Life — March 5, 1908 — page 26: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

FREE You can bet I was spruce. Everything about me was right up to date. Old man Digger had built him a fine place. It was a copy, I reckon, of some old palace. I'd been correspondin’ with him off and on, for he and me had always been good pals, but for some months I hadn’t heard from him. All I knew was that his daughter Nellie wasn’t married. I rang the bell, and a man came to the door, rubbin’ his eyes. ‘ “Is Mr. Digger at home?” says I. “No, sir.” “Where may he be?” “He and his daughter have gone abroad, sir.”” “Where to?” “What may be your business with Mr. Digger?” says he. With this I stepped inside. “Young man,” I says, “don’t be too fresh. I’m a friend of the family. Who are you?” He weakened at this. He was all kinds of a tenderfoot. “I’m a caretaker,” he says, “and Mr. Digger and his daughter have gone to Athens.” “Athens? Where is that?” I had heard of such a place somewhere on the map, but couldn’t place it. “Tt’s in Greece.” “The county seat, ch?” I asked. He nodded. Then he gripped me timidly by the arm. “Miss Nellie, sir, is educated.” “The hell she is!” I didn’t mean to say this, but it came out in spite of me. “All right, young man,” I says. “I understand the matter, and I’m much obliged to you for your trouble.” I handed him a twenty dollar bill. ‘When did they leave?” “Last week. I heard ’em say they warn’t goin’ to stop much of anywhere till they got to Athens.” I went out to a tourist office, bought a through ticket for Athens, and in twelve hours was on my way across the continent. In three weeks I landed at the Pirwus. That’s the come-on for Athens. That night I walks into the Grand Hotel. The first man I saw was - old man Digger. T held out my hand to him. “Good Gawd, Jake, where did you drop from?” says he. “T come by steamer yesterday,” I says. “I’ve been chasin’ you from Denver.” He shook hands all over. “T can’t tell you how glad I am to see you, Jake,” he said. He looked around at all the Greek and French signs. “Say,” he whispered, ‘‘this ain’t like home, is it? But Nellie—she’s stuck on the place.” “Paris is good enough for me,” I says. “I wanted to stay there longer, but”—— He nodded emphatically. “Somethin’ doing there,” he says. “What did you want to see me so particularly about?” I motioned him outside into Constitution Place, or whatever the blamed thing is called. “You see,” I said, “I struck my claim all right.” “T heard you did.” “And—well, I wanted Miss Nellie.” It was awful narrow in that Greek street. My voice carried so that I had to drop it. Old man Digger turned to me solemn! “Jake,” he whispered, “you've got a big con- tract on hand. You haven't seen Nellie since she was fifteen. She’s changed considerable. She's been to college, and when it comes to knowin’ things, she’s all to the good.” He shook his head. “T’'m afraid it’s no use, Jake,” he said. “Now, if you'll take my advice” — I couldn’t help but smile. “T believe you told me some years ago,” I replied, ‘to take nobody’s advice but my own. ‘That’s how I’ve won out so far.” “ All signs fail,” he replied, “when it comes to women.” Then he turns and looks at me keenly. “Jake, my boy,” he says, “go in and get her if you can. You're a home product, anyway, and you're natural. But I warn you, it’s a doubtful claim. And now let’s go back to the eatin’ house.”” Back we went. Pretty soon I looked up before usand there was a pair of eyes I had seen before, only—in what a different settin’! A wonderful creature she was, with her slim waist, her delicate airs, her way of carryin’ her head in the air. “Nellie,” said her father, “you know Jake— Mr. Sacket.” “How do you do, Mr. Sacket,” she said, bowin’ coolly. “I believe I do remember you. Are you in Athens long?” I held out my hand, and she let hers drop into it ina half-hearted kind of way. “That depends,” I said. “I can’t tell just yet.” “‘Are you interested in Greece ?”” “T can’t say I am,” I said. ‘It ain’t what it used to be, is it?’ She looked at me in a strange manner. “Well, hardly,” she replied. I knew what that meant, of course. She had been studyin’ up on the country and probably thought because I'd come from Arizona and been workin’ waist high most of my life in gold-bearin’ mud, I didn’t know anythin’ about it. But I had gotten acquainted with a little chap on the steamer comin’ over from Gibraltar and he had put me to the whole layout. He’d made a study of it. “Greece,” says I, ‘was once a great place. And this town of Athens was the king-pin of ’em all. What done it?” I says. “Why, the climate and the harbors. Do you realize,” I says, “that the court house in Denver is modeled from that buildin’ up there on top of that hill—the Acropo- lis, they call it? Oh, yes, it is. And as for statues, why there ain’t one in Colorado that can compare with the ones they used to turn out over night. They had statues to burn.” Old man Digger looked at me admirin’ly. “G’on, Jake,” he said; “I always knew you was smart. Let’s set down.” We all sat, in three hard chairs. smiled. “Tell us some more about it,” she said. so glad to hear.” ‘Then I knew she was guyin’ me. At this moment I turned and looked across the lobby, and there was the young chap I met on the steamer. Miss Nellie saw him at the same time. Miss Nellie “Pm 256 “Oh, papa,” she exclaimed, “there is Pro. fessor Hamlen.”” ‘The professor came over. “Mr. Hamlen,” said Nellie, “is the Corncll professor. You know, he has written several books on Greece. We studied together in America.” Mr. Hamlen shook hands with us all around He smiled as he looked at me. “So you found them,” he said. “TI thought you would have no trouble. It’s easy to locate Americans in Athens.” He turned to Miss Nellie. “To-morrow,” he said, ‘shall we go to the Acropolis? I want to show you an inscription | discovered.” She clapped her hands delightedly. “Oh, yes,” she exclaimed, ‘by all means.” “Can I come along, too?” I asked. Miss Nellie looked at her father. But the old man’s face had nothing to say. “Would it interest you?” she asked, lookin’ directly at me. “You bet it would,” I replied. I saw at once that the young chap had been stakin’ out a claim ahead of me on the same territory. And, also, I saw that I’d have to work night and day to hold my own. The next morning we went to the Acropolis. The papers had been forwarded from Denver, and the old man insisted that he had a day's job ahead readin’ them. So we left him at the hotel. “This,” said the professor, as we walked up a flight of steps that had certainly seen better days, “is the Porte Beule, and yonder on our is the famous temple of Nike. Wonderful, isn’t it!” We passed on up through a place called the Propylica and climbed over some huge boulders that had fallen on the ground. Great builders in those days! By and by we came to the Parthenon, and standin’ at one end we could see the whole town. “Not much as it used to be,” said the pro- fessor. At this moment his name was called by a young chap in the distance who proved to be a Cornell classmate of his. The professor went over to meet him. Nellie and I stood alone lookin’ over Athens. I noticed tears standin’ in her eyes. “Oh! oh! Isn’t it just grand ?” she whispered. “Tell me, Miss Nellie,” I said, “honest, now, just how do you feel ?” She shook her head. “T can’t!” she replied. “Try to,” I says. “For my sake, please try.” I never saw a more beautiful sight in my life than that girl, standin’ there with her blue eyes lookin’ down over the tiled roofs. To me it wasn’t half so inspirin’ as Leadville. I had lived in Leadville. I’d seen the town grow. It was full of historic interest. But Athens—it might have been any place on the map. “Quick!” I says, “tell me your real feelin’s.” It meant a great deal to me. “Tt won’t go any further, Miss Nellie,” I says. She looked at me strange like. The professor was in the distance talkin’ earnestly with his friends. “Well, Mr. Sacket,” she says, “perhaps you This story continued on page 261 comicbooks.com