The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1919-05-24
CHAPTER !.
Marshall Sends for Rickard.

The large round clock was striking
nine as Casey" Richards dancing step
carried him into the outer office OF 100
Marshall. The ushering clerk, coat
less and vestless in expectation OF the
third hot spring day, made critical
advertisement of the engineers get-up
before he spoke Then he stated that
MFR. Marshall had not yet come.
For a London tie and a white SIX
shirt belted into white serge trousers
were smart for Tucson. The clerks
in the employ Of the Overland Pacinc
and of the Sonora and Yaqui railroads
had stared at Richard as he entered;
they followed his progress through the
room. He was a newcomer in tucson.
He had not yet acquired the apatheuc
habits of it's citizens. He wore beits,
instead of suspenders. His white
trousers, duck or serge, carried new
ly pressed crease each morning.
The Office had not reached verdict
on the subject of X. c. Richard. The
shirt-sleeved, collarless, clerks would
have been quick to dab him dandy
were it not for page of his history
that was puzzling them. He had held
a chair of engineering in some eastern
city. Hchad resigned, the wind-tossed
page said, to go on the road as
fireman. His rapid promotion had
been spectacular; the last move, |
few years ago, to I'LL 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 a few years before had
been shoveling coal ON a Wyoming en-
CINE. "Mr. Marshall said to wait"
Ribbons, instead of shoe laces"
carped the human machine that must
ever write letters which other men
sign. "And blue pin to match his
tie! call that going some|
II would never have occurred to
Richard, had he thought about 1t at
all that morning as he knotted his tie
Of dark, brilliant blue silk, that the
selection Of his lapis pin was choice;
It was an inevitable result, an instinc-
tive discretion of his fingers. Ii
Warped, however. the suspended judg-
ment of Marshall's men, who had
never seen him shoveling coal, disfig-
ured by a denim jumper. They did
not ruow that they themselves were
sloveAs, ruined by the climate that
dulls Vanity and willis collars.
"Give him year to change some OF
his fine hablts!" wagered Smythe, the
stoop-shouldered clerk, as the door Of
the inner Office closed.
ITO change his habits less" amend
the Office wit. And then they fell
b Specializing what Marshall was go
ing TO do with him. What pawn was
he in the game that everyone in Tue
son followed with eager self-interested
concern? Marshall's was the control
ling hand In Arizona politics; the
maker of governors, the arbiter of big
corporations; president Of half
dozen railroads. Not 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 it lead to-
He had liked his work, under Stratton
There had been some pretty problems
to meet-what did Marshall mean t.
do with himf
The note had set the appointment
for nine. Richard glanced at hi:
watch and took out his Engineerin.
Review. Ii would he ten before tina
door opened on Tod Marshall
He knew that. on the road, Mar
shali's work began at dawn. "a mai
won't break from overwork or rus
from underworld il he follows the ex
ample of the sum-" Richard had oftel
heard him expound his favorite the
DRY. at is only the players. the syba
rites, who can afford to pervert tn
Arrangement nature intended for us.
But In Tucson, controlled by the wife
coerced into regular perversion. hi
Office never saw him until the morn
ing was half gone.
A half-hour later Richard finishe
reading report on the diversion OF
great western river. The name Q
Thomas Hardin had sent him of o
tangent of memory. The Thoma
Hardin whose efforts to bring waite
to the desert OF the Colorado had bee
so spectacularly unsuccessful was tn
Tom Hardin he had known The si
ter had told him so. the girl with Ii
odd bronze eyes; opal matrix the
were, with glints of gold. or was
green? She herself was as unlike II
raw boor OF his memory as a moul
tain lily is like the coarse rock of !
background. Even a half-sister
Hardin, as MardAall. their host at dill
ner the week before. had expIaine
it--no. even that did not explain
That any of the Hardin blood shou
be shared by the veins Of that gin
Why, It was Incredible! The nan
.Hsrdin" suggested crudity. lou
mouthed Dragging; conceit. He cou
nnderstapd the failure Of the nv
proicct slnce ne sister had sssurt
!. &. +.