The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1919-04-03
CHAPTER d.
MarehsH Sends .cr Richard.


Marshal! Sends Ger Richard.
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 v~estless In expectation of the
third hot spring day, made Il critical
Hppralsement 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 Mt Richard as he entered;
they followed his progress through the
room. He was q 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
~ pressed crens each morning.
The Office had not reached a verdict
OF the subject OF X. G. Richard. The
shirt-sleeved, collarless clerks would
have been quick to dub him a dandy
were 1t not for a page of his history
thar was puzzling them. He had held
a chair of engineering In some eastern
city. He had resigned, the wind-tossed
page said. to go on the road as a
ireman. His rapid promotion had
been spectacular; the last move. u
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 a few years before had
been %shoveling coal on a Wyoming en-
CINE. MIR. Marshall said to wait"
Ribbons, instead of shoe laces 7"
carped the human machine that must
eve write letters which other men
sign. And a blue pin to match his
tic. l call that going sonnet"
II would never have occurred to
rickard, had he thought about 1t at
al that morning as he knotted his tie
Of dark, brilliant blue silk, that the
selection of his lapls pin was n choice;
81 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 shovellng coal, dlsfig-
ured by a denim jumper. They did
moi know that they themselves were
sloyens, ruined by the climate that
dplls vanity and willis collars.
Give him a year to change some OF
mis- fine habits" wagered Smythe. the
stoop-shouldered clerk. as the door of
fhe inner Office closed.
ITO change his habits less I" amend.
ed the office wit. And then they fell
To specializing what Marshall was go
ing to do with him. What pawn was
he In the game hat 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 q half.
dozen railroads. Not a 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 IL lead to!
lie had liked his work, under Stratton.
There had been some pretty problems
10 meet-what did Marshall mean to
do with him1
The note had set the appointment
for nine. Richard glanced at his
watch and took out his Engineering
Rcview. 1t would be ten before that
door opened on Tod Marshalli
He knew that. on the road. Mar
shails work began ut dawn. "A man
won't break from overwork or rust
from underworld If he follows the ex-
ample OF the sum-" Richard had often
heard him expound his favorite the.
cry. ut Is only the players, the syba-
rites. who can afford to pervert the
arrangement nature intended for us"
Hut in Tucson. controlled by the wife
~ selscitude Of his Claudia. he was
roerced into a regular ~perversion. His
office never saw him until the morn
ang was half gone.
A Balf-hour~ liter Richard finished
reading a report on the diversion Of a
great western river. The rame OF
THOMAS Hardin had sent him off on
i tangent OF memory. The Thomas
Hardin whose efforts to bring water
"a the desert Of the Colorado had been
40 spectacuinrly unsuccessful was the
IN he had incwn' The ST.