CHAPTER XXIII
"But I know something of the fight you have been making," Dedecontended. "If you stop now, all the work you have done, everything,will be destroyed. You have no right to do it. You can't do it."
Daylight was obdurate. He shook his head and smiled tantalizingly.
"Nothing will be destroyed, Dede, nothing. You don't understand thisbusiness game. It's done on paper. Don't you see? Where's the gold Idug out of Klondike? Why, it's in twenty-dollar gold pieces, in goldwatches, in wedding rings. No matter what happens to me, thetwenty-dollar pieces, the watches, and the wedding rings remain.Suppose I died right now. It wouldn't affect the gold one iota. It'ssure the same with this present situation. All I stand for is paper.I've got the paper for thousands of acres of land. All right. Burn upthe paper, and burn me along with it. The land remains, don't it? Therain falls on it, the seeds sprout in it, the trees grow out of it, thehouses stand on it, the electric cars run over it. It's paper thatbusiness is run on. I lose my paper, or I lose my life, it's all thesame; it won't alter one grain of sand in all that land, or twist oneblade of grass around sideways.
"Nothing is going to be lost--not one pile out of the docks, not onerailroad spike, not one ounce of steam out of the gauge of aferry-boat. The cars will go on running, whether I hold the paper orsomebody else holds it. The tide has set toward Oakland. People arebeginning to pour in. We're selling building lots again. There is nostopping that tide. No matter what happens to me or the paper, themthree hundred thousand folks are coming in the same. And there'll becars to carry them around, and houses to hold them, and good water forthem to drink and electricity to give them light, and all the rest."
By this time Hegan had arrived in an automobile. The honk of it camein through the open window, and they saw, it stop alongside the big redmachine. In the car were Unwin and Harrison, while Jones sat with thechauffeur.
"I'll see Hegan," Daylight told Dede. "There's no need for the rest.They can wait in the machine."
"Is he drunk?" Hegan whispered to Dede at the door.
She shook her head and showed him in.
"Good morning, Larry," was Daylight's greeting. "Sit down and restyour feet. You sure seem to be in a flutter."
"I am," the little Irishman snapped back. "Grimshaw and Hodgkins aregoing to smash if something isn't done quick. Why didn't you come tothe office? What are you going to do about it?"
"Nothing," Daylight drawled lazily. "Except let them smash, I guess--"
"But--"
"I've had no dealings with Grimshaw and Hodgkins. I don't owe themanything. Besides, I'm going to smash myself. Look here, Larry, youknow me. You know when I make up my mind I mean it. Well, I've suremade up my mind. I'm tired of the whole game. I'm letting go of it asfast as I can, and a smash is the quickest way to let go."
Hegan stared at his chief, then passed his horror-stricken gaze on toDede, who nodded in sympathy.
"So let her smash, Larry," Daylight went on. "All you've got to do isto protect yourself and all our friends. Now you listen to me while Itell you what to do. Everything is in good shape to do it. Nobodymust get hurt. Everybody that stood by me must come through withoutdamage. All the back wages and salaries must be paid pronto. All themoney I've switched away from the water company, the street cars, andthe ferries must be switched back. And you won't get hurt yourselfnone. Every company you got stock in will come through--"
"You are crazy, Daylight!" the little lawyer cried out. "This is allbabbling lunacy. What is the matter with you? You haven't been eatinga drug or something?"
"I sure have!" Daylight smiled reply. "And I'm now coughing it up.I'm sick of living in a city and playing business--I'm going off to thesunshine, and the country, and the green grass. And Dede, here, isgoing with me. So you've got the chance to be the first tocongratulate me."
"Congratulate the--the devil!" Hegan spluttered. "I'm not going tostand for this sort of foolishness."
"Oh, yes, you are; because if you don't there'll be a bigger smash andsome folks will most likely get hurt. You're worth a million or moreyourself, now, and if you listen to me you come through with a wholeskin. I want to get hurt, and get hurt to the limit. That's what I'mlooking for, and there's no man or bunch of men can get between me andwhat I'm looking for. Savvee, Hegan? Savvee?"
"What have you done to him?" Hegan snarled at Dede.
"Hold on there, Larry." For the first time Daylight's voice was sharp,while all the old lines of cruelty in his face stood forth. "MissMason is going to be my wife, and while I don't mind your talking toher all you want, you've got to use a different tone of voice or you'llbe heading for a hospital, which will sure be an unexpected sort ofsmash. And let me tell you one other thing. This-all is my doing.She says I'm crazy, too."
Hegan shook his head in speechless sadness and continued to stare.
"There'll be temporary receiverships, of course," Daylight advised;"but they won't bother none or last long. What you must do immediatelyis to save everybody--the men that have been letting their wages ridewith me, all the creditors, and all the concerns that have stood by.There's the wad of land that New Jersey crowd has been dickering for.They'll take all of a couple of thousand acres and will close now ifyou give them half a chance. That Fairmount section is the cream ofit, and they'll dig up as high as a thousand dollars an acre for a partof it. That'll help out some. That five-hundred acre tract beyond,you'll be lucky if they pay two hundred an acre."
Dede, who had been scarcely listening, seemed abruptly to make up hermind, and stepped forward where she confronted the two men. Her facewas pale, but set with determination, so that Daylight, looking at it,was reminded of the day when she first rode Bob.
"Wait," she said. "I want to say something. Elam, if you do thisinsane thing, I won't marry you. I refuse to marry you."
Hegan, in spite of his misery, gave her a quick, grateful look.
"I'll take my chance on that," Daylight began.
"Wait!" she again interrupted. "And if you don't do this thing, I willmarry you."
"Let me get this proposition clear." Daylight spoke with exasperatingslowness and deliberation. "As I understand it, if I keep right on atthe business game, you'll sure marry me? You'll marry me if I keep onworking my head off and drinking Martinis?"
After each question he paused, while she nodded an affirmation.
"And you'll marry me right away?"
"Yes."
"To-day? Now?"
"Yes."
He pondered for a moment.
"No, little woman, I won't do it. It won't work, and you know ityourself. I want you--all of you; and to get it I'll have to give youall of myself, and there'll be darn little of myself left over to giveif I stay with the business game. Why, Dede, with you on the ranchwith me, I'm sure of you--and of myself. I'm sure of you, anyway. Youcan talk will or won't all you want, but you're sure going to marry mejust the same. And now, Larry, you'd better be going. I'll be at thehotel in a little while, and since I'm not going a step into the officeagain, bring all papers to sign and the rest over to my rooms. And youcan get me on the 'phone there any time. This smash is going through.Savvee? I'm quit and done."
He stood up as a sign for Hegan to go. The latter was plainly stunned.He also rose to his feet, but stood looking helplessly around.
"Sheer, downright, absolute insanity," he muttered.
Daylight put his hand on the other's shoulder.
"Buck up, Larry. You're always talking about the wonders of humannature, and here I am giving you another sample of it and you ain'tappreciating it. I'm a bigger dreamer than you are, that's all, andI'm sure dreaming what's coming true. It's the biggest, best dream Iever had, and I'm going after it to get it--"
"By losing all you've got," Hegan exploded at him.
"Sure--by losing all I've got that I don't want. But I'm hanging on tothem hundred and forty hair bridles just the same. Now you'd be
tterhustle out to Unwin and Harrison and get on down town. I'll be at thehotel, and you can call me up any time."
He turned to Dede as soon as Hegan was gone, and took her by the hand.
"And now, little woman, you needn't come to the office any more.Consider yourself discharged. And remember I was your employer, soyou've got to come to me for recommendation, and if you're not realgood, I won't give you one. In the meantime, you just rest up andthink about what things you want to pack, because we'll just about haveto set up housekeeping on your stuff--leastways, the front part of thehouse."
"But, Elam, I won't, I won't! If you do this mad thing I never willmarry you."
She attempted to take her hand away, but he closed on it with aprotecting, fatherly clasp.
"Will you be straight and honest? All right, here goes. Which wouldyou sooner have--me and the money, or me and the ranch?"
"But--" she began.
"No buts. Me and the money?"
She did not answer.
"Me and the ranch?"
Still she did not answer, and still he was undisturbed.
"You see, I know your answer, Dede, and there's nothing more to say.Here's where you and I quit and hit the high places for Sonoma. Youmake up your mind what you want to pack, and I'll have some men outhere in a couple of days to do it for you. It will be about the lastwork anybody else ever does for us. You and I will do the unpackingand the arranging ourselves."
She made a last attempt.
"Elam, won't you be reasonable? There is time to reconsider. I cantelephone down and catch Mr. Hegan as soon as he reaches the office--"
"Why, I'm the only reasonable man in the bunch right now," he rejoined."Look at me--as calm as you please, and as happy as a king, whilethey're fluttering around like a lot of cranky hens whose heads areliable to be cut off."
"I'd cry, if I thought it would do any good," she threatened.
"In which case I reckon I'd have to hold you in my arms some more andsort of soothe you down," he threatened back. "And now I'm going togo. It's too bad you got rid of Mab. You could have sent her up tothe ranch. But see you've got a mare to ride of some sort or other."
As he stood at the top of the steps, leaving, she said:--
"You needn't send those men. There will be no packing, because I amnot going to marry you."
"I'm not a bit scared," he answered, and went down the steps.