Page:Hugh Pendexter--Tiberius Smith.djvu/137

 "But what Tib gloated over more than all else was a box of trading-stamps. How they ever got into that mixed cargo was a mystery, but there they were, and it was with these Tib intended to quiet the town and elevate its morals.

"First, he hustled about and got the names of the fifty miners, and then he sprung his plan. They were for it keenly, sir. Tib could talk the face off a mule, and he speedily had them hypnotized. Besides, collectively they wanted to be decent. It was only as individuals that they gazed lovingly on toots and high play.

"Well, the first night after the system was instituted there was the quaintest photo you ever gazed on when the citizens came up to the store to get their supplies. Tib had divided his merchandise into necessities and luxuries. Every man was scheduled to partake of the necessities, but only those holding trading-stamps could revel in the delicacies. And a man to get a trading-stamp had to be good.

"‘Ah, Mr. Jones,' saluted Tib of the first comer, 'you have two stamps coming to you. Give Mr. Jones two merits, Billy, for bravery on the field of battle. I observed, sir, you refused to drink from Tuttle's flask this morning.'

"‘It was rum, an' he takes only gin,' growled Mr. Tuttle, in self-defence.