From Strauss's place I went to the telegraph office, wired for the money in New York, and in due time presented myself at the Mercantile Bank ready to take up the notes, as I had told Strauss. The president of the bank was waiting for me with a flurried look on his face.
"You have come in to renew your paper, Mr. Harrington?" he remarked, as if there had been no trouble between us.
"No," I said; "I have come to pay what we owe. I don't do any more business with you."
"We have reconsidered the matter, and we shall be very glad to renew your paper."
Strauss had seen the point to my remarks, and concluded to retreat!
"Thank you, I don't care to get any more call money from you fellows," I said placidly. "You make too much trouble."
Well, when I left the president's room I had arranged for a loan of four hundred thousand dollars for six months. I had measured myself against the great Strauss, and never again would the big fellow seem to me so terrible. I judged that, for a time, the American Meat Products Company would be left to do business undisturbed....
On my desk, when I returned from the bank that afternoon, was a telegram from Mr. Dround from New York: "We arrived to-day—leaving for Chicago."
For once, Mr. Dround had made up his mind in a hurry.