Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1919-02-07
CHAPTER I.


MarShalI SendS TOT nICkaTos
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
MIR. Marshall had not yet come.
For a London tie and a white SILK
shirt bclted Into white serge trousers
were smart for Tucsor. Tae clerks
In the employ Of the overland Pacific
and Of the Sonors and Yaqul railroads
had stared at Rickard as he entered /
they followed his progress through tae
room. He was newcomer in Tucson.
He had not YET acquired the apatbetic
habits of its citizens. He wore tclts,
instead of suspenders. His white |
trousers. duck or serge, carried a new
ly pressed crease each morning.
The Office had not reached verdict |
on the subject of X. @. Rickard. The
shirt-sleeved, collarless clerks would |
have been quick to dub him q dandy |
were 1t not for a 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 go on the road as a
fireman. His rapid promotion had
been spectacular the last move. o
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 shovellng coal on a Wyoming en-
giue. "Mr. Marshall said to wait"
Ribbons, instead of shoe lacesT
carped the human machine that must
ever write letters which other men
sign. "And a blue pin to match his
tlel Gull that going somel"
II would never have occurred TO
Rlckard had he thought about 1t at
nlt that morning as he knOtted his tie
of dark, brilliant blue silk, that the
selection Of his lnpIs pin was choice;
II was an inevitable result. an instinc-
tive discretion of his fingers. 1t
warped. however, the suspended judg-
ment of Marshall's men, who hnd
never seen him shoveling coal, disfig-
ured by n denim jumper. They did
not know that they themselves were
slovens. ruined by the climate that
dulls vanity and willis collars.
"Give him a year to change some of
his fine .habitsy wagered Smythe, the
stoop-sh0uldered clerk, as the door of
the inner office closed.
''To change his habits less !" amend
ed the Office wit. And then they fell
90 speculatlng what Marshall was go
ing to do with him. What pawn was
he in the game that everyone in Tue
son followed with enger 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 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 him?
The note had set the appointment
for nine. Riclard glanced at hi
watch and took out his Engineering
Review. 1t would be ten before tha
door opened on Tod Mnrshalli
He knew that on the road, Mar
shalrs work began at dawn. "a maj
won't break from overwork or rus
from underworld If he follows the ex
ample OF the sum-" Richard had oftel
heard him expound his favorite the
ory. 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
ly solicitude of his Claudia, he wa
coerced into a regular perversion. Hi
Office never saw him until the morn
ing was half gone.
A half-hour later Richard finishe
reading a report on the diversion of
great western river. The name c
Thomas Hardin had sent him off o
a thngent of memory. The Thoma
Hardin whose efforts to bring waite
TO the desert Of the Colorado had bee
so spectacularly unsuccessful was ii
Tom Hardin he had knownl The si
ter had told him so, the girl with tn
odd bronze eyes; opal matrix the
we're, with glints of gold, or was
green7 She herself was as unlike Il
raw boor of his memory as a mou
tain lily is like the coarse rock of !
background. Even a half-sister
Hardin, as Marshall, their host at di
ner the week before. had explaint
it--no, even that did not explain
That any of the Hardin blood shou
be shared by the veins of that gil
why 1t was incrediblel The nan
''Ilnrdin" suggested crudity, lou
mouthed Dragging; conceit. He cou
understand the failure of the riv
project since the sister had assure
him that 1t was the same Tom Hard
who had gone to college at Lawrenc
had married Gerty Holmes. Que
business, life, that he should eros
even so remotely, their orbits agai
That was q chapter he liked to ski
He walked over to the window
shielded by bright awnings, al
looked down on the city where t
next few years of his life might
caught. Comforting to reflect that
engineer is like a soldier, never c.
be certain about tomorrow. Til
enough to know that tomorrow mea
Tucson What was that threadba
provcrb In the Overland Pacific tn
vOd Marshall always keeps his m