Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-03-21

and BlouEt had ucA tAe manager once
In the capitai-met him In q socinl waz
Auu uau peen aDae ia show bin SOMA
little attention. Hiring 4 blackboard at
the one livery stable In the place, be
drove out to the Little Mary mine
and luckily found Biatchford. the
friendly manager. 1t did not take over
a minute to renew the pleasant ac-
quaintance and TO state his dilemma.
I'm hung up here with my special
train, the wires are down, and / can't
get out" was his statement OF the
crude fact. Didn't you tell me that
you owned a motorcarf"
II did" was the prompt reply. want
to borrow It'll"
You beat ME to It," said Blount,
laughing. 'That was precisely what
was going to beg for-the loan of your
car. / believe you told me that you
had driven 1t from here to the capital"
"Oh, yes, several times. You ought
to make 1t In six hours and a half or
seven at the most. Drive me down to
the burg and III put you In posses
sion."
A little later Blount found himself
handling the levers of a very service
able knocksbout a equipped for hard
work on country roads. When he was
ready to go he drove down to the rail-
road yard and hunted up his conductor.
After you have had your vacation
you may get orders from Mr.. Kit
tredge and take his car back to the
capital" he told the man. when you
do you may give him my compli-
ments and tell him that / preferred to
run my own special train"
The conductor grinned and made no
reply, and he was still grinning when
he sauntered into the railroad tele-
graph Office and spoke to the operator.
IT dunno what's up" he said, "but,
whatever it was, the strings broke.
Old Dave Sagebrush's son has bor-
rowed him an automobeel and gone
back to town on his own hook. Guess
you'd better call up the division dis
patcher and tell him the broken wire
gag didn't work. Get a move on. We
hain't got nothing to stay here for
now
The traffic manager had left his office
for the day, but Blount found him at
the railway club.
"Just a word, Dick" he began when
he had overtaken Kittredge's accom-
plice In the grill room corridor. Exit
tredge put up a job on me, and / think
you helped him. I had to borrow an
automobile to come back In from
lewiston"
"Confound you" said Gantry hearth
iy.
But that was all that he had a
chance to say, since Blount had turn
ed abruptly and was already leaving
the club to go IN to the hotel.
Since the election was now no more
than three days distant the Inter,
Mountain lobby was filled with groups
of ~caucusing politicians. Notwith-
standing the position he had taken
and the open eyed fearle sness with
which he had discussed the political
situation publicly in every considera-
Bile town In the state, Evan Blount
was still a puzzle to those whose ways
were, by need and the force Of cir
cumstance, the reverse of straightfor-
ward.
Blount was halted half a dozen
times before he could make his way
to the elevator. and the pumping
process to which he was subjected at
each fresh hating space amused him.
1t was plainly evident that in spite OF
all he had said and done a consider
able majority Of the politicians were
still regarding him as in some sense
his disappointment he found that Pa
tricia had gone u with his father
and his fathers wife to dinner; hence
he was forced TO cit 1T 2 table IN the
cafe with three of the c~aucusing pol
iticians and was obliged to find his
moderate pleasure in trying to make
their very evident perplexity lose moth
Ing Of its acuteness during the table
hour.
When he reached his Office on Sat
urday morning, after an early and
solitary breakfast at the hotel. the
young reformer scored, OF thought he
had scored. his first small victory.
Among the envelopes on his desk was
one bearing the imprint Of the traffic
office. 1t inclosed a carbon copy OF
the notice required by law of a pro-
posed change In freight rates.
Hastily comparing the figures with
the memorandum in his pocketbook,
BIount felt the tension relaxing for
the first time In weeks. at the long
last Gantry or his superiors had sur
rendered. The rates on lumber, cleo
trlcal supplies and other commodities
which had been given illegal preferen-
tials were to be reduced to the figures
given to the favored corporations.
Blount passed a busy Saturday, put
ting In most of his time at his desk.
Calling up the hotel In the afternoon,
he found that his father had taken
Patricia and Honoria for a drive In
the roadster, and at dinner time the
automobile party had not yet return
ed. Blount went back to his office
after a hasty dinner aud worked late
into the night. The w Of battle had
arrived, and he was striving to clinch
the nail Of argument as we'll as he
could by writing many letters to the
political friends he had made In going
up and down the state.