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diff --git a/old/66754-h/66754-h.htm b/old/66754-h/66754-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 3c102ff..0000000 --- a/old/66754-h/66754-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,13480 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - David Vallory, by Francis Lynde—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; page-break-after: always;} -div.titlepage p {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 2em;} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } - - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - -.tdr {text-align: right;} - - -.pagenum { - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; -} - - -.blockquot { - margin-left: 5%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.illoright {margin-left: 15em; } - -.caption {font-weight: bold; text-align: center;} - - -.large {font-size: 125%;} -.ph1 {text-align: center; font-size: large; font-weight: bold;} -.ph2 {text-align: center; font-size: xx-large; font-weight: bold;} - -p.drop-cap { - text-indent: -0.35em; -} -p.drop-cap2 { - text-indent: -0.75em; -} -p.drop-cap:first-letter, p.drop-cap2:first-letter -{ - float: left; - margin: 0em 0.15em 0em 0em; - font-size: 250%; - line-height:0.85em; - text-indent: 0em; -} -.x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap, .x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap2 { - text-indent: 0em; -} -.x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap:first-letter, .x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap2:first-letter -{ - float: none; - margin: 0; - font-size: 100%; -} - - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; - page-break-inside: avoid; - max-width: 100%; -} - -.poetry-container {text-align: center;} -.poetry {display: inline-block; text-align: left;} -.poetry .verse {text-indent: -2.5em; padding-left: 3em;} -.poetry .first {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} -@media print { .poetry {display: block;} } -.x-ebookmaker .poetry {display: block;} - -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - margin-left: 17.5%; - margin-right: 17.5%; - padding: 1em; - margin-bottom: 1em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - - </style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of David Vallory, by Francis Lynde</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: David Vallory</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Francis Lynde</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Arthur E. Becher</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 28, 2022 [eBook #66754]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: D A Alexander, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DAVID VALLORY ***</div> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" width="40%" alt="" /></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center"><span class="large"><i>BY FRANCIS LYNDE</i></span></p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">DAVID VALLORY</div> -<div class="verse">BRANDED</div> -<div class="verse">STRANDED IN ARCADY</div> -<div class="verse">AFTER THE MANNER OF MEN</div> -<div class="verse">THE REAL MAN</div> -<div class="verse">THE CITY OF NUMBERED DAYS</div> -<div class="verse">THE HONORABLE SENATOR SAGE-BRUSH</div> -<div class="verse">SCIENTIFIC SPRAGUE</div> -<div class="verse">THE PRICE</div> -<div class="verse">THE TAMING OF RED BUTTE WESTERN</div> -<div class="verse">A ROMANCE IN TRANSIT</div> -</div></div> - -<p class="center"><span class="large"><i>CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</i></span></p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h1>DAVID VALLORY</h1> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_frontispiece.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">It had given him a glow of superecstasy to find that she<br /> was familiar with -many of the details. (Page <a href="#Page_232">232</a>)</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<p class="ph2">DAVID VALLORY</p> - -<p>BY<br /> -<span class="large">FRANCIS LYNDE</span></p> - -<p>WITH FRONTISPIECE BY<br /> -ARTHUR E. BECHER</p> - -<p><span class="large">CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS<br /> -NEW YORK : : : : : : : : : : 1919</span></p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p class="center"> -<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1919, by</span><br /> -CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS<br /> -<br /> -Published August, 1919</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_logo.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - - -<p class="center"> -TO<br /> -THE RIGHT REVEREND<br /> -<span class="large">THOMAS FRANK GAILOR</span><br /> -BISHOP OF TENNESSEE<br /> -<br /> -MY BISHOP, ADVISER, AND FRIEND, THIS<br /> -BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY<br /> -INSCRIBED</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[vii]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary="table"> - -<tr><td class="tdr"><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td> </td><td class="tdr"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">I.</td><td> <span class="smcap">In the Green Tree</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1"> 1</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">II.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Deluge</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_8"> 8</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">III.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Eben Grillage</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_26"> 26</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">IV.</td><td> <span class="smcap">An Honorable Discharge</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_40"> 40</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">V.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Gloriana</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_55"> 55</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VI.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Henchman</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_68"> 68</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">A Reward of Merit</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_89"> 89</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VIII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Out of the Past</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_103"> 103</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">IX.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Silas Plegg</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_113"> 113</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">X.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Miry Clay</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_127"> 127</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XI.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Bridge Number Two</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_143"> 143</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Under the High Stars</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_160"> 160</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XIII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Altman’s Nerves</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_173"> 173</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XIV.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Mucker</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_186"> 186</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XV.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Plegg’s Back-Fire</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_198"> 198</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XVI.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Master and Man</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_207"> 207</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XVII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Tar-Barrel</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_220"> 220</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XVIII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">In Loco Parentis</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_237"> 237</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XIX.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Ultimatum</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_251"> 251</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XX.</td><td> <span class="smcap">In the Ore Shed</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_264"> 264</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[viii]</span></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXI.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Other David</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_277"> 277</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">At Bridge Three</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_293"> 293</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXIII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Killer</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_312"> 312</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXIV.</td><td> <span class="smcap">No Thoroughfare</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_323"> 323</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXV.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Cataclysmic</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_339"> 339</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXVI.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Heart of Qojogo</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_357"> 357</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXVII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Terror</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_370"> 370</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXVIII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Regeneration</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_381"> 381</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXIX.</td><td> <span class="smcap">As It Should Be</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_390"> 390</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p class="ph2">DAVID VALLORY</p> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span> -<p class="ph2">DAVID VALLORY</p> - -<h2 class="nobreak">I<br /> - - -In the Green Tree</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">DAVID VALLORY’S train, to make which -he had precipitately thrown down pencil -and mapping-pen in the drafting room of the -Government harbor-deepening project on the -Florida coast two days earlier, was an hour late -arriving at Middleboro; and in this first home-coming -from the distant assignment, the aspect of -things once so familiar seemed jarred a trifle out -of focus. It was not that the June fields were -less green, or the factory suburb through which -the long train was slowing more littered and unsightly. -But there was a change, and it was in -a manner depressive.</p> - -<p>“Your home town?” inquired the traveler in -the opposite half of the Pullman section, as Vallory -began to assemble his various belongings.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said David, adding, as if in some sort -of justification: “I was born here in Middleboro.”</p> - -<p>The man who had occupied the upper berth<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span> -looked aside reflectively, taking in and appraising -the country-town tritenesses as the open car -windows passed them in review.</p> - -<p>“A man may be born anywhere,” he remarked; -then, with the appraisive glance directed at the -fair-haired, frank-faced young man kneeling to -strap an over-filled suit case; “It’s a safe bet that -you’ll not die in Middleboro—unless you should -chance to be killed in an accident.”</p> - -<p>Vallory, soberly preoccupied, looked up from -the strapping.</p> - -<p>“Why do you say that?”</p> - -<p>The older man smiled with a rather grim -widening of the thin lips half hidden by a cropped -beard and mustaches.</p> - -<p>“You are young, and youth is always impatient -of the little horizons. Let me make another -guess. You have been away for some time, and -this is your first return. You are finding it a bit -disappointing. Am I right?”</p> - -<p>“Not exactly disappointing,” Vallory denied.</p> - -<p>“Well, then, different, let us say. You may not -realize it yet, but you have outgrown the home -town. I know, because, years ago, I had precisely -the same experience myself. Do your people -live here?”</p> - -<p>The train had been halted in the yard by a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span> -dropped semaphore arm, and for the moment -Vallory was at the mercy of his chance traveling -companion. Yet he told himself that there was -no good reason why he should be churlish.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he conceded; “my father and sister live -here. And I have lived here all my life except -for the four years in college, and the past two -years in Florida.”</p> - -<p>“College—to be sure,” the inquisitor agreed -half absently. “What course, if I may ask?”</p> - -<p>“Engineering.”</p> - -<p>At this the bearded man exhibited a tiny fob -charm made in the shape of a simple trestle bent -and extended a hand individualized by the spatulate -thumb and square-ended fingers of the artist-artisan.</p> - -<p>“Shake!” he exclaimed, with something more -than Middle-Western informality. “I happen to -be one of the same breed. Now I am quite certain -you won’t die here in—Middletown?—is that -the name?—always making an exception in favor -of the untoward accident, of course.”</p> - -<p>“Middleboro,” David corrected. Then to the -repetition of the prophecy: “You are probably -right. I found that I had to leave home to get -my first job. I have been on Government work -in Florida—rivers and harbors.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span>“Government work? A deep grave and a safe -one. Would you mind telling me just why you -chose to bury yourself in it?”</p> - -<p>Vallory’s smile was still good-natured. For -so young a man he was singularly free from the -false dignity which so often is made to pass for -the real.</p> - -<p>“I don’t mind in the least. I did what most -college men do; took the first reasonably decent -thing that offered. It wasn’t at all what I wanted, -but my own particular line was rather dull two -years ago. I majored in railroad building.”</p> - -<p>“Railroad building, eh? That’s my trade, too,” -said the other. Then, with an overlooking glance -that was too frankly a renewal of the appraisive -summing-up to be mistaken for anything else: -“You’ll go far, my young friend—if you’re not -too good.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory’s smile broadened into a laugh.</p> - -<p>“Thanks,” he said. “But what do you mean -by ‘too good’?”</p> - -<p>“Precisely what I say; no more and no less. -You can take it from a total stranger, can’t you? -You have a good jaw, and I shouldn’t care to get -in your way if you had any reason to wish to beat -me up. But your eyes tell another story.”</p> - -<p>Vallory had a telegram in his pocket, the brief<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span> -summons which, two days earlier, had caused him -to drop pen and pencil in the Florida office and -hasten to catch the first northbound train. There -was nothing in the wording of the message to -breed alarm; but the mere fact that his father had -telegraphed him to come home had awakened disturbing -qualms of anxiety. Wondering if he were -still youthful enough to advertise the disquietude -so plainly that a stranger might read the signs of -it, he said:</p> - -<p>“Well, go on; what do my eyes tell you?”</p> - -<p>“This: that in spite of your twenty-five, six, or -seven years, whatever they may be, you are still -sufficiently youthful and unspoiled to take things -at their face value. You believe good of a man -or a woman until the evil is proved, and even then -you change reluctantly. You hold your word as -binding as your oath. In short, you are still generous -enough to believe that the world is much -better than the muckrakers would make it out to -be. Isn’t this all true?”</p> - -<p>“I should be sorry if I had to contradict you,” -said Vallory soberly. “At that, you are only accusing -me of the common civilized humanities. -The world has been very decent to me, thus far. -Doesn’t it occur to you that a man usually finds -what he looks for in life?—that, as a general<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span> -proposition, he gets just about what he is willing to -give?”</p> - -<p>The bearded man shook his head, as one too -well seasoned to argue with unvictimized youth.</p> - -<p>“Four years in college, and two in a Government -service which taught you absolutely nothing -about life as it is lived in a world of men and -women and sharply competitive business,” he -scoffed gently. “Ah, well; we’ll let it go with a -word of advice—advice from a man whose name -you don’t know, and whom you will most likely -never meet again. When you come to take the -plunge; the real plunge into the sure-enough puddle -of life as it is lived by most men and not a few -women; don’t tie up too hard with any man or set -of men, or yet to those old-fashioned principles -which you have been taught to regard as law and -Gospel. If you do, you won’t succeed—in the -only sense in which the world measures success.”</p> - -<p>The train was moving on again, and Vallory -was not sorry. Being healthily suspicious of cynicism -in any of its forms, he was glad that his -critical section mate had not chosen to begin on -him at the dining-car breakfast, where they had -first met. None the less, at the station stop he -shook hands with the volunteer prophet of evil.</p> - -<p>“Good-by,” he said. “I’d like to hear your estimate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span> -of the next man with whom you happen to -share a Pullman section. But part of your prediction -will doubtless come true. I have definitely -broken away from the Government job, and I -shall probably not stay very long in Middleboro.”</p> - -<p>As he left the train he glanced at his watch. It -was past nine; therefore his father would be at -the bank. With only a hand-bag for encumbrance -he walked rapidly up the main street with the well-remembered -home town surroundings still making -their curiously depressive appeal.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">II<br /> - - -The Deluge</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">THE Middleboro Security Bank, housed in a -modest two-storied brick three squares up -from the railroad station, seemed on that morning -of mornings to be a center of subdued excitement. -Early in the forenoon as it was, a -number of farm teams were halted at the curb, and -little knots of country folk and townspeople obstructed -the sidewalk. David Vallory nodded -good-morning to one and another in the groups -as he swung past, and was immediately conscious -of a sort of hushed restraint on the part of those -who returned his greetings.</p> - -<p>In the bank an orderly throng was inching and -shuffling its way in sober silence to the paying -teller’s window. There were no signs of panic, -and any excitement that might underlie the unusual -crush of business seemed to be carefully suppressed. -But Vallory saw that old Abner Winkle, -and the clerk he had called into the cage to help -him, wore anxious faces; and Winkle’s hands, the -hands of a man who had grown gray in the service<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span> -of the country-town bank, were tremulous and uncertain -as he counted out the money to the waiting -cheque-holders.</p> - -<p>David made his way to the rear of the narrow -lobby, to a door with a ground-glass panel bearing -the word “President” in black lettering. He -entered without knocking, but was careful to snap -the catch of the lock to prevent a possible intrusion. -A tall, thinly bearded man, prematurely -white-haired, with a face that was almost effeminate -in its skin texture and the fineness of its lines, -and with the near-sighted eyes and round-shouldered -stoop of a student and book lover, got -rather uncertainly out of his chair at the old-fashioned -desk.</p> - -<p>“David!” he exclaimed. “I knew you’d come, -and I’m glad you are here. Was the train late?”</p> - -<p>“An hour or thereabouts. Didn’t you get my -answer to your wire?”</p> - -<p>The older man put his hand to his head. “Did -I?” he asked half absently. “I suppose I must -have, if you sent one. I—I think I haven’t been -quite responsible since I telegraphed you. You -saw what is going on out in the bank; it has been -that way since day before yesterday. I waited as -long as I dared. I knew it would be a shock to -you, and I—I didn’t want to shock you, son.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span>David Vallory placed a chair for himself at the -desk end and felt mechanically for his pipe and -tobacco. Disaster was plainly in the air and he -prepared himself to meet it.</p> - -<p>“When you’re ready, Dad,” he said.</p> - -<p>Adam Vallory sank into his chair. There was -a bit of string on the desk and he picked it up and -began aimlessly to untie the knots in it.</p> - -<p>“I wasn’t sure you’d come; I didn’t know -whether you could come. It isn’t fair to take you -away from your work; but——”</p> - -<p>“Of course, I’d come!” David broke in warmly. -“I’m here to take hold with you, and you must -remember that there are two of us now. What -has gone wrong?”</p> - -<p>Adam Vallory shook his head sadly.</p> - -<p>“The thing that went wrong dates back to a -time before you were born, David; to the time -when I allowed your grandfather, and some others, -to persuade me that I ought to make a business -man of myself. That was a mistake; a very -sorry mistake. I haven’t been a good banker.”</p> - -<p>David shook his head in honest filial deprecation. -“You have been the best and kindest of -fathers to Lucille and me, and that counts for -much more than being a successful money-grabber. -And you’ve earned the love and respect of everybody<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span> -worth while in Middleboro. What is the -present trouble? Are you having a run on the -bank?”</p> - -<p>“I suppose you wouldn’t call it a run, as yet. -There is no special excitement and the people are -very quiet and orderly. But there have been a -great many withdrawals, and there will doubtless -be more. If it should come to a real run——”</p> - -<p>“Let me have it all,” the son encouraged, when -the pause grew over-long. “Do you mean that the -bank isn’t solvent?”</p> - -<p>“It is not,” was the low-toned rejoinder, given -without qualification. “I have made a number of -bad loans. So long as I had to deal only with -neighbors and friends, men whom I have known -and trusted all my life, I got along fairly well, -though the bank has never earned much more than -the family living, as you know. But when the -town began to grow and the factories came in -the conditions were changed—for me. Then -Mugridge started the Middleboro National, and -that was the beginning of the end. He took his -pick of the new customers and let me have the fag -ends. The Stove Works went into bankruptcy a -week ago, and that was the last straw.”</p> - -<p>“You were carrying Carnaby, of the Stove -Works?” David asked.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>“Yes; and for much more than his capitalization, -or our resources, would warrant. He has -been very smooth and plausible, and I have believed -in him, as I have in others. The story of -my involvement with Carnaby leaked out, as such -stories always do. As I have said, there has been -no panic; just the steady stream of withdrawals -and account-closings. It’s telling on us fast now, -and the end is practically in sight. This is no -world for the idealist in business, David.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory was silent for a time, leaning -forward with his elbows on his knees and his chin -propped in his palms. His pipe had gone out, -but he still held it clamped between his teeth. In -Middleboro tradition it was said that he favored -his mother’s people, and the square-set, firm-lipped -mouth bore out the assertion. But the good gray -eyes were, not the eyes of a dreamer, perhaps, but -the eyes of the son of a dreamer; more—they -were the eyes of a man who had not yet outgrown -the illusions. Adam Vallory had matured slowly; -he was in his thirties when he married. And the -slow maturing process seemed to have been -handed on to the son. A stronger man than his -father, this David, one would have said; though -perhaps only as athletic youth is stronger than -age. And a close observer, like the crop-bearded<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span> -stranger of the Pullman car, might have added -that the strength was idealistic rather than practical; -a certain potency of endurance rather than -of militancy.</p> - -<p>“Just how bad is it—in actual figures?” the son -asked, at the end of the chin-nursing pause.</p> - -<p>Adam Vallory closed his eyes as one wearied -and stunned in the clash and clamor of a battle too -great for him.</p> - -<p>“We can go on paying out to-day, and perhaps -to-morrow. Beyond that, there is failure for the -bank; and—and beyond the failure, David, there -is a prison for me!”</p> - -<p>The younger man straightened up quickly and -there was unfeigned horror in the good gray eyes.</p> - -<p>“Good heavens, Dad!—you don’t mean anything -like that!” he exclaimed in a shocked voice.</p> - -<p>“I wish I didn’t, son, but it is true. I have been -weak; criminally weak, some will say. All along -I have been clinging desperately to the hope that -I could pull through; that the bad paper the bank -is holding would somehow miraculously turn into -good paper. A better business man would have -faced the worst weeks ago. I didn’t. We have -gone on receiving deposits when I knew that we -were, to all intents and purposes, insolvent. That, -as you know, is a penitentiary offense.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span>David Vallory got upon his feet and began to -pace up and down the length of the small room, -three strides and a turn. It was his maiden projection -into the jostling arena of business, and for -the moment he could only struggle hardily for -standing room in it. He had always known, in -a general way, that his book-loving father was no -money-getter in any modern sense of the term, -but there had always been enough and something -to spare for him and for the blind sister whose -birth had cost the mother’s life. With the healthy -ambition of the average boy and youth, he had -looked forward to a time when he should go to -work for himself in some chosen field and manfully -build up the slender fortunes of the family. -But now the world of youthful anticipation had -gone suddenly and hopelessly awry.</p> - -<p>“We can’t think of giving up, Dad!” he broke -out, after he had tramped his way through to some -measure of decision. “There must be something -that we can turn into money and save the bank -and your good name. Can’t you find somebody -who will carry you until we can make the turn?”</p> - -<p>Adam Vallory shook his head in patient despair.</p> - -<p>“That ground has all been plowed long ago, -son. It is now six months or more since I began<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span> -borrowing on my private resources, such as they -are. There is nothing left; not even the house -we live in. I suppose I should have told you -sooner, but that was another weakness. I wished -you to have a chance to finish your college course -and get your start in the world without distractions, -and that much, at least, has been accomplished.”</p> - -<p>Once more the younger man sought to stem the -torrent of the incredible reversals, and this time -he was partly successful.</p> - -<p>“We can still hope that it isn’t altogether as bad -as you think it is, Dad,” he said, with greater optimism -than his inner conviction warranted. “In -a few minutes I’m going to pull off my coat and -have a look at things from the inside. We’re not -going down without a fight; that’s settled. Aside -from this prison scare—and it’s only a scare, you -know—no Middleboro jury would ever believe for -a single moment that you meant to do a criminal -act—aside from that, there are two mighty good -reasons why we mustn’t go to the dogs.”</p> - -<p>“Lucille?” queried the father.</p> - -<p>“Yes; she is one of the reasons, and a pretty -stout one. Life is always going to be hard enough -for the little sister, without adding poverty and a -sorrow that she can neither help nor hinder.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span>“Quite true; and the other reason?”</p> - -<p>David Vallory had sat down again, and a boyish -flush came to darken the healthy brown which -was the gift of a more or less athletic youth.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t intend to tell you—not just yet,” he -demurred; “at least, not until I had shown you -that I could make good on my own, and prove that -you haven’t been throwing your money away on -me. I—I’ve found the girl, Dad.”</p> - -<p>The older man leaned back in his chair and the -tired eyes were closed.</p> - -<p>“That is natural, and was to be expected,” he -acquiesced. “You have been very moderate, -David. Many another young fellow would have -found, not one girl, but a round dozen, before -reaching your age.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory’s laugh matched the absurdity of -the “round dozen.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing like that; I’m not built that way, I -guess,” he returned. “There is only one girl, and -though I hadn’t realized it until lately, I think I -discovered her to be that one while I was still -wearing knickerbockers.”</p> - -<p>Adam Vallory nodded as one who understood.</p> - -<p>“I have often wondered if it might not turn out -that way,” he said; “wondered and been just a -trifle—no, I won’t say it. Judith is a good girl,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span> -and she will doubtless make you a warm-hearted, -loyal wife.”</p> - -<p>“Judith?” said David, and now his flush was -darker.</p> - -<p>“Yes. You thought you were mighty secret -about it, but I knew it, all along; knew that you -were corresponding with her while you were at -college, and missed you every time you spent an -evening at the Fallons’. It’s all right, son. I -haven’t a word to say.”</p> - -<p>“But—but—you’re tremendously mistaken, -Dad!” the younger man protested earnestly. -“There has never been anything serious between -Judith and me. We were just good chums together -in school, and——”</p> - -<p>“Hold on a minute, son,” said Adam Vallory -gently. “We have no money, but we still have a -few traditions. One of them is that no man of -the Vallory name has ever put the burden of proof -on a woman, so far as the records show. You -admit that you wrote to Judith while you were in -college, and all Middleboro knows that you were -always going about with her in your vacations. -Haven’t you been writing back and forth while -you were in Florida?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes; now and then, of course. But——”</p> - -<p>“You are trying to tell me that I have guessed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span> -wrong. Before you go any farther, let me say -this: your relations with Judith may have meant -nothing to you; but how about Judith herself? -She is warm-blooded, ardent, and much more mature -than you are, in spite of the difference in your -ages. Be very sure that you don’t owe her something, -David—the biggest debt that a woman can -ever hold against a man. Now go on and tell me -as much as you care to about the other girl—the -real one.”</p> - -<p>David was still showing the marks of disturbance, -but he went on manfully.</p> - -<p>“There isn’t so very much to tell. I’ve—well, -I’ve just found her, that’s all. I met her last -winter at Palm Beach. She was down there with -a bunch of New York people who go there every -year. Raglan, my chief on the Government job, -knew her and some of her New York friends. He -began to introduce me, but she laughed and said, -‘Mr. Vallory and I were rocked in the same cradle—in -Old Middleboro,’ and that settled it.”</p> - -<p>The beaten man in the desk chair roused himself -to say: “Then you did know her as a child? -She belongs here?”</p> - -<p>“Not now. She is a citizen of a very much -larger world.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span>“Do I know her, or her people?—but of course -I must.”</p> - -<p>“You do. You have held her on your knee and -told her fairy tales many a time, while I stood by -and listened. Doesn’t that place her for you?”</p> - -<p>Adam Vallory shook his head with a smile that -was reminiscent of pleasanter things than the navigating -of stormy seas in a sinking business craft.</p> - -<p>“I have held many little girls on my knee to -tell them fairy stories, David. That is another -reason why I should never have been a banker; -I love children—and fairy tales—far too well.”</p> - -<p>“You would never guess,” said David, with all -the fatuousness of the new-born lover. “Yet you -and her father were schoolboys together.”</p> - -<p>Adam Vallory roused himself again. “Not -Eben Grillage?” he said.</p> - -<p>“Yes; she is Mr. Grillage’s daughter; the -brown-eyed little Vinnie we used to know; though -they all call her ‘Miss Virginia’ now.”</p> - -<p>Again the upcast of reminiscence came to make -the unsuccessful banker forget for the moment the -rotten business craft that was sinking beneath him.</p> - -<p>“Eben Grillage,” he mused. “He was, and is, -everything that I am not. He was a born leader, -even as a boy. Success, or what most people value -as success, has been his for the taking. You have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span> -seen him, David? Is he growing old, as I am?”</p> - -<p>“You are old only in hard work; work that -doesn’t appeal to you,” the son said loyally. -Then: “I have met Mr. Grillage only once, and—well, -I guess he didn’t have much time to throw -away on an apprentice engineer who was just then -trying his prettiest to get a chance to talk over old -times with his daughter. I remember he asked -about you.”</p> - -<p>“That was in Florida?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. I chased over to Palm Beach as often -as I could during the short season, but it didn’t do -me much good. There were too many other fellows -ahead of me. It was on one of these -trips that I met Mr. Grillage. He had run down -from some place in Georgia, where his company -was building a dam, to spend a week-end with his -daughter. The most that he said to me was in -the nature of a good-humored ‘josh’ for burying -myself in a Government job.”</p> - -<p>Adam Vallory nodded.</p> - -<p>“You don’t remember Vinnie’s mother, of -course; she died while you were still only a little -lad. She was what we, in my younger days, used -to call a belle; a most attractive woman, and as -true and good as she was beautiful. Eben Grillage -had none of the qualities that such women are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span> -supposed to care for—save one; he was big -enough and strong enough to reach out and take -what he wanted. He idolized his wife; and the -love which was hers while she lived has been carried -along to his daughter.”</p> - -<p>“Any one can see that,” said David, laughing. -“Virginia is the apple of his eye. Have you kept -in touch with him at all since he left Middleboro?”</p> - -<p>“Only at long intervals.”</p> - -<p>“They say he is rich, and rapidly growing -richer. He has made the Grillage Engineering -Company; built it from the ground up; and there -isn’t any undertaking too big for him to tackle -and carry through. If he wasn’t Virginia’s father, -I’d strike him for a job—after we get things -straightened out here for you.”</p> - -<p>“He would do well by you, for old times’ sake, -I don’t doubt. To me, Eben Grillage has never -been the hard man that others seem to find him; -he is still the loyal friend of the boyhood days—our -boyhood. Different as we were, or perhaps -just because of that difference, we were like brothers. -Why should the fact that he is Vinnie’s -father make you hold back?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know that I could explain it, even to -you, Dad. But, somehow, I should feel handcapped. -Virginia has a mighty keen, sharp-edged<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span> -little mind of her own. I have a notion that she -wouldn’t think much of a fellow that her father -was nursing along by hand.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps you are right. But tell me more -about her.”</p> - -<p>“I wish there were more to tell. I have met -her a few times, and she has been mighty sweet to -me—for the sake of the kiddie days here in Middleboro, -as she occasionally took care to remind -me. I’m not in her set, you know; not even in the -outer edges of it. Besides, as I have said, she -has a string of fellows as long as your arm. It’s -only a pipe-dream for me, as yet, and I’m going to -forget all about it now, until after we’ve staved off -this trouble of yours. Will you turn me loose -among the money papers and securities? I’d like -to make a few figures for myself.”</p> - -<p>With this for a beginning, David Vallory’s first -day in the home town resolved itself into a grind -of hard work. Through what was left of the -forenoon, and straight on to three o’clock—welcome -hour when the bank doors were shut upon -the public, and the tired old paying teller and his -assistant had an opportunity to balance their cash—the -young man probed steadily, sometimes with -his father at his elbow, but oftener alone.</p> - -<p>What he discovered sobered him at first, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span> -later evoked symptoms of a panicky nature. The -Middleboro Security, a one-man bank in all that -the term implies, was—unless some of the bad -paper could be redeemed—plainly insolvent; and, -what was much worse, the insolvent condition was -of long standing. The failure of the Carnaby -Stove Works had been merely the tiring spark to -set off the explosion. Without immediate help; -help that must run into the tens of thousands; the -bank must close its doors.</p> - -<p>Though the June afternoon was not oppressively -warm, David Vallory found himself sweating -profusely when the final column of figures had -been added. In the quiet of the semi-darkened -bank, where Winkle and the three clerks were still -striving silently for their balances after the strenuous -business day, a menacing shadow fell. It -was not only ruin; it was ruin with disgrace. -David was far from holding his father responsible -in any moral sense, this though it was apparent -that the present state of affairs had been long -threatened. That it had not reached a climax -sooner was due chiefly to the fact that for many -years the country-town bank had done business -only with honest customers. David was not blind -to his father’s one amiable weakness. It was -known far and wide that Adam Vallory could<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span> -never say “No” to a sufficiently importunate borrower; -also, that he judged all men by his own -upright standards.</p> - -<p>David Vallory got up from the table-desk at -which he had been working and slowly struggled -into his coat. Grown man as he was, this was his -first rude collision with life in its commercial -aspect, and he rose from the preliminary grapple -with a belittling feeling of inadequacy; as if, as a -boy, he had been rudely buffeted into the gutter -by a man. But the feeling did not becloud the -clearly defined conclusion at which he had arrived. -He did not—could not—minify the impending -consequences. The bank examiner would come, -and at his coming the pitiless mill of publicity -would begin to grind. There would be exposure -and a criminal prosecution. Those who knew -Adam Vallory, the man, would refuse to believe -that he had consciously committed a crime; but to -the wider world he would figure merely as another -addition to the ranks of those who gamble with -other people’s money; a banker who had taken -the desperate chance involved in going on and -receiving deposits when there was no reasonable -hope of repaying the depositors.</p> - -<p>The old-fashioned clock on the wall was striking -four as the volunteer checker of accounts<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span> -gathered up the slips of scratch paper which he -had covered with figures and passed out to the -small room at the rear of the working space. The -gray-faced man bending dejectedly over his desk -and waiting had no illusions. “Well, son?” he -said, as David came in.</p> - -<p>The young man dropped heavily into a chair -and sat for some moments staring at the slips of -scratch paper.</p> - -<p>“This morning when you told me where we -stood you didn’t make it any worse than it really -is,” he announced soberly. “Winkle gave me his -figures just now—the withdrawals for to-day. If -they come after us to-morrow as they have to-day, -we shan’t be able to last until three o’clock. I’ve -gone over everything in the vault with a fine-tooth -comb; we need something like a hundred thousand -dollars more than we have in sight.”</p> - -<p>Adam Vallory’s gaze was fixed upon the dust-covered -steamship lithograph hanging above his -desk, but he saw the picture only with the outward -eye.</p> - -<p>“A hundred thousand,” he repeated slowly. -“David, it might as well be a million. There is -no use. I shall telegraph to the bank examiner -to-night, and we won’t open the bank doors in the -morning.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">III<br /> - - -Eben Grillage</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap2">AT his father’s definite acknowledgment of -defeat David Vallory rose and thrust the -penciled sheets into his pocket, crumpling them -absently into a wad.</p> - -<p>“I can’t tell you what to do,” he admitted. “I’m -too young and too raw; how raw I never realized -until to-day. Just the same, everything in me -rises up to yell for an endurance fight. Call it -stubbornness or anything you like, but I’d rather -be knocked out than squeezed out. Some of the -bad paper can be made good if we retain an up-to-date -lawyer and put the pressure on as if we meant -it. In the savings department we can gain time -by insisting upon the sixty days’ notice of withdrawal -that the law allows. It’s tough to have -to go down without mixing it up a little with the -enemy, Dad!”</p> - -<p>“I know,” was the colorless reply. “But the -fight has all been taken out of me, David. You<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span> -mustn’t think that I’ve been sitting here in my -chair and letting things take their course without -making a struggle. It hasn’t been anything like -that. I’ve turned and twisted every way; have -borrowed to my limit and then tried to borrow -more. I’ve even gone practically on my knees -to Mugridge, of the new Middleboro National. -He was as cold as a fish; told me that I ought to -push my collections.”</p> - -<p>“Have you consulted a lawyer?”</p> - -<p>“Not specifically. Young Oswald has known -about how things were going, and he has advised -me—as a friend. He would make a legal fight -for us if I’d let him.”</p> - -<p>“Bert Oswald is going to make himself the -rarest combination on earth—or at least he was -heading that way when he came out of the law -school.”</p> - -<p>“A combination?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, a man who will be stubbornly honorable -and upright in spite of his profession.” David -Vallory was prone to magnify his own profession -to the detriment of some others, and in the engineering -school he had imbibed the technical man’s -suspicion of those who draw up contracts and -specifications only to leave loopholes of escape. -“I don’t believe he would ever take a rascal’s retainer,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span> -he went on, adding: “Why don’t you -employ him?”</p> - -<p>It was Adam Vallory’s turn to show embarrassment.</p> - -<p>“Bert has been coming to the house rather -oftener than his boyhood friendship with you -would seem to warrant,” he returned half reluctantly. -“This morning you gave me your reason -for not wishing to take service under Eben Grillage. -Can’t you imagine that I may have a somewhat -similar reason for not wishing to involve -young Oswald in this sorry business of ours?”</p> - -<p>This was a new surprise for David. “Lucille?” -he queried.</p> - -<p>Adam Vallory nodded. “It can come to nothing, -of course. Lucille, herself, would be the first -to insist that one with her affliction has no right to -become a wife and mother. Yet it has been a -great comfort to her to have Oswald dropping in -at odd moments, or for an evening. He understands -her thoroughly, shares her keen love for -music, and all that. He has even taught her to -play chess and to do a number of things that we -have never thought she was able to attempt. For -her sake we mustn’t drag him into this mess of -ours, David.”</p> - -<p>This hesitantly given explanation opened a new<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span> -field of dismay for David Vallory. As it seemed, -there was a separate and distinct disaster reaching -out for each member of the little family of three -persons; the grim threat hanging over his father, -the indefinite postponement of his own embryo -love affair, and now this portentous problem of -Lucille’s happiness. His love for the blind sister -was deep and tender, as it should have been, and -at the moment his own affair shrank to inconsequence, -as it was constrained to when he realized -how heavily the blow would fall upon one who -had been sheltered and protected in every way.</p> - -<p>“You have fully made up your mind to wire for -the examiner to-night?” he asked, after another -interval filled with blind gropings for a helpful -suggestion.</p> - -<p>Adam Vallory looked away toward the window -and through it to the empty country-town street -beyond.</p> - -<p>“There is no use in prolonging the agony, -David. The day of reckoning has come, and a -few hours one way or another can make no possible -difference. I shall have to face the music in -the end; we shall all three have to face it, more is -the pity. If there were the slenderest chance of -escape——”</p> - -<p>The interruption, voices in the adjoining banking<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> -room, gruff tones raised emphatically, and -Winkle’s more moderate ones parroting excuses -and explanations came over the half-height partition -of the rear office. It culminated now in an -abrupt opening of the door of privacy. The intruder, -whom Winkle had apparently been trying -to bar out, was a big man with a clean-shaven face -in which each feature seemed to have been massively -exaggerated to make it harmonize with the -gigantic figure; a great Roman beak of a nose; a -hard-bitted mouth buttressed by a jaw over which -the heavy cheeks hung like the dewlaps of a bulldog; -strong teeth clamping the blackest of cigars; -shrewd eyes that glared from beneath penthouse -brows; in short, a man who, in the Stone Age, -would have acquired the most commodious of the -caves and swung the heaviest of the clubs.</p> - -<p>“Adam—you old snipe!” was the giant’s explosive -greeting, and his hand-grip fairly lifted -the slighter man out of his chair. “Nice kind of -a welcome your watch-dog cashier out there was -trying to hand me: said you were busy and couldn’t -be interrupted! How are you, David, boy”—and -now it came David’s turn to wince under the -vigorous hand-grasp; at least, until he could summon -his athletic training and do a little bone crushing -on his own account.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span>Adam Vallory, sunk fathoms deep in the pool -of despair but a moment before, made a generous -effort to rise to the hospitable requirements.</p> - -<p>“You took us completely unawares, Eben; I -didn’t dream you were anywhere within a day’s -journey of old Middleboro. And Winkle’s eyesight -must be getting bad if he didn’t recognize -you. Sit down, if you can find a chair big enough -to hold you. It’s a pleasure to see your face -again; you don’t give me the chance any too often. -Now tell us what good wind has blown you back -to Middleboro.”</p> - -<p>The big man seated himself, and the chair, -though it was the stoutest one in the room, whined -its protest.</p> - -<p>“Business, Adam; always business. We have -an order in with your two-by-four equipment factory -here for a lot of scrapes and dump-cars, and -at the last minute Judson wired that he couldn’t -deliver on time. I didn’t happen to have anybody -to send, so I came down here to read the riot act -to Tom Judson. He’ll ship now; I’ve just been -out to see him.” Then to David: “Young man, -how soon can I get a train back to Chicago?”</p> - -<p>David looked up the required information. The -next through train would leave at four minutes -past nine o’clock. The visitor glanced at a watch<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span> -big enough and thick enough to have been used as -a missile.</p> - -<p>“That gives us about four hours, Adam,” he -rumbled, “and we ought to be able to pull up a -good lot of the arrears in that length of time. -Shut up your desk and call it a day. We’ll trot -over to the hotel and be boys together for a little -while. David will stay here and wind up the odds -and ends of the day’s business for you.”</p> - -<p>Adam Vallory was opening his mouth to protest -hospitably against the hotel, but his son broke -in ahead of him.</p> - -<p>“That’s right, Mr. Grillage; I’m mighty glad -you can have a little time with Dad,” he interposed -quickly. “We were speaking of you this morning, -and I was telling Dad that I had met you for -a few minutes one day last winder in Florida. Take -him away with you, and I’ll stay and close the -bank.”</p> - -<p>“Good boy!” was the gruff rejoinder. “By and -by, when you get around to it, you may make a -sleeper reservation for me on that nine o’clock -train. Wire for it, and bring the answer over to -the hotel. No, Adam”—to the host who was trying -to make himself the entertainer instead of the -entertained—“no, you’re not going to take me -home with you, this time. I want you all to myself.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span> -We’ll go to the St. Nicholas and make old -Vignaux give us one of his Frenchy dinners in a -private room. Get your hat and come along.”</p> - -<p>Left to himself, David Vallory checked over -the day’s transactions with Winkle, telegraphed -for the big man’s berth in the Chicago sleeping-car, -and then walked out to the tree-shaded suburb -on the hill to eat his dinner with the sister whom -he had not yet seen. To his great satisfaction he -found young Herbert Oswald at the house, and -the presence of the young lawyer, who was easily -persuaded to make a third at the family dinner-table, -pushed the disaster explanations, or such of -them as might have to be made to the blind girl, -a little farther into the future.</p> - -<p>Though David forced himself to talk at the -table-for-three, his cheerful attempts to keep the -conversation in some safe middle-of-the-road channel -did not obscure for him the sentimental situation -developing under his eyes. Lucille, whose -delicate, rose-leaf beauty was a direct inheritance -from her father, was more animated than David -had ever seen her, and it was doubly hard to realize -that the softly lighted eyes, lifted shyly now -and again in Oswald’s direction, were sightless. -And as for the clean-cut, eager-faced young attorney,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span> -there was small effort at concealment on his -part.</p> - -<p>David Vallory left the house after dinner with -a heavy heart. He had known Oswald all his life, -and liked him. He was well assured that the -young lawyer would stand by and be a very tower -of strength to the family in the storm which was -about to burst. But the outcome of it all would -be a swift conflagration in the sentimental field, -and a heart-breaking awakening for the blind sister, -who was obviously in love with Oswald without -at all realizing it. On the half-mile walk to -the St. Nicholas David Vallory told himself in -many and sternly emphatic repetitions that something -must be done to avert the triple-headed -calamity; though what the “something” should be -was entirely beyond his powers of imagination.</p> - -<p>It was past eight o’clock when he reached the -town’s one hotel and found a quiet corner in the -small office-lobby where he could smoke and wait -for the two who were bringing up the boyhood -arrears in a private room above-stairs. When -the waiting interval ended, it was only the burly -guest-host who appeared, coming down from the -private-dining-room suite alone. Catching sight -of David, he crossed the lobby, cast his big body<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span> -heavily into a chair, and lighted a cigar, the end -of which was already chewed into shapelessness.</p> - -<p>“You have sent Dad home?” inquired the son, -after he had delivered the telegram assuring one -Eben Grillage of a reserved space in the Chicago -sleeping-car.</p> - -<p>“No!”—disgustedly. “Some crazy farmer -broke in on us a few minutes ago and insisted on -taking your father over to the bank. Said he had -an option on a piece of land, and was obliged to -get his money to-night to make good on it.”</p> - -<p>David winced. He knew perfectly well that -the excuse given had been only an excuse; that the -intruding farmer was merely one of the badly -frightened depositors in the Middleboro Security -who was afraid to wait for another day. He was -wondering how much or how little his father had -told Grillage of the threatened disaster when the -big man went on.</p> - -<p>“There is something the matter with your -father, David. All evening he’s been acting like -a man with a clot on his brain. Hasn’t been sick, -has he?”</p> - -<p>This was one question that the son could answer -without reservations: “No; he hasn’t been -side.”</p> - -<p>“Humph! Then it’s business. How long have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span> -you been home, and how much do you know about -his banking affairs?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve been here only one day, but I know all -there is to know, I guess,” said David, looking -down at the worn pattern of the linoleum on the -lobby floor.</p> - -<p>The head of the Grillage Engineering Company -twisted himself in his chair and bored into -the young man at his side with the masterful eyes.</p> - -<p>“Huh! Been here only one day, and yet you -know it all. That means that he’s up against it. -I knew it; it was bound to come sooner or later. -Anywhere else but in Middleboro he would have -gone on the rocks years ago; I’ve always told him -that. Shake it loose, young man, and give me -the facts.”</p> - -<p>David hesitated in some manly fashion. If his -father had not seen fit to confide in the tried friend -of his youth, it was not for the son to take matters -into his own hands.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know that I have a right to do that, -Mr. Grillage,” he began. “I——”</p> - -<p>“See here!” was the explosive interruption; “if -you knew me a little better, you wouldn’t make a -break like that. When I ask a man to loosen up, -he loosens, and that’s all there is to it. Dump it -out—all of it.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span>David, untried enough to feel that any sharing -of the dreadful thing would be a relief, hesitated -no longer. The secret would be published broadcast -in a day or two at most, so nothing mattered -much. In a few words he told the story of the -threatening catastrophe, exaggerating nothing, -minimizing nothing. Eben Grillage heard him -through without interrupting, shifting the chewed -cigar from one corner of his mouth to the other as -he listened. But at the end of the story he was -scowling ferociously.</p> - -<p>“Your father is still the same kind of a tender-hearted -fool that he has always been!” he rapped -out. “Sat through an hour-and-a-half dinner with -me—dammit!—and never once opened his head -about this bog hole he’s mired in!” Then he -dragged out the biscuit-like watch. “We’ve got -barely fifteen minutes, young man. You go and -get Judson, the scrapers-and-dump-car man, on -the ’phone, while I do a bit of figuring. Jump for -it!”</p> - -<p>David Vallory obeyed blindly, with his brain in -a whirl. It took several of the hastening minutes -to locate Judson at his home in the northern suburb, -and when the telephone connection was finally -made, the hotel porter was calling the Chicago -train and Eben Grillage was at the desk, paying<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> -his bill and growling out orders about his hand-baggage. -A moment later David had handed the -telephone receiver to the big-bodied man and was -listening mechanically to the audible half of the -conversation which began with shot-like directness.</p> - -<p>“Yes, this is Grillage.... No, I don’t want -to talk about the shipment; I want to know where -you do your banking.... With the Middleboro -National, you say? Well, this time you’ll do it -through my bank—the Middleboro Security. Get -that? Attach your draft to bill of lading and give -it to Adam Vallory. Otherwise you don’t get -your money. That’s all. Good-night.”</p> - -<p>“Train time, Mr. Grillage,” interrupted the -hotel clerk, in his most deferential tone.</p> - -<p>“That’s all right; you hold that ’bus until I get -ready!” snapped the departing guest. Then, -thrusting a slip of paper into David’s hand: “Take -that to your father, with my love. And a word -to you, my boy”—this in a rumbling aside: “After -this ’phone talk of mine gets handed about, your -father will have all the credit he needs; but just -the same, if you’ve got the level head that you -seem to have, you’ll stand by and wind this bank -business up, once for all. Your father’s too -damned good to be a banker in any such wicked -world as the one we’re living in. Dig up a good<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span> -lawyer, push the crooked borrowers to a settlement, -and see if you can’t screw enough out of it -to square up and leave your father and sister a -little something to live on. When it’s done, you -let me know by wire, and I’ll give you a job where -you can make good if you’ve got it in you. That’s -all I’ve got to say. Tell your father good-by for -me; I shan’t have time to stop at the bank.”</p> - -<p>It was not until after the crazy omnibus had -rattled away, bearing the St. Nicholas’s departing -guest in galloping haste for the train, that David -Vallory ventured to glance at the slip of paper -which had been shoved into his hand. For an instant -the figures on it dazzled him and he had a -rush of blood to the brain that made the electric -lights in the hotel lobby coruscate and take on -many-colored halos.</p> - -<p>The slip of paper was Eben Grillage’s personal -cheque on a Chicago bank for the round sum of -one hundred thousand dollars.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">IV<br /> - - -An Honorable Discharge</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">DAVID VALLORY lost little time in crossing -the square from the St. Nicholas to the -bank corner; in point of fact, he was boyish -enough to run. In the bank he found his father -relocking the vault after having given the frightened -farmer his money.</p> - -<p>“Is your heart-action still pretty good, Dad?” -he asked. “No high blood pressure, or anything -like that, is there?”</p> - -<p>“No, David. If I were as sound in mind as I -am in body——”</p> - -<p>But David would not let him finish. “Take a -look at this and tell the blues to go hang,” he -laughed, fishing the cheque of salvation out of an -inner pocket.</p> - -<p>Adam Vallory held the strip of paper up to the -electric vault light, saw the figures and the signature, -and dropped back into a chair, shaken and -tremulous.</p> - -<p>“David!” he gasped reproachfully. “Did you -tell him?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span>“I did. Because it was evident that you hadn’t -told him, I tried my best to dodge; but it was no -manner of use. When Mr. Eben Grillage goes -after a thing, he is not to be denied. He nearly bit -my head off when he saw that I was trying to keep -something from him. He said I was to give you -that piece of paper with his love; that was after -he’d ordered me to call Tom Judson on the ’phone -for him and had told Judson that the Middleboro -Security was his bank, and that he must draw -through you for the money to pay for the shipment -of scrapers and dump-cars. He said it so -that the people standing around in the hotel lobby -couldn’t help hearing and knowing that he is backing -you. Isn’t that just about the finest thing you -ever heard of?”</p> - -<p>Adam Vallory was shaking his head dubiously.</p> - -<p>“It is too fine, David; the obligation, even from -an old friend like Eben.... It’s crushing. But -we must consider it as a loan, no matter how he -regards it. Yet I don’t see how we shall ever be -able to pay it back.”</p> - -<p>The young man had perched himself upon the -bookkeeper’s high stool, and he had his answer -ready.</p> - -<p>“You’ve been doing all the scrapping, thus far, -Dad, but now you must let me take my whirl at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> -it. We’ll let the old ship go decently and honorably -ashore, and then climb out and save the -pieces. We’ll pay Mr. Grillage back all we can -rake and scrape out of the wreck; and beyond -that——”</p> - -<p>“Well?—beyond that, what, son?”</p> - -<p>“It sounds rather stagy, but I’m going to say -it. Beyond what money payment we may be able -to make, we shall owe Mr. Grillage a debt of gratitude -that will be canceled only when we are both -under the sod. That is about the way it strikes -me. I don’t care what people say about his business -methods and the way he rides rough-shod -over his competitors; that doesn’t cut any figure -in his relations with you. He has done this thing -for you, individually, and I don’t come even into -the outer edges of it; just the same, he has laid an -obligation upon me that I shall never live long -enough to forget.”</p> - -<p>For a long minute Adam Vallory sat staring -into vacancy. When he looked up it was to say: -“You are bone of my bone, David, and I thank -God for a son who can see eye to eye with me at -a time like this. And yet ... you are young, -David; in many ways you are younger than your -years. You are maturing slowly, just as I did. -Sometimes I’ve been afraid—afraid you might<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span> -throw yourself into something as a boy throws -himself, without reserve, you know; blind to -everything but the one thing, whatever it might -be. If you can only have time to ripen——”</p> - -<p>David’s laugh was entirely care free. “That -was the way you talked when I went to college, -Dad, and again, when I left for Florida. I -haven’t noticed that I’m particularly raw, compared -with other men.”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t that,” the father hastened to say, “it’s -just that, up to to-day, you’ve never had to shoulder -a man’s load. Perhaps I am foolishly apprehensive, -but the way in which you spoke just now -of our obligation—your obligation—to Eben Grillage.... -I don’t know how to express it, but it -made me feel as I have sometimes felt before; -that if anything which you might conceive to be a -duty were pushing you, you’d shut your eyes and -go to any length.”</p> - -<p>David laughed and shook his head. “Some day, -Dad, you’ll wake up and find that I’m a man -grown; or I hope you will. Just the same, we do -owe Mr. Grillage a lot more than we can ever -pay, and if it ever comes in my way to chop the -debt down a bit, you may be sure I’ll sharpen my -axe. Now, if you are not too wretchedly tired -and worn out, suppose we turn in and make our<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span> -plans before we sleep. I told Lucille that we’d -most likely be late coming home and she won’t be -sitting up for us. To-morrow morning you’re -going to turn the winding up of this thing over to -me and let me save what I can. That is what Mr. -Grillage said I must do, and it is what I mean -to do.”</p> - -<p>Deep into the night father and son sat together -in the private room in the rear, poring over the -books and bank paper and setting things in order -for the speedy beaching of the outworn business -ship. But it was not until after they had left the -bank and were walking home that David won his -final point.</p> - -<p>“You shall do as you think best, David,” the -father conceded, closing an argument which had -begun at the very outset of the planning. “If it -were left to me, I should probably be too easy with -the bank’s debtors, as I’ve always been. You may -retain Oswald, if you think best; only don’t let him -be too hard on the borrowers who are in difficulties.”</p> - -<p>The following day saw the beginning of the -end for the oldest banking institution in the -county. At nine o’clock in the morning the cue -leading to Winkle’s wicket was formed again; but -in an hour or two the tide showed signs of turning.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> -At Oswald’s suggestion the Vallorys had posted a -notice in the bank window to the effect that Middleboro -Security was going out of business, and -inviting all who had claims upon the bank to present -them and get their money. Coincidently -with the posting of this notice, a rumor, starting -from nobody knew just where, began to pass from -lip to lip among the anxious depositors. It was -to the effect that Eben Grillage, well known in the -town and currently spoken of by his former townsmen -as a multimillionaire, was backing Adam -Vallory. The result was almost magical. First -one and then another dropped out of the line in -front of Winkle’s window; and by noon many of -those who had already withdrawn their savings -were coming back to furnish an object-lesson in -the mutability of human nature by begging Adam -Vallory to stay in business and reinstate them as -depositors.</p> - -<p>Early in the afternoon David persuaded his -father to go home, and himself took the chair at -the president’s desk, with Herbert Oswald at his -elbow. By evening a good beginning had been -made and the tangle was simplifying itself.</p> - -<p>“Time is the thing we need to save,” said -David, as he and the young lawyer went together -to the St. Nicholas for their belated dinner. “Dad<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span> -is needing a rest, and I’ve got to strike out -and do something for myself; something better -than making maps in a Government surveying -office. Naturally, I can’t go until after things are -wound up properly here, and Dad and Lucille are -provided for in some fashion. How long do you -think it is going to take?”</p> - -<p>Oswald reserved his answer until after they -had found their places in the café and had given -their dinner order.</p> - -<p>“As to the time, it will probably ask for more -than you will care to give to it,” he predicted; -“that is, if you mean to stay and see it through. -But that isn’t at all necessary. We can shake you -loose in a few days, after we have closed the bank -doors and have brought matters down to a routine -settlement with debtors and creditors. I can handle -that part of it myself, as the bank’s counsel.”</p> - -<p>In accordance with this outline of Oswald’s, -David Vallory stood by for the few days, taking -his father’s place in the bank and doing what he -could to hasten the beaching of the Security ship. -The end of that phase of it came when the last depositor -had chequed out his account, and Winkle -had closed his wicket for the final time. Only the -deferred collections remained, and these were -turned over to Oswald.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span>In the evening of this climaxing day, David and -the young attorney were once more dining together -in Vignaux’s café. The strain was off, and -for the first time since his home-coming, David -was free to begin the consideration of his own -future. It was Oswald who gave the table talk -its start in the proper direction.</p> - -<p>“You are footloose at last, David, and I can -imagine that you are mighty glad of it,” was the -way the start was given. “It has been a new experience -for you, and you have certainly buckled -down to it like a man.”</p> - -<p>David’s smile was boyishly complacent. “Sure -I have; there was no reason why I shouldn’t. -Isn’t that what a man’s son is for, in the last -analysis?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but——”</p> - -<p>“But what?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t know. A good many sons don’t -seem to see it in that light; and in your case—well, -I’ve known you a long time, David, and I didn’t -think you had it in you.”</p> - -<p>“‘Faithful are the wounds of a friend,’” David -quoted, with a return of the good-natured smile. -“What have I done to make you think small of -me? Or is it something that I haven’t done?”</p> - -<p>“Neither,” was the thoughtful reply. “It’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span> -just—oh, well; I guess it is because we were boys -together, and I couldn’t seem to realize that you -have grown up.”</p> - -<p>“You and Dad are the limit. Do you realize -it now?”</p> - -<p>“Y-yes; to some extent. I’ve been watching -you through this business whirl. You’ve done -well; splendidly well. But it was the fighting of -the untrained soldier.”</p> - -<p>“Of course it was. What I didn’t know of the -actual details of the business would have filled a -library.”</p> - -<p>“That isn’t what I meant; I guess I can’t express -myself clearly enough to make you understand -just what it is that I do mean. It sizes itself -up something like this: you’re so wholesome -and straightforward and decent, David——”</p> - -<p>“Break it off,” laughed David; “you make me -blush!”</p> - -<p>“That’s it,” said the keen-eyed young fellow -across the table; “you do blush. Which is the -proof of the pudding. But I mustn’t devil you -when you’re tired; tired and more or less discouraged.”</p> - -<p>“Discouraged? Not a bit of it. Why should -I be discouraged?”</p> - -<p>“Most fellows would be, in your shoes. You’ve<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span> -had every reason to believe that you were born -with a silver spoon in your mouth—or at least, a -triple-plated one.”</p> - -<p>“I? Not in a thousand years!” grinned the -son whose light was of a proper filial brightness. -“I’ve known all along that the Middleboro Security -would have to be wound up some time. Dad -is all the fine things you can say of him, Bert, but -he wasn’t cut out for a successful banker. He -knows it as well as anybody.”</p> - -<p>Oswald looked up questioningly. “You haven’t -any twinges of your own, Dave? It used to be -the town’s idea that you’d some day come back -and marry Judith Fallon and settle down to be -Vallory Number Two in the banking business.”</p> - -<p>“Marry Judith? What put that idea into the -town’s head—or yours?”</p> - -<p>“You did,” said Oswald gravely.</p> - -<p>“Great Scott! Can’t a man be just ordinarily -chummy with a girl he’s known all his life without -having the gossips of a country-town tie a tin -can to him?”</p> - -<p>“With a number of them, yes; but with one, -no.”</p> - -<p>“Bosh!” said David.</p> - -<p>“No, it isn’t ‘bosh.’ You’ve specialized on -Judith; I’ve seen it myself. Candidly, David,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span> -I’ve tried to shut my eyes to it, partly because I -hoped it might die out. Judith’s a good girl, and -in her own class she is the prettiest thing that was -ever turned loose in a world of more or less -squashy young men. But I can’t seem to see her -calling herself Mrs. Vallory.”</p> - -<p>“You needn’t try.”</p> - -<p>Oswald’s eyebrows went up. “She has turned -you down?”</p> - -<p>“Bert, if this place wasn’t so public I should -blow up! Good Lord, man! there has never been -anything sentimental between Judith and me!—nothing -on top of earth more than a bit of jolly -good-comradeship!”</p> - -<p>Being already up, Oswald’s eyebrows stayed in -that position.</p> - -<p>“On your part, perhaps; but how about Judith? -Listen, David: within the past month I’ve heard -half a dozen times that you and Judith were to -be married as soon as you got yourself relocated -in some more habitable place than a Florida -swamp. You may howl all you want to about -country-town gossip, but——”</p> - -<p>This time David Vallory interrupted with a -twist of the square jaw that took Oswald swiftly -back to a day long remembered in Middleboro -school annals when David had plunged, head<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span> -down, into battle with the leader of the “factory -gang” and had for all time vindicated the superiority -of “town-side” brain over mere brawn.</p> - -<p>“Drop it, Herbert,” he said quietly; and then: -“Let’s get back on the main track again. You -were saying that the town expected me to come -back and follow in Dad’s footsteps. There’s -nothing doing. In another way, I’m as incompetent -as he is. Money-handling doesn’t appeal to -me; it never has appealed to me. I’d rather go -out as a transit-man on some building job worth -while than to be the president of the biggest bank -in the State. It’s all in the way a man happens -to be built.”</p> - -<p>“You are beginning at the bottom in your profession, -though, aren’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Of course; any man worth his salt begins that -way. And that brings us down to the finances -again. Have you carried the figuring far enough -along to be able to guess at what will be left after -all the bills are paid?”</p> - -<p>Oswald shook his head. “Your father hasn’t -taken either of us fully into his confidence,” he -averred. “He insists that we must try to realize -on the assets so as to have a hundred thousand -dollars left to pay a personal debt which doesn’t -appear on the bank’s books. If we subtract even<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span> -half of that amount from the most favorable outcome -at present in sight, there will be nothing of -any account left for him and your sister.”</p> - -<p>“It will be enough; with what I may be able -to add to it,” said David, neither affirming nor -denying the lawyer’s hint that he was not entirely -in his father’s confidence.</p> - -<p>“You are going away to look for a job?” Oswald -asked.</p> - -<p>“As it happens, I don’t have to look for one. -I leave for Chicago on the eleven-fifteen to-night, -and my job is waiting for me.”</p> - -<p>“Fine!” was the friendly approval. “Is it a -secret?”</p> - -<p>“Not at all. I’m going to work for the Grillage -Engineering Company; an assistant engineer’s -billet on a bridge construction job up in -Wisconsin. There is a reason why I shouldn’t -take the job, and a still stronger reason why I -can’t refuse.”</p> - -<p>“That’s capital!” said Oswald, ignoring the -qualifying part of the announcement. “You are -lucky—or I guess you are. They say Mr. Eben -Grillage can dig his profit out of the shrewdest -contract that was ever drawn and never turn a -hair. But as an engineer in the field, you won’t -have anything to do with that part of it.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span>David glanced up quickly with a little frown -coming and going between the honest eyes.</p> - -<p>“Again I’ll have to ask you to break it off, -Bert. Mr. Grillage is my father’s friend.”</p> - -<p>“Of course he is; I forgot for the moment,” -was the placative reply. “I shouldn’t have repeated -the gossip—which is only gossip, after all. -I suppose you remember his daughter Vinnie, as -a little girl, don’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Very well, indeed,” said David, with his eyes -on his plate.</p> - -<p>“She has grown up to be a raving, tearing, -heart-smashing beauty,” the lawyer went on, entirely -unmindful of the sudden change in his table-mate. -“I met her in Indianapolis last summer -when I was there on a business trip. She was -stopping with friends, and she gave me exactly -five minutes by the watch—which was all the time -she could spare; all the time a dozen other fellows -would let her spare. Somebody told me she -was, or is, going to marry an English title.”</p> - -<p>“That is gossip, too,” said David, still looking -down.</p> - -<p>“I suppose so. You can hear all sorts of things -if you’ll only hold your ears open. Finished your -dinner? If you have, let’s go and smoke.”</p> - -<p>At this, David Vallory came to life again.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span>“No; I can’t take the time, Bert. I must go -out home and pack my trunk. And I’m going to -ask a favor of you. Will you be at the train to -see me off.”</p> - -<p>“Surest thing in the world,” said the young -lawyer; and after David had gone he sauntered -out to the office-lobby and bought a cigar with -thoughtful deliberation, recalling, now that he -had time to do so, David’s cryptic remark about -the reasons—still unexplained—for and against -his new employment.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">V<br /> - - -Gloriana</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">DAVID VALLORY had not been strictly -truthful in pleading the journey preparations -as an excuse for leaving Oswald at the dinner-table. -It still wanted three hours of train -time; and, as a matter of fact, his trunk, packed -in Florida for the hurried flight northward, had -not since been unpacked. But on no account -would he have given Oswald the real reason for -his early defection.</p> - -<p>That reason began to define itself when, at the -corner beyond the St. Nicholas, he turned to the -left and walked rapidly in a direction precisely -opposite to that in which the home suburb lay. -Down to the railroad yards and across the tracks -he fared, turning presently from the main street -into another which led to a region called “Judsontown,” -taking its name from the Judson Foundries -and housing the major portion of Judson’s -workmen.</p> - -<p>At the gate of a cottage a trifle larger and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span> -more commodious than its neighbors on either -hand, David turned in and walked up the slag-paved -path to the porch. There was a light -turned low in one room of the cottage, but no -other signs of life. But at his approach there -was a rustle of modish skirts on the porch and -a vision appeared; the vision taking the form -of a strikingly handsome young woman, round -limbed, scarlet-lipped, with midnight eyes and -hair. The light from the near-by street lamp -framed her in the porch opening for David as he -swung up the path, and it was a picture to stir -the blood in the veins of an anchorite.</p> - -<p>“Gloriana!” he said, taking both of her hands, -and giving her the name she had given herself as -soon as she was old enough to hate the one her -parents had given her.</p> - -<p>“Davie! you’ve come at last, have you?” she -breathed. “’Tis long ago I’d given you up. A -week you’ve been back, and but for the papers I’d -never have known it!”</p> - -<p>“Don’t scold me, Glo,” he begged. “If you -could only know how busy I’ve been. This is the -first spare minute I’ve had in the week, honestly. -Where are your father and mother?”</p> - -<p>“They’ve gone up-town to the movie. You’ll -be coming in?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span>“Just for a little while.”</p> - -<p>She led the way into the cottage, into the room -of the dimmed light. It was exactly as David -remembered it from a time when he had often -been made at home in it; the big-figured red carpet, -the marble-topped center table with the family -Bible, the family photograph album, and a -crocheted mat in the middle for the foot of an -ornate parlor lamp with a crimson shade. Also, -there were the same stiff-backed chairs and the -same sofa upholstered in green rep. In one corner -was the young woman’s piano. John Fallon -was a foreman in the Judson Foundries and could -well afford to buy his daughter a piano, if he -chose. David sat down on one of the uncomfortable -chairs.</p> - -<p>“Turn up the light and let me see you, Glo,” -he said, and when she did it: “Jove! but you -picked the right name for yourself years ago when -we were kiddies! The movie stars have nothing -on you—not one of them.”</p> - -<p>“Flatterer!” she laughed, and if there were a -faint suggestion of the “h” after the “t’s” he did -not mind. Her Irish accent had always seemed -to harmonize perfectly with her rich, “black-Irish” -beauty. Then: “The two years have been -making you into a man, Davie. ’Twas in your<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> -letters when I’d be reading them. Don’t be -propping yourself on that chair; come over here -and be yourself.”</p> - -<p>He went to sit beside her on the green sofa -and was straightway conscious that he had stepped -within a strange aura. Pointedly and of set purpose -he began to talk of commonplace things; -Middleboro things that had happened during his -absence. But the subtle distraction persisted, -coming like a veil between the thought and the -words until he scarcely knew at times what he -was saying. It was a new experience. What he -had told Oswald was the simple truth; in the old -days he and Judith Fallon had been more like -two boys together than a boy and girl, and the -frank comradeship had carried over from childhood -to manhood and womanhood; or it had up -to now. But now he could see and feel nothing -but her superb physical beauty. Once, as a college -Freshman, he had permitted himself to be -ridiculed into gulping down a drink of whiskey. -“It was like this,” he found himself saying aloud, -and the girl beside him laughed.</p> - -<p>“What’s come over you, Davie?” she said. -“Half the time you’re talking nonsense—just nonsense. -But for knowing how you hate it, I might -think you’d been drinking!”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span>“I have,” he returned soberly, suddenly realizing. -Then: “Glo, you ought to pick out some -decent young fellow and get married.”</p> - -<p>She laughed at this, but the black eyes were -hard.</p> - -<p>“Why would I want to be getting married?” -she demanded.</p> - -<p>“Don’t you?”</p> - -<p>“I thought I did—two years ago.”</p> - -<p>“You were too young then,” he decided gravely. -“But now it is time. You—you’re a living threat, -as you are. Don’t you know it?”</p> - -<p>“And what would I be threatening, then?”</p> - -<p>“The peace of mind of every man who comes -near you. You may not know it, Glo, but you -are the kind of woman for whom men, ever since -the world began, have been throwing everything -worth while into the discard; truth, honor, loyalty—anything -they had to fling away.”</p> - -<p>“Would you just be finding that out, Davie?”</p> - -<p>“You—you’re different in some way, Glo; or -else I am. What have you been doing to yourself -in these two years?”</p> - -<p>“What should I be doing? Is a girl to be waiting -always for something that’s never going to -happen?”</p> - -<p>A cold horror seized him, but he tried to shake<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span> -it off; tried to recall the Gloriana he had grown -up with; a frank, outspoken daughter of the people, -strong to attract, but also strong to resist. -The “town-side” boys had jeered him for companying -with John Fallon’s daughter, a “factory-side” -girl, but then, as now, he was wont to go -his own way when he was convinced that the way -was straight and honest. The way had been -straight, he told himself, because the girl was -straight. But now——</p> - -<p>“Glo, I meant what I said a few minutes ago; -you ought to get married. Some wise person has -said that all men and women can be divided into -two classes: those who need not marry unless they -choose to, and those who must. You are one of -those who must. It’s your harbor of safety.”</p> - -<p>Her low laugh was like an invitation to a sensuous -dance.</p> - -<p>“Since when have you turned preacher, Davie?” -she mocked. “What’s got into you to-night? -Put your head down here and let me comb it, the -way I used to when you wore knee stockings.”</p> - -<p>“No,” he refused.</p> - -<p>She leaned toward him and slipped a round -arm across his shoulders. He reached up and -disengaged it gently.</p> - -<p>“No,” he said again. “You shouldn’t do<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span> -things like that, Glo. You used to do them once, -and it didn’t matter. But now you are not the -same.”</p> - -<p>This time her laugh had an edge to it.</p> - -<p>“The fishes have nothing on you for the cold -blood, Davie. But you’re like all the men. After -you’ve made what you like out of a girl, you slap -her in the face.”</p> - -<p>Vaguely he understood that she was accusing -him of something.</p> - -<p>“I’m wishing for nothing but your happiness, -Glo; can’t you understand that? I’ve never -wished for anything else.”</p> - -<p>She was silent for a moment. Then she said:</p> - -<p>“’Tis to a convent I should have gone, Davie, -instead of to the public—to run with boys, and -with you. ’Twas you taught me things a girl -shouldn’t know.”</p> - -<p>“I?” said David, still more horror-stricken.</p> - -<p>“’Tis so. I was a woman grown whilst you -were yet but a boy. You didn’t know. If your -lady mother had lived she might have told you -more about girls and women. I was loving you, -Davie, long before ever you put a razor to your -face.”</p> - -<p>For the first time in his life David the man -found it easeful and fitting to curse David the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span> -boy. “Warm-hearted,” he had called Judith in -those other days, and thought no more of it. But -now ... he had been as one who tosses a -careless match aside and passes on, only to turn -and find a forest ablaze.</p> - -<p>“Tell me what you care to, Glo,” he said -gravely.</p> - -<p>“’Tis an old story, I’m thinking. Whilst I -could be writing to you and knowing you’d be -coming back from the college the bad heart of -me kept still. But when you went to that place -in Florida the bad heart was empty—empty for -a man. The man came, Davie; I’m thinking he -always comes.”</p> - -<p>David had to moisten his lips before he could -say: “Who was it, Glo?”</p> - -<p>“’Twas young Tommy Judson.”</p> - -<p>“God!” said David. The exclamation was half -prayer and half execration. He knew Judson; -all Middleboro knew him as the country town’s -most faithful imitation of gilded youth and its degeneracy. -After a time he said: “Somebody -ought to kill him, Glo; I ought to kill him.”</p> - -<p>“’Tis little good that would do now. He’s -gone away, and my father would be getting a -raise in his pay, little knowing why he got it.”</p> - -<p>Though the windows were open to the summer<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span> -night breeze David felt as if he were suffocating. -Springing to his feet he began to pace the narrow -limits of the little sitting-room.</p> - -<p>“Glo,” he said chokingly, “this is the most awful -thing I’ve ever had to face. I came here to-night -just as I used to come years ago. I meant -to tell you that I had found the girl that I hoped -some day to marry. And now you tell me that I -led you up to the edge and left you where the -next man who came along could push you over.”</p> - -<p>“No, Davie, dear; I’m not blaming you,” came -from the green-covered sofa.</p> - -<p>“But I am blaming myself.” He stopped -abruptly before her. “Let me see your face, -Glory: have you been trying to tell me that I -ought to marry you?”</p> - -<p>She would not look up. “And you with another -girl in your heart? I’m not that wicked, -Davie.”</p> - -<p>“Then at least you must let me talk to you as -we used to talk in the other days; straight from -the shoulder. I was wiser than I knew, a little -while ago, Glory, when I said that your safety -was in marriage. Can’t you forget and start -afresh? There are plenty of young fellows here -in your part of town who would never ask you -to turn back a single leaf of your life book for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span> -them; can’t you marry one of them and make him -a good wife, Glory?”</p> - -<p>She shook her head. “I can not,” she said -shortly.</p> - -<p>He drew out his watch and held its dial to -the lamp light. It was time to be gone.</p> - -<p>“I must go; I am leaving town to-night, and the -kindest thing I can hope for you is that you’ll -never see my face again. It doesn’t help matters -any, but if you have suffered, I shall suffer, too. -You have put a mark on me that I shall carry to -my grave.”</p> - -<p>She got up without a word and walked with -him to the door and down the slag-paved path to -the gate. But at the moment of parting, when he -was again seeking vainly for some word of heartening, -she flung her arms around his neck and -kissed him twice, thrice.</p> - -<p>“<i>That’s</i> why I can’t marry another man!” she -panted; and before he could reply she had darted -up the path and into the cottage and had slammed -the door.</p> - -<p>It was an older and soberer David who tramped -slowly back through the factory district and -across the railroad tracks to the better lighted -main street of the town. Conscience is definable -only in terms, not of the common, but of the individual<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> -human factor. For the David Vallorys -there are no compromises. He either was, or -was not, Judith Fallon’s keeper. Had he been -responsible for her development up to a certain -point, the danger point, and had then been blind -enough or thoughtless enough to cast her adrift? -One responsibility he could not shirk: from a -time reaching deeply into their childish years his -influence over her had been stronger than that of -any one else, her parents not excepted. How was -he to know that her yielding to him had been -chiefly sexual, and that unconsciously he had -walked in her path instead of leading her to walk -in his? But even so, was he wholly blameless?</p> - -<p>These soul-searching questions kept even step -with him on the way to the hill suburb, and they -made the home leave-taking, a little later, thoughtfully -abstracted. It was his promise to his sister -to come home for Christmas, if he could leave -his work, that reminded him of another responsibility; -and all the way down to the railroad station -he was hoping that Herbert Oswald would -not forget his agreement to be at the train.</p> - -<p>Oswald had not forgotten. He was waiting at -the station entrance, and together they walked -out upon the platform. The Chicago express was -bulletined fifteen minutes late, and David was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span> -thankful for the brief extension of time. There -was a thing to be said to Oswald, and, finding no -way in which to lead up to it, he plunged bluntly.</p> - -<p>“Bert, there is something that I want to say—that -I’ve got to say—before I leave. You’ve been -a mighty good friend to us in this shake-up, and -we shall always owe you a lot more than we can -pay. But I’m obliged to be a sort of dog in the -manger, right here at the last. I have a sister, -and she is blind.”</p> - -<p>“Well?” said Oswald, and his voice was a bit -thick.</p> - -<p>“You know what I ought to say; what I want -to say, and can’t. Lucille isn’t like other girls; -she can’t be. And yet she is just as human as -other girls. You mustn’t go to the house so often, -Bert. If you do, there’ll be an explosion some -day, and you’ll never get over being sorry.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know exactly what you mean,” was -the low-spoken reply.</p> - -<p>“Then I shall have to tell you in so many -words, brutal as it may sound. With her affliction, -Lucille can’t marry, and she—oh, dammit -all—you know what I mean!”</p> - -<p>“Do I?” queried the young lawyer, in the same -thick voice. “Perhaps I do, and perhaps I don’t. -You might make it a little plainer, if you care to.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span>The belated train had evidently made up some -of its lost time; it was whistling for Middleboro -and the roar of its coming was already filling the -air of the calm summer night with thunderous -murmurings.</p> - -<p>“I will make it plainer. The little sister has -taken you on as a friend. But at the same time -you are the only man outside of the family who -has ever taken the trouble to make her life more -bearable. Let it stop at that, Bert; for God’s -sake, let it stop at that if you don’t want to break -her heart!”</p> - -<p>The train was in; the conductor was calling -“All aboard!” and the Pullman porter had opened -his vestibule. Oswald crossed the platform with -David Vallory in sober silence, but at the hand-gripping -instant he found his tongue.</p> - -<p>“You may go to your job and rest easy, David. -I’m the last man on God’s green earth who will -ever do anything to break your sister’s heart. -Good-by—and let me hear from you.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">VI<br /> - - -The Henchman</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">THE great concrete railroad bridge at Coulee -du Sac was nearing completion, and for -David Vallory, who had spent a summer, an -autumn, and the better part of a winter on the -work, the closing scenes of his brief summer stop-over -in Middleboro had withdrawn into a past -already taking on the characteristics of remoteness.</p> - -<p>In their general aspect the bridge-building -weeks and months had been uneventful, or, at -least, unexciting; long working days made short -by a keen interest in his chosen profession; the -good will, early won, of his associates on the engineering -staff; clipped words of approval now -and then—progress markers, these—from his -chief, Grimsby, a saturnine man-driver who -cracked the whip oftener than he praised, and who -seemed to enjoy to the fullest extent the confidence -of the boss of bosses, Eben Grillage.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span>Only once in the nine months had David taken -time off; a scant three days in December, two of -them travel-spoiled, and the one in between—Christmas -Day, it was—spent with his father and -sister in the Middleboro home. Partly he went -to keep his conditional promise to the blind one; -but underlying the fraternal motive there was -another. Twice during the previous summer he -had written to Judith Fallon, conceiving it to be -no less than a binding duty. There had been no -reply, but the second letter had been returned to -him with the postal legend, “No such person at -the address given,” stamped upon the envelope. -His twenty-four-hour Christmas stay in Middleboro -gave him little chance to make inquiries; but -few inquiries were needed. The Fallons had sold -their cottage in Judsontown and moved away, -leaving no word by which they could be traced. -Also, there was a story, not vouched for by David’s -informant, that there had been trouble of -some sort in the Foundries offices, with a big -Irish foreman smashing his way into Mr. Thomas -Judson’s private room and assaulting its occupant.</p> - -<p>With this new barb to rankle, David went back -to his work at Coulee du Sac saddened and depressed, -and grievously weighted with the sense<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span> -of responsibility. He found no difficulty in believing -the story of the explosion in the Judson offices, -and was well able to supply the missing details. -Fallon’s quarrel was the deadliest a father could -have, and the only wonder was that he had not -committed a murder.</p> - -<p>During his nine months’ isolation at Coulee du -Sac, David had met the Vallory benefactor only -a few times; and the benefactor’s daughter not at -all. For the lack of the social opportunity he was -grateful rather than sorry. In the light of the -Judith Fallon tragedy he was beginning to question -his right to make love to Virginia Grillage, -even if the magic circle could be broken into; or -if not to question the right, to realize the immense -and humiliating barrier which must always exist -between a man with a tragedy in his past and a -woman to whom that past should be as a pane -of glass. And the height of the barrier was not -lessened by the thought that, in the last analysis, -he was culpable only to the extent of having been -bat-blind to the temperamental abysses yawning -for the Judith Fallons. A great love might condone -the blindness, but no pure-minded woman -could ever be made to believe that it was total.</p> - -<p>As to Virginia’s whereabouts during the three-quarters -of a year, David had learned something<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span> -from Eben Grillage, himself. She had spent the -summer with a party of friends in the Rockies—the -farther Rockies—touring and resting at a -small resort hotel known only to the elect; she -had spent the shooting season with other friends -in the Adirondacks; and she had gone to Florida -late in the season to escape the Northern winter.</p> - -<p>So much for the slightly wider horizons. In -the working-day field, David had been given the -most convincing proof that he had not been merely -placed and forgotten. There had been offerings -of ample opportunity to show what was in him, -with pay-roll advances to fit; and on a March day -when Grimsby, the saturnine chief of construction, -called him into the bridge office for a conference, -he was given fresh assurances that he had -been accepted as a post-graduate member of the -staff.</p> - -<p>“You are a rising young man in the profession, -Vallory, and if you keep on as you’ve begun, -you’ll come out at the top of the heap,” was the -complimentary phrase with which the conference -began. “You are not like most of the young fellows -I’ve had to hammer into shape; you don’t -go around firing off the proposition that you know -it all.”</p> - -<p>“I should hope not,” said David. “That sort<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span> -of thing is the best possible evidence that a man -needs to go to school again.”</p> - -<p>“Meaning that we’re all learning all the time?—that’s -the idea, exactly,” said the chief brusquely. -“Take it in the use—the modern use—of reinforced -concrete, for example: we are all children -going to school in that field. What we don’t -know about it would fill a library.”</p> - -<p>“You are right,” David admitted. “I’m learning -something new about it every day.”</p> - -<p>“And just because we are still in the apprentice -stage, I imagine we go pretty wide on the side -of safety,” Grimsby went on. “That’s natural; -we’re afraid to take our own figures after we’ve -made them. Now this ‘mix’ we’re using on this -bridge; I’ll venture the cement content could be -cut down twenty per cent and still leave an ample -margin of safety. What?” Then, with an abrupt -break: “Sit down and have a cigar.”</p> - -<p>David found a three-legged stool and nodded -acquiescence to the general postulate that the use -of concrete as a substitute for masonry was as yet -but a babe in arms.</p> - -<p>“The quality of the cement is another disputed -point,” Grimsby argued. “There isn’t the least -doubt in my mind that we are altogether too finical -about that. We’ve set up a code of theoretical<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span> -standards; such and such a degree of fineness, -such and such a chemical analysis, and all that; -and yet, after the job’s done, you can’t tell where -the tested stuff ends and the untested begins. -Isn’t that so?”</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t prove that it isn’t,” said David.</p> - -<p>“All right; neither can I. But on this very -point we’re continually having trouble with the -railroad people, as you know. We may admit -cheerfully that we don’t know quite all there is -to be known about concrete; but neither do the -railroad company’s engineers. Their inspectors -on this bridge are a bunch of cranks; that is the -sort of fault-finders that the ‘party of the first -part’ always hires to put on the job to watch the -contractors. If we lived up to the specifications -as they’d like to make us, the Grillage Engineering -Company would come out about a mile deep in the -hole.”</p> - -<p>Again David Vallory acquiesced. From time -to time he had had troubles of his own with the -watch-dog inspectors representing the railroad -company for which the bridge was being constructed.</p> - -<p>“You younger fellows are fresh from the laboratories, -and you have the latest word in the testing -experiments,” said Grimsby. “That’s why<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span> -I’ve called you in for a conference. You’ve been -following the cement tests made in our field laboratory, -haven’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Most of them; yes.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you haven’t seen anything wrong with -the stuff, so far, have you?”</p> - -<p>“Never.”</p> - -<p>The bearded chief nodded. “That’s the talk,” -he said; then he made his frontal attack without -further preface. “You are loyal to your salt, -aren’t you, Vallory? If what they tell me about -you and Mr. Grillage is true, you ought to be.”</p> - -<p>“I hope I am,” returned the loyalist, a little at a -loss to prefigure what was coming next. Then he -added: “My family owes Mr. Grillage a greater -debt than we can ever hope to pay, if that is what -you mean.”</p> - -<p>“So I’ve understood. Now we can get down -to the nub of the thing. You’ve heard that the -railroad company has hired a new chief engineer, -haven’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Esher? Yes; I met him day before yesterday -when he was going over the work.”</p> - -<p>“Esher is his name, and he’s the prize crank -of the lot. He has just thrown out that last shipment -of cement on us; says it doesn’t test up to -standard in the railroad lab. It’s all poppy-cock,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span> -of course. Some little-boy chemist on the railroad -pay-roll has made a blunder—that’s all there is to -it. Now then; have you been keeping in touch -with your college?”</p> - -<p>“Fairly well; yes.”</p> - -<p>“Stand in with the professors in the college -cement lab.?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; I know them all.”</p> - -<p>“Good men, are they?—men whose word you’d -take in settling a dispute?”</p> - -<p>“In proof tests, you mean? Certainly; I’d accept -them without question.”</p> - -<p>“Good. Here’s what we’re up against. This -shipment of cement that I’m talking about is the -material Shubrick was to have used in the under-water -work on Pier Four. We can’t afford to -throw it away, and to save it we’ll have to do a -little juggling; but I want you to satisfy yourself -fully beforehand. Take samples of the cement, -just as it stands, and send them to your college -for analysis. We’ll keep Shubrick supplied out -of the reserve stock until you get your answer. -Better get the samples off to-day.”</p> - -<p>Now all this was purely routine, and David, -who had thus been honored by the confidence of -his chief, went about it as a part of the day’s -work. The samples were duly taken and forwarded<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> -to the university, with a personal letter -explaining the reason for the requested analysis. -An unbiased opinion was desired, and the letter-writer -ventured to hope that it might be given -promptly.</p> - -<p>In a few days the answer came, and it was entirely -satisfactory. The samples which had been -submitted tested fully up to standard, and the college -authorities were at a loss to understand why -any question should have been raised as to the -quality of the material. David Vallory showed -the letter to Grimsby, and was rewarded by the -hard-featured chief’s nearest approach to a smile.</p> - -<p>“Now for the needful bit of juggling,” was -Grimsby’s comment. “The railroad people have -us by the neck because we have to ship everything -in over their line. But we’ll fool ’em, Vallory. -Luckily, the cement mill isn’t on their line. We’ll -send the condemned shipment out to-night, as if -we were returning it to the mill. To-morrow -morning you can slip out on the passenger train -and overtake the freight, say at Little River, on -the F. S. & A., where we are building the power -dam for the paper mill.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory was staring out of the office window -with a small frown wrinkling between his -honest gray eyes. He could forecast what was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span> -coming, and while the cause seemed to be righteous -enough, the expedient to which he was to resort -bore all the earmarks of crookedness.</p> - -<p>“And then?” he queried.</p> - -<p>“Then you can take a few laborers off the dam—I’ll -give you an order to Bullock authorizing -it—shift the cement into other cars, and fire it -back here. When it comes in, it’ll figure as a new -shipment, and you’ll have to doctor the railroad -way-bills a bit to make them fit.”</p> - -<p>It was the first time in his working experience -that David had been asked to carry out a piece of -deliberate trickery, though there had been other -occasions when he had helped to throw dust into -the eyes of the too-critical railroad inspectors. -Quite naturally, his point of view in these smaller -deceptions had been that of the men who figured -with him as Eben Grillage’s paid henchmen; but -this cement “juggling,” as Grimsby had baldly -named it, had all the characteristics of a crime.</p> - -<p>“It’s a rotten shame that we have to get down -to such methods!” he protested. “Let me go to -Mr. Esher with the result of these university tests -and Professor Luthe’s letter. Taking them together -they ought to convince him that we’re not -trying to put a spoiled batch of cement across on -him.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span>Grimsby’s smile was too well guarded to betray -his real meaning.</p> - -<p>“Esher would turn you down cold. It’s his -business to stand by his own laboratory, of course, -and he’ll do it. I didn’t ask you to get this college -analysis with any hope of convincing Esher -with it; I merely wanted you to be satisfied in -your own mind. You see what we’re up against. -If we have to throw away that shipment of Portland, -it will mean a good chunk of loss for the -Grillage Engineering Company. You said you -owed the big boss something; now’s the time to -prove that you weren’t talking through your hat.”</p> - -<p>Thus appealed to, David stifled his qualms; -and the next day he carried out his instructions -faithfully and to the letter. The condemned material -was overhauled at Little River and was -shunted into the Engineering Company’s own construction -yard at the dam. Here it was shifted -to other cars by Bullock’s laborers, and the juggling -process was brought into play. To the -F. S. & A. agent at Little River, David merely -stated a fact. He was shipping three car-loads -of cement from the company’s yard at the dam -to the bridge at Coulee du Sac. Would the agent -way-bill them accordingly?</p> - -<p>“Ship cement in one day and out the next, do<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span> -you?” grinned the railroad man. “Didn’t I see -the yard crew shoving these three cars over to -the dam yesterday?”</p> - -<p>“These are not the same cars,” said David, and -he produced the yard boss’s memorandum to -prove it.</p> - -<p>The half-truth, which was wholly an untruth -so far as the inner fact was concerned, succeeded. -The cars were billed, and in due course they -reached Coulee du Sac as a new shipment. Just -what was to be gained by the juggling, when the -railroad inspectors would be certain to sample the -cement and test it, with probably the same results -as those they had reached before, was not very -clear to David Vallory. But one night, a little -farther along, he was given a shock of enlightenment.</p> - -<p>The shock was administered by his bunk-shack -mate, the engineer in charge of the under-water -work in the caissons; Shubrick by name, and by -training a man who had grown accustomed to -many shifts and tricks in that branch of engineering -which is fullest of fatalities. To Shubrick -David Vallory was freeing his mind on the general -subject of over-critical inspection.</p> - -<p>“These railroad watchers are getting on my -nerves more and more, all the time!” he complained.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> -“They act as if they think we are a -bunch of crooks, needing only half a chance to -scamp this job so that it will fall into the river -with the first train that passes over it. Do they -worry you on the under-water work as much as -they do us on the concreting?”</p> - -<p>Shubrick grinned ferociously.</p> - -<p>“I’d shut off the air and drown a few of them -if they did. Just the same, David, they’re onto -their job all right. You needn’t make any mistake -about that.”</p> - -<p>“You say that as if you thought we needed -watching. Do you think so?”</p> - -<p>This time Shubrick’s grin took a sardonic twist.</p> - -<p>“When you are a few years older, you’ll know -a heap more, David. Why, good Lord, man! -are you nourishing the idea that this contracting -company is doing business on a philanthropic -basis?”</p> - -<p>David Vallory shook his head. “You’ll have -to diagram it for me, I guess. We may not be -any too honest; I’ve seen some things done that -I’ve wished we didn’t have to do. But that isn’t -an admission that we’re a gang of thieves, to be -watched and harried from one day’s end to another.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a fight,” said the older man cynically.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span> -“The other fellows tie us up with a lot of specifications -that they know perfectly well would ruin -us if we should live up to them; and, on our side, -we live up to just as few of them as the law will -allow. The honor system may work in college, -but it doesn’t get by to any marked extent in business. -As far as that goes, you, yourself, are not -as innocent as you look, David. You worked that -little cement juggle the other day to the queen’s -taste.”</p> - -<p>“You heard about that?” said David, and it -was a mark of the short distance he had traveled -on the road to equivocation that he flushed when -he said it.</p> - -<p>“Everybody knows about it—everybody but -the railroad people. You played it mighty fine. -What’s puzzling me is the railroad way-bill part -of it. How on top of earth did you contrive to -get those way-bills doctored on the F. S. & A. at -Little River? Did you buy the agent?”</p> - -<p>The flush deepened under David Vallory’s -eyes. The misleading explanation he had made -to induce the railroad agent to bill the condemned -cement as a mill shipment to be transferred from -the work on the dam to that on the Coulee du Sac -bridge was the least defensible part of the transaction, -or so it seemed to him.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span>“The less said about that part of it will be the -soonest mended,” he returned gruffly.</p> - -<p>“Well, it was a neat little trick all the way -round,” the under-water boss commented. “If -Congdon hadn’t fallen down in the first place, we -wouldn’t have had to work it.”</p> - -<p>This was new ground to David Vallory and he -said as much. “What did Congdon have to do -with it?” he asked.</p> - -<p>Shubrick relighted his pipe, and after a puff or -two: “Do you mean to tell me that you don’t -know?”</p> - -<p>“If I knew, I wouldn’t ask.”</p> - -<p>Again the under-water engineer sucked slowly -at his pipe. “There is one of two things, David,” -he remarked, after the pause: “you are either a -good bit deeper than I’ve been giving you credit -for being—or else you’re too innocent to be running -loose without a guardian. Didn’t Grimsby -tell you how it all got balled up in the beginning?”</p> - -<p>“He told me that some railroad chemist had -blundered in making the tests.”</p> - -<p>Shubrick’s laugh was soundless. “It was our -man Congdon who did the blundering. After he -had made the tests in our own lab., he was ass -enough not to see to it that the railroad chemist -didn’t get a whack at the stuff.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span>“Are you trying to tell me that the cement -wasn’t up to standard?” demanded Grimsby’s -accessory.</p> - -<p>“If you need to be told. It’s a ‘second,’ all -right enough; it sets unevenly, and is otherwise -off color; but nobody will ever know the difference -after it’s in place in the bottom of the river.”</p> - -<p>For a moment the air of the small bunk shack -became stifling and David Vallory got up and -went to stand in the doorway. When he turned -back to Shubrick it was to say: “Then the whole -thing was a frame-up, was it?—to enable us to -work off a cheaper grade of Portland in a place -where it couldn’t show up?”</p> - -<p>“Of course it was. We have to play even when -we can.”</p> - -<p>“But I had that shipment analyzed myself. I -sent samples of it to the university.”</p> - -<p>“Then you took your samples from the wrong -sacks, that’s all. I’m using the stuff in the caisson, -and I guess I know what I’m talking about. It’s -punk.”</p> - -<p>“If that is so, why haven’t the railroad people -found it out in a second test?”</p> - -<p>“That’s easy. This time Congdon was right -on the job and saw to it that they got the proper<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span> -kind of samples. You needn’t look so horrified; -the bridge isn’t going to tumble down.”</p> - -<p>But more important things than bridges were -tumbling down in David Vallory’s heart and mind -at that moment. When a young man has grown -up in an ethical atmosphere the first broad step -toward the unethical is apt to be subversive of a -good many preconceived ideas and standards. -After a time he said:</p> - -<p>“Shubrick, the frame-up wasn’t altogether on -the railroad people. Part of it was on me.”</p> - -<p>“That’s easy, too,” said the older man. “Grimsby -was merely trying to provide you with a good, -stout <i>alibi</i>; to leave you a nice, respectable hole -to crawl out of in case there should be any future -to the thing. But if you’re really stirred up about -it, you are foolish. Things like that are done -every day. We are fighting for our own hand. -The Golden Rule is pretty to look at, but it doesn’t -hold water in business.”</p> - -<p>“You’re taking the ground that we are dealing -with a condition and not with principles of right -and wrong?”</p> - -<p>“Precisely. A man has got to be loyal to something, -Vallory: I’m loyal to my bread and butter; -so, too, in the long run, are you, and ninety-nine -other men out of a hundred. Possibly it digs a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span> -little deeper with you. Haven’t I heard you say -that you’d willingly go a mile or so out of your -way where Mr. Grillage’s interests are concerned?—that -it was up to you to take long shifts or hard -ones, or anything else that came up?”</p> - -<p>“You have.”</p> - -<p>“There it is, then. No man living has ever -been able to draw the line absolute between ethical -right and wrong and lay it down as a mathematical -axiom. I’ll put it up to you. If you are -a fanatical crank your duty is plain. You know -the inside of this cement deal, and you can show -it up if you feel like it and make it cost the Grillage -Engineering Company a pot of money. But -you are not going to do any such asinine and -ungrateful thing—you know you’re not. What -you’ll do will be to tell yourself that the particular -grade of Portland used is strictly a matter of -opinion between our staff and the railroad’s, and -let it go at that.”</p> - -<p>It is altogether improbable that Warner Shubrick -regarded himself as in any sense an <i>advocatus -diaboli</i>; and it might be even farther afield -to suppose that Grimsby had given him a hint to -safeguard the cement fraud by trying to justify it -for his shack-mate. None the less, the seed was -sown and a new point of view was opened for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span> -David Vallory. Given time to wear itself out, -the natural indignation arising upon the discovery -that he had been used as a tool in Grimsby’s small -plot became gradually transmuted into something -quite different. Shubrick, in declaring that a man -must be loyal to something, labeled a solvent -which has dissolved much fine gold in the human -laboratory. The transition from loyalty to an -ideal to loyalty to a cause is not so violent as it -may seem. Hence, it need not be written down -as a miracle that, in proportion as the ideals withdrew, -there grew up in David Vallory a blind determination -to be loyal, first, to his salt.</p> - -<p>It was in a letter to his father, written at the -end of this same month of March, that the newer -viewpoint got itself set forth in words.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t know what a cramped little circle I’d -been trotting around in all my life until I came -up here,” he wrote. “You have to go up against -the real thing in the world fight before you can -get your ideas straightened out, and give things -their proper relative values. The university did -nothing for me in that respect, and the Government -job in Florida was a mere anæsthetic. But -here I’m doing a man’s work, and carrying a -man’s responsibility. I know you won’t take it -as a brag if I say to you, Dad, that I’ve grown<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span> -more in the nine months that I’ve been at Coulee -du Sac than I did in the nine years before that. -For the first time in my experience I’m beginning -to be able to peep out over the edge of things, -and to grab hold while the grabbing is good. Incidentally, -I’m learning what it means to be loyal -to a man who has been loyal to me and mine, and -I know it will please you when I say that I’ve -been able, now and then, to work off a little of -the big debt of gratitude we owe to Mr. Grillage.</p> - -<p>“Ordinarily, I should suppose, Mr. Grillage -doesn’t trouble himself to keep tab on the many -apprentice engineers that he has scattered around -on his numerous contracts, but I’ve had more than -a hint that he looks my way, now and then. Only -yesterday Grimsby was telling me in his sort of -bitter way that he guessed the big boss was grooming -me for something better than I have now. -While I’m well enough satisfied with my present -billet, I’m not married to it so that Mr. Grillage -couldn’t divorce me. Anyway, here’s hoping.”</p> - -<p>It was only a short fortnight after the writing -of this home letter that David was summoned to -Chicago by a telegram from the king of the contractors, -and he went with a light heart, half forecasting -another promotion. Also, he was soberly -jubilant over the thought that, by some happy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span> -conjunction of the lucky planets, he might again -be permitted to divide time, at least for one -evening, with Virginia Grillage’s retinue of court-payers.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">VII<br /> - - -A Reward of Merit</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">IT was after city office hours when David Vallory -reached Chicago, arriving in obedience -to the telegram from headquarters, and he was -preparing to go to a hotel for the night when a -brisk young fellow in livery singled him out to -ask his name and to tell him that Mr. Grillage’s -car had been sent for him. In the waiting automobile, -to his unbounded surprise and delight, he -found Miss Virginia. The lapse of something -over a year had only made her more ravishingly -beautiful in David’s eyes, and his welcome was -all that he could ask—and more.</p> - -<p>“You ought to feel highly honored,” she said, -making room for him in the limousine. “I ran -away from a houseful of people to come in town -for you.” And then, lest he should be too unreasonably -happy: “It is <i>so</i> good to be reminded -of dear, old, study Middleboro again!”</p> - -<p>“I wish to goodness I might remind you of -something besides Middleboro,” David complained, -laughing; “of myself, for example, or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span> -Palm Beach, or—well, in fact, almost anything. -Do you realize that it is over a year since we -last met?”</p> - -<p>“I do, indeed. Also, I realize that you have -never, by any chance, written a line or happened -to come to Chicago at any time when I’ve been -at home. Or perhaps you’ve been here and didn’t -think it worth while to let me know.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing like it,” said David, matching her -mood. “I haven’t been in the city since your -father sent me to Coulee du Sac, unless you count -the car-changing times when I went home at -Christmas. You don’t realize that I have become -a workingman since I left the Government -service. I have, and I’ve had a laudable ambition -to stick to the job and earn my wages honestly.” -Then, as the car began threading its way -through the traffic to the northward: “Where are -you taking me?”</p> - -<p>“Home, of course; to The Maples.”</p> - -<p>“To the houseful of people? I shall disgrace -you.”</p> - -<p>“No clothes?” she suggested, with a smile that -made him tingle to his finger-tips.</p> - -<p>“Absolutely nothing to wear!”</p> - -<p>“How shocking! But never mind; I shall tell -them all that they are lucky not to have you in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span> -overalls and mining-boots—or don’t you wear -mining-boots on bridges? However, you needn’t -worry; you won’t have any chance to be social, -unless it’s at dinner. Father will monopolize -you.”</p> - -<p>“What is he going to do to me; fire me?”</p> - -<p>The limousine had reached the northward lake -drive, and the king’s daughter pressed the bell-push -for more speed. “Dinner will be waiting,” -she explained. Then she answered his question. -“It’s a perfectly profound secret, of course, but -I really believe you <i>are</i> going to be ‘fired.’”</p> - -<p>“That is a nice, comforting thing to be told—just -before dinner!” he laughed. “But my obsequies -are of no special consequence; tell me about -yourself. Is the English lord still hovering upon -the horizon?”</p> - -<p>“Cumberleigh? What do you know about -him?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, nothing much; I merely heard last summer -that you were going to marry him.”</p> - -<p>“When I do, you shall have a handsomely engraved -invitation to the wedding—for the sake of -the past-and-gone kiddie times in old Middleboro. -Won’t that console you?”</p> - -<p>“I am consoled speechless. Weddings and -funerals always affect me that way, and the Cumberleigh<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span> -occasion will be both, from my point of -view.”</p> - -<p>There were some miles of this light-hearted -foolishness; brief miles, to be sure, since the big -limousine was both powerful and speedy. At the -end of the miles the car turned in past the gate -lodge of a lakeside estate, an establishment princely -in extent, landscaping and architecture; and the -gap which a disparity of worldly possessions digs -between hope and fruition suddenly yawned wide -for David Vallory.</p> - -<p>“Why the sphynxian silence?” inquired the -princess of the magnificences, gibing amiably at -David’s lapse into speechlessness.</p> - -<p>“Too much money,” he returned half playfully, -waving an arm to include the display of the Grillage -fortune. “I was just wondering what it -means to you, individually.”</p> - -<p>“I have often wondered, myself,” was the half -musing rejoinder. “Sometimes I think it means -a lot. It grips one that way, now and again. But -there are other times when I’m simply obliged to -run away from it, just to convince myself that I’m -not one of the lay figures in the stage-setting. -Can you understand that?”</p> - -<p>Her answer gave David another of the ecstatic -little thrills. It was not the first time that she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> -had let him see that the quick-witted, clear-sighted -girl-child of his boyish adulation had been only -overlaid, and not spoiled, by the lavishnesses.</p> - -<p>“I think I understand it perfectly,” he assured -her. “Money, in and of itself, is nothing. It is -only a means to an end.”</p> - -<p>The limousine was stopping under the carriage -entrance of the great house and they had but a -moment more of the comradely isolation. It was -the young woman who seized and made use of it.</p> - -<p>“I hope you will always remember that, David—and -let it be clean money,” she said soberly; -and then, with a quick return to the playful mood: -“Here we are, just in time for dinner. I shall -introduce you to the houseful as my cradle-brother—may -I?—and after dinner you may go your -way with father and get yourself properly ‘fired.’”</p> - -<p>Drawing pretty heavily upon the simplicities, -David won through the social preliminaries without -calling any marked attention to himself. Miss -Virginia’s “houseful” made an even dozen at the -rather resplendent dinner-table, and the naïvely -inquisitive young wife of an elderly stock-broker, -who was David’s elbow companion, and who kept -him busy answering childish questions about his -profession, saved him from particularizing too -curiously as to the others, though he was observant<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span> -enough to note that none of the many competitors -he had had at Palm Beach was among -them. At the table dispersal he found himself -at once in the clutches of the master of the house.</p> - -<p>“Come on into my den and we’ll break away -from all this hullaballoo,” growled the king of -the man-drivers; and when the coveted privacy -was secured: “Pull up a chair and smoke. You’ll -find cigars in that sponge-box, or pipes and tobacco -on the mantel. How did you leave the -bridge?”</p> - -<p>“We are working on the closing span, and two -months more ought to see the rails down and the -trains running over them,” David reported, settling -himself in a deep chair with one of the long-stemmed -pipes. “Now that the cold weather is -over, there is nothing to hold us back.”</p> - -<p>“Lose much concrete in the freezing?”</p> - -<p>“No; very little. We used your idea of tarpaulin -coverings and a perforated steam-pipe and -saved practically every yard we put in place. -There was some little kicking on the part of the -inspectors, but we got by with nearly all of it.”</p> - -<p>“Huh!” grunted the big man. “A bunch of -inspectors wouldn’t be happy if they couldn’t find -something to kick about! That’ll do for the -bridge. We’ll call it a back-number for you and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span> -pass it up. I’ve been letting you alone at Coulee -du Sac; wanted to see what you were going to -make of yourself—what you were made of.”</p> - -<p>“I hope I haven’t disappointed you too badly,” -David ventured.</p> - -<p>“You haven’t; if you had, you wouldn’t be here -to-night. Now then; are you ready to tackle -something a good deal bigger than an assistant’s -job on a concrete bridge?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tackle anything you give me; though I’m -not asking you to push me any faster or farther -than the good of the service will warrant.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you lose any sleep over that,” was the -gruff retort. “You’ll never get any plums from -me merely because you happen to be Adam Vallory’s -son. For that matter, the shoe’s on the -other foot. I’m thinking about giving you a hard -job—a damned hard job. What do you know -about the Nevada Short Line new-alignment -project out in the Timanyoni country?”</p> - -<p>David shook his head in token that he knew -little.</p> - -<p>“Practically nothing more than the technical -articles in the engineering journals have told me.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it’s a right sizable job, and we have the -contract. We had a fellow named Lushing out -there as chief, but I had to let him go.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span>“Incompetent?” said David.</p> - -<p>“No; competent as the very devil. But he -welshed; let himself be bought up by the railroad -company.”</p> - -<p>“How was that?”</p> - -<p>“Just plain crooked; gave us the double-cross; -chummed in with the railroad staff; took favors, -and all that. Any time he wanted a special to run -down to Brewster for a night off, he got it—and -we paid for it.”</p> - -<p>Having his recent experience in mind, David -Vallory understood perfectly. With a man of -the Lushing type in charge as chief constructing -engineer there would naturally be no cutting of -corners on the hard-and-fast specifications; no -saving of money for the Grillage treasury.</p> - -<p>“It seems to me that plain business loyalty is -one of the things you buy, or ought to buy, with -the salaries you pay,” was his disposal of the -Lushing case.</p> - -<p>“Lushing is a fise-dog, and he has proved it by -going over to the railroad engineering staff as -chief inspector,” rasped the man-driver. “What -do you think about that?—going over to the other -side and carrying with him all the information -that his job with us had given him?”</p> - -<p>David was by this time sufficiently partisan to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span> -lose sight of the fact that a discharged man might -be excused for taking the first place that might -offer.</p> - -<p>“It was unprofessional, to say the least,” was -his comment.</p> - -<p>“There was more to it than that, but we needn’t -go into the contemptible whys and wherefores,” -Grillage went on, with a portentous frown. “I -let him out, and for a month or more we’ve been -rocking along without a chief—and with a man -against us who knows all the tricks of the trade. -I’ve called you in to ask if you think you are big -enough to swing the job and hold up our end of the -pole. Grimsby says you are.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory gasped. It was a tremendous -promotion for a young man less than four years -out of college, and he was wise enough to discount -his lack of experience.</p> - -<p>“I am only an apprentice, as you might say, Mr. -Grillage, and many a man with my equipment, or -more, is still carrying a transit,” he said, after a -momentary pause for the breath-catching. “But -I’m going to leave it with you. If you think I -am equal to it, I can only say that I’ll do my level -best not to disappoint you.”</p> - -<p>The big man’s laugh was like the creaking of a -rusty door-hinge.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span>“You’re modest, David, and that isn’t the worst -thing that can happen to a young fellow in his -beginnings. But I’ve been keeping cases on you, -and I go a good deal on what Grimsby says. He -gives you a good send-off; says you know the engineering -game, and can keep your head and -handle men. The Timanyoni job won’t ask for -much more, unless it’s a little of this loyalty you -talk about. If you need an older head, you’ll -have Plegg, who’s been first assistant on the job -since it began. Plegg has the age and the experience, -and you can lean on him for everything but -initiative—which is the one thing he hasn’t got. -Now we’ll get down to the lay-out,” and he took -a huge roll of blue-prints from its case and began -a brittle outlining of the realignment project in the -Hophra Mountains.</p> - -<p>David Vallory, still a trifle dazed by the suddenness -and magnitude of the promotion, bent -over the drawings and became a sponge to soak up -the details. In the construction of the Nevada -Short Line over the Hophras in the day of the -great gold discoveries, haste had been the watch-word -of the builders. With the golden lure ahead -to put a premium upon speed, the engineers had -eliminated cuts, fills and tunnels, so far as possible, -and had made the line climb by a series of reversed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span> -curves and heavy grades to the surmounting of -the obstacle mountain range at Hophra Pass.</p> - -<p>Now, since the Short Line had become an integral -part of the far-reaching P. S-W. system, a -campaign of distance-shortening and grade-reducing -had been inaugurated. There were bridges -to be built, hills to be cut through, tunnels to be -driven. Powder Can, a mining town nestling in -the shadow of the mountains, was the center of the -activities, but the work extended for some miles -in either direction from the town, with the heaviest -of the hill-cutting and tunnel-driving climaxing -in the big bore which was to form the needle’s eye -for the threading of the mountain range.</p> - -<p>Again modestly discounting his lack of experience, -David Vallory was doubtful of his ability to -plan and carry out such a vast undertaking from -its inception. But the trail was already broken -for him, and he had only to walk in the technical -footsteps of his predecessors. And with a good -assistant who had been familiar with the work -from the first, this should be comparatively easy.</p> - -<p>“I’m your man, Mr. Grillage,” he said, after -the maps and plans had been duly considered. -“I’ll lean on Plegg, as you suggest, and give you -the best there is in me. I’ll say frankly that I -don’t believe I’m big enough yet to swing a thing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span> -like this as a new proposition. But with the lay-out -all made and the work in progress, I ought to -be able to pick it up and carry it to the finish.”</p> - -<p>“That’s up to you,” said the big man shortly. -“You may take this set of blue-prints with you and -check yourself into the job on your way to Colorado. -Grimsby says you’re good for the engineering -end of it, and I’m taking his word for that. -But there is another angle that you mustn’t lose -sight of. It is a big job, and there were half a -dozen bidders. We had to cut mighty close to -get in, and any bad breaks on our part are going -to shove the profits over to the other side of the -books and write ’em down in red ink.”</p> - -<p>“There mustn’t be any bad breaks; that’s all -there is to that part of it,” said David, with youthful -dogmatism.</p> - -<p>“That’s the talk. And more than that, we -must shave all the foolish frills out of the specifications. -You know how that goes, or, if you -don’t, Matt Grimsby hasn’t done his duty by you. -On a job like this the railroad engineers would -have us gold-plate every spike we drive, if they -could. You’ve been in the contracting business -long enough now to know what I mean.”</p> - -<p>David made the sign of assent without prejudice -to any of the standards of uprightness and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span> -fair play, the undermining of which he was still -far from suspecting in his own case.</p> - -<p>“I shall be working for the Grillage Engineering -Company, first, last and all the time,” he -asserted. “The company’s business is my business, -and I haven’t any other.”</p> - -<p>At this, the contractor-king’s gruffness fell away -from him as if it were a displaced mask.</p> - -<p>“There spoke your father, David, and a better -man never lived. I was only trying you out a -while back when I said that you needn’t look for -the plums just because you happen to be Adam -Vallory’s son. After you get a little farther up -the ladder and find that you have to depend on -the man or men lower down, you’ll be willing to -pay high for a little personal loyalty of the sort -that looks an inch or two beyond the next pay-day. -I’m putting you right where I’d put a son -of my own, if I had one, out yonder in the Timanyoni -country, boy—and for the same reason. I -want to have somebody on the job that I can bank -on and swear by.”</p> - -<p>It was the one touch needed to put the fragrant -flower of personal relationship upon the juggler-grown -tree of promotion. David Vallory was -still young enough to take the oath of allegiance -without reservations to any master strong enough<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span> -and generous enough to command his loyalty, and -Eben Grillage could have found no surer way to -light the fires of blind, unreckoning fealty.</p> - -<p>“A little less than a year ago, Mr. Grillage, -you loaded me with the heaviest obligation a man -can carry. You are adding to it now by giving -me a boost big enough to make a much older man -light-headed. I’d be a mighty poor sort of a son -to Dad if I didn’t——”</p> - -<p>“Never mind the obligations,” the master broke -in, with a return to the brittle abruptness. “There -is an old saying that the quickest way to make an -enemy of a man is to do him a favor. If it isn’t -working out that way in your case, why, so much -the better. Now you may go back to the dinner -people, if you want to. I’ve got to dictate a bunch -of letters.” And the king of the contractors -jabbed his square-ended thumb on a push-button -to summon his secretary.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">VIII<br /> - - -Out of the Past</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">DISMISSED from the presence of the hard-bitted -maker of destinies, David Vallory—not -being a devotee of bridge—spent little enough -of what was left of the evening in the manner in -which he most wished to spend it. But at the end -of things, when hope deferred was about to fold -its wings and go to bed, Miss Virginia gave her -place at the second whist table to the elderly broker’s -juvenile wife, and David had the reward -which comes to those who only stand and wait.</p> - -<p>“Well, have you been dishonorably discharged?” -she asked, after they had passed out -of earshot of the card players.</p> - -<p>“I imagine you know a lot more than I can tell -you about it,” he bubbled happily. “I’m to take -an early train to-morrow morning and vanish, disappear, -fade into the western horizon.”</p> - -<p>“Are you sorry—or glad?”</p> - -<p>“Both. I’ve had a promotion so whaling big -that it makes my head swim. But the place of it -is a mighty long jump from Chicago.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span>“You didn’t make any use of the nearness of -Chicago while you had it at Coulee du Sac,” she -cavilled. Then: “Are you starting west without -going to see your father and sister?”</p> - -<p>“I was with them Christmas, as I told you. -And I have a plan which has been simmering -while I was waiting for you to get tired of the -whist-game. If the living accommodations in -the Timanyoni country are at all possible, I shall -send for Dad and Lucille a little later in the -season.”</p> - -<p>“The accommodations are very good. There -is a small summer-resort hotel with cottages on -the ridge opposite Powder Can.”</p> - -<p>“You have been there?” David asked.</p> - -<p>“Once; for a few weeks last summer, or rather -early in the autumn, when the work was just starting. -But won’t that be a rather violent change -for your father and sister?—from sleepy old -Middleboro to the heart of the Rockies?”</p> - -<p>“Possibly. But there are reasons for believing -that it will be beneficial all around. Dad isn’t -entirely well. His heart was never in the banking -business to any great extent, but just the same, -the breaking up of all the old routine is hard for -him. A complete change will do him no end of -good.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span>“You said ‘reasons’, and that is only one.”</p> - -<p>“There is another. How much do you remember -about my sister, Lucille?”</p> - -<p>“Only that she is blind, and perfectly angelic, -and the most delicately beautiful child that ever -breathed.”</p> - -<p>“She is all those things yet—only more so. Do -you remember Bert Oswald?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes; quite well. He is a lawyer now, isn’t -he?”</p> - -<p>“Even so. Worse than that, he is in love with -Lucille, and—er—I’m very much afraid she is -with him—entirely without realizing it, you know. -It’s a pitiful misfortune for both of them. Of -course, Lucille can never marry.”</p> - -<p>“Why do you say ‘of course’?”</p> - -<p>“With her affliction? She doesn’t dream of such -a thing! Herbert has been very decent about it. -I put him on his guard last summer before I left -Middleboro, and he hasn’t spoken—yet. But a -day may come when he will speak, and then, as I -have told him, there will be trouble and a lot of -needless wretchedness. That’s why I want to get -Dad and sister away from Middleboro. If they -are not where Bert can drop in every few minutes, -it will be different.”</p> - -<p>For a time the daughter of profitable contracts<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span> -did not comment on the plan, but when she did -there was a touch of her father’s shrewd directness -in her manner.</p> - -<p>“You are the most frightfully cold-blooded person -I’ve ever met,” she told him. “If you had -ever been in love yourself you wouldn’t talk so -calmly about separating these two. What if Lucille -is blind? There have been blind wives, and -blind husbands, for that matter, since the beginning -of time. You’re hard-hearted.”</p> - -<p>“No,” said David; “I am only trying to be the -right kind of a brother—as I have tried to be ever -since that black day years ago when old Doctor -Brown told us that the little sister would never see -again. And your argument falls down at the -other end, too. You say, if I had ever been in -love myself.... That has already happened to -me, Virginia.”</p> - -<p>Her laugh was deliciously care free. “And you -have never told me!” she mocked. “Does she -live in Middleboro?—or maybe it’s Florida. Or -have you broken all the traditions by keeping faith -with a college widow?”</p> - -<p>“No, she doesn’t live in Middleboro or in Florida, -and I am very certain she has never been a -college widow. It’s only a pipe-dream for me as -yet, but some day——”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span>“Some day she will grow tired of waiting and -marry somebody else,” was the brisk retort. “Is -she pretty?”</p> - -<p>“No; that isn’t the word at all.”</p> - -<p>“Beautiful, then?”</p> - -<p>“So beautiful that I can’t be with her without -going fairly dotty.”</p> - -<p>Again she laughed derisively.</p> - -<p>“You seem to have all the symptoms, and really -I didn’t believe it of you, David. You have always -seemed so solid and sensible.”</p> - -<p>“I am both,” he boasted gravely. Then in a -quick shift to safer ground: “You told me once -that you enjoyed going out on the work with your -father—is there any chance that you may come -to the Timanyoni this summer?”</p> - -<p>“Maybe. I liked it when I was out there last -year—for some things.”</p> - -<p>“And for some other things you didn’t? What -were they?”</p> - -<p>“I’d rather not talk about them. But there -was one thing.... Do you know anything about -Powder Can?”</p> - -<p>“Less than nothing beyond what your father -has just told me. He says it’s a mining-camp.”</p> - -<p>“It is worse than the usual mining-camp, or it -was when I saw it. It is the only place where the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span> -workmen can go to spend their pay, and you know -what that would mean.”</p> - -<p>“I can visualize it pretty well; whiskey, dance-halls -and gambling dens, and all that.”</p> - -<p>“Yes. We saw little of it at the hotel; the Inn -is quite a distance from the town and on the other -side of the river. But once I went there with—with -a man. I didn’t know where he was taking -me—or us; there was a party of us from the hotel, -you know; slummers, you’d call us.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know the man, but he ought to have -been murdered,” said David.</p> - -<p>“Something like that, yes,” she said. “But -that wasn’t what I meant to speak about particularly. -One of the places where he tried to take -us—only we wouldn’t go in—was a dance-hall. -There was a girl at the piano; I could see her -from where I was standing on the sidewalk. She -was beautiful, David, and it made my heart ache -to see her in such a place.”</p> - -<p>“You should never have seen her,” said David -hotly. “I’ve been trying to imagine the kind of -man who would take you to such a place as that!”</p> - -<p>“He isn’t worth imagining,” she asserted -quietly. “But I was speaking of the girl. She -was playing for the dancers, you know, and just -in the little minute that we were standing there, a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span> -big quarryman broke out of the circle and—and -put his arm around her neck. It was horrible. -She fought like a tiger, but the man was too strong -for her. He struck her ... with his fist.”</p> - -<p>David shook his head. “Why are you making -yourself remember all this? It’s just painful, and -it can’t do any good. It was a shame that you -had to see it.”</p> - -<p>“That is foolish,” she reproved gravely. “We -are not living in the Victorian age, David, and -the shame wasn’t in my seeing it. The dancing -stopped, of course, and the men in our party, or -some of them, rushed in and interfered. The girl -was carried out; the brute’s blow had knocked her -senseless. She was taken home and we did what -we could for her. The next day I went to see -her.”</p> - -<p>“That was like you, Virginia, only——”</p> - -<p>“Only what?”</p> - -<p>“I won’t say that you ought not to have done -it; you know best about that; but——”</p> - -<p>“I had to go, David. There was a—a sort of -obligation, you know. She was one of our Middleboro -girls. I didn’t know her, but I remembered -seeing her as a little thing. Perhaps you -knew her; her name is Judith Fallon.”</p> - -<p>If a bomb had been suddenly exploded under<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span> -David Vallory he could scarcely have been more -completely unnerved and shaken. They were sitting -in a window alcove a little apart from the -bridge players, and the looped-back curtains -dimmed the lights in some measure—for which he -was thankful. But Virginia Grillage seemed not -to have noticed his gasping start at the mention of -Judith’s name, and she went on soberly.</p> - -<p>“As I say, I had to go, and I found that things -were not quite as bad as they seemed—though -they were bad enough. The girl had lately lost -her mother, and she was keeping house in a little -three-room shack for her father, a mechanic in -the Murtrie Mine. I didn’t see him, of course, -but from what Judith said I gathered that he had -taken to drinking after the mother’s death. You’d -say he must have gotten pretty low, to let his -daughter earn money by playing the piano in a -dance-hall.”</p> - -<p>David recalled the John Fallon he had known; -a rough-cast, unlettered man, but a skilled mechanic -and thrifty.</p> - -<p>“I knew him well,” he said; adding: “There -was some trouble—family trouble, I think—before -the Fallons moved away from Middleboro. I -heard something about it when I was home for -Christmas.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span>“It’s the conditions in Powder Can,” she -averred; “and for those the new work on the railroad -is responsible—an army of workmen with -money to throw away. Judith, and probably her -father, are neither better nor worse than other -people with their point of view. It isn’t fair to -such people to permit the conditions.”</p> - -<p>“I quite agree with you,” he rejoined hastily. -“I don’t know how much I shall be able to do, as -chief of construction, but from what you have been -telling me it is evident that this plague spot right -at our doors ought to be cleaned up with a strong -hand.”</p> - -<p>“Does that mean that you are going to reform -things out there, David?”</p> - -<p>“Whatever needs reforming, yes; if I can.”</p> - -<p>“I wish you might say that and mean it, knowing -all that it implies,” she returned, half musingly.</p> - -<p>“What does it imply?”</p> - -<p>The card players were rising, and there was a -sputtering rapid-fire of motors in the driveway.</p> - -<p>“That,” she said slowly, “is something you must -find out for yourself, if you can—and will. Now -I must go. People will want to be telling me what -an exquisite time they’ve had. You say you are -leaving early in the morning? Then I will say<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span> -good-night and good-by. The hall man will show -you your room. Give my love to your father and -sister when you write, and don’t, for pity’s sake, -drag them away out yonder to the ragged edge of -nowhere!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">IX<br /> - - -Silas Plegg</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">POWDER GAP, a hill-studded basin where -the Powder River, leaping down from the -high watershed of the upper range, gathers itself -for the swift rush to its emptying into the Timanyoni -forty miles away, lies like a half-closed hand -in a gorge of the Hophras, with the upturned -fingers and thumb postulating the surrounding -majesties of mountain peaks, and the forested hills -and ridges figuring as the callouses in the palm.</p> - -<p>At the foot of one of the callouses lies the -mining hamlet of Powder Can; once, in the day of -the early mineral discoveries, a plangent, strident -nucleus of excitement, but—in the phrase of its -oldest inhabitant—a “has-been” at the time of -David Vallory’s advent, with a few deep shafts -and winding drifts out of which day-laborers, unenthusiastic -successors of the early discoverers and -plungers, winched or wheeled a few monthly car-loads -of low-grade ore.</p> - -<p>In some measure the Nevada Short Line’s track-changing -activities had brought a return of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span> -plangencies. Scattered construction camps with -their armies of workmen dotted the basin above -and below the mining town, and once more saloons -and dance-halls and gambling places sprang up -and did a thriving business on real pay-roll money. -Eben Grillage’s attitude toward these absorbents -of the money he paid out for labor had ever been -that of the closed eye. To all appeals for the -betterment of conditions in the humanitarian field -he had a stereotyped reply: “The Grillage Engineering -Company is strictly an industrial proposition. -It does not undertake to say how its employees -shall spend their time or their money when -they are off duty.”</p> - -<p>On the summit of a ridge diagonally opposite -Powder Can the prospective millionaires of the -mining-camp had, in the day of magnificent expectations, -laid out a suburb for the future city, and -in token of their faith in the future had built a -log-house hotel with appropriate cottages. For -some years after the collapse of the mining boom -the hotel had remained closed; but with the nearer -approach of the railroad it was reopened, with a -few families from Brewster as the groundwork -of the guest structure, and some small sprinkling -of tourists to come and go during the season.</p> - -<p>For a month or more after his arrival in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span> -Hophra basin, David Vallory saw little of Powder -Can the town, and still less of the log-built inn on -the top of the adjacent ridge. New to every phase -of the track-changing project, he had scant time -even for eating and sleeping. At a dozen different -points on the new location the work was driving -at top speed; here and there bridges in process -of construction over the swift mountain stream; -numerous hill cuttings where great steam-shovels -clashed their gears and chains from shift to shift -throughout the twenty-four-hour days; prodigious -fills growing foot by foot with the dumped spoil -from the cuttings; and, last but by no means least, -the projected tunnel under Powder Pass which was -inching its way from both sides of the mountain in -gigantic worm-gnawings through the granite.</p> - -<p>During this strenuous preliminary period in -which he was striving to gather the multiplicity of -working threads into his hands, David lived in -the bunk trains and mess tents, getting in touch -with the various units of the laboring armies, and -absorbing the details as a thirsty dog laps water. -To his great satisfaction he found his staff largely -composed of young men eager to make a record; -eager, also, to pledge fealty to a chief who was -himself young enough to be still in the process of -winning his spurs. Plegg, the first assistant, was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span> -the single exception to the youth of the staff. He -was a man of middle age, and at their first meeting -David was struck with a vague sense of familiarity; -an elusive impression that he had somewhere -in the memory files a picture of the senior -assistant’s weathered face, with its clipped beard, -shrewd eyes and thin-lipped mouth about which a -half-cynical smile played so often and so easily as -to become almost an added feature.</p> - -<p>“Have we ever met before, Mr. Plegg?” he -had asked, at that first meeting; and the mildly -sardonic smile had immediately fallen into broader -lines.</p> - -<p>“Once, Mr. Vallory; on a fine June morning -nearly a year ago. It was in a Pullman sleeper, -back in God’s country; and, if I recall it correctly, -I told you you would go far if you were not too -good. You are fulfilling my little prophecy very -handsomely; and incidentally we are both proving -the truth of that old bromide about the extreme -narrowness of the world we live in. I’m glad to -have you for my chief.”</p> - -<p>It was Silas Plegg who did the most toward -helping the new chief in the absorbing of the details, -and David Vallory early acquired a great -and growing respect for the technical gifts of his -first assistant. The organization of the engineering<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span> -staff, and of the rank and file, was fairly geniusful, -the hand of a master being evident in every -disposition of the huge working army. David -weighed and measured, studied and observed; and -at the end of the preliminary month was ready to -give credit where credit was due.</p> - -<p>“Plegg, you are too good an engineer to be anybody’s -assistant,” he said, one evening after they -had finished a round of the night-shift activities -and had returned to the cramped quarters of the -small bunk car which they shared together. “Why -didn’t Mr. Grillage give you this job after Lushing -quit?”</p> - -<p>Plegg’s smile was grim.</p> - -<p>“If I were really as cynical as you think I am, -I might hint that possibly Mr. Grillage had a -young man in his eye whom he wished to give a -shove up the ladder. But I’ll stand it upon another -leg. Mr. Eben Grillage is an excellent -judge of men; and he knows me of old.”</p> - -<p>David shook his head.</p> - -<p>“That ought to be your very best recommendation. -What have you ever done to make him pass -you up in the promotion scheme?”</p> - -<p>“It was something that my ancestors did—if -you believe in heredity. They gave me the qualities -of a good follower and neglected to include<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span> -the saving moiety of leadership—that’s all. But -speaking of Mr. Grillage; did you know he is on -his way out here?”</p> - -<p>David had not known it and he said so. “How -did you hear?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Such news always travels ahead of a man of -Mr. Grillage’s importance in the scheme of things. -I heard it from one of the clerks at the Alta Vista -Inn. The big boss has wired ahead for a double -suite.”</p> - -<p>The double suite could mean only one thing, and -David’s pulses quickened after the most approved -fashion of pulses in such case made and provided.</p> - -<p>“He is bringing Miss Virginia with him?” he -queried.</p> - -<p>“Most likely. She chums with her father a -good bit—when she isn’t too busy otherwise. Ever -meet her?”</p> - -<p>David Vallory admitted the fact affirmative but -did not dilate upon it.</p> - -<p>“She is a pretty good little engineer, herself,” -Plegg went on. “She was out here last fall, and -it was whispered around at the Inn that Lushing -had the colossal nerve to make love to her.”</p> - -<p>“But that wasn’t the reason why he was -dropped?” said David, willing to learn something -more of the rise and fall of his predecessor.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span>“Nobody knows; but it may have had some -bearing. Mr. Grillage never had much use for -Lushing as a man, but he was—and is—a cracking -good organizer; a man who could squeeze a profit -out of a job on a bid that had driven every other -contractor out of the field. It was a fairly open -secret around here last fall that Miss Virginia -turned him down hard; and after that he began -to sell us out to the railroad company. Basing -the notion upon the Inn gossip about him and Miss -Virginia, our fellows were not slow to charge his -treason to pure vindictiveness.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory was wiser now than he had been -when he began as a working assistant on the Coulee -du Sac bridge.</p> - -<p>“What did he have to sell, Plegg?” he asked.</p> - -<p>Plegg closed one eye and his habitual smile -showed his strong, even teeth.</p> - -<p>“Little tricks of the trade,” he answered -obliquely. “You are the chief on the job now, -and if you don’t know what they are, you can say -that you don’t, and swear to it.”</p> - -<p>“You mean that we are not giving the railroad -company a square deal?”</p> - -<p>Again Plegg’s reply took the diagonal instead -of the direct line.</p> - -<p>“We are giving them all they are paying us for.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span> -Of course, they are not satisfied; no party of the -first part in a contracting deal ever is. And now -that Lushing has gone over to their side of the -fence, we’ve had trouble on top of trouble. If -you’ll take a word of advice from an older man -and a subordinate, you’ll stay out of it. In fact, -I think that is what Mr. Grillage expects you -to do.”</p> - -<p>At the moment, David did not attach any special -importance to this remark of Plegg’s about Mr. -Grillage’s attitude. But if he could have turned -the leaves of the book of days backward to the -night of his stay at the lakeside mansion of the -lavishnesses, the explanation would have synchronized -itself quite accurately with his retreat to his -room in The Maples and the departure of the last -of the bridge-playing dinner guests.</p> - -<p>At the door-closing upon the final couple, Miss -Virginia had sought her father in his den. By -this time the private secretary had been dismissed -and the king of the contractors was alone.</p> - -<p>“Hello, Vinnie, girl!” he rumbled. “Come to -tell the old daddy good-night?”</p> - -<p>“Partly,” was the crisp rejoinder. “But mostly -it’s about David. You have decided to send him -to the Timanyoni, in spite of my little protest?”</p> - -<p>Eben Grillage’s laugh resembled nothing so<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span> -much as the rasping of circular saws, but he meant -it to be good-natured. He could hold no other -attitude toward the daughter whom David, in his -talk with his father, had characterized as the apple -of his eye.</p> - -<p>“You women are too much for me, Vinnie. -You like David, and you want to see him get -ahead. But when I hunt out a good place for him, -you suddenly take a notion that you don’t want -him to have it. What’s the particular reason?”</p> - -<p>It was at this point that the young woman had -taken a chair at the opposite side of the broad -working table where she sat facing her father.</p> - -<p>“If I thought I could make you understand,” -she said, half musingly. And then: “I do like -David and I respect him. It seems such a needless -pity to spoil him, don’t you think?”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean by spoiling him?”</p> - -<p>“You know perfectly well what I mean. He -has his own ideas of uprightness and common honesty—or -he did have them before he went to work -for the company—and they are the right ideas. -How long is he going to be able to keep them if -you put him in charge of the work in Powder Gap -and make him responsible for all the crooked -things that are being done?”</p> - -<p>“That’s a pretty hard word to fling at your old<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span> -daddy, Vinnie. Has it reached the point where -you can call your father’s business crooked? If -I had known that the colleges were going to put -that kind of a fad into your head, they wouldn’t -have got any of my money—not in a thousand -years.”</p> - -<p>She shook the head in question despairingly.</p> - -<p>“How often must I say that it wasn’t the colleges. -It is in the air. A new era is dawning, if -we only had eyes to see and ears to hear. As a -people we had forgotten that there was such a -thing as an American conscience. Some of us are -remembering now.”</p> - -<p>“Some few impractical college professors and -fanatics are making mountains out of molehills!” -was the grumbling retort. “You mustn’t be foolish, -Vinnie, girl. Competition is the life of trade, -and competition means a fight. If we don’t do -the other fellow—within reasonable business -limits, of course—he’ll do us, and we’ll all go to -the poor-farm.”</p> - -<p>“We have been over all that before, many -times,” said the young woman, with a touch of -weariness in her tone. “I don’t ever hope to make -you see it as I do—as I can’t help seeing it—but -I shouldn’t be your daughter and a Grillage if I -refused to make a fight for David.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span>For some little time the grizzled giant in the -wide-armed chair made no reply. He had picked -up a paper-knife and was absently passing it -through his thick, square-ended fingers in the manner -of one testing the keenness of an edged tool. -Finally he said: “Is David the man, Vinnie?”</p> - -<p>She did not affect to misunderstand him.</p> - -<p>“There isn’t any ‘the man’ yet. I like the -grown-up David, partly because he has kept the -promise of the little-boy David, and partly because -he is so different from the others. He needs an -alert, wide-awake sister to look after him much -more than he does a wife. Besides, he’s already -in love with—some girl.”</p> - -<p>The father’s chuckle was good-naturedly derisive.</p> - -<p>“That’s sheer girl-talk—the sisterly business, -and the other—and it isn’t like you to try to throw -dust, Vinnie. We’ll clear the air in that quarter, -once for all. I haven’t any objections. David’s -a good boy; a good son of a mighty good father. -If he inherits some of Adam’s finicky notions, I -suppose that can’t be helped. He’s as poor as -Job’s turkey, but I can make him a rich man for -you if you don’t insist on chucking too many stones -in front of the wheels. You can’t marry a poor<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span> -man, you know; you haven’t been brought up -right.”</p> - -<p>It was just here that the daughter of profitable -contracts showed her first touch of warmth.</p> - -<p>“You have some other reason for sending -David to the work in Powder Gap,” she said -accusingly. “You know you have always made it -your boast that you never mix business and sentiment.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe this was one time when business and -sentiment happened to trot in double harness”—with -a grim smile. “If you’re figuring on being -a contracting engineer’s wife some time, you’ll -have to throw away some of your highbrow college -notions and get down to the practical things. -One way and another, we’ve been getting in Dutch -with the railroad people out yonder on the Short -Line. You know that, don’t you?”</p> - -<p>“I know there has been quarreling almost from -the beginning.”</p> - -<p>“Well, Ford, the president of the P. S-W. system, -contends that we have a set of crooks in -charge out there—this in spite of the fact that -some understrapper of his on the ground has hired -Lushing, the biggest of the crooks. Ford knows -David’s family, and the straight-backed honest old -stock there is in the Vallorys. I’m killing two<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span> -birds with one cartridge. With Adam Vallory’s -boy in charge for us at Powder Gap, Ford may -rest easier, and maybe he’ll make it a little easier -for us. And, by giving David his boost, I’m fixing -it so you won’t have to marry a poor man.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not talking about marrying; I’m talking -about the soul of a man,” was the quick retort. “It -is in your hands to keep David Vallory true to his -ideals, or to make him like other men who have -one conscience for their personal relations and another -for business. David is more loyal to you -than your own son would be, if you had one; after -what you did for his father last summer he would -go through fire and water for you. It isn’t right -or just for you to use so fine a thing as his gratitude -and make it the means of his undoing!”</p> - -<p>Again the big man in the opposite chair fell -silent. When he spoke again it was to say:</p> - -<p>“You’re all wrong, Vinnie, girl; wrong and a -little bit wrought up. You are carried away by -your own impossible notions of the golden-rule in -business, and all that—things that you know about -only by hearsay. You won’t take it amiss if the -old daddy has his notions, too, will you? Just -the same, we’re chums, little girl, and we won’t -fight about a little thing like that. I’ll see to it -that David doesn’t have to stick his fingers into<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span> -the tar-barrel, if that’s what you want. Now run -along to bed.”</p> - -<p>The upshot of this heart-to-heart talk between -the father and daughter had been a letter to Silas -Plegg, which followed David Vallory so promptly -in his westward flight as to be in the first assistant’s -hands when he made his introductory round over -the big job with the new chief. It was a letter to -be read, remembered, and burned; but if David -Vallory could have seen it, it would have explained -Plegg’s attitude, and many other things which -grew more and more puzzling as time went on.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">X<br /> - - -The Miry Clay</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">HAVING himself so recently made the journey -from Chicago to the Timanyoni, David -Vallory knew that he could count upon at least -two clear days in which to gather up the loose ends -and otherwise to prepare his huge working machine -for a critical inspection by the president of -the company. To that end he called a conference -of the members of his staff and applied the spur. -The big boss was coming, and it was up to them -to show him the machine in perfect working order. -If there were any loose ends, now was the time to -tie them in.</p> - -<p>“There’s only one thing that I’d like to see -changed,” said Crawford, the grading expert who -had charge of the line building on the lower end -of the cut-off; “that is this crazy practice of paying -off every two weeks instead of once a month. I -count on at least a ten per cent reduction in my -gangs for two or three days after every second -Saturday—which is about the length of time it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span> -takes the high-rollers to get rid of their money in -the Powder Can dives.”</p> - -<p>“Leaks of that kind are precisely what we are -trying to find and stop,” the new chief broke in. -“Any suggestions?”</p> - -<p>There were several made by different members -of the staff, but they were all variations upon the -same theme, namely, some method by which the -too-frequent pay-days might be abolished.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid the twice-a-month basis will have to -stand,” was David Vallory’s decision. “I talked -that matter out with Mr. Grillage before I left -Chicago. He is opposed to the fortnightly pay-day, -but he has been forced to establish it on all -of his contracts because other companies have -adopted it, and if we don’t keep step we lose our -men.”</p> - -<p>“Zat Powder Can—she is one blot on zee face -of zee eart’!” spat out Regnier, the fiery little -French-Canadian engineer who was handling the -gangs in the rock cuttings.</p> - -<p>David Vallory nodded. “I’m new to this country,” -he admitted. “Are there no laws by which -these man-trappers can be put out of business?”</p> - -<p>It was Plegg who made answer to this.</p> - -<p>“The sheriff’s writs don’t run this far from the -nearest court-house. What is everybody’s business<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span> -is nobody’s business. Besides, the man-traps -and the construction camps have gone hand-in-hand -ever since the beginning of time.”</p> - -<p>“There is no reason why they should continue -to do so to the end of time,” David cut in. “If -the Powder Can lawlessness is holding us back, we -must clean it up.”</p> - -<p>Plegg shook his head. “That’s easier said than -done. The town is on its own, and it gets its -revenue chiefly from our pay-rolls. The mines, -with the single exception of the Murtrie, don’t -amount to anything.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe the railroad people would help us out,” -suggested Altman, the smooth-faced, young-looking -mining engineer who was directing the granite -boring in the east-end tunnel heading. “Somebody -told me once that nearly all of the town is -built on land leased from the railroad company.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll look into this Powder Can business, myself,” -said David, as the conference broke up. -“The thing that’s biting us just now is the need -to show Mr. Grillage a clean slate when he comes. -He knows good work when he sees it, and I don’t -want to have to begin making excuses the minute -he lights down in Powder Gap. Go to it and key -things up to concert pitch.”</p> - -<p>With the great machine grinding merrily under<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span> -this new impetus, David Vallory did look cursorily -into the Powder Can situation, stealing time from -the strenuous activities to make inquiries as to -what might be done. Up to this time, when the -doing of something began to urge itself baldly as -an industrial necessity, he had been postponing -action in this particular field, excusing himself -upon what seemed to be the perfectly justifiable -plea that the mining-camp man-traps and their -curbing or abolition were matters outside of the -line of his duties; a view which he knew to be in -strict accordance with that of the president of his -company. It was not that he meant to adopt the -policy of the blind eye in principle. His promise -to Virginia Grillage forbade that. But the excuses -had opened the door to postponement.</p> - -<p>Such were the surface indications of the vein -of reluctance; but deeper down there was another -reason for the postponement. Not at any time -since his arrival had David forgotten that Judith -Fallon was most probably still living in Powder -Can. If he should chance to meet her—which -was not at all unlikely—the entire question of his -responsibilities—a question which the lapse of -time, and the growing hope that he might one day -win the love of Virginia Grillage, had pushed into -the background—would be reopened.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span>As a result of his inquiries he soon found that -there would be little use in making an appeal to -the law. As Plegg had pointed out, the Powder -Gap region was far enough distant from civilization -to be a law unto itself. But there was the -hope that he might be able to make such representations -to the railroad people, who were the -lessors of the land upon which the town was built, -as might induce them to intervene on the side of -law and order. Being thus brought face to face -with the thorny duty, he enlisted Plegg; and after -the mess-tent supper they crossed the basin together -to make such a survey of the conditions as -would enable them to present the demoralizing -facts in their reality to the railroad company.</p> - -<p>With one of the fortnightly pay-days less than -thirty-six hours in the past there was ample evidence -of the malignance of the social and industrial -ulcer. The wide-open resorts were packed -with throngs of the Grillage workmen, and the -harvesting of the hard-earned dollars was in full -swing.</p> - -<p>“We’ll see it all while we’re about it,” said -David; and with Plegg at his elbow he pushed his -way through one of the crowded bar-rooms to a -den at the rear where a faro-game was running, -with the circle of sitters backed by eager gamblers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span> -who reached over the shoulders of the chair circle -to place their bets. Outside in the bar there was -noise enough, but here the strained silence was -broken only by the clicking of the counters, the -heavy breathing of the men, and the silken whisper -of the cards as the dealer ran them from his box. -David let his gaze sweep the table circle and come -to rest upon the forbidding features of the man -who was running the cards; a swarthy, heavy-faced -giant with Indian-like hair, drooping mustaches -that only half veiled a mouth of utter ruthlessness, -and eyes that were at the moment as dead -as the pallor showing beneath the Mexican-darkness -of his skin.</p> - -<p>“‘Black Jack’ Dargin,” Plegg whispered in -Vallory’s ear. “He owns and runs this place, and -does his own dealing, but he has another sort of -dive a little farther up the street.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory’s jaw was set when they had -worked their way out to the open air.</p> - -<p>“It isn’t even a square game!” he gritted. -“What I don’t know about faro would fill a book, -but any sober man with eyes in his head could see -that that scoundrel was running a stacked deck! -Who is this Dargin?”</p> - -<p>“You’ve seen,” said Plegg shortly. “In a way, -he’s the boss of this camp; has a reputation as a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span> -‘killer’ and he has traded on it until he has everybody -‘buffaloed.’ He is the only faro dealer I’ve -ever seen who would consent to run a game without -a ‘lookout.’ He makes a brag of it; says all -he needs is a boy to sell the chips. The woman is -the only human being in this camp who has ever -made him take a stand-off.”</p> - -<p>“The woman?” said David.</p> - -<p>“Yes; I keep forgetting that you’re new. She -is another example of Dargin’s cave-man methods. -When the work began here in the Gap last September, -Dargin was about the first man on the -ground for the shekel harvest. He opened this -place and a dance-hall, killed a man or two to get -himself properly dreaded, and began to rake in -the easy money. About that time the woman -dropped in.”</p> - -<p>“God pity her, whoever she is,” was David’s -comment.</p> - -<p>“It was a curious case,” Plegg went on, as they -walked together up a street blatant with the roistering -crowds. “Shortly after the dissipations -had caught their stride a young plunger from -somewhere back east turned up here and took -rooms in the Hophra House. As nearly as I could -learn at the time, the young ass was rich—or at -least a rich man’s son—and he had been stung on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span> -a Powder Can mining scheme. He came here to -see what he’d been let in for, and he didn’t have -any better sense than to bring his wife along—to -such a wolf-den as this!”</p> - -<p>“Go on,” said David, with some dim premonition -warning him that, instead, he should have told -Plegg to stop.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know all the ins and outs of it; or just -how much or how little the woman was to blame. -But the upshot of the matter was that one day, -right in the face and eyes of the whole camp, as -you might say, Black Jack backed this young fool -up against a wall, stuck a gun into his face, and -gave him a quick choice between passing out there -and then, or buying his life and a chance to vanish -by giving up all claims to his wife.”</p> - -<p>“Good heavens!” the listener ejaculated. -“Cave-man is right!”</p> - -<p>“One of the laws of the jungle that Kipling -didn’t mention,” was the first assistant’s terse summing-up. -“Dargin saw something that he wanted, -and that was his way of reaching out and taking it. -But now comes the queer part of it. The young -plunger disappeared between two days, and everybody -looked to see the woman take up with Dargin. -But that isn’t what happened. She stayed -on at the Hophra House for a few days and then<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span> -sent for her father, a poor devil of a machinist -who seemed to be trying to drink himself to death. -Either she or Dargin got him a job at the Murtrie -mine, and the two of them set up housekeeping in -one of the mine shacks.”</p> - -<p>“Dargin and the woman, you mean?”</p> - -<p>“No! the woman and her father. And that’s -the way it has been ever since. Making all due -allowances for the time and place, Dargin’s relations -with the woman are the only half-way decent -ones he has. The old man was drunk half the -time, so Dargin gave the girl a job playing the -piano in his dance-hall—by way of giving her a -chance to earn an honest living, you’d say. That -seems to be as far as it has gone, except that one -day last fall a tipsy ‘hard-rock’ man tried to take -liberties with the girl at the piano, and when she -fought him, struck her. He skipped out, across -the range, but Black Jack caught up with him and -shot him.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory’s premonition of coming tragedy -had been fulfilled long before Plegg reached this -point in his story, but if there had been any doubt -as to the woman’s identity the incident of the -“hard-rock” man would have dispelled it. Oddly -enough, the filling-out of Judith Fallon’s story did -not seem to lessen his own feeling of moral obligation;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span> -on the contrary, it increased it. More -than ever, as it appeared, it was needful that -Judith should be taken quickly out of the false -position into which her relations, innocent or -otherwise, with the man-killer had placed her.</p> - -<p>By this time their progress up the single street -of the town had brought them to another of the -resorts; a dance-hall, this, also with its bar-room -annex. There was little room on the dancing-floor -for spectators, and they did not try to enter. But -enough could be seen from the bar to determine -the character of the place.</p> - -<p>“This is Dargin’s other place,” said Plegg. -“It’s the least tough of any of the Powder Can -joints, and the money is made over the bar. If a -man gets too well ‘lit up’ he is thrown out. Most -of the women you see in there are the miners’ -wives and daughters. It hurts us chiefly because -it attracts men who would neither gamble nor -drink if they didn’t start in here on a sort of social -plane.”</p> - -<p>David nodded and was turning away when a -hand was laid on his arm and he wheeled quickly.</p> - -<p>“Judith!” he gasped. Then, as Plegg stood -aside and pretended not to see or hear; “My -God!”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she said, “’tis ‘Judith’ now, and never<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span> -‘Glory’ any more. What brings you here, -Davie?”</p> - -<p>“You—partly,” he blurted out. “Put something -on and come outside. I want to talk to -you.”</p> - -<p>“No,” she refused bluntly; and then, to temper -the bluntness: “’Tis no good it can do now, Davie, -and ’twould do you harm. There be tongues to -wag, even in Powder Can, and you’re the chief on -the big job.”</p> - -<p>“But I must see you and talk with you!” he insisted.</p> - -<p>“’Twill do no good,” she repeated. “I’ve made -my bed, Davie, and I’ve got to lie on it.”</p> - -<p>The bar-room throng was jostling them as they -stood, and David saw the bartender marking them -through half-closed eyes. He fancied there was -crafty suspicion in the look, but at the moment he -was thinking chiefly of the obligation that he must -not shirk.</p> - -<p>“I shall come again, in daytime,” he said. -“You are living on the Murtrie claim?”</p> - -<p>“You must not!” she forbade quickly. -“’Twould be—it might be as much as your life’s -worth! Nor must you stay here talking to me. -Go now, or the Plegg man will be asking questions -that you can’t answer!” And with that she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span> -slipped aside and lost herself in the throng on the -dancing-floor.</p> - -<p>David Vallory was gravely silent on the remainder -of the round of investigation; and Plegg, -knowing that something sobering had happened at -Dargin’s dance-hall, respected his chief’s mood. -But on the way back to the construction camp the -silence was broken by David himself.</p> - -<p>“You saw the woman I was talking to in that -place across from the Murtrie ore yard?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I saw her.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know who she is?”</p> - -<p>Plegg nodded. “She is the one I was talking -about.”</p> - -<p>“I know it. And the hound who brought her -here? I believe you didn’t mention his name.”</p> - -<p>“It was Hudson—no, that isn’t quite it—Judson; -Thomas Judson.”</p> - -<p>To the astonishment of the reticent, self-contained -first assistant, David Vallory lifted his -clenched hands to the stars and swore savagely. -But as Plegg had respected his chief’s former -silence, so now he respected the wrathful outburst. -Farther along, when they were crossing the tracks -in the material yard, David offered niggard explanation.</p> - -<p>“I knew the woman, back home, Plegg; I grew<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span> -up with her. If ever a man needed killing, Tom -Judson is that man.”</p> - -<p>“They were not married?” said Plegg.</p> - -<p>“I have no reason to believe that they were. -But that doesn’t excuse Judson.”</p> - -<p>“Of course not; it makes it worse—if he was -the original sinner.”</p> - -<p>“He was,” said David; “but he was not the only -one.” And with that he shut his mouth like a -trap and did not open it again until they reached -the steps of their bunk car. Then he said shortly: -“I am going up to Brady’s Cut. You needn’t -leave the lamp burning for me when you turn in; -I don’t know when I’ll get back.”</p> - -<p>In naming the place to which he was going, -David gave the first assistant only the outward -husk of the kernel of truth. As he tramped his -stumbling course over the unevenly spaced cross-ties -of the construction track in the general direction -of Brady’s, he was thinking little enough of -the work at the cutting or of anything connected -with the affairs of the Grillage Engineering Company. -Taking their revenge for a long period of -banishment into a limbo of things conveniently -pushed aside, the thoughts that had once harassed -him into something like a congestive chill of moral -remorse assailed him afresh.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span>The woman he had unconsciously led up to the -brink of the chasm had not only gone over; she -had sunk to a depth perilously near the bottom. -There could be no doubt of what the end would -be. For some inscrutable reason of his own, -Dargin, “the killer,” was according her such a -measure of respect as his cave-man attributes were -capable of entertaining for anything in the shape -of a woman. But that was the most that could be -said. Poor Gloriana! What a bitter price she -was paying! And with what portion of that price -must he, David Vallory, in justice charge himself?</p> - -<p>Reaching the approach to Brady’s Cut, a huge -gash torn through the side of one of the rounded -basin hills, David turned to his left and climbed -steadily until he attained the sparse growth of -trees crowning the hill at the edge of the great -cutting. Below him the ordered pandemonium of -industry was in full stride. Under the light of -masthead arcs, two mammoth steam-shovels rattled -and clanked, the sharp staccato of their exhaust -pipes echoing from the surrounding heights -like the cachinnations of some invisible and mocking -giant of the immensities. Between the shovels -rooting like prehistoric monsters into the banks -on either hand, a grunting locomotive pushed its -train of dump-cars for the spoil, moving them so<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span> -accurately that the circling shovel buckets to right -and left never failed of an empty hopper into -which to drop the three-ton torrent of mingled -clay and broken stone.</p> - -<p>David Vallory cast himself down at the edge of -the cutting with his back to one of the little trees. -The chattering clamor of the industries floated up -to him on a thin nimbus of coal smoke; but when -the senses are turned inward the near and the -actual lose their appeal. Once more the fair -structure of David’s imaginings was preparing to -topple—a structure that he had thought Judith’s -disappearance from Middleboro, leaving no trace, -gave him leave to rear. But now their paths had -crossed again; she was here, almost within rifle-shot -of the tree against which he was leaning. And -in a day or two Virginia Grillage would come. -Was it mere chance, or an avenging fate, that was -about to place him at the converging point of a -great happiness and an equally great reckoning -with a past that could never be recalled?</p> - -<p>It was far past midnight when he got up and -shook himself as one awaking from a troubled -dream. Down on the construction track he saw -a train of flat-cars bringing the two-o’clock shifts -to relieve the gangs which had gone on in the early -evening. Above the mechanical clamor in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span> -cutting at his feet he could hear the upcoming men -singing raucously.</p> - -<p>“Bellow it out—it’s little enough you have to -trouble you!” he grated, apostrophizing the singing -workmen. Then he turned his steps toward -the distant material yard, avoiding the approaching -train, and closing sullen ears to the noisy -human atoms who had no troubles.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XI<br /> - - -Bridge Number Two</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">SINCE he was now able to argue from a personal -knowledge of the Powder Can facts, -David Vallory was ready to go to the railroad -officials with a plea for intervention and relief. -But with his own president’s visit impending he -was unwilling to absent himself for the needful -trip to the railroad headquarters in Brewster. In -this small dilemma a bit of gossip trickling in over -the construction line wire from Agorda, the point -at which the new grade diverged from the old, -offered an alternative. There was a right-of-way -claim to be adjusted at Agorda, and the gossiping -wire said that the Short Line’s legal representative -had come up from Brewster on the morning -train to settle with the claimants.</p> - -<p>Seizing the opportunity, David Vallory boarded -an empty material train backing out of the Powder -Gap yards and in due time was set down at the -desolate little junction station at the foot of -Mount Latigo. There was a private car standing -on one of the side-tracks, and inquiry at the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span> -telegraph office developed the fact that the right-of-way -claimants had already had their day in -court, and Mr. Jolly was in his car, waiting for -the afternoon train to come along and tow him -back to Brewster.</p> - -<p>Walking down the tracks to the occupied siding, -David presented himself at the door of the -private car and was welcomed effusively by a -round-bodied little gentleman with a face like a -full moon.</p> - -<p>“Vallory, hah!—do I get the name right?—always -want to get a man’s name right—demned -awkward to find that you’ve been calling Smith -Jones, when his name is Smith,” bubbled the welcomer. -“Sit down—sit down, Mr. Vallory, and -be at home. Of the Grillage Engineering Company, -you say? Big job you’ve got on your -hands here—tre-mendous job! How’s it coming -along?”</p> - -<p>David Vallory braced himself as one stepping -out of shelter into a blustering March wind. -Gusty talkers had always been his pet aversion, -and he seemed to have encountered the original -of the type. By taking persevering advantage of -the lulls between the gusts he contrived to explain -his errand. The Powder Can situation was -thus and so. The Grillage company had no jurisdiction,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span> -and he understood that the Short Line -company, in its capacity as owner of the town site, -might possibly be able to intervene on the side of -law and order. How about it?</p> - -<p>“Why, hah! my dear Mr. Vallory! what do -you take us for?” cackled the gusty one. “We’re -not an eleemosynary institution, any more than -you are! Why, hah! bless your heart, if we -should go into the moral-issue business in these -mountains we’d last as a railroad corporation just -about as long as it would take an indignant State -legislature to repeal our charter!”</p> - -<p>“I must have stated the case clumsily, Mr. -Jolly; I’m not asking you to do more than any -respectable landlord ought to be willing to do,” -David persisted firmly. “Your property in Powder -Can is being put to uses which were never -contemplated when the leases were signed. A -public nuisance harmful to your neighbors has -developed, and you ought to be willing to help -abate it.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing to be done, I assure you, my dear -young man. Those Powder Can leases are mere -matters of form, to enable us to hold what land -we may need for railroad purposes after the new -line is opened. I’m not sure, but I think the consideration -was the usual one dollar, or something<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span> -of that sort. We can’t police Powder Can for -you.”</p> - -<p>“All right; we’ll drop the moral argument and -take up another,” said David, stubbornly. “The -railroad company has set a time limit on the completion -of this new line. The Powder Can nuisance -is delaying the work.”</p> - -<p>“That, hah! is up to your people, Mr. Vallory. -The contract provides for forfeitures if you don’t -come within the time limit, and a bonus if you -better it. You can’t stand it on that leg.”</p> - -<p>It was just here that David lost his temper.</p> - -<p>“I’m not making any charges, Mr. Jolly, but -an unprejudiced outsider might take the view that -the railroad company, or some of its officials, are -profiting by the continued existence of a wide-open -town where our men are robbed.”</p> - -<p>Instantly the moon-like face of the railroad attorney -became a blank.</p> - -<p>“No; I shouldn’t make any such charge as that, -if I were you,” he barked. And then, abruptly: -“Have you taken this matter up with your own -president? Or are you going it alone?”</p> - -<p>“There is no reason why I should take it up -with Mr. Grillage. He holds me responsible for -the work, and for the conditions under which we -are working.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span>“That’s all very well,” snapped the lawyer. -“But if you are ever tempted to make that charge -you speak of, Mr. Vallory, you’d better think -twice. The natural counter-charge would be that -your own officials have a much better chance for -a Powder Can rake-off than ours have. Like -yourself, I’m making no accusations; but I’ll say -this: when you see Mr. Eben Grillage next, you -ask him plainly what he wants you to do about -this Powder Can business. If he tells you to -clean it up, maybe our people can be induced to -help.” Then, as if some secret spring had been -touched, the full-moon face lightened up and the -gusty joviality slipped into place again: “But, hah! -that’s enough of these disagreeable topics. You’re -my guest, Mr. Vallory: you’ll stop and take a -noon bite with me, won’t you? I’ve, hah! got a -fairly good cook on the car.”</p> - -<p>Wishing nothing less than to be entertained -by a verbal March wind, David Vallory pleaded -a press of work, escaped, and was fortunate -enough to catch the loaded material train as -it was starting up the new line. He was soberly -depressed, not so much by the lawyer’s attitude, -which he had partially discounted before the interview, -as by the seed which had been planted -by Jolly’s retort to his own small outburst of temper.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span> -The thought that his employer and the Vallory -benefactor could be profiting, however indirectly, -by sharing with the Powder Can pirates -was grossly incredible—a thought to be cast down -and indignantly trodden upon. Yet it is the -fashion of planted seeds to germinate quite irrespective -of the wishes of the soil into which they -have been thrust. David Vallory could not help -recalling the brief reference made to Powder Can -as the contractor-king was threshing out the details -with him on the eve of his outsetting: “A -tough mining-camp, running wide-open; but that’s -no affair of yours,” was the curt phrase in which -Eben Grillage had dismissed it.</p> - -<p>It was on Crawford’s section of the new work -that David roused himself out of the depressive -reverie. The material train was rounding a long -curve on the approach to Bridge Number Two, -and the engineer checked its speed to slow for -the crossing of the little river on the temporary -trestle just beyond the bridge-building activities. -Dropping from the moving train a few hundred -yards from the bridge location, David was immediately -pounced upon by the square-shouldered -young athlete who was driving the work on Bridge -Number Two.</p> - -<p>“By George! Mr. Vallory—you’re like an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span> -angel sent from heaven!” was the athlete’s enthusiastic -welcome. “Bittner has just ’phoned -from down the line that Strayer, of the railroad -inspecting force, is on his way up here in a gas-car. -Will you flag him when he comes along and -hold him for a few minutes until I can get back -to the bridge?”</p> - -<p>David, thinking pointedly of his late encounter -with the railroad attorney, nodded abstractedly. -“Yes, I’ll stop Strayer, if you want me to. But -what’s the object—what are you trying to cover -up?”</p> - -<p>“N-nothing,” Crawford explained hurriedly. -“I just want to make sure that those concrete fellows -are carrying out instructions. Strayer’s got -an eye like a hawk, and if so much as a single -piece of reinforcing steel happens to be an inch -out of line, he’ll see it and report that we’re not -living up to the specifications.”</p> - -<p>“I see,” said David; “go to it,” and he sat -down on a projecting cross-tie end to wait for the -railroad inspector’s gas-velocipede to come in -sight.</p> - -<p>From the cross-tie waiting-place on the inner -side of the long curve the bridge under construction -was in plain view. It was a single short arch -spanning the stream; the false-work and wooden<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span> -forming were in place, and from the aërial spout -of the distributing tower a continuous trickle of -concrete was pouring into the box-like forms. -David Vallory’s half-absent gaze followed Crawford’s -retreating figure. When it reached the -bridge the distance-softened grind of the concrete -mixer and hoist stopped abruptly, and the absent-minded -onlooker a few hundred yards down the -line saw Crawford climb to the bridge-head and -wave his arms.</p> - -<p>The precise object of what followed was not -clearly apparent to a man thinking soberly of -something else. Other figures, silhouetted against -the sky-line, appeared, crawling out upon the -forms. When they erected themselves they -seemed to be tamping the concrete into place. -The young chiefs conclusion was the most obvious -one that offered. “Humph!” he muttered, -“he’s been letting his ‘mix’ go too dry, and he’s -ramming it so the water will come up. Strayer -would jump him for that, of course.”</p> - -<p>It was a measure of the distance that one -Matthew Grimsby had led David along the road -to “salt” loyalty that he made no mental note to -“jump” Crawford himself for the forbidden practice -of ramming dry concrete into bridge forms; -and when the motor-driven inspection car appeared<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span> -at the farther end of the curve he got up -to flag it. As it chanced, the big, bearded engineer -who was driving the car was no less ready -to stop than David was to have him stop. With -the brakes locked he sprang out and fired his -battery.</p> - -<p>“I was hoping I’d find you somewhere this side -of the Gap,” he rasped. “There’s no use talking, -Vallory, you fellows have got to hew closer to -the line or you’ll hear something drop. If you -think, because Lushing happens to be away, you -can put something across on us every day or two, -you’ve got another guess coming.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve met you before, Strayer,” said David, -with his slow smile. “I worked with a round -half-dozen of you all last summer and fall in Wisconsin. -What’s gone wrong now?”</p> - -<p>“That fill at Havercamp’s. The specifications -call for solid work on the fills. Your man is burying -unbroken chunks of clay in that embankment -as big as he can pick up with his steam-hog. The -first heavy snow that melts back of that fill will -make it look like a toboggan slide!”</p> - -<p>“We’ll look into the Havercamp fill,” said David -mildly. “Anything else?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; the cutting just below Havercamp’s, -where they’re getting the spoil for the fill. I asked<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span> -the foreman just now if he considered that the -lower side of the cutting was worked back to the -required angle. He said that he did, and it was; -but when I put my instrument on it, I found that -there is still a good six-foot slice to come off. It -won’t do, Vallory; you’ve got to quit this business -of cost-shaving at every twist and turn that offers.”</p> - -<p>“We are not in the contracting business for our -health,” was David Vallory’s good-natured retort; -“I admit it. When you find anything wrong, -we correct it, don’t we? And you’re here to find -the wrong things, aren’t you? If we should toe -the mark all the time, you’d be out of a job. I’ll -look after the cutting. What next?”</p> - -<p>“Next I’ll have a squint at this bridge of Crawford’s. -When you fellows take to pouring concrete, -you need to have a man standing over you -day and night. If you’re headed my way, get on -the car and I’ll give you a ride.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory accepted the invitation, climbing -into the second seat of the three-wheeled car. -At the approach to the temporary wooden trestle -over which the construction track ran, the car was -halted and they crossed to the new structure.</p> - -<p>The machinery was grinding again by this time -and David Vallory stood aside while the railroad -engineer went carefully over the job. The big,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span> -bearded inspector took nothing for granted. The -“mix” was examined, samples of the cement were -taken, a handful of the sand was put into a bottle -with water, shaken, and allowed to settle to determine -its purity. On the work itself nothing -escaped him; he even counted the steel reinforcing -bars whose ends stuck up out of the rising tide of -soft concrete, checking the number against the -figures in his field-notes.</p> - -<p>“Something radically wrong here,” he grinned, -when the final item had been checked. “It’s the -first time I haven’t found Jimmy Crawford trying -to put something over on me. What’s the -matter, Jimmy—got religion?”</p> - -<p>“Sure!” said Crawford, with a sly wink for his -chief. “Didn’t you know Mr. Vallory holds revival -meetings in his bunk car every little while? -You ought to come up some night and we’ll convert -you.”</p> - -<p>“I’m going up, right now,” Strayer announced; -and it was thus that David got a motor-car ride -all the way to the Gap, the railroad watch-dog -enlivening the journey with additional criticisms -as they went along.</p> - -<p>It was after they had reached the headquarters -camp, and David had invited the railroad man -into his office bunk car for an intermission smoke,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span> -that the bluff inspector dipped abruptly into the -personalities.</p> - -<p>“I like you, Vallory,” he said, “and I’ve been -wondering for a solid month how you ever came -to tie up with this Grillage outfit. Would you -mind telling me?”</p> - -<p>“Not in the least. Mr. Grillage and my father -are old friends; they were schoolmates.”</p> - -<p>“That stops me dead,” was Strayer’s rejoinder. -“I shan’t say any of the things I was going to -say.”</p> - -<p>“It needn’t stop you,” was David’s surrejoinder.</p> - -<p>“But it does. Under such conditions you have -personal relations with Father Eben; you can’t -help having them. And that reminds me, he is -in Brewster now, on his way up here. Did you -know he was coming?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; I heard of it through the hotel people.”</p> - -<p>“He’s got his daughter with him. Did you -know that?”</p> - -<p>“Not positively, no.”</p> - -<p>“Leaving her father entirely out of it, she’s a -mighty fine young woman,” said Strayer. “I met -her when she was here last September. She didn’t -seem to think that a railroad inspecting engineer -was merely a new kind of dog to be kicked off -the door-step.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span>“Neither do I,” David asserted. “You think -we are a bunch of crooks on our side, and we -know you want to get something for nothing on -yours. There needn’t be anything personal about -it.”</p> - -<p>The big man’s grin bared a marvelously fine -set of teeth.</p> - -<p>“You <i>are</i> crooks, Vallory; so crooked that it -would break a snake’s back to try to keep up -with you. If Eben Grillage wasn’t your father’s -friend, I’d say that he ought to have a middle -name beginning with the letter ‘S’ for——”</p> - -<p>“But he is my father’s friend—and mine,” interrupted -David, with a little of the emphasis -belligerent on the verb.</p> - -<p>“Sure! I’ll quit. And to make up for the -implied slam, I’ll give you a little pointer, Vallory. -This business of systematically dodging -specifications has about run its course, and it’s -going to get you in bad. Our people have been -taking it rather easy and contenting themselves -with checking you up in spots and making you -make good. Do you get me?”</p> - -<p>“I’m listening.”</p> - -<p>“All right. That was the way it ran along at -first. But now it’s beginning to be whispered -around in our headquarters that the Grillage company<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span> -is out for blood on this contract; that no -amount of inspection can keep you from skinning -us alive—which the same you are doing. That -isn’t a healthy state of affairs, and it ought to be -cured before the whisper spreads, let us say, to -the Executive Board in New York. Are you on?”</p> - -<p>“No,” David challenged stubbornly. Then he -fell back upon the seller’s time-worn argument: -“You are getting all you pay for, and more.”</p> - -<p>“Enough said,” laughed Strayer, getting up to -go. “No offense meant, and none taken, I hope. -But you say Mr. Grillage is your friend, and—well, -it’s just a word to the wise, that’s all. So -long, till I see you again.”</p> - -<p>Somewhat later in the day, returning from a -trip to Brady’s Cut, David paused on the sheltered -side of the office bunk car to light his pipe. -A window was open, and he heard voices within; -the voices, namely, of young Jimmy Crawford -and Silas Plegg. Crawford had come to camp -for a missing detail drawing of some part of -Bridge Number Two, and Plegg was getting it -for him out of the blueprint locker.</p> - -<p>“A close squeak,” Crawford was saying. “If -Bittner hadn’t been thoughtful enough to ’phone, -I’d have been caught red-handed. I lost my head -for a minute and ran down the track to flag<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span> -Strayer, meaning to choke the big stiff if I couldn’t -think of any other way of keeping him off. Just -then the material train came along and the boss -dropped off right at my feet. He was a Godsend, -and I used him, got him to stay and flag -Strayer while I ran back and got busy.”</p> - -<p>Then Plegg’s voice: “Did you tell Mr. Vallory -what you were going to do?”</p> - -<p>“Not hardly!” was Crawford’s laughing denial; -“not after the song and dance you gave us -fellows a while back, just after the boss came on -the job. I just told him that Strayer was coming, -and that I’d like to have him hindered until -I could make sure everything was ship-shape for -an inspection. He seemed to be thinking pretty -hard about something else, but he was good-natured -enough to sit down on a tie-end and wait -for Strayer.”</p> - -<p>David’s pipe was alight and he moved away. -What he had overheard merely confirmed his former -assumption that Crawford had been tamping -dry concrete to make it appear wet, and he thought -no more of it. But if his match had gone out -and he had been obliged to light another on the -windless side of the bunk car....</p> - -<p>Plegg seemed to be having trouble in the search -for the missing drawing, and Crawford rattled on.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span>“When I got back to the bridge I turned the -whole gang loose on the stage-setting. It was -some swift job, believe me, and I didn’t know -what minute Strayer’s car’d come chugging around -the curve. I’ve got so I keep a bunch of short -steels handy, and we stuck ’em up in the concrete -to look as if they grew there. Strayer counted -’em when he came, as he always does, and they -checked out right, of course. But say, Plegg, if -he’d touched one of the dummies it would have -tumbled over! The concrete had been running a -bit thin, and it was all we could do to make the -short pieces stand up long enough to be counted. -As it was, two or three of ’em fell down just as -Strayer and the boss were climbing to their places -in the inspection car. That’s why I say it was a -close squeak.”</p> - -<p>This, then, was what David missed by not -having to light a second match. Instead of a -practically harmless ramming of dry concrete, -Crawford had been covering up another item of -the cost-cutting. One of the commonest economies -in concrete construction is the scanting of -the steel which binds the mass together and adds -its strength to that of the cement. The contract -specifications called for a stated number of these -bars in Bridge Number Two. Following the Grillage<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span> -practice, certain of these bars had been left -out—to save their cost. Crawford had made his -dummy bars figure as permanences for Strayer, -and the trick was turned.</p> - -<p>But of all this David Vallory knew nothing; -and since his pipe was now drawing freely, he -mounted to the cab of one of the construction -locomotives to have himself conveyed to the tunnel -mouth on the eastern slope of the great mountain.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XII<br /> - - -Under the High Stars</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">IT was in the evening of the day in which David -Vallory had been twice told that his president -was on the way to Powder Gap that the stub train -forming the connecting link between the main line -and the construction headquarters came in with a -private Pullman for a trailer. David was four -miles away, in the eastern heading of the big tunnel, -at the moment, but the service telephone line -quickly transmitted the news of the big boss’s arrival. -An hour farther along, after a hurried -supper in the mess-tent at Brady’s cut, David took -a short path across the basin and climbed the -forested ridge to the Alta Vista Inn.</p> - -<p>He had his reward for the haste, the primitive -meal, and the rapid climb when he came in sight -of the Inn and its rustic porches. The radiant -daughter of profit-gaining contracts was there in -visible presence; David singled her out instantly -among the people lounging on the westward-facing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span> -porch. She stood at the railing, leaning against -one of the rough tree-trunk porch pillars and gazing -out upon the sunset which was painting itself -in colorings known only to the high altitudes. -David drew near, treading softly. It was a -lover’s fancy that the glories of the sunset were -reflected in the starry eyes, in the ripe lips parted -a little as if in the rapture of the vision, and in -the warm tintings of neck and cheek.</p> - -<p>When he finally stood beside her she gave him -her hand without loosing her eye-hold upon the -crimson-shot glories.</p> - -<p>“Isn’t it perfectly exquisite!” she breathed, accepting -the fact of his presence quite as if their -parting in the lakeside mansion had been but the -day before.</p> - -<p>“The sunset? Naturally; they are built that -way out here. But you mustn’t expect me to rhapsodize -over the scenery when I can look at you.”</p> - -<p>“Please don’t be frivolous,” she chided. -“There are plenty of others to say the silly -things; and besides, it isn’t your—it isn’t in character. -Stand here and enjoy this with me while -it lasts, and then we’ll go somewhere and talk.”</p> - -<p>David acquiesced willingly enough, and after -the sunset had faded, and they had found chairs -in the corner farthest removed from the chattering<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span> -groups of summer people, he told her of his -few weeks of strenuous work, enlarging in boyish -enthusiasm upon the magnitude of the job and -the possibilities of man-sized growth it offered to -those who were driving it.</p> - -<p>“And you haven’t had any trouble?” she interrogated, -after the story was told.</p> - -<p>“Not what you would call trouble; no. Of -course, the railroad inspectors make life miserable -for us when they can, but that is all in the -day’s work. It amuses them and keeps them out -of mischief, and it doesn’t hurt us.”</p> - -<p>“Why should they make life miserable for -you?”</p> - -<p>“You ask me that?—and you the only daughter -of the king of the contractors?” he laughed. -“That is what they are hired for; to find fault, -and to get us to give them something for nothing -if they can.”</p> - -<p>At this point it pleased Miss Virginia to play -the part of the innocent and the uninformed.</p> - -<p>“How should I know anything about it?” she -queried. “Could you explain it so that a woman -could understand?”</p> - -<p>“I can explain it so that this one woman I’m -talking to can understand. Have you ever happened -to read a contract and specifications?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span>“What a question!”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t suppose you had. They are like the -Congressional Record—nobody reads them unless -it’s a necessity. But they are fearfully and wonderfully -constructed. One of the clauses in the -regulation form reads something like this: ‘The -engineer of the party of the first part’—that’s -the railroad company in the present instance—‘reserves -the right to pass upon all work and material, -and to reject either if found, in his judgment, -to be unsatisfactory.’ Mark the wording -and you’ll notice that it leaves an open door wide -enough to drive a locomotive through. And up -here we have a man against us who would like to -hitch a whole train of cars to the locomotive.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Lushing, you mean?”</p> - -<p>“The same.”</p> - -<p>“Have you met him yet?”</p> - -<p>“Not yet; he hasn’t been on the job in person -since I came. I understand he has gone East. -But he has left some pretty able fault-finders to -represent him, I can assure you. If there is anything -in the category of crime that they don’t accuse -us of committing, it is something they have -temporarily forgotten. But you mustn’t make me -talk shop all the time. I’m sure it bores you, only -you are too good-natured to say so.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span>“A man’s work, if it is at all worth while, -ought not to bore anybody. It is your life, isn’t -it?”</p> - -<p>“It was, up to just a little while ago.”</p> - -<p>“What happened a little while ago?”</p> - -<p>“You came.”</p> - -<p>“That is another of the sayings that doesn’t -fit,” she warned him.</p> - -<p>“All right; we’ll talk about something else. -How long can you stay?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know. Father is calling it his vacation, -and threatens to go trout-fishing in the mountains.”</p> - -<p>“That will be fine. If I didn’t have to watch -Lushing’s outfit so closely, I’d like to go with -him.”</p> - -<p>She looked up quickly. “Have you ever had -a real vacation, David?”</p> - -<p>“I suppose not; not in your sense of the word. -I was out on field work during the four college -summers. I’m saving up for my honeymoon.”</p> - -<p>“I thought you said that was only a dream; a -‘pipe-dream,’ you called it, didn’t you?”</p> - -<p>“I did; and it is. I was only joking. The -only thing I can talk seriously about is the big -job. And you are not interested especially in that—or -are you? Plegg said one day when we were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span> -speaking of you that you were a pretty good little -engineer. I’m quoting him literally. He meant -it as a compliment.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Plegg,” she said, with a touch of abstraction -which the mention of the first assistant’s name -seemed to evoke. “Do you like him?”</p> - -<p>“Immensely; though he always gives me the -feeling that there are nooks and corners in him -that he never allows anybody to explore. I met -him first a year ago. It was in the Pullman, when -I was going home from Florida. He had the -upper berth in my section, and we scraped an acquaintance -of a sort just as the train was pulling -into Middleboro, though neither of us learned the -other’s name. I remembered him chiefly on account -of his sardonic smile, and a queer thing he -said to me.”</p> - -<p>“Will the queer thing bear repeating?”</p> - -<p>“To you, yes. He made a running commentary -on my face—like one of those street-corner physiognomists, -you know; eyes, nose, jaw, and so on, -and said I’d probably go far in my profession if -I wasn’t too good.”</p> - -<p>“What an exceedingly odd thing for a stranger -to say to you!”</p> - -<p>“Wasn’t it? But he was so genial about it that -I couldn’t take offense.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span>“What did he mean by not being ‘too good’?” -she questioned gravely.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t know at the time, but I’ve found out -since. I grew up with a good many old-fashioned -notions, I guess, and I’m not sure that I haven’t -got some of them yet. One of them that I’ve -been trying to modify was the belief that a man -might set up his own standards and live by them.”</p> - -<p>“I have that same belief now,” asserted the -daughter of the luxuries. “Why are you trying -to modify it? Isn’t it reasonable?”</p> - -<p>“It is reasonable enough, and it is right and -proper that you should have it. It is your -woman’s privilege to believe the best of everything. -But the man has to take the world as he -finds it.” Thus far he was merely skirting judiciously -upon the safer edges of the generalizations. -But the next moment he found himself -yielding to the temptation which so easily besets -the average man—to confide in a woman. “I’ll -tell you, Virginia; I’ve done things in the past -year that I would never have dreamed of doing -in my callow days; things that would make my -father gasp if he knew about them.”</p> - -<p>“Wicked things?” she suggested.</p> - -<p>“There was a time when I should have called -them wicked, without a shadow of doubt. But<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span> -that was before I had come to realize that business—all -kinds of business—is a sort of war; a -fight in which, if you don’t ‘get’ the other fellow, -he’ll get you.”</p> - -<p>“You are all wrong—hideously wrong!” she -broke out in a sudden passion of vehemence. “I -don’t mean in the statement of fact—that is only -too true. But in your own attitude. It is the -first of the downward steps: if you take that step -deliberately, there is no reason why you should -stop at anything!”</p> - -<p>There was only soft starlight on the sheltered -porch, and David could smile in safety. The -little outburst of generous indignation carried him -swiftly back to the childhood days, reviving his -memory picture of a hot-hearted little girl whose -anger had always flamed fiercely at any spectacle -of wrong or oppression, and whose defending of -stray kittens and homeless dogs had more than -once made him fight in blind boyish rage—not for -the dogs and kittens, but for her.</p> - -<p>“You haven’t changed much, inside, since we -were babies together, and I’m glad of it,” he said, -after the momentary pause ushered in by the indignant -protest. “It is good of you not to make -me always think of you as the grown-up Miss -Virginia—the little sister of the luxuries.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span>“There are times, David, when I hate the luxuries—knowing -so well the source of so many of -them,” she declared; and then: “Are you trying -to tell me that you have thrown all of the ideals -overboard?”</p> - -<p>The appeal in her tone sobered him suddenly.</p> - -<p>“No, I hope not, Virginia. What I’ve been -saying applies only to business; the business conscience, -if you want to call it that. I have plenty -of the other kind left. And it’s giving me a lot -of trouble.”</p> - -<p>“Is the trouble like the professional things you -were talking about a few minutes ago?—explainable -to this woman?”</p> - -<p>“No; at least, not yet. It is a question of duty, -and how much duty. It is as if you had incurred -a debt and didn’t know the amount of it. You’d -be willing to pay, perhaps, if you only knew how -much to pay.”</p> - -<p>“That sounds entrancingly interesting,” she -said. And then: “To whom do you owe the debt, -David?”</p> - -<p>“I’m not sure that I owe it to any one; or if -there really is a debt. I shall have to think it out, -and when I know, I’ll tell you.”</p> - -<p>From this their talk slipped back to the big job -and its askings and drawbacks, and so led up to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span> -the moral cancer whose lights they could see -twinkling in the distance at the foot of Gold Hill. -David spoke of the demoralizing effects of the -cancer upon his working force, and told of his -futile effort to enlist the railroad people on the -side of reform.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Ford would do something, if he knew,” -the young woman suggested, naming the president -of the P. S-W. system.</p> - -<p>“I believe he would; but it is like climbing a -ladder a mile high to get to him. From what -Jolly said, I gathered that the Brewster officials -are absolutely indifferent, and to get at Mr. Ford -I’d have to go over their heads.”</p> - -<p>“You have been in the mining-camp?” she -asked.</p> - -<p>“Once, only, after dark. Some day you are -going to tell me the name of the man who took -your slumming party there last fall and I’ll go -and beat him up.”</p> - -<p>“Never mind the man. Did you see Judith -Fallon?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; but only for a moment. I tried to get -a chance to talk to her, but she wouldn’t have -it.”</p> - -<p>“She is still living with her father?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span>“You needn’t be afraid to tell me all of it, -David.”</p> - -<p>At that he repeated Plegg’s short account of -the manner in which Judith Fallon had come to -Powder Can, and its near-tragic outcome.</p> - -<p>“How terrible!” she said. “I remember Tom -Judson, just vaguely, as a handsome little kiddie -with light curly hair and the bluest of blue eyes. -And he’s grown up into <i>that</i>!”</p> - -<p>“Yes; and he didn’t take long about it, either,” -said David. “Long before he was expelled from -college he was Middleboro’s most shining example -of depravity.”</p> - -<p>“But this other man; Dargin, did you call him? -Isn’t Judith worse off than if she had no protector -at all?”</p> - -<p>“God knows,” said David, solemnly. “Except -for the single fact that he seems to have some respect -for her, he is the crudest of crude brutes, -according to Plegg’s story. It’s going to be -mighty hard to run him out of Powder Can.”</p> - -<p>“Are you going to try to run him out?”</p> - -<p>“It’s up to me, I guess. The railroad people -won’t do anything, and the place has got to be -cleaned up. This job of ours demands it. But -see here; can’t we keep this talk from stumbling -into the sink-holes? Tell me how long you are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span> -going to be content to stay away from the luxuries?”</p> - -<p>“I told you there were times when I hated the -luxuries. You must be awfully good to me if you -don’t want me to run away to the lavishnesses that -I use and despise in the same breath. I shall put -on a khaki skirt and leggings, and you’ll have to -show me everything that is going on. Have you -seen father?”</p> - -<p>“No, not yet.”</p> - -<p>“Mercy me! I was to tell you to report to -him at the car down in the railroad yard if I saw -you first. I’m afraid I haven’t been a very obedient -call-boy.”</p> - -<p>David got out of his chair reluctantly.</p> - -<p>“I’m trying to realize that you are sending me -away—and that just as we were beginning to get -down to the real heart of things. May I come -back after your father is through with me? It is -so soul-satisfying not to have to divide time with -half a dozen other men.”</p> - -<p>“The ‘other men,’ as you call them, will probably -be here after a while; or some of them, at -least,” she laughed. “And that reminds me; what -have you done about sending for your father and -sister? Nothing, I hope.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, but I have; I have done precisely what<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span> -you said I ought not to do. They are coming, -and they will be here next week. I have taken -one of the hotel cottages for them.”</p> - -<p>“That was downright cruel, and you need to -be punished,” she retorted brightly. “And you -will be, too; you see if I’m not a true prophet.” -Then: “I think you needn’t come back this evening. -I shall probably be in bed and asleep long -before father lets you escape. Now don’t you -wish you hadn’t sent for your father and Lucille?”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XIII<br /> - - -Altman’s Nerves</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">IF David Vallory were reluctant to leave the -hotel and make his way down the wooded -ridge to the gridironing of tracks in the railroad -yard, it was only because his duty was shortening -the evening with Virginia. Without being unduly -puffed up with a sense of his own efficiency, -he felt sure that his work would show for itself -and that there was no reason why he should hesitate -to spread the results before the president.</p> - -<p>Not knowing where Mr. Grillage’s car had -been placed, it took him some few minutes to find -it in the crowded material yard, which was not -too well lighted by the widely spaced masthead -electrics. When he did find it, on the single unobstructed -spur-track, the nearest electric showed -him the figure of a man dropping from the car -step to become quickly lost in the shadows of the -surrounding material trains. In the brief glimpse -David recognized the alert poise and swinging -stride of his first assistant; but since neither jealousy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span> -nor suspicion had any part in the Vallory -make-up, the recognition evoked no wondering -query as to why Plegg had anticipated him in calling -upon Eben Grillage.</p> - -<p>A moment later the porter had admitted him -and was standing aside to let him pass through -the vestibule to the open compartment in the rear -of the luxurious car. At the heavy, glass-topped -desk he found the contractor magnate sitting -alone, with the inevitable black and shapeless cigar -clamped between his teeth.</p> - -<p>“Hello, David—come in!” was the brusque -greeting; and then with a grim chuckle: “By -George! I was beginning to think you were lost -out completely.”</p> - -<p>“I was up at the tunnel when your train got -in,” David explained, judiciously slurring over -the interval which had elapsed since the early-evening -hour of the arrival.</p> - -<p>“And when you crawled out of the tunnel you -found your way to the hotel and promptly forgot -all about the old duffer who has to dig down into -his jeans for the pay-roll money,” laughed the -man-driver in jovial humor. “It’s all right, my -boy; I was young once, myself. How goes the -job?”</p> - -<p>“I think you will find it moving along all right,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span> -David ventured. Then he said a good word for -the first assistant. “Plegg had things in fine shape -when I took hold; good organization, good distribution, -and no friction. All that was needed -was a little pace-setting.”</p> - -<p>“And you’ve been setting the pace, eh? How -about the railroad inspectors?—are they giving -you much trouble?”</p> - -<p>“All we need, though as a general thing they -don’t say much to me personally; they go to Plegg. -One of them—Strayer—took me into his confidence -a bit to-day. He professes to believe that -we are deliberately burking the railroad company -and threw out a hint to the effect that the railroad -Executive Board might take some action.”</p> - -<p>“Did you get back at him?”</p> - -<p>“I did; there hasn’t been a single instance where -we’ve failed to make good when they have called -us down, and I told him so. Strayer is acting chief -of the inspection staff in Lushing’s absence. I -haven’t seen Lushing yet. They tell me he has -gone East.”</p> - -<p>“I can add something to that,” said Lushing’s -former employer, with a sour smile. “He went -to New York to appear before the Executive -Board of his railroad—at his own request. We’ll -hear from him a little later.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span>“I suppose he’s trying to make more trouble -for us,” said David.</p> - -<p>“He is. He is trying to force legal proceedings -to get our contract canceled. He threatened -to do that when we dropped him. He’s a vindictive -cuss, if ever there was one.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory shook his head in sympathetic -deprecation. He was too loyal himself to be able -to understand how a man, even if he were enraged, -could turn upon the hand that had fed him.</p> - -<p>“He can’t do anything like that,” he asserted -confidently. “I’ve specialized a good bit in the -law of contracts—took it as a part of my college -course. As I see it, the railroad company has -absolutely no grounds whatever for cancellation. -As I’ve said, when Lushing’s inspectors bring up -a specific charge, we make good, and that’s the -end of it.”</p> - -<p>Since being in love with a man’s daughter is the -poorest possible preliminary to any accurate reading -of face signs when the subject chances to be -the father of the daughter, the slow drooping of -an eyelid on the part of the big man in the desk -chair opposite was quite thrown away upon David -Vallory.</p> - -<p>“Of course,” agreed the contractor-king, with -a suppressed chuckle which he turned into a forced<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span> -clearing of his throat; “we’re up to all the little -methods of pacifying the enemy, eh, David?” -And then: “I’ve just had Plegg here, making him -tell tales out of school. Naturally, he didn’t want -to say much about his chief, but you’ve got his -vote, all right. He tells me you’ve made good -with the force, and that you’re a home-grown miracle -in the pace-setting. That is what I wanted to -hear; but it is also what I expected to hear.”</p> - -<p>“More kindness,” said the beneficiary of the -kindness, with a comforting glow warming him. -“Before I went to Coulee du Sac I used to hear -that you were a hard man to work for. I shall -feel like scrapping with the next man who says -anything like that to me.”</p> - -<p>“You go right on believing that I’m a hard -man,” said Eben Grillage, with a ferocious twinkle -of the shrewd eyes; “it’s safer. Now there’s -another little thing, while I think of it: Plegg was -telling me something about these dives and speak-easys -over in Powder Can; said you’d got stirred -up about ’em and wanted to give ’em the high -kick. You take a word of advice from me, David, -and let ’em alone. After you’ve handled grade -laborers and hard-rock men as long as I have, -you’ll realize that they’re bound to have their -fling after pay-day. If you were an angel from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span> -heaven you couldn’t stop it. And you’ll only get -your hands muddy if you try.”</p> - -<p>“But it’s such a tremendous drawback to the -work!” David protested, feeling, in his inmost -recesses, that this argument, rather than the -moral, would be more likely to appeal to Eben -Grillage.</p> - -<p>“That’s one of the things you have to figure -on,” was the man-driver’s reply. “Pad your -gangs with a few extras to make up for the pay-day -absentees. Labor’s fairly plentiful just now, -and in the contracting business you’ll find that -man-muscle is about the cheapest material you -handle. But that’s enough about business. What -do you hear from your father?”</p> - -<p>“Mighty good news, just now. He hasn’t been -very well this spring, so I have persuaded him to -come out here for a while. I shall be looking for -him and my sister next week.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the talk!” exclaimed the Vallory benefactor. -“I’ll make him go trout-fishing with me. -And that drags us back to the business matter -again. I’m not out here to stand over you and -tell you what to do on the job, David; I’ve told -Vinnie it’s my vacation—something that I haven’t -had for so long that I’ve forgotten what it looks -like. I’ll make a little round of the work with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span> -you to-morrow, just to let the outfit see that you’ve -got the boss on your side, and after that you can -count me out. Vinnie probably won’t let you off -so easily, but you can settle that with her.”</p> - -<p>With this program for a sort of stirrup-cup, -David Vallory left the president’s car with the -warm glow at his heart bursting into a generous -flame. In an age in which filial piety has come -to be more or less regarded as a hold-over from -an emotional elder generation, he found himself -inclining toward the savior of the good name of -the Vallorys with an affection akin to that which -he felt for the father who had begotten him. -That the industrial world held Eben Grillage as -a hard master, and the world of business looked -a trifle askance at his huge fortune and the manner -of its acquiring, were matters subsidiary to -the main question. Under the gruff exterior, the -grasping exterior, if his detractors would have -it so, David told himself there dwelt a giant of -generosity and loving-kindness; a man whose very -crudities and bluntnesses were lovable; a man -for whom his grateful beneficiaries could never -go too far, so long as the saving spark of gratitude -remained alive in the human breast.</p> - -<p>It was with these exalted emotions stirring him -that he swung up to the step of his bunk car.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span> -Since the car was lighted, he expected to find Silas -Plegg at work on his customary evening task of -checking the books of field-notes. But the only -occupant of the car proved to be young Altman, -who was driving the rock-blasting in the eastern -heading of the great tunnel; a sober-minded young -mining engineer only a year out of college, but yet -with the lines of responsibility already graving -themselves visibly in his boyish face.</p> - -<p>“I’m disobeying orders, Mr. Vallory,” he began. -“Plegg tells us we mustn’t bother you with -our complaints, but in justice to my men I’ve got -to break over this one time. You know that weak -spot in the tunnel roof?—the one I showed you -the first time you were in?”</p> - -<p>David nodded. The “weak spot” was a section -of the big bore which had been driven through -a prehistoric gash in the granite; a huge vertical -crack which had been filled with softer rock in -some later earth upheaval. “What about it?” -he asked.</p> - -<p>“It’s getting my goat. It is growing worse -every day, and I’m afraid it will come down on us. -Since we’re working three shifts, with a gang in -the heading all the time, you know what a cave-in -would mean; the shift that happened to be caught -behind it would die to the last man before it could<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span> -be dug out. There’s enough of that slippery marl -hanging up in the ‘fault’ to bury an army, and, -sooner or later, it’s going to come down. But I -can’t make Plegg see it that way at all. He says -I’ve got too many nerves.”</p> - -<p>“You think the weak spot ought to be timbered?”</p> - -<p>“I know it ought; and the men think so, too. -There has been a good bit of grumbling and some -little strike talk among them, and I can’t blame -them. They say the company has no right to ask -them to take their lives in their hands for the sake -of saving a few dollars’ worth of timbers. It was -my shift off this afternoon, but if I had known you -were going to be up there, I should have stayed -and asked you to take another look at the roof for -yourself.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll go up to-morrow,” was David’s prompt -offer. “We mustn’t take chances on the lives of -your men. At the same time, it doesn’t pay to let -a thing of that kind get on your nerves, Fred. -The responsibility is up to Plegg and me, and we’ll -take care of it. Now you’d better hike back to -the bunk shack and catch up on your sleep.”</p> - -<p>It was less than a quarter of an hour after -Altman had gone when Silas Plegg came in and -found David Vallory preparing to go to bed.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span>“About that weak place in the tunnel roof in -heading Number One,” said David, pausing with -one lace-boot off. “Have you examined it lately?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve been keeping an eye on it ever since we -drove through it,” was the first assistant’s answer. -Then: “Has Altman been worrying you about it?”</p> - -<p>“He was here a few minutes ago. He seems -to think it’s dangerous, and says his men are protesting.”</p> - -<p>“Altman is a fine young fellow, and an expert in -the rock-blasting, but he is a little inclined to be -nervous,” Plegg threw in. “That sort of thing -is always contagious, and Altman’s personal scare -has been spreading itself. That roof stood up -while we were driving through the fault, and I -guess it will continue to stand.”</p> - -<p>“If there is any doubt about it, it ought to be -timbered,” was David’s decision. “I’m looking -to you, Plegg, for the carrying out of these routine -details.”</p> - -<p>“We can’t afford to timber it,” said Plegg, -shortly.</p> - -<p>“Why not? The cost would be nothing compared -with what we’d lose in a strike of the hard-rock men.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll guarantee the men won’t strike. And as -for the cost of the timbering; have you considered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span> -what it would mean to us if we should call the attention -of the railroad inspectors to that bad spot -by propping it up?”</p> - -<p>“Do you mean to say that the railroad engineers, -and Lushing among them, don’t know about -that ‘fault’?”</p> - -<p>“We’re hoping they don’t,” said Plegg, with -the sardonic smile wrinkling slowly at the corners -of his eyes. “It would give Mr. James B. Lushing -the one big chance he is looking for. The day -in which we haul the first car-load of props into -the tunnel will be the day when he’ll fall on us like -a thousand of brick. We’ll get a peremptory -order from the railroad headquarters to shoot -that bad roof down and plug the hole with concrete. -That will mean a delay, maybe of weeks, -a forfeiture of our time-limit bond for the completion -of the job, and a bill of costs for the additional -work that will turn the Grillage company’s -profit into a loss heavy enough to make the -big boss sweat blood.”</p> - -<p>David said nothing while he was slowly removing -the remaining lace-boot. When he spoke it -was to ask a curt question.</p> - -<p>“Does Mr. Grillage know about this bad spot -in the tunnel.”</p> - -<p>“Sure he does. I sent him photographs when<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span> -we were driving through it. He’s an old hand at -the rock-blasting, and he isn’t losing any sleep over -the cracked roof—which is cracked chiefly in Altman’s -imagination.”</p> - -<p>In some vague sense David Vallory felt that he -was confronting a crisis and another test of the -ideals. Before he realized it the battle was joined -between a just regard for human life on one hand, -and strict loyalty to Eben Grillage on the other. -Should he heed Altman’s warning and order the -timbering, regardless of the possible consequences -to the Grillage Engineering Company? Or -should he take Plegg’s assurances at their face -value and discount the fears of an overanxious -subordinate?</p> - -<p>The daughter of the luxuries had possibly -spoken better than she knew in saying that the first -downward step in the ethical ladder makes all the -others easy. As David Vallory rolled himself -into the bunk blankets and turned his face away -from the light of the hanging lamp under which -Plegg was squaring himself for the nightly task of -field-note checking, the decision came.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps you are right about Altman’s nerves, -Plegg. Suppose you shift him to the quarry work -in Dixon’s Cut and put Regnier in the tunnel heading. -If I’m any judge of men, Regnier won’t let<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span> -the spalling roof trouble him. He’ll be too busy -trying to break Altman’s record of so many feet -advance a day, and that will be some job.”</p> - -<p>“That’s better,” said Plegg, bending lower over -the checking. But when David’s regular breathing -began, as it did almost at the instant of eye-closing, -the first assistant straightened up, shaking -his head regretfully.</p> - -<p>“It’s a damned shame!” he muttered under his -breath. And then: “If I were half as loyal to him -as he is to Grillage, I’d blow the whole gaff—tell -him exactly what he is up against on this crooked -job, and at least give him a chance to fight with his -eyes open. Maybe I shall, some day—after it’s -everlastingly too late.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XIV<br /> - - -The Mucker</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">FOR some little time after his chief had gone -to sleep, Silas Plegg bent thoughtfully over -his task at the trestle-table. It was said of him -that he could live and work with less sleep than -any other man on the staff, and his nightly vigils -proved it. Now and again the midnight workers -on some remote section of the job would look up -to find the first assistant staring down at them -from some coign of vantage, and the shirkers -never knew at what moment the cool, crisp voice -of the under-boss would come crackling out of the -shadows with a snap like that of a whip lash.</p> - -<p>With the slipping of the rubber band over the -last of the field-books, Plegg rose noiselessly and -left the car as if to begin another of his nocturnal -rounds. In the shadow of the cement sheds he -overtook the yard watchman.</p> - -<p>“Anything stirring, Mac?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Nothin’ but that tunnel mucker they call -‘Simmy’. Early in the evenin’ I caught him prowlin’ -’round the big boss’s private car. I asked him<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span> -what he was doin’ and he said he couldn’t sleep. -I wouldn’t ’a’ thought nothin’ of it if you hadn’t -told me to keep an eye out for him.”</p> - -<p>“Anything else?”</p> - -<p>“Nothin’ much, ’cept that the next time I come -around I catch him snoopin’ under the windows of -yours and Mr. Vallory’s sleep-wagon. This time -I takes him by the ear and runs him over to his -bunk shack and tells him to stay there till his -shift’s called.”</p> - -<p>“How long ago was that?” Plegg inquired.</p> - -<p>“’Bout a half-hour, I reckon. He—Well, -I’ll be dog-goned! Look yonder!”</p> - -<p>Plegg had already seen. The sputtering light -of a distant masthead showed a lop-shouldered -figure making off across the yard, dodging as it -went to keep within the shadows cast by the scattered -material cars.</p> - -<p>“I’ll go after him,” said the watchman; but -Plegg stopped him.</p> - -<p>“No, Mac; stay on your job. I think this may -be what I’ve been waiting for.” And as craftily -as if he had been trained in Indian warfare, the -first assistant set out to trail the dodging figure.</p> - -<p>After the first few hundred yards down the -tracks it was not difficult to guess the tunnel -mucker’s destination. He was heading across the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span> -basin to the mining-camp at the foot of Gold Hill. -Plegg did not try to keep him in sight after his -direction was assured, contenting himself with -closing the gap when the man ahead was entering -the single street of the town. Even then the pursuer -made no haste and paid no special attention -to the lop-shouldered one. It was as if he had -known in advance where his quarry would alight, -and when the dodging figure was lost finally -among the late roisterers still obstructing the -planked sidewalks, Plegg pushed on steadily until -he reached the corner occupied by Black Jack -Dargin’s gambling resort.</p> - -<p>At the corner, the first assistant changed his -tactics suddenly. Flattening himself against the -side of the building he edged his way cautiously -down the short side street. Being the headquarters -of a leading industry, Dargin’s “place” -enjoyed the distinction of standing as the only -two-storied building in the camp. With its -ground floor devoted strictly to the business of -relieving restless or thirsty souls of the hard-earned -dollars, the second floor was the living -apartment of the master gambler. It was approached -by an outside stair, and up this stair -Plegg crept on his toes and finger-ends.</p> - -<p>The door at the stair-head was closed, but the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span> -first assistant seemed to know his ground. Noiselessly -a skeleton key was slipped into the lock, -there was a faint click, and the door swung inward, -opening into a dark hall running crosswise -of the building. Again Plegg showed his familiarity -with his surroundings. Closing the door, -and thus shutting himself into the Egyptian darkness -of the narrow upper hall, he felt his way -carefully to the opposite end of the passage, found -and unlocked another door, and stepped out upon -a railed gallery running the full length of the -building at the second-story level. A few steps -to the right two windows and a door gave upon -the gallery, and the windows were lighted.</p> - -<p>Once more resorting to the Indian tactics, -Plegg crouched in the shadow and worked his way -silently on hands and knees to the nearest window. -The shade was partly drawn down, but since the -night was unusually warm for the season and the -altitude the window was open a few inches at the -bottom.</p> - -<p>The view from the gallery was unobstructed. -Plegg saw an interior gaudily furnished, a costly -carpet, ill-kept and soiled by muddied boots, -yellowed lace hangings at the windows, heavy -mahogany chairs, scarred and with their leather -upholstering chafed and abused, a marble-topped<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span> -table littered with cigar stubs, an ash tray, a scattered -deck of cards and an open box of cigars; -the whole lighted by a hanging lamp with a cheap -tin reflector.</p> - -<p>There were two men in the room and they sat -on opposite sides of the table. One was the master -gambler; he had selected the one wooden -chair in the room, and he sat back with his hands -in his pockets, rocking the chair gently on two -legs. He was in his shirt-sleeves, and the black, -Indian-like hair fell forward in a lock that shaded -the coldly staring eyes.</p> - -<p>The other man was the “mucker” of the yard -watchman’s report, the man Plegg had been following. -On the Grillage pay-roll he appeared as -Simeon Backus, serving on the day shift as a muck -shoveler in the eastern heading of the great tunnel. -He sat in one of the upholstered chairs with -a deep seat, and his deformities—the lopped -shoulder and arms much too long for his body—were -accentuated. His face, with its lines half -obliterated by a ragged beard, lacked none of the -villainous characteristics of the ingrained criminal; -beady eyes that would look at nothing steadily, -a retreating chin, a thin-lipped, acrid mouth.</p> - -<p>When Silas Plegg reached his spying place on -the gallery, Dargin was speaking.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span>“Cut it out, Simmy; cut it all out and get -down to brass tacks!” he was growling. “Your -hard job in the tunnel isn’t any skin off of me; and -you get paid twice for it, at that.”</p> - -<p>“What little rake-off you give me for steerin’ -the money-burners down here don’t cut no ice with -me!” snapped the smaller man. “I’ve got bigger -game to-night.”</p> - -<p>“Shoot,” said Dargin.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got a line on the new boss. Did you -know he was down here lookin’ you over the other -night?”</p> - -<p>“I saw him,” was the brief reply.</p> - -<p>“Well, he’s goin’ to run you out—clean up the -shop—wipe off the slate.”</p> - -<p>“Who says he is?”</p> - -<p>“He says so, by cripes! I’ve got it straight. -This here hell-hole’s got to be took off the map. -It’s bu’stin’ up his gangs and robbin’ his men, and -he ain’t goin’ to stand for no such. And say, -Jack—<i>he’s got the old geezer behind him</i>!”</p> - -<p>“Grillage? Not in a thousand years, Simmy.”</p> - -<p>“I’m tellin’ you I got it straight. There’s a -skirt in it this time.”</p> - -<p>“Cough it up.”</p> - -<p>“It’s this-away; that young cock-o’-the-walk’s -goin’ to marry Grillage’s daughter—see?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span>“How do you know he is?”</p> - -<p>“There ain’t much that a bunch as big as ours -don’t know about its bosses—or that it can’t find -out if it tries. Vallory hadn’t hardly lit down on -the job before ever’body knew that he got his -boost from the inside—that it was all in the family. -Why, hell; he’s nothin’ but an overgrowed -kid!”</p> - -<p>“You talk too many, Simmy,” was the gruff interruption. -“Get down to the face-cards and -aces.”</p> - -<p>“All right, I will. Did you know Grillage is -here?”</p> - -<p>“I knew he was coming.”</p> - -<p>“Well, he’s come—and he’s fetched the girl -with him. You know what she tried to get him -to do last fall, after Lushing was fool enough to -bring that look-see crowd down here from the -hotel?”</p> - -<p>“I know,” said Dargin. “She tried to get the -old man to put the kibosh on us. He wouldn’t -do it then; and he isn’t going to back Vallory -now.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you believe it! The girl will make -him back Vallory, if she feels like it. I’m tellin’ -you again—I got it straight. The minute Vallory -hears she’s here, he makes a straight shoot<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span> -for the hotel, and sits most o’ the evenin’ on the -porch with her. I kep’ cases on ’em.”</p> - -<p>“That doesn’t prove anything.”</p> - -<p>“It proves what I’m sayin’. You’re goin’ to -get the hook, Dargin, and I’m the one man that -can keep it out o’ your liver.”</p> - -<p>Silas Plegg, from his cramped spying place on -the gallery, saw a bleak smile flicker for a moment -in the cold eyes of the master gambler.</p> - -<p>“You get your pay, don’t you, Simmy?”</p> - -<p>“For leggin’ for your skin game down-stairs, -yes. But this time I’ve got somethin’ to sell—somethin’ -that Grillage’ll pay for, if you don’t -want it.”</p> - -<p>“Suppose you tell me what it is, Simmy.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you this much: s’pose you could go to -Grillage and say, ‘Look-ee here, old sport; I’m -wise to somethin’ that’ll knock all the money out -o’ this railroad job o’ yours, and then some; you -keep this here Vallory hook out o’ me, and I’ll -keep mine out o’ you.’ How does that hit you?”</p> - -<p>Again Plegg saw the vanishing smile.</p> - -<p>“Where did you get all this flim-flam dope, -Simmy?”</p> - -<p>“Some of it I’ve had a good little spell. The -rest of it I got to-night listenin’ under the windows -of Vallory’s bunk car.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span>“Who was doing the talking?”</p> - -<p>“Three of ’em, first and last: young Altman -and Vallory, and then Vallory and that gun-totin’ -under-boss o’ his’n, Plegg.”</p> - -<p>“Supposing I say that I’m not in the market; -then what?”</p> - -<p>The lop-shouldered man struggled up in his -chair and spat his reply out viciously. “Then, by -cripes, I’ll go to Grillage himself! <i>He’ll</i> buy!”</p> - -<p>“I see,” said Dargin softly. “You’ll sell this -thing to me or to Grillage, whichever one of us -bids the highest. Is that it?”</p> - -<p>“You’re shoutin’ now. I’m tired o’ hidin’ out -and dodgin’ Hank Bullock in these dam’ mountains. -Some o’ these days he’s goin’ to hike up -this-away and get the drop on me; and then”—the -misshapen man made a gesture pantomiming -the clicking of handcuffs upon wrists. “I want to -skip down yonder to Honduras, ’r some o’ them -places where they never heard o’ me ’r the croakin’ -business in Gunnison. And you lissen to me, Jack; -I’m goin’ to have a wad big enough to stake me -when I get there, and don’t you forget it!”</p> - -<p>The swarthy giant on the opposite side of the -table was still tilting his chair and still had his -hands deeply buried in his pockets.</p> - -<p>“Let’s see if I’m getting it straight, Simmy,” he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span> -said gently. “You’ve thought it all out, and -you’re going to sell this thing you’ve got hold of—and -which you haven’t named for me yet—either -to me or to the big boss. If I get it, I can -make the hook miss; and if Grillage beats me to -it—what happens then?”</p> - -<p>“Why, then Grillage plays safe on his profit by -gettin’ me out o’ the country; see? And then, if -Vallory wants to stick his fork into you——”</p> - -<p>The man in the deep chair stopped short. The -other made no move. His dark face with its -leaden eyes and the heavy drooping mustaches -was as impassive as the face of the Buddha. The -lop-shouldered “mucker” seemed to be trying to -read the Buddha face, and when he failed he gave -a gulping swallow.</p> - -<p>“I—I reckon I’m talkin’ through my hat, Jack,” -he wavered. “Grillage ain’t in the deal; I’m goin’ -to sell my stock to you.”</p> - -<p>Plegg, looking on at a distance of not more than -half the width of the room would have sworn that -no man of Dargin’s build could have moved so -swiftly. At one instant he was swaying gently in -the tilted chair. At the next he was leaning across -the table and thrusting the muzzle of a pistol -against the shrinking body of the talebearer. -When he spoke his voice was like the whistling of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span> -the north wind. “No, Simmy, you’re not going -to sell it to me; you’re going to <i>give</i> it to me, -<i>now</i>!”</p> - -<p>For possibly five minutes, as if the pressing pistol -muzzle were a magnet to electrify and hold -him rigid, Simeon Backus, ex-cattle rustler, ex-yeggman, -and now a manslayer hiding from justice, -sat erect and motionless, pouring forth a -stammering story. There was little in the story -that was new to the listening ear at the window. -Chiefly it was made up of the facts concerning the -weak roof in the tunnel—facts still unknown to -the railroad people; wherein lay their value to -one who could trade upon them. Plegg heard -Altman’s talk with Vallory repeated; then, almost -word for word, his own talk with Vallory, with -the emphasis laid upon the consequences which he, -himself, had predicted would follow any leakage -of the facts in Lushing’s direction.</p> - -<p>Plegg waited until he was measurably certain -that he had heard all that Backus had to spill, and -when there were signs that the talebearer was -about to be released, he hastened to make his retreat, -retracing his steps through the dark cross -hall and locking the doors behind him with his -skeleton key. Safely down the outside stair and -afoot in the street he hesitated. The facts about<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span> -the dangerous tunnel roof were no longer a secret -to be carefully guarded by the Grillage staff. They -were weapons in the hands of a man who would -use them instantly in his own behalf. There were -two ways in which they might be used. Dargin -might go to Grillage and buy the immunity which -the contractor-king would doubtless assure by -laying positive orders upon Vallory to let the -Powder Can man-traps alone. Or, if by some -unheard-of chance, Virginia Grillage could succeed -in swinging her father over to her side and -Vallory’s, Dargin could use his information to -make capital with Lushing, and at one stroke entrench -himself with the railroad management and—through -the loss which would be saddled upon -the Grillage company—square his account with -Vallory.</p> - -<p>All this the first assistant saw, and saw clearly, -in the momentary halt made upon the street corner. -Holding his watch in the light streaming -from the windows of the Dargin bar-room he -found that it stiff lacked a few minutes of eleven. -There was a chance and he took it, walking rapidly -up the street toward the place where, a few nights -before, he had drawn aside to become charitably -blind and deaf while David Vallory was talking -to Judith Fallon.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XV<br /> - - -Plegg’s Back-Fire</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">FOR good and sufficient reasons Silas Plegg -did not wish to show himself in the dance-hall -opposite the Murtrie Mine ore sheds. On -all accounts he would have been glad to be assured -that he had thus far gone unrecognized through -the ill-lighted Powder Can street. Standing before -the wide-open doors of this other outreaching -of Dargin’s, he could pass the shuffling dancers in -review. The woman he was looking for was not -among them, and neither was she at the piano.</p> - -<p>Turning away with a sigh of relief he crossed -the street, circled the ore sheds, and came upon -the row of shack cottages belonging to the Murtrie -company. Only one of the cottages showed -a lighted window, and here, again, Plegg made -careful reconnaissance before he knocked on the -door. It was Judith Fallon who opened to him.</p> - -<p>“Oh, ’tis you, is it?” she said, when the light -fell upon him. “If it’s my father you’re wanting, -he’ll be over at the mine. ’Tis his week to be on -the night shift.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span>“No, I don’t want to see your father, Judith,” -he said quietly. “I came to see you. May I -come in?”</p> - -<p>The black eyes snapped and their light was -unfriendly. “’Tis an honor to the likes of me. -The door is open.”</p> - -<p>Plegg accepted the scant welcome and went -in. The interior of the cottage was plain almost -to poverty. Since the young woman would not -sit down he was forced to plunge bluntly into his -errand.</p> - -<p>“I’ve come to you, Judith, because I am David -Vallory’s friend,” he began. “Have I made a -mistake?”</p> - -<p>Her attitude was still antagonistic. “You -needn’t be worrying,” she snapped. “I know my -place. ’Tis not I that will be running after Davie -Vallory.”</p> - -<p>“You misunderstood me completely,” he hastened -to say. And then: “Won’t you please sit -down?”</p> - -<p>She moved toward the lighted window. “’Tis -better that I don’t—and that you don’t,” she flung -out; and Plegg was quick to take the hint. She -was expecting some one else, and the some one -would doubtless be Dargin, the man who had constituted -himself her protector.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span>“I’ll take a chance, Judith—for Vallory’s -sake,” he thrust in boldly. “Won’t you do the -same?”</p> - -<p>“’Tis himself would kill you if he found you -here. But what is it you’ll want to be saying -about Davie?”</p> - -<p>There was neither time nor opportunity for a -guarded approach to his object, and Plegg plunged -again.</p> - -<p>“Listen, Judith: Black Jack has just been told -something that gives him a strangle hold on Vallory; -if he uses it, it will cost Vallory his place on -this job, to say the least. I’m not saying that -Dargin wouldn’t be justified, from his own point -of view. Vallory would clean up these Powder -Can joints if he had the authority—which he -hasn’t, and won’t have. But he has said he would, -and Dargin knows it.”</p> - -<p>“How would Jack be using this thing that you -haven’t tied a name to?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“By passing it on to Lushing.”</p> - -<p>“That black-hearted devil!” she burst out. -“’Tis little but the back of my hand that I’m owing -him!”</p> - -<p>Plegg saw his opening and drove the wedge -promptly.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span>“We all know Lushing,” he said; “you probably -have good reasons for hating him.”</p> - -<p>“Reasons, it is? Do you know what he’d be -doing to me? For shame I can’t tell you. But -if Jack Dargin had listened to him, it’s not here -that I’d be, keeping house for my father!”</p> - -<p>“Dargin wants to marry you?” said Plegg -quickly.</p> - -<p>The woman’s hard black eyes grew suddenly -tender. “’Tis not all bad he is, Mr. Plegg. Show -me the man like him that would do what he’s -done.”</p> - -<p>Plegg had never faced a problem requiring -swifter or more skilful handling. In the very -nature of it he had to take much for granted; to -assume the values of the unknown quantities where -he could not demonstrate them.</p> - -<p>“You knew Vallory before you came here, -didn’t you?” he asked.</p> - -<p>Her eyes fell. “I grew up with him—in Middleboro.”</p> - -<p>Plegg smiled. It was easier now.</p> - -<p>“I’m not going to ask you why you refused to -talk with him the other night; we’ll let that go. -I’m going to leave this thing with you, Judith. -David Vallory stands to get a knife in the back. -Jim Lushing will do the stabbing, but it will be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span> -Dargin who will hand him the knife. Your -woman’s heart will tell you what to do, and how -to do it.”</p> - -<p>She covered her face with her hands. “I can’t—<i>I -can’t!</i>” she shuddered. “Himself would kill -me, and I’d not be blaming him—after what he’s -done for me in this place. Think of what you’d -be asking me to do—to put the double-cross on -the one man who would be caring anything for -me!”</p> - -<p>Plegg caught his breath and took his last long -leap in the dark.</p> - -<p>“Dargin is Dargin,” he said, speaking slowly, -“but—you love David Vallory, Judith. That’s -all I had to say; good-night.” And he opened -the door and vanished.</p> - -<p>Having thus done his best to avert a possible -tragedy—at the possible cost of another tragedy—the -first assistant owned but one pressing anxiety, -namely, to get out of the mining-camp speedily, -and without stumbling upon some one of the -late-hour stragglers who might recognize him.</p> - -<p>Leaving the Fallon cottage, he was at first -minded to climb the steep slope of Gold Hill, thus -making his exit without passing again through the -town street. But the night was dark, and there -was no path over the hill shoulder that he could<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span> -recall. Dismissing the alternative, he faced about -to return as he had come; but before he had taken -a dozen steps toward the street the lights of the -dance-hall opposite showed him a man turning -the corner at the ore sheds and coming toward -him.</p> - -<p>Though the distance was too great and the light -too uncertain to enable him to identify the man, -there could be little doubt that it was Dargin. -Judith Fallon had shown plainly that she was expecting -him. Instantly Plegg realized that there -were likely to be consequences if Dargin should -meet him. The Fallon house was the only one in -the shack-cottage group that showed any signs of -life, and Dargin would be swift to draw conclusions. -But there was even a greater danger than -this to be feared. Plegg had left Judith Fallon -in tears, wrestling with the sharpest problem that -can confront any woman, gentle or simple. If -Dargin should find her thus, and before she was -given time to compose herself....</p> - -<p>Plegg’s hand flew to his hip pocket and his resolve -was taken. Of the two evils he would -choose that which seemed to be the lesser. Half-way -down the little hill he met the master gambler -and blocked his path. Dargin stopped and thrust -his head forward for a better sight of the obstructionist.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span> -Then: “Oh, it’s you, is it? What the -hell——”</p> - -<p>“I was looking for you, Dargin,” Plegg said -promptly, turning fugitive expectation into aggressive -fact. Then he added the whole-cloth lie. -“Somebody said I’d find you at John Fallon’s.”</p> - -<p>“Well, now that you’ve found me, what of it?”</p> - -<p>It may be imagined that never, in a life-time -that had not been in any manner devoid of exciting -moments, had Silas Plegg been more sorely put -to it to fill a suddenly yawning gap. But at any -cost time must be gained.</p> - -<p>“It’s a personal matter, Dargin,” he explained -coolly. “Word has been passed in camp that -you’re out gunning for Vallory. I’d like to believe -that it’s nothing but camp gossip; some of -the hard-boiled eggs talking just to make a noise. -How about it?”</p> - -<p>“What business is it of yours?”</p> - -<p>“I’m making it my business, Jack. Vallory’s -my boss and my friend. He isn’t a gun-toter, and -you know it. He’d stand just about as much show -with you as these pick-and-shovel men do betting -against your faro-game.”</p> - -<p>“I haven’t said I was after him, have I?”</p> - -<p>“Not to me, you haven’t. And I don’t ask -you either to say it or deny it. All I want to say<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span> -is this: if you go gunning for Vallory, you’ve got -to include me. You understand?”</p> - -<p>The giant grunted. “Perhaps you’d like to try -it out right now?” he suggested.</p> - -<p>“As you please,” said Plegg calmly. “I’m -heeled, and I know you are. If you think you can -get to it quicker than I can, the bars are down.”</p> - -<p>This time the “killer’s” grunt lapsed into a -chuckle.</p> - -<p>“I don’t need a man for breakfast to-morrow -morning,” he said. “When I do, I’ll let you -know. S’pose you get out o’ the way and let me -pass.”</p> - -<p>“With pleasure,” snapped Plegg. “Only what -I say, goes. If you hit Vallory, you hit me. And -it will be safer if you hit me first, and you always -know where to find me.”</p> - -<p>Judith’s saving interval having thus been bought -and paid for, Plegg stood aside and let Dargin -have the path. But after he had left the town -behind and was plodding across the basin on his -way back to the headquarters camp and his long-deferred -rest, he was weighing judicially the value -of the expedient to which he had resorted. To -which extreme of the arc would the pendulum of a -woman’s emotions be carried? Would Judith -Fallon be true to whatever feeling she still cherished<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span> -for David Vallory? Or would she refuse -to betray the man who, so far as his limitations -had permitted, had stood between her and utter -degradation?</p> - -<p>“I guess it’s on the knees of the gods,” was the -first assistant’s final summing-up of the matter; -the conclusion reached as he was crossing the yard -tracks to the isolated bunk car. “There may be -some man living who can tell what a woman will -do under given conditions, but the good Lord -knows I’m not that man.”</p> - -<p>And so leaving it he swung up the steps of the -car and crept to his bunk, quietly, so as not to disturb -his sleeping chief.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XVI<br /> - - -Master and Man</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">ON the day following the arrival of Mr. Grillage’s -private car at Powder Gap, word -was passed from camp to camp that the big boss -was about to make an inspection round with the -new chief of construction, and the activities automatically -speeded themselves up to grace the occasion.</p> - -<p>At the bridge sites the clank and grind of the -concrete mixers, the upshoot and dumping tip of -the hoist buckets, and the clattering descent of the -concrete into the forms played the industrial quick-step. -In the hill cuttings the intermittent clamor -of steam-shovels and the strident exhausts of locomotives -dragging the spoil to the fills made deafening -discords. In the short tunnel under Dead -Man’s Ridge the hard-rock men timed their forenoon -blasts accurately to make a thunderous crash -of dynamite salute the upcoming of the light engine -and way-car bearing President Grillage and -his chief engineer.</p> - -<p>So far as any routine-changing result was concerned,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span> -the inspection trip was conspicuously barren. -It was rather a triumphal progress for the -new chief. At each stopping-place the big boss -climbed down dutifully from the way-car to look -on and listen while David explained some new -method of cost-cutting, and there was always the -word of gruff approval, coupled with the suggestion -that they move along.</p> - -<p>“I’m taking all your little economies and short-cuttings -for granted, David,” said the tamed -tyrant, as the way-car special shot around the -curves of approach to the main tunnel. “I got it -pretty straight from Coulee du Sac that you were -up in all the late kinks in money-saving and systematizing. -You are doing good work, and I’m -right proud of you.”</p> - -<p>Again David’s heart warmed to the big man -who had been so grossly misrepresented as a hard -boss. Thus far, there had been no single word of -criticism; nothing but hearty appreciation and -praise. David knew well enough that his work -couldn’t be beyond criticism; that to a master -workman as experienced as Eben Grillage the -shortcomings must surely be apparent. Yet there -had been nothing said that would lead him to believe -that the contractor-king was making anything -but the most perfunctory duty trip over the job.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span>At the tunnel portal they found Plegg, who was -apparently waiting for them. There was a halt -of a few minutes while the first assistant, in obedience -to a signal which David was not permitted to -see, held his chief to ask some routine question -about a proposed re-sloping of the approach cutting. -Eben Grillage walked on into the tunnel -alone. The great black bore was lighted only by -a string of inadequate electric bulbs hung at hundred-foot -intervals, and the massive figure of the -president was soon lost to view in the depths. -David Vallory answered Plegg’s queries impatiently, -the more so because they seemed to be -peculiarly trivial and ill-timed. It was something -less than respectful to allow the president to go -stumbling into the tunnel unattended.</p> - -<p>When they finally overtook him the big boss -had penetrated to the working heading, and was -looking on quietly while the drillers and their helpers -removed the drill-columns and prepared for a -blast. Again there were words commendatory of -the discipline and the industrial systematizing.</p> - -<p>“Fine!” was Eben Grillage’s comment, when -David came up with Plegg at his elbow. “I’ll be -losing you two fellows to the efficiency squad one -of these fine days; that’s a fact.” Then to the -black-eyed, black-mustached little French-Canadian<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span> -who had taken Altman’s place: “Hello, -Regnier! So they’ve got you on the mole job, -now, have they?”</p> - -<p>Regnier came across to join the onlooking -group.</p> - -<p>“Eet is moz’ in’ospitable, but in five minute ze -men will fire ze blast,” he announced. “Me, I am -<i>désolé</i> to ’ave to h’ask you zhentlemen to go h’out, -<i>mais</i>——”</p> - -<p>“But we’d better go out if we don’t want to get -our necks stretched, eh?” laughed the visiting -overlord. “That’s all right, Regnier; we’ve seen -all we need to, I guess.” And the retreat was -made so hurriedly that David had no chance to -inspect the dangerous spot in the roof, or to call -the president’s attention to it, as he had fully intended -doing.</p> - -<p>These were the commonplace incidents of the -day of inspections, and there were no other kind. -But when the day was ended, and David Vallory -was once more finding a reward for duty done in -an ecstatic hour with Virginia on the Inn porch, -it is conceivable that the joy-nerve might have lost -some of its thrills if he could have been endowed -with the gift of double personality, enabling him -to see and hear what was transpiring coincidently -in the Grillage private Pullman at the foot of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span> -ridge. In the open central compartment of the -car Plegg was once more under fire, and the special -target of the bombardment was his estimate of -the bad roof in tunnel heading Number One.</p> - -<p>“You are losing your sand, Plegg, the same as -young Altman did,” Grillage was asserting bluntly. -“I took the chance you made for me this morning -and had a good look at that ‘fault’ while you were -holding Vallory at the portal. In spite of your -test-borings, and all that you’ve had to say about -it, I say the roof will stay up while we’re driving. -If the railroad company wants to concrete it after -we’re through, that’s a horse of another color. -We’re not hunting for a chance to throw good -money away.”</p> - -<p>“I know,” said Plegg, almost humbly.</p> - -<p>“How did you manage to get Altman out and -Regnier in?”</p> - -<p>“The change was made to-day and Vallory authorized -it. Altman went over my head last night -and took his complaint to Vallory, though I had -warned him not to. A little later Vallory fell -upon me and wanted to know why I hadn’t ordered -the weak spot timbered. I smoothed it -over as well as I could; gave him a hint of the -use Lushing might make of it if we should advertise -the weak spot by timbering it. He saw the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span> -point after a while and told me to shift Altman -and put Regnier in. But I had to lie to him to -bring it about.”</p> - -<p>“Bosh! That roof isn’t coming down. You’ve -been letting Altman’s nerves put one across on -yours!”</p> - -<p>It was just here that the first assistant took his -courage in both hands.</p> - -<p>“I know what I know; and you know it, as well, -Mr. Grillage,” he said. “The test drillings -showed up the conditions plainly enough, as I -wrote you at the time. That entire crevice is filled -with loose material that is certain to come down, -sooner or later. Why not go to the railroad -people frankly, show them what we’re up against, -and try to persuade them to let us concrete that -break on force account, with the cost of doing it -added to our estimate?”</p> - -<p>Eben Grillage’s answer to this was brutally -direct.</p> - -<p>“I’m running the business end of this company’s -affairs, Plegg, and when I want your help I’ll call -on you. But since you’ve gone this far, I’ll tell -you a thing or two. Lushing hasn’t been idle -since he climbed over the fence into the railroad -pasture. He’s been building prejudice against us -to beat the band. If we’d make the break you<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span> -suggest, I wouldn’t put it beyond him to claim that -we’d shaken that roof up purposely with dynamite -to get an excuse to run a force account job in on -them. Such things have been done, on other jobs, -and I shouldn’t wonder if Lushing had helped do -some of ’em. No; our safe play is to let sleeping -dogs lie.”</p> - -<p>“But if somebody should take the trouble to -wake this particular dog?” Plegg put in quietly.</p> - -<p>“Put Lushing on?” queried the big man at the -desk.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Who would do it?”</p> - -<p>“The bad roof is an open secret. The men in -the tunnel shifts all know about it.”</p> - -<p>“But none of our men will go to Lushing. -They hate him too well.”</p> - -<p>“There is one other man who knows about it, -too.”</p> - -<p>“Who is that?”</p> - -<p>“Black Jack Dargin.”</p> - -<p>“Huh! How did he find out?”</p> - -<p>“That door is pretty wide open, isn’t it? A -good many of the hard-rock men blow their -money in Dargin’s dives.”</p> - -<p>“Are you sure he knows?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, quite sure.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span>“He’d sell the tip to Lushing?”</p> - -<p>Plegg shook his head. “No, I don’t believe -he’d sell it. But he might give it.”</p> - -<p>“Spit it all out—don’t beat around the bush, -Plegg! What’s the inside of the deal? You -know more than you’re willing to tell, and that -isn’t a safe play for you to make at me!”</p> - -<p>Plegg ignored the implication and the threat -and answered only the direct question.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know the inside of the deal. But one -man’s guess is as good as another’s. Lushing -goes all the gaits in Powder Can; he did it while -he was with us, and he does it now, when he’s here. -I’ve thought, more than once, that he might have -some sort of a stand-in with Dargin. As the -matter stands now, Dargin can give us away any -time he feels like it.”</p> - -<p>As was his habit when he was putting his back -to the wall in any fight, Eben Grillage caught up -the paper-knife from his desk and began to test -the edge of it with a spatulate thumb.</p> - -<p>“I’m beginning to get at the inwards of this -thing,” he said slowly. “David was saying something -last night about wanting to clean out the -Powder Can messes. Dargin is going to hold this -tunnel business as a club. Vallory mustn’t meddle<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span> -with the nuisances; you must see to it that he -doesn’t.”</p> - -<p>“Vallory doesn’t take ‘seeing to’ very submissively.”</p> - -<p>“That’s all right; you keep him from meddling -with Dargin’s affairs.”</p> - -<p>“You won’t consider my suggestion about making -a clean breast of the tunnel situation to Mr. -Ford? As I’ve said, I am firmly convinced that -the stuff in the crevice will come down, sooner or -later. If it slides while we are still driving the -heading, no man who happens to be behind it will -get out alive.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want your suggestion—or your convictions -either, for that matter.”</p> - -<p>“Very well. It is your risk and you see fit to -take it. I have nothing more to say.”</p> - -<p>“Never mind the risk. Have you stopped the -calamity talk among the men?”</p> - -<p>“For the time being, yes. I raised the pay of -the shift bosses, and told them what it was for. -That is all in the game, and I’m crooked enough -by this time not to mind an additional bit of bribery. -But there is one thing that I’ve said before, -and I’ll say it again: it’s a damned shame to hoodwink -a fine young fellow like Vallory the way I’ve -been doing ever since he came on the job. He<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span> -has no idea that we are not playing square with the -railroad people; none whatever. And it’s just as -I told you last night; if a smash should come, it -will hit him harder than it will anybody else.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll take care of all the smashes,” growled -the tyrant, who was no longer tame. “All you -have to do is to keep your mouth shut and go on -sawing wood. You know very well why I want -Vallory kept in the dark; or at least, you know the -business reason, anyway. He is valuable on this -job only so long as he <i>is</i> kept in the dark. You -are the man to do it, Plegg, and you’ve got it to -do.”</p> - -<p>Plegg’s thin lips curled in a dog-like grimace.</p> - -<p>“If I don’t do it, you’ll revive that old criminal -charge against me on the Falling Water dam and -get me jugged—the charge that made me the -scapegoat for the use of rotten cement when you -and your man Homer were the responsible people,” -he said bitterly. “I know perfectly well -where I stand with you—and with the courts—Mr. -Grillage. But there are limits. One of -these days I may decide to tell you to go to hell—and -take whatever may be coming to me. Vallory -trusts me and I am abusing his confidence -every day and resorting to all kinds of shifts to -keep him from finding out the thousand-and-one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span> -crooked things we’re doing to beat the specifications -on this job. You say I know the business -reason why he was sent out here, but I don’t. -Why you wanted to put a clean young fellow like -David Vallory in charge of this job is beyond me.”</p> - -<p>“You’re duller than usual to-night, Plegg, and -that’s needless,” was the tyrant’s unfeeling retort. -“The chief reason is that David has put some capital -into this thing. President Ford knows Adam -Vallory, and the Vallory connections generally. -We’re capitalizing that knowledge. But that’s a -side issue. Coming back to this tunnel business: -we’re into it and we’ve got to go through with it. -The secret of that ‘rotten spot,’ as you insist upon -calling it, must be kept quiet so far as the railroad -people are concerned. Jack Dargin must keep it, -too, if you have to go and buy him outright. -Lushing will be out here in a few days, loaded for -bear. He has given it out cold that he is going to -do us up, and he wouldn’t ask for any better -chance than this tunnel roof tempest in a teapot -would give him. You may go now; that will be -all for to-night.”</p> - -<p>It was at this precise moment, when Plegg was -leaving the private Pullman in the construction -yard, that David Vallory was asking the daughter -of profitable contracts a pointed question.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span>“Is there ever such a thing as a middle course -between absolute right and absolute wrong, Vinnie?”</p> - -<p>“What a question!” she laughed. “Is that -what you’ve been thinking about all this time that -you’ve been letting me do the talking?”</p> - -<p>“But I’d like to know,” he persisted.</p> - -<p>“I imagine you have as much common sense, -and rather more conscience, than most men, David. -Why do you ask me?”</p> - -<p>“Because I know you are honest, and altogether -fearless.”</p> - -<p>“So are you,” she returned quickly.</p> - -<p>“No. I was once, I think; but, somehow, -things are changing for me. The old anchorages -are slipping away, and I can’t seem to find any new -ones. For example: I did a thing last night -which seems perfectly justifiable on one side, and -almost criminal on the other. I’ve been trying -all day to make up my mind as to whether I ought -to pat myself on the back, or go to jail.”</p> - -<p>“If you should tell me what you did, perhaps I -might be able to help your common sense, or your -conscience, or whatever it is that is involved,” she -suggested.</p> - -<p>David glanced at his watch. The hour was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span> -late, and there were but few of the Inn guests -remaining on the porches.</p> - -<p>“I’m keeping you up,” he said shortly. “Some -day, perhaps, I’ll take the lid off and let you see -the tangle inside of me; but it’s too late to begin on -as big a job as that to-night. Are you going to let -me show you over the plant to-morrow?”</p> - -<p>“What else is there for me to do in this wilderness -of a place?” she asked in mock despair. “I -shall most probably tag you around like a meddlesome -little boy until you’ll be glad to put me on the -train and send me home.”</p> - -<p>David was still holding the hand of leave-taking. -“If you don’t go home until I send you, -you’ll stay here a long time,” he said happily. -And then he went his way, forgetting, in this newest -prospect of joy, the troublesome underthought -which had been growing, like an ominous threat, -around the incident of the talk with Altman, and -its outcome.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XVII<br /> - - -The Tar-Barrel</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">IN any descent to Avernus it is not often given -to the wayfarer to recognize the point at -which he first begins to go down-hill. In the removal -of the careful Altman from the eastern -tunnel boring and the substituting of the reckless, -devil-may-care Regnier, David Vallory had succeeded -in persuading himself that he had merely -checked off an item in the day’s work, and was far -enough from suspecting that the item figured as -another milestone in the downward inclining path.</p> - -<p>But certain results followed in due course, and -a growth, not in grace. For one of the results, -David, being a shrewd-eyed master of his trade, -soon began to discover many of the things that -Plegg was trying to hide from him—the dishonesties -large and small by which unscrupulous Business -seeks to increase the margin or profit; to -discover them and pass by on the other side with -closed eyes. Another result was his changed and -changing attitude toward the Powder Can nuisance. -From regarding the wide-open mining-camp<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span> -chiefly as a moral menace, he was beginning -to look upon it more as an obstacle to progress—his -own industrial progress on the job. It was -sapping the strength of his working force, and -therefore—in spite of the contractor-king’s injunction, -which he took to be another of the little -kindnesses designed to make things easier for him—it -was to be abolished.</p> - -<p>In the field of the discovered dishonesties and -the closed eye, effect succeeded to cause with due -celerity. The conditions on a well-systematized -undertaking like the line-shortening project are -fairly telepathic. Almost immediately it began -to be whispered about among the gang bosses and -the men that the new chief was bent upon making -a record; the first assistant said so, and the first -assistant ought to know. This being the fact, the -bridle might be taken off—always with due regard -for the railroad watch-dogs, and for a decent concealment -from a chief who, for the look of the -thing, must be in a position to say that he knew -nothing whatever of cast-off bridles and the substitution -of loose halters therefor.</p> - -<p>When David Vallory began to realize that his -lowering of the standards was taken as an ell for -an inch by his subordinates and the rank and file, -it may be supposed that he was frankly appalled.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span> -But momentum counts for something. And back -of the push on the downward slide there was always -the debt of obligation owed to Eben Grillage. -The king of the contractors might be all that men -said he was; a hard bargain driver and a cold-blooded -buccaneer of business. But at the same -time he was Virginia’s father and the savior of the -Vallory good name.</p> - -<p>If these were the inner wrestlings, David had as -yet shared them with no one. Outwardly, at least -on the social side, he was measuring up to a rather -exacting standard set by Miss Virginia. Days -in which he took her on the construction locomotives -and put her in touch with the throbbings of -the feverish heart of the activities were intermingled -with summer evenings on the Alta Vista -porches. For some cause as yet unexplained, the -coming of his father and sister was delayed; and -for some other cause, into which his infatuation -forbade him to inquire, no one of Virginia Grillage’s -retinue of suitors had thus far intruded upon -the scene.</p> - -<p>“And still you are not entirely happy,” she -laughed, one evening, when he spoke of the comforting -dearth of the suitors.</p> - -<p>“What makes you think I’m not happy?” he -shot back.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span>“I can tell. You have something on your -mind.”</p> - -<p>He made an attempt to turn her aside from the -topic of the mind-burdens.</p> - -<p>“Haven’t I had you to myself for days and -days? I don’t know what more a man could ask.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that!” she mocked. “But, just the same, -you’re not happy.” Then she added, apparently -as an after-thought: “And neither am I.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t tell me it is because you are missing the -others,” he pleaded, still intent upon warding off -the more personal personalities.</p> - -<p>“I am missing them dreadfully; especially Lord -Cumberleigh and little Freddy Wishart. But -mostly it’s your ingratitude.”</p> - -<p>“My ingratitude?”</p> - -<p>“That is what I said. In the kiddie days you -used to tell me everything. But now you are shutting -me out. You lead me along just so far, but -beyond that I find myself talking to another David, -one that I know less and less every day.”</p> - -<p>For a time he was silent. Then he said: “You -are altogether right—as you always are, Vinnie. -There <i>is</i> another David; a man that I am trying -mighty hard to get acquainted with, myself. I -don’t know him well enough yet to introduce him -to you.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span>“That sounds almost uncanny. Is it meant to -be?”</p> - -<p>“It is uncanny. I can’t account for it—or him—or -wholly approve him. This other David isn’t -always a pleasant person to meet. Part of the -time I seem to recognize him in a vague sort of -way, and then again he becomes a total stranger; -a man of moods and impulses and perfectly barbarous -leanings.”</p> - -<p>“I know,” she said quietly. “I’ve seen him -now and then. I saw him to-day when we were -down at the Cross Gulch bridge. The foreman -had apparently been doing something that you had -told him not to do. You didn’t rave at him, but -for a second or two the other David looked out -through your eyes.”</p> - -<p>“How do you account for it—or him?”</p> - -<p>“How should I be able to account for it—or -him—if you can’t? Of course, there are always -general principles. If a watch has been keeping -good time and begins to go wrong, it is a sign that -some one has been tinkering with the works, isn’t -it?”</p> - -<p>“And you would suggest that some one has been -tinkering with my works?”</p> - -<p>“I know that you are different—and that I am -sorry.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span>“Have I been different this evening?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, part of the time.”</p> - -<p>“There is some little cause for the added grouch -just now. I’ve been neglecting a plain duty. -Did you notice the thinness of the gangs working -on the lower section when we were down there -to-day?”</p> - -<p>“Not particularly.”</p> - -<p>“They were thin. Yesterday was pay-day, -and a lot of those hand-to-mouth ‘wops’ are blowing -themselves in Powder Can. When I first -came here I saw that that mining-camp would -have to be cleaned up, but I’ve been putting it off. -Out of the goodness of his heart, your father tells -me to let it alone; he’d rather take his losses than -to have me shoulder another load, I suppose. -But the thing has reached the limit. I’m going -after it with a sharp stick.”</p> - -<p>On this particular evening they were sitting on -the western porch, a bit withdrawn, as usual, from -the groups of idling summer people. At the end -of the porch a low-branching fir grew so close to -the building that its nearer twigs, swayed by the -gentle breeze sliding down from the heights of -Qojogo, made little tapping sounds to break the -silence of the mountain night. Under the low-hanging -branches of the fir the big St. Bernard belonging<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span> -to the hotel proprietor was curled up; at -least David Vallory thought it was the dog—had -reason to think so since it was the St. Bernard’s -nightly sleeping-place.</p> - -<p>“Something ought to be done,” was the young -woman’s agreement with the sharp-stick suggestion. -“How will you go about it?”</p> - -<p>It was at this conjuncture that the sleeping dog -stirred uneasily, but David Vallory did not look -aside.</p> - -<p>“A man named Dargin is the head and front of -things over there. If he were run out, the smaller -fellows could be handled without much trouble. -I’ve been hesitating between two methods of -getting at Dargin. I suppose the simplest plan -would be to walk over there some day and tell him -that he can have twenty-four hours in which to settle -up his affairs and vanish.”</p> - -<p>Miss Virginia’s exclamation was a little shriek. -“The idea!” she said. “Do you suppose he -would go away for anything like that?”</p> - -<p>“He would if it were properly backed up; if I -should tell him, for example, that if I had the job -to do over, I’d do it with a gun.”</p> - -<p>“Mercy me! This is the ‘other David’ with a -vengeance! Do you really mean it?”</p> - -<p>“Why shouldn’t I mean it? If the argument<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span> -of force is the only one that would appeal to -him——”</p> - -<p>“But you’d be killed! I’ve heard the most -awful stories of this man. He wouldn’t give you -the slightest chance. Promise me that you won’t -do any such recklessly foolish thing!”</p> - -<p>“I shan’t, if you don’t want me to; though it’s -much the simpler way to go about it. The other -way is to write a personal letter to President Ford -of the railroad company. I don’t know him, -but my father does, and he is a good man—a -clean man. I am practically certain that if he -knew the conditions he’d use the railroad company’s -power to clean up the camp—the power -given it by the land leases. But that is enough -about the job and me and my little insanities. I -must hike back down the hill to my blankets. -I know you’d be yawning if you were not too -polite.”</p> - -<p>She got up to walk with him to the porch steps, -and at the good-night moment he said: “Where -are you going to let me take you to-morrow?”</p> - -<p>“Before I pick the place I’m going to ask you -once more why you have been so persistently refusing -to take me to the big tunnel. Don’t you -know that I simply adore tunnels?”</p> - -<p>Now David had his own good reasons for not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span> -having taken Eben Grillage’s quick-witted daughter -into the big bore where Regnier was driving -his hard-rock crews. Day by day the dangerous -‘fault’ was scattering its warnings in chips and -spallings of fresh rock thrown down from the disintegrating -roof—evidences which Regnier was -careful to remove before they should attract the -attention of the railroad inspectors.</p> - -<p>“A tunnel in process of construction isn’t a good -place in which to entertain inquisitive little girls,” -David evaded. “And this particular tunnel is wet -and mucky.”</p> - -<p>“That isn’t the reason why you haven’t taken -me there,” she asserted calmly.</p> - -<p>“How do you know it isn’t?”</p> - -<p>“Because I was in the tunnel this afternoon. -You had been making so many foolish excuses that -my curiosity was aroused. I took advantage of -your absence at the other end of things and made -Mr. Plegg take me. He didn’t want to; he was -just as gruff and impossible as he dared to be to -the big boss’s daughter. But I made him do -it.”</p> - -<p>It is easily conceivable that David felt cold chills -racing up and down his spine at the bare thought -of what might have happened during this unauthorized -visit—this, be it remarked, though he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span> -fancied he had settled it definitely with himself -that nothing was going to happen.</p> - -<p>“That was altogether wrong!” he said, in his -best workmanlike manner. “Don’t you know you -shouldn’t break discipline that way?”</p> - -<p>“Poof!” she retorted. “That is what Cumberleigh -would call ‘putting on side’. It’s a pity -if I have to ask permission when I wish to go -somewhere—and of you!”</p> - -<p>He shook his head in despair.</p> - -<p>“You are not a bit less wilful than you used to -be in the old Middleboro days. But, really, Vinnie, -you mustn’t go into the tunnel again. It’s—it’s -no place for visitors, or at least for women -visitors.”</p> - -<p>“You have a reason for saying that, and it isn’t -any of those you’ve been giving me,” she flashed -back.</p> - -<p>“Do you think so?” He had not yet reached -the point at which he could lie to her deliberately.</p> - -<p>“I know it. You haven’t any scruples about letting -me get mucky and grimy on any other part -of the work; you have rather enjoyed telling me -that my face needed washing.”</p> - -<p>“Never, unless it did,” he laughed, hoping to -find some way of diverting the talk from the unwelcome<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span> -tunnel channel. But Miss Virginia, with -an end in view, was not of those who may be easily -turned aside.</p> - -<p>“Then there was Mr. Silas Plegg,” she went on. -“I have had a good many escorts, first and last—and -some of them unwilling, no doubt—but Mr. -Plegg capped the climax. He was as nervous as -a cat after we got inside, and if I didn’t know him -so well, I should say he acted as if he were afraid -of something.”</p> - -<p>“He was,” Plegg’s chief confirmed grimly. “I -have given positive orders that no one, other than -those connected with the working shifts, be admitted -to the tunnel headings. Plegg knew he -would be in for a bawling-out when I should find -out what he’d done.”</p> - -<p>The young woman’s smile was a mocking little -grimace.</p> - -<p>“It wasn’t at all that kind of ‘afraid’; it seemed -to me more like just plain scare. While we were -watching the drills, Mr. Regnier pulled him aside -and spoke to him. They probably thought the -drills were making such a clatter that I couldn’t -hear what they said; but I <i>did</i> hear.”</p> - -<p>“Cuss-words?” David suggested. He was still -trying to maintain the good-naturedly playful attitude.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span>She nodded vigorously. “Perfectly hair-raising!” -she assured him. “Mr. Regnier said, ‘Why -in the’—a long string of sizzling things—‘do you -bring her here? Have you not of the senses the—blinkety-blank-blank—smallest -portion?’</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t hear what excuse Mr. Plegg made, -but it was evidently not a very good one, for Mr. -Regnier broke loose again: ‘<i>Sacre bleu!</i> you are -prip-pare to get yourself deeslike. <i>Hein!</i> you -shall chase her out of here so queek as <i>le bon Dieu</i> -will let you!’ You spoke of discipline a minute -ago. I shouldn’t think you’d allow one of the -under-assistants to talk that way to your second -in command. It’s disgraceful.”</p> - -<p>Answering the disciplinary gibe, David sought -once more to stave off the tunnel climax—if so be -the breaker of discipline were working toward a -climax. But again Miss Virginia proved herself -a true inheritor of the Grillage obstinacies and -persistences.</p> - -<p>“There is something the matter with that tunnel, -David, and I want to know what it is,” she -urged gravely.</p> - -<p>He told a half-truth merely because no plausible -or practicable falsehood suggested itself at the -moment.</p> - -<p>“It is a bit dangerous—in one place.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span>“But if it is dangerous for me it is dangerous -for the workmen. Why don’t you timber the bad -place?”</p> - -<p>He laughed. “What do you know about timbering -tunnels?”</p> - -<p>“You forget that I’ve been eating the bread of -the construction camps all my life.”</p> - -<p>“That’s so; I had forgotten.” In their excursions -together over the job it had given him a glow -of superecstasy to find that she was familiar with -many of the details of her father’s trade—and his -own; details which would have been purest Greek -to most women. Silas Plegg’s commendation was -amply borne out by the fact; she was, indeed, “a -pretty good little engineer, herself.” None the -less his lips were sealed in the matter of tunnel-timbering—or -the lack of it. He could not tell -her that, for the sake of her father’s profit account, -the weak roof must not be timbered. -Hence, he temporized.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps I shouldn’t have called it dangerous; -it isn’t so bad as you may be imagining. Timbering -is an obstruction to the work, and we always -get along without it if we can.” Then, resolute -to shelve the subject so high that it couldn’t be -reached again: “What has become of your father? -I haven’t seen him for two or three days.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span>“He is down at the car to-night. But he hasn’t -been well.”</p> - -<p>“Not well? I can’t think of him as not being -well. He always looks to me as if he’d never -known what it was to be sick.”</p> - -<p>“He hasn’t known very often, and for that -reason he never takes any care of himself. But -something over a year ago he scared me silly; he -had a touch of apoplexy. The doctors told me, -but they wouldn’t tell him. He got well in almost -no time, but since, I’ve been trying to make him -take things easy. That was one reason why I insisted -on coming out here with him this summer.”</p> - -<p>“He needs a complete rest,” said David.</p> - -<p>“Yes; and maybe he’ll get one when your father -comes. By the way—when are they coming—your -father and Lucille?”</p> - -<p>“See how association with you makes me forget -things!” he jested. “I knew I had something to -tell you. They will be here to-morrow. I had -a letter this morning.”</p> - -<p>“Are you ready for them?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“They are to have that cottage over there under -the pines, and they can take their meals here in the -hotel.”</p> - -<p>It was a perfect summer night, with the stars -burning like beacon-lights in the inverted bowl of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span> -the heavens, a crescent moon hanging low over the -saw-tooth outline of Qojogo, and the elevated -backgrounds sweeping in the blackest of shadow -to the high horizons.</p> - -<p>“The sublime majesty of it!” said the young -woman softly, commenting on the grandeurs. -“And to think that Lucille won’t be able to see it -when she comes! It’s heart-breaking, David!”</p> - -<p>“I think—I hope—the little sister doesn’t miss -what she hasn’t had since she was four years old,” -he returned, matching her low tone.</p> - -<p>“I know; though it seems as if she must. But -you are making her miss some of the things she -needn’t miss, David.”</p> - -<p>“I have been a poor plotter,” he confessed. -“I’ll admit that in getting them out here I was confidently -counting upon breaking it off for Oswald. -But it seems that I have only made matters worse. -The letter that I spoke of was from Herbert. He -has taken a partner in his law business and is giving -himself a vacation. He says Dad’s health is -still poor and it is hardly right for him to travel -with the care of Lucille; so he, Bert, is coming -along. I suppose I shall be obliged to read the -riot act to him again.”</p> - -<p>Miss Virginia was standing on the lowest porch -step and she drew herself up in combative protest.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span>“You will do nothing of the sort,” she declared, -with a touch of her father’s peremptory manner. -“If you do, I shall let Lord Cumberleigh and -Freddy Wishart know what a perfectly gorgeous -place this is in which to spend a summer vacation. -Good-night; it’s late and I’m going in.”</p> - -<p>When David had descended the hill to his bunk car -headquarters he found that Plegg had not yet -come in. But Jean Marie François Regnier was -there, dark-faced, and with the Gallic temper -coruscating.</p> - -<p>“Thees devil of hard-rock men!” he sputtered. -“They ’ave not so moch as the courage of a mice! -They say to me, ‘You s’all timber thees bad place -or shoot it down, or bygod we s’all strike.’ -<i>Sacr-r-re!</i>”</p> - -<p>As once before, in a similar crisis, David Vallory -sat on the edge of his bunk to take off his -lace-boots.</p> - -<p>“I’ll think about it, Regnier” he said slowly. -“You tell your men that you’ve put it up to me. -I’ll see you to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>After Regnier had gone, David went on mechanically -with his bed-time preparations. Then, -as if at the bidding of a sudden impulse, he hurriedly -put the boots and his coat on again and went -out to the rear platform of the small car.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span>When he saw that the lights were still on in Mr. -Grillage’s Pullman he dropped from the step and -went across the tracks to present himself at the -porter-guarded door of the <i>Athenia</i>.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XVIII<br /> - - -In Loco Parentis</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap2">ADMITTED to the office compartment of -the private car, David Vallory found its -occupant preparing to go up to the hotel; but at -the swing of the corridor door Eben Grillage sat -down again in the capacious swing-chair at his -desk and relighted the stub of his cigar.</p> - -<p>“Come in, David,” he growled not unkindly; -and before Vallory could speak: “Vinnie ’phoned -down a few minutes ago to tell me that you’re -looking for your father to-morrow. That sounds -mighty good to me. We’ll have another chance -to renew our youth. You don’t appreciate how -much that means; you’re too young. But some -day you will.”</p> - -<p>David drew up one of the wicker chairs and sat -down. The abrupt dip into the purely friendly -relations side-tracked his errand, temporarily; but -it also gave him time to gather himself for the -plunge into the weightier matter.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he assented; “I had a letter this morning. -There will be three of them; Dad and my -sister and Bert Oswald.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span>“You don’t mean John Oswald’s boy?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that is the one. Bert is a lawyer now, -in business for himself in Middleboro.”</p> - -<p>Eben Grillage wagged his head as one incredulous, -and the massive features were relaxed in a -reminiscent smile.</p> - -<p>“Well, well; the idea of that little red-headed, -blue-eyed chap of Oswald’s growing up to be a -man and a lawyer! How time does skip along!” -Then: “What’s he coming out here for? We -don’t need any lawyers on this job—not yet, I -hope.”</p> - -<p>“Bert says the trip is a vacation excursion for -him,” David replied, suppressing Oswald’s true -motive. Then he began on his own errand. “I -came over here to bother you for a bit of advice -on something that I’ve changed my mind about -half a dozen times or more. It’s that weak place -in the roof of heading Number One that Plegg -wrote you about before I came on the job.”</p> - -<p>“Well, what about it?”</p> - -<p>“At first I was willing to discount all the nervous -stories. I spent one entire summer in hard-rock -work, and I know how prone the drill crews -are to cry ‘wolf’ when they drive through something -a little different. But latterly I’ve been a -little anxious myself.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span>“I shouldn’t worry, if I were you,” said the big -man, with the lenient indulgence of a master for -a neophyte. “There’s a good old saying, David, -that you ought always to remember: Never -trouble trouble till trouble troubles you. I’ve had -a look at that tunnel roof, myself. You needn’t -lose any sleep over it.”</p> - -<p>“It looks a bit bad to me,” David made bold -to say. “And now Regnier tells me that the men -have gone from complaining to making threats.”</p> - -<p>“Threats?—what kind of threats?”</p> - -<p>“They say if we don’t timber, or shoot the bad -roof down, they’ll strike on us; which will be giving -open notice to the railroad people that there -is something wrong.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory did not know that, under conditions -similar to those he was presenting, the king -of the contractors was wont to explode in volcanic -wrath, consigning everybody remotely implicated -to the scrap-heap of the nerveless and the yellow-streaked. -Nor did he know that he was especially -favored when his chief consented to argue the -matter with him.</p> - -<p>“It has always been that way with the hard-rock -crews,” the master maintained; “they’re -not happy if they don’t have something to kick -about. As to the threat; Lushing and his inspectors<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span> -know—or ought to know—all that anybody -can tell them about that ‘fault’. It’s their -business to find out.”</p> - -<p>David felt that he was losing ground, but he -tried once more.</p> - -<p>“It has always seemed better to me to be safe -than sorry,” he ventured; and he was going on to -make the same suggestion that Plegg had made, -about taking the matter up with the railroad company -for a new contract, when the exponent of -modern business success broke in.</p> - -<p>“‘Safety first’ is a good idea, but it has been run -into the ground, like a lot of other good things, -David. You were telling me that your college -vacations were spent working for the railroads, -and there you would naturally get the safety idea -rubbed into you good and hard. I’ve seen railroad -engineers spend thousands of dollars—of -other people’s money—on precautions that will -never be tested while the world stands. When -you are working for your own pocketbook it’s -different.”</p> - -<p>“Yet I suppose we ought not to take too many -chances,” David constrained himself to say.</p> - -<p>“That is where you are wrong,” was the prompt -contradiction. “All business is a taking of -chances. The merchant who buys a stock of goods<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span> -in spring that he hopes to sell in the fall is taking -a chance. The lawyer who expects to charge a -fat fee if he wins his cause is taking a chance. -The farmer who plows and plants is taking a -mighty long chance on what the season and the -weather will do to him. Don’t you see how it -runs through everything a man can do?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but——”</p> - -<p>“Take our own job here and look at the hamperings. -I’m talking to you now as Adam Vallory’s -boy and not as a hired man. We were -ground to the limit on the bidding; and at every -turn the railroad people are trying to get more -than they bargained for—something for nothing. -It’s all right; that’s their part of it, you’ll say. -But in addition to all this we’ve got Jim Lushing -against us; a man who will stoop to any kind of -low, disreputable trickery to do us up. You may -say it’s dog eat dog, and so it is. But it’s business.”</p> - -<p>David took a leaf from his father’s book and -proffered it, not too confidently.</p> - -<p>“Dad was always so strong on the ethics of a -thing,” he began; but Eben Grillage interrupted -with a good-natured laugh.</p> - -<p>“Your father is a white-haired old angel; and -he is just about as completely out of touch with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span> -the modern business world as the other angels -are. There are no theoretical ethics in business, -David. If you don’t fight for your own hand, -you go to the wall, every time. That is one reason -why I offered you a job. I didn’t want to -see Adam Vallory’s boy settle down in the old -Middleboro Security and become a fossilized -back-number before he could grow a beard.”</p> - -<p>Here it was, deep in the personalities again, -and David Vallory would have been either more -or less than human if he could have disentangled -himself from the purely friendly relation.</p> - -<p>“You have been mighty good to me—good to -all of us,” he broke out gratefully. “If I’ve said -too much about that tunnel roof——”</p> - -<p>“Just you forget the tunnel roof and let it go. -It has stood up all right since we drove through -it, and you know what it would cost to shoot it -down and plug the hole. I want to see you succeed, -David, and you can’t do it if you are always -worrying about the other fellow’s side of -things. I only wish I had a boy like you of my -own.”</p> - -<p>“You have something vastly better,” said the -model son, with a smile.</p> - -<p>“Vinnie, you mean? Sometimes I think so; -and then, again, I’m sort of worried. When it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span> -comes right down to the jumping-off place, I’m -afraid she isn’t going to pick out a sure-enough -man. Look at the crowd she runs with! Half -of ’em are after my money, and the other half -haven’t got brains enough to fry, or sand enough -in ’em to keep the wheels from slipping.”</p> - -<p>David was far enough beyond the tunnel and -all other troubles now to be able to laugh happily. -It was reasonably evident that any obstacles -which might lie in his way in the sentimental -race were not such as might be raised by a purse-proud -father, and once again his heart warmed -toward the benefactor and foster-father who was -so generously overlooking the master-and-man -hamperings.</p> - -<p>“Virginia is your own daughter, Mr. Grillage; -you needn’t be alarmed about her,” he put in -loyally.</p> - -<p>“I know; but she’s got a raft of high-flown notions -about ethical culture—whatever that is—and -the brotherhood of man, and ‘tainted money’, -and all that—you probably know the whole rigmarole. -And when Vinnie sets her head on anything -you couldn’t switch her with a hundred-and-fifty-ton -crane and a five-yard steam-shovel -put together. I tell her what she needs is to -marry a man who is in the thick of the business<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span> -fight for himself—and for her. Then she’d -learn a few practical, every-day facts.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory felt that it would be almost a -breach of confidence—the confidence that had -been growing up day by day between Virginia -and himself—if he should let the talk dig any -deeper into the personalities in Virginia’s direction. -So he spoke again of his father’s coming, -and of his hope that the change of scene and -climate might prove beneficial.</p> - -<p>“We’ll make it beneficial,” declared the big -man, with a return to the genially masterful -mood; and after a few minutes more of the -friendly talk, David took his leave, warming himself -once again at the fires of henchman loyalty. -Who was he to set up the standards of his own -narrow convincements against the wisdom and -experience of a man whose success was equalled -only by his generosity and princely liberality? -And beyond this, had not Eben Grillage as good -as said that his consent was already gained if his -daughter’s choice should fall upon a man who -was <i>not</i> of the great army of idlers?</p> - -<p>Other phases of the talk emphasized themselves -for the young chief of construction after he had -seen the big boss striding sturdily up the steep -path toward the ridge-top hotel. In no uncertain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span> -sense his father’s benefactor had shown himself -willing to be a second father to the son, supplying, -from his wider experience of men and -things, the lacks of a too-narrow upbringing. In -an upflash of the newer partisanship, David could -smile at his own compunctions. In a world of -shrewd battlings one might easily theorize too -much. But deep down under this generalization -the new loyalty, born first of worthy gratitude, -was digging a channel for itself; the channel leading -now to blind fealty. The problem was no -longer a question of right and wrong in the abstract. -It was resolving itself into a grim determination -to hew doggedly to the line—the line -being the success, in a financial sense, of the Grillage -Engineering Company.</p> - -<p>With this determination in the saddle, David -Vallory did not return to his bunk car. A locomotive -was about to make the run up to the -tunnel with a supply of freshly blacksmithed drill-bits, -and he boarded it. The night breeze, slipping -down from the peaks of the higher range, -was like a draft of invigorating wine. The moon -had gone down, but the carbide flares and electric -arcs illuminating the scene in the huge cuttings -made the men and machines stand out in harsh -relief. Above the clatter of the locomotive the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span> -rapid, intermittent volley-fire of the steam-shovels -rose like the snortings of strange monsters; and -against the inky background of the western mountain -a single electric star marked the mouth of -the tunnel.</p> - -<p>At the portal David dropped from the step of -the engine and made his way, unaccompanied, into -the heart of the mountain. The thread of incandescent -bulbs starred the blackness, each illuminating -its little circle of the underworld. The -distant clamor of the drills ceased shortly after -David reached the spot where the threatening -roof was sprinkling its daily warnings. Posturing -solely as the cool-headed engineer and technician, -he would have decided at once that the -danger signals were growing more portentous—did -so decide in the inner depths of him. The -overhead rock had an appearance not unlike that -of a slaking lime bed, checked and crisscrossed in -every direction with fine seams and cracks.</p> - -<p>While he was still examining the roof and telling -himself that this was only one of the many -chances that had to be taken in the battle for success, -a man came out of the half-lighted darkness -of the farther depths and spoke to him. It was -Silas Plegg.</p> - -<p>“Getting your goat so that you can’t sleep<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span> -nights, is it?” said the first assistant, with his -teeth-baring smile.</p> - -<p>David ignored the reference to his responsibilities -and asked a question.</p> - -<p>“Any more strike talk among the men?”</p> - -<p>“A little; yes.”</p> - -<p>“What do you think about this roof by this -time? I know what you thought a few days -ago.”</p> - -<p>Plegg shook his head.</p> - -<p>“It’s not up to me to do the thinking. What -do you think?”</p> - -<p>“Frankly, Plegg, I don’t know what to say. -Just before you came up I was thinking that if -I were called in here as an outsider and asked -to give an opinion I’d say it was a risk—a damned -bad risk. But as a Grillage man, I’ve come -around to your point of view on the necessities. -We’ve got to trust to luck and bully it -through.”</p> - -<p>“Yes; if the devil doesn’t take too good care -of his own.”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean by that?”</p> - -<p>“I mean that it doesn’t lie with us any more -to keep this thing quiet.”</p> - -<p>“What? Have the inspectors caught on?”</p> - -<p>“Since we haven’t had a bunch of them jumping<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span> -onto us, I infer not. But there is at least one -warm enemy of yours who knows about it.”</p> - -<p>“Who is it?”</p> - -<p>“Black Jack Dargin.”</p> - -<p>David flew into a rage for the second time -that day.</p> - -<p>“Can’t I get a positive order obeyed any more -on this job?” he rasped. “How many times have -I got to say that nobody from the outside is to -be allowed in this tunnel?”</p> - -<p>“Dargin hasn’t been here,” said Plegg evenly. -“But he has had one of his steerers working here -as a mucker.” A pause, and then, in the same -even tone: “I guess you’ll have to give up your -idea of running Black Jack off the lot. It isn’t -worth while, anyway.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory was still angry. “I’ll be shot if -I’ll give it up!” he snapped. “I’ve got a string -to pull that will clean those Powder Can dives -off the map, and I’ll pull it to-night before I -sleep!”</p> - -<p>“And take the risk of Dargin’s giving this -thing away?”</p> - -<p>“I’m not considering risks just now! If that -tin-horn gambler thinks he can put something -over on us, let him try it.”</p> - -<p>Plegg turned aside and stooped as if to examine<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span> -a joint in the pressure pipe which led the -air from the compressor-plant at the portal to -the drills in the heading. When he straightened -up it was to say, “Have you seen Lushing?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“He is here at the front again; so Altman told -me this afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“Which means that from now on we’re to -have him around under foot!” gritted the angry -one.</p> - -<p>Plegg glanced back into the depths where the -<i>chug-chug</i> of the drills had ceased.</p> - -<p>“We’d better be moving out; they’re getting -ready to fire a round of shots,” he offered; and -after they were in the open air and the muffled -reverberations of the dynamite had come rolling -out to jar upon the midnight silence: “Lushing -will do more than get under foot. He is spiteful, -and when he gets ready to hit out, we’ll all know -about it. I’m only hoping that he and Dargin -won’t get together and compare notes.”</p> - -<p>They had started to walk down to the approach -track where the waiting locomotive was standing -before David made his comment on the Lushing -vindictiveness.</p> - -<p>“Plegg,” he said grittingly, “you know, and I -know, the particular reason why Lushing wants<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[250]</span> -to stick a knife into us. It’s running in my mind -that somebody ought to put him out of the game. -And if he strikes me just right, I’m the man to -do it!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XIX<br /> - - -The Ultimatum</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">ON the day succeeding David Vallory’s midnight -visit to the tunnel the guest list of -the Alta Vista Inn had a number of additions. -Upon the arrival of the stub train from Agorda, -David met the three for whose coming Oswald’s -letter had prepared him, and even in the moment -of welcomings saw his difficulties take on added -thorninesses. Oswald, his face set in lines of -frowning determination, was evidently anticipating -reproaches, or something sharper; but when -David saw his sister, and marked her quick little -groping for Oswald’s hands in the descent from -the car-steps, his heart smote him and he said -neither more, nor less, than was meet.</p> - -<p>A mountain motor hack was at the service of -the Alta Vista group for the drive to the top of -the ridge, and with the transfer in process, David -had time to observe the other arrivals. One was -a well-groomed young man with sleepy eyes and -a bored expression, and on one of the numerous -traveling-bags obstructing the foot space in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span> -car David read the initials “F. W.” Another of -the newcomers was a rather solemn-faced person -in clothes of English cut; he, also, looked bored, -and the monocle which he occasionally fitted to -an eye with grimaces provocative of subdued -mirth in the other passengers, gave him the appearance -of a weary owl contemplating sad and -depressive surroundings with a single eye. David, -sitting with his father and pointing out the -various phases of the big job as the car climbed -the ridge, needed no additional tags to enable him -to identify the pair on the opposite seat. Of Miss -Virginia’s retinue at least two, Mr. Frederic -Wishart and the Englishman, Cumberleigh, had -discovered her retreat.</p> - -<p>In the hotel dining-room, where he secured a -table for his own party, David ate his heart out -under an outward mask of the welcomer’s cheerfulness -when he saw Virginia making merry with -the owlish Englishman and the son of the multimillionaire -breakfast-food king at a table four -removes distant. Gone for him were the joyous -excursions over the work in the company of a -khaki-clad maiden whose interest in the technical -activities had been scarcely second to his own. -Gone, likewise, were the ecstatic evenings in the -secluded porch nook, shadowed by the wall-tapping<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[253]</span> -fir-tree, with no one to interfere and none -to distract.</p> - -<p>“Yes, we are getting along fairly well,” David -was saying, continuing the talk with his father -and Oswald and wrenching himself forcibly aside -from the heart-consuming spectacle four tables -away. “If nothing unforeseen happens, the -through trains ought to be running over the new -line before snow flies.”</p> - -<p>“Accidents, you mean?” queried the sweet-voiced -one who sat in darkness.</p> - -<p>“Accidents or other hamperings. Of course, -on a job as big as this there is always a chance -for the unexpected.” And he went on to enumerate -some of the hamperings which might cause -delay, carefully avoiding, however, any mention -of tunnels and caving roofs therein.</p> - -<p>Later, the table talk was led to other topics. -David wished to know how they had fared on -the long journey from Middleboro; he spoke of -the satisfaction it gave him to have the family -united again; melting a little in the glow of his -own galvanized warmth, he was even hypocritical -enough to descant upon the good luck which had -enabled Oswald to join the vacation party.</p> - -<p>After dinner business intruded. Plegg came -up to secure his chief’s decision upon certain foundations<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[254]</span> -which were being sunk for one of the -bridges, and David had to go with him to the -bunk-car office to consult the blue-prints. When -he was free to return to the Inn he found his -family scattered. Eben Grillage had swooped -down upon the friend of his youth and had spirited -him away; and it was only after some little -search on the porches that David discovered his -sister and Oswald.</p> - -<p>Coming up behind them unnoticed, he went -away again without intruding upon them. The -after-glow of another of the gorgeous sunsets -was spreading itself in the western heavens, and -Oswald was describing it for the blind girl. It -was the low-spoken admission of the blind one -that made David forbear to break in. “You think -I am missing it, Herbert, but that is not so. Sometimes -it seems as if I could see things through your -eyes better than if I had my own.”</p> - -<p>On another of the porches David had a glimpse -of Virginia and the two newcomers, and a dull -fire of resentment was kindled. The daughter of -the luxuries was evidently in her gayest mood, -and if there were any lingering regret for the -change from the technicalities and the duet evenings -in the shadow of the fir-tree her manner did -not betray it. David turned away when he saw<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span> -her holding a match to light Wishart’s cigarette. -The most infatuated of lovers may be permitted -a pang of disappointment at the discovery that -he has apparently been useful only as a convenient -fill-in.</p> - -<p>Having the social—and sentimental—nerve -centers thus painfully cauterized, David was fain -to fall back upon the job and its requirements. -There need be no lack of occupation. He knew -that Plegg would be hard at work checking the -estimate for the month; and there was always the -overseeing round of the night shifts, which one -or the other of them usually made before turning -in. But there was another urge which fitted in -better with the mood of the moment. Plegg’s -news, that Lushing was back at the head of the -inspection staff, and that Dargin was the possessor -of the tunnel secret, had not yet been acted upon. -In some less morose frame of mind, David Vallory -might have thought twice before yielding to -a sudden impulse to carry the war into the enemy’s -country. As it was, he turned his back upon -the hotel and a short half-hour later was entering -the single street of the mining-camp.</p> - -<p>The impulse which had sent him across the -basin was not very definite in its promptings. In -accordance with the minatory promise made to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[256]</span> -Plegg, he had written to the president of the railroad -company, asking that some drastic action be -taken in the matter of the nuisances. Something -might come of this, in time, but meanwhile Dargin -must be prevented from using his weapon. -How to go about the preventing presented a -rather difficult problem. Things which seem -measurably easy of accomplishment at a distance -are apt to take on new and difficult aspects in the -face-to-face encounter, and as David made his -way toward the Dargin lair where he had once -looked on with Plegg, he was still undecided as -to the manner in which the gambler should be -approached.</p> - -<p>As he soon found out, an approach of any sort -at the moment was plainly impossible. The bi-monthly -Grillage pay-day was still a fresh memory -and the town and its resorts were filled with the -money-scattering workmen. The Dargin place -was packed to the doors, and David had some -trouble in wedging himself into the gambling room -at the rear of the bar. Here the impossibility of -getting speech with Dargin became apparent. The -master gambler was dealing at the faro table, and -his isolation for the time being was safely assured -and secure.</p> - -<p>As David was shouldering his way back to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[257]</span> -street entrance for a breath of clean air a man -in the bar-room throng touched him upon the -shoulder, calling him by name. It was a prompting -of the morose demon in possession that made -him turn and stare at the questioner half-angrily -before he made answer. The man was well-dressed, -something below the middle height, and -rather heavy set, dark, and with a closely cropped -brown beard. The mouth outlined beneath the -tightly curled mustaches was full-lipped and gross, -and the bulging eyes, with a hint of a hard drinker -in them, evenly matched the sensuous lips.</p> - -<p>“Vallory is my name, yes,” David admitted, -and the bare admission was a challenge.</p> - -<p>“Mine is Lushing,” was the curt announcement. -“I suppose you have heard of me before this?”</p> - -<p>David did not say whether he had or had not. -An antagonism of a sort that he had never before -experienced was laying hold upon him so fiercely -that he scarcely dared trust himself to speak. This -was the man who had been audacious enough to -make love to Virginia, and who was now boasting -that he would break the Grillage Engineering -Company.</p> - -<p>“You were looking for me?” David said.</p> - -<p>Lushing bit the end of a cigar and struck a -match.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[258]</span>“Yes; I’ve been wanting to get hold of you,” -he rapped out, between puffs. “I want to have -a talk with you. It’s too noisy here; let’s go back -to one of Jack’s private rooms.”</p> - -<p>If David Vallory hesitated it was only because -the feeling of antagonism was growing by leaps -and bounds, and he was afraid to be alone with -the man—afraid for Lushing, not for himself.</p> - -<p>“Is it business?” he inquired curtly. Then he -added: “I’m waiting to see Dargin.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it’s business. And if you’re waiting for -Jack, you’ll wait a long time. When he sits in -at the game, he stays to see it out. Let’s get out -of this mess.”</p> - -<p>David reluctantly followed his guide to one of a -series of small card-rooms back of the bar. Lushing -snapped the electric light switch as one who -knew his surroundings intimately, and sat down -at the card-table.</p> - -<p>“What’ll you drink?” he demanded brusquely.</p> - -<p>“Nothing at all; I’m not thirsty.”</p> - -<p>Lushing pressed the bell-push for himself, and -when the bar-man came, ordered a whiskey-sour. -“Won’t you change your mind?” he suggested, -after the drink had been served; and when David -shook his head: “All right; every man to his own -taste. Here goes,” and he drained his glass.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[259]</span>More and more David was wishing himself -well out of it. There could be nothing but enmity -between him and this loose-lipped man across -the card-table, and the savage prompting to precipitate -an open conflict was becoming ungovernable.</p> - -<p>“If you’ll say what you wish to say,” he grated. -“My time is pretty strictly limited.”</p> - -<p>“Not if you’re waiting for Jack Dargin,” said -Lushing. “But perhaps you want to get back to -the hotel.” Then he added in a tone which seemed -to be intentionally insulting: “They tell me you -are one of Eben Grillage’s pets.”</p> - -<p>David’s anger flamed alive like a flash of dry -powder, but he was telling himself in many repetitions -that his time had not yet come.</p> - -<p>“We shall get along faster, and perhaps farther, -if you will cut out the personalities,” he said -sourly.</p> - -<p>“I was only repeating what I have heard. You -are young to be at the head of a job of this size, -and people have a way of explaining such things -to suit themselves.”</p> - -<p>“I might go into the repeating business myself, -if I cared to,” David was beginning; but Lushing -cut him off with a short laugh.</p> - -<p>“I know; some of them have told you that I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[260]</span> -have a personal quarrel with Grillage, and perhaps -some others have hinted that I wanted to -marry into the company and got kicked out for -my impudence. We’ll let that go. What was, is -ancient history, and we’re dealing with the here -and now. Your company is as crooked as a dog’s -hind leg, and if you don’t know it, you ought to. -Its days on this job are numbered.”</p> - -<p>“Threats are the cheapest things in the world,” -said David.</p> - -<p>“You will find that this is more than a threat. -You are a new man in the field, and I’ve nothing -against you—as yet. What I wanted to see you -for was to say to you that you’d better go while -the sledding is good.”</p> - -<p>“You are advising me to discharge myself?”</p> - -<p>“That’s it—quit—throw up the job—climb out -while you can get out with a whole skin.”</p> - -<p>“But why?”</p> - -<p>“Because if you don’t, you’ll be shown up with -the other pirates and sneak thieves.”</p> - -<p>David glanced again at the flushed face and -bibulous eyes. It was evident that the drink tossed -off while the bar-man waited was only the latest -of a series which had been begun much earlier -in the day.</p> - -<p>“You are in no condition to talk business with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[261]</span> -me or with any one,” he said bluntly. “Some other -time, perhaps, when you are entirely sober——”</p> - -<p>Lushing brought his fist down upon the card-table -with an oath.</p> - -<p>“No, young fellow; you’ll hear what I’ve got -to say now, and then you may take it straight to -the fish-eyed old buccaneer you’re working for. -Grillage hasn’t a dollar in this world that he has -made honestly, and you may tell him I say so. -Also, you may tell him that I’m going to make it -my business to hound him to his finish. When all -the crooked deals he has worked off on this job -are shown up, he’ll be lucky if he can stay out -of the pen. On top of all that, you may tell him -that his daughter will see the day when she’ll beg -me on her knees to let up—and I won’t do it!”</p> - -<p>David was upon his feet and his eyes were -blazing.</p> - -<p>“You’ve said enough, and more than enough!” -he broke out in hot wrath. “If you were not too -drunk to be held accountable, I’d cram your words -down your neck for that insult to Miss Grillage! -Past that, I’ll say, once for all, that Mr. Grillage -is more than my employer; he is my friend and -my father’s friend. Go to it when you’re ready, -and I shall know how to get back at you.”</p> - -<p>At this, Lushing whipped an automatic pistol<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span> -from his pocket and laid it upon the table, covering -it with his hand.</p> - -<p>“You make any bad breaks and I’ll drill you,” -he said viciously. “Take that for a back-sight -any time you feel tempted to beat me up. When -a man of your size comes at me, I shoot first and -shoot quick. I’m out to get your crooked company -and the man who owns it. You say you’ll -fight for him, and that puts you on the black list. -I’m fair enough to give you a tip, and I’ve given -it to you. If you don’t get off this job quick and -fade away, you’ll wake up some fine morning to -find yourself dead.”</p> - -<p>What little calm judgment David Vallory still -retained was telling him to go away; that there -was nothing to be gained by staying and listening -to Lushing’s threats. But by this time he was -well out of reach of any of the calm voices.</p> - -<p>“You’re taking it for granted that I’m unarmed, -and you are right,” he flashed back. “I don’t -care for your gun. You’ve laid the law down -for me, and now I’ll lay a little of it down for -you. Your inspectors will be welcome on the job -anywhere and at any time, but as for yourself, -you’ll stay away from it. If you show up in any -camp of mine, you want to bring that gun along<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span> -with you, for I shall take care to have one of -my own, and I’ll use it!”</p> - -<p>Lushing picked up the weapon and let it lie in -his palm.</p> - -<p>“Did the little Grillage tell you to kill me off -out of the way?” he leered.</p> - -<p>That was the final straw. David Vallory flung -himself across the card-table in a mad-bull charge, -carrying the table with him in his eagerness to -close with his antagonist. For a few breathless -seconds the battle was obstructed. David’s rush -had borne Lushing backward, tilting the chair in -which he was sitting until it brought up against -the wall and was crushed under his weight and -David’s and that of the overturned table. Too -furious to fight coolly, David tried to snatch the -wreck of the broken chair out of the way so that -he could get at the man entangled in it and held -down by the tipped table. One good punch he -got in, or thought he did, and then there was a -stunning crash, a fleeting whiff of powder smoke, -and the light went out.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[264]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XX<br /> - - -In the Ore Shed</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">WHEN David came to his senses he found -himself lying on bare ground in the dark. -There seemed to be a weight like that of an elephant’s -knee pressing upon his chest, and it was -with the greatest difficulty that he could get his -breath. Somewhere near at hand he could hear -sounds as of a woman sobbing. Next he realized -vaguely that his boots had been taken off. Groping -aimlessly in the dark, his hand found the -woman. She was kneeling beside him, and at his -touch the sobs became a choking cry.</p> - -<p>“Davie, dear; is it yourself that’s alive?” The -voice seemed to come from an immense distance, -but he heard it and recognized it.</p> - -<p>“You, Judith?”—then, jerkily: “What’s—happened—to -me?”</p> - -<p>“’Tis killed dead you are!” she whimpered.</p> - -<p>“Nothing like it.” The words were coming a -bit easier now and he did not have to stop and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[265]</span> -gasp between each pair of them. Also, he was -beginning to remember some of the events precedent. -“Did—did the house fall down on me?” -he asked.</p> - -<p>“Jim Lushing—the black curse be upon him!—he -shot you; didn’t you know that?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t remember. Whereabouts am I hit?”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t be knowing that at all, Davie; I’m -just this minute here. The shed watchman came -and told me that Lushing had killed you in Jack’s -place down the street. ’Twas scared they were -to have you found dead in that place, so they -carried you here.”</p> - -<p>“Scared?” said David.</p> - -<p>“For what your men might do; there’s a many -of them in town, and they’d have wrecked the -place. Where is it hurting you, Davie, dear?”</p> - -<p>“I feel as if somebody had given me the heart -punch—I believe that’s what the ring-fighters call -it. But it’s letting up a bit now. Where am I?”</p> - -<p>“In the Murtrie ore shed. They’d be putting -it up to Mike Drogheen, the watchman, to say -he’d shot you—taking you for an ore thief.”</p> - -<p>“And paying him well for it, I suppose.” He -was groping carefully for the wound and found -only a rip in the left breast of the brown duck -shooting-coat. There was no blood; only a tremendous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[266]</span> -soreness. He raised himself and sat up. -“If we only had a light of some sort,” he muttered.</p> - -<p>“Wait,” she said, and ran away to come back -within the minute with the watchman’s lantern. -“Poor old Mike’s hiding beyond in the blacksmith -shop, scared trembling at the lie he’s thinking -he’s got to tell. Don’t sit up, Davie; you -might be bleeding to death.”</p> - -<p>David was groping again, and this time, out -of the ripped pocket of the brown coat he fished -an engineer’s field-note book. Then he knew why -there was no blood, and why the body area behind -the pocket was as painful as if it had been beaten -with a hammer. Lushing’s shot had been a glancing -one, and the thick note-book had turned it -aside. There was little left of the book save -the perforated leather cover and a mass of torn -leaves.</p> - -<p>“The fellows who carried me off must have -been pretty badly rattled, not to have found out -that I wasn’t even scratched,” he commented.</p> - -<p>“’Tis no wonder. When Mike brought me -here, the doctor himself would have said you were -dead. There was no breath in you at all, and -your heart had stopped entirely.”</p> - -<p>“What became of Lushing?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[267]</span>“’Tis little I know, or care—the black dog! -Mike says they told him you’d half killed him.”</p> - -<p>“I think I meant to,” said David soberly. -“And after this, I suppose I’ll have to kill him—or -let him kill me. But that’s a future. He -knows what he’s got to do if he wants to keep -on living. Where are my boots?”</p> - -<p>She found the boots with the help of the lantern -and gave them to him. He put them on, -though the effort, and the lacing of them, made -him grit his teeth and swear.</p> - -<p>“What did they want to take my boots off for?” -he growled.</p> - -<p>“Don’t you know?” she asked. “’Tis that way -in the camps. They wouldn’t be letting anybody -die with his boots on, if they could help it.”</p> - -<p>“Rotten superstition!” he complained, and -swore again.</p> - -<p>The woman heard wonderingly.</p> - -<p>“’Tis you that have changed, Davie, till I’d -hardly be knowing you,” she said.</p> - -<p>“Yes; I’ve changed. And so have you, Judith. -Are you living with Dargin?”</p> - -<p>“I am not!”</p> - -<p>“But from what they tell me, you might as -well be. You’ve taken help from him.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[268]</span>“And if I have; ’tis nothing I’ve taken that an -honest woman might not take.”</p> - -<p>“You’re telling me the truth?”</p> - -<p>“I am. When did I ever lie to you, Davie?”</p> - -<p>“Never,” he conceded. But the main question -was yet untouched. “I know how you came here -to Powder Can—Plegg told me,” he went on -bluntly. “It’s no place for you, here in Powder -Can. You know that, don’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Where would I be going, then?”</p> - -<p>David held his head in his hands and tried to -think. With the return of his faculties the spirit -of morose disheartenment and impatient resentment -which had brought him to the mining-camp, -and had been the chief factor in precipitating -the quarrel with Lushing, was reasserting itself. -Since the bitter moods grow by what they feed -upon, he could see nothing in just perspective. -What a fool’s Paradise he had been living in -since the Grillage private car had come to anchor -in the construction yard! He had been crying for -the moon, and the moon had been kind enough to -shine for him—when there was no one else to -shine upon. But now there were others....</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” he said abstractedly, in answer -to her question as to where she should go. “It’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[269]</span> -a pretty tough old world, Judith.” Then, suddenly: -“Are you still blaming me?”</p> - -<p>“For what would I be blaming you?”</p> - -<p>“For chasing around with you in the old days -and giving you the idea that I was going to marry -you some time?”</p> - -<p>“That’s all past and gone, Davie, dear.”</p> - -<p>“Past and gone, maybe, but that doesn’t let -me out. I know you’ve got your father, but I -can’t help feeling more or less responsible for -you. It has worried me a lot.”</p> - -<p>“You shouldn’t be worrying.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t help it. Last year, after I went to -Wisconsin, I had a sort of plan worked out, and -I wrote you twice before I found out that you’d -left Middleboro. What you need—what you’ve -always needed, Judith—is something that you -could put your whole heart into, like—well, like -music. My notion was that you could go to some -good conservatory and study, and I was ready -to help you. Is it too late to consider something -of that kind now?”</p> - -<p>She shook her head. “’Tis much too late, -Davie.”</p> - -<p>“You mean that you’re tied up with this man -Dargin?”</p> - -<p>“We’ll leave Jack Dargin be. There’s the old<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[270]</span> -father; he’s not what he used to be, Davie; what -with mother dying, and me——”</p> - -<p>“I know,” he interposed hastily. “Plegg told -me about that, too. But here’s more trouble, -Judith. This man Dargin is your friend, or at -least I’m trying to believe that he has befriended -you, and I’ve got to chase him and his bunch out -of Powder Can. I came over here to-night to tell -him so. That muddles things still worse.”</p> - -<p>“You’d better be letting Powder Can alone.”</p> - -<p>“No, I can’t do that; it’s cutting too much out -of the efficiency record on the job. I can’t fight -Lushing and his outfit, and a booze joint as well. -And right there, you break in. From what you’ve -admitted, a lick at Jack Dargin is going to hurt -you worse than it will him. And I don’t want to -hurt you, Judith.”</p> - -<p>“You shouldn’t be thinking so much about -me.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I should; you need somebody to think -about you. I wish you’d consider that notion of -mine. You could take your father with you. He -is too good a workman to be throwing himself -away in a mine repair shop. He can get a better -job anywhere he goes. I could get Mr. Grillage -to help a bit in that direction. He knows everybody, -everywhere.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[271]</span>“He’d be wanting to know why,” she objected.</p> - -<p>“What if he does? I’ll tell him why.”</p> - -<p>“Tell him that you’re trying to help a poor -girl back to her feet?—and you wanting to marry -his daughter?”</p> - -<p>“Who told you I wanted to marry his daughter?”</p> - -<p>“There’s little goes on in the camps that we -don’t hear in Powder Can. There’s never a man -of yours to come over here without having his -say about you and the daughter of the man you’d -be working for. ’Tis well I know it was Vinnie -Grillage you were telling me about that night at -home when you were leaving. I’d not be messing -up your life and hers, Davie.”</p> - -<p>He forced a sour smile. “My part of it is -already messed up. Vinnie has been good to me—chiefly -because we were kiddies together, long -before I knew you, Judith. But that’s all there -is to it. There are two other entries now, and -I’m out of the race. Does that make it any easier -for you to think of my plan?”</p> - -<p>“It does not!” she flashed out, almost vindictively, -he thought.</p> - -<p>Since there seemed to be nothing more to be -said, he got upon his feet, scarcely realizing that -the girl stooped and put her arms around him and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[272]</span> -half lifted him. For a few seconds the dimly -lighted interior of the ore shed spun around in -dizzying circles, and the bullet bruise throbbed -like a whirlwind of hammer blows. But he found -he could breathe better standing.</p> - -<p>“I must get back to camp,” he said. “Have -you any idea what time it is?”</p> - -<p>“’Tis early yet.” Then, anxiously: “You -couldn’t be walking all that way, Davie!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I can; I’ll be all right in a few minutes -more. Can you show me the way out of this -place? I don’t want to go through the town -unless I have to.”</p> - -<p>She did not show him; she led him, with a -strong arm under his to steady him. At the -wagon gate at the rear of the ore yard he would -have sent her home, but she would not go. “’Tis -not fit you are to be going alone,” she said; and -in spite of his urgings she went on with him, -choosing a path that skirted the shoulder of the -hill and left the town to the right. In sober silence -they walked on until half of the distance -between Powder Can and the construction camp -lay behind them. Then David Vallory made his -urgings mandatory.</p> - -<p>“You must go back,” he insisted. “I’m quite all -right, now. If Dargin should hear of this——”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[273]</span>“What is it Jack Dargin can do to you?” she -interrupted shortly.</p> - -<p>“It is something about the work; something -that he knows. If he should tell Lushing——”</p> - -<p>She interrupted again. “What has Jack got -against you that would make him be giving you -away to Jim Lushing?”</p> - -<p>“I told you a little while ago. I’m trying to -wipe him and his man-traps off the map, and he -doubtless knows it.”</p> - -<p>“Jack Dargin would only be respecting you the -more for that. Sure, it’s himself that knows how -bad Powder Camp would be needing a cleaning -up.”</p> - -<p>“But, good heavens, girl! Dargin is the head -and front of the lawlessness himself!”</p> - -<p>“’Tis so; but that makes no difference. You -can’t tell what’s in the heart of a man, Davie—and -I know Jack Dargin; that side of him that -not you, nor any one else knows. He’d fight you; -maybe he’d kill you. But he’d respect you the -more.”</p> - -<p>There was a grim humor in the paradox, but -David Vallory was not in the mood to appreciate -it.</p> - -<p>“He’ll be gunning for me; and so will Lushing. -But I don’t care; I’ll fight the whole outfit, if I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[274]</span> -have to. I was fool enough to go into that dive -to-night unarmed, but that won’t happen again. -Lushing had pulled a gun on me; that was one -reason why I jumped him. The next time——”</p> - -<p>“’Tis little you’d know about the shooting, -Davie.”</p> - -<p>“What I don’t know I can learn. Now you -are going straight back home from here ... no, -not another step with me. Good-night—Glory—and—God -bless you!”</p> - -<p>Once again, if David Vallory could have had -a small modicum of the gift of omniscience; could -have detached his astral body, let us say, to send -it back over the road he had just traversed; there -would have been revelations, puzzling, perhaps, -but still not without interest to one fighting -against the powers of darkness. At the side of -the road the detached messenger would have -found a woman, crumpled in a forlorn heap on -the cold ground, and sobbing as if her heart would -break. Still farther back, in the mining-camp itself, -the astral David might have looked into a -shabbily luxurious upper room where a curious -confirmation of Judith Fallon’s prediction touching -the contradictory motives which may lie side -by side in the human heart was staging itself.</p> - -<p>After the fight in the card-room and its supposed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[275]</span> -tragical outcome, the down-stairs game-room -had been hastily closed. As on the night of -Plegg’s eavesdropping, the upper room held two -occupants, and they were the same two whose -voices had reached the first assistant through the -partly opened gallery window. And, as before, -the lop-shouldered man was the bearer of news.</p> - -<p>“By cripes! I guess I know what I’m talking -about?” he snarled. “I’ve just come from there. -He’s gone, I tell you; lit out—skipped. The -watchman swears he don’t know nothin’ about it—didn’t -go near the shed after they took him -there.”</p> - -<p>The master gambler, again with his hands in -his pockets, and again tilting gently in the wooden-seated -chair, nodded his approval. “I’m glad of -it,” he said.</p> - -<p>“The hell you are! And him tryin’ to butt in -on your game and run you out?”</p> - -<p>“That’s what I said”—curtly.</p> - -<p>“And you ain’t goin’ to use that dope that you -pulled out o’ me at the end of a gun?”</p> - -<p>“Not in a thousand years, Simmy. Haven’t -you been with me long enough to know that I’m -no damn’ worm to crawl up a man’s leg and bite -him to death? You say the young duck’s alive -and has made his get-away. That’s all right. If<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[276]</span> -he comes at me like a two-fisted man, maybe I’ll -send him word that he’d better come heeled. But -that’s all.”</p> - -<p>“You won’t take the dope and do him up the -way I was tellin’ you?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing doing.”</p> - -<p>“Well, then, by cripes! I know somebody that -will take it—and pay good money for it!” shrilled -the disappointed one.</p> - -<p>“Grillage, you mean?”</p> - -<p>“No; I tried him, and what do I get? He tells -that big, black nigger porter of his to put me out -of the car. I’ll show him—him and Vallory at -the same clatter!”</p> - -<p>The master gambler got up, as if to signify -that he had heard enough.</p> - -<p>“Better look out that you don’t get stepped on—like -other worms—Simmy,” he warned; and -then, reaching for the hanging lamp over the table -to turn it out: “Get a crawl on you; I’m going to -shut up shop.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[277]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XXI<br /> - - -The Other David</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">WHEN David Vallory, plodding doggedly, -reached the construction camp upon his -return from Powder Can, he found Herbert Oswald -waiting for him at the steps of the office -bunk car.</p> - -<p>“Everybody had gone to bed in the hotel, and -I thought I’d straggle down to see if I could find -your headquarters,” was the way in which the -young lawyer accounted for himself. “If you -are tired and want to turn in, you are at liberty -to shoo me away.”</p> - -<p>“No,” said David crisply. “Come on in.”</p> - -<p>Oswald groped his way into the dark interior -of the car at the heels of his crusty welcomer and -found a seat on Plegg’s unoccupied bunk while -David was lighting a lamp. At the blowing-out -of the match, the lamp-lighter stood staring -gloomily down upon his late-in-the-evening visitor.</p> - -<p>“I know pretty well what you’ve come to say,” -he thrust in gruffly. “Suppose you say it and have -it over with.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[278]</span>Oswald looked up in mild surprise.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t come here to scrap with you, David. -And, so far as I know, I haven’t done anything -to make you run at me with a chip on your shoulder. -Of course, I know you are thinking I ought -not to have come out here, but——”</p> - -<p>“What I may think doesn’t seem to cut any -figure,” said David, with the air of a man who -would rather precipitate a quarrel than avoid one. -“I told you exactly and precisely what I thought -a year ago as I was leaving Middleboro, and I -haven’t had any reason to change my mind.”</p> - -<p>Oswald, ready enough in any legal matching of -man against man, seemed helplessly nonplussed.</p> - -<p>“You have changed rather ferociously,” he remarked. -“I don’t quite know how to take you. -If you are giving me a fair shot at your present -self, you are not the David Vallory I used to -know.”</p> - -<p>“No, I am not the same. A little while ago I -was trying my best to kill a man; I shall do it -yet, one of these days, if he doesn’t keep out of -my sight. But go on and say what you’ve got -to say.”</p> - -<p>“It amounts to this: for a whole year I’ve kept -faith with you—honest faith—and every day of -that year has been a day of heartburnings and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[279]</span> -regrets. Your attitude toward your sister is entirely -unreasonable. There have been blind wives -before this, and they have been happy wives—and -mothers, for that matter; at least, their blindness -hasn’t necessarily been a bar to happiness. -A year ago, if I had spoken, I should have spoken -only for myself: now I am speaking for Lucille -as well as for myself.”</p> - -<p>“All of which is entirely beside the question,” -was the irritable rejoinder. “I know Lucille, and -however far she has allowed herself to go in the -matter of learning to care for you or for any -man, it’s a sure thing she has never thought of -marriage, even as a possibility. If you propose -it, two things will happen; she will wake up to -the fact that she has been mistaking love for -friendship; and she will realize that she has to -refuse the love. After that, her life will be nothing -but a miserable, repining blank.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t agree with you at all,” objected the -lover, argumentatively ready to defend his own -point of view. “If you were the David Vallory -I once knew, you would listen to reason; at least, -to the extent of giving your sister a voice in ordering -her own future. I have come to the fork -of the road, David, and I am here to say it to -you, face to face. I need Lucille, and she needs<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[280]</span> -me. When the time is fully ripe I shall ask her -to be my wife. You put me under bonds of a -certain sort a year ago, but now I shall refuse -longer to be bound by them; I repudiate them -absolutely.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory sat down, and for a time the -silence of the small car interior was broken only -by the clash and jangle of a shifting-engine in the -upper yard. Finally the decision came.</p> - -<p>“Oswald, Lucille is my sister, and I am going -to stand between her and the life of heartbroken -wretchedness you are planning for her. You give -me your word that you will not break over while -you are both here together, and upon that condition -you may stay in Powder Gap as long as you -see fit.”</p> - -<p>Oswald stood up and his lips were pale.</p> - -<p>“And if I refuse to submit to any such unreasonable -and humiliating condition—what then?”</p> - -<p>David Vallory frowned up at his one-time -schoolmate.</p> - -<p>“You say that you have been bound by your -promise of a year ago, but that you now repudiate -it; as a man of honor, you are bound by it -until I release you.”</p> - -<p>“You are not answering my question.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll answer it. The stub train going east leaves<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[281]</span> -here every morning at seven-thirty; I’ll give you -a day or two in which to think it over—with the -promise still holding good.”</p> - -<p>“And if, at the end of the day or two, I still -refuse to recognize your right to interfere?”</p> - -<p>“This is not Middleboro; and, as you have remarked, -I am not the David Vallory you used to -know. If you still decline to listen to reason, -you’ll take that train and get out of here—if I -have to hog-tie you and throw you into the baggage-car!”</p> - -<p>“<i>David!</i>”</p> - -<p>“You needn’t beg; I mean it. I am neither -drunk nor insane. You have said your say and I -have said mine, and that settles it.”</p> - -<p>The young lawyer took a step toward the door. -But with his hand on the knob he stopped and -faced about.</p> - -<p>“So this is what Eben Grillage has done for -you, is it?” he grated. “Like master, like man; -with the doctrine of brute force for your code. -I wouldn’t have believed it possible for the son -of your father, David.”</p> - -<p>“I have had the brute force all along, only I -haven’t had sense enough to apply it,” was the -surly rejoinder. “But it’s never too late to mend. -Good-night—if you’re going.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[282]</span>“I am going, but not before I have finished -saying my say. For the present, and purely because -I don’t consider the time fully ripe, I shall -postpone asking your sister to marry me. But -I refuse utterly and definitely to be bound by your -tyrannical conditions.”</p> - -<p>Shortly after Oswald had gone, David Vallory -rummaged in Plegg’s kit-locker until he found a -blued service revolver in its holster. He hung it -under his coat by the shoulder-strap, and then dug -further for a supply of cartridges. Thus armed, -he took to the open again. The shock of the -bullet bruise was still unsteadying him, and the -bruise itself was hurting savagely, but he would -not give up to it. At Brady’s Cut he found -Plegg.</p> - -<p>“The war is on,” he announced briefly, when -he had taken the first assistant aside.</p> - -<p>“You have seen Lushing?” Plegg asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes; and he gave himself away: says he -means to break us. We had it back and forth for -a few minutes, and then he pulled a gun on me.”</p> - -<p>“Good Lord!” said Plegg. “Where were you?”</p> - -<p>“In one of Dargin’s card-rooms. We mixed -it. I couldn’t stand for the gun-pulling—and -some other things. He tried to plug me, but I’m -hoping he got as good as he sent. Anyhow, I’ve<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[283]</span> -cleared the air a bit. I’ve taken the liberty of -borrowing your extra forty-five, and I’m going -loaded for him after this. I’ve told him what he -may expect if he shows his face on this job again -while I’m here.”</p> - -<p>“For heaven’s sake! I—well, it isn’t my put -in, but you’ve rather got me going, you know. -Can you—er—do you know how to use the forty-five?”</p> - -<p>“Not very well; I did a little pistol-practice in -Florida. But to-morrow you’ll take me back in -the hills and show me a bit. Just now we’ve got -other fish to fry. We’re going to fight Lushing -on his own ground. He says we’re a gang of -thieves, and if we have the name, we may as well -have the game.”</p> - -<p>“But even if you’ve bluffed him into staying off -the job, he still has the ear of the railroad people.”</p> - -<p>“That’s all right; I’ll fight him to a knockout, -all the way up to Mr. Ford—if he wants to carry -it that far. In the meantime we’ll show him, and -the men who are paying his salary, that we know -how to hit back when they call us thieves. Pass -the word to our staff, and let the fellows pass it -on to the foremen and subcontractors. They’ll -know how to cut the corners, and how to keep -the railroad inspectors from finding out—no<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[284]</span> -coarse-hand work, you know, Plegg, but every -dollar that can be squeezed out of this job from -now on. That’s what we want.”</p> - -<p>Plegg was shaking his head like a man in a -maze; and the new chief—new now in his attitude -as well as in the shortness of his service—went -on.</p> - -<p>“About that weak spot in the tunnel; have you -found out who gave it away to Dargin?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; a fellow named Backus, who worked in -one of the muck shifts. The men say he was a -steerer for Dargin’s faro-game.”</p> - -<p>“What has become of him?”</p> - -<p>“He’s fired: I suppose he’s in Powder Can.”</p> - -<p>“He is the man we want. I’m going to put it -up to you, Plegg, to find him and grab him before -he gets next to Lushing. When he is found, -buy him, and shoot him out of the country—anywhere -where he’ll be out of Lushing’s reach until -we get this job done.”</p> - -<p>“And if he can’t be bought?”</p> - -<p>“Lock him up somewhere and keep him from -talking. Now about the bad roof itself: that is -where Lushing can hit us the hardest. Give Regnier -his tip, and do it to-night. Tell him to have -the tunnel re-wired for lights so there won’t be a -bulb anywhere near that soft spot. Tell him to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[285]</span> -keep his men quiet if he has to raise the pay of -every man in the three shifts. Then make him -understand that the rule against the admission of -outsiders must be rigidly enforced, if he has to -maintain an armed guard at the portal.”</p> - -<p>“That won’t keep Lushing’s inspectors out,” -Plegg suggested mildly.</p> - -<p>“I’m coming to that. Regnier must see to it -that some man of ours who can be trusted is -within reach every time an inspector goes in. We -don’t care to hurt anybody needlessly, but if one -of our hard-rock bullies should happen to get -into a scrap with the man who chances to discover -that ‘fault’—well, you know what I mean. Mr. -Grillage says that place is perfectly safe, and -we’re going to take his word for it.”</p> - -<p>The first assistant nodded, and the slow smile -bared his teeth and wrinkled at the corners of -his eyes.</p> - -<p>“I certainly owe you an apology,” he said, with -the faintest suggestion of irony in his tone; “several -of them, in fact. There was a time when I -fancied you were going to be too good—to revert -to that morning in the Pullman a year ago; and -I imagine Mr. Grillage harbored the same inadequate -notion. You’ll want to be getting back to -headquarters, I suppose: there is an engine due<span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[286]</span> -down from the tunnel—there it comes—I’ll flag -it for you.”</p> - -<p>David caught the eastbound engine, but he did -not stop off at the headquarters camp. That was -because Crawford, the concrete bridge builder, -was at the yard platform to climb to the cab with -a bit of news. Under new orders, inspectors had -been placed at the three bridges in Crawford’s -section, and they were in relays so that there was -hardly an hour in the three shifts when one of -them was not on duty. Crawford was looking -for Plegg, but when he found that the first assistant -was unattainable, he unburdened himself to -the chief, setting forth the hard conditions.</p> - -<p>“Well?” said David, while the engine halted.</p> - -<p>“It’s—er—making it sort of difficult for me,” -said Crawford, unwilling to go much deeper into -the matter in the face of Plegg’s inhibition forbidding -detail talk with the boss.</p> - -<p>“Difficult? How?”</p> - -<p>“Why—er—there can’t very well be two bosses -on a job, and when I give an order and Strayer -countermands it——”</p> - -<p>“Do you mean to say that Strayer is trying to -boss your job?”</p> - -<p>“It amounts to that.”</p> - -<p>David turned to the engine-driver.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[287]</span>“Run us down to bridge Number Two, Pete,” -he ordered, and the heavy construction locomotive -lumbered down through the yard and out -over the switches.</p> - -<p>The run was a short one, and at the bridge -approach David and his assistant got off to walk -over to the new structure. The bridge plant was -well lighted by carbide gas flares, and prominent -on the form stagings was the big figure of Strayer, -the railroad inspector. David Vallory called up -to him.</p> - -<p>“Come down here a minute, Strayer; I want to -talk to you,” he said.</p> - -<p>When the railroad engineer joined him he led -the way to the cement platform, where the noise -of the mixer was less insistent.</p> - -<p>“What’s the idea, Strayer?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>The big man did not affect to misunderstand.</p> - -<p>“You know perfectly well, Vallory; or if you -don’t, you ought to. Crawford’s scamping these -bridges shamelessly. He is scanting the ‘mix’, -and also the reinforcing steel. I’ve caught him -at it.”</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t you complain to me?”</p> - -<p>“What the devil good would it do? I’ve yelled -at you people for everything, and you patch one -hole only to leave another.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[288]</span>“I suppose you have your orders to come here -and take the direction of the work out of the -hands of my man?”</p> - -<p>“I have orders to see that you don’t pull any -more bones on us, if I have to eat and sleep on -the job to prevent it. And I’m like little old -Casabianca, Vallory; I obey orders.”</p> - -<p>“Who gave you the orders?”</p> - -<p>“Lushing: he’s back now.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you know that he’s a damned crook, -himself, Strayer?”</p> - -<p>The square-jawed, bearded inspector laughed -grimly.</p> - -<p>“Set a thief to catch a thief, eh?” he grinned. -“Between us two, Vallory, I haven’t much use for -Lushing; none at all, personally. But he’s the -boss.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know where he is now?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; he’s over at Powder Can: makes his -headquarters in the Hophra House.”</p> - -<p>“I take it you’re not particularly struck on -standing over Crawford this way, day and night, -are you?”</p> - -<p>“Well, if you put it that way, I’m not. Crawford’s -a good boy, and he means well. See here, -Vallory, if you’ll give me your word that you’ll -make the boy live up to the specifications on these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[289]</span> -bridges, I’ll do what I can to keep Lushing off -of you. Is it a go?”</p> - -<p>David was thoughtful for a moment, and then -he said: “I’ll do better than that, Strayer. I’m -needing another engineer to handle the tunnel approach -work on the other side of the mountain. -I know what the railroad company is paying you, -and I’ll better the salary. This is straight goods. -What do you say?”</p> - -<p>The big man shook his head slowly.</p> - -<p>“You oughtn’t to make a break like that at -me, Vallory, and you know it. It’s too bald, and—well, -dog-gone it all, I thought better of you!” -The inspector turned and walked away with his -head down and his hands in his pockets. David -Vallory waited until he had passed the corner of -the cement house, and then, at a signal from Crawford, -he sprang upon the bridge stagings.</p> - -<p>“We’re up against it,” said the bridge builder -hastily; “that’s why I went after Plegg. We’ve -reached the point where we’ve got to place the -top span reinforcement, <i>and I haven’t got the -steel</i>!”</p> - -<p>“How is that?”</p> - -<p>“It’s this way,” Crawford explained, still more -hurriedly. “When we begun on this job, Plegg -and I figured the plans over and he—that is, we<span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[290]</span> -concluded that it was simply wasting steel to put -it in as thickly as the plans called for—why, the -factor of safety was the whole cheese! So we -agreed to cut the steel down. If you can’t get -Strayer away from here for an hour or so, I’ll -have to stop the run and take the risk of the concrete’s -setting in the forms while we’re getting -some more steel down here.”</p> - -<p>A month earlier David Vallory would have -known what to say, and would have said it, without -garnishings. But now he merely nodded and -walked down the runway and across to the cement -house where Strayer was still pacing back -and forth.</p> - -<p>“This situation needs threshing out from the -bottom up, Strayer,” he began crisply. “Suppose -you get on the engine and go up to headquarters -with me where we can fight it out to some sort -of a conclusion. I’m tired of this business of -scrapping with you fellows all the time.”</p> - -<p>“I’m sorry, Vallory, but Lushing is the man -you’ll have to talk to.”</p> - -<p>“You’re his second, aren’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but you know the rules; I don’t have -anything to say when he is on the job.”</p> - -<p>“Well, he isn’t on the job. He had a racket -with a man over in Powder Can a couple of hours<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[291]</span> -ago, and they tell me he’s knocked out for the -present. That puts it up to you, again, doesn’t -it?”</p> - -<p>“Why, yes; I guess so—if he’s—how badly is -he hurt?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know; pulled a gun on a man, and -the man jumped him.”</p> - -<p>Strayer shook his head.</p> - -<p>“That’s bad; neither Mr. Ford nor Mr. Maxwell -will stand for anything like that. Just between -us two, Vallory, Lushing has always spent -a lot of time in Powder Can—did it while he was -with your people.”</p> - -<p>“I know. But now that he’s out of it, temporarily, -at least, why can’t we get together and -straighten up some of the kinks? You know how -exasperating it is for these fellows of mine to -have somebody standing over them with a club -all the time. Come on up to camp with me and -we’ll hammer it out.”</p> - -<p>Crawford had stopped his concrete mixer because -he had to; no more concrete could be poured -until the steel bars were placed. The crisis had -come, and while Strayer hesitated, David Vallory, -the new David, took the deep-water plunge into -the stagnant pool of open trickery. Crawford’s -men were bringing the scanted supply of steel<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">[292]</span> -bars, getting in each other’s way to kill time. -David stepped over to the steel pile and counted -the pieces.</p> - -<p>“Say, Crawford!” he called out; “you haven’t -got enough steel here! Heavens and earth, man! -don’t you know any better than to run right up -against a shortage like this?”</p> - -<p>Crawford gasped twice, and then he understood. -“Ding bust it, Mr. Vallory, I ought to -be fired! Mr. Strayer, here, has been keeping -me so busy that I haven’t looked at that steel -pile. What are we going to do?”</p> - -<p>“Do? You’ll just have to place what you’ve -got, and hold your mixer until we can get some -more down to you. I’ll go back to the yard and -see that it’s hustled out. Come on, Strayer; let’s -take a ride.”</p> - -<p>The crisis was past and the big inspector -climbed on the engine with the Grillage chief.</p> - -<p>“I’ll take an hour off with you, Vallory, after -I’ve seen that steel put on the car,” he laughed; -and at a sign from David, the throttle was opened -and the locomotive clattered away up the grade.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">[293]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XXII<br /> - - -At Bridge Three</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap2">AFTER the dash in the card-room at Black -Jack Dargin’s place, and its immediate and -transforming consequences, Silas Plegg, shrewd -observer and most efficient of assistants, looked -confidently for trouble, and went about prepared -to stand by his chief when the trouble should -materialize. It was during Lushing’s administration -as the Grillage chief of construction that the -Powder Can kennels had begun to flourish, and -it had been broadly hinted that he had been a -sharer in the profits. Rumor had it that he was -still hand-in-glove with the kennel-keepers; and -with such a lawless contingent at his command, -the ex-chief became—at least in Plegg’s estimation—a -man whose enmity was to be feared.</p> - -<p>Besides keeping a brotherly watch over his -chief, Plegg contrived to keep in touch with the -Powder Can end of things. Lushing, he learned, -had been laid up for a matter of two or three -days as the result of the brief card-room battle, -and he was still making his headquarters in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[294]</span> -Powder Can tavern. Thus far he had not been -visible on the work, though from the increased -activities of his inspectors it was apparent that -he was directing a searching campaign of investigation.</p> - -<p>Vallory’s men were required to dig try-holes -beside foundation walls of abutments and retaining -masonry to prove that the foundations went -deep enough. Test-borings were made in the -fills to ascertain their density. The slopes of the -hill cuttings were surveyed and re-surveyed to -make sure that the angles agreed with the map -notes. In one of the bridges, Strayer—this time -with apologies to David Vallory—had holes -drilled to verify the placing of the reinforcing -steel. In uncounted ways the investigation was -pushed; to the discomfort of all concerned—and -also to the sharpening of the wits of those who -had something to conceal.</p> - -<p>Throughout this interval David Vallory gave -an excellent imitation of a man hard at work, -riding the line incessantly, encouraging, driving; -plotting with his subordinates to outwit the inspectors, -and keeping a vengeful eye out for -Lushing. In due time it began to be whispered -about that “the little big boss,” as he was affectionately -called by the rank and file, not only “had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[295]</span> -it in” for Lushing, but that he had fairly bluffed -the chief inspector off the job. It was known that -he went armed; and on at least one occasion when -he disappeared for an hour or so in Little Creek -gorge, there was some one to report that he had -spent the time practicing at a target with a -“forty-five.”</p> - -<p>Naturally, with so many working crises thickly -bestudding the days, David had little time to -climb the hill to the Inn; or, if he had the time, -he seldom took it. Duty visits he paid, indeed, -to his father and sister in the tree-sheltered cottage; -but these were brief—crabbedly brief when -Oswald chanced to be one of the cottage’s inmates. -On all of these excursions he avoided the -hotel, with morose offishness in the saddle. None -the less, he now and then got a glimpse of Virginia—and -chanced to see her always in company -with one or both of the men upon whom the desirable -moon—unattainable by those who cry for -it—seemed now to be shining its brightest.</p> - -<p>It was after one of these brief evening visits -to the cottage under the pines that David found -Plegg waiting for him at the foot of the ridge.</p> - -<p>“Just to make sure you shouldn’t be taken off -your guard,” said the first assistant; and without -further preface: “Lushing is on his way up here<span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">[296]</span> -with a bunch of men sworn in as deputies. Crawford -has just ’phoned in from bridge Number -One.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the object?”</p> - -<p>“Nobody seems to know, but I have a guess -coming. Burford, the new transit-man working -with Strayer, gave me a hint. He’s a soak, and -yesterday, after he’d been hitting his pocket-bottle -pretty freely, he let out a word or two about -something sensational which was to follow this -epidemic of inspection we’ve been having.”</p> - -<p>“Didn’t describe it, did he?”</p> - -<p>“No; he was so plainly ‘lit up’ that I didn’t -pay much attention to him. But since, I’ve been -piecing the odd bits together. This dead set that -the railroad force has been making at us can -have only one object—to get evidence of some -sort against us that will hold in court.”</p> - -<p>“Well?”</p> - -<p>“I shouldn’t wonder if they have the evidence.”</p> - -<p>“The tunnel?”</p> - -<p>“No; that is safe, as yet, I believe. It is in -the bridges. There is a certain specified penalty -for jerry-building bridges that are to be used for -human traffic, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Bosh!” said David. “These little two-by-four -spans we are throwing over the Powder River<span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[297]</span> -would carry anything you could pile upon them; -you know they would, Plegg. And they’d do it -if they didn’t have a single bar of steel in them.”</p> - -<p>“Sure!” said Plegg, with a dry smile. “But -we’d better be getting over to the car and the -’phone. If those temporary sheriffs are coming -up here, we ought to know it.”</p> - -<p>“Lushing won’t come,” David averred, as they -walked together toward the bunk car office.</p> - -<p>“Think not?”</p> - -<p>“He’d better not.”</p> - -<p>The service telephone was buzzing when they -entered the car. Plegg picked up the receiver and -held it to his ear. After a time, he said, “It’s -Crawford again. He is at Number Three bridge -now. The Lushing crowd had a break-down with -their gasoline push-car, and Tommy skipped -across the hill in the hair-pin curve and got to -Number Three ahead of them. He says he -talked to one of the men who came back to Number -One to borrow a monkey-wrench. The man -was foolish enough to let the cat out of the bag -and brag about it. The bunch is coming up here -to arrest you and Mr. Grillage. Crawford wants -to know what he shall do with the few minutes -he has at his disposal.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory took three seconds for reflection.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">[298]</span>“Tell him he has a brain of his own, and now -is a good time to use it,” he said shortly. “And -you may add that we’d like to buy a little delay -if there is any in the market.”</p> - -<p>Plegg repeated the message, rounding it out -with a demand for a quick report as to results. -The waiting interval was remarkably short. -When the ’phone buzzed again, Plegg answered -with a single word. “Shoot!” he said, and David, -sitting in the opposite bunk, could hear the -minified repetition of the reporting voice without -being able to distinguish the words. Crawford -was brief, as befitted a man of action; and when -Plegg returned the receiver to its hook he was -smiling grimly.</p> - -<p>“You’ll have to hand it to Tommy for being -able to make a hurry use of what little brain he -may have,” he commented. “He slipped a stick -of dynamite into the stone bin at Number Three, -and now he says there are about forty tons of -crushed rock spilled on the track for the gasoline -car to climb over. And the car is not yet in -sight.”</p> - -<p>“That is better,” said David coolly. “They’ll -get around the obstruction, no doubt, but it will -hold them for a little while. Now for our part -of it. You once remarked that the law doesn’t<span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[299]</span> -reach this far from the nearest court-house. We -don’t know, officially, that these men are coming -as officers, and we’ll act upon that ignorance. You -go over to the bunk shacks and turn out a handful -of Brady’s day-shift men. Tell them to bring -pick-handles. Then go to the light plant and tell -the night engineer to listen for a pistol shot. If -he hears one, he is to pull the switch on the yard -circuit and leave us in the dark.”</p> - -<p>“So that the Lushing crowd won’t be able to -identify any of us?”</p> - -<p>“So that we shan’t be able to identify them—as -officers.”</p> - -<p>“Once more I’m apologizing to you,” said -Plegg, in mild irony. “Anything else?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing, except that you are to pick your -men, and let it be understood that the raiders are -after Mr. Grillage and me. If you pick the right -men, they’ll fight for that. I’ll run over to the -<i>Athenia</i> and get Mr. Grillage out of the way. I -don’t want to have him mixed up in this, even -by implication.”</p> - -<p>As Plegg went one way, David went the other, -hurrying across to the private Pullman, which he -knew was occupied because it was lighted. When -he pushed through the vestibule swing-door he -found the contractor-king poring over an estimate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[300]</span> -sheet. Taken for an instant off his guard, the -big man looked haggard and care-worn. It was -this that made David begin with a sober protest.</p> - -<p>“You put in too many hours down here, Mr. -Grillage,” he said, much as he might have said it -to his own father. “How about that fishing trip -you were going to take with Dad?”</p> - -<p>“We’re going, pretty soon, now,” was the gruff -reply. And then: “David, you’re right; I’ve got -too darned many irons in the fire, and some of -’em get too hot, and some of ’em freeze. Hurry -up and get through with this Short Line crucifixion, -so you can take hold and blow some of -the other bellowses for me.”</p> - -<p>“‘Crucifixion’ is right!” said David, with a -workmanlike scowl. “I haven’t worried you much -about the job lately, but the railroad people—with -Lushing egging them on, of course—have -been mighty active for the past few days—perniciously -active, I’d say. I didn’t know what was -up until just now; though I’ve been ready for -anything. It seems they’ve been trying to find -a peg upon which to hang a legal fight, and they -think they’ve found it—just what sort of a peg, -I don’t know.”</p> - -<p>“Legal, you say; do you mean criminal?”</p> - -<p>“Plegg thinks it may be; based on alleged<span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">[301]</span> -jerry-work on the bridges, or something of that -sort. Anyhow, Lushing is on his way up here -with a gang of subsidized deputies, and Crawford -telephones that the object of the raid is to arrest -you and me.”</p> - -<p>“Huh!” grunted the giant, straightening himself -in his chair. “Going to try that, is he?”</p> - -<p>“So Crawford says. I came to ask you to go -up to the hotel and let me handle it.”</p> - -<p>“What are you going to do?”</p> - -<p>“Some few days ago I met Lushing and we had -a—er—well, a little disagreement, you might call -it. He——”</p> - -<p>“I heard about it,” interrupted the boss of -bosses, with a satisfied grin. “You beat him up -and warned him to stay off the job if he wanted -to keep his hide whole. I owe you something for -that, David; it did me a whole lot of good. But -go on.”</p> - -<p>“Plegg’s getting a few of Brady’s Irishmen together, -and we’ll take care of these raiders. We -don’t know, in any legal way, that they are deputies, -and we shall act accordingly. What I need -is to get you out of it; so far out that you won’t -know anything about it, if any one should ask -you after the fact.”</p> - -<p>Eben Grillage gripped the edge of his desk<span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">[302]</span> -with both hands and pulled himself out of his -chair. David marked the forced muscle-strain -that went into the effort, and immediately saw a -curious change come over the massive face with -its staring eyes and hanging, dewlap jaws.</p> - -<p>“Run away from a fight, David? I guess—it -would be the—first——”</p> - -<p>David leaped, and was in time to ease the big -body back into the swing-chair before it could -crumple and fall. For a few seconds Eben Grillage -sat motionless, purple-faced and gasping. -Then he reached into a desk drawer, found some -tablets in a druggist’s box, and swallowed one. -The effect was almost instantaneous.</p> - -<p>“It’s all right, now, David,” he mumbled, a bit -thickly; “just a little spell. But it’s telling me -that my fighting days are over, I guess. Lucky -I’ve got you, my boy. Stick me up on the hill -path, and I’ll keep out of your way and give you -a free hand.”</p> - -<p>David did more than was required. Precious -as time might be, he went all the way to the Inn -with his charge, and at the leave-taking laid filial -commands upon the man whose right to command -him he had never questioned.</p> - -<p>“This settles it, Mr. Grillage,” he protested -warmly. “To-morrow you’ll take Dad and your<span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">[303]</span> -fishing tackle and get out of here—go away and -stay away until we get this railroad snarl straightened -out. Go on in, now, and go to bed. Plegg -and I will do the needful.”</p> - -<p>With this parting injunction he fled down the -ridge path and took command of the little group -of huskies that Plegg had assembled beside the -bunk car.</p> - -<p>“Any more news?” he demanded; and Plegg -answered.</p> - -<p>“Another ’phone from Crawford. He is blockaded -in the Number Three bridge office shack, -but he got a bit of talk through before they cut -his ’phone wire. Lushing has taken our night -shift off the bridge and set it at work shoveling -the crushed stone off the track. Tommy says they -will be able to get through with their gas-car -within the next few minutes.”</p> - -<p>“Good. We won’t wait for them,” said David -quickly. “Get that engine up there at the coal -chute, and couple an empty flat-car ahead of it, -and another behind it. Hurry!”</p> - -<p>The order was carried out briskly, and when -the oddly made up train slowed to a stand beside -the bunk car, the pick-handle squad climbed upon -the rearward car, and the chief and his first assistant -sprang into the engine cab. “Down the line!”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">[304]</span> -was David’s order to the engine-driver, and the -train moved off, gathering such momentum as the -roughly surfaced construction track permitted.</p> - -<p>In the make-up of the train the engine was -backing, with an empty flat-car for its pilot. Being -a construction machine, the locomotive had a -headlight at either end. With the yard switches -left behind, David reached up, uncoiled the short -signal-bell cord, and shouted into the ear of the -big Irishman at the throttle. “Listen, Callahan: -I’m going up on the coal to keep a lookout and -flag for you. If I give you one bell, clamp your -brakes and make an emergency stop; if I give you -two bells, let her have all she will take. Understand?”</p> - -<p>The Irishman nodded; and David, with Plegg -at his heels, climbed over the coal to a lookout -position on the rear end of the tender. By this -time the scenery, or so much of it as the starlight -revealed, was unreeling itself rapidly on either -hand, and in the beam of the tender-carried headlight -the straight-away stretches of the track -rushed up in quick succession to be shot to the -rear under the roaring wheels. “Lord!” yelped -Plegg; “if we should meet ’em on a curve!——” -but David Vallory made no reply. He was gripping -the bell-cord and staring steadily down the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">[305]</span> -track ahead, following the double line of rails to -the farthest reach of the spreading cone of light.</p> - -<p>As it chanced, the meeting point with the gasoline-driven -push-car was not on a curve. On the -mile-long tangent which marked the approach to -bridge Number Three the converging lines of -the rails in the distance met in a dark blot; a -moving blot that shot quickly into the glare of -the headlight. Plegg saw a series of black dots -tumbling grotesquely from the blot to right and -left, heard a sharp double clang of the signal in -the cab behind him, and felt the sudden lurch of -the tender as the engine’s throttle was opened. -“<i>Duck!</i>” was the command shouted in his ear, -and the next instant there was a crash and the -air was filled with flying wreckage.</p> - -<p>Luckily, no wheel of the attacking train was -derailed, and a minute or so later, Callahan, in -obedience to a signal from his chief, was braking -the heavy “mogul” to a stop beside Crawford’s -dynamited rock pile. The place was light with -flares, the concrete-pouring on the bridge had been -resumed, and Crawford came down the staging -runway with a broad grin on his boyish face.</p> - -<p>“I saw a little of it from the far end of the -staging,” he chuckled. “How many of ’em did -you get?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">[306]</span>“Not any of them, I hope,” said David Vallory -soberly, as he swung down from the engine -step. “It was meant for an object-lesson—not a -murder. Now talk fast, Crawford: how many -of them are there, and who are they?—besides -Lushing?”</p> - -<p>“Seven in all, besides the boss-devil; and they -looked to me like Brewster toughs, or hold-up -men, or something of that sort.”</p> - -<p>“Armed?”</p> - -<p>“Sure!—one of ’em ran me off the staging with -a gun.”</p> - -<p>“Brewster toughs, you say?—are you sure they -are not Powder Can toughs? Lushing would -have to take them to Brewster to have them -sworn in as deputies—which would account for -their coming from down the line.”</p> - -<p>“By George—that’s so! I did see a bunch of -plug-uglies going down on the stub train yesterday, -come to think of it.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory turned upon Plegg. “There -you are,” he said. And then to Crawford: “We -are going back to headquarters now, and maybe -they’ll give us a scrap as we go by, and maybe -they won’t. If they don’t show up for us, they -may come down here and make trouble for you. -How about that?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">[307]</span>“I’ll take my chances,” returned the bridge expert -cheerfully. “I have my old pump-gun now; -it was in the office shack, and I didn’t have sense -enough to go and get it before they came up and -fell on me. I’ll stand ’em off, all right, if they -try to stop the job again.”</p> - -<p>“You said one of them came to you at Number -One to borrow a monkey-wrench: what did -he say?”</p> - -<p>“He was just joshing me a few lines while I -was looking for the wrench; said I wouldn’t have -any bosses to-morrow, because they’d both be in -jail. I asked him who he meant by ‘both’, and -he said, ‘the big one and the little one.’ I took -that to mean you and Mr. Grillage.”</p> - -<p>“You probably guessed right; but the man was -a liar. We are not going to jail—any of us. -And before I forget it: you’ve done a good job -to-night, Crawford, and I shall see to it that you -get credit where it will do you the most good.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t need any credit; it’s all in the day’s -work,” laughed the cheerful bridge builder; then, -as his chief was turning to climb into Callahan’s -cab: “Oh, say—I meant to ask you: have you -seen Lushing since you—er—since he went into -retirement a few days ago? He’s a plumb sight! -You broke his nose; turned it around so it points<span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">[308]</span> -east when he’s going north. Gee! but he looks -fierce!”</p> - -<p>“It ought to have been his neck,” was the brittle -rejoinder, and then the double-ended train -pulled out for the return.</p> - -<p>There was no demonstration at the point where -the abandoned gasoline car had been demolished, -though David had the train stopped and got off -with his pick-handle squad to beat the covers. -The straight piece of track was on the river bank, -with a wooded hill on the left from which a few -determined snipers might have wrought havoc -with the beaters, but no man was found and no -shot was fired.</p> - -<p>Plegg spoke of the probabilities as the train -proceeded up the valley.</p> - -<p>“We are through with them for to-night,” was -his prediction. “It is eight miles to Powder Can -or the Gap, and only four to Agorda. They’ll -go east instead of west.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” David agreed; “now that they know -they can’t bluff us. That is what I meant to do; -turn the bluff the other way around. I guess we -did it.”</p> - -<p>The first assistant, isolated in his seat on the -fireman’s box, held his peace until the train came -to the end of its run in the headquarters yard.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">[309]</span> -But on the way over to the bunk car with his -chief, he had a word to add, and added it.</p> - -<p>“Now that Crawford has dumped the wheel-barrow -and spilled all the garden truck, I can -speak of a thing we’ve all known since the story -of your manhandling of Lushing drifted into -camp. Lushing is peacock-vain; no stage-door -johnnie was ever more so. Even when he was -here on the work he kept his mustaches curled, -his beard trimmed to a hair, and his clothes looking -as if he had just stepped out of a tailor’s shop. -You’ve spoiled his beauty for all time, and he’d -draw and quarter you for it if he could.”</p> - -<p>“As a matter of fact, I hit him only once; it -was all the chance I had before his gun went off. -But I don’t care what I’ve done to his face, Plegg. -As I remarked to Crawford, I’m only sorry I -didn’t break his neck.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps it would have been safer if you had,” -was the quiet suggestion. “As it is, he’ll never -forgive you, and he won’t be satisfied with any -light revenge. Which brings on more talk. I -have a notion that this ‘arrest’ business to-night -was pure bunk. I don’t doubt that Lushing had -gone through all the forms and had sworn out -the warrants. Doubtless, he was going to make -a bluff at serving them. But, Vallory, I’ll bet a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">[310]</span> -little round gold dollar with a hole in it that the -real play was to make you put up a fight so that -you might righteously be killed in resisting an -officer of the law.”</p> - -<p>Again David said, “I don’t care,” and Plegg -went on calmly. “If that is the play, we’ll have -to take measures accordingly. You mustn’t run -around on the job unless I’m with you. If you -will pardon me for saying it, you are not quite -quick enough on the draw, as yet; and you haven’t -learned to hold the other fellow’s eye while you’re -doing it. That is about all the difference there -is between living and dying when it comes to a -show-down, you know.”</p> - -<p>They had boarded the bunk car and were preparing -to turn in. David looked up from the -boot-unlacing and his eyes were bloodshot.</p> - -<p>“Damn your grannying!” he flared out savagely. -“When I need a wet nurse I’ll advertise -for one!”</p> - -<p>A few seconds later he looked up again, to -find Plegg chuckling softly.</p> - -<p>“What the devil are you laughing at?” he -snapped.</p> - -<p>The chuckle expanded into the first assistant’s -slow, half-cynical smile. “And once, not so many -months ago, I was idiotic enough to cherish the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">[311]</span> -notion that you might be too good!” he exclaimed, -in mock self-derision. And with that, he rolled -himself in his blankets and turned his face from -the light.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">[312]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XXIII<br /> - - -The Killer</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">ON the morning following the raid which had -failed to connect, Eben Grillage carried out -his promise to side-track business and go a-fishing. -David made the necessary arrangements, stocking -the <i>Athenia’s</i> larder with provisions from the -camp commissary, borrowing a tent and camping -outfit from one of the grade subcontractors, and -otherwise bestirring himself to expedite the departure -of the anglers.</p> - -<p>With the <i>Athenia</i> out of its berth and safely -on its way to some unannounced destination in -the upper Timanyoni, a handicap of a sort was -removed; a handicap and a restriction. As David -phrased it for Plegg, he had gotten two non-combatants -out of the range of the guns and the -field was now clear for whatever battle of reprisals -might be threatening.</p> - -<p>Of the restriction removed he said nothing to -Plegg or to any one. There be certain secret -curtains of the heart which are not to be drawn<span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">[313]</span> -aside for alien eyes to view what may lie behind -them; and as yet, not even to himself would David -admit that he was no longer able to see eye -to eye with his father. None the less, it was with -a distinct sense of relief that he waved good-by -to the pair standing on the rear platform of the -private Pullman as Callahan’s “mogul” snaked it -out through the yard to make a flying-switch -coupling with the outgoing stub train.</p> - -<p>It was on this same morning that Plegg reported -for the third time his inability to find the -man Backus, and the report was made while he -and Vallory were climbing the mountain on their -way to make an inspecting tour of the western -slope activities, including the tunnel drift which -was slowly gnawing its way to meet Regnier’s -bore from the eastward.</p> - -<p>“I’ve had a dozen ‘trusties’ looking for him -and they have combed Powder Can and every -other mining-camp in a ten-mile radius,” was -Plegg’s summing-up of the search. “He has -disappeared as completely as if the earth had -swallowed him.”</p> - -<p>“If we could only be sure that the earth <i>has</i> -swallowed him,” growled the one for whom the -restrictions had been removed. “But there is -another fork to that road, Plegg. Maybe Lushing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">[314]</span> -has him hidden out somewhere. Had you -thought of that?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; that seemed to be the most reasonable -explanation of his disappearance. But in a very -short time I discovered that Lushing was also -looking for him.”</p> - -<p>“You are sure of that?”</p> - -<p>“Quite sure. I have it from a number of different -sources. He has even gone so far as to -offer a reward—not publicly, of course, but the -word has been passed among our workmen.”</p> - -<p>“Which means that Lushing knows Backus has -something to sell. We mustn’t let Lushing beat -us to it, Plegg. You haven’t stopped your investigating -machine, have you?”</p> - -<p>“Not at all. I have even gone Lushing one -better and raised his bet on the reward—though -you didn’t authorize me to spend any real money.”</p> - -<p>“You did right; and I’ll see to it that the -money is forthcoming when it is needed.”</p> - -<p>Here the matter rested for the time, and the -two men spent the entire day on the western slope, -tramping over the work on the desert cut-off, visiting -the sub-headquarters in Lost Creek basin, -and taking the lost motion out of the job wherever -it was found. Cartwright, the sub-chief in -general charge of the over-mountain work, was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">[315]</span> -making good progress, though he, too, complained -bitterly of the obstructing activities of the railroad -inspection staff. Lushing, as it appeared, -had not yet been over the range since his return -from the East, and Cartwright, a nervous little -man with a harsh voice and a choleric eye, was -explosively profane when he was told the story -of the raid that failed.</p> - -<p>“Some of us will have to ‘get’ that beggar -yet, Vallory!” he rasped. “It’s gone a long way -past any business vigilance on his part; he is simply -a vindictive scoundrel, and he is making a -personal fight upon the entire Grillage outfit. If -he shows up on this side of the range, he’d better -bring a bodyguard with him; that’s all I’ve got -to say!”</p> - -<p>On the return from the desert inspection, David -and his first assistant had supper at Cartwright’s -headquarters on Lost Creek, and afterward -crossed the mountain by starlight. Plegg -dropped out of the procession of two on the descent -to the eastern tunnel entrance, ostensibly -to see how Regnier was getting along, but really -because the dangerous roof drew him with a -mysterious fascination that was always making -him go out of his way to take another look -at it.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">[316]</span>David Vallory kept on down the mountain -alone, and in due time, with a number of brief -pauses at the various working points, tramped -into the Powder Gap yard at an hour not far -from midnight. Learning from the yard boss -that there had been no new developments during -the day, he went across to the bunk car and let -himself in. There was a fragrance of good tobacco -smoke in the darkened interior, and as he -struck a light he was wondering what member of -the staff had been making free with Plegg’s carefully -hoarded store of “perfectos.”</p> - -<p>It was not until after he had snapped the lamp -chimney into place, and was turning the wick to -its proper height, that he had a shock that sent -his hand quickly to the grip of the weapon slung -by its shoulder-strap under his coat. Sitting -quietly on Plegg’s bunk, and still smoking the -cigar which had perfumed the stuffy interior of -the little car, was the swarthy, cold-eyed master -gambler of Powder Can.</p> - -<p>Dargin was the first to break the surcharged -silence.</p> - -<p>“Been waiting for you,” he said shortly; and -then: “You needn’t be feelin’ for that gun. If -I’d wanted to croak you, you’d ’ve been dead a -whole half-minute ago.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">[317]</span>David Vallory sat down on his own bed, the -shock spasm subsiding a little.</p> - -<p>“I hope I haven’t kept you waiting very long,” -he ventured, not too inhospitably.</p> - -<p>“About a half-hour. But I had some smokes -in my poke, and the waiting didn’t cut any ice.”</p> - -<p>Hastily David passed in review the various -reasons why Dargin should come thus to lie in -wait for him. There were two and possibly three; -all of them warlike if Dargin chose to hold them -so: the attempt to abate the man-traps, the attempt -to persuade Judith Fallon to leave Powder -Can, and for the third, the assumption that Dargin -was in a partnership of some sort with Lushing. -In the new recklessness which had come to -him with the other transformations, he attacked -the reasons boldly in their order.</p> - -<p>“You’ve got a kick coming, Dargin, if you -want to make it,” he began brusquely. “I’m out -to wipe your Powder Can speak-easys off the map -if I can swing the big stick hard enough.”</p> - -<p>“I was onto that a month ago,” was the growling -answer. Then, after a deep pull at the fragrant -cigar: “I reckon they ought to be wiped -out—though that ain’t sayin’ that I wouldn’t take -a crack at the man that did it when it came to a -show-down.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_318">[318]</span>“If you think the place ought to be cleaned up, -why don’t you do it yourself?” David shot back.</p> - -<p>“Huh! Maybe I will, some day—if you don’t -beat me to it.”</p> - -<p>“But if I should beat you to it, I suppose you’ll -come after me with a gun. Is that the way of -it?”</p> - -<p>The shadow that flitted across the swarthy face -of the man on the opposite bunk was scarcely a -smile, though possibly it was intended for one.</p> - -<p>“I might; but it’d be a heap like takin’ candy -from a baby. You ain’t been carryin’ a gun long -enough to get the hang of it. You’re a whole -lot too slow to make it interestin’.”</p> - -<p>“All right,” said David; “we’ll pass that up. -The next thing may get a bit nearer to you. Judith -Fallon has doubtless told you that she knew me -back East, and that we went to school together -and were good friends?”</p> - -<p>“Uh-huh.”</p> - -<p>“But perhaps she hasn’t told you that I have -tried to persuade her to break off with you and -leave Powder Can?”</p> - -<p>“No; she ain’t told me anything like that.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it’s so; I did it.”</p> - -<p>“What for?”</p> - -<p>“For common decency’s sake. If you admit<span class="pagenum" id="Page_319">[319]</span> -that the mining-camp dives ought to be wiped -out, you’ll also have to admit the facts concerning -that girl. I know you’ve been befriending her -honestly—the only mistake you made was in not -putting a bullet through Tom Judson before you -turned him loose—but you must know that a man -of your stripe can’t befriend any woman without -making her pay the penalty.”</p> - -<p>“A man of my stripe, eh?—well, I reckon that’s -so, too.”</p> - -<p>“Then you are not here to pick a quarrel with -me over Judith?”</p> - -<p>“Hell, no; not in a thousand years!”</p> - -<p>“Then what did you come for? Did Lushing -send you?”</p> - -<p>“Jim Lushing? He can’t send me nowhere. -He ain’t got the insides.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory had reached the end of his resources. -There was apparently nothing for it -but to wait patiently until Dargin was ready to -disclose the object of the midnight visit; and he -seemed to be in no manner of haste.</p> - -<p>David unbuckled his uncomfortable weapon -and tossed it aside. “I can’t think of any other -grouch that you might have,” he said, with the -nearest approach to his former good-natured -smile that he had been able to achieve since the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_320">[320]</span> -moon of Virginia Grillage’s favor had gone into -eclipse for him. Then he dug into Plegg’s locker -and brought out the first assistant’s cherished box -of “perfectos.” “Your smoke is about used up; -have another,” he offered.</p> - -<p>Dargin helped himself, and took the lighted -match that David held out to him. Then the -flitting shadow that passed for a smile began at -the corners of the hard-bitted mouth and crept -slowly up to the murderous eyes.</p> - -<p>“I’m stuck on your nerve, Dave Vallory—damned -if I ain’t!” he grated. “If you could -only draw a fraction quicker and shoot as plumb -straight as you can talk, you’d be some man. -Now I’ll spill what I mogged over here to spill: -ever hear of a duck named Backus?—Simmy -Backus?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said David.</p> - -<p>“Well, he used to pipe off the easy marks for -me—same time he was working for you-all.”</p> - -<p>“I know.”</p> - -<p>“You lose him, and you’ve been lookin’ for -him, ain’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Right, again.”</p> - -<p>“Uh-huh; I thought so. Know why you -couldn’t find him?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">[321]</span>“Well, I can tell you, I reckon. I had him -hid out.”</p> - -<p>“Hid out? locked up, you mean? Why did -you do that?”</p> - -<p>“Because he’s a worm. He was aimin’ to give -you the double-cross: tried to sell me a chance -on it. I didn’t hate you-all bad enough to let him -run loose; see?”</p> - -<p>“Is that straight, Dargin?”</p> - -<p>“Straight as a string.”</p> - -<p>“But they tell me that you and Lushing have a -stand-in together; and Lushing hates us heartily -enough.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe so; and maybe we have got a stand-in. -But that ain’t no skin off’m this other thing. -Backus is a worm.”</p> - -<p>“I’m glad you don’t like worms. I have a -feeling that way, myself.”</p> - -<p>The master gambler got up and pushed his -soft hat back to allow the forelock of Indian-black -hair to fall over his brow. As he was moving -to the door, he said, “Reckon that’s about all -I had to spill—all but one little thing: that damn’ -worm’s done dug him a hole and crawled out. -Thought maybe you’d like to know. So long,” -and he was gone.</p> - -<p>For a long time after he was left alone, David<span class="pagenum" id="Page_322">[322]</span> -Vallory sat on the edge of his bed, buried in -thought. With the spy, Backus, at large, it was -only a question of time when Lushing would have -another weapon in his hands. In odd moments -David had made an estimate on the cost of shooting -down the menace in the eastern tunnel drifting -and concreting the gash which would be left -by the blasting out of the fissure material. The -figures were appalling. Not only would the -profits on the entire contract be likely to disappear -in the chasm; there was a chance that there -would be a huge loss, as well, since nobody could -tell how much of the fissure contents would come -down in the blasting. As Eben Grillage had -frankly confessed, the line-shortening job had -been taken on a narrow margin, and there had -been no provision made for untoward happenings.</p> - -<p>There was but one conclusion to be reached, -and by this time David Vallory had passed all -the mile-stones of hesitancy. Backus, the worm, -must be found and silenced, and there must be no -fumbling delay in either half of the undertaking.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_323">[323]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XXIV<br /> - - -No Thoroughfare</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap2">AT the departure of the two fishermen, Virginia -Grillage had taken Lucille Vallory -under her wing, closing the cottage under the -pines and taking the blind girl to the hotel. This -left Oswald more or less unattached. Since there -was no welcome for him at the foot of the ridge, -and David had not even taken the trouble to introduce -him to the members of the engineering -staff, he spent the greater part of his time at the -Inn, devoting himself, so far as Miss Grillage -would permit it, to the care and comfort of the -helpless one, and taking his meals in due submission -at a table with Miss Virginia and her charge, -the Englishman, and the heir of profitable breakfast-foods.</p> - -<p>Beneath these routine time-killings, days in -which nothing transpired to break the monotonous -round of eating and sleeping and lounging -upon the shaded porches of the Inn, Oswald fancied -he could feel the tension of an approaching<span class="pagenum" id="Page_324">[324]</span> -crisis. To a keen-eyed young lawyer whose profession -led logically to a study of the human problem -in all its phases, the premonitory signs emphasized -themselves. Miss Virginia, apparently -engrossed in her favorite pastime of playing off -one man against another, struck a false note now -and then; young Wishart was occasionally jogged -out of his customary rut of good-natured indolence; -and even the imperturbable Englishman -was losing the fine edge of a carefully cultivated -Old-World indifference to his surroundings.</p> - -<p>Notwithstanding these indications, it was Lucille -Vallory who first put the impending threat -into words, confiding in Oswald one evening when -Virginia Grillage had gone for a stroll along the -ridge accompanied by her two shadows.</p> - -<p>“What is it, Herbert?” the blind girl asked; -“what is happening to us all?”</p> - -<p>“What should be happening?” he evaded. -“Aren’t you enjoying yourself?”</p> - -<p>“You know what I mean,” she insisted. “Nothing -is the same any more; I can feel it. You are -troubled about something, and so is Virginia. No, -it isn’t anything that either of you say; it’s just -how you feel inside. And Davie; he is different, -too—so cruelly different. Is it because he is worried -about his work?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_325">[325]</span>Oswald said what there was to be said, doing -violence to his own convictions in an effort to -shield the loved one. There was nothing for -anybody to be troubled about, he told her; and -David—she must remember that David was now -at the head of an immense undertaking and was -carrying a heavy load of responsibility. She was -silenced, but he could see that his well-meant effort -had been thrown away.</p> - -<p>This happened on an evening when the two -fishermen had been three days in the wilds of the -upper Timanyoni. On the next morning the monotonies -were broken. Little gossip of the big -job penetrated to the Alta Vista, the summerers, -as a rule, being content to hold the great engineering -feat as a part of the scenic stage-effect -for which they paid in their hotel bills. But on -the morning in question, when Cumberleigh had -joined a sunrise peak-climbing party, and Wishart -was not yet out of bed, there was news of a small -catastrophe. Oswald had the story from one of -the Alta Vista clerks as he was getting his morning -mail. Some time during the night an accident -had happened in the big tunnel. In one of the -blasts a man had been blown up and desperately -hurt. A Brewster doctor had been telegraphed -for and was coming up on a special train.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_326">[326]</span>Oswald was interested only casually, and he -saw no special significance in the added word particularizing -the injured man as one of the railroad -company’s inspectors. As he was crossing the -lobby he met Miss Virginia. Though she was -apparently just down from her rooms and on -her way to breakfast, her first word was of the -tragedy, or near-tragedy, in the tunnel.</p> - -<p>“You have heard of the accident to Mr. Strayer?” -she asked hurriedly. And then: “Have you -seen David this morning?”</p> - -<p>Oswald answered both queries in a single sentence.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I’ve heard of the accident—the clerk was -just this minute telling me about it: and I haven’t -seen David.”</p> - -<p>Miss Virginia was plainly anxious and disturbed -She hesitated for a moment, a little -frown coming and going between the straight-browed -eyes, and Oswald noted that she was -nervously twisting a bit of paper between her -fingers. “I must see David—at once,” she said, -half as if she were thinking aloud. “May I ask -you to go and tell him so, Herbert?”</p> - -<p>Since Virginia had shown herself more than -friendly in his own trying involvement, Oswald -consented willingly.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_327">[327]</span>“I’ll find him for you,” he promised; and a -minute later he was on his way down to the construction -yard.</p> - -<p>It so happened that he had to go no farther -than to the office bunk car. The door was open -and he went in. David Vallory was sitting behind -the small mapping-table, checking dimensions -on a set of blue-prints. At the sound of Oswald’s -footsteps he looked up with a scowl of impatience, -and his greeting was a challenge.</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s you, is it? I’ve been thinking it was -about time you were showing up. When do you -start back to Middleboro?”</p> - -<p>Oswald ignored the ungracious demand and -said what he had been sent to say.</p> - -<p>“Miss Virginia is at the hotel, and she wishes -to see you.”</p> - -<p>“What for?”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t inquire. She asked me to find you -and deliver her message. I have done both.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t go just now; I’m, busy.”</p> - -<p>“Then I’ll wait for you,” said Oswald coolly, -and he sat down on Plegg’s bunk, found a cigarette -in his pocket case and lighted it.</p> - -<p>In sheer perversity, as it seemed to the young -lawyer, David went on shuffling the blue-prints -and making figures on a pad under his hand. Oswald<span class="pagenum" id="Page_328">[328]</span> -waited in silence and in due time had his -reward.</p> - -<p>“Be half-way decent about it, Bert, and tell me -what I’m wanted for,” said the figure-maker, -looking up suddenly from his work. “She has -Cumberleigh and Wishart; aren’t they enough?”</p> - -<p>Oswald’s smile was a palpable easing of strains. -If David’s malady were nothing worse than a fit -of jealousy, it was not necessarily incurable.</p> - -<p>“I was wondering, before I came out here, -what Vinnie might be doing to you,” he said. -“You wrote us that she and her father were here, -if you remember.”</p> - -<p>“What she did to me was done more than a -year ago, if you care to know. But you haven’t -answered my question. What does she want of -me this morning?”</p> - -<p>“Honestly, I don’t know, David.”</p> - -<p>“Where did you see her?”</p> - -<p>“In the hotel lobby; she was on her way to -the breakfast-room, I think.”</p> - -<p>“And the other two?”</p> - -<p>“Cumberleigh has gone to climb Qojogo with -a sunrise party, and Wishart hasn’t turned out -yet. Half of the time he is never visible before -noon.”</p> - -<p>“What did she say?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_329">[329]</span>“She asked first if I had heard of the accident -in the tunnel last night.”</p> - -<p>Once more David Vallory bent over the table -and busied himself with the figure-making.</p> - -<p>“You’ve heard of it, I suppose?” he offered, -without looking up.</p> - -<p>“Only in passing. The hotel clerk told me -that a man was hurt; in one of the blasts, I think -he said.”</p> - -<p>David pushed his work aside as one who faces -the guns only because he must. “Let’s go,” he -consented shortly; and together they walked -through the yard and climbed the ridge.</p> - -<p>Miss Virginia was waiting on one of the -porches when the pair crossed the painfully cared-for -bit of greensward in front of the Inn. Oswald, -telling himself that he had done his part, -went on through to the breakfast-room, leaving -David to fight his battle—if there were to be a -battle—alone. The young woman’s first question -was as direct as it was unexpected.</p> - -<p>“Why have you been avoiding me so persistently?” -she asked, making room for the summoned -one to sit beside her on the settee.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps it was because I had just sense -enough to see that I had served my turn and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_330">[330]</span> -wasn’t needed any more,” he answered in a tone -that might have been copied faithfully from the -king of the contractors in his most brittle mood.</p> - -<p>“Silly!” she chided, with a strained little laugh. -“I could forgive you for saying such a thing as -that if you were only sincere. It isn’t Cumberleigh -and Freddy Wishart, David; it’s yourself.”</p> - -<p>“You wrote and told them where you were,” -he accused.</p> - -<p>“As it happens, I did not. But you needn’t -try to hide behind a shadow—or two shadows. -You have had other reasons for avoiding me. -For one thing, you have met Mr. Lushing, and -you have quarreled with him.”</p> - -<p>“Everybody seems to know that,” he complained. -“Go on.”</p> - -<p>“For another thing, you have determined, in -spite of all that we have talked about, to fight -Mr. Lushing with his own weapons.”</p> - -<p>This seemed to be too accurate to be classed -with the shrewd guesses, and he accused her -again.</p> - -<p>“You’ve been prying into Plegg.”</p> - -<p>“I haven’t seen Mr. Plegg in weeks; I haven’t -been prying into any one, and I haven’t needed -to. You have been showing very plainly that you -have broken with the ideals—all of them. Why<span class="pagenum" id="Page_331">[331]</span> -couldn’t you stay up on the pedestal, David? It -was such a nice pedestal!”</p> - -<p>He laughed mirthlessly. “You are such a queer -mixture of good, hard sense and back-number romanticism,” -he commented. “Can’t you realize -that I’ve got to be a man among men?”</p> - -<p>“That is what you ought to be—in the other -and better meaning of the phrase. You won’t -make a very successful villain, David.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps not; but I shall try mighty hard not -to let the other man make a wooden Indian of -me,” he returned grimly.</p> - -<p>“And you haven’t stopped, even at—murder.” -She shuddered over the final word, but she would -not qualify it.</p> - -<p>He was regarding her through half-closed eyes. -“Having said that much, you ought to say more, -don’t you think?” he suggested.</p> - -<p>“I am going to say more; lots more. That man -in the tunnel last night: he wasn’t blown up by a -blast.”</p> - -<p>“How do you know he wasn’t?”</p> - -<p>“One of your men carried or dragged him half-way -to the mouth of the tunnel before the blast -was fired.”</p> - -<p>“Well?” he prompted.</p> - -<p>“It comes to this; either it was a sheer accident—a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_332">[332]</span> -stone falling from the roof—or there was -foul play. Mr. Lushing says it was foul play.”</p> - -<p>“Lushing? You don’t mean to say that he has -had the brazen effrontery to come to you!”</p> - -<p>“No; he didn’t come here. He sent me a note; -an unsigned note, because he is a coward. He -did it once before, when he was dis—when he -left the Grillage Company. He says you will be -tried for murder if the man dies, and he throws -it in my face.”</p> - -<p>David got upon his feet rather unsteadily, but -the unsteadiness was of rage.</p> - -<p>“There wasn’t any murder last night, but there -is going to be one when I can find this man who -writes anonymous letters to you!” he broke out.</p> - -<p>“No; sit down again, please. I am not nearly -through. It makes very little difference what Mr. -Lushing, or anybody else, may write or say to -me, David; but there are other things that do -make a world of difference. What special thing -is there in that tunnel that you don’t want Mr. -Lushing or his engineers to find out?”</p> - -<p>He stared at her gloomily. “If you were your -father’s son instead of his daughter, I might tell -you.”</p> - -<p>“You will tell me anyhow,” she declared quickly. -“If you don’t, I shall find out for myself.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_333">[333]</span>“I believe you are quite capable of it. But -there is nothing to be told more than I have already -told you. You may remember that I admitted -that there was a place in the tunnel that -may be called dangerous. If Lushing finds out -about it, he will immediately insist that it is dangerous, -and the railroad people will make us -spend a lot of money needlessly. Your father -didn’t put me here to bankrupt the Grillage Engineering -Company, Vinnie.”</p> - -<p>She ignored the clause in condonation.</p> - -<p>“So, accordingly, you have given orders to our -men to have an accident happen if the secret seems -likely to be discovered. This is simply horrible, -David!”</p> - -<p>“It is rather primitive, I’ll admit. But it’s -business—in the modern meaning of the word. -More than that, I owe it to your father.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t owe him <i>anything</i> that ought to be -paid with such a frightful price! What ought to -be done with that place in the tunnel? What -would be done if you were not blind to everything -but profit and loss?”</p> - -<p>David shrugged his shoulders and turned his -face away. “I suppose the bad piece of roof -would be shot down.”</p> - -<p>“And you are deliberately allowing it to stay<span class="pagenum" id="Page_334">[334]</span> -up—if it will—and endangering the lives of your -workmen every hour of the day and night?”</p> - -<p>“Hard-rock men always take a chance. It is a -part of their trade. And Regnier, or some other -member of the staff, is always there to take it -with them.”</p> - -<p>“You are hopeless—absolutely and utterly -hopeless, David! Don’t you see what you are -forcing me to do?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“I have some little conscience, if you haven’t. -I can’t say anything to Mr. Lushing, of course, -and I wouldn’t if I could. But I can write to -Mr. Maxwell, the general manager of the railroad -at Brewster. It so happens that I know -him, and his wife.”</p> - -<p>“Hold on; you wouldn’t do anything like that! -Think a minute of the position in which it would -place your father.”</p> - -<p>She shook her head despairingly.</p> - -<p>“You drive me into a corner and then beat -me!” she cried. “It is all wrong, wrong! And -you have broken my heart, David, because I -thought you were different. You lay this horrible -burden upon me one minute, and tie my hands -the next. What if this man who was hurt last -night should die?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_335">[335]</span>“He won’t die; but neither will he talk,” was -the gritting reply.</p> - -<p>The young woman had risen and her color was -coming and going in hot little flashes.</p> - -<p>“You think because I am my father’s daughter -you are safe in saying anything you please, and -in going on in any hard-hearted way you choose! -It is what I might have expected of a man who -would deny his only sister her one little chance -of happiness. You are worse than other men, -because you know the right way and you won’t -walk in it!”</p> - -<p>He sprang up suddenly and caught her hands -in both of his.</p> - -<p>“You are right, Vinnie; I do know better. -Every word you have been saying has cut like a -knife!” he burst out, smashing all the barriers of -insincerity at a single blow. “I know where I -stand, and what I’ve been doing, and I have been -a conscious hypocrite every time I have pleaded -the way of the world as my excuse. But a man -<i>must</i> be loyal to something. For the obligation, -the immense obligation, I owe your father. I have -put my hands between his knees as the old-time -vassals used to do, and sworn to make his cause -my cause. He knows about that bad tunnel roof; -knows more than I do; and when I spoke to him,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_336">[336]</span> -he told me to forget it. I can’t be disloyal to him—and -keep even a thief’s sense of honor!”</p> - -<p>She released her hands quickly. It was early -for any of the porch loungers to be out, but they -were standing fairly in front of the lobby windows.</p> - -<p>“That is better; much better,” she commended -with a little sigh. “I thought you were gone, -David; honestly, I was afraid that the good old -David I used to know and—and think a lot of—was -dead and buried—and it hurt me as much -as it would if you had been my own brother. -Now, if I could only forget what happened last -night——”</p> - -<p>“You may set your mind at rest about Strayer,” -he put in quickly. “He won’t die; and he wasn’t -assaulted, as you seem to think he was, though I -won’t say what might or might not have happened -in another minute or two. He was testing -the bad roof with the point of an iron bar, and -a loose rock came down upon his head.”</p> - -<p>“But now you will pull the roof down, or timber -it, or do whatever is needful to make it safe?” -she said, half pleading with him.</p> - -<p>“No; my hands are tied, too. I can’t saddle -the company with the added expense after your -father has told me in so many words to let it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_337">[337]</span> -alone. Neither must I let Lushing find out and -force it upon him if I can help it. We must just -trust to luck, Vinnie; there is no help for it.”</p> - -<p>“There is going to be help for it,” she asserted, -with true Grillage resolution. Then: “One more -word before you go, David: you won’t fi—quarrel -with Mr. Lushing again?”</p> - -<p>But at this his eyes grew hard. “I owe him -something more, now, for that anonymous letter. -Besides, he’s out for my scalp, personally, and I -shall certainly try to hold up my end if he starts -anything. You can’t blame me for that, Vinnie. -But that is a future. There is Wishart coming -out of the breakfast-room, and I suppose he is -looking for you. Anyway, my job is yelling for -me and I must go. Don’t you worry a single -minute about anything; do you hear?”</p> - -<p>“Not even about Herbert and Lucille?” she -threw in quickly, as one thrusts an antagonist who -is helplessly off his guard.</p> - -<p>“Oh, say; that isn’t fair!” he retorted, with a -frown that turned itself into a grin in spite of -the reluctances. “I’m right about Bert and the -little sister—I’m practically certain I am; but -you’ve got me going, and you know it. Do whatever -you think is best. Good-by.”</p> - -<p>What Miss Virginia thought was best was not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_338">[338]</span> -to stay and meet the short-sighted heir of the -breakfast-foods who was rambling aimlessly in -her direction. Instead, she went into the lobby -and sent a telegram. It was addressed to her -father at Red Butte, and it was short and to the -point:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="center">“Highly important that you return at once.<br /> - - -<span class="illoright">“V.”</span></p> - -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_339">[339]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XXV<br /> - - -Cataclysmic</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">NOTWITHSTANDING his chief’s angry -assertion that he did not need safeguarding, -Silas Plegg had contrived to keep track of -the goings and comings of “the little big boss” on -the job, and his vigilance was increased after the -near-tragedy in the tunnel. The gossip of the -camps made much of the little war which had developed -between the Grillage Company’s chief -and Lushing, and it was quickly passed from lip to -lip that the enmity between the two men had now -become actively and vindictively personal; had, -in the phrase of the unfettered desert country, -reached the stage in which each was “looking” -for the other with vengeful intent. In spite of -the assertion, often repeated and as often contradicted, -that Strayer’s injury was purely the result -of an unlucky accident, there were many to -speak of it with an eyelid drooped, and to intimate -that Lushing would go far to even up the account -with David Vallory, an account which carried its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_340">[340]</span> -largest debit item in the blow which had disfigured -him.</p> - -<p>For Plegg there was a small lessening of one -of the many stresses when David, on the day after -the accident, had modified the order given in the -battle night when he had so promptly backslidden -into the field of things elemental.</p> - -<p>“About keeping that tunnel situation dark, -Plegg: I’ve been thinking that some of our men -might take me too literally—that possibly you -did,” was the way the modifying clause was introduced. -“I was pretty savage that night. I -told you that Lushing shot at me, but let you -infer that he missed. It was a miss, but it wouldn’t -have been if my field-note book hadn’t turned the -bullet.”</p> - -<p>“I saw the hole in your coat afterwards,” said -Plegg quietly.</p> - -<p>“Yes; the shock stopped the clock for me, and -the gambling house people carried me out for -dead—thought I was dead. Naturally, when the -clock got to running again, I was hot; was still -pretty warm when I talked with you at Brady’s. -Of course, I didn’t mean to convey the idea that -Lushing, or any member of his staff, was to be -massacred out of hand.”</p> - -<p>“Of course not,” the first assistant agreed,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_341">[341]</span> -readily enough. “But we are not to let them find -out about the ‘fault,’ are we?”</p> - -<p>“Not if we can help it without going to extremes. -Mr. Grillage will be back before long, -and I’m going to put that tunnel-roof question up -to him again good and hard. I know what it will -mean to us if we have to dig that hollow tooth -out and fill it, but just the same, the responsibility -is getting too heavy for me, Plegg. It’s got so -I wake up in the night to think about it, and that’s -bad medicine.”</p> - -<p>Plegg offered no comment on this, but he made -haste to pass the word to Regnier that guile, and -not violence, was henceforth to be used in preserving -the secret of the bad roof. Shortly after -the word-passing Regnier had a deduction of his -own to proffer. It was to be inferred that the -secret had finally escaped, through the man -Backus, or otherwise, and that Strayer’s accident -had been taken as a warning. None of the railroad -inspectors were venturing into the tunnel -since Strayer had been injured, Regnier reported.</p> - -<p>Beyond this, there was a plot of some sort -afoot, so Regnier told Plegg. An attempt had -been made to bribe one of the portal watchmen -posted to keep unauthorized visitors out of the -tunnel, and the briber was one of the Powder Can<span class="pagenum" id="Page_342">[342]</span> -dive-keepers—not Dargin, but one of his concessionaries, -who was also known as “Black Jack.” -The watchman had proved incorruptible, and had -reported the attempt to Regnier. His story was -that he had been offered a certain sum of money -if he would find out when Vallory was to be in -the tunnel at any shift-changing time, and would -use the working telephone to notify the briber -beforehand.</p> - -<p>Plegg said nothing of this to his chief, but it -made him doubly watchful. Also, it made him -fertile in excuses to keep Vallory from making -any but strictly unannounced visits to Heading -Number One. Time was all the first assistant -hoped to gain. It was reported that Mr. Grillage’s -private car was on its way back from Red -Butte, and there was the slender chance that, with -the president on the ground again, something -might be done to clear the air and quiet the various -gathering menaces.</p> - -<p>This was the situation at the close of the day -when the private Pullman <i>Athenia</i> came in and -was shunted to its former position on the spur -track. At the moment of its arrival David Vallory -was making a tour of the lower camps. -Plegg was in the construction yard, and he saw -Eben Grillage and his fishing companion leave<span class="pagenum" id="Page_343">[343]</span> -the car and go up to the Inn together. And after -dinner he saw the king of the contractors come -back to the car alone. Later still, the first assistant, -smoking his pipe on the platform of the office -bunk car, saw a woman descending the path from -the hotel. Recognizing the big boss’s daughter, -Plegg dutifully went across the yard tracks to -meet her.</p> - -<p>“Thank you, Mr. Plegg,” she said, as he came -up. “I imagine I was just about to lose myself. -Whereabouts is the <i>Athenia</i>?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll show you,” he offered, and he led her -around an obstructing material train and over to -the spur-track, where he helped her up the steps -of the private car. As he was lifting his hat to -go away she stopped him to ask a question.</p> - -<p>“Do you happen to know where Mr. Vallory -is?”</p> - -<p>Plegg gave such information as he had, or -thought he had: the chief was somewhere down -the line at one of the lower camps; or at least he -had gone down earlier in the evening and he had -not come back to supper. The young woman appeared -to be satisfied with the answer, and when -the porter had admitted her to her father’s car, -Plegg went his way, wondering if anything new -had developed. The conclusion was negative.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_344">[344]</span> -Miss Virginia’s question was natural and casual; -one that need have no bearing upon the threatening -conditions—doubtless had none. But if he -could have been a listener at the door of the office -compartment in the <i>Athenia</i>, he would have -known better how much was at stake in the matter -of keeping in close touch with his chief’s -movements.</p> - -<p>Miss Virginia found her father planted in his -great chair behind the glass-topped table-desk. -The fishing absence was responsible for a huge -accumulation of mail, and he was slitting the envelopes -with a nimble dexterity curiously at variance -with his massive bulk and knotty-knuckled, -square-fingered hands.</p> - -<p>“Hello, little girl; you down here?” he rumbled; -and before she could speak: “I got your -wire—two days late. What is it?—something -that won’t keep until I have read my mail?” -Then, with a chuckling laugh: “Which one is it -you’re going to spring on me—Wishart, or the -‘belted earl’?”</p> - -<p>“Neither,” she replied succinctly. “I have -come to talk business.”</p> - -<p>“Oho! business, is it? Well, I guess I’m a -business man. Go ahead and open up your -samples.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_345">[345]</span>“The reason why I telegraphed you to come -back was because you haven’t kept your promise.”</p> - -<p>“Which one?” he inquired, with large indulgence.</p> - -<p>“The one you made me when you were sending -David out here. You promised me that he -wasn’t to be spoiled.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that’s it, is it?”—with another of the -deep-chested chuckles. “All right; let’s have it: -what do you think you’ve found out?”</p> - -<p>“You know, well enough,” she returned coldly. -“For a time, I think, Mr. Plegg was able to keep -the crooked things hidden from David—as you -doubtless instructed him to. But of course David -soon found out what is being done, and that it is -being done by your orders. And now you are -about to make a criminal of him. I don’t see how -you can ever look his father in the face.”</p> - -<p>Eben Grillage wagged his big head sorrowfully.</p> - -<p>“You’re all I’ve got in the world, Vinnie, girl, -and there’s mighty little I wouldn’t do for you; -but it’s terribly hard to live up to your notions, -sometimes. You’ve been a business man’s daughter -all your life, and yet you haven’t the faintest -idea of what business means.”</p> - -<p>“I have a very clear idea of what it means to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_346">[346]</span> -cheat, to lie, to put human life in jeopardy, and -to take a clean, straightforward young man like -David Vallory and turn him into a potential murderer.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, pshaw!” grunted the king of the contractors. -“I suppose somebody has been scaring you -about that tunnel and the few cracks it has in the -roof. Was it David?”</p> - -<p>“No, it wasn’t David; I found out about it -myself, before you went away. And the ‘few -cracks’ have nearly killed one man, already.”</p> - -<p>“Strayer, you mean?—I had David’s report of -that. Strayer is a pretty good engineer, and he -ought to have known better than to pry a rock -loose and let it fall on his own head. Vinnie, I’m -getting sore about this thing. That tunnel roof -will stand up all right if they’ll only quit monkeying -with it and let it alone.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not here to argue with you about the tunnel -as a tunnel,” said the daughter, with a touch -of the true Grillage bluntness. “I merely wish to -find out if you’re going to try to patch up that -broken promise.”</p> - -<p>“What in the name of common sense can I do—more -than I have done? I wrote Plegg to keep -David on the windward side of the little economies -we have to make, and I’m sorry if he hasn’t<span class="pagenum" id="Page_347">[347]</span> -been able to do it. I’ll haul Plegg over the coals, -if that will make you feel any better.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Plegg doubtless did his best, and it wasn’t -good enough. David is a graduate engineer and -a grown man. He would be singularly stupid if -he could be your chief of construction and not -know what was going on right under his eyes. -But that is not the point now. Are you, or are -you not, going to give David authority to do what -he, and Mr. Plegg, and every member of your -own engineering staff, know ought to be done to -that dangerous place in the tunnel—a thing that -is endangering the lives of the men every day? -That is what I came to ask.”</p> - -<p>It was a rare thing for Eben Grillage to refuse -his daughter’s demands, even when they were unreasonable; -but the habits of a ruthless life-time -were too strong to be set aside, even at the bidding -of indulgent fatherly affection.</p> - -<p>“You are my daughter, Vinnie, but you are just -like other women when you get your head set on -anything. If I should let you run my business -for me, there wouldn’t be any business left after -a little while, and we’d both join the bread line. -If you’ve made up your mind that David is the -man you want, just say so and I’ll take him off -the job and set him up in any kind of business you<span class="pagenum" id="Page_348">[348]</span> -pick out—if you can pick one that measures up -to your Utopian notions of honesty. That’s fair, -isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>She did not answer the question. There was -one more arrow in her quiver and she fitted it to -the string and drew the bow.</p> - -<p>“The tunnel isn’t the only thing, as you know. -James Lushing makes it an open boast that he -will break you, and you know best what reasons -he may have for thinking such a thing possible. -Beyond that, David has met him and they have -quarreled—fought. I have been told that Lushing’s -first blow will be struck at David, to get him -out of the way.”</p> - -<p>“Who told you any such thing as that?”</p> - -<p>“No matter; I have heard it, and I have no -reason to doubt the truth of the report. David -is so loyal to you that he is the biggest obstacle in -Lushing’s way. Everybody knows that Lushing -can command the help of any number of desperate -characters in Powder Can. It wouldn’t be beyond -him to——”</p> - -<p>—“To have David killed off out of the way?” -supplied the big man, with another chuckle. “If -you go much deeper, you’ll be telling me that -David is the man, after all. But don’t you worry. -When you marry David Vallory, Vinnie, you’ll<span class="pagenum" id="Page_349">[349]</span> -marry a man. If he is half the scrapper I take -him to be, he’ll be well able to take care of himself -in any mix-up with Jim Lushing—or with any -of Lushing’s paid blacklegs.”</p> - -<p>The special pleader’s eyes grew suddenly weary.</p> - -<p>“Then you will do nothing about the tunnel?” -she asked patiently.</p> - -<p>“Not until I have some better reason than a -foolish little girl’s notion—no.”</p> - -<p>“Hasn’t David told you what he thinks ought -to be done?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, of course; the hard-rock men got him -rattled, right at the start, and he came to me about -it, boy-like.”</p> - -<p>“And you told him to let it alone?”</p> - -<p>“Sure I did. We are going to lose money -enough on this job, as it is.”</p> - -<p>The fine persistence was broken at last. The -daughter of the luxuries—and the ideals—rose -and moved toward the door. As she reached -the vestibule exit she turned and gazed at the big -man filling the great arm-chair, and there was -neither anger nor impatience in her eyes; only a -profound depth of shocked disappointment and -reproach.</p> - -<p>“I never knew you <i>could</i> be so hard and pitiless,” -she said slowly. “If this is what money<span class="pagenum" id="Page_350">[350]</span> -and the love of it can do to you——” The swing -door of the vestibule yielded under her hand and -she went out, leaving the sentence unfinished.</p> - -<p>At the car-steps the negro porter had placed -his carpeted foot-stool, but Silas Plegg was not -there to see the president’s daughter safely across -the tracks. It is conceivable that she did not -mark the omission. From childhood she had -known construction yards and the paraphernalia -of the contracting trade, and her father was fond -of boasting that she was as self-reliant as any -boy.</p> - -<p>Picking her way in the gathering dusk around -the obstructing cars filled with building material, -she came presently to the foot of the path leading -up to the Inn. Out of the first clump of scrub -pine on the hill trail a woman darted into the path -and blocked it. Virginia Grillage stopped short -with a little gasp of apprehension. Then she saw -who it was.</p> - -<p>“You—Judith? were you looking for me?”</p> - -<p>“I was. They couldn’t tell me at the hotel, -and I was that frightened I thought I’d be choking. -Jack Dargin sent me, and the other Jack—Black -Jack Runnels, he is—would be killing me -if he knew I came. You’ll remember what I was -telling you yesterday. David is to be murdered—in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_351">[351]</span> -the tunnel some way—I don’t know how. -They’re to get him in between the shifts; when -the day men have come out and before the night -men have gone in. Dargin says there’d be a clock -of some kind in a box—he said to tell you that, -and you’d understand.”</p> - -<p>“But David isn’t at the tunnel; he is at one of -the lower camps. Mr. Plegg told me so just a -few minutes ago.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe he was, but he isn’t now; he went up -on an engine not ten minutes ago. It was Simmy -Backus’s job to get him there—to ’phone him -there was a man hurt in the tunnel. He’d fall for -that—David would—and he went. I saw the engine -when it passed me, going up. What must we -do? ’Tis you that would be loving David, Vinnie -Grillage, and that I know well, but you’re not the -only one: I—I’d die for him this minute!”</p> - -<p>For a moment Virginia Grillage, quick-witted -and resourceful as any daughter of Eve since the -world began, stood shocked and irresolute, fighting -desperately for some shreddings of the capability -to act which had suddenly deserted her. -Then the lost self-control came back with a bound.</p> - -<p>“The telephone!” she gasped. “You run back -to the hotel, Judith, and find Bert Oswald—tell -him what you’ve told me and he’ll know what to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_352">[352]</span> -do! While you’re doing that, I’ll try to find a -’phone here in the yards. Run!” and she set the -example by flying down the path and dodging -around the obstructing cars to reach the <i>Athenia</i>.</p> - -<p>To her utter dismay, she found the private car -untenanted. The lights were still on, and the -recently opened mail lay on the desk, but the big -swing-chair was empty. Twice, and again, she -called her father, and when there was no answer -she caught up the telephone set from the desk and -tried to make somebody hear. But the set was -dead; the wires connecting it with the working -system had not been restrung since the <i>Athenia</i> -had returned from Red Butte.</p> - -<p>Next she made frantic and fruitless search for -the porter; but the negro, too, had disappeared. -Plegg was the alternative now, and she ran -breathlessly up the yard to the office bunk car. -But this, also, proved to be a hope defeated, or -at least deferred. The car was dark when she -reached it, and when she tried the door she found -it locked. The remaining expedient, the only one -that suggested itself, was to run to the Inn railroad -station a half-mile distant down the yard, -where she knew there was an accessible telephone. -It was a lame expedient and she knew it; a thousand -things might delay the sending of the message<span class="pagenum" id="Page_353">[353]</span> -of warning to the tunnel, and time was priceless. -Yet she ran, stumbling over the loosely -bedded cross-ties, and praying that she might happen -upon Plegg or some other member of the -staff who would know what to do and how to -do it.</p> - -<p>She had scarcely begun this new flight when -she saw one of the construction locomotives lumbering -toward her on the main track. The quick -wit was coming to its own again, and she stopped, -stripping off her coat and stepping into the cone -of the headlight beam so that she could be seen -when she waved her signal. The engine was Callahan’s -“mogul,” and she gave a little sob of joy -when she recognized the good-natured Irishman -who leaned from his cab window to ask what she -wanted. Callahan was the driver with whom -she had ridden oftenest when David Vallory had -been showing her over the job.</p> - -<p>“I want you and your engine, Mr. Callahan!” -she panted. “Will you take orders from me?”</p> - -<p>“Sure I will, Miss Vinnie,” was the quick response; -and when the fireman had helped her up -to the foot-board: “Where will ye be wanting the -ould ’Thirty-six to be taking you?”</p> - -<p>“To the tunnel—as fast as ever you can go! -It’s—it’s life and death!”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_354">[354]</span>Callahan asked no further questions. Miss -Virginia was the big boss’s daughter, and her demands -were sufficient law and Gospel for any man -on the Grillage Company’s pay-rolls. While the -fireman was lifting her to his box, the heavy construction -machine went slamming out over the -yard switches, shrieking its warning to all and -sundry, and the race was begun.</p> - -<p>Though the track was new and rough, and the -detours around the hill cuttings held curves of -hazard, Callahan—“Wild Irish,” they called him -on the job—slackened speed for nothing. Onward -and upward through the gathering darkness -roared the big locomotive, vomiting a trail of -sparks to mark its crooked climb. Virginia Grillage -tried pitifully hard to plan what she should -do when the goal should be reached; but the dominant -impulse would have nothing to do with cool-headed -plannings. David’s life hung in the balance, -and David must be warned. She could get -no further than this.</p> - -<p>So it came about that when the tunnel portal -was reached, and Callahan and his firemen were -helping her down from the high cab, common -sense and clarity of mind fled away, and she was -once more only an incoherent and badly frightened -young woman. A gang of workmen waited<span class="pagenum" id="Page_355">[355]</span> -at the tunnel mouth; dimly she realized that this -was the night shift, preparing to go in when the -day men should come out. One glance showed -her that there was no member of the engineering -staff with them; no one in authority save the burly -Cornish drill-boss.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Vallory!” she demanded; “where is he?”</p> - -<p>The Cornishman knew the president’s daughter -by sight. He pointed into the dark depths of -the tunnel. “If ye’ll wait just a minute; it’s time -for the shift to be coomin’ out, and he’ll be——” -but the remainder of the sentence was lost upon -the young woman who had darted into the black -depths with neither light nor guide, stumbling -blindly over the cross-ties of the spoil-track in her -flight, and following the lead of the wide-spaced -line of electric bulbs into the grim heart of the -mountain.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>A scant margin of two minutes after his daughter -had halted and boarded a construction engine -to be whirled away to the tunnel, Eben Grillage, -who had been across to the commissary to put -in a call for Plegg, returned to his desk in the -<i>Athenia</i> and once more began the reading of his -neglected mail. A matter of three-quarters of an -hour later, while he was still immersed in his correspondence,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_356">[356]</span> -the swing-door of the forward corridor -flew open as from the impact of a heavy projectile -and Silas Plegg staggered into the office -compartment. His lips were drawn back and -he was shaking like one in an ague fit.</p> - -<p>“The roof in Heading Number One!” he -jerked out. “It’s down, damn you, do you hear -that?—it’s down, and the day shift is behind it!”</p> - -<p>Eben Grillage’s heavy face went purple, and -for an instant his jaw sagged and he gasped for -breath. Then the strong will triumphed for the -moment over the failing body and he sprang out -of his chair to catch the news-bringer in a grasp -that threatened to crush muscle and bone.</p> - -<p>“Vallory—where’s David Vallory?” he -stormed.</p> - -<p>“He’s—he’s in there with the men—and—and -that isn’t all: your daughter’s there, too—if she -isn’t buried under the slide!”</p> - -<p>Slowly the big man’s grasp upon Plegg relaxed -and the veins in his forehead swelled to whip-cords. -Eben Grillage’s day of reckoning had -come. Before the first assistant realized what -was happening, the gigantic figure of the contractor-king -swayed like a toppling tower and would -have fallen with a crash if Plegg had not braced -himself and caught it.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_357">[357]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XXVI<br /> - - -The Heart of Qojogo</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">VIRGINIA GRILLAGE, flying into the tunnel -depths over the rock-strewn spoil-track, -was mercifully spared the introductory horrors of -the sudden entombment. An earthquake crash, -so close behind her that she was enveloped in a -shower of flakings and spallings and stifling dust, -a rush of air that was like a tornado to sweep -her from her feet, and she stumbled and fell -and was blotted out.</p> - -<p>When she recovered consciousness there was -darkness that could be felt and a silence to match -it. She was lying on a pallet of coats; she knew -they were coats because the sleeves of one of them -were drawn over her; and some one was chafing -her hands.</p> - -<p>“Is it you, David?” she asked in a voice made -small and weak by the horrible stillness.</p> - -<p>“Yes; can you tell me how badly you are hurt?”</p> - -<p>She grasped his arm and sat up.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_358">[358]</span>“I—I think I’m not hurt at all,” she stammered. -Then: “Did the roof come down?”</p> - -<p>“It did. We found you half buried in the -muck. What under heaven were you doing in -here?”</p> - -<p>“I came to tell you,” she said simply. -“Where are the men?”</p> - -<p>“They are all down at the slide, and Regnier -is with them. They are trying to find out how -effectually we are buried. You are sure you’re -not hurt?”</p> - -<p>“A little bruised and shaken up, of course, but -that is nothing. Will the men be able to dig us -out?”</p> - -<p>With any other woman he knew as the questioner, -David Vallory might have temporized. -But he knew Virginia Grillage’s quality and the -steel-true fineness of it.</p> - -<p>“We shall not be able to dig out from this -side,” he said soberly. “We are not equipped -for it.”</p> - -<p>She shuddered.</p> - -<p>“This darkness is very horrible, isn’t it? And -the air—it seems so close.”</p> - -<p>David did not tell her that there was the best of -reasons for the closeness of the air; that the ventilating -conduit, and the smaller pipe-line which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_359">[359]</span> -supplied the air pressure for the drills, were -crushed under the avalanche, leaving them in a -sealed pocket in the heart of Qojogo.</p> - -<p>“You mustn’t let it grip you too hard,” he said, -meaning to hearten her if he could. “By this time -every camp on the line will have heard the news, -and there will be no lack of help.”</p> - -<p>She groped in the darkness and found his hand.</p> - -<p>“I am not afraid, David—this is no time to be -afraid. So you needn’t blink the facts for me. -How wide was the bad place in the roof?”</p> - -<p>“Twenty feet or more.”</p> - -<p>“You say there are plenty of men to help; but -you know, and I know, that only a few of them -can work at one time in such a narrow place as the -tunnel. Tell me plainly: will there be air enough -to last until we starve to death? Or shall we be -stifled before we have had time to starve?”</p> - -<p>“I am not admitting either contingency yet; and -you mustn’t. While there is life, there is always -hope. But I can’t understand why you came here. -What made you think I needed to be told?”</p> - -<p>“That much is easily explained,” she said -calmly. “There was a plot to murder you, and at -the same time to bring about the first of a series -of disasters that would smash the Grillage Company. -Did you get a telephone message that a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_360">[360]</span> -man was hurt, and that you were wanted up -here?”</p> - -<p>“I did. I was at McCulloch’s camp and I took -an engine and came up here in a hurry. The accident -report was a fake, and I came in to ask -Regnier what he knew about it.”</p> - -<p>“It was a part of the plot,” she went on evenly. -“It was Judith Fallon who came and told me. She -had already warned me that there was something -threatening, but she did not know what it was. -That first time was just before Mr. Strayer was -hurt, and all she could tell me then was that James -Lushing ‘had it in for you,’ as she put it, and was -plotting with a man named Black Jack Runnels.”</p> - -<p>“Runnels?” he queried. “Not Dargin?”</p> - -<p>“No, it was Runnels; I’m sure of the name. -Yesterday she came again. She had heard a -little more, but nothing very definite. Then this -evening I had been down to the <i>Athenia</i>—it came -in from Red Butte on the afternoon train, as perhaps -you know—and I was on my way back to the -Inn. Judith met me on the path; she had been up -to the hotel, looking for me.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he encouraged.</p> - -<p>“She was terribly excited and said that the -thing, whatever it was, was to be done this evening, -at the changing hour of the shifts. She told<span class="pagenum" id="Page_361">[361]</span> -me that a man named Backus was to call you by -’phone and tell you that there was a man hurt in -the tunnel. Then she said that you had already -gone up the line; she saw you on an engine that -overtook and passed her.”</p> - -<p>“I saw a woman running on the Powder Can -road, but I didn’t recognize her as Judith,” said -David.</p> - -<p>“You wouldn’t, of course, with the engine running -fast. When she told me that you were already -on your way up here, I didn’t know what to -do. Then I thought of the telephones, and sent -her up to the hotel to find Herbert Oswald and -ask him to call you at the tunnel ’phone, while I -ran down to the <i>Athenia</i> to get father to ’phone. -There was nobody in the <i>Athenia</i>; father had -gone out somewhere. Then I tried to find Mr. -Plegg, but he was gone, too. I didn’t know where -to look for another telephone nearer than the Inn -railroad station, and I was starting to run down -there when I saw Callahan on his engine and made -him bring me up here.”</p> - -<p>“But surely you saw the night shift getting -ready to come in, didn’t you? Do you mean to -tell me that that bunch of thick-headed stone-borers -let you come in here alone?”</p> - -<p>“They were not to blame—not at all. I merely<span class="pagenum" id="Page_362">[362]</span> -asked if you were in here, and when one of them -said you were, I ran.”</p> - -<p>“I am too thankful to say what I ought to say, -about them and about you—thankful that you are -alive,” said David, and his voice trembled a little. -“One second, a half-second, later and you would -have been fairly under the slide. As it was, we -had to dig you out; and—and Vinnie, I hope no -human being will ever suffer as I did when we -found you. I—I thought you were dead, and that -I had killed you!”</p> - -<p>“It wouldn’t have been you,” she said softly; -“it would have been the thing we call Business; -the thing that is killing all the kindliness, all the -fairness, all the best there is in us.”</p> - -<p>“No,” he denied sturdily, “I can’t let you shift -the blame that way. I knew what ought to be -done here; I have known it all along. If I had -made a fight for it with your father, as I should -have done, he would have given in.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” she said wearily. “That was -what I went down to the <i>Athenia</i> for this evening—before -I met Judith. Father wouldn’t listen to -me; and now——”</p> - -<p>David knew what it was she had begun to say -and could not finish; that now Eben Grillage had -lost the daughter for whom, at the end of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_363">[363]</span> -ends, all the cost-cuttings and life-risking economies -had been made. Hence, he tried again to -comfort her.</p> - -<p>“We must always give him the benefit of the -doubt,” he interposed. “From what Judith told -you, it is perfectly plain that the roof hasn’t fallen -of its own accord at this particular time, though -there isn’t much doubt but that it would have come -down some time. Within the past few days a -crack had opened in one side of it big enough to -conceal a charge of dynamite—or a time-clock -infernal machine, which was probably what was -used. It was timed to go off between the shifts, -and Regnier and I were the only ones they meant -to catch. It was the natural inference that we -would stay in the heading to see the night shift -come on; Regnier always does that.”</p> - -<p>As if the mention of his name had evoked him, -the fiery little French-Canadian came up to the -heading with a flickering candle-end shielded between -his hands. His first inquiry was for the -president’s daughter.</p> - -<p>“Mees Virginia—you vill not been keel? Zat -ees <i>tres bon</i>!”</p> - -<p>“What did you find out, Jean?” David demanded.</p> - -<p>“Eet ees bad—ver’ bad. They vill deeg on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_364">[364]</span> -the other side—peek—peek—but zat loose stuff -she ees come down so fast as they peek it out, <i>oui</i>. -Eet ees come down on our side, <i>aussi</i>, like one -damn’ hopper—pardon, M’am’selle—like one -hopper full with loose stones.”</p> - -<p>“We have no tools on this side?”</p> - -<p>“Nossing moch. The men s’all deeg with zat -what they ’ave; the peek and shovel of the -mucker; but eet ees nossing.”</p> - -<p>Since anything was better than stagnation, Virginia -proposed that they go to the slide to look on, -or to help, if they could. The pilgrimage was -made in silence, Regnier lighting the way as best -he could with his candle-end. The barrier, as the -candles revealed it, was a blank slope of broken -rock. Four or five men of the day shift were -shoveling half-heartedly at it, and the futility of -the effort was apparent at once. For every shovelful -removed, two more rolled down from the filled -“hopper” above. David Vallory called a halt at -once on the discouraging attempt.</p> - -<p>“Let it alone, men; it isn’t worth while,” he -said. “You are only wasting your strength, and -you may need it all before we get out of here.”</p> - -<p>With the small confusion of the shoveling -stopped they all fell to listening. Far away, so -far that it sounded like miles instead of feet and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_365">[365]</span> -inches, they could hear faint tappings, followed at -irregular intervals by the hoarse rumble of falling -detritus. David went on his knees at one side of -the pit to examine the pipe of the air-line. It was -bent and crushed out of shape, and there was no -air coming through it, though a subdued hissing -proved that the pressure was on, and that the engineer -at the portal compressor-plant was still trying -to force air into the blocked heading.</p> - -<p>While he was kneeling at the pipe, David discovered -another ominous threat; his knees were -wet, and in the drainage ditch cut at the side of the -tunnel a little pool was forming. He knew well -what this meant; that death in still another form -was creeping upon them. The tunnel had been a -“wet” tunnel almost from the beginning, and here -was a hint that the great slide might possibly -prove to be a dam as well as a barrier. Fortunately, -however, there was a slight up-grade in the -bore, and it might be hours, or even days, before -the highest point, at the working end of the bore, -would overflow.</p> - -<p>“We are not doing any good here,” he said to -the young woman who stood listening with him. -“We may as well go back where it is drier.”</p> - -<p>The men had scattered as far as the limits of -the cavern would permit, and Regnier surrendered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_366">[366]</span> -his bit of candle to David to light the retreat. In -the heading David made a platform of a few of -the bulkhead planks and rearranged the coat-cushioned -pallet.</p> - -<p>“In a little while the close air will make you -sleepy,” he told his fellow-prisoner. “When it -does, you must get all the rest you can. I am -afraid we are in for a long siege.”</p> - -<p>She nodded and sat down on the plank pallet, -locking her hands over her knees.</p> - -<p>“You needn’t be afraid to say what you think—to -me, David. In your own mind you are wondering -which will come first: hunger, the bad air, the -rising water, or the digging away of the slide. I -can face what is in store for us as well as another.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t question your courage; God knows, -you proved it sufficiently by coming in here when -you knew what was going to happen—for you -practically did know,” he hastened to say. Then: -“Some of us men will probably break long before -you will. That is why I say you must rest while -you can. You may be needed later on—to keep -some of us from forgetting that we <i>are</i> men.”</p> - -<p>She gave him a tired little smile. “You are giving -me a name to live up to. I wonder if I shall -be able to do it—at the last?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t doubt it for a single moment; I have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_367">[367]</span> -never doubted it. Did you have dinner before you -began on this hideous adventure?”</p> - -<p>She nodded again. “It was a good dinner, too. -Your father and mine were at the table, and -Lucille and Herbert Oswald.”</p> - -<p>“And Wishart and the Englishman?”</p> - -<p>“No; they respected the family reunion. Your -father looked years younger, and he is as brown -as anything. And that reminds me; there is something -I ought to tell you—before a time comes -when I may not care to talk, or you to listen. It is -about Lucille and Herbert.”</p> - -<p>“Go on,” he said gently.</p> - -<p>“I gave Herbert his hint—after you had given -me leave to do as I pleased. That same evening, -when I was in my bed-room lying down, Herbert -came up to find Lucille. They sat together in the -sitting-room of our suite, and, most naturally, they -thought I had gone out. It was wicked of me to -lie there and listen, but I hadn’t the heart to let -them know that they were not alone.”</p> - -<p>“Everybody knows about your heart,” David -put in, striving to dispel a little of the gloom.</p> - -<p>“Herbert said his little say very gently and tenderly, -and oh, David, I wish you could have seen -Lucille’s face! It was just like a beautiful rose -blossoming while you looked. She didn’t say anything<span class="pagenum" id="Page_368">[368]</span> -at first; she just put her hand up to Herbert’s -face, and I could see her touching his forehead -and eyes and lips with those finger-tips of hers -that can see more than most of us can with our -eyes. ‘I—I wanted to see if you really meant it, -Herbert, or if you were only just sorry for me,’ -she said, so softly that it was hardly more than a -whisper; and then: ‘Oh, my dear, my dear—I am -<i>so</i> happy!’”</p> - -<p>There was silence for a little time; then David -said: “I am glad you have told me, Vinnie; it’s a -tremendous comfort to me now, in the light of -what may happen to us here. You see, I am taking -you at your word and not trying to hide things -from you.”</p> - -<p>“Then you think it is doubtful—our getting out -alive?”</p> - -<p>“Very doubtful,” he admitted, lowering his -voice so that the men might not hear. “If it were -a mere matter of digging out what has already -fallen in—but it isn’t, you know. The crevice has -been ‘prospected’ with test holes all the way up to -the surface on the mountain-side three hundred -feet above us. Plegg told me that only yesterday. -It is rotten all the way through, and it will probably -fall in as fast as it can be dug out.”</p> - -<p>Again there was an interval of speechlessness,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_369">[369]</span> -and then the hushed voice of the young woman -sitting with her hands locked over her knees.</p> - -<p>“Did my father know of that prospecting?” she -asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Poor father!” she said, and her voice was -shaken. “He is just simply stone blind on that -side, David. I’ve tried and tried, and I can’t -make him see! And now—he is going—to pay—the -highest price he knows—for the dreadful -cure!”</p> - -<p>“It is time for you to forget for a while, if you -can,” said David, not knowing what else to say; -and he went aside with Regnier, blowing out the -light of the precious candle-end to save it for a -time of greater need.</p> - -<p>A little later, when he came back and struck a -match, he found her sleeping with her face hidden -in the crook of an arm, and he was glad.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_370">[370]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XXVII<br /> - - -The Terror</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">WHEN Virginia opened her eyes, after a -troubled sleep which seemed to her to -have lasted only a few moments, it was with a -start, and out of the depths of a nightmare in -which she had dreamed that some one was smothering -her.</p> - -<p>“<i>David!</i>” she called softly; and he answered at -once out of the enveloping darkness.</p> - -<p>“I am here—sitting beside you. Have you had -a good sleep?”</p> - -<p>“It was dreadful!” she shuddered. “I dreamed -that a big man like—like my father—had his hand -over my face and was stifling me. What time -is it?”</p> - -<p>“It is another day. It was a little past eight -o’clock when I struck a match about an hour ago. -You have slept all night.”</p> - -<p>“And you?” she inquired quickly.</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t sleep very much—naturally. Besides, -I didn’t wish to. I was afraid you might -waken and call me, and I shouldn’t hear.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_371">[371]</span>“There is no news?”</p> - -<p>“A little. Regnier reports that the digging has -gone on steadily all night. He knows the Morse -alphabet, and he contrived to get into communication -with Plegg during the night by tapping on the -crushed air-pipe; so they know on the outside that -we are here and alive.”</p> - -<p>She pressed her hands to her forehead. -Though he could not see the movement, he knew -she made it.</p> - -<p>“Does your head ache?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Some. The air is much worse, isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t any better,” he conceded. “Once, in -the night, they tried shooting the slide from the -other side—blasting it with dynamite, you know. -That was what made Regnier try the pipe-tapping. -The fumes of the dynamite were blown through -the loose stuff and that made it worse for us. Now -they are trying to force a large pipe through the -mass of the slide to give us air and food.”</p> - -<p>“Will they succeed?” she queried.</p> - -<p>“I promised, last night, to talk straight to you. -If the slide is made up entirely of broken rock in -small pieces, as it seems to be from our side, it -should be comparatively easy to drive through it. -But if the mass happens to contain large bowlders——”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_372">[372]</span>“Then they will drill and blast them,” she put -in quickly.</p> - -<p>“Yes; but it may prove to be a long job; and I -must be plain again. Every move they make -seems to bring down more of the stuff from above. -The water is not rising much, but the air is growing -worse every hour.”</p> - -<p>“All of which means that you think we should -be prepared for the worst?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; always continuing to hope for the best, of -course. Are you very hungry?”</p> - -<p>“Not yet. But you must be.”</p> - -<p>“I can stand it better than the workmen. They -have had nothing since they came in yesterday at -ten o’clock. Very few of them carry a dinner -bucket on an eight-hour shift.”</p> - -<p>“How are they enduring it?”</p> - -<p>“Each after his kind. Three of the Welshmen -wanted to sing a while ago, but I wouldn’t let -them. I knew it would waken you, and I thought -you ought to sleep as long as you could.”</p> - -<p>“Go right away and tell them to sing all they -wish to!” she commanded instantly; and a little -time after he had gone and returned, a Welsh -melody rose on the stagnant air, lifted by voices -that were strangely deadened by the stifling closeness -of the dank cavern.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_373">[373]</span>This was the beginning of a day of creeping -horrors. Steadily, hour by hour, the vitiated air -grew worse. All day long the rescuers were apparently -fighting madly with the difficulties encountered -in the pipe-driving attempt, but the buried -ones could form no estimate of the progress made, -or, indeed, if there were any progress at all.</p> - -<p>As the hours wore on, the imprisoned workmen -began to react to the torturings of the foul air and -the despairing situation, each after his kind, as -David had said. One man, a huge-muscled Cornish -miner, went stark mad and it took the united -strength of all the others to conquer and tie him. -Another, a north-of-England coal miner, by his -burring speech, was the next to break; he was not -violent, but he babbled incessantly of green fields -and sunshine—of running brooks, and the fresh, -keen air of the north.</p> - -<p>David Vallory tried to shield the woman he -loved from as much of this as he could, and -Regnier seconded him loyally. But at the last the -heroic heart refused to be sheltered longer and -kept away from the abyss into which the men were -slipping one by one.</p> - -<p>“No; you must let me do what I can, while I -can!” she cried; and then she went about among -the men and talked to them, bidding them be of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_374">[374]</span> -good cheer, and telling them that they must be men -to the very end—that God was good and merciful -and He would not let them suffer more than they -could bear. And once she persuaded the Welshmen -to sing a hymn with her, her woman’s voice -rising clear above the deeper tones of the men, -and never faltering even on the last heart-moving -stanza:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="first">“Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes;</div> -<div class="verse">Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;</div> -<div class="verse">Heaven’s morning breaks and earth’s vain shadows flee;</div> -<div class="verse">In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.”</div> -</div></div> - -<p>It was then that Patrick Connolly, drill foreman -and the leader in many a brutal pay-day brawl, -made husky confession.</p> - -<p>“’Tis your father’s blame, this, and well do we -know it,” he grated. “’Twas in the back of me -mind all night and all day that if we ever got out -o’ this I’d take me two hands and choke him to -hell, as we’re chokin’ this minut’. But ’tis all past -and gone now, what wid the blessed love an’ nerve -of you, little gyerl; an’ here’s hopin’ that the -Gawd you believe in ’ll let you die quiet-like an’ -peaceable, as I’d want my own little gyerl to go if -I had wan.”</p> - -<p>Through all this, David Vallory lived as one in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_375">[375]</span> -hideous dream. But when the flare of another -of the precious matches, a tiny flame that was -scarcely visible in its brief and futile struggle with -the heavy air, showed him that a second night was -far advanced, he drew Virginia away to the heading -and made her lie down on the coat-covered -pallet, which he had remade, propping it as high -as he could on the broken stone to escape the -lower stratum of air.</p> - -<p>For a long time she was silent, and when she -spoke it was to ask if he were still beside her.</p> - -<p>“Yes, Vinnie; I am here—and I shall be here -when they find us.”</p> - -<p>“You think it is all over, then?”</p> - -<p>“I know that in a few more hours, a very few, -the end must come. We can’t go on breathing -this air indefinitely.”</p> - -<p>She sat up again at that, and again he knew that -she was holding her head in her hands.</p> - -<p>“Have you ever wondered how the end would -come to you, David?—how you would feel, and -what you would do?”</p> - -<p>“Not as often as I ought perhaps. There was -a time last year, when I was in a caisson with Shubrick -at Coulee du Sac. The bottom blew out -under the air pressure, and we all thought we were -gone. I don’t remember much about what I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_376">[376]</span> -thought—only that Shubrick and I owed it to the -‘sand-hogs’ to get them into the air-lock first.”</p> - -<p>“Once I saw a woman die,” she said, her voice -thrilling with suppressed emotion. “She was horribly -frightened at the last, and—and I’ve always -prayed since then that when my time should come -I might not go that way.”</p> - -<p>“You won’t,” he made himself say; “there isn’t -a drop of craven blood in you, Vinnie—dear.”</p> - -<p>Again the brooding silence fell, and, as before, -it was the young woman who broke it.</p> - -<p>“If we are going to be stifled in a little while—as -I suppose we are—it doesn’t matter much what -we say to each other, does it, David? I mean that -we needn’t consider any future, so far as we usually -count futures in a conventional way?”</p> - -<p>“No; we are only a man and a woman, naked -before the God who created us, Vinnie—and we -are about to die.”</p> - -<p>“Then—David, dear—<i>I love you!</i>”</p> - -<p>“I know it,” he returned gently; “I have known -it for a night and a day,” and he took her in his -arms and kissed her almost solemnly. “You are -giving your life because you tried to save mine.”</p> - -<p>She made no effort to free herself. She was -weary and weak to the point of collapse, and the -supporting arms were grateful and comforting.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_377">[377]</span>“I had ambitions,” she murmured; “such splendid -ambitions! Ever since I have been old enough -to understand, I have known how dis—dishonestly -much of the money was made in the contracting, -and it has hurt me—oh, you don’t know how it has -hurt me! Father doesn’t see; he simply can’t see. -And then my ambition came. A year ago I saw -how father felt toward you; first because you were -Adam Vallory’s son, and afterward because you -were yourself—just such a son as he would have -given worlds to have for his own. I whispered to -myself then that I would make you love me and -marry me; and then there would be two of us to -fight for honesty and fair-dealing and the—the -righteousness that cares for something more than -merely keeping clear of the law. You would have -helped me, wouldn’t you, David?”</p> - -<p>He bent and kissed the pulse in the throbbing -temple.</p> - -<p>“You could have made of me anything that you -wished, dear. You know that.”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t wish to make anything of you but what -you were; what you had always been until father -tied you hand and foot with that horrible debt of -gratitude. Then he sent you out here, and I knew -what would happen—what simply <i>must</i> happen; -how your gratitude to him would break you down,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_378">[378]</span> -first in the little things, and then in the terrible -ones. And that was why I persuaded him to -come, and to bring me. Was it all very—unwomanly, -David?”</p> - -<p>“It was the finest thing a woman ever did for -the man she loved. But you have always done the -fine things.”</p> - -<p>“Even when I made you fall in love with me -when you didn’t want to?”</p> - -<p>“I outdistanced you by many miles in that,” he -said with sober gravity. “I think it went back to -the kiddie days in old Middleboro.”</p> - -<p>“In spite of Judith?”</p> - -<p>He held her closer. “That is the one thing that -I have to confess, Vinnie. I did go about a good -bit with Judith, in my college years and before. -We were just good chums, and I never thought for -a moment——”</p> - -<p>“Of course you didn’t! But I don’t blame Judith, -either; I can’t, when I’ve done the same thing -myself. But you were saying it went back to the -kiddie days with—with me.”</p> - -<p>“Yes; but I didn’t realize it until we met in -Florida. I was full of hope then: I meant to -make a success of myself so that I might go to -your father like a man and say, ‘I want to marry -your daughter.’ Then the big debt fell on me, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_379">[379]</span> -I couldn’t say anything while I owed your father -more than I could ever hope to repay.”</p> - -<p>“If you hadn’t died—we are both just the same -as dead, aren’t we?—if you hadn’t died, you were -going to pay him in the best possible way; by making -‘the apple of his eye’ deliriously happy, and by -showing him the honest way out of all the little -crookednesses and the big ones, too. Oh, yes; -that was what was going to happen. After we -were married he would have taken you into the -company, and in just a little while you and I together -would have been setting the pace; the good -old-fashioned, honest pace. Isn’t it the pity of all -pities that we had to go and die and spoil it all?—that -we couldn’t have lived to make it come -true, David, dear?”</p> - -<p>“God!” he said under his breath, but for other -reply there were no words.</p> - -<p>After a time she spoke again.</p> - -<p>“I—I think I’m going now, David. You said -I’d outlast you and the men, but I shouldn’t want -that. No, dear; there isn’t any pain, except in my -head. I’m just—tired—and—sleepy.”</p> - -<p>“You mustn’t give up, Vinnie!” he pleaded passionately. -“We must live—both of us—to make -it all come true! Listen! Isn’t that the men trying -to cheer? <i>O my God, I thank thee!</i>”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_380">[380]</span>A roaring blast of clean, fresh air, driven -strongly enough to penetrate even to their distant -retreat at the heading, fanned their faces. “The -pipe!” he shouted; “they’ve got the pipe through -and they’ve turned the air on. Vinnie—<i>Vinnie!</i>—we -shall live, and it <i>shall</i> come true!”</p> - -<p>But the sudden reversal from despair to hope -had been too much for the strong heart. The -yielding body David was clasping in his arms had -become limp and unresponsive, and the lips were -silent.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_381">[381]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XXVIII<br /> - - -Regeneration</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">THE pipe of life, a four-inch steel tube which -had been driven by screw-jack pressure -through the mass of the slide as a result of Plegg’s -inventive strugglings, soon refreshed the vitiated -air in the sealed cavern. Beyond this, food, in -well-wrapped paper cartridges, and hot coffee, in -bottles, were passed through the tube, and the -famished prisoners were able to break their long -fast. That nothing within the possibilities should -be lacking, Plegg ran electric wires, with an incandescent -bulb attached, through the conduit, and -thus the feast was lighted.</p> - -<p>In the fast-breaking, Regnier ate with his men, -but David carried his portion and Virginia’s a -little apart. Though she had revived quickly in -the splendid rebound of youth and health under -the changed conditions, the king’s daughter ate -sparingly and with eyes downcast, and was, in -David’s eyes, more radiantly beautiful than she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_382">[382]</span> -had ever been. After the keen edge of famine—David’s -famine—was a little blunted, she looked -up and met his glances bravely.</p> - -<p>“We didn’t die, David, and—and you must forget,” -she pleaded. “You will forget, won’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Forget?—not if I live to be a million years -old,” he avowed gravely. And after a pause: -“You mustn’t be an Indian, Vinnie—to give, and -then want the gift returned. I am going to talk -to Plegg again in a few minutes, and you shall -hear what I say to him.”</p> - -<p>The previsioned talk with the first assistant—the -four-inch pipe serving for a speaking-tube—turned -out to be principally technical, to be sure. -In his proper person as chief engineer, David gave -directions for the pushing forward of the rescue -work. The jack-screw process was to be employed -again, this time to press a steel shield into -the mass of loose debris, so that the rescuers might -be protected as they dug. The shield could be -made out of a cast-off boiler shell with the heads -removed. In this manner a tunnel within the tunnel -could be excavated and the prisoners released.</p> - -<p>With so much for the technicalities, the human -side of things came in for its word.</p> - -<p>“Is Mr. Grillage with you?” David asked.</p> - -<p>Plegg’s reply was guarded. He guessed, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_383">[383]</span> -guessed rightly, that Eben Grillage’s daughter was -listening with David at the prison end of the -speaking-tube.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Grillage is at the hotel; he is not very -well. He has had a stroke of some sort, but the -Brewster doctor who is with him says it isn’t necessarily -dangerous.”</p> - -<p>“You have sent him word that we are all alive -and well?”</p> - -<p>“Sure; that was the first thing we did.”</p> - -<p>“Good. Now listen, and carry out my orders -to the letter. After you get the tunneling started -here, put Altman in charge and go yourself to the -telegraph office at the Inn station. I heard, day -before yesterday, that President Ford of the P. -S-W. was in Denver, with a number of his directors. -The report was that Mr. Ford and his -party were making an inspection trip over the -western lines of the system. You send a telegram -to Mr. Ford, asking him if he will come here for -a conference with me, bringing as many of the -directors as may be willing to come. Do you get -that?”</p> - -<p>“Perfectly. What else?”</p> - -<p>“You may sign my name to the telegram, and -make it as urgent as you can. This is important. -Then I want you to go up to the Inn and see Mr.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_384">[384]</span> -Grillage for yourself. Find out his condition exactly, -and come back here and report.”</p> - -<p>“All right; is that all?”</p> - -<p>“Not quite. While you are at the hotel, see my -father and sister and Herbert Oswald, and tell -them that the danger is all over for us—that is, -if you haven’t already ’phoned them.”</p> - -<p>“Your father and Oswald came up here with -me when the alarm was given, and they have been -here ever since until a couple of hours ago, when -I persuaded Oswald to take your father back to -the Inn on the assurance that we should reach you -with the pipe within a short time. Your father -was pretty well tuckered out, and I didn’t dare to -let him stay here any longer.”</p> - -<p>“Good man!” said David; “I owe you something -for that, Silas. Be sure and tell them at the -hotel that we are all right and quite comfortable, -and that there is nothing to worry about. And -while you’re at it, you may give Oswald and my -sister my hearty congratulations, and tell them, -from Miss Virginia and me, that we hope they’ll -be as happy as they deserve to be.”</p> - -<p>Plegg, the imperturbable, let slip a little imprecation -of joy.</p> - -<p>“I—I’ll be damned!” he burbled; “you don’t<span class="pagenum" id="Page_385">[385]</span> -know what a relief it is to hear you talking that -way! Any more errands?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; one more. Our engagement—Miss Virginia’s -and mine—hasn’t been announced yet, so -you may break the news, if you care to; to Mr. -Grillage when you see him, to my people, and to -the folks at the Inn. Also, you may let it go to -the fellows on the staff and to the men on the job. -We shall be married as soon as Mr. Grillage is up -and able to give the bride away.”</p> - -<p>“Good!—oh, <i>bully</i> good!” came from the other -end of the tube, from which it may be inferred -that the first assistant’s half-cynical habit of self-restraint -and reticence was broken beyond repair. -Then: “Of course, I’m taking your word for it, -but if Miss Virginia would—er—sort of counter-sign -the order ... I haven’t heard her voice -yet.”</p> - -<p>Virginia put her lips to the tube and her eyes -were dancing.</p> - -<p>“It’s so, Mr. Plegg; can you hear me? And -there are some other things that are going to be -so, too—things in which you’ll have to help. We -are counting upon you—may we?”</p> - -<p>“You may, indeed; to the last scrapings of the -grab-bucket!” was the ready assurance. “Now—I -don’t want to be impolite, but if that is all, I’ll<span class="pagenum" id="Page_386">[386]</span> -ask you both to take your faces away from the -pipe; I’m going to put the air blast on again.”</p> - -<p>Even with the help of the steel shield it took the -remainder of the night and the better part of the -next forenoon for the outside men, working in fifteen-minute -shifts, to dig through the mass of the -slide, the work being delayed somewhat by the encountering, -in the midst of things, of a great bowlder -which had to be carefully blasted with dynamite. -Nevertheless, the task was accomplished -finally. With the advancing shield the diggers -burst through with a yell of triumph, and the poor -prisoners were passed out one by one to the clean -air and the blessed sunshine of the outdoor world.</p> - -<p>Once more able to take command, David Vallory -gave directions for the clearing of the tunnel -by digging and timber-shoring from either side of -the slide, and outlined for Plegg in a few words a -plan for the excavating and permanent filling and -arching of the breach. Plegg heard him through, -and then looked up to say: “Does this mean that -we’re to have a new deal?”</p> - -<p>“Either a new deal or a smash. If I can come -to some sort of terms with Mr. Ford, we’ll go on -and finish this job honestly, the way it ought to be -finished. If I can’t, we’ll take our losses and get -out, without waiting to be kicked out.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_387">[387]</span>An engine had been ’phoned for to come up -after the chief and Miss Grillage, but it was as -yet only on the way. Miss Virginia was talking to -the released hard-rock men, praising them for -their courage, and telling them how glad she was -to have been given the chance to share the peril -with them, since the peril had to be. This gave -Plegg his opportunity with his chief.</p> - -<p>“You are speaking for Mr. Grillage, Vallory?—or -only for yourself?” he queried.</p> - -<p>“I hope I’m speaking for both of us. I’m -afraid Mr. Grillage is out of the active part of it, -permanently. Miss Virginia tells me that this is -his second stroke.”</p> - -<p>“Miss Virginia,” said Plegg; “of course, she is -with you on this reformation turn-over?”</p> - -<p>“Heart and soul; in fact, it is her idea. We’ll -fight it through together.”</p> - -<p>Once more the quaint smile twitched at the -corners of the first assistant’s thin-lipped mouth -and his eyes twinkled. “My congratulations,” he -said; “I—I’m damned if you aren’t going to be -‘too good,’ after all! I hope you won’t fire your -first assistant crook, Vallory. I’d like to see how -it feels to work for an absolutely honest outfit for -just one time before I die. Do I stay?”</p> - -<p>“Just as long as I do, Silas.” And then the engine<span class="pagenum" id="Page_388">[388]</span> -came, and David and his charge were whirled -away to the valley.</p> - -<p>At the stop at the foot of the Inn ridge, David -helped Virginia down from the engine cab, and -together they climbed the hill path. The news -had been passed to the tunnel that President Ford -and his inspecting committee had arrived at Powder -Gap an hour earlier and were quartered in the -Alta Vista; wherefore David Vallory knew that -his request had been granted and that his hour was -come.</p> - -<p>“You will go to your father at once, of course,” -he said, as they were ascending the steps of the Inn -entrance. Then: “You must stand to your guns, -Vinnie, and do all the things you said you’d like -to do when you thought we had to die. Mr. Ford -is here, and after I’ve had a word with Dad and -sister, I’m going to fight the good fight with the -Short Line people, taking matters entirely into my -own hands. If Mr. Ford doesn’t fire us bodily, -this job shall be finished—and finished honestly. -After that, your father may fire me if he wishes -to; but he must be made to understand that if he -does, he is firing his daughter’s husband.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” she said softly, “it’s such a precious -thing to find that you are just as big and strong -as I always believed you were, David! I’ll stand<span class="pagenum" id="Page_389">[389]</span> -by, and after you are through with Mr. Ford, you -must come straight to our suite.” Then, with exaggerated -humility: “May I have your august permission -to say good-by to Freddy Wishart and -Cumberleigh?”</p> - -<p>“You can’t—unless you do it by wire,” he -grinned. “Plegg tells me they went East on the -morning train, shortly after he had announced our -engagement here at the hotel. We can send them -cards a little later, if you wish.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_390">[390]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">XXIX<br /> - - -As It Should Be</h2> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">THE conference in the Alta Vista’s sun-parlor, -which was isolated for the purpose, was -rather long drawn out, as it was constrained to be, -but in due time the large-bodied, shrewd-eyed man -who had been doing practically all of the talking -for the railroad company brought it to a conclusion.</p> - -<p>“I have no more use for a welsher than you -have, Mr. Vallory,” he said, referring pointedly -to one James Lushing. “You have frankly admitted -that there have been the usual contractor’s -shavings and parings on the job, to the manifest -detriment of the railroad company’s interest. I’ll -be equally frank and say that Lushing was given -his place with us largely because he knew of the -little parings—having devised a good many of -them himself, probably—and was therefore able -to check and prevent them. But I wish it to be -distinctly understood that we don’t stand for any -highbinding methods; and your evidence of sheer<span class="pagenum" id="Page_391">[391]</span> -criminality on Lushing’s part seems to be entirely -conclusive. You say they have found the wrecked -time-clock of the infernal machine in the tunnel -digging?”</p> - -<p>David nodded. “We have that, and the testimony -of the young woman I speak of. Also, we -have another witness in the person of a man -named Dargin, who, my assistant tells me, is -ready to testify that Lushing, the man Backus, and -another named Runnels, deliberately plotted the -blowing up of the tunnel, partly for the purpose of -smashing our company, but principally—so Dargin -says—to dispose of me in a manner which -would appear to be entirely accidental.”</p> - -<p>“Dargin?” said the president, with a faint -smile. “Isn’t he the head and front of these Powder -Can nuisances that you described in your letter -to me, and wished to have us help you clean out?”</p> - -<p>“The same,” said David.</p> - -<p>“Did he know of your effort in this direction?”</p> - -<p>“He did.”</p> - -<p>“And yet he tried to warn you through the -woman Fallon? What sort of a desperado is he, -Mr. Vallory?”</p> - -<p>“Really, I don’t know,” David confessed. “He -is rather beyond me. Desperado is the word; he -has a perfectly horrifying list of shootings to his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_392">[392]</span> -credit, and is, generally, what is known west of -civilization as a ‘bad man.’ And yet he agreed -with me when I told him that his dives ought to -be cleaned up, and that I was going to try to clean -them up; adding that some day he might do it himself, -if I didn’t beat him to it.”</p> - -<p>“That would be a miracle, indeed,” said the -railroad president.</p> - -<p>“Yet it is one that is already wrought,” David -put in. “Mr. Plegg—my assistant—assures me -that the Powder Can saloons and gambling dens -were all closed on the night of the tunnel explosion, -and that Dargin had sent him word that -they would not be reopened.”</p> - -<p>Again the big-bodied president smiled. “We -are living in an age of wonders, Mr. Vallory. -This man Dargin’s action proves it, and, if you -will permit me to say it, so does yours in asking -for this conference. Do you know what has become -of Lushing?”</p> - -<p>“I do not. When it became known, as it was -almost immediately, that the tunnel disaster was -not an accident, Lushing disappeared, together -with his accomplices. But, as I have pointed out, -we have the evidence.”</p> - -<p>“You could scarcely make a legal case against -the railroad company,” said the president.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_393">[393]</span> -“Lushing was acting entirely on his own responsibility -when he stepped over into the criminal field -to satisfy his grudge against you and Mr. Grillage. -But I understand from what you have said that -you have no intention of taking the matter into the -courts.”</p> - -<p>“None whatever. I am merely asking you gentlemen -for a square deal in return for a square -deal. Our bid on this job was too low, if the work -were to be done honestly. If the railroad company -will allow the slight increase in the estimates -that I have asked for, we shall go on and complete -the job to your entire satisfaction. And you -may cover the entire mileage six feet deep with -inspectors if you choose.”</p> - -<p>There was a little interval of silence to follow -this statement, with some uneasy moving in their -chairs on the part of the four Short Line directors -who had listened to the arguments pro and con.</p> - -<p>“I believe in you, Mr. Vallory,” said the president -at length, slightly stressing the pronoun. “If -the matter were solely in your hands, I should say, -go ahead on the plan you have outlined. But -what guaranty can you give us that Mr. Grillage -will permit you to carry out your ideas? You -must remember that we have had dealings with -him before this.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_394">[394]</span>“Mr. Grillage will not interfere,” said David -calmly. “The chief reason is that before the new -plan goes into effect, I shall be his son-in-law and -a partner in the business of the Grillage Engineering -Company.”</p> - -<p>“Oho!” said the railroad magnate, with a good-natured -chuckle. “So the wind sets in that quarter, -does it? Are we to understand that you will -have your wife’s approval and—er—coöperation -in these business matters?”</p> - -<p>“To the very fullest extent,” was the prompt -rejoinder. “In fact, the course I have indicated is -based more upon her initiative than mine.”</p> - -<p>“That is better. I have had the privilege of -meeting Miss Virginia, and—you are to be congratulated, -most heartily, Mr. Vallory. Did the—er—accident -in the tunnel contribute something -toward the bringing about of this happy state of -affairs?”</p> - -<p>“It did,” said David shortly. “You may, or -may not, have heard that Miss Virginia took her -life in her hands to save mine and those of the -men of the day shift.”</p> - -<p>President Ford rose to intimate that the conference -was ended.</p> - -<p>“We’ll meet you half-way, Mr. Vallory, and in -good faith,” he said. “I am told you have a lawyer<span class="pagenum" id="Page_395">[395]</span> -friend here in the house; our attorneys will -meet him and draw up new contracts. We shall -ask only for decent economy and fairness; and if -you can do as you promise—get the line open before -snow flies—there will be a substantial bonus -for you, individually; which may enable you to -make your interest in the Grillage Engineering -Company a financial as well as a—er—sentimental -one. I think that is all we need to say this -morning.”</p> - -<p>David Vallory passed through the corridor to -the Grillage suite with the blood hammering in -his veins. In the hour-long conference with the -railroad magnates he had kept his word to Virginia, -fighting openly and honestly, and battling -his way through to the desired end. The battle -had not been won without stress. At first, there -had been only silence and cold attention on the -part of the magnates. But the triumphant fact -remained: he had warmed them finally and the -victory was won.</p> - -<p>But now the real crisis was at hand. Would -Eben Grillage, the benefactor to whom he owed -his fealty in the final analysis, turn the helm over -to a moneyless youngster who was masterfully -proposing to marry his daughter out of hand, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_396">[396]</span> -to throw all of the Grillage business methods and -maxims into the scrap-heap?</p> - -<p>Virginia met him at the door of the private -suite, and her eyes were full of trouble.</p> - -<p>“You must be prepared for a great change, -David,” she told him. “It is paralysis, and he -will never be the same man again. You must help -me, dear; in a way, you know, I was the cause -of it.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll carry the load—together,” he assured -her gently, and then she led him to the bedside of -the stricken giant.</p> - -<p>Her word of warning did not come amiss. For -a moment David was shocked silent, and he could -scarcely realize that the big figure propped among -the pillows was that of the man who had stood as -the very image of strength and aggressive vigor -at their last meeting on the morning of the departure -for the fishing excursion. The beetle-browed -eyes were undimmed, to be sure, but the heavy -face hung in folds, and its color was that of age-old -parchment. Yet the indomitable spirit was -unbroken.</p> - -<p>“Come to look over the wreck, have you, -David?” he said, with the grim Grillage smile -strangely distorted by his malady. “Makes me -think of that advertisement of the insurance people:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_397">[397]</span> -‘A house may burn, but a man <i>must</i> die.’ I’m -not dead yet, though.”</p> - -<p>“Of course you’re not,” said David cheerfully. -“You’re not going to be allowed to die before I’ve -paid you some of the big debt I owe you.”</p> - -<p>Again the grim smile flitted across the flabby -expanse of the wrecked face.</p> - -<p>“Vinnie tells me you’re aiming to make the debt -bigger before you make it less. Do you realize -that you’re taking all I’ve got in the world worth -having, David? But of course you don’t; you -young robbers never do. Have you seen President -Ford?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; I have just had a talk with him and four -of his directors. We are to have a new contract, -with increased estimates, and a square deal all -around. And bygones are to be bygones.”</p> - -<p>Eben Grillage rocked his head slowly back and -forth on the pillows, and this time the grim smile -was almost ghastly.</p> - -<p>“You might have waited until I was safely -under ground, you and Vinnie, before you began -on your Utopian house-wrecking,” he said, with -a touch of humor that was too bitter to be merely -sardonic. “Are you trying to tell me that Ford is -going to pay more than the original contract calls -for?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_398">[398]</span>“Just that—for the right kind of work. I had -to argue for a solid hour, but I carried my point.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose you told him that the old buccaneer -was as good as dead, and that the Golden Rule -had been taken out of its wrappings and polished -up so you could see your face in it?”</p> - -<p>At this the buccaneer’s daughter broke in, -speaking for the first time in the brisk interchange -of question and reply.</p> - -<p>“I can’t let you torture David that way!” she -protested. “He speaks of his debt to you, and -you have spoken of it; can’t you see that he is -trying to pay it in the biggest, finest way there is?”</p> - -<p>Again the big head wagged on the pillows.</p> - -<p>“You’ll tell me, you two, that it is the day of -the new generation, and that I’m only a wornout -back-number. Maybe it’s so. But Utopia isn’t -here yet, and the world I’ve fought in ... but -what’s the use? You two wouldn’t see it my way -if I should talk till midnight. What is it that you -want to do, David?”</p> - -<p>David slipped an arm around Virginia to make -what he was about to say a joint declaration.</p> - -<p>“We mean to have you live to hear the Grillage -Engineering Company called the squarest contracting -firm in the business; to see the time when -its bid will be the highest one made on a job, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_399">[399]</span> -yet will be the bid that is accepted. That is how -we shall try to pay some part of the big debt. -You’ll let us try for it, won’t you?”</p> - -<p>For a full minute the fierce eyes were closed and -the massive figure outlined under the bed-clothes -lay motionless and rigid. When the eyes were -unclosed the king of the contractors was himself -again, in curt decision and terseness of speech, at -least.</p> - -<p>“Have your way, both of you,” he growled. “It -isn’t my way, and you can’t hope to teach an old -dog new tricks. Find Oswald, and we’ll draw up -some kind of a document that will put you in the -saddle and give you the authority to make the -deal with Ford and his lawyers. And say: tell -Oswald to bring me a cigar—the blackest one he -can find.... No, I don’t care a damn what the -doctor says!”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>There was a double wedding in the Inn club-room -a week later, the Grillage private car having -been sent all the way to Brewster to bring the -officiating clergyman. Contrary to all precedent—at -least in Virginia Grillage’s world—there was -no formality. The Inn guests were invited in a -body; and on David’s side there was a crowding<span class="pagenum" id="Page_400">[400]</span> -of engineers in working clothes, of grade foremen -and subcontractors, of all and sundry who could -be spared from the big job.</p> - -<p>Eben Grillage, his great body propped in a -wheel-chair, gave one of the brides away; but the -chief interest for the onlookers centered in the -slender, sylph-like figure of the other bride, whose -face, almost other-worldly in its delicate, rose-leaf -beauty, was as the face of an innocent child, and -whose eyes, seeing neither the throng nor the -morning sunlight streaming through the windows -of the transformed lounging-room, were yet shining -with happiness ineffable.</p> - -<p>“I—I simply <i>can’t</i> believe she is blind!” whispered -one white-haired mother of daughters -among the witnesses; and there were others, also, -to wink away the quick-springing tears of sympathy.</p> - -<p>Again, contrary to all precedent, there was no -wedding journey to follow the simple ceremony -in the hotel club-room. Almost immediately the -Oswalds went across to the cottage they were to -occupy; and a short half-hour after her marriage, -Virginia Vallory, clad in serviceable khaki, forthfared -with her husband to make a round over -the job.</p> - -<p>The sun was setting crimson fires alight in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_401">[401]</span> -Qojogo’s cloud cap when they returned to a late -dinner. The summerers were thickly clustered on -the Inn porches, and the two who had just reached -the summit of the steep ridge path turned their -backs upon the conventions and their faces toward -the western effulgences.</p> - -<p>“You’ve had the better part of a day to think -about it; are you sorry for that little minute of -confessions in the tunnel, Vinnie?” David asked, -as one still unable to realize his blessings and the -full magnitude of them.</p> - -<p>“Sorry? Why should I be sorry?”</p> - -<p>“You might have had an old and honorable -title, you know,” he reminded her. “Cumberleigh -could have given you that much, at least.”</p> - -<p>She glanced up with a bewitching little twist of -the lips which carried him swiftly back to childhood -days, and to his memories of her childhood.</p> - -<p>“I have a title,” she retorted; “the most honorable -title in all the world. When I die it shall be -graven on my tombstone.”</p> - -<p>“Epitaphs—already?” he deprecated, with his -sober smile. Then, in a sudden rush of poignant -tenderness: “Oh, my dear one—let us hope that -the day is far distant!”</p> - -<p>“Amen!” she said softly; “because I don’t want -to leave you, David. But when the day does come<span class="pagenum" id="Page_402">[402]</span> -I shall have my title: I thought of it this afternoon -when we were at McCulloch’s camp, and I stood -aside and heard you say, ‘No, Mac—do the job -just as if you were doing it for yourself.’ Then -I saw just how my epitaph-title was going to read: -‘Here lies Virginia Vallory, the wife of an honest -man.’ There now; if that crowd wasn’t looking -on with all its eyes, I’m sure you’d kiss me for -that. Let’s go in to dinner; I’m actually unromantic -enough to be fiercely hungry. Good-by, -blessed sunset,” and she blew a kiss to the crimson -west.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="transnote"> -<p class="ph1">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:</p> - -<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p> - -<p>Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.</p> - -<p>Archaic or alternate spelling has been retained from the original.</p> -</div></div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DAVID VALLORY ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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