The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 16, 1902, Page 1

- Frank Norris =HE recent sad | death of Mr marks the loss to the English speaking world of one of the As an Sreatest writers of the day. suthor he was His last novel, lished last year, recog- nized both here and abrosd as the closest approximation to (he great American mnovel of anything that has ever mppeared from the pen of any writer. As = Californimn Mr. Noiris made & mame that brings the greatest eredit te his State; and an the mu- ther of “The Octopus,” Mr. Norris wrote the strongest book om Cali- fernia ever published. This movel, under the author's :"t-u idea—so disastrously imter- d by his deatbh—was intended re “.T. the 6 ol' three ory roes, Kso.r-- itself with the growing of wh It was Mr. Norris second book = movel the third book of the trilogy tell of the final distribution af wheat in Eure Fertunatel “’xho pus” is ote in itself, and ax & matter faot would maturaliy be the most t!mtil. of the trilegy for us of Jaliferaia 1 for Mr. Norris chose as the soene for this book the most im- me: wheat fleld known the yrorid ever—our own plains of the Ssn Joaguim Valley. The story g itself with the life of the ers of the grest pleins and th struxgles mot only with seoil r agnivst the -‘-“i' of weather, mt mise mgaimst the ra harks of the business weorl th movel this is the ncarest ap- to the great American movel wought for by erities and As & story, it will keep you =p, =ights’ until you have t. The character studies book are iarly Oalifor- , and particn ¥ mecurate and eonvincing. Immediately mpon the ath of Mr. Norris, realising the great inter- est that would naturally be awak- ened in his last movel, “The Octe- us”’—a masterpiece of fiction—The Call forthwith mmade ar- enis at great expense with orris’ publishers for the exclu- sive rights of “The Octopus” for the Pacific_Ooast. The first installment of this great book was published in The Sunday Call last Sunday, and that edition is aiready nearly exhaustied, so if you wish to read “The Octopus” you would better apply for the first is- sue—Sunday Call of November H— at once. +The Ootopus” will be followed by “The Gospel of Judas Iscariot” by Asron Dwight Baldwin, which has It throws = mew light on the strange life, the character a: motives of this, the bitteriy execrated man either the biblical er rrofa mever been of com- s and glori- establish his king- on earth, and the art Judas played in T Was in Flower” by Major; “The Gemtieman From Indiaas,” by Booth Tarking- l.m “Tainted Geld,” by Mrs. C. N. ‘Williamson, whese “Mystery Box,” ‘llmlt‘ & few weeks ago in The unday Oall, was eme of the be: stories in remarkable seri “The Turapike Heuse,” by Fergu .l-J ‘a eto, :u. ponder ever this list Books, a5 well as the mam e of the writers, and remember et all these stories free with unday L snmouncements will be feature is also to The Sumday iection in the way sasppy and exciti short stories Oepyright, 1901, by Doubleday, Page & Co. V- —CONTINUED. eams to about giving & dance in new btn:”-ud Annixter, scowling the dapths of his hat, as though ng from notes he had concealed there. th.mmu"t..‘-.w].(lhk Imh': I{lhould send out Z o, t 4 in the Movcurys | O JUSt PUCting an ut es be spoke Presley had behind Annixter in time o get the Srid of the conversation, and now observed: lnl Th l'lfimn;eme, Buck. You're not giv- g & publio ball. You must se: - v:zhcon-."P nd out in: “Hello, Presley; you there?” exclaimed Annixter, turning around. The two shook bands. “Send out invitations?” repeated Annix- uneastly. ~Why must 17+ Py ‘Because that's the only way to do.” “It is, is it?” answered Annixter, per- plexed and troubled. No other man of his scqueintance could have so contradicted Annixter without provoking a quarrel nt. Why the young ranch- obstinate, belligerent, should to the po ver to be exp! rise that m c nue: 1 suppose you know what you're talking }.:.‘r:v Pres. Must have written = te vou are. Buek,” ob- “Before you get t you will probably insult ths of the people you intend to e and have about a hundred quar- n your hands, and a lawsuit or two.” owever, before Annixier cpuld repl agnus came out on the porch, erect, grave, fre shaven. Without realizing what he was doing. Annixter instinctive rose s it was as though Ma nus was a cc 3 fef of an un- seen subaltern. There was versation as to the then Annixter found &n excuse for g the governor aside, , leaning : Magnus tall, assive, one hand in_the breast of his frock coat, his head bare, his keen, biue eyes fixed upon Annixter's face. Annixter came at once to the main ofnt P got @ wire from Osterman this morning, governor. and, well—we've got Disbrow. That means that the Denver, Pueblo and Mojave is back of us. There's bhalf the fight won first off.” terman bribed him, I suppose,” ob- Magnus. Annixter raised a shoulder vexatious: - got to pay’ for what you get, be returned. “You don’t get something for nothing, I guess. Governor,” he went on, “I don’t see how you can stay out of this business much longer. ~ You see how it will be. We're going: to win; and I on’t see how you can feel that it's, right to let us do all the work and stand e expense. There's never been:a { any importance ‘that went you weren't the lead- “ounty, all the-San ter. knows you. 1 eel about politics now: standards have since your time; -everybody plays the game now as we are playing it—the most houorable men. You can't play it ‘ ness, ‘hour. “preserve any other way, and pshaw! if the right wins out in the end, that's the main thing. We want you in this thing, and we want bad. You been chewing on this af- now a long time. Have you made up your mind? 30 you come in? I tell you what, you've got to look at these things in a large way. You've got to judge by results. Well, now, what do you think? Do you come in? Megnus’' glance left Annixter's face, and for an instant sought the ground. His frown lowered, but now it was in perplex- ity, rather than in anger. His mind was troubled, harassed with a thousand dis- sensions, But one of Magnus' strongest instincts, ope of his keenest desires, was to be, ! only for a short time, the master. To control men had ever been his ambition; submission of any kind, his greatest ho ror. His energy stirred within him, goad ed by the lash of his anger, his sense of i{ndignity, of insult. Oh, for one moment to be able to strike back, to crush his enemy, to defeat the raliroad, hold the corporation in the grip of his fist, put down S. Behrman, rehabllitate himself, re- gain his self-respect. To be once more powerful, to command, to dominate. His thin lips pressed themselves _together, the nostrils of his prominent hawk-like nose dilated, his erect, commanding figure stiffened unconsclousiy. For a moment he saw himself controlling the situation, the foremost figure in his State, feartd, respected, thousands of men beneath him, his ambiticn at length gratified; his ca- reer, once apparently brought to nauvght, completed; success a palpable achieve- ment. Wrat if this were his chance, after all, come at last after mil these years His chance® The instinets of the old-tims gambler, the most redoubtable poker player of EI Dorado County, stirred at the word. Chance! To know it when it came, to recognize it as.it passed fleet es a wind-flurry, grip at it, catch at it, blind, reckless, staking all upon the haz- ard of the issue, that was genius. W this his Chance? All of a sudden it seemed to him that it was. But his honorl His cherished, lifelong integrity, the unstained purity of his principles? At this late dats, were they to be sac- Tificed? Could he now go counter to all the firm-built fabric of his character? How, afterward, could he bear to look Harran_end Lyman in the face? And yet—end yet—back swung the penduium— to neglect his Chance meant failure; a life begun in promise and ended in ob- sourity, perhaps in financial ruin, pov- ven. To seize it meant achievement, influence,” prestige, possibly great weelth. “I am so sorry to interrupt,” Sald Mrs. Derrick, as she -came up, ‘I hopé Mr. Annixter will exc me, but 1 want Magnus to open the safe for me. T have lost the combination, and I must have some money.” Phelps is going into town and. I syant bim to pey some bilis for me. Can't you come. right .away, Magnus? Phelps is ready and waiting.’™ Annixter struck his heel into the ground with & .suppressed. oath. Alwavs -thess fool female women came between him and his plans, mixing themsel¥es up in his affairs. /Magnus had been on the very point of saying something, perhaps com- mitting himself to some course of action. and at precisely the wrong moment ais wife had cut in. The opportunity was lost. The three returned toward the rancbhouse; but before saying good-by Annixter had secured from Magnus a promise to the effect that before coming to a definite decision in the matter un- der discussion he would talk further with him. * Presley met him at the porch. He was going into town with. Phelps and pro- posed to Annixter that he should ac- company them. “] want to go over and see old Broder- son,” Annixter objected. But Presley informed him that Broder- son had gone to Bonneville earlier in the morning. He had seen him go past in his buckboard. The three men set off, Phelps and_Annixter on horseback, Pres- ley on his bicycle. When they had gone Mrs. Derrick sought out her husband in the office of the ranch-house. She was at her pret- tiest that morning, her cheeks flushed with excitement, her innocent, wide-open eves almost girlish. She had fastened her bair, still moist, with a black ribbon tied at the back of her head, and the soft mass of light brown reached to below her waist, making her look very young. “What was it he was saying to you just now,” she exclaimed, as she came through the gate in the green-painted wire railing of the office. ‘“What was Mr. Annixter saying? I know. He was trying to get you to join him, trying to persuade you to De dishonest. wasn't that it? Tell me, Magrws, wasn't that it?’ Magnus nodded. His wife drew close to Him, putting a hand on his shoulder. X “But you won’t, will you? You won't listen to him again; you won’t 80 much as allow him—anybody—to even suppose you would lend yourself to bribery? Oh, Magnu 1 don’t know what has come over u these Jast few' weeks. before this you would have been insui f y one thought you would even con- anything like dishonesty. Magnus, would break my heart if you joined Mr. Arnixter and Mr. Osterman. ~Why, you couldn’t be the same man to me afterward; you, who have kept yourself 8o clean till now. And the boys; what would Lyman say, and Harran, and every one who knows you and respects you, If you lowered yourself to be just a political adventurer!” For a moment Derrick leaned his head upon his hand, avoiding her gaze. At length he sajd, drawing a deep breath: “T am troubled, Annie. These are th evil days. I have much upon oy mind.” vil days or not.” she insisted, ise me this one thing, that you will not join Mr. Annixter's scheme.” e had taken his hand in both of hers and was looking into his face, her pretty eyes full of pleading. “Promise me,” she repeated; “give me your word. Whatever happens, let me always be able to be proud of you, as I always have been. Give me your word. I know you never seriously thought of Joining Mr. Annixter, but I am so nervous and frightened sometimes. Just to re- lieve my mind, Magnus, give me your w hy—you are > right,” he, answered. o, I never thought seriously of it. Only for a moment, I was ambitious to. be—I don’t know “what—what f had hoped. to be once—well:.that is over now. 'Annie, your husband-is a disappointed”man.’ “Give-me vour. word,” she -insisted. “We' can talk about other things after- gain Magnus wavered, about to yleld to <his “better. instincts and to the en- treaties of-his wife. He began to see how perilously” far he had gone in this busi- He was drifting closer to it every Already he was entangled, al- ready his foot was caught in .the mesh that was being spun. Sharply he recoiled. Again all his, instincts of honesty re- voited. No, whatever happened, he would his . integrity. His wife was Tight. Always she had Influenced his bet- ter side. At'that moment Magnus' repug- nance of the proposed political. campaign was at its pitch of intensity.’ He won- dered how be bad ever allowed himself to so much as entertain the idea of join- ing with the others. Now he would wrench free, would, in a single instant of power, clear himself of all compronus- ing relations. - He ‘turned to his wife. Upon his lips trembled the promise she implored. But suddenly there came to his mind the recollection of his new-made pledge to Annixter. He had given his word that before arriving at a decision he would have a last interview with him. To Magnus his given word was sacred. Though now he wanted to he could not as yet draw back, could not promise his wife that he would decide to do right. The matter must be delayed a few days longer. Lamely he explained this to her. Anni Derrick made but little response when he had done. She kissed his forehead and went out of the room, uneasy, depreased, her mind (hrons‘ln? with vague fears, leaving Magnus before his office desk, his head in his hands, thoughtful, gloomy,: assaulted by: forebodings. Meanwhile Annixter, Phelps and Pres- ley continued on their way toward Bonne- ville. In a short time they had turned into the county road by the great water- ing tank and proceeded onward in the shade of the Interminable"line of poplar trees, the wind-break that stretched-along the roadside *'bordering ithe Broderson . AGAZINL ECTION NOVEMBER, 16m |9OL_,A SR P 8l s THE LATE" TRANK, PHOTO BY GENTHE. MHorR1S usuat loafers sat, chew- ing tobacco, swapping stories. In the park were the inevitable array of nursemaids, skylarking couples and ragged little boys. A single policeman, in gray helmet, friend and acquaintance of every man and woman in the tcwn, stood by the park entrance, leaning an elbow on the fence ‘post, twirling his elub. But in the center of the best business plock of the street building - of with. plateglass tered signs. “Pacific and Freight and Passenger another, much smaller, beneath the win- Gows of the second story, séription “P. and S. W. Land ‘Annixter hitched his horse post in front of this building and tramped up to the second floor, into an office where .a couple of clerks and bookkeepers sat at work behind a One of these'latter exclaimed An- king him by the hand. the fighting is over already. Wi Disbrow; you know; and tl is to get hold of some of those rotten San Francisco bosses. But Harran interrupted him, making a quick gesture with his hand. “Don't tell me about it,”” he sald. don’t want to know what you and Oster- Osterman will—" a three-story rough brown stone, windows and gold-let- these latter Southwestern shouldn’t come _in. Yet, for all this, before they said good- obtained Harran's promise that he would attend the next meeting of the committet, when Oser-~ man should return from Los Angeles and Harran went on toward Annixter mounted and rode bye _Annixter bore the in- make his report. A Los Muertos. into Bonneville. Bonneville was very lively It was a little city of some twenty or inhabitants, where, , the city hall, the high school build- g and the opera-house were objects of It was well governed, beauti- fully clean, full of the energy and strenu- ous’ young life of a new city. the briskest activity pervadel its streets and sidewalks. the town, centering about Main was always crowded. Annmixter, arrivin at the postoffice, found himseif nvolve in a scene of swiftly shifting sights and farm wagons— the inevitable Studebakers—buggies gray with the dust of country boards with squashes ana grocery pack ages stowed under the seat, two-wheeled sulkies and training carts, were hitched to the gnawed railings und zinc-sheathed telegraph poles along the curb. Here and there, on the edge of the sidewalk, were bicycies, wedged inte bicycle racks paint- ed with cigar advertisements. asphalt sidewalk at all times. letting. himselt thirty thousand high wire screen. recognized him and came forward. “Hello,” said Annixter abruptly, seowi- ing the while. *“Is your boss in? The bookkeeper led Annixter to the pri- vate office in an adjoining room, ushermng him through a door, on the froste: of’which was painted the name, Blakelee Ruggles.” The business Inside, a man in a frock coat, shoestring necktie and Stet- son hat, sat writing at a roller-top desk. Over this desk was a vast map of ths railroad holdings in Bonneville and Guadalajara, the alternate sections belonging to the corporation ac- curately plotted. Ruggles was cordial in his welcome of He had a way of fiddling with his pencil continually while he talked, scribbling vague lines and fragments of words and names on stray bits of paper, and no sooner had Annixter sat down than he had begun to write, in full-bellied script, Ann Ann all over his blotting pad. “I want to see about mine—I mean of your—of the raliroad's,” Annixter commenced at once. to know when I can buy. fooling along like this.” Saddle horses, the country about BUGIS ANNIXTER. itself, soft and sticky with the morning's heat, was a co en with large stomachs, wearing linen coats but no vests, labored ponderously up and down. Girls in lawn skirts, shirt waists and garden hats, went to and fro, invariably in couple: coming in and out of the drugstore, the ocery store and haberdasher’s or linge: ing in front of the postoffice, which was on a corner under theyI O. O. F. Young men in shirt sléeves, with brown, wicker cuff protectors over their pen their = ears, bustled in front of the grocery stores, anxious and preoccupied. man, a Mexican, in ragged white trous- ers and bare feet, sat on a horse-block in front of the barber shop, holdin, y a/rope around its neck. A teetering under the weight of his market baskets slung on a pole across In the neighborhood of the hotel, the Yosemite House, traveling salesmen, drummers for jewelry firms of San Francisco, commercial agents, insur- well dressed, metropolitan, debonair, stood about cracking jokes or hurried in and out of the flapping Yosemite barroom. Yosemite bus and city bus passed up the way from the each with its two or three pa: A very narrow wagon, belong- * ing to the Cole and Colemore Harvester Works, went by, loaded with long strips of iron that made a jarred over the unevenncss of the pave- The electric car line. boast, did a brisk business, whirling from end to end of the street, with a jangling of bells and a moaning On the stone bulk- eads of the grass plat around the new ous movement. those lands of I'm sick of observed R: gles, writing a great L befors the A and finishing it off with a flourishing d. “The lands”—he crossed out one of the n’s and noted the effect with a hasty glance—"the lands are practically yours. You have an option on them indefinitely, and, as it is, you don’t have to pay the her's saloon and grocery, about half a Harran fell thoaghtful, n his pockets, frowning moodily at the toe There was a_silence. 0_it blind,” he mile outside of Bonneville, nized Harran's horse tied to the railing Annixter left the others they recog- of his boot. “I don’t like to arded. ““I'm sort of sharing the responsi- ou do, then. I'm : in front of it. and went in to see Harran. “Harran,” he said, when the two had sat down on either side of one of the small tables, “you've got to make up your mind one way or angther ‘What are you going to do? by and see the rest of the committee spending money by the bucketful in this thing and keep y hands in your pockets? 1f we win, you'll benefit just as much as the rest of us. I suppose you've got some money of your own—you have, u your father’'s manager, aren't Disconcerted at Annixter's Harran stammered an affirmative, adding: “It’s hard to know just what to do. It's & mean position for me, Buck. others, but I do want to play w how to pl; any 1d - like to have & line bility of what any difficulties with the governor. always got along well to g A _very old “Rot your option! I want to own them,” Annixter declared. ple got to gain by ‘wouldn’t 1k ““What have 1hi ltke you going to stand vernor says he will you can do as you i1 you come In? For God's sake, each other Annixter had ring. :f w{n you're right,” His sense of ing of what's- oppressive. All grower was at last with his back to the his own means. of his shoulders. for over eight years: Quien Sabe, the understanding was that lands—your alternate sections—were to be conveyed to me within a few ‘When I came in on et us ranchers aven't you? tan “The land had not been patented to us answered Ruggles. “Well, it has been now, 1 guess,” re- torted Annixter. “I'm sure I couldn't tell you, Mr. An- Annixter crossed his legs weariedly. “Oh, what’s the good of lying, Ruggles? You know better .than to talk that way Harran murmured vaguely. discouragement, the-use, was never fair- means ha street onthe *I don't kno athér ‘ways -I shoul from 'the gbveir{aor n: t‘tvsoixgw t? ::c i ; tUng ' out LR ms. to. want to let me ‘put ‘in ' Annixter, eep ot of the thi : d-therghave ‘and “shiire A alike with-the.committge on campalgn ex: ranch. But as they drew near to Cara- penses.” wall. /\If- he - chose orrible din as th, the' " responsibilit: = n ] Ruggles’ face flushed on the he' checked his answer and d. ‘e'BhA i zgu know so much about it—"* “Well, when are you going to sell %o he tohtlr{\l governor Is laint of gearing. in for my share of the