CHAPTER XVII
An experience extending over a very active business career of thirtyyears had convinced Colonel Seth Pennington of the futility of wrackinghis brains in vain speculation over mysteries. In his day he hadbeen interested in some small public-service corporations, which istantamount to saying that he knew peanut politics and had learned thatthe very best way to fight the devil is with fire. Frequently he hadfound it of great interest and profit to him to know exactly how certainmen spent their time and his money, and since he was a very busy manhimself, naturally he had to delegate somebody else, to procure thisinformation for him. When, therefore, the Northern California OregonRailroad commenced to encroach on the Colonel's time-appropriation forsleep, he realized that there was but one way in which to conserve hisrest and that was by engaging to fathom the mystery for him a specialistin the unravelling of mysteries. In times gone by, the Colonel hadfound a certain national detective-agency an extremely efficient aid towell-known commercial agencies, and to these tried and true subordinateshe turned now for explicit and satisfying information anent the NorthernCalifornia Outrage!
The information forthcoming from Dun's and Bradstreet's was vague andunsatisfying. Neither of these two commercial agencies could ascertainanything of interest regarding the finances of the N. C. O. For thepresent the corporation had no office, its destinies in San Franciscobeing guarded by a well-known attorney who had declined to make anystatement regarding the company but promised one at an early date. Theboard of directors consisted of this attorney, his two assistants, hisstenographer, and Mr. Buchanan Ogilvy. The company had been incorporatedfor five million dollars, divided into five million shares of par valueof one dollar each, and five shares had been subscribed! Both agenciesforwarded copies of the articles of incorporation, but since the Colonelhad already read this document in the Sequoia Sentinel, he was notfurther interested.
"It looks fishy to me," the Colonel commented to his manager, "and I'mmore than ever convinced it's a scheme of that Trinidad Redwood TimberCompany to start a timber-boom and unload. And that is something theLaguna Grande Lumber Company does not view with favour, for the reasonthat one of these bright days those Trinidad people will come to theirsenses and sell cheap to us. A slight extension of our logging-roadwill make that Trinidad timber accessible; hence we are the only logicalcustomers and should control the situation. However, to be sure is tobe satisfied. Telephone the San Francisco office to have thedetective-agency that handled the longshoremen's strike job for ussend a couple of their best operatives up on the next steamer, withinstructions to report to me on arrival."
When the operatives reported, the Colonel's orders were brief andexplicit. "I want to know all about a man named Buchanan Ogilvy, who isup north somewhere procuring rights of way for the Northern CaliforniaOregon Railroad. Find him. Get up with him in the morning and put him tobed at night. Report to me daily."
Buck was readily located in the country north of Arcata, and one of theoperatives actually procured a job as chainman with his surveying gang,while the other kept Ogilvy and his secretary under surveillance. Theirreports, however, yielded the Colonel nothing until the first day ofBuck's return to Sequoia, when the following written report caused theColonel to sit up and take notice. It was headed: "Report of OperativeNo. 41," and it read:
Ogilvy in his room until 12 o'clock noon. At 12:05 entered dining room,leaving at 1 P. M. and proceeding direct to office of Cardigan RedwoodLumber Company. Operative took post behind a lumber-pile at side ofoffice so as to command view of interior of office. From manner ofgreeting accorded Ogilvy by Bryce Cardigan, operative is of opinion theyhad not met before. Ogilvy remained in Cardigan's private office halfan hour, spent another half-hour conversing with young lady in generaloffice. Young lady a brunette. O. then returned to Hotel Sequoia,where he wrote several letters in writing-room. At 3 p. M. called totelephone. At 3:02 p. M. left hurriedly for Cardigan Redwood LumberCompany's office. Entered private office without waiting to beannounced. Emerged at 3:12, walking slowly and in deep thought. At B andCedar streets stopped suddenly, snapped his fingers and started walkingrapidly, in the manner of one who has arrived at a decision. At3:24 entered the telephone building and placed a long-distance call.Operative standing at counter close by heard him place call with thegirl on duty. He asked for the Cardigan Redwood Lumber Company in SanFrancisco.
Concluded his conversation at 3:32 and proceeded to the city hall,entering the Mayor's office at 3:43 and emerging at 4:10. He thenreturned to the Hotel Sequoia and sat in the lobby until handed atelegram at 4:40; whereupon he entered the telephone-booth and talkedto someone, emerging at 4:43 to go to his room. He returned at 4:46 andhurried to the law-office of Henry Poundstone, Junior, in the CardiganBlock. He was with Poundstone until 4:59, when he returned leisurely tothe Hotel Sequoia, carrying a small leather grip. He also had this gripwhen he entered Poundstone's office.
Arrived at the hotel at 5:03 and went to his room. At 6:45 he entereda public automobile in front of the hotel and was driven to No. 846 ElmStreet. The brunette young lady who works m the Cardigan Redwood LumberCompany's office emerged presently and entered the car, which thenproceeded to No. 38 Redwood Boulevard, where the brunette young ladyalighted and entered the house. She returned at 7 sharp, accompanied bya young lady whom she introduced to O. All three were then driven to theCanyon restaurant at 432 Third Street and escorted to a reserved tablein one of the screened-off semi-private rooms along the right side ofthe dining room. At 7:15 Bryce Cardigan entered the restaurant and wasescorted by the waiter to the table occupied by O. and party.
At 9:30 entire party left restaurant and entered a Napier car driven bya half-breed Indian whom the second young lady hailed as George. O. andthe brunette young lady were dropped at 846 Elm Street while Cardiganand the other young lady proceeded directly to No. 38 Redwood Boulevard.After aiding the lady to alight, Cardigan talked with her a few minutesat the gate, then bade her good-night and after waiting until she haddisappeared inside the front door, returned to the automobile and wasdriven to his home, while the chauffeur George ran the car into theCardigan garage.
Upon returning to Hotel Sequoia, found O. in hotel bar. Saw him to bedat 10 sharp.
Needless to relate, this report had a most amazing effect upon ColonelPennington, and when at length he could recover his mental equilibrium,he set about quite calmly to analyze the report, word by word andsentence by sentence, with the result that he promptly arrived at thefollowing conclusion:
(1) His niece Shirley Sumner was not to be trusted in so far as youngBryce Cardigan was concerned. Despite her assumption of hostility towardthe fellow since that memorable day in Pennington's woods, the Colonelwas now fully convinced that she had made her peace with him and hadbeen the recipient of his secret attentions right along. The Colonel wason the verge of calling his niece up to demand an explanation, but onsecond thought decided to wait a few days and see what his gum-shoe menmight have to report further.
(2) The N. C. O. was still a mystery, but a mystery in which BryceCardigan was interested. Moreover, he was anxious to aid the N. C. O. inevery way possible. However, the Colonel could understand this. Cardiganwould aid anything that might possibly tend to lift the Cardigan lumberinterests out from under the iron heel of Colonel Pennington and hewas just young enough and unsophisticated enough to be fooled by thatTrinidad Redwood Timber gang.
(3) The N. C. O. was going to make a mighty bluff, even to the extent ofapplying for a franchise to run over the city streets of Sequoia. HenceOgilvy's visit to Mayor Poundstone--doubtless on the advice of BryceCardigan. Hence, also, his visit to young Henry Poundstone, whom he haddoubtless engaged as his legal representative in order to ingratiatehimself with the young man's father. Coarse work!
(4) Ogilvy had carried a small leather bag to and from HenryPoundstone's office. That bag was readily explained. It had contained abribe in gold coin and young Henry had been selected as thego-between. That meant that Mayor Poundstone had agreed to
deliver thefranchise--for a consideration; and like the smooth scoundrel he was, hewanted his bit in gold coin, which could not be marked without the marksbeing discovered! Ogilvy had called first on the Mayor to arrangethe details; then he had called on the Mayor's son to complete thetransaction.
(5) If a franchise had been arranged for and the bribe alreadydelivered, that meant the prompt and unadvertised commencement ofoperations. Where (the Colonel asked himself) would these operationsbegin? Why, close to the waterfront, where materials could be landedfrom the steamer that brought them to Sequoia. At whose mill-dock wouldthose materials be discharged? Why, Cardigan's dock, of course. Ogilvyhad probably called first on Cardigan to arrange that detail. Yes,the N. C. O. was going to carry its monumental bluff to the point ofbuilding a mile of track through town. ... No--no, they wouldn't spendthat much money on a bluff; they wouldn't bribe Poundstone unless theroad was meant. And was it a common carrier, after all? Had Cardigan insome mysterious manner managed to borrow enough money to parallel theLaguna Grande Lumber Company's logging-road, and was he disguising it asa common carrier?
The trail was growing hot; the Colonel mopped his brow and concentratedfurther. If the N. C. O. was really going to start operations, in orderto move its material from the Cardigan dock to the scene of operationsit would have to cut his (the Colonel's) tracks somewhere on WaterStreet. Damnation! That was it. They were trying to slip one over onhim. They were planning to get a jump-crossing in before he should awaketo the situation; they were planning, too, to have the city council slipthrough the franchise when nobody was looking, and once the crossingshould be in, they could laugh at Colonel Pennington!
"The scoundrels!" he murmured. "I'm on to them! Cardigan is playing thegame with them. That's why he bought those rails from the old LaurelCreek spur! Oh, the sly young fox--quoting that portion of our haulingcontract which stipulates that all spurs and extensions of my road, onceit enters Cardigan's lands, must be made at Cardigan's expense! And allto fool me into thinking he wanted those rails for an extension of hislogging-system. Oh, what a blithering idiot I have been! However, it'snot too late yet. Poundstone is coming over to dinner Thursday night,and I'll wring the swine dry before he leaves the house. And as forthose rails Cardigan managed to hornswoggle me out of--"
He seized the telephone and fairly shouted to his exchange operator toget his woods-foreman Jules Rondeau on the line.
"That you, Rondeau?" he shouted when the big French Canadian responded."Pennington talking. What has young Cardigan done about those rails Isold him from the abandoned spur up Laurel Creek?"
"He have two flat-cars upon ze spur now. Dose woods-gang of hees shetear up dose rails from ze head of ze spur and load in ze flat-cars."
"The ears haven't left the Laurel Creek spur, then?"
"No, she don't leave yet."
"See to it, Rondeau, that they do not leave until I give the word.Understand? Cardigan's woods-boss will call you up and ask you to senda switch-engine tip to snake them out late this afternoon or to-morrowafternoon. Tell him the switch-engine is in the shop for repairs oris busy at other work--anything that will stall him off and delaydelivery."
"Suppose Bryce Cardigan, he comes around and say 'Why?'" Rondeau queriedcautiously.
"Kill him," the Colonel retorted coolly. "It strikes me you and theBlack Minorca are rather slow playing even with young Cardigan."
Rondeau grunted. "I theenk mebbe so you kill heem yourself, boss," hereplied enigmatically, and hung up.