"And this one on the other lapel is a Liberty Loan b.u.t.ton,--one hundred dollars is what it represents, if anybody should ast you."

"I recognized it at once, sir. I have one of my own." He raised his hand to his own lapel. "Why, hang it all, I forgot to remove it from my other coat this morning."

"Well," said Anderson drily, "there "pears to be some advantage in havin" only one coat."

"Mr. Marshal," cut in the larger man brusquely, "we came to see you in regard to a matter of great importance--and, I may add, privacy. Having heard of your reputation for cleverness and infallibility--"

"As everybody in the land has heard," put in the other.

"--we desire your co-operation in an undertaking of considerable magnitude. Quite frankly, I do not see how we can succeed without your valuable a.s.sistance. You--"

"Hold on! If you"re tryin" to get me to subscribe to a set of books, so"s my name at the head of the list will drag other suckers into--"

"Not at all, sir--not at all. We are not book-agents, Mr. Marshal."

"Well, what are ye?"

"Metallurgists," said the florid one.

"I see, I see," said Anderson, who didn"t see at all. "You started off just like a book-agent, er a lightnin"-rod salesman."

"My name is Bacon,--George Washington Bacon,--and my friend bears an even n.o.bler monicker, if that be possible. He is Abraham Lincoln Bonaparte--a direct descendant of both of those ill.u.s.trious gentlemen."

"You don"t say! I didn"t know Lincoln was any connection of Bonaparte"s."

"It isn"t generally known," the descendant informed him, with becoming modesty.

"Well, I"m seventy-three years old an" I never heard--"

"Seventy-three!" gasped Mr. Bonaparte, incredulously. "I don"t believe it. You can"t be more than fifty, Mr. Crow."

"Do you suppose I fought in the Union Army before I was born?" demanded Mr. Crow. "Where"d I get this G. A. R. badge, lemme ast you? An" you don"t think the citizens of this here town would elect a ten-year-old boy to the responsible position of town marshal, do you? Why, gosh snap it, I been Marshal o" Tinkletown fer forty years--skippin" two years back in the nineties when I retired in favour of Ed Higgins, owin" to a misunderstandin" concernin" my health--an"--"

"It is incredible, sir. You are the youngest-looking man for your years I"ve ever seen. But we are digressing. Proceed, Mr. Bacon. Pardon the interruption."

Marshal Crow had drawn himself up to his full height,--a good six feet,--and, expanding under the influence of a just pride, his chest came perilously near to dislodging a couple of bra.s.s b.u.t.tons. His keen little grey eyes snapped brightly in their deep sockets; his spa.r.s.e chin whiskers, responding to the occasion, bristled noticeably. Employing his thumb and forefinger, he first gave his beard a short caress, after which he drew it safely out of line and expectorated thinly between his teeth with such astounding accuracy that both of the strangers stared.

His objective was a narrow slit in the tree-box across the sidewalk.

"I couldn"t do that in a thousand years," said Mr. Bacon, deeply impressed.

"You could do it in half that time if you lived in Tinkletown," was Anderson"s cryptic return. "You ought to see Ed Higgins. He"s our champeen. His specialty is knot-holes. Ed c"n hit--"

"Are you interested in metallurgy, Mr. Crow?" broke in Mr. Bacon, a little rudely.

Anderson pondered a few seconds, squinting at the tree-tops. The two strangers waited his reply with evident concern.

"Sometimes I am, an" sometimes I ain"t," said he at last, very seriously. He even went so far as to shake his head slowly, as if to emphasize the fact that he had made a life-long study of the subject and had not been able to arrive at a definite conclusion.

"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Bonaparte. "That proves, Mr. Crow, that you are a man of very great discernment, very great discernment indeed."

Mr. Crow brightened perceptibly. "I have to know a little of everything in my line of work, Mr. Lincoln."

Mr. Bonaparte made no attempt to correct him. As a matter of fact, for a moment or two he was in some doubt himself; it was only after indulging in a hasty bit of mental jugglery that he decided his friend couldn"t possibly have introduced him as Bonaparte Abraham Lincoln, or Abraham Bonaparte Lincoln. He wished, however, that he had paid a little closer attention when Mr. George Washington Bacon arranged his names for him.

"We should like to have a few minutes" private conversation with you, Mr. Marshal," said Bacon, lowering his voice.

"Fire away, gents."

"I--ahem!--I said private, Mr. Crow."

"Well, if it"s anything you don"t want the birds to hear, I guess we"d better go up to the house. If you don"t mind that woodp.e.c.k.e.r up yander an" them two sparrers out there in the road, I guess this is about as private a place as you"ll find in Tinkletown."

"Haven"t you--an office, Mr. Crow?" demanded Mr. Bacon.

"Yes, but it ain"t private. Whenever I"ve got anything private to "tend to--er even _think_ about--I allus go out in the middle of the street.

Shoot ahead; n.o.body"ll hear you."

"It will take some little time," explained Mr. Bonaparte, anxiously.

"Have you had your dinner?"

Anderson looked at him keenly. "What"s that got to do with it?"

"Mr. Bonaparte means supper," explained Mr. Bacon. "He is a bit excited, Mr. Crow."

"He _must_ be," agreed Anderson, glancing at his watch. "Half-past six.

Go ahead. We won"t be interrupted now till it"s time to go to bed."

The two strangers in Tinkletown drew still closer--so close, indeed, that the town marshal, having had his pocket picked once or twice at the County Fair, fell back a little from the fence.

"You must be careful to show no sign of surprise, Mr. Crow," said Bacon.

"What I am about to say to you may startle you, but you--"

Anderson rea.s.sured him with a gesture.

"Perceed," he said.

Whereupon the spokesman, Mr. Bacon, did a tale unfold that caused the town marshal to lie awake nearly all night and to pop out of bed the next morning fully an hour earlier than usual. For the time being, however, he succeeded so admirably in simulating indifference that the men themselves were not only surprised but a trifle disturbed. He wasn"t conducting himself at all as they had expected. At the conclusion of this serious fifteen minutes" recital,--rendered into paragraphs by Anderson"s frequent interruptions,--the eager Mr. Bonaparte exclaimed:

"Well, Mr. Crow, doesn"t it completely bowl you over?"

"What"s that? Bowl me over? I should say not! Why, I knowed fer I can"t tell you how long that there"s gold up yander in my piece of timberland on Crow"s Mountain. Knowed it ever since I was a boy."

His hearers blinked rapidly for a few seconds.

"Really?" murmured Mr. Bacon.

"Do you mean to say there actually _is_ gold--" began Mr. Bonaparte, but he got no farther. Whether accidentally or otherwise, Mr. Bacon"s foot came sharply into contact with the speaker"s shin, and the question terminated in a pained look of surprise, directed with some intensity and a great deal of fort.i.tude at nothing in particular.

"Well, you _are_ a wonder, Mr. Crow," said Mr. Bacon hastily. "I am immensely relieved that you _do_ know of its existence. It simplifies matters tremendously. It has been there all the time and you"ve never known just how to go about getting it out of the ground--isn"t that the case, Mr. Crow?"