None the less, he walked the streets a marked man. Women and children
looked at him curiously and whispered as he passed. The sullen, hostile
eyes of miners measured him silently. He was aware that feeling had
focused against him with surprising intensity of resentment, and he
suspected that the whispers of Wally Selfridge were largely responsible
for this.
For Wally saw to it that in the minds of the miners Elliot in his own
person stood for the enemies of the open-Alaska policy. He scattered
broadcast garbled extracts from the first preliminary report of the
field agent, and in the coal camps he spread the impression that the
whole mining activities of the Territory would be curtailed if Elliot
had his way.
In the States the fight between the coal claimants and their foes was
growing more bitter. The muckrakers were busy, and the sentiment outside
had settled so definitely against granting the patents that the National
Administration might at any time jettison Macdonald and his backers as a
sop to public opinion.
It was not hard for Gordon to guess how unpopular he was, but he did not
let this interfere with his activities. He moved to and fro among the
mining camps with absolute disregard of the growing hatred against him.
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