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His course here was different from that in Jersey City. He ousted every director on the board, and elected men of his own. Immediately after, in the directors’ meeting, he elected himself president, and, kindly consenting to talk with the reporters of the Denver newspapers, hurried back to Chicago, where he drove directly to the head offices of the Inland Pacific.

“I’ve just secured control of the Silverknob and Nugget City,” he informed the general manager of the Inland.

“So I noticed,” returned Wilcox, who was a young man of fifty and wore picturesque velvet hats. “The papers here made quite a sensation of your going into railroading.”

“They’re welcome,” grinned Allison. “Say Wilcox, if you’ll build a branch from Pines to Nugget City, we’ll give you our Nugget City freight where we cross, at Copperville, east of the range.”

Wilcox headed for his map.

“What’s the distance?” he inquired.

“Twenty-two miles; fairly level grade, and one bridge.”

“Couldn’t think of it,” decided Wilcox, looking at the map. “We’d like to have your freight, for there’s a lot of traffic between Silverknob and Nugget City, but it’s not our territory. The smelters are at Silverknob, and they ship east over the White Range Line. Anyway, why do you want to take away the haulage from your northern branch?”