Charlevoix county herald., 1921-06-10


stroke he gets rid of all the local en-
ployees of G. s. & W., who have been
drawing good pay and who might make
trouble for him q little later on, and
fills their places with strike-breakers
who have no local sympathizers."
"But there will be another result
which he may not have counted upon,"
Mr.. Van Britt put in. "The blanket
cut serves notice upon everybody that
once more the old strong-arm monopoly
is in the saddle. The newspapers will
tell us about II tomorrow morning.
Also. a good many Of them Will be
asking us what we are going to do
about It; whether we are going to
fight the new monopoly as we did
the old, or stand in with the graft, as
our predecessors did"
"We needn't go over that ground
again-you and l. Upton" said Mr..
Norcross. you know where / stand.
But the conditions have changed. We
have been knitted in the back" And
with that he gave the stocky little
operating chief crisp outline of the
new situation precipitated by the
Dunton- Collingwood political bribery.
Mr.. Van Britt took 1t quietly, as he
did most things, sitting with his hands
In his pockets and smiling blandly
where Hornack had exploded In wrath
full profanity. At the wind-up he said:
"Old Uncle Breckenridge is one too
many for you, Graham. You can't
stand the gaff-this new gaff OF
Hatch's; and neither can you go be-
fore the people as the accuser of your
president-and hope to hold your job.
The one thing for you to do is to lock
up your Office and walk out"
Upton, If I thought you meant
that-but l never know when to take
you seriously"
1.-THE two enginemen who ran over
the ranchman's pet cow had no such
difficulty, l assure you. And isn't 1t
good advice? You know, as well as 1
do. that Chadwick is holding you here
by main strength; that you can never
accomplish anything permanent while
Dunton and his crOnies are at the steer
ing-wheel II might be different If you
had the local backing of your con-
stituency-the people served by the
Short Line. But you haven't that; up
to date, the people are merely inter-
ested spectators"
$50 on" said the boss, frowning
again.
"They have q stake in the game
the biggest of the stakes, as matter
of fact-but 1t isn't sufficiently ap-
parent to make them climb In and
fight for you. They are saying, with
a good bit of reason, that, after all
is said and done, Big Money-Wall
Street-still has the call, and any
twenty-four hours may see the whole
thing slump back into graft and
crooked politics."
at Is so true that you might be
reading it out of book" was the boss
comment. And then: whats the an
swerT
Mr.. Van Britt shook his head. II
don't know. If you had money enough
you might get somewhere; but as it
is, you're like a cat in Hades without
claws"
Tell me-" said Mr.. Norcross, after
little pause: You're a native New
Yorker: do you know this man Col
lingwOod"
"Only by hearsay. He is what our
English friends call a blooming
bounder-fast yachts, fast motor-cars,
the fast set generally. It's a pretty
bad case of money-spoil, fancy. They
say he wasn't always total loss"
did you ever hear that he was
marriedT
"Oh, yes; he married Kentucky
girl some years ago: / don't remem-
Der her name. They say sne stood
him for about six months and then
dropped out. / suppose he needs kill
ing for that"
At this the boss went step farther,
saying: "He does, indeed, Upton. l
happen to know the young woman"
That was when Mr.. Van Britt fired
OWn lllllt hoV wv u,
he answered quietly.
"But you said you had forgotten her
namew
$50 I have-her married name. And
what's more, / mean to keep on for
getting it,"
There was no mistake about the boss
frown this time.
THAT won't do, Upton" he said,
kind Of warningly.
at will do well enough for the
present. I'd marry her tomorrow, Ora
ham, If she were free, and there were
no other obstacles. Unhappily, there
are two-besides the small legal diff
ficulty; she doesn't care for my money
having little of her own; and
she happens to be in love with the
| other fellow"
l guess the boss was remembering
| what Mrs. Sheila had told him in that
| confidence before the back-parlor fire,
about its being all off between her and
Collingwood, for he said: II think you
are mistaken as to that last"
"No, I'm not mistaken. But that's
| neither here nor there. Neither you