The Lion and The Mouse

. The supercilious, well-groomed clerks who, on ordinary days, are far too preoccupied with their own personal affairs to betray the slightest interes

clicking typewriters, each of their owners intent on reducing with all possible despatch the mass of letters which lay piled up in front of her. Through the

everish dash of an ambulance-all these familiar noises of a great city had the far-away sound peculiar to top floors of the modern sky-scraper.

deferential salutation of the clerks. Earlier arrivals had preceded them, and as they opened the door there issued from the Directors Room a confused murmur of voices, each different in pitch and tone, some deep and deliberate, others shrill and nervous, but all talking earnestly and with animation as men do when the subject under discussion is of common interest. Now a

a quorum of such strength and which made to-day's gathering one of extraordinary importance in the history of the road. That the business on hand was of the greatest signi

asked a clerk in a whisper. "Is not t

d turned impatientl

t stake. And between you and me," he added in a lower key, "with Judge Rossmore on the bench we never stood much show. It's Judge Rossmore that scares 'em, not the injunction. The

ught accepting $50,000 worth of stock for that de

eard he added contemptuously, "The big interests fear him, and they're inventing these lies to try and injure him. They migh

lf checked in its career of outlawry and oppression. The railroad, this modern octopus of steam a

nd inaccessible territory and made oases of waste places. It brought to the city coal, lumber, food and other prime necessaries of life, taking back to the farmer and the woodsman in exchange, clothes and other manufactured

mercy those who were defenceless. It raised its rates for hauling freight, discriminating against certain localities without reason or justice, and favouring other points where its own interests lay. By corrupting government officials and other unlawful methods it appropriated lands, and there was no e

e latter to enjoy lower freight rates than their competitors. The smaller shippers were soon crushed out of existence in this way. Competition was throttled and prices went up, making the railroad barons richer and t

e fortune was estimated at only eight millions in our money, was a pauper compared with John Burkett Ryder, whose holdings no man could count, but which were approximately estimated at a thousand millions of do

ia, he became a dealer in the raw product and later a refiner, acquiring with capital, laboriously saved, first one refinery, then another. The railroads were cutting each other's throats to secure the freight business of the oil men, and John Burkett Ryder saw his opportunity. He made secret overtures to the road, guaranteeing a vast amount of business if he could get exceptionally low rates, and the illegal compact was made. His competitors, undersold in the market, stood no chance, an

orld had ever known. And the richer he got the stronger the idea grew upon him with all the force of a morbid obsession. He thought of money by day, he dreamt of it at night. No matter by what questionable device it was to be procured, more gold and more must flow into his already overflowi

ated a great mining company to which the public was invited to subscribe. The scheme having the endorsement of the Empire Trading Company no one suspected a snare, and such was the magic of John Ryder's name that gold flowed in from every point of the compass. The stock sold away above par the day it was issued. Men deemed themselves fortunate if they wer

ed such stupendous wealth. In other words, John Ryder had not been equipped by Nature with a conscience. He had no sense of right, or wrong, or justice where his own interests were concerned. He was the prince of egoists. On the other hand, he possessed qualities which, with some people, count as virtues. He wa

and acres along the line, and it is true that at the time of the purchase there had been some idea of laying the land out as a park. But real estate values had increased in astonishing fashion, the road could no longer afford to carry out the original scheme, and had attempted to dispose of the property for building purposes, including a right of way f

kept arriving from the ever-busy elevators. The meeting was called for three o'clock. Another five minutes and the chairman would rap for ord

Ryder arr

ward to reply would indicate that his interlocut

te." Then with a deferential smile he added:

heel, greeted with a grasp of the hand and affable smile

to the Legislature, where his ability as an organizer soon gained the friendship of the men in power, and later was sent to Congress, where he was quickly initiated in the game of corrupt politics. In 1885 he entered the United States Senate. He soon became the acknowledged leader of a considerable majority of the Republican senator

qualms of conscience, so they never quarrelled. If the Ryder interests needed anything in the Senate, Roberts and his followers were there to attend to it. Just now the cohort was marshalled in defence of the railroads against the attacks of the new Rebate bill. In fact, Ryder managed to keep the Senate busy all the

s of dollars. Could the human mind grasp the possibilities of such a colossal fortune? It staggered the imagination. Its owner, or the man who controlled it, would be master of the world! Was not this a prize any man might well set himself out to win? The senator was thinking of it now as he stood exchanging banal remarks with the men who accosted him. If he could only bring off that marriage he would be content. The ambition of his life would be attained. There was no difficulty as far as John Ryder was c

ged obstinacy, alert mentality. To these qualities he added what his father sorely lacked-a high notion of honour, a keen sense of right and wrong. He had the honest man's contempt for meanness of any description, and he had little patience with the lax so-called business morals of the day. For him a dishonourable or dishonest action could have no apologist, and he cou

life based merely on a system of moral philosophy was the worst kind of paganism. There could, she argued, be no religion, and assuredly no salvation, outside the dogmatic teachings of the Church. But otherwise Jefferson was a model son and, with the exception of this bad habit of thinking for himself on religious matters, really gave her no anxiety. When Jefferson left college, his father took him into the Empire Trading Company with the idea of his eventually suc

or, you're al

nt man, one of the directors. He was no favourite with the senator, but the latter was too keen a man of

junction? The case has gone against us. I knew Judge Rossmore's decisi

ce grew more apoplec

an't I for one quit railroading. The press! Pshaw! It's all graft, I tell you. It's nothing but a strike! I never knew one of these virtuous outbursts that wa

tor smil

serious than that. Hitherto the road has b

e round to see if any long ears

rtwright case, when franchise rights valued at nearly five millions were

wry grimace a

Court judge don't get a cheque for $20,000

jail if it were found out," sai

and he could not resist the

d, others might be getting

from under his white eyebrows. Then

oad could not buy Judge Rossmore with $200,000

e of Mr. Grimsby l

of the dollar, to understand that there were in the world, breathing the same air as they, men wh

ic life who is unapproachable

ho takes his duties seriously. In the strictest sense of the term, he serves his count

that the charge was true as far as he and the men he consorted with were concerned, but sometimes the truth hurts. That was why he had for a momen

blic life to a man who pursues it by honest methods it was the success of James Rossmore. He could never help feeling that Rossmore had been endowed by Nature with certain qualities which had been denied to him, above all that ability to walk straight through life with skirts clean which he had found impossible himself. To-day Judge Rossmore was one of the most celebrated judges in the country. He was a brilliant jurist and a splendid after-dinner speaker. He was considered the most learned and able of all the members of the judiciary, and his decisions were noted as much for their

inced, returned

dge Rossmore take a bribe from the Great No

, "but until Mr. Ryder arrives I can say nothing. I believe he h

An active, dapper little man with glasses and with books under hi

he minutes. The meeting is

had not quite died away when the big swinging doors from the street were thrown open and there entered a tall, thin man, gray-headed, and w

urkett Ryder,