The Argosy, March 1907 — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

But her father, the president of the Pennsylvania Midland, was smiling with cynical satisfaction over the news she had given him. “So, they’ve made a mere boy their chief engineer, have they?” was his comment to himself. ‘“‘ Well, that looks as though they were about ready to give in.” CHAPTER VIII. PERPLEXITIES AND PERILS. ‘Ir will be gathered from his message to Phoebe that, despite the delay en route, Gardiner had not failed to reach No. 829 in ample time to confer with Mr. Stearns and close up the business between them. As a matter of fact, when he bade the banker good night everything had been settled, and it was agreed that Davis should set forth upon his mission by the first train in the morning. Amid all his rush and bustle, however, he had found time to pen that brief note of farewell to Phoebe, and, as will be re- called, he had imparted rather a cheer- ful tone to it. Yet even while he was writing he had to confess that nothing save the most sanguine of temperaments could extract much hope from the situa- tion which Alton Stearns had outlined to him. Against him were to be opposed, not only the stubborn obstacles of nature, but also all the impediments that could be arranged -by the wealth, power, and prestige of the mighty Pennsylvania Mid- land, a corporation which completely dominated two sovereign States, and, it was even whispered, had the national government at its beck and call. And here was he, with the ink scarcely dry upon his diploma, lacking both name and influence, sent out as a forlorn hope against such a Goliath of hindrances. Verily, as he wrote to Phoebe, it was a fight, and not an opportunity, which he had undertaken. Could he make good? That was a question omnipresent in Gardiner’s. mind from the moment he accepted his com- mission, and it remained with him during the weeks he spent in careful investiga- tion of the actual conditions. As the difficulties rose larger and more THE ARGOSY. insurmountable in his path, as one after another of the hopes he had formed col- lapsed, it was often only the presence of that knot of ribbon he wore next his heart that kept him asking the ques- tion and urged him on to his seemingly futile endeavor. There was one point, however, which impressed itself upon him, and which in a way was a result of the schooling he had given himself in the methods of Wall Street. He took this up one day with Mr. Stearns and the president of the road when he happened to be up at headquar- ters for a conference. “IT am quite free to confess that I have failed, so far, to discover a feasible plan for the link,” he reported, ‘“ but that is certainly no reason why we should advertise the fact to the world. If the worst comes to the worst, and you be ultimately forced to sell to the Mid- land, you want to get the best possible terms from them, don’t you? Well, then, why are you letting your stock depre- ciate on the market and your road be- come classed in people’s minds as a failure? “What you want to do,” he advised, ‘is to put up a bluff. ‘ Assume a virtue, though you have it not.’ Make the pub- lic think the outlet to the Southeastern has been found.” “Yes, but how?” inquired the presi- dent. “Well, I notice, for one thing, that since your disagreement with the Mid- land you have suspended all the opera- tions that you started toward double- tracking the line and putting in those new bridges. That gives a bad impres- sion, and there is absolutely no need for it. The rails and material are all on hand, piled up along the right of way, and it will take very little money to proceed with the work. “Such activity, especially if coupled with some spectacular buying of your securities by brokers known to be acting in your interest, will start going a dozen rumors of your having found the outlet, and will-bring the Midland paces hus- tling to you for terms. ‘Then refuse to treat with Agee hold them off diplomatically, and by the time you get ready to sell you will be able ae oF oom