But if he had not yet won it,
chance, or something better, had placed in his hands the weapon with
which he could compel a return to fair dealing and honesty.
It was on a second speech-making visit to Ophir that Blount had his
first face-to-face chance at Gantry. A meeting of the Mine-Owners'
Association, moving for a readjustment of the classification on copper
matte and bullion at a time when the railroad company might be supposed
to be on the giving hand, brought Gantry to the gold camp in the
Carnadine Hills, and the first man he met at the hotel was the stubborn
dictator of new policies for the Transcontinental Company.
"Hello, Dick! made a mistake, didn't you--coming while I was here?" said
the reformer, with a very lifelike replica of his father's grim smile.
"I suppose you have an immediate engagement to go somewhere else, or to
do something that will give you a chance to dodge?"
"No; I wish to the Lord I had!" was the hearty admission. "You're a
fright, Evan; you are getting to be a perfect nightmare, with your
letters and telegrams. You've got me so I'm afraid to open my desk."
Blount nodded gravely. "I'm glad the letters and telegrams have had
their effect at last," he rejoined.
"Had their effect? Yes, they've had the effect of turning my hair gray,
if that's what you mean."
"I think you know what I mean, Dick.
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