Ridgeway

“ The best example I know of an approach to this excellent sort of vitality in roads is the Ridgeway of the North Berkshire Downs. Join it at Streatley, the point where it crosses the Thames; at once it strikes you out and away from the habitable world in a splendid, purposeful manner, running along the highest ridge of the Downs a broad green ribbon of turf, with but a shade of difference from the neighbouring grass, yet distinct for all that. No villages nor homesteads tempt it aside or modify its course for a yard ”

“ There he ran into some one and fell. Besmeared and bespattered, he quickly picked himself up; and when, a moment later, he gained the sidewalk, no one would hardly have recognized in the dilapidated-looking creature the dapper Hugh Ridgeway. ”

“ We shall not rightly understand this camp, or the ridgeway and contiguous ditch with which it is connected, unless we bear in mind the leading facct that all through the length of the ridgeway, extending from Grimesthorpe to Greasborough, and to some extent in the camp itself, the makers of the earthworks have supplemented or made use of the works of nature. This, as I have just said, is evident in the ridgeway which leads up the wood from Grimesthorpe, where there is no trace of either embankment or ditch. ”

“ Ridgeway knew that if he was being watched, he must put up an appearance of unconcern, and so the Golf Club.
But that night soon after dinner he spoke a few words over a private wire that led to the private room of a Certain Great Person, and soon Mr. Ridgeway was with him in close consultation. He came away looking more anxious than ever. He had learned that an answer had been drawn up for the young republic which needed help, and that another country close on its borders was ready to declare war if there seemed to be anything in the way of affiliation with the United States. ”

“ After breakfasting they accordingly set off for Ridgeway, marching up the right bank of the Black Creek for about two miles or more, and then turning to the east as far as a side road which strikes the Ridge road at a place called Orchard's farm, and thence they followed the Ridge road until they came to the battle ground. ”

“ No companies were formed for the retreat. I assisted to carry two boys who were wounded by getting doors and carrying them to Ridgeway. They were Rifles. When we reached Ridgeway there were about 150 of us, mixed red and green. We found no one of the force in Ridgeway when we arrived. It was half-past 10 o'clock when we reached Ridgeway. I remained there about three-quarters of an hour, the men continually leaving and going on towards Port Colborne. I left the village just as the Fenians were coming down the hill. I had about 50 men and officers with me. We took the road towards Port Colborne. ”

“ Walking along Pennsylvania Avenue, Mr. Ridgeway called at The Willard to see a man who was then in Bolivia, and took a taxi to the Army and Navy Club. Then he went home, and to his own room, where he lighted all the lights and for a moment stood looking out the window before pulling down the blinds.
Then hastily he slipped off his shoes and felt his way down to the library, where he seated himself in his favorite chair beside the big table and, leaning back, gave himself up to his thoughts. He knew that it would be fifteen minutes or so before he could expect his visitors. ”

“ A thorough and practiced soldier—a man of great personal courage and daring, and above all, a genuine Celt, fired with the hereditary hatred of England so characteristic of his name and race, he was in himself a host. With two thousand men, composed of such stuff as he commanded at Ridgeway, he could have swept the road before him to Toronto; for there can be no doubt that his numbers would have been largely augmented on the way by Irish Nationalists and American sympathisers, who then, as now, pine for annexation. ”

“ THE STORY OF FRANCIS CLUDDE.
CHAPTER I. "HÉ, SIRE ANE, HÉ!"
On the boundary line between the two counties of Warwick and Worcester there is a road very famous in those parts, and called the Ridgeway. Father Carey used to say--and no better Latinist could be found for a score of miles round in the times of which I write--that it was made by the Romans. It runs north and south along the narrow spine of the country, which is spread out on either side like a map, or a picture. ”

“ Arriving in London about 12 March, Ridgeway had an interview with Salisbury, and handed over to him all the documents connected with the survey. During the next few weeks he was busily engaged with Sir John Davis [q. v.] and the commissioners for Irish affairs, before the lords of the council, in assisting to make a selection from the long lists of servitors willing to plant, transmitted by Chichester, and in deciding as to the most suitable districts for locating the principal natives. ”

“ RIDGEWAY, W'asco County. Ridgeway post office was established March 3, 1892, with Mary S. Cooke first postmaster. The othice was finally closed October 31, 1905, with papers to Shaniko. The locality called Ridgeway was west of Antelope in the southeast part of the county. In May, 1946, Judge Fred W. Wilson of The Dalles wrote the compiler in part as follows: "Mrs. D. V. Bolton, wife of our county clerk, was the daughter of H. C. Rooper and raised right in the Ridgeway country. She remembers all about it. ”

“ Passing along the Ridgeway to the east, we soon come to cultivated land. The downs, strictly so called, are no more; Lincolnshire farmers have been imported, and the long fresh slopes are sheep-walks [63] no more, but grow famous turnips and barley. One of these improvers lives over there at the "Seven Barrows" [64] farm, another mystery of the great downs. There are the barrows still, solemn and silent, like ships in the calm sea, the sepulchres of some sons of men. ”

“ But if you want another, you must still look to yourself for it. My business leads me to appreciate values correctly. When I desire you to sit at the head of my table, to order my house, my judgment justifies itself. I have a fancy always for the best. When I can’t gratify it I do without.”
“Thank you.” She made him a gay little mock curtsy “I had heard you were no carpet-knight, Mr. Ridgway. But rumor is a lying jade, for I am being told—am I not?—that in case I don’t take pity on you, the lone future of a celibate stretches drear before you.” ”

“ Ridgway is the most capable, energetic, and far-sighted business man I have ever known. He has a bigger grasp of things than almost any financier in the country. I think you’ll find he will go far,” he said, choosing his words with care to say as much for Waring Ridgway as he honestly could.
“I have always thought so,” agreed Virginia.
She had reason for thinking so in that young man’s remarkable career. When Waring Ridgway had first come to Mesa he had been a draftsman for the Consolidated at five dollars a day. ”

“ Ridgway’s company claim certain veins. That is true of several mines, I have been told.”
“I don’t know anything about business. Mr. Harley does not tell me anything about his. To day I was sitting in the open window, and two men stopped beneath it. They thought there would be trouble in this mine—that men would be hurt. I could not make it all out, but that was part of it. I sent for Mr. Harley and made him tell me what he knew. It would be dreadful if anything like that happened.”
“Don’t worry your head about it, my dear. Things are always threatening and never happening. ”

“ You’re the only man I can rely on down to the ground, twenty-four hours of every day.”
The answer was sent, and Eaton’s astonishment at his chief’s temerity changed to amazement when the great Harley, pocketing his pride, asked for an appointment, and appeared at the offices of the Mesa Ore-producing Company at the time set. That Ridgway, who was busy with one of his superintendents, should actually keep the most powerful man in the country waiting in an outer office while he finished his business with Dalton seemed to him insolence florescent. ”

“ I must be the best judge of that, I think. I want to be perfectly frank, Mr. Ridgway. The Consolidated is an auxiliary enterprise so far as I am concerned, but I have always made it a rule to look after details when it became necessary. I came to Montana to crush you. I have always regarded you as a menace to our legitimate interests, and I had quite determined to make an end of it. You are a good fighter, and you’ve been on the ground in person, which counts for a great deal. ”

“ Ridgway,” the oily voice ran on. “No small share of such success as it has been given me to attain has been due to this instinct for putting my finger on the right man. I am assured that in you I find one competent for the great work lying before you. The opportunity is waiting; I furnish it, and you the untiring energy of youth to make the most of the chance.” His wolfish smile bared the tusks for a moment. “I find myself not so young as I was. The great work I have started is well under way. I must trust its completion to younger and stronger hands than mine. ”

“ Ridgway’s laugh had a touch of affectionate contempt. “Don’t cross bridges till you get to them, Steve. Haven’t you discovered, man, that the bold course is always the safe one? It’s the quitter that loses out every time. The strong man gets there; the weak one falls down. It’s as invariable as the law of gravity.” He got up and stretched his broad shoulders in a deep breath. “Now for Mr. Harley. Send him in, Eaton.” ”

“ In a dream he heard Yesler’s cheery voice, gave up his burden to one of the rescuers, and found himself being lifted to a fresh horse. From this dream he awakened to find himself before the great fire of the living-room of the ranch-house, wakened from it only long enough to know that somebody was undressing him and helping him into bed.
Nature, with her instinct for renewing life, saw to it that Ridgway slept round the clock. He arose fit for anything. ”

“ Ridgway was on his feet and across the room like a flash.
“Don’t try to bully ME, you false alarm. Call yourself a Southern gentleman! You’re a shallow scurvy impostor. No more like the real article than a buzzard is like an eagle. Take your hand from under that coat or I’ll break every bone in your flabby body.”
Flabby was the word, morally no less than physically. Pelton quailed under that gaze which bored into him like a gimlet. The ebbing color in his face showed he could summon no reserve of courage sufficient to meet it. ”

“ With Ridgway you have no chance to be anything but a subordinate. He is the Mesa Ore-producing Company, and you are merely a cipher. I offer your individuality a chance. I believe in you, and know you to be a strong man.” No ironic smile touched Harley’s face at this statement. “You need a chance, and I offer it to you. For your own sake take it.”
Every grievance Eaton had ever felt against his chief came trooping to his mind. ”

“ Ridgway led the party across the gulch, following the trail that had been swept by the slide. The cowboys followed him, next came Harley, his wife, and in the rear the cattleman. They descended the draw, and presently dipped over rolling ground to the plain beyond. The procession plowed steadily forward mile after mile, the pomes floundering through drifts after the man ahead. ”

“ Everybody in Mesa seems to have taken sides either with Mr. Ridgway or the Consolidated. Still, you have an option. Is he what his friends proclaim him—the generous-hearted independent fighting against trust domination? Or is he merely an audacious ore-thief, as his enemies say? The truth must be somewhere.”
“It seems to lie mostly in point of view here the angle of observation being determined by interest,” he answered.
“And from your angle of observation?”
“He is the most unusual man I ever saw, the most resourceful and the most competent. He never knows when he is beaten. ”

“ Ridgway caught her round the waist and flung the girl against the wall of the cabin, protecting her with his body. The avalanche was upon them, splitting great trees to kindling-wood in the fury of its rush. The concussion of the wind shattered every window to fragments, almost tore the cabin from its foundations. Only the extreme tail of the slide touched them, yet they were buried deep in flying snow. ”

“ Then Julia turned to him, and, with a charming manner, asked: "Mr. Ridgeley"—she had not called him Bart, or Barton, since her return from Boston—"Mr. Ridgeley, what do the girls mean? Have you really been away?"
"Have I really been away? And if I really have, am I to be permitted to take your hand, and asked how I really do? as if you really cared?"
"Really," was her answer, "you see we have just received our fall fashions, and it is not the fall style this year to give and take hands after an absence."
"A-h! how popular that will be with poor masculines! Is that to be worn by all of you?" ”

“ Conspicuous in this gathering, as conspicuous everywhere where he appeared, was Major Ridgeley, an elder brother of Bart. Slightly taller, and absolutely straight in the shoulders, with an uppish turn to his head, the Major was universally pronounced a handsome man. His large, bright, hazel eye, pure red and white complexion just touched by the sun, with a world of black curling hair swept carelessly back from, an open white brow, with well-formed mouth and chin, and his frank, dashing, manly way, cheery voice, and gay manner, made him a universal favorite ”

“ Her cool frankness might have frightened away another man. It merely served to interest Ridgway. For, with all his strength, he was a vain man, always ready to talk of himself. He spent a good deal of his spare time interpreting himself to attractive and attracted young women.
Her gaze fastened on the tip of her suede toe, apparently studying it attentively. “It would be a gratification to my vanity to parade you as the captive of my bow and spear. You’re such a magnificent specimen, such a berserk in broadcloth. ”