Flowing Gold

some extra care usually attaches to a breakfast ordered from the Governor's suite-most elegant and most expensive of all the suites-hence the waiter checked over his card and made a

at the waiter had not forgotten his cigarettes. Some people began their days with cold showers-nothing less than a cruel shock to a languid nervous system. An atrocious practice, the

hen cast a hungry eye over the contents of the rubber-tired breakfast table. He

st club. Thanks to you, my first impression of Dallas is wholly delightful." He seated himself in a padded boudo

r first visi

are strange. Perhaps they are full of adventure for me. I hope so. Anything exciting can happen i

Wh

e heard it said that

s,

of cities like Dallas where men like you and me, Heaven be praised, have neither friends, acquaintances, nor relatives. In that

o deep, so well modulated, so pleasant, invested him with unusual distinction. Probably he was an actor! But no! Not in the Gove

if you are

a nauseating question-

f course. It's like this: sometimes gentlemen like-well, like you, sir-give me tips. They drop a hint, like, about their stocks, an

for it is evident that you are endowed with the money-making instinct and that you unerringly recognize it in others. Very well, I shall

er announced, apologetically: "Here's all I find, sir. I

y coat, if

ellow crowded me as I left my train. Um-m! Robbed-at the very gates of Baghdad! Dallas is a City of Adventure. Please add your tip to the che

of individuality affected by a certain few of New York's exclusive tailors, and when he finally surveyed himself in the glass, there was no denying the fact that he presented an appearance of unusual distinction. As he turned a

time for us to introduce o

he strode out of his ri

the spacious marble steps, he saw that the hotel was indeed doing a big business, for already the lobby was thickl

was one of these. Before many moments, he was in the manager's office, explaining, suavely, "Now

d. If you wish, I'll have yo

somethin

"Scarcely! That suite is our pet and our pride. T

ce. May I inqu

ive dolla

." Mr. Gray beame

hers, and frequently we have to double up our guests. This oil excitement i

to invest in it. I don't even represent a syndicate of Eastern capitalists. On the contrary, I am a penniless adventurer whom chance alone has cast upon your hospitable grand stai

s would devil you to death if you gave them a chance. No

"Please give me the names of your leading bankers.

e information usually denied to the average stranger; the impression his swift, searching q

urself at the banks to-day. If we can ac

ffer. "Your manner of conducting a hotel impresses me deeply, and I shall s

t of the gods, and most conspicuous successes, in whatever line, are due to it. Now and then comes an individual who is cold, even repellent, and yet who rises to full accomplishment by reason of pure int

An intimate word or two and she was in a flutter. She sidetracked her chewing gum, completely ignored her other customers, and helped him select a handful of her choicest sixty-cent Havanas. When he finally decided to have h

of few enthusiasms and no illusions, edged up to the desk and i

he number of the leading afternoon newspaper, and put in a call for it. When it came through he asked

d and get a story.... You don't? Well, other people know him. He's a character-globe trotter, soldier of fortune, financier. He's been everywhere and done everything, and you can get a great story if you've got a man cleve

first acquaintance with Dallas, he might have been treading the streets of Los Angeles, of Indianapolis, of Portland, Maine, or of Portland, Oregon. A California brightness and a Flo

ad called merely to get acquainted, so he explained; he wished to meet only the heads of the strongest financial institutions; he had no favors to ask-as yet, and he might have no business whatever with them. On the other hand-well, he was a slow and careful invest

manner he saw that he had created a decided impression upon them. The

oswell. He's just back from overseas, and-the boy served

well in France?" Gr

ll be in at

sorry, but I've arranged to call on the mayor, and

eighth Field

he necessity for haste, but he would loo

o you, please feel free to call upon us. I dare say we'd be safe in honori

id count: with them as capital, a man could take a profit at any time. Gray's fingers strayed to the small change in his trousers pocket and he turned longing eyes back tow

nd it afforded a sort of excitement that he believed he could very well do without. Dallas was no open-handed frontier town; it was a small New York, where life is settled, where men are suspicious, and where fortunes are slow in the making. He wondered now if hard, fast living had robbed him of the punch to make a new beginning; he wondered, too, if the vague plans at the back of his mind had anything to them or if they were entirely impracticable. Here

ver obtruding themselves, it seemed. Was there no place where one could escape the hateful sight of them? His chain of thought had been snapped, and he realized that there could be no short cut for him. He had climbed th