II-XI

Wick Cutter was the money-lender who had
fleeced poor Russian Peter. When a farmer
once got into the habit of going to Cutter, it
was like gambling or the lottery; in an hour of
discouragement he went back.

Cutter's first name was Wycliffe, and he
liked to talk about his pious bringing-up.
He contributed regularly to the Protestant
churches, "for sentiment's sake," as he said
with a flourish of the hand. He came from a
town in Iowa where there were a great many
Swedes, and could speak a little Swedish,
which gave him a great advantage with the
early Scandinavian settlers.

In every frontier settlement there are men
who have come there to escape restraint. Cut-
ter was one of the "fast set" of Black Hawk
business men. He was an inveterate gambler,
though a poor loser. When we saw a light
burning in his office late at night, we knew
that a game of poker was going on. Cutter
boasted that he never drank anything stronger
than sherry, and he said he got his start in life

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v?