Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1916-12-06
(Continued from preceding issuels

ueNlE III 2lLeiDpi e tlrcuIif anu biuTtte II
out much a. though he had lived with the
thought too long to endure il longer alone.
"I'm in up 10 ~ last dollar" he stated.
"And AinnesIey-v-hv. Ainnesley wouldn't
have a roof over i lead if we failed in
our obligations, You must know as well
as ! do why the banking interests took our
paper to thoke amounts which made it pos
sible for us 90 drive the first spike"
When he failed to 90 on Steve under
stood that the last sentence had been a
question.
"Mr. Allison, l suppose" His voice be
came uttely impersonal. "Without doubt
You mean Mr.. Allison
"They would have laughed at rs" the
older man came back instantly. "And what
is more, they did. They wouldn't touch
the proposition until Allison came in with
Us. And then-but YOU know what Dex-
ter Allison has lone already in this coun-
try. ! don't know what he started with. !
DO know that all that Ainnesley and ! had
scraped up between Us looked like a shoe
string to him.
Eve couldn't move until he, Of his own
accord. expressed his enthusiasm for the
plan and asked for a share in the holdings.
You know perhaps how he can laugh, too.
Well, he laughed that way and confessed
that we had Just beaten him to il. lie said
it would tap a gold mine-thiS strip Of
steel a. he called il. lie even told IL that
he'd parallel our road with n competitor,
iokiEgly To be sure, ii we hadn't tied up
the only available and practicable right
of way.
ale came in. He opened up, merely
through his own name and al there l. be-
hind il, loan possibilities for which we
might have struggled uselessly the rest OF
our lives without his help. Between u
Mr.. Ainnesley and | just managed TO hold
the balance of stock control and-and
that's how deep we are in. Mr.. O'Mara."
Both men sat and smoked, each avoiding
deliberately the others ewes. After n long
pause, Elliott cleared his throat laborious-
lly.
''ThiS morning." he continued slowly
".his morning ] am in receipt of u com
munication from Mr.. AinncSley himself adj
viSing me that another right of way has
been applied for for a single track road
here in the north. The gossip which chanc-
ed to come his way was rather obscure.
Little could To learned about the whole af-
fair save that il was being put forward
with a view f. tapping the ore and timber
lands al the way to and beyond the border.
But az nearly n he could ascertain the
seem TO be about-about at the mouth Of
that valley Sonthernmost in the Reserve
conpany's timber holdings. Rather n re-
markable choice for n railroad terminus.
Mr.. O'Mara, wouldn't YOU say so?r
"Do YOU mean that they've thrown out
your earlier application for just such a
grant,"
THAT would be q rather harshly def
mite way Of putting it," Elliott smiled wry-
lv. 'Ours j. apparently just tabled-oh.
tabled pending certain immaterial charges
in the form! You asked me a moment ago
or did ] offer Ia guessP-who might be
responsible for the report which is cost
1u- u UhI fNtU. NblutT IL 1 nttu tell
Won who controls this new northern
route?"
"WickerSham.' Hardwick Elliott cor
rected. "Wickersham-that i, through
allied interests which he represents or CON
trolls. O'Mara. | doubt IL ! would even
lnsinnate this 70 any one else: ! haven't
even intimated it to Ainnesley as vet.
WickerSham j. reputed to represent huge
moneyed foreign interests. Bnt have Won
ever stopped 10 wonder whether he might
not represent big local interests a. well
Id like to ask vou-what do you think"
yesterday" Steve answered. "yestcr.
day-well, | couldn't guarantee just what
! might have thought twentv-four hours
back. But doesn't one fact remain un-
changed still, no matter what we think ,
Suppose we admit that some one else does
want this line OF track we're LAYING. Sup
pose somebody l. figuring on picking IL up
cheap at a bankruptcy price if we forfeit
to the Reserve company. You know your
self that You would never have begun II
simply for the profit there viii he in nov
my the Reserve logs and the millions on
millions of feet of lumber. both to the east
and west, which can't be touched ut any,
thing but a prohibitive figure without this
road. We were going through to the Dor
der too. And If some one else i betting
that we can't yank a trainload Of logs
down TO this end Of the line before the 1t
of MAY. that doesn't alter our case any,
does its Even though we suspect that