Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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mmmi by jack London Authop Or 'The Call Or The Mm? y/f/te Fang* "ttAPmliDENFrc Illustdations By P^rbornMelvill iCopvrbtht 1910. by the New York Herald Company.) (Copyright. ltlO, by the MacMUIan Company. "I know I've be*n brtsh on some of those rides that tot into the papers,** he began hit defence, "end that I've been traveling Will s lively crowd?" "1 don * mesn that." the seid, "though I know about It. too. and cen t say that I like it But it Is your life In general, your business. There are women In the wcrld who couM marry a man like you end be happy, but I couldn't And tho more I cared for tnch a men. the more unhappy I should be. Tou see. try unhspplness. hi tarn, would tend to make him un? happy. I should make a mistake, and he would make sn equal mistake, though his would not be so bard on him because he would still have his business.** "Business'" m Daylight gasped, ??What's wrong with my business? I play fslr snd square. There's nothj tng underhand about It. which can't he said of most businesses, whether of the big corporation* or ef the cheat lag, lying, little comer grocerymen. I play tie straight rules of the game, end I don't have to lie or cheat or break my word." "Don't you see,** he went on, "the whole game Is a gamble Everybody gambles Is one way ->r soother. The farmer gambles against the weather ead the market on his crops. So doee the United States Steel Corporation. Tao business of lots of men is straight robbery of the poor people* Bat I've ?ever made that my business. Tou know that. I've elways gone sfter the robbers," "1 missed my point," she admitted. "Walt a minute." Aad for a space they 'rode In at* "I see ft more clearly than I can etate it. but It's something like this. There Is legtlrosts work, snd there's work that well, that lint legitimate. The farmer works the soil and pro? duces) grain. He's making something that Is good for humant'.y. He actual? ly. In s way. creates something, the grsln tbst will fill the months of the hungry ' "And ? hen the railroads snd market riggers snd the rest proceed to rob htm of that ssrae grain." Daylight broke nr. N "There ain't much difference be? tween playing halfwsj robber like the railroad hauling that farmer's whuet to market, and playing all rob? ber end robbing the robbers like I do. Arstt, besides, halfway lobbery It too eleif a gsmt for me to tit In. You dost win quick enough for me." "But what do you war t to win for?" Dede demanded "You have millions I sued ml I Hons, already; why can't you tat good with sll your noneyT' Daylight lsugbed. "Doing good with rour money! Ain't It funny, to go around with brass | smacklee snd a big club breaking folks' h??ada tod tak'ng their money away from them untd I've got a pile, aad then, repenting A my ways, going around snd bar ??ging up the heads the other robbers are breaking? I leave It to you. That's what doing good with money amounts to. Every once la a while tome robber turnt soft bfesrted snd takes to driving sn am tmhuice. Test's whst Csmegle did. He c mashed heads In pitched bsttles at Homestead, regular wholesale head breaker he wss, held up the tuckers for e few hundred million, and now he goes sround dribbling it hack to them. Funny? I leave It to you." lie rolled a cigarette and watched her hslf curiously, half imusedly. His replies snd harsh generalizations of a hnrsh school were disconcerting, and she came back to her ei.rller position. "1 cent ergue with you. end you know that. No matter bow right a woman It. men have auch a way about them?well, what they say sounds ?seat convincing, snd yet the woman Is still certain they are wrong. But there Is one thing, the crestlve Joy; snd it's s higher Joy than mere gam Mtag. HaveVt you ever made things yourself?s log cabin up in the Yu? kon, or a esnoe. or raft, or something? And don't you remember how satis? fied you were, how good you felt, while you we; e doing It snd after you hsd It don!*" While s*be spoke Ma memory was busy with the associations she recall eel He ssw the deserted flat on the rlvtr bank by the Klondike, and he eew the log cabins an 1 warehouses anting up. aud sll the log structures he hsd tuft, snd his sitwmllla work tng night and day on th 'ee shifts. "Why. dog-gone it. Miss Mason, you're right?in a way I vo hullt hundreds of houses tip th. re. and I remember I was proud and glad to see them go up. I'm proud now. tybjgfl 1 remember them. An I there was Ophir the g*na| Qed-fofsakss i past art of s creek you ever laid eyes on. I rjnde that Into the Mg Ophlf, Why. 1 tan the wattr in there from the Rfnksbllly, eighty mil. s away. They sll said I couldn't t it I did It, snd I did It by myself, Tht deal 1 the flume ggai me four million. Mut you thould hnvi seenthatOphif m I er plants, tlectrlt lights, and hun? dreds of men on the psj roll night an ! day. I guess I do g-t nil Little Miss Minnie W lllamaon am? "I Ulke* You, Mr. Harnish, and Thal It All." Inkling of what you mean by making i thing. I made Ophir. and she was a hummer." "And you won something there that was more than mere money," Dedo encouraged. "Now do you know what I would do If I had lots of money and simply had to go on playing at business? Take all the southerly and westerly slope of these bare hills. I'd buy them in and plant eucalyptus on them. I'd do it for the joy of doing it anyway; but suppose I had that gam? bling twist in me which you talk about, why. I'd do it just the same and make money out of the trees. And there's my other point again. Inst< t of raising the price of coal without adding an ounce of coal to the market sunply, I'd he making thousands anti thousands of cords of firewood?mak? ing something where nothing was be fore. And everybody who ever crossed on the ferries would look up at these forested hills and be made glad. Who war, made glad by your adding four dollars a ton to Rock Wells? It was Daylight's turn to be silent for a time while she waited an an? swer. "Would you rather I did things like that?" be asked at last. "It would be better for the world, and better for > du." she answered noncommlttally. CHAPTER XVI. All week every one In the office knew that something new and big was afoot In DayMght'8 mind. On Sunday Dede learned all about it. "I've been thinking a lot of our talk," he began, "and I've got an idea I'd like to give It a flutter. And I've got a proposition to make your hair stand up. It's what you call legiti? mate, and at the same time It's the gosh-dangdest gamble a man ever went Into. How about planting min v._) "Look st It," Said Daylight, Extending Hie Arm in a Sweeping Cesture. tttes wholesale, and making two mln gttJI gfOl trhorg one minute gfwi be fore? Oh. yes, and planting a fcw tie.-*, too -say several million oi them. You remember the quarry 1 made believe I was looking at? Well, I'm going to buy it. I'm going to buy these hills, too, clear from here around ?<> Herkcley and dOWg the other WaJ to San I.eandro. 1 own a lot of them already, for that matter, Hut inutn Is the word. I'll be buying a long time to eotne before gnythlng much Is guessed gboot It. and 1 don't want the inatkot to Jump up out Of tight You see that bill over there. It's my till running clear down Its sjaaat through Piedmont sad halfway along those rolling hills Into Oakland. And It's nothing to all the thlngl I'm going to buy." He paused triumphantly. Mhi Sue Dultle from tie- Woman's "The lorry system "aetween Oakland and San Francisco is the worst one horse concern In the United States. You cross on It every day, six days In the Week, That's say, twenty-five days a month, or three hundred a ' tar, How long does It take you one way? Forty minutes, If you're lucky. I'm going to put you across In twen ?v i h uti If that nln't making two minutes grow where one grew before, knock off my uoad with little applee. I'll save you twenty minutes each v y. Tl tt'l forty minuet a day. times three hundred, equal to twelve thou II id minutes a year, just for you. just fo ? one person. Let's see: that's 'wo hnndrt d whole hours. Suppose I save two hundred hours a year for thou? sands of other folks?that's farming Mune, ain't It? Come on. Let's ride Up that hill, and when I get you out on top where you can sec something, Hi talk sense." A small footpath dropped down to the dry bed of the canyon, which they crosped before they began the climb. The slope was steep and covered with matted brush and bushes, through which the horses slipped and lunged. Showers of twigs and leaves fell upon them, and predicament, followed pre? dicament, until they emerged on the hilltop the worse for wear but happy and excited. Here no trees obstruct? ed the view. The particular hill on which they were, out-jutted from the regular line of the range, fo that the sweep of their vision extended over three-quarters of the circle. Below, on the flat land bordering the bay, lay Oakland, and across the bay was San Francisco. Between the two cities they could see the white ferry-boats on the water. Around to their right was Berkeley, and to their left the scattered villages between Oakland and San Leandro. Directly In the fore ground was Piedmont, with Its desul? tory dwellings and patches of farming land, and from Piedmont the land rolled down in successive waves upon Oakland. "Look at it." said Daylight, extend? ing his arm in a sweeping gesture. I "A hundred thousand people there, ' and no reason there shouldn't be half a million. There's the chance to make five people grow where one grows now. Here's the scheme in a nutshell. Why don't more people live in Oak? land? No good service with San Fran? cisco, and, besides. Oakland is asleep. It's a whole lot better place to live in than San Francisco. Now, suppose 1 buy in all the street railways of Oak Innd, Herkeley, Alameda, San Leajidro, and the rest?bring them undo- one held With a competent management? B Ippotl 1 cut the time- to San Fran ci>-*-o one-half by building a big pi^r ' ? ? almost to Goat Island and eetabiilhlng a terry lyitem with mod ern up-to-date boat&? Why. folks wil want to live OVtf on this side. Very gcod. They'll need land on which to build. So, first 1 buy up the land. Bn1 tbl land's cher.;> now. Why? Be cruse it's In the country, no electric roads. BO ?; tick communication, no l.ody guessing ?!ut tlie electric roads, I tire coming. Ill build the roads. Thr:t I Will make the land jump up. Then j I'll Fell the land as fast as the folks j 1 will want to buy because of the im- j proved ferry iyit< m and transporta- i tlon facilitb i. i "You leg, l rive the value to tho land by building the roads. Then 1 sell the land and get that value back, and after that, there's the roads, all i carrying folks back and forth and earning big money. Can't lose. And there's all sorts of millions in it. I'm going to get my hands oi some of that water front and the tide-lands. Take between where I'm goir.g to build my pier and the old pier. I~.'s shallow wa i ter. I can fill and dredge and put In a system of docks that will handle j hundreds of ships. San Francisco's I water front is congested. No more j room for ships. With hundreds of i ships loading and unloading on this side right Into the freight cars of three big railroads, factories will start up over here Instead of crossing to San Francisco. That moans factory sites. That means me buying In the j factory sites before anybody guesses Ihl eat is going to jump, much less. Which way. Factories mean tons of thousands of workingmen and their | families. That means more houses and more land, and that means me, for IU be there to sell them the land. ! Then there's the water. I'll come nretty close to owning the watershed. vi ny not the Waterworks tod7 Thereat two water companies in Oakland now, ! fighting like cats nnd dogs and both about broke. What a metropolis needs Is a gocd water system. They can't give it. They're stick-in-the-muds. I'll gobble them up and deliver the right irtlcll to the city. There's money there, too?money everywhere. Every? thing works In with everything else. Fach Improvement makes the value of ( verythlng else jump up. It's people that are behind tho value. The big Tier the crowd that herds in one places I the more valuuble is the real estate. And this is tho very place for a crowd to herd. Ixxik at It. Just look at It! Von could never find a finer site for a greet city. All it needs is the herd, and I'll stampede a couplo of hundred thousand people in hero Inside two yetrt. And what's more, It won't bo ont of thete wildcat land boomt. It will be legitimate. Twenty years from now there'll be a million people I n this tide the bay. Another thing b* hotels. There isn't a dec< nf ono in the town, rn build i couple of up-to date ours that'll make them sit up and take BOtloa. I won't care If they don't pay for years Their effect will more i than give me mj money back out of the other boldlngt, And. oh, yet, I'm going to plant eucalyptut, millions of them, on thete hills." "Mut boa ate you going to do it?" i Dede liked, "You haven't enough i money for till tint you're planned" i'ollege, lColumbia, ip< :i> th< rWn?nii i ?' l mS?m t ~*< ?*555*? w. tm i? ? ? "I've thirty million, and if 1 need more I can borrow on tho land and other things. Interest on mortgagee won't anywhere near eat up the In? crease In land values, and 111 be sell? ing land right along." In the weeks that followed, Day? light WM a busy man. It meant quick work on a colossal scale, for Oakland and the adjacent country was not slow to fool the tremendous buying. Hut Daylight had the ready cash and it had always been his policy to strike quickly Before the others could get the warning of the boom, he quietly accomplished many things. At the same time that his agents were purchasing corner lots and entire blocks In tho heart of the business Beet ion and fho waste lands for fac? tory sites, Daylight was rushing fran? chises through tho city council, cap? turing the t>vo exhausted water com? panies and the eight or nine inde? pendent street railways, and getting his grip on the Oakland Creek and the bay tide-lands for his dock system. The tide-lands had been in litigation for years, and he took the bull by the horns?buying out the private owners and at the same time leasing from the city fathers. By the time that Oak? land was aroused by this unprecedent? ed activity in every direction and was questioning excitedly the moaning of it, Daylight secretly bought the chief Republican newspaper and the chief Democratic organ, and moved boldly into his new offices. Of necessity, they were on a large scale, occupying four floors of the only modern office build? ing in the town?the only building that wouldn't be torn down later on, as Daylight put it. There was de- | partment after department, a score of them, and hundreds of clerks and I Stenographers. As he told Dede: ? "I've got more companies than you can shake a stick it. There's the Ala meda & Contra Costa Land Syndicate, i the Consolidated Street Railways, the j Yerba Ruena Ferry Company, the j United Water Company, the Pied? mont Realty Company, the Fairview and Portola Hotel Company, and half a dozen more that I've got to refer to : a notebook to remember. There's the Piedmont Laundry Farm, and Rod wood Consolidated Quarries. Starting in with our quarry, I Just kept a-golng till I got them all. And there's the ship-building company I ain't got a! name for yet. Seeing as I had to have ferry-boats, I decided to build them myself. They'll be done by the time j the pier is ready for them." For months Daylight was buried in Worst The outlay was terrific, and there was nothing coming in. Beyond j a general rise in land values, Oakland | ; had not acknowledged his irruption I on the financial scene. The city was waiting for him to bhew what he was going to do. and he lest no time aboti' ; j it. The btfet led brains on the.! market were hired by hl:n for the dip j I fereut branches of the work. Initial j mistakes he hl d no patience with, and he was determined to start right./a? when he tngaged Wilkinson, almost doubling his big salary, and brought nlm out Trbm Calca~o To TJESti TTY?Tge Of the street railway organization. Might and day the road gangs toiled tan the streets. And night and day tplle-drivers hammered the big pi':? , j down Into the mud of Ban Francisco Ba*f. 'I he pier was to be three miles long, and the Berkeley bills were de- ; nuded i f whole groves of mature j euealyptua for the piling. At the same time that his electric roads were building out through the hills, the hay-fields were being sur-, veyed and broken up into city squares, with here and there, according to best modern methods, winding boulevards and strips of park. Broad streets, well graded, were made, with sewers and water-pipes ready laid, and ma? cadamized from his own quarries. Ce? ment sidewalks were also laid, so that all the purchaser had to do was to select his lot and architect and start | building. The quick service of Day? light's new electric roads into Oak- j land made this big district immediate? ly accessible, and long before the fer? ry system was in operation hundreds of residences were going up. The profit on this land was enormous. In a day, his on-slaught of wealth had turned open farming country into one of the best residential districts of the city. But this money that flowed in upon i hipi was immediately poured back Into his oj.her Investments. The need for electric cars was so great that he installed his own shops for building them. But no matter what pressure was on Daylight, his Sundays he re? served for his riding In the hills. It was not the rainy winter weather, however, that brought these rides with Dede to an end. One Saturday afternoon in the office she told him not to expect to meet her next day, and, when he pressed for an explana? tion "I've old Mab." Daylight was speechless for the mo? ment Her act meant one of so many Serious things that he couldn't classi? fy it. It smacked almost of treachery. She might have met with financial dis? aster. It might be her way of lotting him know she had seen enough of him Or . . . "What's the matter?" he managed to ask "1 couldn't n fiord to keep her with hay forty live dollars a ton." Dado answered. "My brother's expenses have been higher, as well, and I was driven to the conclusion that since I could not afford herb., I'd better let the mare go and keep the brother." "Who bough! her9" he ssked Dodo's eyes flashed In (he way long since familiar to blm when she was angry. "Don't you dar?1 buy her brick for me," she cried. "And don't deny that that was what >ou had In mind." "l wish you would reconsider, MisH Mason." he said "'tiv. "Not alone week-end in Pumter, the former with ror the mare's sake, T>ut for my sake. Money don't cut any ice in this. For me to buy that mare wouldn't mean as much as it does to mont men to send a bouquet of flowers or a box of candy to a young lady. There's no? body I feel chummy with except you, and you know how little we've chum? med?once a week, If it didn't rain, on Sunday. I've grown kind of to de? pend on you. If you'd Just let me buy her back?" "No, no; I t11 you no." IWc nrr Fe impatiently, but her eyes were Traist with the momery of her ]>ct.. "Pi ^_) "If You'd Just Let Me Buy Her Back." don't mention her to me again. If you think It was easy to part with her, you are mistaken. But I've seen the last of her, and I want to forget her." Daylight made no answer, and the door closed behind her. Half an hour later he was con? ferring with Jones, an erstwhile ele ator boy and rabid proletarian whom Daylight long before had grubstaked to literature for a year. The result? ing novel had been a failure. Editors and publishers would not look at it, and Daylight was now using the dia? gruntled author In a little private secret service system he had been compelled to establish for himself. Jones, who affected to be surprised ati nothing arter ms crushing experience, betrayed no surprise now when the task was given him to locate the pur? chaser of a certain sorrel mare. "How high shall I pay for her?" ho asked. "Any price. You've got to get her, that's the point. Drive a sharp bar? gain so as not to excite suspicion, but get her. Then you deliver her to thai address up in Sonoma County. The man's the caretaker on a little ranch I have there. Tell him he's to take whacking good care of her. And after that forget all about it. Don't tell me the name of the man you buy her from. Don't tell me anything about it except that you've got her and de? livered her. Savvee?" But the week had not passed, when Daylight noted the flash in Dede's eyes that boded trouble. "Something's gone wrong?what is It?" he said boldly. "Mab," she said. "The man who bought her has sold her already. If I thought you had anything to do with It?M "I don't even know who you sold her to," was Daylight's answer. "And what's more, I'm not bothering my head about her. She was your mare, and it's none of my business what you did with her. You haven't got her. that's sure, and worse luck. And now, while we're on tor.csy subjects, Pm going to open another one with you. And you needn't get touchy about it. for It's not really your busi? ness at all. It's about that brother of yours. He needR more than you can do for him. Selling that mare of yours won't send him to Germany. And that's what his own doctors say he needs?that crack German spe? cialist who rips a man's bones and muscles into pulp and then moulds them all over again. Well. I want to send him to Germany and give that crack a flutter, that's all." "If It were only possible!" she said, half breathlessly, and wholly without anger. "Only it isn't, and you know it isn't. I can't accept money from you?" "Now look here. Miss Mason. You've got to get some foolish no? tions out of your head. This money notion is one of tho funniest things I've reen. Suppose you was falling over a cliff, wouldn't It be all right for me to reach out and catch you by the arm? Sure it would. You're standing in your brother's way. No matter what notions you've got In your head, you'ye got to get out of the way and give him a chance. Will you let me go and see him and talk It over with him? I'll make it a hard and fast business proposition. I'll stake him to get well, and that's all, and charge him interest." She vlsibl) hesitated. "And just renieml>or one thing. Mi^s Mason: it's his leg. not yours." still she refrained from giv'ng her answer, and Daylight went on strengthening his position. "And remember, I go over to pee him alone, He's a. man. and I erm deal with him better without women* folks around. I'll go over tomorrow afternoon." CHAPTER XVII. For six weeks hand-running Day? light had seen nothing of Dede ex? cept In the o flee, and there he reso? lutely retrained from making ap? proaches. But by the seventh Sunday his hunger for her overmastered him. in t- aunt, Mrs. Archie Chine, and the It was a stormy cay. X Tieavy souUi east gale was blowing, and squall aft? er squall of rain and wind swept over tho city. He could not take his mind off of her. and a persistent picture came to him of her sitting by a win? dow and sowing feminine fripperies of some sort. When the time came for his pre luncheon cocktail to be served to him in his rooms, he did not take it. Pilled with a daring determina? tion, he g'anced at his note-book for Do^'s telephone number, and called for the switch. At Bret it was the landlady's daugh? ter who was raised, but in a minute he hea:<! the voice he had been hun? gry to hear. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm comlnp out to you," he' said. I didn't want to b. ak in on you with? out warning, that was all." "Hai something happened?" came her voice. "I'll tell you when I get there," he evaded. She came herself to the door to receive him and shake hands with him. He hung his mackintosh and hat on the rack in the comfortable hall and turned to her for direction. "They are busy in there," she said, indicating the parlor, from which came the boisterous voices of young people, and through the open door of which he could see several college youths. "So you will have to come into my rooms." She led tho way- through the door opening out of the hall to the right, and, once inside, he stood awkwardly rooted to the floor, gazing about h\m and at her and all the time trying not to gaze. In his perturbation he failed to hear and see her invitation to a seat. "Won't you fit down?" she repeated. "Look here," he said, in a voice that shook with passion, "there's one thing I won't do, and that's propose to yon in the office. That's why I'm here. Dede Mason, I want you, I Just want you." So precipitate was he, that she had barely time to cry out her involun? tary alarm and to step back, at the same time catching one of his hands as he attempted to gather her Into 7 his arms. "Oh. I know I'm a sure enough fool." he said. "I?T guess I'll sit down. Don't bo scairt. Miss Mason. I'm not real dangerous." "I'm not afraid." she answered, with a smile, slipping down herself into a chair. "It's funny," Daylight sighed, almost with regret; "here I am, strong ' enough to bend you around and tie knots in you. Here I am, used to hav? ing my will with man, beast or any? thing. And here I am sitting In this 1 chair, as weak and helpless as a little j lamb. You sure take the starch out \ of mo." MI?? wish you hadv.'t asked," she said softly. "Mebbe it's best you should know a few things before you give me an an ! swer," he vent on. Ignoring the fact '. that the answer had already been I given. "I never went after a woman , before in my life, all reports to the contrary notwithstanding. The stuff j 00 read about me in the papers and books, about me being a lady-killer, is ( all wrong. There's not an iota of truth In it. I guess I've done more than my share of card-playing and whi6ky-drinking, but women I've let alone. There was a woman that killed herself, but I didn't know she wanted me that bad or else I'd have married her?not for love, but to keep her from killing herself. She was the best of the boiling, but I never gave her any encouragement. I'm telling you all this because you've read about it, and I want you to get It straight ! from me." "I can't marry you," she said. "I like you a great deal, but?" He waited a moment for her to com ' pletc the sentence, falling which, he ' went on himself. "I haven't an exaggerated opinion of myself, so I know I ain't bragging ? when I say I'll make a pretty good "Dede Mason, I Want You, I Just Want You." husband. You could follow your own ?weet will, and nothing would be too good for you. I'd give you everything your heart desired--" "Except yourself," she interrupted suddenly, almost, sharply. "Don't you S4 ? 7" she hurried on. "I could have far easier married the BUun Harnish fresh from Klondike when I first laid eyes on him long ego, than marry you hit ting hi 'ovo me now." !!?> : hook his head slowly. "That s one too many for me. Tin mere you k'uvw and like a man the less you want to marry him. Fainili nrity breeds contempt?I guess that's what you mean." latter wl h her mother, Mis. Duffle.