Ackerman

“ Ackerman would do if he knew all that we know,” he threw out.
“You needn’t wonder about that,” Larry interposed quickly. “The chief stands up so straight that he leans over backward—you know he does. He’d give those O. C. people the benefit of the doubt, every time. No, it’s up to us, Dick. If we keep still about this cave he’ll dynamite the dam, because, so far as he will know, it will be the only thing that can be done. If we tell him, he’ll dynamite this cave outlet, instead—naturally.” ”

“ Ackerman what’s been done to us.”
“Mr. Ackerman is in Red Butte?” Larry asked.
“I suppose he is there yet. Mr. Goldrick told me he went down yesterday.”
Larry had planted himself on a flat rock with his elbows on his knees, and the “brown-study” frown came to wrinkle between his level, wide-set eyes.
“I was just thinking, Dick,” he said. “Doesn’t it strike you that these O. C. people have put a pretty big rod in pickle for themselves?”
Dick shook his head.
“I don’t see it—yet.”
“Think a minute. We’ve just naturally got to get rid of this dam; we can’t hit another lick until we do. ”

“ The inexorable one at the desk did not keep him in suspense.
"I want a written confession of just what you did, and what you did it for," was the direct reply. "You'll find Miss Ackerman's type-writer in the other room; I'll wait while you put it in type."
The bookkeeper's lips were dryer than before, and his tongue was like a stick in his mouth when he said:
"You're not giving me a show, Mr. Gordon; the poor show a common murderer would have in any court of law. You are asking me to convict myself." ”

“ Ackerman Boone spat on the polished, gleaming floor of the crew quarters. “He’ll never get us out alive, let me tell you. He wants to shift us into subspace at the last possible minute. Suddenly. Like this—” and Ackerman Boone snapped his fingers. ”

“ Ackerman knew Humpback Butte and its surrounding valley and canyons as he knew the QE ranch, for he had spent days hunting all over that country; and he knew that the great slopes of the valley grew steadily steeper as they reached northward until they became sheer cliffs without a single way up their walls that a horse could master. ”

“ Larry mused thoughtfully. “I guess Mr. Ackerman and all of our folks would be sort of glad if they could find out just exactly what the Overland Central crowd means to do. It might help some, don’t you think?”
“Gee!” said Dick, getting up on his knees. “Say, Larry; you’re always digging up something new out of the mud. ”

“ Miss Ackerman, the pipe-works stenographer, quit when her week was up. It was nothing that the young manager had said or done; but, as she confided to her sister, more fortunately situated in town, it was like being caged with a living threat. Even Norman, the trusted lieutenant, was cut out of his employer's confidence; and for hours on end in the business day the card "Not in" would be displayed on the glass-paneled door of the private room in the rebuilt office.
[Pg 321] Not to make a mystery of it for ourselves, Tom had passed another milestone in the descent to the valley of lost souls. ”

“ A foreman pointed out the chief engineer coming down the track, and a moment later the rough-looking stranger was confronting the man he was looking for.
“Your name’s Ackerman?” was the blunt query; and when the Short Line chief nodded: “Well, mine’s Grimmer, and I’m a deputy sheriff of Butte County. I’m servin’ papers on yuh in the case of Shaw and Bolton ’g’inst your company; injunction forbiddin’ yuh to trespass on this here minin’ claim. Here yuh are,” and he thrust a folded paper into the chief engineer’s hand.
Mr. Ackerman, as the boys heard, made a dignified protest. ”

“ The squatter lowered his rifle, looked first at Bryant and then at the troopers, and seemed undecided how to act. While he hesitated George Ackerman dashed up to the porch, jumping out of his saddle before his horse had fairly stopped, and, knocking the dogs right and left with the heavy cavalry sabre which he had found fastened to Bob's saddle, he mounted the steps and laid hold of the squatter's rifle.
"Peasley, what are you about?" he exclaimed as he twisted the weapon out of the man's unresisting grasp. "Are you a born idiot? ”

“ At the time George Ackerman was taken prisoner, Maximilian, having been abandoned by the French soldiers, who had been withdrawn on the demand of our government, was making his last stand against Juarez. His soldiers were deserting him by hundreds, and as the most of them would rather steal than work any day, they formed themselves into bands, and plundered their own countrymen and the Texans with the greatest impartiality. Fletcher and his band nominally belonged to one of Maximilian's regiments, but they were nothing better than professional thieves. ”

“ Ackerman assured him. “Very properly you would retain a majority of the shares—that is, a controlling interest. Then you'd be made managing director, at a good salary. No doubt that would be the arrangement. So that you would have an assured income, a dividend on your stock, and practical control of the business, as well as the advice of experienced men and consequent freedom from a good deal of worry. If I were in your place—speaking as one who has seen a good many ups and downs in business—I should not hesitate.”
But in spite of this personal clinching argument young Kent did hesitate. ”

“ McCoy wants to talk with you, Hal,” explained Ackerman, the jailer. “Don’t make any mistake about this. I’ll be in the outer room there with a gat. I’ve got a guard under the window. This is no time to try for a get-away.”
Falkner looked at him with an ugly sneer. “Glad you mentioned it, Steve. I’ll postpone any notions I may have in that line, but, take it from me, they are merely postponed. When the time comes I’m going.” ”

“ Ackerman away. It would be a sort of breach of discipline. If he were here, I doubt very much if he would let you two kids take the risk.”
“That’s just the point,” Dick argued. “It’s just as Larry says; the risk will be a lot less for us fellows than it would be for any of our men—just because we are kids.”
“How about it, Larry?” Smith asked, appealing to the big, fair-skinned son of the Brewster crossing watchman.
“Oh, sure; there’s a risk, of course,” Larry conceded. “They’d be pretty hot if they catch us at it. ”

“ The letter was addressed to Nelson Ackerman at his home, and marked “Personal.” Peter read:
“This is a message from a friend. The Reds had an agent in your home. They drew a plan of your house. The police are hiding things from you, because they can’t get the truth, and don’t want you to know they are incompetent. There is a man who discovered all this plot, and you should see him. They won’t let you see him if they can help it. You should demand to see him. But do not mention this letter. If you do not get to the right man, I will write you again. ”

“ Tolman cut him short.
"You took the quickest, most sensible course, Ackerman," said he. "Too much was at stake for you to risk delay. When a pocketbook filled with negotiable securities disappears one must of necessity act with speed. Neither Stephen nor I cherish the least ill-will about the affair; do we, son?"
"No, indeed."
Then smiling ingenuously up into the face of the New York man, he said:
"Don't you want to look in your pocketbook and see if everything is all right, sir?"
The steamboat financier laughed.
"You are a prudent young man," declared he. ”

“ The law against enlisting minors without the consent of their parents or guardians is very strict, but Bob got around it by repeating the story he had told George Ackerman, that he was an orphan, and that there was no one who had a right to control his actions. The recruiting-officer was a young man, not more than two or three years older than himself, but he had seen service away up in the Yellowstone country, and the scar on his forehead, which was not yet fully healed, marked the track of the Indian bullet which had come very near putting an end to his career as a soldier. ”

“ The things we long for and dream about, and which we think are absolutely necessary for our happiness, we can't get; and those we don't care a cent for, are crowded on us."
It was George Ackerman who said this. He took possession of one of the chairs on the guard and waved his hand to Tony Richardson who was just entering the pilot-house of the steamer that was to carry him back to St. Louis. ”

“ From his account of synanche, Le Clerc concludes that Aretæus belonged to the Pneumatic sect; and although Ackerman is doubtful upon this point, we could point out many passages in his works which have quite satisfied us on this point. By pneuma was probably meant the vital heat in the body, acted upon by a spiritual substance within us, the same being a portion of that principle which the ancient philosophers called nature. ”

“ I can better afford to lose a little more through Uncle John, than Mr. Black can afford to lie idle with all those notes to meet," he added, to himself. "But just as soon as he gets firmly on his feet, I shall start for Texas, to look into my guardian's way of doing business."
The last boat that George Ackerman ever backed out from a St. Louis wharf-boat, was the Sam Kendall—a crazy old craft, all paint and gilt outside, but "rotten to the heart," as the rivermen said. If she had been a sea-going vessel, she would have been called a "coffin ship." ”

“ But later, after he had escaped and had found Dick Maxwell, the class consciousness that Mr. Ackerman had spoken of rose up in all its poverty-pride and once more had its innings. Dick had ridden as far as Pine Gulch on the special train, out-going, and Bess Holcombe had told him that the men of the party were making up a purse for the rescuer of the runaway Pullman.
“They can keep their money,” said Larry sullenly ”

“ Rudolf Ackermann (1764-1834) , the son of a Saxon coachbuilder, came to London about 1775, and after ten years spent in making designs for coachbuilders, set up for himself in the Strand as an art-publisher and dealer in fancy goods. Ackermann proved himself a man of really remarkable energy and initiative, with a mind always open to the reception of new ideas, and a spirit of commercial enterprise that was based upon artistic taste and sound judgment. He was also one of the few men who have ever successfully combined business and philanthropy on a large scale. ”

“ He owns a big cattle-ranche a few miles from here, and has an income of about forty thousand dollars a year."
"Aha! that accounts for the milk in the cocoa-nut," exclaimed the orderly. "I know now why it was that the colonel met him in so friendly a manner. Even those stern old regulars soften in the presence of one who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, don't they?"
"But George Ackerman's money didn't get him the position he holds," said Bob quickly. "He [Pg 168] has been a prisoner among the cattle-thieves on the other side of the river, and knows where they hang out. ”

“ H. F. Saunders, secretary of the Toronto Walt Whitman Fellowship, who invited me to speak at the annual gathering in memory of the Good Gray Poet.
My luck in Toronto far exceeded my deserts. Kind hearts supplied my every wish. "A secretary?" "Why, there's Molly Kirzner --- she'll do your work." Within the year Molly changed her name to Ackerman, but not her loyalty to me. "A centrally located place for our publicity?" "Why, there's C. M. Herlick, the lawyer. Don't you fear, he is also a Socialist and eager to put his office at your service." ”

“ He was obliged to open the store in the morning, build the fires and sweep out, and he looked upon this as very degrading work. He grew more negligent and discontented every day, and always made it a point, after the store was closed for 59the night, to make up for the tiresome hours he had spent behind the counter. He often wished for Ned Ackerman. When the latter was in his father’s employ he had a companion who was always ready to join him in any thing; but Ned was in Texas, Bob had gone back on him, and Gus was very lonely. ”

“ Forrest J. Ackerman, prominent Los Angeles agent and Science Fiction enthusiast, reports on the recent World Convention in New York. Mr. Ackerman, who attended the first World Convention seventeen years ago, has been prominent in SF circles since the early thirties. ”

“ We’re on a ridge just above the O. C. camp and overlooking it.... Yes, we’re hid in the woods and perfectly safe; but listen: the O. C. people have brought in a force twice as big as ours and they are laying track to beat the band down the gulch that leads to our canyon. Get that?”
“Got you,” came the faint voice; and then: “Hold the wire open a minute.” Presently the voice began again and went on for some little time, and when it stopped, Larry took his turn at asking for a hold.
“It’s Smithy talking,” he told Dick hurriedly. “Mr. Ackerman is with him—just got back from Red Butte. ”

“ Subsequently she married Konrad Ernst Ackermann and appeared with, his company in many German cities, finally settling in Hamburg. Young Schröder early showed considerable talent, but his childhood was rendered so unhappy by his stepfather that he ran away from home and learnt the trade of a shoemaker. He rejoined his parents, however, in 1759, and became an actor. In 1764 he appeared with the Ackermann company in Hamburg, playing leading comedy parts ”