XXV
The Pace-Setter
Smith made an early breakfast on the morning following the auto drive tothe abandoned mine, hoping thereby to avoid meeting both Miss Richlanderand Jibbey. The Hophra cafe was practically empty when he went in andtook his accustomed place at one of the alcove tables, but he had barelygiven his order when Starbuck appeared and came to join him.
"You're looking a whole heap better this morning, John," said the mineowner quizzically, as he held up a finger for the waiter. "How's thegrouch?"
Smith's answering grin had something of its former good nature in it."To-day's the day, Billy," he said. "To-morrow at midnight we must havethe water running in the ditches or lose our franchise. It's chasingaround in the back part of my mind that Stanton will make hisgrand-stand play to-day. I'm not harboring any grouches on the edge ofthe battle. They are a handicap, anyway, and always."
"That's good medicine talk," said the older man, eying him keenly. Andthen: "You had us all guessing, yesterday and the day before, John. Yousure was acting as if you'd gone plumb locoed."
"I was locoed," was the quiet admission.
"What cured you?"
"It's too long a story to tell over the breakfast-table. What do youhear from Williams?"
"All quiet during the night; but the weather reports are scaring him upa good bit this morning."
"Storms on the range?"
"Yes. The river gained four feet last night, and there is flood waterand drift coming down to beat the band. Just the same, Bartley says heis going to make good."
Smith nodded. "Bartley is all right; the right man in the right place.Have you seen the colonel since he left the offices last evening?"
"Yes. I drove him and Corona out to the ranch in my new car. He saidhe'd lost his roadster; somebody had sneaked in and borrowed it."
"I suppose he told you about the latest move--our move--in thestock-selling game?"
"No, he didn't; but Stillings did. You played it pretty fine, John; onlyI hope to gracious we won't have to redeem those options. It wouldbu'st our little inside crowd wide open to have to buy in all that stockat par."
Smith laughed. "'Sufficient unto the day,' Billy. It was the only way toblock Stanton. It's neck or nothing with him now, and he has only onemore string that he can pull."
"The railroad right-of-way deal?"
"Yes; he has been holding that in reserve--that, and one other thing."
"What was the other thing?"
"Me," said Smith, cheerfully disregardful of his English. "You haven'tforgotten his instructions to the man Lanterby, that night out at theroad-house on the Topaz pike?--the talk that you overheard?"
"No; I haven't forgotten."
"His idea, then, was to have me killed off in a scrap of some sort--as alast resort, of course; but later on he found a safer expedient, and hehas been trying his level best to work it ever since."
Starbuck was absently fishing for a second cube of sugar in thesugar-bowl. "Has it got anything to do with the bunch of news that youwon't tell us--about yourself, John?"
"It has. Two days ago, Stanton had his finger fairly on the trigger, buta friend of mine stepped in and snapped the safety-catch. Last night,again, he stood to win out; to have the pry-hold he has been searchingfor handed to him on a silver platter, so to speak. But a man fell intothe river, and Stanton lost out once more."
Starbuck glanced up soberly. "You're talking in riddles now, John. Idon't _sabe_."
"It isn't necessary for you to _sabe_. Results are what count. Barringaccidents, you Timanyoni High Line people can reasonably count on havingme with you for the next few critical days; and, I may add, you neverneeded me more pointedly."
Starbuck's smile was face-wide.
"I hope I don't feel sorry," he remarked. "Some day, when you can takean hour or so off, I'm going to get you to show me around in your littlemu-zeeum of self-conceit, John. Maybe I can learn how to gather me upone."
Smith matched the mine owner's good-natured smile. For someunexplainable reason the world, his particular world, seemed to havelost its malignance. He could even think of Stanton without bitterness;and the weapon which had been weighting his hip pocket for the past fewdays had been carefully buried in the bottom of the lower dressing-casedrawer before he came down to breakfast.
"You may laugh, Billy, but you'll have to admit that I've beenoutfiguring the whole bunch of you, right from the start," he retortedbrazenly. "It's my scheme, and I'm going to put it through with a whoop.You'll see--before to-morrow night."
"I reckon, when you do put it through, you can ask your own fee," saidStarbuck quietly.
"I'm going to; and the size of it will astonish you, Billy. I shall turnover the little block of stock you folks have been good enough to let mecarry, give you and the colonel and the board of directors a smalldinner in the club-room up-stairs and--vanish. But let's get down tobusiness. This is practically Stanton's last day of grace. If he can'tget some legal hold upon us before midnight to-morrow night, or worksome scheme to make us lose our franchise, his job is gone."
"Show me," said the mine owner succinctly.
"It's easy. With the dam completed and the water running in the ditches,we become at once a going concern, with assets a long way in advance ofour liabilities. The day after to-morrow--if we pull through--you won'tbe able to buy a single share of Timanyoni High Line at any figure. Asa natural consequence, public sentiment, which, we may say, is atpresent a little doubtful, will come over to our side in a land-slide,and Stanton's outfit, if it wants to continue the fight, will have tofight the entire Timanyoni, with the city of Brewster thrown in for goodmeasure. Am I making it plain?"
"Right you are, so far. Go on."
"On the other hand, if Stanton can block us before to-morrow night; hangus up in some way and make us lose our rights under the charter; we'regone--snuffed out like a candle. Listen, Billy, and I'll tell yousomething that I haven't dared to tell anybody, not even ColonelBaldwin. I've been spending the company's money like water to keep intouch. The minute we fail, and long before we could hope to reorganize asecond time and apply for a new charter, Stanton's company will be inthe field, with its charter already granted. From that to takingpossession of our dam, either by means of an enabling act of theLegislature, or by purchase from the paper railroad, will be only astep. And we couldn't do a thing! We'd have no legal rights, and nomoney to fight with!"
Starbuck pushed his chair away from the table and drew a long breath.
"Good Lord!" he sighed; "I wish to goodness it was day after to-morrow!Can you carry it any further, John?"
"Yes; a step or two. For a week Stanton has been busy on thepaper-railroad claim, and that is what made me buy a few cases ofWinchesters and send them out to Williams: I was afraid Stanton mighttry force. He won't do that if he can help it; he'll go in with somelegal show, if possible, because our force at the dam far outnumbers anygang he could hire, and he knows we are armed."
"He can't work the legal game," said Starbuck definitively. "I've knownJudge Warner ever since I was knee-high to a hop-toad, and a squarer mandoesn't breathe."
"That is all right, but you're forgetting something. The paper railroadis--or was once--an interstate corporation, and so may ask for relieffrom the federal courts, thus going over Judge Warner's head. I'm notsaying anything against Lorching, the federal judge at Red Butte. I'vemet him, and he is a good jurist and presumably an honest man. But he iswell along in years, and has an exaggerated notion of his ownimportance. Stanton, or rather his figurehead railroad people, haveasked him to intervene, and he has taken the case under advisement.That is where we stand this morning."
Starbuck was nodding slowly. "I see what you mean, now," he said. "IfLorching jumps the wrong way for us, you're looking to see a UnitedStates marshal walk up to Bartley Williams some time to-day and tell himto quit. That would put the final kibosh on us, wouldn't it?"
Smith was rising in his place.
"_I'm_ not dead yet, Bi
lly," he rejoined cheerfully. "I haven't let itget this far without hammering out a few expedients for our side. If Ican manage to stay in the fight to-day and to-morrow----"
A little new underclerk had come in from the hotel office and was tryingto give Starbuck a note in a square envelope, and Starbuck was saying:"No; that's Mr. Smith, over there."
Smith took the note and opened it, and he scarcely heard the clerk'sexplanation that it had been put in his box the evening before, and thatthe day clerk had been afraid he would get away without finding it. Itwas from Verda Richlander, and it had neither superscription norsignature. This is what Smith read:
"My little ruse has failed miserably. Mr. K's. messenger found myfather in spite of it, and he--the messenger--returned this evening: Iknow, because he brought a note from father to me. Come to me as earlyto-morrow morning as you can, and we'll plan what can be done."
Smith crushed the note in his hand and thrust it into his pocket.Starbuck was making a cigarette, and was studiously refraining frombreaking in. But Smith did not keep him waiting.
"That was my knock-out, Billy," he said with a quietness that was almostoverdone. "My time has suddenly been shortened to hours--perhaps tominutes. Get a car as quickly as you can and go to Judge Warner's house.I have an appointment with him at nine o'clock. Tell him I'll keep it,if I can, but that he needn't wait for me if I am not there on theminute."
The Real Man Page 25