FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142  
143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   >>   >|  
ions of meeting Harris on this occasion, and, if the truth be told, he had little desire to meet him. Riles had no pangs of conscience over his part in the plot against his old neighbour, but he had an uneasy feeling of cowardice. When suddenly his eye fell on Harris and his big, strapping son, his first impulse was to slip away in the crowd before they should notice him. But it was only for a moment; the next, Harris was calling, "'Lo, Hiram," and the two were shaking hands as old friends met in a far country. "Didja get my letter?" asked Riles, ignoring the commonplaces with which it was their custom to introduce any important topic. "Didja sell the farm?" "I got the letter, Hiram, but I didn't sell the farm. Thought we'd just have a look over this coal mine before goin' into the business altogether." "H-s-h. Throttle your voice down. This place is full of men on the look-out for somethin' like that, an' you can't keep it too dark until it's all settled." "Well, ain't we going to put up somewhere?" said Allan, breaking the silence that followed Riles' warning. "There ought to be an Alberta hotel here, somewhere. I saw one in every town for the last two hundred miles." "I got that beat," said Riles, with a snicker. "Boardin' on a lord, or duke, or somethin'." "Don't say?" "Yeh. You mind Gard'ner? Him 'at lit out from Plainville after that stealin' affair?" "The one you got credit for bein' mixed up in?" said Allan, with disconcerting frankness. "A lame kind of a lord he'd make. What about him?" "Well, he struck a soft thing out here, fo' sure. This lord I'm tellin' you about's gone off home over some bloomin' estate or other, an' Gard'ner's runnin' his ranch--his 'bloody-well rawnch' he calls it. Gets a good fat wad for ridin' round, an' hires a man to do the work. But it was Gard'ner put me on t' this coal mine deal." "Let's get settled first, and we'll talk about Gardiner and the mine afterwards," said Harris, and they joined the throng that was now wending its way to the hotels. "How's your thirst, Hiram?" inquired Harris, after he had registered. "Pretty sticky," confessed Riles. "But they soak you a quarter to wash it out here." "Well, I got a quarter." "A quarter apiece, I mean." "Well, I got a quarter apiece," said Harris. "Come on." Riles followed, astonishment over Harris's sudden liberality, and misgiving as to how he himself could avoid a similar expenditure, struggli
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142  
143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Harris

 
quarter
 

somethin

 

letter

 

apiece

 

settled

 
Plainville
 
tellin
 

credit

 

disconcerting


affair

 

stealin

 

struck

 

frankness

 

registered

 
inquired
 

Pretty

 
sticky
 

confessed

 

thirst


wending

 

hotels

 

similar

 
expenditure
 

struggli

 

astonishment

 

sudden

 

liberality

 
misgiving
 

throng


joined

 

rawnch

 
bloody
 

bloomin

 

estate

 

runnin

 
Gardiner
 
notice
 

moment

 

strapping


impulse
 

calling

 

country

 

ignoring

 

shaking

 

friends

 

desire

 
meeting
 

occasion

 
conscience