The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 16, 1904, Page 2

more stenographers to his office force. Now there i this to be said of such 1 ve battlings in & sea of work; fier toil of the buffeting for the swimmer’s soul, it ; narrows his horizon, ines- man with his head in the sther lacks the viewpoint of the who fights his ship from the g tower. So it befell that while the newly ap- i general counsel of the reorgan- ern Pacific was bolting his clipping the nights at both strenuous endeavor to clear 1 for a possible battle royal e capital, events of .a minatory jre were shaping themselves else- bring these events down to their ng point in the period of transi- is needful to go back a little; 2 term of the Circuit Court held in third year of Gaston the prosper- the Who Mra Melissa Varn she came to be trave ¥ to the end of er's ticket; and was given her c to the conductor at Gaston—these are we need not concern ou to say that Ke for the com ¥ when Mrs Vv her counsel oliars dama inuance, jence that the ju find for the plaintiff if were then allowed to go trial And at the succeeding term of court, stered them; through five thou- he was able to Jowing from long s would certain- the case which wae the one that adjourned on e day of Kent's transfer to the capi- two of the witnesses ad disappeared one bit of mpany business Kent had been suc- essful in doing that as to post- one, for & second time, the coming to al of the Var n case. r d was deep- ganization that ne Bilashfield in the local ston, asking for in- Varnum matter. we’s court would con- Wa Hunnicott, om 1? Or wit being ove further his head out of the cross- all possible. And re called, there levelopments, he to the general of- structions would is- red Falklar - station of bottom of we: ened he eakening ki And s me is his own from sta you Well, what is the matter, then?" wk rose. you will be patient a little while I'lli go to the wire and try to I am as much in the dark i not strict true, telegram in his pocket s causing him more uneasi- asping criticisms of rney, and he was ing it by t ¥ the light of the corri- ket whe: young inan sprang ascending elevator and hur- to the door of the parlor suite, red his Mercury *before he » on the door. he queried sharply. it's t as you suspected—what Mir. Hendricks’ telegram hinted at. I met him at the station and couldn’t do a thing with him. from the ried 'k coll “Where has he gone?” e “To the same old place.” “You followed him?” “Sure. That is what long.” Hawk hung upon his decision for the barest fraction of a second. Then he gave his orders concisely. “Hunt up Dr. Macquoid and get him out to the club house as guick as you can. Tell him to bring his hypodermiec. I'll be there with all the help he'll need.” . And when the young man weas gone Hawk smote the air with a elenched fist and called down the Black Curse of Shielygh, 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 and a tumbler stood-on the table under the hanging lamp; and with the crash of breaking ss which followed the mad-bull rush of the duck-clothed giant the reek of ¥rench brandy filled the room. Hold him still, iIf you can, and pull up that sleeve.” It was Macquoid who spoke, and the three apparitors, breathing hard, sat upon the prostate man and bared his arm for the physician. - When the apomorphia began to do its work there W struggle of another sort, out of ch emerged a pallid and somewhat cken 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 clothes—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 kept me so st MacFarlane. .Bucks went alone to ths Judge’s room on the floor above the parior suite. It was now near mid- night. but MacFarlane had not gona to bed. FHe was a spare man, with thin nair, graying rapidly at the temples, and a care-worn facde; the face of a man whose tasks or responsibilties, or sth, have overmatched him. He was walking the floor with his head down and his hands—thin, nerveless hands y were—tightly locked behind him, the Governor entered. a large man the Honorable Jas- wag 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, tously. ow what he has told you. flagrant, Bucks; I can’t at’s all there is about it.” as feebly fierce, and there 1 of a baited animal in the late to make difficulties the harsh reply. “You've 1 tell you I can not, and I will not!” A late attack of conscience, eh?" sneer the Governor, who was sober- now. “Let me ask a ques- How much was that se- debt your son-in-law let you in $10,000. It is an honest debt, all pay it.” out of the salary of a Judge,” Bucks interposed. out of the fees you make s divide with you. And that isn’t Have you forgotten the gerry- nder business? Hepw would you to see the true inwardness of that newspapers?’ Judge shrank as if the huge ges- g hand had struck him ou wouldn't dare,” he bega in that too, deeper than— in the Governor interrupted him “Cut it out,” he commanced. I can ward, and I can punish. You are npt 18 to do anything technically ille- but, by the gods, you are going to “You v k the line laid down for you 1t you dan’t, T shall give the documents the gerrymander affair to the papers day after you fail. Now we'll go and see Falkland MacFarlane made one last protest. God’s sake, Bucks, spare me is nothing less than the foul- lusion between the Judge, the for the plaintift—and the ut that out, too, and come along,” rner, brutally, and by the p of the chair, the door- all of the corridor, he led lor sulte on the floor ference in Falkland’s rooms a monologue with the en New York lawyer in the When it was concluded took his leave abruptly. eness of the hour and the morrow When he the New Yorker began “You won't want fo be known in this, I take it,” he nodding at the Governor. Hawk here will answer well enough for the legal part, but how about ness end of it? Have you got ing scowl. I've got a man I can hang, which ore to the purpose. It's Major Guilford. He lives here; want to t him?” “God forb! said Falkland, fervent- He rose and whipped himself into 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 1 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 alt actual betterments for which vouchers can be shown at the close of the deal. All we 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 muitiplying itself by two. All right. Now as to the court af- fair. If it is managed exactly as I bave outlined, there will be no trouble ~and. no recourse for the other fellows. When 1 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- rari and supersedeas 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?" ‘Of the three Justices, one of them was elected on our ticket; another is a personal friend of Judge MacFarlane. The goods will be delivered.” , “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 himg safe?”’ Bucks held up one huge hand with the thumb and forefinger tightly pressed together. “I've got him right there.” he said. _HE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY “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.” . __‘.‘ P CHAPTER IX. ! : | 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. “Varpum 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 Houligan, the sub-contractor who tried to fight the ergineer's estimates on the Jump Creek wark. “Also, there is a story going the rounds that the suit is to be made.a blind for bigger game, though I guess this is all gossip, based on the fact that Mr. Semple Falkland’'s private car stopped over here two weeks ago, from 2 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 clisnts.” Kent vead . this unofiiclal lettez w.cughtruily, ana late 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 off one of our trains because she was 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 sue for $5000." “Well?” said Loring. “We fought it, of course—in the only way it could be fought in the lower court. 1 got a continuance, and we choked it off in the same way at the succeeding term. The woman was tired out long ago, but Hawk will hang on till his teeth fall out.” “Do you ‘continue’ again?” asked the general manager. Kent nodded. “I so instructed Hunnicott. Luckily, two of our 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. 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. on took it in “Sit down,” id: and when Kent had found a chai T 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. Loring was rubbing his eyeglasses Aabsently with the corner of his hand- kerchief. “I guess I made a mistake {n 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 man 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.” Kent gave his opinion promptly, “It's a capitol-gang deal of some sort to hold us up; and Duvall is willing to sell out his fellow conmspirators if the price is right.” “‘Have you any notion of what it is2" Kent shook his head Not the siightest. The ways have been tallowed for us, thus far, and I don’t fully understand it. I presented our charter for refiling yesterday, and Hendricks passed it without a. word. As T 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 avpointment as general coun- sel.” “That was warning in itself, wasn't it “I took it that way. But I can't fathom his drift, which is the more un- accountable since 1 have it on pretty good authority that the ring is cinch- ing the other companies right and left. Some one was saying at the Camelot last night that the Overland’s reor- ganization of its within-the-State lines was going to cost all kinds of money in excess of the legal fees."” Loring’s 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 nd for purchasing a certain veto which didn’t materialize.” ‘‘And for that very reason, 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. T 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 a : 3 CALL. —— Duvall. Is it worth while trying to do anything with him?" “Oh, I.don't know. I'm opposed to the method—the bargain and sale pl.an —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, having other and more Important things to think of. So on the Friday when the case was reached on Judge MacFar- lane's docket—but, really, is it worth our while to be present in the Gaston courtroom to see and hear what be- falls. When the Varnum case was called Hunnlcott promptly moved for a _th_!rd continuance, in accordance with his in- structions. The Judge heard his argu- ment, the old and well-worn one of the absence of imnortant witnesses, with 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 was 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. 5 Not until the papers were served upon him as the company’s attorney and the Judge was naming 3 o'clock of the following afternoop /the time whien ne woula liminary hearing, me alive. But, yvour Honor—a delay.of only twenty-four hours in which to prepare a rejoinder to rhis netition—to allega tions of such astounding gravity?" he began, shocked into action by the very ungraspable masnitude of the thing. appomnt 1or tne pre- did the local attor- “What more could Mr. Hun- nicott?” said the Judge, mildly. “You have already had a full measure of ce- lay on the original petition. Yet I am willing to extend the time if you can come to an agreement with M 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, vour Honor. 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. “and you have hitherto been deemed competent to conduct the case in be- half of the defendant. I am unwilling to work a hardship to any one, but 1 cannot entertain your protest. The preliminary hearing will be at 3 o'clock to-morrow."” ¥ Hunnicott knew when he was defin- jtely 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 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 incendlary 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 depaftment. At the moment of Hunnicott'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 sending hook with a malediction on the legal department for burdening the wires with its mail cor- respondence, and so 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 TENT A5 TTANONG WITY ZOFING BEZDE JHE ZXGINE WA WAS 70 70HF IWE FUp tne most 1mportant. And 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. It was half-past 9 when the all-im- portant cipher got itgelf written out in the headquarters office at the capi- and for two anxious hours the re- ceiving operator tried by gll means in his power to find the gene counsel— tried and failed. For, to make the chain of mishaps complete In all its links, Kent and Loring were spending the evening at Miss Portia Van Brock's, having been bidden to meet a man they were both willing to eulti- vate—Oliver Marston, the Lieutenant Governor. And for this cause it wanted but five minutes 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 gaspdd; and Loring sat on the edge of the bed to do it. “So! they've sprung their mine at last: this is what Senator Duvall was 3 to sell us,” he said quietly, when he had mastered the purpert of Hun- nicott’s war news. Kent had caught his second wind in the moment of resnite, and was settling into the collar in a way to strain the working Rarness to the breaking point. “It’s a put-up job from away back.” he gritted. If T'd had the sense of a packmule I should have been on the lookout for just such a trap as this Look at the date of that message! The general manager did loo! shook his head. * ‘Received M.; Forwarded, 7, P. M.' That w Cost somebody his job. What do w do?" ‘We get bu at the drop of th Luckily, we have the ne thoug bet high it wasn't Hawk's fau this message came through more than eight hours’ delay. your clothes, man! The mir precioys now!" Loring began to dress walked the floor in a hot tience. “.The mastodonic ¢heek of t he kept repeating, until 1 " him down with another qu “Tell me what we have 1 Iam a little lame in law matt “Do? We have to appear MacFarlane’s court to-morrow noon prepared to show t is only a hold-up with a ridge. Hawk fit “ meant to tak anap judgment. He counted on th 5. whole thing up against } knowing perfectly well that cal attorney at a ways station couldn't begin to secure the necessary affidavits."” Loring paused with one end of s collar fiving loose “Let me understand,” he said Yo Wwe have to disprove th harges by affidavits? “Certainly; that is the pr >- joinder—the only one, in f: 1 Kent; then, as a great doubt ald 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 was th of your man Hunnicott. Does oceur to you that he is_In just ab as good a fix to secure those afMda In Gaston as we are here, David?” “Good Lord! Do you mean that we have to send to Boston for our am- munition 2" “Haven't we? Don't you see how nicely the thing is tin Ten days later our Tra este: reorganiza- tion would be comy e and we could swear our own officers the “spo These people know what they ar about.” Kent was walking the floor again but now the strength of the man was coming uppermost. “Never mind; we'll wire Bos and then we'll do what her Could you ge special engine in t Yes. “Then we have t 11 morrow to pre that time.” “David, you are a brick comes to the infighting general manager ished buttoning ! ] we can to G ock t pare be ready t ¥ when it CHAPTER X Without At ten morning Kent general m track plat was to make the flying rur ¢ Benefit of Clergy forty was nager his watch snap. start Ay you ¢ Kent, and hol’ tank mayb alg dat nedings, ja engine spinn quickstep of zing. rocking. bounding T mile of dizayir graph flung pr ' now an tion with wav sighted, passed whirling sandcl was mutable inct, the big, n the opposite machine dog- 1 water at » midst of the brown des L t wn stifty from his cramved seat fireman’s box and we lips at th nozszle -of th ! Do we make it. Jarl?™ h The engineer wagged his “Ay tank so. Ve maig it ift dey haf bane got ¢ all se track clear right “There are other trains to meet Ja; two bane comin' dis vay: ant Nummer v s opp by Oleson dropped off to_pour a litt into the s 1-woundings while tank was filling; and presently the zying race began again. For a tim things were propitious. The two to be met were found, snugly drawn on the sidings at Mavero an Agriculta, and the station semaphores beckoned the flying special past at fu speed. Kent checked off the dodging mile-posts: the pace was bettering the fastest run ever made on the Prairie Division—which was saying a good deal. But at Juniberg, miles out o ton, there was a delay n Number 17, the east bound lime freight, ha left Juniberg at 1 o'clock, having ample time to make Lesterville, the next sta tion east, before the light engine could possibly overtake it. But Lesterville had not yet reported its arrival; for which cause the agent at Juniberg was constrained to put out his stop signal.y and Kent's special came to a stand at the Dlatform. Under the circumstances there ap- peared to be nothing for it but to wait of Gas