idn't suppose you would. I'm only shuffling the deck. Now for the
deal! Awhile ago I came up into this state from the South and I bought
the unorganized township that bounds this town on the north. It had gone
begging for a buyer because it's mostly pond and water power. But it's
what I wanted. And, having bought it, I used my check book and got
some good lobbyists on the job and I got a conditional charter from the
legislature. That is to say, it becomes a town charter automatically the
moment I can report a certain number of inhabitants--not mere men, but
families, regularly settled. Do you see?"

"I surely do begin to see, Colonel Wincott."

"Vaniman, if I had gone to the cities and advertised for settlers, what
kind would I have got? Probably only a bunch of aliens dissatisfied
already; if they weren't sore on general conditions I couldn't coax 'em
to move. And aliens are always moving. I wanted some of the old breed of
Yankee pioneers. That's what my folks were, 'way back. I took a sly
peek into the town of Egypt. Good folks, but no opportunities here.
Everything gone to seed. Up in my township a new deal with a fresh deck!
Plenty of timber, plenty of rich land--and mills going up. Confound it!
I propose to be boss of a real town--not a wild land plantation!"

He suddenly shifted his posture. He came forward in his chair and set
his elbows on his knees. "Say, Vaniman, I got Hexter's opinion a few
days ago when I opened up to him and hired him to attend to the law. But
I want to ask you now what you think of my real-estate agent?"

The young man shifted his bewildered gaze from the colonel's jovial and
inquiring visage to the Squire's equally cheerful countenance.

"Known to Pharaoh and the modern Children of Israel as the Prophet
Elias, Frank," explained the notary. "I have heartily indorsed his good
work. Furthermore, he knows well how to keep a secret and how to train
others to keep one. Tasper Britt went to bed this night without one
inkling of what was about to happen. He did not know that he was to be
left here without men to toil and pay him his twelve per cent. He has
town debts. He has the bare acres he has foreclosed on--he has the
tumble-down houses. He has the paupers on the poor farm. He--"

"Hold on, Squire! I forgot about those paupers," broke in the colonel.
"I want a town that's fully rounded out. A few paupers belong in a town
so that they may serve to remind others folks that they must keep bu