Part 6 (1/2)
”What do you suppose they will set rub-stake you and send you into the ot a start in that way, and is now nuet a start if you strike Black Dan”
”I hope you will take this pin and wear it while you are on the boat,”
said Too on to Fort Hamilton and seek an intervieith Black Dan if he were still alive ”I wish I had soe in which I could hide it away”
Without saying a word Mr Bolton took the pin, adjusted it into his shi+rt-front, and once er Tom talked with him the more he admired him, and the more he detested his avocation The idea that such a man as that should deliberately prey upon the cupidity of his neighbors! But, then, if he was a gaers who had taken to him
There were a number of finely dressed planters who sat at the table with him, but not one had had a word to say to hio on his way to ruin if it had not been for this solitary man
And how he had trusted hiiven hie an amount ofabout it,” said Tom, as he thrust his hands deep into his pockets ”If I , I shall not have any planters, who have already made their ht of the revolver that was placed upon the stool at the head of his bed did not startle To the cheerful ”Morning” of the sleepy gaet a ”shake up,” for Tom had not yet had opportunity to buy a brush and couards He felthome Memphis was only forty miles away,--he had heard one of the customers in the barber shop ot there the last friend he had on earth was to take leave of hi without hi hiood overcoat besides I think I shall need the overcoat, for if the weather is as cold as it is thisthe fire”
While he was thinking about it, Mr Bolton came out and beckoned to him
Tom followed him into the office, and when the blinds had all been closed, the clerk unlocked his safe and took out three official envelopes; for the thirty thousand et the bills all into one Selecting one of the envelopes, he tore it open, counted out two hundred dollars from it, placed it in a second envelope, sealed it with a blow of his fist upon the counter, and placed Tom's name upon it
”That's yours, Tom,” said he ”I need hardly tell you to be careful of it When you leave the boat at Fort Gibson, the clerk will give it to you”
”Must I change boats again?” asked Tom
”Yes, for this boat draws so much water that she can't run any farther,”
said the clerk ”I'll keep an eye on you and see that you get through all right”
Mr Bolton then proceeded to count out fifty dollars, which he pushed over toward the clerk, after which he put the envelopes in the inside pocket of his vest and buttoned his coat over them
”What's this for?” enquired the clerk
”That's to pay you for your trouble,” said the gambler ”Now, the less I hear about this money the better I shall like it Let us out”
”What have you been doing to him?” enquired the clerk, after he had let Mr Bolton out of the side door on to the guards, locked Toave entrance into the cabin ”Are you any relative of his?”
”No I never saw him until I came on board this boat I told hiive me soood many times”
”Oh, I know him This isn't the first fifty dollars I have made out of him He has a different name every tio he came aboard of us, clean shaved as any fare of twenty-five barrels of dried apples which he was taking to Meareat while, and cleaned everyone out”
”I wish he wouldn't gaentle,” said the clerk, with a laugh ”And if he can't , why, I say let hiht to have seen hi the passengers that he sold theht the saood one!”