Peterson

“ Mr. Peterson. No.
Mr. Specter. Did you talk to him?
Mr. Peterson. I think I did. Yes; I did talk to him. That is why I remember. I’m trying to think.
Mr. Specter. To the best of your recollection tell me specifically what you said to him and what he said to you?
Mr. Peterson. Well, just wanted to know—let me see. Was it there or was it at the hotel? They wanted a—Time, I think it was Time, or Life, because the man in Life is located in Dallas. He just wanted to know if we had any pictures with Jack Ruby or anything we had done for a story. I told him we did not have anything. ”

“ A new servant, with some trepidation, showed them up to "Massa's" study. We had weeded John's dialect of that word before he went away, but he had been six months since then in a servile atmosphere. He stood at the open study-door. My father stopped shaving, and let the lather dry on his face, as he shielded with his hand the eyes he in vain tried to believe. Yes, veritably, John Peterson! ”

“ I am sorry my husband is out. I have taken the opportunity, Dr. Peterson, of consulting you—”
She moved towards the window, graceful, well poised, and unembarrassed. The specialist stood aside, his face a sympathetic blank, a birdlike and inquisitive alertness visible in his eyes.
“You have noticed my face, Dr. Peterson?”
She stood before him unflinchingly, a woman of distinction and of charm of manner despite her great disfigurement. The fingers of Dr. Peterson’s right hand were fidgeting with his watch-chain. It was wholly improper for a London consultant to appear embarrassed. ”

“ Tinny, audible squawks came from the phone and Peterson held it away from his ear.
"Yes, I know all about it," he said. "Yes ... yes ... yes. I know you've had a time with the papers. Yes, I heard the radio. Yes, John, I know it sounds pretty ridiculous. What? Get up to the ranch and find out. Where do you think I'm calling from?"
The squawking rattled the receiver and Peterson winced.
"Look, commissioner," he broke in, "I can't put a stop to those stories. What? I said I can't put a stop to the stories for one reason. They're true." ”

“ As the boat grounded and the kanakas sprang out Le Moan scarcely saw them; her eyes were fixed on the great man now standing on the beach, Colin Peterson, no less, one of the last of the sandalwood traders, master and owner of the Kermadec—Black Peterson, terrible to look at, swift to strike when roused, yet a man with kindness in his heart and straightness in his soul. ”

“ Peterson not believe in our teachings, too?" He turned slowly and looked at Hugh, who shrugged his shoulders.
"He should be here at any moment," he answered, and as he spoke the door opened and Carl Peterson came in.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen," he began, and then he saw Hugh. With a look of speechless amazement he stared at the soldier, and for the first time since Hugh had known him his face blanched. Then his eyes fell on the open ledger, and with a dreadful curse he sprang forward. ”

“ It's a shame to keep you mystified any longer; I will explain everything. It was Peterson who made the original appointment with you, writing in Scheidstrun's hand. What he intended to do I know not; how he intended to murder you I am not prepared to say. But the instant I discovered about it, I realized that there was not a moment to be lost. So I took the liberty, my dear professor, of posing over the telephone as your secretary. I rang up Peterson and, speaking in an assumed voice, I postponed his appointment with you until the following day. ”

“ Max, moving off a little to one side, followed, and reached Peterson's side just as Grady, his hat pushed back on his head and his feet apart, was beginning to talk.
"I had a little conversation with you the other day, Mr. Peterson. I called to see you in the interests of the men, the men that are working for you—working like galley slaves they are, every man of them. It's shameful to a man that's seen how they've been treated by the nigger drivers that stands over them day and night." ”

“ Peterson returned quickly. “A man can’t do nothing when they sneak up on him in the dark, but if I ever have the chance, why, I’ll just show him once. I wouldn’t have sold those furs for less than seven hundred dollars, I swear. And that bear skin, I tell you, was a prize.”
“Wass it so beeg?” asked an old Swede, sitting in the corner near Hugh. ”

“ Somehow or other, Peterson had heard of the discovery—perhaps he had been employed by Sir Raymond Blantyre himself. He had found out that the notes of the process were to be handed to Scheidstrun, and with his usual consummate daring had decided to impersonate the German. And the woman he had seen arriving the night before was Irma.
HIS thoughts were chaotic; only the one great thing stuck out. The man in front of him was Peterson—he knew it. And with one wild hoot of utter joy he leaped upon him.
“My little Carl,” he murmured ecstatically, “the pitcher has come to the well once too often.” ”

“ It was half an hour before Peterson came in. He was wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand, and drawing long breaths with the mere enjoyment of living. "I feel good," he said. "That's where I'd like to work all day. You ought to go up and sledge them timbers for a while. That'd warm you through, I bet."
"You ought to make your timekeeper give you one of those brass checks there and pay you eighteen cents an hour for that work. ”

“ Peterson had been a close friend of Smith's elder brother Francis, and as he was a bachelor, fairly well-to-do, with a good cellar and a better library, his house was a pleasant goal for a man who was in need of a brisk walk. Twice a week, then, the medical student would swing out there along the dark country roads, and spend a pleasant hour in Peterson's comfortable study, discussing, over a glass of old port, the gossip of the 'varsity or the latest developments of medicine or of surgery. ”

“ Hold on! Slavens sat up with a quickening of interest in those two words which he thought he never should feel again. Peterson! That was the name of the winner of Number One. Certainly! Queer that he didn’t put two and two together at the first glance, thought he. He wondered how much they were paying 166 Peterson for his relinquishment, and what there was in the northwest quarter of Section Six, Township Twelve, Range Thirty-three, that Hun Shanklin wanted to get his hands on. ”

“ Peterson tapped lightly on the door of a side chamber. It brought the nurse into the hall—a slender girl in the twenties, with thin features, reddish hair, and shifty gray eyes. She nodded and smiled, with a quick glance at the private secretary.
“Thank you, Peterson,” Margate said quietly. “That’s all, my good fellow. You may go up to bed. I will turn out the light in this hall for you.”
“Very well, sir,” bowed Peterson, evidently unsuspicious. “Thank you, sir. Good night, miss. Good night, sir.”
“Good night, Peterson.”
The butler turned away and vanished up the servants’ stairway. ”

“ I s'pose some will say she ain't a sperit now—but you needn't tell Dick Dingle so."
"Nor Jim Peterson," added that individual himself.
"There ain't even a trail of her, and she ain't nowhere about h'yer—she's gone up, she has. You might shoot at her all day, and not hurt her. H'yers as don't undertake any such foolery as to warn her—'cause why? thar ain't no need of it. She ain't in danger, and never was or will be."
"Wonder why she don't kill that devil McGable?" remarked Peterson, leaning on his rifle and gazing meditatively down the river. ”

“ Mr. Potts,” said Peterson with a thoughtful smile; “I can assure you, you won’t. The distressing malady from which you have recently been suffering will again have you in its grip. My friend Mr. Lakington is an expert on that particular illness. It renders you quite unfit for business.”
For a while there was silence, and the millionaire stared round the room like a trapped animal.
“I refuse!” he cried at last. “It’s an outrage against humanity. You can do what you like.”
“Then we’ll start with a little more thumbscrew,” remarked Peterson, strolling over to the desk and opening a drawer. ”

“ Little Bill happens to be a great crony of Peterson’s outfit, though why he doesn’t work for the Box S instead of for father I never could tell you. He isn’t so awfully popular with our boys. Most of our riders are pretty good fellows, as you would discover for yourself if there wasn’t this grudge against the forest reserve which keeps you seeing their most disagreeable traits.
“One thing I wanted to tell you, ranger man, is that Peterson and his bunch are going to ‘get’ you, on account of that fight. ”

“ In time Peterson and Devoy and Rogers found voice and yelled encouragement to their men, and sticks and fists worked grievous mischief. The Cow Flat men were at an enormous disadvantage in having to scale the logs to make headway; whenever a hero did succeed in gaining the top, Big Peterson, who moved swiftly and tirelessly up and down the line, was there to cope with him, and he was hurled down, bruised and broken. ”

“ The man obeyed the command, only pausing an instant on the threshold, to direct one of his dull, cowed glances at the wife who thus imperatively ban- ished him from his own house—such a glance as “dumb, driven cattle” turn toward their taskmasters.
And so Roger Peterson, the chosen favorite of misfortune, joined the “rush” fer Frazer River, neither hoping for prospective wealth, nor fearing disappointment, and without a single regret at leaving a wife and family behind him. ”

“ For the first time in the memory of man, Peterson became imbued with a combative spirit. He knocked the man down, and kicked him until a crowd gathered and dragged him off. The fact that a prison cell circumscribed the freedom of his move- ments shortly after the affray with the stranger did not disturb the sullen equanimity of Peter- son’s mind, and when Henry Fogle, the wiliest lawyer on the western frontier, entered his apartment, he took no more notice of him than if it had been his jailer bearing his evening meal. ”

“ Peterson; I have nothing to do with that. Indeed, I would not meddle with that volcanic young person's private concerns for all the wealth of the Indies! Let us go back to my uncle.'
"So," concluded Peterson, knocking the ashes out of his pipe on the bars of the grate, "the old fellow has been in bed ever since and has drunk his own weight in good cow's milk several times over. He is putting on flesh every day, and his temper is distinctly improving. He can be trusted with a candlestick beside him on the stand now, without the certainty of his throwing it at his nurse."
"And Truda?" ”

“ At the same time something of the nature of the diabolical plot conceived by Peterson was beginning to take a definite shape in his mind, though many of the most important links were still missing. And with this knowledge had come the realisation that he was no longer a free agent. The thing had ceased to be a mere sporting gamble with himself and a few other chosen spirits matched against a gang of criminals; it had become—if his surmise was correct—a national affair. England herself—her very existence—was threatened by one of the vilest plots ever dreamed of in the brain of man. ”

“ Peterson. I didn't come here to make trouble. I come here as a representative of these men"—he waved again toward the laborers—"and I say right here, that if you'd treated them right in the first place, I wouldn't be here at all. I've wanted you to have a fair show. I've put up with your mean tricks and threats and insults ever since you begun—and why? Because I wouldn't delay you and hurt the work. It's the industries of today, the elevators and railroads, and the work of strong men like these that's the bulwark of America's greatness. But what do I get in return, Mister Peterson? ”

“ Sands at home," the girl cut in. "He's out. When he comes back he's likely to go away again at once."
"Aw, he is, is he?" echoed Peterson. His personality waked up secretively, like that of some weak, night animal hiding in a wood. Clo eyed him, striving to make him out.
"Better go home, kiddy," he advised. His tone was good-natured. "Shall I see you back to where you live, or——"
"I have another errand to do," the girl announced with dignity. She had meant to telephone from the Westmorland to the Dietz, and learn if Justin O'Reilly was in; but now she determined not to do so. ”

“ In the course of another hour they had made such progress that the long silence was broken by Peterson.
"Nebber fear, Massa Walter," he said; "keep you heart up; dey no ketch us dis time; we soon come to de wind; land air so hot he kill de wind in shore. ”

“ Peterson looked at his visitor with a very questioning eye.
"Of course you shall sleep here if you wish. I'll tell Mrs. Burney to make up the spare bed. Where are you off to now?"
"Come up with me to the window that overlooks the door. I want you to see what I have seen."
They went up to the window of the upper hall whence they could look down upon the approach to the house. The drive and the fields on either side lay quiet and still, bathed in the peaceful moonlight.
"Well, really, Smith," remarked Peterson, "it is well that I know you to be an abstemious man. ”

“ Peterson was primarily a scholar and administrator, he was also a public-spirited citizen who mingled freely with his fellows in varied walks of life and who identified himself with many movements in the interests of human welfare. ”

“ Peterson came back with the water. The wub began to lap gratefully, splashing the men.
Captain Franco appeared at the door.
"Let's have a look at it." He advanced, squinting critically. "You got this for fifty cents?"
"Yes, sir," Peterson said. "It eats almost anything. I fed it on grain and it liked that. And then potatoes, and mash, and scraps from the table, and milk. It seems to enjoy eating. After it eats it lies down and goes to sleep."
"I see," Captain Franco said. "Now, as to its taste. That's the real question. I doubt if there's much point in fattening it up any more. ”