Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1919-02-01
MarshaII sends For RIekard.

less and vestless In expectation Of the
third hot spring day, made critical
appralscment of the engineers get-up
before he spoke. Then he stated that
Mr.. Marshall had not yet come.
For London tie and 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 Yaqul railroads
had stared at Riclard as he entered
they followed his progress through the
room. lie 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 new
~ pressed crease each morning.
The Office had not reached verdict
on the subject Of X. @. Rickard. The
ehirt-sleeved collarless clerks would
have been quick TO dub him q dandy
were 1t not for page of his history
that was puzzling them. He had held
chair Of engineering In some eastern
city. He hnd resigned, the wind-tossed
page said, to 90 on the road as
fireman. His rapid promotion had
been spectacular; the last move,
few years ago, to fill an Office position
In Tucson. The summons had found
him on the west const Of Mexico,
where the Overland Pacific was push
ing It's 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 d Wyoming en-
gine. "NIr. Marshall said to wait"
Ribbons, instead of shoe lacesp y
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
Illckard, had he thought about II at
MI that morning as he knotted his tie
OF dark, brilliant blue silk, that the
selection Of his lapis pin was choice;
1t was an Inevitable result, an instinc-
tive discretion Of his fingers. 1t
warped, however the suspended judg-
ment of Marshall's men, who had
never seen him shovelng coal, disfig-
ured by denim jumper. They did
not know that they themselves were
slovens, 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 u amend
cd the Office wit. And then they fell
to specuatlng 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-nterested
concern? Marshall's was the control
ling hand in Arizona politics; the
maker of governors, the arblter of big
corporations; president of q 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, whore did 1t lead to?
He had liked his work, under Stratton.
There had been some pretty problems
to meet-what did Marshall mean to
do with him?
The 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 MARSHALL
He knew that, on the road. Mar
shalls work began at dawn. "a man
won't break from oyerwork or rust
from underworld II he follows the ex-
ample of the sum- RlcSard had often
heard him expound his favorite the
ory. 1T is only the players, the syba-
rites, who can afford TO pervert the
arrangement nature intended for us.
But In Tucson, controlled by the wife
" sollcItude of his Claudia, he was
coercetl into regular peverslon. His
Office never saw him. until the morn- |
ing was half gone
A half-hour later Rickard finished |
reading report on the diversion of a
great western river. The name of
Thomas Hardin had sent him of on
tangent OF memory. The Thomas
Hardin whose efforts TO bring water |
70 the desert of the Colorado had been
so SUPPLEMENTARY unsuccessful was the 7
Tom Hardin he had knownl The sis
fer had told him so, the girl with the
odd bronze eyes; opal matrlx they
were, with glints of gold, or was 1t
green? She herself was as unlike the
raw boor Of his memory as a noun
tain lily is like the coarse rock of Its
background. Even n half-slster to
Hardin. as Marshall. their host at din
ner the week before, had explained
it--no. even that did not explain 1t,
That any OF the Hardin blood should
be shared by the veins of that girl.
why II was lneredlblel The name
"flnr,linH suggested crudlty loud