"No," said Bates, "I"d rather you didn"t do that; I can find it out somehow."
"Did you come all the way to Newport to see me?" asked the General.
"Oh, no, not entirely," said Bates. "I"m to get an interview with Wyman about the new bond issue of his road. What do you think of the market, General?"
"Things look bad to me," said Prentice. "It"s a good time to reef sail."
Then Bates turned to Montague. "I think I pa.s.sed you a while ago in the street," he said pleasantly. "You were with James Gamble, weren"t you?"
"Yes," said Montague. "Do you know him?"
"Bates knows everybody," put in the General; "that"s his specialty."
"I happen to know Gamble particularly well," said Bates. "I have a brother in his office in Pittsburg. What in the world do you suppose he is doing in Newport?"
"Just seeing the world, so he told me," said Montague. "He has nothing to do since his company sold out."
"Sold out!" echoed Bates. "What do you mean?"
"Why, the Trust has bought him out," said Montague.
The other stared at him. "What makes you think that?" he asked.
"He told me so himself," was the answer.
"Oh!" laughed the other. "Then it"s just some dodge that he"s up to!"
"You think he hasn"t sold?"
"I don"t think it, I know it," said Bates. "At any rate, he hadn"t sold three days ago. I had a letter from my brother saying that they were expecting to land a big oil contract with the government that would put them on Easy Street for the next five years!"
Montague said no more. But he did some thinking. Experience had sharpened his wits, and by this time he knew a clew when he met it.
A while later, when Bates had gone and his brother had come in with Alice, he got Oliver off in a corner and demanded, "How much are you to get out of that oil contract?"
The other stared at him in consternation. "Good heavens!" he exclaimed. "Did he tell you about it?"
"He told me some things," said Montague, "and I guessed the rest."
Oliver was watching him anxiously. "See here, Allan," he said, "you"ll keep quiet about it!"
"I imagine I will," said the other. "It"s none of my business, that I can see."
Then suddenly Oliver broke into a smile of amus.e.m.e.nt. "Say, Allan!"
he exclaimed. "He"s a clever dog, isn"t he!"
"Very clever," admitted the other.
"He"s been after that thing for six months, you know--and just as smooth and quiet! It"s about the slickest game I ever heard of!"
"But how could he know what officers were to make out those specifications?"
"Oh, that"s easy," said the other. "That was the beginning of the whole thing. They got a tip that the contract was to be let, and they had no trouble in finding out the names of the officers. That kind of thing is common, you know; the bureaus in Washington are rotten."
"I see," said Montague.
"Gamble"s company is in a bad way," Oliver continued. "The Trust just about had it in a corner. But Gamble saw this chance, and he staked everything on it."
"But what"s his idea?" asked the other. "What good will it do him to write the specifications?"
"There are five officers," said Oliver, "and he"s been laying siege to every one of them. So now they are all his intimate friends, and every one of them has come to him for help! So there will go into Washington five sets of specifications, all different, but each containing one essential point. You see, Gamble"s company has a peculiar kind of oil; it contains some ingredient or other--he told me the name, but I don"t remember it now. It doesn"t make it any better oil, and it doesn"t make it any worse; but it"s different from any other oil in the world. And now, don"t you see--whatever other requirements are specified, this one quality will surely appear; and there will be only one company in the world that can bid. Of course they will name their own figure, and get a five-year contract."
"I see," said Montague, drily. "It"s a beautiful scheme. And how much do you get out of it?"
"He paid me ten thousand at the start," said Oliver; "and I am to get five per cent of the first year"s contract, whatever that may be. Gamble says his bid won"t be less than half a million, so you see it was worth while!"
And Oliver chuckled to himself. "He"s going home to-morrow," he added. "So my job is done. I"ll probably never see him again--until his four prize daughters get ready for the market!"
CHAPTER XIV
Montague returned to New York and plunged into his work. The election at which he was scheduled to become president of the Northern Mississippi was not to come off for a month. Meantime there was no lack of work for him to do. It would, of course, be necessary for him to return to Mississippi to live, and he had to close up his affairs in New York. Also he wished to fit himself for the work of superintending a railroad. Through the courtesy of General Prentice, he was introduced to the president of one of the great transcontinental lines, and made a study of that official"s office system. He went South again to inspect the work of the surveyors, and to consult with the engineers who had been selected for the work.
Price went ahead with his arrangements to take over the control of the road, without paying any attention to the old management. He sent for Montague one day, and introduced him to a Mr. Haskins, who was to be elected vice-president of the road. Haskins, he said, had formerly been general manager of the Tennessee Southern, and was a practical railroad man. Montague was to rely upon him for all the details of his work.
Haskins was a wiry, nervous little man, with a bad temper and a sarcastic tongue; he worshipped the gospel of efficiency, and in the consultations with him Montague got many curious lights upon the management of railroads. He learned, for instance, that a conspicuous item in the construction account was the money to be used in paying local government boards for right of way through towns and villages. Apparently no one even considered the possibility of securing the privilege by any other methods. Montague did not like the prospect, but he said nothing. Then again, the road was to purchase its rails and other necessaries from the Mississippi Steel Company, and apparently it was expected to pay a fancy price for these; it was not to ask for any of the discounts which were customary. Also Montague was troubled to learn that the secretary and treasurer of the road were to receive liberal salaries, and that no questions were to be asked, because they were relatives of Price.
All that he put up with; but matters came to a head about ten days before the election, when one day Haskins came to his office with the engineers" estimates, and with his own figures of the probable cost of the extension. Most of the figures were much higher than those which Montague had worked out for himself.
"We ought to do better on those contracts," he said, pointing to some of the items.
"I dare say we might," said Haskins; "but those contracts are to go to the Hill Manufacturing Company."
"I don"t understand you," said Montague; "I thought that we were to advertise for bids."
"Yes," replied Haskins, "but that company is to get the contracts, all the same."
"You mean," asked Montague, "that we are not to give them to the lowest bidder?"
"I"m afraid not," said the other.
"Has Price said anything to you to that effect?"
"He has."
"But I don"t understand," said Montague; "what is this Hill Manufacturing Company?"