Mexico Missouri message., 1906-06-28
copyrisht. BY Lothrop Publishing Company.
CHAPTER II

Junction no one knew Just where to
reach either his old father or his
young son with the news Of his death.
somewhere up the eastern slope Of the
sierras the old man would be leading,
as he had long chosen to lead eaeh
summer, the lonely life Of prospect
or. The young man, two years out OF
Harvard, and but recently back from
an extended European tour, was at
some point on the North Atlantic
coast, beginning the seasons pursuit
Of happiness as he listed.
Only in a land so young that almost
the present jewellers therein have made
It might we find Municipalities which
SO decislvely failed to blend. So little
congruous was the family of Bines in
root, branch and blossom, tnat 1t
might, indeed, be taken to picture an
epic Of western life as the romancer
would tell It, First Of the line stands
the figure of Peter Bines, the pioneer,
contemporary with the stirring days
Of Fremont, of Kit Carson, Of Harvey
and Bridger; the fearlesG strivers
! toward an ever-receding west, fascin-
ating for it's untried dangers as for its
tabled wealth-the sturdy, grave men
who fought and toiled and hoped and
realized in varying measure, but who
led in sober truth life such as the
oolors Of no taleteller shall ever be
high enough to reproduce.
Next came Daniel ]. Bines, type of
the builder and organizer who fol-
lowed the trail blazed by the earlier
pioneer; the genius who, finding the
magic realm opened, forthwith became
It's explciter to it's vast Tenown and
his own large profit, coming its wealth
Of minerals, lumber, cattle and grain,
and adventurously building the rail
roads that must always be had to drain
new land of savagery.
Nor would there be wanting a third
"a figure of this present day, contain
ing, in potency at least, the stanch
qualities of his two rugged forbears-
the venturesome spirit that set his rest
less grandsire to rowing westward, the
power to group and coordinate, to
"think three moves ahead" which had
made his father man of affairs; and,
further, he had something modern OF
his own that neither of the others
possessed, and yet which came as the
just fruit of the parent vine: a dis
position perhaps bit less strenuous,
turning back to the risen rather than
forward to the setting sun; tendency
to rest a little from the toll and tu-
mutt; to cultivate some graces subtler
than those of adventure and CONNER
cialism; to make the most of what
had been done rather than strain to
tb~ ICING Of needless more; to live, in
snort, like a philosopher and gentle
man who has more golden dollars
year than either philosophers or gen.
tlemen are wont to enjoy.
And now the central figure had gone
suddenly at the age Of 81, after the
way OF certain men who are quick,
ardent and generous in their living.
From his luxurious private car, lying
on the side-track at the dreary little
station, Toler, private secretary to the
millionaire, had telegraphed to the
headquarters of one important rail-
! way company the death of it's presi-
| dent, and to various mining, milling
and numbering companies the death Of
their president, vice president or man
aging director, as the case might be.
For the widow and only daughter word
OF the calamity had gone to a noun
tain resort not far from the family
home at Montana City.
There promised to be delay in reach
Ing the other two. The son would
early read the news, Toler decided, I'M
less perchance he were OFF at sea, since
the death of a figure like Bines would
be told by every daily newspaper in
the country. He telegraphed, however,
to the young mans New York apart
ments and to a Newport address, on
the chance Of finding him.
Locating old Peter b.nes at this sea-
son Of the year was feat never light
ly to be undertaken, nor for any trivial
end. 1t being now the 10th of June,
1t could be known with certainty only
that in one of four states he was
prowling through some wooded canyon,
toiling over a windy pass, or scaling
q mountain sheerly, in his ancient and
best loved sport Of prospecting. Know
ing his habits, the Tashest gueaser
would not have attempted to say more
definitely where the old man might be.
The most promising plan Toler could
devise was to wire the superintendent
of the zone Girl" mine at Skiplap.
The elder Bines, he knew, had passed
through skiplap about June 1, and had
left, perhaps, some inkling OF his pro-
posed route; II 1t CHANGED, indeed, that
he had taken the trouble to propOae
| one
Pangburn, the mine superintendent,
on receipt OF the news, dispatched ftSe
men on the search in as many differ
ent directions. The old man was now
"a, and Pangburn had noted when last
they met that he appeared to DO some
what lera aoila and xyfporo,,e ft,. = .