The Plunderer
By Henry Oyen
Roger Payne had come to a decision. He waited until the office door had closed behind the departing stenographer, then swung his long legs recklessly upon his flat-top desk and shouted across the room at his partner:
“Jim Tibbetts!”
Tibbetts frowned. He was footing a column of cost figures and the blast from his young partner nearly made him lose count.
Payne grinned. He liked his partner. Had he not done so he would never have allowed himself to be dragged into business—Tibbetts & Payne, Manufacturers’ Agents. Two years of it. Two years from the day on a Western irrigation dam when Payne had installed the cement machine that Tibbetts was selling. Two years—to Payne—of prison. And now his moment of decision had arrived.
Roger Payne was out of place. He did not fit the furniture. There was a look of permanence to the dark tan upon his face which labeled it not the surface sunburn that may be collected during a two-week vacation or gradually acquired by spending Saturday afternoon and Sunday on the golf links. It was a tan that suggested leather, and which comes as much from frostbite as sunburn, and from the whip of frozen snowflakes as the heated winds of summer.
Beneath the tan, the face was too lean and hard to be in sympathy with the high polish of flat-top desks.
His body also was lean and hard. Even the proper cut of a carefully tailored business suit could not conceal a certain bunchiness about the shoulders which had nothing at all in common with office efficiency. The shoulders were outrageously broad, the barrel of his chest was scandalously deep, the hands distressingly large and brown, considered in intimate association with filing systems and adding machines. And the keen blue eyes, sometimes gazing with a far-away, unbusinesslike look out into the grimy, roaring cañon called Wabash Avenue, sometimes twinkling with unbusinesslike mischief, inevitably completed the exposure of Roger Payne.
He did not belong there, and he knew it.
Genre: Fiction And Literature | Thriller
Read or download Book
Henry Oyen
Oyen, Henry (1883-1921), a lesser-known figure in the pantheon of American literature, made his imprint on the literary world with early 20th-century works that often fused adventure with complex human emotions.
Biography.
His novel, ‘The Snow-Burner,’ is a prime example of his storytelling prowess, introducing readers to the untamed wilderness and the hardy characters who inhabit it. Oyen’s narrative style is characterized by a keen observation of nature and a deep understanding of the human spirit, with a touch of the romanticism that underpins much of his work. Although not widely recognized today, Oyen’s contributions to the adventure and romance genres retain a certain charm for those who venture into his pages, and ‘The Snow-Burner’ stands as a testament to his craft.
The book reflects its era’s sensibilities, yet its exploration of human resilience continues to resonate. Given the scarcity of comprehensive biographical sources on Oyen, the details of his life remain somewhat obscure, consolidating his position as a niche figure in American letters. Nevertheless, the enduring qualities of his narratives ensure that he holds a place, albeit a quiet one, in the chronicles of early 20th-century fiction.
Henry Oyen
