r, consented and for
a time neglected the card-tables of Williams's "liquor-parlor" to
enter into negotiations for the construction of the line. He was a
clever man and had had business experience of a sort, but his interest
in the Deadwood stage-line did not reach beyond the immediate
opportunity it offered of acquiring a substantial amount of the
Marquis's money. He made a trip or two to Bismarck and Deadwood; he
looked busy; he promised great things; but nothing happened. The
Marquis, considerably poorer in pocket, deposed his second manager as
he had deposed the first, and looked about for an honest man.

One day Packard, setting up the _Cowboy_, was amazed to see the
Marquis come dashing into his office.

"I want you to put on the stage-line for me," he ejaculated.

Packard looked at him. "But Marquis," he answered, "I never saw a
stage or a stage-line. I don't know anything about it."

"It makes no difference," cried the Frenchman. "You will not rob me."

Packard admitted the probability of the last statement. They talked
matters over. To Packard, who was not quite twenty-four, the prospect
of running a stage-line began to look rather romantic. He set about to
find out what stage-lines were made of, and went to Bismarck to study
the legal document the Marquis's lawyers had drawn up. It specified,
in brief, that A. T. Packard was to be sole owner of the Medora and
Black Hills Stage and Forwarding Company when it should have paid for
itself from its net earnings, which left nothing to be desired,
especially as the total receipts from sales of building lots in Medora
and elsewhere were to be considered part of the earnings. It was
understood that the Marquis was to secure a mail contract from the
Post-Office Department effective with the running of the first stage
sometime in June. Packard attached his name to the document, and
waited for the money which the Marquis had agreed to underwrite to
set the organization in motion.

Day after day he waited in vain. Weeks passed. In June began an exodus
from the Black Hills to the Coeur d'Alenes that soon became a
stampede. With an exasperation that he found it difficult to control,
Packard heard of the thousands that were taking the roundabout journey
by way of Pierre or Miles City. He might, he knew, be running every
north-bound coach full from front to hind boot and from thorough-brace
to roof-rail; and for once the Marquis might make some money. He
pleaded for fun