"
"Was hopin' you'd see it that way, Mr. President. I hain't one that
hankers for strife ... not even with Lafe, here, if he can figger he's
willin' to admit what he's got to admit."
"I take my orders from you," said Lafe.
In which authentic manner Scattergood Baines, in one transaction, made
possible and financed his railroad, obtained his first mill, and became
undisputed political dictator of his state. Characteristically, there
was charged to expense for the whole transaction a sum that a very
ordinary man could earn in a week. Scattergood loved cheap results.
CHAPTER IV
HE DEALS IN MATCHMAKING
It is known to all the world that Scattergood came to own the stage line
that plied down the valley to the railroad, but minute research and a
sifting of dubious testimony was required to unearth the true details of
that transaction in which the peg leg of Deacon Pettybone figured in a
dominant manner.
Scattergood had long had his eye on the stage line, because his valley,
the Coldriver Valley, was dominated by it. Transportation was king, and
Scattergood knew that if his vision of developing that valley and of
acquiring riches for himself out of the development were ever to become
actuality, he must first control the means of transporting passengers
and commodities.
Pages:
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124