lf--first on his outlying feeder lines, he
thought, then perhaps generally.

But before he could take suitable action against Woolsen, that engaging
young upstart, who was possessed of a high-power imagination and a gift
of gab, had allied himself with such interested investors as Truman
Leslie MacDonald, who saw here a heaven-sent opportunity of mulcting
Cowperwood, and Jordan Jules, once the president of the North Chicago
Gas Company, who had lost money through Cowperwood in the gas war. Two
better instruments for goading a man whom they considered an enemy
could not well be imagined--Truman Leslie with his dark, waspish,
mistrustful, jealous eyes, and his slim, vital body; and Jordan Jules,
short, rotund, sandy, a sickly crop of thin, oily, light hair growing
down over his coat-collar, his forehead and crown glisteningly bald,
his eyes a seeking, searching, revengeful blue. They in turn brought
in Samuel Blackman, once president of the South Side Gas Company;
Sunderland Sledd, of local railroad management and stock-investment
fame; and Norrie Simms, president of the Douglas Trust Company, who,
however, was little more than a fiscal agent. The general feeling was
that Cowperwood's defensive tactics--which consisted in having the city
council refuse to act--could be easily met.

"Well, I think we can soon fix that," exclaimed young MacDonald, one
morning at a meeting. "We ought to be able to smoke them out. A little
publicity will do it."

He appealed to his father, the editor of the Inquirer, but the latter
refused to act for the time being, seeing that his son was interested.
MacDonald, enraged at the do-nothing attitude of the council, invaded
that body and demanded of Alderman Dowling, still leader, why this
matter of the Chicago general ordinances was still lying unconsidered.
Mr. Dowling, a large, mushy, placid man with blue eyes, an iron frame,
and a beefy smile, vouchsafed the information that, although he was
chairman of the committee on streets and alleys, he knew nothing about
it. "I haven't been payin' much attention to things lately," he
replied.

Mr. MacDonald went to see the remaining members of this same committee.
They were non-committal. They would have to look into the matter.
Somebody claimed that there was a flaw in the petitions.

Evidently there was crooked work here somewhere. Cowperwood was to
blame, no doubt. MacDonald conferred with Blackman and Jordan Jules,
and it was determin