“Can’t be got from Purcell. Don’t waste time considering it. Fight it out yourself. Find his weakest spot, then strike hard and suddenly.” Harley’s low metallic voice was crisp and commanding.
“His weakest spot?”
“Exactly. Has he no mines upon which we can retaliate?”
“There is the Taurus. It lies against the Copper King end to end. He drove a tunnel into some of our workings last winter. That would give a passageway to send our men through, if we decide to do so. Then there is his New York. Its workings connect with those of the Jim Hill.”
“Good! Send as many men through as is necessary to capture and hold both mines. Get control of the entire workings of them both, and begin taking ore out at once. Station armed guards at every point where it is necessary, and as many as are necessary. Use ten thousand men, if you need that many. But don’t fail. We’ll give Ridgway a dose of his own medicine, and teach him that for every pound of our ore he steals we’ll take ten.”
“He’ll get an injunction from the courts.”
“Let him get forty. I’ll show him that his robber courts will not save him. Anyhow, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Hobart, almost swept from his moorings by the fiery energy of his chief, braced himself to withstand the current.
“I shall have to think about that. We can’t fight lawlessness with lawlessness except for selfpreservation.”
“Think! You do nothing but think, Mr. Hobart. You are here to act,” came the scornful retort; “And what is this but self-preservation.”