day in eight cities, and yet to supply the demand for the puzzle was thus

far impossible. Hawkins was wild with joy, but Sellers was calm. Small

matters could not disturb his serenity. He said--

That's just the way things go. A man invents a thing which could

revolutionize the arts, produce mountains of money, and bless the earth,

and who will bother with it or show any interest in it?--and so you are

just as poor as you were before. But you invent some worthless thing to

amuse yourself with, and would throw it away if let alone, and all of a

sudden the whole world makes a snatch for it and out crops a fortune.

Hunt up that Yankee and collect, Hawkins--half is yours, you know.

Leave me to potter at my lecture."

This was a temperance lecture. Sellers was head chief in the Temperance

camp, and had lectured, now and then in that interest, but had been

dissatisfied with his efforts; wherefore he was now about to try a new

plan. After much thought he had concluded that a main reason why his

lectures lacked fire or something, was, that they were too transparently

amateurish; that is to say, it was probably too plainly perceptible that

the lecturer was trying to tell people about the horrid effects of liquor

when he didn't really know anything about those effects except from

hearsay, since he had hardly ever tasted an intoxicant in his life.

His scheme, now, was to prepare himself to speak from bitter experience.

Hawkins was to stand by with the bottle, calculate the doses, watch the

effects, make notes of results, and otherwise assist in the preparation.

Time was short, for the ladies would be along about noon--that is to say,

271

The American Claimant