“All right.  Now as to the court affair.  If it is managed exactly as I have outlined, there will be no trouble—­and no recourse for the other fellows.  When I say that, I’m leaving out your Supreme Court.  Under certain conditions, if the defendant’s hardship could be definitely shown, a writ of certiorari and supersedeas might issue.  How about that?”

The governor closed one eye slowly, the better to check the troublesome multiplying process.

“The Supreme Court won’t move in the matter.  The ostensible reason will be that the court is now two years behind its docket.”

“And the real reason?”

“Of the three justices, one of them was elected on our ticket; another is a personal friend of Judge MacFarlane.  The goods will be delivered.”

“That’s all, then; all but one word.  Your judge is a weak brother.  Notwithstanding all the pains I took to show him that his action would be technically unassailable, he was ready to fly the track at any moment.  Have you got him safe?”

Bucks held up one huge hand with the thumb and forefinger tightly pressed together.

“I’ve got him right there,” he said.  “If you and Hawk have got your papers in good shape, the thing will go through like a hog under a barbed-wire fence.”

IX

THE SHOCKING OF HUNNICOTT

It was two weeks after the date of the governor’s fishing trip, and by consequence Judge MacFarlane’s court had been the even fortnight in session in Gaston, when Kent’s attention was recalled to the forgotten Varnum case by another letter from the local attorney, Hunnicott.

“Varnum vs.  Western Pacific comes up Friday of this week, and they are going to press for trial this time, and no mistake,” wrote the local representative.  “Hawk has been chasing around getting affidavits; for what purpose I don’t know, though Lesher tells me that one of them was sworn by Houligan, the sub-contractor who tried to fight the engineer’s estimates on the Jump Creek work.

“Also, there is a story going the rounds that the suit is to be made a blind for bigger game, though I guess this is all gossip, based on the fact that Mr. Semple Falkland’s private car stopped over here two weeks ago, from three o’clock in the afternoon till midnight of the same day.  Jason, of the Clarion, interviewed the New Yorker, and Falkland told him he had stopped over to look up the securities on a mortgage held by one of his New York clients.”

Kent read this unofficial letter thoughtfully, and later on took it in to the general manager.

“Just to show you the kind of jackal we have to deal with in the smaller towns,” he said, by way of explanation.  “Here is a case that Stephen Hawk built up out of nothing a year ago.  The woman was put off one of our trains because she was trying to travel on a scalper’s ticket.  She didn’t care to fight about it; but when I had about persuaded her to compromise for ten dollars and a pass to her destination, Hawk got hold of her and induced her to sue for five thousand dollars.”