I have
got to put something over on Montagne Lewis and his crowd, or
throw up the sponge. That's that!"
"Go ahead, Mr. Bartholomew," observed Tom's father,
encouragingly.
"To begin with, four hundred miles of our road is already
electrified. We have big power stations and supply heat and light
and power to several of the small cities tapped by the H. & P. A.
It is a paying proposition as it stands. But it is only paying
because we carry the freight traffic--all the freight traffic--of
that region.
"If the H. & W. breaks in on our monopoly of that, we shall
soon be so cut down that our invested capital will not earn two
per cent.--No, by glory! not one-and-a-half per cent.--and our
stock will be dished. But I have worked out a scheme, Gentlemen,
by which we can counter-balance any dig Lewis can give us in the
ribs.
"If we can extend our electrified line into and through the Pas
Alos Range our freight traffic can be handled so cheaply and so
effectively that nothing the Hendrickton & Western can do for
years to come will hurt us. Get that?"
"I get your statement, Mr. Bartholomew," said Mr. Swift. "But
it is merely a statement as yet."
"Sure. Now I will give you the particulars. We are using the
Jandel locomotives on our electrified stretch of road. You know
that patent?"
"I know something about it, Mr. Bartholomew," said the younger
inventor. "I have felt some interest in the electric locomotive,
though I have done nothing practical in the matter.
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