Nature Has a Dismal Streak
XXII. Fred is Grateful---One Second!
XXIII. Trentville, The Awesome
XIV. Conclusion
CHAPTER I
THE "SPLENDID" WAR CANOE
"It's the wreck of one of the grandest enterprises ever conceived
by the human mind!" complained Colonel W.P. Grundy, in a voice
broken with emotion.
A group of small boys grinned, though they offered no audible
comment.
"Such defeats often---usually, in fact---come to those who try
to educate the masses and bring popular intelligence to a higher
level," was the colonel's declaration, as he wiped away a real
or imaginary tear.
On a nearby lot stood a large show tent, so grayed and frayed,
so altogether dingy as to suggest that it had seen some summers
of service ere it became briefly the property of Colonel Grundy.
Near the entrance to the tent a temporary platform had been built
of the board seats taken from the interior of the tent.
Near the platform stood a grim-visaged deputy sheriff, conversing
with an auctioneer on whose face the grin had become chronic.
Some distance from the tent stood a group of perhaps forty men
of the town of Gridley.
"The whole outfit of junk won't bring five hundred dollars," predicted
one of these men. "How much did you say the judgments total?"
"Seventeen thousand four hundred dollars," replied another. "But
the man who attached the show has a claim for only six hundred
and forty dollars, so he may get most of his money.
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