Latest / Murrays Adirondack Tales / 29 - Murray's Adirondack Tales by William Henry Harrison Murray
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: No one disputed the trapper's conclusion, and after a moment
- 0:05Speaker 1: of respectful waiting, as if to make sure that the
- 0:08Speaker 1: trapper had completed his remarks, the man who had missed
- 0:11Speaker 1: it again resumed his narration, But the animation with which
- 0:16Speaker 1: he had told his discovery had faded away. The light
- 0:19Speaker 1: left his eyes, and a sober expression possessed them. The
- 0:24Speaker 1: play of features had departed, and his countenance had settled
- 0:27Speaker 1: into sadness. His face, as revealed by the firelight, was
- 0:32Speaker 1: one to command the respect of the gazer, for it
- 0:35Speaker 1: suggested the refinement of thought and of scholarly habits. And
- 0:39Speaker 1: at the same time it appealed to one sense of pity,
- 0:42Speaker 1: because over it disappointment, like a cloud had thrown its
- 0:46Speaker 1: somber shadow. The three whosack gazing at him, felt that
- 0:49Speaker 1: in him they had beheld a person who had been
- 0:52Speaker 1: the sport of a fickle and cruel fortune. Felt that
- 0:55Speaker 1: his lot was inscrutable, and that in the wreck of
- 0:58Speaker 1: his body, and in the permanent hopelessness in which his
- 1:01Speaker 1: spirit was plunged, and perhaps in which it rested, they
- 1:06Speaker 1: saw the most pitiable of failures, a failure for which
- 1:09Speaker 1: the man himself was not responsible for By no fault
- 1:13Speaker 1: of his did it come, And by no virtue of his,
- 1:16Speaker 1: however exerted, could he have been delivered from it. It
- 1:20Speaker 1: is needless for me, said the man at length, to
- 1:23Speaker 1: narrate the countless disappointments of my life. It is needless
- 1:27Speaker 1: for me to say how many things I have attempted,
- 1:30Speaker 1: or how many things I have achieved so far as
- 1:33Speaker 1: mortal power could achieve them, or how many times a
- 1:37Speaker 1: power stronger than my own, a power outside of myself,
- 1:41Speaker 1: the power of wicked men, the power of circumstance, and
- 1:45Speaker 1: the power of society, which I strove to serve, but
- 1:49Speaker 1: which seemed banded against me, has dashed the cup of success.
- 1:54Speaker 1: When brimming full from my lips. My discoveries have been
- 1:58Speaker 1: appropriated by others, And I who was upheld through the
- 2:01Speaker 1: long nights of study and the long days of effort,
- 2:05Speaker 1: in which I robbed my body of food, that I
- 2:07Speaker 1: might have the means to buy the little materials for
- 2:10Speaker 1: my experiments, by the hope that I might link my
- 2:14Speaker 1: name with scholarly achievements and be remembered among the honored
- 2:17Speaker 1: when I was gone, have lived to see the results
- 2:21Speaker 1: of my toil and sacrifice appropriated by those who robbed me,
- 2:26Speaker 1: and the honors which should have been mine given to
- 2:28Speaker 1: other men. I have not only discovered laws and principles
- 2:33Speaker 1: and forces of nature that were unknown, but I have
- 2:36Speaker 1: made inventions of the greatest value to mankind, by which
- 2:40Speaker 1: they have been better clothed and fed and ministered unto
- 2:44Speaker 1: in that which makes life happy. Inventions that have been
- 2:48Speaker 1: stolen from me by corporations that have built fortunes on
- 2:52Speaker 1: the patents they secured from the results of my ingenuity,
- 2:56Speaker 1: patents which should be in my name and not theirs,
- 2:59Speaker 1: and whose in would have made me rank among the
- 3:02Speaker 1: richest of the land. And here I am, after thirty
- 3:06Speaker 1: years of ceaseless effort and fifty of life, broken in body,
- 3:11Speaker 1: weakened in mind, hopeless in spirit, without friends, and without
- 3:17Speaker 1: a home, a beggar on your bounty, John Norton, with
- 3:21Speaker 1: no companion in life, and no one to mourn me
- 3:25Speaker 1: when I die. But the dog and the man looked
- 3:29Speaker 1: into the face of the trapper and placed his hand
- 3:31Speaker 1: on Lucky's head, who stood with his fore feet on
- 3:34Speaker 1: his master's knee, looking with his bright eyes into his countenance.
- 3:40Speaker 1: You shouldn't feel that way, friend, said the trapper. It
- 3:44Speaker 1: is true we haven't consorted long together, but we understand
- 3:47Speaker 1: each other pretty well, as I conceit. And though you
- 3:51Speaker 1: have some notions about storms and a few such things
- 3:54Speaker 1: we can't exactly agree on. Yet the trail we be
- 3:57Speaker 1: both following lies in the same direction. And though I
- 4:01Speaker 1: can't offer you a home such as they might in
- 4:03Speaker 1: the settlements, yet the cabin is a goodun And while
- 4:07Speaker 1: the joints of the log and hold together, and the
- 4:09Speaker 1: shingles shed water overhead, ye be welcome to stay. And
- 4:14Speaker 1: the Lord of Mercy will certainly see to it, Friend,
- 4:17Speaker 1: that we suffer for no comfort, and that we come
- 4:20Speaker 1: to the edge of the great clear and in peace.
- 4:23Speaker 1: You are a noble man, John Norton answered his guest,
- 4:27Speaker 1: And I know that the welcome that you have given
- 4:29Speaker 1: the homeless is sincere, and I thank you from the
- 4:33Speaker 1: bottom of my heart for your kindness. Had the men
- 4:36Speaker 1: with whom I had dealt possessed your spirit, I should
- 4:39Speaker 1: not have been where I am, or as I am.
- 4:43Speaker 1: But what is a head? I know not? I feel
- 4:45Speaker 1: that the trail, as you call it, is not a
- 4:48Speaker 1: long one for me, and that should I accept your hospitality.
- 4:53Speaker 1: My presence would not burden it. Long. I came into
- 4:57Speaker 1: the wilderness to die, and out of the wilder I
- 5:00Speaker 1: shall not go for of cities and men. I have
- 5:04Speaker 1: seen enough. You're right there, friend, said the trapper. The
- 5:08Speaker 1: settlements be certainly no place for a sensible man to live.
- 5:12Speaker 1: I've often argued the point with Henry, and I rarely
- 5:15Speaker 1: believe the boy, in his heart agreed with me, though
- 5:18Speaker 1: he would never confess it. He says the wilderness is
- 5:22Speaker 1: the place to rest, and the settlement's the place to work.
- 5:25Speaker 1: And he says a great many things about the good
- 5:28Speaker 1: that a man can do in the settlements, and the
- 5:30Speaker 1: happiness he can have. But the boy is young yet,
- 5:34Speaker 1: and you can't expect the young to be wise like
- 5:37Speaker 1: the elders. And I feel certain that he'll get around
- 5:40Speaker 1: to my way of thinking afore he gets to be
- 5:42Speaker 1: of my age. He has a natural taste for the woods,
- 5:46Speaker 1: and few be the signs in the earth or the
- 5:48Speaker 1: sky that the boy doesn't see. And if you have
- 5:52Speaker 1: an eye to see the beauties of nature, and an
- 5:54Speaker 1: ear to hear her speech, and a heart to learn
- 5:57Speaker 1: her lessons, you can't find any happiness like the happiness
- 6:00Speaker 1: as she will give you, especially if your life be honest.
- 6:04Speaker 1: The man who had missed it listened with a deference
- 6:06Speaker 1: that was habitual to him, to the utterance of the trapper.
- 6:10Speaker 1: There was a look in his eyes as he gazed
- 6:12Speaker 1: into the old man's face, noble and peaceful in its expression,
- 6:16Speaker 1: as it was, as if he longed to believe what
- 6:19Speaker 1: he was hearing, in the hope that to his stormy life,
- 6:22Speaker 1: something of the peace and the happiness of which the
- 6:25Speaker 1: old trapper spoke might come. It may be, as you say,
- 6:29Speaker 1: John Norton, He answered at length, it may be that
- 6:32Speaker 1: if when I left the Three Graves, I had come
- 6:35Speaker 1: to the wilderness and made my companionship with nature, educated
- 6:39Speaker 1: my eye to apprehend her beauties, my ear to hear
- 6:42Speaker 1: the wisdom of her speech, and opened my heart, bereaved
- 6:46Speaker 1: as it was, to the consolation of her sweet peace,
- 6:50Speaker 1: my life would have been happier. As I have looked
- 6:53Speaker 1: at you and seen in yourself the result of the
- 6:55Speaker 1: influence of which you tell, I have felt that though
- 6:59Speaker 1: I may have found less as men call finding, yet
- 7:03Speaker 1: I should have missed less. Perhaps I should have been
- 7:07Speaker 1: as useful and beyond doubt I should have been happier,
- 7:10Speaker 1: for the happiness that waits on toil is found in
- 7:13Speaker 1: its reward, and the peace which follows aspiration is found
- 7:17Speaker 1: in its fulfillment. As for reward, I have none, and
- 7:22Speaker 1: certain it is that I shall die with all of
- 7:24Speaker 1: my plans unfulfilled. But in the life beyond, it may
- 7:28Speaker 1: be I shall come to whatever reward I am worthy,
- 7:31Speaker 1: and in happier circumstances, be able to work out the
- 7:35Speaker 1: fulfillment of my plans. You spoke, said Tom, suddenly joining
- 7:40Speaker 1: the conversation of being cheated out of patents it belonged
- 7:43Speaker 1: to you. I do not see how they could have
- 7:45Speaker 1: cheated you of the fruits of your inventions if you
- 7:48Speaker 1: had been on the lookout and ordinarily shrewd. I do
- 7:52Speaker 1: not think that I am ordinarily shrewd, said the man
- 7:55Speaker 1: who had missed it. At least in protecting myself from
- 7:58Speaker 1: the schemes of cunning men, I have studied principles rather
- 8:02Speaker 1: than men, and the application of principles. And when I
- 8:06Speaker 1: had ascertained a new principle and given it practical application
- 8:10Speaker 1: in some invention, I was so happy in the thought
- 8:14Speaker 1: of what I had done, the triumph I had achieved
- 8:17Speaker 1: the good it would do in the world that I
- 8:20Speaker 1: explained it to any one that would hear me. And
- 8:23Speaker 1: whatever rich Man told me he would help me introduce
- 8:25Speaker 1: it to the public. I trusted the whole matter to him,
- 8:29Speaker 1: not doubting that he would deal honestly with me. I
- 8:32Speaker 1: see now my foolishness, continued he But I am not
- 8:37Speaker 1: sure I should do differently if the same things were
- 8:39Speaker 1: to be done over again. For man's conduct is the
- 8:42Speaker 1: result of his character. And I was born with gifts
- 8:46Speaker 1: few have, and with efficiencies too, I rejoice and feeling
- 8:51Speaker 1: that few have. Also. The Bible says said Magnet, that
- 8:56Speaker 1: except ye become as little children, ye cannot enter into
- 8:59Speaker 1: the King of Heaven. And I think the childish confidence
- 9:03Speaker 1: and simple, honest trust that you have had in people,
- 9:06Speaker 1: although they have betrayed, it is to your honor and
- 9:09Speaker 1: not to your shame. And if through his trustfulness they
- 9:13Speaker 1: have stolen from him his earthly riches, may it not be,
- 9:17Speaker 1: John Norton, that our friend here has gained more than
- 9:20Speaker 1: he is lost by the manner in which he has lived.
- 9:23Speaker 1: And the girl made her appeal to the old trapper
- 9:26Speaker 1: with a face that absolutely shone with the hopeful purity
- 9:29Speaker 1: of her thought. The old trapper looked into her beautiful
- 9:32Speaker 1: face for a moment, with an expression on his countenance
- 9:36Speaker 1: as if he wished he might agree with her, but
- 9:39Speaker 1: was forbidden to do so by the shrewd native sense,
- 9:41Speaker 1: which was a part of his very constitution. Is very
- 9:45Speaker 1: pleasant to hear you talk, Magnet, he responded, in a moment,
- 9:49Speaker 1: for your voice be sweet in your heart pure. But
- 9:53Speaker 1: I don't concede that your ideas be right now. I
- 9:57Speaker 1: hold that the wilderness is pretty free from vagaba, considering
- 10:01Speaker 1: the number of folks that come in from the settlements
- 10:03Speaker 1: every year. But it wouldn't do for a man to
- 10:05Speaker 1: leave his traps outside the cabin in plain sight, or
- 10:09Speaker 1: piled up on the banks of a stream, unless he
- 10:12Speaker 1: keeps within range and doesn't mind the cost of a
- 10:14Speaker 1: charge of powder. Now and then, I don't mean the
- 10:17Speaker 1: same magnet that I would actually shoot a man for
- 10:20Speaker 1: stealing a trap eastwise, if it was his first theft,
- 10:24Speaker 1: and the trap was an old un But a little
- 10:26Speaker 1: powder judiciously burnt, and a little lead sent high enough
- 10:30Speaker 1: to start a button and ease the waistcoat a little
- 10:33Speaker 1: or sort of tickle the flesh I have found calculated
- 10:37Speaker 1: to help a man and his rights, and give the
- 10:40Speaker 1: vagabonds a healthy idea of a law. Now here's your
- 10:43Speaker 1: brother that has studied the law, knows all its ins
- 10:46Speaker 1: and outs and the services it was meant to do,
- 10:49Speaker 1: as well as I know the ins and outs of
- 10:51Speaker 1: the woods, and the service that a hound owes to
- 10:53Speaker 1: his master. And now I put it to your brother.
- 10:57Speaker 1: If it wouldn't have been a good deal better if
- 10:59Speaker 1: our friend here had been some more circumspect in its dealing,
- 11:03Speaker 1: and amid other discoveries, discovered there was his rights, and
- 11:07Speaker 1: stood up for him through the thick and thin, and
- 11:10Speaker 1: tickled the scamps a little with his lead when they
- 11:13Speaker 1: were sneaking around his cabin pilfer and his traps, and
- 11:16Speaker 1: rummaging a little loosely among his pots and as kettles.
- 11:20Speaker 1: I think so decidedly, said the young man. I think
- 11:23Speaker 1: the law is made to protect the innocent and the trusting,
- 11:26Speaker 1: those that are naturally weak or too modest and mild
- 11:29Speaker 1: to defend themselves without the law's intervention. I think our
- 11:33Speaker 1: friend here should have appealed to the law. If he had,
- 11:36Speaker 1: he would have found that the law was his friend,
- 11:39Speaker 1: and that it would have protected him from the dishonest
- 11:41Speaker 1: and the unjust. It takes money to go to law,
- 11:45Speaker 1: said the man. And those who cheated me were rich
- 11:48Speaker 1: and I was poor. That's it, boy, said the trapper.
- 11:52Speaker 1: That's it. Our friend has hit the nail square in
- 11:55Speaker 1: the head and drove it clean through. And it don't
- 11:58Speaker 1: take half an eye to see the holy either. It
- 12:01Speaker 1: takes money to go to law. A trapper I met
- 12:04Speaker 1: last year down on Grass River told me that he
- 12:07Speaker 1: went to law two year afore, and a lively time
- 12:10Speaker 1: he had of it for certain. What was the case,
- 12:13Speaker 1: said Tom, Well, you see, answered the trapper. He'd been
- 12:18Speaker 1: troubled two years by a sneaking thief on one of
- 12:21Speaker 1: the lines. He had run out and he kept losing skins,
- 12:24Speaker 1: and finally he catched him stealing a mi ink, catched
- 12:27Speaker 1: him in the very act, and he went down to
- 12:30Speaker 1: the settlements and complained of him. Well the sheriff. He
- 12:33Speaker 1: got the feller finally after a month's hunting, and then
- 12:37Speaker 1: the trial was put off another month. You see, the
- 12:40Speaker 1: judge didn't know anything, and the thief had hired a
- 12:43Speaker 1: smart lawyer who could twist the judge right around his
- 12:46Speaker 1: little finger. What was the result of the trial? That's
- 12:50Speaker 1: just it, said the trapper. There wasn't any result as
- 12:53Speaker 1: you call it. The man told me the thing was
- 12:56Speaker 1: put off and put off and put off. You see,
- 12:59Speaker 1: he had to go sixty odd mile every time the
- 13:01Speaker 1: trial came on, and every time it come on he
- 13:04Speaker 1: had something to pay. And the man's spore and he
- 13:07Speaker 1: looked like an honest man. It cost him the errodence
- 13:10Speaker 1: of a year's trapping afore he got through with it,
- 13:13Speaker 1: and it ought her all the fuss. He never got
- 13:15Speaker 1: any verdict anyway. The thing sort of fell through nigh
- 13:20Speaker 1: as I could get at it, and no one could
- 13:22Speaker 1: tell exactly how. And when the man asked my ideas
- 13:26Speaker 1: about I told him I thought the thing might have
- 13:29Speaker 1: been managed a good deal better than he managed it.
- 13:33Speaker 1: That I've had several such cases myself, but had never
- 13:36Speaker 1: had any actual trouble managing them. For I never saw
- 13:40Speaker 1: a thief I couldn't ambush by the second week of
- 13:42Speaker 1: his spilfrin. And if you once get your eye on
- 13:45Speaker 1: a vagabond when he's actually handling the skins, and you
- 13:49Speaker 1: be within range and your sight's be right, why and
- 13:53Speaker 1: the old man straightened himself up, took up a stick,
- 13:56Speaker 1: and began to poke the fire. You never have any
- 14:00Speaker 1: any special difficulty out of that, but said Tom, laughing.
- 14:04Speaker 1: That may be a very efficacious way to deal with
- 14:07Speaker 1: thieves up here in the woods, but it won't do
- 14:09Speaker 1: down among us in the cities. Our friend couldn't have
- 14:12Speaker 1: protected himself and his property as you could yourself and
- 14:15Speaker 1: your property, for the ways of the woods, as you say,
- 14:18Speaker 1: are different from the ways of the settlements. But he
- 14:21Speaker 1: could have appealed to the law. But I had no money,
- 14:25Speaker 1: said the man. It don't matter, replied Tom. It don't
- 14:29Speaker 1: matter whether you had money or not. If you had
- 14:31Speaker 1: a good case, there was money in it, and any
- 14:34Speaker 1: lawyer would have taken it up and pushed it through
- 14:37Speaker 1: on a percentage. And many a lawyer too would have
- 14:40Speaker 1: done it without a percentage, for there are noble men
- 14:42Speaker 1: in the profession who will not stand by and see
- 14:45Speaker 1: a poor man robbed of the results of his industry
- 14:47Speaker 1: or his genius. I wish you would come with me
- 14:50Speaker 1: with one of your cases. And whether it was a
- 14:53Speaker 1: thousand or a million that they had cheated you of,
- 14:56Speaker 1: they should have paid you every cent of it, and
- 14:58Speaker 1: you should have had, not me really the honor of
- 15:00Speaker 1: the invention, but the money that had earned too. The
- 15:04Speaker 1: man who had missed it listened to the young man
- 15:06Speaker 1: with the eagerness of a child. It was evident that
- 15:09Speaker 1: he had never thought it possible that he, a poor man,
- 15:12Speaker 1: without friends, without knowledge of the law, and we may
- 15:15Speaker 1: add without knowledge of men, could be protected in his rights.
- 15:20Speaker 1: He had evidently pursued his studies and multiplied his inventions,
- 15:24Speaker 1: as impelled thereto by the irrepressible activity of the powers
- 15:27Speaker 1: that were within him, and had yielded to his losses
- 15:31Speaker 1: and his disappointments as to things that were inevitable. For
- 15:34Speaker 1: a moment, he had certainly yielded himself to the impression
- 15:37Speaker 1: produced by the earnest confidence of the speaker. For his
- 15:41Speaker 1: eyes lighted, his face brightened, and the change which hope
- 15:44Speaker 1: brings when it takes the place of despair flushed his countenance.
- 15:48Speaker 1: But in an instant the light faded from his eye,
- 15:51Speaker 1: the animation deserted his face, and with his old despondency,
- 15:55Speaker 1: and we might add with his old weakness too, he
- 15:59Speaker 1: turned his face for the young man, and, gazing at
- 16:01Speaker 1: his dog, said it is too late. Now even Lucky
- 16:05Speaker 1: knows it's too late. It was evident that the dog
- 16:08Speaker 1: did not accept the judgment of the master, for he
- 16:11Speaker 1: spun himself round like a top frisked, trotted in front
- 16:14Speaker 1: of Tom, and gave a sharp, clear park. And then
- 16:18Speaker 1: he took a swift circle round the cabin, and as
- 16:20Speaker 1: he swept back to his master's chair, jumped with such
- 16:23Speaker 1: impetuousness between the trapper's feet in the corner of the
- 16:26Speaker 1: fireplace that he knocked over the huge iron tongs, which
- 16:29Speaker 1: fell rattling noisily on the hearthstone hard, said the trapper, laughing,
- 16:35Speaker 1: Did you ever see such a dog as that? I'd
- 16:38Speaker 1: give the best skin I got to know for certain
- 16:40Speaker 1: his cross. I tell your friend, the dog be wiser
- 16:43Speaker 1: than ye in his hopefulness. If you can give the
- 16:46Speaker 1: boy any points by which he can get a twist
- 16:48Speaker 1: on the vagabonds, I'd certainly give him. And it may
- 16:51Speaker 1: be you'd get your money. Yet, Although what a man
- 16:54Speaker 1: who's got a good cabin to live in, an honest companion,
- 16:57Speaker 1: and a dog like that, wants of money? I certainly
- 17:01Speaker 1: don't see. I wish I had money, said the man.
- 17:05Speaker 1: God only knows how I wish I had money. I
- 17:08Speaker 1: would like to know how it makes one feel to
- 17:11Speaker 1: have once all the money he wants, money enough so
- 17:14Speaker 1: he could have a good house and plenty to eat
- 17:17Speaker 1: and drink without worrying where it would come from. Money
- 17:21Speaker 1: to buy tools to work with, and chemicals to carry
- 17:24Speaker 1: on experiments. Money to give the poor and the homeless,
- 17:27Speaker 1: and those who don't know their parents and haven't friends,
- 17:30Speaker 1: and no name save such as they picked up in
- 17:33Speaker 1: the streets. Money to give away with your right hand
- 17:36Speaker 1: and your left, not letting the one know what the
- 17:39Speaker 1: other gave. Money to leave behind you that would keep
- 17:42Speaker 1: on giving bread to the poor, and homes to the homeless,
- 17:46Speaker 1: an education to all who crave it, when you yourself
- 17:49Speaker 1: are in the grave. None but God knows, old trapper,
- 17:53Speaker 1: how much I have longed for money that I might
- 17:56Speaker 1: do these things? How often have I thought I had it?
- 17:59Speaker 1: And how many times if I been cheated of it?
- 18:02Speaker 1: There was something so earnest, so intense, so nobly self
- 18:05Speaker 1: forgetful in its outpurse, that the three who heard it
- 18:08Speaker 1: were profoundly impressed. Give the boy points. Give the boy points,
- 18:13Speaker 1: exclaimed the trapper in tones of earnest as he was
- 18:16Speaker 1: demanding the signs of the trail, when the smoke of
- 18:18Speaker 1: battle was round him and there was not a moment
- 18:21Speaker 1: to be lost. Yes, give the boy points and see
- 18:24Speaker 1: if he doesn't get a clamp on them vagabonds. That'll
- 18:27Speaker 1: make em open their purses as a fish does his mouth.
- 18:30Speaker 1: When you have em by the gills, Lord, i'd he
- 18:33Speaker 1: most go to the settlements myself. If the boy sent
- 18:36Speaker 1: me word, he'd got a good twist on him. How
- 18:39Speaker 1: much do they owe you? Friend? There is one corporation,
- 18:42Speaker 1: answered the man that has stolen five of my patents.
- 18:46Speaker 1: Three of them it is used for years, and on
- 18:49Speaker 1: the strength of those three its whole business is builded.
- 18:52Speaker 1: My royalty, had it been honestly paid, couldn't amount to
- 18:56Speaker 1: much less than a million. Put it high enough, said
- 18:59Speaker 1: the trapper. Put it high enough. I ain't certain that
- 19:02Speaker 1: I actually get the measurement of your figures, but my
- 19:05Speaker 1: advice is that if there's at least a chance of
- 19:07Speaker 1: getting it out of them, that you put the figures
- 19:10Speaker 1: high enough. If you throw it on a few more
- 19:12Speaker 1: at the end, sort of loose like, I don't concede
- 19:15Speaker 1: it would be anything more than the scams deserve. So
- 19:19Speaker 1: my advice is that you put it high enough. I
- 19:22Speaker 1: think I have, said the man. It may be that
- 19:25Speaker 1: I have put it twice too high, but I know
- 19:27Speaker 1: the corporation is worth millions, and its huge fortune is
- 19:31Speaker 1: built up on the basis of my patents. What have
- 19:34Speaker 1: you debase your claim upon, asked Tom, speaking with the
- 19:37Speaker 1: lawyer's acute coolness. Have you any original papers anything to
- 19:42Speaker 1: prove that you invented the things patented, or any memoranda
- 19:46Speaker 1: of contracts touching the use of the same. I have
- 19:49Speaker 1: the facsimile of the original models, answered the man, duly
- 19:54Speaker 1: stamped with a date and sworn to, and by my
- 19:57Speaker 1: own hand drew the specifications and the original path veterans,
- 20:00Speaker 1: and the specifications are doubtless in the patent office at Washington.
- 20:05Speaker 1: I have memorandus of contracts in their own handwriting, but
- 20:09Speaker 1: no formal contract and no attested signature. Of course, said Tom,
- 20:14Speaker 1: speaking with deliberate precision, I cannot pronounce upon so intricate
- 20:18Speaker 1: a matter on the moment that I do not hesitate
- 20:21Speaker 1: to say, sir, that if what you have said can
- 20:23Speaker 1: be proved in court, you have a good course of
- 20:26Speaker 1: action in a case that can be brought against the
- 20:28Speaker 1: corporation with a fair prospect of success. I will undertake
- 20:33Speaker 1: your case, and I shall be greatly disappointed if you
- 20:36Speaker 1: do not recover damages to the full extent by any
- 20:38Speaker 1: claim that can be shown to a jury to be reasonable.
- 20:41Speaker 1: And just do you think so? Said the man, and
- 20:44Speaker 1: his face flushed to the very temples. Do you think
- 20:48Speaker 1: that I may yet live to have money and to
- 20:50Speaker 1: do the things I long to do? May I hope
- 20:53Speaker 1: yet to live to enjoy the fruits of my labor?
- 20:55Speaker 1: Young man, I know you will, said the trapper, and
- 20:59Speaker 1: he flourished thes he held in his hands and his earnestness.
- 21:03Speaker 1: Lord friend, the scent is a hottun. The boy can
- 21:06Speaker 1: run the race with a high nose. If he be
- 21:09Speaker 1: made of the right stuff, he'll drive the buck to
- 21:12Speaker 1: water in an hour. What say, ye, boy, can you
- 21:14Speaker 1: get the money? I can't tell for certain, answered tom
- 21:18Speaker 1: as I have said. But I think our friend has
- 21:20Speaker 1: a good case if the facts be as explained, and
- 21:23Speaker 1: if I was well, I'd start for the city tomorrow
- 21:25Speaker 1: and would bring the action at once. Easy, easy, said
- 21:30Speaker 1: the trapper. We know where the game is, but you
- 21:32Speaker 1: mustn't start him till you get the position. Position is
- 21:36Speaker 1: everything in a hunt, and I dare say it's the
- 21:38Speaker 1: same in law as for your beIN. Well, you just
- 21:42Speaker 1: take that as settled. There's everything in feedin' and you
- 21:46Speaker 1: won't be here a week orfore you'll be eating like
- 21:48Speaker 1: a Dutch person. You needn't shake your head, magnet. I've
- 21:51Speaker 1: seen a good man. He come to the woods thinner
- 21:54Speaker 1: than your brother, and not half of his spirit. And
- 21:57Speaker 1: if he isn't fatter by forty pounds afore the ice
- 22:00Speaker 1: breaks up on the rapids, I shall be mightily disappointed.
- 22:03Speaker 1: I'll do the feedin', an the boy shall do the lawn,
- 22:07Speaker 1: and a tween us both with the help of the Lord.
- 22:10Speaker 1: Ye shall have your money, every cent of it. But
- 22:13Speaker 1: I advise you to put the figures high enough. End
- 22:18Speaker 1: of Chapter eight