Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-21
X-Continued.


nouncement. Two of the grain trains
are in. and the Transcontinental lawyers
have won the toss We're enjoined by
the court from using the service tracks
to the elevators Didn't your local -peo-
pie tell you?''
No" said Ford Il had given orders
that I was not to be disturbed. But what
of it? You expected something of the
sort. didn't you?''
Yes. and I provided for it. The in
junction will be dissolved when We have
our final hearing; but long before that
time the mischief will be rreparabe. I'm
afraid
How"
1T will be blazoned far and wide that
we can't deliver the goods-that the OPP
position has done US up. I've tried to
keep it out of the newspapers. or. rather
to persuade them not to make too much
of it, But it wouldn't go. The Transcon-
tinental has all the pull in this town. 1t
appears.
and YOU think it will affect the price
of the stocko''
1T is bound to, temporarily. at least
What's that?" demanded Ford, dry
tipped, adding: Il haven't seen paper
since morning
Kenneth wagged his head gloomily. It's
pretty bad. p. S.W. closed at thirty
three-five points off yesterdays market
Good Lord" Ford's groan was that
of a man smtten down in the heat of the
fight. Say. Kenneth. within a single
sweep of the clock hands I have con-
tracted for more than a million dollars
worth of material for the western cx-
tension-more than million dollars
WORTH
We'll. I'm afraid You have sinned in
haste to repent at leisure" said the law
yer. with weary mans disregard for
the amenities Then he added: I'm go
ing to bed. I've had about all / can
stand for one day
Ford went to the room clerk for his
key: reeled would be the better word
since his brain was whirling. There was
telegram in his box. and he tore 1t open
with fresh and sharper msgivings. 1t
was from Adair.
THE sick mans getting sicker. What
is the matter with your prescription?
Stock gone off five points and the bears
are squeezing us to beat the band. Stories
flying on the street that we are a kite
without an effective tail; that the courts
will keep us out of the elevators. What
do you say?'
Ford consulted his watch. There was
barely time to catch the midnight train
for New York and his determination was
taken on the spur of the moment. 1t was
all or nothing now
Hastily writing a wire to the cashier
of the Denver bank where he kept his
personal account, and another to Adair,
and leaving brief notes for Kenneth and
Truitt he took cab and had himself
driven at a gallop to the union station.
He was the last man through the plat
form gates. but he made his train, and
was settling himself in the sleeper when
another telegram was thrust into his
hand. This was from Frisbie. at Saints
Rest. and that 1t brought more bad news
might be argued from the way in which
he crushed 1t slowly I'm his hand and
damned it into his pocket. On this day
If never before. he was proving the truth
Of the old adage that misfortunes do not
come singly.
Upon arriving in New York late the fol-
lowing evening he had himself driven to
the Waldorf. where he found Adair wait
ing for him. A few words sufficed to
another day had made still more des-
perate. SO far from recovering, the fall
ing stock had dropped to twenty-nine
and half, and there was every indica-
ton that the bottom was not yet reached.
How do you account for it?' asked
Ford. when the dismal tale had been told
"Oh. It's easy enough when you know
how" was the light-hearted rejoinder
las I wired you. there was something
of a scramble on the floor of the exchange
last week when we were fighting to find
out whether we should control our own
majority or let the Transcontinenta have
it. Our pool got its 81 per cent all right,
but in the nature of things the enemy
F. s. W., since they'd been buying right
and left against us. Now. since we don't
need any more, and nobody else wants It,
all the Transcontinental people have to
do is to unload on the market and down
she goes"
Ford looked incredulous and then
wrathful.
"Adair. tell me- did have to stop my
work when my time is worth fifty dollars
minute, and come all the way to New
York to tell you folks what to DOR he
demanded.
Adair's laugh was utterly and absolute
ly care free.
at looks that way, doesn't it? Have
sleeve. as usual?'
"A boy might carry it-and swing it,
too" was the disguised answer. when
does the board meet again? Or has 1t
concluded to lie down in the harness.
''Oh. it gets together every morning
got the meeting habit. you know. Every
body's In a blue funk. but we still have
the daily roundup to swap funeral sta
tistics.''
"All right. Meet me here in the morn
ing and we'll go and join the procession.
Can you make it 9 oclock?'
Sure. It's too late to go home and
I'll stay here. Then you'll be measurably
certain that I can't escape. May ! see
the tip end of the club?'
No" said Ford, grumpily. You don't
deserve 1t. Go to bed and store up
head of steam that will carry you through
the hardest days work you ever hoped
to do. Good night
They met again at the breakfast table
the following morning, and Ford talked
pointedly of everything save the p. S.W.
predicament. One of Adair's past fads
had been the collecting of odd weapons;
Ford discovered this and drew the young
man skillfully into a discussion of the
medieval secrets of sword tempering.
i've a bit of the old Damascus my
self" said the engineer. "Tybee-he was
on the Joppa Jerusalem road in the build
ing-picked it up for me. Curious piece
of old steel; figured and Powered and
etched and inlaid with silver There were
Jewels in the pommel once. I take it: the
settings are still there to show where
some practical-turned vandal dug them
out"
Adair was quite at loss to guess how
old swords and their histories could bear
upon the financial situation, but he was
coming to know Ford better. Some one
has said that it is only the small men
who are careful and troubled on the eve
of a great battle. So the talk was Of
ancient weapons until the time for action
arrived and a smooth-faced gentleman
sitting at nearby table and marked
down by Ford-though not by Ford COM
ma northumberland far some word Of emilio =