The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1914-09-16
WALLINdFORD
In HIS PRIME
Continued from Page q

amusement reNeHSe: iou W EtNti 81
rious enough. Blackie. to understand
what that word means. but do Did
you see me call young Benssy back:
Well, sent message by him that
will bring me revenge worth while AT
II O'Clock tomorrow. What are you
laughing about. kid?"
"Never mind" said Toad. with a
wave Of his freckled hand. I'm on
You two is too slick to rest well nights,
but the booger man'll git you sure"
At precisely l Toad Jessop ushered
into the office of the official manager II
spare. nervous. leather faced man.
whose beard sprang black an hour
after shave. He hung slouchily In
his good clothes. and his step had no
elasticity. but there was an unquench-
able fire in his eyes. and n vast unnum-
bered army of men. from ditch diggers
to millionaires. would tremble II +. ii
Falls were to do SO inconceivable II
thing as to roar. He shufiied into Wal
lingfOrd's Office and sat quietly In Il
big chair, shrinking into his clothes.
almost as II he were In dread Of his
antagonist-and he waited.
Wallingford proved the weaker man
in the start. for he began the struggle.
"Weil. I suppose your son has told
you OF the Ubiquitous manner in which
he was robbed?" began WaIlingford
glOatingly.
"He did nothing Of the sort" said
Falls. IF he had been robbed he
would have crawled under the porch
and licked his own wound until 1t was
well. l never yet heard Benssy whine.
Was he robbed?''
"Well. ! wouldn't just say robbed"
returned WaIlingford. with the ugly
laugh Of man who sees his moment of
revenge on the way and thirsts for 1t.
az wouldn't say robbed because that
might be taken as a confession. He
Just proved himself saphead. that's
ALL"
The shrunken figure in the chair
Strengthened up with surprising elias
ITCHY you'll kindly drop any men,
ton of Benssy." he said, with snap
Of his jaws Il can put Benssy In
turning lathe. trim OF u thOusandth
Of an inch of careless artificiality. split
him up and make of him six better men
than most of his recent associates. l
know what's in the boy. and am
highly pleased to allow him to be ut
terly care free and an outward fool II
be likes, but If 1 ever need him I'll
skin him and have a real man stand
ing by the side of me. Now. what did
you want to see me abOutf"
"The Lake Michigan and Pacific"
blurted Wallingford surlily, for SO far
his attack had been a boomerang.
The eyes of Falls lighted with I'M
mediate interest. $50 you are the one
who has the balance Of stock hidden
awayf" he commented.
You bet I amw declared Walling
ford, leaning forward in sudden anger
and holding his fist tensely upon the
edge of the table. From that moment
Falls lounged back In his chair and
listened and never moved. "You bet l
amT repeated Wallingford. "Benssy.
your unskinned man. let out to me
when ! first met him that you are ac-
tually going to build the connecting
line between the Chicago and Manhat-
tan and the Lake Michigan and Pacific
railroads, and create the new Pacific
trunk line upon which you made me
lose the only real fortune ever had"
WalllngfOrd's face had Redeemed. and
his voice grew husky with emotion as
he went on. Eyes, you did. l came to
you with a proposition to sell that
connecting strip Of land for stock
in the two roads. which were bound
to advance in value when they were
consolidated. and you led me into
a wild mess of margin speculation.
which cost me S5OO,OO0. all had in
the world. Now. I'm going to get 1t
all back. with interest. Do you hear
me? With interest. The minute
found that you were actually going to
slip this road through. which you had
denied that you would ever build,
mOrtgaged everything | possessed. Dor
rowed everything could. raked and
scraped together until | had little
over 100000. With this ! quietly
bought outright all the loose stock
could find Of the Lake Michigan and
Pacific. knowing that you were doing
the same. that you would not go into
the open market for fear Of boosting
the price and that you felt your opera
tons to be so secret that you had plen-
ty of time to secure control"
Wallingford mopped his brow. He
was hoarse now Falls sat quietly re-
garding him. but did nothing SO dra-
matte as even to light cigar.
swell after | had invested all that