The size of the contract was so great, and the deposit check and
bond were so large, that McGaw concluded at once that the
competition would be narrowed down between himself and Rowan's
brother, with Justice Rowan as backer, and perhaps one other firm
from across the island, near New Brighton. His own advantage over
other bidders was in his living on the spot, with his stables and
teams near at hand.
Tom, he felt assured, was out of the way. Not only was the
contract very much too large for her, requiring twice as many
carts as she possessed, but now that the spring work was about to
begin, and Babcock's sea-wall work to be resumed, she had all the
stevedoring she could do for her own customers, without going
outside for additional business.
Moreover, she had apparently given up the fight, for she had bid
on no work of any kind since the morning she had called upon
Schwartz and told him, in her blunt, frank way, "Give the work to
McGaw at me price. It's enough and fair."
Tom, meanwhile, made frequent visits to New York, returning late
at night. One day she brought home a circular with cuts of
several improved kinds of hoisting-engines with automatic
dumping-buckets. She showed them to Pop under the kerosene lamp
at night, explaining to him their advantages in handling small
material like coal or broken stone.
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