The Raymer enterprise., 1919-06-19
CHAPTER I.
Marshall Sends for Rickard,

The large round clock was striking
nine ms 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
Mr.. Marshall had not yet come.
For London tie and a white silk
shirt belted into white serge trousers
were smart for Tucson. The clerks
10 the employ Of the Overland Pacific
and OF the Sonora and Yaqui railroads
had stared at Rckard us 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 a new
ly pressed crease each morning.
The office had not reached verdict
oil the subject Of X. G. Rickard. The
shlrt-sleeveu, coilariess clerks would
have been quick to dub him a dandy
were II not for a page OF his history
that was puzzllng them. He had held
chair of engineering In some eastern
city. He had resigned, the wlnd-tossed
page said. to go on the road as a
frapfan ratld hnI "A
been spectacular; the last move, a
few years ago. to Ill 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 few years before had
been shoyellng coal on Wyoming en-
gine. "Mr. Marshall said to wait"
Ribbons. instead OF shoe laces p
earped the human machine that must
ever write letters which other men
sign. "And blue pin to match his
tIel ! call that going some!"
II would never have occurred to
Rlckard. had he thought about 1t at
all that morning as he knotted his tie
VI dark, brilliant blue silk. that the
rejection Of his lapls pin was choice !:
1t was an inevitable result, an instine-
tive discretion of his fingers. 1t
warped. however, the suspended judg-
ment of Marshall's men, who had
never seen him shoveling coal. distig-
ured by a denim jumper. They did
not know that they themselves were
Ilovens. ruined by the climate that
dulls vanity and willis collars.
Give him year to change some Of
his fine habitsl" wagered Smythe, the
stoop-shouldered clerk, as the door OF
the inner office closed.
ITO change his habits less |" amend
cd the office wit And then they fell
10 speculating what Marshall was 60
hg to do with him. What pawn was
he in the game that everyone In Tue
son followed with eager self-lnterested
c0ncern7 Marshall's was the control
Ting hand In Arizona politics; the
maker Of governors. the arblter of big
corporations; president Of 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 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 him3
The note had set the appointment
for nine. Rlckard glanced at his
watch and took out his Engineering
Review. 1t would be ten before that
door opened on Tod Marshalil
He knew that, on the road, Mar
shall's work began at dawn. "A man
won't break from overwork or rust
from underworld II he follows the ex-
ample Of the sum-" Rlckard had often
heard him expound his favorite the
Ory. "It Is only the players, the syba-
rites. who can afford to pervert the
arrangement nature intended for u.s."
But In Tucson. controlled by the wife
" sollcitude OF his Claudia. he was
coerced into a regular perversion. His
Office never saw him until the morn
Ing was half gone.
A half-hour later Rickard finished
reading q report on the diversion Of a
great western river. The name Of
Thomas Hardin had sent him of on
a tangent of memory. The Thomas
Hardin whose efforts to bring water
to the desert Of the Colorado had been
20 spectacularly unsuccessful was the
Tom Hardin be had knownI The -