Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 130, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1916 — THE CITY OF NUMBERED DAYS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE CITY OF NUMBERED DAYS

by FRANCIS LYNOE...

ILLUSTRATIONS by C.D.BHODeS • • ■ COPYRIGHT OY CHARLES SCRIBNER*3 SONS

SYNOPSIS. Brouillard, chief engineer of the Nlquola Irrigation dam. goes out from camp to Investigate a strange light and finds an automobile party camped at the canyon portal. He meets J. Wesley Cortwright and his daughter, Genevieve, of the auto party and explains the reclamation work to them. Cortwright sees In the project a big chance to make money. Broulllard la impervious to hints from the financier, who tells Genevieve that the engineer "Will come down and hopK himself if the bait is well covered." Cortwright organises a company and obtains government contracts to furnish power and material for the dam construction. A busy cty springs up about the site. Steve Massingale threatens to start a gold rush if Broulllard does not influence President Ford to build a railroad branch to the place, thus opening an easy market for the ore from the “Little Susan” mine. Brouillard and the company’s promoter clash, but on orders from Washington, Broulllard turns over the plans for the power Installation.

Do you believe that a really honest man can be persuaded to turn a shady trick in order to help the material fortunes of the girl he loves —even if he believes the trick will never bo found out on him?

CHAPTER Vll—Continued. To his utter amazement the blue •yes filled suddenly. But the owner of the eyes was winking the tears away and laughing before he could could put the amazement into words. “You shouldn’t hit out like that when one isn’t looking; it’s wicked,” she protested. “Besides, the railroad is coming; it’s got to come.” “It is still undecided,” he told her mechanically. "Mr. Ford is coming over with the engineers to have a conference on the ground with —with the Cortwright people. I am expecting him any day.” “And the government?” “The department is holding entirely aloof, as it should. Everyone in the reclamation service knows that no good can possibly come of any effort to force the region ahead of its normal and natural development. And, besides, none of us here in the valley want to help blow the Cortwright bubble any higher than it has to be.” “Then you will advise against the building of the extension?” Instead of answering her question he asked one of his own. "What does it mean to you—to you. personally, apart from the money your father might make out of it, Ajny?" She hesitated a moment and then met she shrewd scrutiny of his gaze with open candor.

"The money is only a means to an eqd—as yotirs will be. You know very well what I meant when I told you that three times we have been obliged to come back to the mountains to—to try again. I dreaded the coming of your camp; I dread a thousand times more the other changes that are coming—the temptations that a mushroom city will offer. This time father has promised me that when he can make his stake he will go back to Kentucky and settle down; and he will keep his promise. More than that, Stevie has promised me that he will go, too, if he can have a stock-farm and raise fine horses —his one healthy ambition. Now you know it all.” He reached up from the lower step where he was standing and took her hand. "Yes; and I know more than that. I know that you are a mighty brave little girl and that your load is heavier than mine—worlds heavier. But you’re going to win out; if not today or tomorrow, why, then, the day after. It’s written in the book.” She returned his hand-grip of encouragement impulsively and smiled down upon him through quick-spring-ing tears. "You’ll win out, too, Victor, because you are a strong man; you have a reserve of strength that is greater than most men’s full gift; you can cut and slash your way to the thing you really want, and nothing can stop you. But — you’ll forgive me for being plain, won’t you?—there is a little, just the least little bit of desperation in the present point of view, and —” “Say It,” he commanded when she hesitated.

“I hardly know how to say it. There were ideals in the beginning; don’t let them fall down in the dust or in the — in the mud. It’s got to be clean money, you know; the money thad is going to give you the chance to say, ‘Come, girl, let’s go and get married.' You won’t forget that, will you?" He relinquished the hand of encouragement because he dared not hold it any longer, and turned away to stare absently at the timbered tunnel mouth whepce a faint clinking of hammer upon steel issued with monotonous regularity. "I with you hadn’t said that, Amy—about the ideals." "I don’t know What you mean," she said simply. "Perhaps ft is Just as well that you don’t Let’s talk about something else—-about the railroad. President Ford hasn’t decided; he won’t decide until he has looked the ground over sad had a chance to confer with me." Che bridged al! the gaps with swift

intuition. “He means to give you the casting vote? He will build the exten slon if you advise it? Then it will lie in your hand to make us rich or to keep us poor," she laughed. "Be a good god in-the-car, please, and your petitioners will ever pray.” Then, with an instant return to seriousness: "But you mustn’t think of that —of course, you won’t —with so many other and greater things to consider." "On the contrary, I shall think very pointedly of that; pointedly and regretfully—because your brother has made it practically Impossible for me to help.” “My brother?” with a little gasp. "Yes. He offered to buy my vote with a block ,of ‘Little Susan’ stock. That wouldn’t have been so bad if he hadn’t talked about it —” —*7"When Mr. Ford comes you must forget what Stevie said and what I have said. Good-by." An hour later Brouillard was closeted in his log-built office quarters with a big, fair-faced man, whose rough tweeds and unbrushed soft hat proclaimed him fresh from the dusty-dry reaches of the Quesado trail. “It is your own opinion that I want, Victor,” the fair-faced man was saying, “not the government engineer’s. Can we make the road pay if we bring it here? That is a question which you can answer better than any other living man. You are here on the ground and you’ve been here from the first."

"You’ve had it out with Cortwright?” Brouillard asked. And then: "Where is he now—in Chicago?” “No. He is on his way to the Ni* quoia, coming over in his car from El Gato. But never mind J. Wesley. Ypu are the man I came to see.” “I can give you the facts,” was the quiet rejoinder. A smile wrinkled at the corners of the big man’s eyes. / "You are dodging the issue, Victor, find you know it,” he objected. “What I want 1b your personal notion. If you were the executive committee of the Pacific Southwestern, would you, or would you not, build the extension? That’s the point I’m trying to make.” Brouillard got up and went to the window. When he turned back to the man at the desk he was frowning thoughtfully, and his eyes were the eyes of one who sees only the clearly etched lines of a picture which obscures all outward and visual objects. . . . the picture he saw was of a sweet-faced young woman, laughing through her tears and saying: “Besides, the railroad is coming; it’s got to come.” “If you put It that way,” he said to the man who was waiting, “if you insist on pulling my private opinion out by the roots, you may have it. I’d build the extension."

CHAPTER VIII Mirapolis

During the strenuous weeks when Camp Niquoia’s straggling street was acquiring plank sidewalks and getting itself transformed into Chigringo avenue, with a double row of false-fronted “emporiums" to supplant the shack shelters. Monsieur Poudrecaulx Bongras, late of the San Francisco tenderloin, opened ihe_„camp’s first countergrill. Finding moasieur’s name impossible in both halves of It, the camp grinned and nichristened him "Poodles." Later, discovering his dual gift of past mastership in potato frying and coffee making, the camp gave him vogue. Out of the vogue sprang in swift succession a case with side tables, a restaurant with private dining rooms, and presently a commodious hotel, where the food was excellent, the appointments luxurious, and where Jack — clothed and in hi® right mind and with money in his hand —was as good as his master. It was in one of Bongras’ private dining rooms that Mr. J. Wesley Cortwright was entertaining Brouillard, with Miss Genevieve to make a harmonizing third at the circular table. The little dinner had been a gustatory triumph. Nevertheless, when Miss Cortwright had gone upstairs, and the waiter would have refilled his glass, Brouillard shook his head. If the millionaire saw the refusal he was J9O wise to remark it. He was still the frank, outspoken moneymaker, hot upon the trail of the nimble dollar. Yet there was a change of some kind. Brouillard had marked it on the day, a fortnight earlier, when (after assuring himself morosely that he would not) he had gone down to the lower canyon portal to see the Cortwright touring car finish its second race across the desert from El Gato. “Of course I was quite prepared to have you stand off and throw stones at our little cob house of a venture, Brouillard," the host allowed at the lighting of the" gold-handed cigars. “You’re the government engineer and the builder pf the big dam; but you can’t build your dam in one day, or in two, and the interval Is ours. I tell you. we’re going to make Mirapolis a

buzz-hummer while the daylight lasts. Don’t you forget that.” "‘Mirapolis?’ queried Broulllard. “Is that the new name?” Cortwright laughed and nodded. "It’s Gene’s name—‘Miracle City.’ Fits like the glove on a pretty girl’s arm, doesn’t it?” “It does. But the miracle is that there should be any money daring enough to invest itself In the Nlquola.” “Why, bless your workaday heart, Brouillard,” chuckled the host, “nothing is permanent in this shuffling, growing, progressive world of ours — absolutely nothing. Some of the biggest and costliest buildings in New York and Chicago are built on ground leases. Our ground lease will merely be a little shorter In the factor of time.” 7 * — "So much shorter that the parallel won’t hold,” argued Brouillard. “The parallel does hold; long time, small profits and a slow return; short time, big profits and a quick return. You’ve eaten here before; what do you pay Bongras for a reasonably good dinner?" Brouillard laughed. “Oh, Poodles. He cinches us, all right; four or five times as much as it’s worth—or would cost anywhere else.” “That’s it. He knows he has to make good on all these little luxuries he gives you—cash in every day, as you might say, and come out whole before you stop the creek and drown him. When we get in motion we’re going to have Alaska faded to a frazzle on prices—and you’ll see everybody paying them joyfully.”

"And in the end somebody, or the final series of somebodies, will be left to hold the bag," finished Brouillard. “There needn’t be any bag holders, Brouillard. Let me put it In a nutshell: we’re building a cement plant, and we shall sell you tke output—at a good, round price, I promise you, but still at a lower figure than you’re paying for the imported article now, or than you will pay even after the rail-

road gets In. When our government orders are filled we can afford to wreck the plant for what it will bring.” “That is only one instance,” objected the guest. "Well, Bongras, here, is one more,” laughed the host. “And l our power plant Is another. You made your little kick on that to Washington—you thought the government ought to control its own power. That was all right, from your point of view, but we beat you to it. Now the reclamation service gets all the power it needs at a nominal price, and we’re going to sell enough more to make us all feel happy.” “Sell it? To whom?” Mr. Cortwright leaned hack In his chair and the sandy-gray eyes seemed to be searching the inner recesses of the querying soul. “That’s inside information, but I don’t mind taking you in on it," he said between leisurely puffs at his cigar. “We’ve just concluded a few contracts: one with Massingale—he’s going to put in power drills, electric orecars, and a modern equipment generally and shove the development of the ‘Little Susan;’ one with a new mining syndicate which will begin operations at once on half a dozen prospects on Jack’s mountain; and one with a lumber combination that has just taken over the sawmills, and will install others, with a planing mill and sash factory.” Brouillard nodded. The gray eyes were slowly hypnotizing him. “But that Isn’t all,” continued the promoter. “We are about to reincorporate the power plant as the Niquoia Electric Power, Lighting and Traction company. Within a fortnight We’ll be lighting Mirapolis, and withina month atter the railroad gets in we’ll be operating trolley cars.” The enthusiast paused to let the

tnformatlon sink In, also to note t)M effect upon the subject. The noting was apparently satisfactory, since he went on with the steady assurance of one who Bees his way clearly. “That brings us down to business, Broulllard. I don’t mind admitting that I had an object in asking you to dine with me this evening. It’s this: we feel that in the reorganization of the power company the government, which will always be the largest con* sumer, should be represented in some effective way; that its interests should be carefully safeguarded. It is not so easy as it might seem. We can’t exactly make the government a stockholder.” “No,” said Broulllard mechanically. The underdepths were stirring, heaving as If from a mighty groundswell that threatened a tidal wave of overturnings. “We are going to make you tb§ government director, with full power to investigate and to act. And we’re not going to be mean about it, either. The capital stock of the company is ten millions, with shares of a par value of one hundred dollars each, full paid and nonassessable. Don’t gasp; we’ll cut a nice little melon on that capitalization every thirty days, or my name isn’t Cortwright.” “But I have no money to invest,” was the only form the younger man's protest took. "We don’t need your money,” cut in the financier with curt good nature. “What we do need is a consulting engineer, a man who, while he is one of us and identified with us, will see to it that we’re not tempted to gouge our good Uncle Samuel.” Brouillard smoked in silence for a full minute before he said: “You know as well as I do, Mr. Cortwright, that it Is an unwritten law of the service that a civilian employee of the government shaft not engage in any other business.” “No, I don't,” was the blunt reply. “Supposing your father had left you a hundred thousand dollars to invest Instead of a debt of that amount —you see, I know what a load your keen sense of honor Is making you carry—suppose you had this money to invest, would your position in the reclamation service compel you to lock it up in a safety vault?” “Certainly not, but if the department should learn that I am a stockholder in a company from which it buys it* power—”

“There wouldn’t be a word said —not one single word. They know you In Washington, Brouillard, better, perhaps, than you think they do. They know you would exact a square deal for the department even if it cost you personal money. It’s your duty and part of your job as chief of construction. And we’ll leave the money consideration entirely out of it if you like. You’ll get a stock certificate, which you may keep or tear up or throw into the wastebasket, just as you please. If you keep it and want to realize on it at any time before you begin to put the finishing forms on the dam, I’ll do this: I’ll agree to market it for you at par. Now let’s quit and go and" find Gene. She’ll think we’ve tippled ourselves under the table.” “One moment,” said Brouillard. “I couldn’t serve as your engineer, Mr. Cortwright, not even in a consulting capacity. Call it prejudice or anything else you please, but I simply couldn’t do business in an associate relation with your man Hosford.” Cortwright had risen, and he took his guest confidentially by the buttonhole.

“Do you know, Brouillard, Hosford gets on my nerves, too ? Don’t let that Influence you. We’ll let Hosford go. We needed him at first to sort of knock things into shape; it takes a man of his caliber in the early stages of a project like ours, you know. But he has outlived his usefulness and we’ll drop him. Let’s go upstairs.’’ Late in the evening Brouillard passed out through the case of the Metropole on his way to his quarters. There were a few late diners at the tables, and Bongras, smug and complacent in evening regalia, waS waddling about among them like a glorified head waiter. Holding the engineer for a moment at the street door, “I’ll been wanting to h-ask you,” whispered the Frenchman with a quick-flung glance for the diners at the nearest of the tables, “doze flood—when she is coming, M’sieu’ Brouillard?” "When we get the dam completed.” “You’ll bet money h-on dat?—h-all de money you got?” “Why should you doubt it?" “Hoi, I don’t doubt nottings; I make de grass to be cut w’ile de sun is shine. But I’ll been hearing somebody say dat maybe-so dis town she grow so fas' and so beeg dat de gover’ment is not going to drown her.” “Who said that?” “I don’t know; it is bruit —what you call rumaire. You hear it h-on de avenue, in de case, h-anyw’eres you go.” * “Don’t lower your prices on the strength of any such rumor as that. Poodles. The dam will be built, and the Niquoia will be turned into a lake, with the Hotel Metropole comfortably anchored in the deepest part of it—that is, if it doesn’t get gay enough to float.” ' “Dat’s juz what I’ll been thinking," smiled the little man, and he sped the parting guest with a bow that would have graced the antechamber of a Louis la Grand. ~—

• ■ * • * 11 * * 1 r “ t Do you believe that Broulllard ! will permit himself to be sos duced by Cortwright*! smooth Iform of bribery? Does Broulllard understand Cortwrlflhtf ■' " ’ ’ XtO BjD CONTQfUBIXJ

“If You Insist on Pulling My Private Opinion Out by the Roots, You May Have It. I'd Build the Extension.”