Sloan

“ You saw how he got in the instant I stopped a moment, Sloan."
"Faith and I did," said Sloan, laughing, "and he hit you fellows in the ribs. Why, where'd he find it all out?"
"I'm blessed if I know, unless it was from the newspaper men. They get hold of almost everything,—wrong side foremost, as a rule, but they get it. Now I heard something of your talk last night. Brooks was speaking of it. He looks upon the Interstate Bill just as I do. What do you mean by saying it might [Pg 151] prove our salvation?" he asked, abruptly, turning to Forrest. ”

“ He was twenty when he made his first stubborn stand against her, and for thirty years Sarah wept over him both in public and private, and for thirty years Luella Clark's heart battled with her conscience, which would not let her be "unequally yoked together with an unbeliever." And through all that time Baptist Sloan had kept his own counsel, hoarding every penny he could save, to the refrain of his mother's remembered words: "Over the mountains and over the seas, and be baptized in that same river Jordan, where the dove descended." ”

“ Sloan's mouth was close to the lawyer's ear. "There is another explanation. If the fellow is game, and anxious enough to reach the train to risk his neck for it, there's a path he could have taken which would get him there without his coming round this turn. I never thought it a possible thing till I saw his horse trotting on ahead of us without a rider." Then as Reuther came ambling up, "Young lady, don't let me scare you, but it looks now as if the young man had taken a short cut to the station, which, so far as I know, has never been taken but by one man before. ”

“ Sloan."
"Oh, pshaw! you mustn't make too much of a little thing," said the miner modestly. "I'm only giving you the interest on a hundred dollars."
Fred walked slowly homeward, feeling very cheerful. He hoped he should not need to use any of Mr. Sloan's kind loan, but it gave him a feeling of relief to know that he had a fund to draw from in case of need.
On his way home, in passing a drinking saloon, Fred's attention was drawn to two men who came out, arm in arm, both of whom appeared to be under the influence of liquor. Something in the dress and figure of one looked familiar. ”

“ He's got a warm nest here, and he's determined to keep it. 'No visitors wanted,' was what he shouted, and he didn't even hold out his hand when I offered him the letter."
"Give me the letter," said Reuther. "He won't leave a lady standing out in the cold."
Mr. Sloan handed over the judge's message, and helped her down, and she in turn began to approach the place. As she did so, she eyed it with the curiosity of a hungry heart. It was a compact structure of closely cemented stone, built to resist gales and harbour a would-be recluse, even in an Adirondack winter. ”

“ TOM SLOAN.
"Five thousand dollars!" ejaculated Mrs. Fenton. "I can't believe it."
"You will, mother, when you get the money. There's no time to be lost. I'll go out at once and get the power of attorney, and we'll write at once, telling Mr. Sloan to do whatever he thinks best. Do you agree to that, mother?"
"Yes, Fred. He is a good man and I trust him entirely."
CHAPTER XXXVII. — COUSIN FERGUSON.
In a fortnight Fred received from Colorado an order on a New York banker for six thousand five hundred dollars, being the purchase money on the Colorado lands. ”

“ The ruddy-faced Jenkyns who opened the door bowed delightedly as he took his master's cape, gloves and cane; for Jenkyns, his hair silvering with age, looked forward to the day when Nita van Sloan would be mistress over the household, when the dread pall of mystery would cease to dominate the young master he adored. ”

“ SPIDER ARRESTED FOR PLAGUE. KILLS SELF IN BRIDGE LEAP
Those black headlines screamed at Nita van Sloan when, with the morning sun warm in her face, she walked briskly along the drive with Apollo, joying in the fresh breezes that swept in from over the Hudson. ”

“ Descending to the drawing-room, she found it full of sympathising neighbours, her betrothed in the midst, all debating a way out of the difficulty. Not even sharp-witted lawyers could see one. In times so out of joint law did not count.
The situation was saved by the fact that General Halleck had a namesake in Captain Sloan’s family. The Captain’s “Uncle Jerry” (otherwise General Jerry Gilmer, of South Carolina) had called a son [Pg 126] “Henry Halleck” in honour of his one-time class-mate at West Point. When the idea of the namesake as basis of appeal dawned on Captain Sloan, day was passing. ”

“ P.S. MacBride has got down an atlas and is trying to figure out how you got that cribbing to the lake. I told him you put the barge on rollers and towed it up to Ledyard with a traction engine.
The letter from Sloan was to the effect that twelve cars were at that moment on the yard siding, loading with cribbing, and that all of it, something more than eighteen hundred thousand feet, would probably be in Chicago within a week. A note was scribbled on the margin in Sloan's handwriting. "Those fool farmers are still coming in expecting a job. One is out in the yard now. ”

“ It had been dark for half an hour—Bannon could hardly distinguish the moving figure of the mare—when Sloan spoke to her and drew her to a walk. Bannon reached for his hammer. "No crossroad here," said Sloan. "Bridge out of repair. We've got to fetch a circle here up to where she can wade it."
"Hold on," said Bannon sharply. "Let me get out."
"Don't be scared. We'll make it all right."
"We! Yes, but will fifteen hundred feet of lumber make it? I want to take a look."
He splashed forward in the dark, but soon returned. "It's nothing that can't be fixed in two hours. ”

“ Even Forrest, who by this time had many reasons of his own for bringing Elmendorf to book, tingled with something like sympathy at a slight so marked. There were so many other and better ways of letting Elmendorf know that in the coming conference his presence could be dispensed with, that Sloan spoke of it the moment they reached the library; but Allison was imperious and positive. "You don't begin to know the man," said he. "Anything less than unmistakable prohibition he would consider as invitation, and he'd turn our talk into a lecture on the relations of capital to labor. ”

“ Simpson. Even Judge Sloan won't have anything more to do with me."
"Don't you worry about the judge. His strong point is even-handed justice. If we can once make him understand that you've been unfairly treated, he'll fight for you to the finish. I've known Judge Sloan all my life."
"I wish my father were here!" said Tom. ”

“ Brand let his inscrutable gaze fall on the young man, appraised him a tailor's model and a saphead—somewhat unjustly it must be admitted—and let his gaze drift into space. Mr. Sloane had been weighed and found wanting, tried by the standards of the man from the West. ”

“ Sloane’s mental vigour long outlived his power of bodily locomotion. For years he could move from room to room, or on very bright days from room to garden, only by the aid of an invalid chair. In other respects, his health gave a weighty sanction to the counsel which he had been wont to give, not infrequently, in lieu of an invited but superfluous prescription. ‘I advise you’ he would say, ‘to what I practice myself. I never take physic when I am well. ”

“ He's a widower, and you know, Brother Hubbs, that when widowers—"
The loud clanging of the church bell struck Sister Bowles's sentence in the middle, and the end of it was lost to the eager ears on the porch. Although this sound of the church bell was what Baptist Sloan had been waiting to hear for the last hour, he did not rise until the final echo of its ringing had died away [169] in the farthermost part of the valley. Then he went slowly into the house and lighted a lamp. ”

“ After such an effort, Reuther felt obliged to eat, and she did; seeing which, the lawyer left her for a moment and went out to interview their guide.
"Where's the young lady?"
This from Mr. Sloan.
"Eating something. Come in and have a bite; and let the horses eat, too. She must have a rest. The young fellow went off pretty quick, eh?"
"Ya-as." The drawl was one of doubt. "But quickness don't count. Fast or slow, he's on his way to capture—if that's what you want to know."
"What? We are followed then?"
"There are men on the road ”

“ A billion dollars that would fly into the dawn sky to ransom a city from man-inflicted plague! The false dawn already showed in the east. In an hour would come the take-off.
And back in the cavern where the plague pigeons kept up their everlasting murmur, Nita van Sloan, who alone knew the secret of the cave, struggled futilely with her bonds.
Masked in shrubbery, on a field not far from the entrance to that dread cavern, waited another plane, a ship that, mockingly, was painted all black, the plane the Black Death would fly. ”

“ Mannice yelped and dodged, his arm upraised. It was enough to upset a chap’s nerves, this meddlesome sailor being positively the last person in the world whom he desired to meet alone in the dark. He tried to shout for reënforcements, but Dan Sloan was too quick for him. The mate of the Endeavor had been trained to action instantaneous and efficient. In his pocket was the wooden potato masher which he had thoughtfully purloined from the tent of Harvey Mattoon in the event of collision with more sentries. It was beneath his dignity to offer Mannice a fair fight. ”

“ Nervously he clutched his carpet-bag and umbrella, and lurched down the aisle. But when the train stopped and he was half-way down the steps, he paused and clung an instant to the railing. "O Lord!" he groaned once more, involuntarily shrinking back. "If women wa'n't so awfully oncertain! If I just knew what Luella's goin' to say!"
As Baptist Sloan clicked the latch of his front gate behind him, and stood a moment in the path, the familiar outlines of his old home rising up in the dim light smote him with fresh pain. ”

“ All I said to my daughter, Miss Sloane, is what I say to you now: I see no reason why we should employ you, or indeed why you should be connected with this affair. You were my guest, here, at Sloanehurst. Unfortunately, some ruffian of whom we never heard, whose existence we never suspected—Jarvis, take off this counterpane; you're boiling me, parboiling me; my nerves are seething, simmering, stewing! Athletic devils! Have you no discrimination, Jarvis?—as I was saying, Mr. Hastings, somebody stabbed somebody else to death on my lawn, unfortunately marring your visit. ”

“ It had never occurred to him that a woman could become companionable on intellectual grounds, yet while she sat there facing him, with the light on her brow and lips, and her look of distinction and remoteness as of one who has in some way been set apart from personal joy or sorrow, he realized that she was as utterly detached as Sloane had been when he discoursed on the functions of government. ”

“ The report of the washouts, coupled with the story of Tom's sudden flight, spread abroad in the town; and shortly after eight o'clock Judge Sloan called at the hotel and was closeted for half an hour with the two passenger-agents. When he went away, Manville accompanied him to the door.
"Yes; as you say, Judge, it was sharp, especially when he knew what chances he was taking."
"Then you think there is no doubt he came here knowing about the trouble on his line?"
"A railway company always posts its own agents first," replied Manville, evasively. ”

“ And Mrs. Sloane went on her way smiling. “Diana! Diana!” she said to herself, “oh, to be young again! How you must enjoy it all!” She stopped. “Well, well, my dear! I never expected to see you rioting like this. Why are you so shy in some gardens? What’s this about not growing unless you are put in a draughty place?” And she lifted a trail of Tropæolum and put it on its right way.
Just outside Elsie’s gate Mrs. Sloane met Mr. Watkins. “You are coming in?”—and she held the gate open.
“Not to-day, I think,” said the weary Mr. Watkins, adding something about his soul’s solitude,—“not to-day!” ”

“ Wentworth smiled at her, stopped the car before police headquarters and kissed Nita for all the world to see.
“No, darling,” he said, “It is you who have forgotten.”
And he led the puzzled and still reluctant girl to the office of the police commissioner. An officer sprang up smartly and swung open the door, ushering into the presence of Stanley Kirkpatrick, the Spider and Nita van Sloan.
Nita stared in bewilderment at the three persons she saw there. Virginia Doeg, a young man she didn't know, but whom Wentworth bowed to and addressed as Handley, and Commissioner Kirkpatrick. ”

“ None of the Sloanes would have any dealings with the Bells, because the Bells had declared that the Sloanes had too much to do in the program, and the Sloanes had retorted that the Bells were not capable of doing the little they had to do properly. ”

“ Directly after our return to Annapolis, while waiting in the Sanitary Commission Rooms, a train of ambulances, containing nineteen bodies, passed, the first and last of the number covered with the flag; we followed [Pg 100] the procession to the cemetery, and saw them laid side by side in their quiet resting-place—Chaplain Sloan officiating. ”

“ When, at the collector’s death, they passed into the possession of his friend, choice specimens were found, not in order, but in heaps. The due classification and ordering occupied many hands during many months.
Sloane’s Correspondence, and his Charities. The charities of human life were not, in the breast of Sir Hans Sloane, choked either by the various allurements and preoccupations of science, or by the ceaseless toils of a busy and anxious profession. He was a very liberal giver, and also a discriminating and conscientious giver. ”

“ Sir Hans Sloane, Bart., was born on the 16th of April 1660 at Killileagh, County Down, Ireland. His father, Alexander Sloane, was a Scotchman, who had settled in Ireland on his appointment to the post of receiver-general of the estates of Lord Claneboy, afterwards Earl of Clanricarde. [56] Hans Sloane gave early indications of unusual ability, and as soon as his health, which was delicate, would permit, he came to London, and devoted himself to the study of medicine, and the kindred sciences of chemistry and botany. ”