and New York; that all this glittering
advancement was due to the great new Consolidated Illuminating and
Power Company, and more applications for stock were made!

Every applicant was supplied, but the treasury stock of the company
having been sold out, the scrip had to come from some place else, and
it came through devious, secret ways from the holdings of such men as
Stone and Garland and Sharpe.

During the grand orgie of illumination the election came on; the price
of gas and electricity went gloriously and recklessly down, and the
men who were identified with the triumphantly successful new
illuminating company were the leading figures in the campaign. The
puerile "reform party," the blunders of whose incompetence had been
ridiculous, was swept out of existence; Garland was elected mayor by
the most overwhelming majority that had ever been known in the city,
and with him was elected a council of the same political faith. Sam
Stone, always in the background, always keeping his name out of the
papers as much as possible, came once more to the throne, and owned
the city and all its inhabitants and all its business enterprises and
all its public utilities, body and soul.

One night, shortly after the new officials went into power, there was
no light in the twelve blocks over which the Brightlight Company had
exclusive control, nor any light in the outside districts it supplied.
This was the first time in years that the company, equipped with an
emergency battery of dynamos which now proved out of order, had ever
failed for an instant of proper service. Candles, kerosene lamps and
old gas fixtures, the rusty cocks of which had not been turned in a
decade, were put hastily in use, while the streets were black with a
blackness particularly Stygian, contrasted with the brilliantly
illuminated squares supplied by the Consolidated Company. All night
long the mechanical force, attended by the worried but painfully
helpless Bobby, pounded and tapped and worked in the grime, but it was
not until broad daylight that they were able to discover the cause of
trouble. For two nights the lights ran steadily. On the third night,
at about seven-thirty, they turned to a dull, red glow, and slowly
died out. This time it was wire trouble, and through the long night as
large a force of men as could be mustered were tracing it. Not until
noon of the next day was the leak found.

It was a full week before that section of the city was fo