Cardigan's has developed so suddenly I am more or less taken by
surprise and have had no time to prepare the kind of counter-attack
that will be most effective. However, with the crossing blocked, I
gain time in which to organize--only there must be no weak point in
my organization. In order to insure that, I am proceeding to San
Francisco to-night by motor, via the coast road. I will arrive late
to-morrow night, and early Saturday morning I will appear in the
United States District Court with our attorneys and file a complaint
and petition for an order temporarily restraining the N.C.O. from
cutting our tracks.

"I will have to make an affidavit to support the complaint, so I had
better be Johnny-on-the-spot to do it, rather than risk the delay of
making the affidavit tomorrow morning here and forwarding it by mail
to our attorneys. The judge will sign a restraining order, returnable
in from ten to thirty days--I'll try for thirty, because that will
knock out the N.C.O.'s temporary franchise--and after I have obtained
the restraining order, I will have the United States marshal
telegraph it to Ogilvy and Cardigan!"

"Bully!" cried Sexton heartily. "That will fix their clock."

"In the meantime," Pennington continued, "logs will be glutting our
landings. We need that locomotive for its legitimate purposes. Take
all that discarded machinery and the old boiler we removed from the
mill last fall, dump it on the tracks at the crossing, and get the
locomotive back on its run. Understand? The other side, having no
means of removing these heavy obstructions, will be blocked until I
return; by that time the matter will be in the District Court,
Cardigan will be hung up until his temporary franchise expires--and