The Argosy, December 1905 — page 151: what you’re looking at

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

“HAM” ARDSLEY’S THEORIES. girl’s face was not due to the shadow cast by her sombrero, and she bit her under lip. “ Mother believed that acquaintances made at college would advance me in a business way when I graduated, and, in- directly, would be invaluable to father’s interests. She left nothing undone, even to pawning her jewels, to entertain my chums during week-ends and. holidays. The governor went off very suddenly, within two months after I graduated. Then the truth came out. “We didn’t have enough to build a monument to his memory. Even his in- surance was mortgaged. And I failed to prove mother’s theory. The men in whose homes I had danced cotillions and played billiards were afraid of me in business. They measured me by their own sons. They wanted working parts for their big money-making machines, not good dressers with pleasant manners to decorate their offices. “The strain and disappointment were too much for mother—and then I took to the road. What else was there? A few men have all the money, and unless you are a small but perfectly propor- tioned cog in their wealth-grinding ma- chinery, they have no use for you. I could not keep books, nor use a type- writer nor feed a machine, so why should they want me? But I could write a little. J had edited our college paper one year; so I took to the road to prove my theory that you must either have money to make money, or offer your hands and your brains a living sac- rifice to the man who knows how to wring money from the labor of others.” “Ts the book written? ” The man looked straight ahead. “You can’t dodge the police, steal rides, and write books simultaneously— unless you are a college professor who can afford to hire a bungalow once in so often and write your impressions of the road while they are fresh.” “But you still believe in the theory?” , “Yes. Put a hundred men with money on an island where boats never touch, and in five years two or three of the men will have all the money, and will be paying the others . starvation 9 A 129 wages. There is nothing in the talk about lots of room at the top.” “What are you going to do now?” “ Carry this box to your ranch.” (<4 Oh! 2? Silence fell between them; then the girl pointed to a dust cloud in the dis- tance. “'There’s a wagon coming for the box. I never expected you to carry it eight miles, but I did want to see whether you were game. Now, you can do one of three things”—she drew her pony to a full stop. “ You ean ride on to the ranch and take a job under the foreman of father’s round-up, or you can help Red-Eye Pete at the mess house during the day and work on your book at night, or you can borrow enough money to ride on to Allen’s Junction on the freight and return the money when your book comes out.” , For a few seconds the man was para- lyzed by her consummate assurance, and his face flushed dully. Then, in spite of himself, he smiled. “Thanks for your kind interest in my welfare. I think I will accept one of your offers. I’ve never been a cow- puncher, but if your father’s foreman will stand for my greenness I’ll—well, Pll do my best.” “Shake!” said the girl, and leaning forward impulsively she extended her hand. The dust raised by the approaching team fell upon them, sealing the cove- nant in true Western fashion. * * 7% Two years later, Hamilton Ardsley sat in the moonlight on the San Jacinto creek, aimlessly rolling cigarettes and throwing them away unsmoked. Behind him was camped the Carter outfit, two days out on the round-up. Just before them rose the mountains, and to the south lay the Carter ranch, with its young mistress, just returned from a year’s stay in New York, -Lon- don, and Paris—a year broken in Ards- ley’s memory only by the arrival of the mail bag. It had been her prospective return which had made him rush his astonished men away from comforting bunks and corrals to the hills full a week ahead of CORMICLOOOKS (C@