Gilpin observer., 1919-04-24
CHAPTER !.
Marshall Send. for RIekard.

Marshall Sends for Rickard.
The large round clock was striking
nine as Casey" Richards dancing step
carried him into the outer office Of Tod
Marshall. The ushering clerk, coat
less and vestless in expectation of the
third hot spring day. made a critical
appraisement of the engineers get-up
before he spoke. Then he stated that
Mr.. Marshall had not yet come.
For a London tie and a white silk
shirt belted into white serge trousers
were smart for Tucson. The clerks
In the employ Of the Overland Pacific
and Of the Sonora and Yaqui railroads
had stared at Rickard as he entered
they followed his progress through the
room. He was newcomer in Tucson.
He had not yet acquired the apathetic
habits Of Its citizens. He wore belts,
instead Of suspenders His white
trousers, duck or serge, carried a new
ly pressed crease each morning.
The Office had not reached a verdict
on the subject Of X. G. Rickard. The
shirt-sleeved, collarless clerks would
have been quick to dub him dandy
were it not for page Of his history
that was puzzling them. He had held
q chair Of engineering in some eastern
city. He had resigned. the wind-tossed
page said, to 60 on the road as a
fireman. His rapid promotion had
been spectacular; the last move, a
few years ago. to fill an office position
in Tucson. The summons had found
him on the west coast of Mexico,
where the Overland Pacific was push
ing its tracks.
You can wait here" suggested the
clerk, looking covertly at the shoes of
the man who few years before had
been shoveling coal on Wyoming en-
gine. "Mr. Marshall said to wait"
Ribbons, instead Of shoe laces I"
carped the human machine that must
ever write letters which other men
sign. "And blue pin to match his
tie! ! call that going some!"
1t would never have occurred to
Rickard, had he thought about 1t at
Ill that morning as he knotted his tie
pf dark, brilliant blue silk, that the
selection Of his lapis pin was a choice;
It was an inevitable result, an instinc-
tive discretion of his fingers. It
warped, however, the suspended tudg-
ment Of Marshall's men, who had
never seen him shoveling coal. disfig-
ured by a denim jumper. They did
not know that they themselves were
Blovens, ruined by the climate that
dulls vanity and willis collars.
"Give him a year to change some Of
bis fine habitsl" wagered Smythe, the
stoop-shouldered clerk, as the door Of
the inner ONCE closed.
ITO change his habits less I" amend
I'd the ONCE wit. And then they fell
10 speculating what Marshall was 60
Ing to do with him. What pawn was
he In the game that everyone In Tue.
son followed with eager self-interested
concern2 Marshall's was the control.
ling hand In Arizona politics: the
maker Of governors. the arbiter Of big
corporations; president Of q half
dozen railroads. Not q move Of his
on the board that escaped notice.
On the other side Of the door Rick
ard was echoing the office question.
This play job, where did 1t lead tot
He had liked his work, under Stratton.
There had been some pretty problems
10 meet-whst did Marshall mean to
DO with him1
l. rhe note had set the appointment
for nine. Rickard glanced at his
watch and took out his Engineering
Review. II would be ten before that
door opened on Tod Narshalli
He knew that, on the road, Mar
shall's work began at dawn. "A man
won't break from overwork or rust
from underworld II he follows the ex
ample Of the sum-" Rickard had often
heard him expound his favorits the
ory. ut is only the players, the syba
rites. who can nfford to pervert thu
arrangement nature intended for u.s.
But In Tucson, controlled by the wife
~ solicitude Of his Claudia. he wal
coerced into a regular perversion. Hi
once never saw him until the morn
ing was half gone.
A half.hour later Rickard nnishe,
reading . report on the diversion Of |
great western river. The name o
Thomas Hardin had sent him on OF
q tangent of memory. The Thoma
Hardin whose efforts to bring waite
to the desert of the Colorado had beel
10 spectncularly unsuccessful was tn
R~~. II. .slt.. hn hnA kunv.yvH sNhA mln