The Adair County news., 1921-03-09

and his ruthfeSSneSS against y0u-an0
you win be smashed. You have one
advantage starting out. The Colonel
doesn't think yeu 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 rANst en-
gage some reliable engineer to lock
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 esti-
mate comes within the scope of the
sum Gregory is willing to advance us, I"
snow, then, you are going to in
corporate a company to build road
twelve miles long-and private road,
at that. That would be fatal step.
Pennington would know somebody was
going to build a 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 cover
your trail, my son?"
Bryce pondered. Il will, to begin,
have a dummy board of directors.
Also, my road cannot be private
since we must be a common carrier.
we might as well carry our deception
still further and incorporate for the
purpose of building road from Sc
quota to Grants Pass, Ore, there to
connect with the Southern Pacific"
John Cardigan smiled. 1.-THE old
dream revived, Ell? Well, the old
jokes always bring hearty laugh.
People will laugh at your company
because folks up this way realize thai
the construction cost Of such a road
is prohibitiye."
"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, Ne won't worry
over it. It doesn't cost 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 tihcompleted 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 q time-limit, after which
they revert to the original owners"
"Good strategy, my son! And GER
tainly 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
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 a
man of real ability and person you
can trust implicitly"
81 have the very man. His name is
Buck Ogilvy and only this very day
received letter from him begging me
for a small loan. have Buck on ice
In fifth-class San Francisco hotel"
Tell me about him, Bryce"
eth read you his letter. claim
there is more character in letter than
In face"
Here Bryce read aloud.
''Golden Gate Hotel-Rooms Fifty
Cehts-an Up,
"San Francisco, Cal, Aug. 16. 1915.
MY dear Cardigan: Hank to the
voice of one crying ii the wilderness
then picture to yourself the unloyely
spectacle of a strong man crying.
LET US assume that you have duly
considered Now wind up Your wrist
and send me a rectangular piece of
white, blue. green or pink paper bear
ing in the lower right-hand corner, in
your clear, bcid chirography, the magic
words Bryce Cardigan'-with the lit.
tie up-and-down hook and flourish
which Identifies yonr signature given
IN your serious moods and lends value
TO otherwise worthless paper.
"When you knew me last. was a
prosperous young contractor. Alas!
put all my eggs in one basket and pro-
dueed an omelette. Took contract
to build a railroad in Honduras Hon.
duras got TO fighting with Nicaragua
| the government | had done business
with went out of business; and the
Nicaraguan army recruited all my la
borers and mounted them on my mules
and horses, swiped all my grub, ant
told me to go home. went. Why
stays Moreover, I had an incentive
consisting of about an inch of bayone
fortunately not applied in a vita
spot-which accelerated rather thar
decreased my speed.
Hurry, my dear Cardigan. l fin
ished eating my overcoat the day be
fore yesterday.
snake 1t hundred, and God vii
bless you. When l get it, I'll come tt
Sequoia and kiss you. I'll pay yol
back some time-of course.