and to these tried and true subordinates he turned now for explicit
and satisfying information anent the Northern California Outrage!

The information forthcoming from Dun's and Bradstreet's was vague and
unsatisfying. Neither of these two commercial agencies could
ascertain anything of interest regarding the finances of the N. C. O.
For the present the corporation had no office, its destinies in San
Francisco being guarded by a well-known attorney who had declined to
make any statement regarding the company but promised one at an early
date. The board of directors consisted of this attorney, his two
assistants, his stenographer, and Mr. Buchanan Ogilvy. The company
had been incorporated for five million dollars, divided into five
million shares of par value of one dollar each, and five shares had
been subscribed! Both agencies forwarded copies of the articles of
incorporation, but since the Colonel had already read this document
in the Sequoia Sentinel, he was not further interested.

"It looks fishy to me," the Colonel commented to his manager, "and
I'm more than ever convinced it's a scheme of that Trinidad Redwood
Timber Company to start a timber-boom and unload. And that is
something the Laguna Grande Lumber Company does not view with favour,
for the reason that one of these bright days those Trinidad people
will come to their senses and sell cheap to us. A slight extension of
our logging-road will make that Trinidad timber accessible; hence we
are the only logical customers and should control the situation.
However, to be sure is to be satisfied. Telephone the San Francisco
office to have the detective-agency that handled the longshoremen's
strike job for us send a couple of their best operatives up on the
next steamer, with instructions to report to me on arrival."