little smile, and in much the same tone that
he would have used in discussing a cigar, "there'll be no need of
wasting the other ten; for it's perfectly plain. I'll expedite matters
by skipping what we desire, for the most part, and telling you why we
think the Pendleton system ought to desire the same thing. Our plan, in
a word, is to build a hundred and fifty miles of line, and from it
deliver two full train-loads of through east-bound freight per day to
your road, and take from you a like amount of west-bound tonnage, not
one pound of which can be routed over your lines at present."

Mr. Pendleton smiled.

"A very interesting proposition, Mr. Elkins," said he; "my business is
railroading, and I am always glad to perfect myself in the knowledge of
it. Make it plain just how this can be done, and I shall consider my
half-hour well expended."

Then began the fateful conversation out of which grew the building of
the Lattimore & Great Western Railway. Jim walked to the map which
covered one wall of the room, and dropped statement after statement into
the mind of Pendleton like round, compact bullets of fact. It was the
best piece of expository art imaginable. Every foot of the road was
described as to gradients, curves, cuts, fills, trestles, bridges, and
local traffic. Then he began with Lattimore; and we who breathed in
nothing but knowledge of that city and its resources were given new
light as to its shipments and possibilities of growth. He showed how the
products of our factories, the grain from our elevators, the live-stock
from our yards, and the meats from our packing-houses could be sent
streaming over the new road and the lines of Pendleton.

Then he turned to our Commercial Club, and showed that the merchants,
both wholesale and retail, of Lattimore were welded together in its
membership, in such wise that their merchandise might be routed from the
great cities over the proposed track. He piled argument on argument. He
hammered down objection after objection before they could be suggested.
He met Mr. Pendleton in the domain of railroad construction and
management, and showed himself familiar with the relative values of
Pendleton's own lines.

"Your Pacific Division," said he, "must have disappointed some of the
expectations with which it was built. Its earnings cannot, in view of
the distance they fall below those of your other lines, be quite
satisfactory to you. Give us the traffic agreement we ask; a