right. Were you thinking of driving over?"

"That's the only way to go, is it? Well, I'll see. Maybe a little later.
How far is it?"

"The farmers call it eighteen miles."

Bannon nodded his thanks and went back to Sloan's office.

"Well, it didn't take you long," said the magnate. "Find out what was the
matter with'em?"


Illustration [HE CURSED THE WHOLE G.&M. SYSTEM, FROM THE TIES UP]


He enjoyed his well-earned reputation for choler, and as Bannon told him
what he had discovered that morning, the old man paced the room in a
regular beat, pausing every time he came to a certain tempting bit of
blank wall to deal it a thump with his big fist. When the whole situation
was made clear to him, he stopped walking and cursed the whole G.&M.
system, from the ties up. "I'll make 'em smart for that," he said. "They
haul those planks whether they want to or not. You hear me say it. There's
a law that covers a case like that. I'll prosecute 'em. They'll see
whether J. B. Sloan is a safe kind of man to monkey with. Why, man," he
added, turning sharply to Bannon, "why don't you get mad? You don't seem
to care--no more than the angel Gabriel."

"I don't care a damn for the G.&M. I want the cribbing."