The Washington herald., 1909-06-06
NATIONS PAWN
BY ROY NORTON
CONTINUED FROM PAGE iD

atlve electors and their adherents wa
met IN Seattle by the largest and mos
excited crowd that had ever blackene'
the wharves facing the placid and beau
tifui waters OF Puget Sound. From Schwa
bacher's wharf back up the sloplng hill
side toward Third street was mass OF
lnen who either loudly cheored or NUT
tered angry threats. There was no de
lay whatever In the city, no receptions
aud no halt, special train with safety
valves popping steam was In walt at tho
station hut a short distance away, ant
between lines OF burly policemen the con
seTvative electors and the other Alaskan,
made their way To II, boarded IL ant
whlrled on toward Washington, smashing
speed records.
AS the bulletins flashed over the Uni
ted States cheer went up from con
seryatlye partisans From the Pacific
coast TO the Atlantic, wildly enthusiastic
men ana women partisans OF the con
sertive SIDE received the news that theii
electors, at least, would be on time. The
liberals, on the other hand, were again
sustaining terrible depression. due 60
the fact that no news whatever had been
received from the special steamer bear
Ing their men. The first steamship q
arrive had been the regular swift Pack
Ct" while the steaming qualities OF the
other were doubtful. Hour after hour
nothing but a mad flight across the cont
nent could get those men to Washington
I'm time To present their electoral votes
When boat number two did arrive, aitSf
having suffered an accident i'm it's en-.
ginc room, another special train over "a
rival line was waiting. The liberal cam
paign managers, by the exertlon OF e enor'
nous influence and unlimited capltal,
practically gained a continuous right ol
way from Seattle to Washington, ana II
was known to the country at large that
although Il would require a new trans
continental speed record to bring the llD'
eral electors to the national capital in
time to present their claims ON the sec.
ond Wednesday I'm February, Il seemed
the preceding Tuesday night, therefore,
two special trains, plying over opposition
lines, were being bulletlned from hour 20
hour and from minute to minuee. The
interest which had been created In the
casting of the popular ballot I'm November
and its returns was entirely outdone Dy
this unprecedented condition, wherein the
policy of the United states, it's political
destiny, its very future, hinged upon the
speed which two engineers might drag
from their respective locomotives.
OF such momentOus Importance were
safety and speed for these two trains
that each drove steadily on tracks guard
eel foot by foot on both sides by voun-
teer track-walkers and self-constituted
bility for any man other than an anar-
chist plentifully supplied with dynamite,
TO delay or wreck either OF the specials.
Men beside the tracks watched one an
other as II apprehensive lest his neigh
Dor were there with some malgn pur-
pose. Thus, for hundreds OF miles, the
specials plunged FORWARD UeLWeen nNluB
walls which. as the trains passed, and
their work OF anxiety was finished. disst-
rGted themselves. When the specials
came to the midway. point OF the conti-
nent, wher~ locomotives OF steam were
replaced by the big electric monsters
which tore silently onward all speed reg
uations were disregarded. The federal
laws were apparently for the time being
suspended, and these throbblng torpedoes
OF the rails were thrown wide open, their
only limit being their capacity.
TN this terrific melodrama OF action In.
vOlving nation the least obtrusive
were those who were most vitally Inter
ested In the Lester mansion on X street
In Washington, where special wires had
been run, the doors were locked, and the
conservative leader, surrounded by only
most intimate advisors, sat beside the
clicking keys, reading the himsy bulle-
tins as they came from the operator 8
hand. For the time being, Grace had
forgotten her personal grief In the more
Imminent crisis The passage or hours
was unnoticed as reports told how the
rival trains neared their destination. and
men of the group were drawn, hollow
eyed and fatigued. Grace was the ouly
night, as dawn approached, she leaned
her arms gently over on her chair, ana
went to sleep. But her detection was not
observed by the others.
In Cleveland Ohio, Barnes was the
center of a similar group, save for this
that I'm those around him was none OF
kith or KIN, In the tenslty OF the hOur'
he had neither time nor inclination to
bestow so much as a wandering thought
on the boyish captain, who was I'm exile.
Unknown TO either Of these two parties,
a scene Of an entirely different character
was being enacted In a station of Sandy
Hook.
A mysterious telegraph line had
branched from the main wire In the days
recently preceding, and centered itself In
a hastily constructed shack. When the
terrific race was nearing its close. I'll
ger'' Reilly wandered nOnchalantly to the
ofiparsc ana rtarq npar tho testing OrOnndg