The Argosy, Vol. 81, No. 4 — page 35: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

FOUR SPEEDS FOR FOREST HILL. demonstration satisfied. He’s coming back at one.” “Oh,”’ Orton fairly cried, ‘‘tell him to go to thunder. I’m tired, sick. I wouldn’t demonstrate a car if he wanted to take a thousand as fast as we could build them. I’m going home and to bed.” He gave her the money to pay his men. He stalked from the building as if the very suggestion of remaining there were a per- sonal affront. Perhaps he was as utterly weary as he believed; perhaps he could not have re- mained to do business. It was very un- fortunate. If he had been able to remain long enough to telephone his orders—or, if he had remained whether able or not, as a lot of business men often had to do—his men could have accomplished considerably more by Monday night than the finishing of the two cars for immediate delivery. Tues- day might have ended with some showing made on the next six cars which were to be got out before there would be money enough to square the thirty-day bills, to get him fairly on his feet for the real start. It is barely possible that Orton might have whipped things into shape so that he could have taken the trip to Atlantic City on the last Saturday night in June, and have spent the Sunday reviving his spirits and his men’s with the day of rest. As it was, Orton having slept the clock twice around, the work was so far behind that he had to keep the whole force on for a four- teen-hour day to gain any hope of catching up with his schedule. The schedule, however, bade fair to right itself, though the overtime of the men was slicing deep into the profits of those first nine cars. A more serious problem arose in the matter of the bodies of the cars. These Orton had made up completely by an outside firm. The maker had refused to take orders for more than the first three until it was proven that Orton’s ideas of design would give indications of prospective popularity. When Orton called up the head of the body-making concern his answer threw him into momentary consternation. “Why didn’t you call me up Saturday?” this man demanded. “I held up a fellow with an order for six jitney bodies until night, waiting to hear from you. I called you up twice, but couldn’t get you. Now I’ve taken the jit’ order. You'll be lucky 601 to get your bodies before the end of week after next.” “End of week after next!” Orton screamed in rage. ‘‘Man, I’ve got to have them by Tuesday of that week.”’ “Well, you’d better try some other maker,” the manufacturer replied. “T can’t try any other maker now. It’s too late. I’ve got to get them from you— and I’ve got to have them on Tuesday, the sixth of July.” “Nothing doing,” snapped the other. “You've got to get them out. Why, man, I must have those cars sold and paid for by Wednesday night. I’ve got bills to meet with the money. And yours is one of them. If I can’t meet them, Ill be bu’sted, broke, bankrupt—and you will have a bunch of unfinished junk to get your share of the money out of.” “Oh, rats,” growled the other, “nobody’s going to run you into the bankruptcy courts for four or five days’ delay in payments. You know that. Ill try—but I can’t hold out any hope. I'll get you what I can done.” Orton, who had never been compelled be- fore to miss ‘a discount on a bill, realized that there was little danger of bankruptcy from such brief delay in meeting bills. There might, however, be danger of weak- ened confidence on the part of some of his creditors. He dogged that maker of automobile bodies. He called him up every day. He got no better promise than at first. He came to want a better fulfilment than he had wanted at first. The six next cars had been duly ordered in the first two days of the week. It was in the beginning of the second week that those who had been satisfied with promised delivery on the eighth suddenly discovered that two holidays and a half were coming together on account of the Fourth of July falling on Sunday. They wanted their cars to celebrate that treble holiday. But the auto-body man remained deaf to entreaties, cajoleries, or threats. Thurs- day was the best he could do. Orton could take the bodies on Thursday or do without. Orton came to feel that the manufac- turing of automobiles was a_pestiferous business. It had kept him from two happy Sundays in the company of his fiancée at the sea-shore. Now it was embroiling him with the men he must sell to and the men from whom he must buy. EOMMICLOOOLK (E@)