Flowing Gold

Flowing Gold

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Flowing Gold, by Rex Beach
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Title: Flowing Gold
Author: Rex Beach
Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6425] [Yes, we are more than
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[Illustration: See p. 34 "I'M AWFULLY SORRY, TOO, DAD"]
FLOWING GOLD
By Rex Beach
TO THE ONE WHOSE FAITH, ENTHUSIASM, AND DEVOTION
CONSTITUTE A NEVER-FAILING SOURCE OF INSPIRATION,
MY WIFE, SWEETHEART, AND PARTNER.

FLOWING GOLD
CHAPTER I
Room service at the Ajax is of a quality befitting the newest, the largest,
and the most expensive hotel in Dallas. While the standard of
excellence is uniformly high, nevertheless some extra care usually
attaches to a breakfast ordered from the Governor's suite--most elegant
and most expensive of all the suites--hence the waiter checked over his
card and made a final, fluttering examination to be sure that the chilled
fruit was chilled and that the hot plates were hot before he rapped on
the door. A voice, loud and cheery, bade him enter.

Would the gentleman wish his breakfast served in the parlor or --No,
the gentleman would have it right in his bedroom; but first, where were
his cigarettes? He hoped above all things that the waiter had not
forgotten his cigarettes. Some people began their days with cold
showers--nothing less than a cruel shock to a languid nervous system.
An atrocious practice, the speaker called it--a relic of barbarism--a
fetish of ignorance. Much preferable was a hygienic, stimulating
cigarette which served the same purpose and left no deleterious
aftereffects.
The pajama-clad guest struck a light, inhaled with abundant satisfaction,
and then cast a hungry eye over the contents of the rubber-tired
breakfast table. He, too, tested the temperature of the melon and felt the
cover of the toast plate.
"Splendid!" he cried. "Nice rooms, prompt service, a pleasant-faced
waiter. Why, I couldn't fare better in my best club. Thanks to you, my
first impression of Dallas is wholly delightful." He seated himself in a
padded boudoir chair, unfolded a snowy serviette and attacked his
breakfast with the enthusiasm of a perfectly healthy animal.
"Is this your first visit here, sir?"
"Absolutely. Dallas is as foreign to me as Lhasa. It is the Baghdad of
my dreams and its streets are strange. Perhaps they are full of adventure
for me. I hope so. Anything exciting can happen in a town where one
has neither friends nor acquaintances, eh? You are a well-read man, I
take it."
"I? Why--"
"At any rate, you have heard it said that this is a small world."
"Yes, sir."
"Good! I merely wish to deny authorship of the saying, for it is false.
This is a large world. What is more, it is a world full of cities like
Dallas where men like you and me, Heaven be praised, have neither

friends, acquaintances, nor relatives. In that respect, it is a fine world
and we should devoutly give thanks for its Dallases and its--Dalsatians.
Jove! This ham is delicious!"
The waiter was accustomed to "morning talkers," but this gentleman
was different. He had an air of consequence, and his voice, so deep, so
well modulated, so pleasant, invested him with unusual distinction.
Probably he was an actor! But no! Not in the Governor's suite. More
likely he was one of the big men of the Standard, or the Gulf, or the
Texas. To make sure, the waiter inquired:
"May I ask if you are in oil, sir?"
"In oil? Bless me, what a nauseating question--at this hour of the day!"
"'Most everybody here is in oil. We turn dozens away every day, we're
that full. It's the boom. I'm in oil myself--in a small way, of course. It's
like this: