between his car and Ed's. Ed would get word that he was at such a
station and have his car dropped there, only to find that Ben had gone
on. Ed would follow on the next train, or mebbe hire a special engine;
and Ben would hide off on some blind spur track. They covered the whole
division about three times without clashing, thanks to Ben's superior
information bureau; it being no trick at all to keep track of this
wheeled apartment house of Ed's.

Ed couldn't understand it at first. Here he'd come up to lick Ben, and
Ben was acting queer about it. Ed would send messages every day wanting
to know when and where he could have a nice quiet chat with Ben that
would not be interfered with by bystanders; and Ben would wire back that
his time wasn't his own and company business was keeping him on the jump,
but as soon as this rush was over he would arrange an interview; and kind
regards, and so on. Or he might say he would be at some station all the
following day; which would be a clumsy falsehood, because he was at that
moment pulling out, as Ed would find when he got there. The operating
department must of thought them a couple of very busy men, wanting so
much to meet, yet never seeming able to get together.

Ed got peeved at last by the way Ben was putting him off. It wasn't
square and it wasn't businesslike. He had large mining interests in
charge and here was Ben acting like he had all summer to devote just to
this one little matter. He called Ben's attention to this by telegraph,
but Ben continued to be somewhere else from where he said he was going
to be.

After a week of this pussy-wants-a-corner stuff Ed got wise that the
thing had come to be a mere vulgar chase, and that his private car was
hampering him by being so easy to keep track of. So he disguised himself
by taking off his diamond ornaments and leaving his private car at
Colfax, and started out to stalk Ben as a common private citizen in a
day coach. He got results that way, Ben supposing he was still with his
car. After a couple of scouting trips up and down the line he gets
reliable word that Ben, with his bunch of high officials, is over at
Wallace.

So much the better, thinks Ed. It will be fine to have this next
disturbance right on the spot where a great wrong was done him fifteen
years before. So he starts for Wallace, wiring for his car to follow him
there. He'd found this car poor for the bloodhound stuff, but he wanted
Ben to have a good look at