Adventure, December 3, 1920 — page 138: what you’re looking at

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

ee a ST re ‘ - . , o ye, re Fee ¥ ew — ee, Tw . .~ aa ae -* 7s rear hate. A. Complete Ni bY\VC-Roberison HERE is no need of detailing how I came home again to the old house in the sand-lots, to find that my poor mother was taking in lodgers to sup- port herself and her sister. The two of them lived up in the garret, renting out all the rest of the house. Even Aunt Nora’s little place down the shore was leased, and the two poor women were roosting up in that bare attic, scrimping along for bare life and trying desper- ately to make both ends meet. I changed all that, you may be sure, before I had been home an hour. Think of coming home after four years of wandering, to such conditions! “Your aunt hasn’t been very well lately, Craig,” said my mother, dabbing happily at her eyes. “I’m terribly sorry you have to find things this way. I think we cag make room for a cot under the south gable if you’re not too proud to put up with us, dear.” Never a word, mind you, about money or expenses or food. Just plain glad to see me in spite of everything. For ten minutes they talked ahead and then I opened up the grip and showed them what was inside. I thought they would faint for a while. Then— “Craig, did—did you come by it honestly?” faltered my poor mother. “Honestly?” I let out a great laugh and caught her up in a hug. “By the gods, I came by it as honestly as ever man came by gold! And now we’re going to have a house-cleaning. You'll be back in your own rightful places, you two, within half an hour. I’m going to send your gentlemen lodgers packing in short order——” “But, Craig!” interrupted Aunt Nora fear- ’ ‘ ; . > ae hee Ad | } goa in at ¥t Ae Ml Ys . “a 9 a « ine, e2 ‘eo peg th y AUS ty ~ fy a . - ? + ae! * : Sy = re. ages < . as Pe . , co ~ (Mew te « re o%y - - 4 al ~ “i 3 x 7 mere ¢ = . = 4 . . oUF - = * . Lk . om ° -: . - * toes ~ 9 ; Pi 2-P» * a . ”. - ? ae a ae “4 5 | ¥ *” J « => 4 ow “ = ree ol ry eee . “They—they rent by the week and we fully. have no right to eject them after taking their 3) money. You know, by law—— “Law be cursed!” I said, laughing. ‘Play with the gold while I’m gone. Here, wait.” I thrust a handful of the gold into my pocket and went down-stairs, leaving them to cry in each other’s arms. To tell the honest truth, I did wince a little on the way down. If those two women ever suspected just how that gold had been come by, I believe they’d never have touched it. But I told no lies. Did ever man come by gold, sudden gold, hard, round, yellow gold, with any degree of honesty? Never mind; it caused me no loss of sleep. I had sweated over half the Orient for that gold. I had slaved and bullied and fought for it, from Vladivostok to Bombay but, thank the Lord, I hadn’t schemed for it. Nobody could ever call Craig Day a thief or a swindler. One can’t deny that there had been rough work at times; yet, otherwise, why had I been — blessed with a thick skull and a bunch of muscles? That affair in Celebes for example, with the Dutchmen and the oil-wells, and Ike Hastings from St. Louis, and the Chinese tong who thought they had first rights to the oil. Ah, well, poor Hastings was dead, and the others were as leaves in an Autumn wind. Here I was home again. Nothing else mattered. The thought of those two poor women crying for joy in each other’s arms perhaps made me a little wee bit brutal in the way I went about it. Going down-stairs, I sought my mother’s room first of all—the room where she had loved to sit and look out over the sea and the lonely sand-lots. I knocked at the door, got no answer, and opened, There was a stifled cry and I saw an 128 (E@) Ebooks com