Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1905-08-30

Why don't you got oue 81 it,5 then g
8. ! shall soma day perhaps. Up TO
date there has been no place to 20 to.
and no good way to arrive. Like
some thousands OF others,I've made IN
ass Of myself here. Loring.''' =s=..
BY coming, you mean? Oh, / don't
know about that. You have had some
hard knocks. take 1t, but il you are
the same David Kent used to know,
they have made q bigger man Of YOU
Think so?" o. s8s@:
I'D bet on It. We have had the
CASTOR epic done out for us In the
newspapers. No man could live
through such an experience as you
must have had without growing q
few inches. Hello! What's this?"
A turned corner had brought then,
In front of a lighted building in Texas
street with struggling crowd gath
cred about the porticoed entrance. As
Loring spoke, there was q rattle of
snare drums followed by the dunn
dunn Of the bass. and brass band
ramped out the opening measures Of
a campaign march. ~. w. ,-s--> =.
1T is rally" said Kent, when they
had passed enough beyond the zone
of brass-throated clamorings to make
the reply audible. II told you that
the CASTOR wolf-pack had gone into
politics. We. are in the throes Of a
state election, and there is to be a po-
litical speech-making at the opera
house tonight, with Bucks in the title
role. And there is q fair measure of
the deafness OF the town! When you
see people flock together like that to
hear brass band play, it means one
OF two things: that the town hasn't
outgrown the country village stage,
Or else it has passed that and all other
stages and is we'll on its way to the
cemetery"
"That is one way of putting It," Lo-
ring rejoined. IF things are as bad
as that, it's time you were moving on,
don't you Think"
81 guess so,'' was the lack-luster re-
Spouse. "Only don't know where to
go, or what to do when get there"
They were crossing the open square
in front of the wide-eaved passenger
station. A thunderous tremolo, dom
mating the distant band music, thrilled
on the still air, and the extended
arm of the station semaphore with it's
two dangling lanterns wagged twice.
my train," said Loring, Quickening
his step.
NO." Kent corrected. "It is a spe-
cial from the west, bringing a Bucks
crowd to the political rally. Number
Three isn't due for Is minutes yet, and
she is always late"
They mounted the steps of the sta
ton platform in good time to meet
the three-car special as it came clat-
tering in over the switches, and pres
emily found themselves in the thick of
the crowd of debarking rallyers.
It was mixed masculine multitude,
fairly typical Of time, place and occa-
sion; stalwart men of the soil for the
greater part, bearded and bronzed and
rough-clothed, with here and there q
AoA6S-AAUVA AA RAAIuACoA 4CotUVxu
straps, segging pistols and wide
tapped sombrero.
Loring stood aside and put up his
eyeglasses. It was his first sight near
at hand of the untrammeled west in
puris naturalibus, and he was finding
the spectacle both instructive and d.
verting. Looking to Kent for fellow
ship he saw that his companion was
holding himself stifly aloof: also, he
remarked that none of the boisterous
partisans flung word of recognition
in Kent's direction.
Don't you know any Of them?" he
asked.
Kent's reply was lost in the deep
chested bull-bellow of a cattleman
from Rio Blanco.
Hold on minute, boys, before you
scatter! Line up here and let's give
three cheers and a tail-twister for next
Governor Bucks! Now, then-every-
body! Hip, hip"
The ripping crash of the cheer
Jared Loring's eyeglasses from their
hold, and he replaced them with a
smile. -Four times the ear-splitting
shout went up, and as the echoes OF
the tiger" trailed off into silence the
stentorian voice was lifted again.
Good enough! Now. then: three
sroans for the land syndicates, allen
mortgages, and the Western Pacific
railroad, by grabs! and to hell with
'em!"
The responsive clamor was q thing
to be acutely remembered sustained,
long-drawn, vindictive; nerve-wrench-
ing pandemonium Of groans, yelpings
and cat-calls, in the midst of which
the partisans shufded into loose march
ing order and tramped away town
ward.
'That answers your question, doesn't
it?" said Kent, smiling sourly. IF not,
/ can set it out for you in words.
The Western Pacific is the best-hated
corporation this side of the Missis-
sippi, and I am it's local attorney"
II don't envy you," said Loring. II
had no idea the opposition crystalized
itself in any such concrete Ill will.
You must have the whole weight of
public sentiment against you in any
| railroad litigation"
Il do" said Kent, simply. If every
| complainant against us had the right
to pack his own jury, we couldn't fare
worse"
what is at the bottom of it? Is it
our pricking Of the CASTOR bubble by
building on to the caDital?"
"Oh, no; It's much more personal
to these shouters. AS you may, or
nav mt lxnou, o,,r 1iuo 1ilyo o.,ouv