Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1906-03-21
CHAPTER V.
JOURNEYS END

1t had been a day of upsetting for
David Kent, beginning with the late
breakfast at which Nellie, the night
Waterman at the railway station, had
brought him Penelope's telegram.
At ten he had case in court: Shot
we'll VS.. Western Pacific Co, damages
for stock killing; for the plaintiff
Hawk; for the defendant-Kent.
With the thought that he was present.
ly going to see Elinor again, Kent went
gaily to the battle legal, meaning to
wiring victory out of jury drawn for
the most part from the PLAINTIFFS
stock-raising neighbors. By dint of
great perseverance he managed to pro-
long the fight until the middle of the
afternoon, was worsted, as usual, and
so far lost his temper as to get him.
self called down by the Judge, Mac
Farlane.
Whereupon he went back to the
FarQuhar Building and to his Office
and sat down at the typewriter to
pound out letter to the general coun-
sci, resigning his sinecure. The Shot
well case was the third he had lost for
the company in a single court term.
Justice for the railroad company, I'M
der the present agrarian conditions,
was not to be had in the lower courts,
and he was weary of fighting the los
ing battle. Therefore
In the midst of the type rafting
the hoy that served the few occupied
offices in the Farquhar Building had
brought the afternoon mail 1t con-
tanned letter from Loring, and there
was another reversive upheaval for
the exile. Loring's business at the
capital was no longer secret. He had
been rendered the resident manage
ment of the Western Pacific, with
headquarters on the ground, and had
accepted. His letter was brief note,
asking Kent TO report at once for
legal duty in the larger field.
Il am not fairly in the saddle yet,
and shall not be for a week or So"
wrote the newly appointed manager.
But l find l am going to need level
headed lawyer at my elbow from the
jump-one who knows the state poll
teal ropes and isn't afraid of scrap.
Come in on Number Three to-day, if
you can; if not, send wire and say
when l may look for you. Or, better
still, wire anyway"
David Kent struggled with his emo
ticns until he had got his feet down
to solid earth again. Then he tore up
the half written resignation and be-
gan to smite things in order for the
flight. Could he make Number Three?
Since that was the train named in
Penelope's message, nothing short of
a catastrophe should prevent his MAX
ing it.
So it came about that the outcome
of the cataclysm was a thing which
happens often enough in a conven-
honalized world. David Kent, with
his tragedy fresh upon him, dropped
informally into place as one of the
party of five; and of all the others,
Penelope alone suspected how hard
he was hit. And when all was said;
when the new modus vivendi had been
fairly established and the hour grew
late, Kent went voluntarily with
Ormsby to the smoking compart-
ment. ito play the string out decent
ly," as he afterward confessed 20
Loring.
Il see you know how to get the most
comfort out of your tobacco" said
the club-man, when they were COM
panionably settled in the mems room
and Kent produced his pipe and to-
bacco pouch. Il prefer the pipe my
self, for steady thing; but at this
time of night light Castillo fits me
pretty well. Try one?" rendering his
cigar case.
Fighting shrewdly against a natural
prompting to regard Ormsby as an
hereditary enemy, Kent forced himself
to be neighborly.
ITO Be Continued