Newcastle (the mills of which extended for miles along the Tyne), had
been a faithful ally of the Empire; and, on occasions when it was needed,
had borrowed the Imperial army to obtain grants, extensions, and
franchises.

The fact is that old Tom Gaylord, in the autumn previous, had quarreled
with Mr. Flint about lumber rates, which had been steadily rising. Mr.
Flint had been polite, but firm; and old Tom, who, with all his
tremendous properties, could ship by no other railroad than the
Northeastern, had left the New York office in a black rage. A more
innocent citizen than old Tom would have put his case (which was without
doubt a strong one) before the Railroad Commission of the State, but old
Tom knew well enough that the Railroad Commission was in reality an
economy board of the Northeastern system, as much under Mr. Flint's
orders as the conductors and brakemen. Old Tom, in consulting the map,
conceived an unheard-of effrontery, a high treason which took away the
breath of his secretary and treasurer when it was pointed out to him. The
plan contemplated a line of railroad from the heart of the lumber regions
down the south side of the valley of the Pingsquit to Kingston, where the
lumber could take to the sea. In short, it was a pernicious revival of an
obsolete state of affairs, competition, and if persisted in, involved
nothing less than a fight to a finish with the army, the lobby of the
Northeastern. Other favoured beings stood aghast when they heard of it,
and hastened to old Tom with timely counsel; but he had reached a frame
of mind which they knew well. He would listen to no reason, and
maintained stoutly that there were other lawyers in the world as able in
political sagacity and lobby tactics as Hilary Vane; the Honourable
Galusha Hammer, for instance, an old and independent and wary war-horse
who had more than once wrung compromises out of the Honourable Hilary.
The Honourable Galusha Hammer was sent for, and was now industriously, if