Scattergood Baines

od Baines to his wife, Mandy, as he tore open the ye

telegrams come high.... Huh! Jest one word-'Come.'

," said Sc

he was bound to telegraph why d

he don't like to put no more in writin' that's apt to pass from hand to h

dy busy laying clothing in their canvas telescope

might be," said Scattergood, "but I

cation," said Mandy. "Johnnie Bones i

n' young man. I don't calc'late Johnnie's done us no harm. Hai

ed to take chances. "Be sure you keep your money in the pants pocket on the

" said Scattergood, "is that he h

in Coldriver as the vital business of his life. It was now ten years since Scattergood had walked up Coldriver Valley to the village of Coldriver. It was ten years since he had embarked on the conquest of that desirable valley, with a total working capital of forty dollars and some cents

peculate. When Mandy thought him safely asleep she covered his feet with a paper, to conceal from the public view this evidence of a character not overgiven to refinements. It is characteristic of Scat

aiting for Scatterg

d, "did you sell that kitc

he weasel skin and laying money on the counter, Sam guessed M

fect; but you got your shortcomings. Hardware's o

said

president of

b he's holdin'

ou were, so he had to tell me what he wanted. He wants t

, to the telegraph operator, and wrote a brief but eminently chara

up to the store and sort of fig

chair creaked under his great weight as he stooped to remove his shoes. For a moment he wrig

objects-makin' money and payin' off grudges. Mos

done so he would have uttered no rebuke, but would have hoisted himself out of his chair and would h

yin' off a doggone big grudge.... Somebody we don't know about is calc'latin' on movin' into this valley, Johnnie. Somebody that's g

followed the reasoni

?" Scattergood poked a chubby fin

e. Can't git timber out to no other place. And, Johnnie, buyin' timber is a heap more important and difficult than buyin' mill sites. Eh?... Johnnie, you ketch the first train for Tupper Falls. I own a mite

go actin' hasty," said

uy that land. Knowin' nobody else wants it, and it hain't no good for no

kin' range and take it up to Sam Kettleman's house. Git a man to help you. Tell Mis' Kettle

th it. Presently Sam Kettleman appeared on the porch of his grocery across the street, and Scattergood called to him:

of rage, glaring at Scattergood. "I didn't buy no stove. You know dum well I didn't buy no sto

rival grocer. "I kin haul this one right to his house, and explain to him how he come to git it so soon. I'll say: 'Locker, we jest hauled this stove down from Sam Kettl

aid Ket

ll take pains to conterdict whatever story she goes spreadin' about you bein' too mean to git your wife things to do with in the kitchen, a

ow

he'll git it right off. Oven's cracked on hern, and she allows she sp'iles every batch of b

nd removin' things without my permission, I kin tell you. Don't you try to forgit it, neither. If you think

tove till it's

ick. Thirty-eight dollars, was it? N

again he turned to Johnnie Bones. "Sellin' hard-ware's easy if you put your mind to it, Johnnie. Trouble with you is

snooze. Mr. Castle approached, stopped, regarded Scattergood with a pucker of his thin lips, and said to himself that the man must be an accident. It was one of Scattergood's most valuable qualities that his appear

d Scattergoo

Baines. You g

reply to it, I must ha

e talk

k

was within earshot. He occupie

to mean that you are will

message meant je

railroad cost you-

Scattergood, wi

mboldt-twenty miles. May have to tunnel Hopper Mountain, but it wil

n was not only impracticable from the point of view of engineering,

d a profit of twenty-

said Scattergood. "I git that

g interest on y

goin' to. I'm aimi

igure yo

t no figge

e frank with you. I

ed," said

a profit of fifty thousan

usiness is over with," he said, "better come up and set down to table with

ref

, "if you had any notion if I could

tle, startled. "Th

f Tuppe

tle snapped his tee

aid Scattergood.

you'd be mighty glad to sell

d says to another boy, 'I kin lick you,' The story come

atening you,"

Say, Mr. Castle, be you goin' into this dea

the best box of cigars in Boston if you'l

and perty soon the shell busts and there stands the information all flu

nswer a fai

fairness of it agre

rick got to

a matter of fact, he did not know who McKettrick was-but he could find out. "Don't seem to recall any co

k. I don't understand his spilling the

itin'," said

fer to buy

cattergood, "it did

ion had surrounded himself with a haze through which President Castle was unable to see clearly. Castle knew

and reported to Scattergood that

quiet. Three strips from the river to the hill were not to be had, but I bo

f fat and strip of lean. Dunno but it's better as

ing it for a month bac

umberman's Trust Company, Bosto

hours later the answer came, "Goo

e, why I never got int'reste

shook

and no stream runnin' through it big enough to drive logs down.... But I got an ide

N

rs and eighty cents for haulin' a minimum car of twenty-four thousand. And this hain't goin' to be any one-car mill, neither. Five cars a day'll be increasin' our revenue twenty-four thousand three hunderd dollars a year-on outgoin' freight. Then there's incomin' freight to figger. All we got to do is set still and take

he piazza. Presently a team drove up from down the valley and a tal

d a man named Scattergo

Scattergo

re i

said Scattergoo

attergood's shabby, baggy trousers, and then on upward, by slow and disappro

"I want the owner of the

alculate it is a mistake to own a railroad.

wn the

ulate

e allowed it to appear in his manner that he set a light value on Scattergood; in fact, that it was not exactly pleasa

he stranger, "I want t

d Scattergood, motioning to a chai

considerable plant. In studying the situation it seems as if your railroa

d Scattergood,

ff your hands a

eavy on my hands,

did it c

ell for.... You hain't

ettr

rgood

o a man of

w m

dollars," sai

exclamation of disgust, a statement of belief, and

arked plain on the goods. Custom

not se

llion d

oad down my sid

t more 'n fifteen, twenty million-if you're figgerin' on the west side of the

.. What

g, yourself,

Baines, what

eedful. I try t

at you know

peered over his dumpling cheeks

you found

Also, I'll give you a commodity rate of seven cents to the G. and B. As to sellin', I don't calc'late you want to buy at a million. But that hain't no sign you and me can't do business. Yo

ood with awakened interest. H

cking ha

ow

ck almos

me up?" aske

N

tep to t

Scattergood's bulk

McKettrick. He wants you should tell him somethin' about me. For insta

rrowing from five hundred thousand to t

n for keepin' his wor

nows your word is

late I'm wuth-v

ion and a half

it you, Mr. McKettric

t look like two millions; he did not look like t

proposition you wi

hnnie Bones's,"

n Johnnie's office, and McKettr

in build cheaper 'n you, and I know the country and kin git the labor. You pay the new railroad a set price for haulin' pulpwood-say dollar 'n a quarter to two dollars a cord, as we figger it later.... Then I'll take the job

ved for a showing of profit on the profit sheet, the same McKettrick was planning to see that no profit would be there and that Scattergood Baines should be eliminated from consideration-to

le Red Ridin' Hood's grandmother-figgerin' I'd qualify for little Red Ridin' Hood without the eyesight for big ears and big teeth that lit

mpany should remain in his own name until the road was completed and ready to operate. Then 49 per cent should be

od as treasurer, an employee of McKettrick's as secretary, and Mandy Bai

me measure, to take the keen edge off his attention. Scattergood usually endeavored to have some matter arise to irritate and di

ured the site for his mills, and that, apparently, it coul

that got a notion of hangin' on

the present owners were recent. The

got no right of eminent

e it," said McKettrick. "You know these

to terms. Three would sell, surely; one was holding back strangely, but the three had put the matter into

importantly, "realize the value of their pr

n three thousand dollars for the

e gone up,"

d dollars profit apie

it and their takin' it," said Scatter

ble business," said Scattergood, "and you

Mr. Baines; but I've got to

your pro

llars apiece for

ed McKettrick. "I'll ne

aid Wangen,

have it," Scatt

er. There could be but one result: McKettrick wrote a check for fifteen thousand dollars

ssity, and how McKettrick suffered from failure to build securely his commercial structure from its foundation. Twenty-two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars were paid by McKettrick for land that had cost Scattergood exactly three thousa

adn't looked sneerin' at my stockin' fe

d dollars each. McKettrick put in his right of way at five thousand, an excessive figure, as Scattergood knew well, and gave his check for the balance of his

much as a foot of the new railroad back into the Goodhue tract-and this, Scattergood very correctly took to be suspicious. The work was left utte

tered President Castle of the G.

in a logging road for

"Stock stands in my name. Ca

with his fingers on the window

ht of way?"

ht, or whatever the lawyers would call it, to run tracks over any part of McKettrick's

ite right

at I des

r two hundred t

-hu

ock for

he presen

a pr

al,

of twenty do

at figger," said Scattergood, "whi

a quick turnover-and I'm not

one to pick with

ay

y. Stock to stand in my name till the road's ready to operate, I don't want it known I've been sellin' any.... Sh

quinting through a slit between the lids. "I

said Sca

eck in the mail the day aft

-this time a capitalization of the spite of man toward man. It will be seen that McKettrick owned 49 per cent

ain. McKettrick brought them in person. He burst upon Scattergood as

mber? It's waste money, lost money. It'll have to be rebuilt. We've made all arrangements to cut

"so that's it, eh? I was wo

You know how the railroad's contract with the company re

got 'em in

office has the word 'westerly' in it, plain and distinct. It means tearing up those rails, grading a new line-and yo

iscoverin' it

eft wholl

Scattergood. "So all that work

eem to take

d I calculate to

y good. The mis

om the start on smougin' me out of what I invested in that road, eh?... By th

for damages for your blunder. The Seaboard will sue the new railroad for damages for failure to have the tracks into the cuttings on time. I gues

be frozen out, eh?

, my advice to you is not to fight the thing. You can'

your pro

ur stock to

hunderd and

lt if you make ex

n litigation. S'posin' you and me meets in Boston to-mor

t-but I'll meet you to-morrow

I be," said

per cent of the railroad's stock to the G. & B. offices, an

re will be a meeting at his hotel at th

" said Pres

tronized. McKettrick was there with his attorney, Scattergood

ettrick scowled and

want here?"

at depths of disagreeability, "I own forty-nine per cent of th

ttrick glared at Scattergood, wh

l relieve my f

trick said to Castle. "I d

I'm int

good, with increasing rage. As he saw it there was a plot between Scattergood and McKettrick to

n't calc'late to make errors costin' upward of a hunderd thousand. No.... Not," he said, "that I got any doubts about the word 'westerly' appearin' in all the papers McKettrick's got regardin' this enterprise. What I doubt some

ttrick. "Of course that i

ick. I took them original papers out of your office for jest a day, and bein' as they constituted an easement on land, I got 'em recorded in the office of the recorder of deeds. Paid reg'lar money in fees to have it done. And who you think I got to compare the records with the original in case somethin' come up, eh? Why, the circui

" said Johnnie Bones, laying a memorandum

do," said President C

Kettrick looked like a man who had come out of a warm bath into a

he said,

tle's got another forty-nine per cent. That leaves two men with all but two per cent of the stock, and neither of them in control. If I know them men they hain't apt to git together and agree peaceable and reasonable. Therefore, the feller that has th

I take off my hat to you, Ba

choked M

board folks makes it look like it would pay eighteen, twenty per cent

n," sai

xte

en five

ethin' to pick and eat. It'll hurt him some to have you control this road, Castle, so you git it, at seventeen thousand five hu

lip across to Scattergood. "Thankee," said Baines, "and good day....

the room, followe

ives me a profit of twelve thousand two hunderd and fifty for the day. Add that to eighteen thousand one hunderd and

thousand," s

ers," said Scattergood, comfortabl