Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-04-18

But, your honor!-a delay of only
"a hours In which to prepare a re-
joinder to this petition-to allegations
Of such astounding gravity" he began,
shocked into action by the very un-
graspable magnitude Of the thing.
What more could you ask, Mr.. Hun
nicott?" said the Judge, mildly. "You
have already had full measure of
delay on the original petition. Yet
I am willing to extend the time II
you can come to an agreement with
Mr.. Hawk here"
Hunnicott knew the hopelessness of
that and did not make the attempt.
Instead. he essayed new line of OBJ
lection.
"The time would be long enough II
CASTOR were the headquarters of the
company, your honor. But in such q
grave and important charge as this
amended petition brings, our general
counsel should appear in person and"
"You are the company's attorney.
Mr.. Hunnicott," said the Judge, dry
ly; land you have hitherto been
deemed competent to conduct the case
In hehalf Of the defendant. I am un-
willing to work hardship to any one,
but l cannot entertain your protest.
The preliminary hearing will be at
three O'Clock Tomorrow"
Hunnicott knew when he was def
nitely at the strings end; and when he
was out Of the judges room and the
courthouse, he made dash for his
Office, dry-lipped and painting. Ten
minutes sufficed for the writing of a
telegram to Kent, and he was half
way down to the station with 1t when
II occurred to him that II would never
do to trust the incendiary thing to the
wires In plain English. There was q
little-used cipher code in his desk pro-
vided for Just such emergencies, and
back he went to labor, sweating over
the task of securing secrecy at the ex.
pense of the precious minutes Of time,
Wherefore, 1t was about four o'clock
when he handed the telegram to the
station operator, and adjured him by
all that was good and great not to do.
lay its sending.
It was just here he made his first
and only slip, since he did not stay
to see the thing done. It chanced that
the regular day operator was of on
leave of absence, and his substitute, Q
young man from the train dispatcher's
Office, was person who considered
the company wires an exclusive ap-
panage of the train service :. depart
ment. At the moment Of Hunnicott's
assault he was taking an order for
No. II, and observing that the lawyers
cipher rush" covered four closely
written pages, he hung 1t upon the
sending hook with malediction on
the legal department for burdening
the wires with its mail correspondence,
and 30 forgot 1t, -
It was nine O'Clock when the night
operator came on duty; and being q
careful man, he not only looked first
to his sending hook, but was thought
full enough to run over the accumula-
tion Of messages waiting to be trans.
mitted, to the end that he might give
precedence to the most important,
And when he came to Hunnicott's
cipher with the thrice-underlined
RUSH" written across its face. and
had marked the hour Of Its handing
In, he had the good sense to hang up
the entire wire business Of the railroad
until the thing was safely out of his
Office.
1t was half-past nine when the all.
cipher got itself written out
In the headquarters office at the cap
ital; and for two anxious hours the
receiving operator tried by all means
In his power to find the general coun-
and failed. For, to make the
chain of mishaps complete In all Its
links, Kent and Loring were spending
the evening at Miss Portia van
having been bidden to meet
man they were both willine to cul
Marston. the lieutenant
governor. And for this cause 1t want
ed but FIVE minutes Of midnight when
Kent burst into Lorlng's bedroom on
the third floor of the Clarendon, ca
news In hand. e..
For heavens sake. read that" he
gasped; and Loring sat on the edge OF
the bed to do 1t.
80! they've sprung their mine at
last" he said, quietly, when he had
ma tered the purport Of Hunnicotts
war news.
Kent had caught his second wind In
the moment of respite, and was set
Ting into the collar in a way to strain
the working harness to the breaking
point.
"It's a put-up job from away back"
be gritted. IF I'd had the sense OF
pack-mule should have been on the
lookout for just such trap as this.
Look at the date of that message!"
The general manager did look, and
shook his head. Received, 3:45 p.
n.; forwarded, s:17 p. m That will
cost somebody his job. What do we
io?"
"We get busy at the drop Of the hat.
Luckily, we have the news, though
I'll bet high it wasn't Hawks fault
hat this message came through with
no more than eight hours delay. Get
INTO your clothes, man! The minutes
are precious. now!"
Loring began to dress while Kent
walked the floor in hot fit OF impa-
tience.
THE mastodonic cheek OF the
.hing!" he kept repeating. until Lor-
ng pulled him down with another
luiet remark.
Tell me what we have to do, David.
am a little lame in law matters"
"Do? We have to appear in Judge
MacFarlane's court Tomorrow after
noon prepared to show that this thing
IS only a hold-up with 6 blank car
ridge. Hawk meant TO take snap
Judgment. He counted on throwing
the whole thing up against Hunni-
,ott, knowing perfectly we'll that lit
lie local attorney at way-station
couldn't begin to secure the necessary
affidavits."
Loring paused with one end Of his
,ollar HyinP loose