CHAPTER XVIII
_Winnowed Chaff_
Hartwell had a rule of conduct. It was a Procrustean bed which rarelyfitted its subject. Unlike the originator of the famous couch, Hartwellnever troubled himself to stretch the one nor to trim the other. If hissubjects did not fit, they were cast aside. This was decision. Thegreater the number of the too longs or the too shorts the greater hiscomplacence in the contemplation of his labours. There was one otherweakness that was strongly rooted within him. If perchance one worthlessstick fitted his arbitrary conditions it was from then on advanced tothe rank of deity.
Hartwell was strongly prejudiced against Firmstone, but was whollywithout malice. He suspected that Firmstone was at leastself-interested, if not self-seeking; therefore he assumed him to beunscrupulous. Firmstone's words and actions were either counted not atall, or balanced against him.
In approaching others, if words were spoken in his favour, they werediscounted or discarded altogether. Only the facts that made against himwere treasured, all but enshrined. Even in his cynical beliefs Hartwellwas not consistent. He failed utterly to take into account that it mightsuit the purpose of his advisers to break down the subject of hisinquiry.
For these reasons the interview with Pierre, even with its mortifyingtermination, left a firm conviction in his mind that Firmstone wasdishonest, practically a would-be thief, and this on the sole word of aprofessional gambler, a rumshop proprietor, a man with no heritage, notraditions, and no associations to hold him from the extremities ofcrime.
Not one of the men whom Hartwell had interviewed, not even Pierrehimself, would for an instant have considered as probable what Hartwellwas holding as an obvious truth. This, however, did not preventHartwell's actions from hastening to the point of precipitation the verycrisis he was blindly trying to avert. He had not discredited Firmstoneamong the men, he had only nullified his power to manage them. Hartwellhad succeeded in completing the operation of informing himselfgenerally. Having reached this point, he felt that the only thingremaining to be done was to align his information, crush Firmstonebeneath the weight of his accumulated evidence, and from his dismemberedfragments build up a superintendent who would henceforth walk and act inthe fear of demonstrated omniscient justice. He even grew warmlybenevolent in the contemplation of the gratefully reconstructed man whowas to be fashioned after his own image.
Firmstone coincided with one of Hartwell's conclusions, but from awholly different standpoint. Affairs had reached a state that no longerwas endurable. Among the men there was no doubt whatever but that it wasa question of time only when Firmstone, to put it in the graphic phraseof the mine, "would be shot in the ear with a time check." Firmstone hadno benevolent designs as to the reconstruction of Hartwell, but he haddecided ones as to the reconstruction of the company's affairs. Themeeting thus mutually decided upon as necessary was soon brought about.
Firmstone came into the office from a visit to the mine. It had beenneither a pleasant nor a profitable one. The contemptuous disregard ofhis orders, the coarse insolence of the men, and especially of theforemen and shift bosses, organised into the union by Morrison, hadstung Firmstone to the quick. To combat the disorders under presentconditions would only expose him to insult, without any compensationwhatever. Paying no attention to words or actions, he beat a dignified,unprotesting retreat. He would, if possible, bring Hartwell to hissenses; if not, he would insist upon presenting his case to the company.If they failed to support him he would break his contract. He dislikedthe latter alternative, for it meant the discrediting of himself or themanager. He felt that it would be a fight to the death. He foundHartwell in the office.
"Well," Hartwell looked up abruptly; "how are things going?"
"Hot foot to the devil."
"Your recognition of the fact does you credit, even if the perception isa little tardy. I think you will further recognise the fact that I takea hand none too soon." The mask on Hartwell's face grew denser.
"I recognise the fact very clearly that, until you came, the fork of thetrail was before me. Now it is behind and--we are on the wrong split."
"Precisely. I have come to that conclusion myself. In order to actwisely, I assume that it will be best to get a clear idea of conditions,and then we can select a remedy for those that are making against us. Doyou agree?"
"I withhold assent until I know just what I am expected to assent to."
Hartwell looked annoyed. "Shall I go on?" he asked, impatiently."Perhaps your caution will allow that."
Firmstone nodded. He did not care to trust himself to words.
"Before we made our contract with you to assume charge of our propertiesout here I told you very plainly the difficulties under which we hadhitherto laboured, and that I trusted that you would find means toremedy them. After six months' trial, in which we have allowed you aperfectly free hand, can you conscientiously say that you have betteredour prospects?"
Hartwell paused; but Firmstone kept silence.
"Have you nothing to say to this?" Hartwell finally burst out.
"At present, no." Firmstone spoke with decision.
"When will you have?" Hartwell asked.
"When you are through with your side."
Hartwell felt annoyed at what he considered Firmstone's obstinacy."Well," he said; "then I shall have to go my own gait. You can'tcomplain if it doesn't suit you. In your reports to the company you havecomplained of the complete disorganisation which you found here. Thatthis disorganisation resulted in inefficiency of labour, that the minewas run down, the mill a wreck, and, worst of all, that there wasstealing going on which prevented the richest ore reaching the mill, andthat even the products of the mill were stolen. You laid the stealing tothe door of the Blue Goose. You stated for fact things which youacknowledged you could not prove. That the proprietor of the Blue Goosewas striving to stir up revolt among the men, to organise them into aunion in order that through this organised union the Blue Goose mightpractically control the mine and rob the company right and left. Youpointed out that in your opinion many of the men, even in theorganisation, were honest; that it was only a scheme on the part ofMorrison and Pierre to dupe the men, to blind their eyes so that,believing themselves imposed on and robbed by the company, they wouldinnocently furnish the opportunity for the Blue Goose to carry on itssystem of plundering."
Firmstone's steady gaze never flinched, as Hartwell swept on with hisarraignment.
"In all your reports, you have without exception laid the blame uponyour predecessors, upon others outside the company. Never in a singleinstance have you expressed a doubt as to your own conduct of affairs.The assumed robbery of the stage I will pass by. Other points I shalldwell upon. You trust no one. You have demonstrated that to the men. Yougive orders at the mine, and instead of trusting your foremen to seethat they are carried out you almost daily insist upon inspecting theirwork and interfering with it. The same thing I find to be true at themill. Day and night you pounce in upon them. Now let me ask you this. Ifyou understand men, if you know your business thoroughly, ought you notto judge whether the men are rendering an equivalent for their pay,without subjecting them to the humiliation of constant espionage?" Helooked fixedly at Firmstone, as he ended his arraignment.
Firmstone waited, if perchance Hartwell had not finished.
"Is your case all in?" he finally asked.
"For the present, yes." Hartwell snapped his jaws together decidedly.
"Then I'll start."
"Wait a moment, right there," Hartwell interrupted.
"No. I will not wait. I am going right on. You've been informingyourself generally. Now I'm going to inform you particularly. In thefirst place, how did you find out that I had been subjecting the men tothis humiliating espionage, as you call it?" Firmstone waited for areply.
"I don't know that I am under obligations to answer that question,"Hartwell replied, stiffly.
"Then I'll answer it for you. You've been to my foremen, my shiftbosses, my workmen; you've been, ab
ove all other places, to the BlueGoose. You've been to anyone and everyone whose interest it is to weakenmy authority and to render me powerless to combat the very evils ofwhich you complain."
Hartwell started to interrupt; but Firmstone waved him to silence.
"This is a vital point. One thing more: instead of acquiring informationas to the conditions that confront me and about my method of handlingthem, you go to my enemies, get their opinions and, what is worse, actupon them as your own."
"Wait a minute right there." Hartwell spoke imperiously. "You speak of'my foremen' and 'my shift bosses.' They are not your men; they areours. We pay them, and we are going to see to it that we get anequivalent return, in any way we think advisable." Hartwell ignoredFirmstone's last words.
"That may be your position. If it is it is not a wise one, and, what ismore, it is not tenable. You put me out here to manage your business,and you hold me responsible for results. I ask from you the sameconsideration I give to my foremen. I do not hire a single man at themine or mill; my foremen attend to that. I give my orders direct to myforemen, and hold them strictly responsible. The men are responsible tomy foremen, my foremen are responsible to me, and I in turn am whollyresponsible to you. If in one single point you interfere with myorganisation I not only decline to assume any responsibility whatever,but, farther, I shall tender my resignation at once."
Hartwell listened impatiently, but nevertheless Firmstone's words werenot without effect. They appealed to his judgment as being justified;but to accept them and act upon them meant a repudiation of his owncourse. For this he was not ready. In addition to his vanity, Hartwellhad an abiding faith in his own shrewdness. He was casting about in hismind for a plausible delay which would afford him time to retreat fromhis position without a confession of defeat. He could find none.Firmstone had presented a clean-cut ultimatum. He was in an unpleasantpredicament. Some one would have to be sacrificed. He was whollydetermined that it should not be himself. Perhaps after all it would bebetter to arrange as best he might with Firmstone, rather than have itgo farther.
"It seems to me, Firmstone, as if you were going altogether too fast.There's no use jumping. Why not talk this over sensibly?"
"There is only one thing to be considered. If you are going to managethis place I am going to put it beyond your power even to make me appearresponsible."
"You forget your contract with us," Hartwell interposed.
"I do not forget it. If you discharge me, or force me to resign, I stilldemand a hearing."
Hartwell was disturbed, and his manner showed it. Firmstone presentedtwo alternatives. Forcing a choice of either of them would bringunpleasant consequences upon himself. Was it necessary to force thechoice?
"Suppose I do neither?" he asked.
"That will not avert the consequences of what you have already done."
"Are you determined to resign?" Hartwell asked, uneasily.
"That is not what I meant."
"What did you mean, then?"
"This. Before you came out, I had things well in hand. In another monthI would have had control of the men, and the property would have beenpaying a good dividend. As it is now----" Firmstone waved his hand, asif to dismiss a useless subject.
"Well, what now?" Hartwell asked, after a pause.
"It has to be done all over again, only under greater difficulties, theoutcome of which I cannot foresee."
"To what difficulties do you refer?" Firmstone's manner disturbedHartwell.
"The men were getting settled. Now you have played into the hands of twoof the most unscrupulous rascals in Colorado. Between you, you've gotthe men stirred up to a point where a strike is inevitable." For a time,Hartwell was apparently crushed by Firmstone's unanswerable logic, aswell as by his portentous forecasts. He could not but confess to himselfthat his course of action looked very different under Firmstone'sanalysis than from his own standpoint alone. He drummed his fingerslistlessly on the desk before him. He was all but convinced that hemight have been wrong in his judgment of Firmstone, after all. ThenPierre's suggestions came to him like a flash.
"You are aware, of course, that I shall have to make a full report ofthe accident to the stage to our directors?"
"I made a report of all the facts in the case, at the time. Of course,if you have discovered other facts, they will have to be given inaddition."
Hartwell continued, paying no attention to Firmstone.
"That in the report which I shall make, I may feel compelled to arrangemy data in such a manner that they will point to a conclusion somewhatat variance with yours?"
"In which case," interrupted Firmstone; "I shall claim the right toanother and counter statement."
Hartwell looked even more intently at Firmstone.
"In your report you stated positively that there were three thousand,one hundred and twenty-five ounces of bullion in your shipment; thatthis amount was lost in the wreck of the stage."
"Exactly."
Hartwell leaned forward, his eyes still fixed on Firmstone's eyes. Then,after a moment's pause, he asked, explosively,--
"Was there that amount?"
Firmstone's face had a puzzled look.
"There certainly was, unless I made a mistake in weighing up." His browscontracted for a moment, then cleared decisively. "That is not possible.The total checked with my weekly statements."
Hartwell settled back in his chair. There was a look of satisfiedcunning on his face. He had gained his point. He had attacked Firmstonein an unexpected quarter, and he had flinched. He had no further doubts.This, however, was not enough. He would press the brimming cup ofevidence to his victim's lips and compel him to drink it to the lastdrop.
"Who saw you put the bullion in the safe?"
"No one."
"Then, if the safe is never recovered, we have only your word that thebullion was put in there, as you stated?"
Firmstone was slowly realising Hartwell's drift. Slowly, because theidea suggested appeared too monstrous to be tenable. The purple veins onhis forehead were hard and swollen.
"That is all," he said, from between compressed lips.
"Under the circumstances, don't you think it is of the utmost importancethat the safe be recovered?"
"Under any circumstances. I have already taken all the steps possible inthat direction." Firmstone breathed easier. He saw, as he thought, theerror of his other half-formed suspicion. Hartwell was about to suggestthat Zephyr should not be alone in guarding the river.
Hartwell again leaned forward. He spoke meditatively, but his eyes werepiercing in their intensity.
"Yes. If in the event of the unexpected," he emphasised the word with asuggestive pause, "recovery of the safe, it should be found not tocontain that amount, in fact, nothing at all, what would you have tosay?"
Every fibre of Firmstone's body crystallised into hard lines. Slowly herose to his feet. Pale to the lips, he towered over the general manager.Slowly his words fell from set lips.
"What have I to say?" he repeated. "This. That, if I stooped to answersuch a question, I should put myself on the level of the brutal idiotwho asked it."