His
vanity stood on tiptoe at his superb skill in playing on men's wills. He
knew he could mold these men to work his desire, and the sequel showed he
was right.
When the votes were counted at the end of the bitter campaign that
followed, Simon Harley's candidates went down to disastrous defeat all over
the State, though he had spent money with a lavish hand. In Mesa County,
Ridgway had elected every one of his judges and retired to private life
those he could not influence.
Harley's grim lips tightened when the news reached him. "Very well," he
said to Mott "We'll see if these patriots can't be reached through their
stomachs better than their brains. Order every mill and mine and smelter of
the Consolidated closed to-night. Our employees have voted for this man
Ridgway. Let him feed them or let them starve."
"But the cost to you--won't it be enormous?" asked Mott, startled at his
chief's drastic decision.
Harley bared his fangs with a wolfish smile. "We'll make the public pay.
Our store-houses are full of copper. Prices will jump when the supply is
reduced fifty per cent.
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