Show ILL 0 FIN 4 a aa 1 lie W CHAPTER s P S L comes home by nine the next morning IS as boon as id sall swallowed a hurtled bite 1 of breakfast lit in the grillroom grill room I 1 swiped a campstool camp stool and a magn magazine vIne out of the lounge and trotted ups talib to plant myself m self before the lie io bobs dour door dei ter mined that nobody should di sauil him until lie he was good arid and r ready eady to get up ile he turned out a little before twelve looking sort of haggard arid and diann of course and having some ouie pretty bad burns ou on the side of hi ins neck and on the backs of both hands hand but lie he waz was all there as usual and he laid it a good brotherly hand on my bh shoulder when lie he saw what I 1 was doing they dont make many of thein like you jimmie lie he sald bald and then have you any news lo I 1 had a little and I 1 gave it to him fred may had corny come tiptoeing tip toeing up into my sentry corridor about ten to tb tell me that mr perkins had arranged with the strikers to have a special go east with the major and mrs mm sheila and colung woods body to catch the overland at sedgwick ick find and I 1 told the boss this and that tit the train had been gone for an hour or more also I 1 gave him a sealed package that a strange boy had brought up lip just a little while after may went away we took the ele elevator cleator ator to tile the grillroom grill room for bom something ething to eats eat and at table mr nor cross cros opened the package it contained it a bunch of affidavits eleven of them in all and there was no letter or anything to tell where ii here they had bad come from he handed the papers over to me after he had seen what they wore were sort of frowned across the alie table at me and said do aou ou know what it means this surrender of those bribe affidavits jimmie I 1 said I 1 guessed I 1 did that allatch being lead dead and colling wood too there nerve enough left in tile the red f tower outfit to keep up the fight that the surrender of the affidavits atIl davits was wag a kind of a plea for a I 1 letup let up oil n our part I 1 well begin to show the them in in just rubout fifteen minutes jimmie was the short comment reach over and get that telephone and tell mr ripley and mr willoughby that I 1 want them to meet me at my office at half past r twelve any new front from the strike t nothing I 1 told him while central was getting me mr Ri pleys number fred may said it was going on just juat the same saine everything quiet and nothing doing except that the wrecking train had gone out to pick up the scraps at timber mountain T Y kir gan is bossing bos sang it and the rikars A trl kors manned it for him I 1 nothing more was wag mid until after I 1 had bad sent the two phone mebs messages and then the boss broke out oat in f rt new spot has anything been heard from mr van britt lie he asked not that I 1 know of again he gave me that queer little scowl across the table jimmie have you found out yet why mr van britt insisted on quitting the service I 1 guess I 1 grinned a little though I 1 tried n not t to mr NItI van beltt rItt bald w one of the best friends youve got bethought he thought you needed this strike and he wanted to go out among the payroll pay roll men and sort of help it along he do a n thing like that while lie he was an of neer of the company and drawing draing his pay like the rest of us 1 I might have known he as good as I 1 told me was the reply made kind ind of f half absently and then short and quick hows the stock market dave I 1 you seen a pr paper iper I 1 had been both pipers at break fasttime fast time but of course they had noth ing ng startling in them except a last minute account of the wreck at timber mountain Y grubbed off just before they went to press they have anything later from new york titan than the day before r but u t fred clity any had tipped in mr off when he came tip up to tell roe rne about the major kendrick special tin the newspaper offices were putting out bulletins bulletin by that t time I 1 rale 1 I told mr norcross Noi cross about the bul it le lins and was brash enough to add I were headed for the receivership ill all right I 1 grebs bur our stock lias has tumbled to twenty nine and theres a regular dogfight dog fight going on over it ut at tile the railroad post in the hie Ei change wall streets tret ls afire and burning up so io they 11 say I 1 the rhe chief eaten caten enough to keep cep a cit cat alive hut but it at that lie ha pu pushed if chair back and reached for his naf flat leorne come on M lie snapped weve got to get busy and there J nt going to b lir any we ive reached the hit lall tall roud road wr 1 adi i s a graveyard a little beffie mr M r ripley and willoughby got down but mr editor cantrell ll was there N waiting 1 biting to shoot hoot tin nil jinx anxious iou question at the tit bo bos well norcross oss aie you ready to now not jut just vt et to ninnoN ni athe wa was the good all right then you wilt will tell tile me till this do you oui elf believe that four 0 or live thou thousand lind ad men liim liane gone on out ut ot sheet lir or a few bundled C S N employees most of oc whom ire are medely laboi ei can aou ou look me itle in tile aliu ee und and tell III ine e that hal fallt lt fol folca Cd tins this e ill I 1 on oil the quiet to yet get the better belter of the hie red boer chod iu in some oine wa demanded the editor 1 I can indeed was wa tit ilir smiling 11 anim er cantrell Cun trell looked its as it 1 lit lie more bif bellene believe it being it a newspaper nian mail im naturally arall suspicious lie he put in ill there are big doings down donn underneath all ail ill tills that eliat I 1 can si smell liell but cant dig up lver tiling about till tills liike 1 is too blamed good natured IN ie e talked N ith half a dozen of the leader le adeis and with iny number of the rank and ill lile thov U all ll 11 grin grill and gle ur tale as a s il it were nere the hie best joke that wa was eer cier pulled oft off again mr norcross smiled handsomely son lely if ou u pull me ine to it cantrell I 1 way may say that till tills j is ex exactly icily their tile me well sald the lie editor getting up to go allt its doing one thing to you good and propel your rall railroad road stock ih 1 tumbling downstairs so fast that it cant keep up lip anith itself 1 I hope it will nill tumble still more inore maid iid the alie boss bos pleasantly with another sort of enigmatic smile and with ith that mr cantrell had to be content A the editor went ent out fred may brought in the bunch of forenoon telegrams and in laid them thein on the desk they were quickly glanced ut tit and tossed over to me as fast as they were read most of them x were ere plaInt plaintive lve little alp yips from a strike stricken lot of people along the short line who seemed to think that the world had come to rn nn end but there wery nere three bearing the new york date line and signed dun ton the earliest had been sent bent shortly after the opening of the stock exchange arid and it ran thus morning papers announce strike arid and complete tle tie up on P S L why no report from you of labor troubles trouble threatening compromise Comproni lRe tit at any cost and wire emphatic denial of caf answer quick the second of the serle series lind been hied for transmission an hour later and it na was still more saw toothed later reports conf conurs irin ne newspaper paper story your failure to compromise instantly with employees will ill break tock stock market and subject ou on to investigation vesti gation for criminal incompetency ansi anaw er the third message had been sent ent still later your continued continue silence alence is inexcusable if no favorable report from you by six you may consider yourself nour discharged from the comp company anys sen emice ice und anil erli criminal ninal proceedings on charge of conspiracy will be instituted at once I 1 thought things 6 were beginning to look pretty seri for us if mr dunton was going to try to drag us into the courts but mr norcross was still smiling when lie handed me the last and latest telegram in the bunch it was from froin mr clead lek and was good natu laconic to ro G norcross G M portal city just returned from trip to seattle doing on oil tin the short line chad lek lck A couple of heleg telegram jimmie said bald the chief a as lie passed this lust last wire over and I 1 got my illy notebook note book ready to 13 dunton new york strike Is sympathetic YIn pathetic arid and not subject to compromise malls moving regularly but t ill 11 other frallic suspended indefinitely all 01 oace ce closes today and my resignation effective at once goes to ou a 3 fast mall mail tonight now one to mr chadwock find and aou ou arly send it in rode he it directed ripply then lie dictated see newspapers for account strike hatch and eight of ills his associates wore were killed lust last night in railroad wreck binton dunton tinton tin ton has demanded my resignation and I 1 liae given it have plan for cc reorganization along linw lines discussed in beginning and nood need your help heip at market opening tomorrow to morrow sell ell 11 S L large blocks arid repurchase in drib driblets lets ny as price goes down dori repeat until I 1 tell you to stop wire quick if oil tire are with us 11 just its as I 1 was taking tile the last sentence en mr racy und and willoughb I lame I 1 n i ail M cirp 5 trl houi diott tato anto tile the third thard room of the suite and shut the floor door an hour later when the tina door opened and they came out tile hos boss was summing gumming up tho the new orders to laby theres Th cros it 11 lo 10 lot to tin 11 and ou lune iny illy authority to hiru hiro nil all the help ou oil need see the bankers 1 I yourself our elf personally and ge them to st other local buyers alon along 11 the line the more inore of thein tin in und mid the sin smaller aller they tire aie tin the better all care of portal cit alt myself ino ie biad ad van ilan bilat on tle the wire and lie 1 is taking cire care of tin the v in io eeb N e es that goes it as it lie lies antl nil Is it a p part art of the original plan aery man who works for 11 S L 13 i golm going to own onn 1 a I bit of stock if we have to can barj adin for it and let him pay a dollar a week more than tit eliat it tit alicy LIV shall hive hat on the lie hoard board if alie want it and while youre knocking about take time to 0 o show these C S W fuik fuiks s liow how they cabi can finito liick back into the siddle paddle red tonn tower er Is down and lit out now art and they cin can keep it out olit it if they ant to I 1 suppose uni ae I 1 might rattle this old type machini of t mine indefinitely ind and tell the story of the financial fight that title tit the next net few das danez of how the ho bos ind and mr ripley and willoughby got cot the bankers and pr ebe y hody body big together dier aa a 1 l alon along the short line and sprung the bis big plan upon them N winch aich was nothing less le than alian the alie snapping ill up on it a tumbling stock ru market arket G cf the opportunity no pre emed d to th ali ni iii of owning actually actu illy owning in fee sl linale niI their own laili oad the baing to be dune done quietly through mr chad chadwick s b brokers in ca chicago 1 arid and new yoi k there was some acme opposition and J jangling angling and seesawing see sawing lack back and am forth of course but the new newspapers papers led by the lie mountaineer took hold arid and then pretty soon embody took hold after which the only trouble was to keep heep people our own on rank and lie file among them fren buding hu ing 11 S L common coalition so 0 o fast that the new york er ars would catch on oil and run tile lie price up p they catch on not until after it was too late and the minute mr ch adick wired it us from aroi ca chicago e I 1 eliat I 1 i a t we I 1 were ore safe rafe the strike went out oft off as 19 you might sn between two tuo minutes and mr cross called it a meeting of stock iol avi the mine aine to ile be lil jirld ld bless bour our heart in portal city t ile int metropolis iropoli of the legion in which counting mr Clin dulek in as one or of it us a good solid voting majority of tile the stock wa was now held the mountaineer printed the lie call and it spoke poke of the hie railroad as our railroad company ohp meeting was held in flue due time and mr was there to preside lie ile ninde maile a cracking good chairman an and the way nv he minted dilated or on the fact that now tle the country and tit alie employees tind had a railroad of their own and that the lie liole hole nation would be looking tu to see how we i e would demonstrate the problem we lud had taken over actually brought eliger think of it cheers s in a 1 raili ralli oal oad stockholders ine etina roii follow ovIng ink mr talk there wn was the usual routine business reports were read and it was shown that the short line noti notwithstanding nil all the lings and managements mis was still a 1 I good koins going proposition tit at the price at which it had hoen bought in A new board of directors 4 was elio chosen en and as soon qoon a as the new hoard board pot got together Ket lier mr norcross went back to lili his office in the headquarters not its as general manager this time not on oil your life hut but as the newly elected president of pioneer short line and by the same token the first official circular that came out a copy of aleh which I 1 sent tied up with a blue ribbon to malile ann read like thi this to all employees this day mr james F dodds is iq appointed assistant to the president with ith headquarters lit in portal city G norcross president that nil all nil all but 1 a I little talk between the boss and mr upton van britt that hat took parice in our office on the lay day after mr van britt still kicking about the hard bard worl work that the boss was always piling upon hini him had been appointed general manager youve made the riffle graham just as I 1 said you would said our mir own and only millionaire after lie ile had got through abusing the fates that let him KO go back east and play with ills his coupon shears and liis his yachts and polo ponies youre going to bo be tho the biggest man this side of the mountains some lay day and the tiny day so very far off either it was jut just here that the boss got out of his chair and walked to the other end of the room when he be canie came back it was to say yon thin I 1 have won out upton and it so does everybody else I 1 suppose it looks that way to the man inan lit in tile the street but I 1 you know I 1 have lost the one thing for which I 1 would gladly give ive till all tile the business success I 1 have ever made or hope to make mr van britts smile was more than half a grin it lost graham its only gone before cant you wait a decent little littie iN while hIlel I 1 if I 1 should wait all my life it be long enough upton was the reply what you said to me that titue time when we first spoke of collingwood was true you sald said she boned tho the other mau and so she did this time mr van britts quille wa was wai i a whole grin 1 I said it and ill say it again she realize it or admit it even to herself iou ou know ashes too good and cle cloin in he cl lo 10 for r aay anything twin g 1 like that but t I 1 could see it plainly enough anti vo so could everN everybody body else wilcia tile the two people most nearly concerned I 1 honnie how ie collin you yoi I 1 were tile other man Gra graham liall kt at tills the boss whirled short round around a imd and tramped to the other end of the room again standing for quite a little while hile with one foot on tile low windowsill window sill and making out like ilke it lie was as looking down at the traffic along in na ri venue ventie but 1 ril I bet a quarter he never saw a single abeel of 1 anen lie carne came hark back our way his eyes wore |