The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1920-05-06
lines for you to speak. :

ei'A' quoi tVi -SecliODt
THAT quarter-section is not in tho
market, Colonel. When it is. rll send
for you. since you're the only logical
prospect should my client decaae to
sell ana remembering how you butt
ed IN on politics in this county last
fall and provided a slush fund to heat
me and place crook on the Sunerior
court bench, in order to give Won an
edge in the many suits Won are al.
ways filing or having filed against YOU,
l rise to remark that you have about
ten split seconds in which to disan-
pear from my Office If YOU linger
longer, I'll start throwing paper.
weights" And as if to emphasize
his remark, the judges hand closed
over one of the articles in question.
The Colonel withdrew with what
dignity he could muster.
Upon his return from the office that
night, Bryce Cardigan found his fa-
Their had left his bed and was seated
before the library fire.
"Feeling a whole lot better today,
en- pal?" his son queried.
John Cardigan smiled. "Yes, son."
he replied plaintively. 81 guess I'll
manage to live till next spring."
"Oh, l knew there was nothing
wrong with you, John Cardigan, that
a healthy check wouldn't cure. Well,
we can afford to draw our breath now.
and that gives us a fighting chance.
partner. And right after dinner you
and | will sit down and start brewing
a pot of powerful bad medicine for
the Colonel"
Accordingly, dinner disposed of, ia.
Their and son sat down together to pre-.
pare the plan Of campaign. For the
space of several minutes a silence set.
tied between them, the while they
puffed meditatively upon their cigars,
Then the old man spoke.
"We'l have to fight him in the
dark"
"Why"
Because If Pennington knows, or
even suspects the identity of the man
who is going to parallel his logging
railroad he will throw all the weight
of his truly capable mind, his wealth
and his ruthlessness against you-and
you will be smashed. You have one
advantage starting out. The Colonel
doesn't think you have the courage to
parallel his road in the first place; in
the second place, he knows you haven't
the money; and in the third place he
is morally certain you cannot borrow
it. because you haven't any collateral
to secure your note. SO, all things
considered the Colonel will be slow
to suspect us of having an ace in the
hole; but by jinks we have it, and
we're going to play it. You must en-
gage some reliable engineer to look
over the proposed route of the road
and give us an estimate of the cost of
construction"
For the sake of argument we will
consider that done, and that the est
mate comes within the scope of the
sum Gregory is willing to advance US"
"Now, then, you are going to in
corporate a company to build a rOaf
twelve miles long-and a private road
at that. That would be a fatal step
Pennington would know somebody wa
going to build logging road and re
CARELESS of who the builders were, he
would have to fight them in self-pro
lection. How are you going to cove
your trail. nay SOM"
Bryce pondered. 81 will, to begin
have a dummy board of directors
Also, my road cannot be private
since we must he a common carrier
we might as we'll carry our deception
still further and Incorporate for the
purpose of building a road from Sc
quota to Grants Pass, Ore, there t.
connect with the Southern Pacific"
John Cardigan smiled. 'The old
dream revived, Ell? Well, the OLD
jokes always bring a hearty laugh
People will laugh at your company
because folks up this way realize thai
tine construction cost of such road
is prohibitive."
well, since we're not going to build
more than twelve miles of our road
during the next year, and probably not
more than ten miles additional during
the present century, we won't worry
over it. 1t doesn't cost a cent more to
procure a franchise to build a road
from here to the moon. If we fail to
build to Grants Pass, our franchise to
build the uncompleted portion of the
road merely lapses and we hold only
that portion which we have construct
ed. That's all we want to hold. More
over, deeds to rights of way can be
drawn with a time-imit, after which
they revert to the original owners"
Good strategy. my son! And GER
tainIy as common carrier we will be
welcomed by the farmers and cattle
men along our short line"
well, that about completes the
rough outline of our plan. We have
a year in which to build our road; if
we do not hurry, the mill will have to
shut down for lack of logs, when our
contract with Pennington expires"
you forget the manager for our
new corporation-the vice president
and general manager. He must be
man of real ability and a person you
can trust Implicitly
81 have the very man. His name is
Buck Ogilvy and only this very Gay J