Smoke Bellew Read online

  X. A FLUTTER IN EGGS

  It was in the A. C. Company's big store at Dawson, on a morning of crispfrost, that Lucille Arral beckoned Smoke Bellew over to the dry-goodscounter. The clerk had gone on an expedition into the storerooms, and,despite the huge, red-hot stoves, Lucille had drawn on her mittensagain.

  Smoke obeyed her call with alacrity. The man did not exist in Dawsonwho would not have been flattered by the notice of Lucille Arral, thesinging soubrette of the tiny stock company that performed nightly atthe Palace Opera House.

  "Things are dead," she complained, with pretty petulance, as soon asthey had shaken hands. "There hasn't been a stampede for a week. Thatmasked ball Skiff Mitchell was going to give us has been postponed.There's no dust in circulation. There's always standing-room now at theOpera House. And there hasn't been a mail from the Outside for two wholeweeks. In short, this burg has crawled into its cave and gone to sleep.We've got to do something. It needs livening--and you and I can do it.We can give it excitement if anybody can. I've broken with Wild Water,you know."

  Smoke caught two almost simultaneous visions. One was of Joy Gastell;the other was of himself, in the midst of a bleak snow-stretch, undera cold arctic moon, being pot-shotted with accurateness and dispatch bythe aforesaid Wild Water. Smoke's reluctance at raising excitement withthe aid of Lucille Arral was too patent for her to miss.

  "I'm not thinking what you are thinking at all, thank you," she chided,with a laugh and a pout. "When I throw myself at your head you'll haveto have more eyes and better ones than you have now to see me."

  "Men have died of heart disease at the sudden announcement of goodfortune," he murmured in the unveracious gladness of relief.

  "Liar," she retorted graciously. "You were more scared to death thananything else. Now take it from me, Mr. Smoke Bellew, I'm not going tomake love to you, and if you dare to make love to me, Wild Water willtake care of your case. You know HIM. Besides, I--I haven't reallybroken with him."

  "Go on with your puzzles," he jeered. "Maybe I can start guessing whatyou're driving at after a while."

  "There's no guessing, Smoke. I'll give it to you straight. Wild Waterthinks I've broken with him, don't you see."

  "Well, have you, or haven't you?"

  "I haven't--there! But it's between you and me in confidence. He thinksI have. I made a noise like breaking with him, and he deserved it, too."

  "Where do I come in, stalking-horse or fall-guy?"

  "Neither. You make a pot of money, we put across the laugh on Wild Waterand cheer Dawson up, and, best of all, and the reason for it all, hegets disciplined. He needs it. He's--well, the best way to put it is,he's too turbulent. Just because he's a big husky, because he owns morerich claims than he can keep count of--"

  "And because he's engaged to the prettiest little woman in Alaska,"Smoke interpolated.

  "Yes, and because of that, too, thank you, is no reason for him to getriotous. He broke out last night again. Sowed the floor of the M. &M. with gold-dust. All of a thousand dollars. Just opened his pokeand scattered it under the feet of the dancers. You've heard of it, ofcourse."

  "Yes; this morning. I'd like to be the sweeper in that establishment.But still I don't get you. Where do I come in?"

  "Listen. He was too turbulent. I broke our engagement, and he's goingaround making a noise like a broken heart. Now we come to it. I likeeggs."

  "They're off!" Smoke cried in despair. "Which way? Which way?"

  "Wait."

  "But what have eggs and appetite got to do with it?" he demanded.

  "Everything, if you'll only listen."

  "Listening, listening," he chanted.

  "Then for Heaven's sake listen. I like eggs. There's only a limitedsupply of eggs in Dawson."

  "Sure. I know that, too. Slavovitch's restaurant has most of them. Hamand one egg, three dollars. Ham and two eggs, five dollars. That meanstwo dollars an egg, retail. And only the swells and the Arrals and theWild Waters can afford them."

  "He likes eggs, too," she continued. "But that's not the point. I likethem. I have breakfast every morning at eleven o'clock at Slavovitch's.I invariably eat two eggs." She paused impressively. "Suppose, justsuppose, somebody corners eggs."

  She waited, and Smoke regarded her with admiring eyes, while in hisheart he backed with approval Wild Water's choice of her.

  "You're not following," she said.

  "Go on," he replied. "I give up. What's the answer?"

  "Stupid! You know Wild Water. When he sees I'm languishing for eggs, andI know his mind like a book, and I know how to languish, what will hedo?"

  "You answer it. Go on."

  "Why, he'll just start stampeding for the man that's got the corner ineggs. He'll buy the corner, no matter what it costs. Picture: I comeinto Slavovitch's at eleven o'clock. Wild Water will be at the nexttable. He'll make it his business to be there. 'Two eggs, shirred,' I'llsay to the waiter. 'Sorry, Miss Arral,' the waiter will say; 'they ain'tno more eggs.' Then up speaks Wild Water, in that big bear voice of his,'Waiter, six eggs, soft boiled.' And the waiter says, 'Yes, sir,' andthe eggs are brought. Picture: Wild Water looks sideways at me, and Ilook like a particularly indignant icicle and summon the waiter. 'Sorry,Miss Arral,' he says, 'but them eggs is Mr. Wild Water's. You see, Miss,he owns 'em.' Picture: Wild Water, triumphant, doing his best to lookunconscious while he eats his six eggs.

  "Another picture: Slavovitch himself bringing two shirred eggs to me andsaying, 'Compliments of Mr. Wild Water, Miss.' What can I do? What can Ipossibly do but smile at Wild Water, and then we make up, of course, andhe'll consider it cheap if he has been compelled to pay ten dollars foreach and every egg in the corner."

  "Go on, go on," Smoke urged. "At what station do I climb onto thechoo-choo cars, or at what water-tank do I get thrown off?"

  "Ninny! You don't get thrown off. You ride the egg-train straight intothe Union Depot. You make that corner in eggs. You start in immediately,to-day. You can buy every egg in Dawson for three dollars and sell outto Wild Water at almost any advance. And then, afterward, we'll let theinside history come out. The laugh will be on Wild Water. His turbulencewill be some subdued. You and I share the glory of it. You make a pileof money. And Dawson wakes up with a grand ha! ha! Of course--if--if youthink the speculation too risky, I'll put up the dust for the corner."

  This last was too much for Smoke. Being only a mere mortal Western man,with queer obsessions about money and women, he declined with scorn theproffer of her dust.

  "Hey! Shorty!" Smoke called across the main street to his partner, whowas trudging along in his swift, slack-jointed way, a naked bottle withfrozen contents conspicuously tucked under his arm. Smoke crossed over.

  "Where have you been all morning? Been looking for you everywhere."

  "Up to Doc's," Shorty answered, holding out the bottle. "Something'swrong with Sally. I seen last night, at feedin'-time, the hair on hertail an' flanks was fallin' out. The Doc says--"

  "Never mind that," Smoke broke in impatiently. "What I want--"

  "What's eatin' you?" Shorty demanded in indignant astonishment. "An'Sally gettin' naked bald in this crimpy weather! I tell you that dog'ssick. Doc says--"

  "Let Sally wait. Listen to me--"

  "I tell you she can't wait. It's cruelty to animals. She'll befrost-bit. What are you in such a fever about anyway? Has that MonteCristo strike proved up?"

  "I don't know, Shorty. But I want you to do me a favor."

  "Sure," Shorty said gallantly, immediately appeased and acquiescent."What is it? Let her rip. Me for you."

  "I want you to buy eggs for me--"

  "Sure, an' Floridy water an' talcum powder, if you say the word. An'poor Sally sheddin' something scand'lous! Look here, Smoke, if you wantto go in for high livin' you go an' buy your own eggs. Beans an' bacon'sgood enough for me."

  "I am going to buy, but I want you to help me to buy. Now, shut up,Shorty. I've got the floor. You go right straight to Slavovitch's. Payas high as three dollars, b
ut buy all he's got."

  "Three dollars!" Shorty groaned. "An' I heard tell only yesterday thathe's got all of seven hundred in stock! Twenty-one hundred dollars forhen-fruit! Say, Smoke, I tell you what. You run right up and see theDoc. He'll tend to your case. An' he'll only charge you an ounce for thefirst prescription. So-long, I gotta to be pullin' my freight."

  He started off, but Smoke caught his partner by the shoulder, arrestinghis progress and whirling him around.

  "Smoke, I'd sure do anything for you," Shorty protested earnestly. "Ifyou had a cold in the head an' was layin' with both arms broke, I'd setby your bedside, day an' night, an' wipe your nose for you. But I'llbe everlastin'ly damned if I'll squander twenty-one hundred good irondollars on hen-fruit for you or any other two-legged man."

  "They're not your dollars, but mine, Shorty. It's a deal I have on. WhatI'm after is to corner every blessed egg in Dawson, in the Klondike, onthe Yukon. You've got to help me out. I haven't the time to tell you ofthe inwardness of the deal. I will afterward, and let you go half onit if you want to. But the thing right now is to get the eggs. Now youhustle up to Slavovitch's and buy all he's got."

  "But what'll I tell 'm? He'll sure know I ain't goin' to eat 'em."

  "Tell him nothing. Money talks. He sells them cooked for two dollars.Offer him up to three for them uncooked. If he gets curious, tell himyou're starting a chicken ranch. What I want is the eggs. And then keepon; nose out every egg in Dawson and buy it. Understand? Buy it! Thatlittle joint across the street from Slavovitch's has a few. Buy them.I'm going over to Klondike City. There's an old man there, with a badleg, who's broke and who has six dozen. He's held them all winter forthe rise, intending to get enough out of them to pay his passage backto Seattle. I'll see he gets his passage, and I'll get the eggs. Nowhustle. And they say that little woman down beyond the sawmill who makesmoccasins has a couple of dozen."

  "All right, if you say so, Smoke. But Slavovitch seems the main squeeze.I'll just get an iron-bound option, black an' white, an' gather in thescatterin' first."

  "All right. Hustle. And I'll tell you the scheme tonight."

  But Shorty flourished the bottle. "I'm goin' to doctor up Sally first.The eggs can wait that long. If they ain't all eaten, they won't beeaten while I'm takin' care of a poor sick dog that's saved your lifean' mine more 'n once."

  Never was a market cornered more quickly. In three days every knownegg in Dawson, with the exception of several dozen, was in the handsof Smoke and Shorty. Smoke had been more liberal in purchasing. Heunblushingly pleaded guilty to having given the old man in Klondike Cityfive dollars apiece for his seventy-two eggs. Shorty had bought most ofthe eggs, and he had driven bargains. He had given only two dollars anegg to the woman who made moccasins, and he prided himself that he hadcome off fairly well with Slavovitch, whose seven hundred and fifteeneggs he had bought at a flat rate of two dollars and a half. On theother hand, he grumbled because the little restaurant across the streethad held him up for two dollars and seventy-five cents for a paltryhundred and thirty-four eggs.

  The several dozen not yet gathered in were in the hands of two persons.One, with whom Shorty was dealing, was an Indian woman who lived in acabin on the hill back of the hospital.

  "I'll get her to-day," Shorty announced next morning. "You wash thedishes, Smoke. I'll be back in a jiffy, if I don't bust myselfa-shovin' dust at her. Gimme a man to deal with every time. These blamedwomen--it's something sad the way they can hold out on a buyer. The onlyway to get 'em is sellin'. Why, you'd think them eggs of hern was solidnuggets."

  In the afternoon, when Smoke returned to the cabin, he found Shortysquatted on the floor, rubbing ointment into Sally's tail, hiscountenance so expressionless that it was suspicious.

  "What luck?" Shorty asked carelessly, after several minutes had passed.

  "Nothing doing," Smoke answered. "How did you get on with the squaw?"

  Shorty cocked his head triumphantly toward a tin pail of eggs on thetable. "Seven dollars a clatter, though," he confessed, after anotherminute of silent rubbing.

  "I offered ten dollars finally," Smoke said, "and then the fellow toldme he'd already sold his eggs. Now that looks bad, Shorty. Somebodyelse is in the market. Those twenty-eight eggs are liable to cause ustrouble. You see, the success of the corner consists in holding everylast--"

  He broke off to stare at his partner. A pronounced change was comingover Shorty--one of agitation masked by extreme deliberation. He closedthe salve-box, wiped his hands slowly and thoroughly on Sally's furrycoat, stood up, went over to the corner and looked at the thermometer,and came back again. He spoke in a low, toneless, and super-politevoice.

  "Do you mind kindly just repeating over how many eggs you said the mandidn't sell to you?" he asked.

  "Twenty-eight."

  "Hum," Shorty communed to himself, with a slight duck of the head ofcareless acknowledgment. Then he glanced with slumbering anger at thestove. "Smoke, we'll have to dig up a new stove. That fire-box is burnedplumb into the oven so it blacks the biscuits."

  "Let the fire-box alone," Smoke commanded, "and tell me what's thematter."

  "Matter? An' you want to know what's the matter? Well, kindly pleasedirect them handsome eyes of yourn at that there pail settin' on thetable. See it?"

  Smoke nodded.

  "Well, I want to tell you one thing, just one thing. They's justexactly, preecisely, nor nothin' more or anythin' less'n twenty-eighteggs in the pail, an' they cost, every danged last one of 'em, justexactly seven great big round iron dollars a throw. If you stand incryin' need of any further items of information, I'm willin' and free toimpart."

  "Go on," Smoke requested.

  "Well, that geezer you was dickerin' with is a big buck Indian. Am Iright?"

  Smoke nodded, and continued to nod to each question.

  "He's got one cheek half gone where a bald-face grizzly swatted him. AmI right? He's a dog-trader--right, eh? His name is Scar-Face Jim. That'sso, ain't it? D'ye get my drift?"

  "You mean we've been bidding--?"

  "Against each other. Sure thing. That squaw's his wife, an' they keephouse on the hill back of the hospital. I could 'a' got them eggs fortwo a throw if you hadn't butted in."

  "And so could I," Smoke laughed, "if you'd kept out, blame you! But itdoesn't amount to anything. We know that we've got the corner. That'sthe big thing."

  Shorty spent the next hour wrestling with a stub of a pencil on themargin of a three-year-old newspaper, and the more interminable andhieroglyphic grew his figures the more cheerful he became.

  "There she stands," he said at last. "Pretty? I guess yes. Lemme giveyou the totals. You an' me has right now in our possession exactly ninehundred an' seventy-three eggs. They cost us exactly two thousand, sevenhundred an' sixty dollars, reckonin' dust at sixteen an ounce an' notcountin' time. An' now listen to me. If we stick up Wild Water forten dollars a egg we stand to win, clean net an' all to the good, justexactly six thousand nine hundred and seventy dollars. Now that's abook-makin' what is, if anybody should ride up on a dog-sled an' askyou. An' I'm in half on it! Put her there, Smoke. I'm that thankfulI'm sure droolin' gratitude. Book-makin'! Say, I'd sooner run with thechicks than the ponies any day."

  At eleven that night Smoke was routed from sound sleep by Shorty,whose fur parka exhaled an atmosphere of keen frost and whose hand wasextremely cold in its contact with Smoke's cheek.

  "What is it now?" Smoke grumbled. "Rest of Sally's hair fallen out?"

  "Nope. But I just had to tell you the good news. I seen Slavovitch. OrSlavovitch seen me, I guess, because he started the seance. He says tome: 'Shorty, I want to speak to you about them eggs. I've kept it quiet.Nobody knows I sold 'em to you. But if you're speculatin', I can put youwise to a good thing.' An' he did, too, Smoke. Now what'd you guess thatgood thing is?"

  "Go on. Name it."

  "Well, maybe it sounds incredible, but that good thing was Wild WaterCharley. He's lookin' to buy eggs. He goes around to Slavovitch an'off
ers him five dollars an egg, an' before he quits he's offerin'eight. An' Slavovitch ain't got no eggs. Last thing Wild Water says toSlavovitch is that he'll beat the head offen him if he ever finds outSlavovitch has eggs cached away somewheres. Slavovitch had to tell 'mhe'd sold the eggs, but that the buyer was secret.

  "Slavovitch says to let him say the word to Wild Water who's got theeggs. 'Shorty,' he says to me, 'Wild Water'll come a-runnin'. You canhold him up for eight dollars.' 'Eight dollars, your grandmother,' Isays. 'He'll fall for ten before I'm done with him.' Anyway, I toldSlavovitch I'd think it over and let him know in the mornin'. Of coursewe'll let 'm pass the word on to Wild Water. Am I right?"

  "You certainly are, Shorty. First thing in the morning tip offSlavovitch. Have him tell Wild Water that you and I are partners in thedeal."

  Five minutes later Smoke was again aroused by Shorty.

  "Say! Smoke! Oh, Smoke!"

  "Yes?"

  "Not a cent less than ten a throw. Do you get that?"

  "Sure thing--all right," Smoke returned sleepily.

  In the morning Smoke chanced upon Lucille Arral again at the dry-goodscounter of the A. C. Store.

  "It's working," he jubilated. "It's working. Wild Water's been aroundto Slavovitch, trying to buy or bully eggs out of him. And by this timeSlavovitch has told him that Shorty and I own the corner."

  Lucille Arral's eyes sparkled with delight. "I'm going to breakfastright now," she cried. "And I'll ask the waiter for eggs, and be soplaintive when there aren't any as to melt a heart of stone. And youknow Wild Water's been around to Slavovitch, trying to buy the cornerif it costs him one of his mines. I know him. And hold out for a stifffigure. Nothing less than ten dollars will satisfy me, and if you sellfor anything less, Smoke, I'll never forgive you."

  That noon, up in their cabin, Shorty placed on the table a pot of beans,a pot of coffee, a pan of sourdough biscuits, a tin of butter and a tinof condensed cream, a smoking platter of moose-meat and bacon, a plateof stewed dried peaches, and called: "Grub's ready. Take a slant atSally first."

  Smoke put aside the harness on which he was sewing, opened the door,and saw Sally and Bright spiritedly driving away a bunch of foragingsled-dogs that belonged to the next cabin. Also he saw something elsethat made him close the door hurriedly and dash to the stove. Thefrying-pan, still hot from the moose-meat and bacon, he put back on thefront lid. Into the frying-pan he put a generous dab of butter, thenreached for an egg, which he broke and dropped spluttering into the pan.As he reached for a second egg, Shorty gained his side and clutched hisarm in an excited grip.

  "Hey! What you doin'?" he demanded.

  "Frying eggs," Smoke informed him, breaking the second one and throwingoff Shorty's detaining hand. "What's the matter with your eyesight? Didyou think I was combing my hair?"

  "Don't you feel well?" Shorty queried anxiously, as Smoke broke a thirdegg and dexterously thrust him back with a stiff-arm jolt on the breast."Or are you just plain loco? That's thirty dollars' worth of eggsalready."

  "And I'm going to make it sixty dollars' worth," was the answer, asSmoke broke the fourth. "Get out of the way, Shorty. Wild Water's comingup the hill, and he'll be here in five minutes."

  Shorty sighed vastly with commingled comprehension and relief, and satdown at the table. By the time the expected knock came at the door,Smoke was facing him across the table, and, before each, was a platecontaining three hot, fried eggs.

  "Come in!" Smoke called.

  Wild Water Charley, a strapping young giant just a fraction of an inchunder six feet in height and carrying a clean weight of one hundred andninety pounds, entered and shook hands.

  "Set down an' have a bite, Wild Water," Shorty invited. "Smoke, fry himsome eggs. I'll bet he ain't scoffed an egg in a coon's age."

  Smoke broke three more eggs into the hot pan, and in several minutesplaced them before his guest, who looked at them with so strange andstrained an expression that Shorty confessed afterward his fear thatWild Water would slip them into his pocket and carry them away.

  "Say, them swells down in the States ain't got nothin' over us in thematter of eats," Shorty gloated. "Here's you an' me an' Smoke gettin'outside ninety dollars' worth of eggs an' not battin' an eye."

  Wild Water stared at the rapidly disappearing eggs and seemed petrified.

  "Pitch in an' eat," Smoke encouraged.

  "They--they ain't worth no ten dollars," Wild Water said slowly.

  Shorty accepted the challenge. "A thing's worth what you can get for it,ain't it?" he demanded.

  "Yes, but--"

  "But nothin'. I'm tellin' you what we can get for 'em. Ten a throw, justlike that. We're the egg trust, Smoke an' me, an' don't you forget it.When we say ten a throw, ten a throw goes." He mopped his plate witha biscuit. "I could almost eat a couple more," he sighed, then helpedhimself to the beans.

  "You can't eat eggs like that," Wild Water objected. "It--it ain'tright."

  "We just dote on eggs, Smoke an' me," was Shorty's excuse.

  Wild Water finished his own plate in a half-hearted way and gazeddubiously at the two comrades. "Say, you fellows can do me a greatfavor," he began tentatively. "Sell me, or lend me, or give me, about adozen of them eggs."

  "Sure," Smoke answered. "I know what a yearning for eggs is myself. Butwe're not so poor that we have to sell our hospitality. They'll cost younothing--" Here a sharp kick under the table admonished him that Shortywas getting nervous. "A dozen, did you say, Wild Water?"

  Wild Water nodded.

  "Go ahead, Shorty," Smoke went on. "Cook them up for him. I cansympathize. I've seen the time myself when I could eat a dozen, straightoff the bat."

  But Wild Water laid a restraining hand on the eager Shorty as heexplained. "I don't mean cooked. I want them with the shells on."

  "So that you can carry 'em away?"

  "That's the idea."

  "But that ain't hospitality," Shorty objected. "It's--it's tradin'."

  Smoke nodded concurrence. "That's different, Wild Water. I thought youjust wanted to eat them. You see, we went into this for a speculation."

  The dangerous blue of Wild Water's eyes began to grow more dangerous."I'll pay you for them," he said sharply. "How much?"

  "Oh, not a dozen," Smoke replied. "We couldn't sell a dozen. We're notretailers; we're speculators. We can't break our own market. We've gota hard and fast corner, and when we sell out it's the whole corner ornothing."

  "How many have you got, and how much do you want for them?"

  "How many have we, Shorty?" Smoke inquired.

  Shorty cleared his throat and performed mental arithmetic aloud. "Lemmesee. Nine hundred an' seventy-three minus nine, that leaves nine hundredan' sixty-two. An' the whole shootin'-match, at ten a throw, will toteup just about nine thousand six hundred an' twenty iron dollars. Ofcourse, Wild Water, we're playin' fair, an' it's money back for badones, though they ain't none. That's one thing I never seen in theKlondike--a bad egg. No man's fool enough to bring in a bad egg."

  "That's fair," Smoke added. "Money back for the bad ones, Wild Water.And there's our proposition--nine thousand six hundred and twentydollars for every egg in the Klondike."

  "You might play them up to twenty a throw an' double your money," Shortysuggested.

  Wild Water shook his head sadly and helped himself to the beans. "Thatwould be too expensive, Shorty. I only want a few. I'll give you tendollars for a couple of dozen. I'll give you twenty--but I can't buy 'emall."

  "All or none," was Smoke's ultimatum.

  "Look here, you two," Wild Water said in a burst of confidence. "I'llbe perfectly honest with you, an' don't let it go any further. You knowMiss Arral an' I was engaged. Well, she's broken everything off. Youknow it. Everybody knows it. It's for her I want them eggs."

  "Huh!" Shorty jeered. "It's clear an' plain why you want 'em with theshells on. But I never thought it of you."

  "Thought what?"

  "It's low-down mean, that's what it is," Shorty rushed on,
virtuouslyindignant. "I wouldn't wonder somebody filled you full of lead for it,an' you'd deserve it, too."

  Wild Water began to flame toward the verge of one of his notoriousBerserker rages. His hands clenched until the cheap fork in one of thembegan to bend, while his blue eyes flashed warning sparks. "Nowlook here, Shorty, just what do you mean? If you think anythingunderhanded--"

  "I mean what I mean," Shorty retorted doggedly, "an' you bet your sweetlife I don't mean anything underhanded. Overhand's the only way to doit. You can't throw 'em any other way."

  "Throw what?"

  "Eggs, prunes, baseballs, anything. But Wild Water, you're makin' amistake. They ain't no crowd ever sat at the Opery House that'll standfor it. Just because she's a actress is no reason you can publiclylambaste her with hen-fruit."

  For the moment it seemed that Wild Water was going to burst or haveapoplexy. He gulped down a mouthful of scalding coffee and slowlyrecovered himself.

  "You're in wrong, Shorty," he said with cold deliberation. "I'mnot going to throw eggs at her. Why, man," he cried, with growingexcitement, "I want to give them eggs to her, on a platter,shirred--that's the way she likes 'em."

  "I knowed I was wrong," Shorty cried generously, "I knowed you couldn'tdo a low-down trick like that."

  "That's all right, Shorty," Wild Water forgave him. "But let's get downto business. You see why I want them eggs. I want 'em bad."

  "Do you want 'em ninety-six hundred an' twenty dollars' worth?" Shortyqueried.

  "It's a hold-up, that's what it is," Wild Water declared irately.

  "It's business," Smoke retorted. "You don't think we're peddling eggsfor our health, do you?"

  "Aw, listen to reason," Wild Water pleaded. "I only want a couple ofdozen. I'll give you twenty apiece for 'em. What do I want with all therest of them eggs? I've went years in this country without eggs, an' Iguess I can keep on managin' without 'em somehow."

  "Don't get het up about it," Shorty counseled. "If you don't want 'em,that settles it. We ain't a-forcin' 'em on you."

  "But I do want 'em," Wild Water complained.

  "Then you know what they'll cost you--ninety-six hundred an' twentydollars, an' if my figurin's wrong, I'll treat."

  "But maybe they won't turn the trick," Wild Water objected. "Maybe MissArral's lost her taste for eggs by this time."

  "I should say Miss Arral's worth the price of the eggs," Smoke put inquietly.

  "Worth it!" Wild Water stood up in the heat of his eloquence. "She'sworth a million dollars. She's worth all I've got. She's worth all thedust in the Klondike." He sat down, and went on in a calmer voice. "Butthat ain't no call for me to gamble ten thousand dollars on a breakfastfor her. Now I've got a proposition. Lend me a couple of dozen of themeggs. I'll turn 'em over to Slavovitch. He'll feed 'em to her with mycompliments. She ain't smiled to me for a hundred years. If them eggsgets a smile for me, I'll take the whole boiling off your hands."

  "Will you sign a contract to that effect?" Smoke said quickly; for heknew that Lucille Arral had agreed to smile.

  Wild Water gasped. "You're almighty swift with business up here on thehill," he said, with a hint of a snarl.

  "We're only accepting your own proposition," Smoke answered.

  "All right--bring on the paper--make it out, hard and fast," Wild Watercried in the anger of surrender.

  Smoke immediately wrote out the document, wherein Wild Water agreed totake every egg delivered to him at ten dollars per egg, provided thatthe two dozen advanced to him brought about a reconciliation withLucille Arral.

  Wild Water paused, with uplifted pen, as he was about to sign. "Holdon," he said. "When I buy eggs I buy good eggs."

  "They ain't a bad egg in the Klondike," Shorty snorted.

  "Just the same, if I find one bad egg you've got to come back with theten I paid for it."

  "That's all right," Smoke placated. "It's only fair."

  "An' every bad egg you come back with I'll eat," Shorty declared.

  Smoke inserted the word "good" in the contract, and Wild Water sullenlysigned, received the trial two dozen in a tin pail, pulled on hismittens, and opened the door.

  "Good-by, you robbers," he growled back at them, and slammed the door.

  Smoke was a witness to the play next morning in Slavovitch's. He sat,as Wild Water's guest, at the table adjoining Lucille Arral's. Almost tothe letter, as she had forecast it, did the scene come off.

  "Haven't you found any eggs yet?" she murmured plaintively to thewaiter.

  "No, ma'am," came the answer. "They say somebody's cornered every egg inDawson. Mr. Slavovitch is trying to buy a few just especially for you.But the fellow that's got the corner won't let loose."

  It was at this juncture that Wild Water beckoned the proprietor to him,and, with one hand on his shoulder, drew his head down. "Look here,Slavovitch," Wild Water whispered hoarsely, "I turned over a couple ofdozen eggs to you last night. Where are they?"

  "In the safe, all but that six I have all thawed and ready for you anytime you sing out."

  "I don't want 'em for myself," Wild Water breathed in a still lowervoice. "Shir 'em up and present 'em to Miss Arral there."

  "I'll attend to it personally myself," Slavovitch assured him.

  "An' don't forget--compliments of me," Wild Water concluded, relaxinghis detaining clutch on the proprietor's shoulder.

  Pretty Lucille Arral was gazing forlornly at the strip of breakfastbacon and the tinned mashed potatoes on her plate when Slavovitch placedbefore her two shirred eggs.

  "Compliments of Mr. Wild Water," they at the next table heard him say.

  Smoke acknowledged to himself that it was a fine bit of acting--thequick, joyous flash in the face of her, the impulsive turn of the head,the spontaneous forerunner of a smile that was only checked by a superbself-control which resolutely drew her face back so that she could saysomething to the restaurant proprietor.

  Smoke felt the kick of Wild Water's moccasined foot under the table.

  "Will she eat 'em?--that's the question--will she eat 'em?" the latterwhispered agonizingly.

  And with sidelong glances they saw Lucille Arral hesitate, almost pushthe dish from her, then surrender to its lure.

  "I'll take them eggs," Wild Water said to Smoke. "The contract holds.Did you see her? Did you see her! She almost smiled. I know her. It'sall fixed. Two more eggs to-morrow an' she'll forgive an' make up. Ifshe wasn't here I'd shake hands, Smoke, I'm that grateful. You ain't arobber; you're a philanthropist."

  Smoke returned jubilantly up the hill to the cabin, only to find Shortyplaying solitaire in black despair. Smoke had long since learned thatwhenever his partner got out the cards for solitaire it was a warningsignal that the bottom had dropped out of the world.

  "Go 'way, don't talk to me," was the first rebuff Smoke received.

  But Shorty soon thawed into a freshet of speech.

  "It's all off with the big Swede," he groaned. "The corner's busted.They'll be sellin' sherry an' egg in all the saloons to-morrow at adollar a flip. They ain't no starvin' orphan child in Dawson that won'tbe wrappin' its tummy around eggs. What d'ye think I run into?--ageezer with three thousan' eggs--d'ye get me? Three thousan', an' justfreighted in from Forty Mile."

  "Fairy stories," Smoke doubted.

  "Fairy hell! I seen them eggs. Gautereaux's his name--a whackin' big,blue-eyed French-Canadian husky. He asked for you first, then took me tothe side and jabbed me straight to the heart. It was our cornerin' eggsthat got him started. He knowed about them three thousan' at Forty Milean' just went an' got 'em. 'Show 'em to me,' I says. An' he did. Therewas his dog-teams, an' a couple of Indian drivers, restin' down thebank where they'd just pulled in from Forty Mile. An' on the sleds wassoap-boxes--teeny wooden soap-boxes.

  "We took one out behind a ice-jam in the middle of the river an' bustedit open. Eggs!--full of 'em, all packed in sawdust. Smoke, you an' melose. We've been gamblin'. D'ye know what he had the gall to say tome?--that they was all ourn at ten dollars a
egg. D'ye know what he wasdoin' when I left his cabin?--drawin' a sign of eggs for sale. Said he'dgive us first choice, at ten a throw, till 2 P. M., an' after that, ifwe didn't come across, he'd bust the market higher'n a kite. Said hewasn't no business man, but that he knowed a good thing when he seenit--meanin' you an' me, as I took it."

  "It's all right," Smoke said cheerfully. "Keep your shirt on an' let methink a moment. Quick action and team play is all that's needed. I'llget Wild Water here at two o'clock to take delivery of eggs. You buythat Gautereaux's eggs. Try and make a bargain. Even if you pay tendollars apiece for them, Wild Water will take them off our hands at thesame price. If you can get them cheaper, why, we make a profit as well.Now go to it. Have them here by not later than two o'clock. BorrowColonel Bowie's dogs and take our team. Have them here by two sharp."

  "Say, Smoke," Shorty called, as his partner started down the hill."Better take an umbrella. I wouldn't be none surprised to see theweather rainin' eggs before you get back."

  Smoke found Wild Water at the M. & M., and a stormy half-hour ensued.

  "I warn you we've picked up some more eggs," Smoke said, after WildWater had agreed to bring his dust to the cabin at two o'clock and payon delivery.

  "You're luckier at finding eggs than me," Wild Water admitted. "Now, howmany eggs have you got now?--an' how much dust do I tote up the hill?"

  Smoke consulted his notebook. "As it stands now, according to Shorty'sfigures, we've three thousand nine hundred and sixty-two eggs. Multiplyby ten--"

  "Forty thousand dollars!" Wild Water bellowed. "You said there was onlysomething like nine hundred eggs. It's a stickup! I won't stand for it!"

  Smoke drew the contract from his pocket and pointed to the PAY ONDELIVERY. "No mention is made of the number of eggs to be delivered. Youagreed to pay ten dollars for every egg we delivered to you. Well, we'vegot the eggs, and a signed contract is a signed contract. Honestly,though, Wild Water, we didn't know about those other eggs untilafterward. Then we had to buy them in order to make our corner good."

  For five long minutes, in choking silence, Wild Water fought a battlewith himself, then reluctantly gave in.

  "I'm in bad," he said brokenly. "The landscape's fair sproutin' eggs.An' the quicker I get out the better. There might come a landslide of'em. I'll be there at two o'clock. But forty thousand dollars!"

  "It's only thirty-nine thousand six hundred an' twenty," Smokecorrected. "It'll weigh two hundred pounds," Wild Water raved on. "I'llhave to freight it up with a dog-team."

  "We'll lend you our teams to carry the eggs away," Smoke volunteered.

  "But where'll I cache 'em? Never mind. I'll be there. But as long as Ilive I'll never eat another egg. I'm full sick of 'em."

  At half-past one, doubling the dog-teams for the steep pitch of thehill, Shorty arrived with Gautereaux's eggs. "We dang near double ourwinnings," Shorty told Smoke, as they piled the soap-boxes inside thecabin. "I holds 'm down to eight dollars, an' after he cussed loco inFrench he falls for it. Now that's two dollars clear profit to us foreach egg, an' they're three thousan' of 'em. I paid 'm in full. Here'sthe receipt."

  While Smoke got out the gold-scales and prepared for business, Shortydevoted himself to calculation.

  "There's the figgers," he announced triumphantly. "We win twelvethousan' nine hundred an' seventy dollars. An' we don't do Wild Waterno harm. He wins Miss Arral. Besides, he gets all them eggs. It's sure abargain-counter all around. Nobody loses."

  "Even Gautereaux's twenty-four thousand to the good," Smoke laughed,"minus, of course, what the eggs and the freighting cost him. Andif Wild Water plays the corner, he may make a profit out of the eggshimself."

  Promptly at two o'clock, Shorty, peeping, saw Wild Water coming up thehill. When he entered he was brisk and businesslike. He took off his bigbearskin coat, hung it on a nail, and sat down at the table.

  "Bring on them eggs, you pirates," he commenced. "An' after this day, ifyou know what's good for you, never mention eggs to me again."

  They began on the miscellaneous assortment of the original corner,all three men counting. When two hundred had been reached, Wild Watersuddenly cracked an egg on the edge of the table and opened it deftlywith his thumbs.

  "Hey! Hold on!" Shorty objected.

  "It's my egg, ain't it?" Wild Water snarled. "I'm paying ten dollars forit, ain't I? But I ain't buying no pig in a poke. When I cough up tenbucks an egg I want to know what I'm gettin'."

  "If you don't like it, I'll eat it," Shorty volunteered maliciously.

  Wild Water looked and smelled and shook his head. "No, you don't,Shorty. That's a good egg. Gimme a pail. I'm goin' to eat it myself forsupper."

  Thrice again Wild Water cracked good eggs experimentally and put them inthe pail beside him.

  "Two more than you figgered, Shorty," he said at the end of the count."Nine hundred an' sixty-four, not sixty-two."

  "My mistake," Shorty acknowledged handsomely. "We'll throw 'em in forgood measure."

  "Guess you can afford to," Wild Water accepted grimly. "Pass the batch.Nine thousan' six hundred an' twenty dollars. I'll pay for it now. Writea receipt, Smoke."

  "Why not count the rest," Smoke suggested, "and pay all at once?"

  Wild Water shook his head. "I'm no good at figgers. One batch at a timean' no mistakes."

  Going to his fur coat, from each of the side pockets he drew forth twosacks of dust, so rotund and long that they resembled bologna sausages.When the first batch had been paid for, there remained in the gold-sacksnot more than several hundred dollars.

  A soap-box was carried to the table, and the count of the three thousandbegan. At the end of one hundred, Wild Water struck an egg sharplyagainst the edge of the table. There was no crack. The resultant soundwas like that of the striking of a sphere of solid marble.

  "Frozen solid," he remarked, striking more sharply.

  He held the egg up, and they could see the shell powdered to minutefragments along the line of impact.

  "Huh!" said Shorty. "It ought to be solid, seein' it has just beenfreighted up from Forty Mile. It'll take an ax to bust it."

  "Me for the ax," said Wild Water.

  Smoke brought the ax, and Wild Water, with the clever hand and eye ofthe woodsman, split the egg cleanly in half. The appearance of the egg'sinterior was anything but satisfactory. Smoke felt a premonitory chill.Shorty was more valiant. He held one of the halves to his nose.

  "Smells all right," he said.

  "But it looks all wrong," Wild Water contended. "An' how can it smellwhen the smell's frozen along with the rest of it? Wait a minute."

  He put the two halves into a frying-pan and placed the latter on thefront lid of the hot stove. Then the three men, with distended, questingnostrils, waited in silence. Slowly an unmistakable odor began to driftthrough the room. Wild Water forbore to speak, and Shorty remained dumbdespite conviction.

  "Throw it out," Smoke cried, gasping.

  "What's the good?" asked Wild Water. "We've got to sample the rest."

  "Not in this cabin." Smoke coughed and conquered a qualm. "Chop themopen, and we can test by looking at them. Throw it out, Shorty--Throw itout! Phew! And leave the door open!"

  Box after box was opened; egg after egg, chosen at random, was choppedin two; and every egg carried the same message of hopeless, irremediabledecay.

  "I won't ask you to eat 'em, Shorty," Wild Water jeered, "an' if youdon't mind, I can't get outa here too quick. My contract called for GOODeggs. If you'll loan me a sled an' team I'll haul them good ones awaybefore they get contaminated."

  Smoke helped in loading the sled. Shorty sat at the table, the cardslaid before him for solitaire.

  "Say, how long you been holdin' that corner?" was Wild Water's partinggibe.

  Smoke made no reply, and, with one glance at his absorbed partner,proceeded to fling the soap boxes out into the snow.

  "Say, Shorty, how much did you say you paid for that three thousand?"Smoke queried gently.

  "Eight
dollars. Go 'way. Don't talk to me. I can figger as well as you.We lose seventeen thousan' on the flutter, if anybody should ride up ona dog-sled an' ask you. I figgered that out while waitin' for the firstegg to smell."

  Smoke pondered a few minutes, then again broke silence. "Say, Shorty.Forty thousand dollars gold weighs two hundred pounds. Wild Waterborrowed our sled and team to haul away his eggs. He came up the hillwithout a sled. Those two sacks of dust in his coat pockets weighedabout twenty pounds each. The understanding was cash on delivery. Hebrought enough dust to pay for the good eggs. He never expected to payfor those three thousand. He knew they were bad. Now how did he knowthey were bad? What do you make of it, anyway?"

  Shorty gathered the cards, started to shuffle a new deal, then paused."Huh! That ain't nothin'. A child could answer it. We lose seventeenthousan'. Wild Water wins seventeen thousan'. Them eggs of Gautereaux'swas Wild Water's all the time. Anything else you're curious to know?"

  "Yes. Why in the name of common sense didn't you find out whether thoseeggs were good before you paid for them?"

  "Just as easy as the first question. Wild Water swung the bunco gametimed to seconds. I hadn't no time to examine them eggs. I had to hustleto get 'em here for delivery. An' now, Smoke, lemme ask you one civilquestion. What did you say was the party's name that put this egg corneridea into your head?"

  Shorty had lost the sixteenth consecutive game of solitaire, and Smokewas casting about to begin the preparation of supper, when ColonelBowie knocked at the door, handed Smoke a letter, and went on to his owncabin.

  "Did you see his face?" Shorty raved. "He was almost bustin' to keepit straight. It's the big ha! ha! for you an' me, Smoke. We won't neverdast show our faces again in Dawson."

  The letter was from Wild Water, and Smoke read it aloud:

  Dear Smoke and Shorty: I write to ask, with compliments of the season,your presence at a supper to-night at Slavovitch's joint. Miss Arralwill be there and so will Gautereaux. Him and me was pardners down atCircle five years ago. He is all right and is going to be best man.About them eggs. They come into the country four years back. They wasbad when they come in. They was bad when they left California. Theyalways was bad. They stopped at Carluk one winter, and one winter atNutlik, and last winter at Forty Mile, where they was sold for storage.And this winter I guess they stop at Dawson. Don't keep them in ahot room. Lucille says to say you and her and me has sure made someexcitement for Dawson. And I say the drinks is on you, and that goes.

  Respectfully your friend, W. W.

  "Well? What have you got to say?" Smoke queried. "We accept theinvitation, of course?"

  "I got one thing to say," Shorty answered. "An' that is Wild Water won'tnever suffer if he goes broke. He's a good actor--a gosh-blamed goodactor. An' I got another thing to say: my figgers is all wrong. WildWater wins seventeen thousan' all right, but he wins more 'n that. Youan' me has made him a present of every good egg in the Klondike--ninehundred an' sixty-four of 'em, two thrown in for good measure. An' hewas that ornery, mean cussed that he packed off the three opened onesin the pail. An' I got a last thing to say. You an' me is legitimateprospectors an' practical gold-miners. But when it comes to fi-nancewe're sure the fattest suckers that ever fell for the get-rich-quickbunco. After this it's you an' me for the high rocks an' tall timber,an' if you ever mention eggs to me we dissolve pardnership there an'then. Get me?"