Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1916-08-17

time his hint had grown to rumor size
Mr.. Cartwright had sent for Brouil
lard.
Pull up chair and have a cigar"
said the great man when Brouillard
had penetrated to the nerve-center Of
the Metropolitan activities in the Metro
pole suite and the two stenographers
had been CURLY dismissed. Have
you heard the talk of the street? There
is rumor that the railroad grading
has been stopped"
Brouillard, busy with the work of
setting the third series of forms on
his great wall, had heard nothing.
1--WE noticed that they haven't been
blasting for two or three days. But
that may mean nothing more than a
delayed shipment Of dynamite" was
his rejoinder
at looks bad-devilish bad" The
promoter was planted heavily in his
pivot chair, and the sandy-gray eyes
dwindled to pin points. 1--WE are up
against it, that's ALL Read that" and
the promoter handed a telegram
across the desk.
The wire was from Chicago, was
signed Alderman" and was still
damp from the receiving operators
copying press. 1t read:
work on P. S-W.'s Buckskin ex-
tension has been suspended for the
present. Reason assigned shrinkage
in securities and uncertainty of bust
ness outlook in Niquoia."
Mr.. Cortwright's frown figured as a
fleshly mask of irritability. Let it
once get out that the railroad people
don't believe IN the future of Mirapo-
lis and we're done"
Brouillard's retort was the express
sion of an upfash Of sanity.
"Mirapolis has no future; it has
only an exceedingly precarious pres
ent."
For moment the sandy-gray eyes
became inscrutable. Then the mask
of irritation slid aside, revealing the
face which Mr.. ]. Wesley Cartwright
ordinarily presented to his world
the face of imperturbable good nature.
You're right, Brouillard; Mirapolis
is only a good joke, after all. Some
times l get bamfoozled into the idea
that it isn't-that it's the real thing.
That's bad for the nerves. But about
this railroad fizzle; l don't relish the
notion of having our little joke sprung
on us before we're ready to laugh, do
you? What do you think?"
at is not my turn to think, Mr.. Cort-
wright"
"Oh, yes, it is; very pointedly. You're
one of us, to a certain extent; and if
you were not you would still be inter-
ested A smash just now would ham
per the reclamation service like the
mischief; the entire works shut down;
no cement, no lumber, no power;
everything tied up in the courts until
the last creditor quits taking appeals.
Oh, no, Brouillard; you don't want to
see the end of the world come before
it's due"
1t was the consulting engineer OF
the power company rather than the
reclamation service chief who rose
and went to the window to look down
upon the morning briskness Of Chi
gringo avenue. And it was the man
who saw one hundred thousand dol
lars, the price of freedom, slipping
away from him who turned after a
minute or two of the absent street gaz-
ing and said: What do you want me
to do, Mr.. Cartwright? 1 did put my
shoulder to the wheel when Ford was
here. told him If we're in his place
I'd take the long chance and build the
extension"
did you-and before you had a
stake in the game? That was white
mans boost, right! Think you could
manage to get Ford on the wire and
encourage him little more?"
at isn't Ford; it is the New York
bankers. You can read that between
the lines in your man Ackerman's tele-
gram"
The stock gentleman in the pivot
chair thrust out his jaw and tilted his
freshly-lighted cigar to the aggressive
angle.
Say, Brouillard, we've got to throw
fresh piece of bait into the cage,
something that will make the railroad
crowd sit up and take notice. BY
George, if those gold hunters up on
Jacks mountain would only stumble
across something big enough to adver-
tise-"
Brouillard started as If the wishful
magic had been a blow. Like a hot
wave from a furnace mouth 1t swept
over him-the sudden realization that
the means, the one all-powerful, earth
moving lever the promoter was so
anxiously seeking, lay in his hands.
1.-THE Buckskin people, yes" he said,
making talk as the rifeman digs pit
to hold his own on the firing line. III
they should happen to uncover gold
reef Just now it would simplify mat
tiers immensely for Mirapolis, wouldn't
it? The railroad would come on, then
without a shadow of doubt. All the
bankers in New York couldn't hold it
back"
Now came Mr.. Cortwright's turn to
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