Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-20
would begin to climb toward the bonding

would begin to climb toward the bonding
figure.
This was the first triumphant conclu-
sion. but afterward came reaction and a
depressiye doubt. Would the stock go
up? Or would the enemy devise some
assault that would keep it down in spite
facts? Upon the expected rise hung the
fate of Ford's cherished ambition-the
building of the western extension. With
out a dividend-paying Chicago-Denver
no thirty millions for the forging OF the
third and most important link in the
great traffic chain.
Ford walked the floor Of his office,
called by courtesy, private" for an anx-
ious hour. balancing the probabilities, and
finally determined to take the desperate
chance. There was a vast mountain Of
preliminary work to be leveled, huge pur-
chasing expenses to be incurred before
the first step could be taken in the actual
building of the western extension. and
the summer was advancing day by day
He did not hope to get the extension COM
pleted In single season. But to get 1t
over into the promising mining field on
the lower Pannikin before Snow-flying
meant work Of the keenest. without the
loss of single day. Could he afford to
play the safe game and wait until the
building capital should be cannily in Mr..
MagnuS' bank vaults?
He decided that he could not. and w1en
he reached a decision Ford was not the
man to hesitate before taking the plunge.
On the morning of the third day he called
Trutt. sometime superintendent Of the
C. p. and D.. and now acting manager
of the Chicago Extension, and gave him
his instructions.
You say there are three grain trains
moving on the line now, Mr. Truitt;
here will be three more before night
Keep them coming, and give them the
right of way over everything but the
United States mails. Can you handle this
without help from me?"
We'll give it. a pretty stiff try" was
the prompt rejoinder. But you are not
going to leave U.S. are you, Mr. Ford?"
mo. but for the next forty-eight hours
| am going to lock my door. and l don't
want to be disturbed for anything less
than disaster or wire from New York
Please give orders accordingly. will you?'
The orders were given, and, left with
his force Of stenographers, Ford began to
walk the floor. debating right and left
Letters and telegr ms to steel mills, to
contractors, to bridge builders. to the
owners OF grading outfits and to labor
agencies clicked out OF the typewriters
in a steady and unbroken stream, and
the din was like that of a mainline tele-
graph office on a hot piece of track
All day long and far into the night the
office force wrought increasingly, dig
ging away at the mountain of prelmi
nary correspondence. and by the next
morning the wire replies were beginning
tC come in.
Then came the crux To insure prompt
delivery of material definite orders must
be placed Immediately. y delay of SIN
gle day might entail delay OF weeks in
the shipments. Yet the risk of plunging
the company into debts it might never be
able TO pay was appalling. What if the
stock should not 80 up as preflgured? If
the bonds could not be floated?
Il was with the feeling that he might
well be signing his own death warrant
that Ford out his name to the first order
for two hundred thousand dollars worth
of steel rails for immediate delivery to
the company's line in Chicago But after
the first cold submergence it came more
easily. and when he left the Office an
hour before midnight a cool million would
not have covered the obligations he had
assumed during the strenuous day.
Kenneth was sitting up for him WREN he
reached his hotel. and the usually mpas-
sive face OF the general counsel reflected
trouble.
.'Out with it, said Ford. YEARLY, and
suddenly the new million Of Indebtedness
became a mountain weight to grind him
to powder.
Go be continued tomorrow