zzle."

"Oh, it's simple enough. The railroad people won't furnish us cars
enough. I could ship a hundred carloads to-morrow if I had the cars, but
I haven't got 'em, and I can't get 'em."

"Do you mean that you are offering coal as freight to this railroad, and
the road is refusing it?"

"Yes, that's about it. I've asked for cars and can't get 'em, except a
few each day."

"Do the other mines along this little branch railroad have the same
trouble?"

"There is only one other mine on this line."

"Well, does it encounter the same difficulty in marketing its coal?"

"No--at least not to so great an extent. You see somebody there is
standing in with the railroad people. I suppose they've had a little
block of stock given to them--the railroad people, I mean. So the
Quentin mines get all the cars they want, and we get only their
leavings."

"Well, now, Mr. Davidson, I give you this order: Set to work at once and
bring out every ton of coal you've got ready in the mine. There'll be
cars here to haul it when you get it ready. Good-night, Mr. Davidson.
I'll talk with you another time about the other matters. I have a good
deal to do to-night, so I can't talk further with you now."

Davidson went out after a grudging "good-night." Duncan did not yet know
or suspect, though he was presently to find out, that to Davidson, also,
the proprietors of the rival mine were paying a little tribute, as a
reward for silence and for making trouble.

Duncan sat for an hour writing letters. The typewriting machine had not
been invented at that time, and even if it had been Duncan would have
preferred to write these letters himself.

One of them was addressed to the General Freight Agent of the little
railroad on which the mine was situated. It read as follows:

Within six days I shall have one hundred car loads of coal at the
mouth of this mine, ready for shipment upon orders. After that time
I shall have about sixty car loads ready for shipment each day.
Please see to it that an adequate supply of cars to move this
freight are side-tracked here on time.

Duncan signed that letter with all needed circumspection. The signature
read:

For the Redwood Coal and Iron Company; Guilford Duncan, Manager and
Attorney at Law and in Fact for the Company.

That subscription was intended as an intimation.

When on the next afternoon the General Freight Agent, who had several
times met Duncan at Capt