Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1908-07-22
The
Fighting
Chance.
By ROBERT W. CHAMBERS.
Copyright io0A By che O,n<l. PuSaa.Aa,~
Company.
Copyright, 1909. by Robert w. CAsuh.r~.

A.
:, driven northward for a breath of ai
!, was expected at Shotover.
!" The house of Mrs. Mortimer wa
: closed and boarded up. A caretake
= apparently guarded Major Belwether
!, house, peeping out at intervals fror
behind the basement windows. AS 70
Piank's great pile of masonry edgin
the outer hundreds In the north. sew
: eral lighted windows were to be see
!, In 1t at night. and big yellow an,
), black touring car whizzed down tow
from Its bronze gateway every morn
: Ing with perfect regularity.
For there was a fight on that hat
steadily grown hotter with the wealth
er and Plank had little time to con
! Germ himself with the temperature o.
, to mop his red features over th,
weather bureau report. Harrington
ana Quarter were after him-horse
loot and dragons. Harrington haC
even taken house at Seabright m
order to be near In person, and Quar-
riers move from Long Island to Shot
over House was not as flippant as II
might appear for he had his private
car there and a locomotive at Black
Fells Crossing station. and he was
within striking distance Of Rochester.
Utica, Syracuse and Albany, which
was what Harrington thought neces-
sary.
The noise OF the fray In the papers,
which had first excited then stunned
the outside public. continued in a de
lirium Of rumor, report forecast and
summing up at the weeks end.
Scare heads involving everybody and
everything. from the district attorney
to Planks Office boy, succeeded one
another. Plank's name headed col
umn after column. Already becoming
familiar in the society and financial
sections, 1t began to appear I'm neigh
boring paragraphs.
Plank scarcely noticed what the
press said of him. He was too busy:
his days were full days, trimming
over deep into the night Undaunted.
MEMORABLE, slow TO the verge Of stu
pidity at times, at times swift as a
startled tiger this new, amazing per
sonality steadily developing. looming
higher, heavier athwart the financial
horizon, In stature holding his own
among giants, then growing gradual
ly, inch by inch, dominated his sur
rounding level sky line.
Harrington. old, hoary, scanned.
SCARED, manned in onslaughts Of long
forgotten battles. looked long and hard
upon this weird Of his own dead youth
which now rose towering to confront
him. menacing him with the armed
point of the same shield behind which |
he himself had so long found shelter /
the law.
The closing of the courts enforced /
armed truces along certain lines of /
Plank's battle front, the adjournment
Of the legislature emptied Albany.
Once It was rumored that Plank had
passed an entire morning with the
governor Of the greatest state In the
Union and that the conference was to
be repeated. A swarm Of newspaper
men settled about the governors sum-
mer cottage at Saratoga. but they
earned nothing. nor could they find
4 trace Of Plank's tracks in the trod-
len trails of the great spa.
Besides, the racing had begun. Des-
nond, Burbank, Sneed and others of
he gilded guild had opened new club
houses There was plenty Of copy for
newspaper men without the daily spec
llative paragraph devoted to the do
ngs of Beverly Plank. Some scandal.
oo-but newspapers never touch that.
Ind after all It was nobody's affair
hat Leroy Mortimer drove large
elbow and black touring car, new
model, all over Saratoga county. Per
APPS the similarity OF machines gave ,
ise to the rumor Of Plank's presence; !,
erhaps not, because the car was often ,
riveD by tall, slender girl with dark
yes and hair, and nobody ever saw ,
hat sort of pretty woman In Planks ,
ar or saw Leroy Mortimer for many :
avs without a companion of that spe-
les
Mortimer's health was excellent .
he races had not proved remunera- :
We, however, and his new motor car =
as horribly expensive. So was Ly-
Ia. And he began to be seriously !.
fraid that by the end of August he :,
ould be obliged to apply to Quarter .
ice more for some slight temporary :.
ken OF that gentlemans good Will .,
e told Lydia this, and she seemed to = =
gree with him. This pleased him. =
le had not pleased him very much :,
Gently. For one thing she was be q
ming too friendly with some OF his :
lends, Desmond In particular. =
Plank, 1t was known, had opened his -
eat house at Black FEELS His serv- :,
Its, gamekeepers, were there, his
ables, kennels. greenhouses, model =,
ock farm-all had been put in i'm -
aculate condition pending the advent ~
the master. But Plank had not ~
peared. His new seagoing steam o,
chit Slwanoa still lay In the East riv- -
and at rare intervals a significant ~
INNER Of bunting disclosed the own -, =.
s presence aboard for an hour or -
%. :"
rhe Ferralls were at Shotover with ~
eir first installment Of guests. syl- -.
| was there, Quarter expected, be- J..
use Kemp Ferrall's break with him n.
Is not social one, and Grace's real a..
ection for Sylvia blinded neither -.
r nor her husband to the material