The Man of Last Resort; Or, The Clients of Randolph MasonPost, Melville Davisson
General
The Man of Last Resort; Or, The Clients of Randolph Mason
Post, Melville Davisson
American fiction -- 19th century; Detective and mystery stories, American; Legal stories, American
_(See Code of West Virginia, Chap, cxxiv., Sec. 14, Chap, cvi., Sec. 25;
also Chap. cxxv. See any good text book on Landlord and Tenant. The
case also of Martin Admix vs. Smith it al., 25 West Virginia, 579, and
casts cited.)_
THE GRAZIER
I
THE driller of the Bonnie Mag No. 3 had been keeping his weather eye
on the public road all the long summer afternoon; exacting and laborious
duties had obtained under the shadow of the oil derrick on this
nineteenth day of August, quite sufficient to have distracted the
attention of the ordinary man, but through it all the driller had
maintained his watch. The pumper, a grimy mortal, who regarded the
monster oil company as the sole and omnipotent power of the universe,
had marked this apparent anxiety of the driller, and inquired, with some
trace of humor, if that gentleman was expecting to see grease gush
up out of the road. To which the driller had responded with barbaric
profanity that the pumper had been employed to pump, and that he might
hold his position by holding his tongue, but not otherwise. A suggestion
that banished all levity from the speech of the pumper. Besides, there
was a red glint in the eyes of the driller, and the underling of the
great oil company appreciated perfectly the full significance of the
sign. He had noticed it before on divers eventful occasions, especially
on a certain morning when being interrupted by an order of the Circuit
Court, the driller had promptly suggested to the deputy sheriff that
he might go to the infernal regions with his injunction; and instead of
suspending operations until the legal forum could determine the title
to the realty, he had complied with his contract by pushing his well
through to the Gordon sand.
It was true indeed that the Circuit Court had attached t he body of the
driller and bringing him up before its august presence fined him two
hundred dollars for contempt, but the old man had paid over the money
without the hesitation of a moment and immediately thereafter consigned
the Circuit Court to the same heated region originally suggested to the
deputy sheriff.
The sun had gone down, and the twilight was beginning to gather on the
oil field. The shadows darkened across the long sloping valley, and the
great derricks in the half light looked dark and gaunt and threatening
like some grim engines of war. It was now difficult to observe the
highway from the oil wells far up on the hill side, and the driller,
who evidently intended to maintain his surveillance of the county
thoroughfare at any cost, stepped out from the shadow of the derrick and
began to wipe his hands on the grass; when he had finished he turned to
the pumper. “Just keep your eye on that cable,” he said curtly, “I'll be
back when you see me coming.” Then he turned and walked slowly down the
path to the road.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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