The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1920-11-12

her heart gave way to the tears she
could no longer, repress. Pennington
stood by, watching her curiously
cOldly.
Presently Shirley mastered her
emotion and glanced toward him.
swell. my dear?" he queried
Il think / had better go home,
she said without spirit.
II think so, too," he answered. sect
into the mayors fiivver, my dear, and
I'll drive you. And perhaps the least
said about this affair the better, Shir-
ley. There are many things that you
do not understand and which cannot
be calculated by discussion"
II can understand an attempt at as
sassination. Uncle Seth"
THAT blackguard Minorca! should
have known better than to put him on
such job. 1 told him to bluff and
threaten; Cardigan, I knew, would
realize the grudge the Black Minorca
mas against him, and for that reason
I figured the greaser was the only man
who could bluff him. While l gave
him orders to shoot, 1 told him dis
tinctly not to hit anybody. Good Lord,
Shirley, surely you do not think /
would wink at murder!"
81 do" she answered passiOnately.
with Bryce Cardigan out Of the way
you would have clear field before
you"
"Oh. my dear, my dear! Surely you
do not realize what you are saying.
You are beside yourself, Shirley.
Please-please do not wound me So
so horribly. I am surrounded by enc
mies-the most implacable enemies.
They force me to fight the devil with
fire-and here you are, giving them aid
and comfort"
81 want you to defeat Bryce Cardi-
gan, if you can do it fairly"
AT another time and in calmer
mood we will discuss that villain" he
said authOritatively. Get into the car,
and we will go home. There is moth
ing more to be done tonight"
"YOur sophistry does not alter my
opinion" she replied firmly. "How-
ever, as you say, this is neither the
time nor the place to discuss it,"
They drove home in silence. Shirley
went at. once to her room. For the
however, the nights work had
scarcely begun. The instant he heard
the door to his niece's room shut, he
went to the telephone and called up
the Laguna Grande roundhouse. Sex
ton, his manager, answered.
"Have you sent the switch engine to
the woods for Rondeau and his menu"
"Just left"
Good! Now, then, Sexton, listen to
me: AS you know, this raid of Cardi-
gan's has developed so suddenly I am
more or less taken by surprise and
have had no time to prepare the kind
of counter-attack that will be most eff
fective. However, with the crossing
blocked, gain time in which to organ
ize-Only there must be no weak point
in the organization. In order to insure
that, ] am proceeding to San Fran
cisco tonight by motor, via the coast
night, and early Saturday morning I
will appear in the United States dis
trict court with our attorneys and file
n complaint and petition for an order
restraining the N. c. o.
from cutting our tracks.
81 will have to make an affidavit to
support the complaint, so l had better
be Johnny-on-the-spot to do 1t, rather
than risk the delay of making the aft
1avit tomorrow morning here and for
warding it by mail to our attorneys.
1.-The judge will sign a restraining
order, returnable in from ten to thirty
days-Fll try for thirty, because that
will knock out the N. G. O.'s temporary
after I have obtained
the restraining order, l will have the
United States marshal telegraph it to
Ogilvy and Cardigan!"
Bully" cried Sexton heartily.
''That will fix their clock"
'In the meantime" Pennington con-
tinued, logs will be Cutting our land
ings. We need that locomotive for its
legitimate purposes. Take all that dis
,arded machinery and the old boiler
we removed from the mill last fall,
dump it on the tracks at the crossing,
and get the locomotive back on its rum
The other side, having
no means of removing these heavy OBJ
will be blocked until 1 re-
turn; by that time the matter will be
in the district court, Cardigan will be
hung up until his temporary franchise
eNpires-and the city council will not
renew it. Get me?"
Eyes, sir"
"I1l be back Sunday forenoon. Good
by"
He hung up, went to his chauffeur's
quarters over the garage. and routed
the man out of bed. Then he returned
quietly to his room. dressed and
packed a bag for his journey, left
brief note for Shirley notifying her of
his departure, and started on his two
and fifty-mile trip over the
to the south. AS his car
sped through sleeping SeQuoia and
gained the open country, the Colonel's
heart thrilled pleasurably. He held
cards and spades. big and little casino,
four aces and the joker; therefore he
knew he could sweep the board at his
pleasure. And during his absence Shir-
ley would have opportunity to cool off. 4
while he would find time to formulate
an argument to lull her suspicious
upon his return.
CHAPTER XVI.