Picture Play Magazine (Sep 1919 - Feb 1920)

Crooked jumped at is questionable. On the other hand, if he is a wise-head who never loses a cent, why then you can see that something good has come your way, and you've got the first chance at the prize." Ben again broke in before Lucius could say anything : "Listen, Mr. Owen, there is no hurry about this. You've got the first choice; I'm second in this. But before you make any definite proposition to Brother Larrabee, suppose you and I go off by ourselves and talk it over. There might be something in it for both of us. When Ben had led his elder neighbor to a secluded spot at the far end of the grand stand, he burst out talking in a voice so emotional that it seemed feigned rather than real. "That man is no Methodist minister !" he exclaimed. "He's a confidence man — a swindler." "How do you know?" asked Lucius coldly. "Because he once swindled me out of a thousand dollars on a similar scheme." "This same man did?" "The very same man and the same old scheme. I was a poor country lad who had worked at a man's labor since I was fourteen. When I was twenty-one, I counted myself worth fifteen hundred dollars ; every cent of it either earned by the muscles of my back or saved by the cheating of my stomach. With my capital I went to New York. This man met me there. He didn't pose as a country minister then ; he pretended to be a big business man, one of the committee of fifty, that the mayor had appointed to welcome strangers coming to the city to invest. I was green and I trusted him. He sold me the patent rights to a Magic Hair Restorer. It was a fake. I was penniless, I went to the gutter. That man did me the greatest wrong that was ever done to me in my life. He broke my heart — destroyed my faith in men — he broke my spirit, crushed me. Imagine a young man robbed of his money and of his ideals, turned out to beg or starve in a city of strangers." Lucius was thoughtful for a moment. "Some of them city fellers is awful thieves," he said. "They got me once, an' — an' it come nigh bustin' me up like you say." "That so?" "It was when my old orchard was at its best. I picked two carloads of cherries. The cost of crates and pickers was eight hundred dollars, but I stood a chance to make two thousand dollars. I shipped 'em to a commission firm and they wrote back that the market was glutted and that half of the fruit had molded in transit. They sent me a check for five hundred dollars for the whole lot. That busted me all "Is it possible you are a common crook?" the girl cried in a voice of anguish. Straight 29 up, I tell ye ; I reckon I went out o' my head. I chopped the orchard down and put it into corn. Later I found out that them infernal scoundrels had lied. They had jest natcherally robbed me of two thousand dollars. I never got over that." "Well, don't be robbed twice on any cherry deal," Ben said, and the two of them went back to Vera and the children. Late that afternoon while Ben was watching the last trotting race, a hand was laid on his shoulder, and he turned and looked into the eyes of Larrabee. "Come over here behind the grand stand," Larrabee said, "and have a little chat with me." When they were by themselves, Larrabee went straight to the heart of the subject. "I'm hep to what you told that old man. That was all right. I see that you are courting his daughter and have got your own plan for trimming him. I'm not trying to queer your game, if you'll quit trying to queer mine." "Do you mean to say that Mr. Owen told you that I said you were a swindler?" "Sure; he spilled everything. He figured that you were lying to him. Your story about being a poor country boy that had been robbed by me was too fishy for that old country Jake. Didn't he hear you offer to buy the cherry-pitting machine yourself?" "That's right," admitted Ben sadly. "Well, what's good enough for you is good enough for him. That's the way he figured it. He decided that you were trying to scare him out so that you would have a clear field to cop the machine yourself." "Well, I can soon put him straight on that matter." "No, you can't," declared Larrabee, showing his fangs. "You lay off of this game. I've got him hooked now, and if you bust up the deal, believe me, I'll bust you up. Do the people of this community know who you are? Well, I'd darn soon tell 'em." Ben cringed and turned white. "I see you don't fancy going to the pen," smiled Larrabee. "Fine, we can do business. Here's what you've