Evening star., 1909-06-22
NseH ssa Is Ws as q Is q b Is Is Is Z,

him as pariah were none the less
jumping as he pulled the commerci.ai
strings and were dancing to his music.
For Caleb, his slow lines at lengsh iaid
| ont. was making a general advance upon
| the financial defenses behind Whlcn ior
years the stad business men OF the
county had dozed in short t-slghted Sc
curity. -,
! the announcement of his merger or TWO
railroads-the observation-disclosures ana the
| I-pstate-with the c. G. & x, Wn1ch
virtually gave the last named road mo-
nopoly of state traf11c STOCKS nau ose
| ha mrnered down. shareholders stampede
| by calamity rumors. and holdings boush'
| in at panic rates by the Fighter men
| had come reorganization and-Presto; the
lC. G. & X had benevolently asslm,lated
| its two chief rivals. Men who had con-
sidered their railroad stock as safe an
investment as government oonds no"
stayed In town for lack of funds 10 so
away for the summer. or else IN nroer 70
| seek eager alliance with the flshtes
| swift-swelling interests. PoHptoh ave
nue. was hard hit.
| Nor was this the sum OF Iaieo VA III
| weather activities. IheEe We're o'iiel
deals less widely blazoned. yet quite as
remunerative; deals trat plunged SO Ial
| beneath the surface of practical politics
| as to emerge black with the mlre OF tne
| bottom But it was gold-bearing muo
and Caleb knew the secret OF assa sine
| it. These submerged ventures brough'
| at odd hours to the stuffy private Office
| a succession of slum dwellers. even as
the mergers brought. at other hours. the
| Pompton avenue element. Long were the
conferences and deeply was the unnef-
| world stirred thereby. Thus. IN the niaze
| Of novels across the tracks. as wen as
along the. Hill boulevards. did Caleb 1oil.
over cause unwonted activity of sor'
during the sitting days of dust
Caine, remaining in town. more TO siean
| in the path Of Conovers sickle than to
| look after the interests of his own news
paper. was moved to admiring envy. the
Steeloid deal, which few months carrier
| had meant so much for both himself and
Conover, was now but side issue WIN
| the latter: mere detail whose ultimate
fate could not materially affect his fast
| multiplying wealth. The campaign Wh1cr
| for wears had been Calebs objective. was
carried through now with rush aiu
! daring that led onlookers. who knew no'
| how long devised was each seen'ii,sia - J,
wild move. to catch their breath apd
wonder when the crash would come But
the crash did not come. 1t would hol
come. Conover could have told them
that had he in these hot weeks of cease.
less rush possessed the leisure ana Will
to explain his lightning moves
Rlacarda too. emerging from retire-
ment with SCARED face. useless le1t arm
and heart black with mingled dread
deathless hatred and an oDsessed era.
sudden triumph and yearned to the depths
of his semi-semitic soul to turn in some
way the Fighters flank. But Tor the mo-
ment, he was helpless. He could but set
into motion such few schemes OF MS own
as seemed feasible. and begin course
of underground contemplating. whose
progress was by no means rapid enough
to ease the hate that mastered him.
Meantime. he kept out of the Fighter
way. For, even vet his wrecked nerves
at DnSS1ra
nearness to the brute who had broken
him.
To Caine's casual warning anent Bla-
carda Caleb gave no heed whatever. He
had conquered the man once Should the
need arise he could do SO again. In the
meantime he had no time to waste in
following his victims crawling move
ments.
fighting. He had always been fighting.
/ Just now battle was as the breath of his
nostrils. for he was waging a winning
| fight. warning and winning on scale to
which he had never before been able to
! attain. And the militant bulldog part OF
/ him was strangely elate.
| But when the hot night came and the
| days warfare was over there would come
| upon Conover an odd sense of emptiness.
| of lonely depression. More than once.
ming to Danish the feeling by picking UP
| his hat and hurrying across to Des'ree's
| home. Then. with a slight shock, he
would remember that Desiree was in the
| Adirondacks and that he was-alone.
| He had always known the absent girl
was necessary to his happin ass; that
without her he was loveless. uhovable
| financial machine. But now he realized
with sick ache at his heart how utterly
he had grown to depend upon her actual
presence-on the constant knowledge tina,
she was near. When this, his first clumsy
effort at self-analysis, had been worked
| out Caleb laughed Al himself for fool
! But there was as little merviment in the
| laugh as with most mortals who seek t.
/ evoke self-amusement from the same
| cause.
| (To he continued tomorrow