summoned Barker, who came down, flushed and excited. Laying his hand on
Barker's arm in his old dominant way, he said:--
"Don't delay a single hour, but get a written agreement for that Ditch
property."
Barker smiled. "But I have. Got it this afternoon."
"Then you know?" ejaculated Stacy in surprise.
"I only know," said Barker, coloring, "that you said I could back out of
it if it wasn't signed, and that's what Kitty said, too. And I thought
it looked awfully mean for me to hold a man to that kind of a bargain.
And so--you won't be mad, old fellow, will you?--I thought I'd put
it beyond any question of my own good faith by having it in black
and white." He stopped, laughing and blushing, but still earnest and
sincere. "You don't think me a fool, do you?" he said pathetically.
Stacy smiled grimly. "I think, Barker boy, that if you go to the Branch
you'll have no difficulty in paying for the Ditch property. Good-night."
In a few moments he was back at the club again before any one knew he
had even left the building. As he again re-entered the smoking-room he
found the members still in eager discussion about the new railroad. One
was saying, "If they could get an extension, and carry the road through
Heavy Tree Hill to Boomville they'd be all right."
"I quite agree with you," said Stacy.
CHAPTER III.
The swaying, creaking, Boomville coach had at last reached the level
ridge, and sank forward upon its springs with a sigh of relief and the
slow precipitation of the red dust which had hung in clouds around
it. The whole coach, inside and out, was covered with this impalpable
powder; it had poured into the windows that gaped widely in the
insufferable heat; it lay thick upon the novel read by the passenger who
had for the third or fourth time during the ascent made a gutter of
the half-opened book and blown the dust away in a single puff, like the
smoke from a pistol. It lay in folds and creases over the yellow silk
duster of the handsome woman on the back seat, and when she endeavored
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