But Enoch did not sleep well that night and
reached his office in the morning, heavy-eyed and grim.
Abbott, standing beside the Secretary's desk was even more grim. "Mr.
Cheney was too slow getting us the information about Ames," he said,
pointing to the newspaper that lay on the desk.
Enoch lighted a cigar very deliberately, then began to read. It was a
detailed account of the vacation trip of the Secretary of the Interior.
It was written with devilish ingenuity, purporting to show that Enoch
in his hours of relaxation was a thorough-going good fellow. The
account said that Enoch had picked up a mining outfit made up of two
notorious gamblers. That the three had then annexed two Indian bucks
and a squaw and had slowly made their way into the Grand Canyon,
ostensibly to placer mine, actually to play cards and hunt. The story
was witty, and contained some good word pictures of the Canyon country.
It was subtle in its wording, but it was from first to last an
unforgettable smirching of Enoch's character.
Enoch laid the paper down. "Abbott," he said slowly, "the time has
come to act. I want Mr. Fowler, Mr. Brown, this fellow Ames, or
whatever reporter wrote the first article about me to come to my office
tomorrow afternoon at five o'clock.
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