The Ransom of Red Chief Page: 10
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THE SATURDAY EFE.ING 'POST
HOW I LOST MY SAVINGS ACHAIIN
EV IDENC TFA Misfit Speculation in Farming'
M Y FATHER is something of a gar-
dener. He has raised morel tomatoes,
tiorei carrots, more turnips and more other
rinds of garden truck to the square rodl
than were ever raised before in Northern
terkimier County, Neiw York. He is a
book-farmer. All the agricultural pam-
phlets issued by various departments of
agriculture in the northeastern States are
sent to him regularly, and he follows their
precepts with great care and enthusiasm.
The result is, people come many miles tor
see his beets and cabbages, peas and hill
beans.
Among those who came was a young
school-teacher, who saw in agriculture a
ready means for wealth. He holrrowt'd a
pamphlltt on potatoes, talked fertilizers
with father for an hour or so and then rntade
an invstm ent.
lie rented twvo acres on a sandy level
ldown toward lHinckley; he blouht a ton
of fertilizer for twenty-seven dollars: he
bought thirty-five bushels of seed pI)otatoes
att a dollar a bushel; the plowing cost him
six dollars, and haTow\ing three doIllars
more. Without counting the hours he him-
self put iin, his total outlay was upwairdt of
eight y dollars.
Hfis neighbors watched the cropt with in-
elrest. Few of them had any faith what-
ever iIn book-farning, and counted father's
success as one of the 'freaks of Naturte. They
did not believe any other man could doI
\lthat he had done once in a thousand
times.
But when the potatoes began to show
their fuzzy, crinkld tops above the hills,
and the tield exhibited a growth unsur--
passldi anywhere around, there was a
slump in the comments, for a Iime at 'last.
The sciool-teIacheir worked nmoleilike,
nulclhing the soil of his potato patch. It
saw the first potato hug come, and killed
it.h btween two sticks. Th(,n he sal- somnc
more, which he also killed michiuanically.
Soon hly came too thickly for hiln: thiii
t ine for spraying arrived. Ilhe bought ai
six-dollar sprayer. But with the spraying
days camlle an offTlr from a party of fisher-
men who needed a guide. They told theschool-teacher, a sturdy chiap, that they
would pay him two dollars a today for seven
days' guiding. The teacher accented, and
went into the woods, leaving his unused
spray in the woodshed.
Eight days later the school-teacher re-
turned from the woods with fourteen
dollars in his pocket. He went forthwith to
his potato patch with the spray to poison
the bugs. Every green leaf was caten by
the insects. In one week the two acres of
potatoes was rendered a field of ruin. When
digging time came the school-teacher did
not get his seed back. Hii is eglct of the
field for the sake of fourteen dollars cost
him at least two hundred dollars clear
profit, as well as the actual outlay of more
than one hundred dollars cash and time.
This school-teacher andt all his neighbors
could not be convinced by any tldemontt'a-
tion now that scientific farmiing pays. Not
onl' did the school-t teacher ,y his -,rasping
at fourteen dollars lose for himself a line
profit, but he checlked for years the aIppli-
cation of scient ific principles to the moun-
tain valley farls. -I. S. S.
The Sale of Griffer
" FpERE is the finest dog in Ametrica,"
I remarked lmy companion. We were
sitting on the porchl of ain Atlantic City
hotel, in March, I1:. I had always prided
myself on my knowledge of dogs, and, in
fact, kept a small kennel at my P'ennsy-
vania lhomIe.
I looked up and saw an English bulldog
approaching, led by a man of middle age.
I at once recognized the dogt as the cele-
brated Darby Grifller.
"I am going: to examine that dog, he-
cause I have oft It seen him in inbench shows,
and I guess I'll buy him," I said. The
latter part of imy remark was in jest, as I
knewt the dog's owners would not dispose
of himi at atny (ligur''.
The gentlemanm with the dog sat down
not far from us and hegamn st roking the dog.
fMy ac(lttaintancllc, whose knowledge of dogs
seem'tt'd unlimited, suggested that We ex-
amine (riffer. Accordingly, I opened tilee
corllvei sation. "Pardon nme, sir, bullt what
is the name of your dlog?""I Darby Gritfer. Guess you haw heard
of him."
Thereupon xwe sat down and becrim on!!-
grossed in dog-talk. W e were all strangert,l'
as I thought. Afterward I found out, to
mri sorrow., that we -were lnot.
I asked the value of lary Griier, ani
was told twenity-five hundred dollars.
"I'll give you two thousand dollars cash
for him," I remarked, again in jrst.
"No, I would not sell him for h'ss tha:
t xeln y--five hundred dollarss," was the r el! .
"\\hat!" I cried. "Is he yours?"
"Yes," he replied. "I purchased him
about a month ago for two thousand
dollars."
Then I began to scrutinize ;riffer
closely, anld t he o'wnlter, whose assudtllI
name xwas Jenkis, Iibroutght folr'th a long p-ed-
igree, which I read w-ith covetous txe,,s.
Next mor lling I was up cal and, seeing
M'. Grt'uger, miy first a'lcilu ilattnce', I ask'd
him what he thought of ctrilTer. I als,
asked him to exaim ' hine t andt lt me klno,
if he w(re ' orIth tiwi nty -live hundre'(,d (lol-
lars. Later ill the day we 0net Mr. Jlenks
with (Gripifer.
" You said you would sell riflerr' for
twenty-lfive hundred dollars cas h, did you
not'?" I asked.
"I most assuredly did," he replied with
a smile.
Meanwhile Mrl. Iruger was examininii
r(hiffer with what I considered the skilledh
eye of an expel'rt klennl-keeri. 110 looked
upll anid said: "That doe's hlth is tinu.
His eyes and teeth could not lihe better. li
fact, Ihe is the best-built English bull 1 ev\er
saw.
I xwas thorouhly satisfied with thi(e dlog,
his pedigree and his value. so I Ill(I' ()out
a chick for 1weit y-live hunidrei d dllars,
x which I saw Mr. Jenks cash at the hotel,
anid Darby (Griff'r, so called, icalne miinte.
T\wo clays later I ,went to imy kennels at
my home with (:rifftr and -\'ithout it h
slightest misgiving. Inside of a week I
was entirely disillusioned. I found out
that the original I)arby (Irifter was at
his lennels, Iwhere he should Ihe, and that
I had paid twenty-five hundred dollars for
a dog resembling hil, which I afterward
sold for forty dollars. -E. A. (;.THE RANSOM OF RED CHIEF
"I was rodet," says Bill. "the ninety
miles to the stocikatlde, not barring an inch.
'I'heln, liwhen the settlers was res.cuted, 1 was
given oats. Sandl ain't a >talatahle sub-
stitute. And then, for an iolur 1 had to
try to explain to him wlhy there was nothing'
in hiolts, howi ait road c'al run b oth ways and
wxhat Iiakes (the grass green. I tell yoitl,
Sm:i, a hunli cat onl stand so much.i, I
take's hinl bi th'e neck of his clilites and
rags hint down the mountain. (In the way
it', kicks nmy legs black-and-bhlu from the'
knees down; aitnd I've( got to have two or
three bites on my thumb andl hland cautt'r-
izedl.
"But hole's gone" ' continues iill -"'one
home. showed him the road tit Summit
and kicked hint about eight feet nearer there
at one kick. I 'I sorry \-v lose the ransom;
but it was eiilther that or Bill l)riscoll to the
nalhouse."
Hill is puflinst and liowing, but there is a
look of ineffahl peace and growing con-
tent oin his irose-pink features.
"Bill," says , "''there isn't any' heart
disease ill your fanuii, is th're?"
"No," s s Bill , '"nting chronict' ex-
cetl'I malaria aun accidents. Vihii.
"Then you nutight turn aroundt" says I,
and have' a lookI hIehind ,otu."
Bill turns and sees the hoy. and loses his
complexion and sits down phultn on thiie
groundl anld begin to pluckl aiLmlessly atl
grass and llittle sticks. "'or alin hour 1 was
aftaid for his mindi. And then 1 told hin
lhaiit i't'' hete xxas tIo put l h, whole jrot
through inundiatoly and that we would
gt the ransom and he oft with it by nid-
ntighlit if old lDorset fell in with our proposi-
tion. So Bill bra'ed up enough to giv' the
kid a weak sort of a smile and a prolise toi
lay the Russian in a Japanese war with
limt as sooni as he felt a little teti'r.
I ihad a scheme for collect nlg that raniso !n
without daer of being caught bi countlter-(( Fm:/urdedl Jrut ql 9)
professional kidnapers. The tree under
which ithe answer was to Ib left--and tlte
moneyiiir later o xl was close to the i r a
fence with hiiig, lare fields on all sidhls. If a
gangl of on('istiial should lib watching for
anll in to cot ' fior the note lh'y could
see him a long wiiay off crossing ihei ields or
in the road. But, no, sirree! \t half-past
eight I iwas iup in that tree, its well hidd en
as a tr'e total, xwailtitg fori t ill' t in ssn tger to
arrive.
Exactly on time, a half-grown boy rides
up the road o(n ia bicycle, locates the paste-
hoard box at the foot of the fnce-post,
slips na folded piece of paper into it and
pedals li away again hack toward Sunmmit.
I waited an hur and then concluded the
thing was sltlarie. I slid downr the tre ie,
got t he note, sliippel along the' fence till I
struck t l' woodstl, and was back at tilhe cave
in another half an hour. I opened the note,
gorit near tlhe lantern and read it to Bill. It
was written with a pen in a crabbdl hand,
and lthe sum and substance of it was this:
Tw1"o 1),'p, role .I, t.
Gont, n, l : I received your' lette'
to -day y post, in r d at to the ramnsoni
Yolu ask for the ir'et tin of litx sort. I
think you art a little high in your de-
imands, and 1 hi'r'-y take you a
'icounteir-iproposition, which I ant in-
clined to bliev, you will accelit.
You bring Johunny hotre' and pay ie
two hundred and fifty dollars in' cash
and I aree t to take hit oiT ur hands.
You had better con, at nigh, fir the
neighbors believe he is lst, and I
cottldn't be responsible for what they'
would do to anybodyI they saw bring-
ing himi back. Very respectfully,
"Great pirates of Penzance!" says I;
"of all the inpudent - "
But I glanced at Bill, and hesitated. Hi,
11 ' - iever saw ont the face of :a dumb ,r' l: talking
brut e.
"Sam," says he, what'ss two hunlrtd
and fifty dolls, after all? \te'v gut t h
mony. ne more night of this lid will
send mn fo a it bed in ltedliam. lesid s beting
ia thorough genileman, t think i ri . Ir',iiis
is ai sipendthrift for' nr akin g is suc'h a lilberal
offer. You ain't going' to l it the chance go,
art'e' voI l "
"'T!'ll you 1he truth, Bill," says I, "this
little h ilamb has somewhat got on i n
nerves, too. AW'il tiltk hin home, ipayi th
ransom and )alke ourl t gt -awtay."
\We( too: him hromei tllat night. We t
him to go by tilling him that his father had
bought a silver-nlountd rili' and a pair iof
moveuasils for himi , and we were giing to
hunt Ibars the 11 nxt L (ay-.
It wais just t wl((e o'clock when we
knocked at IElbnzer'is front door. Just at
the nioment x\ihen I should have ,been
abstrac'ting th fifteen hundred d dollars from
the hox under the ( i, tr l '. a or, lin"t to thi
original proposition, ill wais countilig outI
two hundrtidl anti ifty dollars into 1 )orSt's
\\hini the kid found out wxe 'irt' g'int.
to leave h hiat l hlome h started up a ih l\'
like a calliope antd fastenedll himself aI
tight as a i lei h to Bill's lug I lis father
peeled hin away gradually, like ai porous
"ix'- lonfg can you hold him'?" asks
Bill.
"I am not as strong as I used to he,"'
says olld I orst, "but I think I can promise
yo() telln minutes"
EInoutgh," says Bill. "In ten minute=
I shall cross the centrall , Southern andl
Middle \Vt'stern States, and hte logging it
trippingly for the ('anatian border."
And, as dark as it was, and a, fat as Bill
as, and a ood a gord I runner as I ant, he wa-
a niod mile and a half our of Summit ibefor
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Reference the current page of this Prose (Fiction).
Henry, O., 1862-1910. The Ransom of Red Chief, prose (fiction), July 6, 1907; Philadelphia. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth139425/m1/4/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.