CHAPTER XXXII
Shirley made no effort to detain Bryce Cardigan as he walked to his carand climbed into it. Ogilvy remained merely long enough to give ordersto the foreman to gather up the tools, store them in the machine-shopof Cardigan's mill, and dismiss his gang; then he, too, entered theautomobile, and at a word from Bryce, the car slid noiselessly away intothe darkness. The track-cutting crew departed a few minutes later, andwhen Shirley found herself alone with her uncle, the tumult in her heartgave way to the tears she could no longer repress. Pennington stood by,watching her curiously, coldly.
Presently Shirley mastered her emotion and glanced toward him.
"Well, my dear?" he queried nervously.
"I--I think I had better go home," she said without spirit.
"I think so, too," he answered. "Get into the Mayor's flivver, my dear,and I'll drive you. And perhaps the least said about this affair thebetter, Shirley. There are many things that you do not understand andwhich cannot be elucidated by discussion."
"I can understand an attempt at assassination, Uncle Seth."
"That blackguard Minorca! I should have known better than to put him onsuch a job. I told him to bluff and threaten; Cardigan, I knew, wouldrealize the grudge the Black Minorca has against him, and for thatreason I figured the greaser was the only man who could bluff him. WhileI gave him orders to shoot, I told him distinctly not to hit anybody.Good Lord, Shirley, surely you do not think I would wink at a murder!"
"I do," she answered passionately. "With Bryce Cardigan out of the way,you would have a clear field before you--"
"Oh, my dear, my dear! Surely you do not realize what you are saying.You are beside yourself, Shirley. Please--please do not wound me so--sohorribly. You do not--you cannot realize what a desperate fight I havebeen putting up for both our sakes. I am surrounded by enemies--the mostimplacable enemies. They force me to fight the devil with fire--and hereyou are, giving them aid and comfort."
"I want you to defeat Bryce Cardigan, if you can do it fairly."
"At another time and in a calmer mood we will discuss that villain,"he said authoritatively. "If we argue the matter now, we are liable tomisunderstandings; we may quarrel, and that is something neither of uscan afford. Get into the car, and we will go home. There is nothing moreto be done to-night."
"Your sophistry does not alter my opinion," she replied firmly."However, as you say, this is neither the time nor the place to discussit."
They drove home in silence. Shirley went at once to her room. For theColonel, however, the night's work had scarcely begun. The instant heheard the door to his niece's room shut, he went to the telephone andcalled up the Laguna Grande roundhouse. Sexton, his manager, answered.
"Have you sent the switch-engine to the woods for Rondeau and his men?"
"Just left."
"Good! Now, then, Sexton, listen to me: As you know, this raid ofCardigan's has developed so suddenly I am more or less taken by surpriseand have had no time to prepare the kind of counter-attack that will bemost effective. However, with the crossing blocked, I gain time in whichto organize--only there must be no weak point in my organization. Inorder to insure that, I am proceeding to San Francisco to-night bymotor, via the coast road. I will arrive late to-morrow night, and earlySaturday morning I will appear in the United States District Court withour attorneys and file a complaint and petition for an order temporarilyrestraining the N.C.O. from cutting our tracks.
"I will have to make an affidavit to support the complaint, so I hadbetter be Johnny-on-the-spot to do it, rather than risk the delay ofmaking the affidavit tomorrow morning here and forwarding it by mail toour attorneys. The judge will sign a restraining order, returnable infrom ten to thirty days--I'll try for thirty, because that will knockout the N.C.O.'s temporary franchise--and after I have obtained therestraining order, I will have the United States marshal telegraph it toOgilvy and Cardigan!"
"Bully!" cried Sexton heartily. "That will fix their clock."
"In the meantime," Pennington continued, "logs will be glutting ourlandings. We need that locomotive for its legitimate purposes. Take allthat discarded machinery and the old boiler we removed from the milllast fall, dump it on the tracks at the crossing, and get the locomotiveback on its run. Understand? The other side, having no means of removingthese heavy obstructions, will be blocked until I return; by that timethe matter will be in the District Court, Cardigan will be hung up untilhis temporary franchise expires--and the city council will not renew it.Get me?"
"Yes, sir."
"I'll be back Sunday forenoon. Good-bye."
He hung up, went to his chauffeur's quarters over the garage, and routedthe man out of bed. Then he returned quietly to his room, dressed andpacked a bag for his journey, left a brief note for Shirley notifyingher of his departure, and started on his two-hundred-and-fifty miletrip over the mountains to the south. As his car sped through sleepingSequoia and gained the open country, the Colonel's heart thrilledpleasurably. He held cards and spades, big and little casino, fouraces and the joker; therefore he knew he could sweep the board at hispleasure. And during his absence Shirley would have opportunity tocool off, while he would find time to formulate an argument to lull hersuspicions upon his return.
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