Heed the Thunder Read Online Free

tidbit. Leaning back again, he gave Grant a sudden sharp glance, so filled with distaste and amused dislike that the latter almost dropped his cigarette.

3
    H ow much?” said Lincoln curtly. “I’ll give you a dollar and not another damned cent.”
    “I didn’t ask you for anything,” said Grant reddening.
    “You would have.” Lincoln drew a silver dollar from his pocket and flung it at him carelessly. And he snorted and coughed again when the young dandy’s hat fell off as he reached for the coin.
    Grant brushed back an unruly lock of black hair and carefully replaced his hat. His face had turned from red to white again.
    “If it hadn’t been for that brat,” he said, “I wouldn’t need any money.”
    “What brat?”
    “I mean your grandson, my nephew, Master Robert Dillon. I had quite a bit of change—I don’t know just how much—in my pocket when I went to bed last night. This morning it was gone.”
    “He didn’t take it,” said Link.
    “Who did, then?”
    “No one.”
    “I see,” said Grant stiffly. “You’re implying that—”
    “Do you see that? ” said Lincoln, pointing with his cane. “That gate out there? Well, if I ever hear of you accusin’ or abusing that boy in any way, I’ll kick your arse from here to there.”
    Grant smiled scornfully. “Well!” he said.
    “Edie’s been here two months now,” the old man went on. “And you and your mother have done everything you could to make her feel not t’home. She’s out today, trying to line up a country school for the winter. Her husband’s gone, God knows where, and she’s got a kid on her hands; but she’s going right ahead, without any fuss or feathers, trying to make a new life for herself.…You, now—how long have you been here?”
    “If it’s important,” said Grant, “it’s approximately three years.”
    Lincoln studied the answer, nodded a reluctant agreement.
    “I guess it ain’t any longer than that. But, here you are—young, strong, a man, no one to look after but yourself and with a good trade. And you won’t work. You’re willin’ to go on forever, living off your parents, begging spending money—”
    “That ain’t—that’s not fair!” Grant cried out indignantly. “I’m quite willing, anxious to work. How do you suppose I feel after spending half my life to learn a trade and then be put out of a job by a machine! I’ve worked on the Dallas News and the Star in Kansas City, and—”
    “Seems to me I’d learn how to run one of the machines.”
    “I won’t! Never!” Grant exclaimed so hotly that his father almost looked upon him with favor. He liked a man with principles, even if they were the wrong kind. “I’ll set type by hand, like it was meant to be set, or not at all!”
    “Well, set it by hand, then,” said Link. “There’s lots of papers that don’t have this Lin-o-type yet.”
    “Yes, and what do these little rags pay! Why, I’ve made as high as thirty dollars a week! ”
    Lincoln started to ask him what he did plan to do, but did not. There was no use. They had covered this same ground a hundred times before. If he had not been angry over Grant’s accusation of his grandson, he would never have reopened the subject.
    “Some day—and it won’t be very far off,” said Grant, “you’ll find the big sheets throwing these bum machines out into the alley. I’ll leave here so fast then it’ll make your head swim. And I’ll pay everything I owe you and Ma. With interest!”
    “Well,” said Lincoln wearily, “we’ll see. Where you headed this afternoon?”
    “I’m calling on Bella.”
    “Staying for supper? Better let Ma know if you are.”
    “I’ve told her I wouldn’t be here,” said Grant. “However, I’m not taking supper at the Barkleys’. Bella’s fixing a picnic lunch and we’re eating down by the river.”
    Lincoln sat looking straight ahead for a moment.
    “Bella’s your cousin, Grant.”
    “Well, Pa,” his son laughed, “don’t you