But it was distinctly to be understood by all that the gentlemen whom he represented did not propose to entertain, and would not tolerate, any interference with their plans.  He begged, in conclusion, to present to them, with the request for a respectful and intelligent hearing, that able, that distinguished, that benevolent gentleman, well known in financial circles of the East, Mr. John Ellsworth of New York, who would now address them.

Barkley sat down, and, with customary gesture of the orator, passed his handkerchief across his brow.  Then he gazed up, surprised.  The applause was long in coming.  He straightened in his chair.  The applause did not come at all.  The men of Heart’s Desire sat hard and grim, each silent, each looking straight ahead, nor asking any counsel.

Ellsworth felt the chill which lay upon the audience, and understood its meaning.  He stood before them, a rather portly figure, clean, ruddy, well clad, fully self-possessed, and now, by intent, conciliatory.  With hands behind his back, he told a certain funny little story with which he had been wont to conquer, at least in social gatherings.  No ripple came in response.  The eyes of the men of Heart’s Desire looked as intolerably keen and straight at him as they had at his predecessor.  He could feel them plainly in the gloom beyond.

Unconsciously on the defensive now, he explained in detail the undeniable advantages which would accrue to Heart’s Desire on the advent of this railroad and the carrying out of the plans that had been outlined.  He did not deny that he considered the opinion of his counsel valid; that the valley was in effect open to settlement; that they had taken steps to put the first legal possession in their own names.  Yet, he stated, although they had taken over a number of claims to which there seemed to be no legal title, they did not propose to interfere, if it could be avoided, with the holdings of any man then living in Heart’s Desire.  The re-survey of the town would naturally make some changes, but these should sit as lightly as possible upon those affected.  Of course, the railroad company could condemn and confiscate, but it did not wish to confiscate.  It desired to take the attitude of justice and fairness.  The gentlemen should bear in mind that all these improvements ran into very considerable sums of money.  A hundred miles of the railroad below them must pass over a barren plain, a cattle country and not an agricultural region, and hence offering relatively small support to a railroad enterprise.  As yet, artesian water was unknown in that country, and might remain always a problem.  No natural streams crossed that great dry table land which lay to the west, or the similar plateau to the east.  All their hopes lay in this one valley and its resources, and while without doubt those resources were great, while the coal-fields upon the one side of the valley and the gold claims upon the other had been proved beyond a peradventure to be of value, the gentlemen should nevertheless remember that all this road building and mine developing cost money, a great deal of money.  Of course, no capital could be invested except under the protection of a stable and adequate system of the law.