"He acted more like a demon than a human
being."
"Just like his old father," the Colonel purred benevolently. "When he
can't get what he wants, he sulks. I'll tell you what got on his
confounded nerves. I've been freighting logs for the senior Cardigan
over my railroad; the contract for hauling them was a heritage from
old Bill Henderson, from whom I bought the mill and timber-lands; and
of course as his assignee it was incumbent upon me to fulfill
Henderson's contract with Cardigan, even though the freight-rate was
ruinous.
"Well, this morning young Cardigan came to my office, reminded me
that the contract would expire by limitation next year and asked me
to renew it, and at the same freight-rate. I offered to renew the
contract but at a higher freight-rate, and explained to him that I
could not possibly continue to haul his logs at a loss. Well, right
away he flew into a rage and called me a robber; whereupon I informed
him that since he thought me a robber, perhaps we had better not
attempt to have any business dealings with each other--that I really
didn't want his contract at any price, having scarcely sufficient
rolling-stock to handle my own logs. That made him calm down, but in
a little while he lost his head again and grew snarly and abusive--to
such an extent, indeed, that finally I was forced to ask him to leave
my office.
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