A Fool For Love | Page 3

it will be quite as well for us if Mr. Somerville Darrah is
safely at the other side of the continent--and well out of ordinary reach
of the wires."
Adams came to attention with a half-hearted attempt to galvanize an
interest in the business affair.
"Tell me more about this mysterious jangle we are heading for," he
rejoined. "Have I enlisted for a soldier when I thought I was only going
into peaceful exile as assistant engineer of construction on the Utah
Short Line?"
"That remains to be seen." Winton took a leaf from his pocket
memorandum and drew a rough outline map. "Here is Denver, and here
is Carbonate," he explained. "At present the Utah is running into
Carbonate this way over the rails of the C. G. R. on a joint track
agreement which either line may terminate by giving six months' notice
of its intention to the other. Got that?"
"To have and to hold," said Adams. "Go on."
"Well, on the first day of September the C. G. R. people gave the Utah
management notice to quit."
"They are bloated monopolists," said Adams sententiously. "Still I don't
see why there should be any scrapping over the line in Quartz Creek
Canyon."
"No? You are not up in monopolistic methods. In six months from
September first the Utah people will be shut out of Carbonate business,
which is all that keeps that part of their line alive. If they want a share
of that traffic after March first, they will have to have a road of their
own to carry it over."
"Precisely," said Adams, stifling a yawn. "They are building one, aren't
they?"
"Trying to," Winton amended. "But, unfortunately, the only practicable

route through the mountains is up Quartz Creek Canyon, and the
canyon is already occupied by a branch line of the Colorado and Grand
River."
"Still I don't see why there should be any scrap."
"Don't you? If the Rajah's road can keep the new line out of Carbonate
till the six months have expired, it will have a monopoly of all the
carrying trade of the camp. By consequence it can force every shipper
in the district to make iron-clad contracts, so that when the Utah line is
finally completed it won't be able to secure any freight for a year, at
least."
"Oho! that's the game, is it? I begin to savvy the burro: that's the proper
phrase, isn't it? And what are our chances?"
"We have about one in a hundred, as near as I could make out from Mr.
Callowell's statement of the case. The C. G. R. people are moving
heaven and earth to obstruct us in the canyon. If they can delay the
work a little longer, the weather will do the rest. With the first heavy
snow in the mountains, which usually comes long before this, the Utah
will have to put up its tools and wait till next summer."
Adams lighted another cigarette.
"Pardon me if I seem inquisitive," he said, "but for the life of me I can't
understand what these obstructionists can do. Of course, they can't use
force."
Winton's smile was grim. "Can't they? Wait till you get on the ground.
But the first move was peaceable enough. They got an injunction from
the courts restraining the new line from encroaching on their right of
way."
"Which was a thing that nobody wanted to do," said Adams, between
inhalations.
"Which was a thing the Utah had to do," corrected Winton. "The

canyon is a narrow gorge--a mere slit in parts of it. That is where they
have us."
"Oh, well," returned Adams, "I suppose we took an appeal and asked to
have the injunction set aside?"
"We did, promptly; and that is the present status of the fight. The
appeal decision has not yet been handed down; and in the meantime we
go on building railroad, incurring all the penalties for contempt of court
with every shovelful of earth moved. Do you still think you will be in
danger of ossifying?"
Adams let the question rest while he asked one of his own.
"How do you come to be mixed up in it, Jack? A week ago some one
told me you were going to South America to build a railroad in the
Andes. What switched you?"
Winton shook his head. "Fate, I guess; that and a wire from President
Callowell of the Utah offering me this. Chief of Construction Evarts, in
charge of the work in Quartz Creek Canyon, said what you said a few
minutes ago--that he had not hired out for a soldier. He resigned, and
I'm taking his berth."
Adams rose and buttoned his coat.
"By all of which it seems that we two are in for a good bit more