The Ordway new era., 1921-06-24
CHAPTER VIIi-continued.

CHAPTER Vlli-Continued.
-
The execution details had been
turned over to Clanahan, the political
boss of Portal City.
The plot itself was simple. At a
certain hour of given night an
anonymous letter was to be sent to
Mr.. Norcross, telling him that a gang
of noted train robbers was stealing
an engine from the Portal City yard
for the purpose of running down the
line and wrecking the Fast Mail.
which often carried bullion express
car If the boss should fall for it
as he did, when the time came-and
go in person to stop the raid, he was
TO be overpowered and spirited away,
a forged letter purporting to be a no.
tice of his resignation was to be left
for Mr.. Van Britt. and fake tele-
gram. making the same announce
ment, was TO be sent to President
Dunton in New York Nothing was
left Indefinite but the choosing of the
night.
81 suppose Hatch was to give the
word" said the boss. who had been
listening soberly while the lawyer
talked.
THAT is the inference. Hatch prob
ably gave the word after his talk with
you. but the time was made even more
propitious by the arrival of the two
kilograms the one from Mr.. Chad
wick, and the one from Mr.. Dunton,
both of which they doubtless inter-
Nv Of tha TON 1,-ira
Mr.. Norcross looked up quickly
Ripley, did Dunton know what was
going to be done to me?'
"Oh. think not. 1t wasn't at all
necessary that he should be taken in
on 1t. He has been opposing your
policies all along, and had just sent
you pretty savage call-down. He
didn't want you in the first place, and
he has been anxious to get rid of you
ever since. The plotters knew very
well what he would do if he should
get wire which purported TO be your
resignation. He would appoint an
other man, quick, and all they would
have to do would be to make sure
that you were well off stage, and would
stay off until the other man could
take hold"
st worked out like a charm ad-
mitted the boss, with a wry smile. 81
haven't been talking much about the
details, partly because l wanted to
find out if this young fellow, Tarbell,
was as good as the majors recon-
mendation of him, and partly because
I'm honestly ashamed Ripley. Any
man of my age and experience who
would swallow bait, hook. and line as
did that night deserves to get all
that is coming to him."
"You can tell me now, can't you?"
queried the attorney.
"Oh, yes; you have 1t all-or prac-
tically all. l fell for the anonymous
letter about the Mail hold-up, and
while 1 don't rattle very easily. or
dinarily, that was one time when l
lost my head, just for the moment.
The obvious thing to do-if any atten-
ton whatever was to be paid to the
anonymous warning-was to telephone
the police and the round-llouse 1 did
neither because thought it might be
too Slow
$50 you made a straight shoot for
the scene of action?"
Il did; down the back streets and
across the lower end of the plaza. As
it appeared-or rather as it was made
to appear-I was barely in time There
were men at the engine. and when
sprinted across the yard they were
ready to move it out to the main line.
yelled at them and ran in. Three of
them tackled me the moment / came
within reach. 1 got one of the three
on the point of the jaw, and they had
to leave him behind; but there were
enough more of them. Before I fairly
realized what was happening, they had
me trussed up like Christmas tnr-
key, and loaded into the cab of the
engine. From that on, 1t was all plain
sailing
''Then they took you to the old lum-
Der camp?"
"As fast as the engine could be made
to turn her wheels. Arroyo has no
night operator, and when we sneaked
through the Banta yard and past the
station. the operator there was asleep.
saw him, with his head in the| crook
Of his arm, at the telegraph table in
the bay window as we passed.
"We ran out to the Timber Noun
tain r. and from that on up the old
eaw-miIl line. The rail connections
~ere III in place, and I knew fEon