Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-03

gether But he was glad now that he had
refused her. He could fight better, with
Cort Bent on the other side.
WITH an effort he put the thought of
Camilla from his mind and went
about his other business with a new deter
mination to circumvent his foes. He always
fought better when his back was t. the wall,
and his conversation with Bent had con
frmed the necessity OF completing the Short
line at any cost.
The drains upon his resources had been
enormous. Three million dollars had al
ready been spent, and there was another
million still to be provided for. His expenses
had been greater because of the unusual i'm
pcdiments thrown in his way. The mine
was paving big, and the railroad and the
banks were still backing him; but he knew
that there was limit to the sums he must
expect from these quarters. He had tried
to buy rails in the open market, and found
that his enemies had forestaled him. The
mills agreed to take his orders; but during
the press of business refused to name def
mite date for delivery. General Bent, whose
friendship was necessary to the steel inter
ests East and West, had seen to that!
But if the Amalgamated thought that the
lack OF rails was going to stop the construc-
ton of the Shortline, they were going to have
another guess Already an alternative plan
had suggested itself to Wray, a desperate,
unheard of plan which he could never have
thought OF except as last resort But the
more he thought of it, the more convinced
he was that it was the only solution of his
problem. He would tear up the rails of the
old narrow gage that ran from Mesa City up
to the old coal fields at Trappe! With the
sidings and a reserve supply of the d. & S.
at Saguache, he managed to figure out
enough to finish the Shortline. By October,
or perhaps by late summer, he would man.
age to get standard rails somewhere. 1t
would be easier, once the road was in opera
ton. His plans met with the approval of his
friends, and Jeff went back to Mesa City
with lighter heart than when he had left it.
PUT his sense OF triumph was short lived.
- The week had not ended before advices of
adisquieting nature reached him from Denver
and Pueblo OF considerable activity in the
stock of the Denver & California. This in
formation in itself was not surprising; for
during the last year the rate war and the I'M
settled condition of the country had made
the stock of the road particularly vulnerable
to manipulation. But back of this move
ment Symonds, general manager OF the road
one OF Wray'S stanchest supporters thought
he detected powerful influences. Rumors of
a more startling character had transpired,
signifying the transfer of large blocks of the
stock to Eastern investors which seriously
threatened the control OF those in power
Other men, men of the directorate Jeff dis
covered, also showed signs OF apprehension.
A reorganization OF the road might mean
anything-to Jeff it meant ruin. if the new
stockholders were in anyway identified with
the Chicago & Utah. Was this Bent S crowd?
Letters from the banks were still more dis
quoting. Conditions, they wrote, were SO
unsatisfactory throughout the West that
their boards of directors had thought it adj
visable to call their loans on the stock of the
Denver & Saguache Railroad Company.
The uncertainty of the development OF the
Saguache Company's properties, owing to
the imperfection Of its railroad connections,
made this course necessary until they Sc
cured definite and satisfactory assurances
as to the completion of the Saguache Short
line and the value of its contracts with the
Denver & California Railroad Company.
They meant, in short, that unless he could
meet the loans at once EIGHT hundred thou
sand dollars on stock really worth two mill
ions and half, those securities would fall
into the hands of the Amalgamated people.
Eight hundred thousand dollars. 1t
seemed a prodigious sum of money now.
The Lone Tree would bring that in the open
market, of course; but he and Pete could