The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 23, 1904, Page 2

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALLL & HIS is the third installment & T of “The Grafters,” by b24 Irancis Lynde, which be- x an in the Sunday Call on Oc- 2 tober 9. Following “The Graft- fhere will be published plete in one installment sccond Mrs, Jim,” by Stephen Conrad, a book sell- ing the book stores for $150. In presenting a com- 3 plete poy r novel in one in- stallment the price of 5 £ conts the Sunday Call is in this ¥ ir taking one step fur- 8 ther in its original and highly successful innovation of pre- senting popular novels to its readers at a price which wounld scarcely pay for the ink used in the printing. Copyright by Bobbs-Merrill Co. b the listener out of it ly and Ormsby strolled the platform, wondering d happened and where e glanced up at two of them ran eled driveway toward 1; the poles of the other the road to the west ve instant the tele- dashed out of his bay- the track car. In a few minutes gain, holding an excited the chauffeur of the who was waiting to ould bring him any « s s 1 to be peculiarly a f not, as every « w ! or mascu- t r the masterful ¥ € S: fhan his d share. He t ur turn his car in t € 1 send it spinning i across the line into L heard the mel- incoming train ana nan nervously setting I with no more than now the reason s and haste—a re w C ent to wait on of events. on, such as it was, did he train thundered d barely long passenge: Pullman; to stop a second had passed head out of the win- at the private car was remarked also that the with the utmost cele- ut on the main line with 3 coupled in, the train swiftly down to the sta- small mystery of hurry- tly solved. The Gov rty were returning, t wish to miss connee- back into the when he heard split explosions of the automo- ash of hoofs and iron- the sharp gravel. He and was in time to the race. Up the ward came the six- e rses galloping in 1 the automobile strain- at the end of an im- ine. In a twinkling the ast of the private car, assengers was ef- y was near enough indow to remark et there was pell- suppressed excitement; r s the coolest man the receiver had from the coach train moved out, of y the lead vised tOw n the ed with each added wheel ed from his window the . Mirage ef- on the%western plains had not been familiar e might have marveled at g example afforded by the look. In the rapidly increas- ective the horses of the were suddenly multiplied into roop and where the station aggnt stood on the platform there seemed had to be a dozen gesti~ulating figures fad- ing into indistinctn: as the fast train swept on its way eastward. The clubman saw no more of the junketing party that nigat. Once when the train stopped to cut out the din- ing-car and he had stepped down for a breath of fresh air on the station platform, he noticed that the private car was brilllantly lighted and that the curtains and window shades were closely drawn. Also he heard the pop- ping_of bottle corks and the clink of glass, betokening that t¢he Governor's party was still celebrating its success- ful race for the train.. Singularly enough Ormsby’s reflectiong concermed themselves chiefly with the small dis- bonesty. “I1 suppose it all goes into the recelv- er's expense account and the raflroad pays for it,” he said to himself. “So and so much for an inspection trip to Megllp and return. I must tell Kent About it. It will put another shovel- ful of coal into his furnace—not that he is especially needing 1t.” At the moment of this saying—it was between ten and eleven o'clock at night David Kent's wrath-fire was far from needing an additional stoking. Once more Miss Van Brock had given proof of her prophetic gift, and Kent had been moodily filling details of the pic- ture drawn by her woman’s intuition. He had gone late to the house in Ala- meda square, knowing that Portia had dinner guests. And it was imperative that he should have her to himseif. “You needn’t tell me “anything but the manner of its doing,” she was say- ing. “I knew they would find 2 way to stop you—or make one. And you needn’t be spiteful at me,” she added, when Kent gripped the &rms of his chalr. % “I don’t mind your saying ‘I told you £0,” he fumed. “It's the fact that I didn’t have sense enough to see what «n easy game 1 was dealing them. It didn’t take Meigs five minutes’to shut me off.” . “Tell me about it,” she said; and he did it crisply. “The que warranto inquiry is insti- tuted in the ngme of the State, or rathergfhe proceedings are brought by some r#on with the approval of the Governpr or the Attorney-General, one cr both. I took to-day for obtaining this approval ‘M knew Bucks was out of town and Ithought I could buily Meigs.” “"And you couldn’t?” she said. “Not in a thousand vears. At first THE- GRAFTERS he s2id he would take the matter un- der advisement: I knew that meant &' consultation with Bucks. Then I put the whip on; told him a few things I know, and let -him imagine a lot more; but it was no good. He was as smooth as oil, admitting nothing, deny- ing nothin®. And what grinds me worst is that I let him put me in fault; gave him a chance to show conclusive- ly how absurd it was for me to expect him to take up a question of such mag- nitude on the spur of the moment.” “Of course,” she said sympathetical- ly. “I knew they would find a way. What are you doing?” Kent laughed in spite of his sore amour-propre. “At this present moment I am doing precisely what you said I should; un- loading my woes upon you.” “Oh, but I didn’t say that. - I said you would come to me for help. Have you?” “I'd say yes, if I didn’t know so well just what I am up agalnst.” Miss Van Brock laughed unfeelingly. “Is it a man's weakness to fight bet- ter in the dark?” “It is @ man’s common sense to know when he is knocked out,” he retorted. She held him with her eyes while she said: “Tell me what you want to accom- plich, David; at the end of the ends, I mean. Is it only that you wish to save Miss Brentwood's little marriage portion?” He told the simple truth, as who could help, with Portia’s eyes demand- ing it. “It was that at first, I'll admit it But latterly—" “Latterly you have b2gun to think larger things?” She looked away from him, and her next word seemed to be patr of an unspoken thought. “I have been wondering if you are great enough, David.” He shook his head despondently. “Haven't I just been showing you that I am not?” “You have been showing me that you cannot always outplan the other per- son. That is a lack, but it is not fatal Are you great enough to run fast and far when it js a straight-away race depending only upon mere man- -ltrer,lgth and indomitable determina- tion?” Her words fired him curiously. He recalled the little thrill of inspiration Which a somewhat similar appeal from Elinor had once given him, and tried to compare the two sensations. There was no comparison. The one was a call to a moral victory; the other to material success. None the less, he decided that the present was the more potent spell, perhaps only because it was the present. ‘Try me,” he sald impulstvely. “If I do .. David, no man can serve tWwo masters—or two mistresses. If I do, will you agree to put the senti- mental affair resolutely Mn the back- ground?” He took his head in his hands and was a long minute making up his mind. But the refusal was blunt enough when it came. i"db_lo; at least not until they are mar- ried.” It would have taken a keener dis- cernment than Kent's or any man's to have fathomed the prompting of her laugh. # “1 was only trying you,” she d. “Perhaps If you had saifl yes I uld have deserted you and gone over to the other side.” He got up and went to sit beside her on the pillowed divan. “Don’t try me again, please—not that way. I am only a man.” “I make no promises—not even good ones,” she retorted. And then: “Would you like to have your quo war- ranto blind alley turned into a thor- “I belleve you can do it if you try,” he admitted, brightening a little. “Maybe I can; or rather, maybe I can put you in the way of doing it. BY FrRANCIS LYNDE: You say Mr. Meigs is obstinate and the Governor is likely to prove still more obstinate. Have you thought of any way of softening them?” “You know 1 haven't, It's a stark impossibility from my point of view.” “Nothing is impossible; it is always a question of ways and means.” Then, suddenly: ““Have you beedl paying any attention to the development -of the, Belmont oil field?” vl “Encugh to know that it a big thing; the biggest since the Pepnsyl. vania discoveries, according to all dc- counts.” f “And the people of the State are en- thusiastic about it, thinking that now the long tyranny of the oil monopoly will be broken?" “That is the way most of the news- papers talk, and there seems to be some little ground for it, granting the powers 6f the new law.” She laid the tips of her fingers on his arm and knotted the thread of sug- gestion in a single sentence. “In the present state of affairs—with the People’s party as yet on trial, and the public mind ready to take fire at the merest hint of a foreign capitalis- “tic monopoly in the State—tell me what would happen to the man who would let the Universal Oil Company into the Belmont fleld in defiance of the new trust and corporation law?” “By Jove!” Kent exclaimed, sitting up as if the shapely hand had given him a buffet. “It would ruin him polit- ically, world without end! Tell me; is Bucks going to do that?” She laughed softly. “That is for you to find out, Mr, David Kent; not by hearsay, but in good, solid terms of fact that will ap- peal to a level-headed, conservative newspaper editor like—well, like Mr. Hildreth of the Argus, let us say. Are you big enough to do it?” “I am desperate enough to try,” was the slow-spoken answer, “And when you have the weapon in your hands; when you have found the sword and sharpened {t?” “Then I ean go to his Excellency and tell him what will happen If he doesn't instruct his Attorney-General in the quo warranto affair.” “That will probably suffice to save your railroad—and Miss Brentwood's marriage portion. But after, David; what will you do afterward?” “I'll go on fighting the devil with fire until I have burned him out. If this is to be a government of dictators, I can be one of them, too.” ?lhe clapped her hands enthusiasti- cally. “There spoke the man David Kent; the man I have been trying to discover deep down under the rubbish of,ill- temper and hesitancy and—yes, I will say {t—of sentiment. Have you learned your lesson, David mine?" It was o mark of another change in him that he rose and stood over her, and that his voice was cool and dis- passionate when he said: “If I have, it is because I have you ‘t’or f&n inspired text-book, Portla, ear.’ - CHAPTER XVIL Sharpening the Sword. In the beginning of the new cam- paign of investigation David Kent wisely discounted the help of paid pro- fessional sples—or rather he deferred it to a later stage—by taking counsel with Jeffrey Hildreth, night editor of the Argus. Here, if anywhere, practi- cal help was to be had; and the tender of it was cheerfully hearty and en- thusiastic. Y ““Most assuredly you may depend on the Argus, hdrse, foot and artillery,” affections with a crowbar—sudd said tne editor, wnen Kent had guard- dly outlined some portion of his plan. “We are on your side of the fence, and have been ever since Bucks was sprung as a candidate on the convention. But you've no case. Of course, it's an open secret that the Universal people are trying to break through the fence of the new law and establish them- selves in the Belmount fleld without losing their identity or any of their monopolistic privileges. And it is equally a matter of course to some of us that the Bucks ring will sell the State out if the price is right. But to implicate Bucks and the capitol gang in printable shape is quite anctther matter.” “I know,” Kent admitted. “But it isn’t impossible; it has got to be pos- sibie.” The night editor sat back in his chair and chewed his cigar reflectively. Sud- denly he asked: ‘“What's your object, Kent? It ::?"vl purely pro bono publico, I take Kent could no longer say truthfully that it was, and he did not lie about it. “No, it's purely personal, I guess. I need to get a grip on Bucks and I mean to do it.” Hildreth laughed. “And having got it, you'll telephone me to let up—as you did in the House bill 29 fiasco. Where do we come in?"” *“No; you shall come in on the ground floor this time; though I may ask you to hold your hand until I have used my leverage. And if you'll go into it to stay, you sha'n’t be alone. Giving the Argus precedence in any item of news, I'll engage to have every other opposition editor In the State ready to back you.” “Gad! you're growing, Kent. Do you mean to down the Bucks crowd defi- nitely?” demanded the editor, who stammered a little under excitable provocation. “Bigsgs men than you have tried it—and failed.” “But no one of them with half my obstinacy, Hildreth. It can be done, and I am going to do { ‘The night la agein. “If you can w that slnl up, nothing in this State will be too for you." wa ‘haps I'll come around for this for health or pleasure. Can I flat on or sentiment on his. ‘western territory, their man Guilford; it's e—own those pecple down there body and soul. You couldn’t pry Bucks out of their enly, I mean. gradually; educate the people as we We'll have to work up to if 80 along.” “I concede that much,” said Kent. d you may.as well begin on ‘this same Transwestern deal’—wherewith he pieced together the inferences which pointed to the: stock-smashing project behind the receivership. “Don’t use too much of it,” he added, In conclusicn. “It is all inference and deduction as yet, as I say. But you will admit it's plausible.” The editor was sitting far back in his chair again, chewing absently on the extinct cigar. “Kent, did you fuf-figure all that out by yourself 2"’ “No,” sald Kent, briefly. “There is a keener mind than mine behind it— and behind this oil field business, as well. “I'd like to give that mind a stunt on the Argus,” said the editor. “But about the Belmount mix-up: you will give us a stickful now and then as we 8o along, if you unearth anything that the public would like to read?” “Certainly; any and every thing that won’t tend to interfere with my little intermediate scheme. As I have inti- mated, I must bring Bucks to terms on my own account before I turn him over to you and the people of the State. But I mean to.be in on that, too.” : Hildreth wagged his head dubiously. “I may be overcautious, and I dén’'t want to seem to scare you out, Kent. You ought to know your man better than I do—better than any of us; but if I had your job I believe I should want to travel with abodyguard. I do, for a fact.” David Kent's laugh came easily. Fear, the fear of man, was not among his weaknesses. “1 am taking all the chances,” said; and so the conference ended. Two days later the “editorial” cam- paign was opened by an editorial in the Argus setting forth some hitherto unpublished matter concerning the manner in which the Transwestern had been placed in the hands of a receiver. In its next issue the paper named the recelvership after its true author, showing by a list of the officlals that the road under Major Guilford had been made a hospital for Bucks politi- clans, and hinting pointedly that it was to be wrecked for the benefit of a stock- g:'bblng syndicate of Eastern capital- 5. Having thus reawakened public in- térest in the Transwestern affair, Hil- dreth sounded a new note of alarm pitched upon the efforts of the Univer- sal Oil Company to establish itself in the Belmount oil region; a cry which was promptly taken up by other State editors. This editorfal was followed closely by others in the same strain, and at the end of a fortnight Kent was fain to call a halt. “Not too fast, Hildreth,” he cau- tioned, dropping into the editor’s den one night. “You are doing mighty good work, but you are making it in- nitely harder for me—driving the game to deeper cover. One of my men had he privileges of the original monopoly.” “That is a good idea,” sald Kent, who already had a clerk in the Secre- tary of State’s office in his pay. “But now’are we coming on In the political fleld?" ¢ “We are doing business there, and you have the Argus to thank for it. You—or your idea, I should say—has a respectable following all over the State now: as it didn’t have until we began to leg for it.” Again Kent acquiesced, making no mention of sundry journeys he had made for the sole purpose of enlisting other editors, or of the open house Miss Van Brock was keeping for out- of-town mnewspaper men visiting the capital. “Moreover, we've served your turn in the Transwestern affair,” Hildreth went on. “Public interest is on the qui vive for new developments in that. By the .way, has the capitol gang any no- tion of your part in all this upstir- ring?” Kent smiled and handed the editor an open letter. It was from Receiver Guilford. The post of general counsel for the Transwestern was vacant, and the letter was a formal tender of the office to the “Hon. David Kent.” SH'm,” said the editor. “I don't un- derstand that a little bit.' “Why?" “If they could get you to accept a general agency in Central Africa or New Zealand, or some other antipodean place where you'd be safely out of the way, it would be evident enough. But here they are proposing to take you right into the heart of things.” Kent got a match out of the editor’s desk and relighted his cigar. ‘“You've got brain-fag to-night, Hil- dreth. It's a bribe, pure and simple. They argue that it is merely a matter of dollars and cents to me, as it would to one of them; and they propose to retain me just as they would any other attorney whose opposition they might want to get rid of. Don’t you see?” “Sure. I was thinking up the wrong spout. Have you replied to the ma- Jor?” “Yes. I told him my present en- gagements preclude the possibility of considering his offer; much to my re- gret.” “Did you say that? You're a cold- plucked one, Kent, and I'm coming .to admire you. But now is the time for you to begin to look out. They have spotted you, and their attempt to buy you has failed.” I don't know how deeply you have gone into Bucks’ tin- kering with the Universal people, but If you are in the way of getting the grip you spoke of—as this letter seems to_indicate—you want to be careful.” Kent promised and went his way. One of his saving graces was the abil- ity to hold his tongue, even in a confl- dential talk with as good a friend as Hildfeth. As for example: he had let the suggestion of watching the Sec- retary of State's office come as a new thing from the editor, whereas in fact it was one of the earliest measures he had tgken. { And on that road he had traveled far, thanks to a keen wit, to Portia Van Brock’s incessant promptings, and to the help of the leaky clerk in Hen- dricks’ office; so far, indeed, that he had found the “stool pigeon” oil com- pany, to which Hildreth’s Hint had pointed—a company composed, with a single exception, of men of ‘“straw,” the exception being the man Rumford, whose conferences with the Governor and the Attorney-General had aroused hl: suspleions. [t was about this time that Hunni- cott’ reported the sale of the Gaston lots at a rather fancy cash figure, and the money came in good play. “Two things remain to be proved,™ said Portia, in.one of their many con- nings of the intricate course; “two things that must be proved before you can attack openly: that Rumford is really’ representing the Universal Oll Company; and that he is bribing the junta to let the Universal incorporate under the mask of his ‘straw’ company. Now is the time when you cannot af- ford to be ecomomical. Have money?” Since it was the day after the H: you cott remittance, Kent could answer ycs with & good conscience. “Then spend it,” she said; and he dld spend it ke a millignaire, lying awake nights to devise new ways of employing it. And for the abutments of th proof the money-spending su dint of a warm and somewhat wire investigation of Rumford's ant cedents, Kent succeeded in placing the Belmount promoter unquestionably as one of the trusted lieutemants of the Universal; and the leaky clerk in the Secretary of State’s office gave the text of the application for the “stra company charter, showing that powers asked for were as despotic as the great monopoly could desire. But for the keystone of the arch, the criminal Implication of the plot ters themselves, he was Indebted to a fit of ill-considered anger and to a chapter of accidents. CHAPTER XVIL The Conspirators. It was chiefly due to Portla's urgings that Kent took Ormsby Into his confl- dence when the campaign was fairly opened. She put it diplomatically on the ground of charity to an exiled millionaire, temporarily out of a job; but her real reason went deeper. From its inception as a one-man fight against political chicanery in high places, the criticism of the Bucks formula was be- ginning to shape itself in a readjust- ment of party lines in the fleld of State politics; and Miss Van Brock, whose designs upon Kent's future ran far in advance of her admissions to him, was anxiously casting about for a mana- gerial promoter. A little practice-play in municipal politics made the need apparent. came in the midst of things, basing it- self upon the year-gone triumph of agrarianism in the Btate. In the up- heaval, the capital city had partici- a- s pated to the ent of e jority of idermen on th party ticket; and before long it dev oped that a majority of this alder- manic majority could be counted among the spoils —was in fact a creature of the larger ring. Late in the summer an ordinance was proposed by the terms of which a single corporation was to be given a franchi ranting a complete meénop- oly of the streets for gas and water main® and transit rights of way Thereupon a bitter struggle ensued Party lines were obliterated, and m who shunned the primaries and other- wise shirked their political = duties raised the cry of corruption, and a Civic League was formed to fight the ring. Into this struggle, as giving him the chance to front the enemy In a fair flield, David Kent flung himself all the ardor of a born fighter. meetings were held, with Kent spckesman for the league, and the out- come was a decency triumph which brought Kent's name into grateful public prominence. Hildreth played an able second, and by the time the ob- noxious ordinance had been safely tabled, Kent had a semi-political fol- lowing which was all his own. Men who had hitherto known him only as & corporation lawyer began to proph- esy large things of the flery young ad- vocate, whose arguments were as sound and convincing as his invective was keen and merciless. Figuratively speaking, Portia stood in the wings and applauded. Also, she saw that her protege had reached the point where he needed grooming for whatever race lay before him. Hence, her urgings, which made a triumvirate out of the council of two, with Brookes Ormsby as the third member. “You understand, I'm not interested & little bit in the merits of the case,” sald the newly elected chairman, in his first official interview with Miss Van Brock. “So far as the internal politics of this particularly wild and woolly State are concerned, I'm neither in them nor of them. But I am willing to do what I can for Kent.” “Owing him a good turn?” sald Por- tia, with malice aforethought. Ormsby’s laugh was an En deep-chested haw-haw. “So he has been making you his con- fidante in that, too, has he?* “There was no confidence needed ™ she retorted. “I have eyes; and, to use one of your own pet phrases, I was not born yesterday. But let that go; you are willing to help us?” “I sald I was willing to help Kant. If you bracket yourself with him I am more than willing. But I am rather new at the game. You will have to tell me the moves.” “We are only in the she sald, continuing the figure. “You wiil learn as you go along. By and by you will have to spend money; but just now the need is for a cool head to keep our young firebrand out of the personalities. Where is he to-night?™ Ormsby’s smile was a grin. “I left him at 124 Tejon avenue half an hour ago. Do you think he is likely to get iInto trouble there?” On the porch of the Brentwood apart- ment house David Kent was answering that question measurably weil for him- self. With the striking of the City Hall clock at nine Mrs. Brentwood had com- plained of the glare of the electric crossing lamp and had gone in, leaving the caller with Penelope in ti mock on one side of him and Elinor in a basket chair on the other. Their talk had been of the Jate muni- cipal struggle, and of Kent's part In it; and, like Miss Van Brock, Penelope was applausive, But Elinor's congrat- ulations were tempered with depreca- tion. “I am glad you won for the league, of course; everybody must be glad of that,” she sald. “But I hope the Argus didn't report your speeches correctly. If it did, you have made a host of bit- ter enemies.” “What does a maf—a real man—care for that?” This from the depths of the hammock. , at least, can afford to be care- less,” said Kent. “I am net running for office, and T have nothing to lose, politically or otherwise.” “Can any man say that truthfully ™ Elinor queried. “I think I can. hostages to fortune. Penelope lifted the challenge prompt- 1y. Mass I have given no “Lord Bacon said that, didn't he?— about men marrying. If he were alive now he wouldn’t need to say it. Men don’t have to be discouraged.” “Don’t they?” said Kent. “No, Indeed; the— are too utterly selfish for any matrimonial use, as it is. No, don't argue with me, plgase. I'm fixed—irrevocably fixed.” Elinor overtook the runaway conver- sation and drove it back into the path of her own choosing. “But I do think you owe it to your- self to be more careful fn your publie utterances,” she insisted. “If these men on the other side are only half as unorincipled as your lons N\ as"\ 1