Ridgway of Montana
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William MacLeod Raine >> Ridgway of Montana
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"Oh, if that's the way it strikes you," he agreed. "Fact is, I don't quite
like to leave you anyhow. We'll take Leigh's study. I don't think we shall
disturb you at all."
"I'm sure you won't--and before you go, you'll let us know what you have
decided to do."
"We shall not be through before morning. You'll be asleep by then," he made
answer.
"No, I couldn't sleep till I know all about it."
"Nor I," agreed Laska. "I want to know all about everything."
"My dear young lady, you are to take the sleeping-powders and get a good
rest," the doctor demurred. "All about everything is too large an order for
your good just now."
Virginia nodded in a businesslike way. "Yes, you're to go to sleep, Laska,
and when you waken I'll tell you all about it."
"That would be better," smiled Yesler, and Virginia thought it significant
that her friend made no further protest.
Gray streaks began to show in the sky before Yesler tapped on the door of
Virginia's room. She had discarded the rather elaborate evening gown he had
last seen her in, and was wearing some soft fabric which hung from the
shoulders in straight lines, and defined the figure while lending the
effect of a loose and flowing drapery.
"How is your patient?" he asked.
"She has dropped into a good sleep," the girl whispered. "I am sure we
don't need to worry about her at all."
"Nevertheless, it's a luxury I'm going to permit myself for a day or two,"
he smiled. "I don't have my life saved by a young lady very often."
"I'm sure you will enjoy worrying about her," she laughed.
He got back at her promptly. "There's somebody down-stairs worrying about
you. He wants to know if there is anything he can do for you, and suggests
inviting himself for breakfast in order to make sure."
"Mr. Ridgway?"
"How did you guess it first crack? Mr. Ridgway it is."
She considered a moment. "Yes, tell him to stay. Molly will be back in time
to make breakfast, and I want to talk to him. Now tell me what you did."
"We did Mr. Warner. At least I hope so," he chuckled.
"I'm so glad. And who is to be senator? Is it Waring?"
"No. It wouldn't have been possible to elect him even if we had wanted to."
"And you didn't want to," she flashed.
"No, we didn't," he admitted frankly. "We couldn't afford to have it
generally understood that this was merely a partisan fight on the
Consolidated, and that we were pulling Waring's chestnuts out of the fire
for him."
He did not add, though he might have, that Ridgway was tarred with the same
brush as the enemy in this matter.
"Then who is it to be?"
"That's a secret. I can't tell even you that. But we have agreed on a man.
Waring is to withdraw and throw his influence for him. The Democratic
minority will swing in line for him, and we'll do the rest. That's the
plan. It may not go through, however."
"I don't see who it can be that you all unite on. Of course, it isn't Mr.
Pelton?"
"I should hope not."
"Or Mr. Samuel Yesler?"
"You've used up all the guesses allowed you. If you want to know, why don't
you attend the joint session to-day? It ought to be highly interesting."
"I shall," she announced promptly. "And I'll bring Laska with me."
"She won't be able to come."
"I think she will. It's only a scratch."
"I don't like to think how much worse it might have been."
"Then don't think of it. Tell Waring I'll be down presently."
He went down-stairs again, and Miss Balfour returned to the room.
"Was that Mr. Yesler?" quietly asked a voice from the bed.
"Yes, dear. He has gone back to the hotel. He asked about you, of course."
"He is very kind."
"It was thoughtful, since you only saved his life," admitted the ironical
Miss Balfour.
"Wasn't it fortunate that we were up?"
"Very fortunate for him that you were."
Virginia crossed the room to the bed and kissed her friend with some subtle
significance too elusive for words. Laska appeared, however to appreciate
it. At least, she blushed.
CHAPTER 16. AN EXPLOSION IN THE TAURUS
The change of the relationship between Ridgway and his betrothed, brought
about by the advent of a third person into his life, showed itself in the
manner of their greeting. She had always been chary of lovers'
demonstrations, but until his return from Alpine he had been wont to exact
his privilege in spite of her reluctance. Now he was content with the hand
she offered him.
"You've had a strenuous night of it," he said, after a glance at the rather
wan face she offered the new day.
"Yes, we have--and for that matter, I suppose you have, too."
Man of iron that he was, he looked fresh as morning dew. With his usual
lack of self-consciousness, he had appropriated Leigh's private bath, and
was glowing from contact with ice-cold water and a crash towel.
"We've been making history," he agreed. "How's your friend?"
"She has no fever at all. It was only a scratch. She will be down to
breakfast in a minute."
"Good. She must be a thoroughbred to come running down into the bullets for
a stranger she has never seen."
"She is. You'll like Laska."
"I'm glad she saved Sam from being made a colander. I can't help liking
him, though he doesn't approve of me very much."
"I suppose not."
"He is friendly, too." Ridgway laughed as he recalled their battle over who
should be the nominee. "But his conscience rules him. It's a free and
liberal conscience, generally speaking--nothing Puritan about it, but a
distinctive product of the West. Yet, he would not have me for senator at
any price."
"Why?"
"Didn't think I was fit to represent the people; said if I went in, it
would be to use the office for my personal profit."
"Wasn't he right?"
"More or less. If I were elected, I would build up my machine, of course,
but I would see the people got a show, too."
She nodded agreement. "I don't think you would make a bad senator."
"I would be a live wire, anyhow. Sam had other objections to me. He thought
I had been using too much money in this campaign."
"And have you?" she asked, curious to see how he would defend himself.
"Yes. I had to if I were going to stand any chance. It wasn't from choice.
I didn't really want to be senator. I can't afford to give the time to it,
but I couldn't afford to let Harley name the man either. I was between the
devil and the deep sea."
"Then, really, Mr. Yesler came to your rescue."
"That's about it, though he didn't intend it that way."
"And who is to be the senator?"
He gave her a cynical smile. "Warner."
"But I thought--why, surely he--" The surprise of his cool announcement
took her breath away.
"No, he isn't the man our combination decided on, but the trouble is that
our combination is going to fall through. Sam's an optimist, but you'll see
I'm right. There are too many conflicting elements of us in one boat. We
can't lose three votes and win, and it's a safe bet we lose them. The
Consolidated must know by this time what we have been about all night.
They're busy now sapping at our weak links. Our only chance is to win on
the first vote, and I am very sure we won't be able to do it."
"0h, I hope you are not right." A young woman was standing in the doorway,
her arm in a sling. She had come in time to hear his prophesy, and in the
disappointment of it had forgotten that he was a stranger.
Virginia remedied this, and they went in to breakfast. Laska was full of
interest, and poured out eager questions at Ridgway. It was not for several
minutes that Virginia recollected to ask again who was the man they had
decided upon.
Her betrothed found some inner source of pleasure that brought out a
sardonic smile. "He's a slap in the face at both Harley and me."
"I can't think who--is he honest?"
"As the day."
"And capable?"
"Oh, yes. He's competent enough."
"Presentable?"
"Yes. He'll do the State credit, or rather he would if he were going to be
elected."
"Then I give it up."
He was leaning forward to tell, when the sharp buzz of the electric
door-bell, continued and sustained, diverted the attention of all of them.
Ridgway put down his napkin. "Probably some one to see me."
He had risen to his feet when the maid opened the door of the dining-room.
"A gentleman to see Mr. Ridgway. He says it is very important."
From the dining-room they could hear the murmur of quick voices, and soon
Ridgway returned. He was a transformed man. His eyes were hard as diamonds,
and there was the bulldog look of the fighter about his mouth and chin.
"What is it, Waring?" cried Virginia.
"Trouble in the mines. An hour ago Harley's men rushed the Taurus and the
New York, and drove my men out. One of my shift-foremen and two of his
drillers were killed by an explosion set off by Mike Donleavy, a foreman in
the Copper King."
"Did they mean to kill them?" asked the girl whitely.
"I suppose not. But they took the chance. It's murder just the same--by
Jove, it's a club with which to beat the legislators into line."
He stopped, his brain busy solving the problem as to how he might best turn
this development to his own advantage. Part of his equipment was his
ability to decide swiftly and surely issues as they came to him. Now he
strode to the telephone and began massing his forces.
"Main 234--Yes--Yes--This the Sun?--
Give me Brayton--Hello, Brayton. Get out a special edition at once charging
Harley with murder. Run the word as a red headline clear across the page.
Show that Vance Edwards and the other boys were killed while on duty by an
attack ordered by Harley. Point out that this is the logical result of his
course. Don't mince words. Give it him right from the shoulder. Rush it,
and be sure a copy of the paper is on the desk of every legislator before
the session opens this morning. Have a reliable man there to see that every
man gets one. Scatter the paper broadcast among the miners, too. This is
important."
He hung up the receiver, took it down again, and called up Eaton.
"Hello! This you, Steve? Send for Trelawney and Straus right away. Get them
to call a mass meeting of the unions for ten o'clock at the courthouse
square. Have dodgers printed and distributed announcing it. Shut down all
our mines so that the men can come. I want Straus and Trelawney and two or
three of the other prominent labor leaders to denounce Harley and lay the
responsibility for this thing right at his door. I'll be up there and
outline what they had better say."
He turned briskly round to the young women, his eyes shining with a hard
bright light. "I'm sorry, but I have got to cut out breakfast this morning.
Business is piling up on me too fast. If you'll excuse me, I'll go now."
"What are you going to do?" asked Virginia.
"I haven't time to tell you now. Just watch my smoke," he laughed without
mirth.
No sooner did the news of the tragedy reach Simon Harley than he knew the
mistake of his subordinates would be a costly one. The foreman, Donleavy,
who had directed the attack on the Taurus, had to be brought from the
shafthouse under the protection of a score of Pinkerton detectives to
safeguard him from the swift vengeance of the miners, who needed but a word
to fling themselves against the cordon of police. Harley himself kept his
apartments, the hotel being heavily patrolled by guards on the lookout for
suspicious characters. The current of public opinion, never in his favor,
now ran swiftly against him, and threats were made openly by the infuriated
miners to kill him on sight.
The members of the unions came to the massmeeting reading the story of the
tragedy as the Sun colored the affair. They stayed sullenly to listen to
red-hot speeches against the leader of the trust, and gradually the wrath
which was simmering in them began to boil. Ridgway, always with a keen
sense of the psychological moment, descended the court-house steps just as
this fury was at its height. There were instant cries for a speech from him
so persistent that he yielded, though apparently with reluctance. His fine
presence and strong deep voice soon gave him the ears of all that dense
throng. He was far out of the ordinary as a public speaker, and within a
few minutes he had his audience with him. He deprecated any violence; spoke
strongly for letting the law take its course; and dropped a suggestion that
they send a committee to the State-house to urge that Harley's candidate be
defeated for the senatorship.
Like wild-fire this hint spread. Here was something tangible they could do
that was still within the law. Harley had set his mind on electing Warner.
They would go up there in a body and defeat his plans. Marshals and leaders
of companies were appointed. They fell into ranks by fours, nearly ten
thousand of them all told. The big clock in the court-house was striking
twelve when they began their march to the Statehouse.
CHAPTER 17. THE ELECTION
At the very moment that the tramp of twenty thousand feet turned toward the
State-house, the report of the bribery investigating committee was being
read to the legislature met in joint session. The committee reported that
it had examined seven witnesses, Yesler, Roper, Landor, James, Reedy,
Kellor, and Ward, and that each of then had testified that former
Congressman Pelton or others had approached him on behalf of Warner; that
an agreement had been made by which the eight votes being cast for Bascom
would be give to Warner in consideration of $300,000 in cash, to be held in
escrow by Yesler, and that the committee now had the said package, supposed
to contain the bills for that amount, in its possession, and was prepared
to turn it over to the legislature for examination.
Except for the clerk's voice, as he read the report, a dead silence lay
tensely over the crowded hall. Men dared not look at their neighbors,
scarce dared breathe, for the terror that hung heavy on their hearts.
Scores were there who expected their guilt to be blazoned forth for all the
world to read. They waited whitely as the monotonous voice of the clerk
went from paragraph to paragraph, and when at last he sat down, having
named only the bribers and not the receivers of bribes, a long deep sigh of
relief swept the house. Fear still racked them, but for the moment they
were safe. Furtively their glances began to go from one to another of their
neighbors and ask for how long safety would endure.
One could have heard the rustle of a leaf as the chairman of the committee
stepped forward and laid on the desk of the presiding officer the
incriminating parcel. It seemed an age while the chief clerk opened it,
counted the bills, and announced that one hundred thousand dollars was the
sum contained within.
Stephen Eaton then rose in his seat and presented quietly his resolution,
that since the evidence submitted was sufficient to convict of bribery, the
judge of the district court of the County of Mesa be requested to call a
special session of the grand jury to investigate the report. It was not
until Sam Yesler rose to speak upon that report that the pent-up storm
broke loose.
He stood there in the careless garb of the cattleman, a strong clean-cut
figure as one would see in a day's ride, facing with unflinching steel-blue
eyes the tempest of human passion he had evoked. The babel of voices rose
and fell and rose again before he could find a chance to make himself
heard. In the gallery two quietly dressed young, women, one of them with
her arm in a sling, leaned forward breathlessly and waited Laska's eyes
glowed with deep fire. She was living her hour of hours, and the man who
stood with such quiet courage the focus of that roar of rage was the hero
of it.
"You call me Judas, and I ask you what Christ I have betrayed. You call me
traitor, but traitor to what? Like you, I am under oath to receive no
compensation for my services here other than that allowed by law. To that
oath I have been true. Have you?
"For many weeks we have been living in a carnival of bribery, in a
debauched hysteria of money-madness. The souls of men have been sifted as
by fire. We have all been part and parcel of a man-hunt, an eager, furious,
persistent hunt that has relaxed neither night nor day. The lure of gold
has been before us every waking hour, and has pursued us into our dreams.
The temptation has been ever-present. To some it has been irresistible, to
some maddening, to others, thank God! it has but proved their strength. Our
hopes, our fears, our loves, our hates: these seducers of honor have
pandered to them all. Our debts and our business, our families and our
friendships, have all been used to hound us. To-day I put the stigma for
this shame where it belongs--upon Simon Harley, head of the Consolidated
and a score of other trusts, and upon Waring Ridgway, head of the Mesa
Ore-producing Company. These are the debauchers of our commonwealth's fair
name, and you, alas! the traffickers who hope to live upon its virtue. I
call upon you to-day to pass this resolution and to elect a man to the
United States senate who shall owe no allegiance to any power except the
people, or to receive forever the brand of public condemnation. Are you
free men? Or do you wear the collar of the Consolidated, the yoke of Waring
Ridgway? The vote which you will cast to-day is an answer that shall go
flying to the farthest corner of your world, an answer you can never hope
to change so long as you live."
He sat down in a dead silence. Again men drew counsel from their fears. The
resolution passed unanimously, for none dared vote against it lest he brand
himself as bought and sold.
It was in this moment, while the hearts of the guilty were like water, that
there came from the lawn outside the roar of a multitude of voices. Swiftly
the word passed that ten thousand miner had come to see that Warner was not
elected. That they were in a dangerous frame of mind, all knew. It was a
passionate undisciplined mob and to thwart them would have been to invite a
riot.
Under these circumstances the joint assembly proceeded to ballot for a
senator. The first name called was that of Adams. He was an old cattleman
and a Democrat.
"Before voting, I want to resign my plate a few moments to Mr. Landor, of
Kit Carson County," he said.
Landor was recognized, a big broad-shouldered plainsman with a leathery
face as honest as the sun. He was known and liked by everybody, even by
those opposed to him.
"I'm going to make a speech," he announced with the broad smile that showed
a flash of white teeth. "I reckon it'll be the first I ever made here, and
I promise it will be the last, boys. But I won't keep you long, either. You
all know how things have been going; how men have been moving in and out
and buying men here like as if they were cattle on the hoof. You've seen
it, and I've seen it. But we didn't have the nerve to say it should stop.
One man did. He's the biggest man in this big State to-day, and it ain't
been five minutes since I heard you hollar your lungs out cursing him. You
know who I mean--Sam Yesler."
He waited till the renewed storm of cheers and hisses had died away.
"It don't do him any harm for you to hollar at him, boys--not a mite. I
want to say to you that he's a man. He saw our old friends falling by the
wayside and some of you poor weaklings selling yourselves for dollars.
Because he is an honest, game man, he set out to straighten things up. I
want to tell you that my hat's off to Sam Yesler.
"But that ain't what I rose for. I'm going to name for the United States
senate a clean man, one who doesn't wear either the Harley or the Ridgway
brand. He's as straight as a string, not a crooked hair in his head, and
every manjack of you knows it. I'm going to name a man"--he stopped an
instant to smile genially around upon the circle of uplifted faces--"who
isn't any friend of either one faction or another, a man who has just had
independence enough to quit a big job because it wasn't on the square. That
man's name is Lyndon Hobart. If you want to do yourselves proud, gentlemen,
you'll certainly elect him."
If it was a sensation he had wanted to create, he had it. The Warner forces
were taken with dumb surprise. But many of them were already swiftly
thinking it would be the best way out of a bad business. He would be
conservative, as fair to the Consolidated as to the enemy. More, just now
his election would appeal to the angry mob howling outside the building,
for they could ask nothing more than the election of the man who had
resigned rather than order the attack on the Taurus, which had resulted in
the death of some of their number.
Hoyle, of the Democrats, seconded the nomination, as also did Eaton, in a
speech wherein he defended the course of Ridgway and withdrew his name.
Within a few minutes of the time that Eaton sat down, the roll had been
called and Hobart elected by a vote of seventy-three to twenty-four, the
others refusing to cast a ballot.
The two young women, sitting together in the front row of the gallery, were
glowing with triumphant happiness. Virginia was still clapping her hands
when a voice behind her suggested that the circumstances did not warrant
her being so happy over the result. She turned, to see Waring Ridgway
smiling down at her.
"But I can't help being pleased. Wasn't Mr. Yesler magnificent?"
"Sam was all right, though he might have eased up a bit when he pitched
into me."
"He had to do that to be fair. Everybody knows you and he are friends. I
think it was fine of him not to let that make any difference in his telling
the truth."
"Oh, I knew it would please you," her betrothed laughed. "What do you say
to going out to lunch with me? I'll get Sam, too, if I can."
The young women consulted eyes and agreed very readily. Both of them
enjoyed being so near to the heart of things.
"If Mr. Yesler will lunch with the debaucher of the commonwealth, we shall
be very happy to join the party," said Virginia demurely.
Ridgway led them down to the floor of the House. Through the dense throng
they made their way slowly toward him, Ridgway clearing a path with his
broad shoulders.
Suddenly they heard him call sharply, "Look out, Sam."
The explosion of a revolver followed sharply his words. Ridgway dived
through the press, tossing men to right and left of him as a steamyacht
does the waves. Through the open lane he left in his wake, the young women
caught the meaning of the turmoil: the crumpled figure was Yesler swaying
into the arms of his friend, Roper, the furious drink-flushed face of
Pelton and the menace of the weapon poised for a second shot, the swift
impact of Waring's body, and the blow which sent the next bullet crashing
into the chandelier overhead. All this they glimpsed momentarily before the
press closed in on the tragic scene and cut off their view.
CHAPTER 18. FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS
While Harley had been in no way responsible for Pelton's murderous attack
upon Yesler, public opinion held him to account. The Pinkertons who had, up
till this time, been employed at the mines, were now moved to the hotel to
be ready for an emergency. A special train was held in readiness to take
the New Yorker out of the State in the event that the stockman should die.
Meanwhile, the harassing attacks of Ridgway continued. Through another
judge than Purcell, the absurd injunction against working the Diamond King,
the Mary K, and the Marcus Daly had been dissolved, but even this advantage
had been neutralized by the necessity of giving back to the enemy the
Taurus and the New York, of which he had just possessed himself. All his
life he had kept a wheather-eye upon the impulsive and fickle public. There
were times when its feeling could be abused with impunity, and other times
when this must be respected. Reluctantly, Harley gave the word for the
withdrawal of his men from the territory gained. Ridgway pushed his
advantage home and secured an injunction, not only against the working, but
against the inspection of the Copper King and the Jim Hill. The result of
the Consolidated move had been in effect to turn over, temporarily, its two
rich mines to be looted by the pirate, and to make him very much stronger
than before with his allies, the unions. By his own imprudence, Harley had
made a bad situation worse, and delivered himself, with his hands tied,
into the power of the enemy.
In the days of turmoil that followed, Waring Ridgway's telling blows scored
once and again. The morning after the explosion, he started a relief fund
in his paper, the Sun, for the families of the dead miners, contributing
two thousand dollars himself. He also insisted that the Consolidated pay
damages to the bereaved families to the extent of twenty thousand dollars
for each man killed. The town rang with his praises. Mesa had always been
proud of his success; had liked the democratic spirit of him that led him
to mix on apparently equal terms with his working men, and had backed him
in his opposition to the trust because his plucky and unscrupulous fight
had been, in a measure, its fight. But now it idolized him. He was the
buffer between it and the trust, fighting the battles of labor against the
great octopus of Broadway, and beating it to a standstill. He was the Moses
destined to lead the working man out of the Egypt of his discontent. Had he
not maintained the standard of wages and forced the Consolidated to do the
same? Had he not declared an eight-hour day, and was not the trust almost
ready to do this also, forced by the impetus his example had given the
unions? So Ridgway's agents whispered, and the union leaders, whom he had
bought, took up the burden of their tale and preached it both in private
talk and in their speeches.
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