when he 
 saw the rehabilitated band, and was also amazed 
 at the volumes of sound. And well he might be; for 
 Herr Schmidt, given a free hand, had gathered at 
 least fifteen more musicians, most of them from the 
 defunct "Buzzard's Big Show," and had rehearsed 
 
THE BOOMERS. 253 
 
 them from dawn for this occasion. Herr Schmidt 
 himself, resplendent in a field marshall's uniform, 
 had discarded his clarionet for the baton, and waved 
 energetic and pompous German time. Also, later, 
 he explained that it would cost the Colonel an addi- 
 tional six hundred dollars a month until his men 
 could get "chobs" at whatever they could find to do 
 to piece put their incomes ; but there was something 
 so grateful, so joyous, so self-satisfied, in the de- 
 meanor of the little band-master, and something so 
 resplendent, so noisy, so glorious in the band, that 
 the Colonel regretted only that Herr Schmidt had 
 not been able to hire more than four and twenty 
 men. 
 
 Down on the main deck, the camel seemed to cling 
 for protection closer to the elephant, and the famous 
 Zo-Zo was heaving chunks of raw meat at the 
 jaguar. The chariot was being brought aboard, 
 and Slivers, "de guy wot spieled," methodically pol- 
 ished up the long brass whistles of his calliope. He, 
 too, had on a suit of cadet gray with silver braid 
 in profusion. All were happy. Every one was 
 excited, save the animals. They looked out with 
 sorrowful eyes as if expecting nothing in a dreary 
 existence save travel — endless, aimless travel. 
 
 As the boat pulled out and started toward the 
 city of destiny, the Colonel devoted his time to the 
 monkeys, and robbed himself of peanuts while win- 
 ning their friendship. From the deck above came 
 the sounds of Herr Schmidt's band as it hammered 
 and banged through some later popular marches, 
 and every now and then there came a pause, and 
 tjie Direptor's voice, in guttural German oaths, was 
 
254 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 heard in expostulations. Herr Schmidt, at least, 
 took his new band seriously, and, to the surprise of 
 some of the recruits, proved that, when he chose 
 to be serious, he was a most competent drill-master. 
 Forgotten music returned to him, and with it a 
 desire to show his efficiency. He really had his own 
 band, at last, and with the promise of a future. He 
 must get it whipped into some sort of shape before 
 the marvelous city of Port Hatch was reached. Nor 
 was he the only one that had taken a new start, for, 
 down below, Zo-Zo was anxiously doing his best to 
 make his cages look presentable, all the while regret- 
 ting that he had not had time to touch up the 
 chariot before this strange venture into a new life. 
 Slivers, after having spent his last cent among the 
 stokers, now furtively stole coal for his boilers. He 
 had no doubt that there would at once be a parade. 
 He caught the Colonel in front of the animals, and 
 voiced his conjecture. 
 
 "Do we start at once. Boss.?" he asked. "How 
 are we goin' to parade to the Park without no 
 bosses ?" 
 
 The Colonel looked at Slivers for a half-minute 
 in a daze, and was then fired by the idea. How had 
 he ever overlooked that important feature! He 
 grew nervous, and began to make plans. He was 
 sorry that he had not bought horses to haul the 
 cages. Seven teams of horses ! Maybe he could get 
 these from where they would be at work on the new 
 wharf grading, and surprise Port Hatch. It must 
 be done, regardless of cost. Until Port Hatch was 
 sighted, he was apprehensive. He pranced up and 
 down as the boat neared the far from crowded docks. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 255 
 
 Three teams were there in sight, and over beyond 
 were four moie. He leaped off before the gang- 
 plank had touched the wharf, and rushed to the 
 drivers. He hustled them into activity, and they, 
 knowing his erratic ways, and certain of reward, 
 responded with alacrity. The crowd began to 
 grow on the wharf, and Zo-Zo took advantage of 
 this circumstance, and ordered men to help him pull 
 out his cages. There followed all the hurried, but 
 not the orderly, excitement of the arrival of a circus. 
 The horses were hastily unhooked from plow, 
 scraper and wagon, and hitched to the unaccus- 
 tomed vehicles. The band-men climbed up and 
 spread themselves over the chariot to which it was 
 found necessary to attach four horses. An old 
 teamster, with a blue shirt and battered derby hat, 
 announced that he had handled fours on a stage- 
 line, hoisted himself up and took the reins. There 
 was a scramble when the kindly camel tried to bite 
 the man who volunteered to lead him in the parade to 
 the Zoological Garden, and the Colonel proudly 
 mounted to a seat beside the driver of the chariot. 
 He sustained a pang of regret because he had not 
 hired a hundred-thousand-dollar beauty for the seat 
 of honor. All being ready, he grandly waved his 
 hand for a start. The procession moved slowly 
 away from the docks. 
 
 On Main Street, Arabella with Lester had been 
 walking slowly along after doing some light shop- 
 ping in the new stores, and the two had now been 
 joined by Burmah Jones and Hubbard. On a sud- 
 den, they discerned signs of excitemnt at the far 
 end of the street. Men began running here and 
 
256 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 there, and women thrust heads from windows. Girl 
 clerks appeared on the stoops of the shops, and 
 individuals shouted to one another to know whether 
 it was a fire, or a riot that threatened the "City Beau- 
 tiful." Arabella and her companions paused, and 
 began to ask questions, and Burmah Jones won- 
 dered whether some cataclysm had not appeared to 
 overwhelm the city. 
 
 Abruptly, from a band burst a blare of sound, 
 and into the head of the street swung the chariot, 
 with the Colonel on the seat. He bowed and smiled 
 to right and left, as pleased as a boy with a splendid 
 new toy. The driver sat squattily beside him with 
 his dented derby hat down over his ears, controlling 
 with a masterful hand horses that were frightened 
 by this sudden noise behind them. Herr Schmidt's 
 cheeks were distended as, intent on creating all the 
 hubbub possible for his advent, he added the shrill 
 clamor of his clarionet. The drivers on top of the 
 animal cages grinned their appreciation of this un- 
 expected honor, and Zo-Zo trudged beside the ele- 
 phant with hook in hand. The camel had settled to 
 his long awkward stride, and in the calliope at the 
 rear end Slivers watched the steam-gauge rise to 
 the popping point, and wished the band would finish. 
 Finally in desperation, he climbed up to the keys, 
 and sent the jerky strains of "Sweet Violets" out to 
 join the clamor, regardless of the fact that the band, 
 but a short distance ahead, was bravely pumping 
 away at the latest Sousa march. The coyote found 
 lungs to bark a shrill, painful bark, and even the 
 hyena had sufficient appreciation of the situation to 
 vent a cackling laugh at Port Hatch. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 257 
 
 And Port Hatch was first astonished, then con- 
 vulsed ! 
 
 As the Colonel came abreast of his daughter and 
 her companions, he recognized them and stood up 
 and bowed and waved a frantic hand, beckoning 
 them to follow the big parade. Burmah staggered 
 back against the nearest building, and said, slowly, 
 and with great disgust: 
 
 "Well, I'll be damned!" 
 
 Arabella went through all the emotions of curi- 
 osity, astonishment and perplexity, and ended with 
 an appreciation of the ridiculous. She laughed 
 until tears streamed from her eyes, and clung to 
 Lester's arm for support. Lester burst into a shout 
 of amusement that could be heard by all those 
 near by, and Hubbard scowled savagely at the 
 pageant, then brightened when he surmised that all 
 this must be destined for the roomy concrete animal 
 dens he had so painstakingly supervised in the new 
 Park. Quite whimsically, he regretted that he had 
 not built an extra den for the Colonel himself. 
 
 The residents of Port Hatch abandoned shops 
 and work, and crowded into the road. Carpenters 
 and masons hurriedly descended ladders, and joined 
 the throng, so that the whole population of Port 
 Hatch was on hand to witness the Colonel's triumph. 
 The Colonel waved his hand commandingly to Herr 
 Schmidt, and the latest Sousa march came to a stam- 
 mering halt in which the second trombone and the 
 drums shared the final tone. Slivers, out of steam, 
 stopped in the midst of a wailing strain, and looked 
 out toward the front of the procession. 
 
 "Friends and Fellow Citizens of Port Hatch, the 
 
258 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 fairest of cities, gather round me," shouted the 
 Colonel, oratoricallj, as he stood on his feet, bare- 
 headed, and gazed down at them from his lofty 
 perch. "This day marks an epoch in the history of 
 our beloved city. A zoological garden is an educa- 
 tion for the young, a delight for the old, and a 
 source of constant entertainment for the middle- 
 aged. No city can achieve true greatness without 
 one. We have here the beginning of what shall be 
 the most distinguished exhibit of modern times, and 
 I take the utmost pleasure in presenting it to you, 
 with the hearty wish that it may prove a fountain 
 of never ceasing gratification and entertainment. I 
 have the rare pleasure of surprising you, and of 
 knowing that you appreciate my efforts in your 
 behalf. I have secured a most unsuspected bargain, 
 for it is rarely that a man has the blessed oppor- 
 tunity to acquire, at one time, such a magnificent 
 collection of animals as those I am about to install 
 in our beautiful garden. I have also the pleasure 
 of informing you that I have engaged, permanently, 
 the services of a master musician and his right- 
 excellent organization. Mister Smith, who will here- 
 after lend this city of ours the inspiration of divine 
 music. As has been so aptly said by the great poet, 
 *He who hath not music in his soul, is fit for strat- 
 agems, for treason and for spoils.' I know that 
 there is none in our midst to whom this can apply. 
 We will now repair to the new Park, and liberate 
 our charges." 
 
 He sat down, and as he did so waved his hand 
 toward Herr Schmidt, and spoke to the driver with 
 the dented derby. The band struck into the inspir- 
 
THE BOOMERS. 259 
 
 ing strains of "Kippers for Tea" — but not before 
 Slivers, succumbing to habit, had bawled out in a 
 raucous voice: 
 
 "Follow the parade to the show-grounds. Ladies 
 and Gentlemen, where a grand free exhibition will 
 take place." 
 
 Immediately after, with a full head of steam, he 
 selected, "There'll be a Hot Time in the Old Town 
 To-night," and did his utmost to drown the noise of 
 the band as the procession moved forward. 
 
 The whole street seemed to rock with it, and 
 Arabella, still laughing, and Burmah, scowling, were 
 carried along in the swirl of humanity. The 
 elephant, gouged by Zo-Zo, shuffled forward in the 
 rear of the lion's cage, and the camel slowly moved 
 his rheumatic joints, and sagged ahead as if tired of 
 everything in the world. The hyena once more 
 vented a howl, and to Burmah it sounded like a laugh 
 of overmastering ridicule for the "whole blooming 
 
 show." "Buzzard's Biggest" had come to 
 
 rest. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 AND THE KNAVE RUNS AWAY. 
 
 Spring had come again, glorious with green robes 
 patterned with flowers. The Conover syndicate had 
 taken up the v/ork of advertising the town more ex- 
 tensively than Burmah found himself able to do, and 
 the whole United States was familiar with that map 
 showing the proposed route of the Atlantic & Oriental 
 Railway, its lines heavy, black and straight, and 
 running toward Port Hatch with a directness in- 
 dicating that they never by any possibility could 
 swerve elsewhere. Day by day, the real line had 
 crept across Montana and Idaho, and the State of 
 Washington had granted it a charter to come to tide- 
 water "at a point to be later named." Adroitly had 
 the Conover crowd and Burmah indicated to possible 
 purchasers that, if the line had ever intended to go 
 to Seattle or Tacoma it would have so stated, and 
 that, logically. Port Hatch was the terminus intended. 
 
 Port Hatch was one of the best-advertised cities 
 on the Pacific Coast, and Colonel Hatch, with his 
 eccentricities, had become a nationally known 
 character. He was good copy, and good copy, too, 
 that Burmah had not hesitated to use, although he 
 spent weary hours when alone, "cussing" the Colonel 
 for being a fine old fool. Port Hatch had become 
 more than a frontier town; it was a thriving little 
 city, built on the sands of hope, and Burmah Jones 
 the only one who knew that its foundation was a 
 
 260 
 
THE BOOMERS. 261 
 
 lie. From that very day when he had resolved to 
 "stick it out," he had never announced as a certainty 
 that the railway was coming there. There were 
 some two or three hundred persons who wondered at 
 this reticence, when remembering his bald statements 
 made in the beginning, but Fate had taken a hand 
 in Burmah's behalf, and the railway slowly advanced 
 toward the Coast. He was making a hard fight, 
 every hour of his life, and his mind lay as a battle- 
 ground between his newly discovered integrity and 
 his old habits of "gettin' the money, no matter how !" 
 Added to this was the distress of having come at 
 last to the one obstacle he had ever met in his 
 career that could not be surmounted, avoided, or left 
 behind. That obstacle was the Colonel's extrava- 
 gance — for the conspiracy had failed, absolutely. 
 
 The Colonel had given Port Hatch two or three 
 other gratifying surprises. The first, by building 
 a concert-hall for Herr Schmidt's band, with ad- 
 joining club- and living-rooms for the musicians, 
 and Herr Schmidt, in the ecstasy of creation, had 
 gathered together a most creditable organization, 
 such a one as would have shamed the band he brought 
 to Port Hatch just seven months before. His dream 
 of plumbers, tailors, and tin-smiths had been realized, 
 and. Fate again dealing kindly with him, the band 
 had made a concert-trip along the Coast, a trip which 
 had been highly successful. Little Billy, loaned for 
 this enterprise, had proven a most adept manager, 
 and Pick, who took a vacation long enough to act as 
 press-agent, thus saved the Colonel's purse some 
 few thousands of dollars. 
 
 Then, again, the Colonel presented the city with 
 
262 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 beautiful baths down at the water's edge, where in 
 winter young men might disport themselves in arti- 
 ficially heated water beneath a colored-glass dome. 
 A new fire-engine-house, also, with its ornamental 
 front and elegant rooms above, he gave. It was the 
 Colonel who bought the automobile fire-apparatus, 
 and a fine line of uniforms and equipment. It was 
 the Colonel who caused to be constructed a miniature 
 house in the Park. It was the Colonel who had the 
 alarm turned in for the first fire in Port Hatch, and 
 it was the Colonel who had then ridden, gaily whoop- 
 ing, to see that fire extinguished, and have the com- 
 pany's efficiency demonstrated. The city was the 
 best lighted of its size in the world, putting forth a 
 profligate display of street clusters on ornamental 
 pillars of concrete, because the Colonel had pre- 
 sented Port Hatch with an electric light-plant, run 
 by power from high up in the mountains. At night, 
 the city's water-front glowed like a fairy land, and 
 Marquard Villa shone far over the sound to the 
 astonishment of strange voyagers. 
 
 Hubbard wrought well, and had refused a position 
 as chief architect for a world's fair; of the proffer, 
 not a word escaped him until after it became known 
 in Port Hatch, because he was still desperately in 
 love with the "City Beautiful," and, incidentally, 
 with Arabella. Burmah's last futile stand with the 
 Colonel came when the latter announced that he would 
 yet build the marble opera-house. On that night, 
 Burmah had risen to tempestuous heights in his 
 embarrassment. 
 
 "We talked of that once before. Colonel. You 
 promised to chop down expenses. Then what did 
 
THE BOOMERS. 263 
 
 you do? Humph! You went and bought a lousy 
 menagerie and a Dutch band. You brought 'em 
 home with a calliope that you finally had play every 
 Saturday afternoon for the children in the Park. 
 Hubbard goes to work and builds a band-stand. 
 Before it's done, you tell him you've got to have it 
 moved to the back end of the Park near the animals' 
 dens, because you don't want the poor captives, 
 exiled far from the fastness of their native heaths, 
 and brought like slaves to our grand and magnificent 
 city, to be robbed of their share of the music, which 
 the poet declares 'hath charms to sooth the savage 
 breast.' " 
 
 He had given a fine and exact imitation of the 
 Colonel's speech on that occasion, and the Colonel 
 winced a trifle at the recollection. 
 
 "Then what happens?" Burmah had asked, shak- 
 ing a pudgy fist aloft. "You have the band-stand 
 built over again. The band, under that old beer- 
 tub. Smith, gets into it, and hits up a rag-time 
 march, and the poor damn' exiles gets up on their hind 
 legs, and howls their heads off, and is so scared they 
 tries to bite e bars down so they can get at them 
 Dutchmen, and tear their heads off! Then what do 
 you do? You shake your head, and say the poet 
 must have been mistaken, and promptly order the 
 band-stand torn down and moved out to the front 
 end of the Park again, so the *poor home-sick exiles 
 won't be grieved by the dulcet strains so reminiscent 
 of the wind through the gorgeous jungles whence 
 they came'." 
 
 Again, the Colonel had squirmed at this adroit 
 mimicry. 
 
264 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Burmah had implored, threatened, cajoled, warned 
 and stormed, in his efforts to curb the Colonel's out- 
 lay ; but he might as well have whistled the wind down. 
 Always the Colonel had been either furiously digni- 
 fied, or readily acquiescent, and always the end had 
 been the same. More lots were sold, at constantly 
 increasing prices, the Colonel had been given his 
 half of the proceeds, and always he found some new 
 method of expenditure. And so, on this May morn- 
 ing. Port Hatch was in reality the "City Beautiful." 
 Colonel Hatch was sitting in his library, dreamily 
 wishing that another sale would be made because his 
 bank-balance was down to three thousand dollars, 
 Arabella was taking a horseback ride with Lester, 
 and Burmah Jones, with a few more gray hairs in 
 his head, was standing in the overhanging window 
 above the Port Hatch Land Offices, and staring 
 moodily up the street. Gay with flower-boxes were 
 the shop buildings, due to the Hatch Cup, for which 
 everyone vied, it being offered by the Colonel as 
 an annual prize for the best business floral display. 
 Gay with flowers were the electric light-pillars, on 
 each of which stood an ornaments, steel flower- 
 box, high above the street, resplendent with blossom- 
 ing flowers and drooping vines. A half-dozen boats 
 now stopped at Port Hatch on their daily rounds, 
 for it was the show city of Puget Sound, and the 
 bellowing of their arrival no longer stirred the 
 little city to a state of curious excitement. Boats 
 came and went, regularly, and not infrequently ex- 
 cursion steamers deposited chattering crowds to 
 view the much advertised model city of the world. The 
 keepers of curio-shops were the only on^s that kept 
 
THE BOOMERS. 265 
 
 the schedules, for all who came carried away the 
 Indian souvenirs, the miniature totem-poles, the 
 glass paper-weights with pictures of Colonel Hatch 
 on the fire-engine, and the beautiful views of the 
 "quaintest city on the American continent." 
 
 Burmah, standing at the window, and worried over 
 the Colonel's latest announcement, heard the whistle 
 of an in-coming boat, and wondered if it brought 
 more investors. A short time later, he lifted his 
 head as does a starved hound scenting meat, and 
 screwed his eyebrows into a penetrating stare, as he 
 saw a group of men slowly walking along Main 
 Street, and scrutinizing its beauties. Then, when 
 they were almost beneath his window, one of the men 
 looked up, and Burmah, with a start, hastily drew 
 back into the room and out of sight, and his face 
 suddenly lost color and expressed fear. 
 
 "Thornton !" he exclaimed. "Old man Thornton 
 that I buncoed out of thirty thousand dollars on a 
 fake reclamation scheme in Florida. And with him 
 is Carleton that I got for ten thousand in the 
 Chicago title game! And Sprague that I trimmed 
 on the Pawnee-reservation sale! All here in Port 
 Hatch ! It's the finish ! I must duck !" 
 
 With surprising agility, he stepped to the private 
 telephone that led to the offices below, and called up 
 Little Billy. 
 
 "If anyone asks for me to-day, say that I'm not 
 here," he ordered. "And tell 'em that I've gone to 
 Seattle for three or four days. Understand? All 
 right ! Remember — three or four days !" 
 
 Then he slipped back to the window, and was 
 relieved when he saw the group of men who had 
 
266 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 SO disturbed him still sauntering nonchalantly up 
 the street, and staring at the beauty of the build- 
 ings that Hubbard had created. He jumped to his 
 dresser, and took from it three or four photographs, 
 the gold toilet-set that Arabella had given him as a 
 Christmas present, his bank-books, and some other 
 little personal belongings. Next, he hurried into 
 his luxurious bath-room, and snatched up what he 
 wanted from there, then paused in front of his 
 clothes-closet. One suit he took and threw it into 
 a suit-case, after looking regretfully at the others. 
 
 "I can buy more," he muttered, and closed the 
 door. "No time to lose, if I want to catch the boat 
 on its return trip. Got to hustle now ! The game's 
 finished!" 
 
 In five minutes, he was walking down the street 
 with his suit-case in his hand, apparently the same 
 busy little man so familiar to every one in Port 
 Hatch. As he walked, he glanced neither to right 
 nor left, but kept his eyes straight ahead, and his 
 lips tightly shut; for even in his panic he had time 
 to regret this catastrophe of a blackened past, lift- 
 ing itself to confront him in his prosperity. He 
 dared not look at the street he had come to admire 
 and love. He was afraid that moisture would rise 
 to his eyes. Sentiment he had always hated. He 
 dared not look back its length for a farewell, as 
 he came to the point where the road dipped sharply 
 down along the edge of the cliff. He dared not 
 lift his eyes toward the point where, like a crown, 
 stood Marquard Villa. He plunged onward down 
 the path with ever hurrying steps to board the boat, 
 and escape the exposure that he knew certainly 
 
THE BOOMERS. 267 
 
 must come. They could do nothing to him through 
 the law, but they could expose his past, and leave 
 him standing naked in his ignominy, before these 
 citizens of Port Hatch who had trusted him, and 
 regarded him as the soul of business honor. And 
 from that nudity he fled. 
 
 "Wait! Wait!" he shouted as, perspiring and 
 breathing heavily, he ran out on the wharf, just 
 as the boat's gang-plank was being lifted. The 
 officer on the bridge, recognizing him as the im- 
 portant Barmah Jones, ordered it lowered away, 
 and watched as he ran up it. 
 
 "Close shave. Sir," he called down, in the friendly 
 greeting that is always accorded men of affairs. 
 
 But Burmah did not reply. He gave his suit- 
 case to an obsequious steward, and walked aft as the 
 boat swung away from the wharf, and headed toward 
 Seattle. He was glad that he was alone, to think, 
 to regret, and to take his parting look at the city 
 that he had built, at the white little palace on the 
 hill that gleamed through the trees on one side, and 
 hung suspended from the cliff on the other. In it 
 he had been honored and respected. There was the 
 room devoted to his needs, always, a room he had 
 so seldom occupied. There was the pagoda where 
 he had so frequently laughed with Arabella, who 
 had taken to calling him "Uncle Burmah." There 
 was the terrace where he had so many times expostu- 
 lated with the Colonel, who loved him as a brother, 
 and believed in him as he did in his own success. 
 There was the court where the boys from Chatta- 
 nooga had tried to teach him tennis on idle evc' 
 nings, when the sun painted the Olympics purple 
 
268 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 and red as the world swung away from its benev- 
 olent stare. Out in the sound, the steamer passed 
 a smart little sloop, and Skaggs, at the helm, recog- 
 nizing him, waved a friendly hand. Up beyond was 
 Todd's lumber-yard, now grown to mammoth pro- 
 portions, and it reminded him of Bill Todd, the 
 humble sacrifice to love and loyalty, who had poured 
 his heart out to him, and had won his protection. 
 Todd, Skaggs, the boys from Chattanooga, Ara- 
 bella, the Colonel — all — everyone — would know by 
 to-morrow that he was a crook, a scalawag, an ad- 
 venturer, a liar, a confidence man! His past had 
 come to tear him down, and the men he had swindled 
 had come to expose him. What was the use in try- 
 ing to be "on the level !" Despite himself, his gray 
 eyes were moist .and filled with regret when the 
 steamer rounded a bend, and a long wooded tongue 
 cut the site of victory and of hope from view. 
 
 Strange events were working themselves out in 
 Port Hatch on that day of May, as if the loose 
 threads were being drawn together by some inscrut- 
 fMe and master hand. Lester, riding care-free and 
 contented beside Arabella, seemed involved. He 
 rode his horse with a firm hand, and laughter and 
 happiness were blended in his eyes as they came 
 galloping down the mountain road from the reser- 
 voir, homeward bound. 
 
 "I'm so hungry, that I can scarcely wait for the 
 luncheon-hour," announced Arabella, as they pulled 
 their mounts down to a breathing walk. "You 
 must come on up with me, and assist in destruction. 
 There's cold ham, and cold tongue, and cold kippers, 
 and a salad that only Uncle Jeff can make, and — " 
 
THE BOOMERS. 269 
 
 "But hadn't I better go home first, and get rid 
 of the dust?" he inquired. 
 
 "No, Sir. That's nonsense. The peck of dirt 
 theory, you know ! Besides, you can wash and clean 
 just as well at our house as anywhere, because we 
 aren't barbarians, you know. We have several very 
 fine wash-bowls." 
 
 "But that wouldn't give me an excuse to hang 
 around all the afternoon," he insisted. "And if I 
 go home first, then you have no excuse to get rid 
 of me." 
 
 "Who said we wanted to?" she asked, without 
 looking up. 
 
 "I should think you would," he suggested, look- 
 ing at her with a desperate eagerness in his eyes. 
 "You know, I am the one who almost lives at Mar- 
 quard. And I think you know why. Don't you.?" 
 
 "Oh, fudge!" she exclaimed, smiling at him. 
 "That's what they all say. For goodness' sake, be 
 sensible ! It's getting so that the only one I like 
 to see is Uncle Burmah. He always proposes mar- 
 riage, and then says he will expect an answer in 
 three days, and then forgets all about it when the 
 three days are up." 
 
 Lester's eyes suddenly took on a harsh look, and 
 he rode a little stiffly as they debouched into the 
 Main Street. And then, coming toward them, they 
 saw the group of men that had arrested Burmah's 
 attention. The men, with Thornton at their head, 
 were walking close together, and engrossed in some 
 argument. Involuntarily, Lester's hand tightened 
 on the reins, and his mouth shut into a straight line. 
 He scowled at the men as if to make certain of 
 
2T0 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 their identity; then his horse suddenly reared, 
 pivoted on its hind hoofs, swung an angry head, 
 and leaped oif into a side street. To all appear- 
 ances the animal was intent on bolting, and Lester 
 had a hard time to control it. 
 
 Arabella, at first amused, then solicitous, as the 
 animal disappeared from sight, turned her horse's 
 head, and galloped in pursuit. When she succeeded 
 in overtaking him, she found him quieting the 
 horse by stroking the wet neck, and speaking sooth- 
 ingly. 
 
 He swung out of the saddle, and examined the 
 girths. 
 
 "What on earth was the matter?" demanded Ara- 
 bella, reining in beside him. 
 
 "Must have been something wrong with the girths, 
 I think," said Lester, carelessly, as he caught his 
 reins, and vaulted into the saddle again. "But, 
 inasmuch as we are this far along the side street, 
 we might as well go ahead this way, mightn't we.''" 
 
 Arabella assented and started forward, all un- 
 conscious that the cause of the horse's leap had 
 been that the animal was suddenly pricked heavily 
 with the spur, and that Mr. Lester was extremely 
 hopeful that none of the group of men had had 
 time to recognize him. . 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 TO BE MASTERED BY HONESTY. 
 
 BuRMAH Jones, the first step of flight passed, 
 and standing alone outside the smoking-room of the 
 steamer, became conscious of the vigorous voices 
 of men above him, and looked up to see the captain 
 and the chief officer leaning over the wing of the 
 bridge. 
 
 "You can bet your last dollar on one thing," 
 declared the skipper, "that if I had been on the 
 examining board I'd have done more than throw him 
 on the beach. You see, his tug had a tow of scows, 
 and, when the storm came up, he left those poor 
 devils to go down, and ran for a port. The fact 
 that the scows outlasted the storm, and that they 
 were picked up by another boat, proves that Cap- 
 tain Ritter could have stood by." 
 
 "That's the way I look at it, too," asserted the 
 chief officer. "That man was a quitter! That's 
 what he was ! And there ain't any man in the world 
 as rotten as a quitter. Somehow, you can forgive 
 a pick-pocket, or a murderer, in most cases, but 
 there's no one has any use for a quitter! It's a 
 pity they couldn't have sent Ritter to the pen." 
 
 Burmah suddenly decided that some other por- 
 tion of the deck would be more congenial, and he 
 moved away; but the echo of the voices still fol- 
 lowed him with accusation, insistently repeating 
 honest men's opinions of such as he. And, then, 
 
 271 
 
272 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 he began to wonder at himself, and to ponder the 
 situation, dully holding a tribunal of the soul in 
 which he put himself on trial, one half of himself 
 the prosecutor, the other half the defendant. His 
 brain felt tired, and he was not certain that the 
 game of life was worth playing, after all. He knew 
 that he now had sufficient money to retire for the 
 remainder of his days, retreating to some place 
 where he was unknown, and where he hoped to be 
 respected; but always there came again from his 
 ample reservoirs of common-sense the certain knowl- 
 edge that, wherever he went, there would be fear that 
 some one would come who knew him, and would ex- 
 pose him for what he was, a "quitter" — a man who 
 had betrayed his best friend by running away when 
 everything was at stake! He began a closer 
 analysis of his flight. It came as a surprise to find 
 that it was not actuated so much by the certain 
 humiliation of meeting his victims, and being 
 stripped of reputation by their charges, as through 
 fear of facing Arabella, the Colonel, Hubbard, and 
 the quartet from Chattanooga. It was the scorn 
 of those he loved that made him a coward. As for 
 what Thornton, Sprague and Carleton might have 
 said, he would have listened to them, grinned, and 
 said: 
 
 "Well, what are you goin' to do about it, now 
 that you've told what easy marks you were ? You've 
 got nothin' on me for the courts, you know." 
 
 But those others! He knew, now, that he was 
 hungry for the esteem and affection of clean persons, 
 right-thinking persons, persons who never faltered 
 where honor was involved. Moreover, he was sure 
 
THE BOOMERS. 273 
 
 that never again in the world could he find such 
 as those he left behind. ' All their failings now be- 
 came amusing, and all their virtues magnified. Even 
 Hubbard's genius he recognized as being some- 
 thing big and worthy. The Colonel, financial simple- 
 ton that he was, loomed in Burmah's memory as a 
 giant of kindly nobility, one too fine to be tarnished 
 by c- e sordidness of greed, too big and sincere to 
 be trammeled by conventions. 
 
 But how had these former dupes of his learned 
 that he was there in Port Hatch? It could not 
 have been chance alone that had worked to this end. 
 Yet, chance might have set a sign-post for his un- 
 doing, despite all his efforts. He had fought 
 throughout, as was his habit, to keep in the back- 
 ground, and to keep his name out of the newspapers ; 
 but, despite his utmost care and self-effacement, the 
 newspapers had come to regard him as the central 
 figure in the limelight of achievement, and to refer 
 to the Colonel only in a good-natured, whimsical 
 way whenever the latter had perpetrated some new 
 extravaganza. This must be the manner in which 
 Thornton and the others had learned of his 
 presence in Port Hatch. Millionaires that they 
 were, they might have left alone one so humble as 
 Burmah Jones; but that trait of "getting even" 
 seemed to be a pretty general one, from which his 
 victims were not immune. Also, Burmah admitted, 
 they might be acting from a sense of duty — the 
 duty of preventing other men from becoming his 
 dupes. They might have been visiting Seattle, 
 picked up a newspaper, made a few inquiries, and 
 then believed it an obligation to visit Port Hatch, 
 
274 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 and notify its residents, the Colonel, everyone, to 
 beware. They would find one person, at least, ready 
 to listen to them, and that was Lester. 
 
 At the thought of the keen-eyed young man who 
 had seemed to read his motives, Burmah got up 
 from the capstan where he had been sitting, and 
 walked impatiently to and fro the narrow width of 
 the deck, his short legs moving restlessly, anJ. his 
 short feet, with their patent-leather shoes and white 
 gaiters, almost twinkling as they struck the planks. 
 
 "Who in the deuce can Lester be, anyhow?" he 
 asked himself, in perplexity. "Where did he come 
 irom? He was there fishin' the first time we saw 
 him, and had old Skaggs and Flay lor his only 
 friends, and I sort of got the idea that he was 
 just a ten-dollar-a-week clerk out on a vacation. 
 Then he made me think he was there for his health, 
 and liked the out-doors stuff. But he's been there 
 now more'n a year and a half, save for a trip off 
 somewhere about once in three or four months, and 
 he never seems to have money to blow around the 
 club, and he ain't never short of money, and he 
 don't do nothin' at all except to make love to Ara- 
 bella, and — hang him! I wonder if he had a finger 
 in this game !" 
 
 For quite a time, he debated this feature, and at 
 last came to the conclusion that Lester could be 
 nothing more than a dawdler of just sufficient in- 
 come to live modestly in some isolated situation like 
 Port Hatch. Chance alone had brought on the 
 crash of the card-castle he had erected, and in which 
 he had lived so long, so successfully, and so happily. 
 
 The boat drew slowly into the dock at Seattle, 
 
THE BOOMERS. 275 
 
 and Jones, with suit-case in hand, walked down the 
 gang-plank, and was so abstracted that he failed 
 to recognize the captain's friendly parting salute, 
 or to deliver his scant luggage to the porter who 
 had always welcomed him as a friend. He passed 
 across the tracks to the railway station, and frowned 
 at the time-tables conveniently hung in frames for 
 the benefit of the travelers, and his sharp eyes ran 
 rapidly down the column devoted to through trains, 
 eastward bound. Once more he was the old Bur- 
 mah Jones, again covering his tracks. He must 
 first take a local train bound for a near-by station, 
 then suddenly appear to change his mind, drop oif, 
 catch a through train, and disappear. There were 
 plently of trains that would serve his purpose, and 
 he made a mental selection. This done, he must 
 go to the different banks in which he had scattered 
 his deposits, and draw as closely as he dared, and 
 he was already formulating the glib excuse which 
 had so often served him — that of requiring cash 
 to satisfy an unreasonable customer. Also, he would 
 drop the hint, in an off-hand way, that the bank 
 might be compelled to meet some drafts should he 
 be called East. Then from Chicago he would draw 
 upon them for the larger sums, and from there also 
 would telegraph the Colonel that he had been unex- 
 pectedly called away on a big deal, and would 
 return within two or three weeks. Those two or 
 three weeks would give him time to get away to 
 South America, or Europe, before the smash, in 
 case the Colonel still had some shred of faith in 
 him, and of that he had small doubt. He knew that 
 the Colonel would decline to believe anything ill of 
 
276 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 him until he had been given a chance to defend 
 himself. He laughed at himself for these precau- 
 tions, for quite well he realized that he had done 
 nothing unlawful; yet he had the craving to retain 
 the confidence of those at Port Hatch to the last 
 possible moment — that confidence he found himself 
 loath to part with. 
 
 A strange indecision mastered him as he turned 
 out to visit the first bank, and, at the very doors of 
 the big granite building facing Pioneer Square, he 
 paused irresolute. No, he would first go to the 
 Commercial Bank, where he had so long cultivated 
 the friendship of William Shoemaker, the cashier. 
 He could "get away with it" better there, because 
 they believed in him. Then, at the doors of the 
 Commercial, he thought of the trust granted him 
 by that same clear-eyed little cashier, and hated to 
 betray it. Here was another man who believed in 
 him. Better try some other bank, because he wanted 
 Shoemaker to respect him as long as possible. He 
 decided to leave the suit-case at a cigar-stand, and 
 in this palace of nicotine found himself compelled 
 to listen to a conversation between two old Alaskan 
 prospectors telling how a pair of partners had lost 
 their lives. 
 
 "Everything showed," one of them, a gray-haired 
 and long-bearded old man, said in the quiet voice 
 of the adventurer in the silent places; "everything 
 showed that Tim could have saved himself, but he 
 wouldn't go and leave Miller there to die alone. 
 We found where he had trailed out trying to find 
 a cache or some sort of help. Then the trail came 
 back. Tim was returning to Miller to die with 
 
THE BOOMERS. 277 
 
 him, and, somehow, I've an idea he must have known 
 it. God ! Think of it ! Going back to die rather 
 than feel that he hadn't stuck to the end. That 
 was playing the part of a man. It looked as if 
 Miller had died, and then Tim had lashed him up in a 
 tree, and started out alone; but he couldn't make 
 it by that time — was too weak. So we found him, 
 and read his story there in the still snows that 
 hadn't drifted none in all that long month. That 
 was a man !" 
 
 For a full minute, Burmah leaned over, staring 
 at, yet without seeing, the gay bands and labels. 
 His fat hands rested quietly, and without a tremor, 
 on the scratched glass top of the show-case. Then 
 his eyes suddenly flared. He whirled until he looked 
 at the prospector, and scowled at him fiercely, as if 
 resenting something, and, while the old man drew 
 back, perplexed, Burmah spoke scarcely above a 
 whisper : 
 
 "Your friend, Tim," he said, with unusual slow- 
 ness, "was a chump ! But — hell ! — he was a man !" 
 He stooped with an awkward, abrupt motion, and 
 picked up the suit-case, and walked out to the pave- 
 ment, with lips that were curiously compressed, and 
 with a fearless glare in his eyes, and, strangely, 
 his short figure had taken on a dignity of its own. 
 He walked unwaveringly back through the long 
 street, and turned toward the waters of the sound 
 that glistened far below. Then he plunged down- 
 ward along the incline and out past the railway 
 station to the wharf, where the boat that had brought 
 him to Seattle now made ready to depart on her 
 upward trip. All indecision had gone from his 
 
278 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 action and his appearance. He held his head high 
 on his short neck, which seemed to have become a 
 stubborn pillar, unyielding and fixed. His hat had 
 lost its careless angle, and his hands were clenched, 
 one tightly as if for a fight, the other around the 
 leather handle of his suit-case. Over the gang- 
 plank so recently descended in irresolution, he strode 
 firmly back, and the suit-case he tossed carelessly 
 ini»ide the smoking-room door. 
 
 "Going back so soon. Mister Jones?" asked a 
 friendly deck-steward, and for a long time the man 
 wondered why Burmah Jones turned and smiled at 
 him, slowly, and said: 
 
 "Yes. Goin' back. Goin' back to be a man !" 
 
 He waited for the boat to pull out, cursing him- 
 self for ever having run away, but giving himself 
 no credit for having come out on top in the moral 
 battle he had fought with himself. His air was that 
 of dogged determination. He stood leaning on the 
 rail, when a voice, panting as if from exertion, hailed 
 him from the dock's edge, and he looked down to 
 find Billings waving at him. 
 
 "Mister Jones ! Mister Jones !" shouted the man- 
 ager of his Seattle office. "I was about to come to 
 see you at Port Hatch when I spotted you up there 
 on the deck. Can't you stay over here to-day to 
 talk to some men who want to do business with you 
 personally?" 
 
 For an instant, Burmah hesitated, a fact that did 
 not escape the eye of his subordinate, who never 
 before had seen him display indecision. 
 
 "What's their names?" asked Burmah, cautiously. 
 
 "I don't remember," said Billings, "but they said 
 
THE BOOMERS. 279 
 
 they were in business back East with the same scheme 
 that Conover and his crowd worked on, and they 
 want to see you." 
 
 Burmah caught himself faltering. For a moment, 
 he had been inclined to dodge the possible issue of 
 meeting Thornton and Carleton. Again he shut 
 his jaw grimly, and mastered temptation. He would 
 meet all comers after this, no matter what happened, 
 and, if the men who wanted to see him were those 
 whom in another portion of the country he had 
 mulcted, the sooner he confronted them the better. 
 Then a second's thought convinced him they could 
 not be the men. He reclaimed his suit-case, joined 
 Billings, and took a cab to the offices of the Port 
 Hatch Company, where he busied himself at his 
 desk until such time as the strangers should appear. 
 
 They came late in the afternoon, three more of 
 the same quiet type as Conover, and Burmah was 
 relieved to discover that all they wanted of him 
 was to buy for their own speculations a subdivision 
 of the "City Beautiful." For the first time in all 
 his big deals, he was unqualifiedly honest and 
 straightforward. 
 
 "I want to tell you somethin' before we start in 
 to discuss this sale at all," he said, with an unusual 
 repression, "and that is, that we do not sell any 
 land with the promise, or anything more than a 
 hope, that the railroad's goin' to ever come there 
 to Port Hatch." 
 
 He waited and watched the effect of his speech, 
 as his visitors straightened up with surprise, and 
 then looked at one another, dumfounded. He was 
 again fighting the battle, but this time from a new 
 
280 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 angle. If he neglected to make a sale of possible 
 magnitude, his action would be working an injustice 
 to the Colonel, and he smiled sadly at the thought 
 that without doubt at the very moment the Colonel 
 needed money. Tempation was now upon him to 
 go ahead and with all his old time vigor to close this 
 transaction, and turn the proceeds over to the 
 Colonel; but he sternly questioned himself, in that 
 flashing instant, whether this was not at variance 
 with the course he had that morning set for himself. 
 He stiffened a trifle around the jaws, and his lips 
 shut in harsh lines. 
 
 "But we have been led to understand that there 
 was never any question of the railway's decision," 
 objected the spokesman for the prospective pur- 
 chasers. "Your advertising was quite — " 
 
 "Never mind the advertisements," interrupted 
 Burmah. "There are — " he faltered a little, and 
 his visitor took up the thread. 
 
 "A change of conditions, eh?" 
 
 "As you see it," replied Burmah. 
 
 "That's too bad!" exclaimed the visitor. "We 
 came with our minds made up to take a flyer — say 
 — a hundred thousand on Port Hatch; but, of 
 course, if there is any doubt — well, you understand." 
 
 "Perfectly," said Burmah, wiping the moisture 
 from his forehead. His voice was very low and 
 restrained, as he added: "One must not sell land 
 under false pretenses. Ten days ago, I'd have told 
 you it was a cinch. To-day, I tell you there is no 
 certainty, and that, if you size it up that you want 
 to gamble with us, we've got the land for sale; but 
 that, if you put your money in on my tellin' you 
 
THE BOOMERS. 281 
 
 that I know that the road's comin' to Port Hatch, 
 the deaPs off!" 
 
 His visitors looked at one another in astonish- 
 ment, and then their spokesman got up, and, as if 
 this were understood bj his partners as ending the 
 interview, they did likewise. He suddenly stepped 
 around the end of the desk, and held his hand out 
 to Burmah. 
 
 "We've got to look this over some more. Mister 
 Jones," he said, "because when it comes to a gamble, 
 that's a different proposition. We'll let you know 
 within a week whether we want to bet on the card 
 that's turned down; but I want to say this, and 
 I know I'm speaking just what my partners feel, 
 that you are as square a man as we've ever tried to 
 do business with, and we want to thank you for 
 giving us what is unquestionably straight informa- 
 tion. We would have closed with you within forty- 
 eight hours, if you had said that you knew that 
 the road was coming. And we want to thank you, 
 and say that we don't believe a man who can do 
 as you have done ever loses in the long run!" 
 
 He turned and walked out, after bowing punctili- 
 ously, and at the door said: 
 
 "Within a week, Mister Jones — within a week." 
 
 The door closed after them, and Burmah dropped 
 into his chair, dejected, and scowling savagely at 
 himself in the little mirror backing a fancy inkstand 
 that had been given him by Billy. The old cynical 
 smile crept back to his lips, the old hard look to 
 his eyes. 
 
 "It's the stuff," he muttered, savagely, "that's 
 passed out by preachers and soft guys. It'll get 
 
282 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 you no money, Old Man, and you are gettin' old. 
 It'll send you to the hulks with the dead wood, when 
 you're done. It'll put you in the potter's field after 
 you're gone." 
 
 He paused for a moment and then his face took 
 on a different, a more noble look, and he slapped 
 his open palm on his desk as he said, aloud: 
 
 "But, by God! it'll give you at least one hack 
 full of mourners when the game's ended, and some- 
 body'll see that flowers grow on your three-by-six !" 
 
 To the astonishment of the office force and the 
 matter-of-fact Billings, he whistled softly as he 
 marched out of his private office on his departure 
 for the hotel, and there rang a new note in that 
 whistling of an old-time popular air that caught the 
 ear. It echoed with a vague cadence out into the 
 street where men hurried backward and forward in 
 the busy city devoted to the god of wealth. It 
 flaunted itself defiantly above the clamor of the 
 street-cars. It dwelt in the memory of those who 
 heard it and had forgotten its strains. It was the 
 new marching tune of Burmah Jones — fat little 
 crook, pathetic in his isolation of conscience, and 
 now turning into an unaccustomed road, undaunted. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE DREAMER UPSETS EVERYTHING. 
 
 The office door of the Port Hatch Land Company, 
 in Seattle, flew open with a bang, and through it 
 rushed Colonel Hatch, excited and anxious. 
 
 "Good-afternoon, Mister Billings," he called to the 
 manager, who arose from his chair with an air of 
 having been disturbed in the midst of some pro- 
 found problem. And then, without waiting for a 
 return of his greeting, the Colonel asked: "Where 
 on earth is Mister Jones? I've been looking for him, 
 and do you know. Sir, it's of the utmost importance 
 that I have a conference with him before three 
 o'clock this afternoon?" 
 
 Billings looked distressed and wagged his head. 
 
 "There are two reasons why I'm afraid that is 
 impossible. Colonel," he answered; "one being that 
 it's now a quarter-past three, and the other that 
 Mister Jones took the boat to Port Hatch at one, 
 thirty." 
 
 "Well dog-gone my cats !" exclaimed the Colonel, 
 bursting into a vernacular oath of his native country. 
 "Then we must have passed him on the way up." 
 
 "I'm afraid that's true," said Billings, still won- 
 dering what could be the cause of the Colonel's per- 
 turbation. "And I'm afraid that, if time is essen- 
 tial, he cannot be here before to-morrow evening, be- 
 cause the last boat for to-day has gone, and a letter 
 would not reach him before to-morrow afternoon. On 
 thinking it over, I doubt if he could be back here 
 
 283 
 
284 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 before day after to-morrow, without hiring a special 
 boat." 
 
 The Colonel looked like a boy that had unex- 
 pectedly lost his parental protector in a crowd. 
 He shifted from one foot to the other, took off his 
 hat, ran his fingers through his profuse white hair, 
 and tugged at his goatee. 
 
 "Is there anything I can do, Colonel.''" asked 
 Billings, in his calm, methodical manner, and voiced 
 the question in the same pitch that he would have 
 used had he asked if the weather were satisfactory. 
 
 The Colonel brightened, looked at Billings as if 
 about to ask him his advice, then shook his head. 
 
 "No, Sir, Mister Billings," he said, "a man must 
 fight his own battles. As the great Mr. Rothschild 
 said in one of his remarkable sayings, 'There comes 
 a time when a man must make his own decisions.' 
 I'm afraid I'll have to do without Mister Jones. But, 
 by Cracky! I wish he was here!" 
 
 He went hesitatingly out of the door, and Billings, 
 turning back to some columns of figures, smiled 
 satirically, wondering whether Colonel Hatch could 
 ever do anything without the advice of Burmah 
 Jones, and, if he did, what the newest spendthrift 
 phase would be. Colonel Hatch stopped to adjust 
 his cravat in the hall-way, to pass the time of day 
 with a boot-black, to give a dollar to a beggar who 
 had asked for a dime, and then passed thoughtfully 
 toward the largest hotel in Seattle. He mounted the 
 steps, handed the clerk his card, and was respect- 
 fully greeted. 
 
 "I wish to see Mister Thornton, or Mister 
 Carleton," he said. "By appointment. Sir." 
 
THE BOOMERS. 285 
 
 The bell-boy took the card, and disappeared; and 
 the Colonel came near to forgetting his errand while 
 staring through his glasses at a picture in the hall- 
 way that particularly pleased him, which at the 
 same time suggested that Port Hatch should have 
 an art-gallery for the education of the young before 
 it could be classed as a thoroughly up-to-date city. 
 His self-confidence had already led him to forget 
 the desire for a consultation with Burmah, and he 
 was placidly waiting for his call when the bell-boy 
 came to him, and said that the gentlemen would see 
 him at once. He followed the boy to the elevator, 
 doffed his hat, and bowed punctiliously to an elderly 
 matron who was waiting in the car, and told her 
 that it was a fine day, as they slipped swiftly and 
 silently upward. Into what appeared to be the 
 private reception-room of a splendid suite the boy 
 conducted him, and, while he waited, he looked out 
 of the window at the city beneath him, and the mar- 
 velous panorama that stretched away in the dis- 
 tance — a panorama he had come to love as being 
 neighbor to his own unsurpassed in the world. The 
 inner door opened, and Carleton, well groomed, 
 square-jawed, and precise, approached him. 
 
 "You are Colonel Hatch, I take it," he said, hold- 
 ing out his hand. "I'm Mister Carleton." 
 
 "Very glad to have the honor, Sir," the Colonel 
 asserted with great gallantry. 
 
 "As I wrote you, Colonel," Carleton said, in his 
 precise, business-like way, "we are on the Board of 
 Directors of the Atlantic & Oriental Railway, and 
 we are out here on the Coast to make our final deci- 
 sion as to what shall be the terminus of the road." 
 
286 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 "I gathered as much as that," said the Colonel, 
 imperturbably ; "but, for the life of me. Sir, I can't 
 see why there should be the slightest question on 
 that point. Port Hatch, of course. Sir. She is the 
 most beautiful city in the world. She has the most 
 unrivaled port of entry, with natural facilities that 
 cannot be obtained by any other harbor on the 
 Pacific. She is — " 
 
 "Excuse me. Colonel," blandly interrupted Carle- 
 ton; "but I think it best that you should explain 
 its advantages to the full Board, and particularly^ 
 to our chairman, Mister Thornton. Won't you please 
 come inside?" 
 
 He turned and bowed deferentially as he opened 
 a door, and stood back as the Colonel preceded 
 him into the room. As he was being announced, 
 the Colonel caught it all at a glance. The after- 
 noon sun filtered through the big windows on as 
 model a directors' room as could be obtained in any 
 hotel, and around a long and polished table were 
 seated a dozen men of that type which he had always 
 associated with financial power — clean-cut, serious 
 men, some of whom had sharp eyes that bored him 
 through and appeared on the defensive, others that 
 were merely speculative, and some that with an icy 
 blankness masked cruelty of mind. He passed from 
 man to man as he was introduced, and shook hands 
 with each, regardless of the attitude of defensive- 
 ness that all assumed. It was the Chairman who 
 put the cause of the conference succinctly before 
 him, as if time were too important to be wasted 
 on courtesy, and the Colonel, somewhat bewildered 
 by all this haste, listened as Thornton talked. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 287 
 
 "Colonel Hatch," he said, after the Colonel had 
 seated himself, "as you doubtless know, it is an as- 
 sured fact that the A. and O. wants to make terms for 
 its tide-water end; there is no use in discussing 
 that part of it. We have preliminary surveys to 
 Seattle that have been on file for some years; but 
 we are not certain that it would not prove more 
 profitable for us to make Port Hatch, on account 
 of its nearer location to the mouth of the sound, 
 our main terminus, and extend the line to Seattle 
 merely as a business-getter." 
 
 The Colonel smiled and nodded with elation. He 
 glowed with friendship for the man at the head of 
 the table, whose face was as immobile as a face could 
 be, and whose close-cropped mustache did not con- 
 ceal a mouth that was as unfeeling and firm as 
 a Red Indian's. 
 
 "We have felt out the cost of right of way to 
 Seattle, and know about what we could do along 
 that line. We have not such assurances along the line 
 to Port Hatch and that would entail some additional 
 expense." He paused for a moment for this to 
 sink in. 
 
 But the Colonel was not one to think of expense 
 in connection with anything. 
 
 "But, Sir, I'm right sure that if you ever visited 
 Port Hatch, there is no possible expense that would 
 deter you from running the road there," he ven- 
 tured, feeling the necessity of saying something. 
 
 "We have already visited your city," drily 
 answered Thornton, "and have made all the neces- 
 sary inquiries as to the advantages of its location." 
 
 "Then, of course, it's all decided!" the Colonel 
 
288 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 almost shouted. "Gentlemen, I congratulate you- 
 all on your excellence of judgment. As I have often 
 said—" 
 
 "But we haven't finally decided," interrupted the 
 Chairman of the Board. "In fact, we requested 
 this interview to see what inducements Port Hatch 
 would make us to name it our main terminal point." 
 
 The Colonel's jaw dropped, and a look of anxiety 
 crept over his face. He straightened himself a little 
 more erect, and settled his feet on the floor. It did 
 not seem possible that there had ever been any doubt 
 as to Port Hatch being the place selected. If so, 
 Burmah had been deceived; but this was a time 
 for caution, and so he would say nothing to cause 
 a rupture of negotiations. 
 
 "Mister Thornton," he said, in his soft drawl, 
 "Port Hatch means a mighty lot to me, and I reckon 
 I mean a mighty lot to it. In fact, Sir, I think 
 I would be enabled to talk for my town, if I knew 
 exactly what you mean by inducements." 
 
 Thornton consulted some slips of paper on the 
 table before him, and then, apparently not finding 
 the one he sought, turned to Carleton. 
 
 "Charley," he asked, "have you those memoranda 
 we made?" 
 
 Carleton looked through some slips in front of 
 him, as did two of the other Directors, and then the 
 missing piece of paper was passed along to the 
 head of the table. Thornton clasped his glasses on 
 his nose, and perused the memoranda with aggra- 
 vating slowness before he turned to the Colonel, who 
 was expectantly waiting. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 289 
 
 "I believe Port Hatch owns its own water-works 
 and electric light-system, doesn't it?" he asked. 
 
 "Yes, Sir, she does," proudly replied the Colonel. 
 
 "Has the city given out any street-car franchises.?^" 
 
 "No, Sir. It hasn't," the Colonel replied, won- 
 dering innocently what bearing that could have on 
 the Atlantic & Oriental. 
 
 "Now about its water-front land.'"' calmly con- 
 tinued Thornton, making a note. "Does that, also, 
 belong to the city,?" 
 
 "No, Sir," replied the Colonel, eagerly, "most of 
 that belongs to me." 
 
 "And that big flat up toward the head of the 
 bay — is that yours, also.'^" Thornton went on in 
 the same incisive categorical manner, as if check- 
 ing an inventory. 
 
 "Most of that's mine, too," the Colonel hastened 
 to answer. 
 
 "And you own considerable more land back of 
 the city, don't you, Colonel.?" Thornton pursued, 
 although the Colonel could scarcely understand 
 why. 
 
 "All of it," said the Colonel, with a certain buoy- 
 ant inflection of pride. 
 
 "Then," interjected Carleton, "you would be the 
 one to profit the most by the rise in land-values if 
 the railway did come there, wouldn't you.?" 
 
 The Colonel, to the astonishment of the Board, 
 looked at the ceiling and stroked his goatee. 
 
 "Yes, Sir," he said, slowly, "I reckon I would. 
 But, you see, that's a feature of Port Hatch that 
 I've never thought over very much. A gentleman 
 engaged in creating the most beautiful and model 
 
290 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 city in the world hasn't got time, Sir, to think very 
 much about sordid details like that." 
 
 The members of the Board looked at one another, 
 and at him, solicitously, wondering if he were quite 
 mentally competent. This fine old gentleman must 
 be either insane, or else he was of an entirely new 
 type as compared with any they had hitherto met 
 in the course of their extended negotiations. Most 
 of those they had interviewed thought only in dol- 
 lars. They themselves, whose lives were devoted 
 to capturing other men's money with the furious 
 energy of hogs grubbing for roots, could not compre- 
 hend the dreamer. 
 
 "Well, Colonel Hatch," said Thornton, drily, "it 
 seems certain that we are discussing the question 
 with the right man. This railway will go either to 
 Seattle or Port Hatch, and it will go where it thinks 
 it can gain the most." 
 
 "What has Seattle offered.?" demanded the Col- 
 onel, anxiously, as if about to bid against its high- 
 est mark. 
 
 "Candidly I am not at liberty to answer that," 
 said Thornton, firmly. "But we have been in com- 
 munication with its Chamber of Commerce for some 
 months." 
 
 "Would it give you all the ground you want for 
 switch-yards, or whatever you call them.^"' demanded 
 the Colonel, rising to the occasion. 
 
 He might have been warned by the gleam in 
 Thornton's eyes, and the pleasantly rapacious look 
 exchanged by other members of the group of Direc- 
 tors, but was not, so plunged ahead. 
 
 "I'll give you, for nothing, all the land you want 
 
THE BOOMERS. 291 
 
 for your yards up there at the head of the bay," 
 the Colonel announced, soberly. "A pretty good 
 offer. Gentlemen?" 
 
 He smiled round importantly, and was surprised 
 to see that no one else appeared to regard this 
 as a final and deciding inducement in favor of Port 
 Hatch. Indeed, there seemed to be some inexplic- 
 able and perhaps confused undercurrent of thought 
 running through the room, and this was made more 
 definite when Thornton calmly took off his glasses, 
 and hesitated as if for the idea to crystallize. He 
 spoke at last, and when he did the Colonel was much 
 taken back. He had expected an explicit yes. 
 
 *'It seems to me, Colonel," he said, "that we might 
 save time if I were allowed a further conference 
 with my fellow Board-members. Would you mind 
 waiting a few moments, in the reception-room, until 
 — until we can get our heads together, as the say- 
 ing is.^" 
 
 For an instant, the Colonel was rather indignant 
 at this request. It savored of a lack of confidence 
 in him. It sounded almost like a dismissal; but, 
 remembering that the ways of the great are as dark 
 and vain as those of the fabled "Chinee", he as- 
 sented, and said, "Certainly, Sir!" 
 
 He bowed with grave courtesy, and stepped out 
 into the other room, closing the door after him. 
 This time, as he waited, he did not stare out appre- 
 ciatively at the sound, but walked restlessly to and 
 fro in the deeply carpeted room, his hands beneath 
 his coat-tails, and a frown of worry distorting his 
 bushy white eyebrows. For the first time, a fear 
 began to creep through his mind, that perhaps, 
 
292 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 after all, the railway would select Seattle. Up to 
 that hour he had deemed this absurdity not to be 
 seriously considered. How any sane group of men 
 could choose Seattle, great metropolis though it 
 was, in preference to his beloved Port Hatch, was 
 completely beyond his understanding. He had so 
 often heard Burmah declaim the advantages of that 
 beautiful little city which now seemed so far away 
 — its proximity to the ocean, its deep and sheltered 
 bay, its natural resources, all waiting for develop- 
 ment. And yet those men were undoubtedly waver- 
 ing, and, moreover, they did not appear so very 
 eager to decide upon Port Hatch as their Mecca. 
 
 The Colonel suddenly suffered a chill apprehension, 
 and was harried by a sense of desperate helpless- 
 ness to cope with this situation. He felt inadequate, 
 and wished, most fervently, that Burmah were there 
 to assist him with sage council and a smart grasp 
 of difficult situations. But Burmah was not there, 
 and any delay might prove fatal to Port Hatch, 
 so he must do the best that was in him. He straight- 
 ened himself, wished that he were younger and en- 
 dowed with the fighting vigor that had been his 
 thirty years before, and waited impatiently for the 
 door to open. He did not know that behind it, at 
 that very moment, the Board of Directors was 
 chuckling, or laughing quietly over the possibility 
 of getting about everything that Port Hatch had 
 to give, because it was palpably dealing with a 
 business weakling. 
 
 "Seattle is too big to offer us very much," de- 
 clared one man. "We'd get its share of the business, 
 anyvray, by a branch down here." 
 
THE BOOMERS. 293 
 
 "Yes," assented Carleton, again referring to a 
 file of letters before him, "all they offer is a right 
 of way into the Union Passenger Station, and sug- 
 gest that they can assist us in purchasing ground 
 for yards away up on the made land." 
 
 "But Seattle is already a highly important city," 
 objected another, "and we can't afford to ignore 
 It!" 
 
 "We don't," retorted Thornton. "It's big 
 enough to ignore us. We, therefore, build up a 
 city of our own at much less cost and more profit, 
 if we make this Port Hatch our ocean terminal." 
 
 For a full ten minutes they conferred over what 
 they should ask, and then Carleton again stepped 
 to the door, and invited the Colonel, who was in 
 a nervous state bordering on the fidgets, into the 
 room. The Colonel took the chair that was tendered, 
 and once more Thornton adjusted his glasses, and 
 coolly read from a slip of paper. 
 
 "Would you consider this proposition. Colonel?" 
 he asked, suavely. "First, that we get, free of cost, 
 such lands as we deem necessary for switch-yards 
 of the magnitude that a great Transcontinental 
 line would require." 
 
 The Colonel was about to say yes, but the Chair- 
 man continued before he had a chance. 
 
 "Second, that we get all the water-front neces- 
 sary for docks of reasonable size for such an enter- 
 prise, also free of cost to us. 
 
 "Third, that we be given the exclusive right of 
 franchise for all street-railways. 
 
 "Fourth, that we be given, in perpetuity, free 
 
294 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 use of water from the city's supply, and that the 
 city furnish, free, electric lights for our yards. 
 
 "And fifth, that the City of Port Hatch build 
 for us a model railway station that shall cost not 
 less than one hundred thousand dollars. I think 
 that is all," he concluded, looking at the Colonel, 
 whose hands had tightened themselves over the arms 
 of his chair until the skin covering his knuckles 
 was drawn white, like parchment. 
 
 The Colonel's spirits had descended as each de- 
 mand was made. Certainly he would let them have 
 the ground for the yards, valuable though it was, 
 because there was lots of land left back up on the 
 mountain side. Then the ground for the docks, the 
 most valuable in Port Hatch, was easy to deed 
 away, and would be gladly given. Thus far the 
 demand could be met; but street-railway franchises 
 — well, he wasn't so certain about that. It seemed 
 to him that Burmah had once said they might some 
 day be worth a great deal, and, moreover, he didn't 
 think Hubbard would approve of a street-car line 
 down Main Street. But he supposed that, too, 
 would have to go, although given reluctantly under 
 pressure. Then came the terrifying demand that 
 a station be built to cost not less than a hundred 
 thousand dollars ! Where on earth could he get 
 such a sum as that.? He was sorry now that he 
 had so freely spent all the thousands that had come 
 so easily, from where only Burmah knew. 
 
 As he sat staring at a figure in the carpet, with 
 the members of the Board watching him in greedy, 
 expectant silence, he knew that he could promise 
 all things, but that Burmah would have to show 
 
THE BOOMERS. 295 
 
 him the way. And, if Burmah could not, then 
 he, Colonel Alonzo Fairfax Hatch, would have 
 promised something that he could not give, an im- 
 possible occurrence in his code of conduct. With- 
 out Burmah's advice and assistance, he dared not 
 risk giving such a covenant. And, worst of all, 
 he thought, in his ignorance, these men sitting there 
 in the room might, in the meantime, render a deci- 
 sion in favor of Seattle. It was all very distressing ; 
 but he unfalteringly faced the issue. 
 
 "Gentlemen," he said, "I dare not say yes to all 
 your proposals, although I would if I were the only 
 one on whom everything depended; but I'm not. 
 I've got to have time to consult with my assistant 
 — yes, he's more than that. Gentlemen — my partner, 
 Mister Burmah Jones." 
 
 There was some expression akin to supplication 
 in his eyes as he spoke, some look entreating them 
 to give him the benefit of time for seeking Burmah; 
 but to three members of the Board his speech was 
 like the application of a match to a fuse. 
 
 "What.? What's that.?" demanded Thornton, 
 savagely. 
 
 "Jones.? William Burmah Jones.? He's out 
 here, and mixed up in this Port Hatch.?" shouted 
 Carleton. And the third man lost his veneer of 
 polish, swore steadily, and banged his fist on the 
 table in front of him. 
 
 The Colonel, as astonished as if someone had 
 thrown a bomb into the room, blinked his fine old 
 eyes rapidly, and leaned forward in his chair, 
 wondering what could have happened to disturb the 
 serenity of the meeting, and looked anxiously from 
 
296 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 one man to another, selecting the one that might 
 explain this change from plain friendliness to open 
 hostility. 
 
 "Do you happen to know, Colonel Hatch," crisply 
 asked Thornton, "whether this man, Jones, of whom 
 you speak was ever in Fort Scott, Kansas?" 
 
 "Why, yes, Sir ! He came from there to Seattle," 
 blandly responded the Colonel, opening his eyes a 
 trifle wider. 
 
 "I told you that was where I last heard of him," 
 triumphantly asserted Thornton, pointing an index 
 finger across the corner of the table at Carleton ; and 
 the latter nodded angrily. 
 
 "Then what I want to say to you. Colonel Hatch," 
 shouted Thornton, furiously, turning on the be- 
 wildered and hapless Colonel, and shaking a threaten* 
 ing hand, "is that we'll have nothing to do with your 
 man, Jones, or anything that he has a hand in. He's 
 a damned dirty crook! A con' man! and any man 
 who mixes up with him, knowingly, is no better. 
 And—" 
 
 He came to an abrupt pause, for the Colonel had 
 lifted himself from his chair, and thrown forward 
 fore-arm and hand, and his fingers, white and fine, 
 were distended in a gesture. 
 
 "Stop!" he thundered, his vgice redolent with 
 command and indignation. "Stop! I say, stop!" 
 
 He paused for an instant, and Thornton, who was 
 nearest, drew back, and half-lifted an arm as if to 
 shield his face from an impending blow, while Carle- 
 ton, thrust his chair backward, and stood up, pre- 
 pared to meet physical violence. All around the 
 table men were rising to their feet, and edging away 
 
THE BOOMERS. 297 
 
 from this figure of indignation, which stood there 
 quivering, tense and commanding, like a warrior who 
 had stepped out of the past ages to the defense of 
 the calumniated. The rustle of chairs across rugs, 
 and of garments swayed by movement, died away 
 into silence, and that flashing second of waiting 
 seemed prolonged into a minute. The metallic 
 clang of the elevator in the corridor outside came 
 through the heavy doors with the full effect of an 
 artillery explosion from fields over which this gallant 
 old man had fought in the far-gone years. He 
 seemed to tower above them, a dominant figure of 
 wrath, with a shadowy saber in hand, as he led the 
 charge in defense of an absent friend, regardless of 
 the merits of his cause. His eyes were mere pieces 
 of blazing steel, hot from the furnace, glowing so 
 rapidly from cold scorn to fiery danger that the 
 light seemed to play across them. He had stiffened 
 so erect that he appeared taller, and potence was 
 there, tensed to act as decision might declare. His 
 jaws were shut until the muscles of his lean cheeks 
 were harsh knots beneath the white skin. When he 
 spoke, there was in his tone an infinite dignity, a 
 profound contempt and fixed resolution, and each 
 word seemed separate, and shorn of inflection. 
 
 "I ain't goin' to call you 'Gentlemen,' " he drawled, 
 in a voice that, despite its carrying quality, was 
 scarcely above a whisper, and in words that reverted 
 to the vernacular of Tennessee, "because you-all 
 ain't worth that name. You're the kind that cuss 
 a man out when he ain't around to defend himself! 
 But I'm goin' to tell you that you're talkin' about 
 my friend!" 
 
298 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 He paused, and his eyes swept from one to another 
 as if in challenge, or seeking one who dared take upon 
 himself the gauntlet so bravely cast into the lists. 
 There was pride in his claim upon friendship, and 
 a desire to meet the direct traducer of it. 
 
 "I repeat it," he said in a louder and more deadly 
 voice, firm and uncompromising, "that Mister William 
 Burmah Jones is my friend! Now! — first, last and 
 always ! And I'll say more, that either he or I would 
 kill the man that dared to call him the names that 
 you-all have called him, if we were where we could 
 have the chance to which a gentleman is entitled. 
 There wasn't one of you that invited him here to 
 say them to his face. You didn't send for him! 
 You sent for me, and you-all thought I'd submit to 
 it, didn't you? We don't do things like that in 
 Tennessee, thank God! Maybe they do where you- 
 all come from ; so I'm glad I never was there !" 
 
 Again he waited, while Thornton's face grew redder 
 as his anger increased. Carleton wet dry lips at 
 such an unaccustomed arraignment of a financier, 
 and two or three others scowled at such an excoria- 
 tion. The Colonel suddenly snapped his fingers at 
 them, and backed toward the door. One hand crept 
 round and seized the knob, and the other clenched 
 itself in fury, and shook itself belligerently in the 
 air. 
 
 "Port Hatch," he roared, for the first time lifting 
 his voice to one of unleashed anger, "needed your 
 railway ! You needed Port Hatch ! But I'd rather 
 let Port Hatch go back to a desert with wild hounds 
 howling through her streets, and the timbers of her 
 docks rotting away into the sound, than to do busi- 
 
'You're the kind that cuss a man out when he ain't around to 
 defend himself." 
 
THE BOOMERS. 299 
 
 ness with such as you ! I'd rather see her last inhabi- 
 tant drop unburied on her splendid hills than to 
 depend for his funeral on a set of scoundrels and 
 blackguards. It may hurt her; but you and your 
 railway can go plumb to hell !" 
 
 He opened the door and backed out into the hall; 
 but, before they could recover from their surprise, 
 he once more confronted them. 
 
 "Pardon me !" he said, with something of his habit- 
 ual polish, so different from his recent explosion. 
 "A moment ago, I said you could all go to hell! 
 I'd rather you didn't. There's a bare chance I'll 
 go there, sometime, myself, and I don't want to meet 
 any of you. Go to some other place. Good-day!" 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 MUCH TO THE REFORMED KNAVe's DISTRESS. 
 
 BuRMAH Jones, sitting in pajamas at the window 
 of his apartment in Port Hatch, and thinking, heard 
 the boy who delivered the morning paper from 
 Seattle clap down the lid of the tin mail-box, and 
 drowsily wondered whether it was worth while to go 
 down and learn the latest news from the outside world. 
 Across Main Street the shutter from a window was 
 being removed by the elder Todd as if to make sure 
 that he would be the first to effect a sale that day. 
 In the balcony over the way the old widow was pains- 
 takingly dripping water upon the profusion of nas- 
 turtiums in the flower-box, and from the distance came 
 the dull swish of the street-sweeper as it cleared the 
 smooth pavement of refuse left by night prowlers. 
 The milkman had made his rounds and was return- 
 ing, singing to the accompaniment of empty, jostled 
 cans, and the clattering of his horses' hoofs. Bur- 
 mah gave a deep sigh of contentment, and thought of 
 his momentary weakness, of his fearful return, and 
 of the strange fact that neither Carleton, Sprague 
 nor Thornton had said anything at all of their 
 knowledge of one Burmah Jones, and that the 
 residents of Port Hatch had exhibited not the 
 slightest change toward him. He wondered what 
 new freak the Colonel would develop as the result of 
 his latest trip to Seattle, for he had learned on his 
 arrival that the Colonel had gone forth, jubilantly, 
 
 300 
 
THE BOOMERS. 801 
 
 and with a strange air of mystery, on the morning 
 that he, Burmah, had returned to "face the music." 
 Also, on the previous evening, Arabella had told him, 
 when he found opportunity to talk to her with the 
 quartet, Lester and Hubbard in the background, 
 that her father had received some news by mail that 
 had caused him to sing exuberantly in his cracked 
 voice, and to assure her, when he left, that the time 
 had come when he could build a marble opera-house. 
 Burmah yawned again, and decided, sleepily, that 
 he would get the morning paper, and so slipped on an 
 "awful" dressing-gown, and descended the stairs, his 
 bath-room slippers flapping on the bare steps with a 
 hollow sound. He took the paper from the box, and 
 climbed upward, and threw himself into the ham- 
 mock in his balcony, after making sure that no one 
 across the street could see him. He opened it 
 languidly, and then, with a grunt, lost his air of 
 luxury and sat up at the imminent risk of being 
 tumbled out. His eyes had fallen on the "scare 
 head" of the newspaper, which read : 
 
 "SEATTLE GETS RAILWAY" 
 
 "Board of Directors of A. &. O. definitely 
 
 "decide that this shall be the terminus." 
 
 "PORT HATCH IS ABANDONED." 
 
 ^'Magnates in conference at Hotel Jefferson conclude 
 
 that claims of city down the sound are not 
 
 sufficient to overcome the prestige of 
 
 great commercial capital." 
 
 Rapidly he scanned the column of news, double- 
 leaded and easy to read, in which it was stated that, 
 after a long conference with Colonel Hatch, the 
 
802 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Directors, who had arrived quietly and unheralded, 
 had finally decided that there would be no alteration 
 in the original plans that had led the Atlantic & 
 Oriental, true as the steel to the magnet, to Seattle ; 
 that Colonel Hatch had advanced claims for Port 
 Hatch with his customery eloquence; but that all 
 had been unavailing. Also, that what had taken 
 place in the meeting had been preserved as a profound 
 secret, and that nothing save the fact that the Colonel 
 had been closeted with the Board during the greater 
 part of the afternoon, and that the official announce- 
 ment was sent to the newspapers by the Chairman of 
 the Board in person, had been given out. The 
 statement could be accepted, the readers were 
 assured, as authoritative and irrevocable. 
 
 Over and again Burmah read this, and then turned 
 to the inside page where the leading editorial was 
 devoted to the aggrandizement of the winning city. 
 In it was reflected a note of pity for those who had 
 foolishly placed their confidence, and invested their 
 fortunes, in the "City Beautiful," which, however 
 worthy, could now become nothing more than an 
 abandoned mushroom, a "busted boom town." 
 
 "In that foreshadowed and inevitable catastrophe 
 to Port Hatch," the paper read, "one can not but 
 find it painful to read the disappointment of that 
 fine old gentleman. Colonel Alonzo Fairfax Hatch. 
 Dreamer that he is, there is none so small as to 
 believe that he was other than sincere, although 
 perhaps over-confident. He attempted to create a 
 city that would be peerless. He poured out his 
 private means to that end. He preached to its 
 citizens the high code of morality, Americanism, and 
 
THE BOOMERS. 303 
 
 loyalty to the community, and there has never been 
 a community established under more favorable 
 auspices than this. It was an ideal, founded on 
 hope. It was a city that one would like to believe 
 a perpetuity, something that must ever grow along 
 the lines laid out by its founder. So, in the midst 
 of our own rejoicing that we of Seattle are to be 
 benefited by this new and great line of communica- 
 tion, let us not forget to remember, with sorrow, 
 that our success means the death-knell of a great and 
 worthy dream." 
 
 Burmah's face was drawn and lined when he laid 
 the paper down, and got to his feet, as if by stand- 
 ing erect he hoped to clear his mind, and grasp the 
 portent of this blow. He stood there for a long 
 time, sorrowfully drinking to the dregs the cup of 
 disaster. A new-found cup this was, too, contain- 
 ing a draught that but a few months before would 
 have been carelessly emptied into the gutter as he 
 made his departure for other fields, jubilant over the 
 fact that he had won another coup. A few months 
 before he would have wasted scant commiseration on 
 those who had lost through his speciousness. But, 
 now, he looked across the street at the elder Todd, 
 who would know, before long, that everything he 
 had in the world, save actual cash, was valueless. 
 The widow woman with the sprinkler, who had in- 
 vested all she had in a few lots, would also have to 
 begin life over again, burdened by gray hairs and a 
 lean purse. There they were, all up and down the 
 length of the street, as far as he could see while 
 standing on the balcony, monuments of poor invest- 
 ments made on trust — a trust that he, Burmah Jones, 
 
304 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 had founded, and that he, Burmah Jones, was to see 
 fail. Every dollar he had ever made from Port 
 Hatch would have been thrown out there on the morn- 
 ing breeze, could he have given it all back to them. 
 The Colonel! And Arabella! They, too, would be 
 among the sufferers, and yet he, Burmah, had done 
 all he could to spare them this deplorable outcome. 
 It was the finish, and he, astute and far-sighted, 
 realized it better than did any other. 
 
 He wondered what could have taken place at the 
 conference; and then his eyes fell on another top- 
 head story in the newspaper that he had tossed on 
 the hammock, and this time he seized it almost 
 fiercely, held it to the light, and fairly raced through 
 the lines of reading matter. It was the story of the 
 arrival of the Board of Directors of the Atlantic 
 & Oriental and an interview with its Chairman, Mr. 
 Henry Thornton. It contained, also, interviews 
 with some other members of the Board, including 
 Mr. Carleton and a certain Mr. Sprague. Burmah 
 crumpled the paper fiercely in his hand, and dashed 
 it, a mere ball of waste, to the floor. 
 
 "They've got me !" he muttered, savagely. 
 "They've got me ! That's why the road didn't come 
 here." 
 
 Again he fell to pacing backward and forward in 
 the room, until, calming himself, he recovered the 
 paper, smoothed it out on the dresser from which he 
 ruthlessly swept the toilet articles to the floor, and 
 painstakingly read every line devoted to the railway, 
 seeking to discover whether any reference had been 
 made, by anyone, at any time, to himself. There 
 was not a line of type pertaining to him. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 305 
 
 "Burmah, old man, this won't do," he admonished 
 himself. "Pull together. Get back on your feet!" 
 Walking into his bath-room, he leaped under the 
 cold shower, rubbed himself briskly, and donned his 
 clothing while deliberately forcing his mind to resume 
 its normal steadiness. 
 
 "Now here's how it stands," he reasoned to him- 
 self, as if he had worked over every conclusion, and 
 eliminated the improbable. "It must be that 
 Thornton and Carleton and Sprague have climbed 
 up into the railway wagon, since the time I knew 
 them and got their money. Let me see. Um-m-h! 
 I hooked them in about three years apart, and, at 
 that time, I don't think they knew each other. Then 
 they get in and come together on this Ford settle- 
 ment, somehow, when old Henry Ford died, and 
 that son of his wouldn't follow after the old man's 
 example, but left his few hundred millions to be 
 handled by others. They say it's all Ford money 
 that controls the line, so that's where they landed." 
 
 Up to this point his deductions had been undeviat- 
 ingly true; but now he was reaching a point where 
 conjectures might go awry. 
 
 "They gumshoe it out West here, trying, like all 
 railway projectors do, to tear loose whatever con- 
 cessions they can from the biggest towns along the 
 route. They have heard so much about Port Hatch 
 through the advertising that they say to themselves, 
 * We'll just sneak up there, and look her over.' 
 That's when I see some of them. I don't know 
 they've climbed up the dollar ladder so far, and 
 think they've come to give me away, and I bolt. 
 They hear about me here in the town while they're 
 
306 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 browsing around, and so send for the Colonel to come 
 to Seattle to see them. He, poor old chap, loses 
 his nerve. Also, he don't know how to handle them. 
 Seattle looks better to them for the A. and O. than 
 Port Hatch, and the Lord only knows what induce- 
 ments Seattle made them. Maybe they didn't give 
 me away to the Colonel, at all! No man who is a 
 Director of a Transcontinental railway likes to tell 
 any one about the gold bricks he bought. He likes 
 to have folks think he's so all-fired smart that nobody 
 in the world could ever bunco him out of a cent. 
 It hurts his pride and his reputation to squeal. If 
 I had all the money that's been paid by big bankers 
 for worthless stuff, I'd build two or three railways 
 before breakfast every morning for a month. 
 Probably Carleton, Thornton and Sprague, none of 
 'em, said a word; but they got me, just the same, 
 as they look at it. Maybe, if it hadn't been for me, 
 they would have come here with the road, and the 
 Colonel, and Arabella and everyone would have really 
 been rich — if it hadn't been for the dirty crookedness 
 of me! Just me!" 
 
 He groaned and shook his fists at that Burmah 
 Jones of the past, who stood before his mental vision 
 like a foul apparition, and his clear eyes arraigned 
 it, line by line, as he anathematized it. He began 
 with his childhood, and chased history through the 
 devious years, cursing all those years because they 
 had led him to this point, where, when he wanted 
 to be honest and straightforward, that past held 
 out a sinister hand, and barred him from all that 
 was good, and condemned him to the retributive 
 chains of his reputation. He sat for an hour des- 
 
THE BOOMERS. 307 
 
 perately trying, from the fertility of his resources 
 and his splendid imagination, to conceive some 
 method of saving the situation, and in all that hour 
 there was at no time a thought of self. He could 
 see nothing ahead but failure for Port Hatch and 
 all concerned. Port Hatch's doom was sealed, and, 
 unless something could be done to mend its fallen 
 fortunes, it would inevitably be a veritable deserted 
 city. First of all, he must see the Colonel. 
 
 And so it was that he stood on the ornate cement 
 dock waiting for the steamer, when she appeared 
 around the curve of the bay and whistled her salute. 
 Others were there, also, drawn-faced men, who talked 
 quietly in groups, and occasionally came to him, 
 and asked him in voices that bravely tried to suppress 
 a tremor, whether the news conveyed in the morning 
 papers was true. Invariably he responded, cheer- 
 fully, that he hoped not, but could not tell until the 
 Colonel arrived. The shadow of ruin was already 
 darkening the skies above the "City Beautiful." It 
 seemed as if a large majority of the business men 
 of the town were there beside him when The Golden 
 Eagle threw out her gang-plank. The Colonel was 
 almost the only passenger, and it was as if already 
 he had come to be one of the sole residents of Port 
 Hatch, and that traffic had reversed itself. He came 
 down the gang-plank, looking as though he had aged 
 ten years in a day. His face was white and set, but 
 his eyes had the old brave look in them, the look of 
 the man who still dreams of victory to the very end 
 of the fight, and, dying, cheers. The anxious crowd 
 rushed upon him, all questioning at once, and he met 
 the issue fairly. 
 
308 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 "Well, Gentlemen," he said, holding up his long 
 white hand for silence, "I might as well answer you 
 all at once. You want to know if what you saw in 
 the Seattle morning papers is true. I'm right sorry 
 to say it is. The Atlantic and Oriental, conducted by 
 a pack of scoundrels, backed by the lazy son of a 
 dead multi-millionaire, and out after whatever loot 
 it can pick up on the trail, has at the last minute 
 decided to cut its own throat by running to Seattle 
 instead of to our city !" 
 
 Men stared at one another helplessly. Some 
 swore softly. Others grumbled loudly. A dozen 
 or so, who had not staked their all on the venture, 
 shrugged their shoulders, and walked away. A 
 voice at the edge of the crowd, which Burmah recog- 
 nized as that of a druggist to whom the Colonel had 
 presented a residence lot, shouted: 
 
 "Here we are ! Who wants to buy some nice 
 choice property in Port Hatch? Make me an offer! 
 Who wants it.? Name your own price. How much 
 am I offered.'^" 
 
 The crowd swayed, some of its members angrily, 
 others accepting the grim jest, and others eager to 
 get back to their homes or shops where, in seclusion, 
 they could think. One excited man crowded toward 
 the Colonel, and shrieked : 
 
 "You knew it all the time! You wanted our 
 money, you old hypocrite!" 
 
 The hurt look had not had time to cloud the 
 Colonel's eyes before at this complainant, like stone 
 from a catapult, sprang Burmah Jones. 
 
 "You lie!" he shouted, as he struck, and the man 
 
THE BOOMERS. 809 
 
 went toppling backward, and would have fallen had 
 not the crowd been too dense. 
 
 It was the Colonel who caught Burmah's arm, just 
 as he was about to strike again, and who restrained 
 him. 
 
 "Burmah! Burmah!" he entreated. "Don't! 
 This ain't the time for us to lose our temper." 
 
 Burmah shook him off and crowded forward, ges- 
 ticulating, and roaring at the top of his powerful 
 voice. 
 
 "Any man that says that Colonel Hatch tried to get 
 his money by dishonesty, is a liar! And any man 
 that stops aad thinks will know it! If anyone's 
 to be blamed, stick it on me. I'm the man you want 
 to talk to. Me ! Burmah Jones !" 
 
 Little Billy broke through the crowd, with Pick 
 at his heels, and Hubbard following, and together 
 they forced the Kansan away from the dock, angrily 
 denouncing anyone who had a harsh thought against 
 the Colonel. They fairly dragged him, resistant, 
 combative and furious, to the offices of the Port 
 Hatch Land Company, where they led him to his 
 private office, and induced him to sit down. He 
 dropped into the depths of the leather chair from 
 which he had made so many deals, and suddenly he 
 subsided as if utterly spent, his head drooped on his 
 breast, and his ruffled silk hat fell to the floor 
 unheeded. Disheveled, with his watch-chain broken 
 and dangling, and blood dripping from a cut on his 
 knuckles, he gasped for breath. 
 
 "Brandy! Get some brandy! Quick!" ordered 
 Little Billy, in an agony of apprehension; and Pick 
 ran out of the room to return a moment later with 
 
310 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 a flask. Little Billy, big and powerful, with the 
 solicitude of aifection and fear, put his arm behind 
 Burmah's back, and held the flask to his purple lips. 
 Burmah gulped the fiery draught, and sat up, at 
 first weakly, then resolutely. 
 
 "Thanks," he said, quietly, as he pulled a hand- 
 kerchief from his pocket, and tremblingly wiped the 
 stains from his hand. He frowned at his watch- 
 chain, and slipped the broken ends into his pocket, 
 absent-mindedty, then reached for the hat that 
 Hubbard had rescued from the floor. He ironed it 
 with his coat-sleeve, and put it on his head. 
 
 "Feeling all right now, Burmah?" inquired Pick; 
 and Burmah twisted his face into a wry semblance 
 of a smile. 
 
 "Fit as a fiddle," he said. And then: "I guess I 
 made a cussed a fool of myself; but, Boys, you know 
 what I said was true ! The Colonel — God bless him ! 
 — never turned a crooked card in his life. Send 
 anyone that's got a kick to me." There was a 
 certain grim resolution in his voice as he added: 
 "I'll tell 'em who's to blame !" 
 
 The Colonel came hurrying into the room, and 
 rushed to him. 
 
 "Burmah! Burmah!" he exclaimed, and his 
 voice was filled with boundless affection. 
 
 "Colonel!" cautioned Little Billy, plucking at the 
 Colonel's sleeve, and then, leaning over and whisper- 
 ing in the Colonel's ear: "Please don't bother him. 
 He's had something almost like a stroke. He'll be 
 all right in a little while." 
 
 But the Colonel came over and laid his arm across 
 
THE BOOMERS. 311 
 
 the bowed shoulders of Burmah Jones, and his eyes 
 were moist, and his voice soft, as he said : 
 
 "Don't mind it, old Friend ! We'll beat them all 
 yet! It's Port Hatch! We made it, Burmah, you 
 and I. She goes on if everything else in the world 
 stops. She's ours ! Ingratitude's the failing of 
 weak souls. Big ones forgive well-meant failures. 
 I don't mind what they said to me, down there on 
 the wharf. They don't know — ^they don't under- 
 stand ! But we do ! We keep right on going !" 
 
 And every word that he uttered burned as with 
 hot steel the man on whose shoulder his arm rested, 
 and whose back his hand affectionately patted as 
 if striving to comfort and encourage. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 AND ALL IS RUIN. ' 
 
 But, if it be the part of big souls to forgive 
 ingratitude, the Colonel's soul was to be tested to 
 the utmost, and to survive must consist of purest 
 worth. The slump was on. It came without attempt 
 at concealment. It was flagrant in its openness. 
 Conover and his partners were the first to move. 
 On the very day of the announcement that the rail- 
 way would not come to Port Hatch, these intelligent 
 dealers plastered the city with advertisements that 
 they would auction off what remained of their sub- 
 division to the highest bidder. Burmah, fighting 
 like an old wolf, wounded and backed against a 
 cliff, went to them, and protested. In vain he tried 
 to assure them that the city was not doomed to dis- 
 solution, that it had too much of a start, that it was 
 too well organized, and too well known to die in a 
 day; but his tongue had lost his old eloquence, his 
 brain its old magnetism. Too well they recognized 
 that he was fighting a losing fight. Too well he 
 knew that he, in their positions, would have done as 
 they were doing, and have followed his old motto 
 that "only a sucker stays by the sinking ship." The 
 sale, in the following week, netted them scarcely any- 
 thing, and the remaining lots were all bid in by none 
 other than Burmah Jones. He bought at a ridic- 
 ulously low price, paid for them with a shut jaw, 
 and said he hoped the firm had profited well from 
 "F?ort Hatch. Carrying his attitude of complacence 
 
 312 
 
THE BOOMERS. 818 
 
 still further, he invited them to the club, and cheer- 
 fully opened a bottle of wine as if celebrating the 
 consummation of a successful deal. 
 
 It was Conover who voiced what all of Port Hatch 
 believed. 
 
 "Jones," he said, "you are a good loser; but you 
 know that Port Hatch is done. Owls and bats will 
 be in its buildings within three months. We've got 
 no kick. We did well. We've made a neat profit, 
 and you're too wise to know that we didn't. Now, 
 what in the name of common-sense makes you stick 
 on here? You tried to bull the market here this 
 afternoon, and it didn't work. There weren't a 
 dozen bids outside of yours. In from six to eight 
 weeks' time you couldn't give away the lots you 
 bought this afternoon !" 
 
 Burmah vainly tried to assume an air of con- 
 fidence that did not in the least deceive them. They 
 knew, and he knew, that he was recklessly attempting 
 to fill with gas the balloon that had burst. 
 
 The exodus began within that same week. All 
 steamers carried away men who had found someone 
 foolish enough to make an offer on property, and 
 no steamer brought in a crowd of prospective pur- 
 chasers as it had in the halcyon days. No man 
 entered the offices to buy, but there were scores who 
 came, fretfully, to sell. Port Hatch was depopu- 
 lating itself in convulsive struggles, like a snake that 
 had used its bright and glittering skin to the utmost, 
 and was now shedding it for another. The drays 
 went loaded but one way, and that toward the water- 
 front. All came back empty. They and the cabs 
 alone profited by the exodus. Everyone seemed to 
 
314 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 have lost faith in Port Hatch, and to have aban- 
 doned hope for its future, save the Colonel, Arabella, 
 and the little group of faithful ones that constantly 
 visited Marquard Villa. 
 
 And, at last, even one of these defected, the cau- 
 tious Kirby, who, one night, two months after the 
 day of the announcement of doom, said hesitatingly 
 that he had concluded he would be compelled to seek 
 a larger field, and had selected Seattle as the best 
 place for his practise. He chose an opportune 
 moment when none of the other young men from 
 Chattanooga was present, and the Colonel, Burmah 
 and Arabella were sitting on the terrace, each striving 
 to comprehend the changes wrought by vicissitude. 
 
 "Going? You going, too, Kirby?" the Colonel 
 asked, with a little catch in his voice, as if he had 
 not expected this desertion. 
 
 "Yes, Sir," Kirby announced, without looking up. 
 "A young man has to look out for his best interests 
 as he sees them." 
 
 "That's true," replied the Colonel, thoughtfully; 
 "but — say — aren't you a little premature?" 
 
 Burmah, with his face in the shadows, grinned 
 satirically, but made no comment. 
 
 "Well, Sir, I don't think so," declared Kirby. 
 "In fact. Colonel, I can't see why anyone insists on 
 staying here, but perhaps those who do have reasons. 
 It's too bad. It's the most beautiful place I know 
 of." 
 
 "The most glorious in the world," the Colonel 
 answered, with some of his old-time fervency; 
 "destined, sooner or later, to be the greatest port 
 on the Pacific Coast. The city magnificent, Sir! 
 
THE BOOMERS. 315 
 
 The 'City Beautiful!' You are making a grave 
 error in leaving at this crucial moment." 
 
 Kirby looked at Arabella; but she did not deign 
 to voice a protest, beyond saying: 
 
 "We had thought you would stay, Kirby. But 
 everyone seems anxious to go, so I don't know why 
 you shouldn't." 
 
 "Oh, I'm not going for good," he hastened to 
 say. "You see, I can run up for a week end now 
 and then, so that I'll not lose track of you all." 
 
 But, to his dismay, she did not urge this point, 
 and again Burmah indulged in a sly grin, as he 
 stretched out his short legs, and reached for a 
 fresh cigar. The other members of the quartet 
 when they arrived were not so lenient. They called 
 him a "quitter," and a "turn-coat," and heaped 
 sarcastic remarks on his head until Arabella inter- 
 fered in Kirby's behalf. 
 
 "Let him go, if he wants to," she said, stoutly. 
 "I don't see why anyone should stay here if he 
 thinks he can do better somewhere else." 
 
 And so, on the following day, Kirby left, after 
 selling his lots to Tommy, who still insisted that 
 Port Hatch couldn't lose, and to Hubbard, who 
 invested all his savings with patient fortitude, then 
 continued with the drawings that ceaselessly grew. 
 
 Little Billy, faithful, and Pick, determined, dis- 
 cussed the case with Burmah, who advised them to 
 move slowly. 
 
 "One never can tell. Boys," he said, "what will 
 happen; not that I don't think a heap of you for 
 askin' me what to do. But, you see, if I told you 
 to buy, you might think I was prejudiced. Person- 
 
816 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 ally, although I don't want you to say anything 
 about it, I'd hold off for six months." 
 
 But he was secretly pleased at their independence 
 when he learned that they had sent home for money 
 and had invested it in the somewhat foolish attempt 
 to bull a market that refused to rise. He saw 
 the crumbling of the city daily under his eyes, 
 until it would have been possible to buy a lot 
 on Main Street with a fine "High Art" build- 
 ing, for less than the initial cost of the land, and 
 through it all he passed doggedly, fighting a losing 
 battle, stepping ever backward with stiff steps. At 
 first, he, too, had plunged and bought, hoping by 
 this example to stave off the dissolution, then recog- 
 nizing the hopelessness of such a course, had tied 
 his purse-strings with a hard knot against the inevi- 
 table rainy day of the end, and patiently waited for 
 the coup de grace. He was in a doubtful state, and 
 speculating more on the future, when Port Hatch 
 would finally be numbered among the deserted cities, 
 than on the immediate passing days. He was study- 
 ing the real-estate and financial news from other 
 cities, with the brave resolution that, when he left 
 Port Hatch, he would try to take the Colonel with 
 him, and start all over again, surreptitiously 
 advancing funds to the Colonel for a partnership; 
 for he knew that by no other course could the 
 Colonel be induced to accept anything. He did not 
 stop to consider the change in his own mental atti- 
 tude, nor could he have explained it any more than 
 he could have accounted for the alterations in the 
 tides that still beat, languidly, against the aban- 
 doned docks of the city. All he knew was that he had 
 
THE BOOMERS. 817 
 
 fought it out that day in Seattle, and had determined 
 never again to run from any issue, and never again 
 to evade the truth. There were times, now, when he 
 scorned himself for what he was inclined to accept as 
 a weakness; but, despite this scorn, no thought of 
 surrender came to him. At times, he considered, 
 desperately, a journey to New York, to try to make 
 peace with the Directors of the Atlantic & Oriental. 
 It was through no fear or selfishness that he did not 
 make the trip, because he would willingly have re- 
 turned his three old-time victims all the money they 
 had ever lost and more, had he believed such a 
 course would cause them to relent; but he was con- 
 vinced that their announcement was irrevocable, and 
 that, in all probability, the inducements offered by 
 Seattle were greater than any that Port Hatch could 
 give. He had tried to learn more definitely from 
 the Colonel exactly what had been the conversation 
 at the Board meeting, but found him extremely 
 reticent, or hot-tempered, whenever the subject was 
 broached, so finally dropped it. The fat was leaving 
 him, and baggy folds had come around his jowls, and 
 his ring could no longer be worn. His girth de- 
 creased, but he clung to his old clothes, from force 
 of that habit which had made him dread utter poverty 
 in those long days between coups when the whole 
 world was his to victimize, and he neither asked, nor 
 gave, quarter. 
 
 The decline of the Colonel was more pitiable, for 
 his blow was greater, inasmuch as he had never, for 
 an instant, doubted the advent of the railway, and 
 the continued prosperity of the city of which he 
 was so insanely proud. It required time for him 
 
318 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 to grasp the extent of the disaster, and then fell 
 regular weekly blows that hammered and battered 
 him beyond belief, these being occasioned by meet- 
 ings of the City Council, over which he presided 
 as Mayor, in the fine City Hall, which he had 
 donated. Inevitably, as these meetings came, one 
 or more members tendered their resignations, and 
 usually the resignations were either cynical, or jocose, 
 each word harpooning the Colonel like a bomb-lance. 
 Invariably the resignations were accepted, and the 
 Colonel suggested that some other member make a 
 resolution of thanks for "the most efficient services 
 of our esteemed fellow citizen. Mister So-and-so, as a 
 member of the City Council of Port Hatch, who is 
 compelled by business considerations to seek other 
 fields." 
 
 And still further to show that he cherished no 
 malice for all the unkindness shown, the Colonel 
 always paid to have these resolutions engrossed and 
 duly presented to the departing member. Tke 
 Colonel also invariably made a speech to the man 
 appointed to fill the vacancy in which he used the 
 words : 
 
 "It is no slight honor to become a member of a 
 body that directs the destinies of the most beautiful 
 city in the world, one that in time shall be among 
 the most prominent on the Pacific Coast, and which 
 will always appreciatively remember the services of 
 those who have been known as the city fathers." 
 
 It began to look as if Skaggs and his partner 
 would eventually become members of the Council, 
 merely because there would be no other men left in 
 the town to fill the vacancies. Even Burmah and 
 
THE BOOMERS. 319 
 
 the elder Todd had become city fathers, and received 
 their little speeches. Herr Schmidt had burst almost 
 beyond bounds with importance when he was ap- 
 pointed, and, strangely enough, used so much per- 
 sonal influence with his band that nearly all its mem- 
 bers stood steadfast. Another concert-trip was being 
 planned, which held out so much hope of income for 
 the organization, and the band played its nightly 
 concert in the Park stand with an audience consist- 
 ing of about two score persons, including Zo-Zo, 
 the animal-keeper. Burmah found some enjoyment 
 from tendering bets to Hubbard on how many less 
 auditors there would be at each concert, the grim 
 humor of which Hubbard, ever more distressed and 
 despondent, but persistently industrious, failed to 
 appreciate fully. 
 
 The grass was beginning to grow long on the 
 uncared-for lawns in front of deserted residences, 
 and the skeletons of unfinished buildings, on which 
 work had suddenly stopped that day of tragedy, 
 began to show effects of the weather. Main Street 
 lost its charm, and, but for an occasional exception, 
 the shop windows bore signs, "For Sale. Name 
 your own price." The Club was almost deserted, 
 and often Pick, vainly seeking news, sat there alone, 
 and wondered what had become of "the merry wights 
 of yester-eve." 
 
 The end seemed very close on that sleepy, peace- 
 ful evening when Lester, still unchanged in appear- 
 ance or manner, placidly strolled through the long, 
 deserted street up the hill and out to the palace 
 on the cliff. He seemed the only happy person in 
 Port Hatch. He astonished the only man he saw 
 
320 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 by whistling gaily, and this unfortunate, who had 
 not sufficient means to depart, promptly came out, 
 leaned over the fence, and watched him as long as 
 he was in sight. After Lester had disappeared, he 
 shook his head in commiseration, and decided that 
 the young man must have gone insane. Otherwise, 
 what in the world was there to whistle for? 
 
 Marquard Villa looked even finer than it had in 
 the spring months, and offered a brave contrast to 
 the other residences of the city, as if defiantly in- 
 sisting that there was no possibility of decline. Its 
 trees were heavy with foliage, its lawns like splendid 
 carpets, its fountains splashing, and its air fra- 
 grant with the odor of carnations. Lester smiled to 
 himself as he sauntered along the well-rolled gravel 
 walk toward the house, and thought that it was 
 extremely fortunate that the Colonel had this beauti- 
 ful home left clear of incumbrance. Then his face 
 sobered as it occurred to him that probably it would 
 be but a short time before the Colonel would have to 
 borrow money for its maintenance from some Seattle 
 millionaire wanting a country home. Lester had no 
 doubt that the Colonel would continue to borrow 
 up to the very day of ejection. It was a foregone 
 conclusion that Marquard Villa would be kept up 
 and improved, so long as the Colonel could find a 
 dollar for that purpose. 
 
 Lester's face was still clouded by this thought 
 when he was ushered into the hall-way by Uncle 
 Jeff, whose kindly old black face was exactly as it 
 had been on the day of his arrival. If all else failed, 
 he alone would be confident, with a child-like faith, 
 to the day of his death, that the Colonel would sooner 
 
THE BOOMERS. 821 
 
 or later prove to "dat cheap white trash what a 
 gemmun could do." 
 
 Lester had become too much of a familiar in the 
 household to require announcement, so Uncle Jeff, 
 after greeting him, said, in a matter-of-fact way : 
 
 "Missy Arabella, Sah, am out on de terrus. De 
 Kunnel am down to de Council meetin'. Dey ain't 
 nobody else heah, Sah, an' Ah is shoah glad you come^ 
 bekase Ah reckons Missy Arabella right lonesome like. 
 Right out dah, Sah !" 
 
 Lester advanced to the terrace with his usual cdre- 
 less, swinging stride, and his feet made no sound as 
 he walked over the profusion of rugs in which the 
 Colonel delighted, and to which Hubbard had always 
 objected. He paused for an instant, admiring her 
 as she sat looking out into the dusk that was so 
 rapidly gathering over the western ranges, and it 
 seemed to him that for the first time he observed 
 a drawn look in the face, a profile that had become 
 more clearly cut. He was almost by her side when 
 she became aware of his presence, and looked up 
 at him with a smile that was a trifle wan. 
 
 "You appear rather disconsolate, this evening,'' 
 he said, lightly, as if to rally her, and she looked 
 away from him toward the west. 
 
 "Yes," she answered, with her usual frankness, 
 "I am. I'm more than that: I'm down-right blue!" 
 
 For some reason, intuitive rather than deduced, 
 that he could not have expressed, he knew that this 
 was not the moment for frivolities, and so made no 
 reply as he seated himself at the other end of the 
 curved marble seat, twisted a cushion up behind his 
 back, and lighted a cigarette. Nor did she imme- 
 
322 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 diately speak again, but sat frowning off into the 
 distance for a full minute. She finally turned and 
 faced him. 
 
 "Why don't you say something?" she asked. "I 
 feel to-night as if I wanted someone to talk to me." 
 
 "What shall I say?" he asked, with a slight intona- 
 tion of raillery. "There is nothing to talk about 
 that I know of, except that to-day there was a 
 notice posted on the wharf that hereafter we are to 
 have but one regular boat per day, and that it will 
 call at noon." 
 
 She sighed softly, as if this had been an expected, 
 but dreaded, event. 
 
 "Does Father know it?" she asked. 
 
 "I don't think so." 
 
 She waited a moment before speaking, and then 
 said, in a voice of distress: 
 
 "Oh, I am so sorry! Father will — well — you 
 can't imagine how it hurts him — every time some- 
 thing of this kind happens." 
 
 "I do imagine," he responded, quietly. "One 
 must be blind not to discover that." 
 
 "He has failed, dreadfully, hasn't he?" she asked, 
 in a tone betraying her anxiety. 
 
 Quite slowly, as if with reluctance, he agreed; 
 and again, for a few minutes, they sat without 
 speech, each engrossed with thought. There was 
 something almost of despair in her voice when she 
 again turned to him, and shifted in her seat as if 
 wearied of looking out over the unchanging western 
 mountains that stood, inflexible and unfeeling, 
 against the sky-line, heedless of the misfortunes of 
 those who dwelt within their view. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 323 
 
 "Tell me," she said, as if longing for some word 
 of encouragement, "what is to be the end of all 
 this? I can talk to you more freely than to anyone 
 else, save Uncle Burmah, and of late he has become 
 so quiet, so — what shall I say? — so changed, that 
 I can get him to say nothing." 
 
 Lester smiled, with a show of scorn that he would 
 have concealed, had not the shadows been so heavy 
 as to render it obscure. 
 
 "I don't suppose he feels like saying much of any- 
 thing," he answered. "Why should he? He is the 
 only one I know of in Port Hatch that made and 
 kept his money." 
 
 "That is unkind of you!" she declared with hasty 
 firmness. "You have no right to say that. I 
 don't like it. It doesn't seem quite worthy of you, 
 because you can see, for yourself, that he is doing 
 the best he can, and that he, too, has suffered. He 
 shows it. At least, he hasn't deserted us, as nearly 
 the whole town has done." 
 
 Lester fought a desire to express his opinion of 
 Burmah, and then suddenly sat up and leaned aginst 
 the stone railing. The girl by his side had stated 
 a truth, for Burmah was still there. It certainly 
 did not seem that he had proven so mercenary as 
 Lester had suspected. Why had he stood stead- 
 fast, when it would have been better for his own 
 interest had he gone with the others? He found 
 himself puzzling over this, and at last relieved him- 
 self by saying : 
 
 "I beg pardon! I shouldn't have said anything 
 about him." 
 
 "I knew you would admit it," Arabella replied. 
 
824 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 "It isn't like you to say mean things. Do you know, 
 that's one reason why I admire you ! You have been 
 here ever since we have, and you are always the 
 same — only, do you know, I believe I would like 
 you more if you weren't so dreadfully aloof." 
 
 He was aware that she was studying him, and he 
 grew restless under her look, and tried to shift the 
 topic. 
 
 "You want to know what I think will be the end 
 of things?" he said. "Well, I'll tell you. The end 
 will be that there will be nothing here on this point 
 but the villa. There is nothing to make a city here, 
 for many years, now, save a railway. It could be 
 a great city with that, and it would have been beau- 
 tiful ; but it was only a dream on the Colonel's part, 
 and a — well — let us say — a hope, on the part of 
 Burmah Jones." 
 
 He could tell by her attitude that she was de- 
 spondent over his prediction, and guessed that she 
 had been hoping that he would say something 
 encouraging, when there was no encouragement to 
 be given in truth. He thought it best to make it 
 plain to her ; if she still had any lingering illusion, it 
 should be cleared away. 
 
 "Listen," he said, in a gentle voice, and bending 
 toward her so that he could see her face more 
 clearly as she sat there in the dusk. "Sometimes 
 it's kinder to be cruel. There's not a chance in the 
 world for Port Hatch without a railway. The rail- 
 way management has announced that it will go to 
 Seattle, ani that seems final. The Colonel is bUt 
 wasting his time, and what small money he has left, 
 
THE BOOMERS. 825 
 
 by remaining here. He should close Marquard, 
 and go before his last money is gone." 
 
 "Money!" she responded as he paused. "Money! 
 Why, do you know that I don't believe he has had a 
 dollar left for the past month? Do you know 
 that I suspect, although I can't find out, that his 
 bank-balance has been frequently renewed by Uncle 
 Burmah?" 
 
 He started, almost obstinately, as if loath to grant* 
 such a fantastic surmise any credence whatever. He 
 was still reluctant to believe that the man whom he 
 had conceived to be nothing but a cold-blooded 
 swindler had shown such a liberality. 
 
 "Why do you think that?" he demanded. 
 
 "Because," she answered, "twice Father has been 
 surprised to get his bank-book, and find balances 
 that he did not know existed. Each time he wrote 
 the bank, and each time they replied that all the in- 
 formation they had to give was that certain drafts 
 had been received, and deposited to Father's credit. 
 I asked Uncle Burmah, and he merely grunted in 
 the way he has when he doesn't want to say any- 
 thing. It looks mighty peculiar to me!" 
 
 Lester did not immediately reply. 
 
 "Don't you think it does?" she insisted, as if 
 seeking his opinion to fortify her own. 
 
 "Yes, it is — unusual," he admitted, thoughtfully. 
 "But that is all the more reason why you should 
 try to influence the Colonel to leave here before 
 he is too hopelessly involved." 
 
 "I know it," she answered, wearily. "But did 
 you ever know anyone to influence him in anything 
 
326 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 where his mind and heart were set, as they are on 
 Port Hatch? It can't be done!" 
 
 "Wouldn't he go if — if you were to leave?" 
 
 "Leave? If I were to leave?" 
 
 She half-arose from her seat, as if confused by 
 mingled surprise and indignation. 
 
 "Why, what on earth are you talking about? 
 Leave my father? I would no more think of leaving 
 him, even as a pretext to get him to go, than I 
 would think of murdering him in his sleep !" 
 
 She was not in the least aware that he was 
 strangely disturbed by her answer, and that he 
 had awaited her words with a sudden hungry 
 flame in his eyes. He bent his broad young shoul- 
 ders a trifle, and restrained a tremor in his voice 
 as he asked: 
 
 "But, if it were for your happiness, would you 
 not go?" 
 
 "No," she replied without hesitation; "I would 
 not." 
 
 "But suppose, also, that it was for his good?" 
 he questioned, eagerly. 
 
 She turned her face toward him, and met his 
 look squarely and with candor. 
 
 "There is a great deal of diiference between what 
 is for his good, and what is for his happiness. I 
 don't shut my eyes to the truth, you see; but I 
 know, better than anyone in the world does, that 
 his happiness, his everything, is here — ^bound up 
 in all this that you see — out there!" — she waved 
 her hand toward the distant mountains illumined 
 by the rising moon— "and in Port Hatch. It 
 means more to him than all else in the world — save 
 
THE BOOMERS. 327 
 
 his friends and me. You see, it was more than 
 success, because he loved it. It was more than 
 triumph, because it proved his assertion — you know 
 v/hat he used to say so often, about a gentleman 
 being able to make money if he wanted to. Its 
 failure means his humiliation. He wrote so often 
 about it to his old friends back home! He gloried 
 in it! It was named after him. He was the first 
 Mayor! He felt that he had created it. You 
 don't know, but I do, that he is dying by inches 
 — and dying, too, of a broken heart." 
 
 She paused, and her white fingers twisted them- 
 selves together as if her distress were bringing her 
 to tlie verge of a break-down. Lester fought an 
 impulse to seize them and to comfort her ; but did not 
 dare. 
 
 "Oh, you don't any of you understand, unless it's 
 Uncle Burmah — God bless him! You don't know 
 how my father walks backward and forward on the 
 terrace out here in the night, and over the lawn, 
 when he thinks I am asleep! Nor of how I have 
 heard him muttering in his dreams, and have tip- 
 toed to his door, and listened to all the grief that 
 is just fairly killing him! Don't you see that it 
 isn't Port Hatch alone that's dying? It's my 
 father who is dying with it ! When Port Hatch 
 dies, so will he! It's sure — it's positive!" 
 
 She started to her feet, then whirled, and all her 
 brave restraint was gone — all her fight to preserve 
 a cheerful front to the disaster that was over- 
 whelming her. She abruptly dropped back to the 
 cushions, threw her arms across the balustrade 
 above the edge of the cljff, buried her face in them, 
 
328 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 and burst into tears. Lester, the apparently cold 
 and phlegmatic, had strained forward, tensed in 
 every fiber, and shutting his jaws as if to repress 
 a cry as she talked, and his hands had gripped the 
 edge of the marble on which he sat as if to check 
 himself from making some serious mistake that 
 might forever cut him off from her life. But now, 
 overcome, he leaped to his feet, and across the 
 intervening space in the curve of the niche, and 
 threw himself on his knees beside her. 
 
 "Arabella! Arabella!" he exclaimed. "This can't 
 go on ! It mustn't ! It isn't the Colonel, nor you alone, 
 that is being crucified, but I as well. I can't stand 
 it to see you suffer. I won't ! I love you, Arabella. 
 I love you too much for that. Oh — I — " He seized 
 her arms, almost roughly, and lifted them from the 
 stone. He gathered them and her head into his 
 embrace, and stroked her hair as she sobbed on 
 his shoulder. He lifted himself to his feet, carry- 
 ing her with him, until they stood together; she 
 unresisting, and he holding her close as he might 
 have held a wounded child, tenderly, and with a 
 passionate desire to comfort. He could not speak, 
 although his thoughts leaped to a torrent of words, 
 for his throat was restricted, his lips dry, and his 
 heart pounding wildly with a great elation and 
 love. He could only bend over and kiss her hair, 
 sense rather than smell its intoxicating fragrance 
 that enveloped his face like a perfume, and hold 
 her with a reverence profound and overpowering. 
 All that he had wanted to tell her, for many months, 
 at last surged into words that he whispered into 
 her ears while she, as if tired of the struggle and 
 
THE BOOMERS. 329 
 
 her well-kept sorrows, rested quietly, save for the 
 timid, yet yearning, up-lift of her arms, which 
 crept around his neck, and clung to him as if to 
 some wondrous shield of refuge and comfort. 
 
 She drew away from him, after a time, and now 
 her hands held his face, and she studied it, and his 
 eyes, with a pathetic air of inquiry. The moon 
 had crept above the trees, benignant, wise and 
 tolerant. It beautified with soft shadows the stately 
 villa on the cliff. It made of the terrace, perched 
 high above the glittering sound, a balcony of love. 
 It rendered the ivy that she had nurtured until it 
 climbed upward along the facade, a marvelous 
 lace-work imbedded in mystic light. It enhanced 
 the tender warmth and timidity of her eyes; it 
 emphasized the wholesomeness of his face as he 
 met her inspection. They were suddenly incapable 
 of speech. They had passed beyond the possibility 
 of words to that marvelous place where souls are 
 bare, and must show clean to brave the test. 
 
 It was almost in a tone of wonder at the miracle 
 that she spoke, when at last she found voice. 
 
 "I know nothing of you," she said, barely above 
 a whisper, "save that I love you. You have told 
 me nothing of yourself, yet I trust you. I 4esire 
 nothing but you. I have known you only since I 
 came here, and yet I feel that I have kno^n you 
 always. You have said no word of love to me, 
 until to-night, and yet I have known, as if always, 
 that you loved me, and that you are strong." 
 
 And he, thrilled to ecstasy, too overcome to 
 reply, could but draw her more closely to him, and 
 pillow her head on his breast, 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE KNAVE SACRIFICES HIS ALL. 
 
 It was nearly midnight when Burmah Jones led 
 the way to the door of the Club, with the Colonel 
 lagging a step or two in the rear, took out his 
 key, opened the door, and stepped in. He paused 
 to look backward along the moon-flooded street that 
 was as quiet as if Death had taken all the inhabit- 
 ants of Port Hatch, and wafted them away, for- 
 ever, to some new land. There was but one light 
 visible, and Burmah, with a twinge of conscience, 
 identified it as the one that shone from above the 
 hardware store where the elder Todd had his abode, 
 and was at that moment doubtless walking the 
 floor, and suffering torments of distress and appre- 
 hension. The widow's place was dark, and the 
 vines that trailed from the flower-boxes over her 
 balcony appeared polished and motionless. From 
 the distance came the heavy, restless "woof" of one 
 of the lions in the Zoological Gardens, as it longed 
 for freedom and night wandering beneath the moon. 
 In a subdued monotone could be heard the sullen 
 lash of the waves against the wharves, beaches and 
 cliffs of Port Hatch. Gone were the voices of 
 those who laughed, or sang, when the night was 
 scarcely old, and gone were the sounds of music 
 bursting carelessly from some residence where a 
 jovial party had gathered for the evening. Port 
 Hatch was like a tomb. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 831 
 
 "Come on up, Colonel," Burmah said, as he threw 
 the switch inside the doorway, and flooded the 
 stairs with light. "It's come to a place where me 
 and you've got to have a talk." 
 
 The Colonel, after consulting his watch, meekly 
 followed, and they entered the club-rooms that Hub- 
 bard had decorated with such interest, and where, 
 but a few months before, there would have been at 
 this hour a convivial, prosperous crowd of men. 
 The steward, last remaining unit of a little force 
 that had dwindled away to the four corners of the 
 world, aroused himself sleepily, and came forward 
 to do their bidding. Burmah observed that the 
 man looked tired, and commented on the fact. 
 
 "I am Mister Jones," the steward said. "What 
 with being the only servant in the Club, Sir, and 
 doing all the janitor work, as well as what little 
 else there is to do, it gets monotonous." 
 
 "Well, suppose you get us something to drink, 
 something long and cool, and then go to bed," Bur- 
 mah suggested. "I'll turn out the lights when we 
 go." 
 
 "Thank you, Sir," said the steward, taking the 
 order and slipping noiselessly away to fill it. 
 
 Burmah and the Colonel settled into the com- 
 modious chairs, which had been provided by the 
 latter in the days of his affluence, and waited, each ab- 
 sorbed in thought. The Colonel drummed absently 
 on the table beside his chair, and Burmah leaned 
 far back, and stared at the dark beams above him, 
 at the paneled walls, and the massive, wrought-iron 
 lamp that swung from the ceiling by heavy chains, 
 Lester's contribution to the room. He said nothing 
 
332 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 until after the steward had bade them good-night, 
 and then looked keenly at the Colonel to discover 
 his mood, and spoke: 
 
 "Colonel," he said, "does it strike you that we 
 haven't sold a single lot since the day we knew that 
 Seattle was to get the road?" 
 
 "I didn't know it; but I reckon that must be 
 about so," the Colonel reluctantly admitted. 
 
 "And I guess you must also have figured that we 
 ain't goin' to sell any more, haven't you?" Bur- 
 mah asked. 
 
 The Colonel roused himself, and scowled at the 
 glass ^he held in his hand. 
 
 "Maybe we won't, now;" he said, "but they'll 
 sell some time, sure ! It's got to come ! Port Hatch 
 has got to be a city. Nothing can stop her." 
 
 Burmah tolerantly flipped an ash toward a tray, 
 and prepared himself for an argument. His native 
 tact and diplomacy were summoning themselves to 
 his desire. 
 
 "Quite right," he said, softly; "but, in the mean- 
 time, it strikes me we ought to get away from here, 
 and keep busy somewhere else." 
 
 The Colonel did not answer. Burmah surmised 
 that perhaps his listener was fearful lest he, also, 
 was going to desert. 
 
 "Not that I'll go if you won't," he said, to as- 
 suage any fear the Colonel might have; "but that, 
 if you'll go, I think we ought to. I'll take care 
 of them that's stuck here, so that they'll have a 
 chance to come out even, or ahead. You can leave 
 Uncle Jeff and his woman to look after the villa, 
 
THE BOOMERS. 888 
 
 and you and me'll go somewhere, and make some 
 money." 
 
 "Make money?" the Colonel repeated. "A gentle- 
 man can make money anywhere, Sir, if he makes 
 such a pursuit his ambition. But leave Port Hatch? 
 Why, say, Burmah!" 
 
 He leaned across the table, and fixed his eyes 
 on his companion, and raised his voice to an em- 
 phatic protest. 
 
 "I'd not leave Port Hatch to make a million some- 
 where else ! I'll not leave it, if I'm the last man left 
 here, and have to tend my own truck patch to get 
 turnips to eat ! If no one else in the world believes in 
 her, and loves her, I do, 'and I'm going to keep 
 on. Why, Burmah, this town's named after me. 
 The very name stands for sticking right through to 
 the finish. Hatch! Port Hatch! And dog-gone 
 me, Sir — you don't think I'd desert her just because 
 a lot of short-sighted, pusillanimous, yellow-souled 
 folks ran away at the sound of the first gun, do 
 you?" 
 
 With declamatory hands, intent brows and 
 vibrant voice, he went on with a tirade that lasted 
 for a full five minutes, betraying his irritation, as 
 well as the undercurrent of desperation that filled 
 his being, day and night ; and Burmah waited until, 
 exhausted, the Colonel stopped to drink. 
 
 "But, Colonel, I'm not askin' you to abandon 
 Port Hatch," he said, mildly. "All I'm askin' of 
 you is that we go to some place while there's a 
 little money to be had, and make some more money, 
 to take care of her until she comes back into her 
 own again. I've got some money left." 
 
334 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 The Colonel abruptly slipped his trembling hand 
 over, and laid it on Burmah's arm. His voice was 
 husky with feeling when he spoke. 
 
 "Burmah," he said, determinedly, "you know that 
 I haven't got to a point where I'd accept a dollar 
 for nothing from a friend. You are a friend! I 
 thank you, Sir, for your offer; but I couldn't, and 
 wouldn't, do that. And I couldn't leave here. I 
 think I'd die if I did. I'd think of her, back here 
 on the hill, alone, with the grass crawlin' in like 
 a slow thief in the night, to blanket her pavements 
 like a grave. I'd remember the flowers wiltin' away 
 around what had been homes, and turnin' their faces 
 up to the sky. Why, Burmah, every one of them, 
 every bird that makes its nest in our trees, would 
 talk to one another, and say, 'Hatch? Where's 
 Colonel Hatch.? Why don't he come back?' No, 
 Sir, I can't go!" 
 
 There was almost a wail in the Colonel's voice 
 as he closed, and Burmah saw that the man had 
 broken more, even, that he had appreciated. Swift 
 to change his arguments, he took a new tack. 
 
 "Well, Colonel, you know that I'm a mighty poor 
 business man, unless I have you to advise me. 
 S'pose I go away from here, and find some new busi- 
 ness, and write you for advice when I need it, and 
 send you your share of the money? How about 
 that?" 
 
 The Colonel shook his head, and smiled sadly. 
 
 "I couldn't do that," he declared, "much as I'd 
 like to ; because I'm too plagued busy here. I wish 
 for your sake, too, that I could, because, of course, 
 I admit, with due modesty, that I have made a 
 
THE BOOMERS. 335 
 
 great study of high finance. But you could do the 
 same! Any gentleman, if he but — " 
 
 "Oh, I know all that. Colonel," interrupted Bur- 
 mah, "but you owe me a start in life, you know. 
 I can't do nothin' without havin' you around. Now, 
 don't say no to me again until you've had time 
 to think it over. I'm in no hurry. Say next week. 
 How'U that do.f^ Then me and you could go some- 
 where, and get into some other deal, and make a 
 wad, and — why. Lord, Colonel! — maybe we'd get 
 enough to come back here and start old Port Hatch 
 ahead again just like wildfire in a prairies grass !" 
 
 The Colonel wavered for an instant, and seemed 
 again on the verge of refusing; but Burmah pre- 
 vented him from doing so. In his own mind, he 
 had the idea of enlisting all the pressure that could 
 be brought to bear by Arabella, Little Billy, Hub- 
 bard, Tommy and Pick, to gain his purpose, wildly 
 philanthropic as it was. Lest the Colonel make his 
 decision irrevocable, he shifted the conversation to 
 marble opera-houses and new animals, and a dozen 
 other trivial topics, then almost shoved the Colonel 
 out of the door, and bade him good-night. He 
 watched him out of sight, after which, with a hope- 
 less shake of his head, he returned upstairs to the 
 Club to think, as he had thought thousands of 
 times in the preceding months, if there were not 
 some way out of the whole disaster by which he 
 could compel the Colonel to make a little profit. 
 
 The club-rooms were so still that the silence 
 would have been oppressive to one of weak nerves; 
 but he was unmindful. He walked to the side- 
 board, and made another drink for himself, fumbled 
 
336 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 around until he found a cigar that suited him, 
 punctiliously signed a tag, and returned to his seat. 
 The glass was poised in his hand, when he heard a 
 noise below, the sharp grating of a key, the open- 
 ing of the hall-door, and steps bounding up the 
 stairs. He turned with a smile on his face, expect- 
 ing to see Little Billy, or Pick, and then the smile 
 died away, and gave place to a cold, indifferent 
 look: for Lester, grave, intent and staring, stood 
 in the arched way. 
 
 "Well, Mister Jones," he said, scarcely concealing 
 the sneer in his voice, "you seem to have the Club 
 to yourself. Strike you as rather lonely?" 
 
 "Not until you came," affably retorted Burmah, 
 "But I suppose bad company's better than none, 
 after all." 
 
 "Thanks !" grinned Lester, amused in spite of 
 himself. "I understand, from that, you're glad 
 I'm here." 
 
 "Not at all," replied Burmah, lighting his cigar, 
 and apparently at his ease. "I'm only glad that 
 you didn't come sooner; because I'm just about 
 ready to go home." 
 
 Lester smiled sardonically, and deliberately took 
 the seat the Colonel had vacated, while Burmah sat 
 as motionless as an image, striving to appear un- 
 aware of Lester's presence. 
 
 "I'd rather you didn't go until I've had a talk 
 with you," Lester said, lighting a cigar for himself, 
 and talking between puffs. 
 
 "Fire away then," invited Burmah, still motion- 
 less. 
 
 "I suppose," said Lester, with the same sarcastic 
 
THE BOOMERS. 337 
 
 affability, "that I'm the only man in Port Hatch 
 that was next to you." 
 
 "I rather think that's true," replied Burmah, 
 entirely without heat. 
 
 "And I rather think, also, that you're the 
 only man that had anything to do with Port Hatch, 
 who saved anything out of it." 
 
 "Right ag'c n!" declared Burmah. He turned his 
 head until he faced Lester, and looked at him with 
 his keen eyes. "Do you know, Lester," he said, 
 "that I sort of like you because you're so devil- 
 ish smart and impertinent! Not that I want to, 
 (J J. that I don't want to, but just because I do." 
 
 Their eyes fought a duel for a full quarter-minute, 
 but neither gave in. 
 
 "You think I'm a crook, and a swindler, don't 
 you, Lester.?" Burmah asked. 
 
 "Yes," fearlessly replied the younger man; "I 
 do." 
 
 Burmah did not appear in the least disturbed; 
 rather, he seemed suddenly thoughtful, and as an 
 evidence began chewing his cigar in the old vigor- 
 ous way. 
 
 "I sort of like you for that, too — for bein' un- 
 afraid to say what you think," he said, as if to 
 himself; and, for some reason that he could not in 
 the least define, Lester, strong, and self-confident 
 as he was, felt that he had come unexpectedly into 
 contact with a most masterful man, who might after 
 all prove his superior. The knowledge was disturb- 
 ing. The egotism of youth accepts mental buffets 
 reluctantly. He was more than ever convinced that 
 he had underestimated the adventurer, when Bur- 
 
338 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 mah suddenly whirled in his chair, threw his cigar 
 into the tray, faced him with eyes that were steely 
 in their clarity, and spoke. 
 
 "I also want to say that you're damned impudent, 
 and young, and that I'm goin' to talk to you about 
 somethin' that you may remember, sometime, and 
 that'll make you a little more charitable. The heads of 
 some men could be improved by pullin' and stretchin', 
 or shapin' them. What yours needs is broadenin'. 
 It's too narrow. Sit down! Don't get excited! I 
 wouldn't talk if I wanted to fight. I've shot men 
 for less than you've said to me. There's no reason 
 why I should talk to you, Lester, except that I like 
 you, after a fashion." 
 
 Lester, who had started to his feet with an angry 
 scowl, dropped back into the chair, and glared at 
 Burmah, wondering what else of a humiliating nature 
 this strange fat man would have to say; and Bur- 
 mah, quietly relaxing, put the tips of his fat fingers 
 together, and talked as if to the lamp suspended 
 above, the soft rays of which fell downward over his 
 sparsely coated, gray head. It was then that Lester, 
 as if recovering from blindness, discovered some- 
 thing in its shape, a suggestion of terrific power, 
 a definite air of prodigious strength, which he had 
 not hitherto observed. 
 
 "My father," said Burmah, "was a turfer. I 
 don't guess you know what that is. It's a man who 
 took up land forty or fifty years ago in the West, 
 and was so devilish poor that he had to make a hole 
 in the ground, and cover it with turf, like the animals 
 do, to keep himself sheltered from blizzards and 
 rain. I was born in the bottom of the wagon that 
 
THE BOOMERS. 339 
 
 he drove to Kansas from southern Illinois. My 
 mother died when I was eight years old, and all the 
 education I ever had was what she taught me, as 
 best she could, there in that sod-house. Pop and 
 I buried her out back, and it was winter, and I cried 
 because I was afraid she'd be cold out there under 
 the snow." 
 
 He stopped for a moment, but his voice was as 
 level as ever without emotion when he continued. 
 
 "There was a fight over the survey and my father 
 and four others tried to keep their land, even when 
 a Sheriff's posse of fifty men tried to put 'em off. 
 There was a lot of shootin'. The rifles banged in 
 our turf-house till it was full of smoke, and Pop 
 told me to lie down on the floor where the air was 
 better. By-and-bye, one, then three others, were 
 layin' there beside me! but they weren't there for 
 air. They had no more need for it. I think Pop 
 was the last on his feet, loadin', aimin', and firin'. 
 Just that, except when he missed, and swore because 
 the ammunition was runnin' out. Then, all of a 
 sudden, my father reeled around the room a minute 
 with his hands held out, and then came to his hands 
 and knees, and, when I screamed to him, crawled 
 quite slowly over till he got his arms around me. 
 After a while they found us that way; but Pop was 
 dead, and I was cryin' a little, and huggin' him, 
 and talkin' to him, and beggin' him to answer — for 
 I loved him. He didn't though. When the Sheriff 
 opened the door, I asked him to help me. And the 
 Sheriff' stood there, and the doorway was filled with 
 heads. I could see because the smoke had cleared 
 some, and the Sheriff said, 'Well, I'll be damned l' 
 
340 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 That was all. They had the land — that is, all ex- 
 cept six pieces of it, about three by seven each, that 
 my mother, my father, and the four others held, 
 and stiU hold." 
 
 Lester, who had gradually leaned forward, breath- 
 less, gave a subdued exclamation; but Burmah did 
 not heed it. 
 
 "I was sent to a poor-house. The superintendent 
 was a brute. I always promised that, when I grew 
 up, I'd kill him; but I didn't. He beat me to it 
 by dyin'. Pneumonia, it was, and he croaked. The 
 supervisors bound me out to a rancher, and he ham- 
 mered it into me that there was nothin' in the world 
 worth while but money; that no human bein' was 
 worth more than could be got out of his hide ; that a 
 man who had any sympathy for anything, or looked 
 for anything, but the almighty dollar, was a sucker. 
 So he helped educate me that way, not in books, 
 until I got big enough to run away." 
 
 He chuckled a little as if at some recollection, 
 and, still without looking at Lester, proceeded. 
 
 "I couldn't do it now^ but I got to be a pretty 
 fair horse-wrangler, and I was quick with my hands, 
 and wasn't afraid; so, after a while, the cook of 
 our outfit took an interest in me, and taught me 
 how to work the three cards and the shells, just for 
 the fun of it. When I got paid off, and had learned 
 to drink two men's share of rotten booze, and went 
 broke, I remembered what the cook had taught me, 
 and it seemed a heap easier than climbin' on top 
 of a thousand pound of livin', fightin', strikin'j 
 bitin', buckin' broncho. I didn't have anything 
 in the way of morals, or conscience, or fear. A bad 
 
THE BOOMERS. 841 
 
 combination, Mister Lester! Bad! There was no 
 friend to tell me any better. The only ones I had 
 were the saloon- and gamblin'-house-keepers. The 
 only enemies I had were the jailers, and some of 
 them weren't so rotten, either. But after a while 
 I drifted East, and saw that there were bigger games, 
 and I got into 'em. Then I found out, and was 
 surprised, that there was ways of gettin' the money 
 without goin' to jail, and I didn't like jails, nohow. 
 I had a dangerous gift. I don't quite know what it 
 was; but I could talk to a man, and tell him I was 
 goin' to skin him, and laugh in his face, and get 
 his money. Lots of 'em liked me. I've made honest 
 money, and I got so I liked honest money better. 
 But I didn't stop, when luck played against me, to 
 make the other kind. And I studied a lot, too, tryin' 
 to get so I could talk to the big fish without ex- 
 posin' my ignorance. I've made some big deals that 
 were fair, and some — just some — ^that wasn't." 
 
 He turned again, and pulled his chair around 
 until he faced Lester, and now he emphasized his 
 words with one hand striki^ig the other, and from 
 the shadow cast by the lamp's base, and the black 
 wainscoated walls, against which background his 
 head appeared firm and strong, his eyes seemed to 
 shine with the intensity of his mind. 
 
 "Lester, there were ten years of my life when, if 
 any man had come to me, and been half-way decent, 
 and encouraged me to do the right thing only, I'd 
 have done it, and gone to hell for him if I had to ! It's 
 true, so help me God! You came in here, and 
 sneered at an old, gray-headed, tired crook; but 
 you never put your hand on his shoulder, and said, 
 
342 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 *01d chap! It ain't the right road to travel. I'll 
 help jou along another.' Not you, because you're 
 young, and ignorant, and don't see the other side. 
 You condemn 'em for their acts, and don't try to 
 help 'em for their future. Why, Boy, for that's all 
 you are — they're all around you — men who never 
 had a chance! men who don't know! men who like 
 to do the right thing, but can't find the way ! You've 
 sneered at me. It ain't your fault, but I'm better 
 than you, a whole lot! Because I've helped some 
 of the wrong ones to turn right ! I've made money, 
 lots of it, and 'most always I've given it away, crook 
 that I am, no preacher, no missionary, no humani- 
 tarian — just a man who was strugglin' along in the 
 only way he knew, crooked if need be and without con- 
 science, but honest if it didn't cost the game. Crook 
 that I was, I'm better than you, who probably was 
 never tried out, and probably never will be, because 
 I've helped a few of 'em when help was needed." 
 
 Strangely enough, Lester had a feeling that he 
 had been petty and mean, and was now confronted 
 with the truth. He fought against, and yielded to, 
 an unaccountable admiration assailing his mind for 
 this man whose past was, confessedly, devious. 
 
 Burmah sighed, arose, walked out to the bar, 
 brought back another long glass of some light drink, 
 and readjusted his chair. 
 
 "Well?" questioned Lester, as if there had been 
 but a slight pause in the conversation. 
 
 "Well, what.?" asked Burmah without looking at 
 him. 
 
 "What else.?" 
 
 "Nothin', only this : You're young ; I'm old. I've 
 
THE BOOMERS. 343 
 
 told you all this so that you'll stop and think, 
 whether you want to or not, before you condemn 
 a man without givin' him a chance. I've told it 
 to you so's you'll think it over, and see if it isn't 
 a heap better to have an ounce of charity than a 
 pound of self-righteousness." He got up from his 
 seat, and stood in front of Lester, and shook his 
 finger at him. 
 
 "Look here ! You don't like me ! You were 
 smart enough to size me up! But I liked you just 
 the same, and do like you, and am goin' to tell 
 you somethin'. I started in on this game of Port 
 Hatch to get what I could and get away. I got 
 to know the Colonel, and his daughter, and the boys 
 from Chattanooga, and Hubbard ; and I was hungry 
 — yes, Sir — hungry to have them keep on likin' me. 
 They all did. They believed in me! They trusted 
 me! Old Todd did, too. And I'll swear to you 
 that I've never taken a crooked cent from any of 
 'em since the town started, and that, if I could do it, 
 I'd give 'em every dollar I've got! I'd give all 
 I've got, and half the rest of my life chucked into the 
 pot, if I could undo all I've ever done, and be just 
 what they are, folks with clean lives behind 'em. 
 Folks that ain't ashamed of anjrthing they've ever 
 done! All my life I've played for a pot of gold, 
 and won to find it counterfeit. The real gold in 
 life, the kind that's not coined in mints, the gold of 
 self-respect, I let slip by, and now, when it's late 
 — so late — I know ! That's where I stand !" 
 
 He banged his clenched fist on the table, and stared 
 defiance at Lester, as if challenging him to doubt 
 the assertion. And Lester, looking at him, believed 
 
344 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 it. A strange and dazzling temptation came to him, 
 overpowered him, and made him stand up before 
 Burmah, and look squarely down into the little 
 giant's eyes. 
 
 "How far," he almost whispered, " how far would 
 you go to prove this?" 
 
 "To the limit!" came the explosive response. 
 
 "What would you do if I came to you and said: 
 'Mr. Jones, I'll show you that the Atlantic and 
 Oriental Railway will come to Port Hatch?' What 
 would you do, I say?" 
 
 For a long time, Burmah looked up at him, and 
 then said, with a hoarse earnestness: 
 
 "You make me believe that, and I'll take every 
 dollar I've got in the banks, and buy back Port 
 Hatch land on a busted market, and buy it back 
 in the names of Colonel Hatch and his daughter! 
 You make me believe that, and I'll make them, and 
 Todd, and every one of the boys, and all who have 
 stuck here by the game, rich ! — rich, I tell you !" 
 
 "But what of you, Burmah Jones?" Lester asked, 
 in that same enthralled, curious whisper, which 
 echoed hollowly around the empty club-room in which 
 they stood. 
 
 Burmah turned from him with a short, harsh 
 laugh. He walked slowly to the other side of the 
 table, then faced Lester with both hands outspread, 
 palms upward, as if already he had emptied and 
 cleansed them of pelf. 
 
 "What does that matter?" he asked. "What am 
 I? Nothing! I can go ahead on the plan I laid 
 out for myself just about three months ago. What 
 that is, don't matter to you. There are all sorts 
 
THE BOOMERS. 345 
 
 of things a man like me can do. I can go back to 
 New York, and peddle gold bricks if I have to, 
 until the prison furnishes me a home. I can go 
 away, anyhow, if Port Hatch can make good, knowin' 
 that back out here in this corner of the world is 
 one little set of people — good people — honest ones, 
 who believe in me, and love me, and would grieve 
 if they heard that I had gone ! That alone, Lester, 
 would make me richer than I've ever been! By 
 God, it would!" 
 
 Lester came to the table, and leaned over on his 
 knuckles, and bent his head beneath the old wr ought- 
 iron lamp, and thrust his jaw forward, and looked 
 the emphatic, Napoleonic little fat man straight in 
 the eyes. 
 
 "Do you know why the railway didn't come here.?" 
 he asked, cutting his words off with distinct preci- 
 sion. 
 
 Burmah's eyes opened wider, as if with long-spent 
 curiosity, and he said : 
 
 "No. Do you.? If you do, tell me." 
 
 "Because on that Board of Directors were three 
 men that you had practically swindled out of thou- 
 sands of dollars, years ago ! Because when the poor 
 old Colonel, harassed by their demands, said he 
 wanted to consult you, and mentioned your name, 
 they swore they would have nothing to do with you, 
 or anything with which you were concerned. And 
 he, brave, loyal, lovable old man that he is, turned 
 down their proposition, defied them, cursed them, 
 knowing when he did it that he was breaking him- 
 self — yes, breaking himself and the town — in your 
 defense !" 
 
346 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Burmali lifted trembling hands before bim, as if 
 to shield himself from the lash of Lester's words, 
 and staggered back, slowly, step by step, his feet 
 dragging over the carpet, until he struck a chair. 
 It toppled, wavered, and with a crash fell on the 
 hard, polished floor beyond the edge of the rug. 
 For an instant he paused, then reeled back against 
 the wall as if for support. His legs appeared to 
 tremble beneath him, and he threw a hand up and 
 clung to the plate rail to support himself, gasped, 
 reached up, and caught his collar with the other 
 hand, and with a mighty wrench tore it open, cravat 
 and all, from his throat. The purple died from 
 his face to be succeeded by a ghastly pallor, and 
 he suddenly lunged forward, with both hands shak- 
 ing in front of him, as if appealing to Lester for 
 some word of mercy. 
 
 "Lester — Lester — " he stammered in a harsh, dry 
 whisper — "are you sure.^ How do you know.^^ Don't 
 pile it on! The Colonel — the Colonel was whipped 
 through me? Tell me it isn't true. Boy! Tell me 
 you're only bluffin' me — that I'm not the one to 
 blame !" 
 
 He came to the edge of the table, and bent for- 
 ward to study his companion's face for what seemed 
 a long, long time. And at last, as if he had read 
 the truth, he fell weakly back into a chair. Lester 
 pitied him then, and, after one instant's hesita- 
 tion, rushed to his side, and bent over him. He 
 caught the glass from the table, and held it toward 
 him; but Burmah brushed it away. He regretted 
 that he had told Burmah what he had learned, for 
 he had not realized that this strange, immobile ad- 
 
THE BOOMERS. 347 
 
 venturer was a man living behind a masque ; that back 
 of his habitual calmness was a tempestuous spirit and 
 that, crook as he had been, he had poured out idol- 
 atry at the shrine of the Colonel and those he loved. 
 He had not understood that this wandering cynic 
 had come to regard those faithful ones as children 
 whom he was bound to protect, and that his one 
 source of comfort had been that he was not respon- 
 sible for the final blow, which spelt ruin for them 
 all. 
 
 Slowly Burmah recovered, and sat with brooding 
 eyes, as Lester, giving him time, walked backward 
 and forward in the room. Then the younger man 
 paused in front of the older, and put a hand on his 
 shoulder. 
 
 "Listen," he said. "I think I know a way by 
 which it can be done. I think I know an influence 
 that may yet bring that road here — to Port Hatch. 
 You said you'd buy the land and buildings back, 
 if you thought that were so, and put them in their 
 names. How much money have you got?" 
 
 Burmah was active again, the old fire in his eyes, 
 the old grip of himself returning. He gathered 
 his forces as if for his last battle, pitifully fight- 
 ing to clarify his brain, and, when he lifted his 
 head, he quite steadily answered: 
 
 "Almost three hundred thousand dollars, all in 
 cash, all available." 
 
 He got to his feet, seemed to further steady him- 
 self, and without a single note of excitement in his 
 voice said: 
 
 "You show me where there's a chance, a gambling 
 chance, and I'll put in every dollar of it !" 
 
348 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 "I can show you the chance," asserted Lester, 
 overawed by the man's nerve and fidelity, and com- 
 pelled to pay him respect. "I can convince you 
 there is a chance." 
 
 "Then," said Burmah, the calculating business 
 man, the general of finance once more, "we'll have 
 to move fast. You don't trust me; but I do you. 
 I can't do it alone, because it would take too much 
 time and attract attention, so you've got to take 
 one hundred thousand of that money, and go out 
 and buy. Buy in the name of the Colonel. Buy 
 everything that can be had. We must buy the town 
 back ! Buy it back for them. I want to do some- 
 thing for Todd and Schmidt — and for the old widow 
 who runs the store. And for Hubbard, and the boys. 
 Leave that to me." 
 
 He stepped vigorously before Lester, and spoke 
 in his old, imperious voice. 
 
 "Now, it's up to you — up to you, I say, to show 
 me how you think it can be donel" 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 BEFORE SAYING FAREWELL. 
 
 It was the candid opinion of Little Billy that 
 everyone in Port Hatch had gone a little mad, 
 and in a grumbling, rumbling voice, he expressed 
 his conclusions to Pick, who sat on the end of a 
 paste-daubed table, and grinned. 
 
 "In the first place, I found out to-day that Ara- 
 bella has got herself engaged to Lester. She ac- 
 cepts him, and will doubtless marry him, because 
 she does whatever she makes up her mind to do, 
 and turns down all the rest of us that went to 
 school with her, and pulled her pigtail at parties, 
 and fought for her. Who is he? I don't know; 
 you don't know; she doesn't know. He tells her not 
 to worry about his ability to support her in a 
 modest way, although he is afraid he'll have to go 
 to work to patch out his allowance. That shows 
 that he's mad, because he's never been out of Port 
 Hatch since we came here, and the hardest work 
 any of us know of his doing is to bait his own fish- 
 hooks, and mix his own drinks. So Arabella's mad, 
 or she wouldn't have accepted him. There's another 
 proof that Lester's gone dippy, because the first 
 thing he does after getting himself engaged is to 
 announce that he expects to leave, within a few days, 
 for a month's absence. The Colonel's mad because 
 he suspects that Burmah wants to quit him, and all 
 the rest of us, and desert Port Hatch. And Bur- 
 mah's got some new quirk in his noodle, because 
 he's been shut up in his room for two days, work- 
 
 349 
 
350 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 ing over something, and walking up and down the 
 floor, and whistling. What do you think of that? 
 Whistling! Himl" 
 
 Pick gravely agreed with Little Billy that they 
 and Tommy were doubtless the only sane persons 
 in what was left of the town. And, if there was any 
 doubt of Burmah's lunacy, they were to be con- 
 vinced before they were through talking by the ap- 
 pearance of that gentleman in person, walking 
 briskly, with hat well down on the back of his head, 
 and a mere rag of a cigar protruding from between 
 his lips. In his hand he carried a sheet of paper. 
 
 "Hello, Boys !" he said by way of greeting. "You 
 don't seem very busy. Well, I'll try to find some- 
 thin' for you to do pretty all-fired soon. We're 
 goln' to hit some high spots mighty quick now." 
 
 He seated himself at the table, and laid his sheet 
 of paper before him, and they saw that it was covered 
 over with his minute handwriting, with many pain- 
 ful erasures and alterations, betokening much 
 thought and care in its preparation. 
 
 "Now, pay attention," he said, "because I may 
 leave for Seattle to-day, or to-morrow at the latest, 
 and I won't have a whole lot of time to talk to 
 you before I go. I want you two boys to go over 
 this, and fix up the grammar and the spellin', so's 
 I won't make a monkey of myself when I send it 
 out. Then I want about fifteen hundred circular 
 letters made out of it. It'll be your job to fill in 
 the realty lot numbers there — where you'll see a 
 blank. Fill 'em in with pen and ink. Then mail 
 one to each man that's pulled out of Port Hatch, 
 and left his address behind. Of course, all of 'em 
 
THE BOOMERS. 851 
 
 have. The postmaster'll tend to that part of it. 
 Now, here's the next important thing. I don't want 
 the Colonel, or Arabella, under no circumstances, 
 to get wise to this. They ain't to know that these 
 letters are bein' sent out, because the Colonel would 
 get right in with both feet, and tip the whole kettle 
 of fish into the ashes. Bring me up the proofs." 
 
 He got to his feet, and hurried back to his rooms 
 with all his former zest, as if time were of the 
 utmost importance, and they took the paper between 
 them and read it with gasps and exclamations. They 
 made the few necessary corrections, and then read 
 it over again, aloud, and questioned more than ever 
 whether Burmah were still quite sane. It read: 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 You are the owner of Lot Plat 
 
 as filed in the office of the Registrar 
 
 of Port Hatch. You have it listed with the 
 Port Hatch Land Company for sale at 
 
 I am in receipt of information that 
 leads me to believe there is a strong prob- 
 ability that we shall be able, despite its 
 announcements to the contrary, to induce 
 the Atlantic & Oriental Railway to make 
 this city its terminus. I have not permis- 
 sion to give the sources of my information, 
 but can assure you that I believe them 
 trustworthy, and entitled to the fullest 
 credence. Indeed, so firm are my own con- 
 victions on the subject, that / frankly 
 advise you not to sell. If, however, you 
 
352 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 still desire to dispose of your property 
 at the ridiculously low price offered, 
 Colonel Alonzo Fairfax Hatch will pay you 
 that sum in cash on receipt of deeds trans- 
 ferring the property jointly to him and his 
 daughter, Miss Arabella Hatch. This offer 
 stands for thirty days from date, but inas- 
 much as the number of deals may prove 
 so many as to tax the Colonel's resources 
 (should there be many foolish enough to 
 close out), you are respectfully requested 
 to give us an immediate answer. Address 
 or see me at the Company's offices in 
 Seattle. 
 
 Again urgently advising you to keep 
 your property and to withdraw it from the 
 market, and renewing the assurance of my 
 firm belief that we shall eventually get the 
 railway, I am. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 BuRMAH Jones. 
 
 Little Billy threw the sheet on the table with a 
 jeer of contempt. 
 
 "Now, what in the deuce will anybody think who 
 gets that?" he demanded. 
 
 "That the Colonel's gone off his trolley, and that 
 Burmah is trying to boost the town again," grinned 
 Pick. 
 
 "But the funny part of it to me is that it looks 
 as if Burmah means business," insisted Little Billy. 
 "And, say, that isn't all! Do you know that the 
 Colonel's flat busted, and has been for two or three 
 
THE BOOMERS. 8S8 
 
 mbhtlis ? Why, he hasn't got a cent ! He's either 
 got hold of some money, or else Burmah's putting 
 it up for him." 
 
 Pick slapped the paper with his hand, and ex- 
 pressed his opinion. 
 
 "The Colonel doesn't know a thing about it, and 
 neither does Arabella. That's why Burmah was so 
 femphatic about it's being kept a secret. Burmah's 
 money is doing it, and by having the deeds made 
 jointly he's fixing it up so that the Colonel can't 
 squander it all over again. The Colonel can't ever 
 dispose of any of it without her consent." 
 
 He carried the copy out to the printer to be set 
 up, and, when he returned. Little Billy had departed, 
 heading straight for Burmah's seclusion. Burmah 
 was in his shirt-sleeves, working over numerous 
 calculations, when Little Billy entered and sat down. 
 
 "BUrmah," he said, "you told me, once, never to 
 ask you any questions; but I just can't help it. 
 Are you sure that railway is coming here.''" 
 
 "Billy," said Burmah, quietly, "I'm bettin' my 
 last dollar on it. And, what's more, I advise yoii 
 boys to buy all you can handle. There's nothin' 
 sure in this world till it's done. Of course, there's 
 a chance that I'm fooled, and that there will never 
 be a road here while any of us are alive to hear 
 its engines toot; but I'm bettin' there will be." 
 
 "But where on earth is the Colonel going to get 
 the money to buy back this land?" queried Little 
 Billy, with anxious solicitude. 
 
 Burmah suddenly became engrossed in his figures 
 again, and then said, without looking up: 
 
 "I guess you kno# Arabella's gone and ehgaged 
 
354 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 herself to that man, Lester, don't you? Maybe 
 he's got money. I don't know. And, anyhow, it's 
 none of my business. Only, neither the Colonel, nor 
 Arabella, is to know anything about that letter. 
 You understand that!" 
 
 He turned and scowled at Little Billy, and then 
 continued his work. 
 
 "It strikes me you'd better go and get a hustle 
 on yourself. Look up those lists. Don't dawdle 
 around and waste time guessin'. Just do what 
 you're told." 
 
 "It's his money, just the same!" doggedly mut- 
 tered Little Billy, as he went back to the offices. 
 "But, by Jingoes ! any gamble that's good enough 
 for him will do for me. And I'll tell Pick and 
 Tommy what he said. Hang Kirby! He quit us." 
 
 All day long, and until late in the evening, Bur- 
 mah Jones made hasty visits. And everywhere he 
 went he talked to those of the faithful who had 
 not deserted Port Hatch, and always the talk was 
 the same; to cling to their property, to buy more 
 if they wanted to risk the advent of a railway, 
 which he, Burmah Jones, was convinced would come, 
 and never to lose their grip. In a few instances, 
 this was varied a trifle, and those cases were with 
 the widow who lived across the street from his 
 rooms, and still watered her flowers and tended the 
 little shop — the elder Todd and Herr Schmidt. To 
 each of these he offered to lend money, and urged 
 them to accept it, for the purchase of lands. And 
 each did accept, wondering in the meantime at the 
 generosity of the man who had never been known 
 to be either a spendthrift, a dreamer, or anything 
 
THE BOOMERS. 355 
 
 but the hardest, closest kind of a financier. For 
 Hubbard also he drew a cheque, and gave him cau- 
 tion and advice. He found time to write a list 
 of names of big foreign land-holders who had bought 
 for purposes of speculation, and to draw a cheque 
 for Lester for one hundred thousand dollars, and 
 these he carried with him to Marquard Villa, and 
 delivered to Lester late that evening. He occupied 
 his room in the villa that night, and for a long 
 time looked out of the window before retiring, won- 
 dering, dully, whether he should ever again enter 
 it, and was once more filled with a homesickness that 
 almost amounted to a heartache. 
 
 "Well," he said to himself before he went to sleep, 
 in a queer combination of comment and prayer, "if 
 I've been a fool, and everything goes smash, I'll 
 have the satisfaction of knowing that I done my 
 best. A month'll tell the story. And Lord, if You 
 have made a sucker of me because I deserve it, 
 and are goin' to put me in the scrap-heap, be easy 
 on the Colonel and Arabella, and the rest of 'em, 
 because they ain't done nothin'. Just take it all 
 out on me. Amen !" 
 
 And neither the Colonel nor Arabella suspected, 
 when he bade them good-by on the following morn- 
 ing, that he had no intention of returning to Port 
 Hatch until the fight was decided, for better or 
 for worse; but there was a tired, worn look in his 
 thoughtful eyes that impelled Arabella to come 
 swiftly, put her arms around his neck, and kiss 
 him as he turned away, and she did not know that 
 as he trudged down the street he walked blindly, 
 because his eyes were filled with unaccustomed tears. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 BUT FATE INTERVENES. 
 
 The thirty days mentioned by Burmah in his 
 circular passed, and seemingly everything in Port 
 Hatch was unchanged and waiting. On that very 
 day of final grace, Little Billy, summoned by the 
 Kansan to Seattle, returned on the boat, carrying 
 with him a suit-case filled with deeds that were to 
 be put on record now that Burmah's desire to keep 
 the Colonel in ignorance was removed. The news- 
 papers had ignored his circular letter, having con- 
 cluded that this was nothing more than a scheme 
 to advertise Port Hatch, which no one but a lunatic 
 could hope to resuscitate. And the latter conclusion 
 had been the one, also, of some thousand others who 
 had invested in that ill-fated town when it was on 
 the boom, and they had jumped at the offer of 
 Burmah Jones, and gleefully accepted what they 
 got, and charged the monies lost to the profit-and- 
 loss accounts on their books. Still others had 
 written him personally before selling, and had been 
 induced, by his replies, to hold on a while longer. 
 He was playing his game honestly, from start to 
 finish, and had not time to waste over his own 
 change of heart. He accepted that as he had 
 everything else in life, considering all yesterdays 
 dead, and all past actions irrevocable. His resolution 
 to be honest was frequently tested as by fire, and 
 his patience suffered now and then; but he kept 
 
 356 
 
THE BOOMERS. 85T 
 
 grimly in the path that he had laid for his future 
 steps, and did not swerve. He sat, now, with a 
 feeling of utter relief; for on that day his work 
 was done, for better or for worse. 
 
 The door opened, and in came Lester, whom he 
 had not seen in all the interim, smiling, well groomed, 
 and less tanned than on that evening when Bur- 
 mah had bidden him good-by after handing him the 
 lists and cheques. 
 
 "Well," said Burmah, after greeting him in his 
 restrained way, "I understand from your letters that 
 you made good." 
 
 "Yes," replied Lester, "I did. I've got the deeds 
 for all of it in my grip. I bought all that I was 
 told to buy, and was short but eleven hundred dollars. 
 I paid that out of my own pocket." 
 
 Burmah wheeled in his chair, and took out his 
 cheque-books. He figured for a minute, his pen 
 scratched across the blanks, and he turned and 
 handed Lester five slips of paper. 
 
 "Sorry to have to cut it up that way," Bur- 
 mah said, apologetically; "but the fact is that I, 
 too, have made good. Those cheques clean me out. 
 I've got just two hundred dollars left in the banks, 
 and seventeen in my pocket." 
 
 A shade of pity crept into Lester's eyes, and he 
 held the cheques out again toward the Kansan. 
 
 "Better keep them," he said. "I can stand a 
 part of it, I think. You'll need more money than 
 you've got." 
 
 "No," answered Burmah, resolutely; **I never 
 start to do a thing, and change, unless I have to. 
 My part of the big play of Port Hatch is over 
 
858 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 with, no matter how she goes. I see that Board 
 of Directors arrived here again this morning. The 
 newspapers are gloatin' over it." 
 
 "Yes," answered Lester. 
 
 "And you're go in' to see 'em?" 
 
 "Yes. I shall see them at once, and do what I 
 can to influence them." 
 
 "And do you think you've got your pull to work 
 so they'll reconsider?" 
 
 Lester smiled enigmatically, appeared on the 
 verge of saying something regarding what he hoped 
 to do, and then said: 
 
 "Yes, perhaps. Never can tell." 
 
 Burmah sat quietly in his chair, stocky and im- 
 perturbable, apparently unruffled by the fact that 
 this day was to decide whether all his efforts in 
 the Colonel's behalf, and his own ruin, had been 
 mere folly. He seemed to have nothing more to 
 say, and Lester, watching him, felt the same admira- 
 tion that had come to him on that night in the 
 Club. He fought a desire to try to break down the 
 man's barrier of reserve, to make him express some 
 of the thoughts that must be running rampant be- 
 hind the steady, unwavering eyes; to stir him from 
 that stolid pose, unbending as fate. 
 
 "You'll hear from me to-morrow," he said, at last, 
 after the silence had become so prolonged as to 
 be embarrassing, and arose to make his departure. 
 
 "All right," Burmah answered, without the move- 
 ment of a muscle and without looking up. "Wish 
 you luck!" 
 
 That was all. No emotion, no tremor of voice, 
 no twitching of the hands, head, or body. The door 
 
THE BOOMERS. 359 
 
 closed as Lester went out, and then, quite abruptly, 
 the fat hands went into the air, and shook them- 
 selves, the bulky body writhed, and Burmah said 
 between shut teeth: 
 
 "Win, Boy — win! You've got to win! You've 
 got to!" 
 
 In the same suite of rooms from which the 
 Colonel had departed so tempestuously, months be- 
 fore, on the day of doom, sat the same Board of 
 Directors, who guided the destinies of the great 
 Transcontinental railway; but there was a singular 
 and noticeable change in its members' demeanor. 
 They talked nervously, and argued, and were em- 
 phatic, angry, or sullen, as their individualities ran. 
 They were in the midst of it, when the door-man 
 entered, and announced: 
 
 "Mister Lester Ford, Gentlemen." ... A strange 
 hush succeeded their subdued clamor. 
 
 Into the room, firmly, with stiffly set head and 
 cold, determined eyes, came the man known to those 
 of Port Hatch as Lester. 
 
 "Gentlemen !" he said, bowing gravely from right 
 to left. As if by one impulse, they stood to their 
 feet, and the redoubtable Thornton himself, grown 
 almost obsequious, tendered a chair by his side at 
 the head of the table. 
 
 "I was extremely sorry," Ford said, without wast- 
 ing words on greeting, "to cause you the incon- 
 venience of coming here to Seattle to hold this Board 
 meeting; but I deemed it best to do so for certain 
 reasons of my own." 
 
 They bowed and waited for him as if paying the 
 respect due a king. 
 
360 THE BQQMIB^S. 
 
 "All of you know my distaste for directly inter- 
 fering with any of my business affairs," he went on, 
 "and that, unlike my father, I have no special desire 
 to pile millions on top of millions. Nor have I that 
 desire now. Let me see ! Some months ago, you de- 
 cided to make Seattle the terminus of the road that I, 
 with the assistance of one or two others, have been 
 financing; the road that I have caused to be con- 
 tinued because it was my father's pet hobby and his 
 life hope." 
 
 "That is true. Mister Ford," said Thornton. 
 
 "What did you think of Port Hatch?" abruptly 
 demanded Lester Ford, eying him. 
 
 "Well, we went up there and looked it over," re- 
 plied Thornton, with unusual suavity. 
 
 "So did I," asserted Lester, with equal calmness. 
 "I've lived there since it started." 
 
 "Strange we never heard of you being there," 
 mused Carleton, as if surprised. 
 
 "Not so strange," retorted the millionaire. "I 
 went there for my health, and for my own pleasure. 
 I told them my name was Lester, because I didn't 
 care to be annoyed merely because I had inherited 
 money. I stayed there because — well — that's my per- 
 sonal affair. When you gentlemen believed I was in 
 Europe, I didn't happen to be there. That is all. I 
 know all about Port Hatch. It is just what Burmah 
 Jones declared it was, an ideal terminus!" 
 
 Carleton, Sprague and Thornton sat up angrily. 
 
 "Then you know Jones, also, do you?" demanded 
 Carleton. 
 
 "Yes, and like, admire and believe in hin^," ^q- 
 
THE BOOMERS. 861 
 
 clared Lester, with a pronounced and conclusive de- 
 fiance in his voice. 
 
 They started to speak ; but he held up his hand for 
 silence, and they dared not protest. 
 
 "I know all about your last meeting," said Lester, 
 significantly. "There happens to be on this Board of 
 Directors one man who keeps me informed, privately, 
 of everything that takes place. Not that I do not 
 trust you. You know that. Otherwise, there would 
 not at this moment be a majority of this Board who 
 vote my proxies, and are thereby elected to it." 
 
 There was a moment's stillness, broken by Thorn- 
 ton, who said, as if stating an accepted fact : 
 
 "That is true, Mister Ford. I am one pf them." 
 
 "And, by the way," said Lester, "three pf you 
 gentlemen here, at some time, were victims of this 
 Burmah Jones, I understand. There is no need for 
 you to apologize for either yourselves, or him. He 
 is a very exceptional and plausible man. The most 
 exceptional I have ever known. Froni what I could 
 learn, he has been worse than unscrupulous; but I 
 know absolutely — absolutely. Gentlemen — -that Mister 
 Jones regrets all that, and is at this moment as noble 
 a man as ever I care to meet. I hope to win his 
 esteem, his loyalty, his affection. There is none 
 other like him that I have ever known. And so eag^r 
 am I to serve him and his wishes, that I tell you, here, 
 now, that I will personally reimburse any man at this 
 table who can tell me the sum of which hp was de- 
 frauded by this same Burmah Jones, and I do so in 
 the firm belief that Burmah, when he knows of it, and 
 if he is ever able, will reimburse me." 
 
 At this brave championship, so outspoken and sur- 
 
362 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 prising, three members of the Board sat up and stared 
 at one another, and then back at the millionaire who 
 had offered his money. 
 
 "However, we'll discuss that later, in private," 
 said Lester, resuming his customary attitude. "What 
 I want to say now, is this : I desire the announcement 
 made, and carried out, that the A. and O. will run 
 direct to Port Hatch, and that Port Hatch is to be 
 its main seabord terminal on this Coast. 
 
 From all around the table came protests and ex- 
 clamations. 
 
 "Why, we can't do that," insisted Thornton, losing 
 a little of his temper. "We stultify ourselves." 
 
 "Of course we do," declared Carleton, but with less 
 belligerence. "We've told them that — " 
 
 "Never mind what has been told them," interrupted 
 Lester, in the same icy tone that had made his father 
 before him the most feared man that ever dictated 
 financial terms to other boards, and they recognized 
 there, at the table with them, that same imperious, 
 fighting spirit. 
 
 "The old breed," whispered one man at the lower 
 side of the table to his neighbor. 
 
 And the other nodded, and whispered back : 
 
 "He's got the whip-hand, and will have his way. 
 Look out for storms !" 
 
 "But I have announced," declared the choleric 
 Thornton, "that the road—" 
 
 "I said it didn't matter what you had announced," 
 blazed Lester. "Any man who wants to fight me 
 in this proposition can have the privilege of resign- 
 ing from this Board, or being thrown out at the 
 annual election, which takes place in New York on 
 
THE BOOMERS. 363 
 
 the fifteenth of the coming month! I say, the road 
 goes to Port Hatch!" 
 
 "Gentlemen! Gentlemen!" cautioned an elderly 
 and pacific man, who thus far had not spoken. 
 "Mister Ford is the practical owner and backer of this 
 road. In a sense we are here to observe and defer 
 to his wishes. I wish to offer a resolution rescind- 
 ing the former vote, that which extends our line to 
 Seattle." 
 
 "But the gain?" protested Thornton, still strug- 
 gling to hold his ground. "Colonel Hatch made us 
 an offer of certain concessions." 
 
 "We ask no concessions," sharply retorted Lester. 
 "This road can afford to buy what it wants. And 
 it will do so. Port Hatch alone has sufficient ad- 
 vantages to justify making it the terminus. Mister 
 Chairman, I believe there is a motion before you." 
 
 With unconcealed antagonism, Thornton askpd 
 for a second, got it, put the question to a vote, and 
 announced that it had been carried. Instantly a 
 motion was offered to the effect that the Atlantic & 
 Oriental Railway select Port Hatch as its terminal, 
 and through the proper channels instruct its pur- 
 chasing department to enter into negotiations to 
 buy the requisite lands and rights of way. That, 
 too, was carried, with Carleton and Sprague not 
 voting. 
 
 "And may I suggest," said Lester, although his 
 tone carried rather command, "that the Secretary 
 be instructed to send out, immediately after the close 
 of the meeting, an announcement to the Seattle news- 
 papers? I think it will be sufficient for you. Gentle- 
 men," he added, slyly, "if you embody in your an- 
 
864 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 tiouncement the statement, as a reason for the 
 change from your former decision, that certain 
 inducements have been offered in favor of Port 
 Hatch that cannot be overlooked." 
 
 Thornton gave a dry, mirthless grin, and told the 
 Secretary to attend to the announcement. 
 
 "That, also, I trust, will enable you, Gentlemen 
 of the Board, to 'square yourselves,' as my friend, 
 Burmah Jones, would say, with the interviewers," 
 blithely remarked Lester as he arose. And then: 
 "Having no further business or desire to interfere 
 with you, I think I shall go to my hotel. If any- 
 one wishes to talk about his personal deals with 
 Burmah Jones, I can be found there at any time 
 to-day; but not later, because I expect to take the 
 morning boat for Port Hatch. Gentlemen, I am 
 pleased to have met you all again, after so long a 
 time." 
 
 He bowed from his hips, and moved toward the 
 door* He had already opened it, and started out, 
 when he remembered a further instruction. He 
 stood in the doorway, as he spoke. 
 
 "I almost neglected to say," he said, "that I wish 
 to preserve my incognito. I do not wish that my 
 friends of Port Hatch, the most beautiful little city 
 on the Pacific Coast, where I fish with fishermen, 
 hob-nob with a Dutch band-master, argue over cock- 
 tails with a bar-tender, and have endeavored to learn 
 to play a steam calliope under a harsh task-master, 
 should confuse the dawdler, Lester, with the far less 
 lovable personage of Lester Ford. Gentlemen, I 
 wish you a most pleasant journey back to the stone 
 canons of the Street called Wall. Good-day!" 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE KNAVE CONFESSES. 
 
 With that strange inconsistency which dominates 
 the actions of men, the wneel reversed itself, and the 
 whole world seemed to turn toward Port Hatch, the 
 "City Beautiful," arisen from deathly somolence, and 
 again the land of delight for the home-seeker, and 
 the adventurer in quest of fortune. The influential 
 and widely read evening papers of Seattle contained 
 the announcement that the far-reaching railway, at 
 the last moment, had been compelled, for reasons 
 that were known to itself alone, to decide on Port 
 Hatch. And in that marvelous spirit of Seattle 
 that makes of every man a sturdy winner or a 
 philosophic unfortunate, they gracefully acknowl- 
 edged the merits of the rival port, and wished it 
 success. The North-west Coast, boundless in wealth 
 and resources, had room for all. Rivalry, when it 
 developed the common cause, could be, after all, 
 nothing more than friendly. The morning papers 
 congratulated Port Hatch in issues that were carried 
 on boats that suddenly resumed their old schedules, 
 and that, unexpectedly, were loaded with the old' 
 time crowds, seeking the new city of promise. Those 
 who had clung to their investments in this strange 
 city congratulated themselves on their foresight, and 
 those who had sold stampeded to return and renew 
 their allegiance. The syndicate that had been deterred 
 from buying, through the frankness of Burmah 
 after he had adopted his new and unyielding course 
 of honesty, came clamoring back to the offices of 
 the Port Hatch Land Company, and there met its 
 
 365 
 
866 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 old rivals, the Conover group, who looked glum and 
 distressed because they had parted with a golden 
 opportunity. Others were there waiting, who 
 volubly cursed Burmah Jones, accused him of having 
 tricked them into selling their holdings at a loss, 
 and now and then spared a word of condemnation 
 for the Colonel. All of which caused Billings, busy, 
 to remark that it "was music to the gamblers' ears 
 to hear the loser squeal." 
 
 But, through all this reversal, Burmah Jones 
 could not be seen. Anxious, and wondering at his 
 disappearance. Little Billy and Tommy came to 
 Seattle, and sought him on the third day after it 
 became public that Port Hatch was indubitably des- 
 tined to be a great city. Like the indefatigable 
 hound-dogs of their native State, they nosed this 
 way and that, seeking him. At his hotel they knew 
 nothing, save that, on the morning of the big an- 
 nouncement, he had paid his bill, carefully counted 
 the change, and delivered his baggage to a taxi-cab. 
 After hours of patient work, they ferreted out the 
 taxi-cab, and were informed by its chauffeur that he 
 had taken Burmah to an obscure lodging-house down 
 by Smith's Dock. Thither they drove, and battered 
 on the door of a dingy, decrepit, weather-beaten 
 structure, plainly a relic of the earlier boom days, 
 when Seattle had been merely transient. A frowsy- 
 headed girl, who chewed gum, and fought with a 
 wisp of unkempt hair, admitted them, and pointed 
 up the stairs. 
 
 "Top floor, back, I think, is the gent you want," 
 she said, and they climbed the creaking, dirty steps, 
 and rapped on the door at the end of a dark hall. 
 
THE BOOMERS. 367 
 
 "Come in," bade a weary voice, and they opened 
 it, and entered. 
 
 Seated, as if utterly tired of effort, and clothed 
 in his gorgeous bath-robe, was Burmah, his feet 
 encased in carpet-slippers, with a pile of papers 
 scattered on the floor beside him. Everywhere about 
 him was confusion, and litter. The fragments of 
 torn letters were over the ragged carpet, cigar-butts 
 were on the ledge beneath the clouded window-panes, 
 and the remnants of sandwiches were carelessly 
 bestowed on the top of the wabbly dresser, amidst 
 silver and gold toilet articles. A cup and saucer, 
 of that thickness affected by boarding-houses where 
 such implements are sometimes used as weapons, 
 were on top of his bed, indicating, as did everything 
 else, that for at least two days he had not been out 
 for his meals. 
 
 "Hello, Boys !" he greeted them, as if but an hour 
 or so had elapsed since last they parted, and this 
 were his usual environment. He did not even rise 
 from his chair, or extend his hand; and they saw 
 that deep, sharp lines had twisted themselves across 
 his face, and hollows were under the eyes that had 
 fearlessly met all comers and all vicissitudes. Yet, 
 still, there was the old brave pose of the head, the 
 old reckless tilt of the firm chin, the old steady poise 
 of the stocky, powerful body. Nevertheless, in 
 him was the suggestion of the victor vanquished. 
 
 "For God's sake! Burmah! What are you 
 doing here?" demanded Little Billy, struggling 
 against a boyish desire to throw his arm over the 
 shoulders of the man he loved, and wished to embrace, 
 boy-fashion. 
 
nm THE BOOMERS. 
 
 Burmah smiled tolerantly and with a soft display 
 of sadness in his eyes. 
 
 "Cleanin' up the old; gettin' ready for the new," 
 he asserted, without complaint. "I've always done 
 that — when I'm busted. It don't pay to look back, 
 except to pick out the mistakes, so's they won't be 
 done over again." 
 
 As if quite intent on his coUrse, he glanced at a 
 letter in his hand, scowled ever so slightly, re-read 
 the first few lines, then tore it into scraps, which 
 he threw to join the other waste on the floor. 
 
 "Well, how's Port Hatch?" he asked, as if merely 
 making conversation, and reaching for another letter 
 in the open suit-case beside his chair. As ifar as 
 his words or voice were concerned, he might have 
 been asking for the welifare of some place that he 
 had never seen. "Everybody well?" 
 
 "Burmah ! Burmah ! You don't intend to aban- 
 don ii like this, do you?" demanded Tommy, coming 
 to the side of the chair. "Why, inan, they're look- 
 ing for you, everywhere! The Colonel is walking 
 through the town asking for you. Lester's there, 
 and bombarding us for news. Old Todd meets 
 every boat with the Widow Higgins, who prays for 
 yoii ! Arabella's been crying because she thinks 
 something must have happened to you, and all of 
 them — Hubbard — Zo-Zo — Herr Schmidt — ^everyone 
 is wondering what has become of you. They sent us 
 down here to try and find you." 
 
 For an instant, Burmah stared blankly at the 
 letter he held in his hand, and a twinge-, as of mental 
 pain, whipped across his face ; but he made no reply. 
 
 "You've got to get out of here, and go back with 
 
THE BOOMERS. 369 
 
 us," growled Little Billj. "The Colonel's reception 
 is to-night. It would kill him if you weren't there. 
 You can do as you bloomin' well please; but you 
 still owe something to the rest of us — some sign 
 that you cared more for us than just the love of the 
 game." 
 
 For a little while Burmah sat, with fixed brows, 
 looking at his feet, as if considering this phase, and 
 then, very quietly, he stood up, and said: 
 
 "They think that, do they.?— that all I cared for 
 was the fight itself? Well, it wasn't. I cared for 
 them. I'll go — go back there to the Colonel's 
 reception. I can spare time for that, I guess. But 
 it's all foolishness. It's wasting time, and I haven't 
 a lot left. I feel old. I've made it a rule to always 
 drop, and never return to, the finished task. A 
 deal finished is a deal done. But, if they think I'm 
 not there, and am leaving, just because the game's 
 done, I'll go back, for to-night; but for to-night 
 only." 
 
 He threw off the bath-robe, and reached for his 
 collar and tie ; and Tommy, eager to help him, began 
 gathering the things from the dresser, and thrusting 
 them into the big leather bag that lay open on the 
 floor. Little Billy held Burmah's coat for him, and 
 sensed a weakness in the arms that were obediently 
 thrust into the waiting sleeves. They hustled him 
 out, and he went with them as if still undecided, and 
 dazed by their energy. Little Billy stopped behind, 
 at the hall-way door, to pay the bill to the slatternly 
 maid, mzd they tumbled into the waiting taxi-cab, 
 and directed the driver to the wharf. 
 
 "Don't wait to buy tickets," shouted Little Billy, 
 
370 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 as they reached the end of the dock, and heard the 
 boat's warning whistle; "we'll pay the purser." 
 And Burmah ran up the gang-plank with a little of 
 the old-time haste that had been his when some- 
 thing requiring speed was to be done. The boat 
 was crowded, and there were many who came to greet 
 him; but he did not display his wonted fire and 
 vivacity. He seemed rather like one who assumes 
 a polite interest, and wishes to be alone. Only when 
 they came in sight of Port Hatch did his eyes glowj 
 and his hands clasp themselves, and his attitude 
 betray his yearning. He seemed quite the old Bur- 
 mah when he walked down the gang-plank. He 
 laughed and joked with those who met him. He 
 shook hands with the Todd brothers as if they were 
 relatives, and waved a gay salute at Hubbard as 
 the latter came pushing his way between men to 
 greet him. 
 
 "I'll go up to my old diggin's," he said to Little 
 Billy, "and get on the new clothes that always make 
 me so devilish uncomfortable." 
 
 "No," protested Little Billy; "no use in doing 
 that. They aren't there. Arabella came to your 
 rooms two or three weeks ago, and packed all your 
 stuff that you had left, and had the trunks moved 
 up to the hill. Everything is up there." 
 
 Burmah frowned as though vexed, and then led 
 the way determinedly to a cab. 
 
 "Well, I guess there's nothin' else to do, then," 
 he said, "but to go on up." 
 
 He looked interestedly at the changes that but 
 a few days had made. As the cab climbed the road 
 cut into the face of the cliff, it passed many pedes- 
 
THE BOOMERS. 371 
 
 trians who greeted him respectfully, and, when it 
 turned into Main Street, Burmah observed that 
 already this had resumed some of its old appear- 
 ance, and that numerous persons were bustling along 
 its smooth pavement. The widow was putting in a 
 fresh display of hats, and he smiled with inward 
 satisfaction as he noted that her face looked less 
 careworn. Several carpenters were carrying 
 supplies from the shop of the elder Todd, and Bur- 
 mah leaned far over and peered into the open door 
 to see that the place was filled and business brisk. 
 Along their route he saw houses that were being re- 
 opened, and gardeners mowing lawns and re-setting 
 flowers. Port Hatch was alive again, and making 
 impatient strides to overcome that lapse wherein 
 she had marked time. 
 
 "Bless my soul ! Why, bless my soul !" the Colonel 
 shouted, as he rushed through the door, and fairly 
 embraced Burmah. "Lord, Burmah! What on 
 earth ails you that you didn't come back sooner? 
 What's wrong?" he demanded, with all of his former 
 exuberance. 
 
 But Arabella brought him to the breaking point by 
 tripping down the steps, and throwing herself into 
 his arms. She chided him for his long absence; but 
 he could not speak, for his heart-strings were being 
 wrenched as by a mistaken hand. Lester was there, 
 smiling a welcome, and his hand went out and caught 
 Burmah's in a grip that hurt. He looked almost 
 blankly up at Lester, and then turned away, glad 
 to seek the room that had been his since Marquard 
 Villa had supported a roof. The Colonel followed 
 after him, as if fearful that he might again lose 
 
872 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 him, and Little Billy and Tommy refused Uncle 
 Jeff's assistance to carry his meager baggage. 
 
 "Well, Burmah, I've been pinin' for you," the 
 Colonel declared, when they were alone. "There's 
 a heap of business I've got to talk to you about. 
 One thing. Sir, that sort of puzzles me, is where all 
 the money came from to buy back the lots." 
 
 "Oh, you know you had quite a balance left with 
 the Company that hadn't been turned over," said 
 Burmah, shaving himself in the light of the sun- 
 set, but without looking around. 
 
 "But I don't exactly see how it all happened," 
 insisted the Colonel. "The buying in of all that 
 stuff again !" 
 
 "Why, Colonel, you see it was this way," said 
 Burmah, still addressing himself in the mirror. "You 
 weren't there to talk it over with me, and I didn't 
 have time to come up here, when the pesky boats 
 stopped runnin', so I did just what I thought you'd 
 want me to do under the circumstances. You see, 
 you've suggested so many things to me that — " 
 
 "By George !" declared the Colonel. "I don't rec- 
 ollect ever tellin' you to buy the property back; 
 but I reckon I must have. There was never such an 
 assistant as you are, Burmah. You just naturally 
 take the words and the ideas right out of my mouth. 
 Most astounding how easy it is for a gentleman to 
 make money when he starts out to do it ! And that 
 plagued railroad! It had to come here, after all. 
 And now it has to pay me for the land that I 
 offered it for nothing! I brought those hifalutin 
 little financiers from New York to terms, before I 
 got done, didn't I? That is, I didn't, but Port 
 
THE BOOMERS. 373 
 
 Hatch did ! They had to come. They couldn't get 
 away from her, Sir. She's the greatest city in the 
 world. She's a credit to the Hatch family, Sir; 
 and long after you and I are dead, folks will remem- 
 ber us, and say we were the men that made her. 
 Maybe they'll give us a monument, Burmah. Be fine, 
 wouldn't it? A bronze statue with you and me on 
 horses, with our swords held up, or something like 
 that!" 
 
 "I never used a sword a whole lot," objected Bur- 
 mah. 
 
 *T wonder," said the Colonel, thoughtfully, "if 
 they'd think it immodest if I were to have that 
 statue made? It'd look mighty fine out in front of 
 the opera-house." 
 
 "Sure they would," Burmah declared, hastily. 
 "Couldn't be nothin' worse than to buy one for our- 
 selves." 
 
 The Colonel changed color a little a.^ he stood 
 a moment in thought, and appeared downcast. 
 
 "Do you know, Burmah," he said, a little sadly, 
 "I fear that in endeavoring to dp honor to Miss 
 Arabella, for which I admire your courtesy. Sir 
 — quite like you to want to be gallant to a 
 daughter of mine and such a charming girl — you 
 made a mistake? I find her the most stubborn girl 
 I ever knew when it comes to signing deeds and 
 such. Why, do you know, Burmah, she's kept me 
 from making any sales at all since things changed? 
 She won't sign anything! I'll declare she's getting 
 so she reminds me more and more of her sainted 
 mother. I loved that woman. Sir, and honored her; 
 but, sometimes, she was so stingy that I used to 
 
374 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 walk out back of the house, and kick a dog, just 
 to relieve my feelings. I did! Ton my word I 
 did!" 
 
 The Colonel retired at last, after telling Bur- 
 mah to come down to dinner within ten minutes, and 
 all through the dinner-hour, with the big table 
 widely spread and the little family around him, he 
 rambled gaily on, exuberant over everything, and 
 forgetful of the dire days when Port Hatch seemed 
 dying. So long did he delay them with his whim- 
 sies that the guests were beginning to arrive, and 
 the lights glowed over the lawns of Marquard Villa, 
 before they arose. Burmah, loathing his waiting 
 dress-suit, slipped out into the spacious grounds, 
 and wandered around alone, peering now and then 
 through the foliage as the guests appeared. There 
 they came, the ones that had stood loyally by the 
 "City Beautiful," and those who had assisted in 
 her making. The band arrived, with its full force 
 and Herr Schmidt in evening dress assuming a pro- 
 prietary air, as befitted a man who had become 
 well-to-do from astute speculation. It filed sedately 
 through the house and out to the terrace, where 
 it rattled its steel music-stands, tuned its instru- 
 ments, and then burst forth into a march of triumph 
 that could not be misinterpreted. Burmah realized 
 that he must slip through to his room, and dress 
 himself. 
 
 The band played an overture, and a soft melody 
 of spring. The crowd increased until the palace 
 of dreams was filled with well-dressed men and 
 women, all happy, all gay, all laughing and talking ; 
 and yet Burmah Jones did not appear. The Colonel 
 
THE BOOMERS. 375 
 
 went through the process of shaking hands with 
 each arrival, bowing deeply and congratulating each 
 on the turn of fortune. He enthused, and mellowed 
 and expanded, until his guests, knowing his weak- 
 ness, and glad to humor it, called upon him for a 
 speech. He stood in the big, hospitable hall-way 
 at the foot of the stairs, smiling warmly at them, 
 a kindly, lovable old man, courteous and handsome, 
 as true cavalier as ever was painted by Meissonier. 
 "Ladies and Gentlemen of Port Hatch," he said 
 as the noise died away to respectful attention, "I 
 thank you all for the honor that you have done 
 me and mine, and, also, I thank heaven for the 
 blessed privilege of again greeting some of those 
 whom, I so sadly feared through the dark days of 
 misfortune, I should never see again. They were 
 dark days, in which the candle of faith was sorely 
 tried by the chill winds of doubt and adversity. 
 Days when the flowers lost their bloom, the moon 
 its light, and the sun its warmth. And yet, my 
 friends, we who are here to-night never wavered. 
 We were dwellers in the heart of the ideal, fortunate 
 participants in the glories of the greatest of Ameri- 
 can cities. Port Hatch. We knew that she would 
 not fail us. Clouds might obscure her star, but 
 always the star, serene and undimmed, shone behind 
 them, beckoning us on, voicing through its disturbed 
 rays the message, sometimes whispered to us in the 
 stillness of the drear night as by the rustling of 
 the clouds, to be steadfast. You have congratulated 
 me here to-night, many of you, on having won a 
 victory; and I cannot with truth deny that I have 
 done my share as best I could; but it seems to me, 
 
376 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 on thinking it all over, on reviewing everything, 
 that the one man to whom most of the credit is due, 
 is my partner, my beloved friend, the friend of us 
 all, the redeemer of Port Hatch, William Burmah 
 Jones !" 
 
 The shout that tore upward drowned his voice, 
 and he waited for it to die away. It was as if he 
 had suddenly recalled the truth to so many who 
 stood there by him, and all of them now sought to 
 make amends for negligence by paying tribute to 
 the man who had done so much. 
 
 "Where is he?" demanded the Colonel of Ara- 
 bella, making his voice heard above the confusion. 
 "Burmah ! Burmah Jones !" 
 
 His shout was taken up by the others, until 
 Marquard Villa rocked with its turbulence. Up in 
 the room at the head of the noble staircase, Bur- 
 mah heard them, and opened the door, and stepped 
 out. He halted, and looked down upon them, un- 
 moved. 
 
 They lifted their hands and cheered. Women 
 fluttered their handkerchiefs, and Herr Schmidt, 
 jubilant, rushed madly through the crowd with his 
 queer, broken, "Eggscuse me, blease," and called to 
 the band to play, "See the Conquering Hero Comes." 
 
 Quite slowly, and with a set face, Burmah de- 
 scended, and, as he came, lagging, step by step, 
 one slow foot advancing past the other, they dis- 
 covered, with surprise, that there was no gladness 
 in the clear eyes that stared down on them. The 
 face above them was as a death-masque, cold, im- 
 mobile, unsmiling, with the lips compressed, the 
 strong eyebrows fixed, the nostrils white like carved 
 
THE BOOMERS. 377 
 
 marble. There was a cold majesty in his deport- 
 ment, blended with some valiant intent that radiated 
 from him like chill, purposeful rays. A woman's 
 hand that had bravely fluttered a wisp of lace 
 stopped as if arrested in mid-air. The shout of 
 praise strangled, choked, died, in the throat of Little 
 Billy, who stood at the steps with hands out- 
 stretched in the blind fidelity that he had conceived 
 for the masterful, grotesque man above. Lester, 
 whose affection had grown in inverse proportion to 
 the dislike he had previously sustained, halted as he 
 left Arabella's side, and brushed a hand across his 
 eyes, as if seeing behind Burmah some tragic, por- 
 tentous figure. The Colonel alone smiled affection- 
 ately and beckoned. 
 
 Step by step, resolute and slow, Burmah descended 
 until he reached the middle of the broad stairs, 
 where he halted, and raised his hand, seeming, from 
 where he stood, to tower above them, alone. Herr 
 Schmidt, who had rushed back, suddenly waved 
 toward the window, and the band ceased its salute. 
 
 The man above waited until the last note had 
 died away, still poised on the carpeted marble stairs, 
 still holding out a fat hand for attention. Tragedy 
 was in his appearance; tragedy dominated in the 
 air. Merriment had folded her wings, and slipped 
 outside where the night birds chirped their dis- 
 turbed notes, and the sound of the waves climbed 
 faintly upward across the terrace and gardens of 
 Marquard Villa, the palace of dreams. Burmah's 
 firm lips opened twice before sound issued from them, 
 and then there was inflexible command and profound 
 melancholy in his voice, which somehow had become 
 
378 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 musical and far reaching, as the tone of a well-cast 
 bell. 
 
 "You are my friends," he said, and there was 
 something of pride and love, unexpressed, but there, 
 pregnant, in his words: "and you've called for me, 
 to tell me of it, and to say things that I can't 
 accept. I'm done with pretense. All my life I've 
 lived a lie! I lied to you when you first came. I 
 lied to you afterward — ^to all of you — save Lester. 
 He knows ! I used you. I played with you as tools 
 for my unworthy hands. I was a hypocrite. I 
 never knew that the road was coming. I didn't be- 
 lieve that it could. I wasn't fit to clean the streets 
 over which your trusting feet walked. I was every- 
 thing that was base, and mean, and mercenary. 
 That you've made money, and that Port Hatch has 
 made good, is no work of mine. It is Lester's and 
 the Colonel's — God protect him! — and yours! 
 You'll hate me after this; but I'll be true to my- 
 self, and I'll go away, to begin over again, and 
 maybe, sometime when I've proved that I'm fit, I'll 
 come back, and beg you, honest ones that you are, 
 to call me a friend. I can't now. I want no thanks 
 from you ! I want truth ! I want — " 
 
 His voice broke suddenly, and his arms were 
 flung forward as if in appeal for some little por- 
 tion of their respect, yearningly, desperately im- 
 ploring. His lips moved without sound, and he 
 struggled to speak his unspoken words. Then, as 
 if the world were slipping from beneath him, he 
 reeled and pitched forward, head foremost, and fell 
 crumpled at their feet. The big palm at one side 
 of the broad steps overturned. There were the 
 
THE BOOMERS. 879 
 
 screams of women and exclamations of men as they 
 rushed forward to pick him up. 
 
 In an awed hush, they carried him back up the 
 stairs, down which, as a dominant, forceful man, 
 he had so lately descended. Into the room they 
 took him, where all his pitiful belongings, everything 
 he had in the world, were scattered as he had left 
 them. They cleared from his bed the gaudy, taste- 
 less, worn suit of clothes that he had thrown there 
 in the haste of dressing and laid him, stark and 
 motionless, on the counterpane. A doctor thrust 
 out of the room the distressed ones who had fol- 
 lowed, tore open the crumpled dress-shirt, and bent 
 his head above the struggling breast. 
 
 "Colonel," he said turning around with the grave 
 professional look that so seldom lies, "please dis- 
 miss your guests. And will you, Pickett, get a 
 nurse at once, although she may not be needed.'' 
 She may be too late. Mister Todd, would you mind 
 getting someone to run to my home, instantly, and 
 bring my emergency case.?" 
 
 He stopped for a moment, and in the silence they all 
 leaned toward him with an unspoken question. 
 
 When he spoke, his voice was like a knell, soft, 
 and calm, even as the sighing of the wind after a 
 long tempest. 
 
 "I am afraid!" he said. "I'm afraid that our 
 friend is leaving us — leaving us on a longer journey 
 than he has ever taken in his stormy life." 
 
 And Burmah Jones, all the harsh lines gone 
 from his face, lay before them, quiet and still, as 
 if there were nothing left for which to strive, and 
 no Port Hatch to mourn. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 TO DWELL WITH HONOR. 
 
 For days he had lain in coma, and for days there- 
 after he had slept, not the peaceful sleep of the 
 just; but the sleep of the warrior who fights over 
 red and hard-trampled fields, giving and taking 
 blows. Then had come that long period wherein 
 he convalesced, slowly, and the physician watched 
 and wondered at the splendid vitality of that prairie- 
 bred constitution which could conquer an apoplectic 
 attack, and in those slow days he lay silent, star- 
 ing at the ceiling with eyes that appeared to ques- 
 tion some shadow out beyond, some sphinx, as to 
 the meaning of it all. The voices that came to him 
 were no longer restrained to faint, awe-stricken 
 whispers, but lent themselves to jest and encourage- 
 ment. Sometimes he smiled; and the habitual 
 cynicism had been erased from his firm lips, and 
 the smile was frank and free. Sometimes he spoke, 
 with his customary brevity, but without the snap- 
 ping sting of contempt. And wonder and interest 
 grew in the calm gray depths of his tired eyes, 
 until a day, some three months after the Colonel's 
 reception, when Lester, Little Billy and Arabella 
 were in the room. They had been talking quietly, 
 out on the tiny balcony, when the nurse, patient 
 and faithful, called. 
 
 "Mister Jones wants to speak to you. Sir," she said 
 to Little Billy; and immediately all those on the 
 balcony hastened to Burmah's side. 
 
 "I think," he said, "that I'd like to have you 
 move me, if you can, and carry me out where I 
 
 380 
 
THE BOOMERS. 881 
 
 can see it all. I'm — I'm hungry to look out once 
 more." 
 
 The nurse shook a doubtful head, but he did not 
 see her, and went on. 
 
 "Been sick a long time, ain't I?" 
 
 "Three months," replied Little Billy. 
 
 "Then I'd like to see it," Burmah appealed. 
 
 They carried him out so that from his pillow he 
 could look down over the sound, the beach at the 
 water's edge, and a portion of Port Hatch that lay 
 spread out as if for his special regard. Great ships 
 were down by the docks, some of them sailing ves- 
 sels whose spars were tinged yellow in the late 
 afternoon sun, others black and smoky tramps of 
 the sea, squatting like tired runners after a long 
 race. Never in the times that he had looked at 
 the water-front had it presented such a view of 
 life. Farther up on the shore, men, mere specks in 
 the distance, worked on a scaffolding as they erected 
 a tall red smoke-stack. In the very corner of the 
 view, as he turned his head, a skeleton steel structure 
 was being built, and the faint tattoo of riveting 
 machines seemed to find echoes from the big breast- 
 work of hills behind. 
 
 "What's that stack for?" he questioned, with 
 more of a tone of interest in his voice than they 
 had heard in months. 
 
 "That's the stack for the new railway shops," 
 gloated Little Billy. "They say we owe that to 
 young Ford. Wish I could meet him and shake his 
 fiht." 
 
 Arabella glanced at Lester with a rare admira^ 
 tion, and Lester merely smiled. 
 
382 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 "And that steel skeleton?" asked Burmah, weakly 
 lifting himself a little higher on his pillow, despite 
 the protests of the nurse. 
 
 "The new railway station," answered Little Billy. 
 "Great stuff, isn't it? By Jove, Burmah! To think 
 of it, that you've never seen all this, and don't 
 know about it!" 
 
 Burmah said nothing for a long time, and then 
 looked curiously at Arabella, who had dropped to 
 her knees beside the head of his bed, and from her 
 his eyes wandered to Lester. 
 
 "I suppose," he said, smiling faintly, "that I ain't 
 been polite! I never was. But I've tried. I guess 
 I should congratulate you. Mister Lester, on your 
 marriage by this time." 
 
 "We aren't married yet," said Lester, his eyes 
 softly resting on Arabella's head. "I wanted it 
 deferred, Burmah Jones, until I could make the only 
 amends of which I am capable, by having the most 
 honorable man I know as my best man." 
 
 Burmah's eyes flashed a question. 
 
 "I mean you," said Lester, unabashed; and Bur- 
 mah, weak from illness, felt his eyes grow moist, 
 and turned away. 
 
 "I think I'd like to be carried back in, now," he 
 said. "But just inside the window, so I can look 
 out, and watch the sunset." 
 
 They obeyed his request, and Arabella's hand, 
 slender and loving, rearranged his pillow. 
 
 "I've been down long enough," said Burmah in 
 protest. "I'm lazy. That's all that ails me. I've 
 got to get up and get busy. I've got to hit the 
 trail again, and make good." 
 
THE BOOMERS. 383 
 
 "Where do you plan to go? What are you going 
 to do?" asked Lester, tolerantly, as to a sick boy. 
 
 "I'm not quite sure," replied Burmah, with a 
 puzzled frown. "Once I told you, I think, that, 
 if it came to a show-down, I could go back to New 
 York, the biggest of the jay towns, and make a 
 livin' peddlin' gold bricks to preachers and million- 
 aires ; but I can't do that now. I've got to try to 
 make money on the level." 
 
 To his surprise, Lester stood erect and laughed, 
 a strange, exultant laugh. 
 
 "Burmah," he said, "I don't know that we ought 
 to talk to you so much, but I may as well tell 
 you — may as well confess. You told the people 
 here that you had lied to them. Well, I'm not 
 much better than that, for I lied to you!" 
 
 Burmah turned his head, and frowned at him. 
 Lester came closer and leaned over the bed, and 
 looked at Burmah with eyes that glowed with admira- 
 tion and friendship. 
 
 "You thought, and perhaps still think, that I 
 didn't, or don't care for you, old chap. Well, I 
 do ! More than you know ! You're the biggest 
 man I ever met !" 
 
 "Humph !" said Burmah, coloring, and turning 
 away. 
 
 "When you gave me that hundred thousand and 
 asked me to buy back the land in the Colonel's and 
 Arabella's name, I didn't do it!" 
 
 Burmah lifted his head from the pillow, and the 
 old sharp, angry gleam came to his eyes that had 
 been there in past days when any of his subordinates 
 failed to do his will. 
 
884 THE BOOMERS. 
 
 But Lester, undaunted, continued. 
 
 "It was too much. It was too big a thing for 
 you to do. So I spent the hundred thousand in 
 your name, and the deeds are filed and recorded, 
 and you're not broke ! You don't have to go any- 
 where, or do anything, unless you want to ! Why, 
 Man, you are rich!" 
 
 They did not know until then that Burmah had 
 worried over a precarious future; but they saw 
 his eyes fill with tears as his hand went weakly out 
 and clutched the firm, comforting one that Lester 
 extended. His other hand had crept slowly over 
 until his wan fingers caressed Arabella's cheek, as 
 if to express the great love he felt for her. 
 
 In the stillness of the moment, they heard voices 
 and confusion below, and Little Billy, trying to 
 escape, opened the door leading into the hall. Bur- 
 mah's eyes followed him, and he betrayed the interest 
 of his stronger hold on life by asking: 
 
 "What's the row?" 
 
 Little Billy listened a moment, and then turned 
 back with a grin. 
 
 "It's the Zoological Committee, come to thank the 
 Colonel for the unexpected gift of another moth- 
 eaten tiger," he said, chuckling. "Listen! The 
 Colonel's going to make a speech!" 
 
 And up the stairs floated, in the Colonel's best 
 oratorical voice, pitched as if to reach a multitude: 
 
 "Fellow Citizens, I have insisted that a gentleman, 
 did he but turn his attention to commercial pur- 
 suits, could make a financial success. I stand before 
 you as a modest example!" 
 
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