stockholders in the bank, other than Tandy, and told them all that had
happened. They advised the purchase, but suggested 102 as the price,
and an hour later Napper Tandy ceased to be a stockholder in the X
National Bank.
A day or two later Stafford learned that by this sale of his bank stock,
Tandy had practically parted with the last investment he had in any
Cairo enterprise.
He greatly wondered at that, and as he sat with Duncan and Hallam in
Hallam's parlor that night, the three indulged in many conjectures
concerning Tandy and his plans. The only conclusion they arrived at was
expressed by Captain Will:
"He's up to mischief of some sort. We must watch him."
XXXI
ONLY A WOMAN
In accordance with his custom, Duncan told Barbara the whole story of
the bank's dealings with Tandy, and explained to her his reasons for
suspecting, as Captain Hallam had said, that Tandy was "up to mischief"
of some kind and needed close watching.
"Perhaps he has lost money heavily," suggested Barbara, "and is
struggling to keep his head above water."
"That is extremely unlikely," answered Duncan, "particularly as his
standing at Bradstreet's is unimpaired. I asked Bradstreet's yesterday
for a special report on him, and they gave him four A's. That means that
he has ample capital and abundant resources somewhere within the
knowledge of Bradstreet's agents. I imagine that he is going quietly
into some big enterprise, and has so far invested his capital in it that
he was sorely embarrassed for ready money when suddenly called upon to
raise it. I would give a tidy little sum to find out what he is up to."
But neither Duncan nor Hallam was destined to make that discovery as
yet. Soon after the bank matter was settled, Tandy seemed quite at ease
again financially. He resumed his purchases of property along the line
of the proposed railway, but only along the eastern half of it. He
bought none in Cairo or within fifty miles of that city.
Two months later, after Duncan's campaign was over, and the elections
had been held, he and Barbara came back to the subject. Duncan told
Barbara of the queer provision that Tandy had persuaded the authorities
of two counties to put into their bond appropriation, and expressed his
curiosity to know the motive.
"He didn't do that thing just for fun, Guilford," the girl said, after
she had thought the matter over for twenty-four hours. "He has some
interest to serve."
"Of course. I'm very sure of that."
"We must find out what it is," said the girl, whose apprehension was
strongly aroused.
"But how, Barbara?"
"I don't know how, at present, but I'm trying to find out a way. I don't
know enough about the facts as yet to make a good guess. You must tell
me some things."
"Anything you like."
"Is there any other railroad that might be injured by this one? Any
road, I mean, that he might be interested in enough to make him want
this project defeated?"
"No, certainly not. On the contrary, he has a tremendous interest in the
building of our road. Of course his interests here in Cairo are
comparatively small, now that he is out of the bank, but as you know, he
has been buying property very heavily along our proposed line. Of
course, when the road is finished the towns along the line will grow,
and property there will go up. In view of that, he has been buying lots,
houses, and business buildings at all the places where principal
stations are likely to be located."
It was two or three days later when Barbara returned to the subject by a
somewhat indirect route.
"Tell me about Paducah, Guilford," she said to him suddenly.
He laughingly answered:
"Paducah is a thriving town in northwestern Kentucky. It lies on the
Ohio River about fifty miles above the mouth of that stream. It has a
small but ambitious population, and is a considerable market for the
sale of tobacco. That's about all I remember of what the gazeteer says
about the interesting burg."
"And you know that isn't what I want you to tell me. Are there any
railroads there?"
"One small one, running from the south, ends there, I believe, and the
Paducah people are trying to induce the company which is building the
Memphis and Ohio River Railroad to make its northern terminus there
instead of at Cairo. They are trying, too, to get a bridge built across
the Ohio at that point. They are unlikely to succeed in either project,
for the reason that they have no railroad connection north or east.
Railroads from the south running into Paducah would find no outlet
except by the river."
Barbara was silent for some time. Then she asked: "Is Mr. Tandy
interested in any business at Paducah?"
"I really don't know. He's in all sorts of things, you know. But why do
you ask?"
Instead of answering, she asked another question:
"Is he interested in the company you spoke of, that is building a line
from Memphis to the Ohio River?"
"Yes. He's heavily in that. Indeed, he is president of it, I believe, or
something like that, just as he is of our company--well, no, the
parallel doesn't hold, for ours is only a projecting company, as yet,
while that is a full-fledged railroad company actually engaged in
building. I suppose that is one of the things that tied Tandy up at the
time of the bank trouble. He had put a pot of money into it, and he
could neither sell his stock nor raise money on it till the road should
be finished and in operation. But why do you ask about that, Barbara?"
For answer, she crossed the room, and returning, spread out a map on a
table.
"Look!" she said, putting her finger on the map. "At a point only a
little east of that county line concerning which Tandy got the strange
stipulation made, our proposed line will be much nearer to Paducah than
the distance from that point to Cairo. May it not be possible----"
"By Jove, Barbara!" Duncan exclaimed, as he bent over the map, "you've
solved the riddle. What a splendid combination it is! And how we must
hustle to defeat it!"
"You must be calm, then, and let us work it all out, and be sure of
everything before you tell Captain Will about it. I want you to have
full credit for the timely discovery."
"Me? Why, it is all yours, Barbara, and you are to have all the credit
of it."
"Oh, no. You told me the things that enabled me to guess it out, and
I've only been trying to help _you_. I'm glad if I have helped, but
positively my name mustn't be mentioned. I'm _only a woman_!"
"Only a woman!" Duncan echoed. "_Only_ a woman! Barbara, God's wisdom
was never so wise as when he created 'only a woman' to be a 'helpmeet
for man.'"
XXXII
THE RIDDLE EXPLAINED
The next half hour was spent, as Barbara expressed it, in "perfecting
the guess" she had made.
"Tandy has gone into that Memphis and Ohio River enterprise up to his
eyes," said Duncan. "Naturally, he has got his controlling interest in
it at an extremely low price, as compared with the face value of the
stock and bonds, for the reason that the road ends at Paducah, which is
much the same thing as ending nowhere.
"But if he can succeed in diverting our line to Paducah instead of
Cairo, thus securing an entirely satisfactory connection north and east,
his Memphis and Ohio road will become part of one of the greatest trunk
lines in this part of the country, and the advance in his stock and bond
holdings will make him one of the richest men in the West."
"That is what I was thinking, Guilford, but I hardly dared suggest it--I
know so little. I didn't know that it would be possible to change our
line. I thought that maybe its charter compelled it to run to Cairo."
"No, unfortunately, it doesn't. Tandy secured the charter in the first
place, before Hallam and Stafford went into the project. I wonder," he
added with a puzzled look, "I wonder if the old schemer was looking this
far ahead. At any rate, the charter, as Tandy had it drawn, requires
only that the line shall be so located and constructed as to connect the
railroads running east from its eastern terminus with the Mississippi
River--it doesn't say at what point. That requirement would be fully
met, of course, if the road should be diverted to Paducah, connecting
there with the line to Memphis."
"But why did Tandy want that county line provision put into the bond
subscription?"
"Look at the map again. Those two counties lie west of the point at
which the road must be turned south if it is to be diverted to Paducah.
If we fail to build across that county line by noon of the fifteenth of
next March, the subscriptions of both those counties will be forfeited.
Then Tandy will step in and offer the company that is building the line
a much larger subscription of some sort from Paducah and from his
Memphis road, as an inducement to shorten the line by taking it to
Paducah instead of Cairo."
"That would ruin Cairo?" the girl asked, anxiously.
"It would be a terrible blow to the city's prosperity. But," looking at
his watch, "I must lay this matter before Hallam and Stafford to-night,
late as it is."
Then, going to the little telegraph instrument which, for his own
convenience, he had installed in Barbara's house, he called Captain
Hallam out of bed and clicked off the message:
The milk in the cocoanut is accounted for. I must see you and
Stafford to-night, without fail. Summon him. I'll go up to your
house at once.
It did not require much time or many words for Duncan to explain the
situation as he now understood it. Nor was there the slightest ground
for doubt that the solution reached was altogether the correct one.
"It's a deep game he's been playing," said Hallam.
"It is one of the finest combinations I ever heard of," responded
Stafford. "You've a mighty long head, Duncan, to work out such a
puzzle."
"Don't be too complimentary to my head. I didn't work it out," responded
the younger man.
"You didn't? Who did, then?"
"Barbara Verne! She forbade me to mention her name, but I will not sail
under false colors."
"Well, now, I want to say," said Stafford, "that you've a mighty long
head, anyhow, to make a counselor of such a girl as Barbara Verne. It's
the very wisest thing you ever did in your life, and the wisest you
ever will do till you make her your wife. Of course, that will come in
due time?"
"I hope so, but I am not sure I can accomplish that."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Why, I had supposed it was all arranged. Why haven't you----"
"Perhaps I have. At any rate, the doubt I spoke of is not due to any
neglect of opportunity on my part. But we must get to business. It is
two o'clock in the morning. We've found out old Napper's game. Now, what
are we going to do about it?"
During this little side conversation, Hallam had been pacing the floor,
thinking. He now began issuing his orders, like shots from a rapid-fire
gun.
"Go to the instrument there, Duncan, and telegraph Temple to come to
Cairo by the first train. Tell him to give instructions to his assistant
as to the running of the mine during a long absence on his part."
When Duncan had finished the work of telegraphing, Hallam turned to him,
saying:
"You, Duncan, are to start for New York on the seven o'clock train this
morning. Leave your proxy with Stafford to vote your stock in the
present company, and----"
"What's your plan, Hallam?" interrupted Stafford.
"To give old Napper Tandy the very hardest lesson he's ever had to learn
at my hands. You and I will call a meeting of the company immediately,
and make Duncan president."
"But how are we to get rid of Tandy?"
"Ask him to resign, and kick him out if he doesn't. But listen! We've no
time to waste. We'll reorganize this company--making it a real railroad
company to build the road, instead of being the mere projecting company
it is now. You and I and Duncan will put all the money we can spare into
it, and we'll make every man in Cairo who's got anything beyond funeral
expenses put it in. All the subscriptions already made to the inducement
fund we'll convert into permanent stock subscriptions. Then, with the
county, city, and town subscriptions in hand, we'll have about four
millions of our stock subscribed. We must have twelve millions of stock
in all. It is for you, Duncan, to find the rest in New York. You must
see capitalists and persuade them to go in with us, as subscribers,
either to the stock or to the construction bonds that we'll issue. You
are to use your own judgment and we'll back you up."
"What are you going to do with Temple?"
"Make him chief engineer to the company, and set him at work surveying
and locating the line at once. It's now three o'clock. You must go and
pack your trunk, Duncan. I'll telegraph you in New York, telling you
everything you need to know. Take your copy of our private cipher code
with you, in case we should have confidential communications to make.
Go, now. I'll smooth your way by telegraphing our correspondents in New
York, and the officers of the Fourth National, asking them to help you.
Stafford, you'd better go home, now. You're getting along in life, you
know, and need your sleep." Stafford was about ten years younger than
Hallam.
So ended a conference that was destined, by the success or failure of
its purpose, to decide the fate of a great enterprise and the future of
a thriving city--to say nothing of the career of a brilliant young man.
XXXIII
AT CRISIS
It was December now, and winter had set in early. Temple found it
exceedingly difficult to secure the assistant surveyors, rodmen,
chainmen, and the rest, whose services were absolutely necessary, but by
dint of hard work, he at last completed the organization of his several
engineering corps, and set to work surveying the line, locating it,
establishing grades, and the like.
Hurry it as he might, the work was very slow, because of the bad
weather, but at least it went forward, and early in January gangs of men
were sent into each county to make a show, at least, of construction
work, and thus to avoid all possibility of the forfeiture of the county
and town subscriptions.
The greatest difficulty encountered was in meeting the requirement that
a car should actually cross the line between the two counties by noon of
the fifteenth of March. That part of the line was peculiarly difficult
of access. It could be reached only by a twenty-five mile journey across
country, over roads which, in the winter, were well-nigh impassable. In
order to build any sort of railroad line at the point involved, it was
necessary to carry across country all the tools, earth cars, and
construction materials, together with a large company of workmen. Huts
must be built to shield the men from the severity of the weather, and
provisions for them must be hauled over twenty-five miles of swamp
roads. In order to do so, streams must be bridged for the wagons, and in
many places the road must be "corduroyed" for many miles of its extent.
That is to say, it must be paved with unhewn logs, laid side by side
across it.
It was near the end of February, therefore, before anything like
systematic construction at that point could be got under way.
Meanwhile, Duncan's mission to New York had been successful, though it
was attended by much of difficulty. He had secured the necessary stock
subscriptions, and better still, he had succeeded in inducing one of the
great trunk lines of the East to guarantee a considerable bond issue on
the part of the new road, under an agreement that when completed it
should be made, in effect, an extension of the eastern company's lines.
The only problem now was to prevent that diversion of the proposed line
which Tandy was openly trying to bring about. The New York capitalists
whom Duncan had secured as stockholders in the enterprise, were, many of
them, disposed to look upon the proposed change of terminus from Cairo
to the rival city with a good deal of favor. Such a change would
considerably shorten the line to be built, and the connection southwest
from Paducah to Memphis was in some respects a more desirable one than
that from Cairo.
But Duncan had secured from the capitalists a trustworthy promise that
the line should be built to Cairo, as originally planned, provided the
Cairo people, with Duncan, Hallam, and Stafford at their head, should
protect the subscriptions of the two hesitating counties by meeting the
requirement imposed at Tandy's suggestion. Thus everything depended upon
the completion of a track across that county line before noon on the
fifteenth day of March.
Temple had succeeded in getting the work started, but the task was a
Herculean one. Duncan hurried to the scene of action as soon as he
returned from New York to Cairo. He found that the space to be built
over was very low-lying, and that the nearest source of supply for earth
with which to build the high embankment required was nearly two miles
distant.
Temple had begun work at that point. He was extending an embankment
thence toward the point where the county line must be crossed. On this
he was laying a temporary track as fast as it was extended, in order
that his earth cars might be pushed over it with their loads of filling
material.
Duncan's first look at the progress of the work convinced him that it
could not be completed within the time allowed, unless a much larger
working force could be secured.
He instantly telegraphed to Hallam:
Must have more men immediately. If you can send two hundred at once
there is a bare possibility of success, provided weather conditions
do not grow worse. But without that many men failure is inevitable.
Why not send all your miners here?
Hallam, in his habitual way, acted promptly and with vigor. Leaving
Stafford to hire all the men who could be secured in Cairo, he himself
hurried to the mines, and by promising double wages, induced most of the
men there to go for the time being into the work of railroad
construction. Within two or three days the total force at Duncan's
command numbered somewhat more than two hundred men.
"We ought to have fifty or a hundred more," he said, "particularly as
the miners are new to this sort of work; but, as we can't get them, we
must do our best with the force we have."
After consultation with Temple, he divided the force into three shifts,
and kept the work going night and day, without cessation. For a time the
rapid progress made gave Duncan confidence in his ultimate success. In
that confidence Temple shared, but with a reservation.
"I'm afraid we're in for a freshet," he said. "The rivers are all
rising, and the rain is almost continuous now. All this region, except a
hill here and there, lies lower than the flood levels of the Ohio River
on one side, and the Mississippi on the other. If the rise continues, we
shall have both rivers on us within a few days."
"Is there any way in which to meet that difficulty?" asked Duncan
anxiously.
"Yes--possibly," Temple responded, slowly and hesitatingly. "We might
build a crib across the space still to be filled in, and make it serve
the purposes of a coffer dam in some degree. By doing that, we can keep
the work going, even if the overflow from the rivers comes upon us. But
the building of the crib will take time, and we've no time to waste, you
know."
"Yes, I know that. Still, if it becomes necessary, we must build it.
I'll tell you this evening what is to be done."
For convenience and quickness of communication, Duncan had strung a
telegraph wire from tree to tree through the woods to the point where
the work was in progress. He instantly telegraphed Hallam, saying:
Find out and telegraph flood prospect. How long before the rise in
rivers will drown us out here? Everything depends on early and
accurate information as to that.
The answer came back within half an hour. Hallam telegraphed:
Have already made telegraphic inquiries at all points on all the
rivers. Reports very discouraging. Probability is you'll be flooded
within three days. I'll be with you to-morrow.
The space to be cribbed, so that the work of filling might go on in
spite of floods, was comparatively small, but the task of cribbing it,
even in the rudest fashion, occupied nearly the whole working force
during three precious days and nights. Worse still, in order to hurry
it, Temple made the mistake of working the men overtime. As an
inducement, Hallam promised to increase the double wage per hour, which
the men were already receiving, to triple wages, on condition that they
should work in two, instead of three shifts. As the work was exhausting
in its nature, and must be done under a deluge of bone-chilling rain,
this overtasking of the men quickly showed itself in their loss of
energy and courage. Some of them threw up the employment and made their
way homeward. All of them were suffering and discouraged. But at the end
of the three days, the rude crib was so far finished that even should
the floods come, it would still be possible to continue the work of
filling in by running the dirt cars to the slowly advancing end of the
temporary track and dropping their contents into the crib.
Thus the work went slowly on. The men daily showed, more and more, the
effects of their overwork--for each was working for twelve hours of each
twenty-four now. They grew sullen and moody of mind, and slow of
movement and of response. Every day a few more of them gave up the task
and Duncan began seriously to fear that a wholesale quitting would occur
in spite of the enormous wages he was paying.
With his soldier experience, he knew the symptoms of demoralization from
overstrain, and he began now to recognize them in the conduct and
countenances of the men. His soldier life had taught him, also, how
large a part feeding plays in such a case as this. He, therefore,
minutely inspected the out-of-door mess kitchen, and found it in charge
of careless and incompetent negro women, who knew neither how to cook
nor how to make food attractive in appearance.
"The men eat a good deal," he said to Temple, "but they are not properly
nourished. I must remedy that. We simply _must_ win this struggle, Dick,
and we've only six days more. If we can keep the men at work for six
days and nights more, we'll either finish or finally fail."
It was Duncan's habit every evening to call up Barbara's house on the
telegraph and hold a little conversation with her over the wire. She was
thus kept minutely informed of how matters were going with him, and she
was well-nigh sleepless with anxiety lest he fail in this crowning
undertaking of his career.
Turning away from Temple, he went to the telegraphic instrument, opened
the circuit and called Barbara. He explained his new difficulty to her,
and the vital importance of providing better and more abundant food,
better cooked.
"The men have been living on mess pork and 'salt-horse' for weeks, and
both the meat and the half-baked dough served to them for bread are
enough to break the spirit even of veteran soldiers. Now, I want your
help in earnest. If we can keep the men at work for six days more, we
shall have a chance, at least, of success. If we can't, failure is
inevitable. I want you to buy a lot of the best fresh provisions you can
get in Cairo, and send them here early to-morrow morning, in charge of
somebody who knows how to hustle. Send one of my bank clerks if you
can't do better. Send some molasses, too, in kegs, not barrels--barrels
take too long to handle. Send eggs, butter, rice, macaroni, onions,
turnips, cheese, and above all, some really good coffee. The calcined
peas we've been using for coffee would discourage even Captain Hallam if
he dared drink the decoction.
"Then, if possible, I want you to send me one or two cooks who really
know what cooking means. Don't hesitate about wages. We'll pay any price
if you can only find two cooks who know the difference between broiling
beef and burning it. Till your cooks come, I'm going to take charge of
the cooking myself. I have at least such culinary skill as we old rebel
soldiers could acquire when we had next to nothing to cook."
And he did. Guilford Duncan, distinguished man of affairs, associate of
financial nabobs, bank president, and president of this railroad
company, sat hour after hour on a log, or squatted before an out-door
fire, doing his best to make palatable such food-stuffs as were to be
found in the camp.