Charlevoix county herald., 1914-09-05

snarl from Drexel had been sufficient
TO drive him, whipped, to cover!
Harmon! Why, for years Harmon
had not dared to raise his eyes to-
ward anything that Drexel took un-
der his projections; and now this
cringeling of the Street was daring
to attack National Pacific!
What was the matter with the
Curtis faction? Did they not know
Harmon's heel of Achilles? Did
thev not know that the Midland Val
lev was his weak point? Did they
not know that it hung about his neck
like a milestone, that he could not get
rid of it, that it was the WI Of clay
i'm his fortification of rock, that by
attacking it they could reduce Har-
mon into driveling, crawling, fawn-
ing suppliant for mercy 1t could
not be possible that Harmon had at
last rid himself of Midland Valley,
or that, having rid himself of it, he
had no other vulnerable spot!
Harmon! Bah! He was filled with
disgust and something more. 1t was
not lust anger; it was more like
vengefulness. He was impatient
with Curtis and his clique that they
should allow this unprincipled trick
ster to cause them any uneaslness, or
even that they should allow any one,
principled or unprincipled, Harmon
or his betters, to attack that great,
nroud institution that had for its
outward and visible sign a broad,
double row of shining steel rails
stretching from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, carrying the golden Hood
tide of the traffic OF the continent!
Before Drexel was spread the most
beautiful sunset of the season. The
fieecv gray clouds that had at first
hut flecked the golden sea had
massed as the gold changed to sal
mon, and now through the rolling in
terstices came vast floods of deepest
red. Where the clear sky shone
through between the lacing of the
trees upon the distant horizon, it was
as if some great, ruddy flame had
leaped up to devour the very firma-
ment Itself.
Harmon! Impatiently Drexel jerk
ed his feet from the porch railing
and let his chair come down with "a
thump. He tossed his cigar away
and stalked down off the porch,
striking straight across the field to-
ward that glorious panorama of the
skies which he did not see. Harmon
That cur should dare to attack Ma
tional Pacific!
All at once Drexel stopped abrupt
ly, appalled, by this sudden fever
thai had decended upon him, this tre-
mendous pull that had set up within
him to drag him back to that mael-
strom from which he had escaped.
He returned to the porch and forced
himself to look back upon the chair
where he had enjoyed the tranquil
ity of so manv peaceful evenings. He
bent his mind away from the dis
turt '1g new thought by sheer power
of will, and he compelled himself to
review in detail all of the many in
terests. that bound him to this peace
full retreat, until at last, the turmoil
stilled, he rested upon the fascinat-
ing problem of his new wheat pro-
duct that was to revolutionize the
bread crop of the world. He smiled
to himself as he realized how easily
he had shaken off the momentarily
SbaI lllilB u w Ills Olu Ddl-
tle-fields.
1t was with a perfectly tranquil
lied mind that he went to bed, and
out of habit that had grown up with
in these past healthful two years, he
dropped into almost instant slumber;
but in the middle of the night he
awoke to find himself fighting Har-
mon back to his hole with fierce en-
ergy, protecting National Pacific,
and building up anew the breaches
that had been made in its ramparts.
He found himself again in the exer-
else of that fierce determination to
win that had made Tom Drexel the
tornado of the Exchange.
This time no mere force of will
could drive out the battle-lust that
had come back to him. Like an ir-
resistible flood from some mighty
dam that has been broken away, the
very sounds of the conflict itself
came pouring tumultuously upon his
excited imagination; the roar of the
streets, the clang of gongs, the
hoarse cries of the newsboys, the
hurry and strain of closing-time, the
pdlueHlOlllulH VI the lOOI-dll thCoV,
and a thousand other notes that
went to make up the great symphony
of modern business struggle, filled
his ears and flooded his soul.
In the gray dawn of that morning,
a man, furiously driving two fine
coui Try horses, flew along the road
toward the junction, where, within
the hour, an early train was due.
1t was Tom Drexel, going back to
the fpht