Work and Win #07: Fred Fearnot as Actor — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

a — — en Sp ae * ae . se i i al Y, 8 FRED FEARNOT —— had held on to his gun till I counted three I would have pulled the trigger.”’ «Great Scott! You don’t mean that, Fred ?”’ «Yes, I do, for it was my life or his, and if he had fired, Jones would have done so too.”’ «< Well, if you had fired on Rockwell, I should have blazed away at Jones; but, by George, I don’t want to run up against another game like that.’’ ‘Neither do I, but throughout all this country here, there is a prejudice against astern people, par- ticularly those who have borrowed Eastern money and can’t pay it back.” “Oh, well,’’ laughed Terry, ‘‘as for that matter, there’s an old saying that if you lend a man money it will make him your enemy.”’ <‘ Yes, and there’s a good deal of truth init. But, of course, there are exceptions to the rule. There are some men, though, who hate another to whom they have to pay money; even though the loan of it had tided them over a tight place.’’ ‘They tell me that Dubuque is a lively little city with a great deal of wealth and fashion. I hope we’ll have no trouble in settling up the business there, for I’d like to spend a few days taking the place in.”’ They reached Dubuque in the evening and went to one of the best hotels in the city, where they obtained a splendid supper, after which they retired to their room, where Fred spent upwards of an hour writing out the details of the settlement made with Lawyer Cochran and his clients that day. When he had fin- ished it he went out and mailed it, after which the two boys retired early and got a good night’s rest. The next day they went in quest of the party to whom Fred had brought a letter of introduction, and before night all the papers referring to the business that had brought them there were duly signed and delivered. «« Ah, that’s all right,’’ laughed Fred; “no trou- ble here whatever, for these are business people.’’ They spent three days in Dubuque, visiting all the places of interest, and making afew pleasant acquain- tances. On the fourth day they took the train for an- other town about a hundred miles inland from the great river, where they spent a couple of days settling up the matter there. It was accomplished without any difficulty, and both Fred and Terry congratulated themselves on having succeeded so well in doing what they had been sent to do. ‘Now, old man,”’ said Fred, ‘‘ we are free to do as we please and go where we please, so long as we don’t interfere with anybody else.”’ “Yes,” laughed Terry, ‘‘and so long as nobody in- terferes with us.”’ ‘‘ Where shall we go now ?”’ Fred asked. “‘Let’s take a run up to St. Paul and Minneapolis,”’ suggested Terry, ‘‘for they are two cities that Ihave often wished to see.’’ “What is it about them that makes it interesting to you?”’ Fred asked. “They are rival cities and only five or six or seven miles apart, with more energy, push and pluck in “HANDSOME HARRY.” AS AN ACTOR. them than any other cities in the West. I believe the greatest flouring mills in the world are there, and would like to see them.”’ ‘«‘ All right, then, we’ll go there.” _—_————_ CHAPTER IV. THE MAN WHO PAID FOR HIS LESSON. THE two boys took the next train for Minneapolis, and when they reached the city felt very much at home, as the bustle and hurry of business reminded them of the metropolis. They spent a week there and in St. Paul without anything worthy of note occur- ring. Every place of interest in the two cities was visited, particularly the great flouring mills. “T’ll tell you, Fred,’’ said Terry, “‘the West is growing with giant strides. These two cities area long way off from the coast, East or West; yet they are grinding the flour for the bread of the whole na- tion.”’ “Right you are, my boy. They’ve got water power enough here to grind the wheat for half the world.”’ ““Yes,”? assented Terry, ‘“‘and they raise wheat enough here to keep their mills going. Just think of © it; one mill alone turning out ten thousand barrels a — day. Why, that’s turning them out faster than they can count them.”’ That night, at the hotel, Fred and Terry listened to — a party of men who were talking over what they had ) seen at the theater, where a magician had performed some feat that appeared to them to be marvelous and mysterious. Said one of them, ‘‘I saw him throw a silver” dollar in the air, up towards the ceiling, and it disap- | peared entirely. He bared both arms almost to his | elbow, to show that the coin had not disappeared up — his sleeve. By and by he reached up and clutched — the air and grabbed the dollar, holding his hand out for us to see it. It was the most wonderful thing - I ever saw, because I was watching him all the time. It 100K ed to me like he really had-supernatural pow, ers.” Fred chuckled and spoke to the man, saying: et beg your pardon, sir, but didn’t you see how } the trick was done?” : 66 o? 1 | No, said the man, ‘‘and I was watching him all the time.”’ . : “Well, that’s easy,” remarked Fred, “Ican do | that myself.’’ fa e 5 * 4 The man looked straight at Fred, saw that he was a beardless youth and, in rather a contemptuous tone of voice, remarked : oo “ve got five hundred dollars in my pocket tha Says you can’t do it,’ } re Well,” returned Fred, “that’s more money than A Beat with me, but if my friend here will help me out, Dll put up five hundred dollars that will se Z ' can.’’ Eomichboo 24