"I'll be on my way to Honey Creek in the morning. If she's
sick I'll take care of her. I'm not going to worry about Davis. But when
I get there I wouldn't wonder if he'd have to worry a little about me."

CHAPTER XXII

WHEREIN ABE LINCOLN REVEALS HIS METHOD OF CONDUCTING A LAWSUIT IN THE
CASE OF HENRY BRIMSTEAD ET AL., VS. LIONEL DAVIS.

They found many of Davis's notes in Tazewell County. Abe Lincoln's
complaint represented seven clients and a sum exceeding twenty thousand
dollars.

"Now, Harry, you don't like Davis and I can't blame you for it," said
Honest Abe before they parted. "Don't spoil our case by trying to take it
out of his hide. First we've got to take it out of his pocket. When I get
through there may not be any hide on him worth speaking of, but if there
is you can have it and welcome."

With the papers in his pocket Harry went on to the Honey Creek
settlement. There he found that the plague had spent itself and that Bim
had gone to a detention camp outside the city of Chicago. He rode on to
the camp but was not permitted to see her, the regulations having become
very strict. In the city he went to the store of Eli Fredenberg. The
merchant received him with enthusiasm. Chicago had begun to recover from
the panic. Trade was lively. Eli wanted Harry to go to work in the store
until he was prepared for the law.

"You must stay here until you haf got a wife already," said the
thoughtful Eli. "It is bat for you and Bim to be not marrit so much."

The young man favored both the commercial and the sentimental suggestions
of Eli. He had long felt the lure of that promising little city on the
lake shore.

"I wish you'd take this complaint and serve it on Davis," he said. "I
don't want to see him if I can help it. If you don't mind, you can tell
him that I've come to life and am here in the city and that if he kills
me again he'd better do it while I'm looking. It would be more decent."

Eli was delighted with a task which promised a degree of discomfort to
the man who had endeavored to ruin him. Harry spent the afternoon with
Mrs. Kelso and Bim's baby boy. The good woman was much excited by the
arrival of the young soldier.

"We have had a terrible year," she said. "We couldn't have lived through
it without the help of a friend. Bim went away to take care of the sick
in the smallpox neighborhood. She was rather discouraged. Our friend, Mr.
Davis, is in love with her. She promised to marry him. I