The San Francisco call. [volume], October 16, 1904, Image 2

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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"I so instructed Hunnicott. Luckily,
two odour most Important witnesses
are missing. They have always been
missing. In point of fact." {
Loring was-glancing over,' the letter.
"How about this affidavit -business,
and the Falkland stopover?" he; asked.
"Oh, I fancy that's' gossip, pure and
simple, as Hunnicott says, y Hawk is
sharp enough not to let us know if . he.
were baiting, a trap. And' Falkland
probably told the .Clarion man the
simple truth." ' •. ' .
• Loring nodded in his- turn.- - Then he
broke away from the subject . abruptly.
% • '- • • ' ¦ . ¦¦ ¦ ¦ - * -¦
"We fought it, of course— in'the only
way it could be fought in the lower
court. I got a continuance, and we
choked it off in.the«ame way at the
succeeding term. The "woman was
tiied out long ago, but Hawk will hang
on till his teeth fall out."
"Do you 'continue' again ?'\asked the
general manager. '-
Kent nodded.
....uughttuiiy, ana later on tooK It in
to the general manager.
"Just to show you the kind! of Jackal
we have to deal with in the smaller
towns," he said, by way of explanation.
"Here is- a case that Stephen .Hawk
built up out of nothing a year ago.
The woman was put ofr one of our
ttains because she waa trying to trav
el on a scalper's ticket. She didn't care
to fight about It; but when I had about
persuaded .her. to compromise, .for $10
and a pass to her destination, Hawk
got hold of her and Induced her to su«
for ?5000. *
"Well?" said Loring.
wnicn ne wouia apuojni ior tne pre
liminary hearing, did the local attor
ney come alive.
"But, your Honor— a delay of only
twenty-four hours in which to prepare
a rejoinder to rhis petition— to allega
tions of such, astounding: gravity?" he
began, Fhocked into action by the very
ungraspable magnitude of the thing.
"What more could you ask, Mr. Hun
nicott? " said the Judge, mildly. "You
have already had a full measure of de
lay on the original petition. Yet I am
wl}ling to extend the time If you can
come to an agreement with Mr. Hawk
here."
Hunnicott knew the hopelessness of
that and did not make the attempt.
Instead, he essaved a new line of ob
jection.
"The time would be long enough . if
Gaston were the headquarters of the
company, your Horibr. But in such a
grave and important charge as this
amended petition brings, our general
counsel should appear in person,
and- : — "
"You are the company's attorney, Mr.
Hunnicott," said the Judge, dryly;
Vand you have hitherto been deemed
competent . to conduct the case in be
half of the defendant. I am unwilling
to work a 1 hardship to any one, .but I
cannot entertain your protest. The
preliminary hearing will be at 3 o'clock
to-morrow." .. ,. : ¦ . . ." ... ._;..; .; .
Hunnicott knew when he was defin
itely, at the. string's end: and when he
was out of the Judge's" room and the
Courthouse, he made a dash for., his
office,'/ dry-lipped and panting. Ten
It .was half-past 9 when the. all-Im
portant cipher got Itself written out
in the headquarters office at the capi
tal; and for two anxious hours the re
ceiving operator tried by. all means in
his power to find the gener^ counsel —
tried and failed. For,, "to* make the
chain, of mishaps complete In' all its
links,' Kent and Lorlng were spending
the^ evening at Miss 'Portia Van
Bro'ck's". having been bidden to meet a
man they^ were both willing to culti
vate—Oliver. Marston. the Lieutenant
Governor. And for this cause it wanted
but five, minuten of midnight when
Kent burst into Loring's bedroom- on
the third floor of the Clarendon, catas
trophic news in hand.
"For heaven's sake, read that!" he
gasped: and Loring sat on the edge of
the bed to do it. \ -§2i£S
/ v 'So! they've sprung their mine at
last: this is what Senator Duvall waa
trying to sell us," he said quietly, when
he had mastered the purport of Hun
nicott's war news.
Kent had caught. his second wind in
the moment of respite, and was settling
into the collar in a way to strain the
working harness to the breaking point.
"It's a put-ur> Job from away back."
he gritted. "If I'd had the sense of a
packmule I ; should have been on the
tne most important. Ana wnen ne came
to Hunnicott's cipher with the thrice
underlined "RUSH'.' written across Its
face, and had marked the hour of Its
handing in, he had the good sense to
hang up the entire wire business of the
railroad until the thing was safely out
of his office. -_. -V-:.
The engineer wagged his head.
"Ay tank so. Ve maig It all right
iff dey haf bane got dose track clear."
"There are other trains to meet?"
"Ja; two bane comin' dls vay: ant
Nummer Samteen ve. pass opp by."
Oleson dropped off to pour a little oil
into the speed- woundtngs while the
tank was filling: and presently the diz
zying race began again. For a time all
things were propitious. The two trains
to be met were found, gnugly with
drawn on the sidings at Mavero and
Agriculta, and the station semaphores
beckoned the flying special past at full
speed. Kent checked off the dodsins
mile-posts; the pace was bettering the
fastest run ever made on the Prairie
Division— which was saying a good
But at Juniberg. 27 miles out of Gas
ton. there was a delay. Train Number
17. the east bound ; .Ume freight, had
left Juniberg at 1 o'clock, having ample
time to make Lestervllle. the next sta
tion »ast, before the light engine could
possibly overtake it. But \Le«terviUe
had not yet reported its arrival; for
which cause the agent at. Juniberg was
constrained to put out his stop signal,
and Kent's special came to a stand at
the platform. .
Under. the circumstances there ap
peared to be nothing for it but to wait
tance-devouring rush was a b'.urred
picture of a plunging, rocking, clam
oring enarine bounding over mile after
mile of the brown plain; of the endlt>s3
dizzying procession o'f oncoming tele- •
graph poles hurtling like great side
flung projectiles past the cab windows;
of now and then a lonely prairie sta
tion with waving semaphore arms.
Bighted. passed and left behind in" a
whirling sandcloud in- one and the
same heartbeat. And for the cehti*al
figure in the picture, the dne constant
quantity when all els<* was mutable
and shifting and indistinct, the big.
culm-eyed Norwegian on the opposite
oox, hurling hi.s huge machine dog
gedly through space.
At 12:45 they stopped for water" at
a solitary tank in the midst of the
brown desert. Kent got down stiffly
from his cramped seat on the fireman's
box and wetted his parched lips at the
nozzle of th* tender hose.
"Do we make it. Jar!?" he asked.
"Ay tank maybe so. ain'rf it? Yusi
you climb opp dat odder box. Mest«?r
Kent, and hoi' you hair on. Ve bane
gone to maig dat time, als* ve preak
somedings, ja!" and he sent the light
engine spinning down the yards to-^a
quickstep of forty miles an hour. ""
Kent's after-memory of that dis-
"Can you make it by 2 o'clock?" he
asked, when the engineer, a big-boned,
blue-eyed Norwegian, dropped thefe
vcrslng lever Into the corner for the
start.
"Don't you let it come to that, as
long a? you have a leg to stand on. Da
vid," he said. Impressively. "An Inter
regnum of ten days might make it ex
ceedingly difficult for us to prove any
thing." Then, as the telegraph office
watcher came to the door a'rid shook
his head as a sign that Boston was
etill silent: "Your time Is up. Off
with you, and don't let Oleson scare
you when he sets 213 in motion. He
is a good runner, and you have a clear
track." '
Kent clambered to the footplate of
the smart eight-wheeler.
"Necessarily," said Loring. "But^TV.1
banking on the board. I? we don't" get
the 1 ammuAItion ttefore you have to
start I can wire it to you at Gaiton.
That'sivcs cs three hours 'mora- to go
and come on."
"Yes. and if it comes to the worst—
If the decision be unfavorable— it can
only embarrass us temporarily. This is.
merely the preliminary hearing, ami
nothing permanent can be established
until we have had a hearing on -"th=
merits, and we can go armed to that,
at all events." -
The general manager was looking at
his watch, and he shut the case with a
snap.
At ten forty-forty on the Saturday
morning Kent was standing with tha
general manager on the Union station
track platform beside the engine which
was to make the flying run to Gaston.
Nine hours, of sharp work lay be
tween the hurried conference in Lor
ing's bedroom and the drive to the sta
tion at a Quarter before eleven. Bos
ton had been wired; divers and sundry
friends of the railway company had
been interviewed; some few affidavits
had been secured, and now they were
waiting to give Boston its last chance,
with a clerk hanging over tha oper
ator in the station telegraph office to
catch th? first word of encouragement.
"If the Advisory Board doesn't send
us something pretty solid I'm -going:
into this thing lame," said" Kent. dU-^
bipusly "Of course, what Boston can
tend us- trill" be only corroborative: un
fortunately we can't wire" affidavits.
But it will help. What we have se
cured here" focks directness." - -• * -
Without Benefit of Clersry.
CHAPTER X.
"If you will, be patient a little while
longer, I'll go to the wire and try to
find out. I am as much in the dark
as you are."
This last was not strictly true.
Hawk had a telegram in his pocket
which was causing him more uneasi
liess than all the rasping criticisms of
the Xew York attorney, and he -was
rereading it by the light of the corri
dor bracket when a young man sprang
from the ascending elevator and hur
ried to the door of the parlor suite.
Hawk collared his Mercury -before he
cculd ra;i on the door.
"Well?" he queried sharply.
"lt'« Just as you suspected — what
Mr. Hendricks' telegram hinted at. I
met him at the station and couldn't do
a thine with him."
Hawk rose.
"No; he is not of the weakening
kind. And, besides, the scheme is his
own from start to finish, as you
know."
"Well, what is the matter, then?"
Falkland took a cigar from his case,
bit the end of it like a man with a
grudge to satisfy, and began again.
"There is a very unbusinesslike
mystery a.bjjut,all this, Mr. Hawk, and
I may as well tell you shortly that my
time is too valuable to make me toler
ant of half-coiindences. Get lo the
bottom of it. Has your man weak
ened ?"
"And the train — the last -train the
other man can come on; is that in
yet ?"
Hawk consulted his watch.
"A good half-hour ago."
"You had your clerk at the station
to meet it?"
"I did."
"And he hasn't reported?"
**Xot yet."
"I've been trying to tel] you all the
evening that I'm only the hired man
in this business, Mr. Falkland. I
can't compel the attendance of the
other parties."
"Well, it's damned badly managed,
as far a-s we've gone." was the ungra
cious comment. "You say the Judge
refuses to confer with me?"'
"Ab-so-lutely."
Hawk wriggled uneasily in hi3 chair.
He was used to being bullied, not only
by the good and groat, but by the
little and evil as well. Yet there was
a rasp to the great man's impatience
that irritated him.
"How much longer have v.e to
v.ait?" he demanded Inipatiently,
•when the hands of his watch pointed
to the cuarter-hour after 10. "You've
made me travel two thousand miles
to see this thing through: why didn't
you make sure of having your man
here?"
Late that sam» night Stephen
Hawk was keeping a rather
discomforting vigil with a visitor
in the best suite of rooms the
Mid-Continental Hotel In Gaston af
forded. The guest of honor was a
brother lawyer — though he might
fcave refused to acknowledge the re
lationship with the ex-district attor
ney — a keen-eyed, businesslike gentle
man, whose name as an organizer of
vast capitalistic ventures had traveled
far, and whose present attitude was
one of undisguised and angry con
tempt for Gaston and all things Gas
tonian.
Now it chanced that, like all gos
sip, this statement was subject to cor
rection as to details in favor of the
exact fact. It is true that the Gov
ernor, his gigantic figure clad in
sportsmanlike brown duck, might
have been seen boarding the train on
the Monday evening: and in addition
to the ample handbag there were rod
and gun cases to bear out the newspa
per notices. None the less, it was
equally true that the keeper of the
Gun Club shooting box at the termi
nus of the Transwestern** Jump Creek
branch was not called upon to enter
tain so distinguished a guest as the
State executive. Also, it might have
been remarked that the Governor
travelr-d a '.one.
It was about this time." or, to be
strictly accurate, on the day preced
ing the convening of Judge MacFar
lane's court in Guston, that Governor
Bucks took a short vacation — his first
Bince the adjournment of the Assem
bly.
One of the mysteries of this man —
the only one for which his friends
could not always account plausibly —
was his habit of dropping out for a
Cay or a week at irregular intervals,
leaving no dew by which he could be
traced. While he was merely a pri
vate citizen these disappearances fig
ured in the local not°* of the
Clarion as "business trips," object and
objective point unknown or at least
unstated: but since his election the
newspapers were usually more def
inite. On this occasion the public was
duly informed that "Governor Bucks,
with one or two intimate friends, was
taking a few days' recreation with rod
and gun on the headwaters of Jump
Creek" — a statement which the Gov
ernor's private secretary stood ready
to corroborate to all and sundry call-
Ing at the gubernatorial rooms on the
second floor of the CapltoL
Kent took his head out of the cross
seas long enough to answer. By all
means Hunnicott was to obtain an
otker continuance, if possible. And
If, before the case were called, there
should be any new developments, he
was to wire at once to the general of
fice and further instructions would is
6ue.
It was while Kent's head was deep
est in the flood of reorganization that
a letter came from one Blashfield
Hunnicott. his successor in the local
attorneyship at Gaston. asking for in
structions in the Varnum matter.
Judge MacFarlane'g court would con
vene in a week. Was he. Hunnicott.
to let the case come to trial? Or
should he — the witnesses still being
unproducible — move for a further
continuance?
more stenographers to his office force.
Now there is this to be said of such
submerslve battlings in a sea of work;
while the fierce toil of the buffeting
mny be good for the swimmer's soul, it
necessarily narrows his horizon, inas
much as a man with his head in. the
tea smother lacks the viewpoint of the
captain who lights his ship from the
conning tower.
So it befell that while the newly ap
pointed general counsel of the reorgan
ized Western Pacific was bolting his
meals and clipping the nights at both
ends In a strenuous endeavor to clear
the decks for a possible battle royal
at the capital, events of -a. minatory
nature were shaping themselves else
where.
To bring these events down to their
focusing point In the period of transi
tion. It is needful to go back a little;
to a term of the Circuit Court held in
the third year of Gaston the prosper
ous.
Who Mra Melissa Varnum was; how
she came to be traveling from Midland
City to the end of the track on a scalp
er's ticket; and in what manner she
was given her choice of paying fare
to the conductor or leaving the train
at Gaston— these are aetails with which
we need not concern ourselves. Suffice
it to say that Kent, then local attor
ney for the company, mastered them;
and when Mrs. Varnum. through
Hawk, her counsel, sued for five thou
sand dollars damages, he was able to
get a continuance, knowing from long
experience that the jury would certain
ly find for the plaintiff if the case
were then allowed to go trial.
And at the succeeding term of court,
vhich wa6 the one that adjourned on
the day of Kent's transfer to the capi
tal, two of the company's witnesses
had disappeared; and the one bit of
company business Kent had been suc
cessful in doing that day was to post
pone, for a second time, the coming to
trial of the Varnum case.
Duvall. Is it worth while trying to do
anything .with him?"-- : - < > • "TV
s "Oh, I .don't know. I'm .opposed to
the method— the bargain and sale plan
—and I know you are. Turn him over
to me If he comes in again."
When Kent had dictated a letter In
answer to Hunnicott's he dismissed the
Varnum matter from his mind, havln g
other and more Important, things to
think of. So on the Friday when th«*
case was reached on Judge MacFar
lane's docket— but, really, in.it worth
our while to be present In the Gaston
courtroom to see and hear what De
falls. .
When the Varnum case was cal| e «
Hunnicott promptly moved for a third
continuance, in accordance with his in
structions. The Judge heard his argu
ment, the old and well-worn one of the
absence of important witnesses, witn
perfect patience, and after listening to
Hawk's protest, which was hardly
more than mechanical, he granted the
continuance.
¦ Then, came the afterpiece. Court
adjourned and immediately Hawk
asked leave to present, "at chambers,
an amended petition. Hunnicott waa
waylaid by a court officer as he was
leaving the room; and a moment later,
totally unprepared, , he was In the
Judge's office, listening In some dazed
fashion while Hawk went glibly
through the formalities of presenting
his petition. ,
Not until the papers were served
upon him as the company's attorney
and the.*. Judge was naming 3 o clock
©£ the following afternoon 'the time
"That's all, then; all but one word.
Your Judge is a weak brother. Notwith
standing all the pains I took to show
him that his action ,would be technic
ally .unassailable, he. was ready to fly
the track at any moment. Have you
got hiro safe?"
Bucks held up one huge hand ..with
the thumb and forefinger tightly
pressed together. '¦¦ .
"I've got him- right there." he said.
t : . ¦ . . ... t : i '.. . c •
"Of the three Justices, one of them
was elected on our ticket; another is a
personal friend of Judge MacFarlane.
The goods avIH be delivered." , '
"I've got a man I can hang, which
is more to the purpose. It's Major
Jim Guilford. He lives here; want to
meet him?"
"God forbid!" said Falkland, fervent
ly. He rose and whipped himself into
his overcoat, turning to Hawk: "Have
your young man get me a carriage,
and see to it that my special is ready
to pull east when I give the word, will
you?"
Hawk went obediently, and the New
Yorker had his final word with the
Governor alone.
"I think we understand each other
perfectly," he said. "You are to have
the patronage: we are to pay for all
actual betterments for- which vouchers
can be shown at the close of the deal.
All wa ask is that the stock be de
pressed to the point agreed upon within
the half-year."
"It's going to be done," said the Gov
ernor, trying as he could to keep the
eye-Image cf his fellow conspirator
from multiplying. Itself by two.
"All right. Now as to the court af
fair. If it Is managed exactly as I
liave outlined, there will be no trouble
—and- no recourse for the other fellows.
When I say that. I'm leaving out your
Supreme Court. Under certain condi
tions, if the defendant's hardship could
be- definitely shown, a writ, of certio
rarl and supersede as might issue. How
about that?" .
The Governor closed one eye slowly,
the better to check the troublesome
multiplying process.
"The Supreme ¦ Court won't move In
the matter. The ostensible reason will
be that th court Is now two years be
hind its docket."
"And the real reason?"
"You won't want to be known in
this, I take it," he said, nodding
at the Governor. "Mr. Hawk
here will answer well enough
for the legal part, but how about
the business end of it? Have you got
a man you can trust?"
The Governor's yellow eyebrows met
in a meaning scowl.
The conference in Falkland's rooms
was chiefly a monologue with the
sharp-spoken New York lawyer in the
speaking part. When it was concluded
the Judge took his leave abruptly,
p'eading the lateness of the hour and
liis duties for the morrow. When he
was gone the New Yorker began
again. ¦
"Cut that out, too, and come along,"
said the Governor, brutally, and by the
steadying help of the chair, the door
post and the wall of the corridor, he led
lie way to the parlor suite on the floor
below.
It v/as Macquold who apoke, and the
three apparitors, breathing hard, sat
upon the prostate man and bared his
arm for the physician. ."When the
apomorphla began to do Its work there
was a ctruggle of another sort, out of
which emerged a pallid and somewhat
stricken reincarnation of the Governor.
"Falkland is waiting at the hotel and
he and MacFarlane can't get together,"
said Hawk, tersely, when the patient
was fit to listen. "Otherwise we
shouldn't have disturbed you. It's all
day with the scheme If you can't show
up.'"
The Governor groaned and passed his
hand over his eyes.
"Get me into my dothes-^Johnson
has the grip— and give me all the time
you can," was the sullen rejoinder; and
in due course the Hon. Jasper G. Bucks>
clothed upon and In his right mind,
was enabled to keep his appointment
with the New York attorney at the
Mid-Continent Hotel.
But first came the whipping-in of
MacFarlane. .Eucks went alone to the
Judge's room on the floor- above the
parlor suite. It was now near mid
night, but MacFarlane had not gona
to bed. He was a spare man, with thin
hair, graying rapidly at the temples,
and a care-worn fac"e; the face of a
man whose tasks or responsibiltles. or
both, have overmatched him. He waa
walking the floor with his head down
and his hands — thin, nerveless hands
they were— tightly locked behind him,
when the Governor entered. • -
For a large man the Honorable Jas
per was usually able to handle his
weight admirably; but now he clung
to the door-knob until he could launch
himself at a chair and be sure of hit
ting it. . , '
"What's this Hawk's telling me about
you. MacFarlane?". he : demanded,
frowning portentously.
**I don't know what he. has told you.
But it is too flagrant, Bucks;" I can't
do it, and that's all there Is about it."
The protest was feebly fierce, and there
was the snarl of a' baited animal In the
tone.
"It's too late to make difficulties
now," was the harsh reply. "You've
got to do it." '
"I tell you. I can not, and I will not!"
"A late attack of conscience, eh?"
sneered the Governor, who was sober
ing rapidly now. "Let me aak a ques
tion or two. How much was that se
curity debt your son-in-law let you in
for?"
"It was $10,000. It is an honest debt,
and I shall pay It."
"But not out of the salary of a Cir
cuit Judge," Bucks, interposed. "Nor
yet out of the fees, you make your
clerks divide with you. And that isn't
all. Have you forgotten the gerry
mander business? How would you
like to see the true inwardness of that
ir.. the "newspapers? ' ..
The Judge shrank as if the huge ges
turing' hand had struck Mm.
"You wouldn't dare,". he began.' "You
wen; in that too. deeper than — .".'
Again the Governor interrupted him.
"Cut it out," he commenced. "I can
reward, and I can punish. You are. not
going to do anything technically ille
gal; but. by the gods, you are going to
walk the line laid down for you. If
you don't, I shall give the documents
in the gerrymander affair to the papers
the day after you fail. Now we'll go
and see Falkland."
'MacFarlane made one last protest.
'For God's sake, Bucks, 8pare me
that. It Is nothing less than the foul
est collusion between the Judge, the
counsel for the plaintiff— and the
devil!"
.."Where has he cone?" i • j
"To the same old place." T
"You followed him?"
"Sure. That" is. what kept me bo
long."
Hawk hung upon his decision for the
barest fraction of a second. Then he
gave his orders concisely.
"Hunt up Dr.Macquold and get him
out to the club house as quick as you
can. Tell him to bring his hypodermic
I'll be there with all the help he'll
need." »
And when the young man was gone
Hawk smote the air with a clenched
fist and called down the Black. Curse
of Shlelygh, or its modern equivalent,
on all the fates subversive of well-laid
plans.
A quarter of an hour later, on the up
per floor of the club house at the Gen
tlemen's Driving Park, four men burst
in upon a fifth, a huge figure in brown
duck, crouching in a corner like a wild
beast at bay.- A bottle urid a tumbler
stood- on the table under the hanging
lamp; and with the crash of breaking
glass which followed the mad-bull rush
of the duck-clothed giant the reek of
French brandy filled the room.
"Hold him still. If you can, and pull
up that sleeve."
¦: T. ' CHAPTER IX. »~>i T
The Shocking: of Hunnicott. . ,
It was two. weeks after the date of
the Governor's fishing trip, and by con
sequence Judge MacFarlane's court
had been the even fortnight in session
In Gaston/ when Kent's attention was
recalled to the forgotten . Varnum case
by another letter from the local attor
ney, Hunnicott. •
."Varnum vs. Western Pacific comes
up Friday of this week, and they are
going to press for trial this time, and
no mistake." wrote the local represen
tative. / "Hawk has been chasing
around getting affidavits; for ': what
purpose I don't know, though Lesher
tells me that one of them was 'sworn
to by Houllgan, the sub-contractor who
tried to fight the engineer's estimates;
on the Jump. Creek work. .
"Also, there" is a. story, going the
rounds that the suit is to be made a
blind for bigger game, ' though ! X guess
this is all gossip, based on the fact
that Mr. Semple Falkland's private car
stopped over here two weeks ago, from
S o'clock in the afternoon till midnight
of the same day. Jason, of the Clarion,
Interviewed the New Yorker, and Falk
land told him he had stopped over to
look up the securities on a' mortgage
held by one of, his New York clients."
Kent : reaA < this unofficial:' Uttet
"If you and Hawk have got your pa
pers in good shape, the thing will go
through like a -hog under a barbed*
wire fence."' . , u 1 - '
"Sit down," he' said: and when Kent
had found a chair: "I had a caller this
morning— Senator. Duvall." . , ,
State Senator Duvall had , been the
father, or. the ostensible father, of the
Senate amendment to House bill 29. He
was, known to the corporations' * lobby
as a legislator;* who would sign a rail
road's ¦ death , warrant with one hand
and take favors from It with the other;
and, Kent, laughed.
"How "many did he demand passes
for this time? Or was It a special train
he wanted?"
"Neither the one nor the . other, this
morning-, as It happened," said the gen
eral manager. "Not to put too fine an
edge upon it, he had something to sell,
and he wanted me to buy It."
"What, was it?", Kent. asked: quickly.
•' Lorlng '.was rubbing his eyeglasses
.absently* with the corner of his hand
kerchief.- . '
"I guess I. made a mistake in,- not
turning him, over to you, David. He
was too smooth for me. I couldn't find
out just what It was he-had. for sale.
He talked vaguely about an Impend
ing < crisis . and a roan who had some
information to dispose of; said the man
had come to him because he was known
to be a firm friend of the Transwest
ern, and so on." v
Kent gave his opinion promptly. .
"It's a capltol-gang deal of some sort
to hold us up: and Duvall is willing
to sell out his fellow conspirators If
the price is right."
£ "Have'yquany notion of -what It: isT*
Kent shook bis head, >
minutes sufficed for the writing of a
telegram, to Kent; and he was halfway
down to. the station with it when It
occurred to him that it would never
do to trust the incendiary thing to the
wires in plain English. There was a lit
tle-used cipher code In his desk pro
vided'for Just such emergencies, and
back he ..went to labor sweating, over
the task of securing secrecy at the ex
pense, of the precious minutes of time.
Wherefore, ." it was 4 o'clock when he
handed, the telegram to the station
operator, and adjured him by all that
was good and great not to" delay its
sending.
It was Just here he made his first and
only slip, since he did not stay to see
the thing done. It chanced that the
regular day operator was off on leave
of absence, and his. substitute, a young
man from the train-dispatcher's office,
was a person who considered the com
pany wires an exclusive appanage of
the train service department. At the
moment of Hunnlcott's assault he was
taking an order for No. 17; and ob
serving that the lawyer's cipher "rush"
covered four closely written pages, he
hung It upon the Bending hook with a
malediction on the legal department for
burdening the wires with its mall cor
respondence, and bo forgot it.
It was 9 o'clock when the night oper
ator came on duty: and being a careful
man. he not only looked first to his send
ing hook, but was thoughtful enough
to run over the accumulation of mes
sages waiting to be transmitted, to the
end that he might give precedenuce to
"Yes."
"Then we have till 11 o'clock to
morrow to prepare. I'll be ready by
that time."
"David, you are a brick when it
comes to the infighting," said the
general manager; and then h'« fin
ished buttoning: hi3 collar.
Kent wa,s walking the floor again,
but now the strength of the man was
coming uppermost.
"Never mind; we'll wire 'Boston,
and then we'll do what we can here.
Could you get mp to Gaston on a
special engine In three hours?"
"Haven't we? Don't you see how
nicely the thing is timed? Ten days
later our Transwestern reorganiza
tion would be complete and we could
swear our own officers on the ' spot.
These people know what they are
about."
"Certainly; that is the proper re
joinder — the only one, in fact." said
Kent; then, as a great doubt laid
hold of him and shook him: "You
don't mean to say there Is any doubt
about our ability to do it?"
"Oh. no; I suppose not, if It comes
to a show-down. But I wai thinking
of your man Hunnicott- Doesn't It
occur to you that he is in Just about
as good a fix to secure those affidavits
In Gaston as we are here. David?"
. "Good Lord! Do you mean that
we have to send to Boston for our am
munition?" •' *
*;The mastodonic cheek of th* thine"'
he kept repeating, until Lorlng pulled
him down with another quiet remark
"Tell me what we have to do. David'
I am a little lame in law matter 3 ••
"Do? We have to appear tn Judce
MacFarlane's court to-morrow after
noon prepared to *how that this thinir
is only a hold-up with a blank cart
ridge. Hawk meant to take a anaD
Judgment. He counted on throwing the
whole thing up against Hunnicott
knowing perfectly well that a little \q\
cal attorney at a wayside station
couldn't begin to secure the necessary
affidavits."
Lorlng paused with one end of his
collar flying loose.
"Let me understand." "he said. "Do
w> have to disprove these charges by
affidavits?"
Loring began to dre*s while Kent
¦walked the floor in a 'hot flt of in> D a.
tience. v
"We get busy at the drop of the hat
Luckily, we have the news, though I'll
bet high it wasn't Hawk's fault that
this message came through with no
more than eight hours' delay. Get into
your clothes, man! The minutes are
precious now!"
lookout for Just such a trap as this.
Look at the dafe of that message!" -
The general manager did look, and
shook his head. "'Received. 3:35, p
M.;, Forwarded. 9:17. P. M.' That will
coat somebody his Job. What do we
do?"
SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL\
"Mot the slightest. THe ways have
been tallowed for us, thus far, and I
don't fully understand it. ' I presented
our charter for retlling yesterday, and
Hendricks passed it without a, word.
As I was coming out of the secretary's
office I met Bucks. ! We were pretty
nearly open enemies in the old days in
Gaston, but he went out of his way to
shake hands and to congratulate^ me
on my appointment as general coun
sel."
- "That was warning in itself, wasn't
it?" •
"I took it that way. But I can't
fathom hi.s drift, whirh is the more un
accountable since I have it on pretty
good authority that the ring is i-inch
ing the other companies right and left.
Some one was saying at the Camelot
last night that the Overland's reor
ganization of its withln-the-State lines
v.'as going to cost all kinds of money in
excess of the legal fees." .
Lorlng'g smile was a wordless sar
casm. •
"It's the reward of virtue." he said
ironically. "We were not in the list of
subscribers to the conditional fund for
purchasing a' certain veto which didn't
materialize." ; -
"And Tor that very if for no
other, we may look out for squalls."
Kent- asserted. "Jasper G. Bucks has
a long memory,, and just now the fates
have given him an arm to match.. I am
fortifying everywhere I can. but if the
junta has it in for us we'll be made 'to
sweat ? blood before we are through
¦with It." -,-* • ;
¦ "Which, brings us back to Senator
-¦.;¦. • •*¦ .¦¦¦. . . ;.. i -.. .-¦- '..- I "'