The Argosy, March 1907 — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

Vol. Lill MARCH, 1907 ee ee a . ) * oN ; wi Grg i * . THE PLACE, THE TIME, AND. T HE BY E. V: PRESTON. eee ay. taiiroad story, involving a difficult problem to solve and feritig enemies to ig: beaten, (Complete in T his Issue.) Beg aera ae ee CHAPTER T. York, who, knowing nothing of the per- ~ TAKING A CHANCE OUT OF A vTiGHr $0n under discussion, naturally kept -si- PLACE. lent. HERE is just one man T know who might be able to turn the ee oftick;.’ suggested . President Judson half hesitatingly, “and that is eae Davis.” -. “Gardiner Davis?’ echoed - his con- fréres, the directors of the Spring Creek Railway Company. “ Gardiner Davis? ”’ prised deprecation. ing but a kid!” “TI know that,” declared Judson stub- ‘“Why, he-is noth- “tudes bornly, now that he felt himself com- pelled. to justify his selection; ‘‘ but he “is a kid with a mighty shrewd head’ on «those young shoulders of his. None of oe 7 gs: is what might be considered a slouch on a business, proposition, yet +e have a ~-all been outgeneraled by him in lumber — - deals when he used to operate around mee here, and he was even. more of .a_kid ~ then than he is now Stille’ obF< ected one of the ee “ you ‘must remember, Judson, that -in this case mere shrewdness isn’t th only requisite demanded. If we ave going vu back an engineer’s plans with our money, I for one want to be sure that ‘the mati knows what he is talking _about.’ 2 “Has Davis a ‘diploma? ” put in an- Saher member of the. board, with deci- ~ dedly sarcastic inflection. ~ And so if went around the Circle, all enting from the president’s propo- | we ee a director. from New ve . +t pork ° or sS oe . r . >in tones reflecting every shade -of sur- when to Aght, but also when not to, AoE “Who is this. Gaddinee Davis?” he finally asked, a bit curiously; when’ suck hubbub had samewiint subsided. A half-dozen voices started’ to’ answer | him, but the president, rapping for Ore a ‘der, took it-upon: hi mself to reply. Caen .. ‘“Gardinet ~ Davis,” he Sain, ‘Sis: a young chap who came up -hére to “the. coal country with his parents. some. seven or eight years ago. ‘the father had in- vested in a little sawmill hack in ‘the hills, but he was inexperienced, and sick- ly besides, and he didr’t seem to make much of ago at it. Fact is, he didn’t make any go of it at all, for at-the end of Six or seven ‘months, worn out with the struggle of trying to make both ends meet and féiling to do it, he took to his bed and fried. “Wel, everybody supposed hen that ther was nothing ahead of the- family —e€cept the poor-farm, for theré: was no estate left save the mill, and that was mortgaged to the ridge-pole; but Gardi- nes quietly stepped to the front and fooled the wiseacres. “ A mere boy—he_ was ortly eighteen at the time—he yet assumed the entire ae direction of the mill, and= what's more, ~~ he put so much ginger into his manage= ment that he made the darned thing pay. este He was the boss, all right; and Jet me = tell you that’s something to say when a@ fellow is dealing with a lot of loggers and timbermen. In handling a bunch — like that you’ve not.only got to know. = re?