have his way, he would wipe the Mississippi Steel Company off the
map of the United States."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you know," said the Major, "that Mississippi Steel is the
chief competitor of the Trust? And old Dan Waterman organised the
Steel Trust, and watches it all the time."

"But what's that got to do with Hegan?"

"Simply that Jim Hegan works with Waterman in everything."

Montague stared in dismay. "I see," he said.

"Of course!" said the Major. "My dear fellow, why don't you come to
me before you do things like that? You should have gone to the
Mississippi Steel people; and you should have gone quietly, and to
the men at the top. For all you can tell, you may have a really big
proposition that's been overlooked in the shuffle. What was that you
said about the survey?"

And Montague told in detail the story of the aborted plan for an
extension, and of his hunting trip, and what he had learned on it.

"Of course," said the Major, "you are in the heart of the thing
right now. The Steel people balked your plan."

"How do you mean?" asked the other.