Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1919-02-20
CHAPTER l.
Marshall Send, for RieI,ard.

/ 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 tho
third hot spring day. made q critical
appraisement Of the engineers get-up
before he spoke. Then he stated that
Mr.. Marshall had not yet come.
For q 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 Yaqui railroads
had stared at Richard 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 new
~ pressed crease each morning.
The Office had not reached verdict
on the subject Of x. C. 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
a chair Of engineering in some eastern
city. he had resigned. the wind.tossed
page said, to 60 on the road as q
fireman. His rapid promotion had
been spectacular: the last move, a
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. 49, +
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-
CINE. "Mr., Marshall said to watt"
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 somew
It would never have occurred to
Richard. had he thought about it at
all that morning as he knotted his tie
Of dark. brilliant blue silk, that the
election Of his lapis pin was choice (:
It was an inevitable result, an instinc-
tive discretion of his fingers. It
warped, however, the suspended 'judg-
ment of Marshall's men, who had
never teen him shoveling coal, disfig-
ured by denim jumper. They did
not know that they themselves were
slovens ruined by the climate that
dulls vanity and Wits collars
"Give him year to change some Of
his fine habits!' wagered Smythe, the
stoop-shouldered clerk. as the door Of
the inner Office closed.
ITO change his habits less !" amend.
ed the Office wit. And then they fell
to specializing 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
concern? Marshall's was the control
ling hand in Arizona politics.; the
maker Of governors, the arbiter Of big
corporations; president OF a 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 1t lead TOT
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. Richard glanced at his
watch and took out his Engineering
Review. Itswould be ten before that
door opened on Tod Marshall!
He knew that, on the road. Mar
shalPs work began at dawn. "A mar
; won't break from overwork or rust
from underworld II he follows the e1
ample Of the sum-" Richard had otter
heard him expound his favorite the
cry. ut is only the players. the syba
rites; who can afford to pervert stht
arrangement nature intended for u.s.
Bat In Tucson, controlled BY the wife
" solicitude Of his Claudia. he wa,
coerced into regular perversidn. Hi,
office never saw him until the morn
ing was half gone.
A half.hour later Richard nnishet
reading a report on the diversion Of |
great western river. The name o.
Thomas Hardin had sent him on OF
tangent Of memory. The Thomai
Hardin whose efforts to bring waite
to the desert OK the Colorado had beer