by George Gibbs
*CHAPTER XXV*
*THE CRISIS*
One of the rooms in Janney's suite had been turned into an office forGeneral Bent, and here it was that all the conferences between theofficers of the Amalgamated Reduction Company and their underlings hadtaken place. The big men of Denver had all called to pay their respectsto the bigger man from the East, and some of them had taken part in thebusiness of reorganizing the Denver and California and its subsidiarycompanies.
But in spite of the conditions which had made Bent's control of therailroad possible and the money the crowd would make out of it,everybody in this intimate circle knew that the real object of theGeneral's financial operations was the fight of the AmalgamatedReduction Company for the ownership of the Saguache Smelter. Thereorganization of the Denver and California had now been completed, andthis morning orders had gone forth removing Clinton, Symonds, and allthe old crowd from the active management of the road.
General Bent sat at the end of the long desk table in conference withCurtis Janney, Cortland Bent, and a youngish-oldish, keen-eyed man in acutaway coat and white waistcoat. This was Henry McCabe ofDenver--attorney for the Amalgamated--the shrewdest lawyer west of theMissouri River, and one of the shrewdest east of it. In front of McCabeon the desk was a leather portfolio from which a number of papersprotruded. Behind him sat a clerk who had been taking down in shorthandhis questions and the replies of two men at the farther end of thetable. These men were roughly dressed, and, though at the presentmoment each of them smoked one of Curtis Janney's remarkable cigars,they sat aloof and uncomfortable on their gilt chairs, assumingattitudes of ease they were far from feeling. One of the strangers wasMax Reimer, the man who had discovered the lost vein in the "Lone Tree"mine. The other was Fritz Weyl, one-time barkeeper of Pete Mulrennan'ssaloon in Mesa City.
McCabe's examination had hardly been concluded when two cards werebrought in by a page and handed to Cortland Bent. He glanced at them,and then, without comment, laid them on the table before his father.
"H--m! He's here now," muttered the General, staring grimly. "He'ssaved us the trouble of sending for him." He tossed the cards on thetable and rose. "There's nothing more you wanted to ask, was there,McCabe?"
"No, sir, nothing. I know all I need to."
"I thought so. Will you take these men downstairs? But have themwithin call--I may need them. Have Harbison handy, too. Curtis, you'llstay, of course--and you, Cort." Then to the waiting servant, "Showthese gentlemen up."
When Wray and Berkely entered, General Bent had resumed his chair at thehead of the table, and Cortland and Curtis Janney sat on either side ofhim. The General's head was bent forward in its customary pose, hisshaggy brows lowered so that his eyes were scarcely visible, but in thesmile that twisted one end of his thin lips Berkely read a sardonicconfidence in the outcome of the interview. On entering the room Wrayfixed his wide gaze on General Bent, his eyes gleaming strangely, andkept it on him as though fascinated, until, at a word from CortlandBent, he sank into a chair beside Berkely. Aside from this civility, noamenities passed. General Bent had sunk back in his armchair, coollyswinging his glasses by their cord, while he keenly eyed Berkely, whohad begun talking. Curtis Janney, trying to bury his personalanimosities in the present issue, folded his stout arms resolutely andleaned forward upon the table.
"We understand, General Bent, that it is you--representing Easterninterests--who have obtained a majority of the stock of the Denver andCalifornia Railroad Company. Am I correctly informed?"
General Bent's head dropped the fraction of an inch. "Your informationis correct," he said shortly.
"As general counsel for the Saguache Short Line," Berkely went on, "I amhere to inform you that, in accordance with a contract entered into inMarch of last year, the Denver and California made certain trafficarrangements with my Company conditional upon the completion of theSaguache Short Line upon a specified date. My company accepted theseconditions and has succeeded in carrying out to the letter the terms ofits agreements----"
"One moment, Mr. Berkely," put in the General with a vague attempt to behumorous, "if I may ask, what is the Saguache Short Line? A telegraph,stage, or railroad company?"
Wray's jaw set, and he glared angrily, but Berkely only smiled.
"A railroad company, sir," he said with suave directness, "controlling aright of way from Pueblo to Saguache--the most direct line from theSaguache to the market. Our tracks are laid, our signals in place, ourstations built, and this morning we are advised that the Denver andCalifornia is running its first train through from Pueblo to Saguache!"
The three men started, and Berkely grinned.
"I may add that in addition to Mr. Clinton (who at ten o'clock thismorning had not yet retired from the presidency of your road), the trainalso carries other officers of your company as well as stockholders ofmine. A lunch has been provided at the northern terminus of the road,and a spirit of harmony dominates the occasion--one which I'm sureyou'll admit is noteworthy in every particular."
General Bent's brow twitched ominously. "I hope, Mr. Berkely, you'llcome to the point without delay," he said.
"Willingly. The Saguache Short Line has fulfilled its part of thecontract. The present officers of your company are willing to carry outtheirs. The object of our visit was merely to reassure ourselves of yourfriendly disposition--the friendly disposition of the newly electedofficers of your road--and to arrange with all proper haste a practicalschedule for the operation of the line."
Larry paused and sank back in his chair with a smile. General Bent hadrisen and was leaning forward over the table toward Berkely, his face athunder-cloud.
"You want a schedule, do you?" he growled, his voice deepening. "Well,I'll give you one--I'll give it to you now, and it won't take a greatwhile, either. As long as I'm in control of the Denver and CaliforniaRailroad Company not a wheel shall turn on your little jerk-water linewithin a mile of Pueblo. That's my answer to your proposition. Our yardlimit marks your terminus--do you understand? Get your ore there if youcan find any," he finished brutally.
But Berkely refused to lose his temper.
"You're aware, of course," he said coolly, "that such a policy is likelyto prove expensive?"
"You'll have to show that."
"I think we will. But I can't believe that you repudiate thiscontract," said Larry, tapping a paper with his forefinger.
"I didn't make that contract. I would never have made it. The courtswill pass on its validity."
"Then this is final?"
"Absolutely. Is there anything more you want to say?"
"I think that's all, General Bent," said Berkely, rising. "I had hopedyou would have been willing to meet us in a fair spirit. Failing todiscover that--either in your attitude or your demeanor--I suppose thereis nothing else to be said."
"One moment," interrupted the General, sinking back in his chair with aneffort at self-control. "Sit down, please. There's something more to besaid--something which you both may be interested to hear." And headdressed his remarks directly to Wray. "I can't say that I've watchedyour efforts to put your plans through without some interest, Mr. Wray.Under other circumstances I may say that I would have been compelled toa kind of admiration for your fruitless perseverance. It's all the moreremarkable in the face of the obstacles with which you had to contend.But we are fully informed as to your actual financial strength, and Ithink the time has come when we may draw aside the veil and speakfrankly. Mr. Berkely informs me that he intends to proceed against theDenver and California Railroad Company. To do this, of course, he musthave the proper authority. Are you sure that he can get it?"
Larry smiled. "I think so."
"To do so he requires, does he not, a majority vote of the Denver andSaguache Railroad Company as well as that of the Short Line--those twocompanies and the Development Company, as I understand it, being in away dependent one upon the other?"
"That is correct."
The General settled back in his chair, swinging his gold eyeglassesdaintily.
"How is he going to get that authority?" he asked.
His smile infuriated Wray, who replied quickly.
"By virtue of my control of all companies," he said crisply.
"Your control?" said Bent; "you have no control. I know your resourcesto a dollar, Mr. Wray. To-day at twelve o'clock your Denver and SaguacheRailroad Company stock will be in my possession."
Wray exchanged a glance with Berkely and laughed dryly.
"Oh, you're really coming in with us at last, are you, General?" hesaid. "That's fine!" And then with a chuckle, "Your name on thedirectorate of the Denver and Saguache ought to have some weight withthe new officers of the Denver and California."
The frown on Bent's brows deepened. The point of this joke did not dawnon him.
"That stock has always been for sale," Wray went on. "Everything I haveis for sale when the man comes along who can afford to buy it. It'sfunny, though, General Bent, that you haven't said anything to me aboutit."
A slight twitching of Bent's lips and the nervous movement of hisfingers among the papers on the table. Was this really a joke or onlythe last manifestation of Wray's colossal impudence? He chose to thinkit the latter.
"It hasn't been necessary to say anything to you about it, sir," he saidsternly. "To-day at noon two million and a half of that stock is thrownon the market at a bargain--at a very great bargain. But I'm the onlyman in the United States who would dare to touch it. I'm the only manin the world, except yourself, to whom it's worth a dollar. I know yourresources down to the last dime. _You_ haven't the money to take it up.I _have_. At noon that stock will be mine, so will you be mine--yourtwo railroads and your smelter, at the price I choose to pay for them."
Jeff sat quietly, one of his hands toying with the top of an inkstand,which he was regarding with friendly interest.
"Are you _sure_, General?" he asked calmly.
General Bent clasped his twitching fingers to keep them still. "Why,sir--what do you mean?"
"That you're mistaken, that's all. That stock is for sale, but you'llstill have to come to me to buy it."
"How----"
"Because I paid off those notes this morning. That stock is in mysafe-deposit vault, where it's going to stay--unless"--and he smiledsarcastically--"unless you still want it."
General Bent's face paled and grew red, then purple. He struggled tohis feet with difficulty. His plans didn't often miscarry, and the factthat one of the links of the chain he had tested so carefully had failedto hold completely mystified him. How--where had Jeff Wray succeeded inraising eight hundred thousand dollars when the limit of his borrowingcapacity had long ago been reached? For months the wonderful secretorganization of the Amalgamated had been at work prying into the affairsof Wray's companies and had figured his possible resources to thethinnest part of a hair. He had not sold the "Lone Tree" or even thesmallest interest in it, and yet there he was apparently entrenched asfirmly as ever. General Bent gasped in amazement. Only theinterposition of Providence could have made such a thing possible.Cortland Bent had gone into the adjoining room suddenly, and Wray knewhe was verifying this information over the telephone. But General Bentdid not wait for him to return. To his mind this news needed noverification. It was time for him to play his last card--and his best.
"You d--d young scoundrel," he said in a hoarse whisper, his voicetrembling with fury, while Wray and Berkely rose angrily and faced him."I won't mince matters with you any longer. You thought when you stolethat mine three years ago that you had covered all your tracks and madeyourself safe from civil suits. Mr. Berkely planned well. We foughtyou in the courts and lost. I suppose you thought we had given up. Wedid let up, but it was only to get a firmer hold. We've got it now, andwe're going to use it. You stole that mine--trespassed on our propertyat night and tried to murder one of our employes. You assaulted him andwould have killed him if you hadn't been interrupted----"
"That's a lie!" said Jeff calmly.
"You'll have a chance to prove that. You lured Max Reimer into agambling den and put him out of business so that he couldn't prevent myson from signing that lease."
"That's another lie! He was drunk and violent and drew a gun on me. Mypartner struck him down. His head hit the edge of a table."
"Nonsense, sir. We have a witness who verifies Reimer in everyparticular, who swears he saw from the doorway----"
"Who is your witness?"
"Fritz Weyl--I see you remember him. He----"
Wray laughed uneasily. "Yes, I remember Fritz?"
Bent came one step nearer, waving a trembling hand at Cortland, who hadreturned and was trying to restrain him. But the General shook him off.
"We dropped those civil suits because we thought it was wise to do so,and because we knew that in time we would be in a position to win inother ways. There are other processes of law besides the civil ones, andthose are the ones we choose to take. Before you can leave Denver you'llbe arrested on charges of abduction and conspiracy. I suppose you knowwhat that means?"
Jeff grew a shade paler, his eyes blazing their resentment at the oldman who stood tottering before him.
"You'd do that--you?" cried Jeff, hoarsely, struggling hard to keephimself under control. "You'd hire men to send me to the penitentiarybecause I've balked your plans--because I've beaten you in a fair fightagainst odds;--_you?--you?_" Wray clenched his fist and took a stepforward, but Larry Berkely seized him by the arm, and Cortland Bentstepped between.
General Bent pushed his son aside.
"Go, Cort--call McCabe. We'll see----"
At this moment there was an interruption.
"Wait a moment, Cort, please," said a voice.
The door into Mr. Janney's parlor had opened suddenly, and Mrs. Cheynehad entered the room. And while the General eyed her angrily, too amazedto speak, she strode quickly forward into the group and continuedquietly,
"There has been a mistake--a terrible mistake. If you'll let meexplain----"
General Bent was the first to recover his senses. "Rita! Leave the roomat once!" he commanded.
"No," she said firmly, "not until you hear what I have to say----"
"I can't listen now--another time," he fumed.
"No, now. I'm going to save you from doing something that you'll regretthe rest of your life."
While the General questioned, Jeff had turned and seized her by the arm,his eyes pleading.
"Rita!" he muttered, "You know? .... For God's sake, don't! ... Notnow!"
"'Rita!' he muttered, 'You know?'"]
"Yes," she said firmly. "No one else will. I must."
Cornelius Bent and Cortland had watched Wray in amazement. His face hadsuddenly grown white and drawn.
"You have no right to tell him, Rita," he persisted. "It's mysecret!--not yours! You can't! I tell you."
But she eluded him and faced the General.
"You must listen to me, Cousin Cornelius."
Curtis Janney, who had been watching Wray closely, now interposed.
"Let her speak, General. It seems to be something of more than usualimportance."
"Very well," he growled, "but be brief."
"I can't tell it here," she insisted. "I must speak to you alone."
"Alone? Why?"
"It's a private matter. Will you come into the next room, there's noone there----"
She turned and was moving toward the door when Jeff's large figureblocked the way.
"You don't know what you're doing, Rita," he whispered. "You can't. Iforbid it." But Berkely, who had been watching the General, took Jeffby the arm and held him by main force.
"Stand aside, sir," said General Bent, roughly brushing by. "If there'ssomething you want concealed, it's something I want to hear." And hefollowed, banging the door behind him.
Jeff made a movement as though he would follow--then turned
towardCortland Bent and Janney, who had watched this extraordinary change inthe demeanor of their enemy with wonder and some curiosity. Jeff staredat them wildly and took up his hat, saying in a strange voice,
"Come, Larry, I must get away from here--at once," and, opening thedoor, he fled madly down the corridor.
Berkely paused a moment. "We have no intention of dodging any issues,"he said quietly. "If any of you gentlemen want to see Mr. Wray or me,you can find us both at the Wetherall Ranch to-morrow."