fully folded his copy
and placed it in his pocket-book. "Thank you, Mr. Tisdale," he said
finally, and rose once more. "You may not be called for several days but
when you are, it is advisable that you have the original documents at
hand. Good night."

CHAPTER XXXI

TISDALE OF ALASKA--AND WASHINGTON, D.C.

It was evident, after his interview with Hollis Tisdale, that Mr. Bromley
was in no hurry to precipitate the side issue for which he had prepared.
Every one who had taken coal land in the Morganstein group had been on the
witness stand, and many more who had not filed claims had given testimony,
yet the prosecution held him in reserve. Then came a day when Lucky Banks,
recalled to tell what he knew about the Chugach trail, made some
astonishing statements. He had traveled that route with a partner at the
end of a season in the Copper River plateau. They had expected to finish
the distance by the new railroad. The little man was brief but graphic. It
seemed to have been a running fight with storms, glaciers, and glacial
torrents to reach that narrow-gauge track before the first real September
blizzard. "But we could have stood it," he concluded in his high key, "my,
yes, it wouldn't have amounted to much, if we could have had firewood."

"Did you not know the fallen timber was at your service?" questioned Mr.
Bromley. "Provided, of course, you conformed to the laws of the reserve in
building your fire and in extinguishing it when you broke camp."

"There wasn't any fallen timber," responded Banks dryly; "and likely we
would have took it green, if there had been a tree in sight. It was
getting mighty cold, nights, and with the frost in his wet clothes, a man
needs a warm supper to hearten him."

"What?" exclaimed Mr. Bromley sharply. "Do you mean you saw no trees?
Remember you were in the Chugach forest; or did you lose your way?"

"No, sir. We struck the Chugach Railway just where we aimed to, but a
mighty lot of the Chugach reserve is out of timber line. That's why we
banked on Foster's new train to hurry us through. But we found she had
quit running. The Government had got wind of the scheme and sent a bunch
of rules and regulations. First came a heavy tax for operating the road;
and next was an order to put spark arresters on all his engines. He only
had two first-class ones and a couple of makeshifts to haul his gravel
cars; and his sparks would have froze, likely, where they lit, but there
he was, t