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 and bought a cigar. Every one became silent. Birdie Spinks was for some mysterious reason a little upset. In the store something happened that, had there been some one there to record it, might later have been re- membered as the moment that marked the coming of the new age to Bidwell. The druggist, after he had handed out the cigar, looked at the young man whose name had so suddenly come upon every one's lips and whom he had known from babyhood, and then ad- dressed him as no young man of his age had ever be- fore been addressed by an older citizen of the town. 1 Well, good evening, Mr. Hunter," he said respect- fully. " And how do you find yourself this evening? " To the men who met him in the bank, Steve described the plant-setting machine and the work it was intended to do. " It's the most perfect thing of its kind I've ever seen," he said with the air of one who has spent his life as an expert examiner of machinery. Then, to the amazement of every one, he produced sheets cov- ered with figures estimating the cost of manufactur- ing the machine. To the men present it seemed as though the question as to the practicability of the ma- chine had already been settled. The sheets covered with figures made the actual beginning of manufactur- ing seem near at hand. Without raising his voice and quite as a matter of course, Steve proposed that the men present subscribe each three thousand dollars to the stock of a promotion company, the money to be used to perfect the machine and put it actually to work in the fields, while a larger company for the building of a factory was being organized. For the three thou- sand dollars each of the men would receive later six thousand dollars in stock in the larger company. They