Waterbury Democrat., 1901-06-25

| es, in March, the furore had subSided. | Cresswell, a southerner, still ragged in l his heart over the assault of which he
 had been the victim. It was not the
 physical suffering, but the indignity,
 that ranked, and he had not ceased
 his efforts through detectives to ferret
 out the guilty parties, but with little | luck. Certain men once prominent
 among the railway hands had left the
 state, but no one knew just why or | whither.
 | Langdon, on the contrary, had ap-
 parently lived down his wrath. Flight | ing mad" as the conductor declared to Lieutenant Hunt, he certainly was un- | til the peril that menaced the settlers
 and involved the trainload of helpless
 people dwarfed all personal considera-
 tion and turned his powers to their ac- count. His story of the abduction was very brief and straight. Returning | from the armory, he had let bimself in
 at the front door of the office, closed it 1 after him and almost instantly felt
 himself grappled by powerful arms. Gruff voices warned him that sound
 meant death when sound was impossi- |
 his mouth, to be replaced in an instant | by a chloroformed sponge and silken handkerchief. When consciousness re- turned, he was in a wagon, blindfold- | cd, bound and gagged, then was hoist l ed into an empty freight car and trun- | dled miles away through the night. | His gag was removed as soon as the | train went on, and he was given water, | was assured that no harm was intend | ed-''the boys'' thought he'd better | take little trip up the country while l business was dull in Brentwood, and | they made him comfortable with blan- kets and pillows despite the jolting of | the clumsy car. At dawn he was talk en from the train and driven miles across country in another wagon to
 ranch where people treated him with every care and kindness, but he was
 kept under lock and key until the night
 of the 3Oth, when there were sounds
 of weeping and dismay in an adjoin-
 ing room, and he learned that there
 was terrible raid by the Sioux up the road" And then, fast as horses could bring them, came three railway
 men -n not his abductors, for two of these were men he had known in the Brentwood yards, and the voices were
 different. They told him of the dread full deeds at Rosebud and the plight of the train; told him the troops were coming, that the strike was done and that all matters connected with it and damages of every kind were to be set tied later. The question was would he resume duty at once with his company and head them to the rescue, leaving everything else to be settled later, if they would take him to the railway. He accepted instantly-there was noth- ing else to do-and the whole country knew the rest.
 Since then the strike seemed to be dropped matter. The men would not renew nor the officials reopen it, both sides being content to ignore it, the officials claiming that the hands had sufficiently punished themselves and the hands protesting to believe that the road was preparing to accord them the terms demanded. To the wrath of Cresswell and doubtless of other lawyers averse to all settlements out of court no proceedings were institut- ed. The road dealt literally with the families of employees who had suf- fered by the Sioux outbreak and had sent Langdon to the best hospital in the state to be most skillfully and ten derly cared for. There he pursued his studies in the days of his .convales- cence and by March was once again at Brentwood, occupying his old room over Cresswells office and supervising fror fxxvi 1,.iI <af the rifles, now at last in full com mand, for the governor signed that commission before ever the rifles got back from the scene of their glory. Eric was Captain Langdon now and no mistake.
 MT. Burleigh stopped to see him the week he hobbled out on crutches and said that the road had decided to send Betts elsewhere and to tender Lang don his old place. Langdon said he had no objections to their sending Betts to Halifax if they wished, but declined the position.
 "You still resent their firing you on account of that safe business, SUD- pose." said Burleigh in his attractive western way.
 IcSGAL LuGIT LT6dlmGuI OI 1uG Ut that time on every account" was the answer. "You we'll know that others than had the combination, yet they were retained and one of them pro- noted"
 Burleigh winced. Of course he knew it, but Betts was close to the manage ment by marriage and his son pet of the connecting link. 1t was their story and that of the station master at Gun
 lison that hardened the hearts of the management against Langdon. Now he would not return to their employ. He stuck manfully to his studies in CresswelPs office, was able to pitch his crutch down cellar in April and to drill hss men in the public square under the gleam of the electric lights during the bright evenings in May, was at the de- pot to see Melville and the family the lovely June morning when they went through en route to the hills, and week later was surprised by a letter from the major begging that fe should come up for visit, a weeks rest, fish ing and camping.
 There were several reasons why Lang don disliked to go. First, there was Cat" the cavalry colonel who had