rly obstinate and non-committal. "Mistah Caleb
Gordon is my friend, suh, and I was mighty proud to do him this small
faveh. What his object is makes no manneh of diffe'ence to me, suh; no
manneh of diffe'ence, whateveh," was all an anxious promoter could get
out of the old autocrat of Deer Trace. But Mr. Farley did not desist;
neither did he fail to keep the telegraph wires to New York heated to
incandescence with his appeals for a renewal of the negotiations for
surrender.

When the wired appeals brought forth nothing but evasive replies, Mr.
Farley began to look for trouble, and it came: first in a mysterious
closing of the market against Chiawassee pipe, and next in an alarming
advance of freight rates from Gordonia on the Great Southwestern.

Colonel Duxbury doubled his field force and gave his travelers a free
hand on the price list. Persuasion and diplomacy having failed, a frenzy
like that of one who finds himself slipping into the sharp-staked
pitfall prepared for others seized on him. It was the madness of those
who have seen the clock hands stop and begin to turn steadily backward
on the dial of success.

Ten days later the freight rates went up another notch, and there began
to be a painful dearth of cars in which to ship the few orders the
salesmen were still able to place. Mr. Farley shut his eyes to the
portents, put himself recklessly into Mr. Vancourt Henniker's hands as a
borrower, and posted a notice of a slashing cut in wages at the works.

As a matter of course, the cut bred immediate and tumultuous trouble
with the miners, and in the midst of it the president made a flying trip
to New York; to the metropolis and to the offices of American Aqueduct
to make a final appeal in person.

But the door was shut. Mr. Dracott was not to be seen, though his
assistant was very affable. No; American Aqueduct was not trying to
assimilate the smaller plants, or to crush out all competition, as the
public seemed to believe. With fifty million dollars invested it could
easily control a market for its own product, which was all the
share-holders demanded. Was Mr. Farley in the city for some little time?
and would he not dine with the assistant at the Waldorf-Astoria?

Mr. Farley took a fast train, south-bound, instead, and on reaching
South Tredegar, wired his New York broker to test the market with a
small block of Chiawassee Limited. There were no takers at the upset
price; and the highest bid was less than h