Ridgway of Montana | Page 9

him--the generous-hearted independent
fighting against trust domination? Or is he merely an audacious
ore-thief, as his enemies say? The truth must be somewhere."

"It seems to lie mostly in point of view here the angle of observation
being determined by interest," he answered.
"And from your angle of observation?"
"He is the most unusual man I ever saw, the most resourceful and the
most competent. He never knows when he is beaten. I suppose that's
the reason he never is beaten finally. We have driven him to the wall a
score of times. My experience with him is that he's most dangerous
when one thinks he must be about hammered out. He always hits back
then in the most daring and unexpected way."
"With a coupling-pin," she suggested with a little reminiscent laugh.
"Metaphorically speaking. He reaches for the first effective weapon to
his hand."
"You haven't quite answered my question yet," she reminded him. "Is
he what his friends or what his enemies think him?"
"If you ask me I can only say that I'm one of his enemies."
"But a fair-minded man," she replied quickly.
"Thank you. Then I'll say that perhaps he is neither just what his friends
or his foes think him. One must make allowances for his training and
temperament, and for that quality of bigness in him. 'Mediocre men go
soberly on the highroads, but saints and scoundrels meet in the jails,'"
he smilingly quoted.
"He would make a queer sort of saint," she laughed.
"A typical twentieth century one of a money-mad age."
She liked it in him that he would not use the opportunity she had made
to sneer at his adversary, none the less because she knew that Ridgway
might not have been so scrupulous in his place. That Lyndon Hobart's
fastidious instincts for fair play had stood in the way of his success in
the fight to down Ridgway she had repeatedly heard. Of late, rumors

had persisted in reporting dissatisfaction with his management of the
Consolidated at the great financial center on Broadway which
controlled the big copper company. Simon Harley, the dominating
factor in the octopus whose tentacles reached out in every direction to
monopolize the avenues of wealth, demanded of his subordinates
results. Methods were no concern of his, and failure could not be
explained to him. He wanted Ridgway crushed, and the pulse of the
copper production regulated lay the Consolidated. Instead, he had seen
Ridgway rise steadily to power and wealth despite his efforts to wipe
him off the slate. Hobart was perfectly aware that his head was likely to
fall when Harley heard of Purcell's decision in regard to the Never Say
Die.
"He certainly is an amazing man," Virginia mused, her fiancee in mind.
"It would be interesting to discover what he can't do--along utilitarian
lines, I mean. Is he as good a miner underground as he is in the courts?"
she flung out.
"He is the shrewdest investor I know. Time and again he has leased or
bought apparently worthless claims, and made them pay inside of a few
weeks. Take the Taurus as a case in point. He struck rich ore in a
fortnight. Other men had done development work for years and found
nothing."
"I'm naturally interested in knowing all about him, because I have just
become engaged to him," explained Miss Virginia, as calmly as if her
pulse were not fluttering a hundred to the minute
Virginia was essentially a sportsman. She did not flinch from the guns
when the firing was heavy. It had been remarked of her even as a child
that she liked to get unpleasant things over with as soon as possible,
rather than postpone them. Once, aetat eight, she had marched in to her
mother like a stoic and announced: "I've come to be whipped, momsie,
'cause I broke that horrid little Nellie Vaile's doll. I did it on purpose,
'cause I was mad at her. I'm glad I broke it, so there!"
Hobart paled slightly beneath his outdoors Western tan, but his eyes
met hers very steadily and fairly. "I wish you happiness, Miss Balfour,

from the bottom of my heart."
She nodded a brisk "Thank you," and directed her attention again to the
horses.
"Take him by and large, Mr. Ridgway is the most capable, energetic,
and far-sighted business man I have ever known. He has a bigger grasp
of things than almost any financier in the country. I think you'll find he
will go far," he said, choosing his words with care to say as much for
Waring Ridgway as he honestly could.
"I have always thought so," agreed Virginia.
She had reason for thinking so in that young man's remarkable career.
When Waring Ridgway had first come to Mesa he had been a